the man Christ Iesus Therefore where my portion reignes I beleeve I reigne where my blood doth rule I perceive my selfe to rule where my flesh is glorified I know I am glorious Thou wentest to prepare a place for mee that I might be with thee in a most plesant City thou laydst open the way that I might come into thy most loving society Thou didst first break through that I might also enter into most ample felicity in everlasting health of body in perfect purity of our soules in all fullnesse of glory and divine pleasure into the perpetuall familiarity of the Saints to have kindred hope resting place grace and dignity in the heavens CONTEMP 27. c. Of the sending downe of the Holy Ghost HOw great and what an unutterable piety of my redeemer is this hee carried man into heaven and sent God downe upon the earth behold therefore a new Redeemer is sent from heaven behold againe divinity and humanity are mixed together Thou didst foretell O my God by thy spirit which thou hast given us I will powre out my waters to the thirsty and my streames upon those that are scorched I will powr out my spirit upon thy seede my blessing upon thy posterity I will powre out my spirit upon all flesh and your sonns shall prophecy I will sprinckle pure water upon you and you shall be clensed from all your pollutions I will send my spirit into the midst of you Now O my God is thy prophecy fulfilled and the showers of thy graces and streames of thy blessings are powred forth That common expected time of gladnesse of all the righteous is now come the sweet guest of the soule is come the comfortable refreshing the rest in our labour the temper in heate comfort in mourning the washing of that which was foule watering that which was partched with heate healing that which is wounded straightning what was crooked cherishing that which was cold ordering what was gone astray The inspiter of our faith the teacher of knowledge the fountaine of love the ensigne of chastity and the cause of all our vertue is come Hee came when the twelve ministers and dispensors of thy mysteries were unanimously gathered together at Ierusalem in the house of prayer chosen by thine owne selfe in the holy City the City of perfect beauty and a sudden noyse comming from heaven as it were the rushing of a mighty wind cloven tongues appeared to them like fire and sate upon each of them so that they were all filled with the Holy ghost and they began to speak in divers languages They were gathered together with one accord and indeed that spirit loves agreement and doth bind faster together mens peacefull minds it drives away all brawles and contentions and is it selfe driven away by brawles and contentions They were gathered together in Jerusalem it loves a holy place and where thy word is preached there it gratiously abideth This word is not without the spirit nor thy word without the spirit there was a sound like a wind the holy spirit is not still but its voyce is heard hee is not dumbe but speaketh and preacheth redemption to sinners revelations to those in misery comfort to those that bee sad exaltation to those that are opressed deliverance to the captives liberty to the bondmen and rersurrection to the dead There was a sudden and vehement sound from heaven the holy spirit is not the gift of men but of the Almighty God it brings not momentary but things eternall not earthly but heavenly things Gods helpe is also for the most part sudden and unlooked for when wee despaire of all mens ayd the power of the most High is sent us and cures us in a most fit time The holy spirit is cheerefull and makes them nimble and ready in whom it operates for the grace of the holy spirit is not acquainted with sluggish endevours The tongues appeared devided like fire the tongue is the instrument of the holy ghost whereby it prepares and enlargeth the spirituall Kingdome and as the tongue doth distinguish tastes so doth the holy spirit shew us good from ill and to discerne between spirits it also bestowes on us the gift of variety of languages and gathers together in one the multitudes of men dispersed by reason of the difference of their tongues The love of God is lastly fiery it enlightens the understandings drowned in darknesse it warmes the soules by charity makes them shine in good works consumes wicked affections and actions O most wholsome fire descende from heaven into us We burne with the filthy brands of our lusts that the earth seemes rather an Aetna of uncleane flames than an habitation of men For as the hill Aetna doth continually boyle with certaine inward fiery vapors so doth that with the abhominable flames of fornications by this meanes we kindle the fire of wrath the fire of destruction the fire of the Lord the fire of indignation which went out from the Lord and consumed Nadab and Abihu How grievously doth the prophet cry out behold all of you doe kindle his fire and adde fuell to the flames enter yee into the light of your fire and the flames which yee have kindled For after this manner as the scripture mentioneth doth all mankind rush into eternall damnation For first they kindle the fire then they put fuell to the flames and finally they enter into the flames which they have kindled And first doe wee begin to kindle the eternall fire for our selves when first we begin to sinne and we adde fuell to the flames when we heap sins upon sins We enter into the eternall fire when we fulfill the remedilesse summe of all our mischiefes by the iniquity of our multiplyed offences As our Saviour spake to the Rulers of the Jewes Yee serpents yee generation of vipers fulfill yee the measure of your fathers O heavenly Spirit let plentifull showres fall from heaven and quench the accursed flames of this fire that I be not delivered into the unsufferable flames which no water no brooke no river no sea can quench Filth sticks to me on all sides who will wash it off I am polluted with the dirt of my sins who shall make mee cleane My soule is wounded and altogether defiled who shall heale and purifie it My bones are dried up who shall moisten them Shalt not thou wash mee shalt not thou purge mee shalt not thou heale mee shalt not thou cleanse me shalt not thou moysten me Thou didst never yet suffer me to receive a repulse shall this be the first time that thou wilt reject my prayer Surely thou wilt not deny that which I pray for because thou hast bid me pray unto thee because it tendeth to my salvation which thou so much desirest and belongs unto thine owne honour whereof thou art so jealous Give me drink therefore out of the streames of thy pleasure that I may take no pleasure to taste of the poysoned sweets of the world Thou
all ennoble the Garden that Tree of life and the Tree of the knowledge of good and evill When thy faithfull servant calls it the Tree of life doth he doe it because it had received this power from thee that he which should eat of its fruit should have his body confirmed in a setled state of health and a perpetuall strength that it should not decline to worse or to death by sicknesse or infirmity of age Thy very Word doth intimate thus much unto me Our first Parents were nourished with the fruits of the other trees that their living bodies should not suffer hunger or thirst but therefore they were to taste of the tree of life that death might not creepe upon them from any side nor that they should in continuance of time perish by reason of old age the other trees were for nourishment that for a Sacrament How great was thy care my God how great thy providence thou gavest me not a momentany pleasure nor a yearely but an everlasting Now I am weakned by diseases I am tormented with cares I am tortured with griefe but this is besides thy will though not contrary unto it for what could happen to me against thy Will could one haire have fallen from my head if thou hadst not willed it should be so what was now my first habitation the narrow and dark part of the womb where I was environed with the ill sented sides of the belly I come crying into this life I depart out of it with sweat and I passe through it with labour nor is there any one that can boast himselfe free from this condition being borne and brought into this light I cannot move my selfe from one place to another in my first infancy I am void of all pleasure I am a burden both to my selfe and unto others and exposed to innumerable dangers even till I attaine to these yeares wherein reason and judgement begin to florish in me happier in that one thing than in the other part of my life that I understand not my unhappy condition What shall I say O my God my yeares are multiplyed and my cares increase but I was not even worthy of these things Thou canst not doe otherwise than lead me and support me with thy hand although I did not deserve life but hell and destruction when I had opened my impious mouth and devoured the forbidden fruit thou didst ordeine the tree of the knowledge of good and evill for my Altar and Temple that I should yeeld thee due obedience in abstaining from the fruit thereof I would be made wiser and did become most unwise before the Fall I had the knowledge and experience of a present good I had only the knowledge but not the experience of an absent evil but after the Fall there was in me a certaine knowledge of a lost good but no experience of it and I had a knowledge an experience of an adherent evill Woe is mee when shall I returne thither whence I am expelled I desire not a garden but a house not a figure but the thing figured I desire not to rule but to become a servant I aske not to sit but to stand and observe thy Commandements Looke on mee O my Father looke on me and approve me and be pleased in thy mercy that I may finde favour in thy sight that the dores of thy palace may bee opened unto mee when I knock I beseech thee by my Lord thy Sonne the man of thy right hand the Sonne of man whom thou hast established for a Mediatour betweene thy selfe and me by whom thou soughtest me when I sought thee not that I might seeke thy Word by which thou hast made all things and mee amongst the rest thy onely Sonne by whom thou hast called thy beleeving people unto thy adoption and amongst them me also I beseech thee by him that sits at thy right hand and doth intercede unto thee for me in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisedome and knowledge open quickly unto me and grant me passage O my God that I may enter into the joy which cannot enter into mee because it is farre greater than I am CONTEMP c. 6. Of the Serpent the Deceiver THe devill is wicked foule and terrible hee doth therefore as much as he is able hide his own face and puts on a strange countenance yet all his thoughts all his endevours and all his actions are to deceive when hee perswades to good hee deceives for a greater mischiefe that is to arise from that good in perswading unto evill under the shew of goodnesse in diswading from good as if it were evill in diswading from evill that he may bring in a worse evill The deceiver invades the Serpent that wee might not discover the hidden fraud that hee might with more ease and profit bring to passe that which hee had wickedly and most cunningly projected The Serpent was a beautifull and subtile creature therefore not unfit to entice to move to perswade and to seduce O thou deceiver O thou turne-coate O thou ensnarer and deceiver most lying spirit thou transformest thy selfe into an Angel of light that thy subtilty and slights of darknes should not be discerned thou dissemblest the night of thy malice that wee might promise to our selves goodnesse from that which is most vile and wicked thou mouldest and paintest deckest and fashionst thy instruments that they may finde some time for acceptance with us if thou shouldest rransforme thy selfe into an enraged lyon or wert so bold to change thy selfe into a cruell Beare who would not tremble take heed and flie from thee thou goest amongst us therefore most comely and most courteously that thou mayest without being perceived finde admittance of those that are heedlesse yea and oftentimes also of those that are most wary What are those vile teachers whose consciences are feared that glitter in so many ceremonies so many formes of worship and so many commentaries or expositions of things but serpents but broods of vipers that cunningly bite us they put on sheeps cloathing that they may cover their wolvish clawes Thou old Serpent thou usest the subtill wits of men which are the fittest of all for thy desires the simple humble and abject doe seldome broach Heresies He that hath profited much in knowledge for the most part attributes much to himselfe he avoides the beaten way wherein the credulous common sort of Christians doe walke and is wise apart and departs to fall headlong into the gulph of errors Give me my God moderate wisedome but that I may profit exceedingly in a holy life and in saving faith thou wilt not aske mee hereafter what I have scene but what I have beleeved not what I have read but what I have done Grant that I may receive with an humble heart what thou offerest mee and settest forth in thy Word not regarding what either superstitious reason or the mischievously obtuse pitch of wit and foolish subtilties of Doctors doe argue
of him in whom thou hast placed all thy hope and trust I therefore that am forsaken of all doe bring to both of you that small ayd I am able thou O Mother behold another Sonne for thee thou my disciple behold another helpe for thee O most holy Jesus O most faithfull Saviour O most mercifull helper how many sad widows doest thou even now comfort how many poore orphans doest thou now relieve how many afflicted persons doest thou now take charge of I am also widowed of all comfort and deprived of all sustenance robbed of all protection and aid the anxieties of my mind are many my affliction is great my griefes are multiplied comfort me sustaine me take care of me O thou omnipotent Comforter of those that bee sad thou Strength of those that labour let my groanes come unto thee what extremity soever I am in that in my necessities I may joy in the presence of thy mercy Heare also yee that have eares to heare the fourth word Let my soule attend let my spirit attend and let all the devotion that is in me give her attention our Priest in the dayes of his flesh offered up prayers and supplications with teares and strong cries unto him that was able to save him from death My God my God why hast thou forsaken me The just God and heavenly Father who begate thee from eternity who by a voyce from heaven testified of thee This is my beloved Sonne heare him hath forgotten thee hee left thee not for thine owne cause but for mine for I by my sinnes have begotten thee these labours and griefes it was I was to be forsaken but thou stoodest in my stead thou who speakest righteousnesse who art the bulwarke of salvation hast trod the wine-presse alone and there was not a man to helpe thee thou lookedst about and there was no helper thou soughtest but foundst none that might save O how bitter was this forsaking to thee but how pleasant and how happie to mee Thou God exceeding long-suffering thou shalt not leave me for ever because thy Sonne was forsaken for me Thou ardent lover of my soule thou diligent Saviour of sinners thou most courteous searcher of men thy most obedient Sonne tooke on him the punishment which was due for my sins which are so much against thee hee hath borne the sinners burthen hee hath endured the horrours of death and terrours of hell and hath most largely satisfied for me Leave me not then O my God depart not from me O my God in the day of my death if the so copious satisfaction of thy Sonne if my so dangerous misery can move thee to compassion be present with me most miserable sinner pitifully heare my prayers and help mee in the houre of death neither remember my iniquities but O thou fountaine of mercyes deale with mee according to thy exceeding great mercy CONTEMP c. 20. Of the fifth word of Christ uttered upon the Crosse GAther O gather your selves together and heare saith the Patriarch Iacob when he stretched forth his feet to enter into the way of all flesh and stood even at the threshold of his wished-for eternity but if the last words of a man were to bee received with such attention what attention may be required what fervour what diligence to heare his last words who is both God and man who is above all the Patriarches in whom all the Patriarches did trust and whom they wished so often to behold The words were seven The number of seven is a peculiar number a holy number and is used in many mysteries it is here also peculiar it is holy and not barren of mysteries thou hast already understood this O my soule and thou shalt know it in part hereafter The first word of our Lord was I thirst ah Lord all thy spirits were dissipated all thy strength issued forth in the torrent of thy blood for thou wast a man of sorrowes and experienced in infirmities despised and a man of the least esteeme although thou haddest committed no offence nor was guile found in thy mouth therefore wast thou scorched with extream thirst and yet thou Saviour and preserver of men thou couldest not obtaine drink from men O most barbarous cruelty the Lord did travell with extreame thirst at the beginning of his passion and that thirst did increase still more and more so that it was one of the greater sort of torments which the Lord endured upon the crosse for the letting out of the great plenty of the vitall fountaine doth dry and cause thirst therefore the Lord who after much wearinesse and by his scourging lost much blood and afterwards being crucified had foure open fountaines as it were in his body from which great plenty of blood had for a long time issued forth how could it be but that hee must be tormented with extreame thirst They who have received many wounds from which much blood doth flow desire nothing so much as drink as if they suffered nothing but thirst but who was there that took pitty and offered so much as cold water who was present who had a fellow-feeling of his sorrowes there was not one nor any found to comfort him O Jesus thou heavenly Lord they gave thee gall to eate and in thy thirst they have thee vineger to drink thy beloved John saith there was a vessell set full of vineger and they fastning a sponge full of vineger to an hysop stalk offered it to his mouth O cruell wickednesse as they had at the beginning a little before his crucifying offered him wine mixed with gall so at the departure of his soule they offer him vineger a most pernitious thing for his wounds that Christs passion might be a true and continued passion from the beginning to the end without any mixture of comfort in stead of refreshing and pleasing liquour they offer him hurtfull and bitter O refreshing without any refreshing O most lamentable consolation When Sampson had slaine the Philistims he thirsted exceedingly and the Lord opened a great tooth for him in the jaw-bone of an asse whence waters did flow and thou when thou haddest overcome the most potent enemies the world satan and death diddest also thirst extreamely but no waters were given thee and the Antitype was in a farre worse condition than the type which the Conquerour of the Philistims did represent wee alas had deserved eternall thirst to us was due that scorching heat which the glutton had when hee lifted up his eyes being in torments and saw Abraham afarre off and Lazarus in his bosome and crying said Father Abraham take pitty of me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and refresh my tongue for I am tormented in these flames but thou that takest pitty of us that most ardently thirstest for our salvation hast in thy thirst suffered that thirst and hast deserved so much for us that we shall one day neither hunger nor thirst any more neither
possession of us when the Sunnes last shadow flyes from us and enraged death sharpens his Dart to strike thorow our breast But thou O Lord dost witnesse thy power even in death it selfe not onely by crying out at the last gaspe but also by shaking the earth by cleaving the rocks opening the graves rending the vaile of the Temple The Centurion himselfe being a man conversing with the members of the Church but beleeving out of the Church confessed from hence and said This man was indeed the Sonne of God But the last word thou utteredst in thy mortality is diligently to be noted and seriously to be weighed Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit This was thy last word Ah would to God it might bee also mine and I trust Lord it shall be so and God I hope will heare it for thou hast obtained this for me because thou hast both prayed for me upon the Crosse and hast as my chiefe high Priest suffered all things nor didst thou commend thine own Spirit alone unto thy Father but mine also and of all the faithfull who are members of thy body thou hast bound my soule together with thine owne in the bundle of life and hast delivered it into the hands of the Almighty O how doe the words pierce my soule and spirit which thou utteredst before thou didst passe that deadly way and in which thou didst most devoutly speake unto thy Father I pray for them I pray not for the world but for those whom thou hast given me for they are thine Holy Father keepe them in thy name whom thou hast given me that they may bee one as we are one preserve them from the world sanctifie them in thy truth I pray not only for these but for those also who shall beleeve in me through their word that they may all be one as thou O Father art in mee and I in thee that they also may be one in us that the world may beleeve that thou hast sent mee and I have given them the glory which thou gavest mee that they may be one as wee are one I in them and thou in me that they may be perfect in one and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me Father I will that those whom thou hast given me be where I am that they may see my glory which thou hast given me because thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world What father can more earnestly recommend a son what mother a daughter or what brother his brother to anothers care than thou O Son of the living God hast recommended us to thy Father Thy Father doth heare us his degenerate adopted sonnes how much rather will he heare thee his Sonne obedient even to the death and his issue begotten of his owne substance from all eternity yea he hath already heard him Can saith he even he thy Father a woman forget her owne childe that she should not have compassion upon the sonne of her owne wombe Though she should be so forgetfull yet will not I forget thee behold I have graven thee upon my hands Thou also O Christ my Saviour sayest My sheepe heare my voice and I know them and they follow mee and I give unto them eternall life and they shall not perish for ever and no man shall snatch them out of my hands My Father who gave me them is greater than all and none can take them out of my Fathers hands Resting upon these thine attracting sentences I may be startled at the remembrance of death but I shall not be dismayed because I shall also bee mindfull of thy promises merits and intercessions When at length by thy permission a sharpe sicknesse shall weaken my sinewes and shall gnaw and feed upon my bloodlesse and halfe rotten skinne when my face shall bee bedewed with a cold sweat and I shall be moistned with the drops of death when my wan lips shal be widowed of their rednesse and a sad murmure shall be heard from the horrid noise of the gnashing teeth when my Sunne shall be darkened by my funerall clouds and death shall involve my head in everlasting darknesse yet thou Son of righteousnesse shalt shine cleare unto me thou shalt furnish my soule wrastling and triumphing by the vertue of thy Spirit with thine owne word Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit CONTEMP c. 23. Of the opening of Christs side COme hither come hither O my soule behold him hanging on the Crosse ascend ascend O my soule and pluck out the nailes from his hands and feet wherewith hee is fastened to the Crosse Thou needst no ladder it is devotion it is faith which elevates and lifts thee up thither O miserable spectacle O lamentable carcasse how ill-favourdly in what an ugly manner art thou butchered They could not glut their malice upon him while he lived they insult also upon him being dead and goare him with a speare whence blood and water did flow most holy Symbols of thy two Sacraments Who is he O Lord that hath overcome the world but he that beleeveth that Jesus is the Sonne of God This is that Jesus Christ that came by water and blood not by water alone but by water and blood Thou camest unto us in water in Baptisme thou camest to us in blood in the holy Supper this is that double testimony that we are reconciled to the Father by thee and that wee are washed and purged from our sinnes thou wast very much besotted and soiled yet wast thou lovely to thy Father because thou becamest obedient to death even to the death of the Crosse thou art also most lovely to mee whilst I dive into thy side and into thy wounds not with the eyes of my body with Thomas but with the eyes of faith which are the instruments of life the perspective glasse of the world to come when I see I am freed from death by the death of my Lord and my God When I locke on the immense and love without bounds love without end the love that wee want understanding to conceive and our reason waxeth darke to apprehend For I have sinned and thou hast suffered yea I who have sinned have suffered in thee our flesh was so joyned to the Deitie so as that which was to die everlastingly for sinne became dead in another for us and we neither felt grief nor death yet were we in like manner restored to life for as Christ put upon him our flesh in the wombe so he dyed our death upon the Crosse For whatsoever the God made man did suffer he suffered for man from whom hee can now no more be severed than from his other Nature with which he united this to the end he might save it O great clemencie O unspeakable clemencie O bounty that cannot be expressed with words of mans eloquence God who is for ever blessed is first made man and at length is made a curse
the more ignoble I ought to beare patiently if I understand not the Creator of the Universe who must even in the smallest parcels of his works professe mine owne blindnesse Let me not then proceed farther in other things than my small capacity wil beare not curiously pry into those things which are so high above me I will say with reason and constancie I know not his secrets and I am ignorant of his divine councell the oracle of the heavenly word is enough for me to try all causes God sayes he sees all things governes all things judges all things If thou wilt know what thou art to hold thou hast the holy Scripture it is perfect reason to hold what thou hast read But I will not suffer my selfe to aske for what cause God doth these things in such a manner I am a man I understand not the secrets of God I dare not search after them and therefore I even feare to meddle with them because even this is a kinde of sacrilegious rashnesse to desire to know more than is permitted unto thee Let it suffice thee that God doth testifie that himselfe doth act and dispose of all things leaving therefore these things let us rather seeke like good merchants to gaine the inheritance of heaven and those things that may profit our soules let us learne to get goods which will continue with us let us first seeke to have Gods seale stamped upon us because in the day of judgement when God shal make that separation when all the nations of the whole earth the sonnes of Adam shall be gathered together when the shepherd shall call his flocke whosoever have beene sealed shall know their shepherd and the shepherd shall know those he hath sealed and shall gather them together out of all nations Every man naturally desireth knowledge but what doth knowledge profit without the feare of God certainly an humble rudenesse is better that is employed in Gods service than a proud Prelate or Philosopher who neglects himselfe and is alwayes contemplating upon God or the motion of the heavens How many are there who in this life by many curious enquiries have endevoured to know God who shall never see his face how many in this life doe labour to measure the heavens and to finde out all things belonging to them that shall never enter into them He that doth well know himselfe thinks meanly of himselfe and is not delighted in the praises of men If I did know all things in the world and were not in charity what would this knowledge profit me in the presence of God who then will judge acccording to my works I will therefore at length rest from the too much desire of knowledge because the more I know the more grievously will the most high God judge me except I live the more holily Give mee most blessed and most wise God the highest and most profitable knowledge that I may know thee God the Father Son and Holy Ghost with moderation and may inwardly know my selfe to be miserable and of no account that I may attribute nothing to my selfe and alwayes have a good opinion of others This is great wisdome and some sort of perfection Though I see another sinne openly and even to commit some grievous sinnes let me not think my selfe better because I know not how long I may continue in goodnesse we are all undoubtedly fraile but let me judge none frailer than my selfe that I may obtaine true strength in goodnesse CONTEMP c. 30. Of the Custodie of Angels BLesse the Lord O my soule all my bowels give praise unto his holy Name Praise the Lord O my soule and forget not any of his benefits praise the Lord yee Angels of his yee that excell in strength fulfilling his Word giving eare to the voyce of his Word Praise the Lord all his Hoasts yee servants of his that doe his pleasure Praise the Lord all yee works of the Lord praise the Lord O my soule in all places of his dominion My heart is ready O God my heart is ready He hath commanded his Angels saith thy faithfull servant David speaking of man to preserve thee in all thy wayes they shall hold thee up with their hands that thou strike not thy foot against a stone God hath commanded it God the true and most excellent Life in whom and from whom are all things the Creator Governor of the world the Sweetnesse Beauty of the Angels the Creator and Preserver of men that God who is God of gods so great a God that no tongue can rightly expresse him hee hath commanded and hath commanded his Angels his holy Angels that are instructed of God by the eternall contemplating of which truth they become blessed hee hath commanded them concerning thee O man What is man that thou tookest notice of him or the sonne of man that thou didst esteeme him Thou sentest unto him thy only begotten Son thou sendest into him thy holy Spirit and that there should be no want of thy carefull working for him in the heavens thou dost also for our sakes send forth those blessed Spirits to minister unto us the most mercifull God sendeth forth those Spirits as it were so many bright sparks of his Deity sparkling from the Torches of his everlasting light who are conceived to bee divided into so great hoastes and into so many orders to prompt us not only with matter of prayer to God but of admiration of his greatnesse and goodnesse when I speake thus O my soule phansie not to thy selfe little faire Boyes whose countenances are over-spread with an admirable splendour whose soft dissheveld haire of colour like the finest gold hangs dangling to their shoulders fanned with the gentle breath of the peacefull westerne wind doth kisse the smooth pillars of their milkie necks if thou phansie such Angels thou art utterly ignorant of their power They have a pure nature subtill and aiery not to be represented in the shape of any body no spot of matter doth cloud it no mole of corruption doth sprinkle it and that I may speak briefly our best part is our soule an Angell is nothing but a soule But what soule not relishing of that fire whereby the Starres doe twinkle and the Axeltree of Heaven is moved but a vigour of a most quick moved understanding made so much the nearer to resemble the patterne the eternal Beauty by how much it approacheth nearer to and is the more plentifully sprinkled with that holy Fountaine Hence truely comes that notable comlinesse of all their ornaments and the immortall concurrence of goodnesse which they with a most acceptable ingenuity of will doe yeeld to their Creator they out-strip in speed the swiftest shippe sailing on the maine and driven by force of windane oares they out-fly a bullet in the aire sent from the sulphury mouth of a thundring Cannon these most excellent mentall Intelligences most wisely foresee all things with no trouble or interposition of time
which the Prophet said A new name shall be given thee which the mouth of the Lord shall bestow on thee We have changed our accursed name because God hath given us a new name Take heed to your selves take heed who ever you be that you despise none of the faithfull that you disesteeme or reproach them not though he seeme most miserable most abject and most afflicted for let his misery or affliction be as great as may be yet is he the Almighty Gods Anointed the Prophet of the most holy the Priest of the most High yea he is himselfe a king of most great Majesty Yee are Prophets O Christians therefore let the Word of God dwell plentifully in you with all wisdome teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymnes and spirituall songs singing unto the Lord with grace in your hearts Ye are Priests ye Christians therefore I beseech you my brethren by the mercies of God that you give up your bodies a living and a holy sacrifice and acceptable to God by your reasonable service of him and be not fashioned like this world but be yee changed through the renewing of your mindes that ye may discerne what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God Ye are Kings O Christians be not therefore servants of sin or be subject to the boyling affections of the flesh but mortifie your sinnes tame your lusts nor prostitute your dignity to a most base and impure servitude Extoll your Christ because all your eminencie all your worth all your grace and all your glory proceedeth from him As the rivers do flow from the sea and flow back againe into the same so let your eminency dignity grace and glory be directed disposed of and referred to the authour and giver thereof Call upon Christ O ye Christians because though you be anointed yet may that ointment be overwhelmed defiled and wiped off by the filth of your sinnes and the durt of your corruptions ye carry heavenly gifts in brittle vessels pray that they be not broken and your graces spilt pray that no wind may extinguish your flame that your oyle faile you not and yee be left in darknesse with the foolish virgins Love your Christ yee Christians because he is anointed that you might be anointed because he is a King that hath all the inhabitants of the earth for his subjects because he is a Priest that hath expiated all the sinnes of the whole world because he is a Prophet that doth instruct all the ignorant doth enforme them and teacheth them the right way to life Love Christ you Christians because the most apparant manifestation of a thankfull mind consisteth not in words but works not in promises but in obedience But to the end you may more fully consider your dignity the birth of a Christian is to be weighed God is his Father in heaven the Church is his mother upon the earth The Word of God to be heard and seene is the seed that is the Word preached this is the administration of the Sacraments Yee are borne againe not of corruptible seed but incorruptible by the Word of God that lives and abideth for evermore The Father of lights hath begotten you by the Word of his truth The Churches are the wombe where the seed of the heavenly Word is scattered and in which the eternall Father and our mother the Church doe meet together The heart of man is the matter of this generation the privation is the mortification of the old Adam the forme is the vivification it selfe whence doth arise the assent of the understanding and confidence of the will that the sonne of wrath may become the sonne of grace the blinde may see the deafe may heare the dumbe may speake the lame walke the leaper be cleansed and life may be restored to the dead The time of this formation is when a Christian doth more and more profit in knowledge of the understanding and holinesse in the heart the carrying in the wombe is when in our whole life by meanes of the vessels of the wombe and navell that is by the ministers of the Word he attracteth to himselfe the milke of saving knowledge from the two breasts of the Church the Law and the Gospell and as an Embrion lives in the wombe so he lives in the Word Hee is a brute creature and more silly than a beast that doth not admire that a childe in the wombe should be preserved alive in so darke a prison in so uncleane streights among so many filths corruptions excrements wrapped in filmes and crowded by the bowels but it is farre more to be wondred at that any Christian should be supported amidst so many griefes paines torments snares and calamities For about the wombe wherein we are carried the World cries I will slay him the Flesh cries I will infect him the Devill cries I will deceive him Wee must there lie hid where there is much malice where is little wisdome where all things are viscous and slimie all things hid in darknesse and beset with snares where the soules are in danger the bodies are afflicted where all things are vanity and vexation of Spirit and yet for all this we live and are preserved we live and are not killed we are nourished and not in want we are carried in the wombe and are not abortive we are sustained and are in want of nothing The Embrion in the mothers wombe lives a hidden life he lives indeed in the world but is not seene with the eyes of any he sends forth his breath but scarce draws any in we also Embrions of regeneration lead a hidden life For though we live in the kingdome of heaven yet our glory and desireable life doth not as yet make any great shew we yet behold not the light of eternall blessednesse we yet draw not the aire of the region of Paradise we yet eat not the Angelicall Manna we yet drinke not of the heavenly liquour but have as it were but a light taste of al these things and we have scarce any sensible breathing of these things But the houre is at hand and the time will come that it shall be made manifest what we shall be wherein we shall beginne and never end this glorious light this life not of hope but of the things hoped for even the life of vision We shal begin this life when we die for then begin we to be borne to the true light when we first put off our mortality For the true birth day of Christians is their day of death In death they do begin to live through death they enter into life as the infant lies sighing at the port of the wombe expecting his passage and though he be even at deaths threshold yet is he conveyed into the haven of life O living death of Christians O Christian sonne of God brother of Christ companion of the Angels Lord of the world partaker of the divine nature O Christian exalted above sin and the law
what Saint Paul said We brought nothing into this world and we know that we can carry nothing away from thence and therefore let us be content with our food and cloathing but those that will bee rich fall into temptations and snares and many foolish lusts which afflict and drowne the sons of men in ruine and destruction Pray with Agur the son of Jakeh I have desired two things of thee O God deny them not unto me as long as I live remove farre from me vanity and lyes give me neither poverty nor riches let me be nourished with the meat of mine owne table lest being over full I lye against thee and say who is the Lord or being poore I should steale and so abuse the Name of my God Bee grieved more for Gods dishonour than thine owne if thou sufferest wrong beare it patiently and thou shalt overcome it yet thou mayest say my reputation is stained shall I endure it Why not suffer and thy reputation will be soone repaired he that shall at length even in the last day restore unto thee thy putrified body shall restore to thee thy credit if thou be angry and enraged and teare thy selfe what shall all these turmoiles profit thee Nothing is more pleasing to thy enemie than to see thee by thy rage to be in such a confusion Rather pray for thine enemies that they be fellow-heires with thee of eternall life and fellow-chaunters of thy Fathers praises in his heavenly Kingdome The more others extoll thee the more doe thou humble thy selfe in thine owne eyes nor please thy selfe with such vanities They that esteeme lightly of earthly things are magnified and extolled by the Angels of heaven proceed sincerely rightly and innocently in every of thy actions nor too earnestly take care for the things thou hast not Think no sin little for there is none so light if any may bee said light but it may bring upon thee great plagues everlasting death therefore deplore thy least sinnes and pray without ceasing for the bettering of thy life Think how short thy life is if any seriously consider what ever belongeth to us he shall see they vanish from us like birds in the aire and wee also by our perpetuall motion are carried beyond those transitory things but that which is worst no remedy can be found against this for these things fall out thus by the law of Nature for the things of this life are a dreame a smoake and impostures this is our life O men that lead a fleeting life such is the Scene upon the earth that wee must be borne ere we could have a being and as soone as we are borne wee are againe dissolved to nothing Wee are a dreame that lasts not an apparition that cannot be laid hold on a flight of a bird that is gone the passage of a ship in the sea that leaves behind no impression dust a vapour morning dew a flowre that hath his time to blow and time to wither the dayes of man are as grasse and shall flourish but like the flowre of the field Think therefore alwayes what manner of life thou hast not how long it may last make haste to live well and think every day is another life let us extend our life whose office and argument is action let us not place the goodnesse of our life in the length of it but in the use of it For it may come to passe yea it often happens so that he who hath lived long hath lived little his life is most long in the whole extent whereof he hath been at leasure for himselfe and yet no part thereof hath lyen waste or idle Life is like a Play it skils not how long it is but how well it was acted not he that hath sung much to the Harpe nor he that hath made many prayers or hath steered many ships is to be commended but he that hath performed these things for Beauty is to be placed in Vertue and a seasonable moderation not in length of dayes In every thing we see the Priority to bee yeelded to maturity and perfection not to their old-age For amongst the Plants those are accompted the best which beare most fruit in the shortest time and amongst the living creatures those from whom we receive most commodities for our lives in the shortest time We conclude therefore that a short time well and innocently spent is farre to be preferred before a sinfull long life CONTEMP c. 35. Of necessary rules to lead a holy life concerning our words HEare and obey these things O man which I shall utter touching thy words weigh well continually with thy selfe that saying of our Saviour I say unto you that of every idle word that the sonnes of men shall speake they shall give an account for in the day of judgement and that also which the most wise Salomon also affirmes in the multitude of words there will not cease to be sin Fly therefore idle and slothfull words which have repentance treading upon their heeles and ill successe at their elbowes Examine what thou art to propose and what to answer As long as thy word is within the fence of thy teeth it is thine own but as soon as it is escaped it is his that receives it How foule and uncomely a thing is it if thy unbrideled tongue breaking the bounds of modesty shall cause thee to blush for shame Let therefore thy words be few and weighty and seasoned with salt and mark in the delivery what is worthy and what in them is unworthy of thee Chiefly vaunt of nothing for truth which thou knowest not to be true nor give thy selfe over to receive vaine reports Such a tongue is a monster more changeable than any Proteus that fils the world with fables doth often in sports cause tragedies to be acted amongst men it encreaseth in its progresse and for the most part relates things to be greater than they are and cannot abstain from telling of lies in relating a truth and although it doth onely utter trifles and toyes yet sometimes is it in the place of a thousand witnesses As the hand of a foole doth leave a token of his folly deciphered upon every wall it passeth by so such a tongue filleth all mens eares with rumours and stories but whether they be true or false it careth not A mouse scarce peeps out of any cranny but it is presently at hand and like a midwife receives this issue and makes it presently grow bigge and that it may shew the fairer cloaths it in most large vestments so he forces rumours upon every one he meets as being fresh and new yea as a true story though for the most part it hath scarce any truth in it So is falshood in very short time divulged thorow the world Whosoever heares a report coynes and addes something to that he hath heard what either credulity or ornament shal perswade him too Behold the stories which doe at length put off
up mischiefe to thy selfe or make a friend become thine enemy That which thou wouldest have secret keepe thou it secret and reveale it to no man yet remember God can see thorow the thickest clouds Finde no fault with others but looke to thy selfe Avoid biting reprovers and obscene jesters yet if at any time thou wilt jest civilly propose three things to thy selfe first abuse not the phrase of Scripture to make up thy jest and so defile thy religion what canst thou imagine that God thinks when he sees and heares such things among Christians that professe his name that would be thought wiser than others and yet account this for no sinne That I may not speake of the grievous offence that many take hereat and that they are troubled and made sad with the worst sort of scandall who cannot afterwards read or heare Gods Word or pray with the same devotion they were wont before to doe very nature it selfe also teacheth us that we ought not to deale so ridiculously negligently and idly in so grave and holy words He that consulteth with his own conscience finds they be such obscenities foolish bablings and ribauldry that are not fitting for Christians Secondly let not thy jesting weaken Christian charity Thirdly let them not violate honesty and chastitie Never speak of God but with feare and reverence and as it were in his presence who is most present every where For seeing we are not worthy to take his holy Name in our mouthes much lesse decent is it for us to profane it with our lips it is a sure signe of a wicked mind to use Gods Name upon all light occasions Pray therefore with David Let the words of my mouth and meditations of my heart be acceptable before thee Be finally sparing in commending any man but ready to salute any one gentle in giving respect courteous in admonishing mercifull in pardoning faithfull in performing thy promises ready to requite good neither convert thou the reward of vertue into a gift of courtesie CONTEMP c. 36. Of rules necessarie to lead a godly life touching our Actions HEarken and be obedient O man touching thy deeds doe no evill though thou mayest doe it for the least sins except they be seriously repented of are not suffered to goe unpunished Let it not grieve thee to doe good doe nothing against thy vocation if thou begin any thing in the first place pray earnestly unto God for his assistance then set confidently upon thy worke and leave the issue thereof to God if thou undertake any thing in thy vocation trust to Gods providence though the meanes thou usest seeme insufficient unto thee and if they offer themselves as it were unto thy hands of their own accord resolve that they are offered thee from God yet place not greater hope in them than in God but beseech him mercifully to blesse those meanes have a heavenly minde in earthly things and doe what thou art able commit the rest to the guidance of the most holy Trinity never use unlawfull meanes for that can bring no gaine with it that brings destruction to the soule For this end labour constantly that thy conscience be pure before God and man If at any time thou be enticed to sin think Satan lodgeth neare thee and that it is a reproachfull thing for the sonnes of men that are so well beloved of God and so gently dealt with by him to gratifie so uncleane a spirit to the dishonour and reproach of thy God To the reproach I say of thy God because every voluntary sinne is a reproach offered to God No Prince will endure this of thee and how shall God suffer who is a God of all Majesty and Glory that a reproach offered to his Majesty so often renewed and so often with securitie committed against him shall goe unpunished As often as we commit sin by a deliberate counsell against our conscience we doe in a sort consult of it before though we oftentimes doe not marke and perceive it on one scale we put the profit pleasure or delight of sin in the other our losse the wrath of God and our offences against him What madnesse is it now what perversenesse what malice what reproach to prefer a moment before eternitie a drop before the Ocean one graine of sand before a mountain our owne lusts before the incomparable Omnipotencie and Majestie of God Dost thou not O man as often as thou sinnest strike as it were the infinite God with thy paricidiall hand Aske continually thy conscience these two things whether if any such thing befall thee thou art to be acquitted What if thou shalt doe any such thing in the very day wherein all the world must receive its doome Whether thou canst give an answer to the universall Judge when thou shalt be forced to give a reason for all thy Actions Remember Joseph that thought that God saw what no man could perceive God is just hee shall draw thy sins to the light that thou hast committed in secret When David defiled Bathseba by his unlawfull lying with her Who saw his adultery but God Hee brought forth his secret pleasures to the view of all Israel and will also at length discover thy wickednesse unto all men Satan is subtill even in this one thing that by flattering thy selfe thou mayst accompt thy selfe but a small sinner and so may draw thee into his net but if thou desire to avoid sin shun the occasion of sinning let that which is good please thee for Gods sake and let God please thee for his own sake if God favour thee feare no mans persecution God shall make thine enemie thy friend or shall so temper him that he shall doe thee but little hurt no man can be overcome by his enemie but he who was first overcome by sin and so made himselfe hatefull unto God Deprive no man of the respect that is due unto him yet alwaies reckon with thy selfe that respect is more due to godlinesse than to greatnesse if God increase thy substance in this life think it is a spur of thy thankfulnesse and an incitement to desire those heavenly things and an exhortation to pietie neither be proud either of thy externall or internall gifts for outward things as they seldome happen or come unto thee so they fall off speedily depart from thee God gave thee indeed thy inward graces yet hee can take them from thee before thou be aware if any abuse them and forget God the giver of them It may be thou hast many vertues and it may be thou art disfigured by many vices that doe displease him more than the others doe please him It is not enough that others commend thee except thine owne conscience doe approve thee no fame is perpetuall but that which ariseth from godlinesse We reade no where in Gods Booke that an hypocrite was ever converted and what wonder for whereas the conversion of sinners is a meanes to turne from sin what meanes of
Lord imputeth not sin Rejoyce in the Lord ô ye righteous for praise becommeth the Just taste and see for the Lord is sweet Blessed is the man that hopeth in him Blesse the Lord ô my soule and all that is within me praise his holy Name who is mercifull to all thy iniquities and healeth all thy infirmities who hath redeemed thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with mercy and pity His goodnesse and mercy shall follow me all the dayes of my life and I shall dwell in the House of the Lord for evermore I desire and beseech thee ô God by the death of thine owne son give me thy Spirit to purifie my heart and with his grace to strengthen me that by mine own unadvisednesse I fall not thither whence by thy mercy I have been called Create in me ô God a new heart and renew a firme spirit within me restore unto me the joy of thy Salvation and uphold me by thy free spirit Wash mee daily by pardoning my daily offences translate me from the fennes of this age and the mud of this present life to the excellent kingdome of thy glory where is neither scab nor blindnesse nor doth any one suffer any uncleane issue of blood nor is any one uncleane where is no farther need of a lavacre thy glorious body being joyned unto our body Thou must needs fulfill thy promise made and both finish and confirme the good worke thou hast begun in me through Christ our only Lord and Saviour Amen CONTEMP c. 40. Of the worthy preparation to the holy Sacrament I Will make an entrance unto the Altar of God even to the God that maketh my youth rejoyce Laying aside the garments of my inveterate iniquity I will renew my youth like an Eagle and hasten to approach that heavenly banquet A plentifull and delicate banquet is prepared which is a medicine to the sicke a way to those that wander a banquet that comforteth the weake delights those that are in health cures sicknesse preserves health a banquet that makes a man more pliant to reproofe more patient to labour more zealous to love more wise to warinesse more ready to obedience more devout to thanksgiving a banquet by which our daily sinnes are forgiven the powers of Satan expelled strength given to undertake even martyrdome it selfe finally a banquet by which all good things are brought unto thee because a man partaking of it doth even become the same thing he receives This banquet compared with Ahasuerus his banquet relisheth farre above it compare it with the table spread in the Wildernesse for the children of Israel and it refresheth thee far more For though that Table contained in it the figure of this our Eucharist when God rained downe Manna for our Fathers in the Wildernesse and they were daily fed with food from heaven and men did eat Angels bread yet they that did eat that bread did die but this living bread that is set before thee in this costly banquet did come from heaven and hath given life to the world That Manna came from heaven this from above the heavens That being reserved to the next day was full of worms this is free from all corruption whosoever shall religiously taste thereof shall not see corruption That was given the Fathers after their passage over the red sea where the Egyptians were drowned and the Israelites were delivered so this heavenly Manna can profit none but the regenerate That corporall bread sustained the ancient people in their passage thorow the Wildernesse to the Land of promise this heavenly food sustaines the faithfull of these times in their passage to heaven Moses was Master of their Table and here Christ is ready at hand who hath furnished this Table and blessed it For it is not man that makes the bread and wine set on this Table to be the body and blood of Christ but Christ himselfe that is crucified for us words are uttered by the Priests mouth but the things set before thee are consecrated by the power of Christ who used these words unto his Disciples This is my Bodie this is the Cup of the New Testament in my Blood which is shed for you It is Christ in whom doth dwell all the fulnesse of the God-head bodily who is the power of God unto whom is given all power in heaven and earth Hee when hee was to put an end to the Ceremonies of the Law would prepare for himselfe the Passeover and before he would be condemned to death and be nailed to the Crosse he was pleased according to the solemnitie to celebrate the Passeover the roasted lambe unleavened bread and sowre herbs When this Supper was so prepared amidst these sacramentall dainties both the old and also the new institutions offered themselves to him and having eaten the Lambe that the old tradition did set before them This great Master sets before his Disciples a meat not to be consumed nor are here the people invited to a banquet made exquisite both by cost and paines but the nourishment of immortality is given them differing from common food keeping the forme of a corporeall substance but by the invisible efficacie of the divine power working in us and proving Gods especiall presence accompanying it Come hither yee faithfull soules refresh and recollect your selves cheere and fill your selves joyne in one by your faith your remembrance of Christ with the application of his merits with hearty thanksgiving for your deliverance made through his blood receive the pledge testimony and assurance of your holy communion and fellowship with Christ your Head and by him with the Father and the Holy Ghost also encrease cherish comfort and hold fast the faith of the remission of your sins your faith is imperfect perfect it not only by the hearing of the Word preached but by using this holy Supper the Word offers but this Supper applies Christ unto us Encourage your selves to the studie of good works How too often are we hindred stopt and grow stupid in performing this work Here Christ keepes us company in exhibiting unto us his bodie and blood hee doth daily more and more mortifie in us the body of sinne and beginne in us the newnesse of a spirituall life performe each to other the offices of concord peace and love for we eat the same flesh we drink the same blood we are nourished with the same food we are refreshed with the same drink we are made one body under the same head but who hath ever seene the members of one and the same body to disagree to strive jarre or contend Cast out rancour pluck up hatred purge out the old leaven The faithfull under the Gospell must not be made of leaven The holy Banquet requires pure and sincere mindes The sweet savour that comes from Christs scorching upon the Crosse doth concoct all crudities of our carnall senses and doth harden and settle the affections of the minde nor let there bee any spot in the Sacrament of
the holy Church but pure simplicity and innocencie of life in one house the holy Catholique Church Christ is offered to the faithfull departing out of Aegypt being cleansed in their affections by his blood in their passage in the red Sea O Jesu Christ our omnipotent Lord God thou Fountaine of life and immortalitie thou Creator of every visible and invisible thing that art the eternall Son of the everlasting Father who of thy abundant goodnesse in the last times didst take our flesh upon thee and wast delivered and crucified for us sinfull and unthankful creatures thou by thine owne blood hast restored our nature corrupted by sin and givest me thy flesh for my food But thou art a fire and consumest those that be unworthy destroy me not my Maker rather come into the union of my members into all my sinewes into my reines into my heart burne up the sting of my sinnes cleanse my soule sanctifie my minde enlighten my five senses glew me firmely to thy selfe in love alwayes protect and defend mee preserve mee from every word and work that may hurt my soule purge cleanse and direct me adorne instruct and make mee famous make mee the temple of thy Spirit only and not the habitation of sinne that being made thy house by the entrance of thy holy Communion all impiety and all evill may fly from mee Let thy holy body be made everlasting Bread unto mee Mercifull Lord let thy precious blood become a remedy of sundry diseases unto me fearfull and wicked wretch that I am defiled with absurd works I am unworthy of thy pure body and heavenly blood O Christ doe thou make me worthy to be partaker of thee give me O Christ the drops of teares to wash my filthy heart that having a pure conscience I may come in faith and feare to receive thy heavenly gifts O most mercifull Saviour let thy unspotted body and divine blood be made unto mee the participation of thy holy Spirit eternall life and a change of my sufferings and miseries Heale the wounds of my soule O Lord and sanctifie me through-out and make mee unworthy wretch worthy to be partaker of thy mysticall divine Supper be it unto thy most vile servant as thou hast promised and remaine in mee as thou hast said For behold I eat thy divine body and doe drink thy blood Thou Word of God and God him selfe let the flame of thy body enlighten me that am all obscurity and let thy blood be also a purgation to my corrupted soule Sanctifie my understanding soule heart and body O my Saviour and make it worthy O Lord to come to these fearfull mysteries without being condemned I shall obtaine new effects and will receive the increase of thy grace and preservation of my life by the participation of thy mysteries O Christ O holy Word of God God himselfe sanctifie mee throughly that am comming to thy divine mysteries Despise mee not O Christ when I receive the bread which is thy body and whilst wretch that I am I am made partaker of thy most pure and fearfull mysteries that they prove not condemnation unto me But let them be unto me O Christ eternall and everlasting life O Christ thou Fountaine of goodnesse let the receiving of thy immortall mysteries become light and life unto me and cause the avoyding of vitious affections and the encrease of heavenly vertues in me O thou only Goodnesse that I may glorifie thee Amen CONTEMP c. 41. Of those things which are to be meditated upon after the receiving of the Sacrament of the Supper LEt thy servant speak thine owne Word in thy eares that thou be not angry with thy servant O Lord my King Thou hast slaine thy Sacrifices thou hast mingled thy wine and prepared thy Table thou hast sent forth thy maydens that they might invite to thy tower of defence that if there were any little one he might come unto thee Thou hast said Goe forth yee daughters of Sion and behold your King crowned with the Crowne wherewith his mother begirt his head in the day of his betrothing in the day of the gladnesse of his heart Thou hast said O Lord unto thy servant Go out quickly into the wayes and streets of the citie and bring in hither both the poore and the weak both the lame and the blind and compell them to come in that my house may bee full I being called came and saw was led in and tasted thou turnedst not thy selfe away from thy servant nor saidst thou Thou shalt not see my face Thou hast shewed thy selfe unto me my Comforter I beheld thee thou Light of mine eyes I felt the joy of spirit and was touched with gladnesse of heart Thou didst prepare great things for me O my Delight and sweet content O Lord my God my Life and sole Glory of my soule I have found thee out O thou Desire of my heart I have held thee fast O thou Love of my soule O let me retaine thee thou Life of my soule I will love thee O Lord my Strength my Castle my Refuge and my Deliverer Let me love thee my God the Tower of my might and my pleasing hope in all my tribulations I will enbrace thee who art that Good without which nothing can be good I will enjoy thee the Best without whom nothing is best I will exalt thee my God and King and will blesse thy Name for ever and ever every day will I praise thee and blesse thy Name for ever and ever The Lord is great and exceedingly to be praised and of his greatnesse there is no end Generation from generation shall praise thy works and shall declare thy power shall speak of the magnificence of the glory of thy holinesse and shall tell of thy wonderfull works They shal break forth in remembrance of thy abundant sweetnesse and shall exult in thy righteousnesse O mercifull and pitifull Lord patient and full of compassion the Lord is sweet to all and his mercies are over all his works All thy works O Lord do praise thee and thy Saints doe blesse thee they speak of the glory of thy Kingdome and tell of thy power for thou art my true and living God my great King my guide to my Countrey my true light my holy sweetnesse my true life my excellent wisdome my pure simplicity my peacefull concord my safe protection my good portion my everlasting safety my great mercy my strongest patience my unspotted Sacrifice my holy Redemption my firme hope my perfect Charity my true Resurrection my life eternall my most happie ever enduring exultation and most blessed vision Thou my God wast pleased for no merits of mine but onely by vouchsafing me thy mercies to satisfie thy unworthy servant with the precious body and blood of thy Sonne our Lord Jesus Christ What manner of food What drink was this O the memoriall of the Lords death What shall I repay unto the Lord for all that he hath bestowed upon me O know
O Lord my King in that thou hast created me I owe my selfe unto thee and in that thou hast redeemed me yea and wast made man for mee I should owe thee more than my selfe if I had it by how much more thou art greater than he is for whom thou hast given thy selfe behold though I have more yet cannot I give thee that I have without thee But doe thou receive me and draw me unto thee that I may become thine by love and imitation as I am thine by creation and redemption Let my life it selfe be thine O Lord I freely offer up my whole selfe unto thee let my whole spirit my whole heart my whole body and my whole life even my sweet life it selfe live unto thee for thou hast wholly delivered me that thou mightest wholly possesse mee thou hast wholly refreshed mee that I might bee wholly thine owne But how canst thou have mee except this holy Communion may not prove a guilt to draw downe punishment upon me but an wholesome intercession to obtaine pardon the armour of faith and shield of good will except it may bee an emptying of my sinnes a banishing of lust and concupiscence an encrease of charity and patience humility and obedience a firme defence against the slights of all our enemies as well visible as invisible a perfect appeasing as well of my carnall as spirituall perturbations a fast cleaving to thee the true and onely God Ah let me obtaine these things of thee who art most mercifull and hast commanded me therefore to pray for them that I might obtaine them and might come to that unspeakable Banquet wherein thou with thy Sonne and the holy Spirit art to thy holy Ones a true Light full Content everlasting Joy perfect Delight and absolute Felicitie Amen CONTEMP c. 42. Of beginning the day holily I Am awaked out of sleep O my soule I shall also one day awake out of the grave which perpetually consider of with thy selfe The Sunne breaks forth of the clouds and day succeeds in the place of night one day also shall break forth the eternall day after the long lasting nights are past and the Sunne of righteousnesse Christ Jesus shall returne with his glorious light whom many thousands of Saints shall accompany shining most beautifully and farre above the brightnesse of our Sun So prepare thy selfe O my soule in this entry that in that day thou maist have admittance into the house it selfe nor that the Sunne may hide his face from thee and thou be involved in thicke darknesse Let no flattering of gaine no invitation of honour nor delight of pleasure so seduce thee that thou lose the gladnesse of that day Let the brute beasts be they that do only behold the light of this our Sun doe thou with the eyes of faith behold the light of that day Remember O man that the devill like a roaring lion walketh about night and day seeking whom he may devoure Dost thou doubt whether he be about thy bed when thou art buried in sleepe and that he then labours to devoure thee but who resisteth him why thou weake wretch art laid prostrate before him It is the onely keeper of Israel that neither slumbers not sleeps that preserveth thee Dost thou heare the cocke crowing thinke upon Peter who though he was eminent in the dignity of being an Apostle and did heare the great Doctor the Son of God yet did he greatly erre What shall become of thee thinkest thou except by thy fervent prayers thou daily stick close unto God Thinke thou hearest that heavenly trumpet which the Angell the Judges companion shall blow and consider how thou couldest stand before that Judge if he were now come and did presently exact thee to appeare before him Remember God is about and in thy bed and by his omnipresence doth looke into all thy thoughts and sees all thy behaviour and actions Call to minde the holy troops of Angels which by night defend thee stand about thee observe thy sleeping and waking and that rejoyce at thy holinesse and grieve at thy ungodlinesse Live therefore so as if thou didst live in the sight of God and his Angels and thus if thou beest wise beleeve thou dost When thou puttest on thy cloaths remember they are the coverings of sinne nor is there any cause thou shouldest be proud of them What I pray is most of our cloaths are they not the rejected things the excrements and spoiles of beasts it is madnesse therefore for a man that is endued with reason to be proud and to brag of the reliques the excrements and spoiles of brute beasts Thou cloathest thy body with a covering but think this more necessary far that thou defend thy soule with the most pure robe of Christs righteousnesse and that thou put it on not by a luke-warme faith He that cloatheth not himselfe in this manner shall be tormented with everlasting cold Ah! with how many precious cloaths have many covered their bodies whose soules remaine cold and naked Consider that Gods mercy and goodnesse are daily renued and that he doth daily as it were bestow a new life upon us whilst he repaires the power of our senses and restores thee the enlivening heat of the Sunne Let therefore no creature divert thy prayers let no thoughts arise in thee before thou hast given God his praises O Omnipotent Lord God that art the Trinity in Unity that art alwayes in all things and hadst thy being from all eternity and shall be alwayes in all things O thou my God take pity upon me that I may speake The house of my soule is straight but doe thou enlarge it that thou mayest come into it it is ruinous but doe thou repaire it There are in it those things which may offend both thine eare and eye I know acknowledge it but who shall make it cleane or to whom else shall I call but to thy selfe Cleanse me O Lord from my hidden offences and pardon me my open sinnes I beleeve and therefore I speake thou knowest it My sinnes doe plead against me before thee pardon me therefore the impiety of my heart and cast my sinnes into the depth of the sea that they confound me not in this world nor condemne me in the world to come O God that art for ever blessed I doe this day and at all times commend unto thee and into thy powerfull hand my soule my body all my thoughts all my affections my words my actions all my outward and inward things my senses and understanding my memory faith and beliefe that thou mightest keepe them day and night houres and minutes Heare me holy Trinity and preserve me from all evill and from all scandall and from all deadly sin and from all the snares and assaults of the devill and from my visible and invisible enemies Expell out of me all boasting of minde and encrease in me contrition of heart lessen my pride and perfect in me true humility give me tendernesse
to weepe and soften my hard and stony heart Teach me O Lord to doe thy will because thou art my God Give me O Lord a heart that may stand in awe of thee a minde to love thee an understanding to know thee eares to hearken to thee eyes to see thee Take pity upon me O God take pity upon me and looke downe upon me from the holy throne of thy Majesty Lord Jesus give concord to thy Ministers peace and quietnesse to Princes that judge righteously repentance unto those that live unjustly I beseech thee O Lord for the holy universall Church for the Clergy and Layety for all Christian Governours and all that beleeve in thy Name that labour in thy holy Word that they may obtaine perseverance in good works Grant O Lord eternall King unto young men chastity to those of riper yeares holinesse and unto all innocency pardon to the repentant succour to the Orphans and Widowes to the poore protection to the travellers a happy returne comfort to them that mourne eternall rest to the faithfull a safe haven to those that rove upon the sea to the better sort of Christians that they may persevere in goodnesse to the weaker sort that they may grow better to them that commit wickednesse and still offend thee that they speedily correct their wayes with me a miserable sinner O most sweet and most mercifull Lord Jesus Christ thou Son of the living God thou Redeemer of the world that art amongst us all and in all things be mercifull to me a sinner Amen CONTEMP c. 43. Of ending the day religiously AS nights and dayes have their returnes so let the thought and celebration of Gods mercy have their returnes in thy heart For therefore are the vicissitudes of light and darknesse granted us that there might be an interchangeable restoring of labour and rest and that each of them might have its fit and appointed time If God would have made the Sunne to stand still there must have beene a perpetuall day Also if the starres had had no motion who can doubt but their must have beene an everlasting night but he gave them motion that there might be changes of nights and dayes and such various motions that there might be mutuall vicissitudes of light and darknesse in which alternate spaces of labour and of rest might appeare unto us Blesse the Lord O my soule that hath appointed the Moone for its determinate seasons and the Sunne to know her going downe that it may be night wherein all beasts of the forrest steale abroad the young Lions roaring after their prey doe seeke their food and when the Sunne ariseth they retire themselves and lay themselves downe in their dens but man goeth forth to his worke and his tillage untill the evening How ample O God are thy works how wisely hast thou made them all how full is the earth of thy possessions Consider well O man what thy work and labour hath beene this day If thy endevours have beene honest ascribe them to God if thou hast learned any good impute it to God but if thou hast done any evill and hast offended either God or thy neighbour humbly crave pardon for it nor sleepe the sleepe of oblivion or security with thy sinnes upon thee That is an accursed and darksome night in which thou goest to bed without reconciling thy selfe unto God Cast up thy reckoning and wipe out thy scores being to account with thy God and if thou finde thy account faire which alas seldome or never fals out give praises to the Lord but if it appeare soule cast thy selfe groveling at the feet of thy Lord and implore his unspeakable mercy that if thou wert even this night to be called to his judgement seat thou mightest by it be excused If thou have moved any man to anger and indignation desire his pardon nor let the Sunne set under this troubled cloud If he forgive thee beware afterwards but if he refuse thee pardon faile not earnestly to begge of God forgivenesse of thy offence And thou doe that willingly to another that thou wouldest have another doe to thee Revenge not thine owne quarrell for God hath reserved vengeance to himselfe Surely he must needs be accounted very bold that dares wrest Gods sword out of his hand The Heathens were wont to doe this when the day was ended and they retired themselves to their rest they asked their soule what wound of it was that day healed what vice it had resisted in what part it was growne better Let anger cease and it will be more temperate let thy soule know that she must daily come before her Judge What shouldest thou that art a Christian thinke of is not thy soule also a secret searcher and censurer of thee she knowes thy manner she retires into the closet of her thoughts and sees what she hath secretly wished for O heavenly Lord to whose bottomlesse goodnesse and infinite kindnesse we owe all things that hast given the most cleare light of the day as well to the bad as to the good to undertake the works of their calling and hast lovingly afforded us the friendly silence of the night to refresh the strength of our bodies and to wipe out the cares of the minde I beseech thee that those things which I have this day committed either through humane negligence or inbred malice may for thy unspeakable mercies sake be forgiven me and vouchsafe unto me also that this night by thy blessing may be happy unto me and thou being my pure keeper and protector I may be free in it from the nightly illusions of the devill that my sleepe make both my body and soule more cheerfull the next day to serve thee And because in this life there is not an houre wherein we can assure our selves from the cōming of that evening when thou shalt come and the dead be raised at the sounding of thy holy Angels trumpet I beseech thee that thou wilt enlighten the eyes of my soule that my faith may not bee extinguished and I sleepe in everlasting death but that I may rest in thee in whom even the dead do live who livest and raignest for ever more Amen CONTEMP c. 44. Of Death the last Judgement Hell and Happinesse IN all thy words remember thy last things and thou shalt never sin no artificiall medicine nor any doctrine doth so overcome pride so conquer malice so quench lust or so trample upon the vanities of this world as the remembrance of our last things What are those our last things let others here dispute what they be but let the godly weigh the matter diligently with themselves thy Death the last Judgement the glory of Heaven the paines of Hell these are the things thou must meditate of What comes more suddenly and when we lesse think of it than Death We die daily for part of our life is daily diminished and even while we encrease doth our life grow lesse the time that passeth away
those consuming fires The wicked might beare it if it could be so gently dealt with him that Aetna might be his place of torment that the Vultures might continually gnaw his liver that the Spiders might weave Cobwebs in this throat that he might bee nourished with aconit that he might be tormented with boiling pitch that he might drink nought but dragons blood that hee might bee fed with glowing coales that his body might bee cloathed with a perpetuall scurfe that he might be broiled on a gridiron that he might be peirced with speares bee bound to a stake to bee burnt that hee might bee pluckt in pieces by wild horses that hee might be choaked with brimstone that hee might bee stretched on the wrack that he might be continually pining to death for want of meat and drink that hee might bee butchered with pugniards that wicked wretch might suffer this end for a thousand yeares continuance yea for thousand of thousands added to that thousand if there might be hope at length of an end of tormenting How great soever a torment or torture be or how great a vexation yet a hoped for end doth make them easier to be borne of us it is the eternity of them that doth truly wrack and torture us It is that that makes the paines of hell it is that that makes plagues to be plagues indeed that gathers all punishments into one and does not only double but infinitely multiply the flames thereof Alas alas what is Eternity What Geometry can measure it It is not dayes or months or yeares that can set a period to it not hundreds of thousand revolutions of times not millions of millions of Olympiades Yet the passage to this never ending eternity is wrought by the flying unstablenesse of a few dayes The sun riseth and setteth but they that come to this do never returne here the beginning is the end and the end the beginning O life worse than any death O perpetuall dying without a death thou shall be hurried thither who ever thou art that doest here glut thy soule with pleasures that doest follow after the corruptions of thy flesh that givest unto a harlot thy members which Christ hath redeemed with his blood that stretchest thy throat with quaffing and stuffest thy paunch with gluttonous eating For what shall that fire devoure but thy sins The more thou sinnest the more fuell thou storest to be consumed of that fire there are many descents thither but never an ascent from thence he that once falls thither must alwayes abide there and is lost without any hope of succour He that is once numbred amongst the inhabitants of heaven shall alwayes rejoyce and he that is once joyned in company with the furies of hell shall alwayes be affrighted The joys of the blessed soules shall be without number or measure the torments of the accursed soules shall bee without metes and bounds without meane or remedy After yeares infinite and without number are passed they are still compelled to thinke that these are but only the beginnings of punishments One houre of punishment there shall be more grievous to us than a hundred yeares spent here in repentance the coales shall not there be dead but glowing no abatement but increase of heate The punishments shall increase the punishers shall be exasperated the place of torment shall be enlarged and the number of the tormentors increased Let the citizens of Heaven rejoyce and let those above for ever live let the damned for ever mourn those in hell for ever be dying Tread the path to heaven while it is open run in that way while it lyes faire before thee the path shall be shut up and the way destroyed if thou once go out of it dogs shall teare the Goates but God shall refresh the Lambes the Hawke shall prey upon the Crowes but God shall preserve his Doves Whilst the guest of Heaven is filled with delight and gladnesse what can bee set before those that lament in filth and corruption let those that are there famished beg for crums for fragments to stop their querulous throats they shall not receive their miserable complaints They shall be commanded for ever to drinke their owne teares and to coole their throats with the continuall waters flowing from their eyes their drinke shall be a torrent of griefe that shall never grow dry a fire in which they are consumed a pitcher of gall shall bee mixed with their teares which shall neither bee drawn dry or broken insunder the gall shall flow continually and the guest shall continually bee urged to drinke Ah! how much better would it be to thirst for ever than continually to be destroyed with this drinke and perpetually to groane and tremble If thou once enter in thou shalt never get out if the enemy of the blessed doe once get possession of thee hee will be for ever thine host first thou shalt be presented with dainties afterward expect as long as thou wilt thou shalt ne-never see any this table shall be alwayes furnished and never empty of ill meates to morrow to morrow thou shall suppose it may be better but every moment shall be as to day To day as thou readest or hearest these things ruminate diligently thereon and repent fervently nor expect or thinke thou will call to morrow for mercy O eternity he is lost for ever that is not alwayes mindfull of eternity O man O soule of man who hath both reason and meditation granted her if the love of God cannot lay hold of thee yet let at least the feare of the judge the horrour of the grave the snares of death the paines hell the burning fire the gnawing worme the stinking brimstone the scortching flames and all other evils and the eternity of them restraine and keepe thee in awe for the space of eternity is so great that if any damned wretch should drop but one teare every thousand yeares from his eyes yet would those teares come to be more water before that space should have an end than the whole world could contein O Eternity FINIS A Table of the Contemplations Sighs and Groans of a Christian 1OF the greatnesse of Gods love pag. 1 2 Of the originall nobility of man and his falling away from it pag. 4 3 Of mans departure from God the deceits of the devill of Gods omnipresence and clemencie pag. 8 4 Of the councell of the Trinity concerning mans Creation and of the end of his Creation pag. 13 5 Of Paradise and of casting forth of man from thence pag. 19 6 Of the Serpent the deceiver pag. 24 7 Of Gods Providence and Preservation pag. 30 8 Of the cloathing of Adam the first man pag. 38 9 Of Noahs Arke Crow and Dove pag. 42 10 Of Jacobs Ladder pag. 46 11 Of the most tender care of God over his people to be collected from his care for his people Israel in the Wildernesse pag. 50 12 Of the Tabernacle of the children of Israrel of the Cloud wherein Gods especiall presence was manifested of the Mercy Seat Of the Arke of the Manna and of Aarons Rod. pag. 62 13 Of the Conception of Christ pag. 66 14 Of Christs Nativity pag. 72 15 Of the Name Jesus pag. 79 16 Of Christ and of our Circumcision pag. 87 17 Of the Passion of Christ pag. 92 18 Of the first and second Word of our Lord spoken upon the Crosse pag. 104 19 Of the third and fourth Word of Christ uttered upon the Crosse pag. 110 20 Of the fifth Word of Christ uttered upon the Crosse pag. 115 21 Of Christs sixth Word uttered upon the Crosse pag. 119 22 Of the seventh and last Word of Christ uttered upon the Crosse pag. 124 23 Of the opening of Christs side pag. 129 24 Of Christs buriall pag. 133 25 Of Christs Resurrection pag. 137 26 Of Christs Ascention pag. 144 27 Of the sending downe of the holy Ghost pag. 150 28 Of the mystery of the Trinity pag. 157 29 Of shunning curiosity in t ings not revealed unto us pag. 163 30 Of the custody of Angels pag. 171 31 Of Baptisme pag. 179 32 Of a Christians practice pag. 186 33 Of the true dignity of a Christian pag. 193 34 Of necessary Rules to lead a godly life concerning our thoughts pag. 207 35 Of necessary Rules to lead a holy life concerning our words pag. 115 36 Of Rules necessary to lead a godly life touching our Actions pag. 225 37 Of the exceeding number of Gods benefits and of mans contempt of them by the multitude of his sinnes pag. 234 38 Of the greatnesse and foulnesse of our sinnes and of the Confession of them pag. 355 39 Of Gods readinesse to forgive sinnes and our thankesgiving for the forgivenesse of them pag. 258 40 Of the worthy preparation te the holy Sacrament pag. 261 41 Of those things which are to be meditated upon after the receiving of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper pag. 269 42 Of beginning the day holily pag. 274 43 Of ending the day religiously pag. 280 44 Of Death the last Judgement Hell and Happinesse pag. 284 45 Of Eternity pag. 289 FINIS