head He that was ready to have feasted wormes now feasts himselfe and is risen from his dead companions a guest amongst rhe living We read indeed of some that all pale and liveless were stretcht out for a coffin but reviv'd again when that little spark of life that lay glimmering in the expiring embers in a corner of the panting heart recovered its flames But here death and Lazarus had imbrac't too closely to be so parted His soul had likely taken its flight before and his body lay so long in his mothers armes 't was just dissolving into its principles againe and behold him now above ground as if but newly risen from his bed all fresh with life and vigour he hath changed his chamber and from the lower regions of the other world is returnd to his old lodgings where he is now at supper throng'd with multitudes of people that come not for almes but to be spectators of this wonder Had the end of the world been then or a resurrection of others for company Lazarus at his arrivall to the world againe might well have phansied with his countrymen that the second life should be on earth and heaven kept in pleasures here No Lazarus though now alive thou must dye againe to live for ever nor must thy revivall now con ummate thine but manifest Gods glory though it be thine too above expression to have been thus the subject of it Thou needst not feare to dye againe having done it once nor doubt but that hee who raised thee now will do it hereafter too Didst thou ever thinke to have injoyed this world againe or to have been freed from thy imprisonment till the great and generall delivery 'T was beyond thy Sister's faith till she saw it and now having had two lives if thou spentest the former on thy selfe or the world thou didst wholly sacrifice the latter to thy divine Restorer How many expiring soules all frighted with the horror of their crimes could they but have their span a little lengthned or after an age's durance in their graves but revive a litle before their doome how gladly would they turne their songs of pleasure into penitentiall anthems their profane notes into diviner ayres and tune out their lives in pious straines But alasse he that cannot imploy this life well in vaine expects to do it in another which he is not worthy of might it be obtained He whose piety here hath reacht him a taste of heaven a glimpse of happinesse will be so little in love with the vanities of this world that instead of desiring a longer or another life here he will be but ambitious of leaving This. It was by thy power O Lord That Lazarus carried out to his grave should returne alive That Mournefull expression thy friend is dead drew thee to the discovery of thy love and power in his resurrection O let there be the same concurrence of thy Grace and spiit to the raising and reforming of my soul to a new and holy life it was the misery of expiring man that drew thee from the bosome of thy Father to redeem him O let the Scepter of thy word and truth be as powerfull in its heavenly influence upon my soul as the Prophet's staffe that reviv'd the dead that so dying daily I may live for ever and being pâ—epared for my death may enter into that life from which nothing but sin can exclude me Joh. Chap. 13. v. 23. Now there was leaning on Jesus bosome one of his Disciples whom he loved SEe how sweetly is the Disciple Couch't how boldly doth he make his Master's breast his pillow loading him with a double burden his sins and himselfe Blest familiarity Would not Kings leave their thrones to have been in his room and ambitiously forsake their Golden Canopies for suâ—h a teposure Here might the vastest ambition both seat and satiate it selfe without aspiring higher the greatest Avarice might here have found a treasure beyond which it could not cover What Lover would not scorne the lap of the most admired female for such an enjoyment and become a Diviner Amorist Was not this Disciple above the rest If this be not a precedency what is a dignity which none besides himselfe succeeded in Happy Favorite Who would not have trampled Crownes and Scepters for such preferment Had Mary in whose bosome once Love's Cradle so many wantons lull'd themselves that turn'd her eyes into Living Mineralls and her haire into a towell of the newest fashion been graced with such a priviledge not her eyes onely but the noblest rivolets of her blood would have overflowne all transported out in gratefull streames How pleasingly doth the Disciple lay his eare to that Heart which was the life of the world as if he would count its motions and by its Divine pulse be rockt asleep in raptures Behold O my soul and see in the posture of this happy man the Emblem of thy owne felicity the place of thy reception and future Glory Art thou ambitious of it here then behold him on his Crosse with his armes extended to receive thee O run and rowle thy selfe on that Breast the fear of Love wherein lies all the treasures of thy happinesse Thou hast a priviledge even beyond the Disciple for thou mayst not only leane and depend but embrace him too Incircle him now then with the choisest endeerments of thy soule the most passionate raptures of a Lively faith and so the same Jesus that permitted the Disciple here to lean on his breast will receive thee likewise in his arms hereafter and place thee for ever in the bosome of his Glory Math. Chap. 16. v. 26. For what is a man profited if he shall gaine the whole world and lose his owne soul ANd yet men had rather lose their souls than the world He for whom the world was made makes himselfe for the world disappointing himselfe of all his Glory and by a more then brutish transmutation buries the Divinity of his soul all in earth Heare this then ye Inhabitants of the world yee that fowle all in sense and climb no higher then the elements for Heaven that can pawne your souls for a fading pleasure and count a delightfull misery your felicity Hear this thou aspiring Vapour whose ambition elevates thee to consume thy selfe thou that wilt worship Satan for a Kingdome and do him homage for a Crowne paying him a revenue worth a thousand worlds the immortall tribute of a soul till thy triumphs be turned to torments thy revellings of honour into regrets of horrour and thy Chaire of state into a bed of flames Heare this thou Sensualist whose soul is as unconfined as Brutes that pantest for pleasure more then ever the Camaelion did after aire thou that wadest all in sin and overwhelmest Morality in floods of vice bathing thy selfe in those wanton streames that drown thee that countest religion but a fable the lives of Saints a melancholly Romance and laughest at heaven as if eternity were but a
fancy Heare this O thou Miser whom the Silver Rhetorick of a bag can court to Hell and art greedily wonne to damne thy selfe at the Musick of a purse that canst gaze thy selfe blind at the splendour of a Gemme and cursest Geography for describing riches beyond thy reach wishing thy selfe an Indian that thou mightest dwell among Treasures and inhabit Mines till thy very haire became silver indeed till thou thy selfe went all turnd to Ore and and every Bone into a wedge of Gold Heare this ye Gallants that are so enamounted with the fashions of this world that ye have lost all Idaea's of a better ye that live meerly to please your sense and feed your luxury with the curious martyrdom of a thousand creatures As ye have purer veins have purer passions too and have nobler inclinations for heaven the riches of your attire wil not cloathe you with immortality should you sell your estates when ye die 't would not purchase paradise It was the best speech the old Oratour ever uttered when he said he would not buy repentance so deare 'T was but an extemporary expression and yet all his Rhetorick could never match it that one straine was worth all his Orations and will outfame the labours of his pen. Could we treble the lives of Patriarchs and with them the pleasures of the grandest Epicures Could we like Cleopatra in a dissolv'd pearl swallow the treasure and pleasure of a kingdome at a draught or command the Creatures as peremptorily as ever the Centurion did his servants had we all the enjoyments we can either wish or fancy what ever the ambition of the most vaine and carnall appetite can long for were the whole earth turnd into a paradise or a constant spring beautifying its face Could we live and not grow old or being old not feele the miseries of age could we unwind time againe and reverse it's wheels stop the coelestiall Mercuries the posts of heaven in their course and set the Great Clock of the world backward againe nay were our bodies as durable as our soules that we could out live Time it self and be above ground even when the world shall receive its period yet what shall we get if after all our imaginary felicities and sliding contentments we become a sacrifice for hell enlisted in the cursed catalogue of the damned crue a victime for eternal flames lost for ever from God and Heaven Then tell me who ever thou art and aske Dives himself What is man profited though he should gaine the whole world and lose his owne soule What is there in the world O Lord that we should love it thus weary our selves in vaine desires and make the pleasures of this life our felicity How hard is it for him that is a stranger to thy law to perceive the emptinesse of those enjoyments he hath so long rowled himselfe in to resist the tempting advantages of sin and undervalew the flashes of this life for that glory Thou wilt impart My God teach me so to enjoy the world that I lose not Thee let the blessings thou bestovvest quicken and increase not dul my devotion raise up my obedience not drowne my gratitude that so the vanities of the world may be my scorne and the joyes of heaven my onely ambition that I may never for a perishing fruition in this life lose both my soule and thy grace together Matth. Chap. 5. v. 8. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God WHo then would not strive to become pure No wonder David was so earnest for a clean heart and a right Spirit if this be the reward of Piety who would not become religious Blest Spirits how happy how pure are ye that behold the face of your Heavenly Father who would not labour to imitate you heer that he might be like you there and possesse joyes such as raptures never knew Shall the false and treacherous vanities of the World steale away our hearts and rob us of the hopes of this Glory the fruition of this Sight A Sight in Comparison whereof the royalties of the World the triumphs and splendours of the eye and the beauty of the whole Creation is not worth the looking at A sight which no eye ever saw but may if it do not blindly lose it selfe on objects heere No Ear ever heard its perfect description but may the Harmony and Halelujahs of it if it bow not to the charms of sinne and the musick of the flesh 'T is a sight whose Ideae cannot be drawn by the most lively and subtile Speculations of any Scholastick brain though never so Angelical 't is not fancy but piety can reach it The Divine Traveller St. Paul himselfe though newly there could not give us a Copie of it and Scripture Characters it out but in Similitudes to shew how infinitely transcendent is that Glory which is so much above expression so much above all comprehension Were all the Diamonds the earth is mother of mustred to a Splendour they would not match the smallest glance of the Sun's eye and yet that noble Luminary surrounded with so many waiting Starrs that begge their lustre from him is but a sparke to the Brightnesse of of His face Who then would sacrifice that part to the World which may become the instrument of so much happinesse and suffer the extravagancies of his blood to revell there where nobler passions and flames should triumph He that would dwell among the Spirits of the just must teach his own to become so and turne his body to a Temple wherein his heart must be the the Altar and Sacrifice too or rather a kinde of Sanctum Sanctforum for the choisest Gifts of the Spirit to inhabite The Seat of Life must be turn'd into the Seat of Love and the pallace of the Spirits into a Court of Graces and then that part which as Naturalists observe is the first that lives and the last that dyes shall become purely vitall and not dye at all Nothing but a Trinity can fill this Triangle which we must therefore shape to the purest forme and teach it in all its pulses to beate nothing but Heaven and Sanctity Our breasts must become Clossets of Devotion and our hearts the Cabinets of innocency and prayer enricht with that great diamond a lively faith the Lamp at which all our smaller Graces as Candles light themselves and like Stars borrow their Lustre from this Luminary 'T is not a heart that can dance to the Tune of any Religion and pretend a Sanctity which it wears onely in its face that makes Fancy its Conscience and stiffnesse of humour tendernesse of Spirit No 't is a heart robed with Humility and Crowned all with Love perfum'd by Prayers the odours of Charity and the fragancies of a pious life that couches it self within the arms of our Saviour's Spouse and becomes a mourner in its perfections that looks upon the World as the Enemy of its Glory and had rather dye then be a
wounded me before thee O shall my sins be stronger then thy grace and the errours of my life more powerfull then thy law The pious incense of a contrite spirit is a sacrifice thou dost not usally despise and O that I could exhale my selfe in showres and drop away my soul in teares that my iniquities could fly away in sighs and the guilt of my life be wip't off in religious streams Pitty my irregularities O Lord and forgive my crimes how long shall I groan under the bondage of sin and weary thee too with the burden of my corruptions Thou delight'st to pardon sin and shall mine remaine Thou desirest not the death of thy creatures and shall I be forsaken I cannot live without Thee nor enjoy the comfort of my very being till thou revive me 't is better I had not beene than that I should lose Thee and 't is better I should be no more for ever then not regain and find Thee Return O thou comfort of my soule and fill me with thy love Purge the stains and wash away the blemishes of my life by thine own blood renew quicken my spirit with the joyes of Thine Sanctifie my will with a pleasing obedience unto thine let the merits of my Saviour's righteousness beautifie my soule cloathing me with innocence and purity of heart here and everlasting immortality in thy kingdome hereafter A Prayer of Thanksgiving MY deare and glorious Maker what shall I render unto Thee for all thy mercies There hath not a moment of my life past by without being made happy to me by some token of thy love Thou didst purifie my birth by Baptism I was no sooner come into the world but thou didst seale me for Heaven taking away the guilt which no innocency but that of Jesus could conceal or pardon and abolishing those characters of sin and death which were so inseparably imprinted on my nature that no law but that of thy spirit could wipe away and having brought mee into the bosome of thine owne Spouse and plac't me amongst thy children hast fed me with continuall mercies and meanes of grace that I might see there hath been no defect in thy goodness but my acknowledgments nor in thy promises but my performances And indeed my God I cannot looke upon these obligations without horrour for my ingratitude nor remember these pretious testimonies of thy love without a religious confusion of soul for my great neglect and forgetfullnesse of thee Nor can I plead an excuse in the weakenesse of nature onely for those sins I have been too willing a comitter of And yet my God behold how thou hast loved me sending thy son to reconcile me to thy selfe that I might find access unto thy Throne and inherit the joyes of thy kingdom Behold how thou hast loved me in reprieving me from that wrath my sins have long ago deserved and as if thou didst not or wouldst not take notice of my crimes hast made me an object of thy care and an example of thy love abounding in perpetuall dispensations of mercy to my soul I will therfore sacrifice my selfe O Lord in prayses to thy name and in the memory of thy goodnesse keep an everlasting Jubilee in my soul thou hast shewn me the way unto thy Selfe and that in Thee onely are hid all the treasures of my happinesse I will be no longer then a servant to the world and bestow the nobler addresses of my soul on perishing and empty nothings and for a poor fugitive drop here below lose Thee the ocean of bliss and glory And that I may despise the flatteries of the world O Lord do thou inspire me with desires after Thee only and inable me to do something for thy sake who hast don somuch to make me happy that so my life may be a sacrifice of obedience ever pleasing in thy eyes The Index Meditations on Eccles 12. v. 1. Remember now thy Creatour in the dayes of thy Youth Fol. 1. Gen. 12. v. 8. And the Lord God Planted a Garden East-ward in Eden 5 1 Kings 10. v. 18. Moreover the King made a great throne of Ivory and over-laid it with the best Gold 9. 1 Kings 19.9 And He came thither unto a Cave and lodged there 11 Job 11.10 In all this did not Job sin with his Lips 14 Canticles 2.1 I am the Rose of Sharon and the Lillie of the Valleys 17 Gen. 28.12 And he dreamed and behold a Ladder set upon the Earth c. 19 Prov. 18.14 But a wounded Spirit who can beare 23 Eccles 12.13 Feare God and keep his Commandements c. 27 Luke 10.25 And a certaine Lawyer stood up and Tempted him saying Master What shall I do c. 31 Matth. 15.28 And He said unto her O woman great is thy faith 35 Joh. 20.11 And she stooped down and looked into the sepulcher 39 John 11.35 Jesus wept 42 Joh. 12.2 But Lazarus was one of those that sate at the Table with Him 45 Joh. 13.23 Now there was Leaning on Jesus Bosome one of his Disciples whom Jesus loved 48 Matth. 16.26 For what is a man profited if he gaine the whole world and lose c. 51 Matth. 5. v. 8. Blessed are the Pure in heart for they shall see God 56 Matth. 8.2 Lord if thou wilt Thou canst make me cleane 60 Matth. 24.39 And knew not untill the flood came and took them all away 64 Luke 7.5 For He Loved our Nation and hath built us a Synagogue 67 Luke 9.57 Lord I will follow Thee wheresoever Thou goest 71 Matth. 9.38 Pray yee therefore the Lord of the Harvest that he would send forth more labourers into his Harvest 75 Matth. 2.10 And when they saw the Star they rejoyced with exceeding c. 78 Philip. 4.12 I know both how to abound and to suffer need 81 Luke 19.9 This day is Salvation come to this house 85 Matth. 13.43 Then shall the Righteous shine forth as the Sun c. 89 Luke 18.11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed thus God I thank thee c. 93 Rom. c. 6. v. 21. For the end of those things is Death 96 Luke c. 15. v. 10. There is joy in the presence of the Angells of God over one sinner that repenteth 101 Matth. c. 6. v. 33. But seek ye first the Kingdome of God and his Righteousnesse and all these things shall be added unto you 104 A Prayer 111 A Penitentiall Prayer 114 A Prayer of Thanksgiving 119 FINIS