their great and powerfull protector for delivering them out of all their troubles needs must thou be compassed about with Songs of delight thou couldst not chuse but sing thy Self too those Songs thou diddest teach to thy chief Singers that they might inclose thee in the sweet aire of delighting praises and with thee my Soule must desire to sing when with thee I am so protected Saint Stephen GOd can make our faces to shine like Angels to daunt our enemies and he here can make us to see his face to shine in glory to comfort our Souls Why then should we fear our fiercest enemies why then should we not be confident of the aide of our loving and powerfull God Thy blessed power is like thy Light But our frail fear is like our night MY Soul being plac'st on the wings of contemplation with them raises me to the Regions of felicity The foundation and felicity MY great God! Thou that hast aided me in laying the foundation of assurance assist me still now towring in the turrets of contentment and set all know that they can never with safety ascend the turrets of delighting contentment if they have not first laid the true foundation of assurance Vpon the Temptation of the doubting of Heaven MY Soul Though that subtle enemy of thine and of all men doe seek to seduce thee by his insinuating perswasions to doubt of that unexpressable and immortall felicity of thy Soul and body yet my Soule faint not For if the holy Writ be true thy felicity is certaine the which my gracious God I doe most confidently believe to be the written word of the God of all the world by whose word and will I and this Fabrick were created though that pernicious enemy seeks to perswade me that it is a fancy of a studious braine and writ to keep people in awe to human obedience And because nothing doth please our Souls but the thoughts of eternall blisse nor afright them but the dread of eternall punishment therefore have they fained a heaven for reward of the vertuous and a hell for punishment of the disobedient and that those felicities of which I have written are but fictions of my owne braine and somewhat like they that invented it and partly taken out of it But my gracious God keep me that I fall not by these temptations but let me know why he is and hath been so busie in drawing me to doubt of thy being and of that glorious heaven which I do notwithstanding his temptations believe I shall possesse with thee My God is it to draw me to a loose liberty of my life and so by disobeying thee I might live in fear of being cast out of thy favour to eternall punishment if so I will tell him that he may cease his labour for if that which I beleeve to be the holy word of God be a fancy of any braine it is so just and pleasing to my soul that with all my power and might I will endeavour to lead my life according to the direction of that exact and royall Law and so hatefull is any thing to me that is contrary to it that when thorow my frailty I doe what in it is forbidden I am hatefull to my selfe till I am assured that that offence be washed from me and that something within me assures me that the breach of that transgression is pardon'd This is a strong argument to me against that temptation and of the divinity and eternity of my Soul for if my Soul were not to be eternally either happy or miserable why should the expectation of eternall misery trouble me and the assurance of eternall blisse so exceedingly joy me Tempter goe Reason and experience teacheth us to see that likenesse breeds love our Souls our minds for such things there are can never love nor delight in what is not but our Souls affect eternall glory then sure such a thing there is but be it so or be it not such a thing is presented to our consideration and if I am not to live a life of eternall blisse hereafter yet for the happinesse of my present life I will so neer as I can run in the paths that lead to that heaven which I so much affect that I might live with a confident hope that I shall possesse it for nothing can truely satisfie my Soul but a heaven of eternity and with these thoughts I can live on earth in a heaven of felicity Tempter Thou art like to loose thy labour for I must take up that resolution not to live a sensuall and vicious life for if I have no grace such a life is hatefull to my disposition and such a life would not I live were there no God to give blessednesse Devil to torment But one thing more I have now to tell thee I in the Sanctuary of the great God of all the world presenting my petitions to him that by something I might be assur'd that thy wicked suggestions to make me doubt of his being were false I was directed to consider the glorious Sun which then shined bright in mine eyes so that I plainly see that great God of whose being thou wouldst have me doubt doth aid and assist me against thy wicked temptations for it cannot be but a great God that can make and governe so glorious and so great a light the God that made that made me that God I did offend in my first parents and since in my owne person but to him am reconciled in his first borne Son Jesus Christ who is God and man and for his sake shall I possesse a Kindome of felicity here and at the last a Kingdome of eternall glory To him be Glory On the Sun-rising AS the appearance of the Sun-beams disperseth the clouds of darkness which brings sadness to the earth so let the bright shining beams of thy Spirit O heavenly Son of light disperse the clouds of darke despairing thoughts and vaine imaginations the which do darken the brightness of my Soul and bring sadness to my heart Let them purifie and raise my minde that I may still be singing praise and let me ever say To my great God all glory be Who makes his light to shine on me Heaven upon Earth MY Lord Though thou wilt not take me from earth to live in Heaven with thee yet thou comming from heaven to live on earth with me makes me on earth to live in heaven with thee The Temple MY God! Is my body the Temple of the Holy Ghost What Palace can there be in this small Fabrick fit to entertaine so great a Prince yet thou hast said If â—ny love thee thy Father will love them and thou and â—â—ee and thy holy spirit which cannot be separated from thee will come and make thy abode with him My Lord and King thou knowest I love thee for â—ong since I was willing to have left the world and all â—he blessings that thou hast given me in it to have gone to
pleasant time the time of thy most gracious dying Sad in respect of thy torments O blessed Saviour yet pleasant in respect of the unexpressable liberty and endless happiness which by thy powerfull dying we obtain'd Oh Blessed Spirits I cannot now thinke that you were displeas'd with us for your nature doth so concur with his will that it cannot be opposite to it But yet God was angry yea to the very apprehension of his onely Son What else made him cry out so grievously My God Why hast thou forsaken mee God was angry then with his Son for us you had reason then of grief for him not anger towards him but yet sure to see him angry with his Son and to see his onely Son so grievously tormented you could not but be mov'd what then must move you sure it could be nothing but our sins for which he suffered Oh you heavenly Spirits I finde you rejoycing when we had our Saviour born and sure you could not but rejoyce when the worke of our salvation was finished your joy was then intermingled with your sorrow if you be capable of sorrow for you could not but sorrow to see your God so grievously to suffer you could not but rejoyce to see that they on whom you attended should be so happy that by his death they should be admitted to injoy eternall life If you joy at our repentance sure your joy at our forgivenesse and then was the time of our forgivenesse come when he willingly yeelded up his life that we might live eternally then was our debts paid when as thy now glorified body Oh Son of glory was debar'd of the heavenly appearance of thine eternall Godhead Yee blessed Angels yee joyed in your sorrow and not we but our sins were hatefull to you which were the cause of his most grievous suffering More bitter then grim death could be My sin my Lord was unto thee Because I sinn'd my Lord did dye Because he dy'd hate sin will I. On Earthly Love FRom thee O Heaven of glorie flowes that celestiall stream that being taken hath power to make us forgetfull of our earthly love the which must vanish and alone can set us free from those tormenting passions Thou sweet stream having cur'd us of those distempered passions hast then the power to work in our hearts a more peaceable and durable affection earthly affection ever brings distemper sometimes distraction but that sweet love which thou O pearly fountain raisest in our breast flameth in our hearts peace rest joy and it worketh a perpetuall assurance of still injoying what we love wish or can in heart desire My Lord My soule is ravisht with the contemplation of thy heavenly love and I cannot chuse but infinitely admire thy mercies to me thine unworthy servant for grievous were the perturbations which I was subject to when I was infected with the poison-bane of earthly affections the which a time thou wert pleas'd to let reigne and tyrannize in my brest which like a thorne in the flesh not being drawne out by the hand of art lies throbbing and working torment not onely to the place where it hath taken up its abode but brings distemper to the whole body So that unruly passion having taken up his place in my heart did not onely tyrannize there but wrought destraction in my Soul and bred distemper in my body But blessed be thy Majestie for that distemper for in that time of my weaknes thou Oh all-powerfull hand by thy most heavenly art didst draw from my heart that tormenting passion and by the addition of thy heavenly love which thou didst leave in the room thereof thou repairedst in me the breaches that that unrulie passion had made When I was sick I thought that I should dye I did mistake 't was earthly love not I. HOSEA 2. 19. My Contract MY Lord Doth not thy Majestie send thy messages of love and favour to those that will take hold of them and beleeve there shall be a performance of what is promis'd Thy Word tels us That they that beleeve in thee shall have eternall life My Lord I do beleeve it and that this Message sent by thy royal Embassador belongs to mee aswell as to any other I will marry thee to mee for ever Thou art righteous and wilt perform it who would now refuse so great and so good a King I disdain not marriage I desire it with this great Prince who is the Prince of Kings and at whose foot-stool they must one day lay down all their Crowns and bring in all their riches at his command The greatest of them must confess they hold their Scepters of him and to him they must doe service at his will This is a Prince of such exact perfection that I cannot see any thing in him any way to be dislik't When I consider any creature I can finde in it but little to be belov'd but a great deal of inconvenience with it to be dislik't why then should I set my minde on the creature of so little worth and not wholly have my minde intent on the Creator who alone is excellent Most mighty Prince I must confess my self unworthy to be the least servant in the Court of so magnificent a King much lesse to be one who shall have the honour to be marryed to thee but because I doe thinke my selfe unworthy of thee shall I be such a fool to refuse so great a fortune No I will not My Lord I now challenge thy promise for I doe think thou hast prepared me a minde for thy selfe for thou madst me long since to be ambitious of perfection but when I saw it was not to bee obtain'd in this world how slightly did I esteem of all things in it thou having prepared my mind for thy self by the dislike of all imperfect creatures and the love of perfection Thou madst me to see a clear perfection in thy self and wroughst in me a love to thee and because I dare not presume to the thoughts of possessing thee thou seeing my desires sent that comfortable message to me and to all that doe sincerely love thee that thou wil receive us to thy selfe and wilt marry us to thee for ever I being wedded to Heavens King As his blest Spouse must his praise sing The Soules Agitation MY great and glorious God! In what a strange agitation is my Soul being assail'd by two contrary considerations the one of my heavenly bliss in which thou didst at first make me and to which thou hast and wilt in the fulness of time againe restore me the other of the fordid and vile condition in which I had by my rebellion inwrapt my selfe The thoughts of the first fils me with a sweet contenting joy the consideration of the other with a hatefull detestation of my selfe for when I record in my minde how thou at the first mad'st me a creature of a rare composition one part of thine owne divine spirit the other of earth purified by thy
heavenly art and built up fit for a Temple for thy divine greatnesse to inhabite these thoughts fill me with a pleasing contentment But when the consideration of my vile condition in which by my too much yeelding to please my earthly companion comes into my minde I then hate my selfe for I have thereby made my self subject to all painfull diseases yea to mortality by my intemperance for how justly might I have pleas'd my selfe in the lawfull and temperate use of all thy other creatures and could not a whole world of pleasures content us but we must take that one forbidden My God! I am to my selfe a hatefull creature how much more must I needs be to thee whose eyes can behold no impurity but my dear Father look not now on me as I have cloath'd my self but look on me as new arrai'd by thy blessed Son the King of Saints And to settle the disturbed motion of my mind send downe a beam from thy glorious divinity that might so inlighten the eyes of my Soul that I might now behold my selfe as cloathed with thy self for thou wert pleas'd to cloath thy divine nature with my mortality that my mortall nature might be made immortall by being joyned to thy divinity My great God! these thoughts will not onely take off my hatred from my self but I fear if it be possible make me too much love and admire my selfe but it cannot be for that bright beame from thee makes me see my selfe not but in thee and with these thoughts hast thou so rais'd my Soul beyond what it was that I see my self cloath'd with the bright white robes of thy pure innocence for thou knowest no sin I now look on my selfe as sacred and on this flesh as immortall onely because it hath spoâ—ted it selfe with sin after thou hadst made it purer then the common earth therefore in the earth must it be laid again to be purified till it be fit to be new built up a glorious structure for her divine companion Then wilt thou take us both up into thy glorious habitation where we shall not be capable of doing any thing that shall any more cause us to part from our selves or thee I once immortall was Lord made by thee I that bliss lost But I againe it see Restor'd with more great Prince of Saints to me The Contempt of the World MY Gracious God! Doe I offend thee if I contemn the world I finde thy blest Apostle counting all but dung in respect of the knowledge of thee then by his example I hope I offend thee not but yet when I consider it is thy workman-ship which is most excellent and thou hast given it to the sons of men I cannot but call my thoughts in question with some suspition of fear of offending thee for my dear God! I confess that what I see most desired by people for themselves or for others is to me most displeasing and distastefull My powerfull God! if I doe not offend thee in it still keep me in this minde if I doe root out as it is my daily prayer this contempt and all things else that within me disliketh the pure eyes of thy divine Majesty My Lord Somewhat to clear my selfe to the world that I doe not offend in this point for thou knowest my heart I doe not contemn any thing in it as thinking meanly of it as thou hadst made it My great God! thou madest all things good at the beginning but since the making of them the perfection of all things is much changed Our sins altered the purity of all things in the world then as it is made sordid by our sins I distaste those odde things I see pleasing to the most But my Lord This may draw me into another inconvenience and make some thinke I thinke better of my selfe then of others for distasting those things sullyed with sin But I know thou wilt answer for me that I confess to thee that by nature I am sinfull addicted to love those things soyled by our sins so that it doth not make me think well of my self but it makes me love and admire thee the more when I see thy abundant mercy to me in giving me a minde so contrary to the most for I doubt not but thou hast made many in the world as happy as thou hast made me in giving them such a minde For my deare Father What do they atchieve when they attaine that here which they desire a few conveniences accompanied with ten thousand troubles fears and distastefull cares for I have often heard some express how happy they should be but for such and such inconveniences when I having food and raiment sufficient and possesse a heaven of felicity in thee am happy without a But. The Royal Gods MY Lord With what a Title hast thou honored the Kings of the earth I have said yee are Gods and the Children of the most high Thou hast given them that Title their desires pretended too to be Gods and to be of their race they that knew not thee my great God! nor from what true immortall race they sprung yet would have the world think them to be of divine linage and themselves to be gods And shall not wee who know from whom and by whom Kings reigne think our Princes to be as they are stil'd by that great King who set them to reigne for him God forbid but that we should so think of them and they of themselves He is the great God of the world and hath set them as lesser Gods under him to governe and protect that people over which he hath plac'st them The people must then honor their King as a God under him not observe or adore him above him and hee must esteem himselfe as a God â—ooâ— if he be of that great immortall race he will not degenerate but will be like to him He will be like a fiery pillar in the night of ignorance and darknesse to direct them which way they shall walk and as a cloud in the day of persecution to keep them from the pursuing adversary he will my God with thee hide them under his wings and they shall be safe under his protection hee will be just too punishing those who seek the destruction of thine and his people His bowels of mercy will be extended and he will not punish according to their deserts and rather then destruction shall shall come to thine and their people they will follow the example of that renowned Prince thy first-born Son they will with him a while leave their glory and take up with him an humble deportment and cry with him Thy will be done not mine They thus imitating thee their great patterne shall be blessedt by thee with eternall renown and crowned by thee in immortal glory but first thou hast said They must dye like men The Rule MY Lord What an infallible rule hast thou left us to know whether we be thine or no for if the preaching of