Lord in thy righteousness because of mine enemies O let my soul live and it shall praise thee In way of Thanksgiving Oh God wonderfull art thou in thine holy places O Lord how glorious are thy workes thy thoughts are very deep Oh God who is like unto thee The Lord liveth and blessed be my strong helper Lord thy loving kindnesse is better than life it self All thy works praise thee O Lord and thy Saints give thanks unto thee Oh how manifold are thy workes in wisdome hast thou made them all Who is God but the Lord and who hath any strength except our God Wee will rejoyce in thy salvation and triumph in thy name O Lord. O that men would praise the Lord for his goodnesse Oh how plentifull is thy goodnesse which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee Thou Lord hast never failed them that seek thee In thy presence is the fulnesse of joy and at thy right hand there is pleasure for evermore Lord what is man that thou art mindfull of him Not unto us Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give the praise SECT VIII OCcasionall Ejaculations are such as are moved upon the presence of some such object as carries a kind of relation or analogy to that holy thought which we have entertained Of this nature I find that which was practised in S. Basils time that upon the lighting of candles the manner was to blesse God in these words Praise be to God the Father and the Son and the Holy ghost which that Father says was anciently used but who was the Author of it he professeth to bee unknown to the same purpose was the Lucernarium which was a part of the evening office of old For which there may seem to be more colour of reason than for the ordinary fashion of apprecation upon occasion of our sneesing which is expected and practised by many out of civility Old and reverend Beza was wont to move his hat with the rest of the company but to say withall Gramercy Madame la Superstition Now howsoever in this or any other practice which may seeme to carry with it a smacke of Superstition our Devotion may be groundlesse and unseasonable yet nothing hinders but that we may take just holy hints of raising up our hearts to our God As when we doe first look forth and see the heavens over our heads to thinke The heavens declare thy glory O God When we see the day breaking or the Sun rising The day is thine and the night is thine thou hast prepared the light and the Sunne When the light shines in our faces Thou deckest thy self with light as with a garment or Light is sprung up for the righteous When we see our Garden imbellisht with flowers The earth is full of the goodnesse of the Lord. When we see a rough sea The waves of the sea rage horribly and are mighty but the Lord that dwelleth on high is mightier than they When we see the darknesse of the night The darknes is no darknes with thee When we rise up from our bed or our seat Lord thou knowest my down-sitting and my up-rising thou understādest my thoughts afar off When we wash our hands Wash thou me O Lord and I shall be whiter than snow When we are walking forth O hold thou up my goings in thy paths that my footsteps slip not When we hear a passing-bell Oh teach me to number my dayes that I may apply my heart to wisdome or Lord let me know my end and the number of my dayes Thus may wee dart out our holy desires to God upon all occasions Wherein heed must be taken that our Ejaculations be not on the one side so rare that our hearts grow to be hard and strange to God but that they may be held on in continuall acknowledgement of him and acquaintance with him and on the other side that they be not so overfrequent in their perpetual reiteration as that they grow to be like that of the Romish votaries fashionable which if great care bee not taken will fall out to the utter frustrating of our Devotion Shortly let the measure of these devout glances be the preserving our hearts in a constant tendernes godly disposition which shall be further actuated upon all opportunities by the exercises of our more enlarged and fixed Devotion Whereof there is the same variety that there is in Gods services about which it is conversant There are three maine businesses wherein God accounts his service here below to consist The first is our address to the throne of Grace and the pouring out of our souls before him in our prayers The second is the reading and hearing his most holy Word The third is the receit of his blessed Sacraments In all which there is place and use for a fetled Devotion SECT IX TO begin with the first work of our actual and enlarged Devotion Some things are pre-required of us to make us capable of the comfortable performance of so holy and heavenly a duty namely that the heart be cleane first and then that it be cleare clean from the defilement of any knowne sin cleare from all intanglements and distractions What doe wee in our prayers but converse with the Almighty and either carry our soules up to him or bring him down to us now it is no hoping that we can entertaine God in an impure heart Even wee men loath a nasty and sluttish lodging how much more will the holy God abhorre an habitation spiritually filthy I find that even the unclean spirit made that a motive of his repossession that he found the house swept and garnished Satans cleanlinesse is pollution and his garnishment disorder and wickednesse without this he findes no welcome Each spirit looks for an entertainment answerable to his nature How much more will that God of spirits who is purity it selfe look to be harboured in a cleanly room Into a malicious soul wisdome shall not enter nor dwell in the body that is subject unto sin What friend would be pleased that wee should lodge him in a Lazar-house or who would abide to have a Toad lie in his bosome Surely it is not in the verge of created nature to yeeld any thing that can be so noisome and odious to the sense of man as sin is to that absolute and essentiall Goodnesse His pure eyes cannot indure the sight of sin neither can he indure that the sinner should come within the sight of him Away from me yee wicked is his charge both here and hereafter It is the privilege and happinesse of the pure in heart that they shall see God see him both in the end and in the way enjoying the vision of him both in grace and in glory this is no object for impure eys Descend into thy self therefore and ransack
that Majesty with whom he converses That confers hourly with the God of spirits in his own language yet so as no familiarity can abate of his aw nor fear abate ought of his love To whom the gates of heaven are ever open that he may go in at pleasure to the throne of grace none of the Angelical spirits can offer to challenge him of too much boldness Whose eyes are well acquainted with those heavenly guardians the presence of whom hee doth as truly acknowledge as if they were his sensible Companions He is well known of the King of glory for a daily sutor in the Court of heaven and none so welcome there as he He accounts all his time lost that falls beside his God and can be no more weary of good thoughts than of happinesse His bosome is no harbour for any knowne evill and it is a question whether hee more abhorres sin or hell His care is to entertain God in a clear and free heart and therefore he thrusts the world out of doors and humbly beseeches God to welcome himself to his owne He is truly dejected and vile in his owne eyes Nothing but hell is lower than he every of his slips are hainous every trespasse is aggravated to rebellion The glory and favours of God heighten his humiliation He hath lookt down to the bottomlesse deep and seen with horror what he deserved to feel everlastingly His cries have been as strong as his fears just and he hath found mercy more ready to rescue him than he could be importunate His hand could not be so soon put forth as his Saviours for deliverance The sense of this mercy hath raised him to an unspeakable joy to a most fervent love of so dear a Redeemer that love hath knit his heart to so meritorious a deliverer and wrought a blessed union betwixt God and his soul That union can no more be severed from an infinite delight than that delight can bee severed from an humble cheerfull acquiescence in his munificent God And now as in an heavenly freedome he pours out his soul into the bosome of the Almighty in all faithfull sutes for himself and others so he enjoyes God in the blessings received and returns all zealous prayses to the giver He comes reverently to the Oracles of God and brings not his eye but his heart with him not carelesly negligent in seeking to know the revealed will of his Maker nor too busily inquisitive into his deep counsels not too remisse in the letter nor too peremptory in the sense gladly comprehending what hee may and admiring what he cannot comprehend Doth God call for his ear He goes awfully into the holy presence and so hears as if he should now hear his last Latching every word that drops from the Preachers lips ere it fall to the ground and laying it up carefully where hee may be sure to fetch it Hee sits not to censure but to learn yet speculation and knowledge is the least drift of his labour Nothing is his own but what he practiseth Is he invited to Gods feast he hates to come in a soul and slovenly dresse but trims up his soul so as may be fit for an heavenly guest Neither doth he leave his stomach at home cloyed with the world but brings a sharp appetite with him and so feeds as if he meant to live for ever All earthly Delicates are unsavory to him in respect of that celestiall Manna Shortly he so eates and drinks as one that sees himself set at Table with God and his Angels and rises and departs full of his Saviour and in the strength of that meal walks vigorously and cheerfully on towards his glory Finally as he well knows that he lives and moves and hath his being in God so he refers his life motions and being wholly to God so acting all things as if God did them by him so using all things as one that enjoyes God in them and in the mean time so walking on earth that he doth in a sort carry his heaven with him THE FREE PRISONER OR The COMFORT of RESTRAINT Written Some while since in the Tower BY I. H. B. N. The Free Prisoner OR The Comfort of Restraint SECT I. SIR WHiles you pity my Affliction take heed lest you aggravate it and in your thoughts make it greater than it is in my own It is true I am under restraint What is that to a man that can be free in the Tower and cannot but be a prisoner abroad Such is my condition and every Divine Philosophers with me Were my walks much straiter than they are they cannot hold me in It is a bold word to say I cannot I will not be a prisoner It is my soul that is I my flesh is my partner if not my servant not my self However my body may be immured that agile spirit shall flie abroad and visit both earth heaven at pleasure Who shall hinder it from mounting up in an instant to that supreme region of blisse and from seeing that by the eye of faith which S. Paul saw in extasie and when it hath viewed that blessed Hierarchy of heaven to glance down through the innumerable and unmeasurable globes of light which move in the firmament and below it into this elementary world and there to compass seas and lands without shipwrack in a trice which a Drake or Cavendish cannot doe but with danger and in some years navigation And if my thoughts list to stay themselves in the passage with what variety can my soul be taken up of severall objects Here turning in to the dark vaults and dungeons of penall restraint to visit the disconsolate prisoners and to fetch from their greater misery a just mitigation of mine own There looking in to the houses of vain jollity and pitying that which the sensuall fools call happiness Here stepping in to the Courts of great Princes in them observing the fawning compliances of some the trecherous underworking of others hollow friendships faithless ingagements faire faces smooth tongues rich suits viewing all save their hearts and censuring nothing that it sees not There calling in at the low cottages of the poor and out of their empty cupbord furnishing it self with thankfulnesse Here so overlooking the Courts of Justice as not willing to see rigour or partiality There listning what they say in those meetings w ch would passe for sacred and wondring at what it hears Thus can and shal and doth my nimble spirit bestirre it selfe in a restlesse flight making onely the Empyreall heaven the bounds of its motion not being more able to stand still than the heavens themselves whence it descended Should the Iron enter into my soul as it did into that good Patriarchs yet it cannot fetter me No more can my spirit be confined to one place than my body can bee diffused to many Perhaps therefore you are mistaken in my condition for what is it I beseech you that makes a prisoner Is it an
procured their reverence and honor even that holy station which wee hold in Gods Church and to curse those of us who had deserved nothing but their thanks and prayers railing on our very profession in the streets and rejoycing in our supposed ruine Father forgive them for they knew not what they did Here wee were out of the danger of this mis-raised fury and had leasure to pray for the quenching of those wild-fires of contention and causelesse malice which to our great grief we saw wicked incendiaries dayly to cast amongst Gods dear wel-minded people Here we have well happily approved with the blessed Apostle that what ever our restraint be the Word of God is not bound With what liberty with what zeale with what successe hath that been preached by us to all commers Let them say whether the Tower had ever so many such guests or such benedictions so as if the place have rendred us safe wee have endeavoured to make it happy Wherein our performances have seemed to confute that which Cornelius Bishop of Rome long since observed that the minde laden with heavy burdens of affliction is not able to doe that service which it can doe when it is free and at ease Our troubles through Gods mercy made us more active and our labours more effectuall SECT VI. ADde unto these if you please the eminent dignity of the place such as is able to give a kind of honor to captivity the ancient seat of Kings chosen by them as for the safe residence of their Royall Persons so for their Treasury their Wardrobe their Magazine all these precious things are under the same custody with our selves sent hither not as to prison but a repositorie and why should wee thinke our selves in any other condition How many worthy inhabitants make choice to fixe their abode within these walls as not knowing where to bee happier the place is the same to us if our will may he the same with theirs they dearly purchase that which cost us nothing but our fees nothing makes the difference but the meer conceit of Liberty which whiles I can give to my self in my thoughts why am I pitied as miserable while their happinesse is applauded You see then how free I am in that which you miscall my prison see now how little cause I have to affect this liberty which you imagine mee to want since I shall be I can be no other than a Prisoner abroad There is much difference of Prisons One is straight and close locked so farre from admitting visitants that it scarce allowes the Sunne to look in at those crosse-barred grates another is more large and spacious yeelding both Walkes and accesse Even after my discharge from these Walls I shall be yet sure to bee a Prisoner both these wayes For what is my body but my prison in the one and what is the world but my prison in the other kind SECT VII TO begin with the former never was there a more close prisoner than my soul is for the time to my body Close in respect of the essence of that spirit which since its first Mittimus never stirr'd out from this strait room never can doe till my Gaole-delivery If you respect the improvement of the operations of that busie soul it is any where it is successively every where no place can hold it none can limit it but if you regard the immortal and immateriall substance of it it is fast lockt up within these walls of clay till the day of my changing come even as the closest Captive may write letters to his remotest friends whilest his person is in durance I have too much reason to acknowledge my native Jayle and feel the true Symptoms of it to my pain what darknesse of sorrow have I here found what little-ease of melancholicke lodgings what manacles and shackles of cramps yea what racks of torturing convulsions And if there bee others that find lesse misery in their prison yet there is no good soul but findes equall restraint That spirituall substance which is imprisoned within us would faine bee flying up to that heaven whence it descended these walls of flesh forbid that evolation as Socrates cal'd it of old and will not let it out till the God of spirits who placed it there shall unlock the doores and free the prisoner by death He that infused life into Lazarus that he might call him from the prison of the grave must take life from us when he cals us out of this prison of flesh I desire to be loosed and to be with Christ saith the Apostle as some versions expresse it whiles we are chained to this flesh we can have no passage to heaven no free conversation with our Saviour Although it was the singular privilege of that great Doctor of the Gentiles that he was in heaven before his dissolution whether in the body or out of the body he knew not How far that rapture extended whether to both soule and body if he knew not how should we But this we know that such extasie and vision was in him without separation of the soul from the body which another should hope for in vaine And for him so he saw this glory of Paradice that hee could not yet enjoy it Before he or we can be blessed with the fruition of Christ we must be loosed that is freed from our clog our chaine of this mortall body What but our prison wals can hinder us here from a free prospect What but these wals of flesh can hinder me from a cleare vision of God I must now for the time see as I may Nothing can enter into my soule but what passes through my senses partakes in some sort of their earthlinesse when I am freed from them I shal see as I am seen in an abstracted heavenly way so as one spirit apprehends another I doe now at the best see those spirituall objects darkly by the eye of faith as in a glasse and that not one of the clearest neither Alas what dim representations are these that I can attaine to here of that Majesty whose sight shal make me blessed I shal once see as I am seen face to face the face of my glorified soul shal see the face of that all-glorious Deity and in that sight be eternally happy It is enough for a prisoner in this dungeon of clay to know of and fore-expect such felicity whereof these earthly gieves render him as yet uncapable SECT VIII VVOE is me how many prisons doe we passe so soon as ever this divine soul is infused into this flesh it is a prisoner neither can any more passe out of this skin till this frame of nature be demolished And now as the soul of this Embryon is instantly a prisoner to the body so the body is also a prisoner in the womb wherein it is formed what darknesse what closenesse what uneasinesie what nuisance is there in this Dungeon of nature
THE DEVOVT SOUL OR Rules of heavenly DEVOTION ALSO THE FREE PRISONER OR The Comfort of RESTRAINT By Jos. H. B. N. London Printed by W. H. and are to be sold by George Latham Junior at the Bishops-head in St. Pauls Church-yard M. DC L. TO All Christian Readers Grace and Peace THat in a time when we heare no noise but of Drums and Trumpets and talk of nothing but armes and sieges battels I should write of Devotion may seem to some of you strange unseasonable to me contrarily it seems most fit and opportune For when can it be more proper to direct our adress to the throne of grace than when we are in the very jawes of Death or when should we goe to seek the face of our God rather than in the needfull time of trouble Blessed be my God who in the midst of these wofull tumults hath vouchsafed to give me these calm holy thoughts which I justly suppose he meant not to suggest that they should be smothered in the breast wherein they were conceived but with a purpose to have the benefit communicated unto many Who is there that needs not vehement excitations and helps to Devotion and when more than now In a tempest the Mariners themselves doe not only cry everyman to his God but awaken Jonah that is fast asleep under the hatches and chide him to his prayers Surely had we not bin failing in our devotions we could not have been thus universally miserable That duty the neglect whereof is guilty of our calamity must in the effectuall performance of it be the meanes of our recovery Be but devout and we cannot miscarry under judgements Wee is mee the teares of penitence were more fit to quench the publique flame than bloud How soone would it clear up above head if wee were but holily affected within Could wee send our zealous Ambassadours up to heaven we could not fail of an happy peace I direct the way God bring us to the end For my owne particular practice God is witnesse to my soule that as one the sense of whose private affliction is swallowed up of the publique I cease not daily to â—ly the Father of mercies with my fervent prayers that hee would at last be pleased after so many streames of bloud to passe an Act of Pacification in heaven And what good heart can do otherwise Brethren all ye that love God and his Church and his Truth and his Anointed and your Countrey your selves and yours joyn your forces with mine and let us by an holy violence make way to the gates of Heaven with our petition for mercy and peace and not suffer our selves to be beaten off from the threshold of Grace till wee be answered with a condescent He whose goodness is wont to prevent our desires will not give denyals to our importunities Pray and farewell NORWICH March 20. 1643. THE DEVOUT SOVLE SECT I. DEvotion is the life of Religion the very soule of Piety the highest imploiment of grace and no other than the prepossession of heaven by the Saints of God here upon earth every improvement whereof is of more advantage and value to the Christian soul than all the profit contentments which this world can afford it There is a kind of Art of Devotion if we can attain unto it whereby the practice thereof may bee much advanced We have known indeed some holy soules which out of the generall precepts of piety and their own happy experiments of Gods mercy have through the grace of God grown to a great measure of perfection this way which yet might have been much expedited and compleated by those helps which the greater illumination and experience of others might have afforded them Like as we see it in other faculties there are those who out of a naturall dexterity and their own frequent practice have got into a safe posture of defence and have handled their weapon with commendable skill whom yet the Fence-schoole might have raised to an higher pitch of cunning As nature is perfited so grace is not a little furthered by Art since it pleaseth the wisedome of God to work ordinarily upon the soul not by the immediate power of miracle but in such methods and by such means as may most conduce to his blessed ends It is true that all our good motions come from the Spirit of God neither is it lesse true that all the good counsails of others proceed from the same Spirit that good Spirit cannot be crosse to itself he therefore that infuses good thoughts into us suggests also such directions as may render us apt both to receive and improve them If God be bounteous we may not be idle and neglective of our spirituall aids SECT II. IF you tell me by way of instance in a particular act of Devotion that there is a gift of prayer and that the Spirit of God is not tied to rules I yeeld both these but withall I must say there are also helps of prayer and that we must not expect immediate inspirations I find the world much mistaken in both They thinke that man hath the gift of prayer that can utter the thoughts of his heart roundly unto God that can expresse himself smoothly in the phrase of the holy Ghost and presse God with most proper words passionate vehemence And surely this is a commendable faculty whersoever it is but this is not the gift of prayer you may call it if you will the gift of Elocution Doe wee say that man hath the gift of pleading that can talk eloquently at the Barre that can in good termes loud and earnestly importune the Judge for his Client and not rather hee that brings the strongest reason and quotes his books and precedents with most truth and clearest evidence so as may convince the Jury and perswade the Judge Do wee say hee hath the gift of Preaching that can deliver himself in a flowing manner of speech to his hearers that can cite Scriptures or Fathers that can please his auditory with the flowers of Rhetorick or rather he that can divide the Word aright interpret it soundly apply it judiciously put it home to the Conscience speaking in the evidence of the Spirit powerfully convincing the gainsayers comforting the dejected and drawing every soule nearer to heaven The like must we say for prayer the gift whereof hee may be truely said to have not that hath the most rennible tongue for prayer is not so much a matter of the lips as of the heart but he that hath the most illuminated apprehension of the God to whom he speakes the deepest sense of his own wants the most eager longings after grace the ferventest desires of supplies from heaven and in a word whose heart sends up the strongest groanes and cries to the Father of mercies Neither may we look for Enthusiasmes immediate inspirations putting our selves upon Gods Spirit in the solemn exercises of our invocation without heed or meditation the
dangerous inconvenience wherof hath been too often found in the rash and unwarrantable expressions that have fallen from the mouths of unwary suppliants but we must addresse our selves with due preparation to that holy worke we must digest our sutes fore-order our supplications to the Almighty so that there may be excellent and necessary use of meet rules of our Devotion He whose Spirit helps us to pray and whose lips taughts us how to pray is an all-sufficient example for us all the skill of men and Angels cannot afford a more exquisite modell of supplicatory Devotion than that blessed Saviour of ours gave us in the mount led in by a divine and heart-raising preface carried out with a a strong and heavenly enforcement wherein an awfull compellation makes way for petition and petition makes way for thanksgiving the petitions marshalled in a most exact order for spirituall blessings which have an immediate concernment of God in the first place then for temporall favours which concern our selves in the second so punctuall a method had notbeen observed by him that heareth prayers if it had been all one to him to have had our Devotions confused and tumultuary SECT III. THere is commonly much mistaking of Devotion as if it were nothing but an act of vocall prayer expiring with that holy breath and revived with the next taske of our invocation which is usually measured of many by frequence length smoothnesse of expression lowdnes vehemence Whereas indeed it is rather an habituall disposition of an holy soul sweetly conversing with God in all the forms of an heavenly yet awfull familiarity and a constant entertainment of our selves here below with the God of spirits in our sanctified thoughts and affections One of the noble exercises whereof is our accesse to the throne of grace in our prayers whereto may be added the ordering of our holy attendance upon the blessed word sacraments of the Almighty Nothing hinders therefore but that a stammering suppliant may reach to a more eminent devotion than hee that can deliver himself in the most fluent and patheticall formes of Elocution and that our silence may bee more devout than our noise We shall not need to send you to the Cels or Cloysters for this skill although it will hardly be believed how far some of their Contemplative men have gone in the Theory hereof Perhaps like as Chymists give rules for the attaining of that Elixir which they never found for sure they must needs fail of that perfection they pretend who erre commonly in the object of it alwayes in the ground of it which is faith stripped by their opinion of the comfortablest use of it certainty of application SECT IV. AS there may be many resemblances betwixt Light and Devotion so this one especially that as there is a light universally diffused through the aire and there is a particular recollection of light into the body of the Sun and Stars so it is in Devotion There is a generall kind of Devotion that goes through the renewed heart and life of a Christian which wee may terme Habitual and Virtual and there is a speciall and fixed exercise of Devotion which we name Actuall The soule that is rightly affected to God is never void of an holy Devotion where ever it is what ever it doth it is still lifted up to God and fastned upon him and converses with him ever serving the Lord in feare and rejoycing in him with trembling For the effectuall performance whereof it is requisite first that the heart bee setled in a right apprehension of our God without which our Devotion is not thanklesse onely but sinfull With much labour therefore agitation of a mind illuminated from above we must find our selves wrought to an high awfull adorative and constant conceit of that incomprehensible Majesty in whom wee live and move and are One God in three most glorious Persons infinite in wisdome in power in justice in mercy in providence in all that he is in all that he hath in all that he doth dwelling in light inaccessible attended with thousand thousands of Angels whom yet we neither can know neither would it availe us if we could but in the face of the eternall Son of his Love our blessed Mediatour God and Man who sits at the right hand of Majesty in the highest heavens from the sight of whose glorious humanity we comfortably rise to the contemplation of that infinite Deity whereto it is inseparably united in and by him made ours by a lively Faith finding our persons and obedience accepted expecting our ful redemption and blessednesse Here here must our hearts be unremoveably fixed In his light must we see light no cloudy occurrences of this world no busie imployments no painfull sufferings must hinder us from thus seeing him that is invisible SECT V. NEither doth the devout heart see his Grd aloof off as dwelling above in the circle of heaven but beholds that infinite Spirit really present with him The Lord is upon thy right hand saith the Psalmist Our bodily eye doth not more certainly see our owne flesh than the spirituall eye sees God close by us Yea in us A mans own soule is not so intimate to himselfe as God is to his soule neither do we move by him only but in him What a sweet conversation therefore hath the holy soul with his God What heavenly conferences have they two which the world is not privy to whiles God entertains the soul with the divine motions of his Spirit the soul entertaines God with gracious compliances Is the heart heavy with the grievous pressures of affliction the soule goes in to his God and pours out it selfe before him in earnest bemoanings and supplications the God of mercy answers the soule again with seasonable refreshings of comfort Is the heart secretly wounded and bleeding with the conscience of some sinne it speedily betakes it selfe to the great Physician of the soul who forthwith applyes the balm of Gilead for an unfailing and present cure Is the heart distracted with doubts the soule retires to that inward Oracle of God for counsail he returnes to the soule an happy settlement of just resolution Is the heart deeply affected with the sense of some speciall favour from his God the soul breaks forth into the passionate voice of praise thanksgiving God returns the pleasing testimony of a cheerful acceptation Oh blessed soul that hath a God to go unto upon all occasions Oh infinite mercy of a God that vouchsafes to stoop to such intirents with dust ashes It was a gracious speech of a worthy Divine upon his death-bed now breathing towards heaven That he should change his place not his company His conversation was now before hand with his God and his holy Angels the only difference was that he was now going to a more free and full fruition of the Lord of life in that region of glory above whom he had truly though with weaknes and
imperfection injoyed in this vale of tears SECT VI. NOw that these mutuall respects may be sure not to coole with intermission the devout heart takes all occasions both to thinke of God and to speak to him There is nothing that hee sees which doth not bring God to his thoughts Indeed there is no creature werein there are not manifest footsteps of omnipotence Yea which hath not a tongue to tell us of it's Maker The heaven declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy-worke one day telleth another and one night certifieth another Yea O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisdome hast thou made them all The earth is full of thy riches so is the great and wide sea where are things creeping innumerable both small and great beasts Every herb flower spire of grasse every twig and leaf every worm and fly every scale and feather every billow and meteor speaks the power and wisdom of their infinite Creator Solomon sends the sluggard to the Ant Esay sends the Jews to the Ox and the Asse Our Saviour sends his Disciples to the Ravens to the Lillies of the field There is no creature of whom we may not learn something we shall have spent our time ill in this great schoole of the world if in such store of Lessons we be non-proficients in Devotion Vaine Idolaters make to themselves Images of God whereby they sinfully represent him to their thoughts and adoration could they have the wit and grace to see it God hath taken order to spare them this labor in that he hath stamped in every creature such impressions of his infinite power wisdome goodnes as may give us just occasion to worship and praise him with a safe and holy advantage to our soules For the invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternall power and Godhead And indeed wherefore serve all the volumes of Naturall History but to be so many Commentaries upon the severall creatures wherein we may read God and even those men who have not the skill or leisure to peruse them may yet out of their own thoughts and observation raise from the sight of all the works of God sufficient matter to glorifie him Who can be so stupid as not to take notice of the industry of the Bee the providence of the Ant the cunning of the Spider the reviving of the Flye the worms endeavour of revenge the subtilty of the Foxe the sagacity of the Hedge-hog the innocence and profitablenesse of the Sheep the laboriousnesse of the Oxe the obsequiousness of the Dog the timorous shifts of the Hare the nimblenesse of the Dear the generosity of the Lion the courage of the Horse the fiercenesse of the Tiger the chearful musick of Birds the harmlesnesse of the Dove the true love of the Turtle the Cocks observation of time the Swallows architecture shortly for it were easie here to be endlesse of the severall qualities and dispositions of every of those our fellow-creatures with whom we converse on the face of the earth and who that takes notice of them cannot fetch from every act and motion of theirs some monition of duty and occasion of devout thoughts Surely I fear many of us Christians may justly accuse our selves as too neglective of our duty this way that having thus long spent our time in this great Academy of the world we have not by so many silent documents learned to ascribe more glory to our Creator I doubt those creatures if they could exchange their brutality with our reason being now so docible as to learn of us so far as their sense can reach would approve themselves better Scholars to us than we have been unto them Withall I must add that the devout soul stands not alwaies in need of such outward monitors but findes within it selfe sufficient incitements to raise up it self to a continuall minding of God and makes use of them accordingly and if at any time being taken up with importunate occasions of the world it finds God missing but an hour it chides it selfe for such neglect and sets it self to recover him with so much more eager affection as the faithfull spouse in the Canticles when she finds him whom her soul loved withdrawn from her for a season puts her self into a speedy search after him and gives not over till shee have attained his presence SECT VII NOw as these many monitors both outward inward must elevate our hearts very frequently to God so those raised hearts must not entertain him with a dumbe contemplation but must speak to him in the language of spirits All occasions therefore must be taken of sending forth pious and heavenly ejaculations to God The devout soul may doe this more than an hundred times a day without any hindrance to his speciall vocation The Huswife at her Wheel the Weaver at his Loome the Husbandman at his Plough the Artificer in his Shop the Traveller in his way the Merchant in his Warehouse may thus enjoy God in his busiest imploiment For the soule of man is a nimble spirit and the language of thoughts needs not take up time and though we now for examples sake cloath them in words yet in our practice we need not Now these Ejaculations may bee either at large or Occasionall At large such as that of old Jacob O Lord I have waited for thy salvation Or that of David O save me for thy mercies sake And these either in matter of Humiliation or of Imploration or of Thanksgiving In all which we cannot follow a better pattern than the sweet singer of Israel whose heavenly conceptions we may either borrow or imitate In way of humiliation such as these Heal my soul O Lord for I have sinned against thee Oh remember not my old sins but have mercy upon mee If thou wilt be extreme to mark what is done amisse O Lord who may abide it Lord thou knowest the thoughts of man that they are but vaine O God why abhorrest thou my soul and hidest thy face from me In way of Imploration Up Lord and help me O God Oh let my heart bee sound in thy statutes that I be not ashamed Lord where are thy old loving mercies Oh deliver me for I am helplesse and my heart is wounded within me Comfort the soul of thy servant for unto thee O Lord doe I lift up my soul Go not far from me O God O knit my heart unto thee that I may fear thy name Thou art my helper and redeemer O Lord make no long tarrying Oh be thou my helpe in trouble for vain is the help of man Oh guide me with thy counsell and after that receive me to thy glory My time is in thy hand deliver me from the hands of mine enemies Oh withdraw not thy mercy from me O Lord. Lead me O
would blesse the Preacher in the delivery of his sacred message that he would be pleased to direct his Messengers tongue to the meeting with our necessities that hee would free our hearts from all prejudices and distractions that he would keep off all temptations which might hinder the good entertainment and successe of his blessed Word Finally that hee would make us truely teachable and his ordinance the power of God to our salvation In the act of hearing Devotion cals us to Reverence Attention Application Reverence to that great God who speaks to us by the mouth of a weak man for in what is spoken from Gods Chair agreeable to the Scriptures the sound is mans the substance of the message is Gods Even an Eglon when he hears of a message from God riseth out of his seat It was not St. Pauls condition only but of all his faithfull servants to whom he hath committed the word of reconciliation They are Ambassadors for Christ as if God did beseech us by them they pray us in Christs stead to be reconciled to God The Ambassie is not the bearers but the Kings and if we do not acknowledge the great King of heaven in the voice of the Gospel we cannot but incur a contempt When therefore wee see Gods messenger in his pulpit our eye lookes at him as if it said with Cornelius We are all here present before God to heare all things that are commanded thee of God whence cannot but follow together with an awful disposition of mind a reverent deportment of the body which admits not a wild roving eye a drouzy head a chatting tongue a rude and indecent posture but composes it self to such a site a may befit a pious soul in sâ— religious an impoiment Neither do we come as authorized Judges to sit upon the Preacher but as humble Disciples to sit at his feet SECT XXIV REverence cannot but draw on Attention We need not be bidden to hang on the lips of him whom we honour It is the charge of the Spirit Let him that hath an ear hear Every one hath not an ear and of those that have an ear every one heareth not The soul hath an ear as well as the body if both these eares doe not meet together in one act there is no hearing Common experience tels us that when the minde is otherwise taken up we doe no more hear what a man says than if we had been deaf or he silent Hence is that first request of Abigail to David Let thine handmaid speak to thine eares and hear the words of thine handmaid and Job so importunately urgeth his friends Hear diligently my speech and my declaration with your ears The outward ear may be open and the inward shut if way be not made through both we are deaf to spirituall things Mine ear hast thou boared or digged saith the Psalmist the vulgar reads it my eares hast thou perfitted Surely our ears are grown up with flesh there is no passage for a perfit hearing of the voice of God till hee have made it by a spirituall perforation And now that the ear is made capable of good counsel it doth as gladly receive it taking in every good lesson and longing for the next Like unto the dry and chopped earth which soaks in every silver drop that fals from the clouds and thirsteth for more not suffering any of that precious liquor to fall beside it SECT XXV NEither doth the devout man care to satisfie his curiosity as hearing only that hee might hear but reducts all things to a saving use bringing all hee hears home to his heart by a self-reflecting application like a practiser of the art of memory referring every thing to its proper place If it be matter of comfort There is for my sick-bed There is for my outward losses There for my drooping under afflictions There for the sense of my spiritual desertions If matter of doctrine There is for my settlement in such a truth There for the conviction of such an error There for my direction in such a practice If matter of reproof he doth not point at his neighbour but deeply chargeth himself This meets with my dead-heartedness and security This with my worldly-mindednesse This with my self-love and flattery of mine owne estate This with my uncharitable censoriousnesse This with my foolish pride of heart This with my hypocrisie This with my neglect of Gods services and my duty Thus in all the variety of the holy passages of the Sermon the devout minde is taken up with digesting what it hears and working it self to a secret improvement of all the good counsell that is delivered neither is ever more busie than when it sits still at the feet of Christ I cannot therefore approve the practice which yet I see commonly received of those who think it no small argument of their Devotion to spend their time of hearing in writing large notes from the mouth of the Preacher which however it may be an help for memory in the future yet cannot as I conceive but be some prejudice to our present edification neither can the braine get so much hereby as the heart loseth If it be said that by this means an opportunity is given for a full rumination of wholsome Doctrines afterwards I yeeld it but withall I must say that our after-thoughts can never doe the work so effectually as when the lively voice sounds in our ears and beats upon our heart but herein I submit my opinion to better judgements SECT XXVI THe food that is received into the soul by the ear is afterwards chewed in the mouth thereof by memory concocted in the stomack by meditation and dispersed into the parts by conference and practise True Devotion findes the greatest part of the work behinde It was a just answer that Iohn Gerson reports given by a Frenchman who being askt by one of his neighbours if the Sermon were done no saith he it is said but it is not done neither will be I fear in hast What are we the better if we hear and remember not If we be such auditors as the Jews were wont to call sieves that retaine no moisture that is poured into them What the better if we remember but think not seriously of what we hear or if we practice not carefully what we think of Not that which we hear is our own but that which we carry away although all memories are not alike one receives more easily another retains longer It is not for every one to hope to attain to that ability that he can goe away with the whole fabrick of a Sermon and readily recount it unto others neither doth God require that of any man which he hath not given him Our desires and endeavours may not be wanting where our powers faile It will bee enough for weak memories if they can so lay up those wholsome counsells which they receive as that they may fetch them
must needs follow a renewed act of true thankfulnes of heart to our good God that hath both given us his dear Son to work our redemption his blessed Sacrament to seal up unto us our redemption thus wrought and purchased And with souls thus thankfully elevated unto God we aproach with all reverence to that heavenly Table where God is both the Feast-master and the Feast What intention of holy thoughts what fervour of spirit what depth of Devotion must we now find in our selves Doubtlesse out of heaven no object can be so worthy to take up our hearts What a clear representation is here of the great work of our Redemption How is my Saviour by all my senses here brought home to my soul How is his passion lively acted before mine eyes For lo my bodily eye doth not more truely see bread and wine than the eye of my faith sees the body and bloud of my dear Redeemer Thus was his sacred body torn and broken Thus was his precious bloud poured out for me My sins wretched man that I am helped thus to crucifie my Saviour and for the discharge of my sins would he be thus crucified Neither did hee only give himselfe for me upon the Crosse but lo both offers and gives himself to me in this his blessed institution what had his generall gift been without this application Now my hand doth not more sensibly take nor my mouth more really eate this bread than my soule doth spiritually receive and feed on the bread of life O Saviour thou art the living bread that came dome from heaven Thy flesh is meat indeed and thy bloud is drink indeed Oh that I may so eate of this bread that I may live for ever He that commeth to thee shall never hunger he that beleeveth in thee shall never thirst Oh that I could now so hunger and so thirst for thee that my soul could be for ever satisfied with thee Thy people of old were fed with Manna in the wildernesse yet they dyed that food of Angels could not keep them from perishing but oh for the hidden Manna which giveth life to the world even thy blessed self give me ever of this bread and my soule shall not dye but live Oh the precious juice of the fruit of the Vine wherewith thou refreshest my soul Is this the bloud of the grape Is it not rather thy bloud of the New Testament that is poured out for me Thou speakest O Saviour of new wine that thou wouldest drink with thy Disciples in thy Fathers Kindome can there be any more precious and pleasant than this wherewith thou cheerest the beleeving soule our palate is now dull and earthly which shall then exquisite and celestiall but surely no liquor can be of equall price or soveraignty with thy bloud Oh how unsavory are all earthly delicacies to this heavenly draught O God let not the sweet taste of this spirituall Nectar ever goe out of the mouth of my soul Let the cōfortable warmth of this blessed Cordiall ever work upon my soul even till and in the last moment of my dissolution Dost thou bid me O Saviour do this in remembrance of thee Oh how can I forget thee How can I enough celebrate thee for this thy unspeakable mercy Can I see thee thus crucified before my eyes and for my sake thus crucified and not remember thee Can I find my sins accessary to this thy death and thy death meritoriously expiating all these my grievous sins and not remember thee Can I hear thee freely offering thy selfe to me and feele thee graciously conveighing thy self into my soul and not remember thee I doe remember thee O Saviour but oh that I could yet more effectually remember thee with all the passionate affections of a soul sick of thy love with all zealous desires to glorifie thee with all fervent longings after thee and thy salvation I remember thee in thy sufferings Oh doe thou remember me in thy glory SECT XXIX HAving thus busied it self with holy thoughts in the time of the celebration the devout soul breaks not off in an abrupt unmannerlinesse without taking leave of the great master of this heavenly feast but with a secret adoration humbly blesseth God for so great a mercy and heartily resolves and desires to walk worthy of the Lord Jesus whom it hath received and to consecrate it selfe wholly to the service of him that hath so dearly bought it and hath given it these pledges of its eternall union with him The Devout Soul hath thus supt in heaven and returns home yet the work is not thus done after the elements are out of eye and use there remains a digestion of this celestiall food by holy meditation and now it thinks Oh what a blessing have I received to day no lesse than my Lord Jesus with all his merits and in and with him the assurance of the remission of all my sins and everlasting salvation How happy am I if I be not wanting to God my self How unworthy shall I be if I doe not strive to answer this love of my God and Saviour in all hearty affection and in all holy obedience And now after this heavenly repast how do I feel my self what strength what advantage hath my faith gotten how much am I nearer to heaven than before how much faster hold have I taken of my blessed Redeemer how much more firm and sensible is my interest in him Neither are these thoughts and this examination the work of the next instant onely but they are such as must dwell upon the heart and must often solicite our memory and excite our practise that by this means we may frequently renew the efficacy of this blessed Sacrament and our souls may batten more and more with this spirituall nourishment and may be fed up to eternall life SECT XXX THese are the generalities of our Devotion which are of common use to all Christians There are besides these certaine specialties of it appliable to severall occasions times places persons For there are morning and evening Devotions Devotions proper to our board to our closer to our bed to Gods day to our own to health to sicknesse to severall callings to recreations to the way to the field to the Church to our home to the student to the souldier to the Magistrate to the Minister to the husband wife child servant to our owne persons to our families The severalties whereof as they are scarce finite for number so are most fit to to be left to the judgement and holy managing of every Christian neiis it to be imagined that any soul which is taught of God and hath any acquaintance with heaven can be to seek in the particular application of common rules to his own necessity or expedience The result of all is A devout man is he that ever sees the invisible and ever trembleth before that God he sees that walks ever here on earth with the God of heaven and still adores