bigger volumes at length they mount so high that by their loftinesse they overturne all those that saile upon them Now also hastens that extreame tempest of soules that shall overwhelme the whole World which sets forth unto us its beginning by wars slaughters as it were by some of his waves And the neerer we do daily come to the end so much the greater are the volumes of troubles which we behold but at the last when all the Elements are in a hurly burly the Iudge will come amongst us and bring an end of all things with him and certainely it is but a moment till he shall shake not only the earth but the heavens themselves We ought vigilantly to looke for this tempest and to be afraid of the waves that daily swell against us and to foresee what must follow upon these troubles which buffet the World God himselfe warnes us so saying take heed least at any time your hearts be over charged with gluttony and drunkennesse for drunkennesse is a smooth devill a sweet poyson a delightfull sin he that is possessed with it hath not himself and he that acts it commits not a sin but is wholly sin it selfe and as the soule which is free from wine is most wise and of the most excellent temper so moystned with the vapours of wine it is as it were enveloped in a cloud it doth confound nature makes us lose grace destroys our glory and makes us incurre eternall damnation He warnes us that we be not entangled with the cares of this life For we cannot serve two God and Mammon for the love of riches doth farre more torture than refresh our soules to get them is toylesome we keepe them with feare and lose them with much sorrow He warnes us that we watch at all times and pray that wee may bee worthy to escape the evils to come and to stand before the sonne of man Let us watch O let us watch for that only day of our Lords comming is kept secret that we might every day stand in awe The Lord will come in an houre when wee thinke not of him when wee shall say peace and all things are safe Whether we eate or drinke or whatsoever we do else let that dreadfull voice alwayes sound in our eares Arise ye dead and come unto judgement Let us watch my companions let us watch hee shall be blessed whosoever he be that doth nothing without the remembrance of this Iudgement let us pray O my companions let vs pray let us pray without ceasing and let us cry with a strong voyce to the Lord and though wee cease with our tongue yet let us cry with good workes and that without ceasing for prayer is rather of the heart than of the lippes rather of our workes than of our words the words of him that prays are not so much observed by God as the heart of the suppliant By how much more we are oppressed with the tumultuousnesse of carnall things so much the more fervently we ought to bend our selves unto prayer Let us pray continually because wee are alwayes tempted and because our sins doe labour without intermission to circumvent us the world to deceive us hell to devour us and the devill to insnare us Let us surround God making as it were a power against him by our prayers that we may bind and overcome our sinnes the world hell and the devill and may without blame wait for the fixed houre and the day of the universall doome That houre shall not be unprofitable to us which to others hath proved most fruitfull for prayer quenched the fiery fornace for the three Children stopped the Lions mouthes that they could not hurt Daniel appeased the seditious Israelites for Moses opened Paradise locked up heaven made the barren wombe fruitfull loosed Pauls and Peters bands nay he hath enlarged the confidence of prayer which carryed Cornelius to heaven and did justifie the Publicane That I might stirre up and encrease this desire of prayer of Groanes and of Sighes in my selfe not long since I framed this incitement when Hanibal as it were was even at our gates and rash death commanded mee to cease from my other labours and I doe willingly impart it to the youth that love learning and religion and to others that please to whom I wholly enthrall my selfe I have willingly and wittingly passed over those quarrels and brawles which many make against things of this nature for I endeavoured not so much to sharpen and embelish the wit as to amend and better the soul nor could I with a soaring wing of wit compasse heaven and earth If any desire a smooth style let him know that I made choyce rather to speak in other mens words and to recollect the sentences of the Ancient than to speake in mine owne phrase and let him consider not the style but the sense of the matter wherin these things are writ neither whether it bee according to the usuall manner of phrase but whether the matter be true for if the sense hee true What skils it saith a learned German in so abstruse a busines whether thou cloath it in a fine or a course vaile or garment so it be not uncomely Surely my minde is good throughout and if my humane tongue or pen shall any where falter let mee not bee too severely punished for there is no malice or obstinacie in it though there may be weaknesse and obscurity if any shall maintaine that these things are neither beseeming my age or condition I shall willingly give him leave to abound in his owne sense and if he please to bee wise in his owne conceit yet every man ought to hold piety deare and to be studious of it of whatsoever qualitie or years they be of I am young sayes one and now I will take my pleasure hereafter will I repent This is as much as to say I will wound my selfe with my sword and then I will goe to the Chirurgion Alas knowest thou not that a wound is received in a minute that can hardly bee cured in a long time Thou mayst sin of thy selfe but rise from sin alone thou canst not in which most grave sentence of S. Augustine I end and seriously rest I beseech you doe so with me Imprimatur THO. WYKES Octob. 30. 1639. CONTEMPLATIONS SIGHES and GROANES of a Christian CONTEMP c. 1 Of the greatnesse of Gods Love AWake my soule out of the sleep of ignorance awake my heart out of the sleep of sloth struggle out my spirit out of the depth of darknesse and look back upon thy God look upon thy God that cannot be seen with corporeall eyes because he dwels in an inaccessible light that none can behold and live yet doe I O my god lift up my spirit unto thee I raise up my soule unto thee I cast up mine eyes unto thee my understanding desires to meditate and consider of thee but sees not where to begin how to goe on aad in
Thou art the mouth of truth grant that I may beleeve what thou speakest the Divell is the mouth of vanity grant that what he lyingly utters may be suspected and avoided by mee Grant I may valiantly resist and oppose him in fighting with him Hee is a serpent if he but once gaine but a little intermission hee crowdes him selfe in and wee can hardly expell him but though wee overcome him as it were hee doth recollect himselfe and assayes to get new strength even as the serpents taile cut off doth by licking grow againe and if his head get in any where all his body will quickly follow O thou Conquerour of the Serpent who art not said to bruise his tayle but breake his head helpe me that I yeeld not if I be stricken if I doe fight with him grant me also power O my God to trample under my feet serpents and scorpions and all the power of the adversary that nothing may doe me hurt Vouchsafe holy Trinity but one God that I may alwaies be mindfull of thee that I may alwayes have thee with me and all the power of Satan shall vanish away The serpent is afraid of the three leaved grasse and never lyes upon it Satan abhorres thy name and memory and to call upon thee nor dares approach the adorers of the Trinity nor those that inhabit neere the Deity Bee present with me O God forsake me not my Redeemer The serpent flyes the Hart he is driven away by the fume of the fat and of the Harts-horne thou art the morning Hart thou art that fume that odour whereby that infernall spirit is weakned and repelled Remove farre from me gluttony and intemperancy The serpent cannot endure a fasting man's spittle but dyes being sprinkled with it make mee poure out my prayers with fasting unto thee and that I may send forth my sighes and call forth my groanes and I shall be preserved in safety I often think of that O my God which afterwards I dislike of yet I confesse those things unto thee because thou seest them though I confesse them not unto thee and except I doe confesse them thou dost punish them I often deale thus with my selfe Oh that I had bin so made that I could not have fallen and been deceived I thinke of good in an ill manner I therefore thinke of those things that thou mightest never have been wroth with mee nor that I might have given thee cause to be angry this had been good but I think it in an ill way for why hast thou not made me so because thou wouldst not why wouldst thou not because thou wouldst not I must not bee more wise than is sitting for me But I suppose that reasonable creature is not of a little goodnesse who avoides ill by comparing of evills Thou didst not O God violently hinder mans Fall because thou knewest how to draw some good from it yet followes it not from thence that thou didst will his Fall but didst rather will that good which thou knewest how to derive from his Fall but the Fall it selfe thou didst hate and extremely detest What shall I thinke my God pardon him that hath been deceived thereby mee thinks thy servants are not to be accounted faithfull and thrifty if they must be fettered and shackled to force them to doe thy pleasure but when they freely and of their owne accords do manly act that which belongs unto them That is not acceptable unto thee which is forced and drawne from us by violence but that which proceeds from true virtue for virtue proceeds from a free deliberation not from necessity but free deliberation and election require a freedome of will But why doe I dispute O my God let it suffice me that thou didst not produce a nature not subject to sinne because it pleased thee not to doe it Pardon me pardon me O my God and deny not to forgive my curiosity We should not exercise our selves in an idle and vaine curiosity concerning the creatures but we should direct our steps to things immortall and which indure for ever Those things which thou wouldst conceale are not to be searched into Those things which thou hast revealed are not to be neglected that we be not found unlawfully curious in the one and damnably ingratefull in the other I will seek truth in truth not in vanity I will finde it when I have sought it for truths sake not for vanity nor will I traffique for the gaine of death in the words of life CONTEMP c. 7. Of Gods Providence and Preservation AS there is not O my soule O my sense O my thought any moment wherein my God I doe not use to enjoy thy goodnesse and mercy so ought there not to be any moment wherein I may neglect to have thee present to my memory I should account that I have lost all that time wherein I have not thought upon thee O my God I should account O God all that time lost wherein I doe no meditate upon thee I therefore come again unto thee O thou never failing light O thou untyred and never extinguisht life O thou ever springing fountaine O thou seed-plot of life O thou chiefe beginning of wisdome O thou first originall of goodnesse thou wilt not reject me O my God for I speak not to jeering man but to the Lord that splenitickly laughs not at mee nor flowts mee with his countenance I behold my God this large extended Fabrick and I am struck dumb it was made by thee and thou hadst an end of thy work yet didst thou not leave thy work thou didst not like an Architect depart from the piece of work thou hadst made hee goes away and after regards it not but thou art still present and remainest the same Most powerfull and wise God whatsoever thou didst once make that thou doest alwayes preserve by thy Omnipotency and dost order it by thy wisdome I consider the nature of thy visible creatures their place order condition motion agreements harmony comelinesse beauty greatnesse use delight variety alteration and indurance that is in these corruptible things I find thy providence manifested in each part of thy creation I see it in heaven and in the lights of heaven the Sun the Moon the Starrs in the ayre and in the Clouds in the Earth in the Sea in the plants in the herbs in the seeds in living creatures as well reasonable as unreasonable foure-footed beasts flying fouls in swimming and creeping creatures Think with thy self my most sweet soule who it is that orders heavens axeltree that in so many thousand yeers it 's not growne old nor hath received any alteration and although it be made of a passible and corruptible substance yet by the word of it's creation it remaines still upheld in the same state O Lord our God there is none like unto thee There is none so rude nor of so brutish a behaviour but if he lift up his eyes towards heaven although he may be
ignorant whose providence it is that governes all this that hee sees yet that doth not understand from the very order constancy moderation and profit of these things that there is a Providence Though wee should find some living creatures in regard of their use unprofitable and ordeined to no fit use for us yet might wee receive profit in beholding them and they might be more profitable to their hearts that behold them than to the eyes of those that use them And although ir were apparent that they were hurtfull and pernicious to mans temporary health yet would it not follow but they might mutually serve for his good though not for his meat and service yet to exercise his wit according to that proceeding of common instruction which is ready at hand to every one that will make use of reason whereby the invisible things of God are made apparent to the understanding by the things that are made Thou hast therefore O God made all things profitable and nothing fruitlesse Shall I then bee only without profit shall I bee the vilest creature thou hast made let this be farre from me Let me O God be profitable to all that aske my help or that aske it not for thou hast given me thus many things without asking Let me be a helper to all tâ—â—â— need and having understanding let mee altogether take heed that I be not silent having abundance of all things let mee not grow benummed in charity having skill to governe let me impart the use of it to my neighbour I having opportunity to speak to the rich let mee intercede for the poore let mee as much as may be help others in their necessities and sometime even beyond my ability let me account an other mans distresse mine owne and as I would desire to bee helped in my trouble so that I may not for any respect of my owne deferre to help another Let the help I give a nother be pleasing to mee which doth indeed redound more to his profit that offers it than to his advantage that receives it it is both profitable to the giver and doth according to the necessity of the occasion cheere him that received it that so in one bargaine made which seldome falls out both parties may seeme to have gotten their wished for gaine O thou mad man that for to save a halfepeny dost lose a groat and to preserve a temporary thing dost lose that which is immortall No creature thou ô God didst make was ill though it might seeme ill because I did not rightly understand it thou beholdest all things thou haddest made and behold they were exceeding good Hee that sayes thy works are ill deformed and not beautifull conceives not all things are faire to their former or workman that useth all things to the government of this universe which hee rules with a supreme Law But if an unskillfull man should goe into a workmans shop and should see many tools but knowes not for what use they are if he be very simple he thinks them superfluous But if unawares he light into a work-house or by ill handling of some sharp iron instrument doth wound himselfe he beleeves there are in it many pernicious and hurtfull things but the workman knowing how to use them laughs at his folly and not regarding his foolish words doth constantly make use of his shop And yet men that are so simple dare hardly in the presence of such a workman find fault with things they know not but when they see them judge them necessary and ordained for some use But in this world whose builder and governour thou art O my God men dare find fault with many things whose use they know not and would bee thought to know that which they are altogether ignorant of concerning these instruments of the Almighty Work-master O the rashnesse of fraile man thou my God who art in thy selfe the Alpha and the Omega as thou art in the Angels like sweetnesse and comelinesse in thy Church as a master of a family in his house in the soule like a bridegroome in the bride-Chamber in the reprobate like feare and horrour in the just as a helper and protecter in the world as the author and governour thereof what shall I that am so unprofitable and ugly render unto thee for so many benefits and ornaments I live and prosper in thee in thee am I moved and by thee doe I subsist But thou O Lord who livest for ever dost rest in thy selfe and by thy selfe hast all things in thy selfe and dost enjoy and find all things there thou needest nothing thou seekest for nothing without thee thou sufficest thy selfe in stead of all things and thou thy selfe art all things Thou art both God and Lord of all things thou art before the beginning of ages and before any thing that may bee spoken of art thou both God and Lord of all things created and with thee doe remaine the causes of all inconstant things and the immutable originals of all mutable things doe abide with thee and with thee doe live the everlasting causes of all irrationall and temporary things O mercifull God tell mee thy suppliant and miserable creature tell mee what can I repay thee can I imagine so small a space or such a minute wherein if thou shouldest withdraw thy hand and wouldest leave me who am of no account to my selfe that am nothing I could remaine any thing I can neither move hand foot nor finger except thou grantest mee that motion withhold thy beck and in a beck the frame of the world will be dissolved Seeing then I live and am preserved by thy goodnesse all houres and every minute of those houres O that I might ascend to thee every houre and every point of time O that I might conferr with thee pray unto thee glorifie thee and might consecrate my life and motion my spirit and senses and my whole strength unto thee Thou my God art all things unto mee Let me being in thee be all things to thee In God I will live to God in God I will move to God in God whatsoever I doe I will doe it to God All things my God by thy appointment doe serve mee all that is in mee in like manner shall yeeld a ready service to thee And because thou hast tempered whole nature for my use profit and delight with what face mouth or heart shall I doubt of thy care and providence over mee if thou doubtest my soule thou doubtest of God himselfe and neither knowest the Creator nor the Creature shake off my soule thy trembling Thou hast about thee and in thee thy Saviour whose most bountifull heart the heavens and earth doe witnesse unto thee CONTEMP c. 8. Of the cloathing of Adam the first Man ALas my God Adam did sinne though created by thee yet broke hee thy commandement went back and became unprofitable hee desired to see that thou wouldest not have him to see But what saw hee O my
for man O blessed day wherein the head of the Dragon is trampled under the feet of thy crucified and dead body Leviathan is bruised Behemoh that vast and powerfull creature is overthrowne and death is cast out O most milde Tribunall before which I am absolved without punishment freed without death but yet that even by death where I am dismissed from my bloody deeds by the blood of the supreme King by thy blood now shed I see most clearely that thou hast transferred my nature upon thy selfe that I might receive that innocencie from thee which I had altogether corrupted in my selfe but thou keptest thy divine Nature that I might receive glory and dignitie thou joynedst both together that the Deitie being joyned to the humanitie and the humanitie joyned to the Deity he that was sensible of my misery putting on my affections might unite him unto me as a brother whom I did feare as a Judge What shall I say or how shall I speak for I am not my selfe when I think of thee when I lift up my eyes unto thee when I behold thy side launced with the speare and behold thorow that wound thy most loving heart Thou that art immense infinite not circumscribed void of passion and immortall hast put on for love of us even this our flesh straight finite circumscribed and finally liable to passion and death it selfe which by hunger by thirst by miseries by injuries by scourgings by spittings on by blood by death was handled beaten extended and tortured by pieces in the presence of the Devill yet being joyned also with thy Divinitie thou hast placed it above all the Angels above all creatures which are in heaven and earth even at the right hand of thy Father that we who before were even pressed downe to hell may now by thee be taken into the fellowship of the Godhead I would I might alwayes rest in this thy so great passion that I may dwell in thy wounds for whosoever flies to thy wounds and precious scars shall in tribulation finde great comfort and enjoy that comfort the soule doth onely desire CONTEMP c. 24. Of Christs buriall THere is at length an end set to labour and the worke of redemption being wrought and finished and that all-sufficient ransome paid the grave receives and covers this ill-handled body for God is faithfull O Christ my God who set a convenient end to thy labours temptations sorrowes necessities and persecutions for my sinnes thou wast put to death after death thou art buried but it was that thou mightest rise againe out of the grave for my just fication Before the day of preparation for the Passeover was wholly past thou art taken from the Crosse thy Father hastens also our departure from this preparation day by a preparation to the heavenly journey that we may the sooner be brought to thee celebrate Sabbath upon Sabbath unto thee Therewas no reproach that thou hadst not bin loaden with in that Crosse nor any ignominy that thy body had not beene disgraced with in it yet these things could not affright Nicodemus whom thou hadst instructed by thy nightly conference and gained for a secret Disciple and Ioseph of Arimathea a rich good and pious Senatour two of the principall men amongst the Jewish Nation Thou didst hang upon the Crosse betweene theeves thy chosen companions fled from thee the whole rabble of thy persecutors cryed Crucifie crucifie him take him away take him away Pilate delivered thee over to death and judged thee worthy to be tormented yet these men searing nothing breake through the midst of the host of these perverse troops they goe to Pilate and beseech him that the infamously handled carkas yet heavens relique might be given unto them accounting of it as of a most great gift What courage of mind shal I beleeve you had who quickned your spirits O Nicodemus and Ioseph what beliefe could the small reliques of that golden tree raise up in you did you not think that yee might bee accounted partners with Christ whom they had proclaimed for a deceiver and a disturber of the publike peace and that yee might be reckoned for troublers of the Senate and be blamed of Pilate and stoned of the people But the fire of faith was kindled in you which not being to be confined within in your hearts breaks forth on all sides O strange power of God in his faithfull servants O how unsearchable are his works The Disciples had above three yeares beene publicke auditors of Christ now crucified they had beene plentifully and carefully fed and instructed by him but when so great dangers grew thicke they forsake their Master Nicodemus and Ioseph came in private to Jesus fearing to bring the peoples hatred upon themselves now when they see all things seeme desperate they doe not forsake him whom they had worshipped whom they had heard whom they had reverenced but doe now still even now love and honour not unwillingly How great is thy power in those that are weake how great thy perfection in those that are imperfect would to God that nothing also may be able to separate me from the love of Christ neither affliction nor anguish nor persecution nor hunger nor nakednesse nor danger nor the sword but let me be perswaded that nor death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor heighth nor depth nor any other creature whatsoever shall be able to separate me from the love of God which is Christ Jesus my Lord. Those diligent worshippers of thee doe wrap thee in cleane linnen do embalme thee with Myrrh and Aloes O that I may humble my selfe by bitter repentance and purged from my sinnes may receive thee with a pure heart They embalme thee and lay thee in a new tombe in which no other had ever beene laid O that none but thy selfe might enter into my heart renewed by thy blessed Spirit They spend many things willingly for thy sake nor dare spare any cost let me also spend my life and blood for thee and for thine and what else besides my blood thou hast given me in this life When thou shalt call my soule from this wombe of durt let me thinke of nothing but of thy death but of thy blood but of thy wounds but of thy crowne when I I shall be affrighted with the grave let me thinke I shall be buried in no other sepulchre than in that which thou hast touched with thine one body which thou hast sanctified by thy scars that being to be raised at thy command I may live with thee everlastingly Amen CONTEMP c. 25. Of Christs resurrection SEt forth the prayses of the Lord and call upon his name declare his works among the nations sing unto him sing praises unto him declare all his wonderfull works call to mind his wonders which he hath done his strange works the judgements of his mouth Who can sufficiently speak of the power of the Lord
God he saw his owne nakednesse His first nakednesse was nothing else than tokens of chiefe happinesse and of the greatest riches but the nakednesse that this man saw after he had sinned was meere ruine a testimony of everlasting woe and want That first man saw his body naked but his soule was more naked spoyled and disrobed of knowledge wisdome integrity and originall innocency hee covered his nakednesse being enwrapped with shame but this was a wretched garment he sowed together figg leaves and made aprons to cover himselfe and his seducing wife O vaine mantles O lamentable coverings And what are all mens cloathings that seeme so sumptuous and glittering but figge leafes that quickly vanish to nothing and gald those that weare them O would to God that as often as we cloath our selves wee were urged with the sharp and stinging point of repentance for they are tokens of our wants signes of our shame arguments of our misery and comforts for our extreme infirmities Thou sinfull and fallen man why art thou proud in setting forth thy impieties thou thiefe why braggest thou of a halter why dost thou vauntingly boast of anothers fleece what carriest thou under it but a sack full of dung the rotten bag of thy soule thy skin is not enough to cover thee nor except thou beest most impudent dost thou let any one see it but gettest some other thing to supply the want of thine owne I behold mine owne clothes I see a hell of evills yet I consider the depth of thy care providence and mercy for thou helpest mee thus naked before I can understand mine owne want and nakednesse and commandest all the creatures to haste unto me that they might cover my nakednesse and supply my wants Thou thy selfe most mercifull God as I remember didst clothe sinnefull man in a Lambs skinne not in Lyons Beares Foxes or Wolves skins that thou mightest teach him thy hatred to cruelty greedinesse deceit and wrath and thy love to unspotted simplicity thou madest his garment of the skins of dead cattell that thou mightest shew us how we were fallen from life to death how of immortall we were become mortall that we were from the earth and must returne to the earth againe Thou tookest a skin of a Lamb slaine that thou mightest witnesse unto us that our Fall was only to bee healed by a Lambe to be slaine O thou garment of the golden age thou unspotted Lamb slaine to the beleevers before the beginning of the world O thou Messias that wast promised and food appointed from all eternity thou who wast made the seed of the Woman and hast bruised the Serpents head cloath me with thy merits and mine owne deserts shall nothing hurt mee cloath mee with thy righteousnesse and mine owne unrighteousnesse shall not condemne mee cloath me with thy holinesse and mine owne iniquity shall not accuse mee cloath me with faith in thee and I shall one day receive the robe of happinesse Nothing can cover the filthy nakednesse of a sinner nothing can hide me from Gods judgement but thy coat O heavenly Lambe but the holes of thy wounds but the yawning scarres of thy body I will put thee on by a steadfast faith and with the Church of old I will triumph before thee CONTEMP c. 9. Of Noahs Ark Crow and Dove THou art my God very long suffering and thy wrath grants sinners a very large time nor dost thou root out sinners on a suddaine Mans malice was great and every thought of his heart was continually bent to mischief they neglected thy Word nor did they obey thy Spirit that was to lead them thou therefore didst repent thee of thy Creation and didst resolve to destroy this Inne of the World with all the guests thereof yet did not thy justice haste very much to execute judgement but thy mercy interposed a hundred and twenty yeares that thou mightst see whether by often preaching any could be moved to worke repentance Ah my God thou goest with two feet one of justice the other of mercy but mercy alwayes makes the first step and justice the later nor dost thou delight in the death or destruction of a sinner but thou wilt and commandest that he bee converted and live But all thy expectation was in vaine and thy mercies were entertained with scorne the wrath therfore of thy justice was kindled and the waters of the Flood broke in upon the earth the fountaines of the great deepe were broken up and the Cataracts of heaven were opened and it rained upon the earth for many dayes and almost all thy creatures perished and among men none but thy Noah and his family were preserved in the Ark. Thou forsakest not my God thou most just and most bountifull God those that worship adore thee but dost preserve them in fire and water and amidst the storme of growing miseries thou dost nor despise or reject any thou dost not affright any one except he who is so mad as to abhorr thee My God the horne of my salvation thou that takest me up thou Father of mercies God of all Consolation O Lord my Strength my Fortresse my Refuge my Deliverer Canst thou draw the sword of justice and not annoynt the point with the oile of mercy He lyes therefore hid in safety in that wonderfull ship out of which not life but present death was to bee found What shall I say that that ship did represent but thy Church which is tossed to and fro with sundry Stormes of persecution and waves of adversitie and hath no fixed station yet the true and eternall safety is contained there which out of it is offered to none Noah was the Steere-man hereof but thou O God art the Governour both of Noah and it and thou wast Noahs true and heavenly Comforter who dost not suffer it to sinke The waters of the Flood overwhelmed the palaces of Kings but did every day better than other beare aloft the Ark of Noah so doe persecutions destroy earthly kingdomes but thou sufferest not thine owne Kingdome to be overthrowne but dost even encrease and enlarge it by stormes of temptations Noah sent a Raven and a Dove out of the Ark the Raven pursued his prey and did never returne to the Arke of Noah the Dove did returne and was received in againe of this Steeres-man O Christ let mee abandon the Raven-like gluttony the lovelinesse of pleasures for it is very rare that any one seated amongst the delights of the age should remaine free from a smatch of vice in which although hee bee not forthwith inthralled yet is hee sometimes drawne away by them nor can he be long safe who stands next to danger let me remember that I am to play the Souldier in such a kind of warfare wherein there is no rest given I will resolve to overcome pleasures which have destroyed many good ingenuities The Dove finding no seat to rest upon returned to the Ark and was admitted into it O Christ my repose my
were likewise many that were called Saviours as Othniel Ehud and others but these were onely deliverers of the body and did onely for a time deliver the people from their outward enemies and did for a while keep them free from the spoylers of this world but this my Jesus is the true Saviour for he not onely frees and preserveth his people from outward enemies but from spirituall subtilties in high places Sometimes indeed he delivers us to outward enemies nor is he presently Jesus or a Saviour he sends amongst us warre plague haile cold poverty disgrace diseases captivity bondage but it is for our eternall salvation He is also a faithfull Jesus nor suffers he any one to be tempted above his strength but giveth our temptations such a measure that we may endure them and although our Jesus doth seeme too cruelly and too long to leave us in these externall evils and to lay too heavie a burden upon us that we are in feare to be overcharged to yeeld and to faile under it yet let us expect the comming of our Jesus wwhich will be in a fit season My Jesus best knoweth our strength and how much we can beare and as the pilot doth diligently take care that the ship be not over-fraighted or fall into any fearfull danger so my Iesus doth weigh and ballance our abilities before he layes any crosse upon us that it may not exceed them Thinke alwayes O my soule upon Iesus because thou hast alwayes need of thy Iesus If thy sinnes do vex thee and Satan doth paint them forth and set them before thee that he may perswade thee they are more in number than can be forgiven that they be larger than heaven and earth for magnitude call upon thy Iesus and make Satan thy laughing-stocke Iesus is my Saviour who hath delivered me from my sins and hath taken them upon himselfe he is become for me and all the world a ransome a sacrifice a reconciliation And because it appeares that he is not conquered but is truly a Saviour they must needs be sinners indeed and not feighned sinners that he doth save for this sentence can never be recalled Christ is the Lambe of God that taketh away the sins of the world If the feare of death doth presse thee and if Satan endeavour to dishearten thee with the expectation thereof and doth portrait the figure of death before thee in a most bloody horrible manner and repeats unto thee the threats which God denounces against sinners and the vengeance which he reserves for them protect thy selfe with the Name of Iesus and oppose it to the terrors of death Why should I feare death that I should feare the paines thereof when as my Iesus as himselfe doth teach us hath slaine my death O death I will be thy death Doth Satan strive to make thee sad himselfe being punished and overwhelmed with everlasting woe desiring to draw others into his company pronounce thou therefore but the Name of Iesus with beliefe and he vanisheth away for hee is therefore a Iesus because he hath ransomed thee from the curse of thy sinnes and hath reconciled thee to the everlasting Father that thou mightest for ever rejoyce with him Why then art thou sad What ever befals thee let the Name of Iesus still come into thy heart and betweene thy lips that the force thereof may asswage all afflictions Nothing is more sweetly sung nothing is heard more pleasingly than Iesus the Sonne of God No kinde of sin is so great but the Name of Iesus is above it O thou therefore pleasant Name of Iesus a delightfull Name a comfortable Name O Lord Iesus if I have done that for which thou mayest damne me yet hast not thou lost that whereby thou mightest save me O most mercifull Iesus O most sweet Iesus O most gracious Iesus O Iesu Iesu O Iesus the salvation of those that trust in thee O Iesus the salvation of those that beleeve in thee O Iesus the salvation of those that flie unto thee O sweet Iesu the remission of all our sinnes O Iesu for thy holy Name sake save me that I perish not O Iesus have mercy upon me while there is a time for mercy and condemne me not in the time of thy judgement Iesus Christ have mercy upon me for this thy Names sake doe unto mee according to this thy Name looke on me miserable wretch invoking thy Name it is true my soule hath deserved damnation and my repentance is no satisfaction but it is certaine that thy mercy is farre exceeding all my offences give me therefore for thy Names sake that mercy O my Iesus for thou savest thy people freely by faith alone without all merit of works onely for thy Names sake onely by the power of thy Name onely by the blood of thy body whereby thou diddest appease thy Father and obtainedst redemption and therefore dost thou save thy people freely and not for their works that our soules might be sure of redemption it could not be sure if thou shouldest not save us but for the merit of our works for either we have no merits by manifestly sinning against the Law of God or we have not merits enough because our works are imperfect which can by no meanes satisfie Gods Law therefore that our consciences may be sure of the forgivenesse of sinnes it is needfull that thou be a Iesus gratis unto me who seeing thou art true and constant in thy promises it cannot be that I can be deceived if I trust in thy Name O most bountifull Iesus O Iesu my most sweet Lord keep me in this faith and confidence even to the end let thy last word upon the crosse be my last word in this life and when I can speak no more heare my last desire Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit thou God of truth and God of my salvation thou even thou hast redeemed me O little Jesus I onely require thee comfort my soule thou best of Babes draw mee O draw me after thee by thy sweet favour thou Prince of Glory Lead me O thou our true salvation to thine owne Countrey after thine own victory wherein praise be unto thee for evermore Amen CONTEMP c. 16. Of Christ's and of our Circumcision BEhold my eyes your Jesus my soule consider thy Christ the knife is taken in hand and the Sonne of the most High is drawn away to be wounded stay knife from touching the Innocent let the Synagogue spare the innocent send him away thou Circumcisor without touching him but my Jesus why wouldst thou be so circūcised be so wounded spill thy most tender blood Why doest thou so hasten O Lord to the shedding of thy milky blood it is my salvation which makes thee thus to hasten but why didst thou submit thy self to be circumcised which art the Lord of the Law nay the Law-giver himselfe was it to confirme the Circumcision that thou haddest long before ordained to be rightly observed even till
art the light and guide of my mind as thou art the Author so be also the Actor of all the good that is in me for I humbly rely upon thee I beleeve in thee the true God who prâ—ceedest from the Father and the Son from all eternity and art in time sent unto me what ever I am I am it in thee and by thee I am righteous by thee by thee am I chaste by thee am I patient by thee am I strong by thee humble by thee am I courteous by thee am I long-suffering by thee am I wise by thee liberall and by thee am I thrifty O thou Comforter teach me to doe thy will because thou art my God I beleeve therefore that whomsoever thou possessest thou fittest him for a dwelling both of the Father and of the Son happie is he that shall be thought worthy to lodge thee because by thee the Father and the Son shall make his abode with him CONTEMP 28. c. Of the mystery of the Trinity O Three coequall and coeternall Persons one true God the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost who dost onely inhabit eternity and light inaccessible who in thy might didst lay the foundation of the earth and dost governe the whole world by thy wisdome Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabbaths terrible strong just and mercifull wonderfull laudable and lovely One God three Persons one Essence one Power one Wisdome one Goodnesse and one undivided Trinitie Blessed be alwayes the holy Trinitie one Diety and coequall Majesty The Father Sonne and Holy Ghost are three names all of them one substance God the begetter God the begotten the Holy Spirit equall God contained in them both yet they are not three Gods but one true God so the Father is Lord the Son Lord and the Holy Ghost Lord there is propriety in the Persons and unity in the Essence an equall Majesty and Power equal Beauty Honour in all things comprehending the Starres the Seas the Fields nay the whole Creation at whom wicked hell doth tremble and whom the lowest depths doe reverence Let every voice and tongue now confesse him worthy this praise whom Sunne and Moone doe magnifie and the Angelicall dignity doth adore and let us all with strained voyce with musicall songs and sweet melody warble forth his praises O let us now sing together before the Throne of our God that is exalted in the highest O Trinity to be adored O Unity to be reverenced Thou true Eternity by thee are we created thou most perfect charity by thee are we redeemed doe thou protect save deliver set free and cleanse all people we worship thee Almighty we sing unto thee to thee be praise and glory for ever and ever For it is truly a worthy and a just thing a right and a saving thing that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto thee O Lord holy Father God Almighty who with thy only begotten Son and the Holy Ghost are one God attone Lord not in the singularity of one Person but in the substance of one Trinity for that which wee beleeve from thy revelation concerning thy glory this wee understand without difference of distinction both of the Son and also of the Holy Ghost that the propriety of Persons the unitie of Essence and equality of Majestie may be adored in the confession of a true and an eternall Deitie One man is not so much as three men joyned together and two men are something more than one but in God it is not so for the Father and Son together are not a greater Essence than the Father alone or the Son alone but those three Persons together are equall one to another The consideration of the word One extends farre to the making evident of this single Unity There is an unitie which may bee called collective as when many stones make up one heape of stones there is also an unitie constitutive when many members make up one body or many parts of any thing make up the whole thing it selfe There is also an unity conjugative whence it comes to passe that two by marriage are now no more two but one flesh And there is a native unity whence by the soule and body one man is borne There is a potestative unity whereby a vertuous man is not instable or unlike himselfe but doth alwayes endevour to bee found like to himselfe It is a consentaneous unitie when by charity many men have one heart and one soule There is a votive unitie when the soule adhering to God in all its desires becomes one spirit There is a dignitative unitie whereby our corrupt flesh is by God the Word assumed into one Person But what are all these things to that most high and as I may so say that onely unitie where consubstantiality maketh the unity If thou liken any of the former unities to this unity it will be after a sort alike but if you compare it with it it will bee nothing therefore amongst all things which are rightly said to be one the unity of the Trinity wherein three Persons are one substance doth hold the preheminence each particular Person is in each particular Person all the Persons conjoyned are in each particular Person and each distinct Person in all the Persons conjoyned all are in all and all is but one none of these precedes another in eternitie or exceeds another in greatnesse or excells another in power that which is there said to be great is not otherwise great than as it is truly so indeed because there greatnesse is truth it selfe and truth is Essence therefore that is not greater which is not truer but one Person is not truer than another of them or two of them than any one or all three together than all three separated each from other therefore one hath no more truth than another or two than any one or all together than each asunder So then also the Trinitie it selfe is not any thing greater than every distinct Person in it but is equally great with them These are wonderfull things and set farre above the reach of any creature therefore mans understanding doth very hardly assent to these mysteries which are set so farre from our view and the minde easily begins to wander after speculations if wee have not before us a more sublime doctrine which may recall our phansies into the right bounds and limits set for us by God himselfe That doctrine is divine No man can take another by the hand if he want his owne we cannot see the Sunne without the Sunne nor can any conceive divine things without divine assistance nor can we know God without God Be present therefore thou true Light Almighty God and Father bee present thou Light of lights thou Word and Son of God God Almighty be present holy Spirit thou concord of the Father and the Son God Almighty bee present one omnipotent God Father Son and Holy Ghost we confesse in thee by thee and
which the Prophet said A new name shall be given thee which the mouth of the Lord shall bestow on thee We have changed our accursed name because God hath given us a new name Take heed to your selves take heed who ever you be that you despise none of the faithfull that you disesteeme or reproach them not though he seeme most miserable most abject and most afflicted for let his misery or affliction be as great as may be yet is he the Almighty Gods Anointed the Prophet of the most holy the Priest of the most High yea he is himselfe a king of most great Majesty Yee are Prophets O Christians therefore let the Word of God dwell plentifully in you with all wisdome teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymnes and spirituall songs singing unto the Lord with grace in your hearts Ye are Priests ye Christians therefore I beseech you my brethren by the mercies of God that you give up your bodies a living and a holy sacrifice and acceptable to God by your reasonable service of him and be not fashioned like this world but be yee changed through the renewing of your mindes that ye may discerne what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God Ye are Kings O Christians be not therefore servants of sin or be subject to the boyling affections of the flesh but mortifie your sinnes tame your lusts nor prostitute your dignity to a most base and impure servitude Extoll your Christ because all your eminencie all your worth all your grace and all your glory proceedeth from him As the rivers do flow from the sea and flow back againe into the same so let your eminency dignity grace and glory be directed disposed of and referred to the authour and giver thereof Call upon Christ O ye Christians because though you be anointed yet may that ointment be overwhelmed defiled and wiped off by the filth of your sinnes and the durt of your corruptions ye carry heavenly gifts in brittle vessels pray that they be not broken and your graces spilt pray that no wind may extinguish your flame that your oyle faile you not and yee be left in darknesse with the foolish virgins Love your Christ yee Christians because he is anointed that you might be anointed because he is a King that hath all the inhabitants of the earth for his subjects because he is a Priest that hath expiated all the sinnes of the whole world because he is a Prophet that doth instruct all the ignorant doth enforme them and teacheth them the right way to life Love Christ you Christians because the most apparant manifestation of a thankfull mind consisteth not in words but works not in promises but in obedience But to the end you may more fully consider your dignity the birth of a Christian is to be weighed God is his Father in heaven the Church is his mother upon the earth The Word of God to be heard and seene is the seed that is the Word preached this is the administration of the Sacraments Yee are borne againe not of corruptible seed but incorruptible by the Word of God that lives and abideth for evermore The Father of lights hath begotten you by the Word of his truth The Churches are the wombe where the seed of the heavenly Word is scattered and in which the eternall Father and our mother the Church doe meet together The heart of man is the matter of this generation the privation is the mortification of the old Adam the forme is the vivification it selfe whence doth arise the assent of the understanding and confidence of the will that the sonne of wrath may become the sonne of grace the blinde may see the deafe may heare the dumbe may speake the lame walke the leaper be cleansed and life may be restored to the dead The time of this formation is when a Christian doth more and more profit in knowledge of the understanding and holinesse in the heart the carrying in the wombe is when in our whole life by meanes of the vessels of the wombe and navell that is by the ministers of the Word he attracteth to himselfe the milke of saving knowledge from the two breasts of the Church the Law and the Gospell and as an Embrion lives in the wombe so he lives in the Word Hee is a brute creature and more silly than a beast that doth not admire that a childe in the wombe should be preserved alive in so darke a prison in so uncleane streights among so many filths corruptions excrements wrapped in filmes and crowded by the bowels but it is farre more to be wondred at that any Christian should be supported amidst so many griefes paines torments snares and calamities For about the wombe wherein we are carried the World cries I will slay him the Flesh cries I will infect him the Devill cries I will deceive him Wee must there lie hid where there is much malice where is little wisdome where all things are viscous and slimie all things hid in darknesse and beset with snares where the soules are in danger the bodies are afflicted where all things are vanity and vexation of Spirit and yet for all this we live and are preserved we live and are not killed we are nourished and not in want we are carried in the wombe and are not abortive we are sustained and are in want of nothing The Embrion in the mothers wombe lives a hidden life he lives indeed in the world but is not seene with the eyes of any he sends forth his breath but scarce draws any in we also Embrions of regeneration lead a hidden life For though we live in the kingdome of heaven yet our glory and desireable life doth not as yet make any great shew we yet behold not the light of eternall blessednesse we yet draw not the aire of the region of Paradise we yet eat not the Angelicall Manna we yet drinke not of the heavenly liquour but have as it were but a light taste of al these things and we have scarce any sensible breathing of these things But the houre is at hand and the time will come that it shall be made manifest what we shall be wherein we shall beginne and never end this glorious light this life not of hope but of the things hoped for even the life of vision We shal begin this life when we die for then begin we to be borne to the true light when we first put off our mortality For the true birth day of Christians is their day of death In death they do begin to live through death they enter into life as the infant lies sighing at the port of the wombe expecting his passage and though he be even at deaths threshold yet is he conveyed into the haven of life O living death of Christians O Christian sonne of God brother of Christ companion of the Angels Lord of the world partaker of the divine nature O Christian exalted above sin and the law
and placed above death and Satan O Jesu my Lord O Christ my Captaine thy name be glorified because thou hast given me a blessed name denominated from thine owne name Let thy praise be daily borne in my mouth because thou art daily born in my heart that I may be born againe in thee and may live to thee and with thee For no man is rightly called a Christian that is not conformed as much as may be to Christ in his manners and he beares this name in vaine that doth not at all imitate Christ For what doth it profit thee to be called what thou art not and to usurpe another mans name If any take pleasure to be a Christian let him carry about him what belongeth to a Christian and then he may worthily take upon him the name of a Christian but he doth those things which belong to true Christianity who shewes mercy to all that is not moved by any wrong done to him that is as sensible of anothers griefe as of his owne that makes not the poore strangers at his table that is not magnified amongst men that hee may be gloried before God and his Angels who contemnes earthly things that he may obtaine heavenly things that doth not suffer the poore to be here oppressed who helpeth those that are in distresse who is moved to weepe by other mens tears as S. Paul did for who is weake saith he and I am not weake Grant unto me O Christ most mercifully that am the least and most unworthy of all Christians that I may doe these things with all my power and may persevere in the desire thereof and that I may not halt slip or utterly fall off for not the beginning but the ending well is required in a Christian let that therefore be most blessed unto me O my Saviour Amen CONTEMP c. 34. Of necessary rules to lead a godly life concerning the thoughts of man MAns life is a middle life between the life of Angels and the life of sinners if a man live after the flesh he is compared to the beasts if he live after the Spirit he is made a companion for the Angels Now that thou maist walke in the straitest path thou must consider of thy thoughts examine thy words and weigh thy actions As touching thy thoughts give no time or place to sinnes but as soone as they appeare in the blade before they can take root plucke them up Breake in time the Basilisks egges that none of them prove a serpent dash the Babilonish brats against the stones while they be young Fall not often into the same sin but abridge the custome of sinning and sin not without doubt as if thou neither fearest God nor man Propose not to thy selfe those things in thy thoughts which are either unprofitable or impossible Be not wise too high Thinke the world and worldy things to be but vaine that thou doe not over-value them Be alwayes mindfull of death that thou feare it not too much when it comes unto thee call to minde the last judgement that thou maist appeare there with an undaunted courage remember hell to avoid it and blessednes that thou maist enter into it Learn forthwith therforemore more to know thine owne misery which ariseth from unbeleefe and the transgression of Gods holy Commandements Renounce therefore unbeleefe and strive to keepe all his precepts Knock at the gate of the mercies of heaven by the merit of Christ and so humble thy selfe as if thou wert to obtaine those mercies without his merits What is the most abject creature in the world let it not trouble thee to answer thy selfe It is I by reason of my sinnes And againe if it be demanded of thee what is the most pretious treasure upon the earth let it not trouble thee to answer with thy selfe the blood and merits of my Lord Jesus Christ by which I am cleansed from my sinnes and have salvation purchased for me Above all abhorre to sinne willingly and with a deliberate resolution for to have true faith and to sinne voluntarily can no more agree together than fire and water or the lambe and the wolfe Be a true faithfull and sincere servant of Jesus Christ not onely in the publick assemblies where Gods word is preached and the Sacraments administred but in the rest of thy life by flying evill and doing of good But if by reason of the infirmity of thy flesh thou hast committed any sinne loath it betimes and destroy it by speedy and serious repentance Pray onely unto God whilst thy conscience rests in prayer to him sinne withers and nothing is sweet to thee besides vertue and goodnesse Catch not too much at popular applause which is very inconstant and though thou think thy merits have deserved to be taken notice of by those that passe by thee and that thou oughtest to be respected of the good yet use it moderately and discreetly that it doe thee not more hurt than hatred and contempt He is truly wise that neither too greedily hunts after the peoples favour nor too much despises it Seeke especially for a quiet minde and be content with thy present condition It is no harmfull thing that some evil is mixed with the good things of this life that God bestowes upon us God deales gently with thee as with his Son therefore despaire not God doth also chasten thee be not thou impatient lay hold on the golden meane search for things necessary but not for superfluities and alwayes have an eye to Gods will that thine owne will doe not oppresse thee he is happie that can lie hid in this life and is known to none but God and himselfe A certaine man was wont to say As often as I have been amongst men I still returned the lesse man from them It is an easier thing to lye hid at home than to keepe himselfe well abroad he therefore that intends to obtain inward and spirituall gifts he must with Jesus decline the throng no man can safely be seene but he that is willingly concealed the better sort of men in the estimation of others have often been in great hazard by reason of their too much confidence Thence is it that it is more profitable to many not altogether to be void of temptations but to be often assaulted that they be not too secure that they be not puffed up with pride nor that they too licentiously leane to exteriour delights O what a good conscience would hee alwayes possesse that would never seeke after transitory mirth nor busie himselfe with the world O how would hee prune off all vaine care and only meditate of saving and divine things and place all his hope in God and what peace and quiet would he enjoy Let the want of nothing but of Gods grace much trouble thee desire Gods grace and thou shalt obtaine it and let not the scarcity of outward things too much afflict thee If Satan reproach thee with thy wants consider with thy selfe