thy self to Dangers and Robbers who lie in wait for thee saying God hath forsaken him for his Sins persecute and take him because there is none to deliver him Who shall defend thee from the many Calves and the sat Bulls that have beset thee round if thou art not in my keeping All the Beasts of the Wood will hasten to thy Destruction unless they perceive that I am thy Keeper Without the Sword shall bereave thee and Terror within thou shall be a Vagabond and a Fugitive upon the Earth Hast thou not considered how Malefactors are afraid who have offended Earthly Kings Verily they rest no where but are afrighted at every noise as at the Shadow of Death considering lest the Officers of the King being offended should suddenly fall upon them Therefore how much more will the fear of Death terrifie thee if thou be without my Protection and be delivered as the Servant of Sin unto thy Persecutors It is a wonder how mad Sinners are who have delivered their Souls into the hands of their Enemies not considering that they want my Strength Return therefore dearly beloved Son unto me thy Keeper and I who have broken the Heads of the Dragons will defend thee I will lead thee through a Desert Land through the waste-houling Wilderness if thou continuest in my fear I will trouble the Princes of Edom and Trembling shall take hold on the mighty Men of Moab whilst thou passest through the way of Life under my Protection Return with all thy Heart unto me thy Keeper and Guide not seeking the weak Helps of the World and its Followers And I only will be thy Guide and I will be unto thee as the Eagle teaching her young ones to fly and fluttering over them and thou shalt know by experience that one day in my Courts and Protection is better than a thousand elsewhere And in the time of distress I will deliver thee because thou hast set thy Heart on me guarding it with a most firm Perswasion of my Goodness and Mercy CHAP. VII Concerning the Loss of Divine Grace which the Sinner falls into ALL the Treasures of the World compared with my Divine Grace are Dust and Ashes and are accounted as things of no value For so great is the Height the Dignity and the Beauty of my Grace that it stirs up great Admiration in the Minds of them that rightly conceive thereof Whereby it comes to pass that my Servants having their Eyes enlightned are moved with inward Grief and Compassion for their Neighbours when they fall into any dangerous Sin Which if thou my Son shouldest well consider of thou woulded suddenly return unto me being moved with the Greatness of the Calamity which thou hast faln into by Sinning Thy Soul was my most pleasant Bride in Cloathing of Gold and in Raiment of divers Colours whose Beauty the Sun and Moon did admire So great was its Grace whilst it remained faithful to the Covenant of its Espousals that it wonderfully delighted my Eyes The Daughter of Jerusalem was adorned with Jewels beautiful as a Dove shining very brightly and endued with a very lovely Comeliness She was conform to her Pattern in comparison of whom the Morning Stars do not shine She was greatly enriched with the true Riches of my Vertues which neither Rust nor Moth can corrupt But from the Daughter of Sion all her Beauty was departed when she had sinned and she fell from so great Felicity into so extream Calamity that the Heavens were astonished at this Change For my Son so great is the Filthiness and Shamesulness of Sin which thou hast committed that thou art become a Leper searful to look upon because of thy intolerable Rottenness and Meat for Worms that are crawling out upon thee What is this How is the Pleasantness of my Paradice vanished and the fruitful Land turned into Barrenness for the Wickedness of them that dwell therein How hath thy Soul departed from me contrary to the Covenant of thine Espousals and hath been defiled with many Lovers who have corrupted her Return therefore my Son unto my Grace and Friendship and unto the Light of my Countenance neither be so foolish as to desire to live any longer in so great Misery and Want Put on the precious and white Wedding-Garment that thou mayest be acceptable to me and sit down at the Great Supper with my dearly beloved Elect. I counsel thee to buy of me without Silver the Royal Apparel that thou mayest walk through the Street of the Holy City cloathed in Purple amongst the famous Sons of Sion who are cloathed with the fine Gold of my Love CHAP. VIII Concerning the Communion of Saints which a Man loseth by Sinning WO to him that is alone for if he fall he hath none to help him up But blessed is the Man who enjoys the Communion of all that fear and love Me and keep my most pleasant Commandments Verily he that is united unto me by Grace continues also united unto all my Members who live the Heavenly Life of my Grace than which nothing more lovely is found in the Land of the Living My Angels and Holy Men joyned to me by Grace are most faithful Friends of all Men that love me And then my Son when thou didst the things that please me thou hadst these Consolations and Priviledges of the Righteous which are more precious than all Gold Thou wast joyned to my Saints whose Names are written in the Book of Life and all their Goods belonged unto thee being my living Member And I the Head of the Church my Spouse did influence thee with lively Motions of my Love wherewith I move the Hearts of them that love me and seek my Face For my Spirit pressed thee forward and stirred thee up and inslamed thee with ardent Desire of the eternal Enjoyments wherewith my wearied Souldiers coming from the Earth are satisfied But now thy Visage through Sin is become black as a Coal and thou lyest down in Destruction which thou hast procured to thy self being deprived of the Society of the Saints which is the utmost Calamity What friends wilt thou find my Son if my Friends favour thee not What Society will profit thee whilst thou wantest the Society of Angels and Saints Who will comfort thee in Distress if thou dwellest with Scorpions and art not at Agreement with Heaven Return my Son return unto the Fellowship of the Citizens of Jerusalem my City and to the Feasts that are celebrated with the Communion of most pleasant Love that thou mayest live happily the remainder of thy mortal Life and afterwards mayest pass unto the Communion of the Church triumphant where there will be most sweet Peace and a full and perfect Union Depart from the Tabernacles of the Wicked who love not thee nor themselves for he that loves Iniquity hates his own Soul It will be much more profitable and delightful to thee my Son to associate thy self with my living Members and chosen Vessels that thou mayest
learn Wisdom in the School of my Meekness and mayest grow up with the Nourishment of Men come to years that grow up to the measure of Love which is higher than Heaven The World passeth away and the Lust thereof but the Union of my Love will never pass away but will joyn with Me my most beloved Servants for whom I have appointed a Kingdom that they may eat and drink at my Table in the Banquet of the Dainties of my Paradice CHAP. IX Concerning Inconstancy which a Sinner falls into JErusalem hath sinned a great Sin therefore she became unstable and could find no Rest A Fool changes as the Moon Wherefore seeing every Sinner is a Fool he suffers the Punishment of his own Transgression never continuing in the same state but changing his Purpose every hour He hath departed from his Firmness and Constancy which he had in Me his God and Keeper who change not And therefore he wanders in Uncertainty not knowing whither to go and finding no Rest for the sole of his Foot All his Persecutors over-take him between the straits and he desiring to escape free changes places perpetually until his own Evils take him in Destruction while he is flying away Wo to the Soul that hath departed from Me He will sind Torments every where and day and night Sleep will depart from his Eyes To day the Sinner seeks Friends to morrow he shuns them because they are unfaithful To day he is bent upon Games to morrow he laments because by living riotously he hath consumed his Substance To day he seeks the Honours of the World to morrow he shuns them being marked with Infamy for his Sins What then art thou minding my Son who sittest upon the Wheel of the World which is always turning How is it that thou dost not return unto Me who am thy Safety Vertue and Constancy Hast thou not learned by daily Experience that the Thoughts of Mortal Men are fearful and their Fore-casts uncertain which proceed without Order unto the end Know assuredly my Son that without my Mercy thou art the dry Stuble and a Leaf driven with the East-wind which can no where find Rest Sometimes thou wilt be joyful and anon sorrowful to morrow thou wilt lament for thy Infirmity and the next day thou wilt be terrified with the fear of Death Sometimes the care of Temporal things sometimes Ambition sometimes Thirst sometimes Hunger will torment thee unless thou repent and cast thy care on Me and offer thy self wholly unto Me on the Altar of thy Heart If thou shalt seek Me with all thy Heart nothing shall trouble thee neither Death nor Life nor the World nor Hell nor any other Creature visible or invisible For by the Testimony of thy Conscience thou shalt be as the Lyon that is strongest among Beasts and turneth not away for any I will confirm thee who wast subject to the Inconstancy of Adam thy Father and I will strengthen thee with my most mighty Hand I will make thee a Pillar of Iron and a Wall of Brass against all the Enemies of thy Soul They shall fight against thee but they shall not prevail against thee because I will change thee being a Penitent into another Man and make thee Partaker of my Grace and Valour CHAP. X. Concerning the Remorse of Conscience wherewith a Sinner is tormented MY Son unless thou return to Me with all thy Heart thy Wickedness will correct thee and thy Backsliding will reprove thee for by what things any Man sins by the same he shall be punished It is a just Judgment that the Sinner who hath forsaken Me his God should feel within himself Remorse of Conscience and Anguish arising from the fear of Death and Hell It is a just Judgment that amongst the forbidden Joys of the World wherewith he seeks to be delighted contrary to my Law he should be pierced with the sting of a Heart groaning and foreseeing its own Damnation The Terrors of Death fight against a Sinner though he seeks for Joys neither can a wicked Man have Peace who is reproved by his own Conscience from which he cannot fly This Remorse riseth out of Sin as a Worm out of Timber and shews that I am a just Judge and that the Sinner is a Betrayer who sold me for a small price Meditate on these things my Son and see that it is an evil and bitter thing that thou hast forsaken Me thy Lord and Benesactor and that my Fear was not before thee Dost thou not see that all things fall out unhappily to thee whilst thou flyest from me and that with Anxiety of Mind thou drinkest the troubled Waters of the Egyptians whereas by my Grace thou mayest return into the dearly beloved City of Jerusalem and drink of the pure Water of Jordan where thou mayest wash and be made whiter than Snow Wherefore then resistest thou the Impulses of my Love calling and inviting thee to my Friendship Cast away from thee my Son the five Yokes of Oxen which thou hast foolishly bought and take willingly upon thee my one and most sweet Yoke where thou shalt not be wearied with the Prickings of Conscience but shalt find rest to thy wearied Soul Seek the Heavenly Tranquillity and the Peace which passeth all Understanding and rest from that Anxiety wherewith thou art vexed Call unto me and I will answer thee with my Divine Inspirations which will beget true Joys and compose thy troubled Spirit I will comfort thee and speak inwardly to thy Heart if thou return unto me and praise me with Uprightness of Heart when thou hast obtained Liberty and Rest and other most precious Priviledges of the Children of God Despise now the Counsels of the Men of the World who torment thy Heart and follow my one and most healthful Counsel and thou shalt see how I scatter all the Plots of thy Enemies and create in thee a new Spirit whereby thy Age may be renewed as the Eagles that thou mayest enjoy my most lovely Peace and Security CHAP. XI Concerning the Hardness of Heart which a Sinner falls into I Am righteous and I love Righteousness and my Countenance beholds the Upright The Sinner hath rejected me and resisted my innumerable Inspirations whereby I endeavoured to mollifie his Heart And therefore I reject him and withhold my Rain that it drops not upon him I invited Pharaoh by outward Signs which I wrought by the hand of Moses my Servant and by inward Inspirations which he unhappy Sinner felt But when he resisted my great Mercy I suffered his Heart to be hardened more than the Flintstone and the hardest Rocks until he persecuted Israel my People and was drowned as Lead in the mighty Waters I anointed Saul King of Israel when he was little in his own Eyes and followed me like a Boy of one Year old But after he began and continued to resist my many Motions and Inspirations I threw him away so that he fell upon his own Sword and died fearfully
MOTIVES TO Godly Mourning and Rejoycing OR Christ Jesus HIS KIND INVITATION TO Sinners to Repent PSALM CVI. 4 5. Remember me O Lord according to the favour that thou bearest unto thy People O visit me with thy Salvation That I may see the Good of thy Chosen that I may rejoyce in the Gladness of thy Nation that I may glory with thine Inheritance PSAL. LI. 10 11 12 13. Create in me a clean Heart O Lord and renew a right Spirit within me Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy holy Spirit from me Restore unto me the Joy of thy Salvation and uphold me by thy free Spirit Then will I teach Transgressours thy ways and Sinners shall be converted unto thee London Printed for the Author 1698. TO THE Reverend Pious and Faithful Minister of Christ Mr. John Shower Reverend Sir I Beg your Patronage to this new Brood which I found in England though as I suppose its original Father brought it to light in another Land I found it cloathed in Latin Apparel and I have put an English Coat upon it and I hope that thereby it may be kindly received by many that are in England who have a savour of the things of God as for others that know not God I doubt whether they will cast their Eyes upon it But if any that are such take a fancy to look upon it God grant it may do them good and that they may be thereby drawn to the Love of Christ Jesus being allured by his sweet Entisements and Invitations It was sweet to me in the Original and I hope it may be so to others in the Translation I hope you will not be offended that I have made a Dedication of this Book to you without your Consent for if I had requested you to give your Consent to accept of a Dedication I doubt whether you would have given it but having dedicated it to you unawares I hope you cannot be angry for my giving you that which before it was given you had no occasion to refuse What success it may have I am uncertain but I suffer it to range and seek its fortune in the World as the Levit of Bethlem-judah did who wandered up and down to see if he could find a place and at length was kindly entertained by Micah and afterwards was made a Father and a Priest to a Family and Tribe of Israel But if any desire to know why I made this Dedication to you there were many Causes why I should do so One of which is The great Kindness that you have shewed to my self Job said the Blessing of him that was almost ready to perish came upon me and I made the Widow's Heart to sing What Misery was I in through Poverty and Necessity when your Kindness and Charity and Liberality did afford me such seasonable Relief that it resembled upon many accounts a Resurrection from the dead Therefore I gladly embrace this Opportunity of giving a publick Testimony of my Thankfulness that hath a long time lain hid in my Heart and is now triumphantly glad to shew it self in the Light of the Day and the Sight of the Sun Moreover your Name being in the Frontispiece of this Book I hope it may allure many that have sat under the shadow of your Ministry to pay some Deference of respect to it and not to grudge the charge of Buying it nor the labour of Viewing it Sir your Name is famous in England for in the Success of your Ministry you have surpassed many others of your Brethren that are elder than you You are like young Elihu that in Wisdom excelled the Friends of Job that were aged and gray-headed Men much elder than Job's Father And in external Honours God hath exalted you above many of your Brethren so that your Name is as young David's was much set by before he was exalted to the Throne and Dignity of a King Sir what I have said to you I have not said in Flattery but in the Sincerity of my Heart and therefore I hope these external Testimonies of the Thankfulness that was a long time hid within my Heart cannot offend you The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you I am Your hearty Friend and Servant and Brother in Christ W. H. To the READER I Am a Man that hath passed through many Calamities in the days of the Years that I have lived in the World My Mother brought me forth in Scotland half a Year after Cromwell had passed through Scotland with Fire and Sword and it is likely my Mother was at that time by reason of those bloody and cruel Wars affrighted with many Amazements when I was in her Womb and I suppose that hath occasioned that I have been frequently subject to sudden Astonishments and Consternations and Panick Fears from my Childhood When I was under Sixteen Years I flourished with outward Prosperity and almost constantly delighted my self with the abundance of Peace being beloved and honoured of all that knew me far and near Which occasioned me to be puffed up in my Spirit till Affliction of several Kinds sent of God for my Good had brought down that Vanity of my Mind When I was fourteen or fifteen Years of age I frequented a School at Rotterdam where I greatly profited in variety of Learning and attained to a great insight of the Poetical Faculty After I had been at that School I was a while at Leyden where I studied Logick and Metaphysick though at that time also I laboured diligently in prying into the Mysteries of Poesie After I had been a while at Leyden I went into Scotland where I studied Philosophy at Edinburgh and received the Degree of Master of Arts. And at that time also I diligently studied and exercised Poesie and made a Poem on Job which hath been well approved by many learned Men I made all that Poem before I was twenty Years old for my Spirit was then much strengthned by general respect that was shewed to me by many of those with whom I conversed and by the Kindness of my Brother in law that married one of my Sisters He was a Man eminent both in Wisdom and Piety and maintained me above a Year on his own Cast and was then kinder to me than was my own Father out of whose Bowels I proceeded After I was eighteen Years of Age I went to my Father's House who was then and had been a long time a Minister in Rotterdam and the space of two or three Years I lived on my Father's Charges and at that time I was greatly afflicted in my Spirit partly through my Father's Churlishness and Vnkindness and partly through inward Griefs and Discontents of Mind that I suffered through some great and grievous Afflictions that befel me At that time I was much in Prayer I was often fervently calling upon my God with Weeping and Supplication and though then I did not discern that God took any notice of the Prayers I
made to him in those great Afflictions yet since that time I have had clear Evidences that I did not call upon God in vain After my Father had upon his Cost maintained me two or three Years I travelled into England where I suffered Poverty several Years and did often eat Bread of Affliction and drank Water of Affliction Yet in that time I had some sweet Intervals of Divine Consolation when I had Opportunities occasionally to preach in the days of King Charles the Second For it was a great Joy to me at that time that I had Opportunities to serve Christ Jesus though I suffered sometimes Persecution But one of the things that greatly allayed my Sorrows and Discontents was the Comfort and Divine Consolation I received by having heard sometimes occasionally that great Minister of Christ Thomas Cole who died a while since For in hearing him preach at sometimes such Beams of Divine Light did shine forth upon my Soul such glorious Manifestations of the Love of God did over-shadow me that it made many Miseries that I then and since have endured to become light and easie For in the strength of those Discoveries of the Love of God in Christ Jesus I have walked many days in the Light of God's Countenance But because I have been guilty of some Infirmities through violent Temptations wherewith God hath suffered Satan to assault me some if they are not of a charitable Spirit may think these things are Hypocritical Dreams und Chimerical Imaginations but I know him whom I have believed But these things I have publickly declared that none of those that fear God may be ashamed for my sake If you ask the cause why I have given this Book the title of Motives to Godly Mourning and Rejoycing This is one Cause thereof because Godly Sorrow is the Seed of Godly Joy and Rejoycing as the Saints have often found by their Experience to whose Experience I may appeal Another Cause is this Because I desire that wicked Wretches who have lived without God in the World be convinced that if they will heartily apply themselves to Godliness they will find that Joy and Pleasure in the Ways of God not only in the World to come but also in this World which will greatly surpass all the Joys and Pleasures that they have found in the Ways of Sin and in their Estrangement from God Verily I wonder wretched Sinner that has lived in Enmity to God how thou canst eat or drink or sleep in Peace when the Sword of Vengeance hangs over thy Head and there is but a step between thee and Hell and everlasting fire But after thou hast returned to God by repentance and shelter'd thy self by Faith under the Wings of Christ Jesus then thou mayest have just cause of Rejoycing I have therefore published this Book to awaken thee and stir thee up to Repentance and to fly to Christ the Refuge of Sinners that thou mayest have much Joy and Peace in believing in this World and enter into everlasting Joys and Felicity in the perfect Enjoyment of God and Christ in the World to come MOTIVES to Godly Mourning and Rejoycing or CHRIST JESUS his Kind Invitation to Sinners to Repent CHAP. I. Concerning the Grief of Jesus Christ lamenting the Stubbornness of a Sinner I THE Only begotten Son of God the Power and Wisdom of God do cry in the Streets and lift up my Voice in the midst of the People for I have nourished and brought up the Sons of Men but they have despised me O Man I have written the sweet Law of my New Testament in thy inward parts and have planted it in the midst of thy Heart And yet thou hast had no desire to my immaculate Law which converts the Souls of Sinners neither hast thou regarded the saithful Testimony of my Eternal Love Thou hast went far away from me with the Transgressour Adam thy Father and thou hast hid thy self from Me thy most gracious God and Saviour when I walked in the Garden in the cool of the Day What meaneth this thou estranged Son Whither flyest thou from the Face of thy most merciful God and Redeemer Am I a cruel Lord because thou flyest speedily away from me and seekest to find a better Master Consider what thou dost and how far thou goest from thy own Salvation for without cause thou hatest thy most precious Remedy and Liberty Thy unhappy Soul is become as a Widow which if thou wouldest close with Divine Grace might remain faithful to the Covenant of her Espousals and enjoy the Priviledges of my most Sweet Love And yet she hath abhorred me her most faithful Lover and her Enemies have been enriched with her Spoils How is the Gold of my ancient Love become dim the bright-shining Colour of a good Conversation is changed the Stones of my Temple and Sanctuary are scattered upon the top of every Street Thou didst not delight in the Habitation of my City Jerusalem which I have loved and thou hast been reckoned among the Citizens which my Soul hates Wo to the Soul that departeth from me for the Terrors of Death will set themselves in aray against it and the Pains of Hell will take hold of it The Lion's Whelps will rage against it and roar after it that they may snatch it and take it for Meat thrown to them by God For since thou didst set up the Darkness of Sin instead of the Light of my Grace and there came upon thee a most dismal night of my Anger all the Beasts of the Insernal Wood pass by and make haste with open Mouth to devour thy Apostate Soul Therefore at least from this time call unto me and say Thou art my God and my Guide and now I will no more fly from thee O most gracious God! I have wandered being a Vagabond like Cain out of thy sight and I have served other Gods in whom I have no Salvation nor Deliverance Behold I return unto thee from a grievous Bondage I seek for thy most lovely Light from the Darkness and Shadow of Death which hath terrified me I know of a truth being convinced by Experience that there is no good thing out of thee the Son of the most amiable and most high God to whom I consecrate my inward Parts CHAP. II. Concerning the Sweetness of Jesus Christ calling a Sinner to Repentance I Wish my Son that thou wouldest prize my Friendship which is better than Gold and that thou wouldest hearken with the Ears of a contrite and humble Heart unto my still Voice whereunto the Rocks are moved O Ephraim I as a nursing Father take care of thee and my great and most faithful Mercy strives with the Hardness of thy stony Heart Thou according to thy Hardness and impenitent Heart resistest my Spirit which is sweeter than the Honey and I according to the Riches of infinite Goodness endeavour to mollify thy inward parts with my secret and innumerable Inspirations Thou flyest from me who am pursuing