poverty of spirit under-values himselfe and makes no shew of ought but a bemoaned disability as wee have seen those grounds wherein the richest Mines are treasured bewray nothing but barrennesse in their outside O my soul what estimation soever others may set upon thee thou art conscious enough of thy owne wants be thankfull for the little thou hast and abased for the much thou lackest and if thou wilt needs bee advancing thy selfe above others let it be in the contestation of thy greater humblenesse and lower dejection Thy grace shall be no lesse because thou thinkst it so but shall rather multiply by a modest diminution And O Blessed Lord thou who resistest the proud and givest grace to the humble give me more humility that I may receive more grace from thee and thou whose gracious raine shelves downe from the steep mountains and sweetly drenches the humble vallies depresse thou my heart more and more with true lowliness of Spirit that the showers of thy heavenly grace may soke into it and make it more fruitfull in all good affections and all holy obedience Soliloq LIII The happiest Society I Finde O Lord some holy men that have gone aside from the world into some solitary wildernesse that they might have their ful scope of enjoying thee freely without any secular avocations who no doubt improved their perfect leisure to a great entirenesse of conversation with thee Surely I could easily admire the report of their holinesse and emulate their mortified retirednesse if I did not hear them say The Woolfe dwels in the Wood and that they could as soone leave themselves as the World behind them There is no Desart so wild no Mountaines or Rockes so craggy wherein I would not gladly seeke thee O my God and which I would not willingly climbe up to finde thee if I could hope that solitude would yeeld a spirituall advantage of more enjoying thee But alas I find our weak powers are subject to an unavoidable lassitude and wee can no more contemplate alwaies those divine Objects than our bodily eyes are able to fix themselves on the body of the Sun in his brightest splendor so as if our mindes should not bee sometime taken off with a safe variety of Cogitations wee should be overwhelmed with thy Glory and with too much light blinded by this meanes it comes to pass that these small interspirations set an edge upon our re-assumed speculations and renewed Devotions Although also in the mean time I should hate all secular diversions if they should take thee for a moment quite out of my sight If I did not finde that I may still refer them to thee and enjoy thee in them O God doe thou so fix my soul upon thee that what ever occasion shall take me up I may never be out of thy blessed society and make me so insensible of the noise of the world that even in the midst of the Market I may bee still alone with thee Soliloq LIV. Honey from the Rock O God thou didst miraculously refresh thy murmuring Israel of old with water out of the Rock in that dry wildernesse and now I hear thee say If they had hearkened to thy voice and walked in thy waies with honey out of the Rock thou wouldst have satisfied them Loe that which thou wouldest have done to thine ancient people if they had obeyed thee thou hast abundantly performed to thine Evangelicall Israel With Hony out of the Rock hast thou satisfied them The Rock that followed them was Christ my Saviour Lo out of this Rock hath flowed that hony whereby our soules are satisfied Out of his side saith the Evangelist came water and blood This Rock of our salvation affordeth both what Israel had and might have had Surely O my God there can be no hony so sweet as the effect of the precious bloud of my Saviour to the soul of the Beleever By that bloud we have eternall redemption from death and Remission of all our sinnes By that bloud are we justified in the sight of our God and saved from the wrath to come By that bloud we have our Peace made in Heaven and are fully reconciled to our God By that blood wee are cleansed and purged from all our iniquity By that bloud we are sanctified from our Corruptions By that blood we receive the Promise and possession of an eternall inheritance O the spirituall Hony so sweet that the materiall Hony is but bitternesse to it Jonathan of old did but dip his Speare in the honey of the wood and but with one licke of that sweet moisture had his eies cleared and his spirits revived O God let me but taste and see how sweet the Lord Jesus is in all his gracious Promises in all his mercifull and reall Performances I shall need no more to make me happy Thy Solomon bids me to eat honey Lo this is the honey that I desire to eat of Give me of this honey and I shall receive both clearnesse to my eies and vigour of my spirits to the foiling of all my spirituall enemies This is nothe honey whereof I am bidden not to eate too much No Lord I can never eat enough of this Celestiall honey Here I cannot surfet Or if I could this surfet would be my health O God give me still enough of this honey out of the Rocke so shall my soul live and bless thee and bee blessed of thee Soliloq LV Sure Earnest O My God what a comfortable assurance is this which thou hast given to my soule Thou hast in thy great mercy promised and agreed to give me heaven and now because thou dost not put me into a present possession thou hast given me earnest of my future inheritance and this earnest is that good Spirit of thine which thou hast graciously put into my soule Even we men whose stile is deceitfull upon the ballance think our selves sure when in civill transactions we have received an earnest of the bargaine and much more when we have taken that small piece of coine as part of the bargained payment How then can I fear to fail thee my God whose Title is faithfull and True whose Word is Yea and Amen It is ordinary with the World to cheat my soule with fair promises and faithlesse engagements of yielding me those contentments which it neither can nor meant to performe But for thee O Lord heaven and earth shall passe away but not one jot of thy Word shall passe unfulfilled Hadst thou then but given mee that Word of thine I durst have set my soul upon it with all firme confidence but now that thou hast seconded thy Word with thy Earnest what place can be left for my doubt What then what is it that thou canst sticke at O my soul Canst thou make question of the truth of the Earnest Thou knowest that thou canst not the stamp is too well known to be misdoubted the impressions are
full and inimitable this seale cannot be counterfeit the graces of the Spirit which thou hast received thou feelest to be true and reall thou findest in thy selfe a faith though weak yet sincere an unfeigned repentance joyned with an hearty detestation of all thy sinnes a fervent love of that infinite goodnesse that hath remitted them a conscionable care to avoid them a zealous desire to bee approved to God in all thy waies Flesh and bloud cannot have wrought these graces in thee It is onely that good Spirit of thy God which hath thus sealed thee to the day of Redemption Walke on therefore O my soule confidently and chearfully in the strength of this assurance and joyfully expect the full accomplishment of this happy contract from the sure hands of thy God Let no temptation stagger thee in the comfortable resolutions of thy future glory But say boldly with that holy Patriarke O Lord I have waited for thy salvation Soliloq LVI Heavenly Manna VIctory it selfe is the great reward of our fight but what is it O God that thou promisest to give us as the reward of our Victory even the hidden Manna Surely were not this gift exceeding precious thou wouldst not reserve it for the remuneration of so glorious a Conquest Behold that materiall and visible Manna which thou sentest down from heaven to stop the mouths of murmuring Israel perished in their use and if it were reserved but to the next day putrified and instead of nourishing annoyed them But the hidden Manna that was laid up in the Arke was incorruptible as a lasting monument of thy power and mercy to thy people But now alas what is become both of that Manna and of that Arke Both are vanished having passed through the devouring jawes of time into meer forgetfulnesse It is the true spiritual Manna that came down from the highest heaven and ascending thither again is hidden therein the glorious Arke of Eternity that thou wilt give to thy Conqueror That is it which being participated of here below nourisheth us to eternall life and being communicated to us above is the full consummation of that blessed life and glory O give me so to fight that I may overcome that so overcomming I may bee feasted with this Manna Thou that art and hast given me thy selfe the spirituall Manna which I have fed on by faith and the symbolicall Manna whereof I have eaten sacramentally give me of that heavenly Manna whereof I shall partake in glory It is yet an hidden Manna hid from the eies of the world yea in a sort from our owne hid in light inaccessible For our life is hid with Christ in God but shall then bee fully revealed for it shall then not onely cover the face of the earth round about the tents of Israel but spread it self over the face of the whole heaven yea fill both heaven and earth I well thought O my God that if heaven could afford any thing more precious than other thou wouldst lay it up for thy Victor for it is an hard service that thy poore Infantry here upon earth are put unto to conflict with so mighty so malicious so indefatigable enemies and therefore the reward must be so much the greater as the warefare is more difficult O doe thou who art the great Lord of Hosts give me courage to fight perseverance in fighting and power to overcome all my spirituall enemies that I may receive from thee this hidden Manna that my soul may live for ever and may for ever blesse thee Soliloq LVII The Hearts Treasure IT is a sure Word of thine O Saviour that where our Treasure is there our hearts will be also neither can wee easily know where to finde our hearts if our Treasure did not discover them Now Lord where is my Treasure Surely I am not worthy to bee owned of thee if my Treasure be anywhere but in heaven my lumber and luggage may be here on earth but my Treasure is above there thou hast laid up for me the richest of thy mercies even my eternall salvation Yea Lord what is my richest Treasure but thy selfe in whom all the Treasures of Wisdome and Knowledge yea of infinite Glory are laid up for all thine All things that this world can afford me are but meere pelfe in comparison of this Treasure or if the earth could yeeld ought that is precious yet I cannot call that Treasure Treasure implies both price and store of the dearest Commodities never so great abundance of base things cannot make a Treasure neither can some few peeces of the richest mettals bee so accounted but where there is a large congestion of precious Jewels and Metalls there onely is Treasure If any at all surely very little and mean is the wealth which I can promise my selfe here perhaps some brasse Farthing or light and counterfeit Coine meer earthy dross which may load but cannot enrich my soule my only true riches are above with thee and where then should my heart bee but there My hand and my braine too must necessarily bee sometimes here below but my heart shall be still with my Treasure in heaven It is wont to be said that however the memory of old age is short yet that no old man ever forgot where hee laid up his Treasure O God let not that Celestiall Treasure which thou hast laid up for me be at any time out of my thoughts let my eye be ever upon it let my heart long for the full possession of it and so joy in the assured expectation of it that it may disrelish all the contentments and contemne all the crosses which this World can afford me Soliloq LVIII The narrow Way O Saviour I hear thee say I am the Way the Truth and the Life and yet again thou who art Truth it selfe tell'st me that the way is narrow and the gate straight that leadeth unto life Surely thou who art the living Way art exceeding large so wide that all the World of Beleevers enter into life by thee only but the way of our walke towards thee is straight and narrow Not but that thy Commandement in it self is exceeding broad for Lord how fully comprehensive it is of all morall and holy duties and what gracious latitude hast thou given us in it of our Obedience and how favourable indulgence and remission in case of our faylings But narrow in respect of the weaknesse and insufficiency of our obedience It is our wretched infirmity that straitens our way to the Lo heaven which is thy All-glorious Mansion when wee are once entred into it how infinitely large and spacious it is even this lower contignation of it at how marvailous distance it archeth in this Globe of aire and earth and waters and how is that again surrounded with severall heights of those lightsome Regions unmeasurable for their glorious dimensions But the heaven of heavens the seat of the blessed is yet so much larger as it is higher in place and more
Hellish Hostility I Cannot but observe how universall it is in all kindes for one creature to prey upon another the greater fishes devoure the lesse the birds of Rapine feed upon the smaller Foules the ravenous wild beasts sustaine themselves with the flesh of the weaker and tamer cattle the Dog pursues the Hare the Cat the Mouse Yea the very Moale under the earth hunts for the worm and the Spider in our Window for the flye Whether it pleased God to ordain this antipathy in nature or whether mans sin brought this enmity upon the creature I enquire not this I am sure of that both God hath given unto man the Lord of this inferiour world leave and power to prey upon all these his fellow-creatures and to make his use of them both for his necessity and lawfull pleasure and that the God of this world is only hee that hath stirred up men to prey upon one another some to eat their flesh as the savage Indians others to destroy their lives estates good names this proceedes only from him that is a murtherer from the beginning O my soule doe thou mourne in secret to see the great enemy of mankinde so wofully prevalent as to make the earth so bloody a shambles to the sons of men and to see Christians so outragiously cruell to their own flesh And O thou that art the Lord of Hosts and the God of peace restraine thou the violent fury of those which are called by thy name and compose these unhappy quarrels amongst them that should be brethren Let me if it may stand with thy blessed will once again see peace smile ore the earth before I come to see thy face in glory Soliloq XI False Joy AMongst these publicke blusters of the World I finde many men that secretly applaud themselves in the conceit of an happy peace which they find in their bosom Where all is calme and quiet no distemper of passions no fear of evill no sting of remorse no disturbance of doubts but all smoothnesse of brow and all tranquility of minde whose course of life yet without any great enquiry hath appeared to bee not over-strict and regular I hear them boast of their Condition without any envy of their happinesse as one that had rather heare them complaine of their inward unquietnesse than brag of their peace Give me a man that after many secret bickerings and hard conflicts in his breast upon a serious penitence and sense of reconciliation with his God hath attained to a quiet heart walking conscionably and close with that Majesty with whom he is attoned I shall bless and emulate him as a meet subject of true joy For spiritually there is never a perfect calme but after a tempest the winde and earthquake and fire make way for the soft voice But I pitty the flatteries and selfe-applauses of a carelesse and impenitent heart This jollity hath in it much danger and without some change death Oh Savior I know thou cam'st to send fire on the earth yea fire into these earthen bosomes whereof the very best hath combustible matter enough for thee to worke upon and what will I thou saist if it be already kindled O blessed Jesu my will agrees with thine I desire nothing in the world more than that this fire of thine may flame up in my soul and burne up those secret corruptions which have lyen smothering within me Set me at full variance with my selfe that I may be at peace with thee Soliloq XII True Light THou hast taught us O Saviour that even the light of man may be darknesse and that the light endarkned causeth the greatest darknesse neither can it be otherwise since the very obscuring of the light maketh some kind of darknesse the utter extinction of it must needs make the darkenesse absolute Now what is darknesse but a meere privation of light There is but a double spirituall light the absence whereof causeth darknesse Thine Evangelist hath justly said of thee Thou art the true light that enlightnest every man that commeth into the world Thy Psalmist hath said of thy Divine Oracles Thy Word is a Lanterne unto my feet and a light unto my steps whosoever wants both or either of these cannot but be in darkness yea his pretended light cannot but be darkness it selfe I see O Lord there is much of this dark light in the World In one I observe a kinde of Glow-wormelight which in a Summers evening shines somewhat bright but he that should offer to light his Candle at it would be much deceived this is justly a darke light since it shines not at all by day neither is at all communicable to another no not to the bearer it selfe In another I see the light of a dark Lantern which casts out some Gleams of light but only to him that bears it even this mans light is darknesse also to all the world besides himselfe In a third I see a resemblance of that meteoricall light which appears in Moorish places that seems fire but is nothing but a slimy glittering exhalation causing both the wonder and errour of the Travailer leading him through the impulsive motion of the air into a Ditch and of this kind I find too much variety all of them agreeing in this that they pretend Visions and Revelations of the Spirit even for contrary projections O Saviour what light soever is not derived from thee is no better than darknesse Thou hast sufficiently revealed thy selfe and thy will to us in thy Word as for any new lights except it be a clearer manifestation of the old O Lord give me the grace not to follow them I finde a double light to proceed from thee one which is a generall light that enlightens every man that comes into the world the other a speciall light of thy spirit illuminating the soul of every beleever with a right apprehension of thee and heavenly things O do thou shine into my soule with this heavenly light of thine and if this bee not enough to make me happy without the acceâ—sion and with the rejection of other new lights let mee sit in perpetuall darknesse Soliloq XIII Bosome-Discourse O Lord if I had the skill and grace to be ever communing with my owne heart and with thee I should never want either worke or company never have cause to complaine of solitarinesse or tedious houres For there is no time wherein there is not some maine business to be done between thee and my soul one while finding my heart dull and stupid I should have cause to rowse it up by some quickning meditation another while finding it dejected with some inexpected Crosse I should be chearing it up with some comfortable Applications One while finding it distracted with some scrupulous doubts I should be labouring to settle it in just resolutions another while perceiving it to incline towards idle thoughts I should bee cheeking it with a seasonable reprehension One while finding it faint
from all these earthly vanities and fix it above with thee As there shall bee no end of my being so let there bee no change of my affections Let them before-hand take possession of that heaven of thine whereto I am aspiring Let nothing but this clay of mine bee left remaining upon this earth whereinto it is mouldring Let my spirituall part bee ever with thee whence it came and enter upon that blisse which knows neither change nor end Soliloq VII Trust upon Triall WHat a Providence there is over all the creatures in the world which both produceth them to their being and over-rules and carries them on to and in their dissolution without their knowledge or intended cooperation but for those whom God hath indued with the faculty of ratiocination how easie is it to observe the course of the divine proceedings with them how that all-wise God contrives their affaires and events quite beyond and above the power of their weak projections how he prevents their Desires how he fetches about inexpected and improbable occurrences to their hinderance or advantage sometimes blessing them with successe beyond all their hopes sometimes blasting their projects when their blossomes are at the fairest Surely if I looke onely in a dull stupidity upon the outsides of all accidents that befall me and not improve my reason and faith to discerne and acknowledge that invisible power that orders them to his owne and their ends I shall bee little better than bruitish and if upon the observation of all that good hand of God sensibly leading mee on in all the waies of my younger and riper age in so many feeling and apparent experiments of his gracious provisions and protections I shall not have learned to trust him with the small remainder of my daies and the happy close of that life which he hath so long and mercifully preserved the favours of a bountifull God shall have been cast away upon a barren and unthankfull heart O God I am such as thou hast made me make up thy good worke in me and keep me that I do not marre my selfe with my wretched unbeliefe I have tryed thee to the full Oh that I could cast my selfe wholly upon thee and trust thee both with my body and soule for my safe passage to that blessed home and for the perfect accomplishment of my glory in thine Soliloq VIII Angelicall Familiarity THere is no reason to induce a man to thinke that the good Angels are not as assiduously present with us for our good as the evill Angels are for our hurt since we know that the evill spirits cannot bee more full of malice to work our harm than the blessed Angels are full of charity wel-wishing to mankinde and the evill are only let loose to tempt us by a permission of the Almighty wheras the good are by a gracious delegation from God encharged with our custody Now that the evill spirits are ever at hand ready upon all occasions to present their services to us for our furtherance to mischiefe appeares too plainly in their continuall temptations which they inject into our thoughts in their reall and speedy operations with the spels and charmes of their wicked Clients which are no lesse effectually answered by them immediately upon their practice than naturall causes are by their ordinary and regular productions It must needs follow therefore that the good Angels are as close to us and as inseparable from us and though we see neither yet hee that hath spirituall eyes perceives them both and is accordingly affected to their presence If then wicked men sticke not to goe so far as to endanger and draw on their owne damnation by familiarly conversing with malignant Spirits Why should not I for the unspeakable advantage of any soule affect an awfully-familiar Conversation with those blessed Angels which I know to be with me The language of spirits are thoughts Why doe not I entertaine them in my secret cogitations and hold an holy discourse with them in mentall allocutions and so carry my selfe as that I may ever hold faire correspondence with those invisible companions and may expect from them all gracious offices of holy motions carefull protection and at last an happy conveyance to my glory O my soule thou art a Spirit as they are doe thou ever see them as they see thee and so speak to them as they speake to thee and blesse thy God for their presence and tuition and take heed of doing ought that may cause those heavenly guardians to turne away their faces from thee as asham'd of their charge Soliloq IX The unanswerable Christian IT is no small griefe to any good heart that loves the Lord Jesus in sincerity to see how utterly unanswerable the greater sort of men that beare the name of Christ are to the example and precepts of that Christ whose name they beare He was humble and meeke they proud and insolent hee bade us love our enemies they hardly can love their friends he prayed for his persecutors they curse hee that had the command of all cared not to possesse any thing they not having right to much would possesse all hee bade us give our Coat also to him that takes our Cloak they take both Coat and Cloake from him that hath it he bade us turne our cheek for the other blow they will bee sure to give two blowes for one he paid obedience to a Foster Father and tribute to Caesar they despise Government his trade was onely doing good spending the night in praying the day in preaching and healing they debauch their time revelling away the night and sleeping away or mispending the day he forbad Oaths they not onely sweare and forsweare but blaspheme too hee bade us make friends of the Mammon of unrighteousnes they make Mammon their God hee bade us take up his Crosse they impose their own he bad us lay up our treasure in heaven they place their heaven in earth he bids us give to them that ask they take violently from the owners he bade us return good for evill they for good return evill he charged his Disciples to love one another they nourish malice and rancor against their brethren hee left peace for a Legacy to his followers they are apt to set the world on fire His businesse was to save theirs to destroy O God let rivers of waters run downe mine eyes because they do no better keep the law of thy Gospel Give grace to all that are called by thy name to walke worthy of that high profession wherto they are called And keepe me thy unworthy servant that I may never deviate from that blessed patterne which thou hast set before me Oh let mee never shame that great name that is put upon me Let mee in all things approve my self a Christian in earnest and so conform my selfe to thee in all thy example and commands that it may be no dishonour to thee to owne mee for thine Soliloq X.
true Christian to attaine both for as we say where the Prince resides there is the Court so surely where the supreme and infinite Majesty pleases to manifest his presence there is heaven whereas therefore God exhibits himself present two waies in grace and in glory it must follow that the gracious presence of God makes an heaven here below as his glorious presence makes an heaven above Now it cannot but fall out that as the lower materiall heaven comes far short of the purity of the superior Regions being frequently over-cast with Clouds and troubled with other both watery and fiery Meteors so this spirituall heaven below being many times darkened with sad desertions and blustred with temptations cannot yeeld that perfection of inward peace and happines which remaines for us above this sphere of mutability yet affords us so much fruition of God as may give us a true Title and entrance into blessednesse I well see O God it is no Paradox to say that thy Saints reigne with thee here on earth though not for a thousand yeers yet during the time of their sojourning here below not in any secular splendor and magnificence not in bodily pleasures and sensuall contentments Yet in true spirituall delectation in the joys of the holy Ghost unspeakeable and full of glory O my God doe thou thus set my foot over the threshold of thy heaven put thou my soule into this happy condition of an inchoate blessedness so shall I cheerfully spend the remainder of my daies in a joyfull expectation of the full consummation of my glory Soliloq XX The Stock imployed WHat are all excellencies without respect of their use How much good ground is there in the World that is neither cultured nor owned What a world of precious metals lies hid in the bowels of the earth which shall never be coined What store of rich Pearles and Diamonds are hoarded up in the earth and sea which shall never see the light What delicacies of Fouls and Fishes doe both Elements afford which shall never come to the Dish How many great wits are there in the world which lie willingly concealed whether out of modesty or idlenesse or lacke of a wished opportunity Improvement gives a true value to all blessings A peny in the purse is worth many pounds yea talents in an unknown mine That is our good which doth us good O God give thou me grace to put out my little stocke to the publike banke and faithfully to imploy those poore faculties thou hast given me to the advantage of thy Name and the benefit of thy Church so besides the gaine of others my pounds shall be rewarded with Cities Soliloq XXI Love of Life WE are all naturally desirous to live and though we prize life above all earthly things yet we are ashamed to profess that we desire it for its owne sake but pretend some other subordinate reason to affect it One would live to finish his building or to cleare his purchase Another to breed up his children and to see them well-matched One would faine outlive his triall at law Another wishes to outweare an emulous corrivall One would faine out-last a lease that holds him off from his long-expected possessions Another would live to see the times amend and a re-establishment of a publike peace Thus wee that would bee glad to give skin for skin and all things for life would seeme to wish life for any thing but it selfe After all this hypocrisie nature above all things would live and makes life the maine end of living But grace has higher thoughts and therefore though it holds life sweet and desirable yet entertaines the love of it upon more excellent that is spirituall termes O God I have no reason to bee weary of this life which through thy mercy long acquaintance hath endearead to me though sauced with some bitter disgusts of age but how unworthy shall I approve my selfe of so great a blessing if now I do not more desire to continue it for thy sake than my owne Soliloq XXII Equall Distribution IT was a most idle question which the Philosophers are said to have proposed to Barnabas the Colleague of Saint Paul Why a small Gnat should have six legges and wings beside whereas the Elephant the greatest of beasts hath but foure legs and no wings What pity it is that those wise Masters were not of the Counsel of the Almighty when hee was pleased to give a being to his Creature they would surely have devised to make a winged Elephant and a corpulent Gnat A fethered man and a speaking Beast Vaine fooles they had not learned to know and adore that infinite wisdome wherin all things were made It is not for that incomprehensible Majesty and power to bee accountable to wretched man for the reasons of his all-wise and mighty Creation yet so hath he contrived it that there is no part of his great workmanship whereof even man cannot bee able to give an irrefragable reason why thus framed not otherwise What were more easie than to say that six legges to that unweildy body had beene cumbersome and impeditive of motion that the wings for so massie a bulk had been uselesse I admire thee O God in all the workes of thy hands and justly magnifie not onely thine omnipotence both in the matter and forme of their Creation but thy mercy and wisdome in the equall distribution of all their powers and faculties which thou hast so ordered that every Creature hath some requisite helpes no Creature hath all The Foules of the aire which are ordained for flight hast thou furnisht with Feathers to beare them up in that light Element The Fishes with smooth scales and finnes for their more easie gliding through those watery Regions the Beasts of the Field with such Limbes and strong Hides as might fit them for service As for man the Lord of all the rest him thou hast endued with Reason to make his use of all these whom yet thou hast so framed as that in many qualities thou hast allowed the brute Creatures to exceed their Master Some of them are stronger than he some of them swifter than he and more nimble than he he were no better than a mad man that should aske why man should not flye as well as the bird and swimme as well as the Fish and run as fast as the Hart Since that one faculty of Reason wherewith he is furnished is more worth than all the brutish excellencies of the world put together O my God thou that hast enricht me with a reasonable soule whom thou mightest have made the brutest of thy Creatures give me the grace so to improve thy gift as may be most to the glory and advantage of thy owne name Let me in the name and behalf of all my brute fellow-Creatures blesse thee for them and both for them and my selfe in a ravishment of Spirit cry out with the Psalmist O Lord my God how wonderfull and excellent
performance yet thy mercies cannot faile in my acceptation Soliloq XXXVI Heavenly Ioyes DOubtless O God thou that hast given to men even thine enemies here upon Earth so excellent meanes to please their outward senses such beautifull faces and admirable flowers to delight the eye such delicate sents from their garden to please the smell such curious confections delicate sauces to please the taste such sweet Musick from the birds and artificiall devises of ravishing melody from the art of man to delight the eare hast much more ordained transcendent pleasures and infinite contentments for thy glorified Saints above My soule whiles it is thus clogged and confined is too straight to conceive of those incomprehensible waies of spirituall delectation which thou hast provided for thy dear chosen ones triumphing with thee in thy heaven O teach me to wonder at that which I cannot here attaine to know and to long for that happinesse which I there hope to enjoy with thee for ever Soliloq XXXVII Mixed Contentments WHat a fool were I if I should thinke to finde that which Solomon could not contentment upon earth his greatnesse wealth and wisdome gave him opportunity to search where my impotency is shut out Were there any thing under heaven free from vanity and vexation his curious inquisition could not have missed it No alas all our earthly contentments are like a Jewish Passeover which wee must eate with soure herbes Have I wealth I cannot bee void of cares Have I honour I cannot bee rid of envy Have I knowledge Hee that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow saith the Kingly Preacher Have I children it were strange if without crosses Have I pleasures not without a sting Have I health not without the threats of disease Have I full diet not without the inconveniences of satiety Have I beauty not without a snare to my soul Thus it is in all our sublunary comforts I cannot have the Rose but I must be content with the prickles Pure and absolute pleasure dwels elsewhere far above the reach of this vale of misery O God give me to seeke it there onely not without a contemptuous neglect of all those deceitfull vanities which would withdraw my soule from thee and there let me finde it whiles I am here by faith when I remove hence by personall fruition In the mean time let me take what thou givest me with patience and thankfulness thankfulnesse for the meat and patience with the sauce Soliloq XXXVIII True Wealth ALL a mans wealth or poverty is within himselfe It is not the outward abundance or want that can make the difference Let a man bee never so rich in estate yet if his heart be not satisfied but he is still whining and scraping and pining for more that man is miserably poore all his bagges cannot make him other than a starke beggar On the other side give mee a man of small means whose minde is throughly content with his little and enjoyes his pittance with a quiet and thankefull heart that man is exceeding rich all the World cannot rob him of his wealth It is not having by which we can measure riches but enjoying The Earth hath all Treasures in it yet no man stiles it rich Of these which the world call goods of Fortune onely opinion sets the value Gold and Silver would bee metals whether wee thinke them so or not they would not bee riches if mens conceit and institution did not make them such O my soule bee not thou carried away with the common Error to covet and admire those things which have no true worth in themselves If both the Indies were thine thou shouldest bee no whit the wealthier Labour for those riches whereby thy stocke may bee advanced The great Lord of all who knowes best where his Wealth lies and where thou shouldst hoord up thine hath told thee where to seeke it where to lay it Lay not up for your selves Treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where theeves break thorow and steale But lay up for your selves Treasures in Heaven There thou shalt bee sure to finde it entire free from plunder and all danger of diminution O God give me to covet that my minde may bee rich in knowledge that my soule may be rich in grace that my heart may bee rich in true contentation as for this pelfe of the World let it make them miserable that admire it Soliloq XXXIX False Light LOoking forth one starry evening my eye met with a glorious light that seemed fairer than its fellowes Whiles I was studying what Planet it might be it suddainly glided downe and vanished O God how can we hope to avoid delusions upon earth when even the face of heaven may thus deceive us It is no otherwise in the firmament of the Church How many have there been that have seemed eternally fixed in that high sphere which have proved no other than base Meteors gilded with fair beames they appeared starres their substance was but slime Woe were to the earth if a true starre should fall Yea I doubt whether the Fabrick of heaven would stand if one of those glorious Lights should drop downe If therefore the star Wormwood shall fall and imbitter the waters hee shall shew himselfe to be but a false star and a true Impostor else heaven should fall as soon as hee O my God give mee grace to know the truth of my substance and the firmnesse of my station Let me hate all counterfeit exhalations Let me know my selfe the least and most insensible star in thy Galaxie so shall I bee happy in thee and thou shalt be by me glorified Soliloq XL The haste of Desire HOw slowly the houres seem to pace when we are big with the desire and expectation of any earthly contentment we are ready to chide the time for standing still when wee would over-hasten the fruition of our approaching comfort So the School-boy longs for his play-day the Apprentice for his freedome the Ward for his livery the Bride for her nuptialls the Heire for his inheritance so approvedly true is that of wise Solomon Hope deferred makes the heart sick Were it not O my soule for that wretched infidelity which cleaves so close unto thee thou couldst not but bee thus affected to thy heaven and shouldst bee yet so much more as the joyes there are infinitely more exquisite than which this earth can afford Surely thou dost but flatter mee with the over-weening conceit of the firm apprehension of my faith whiles I finde thee so cool in the longing desires of thy glorification What hast thou no stomack to thy happinesse Hath the world benummed thee with such a dull stupidity that thou art growne regardlesse and insensible of eternall blessednesse Oh shake off this Lethargick heavinesse of spirit which hath possessed thee and rouze up thy selfe to those ardent desires of glory which have sometimes enflamed thee Yea Lord do thou stir up that heavenly fire that now lies
taken off from him and heard no answer but My grace is sufficient for thee So Lord we pray for the removall of thy judgements from this sinnefull and deplored Nation which for ought we know and have cause to feare thou hast decreed to ruine and deâ—â—station and many a good soule prayes for a comfortable sense of thy favour whom thou thinkest fit to keepe downe for the time in a sad desertion and I thy unworthy servant may pray to be freed from those temptations wherewith thou seest it fit that my faith should be still exercised O God give me the grace to follow thy revealed will and to submit my selfe to thy secret What thou hast commanded I know I may doe what thou hast promised I know I may trust to what thou hast in a generality promised to do may in some particular cases by the just decree of thy secret Counsell bee otherwise determined If I aske what thou hast decreed to do I know I cannot but obtaine If I aske what thou hast warranted notwithstanding the particular exception of thy secret will though I receive it not yet I receive not pardon onely but acceptation O God give me grace to steer my selfe and my prayers by thy revealed Will and humbly to stoop to what the event shews to have been thy secret will Soliloq LXV Hels Triumph THou hast told us O Saviour that there is joy in the presence of thine Angels for a sinners repentance those blessed Spirits are so far from envying our happinesse that as they endeavour it here so they congratulate it in heaven and we wel know that these good Spirits do not more rejoyce in the conversion of a sinner than the evill Spirits do in the mis-carriage of a convert The course of the holy obedience of thy servants here is doubtlesse a pleasing object to thine Angels neither are those malignant spirits lesse pleased with the wicked practises of their Vassals but the joy arises to both from the contrary condition of those parties over which they have prevailed The alleagance of a good subject though wel-accepted yet is no newes to a gracious Soveraigne but the comming in of some great Rebell is happy tidings at the Court On the contrary where there is a rivality of soveraigntie for a professed enemy to do hostile actions is no other than could bee expected but for a subject or a domestick servant to bee drawne into the conspiracie is not more advantage than joy to the intruder O God thou hast mercifully called me out of the world to a profession of thy Name I know what eies those envious Spirits have ever upon me O doe thou lead me in thy righteousnesse because of mine enemies If thine Angels have found cause to joy in my conversion O doe thou keepe me from making musicke in hell by my miscarriage Soliloq LXVI Dumbe Homage HOw officious O God doe I see thy poore dumbe Creatures to us how doe they fawne or crouch as they see us affected how doe they run and fetch and carry and draw at our command how doe they beare our stripes with a trembling unresistance how readily doe they spend their strength and their lives in our service how patiently doe they yield us their milk and their fleeces for our advantage and lie equally still to be shorne or slain at our pleasure expecting nothing from us in the mean time but a bare sustenance which if it bee denyed them they do not fall furiously upon their cruell Masters but meekly bemoane themselves in their bruitish language and languish and die If granted them they are fatned for our use I am ashamed O God I am ashamed to see these thy creatures so obsequiously pliant unto me whiles I consider my disposition and deportment towards thee my Creator Alas Lord what made the difference betwixt me and them but thy meere good pleasure thou mightest have made them rationall and have exchanged my reason for their brutality They are my fellowes by Creation and owe both their being and preservation to the same hand with my selfe Thou art the absolute Lord of both to whom I must bee accountable for them they are mine onely by a limited substitution from thee why then should they bee more obedient to my will than I am to thine since they have onely Sense to lead them in their Way I have both Reason and Faith to teach me my duty Had I made them I could but require of them their absolute submission Why should I then exact of them more than I am ready to performe unto thee O God thou that hast put them under my hand and me under thy owne as thou hast made me their Master for command so let me make them my Masters to teach me obedience Soliloq LXVII Indifferency of Events THou givest us daily proofes O God of the truth of that observation of wise Solomon That all things come alike to all and that no man knowes love or hatred by all that is before them In these outward things thy dearest friends have not fared better then thine enemies Thy greatest enemies have not suffered more than thy beloved Children When therefore I looke abroad and see with what heavy afflictions thou art pleased to exercise thy best Favourites upon earth I cannot but stand amazed to see what horrible Torments of all kindes have beene undergone by thy most precious Martyrs whose patience hath overcome the violence of their executioners and to see those extreme tortures which some of thy faithfull servants have endured in the beds of their sickness one torne and drawn together with fearefull convulsions another shrieking under the painefull girds of an unremoveable stone one wrung in his Bowels with pangs of cholicke and turning of guts another possessed with a raging gout in all his Limbes one whose bladder after a painefull incision is ransack'd another whose Leg or Arme is cut off to prevent a mortall Gangrene I cannot but acknowledge how just it might be in thee O God to mix the same bitter cup for me and how merciful it is that knowing my weakness thou hast forborn hitherto to load mee with so sad a burthen What thou hast in thine eternall Councell determined to lay upon mee thou onely knowest If thou bee pleased to continue thy gracious indulgence to me still make me truly thankfull to thee for health and ease as the greatest of thy outward favours but let mee not build upon them as the certaine evidences of thy better mercies and if thou thinke fit to interchange them with a vicissitude of sickness and paine let mee not misconstrue thy severe chastisements as arguments of thy displeasure But still teach mee to feare thee in my greatest prosperity and to love thee in my greatest sufferings and to adore thine infinite Wisdome Justice and mercy in both Soliloq LXVIII The transcendent Love HOw justly doe I marvaile O God to see what strength of naturall affection thou hast wrought in poore brute
are content to sit still and enjoy the thoughts of our youth and former experience not looking farther than a kind neighbour-hood But when Age hath stiffened our joynts and disabled our Motions now our home-pastures and our Gardens become our utmost boundaries from thence a few yeares more confine us to our owne floor Soon after that we are limited to our chamber and at last to our chaire then to our bed and in fine to our Coffin These naturall restrictions O my soule are the appendences of thy weary Partner this earthly body but for thee the nearer thou drawest to thy home the more it concernes thee to bee sensible of a blessed inlargement of thy estate and affections Hitherto thou art immured in a straight pile oâ— clay now heaven it selfe shall be but wide enough for thee The world hath hitherto taken thee upâ—… which though large is yet but finite now thou art upon the enjoying of that God who alone is infinite in all that he is O how inconsiderable is the restraint of the worse part in comparison of the absolute inlargement of the better O my God whose mercy knowes no other limits than thy essence worke me in this shutting up of my daies to all heavenly dispositions that whiles my outward man is so much more lessened as it drawes nearer to the Center of its corruption my spirituall part may be so much more dilated in and towards thee as it approacheth nearer towards the circumference of thy celestiall glory Soliloq LXXII Sin without sense ALas Lord how tenderly sensible I am of the least bodily complaint that can befall mee If but a tooth begin to ake or a thorn have rankled in my flesh or but an angry Corne vexe my Toe how am I incessantly troubled with the pain how feelingly doe I bemoane my selfe how carefully do I seek for a speedy remedy which till I feel how little relish doe I finde in my wonted contentment But for the better part which is so much more tender as it is more precious with what patience shall I call it or stupidity doe I endure it wounded were it not for thy great mercy no lesse than mortality Every new sin how little soever that I commit fetches bloud of the soule every willing sin stabs it the continuance wherein festers inwardly and without repentance kills O God I desire to be ashamed and humbled under thy hand for this so unjust partiality which gives me just cause to fear that sense hath yet more predominance in me than Faith I do not so much sue to thee to make mee lesse sensible of bodily evills whereof yet too deep a sense differs little from impatience as to make me more sensible of spirituall Let me feele my sin more painefull than the worst disease and rather than wilfully sin let me die Soliloq LXXIII The extremes of Devotion I Acknowledge it to bee none of thy least mercies O God that thou hast vouchsafed to keepe mee within the due lines of devotion not suffering mee to wander into those two extremes which I see and pitty in others Too many there are that doe so content themselves in meer formalities that they little regard how their heart is affected with the matter of their prayers so have I grieved to see poore misdevout soules under the Papacy measuring their Orisons not by weight but by number not caring which way their eie strayed so their lips went resting well apaid that God understood them though they understood not themselves too neer approaching whereunto are a world of wel-meaning ignorant soules at home that care only to pray by rote not without some generall intentions of piety but so as their hearts are little guilty of the motion of their Tongues Who whiles they would cloake their carelesnesse with a pretence of disability of expressing their wants to God might learn that true sense of need never wanted words to crave reliefe Every begger can with sufficient eloquence importune the Passenger for his Almes Did they not rather lack an heart than a tongue they could not be defective in bemoaning themselves to heaven for what they lack Especially whiles we have to doe with such a God as more esteemes broken clauses made up with hearty sighes than all the complements of the most curious Eloquence in the world On the other side there are certain zealous Devotionists which abhorre all set formes and fixed hours of Invocation teaching and so practising that they may not pray but when they feele a strong impulsion of Gods Spirit to that holy work whereupon it hath come to pass that whole daies yea weekes have gone over their heads unblessed by their prayers who might have taken notice that under the Law God had his regular course of constant hours for his morning and evening Sacrifices that the ancient Saints under the old Testament held close to Davids rule Evening and Morning and at Noon to pray and cry aloud so as the very Lions could not fright Daniel from his taske And even after the vaile of the Temple was rent Peter and Iohn went up together to Gods house at the ninth hour to Evening Prayer Yea what stand we upon this when the Apostle of the Gentiles charges us To pray continually Not that wee should in the midst of a sensible indisposednesse of heart fall suddainly into a fashionable Devotion but that by holy Ejaculations and previous Meditation wee should make way for a feeling Invocation of our God whose eares are never but open to our faithfull Prayers If wee first though silently pray that we may pray the fervour of our Devotion shall grow upon us in praying these holy Waters of the Sanctuary that at first did but wet the soles of our feet shall in their happy processe rise up to our chinnes I thanke thee O God that thou hast given me a desire to walk even between these extremities As I would be ever in a praying disposition to thee so I would not willingly break houres with thee I would neither sleepe nor wake without praying but I would never pray without feeling If my heart goe not along with formes of words I do not pray but babble and if that be bent upon the matter of my sute it is all one to thee whether the words be my own or borrowed Let thy good Spirit ever teach me to pray and help me in praying Let that ever make intercessions for me with groanings which cannot be expressed and then if thou canst send me away empty Soliloq LXXIV The sick mans Vowes THe answer was not amisse which Theodoricus Bishop of Coleine is said to have given to Sigismond the Emperor who demanding how he might be directed the right way to heaven received answer If thou walk so as thou promisedst in thy painfull fit of the Stone or Gout Our extremities commonly render us holy and our paine is prodigall of those Vowes which our case is as niggardly in performing The
and attend upon the Throne of thy Majesty the thousand thousands of thy blessed Angels Arch-angels Cherubim Seraphin Thrones Principalities Dominions which in thy presence enjoy a bliss next to infinite any one of which if wee could see him were enough to kill us with his glory Not one of those millions of mighty spirits but were able to destroy a World Oh then how infinitely transcendent is that power of thine which hast both created all this heavenly Hierarchy and so movest in them that onely in and by thee they are thus potent Yea Lord let me but cast mine eies downe to this earth I tread upon and view thy wonders in the deep how manifestly do these proclame thy divine Omnipotence When I see this vaste Globe of earth and waters dreadfully hanging in the midst of a liquid Air upheld by nothing but by the powerfull word When I see the rage of the swelling waves naturally higher than the shores they beat upon restrained to their bounds by thine over-ruling command When I see the earth beautifully garnished with marvailous variety of trees herbs flowers richly stuffed with precious metals stones minerals When I see besides a world of men the numberless choice and differences of the substance formes colours dispositions of Beasts fowles fishes wherewith these lower Elements are peopled how can I be but dissolved into wonder of thine Almighty power SECT. IV. NEither is thy power O God either more or more thy selfe than thy Wisdome which is no lesse essentiall to thee than infinite What have we to doe silly and shallow wretches with that incomprehensible wisdom which is intrinsecall to thy divine Nature the body of that Sunne is not for our weak eies to behold it is enough for mee if I can but see some raies of that heavenly light which shines forth so gloriously upon thy creature in the framing and governing whereof whether thy Power or Wisdome did and doe more exhibite it selfe thou only canst judge O the divine Architecture of this goodly Fabricke of Heaven and Earth raised out of nothing to this admirable perfection What stupendious artifice of composition is here What exquisite symmetrie of parts what exact Order of Degrees what marvailous analogie betwixt beasts fishes plants the natives of both Elements Oh what a comprehensive reach is this of thine Omniscience which at once in one act beholdest all the actions and events of all the creatures that were are or shall be in this large Universe What a contrivance of thine eternall Counsell which hast most wisely and holily ordered how to dispose of every Creature thou hast made according to the pleasure of thy most just will VVhat a sway of Providence is this that governes the world over-ruling the highest and stooping to the meanest peece of thy Creation concurring with and actuating the motions and operations of all second causes of whatsoever is done in heaven or in earth Yea Lord how wonderfull are those irradiations of knowledge and wisdome which thou hast beamed forth upon thine intelligent creatures both Angels and men As for those Celestiall spirits which see thy face continually it is no marvaile if they be illuminated in a degree farre above humane apprehension but that the rationall soule of man even in this woefull pilgrimage below notwithstanding the opacity of that earth wherewith it is encompassed should bee so far enlightned as that it is able to know all the motions of the Heavens the magnitudes and distances of Starres the natures properties influences of the Planets the instant of the Eclipses Conjunctions and severall Aspects of those Celestiall bodies that it can discover the secret Treasures of Earth and Sea and knowes to unlock all the close Cabinets both of art and nature O God what is this but some little gleame of that pure and glorious light which breakes forth from thine infiniteness upon thy creature Yet were the knowledge of all men on earth and all the Angels in heaven multiplied a thousand fold how unable were it being united together to reach unto the height of thy divine Counsels to fadome the bottome of thy most wise and holy Decrees so as they must bee forced to cry out with that Saint of thine who was rapt into the third heaven O the depth of the riches both of the VVisdome and Knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgements and his waies past finding out SECT. V. BUt with what a trembling adoration O my soul must thou needs look upon the infinite Justice of thy God whose inviolable rule is to render to every man according to his workes Alas the little good thou wert able to do hath been allayed with so many and great imperfections that it can expect no retribution but displeasure and for the many evills whereof thou art guilty what canst thou look for but the wages of sinne Death not that temporary and naturall only which is but a separation of thee a while from thy load of earth but the spirituall and eternall separation from the presence of thy God whose very want is the height of torments Lo whatever become of thee God must be himselfe In vain shouldst thou hope that for thy selfe he will abate ought of his blessed Essence of his sacred Attributes That righteous doome must stand The soule that sinnes shall die Hell claimes his due Justice must bee satisfied where art thou now O my soul what canst thou now make account of but to despair and die surely in thy self thou art lost there is no way with thee but utter perdition But looke up O soul look up above the Hils whence commeth thy salvation see the heavens opening upon thee see what reviving and comfortable raies of grace and mercy shine forth unto thee from that excellent glory and out of that heavenly light hear the voice of thy blessed Saviour saying to thee O Israel thou hast destroyed thy selfe but in me is thy helpe Even so O Jesu in thee onely in thee is my helpe wretched man that I am in my selfe I stand utterly forfeited to death and hell it is thou that hast redeemed me with no lesse ransome than thy precious bloud Death was owing by me by thee it was payed for me so as now my debt is fully discharged and my soule clearly acquitted Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again Lo now the rigor of thine inviolable justice is taken off by thine infinite mercy the sum that I could never pay is by the power of that faith which thou hast wrought in me set off to my all-sufficient surety by thy divine goodnesse graciously accepted as mine I have paid it in him he hath paid it for me Thy justice is satisfied thy debtor freed and thy mercy magnified SECT VI THere are no bounds to bee set unto thy thoughts O my soul since whatsoever thy God