Nation of whom it will be reported that blessings happinesses have seated themselves among us to conclude let us serve God truly and love our brethren and neighbours heartily so shall our peace be blessed and lasting and our happinesse infinite and eternall Amen MED 2. On the shortnesse of mans life THat the most lasting and durable things if sublunary are but fraile I am sure no man will or can deny the greatest Prince as well as the meanest beggar are subject equally to the stroake of death the lofty Cedar as well as the inferiour shrubs are lyable to be rooted up by stormy blasts Craesus with all his wealth Aristotle with all his wit and all men with all their wisdome have shall perish turne to dust One being asked what the life of man is turned round and went away shewing thereby that it is lesse then a vapour as we are young and may live so we are mortall and must dye Phylosophers accounted it the chiefest felicity never to be borne the next soon to dye The oldest man living if he but take away the time spent in sleeping and in idlenesse for the measure of life is not length but honesty and the study of vertue neither doe we enter into life to the end we may set downe the day of our death but therefore doe we live that we may obey him that made us imploy the time and talent he bestowes well and with wisdome and to dye whensoever he shall call us I say let him but abstract those times he will finde no length of time whereof to brag It is true Age is the gift of God yet it is the messenger of death no man can promise himself life for a moment how great use might we make of this meditation what manner of persons ought we to be in all godlinesse and honesty alway to be prepared against the day of our death for every mans deaths-day is his dooms-day which we know not how soon may happen for Old men must die young men may die soon We see the time 's not long 'twixt night and noone MED 3. WHo would ever trust him that loves to break the trust reposed on him and will never do any good unlesse it be to satisfie some private ends some selfe interest as such men deserve not to be trusted so neither ought they to live for in stretching my conscience to harme others I deceive my self and while I strive by wicked and sinister ends to rob others of their hoped and sought earthly good I barre my self from an everlasting by shutting heaven against my self As I would not promise more then I mean to perform break my faith so I would not do more then I could with conveniency least regard of my faith breake me MED 4. REbellion is as the sin of witchcraft saith the Scripture we know that witchcraft is doomed to death by the lawes of God men by humane laws with death here by divine with death if we may judge certainly without Gods great mercie everlasting necessity and want of friends shall never make me take sin for a refuge I had rather go the narrow way alone then accompanyed the broad one I had rather go to heaven by my self then to hell with a multitude and if I must make a Covenant yet it shall not be with death and hell least while I vie iniquity with the devill I buy the devil with hell to boot for my iniquity MED 5. HOpe is one of St. Pauls Cardinall vertues which comforts us endures us with patience to wait the Lords leasure for the fulfilling all his gracious promises to us as despaire on the contrary taints our purer part the soule with a rash presumption against and charging God with a breach of promise Hope well and have well saith the proverb I will therefore hope well that I may have well and never dispaire of not obtaining that which I have no sure way to loose but by not seeking MED 6. REsolution and policy are the two chiefest things that make up a perfect souldier policy to lay designes for themselves and countervaile their enemies and resolution to put them proposed in execution policy layes the ground work the foundation resolution builds finishes the structure policy without resolution building good for little resolution without policy a building without a foundation good for lesse but joyn them and there comes forth a goodly building excellent wayes to obtaine both a victory single or absolute conquest and I am sure I shall never attaine the Jewels locked up in the chest of resolution unlesse I am able to attaine the key of policy MED 7. THe childe that is now born cries assoone as it is entered into the world as foreseeing the miseries that he must undergo therein and indeed what is the whole life of man but a compound of miserie since there is nothing here in which he may joy whereon he may settle his happynesse the greatest pleasures bring the greatest cares if his head be adorned with a crowne his shoulders shall surely beloaden with cares every day increaseth our sorrow he therefore is most happy that dyeth soonest Our time passeth away and we know not how I will therefore alwaies be prepared against that time which shal come I know not how soone may come presently will come at last since I know every step brings me nearer to my journies end and every day brings me nearer to my death I will pray Lord prepare me for he that may dye every day doth as it were dye daily MED 8. AS he cannot be a just man that contrary to the lawes of nature infringes another mans right by violence and injury so he cannot be a good Christian that contrary to the laws of God with a malicious heart doth that to another which he would not have done to himself he that knows not how to obey deserves not to rule for an imperious subject will certainly prove an insolent Tyrant I will give to every man his due to avoid the staine of injustice and I will do to all men as to my selfe to gaine the title of a Christian I will learne to obey here that I may be admitted to rule hereafter which I may with Gods grace attaine knowing that for Christs little flock there is a Kingdome prepared MED 9. LOve as it is the badge of a Christian so it is the note of a man because it is a passion too noble for any irrationall creature to be subject to For God having given man a more divine part the soule then any other creature so his passions are higher then that they should be subjected by any thing but reason but of all this is most excellent as alwaies aiming at some good for a lovers eye is most peircing his wit of greatest maturity his tongue of greatest eloquence all his inward parts commonly most excellent which he hath most need of because vertue and good are placed
soule till thy lightning grace spread its refulgent beames in my heart infuse it then into my heart and then it will be readie to shew forth thy praise Lord in my heart make but thy graces shine I shall to praise thee then be wholy thine MED 36. THough Charitie begin at home yet it must not end there for no man is borne only for himselfe a man must not spend all his kindnesse within doores but must stretch out his hand to be bountifull to others whose wants require his helpe and whose penurie calls for something of his abundance As I must therefore alwayes provide for my owne to avoide the brand of an Infidel so when it lies in my power I will doe all good to others that I may gaine the Character of charitable I am not borne all for my selfe but somewhat for others for it is better not at all to live then not to live to profit my Countrie MED 37. HOw soone doth time passe away the morning is gone the noone is alreadie come and it will not be long before the night overtake us the work we have to doe we must do quickly before night come wherein no man can worke our life is that moment of time which so soone passeth away the morning of our youth is fled before we well know we are borne the noone of our middle Age is alreadie come and yet we are not prepared for that worke which ought to have been done in our morning the night of our old age is approaching wherein the very stooping of our bodies towards the ground tels us they are going to decay and that now that we would we cannot take hold of that happy opportunitie so often before let slip by us Lord make me alwayes readie to receive thee The only way to sweeten death is alwayes by having it in remembrance and the best way to make a happy exit is by alwayes meditating on my end MED 38. VVHen I seriously consider with my selfe how vvith two or three glances of my eye I am able to runne over that most glorious fabrick of the world in a card which by perambulation I was not able to compasse in many yeares nay in my whole life it drives me with admiration to the thought of the wonderfulnesse of Gods workes of which we may contemplate with ease yet not be able in our whole life to attaine the perfect knowledge of them it makes me chide the folly of those men who contemne other mens industrie and labour and thinke by sitting at home and finding fault to gaine Knovvledge of the mystical secrets of nature and the world I will therefore by praising their deeds encourage and prick forward others to the discoverie of that which my too great sloth hinders me from and since I cannot doe it my selfe I will praise God for those which can doe it for mine and the generall good He only knows to prize rightly that understands the worth truly MED 39. I remember a storie of one vvho coming into the buriall place in Rome where Caesar lay would needs know which was his head among many others that lay there it was answered that with no nose which he seeking and seeing all want not being satisfied demanded yet a second time and then was told that without the teeth when he looking and seeing all want said so and so could not learne vvhence then tends this great ambition to aspire and thirst of riches Your greatest honour in the grave cannot distinguish you from the basest beggar Irus and Craesus Caesar and the meanest Roman souldier the greatest King and the meanest Peasant are all alike in death the thought of this should drive men from such vaine thoughts I will never spend all my time to gain that which will at last doe me no help but the chief of my care shall be not that I may dye rich but good MED 40. WHat a little spark will kindle a great fire What a little fire will set whole Cities in a flame How soone will Napthe take fire The tongue is this sparke greater provocations are the fire and a hasty person is the soone fire-taking Napthe How carefull then ought we to be least our tongues by greater provocations strike that fire in hastie persons which increasing by factions may grow into a flame I will take heed therefore of saying or doing that which may breed distractions and I will endeavour to set men together but not by the eares MED 41. WHen divers men are assembled at a feast I see that one can eate heartily even enough to suffice nature of that dish which another mans stomack would not digest which another mans palate could not relish I can gather out of those greatest calamities that presse me some hopes of Gods love towards me for every sonne he loves he chastiseth and comfort my selfe in those saddest afflictions under which perhaps another man may faint nay even despaire We see that out of the same flower the laborious Bee can gather honey and the venemous spider suck poyson I will comfort my selfe with this that God will strengthen to beare yea and overcome the afflictions he laies on me MED 42. HOw great is the content of the righteous when he is departing out the world he alwayes accounted himselfe as a stranger or pilgrim and never set his minde on any thing in this world knowing them to be altogether vaine and unsatisfactory he only now dying rejoyceth that he is going to enjoy good What traveller having passed many dangerous wayes rejoyceth not when he drawes neere to his Countrie What pleasures have we in this world which draweth neer to an end every day and which selleth unto us so deare those pleasures that we receive I will never certainly brag of an ill market but I will endeavour to mend my selfe I will not be of their minde who think nothing good but what is deare but I will alwayes seeke to have a pennie-worth for my pennie MED 43. VVHat man is not content to depart out of an old ruinous house who is so senselesse and altogether neglectfull of his life and safetie as to love constant fightings and battles The world is an old decaying edifice and what other thing is our life but a perpetuall battle and sharp skirmish wherein we are one while hurt with envie another while with ambition and by and by with some other vice besides the sudden onsets given upon our bodies by a thousand sorts of diseases and flouds of adversities upon our Spirit Who then will not say with Saint Paul I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ MED 44. HOw much that candle steeds me at night which at noon day was of no use yet not that now it hath more light but that there is more need of it every man will be my friend in the noone the time of my prosperitie but he is a true friend that stickes to me and helps me with his counsel in the night of
of a Kings Crown where Peace is banished confusion presently arrives If Peace be in our wals then plenteousnesse will be in our Palaces The Gospel is the word of peace it is the grand blessing of our heavenly Father Osculum spiritus sancti tis like the Dove in the Arke alway with the Olive branch of plenty in its mouth t is the brides wedding Ring and the Bridegroomes garment Oh heavenly happinesse wherein we imitate the harmony of the Communion of Saints Oh thou who givest every good and perfect gift send us this Peace I may say of it as one of ingratitude Si ingratum dixeris omnia dixeris give us this blessing and we have an Epitome a compendium of all blessings Oh God send us thy peace then shall we enjoy thee the God of Peace MED 71. WOuld any man desire to be happy seeke it then in the haven of happinesse a perpetual study and labour in Gods Law will at length worke out a perpetual blisse The Saints felicity carries with it perpetuity in rebus Coelestibus non consideramus tempus this flesh can have nothing in it but what is perishing but the robe of glory shall never weare out or suffer a consumption the state of perfected blisse shall never be stirred semper satiaberis nunquam satiaberis I will never be so impious to make salvation an uncertaine demise and in my greatest fainting fit I will comfort my selfe with this that there is a state of life to hold me up I will stock it in heaven where I shal never need fear of being robbed Saints though they may have some temporary faults yet they have a certaine blisse peccent Sancti non pereunt MED 72. WIth vvhat earnest yet humble expressions doth this poore beggar follow intreating the extent of my charity in the small gift of a penny which when he hath received how many thanks doth he returne me vvhen my whole estate will not serve a griping usurer Oh God! the least of thy blessings are more then I deserve make me thankful to thee that whatever I doe may be to thy glory make me pray earnestly yet humbly that so by thy grace I may be freed from the pawes of that hungry Lion whom nothing will satisfie but the eternal destruction of my soule MED 73. WIth hovv much glory doth the Sun arise darting forth comfort with his shining beams not one ambitious cloud daring to intercept our joy yet see how soone after his glittering rayes are overspread vvith dusky clouds that dimme his heavenly light and rob us of the joyes we should receive from his great lustre Such thinke I then are we when with more curious thought I view the fleeting course of gladsome youth how soone his flower decayes If in the Sun-shine of our pleasant Spring we doe not are not good how on a sudden are we hindred from our aime being overclouded with an older age for if we thus neglect our primer yeares and suffer youth fruitlesse to fade away wherefore then doe we live or were we borne I will not therefore neglect my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the present time but I will doe good vvhile I may for I know not how soone the clouds of age or afflictions may let me MED 47. OUr dayes flie avvay like a shadow so soone passeth it away and vve are gone saith the Psalmist Can any man thinke his pleasures here are permanent or hope his life will endure for ever because a little happy observe we but how stealingly death steps in tacito pede vvhen we thinke our joyes are surest no ransome not the whole world is sufficient to redeeme one day if worthy acts or valour were sufficient he then had yet remained alive vvhose twelve labours yet record his fame with honour And that great Alexander vvho with but a handfull of men overthrew the Persian pride and tooke the Crovvne from off its Monarchs head but their fall shewes our life is but a flower grovving to day perhaps nursed by the Suns warmth and refresht vvith colder dew yet plucked ere night from off its stalke and vvithered What man is he who can put by deaths dart If levell'd once and shot against his heart MED 75. SEe you that dust vvith which the sportive winde does play the wanton now framing it in curles anon disperseth it abroad throwing it now here now there it is perhaps the remaining reliques of some fallen beauty See even in death it hath not lost its nature but as before so still does fly about to trouble our vveaker sight O insolent yet empty boast of flesh though we be ennobled with the greater honor set on the top of Fortunes wheel in our life though vve leave heires behinde to maintain our name vvhich vvill vvith everlasting monuments as much as in them lies eternize our dying nay dead memory yet vvill death betray for all these things our dust to every blast Alas poor relique of our glory vvilt thou still swell with glorious ambition or rather is it not to mock weake yet proud man vvho rises straight above his center by the meanest blast of common praise ready to think himself now vveak and falling stable yea even immortall Leave off this pride fraile man for all thy lust To beauti 's madness for it courts but dust MED 76. EXpectation in a weak and vvearied minde makes an evill greater and a good less but the constantly resolved minde diverts an evil being come and makes a future good present before it come I expect then the best I know the vvorst vvorst and best vvill arrive both at their end MED 77. AS I vvalked about hoping to please my wandring sight vvith pleasing objects I hapned to come into a place separated for the buriall of the dead vvhich vvhen I had entred instead of my hoped and desired pleasures I saw nothing but signs of mortality here lay skulls halfe covered with haire there bones almost turned to their first matter dust whence I drevv this Conclusion that in all our delights and pleasures vve ought still to remember that we are mortall no man can promise himself life for a moment for there is nothing so mean but may prove his executioner every tile from the house may fall down on our heads and destroy us every disease though small every element though vveak and every creature though contemptible can inflict on us the punishment and vengeance of a God angry with us for our crying enormities aut ubi mors non est how ought we then to live mong all these dangers every day prepare our selves that we be alwayes ready and may not be taken unawares we should with the holy Father have this sentence always sounding in our ears Surge veni ad judicium Arise and come to judgement but we are so forgetfull of all things that concern our good that we had need to have one every morning to come to our chamber doore like the Emperour of Rome and say
Remember there is a judgement to which thou mayst be called this day therefore prepare thy self MED 78. IF in this life only we had hope in Christ saith Paul we were of all men the most miserable through how great afflictions how many tribulatious do the righteous wade while they see their wicked enemies live at ease and prosper 't were enough to stagger their faith did they not look higher for their reward they are comforted with this Since thou in thy life time hadst thy good things but he his bad therefore now is he comforted and thou art tormented I am glad God will so farre own me for his childe as to chastise me and I will with joy submit to his punishment because 't is fatherly to correct and not to destroy and though the wicked do joy in his deferred punishment yet let them know Quod defertur non aufertur though God has leaden feet yet he has iron hands he will at last strike home Sera venit sed certa venit vindicta deorum MED 79. IT is a rule by observation true that they that feare not to be thought faulty vvill neither be afraid to commit the fault nor be ashamed to be seen after the fact they will braze their face against shame and steele it against the bitter taunts of enraged truth as little fearing the one as loving the other but drawing down vengeance on their reduplicated sins I will do my endeavour not to seeme much more not to be faulty and I will never glory in my shame lest at last I be ashamed of my glory MED 80. GOod duties are base and troublesome to wicked mindes whiles even violences of evill are pleasant especially when by a continued perseverance sin is perpetrated with a feared conscience yet that very conscience though it may be without remorse yet is it not without horor for there is no wicked man to whom God speaks not if not to his eare yet to his heart and if the same God who in good accepts the will for the deed condemnes the will for the deed in evill with what a severe execution of Justice will he punish them who commit sin with greediness He that cares not for the act of his sin shall care for the smart of his punishment for the issue of sin is a thousand times more horrible then the act is pleasant MED 81. I Can never reade that portion of Scripture vvhere Iacob cunningly gaines the blessing from his brother Esau and his vaine seeking and fruitless begging it even with teares but it drives me to think how just might God be to cast us off who sin with so high a hand against him if vvith Esau we sell our birthright for a messe of pottage if we forfeit and that willingly our everlasting heavenly inheritance for the deceitfull momentary pleasures of sin it is but just with God to cast us off as illegitimate I will not therefore hunt after worldly pleasures so long with Esau as to forfeit my blessing for my long stay ere vengeance begin repennance is seasonable but if judgement be once gone out we cry too late while the Gospel solicites us the doores of mercy are open but if we neglect the time of grace in vaine shall we seek it with teares God holds it no mercy to pity the obstinate MED 82. WHy art so heavy O my soul and why are thou so discontented within me still trust in God c. It is a part of Gods childrens portion to suffer affliction and we could not be currant coyne in Gods Kingdom unless we be throughly purified in the fire of distresses It is not with God as with man to be paid your wages as soone as your work is done no true spirituall comforts are commonly late and sudden the Angel of the Lord neither interrupts or forbids Abraham in his Sacrifice till the knife is up nay even ready to fall downe on the throate of Isaac Gods charges are many times harsh in the beginnings and proceeding but in the conclusion alwayes comfortable I will therefore in all my affliction wholly relye upon God by faith so will he make my recompence glorious and send me a welcome deliverance out of all my trouble MED 83. IT is in the soule as it fares with the body wherein a wound in it selfe though great if timely helps be administred is easily cured which let alone to fester and rankle may not only endanger a limbe but the whole body sinne at the first is easily rooted out but if once it proceed in a custome of sinning if sinne grow exceeding sinfull then woe is me who shall deliver me I will endeavour to keep this river within his bankes lest it drown me in its deluge as I will feare each little vvound for mortall and so seek a timely cure so I will take heed of all sinnes and account none little because my Saviour dyed for the least who willingly and knowingly doth the least vvill fearelessely commit the greatest MED 84. VVHen I see two Game-Cocks fighting in the pit and each striving by the death of the other to remaine sole Conquerer I cannot but take notice of the vaine strifes of great men who without any cause at all seek the destruction of each other endeavouring to make great the plumes of his owne ambition with the feathers of his adversaries downfall as if it were glory enough to enrich himselfe by others ruines I am not of that minde but if I strive to be great I will desire to be good for great goodnesse is the best greatnesse and I will not with Aesops Daw trick up my pride with stollen feathers least I be served like her that when every man takes his owne I appeare not only naked but ridiculous MED 85. HOw great pains vvill we take what hardship wil we undergo to attaine that which we love Jacob without grudging is content to pay 14. yeares service for Rachel we see the pleasures that God blesses his ovvne children with are not easily attained yet see though vve know vice is its own punishment and vertue carries her reward with her self though we know the fruitfull recompence of vertue and the barren uglinesse of vice yet is barrennesse in the one preferred before fertility in the other I would rather chuse vertue though accompanied with tribulation then vice clad in Scarlet and faring deliciously every day though I desire to enjoy pleasures yet shall it alwayes be with honest vertue but I will never seek to buy them with the danger of my soule nocet empta dolore voluptas MED 86. AS sinister respects have oft-times dravvne weak goodnesse to disguise it selfe even with sinnes so vitia plerunque virtutis species induunt vices many times strive to maske them with the name of vertue vvhat farre fetched arguments will the covetous man produce and all to prove his gaines or rather extortion lawfull and when his proofes are all confuted he will retire himselfe to this that 't