the privy Chambers of Heaven which are hanged with Eternity and furnished with all real good is so great a favour so inestimable a Jewel so unparalell'd an advantage as that the Soul it self cannot comprehend much less the tongue express it How am I then arrived O dear Redeemer to a blessed pitch of Confidence by considering though I find my self a very unworthy Sinner yet I may come as I am call'd into the Land of the living into the Kingdom of Heaven and when this Earthly Tabernacle shall be dissolved I shall have a Throne a Seat a Building not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens What greater happiness O my God! can a Soul promise it self then by seconding thy divine Commands be secure of inheriting such a Throne such a Seat such a Kingdom in the portion of the blessed and in the presence of Saints and Angels Communicate of thy own Greatness and of thy Glory What delights can equal those of the Celestial Paradise Speak no more of an Earthly one for what satisfactions may keep pace with the Vision of my God Adam himself could but view his works in the Universe But O thou great Ineffable Incomprehensible Transcendent Wilt thou ever become the Object of those Eyes that have been prophaned by Worldly Spectacles In thy presence is Life full Content and endless Joys and these I shall as fully possess being instated by thy Favour as Angels or other perfect Spirits have them so my desires shall be still feasted with the Contemplation of thy Goodness and my affections shall triumph in their eternal injoyments and the insatiable Nature of my Soul and sence will find enough to entertain and quiet them in the infinite Treasure of thy Love and Wisdom But because he deserves no admission into the Clossets of the Righteous who hath made his abode amongst the Carnalities of the World and inslaved his reason to the service of sin I pray thee most gracious God to stay the feet of my longings from going up too hastily too rashly Hold my thoughts yet longer upon the Reflection of my own demerits and then afterward fix them on the sole contemplation of Heavenly things so I shall better find the Obligation I have to serve thee with pure intentions and suitable operations and not continue still only fit to be shut out of the new Jerusalem that is above That Jerusalem I mean whose walls are built up of several orders of Vertues whose stately Pallaces are reared by the Law of Moses the Revelations of the Prophets and the labours of the Apostles the sufferings and Patience of Saints and the power of the Gospel wherein the glorious Majesty of Christ Resides and the best Apartments are set off with Love and Charity and the Angels are the bright Courtiers Thrones Dominions and Powers chief Officers Arch-Angels the Guards and the blest inhabitants are the just made perfect What then should a man do or rather what should he not do or suffer to get to this Jerusalem above O my Soul thou must know that Heaven is a free and General native Countrey that is arrived at not by nobleness of Birth nor by the pride of Life or living not by the glories of Ancestors nor by the Wealth nor Honours of the Earth but by the Holinesâ—acts of our desires the sincerity of the Heart the temperance of the Tongue and the Righteousness of our Actions Here then my Soul fix all thy Complacencies thou hast already cloy'd thy apetite on the momentary pleasures of a short Life and thou findest how brief they are in the fruition how bitter in the recantation of them Get up therefore get up to this new Jerusalem which the pity and goodness of my God doth promise thee while by his infinite Mercies he lets thee tast the fruit of his planting the wonderful Conjunctions of Faith and eternal Glories and will let thee partake of the chief good that common portion of such as are found worthy to be called the children of God Hast thou no reason then O Soul to give thy self up absolutely to the goodness of my God what should hinder or impeach thy submission is not this due to the merits of his goodness and to the demerits of thy former Operations Yea surely by so much the more art thou oblig'd to his service by how much the more his bounties have been extended towards thee Therefore after all this his payment of thy debt of transgressions I find thee bound more fast to thy debt of Duty to fear Gods Power to adore his Majesty to be humbled for my Pride and ashamed of my follies Heaven is no place thou knowest for the unclean there are none but Innocents or Penitents such as have needed no Repentance or else have used it O thou most gracious Monarch of the World whosoever pretends to aproach thy Throne to partake of thy Glories or to enter into thy garden of Life He must of necessity be installed with the Vesture of thy Grace and be stript of all Earthly compliances which so intangle men amongst the snares of Offences or the miseries of this Life All they who to this time have stay'd in the Presence-chamber of the Heav'n of Heavens have been signalized with the special characters of thy Love without which all our indeavours are alike Blind and fruitless they alone have gained that place and honour by the sincerity of their Consciences by the purity of their Lives by the cleanness of their hands in thy sight O Lord as saith the Psalmist Let this be owned by those Children of Israel those chosen people and that Royal Priesthood of Thine who being advanced to an heavenly height by the steps of their Vertues have made thy greatness conjoyn'd with thy goodness to be Ecchoed through the Universe to the shame and confusion of others more oblig'd who notwithstanding they be inriched by millions of Benefits yet know not how to respect the Donor acknowledg the Gift or sanctifie thy Holy name therewithall Lord I am sensible of the backwardness of my Heart to any gratefulness it is conscious of it's own Guilt and would not go no farther till it hath confest how the observation of thy Commands hath been the least of its care and thy Love which ought to have been the first desire of my Heart hath by my ignorance been so neglected as that the fading sparks of a beautiful look have more easily inflamed it then thy presence As many Objects as have been offered to my sense became so many Idols to the which my passions were devoted Thy divinest Name hath been cast out of my Mouth in a Thousand vain asseverations and these have been uttered to no other end then to give Credence to the vanity of my intentions or the falsehood of my Speeches How then can these Eyes these Ears these Hands these words of mine plead themselves guiltless of any Crime since they have or would have offended in all and this conviction of my own guilt
Steps of Ascent because who ever intends to make use of them should do it for his Advancement unto God for his climbing up by Grace and not suffer his humblest Thoughts to stoop so low as to give any great Respect or Entertainment unto Earthly Objects The five first Degrees are for Christian Noviciats and Pupils those who begin their Journey towards Heaven in the way of Coelestial Love and venture to pass through the difficulties of Temptation the hardship of Affliction the Swords and Pykes of Censure and Calumniations They are such as with David on his way to Victory stay themselves on their God fix their Confidence with Jacob in his Journey upon Heavenly Succours and rejoyce in Spiritual Supports and press on forward in the hopes of Rewards and in fine have so much true Humility as to attribute the small Progress of their Repentance not at all to their own strength but wholly unto God The five next Degrees assist Proficients in the same Love of God and of Religion who are forward in the way of Mastering their Passions and so are more confident as better Confirmed not only to further themselves but others too in Divine Contemplations as well as encourage and invite to a Plus ultra to a making on in the Love of God 'till they have clearly made it out to themselves They can meekly beg of God a Confirmation of his Grace and of their Strength nor expect any reward nor conceit any Merit nor seek any Commendation either for the exercise of Patience in Adversity or for doing their Duty in that Condition wherein God hath placed them The last five Degrees are for the highest Form of Professors such as are nearest the top of Perfecton above and the Kingdom of Heaven here below who can pray for their Persecutors do good to those that do them hurt and accompany their own tryed Patience with desires of trying it still more and more Begging nothing more of God than Lowliness and Nothingness of Spirit under all the greatest Demonstrations of his Favour lest with St. Paul they should be exalted above measure and grow unworthy by being Proud of that Love with which they long to be made one in an Eternal Charity Therefore taking their Hearts quite off from the World and divorcing their Thoughts from Terrene Objects they imploy their whole Man in beginning their Heaven upon Earth by the continual blessing and praising of God And I pray God these Words may be read with such Thoughts as may stir up each several sort of Christians to the devoutest Action within their Capacities kindling in every Breast one Spark or other more bright and fervent than that can possibly be which is struck out of the black Flint of my Heart who like Absalom have heaped up more Stones of Guilt for the Erection of a Monument in Hell than I have enjoyed Hours of Life for the steering my Course to the Glories of Paradise Every Book that speaks of God should be as a Terminus or Law-Stone either to inform or reform our Footsteps and those Columns are not like Enoch's of Worth nor of Duration that build not up the House of Wisdom Those Figures stand but for Cyphers those Letters are but Mutes that do not teach the Ignorant the Right way or at least turn the Erronious from the Wrong Nevertheless I acknowledge my self not less unapt to Correct the one than unable to Guide the other being neither fit for the Office of a Monitor nor of a Master For what I have written hath been rather to wake my own dying Devotion than to watch for the Encomiums of others and for once I can protest the Puff of worldly Applause which often Tympanies the soundest Minds with Ambition did not blow up the Feathers of my Quill to this its present Flight and Undertaking He that aspires to Abraham's Honour to talk with God as a Man speaks with his Friend doth not give heed to those Whispers of the Serpent to those vain Hopes I mean which Fame and Reputation those Terrae Filiae Children of the Gyant bring along with them to deceive us here I once thought to be Dictator to my self alone because Devotion is a Spirit and like Camphire if let out too far or blown about most commonly 't is lost and vanishes away But when I viewed David like Jonathan climbing up the Rock and commanding his Armour-bearers to follow him I had also the courage both to attend and imitate him in beckening unto others to creep along with me upon these Stairs which lead unto David's Fortress unto the God of Gods in Mount Sion and unto his Temple where every one must speak of his Honour And who knows but some others incited perhaps by my weakest endeavours may assist hereafter with better address those who are getting up these Holy Rounds this Scala Santa of Meditation As we see a little Star shines before the Sun as it were to raise and light up a far greater and more useful Guide than it self But without any more Preamble not to detain or deceive the Reader let me tell him who is not pleased with this Book That he may be pleased in regarding the Subject and if he shall look herein and find any thing that is good it is to be returned with due Interest of Praise to God the true Owner of it who was the Framer of the World from Nothing and the Maker of Mankind Upright though we have sought out many strange Inventions both to be and to do Wrong So that Mistakes and Men go hand in hand together and all the Errors here we must yeild to be our own IN Psalmorum Laudem CHORUS 1. Angelorum 2. Hominum CHORUS THE PSALMS are Paradises Spring Streaming Refreshments every way They 1. Wine 2. Oyl 1. Milk 2. And Honey bring 1. To Cheer 2. To Cure 1. To Feed 2. T' Allay 1. When we are merry Psalms we sing 2. When we 're afflicted Psalms we say 1. They Heav'n's 2. And Earth's Devotions wing 1. While Angels Praise 2. Or Men do Pray CHORUS The PSALMS are Paradises Spring Streaming Refreshments every way c. THE ASCENTS OF THE SOUL The first Step upon the First PSALM of Degrees being the 120 PSALM Ad Dominum cum tribularer c. O Most Gracious God when I have fathomed the tossing Billows of my troubled Spirit either by the depth of humane anxieties or by some thwarting dispensation of that Providence that moves upon the great Abyss and was termed Fortune by the Heathens rolling the whole Globe upon Waves of incertain Casualties Nay when the Storms of my violent Passions make my wicked heart like a raging Sea foaming out nothing but mire and dirt in filthy Motions and in tyrannical or rebellious Actions O then with Humility Contrition and Sincerity of Intention I indeavour to strike sayl for fear of the Shipwrack of a good Conscience and make hast to put into the Harbour of thy Goodness and Compassion Then I
Plague of this mortal condition from the Offending of so Good a Lord O could I fly out of the reach of such infection I might then judge my satisfaction no less secured than unspeakable whereas the frequent receipts of thy Kindness paid here with cold affections or ungrateful acts cast too oft a a damp over the Wings of my joy and is a sad abatement of that Towring comfort which I might pitch upon in the Expressions of thy Love and mine Free me therefore I beseech thee dearest Lord from the Bondage of my Corruptions Suffer not the wounds of Original Sin to rankle or gangrene in my Heart least these become so outragious as to refuse or fear the help of thy Hand for its healing and binding up Such a Wolf did once eat off the Breasts of the beloved Spouse the Church of Israel and turned her to a dry and barren Wilderness But Lord prevent the spoil that such ravenous furies would make in thy Vineyard and heal our Souls though we have Sinned against thee Let not the filthyness of my actual Offences poison the health or Salvation of my State let not worldly greatness or sensual pleasures enveigle my Thoughts from thy worship to other services which indeed are meer slaveries and the basest of such But as the South-winds or Sirocco's do usually impregnate and swell up Torrents so let the Gifts and Graces of thy Holy Spirit augment all probity and Virtue in my Soul tending to the Ocean of Eternal Perfections And farther impower my Heart to be truly penitent that the Springs from thence running through my Eyes may help to wash off the spots which have besmeared my Conscience I Know Great God! that whosoever doth exercise himself in the Olympicks of true Devotion he that outbraves the fashions or flatteries of the World he that adores thy Greatness with humility and fixes his hopes on Gelestial Objects He it is that sowes to the Spirit such a Seed that will instantly bear Thirty fold in the return of more Grace and hereafter an hundred in the Harvest of Glory And he that sheds the Teats of Religious mourning upon Earth shall reap Comfort and Joy in Immortality when all Tears shall be wiped off and Sorrows and Sighings shall melt away Give me then leave to attend thee with all sorts of the Grain of Tears I would weep for the pardon of my Guilt to save my self from the Foulness of it I would weep for displeasing thee as for the deserving thy Vengeance and this to quench the fervours of my Lusts I would weep over the Miseries of our present Mortality to solace my down-cast Spirit in her clayie Prison and Relegation I would weep for my Tamuz for my Adonis for my Adonai for my self and for others Ezech. 8.14 for my vile Idolatries and Prostitutions for my Spiritual Fornications for my own and others manifold defilements according as thou dear Lord didst advise thy people when thou didst command them saying Weep not for me but weep for your selves and I will weep for thee also O my Adonai my Love my Dove my Undefiled one for having treated thee so savagely and occasioned others to affront thee too and 〈◊〉 to procure ease and satisfaction to thy self to others and to me Even to the screwing up of the Joys and Harmony of the Celestial Mansions And Lastly I will weep to encrease my Thirst of that Country which thou hast promised us above that I may fill up such a Nilus here as may render the Egypt of my Condition more fruitful under all thy Providences Now that I find my self embarrassed in great streights in a World Malevolent to real Bliss where the Prince of it is still trying the strength of my Constancy and Sense is offering violence to my Reason where Company by ill examples and incitements increase my frailties where Beauty Ambition Honours and Anger Covetousness and Sloth would play the Dalilahs to abuse and snare me give me leave O God! while I am a Travelor in the Vale of Misery to dig up Fountains of Penitential Waters to cleanse off the Scales from my Eyes which have been so often blinded by the treacheries of my and Enemies and thine O that I could now cultivate the ground of my Heart by Fasting Prayers and Tears by deeds of Charity and Offices of Devotion and then with the Four and twenty Elders in the Revelations demise at thy Feet such Crowns and Palmes such Talents and Abilities as thou hast put into my Hands to account for in thy Kingdom for thine is the Dominion Power and Glory and thou art onely worthy to receive the Profits of thine own No Soul can tast more joy than his that can approach unto thy dreadful Throne with a Conscience so void of Offence as not to accuse it self and with a small treasure of good Works such a Present as the Patriark sent the Egyptian Governour Gen. 43.11 which may bring whole sheaves again to us Finally Grant that all my Faculties may count themselves bound to honour thy name for ever that my Heart may be all on fire for thy Love and my Affections own no other Object nor employ but thy Service nor my Senses relish other Beauties Hopes or Acquests than those of Heaven and Eternity Let me have with thee all the Conditions and Qualifications of a true Votary in Serving Imitating and Suffering serving thy Commands with all my Powers Copying thy Actions with all diligence and enduring all oppositions with an humble fortitude that I may reap the fruit of Holiness and its end Everlasting Life Amen The eighth Step on the eighth PSALM of Degrees being the 127 PSALM Nisi Dominus aedificaverit MY Soul is so beleaguered with dangers that like a long besieged City 't will fall at last into the Enemies Hands unless it be relieved by thine extream Compassion what pitiful succour hath all things besides thee brought alas I can hardly owne that I have been helped even by the best preaching of thy Ministers nay what good doth Moses and the Prophets to my wretched State All thy most holy Doctrine O thou Holy of Holies all those most excellent patterns and precepts of Saints and Martyrs afforded to me reach not far enough to jogg my Senses out of the Lethargy of Sin unless thou stretch forth thy Arm O God! even Christ out of thy own Bosom and put him into mine that that Sun of Righteousness may enlighten and enliven my dark Breast This hath devoted all its affections to thy service 't is true but indeed it cannot keep them to their duty without thy constant overlooking of them Although in thy holy Sacraments thou breathest down thy Spirit for us to receive what care do we take for all thine to Welcom House or entertain it by the small remainders of Faith Hope or Charity And as all their Efforts are vain and fruitless who toile to build up their worldly satisfactions without thy blessings so is all the industry of
my Being I have dared to contend with Omnipotence Death and Hell have been imagined Dreams and Phantasms only to scare the simple and not to be Instruments of thine anger to scourge the guilty But yet my Soul doth humbly now suppose it self an Object not less proper for thy incomprehensible Mercy because of its infinite Unworthiness and will rely only upon that Mercy of thine since it is worse than Folly to trust in any thing else He that doth place his hopes under the protection of great men doth but pass away his Liberty into the Hands of Tyrants He that founds his security on the Commonweal's builds up his Comforts on great Improbabilities He that counts Wealth the Mine of all Happiness is not acquainted with the Wheel of Fortune he that sooths himself with pleasures in worldly Knowledge knows not enough the weakness and incertainty of our Understandings as well as of all intelligible Subjects and whosoever presumes upon his own Merits let him call to mind from whence he came and whither he must return being liable to Myriads of Infirmities and to more than a single Death Friends themselves and Health the best of humane enjoyments are in this point like Honours Riches and other mortal entertainments very short and transient under the influences of a changing state subject to alterations from our own age as much as from the malice of our Enemies Therefore O Mortals cast your Anchor on no other security but on my God there is no Rock like him as I have experienced He can Love us freely and Defend us fully he doth heal our Infirmities and makes up our Losses he protects our Weakness and succors our want Where he associates there it is that Felicity both Roots and Flowers To him let us have recourse every Watch of the Night and every Minute of the Day To him let us offer up both our Lives and Deaths the Beginning and Accomplishment of all our Undertakings For he that is all Goodness hath no other Scope but our Happiness Deut. 32.4 By how much the more our humane Ignorance tempts us out of the Road to Heaven by so much the more his Pity strives to lead us the right way and to keep us in it For all 〈◊〉 universal Impiety weaves a Spider's Webb in every ones Mansion Prov. 30.28 and Pride heaps up Mountains of Guilt to defy Heaven while Avarice scrapes up Dirt to make an Idol of it and Lasciviousness dissolves its own pleasure by excess though Gluttony returns often with the Dog and Idleness looks after no good nor Anger meets with any thing but Precipices Yet for all these the goodness of God abides continually and is not discouraged by our Unworthiness when even this is aggravated by his Love but strives the rather to appear still as far above our Vileness and beyond our Merits as the Heavens are distanced from the lowest Earth And shall I not fly to this City of Refuge when pursued by a many ful-mouth'd Sins that cry aloud for Vengeance the Diseases and Corruptions of my Nature and Condition are not so inveterate but there is Balm in Gilead and a Physician there who can ease them My Wounds though festered by long and evil Habits are not gangrened by Despair nor is thy Hand shrunk up into thy Bosom but thou wilt put it forth to reach me a Cure Thy Remedies O Lord are always ready as thy mind to recover us and thou art never weary of well doing Thou alone canst reduce me into a state of doing better than I have done Thou alone canst pour the Oyle and Wine into my Hurts and bear the Charges of my Recovery Lord lay down the price of this and give Bail for me thy Insoluble Debtor As thou didst upon the cursed Tree Redeem thy Israel from trouble so let the Merits of thy bitter Passion be the powerful means of my deliverance from the slaveries of Sin that I may serve thee without base Fear without any great Disease or Disgust or Luke-warm indifference It must be the heat of thy Love which can dissipate such bad Distempers of my Soul as have brought an Ague upon my Devotion and a Plague upon my Heart Lord see me set right again by the health of thy Countenance when I am made whole see that I Sin not again lest worse things fall upon me But assure the whole residue of my time by such a just and severe Repentance for my past Infirmities as that I may never relapse into them nor thou strive with me who have contended too long with thee But crowning the greatness of thy Glories by the Pardon of my greatest Sins thou mayest give me leave to rely wholly on thy sweet Compassion till I may take Harbour in a Course of Sanctity in the state of Justification and at last in a full and perfect Redemption Amen The twelfth Step on the twelfth PSALM of Degrees being the 131 PSALM Domine non est exaltatum Cor c. O Lord I perceive the greatest Enemy of Mankind leaves no means un-attempted whereby he may draw us out of thy blessed way Sometimes with prosperous Success and sometimes with earthly Grandeurs he well-nigh masters such to their Eternal Ruine as he durst not assail by Crosses or by Want At other times when neither fair means nor foul will do his Work he takes a stranger course and represents to those too good Opinions which we ordinarily have of our selves a long Bead-roll of Religious Performances that wee Priding our selves in our own doings might infect them and arrogate that to our own merit which is wholly due to thy goodness * Aristot in Eth. 1.4 4.3 inquit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ita fecrunt Optimi Gentium Stotcorum scilicet Epicuraeorum qui dixerunt Nos exaequat Victoria Caelo immo ipse Philosophorum Romanorum Imperator Marcus Aurelius erat famae suae curiosissimus c. The Best men of all are too much addicted to this Sacrilege and few there are alass who are so well bred in Humility as not to like their own Reputation or not to covet Glory here no less than above Who doth not think too well or too much of his Service if it appear faithful to God and Charitable to others while he is patient in Adversity and temperate in all his Desires Is he not apt to be exalted above measure Therefore while I purpose with my self to avoid the Pride and Pomps of the World and to give my self up wholly to the execution of thy Commands let not my Heart applaud it self in private but so turn mine Eyes to thy Testimonies that they may not cause nor discover any Vain-glory about me Give me such a likeness to my Jesus such a lowliness of Spirit as to referr all things duely to thy bounty and nothing to my Power or Merit And as by the excesses of undeserved loving-kindness thou hast advantaged my Birth with the Characters of Illustrious
above thy Fellow-creatures Since he would place thee at first but little lower than the Angels and hereafter will promote thee even above those blessed Spirits since he would save thee with no less a Price than his Son's Blood and make thee the chief Magazine or Store-house of all the Treasures of his Grace since he would Manumitt thee by his Service from the Tyranny of thy Sensualities and from the Slavery of great Transgressions which bind up Lucifer himself in Chains of Darkness O! do not fall like him again into the Hell of Ingratitude since thou art raised thus into the Favour of the Most High Employ thy faculties to his Honour else thou art such another unworthy Monster as deserves to be entombed in the bottom of that Gulph which burns for Ever and Ever Shew at least how thou savourest the things of God by acknowledging of them 'T is true thou canst never render unto him according as thou hast received yet return thy improved Talents and thy utmost abilities or else thy chearful readiness for the owning thy self Obliged and not unkind to the Donor Suffer no Excuse or Accident to put thee off from thinking of his Goodness or from thanking of it Thy Prosperity is the Issue of his Providence not of thy Merit God saith the Wise man enables us to get Wealth and all good Fortune Thy Adversaries celebrate his Wisdom for by them art thou taught how he knows thy desert and would try thy Patience and deals not so hardly by thee as he is provoked Therefore in all Conditions set forth his most worthy Praise with clean Hands and a pure Heart lifted up by devout Expressions Let us lead on our Desires and endeavours to set the Crown upon his Head and to put the Scepter into his Hand whose right it is I mean let our Church with that which is Triumphant ascribe All Honour Power Dominion and Glory unto him who sits upon the Throne and unto the Lamb for evermore blessing God every manner of way whereby the Creature may be said to Glorify his maker As First By speaking of God with that Reverence which the Majesty of his Person doth require Secondly By living according to the Rules of Probity that by our good actions both our selves and others may think well of his Service Thirdly By rendering unto God the Honour due to his Name in whatsoever condition may we be that whether he gives or takes away there may be no shipwrack of a good Conscience or of a chearful Spirit because we own our dependance not upon our selves but Him Fourthly By Giving Thanks always for all things unto God Eph. 5.20 as saith the Apostle while we entertain a grateful Tast and Remembrance of the most ordinary Mercy for there is none to be looked upon as little if we justly regard either God or our selves NOW most Gracious Lord since thou hast called up my Soul to this exalted Throne of Felicity to this highest Round of Heavenly Comfort to wit to the resounding of thy Praises for the efficacy of thy Favours towards a penitent Sinner I beseech thee dearest Lord shower down continuall thy Gifts and Graces upon my humbled Soul that it may be fruitful in every good Work and shew no wretched marks of its former Sterility though it Merits not the smallest Dew of thy Blessing nor the least warmth of thy Love having scarce put out the fire of extravagant Lust Yet since thou hast founded the vast Machine of the Universe upon the empty place Thine out-stretched arm can amend and sanctify whatever is amiss about me Thou art both our Lord and our God a Maker and Redeemer too whos 's Operations are beyond all impossibilities and thy Benefits above our Desires espcially in Heavenly things no less than above our Deserts However give me leave here at last to beseech thee so to fit me for thine Eternal Entertainments by a thankful Sense and constant relish of thy Love and Goodness to me here as that I may pass along safely and contentedly through the many disquiets of this mortal Life to the continual Praising and endless Fruition of thee in Heaven our Father which art c. A COROLLARY HAving got up thus far by the help of others with aking Knees and sobbing Respirations my Soul craves leave to pause and look about her lest these Ascents become to her condition like the Scalae Gemoniae to condemned Wretches Degrees of Punishment and sad occasions of more certain Ruine These lofty Mounts afford me a fair prospect of the good Way my Thoughts should take toward Heaven But alas I find at the same time how I am groveling upon Earth and the feet of my Affections would rather step down than go up so high a Hill as that of God's House Therefore have I need of Jacob's Staff to lean upon in my infirmest State Heb. 11.21 Gen. 47.9 Eph. 3.18 Heb. 10.39 36. and to point out how few and evil the days of the years of my Pilgrimage have been and to fathom better both God's Love and mine that I may get up still nearer the point of Life even in Death it self and be keeping on my Journey here for here is not my Rest And as I want a Jacob's Staff such a help and Monitor and Vision as that holy Traveller had at Bethel so I desire likewise that Jacob's Ladder which according to St. Basil in his Homilies on the Psalms is the Exercise of a devout Soul so employing it self as that God may come down to it and the Soul be raised up to Heaven by these five several Degrees or Ascents The first is a generous neglect of all outward and temporal Advantages in respect of Heavenly ones a forsaking of our Nets like true Converts and Christian Disciples Mark 1.18 for the attendance on the Lord Jesus and not only renouneing with St. Paul such things as we counted Gain but Secondly Contemning and even loathing the most admired sensual pleasures nay the World it self when set in competition with Christ out Saviour Because in the third place a we ought to love nothing in comparison of Christ if we would be love by him Mat. 10.37 Cant. 5.10 If we esteem him not most amiable we are not warmed with a right or kindly flame of Devotion which implies a transcendent value for the adored Object of our Worship We are but Samaritans in our pretended Religion and shall hardly arrive at the fourth Step Which is a readiness not only to be bound but to dye for his Name And this propensity for the meeting Death it self in the way to Life Acts 20.24 is a good Token or part of the noblest Mortification which prefers God and his Sanctity before Life nay before Salvation and will secure us from finding Death in the Errors of our Lives Nay lastly will strengthen us to climb up to the Top-round of these Spiritual Exercises Psal 73.25 even to the uniting our Souls by the divinest
Charity unto God himself who is Love and the Man that can get thither saith St. John dwells in Gods 1 John 4.16 and God in him These Five Ascents are to be often mounted and if in honour to the holiest Trinity they are thrice gone over in our youthfullest in our strongest and in our oldest Age we shall be perfect in our Duty by such Repetitions of it and not think the Fifteen Ascents to God's House at all too many or too steep or tiresom FINIS ERRATA IN the Epistle to the Reader Page 1. Line 28. for quote read Court p. 3. l. 48. read Sketch p. 4. l. 19. for ones read ends l. 49. read Ite In the next Epistle of the Author at l. 12. insert its p. 2. l. 12. read to Heaven p. 3. l. 8. read perfect ones In the Book p. 8. l. 7. read thee p. 9. l. 2. read it natural and born with us l. 32. read or recover it THE Eucharist at Easter 1657 ON THE Happy Recovery Of my Most Dear and Honour'd LUCINDA ANGELS come tune my Joys since they require Notes pure and high like those which ye inspire Blest Saints of Heav'n could ye impart your Mirth Then might I learn to sing of one on Earth One who hath not your Glory yet your Grace One equals you in Piety not Place Because she lives Nor can I more express To tell what 't is the World calls Happiness And since she lives I pray for nothing more But how to praise that help I did implore O God who art most powerful do thou please To give me thankfulness who gav'st her ease Give strength as to her Body to my Brain That with her health may Harmonize my strain And breath still vigorously like my past Fears In Lines more numerous than were earst my Tears While every gladsome Verse records at once My Gods and Mothers Resurrections Within the Spheres of which two Blisses move All I enjoy below hope for above But all my Words and Actions needs must be Lame Offerings fit for Vulcan not for Thee I cannot sing like David nor can I Be even like Saul when Saul did prophecy Yet by that Harp which was his cure I find A Tongue to ease my overjoyed Mind Therefore my Song shall fill the thankful Quire My Voice shall consort with the Hebrew Lyre To drown its Hoarsness in those sweeter Lays So hiding my Defects but not thy Praise The CXVI PSALM verse 1 I Love to praise thy Love most high Who to my Praise gav'st ear verse 2 While I have Breath to thee I 'le cry For thou my Cry did'st hear verse 3 Hell 's Prison made my Soul afraid Death's Snares beset me round 'Till to thy Name I sought for aid Nothing but Woes I found verse 4 But when I pray'd Lord ease my Woe O Lord save thou my Soul verse 5 His Grace and Goodness God did show Making his Patient whole verse 6 His Love and Justice is display'd Shiclding the lowly'st Head And raising mine whom Grief had laid Down low even near the Dead verse 7 Then Soul said I gad not abroad To lose thy sought-for Rest Thou seest Love fills the Heart of God O make that Love thy Host verse 8 That Love which keeps thee from the Grave Thy Foot from falls thine Eye verse 9 From Tears and gives thee Life to have This spent in Piety verse 10 Thus I believ'd and therefore pray'd 'Till Troubles shook my Trust verse 11 Then rashly said all Men are made Of Falshood as of Dust verse 12 But what bring I to thee I 'le take The Cup of Blessing Lord verse 13 And bless thy Name whose Mercies make Our Duty our Reward verse 14 I 'le pay my Vows in sight of them Whose Lives most holy are verse 15 Whose Deaths are in thine Eyes esteem As it s own sight most dear verse 16 Thy Handmaid's Son thy Servant Lord Thy Servant Lord am I bound faster to thee by the Cord Which thou art pleas'd t' unty verse 17 I 'le offer still unto thy Name My Life my Praise my Prayer verse 18 I 'le pay my Vows in sight of them Whose Lives most holy are To God the Father God the Son And God the Holy-Ghost Be Glory and let every one Strive who shall praise God most HALLELUJAH The XXVII PSALM LUCE tuâ fruamur LUCE verse 1 GOD is my Soul 's dear Light What should I fear but him God is my Life 's chief Health and Might What else should dreadful seem verse 2 When wicked ones my Foes Approach me to devour They shall fall down for they that rose Have fall'n into my Pow'r verse 3 Though many Troops besiege None shall my Heart dismay Though Men against me Battel pitch God's strength shall be my stay verse 4 This only Grace this boon Of God I now desire That in his House I may have room To pray in and retire verse 5 There I his Pleasure tast I have his shelter there There on a Rock I shall be plac'd In times of Grief and Care verse 6 For all my Foes surround When God their Siege hath rais'd Around his Courts with joyful sound God shall be greatly prais'd verse 7 O therefore hear me Lord When I rejoyce or cry Comfort or Mercy still afford And to my Call reply verse 8 When once it heard thy Grace my Heart to thee could speak O Lord thou said'st Seek ye my Face Thy Face Lord will I seek verse 9 Thy Face O never hide Nor turn it once away O Leave me not my God my Guide Whose strenth is all my stay verse 10 When Friends no care had took Thou didst for me provide Nay when my Parents me forsook Thou laid'st me not aside verse 11 Lord teach me thy plain way To shun each crooked Path Because my Foes would have me stray verse 12 O save me from their wrath See how the Faithless rise Against me and their Breath Would first ensnare by Calumnies Then cut me off by Death verse 13 Lord I had fainted quite Had I not hop'd to see Thy Goodness in this Life to light My Soul t' Eternity verse 14 Wait then on God poor Soul Take Courage kiss his Rod For he shall make thee strong and whole Wait then I say on God Glory and Praise allow To God in Trinity As at the first he was is now And evermore shall be The XXIII PSALM Paraphras'd THE King of Heav'n the God of Love Takes up a Shepherd's Crook As David did his Son above To his few Sheep will look Then though in Deserts they are left 1 Sam. 17.20 How safe are those few Sheep How safe am I from wolvish Theft Where Christ the Fold doth keep For while I wake he lets me feed By th' Sunshine of his Eye When I want Rest if ought I need His Arm 's my Canopy So that I shall not fear Death's Night Nay when Time's Bell has gone Darkness that harbours many a Sp'rite Shall let my Soul alone My Soul Return array'd then in its Light Such Glories shall put on As they that make my Shepherd white Who is my Shield and Sun He from a howling Wilderness Of Savages th' Aboad Hath brought me by his right Address Into fair Canaan's Road. There up and down meek Lambs he leads While Tides of Joy flow by Can his Flock want who kindly feeds Young Ravens when they cry Like Israel's Leader by the Flood Exod. 14.2 He bids his Army stay Then as he gave Elijah Food 1 King 19.8 He cheers them in their way The pow'r and goodness of our God Return Are our advance and stay Exod. 14.16 Elisha's Staff and Moses's Rod 2 King 4.29 Do Wonders less than they They save the Poor support the Weak Heal sick Folks help the Blind Soft Hearts they bead hard ones they break Thus nurturing the Unking For all Saul's envy Doeg's hate My Head and Beard is crown'd In spite of Foes I fit in state With Ease and Plenty round My Bowl 's with Wine swell'd to the brim With Oyl my Temples shine God is with me e're I with him His Goodness 't is not mine His Grace and not their own anoints Return Kings to the sway they bear His Spirit Royal Feasts appoints His Son is our best Cheer O that towards God my days could move Fast as to Death they tend My Thanks should keep pace with his Love And like it never END