the envenomed wounds of their Husbands who have breathed out their last upon the Graves of those who first gave them heart and affections and of those who have forsaken all their friends renounced their fortunes and exposed themselves to the greatest hazards envie or time could bring upon them But alas saith the poor soul what is all this if heaped together to the love of my Saviour How far is it from that beatifical love How small a drop to that Deluge of his mysterious and adorable love Now those that desire to profit in this love must by fervent prayer beg it of God they must value and esteem it above all earthly things and apply all their actions thereunto since it will no way be entertained in a soul sullyed with worldly and terrestrial affections They must render him fervency and earnestness in all their meditations and devotion no hour must pass without some ejaculation in all companies we must publish his greatness we must refer all objects all creatures to his love and love nothing but in him and for him yea we must engrave all his words wounds and actions in the bottom of our hear And O that we could often present unto our selves as the principal means whereby we may come to this heavenly obedience that infinite love of Jesus Christ Oh that we could here be raised on the highest Region of Grace and poize our selves on the wings of Faith there being no tongue so eloquent no pen so learned sufficiently to express it But oh the deadness and dulness of our spirits Could we but here reflect and a little lift up our eyes surcharged with so many earthly humours and vanities to behold that president which he hath given for the rule of our Love What secrets What mysteries of love should we there finde What greatness and purity must we needs conceive therein And oh how much shame ought we then to have so to defile our love with the impurities of the earth This this alone is it which hath made many forsake the shaddows of Diadems and Scepters which so easily deceive the credulity of the most passionately ambitious by their fond illusions and have thereby attain'd Renown on earth and a Crown in heaven These are Celestial fires which ever proceed from God as being their proper Sphere It is he that begetteth them and breedeth them being no way constrained to descend upon earth to seek nourishment from perishing creatures Those indeed which seek nothing in the world but sensual pleasures which are more thin then smoak and lighter then Wind cannot imagine how much these fair amities which are the daughters of Vertues nourish holy delights The love of God saith one is an influence of Eternity because coming from an Eternal God It is rather inspired then studied It is given to us by the favour of heaven Though good Books and Discourses contribute much to this purpose yet they who think to learn the love of God only by precepts have little in them that is solid And those Lovers who have the ardours of heaven who entertain chaste and spiritual love for things divine partake of those pleasures which the jealous eye cannot espye the slanderous tongue cannot hite And when we thus love God we finde him every where we serve him every where and every where meet with the recompence of our services we may Jonah with Jonah cry unto him out of the Whales 2.2 Belly as from a Chappel and talk with him with the three children in the midst of flames Dan. 3.25 Surely to love truly is to love aloft and to love him who made us when once we are come thus far we shall finde all the greatness of the world lower then our feet Let us not then put a Balm so precious into an unclean Vessel Let us retain no Idols or passions in our hearts to oppose or withstand this excellent Guest Let us entertain this Love with all the strength and vigour of our heart and soul yea make it our continual practice Shall we set our Affections so eagerly on the despicable and inconsiderable affairs of the world Shall we slight a matter of so great importance as the love of God Shall worldly Lovens espouse all occasions use all ways and diligence transform themselves into all shapes and humours pass through fire ice tears blood fearful Torrents enraged Seas enflamed Serpents to attain their hearts wish and arive at the least of their desires and pretensions and shall not we with the greatest applications of minde and soul use all possible industry to profit in a more divine and heavenly Love O shameful reproach That all this should be done for a vain and worldly love which ends always in bitterness and endangers our souls and there is none but Jesus who is chiefly to be loved for whom we will not stir a hand or a foot Out alas Why are we so blinde as to love servitude and to make a Goddess of the Worlds Beauties Why should we make it our glory to sacrifice our Liberty and kiss the Fetters of our slavery Alas How dear doth it cost us to destroy our poor souls Did the man of uncleanness but think that whiles he is in the embraces of his fulsome Mistris that his soul is waited on by death and death by eternity Did he but think that those eyes which did burn in Lust should in a bottomless Furnace be scorched with Brimstone That those ears which here were wont to wanton it with Minstrels shall there be filled with nothing else but the groans of Divels and the shrill screetches of the damned that the Tongue which delighted in the relation of fond and idle Stories should there cry out for water to cool it and the whole Body which was here clothed in rich and fantastique garbs should be hereafter enwrapped in a mantle at once of darkness and yet of flames and the Voice which here was taken up with the Songs and Ditties of Love should there nothing but complain of Torments Would he I say but consider all this it were impossible that he which thus loves pleasure and cannot endure to be tormented should delight to thrust himself into the fire or that he which fears to lose one drop of blood should delight in the wounding of his whole Body Stand amazed then O poor Soul and bewail thy self that thou shouldest no better value so inestimable a favour as thy Saviours love and resolve for the remaining part of thy life to be crucified unto all those Objects of pleasure profit and honour which have heretofore transported thee O sweet Jesus Thy Beauties are without stain and shall I be of the number of those souls which are distasted with Manna Shall I languish after the Onyons of Aegypt O make me rather dear Saviour to sanctifie all that is esteemed profane If my Eyes have been the cause to entertain fond love O let them now become Vessels of Water to wash away the spots of all unchaste
the Arrians who were thirsty for his blood was beholding to a woman for shelter and the supply of such necessaries as he wanted And may we credit the relation of Writers on this Subject how great do we finde the passions of St. Jerome for Paula as if all the splendour of Romes greatness all the riches of the earth were nothing to him in comparison of the resplendent vertues of this noble Lady He is not onely very large when he goes about to praise her wishing all the members of his body were turned into Tongue and that he were nothing but voyce to chant out her Praises but even in his old age makes an Epitaph upon her death St. Chrysostom also a man austere in his life and vehement in the matters of vertue is reported to have written letters to his dear Olimpias from the place of his banishment wherein he saluteth her with openness of most ardent Aeffections He instructs and encourageth her by sublime and grave discourses he imparteth and recounts his Voyages and adventures his comforts and discomforts unto her yea he descends unto particulars of his own health habit and exercises in that ugly place whereunto he was banished and adviseth her in the like manner what he thinks to be most necessary for her If we look further into History we shall finde Chastity to be the Trophey of Cyrus the Triumph of Alexander nay if we may believe the Relation of Ju-Julianus apud lian the worst of Emperours though re Arminianum nouncing his Christian Faith would would never renounce Chastity which he had learnt among Christians saying This Vertue made beautiful Lives as Painters did fair faces By all which formerly said we may conclude Saints have very lively Affections to those they love And therefore seeing there is a necessity of Love vain is the opinion of some Philosophers who teach indifferency and say We must not love any thing And however a severe Censurer may with a supercilious countenance and a wrinckled brow look asquint yet may we not doubt there may be love between Sex and Sex pure and ardent as the flames which enlighten stars though belonging onely to persons prudent and absolute in Vertue yea great circumspection must be used herein men usually fortifying themselves with much precaution observing diligently the disposition of their Nature the causes of Temptations and the maladies of the Soul whereby the more successfully and with better effect to attain the Cure Love indeed may be termed the Phronzy of the Understanding the Poyson of the Heart the Corruption of Manners and the desolation of the life in some yet doth it not follow that women are always fat of the ruine of men Many indeed resemble those Serpents which requite them with poyson who sing pleasant songs unto them But what shall we bring an accusation against Nature in general and conclude nothing to be good of all that God made because it may be corrupted by the wickedness of men Shall we accuse the Sun because it is said that Phaeton burnt himself in those heats or take away the water from among the Elements because they say Aristotle was drowned therein Onely let it be our greatest care not to serve two Mistisses God and the Beauties of the World which are so different as not to agree When David and Sampson endeavoured to accord them they became Lascivious instead of being Holy The one at first could overthrow a Giant but had no sooner received the wound from Bathsheba's eye but Love soon dryed up all his Victories and those eyes which first discovered her at the Fountains head had much ado to cure themselves with the waters of many tears And when the other betook himself to the Comb and Looking-Glass of Dalilah being formerly like a shining Sun enlightning his Nation he became a coal and dark vapour having no longer eyes but to deplore the fondness and disafter of his love with Tears of blood As the best Wine is most subject to degenerate into Vineger so we see the chastest Love if heed be not taken changeth it self into Flesh How carefully then should we avoid reject the first thoughts of such miserable Designs as being the first sparkles of this fire lest by giving too great a command to our Passion we give too great an overture to our unhappiness We finde what the World could not do to Solomon the wisest of men a Woman did and what the Devil could not by himself do to Adam he did it by a Woman Neither was it the Devil but the Daughters of men which tempted the Sons of God Gen. 6.2 So did Dinah the son of Shechem Dalilah Sampson Bathsheba David and millions more have done the like whose eyes being like burning Lamps or coals of fire to kindle their breath their lips as lime-twigs to ensnare and their hands like Manacles or Bands to binde and hold fast How ought we then to make Jobs covenant with our eyes not to look upon a Maid And oh Happy are those who are so instructed in the Vertue of Purity as that they know not the least shaddow of those sins which are committed in the world It being a Fate sadly attending those who see and smell out so many vain Customs and entertainments of Countries since too soon they learn what too late they will forget taking so much fire in at the Ears and Eyes that water enough will not be found to extinguish it except with Mary Magdalen we sit under the feet of Jesus and bedew them with the chrystal Tears of our Repentance O wonder of Women O most happy of aâ—l Lovers How didst thou make profit of Sin which destroys all How didst thou sanctifie that Love which so little knew the way to any sanctity a work only wrought in thee by the right hand of the Highest Thou which wert a sinner wounded with Love curest thy self by Love Thou changest the fire of Babylon into that of Jerusalem thou pluckest out the venomous Dart of worldly Love off thy Wound to make way for the Arrows of Jesus to pierce thy heart and that soul which was before black and burnt up with the fire of Concupiscence provideth a Fountain for the King of Heaven and draweth Tears from its sins to procure a Pardon And for ever blessed are those who with this Pattern of holy Sorrow considering the evil consequence of sensuality effeminacy and the too eager pursuit of carnal pleasure use severity denyal and the frustrating of their appetite when it any way grows unreasonable For why should we thus offer violence to our selves Why should we thus endanger our Estate Shall we drown those Senses here in a world of pleasure which will not hereafter be able to procure one bottle of Water to refresh us O horrour What Of the Members of Jesus Christ to make them the members of an unclean Creature O great indignity What To worship and serve our Lusts to adore our sinful Appetites O that we would put
thee no Creature being able towork by its own strength having all but dependent Beings from God alone Miserable wretches then as we are as not to see him with our bodily eyes so not to behold his Glory in our most retired Meditations that he should be all brightness yet we view him not all sweetness yet we taste him not That he should be in all places yet we feel him not alas what strangers are we in the House of our Father O that our life here should be fuch an estrangement from him and that when we most behold him it should be but as it were in a Glass darkly Draw nearer then O my Soul bring forth thy strongest burning Love here 's matter for thee to work upon here 's something truly worth thy loving Oh see what bounty presents it self Is not all the Goodness in the world contracted here Is not all the Beauty in the world deformity to it Here is comfort for thy Soul and a feast for thine eyes Ah! that ever thou shouldest need to be invited to feed on it That thou shouldst be invited to love where thou feel'st a heavenly sweetness accompanying it and where the very Act of loving is unexpressibly sweet O what wouldst thou give for such a life couldst thou be all love and alwaies loving Come away then O my Soul stand no longer looking on that Beauty admiring this Face or Idolizing these earthly shadowes But behold that Glory which is onely to be enjoyed in the lap of Eternity Ah that thou couldst bid the world farewel and here immure thy self that thou couldst shut the door upon thee and injoy the sweet content of divine and heavenly Meditation But Oh the dulness of thy desires after so great a happiness How doth thy backwardness accuse thee of Ingratitude must thy Saviour procure thee Heaven at so dear a rate and wilt thou not more value it must he purchase thy life by the Pangs of a bitter death must he go before and prepare a Mansion and art thou loath to follow must his blood and pains and care be lost O unworthy and ungrateful Soul what is loathing if this be love Ah wretched Creature if thou art not ashamed to neglect so great a mercy The Soul repents the time that ever she was Cloistered up in the walls of Clay and thrown into the Dungeon of that corrupt mass of Flesh THe Soul of Man being embarqued in the dangerous Sea of this world where her adventure is very hazardous and full of Rocks and having no Port to put in at but either Repentance or Death bewailes the want of her Pilot without whose guidance she is sure to meet with a miserable shipwrack and which she conceives as natural to her as swiming is to Fishes flight to Birds beauty in Flowers and rayes in the Sun Woe is me saith he that ever I was born to see the Light Why did my Mother rejoyce to hear me cry and to receive the news that I was a living Soul when first I entered into the world I bore the Image of my Creator in some lustre and glory but since that time my first Parents who bore as it were in one Vessel the Riches of all Mankind had lost all that which wretches might lose or men desire and which with grief we yet deplore it s scarce discernable in me in regard of those Leaprous spots of sin and taintures of iniquity which I have contracted from those frail corporeal Organs which have so pittifully dis-figured and transformed me as that the Character of my God is almost lost in me Alas I am but an unweildly lump of Earth a meer passive thing of my self Those eyes of mine which should have been as christal Casements through which I might behold the glorious Firmament and study my Creator in the Volums of Nature have let out the Beams of vanity and lightness Those Ears which should have let in wholsome precepts and holy exhortations have been no other then Trunks to receive idle discourses and vain sounds That Mouth and Tongue which should have sounded out the praises and glory of my Creator and sung Halelujahs to him have been instruments of Equivocation Sinne and Prophaness Those hands which were design'd to deeds of Charity have been employed in evill and sinful works That Throat which was intended as a Conduit-pipe to poure out divine and pious Ejaculations hath been made the instruments of Luxury and excess And those Feet which were made to walk in the paths of Piety and Virtue have been used to run into the Road of al Licentiousness But oh when I examine my heart the seat of my affections what a sinck of sin a Cage of unclean Birds do I find it and whereas I should have made it a Closet for my Saviour to sit and reside in alas what Hatred what Hypocrisie what spiritual Pride and Choler hath infected every corner thereof And if I look further how shall I find every Cell of my Brain infected My Fantasy is become wild and extravagant my Memory hath been more mindfull of bad then good things my Understanding full of darkness my Will wholly blinded my Reason strangely besotted and my Imagination wholly puffed up with airy passions and malignant humours which interpose between me and the glorious Beams of my Saviour Ah whether have the Councels of those transported me which desire the ruine of my Soul How am I environed with admires of Lusts and besieged with Legions of inordinate affections Miserable that I am what shall I do to hinder the designs of my naturall Corruptions Alas How they prevail against me unhappy that I am that the Sun which this day shines so bright over my head should see his face defiled with the stains of my sins What do I here in this house of Pleasure where we seem to enter in by five Gates which are all Crowned with Roses and bear the face of youth and prosperity Are not those five Gates the five Senses by which all the passages are made into carnal pleasures and the vain delights of the world Is this the way to live like a Christian to walk according to the Rules and propensions of Nature Is this the Babylon of worldly hopes which in the beginning sheweth it self as a Miracle carrying Hony in the lip Light in the face but Poyson in the tail Why alas should I thus live in the fervours of a Feaver why should I desire to live in that greatness which will onely serve to make my fall the more miserable Why should I rest upon those worldly comforts whose acquisition is painful whose fruition uncertain and taste unsavory And how pleasing soever they appear in the dawning of the day seeming in the first springing to be spread with Emeralds and Rubies yet will they at last be changed into the horrours or a sad Tempest and ever waited on by ignomy and confusion O that I should thus spend the latter part of my age after smokes and
and easie What though thou here seem to weep for a time thou shalt but onely resemble the Flower-de-luce which weeps a little and out of its own Tears produceth seeds to renew its Beauty The salt Sea of this world shall become a flourishing field as it did to the people of God when they came out of the chains of Egypt Wee are here in this World like little Infants without Air or Light besmeared with blood and swadled in Clouts which Nature onely gave thee for a time to fit thee the better for that life where thou shalt for ever breath in all freedom and liberty We are yet in Prison Fetters and Obscurity until the coming of the great day wherein God shall give us a Spiritual body All the pomp of this World all our life yea all that pleaseth here and taketh up our heart is but the shadow of that Glorious Beauty and contentment which passeth in Eternity Let me then O my God! continually exercise my self in the desires of joyes Eternal let me sanctifie all other Loves to the love of Jesus Christ let me forsake all humane things O my God! and betake my self wholly to the consideration of his excellency When I speak let it be of Heaven as of my resting place and of thee as of the Object of my Felicity Ah! what can be more divine then to see a Soul thus capable of the influences of Heaven whom the Sithe of Time cannot affright whom the Threats of the world nor the wheel of Inconstancy neither the power of Death can dismay O House of God! O Temple of Peace when will the time come which will devest us of all that is mortal which will sweeten the bitterness of our life replenish our hearts with spiritual refreshment and at last put us into the bosom of Immortality The Soul filled with Heavenly Love sends forth the pure flames of her Affection GOd who loves the importunities of his servants often hides his face the longer to the end his Grace may with the more brightness afterwards appear We find in Nature that the Sun is never more resplendent then after an Eclipse the Sea never more calm then after a Tempest nor the Air brighter then after a shower Neither is it ever too late to knock and cry at the Gate of Heaven The fainting Beggar which neglects the re-inforcing of his complaint often goes away without his reward The weary and lingering Christian seldom attains the end of his journey where he shall live for ever in the Palace of Peace and contentment where our happiness shall be perpetual and our fulness never occasion loathing to him that possesseth it Neither doth God do us any injury if after long waiting here instead of a Crown which is the Weather-cock of winds of a Scepter which is the Reed of the times or of a Life which is the Harbenger of Death he affords us delights and glories which outstrip the flight of Thoughts which drie up all our Tears and surmount all our Imaginations It was once told a great Prince being in his Infancy bred up in the House of a Peasant whose Son he took himself to be that he should no longer follow so mean an employment of life that his Hat should be turned into a Diadem his Spade into a Scepter his Raggs into Robes of Gold his Cottage into a Pallace and his servitude into an Empire Oh can we think how he was ravished with the love of a Father by whom he was born to so much Treasure and Greatness And shall we not have the like approbation when our Saviour tells us we are not created to live among Mire and Dirt to be tyed to a wretched frail and miserable Body to walk among Bryars and Thornes and embroyl our selves in the toyls and cares of a mortal life Bring me then O dear Jesus in thine own time into those celestial Palaces of incomprehensible lights and unspeakable Beauties Enlighten me O thou Son of Righteousness to discover those glorious excellencies all white with Innocency and resplendent with the Rayes of Glory from the Syrens of the world which so much abuse us with deceits vanitie and infamies I acknowledge thus far the infinite mercy of thy divine Providence that while I was in darkness and under the black Cloud of thy heavy displeasure thou sanctifiest my Fetters and hast now raised up my Ashes above the Crowns of the World Thou mightest indeed have made me ambitious delicate haughty covetous and adorned with worldly Treasures to have walked on Roses to have putrifed in delights yea made my happiness seemingly to have out-run my desires Such there are I confess who have defiled their names with reproach wearied the Earth with their vices astonished Posterity with their deportments and peopled Hell with their crimes But O mercy that thou makest me to see light in the most dusky Nights and a Haven of comfort in the most forlorn shipwracks O most Mighty O most Soveraign Lord of all things visible and invisible were I with thee in the shades of death what should I fear being between the arms of Life O great eye who seest all and art not seen of any here below Thou art truly worthy if we with mortal lips may call thee worthy yea worthy to whom all the world should give continual thanks for thy inexplicable Benefits Worthy before whom we on our bended knees should all our life-time remain prostrate Worthy that for thee we should have Prayers and prayers everlastingly on our lips O Monsters of impudency if yet we see not thy goodness and persist insensibly of thy mercy With these considerations if the Soul now wholly ravished she walks on Earth as a man suspended in Heaven drenched in God and fill'd with the joyes of his Spirit Her eyes are listed up towards Heaven though streaming down tears for sinne upon Earth Her hands are still lifted up thither by prayer Her heart formerly contracted with sadness for crimes committed against so good a God now melts with joy unspeakable Neither earing nor drinking nor sleeping is able to dissolve the sweet conversation she hath with God Now is it that the Soul begins to lead a life wholly Celestial as one who seems to have nothing to do with the Bodies and conversations of the living Now is it that after so many Tempests so many Thunder-claps and Whiriwinds of grief and sadness she arrives at a Port not of temporal felicity but of the unspeakable joyes of Heaven Ah ignorant that we are of the works of God! perpetually fixed to the Earth and deprived of those sparkles of heavenly fire and light Let us but a little draw aside the Curtain and we shall see through so many Clouds the glorious Rayes of lasting happiness There may you behold the Effigies of a gracious Soul with a Crown on its Head and Scepter in its Hand with prosperity continually smiling with loves free from disturbance with desires void of denials with affairs without
the pleasure of sin and the perpetuity of sinners Torments the easinesse of thy gentle yoak and light burden here below and the weight of thy glory provided for me above since there is no moment O Lord void of thy goodness why should there be any moment void of my praise I know it will not be long until death consume me to the very bones and I shall then possess nothing but what I have done for thee Shall I then live in this world to my self and be still vexed with care how to preserve a miserable life Dear Jesus suffer me not thus to be taught by thy Judgements what I have neglected to learn from thy mercy Time and age will one day wither the blossoms of youth The best of our joyes are but fires of straw or flattering sun-shines which are suddenly either washed away with a shower or banished by Tempests The Sun will at last daver the freshest Roses and Lillies O let not then my thoughts strike sail or my heart do homage to the transitory beauties of this world which will onely ensnare and imprison me in the Fetters of sin least the storms of an evil conscience suddenly arise and trouble the serenity of my delights and the tranquility of my seeming felicity The Soul being sensible of its former Mercies sits weeping under the Cross of her Saviour and resolves to partake with him in his Sufferings AS Humility is seldome planted upon Crowns and Scepters so the wisdom of State seldome joyns with that of the Cross where its lustre is too often darkned by the too much glittering of the world and ordinarily finds slippery footing amongst the Rubies and Diamonds of a Crown It was the saying of Tertullian who flourished two hundred years after the Nativity of our Saviour when there had been no speech of any Emperours that had embraced Christianity Tertul. in Apol. That if the Caesars would become Christians they would cease to be Caesars and if the Christians would become Caesars they would cease to be Christians conceiving that poorness of spirit cannot consist with so high and stately Riches neither Humility with a Soveraign Empire or the Tears of Repentance with the vain delights of the Court. Surely the hungring and thirsting after Righteousness upon which our Saviour so often leaves his blessing can no way stand with the desire of Pomp and Greatness in the world no more then Peace can subsist with Licentiousness of War or pureness of heart with the conversing with most pleasing and tempting Beauties or the fairest hopes of the world which are mowed dow in their flower by the pittiless Sythe of death Peter was never so near his ruine as when he was warming himself in the Priests Hall John Baptist was far more secure amongst Wolves Foxes and Tigers then among the wicked Courtiers of Herod He was more happy with his little Dinner of Locusts and wild Honey retired in his Cabin then amidst the Pomps and Pleasures of the King of Galilee Do we know whether our Fancy will run when Ambition rides it or our Minds sail when distempers steer them What makes a Hermit at the Court a solitary man in a Tumult a David in his Tower of Pleasures a Solomon in the midst of so many Wives and Concubines and a Sampson under the enticing hands of his treacherous Dalelah Yea what makes a sacred man amongst the prophane or a Saint in the house of a Tyrant So hard is it also for Carnal eyes to behold the bitter Agony of our blessed Saviour so hard is it for any Tongue without being steeped in Gall to express his sufferings or for any person without pouring out of Tears to approach his Cross What eyes can look on thee as they should and behold all thy flesh wholly imprinted with dolours and thy heart drenched in acerbities What eyes can without bitter relenting behold thy deadly sweat of blood can see thee dragg'd through the streets of Hierusalem every one looking out at the windows to fill their eyes with gazing and astonishment can see thee buffeted flouted tossed from one Tribunal to another spit on every where despised and maliciously affronted What eyes can look on thy spread Arms thy nailed Hands and Feet thy rack't sinews thy pierced side thy bended Neck thy faln looks thy torn Body thy pale and bloodless flesh thy company to be of infamous Theeves and thy miserable Favourite and forlorn Mother ready through grief to expire their last breath what ears could with patience hear thy doleful out-cryes to Heaven and what heart could apprehend thee at first received into a wretched Stable and there laid in a Manger and at last to conclude thy innocent life in so great nakedness as that thou hadst no other veil to cover thee then the blood which gushed from thy wounds Behold O my Soul the whole life of thy Saviour which he passed here on Earth and thou shalt find it a School of Christian manners by the contemplation whereof Holiness is perfected in the fear of the Lord 2 Cor. 7.1 The world loved Riches but he would be poor The world loved Honours but he shun'd and refused a Kingdom and the Treasures thereof the world delighted in a carnal off-spring but he desired neither Marriage not Issue The world feared nothing more then disgrace desertion of friends insulting of enemies bodily Tortures and Death whereas Christ endured the rebukings of the people the flight of his Disciples the mockings of the Souldiers the spitting of the Jews and the death of the Cross O vvonderful that the mighty power of the Divinity would thus manifest it self in the infirmity of the Cross Sure it was onely for God to perform this great Design and thus ascend up to his Throne of Glory by the basest disgraces of the world and if vve vvill be his Children vve must make it appear by participation of his Cross and by suffering Tribulation By this Sun it is that the Eagles are discovered The good Thief saw no other Title or sign of his Kingdom but onely his body covered over vvith bloud and oppressed with dolours by that Book of the Gross he learned all the Glory of Paradise and apprehended that none but God could vvith such patience endure so great Torments Methinks blessed Saviour I hear devout Simon seeing thee heavy loaden with the burden of the Cross thus expostulating with thee O Jesus vvhether goest thou with the extream vveight of this barren piece of Wood whether dost thou carry it and why vvhere do you mean to set it What upon mount Calvary Alas that place is most wild and stony How canst thou plant it there who shall water it to which thou answerest I bear indeed a piece of Wood upon my Shoulders and carry it to mount Calvary This Wood I bear must bear me to bear the salvation of the world and to draw all after me I bear it to place it by my death and water it with my blood Oh Love
having the least motion to revenge alwayes rendering good for evil And last of all behold him pouring out Tears of joy under his Saviours Cross Here onely is the Sanctuary of rest where wearied Souls may lay their heads Here shall we be sure to meet with comfortable embraces Here shall the banished live more contented then Kings in their greatest Royalty Farewel Honours farewel Empires Riches Reputation Pleasures and gorgious Habiliments Farewel stately Buildings great Possessions Gold Silver precious Stones Feasts and all earthly Pastimes But welcome that Sickness Banishment welcome those Chains Reproaches Punishments yea Death it self which at last brings us asleep under our Saviours Cross O happy Cross O welcome Troubles why blessed Jesus should I grieve to have those shoulders wounded with such a load as through thy aid will become so pleasant unto me The world is an uncertain Sea where usually a Tempest doth arise when a Calm is expected But here 's Constancy in a good course of life Here 's Patience in Tribulation Here 's Courage to support injuries and Comfort against distresses O the poor Treasures that can be hoarded in Caves in Houses in Towers What proportion do they bear to this Heavenly Treasure O the scant presence and jealous absence of all the Goods and Delights of the world How fleeting and momentary are they how changeable are their inclinations how hungry are the Benefits and how pinching their Prodigalities How base their Ends and aims in their most real Professions how weak and frivolous their Passions yea how easily are all consum'd in a few trivial distasts O my onely God! what miserable penurious blasts are these to blow the Coals of my love unto thee Henceforth for ever make me to run with Mary Magdalen after the sweet odours of thy glorious presence make it all my pleasure to sit dayes nights and hours weighing the greatness of thy Excellency the richness of thy Glory and the beautifulness of thy Attributes Make me to spend all my strength in blessing thee for thy goodness in rejoycing at thy Mercies in admiring thy Justice and adoring thy Truth and in an awful Reverence of thy Eternal Majesty Thus doth the Soul filled with Humility and the zeal of Devotion often and not without groans speak unto her self What shall I triumph where my Master hath been covered with Reproaches Shall I take glory on my head where my Saviour hath taken the Cross upon his Shoulders shall I adorn that head with Crowns of Pearl where he received one of Thornes No O Jesus I have too long in deep draughts drank of the poysonous sweets of this worlds alurements Now will I hang all Honours at the feet of thy Cross What is Beauty Strength Valour Wisdom Industry Eloquence or all the things in the world but Dung in comparison of thy Cross O beloved Jesus there can I sit and condemn whatloever the world doth honour and esteem O my Saviour what sweetness and allurements are there in thy Sufferings Here is our Wisdome our Justice our Sanctification and Redemption Here is the splendor of the celestial Father and the Character of his substance who by his Word doth support the world And shall I not take up my Cross and follow him as he hath commanded amidst the many great Affronts Disgraces and Persecutions suffered by him Shall I not therein also accompany his Prophets the glorious company of his Apostles and the Noble Army of Martyrs Did my Saviour fly from Scepters and run to the Cross would he have no worldly Kingdoms because their Thrones were made of Ice and their Crowns of Glass and shall I not believe that where he is there can be no Desert or solitude See see then how the Characters of a suffering God are the dearest delights of a sanctified Soul which is no more it self but altogether transfigured with a heavenly transmutation It lives wholly on the bloud of its Saviour it breathes not but by his spirit it speaks not but by his words it thinks not but by his Meditations It defies Tribulation Anguish Pain Nakedness and Dangers It adventures amongst bloody Swords and Persecutions and is no way affrighted with burning Faggots and boyling Cauldrons And if thou O my Soul art at any time unwilling to part with this Earthly Tabernacle think but how willingly the glorious Martyrs of Christ sacrificed themselves in as many Torments as they had members They preached on Crosses sang in Flames triumphed on Wheeles Deserts and Tears Scorchings and Snows were nothing to them in the way to that Glory for which thou art unwilling to forsake a Dung-hil But O my God! if thou think it fit to exercise my patience to try my faith to correct my sin by the wickedness of men give me grave never to be so disturbed with the injustice of Creatures but that I may consider the justice of thee who art the most righteous Creator O let me not be vanquished and suppressed by the burden of the Cross but rather enabled by the weight of it to walk more steadily in all holiness Justice and sobriety before thee And though Affliction here seem like the Cloud which the Prophet saw to carry winds and storms in it but was environed with a golden Circle yet let it at last be encompassed with the brightness and smiling felicity of that day wherein Calumny shall change it selfe into Adoration Rage into astonishment and those that are thought lost in the Labyrinth of misery shall see themselves consecrated and carried through their punishments into the Haven of Eternal safety Be not dismayed then O faithful Soul in the Sufferings and troubles of this life suffer not thy self to be overcome with those Temptations which will snatch so rich a Crown out of thy hands Happy and for ever blessed wilt thou be to enter into so incomparable a Glory vvhen it shall be said unto thee having left the Deserts of this world come now and dwell in the everlasting delights of thy God! O throw away those vanities which too much too much flattered thee with the splendors of a deceitful world Raise up thy self and say O when will that day come which will restore me a body to render it to God a body no longer of frail pondorous and perishable Earth but a body immortal and gilded with the splendors and sufferings of my Saviour Yea let us more fix our Thoughts on an Immortality a Resurrection an Eternal Life a life of God gained for us by the pains sweats and blood of Jesus to which he daily invites us a life which will charm all our Troubles sweeten all our rigours purifie all our intentions animate our virtues and at last after so many hardships and Travels of a wretched life so many Calumnies and Reproaches and after so great a Tumult of miseries Crown us with happiness rest our weather beaten Ark and bring us into a sweet and quiet repose In Imitation of our Saviours great Patience under his Passion the
Soul resolves for ever to yield an humble submission to his Will THe Soul of Man can hardly entertain any Portion of Gods will but that wherein it s own is concerned It is usually more troubled for any chastisement then for its sin yea it often mourns for sin rather because it deprives her of comfort then because it provoketh God Nay how hardly can it embrace his word with that joy and his providence with that contentment as to say at all times with patient Eli It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good Alas vvhat patience hath it in committing sinne but how impatient in suffering for it how ready to execute vice but how unwilling to endure the punishment Oh good God! How many years have I retain'd an inclination to sin my Soul is bound as it were with Iron Chains in this unhappy Bed Will there be no Angel to move the water for me How strange a thing is it that God should be so near us and yet we so far from him But alas we are too much for the world too fast nailed to the Earth He that desires the society of Angels must not embarque himself deeply in worldly affairs God is a Spirit and he that intends to receive good from him must not be a slave to his Body He that intends to find Christ must search for him as the three Kings did in the Manger of his Humility he must look for him as the blessed Virgin did in the Temple in his piety yea he must seek for him as the Maries did in his Sepulchre in the imitation of his death But where O Saviour shall I begin thy passion shall I go with thee into the Garden indeed there it begun there it was that thy Soul began to be exceeding sorrowful even unto the death There it was that thou beggest That the Cup might pass from thee Mat. 26.38 c. There it was that thou sweatedst in a cold night on the Ground in a cold Garden yea there it was that those drops of blood which so freely issued from thy veins were forthwith congealed with the Air. Oh thy matchless love Ah how sweet is the smell of it there in thy great Agony But shall we follow thee from the Garden into the High Priests Hall O how hideous were the outcryes of the rude Rabble against thee Ah Lord what was that vvhich stopped thy ear that thou wouldst not regard or silenced thy Tongue that thou wouldst not reply was it not thy Love Some spit upon thee others smiled on thee some railed on thee others blasphemed thee some scoffed others buffeted many accused and all cryed out against thee But stay may we not yet follow thee further and ascend mount Calvary Shall we not here see thee Nailed to the Cross for our sakes Shall we not here find thee breathing out thy last and pouring out thy hearts blood in a shameful cursed and tormenting way Ah the depth of thy Love O the transcendency of thy affections No man having ever thus laid down his life for his friends Unfortunate Sons of Adam the effects of whose fond disobedience are now become so sadly evident Behold thy Saviour cast on the Ground his knees bent his eyes over-flown with Tears his Hands stretched up towards Heaven all covered with gloomy Clouds and darkness his heart swoln with grief and is ready to break into some loud and doleful complaint against mans Ingratitude O my God! what means this universal strife and contention within thy own breast Art thou daunted at the sight of danger Is the sight of danger become so frightful to thee Thou weepedst indeed over Hierusalem and Mary Magdalen drew Tears from thy eyes but not with such astonishment as this Thou discoursedst of thy Passion on mount Tabor but with a Glory which ravished the eyes and hearts of all that beheld it thou hast often profest a great desire to see the hour of thy suffering and can horror possibly seize on thee Can grief surround thee cold and stupifying Tears possess thee now thou art arrived so near the place of thy wishes O no! thy great Design is to be tempted in all things without sinne that we might be comforted in the tremblings and faintings of our heart and that we might learn this great and difficult Lesson how to comfort our selves at the full Tide of anguish and Tribulations Behold further O my Soul what a glorious Lesson of Patience thy Saviour hath set before thy eyes Bend but thy ears to those sacred words Not my will but thine be fulfilled and who would think but that the excess of grief should a little disturbe thy memory Thou fore-saw'st no question Blessed Saviour those Clubs and Lantherns Souldiers and Officers prepared to lay hands upon thee and with loud cryes and scorns to carry thee to Hierusalem Hierusalem where thon hadst done so many miracles Hierusalem where thou so lately enteredst with Joy and Triumph and yet thou cryedst thy will be done Thou well knewest that Judges of all sorts Priests and Divines and Religious men which daily ministred at thy Holy Altar were appointed to discredit and accuse thee That Kings and Presidents Jews and Gentiles and an infinite number assembled at this great Feast would scorn and condemn thee and yet still thou cryedst thy will be done Thou beheldest those whips and scourges those Speâ—rs and Thornes prepared to afflict thee a mock purple and the ridiculous Scepter of a Reed to vilifie and abuse thee a heavy Cross and tearing Nails unmerciful hands and ungrateful hearts to torment and affront thee yet could no way alter thee from crying Thy will be done It was no news to thee that a Murtherer should be preferred before thee and begg'd in thy place by thy beloved People amongst whom thou spentst thy life that two Theeves should be thy Companions and fellow-sufferers That Judas amongst thy own Disciples should betray thee that three of thy best friends should lie sleeping by thee that Peter himself should deny thee yea that all should shamefully forsake and fly from thee and yet still O dear Saviour thou said Thy will be done Thou sawest afore hand thy weeping and disconsolate Mother stand at the foot of thy Cross and afflicting thy departing Soul with the sight of thy grief and disconsolate condition thou leavest her in and last of all that thou shouldst be abandoned on all hands and not so much as thy lifes last breath spared O invincible Courage O admirable Fortitude which neither life nor death nor things present nor things to come nor fears nor torments could so far alter thy resolution but still thou submittest in these words Thy will be done Lord and not my own But alas Is there no remedy after all this submission for thy blessed Soul Must thou alone drink of this sower Cup Must thou alone tread the wine-press of sowre Grapes Alas dearest Saviour where is then the God of Elias Are his bowels of mercy turn'd