either is or hath done comes within thy prospect There besides the great worke of his Creation thou maiest dwell upon the no lesse almighty worke of his Administration of this universall world whereof the preservation and government is no lesse wonderfull than the frame there thou shalt see the marvelous subordination of creatures some made to rule others to obey the powerfull influences of the Celestiall bodies upon the Inferiour the continuall transmutation of elements forsaking their own places and natures to serve the whole formes dying matter perpetuall all things maintained by a friendly discord of humors out of which they are raised the circular revolution of fashions occurrences events the different and opposite dispositions of men over-ruled to such a temper that yet government is continued in the hands of few society and commerce with all shortly all Creatures whiles they doe either naturally or voluntarily act their own part doing unawares the will of their Creator But that which may justly challenge thy longer stay and greater wonder is the more-than-transcendent worke of mans Redemption the mysteries whereof the holy Angels have desired to look into but could never yet sufficiently conceive or admire That the Sonne of God the Lord of Glory Coeternall Coequall to his Father God blessed for ever should take upon him an estate lower than their own should cloath his Deity with the ragges of our flesh should stoop to weake and miserable man-hood and in that low and despicable condition should submit himselfe to hunger thirst wearinesse temptation of Devils despight of men to the cruelty of tormentors to agonies of soule to the pangs of a bitter ignominious cursed death to the sense of his Fathers wrath for us wretched sinners that had made our selves the worst of Creatures enemies to God slaves to Satan is above the reach of all finite apprehension O never-to-bee-enough-magnified mercy Thou didst not O Saviour when thou sawest mankind utterly lost and forlorn content thy selfe to send down one of thy Cherubim or Seraphin or some other of thy heavenly Angels to undertake the great work of our deliverance as wel knowing that taske too high for any created power but wouldst out of thine infinite love and compassion vouchsafe so to abase thy blessed selfe as to descend from the Throne of thy Celestiall glory to this Dungeon of earth and not leaving what thou hadst and what thou wast to assume what thou hadst not man and to disparage thy selfe by being one of us that wee might become like unto thee co-heirs of thy glory and blessednesse Thou that art the eternall Sonne of God wouldst condescend so low as to be man that wee who are wormes and no men might bee advanced to bee the Sonnes of God thou wouldst bee a servant that wee might reigne thou wouldst expose thy self to the shame and disgrace of thy vile Creatures here that thou mightst raise us up to the height of heavenly honour with thee our God and thy holy Angels thou wouldst dye for a while that we might live eternally Pause here a while O my soule and do not wish to change thy thoughts neither earth nor heaven can yeild thee any of higher concernment of greater comfort Onely withall behold the glorious person of that thy blessed Mediator after his victories over death and hell sitting triumphant in all the Majesty of heaven adored by all those millions of Celestiall Spirits in his glorified humanity and what thou maist enjoy the vision of him by faith till thou shalt be everlastingly blessed with a cleare and present intuition Long after that day and be ever carefull in the meane time to make thy self ready for so infinite an happinesse SECT. VII ANd now O my soul having left below thee all the triviall vanities of Earth and fixed thy selfe so farre as thy weak eies will allow thee upon thy God and Saviour in his Almighty works and most glorious Attributes it will be time for thee and will not a little conduce to thy further addresse towards blessednesse to fasten thy selfe upon the sight of the happy estate of the Saints above who are gone before thee to their bliss and have through Gods mercy comfortably obtained that which thou aspirest unto thou that wert guided by their example bee likewise heartned by their successe thou art yet a Traveller they comprehensors thou art panting towards that rest which they most happily enjoy thou art sweating under the crosse whiles they sit crowned in an heavenly magnificence See the place wherein they are the heaven of heavens the paradise of God infinitely resplendent infinitely delectable such as no eye can behold and not be blessed shouldst thou set thy Tabernacle in the midst of the Sun thou couldst not but bee encompassed with marvailous light yet even there it would bee but as midnight with thee in comparison of those irradiations of glory which shine forth above in that Empyreall Region For thy God is the Sun there by how much therefore those divine raies of his exceed the brightest beams of his Creature so much doth the beauty of that heaven of the blessed surpasse the created light of this inferior starry firmament Even the very place contributes not a little to our joy or misery It is hard to bee merry in a Goale and the great Persian Monarch thought it very improper for a Courtier to bee of a sad countenance within the verge of so great a Royalty The very devils conceive horror at the apprehension of the place of their torment and can beseech the over-ruling power of thy Saviour not to command them to go out into the deep No man can be so insensate to thinke there can bee more dreadfulnesse in the place of those infernall tortures than there is pleasure and joy in the height of that sphere of blessednesse sith we know wee have to doe with a God that delights more in the prosperity of his Saints than in the cruciation and howling of his enemies How canst thou then O my soule bee but wholly taken up with the sight of that celestiall Jerusalem the beautious City of thy God the blessed Mansions of glorified Spirits Surely if earth could have yeelded any thing more faire and estimable than gold pearles precious stones it should have been borrowed to resemble these supernall habitations but alas the lustre of these base materials doth but darken the resplendence of those divine excellencies With what contempt now dost thou looke downe upon those muddy foundations of earth which the low spirits of worldlings are wont to admire and how feelingly dost thou blesse and emulate the spirits of just men made perfect who are honoured with so blisfull an habitation But what were the place O my soule how goodly glorious soever in it self if it were not for the presence of him whose being there makes it heaven Lo there the Throne of that heavenly Majesty which filling and comprehending the large circumference of
raked up in the Embers of my soule and ravish my heart with a longing desire of thy salvation Soliloq XLI Deaths Remembrancers EVery thing that I see furnishes me with fair monitions of my dissolution If I look into my garden there I see some flowers fading some withered If I look to the earth I see that mother in whose wombe I must lie If I goe to Church the graves that I must step over in my way shew me what I must trust to If I look to my Table death is in every Dish since what I feed on did once live If I look into my glasse I cannot but see death in my face If I goe to my bed there I meet with sleepe the Image of death and the sheets which put mee in minde of my winding up If I look into my study what are all those books but the monuments of other dead authors O my soul how canst thou bee unmindfull of our parting when thou art plyed with so many monitors Cast thine eyes abroad into the world what canst thou see but killing and dying Cast thine eyes up into heaven how canst thou but thinke of the place of thy approaching rest How justly then may I say with the Apostle By our rejoycing which I have in Christ Jesus I die daily And Lord as I daily die in the decay of this fraile nature so let me die daily in my affection to life in my preparation for death O do thou fit me for that last and happy change Teach me so to number my daies that I apply my heart to wisdom and addresse it to ensuing glory Soliloq XLII Faiths Victory WEE are here in a perpetuall warfare and fight wee must Surely either fight or dye some there are that doe both That is according as the quarrell is and is managed There are those that fight against God these medling with so unequall a match cannot looke to prevaile Again The flesh warreth against the spirit this intestine rebellion cannot hope to prosper but if with the chosen vessell I can say I have fought a good fight I can neither lose life nor misse of victory And what is that good fight Even the same Apostle tels me the fight of faith this is the good fight indeed both in the cause and managing the issue Lo this faith it is that wins God to my side that makes the Almighty mine that not only ingages him in my cause but unites me to him so as his strength is mine In the power of his might therefore I cannot but be victorious over all my spirituall enemies by the onely meanes of this faith For Satan This Shield of faith is it that shall quench all the fiery darts of that wicked one For the world this is the victory that overcomes the world even our faith Be sure to finde thy self furnished with this grace and then say O my soule thou hast marched valiantly the powers of Hell shall not bee able to stand before thee they are mighty and have all advantages of a spirituall nature of long duration and experience of place of subtilty Yet this conquering grace of faith is able to give them the foile and to trample over all the powers of darknesse O my Lord God doe thou arme and fortifie my soule with a lively and stedfast faith in thee I shall not feare what man or Divell can doe unto me settle my heart in a firme reliance upon thee and turne mee loose to what enemy thou pleasest Soliloq XLIII The unfailing Friend NExt to the joy of a good conscience there is no greater comfort upon earth than the enjoyment of dear friends neither is there any thing more sad than their parting and by how nearer their relations are so much greater is our sorrow in forgoing them What moane did good David make both for Absalon as a Sonne though ungracious and for Jonathan as a friend Surely when our dear ones are pulled away from us we seeme to have limbes torne away from our bodies yet this is a thing must bee lookt for wee are given to each other or lent rather upon condition of parting either they must leave us or we them a parting there must bee as sure as there was a meeting It is our fault if we set our hearts too much upon that which may yea which must be lost Be wise O my soul and make sure of such friends as thou canst not be bereaved of Thou hast a God that hath said I will not leave thee nor forsake thee It was an easie sute and already granted which the holy Psalmist made Cast me not off in the time of old age forsake me not when my strength faileth And againe When my Father and my Mother forsake me in their farewell to a better world yet then the Lord will take me up It is an happy thing to have immortall friends sticke close unto them O my soule and rejoyce in them evermore as those that shall sweetly converse with thee here and shall at last receive thee into everlasting habitations Soliloq XLIV Quiet Humility HE is a rare man that is not wise in his owne conceit and that saies not within himselfe I see more than my neighbours For wee are all borne proud and selfe-opinionate and when we are come to our imaginary maturity are apt to say with Zedechiah to those of better judgement than our own which way went the Spirit of God from me to speak unto thee Hence have arisen those strange varieties of wilde paradoxes both in Philosophy and Religion wherewith the world abounds every where When our fancy hath entertained some uncouth thought our selfe-love is apt to hatch it up our confidence to broach it and our obstinacy to maintain it and if it bee not too monstrous there will not want some credulous fools to abet it so as the onely way both to peace and truth is true Humility which will teach us to thinke meanly of our own abilities to be diffident of our own apprehensions and judgments to ascribe much to the reverend antiquity greater sanctity deeper insight of our blessed Predecessors This onely will keepe us in the beaten road without all extravagant deviations to untrodden by-paths Teach me O Lord evermore to think my self no whit wiser than I am so shall I neither bee vainly irregular nor the Church troublesomely unquiet Soliloq XLV Sure Mercies THere is nothing more troublesome in humane society than the disappoint of trust and failing of friends For besides the disorder that it works in our owne affaires it commonly is attended with a necessary deficiency of our performances to others The leaning upon a broken Reed gives us both a fall and a wound Such is a false friend who after professions of love and reall offices either slinkes from us or betrayes us This is that which the great patterne of patience so bitterly complaines of as none of his least afflictions My Kinsfolk have
are thy workes in wisedome hast thou made them all Soliloq XXIII The Bodies subjection BOdily exercise saith the Apostle profits little Little sure in respect of any worth that it hath in it selfe or any thanke that it can expect from the Almighty For what is it to that good and great God whether I be full or fasting whether I wake or sleepe whether my skinne be smooth or rough ruddy or pale white or discoloured whether my hand be hard with labour or soft with ease whether my bed be hard or yeelding whether my dyet bee course or delicate But though in it selfe it availe little yet so it may bee and hath been and ought to be improved as that it may be found exceedingly beneficiall to the soule Else the same Apostle would not have said I keepe under my body and bring it into subjection lest that by any meanes when I have preached to others I my selfe should be a cast-away In all the records of History whom doe we finde more noted for holinesse than those who have been most austere in the restraints of bodily pleasures and contentments In the Mount of Tabor who should meet with our Saviour in his Transfiguration but those two eminent Saints which had fasted an equall number of dayes with himself And our experience tells us that what is detracted from the body is added to the soule For the flesh and spirit are not more partners than enemies one gaines by the others losse The pampering of the flesh is the starving of the soule I finde an unavoidable emulation between these two parts of my selfe O God teach me to hold an equall hand betwixt them both Let me so use them as holding the one my favourite the other my drudge not so humouring the worse part as to discontent the better nor so wholly regarding the better as altogether to discourage the worse Both are thine both by gift and purchase inable thou me to give each of them their Dues so as the one may be fitted with all humble obsequiousnesse to serve the other to rule and command with all just authority and moderation Soliloq XXIV The ground of Vnproficiency WHere there is defect in the Principles there can be no possibility of prevailing in any kinde Should a man be so foolish as to perswade his horse that it is not safe for him to drinke in the extremity of his heate or to advise a child that it is good for him to be whipt or in a case of mortall danger to have a fontinell made in his flesh how fondly should hee mispend his breath bebecause the one wants the faculty the other the use of reason So if a man shall sadly tell a wild sensualist that it is good for him to bear the yoake in his youth that it is meet for him to curbe and cross his unruly appetite that the bitterest cup of afflictions ought to bee freely taken off as the most soveraigne medicine of the soule that wee ought to bleed and die for the name of Christ that all the suffering of the present times are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall bee revealed in us his labour is no lesse lost than if hee had made an eloquent Oration to a deafe man because this carnall hearer lacks that principle of grace and regeneration which onely can enable him to apprehend and relish these divine Counsailes I see O God I see too well how it comes to passe that thy Word sounds so loud and prevailes so little even because it is not joyned with faith in the hearers The right principle is missing which should make the soule capable of thy divine mysteries Faith is no lesse essentiall to the true Christian than reason is to man or sense to beast O doe thou furnish my soule with this heavenly grace of thine and then all thy sacred Oracles shall bee as cleare to my understanding as any visible object is to my sense Soliloq XXV The sure Refuge SUfficient unto the day is the evill thereof saith our Saviour Lo Every day hath its evill and that evill is load enough for the present without the further charge of our anticipated cares Surely the life of man is conflicted with such a world of crosses succeeding each other that if he have not a sure refuge to flee unto he cannot chuse but bee quite over-laid with miseries One while his estate suffers whether through casualty or oppression another while his Children miscarry whether by sicknesse or death or disorder One while his good name is impeached another while his body languishes One while his minde is perplexed with irksome sutes another while his soule is wounded with the sting of some secret sinne One while he is fretted with Domesticall discontents another while distempered with the publike broiles One while the sense of evills torments him another while the expectation Miserable is the case of that man when hee is pursued with whole Troops of Mischiefs hath not a Fort wherein to succour himself and safe and happy is that soule that hath a sure and impregnable hold whereto hee may resort O the noble example of holy David Never man could bee more perplexed than hee was at his Ziklag His City burnt his whole stock plundered his Wives carryed away his people cursing his Souldiers mutining pursued by Saul cast off by the Philistims helplesse hopelesse But David fortified himselfe in the Lord his God There there O Lord is a sure helpe in the time of trouble a safe protection in the time of danger a most certaine remedy of all complaints Let my Dove get once into the holes of that Rock in vaine shall all the birds of prey hover over me for my destruction Soliloq XXVI The light burden WHy do wee complaine of the difficulty of a Christian profession when we heare our Saviour say My yoak is easie and my burden is light Certainely hee that impoposed it hath exactly poised it and knowes the weight of it to the full It is our fault if we make or account that heavy which he knowes to be light If this yoake and burden be heavy to our sullen nature yet to grace they are light If they be heavy to feare yet they are light to love what is more sweet and easie than to love and love is all the burden wee need to take up For love is the fulfilling of the Law and the Evangelicall law is all the burden of my Saviour O blessed Jesu how willingly doe I stoope under thy commands It is no other than my happinesse that thou requirest I shall bee therefore my owne enemy if I be not thy servant Hadst thou not bidden me to love thee to obey thee thine infinite goodness and perfection of divine beauty would have attracted my heart to bee spiritually inamoured of thee now thou bidst me to doe that which I should have wisht to bee commanded how gladly doe I yeeld up my soule to thee Lay
mortall as in the body there may bee some wounds in the outward and fleshly part which have more pain than peril but those of the principall and vitall parts are not more dolorous than dangerous and often deadly so it is in the soul there are wounds of the inferiour and affective faculties as griefe for crosses vexation for disappointment of hopes pangs of anger for wrongs received which may be cured with seasonable remedies but the wounds of conscience inflicted by the sting of some hainous sin which lies belking within us carries in it horror despaire death O God keep me from bloud-guiltinesse and from all crying and presumptuous sins but if ever my frailty should be so fouly tainted do thou so work upon my soul as that my repentance may walke in equall paces with my sin ere it can aggravate it selfe by continuance Apply thy soveraign plaister to my soule whiles the wound is greene and suffer it not to fester inwardly through any impenitent delay Soliloq LXII Beneficiall VVant IT is just with thee O God when thou seest us grow wanton and unthankfully neglective of thy blessings to withdraw them from us that by the want of them we may feel both our unregarded obligations and the defects of our duty So we have seen the Nurse when the childe begins to play with the dugge to put up the breast out of sight I should not acknowledg how precious a favour health is if thou didst not sometimes interchange it with sicknesse nor how much I am bound to thee for my Limbes if I had not sometimes a touch of lamenesse Thirst gives better relish to the drinke and hunger is the best sauce to our meate Nature must needs affect a continuance of her wellfare neither is any thing more grievous to her than these crosse interceptions of her contentments but thou who art wisdome it selfe knowest how fit it is for us both to smart for our neglect of thy familiar mercies and to have thy blessings more endeared to us by a seasonable discontinuance Neither dost thou want to deale otherwise in the mannaging of thy spirituall mercies If thy Spouse the faithfull soul shall being pampered with prosperity begin to grow secure and negligent so as at the first knock of her beloved she rise not up to open to Him but suffers his head to bee filled with Dew and his lockes with the drops of the night she soon findes her beloved withdrawne and gone she may then seeke him and not finde him she may call and receive noe answer she may seek him about the streets and in stead of finding him lose her vaile and meet with blowes and wounds from the watch-men O God keep thou me from being resty with ease hold mee in a continuall tendernesse of heart continue me in a thankfull and awfull use of all thy favours but if at any time thou seest me decline to a careless obduration and to a disrespective forgetfulnesse of thy mercies doe thou so chastise me with the fatherly hand of thy afflictions and so work me to a gracious use of thy desertions that my soul may seeke thee with more vigour of affections and may recover thee with more sensible comfort Soliloq LXIII Interchange of Conditions IT is not for nothing O my God that thou hast protracted my time so long and hast given me so large experience of thy most wise and holy dealing with my selfe and others Doubtlesse it is that I might see and feele and observe and teach the gracious changes of thy carriage towards thy poore sinfull Creatures upon earth Thou dost not hold us alwaies under the rod though we well deserve a perpetuall correction as considering our miserable impotence and aptnesse to an heartlesse dejection Thou dost not alwaies keep our hearts raised up to the jollity of a prosperous condition as knowing our readinesse to presume and to bee carried away with a false confidence of our unmoveablenesse but graciously interchangest thy favours with our sufferings When thou seest us ready to faint and to be discouraged with our adversity thou takest off thy hand and givest us a comfortable respiration from our miseries When thou seest us puft up with the vaine conceit of our owne worth or successe thou takest us downe with some heavy crosse When thou findest us overlaid with an unequall match and ready to bee foiled in the fight thou givest us breath and puttest new strength into our armes and new courage into our hearts When thou findest us insolent with our Victory thou sham'st us by an unexpected discomfiture And as for the outward estate of the Nations and Kingdomes of the earth thou whirlest them about in a perpetuall yet constant vicissitude Peace breeds plenty Plenty wantonnesse and pride Pride Animosity from thence followes war VVar produces Vastation and want Poverty causeth Industry and when nothing is left to strive for Peace an industrious peace brings plenty againe and in this gyre thou hast ordained the world still to turne about Be not too much moved then O my soule when thou findest thy selfe hard pressed with afflictions and conflicted with strong temptations but beare up constantly in the strength of thy faith as being assured that having rid out this storme thou shalt bee blessed with an happy calme Neither bee thou lifted up too much when thou findest thy selfe carried on with a fair gale of prosperity since thou knowst not what tempests may suddenly arise and many hopefull vessell hath been sunke in sight of the Port And when thou seest the world every where full of woefull combustions bee not over-much dismaied with the sight and sense of these publike Calamities but waite patiently upon that Divine Providence which after those revolutions of change shall happily reduce all things to their determinate posture To which purpose O God do thou fix my heart firmly upon thee doe thou keep me from the evill of prosperity from dejectednesse in affliction from the prevalence of temptation from misprision of thy Providence VVorke me to that due temper which thy Solomon hath prescribed me In the day of prosperity be joyfull but in the day of adversity consider God also hath set the one over against the other to the end that man should finde nothing after him Soliloq LXIV The rule of Devotion THy will O God as it is alwaies holy so in what thou hast decreed to doe with us is secret and in what thou wouldst have us doe to thee is revealed It is thy revealed will that must regulate both our Actions and our Prayers It may be that I may lawfully sue to thee for what thou hast decreed not to grant As Samuel ceased not to pray for thy favour to that Saul whom thou hadst rejected and many an Israelite prayed for raine in that three yeeres and an halfe wherein thou hadst commanded the Clowds to make good the prophecie of thine Elias yea thine holy Apostle prayed thrice to have the Messenger of Satan
Creatures towards their Masters and towards their owne Mates towards their dammes and their young We have plentifull instances of those whom Death could not separate from their beloved Guardians some that have died for their Masters some with them some that have fearlesly hazarded their owne lives for the preservation of their young ones some that have fed their aged dammes with that food which they have spared from their own Mawes Amongst the rest how remarkable is that comparison of thine O Saviour wherein thou wert pleased to set forth thy tender care of thine Israell by the resemblance of an Hen gathering her Chickings under her wings how have I seen that poor Fowl after the patience of a painfull hatching clocking her little brood together and when she hath perceived the Puttock hovering over her head in a varied note calling them hastily under the wing of her protection and there covertly hiding them not from the Talons onely but from the eye of that dangerous enemy till the perill hath been fully over after which she calls them forth to their liberty and repast and with many a carefull scrape discovers to them such grains of food as may bee fit for them contenting her self to carve for them with neglect of her owne sustenance O God thou who hast wrought in thy silly creatures such an high measure of indulgence and dearnes of respect towards their tender brood how infinitely is thy love and compassion towards the children of men the great Master-peece of thy Creation How past the admiration of men and Angels is that transcendent proof of thy divine love in the more than marvelous work of our Redemption How justly glorifiable is thy name in the gracious and sometimes miraculous preservation of thy Children In the experience whereof if I forbeare to magnifie thee or dare not to trust thee how can I be but unworthy to bee owned of thee or blessed by thee Soliloq LXIX Choice of Seasons HOw regularly O God hast thou determined a set season for all thy Creatures both for their actions and their use The Storke in the heaven saith thy Prophet Jeremy knoweth her appointed times and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow observe the time of their comming Who hath seen the * Stork before the Calends of August or a Swallow in the Winter Who hath heard the Nightingale in the heat of harvest or the Bittern bearing her base in the coldest Moneths Yea the Fishes in the Sea know and observe their due seasons and present us with their Shoales only when they are wholsome and useful The Herring doth not furnish our Market in the Spring nor the Salmon or Mackerell in Winter Yea the very flies both have and keepe their daies appointed the Silke-worme never looks forth of that little Cell of her Conception till the Mulbery puts forth the leaves for their nourishment and who hath ever seen a Butter-flie or an Harnet in Winter yea there are Flies wee know appropriate to their owne moneths from which they vary not Lastly how plain is this in all the severall varieties of Trees Flowers Herbes The Almond tree looks out first the Mulberry last of all other The Tulip and the Rose and all other the sweet Ornaments of the earth are punctuall in their growth and fall But as for Man O God thou hast in thy infinite VVisdome indued him with that power of reason whereby he may make choice of the fittest seasons of all his actions Thou that hast appointed a time for every purpose under heaven hast given him wit to finde and observe it Even lawfull acts unseasonably done may turne evill and acts indifferent seasonably performed may prove good and laudable The best improvement of morality or civility may shame us if due time bee not as well regarded as substance Onely Grace Piety true Vertue can never be unseasonable There are no seasons in Eternity There shall bee one uniforme and constant act of glorifying thee Thy Angels and Saints praise thee above without change or intermission The more we can do so on earth the nearer shall wee approach to those blessed Spirits O God let my heart be wholly taken up evermore with an adoration of thine infinite Majesty and let my mouth bee ever sounding forth of thy praise and let the Hosannahs and Hallelujahs which I begin here know no measure but Eternity Soliloq LXX The happy return home EVery Creature naturally affects a return to the originall whence it first came The Pilgrim though faring well abroad yet hath a longing homeward Fountaines and Rivers run back with what speed they may to the Sea whence they were derived all compound bodies return to their first Elements The vapors rising up from the earth and waters and condenss'd into clouds fall down again to the same earth whence they were exhaled This body that we beare about us returnes at last to that dust whereof it was framed And why then O my soul dost not thou earnestly desire to returne home to the God that made thee Thou knowest thy Originall is heavenly why are not thy affections so What canst thou finde here below worthy to either withdraw or detain thee from those heavenly Mansions Thou art here in a Region of sin of misery and death Glory waites for thee above Fly then O my soul fly hence to that blessed immortality If not as yet in thy dissolution for which thou must waite on the pleasure of thy deare Maker redeemer yet in thy thoughts in thy desires and affections soar thou up thither and converse there with that blessed God and Father of Spirits with those glorious Orders of Angels and with the soules of just men made perfect And if the necessity of these bodily affairs must needs draw thee off for a time let it bee not without reluctation and hearty unwillingnesse and with an eager appetite of quick returne to that Celestiall society It will not be long ere thou shalt bee blessed with a free and uninterrupted fruition of that glorious Eternity In the meane time doe thou prepossesse it in thy heavenly dispositions and contemning this earth wherewith thou art clogged aspire to thy heaven and be happy Soliloq LXXI The confinements of Age DOst thou not observe O my soule how time and age confines and contracts as our bodies so our desires and motions here upon earth still into narrower compasses VVhen we are young the world is but little enough for us after wee have seen our own Island wee affect to crosse the Seas and to climbe over Alpes and Pyrennes and never thinke we have roved far enough VVhen we grow ancient wee begin to bee well-pleased with rest now long and unnecessary journeyes are laid aside If businesse call us forth wee go because we must As for the visits of friendship one Sun is enough to measure them with our returnes And still the older we grow the more we are devoted to our home there we
and attend upon the Throne of thy Majesty the thousand thousands of thy blessed Angels Arch-angels Cherubim Seraphin Thrones Principalities Dominions which in thy presence enjoy a bliss next to infinite any one of which if wee could see him were enough to kill us with his glory Not one of those millions of mighty spirits but were able to destroy a World Oh then how infinitely transcendent is that power of thine which hast both created all this heavenly Hierarchy and so movest in them that onely in and by thee they are thus potent Yea Lord let me but cast mine eies downe to this earth I tread upon and view thy wonders in the deep how manifestly do these proclame thy divine Omnipotence When I see this vaste Globe of earth and waters dreadfully hanging in the midst of a liquid Air upheld by nothing but by the powerfull word When I see the rage of the swelling waves naturally higher than the shores they beat upon restrained to their bounds by thine over-ruling command When I see the earth beautifully garnished with marvailous variety of trees herbs flowers richly stuffed with precious metals stones minerals When I see besides a world of men the numberless choice and differences of the substance formes colours dispositions of Beasts fowles fishes wherewith these lower Elements are peopled how can I be but dissolved into wonder of thine Almighty power SECT. IV. NEither is thy power O God either more or more thy selfe than thy Wisdome which is no lesse essentiall to thee than infinite What have we to doe silly and shallow wretches with that incomprehensible wisdom which is intrinsecall to thy divine Nature the body of that Sunne is not for our weak eies to behold it is enough for mee if I can but see some raies of that heavenly light which shines forth so gloriously upon thy creature in the framing and governing whereof whether thy Power or Wisdome did and doe more exhibite it selfe thou only canst judge O the divine Architecture of this goodly Fabricke of Heaven and Earth raised out of nothing to this admirable perfection What stupendious artifice of composition is here What exquisite symmetrie of parts what exact Order of Degrees what marvailous analogie betwixt beasts fishes plants the natives of both Elements Oh what a comprehensive reach is this of thine Omniscience which at once in one act beholdest all the actions and events of all the creatures that were are or shall be in this large Universe What a contrivance of thine eternall Counsell which hast most wisely and holily ordered how to dispose of every Creature thou hast made according to the pleasure of thy most just will VVhat a sway of Providence is this that governes the world over-ruling the highest and stooping to the meanest peece of thy Creation concurring with and actuating the motions and operations of all second causes of whatsoever is done in heaven or in earth Yea Lord how wonderfull are those irradiations of knowledge and wisdome which thou hast beamed forth upon thine intelligent creatures both Angels and men As for those Celestiall spirits which see thy face continually it is no marvaile if they be illuminated in a degree farre above humane apprehension but that the rationall soule of man even in this woefull pilgrimage below notwithstanding the opacity of that earth wherewith it is encompassed should bee so far enlightned as that it is able to know all the motions of the Heavens the magnitudes and distances of Starres the natures properties influences of the Planets the instant of the Eclipses Conjunctions and severall Aspects of those Celestiall bodies that it can discover the secret Treasures of Earth and Sea and knowes to unlock all the close Cabinets both of art and nature O God what is this but some little gleame of that pure and glorious light which breakes forth from thine infiniteness upon thy creature Yet were the knowledge of all men on earth and all the Angels in heaven multiplied a thousand fold how unable were it being united together to reach unto the height of thy divine Counsels to fadome the bottome of thy most wise and holy Decrees so as they must bee forced to cry out with that Saint of thine who was rapt into the third heaven O the depth of the riches both of the VVisdome and Knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgements and his waies past finding out SECT. V. BUt with what a trembling adoration O my soul must thou needs look upon the infinite Justice of thy God whose inviolable rule is to render to every man according to his workes Alas the little good thou wert able to do hath been allayed with so many and great imperfections that it can expect no retribution but displeasure and for the many evills whereof thou art guilty what canst thou look for but the wages of sinne Death not that temporary and naturall only which is but a separation of thee a while from thy load of earth but the spirituall and eternall separation from the presence of thy God whose very want is the height of torments Lo whatever become of thee God must be himselfe In vain shouldst thou hope that for thy selfe he will abate ought of his blessed Essence of his sacred Attributes That righteous doome must stand The soule that sinnes shall die Hell claimes his due Justice must bee satisfied where art thou now O my soul what canst thou now make account of but to despair and die surely in thy self thou art lost there is no way with thee but utter perdition But looke up O soul look up above the Hils whence commeth thy salvation see the heavens opening upon thee see what reviving and comfortable raies of grace and mercy shine forth unto thee from that excellent glory and out of that heavenly light hear the voice of thy blessed Saviour saying to thee O Israel thou hast destroyed thy selfe but in me is thy helpe Even so O Jesu in thee onely in thee is my helpe wretched man that I am in my selfe I stand utterly forfeited to death and hell it is thou that hast redeemed me with no lesse ransome than thy precious bloud Death was owing by me by thee it was payed for me so as now my debt is fully discharged and my soule clearly acquitted Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again Lo now the rigor of thine inviolable justice is taken off by thine infinite mercy the sum that I could never pay is by the power of that faith which thou hast wrought in me set off to my all-sufficient surety by thy divine goodnesse graciously accepted as mine I have paid it in him he hath paid it for me Thy justice is satisfied thy debtor freed and thy mercy magnified SECT VI THere are no bounds to bee set unto thy thoughts O my soul since whatsoever thy God