Promise good or to disappoint us and he will be sure to make it good in our forgivenesse of sinne proceeding in Grace and strength against temptations in time of trouble Man is naturally of a short spirit so that if hee have not what hee would and when he would hee gives up and shakes off all there is not a greater difference betweene a child of God and one that wants faith then to be hastie such men though they may be civill yet they are of this minde they will labour to be sure of some thing here they must have present pleasures and present profits if God will save them in that way so if not they will put it to a venture There be many things to hinder this Grace of waiting there is a great deale oftedious time and many crosses wee meete with as the scorne and reproach of this world and many other trialls God seemes also to doe nothing lesse than to performe his promise but le ts comfort our selves with this that hee waites to doe them good that waite on him Wee should labour to agree mutually in love for that wherein any Christian differs from another it is but in petty things grace knowes no differeÌ„ce the Wormes know no difference the day of judgement knowes no difference In the worst things wee are all alike base and in the best things wee are all alike happy onely in this world God will have distinctions for order sake but else there is no difference Christians are like to many men of great meanes that know not how to make use of them we live not like our selves bring large Faith and wee shall have large Grace and comfort wee are scanted in our owne bowells therefore labour to have a large Faith answerable to our largeâ— Riches And though Christians be low enough in outward things and often times poorer than other men yet they are rich for Christ is rich unto them in their crosses and abasements that which they want in this world shall be made up in grace and glory hereafter Wee ought daily to imitate Christ in our places to be good to all as the Apostle saith be abundant alwayes in the workes of the Lord le ts labour to have large hearts that we may doe it seasonably and abundantly and unweariably the love of Christ will breede in us the same impression that was in him None come to God without Christ none come to Christ without Faith none come to Faith without the meanes none enjoy the meanes but where God hath sent it therefore where there was no meanes of salvation before the comming of Christ there was no visible intendment of God ordinarily to save them Preventing mercy is the greatest how many favours doth God prevent us with Wee never asked for our being nor for that tender love which our Parents bore towards us in our tender yeares we never asked for our Baptisme and ingrafting into Christ What a motive therefore is that to stirre us up that when we come to yeares wee may pleade with the Lord and say Thou hadst a care of mee before I had a being and therefore much more wilt thou now have a care of mee whom thou hast reconciled unto thy selfe and remember me in mercie for time to come If Gods mercy might be overcome with our sinnes wee should overcome it every day it must be a rich mercy that must satisfie and therefore the Apostle never speakes of it without the extensions of love the height and depth wee want words we want thoughts to conceive of it wee should therefore labour to frame our soules to have rich and large conceits and apprehensions of so large mercie God is rich in mercy not onely to our soules but in providing all wee stand in neede of Hee keepes us from ill and so hee is called a Buckler He gives us all good things and so he is called a Sunne Hee keepes us in good estate and advanceth us higher so farre as our nature shall be capable The Sunne shines on the Moone and Starres and they shine upon the earth so doth God shine in goodnesse upon us that we might shine in our extentions of goodnesse unto others especially unto them of the houshold of Faith Wee are stiled in Scripture to be good and righteous because our understandings our wills and affections are our owne but so farre as they are holy they are the holy Ghosts we are the principle in our actions as they are actions but the holy Ghost is principle of the holinesse of the action the gracious governement of the new creature is from the Spirit if the holy Ghost take away his Governement and doe not guide and assist us in every holy action wee are at a stand and can goe no further Every man naturally is a God unto himselfe not onely in reflecting all upon himselfe but in setting upon divine things in his owne strength as if hee were principall in his owne actions comming to them in the strength of his owne wit and in the strength of his owne reason this seed is in all men by nature untill God have turned a man out of himselfe by the power of the holy Ghost Those that care not for the Word they are strangers from the Spirit and those that care not for the Spirit never make right use of the word the word is nothing without the Spirit it is animated and quickned by the Spirit the Spirit and the Word are like the veines and arteries in the body that give quickning and life to the whole body and therefore where the Word is most revealed there is most Spirit but where Christ is not opened in the Gospell there the Spirit is not at all visible When Christ comes into the soule by the Spirit then hee carrieâ— himselfe famiâ—iarly discovering the secrets of God the Father and shewing what love there is in God towards us it teacheth us how to carry our selves in all neglects and when we are at a losse it opens a way for us it resolves our doubts it comforts us in our discouragements and makes us goe boldly to God in all our wants As wee may know who dwells in a house by observing who goes in and them that come out so we may know that the Spirit dwells in us by observing what sanctified speeches hee sends forth and what delight hee hath wrought in us to things that are speciall and what price wee set upon them whereas a carnall man pulls downe the price of spirituall things because his soule cleaves to some thing that hee joyes in more and this is the cause why hee slights the directions and comforts of the Word but those in whom the Spirit dwells they will consult with it and not regard what flesh and blood saith but will follow the directions of the Word and Spirit A Christian will not doe common things but first hee sanctifies them and dedicates himselfe his person and his actions to God and so sees
God in all things whereas a carnall man sees reason onely in all that hee doth but a Christian sees God in crosses to humble him and every thing hee makes spirituall yet because there is a double principle in him there will be some stirring of the flesh in his actions and sometimes the worser part will appeare most but here is the excellencie of a Christians estate that the Spirit will worke it out at the last it will never let his heart and conscience alone till it be wrought out by little and little The Spirit of God may be knowne to be in weake Christians as the soule is knowne to be in the body by the pulses even so the Spirit discovers it selfe in them by pulses by groaning sighing complaining that it is so with them and that they are no better so that they are out of love with themselves this is a good signe that the Spirit is there in some measure Where the Spirit dwells largely in any man there is boldnesse in Gods cause a contempt of the world Hee can doe all things through Christ that strengthens him his minde is content and setled he can beare with the infirmities of others and not be offended for it is the weake in the Spirit that are offended he is ready in his desires to say Come Lord Iesus come quickly but where corruption beares sway there is O stay a little that I may recover my strength that is stay awhile that I may repent For the soule is not fit to appeare before God but where the Spirit dwells in Grace and comfort When wee are young carnall delights lead us and when wee are old covetousnesse drownes us so that if our knowledge be not spirituall wee shall never hold out the reason why at the houre of death so many despaire is because they had knowledge without the Spirit God gives comforts in the exercise and practise of Grace wee must not therefore snatch comforts before we be fit for them when wee performe precepts then God performes comforts If wee will make it good indeed that wee love God wee must keepe his Commandements wee must not keepe one but all it must be universall obedience fetched from the heart roote and that out of love It is a true rule in Divinitie that God never takes away any blessing from his people but he gives them a better when Eliah was taken from Elisha into heaven God doubled his Spirit upon Elisha if God take away wife or children hee gives better things for them the Disciples parted with Christ bodily presence but hee sent them the Holy Ghost God will be knowne of us in those things wherein it is our comfort to know him In all our devotions the whole counsells of heaven comforts us joyntly the second Person prayes to the Father and he sends the third and as they have severall titles so they all agree in their love and care to comfort In trouble we are prone to forget all that we have heard and read that makes for our comfort Now what is the reason that a man comes to thinke of that which otherwise hee should never have called to minde the holy Ghost brings it to his remembrance he is a Comforter bringing to minde usefull things at such times when we have most need of the. Those that care not for the Word of God reject their comfort all comfort must be drawne out of the Scriptures which are the breasts of consolation many are bred up by education that they know the truth and are able to discourse of it but they want the Spirit of Truth that is the reason why all their knowledge vanisheth away in time of triall and temptation No man is a true Divine but the child of God hee onely knowes holy things by a holy light and life other men though they speake of these things yet they know them not Take the mysticallest points in religion as Iustification Adoption peace of Conscience Ioy in the holy Ghost the sweet benefit of Communion of Saints the excellent estate of a Christian in extremity to know what is to be done upon all occasions inward sight and sorrow for sinne they know not what those things meane for howsoever they may discourse of them yet the things themselves are Mysteries Repentance is a Mystery Ioy in the holy Ghost is a Mystery no naturall man though hee be never so great a Scholler knowes these things experimentally but he knowes them as Physitians know Physicke by their Bookes but not as a sicke man by experience It is a great scandall to Religion that men of great learning and parts are wicked men hereupon the world comes to thinke that Religion is nothing but an emptie name so that without this inward anointing they never see spirituall things experimentally but though they know these things in the braine yet secretly intheir hearts they make a scorn e of conversion mortification and though for his calling hee may speake of these things excellently and with admiration yet in particular he hath no power of thē in his heart It is good and comfortable to compare our condition with the condition of the men of the world for howsoever they may excell in riches and learning yet we have cause to blesse God as Christ saith in the 11. of Saint Matthew 25. I thanke thee O Father Lord of heaven and earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes It is good in all outward discouragements when things goe not well with us thus to reason with our selves wilt thou change thy estate with the men of the world God hath advanced thee to a higher Order Let them have their greatnesse alas they are miserable creatures notwithstanding all that they doe enjoy If wee desire to have the Spirit wee must waite in doing good as the Apostles waited many dayes before the Comforter came we must also emptie our soules of selfe-love and the love of the things of the world and willingly entertaine those crosses that bring our soules out of love with them The children of Israel in the Wildernesse had no Manna till they had spent their Onyons and Garlicke so this world must be out of request with us before we can be spirituall let us therefore labour to see the excellency of spirituall things and how cheape and poore all the glory of the world is to those these things thought and considered on will make us more and more spirituall The holy Ghost would not come till Christ by his Death had reconciled his Father and after that as an argument of full satisfaction had risen againe because the holy Ghost is the best gift of God and whatsoever grace or comfort was received before was by vertue of this so that the sending of the holy Ghost is the best fruit of Gods reconciliation Let a particular judgement come upon any man presently his conscience recalls backe what sinnes have beene
frame it hinders all the rest If we will hold out because the errour is in want of deepe apprehension of the miseries wee are in by nature let us labour therefore to have our hearts broken more and more Vpon this fault it was that the stony ground spoken of in the Gospell wants rooting therefore it is Christian pollicie to suffer our soules to be humbled as deepe as possible may be that there may be mould enough otherwise there may be a great joy in divine Truths and they may be comfortable but all will be sucked up like dew when persecution comes if it be not rooted What is the reason that Gods children sinke not to hell when troubles are upon them because they have an inward presence strengthening them for the holy Ghost helpes our infirmities not onely to pray but to beare crosses sweetening them with some glympes of his gracious countenance for what supports our faith in prayer but inward strength from God In prosperitie or after some deliverance its the fittest time for praise because then our spirits are raised up and cheared in the evidence of Gods favour for the greater the crosse is from which wee have beene delivered the more will the spirit be enlarged to praise God When ever we receive any good to our soules or to our bodies who ever is the instrument let us looke to the principall as in the gifts wee receive wee looke not to the Bringer but to the Sender Take heede of Satans policie that God hath forgotten mee because I am in extremitie nay rather God will then shew mercie for now is the speciall time of mercy therefore beat backe Satan with his owne weapons Whatsoever God takes away from his children he either supplies it with a great earthly favour or else with strength to beare it God gives charge to others to take a care of the fatherlesse and widdow and will he neglect them himselfe That is spirituall knowledge which alters the taste and relish of the soule for wee must know there is a bitter Antithesis in our nature against all saving Truthes there is a contrarietie betweene our nature and that Doctrine which teacheth us that wee must deny our selves and be saved by another Therefore the soule must first be brought to relish before it can digest there must be first an holy Harmony betweene our nature and truth If we will walke aright in Gods wayes let us have heaven daily in our Eye and the day of judgement and times to come and this will sterne the course of our lives and breed love in the use of the meanes and patience to undergoe all conditions let us have our eye with Moses upon him that is invisible A man may know that hee loves the world if he be more carefull to get than to use for we are but Stewards and wee should consider I must be as carefull in distributing as in getting for when wee are all in getting and nothing in distributing this man is a worldling though hee be moderate in getting without wronging any man yet the world hath gotten his heart because hee makes not that use of it he should It is a sottish conceit to thinke that wee can fit our selves for Grace as if a child in the wombe could forward its naturall birth If God hath made us men let us not make our selves Gods As naturall life preserves it selfe by repelling that which is contrary to it So where the life of Grace is there is a principle of skill of power and strength to repell that which is contrary It is the nature of the soule that when it sees a succession of better things it makes the world seeme cheape when it sees another condition not liable to change then it hath a sanctified judgement to esteeme of things as they are and so it overcomes the world In the Covenant of Grace God intends the glory of his Grace above all Now faith is fit for it because it hath an uniting Vertue to knit us to the Mediator and to lay hold of a thing out of it selfe it empties the soule of all conceit of worth or strength or excellencie in the creature and so it gives all the glory to God and Christ. What wee are afraid to speake before men and to doe for feare of danger let us be afraid to thinke before God therefore wee should stifle all ill conceits in the very conception in their very rising let them be used as Rebells and Traytors smoothered at the first The heart of man till he be a Beleever is in a wavering condition its never at quiet and therefore it s the happinesse of the creature to be satisfied and to have rest for perplexitie makes a man miserable if a man have but a little scruple in his conscience hee is like a shippe in the sea tossed with contrary windes and cannot come to the Haven The righteousnesse of Workes leaves the soule in perplexitie that righteousnesse which comes by any other meanes than by Christ leaves the soule unsetled because the Law of God promiseth life onely upon absolute and personall performance Now the heart of man tells him that this he hath not done and such duties he hath omitted and this breeds perplexitie because the heart hath not whereon to stay it selfe Glory followes afflictions not as the day followes the night but as the Spring followes Winter for the Winter prepares the earth for the Spring so doth afflictions sanctified prepare the soule for glory This life is not a life for the body but for the soule and therefore the soule should speake to the body and say stay body for if thou movest mee to fulfill thy desires now thou wilt lose mee and thy selfe hereafter But if the body be given up to Christ then the soule will speake a good word for it in heaven as if it should say Lord there is a body of mine in the earth that did fast for me and pray with me it will speake for it as Pharaohs Butler to the King for Ioseph Afflictions makes a divorce and separation betweene the soule and sinne it is not a small thing that will worke sinne out of the soule it must be the Spirit of burning the fire of afflictions sanctified heaven is for holinesse and all that 's contrary to holinesse afflictions workes out and so frames the soule to a further communion with God When the soule admires spirituall things it s then a holy frame and so long it will not stoope to any base comfort Wee should therefore labour to keepe our soules in an estate of holy admiration All those whom Christ saves by vertue of his merit and paiment to those hee discovers their wretched condition and instead thereof a better to be attained hee shewes by whom wee are redeemed and from what and unto what condition the Spirit informing us throughly that God enters into covenant with us Spirituall duties are as opposite tâ—â— flesh and blood as Fire to Water
unlesse therefore the holy Ghost apply what Christ hath done the conscience will not be satisfied The best men in the estate of Grace would be in darkenesse and call their state into question if the holy Ghost did not convince them and answer all cavills for them and therefore we must not onely be convinced at the first by the Spirit but in our continued course of Christianity This therefore should make us to come to Gods Ordinances with a holy devotion Oh Lord vouch safe the Spirit of Revelation and take the scales from mine eyes that as these are truths so they may be truths to me doe thou sway my soule that I may cast my selfe upon thy mercy in Christ. Spirituall convincing is not totall in this life but alwayes leaves in the heart some dregges of doubting though the soule be safe for the maine as a shippe that rides at anchor is tossed and troubled but the anchor holds it so it is with the soule that is convinced weakely it is sure of the maine yet it is tossed with many doubts and feares but the anchor is in heaven The Spirit of God doth so farre convince every Christian of the Righteousnesse of Christ as preserves in him such a power of Grace as to cast himselfe upon the mercy of God God will send his Spirit so farre into the heart as it shall not betray it selfe to despaire he will let such a beame into the soule as all the powers of hell shall not quench When we neglect prayer and set upon duties in our owne strength and in confidence of our owne parts if we belong to God we shall be sure to miscarrie though another man perhappes may prosper and therefore wee should be continually dependant upon God for his direction and for his blessing in whatsoever wee goe about As many women because they will not endure the paine of childbirth doe kill their children in the wombe so many men who will not be troubled with holy actions doe stifle holy motions therefore let us take hee de of murdering the motions of the holy Spirit but let us entertaine them that when they are kindled they may turne to resolution and resolution into practise This is a common Rule that wee cannot converse with company that are not spirituall but if they vexe us not they will taint us unlesse we be put upon them in our callings wee should therefore make speciall choise of our company and walke in a continuall watchfulnesse It is rebellion against God for a man to make away himselfe the very Heathens could say that we must not goe out of our station till wee be called It is the voyce of Satan Cast thy self down but what saith S. Paul to the Iaylor Do thy self no harme for we are all here Wee should so carry our selves that wee may be content to stay here till God hath done that worke he hath to doe in us and by us and then he will call us hence in the best time He is a valiant man that can command himselfe to be miserable and hee that cannot command himselfe to endure some bondage and disgrace in the world it argues weakenesse Christ could have come downe from the Crosse but he shewed his strength and power by enduring their reproaches and torments The reason why many Christians stagger and are so full of doubts is because they are idle and labour not to grow in grace therefore we should labour to grow in knowledge and mortification for in that way wee come to assurance Whatsoever good is in a naturall man is depraved by a selfe-end selfe-love rules all his actions hee keepes within himselfe and makes for himselfe he is a god to himselfe God is but his Idoll This is true of all naturall men in the world they make themselves their last end and where the end is depraved the whole course is corrupted The sense of assured hope cannot be maintained without a great deale of paines diligence and watchfulnesse 2 Pet. 1. 10. Give all diligence to make your calling election sure Insinuating that it will not be had without it it is the diligent and watchfull Christian that hath this assurance otherwise the holy Ghost will suffer us to be in a dampe and under a cloud if wee stirre not up the Graces of the Spirit It is grace in the Exercise and love in the Exercise that 's an earnest and so Faith and Hope in the Exercise is an earnest Iâ— Grace be asleepe you may have Grace and not know it therefore wee should labour to put our graces into exercise Those that have assurance of their salvation have oftentimes troublesome distractions because they doe not alwayes stand upon their guard sometimes they are lifted up to heaven and sometimes cast downe even to hell yet alwayes in the worst condition there is something left in the soule that suggests to it that it is not utterly cast off He to whom this pilgrimage is over-sweete loves not his country yet the pleasures of this life are so sutable to our nature that we should sit by them but that God followes us with severall crosses therefore let us take in good part any crosse because it is out of heavenly love that we are exercised least we should surfet upon things here below In melancholy distempers especially when there goes guilt of Spirit with it we can see nothing but darkenesse in wife children friends estate c. Here is a pittifull darkenesse when body and soule and conscience and all are distempered now let a Christian see God in his Nature and Promises and though he cannot live by sight in such a distemper yet let him then live by Faith Though God doe personate an enemy yet faith sees a Fatherly nature in him it apprehends some beames of comfort Though there be no sense and feeling yet the Spirit workes a power in the heart whereby the soule is able to claspe with God and to alledge his Word and Nature against himselfe The reason why the world seeth not the happy condition of Gods children is because their bodies are subject to the same infirmities with the worst of men nor are they exempted from troubles they are also subject to fall into grosse sinnes and therefore worldly men thinke Are these the men that are happier than wee They see their crosses but not their crownes they see their infirmities but not their graces they see their miseries but not their inward joy and peace of conscience To walke by Faith is to be active in our walking not to doe as wee list but it is a stirring by rule Since the fall we have lost our hold of God and wee must be brought againe to God by the same way wee fell from him wee fell by infidelity and we must be brought againe by Faith and lead our lives upon such grounds as Faith affords We must walke by Faith looking upon Gods Promise and Gods Call and Gods Commandements and not live by
will doe nothing without great ends and the more wise the greater are their ends shall wee attribute this to men and not to the wisecome of God Christ would never have appeared in our nature and suffered death but for some great end shall we thinke that this Mystery of Gods taking flesh upon him was for a slight purpose Now the end of his comming was to save sinners 1 Tim. 1. 15. He came to bring us to God 1 Pet. 3. 18 But he that will save us must first bring us out of Sathans bondage therefore Christ came to destroy the workes of the devill 1 Ioh. 3. 8. It must needes follow therefore that the salvation of our soules is of great consequence seeing for this onely end Christ tooke our nature upon him and suffered for us Christ came to destroy the workes of the devill in us but yet hee makes us Kings under him to fight his battels and as by his Spirit in us hee destroyes the workes of the devill so he doth it in the exercise of all the powers and parts of soule and body and by exercising the Graces of his Spirit in us Hee hath made us Kings and Priests not that wee should doe nothing but that wee should fight and in fighting overcome The chiefest grace that God doth exercise in overcomming our corruptions is faith we fell by Infidelitie and Disobedience now Christ comes and displants Infidelity and instead thereof hee plants Faith which unites us to him and then by a divine skill it drawes a particular strength from Christ to fight his battells against corruption Temptations at first are like Elias cloud no bigger than a mans hand but if we give way to them they overspread the whole soule Sathan nestles himselfe when wee dwell upon the thoughts of sinne we cannot withstand suddaine risings but by grace we may keepe them that they doe not abide there long let us therefore labour as much as wee can to be in good companie and good courses for as the holy Ghost workes by these advantages so we should wisely observe them It s hard to discerne the working of Sathan from our owne corruptions because for the most part hee goes secretly along with them he is like a Pirat at sea hee sets upon us with our owne Colours hee comes as a friend and therefore it is hard to discerne but it s partly seene by the eagernesse of our lusts when they are suddaine strong and strange so strange sometimes that even nature it selfe abhorres them the Spirit of God leads sweetly but the devill hurries a man like a Tempest that hee will heare no reason as we see in Ammon for his sister Tamar Againe when we shake off motions of Gods Spirit and mislike his Government and give way to passion then the devill enters Let a man be unadvisedly angry and the devill will make him envious and seeke revenge when passions are let loose they are Chariots in which the devill rides some by nature are prone to distrust and some to be too confident now the devill hee joynes with them and so drawes them on further hee broods upon our corruptions hee lies as it were upon the soules of men and there broods and hatches all sinne whatsoever All the devills in hell cannot force us to sinne he workes by suggestions stirring up humors and fancies but hee cannot worke upon the will wee betray our selves by yeelding before hee can doe us any harme yet hee ripens sinne There are some sinnes that 's let Sathan loose upon us as first pride wee see it in Paul 2 Cor. 12. 7. Secondly conceitednesse and presumption as we may see in Peter Matth. 26. 33. Thirdly securitie which is alwayes the fore runner of some great punishment or great sinne which also is a punishment as we see in David fourthly Idlenesse it s the houre of temptation when a man is out of Gods businesse fifthly Intemperance either in loosenesse of Diet or otherwise therefore Christ commands us to be sober and watch and looke to sobrietie in the use of the creatures sixtly there is a more subtill intemperance of passion for in what degree we give way to wrath and revenge and covetousnesse in that degree Sathan hath advantage against us seventhly when a man will not beleeve and submit to truths revealed though but a naturall truth therefore God gave them up to vile affections Rom. 1. 26. because they would not cherish the light of nature much more when we doe not cherish the light of Grace As Christ wrought our salvation in an estate of basenesse so in our way to glory wee must be conformable to our head and passe through an estate of basenesse wee are chosen to a portion of afflictions as well as to Grace and Glory God sees it needfull also because we cannot easily digest a flourishing condition wee are naturally given to affect outward excellencies when we are trusted with great matters we are apt to forget God and our dutie to others This should therefore teach us to justifie God when wee are any wayes abased in the world There are a world of poore who yet are exceeding proud but God sanctifies outward povertie unto his children so as it makes way for poverty of Spirit that as they are poore so they have a meane esteeme of themselves it makes them inwardly more humble and more tractable Therefore when wee are under any crosse observe how it workes see whether wee joyne with God or no when hee afflicts us outwardly whether inwardly wee be more humble when hee humbles us and makes us poore whether we be also poore in spirit When God goes about to take us downe we should labour to take downe our selves Poverty of spirit should accompany us all our life long to let us see that we have no righteousnesse of our owne to sanctification that all the grace we have is out of ourselves even for the performance of every holy duty for though wee have grace yet wee cannot bring that grace in to Act without new grace even as there is a fitnesse in trees to beare fruit but without the influence of heaven they cannot That which oftentimes makes us miscarry in the actions of our callings is because wee thinke wee have strength and wisedome enough and then what is begunne in selfe-confidence is ended in shame wee set upon duties in our owne pride and strength of parts and finde successe accordingly therefore it s a signe that God will blesse our indeavours when out of the sense of our owne weakenesse wee water our businesse with prayer and teares It is not sufficient for a Christian to have habituall grace there is no Vine can bring forth fruit without the influence of heaven though it be rooted so wee cannot bring forth fruit unlesse God blow upon us our former strength will not serve when a new temptation comes it is not enough to have grace but we must use it we must exercise our faith love patience
DIVINE MEDITATIONS AND HOLY CONTEMPLATIONS BY That reverend Divine R. Sibbes D. D. Master of Catherine Hall in Cambridge and sometimes Preacher of Grayes Inne LONDON LONDON Printed for Iohn Crooke and Richard Sergier in Pauâ— Churâ— yard 1638 DIVINE MEDITATIONS AND HOLY CONTEMPLATIONS BY That reverend Divine R. Sibbes D. D. Master of Catherine Hall in Cambridge and sometimes Preacher of Grayes Inne in LONDON LONDON Printed by Tho. Cotes for Iohn Crooke and Richard Sergier and are to be sold at the signe of the Gray-hound in Pauls Church-yard 1638. TO THE CHRISTIAN READER COurteous Reader thou hast here Meditation upon Meditation offered to thy consideration as a helpe to thee when thou art privately alone As sweete spices yeeld small savour untill they are beaten to powder so the wonderfull workes of God are either not at all or very slightly smelt in the nostrils of man who is of a dull sense unlesse they be rubbed and chased in the minde through a fervent affection and singled out with a particuler view like them which tell money who looke not confusedly at the whole heape but at the valew of every parcell So then a true Christian must endeavour himselfe to deliver not in grosse but by retaile the millions of Gods mercy to his soule in secret thoughts chewing the cud of every Circumstance with continuall Contemplation And as a thriftie Gardi ner which is loath to see one Rose leafe to fall from the stalke without stilling so the Christian soule is unwilling to passe or to stifle the beds of spices in the Garden of Christ without gathering some fruit Cant. 6. which containe a mystery and hidden vertue and our Champhire clusters in the Vineyards of Engedie Cant. 1. must bere solved into droppes by the Still of Meditation or else they may be noted for weedes in the Herball of men which hath his full of all kindes but some are slightly passed over as the watery herbes of vanity which grow on every wall of carnall mens hearts and yeeldbut a slight taste how good the Lord is or should be to their soules It therefore behoveth us first to mind the tokens of his mercy and love and afterwards for the helping os our weake digestion to champe and chew by an often revolution every part and parcell thereof before we let it downe into our stomackes that by that meanes it may effectually nourish every veine and living artery of our soule and fill them full with the pure blood of Christs body the least drop wherof refresheth chereth the soule and body of him which is in a swound through his sinne and maketh him apt to walke and talke as one who is now living in Christ. By this sweete Meditation the soule taketh the key where all her evidences lie and peruses the bills and articles of Covenant agreed and condescended unto betweene God and man there shee seeth the great grant and pardon of her sins subscribed unto by God himselfe and sealed with the blood of Christ. There hee beholdeth his unspeakable mercy to a prisoner condemned to die without which at the last in a desperate case he is led and haled unto execution by the cursed crue of hellish furies Here she learneth how the holy land is intailed and retaileth by discourse the descent from Adam unto Abraham his son Isaac and so forward unto all the seede of the faithfull by Meditation the soule prieth into the soule and wit ha reciprocall judgement examineth her selfe and every faculty thereof what she hath what shee wanteth where she dwelleth where she removeth and where shee shall be By this shee feeleth the pulses of Gods Spirit beating in her the suggestions of Sathan the corruptions of her owne affections who like a cruell steppe-Dame mingleth poysons and pestilent things to murther the Spirit to repell every good motion and to be in the end the lamentable ruine of the whole man Here she standeth as it were with Saul upon the mountaines beholding the combat betweene David and Goliah botweene the Spirit and the uncircumcised raging of the Flesh the stratagems of Sathan the bootlesse attempts of the world Here appeare her owne infirmities her relapses into sinne her selfe astoned by the buffets of Sathan her Fort shrewdly battered by carnall and fleshly lusts her Colours and prosession darkened and dimmed through the smoke of affliction her faith hidden because of such massacres and and treasons her hope banished with her mistrust her selfe ho vering ready to take flight from the sinceritie of her profession Here she may discerne as from the toppe of a Mast an armie comming whose Captaine is the Spirit garded with all his graces the bloody armes of Christ by him displaied the Trum. pets sound Sathan vanquished the world conquered the flesh subdued the soule recvived profession bettered and each thing restored to his former integritie The consideration hereof made Isaac goe meditating in the evening Gen. 24. This caused Hezekiah to mourne like a Dove and chatter like a Pye in his heart in deepe silence Esa. 58. This forced David to meditate in the morning nay all the day long Psal. 63. and 119. 148. ver as also by night in secret thoughts Psal. 16. This caused Paul to give Timothy this lesson to meditate 1 Tim. 4. And God himselfe commanded Ioshua when hee was elected Governor that hee should meditate upon the Law of Moses both day and night to the end hee might performe the things written therein Ioshu 1. And Moses addeth this clause teaching the whole Law from God himselfe These words must remaine in thy heart thou must meditate upon them both at home and abroad when thou goest to bed and when thou risest in the morning Deut. 6. This meditation is not a passion of melancholy nor a fit of fiery love nor covetous care nor senselesse dumps but a serious act of the Spirit in the inwards of the soule whose object is spirituall whose affection is a provoked appetite to practise holy things a kindling in us of the love of God a zeale towards his truth a healing our benummed hearts according to that speech of the Prophet My heart did waxe hot within me and fire did kindle in my meditations Psal. 39. Tho want whereof caused Adam to fall yea and all the earth into utter desolation for there is no man considereth deepely in his heart Ier. 12. If Caine had considered the curse of God and his heavie hand against that grievous and crying sinne he would not have slaine his owne brother if Pharaoh would have set his heart to ponder of the mighty hand of God by the plagves already past hee should have prevented those which followed and have foreslowed his haste in making pursuite with the destruction of himselfe and his whole Army If Nadad and Abihu had regarded the fire they put in their Censers they might have beene safe from the fire of heaven To conclude the want of meditation hath beene the cause of so many fearefull