the Children get up and come into the house when they please We do indeed read of the hour of Prayer but it is hard to say which hour it was or if we could Where is the Divine Authority the stamp of God for the observation of it But the Lord's day is certain known commanded to be observed They that then ordinarily prefer the management of worldly business before the worship of God appear to be Lovers of the world I know we must allow here for the works of necessity and mercy these are to take place of the Sabbath The preservation of Life though it be but of a Beast is an act of mercy which God himself prefers before Sacrifice and so did the Lord of the Sabbath by his example teach us to do A Physician is excusable in travelling to relieve his Patient so that it be in the sight of God rather in merciful Care than worldly Covetousness But if the expectation and desire of a Fee be most predominant it is in vain to pretend necessity God shall find it out before him it will bear them out but badly to plead The Law allow'd it But who shall excuse the Lawyers and other men that travel Journies upon ordinary occasions and upon business of light moment and violate the Lord's day to save a little money or a little labor or for more convenient dispatch of worldly business To contrive to take a Sermon in their way to be at Church at such a place by such an hour I doubt will not salve the matter before a jealous God Christ says Ye cannot serve God and Mammon But these ingenious Worldlings have found out a way to do it They can travel a good days journey of 20 or 30 miles perhaps and yet contrive to be at some Church twice the same day Then they say to God Lo there is that which is thine the rest is my own Why may I not make the best use of it Thus they divide the day betwixt God and the world But whether he that requires a whole day for his service will accept such partnership viderint illi it is good to consider well of it MEDITAT XXXVIII Of Worldly Confidence AFter Injustice comes worldly Confidence to be condemn'd Trust and Confidence is a part of Worship Worldly Confidence therefore is Idolatry Yea it is Blasphemy to rest in and upon the Creature inasmuch as God alone is the Rest of Souls and the Confidence of the Ends of the Earth To confide in the duration of Riches is a piece of Foolery because they are winged and so uncertain Thou Fool this night c. But this is not the Folly that I mean To trust in Riches to râ—pose ones self upon them therefore to account our selves happy or safe because we have them to rejoice mainly in them crying Be merry Thou hast Goods laid up for many years This is the worldly Confidence that God has so often cursed baffled and forbidden God shall destroy thee for ever sayes the Psalmist Psal 52. The righteous shall laugh at him saying Lo this is the man that made not God his strength but trusted in the abundance of his riches Job reckons it amongst the highest of wickednesses to say to Gold Thou art my Hope or to the fine Gold Thou art my confidence Job 31. 24. They that trust in Riches Riches shall not profit them either to bribe the Enemy who shall despise their Silver and Gold as the Prophet speaks or to purchase health in time of sickness strength and swiftness shall not avail God will baffle these by making the Enemy swifter and stronger to pursue Ye said we will ride upon the swift therefore shall they that pursue you be swift Isa 30. 16. Charge them that are rich in this world that they do not trust in uncertain riches says the Apostle Lord what a strange thing is Man He must not only be admonish'd but charg'd Why what 's the matter That he do not trust in Riches uncertain Riches Why if they be uncertain there is no danger of trusting in them Yes they are uncertain and he knows it yet he must be charg'd not to trust in them It were endless to give an account of the disappointments of those that have rely'd upon and thought themselves safe in their temporal Prosperity and worldly Riches out of Sacred and Prophane History or of the Princes of the Earth that have been miserably befool'd with the number and strength of Men Horses and Ships wherein they have confided more than in the Lord of Hosts MEDITAT XXXIX Of Covetousness or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I Will now consider of Covetousness which is an undue desire of worldly wealth This desire is undue by the kind of the wealth or by the degree of the desire And so we are covetous either when we lust after that which is another mans or intemperately desire worldly wealth of our own though we use no indirect means to obtain it The first of these is that Covetousness directly aimed at in the Tenth Commandment called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it is a sort of invading of another Mans Right There is a good Covetousness a coveting earnestly the best Gifts but this improperly called Covetousness For to speak properly we are not to covet the Gifts and Graces that are in other men although in themselves they are covetable yet as they are other mens they are not the object of our desires There may be a bad desire of a good thing Evil Covetousness is of earthly things and it supposes an impotent and worldly mind and an over-high valuation of earthly things it argues us to be led by our Senses and not by right Reason This Covetousness is a kind of spiritual Adultery Not only he that looks upon his Neighbors Wife but he that looks upon his Neighbors House or Land or Goods to covet them is guilty of worldly Love and that is spiritual Adultery A sin little regarded I doubt but certainly very dreadful The first unchaste glances of the Eye towards any thing that is our Neighbors is forbidden and it becomes us to be offended at them to make haste to suppress them to repent of them But if we allow them to grow up into wilful and steddy desires they are that predominant Love of the World that the Apostle tells us is so pernicious See what severe notice God takes of this kind of Covetousness how he visited it in Eve who coveted an evil Covetousness to her Posterity in Achan and Ahab who coveted an evil Covetousness to their own Houses There is no Man that is over-greedy of having but will sometimes desire to have what is none of his own If this be the standing Maxim Oportet habere We must have it will follow Unde habeat quaerit nemo It is no matter how he comes by it They deceive themselves that excuse their Covetousness by saying I covet nothing of yours I desire nothing but mine
and many of our Scholars think of themselves if ever they think of themselves and what opinion they have of their own temper and inclination who from Week to Week spend more than a moiety of their days in Sports and Recreations in needless Visits impertinent Confabulations and either in doing Ill or doing Nothing or doing that which is nothing to their purpose nothing serving to their general or special calling They cannot imagine sure that by saying a Prayer or reading a Chapter in the morning they have purchas'd all the rest of the day to their own use as the Jews got the remainder of the Fields and of the Flocks by offering up the First-fruits and the First-born or that by beginning in the Spirit they have obtained a Licence to go on and end in the Flesh One would think it that a Christian Preacher should make as much Conscience of his time as an Heathen Painter and allow Nulla Dies sine Linca No Day without a Line to be a good Motto It is certainly a weak Argument that because Men have good Estates and need not Work nor Trade to maintain themselves that therefore God does require no business at all of them but that their time is their own And as for those that are in a Clerical Capacity methinks the Children of this World who act at a more industrious rate should shame the Children of Light or the Lights of the World let them call themselves by what name they please out of that silly fancy that because they have got a little Learning therefore they need study no more or because they can make a Sermon in one day of a Week and preach it on another that therefore the other five are their own to play with Amongst the Worldly Gamesters the unseasonable make up as great a number as the unrightcous or intemperate I reckon those unseasonable Gamesters who purloin from the Lords-day to bestow in Sports and Recreations I will not enter into the Controversie about the Morality of the Sabbaths nor the certain Right of Succession that the Lords day hath to the Holy Rest of the Seventh day but I do believe that the Conscience of a good man is the best Casuist in this matter And that every such man in the World doth think it reasonable to appropriate some certain time to the more immediate and solemn Worship of God and that no such man will grudge a seventh part of his time to so good a matter who gives him all the rest and that there are many such men who are so far from grudging God one day in a Week that they had rather every day in the Week and every Week in the Year and every Year of their Lives could be directly spent in the service of that God to whom they owe all they have and in communion with whom and therein I place the true Celebration of a Sabbath their true and proper happiness doth consist And I am of opinion with Mr. Hales and many other good men That Religion doth prosper or decay in Church Family or single Soul proportionably as the Christian Sabbath is observed or neglected It seems that there are some Pleasures allow'd us in general which are therefore call'd our own Isa 58. 13. which yet we are required to refrain from on God's Holy-day And I see no reason he has to complain for want of Recreation on the Sabbath to whom the Sabbath it self is the greatest Recreation which I pray God it may be to all that pretend to a predominant love of the Father As for those Conscientious Sensualists who use Sports on the Lords-day to prove that they are no Jews the end may be good possibly but the method that they take will I doubt indifferently serve to prove that they are no good Christians neither Besides these there are other Worldly Gamesters who indulge themselves in Sports and Pleasures in a time of Publick Calamity or Danger whom the Prophet Amos describes Amos 16. in the beginning and God threatens above all sorts of men that I read of except those that blaspheme the Holy Ghost saying That their iniquity shall not be purged from them till they dye Isa 22. 14. In short It is the Character of true Israelites that they cannot make merry when Jerusalem is oppressed Psal 137. and by the Rule of Contraries it is a Symptom of a Sensualist to nourish himself in a day of slaughter MEDITAT XXVI Of Debters SIN is properly a Debt but to be in Debt is not properly a Sin If it were what Consolation could be administred to them that were born in Debt and continue therein sore against their Wills to them that are engaged therein meerly by the Providence of God or reduc'd thereunto by the Injustice or Oppression of men But yet to be much in Debt and that inextricable is a very great Calamity and especially burdensome to a just and ingenious mind and yet more especially if contracted by any fault or folly of his own For if to lose Estates and lay down Life it self upon a Publick or Charitable Account be accounted Generous and Virtuous to run into Debt upon such Account ought not sure to be esteemed scandalous Solomon somewhere tells us That the Borrower is Servant to the Lender And indeed if there were no more in it but this loss of Liberty it would make that condition troublesome and uneasie But alas it is attended with many other mischiefs and dangers which do still inhance the Calamity The Precept therefore of owing no man any thing Rom. 13. 8. is given us in much mercy and God does therein consult our ease safety and quiet as by commanding us to be chaste and temperate and righteous he does consult our health and credit There are two Commands in the Text To owe no man any thing and to love all men always The former seems a very hard Commandment to the Poor and it is almost impossible for them to perform it Juvet idem qui jubet The latter is seldom I doubt performed by the Rich whose Riches for the most part make them proud disdainful oppressive and covetous The performance of the former seems to depend upon the performance of the latter For how is it possible that the Poor should be out of Debt if the Rich be not kind and charitable But if all men did love their Neighbors as themselves then it were easie to conceive that no man need ow any thing to any What then Does God command men Impossibilities Does he with-hold Straw and yet command his Servants to make Brick Does he send men naked into the world and leave them destitute of all things even of strength it self and yet charge them neither to beg nor borrow but to starve No this cannot be we must therefore relax the seeming severity of this Command by some favourable interpretation and say We must not wilfully and needlesly contract Debts nor carelesly and unjustly continue in them It is
remoteness from him as we are should sin in him Though neither of which seem incredible yet both of them seem inexplicable If we lay the fault at the door of each pre-existent Soul it seems indeed to be just but still it is as strange as it was before For so every single Soul is an Adam for purity and soundness of Constitution and how shall we do to account for the Apostasie of so many Adams if we be puzled at the Fall of one But alas The mysterious Intricacy of this is not so great but that the manifest evidence of the matter of Fact is as great It is enough Ah Lord it is more than enough to know and see which indeed we cannot hide our eyes from that this noble Vine is turned into a degenerate Plant That the Native Friends and Favorites of God are become Lovers yea Servants yea Worshippers of the World And the greatness of their Number is too too evident in these Meditations which yet I am sensible have not described all Some possibly will think these too many I cannot help it but the Discovery is in order to their Recovery Others possibly in another Extreme will think these too few and will extend the predominant Love of the World further than I do or dare Some are so fierce that every Body must needs be carnal and corrupt and of a worldly mind who is not exactly of their mind but of some Way Persuasion or Opinion different from them These cry Get thee behind me Satan And why Satan Why because thou savourest not our Things our Doctrine our Discipline our Worship our Way Theycry to every one that does not please them Thou Child of the Devil And why Child of the Devil I pray Not because they pervert the right ways of the Lord but because they oppose their Ways and weaken their Party True indeed Heresie and Schism are works of the Flesh and symptoms of a worldly mind But they are very cunning close Things which are very hard to be discern'd and of so lubricous a consideration that it is very difficult to hit of them right So difficult that even the inspired Messengers of Heaven have been mistaken for Emissaries of Hell and the very Pillars of the Church cast out of the Church for Heresie I believe Perversness is a very Devilish Temper But it is very unreasonable without any more ado to judge every man perverse that does not perhaps he cannot in all things think as I do or whom my Arguments cannot convince Some are so conceited of their own extraordinary Purity that they look down with a disdainful pity upon all the rest of miserable Mortality as if they were all irrecoverably lost and themselves with Job's Messenger left alone to tell it A person of the Apostle John's Infallibility indeed may say We know that we are of God and the whole world lies in wickedness But for a Company of Pharisees impregnated with Self-conceit to conclude that all the world were born in sin but themselves and that all the vulgar sort of Mortals are ignorant and accursed This I say the Candor of Heaven it self could not endure Luke 16. 15. Ye are they that justifie your selves c. The Pseudocatharists in the Prophet Isa 65. 5. cry to their Neighbors Stand off come not near me for I am holier than thou Sanctificabo te I shall sanctifie thee that is defile thee as that word is often used As if he should say If thou touch me who am so holy thou shalt be defiled and guilty before God as those common persons were accounted who touch'd the Altar the blood of the Sacrifice or any holy thing which they ought not to touch Some are so severe as to determine flatly against the Salvation of all Rich men because Christ has declared it very difficult and to think not any of them are called because the Apostle says Not many And the Grandees for wit and wealth are meet with them crying These poor people are foolish Jer. 5. 4. they know not the way of the Lord nor the judgment of their God they know not the Law and are cursed Others pass hard Censures upon all Heathen Men yea and upon Christian Unbaptized Infants too whether true or false I know not but I could wish they were false and the Learning of some more charitable Divines has endeavor'd to prove them not true There are others besides all these who though perhaps out of no bad Principle are ready to judge many things to be Symptoms of a predominant Love of the World which are not It is true the Love of the World is so dangerous and pernicious that it ought to be the constant care of every awakened Soul to flie from it and one would almost pardon the scrupulosity and fear of those that run away from it though they should be suppos'd to run too far And the Love of God is so pure and divine a thing so great a perfection that the exercise of it admits of no Excess if the whole Soul were turn'd into a pure flame of Love it would not be a Sacrifice too costly or precious to be offer'd up to that ever blessed Being the Supreme Good neither would there be any room for the envy of Hell it self to put in a quorsum perditio haec But though it admits of no Excess yet I conceive it admits of Mistakes and though Men cannot outdo in it yet they may do amiss about it As I conceive they do how pardonable soever their mistake is who condemn them for Lovers of the World who do any works of Necessity Charity or common Civility upon the Lords day who think oftner of the world than they do of God or who in their practice sometimes prefer a worldly business that is important before a Sermon or a Prayer Devotion it self how excellent a thing it is may be irregular and there needs judgment as well as affections to denominate a Man a right Christian without which even the highest perfections of Love and Zeal do degenerate into something worse than the Notation of the words do import And although I do reckon that it is highly laudable and reasonable to live in continual weariness of this world and life and holy longings after the presence of God endeavouring to attain to the Resurrection of the dead yet I do not believe but there are many languishings and fainting Fits that befal the most devout Lovers of the Father here in the Body Neither dare â— condemn every man for a predominant Lover of the World who in some Passion some Temptation or other has almost lost his sight and taste of God and casts a fond eye upon this Life and World as wretched as it is It is best to wish with Paul to be dissolv'd It is next best to groan with Paul O wretched man that I am c. It is pious to keep up a predominant estimation of Heaven and to make the main business of
are not of the World Whether it be meet to hearken unto God and believe him or Man let us now judge We may easily suppose Man to be bribed and blinded in his own case What the judgment of God is we shall soon discern in his Word by which we may briefly examine all the Ages of the World The primitive state of Man no doubt was a state of pure and Divine Love As the Creator is said to take pleasure in the workmanship of his Hands so doubtless the rational Creature delighted himself in his Creator and in him only admired himself and the rest of the Creation But this lasted not long Alas how soon did the worldly Spirit begin to prevail Cain the Heir of the World chose the World for his portion and the love of the Father his Grandfather was not in him For if a Man love not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen The Old World neglected Righteousness and the Preacher of it We read what their main study was they were intent upon Marrying Building Planting and such like sensual entertainments and chose that part till they were taken away from it If we consider the Antediluvian World we shall find that it had but few Men in it but who were worldly Men. Next take a view of the World that follow'd the Flood and resolv'd that the Flood should never follow them I mean the Babelites and the Men of that Age the Sensual Nimrods the Capacious Giants the Idolatrous Canaanites Amorites Perizzites and the rest of that Herd and what can we find amongst them but Worldliness Violence and Uncleanness But there was another Seed and sure that was all Holy I mean the Children of Abraham the Seed of Israel no it is too evident that all Israel were not Israelites indeed witness the many hundred thousands that lusted after the Flesh-pots nay the very Onions and Garlick of Egypt that prefer'd their Bondage before the promised Land and the free exercise of their Religion Follow them into that Land and take notice of their great Idolatry and other Iniquities committed frequently and almost generally under the Government of their Judges Nay view them under the Government of their best Kings and take an account from David's own mouth and you will find that even then there wre many that said Who will shew us any good or if you will in English Metre the greater sort craved worldly Gods Not long after the Israelites were so bad that the poor Prophet thought that he was left alone a Worshipper of the Father In the days of the Prophet Jeremiah rich and poor and all were so universally apostatiz'd that by crying a good man up and down the streets of Jerusalem one was not to be found Jer. 5. in prinâ— In the days of the Son of Man the best sort of Men reputed were Lovers of the World more than of the Father or if you will have it in our Saviours own words They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God they received honour one of another And how men stood affected in the following times his Followers will tell us one Apostle declaring That all men sought their own things and another complaining That the whole world lay in wickedness And if the world be so mended in these dregs of time that none of this Breed are left we shall need to expect no new Heavens nor new Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness But alas we are so far from that refinement that we must still cry out as they of old O curvae in terras animae coelestiam inanes MEDITAT XXIV Who are Lovers of the World in general THere are then nay there are many Lovers of the World But what Jehu will now appoint us a Sacrifice for the Worshipers of Baal for they skulk amongst the People whereby we may discern them Give them an invitation an encouragement lay a bait before them and we shall find them out In general it is certain That in the matters of doing and suffering there are multitudes to be found In doing They that account any of the known Commandments of God so heavy ungrateful and troublesom that they wilfully refuse to do them are Lovers of the World The Lovers of God do whatsoever things he commands them Joh. 15. 14. they follow the Lamb let him lead them whether he will Abraham that Friend of God is fam'd for his chearful obedience in hard and grievous things as in forsaking his own Land to go he knew not whither and in sacrificing his beloved Isaac Oh severe Command but oh Angelical Obedience To the Lovers of God his Commands are not grievous Loving Paul whom the Love of Christ constrain'd was ready to do any thing to take any pains for the Name of Jesus and the honour of it In case of Suffering They that will not quit all worldly interests rather than disown Christ or wilfully and deliberately violate a known Commandment are Lovers of the World more than of God Sufferings try men If ye seek me if ye cleave to me saith God let these things go leave your hold of the world quit your worldly interest This is so frequently inculcated in the Gospel that it seems needless to bring any particular proof Those famous general Texts are enough if they be but glanc'd at If any man take not up his Cross he cannot be my Disciple If any man will not deny Father and Mother House and Lands for my sake he is not worthy of me If a man will not cut off his right hand and pluck out his right eye for Christ he is not a Lover of him MEDITAT XXV Of the Lovers of the World more particularly BUT because dolus latet in universalibus I will consider more particularly that if it may be some one or other may be convicted If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him I will consider the World in a Physical and in a Theological sense Man in a Moral and Political Capacity and God under all those Notions in the 17th Meditation Consider the World in a Physical sense and it is certain that whosover loves admires enjoys the World and the Beauties thereof in a way of opposition to God or competition with him or indeed separation from him is not a right Lover of the Father However beautiful the Fabrick of the World is we ought not to love it in opposition to God not esteem the Creature in a way of derogation from the Creator It 's true a Man may with Jannes and Jambres say Digitus Dei est hic and seem to own the goodness and power of God in the Creation and yet be a meer Egyptian But yet no true Israelite will say Digitus Dei non est hic no Lover of the Father will exalt the power of natural causes so as to exclude the Author of them It becomes a Royal Society to admire the King
enjoy the Supreme Good Now this I think supposes a quitting of this Life and a putting off this Body This Thirst after Happiness is often made a character of the Lovers of God and of his Son Jesus Christ desir'd that where he was his followers might be also and why should not his Followers be so kind to themselves If we view those Texts seriously which describe the Lovers of God we shall find this ever and anon to be their character That they love the appearance of Christ Jesus and that they wait for the mercy of Jesus Christ unto Eternal Life But is it not a sin to be discontent at our stay in this world To be discontent at the Will of God must needs be evil for true happiness consists in conformity of will to the Will of God But to long after rest and that in God cannot be interpreted to be an intemperate Act. It is an Act of Faith and Patience to be content to live To desire death out of weariness of afflictions and the Discipline of God is weak and cowardly But to be weary of our distance absence imperfect state and to long after Perfection and daily to grow up into it is safe good proper generous and commendable O God loosen my heart break the League I pray if I may not pray that thou wouldst break the Bonds If I may not leap out of the body make me very desirous to go out when the way is open If my captive Soul may not break Prison and free it self yet make it willing to go out when the great Redeemer shall open the Prison doors and say to the Captive Go forth Is it not enough O my Soul to have the Prison doors set ope but wilt thou say also Nay but let them come themselves and fetch me out What entertainment findest thou in husks that thou art so unmindful of the Bread of Life What an unseemly thing is it to be haled home to hide thy self with Saul amongst the stuff when thou art sought for to be crowned Lord That I could wait for thee more than they that wait for the morning more than the servant desireth the shadow or the hireling looketh for the reward of his work Oh that I might never think my self well but when I am sick sick of love MEDITAT XXX Of the Profits of the World NOW I will consider the World in a Theological sense and thus it denotes any thing that has opposition to God And so we read of the Spirit of the World the Wisdom of the World the Men of the World the Fashions of the World the Sorrow of the World c. The World in general is whatsoever is not God and so even Self may be called the World Whosoever loveth any thing or cleaves to it more than to God or habitually prefers it before him is a lover of the world But I will view more particularly what the Scripture comprehends under the Notion of the World in a Theological Sense And here I shall begin with the profits of the world the riches and treasures of it which have almost engrost the name of the world as being a principal part of it to which the generality of men are addicted This I take especially to be meant by Mammon which one cannot serve in consistency with God Whosoever prefers the profits and riches of the world before God the same is a lover of the World To speak my judgment freely I think there are many things more valuable than silver and gold Learning and Valour are better all the ornaments and accomplishments of the Mind are better than they friends are better health and peace are better It is a wonder to me that men should lose their peace forfeit their friends expose their health for these things Although I confess it is not Idolatry because these things are not God yet it is absurd unseemly and disingenious to prefer riches before these things because these are really better To say I had rather be a Prince than a Philosopher argues a low mind But to value these riches more than God more than truth goodness and purity makes an idolatrous lover of the World To seek these more then the Kingdom of God to hunger after them more than after righteousness to confide in them more than in the Promise and Providence of God doth denominate the accursed person here spoken of MEDITAT XXXI Of Stealing UNder this head of the love of the profits of the world come to be condemned Injustice Worldly confidence Covetousness Carefulness Discontentedness and Vncharitableness and the several Branches of these I begin with Injustice They are all unjust who either use undue means or a due means in an undue manner to get worldly advantage and therein are lovers of the World more than of God The first sort of Injustice is in the use of undue means And so Stealing Defrauding Lying Oppressing Bribery are a preferring the world before Righteousnesse Truth and Mercy and Consequently denominate a lover of the World more than of God According to this Method I must begin with Stealing God is righteous the righteous Lord loveth righteousness whosover therefore loves not it loves not him whosoever Steals prefers the World before it and consequently does not love it Sealing is a violation of property Let property be what it will in its own nature be it not a sacred thing be it a necessary evil or be it a good not simply necessary yet it is now necessary as things go with mankind It cannot well be deny'd Theft supposes property and property supposes Apostasie If Man had continued in his Primative Estate it is likely the Earth had been as free to his innocent Off-spring as the Air is at this day At first there was no enclosure but of one poor Tree neither shall there be any in the World to come though we should grant the Doctrine of the Saints Reigning upon the Earth In utmost extremity to violate property for the preservation of life is no theft or at least that theft is no sin yea it becomes a duty For no man can be necessarily placed between two evils The one of them will be a duty Since the fall of Man Property is necessary to avoid confusion which the lusts of men would introduce yet perhaps it is not so determinate and severe as some men imagine The poor have an interest in the Estates of the rich they have a part which yet these ought to give not the other to take If they do not give it they are the thieves For detaining a right is thievery as well as taking any thing away wrongfully I cannot deny but that every thief is covetous but I do also affirm that every covetous man is a thief If we could suppose the sons of Men free from all self-interest and worldly love there would be no need of property neither would there be any poor for there is enough in the World to serve all men that
In our hearts to love or esteem any vile person be he of what Civil Capacity he will before them that fear the Lord be their Civil Capacity never so mean is as good an Argument of an unsanctifi'd mind as the contrary is of a Citizen of Zion Psal 15. 4. In whose eyes a vile person is contemned In this Courtly Age it would be lookt upon as an unmannerly behaviour in the Prophet who would not vouchsafe to look towards the King of Israel 2 Kings 3. 14. But certainly it is worse than unmannerly to have the greatest respect and kindness for them that are not at all of Israel MEDITAT LXXVIII Of Flattery THis brings me to think of the foul vice of Flattery which although it be not always an Estimation of men for men often flatter those whom in their hearts they disesteem and despise yet it would be thought so and is as worldly as the other An humble behaviour indeed is ornamental soft answers are good and useful To approve or commend a good man or a good action is so far from being simply evil that sometimes it is duty and may serve good ends But it requires a great deal of wisdom For First It easily mingles it self with something evil and is corrupted by Covetousness Slavish fear or Self-love Men may most set off themselves and study to endear themselves most when they commend other men Secondly It is easily perverted to ill ends and may as soon make me prouder as better Commendation therefore must be given Justly Seasonably Proportionably and should be mixt with the remembrance of God as Paul's was to Philemon ver 4 5. Flattery is sometimes gross in words commending evil and calling it by good names assenting to every thing at a venture or denying without reason Magnifying some little thing beyond its desert and extenuating some foul fault into a meer peccadillo or unavoidable infirmity Sometimes it is more fine and subtile in actions in a crouching truckling over-obsequious behaviour I need say no more of Flattery than that it is First an argument of a mean and slavish mind The truly generous mind that adores truth knows not how to give flattering Titles Secondly that it is of most mischievous consequence and very pernicious in its effects because it inâ—â—â—â—â— Princes Courts and Great Mens Houses Flatterers by blinding the Judgment of Princes do at once put out the eyes of a Nation For they lead â—hose out of the way who when they are misled cause the rest of the world to err We know how fatal it prov'd to Ahâ—â—â— when his Chaplains the Prophets and the Courâ—â—◠〈◊〉 together to deceive him Go up and prâ—sâ—â—◠〈◊〉 the Prophets Let thy word be as one of 〈◊〉 says the Courtier And with what indignation God does 〈◊〉 the daubing of these Prophets and their putting 〈◊〉 under mens heads and arms the Prophet Ezekiel does acquaint us Lord what is man or his power who can onely kill the body that I should fear and flatter him in any thing that is hateful to thee What Profit or Preferment can I expect from man that shall Countervail thy dishonour or the prejudice done to truth and holiness by sordid Flattery or sinful Complyance Oh that the interest of God and Religion be exalted in my soul far above all these petty carnal Considerations And oh that the Messengers of God would seriously examine whether they be not the servants of men of the worst part of men even their lusts by imprisoning the Truth lest it should fly in some honourable or worshipful face whether they do not tremble to speak of temperance before incestuous Felix or whether they can take such fair leave of their Patrons as Paul took of his Ephesians I have kept back nothing that was profitable to you MEDITAT LXXIX Of Worldly Business UNder this Phrase The World is comprehended also the Work Employment and Business of the World To prefer the Business of this World before God denominates a predominant Lover of the World God has indow'd Man with active Principles designing him for Business To be active is to be like God who is life it self He is not an idle Spectator enjoying himself and minding nothing else neither doing good nor evil as some prophane men in the Prophet imagin'd him but he is good and doth good An idle and unactive life is unmanly and infamous No station does exempt men from Business Gentlemen and Ladies have their Callings There is Business accommodated to all sorts of men Having already of Idleness I will say no more of it here but this A good man must needs love Business as it is a Vehicle of Grace For how can a man exercise Righteousness Mercy or Charity without Business The necessities of humane life are so many either our own own or other mens that it is impossible any man should be idle but who is of an idle sensual temper To prevent mistakes I will first consider what is not to prefer the business of the World before God To be diligent and industrous in our Callings with a good design is not it To be more in worldly Business than in heavenly is not it God himself has allow'd six dayes to one To employ our hands in working more than in lifting up to Heaven is not worldly If we speak properly To observe due measures and propound right ends in worldly Business is Conformity to the Will of God and heavenly God acted like himself in the Creation of the world as well as in the Redemption of it and so do godly men in employing themselves about worldly Objects as well as spiritual The Angels are as well in Heaven when they are employ'd upon Earth in preserving the goings of the Saints as in their most immediate Contemplations To give the Precedency to worldly Business as to Management and Action is not simply and always it A lesser Business and more ignoble may be prohic 〈◊〉 more necessary than a greater and preferrible to it The Necessities of the Body may take place of the Conveniences of the Soul To do every thing in its proper season is a point of high Wisdom and indeed Religion Let us always remember that Religion is in the due management of worldly Business as well as otherwise To do Works of Necessity or Charity on the Lord's day is not it To have a reverend esteem for that day is good and necessary Religion flourishes in a Kingdom or a Soul as that is observed But yet there may be a Superstition in it which our Saviour by his Example and Doctrine has endeavor'd to heal The Sabbath was made for man and must give place to him But let all take heed they do not create Necessities or pretend them as I doubt too many of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Physical and Chyrurgical Tribe do To put ones self upon Business to offer ones service for the good of a Neighbor to meddle in other mens matters uncall'd by
when People live single meerly that they may live It was accounted bad Devotion in Saul when he forced himself and offered a Sacrifice And how shall she be accounted an acceptable Virgin who though she flies from other men forces her self Pure Virginity is indeed a Delicate and Divine Thing if it be any where to be found but this does not at all disparage Conjugal Love justly placed and purely exercised and observed Nay I do verily think that there is as much or more Chastity to be found in a Conjugal state as in a Single To the Conjugal Bed it is that the Apostle gives the Epithete of undefiled I wish the Virgins can any of them say as much of theirs more I 'm sure they cannot I will allow a pure Virgin state to be excellent perhaps more excellent than a Conjugal but it 's enough for the Conjugal to be accounted Honourable and that is in plain terms by the holy Author of it God himself But whatever excellencies in some sense or other may be found in the Virgin state yet I hope its Virgin modesty is such as will forbid it to vie with the Conjugal for usefulness which I 'm sure is one famous species of excellency And indeed for goodness or excellency in general I cannot see how that can be bad now which even in the state of Innocency it self was declared to be good Gen. 2. It is good for man to have a wife MEDITAT III. Of the Votaries of Penance AS for the Votaries of Penance though it may well be doubted whether they feel a smart answerable to the shrugs and sowre faces that they make and though it may be charitably suppos'd that they sustain themselves very well with rich cordials and good fare whereby many Pilgrimages of an hundred or two hundred miles long become less troublesome to them than many a poor mans journey or labour of a day and so their pretensions are not just yet suppose all to be true that is pretended how will it certainly conclude a contempt of the World For will not Diogenes amongst the Heathens pretend to as much neglect of the pleasures of the World and the ease of the flesh by lying in his Tub as any body can do by travelling abroad bare-foot and bare-leg'd Will not the Disciples of the Pharisees put in for the severity of frequent Fasts and match the Disciples of John outdoe the Disciples of Jesus And will not the Priests of Baal put in for a share of the honour due to Lashing and Slashing Devotion as well as any Gospel Priests There will never be any firm and comfortable inference so long as it may be required what do you more than others those none of the best neither So then the Enquiry will be at whose command out of what principle for what end all these severities are executed If any of these fail the contempt of the World is but a pretence And who knows not but that the worship of the Gentiles and of the Baalitish Jews too perform'd with so much smart and sacred horror is accounted of God and all good men slavishly superstitious and a hateful will-worship If the Principle out of which all these severities are perform'd be so pure as it ought it will produce an uniform self-denial and holy obedience and a contempt of the World in all the branches of it as well as in the pleasures so that if there be not an Humility Charity Faith Hope Zeal answerable to these bodily exercises they will profit nothing If a man give his body to be burnt and in the mean time have a mind to burn his Brother he is no Martyr no nor Saint neither And may not the Worldly Life be maintain'd and cherisht in the acts of Self-love Self-seeking Self-confidence Pride and Self-feeling amidst all this abstemiousness and these severities excercis'd upon the body Yea what if all these things should be nothing but to bribe the Justice of God to tye the hands of his vengeance to establish a righteousness of ones one to purchase by merit a sorry carnal kind of heaven merely external and future If so then they are symptoms of a slavish and superstitious but are utterly inconsistent with a holy and religious mind And who knows not but that all this may be yea and evey discerning Christian does vehemently suspect that it often is From hence O my Soul take an occasion to consider that thou as to thy natural Capacity art able to act without the help of the flesh and without any dependance thereupon and consequently capable of committing sins of the Spirit as well as sins of the Flesh however in a lax sense whatever is contrary to God may in Scripture be call'd flesh and so all sins may be call'd Works of Flesh When thou hast laid aside this Flesh thou canst not reasonably think of nor patiently endure to think of a long sleep till the time that thou shalt re-assume it and if after thy release from Flesh thou shalt still be able to act then sure it may be fairly concluded that even some of thy Acts even whil'st thou art in the Body are purely spiritual and do little or nothing depend upon the Body Though thou canst not be guilty of Adultery or Drunkenness without the help of the Body yet it is no fault of the Body or a very remote one that thou art proud self-will'd unbelieving and uncharitable All filthy and unrenewed Souls will not be the less but rather much more such by leaving the Flesh Distinguish therefore carefully between the sins of the Flesh and of the Spirit and reckon that thy firm and chaste adherence to the ever blessed God thy Centre and entire Resignation of thy self to him is thy Virginity and much to be preferr'd before Temperance and Continency What if thou have kept thy hands from picking and stealing if in the mean time by Pride thou rob God of his Honour or by Unbelief Christ of his Glory How art thou honest What if thou hast not smitten with the Fist of Wickedness or Violence if by Self-Will thou have Rebelliously contended against the Authority of Heaven and secretly opposed the Will of God How art thou Loyal What if thou have not prostituted any of thy fleshly Members to Adulterous Aspects or Embraces yet if thou have in a way of Self-love fondly admired and wantonly dallied with thy own Perfections as something distinct from God How art thou Chaste What if thou hast so severely chastised the Body that thou may'st seem to have battered the Out-works of Sin yet if it still lodge in the Castle of thy Heart if thy â—ody be empty with Fasting and the Heart full of Pride and Conceits of thy own Righteousness and Merits if the Flesh by severe Discipline and many Macerations be made obsequious to thee and thou in the mean time remainest unsubdued to the Authority and Will of God What real profit hast thou by this bodily Exercise or how canst
find Men Women into the Bargain if they will but pay well for their Drink Such Hostesses as set themselves to Sale together with their Liquors or by their wanton Behaviors inveigle the Silly to mispend their Time or Money Such as Cheat the King or his Commissioners what they ought to pay for by the same Law whereby they enjoy any thing In a word All such Victuallers Inn-Keepers Ale-House-Keepers that prefer Gain before Godliness Worldly Advantage before the Publick Peace or the Peace of their own Consciences That will expose the health of their Bodies the salvation of their Souls the order of their Families to live Idly Gainfully Luxuriously are predominant Lovers of the World and the Love of the Father is not in them Go now Landlords and Landladies and comfort your selves in the Antiquity Necessity and Lawfulness of your Employment MEDITAT XXIII Of Beggars AT the first naming of this sort of People it will be expected by some That I should give them all a Pass and pack them away to their own place But I am not certain that one and the same place is assign'd to them all and therefore it is best to consider awhile of them I think there is a Text somewhere speaking to this purpose as if it forbad any Beggar to be in Israel And I do well remember there is another That foretels that the Poor shall never cease out of the Land I think they may well be reconciled There shall always be persons so Poor as to need to be provided for and yet there ought to be such provision made for them that they shall not beg so that it is rather the Sin of the Rich than of the Poor that there are any Beggars There seems to be an express Law to preserve People from Begging But I know no Law or Reason that forbids People to Beg that cannot otherwise live I know no promise that secures a Righteous man from being reduced to a state of Beggary nor indeed no substantial Reason that will defend him he may as well Beg as be Banish'd Diseased Martyred But what shall we say to the Psalmist who tells us He never saw the Seed of the Righteous begging their Bread Psal 37. 25. I remember I once urg'd this Text to a Beggar-Woman at my own Door finding her to discourse Understandingly and Christianly and to pretend to Religion who premising a little Sigh answer'd me very readily True Sir the Psalmist does say so but yet we know there was a time when he himsâ—lf was forc'd to beg his Bread And thereupon quoted the History of David's begging the Shew-bread of Abâ—mâ—lâ—ch This Answer I laid to heart and it made me kind to her at that time and to think more Oharitably of that whole Tribe of Mankind ever since For it is not only true That David begg'd his Bread at that time but it seems as far as I can compute that some Years of his Life were led in a Genteeler kind of Beggary And I find those Divines that urge the promises of the Law to preserve the Righteous from Beggary and will have David's experience in this Psalm to be accommodated to all Ages are yet fain to come off and tell us That all these Temporal Promises are to be understood Cum Exceptione Castigationis Crucis saving to God the Prerogative of Correcting and Chastening his People how and when he pleases For whatsoever David saw in his days the Apostle tells us of many in other days whom the World was not worthy that were yet Treated as if they were not worthy to live in the World And we see them in our days reduc'd to a necessity of living upon their Neighbors and asking Relief too That these are Poor may not be their own fault but their Maker's pleasure That they ask Relief is the fault of others that will not relieve them without asking And as for the Formality of Begging which seems to be most shameful and of worst Report I do not see but that it is possible for a Good Man to be reduc'd to this also The Blind and the Lame that begg'd by the way-side and at the Gate of the Temple had some of them so much Faith as to be healed And if we could take a view of the Inhabitants of Abraham's Boâ—ome amongst the rest we should find poor Lazarus as formal a Beggar as could be imagined translated thither from the Rich mans Gates How would such a sight make us wonder and say with them in the Text Is not this he that sate by the way-side and lay at the Gates begging The wisest of men tell us Eccles 9. 11. That wise men sometimes want bread and men of understanding are sometimes poor It is accounted a shame for men to Beg but I think it is a greater shame to suffer them and this shame lights either upon the Rich that do not relieve them or the Magistrates that do not restrain them if they be reliev'd The Law of England has provided for all sorts of Poor either to employ the Able or to relieve the Impotent And yet to the shame of the Executioners of the Laws we see that the Hedges and High-wayes are not compelled to keep in It is certainly a great Reproach to the Christian World and especially to our Nation that there are any itinerant and errant Beggars found amongst us All which will not excuse the Able that can work nor the Impotent that are by Law provided for in any tolerable manner from being A-kin to him whose Character it is that he compasfes the World about and like an 〈◊〉 Busie-body continually walks to and fro therein Much less will it excuse that graceless Generation the worst of Mankind that beget Ceildren only to lay them at other mens doors I mean that take no care to educate their Children in any commendable way of Living nor put them to any good Work or Business but as soon as they are a little rear'd as if they were Heirs of the Universe send them forth to seek their Fortunes and to lay hold on that which comes next to them as if it were their own MEDITAT XXIV Of Wagerers IN this Licentious Age wherein men generally act Hand-over-head and live Ex-tempore not troubling their Consciences with any Cases nor reducing their Actions to any Consideration the practice of laying Wagers is grown very familiar to almost all sorts of men I will not absolutely without Exception condemn every Wager whatsoever For some are so small and the Winning or Losing them is of so little regard the persons that Lay them are so unconcern'd and free from Fear or Covetousness and the end of them so innocent as to determine some little doubtful Truth or to give a little life and vigor to some honest harmless Atchievement and perhaps it is so seldom too that there seems to be no danger arising therefrom But without Controversie the common and customary practice of Wagering is very unjustifiable and ought with
Soul against the whole World And shall we think a little scantling of this World a fit match for Millions of Souls Dost thou not know O my Soul that thou art the Son of God the Brother of Angels nay even of the Angel of the Covenant by Adoption and canst thou pitch and fix upon any Object below God himself It is unreasonable it is unjust it is sinful and shameful Believe it all inordinate love of thy self is an Incestuous and of other things a Sodomitical Conjunction And besides the Relation and Capacity of Souls we may distinctly consider the wants and necessities of Souls which are such that the World and the fulness thereof cannot supply or relieve The Appetites and Thirsts of Souls are great and strong which the Creatures Cistern can never slake and quench There is a kind of infinity in the lustings and cravings of Souls which all the Possessions and Conquests of the World could never yet fully gratifie Curtae nescio quid semper abest rei You may as well imagine that Behemoth that drinketh up Jordan into his mouth should be satisfi'd with one drop of a Bucket or the wrangling of a hungry Infant for the full Breast should be from day to day silent by Gawds and Rattles as that the Thirsts of a Soul which are after Rest and Happiness should be quencht and satisfi'd by Creature fulness No no the whole World is those Husks that will not fill the Belly of the Hungry Prodigal Take it in all its dimensions and a Man may say of it The Bed is too short for a Soul to stretch it self upon and the Covering is too narrow for a Soul to wrap it self in To which I may add That the Heart of Man is also a Sacred Thing a Thing Consecrate to God The Prophanation of Temples was ever bann'd our Saviour was never so transported with Zeal as against the Profaners of the Temple but certainly to entertain the World into our Hearts is greater Prophaneness than to drive a Trade in the Temple to make a Dove House or a Stable of it MEDITAT XXXVI From the Consideration of the Nature of the World THe uncertainty and unsatisfyingness of the World and all worldly things is a popular Theme which every young Scholar can Rhetoricate upon and declaim against before he have made any experiment of it or any Choice of a better Object The Books of Men are as full of Invectives against the World as their Hearts are at the same time of the love of it He 's a very fool indeed that cannot repeat the words of the wise Man and cry all is vanity but he 's a wise Man who heartily believes what he repeats and acts agreeable to his belief The Poetical Fancies do prettily resemble pleasures to Syrenes which sing sweetly and by their pleasant voice and beautiful aspect allure the Passenger to themselves and then hugg him and kill him And who can deny that this is somewhat like to Solomons whorish Woman in the Proverbs They compare Honour to Icarus his Wings mounting him so unreasonable high that they are melted off by the heat and so down comes that aspiring Mortal to a degree lower than that from which he arose and leaves nothing behind him but a ridiculous fame of bold Aspiring Magnis tamen excidit ausis Not unlike which is the description that the Psalmist makes of man that is in Honour and abideth not He stands upon Pinnacles indeed but they are very slippery ones from which he is soon cast down into destruction They resemble Riches to the great Wooden Horse which the silly Trojans entertain'd into the very heart of the City and rejoyc'd in it as a rare Present sent them by the Gods but it prov'd full of deadly Enemies that presently Murdered them in their security And does not the Apostle speak to the same purpose when he tells us That they that will be Rich fall into Temptations and a Snare and many hurtful Lusts which drown Men in Perdition and coveting after them is piercing ones self thorow with many Sorrows I have read of a Bird in some parts of India that has a Note singing in the language of that Countrey Here he is This he is always singing as our Countrey Cuckows Hereby many curious Travellers are invited to the Tree where he sits who spying them come removes further to another and after that to another still calling them by the same Note whereby it has happen'd that many in seeking to find the Bird have lost themselves The Application is easie for the things of this World Invite and Allure and Promise much Content Lo Here it is And lo There it is but no body could ever light of it there for when one comes near them the deceitful Birds take to themselves Wings and flye away for so the wisest of men tells us in plain words Eccles 5. 10. He that loveth Silver shall not be satisfi'd c. and concerning Pleasures the same Wisdome said That its madness and of Mirth what does it Eccles 2. 2. and concerning Honour he thought the same thing for all that comes says he is Vanity This Meditation is capable of much enlargement but it does not need it Therefore I will dismiss it and consider further Whether those things be indeed Riches Pleasures and Honours which are call'd by those names I suppose that these things of the World are not onely empty and unsatisfying and therefore unfit to be the Object of our Love but that they are deceitful in nor being what we call them as well as in not giving what we expect from them Shall these sorry things deserve the name of Riches Honour and Pleasure that are full of Poverty Disgrace and Bitterness Can I be properly said to be Rich when with my Riches I am poor or Honourable when with my Honours I am the more abject and slavish or a man of pleasures when with my pleasures I am the fadder And is it not thus The true measure of riches is not how much the more one has but how much the less he wants for riches were not intended only that we might have more but that nothing should be wanting Now consider that famous rich man in the Gospel for Example whether he was the richer or the poorer for that plentiful Crop he reaped This increase made him sollicitous and sleepless made him more indigent then he was before And was it not poverty then For now the Text tells us he wants bigger Barns consequently a great many Workmen to build him more Servants and Cattel to manage his Husdandry And I pray what can poverty it self do more than make a man want I suppose a poor man in the common sense to be made rich well he wants Men and Arms to defend his riches Servants to manage them a Retinue to wait upon him now he wants a Stately House and that wants Stately Furniture he wants many other things and those things want many
further Prosecution of this to some following Meditations concerning motives to the Love of God and consider the last abominable thing which the Love of the World is and that is Perjury The Jews of our Saviours time had very broad Consciences and many fowl things they made a shift to swallow such as Revenge Hatred of Enemies Neglect of poor Parents and the like yet Perjury was such a Morsel as they could never get down though they had made void many of the Commands of God yet for stark shame they left this standing in its full force Thou shalt not forswear thy self but shalt perform to thy Lord thy Vows What Opinion the Heathen had of Perjury appears by the strange punishments that they say the gods inflicted upon Laomedon King of Troy for falsifying the Promissory Oath that he had made to Neptune and Apollo which vengance did not onely light upon him and his Age but reacht unto posterity So that many years after they cry'dout Laomedonteae luimus perjuria Trojae Herod that could digest Murder and Incest hard bits one would think yet boggled at Perjury though the Oath was a rash one and made but to a Girl and that upon no valuable consideration neither yet his stomach as vitated as it was so nauseated Perjury that he would perform it It seems it was accounted by them an abominable Blasphemy to call God to Witness to a lie to make truth it self a lyar but let the promise be made to whom it would how much more abominable must it needs be when that promise is made to God That is at the same time to defraud and blaspheme the Majesty of Heaven And so do all they who solemnly in the presence of God covenant and swear to fight under his Banner against the World and afterwards turn to the World and enter into a Covenant of Friendship with that which they had once declar'd their deadly Enemy Mercury in the Fable stomach'd â—t grievously that Battus should betray him to himself Et me mihi perfide prodie Me mihi prodis Certainly more intollerable affront cannot be put upon the Majesty of Heaven than that men should swear by him to him and then forsake him making themselves at once guilty of Fraud and Blasphemy which all the Lovers of the World do If now there be anything abominable in Idolatry Adultery Blasphemy Sacrilege Ingratitude Perjury the Predominant Love of the World must needs be abominable even to amazement which is really all these and what needs what can be said more to disswade us from it O Merciful God who alone canst effectually deal with the Hearts of Men perswade us thorowly of the undefiling Nature of thy Love that we may make it our great study to keep our selves unspotted of the World MEDITAT XLI General Motives to the Love of God AND now address thy self O my Soul to the last and sweetest part of thy work to Meditate of som powerful Motives to enflame thy self and the rest of the benumnâ—d World with the Love of God Strengthen me O my God this once not that I may be reveng'd upon but that I may perform the greatest kindness to thine Enemies by rescuing them out of their miserable bondage and inlarging their Souls in the most pure and generous love of thee I let down my Net once more not without thy Command Oh that by thy gracious Assistance and Blessing I may enclose a number of Souls and translate those who all their days have swam in Earthly delights and in the brackish Sea of this World into the sweet Rivers of Pleasures that are at thy right hand or rather into the pure Fountain of Peace and Joy and Pleasure which thou art for evermore And here methinks I have the whole World and all the Individuals therein thronging about me each offering its Vote each offering it self an Orator to plead the Cause of God The holy Psalmist in his 148 Psalm calls upon the whole Creation Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens and the Waters that be above the Heavens the Earth and the Deeps and all the Inhabitants of all those Angels and the Hosts of God the Lights of Heaven Vapors and flying Fowls of the Air all Men great and small young and old Beasts and Cattel and Creeping Things and all Vegetables I say he calls upon them to Praise and Celebrate the Lord but methinks I hear all these calling upon me and all Mankind to love the Lord and to delight our selves greatly in our God For certainly there is nothing in the Creation but does plainly declare the Loveliness of God and whatsoever does so does as good as Preach and say Oh love the Lord ye Children of Men. But I see I shall lose my self in this immensity I will therefore confine my self to some few Topicks from whence to fetch Arguments and Motives to the Love of God The nature of our Christian Profession the Nature of our own Souls the Nature of God the Nature of Love the Nature of the Love of God will furnish us with powerful Motives to the Love of God as well as all these with the Nature of the World and of Worldly Love â—urnisht us with disswaâ—â—ves from the Love of the World For there is as much excellency in the Nature of God and of the Love of God to recommend them as there is unsuitableness and unsatisfyingness in the World or abominableness in Worldly Love to disparage them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no hard thing for a devout Mind to fetch mighty 〈◊〉 the Love of God from the same Heads the Argument being a little altered from which the dissâ—â—asives from the Love of the World were fetcht As for Example if we should therefore not love the World because it is unsuitable and insufficient to us and not that which it seems to be then we should therefore love God because of his infinite fulness and because he is the onely substantial and agreeable good If we should therefore not love the World because by loving we give we assimulate we unite we subject our selves to the World if this be the Nature of Love then what can be more excellent and advantagious to us than the Love of God If we should therefore not oâ—e the Word because the love of the World is Abominable Idolatrous Adulterous Blasphemous Sacrilegious Ungratful and Perjurious The Love of God being on the contrary Excellent and Divine Pure Chast Just Ingeniouâ— and Reasonable ought mightily to allure and attract us unto it self And so of the rest But here also I should be tempted to be too large I will therefore limit my self to a few Considerations which I have found most powerful over my own Soul Oh would it might please God to bless them with a mighty Influence that they may come to the Hearts of those into whose hands they may come MEDITAT XLII A Particular Motive to the Love of God FIrst I am wont to consider that God loves us best of any one The Law of
and Sweetness and Beauty and Bravery of the World in our apprehension that we may look upon them as things unsuitable inadequate inferiour to our Noble Natures meer Husks and Trash Dust and Gravel in Comparison of the proper food of Souls Display thy Divine Excellency Sweetnesâ— Fullness Infinite Goodness Suitableness and Allsufficiency to us that we may be throughly convinc'd that thou art altogether lovely and that all other things yea Heaven it self are to be loved for thy sake Let thy good Spirit move upon our Affections and overshadow these Souls so long till it have impregnated them with Divine Love Whether Love be like Water do thou shed it abroad in our Hearts till it overflow all our Faculties as the Waters cover the Sea or whether it be like Fire let the Breath of the Lord Blow it up into a victorious and irresistible Flame Grant good God that this Love of Thee may express it self in the Faith Love and Obedience of thy Blessed Son Jesus in the Entertainment and Prosecution of the Motions of thy Holy Spirit in a sincere Love of all Men in a singular Delight in the Saints in the constant preference of Truth Righteousness the Establishment of Peace and Order the Advancement of the Gospel the Favour of God and our own Consciences before Riches Honours Pleasures Self-pleasing the Favour of Men the Propagations of Parties and all Worldly Interest whatsoever in the preferrence of the Peace and Holiness of our Souls before the gratifications of the Body and the securing of a happy Eternity before the serving of Time Finally I beseeeh Thee O my Gracious Father be daily adding Fewel to this Holy Fire maintain and encrease this pious Ardor Keep us in thy Love waiting for the Mercy of Jesus Christ unto Eternal Life Be daily winding up these Heavy and Lingring Hearts unto Thy Self and carrying on these imperfect Longings till thou hast ripened them into Perfect Lively Fearless Endless Love and Delight in thy Heavenly Kingdom for the sake of the Son of thy Love who hath loved us and given himself for us that we might give our Selves to Thee To him with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Thanks Love and Obedience for evermore Amen FINIS Books Printed for and sold by Samuel Tidmarsh at the Kings-head in Corn-hill THE Triumphs of Gods Revenge against the Crying and Execrable Sin of Murther to which is added Gods Revenge against Adultery A Chronicle of the Kings of England from the time of the Romans Government and continued unto the Fourteenth of his now Majesties Reign by Sir Richard Baker The Court of the Gentiles Compleat by Theophilus Gall. The Use of Passions written in French by I. F. Senault and put into English by Henry Earl of Monmouth A Treatise of Peace and Contentment of Mind by Peter Du Moulin Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty A Treatise of Sacramental Covenanting with Christ shewing the ungodly their Contempt of Christ in their Contempt of the Sacramental Covenant by J. Rawlet An Explication of the Creed the Ten Commandments and the Lords Prayer with the Addition of some Forms of Prayer by John Rawlet Artificial Versifying a New Way to make Latine Verses whereby any one of ordinary Capacity that only knows the A. B. C. and can count 9 though he understands not one Word of Latine or what a Verse means may be painly Taught and in as little time as this is Reading over how to make Thousands of Hexameter and Pentameter Verses which shall be true Latine true Verse and good Sense by John Peter price 6d stitcht Day of Doom or a description of the day of the great and last Judgment with a Discourse about Eternity Christian Directions shewing how to walk with God all the day long A Word â—o Saints and a Word to Sinners The Young Mans Guid through the Wilderness of this World to the Heavenly Canaan shewing him how to carry himself Christian like in the whole course of his Life All three by Thomas Gouge Tables for the use of the Excise Office whereunto is added an Introduction to Decimal Arithmetick and a short Treatise of Practical Gauging also the Excise-mans Aid by John 〈◊〉 Directions with Prayers and Meditations for the worthy receiving the Blessed Sacrament by the famous Charles Drelincourt A Help to English History containing a Succession of all the Kings of England the English Saxons and the Britains the Kings and Lords of Men and Isle of Wight as also of all the Marquesses Earls Bishops thereof with the Description of the places from whence they had their Titles Martial Epigrams Helvicus Colloquia Ovidii Opera Caesars Commentaries Erasmii Collâ—quia Ovidii Metamor cum Not. Farnabii Seneca's Tragedies Virgil. cum Not. Fornab Greek Testament of a full Character