of thee we confesse thou art one in Substance three in Person Father Son and Holy Ghost O blessed Trinity God Lord Comforter Charity Grace Fellowship Begetter Begotten Regenerating true Light true Light of light illumination invisible visibly visible invisibly Fountaine and watering streames from whom by whom and in whom are all things he that lives from himselfe and is Life it selfe he that receives life from him that lives and he that gives life to those that live a true Father the Son of truth the Spirit of truth one Essence one Vertue one Goodnesse God above whom is nothing and out of whom is nothing and without whom is nothing God under whom is all in whom is all and with whom is all we call upon thee wee adore thee wee praise thee encrease our faith stirre up our hope and infuse us with charitie Amen CONTEMP c. 29. Of shunning Curiositie in things not revealed unto us WHy art thou afflicted O my soule if reason be tormoiled and doth groane and cry out being plunged in a bottomlesse gulfe A thing is not therefore false because I cannot conceive or understand it reason is not the measure of things but it is bound to fit it selfe to things reason is streight and why then dost thou marvell if it cannot comprehend the vastnesse of heavenly things by how much more simple our faith is so much is our life more agreeable to it although we neither dispute of neither doe understand all things By so much more noble and more renowned shall the citizens of the Church be hereafter esteemed of God because forsaking all they shewed themselves willing to become only most deare unto him it is a short way for religious and simple minds both to cast away errour and to search out the truth For if we returne to the fountaine and head of divine tradition the errour of man vanisheth away and the reason of the heavenly Sacraments being understood what ever before lay hid under the mist and cloud of obscure darknesse is made apparant by the light of truth if the waters of the channell which used to flow plentifully be suddenly dried up doe we not presently goe to the spring-head that there we may discover the reason that it failes whether the pipes grow dry from the head or running full and currantly from thence they bee not stopped in their middle course but if we finde it is by reason that the pipes it flowes in be either stopped or broken that the water cannot runne constantly and flow as it used to doe when we have stopped and sodered the pipes the waters being collected are brought in the same plenty and constancie for the use and drinking of the Citizens as they doe flow from the fountaine Wee must even doe thus according to Gods command that is if truth shall stagger or reele in any thing let us returne to the originall of it namely our Saviour his Gospell and the Apostolicall traditions and thence let us ground the reason of our actions whence the order and originall of it first arose Whilst others make lyes of probabilities they frustrate the truth by subtilties and this is done because they have no recourse to the originall of truth nor doe they seeke to the head nor observe the doctrine of their heavenly Master which whosoever considers and examineth he hath no need of arguments and long discourses The triall of our faith is easie by the compendiousnesse of truth I would have no man dispute how God the Father begate the Son nor doe thou too curiously involve thy selfe within the secret of this depth lest perhaps whilst thou too obstinately searchest after the brightnesse of this in accessible light thou be deprived of that little sight which by Gods gift is afforded unto mortall creatures Or if thou thinkest thou oughtest to wade so farre in this kind as thou art able First begin thou with things which concerne our selves which if thou wilt consequently wade thorow then prepare thy selfe to passe from earthly things to heavenly things from visible things to invisible things First unfold and declare if thou canst how the minde that is in thee begets a word and what is the spirit of memory that is in it how these things that are different in things and actions are notwithstanding but one nature and substance and though they proceed from the minde yet are never separated from it But these things although wee have them in us in the very substance of our soule yet they seeme to be so much the more hidden unto us by how much they are more invisible to the eyes of the body Let us enquire of things more open how doth a fountaine of it selfe beget a river and by what spirit are the swift streames thereof moved and though the fountaine and streames be but the same one inseparable thing yet cannot the fountaine be either understood to bee or be called the river nor the river the fountaine yet he that sees the streames sees the fountaine First exercise thy selfe thou superstitious and impertinently laborious and thou soule that toylest after nullities in the unfolding of these things and discusse if thou canst what we hold in our hands and then we will proceed to things higher than these nor thinke I perswade thee in an instant to ascend from earth above the heavens but first if it please you I will bring you to that firmament which is apparant to our view and there if thou canst unfold the nature of this visible light how that heavenly fire begets from it selfe the shining light how it begets vapors and which being three in distinctnesse of things are yet but one in substance although thou couldest finde out all this know yet that the mystery of the heavenly generation is by so much more different and higher than these things by how much the Creator is more powerfull than the creatures and the workman more excellent than the worke he makes by how much he who is from all eternity is more noble than that that tooke its originall from nothing God is therefore to be beleeved to be the Father of his onely Son our Lord and it is not to be enquired how For a servant ought not to dispute of his masters nativity He wants nothing O man who is confirmed by the doctrine of both Testaments Both of them are these two swords of which the eternall Doctor said It is enough I wish againe and againe my long-suffering God that I might learne and know him but if I know not the originall nor can measure the quantity nor am able sufficiently to consider what manner of thing my soule is which rules over my body if I know not the reason why it should take pleasure in the body which persecuteth it if I be ignorant who hath graven this law of my members that the flesh should oppresse the spirit in so violent a command and that the better and more worthy part of nature should yeeld to
possession of us when the Sunnes last shadow flyes from us and enraged death sharpens his Dart to strike thorow our breast But thou O Lord dost witnesse thy power even in death it selfe not onely by crying out at the last gaspe but also by shaking the earth by cleaving the rocks opening the graves rending the vaile of the Temple The Centurion himselfe being a man conversing with the members of the Church but beleeving out of the Church confessed from hence and said This man was indeed the Sonne of God But the last word thou utteredst in thy mortality is diligently to be noted and seriously to be weighed Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit This was thy last word Ah would to God it might bee also mine and I trust Lord it shall be so and God I hope will heare it for thou hast obtained this for me because thou hast both prayed for me upon the Crosse and hast as my chiefe high Priest suffered all things nor didst thou commend thine own Spirit alone unto thy Father but mine also and of all the faithfull who are members of thy body thou hast bound my soule together with thine owne in the bundle of life and hast delivered it into the hands of the Almighty O how doe the words pierce my soule and spirit which thou utteredst before thou didst passe that deadly way and in which thou didst most devoutly speake unto thy Father I pray for them I pray not for the world but for those whom thou hast given me for they are thine Holy Father keepe them in thy name whom thou hast given me that they may bee one as we are one preserve them from the world sanctifie them in thy truth I pray not only for these but for those also who shall beleeve in me through their word that they may all be one as thou O Father art in mee and I in thee that they also may be one in us that the world may beleeve that thou hast sent mee and I have given them the glory which thou gavest mee that they may be one as wee are one I in them and thou in me that they may be perfect in one and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me Father I will that those whom thou hast given me be where I am that they may see my glory which thou hast given me because thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world What father can more earnestly recommend a son what mother a daughter or what brother his brother to anothers care than thou O Son of the living God hast recommended us to thy Father Thy Father doth heare us his degenerate adopted sonnes how much rather will he heare thee his Sonne obedient even to the death and his issue begotten of his owne substance from all eternity yea he hath already heard him Can saith he even he thy Father a woman forget her owne childe that she should not have compassion upon the sonne of her owne wombe Though she should be so forgetfull yet will not I forget thee behold I have graven thee upon my hands Thou also O Christ my Saviour sayest My sheepe heare my voice and I know them and they follow mee and I give unto them eternall life and they shall not perish for ever and no man shall snatch them out of my hands My Father who gave me them is greater than all and none can take them out of my Fathers hands Resting upon these thine attracting sentences I may be startled at the remembrance of death but I shall not be dismayed because I shall also bee mindfull of thy promises merits and intercessions When at length by thy permission a sharpe sicknesse shall weaken my sinewes and shall gnaw and feed upon my bloodlesse and halfe rotten skinne when my face shall bee bedewed with a cold sweat and I shall be moistned with the drops of death when my wan lips shal be widowed of their rednesse and a sad murmure shall be heard from the horrid noise of the gnashing teeth when my Sunne shall be darkened by my funerall clouds and death shall involve my head in everlasting darknesse yet thou Son of righteousnesse shalt shine cleare unto me thou shalt furnish my soule wrastling and triumphing by the vertue of thy Spirit with thine owne word Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit CONTEMP c. 23. Of the opening of Christs side COme hither come hither O my soule behold him hanging on the Crosse ascend ascend O my soule and pluck out the nailes from his hands and feet wherewith hee is fastened to the Crosse Thou needst no ladder it is devotion it is faith which elevates and lifts thee up thither O miserable spectacle O lamentable carcasse how ill-favourdly in what an ugly manner art thou butchered They could not glut their malice upon him while he lived they insult also upon him being dead and goare him with a speare whence blood and water did flow most holy Symbols of thy two Sacraments Who is he O Lord that hath overcome the world but he that beleeveth that Jesus is the Sonne of God This is that Jesus Christ that came by water and blood not by water alone but by water and blood Thou camest unto us in water in Baptisme thou camest to us in blood in the holy Supper this is that double testimony that we are reconciled to the Father by thee and that wee are washed and purged from our sinnes thou wast very much besotted and soiled yet wast thou lovely to thy Father because thou becamest obedient to death even to the death of the Crosse thou art also most lovely to mee whilst I dive into thy side and into thy wounds not with the eyes of my body with Thomas but with the eyes of faith which are the instruments of life the perspective glasse of the world to come when I see I am freed from death by the death of my Lord and my God When I locke on the immense and love without bounds love without end the love that wee want understanding to conceive and our reason waxeth darke to apprehend For I have sinned and thou hast suffered yea I who have sinned have suffered in thee our flesh was so joyned to the Deitie so as that which was to die everlastingly for sinne became dead in another for us and we neither felt grief nor death yet were we in like manner restored to life for as Christ put upon him our flesh in the wombe so he dyed our death upon the Crosse For whatsoever the God made man did suffer he suffered for man from whom hee can now no more be severed than from his other Nature with which he united this to the end he might save it O great clemencie O unspeakable clemencie O bounty that cannot be expressed with words of mans eloquence God who is for ever blessed is first made man and at length is made a curse
for man O blessed day wherein the head of the Dragon is trampled under the feet of thy crucified and dead body Leviathan is bruised Behemoh that vast and powerfull creature is overthrowne and death is cast out O most milde Tribunall before which I am absolved without punishment freed without death but yet that even by death where I am dismissed from my bloody deeds by the blood of the supreme King by thy blood now shed I see most clearely that thou hast transferred my nature upon thy selfe that I might receive that innocencie from thee which I had altogether corrupted in my selfe but thou keptest thy divine Nature that I might receive glory and dignitie thou joynedst both together that the Deitie being joyned to the humanitie and the humanitie joyned to the Deity he that was sensible of my misery putting on my affections might unite him unto me as a brother whom I did feare as a Judge What shall I say or how shall I speak for I am not my selfe when I think of thee when I lift up my eyes unto thee when I behold thy side launced with the speare and behold thorow that wound thy most loving heart Thou that art immense infinite not circumscribed void of passion and immortall hast put on for love of us even this our flesh straight finite circumscribed and finally liable to passion and death it selfe which by hunger by thirst by miseries by injuries by scourgings by spittings on by blood by death was handled beaten extended and tortured by pieces in the presence of the Devill yet being joyned also with thy Divinitie thou hast placed it above all the Angels above all creatures which are in heaven and earth even at the right hand of thy Father that we who before were even pressed downe to hell may now by thee be taken into the fellowship of the Godhead I would I might alwayes rest in this thy so great passion that I may dwell in thy wounds for whosoever flies to thy wounds and precious scars shall in tribulation finde great comfort and enjoy that comfort the soule doth onely desire CONTEMP c. 24. Of Christs buriall THere is at length an end set to labour and the worke of redemption being wrought and finished and that all-sufficient ransome paid the grave receives and covers this ill-handled body for God is faithfull O Christ my God who set a convenient end to thy labours temptations sorrowes necessities and persecutions for my sinnes thou wast put to death after death thou art buried but it was that thou mightest rise againe out of the grave for my just fication Before the day of preparation for the Passeover was wholly past thou art taken from the Crosse thy Father hastens also our departure from this preparation day by a preparation to the heavenly journey that we may the sooner be brought to thee celebrate Sabbath upon Sabbath unto thee Therewas no reproach that thou hadst not bin loaden with in that Crosse nor any ignominy that thy body had not beene disgraced with in it yet these things could not affright Nicodemus whom thou hadst instructed by thy nightly conference and gained for a secret Disciple and Ioseph of Arimathea a rich good and pious Senatour two of the principall men amongst the Jewish Nation Thou didst hang upon the Crosse betweene theeves thy chosen companions fled from thee the whole rabble of thy persecutors cryed Crucifie crucifie him take him away take him away Pilate delivered thee over to death and judged thee worthy to be tormented yet these men searing nothing breake through the midst of the host of these perverse troops they goe to Pilate and beseech him that the infamously handled carkas yet heavens relique might be given unto them accounting of it as of a most great gift What courage of mind shal I beleeve you had who quickned your spirits O Nicodemus and Ioseph what beliefe could the small reliques of that golden tree raise up in you did you not think that yee might bee accounted partners with Christ whom they had proclaimed for a deceiver and a disturber of the publike peace and that yee might be reckoned for troublers of the Senate and be blamed of Pilate and stoned of the people But the fire of faith was kindled in you which not being to be confined within in your hearts breaks forth on all sides O strange power of God in his faithfull servants O how unsearchable are his works The Disciples had above three yeares beene publicke auditors of Christ now crucified they had beene plentifully and carefully fed and instructed by him but when so great dangers grew thicke they forsake their Master Nicodemus and Ioseph came in private to Jesus fearing to bring the peoples hatred upon themselves now when they see all things seeme desperate they doe not forsake him whom they had worshipped whom they had heard whom they had reverenced but doe now still even now love and honour not unwillingly How great is thy power in those that are weake how great thy perfection in those that are imperfect would to God that nothing also may be able to separate me from the love of Christ neither affliction nor anguish nor persecution nor hunger nor nakednesse nor danger nor the sword but let me be perswaded that nor death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor heighth nor depth nor any other creature whatsoever shall be able to separate me from the love of God which is Christ Jesus my Lord. Those diligent worshippers of thee doe wrap thee in cleane linnen do embalme thee with Myrrh and Aloes O that I may humble my selfe by bitter repentance and purged from my sinnes may receive thee with a pure heart They embalme thee and lay thee in a new tombe in which no other had ever beene laid O that none but thy selfe might enter into my heart renewed by thy blessed Spirit They spend many things willingly for thy sake nor dare spare any cost let me also spend my life and blood for thee and for thine and what else besides my blood thou hast given me in this life When thou shalt call my soule from this wombe of durt let me thinke of nothing but of thy death but of thy blood but of thy wounds but of thy crowne when I I shall be affrighted with the grave let me thinke I shall be buried in no other sepulchre than in that which thou hast touched with thine one body which thou hast sanctified by thy scars that being to be raised at thy command I may live with thee everlastingly Amen CONTEMP c. 25. Of Christs resurrection SEt forth the prayses of the Lord and call upon his name declare his works among the nations sing unto him sing praises unto him declare all his wonderfull works call to mind his wonders which he hath done his strange works the judgements of his mouth Who can sufficiently speak of the power of the Lord
the holy Church but pure simplicity and innocencie of life in one house the holy Catholique Church Christ is offered to the faithfull departing out of Aegypt being cleansed in their affections by his blood in their passage in the red Sea O Jesu Christ our omnipotent Lord God thou Fountaine of life and immortalitie thou Creator of every visible and invisible thing that art the eternall Son of the everlasting Father who of thy abundant goodnesse in the last times didst take our flesh upon thee and wast delivered and crucified for us sinfull and unthankful creatures thou by thine owne blood hast restored our nature corrupted by sin and givest me thy flesh for my food But thou art a fire and consumest those that be unworthy destroy me not my Maker rather come into the union of my members into all my sinewes into my reines into my heart burne up the sting of my sinnes cleanse my soule sanctifie my minde enlighten my five senses glew me firmely to thy selfe in love alwayes protect and defend mee preserve mee from every word and work that may hurt my soule purge cleanse and direct me adorne instruct and make mee famous make mee the temple of thy Spirit only and not the habitation of sinne that being made thy house by the entrance of thy holy Communion all impiety and all evill may fly from mee Let thy holy body be made everlasting Bread unto mee Mercifull Lord let thy precious blood become a remedy of sundry diseases unto me fearfull and wicked wretch that I am defiled with absurd works I am unworthy of thy pure body and heavenly blood O Christ doe thou make me worthy to be partaker of thee give me O Christ the drops of teares to wash my filthy heart that having a pure conscience I may come in faith and feare to receive thy heavenly gifts O most mercifull Saviour let thy unspotted body and divine blood be made unto mee the participation of thy holy Spirit eternall life and a change of my sufferings and miseries Heale the wounds of my soule O Lord and sanctifie me through-out and make mee unworthy wretch worthy to be partaker of thy mysticall divine Supper be it unto thy most vile servant as thou hast promised and remaine in mee as thou hast said For behold I eat thy divine body and doe drink thy blood Thou Word of God and God him selfe let the flame of thy body enlighten me that am all obscurity and let thy blood be also a purgation to my corrupted soule Sanctifie my understanding soule heart and body O my Saviour and make it worthy O Lord to come to these fearfull mysteries without being condemned I shall obtaine new effects and will receive the increase of thy grace and preservation of my life by the participation of thy mysteries O Christ O holy Word of God God himselfe sanctifie mee throughly that am comming to thy divine mysteries Despise mee not O Christ when I receive the bread which is thy body and whilst wretch that I am I am made partaker of thy most pure and fearfull mysteries that they prove not condemnation unto me But let them be unto me O Christ eternall and everlasting life O Christ thou Fountaine of goodnesse let the receiving of thy immortall mysteries become light and life unto me and cause the avoyding of vitious affections and the encrease of heavenly vertues in me O thou only Goodnesse that I may glorifie thee Amen CONTEMP c. 41. Of those things which are to be meditated upon after the receiving of the Sacrament of the Supper LEt thy servant speak thine owne Word in thy eares that thou be not angry with thy servant O Lord my King Thou hast slaine thy Sacrifices thou hast mingled thy wine and prepared thy Table thou hast sent forth thy maydens that they might invite to thy tower of defence that if there were any little one he might come unto thee Thou hast said Goe forth yee daughters of Sion and behold your King crowned with the Crowne wherewith his mother begirt his head in the day of his betrothing in the day of the gladnesse of his heart Thou hast said O Lord unto thy servant Go out quickly into the wayes and streets of the citie and bring in hither both the poore and the weak both the lame and the blind and compell them to come in that my house may bee full I being called came and saw was led in and tasted thou turnedst not thy selfe away from thy servant nor saidst thou Thou shalt not see my face Thou hast shewed thy selfe unto me my Comforter I beheld thee thou Light of mine eyes I felt the joy of spirit and was touched with gladnesse of heart Thou didst prepare great things for me O my Delight and sweet content O Lord my God my Life and sole Glory of my soule I have found thee out O thou Desire of my heart I have held thee fast O thou Love of my soule O let me retaine thee thou Life of my soule I will love thee O Lord my Strength my Castle my Refuge and my Deliverer Let me love thee my God the Tower of my might and my pleasing hope in all my tribulations I will enbrace thee who art that Good without which nothing can be good I will enjoy thee the Best without whom nothing is best I will exalt thee my God and King and will blesse thy Name for ever and ever every day will I praise thee and blesse thy Name for ever and ever The Lord is great and exceedingly to be praised and of his greatnesse there is no end Generation from generation shall praise thy works and shall declare thy power shall speak of the magnificence of the glory of thy holinesse and shall tell of thy wonderfull works They shal break forth in remembrance of thy abundant sweetnesse and shall exult in thy righteousnesse O mercifull and pitifull Lord patient and full of compassion the Lord is sweet to all and his mercies are over all his works All thy works O Lord do praise thee and thy Saints doe blesse thee they speak of the glory of thy Kingdome and tell of thy power for thou art my true and living God my great King my guide to my Countrey my true light my holy sweetnesse my true life my excellent wisdome my pure simplicity my peacefull concord my safe protection my good portion my everlasting safety my great mercy my strongest patience my unspotted Sacrifice my holy Redemption my firme hope my perfect Charity my true Resurrection my life eternall my most happie ever enduring exultation and most blessed vision Thou my God wast pleased for no merits of mine but onely by vouchsafing me thy mercies to satisfie thy unworthy servant with the precious body and blood of thy Sonne our Lord Jesus Christ What manner of food What drink was this O the memoriall of the Lords death What shall I repay unto the Lord for all that he hath bestowed upon me O know
bigger volumes at length they mount so high that by their loftinesse they overturne all those that saile upon them Now also hastens that extreame tempest of soules that shall overwhelme the whole World which sets forth unto us its beginning by wars slaughters as it were by some of his waves And the neerer we do daily come to the end so much the greater are the volumes of troubles which we behold but at the last when all the Elements are in a hurly burly the Iudge will come amongst us and bring an end of all things with him and certainely it is but a moment till he shall shake not only the earth but the heavens themselves We ought vigilantly to looke for this tempest and to be afraid of the waves that daily swell against us and to foresee what must follow upon these troubles which buffet the World God himselfe warnes us so saying take heed least at any time your hearts be over charged with gluttony and drunkennesse for drunkennesse is a smooth devill a sweet poyson a delightfull sin he that is possessed with it hath not himself and he that acts it commits not a sin but is wholly sin it selfe and as the soule which is free from wine is most wise and of the most excellent temper so moystned with the vapours of wine it is as it were enveloped in a cloud it doth confound nature makes us lose grace destroys our glory and makes us incurre eternall damnation He warnes us that we be not entangled with the cares of this life For we cannot serve two God and Mammon for the love of riches doth farre more torture than refresh our soules to get them is toylesome we keepe them with feare and lose them with much sorrow He warnes us that we watch at all times and pray that wee may bee worthy to escape the evils to come and to stand before the sonne of man Let us watch O let us watch for that only day of our Lords comming is kept secret that we might every day stand in awe The Lord will come in an houre when wee thinke not of him when wee shall say peace and all things are safe Whether we eate or drinke or whatsoever we do else let that dreadfull voice alwayes sound in our eares Arise ye dead and come unto judgement Let us watch my companions let us watch hee shall be blessed whosoever he be that doth nothing without the remembrance of this Iudgement let us pray O my companions let vs pray let us pray without ceasing and let us cry with a strong voyce to the Lord and though wee cease with our tongue yet let us cry with good workes and that without ceasing for prayer is rather of the heart than of the lippes rather of our workes than of our words the words of him that prays are not so much observed by God as the heart of the suppliant By how much more we are oppressed with the tumultuousnesse of carnall things so much the more fervently we ought to bend our selves unto prayer Let us pray continually because wee are alwayes tempted and because our sins doe labour without intermission to circumvent us the world to deceive us hell to devour us and the devill to insnare us Let us surround God making as it were a power against him by our prayers that we may bind and overcome our sinnes the world hell and the devill and may without blame wait for the fixed houre and the day of the universall doome That houre shall not be unprofitable to us which to others hath proved most fruitfull for prayer quenched the fiery fornace for the three Children stopped the Lions mouthes that they could not hurt Daniel appeased the seditious Israelites for Moses opened Paradise locked up heaven made the barren wombe fruitfull loosed Pauls and Peters bands nay he hath enlarged the confidence of prayer which carryed Cornelius to heaven and did justifie the Publicane That I might stirre up and encrease this desire of prayer of Groanes and of Sighes in my selfe not long since I framed this incitement when Hanibal as it were was even at our gates and rash death commanded mee to cease from my other labours and I doe willingly impart it to the youth that love learning and religion and to others that please to whom I wholly enthrall my selfe I have willingly and wittingly passed over those quarrels and brawles which many make against things of this nature for I endeavoured not so much to sharpen and embelish the wit as to amend and better the soul nor could I with a soaring wing of wit compasse heaven and earth If any desire a smooth style let him know that I made choyce rather to speak in other mens words and to recollect the sentences of the Ancient than to speake in mine owne phrase and let him consider not the style but the sense of the matter wherin these things are writ neither whether it bee according to the usuall manner of phrase but whether the matter be true for if the sense hee true What skils it saith a learned German in so abstruse a busines whether thou cloath it in a fine or a course vaile or garment so it be not uncomely Surely my minde is good throughout and if my humane tongue or pen shall any where falter let mee not bee too severely punished for there is no malice or obstinacie in it though there may be weaknesse and obscurity if any shall maintaine that these things are neither beseeming my age or condition I shall willingly give him leave to abound in his owne sense and if he please to bee wise in his owne conceit yet every man ought to hold piety deare and to be studious of it of whatsoever qualitie or years they be of I am young sayes one and now I will take my pleasure hereafter will I repent This is as much as to say I will wound my selfe with my sword and then I will goe to the Chirurgion Alas knowest thou not that a wound is received in a minute that can hardly bee cured in a long time Thou mayst sin of thy selfe but rise from sin alone thou canst not in which most grave sentence of S. Augustine I end and seriously rest I beseech you doe so with me Imprimatur THO. WYKES Octob. 30. 1639. CONTEMPLATIONS SIGHES and GROANES of a Christian CONTEMP c. 1 Of the greatnesse of Gods Love AWake my soule out of the sleep of ignorance awake my heart out of the sleep of sloth struggle out my spirit out of the depth of darknesse and look back upon thy God look upon thy God that cannot be seen with corporeall eyes because he dwels in an inaccessible light that none can behold and live yet doe I O my god lift up my spirit unto thee I raise up my soule unto thee I cast up mine eyes unto thee my understanding desires to meditate and consider of thee but sees not where to begin how to goe on aad in
what manner to end the strings of my tongue are ready to move something concerning thee but can find neither Prologue nor Epilogue neither exordium nor conclusion of thee O my God guide mee and instruct mee cherish and help mee If I behold thee what is it that in the first second third and last place doth offer it selfe unto me it is love I observe it is love that I see and feele all the objects of my eyes are love the fishes in the Sea are sparkes each pile of grasse in the feild is a spark the trees in the orchards are sparks the leaves upon those trees are sparks the often rising and setting Sun is a spark and his beames enlightning all the world are sparks the Moon 's a spark and her hornes are sparks the glittering Sarrs and all the host of Heaven are sparks of it If all the members which thou hast bestowed upon my body were tongues if I had the understanding of an Angell yet could I not comprehend or set forth the footsteps of thy love O violent love burning love vehement love love that cannot be kept within thee When I was nothing thou wouldest make me something and thou didest not create mee after the likenesse of the Sun or Moon nor yet of the Angells but after thine own likenesse that I might serve thee in this life and after this life changed not by death but by an easie passage that I might reigne with thee and prayse thee for evermore Thou didst place mee in Paradise the garden of pleasure not to warre with beasts or to terrifie me with the Lyons roaring or the grumbling of Beares but that all the beasts should be subject to me and stand in awe at my beck and faune upon me in an humble observance I would O God find out thy works but cannot Moyses writ something but he did but write and straight went hence unto thee nor have J him now here present for if he were I would hold him and beseech him and beg of him for thy sake that hee would freely lay open to mee the wonderfull things of the Creation wherein the fountaine of thy love did flow and bubble up most plentifully and I would fasten my bodily eares to the words that should break from his mouth I would also admit them within the harbour of my breast and hee should make me sensible and even touch my very soule but hee is gone who did but shaddow forth unto me thy wonders and there is not one left that can unfold the whole and surely thou wouldest have mee understand thy works but in part only whilst I am absent from thee with thee I shall be most fully instructed Neither yet doe I O most Mighty enough understand that part which thou hast granted and permitted mee that I may understand spare therefore thou Mercy it selfe thy servant the work of thy hands thy hands have moulded mee thy spirit gave mee a soule and added life to my life it gave mee what I can neither value nor number and such is God and such are Gods gifts alas give mee this also that I may obtaine this neere tye of thy love that as thou art my Creatour thou wilt bee also my father and that thou wilt not refuse or reject or disinherit of thy love a sonne unworthy so great a father CONTEMP c. 2 Of the Originall Nobility of Man and his falling away from it I was in honour O lord and heavenly King even so great that I cannot now set it forth but when I was in honour I understood not what that honour was In what an honoured place did I inhabit in a place of delight My life found neither trouble nor want I was compassed with fragrant apples I was propped up with honours crowned with glory and honour and placed above the works made of clay But I was the more excellent in regard of the badge of thy divine image and my lot and company was the society of Angels and the whole Army of the Host of Heaven but I did change that glory into the similitude of a calfe that eateth hay How many virtues was I cloathed with What did I want whom mercy protected truth instructed justice did governe and peace did cherish But alas what shall I say O my God thou bestowedst that property of reason upon me whereby I might excell all living creatures and didst so sublime it by a peculiar gift that I wanted but little of attaining to those thy most pure Ministers I knew this but did not acknowledge it nor did I weigh for what end thou gavestime this wisdome I call not that a good ship that is painted with gaudy colours nor which hath a guilded or silvered head nor whose hull is inlayed with ivory nor which is fraught with Kingly wares and treasures but that is strong and firme and hath thick ribs to shut out the waters and tough to endure the assaulting Seas that is pliant to her rudder can make good way and fetch all winds I call that a good sword not that hath an embroydered belt or whose scabard is set with pretious stones but that that hath both a keene edge to cut and a point that can pierce any armour Men desire a straight rule and not a faire one wee commend a thing so farre only as it is usefull for that end for which it was made So I who did then know these things better than now ought to have acknowledged that I received all good from thee if I would have ordered my selfe according to the rule of thy heavenly government the obedience only which thou requiredst and which without thy command was due unto thee had made mee blessed and perfect if I would and had not obeyed the detestable suggestions of the old Serpent From my originall I was good but that goodnesse came only from thee none of it was from mee yet thou wouldest have some goodnesse come from mee to the end that thou mightest see I did acknowledge that thy goodnesse but I obeyed that traytour Satan thy enemy more willingly and more readily than thee when I might with more ease have contemned his slights than I can now those foresaid poysons which are mixed in my draughts and that even by my friends I am undone I am undone I have neglected my perfection O sad and mournfull change O man the inhabitant of Paradise the lord of the earth Citizen of Heaven one of the Lord of Saboths family and fellow heire of Heavenly vertues from whence by a sudden change art thou cast headlong by reason of infirmity hee lyes in a stable for his likenesse to beasts hee even needeth hay for his untamed fiercenesse hee is tyed to a manger I am undone I am undone and nothing can repaire mee but thou O most Mercifull CONTEMP c. 3. Of Mans departing from God of the subtilties of Satan the omnipresence and Clemency of God THou art wonderfull O God and very much to bee praised thy
absolute Creature or little world the Compendium and Epitome of the great world yet not properly a world but a man framed by thy hands by the Communion of the Son and the holy Ghost an image enlivened by the breath of thy mouth and a representation of thy selfe Heaven thy habitation is resplendant with shining and sparkling lights the earth thy footstoole doth swell with a thousand sort of fruits and yet none of them is said to be made as man was O God I am thy Image I am thy likenesse therefore I will be thy pleasure thy delight thy content thou wilt take care of me and never forsake me for who will neglect an image and a worke made after his owne likenesse To what end O my God hast thou done all this why didst thou forme and fashion me in so excellent a manner Thou madest man first of al that he might be the stock of us all from which so many branches so many leafes and so many fruits should spring Thou wouldest that all should have one originall and a like beginning that no man should preferre himselfe before another as if he were the seed of a more noble father that none should despise another that one should not hurt another but that we should every one mutually assist each other in his labour that we should be all of one mind will the same thing covet and desire the same thing and that there might not be heard any brawles contentions enviousnesse or deceits amongst us For concord is that most fragrant Balsum that breathes thee that excellent odour Thousand thousands in heaven do serve thee and there is found no discord thousand thousands should also serve thee on earth and there should be found no discord Thou didst make us all that we should be the cleere mirrour of thy Majesty of thy Glory of thy Dignity of thy Power and of thy Wisdome The work commends the workman and the effect shewes the cause O unspeakeable Artist O unvaluable causer of all things Let us take heed that we neither break nor spot that we nor fully nor make dusky this glasse let us beware that we cause not Satans vizard to be seene in this glasse but let wisdome piety goodnesse curtesie chastity and whatsoever is most excellent in thee in part reflect in us Thou madest us all that wee should bee the worlds perfection beauty and ornament The world was a Cage cunningly and wonderfully wrought but it wanted a singing bird by whose warbling notes al things might be expressed let us wordlings beware that we be not to the world like a Crow or dunghill bird or a Jay but a Lark that doth night and day in the evening and at morne celebrate and proclaime his Creatours praise let us not be a disgrace an unprofitable and reproachfull burden that the world may labour to expell with groans and be glad not sorry to be rid of it rather than wish for its returne Thou hast made us all that we should admire and set forth thee and thy works Thou hast endued me with an understanding enlightned with heavenly fire that by thy selfe I might distinguish thee from my selfe and the world Thou hast given me a will that knowing thee I might love thee above all things because thou excellest all things and dost comprehend all good things within thee Thou gavest me a tongue that knowing and loving thee I should lively expresse and redouble thy praises Be present my understanding be present my will be present my tongue know him love him praise him praise the Lord O my soule I will praise the Lord all my life long I will sing unto my God while I have any being Praise ye the Lord for it is good to sing unto our God it is a pleasant and comely thing to be thankfull unto him Thou hast made us all that wee should live with thee and that wee should be made partakers of thy glory and gladnesse The better any thing is the more it communicates its goodnesse to others but thou my God art the best of bests therefore thy goodnesse doth most plentifully flow to all so that they will lay hold and embrace it Vouchsafe safe O Lord that whilst I walke in the way I may dwell and remaine with thee in life Thou ordainest me to life O suffer me not to fall by death death is not of thee but from my selfe life is not from me but from thee take that from me which proceeds from me and give me that which comes from thee and I will praise thee in thine own holinesse I will praise thee in the firmament of thine owne power I will praise thee in thy virtues I will praise thee according to the magnitude of thy greatnesse I will praise thee in the sound of the Trumpet I will praise thee upon the Psaltery and Harpe I will praise thee in the Cymball and Quire I will praise thee upon the stringed instruments and Organs I will praise thee in the well sounding Cymballs I will prayse thee on the loud Cymballs every thing that hath breath shall praise thee Hallelujah My spirit shall leap for joy in God my Saviour for evermore O most blessed God give me a blessed age CONTEMP c. V. Of Paradise and of casting forth of Man from thence OMnipotent Creatour thou didest bestow a threefold grace upon man the grace of the soule originall righteousnesse and the grace of the body immortality and the grace of a most pleasant place to inhabit but what is that place my God wherein thou didest place my first parent and mee in him I read the words of thy penman but what meane those words what is Paradise what is Eden teach me O my God for no man although hee think he hath gotten much knowledg can instruct me sufficiently I collect that thou plantedst a garden and that it looked toward the East I heare of foure rivers Ganges Nile Tigris and Euphrates but yet I am not satisfied for the doubts of Disputants and their wrangling makes the matter very intricate unto me But why doe I seeke for that which is not and neglect that which is give me the heavenly Paradise and the earthly Paradise shall never trouble me I understand it was a most fruitfull Garden and stuffed with joy pleasure and delight in which the eyes did want nothing nor the ears or any other part of that body which it did not enjoy Within thou hadst furnished man with wisdome and understanding without thou sufferedst him not to want any thing All the creatures came about that new king enthroned by the King of kings did tender him homage and did reverence him with humble subjection The tall fertile odoriferous pruned comely and pregnant trees how much did they refresh him the Alder tree Almond tree Cherry tree Fig tree Cidonian Punick aurea and what ever else doe beautifie the fields But above the rest notable are those two which thy booke describes unto me which did most of
were likewise many that were called Saviours as Othniel Ehud and others but these were onely deliverers of the body and did onely for a time deliver the people from their outward enemies and did for a while keep them free from the spoylers of this world but this my Jesus is the true Saviour for he not onely frees and preserveth his people from outward enemies but from spirituall subtilties in high places Sometimes indeed he delivers us to outward enemies nor is he presently Jesus or a Saviour he sends amongst us warre plague haile cold poverty disgrace diseases captivity bondage but it is for our eternall salvation He is also a faithfull Jesus nor suffers he any one to be tempted above his strength but giveth our temptations such a measure that we may endure them and although our Jesus doth seeme too cruelly and too long to leave us in these externall evils and to lay too heavie a burden upon us that we are in feare to be overcharged to yeeld and to faile under it yet let us expect the comming of our Jesus wwhich will be in a fit season My Jesus best knoweth our strength and how much we can beare and as the pilot doth diligently take care that the ship be not over-fraighted or fall into any fearfull danger so my Iesus doth weigh and ballance our abilities before he layes any crosse upon us that it may not exceed them Thinke alwayes O my soule upon Iesus because thou hast alwayes need of thy Iesus If thy sinnes do vex thee and Satan doth paint them forth and set them before thee that he may perswade thee they are more in number than can be forgiven that they be larger than heaven and earth for magnitude call upon thy Iesus and make Satan thy laughing-stocke Iesus is my Saviour who hath delivered me from my sins and hath taken them upon himselfe he is become for me and all the world a ransome a sacrifice a reconciliation And because it appeares that he is not conquered but is truly a Saviour they must needs be sinners indeed and not feighned sinners that he doth save for this sentence can never be recalled Christ is the Lambe of God that taketh away the sins of the world If the feare of death doth presse thee and if Satan endeavour to dishearten thee with the expectation thereof and doth portrait the figure of death before thee in a most bloody horrible manner and repeats unto thee the threats which God denounces against sinners and the vengeance which he reserves for them protect thy selfe with the Name of Iesus and oppose it to the terrors of death Why should I feare death that I should feare the paines thereof when as my Iesus as himselfe doth teach us hath slaine my death O death I will be thy death Doth Satan strive to make thee sad himselfe being punished and overwhelmed with everlasting woe desiring to draw others into his company pronounce thou therefore but the Name of Iesus with beliefe and he vanisheth away for hee is therefore a Iesus because he hath ransomed thee from the curse of thy sinnes and hath reconciled thee to the everlasting Father that thou mightest for ever rejoyce with him Why then art thou sad What ever befals thee let the Name of Iesus still come into thy heart and betweene thy lips that the force thereof may asswage all afflictions Nothing is more sweetly sung nothing is heard more pleasingly than Iesus the Sonne of God No kinde of sin is so great but the Name of Iesus is above it O thou therefore pleasant Name of Iesus a delightfull Name a comfortable Name O Lord Iesus if I have done that for which thou mayest damne me yet hast not thou lost that whereby thou mightest save me O most mercifull Iesus O most sweet Iesus O most gracious Iesus O Iesu Iesu O Iesus the salvation of those that trust in thee O Iesus the salvation of those that beleeve in thee O Iesus the salvation of those that flie unto thee O sweet Iesu the remission of all our sinnes O Iesu for thy holy Name sake save me that I perish not O Iesus have mercy upon me while there is a time for mercy and condemne me not in the time of thy judgement Iesus Christ have mercy upon me for this thy Names sake doe unto mee according to this thy Name looke on me miserable wretch invoking thy Name it is true my soule hath deserved damnation and my repentance is no satisfaction but it is certaine that thy mercy is farre exceeding all my offences give me therefore for thy Names sake that mercy O my Iesus for thou savest thy people freely by faith alone without all merit of works onely for thy Names sake onely by the power of thy Name onely by the blood of thy body whereby thou diddest appease thy Father and obtainedst redemption and therefore dost thou save thy people freely and not for their works that our soules might be sure of redemption it could not be sure if thou shouldest not save us but for the merit of our works for either we have no merits by manifestly sinning against the Law of God or we have not merits enough because our works are imperfect which can by no meanes satisfie Gods Law therefore that our consciences may be sure of the forgivenesse of sinnes it is needfull that thou be a Iesus gratis unto me who seeing thou art true and constant in thy promises it cannot be that I can be deceived if I trust in thy Name O most bountifull Iesus O Iesu my most sweet Lord keep me in this faith and confidence even to the end let thy last word upon the crosse be my last word in this life and when I can speak no more heare my last desire Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit thou God of truth and God of my salvation thou even thou hast redeemed me O little Jesus I onely require thee comfort my soule thou best of Babes draw mee O draw me after thee by thy sweet favour thou Prince of Glory Lead me O thou our true salvation to thine owne Countrey after thine own victory wherein praise be unto thee for evermore Amen CONTEMP c. 16. Of Christ's and of our Circumcision BEhold my eyes your Jesus my soule consider thy Christ the knife is taken in hand and the Sonne of the most High is drawn away to be wounded stay knife from touching the Innocent let the Synagogue spare the innocent send him away thou Circumcisor without touching him but my Jesus why wouldst thou be so circūcised be so wounded spill thy most tender blood Why doest thou so hasten O Lord to the shedding of thy milky blood it is my salvation which makes thee thus to hasten but why didst thou submit thy self to be circumcised which art the Lord of the Law nay the Law-giver himselfe was it to confirme the Circumcision that thou haddest long before ordained to be rightly observed even till
thy comming and that the old Religion should not seeme utterly rejected or that thou mightest save the Iewes by receiving of Circumcision as thou didst the Gentiles by Baptism that is wert thou to save them by the powring forth of the purified dew or was it that thou mightest keepe fulfill and establish all the Law What need I to reckon up many things thou wast circumcised for the cause that thou wast borne and for which thou didst suffer none of all this was for thy selfe but all was for thy Elect for mee for all that cleave unto thee that thou mightest pay for us those debts even thou that didst owe nothing thy selfe and mightest free us from our owne and from the offences of others O most loving Jesus I adhere to thee doe thou everlastingly stick to me I have runne into debt doe thou pay them I beseech thee by that pretious blood which thou wast willing to shed for sinners in thy most holy Circumcision and afterwards most abundantly to powre out for them in thy most bitter passion that thou mightest wash away all mine iniquities looke upon me most humbly petitioning and often calling upon thy holy Name cause me O Lord readily to submit my selfe to thy Lawes I learne from thy selfe my Lord to obey thy Lawes and to obey thee not by constraint but by free consent for this is the true obedience of the humane nature when it subjects its will readily to the will of God and when by working it perfecteth the good will it hath received with a willing liberty without any constraint Give me O Lord the Circumcision of the heart which is that the cloud of errour being taken away to acknowledge the Creator God the Father and his Sonne Christ by whom he hath created all things that the truth of God might be fulfilled grant that I may cut off and cast out of my heart all uncleannesse of thoughts and impuritie of my senses For the Gospell hath not enjoyned cutting away of the Prepuce but the circumcision of the heart and that by the Sword of the Spirit wee should cut away all petulancie as well of our members as of our affections this Circumcision is not in my power succour my weaknesse O Lord and assist me that I may doe that which thou hast promised by thy faithfull servant Moses the Lord shall circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed that thou mayest love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soule I am present O Lord as thou hast commanded by thy faithfull servant Jeremy Be circumcised to the Lord and take away the fore-skinne of your hearts that my wrath break not forth like fire Give me that which Saint Paul speaks concerning me Thou art circumcised with a Circumcision which is made without hands if thou put off the body of sins by the Circumcision of Christ The Iewes circumcised but one member of the body grant O Lord that I may circumcise all my members The heart of man is wicked it must therefore be circumcised and the Sword of the Spirit is to be unsheathed for it and this is the preaching of the Gospell of Iesus Christ which if any one receiveth into his heart by faith first his sinnes shall not be imputed to him but he shall be accompted just for Christs sake then the holy Ghost shall bee given unto him by whose power it shall come to passe that the reliques of sinne shall not raigne in his mortall body but hee shall fit his members as weapons of righteousnesse unto God Stirre me up O Lord and strengthen me that I may circumcise my eyes that they behold no vanitie nor defile themselves with privie adulteries Thou hast commanded this O Lord if thy right eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee Stirre me up O Lord and strengthen mee that I may circumcise my hands that they be not enraged and shed innocent blood for thou hast commanded this O Lord if thy right hand offend thee cut it off Stirre me up and strengthen me O Lord that I may circumcise my feet that they goe not in the way of sinners and that they haste not to doe evill so putting off the old man and putting on the new I shall become a new creature and shall possesse the inheritance of thy Kingdome O Christ I shall enjoy the societie of the citizens of heaven the quire of Angels singing Hymnes unto thee and the sweet fellowship of all thy blessed ones Thus thou shalt speak O Christ to thy Father I will that those thou hast given me may now be with me that they may behold my glory which I had with thee before the world was made O when wilt thou speake this O Lord O when shall I heare this CONTEMP c. 17. Of the passion of Christ DOest thou ascend for me to Ierusalem that all things might be accomplished which are written by the Prophets that thou mightest be exposed for a scorne to the Gentiles that thou mightest be scourged that thou mightest be spit upon that thou mightest be fastned to the Crosse thou who art the God of glory the God of life safety the chiefe best and Omnipotent most mercifull most just most secret most present most beautifull most strong stable incomprehensible God invisible yet seeing all things immutable yet changing all things immortall illocable interminable unbounded without ending inestimable unutterable fearfull and terrible to be honoured and reverenced venerable and renowned never new nor ever waxing old and innovating all things For me who am deep darknesse miserable earth the sonne of wrath a vessell fitted for reproach begotten in uncleannesse living in misery that must die in extremity a vessell taken from a dunghill a shell of corruption full of filth and horror blinde poore naked subject to many wants and wretched and mortall as I am ignorant when I came in or when I must goe out of the world whose dayes passe like a shadow whose life vanisheth like the shadow of the Moone a mad mans phansie as the blossome upon the tree blowes and forthwith is rotten now flourisheth and by by is dried up whose life is a fraile and fading life that the more it continues the more it decreaseth the farther we proceed in it the nearer it approacheth to death What shall I thinke what shall I say what hast thou commited O most sweet Saviour that thou shouldest be thus judged what hast thou done O my most loving Saviour that thou shouldest be handled so rudely what is thy wickednesse what thy offence what the cause of thy death what the occasion of thy condemning I am the stripe of thy paine the offence for which thou art slaine I am the desert of thy death the wickednesse revenged upon thee I am the spleene of thy passion and the labour of thy torments O the greatnes and foulnesse of my sinnes Out of the consideration of the remedy I value the measure of my
a flint that with dry eyes canst read this story O heart of man harder than an Adamant that these things cannot penetrate O fierce and steely heart of man that considers not these things Thy Saviour being weary and overcharged under so great a burden cries and cals out and in his soule cals upon us My people what have I done unto thee or how have I beene troublesome unto thee answer me I have beene no Usurer nor hath any thorow the earth taken use for me yet all doe curse me God hath shut me up with the wicked and hath delivered me to the hands of the wicked Many calves have compassed me about fat buls have besieged me They opened their mouths upon me as it were a raging and roaring Lion I am powred out like water and all my bones are scattered abroad my heart in the middest of my bosome is like melting wax my strength is dried up like a potsheard and my tongue cleaveth to my gums and thou hast brought me into the dust of death He cryed he called out but there was none that would heare he is led without the city to the place made infamous for the punishing of the wicked therein as unto a publick separate place that he might not pollute any man by his contagion which the adjoyning inhabitants gave a name from the dead mens souls which lay scattered every where abroad within it The Captaine of the heavenly hostes led forth in the sight of men and Angels to be fastened between heaven and earth unto the accursed Crosse to be refreshed with vinegar he is wounded he is slaine he is thrust thorow with a speare what current of language can sufficiently unfold this misery but thls remembrance of such stupendious things requires rather the teares of the faithfull than the Orators eloquence O who shall give water to my head and a fountaine of teares to mine eyes that I may weepe night and day I will weepe with strong teares I will make drunke my cheeks with my teares the righteous perish and there is none that taketh it to heart the Lord of heaven gives up the ghost and there is not one that thinks it concernes him any thing Raise up thy selfe O my soule and weary thy selfe in meditating upon the passion of thy Lord no time is more happily spent than that which the devout soule imployeth upon the passion O wonderfull condition of his censure and unutterable disposition of a mystery the unjust doth offend and the righteous is punished the guilty transgresseth and God is chastised the impious sinneth and the righteous is condemned the good suffereth that which the wicked deserveth that which the servant is indebted the Master doth pay Whither O whither thou Sonne of God doth thy humility descend how farre hath thy love beene inflamed how farre did thy love reach and how farre did thy pitty eâ—tend O Lord Jesus Christ governe and guide me by thy Spirit that my soule being pricked by thy visitation may crucifie its flesh with the sins and lusts thereof O Lord Jesus I onely put my trust in thy passion and death O Lord Iesus Christ who hast witnessed that thy delight is to be with the sonnes of men thou who becamest man for man in the later age be mindfull of all thy premeditations and inward griefe which from the beginning of thy conception thou diddest endure in thy humane nature but chiefly in the instant time of thy most saving passion fore-ordained from all eternity in thy divine heart Remember the sadnesse and bitternesse which thy soule was possessed with as thou diddest testifie when thou saidst My soule is heavie even to death and when in thy last Supper thou diddest deliver thy Body and Blood to thy Disciples when thou washedst their feet and when sweetly comforting them thou didst foretell thy neare approaching passion Remember the feare anguish and griefe which thou didst endure thorow all thy tender body before thy suffering upon the Crosse When after thy troubled prayer thou diddest sweat that bloody sweat when thou wast delivered by thine owne Disciple taken by thy chosen people accused by false wi nesses unjustly sentenced by three severall Iudges in the holy City when at the time of the Passeover in the florishing time of thy youth being innocent thou wast condemned wast delivered wast spitted on thine owne cloaths pulled off and others put upon thee thou wast buffetted thy face and eyes were covered when thou wast bound to the Crosse and crowned with thornes O most sweet Jesus give me I beseech thee for the memory of thy paines and passion true contrition and confession and also remission of all my sins before my death and in my death grant me comfort and consolation of spirit and after death grant me salvation and glory Amen CONTEMP c. 18. Of the first and second word of our Lord spoken upon the Crosse O My soule one of thy faithfull servants sadly and mournfully cryes out concerning Job what a pageant of triumph hath God made of the Devill in that man what an ensigne of his glory hath he erected from his enemie when he did with great patience cleanse away the uncleane flowing matter of his sores when sportingly hee did call back the wormes that crawled forth from his sores to the same holes and feeding places of his worme-eaten flesh But how much hath thy Saviour out-gone him in constancie of mind and an unshaken patience he in the last necessitie in the pangs of death in the paines of hell sorsaken and made exceeding sad by his angry God failes not in the courage of his mind he shewed no signe that his heart departed from the path of righteousnesse but as he began so continues be to love mankind Heare the words that he utters from the chaire of his crosse they were few but great profitable and worthy never to depart out of a Christians heart as long as he hath his vitall breath Thus he speaks Father forgive them they know not what they doe Oh thy supereminent love O Lord thou prayest not O Lord that they might be punished who afflicted and crucified thee but that they might enjoy the merit of thy passion and be saved Thou so aboundest in thy love that forgetfull of thy most exquisite sufferings thou thinkest on nothing but the reconciling of sinners O incomparable humanitie of unspeakable mercy with what gentle and friendly eyes dost thou locke upon me from the Altar of the Crosse how can any man despaire seeing we have so diligent so faithfull so loving and so zealous an intercessour Where are you trembling sinners where are you affrighted conseiences doe you delight to see the heart of your Lord to overflow with grace Come and behold his Crosse Come come see his heart mounting into his tongue and begging pardon for your sins Iesus my God I am also present amongst sinners amongst those that crucifie thee looke on me and receive me my sins my sins were those
shall Sun or heat fall on us because thou dost governe us and leadest us to the fountaines of waters and shalt wipe away all teares from our eyes thou shalt make us drunk with the plenteousnesse of thy house and refresh us with the streames of thy pleasure O Lord as the hart desireth the fountaines of water so longeth my soule after thee O Lord my soule hath thirsted after God the living fountaine when shall I come and appeare before the face of God O Lord when shall I worthily call to mind thy mercyes thy praises which are farre above all things which thou hast given me and exceeding the multitude of the goods of my house which thou hast bestowed upon mee according to the multitude of thy mercyes CONTEMP 21. c. Of Christs sixt word uttered upon the Crosse THou hast performed all and every of those things which thou knewest necessary to recover our salvation most willingly and with all thy heart And therefore thy sixt word was not it shall be finished as thou diddest say in thy journey to Jerusalem behold we goe up to Jerusalem and all things shall be fulfilled which are written by the Prophets concerning the Son of man for hee shall be delivered up to the Gentiles shall bee mocked shall be scourged and spitt upon and after they have scourged him they shall put him to death But hee saies it is finished whatsoever the wicked nation could invent to exasperate thy torments is finished thou truly diddest foretell the houre and power of darkenesse and the time of thy crucifying I have finished sayest thou the work which thou gavest me to doe but that was another work namely the work of Preaching the Gospell as thou thy selfe doest intimate unto mee when thou addest I have manifested thy name unto men this work which thou sayest is finished is the work of suffering for mankind the work of drinking off the cup of the passion which thy father hath given thee thou hast now drunk it all off so that there remaines nothing but that thou give up the ghost the power which was given the apostate Angels and the filthy rabble of wicked men is finished thy pilgrimage wherein thou wentest out from thy father and diddest come into the world is finished wherein thou wast upon the earth like a husbandman and a travailer the mortality of thy humanity is at an end every prophecy which the prophets had foretold concerning thy life or death is finished the greatest sacrifice of all sacrifices is finished that upon which all the sacrifices of the old covenant as types and shaddows did reflect for by one oblation thou hast for ever made perfect those that are sanctified and art become the end of the Law to every one that beleeveth Now the variety of carnall sacrifices ceasing thou fulfillest all those distinctions of beasts by once offering up of thy body and blood thou hast O Lord drawne all things unto thy selfe for by rending the vaile of the temple the Sanctum Sanctorum departed from the unworthy high Preists that the figure might bee turned into a truth the prophecy into a manifestation and the Law into a Gospell O cleane O unspotted sacrifice whose Altar was the Crosse which the viler it was before Christ overcame it so much the more famous and noble did it afterwards become the fire thereof that consumes the burnt offering and perfecteth the sacrifice is this immeasurable charity which like a furnace exceedingly heated did burne in thy heart O Jesus which the many waters of thy sufferings could not extinguish O Jesus my redeemer my mercy my Saviour I praise thee I give thanks unto thee though farre unproportionable to thy benefits though very voyd of devotion though leane in comparison of that fatnesse which thy most sweet affection towards us doth require in them yet my soule doth pay unto thee what thanks shee is able not such as shee knowes are due unto thee from mee Thou hope of my heart thou vertue of my soule let thy most powerfull worth perfect that which my most chill weaknesse doth endeavour my life thou end of my intention though I have not loved thee so much as I ought to love thee yet doe I at least desire to love thee as much as I ought O Jesus let this word alwayes stick in my memory It is finished When sinne and damnation shall band themselves against mee wrastling with the pangs of death and shall present unto mee my ugly life made deformed by my sinnes let me be able then to say the sacrifice for my sinnes is finished For thou art the Lambe of God that takest away the sinnes of the world Thou hast not redeemed me with corruptible silver and gold but with thy most precious blood as it were of an unspotted undefiled lamb When the law shall accuse me and shall exact punishment let me say each tittle of it is accomplished For when the fulnes of time was come God sent his Son made under the Law that he might redeem those which were under the Law and that we also might receive the adoption of children When death shall infest and terrifie me let me say thy power is determined thou art conquered by my Lord who hath spoiled thee of thy power hath taken out thy sting and purged out thy poyson that death may be to me a sweet repose great gaine a dismission in peace a recalling from evils a momentary hiding me till wrath is past and till heaven gates be opned for me When kindred friends and acquaintance shall at the time of my departure bewaile my going hence and compasse my bed with groanes and teares let me say my course is finished the appointed time is past the period is fixed which we cannot passe the glasse is runne the houre of freedome drawes neare here my misery makes a stand and the haven I make to is neare where all teares shall be wiped away behold I leave unto you a Fulfiller of all good and an asswager and ender of all evill hee shall comfort you if you flie unto him hee shall keepe and defend you to whom I recommend my soule and to whom I recommend you the beloved of my soule for evermore Amen CONTEMP c. 22. Of the seventh and last word of Christ uttered upon the Crosse ALthough Lord Jesus Christ great is thy humility great thy abasement and great is thy affliction that thou seemest scarce a man but a worm yet in thy seventh and last word before thou gavest up the ghost tho-shewedst thy selfe not a man only but even set above the reach of mans power for when thou wast about to breathe out thy most holy Spirit thou criedst out Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit Ah what a mournfull lamentable sad and miserable silence is there when mournfull lamentable sad and miserable man is commanded to breathe forth his soule how silent faint and how dead as it were are all things before death our death-bed takes
the man Christ Iesus Therefore where my portion reignes I beleeve I reigne where my blood doth rule I perceive my selfe to rule where my flesh is glorified I know I am glorious Thou wentest to prepare a place for mee that I might be with thee in a most plesant City thou laydst open the way that I might come into thy most loving society Thou didst first break through that I might also enter into most ample felicity in everlasting health of body in perfect purity of our soules in all fullnesse of glory and divine pleasure into the perpetuall familiarity of the Saints to have kindred hope resting place grace and dignity in the heavens CONTEMP 27. c. Of the sending downe of the Holy Ghost HOw great and what an unutterable piety of my redeemer is this hee carried man into heaven and sent God downe upon the earth behold therefore a new Redeemer is sent from heaven behold againe divinity and humanity are mixed together Thou didst foretell O my God by thy spirit which thou hast given us I will powre out my waters to the thirsty and my streames upon those that are scorched I will powr out my spirit upon thy seede my blessing upon thy posterity I will powre out my spirit upon all flesh and your sonns shall prophecy I will sprinckle pure water upon you and you shall be clensed from all your pollutions I will send my spirit into the midst of you Now O my God is thy prophecy fulfilled and the showers of thy graces and streames of thy blessings are powred forth That common expected time of gladnesse of all the righteous is now come the sweet guest of the soule is come the comfortable refreshing the rest in our labour the temper in heate comfort in mourning the washing of that which was foule watering that which was partched with heate healing that which is wounded straightning what was crooked cherishing that which was cold ordering what was gone astray The inspiter of our faith the teacher of knowledge the fountaine of love the ensigne of chastity and the cause of all our vertue is come Hee came when the twelve ministers and dispensors of thy mysteries were unanimously gathered together at Ierusalem in the house of prayer chosen by thine owne selfe in the holy City the City of perfect beauty and a sudden noyse comming from heaven as it were the rushing of a mighty wind cloven tongues appeared to them like fire and sate upon each of them so that they were all filled with the Holy ghost and they began to speak in divers languages They were gathered together with one accord and indeed that spirit loves agreement and doth bind faster together mens peacefull minds it drives away all brawles and contentions and is it selfe driven away by brawles and contentions They were gathered together in Jerusalem it loves a holy place and where thy word is preached there it gratiously abideth This word is not without the spirit nor thy word without the spirit there was a sound like a wind the holy spirit is not still but its voyce is heard hee is not dumbe but speaketh and preacheth redemption to sinners revelations to those in misery comfort to those that bee sad exaltation to those that are opressed deliverance to the captives liberty to the bondmen and rersurrection to the dead There was a sudden and vehement sound from heaven the holy spirit is not the gift of men but of the Almighty God it brings not momentary but things eternall not earthly but heavenly things Gods helpe is also for the most part sudden and unlooked for when wee despaire of all mens ayd the power of the most High is sent us and cures us in a most fit time The holy spirit is cheerefull and makes them nimble and ready in whom it operates for the grace of the holy spirit is not acquainted with sluggish endevours The tongues appeared devided like fire the tongue is the instrument of the holy ghost whereby it prepares and enlargeth the spirituall Kingdome and as the tongue doth distinguish tastes so doth the holy spirit shew us good from ill and to discerne between spirits it also bestowes on us the gift of variety of languages and gathers together in one the multitudes of men dispersed by reason of the difference of their tongues The love of God is lastly fiery it enlightens the understandings drowned in darknesse it warmes the soules by charity makes them shine in good works consumes wicked affections and actions O most wholsome fire descende from heaven into us We burne with the filthy brands of our lusts that the earth seemes rather an Aetna of uncleane flames than an habitation of men For as the hill Aetna doth continually boyle with certaine inward fiery vapors so doth that with the abhominable flames of fornications by this meanes we kindle the fire of wrath the fire of destruction the fire of the Lord the fire of indignation which went out from the Lord and consumed Nadab and Abihu How grievously doth the prophet cry out behold all of you doe kindle his fire and adde fuell to the flames enter yee into the light of your fire and the flames which yee have kindled For after this manner as the scripture mentioneth doth all mankind rush into eternall damnation For first they kindle the fire then they put fuell to the flames and finally they enter into the flames which they have kindled And first doe wee begin to kindle the eternall fire for our selves when first we begin to sinne and we adde fuell to the flames when we heap sins upon sins We enter into the eternall fire when we fulfill the remedilesse summe of all our mischiefes by the iniquity of our multiplyed offences As our Saviour spake to the Rulers of the Jewes Yee serpents yee generation of vipers fulfill yee the measure of your fathers O heavenly Spirit let plentifull showres fall from heaven and quench the accursed flames of this fire that I be not delivered into the unsufferable flames which no water no brooke no river no sea can quench Filth sticks to me on all sides who will wash it off I am polluted with the dirt of my sins who shall make mee cleane My soule is wounded and altogether defiled who shall heale and purifie it My bones are dried up who shall moisten them Shalt not thou wash mee shalt not thou purge mee shalt not thou heale mee shalt not thou cleanse me shalt not thou moysten me Thou didst never yet suffer me to receive a repulse shall this be the first time that thou wilt reject my prayer Surely thou wilt not deny that which I pray for because thou hast bid me pray unto thee because it tendeth to my salvation which thou so much desirest and belongs unto thine owne honour whereof thou art so jealous Give me drink therefore out of the streames of thy pleasure that I may take no pleasure to taste of the poysoned sweets of the world Thou
which the Prophet said A new name shall be given thee which the mouth of the Lord shall bestow on thee We have changed our accursed name because God hath given us a new name Take heed to your selves take heed who ever you be that you despise none of the faithfull that you disesteeme or reproach them not though he seeme most miserable most abject and most afflicted for let his misery or affliction be as great as may be yet is he the Almighty Gods Anointed the Prophet of the most holy the Priest of the most High yea he is himselfe a king of most great Majesty Yee are Prophets O Christians therefore let the Word of God dwell plentifully in you with all wisdome teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymnes and spirituall songs singing unto the Lord with grace in your hearts Ye are Priests ye Christians therefore I beseech you my brethren by the mercies of God that you give up your bodies a living and a holy sacrifice and acceptable to God by your reasonable service of him and be not fashioned like this world but be yee changed through the renewing of your mindes that ye may discerne what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God Ye are Kings O Christians be not therefore servants of sin or be subject to the boyling affections of the flesh but mortifie your sinnes tame your lusts nor prostitute your dignity to a most base and impure servitude Extoll your Christ because all your eminencie all your worth all your grace and all your glory proceedeth from him As the rivers do flow from the sea and flow back againe into the same so let your eminency dignity grace and glory be directed disposed of and referred to the authour and giver thereof Call upon Christ O ye Christians because though you be anointed yet may that ointment be overwhelmed defiled and wiped off by the filth of your sinnes and the durt of your corruptions ye carry heavenly gifts in brittle vessels pray that they be not broken and your graces spilt pray that no wind may extinguish your flame that your oyle faile you not and yee be left in darknesse with the foolish virgins Love your Christ yee Christians because he is anointed that you might be anointed because he is a King that hath all the inhabitants of the earth for his subjects because he is a Priest that hath expiated all the sinnes of the whole world because he is a Prophet that doth instruct all the ignorant doth enforme them and teacheth them the right way to life Love Christ you Christians because the most apparant manifestation of a thankfull mind consisteth not in words but works not in promises but in obedience But to the end you may more fully consider your dignity the birth of a Christian is to be weighed God is his Father in heaven the Church is his mother upon the earth The Word of God to be heard and seene is the seed that is the Word preached this is the administration of the Sacraments Yee are borne againe not of corruptible seed but incorruptible by the Word of God that lives and abideth for evermore The Father of lights hath begotten you by the Word of his truth The Churches are the wombe where the seed of the heavenly Word is scattered and in which the eternall Father and our mother the Church doe meet together The heart of man is the matter of this generation the privation is the mortification of the old Adam the forme is the vivification it selfe whence doth arise the assent of the understanding and confidence of the will that the sonne of wrath may become the sonne of grace the blinde may see the deafe may heare the dumbe may speake the lame walke the leaper be cleansed and life may be restored to the dead The time of this formation is when a Christian doth more and more profit in knowledge of the understanding and holinesse in the heart the carrying in the wombe is when in our whole life by meanes of the vessels of the wombe and navell that is by the ministers of the Word he attracteth to himselfe the milke of saving knowledge from the two breasts of the Church the Law and the Gospell and as an Embrion lives in the wombe so he lives in the Word Hee is a brute creature and more silly than a beast that doth not admire that a childe in the wombe should be preserved alive in so darke a prison in so uncleane streights among so many filths corruptions excrements wrapped in filmes and crowded by the bowels but it is farre more to be wondred at that any Christian should be supported amidst so many griefes paines torments snares and calamities For about the wombe wherein we are carried the World cries I will slay him the Flesh cries I will infect him the Devill cries I will deceive him Wee must there lie hid where there is much malice where is little wisdome where all things are viscous and slimie all things hid in darknesse and beset with snares where the soules are in danger the bodies are afflicted where all things are vanity and vexation of Spirit and yet for all this we live and are preserved we live and are not killed we are nourished and not in want we are carried in the wombe and are not abortive we are sustained and are in want of nothing The Embrion in the mothers wombe lives a hidden life he lives indeed in the world but is not seene with the eyes of any he sends forth his breath but scarce draws any in we also Embrions of regeneration lead a hidden life For though we live in the kingdome of heaven yet our glory and desireable life doth not as yet make any great shew we yet behold not the light of eternall blessednesse we yet draw not the aire of the region of Paradise we yet eat not the Angelicall Manna we yet drinke not of the heavenly liquour but have as it were but a light taste of al these things and we have scarce any sensible breathing of these things But the houre is at hand and the time will come that it shall be made manifest what we shall be wherein we shall beginne and never end this glorious light this life not of hope but of the things hoped for even the life of vision We shal begin this life when we die for then begin we to be borne to the true light when we first put off our mortality For the true birth day of Christians is their day of death In death they do begin to live through death they enter into life as the infant lies sighing at the port of the wombe expecting his passage and though he be even at deaths threshold yet is he conveyed into the haven of life O living death of Christians O Christian sonne of God brother of Christ companion of the Angels Lord of the world partaker of the divine nature O Christian exalted above sin and the law
downe from heaven thy holy Spirit the teacher of truth and worke in my tough and hard heart inward and divine repentance that I may never repent me of And now thou love of that heavenly power thou holy communication of the omnipotent Father and the blessed issue thou Spirit the Omnipotent Comforter slide within the most secret places of my heart by thy powerfull operation and enlighten every darke lurking place of this my neglected habitation by the brightnesse of thy glorious light Come come now thou most courteous Comforter of the languishing soul that defendst it in its necessities art its helper in tribulation Come thou cleanser of my filthinesse thou curer of my wounds Come thou Strength of the weake thou Sustainer of those that slide Come thou Instructer of the humble and Confounder of the haughty Come thou holy Father of the orphans thou milde Judge of the widowes Come thou Hope of the poore thou Refresher of those that faint Come thou sea-mans Starre thou Haven against shipwracke Come thou singular Beauty of all that live thou only Safety of those that die Come most holy Spirit come and take pity upon me Fit me for thy selfe and mercifully condescend to my weaknesse that according to the multitude of thy mercies my meannesse may be acceptable to thy Majestie and my weaknesse to thy power There was a time my God when I had no being which I cannot remember and then thou madest me to have a being thou formedst me of the clay of the earth and madest me according to thine owne image and representation Thou broughtest me out of my mothers wombe thou wast my hope when I hung upon my mothers breasts from the wombe was I cast upon thy providence for from the very time that I first drew my vitall breath and entred this tabernacle of the world and my soule tooke possession of her earthly house thou art my Father thou art my Redeemer thou art my Saviour thou art my Helper Thou didst create my body and all the members thereof thou gavest me my soule and all the faculties thereof and hast most mercifully preserved my life even to this present houre Thou hast added another blessing farre more pretious than the rest that thou mightest tie me the nearer unto thee Thou descendedst O God from heaven to finde me out thou soughtest for me being lost of all hands By thy incarnation didst thou rid my weake and miserable flesh out of the ignominy and basenesse which by the devils seducing suggestions it was fallen into Thou sanctifiedst my sinfull nativity by thy most holy birth by thy bonds and captivity thou hast freed me from the bonds of my enthralling sinnes Whilst thou deliveredst thy selfe into the hands of sinners thou hast snatched me out of the power of sinne in the forme of sinfull flesh thou hast abolished my sinfull life which is the worke of Satan by this thy great mercy thou hast most straightly tied me unto thy selfe thou hast enticed me unto thee with those benefits thou hast confirmed and strengthned my hope with those great merits thou wouldest stirre up in me a hatred and detestation of my sins in that thou hast wrought and endured so many and so great things that thou mightest reconcile me to thy heavenly Father and overthrow the kingdome of sinne so thou hast kindled bright coales over my head that thou mightest thereby set my heart on fire that overwhelmed as it were with the works of thy mercy which are included in this thy worke of Redemption I might love him with all my heart who hath wholly loved me and imparted himselfe wholly unto mee Thou hast redeemed me O Lord my God but what good had it beene unto me except thou hadst permitted me to be baptized amongst so great a multitude therefore of Infidels thou wast pleased I should be borne of faithfull parents and hast blessed me so farre above all unbeleeving Ethnicks Turks and Jewes that I might be regenerated by the lavacre in thy word and according to thy Word and might put on my Christ with all his benefits There thou hast adopted me for thy sonne and made me thy heire there make I that wonderfull covenant with thee that I should be thine and that thou shouldest be mine that thou shouldest be my Lord and I should be thy servant that thou shouldest be my father and I should be thy sonne there is it so so covenanted betwixt us that thou shouldest manifest thy fatherly affection to me and that I should with a filiall obedience hearken unto thee What need I rehearse the other use of this Sacrament namely that thou hast made it the curing physicke of our sins that by thine own blood thou mightest heal my unhappy and festring wounds and mightest thereby more and more adde perfection unto me But though I have received so many blessings of thee and have in a readinesse so many antidotes against sinne yet have I not continued in obedience but have often broken that covenant and yet hast thou bin so mercifull and so milde a God that thou didst endure my disobedience O God my salvation and hope how can I recount thy mercy and clemency without shedding of teares for how often O just judge mightest thou kill and bring me to nothing and yet none of these things is befallen me how many thousands of soules are already thrust into hell to be punished with eternall plagues and fire that never came neare my sinnes either in number or weight and yet am not I burned what had become of me if thou hadst cut me off together with them How ought I to feare thy terrible and fearfull judgement if thou shouldest punish me in thy immutable and severe judgement according to the foulnesse of my iniquities O my God who tied thy hands who was my Intercessor when I most securely slept the sleep of sin who held the scourge of thy wrath when as day by day I provoked urged thy vengeance what was there in me to please thee what was there in me so worthy of thy acceptation that thou shouldest spare me when thou didst root out others who wallowing in the mud of their sinnes thou didst summon to thy most righteous judgement seat in the midst of their dayes My sins did cry to heaven and thou didst stop thine eares my wickednesses were daily multiplied and thy mercy was likewise encreased to me I did sinne and thou didst expect my repentance I fled from thee and thou didst draw neare to me I provoked thee so often to wrath that I might weary thee by my provocations yet wast not thou weary of taking pity upon me as if my transgressions against thee being abominable ingratitude in me were pleasing in thy sight Thou hast suggested unto me many good thoughts and given me many profitable admonitions to turne me from my transgressions even in my full speed of sinning How many times standing before the doore of my heart hast thou knocked and called saying
O Lord my King in that thou hast created me I owe my selfe unto thee and in that thou hast redeemed me yea and wast made man for mee I should owe thee more than my selfe if I had it by how much more thou art greater than he is for whom thou hast given thy selfe behold though I have more yet cannot I give thee that I have without thee But doe thou receive me and draw me unto thee that I may become thine by love and imitation as I am thine by creation and redemption Let my life it selfe be thine O Lord I freely offer up my whole selfe unto thee let my whole spirit my whole heart my whole body and my whole life even my sweet life it selfe live unto thee for thou hast wholly delivered me that thou mightest wholly possesse mee thou hast wholly refreshed mee that I might bee wholly thine owne But how canst thou have mee except this holy Communion may not prove a guilt to draw downe punishment upon me but an wholesome intercession to obtaine pardon the armour of faith and shield of good will except it may bee an emptying of my sinnes a banishing of lust and concupiscence an encrease of charity and patience humility and obedience a firme defence against the slights of all our enemies as well visible as invisible a perfect appeasing as well of my carnall as spirituall perturbations a fast cleaving to thee the true and onely God Ah let me obtaine these things of thee who art most mercifull and hast commanded me therefore to pray for them that I might obtaine them and might come to that unspeakable Banquet wherein thou with thy Sonne and the holy Spirit art to thy holy Ones a true Light full Content everlasting Joy perfect Delight and absolute Felicitie Amen CONTEMP c. 42. Of beginning the day holily I Am awaked out of sleep O my soule I shall also one day awake out of the grave which perpetually consider of with thy selfe The Sunne breaks forth of the clouds and day succeeds in the place of night one day also shall break forth the eternall day after the long lasting nights are past and the Sunne of righteousnesse Christ Jesus shall returne with his glorious light whom many thousands of Saints shall accompany shining most beautifully and farre above the brightnesse of our Sun So prepare thy selfe O my soule in this entry that in that day thou maist have admittance into the house it selfe nor that the Sunne may hide his face from thee and thou be involved in thicke darknesse Let no flattering of gaine no invitation of honour nor delight of pleasure so seduce thee that thou lose the gladnesse of that day Let the brute beasts be they that do only behold the light of this our Sun doe thou with the eyes of faith behold the light of that day Remember O man that the devill like a roaring lion walketh about night and day seeking whom he may devoure Dost thou doubt whether he be about thy bed when thou art buried in sleepe and that he then labours to devoure thee but who resisteth him why thou weake wretch art laid prostrate before him It is the onely keeper of Israel that neither slumbers not sleeps that preserveth thee Dost thou heare the cocke crowing thinke upon Peter who though he was eminent in the dignity of being an Apostle and did heare the great Doctor the Son of God yet did he greatly erre What shall become of thee thinkest thou except by thy fervent prayers thou daily stick close unto God Thinke thou hearest that heavenly trumpet which the Angell the Judges companion shall blow and consider how thou couldest stand before that Judge if he were now come and did presently exact thee to appeare before him Remember God is about and in thy bed and by his omnipresence doth looke into all thy thoughts and sees all thy behaviour and actions Call to minde the holy troops of Angels which by night defend thee stand about thee observe thy sleeping and waking and that rejoyce at thy holinesse and grieve at thy ungodlinesse Live therefore so as if thou didst live in the sight of God and his Angels and thus if thou beest wise beleeve thou dost When thou puttest on thy cloaths remember they are the coverings of sinne nor is there any cause thou shouldest be proud of them What I pray is most of our cloaths are they not the rejected things the excrements and spoiles of beasts it is madnesse therefore for a man that is endued with reason to be proud and to brag of the reliques the excrements and spoiles of brute beasts Thou cloathest thy body with a covering but think this more necessary far that thou defend thy soule with the most pure robe of Christs righteousnesse and that thou put it on not by a luke-warme faith He that cloatheth not himselfe in this manner shall be tormented with everlasting cold Ah! with how many precious cloaths have many covered their bodies whose soules remaine cold and naked Consider that Gods mercy and goodnesse are daily renued and that he doth daily as it were bestow a new life upon us whilst he repaires the power of our senses and restores thee the enlivening heat of the Sunne Let therefore no creature divert thy prayers let no thoughts arise in thee before thou hast given God his praises O Omnipotent Lord God that art the Trinity in Unity that art alwayes in all things and hadst thy being from all eternity and shall be alwayes in all things O thou my God take pity upon me that I may speake The house of my soule is straight but doe thou enlarge it that thou mayest come into it it is ruinous but doe thou repaire it There are in it those things which may offend both thine eare and eye I know acknowledge it but who shall make it cleane or to whom else shall I call but to thy selfe Cleanse me O Lord from my hidden offences and pardon me my open sinnes I beleeve and therefore I speake thou knowest it My sinnes doe plead against me before thee pardon me therefore the impiety of my heart and cast my sinnes into the depth of the sea that they confound me not in this world nor condemne me in the world to come O God that art for ever blessed I doe this day and at all times commend unto thee and into thy powerfull hand my soule my body all my thoughts all my affections my words my actions all my outward and inward things my senses and understanding my memory faith and beliefe that thou mightest keepe them day and night houres and minutes Heare me holy Trinity and preserve me from all evill and from all scandall and from all deadly sin and from all the snares and assaults of the devill and from my visible and invisible enemies Expell out of me all boasting of minde and encrease in me contrition of heart lessen my pride and perfect in me true humility give me tendernesse
is lost we even divide this very day we now enjoy betweene death and our selves Wretched man why disposest thou not of thy selfe every houre Think thou mayest now die because thou knowest thou must die call to mind that the time is comming upon the wings wherein thy eyes must sinke into thy head the veines of thy body shall be crackt in pieces and thy heart shall be cleft with sorrow remember thine owne frailtie remember the miserable estate of thy pilgrimage call to mind in the bitternesse of thy soule thy yeares past and the dangers of mans life Amidst the most uncertaine things of man yet is death most certaine yet what is found more uncertaine than the houre of death it takes no pitie upon want it reverenceth not riches and to conclude it spareth neither wisdome manners nor age this only is the difference that death standeth at the old mans doore and for the young man he lyes in ambush every one therefore ought well to feare this last day because every one in the day of Judgement shall be judged for such as he shall be found at his day of death Upon this only moment of our life depends eternity that hath no end What is more terrible than judgement and what can bee imagined more intolerable than hell What will a man feare if hee feare not these things if horrour seize not on him and if dread doe not cause him to tremble O man if thou have lost the shame which belongs to so noble a creature if thou bee not sensible of the sorrows of affliction which is also a property that belongs to mortall creatures yet lose not at least thy feare Feare therefore O man because in death thou must be parted from all the good things of this thy body and the sweet marriage knot of thy united soule and body must be cut in sunder by this most bitter divorce Feare because in that terrible Judgement thou must stand before him into whose hands it is a most fearfull thing to fall even before such an Examiner from whom nothing can be hid if iniquitie be found in thee thou must be banished the society of blisse and glory and bee severed from the number of the blessed Feare because in hell thou must be exposed to insufferable and everlasting torments and receive thy portion with the devill and his angels even in the everlasting fire prepared for them Dost thou not yet feare the face of the Judge which is even terrible to the angelicall Powers Dost not thou tremble at the wrath of that powerfull One at his angry countenance and his sharp words Art thou not affraid of the teeth of the infernall beast of the belly of hell of those yellings fore-runners of our devourings Are we not yet affraid of the gnawing worme scorching flames smoak and vapour brimstone and stormie tempests O! who shall give water to my head and a fountaine of teares unto mine eyes that by my weeping I may prevent that weeping and gnashing of teeth and those hard bands of hands and feet and that weight of oppressing fettering burning and yet not consuming chaines and that I may come to thee my Lord and my God Yet if any be so cursedly obdurate so fierce and steely that hee cannot be troubled with the feare of ill yet who can be so madde and senselesse that he will not be touched with the desire of good things There are laid up endlesse good things for them that make a godly end even things which the eye hath not seene nor the eare heard nor ever entred into the heart of man to conceive which God hath prepared for those that love him those things the preparer and worker whereof is God What things must they be thinkest thou The eye hath not seene them because they are not colour the eare hath not heard them for they are not a sound nor hath it entred into mans heart to conceive them because the heart of man must ascend unto them Why labour I then to make my tongue to utter that which my heart cannot conceive which is to be beleeved and not to be beheld nay it is not onely invisible but also unspeakable O Lord Jesus Christ when that most perilous moment approacheth wherein I shall enter into the way of immortality then give mee a quiet and pleasing repose that in the true acknowledgement and confession of thy grace I may yeeld up my spirit and my poore soule with peace and gladnesse and may deliver it into thy hands Neither let mee bee long tormented as I have a thousand times deserved and that I may enjoy peace on the earth in my body and may watch and be made coheire of the resurrection to life of all the beleevers that I may praise and glorifie thee with gladnesse and may give thee thanks for evermore for all the innumerable blessings which thou hast bestowed upon mee through the whole space of my pilgrimage Call me not to an account for my old scores and remember not the sins of my youth but be mercifull unto me according to thy great mercies and sustaine me in a firme faith and comfort even to my last gaspe that neither sinne death or the divell doe me any hurt nor that my own flesh make me impatient but that I may enter in unto thee that I may dwell with thee and may remaine with thee for evermore Amen CONTEMP c. 45. Of Eternity IS it this that divideth the entrailes parteth the bowels woundeth the heart tyes the tongue shutteth the lips distracteth the senses and overwhelmes all our members with feare Rivers slow from our eyes our cheekes are watered with teares and all this torrent hath its originall from this one word a terrible word by the force and threates whereof feare and anguish are bred in us a word that no day no voice shall determine no starre-light shall shadow no constellation shall darken a word that melts the marrow and softens breakes and even minces the heart and bones though harder than the Adamant or Marble This word is Eternity a word of longer continuance than the Heavens more terrible than thunder and lightning or any tempest whatsoever It is Eternity that hath neither pause measure nor end and drives on the minds of men as it were with goades and spurs and pricks so that they search not after mutable or transitory things This word hath moved many to pluck of their glittering crownes from their ayery heads and to despise the lofty bayes and made them let fall their towring plumes and putting on a courser habit to contemplate higher and more divine things This word doth wholely possesse me nor suffers me to enjoy any encrease of content it infuses into my most disquieted soule care feare and griefe O end most remote from any end ô time without time O yeare and no yeare O number not to bee summed up of any Descend descend my soule to hell not to mix thy selfe with flames but to avoid