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
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
a little clog at her foot I took notice how when she endevoured to mount up she was always hindred and pluckt back again and all her endeavours proved vain as prisoners that are in for flagitious offences have fetters shackles and great store of irons clapt upon them to prevent their escape and hinder their flight so it fared with this poor bird she had a weight that she could not lift I perceived she had a will to be gone but power was wanting she was not content with her slavery â—ut how to remedy it she knew not endeavours were not wanting but a wished success succeeded not I thought this much resembled the state of the poor soul by nature who was taken prisoner by satan at the fall and ever since kept under restraint and the devil leads her captive at his pleasure and he hath to secure his prisoner shackled and fettered her ever since for fear of an escape from which she cannot free her self but remains still under bondage nay the unregenerate man is so fettered and clog'd and as it were lockt to a post that he cannot stir or so much as lift up his eyes or heart to heaven and so infatuated withall that he cannot heartily desire his liberry or pray for it Satan hath put such a force upon him that he is content to have his ear bored and to serve him for ever he is so acquainted with his service that he thinks there is no better Master nor no better work he is like a bruit beast still grovelling upon the earth and thinks there is no greater happiness he is like Ulisses his men fabled by Circes charmes to be turned into swine and being put to their choise were content so to remain and not assume their human shape again so these are so bewitcht by Satan that they are unwilling to be Gods free men they know no other happiness then to have their swill and to wallow in the mire and are angry with them that would help them out they finde more pleasure in their drinking and drabbing then ever they did in praying and hearing upon these we may write the Lord have mercy upon them for they have a plague-sore running upon them they are sick to death and yet feel nothing ailing them there is but one physitian in the world can cure them and that must be with a plaister of his blood but we pass by these as yet wholly at the devils command and in his power But there are another sort of men that have this clog at the heel and that is the regenerate that have the skales of ignorance in some measure wiped from their eyes and have a principle of life in them yet are not free from this clog though they are weary and fain would be free but cannot and though their clog be lightned and many of their shackles and bolts knockt off yet cannot they mount up as they desire they cannot content themselves with their earthly enjoyments fain they would have a better portion yet corruption hangs so fast on they have much ado to mount up to take a veiw of their heavenly mansion they dare not espouse their souls to any creature-comfort and yet can maintain but little communion with their husband Christ if they do mount upon the wings â—f contemplation and get a Pisgah-sight of heaven and a veiw of those invisible things at Gods right hand yet how soon are they down again and much ado to get a glimps of Christ they are like a man that is looking at a star through an Optick-glass held with a palsey hand it is but now and then they can get a sight their corruption therefore that remains unmortified makes them cry out with the Apostle Rom. 7.24 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death Oh my soul is not this thy condition how comes it otherwise to pass that thou prayest so coldly and hearest so drowsily praisest God so faintly and performest every duty so carelesly is not heaven worth the having and all the pains thou canst bestow about it is not thy soul worth the saving and eternity worth minding canst thou be zealous about trifles and negligent in things of greatest concernment sure there are heavy clogs lie upon thy heels that thou runnest no faster why art thou such a stranger to divine Meditation thou canst think of the world without weariness though it be from morning to night why then are thy thoughts of heaven so few and forced why art thou so soon tired in duty so soon weary of ordinances and so overly in them that many times thou hast scarce a glimps of Christ in a duty and but little communion with him at best why dost thou feed upon the husks of duty and content thy self with the bare performance though thou meet not with Christ in the duty will this feed thee will it make thee fat how comes it to pass so many vain thoughts roving imaginations impertinent wandrings are mixt with thy holiest dutys and most solemn services do not those evidence to thy face that corruption remains strong in thee and grace weak and why contentest thou thy self with these fetters and strivest not prayest not more against them Oh my God when shall I be freed from these when wilt thou knock off these bolts and free me from these fetters and inlarge my feet that I may run the ways of thy commandments then will my soul mount up to thee with chearfulness then shall I serve God without weariness or distraction oh fit me for my change and then come Lord Jesus come quickly give me oyl in my vessel grace in my heart and the wedding-garment of sincerity for my soul and then come at what hour thou pleasest Upon birds observing their seasons of coming and returning 70. Med. WHen I observed the cuckoe the swallow and many other sorts of birds how exactly they observed their seasons both in coming and returning and all other birds in their building and breeding how exact they were and lost not the opportunity nor neglected the season It brought to my minde Gods complaint against Israel his own people and thought how justly it might be charged against us Jer. 8.7 The stork of the heaven knows her appointed time the turtle the crane and the swallow know the time of their coming but my people know not the judgments of the Lord as if he should say these silly birds by a natural instinct without the use of reason know the times and seasons of their going and returning but my people that have greater helps and furtherances yet take no notice of the seasons of grace and of the times of their visitation he complains likewise Esay 1.3 the oxe knows his owner and the ass his masters crib but Israel doth not know my people do not consider and is not this Englands case few consider the time of their visitation or take notice of the footsteps of Gods departure Christ also
our youthfull gallant no stage-plays for their divertisement no pleasant Comedies acted but a dismal Tragedy wherein they are like to be the miserable Actors but will never come off with applause there is no modish garb for our well-drest gallant no headtire but a flaming periwig here is no use for looking-glass nor tiring woman no use of patches powders paints or frisling irons all these are out of mode and fashion in those Territories here are no healths to pledge but that of damnation they so oft drunk in the days of their life but never knew what it was till now but now must pledge them to all eternity But this is not all their loss will be greater for they must lose the beatifical vision of God blessed for ever in whose presence there is joy and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore then must they be everlastingly separated from him who is the chiefest good Now they say to him depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy ways Job 21.14 and then God will have none of their company but will say depart from me c. Mat. 7.22 and 25.41 oh direfull and dreadfull sentence such as may make their heart-strings crack and their hearts break in pieces it breaths out nothing but fire and brimstone stings and horrours wo and alass seas of vengeance the worm that never dies and the fire that never shall be quenched torments without end and past imagination in this life they cannot endure the company of the godly they are either the object of their scorn or malice but then they shall be eternally separated as far as heaven is from hell or Dives from Lazarus between whom there is a great gulph fixed Luk. 16.26 Then they shall lose their souls which is incomparably their richest jewel which they sold for a trifle and now it will be required and they must stand to their bargain not that they shall be annihilated that news is too good to be true neither shall they lose the faculties of them these shall be inlarged to their further torments but they lose their God which is the life of their souls and put them into the devils hands to be eternally tormented they shall lose their bodies also for whose sake they sold their souls in a word all their happiness and all their hopes and all they accounted dear shall then be stript away all these like leaves shall fly before the winde of death and in the room of these everlasting destruction of body and soul shall succeed oh death what a change wilt thou make at thy coming and how unwelcome wilt thou be to those that live at case in possession oh my soul remember the days of darkness for they are many Eccl. 11.8 provide against this time that this may not be thy case for ere long all these leaves will be blown down provide therefore treasures that neither man nor devil can strip from thee provide a mansion in heaven before this earthly tabernacle be dissolved Lord assist me in this work without thee my endeavours are vain Upon a tree green all the winter 87. Med. WHen I observed how green some trees were all the winter and how flourishing even in the frost and snow when others are stript naked and left bare and seem dead and withered and that neither the pinching frost nor blustring windes neither storms nor tempests could disroab them or change their summer-suit to winter colours that neither summers sun nor scorching heat could make them wither nor winter cold nor storms could make them cast their leaves nor turn their lusty green to any other colour I began to think these trees much resemble a Christian that had the life of grace within him and is planted into that generous vine Christ and sucks sap and nourishment from this root these also are green when others that stand upon their own root wither and decay But these trees of righteousness are planted by the rivers of water and bring forth their fruit in due season and their leaf also shall not wither but whatsoever they do it shall prosper Psal 1.3 c. when others are driven like chaff before the winde from the face of the earth yet the sun-shine of prosperity cannot wither those nor the winde of adversity blow them down or their fruit nor remove their leaves Job was one of these trees of righteousness green at all times winter and summer in his prosperity his leaf flourished for God himself gives as ample a testimony of him as ever he did of mortal man Job 1.8 Hast thou considered my servant Job that there is none like him in the earth a perfect and upright man one that feareteh God and escheweth evill and when he was in adversity he still retains his integrity Job 27.5.6 till I die I will not remove my integrity from me my righteousness I hold fast and will not let it go my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live and see what end God makes with him he crowns him and chronicles him for his sincerity and patience all his affliction could not make him lose one leaf Joseph when he was in prosperity fears God and when in adversity he fears him also when he was a bondslave in Potiphars house he resisteth the temptations of his mistriss with this consideration how shall I commit this great wickedness and sin against God Gen. 39.11 Joseph remains in Egypt like a pearl in a puddle he had set God at his right hand and would not be moved though Satan knock oft at the door there was none within to answer though the iron as the Psalmist saith entred into Josephs soul yet sin could not when the devil could not prevail against him by his hard bondage he trys to do it by a Dalilahs temptation he struck fire oft but it fell among wet tinder Joseph was semper idem when he was wrongfully cast into prison he keeps his integrity still and God owns him and gave him favour and after when he was advanc't to honour and made enter in Egypt he did not forget his God nor God did not forget him all the hot gleams of prosperity nor all the blustring storms of adversity could not shake down any of his fruit or stir any of his leaves it is true wicked men in their prosperity are said to be spreading themselves like a green bay-tree but this denotes the prosperity of the body not of the soul these leaves at death will drop as well as others and their prosperity and happiness will draw to an end and all their enjoyment will be but as a thin mist before the winde soon scattered but mark the upright and behold the just for the end of that man is peace Psal 37.37 I shall be saith the Psalmist as a green olive-tree in the house of God Psal 52.5 when those that trust not in the Lord shall be destroyed It was not banishment that could separate David from the stock
better provided the soul here wears the body as a garment which when it is worn out the saints shall have a better suit they shall be choathed with the Lord Jesus Christ death will not spare the best there is no coming to paradice but under the flaming sword of this guardian that stands at the porch no wiping all tears from our eyes but with our winding-sheet assurance of Gods love makes a man even willing to die but the cook on the dunghill knows not the worth of this jewel oh the blindness madness and stupidity of man whose care is to lade himself with thick clay and to take care what he shall eat or what he shall drink or wherewithall he shall be cloathed and makes no provision for the soul but depends upon that for comfort that can do no good when most need is they can provide in the day for the night in the summer for the winter on the market-day for the whole week and at a Fair for the whole year and yet make no provision in life for death or in time for eternity if a coelestial habitation be not provided against those houses of clay our bodies wherein the soul lodgeth as a tenant at will be dissolved our lodging will be worse then with toads and serpents even with the devil and his angels in endless easeless and remediless torments oh my soul how fares it with thee or what preparation hast thou made long it cannot be before night comes where then will be thy lodging the earth then will be to thee as the waters to Noahs dove thou wilt finde no rest here for the sole of thy foot it is in heaven that the weary be at rest Job 3.17 oh my God enable me to clear up my interest in Christ who is the only sanctuary for a troubled soul Upon sickness spoiling all earthly delights 98. Med. WHen I had fitted things to my minde and began to take delight in the works of my hands when I began to sing a requiem to my self and my heart with Solomons rejoyced in all my labour Eccl. 2.10 yea when I had promised my self content in what I had done I was suddenly forced to say with wise Solomon Eccles 14. behold all is vanity and vexation of spirit nothing in themselves yet sufficient to vex and perplex us sin hath produced a confusion in the world and stampt vanity upon the creature every man saith David in his best estate is altogether vanity this is the impartiall verdict brought in by one that could best tell and to this I was forc't to subscribe for God immediatly humbled me for setting my affection upon creature-comforts and let me see the vanity of them by visiting me with a fit of sickness that I was taken off from setting my delight or taking satisfaction in or upon them or taking any pleasure in any thing that I had done nay I was troubled that I had not spent my time better and that I had not planted set or sown in a more fertile soil where I might have expected a more plentiful encrease and had a better crop this providence seemed to speak to me as Christ did to the rich man Luk. 12.16 c. that set his heart on his riches and was not rich to God thou fool this night shall thy soul be required of thee and then whose are these this shewed me more of the vanity of humane felicity then I had before observed I plainly saw there was a double uncertainty in all earthly felicity and in sublunary enjoyments for they themselves are very uncertain and many times short-lived and may leave us or we may by death be arrested and then we shall leave them God sometimes takes them from us they take themselves wings and fly away and shall we set our eyes upon things that are not Pro. 23.5 there is no solid substance in them though the foolish world call it by that name they are as transitory as a hasty headlong torrent but if they remain we shall remove for our life passeth away as a shadow or post or weavers shuttle and continueth not and then those winged fouls that now sit upon our trees shall sit upon other mens sometimes God blows upon them and blasts them that though we do enjoy them they prove but a vexation to us sometimes he disables us to use them and sometimes imbitters them to us mixing them with gall and wormwood that we can finde no pleasure in them and assuredly they will do us little good when we have most need suppose a man to have what the world can afford yea all the delights of the sons of men yea all that his heart can wish as Solomon had Eccl. 2.27 yet one hours sickness spoils all his mirth and robs him of all the comfort he promised to himself one fit of the collick gout strangury or other raging pain yea the extream pain of an aking tooth puts a man besides all these his enjoyments yet how greedily do men grasp after the world as if it included the highest degree of happiness and hug it in their bosome and lodge it nearest to the heart which will prove no better nay much worse then a bush of thorns if graspt too hard so this the harder it is handled the worse it hurts oh folish man cannot these earthly enjoyments give ease to an aking head or heart can they not mitigate the pains of the gout collick stone or strangury and can it be imagined they can ease the conscience or cure a sinsick soul if not what good can they do it could Judas Achitophel Spira and others fetch any comfort here in their extremity no no they are like Jobs friends miserable comforters at such a time what good will gold do at death and judgment this coin is not currant in the other world nay in this world it brings little content if God frown if one spark of hell-fire flash in the conscience all these things cannot extinguish it one drop of it will mar a whole cup of earthly delights that in the midst of laughter the heart will be sorrowful and the end of that mirth will be heaviness Pro. 14.13 nulla est sincera voluptas wicked men may dance to the timbrel and harp but suddenly they turn into hell Job 21.12 13. and their merry dance ends in a miserable downfall the candle of the wicked shall out in a snuff and what will all these outward enjoyments signify then Jobs flower Jonahs gourd and Davids green bay-tree will soon wither and their beauty will fade all these things will leave us at death many times before how much need then have we to make preparation before-hand of something that will stand us instead This sickness of mine also taught me how unfit a time this was for repentance and yet how many post it off till then oh how unfit was I to examine my heart and call my sins to minde to repent of them when racking pains brought
object and other circumstances vary and as the will or capacity of the person requireth and therefore may be better taught by example then rule This minded me of some occasional Meditations that had formerly warmed my heart and not knowing but they might warm others also and might be a means to restore this beneficiall though too much neglected duty and therefore gathering together and reveiwing my scattered papers and making some additions substractions and alterations I reduced them to the method here presented that it is every Christians duty I think none will deny and that it hath been the practice of believers is easy to prove this was Isaac's practice Gen. 24.63 and it was Davids work as the whole book of Psalmes testify see Psal 63.6 and 77.12 and 119.15 and 143.5 and many other places wherein we see he meditated both on Gods word and on his works both by night and by day and makes it the character of a childe of God or a blessed man so to do Psal 1.2 and a mark of one ripe for destruction not to regard the works of the Lord nor the operation of his hands Psal 28.5 What I have here written is chiefly for thy imitation and my desire is that thou maist take out this lesson prove an artist and set up for thy self and follow this gainfull trade that hath formerly brought so much glory to God and so much profit to poor souls The method herein propounded is easy and the duty to an honest heart not hard yet remember it is the practick part that is like to do thee most good here maist thou learn to spend thy time and pass away thy solitary hours better then most men do for whether thou be at home or abroad in publick or in private this duty may be in some measure performed yea by every man in every place in every company and in every employment though all places are not alike a gracious heart can steal a thought into heaven and by a Meditation and private ejaculation hold converse wtth God at any time neither slave nor servant though in a Turky-gally can be deprived of this liberty The want of this heavenly art or the not using of it is the cause of the mispence of so much precious time and that there are so many barren empty hearts as we dayly finde for as the Bee gathers honey both from flowers and weeds so doth a diligent man from every thing he sees hears of or observes time is such a precious jewel that it should not be squandred away and I know not well how it may be better improved then by Meditation for this spiritualizeth all we set or hear of it makes a man never idle nor ill employed and drives on a rich trade for the soul and either leads the soul to heaven or brings heaven to it I know meditation may be abused some meditate how they may be rich either by hook or by crook the ambitious man how he may be honourable the voluptuous man how he may enjoy his pleasure but a Christian how he may enjoy his God and secure his soul some study mischief upon their beds some with the spiders gather poyson where the Christian like the bee gathers honey and the very business a Christian is about will furnish him with matter sufficient for his work if the heart be not barren every thing will be fruitful and there is none so dull if not spiritually dead but may gather something from visibles to minde him of invisibles No ship that sails either to the East or West Indies brings home richer lading then meditation doth if rightly steered This is the chewing of the cud that turns all to nourishment the true Philosophers stone that turns all to gold by this means the spirits and quintescence of all earthly things are extracted 't is true of a Christian endowed with his heavenly art what the Poets feign of Midas every thing they touch turns to gold and gold it self into a better substance the hardest flint the barrenest tree the most withering branch or fading leaf will yield good fruit to this artist yea better fruit then the gardens of the Hesperides which are feigned to bear golden apples and every sheep will bear a golden fleece better then ever Jason fetcht from Colchis By meditation a Christian is carried into the third heaven with Paul whether in the body or out of the body be scarcely knows and there is enabled to see things inutterable this makes invisible things visible and gives a man a Pisgah-sight of the heavenly Canaan This heavenly artist can with Daedalus make himself wings to fly aloft and can break prison at his pleasure neither need he fear the melting of the wax This keeps the heart in order and prevents its strayings it keeps vain thoughts from rising or at best from roosting There mans heart is like a mill if it want grist it sets it self on fire and if there be no corn to grinde for God the devil will throw his tares into the hopper The heart it always well or ill-employed and will never be idle holy meditation puts a man out of satans road when otherwise he is in continuall danger of falling into his snares or by being surprized by his wiles when the idle person is commonly snared and taken by this grace is strengthened and corruption weakned our evidences cleared communion with God maintained and acquaintance with our own hearts gained it is the way to store the understanding with knowledge to subject the will to Gods will to warm the â—ffections and to put life and heat into all our duties this discovers to us the sinfulness of sin and vanity of the creatures and the fulness of Christ this reacheth out to us some of Canaans grapes some Pisgah-sights of glory even of those things within the veil and a taste of those pleasures which are at the right hand of God such a taste as this made Moses despise the pleasures of Pharaohs court and Galeacius esteem all the wealth in the world not worth one days communion with God this lets us see there is a worm of vanity bred in our cheifest earthly enjoyments and eats out the very heart of them and if they are abused they will breed and feed the worm that never dies and kindle that fire that never shall go out These and a thousand such lessons meditation will teach us and fastens every lesson upon the heart who then would not follow so gainfal a trade and practice so fruitful a calling Did it enrich the body as it doth the soul we should have many proficients in this School some pretenders there are to this duty but they rather pretend then intend it they throw down the hammer before they have driven the nail to the head and lay down the premises but stay not to raise the conclusion they follow not the work till they come to resolution and practice they are like a man that strikes fire gathers
wood but leaves off before it be kindled and so all his labour is lost This duty enables a man with Paul to die dayly and with Stephen to see God with Moses to talk with God and with Enoch to walk with God It fits a Minister to preach and the people to hear neither of which can be well done without it that sermon that is not well set on by meditations seldom heats the preachers heart and then the people seldom feel it for a dull and drowsy preacher makes a dull and sleepy people when the minister preaches his own life and experiences this is the life of preaching This meditation is a serious bending of the minde upon some useful subject till we bring it to some profitable issue Occasionall meditation which is it we now treat of ariseth from some occasionall object presented to our sences or understanding by divine providence of which though examples may be given yet hardly can it be restrained or brought under rules for it may be varied according to the variety of the objects presented or other accidents occurrences or circumstances that offer themselvs or the will of the person or his ability the objects that offer themselves are various and innumerable for there is nothing in rerum natura but may be a fit object for occasional meditations God hath given us a large field to walk in and choise of flowers pluck what we will to put into our nose-gay we may gather honey from flowers and weeds out of our own or neighbours fields without offence which way soever we look within us or without us above us or below us before us or behinde us or on either side we may see suitable matter for our meditation above us we may see the sun moon and stars those glorious lamps of heaven who offer themselves not only to our view but also to our contemplation their light their heat their influence their various though unerring motions their magnitude altitude number nature splendor vertue and effects may breed admiration in us as well as in David Psal 8.3 4. and 19.1 or should we descend to sublunary things to the fiery or ayery regions and observe the several meteors in both that present themselves to our view we may finde matter not only for meditation but also for admiration if we consider a while the winde the snow the rain the frost the ice c. all brought out of Gods treasury Psal 135.7 the thunder and lightning with their strange effects the strange apparitions often seen in the air comets blazing-stars dragons fire-drakes c. armies fighting in the air Lyons bears horses and many other things there resembled raining bloud wheat frogs stones c. all this may raise our admiration veiw but the rain bow in its shape and various colours it deserves our consideration The powerful influence of these superiour bodies in exhaling and retaining those hugh weighty and towring clouds those bottles of heaven in the open air and watering the earth with them at their makers pleasure without which neither man nor beast could subsist who can view those things without consideration or if we look upon the earth out of which we were taken we may finde matter enough to exercise our thoughts observe this huge and massy globe hanging in the air upon nothing consider it as it is distinguished into hills and dales and woods and forrests adorned with sumptuous buildings Towns and Castles abounding with trees of all sorts with corn and grass with herbs and flowers watered with rain and showers rivers springs and fountains inhabited with a thousand times ten thousand living creatures of all sorts men and beasts fowls and creeping things all maintained at the great housholders charge who preserves them in their several kindes consider also the perenity of rivers the cause and perpetuity of springs of all sorts some hot some cold some sweet some bitter some salt some fresh some medicinal some not this observation may take up some time or should we consider the several minerals lodged in the concaves of the earth as of gold silver brass tin iron lead allom brimstone coals lime stone and much more and how useful and necessary these are to human life This may teach us many profitable lessons Or should we go to sea to see the wonders of the deep and observe how the huge and roaring element is restrained and bounded by an almighty arm that saith hitherto shalt thou go and no further or if we consider the ebbing and flowing of it a wonder in nature or the numberless number of living creatures therein which are fed and cherished by those salt and brackish waters yet retain their sweetness or if we consider the cause why those waters alone are salt and so remain though a thousand fresh rivers dayly run into it together with their strange creatures therein produced these considerations will take up much time but of all the creatures God hath made none yield more matter for meditation then angels and men Angels both the good and the bad their nature essence and offices and man considered in his body and soul the order use comliness and proportion of the several parts the vegetative sensitive and rational faculties of the soul the understanding will and affections the memory conscience and many more the several sences whereby the soul comes to understand things here below these things deserve consideration but to let pass the works of creation and consider a while Gods works of providence these will take up much of our time we may see and observe the course of nature the generation and production of the several species with their preservation protection and the provision made for them by their Creator he maintains the several species by his providence that for ought we know there is not one kinde of them extinct since the creation nay the power of man was never able to destroy those kindes that are noxious to man and therefore hated by him yet are these maintained by divine providence at his own cost and charges But his providence is more clearly seen and discovered in his providence to man especially to his own Church in maintaining a handfull of men against their numerous enemies these are preserved as lambs amongst wolves and is the bush that is ever burning yet never consumed he spred a table for them in the wilderness in dispight of their enemies the wonderful providence of God for his Church in all ages in Scripture-times and down to this day may fir us with much matter for meditation The word of God also as well as his works may yield much matter for contemplation it furnished David for meditation day and night every Book every Chapter yea every verse is fruitful abundantly that had we the years of Methusalem the time would be too little to run through the Scripture and to consider of all that is held forth therein here are precepts and promises threats and examples for our good
95 l. 9. for then r. that p. 102. l. 3. f. stars r. clouds p. 102. l. 17. for word r. clouds p. 120 l. 9. f. and r. of p. 139 l. 11. for this stake r. the stake p. 153 l. 11. for way r. wall p. 161. l. 13. for savages r. slaves p. 169 l. 13. for occulta r. occultae p. 181. l. 17. f. David r. Daniel p. 184. l. 23. for petivit r. petunt p. 200 l. 27. for ware r. wine p. 200. l. 29. for volunt r. nolunt p. 215. l. 13. bane left out Divine Meditations Consisting of Observations Applications And Supplications Vpon the Earth I. Meditation WAlking in the garden in the cool of the day among other things that offered themselves to my consideration I observed my mother the Earth whence I had my original and out of whose womb I had my being I considered how near of kin I was to those senceless clods that lay under my feet and that I was made of the same matter a little more refined and moulded up in a better form and was made by God a little walking breathing clay and shortly must return to my first matter for dust thou art saith God and unto dust thou shalt return These and the like thoughts had a various operation upon my soul sometimes it put me on to admire the workman that out of such a rude and indigested mass such course stuff could make so glorious a piece as the body of Man is and could indue it with such excellent parts and such noble faculties and make it such a rich cabinet fit to hold that precious Jewel the soul which when I had a little considered I began to glory that I was made a man and did not remain a senseless clod But on the other side when I considered my original and the rock whence I was hewn and the hole of the pit whence I was digged and that I could say to corruption thou art my father and to the worm thou art my mother and my sister Job 17.14 I who was even now proud that I was a man began to vail my peacocks plumes when I beheld my black feet and to wonder at my own folly and when I beheld my mother and my relations I saw there was small cause of pride and little cause to boast of birth or bloud or great parentage or relations 't is a shame and sin for an angel to be proud much more for a dunghill-bird Oh my soul bless God that thou wast made a man and not a clod of clay a rationall creature and not a brute beast thou wast clay in the hands of this potter and mightest have been the most despicable creature that ever dropt from his fingers but he hath made thee little lower then the Angels and crowned thee with honour and dignity what cause then hast thou to admire thy Creator who made thee thus to differ and made thee capable of communion with him here and enjoying him for ever but beware of pride that raigning damning sin that turned Angels out of heaven Adam out of Paradice and many thousands into hell boast not of the greatnesse of thy stock the nobleness of thy bloud the honour of thy progenitors except thou ascend as high as thy great Grandmother the Earth who opened her womb to bear us all and ere long will open her mouth to receive us all where we shall be resolved into our first matter then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return to God that gave it 't is true thou hadst a more noble Father in whose image thou wast made but this image is lost and thou art become more deformed then thy Mother Oh my God! as thou hast indewed me with more noble faculties then many other of thy creatures that I might be better able to serve thee enable me so to do renew thy image in me which was lost by the fall and give me sincerity without which my condition will be worse then the beast that perisheth whose misery ends with his life but mine will begin at my death where much is given much will be required as thou hast made me a man let me act as a rational creature and answer the ends of my Creation Vpon digging the Earth 2. Med. DIgging and delving into the bowels of my Mother the Earth to bury those seeds from whence I expected a future encrease that portion of Scripture came fresh into my minde Gen. 3.19 In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat thy bread till thou return to the ground out of which thou wast taken for dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return me thoughts my work as it was a just punishment laid upon me for my sin so it did much resemble the digging of my grave and put me in minde of my mortality I began to think that ere long some one would do that for me which I did for these poor seeds lay me to sleep in the grave till the Resurrection and that my mother earth was as ready to receive me as them the pains and aches I felt the sensible decays in nature my gray hairs c. fastned this cogitation more home upon me I then began to think of the vanity of man that was but even now crept out from being earth and for a time made a great stir and bustle in the world and then made as much haste out again and like as stage-players every one acting a part upon the stage of the world some longer some shorter some better and some worse and then an exit comes and they disappear The godly they act a Comedy which begins bad but ends well the wicked a Tragedy which always ends in confusion yet whatever part men act few are willing to go off the stage the old man that hath out-lived his teeth his hair his sight and hearing and can hardly use his limbs and senses yet is loath to die too evident a signe his work for which he came into the world is not done viz. to make his peace with his God and to get an interest in Christ and title to glory the godly while they are here are every day quenching those coals which sin hath kindled with the tears of true repentance the wicked are carrying every day a faggot to encrease that fire that never shall be quenched thus 't is in the world as in a Fair or market there is a great crowd some going one way some another and every one driving on some designe or other O my soul must thou ere long be separated from the body by death how stands the case with thee art thou prepared for such a change or art thou not how doth thy pulse beat suppose this were to be the day of thy dissolution couldst look death in the face with comfort hast thou made thy peace with thy God hast thou got an acquittance sealed with the blood of Christ a discharge of all thy debts hast
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
thy hand and a wedding-garment on thy back improve thy talents well that Christ may say well done good and faithfull servant enter into thy Masters joy when others only wish for heaven do thou work for it Oh my God I have been one of these loitering truants that am justly here reproved and sent again to school to the meanest of thy creatures their diligence shames my negligence they have only an instinct of nature to guide them I have reason experience Scripture and example to put me on they labour only for the body I for the soul and body they for the meat that perisheth I for that which endureth to eternall life they for a winter I for eternity yet are they diligent and I negligent Heaven and earth may stand amazed at my folly Lord pardon what is past and incline my heart for the time to come to give diligence to make my calling and election sure Let me so run that I may obtain so fight that I may conquer and be faithfull to the death that I may receive the crown of life Upon the gorgeous dresse of Flowers 18. Med. WHen I seriously considered the various dress the curious colours of the herbs and flowers which diapred the plot I took some delight to consider the power of God in them and how far he condescended to please our fancies and delight our sences when I saw how gorgeously they were attired how beautiful they appeared it led me up to the fountain-head even to God who is beauty and comeliness it self and the greatest beauty that the world can brag of is but a spark to this fire a ray to this Sun and a drop to this ocean if the creature can be so beautiful what is the Creator end if earth be so pleasant what is heaven but when I considered also the transitory fading nature of these short-lived flowers how soon when they were in their prime they withered away and perished this put me in minde of the vanity of man which is compared to a flower which cometh up and is cut down like a flower and never continueth in one stay and not only he but all earthly enjoyments are short-lived and soon perish But when I considered their beauty with their fading nature it minded me of our Saviours words Mat. 6.28 c. Why take you thought for raiment consider the lillies of the field how they grow they toil not neither do they spin and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory is not arayed like one of these wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field which to day is and to morrow is cast into the oven shall he not much more clothe ye O ye of little faith c. he sends us in the former verses to the sparrows which though they neither plough nor sow reap nor mow nor carry into barns are yet fed by divine providence so here he sends to the grass and flowers who though frail vanishing things are gorgeously attired by him and all is to put us on to depend upon our fathers providence for the force of the argument is thus If God feed these worthless sparrows and not one falls to the ground without his providence and so clothe the withering grass in such a dress doubtless he will not suffer his sons and servants to want necessary food and rayment which as they are better so are a thousand times dearer to him then the fowls or flowers There is in every man by nature a conceit of self-sufficiency as if by our own diligenee we could provide for our selves and are ready to undertake Gods part of the work Now this self-confidence is the daughter of unbelief as one saith is the mother of carking care and carnal thoughtfullness Our Saviour here by many arguments disswades us from these there is a care of the head not only lawfull but commendable but there is a carking distrustfull diffident care of the heart here condemned when a man hath done his utmost endeavour in the use of lawfull means yet vexeth himself about the event what if this or that follow I fear I shall die a beggar c. One day saith David I shall perish by the hand of Saul What shall I eat or what shall I drink c. because God will not let us know how we shall be provided for therefore we are ready with Israel to question Can God provide a table in the wilderness Psa 78.19 Oh my soul how justly art thou reproved and sent to these poor creatures to school hast thou not had distracting thoughts and distrustfull fears hast thou not oft been questioning What shall I eat or what shall I drink or wherewithall shall I be cloathed what shall become of my wife and children when I am dead c. even contrary to the express command of the great God as if thou hadst had no father to provide for thee or no God to depend upon or no promise to uphold thee and though God hath ofttimes silenced thy fears and husht thy cares by an unexpected providence yet upon the apprehension of new danger new fears arise like murmuring Israel though they had seen Gods wonders in Egypt at the Red Sea in feeding them with Manna yet cry out Can he furnish a table for us in the wilderness Psal 78.19 yea though thou hast never wanted food nor rayment nor any thing truly necessary and hast a promise thou shalt never want any thing that is good and though God hath bid leave your fatherless children with me and let thy widdows trust in me yet how hard is it to commit wife and children to him if there be no visible means for their subsistance or to trust him when means are out of sight and the world doth not pass for payment what if thy food be not so dainty nor thy cloathes so fine if the one nourish thee and the other keep thee warm it matters not if thou do not fare deliciously every day nor go in purple and fine linnen thy betters have fared harder and gone more meanly clad reade Heb. 11.36 and be ashamed of murmuring others had trials of cruel mocking and scourgings yea moreover of bonds and imprisonments they were stoned they were sawn asunder were tempted were slain with the sword they wandred about in sheeps-skins and goats-skins being destitute afflicted and tormented of whom the world was not worthy they wandred in desarts and in mountains and in dens and in caves of the earth what if thou hast no certain dwelling-house thy dear redeemer had not where to lay his head and those Worthys were worse bestead then ever thou wast Oh my God charge not upon me those distrustful thoughts but strengthen my faith in thy promises Lord I believe help my unbelief and let not this sin have dominion over me Enable me to say with Job though he kill me yet will I trust in him and with Ely 't is the Lord let him do what seemeth him
good and with Paul I am ready not only to be bound but to die for Christ Upon a Garden spoiled through bad fence 19. Med. WHen through bad fence carelesly heeded my garden was much spoiled and wasted by swine and other cattle some cropping off the heads of tender buds and plants some rooting up both root and branch and also by their treading of it much defaced the beauty of it and that which even now seemed pleasant and amiable suddenly seemed a rude indigested and deformed piece so that not without much labour pains and care I secured the fence made up the breaches and all I could do could not at present bring it to its former estate and pristine beauty all which injury might have been prevented with a little foresight and pains-taking how much better is it to prevent an injury then remedy it to prevent a disease then repell it to keep out an enemy then drive him out the cockatrice-egg is better broken while it is an egg then destroyed when it is a serpent sin is better destroyed in the bud then when it is ripe The injury sustained in my garden was something requited by this following Meditation If a garden a small plot of ground cannot be preserved from danger without care and pains-taking without a good fence about it and an needfull eye upon it because it hath so many enemies how then can the soul a more curious garden which is in a thousand times greater danger be kept safe without a fence and watchful guard here are more choise herbs and flowers then the other hath of greater worth beauty and vertue more subject to injury spoil and rapine and these have greater subtiller and more malicious enemies that seek their destruction the devil and his instruments who goes about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour 2 Pet. 5.8 if he finde the fence down or the watch neglected and the watchman either asleep or careless he will enter destroy and waste he envies our condition that we should enjoy that paradice that he left the comforts he once had he hath a spite and hatred against God and goodness and opposes his image wherever he sees it this is the wilde boar out of the wood and the wilde beast out of the forrest that doth devour it Psal 80.30 The devil and the world besiege the fort of our souls and our own heart that inbred traitour watches to surrender it into his hands a thousand snares and nets are spread for this turtle and she is in continual danger in every calling in every condition in every relation in every creature we have to do with in every duty nay in every action some snare or other is laid to intrap us in youth and old age in sickness and health in prosperity and adversity in honour and disgrace all have their peculiar snares our nearest relations oft times betray us into his hands thus Eve betrays Adam thus Jobs wife would have betrayed him thus Lots daughters betrayed him and Peter would have betrayed Christ himself get thee behinde me satan Mat. 26.23 he did his good will to hinder him in the course of his calling we may many times discry a devil in our nearest friends he speaks to us by them we have enemies without and enemies within and many snares are laid for our feet how warily then have we need to walk many are the foxes that destroy these vines Cant. 2.15 what care then need we to have of our souls when they are in so continuall danger and so many snares laid for our feet temptation without and corruption within ofttimes prevail against us and we are snared by it oh my soul hast thou so bloudy and bloudy-thirsty an enemy to deal with that is so malicious so crafty and politick hast thou so strong and potent an enemy to deal with that seeks thy ruine and makes it his business to undo thee oh what need then hast thou to stand upon thy guard if thou fall into his hands nothing but the everlasting destruction of body and soul will satisfie him quit thy self therefore like a man stand upon thy guard resist the devil and he will fly from thee there is none but these throw down their weapon and quit the field that are vanquisht by him though others may be foiled look to the main fort the heart if that be surprized thou art undone lay in provision and ammunition there for a siege watch the five cinque-ports the senses for oft times he sails in with the tide make a covenant with thy eyes take heed to thy ears and other senses examine every passenger that comes in lest he prove treacherous and every one that goes forth to this end set a watch over thy mouth that thou offend not with thy tongue get on the whole armour of God mentioned Eph. 6.11 12 13. the sword of the spirit and the darts of prayer are prevalent thou art to fight with principalities and powers these contended with the angell for Moses his body but with thee for thy precious soul no peace can be had with him no truce can be obtained but upon the condition of the everlasting destruction of soul and body whatever his promises are hell will be his wages a thousand thousand have been deceived by him that took his word look to thy affections that they straggle not lest like Dinah they be ravished by him stand fast and thou wilt prevail call in thy captain Christ to thine assistance so shalt thou be the victor and if thou overcome thou shalt reign with Christ Oh my God be thou my defender I have no strength against these potent enemies neither know I what to do only my eyes are up unto thee O let no cruel beast devour thy turtle that is true do thou watch over me or I shall wake in vain teach me the use of the Christian armour rebuke the tempter and chain him up that he may not hurt me keep me under the shadow of thy wings hide me in the hollow of thy hand preserve me from the rage of this bloud-thirsty enemy and keep me out of the snares that are laid for my feet then shall I praise thee with an upright heart and tell what God hath done for my soul Upon a Mole spoiling the garden 20. Med. WHen I had thus fenced my garden and secured it as I thought from the injury of all enemies that were visible and began to wax secure and careless as if out of the reach of danger behold an inbred traitor an unseen and unexpected enemy did me no little injury a dispicable creature blinde as is reported yet was the occasion to me of no small trouble a poor contemptible Mole ere I was aware digged and rooted up my herbs and flowers disordered my work and spoiled the beauty of it and proved such an enemy then when she was descried I knew not which way to fence for her and for a considerable time knew not how to
seed fructify or one corn grow if God succeed not their endeavour oh the madness stupidity and egregious folly of Athiests that deny a diety and yet cannot make a fly or flea or the leaf of a tree without pre-existent matter nor put life into it when it is made nor know how it is done but many of them their lives are so debaucht that to still and quiet their inraged conscience they would fain race out and obliterate this principle imprinted in the soul by God himself viz. that there is a God but that there is no God they rather wish then believe but to return it is God that doth this work Mark 4.26 The Kingdom of heaven is as if a man should cast seed into the ground and should sleep and rise night and day and the seed should spring up and grow up he knows not how for the earth bringeth forth fruit of her self first the blade then the ear afterwards the full corn in the ear c. when we have done our duties we must rely upon God for the success and depend upon Gods providence if we cannot do it leave it to him that can let us do our part of the work and leave his part to him to do we cannot do his and he will not do ours it is our part to plow and sow and manure and till the ground out of which we were taken Gen. 2.15 but it is God that causeth it to fructifie and encrease he giveth us rain from heaven and fruitfull seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness Acts. 14.17 Diligence is our duty as the blessing upon it is his gift God placed no man upon the earth as he did Leviathan in the sea only to play therein but we are to work either with hand or head the thing that is good and in the sweat of our brow or brain we should eat our bread but when we have done all we must look higher for a blessing Deut. 28.12 the Lord shall open to thee his good treasure the heaven to give the rain unto the land in his season and to bless all the work of thy hand The stars are Gods store-houses which he opens for our profit and causeth them to pour out their influences upon the earth and thereby he scatters his riches to the world If we will cark and care about the event of things when we have done our endeavour no wonder if we faint under the burden if we take his part of the work upon us also no wonder if we truckle under it Now if his blessing be so necessary in temporals it is much more necessary in spirituals for none can make the soul fruitful but God do we not oft see the seed sown by the same hand and that it is watered by the same word yet it thrives in one field and not in another in one heart and not another why God causeth it to rain upon one field and not another and the field it raineth not on withered Amos. 4.7 those that live under the same Ministry sit in the same seat and have the same husbandry one remains barren the other fruitfull what is the cause but the north-wind and the south-wind the pleasant gales of the spirit blow upon one garden and not upon the other Cant. 4.16 when Christ was the preacher that which workt upon Peter workt not upon Judas not being made effectuall by God The springing of the seed also put me in minde of the resurrection the Apostle we finde illustrateth that point by this similitude 1 Cor. 15.35 36 37. but some will say how are the dead raised up and with what body do they come thou fool that which thou sowest is not quickned except it die and that which thou sowest thou sowest not that body that shall be but bare grain it may chance of wheat or of some other grain but God hath given it a body as it hath pleased him to every seed his own body the rotting of the body is but as the rotting of the seed in the ground that it may spring forth again with more vigour if God can say to this dead seed as sometime to the dry bones live why can he not say so to our dead bodies Is any thing too hard for the Almighty he that made them at the first of nothing can we imagine he cannot gather again together our scattered ashes and make it again into a body shall we think that to be impossible to God that seems hard to us if he say it shall be done shall we conclude it cannot be done Oh my soul use diligence both in thy general and particular calling but when thou hast done thy endeavour leave the success to God and not carkingly care nor doubtingly trouble thy self about the event and disquiet not thy self at what thou canst not help take not hâ—s work in hand lest thou canst not finish it leave not thy work undone for he will not do it diligence is thy duty yet promise not success to thy endeavours but depend upon him for a blessing if he give it bless him for it and let it more engage thy heart in his service if he deny it murmure not but wisely search out what was the cause some sin or other is pointed at in the suffering if thou finde it out remove the Achan and bless God for the providence it is better have a reformed heart then a full barn and as for spiritualls use diligence in the duties required but rest not in the work done if a blessing succeed let the Lord have his homage paid if that thou stand at a stay it is a signe some obstruction is between the head and heart that hinders the work rest not till it be removed if thou meet God in his ordinance bless his name for it if he absent himself let no duty please thee rest not till thou hast recovered sight of him as for the resurrection call not that to question which is so clearly held forth in his word heaven and earth shall pass but his word shall not pass till it be fulfilled what is too hard for an omnipotent arm he that made all things of nothing and he that every year raiseth a crop from dead seed why should we think it impossible for him to gather together our ashes however scattered and raise again our dead bodies to life it is thy great concern to live holily that thou mayst die happily and live with God eternally Oh my God enable me to commit all my concerns for soul and for body to thee and let me not murmure under any dark dispensation of providence however thou deal with me in reference to the body or these worldly enjoyments yet deal well with me in reference to my soul and in reference to eternity let the seed of grace grow and flourish let the weeds of sin be rooted out and let my soul like the good ground bring forth an hundred fold then shall I glorify thee when I
God forgive I beseech thee my carnal confidence trusting to the arm of flesh both in reference to my body and soul let me see the vanity of all creature-confidences how little they can avail without thy blessing and however thou crossest my designes for the world Lord succeed my designes for heaven with thy blessings leave me not to the teaching of man but teach me thy self water me with the dew of heaven and let thy clouds drop fatness incline my heart to thy testimonies and not to coveteousness Upon flowers seemingly dead in winter yet flourishing in the spring 23. Med. WHen I observed some flowers in the garden that all the winter long when the sun was remote in the Southern climate hid their heads withered seemed to die and to be extinct and buried themselves in their mother earth yet at the return of the year when their beloved smiled upon them when the sun came to the aequinoctial and began to court them and shine upon them with a more direct ray and warmer gleam they crept out of their grave revived sprang again and flourished like a love sick woman killed with a frown and recovered with a smile those that before go in their mourning-weeds now put on their best apparel This consideration made me compare it to the state of a poor soul in desertion when God the Sun of righteousness her beloved hides his face and stands at a remote distance then it is winter with the soul then it droops hangs down the head and is ready to die and cry out with the spouse stay me with flagons comfort me with apples I am sick of love but there may be life in the root when it appears not in the branches when the Sun of righteousness ariseth in the soul with healing in his wings Mal. 4.2 these dry bones will live these dead branches will bud these swouning fainting souls will revive and these buried flowers will spring out again though they are in the shadow of death light shall spring out to them The hearb of grace will not die in a hard winter when the spring comes it will bud and break forth the best of Saints oft have had their fainting-fits David that man after Gods own heart though well acquainted with the incomes of the spirit the smiles of God and spirituall consolations yet had many qualms and fainting-fits upon the apprehension of Gods departure but God though he seem to be long absent will not forsake those that are not willing to leave him Esay 4.14.15 but Zion said the Lord hath forsaken me and my Lord hath forgotten me can a woman forget her sucking-childe that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb yea they may forget yet will not I forget thee A father sometimes hides himself behinde the wall to try the affections of his little son to see whether he will miss him what moan he will make in his absence or whether he minde his play and be content without him when yet he is so far from forsaking him that every tear goes to his heart so God in his withdrawings from his people is much concerned in the moan they make and his bowels yearn at their complaints as he did at Ephraims when he bemoaned himself Jer. 31.18 19 20. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself c. Is Ephraim my dear son is he a pleasant child for since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord who is among you saith the prophet that feareth the Lord and walketh in darkness and hath no light let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay himself upon his God Esay 5.10 Here we see a man may fear God and yet be in darkness sometimes the Sun may he ecclipsed sometimes clouded but it will break forth again those that have their eyes enlightned shall see it though the blinde discern not between day and night light and darkness the greatest part of the world know not what it is to have the Sun of righteousness to arise in their hemisphere But it is the greatest grief to a believer that ever befell him in his life to have the face of his beloved to be clouded from him and his sun to set at noon then he goes with the spouse seeking him sorrowing did ye see him whom my soul loveth Cant. 3.3 when they seek him and cannot finde him when they call him and he gives them no answer Cant. 5.6 they seek from ordinance to ordinance from Minister to Minister and enquire after him every room in the house may witness their moan and their complaint but when they finde they rejoyce with the Martyr Oh Austin he is come he is come oh my soul how stands the case with thee art thou apprehensive of the approaches and departures of God from thy soul dost thou rejoyce in his presence as these poor flowers in the presence of their beloved dost thou mourn at his absence as they do and hide thy head dost thou hunger and thirst after him as the thirsty man for drink or the thirsty land for drops of rain if thou make little matter of him it is a signe thou hast little benefit by him or little love to him or never knewest what it was to have communion with him he is the chiefest of ten thousand therefore the virgins love him get as strong an apprehension of his love to thee and thine to him as possibly thou canst this will keep the soul from stragling thou wilt never leave him whom thou lovest and he will never leave one that loves him his withdrawings are but to try thy affections and he oft loves dearly those he seems to loathe if thou forsake not him he will never forsake thee and an evidence of his love will bear up the heart above trouble the Psalmist when he was so troubled that he could not speak yet comforted himself in considering the days of old and the years of ancient times and calling to his remembrance his songs in the night Psal 77.4 5 6. when there is a calm and tranquillity in the soul examine thy self by Scripture-evidences whether there be the truth of grace in thy soul or no and if thou finde it lay up these records against a stormy-day when the sun is clouded and out of sight then when thou canst not reade thy own heart or see grace in thy soul yet maist thou say at such a time in such a place I examined my self by such and such marks grounded upon such and such Scriptures and plainly and impartially judged my graces were true now true grace cannot be lost and therefore I know there is fire though under the ashes and true grace though buried under corruption and he that then loved me will love me to the end yea with an everlasting love oh my God assist me in this work of examination and not only give
me grace and write thine image upon me but also enable me to reade it that it may keep me alive in the winter when thou seemest to be at a distance from me Upon fine flowers foul-sented 24. Med. WHen I beheld some of the fairest flowers in the garden and those that made the most specious shew and were adorned with the most costly colours and were set forth in the most gorgeous dress and were most sumptuously arrayed to please the eye I commended their form and shape and comely beauty but when I drew near to handle them to smell to them and put them in my bosome I found my mistake for they were of a stinking savour good for nothing but to gaze on at a distance for though they pleased my eye they offended my nose and were neither fit to be handled nor smelt to This made me to consider it is not always good to trust to our own eyes in our choice for the eye hath deceived many a man and will do us if we trust to it and call every thing good that is beautiful may we not see many a gallant in our times in a gayish dress where the bark is better then the body like the cinamon tree that like the butterfly paints her wings to cover her deformed carkass how often have I seen a handsome well-shap't beautiful woman with foul conditions misshapen qualities when under a more rugged skin and less beautiful countenance and more deformed body there was a more beautiful soul and Christianlike behaviour The devil many times baits his hooks with a beautiful woman when he fishes for unwary youth and seldome misses of his prey but by this means destroys them soul and body how oft do men that make their eye their cook and do more care to please their fancy then to please their God in their choise and looks after beauty more then grace undoe themselves and repent of their choise when it is too late Beauty is but skin-deep and age or fickness soon withers this flower when grace and goodness are more durable and will not change colour It were better for many women if they had fair mindes and soul faces then might they have escaped those snares the devil hath laid for their feet and ensnared their pretious souls grace and beauty is a sweet conjunction where they meet and sometimes though seldome we finde them together thus it was with Sarah and Rebeckah both fair both gracious but when they are seperated as too oft we finde grace should be preferred by many degrees An humble gracious spirit is a jewel of great price in the eyes of God and wise men but beauty dazles a fools eyes and makes him blinde and such Dalilah's bring men with Sampson to grind at the mill and makes their neighbours sport I need not prove this experientia docet From these Meditations I ascended higher and I resembled these fair but stinking flowers to an hypocrite that shews much better then he is and looks best at a distance and like deceitful wares worst at hand he is like a stage-player as the word signifies who often acts the part of a King a Prince an honest man when he is indeed a beggarly fellow perhaps a worthless rascal The hypocrite is a saint abroad a devil at home and plays more parts then one he is zealous in the congregation lukewarm in his family and key-cold in his closet under the vizard of holiness he acts wickedness and makes religion a cloak to cover his knavery or a stalking horse to take his prey and thus he deceives men and many times preys upon them but can neither deceive God nor the devil God quickly smels the stinking savour of his rotten lungs and the devil knows him by his own brand upon him Oh my soul art not thou guilty of this folly of judging by the appearance and of being deceived by deceitful shews look more at the substance then the shadow at the inward vertue then the form and feature choose not the tree by the leaves but the fruit nor a man by his words but his actions nor a woman by her beauty but by her good conditions choose not a horse by his trappings but by his mettle nor a professor by his discourse but by his life and conversation respect not a man for a gold ring but for the Jem and jewels of grace that he wears the fairest face hath not always the chastest heart nor the nimblest tongue the most solid wit the greatest bragger is not always the wisest nor the richest man the emptiest barrel makes the greatest sound and the deepest water makes least noise labour more to be good then to seem so for God will not judge thee as thou seemest to be but as thou art If the heart be not right God will wipe off all the paint and plaister that is upon thy words and actions and they shall be esteemed as the fountain is from whence they proceed be in secret what thou seemest in publick for the same eye is upon thee in the one as well as in the other hypocrites seem to distrust God lest he should deny the service they do him and therefore will do nothing but before witness but a true Christian dare take his word and therefore fast pray and give alms in secret popular applause is the oyl that makes the hypocrites chariot-wheels to move but it is the love of God that constrains a Christian Oh my God I cannot excuse my self or wash my hands from these filthy sins of pride and hypocrisie yet my hopes are they are not in me in a prevailing degree Lord curse and blast these bitter roots that never more fruit may grow upon them quell and suppress every motion that ariseth in my soul of this nature give me in sincerity whatever else thou shalt deny me Make my heart upright in thy statutes let me rather be good then seem good and work truth in my inward parts Upon sweet-smelling flowers 25. Med. WHen I considered what a sweet savour and odoriferous smell a garden of flowers and hearbs sent forth when it was watered from heaven by a refreshing shower and cheared again with the sun-beams darted upon it what a place of pleasure a paradice of delights it seemed to be the sight the smell and savour delighted me the melodious harmony and birds pleased me so that my affections began to grow warm and my fancy to be tickled with it and I began with Peter to say it is good being here till upon consideration I checkt my self for my folly for letting out my affection upon such poor objects and letting them grovel so low upon the ground and to close with such poor pittiful nothings then began I to screw my thoughts a little higher and to say to my self fool that thou art is there so much beauty and sweetness in the creature yea in these poor pitifull vanishing fading creatures which to day are saith Christ and to morrow are
be refresht either by the clouds immediately or from the fountains by mans industry or it cannot bring forth but if God deny provision whence shall man have it they may say as the king Ahab did 2 King 6.26 if the Lord do not help thee whence shall I help thee out of the barn-floor or out of the wine-press he is the fountain that must supply the cistern he it is that maketh the springs to run among the hills and fills our fountains out of his treasury Can any of the vanities of the gentiles give rain no they cannot and all the men on earth and devils in hell nay all the angels of heaven cannot do it if he deny it let men say what they please to the contrary and without water neither man nor beast fish nor foul hearb nor plant can long subsist this raised my Meditation a little higher I considered as it was in naturals so much more in spirituals where neither Paul nor Apollos can do the work or make the soul fruitful without God we have indeed many pipes but they are all supplyed by one common fountain if God withhold the water of consolation we may suck long enough before we be satisfied This minded me of a twofold errour in men one in the excess the other in the defect some they suck at the pipe and neglect the fountain these may suck long enough before they are satisfied the other thinking to be supplyed immediately by the fountain neglect the pipe these fail on the other hand in not using the means God hath appointed them some trust in the ordinances and think them sufficient and idolize the Ministers these many times suck at dry breasts the pipe can give no more then it receives from the fountain the other think themselves above ordinances and neglect them the ordinary way appointed by God for their supply and these ofttimes argue themselves out of their Religion though the dug be not that which feeds the childe yet the childe must suck milk through the dug from the breast or otherwise is not like to have it though the pipe cannot supply it is the usuall means of bringing the water the Ministry of the word is usually honoured with the conversion of souls though God can and no doubt sometimes doth work conversion without them yet it is rare Cornelius you finde was directed by an Angel to Peter Act. 10.4 5. though the angel certifyeth him that his alms and his prayers were accepted yet he reads not to him the doctrine of redemption though no doubt he could better have done it then Peter had God given him a commission but the office of preaching is given to the Ministers not to angels We finde Paul when he was strucken down in the way as he journeyed towards Damascus Christ did not teach him himself but sends him to Ananias Act. 9.6 c. and hereby graceth his own ordinance so Philip by the spirit of God was sent to instruct the Eunuch Acts. 8.29 now either Christ himself immediately or the angel or the spirit might have done the work had not God intended to have honoured his Messengers with the work of mans conversion and also to leave it as a standing ordinance to the world for the bringing in and building up those that shall be saved and therefore 't is not safe to contemn it Oh my soul sall not out with the pipe for this is the appointed way to bring water from the fountain fall not in love with it for of it self it can give no satisfaction use it thou must but idolize it thou must not trust not in men nor means food nor physick though thou must make use of them Cursed is the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm and whose heart departeth from the living God all other are physitians of no value clouds without water broken cisterns that can hold no water It was Asa's failing and no doubt a gross one to seek to the physitians in the neglect of God think it not sufficient for the body to make use of the ablest physitian nor for the soul to live under the ablest Minister for many bodyes and souls perish under such if God help thee not whence shall they help thee the sun in a clear day may be seen in a pail of water but if it be clouded all the water in the world cannot shew it the ordinance is the usual place where God may be seen but till God open mens eyes there is none can see him there yet must not the ordinances be despised for usually God makes discoveries of himself there he could have sed Elijah himself or by an Angel yet sends him food by a raven he could have taught Paul as well as struck him down as is before-noted yet sends him to Ananias he seldom works otherwise where the means of grace is to be had he could have healed Hezekiah with a word yet useth a bunch of figs no matter what is the disease or what is the receipt if God bless it Oh my God afford me the means of grace the Ministry of thy word and leave me not up to a famine of thy word nor leave me not to the teaching of man but follow home every truth and set it home by thy holy spirit let me not suck an empty dug then shall I draw nothing but winde let me not draw at an empty pipe then shall I suck and not be satisfied supply the dug from a full breast and the pipe from a full fountain then shall I be fat and flourishing Upon the difference between the various sorts of flowers and vegetables 27. Med. WHen I considered the various forms features shapes colours and vertues of the several sorts of herbs flowers and other vegetables and though there are perhaps many hundred several species in the world yet every species hath a distinct colour shape and vertue different from the rest whereby they may be perfectly known found out and distinguisht one from another by a skilfull artist and all these together adorn the creation and make the earth lovely and every one hath its peculiar use While I spent some thoughts on these things and was admiring the creatures wisdome in these works of his hands and his good to mankinde to give a salve to every sore for he hath made nothing in vain it came to my minde how many thousand millions of faces are upon the face of the earth all alike and yet unlike all resembling one another and yet scarce two persons to be found out in the whole world so like but they may be differenced one from another in one thing or another by a discerning eye this also raised my meditation from the creature to the Creator to admire his wisdome and skill that hath as before noted thus distinguished between the several sort of vegetables though many hundreds and between so many hundred thousands of faces among rational creatures that as he gives to every seed his own
body so he gives to every peculiar species his own proper colour shape odour and vertue and to every individual of the species and to every rational creature his own proper face and feature all lovely amiable and comely and yet different one from another all agreeing in the main and yet disagreeing in one thing or other Oh the omnipotent power and wisdome of the great God how unsearchable are his counsels and his ways past finding out And as they differ in bodily shape so also in the endowments of the minde there is very great variety and diversity amongst men scarce two can be found in an age alike qualified very few of the same minde in all things quot homines tot sententiae is a saying not more antient then true so many men so many mindes for where shall we finde a perfect agreement between any two how various also are the gifts of the same spirit to the sons of men God doth not intrust any one man with all neither is there any that have not some talent 1 Cor. 12.43 now there are diversity of gifts but the same spirit c. for to one is given by the spirit the word of wisdome to another the word of knowledge by the same spirit to another faith by the same spirit to another the gift of healing by the same spirit to another the working of miracles to another prophesie to another discerning of spirits to another diverse kindes of tongues to another the interpretation of tongues but all these worketh that one and the self same spirit dividing to every man severally as he will c. and to one is given ten talents to another five and to another one according to the place and imployment they are set in and the work God requires at their hands as the diverse smells of flowers comes from the same influence and the diverse sounds in the organ from the same breath so divers-operations from the same spirit and all for the good of the whole he that is not fit to serve the body is not fit to be of the body God gives to every man according to his place and station and will require an account of what he gives some are deeply skil'd in the original tongues and other languages others excell in philosophical notions some search natures garden from end to end and become excellent artists there some excell in one science some in another some in the law some in physick some in divinity some in geometry some excell for deep inventions others are good artists c. and among Christians some excel in one grace and some in another some are deep in humiliation some have a great measure of self-denial some excell in faith some in patience c. among Ministers each hath his peculiar gift some are good Textuaries and some criticks some are good in case-divinity some are skil'd in controversies and are excellent disputants some are for explication and some are best at application some for conviction and others for comforting afflicted consciences and all for the common good Ephe. 4.11 12. and he gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying the body of Christ Oh my soul hast thou any one of these gifts hath God lent thee any talent why hast thou not improved it how comes it to pass in all this time that thou hast not increast it God will require it at thy hand ere long and it is wonder it had not been taken away ere now hadst thou been diligent thou mightest as others with the good servant Luk. 19.16 have said Lord thy one pound hath gained ten pounds when alas it is to be feared thou canst not say it hath gained two though God will not blame thee that thou hast received no more yet will he blame thee for improving that no better the time is coming God will call his servants to an account as well as his enemies and reckon with them take heed of receiving any grace in vain nor envy those that have received more perhaps they received no more but have better imployed what they had let this put thee on to diligence not to murmuring covet grace rather then gifts and to to pray fervently rather then rhetorically stammering Moses shall be heard as soon as Eloquent Aaron had idleness been a lawful calling we should have had many good husbands as well as good fellows but God disowns such and it is no hard matter to discern a wane and decay in such mens gifts and parts and that the Lord is taking away his talents from them and giving them to some other that will better improve them and is laying them aside as broken vessels and ere long they shall be as dead men out of minde when the diligent shall be had in everlasting remembrance oh my God lay not to my charge my former folly my sloth and negligence take not away thy talent from me but give me a heart better to improve it let me double my diligence and amend my pace that thou maist never say to me as to that unfaithful and unprofitable servant Mat. 25.26 take him binde him hand and foot and cast him into outer darkness Upon withering herbs and flowers 28. Med. UPon the sight of some withered herbs and flowers that a little before were fresh and flourishing and made a beautiful shew in the hand and bosome but now were fit for nothing but the dunghill I began to consider thus it is with many of the professors of our age many that have made a fair shew and held out a large profession in the sight of the sun are already dead and withered and many more begin to hang the head and droop and their death is dayly expected and all for want of root the sun of persecution shining upon them hath killed many if it should arise indeed many more would wither feigned conversion proves unfeigned apostasy how much salt hath already lost its savour and is now become good for nothing no not for the dunghill How many glorious lamps have I seen in my days blown out or extinguished for lack of oyl yea went out in a snuff and some of them stunk in the socket they had a name to live but they were dead Rev. 3.1 God knows his own sheep and those given to Christ he will not lose one but these saith the Apostle are gone from among us because they were not of us they with the Jewes cry the temple of the Lord when they matter not the Lord of the temple these are spots in your feasts of charity when they feast with you feeding themselves without fear clouds they are without water carried about with windes trees whose fruit withereth without fruit twice dead plucked up by the roots raging waves of the Sea foaming out their own shame wandring-stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever
semper idem always the same Job upon the throne and upon the dunghill is holy Job still it brings forth the fruits of the spirit whereever it is planted Gal 5.22 but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance against such there is no law but where sin is it brings forth the fruits of the flesh it grows from one degree to another from a thought to a resolution thence to action and at length comes to a habit and hard it is to be left Bray a fool saith Solomon in a morter with a pestle like wheat yet will not his foolishness depart from him Pro. 27.22 A wolf will have a wolvish nature though his skin be stript over his ears and his bones be broken as every seed produceth its own kinde and not another species so grace and sin shew themselves in their production men gather not grapes of thorns not figs of thistles a good tree cannot bring forth evill fruit nor a corrupt tree good fruit but every tree is known by his fruit oh my soul are there secrets in nature that thou understandest not yea even in those creatures that thou dost dayly converse with admire the wisdome of the Creator and see how little beholding thou art to sin which hath drawn such a vail of ignorance before thy eyes and wonder not that there are mysteries in spirituals beyond thy conceiving if thou canst not understand temporalls much less spirituals that are spiritually discerned the nature of God of Angels and of thy self lie far more remote from thy understanding There is many a man that can search natures garden from end to end that never could search his own heart many can try their evidence for lands that know not how to try their title to heaven they can finde out the state of their bodies but know not the state of their souls but when others study earth do thou study heaven the things that are necessary are attainable study Christ and him crucified this will do thee more good then if thou couldst with Solomon discourse of all the vegetables from the cedar in Lebanon to the hysop that groweth upon the way and did men study God and themselves as much as they did the creature it would bring in more profit The knowledg of these things is excellent but the knowledge of God and our selves is necessary all thy time is little enough for this study the other must be left to more curious heads and riper witts oh my God suffer me not to spend my time in any unnecessary study that should be spent in seeking thee let me not catch at the shadow and lose the substance and hunt so long after curiosities till I lose my self and know not which way to return all my time is little enough to spend in my generall and particular calling all the water is little enough to run in this channel and I have none to spare to turn any other mill let my greatest care be to know God and my self the duty I owe him and the relation I stand in to him and what interest I have in Jesus Christ Lord let this be the work of the remaining part of my life Upon some despicable weeds yet usefull 32. Med. WHen I saw some poor contemptible despicable weeds that usually grow in the fields without labour pains or care of man or are thrown out of the garden with contempt as not fit to have a being there but to be trod upon and despised as not being neither sweet for savour nor beautifull to the eye and yet when I beheld these very weeds gathered and successfully used by the greatest artists in physick and surgery for the curing of great distempers when the more glorious gorgeous and more esteemed vegetables were disregarded this made me consider how deceitfull a thing it is to judge by the outward appearance and that beauty and vertue are not alway linkt together neither go they hand in hand many have been deceived when they have pleased their eyes by beauty the devil many times baits his hook with a fair woman and many have been undone by swallowing such a hook many that have made beauty their aim have been matcht with foul conditions Samuel that man of God was deceived by his eye when he thought Eliab Davids elder brother had been the Lords annointed because he had a comely countenance 1 Sam. 16.6 and it came to pass after they were come that he looked on Eliab and said surely the Lords anointed is before him but the Lord said to Samuel look not on his countenance or on the heighth of his stature because I have refused him for the Lord seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart Many a man under a russet coat carries more real worth more true gentillity yea nobillity then others do under their silks and sattins velvets and scarlets many a worthless piece is drest puppet-like with paint and plaister and ridiculous gewgaws but could we but see the soul through the gayish dress of the body it would appear leprous and deformed nay perhaps in the body it self there would appear visible marks of deformity as well as of infirmity paint and plaister better become a mud-wall then a marble pillar true beauty needs no varnish nor a diamond needs no painting spotted faces often cover spotted souls and their spot is not the spot of Gods people there are many that like the Cinamon-tree have the bark better then the body but it is a fool that buys a horse by the trappings or chooseth a wife by her gaudy dress or that esteems the better of himself or imagines that any wise man esteems the better of him for a fine suit of cloathes yet there was a disease amongst Christians in the Apostles time and it is almost epidemical in our days to respect the cloathes or outward ornaments of a man more then his conditions and qualifications Jam. 2.2 3. if there come into your assemblies a man with a gold ring in goodly apparel and there come in also a poor man in vile rayment and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay cloathing and say unto him fit thou here in a good place and say to the poor man stand thou here or sit here under my footstool are you not then partial in your selves c. but however man may disrespect them God hath chosen the poor rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom A poor man though wise yea though by his wisdome he save the city yet is not remembred Eccl. 9.15 this is merces mundi the worlds wages many deal by such as men do by a fruit-tree to which they run in a storm and when it is done beat him and rob him of his fruit many wise Ministers are heard with scorn or at least with disregard till men lie upon their death-bed and then they are sent unto for counsel or
family and bloudy house as God calls it 2 Sam. 21.1 strangely rooted out oh my soul are all these things so vain and transitory what is the reason then that thou lets out thy affections so much upon them and concernest thy self so much above them and spendest thy money for that which is not bread and thy labour for that which satisfieth not and moilest and toylest and carkest and carest for them in the neglect of more necessary concerns why art thou so taken with them when thy business succeeds and when thy perishing goard prospers and why art thou so troubled when it withers why art thou so affected with the worlds smiles and knows that Syren-like when most she fawns she most intends a wrack why art thou so troubled at a cross providence as if thy happiness did consist in these enjoyments and in the mean while when thou hast crosses and losses in thy spiritual state and nothing there prospers thou layest it not to heart when God withholds the rain from the ground thou art affected when he withholds the dew of heaven from thy soul thou regardest it not why art thou so good a husband for thy body and so bad for thy soul is not the soul of greater concernment Do these outward things really go to the making up of thy happiness or is not the maintaining of communion with God of much greater concernment if thou losest a days work in the field thou art troubled but hast thou not lost many a days work in the congregation and heard many a Sermon and madst little use of it and is this nothing to thee oh my God this bewitching world this crafty devil and this deceitful heart of mine hath conspired my ruine and without thy assistance will accomplish it oh my folly that I should so affect what I know to be vain and transitory and to signify nothing to my eternal happiness Lord wean me from the world and engage my affections to thy self give me an understanding heart that I may expect no more from the world then it can perform nor spend no more time upon it then it will recompense me for and though the world must have my head and my hands Lord keep my heart disengaged let me lodge none there but my husband Christ Upon the sympathy and antipathy of vegetables 35. Med. WHen I considered the sympathy and antipathy that is observed to be between some vegetables which the Naturalists treat of and the Philosophers call occulta qualitatis for which no reason can be given when some had rather die then live and grow together and others never thrive well excepte they are planted near one to the other the like antipathy we may observe among sensitive creatures where one kinde seeks the destruction of another and others love and delight each in other nay something of this may be seen where is neither life nor sence as in fire and water and the strange simpathy between the loadstone and the iron between the jet and the straw c. This consideration minded me of the strange antipathy between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman mentioned Gen. 3.15 I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed I considered also of the sympathy between Gods own people the former is lively expressed by the antipathy that Naturalists observe to be in the Panther to a man that bears such a perfect hatred to him that he will race out his image if he see it upon a wall In wicked men there is so perfect a hatred to God that they will if they can possibly race out the very image of God whereever they see it They hate every thing that God loves love every thing that he hates they hate every thing that is like him and that for this very reason because it is like him now no reason can be given of this why they should hate this God who is goodness it self who is also their creator and their great benefactor from whom they have their life and breath and being their food and rayment their limbs and sences their health and strength their peace and plenty without whom they cannot speak nor stir nor live a moment and yet this is the case of all wicked men on earth however cross each to other in their principles and contrary in their dispositions if they agree in nothing else yet they agree in this to oppose the power of godliness Herod and Pilate can both consent that innocent Christ shall be put to death though wicked men like snarling dogs are worrying one another yet joyn against the trembling hare so though they worry each other yet all agree against an holy man let a godly man be of never so pleasing a disposition and winning carriage never so open-hearted and open-handed yet this one ingredient holiness spoils all in the worlds account and renders him hatefull and contemptible in their eyes and the grossest drunkard swearer and adulterer shall be preferred before him Christ himself though never man spake like him and no guile was found in his mouth yet a seditious murderer Barrabbas was preferred before him oh the degenerate estate of poor man whither art thou fallen is the chiefest good become the object of thy chiefest hatred and is holiness wherein thou wast created and which is Gods image without which thou canst never be saved become thy scorn and more contemptible then the image of the devil is the devil become the better Master and is his work the better work and will also his wages be the better wages well praise in the parting the time is coming thy judgment will be altered and thou wilt be glad to eat those words that now thou speakest against the power of godliness I know all men are not actually persecutors but no thanks to them they have the same nature and have an aking tooth against holiness but for the preservation of his people the Lord restrains them thus he did Abimelech Gen. 20.6 I withheld thee from sinning against me therefore suffered I not thee to touch her and Laban God said unto him take heed that thou speak not unto Jacob either good or bad Gen. 31.24 viz. neither by flattery nor force by allurement or affrightment to bring him back God spake for him in the heart of his enemy The sympathy also that is amongst the children of God was minded by me they are sons of the same father and heirs of the same inheritance and therefore should be kindly affectioned one to another Rom. 12.10 arctior est copula cordis quam corporis they are brethren in Adam according to the flesh and brethren in Christ according to the spirit they rejoyce with them that do rejoyce and weep with them that weep Rom. 12.15 cum plangentibus plango saith Cyprian cum deflentibus defleo this is that brotherly love which the Apostle bids to continue Heb. 13.1 the communion with God and the communion
of the fruits 39. Med. AT the end of the year when I received in the crop the fruits of the earth for which I had laboured and for which I had long waited I began to consider what a poor reward this is for all my labour if I must expect no more and what a sad condition poor labouring men are in that moil and toil and cark and care and have much ado for bread to eat and cloaths to put on and this is their all yea they run in arrears to God for this also and are like to be cast into prison for ever and yet we may see the folly of the most they take no care for any other riches but frame to themselves a poor pittifull happiness in these and are never like to have any pleasure here or hereafter but what they fancy to themselves in some sinfull vanity the receiving in of these fruits of the earth as the reward of my labour put me in minde of the reward which believers shall receive at the last day at the hand of God for all the labour toil and trouble they have had which will be a better recompense then the earth can give the husbandman for his pains let us not then be weary of well-doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not Gal. 6.9 he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting ver 8. he that cares only to feather his nest store up riches fit the back and fill the belly and lets the soul sink or swim he is like to have a miserable harvest but they that sow in tears shall reap in joy he that goeth forth weeping bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoycing bringing his sheaves with him Psal 126.5 6. Be patient therefore brethren saith the Apostle till the coming of the Lord behold the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruits of the earth and hath long patience for it till he receiveth the early and the latter rain be you also patient stablish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh Jam. 5.7 8. Now believers sow the seed and water it with their tears but it is not long before the reward comes behold I come quickly saith Christ and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be Rev. 22.12 hold out faith and patience saith the Martyr your work will presently be at an end hope holds up the husbandmans heart and may much more the Christians these things also put me in minde of the great harvest at the end of the world when the great husbandman shall send out his servants the angels to reap down his field and gather in his corn Mat. 13.38 the field is the world the good seed are the children of the kingdom the tares are the children of the wicked one the enemy that sows them is the devil the harvest is the end of the world the reapers are the angels as therefore the tares are gathered together and burnt in the fire so shall it be in the end of this world the day is coming that all shall be brought to judgment and the precious shall be seperated from the vile the good corn shall be brought into the barn but the tares are reserved for the fire the tares and the wheat may grow together in one field but shall never lodge together in the same barn for as the tares cannot well be weeded out which in the blade some say much resemble the wheat and is hardly known till the fruit appears so though God can discern the hypocrite from the sincere yet hypocrisy may be spun with so fine a thread that the best discerning Christian can hardly do it but the time is coming the angels shall know them and they are not to go into the same garner they must be bundled up for the fire when the wheat must be brought into Gods barn oh my soul what seed hast thou sown against that harvest hast thou sown to the flesh then of the flesh thou wilt reap corruption if to the spirit thou wilt of the spirit reap life everlasting what grain art thou art thou wheat or tares then maist thou know whether thou art to go to the fire or into the garner rest not satisfied till thou know that thou art wheat and neither with the tares bring forth bad fruit nor with the chaff fly away with the winde it is not enough to have a flourishing blade so the stony ground had and yet came to nothing it is not enough to make a profession of religion so the foolish virgins did they had lamps but no oyl a profession but no grace it is not enough to have talents but thou must improve them or thou wilt be sentenced to outer darkness it is not enough to grow in the same field be manured by the same hand heated by the same sun and watered with the same showers thus the tares were but there must be good feed well-rooted springing up and bearing fruit in thy heart thou maist live under the same Minister enjoy the same ordinance with the wheat and yet still be but a tare oh my God discover my self to my self and let me not be deceived by a cunning devil and a deceitful heart if I be a tare Lord let me know it ere it be too late that I may sow better seed in my field that I may be gathered into thy barn and not be bundled up with the tares for the fire let my heart bring forth good fruit fit for the basket good wheat fit for thy barn solid wheat that may not be blown away with the winde and much fruit that I may glorify thy name let me not sow to the flesh but to the spirit that I may not reap corruption but life everlasting let me not be deceived in so great a business as the salvation of my soul Upon the beating out of the seed 40. Med. WHen I had gathered in the seed and the fruits of the earth my next work was to make a separation the good from the bad for though some separation was already made and the weeds and other trash were cast out and left behinde yet still there were stalks and husks and chaff adhering to it to this end I threshed rubbed pounded or beat it out according as I saw occasion for I saw it would not out without some violence and that which was most stubborn and gave most resistance received most blows till at length my end was obtained and the separation made this put me in minde of the necessity of affliction how needful it was for the soul which is pestered more with chaff and rubbish then any corn can be though now saith the Apostle for a season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations c. 1 Pet. 1.6 when the heart grows too light God makes it heavy with manifold
prayer and tear yet he cannot beget a godly childe but chaff and corruption adheres to them also nay inheres in them and they have as much need of refining as ever the father had for though a sinful man beget a sinful childe yet cannot a gracious man beget a gracious childe for he begets him as he is a man and of the sinful off-spring of fallen Adam and not as he is gracious and though God do more usually make choise of his people out of such families the covenant being with them and their seed and he hath respect to their prayers and gives a blessing to their education and exhortations yet this is not always so neither are they born thus for they are the children of wrath as well as others and though sin be hereditary grace is not Ah sin what woful work hast thou made in the world the most of men perish eternally by thee and those that escape are saved as by fire with a very great deal of pains and difficulty holy David begat a lascivious Amnon and a rebellious Absolom good Ely begat bad sons and holy Isaac a prophane Esau yea faithfull Abraham a scoffing Ishmael for as a learned man cannot beget a learned childe for learning is not a birth-priviledge but an acquired qualification so grace is not born with but freely given to them that God thinks fit to bestow it upon A rich mans childe comes into the world as naked destitute and miserably impotent and helpless as any other This as it may minde us of our miserable condition by the fall so also of our duty to our children that as we are carefull of their bodies so should we be much more carefull of their souls and as we are carefull that they get learning so should we be much more that they get grace an estate is not so needfull as an interest in Christ we should endeavour by instruction correction and good education to train them up in the fear of God and when we can do no more to go to him that is able to give it to beg grace for them for as we were instrumental in their ruine so we should endeavour their recovery But too many train them up no otherwise then they do their horses teach them to drudge and think they have done well especially if they can leave them an estate behinde them which oftentimes is so badly gotten that they entail also a curse upon them and their posterity and God doth in a visible manner punish their children to the third and fourth generation Oh my soul how stands the case with thee thou art a childe of wrath by nature as well as others is thy relation to thy God changed of an enemy art thou an adopted son t is well thou hadst dross is that consumed and the soul refined thou hadst chaff is that blown away hast thou the marks of adoption now upon thee that formerly hadst the marks of an enemy dost thou resemble thy father dost bear his image God hath no children but what have some resemblance to him he never adopts any but he changeth their nature and disposition as well as their relation he hath no unnatural children hath he made good that promise to thee 2 Cor. 6.18 I will be a father to them and they shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord almighty hath he performed the duty of a father in thy new birth in maintaining thee and giving the heavenly allowance in instructing and correcting thee and hast thou the nature disposition and priviledge of children hast thou communion with him doth he feed thee with bread from heaven cloath thee with the robes of righteousness and adorn thee with the jewels of his grace is there a through change wrought in thee and a new nature put into thee hast thou given up thy heart as well as thy name to Christ if it be so it is well if thou hast this priviledge for thy self seek it for thy children also as thou hast dedicated them to God do thy endeavour to make them Gods and that the work of grace may be timely wrought in their souls curb corruption while they are young a green twig will easily be bended but when old and dry the work is difficult many like the ape kill their young ones with embracing and they come to break their parents heart who thought a rod too heavy for them withhold not correction nor instruction and go to God for a blessing upon both Oh my God am I wilde by nature and hast thou planted me into the true olive hast thou taken me off my own stock and planted me into the true vine Lord what shall I render to thee for this Lord help me to give up my heart as well as my name to thee and live thanks as well as speak thanks hast thou made me a son Lord give me a son-like disposition and let me honour my God by a holy life and conversation And O that my children might live before thee Lord purge out the dross blow away their chaff make them thy sons and thy daughters Upon the pleasures of a garden 43. Med. BEing in a well contrived well-furnished well-ordered garden where there was what nature or art could bestow upon it various well-coloured well-sented flowers which chequered the knots and delighted both the sight and smell with various sorts of herbs and vegetables as well physicall as otherwise together with curious walks and shady bowers and other curious contrivances delightful delicacies and various curiosities that it seemed to me an earthly paradice a place of pelights and pleasures which when I had viewed and for a while solaced my self in it I took much pleasure in it and could contentedly have spent my time there my affections were much tickled with it and grew warm upon it and for a while I delighted my self in it but at last I began to call my self to an accompt and to check my self for it with such considerations as these oh my soul what art thou doing or whether art thou going art thou in heaven or upon the earth that thou art taking up thy station art thou like Shimei in seeking a servant dost thou lose thy self wilt thou by admiring the gift neglect the giver or court the maid before the mistress and take up with a handful of muck for a handful of angels is this a suitable portion for thee or rather a suitable match for the soul that thou art espousing thy self to it and letting out thy affections upon it will this serve thy turn or make thee happy or will it endure to eternity alas it will not when winter comes where are then thy delights nay when night comes it deprives thee of thy pleasure yea every shower of rain puts thee on to seek another happiness and a better shelter and security what then will become of thee at death or judgment if thou hast no better a refuge what good can these do thee in heaven or in
hell these things are not lasting thou seest the flowers ripe at noon and withered by night like Jonah's gourd grow up in a night and wither in a night and have a worm breed in them which will eat out their heart they are like the bee they have honey in the mouth and a sting in the tail and not only vanity but vexation of spirit is writ upon them will a handful of flowers revive a dying man or comfort a languishing soul when the earth and all the works therein are burnt up where will be thy happiness then why then wilt thou moil and toil and cark and care for such vanities that never will make thee satisfaction why wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not if thou wilt take pains let it be in a more fruitful soil where thou maist expect a better crop spend not thy money for that which is not bread nor thy labour for that which satisfies not these cannot satisfy and if they did cannot last long these are but swallow-comforts they hide their heads in the winter the grass will soon wither the flowers will soon fade and thy own life is no more certain and what good will these do the soul some poor vanishing delights they yield for an hour or two and then it is over but there are more satisfying pleasures more durable delights to be had then these why are they then neglected these like swallow-friends forsake when winter comes when there is most need or like Physitians leave a man when he is dying or like the devil with the witch tempt a while and then forsake her when she is in the most danger If a small spot of earth seem so delightful what is heaven and those mansions of glory provided for glorified Saints if the creature be so glorious what is the Creator who infused such a beauty and vertue in it if a flower be so sweet what is the rose of sharon and the lilly of the valley these things delight us for a moment but one day will make us weary of them especially if there be not the addition of meat and drink and sleep and lodging of health and strength and other necessaries but in heaven is nothing wanting that is necessary delightful or desirable no creature-comforts there are needful but God is better a thousand times then all the comforts the whole earth affords oh my soul labour after the substance not the shadow after Christ and a title to glory there are reall pleasures to be had rivers of pleasure at his right hand for evermore scorn then to be put off with such poor things or to let out thy affections upon such vanities or to let them grovel upon the ground wilt thou suffer thy eyes to be dazled with a few flowers when thou maist behold the sun the moon and stars those glorious lamps and beauty-spots of heaven these are greater beauties those beautify only the porch how beautiful then is the palace the throne nay the king himself These flowers thou now admirest may for ought thou knowest be cropt and made use of for thy funeral for thy body is as fading and thy life as uncertain as they are a few days will â—â—ther make them uncapable of pleasing thee or thee uncapable of praising them this use thou maist make of this pleasing object be as careful of thy soul as the gardiner is of this plot of ground let neither thorn nor thistle briar nor weed of sin thrive there supply what is wanting root out what is superfluous order what is disordered and then it is a happy time thou madest this Observation oh my God what a poor pitiful foolish wretch am I thus to doat upon vanities Lord wean my affections from the world and keep them close to thy self Upon an adder lurking in the grass 44. Med. WAlking in the garden I had like to have trod upon an adder lurking in the grass and so was in unexpected danger where I least dreaded it the apprehensions of it at present put me into amaze which when it was something abated it made me consider what daily need we have of divine protection and how dangerous it is to be from under the protecting hand of God It made me also to consider that thus it is in all our earthly enjoyments there is no security in any much danger in all anguis in herba latet there is a little honey and many stings a little pleasure and much pain there is no age no calling no condition of life free riches are held by many to be the greatest happiness and most men rather desire gold then grace and to be great rather then good yet these are not without their snares neither set men out of the reach of danger they are called deceitfull riches such as choak the word when it was sown Mat. 22.13 and well they may be so called for they promise that they never pay and always deceive those that trust them they promise content satisfaction and happiness when oftentimes like strong drink in a feaver they do but inrage the disease he that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver Eccles. 5.10 a man may as soon fill a chest with grace an empty stomach with air as a covetous heart with grace pauperis est numerare pecus saith the coveteous man he had never enow cattle while they might be numbred a ship may sink under the burthen that is not half full and men may have riches enough to sink them when not half enough to satisfy them non plus satiatur cor auro quam corpus aura But this is not all their vanity neither for as they are unsatisfying so they are uncertain they take themselves wings and fly away Pro. 23.5 they are never true to those that trust them they are oft as transitory as a head-long torrent but this is not all they are golden fetters to chain the souls faster in the devils clutches and faster in his service and many times the devil buys mens souls yea their very profession out of their hands for money pleasures have honey in the mouth but a sting in the tail they oft perish in the budding in the midst of laughter the heart is sorrowfull and the end of that mirth is heaviness favour is deceitful and beauty is vain Pro. 31.30 and those that trust to them shall be deceived favour will fail and beauty will wither and how will they deceive mens expectation some men marry saith one by the eye and some by their fingers ends viz. for money dos non Deus makes such matches Absolom and his sister found there was danger trusting to their beauty and many more besides them to whom it hath proved a temptation honour is the emptiest of all bubbles courted by many attained by few and there is but a little distance between the highest round of the ladder and the lowest step let Haman and Achitophel prove the point Beauty many times is like a
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
in thee a thankfull remembrance of his benefits and some answerable returns to God for his mercies which thou hast had beyond expectation let his continued series of providences banish out of thy heart all atheistical thoughts and conceipts and also all desponding despairing distrustful thoughts and carking care keep in Gods way and he will never forsake thee he that feeds the young ravens when they cry will not suffer thee to starve nor shut his ear to thy prayer if thou leave him he will leave thee oh my God all my springs are in thee all my mercies flow from thee though the pipe be cut Lord show me the way to the fountain-head Vpon birds building their nests 63. Med. OBserving in the spring time when the fouls of heaven build their nests how variously they did it and every sort had a several way fashion mode or manner which all of that sort kinde or species did exactly observe not by imitation but by a natural instinct those that had never seen nest built before were excellent artists and needed no instruction The several kindes also build in several places as well as use several forms and methods some build in houses in the chimneys thatch and other places others have places provided for them as pigeons stares and such like these are defended from winde and weather which others endure to their sorrow but are less secure some build in high and craggy rocks in inaccessible places to defend their young and some in lofty trees as the oak the ash the Elme the pine and the cedars far out of danger and dread others that aspire not so high hide their nests in rough hedges bushes brambles and obscure places where the passengers eye shall not behold them and generally all obscure them what they can from sight yet some build upon the ground as the ostrich which layeth her egges in the earth and warmeth them in the dust and forgetteth that the fool may crush them or the wilde beast may break them she is hardened against her young ones as though they were not hers her labour is in vain without fear because God hath deprived her of wisdome neither hath he imparted to her understanding Job 39.14 c. every one acteth according to the wisdome God hath given them to some more to some less I observed also the materials with which they built and these were different also some built with sticks others with straws some with moss some with wooll feathers and many other things the fashion also was various some bigger some less according as need required some built only a bottom some raised up wals some covered it over head to secure the young some daubed their castle and made it weather-proof others not various are the forms and fashions they use and for ought I know no two species or kindes make their nests in every point alike and in the working both the male and the female join heart and hand in the work and use diligence till it be effected and in sitting on their eggs both take their share in the work and relieve each other by courses as the careful observers testify at least of some kindes and undauntedly endure the frost and snow the winde and the weather as also in feeding their young they have a mutual love and a mutual care and take mutual pains Methoughts this did much resemble the love and amity the care and industry between man and wife and oh that there were so much between them as there is between these silly birds they are faithfull each to other and loving and helpfull and that by a natural instinct without the use of reason or any other bond or obligation and thus it should be and oh that it were so between man and wife they have more obligations each to other God hath given them the use of reason the Scriptures and many other helps yet many break all these bands asunder yea the very marriage-knot by their adulteries and neighing after other mens wives and other womens husbands and many times return hatred for love and wish if not practice the death one of another they should lend mutual help to build the nest and feed the young but sometimes both of them are wanting oftentimes the one there are many foolish men as well as foolish women that pluck down their house with their hands and turn off their children into the wide world destitute and neglected many spend that rioteously that their yoak-fellows or their parents have got painfully and prove a hindrance and not a help to their relations and as for the body so much more for the soul they prove ill husbands and hindrances and not helps in the way to heaven God might send these men and these women to school to these silly birds to learn faithfulness love and mutual friendship and assistance as he doth the sluggard to the ant to learn diligence and to the stork the crane and the swallow to observe their times and to the oxe and ass to learn to know their benefactour These poor creatures minded me also of the wise providence of God that hath thus instructed these otherwise silly creatures Job 39.27 doth the eagle mount up at thy command and make her nest on high intimating it is at Gods command it is he that gives goodly wings to the peacock yea wings and feathers to the ostrich Job 39.13 and it is he that takes care of these birds Deut. 22.6 oh my soul learn those lessons from these poor creatures faithfulness diligence and care learn those relative duties here hinted out unto thee fly idleness as the bane of vertue let thy general and particular calling take up all thy time especially be a good husband for thy soul oh my God implant every grace in my soul to this end out with every corruption make me diligent for the world but especially for heaven Upon a small bird feeding many young ones 64. Med. OBserving a little wren one of the smallest of birds that had a dozen young ones lying upon her hands to maintain to take care of and make provision for I heedfully attended to see what the event would be I observed with what unwearied pains she labours for their sustenance how chearfully she imployed her little strength to that end even to the neglect of her own belly how self denyingly she behaves her self sparing that which she should have fed upon to sustain them and from morning till night busieth her self to feed them but that which most put me to a stand was this in her returns with meat they all stand with open mouth to receive the new taken prey which made me admire that such a silly creature void of reason was able to distinguish between those she had fed and those she had not which might in such a multitude have puzled a better head I wondred that some of the most lively did not get all and starve the weaker but that God hath put such an
instinct into them thus to cherish their young hath given them also so much knowledge as to fit them to do it Having spent some time in this Observation unobserved I thought to try her affections to her young ones a little further I approached the nest as if I intended to rob her of her young where I observed that poor creature naturally fearful and timerous with what boldness confidence and undaunted courage she opposed her self to her small power to have rescued her young ones out of my hand even to the hazard of her own life this plainly discovered to me the divine providence of the great householder that doth not only provide meat but also some one to give it in due season and to help those that cannot help themselves and puts such an instinct into such poor despicable creatures that they deny themselves to help their young ones and venture their lives for their safety and never leave them till they are able to help themselves and then forsake them as if they knew them not and that he gives such a blessing to the labours of these two poor wretches that such a numerous brood should be provided for and no doubt brings the prey to them by his providence this also may silence our Atheists and may make him lay his hand upon his mouth for what accidentall concurring of atomes can occasion this this made me also consider how degenerate a piece poor man is many of them having obliterated what the most savage animals have retained viz. this natural affection to their young so that we may take up that complaint against many in our times more deservedly then the Prophet doth against Israel Lam. 4.3 even the sea monsters draw out their breasts and give suck to their young ones the daughter of my people is become cruel like the Ostriches in the wilderness these forsake their children through the extremity of famine or for want of natural affection Rom. 1.31 there are many refuse to labour to maintain their charge the fouls of the air will rise up in judgment against these yea many waste and spend that riotously that is provided to their hands when these poor creatures pinch their own bellies to feed their little ones how many men and women endued with reason do so obliterate it that they expose their children wilfully to want and penury yea to plain beggery yea when the very bruits seek what they can to preserve their young and many venture their lives in their quarrel and set themselves between them and danger yet too many that bear the name of men and women have so far obliterated those principles nature hath imprinted in them that they often lay violent hands upon their own children and not only contrive their death but also effect it I would daily experience did not speak out this truth too lowd what assizes is there almost but some or other are tried for their lives upon this account But though some have a care of their childrens bodies there are but a few that make any provision for their souls though that be their master piece but suffer them to be eternally ruined Oh the stupendious folly of the most of men they train up their children as they do their horses teach them to drudge and then they think they have given them sufficient education many if they can leave them an estate though with a curse intailed upon it have their desires many are too tender of the body that have little care of the soul let that sink or swim but the time will come that the soul will be found the choisest jewel and the loss of that the greatest loss oh my soul be diligent in thy calling make provision for thy relations to thy power he that provides not for his family hath denyed the faith and is worse then an infidel 1 Tim. 5.8 be not without natural affections but that is not enough be not without spiritual affections see that they have mentem sanam in corpore sano though the body must not be neglected nor the things of the world slieghted yet know this is not the main a little grace is worth a great deal of gold keep a mean in earthly enjoyments between coveteousness prodigality fear not an extream in spirituals oh my God help me to regulate my life both to externals and internals by the rule of thy word and spirit Upon the prating of a Parrat 65. Med. HEaring a Parrat talk and prate and counterfeit mans voice and utter words which yet he understood not when I had considered of it I thought it was a lively embleme of an hypocrite for as this bird doth imitate man and counterfeits his voice so doth an hypocrite imitate a true Christian both in words and gestures speaks as he speaks and acts as he acts for what action or what duty can a Christian perform as to the external part of it which an hypocrite cannot doth not do As there is no hearb in the garden but there is some counterfeit of it in the field which resembles it so there is no grace in the heart of a believer but the devil hath its counterfeit and therefore it is a cunning thing to be a Christian and an easy thing to be deceived for what can a true Christian do for the bulk and materiality of duty but a hypocrite can do also yea sometimes seems to exceed him and as in duty so in conference and discourse it is hard to discern the one from the other hypocrisy may be spun with a fine thred and hardly discerned either in the cloath or colour from sincerity but it is often found out in the wearing to be but a cheat in storms and tempests it is apt to change colour and will not hold out but shrinks in the wetting there is indeed a difference now both in garb and language the one is truly beautiful the other is but paint and varnish which time makes to fade they speak it is true the same things but the one speaks what he knows and the other by hearsay both may discourse the deep mysteries of Religion as the parrat may mysteryes of state if taught but understand not what they say Can a true Christian discourse of redemption regeneration conversion adoption sanctification c. so can the other also but the one speaks what he feels the other not the Christian findes the marks and tokens of it in his own soul the other not can the one discourse of the workings of the spirit in the heart of a believer the actings of grace of communion with God c. so can the other can the one speak out his experiences of the goodness of God the vanity of the creature the bitterness of sin the comforts and directions of the spirit the beauty of holiness c. the other can counterfeit this also but all this while the hypocrites heart and tongue agree not he disclaims against that sin which he loves and pleads
so careless for the body as they are for the soul the most of us sleep in harvest and are like to beg in winter slug away the day and make no provision for night when they cannot work and lose the opportunity God affords them and have a price put into their hands but have no heart to get wisdome they provide not against the winter night of death nor the days of darkness which will be many Eccl. 11.8 for as sure as the night follows the day so sure a change will come a storm will rise and such a storm as will never be blown away to wicked worldlings There is too many professors go on in heavens way as the proverb hath it on a snails gallop we can scarce see them move and many like the crab-fish rather go backward then forward they are like those silly women mentioned 2 Tim. 3.7 ever learning and never come to the knowledge of the truth many have served an apprentiship in Christianity some two some three and some more and never yet understood the mystery of their profession nay not the grounds and fundamentals of Religion those that have been listed souldiers twenty or thirty years have not yet learned to handle their arms nor known the use of their weapons those that have been as long schollers in Christs school yet have not learned the first lesson of self denyal they have the same corruption unmortifyed the same grace weak or wanting the same doubts unresolved and the same fears upon their spirits as they had long since many years are past away and their work stands at a stay no more fitter for death no more assurance of heaven no more communion with God no more knowledge of the state of their own souls and all this notwithstanding the means they have had the Ministry they have enjoyed and the seasons of grace they have lived in Now is not he a monster in nature that is as big at two years old as at twenty and is it not a dullard indeed that goes to school twenty years and cannot take out one lesson Ancient professors should grow with the oak more firmly rooted and with the apple more ripe and mellow these trees of righteousness should bring forth fruit even to old age and add every year to their experience indeed there are some that grow in opinions and think this is growing in grace and in few years run the whole circle of errors and at last end where they began at profaness if not at athiesm they grow most in the head like children that have the rickets when the rest of the body pines these errors the brats of their own brain are like suckers in a tree they draw all the sap that should feed the other branches to themselves and run up into aspiring branches fruitless yea hurtfull the strength and vigor of the soul the life and heat of their zeal is spent upon these to maintain them when the power of godliness languisheth but true grace grows uniformly like a healthy body though every member grows not to the same bigness yet every member grows in proportion to the rest and so the body is compleated but alass where is this growth of grace discerned the most professors are in a languishing condition their pulse beats weakly and their natural heat abates and they are inclining to a consumption or a lethargy oh my soul is not this thy condition that is here described art not thou fitly resembled to this sluggish creature how long hast thou been in Christs school and never the better how many apprentiships hast thou served and yet art a very dullard and little more grace appears then did many years ago well double thy diligence amend thy pace set about thy work to purpose lest God turn thee out of his vineyard for a loiterer and give thee thy portion with the unfaithfull with the unprofitable servant Mat. 25.26 had idleness been a calling doubtless thou hadst been a good husband yet at last up and be doing thou canst not serve a better Master expect better work or wages O my God what shall I say to thee or how shall I answer thee mine iniquity hath found me out and my sin shews it self it is I that resemble this snail and have sluggishly served thee all my days Lord rouse me up out of my security that I may make more haste lest I fall short of my journeys end Upon a snail carrying her house along with her 72. Med. WHen I observed a snail carrying her house upon her back and in so doing carryed all she had with her in her removes it brought to my minde how the Israelites in the wilderness when ever they journeyed they removed their tents and carryed them with them and when ever they rested there they picht them and carryed all their substance for forty years space along with them and this might well put them in minde that they were strangers and pilgrims and there rest was not here I have read of heathen Stilpo when the enemy had seazed upon all he had burnt the town he lived in and took his wife and children prisoners being asked by Demetrius what he had lost replyed nothing omnia mea mecum porto I carry all-along with me esteeming his vertues his only riches which none could take from him but all loseable riches he valued not This made me further consider if any heathen could say thus how much more a Christian that hath all his vertues adopted graces and hath an interest in Christ and a title to glory for this is a Christians all and he can properly lay claim to no more for as he hath all from God so he hath all in God and having God he hath all and a rich portion it is beyond all the gold in the Indies and all the wealth in the world it is a more soul-satisfying portion then the world can afford and such a portion that is durable for the devil and all his instruments cannot deprive them of it and this they may take along with them to a prison to a gibbet yea to the utmost parts of the earth if they are banished thither The men of the world would have their portion in the world and heaven like paper and packthred into the bargain but it will not be they would carry the world upon their backs to heaven but it is too great a burthen to carry up the hill and too big to enter with at the strait gate The only way to make the best advantage of the world is to take Christs counsel Luk. 16.9 make your selves friends of the unrighteouss mammon that when they fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations this is the way to send the world before us to heaven or to improve it to the best advantage testify your faith saith the Apostle by your works improve these talents well and God will reward you for it riches are not properly ours but Gods but if we make sure
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
of the Chaliph of Babilon that he was shut up amidst the infinite treasures of gold silver and precious stones which he had covetously heaped together and there was starved to death by the great Cham of Cataia who yet willed him to eat and make no spare and it is no strange thing for gold and silver were never appointed or blest by God for mans sustentation food and rayment not junkets are necessary meat and drink saith Jerome are a Christians riches and well may we be content with this if we knew the want of it many poor creatures yea able Christians better then our selves have suffered much in Germany and of late years in Ireland so that dogs horses rats and mice and such like vermine were esteemed good food in the seige of Samaria there was such a famine that an asses head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver and the fourth part of a cab of doves dung for five pieces of silver 2 Kin. 6.25 and in Samaria and afterwards in Jerusalem the hands of the pitiful women sod their own children and eat them these were their meat in their distress 2 Kin. 6.28 Lam. 4.10 but blessed be God we know not want nor feel not sorrow but what good would all the wealth in the world do us if we wanted food Jems and Jewels would be little worth crowns and kingdomes would yield us no comfort bread would be of more worth to us then its weight in gold yet without the blessing of God this would not serve our turn or preserve our lives how then dare men provoke this God by abusing these his blessings man lives not by bread only but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God Mat. 4.4 that is by every thing that God blesseth to that end if we want bread therefore let us depend upon him that can preserve us without bread as one of the Martyrs said when he was threatened to be famished if God take away my meat he can take away my hunger Psal 37.3 trust in the Lord and do good so shalt thou dwell in the land and verily thou shalt be fed one promise will do us more good then all our gold Hab. 3.17 18. though the fig-tree should not blossome and there be no fruit in the vine though the labour of the olive should fail and the field should yield no meat though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stall yet will I rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation though Hagars bottle be empty God will shew her the well though the ship be broken God will prepare a plank oh my soul trust in God for thy bodily food he that feeds the ravens will not starve the children but rest not satisfied till thy soul be fed with the bread of life oh my God on thee I depend for food both for body and soul Lord feed both and with food give a blessing that â—oth soul and body may be nourished by it The world is not a resting-place 97. Med. WHen I had been recreating my self in the garden tired with studyes and other employments I found some divertisement for a while among the various delights that there offered themselves to my sences and unbent the bow that was beginning to grow weak through over-intent studies and other imployments I passed the time for a season in the viewing and observing of Natures garden not without some delightful observations but at last night approached and my pleasures began to vanish The birds which before delighted my ears with their melodious harmony were now gone to rest and those herbs and flowers which before delighted my sences now disappeared and their various colours forms and shapes could not be distinguished but were all died in one sable colour for universal darkness had spread her sable mantle over all and every thing was stained in the same die-fat and I was left alone though in the midst of company deprived of the delights which before I had the cold air began to pierce me and the croaking frogs and toads which all this while had hid themselves from my sight were now crept forth and were like to be my bed-fellows if I lodged there and bats and owls those birds of the night were my companions this made me to consider how unpleasant this place of delights the greatest recreation I had in the world for my body would be to me at this time had I no other habitation and how unpleasant the night would be to me here I lay open to winde and weather liable to be wet with the dew of heaven and was like to have the air for my supper and with Jacob a stone for my pillow I considered now though I too often forget it the great goodness of God to the just and to the unjust to cause his sun to shine upon them one sun makes a day but the moon and all the stars make but a night but what a mercy is it then when the sun of righteousness ariseth with healing in his wings The unpleasantness of the present season to me made me pitty many poor creatures that are necessarily exposed to these and worse then these hardships as souldiers lodging in the fields yea many wandring people that in the winter-season suffer much as for those that designedly endure this life rather then expose themselves to labour are not to be pittied correction is a fitter salve for their sore but there are many aged and impotent lame and unable that should be better cared for and I fear God hath a controversy with the nation upon this account this consideration driven up to the head made me bless God this was not my condition and to fear lest my sins and unthankfulness might provoke God to make it my condition This raised my meditation a little higher and I thought with myself if this garden this place of delights be no comfortable abiding-place for the body when night comes sure then the world is no resting-place for the soul for death will come here in the day-time of life man may take some delight but the night will come when no man can work and when all these things shall vanish I must seek out for some better shelter some better lodging some better resting-place for my soul when night comes and the sun is set upon me all these delightful objects will be gone will forsake me and hide their heads and they will yeeld no delight no comfort or refreshment crowns and kingdoms dirt and dung will then be valued alike and a piece of lead will be as good as a piece of gold or an heap of diamonds these outward things can afford neither food nor physick neither lodging nor entertainment neither pleasures nor profit to the weary soul these earthly tabernacles ere long will be dissolved and these houses of clay will moulder into dust 2 Cor. 5.1 and what shall we then do if we are no
oh my God let not the devil by his wiles nor the world by her frowns or smiles make me break my peace with thee Vpon cold winter-weather 100. Med. IN stormy cold and winter-weather when the fields were unfit for action and the husbandman was retired into his cell as the Souldier into his winter-Garison I considered how necessary how desirable how delightful a dry house fire food cloathing lodging and other necessaries were to cherish and nourish and shelter us from the violence of the cold and how unpleasant it was for man or beast to be abroad in the fields and how unsuitable for action there this season was then considered I the folly of those that made not preparation for such a season that those sluggishly pass away the Summer-season that is fit for action in the field and made no preparation in the harvest and so are destitute of food of fewel and other necessaries to make their lives comfortable in the winter for those the holy Ghost sends to school to the ant or pismire Pro. 6.6 go to the ant thou sluggard consider her ways and be wise which having no guide overseer or ruler provideth her meat in the summer and gathereth her food in the harvest poor man that was once captain in Gods school is now turned down into the lowest form and to be taught by the meanest creatures sometimes to the birds and to the lillies of the field that depend upon divine providence sometimes to the oxe and to the ass to learn dependence and here to the ant to learn diligence these poor creatures may be called lay-mens books for in them they may learn their duty and not as many do in diem vivere as the fouls of the air do we should learn dependence of them but a provident care must be had as one saith no promus sit fortior condo that our layings out be not more then our layings up there is a care of the head lawful but it is the care of the heart that is forbidden a care of diligence there may be a care of diffidence there must not be but some fail on the one hand some on the other and it is hard to walk in the direct road I also pitied those that wanted the necessaries I enjoyed and could not tell how to prepare them when all their diligence and industry fell short of necessaries as there are too many poor families amongst us which should be looked after and I fear God will look after those stewards he hath intrusted to feed them and they neglect it see Mat. 24.48 Mat. 25.41 I then called to minde the estate of poor Christians in Ireland in the beginning of the rebellion that were suddenly stript of all turned out naked and hungry exposed to winde and weather to hunger and cold to frost and snow to the loss of many thousands of their lives and to very much hardship to those that escaped this example on the one side discovered to me what injuries and wrongs what hardship and miseries poor creatures may be exposed to how uncertain these transitory enjoyments are and how soon they may be lost and for ought I know this may be my own condition how soon I know not and what would I then give to be in such a condition that I now am although it be not altogether free from some troubles and hardship it minded me also on the other side of the cruelty of bloud-thirsty enemies and what we may expect from them if ever we fall into their hands or lie at their mercy and this made me admire Gods goodness to this nation in general and to my self in particular that it is so well with us as it is yea this consideration made me more contented with my condition then before and to bless God that he had made such plentiful provision for me that had deserved so little at his hands when he suffered those Worthys of whom the world was not worthy to have triall of cruell mockings and scourgings yea moreover of bonds and imprisonments they were stoned sawn in sunder were tempted were slain with the sword they wandred about in sheep-skins and goat-skins being destitute afflicted and tormented of whom the world was not worthy they wandered in desarts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth Heb. 11.36 I considered that though the enjoyment of these things be no certain sign of the love of God yet are they great engagements to engage the heart to God and they are much too blame yea shall give a severe account that willfully waste or abuse them in drunkenness idleness pride prodigality gaming whoring or any other vicious courses yea they are too blame that withhold good from the owners thereof or detain the poors portion from them to whom it is due These considerations had I raised my Meditations a little higher and considered that if an earthly habitation be so necessary in winter for the body to shelter it from the violence of the weather how necessary then will an habitation for the soul be against these houses of clay be disolved to keep off the storms of divine vengeance for what will become of those then that have nothing to shelter them or as good as nothing the garments of their own righteousness which are too short to cover them and too thin to defend them and cannot shelter the soul from divine vengeance no better then a spiders web can the body from a cannon-bullet these doubtless are bad husbands for the soul though they may have care enough of the body oh my soul what condition dost thou stand in in reference to eternity thou hast been often summoned by death and sometimes made to look it in the face and yet thy days with Hezekiahs are lengthened out and God hath given thee more time to do thy work in what preparation hast thou made for it hast thou provided an habitation against thou shalt be turned out of this house of clay hast thou cleared up thy evidence for heaven and thy title to glory if not give thy self no rest till thy work be done for then and not till then thou wilt be fit do dye it is not a bare profession that will serve thy turn the root of the matter must be in thee Job 19.28 a profession without practise will do thee no good oh my God without thy divine assistance I shall miscarry and without a lamp lighted by thy holy spirit I shall never finde out the deceits that are in my own heart Lord grant that these my Meditations may be beneficial to my self and others that they may never rise up in judgment against me another day Amen FINIS