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A45630 Horæ consecratæ, or, Spiritual pastime. concerning divine meditations upon the great mysteries of our faith and salvation : occasional meditations and gratulatory reflexions upon particular providences and deliverances, vouchsafed to the author and his family : also a scripture-catechisme dedicated to the service of his wife and children, and now published, together with other treatises mentioned in the following page for common use / by Sir James Harrington ... Harrington, James, Sir, 1607-1680.; Harrington, James, Sir, 1607-1680. Meditations upon the creation, man's fall, and redemption by Christ.; Harrington, James, Sir, 1607-1680. Noah's dove. 1682 (1682) Wing H803E_PARTIAL; Wing H815_PARTIAL; Wing H831_CANCELLED; ESTC R4540 368,029 493

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with thy Neighbours Wife to defile thy self with her The Adulterer and Adulteress shall surely be put to death Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor Effeminate nor abusers of themselves with Man-kind shall inherit the Kingdome of God Mortifie your Members which are upon the Earth fornication uncleanness inordinate affection evil concupiscence For which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the Children of disobedience And commit not Fornication as some of the Israelites committed and fell in one Day three and twenty thousand Without the new Jerusalem are Whoremongers who shall have their part in the Lake which burneth with Fire which is the second Death Out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts which are an abomination to the Lord. Wherefore hate all vain thoughts Let them not lodg within you for the thought of foolishness is sin I understand your thoughts afar off and am a discerner of the thoughts and intents of your hearts Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouths but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace to the hearers But fornication and all uncleanness let it not be once named amongst you as becometh Saints Neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting which are not convenient but rather giving of thanks For because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the Children of disobedience Be not therefore partakers with them I say unto you every idle word that Men shall speak they shall give account thereof at the Day of Judgment For by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned Whosoever looketh upon a Woman to lust after her hath committed Adultery with her already in his heart Wherefore with holy Job make a Covenant with thine Eyes that thou think not upon a Maid to lust after her For when thy Eye is evil thy Body also is full of darkness The Eyes of the wicked shall faile But chiefly them that walk after the Flesh in the lust of uncleanness Having Eyes full of Adultery and that cannot cease from sin and are reserved to the Day of Judgment to be punished and to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever The Night is far spent the Day is at hand therefore cast ye off the works of Darkness and put on the Armour of Light walking honestly as in the Day not in rioting and drunkenness not in Chambering and wantonness But put ye on me the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Let not Sathan who is a lyar from the beginning and the Father of lyes fill your hearts to sin against the Holy Ghost who is the Spirit of truth that ye be not strucken with sudden Death as was Ananias and Saphira Ye shall not lye one unto another but every one speak the truth with his Neighbour For ye are Members one of another For I will destroy them that speak leasing and the mouth that speaketh lies shall be stopped The Earth mourneth and fadeth away the World languisheth and fadeth away the haughty People of the Earth do languish the Earth also is defiled under the Inhabitants thereof because they have transgressed the Laws changed the Ordinance broken the everlasting Covenant I am the Mediator of the new Covenant sealed unto you in my Sacraments of Baptisme and my Supper Tread not then under foot the Son of God nor count the blood of my Covenant wherewith ye are sanctified an unholy thing nor do despight unto my Spirit of grace For vengeance is mine I will recompence yea I will judge my people It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God When thou vowest a vow unto God defer not to pay it for he hath no pleasure in fools Pay that which thou hast vowed The Lord thy God will surely require it of thee and it would be sin in thee That which is gone out of thy Lips thou shalt keep and perform to God and to Men lest thou be excluded my holy Hill and suffer alike Judgement with King Zedekiah for shall he escape that doth such things Or shal● he break the Covenant and be delivered Surely where the King dwelleth that made him King whose Oath he despised and whos● Covenant he break even with him in the midest of Babilon shall he die Thou shalt not desire thy Neighbours Wife neither shalt thou covet thy Neighbours House his Field or his Man servant or his Maid-servant his Oxe or his Ass or any thing that i● thy Neighbours Woe unto him that covered an evil covetousness to his House that he ma● set his Nest on high that he may be delivere● from the power of evil He that maketh ha● to be rich shall not be innocent No covetou● Man who is an Idolater hath any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God Take heed and beware of Covetousness For woe unto him that buildeth his House by unrighteousness and his Chambers by wrong Beware of Ahab's sin and his punishment No Man can serve two Masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other Ye cannot serve God and Mammon Therefore I say unto you take no thought for your Life what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink nor yet for your body what ye shall put on Is not the life more than meat and the body than rayment For after all these things the Gentiles seek for your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things Wherefore having food and rayment be therewith content for I have said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown Men in destruction and perdition for the love of money is the root of all evil which while some coveted after they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows Wherefore love not the World nor the things that are in the World if any Man love the World the love of the Father is not in him There is that scattereth and yet increaseth and there is that with-holdeth more than is meet and yet tendeth to poverty The liberal Soul shall be made fat and he that watereth shall be watered also himself There is an evil which I have seen under the Sun and
me you shall also Raign with Me. Lift up therefore the Hands that hang down and feeble Knees and make streight Paths for your Feet Ye have not resisted unto blood striving against Sin Wherefore consider me the Captain of your Salvation that was made perfect by sufferings and that endured such contradiction of sinners against my self lest you be weary and faint in your minds For the Disciple is not above his Master nor the Servant above his Lord. Stand fast therefore in that liberty in which I have made you free only use not your liberty for an occasion to the Flesh nor to the offence of your weak Brother but by love serve one another All things are lawful to you but all things are not convenient Continue not in sin that Grace may abound Nor do evil that good may come whose damnation is just neither turn my Grace into Lasciviousness Watch unto Prayer Deny your selves and take up your Cross and follow Me. He that endureth unto the end shall be saved Give diligence to make your Calling and Election sure Add to your Faith Vertue to Vertue Knowledge to Knowledge Temperance to Temperance Patience and to Patience Godliness and to Godliness Brotherly kindness and to Brotherly kindness Charity For if you do these things ye shall never fall For so an entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into my everlasting Kingdom Beloved believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they be of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the World And my Spirit speaketh expresly that in these latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils Speaking lies in hypocrisie having their Consciences seared with an hot Iron Forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from Meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth For every Creature of God is good and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving Let no Man therefore deceive you by any means neither by Spirit nor by Word nor by Letter For that wicked one is now revealed whom I the Lord have bgan to consume with the Spirit of my Mouth and will destroy with the brightness of my coming Even him whose coming hath been after the working of Sathan with all Power and Signs and lying Wonders And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved And for this cause God hath sent them strong Delusions that they should believe a lie That they all might be Damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness This is that Spirit of Anti-Christ whereof you have heard that it should come and even now already it is in the World That Son of Perdition who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped So that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God the Christian Church shewing himself that he is God The Kings of the Gentiles exercise Lordship over them and they that exercise Authority upon them are called Benefactors But ye shall not be so But he that is greatest among you let him be as the Younger and he that is Chief as he that doth serve Be not ye therefore called ●abbi for one is your Master even Christ and all ye are Brethren And call no man your Father upon Earth for one is your Father which is in Heaven Nor be ye called Masters nor be ye as Lords over Gods Heritage For one is your Master even Christ But he that is greatest amongst you shall be your Servant And he that Exalteth himself shall be Abased and he that shall humble himself shall be Exalted None is Good save one that is God There is not a Just man upon Earth that doth Good and sinneth not Therefore if ye say that ye have not sinned you make God a Lyar and his Word is not in you Be not therefore many Masters knowing ye shall receive the greater Condemnation For in many things ye offend all The Contention was sharp betwixt Paul and Barnabas that they parted asunder And John fell down to Worship before the Feet of the Angel Ye know in part and Porphesie in part Even F●●er who was first and whom I called Ceph●● by Interpretation a Stone and who seemed to be a Pillar walked not Uprightly according to the Truth of the Gospel And before the Cock mowed twice denied Me thrice How much more Fallible is his pretended Successor Why also doth this Man of sin both speak and act Blasphemies Who can forgive sins but God only It is I the Lord the Lord God forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin that have Power on Earth to forgive sins And in Me ye have Redemption through my Blood even Forgiveness of sins Again ye have heard that it hath been said to them of Old time Thou shalt not Forswear thy self thou shalt performe unto the Lord thine Oathes And that if a man Vow a Vow unto the Lord or Swear an Oath to bind his Soul with a Bond He shall not break his Word he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth But in these last dayes the Beast that ascendeth out of the Bottomeless Pit is a Truce-breaker and with perfidious Zedikiah a Dispiser of Oaths and a Breaker of Covenants Whosoever therefore shall break one of the least of these my Commandments and shall teach men so He shall be called the least in the Kingdome of Heaven Every Word of God is pure and the Law of the Lord is perfect that the Man of God may be perfect throughly Furnished unto all good Works Add thou not unto his Words lest he reprove thee and thou be found a Lyar. For neither Peter nor Paul much less the Pope nor the False Prophet the Roman Church that other Beast coming out of the Earth that hath Two Hornes like a Lambe but speaks like the Dragon the Devil hath any Dominion over your Faith But are Helpers of your Joy For by Faith you stand For though they or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel than that which my Apostles have preached unto you let him be accursed Whatsoever things I command observe to do them you shall not add nor diminish from them For if any man shall add unto these things God shall add unto him the Plagues that are written in this Book And if any man shall take away from the Words of the Book of this Prophesie God shall
did raise my admiration but not my devotion After this having heard extolled the wit and language of our English Poets and that their Playes a fit name for such Airy Poems were much Visited and by the Youth of our Nation preferred above the best of Sermons As also that they were acted to the life in the publick Theatres I we●t thi●ther and was both an Auditor and Spectator where I heard wi● and language abused Being told of the Noble Buildings of both Exchanges and of the great concourse to them of Coaches and Persons of the best Quality I expected better things there but found in that place an Exchange but as for the Company the like or the same The Shop-keepers and their Feminines being like the Company of Players I saw lately that know how to act all parts currantly and sedantly especially those of lying equivocation dissimulation and over-reaching when they meet with Country Ignoramuses After some time I adventured at the instance of some of my acquaintance not therein my friends to go into a Tavern I stopt and thought the fair structure rich Sign-bush and Bason had some resemblance to the Roman Tryumphant Arches But my admiration was soon chang'd into a detestation for the roaring and singing bawling and swearing of their Tenants at will the knocking of Pots the scraping of Fidlers the gaping of Tapsters at the Bar not of truth and Justice but too often of the contrary made me think it to be a Bedlam a place full of mad-men or the House of Circes where by mixt intoxicating and adulterated Liquors rational Men are changed into Swine Dogs Goats and Lyons yea into all kind of Beasts and bruitishness My mind tasting no good nor finding any satisfaction in these things I thought to entertain it with more private and as most think although therein deceived harmless delights and recreations such as Complemental Visits of fair and vertuous Ladies Balls and mixt Dancings yea I assaid by chast and modest Rules or Bonds to bind Cupid as I vainly held forth in an Herogliphical Order But for and after all these carnal pleasures my heart was and is sad yea I found my soul empty of that Rest and happiness I sought after and being seasonably and graciously taught by the same spirit of wisdome that instructed Solomon I sealed and that experimentally with him to that truth of God Vanity of Vanities all is vanity and vexation of Spirit And though I saw an end of all perfection in Earthly things with holy David yet the Law and Word of God is exceeding broad which caus'd me diligently to attend upon some living Oracles of God in those times Seraphical Holesworth devout Taylor pious Gouge eloquent Shute with others by whose holy wooings and love-tokens my first love to my Spouse begun about a year before in the Country was now renewed increased and confirmed and these great temptations of the World and my Enemy Sathan prevented and overcome who thus a while after my first Conversion assaulted me as he did my Saviour as soon as he entred upon his Office deceitfully shewing to me in these Cities as in a time and contracted Map the Vanities of all the World and the empty glory thereof insinuating to me the enjoying of them would I fall down and worship him that is yield to his temptations and enslave my self to him by the wicked possessing of all these sinful Lusts and delights But blessed be the Lord who hath broaken the Snare and I am escaped For which great deliverance and manifold mercies accept O Lord in my dear Mediator's hand my multiplied praises both here and in this following Psalm of Thanksgiving The METROPOLIS Ejaculation or Hymn on the former Subject LOrd thy Word is Verity Child hood Youth are Vanity Else had not such Troops of Vice Waited on me in Disguise Blest be that Power which from thee Made them Gibeonites to me So that they shall hence-forth be Hart-hewers Water-drawers In my Sacrifice to Thee When in Courts I saw Men rise On Prides Wings by Flatteries View'd dear God their Luxury Sinful Lusts and Gluttony Through thy help I left that place As a School of Vice not Grace A Quag-mire where the rich of 't Lose Estates spent at Court-rates When Poor Beggars mount aloft When Sins Parks Vicinity Had almost impailed Me And those Heards of Women spies Had neer filtcht away my Eyes Then thou shewest me Lord that time Was not mine to lose but thine And that those that spend a Day On such sights and vain delights Do but with white Devils play In the Garden call'd the Spring Where the Flowers and Fruit are sin In which Bound by Day and Night Devils walk like Angels bright Where young Adams by their suit Eat again forbidden Fruit. There thou call'st me Lord to thee From those Groves Of wanton Loves Promist better things to Me. Thence to Theatres I went Where vain Wits their Poems vent Heard and saw such Ribaldry As defiles both Eare and Eye For Man's mind inclin'd to ill Runs not up but down the Hill There thy spirit to me told He 's asleep that comes to seek In a Cole-pit veins of Gold To Exchanges Old and New I repair'd as worth my View There my Eares were deft with Cries Lackt you Sir what will you buy Pride and Conscience in that place I saw sold all things but Grace Lord thou kept'st my wit and purse From deceits And lying Cheats And their Females which were worse Then to Taverns I went in Which I found the sinks of sin There the Devil's Revels be Lust and Drinking Gluttonie Swearing Dancing Carding Dice Cheating and all other Vice On their Doors Lord set a Cross To keep me All that love thee From Souls Bodies Plague and loss Last I thought of a reserve How to please and yet preserve Me from all unchast delights By a choice of vertuous wights Who agreed a● modest ●●lls Oft to meet by mutual calls By mixt Dancing will not quall Sathan's wiles Who Vs beguiles Give an Inch He 'l take an ●ll Blessed Lord that m●dest me see Sin and dangers misery And that all things here below Are but Ciphers in a row That a Father was to me When my Parents left me free In my Youth and in a place Where all Vice Hath its rise And true vertues in disgrace Yet where Sathan hath his Thrones Thou hadst Churches precious Ones Vnto which thou leddest thy Youth And declared to me thy truth There thou gavest to me thy love Kist me call'd me Spouse and Dove And imbrac't me in thy Armes Made me tast Thy delicates And deliver'd me from harmes Is thy love Lord set upon Such an Aethiopian Did'st thou take me from the P●ts Cleanse me from my Leopard's spots Let me a chast comfort be Now and ever unto thee Till I be by Angels led My first rise To Paradise
in the Tents of Kedar my Soul hath long dwelt with them that hate peace I am for peace but when I speak they are for War Further this our adversary the World is not only numerous but politick and treacherous not only using open hostility and giving forcible assaults by the power and persecution of wicked Men but it lays many invisible ambushes of pleasures to entrap us and by her plenty of riches and large offers and mundane honours causes oft-times defection and treason in the leading and chief commanding faculties of our Souls This is the civil Christians Dallilah which lulls him asleep on the Pillow of security afterwards degrades him of his strength and glory his excrementitious and formal performances and then delivers him up to shame and destruction The Poets Bellona is but a fiction a representation of this Monarchess They ascribed wisdome and armes to their Goddesses And are not both these I mean carnal sensuality and Devilish wisdom backt and seconded with the power and malice of Hell and wicked great ones with the glittering Scepter and bloody Sword with which she awes her Empires The Lord knows and we are not ignorant of this O let humility be chief mourner and our pitty write in tears how many of Gods Worthies have either been betrayed by her treachery or over-prest and borne down by her persecuting power To give life to Meditation I will add some few authentick examples that our hearts being awakened with the fearfull thunder of their falls may watch and pray lessening if not wholly preventing the danger O Solomon how do I admiring thy excellencies want words to measure or express them O thou which wast the Son of a Prince as good as royal and in truth as well as in name a Jedidiah the beloved of God whose large and divinely inspired wisdome extended far beyond thy Empire though great yea beyond the Worlds circumference in thy Metaphysical heights prying into the secret excellencies of spiritual Essences yea of God himself that unbounded and unsquared Circle without a Centre who wast a Pillar in the House of God yea a most lively Figure of the Son of God as in thy knowledge so in the peace riches and glorious splendour of thy Kingdome I might add more but that this makes thy precipice thy downfall sufficiently yea miserably and fearfull Thee did this Sorceress this gorgeous Strumpet the World fascinate and cause to drink a deep carouse even to the Dregs of her poysonous and sinfull fornications Where drunk with Idolatry and libidinous sensuality thy bright Sun had set in the black Cloud of shame and damnable Apostacy had not the unchangeable and free love of the Father of mercies raised thee from that deadly Lethargy and made thee to the comfort of all Elect ones even in thy lives declination shine bright to the whole Church in thy Ecclesiastes thy recantation Thus far by way of experiment and discovery of the dangerous and bewitching quality of this our Circes first potion the second follows I mean that truly and properly aurum potabile with which she not only benums the Souls superiour faculties but as being the heaviest of mettals depresses it to the Centre if Hell be there without repentance I will instance but in one example of many and that no mean one even a Childe of the Prophets O unhappy Gehazi the more unlucky because once most happy who amongst the Sons of lapsed Israel though free born were blessed like to thee A servant yea a fellow Servant with Kings and Angels What Eye in that Infancy and twi-light of the Church was glutted with so many Miracles like thine What Ear entertained and devoured so many heavenly Sermons Nay what Soul had its Wings stronglier impt by holy Instructions better advantaged in its rise to take a flight from Earth to Heaven from holy example then thine O unworthy proficient Thy Master unyoakt himself from his Oxen for Gods service and wilt thou forsake thy God and Master for the yoak of covetousness Thou didst O bewitched wretch and therefore justly did an hereditary and visible Leprosie witness thy inherent and invisible hypocrisie a formal Hypocrite and a white Leaper being very like and fit concomitants Although all Man-kinde consist of one and the same matter and constituting parts yet do not all yea few of many by reason of the defect of Organs or general grace attain to a like sublimity of minde and ayriness of affection For there be some few who well wing'd with natural abilities and moral vertues become Creatures of a middle Region and delight not with the Ant and Mole the covetous and more sensual sort of Men formerly spoken of to dig and delve and crawle upon the Earth to live to feed upon her guilded entrailes These high soaring Larks may seem at the first view to be free from the danger of our Fowler did not experience and example shew us them taken in her day-nets whil'st they stoop at her ever turning and falsely shining Glass of honour Oh Naman blessed wast thou in thy Bodies sickness because the occasion of thy Souls health The mercies of the Lord never go single or alone Behold Twins The Prophet undertakes thy Body the Lord heales both and makes thy liberality and valour shine more splendently as being fixed in the highest Sphear Religion Elisha's God Jehovah being now preferr'd before thy Kings thy Nations Idolls and the dirt of Israel petitioned for yea more esteemed than the Gold of Syria Yet the Lord hath a few things against thee and this strumpet the World hath given thee a blemish at parting witness the record transcribed from thy mouth wherein thou coveted'st which agrravates thy offence not the conferring but the continuation of mundane honours by a dispensation to be present at Idolatrous service The Prophet prayed for thee as respecting thy Infancy and God I doubt not was mercifull unto thee as ascenting thy affection giving thee either a better resolution or repentance unto absolution My Meditations might now lead me through some thousands of years and both from the word of truth as also from Ecclesiastical and civil Histories cite many worshippers of this royal Idol I might point out two eminent and worthy Councellors Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea who both were Night-disciples to our Saviour for fear of the Jews and losing their terrene preferments As also many other Rulers and great Men who the Evangelist taxes to have loved the praise of Men more than the praise of God But one tryal as well as many is sufficient to prove the virulency of this poyson of whose enmity and antipathy to salvation the Lords own words shall both conclude and confirm How can yee believe which receive honour one from another and seek not the honour that cometh from God only Having now laid honour in the dust the utmost date of her Pattent I should proceed to
a Glass darkly and imperfectly taken a view of the Land of Promise the Inheritance of the Saints in light and presented to the Lord and to his Spouse the Church what discoveries he hath in great mercy given me as concerning Eternal Life that last and great Article of the Christian faith begun visibly in the Saints glorified condition in the new Heaven and new Earth and continued unto Eternity in the Heaven of Heavens Wherein concluding with the glorification and blessed use and exercise of our Tongues in that happy state I thought it proper both as to the general subject I have been upon as being the Vision exercise and Tryumph of Faith and as to the subject matter both lauditory to God and declarative to one another about which our Tongues shall in our renewed life be imployed to declare in this life with all humility and thankfulness of Heart and Tongue to both which my Pen is but the Secretary in the Ejaculatory part of that Meditation what by faith I behold and am assured from the Word of Truth shall come to pass here and be injoyed by me and all Gods Elect in the life to come and shall be there a blessed Subject of our praises to all Eternity In which Song of 12. parts or Jacobs Laddar of 12. Staves whose foot stands upon Earth and top reaches to Heaven we may by faith ascend beginning here upon Earth in this present Year of our Lord 1666. by twelve successive Steps wonderfull and most signal periods noted afore in the Margint to the last and highest ascent the Glorification of the Saints in the Heavens Being now come to Hercules Pillars the Ne-plus ultra of Faith beyond which all sacred Scripture the light of Faith is silent I can proceed nor walk any further in these Contemplations lest walking without a Light I fall into the Darkness of Error It being alike sinfull curiosity and presumption to inquire what God will do after this silence When time shall be no longer as to ask what he did before time was and before this World was Created Wherefore I shall here conclude these my imperfect Meditations and with all humility and reverence return all Honour Glory and Praise to thee O glorious Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost one God blessed for ever for thy most gracious assistance by the light of thy Word and Spirit in this great Work a subject too weighty for Angels how much more for me a simple sinfull and weak Worm Lord I acknowledge that whatsoever is good right and true in this Treatise is of and from thee who art Goodness Light and Truth and to thee alone belongs the praise and that whatsoever therein is Hay or Stuble is mine who humbly takes shame therefore and Petitions for thy free pardon in my Lord Christ Jesus beseeching thee that in the assurance of thy love and mercy in him and in the faith light and assurance of thy glorious Truths herein declared out of thy Word I may with Holy Job all the Days of my appointed time wait until my Change come And with zealous Paul desire to depart and to be with Christ that so my faith and hope may be swallowed up in the possession of thee and Vision may be changed into fruition Thy Spirit and thy Bride say come And let him that heareth say come Thou O Lord that testifieth these things sayest Surely I come quickly Amen Even so come Lord Jesus The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all Amen Soli Deo Gloria An Advertisement by the Author to the Reader FOr the more cleer and fuller proof of the Twelve great things mentioned in the Conclusion of this Work I refer the Reader to my Treatise almost ready to be published Entitled An humble Exposition of most of the Scripture-Prophesies concerning Twelve great Periods to be fulfilled to the Church beginning to be manifested in the Year 1666. and concluding with the end of our Lords Mediatory Kingdome and the Translation of the Saints to the highest Heavens FINIS AN ALPHABETICAL TABLE Of the Things contained in the TREATISE Intitulated MEDITATIONS ON FAITH A. THe Affections lose their appetite if ye do but change the object viz. Spiritual for Temporal Page 4 Christs Agony as described should much act upon our spirits Page 27 The use and abuse of the Affections Page 45 46 All Arts and Sciences are in the Scripture as Metaphysick Phylosophie Astronomy Chronologie Rhetorick c. Page 71 Christs answer to the soul complaining of her Affections Page 81 The Antiquity of the Scriptures Page 102 Of the Affections glorified Page 151 Of holy Anger glorified Page 160 A Soliloquium upon it Page 161 An Ejaculation upon it Page 161 A caution against blotting Assurance Page 185 B. The Body of man like the pool of Bethesda with its five Porches Page 22 The curse and judgement of the Body Page 52 The Souls complaint against the Body with Christs answer Page 88 89. c. Of the Body glorified Page 164 Of the spirituality and swiftness of our Bodies at the Resurrection Page 169 A soliloquium and ejaculation on those two qualities of the Body Page 170 The glorious shining of the Body at the Resurrection Page 171 A soliloquium on that shining of the Body Page 173 Item an ejaculation upon it Page 174 Of the Immortality of the Body glorified Page 175 C. The Certain condition of man is to be uncertain Page 8 A man may be a Conduit-pipe to others and be a Vessel of dishonour himself Page 15 17 Of Christs Death and Burial Page 33 34 His victory over Hell Page 35 His Resurrection Page 36 His Ascension Page 38 Man in respect of Conscience is as one possessed Page 42 A Contemplation on love Page 47 A Contemplation on the insatisfaction in Riches Honours Pleasures Wisdom Page 49 A Contemplation on fear Page 51 A Contemplation on the sinfulness of the Eyes Ears Nostrils Taste and Touch Page 56 Of Christs Priestly Office Page 57 The occasion of Christs Priest-hood Page 58 A Contemplation upon Christs Priest-hood Page 60 Of Christs satisfaction Page 61 Christs answer to the poor soul complaining of his Conscience Page 75 The souls general Complaint answered by Christ Page 85 86 The souls Complaint against her Senses Tongue and Members of her body and Christs answer to it Page 88 89 A meditation on the excellency of Christs person Page 99 Against Coveteousness Page 123 An Ejaculation upon the glorious Change of the body at the Resurrection Page 185 D. Demas described Page 14 A Dialogue between Christ and the poor complaining soul in many particulars which Christ answers and satisfies Page 74 Our victory by Christ over Death Page 130 Our victory over the fear of Death Page 132 Our victory over the pain and separation by Death Page 133 All things fall short of the Duration of glorified Bodies and Souls and the high
of the Lord is Being wise unto that which is good but simple concerning evil For the wisdome of the World is foolishness with God and 't is earthlie sensual and devillish But the wisdome that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisie Wherefore if any of you lack wisdome let him ask of God which giveth to all Men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given you but let him ask in faith nothing wavering Put on humbleness of mind meekness long-suffering forbearing one another and forgiving one another if any Man hath a quarrel against any even as I have forgiven you so do ye For before honour is humility And he that humbleth himself shall be exalted What doth the Lord require of you but to do justly and love mercy and to walk humbly with your God For God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble Yea I will hear the desire of the humble And although I inhabit Eternity I will dwell with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit Wherefore learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall finde rest unto your Souls Blessed are you that are poor in spirit for yours is the Kingdom of Heaven That mourn for you shall be comforted That are meek for you shall inherit the Earth That hunger and thirst after righteousness for you shall be filled Blessed are you that are merciful for you shall obtain mercy That are pure in heart for you shall see God That are peace-makers for you shall be called the Children of God Blessed are you that are persecuted for righteousness sake for yours is the Kingdome of Heaven Blessed are you when Men shall revile you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsly for my sake Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you Marriage is honourable in all and the Bed undefiled but Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge Wherefore flee Fornication every sin that a Man doth is without the body But he that committeth Fornication finneth against his own body Know you not that your bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost which is in you which you have of God an● you are not your own For you are boug●● with a price Therefore glorifie God in yo●● bodies and spirits which are Gods Also 〈◊〉 you not my Members Will you then take 〈◊〉 Members and make them the Members of 〈◊〉 Harlot God forbid What know you 〈◊〉 that he that is joyned to an Harlot is 〈◊〉 body For two saith he shall be one Flesh But he that is joyned unto me is one spirit This is the will of God even your sanctifica●tion that you should abstain from fornication And that every one of you should know 〈◊〉 to possess his Vessel in sanctification an● honour not in the lust of concupiscence as the Gentiles which know not God Ye 〈◊〉 heard that it was said by them of old 〈◊〉 Thou shalt not commit Adultery But I say 〈◊〉 to you whosoever looketh on a Woman to 〈◊〉 after her hath committed Adultery with 〈◊〉 already in his heart And whosoever toucheth another Man's Wife shall not be innocent Whoredome and Wine and new Wine tak● away the heart and by means of a 〈◊〉 Woman a Man is brought to a piece of bre●● and the Adulteress will hunt for the prec●●● life An Whore is a deep ditch and a stra●●● Woman is a narrow Pit Her House inclin●● unto death and her path unto the dead L●● not your heart incline to her ways go not stray in her paths for she hath cast down 〈◊〉 wounded yea many strong Men have be●● slain by her her House is the way to Hell g●●ing down to the Chambers of death 〈◊〉 that go unto her return again neither tak● they hold of the path of life Know this there●fore that no Whoremonger nor unclean Person nor covetous Man who is an Idolater hath any Inheritance in the Kingdome of God Blessed are ye that keep Judgment and tha● do righteousness at all times Offer to God th● sacrifices of righteousness and put your trus● in the Lord For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness his countenance doth behold the upright The work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect thereof quietness and assurance for ever He that followeth after righteousness and mercy findeth life righteousness and honour Therefore yield your selves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as Instruments of righteousness unto God For he that doth righteousness is righteous even as I am righteous but whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God And shall utterly perish in their own corruptions and receive the reward of unrighteousness and shall not inherit the Kingdome of God But the righteous shall shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdome of my Father And they that turn many to righteousness as the Stars for ever and ever Be ye perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect For he that walketh uprightly walketh surely and shall be saved For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness his countenance doth behold the upright Fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth For the integrity of the upright shall guid them Light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart But the hope of the hypocrite shall perish Remove from you the way of lying and let every one speak truth to his Neighbour For I am the Lord God of truth Give thanks for all things to God the Father in my name For he that offereth praise glorifieth me By me therefore offer the sacrifice of praise continually that is the fruit of your lips For every Creature of God is good and nothing is to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving Praise ye therefore the Lord for it is good to sing praises to your God for it is pleasant and praise is comely These things have I spoken to you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full Verily verily I say unto you that ye shall weep and lament but the World shall rejoyce but your sorrow shall be turned into Joy and your Joy no Man taketh from you For the Kingdome of God is not mea● and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Yea the fruit of my Spirit is love joy and
unthankful unholy without natural affection truce-breakers false accusers incontinent fierce despisers of those that are good Traytors heady high-minded lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God having a forme of Godliness but denying the Power thereof from such turn away For of this sort are they which creep into Houses and lead Captive silly Women laden with sins led away with divers lusts ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth Now as Jannes and Jambres with-stood Moses so do these also resist the truth Men of corrupt mindes reprobate as concerning the faith But they shall proceed no further for their folly shall be manifest to all Men as theirs was The Fool hath said in his heart there is no God they are corrupt they have done abominable works there is none that doth good Therefore the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men who hold the truth in unrighteousness Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them For God hath shewed it unto them For the invisible things of him from the Creation of the World are cleerly seen being understood by the things that are made even his Eternal Power and God-head so that they are without excuse O righteous Father the World hath not known Thee but I have known Thee No Man cometh to the Father but by Me. No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son who is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father For I and the Father am one Believe also my works that ye may know and believe that the Father is in Me and I in him For in the beginning was I the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God All things were made by Me and without Me was not any thing made that was made In me was life and the life was the light of Men. I the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst you and ye beheld my glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth I am the image of the invisible God By me were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers All things were created by Me and for Me I am before all things and by me all things consist There are three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one I spake unto my Apostles and true Ministers saying Go ye therefore and teach all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost What high blasphemers then are they that deny the Holy Ghost to be God The Spirit of God moved upon the Waters And by the Word of the Lord were the Heavens made and all the Host of them by the Spirit of his Mouth The Spirit of Truth which proceedeth from the Father He shall testifie of Me. For he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak He shall glorifie Me for he shall receive of mine and shall shew it unto you Peter said unto Ananias In that thou hast lied to the Holy Ghost thou hast not lied unto Men but unto God Wherefore I say unto you all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto Men But the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto Men. The Grace of me the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the Communion of the Holy Ghost the Comforter Preserver and Sanctifier be with you all This is the will of God even your Sanctification that you should abstain from Fornication and that every one of you should know how to possess his Vessel in Sanctification and Honour Not in the lust of Concupiscence as the Gentiles that know not God Wherefore to avoid Fornication let every Man have his own Wife and every Woman her own Husband Have you not read that he that made Man in the beginning made them Male and Female I the Lord will bear witness against them that deal treacherously with the Wife of their Youth Is she not thy Companion and the Wife of thy Covenant And did not I make one yet had I the residue of the Spirit And wherefore one that I might seek a godly Seed Therefore take heed to your spirit and let none deal treacherously against the Wife of his Youth For I the Lord God of Israel hate putting away Therefore I say unto you whosoever shall put away his Wife except it be for Fornication and shall marry another committeth Adultery and whosoever marrieth her that is put away committeth Adultery The Husband is the Head of the Wife not of Wives as I am the Head of the Church Let every one therefore in particular so love his Wife even as himself And the Wife not the Wives see that she reverence her Husband Despise not Prophesyings quench not the Spirit He that heareth you that are my true Ministers heareth Me and he that despiseth you despiseth Me and he that despiseth Me despiseth him that sent Me. He that is of God heareth God's words My Sheep hear my voice He that knoweth God heareth my Ministers but he that is not of God heareth them not And as oft as you eat the Bread and Drink of the Cup in my Sacraments ye do it in remembrance of Me and shew my Death until I come Pray without ceasing The workers of iniquity call not upon the Lord. Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfill For verily I say unto you till Heaven and Earth pass one jot or one title shall in no wise pass from the Law till all be fulfilled Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least Commandements and shall teach Men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdome of Heaven But whosoever shall do and teach them the same shall be called great in the Kingdome of Heaven Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are Gods Let every Soul be subject unto the higher Powers For there is no Power but of God The Powers that be are ordained of God Whosoever therefore resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God And they that resist shall receive to themselves Damnation For Rulers are not a terror to good works but to the evil Wilt thou then not be afraid of the Power Do that which is good and
forgotten Goodness and Mercy The LAMENTATION Ejaculation or Hymn upon the former Subject BRight Eye of Heaven how doth thine Ire From a smooth Brow dart forth thy Fire No Tropicks bound thy torred Zone Since Britains know no temperate one Why doth those living rayes which grace Thy Tellus brow now scorch her Face No Saturn thou yet the same heats Which gave thy off-spring life retreates Them into Death and makes them have Within themselves a wither'd Grave See how black Clouds of dust arise To blear thy Beames because the Skies Have none In Sack-cloath see thy Queen Sits having laid aside her green Her Spring-paint gone wrinkles appeares And shews her Ag'd five thousand Years Art thou not jealous for to see Thy love lye nak't forc Company Or art thou Spanioliz'd and would Through these new Inlets spie out Gold Doth Hell keep Jubill and desires Thee to shine there with lightsome Fires See Troopes of Blades whose strength did keep Whole Cities Townships scarce dare peep Or shew in Field yea in these feares Some not offending lose their Eares Whole Rivers scarce thy thirst doth bound Whilst Springs their heads hide under ground Tell me is Phaeton in place Or Daphne hath thy Twelve Moneths Race Fir'd thy Axtell for didst thou fear Our Springs hive would out-brave thy Sphear But whence this brightning hark my moan Is answer'd by a Thunders groan Wrath through that Planet burns Earth Skies Men's barren Hearts assimuliz's The Application and Petition DRead Lord I tremble and now see The cause of this Catastrophie Leaves had the Figg-Tree were prun'd Yet fruitless Vines yea like untun'd Instruments whose Notes do jar And only Briefs and Minnums are Of goodness full of stops which lie And discord makes not harmony Were the Microcosmes on which Thy love hath shin'd with a most rich Influx yet we thy Graces dew Dry up and lose both fruit and hue Lord let thy show'rs on both Worlds fall So shall thy Sun not scortch but all Things fructuate On us rain blood No evil Omen this but good On that unbowel Clouds of Rain So shall both Spring grow green again Yea once more Blood and Water shall Witness on Earth thy Peace to all Rivers shall flow then in each Place And to both prove the streames of Grace Blest Sp'rit upon these Waters move That both may yield Thee fruit praise love And those dry Chaps that want a Tongue Shall sing a close unto this Song Amen A thanksgiving for Rain after the forementioned great Drought Anno 1637 1638 1639. ARGUMENT The God that heareth Prayer heard ours And pitty seems to weep in showers The Shewer of Mercy MErcy If peace 'twixt Heaven and Vs Tell me why roars his Cannon thus Why do I hear where e're I come The Warlike Wings strike up their Drum Seest thou that Row so vastly bent As if the Centers point it meant To split through us that by one Doom The World might fall into its Tomb Or Chaos May be through Earths heart Nature two counter-poles World dart Because as some think she 's decay'd Her Poles worn out or over-way'd No drooping Soul that thunders noise Is Justice murmur 'cause my voice Prevailes with God The other sound Musters up Troops of blessings round The Orb. As for the threatning Bow It 's my Triumphant Arch no woe Portending since he means no harm Who turns the Bowes horns from his Arm. Witness those orient streaks which are The Ensigns of Earths Peace not War Since then the string is in thy power Dart up by force of love a shewer Of praise then by that Jacob's scale Let thy Soul mount with a fresh gale Take Heaven by force no danger fear 'T is freedome to be Captiv'd there Earths Jubily TEll me my Soul when did the Skies So become Morning to all Eyes Were ever teares so timely shed As these which strangely raise the Dead Mercy now puts on Justice Gown And smiles under the old Worlds frown Dame Earth grown frolick now attires Her front with liquid Pearls and desires To feast the Creatures by her lie Clear mirrons for to dress her by Young Hairs she busheth forth to hide Her baldness and like Autumes Bride Hath over her by Spike-men born A Canopie of swelling Corn. The Springs invited but she grown Feavereth to Southern Climes was gone For health yet presents her Queen By Proxie with a suit of green With which Earth spreads her lap and sets Thereon her fruits and delicates The feasts prepar'd then in each place Let us before we eat say Grace The Thanksgiving GOod God such a new World as this Deserves a second Genesis To preach thy power and love which thrice Hath made our health a Paradice O give us innocency too So place and blessing shall anew Through Christ by right of re-intaile Be ours and ours till Issue faile Lord make all Heads Fountains all Eyes Limbicks distilling like the Skies Through heat of love a weeping Rain Let hearts like Earth grow soft again So shall such mutual Harmony Shew grace as sin works sympathy And to thee Lord this truth return That Mercy melts though Justice burn Witness Earth Heaven my Heart Eyes Pen May they thus ever melt Amen ARGUMENT Vpon God's merciful restoring me to health and graciously supporting and comforting me in a fearful Agony and Apprehension of Death by reason of a dangerous Cough which caused me to spit Blood Soliloquium or Discourse AS Pride War and Contention are the ungrateful Off-spring of Peace and Plenty so are sickness and affliction the succeeding and unhappy Daughters of health and prosperity This is not only my Observation but Experiment As having the fresh Spring of my Youth after an Halcion calme and time of health on a suddain turned almost into an Autumn or Fall of that leavy beauty and greenness which my Body which is but a Tree inverted was adorned with and that by an unexpected and dangerous Spout or Cattar of Rhumetick Rain seconded with a fearful Hurricane or Thunder-storm of a rending Cough which had not God been very gracious had undoubtedly ●ink both the Pilot and Vessel my Soul and Body I pumping out through the Lungs much Water and Blood But with the Marriners in Jonah's Ship or rather with Jonah in the Whales Belly I cryed and prayed unto my God even in this Agony and preluge of Death his Serjeant wherein Pompa mortis magis ●erret quam mors ipsa As an addition to these my inward fears and terrors arising from my dangerous condition was the apprehension of my Arch Enemy and Accuser Sathan preparing and ready to prefer at the Bar of Divine Justice a long Role and Inditement of my great offences attested too by my own Conscience which is more than a thousand witnesses as also the legal and just punishment of them Hell Eternal Death and Torment I say again with all humble and reiterated thankfulness I then petitioned my