sense but my Saviour It is none of the least sins of our youth that we are carelesse and forgetfull of Thee our Creatour and no wonder we are so insensible of the Joyes to Come that live in such a constant and continued neglect of Heaven Make me therefore O my God to consider that had I the fruition of all that I can wish or long for here I should not onely not be satisfied but in the end find how miserable he is that setteth his heart on any thing but Thy selfe teach me therefore so to enjoy the World that I lose not thee nor the memory of that Blessed reward thou hast promised to them that Honour Thee GEN. Chap. 2. v. 8. And the Lord God planted a Garden East-ward in Eden WHat an airy fancy was it of some then to place Paradise beyond the middle region could they transplant the earth at pleasure or did the clouds like so many moving walks become a seminary of vegetables Was Erasmus of this opinion when he wisht himselfe encaged betwixt heaven and earth How vaine is ambitious frailty in its quest after knowledge We search for Paradise with more Curiosity then Adam lost it and when we cannot find it here yet we will fancy it a place though above our reach That there was a Paradise we need not doubt He that made it tells us so but where to find it he that lost it knowes not So suddenly doth sin blast our most innocent pleasures Scarce had Man taken a view or walke in Paradise but this expell'd him the earth was but in its youth scarce warm'd by the new born Sun when this wither'd it into a sterill and decrepit Complexion nay the heavens scarce seated in their orbs were shaken by it and interrupted almost in their Motions by the pride and fall of Angells No sooner had the Serpent breath'd out his Contagion but Paradise changed it's vordure The Creatures fly from the Garden of the world and infected Man is shut out from his beautifull enclosure he that was an Inhabitant of pleasure it self for whom the most choise and various fragrancies of the New Created earth were epitomised together is stript and cheated of his happinesse by the Spirit of lies and is glad to be beholding to a Figtree for his first vestment How perfectly hath his naked Issue inherited his fortune how many of his wretched sons have been ever since selling their Paradise for an Apple How does the Covetous wretch adore his Mammon his yellow God and Coines heaven and his Salvation into Money though the stamp be Hell or the image of the beast how readily will ambition Court Hell it selfe to serve his interest make no scruple to sell his Soul for a Glorious vanity and worship Satan for a kingdome how does the Sensualist make his life an enterlude leaving Paradise for Tantalus his Garden and makes wantonnesse his heaven pleasure his Divinity and never thinks of a better or another life but when he is in danger of losing this How many upstart lights hath Satan sprung to darken Religion and eclipse the Gospell how many eyes hath he put out by opening pretending to cloathe us with more Knowledge and Sanctity that he might dismantle us of heaven and happinesse I had rather be for ever blind then use an eye-salve of the Divells prescribing and be for ever ignorant then learne Satans lesson to belie heaven and distrust my Maker So miserable hath sin made us O Lord that by it we have lost not onely Paradise but heaven too forfeited not onely the pleasures of this life but also the joyes to Come and with the true Comforts of the world are stript of thy favour too He whom thou madest the Monarch of the Creatures grones under the bondage of sin and by the Misery of his Crimes hath cancell'd almost the glory and miracles of thy work And now might we have been extinguisht in our guilt had not He who is the brightness of thy Glory dropt a new life into our eclipsed natures by the power of his Blood and Merits and by reconciling us to thy selfe given us an admission to better and more enduring pleasures Grant therefore that having obtained mercy we may walke accordingly that being bought for heaven we may no more sell our selves to sin nor vainely preferre a few moments of pleasure before an eternity of joy that so when our souls shall expire with our breath they may be transplanted to that Paradise that never fades and enjoy the pleasures of eternity in the bosome of thy Glory 1 King Chap. 10. v. 18. Moreover the King made a great Throne of Ivory and overlay'd it with the best Gold T was fit that the best of Kings should be sutably serv'd and now he sees himselfe in so glorious a condition he need not repent of that happy and eternall election he made in Gibeon where amongst all his Sacrifices there was none so pleasing as that which he made of himselfe to the disposall of his God Did the Princes of the world but make Solomon their Pattern they might participate of his fortune and find a more Glorious Hand supporting their Scepters beyond the reach of the most admired Achitophel 'T is not the paint but the piety of a Throne that both secures and adornes it He must needs be the greatest of Princes whom God Crownes the richest Monarch that besides the enjoyments of the world receives even a Treasure from heaven Piety never went unrewarded God can bestow on his as well the felicities of this life as that which is hereafter But if Solomon bow downe to Harlots his Crown must fal and if he forsakes God sin dethrones him Greatnesse cannot priviledge from punishment nor the eminency of a Throne excuse the guilt thereof He that breath'd out so many Divine Songs is struck dumbe at the aires of a female tongue and those Ivory steps the seat of Honour grow black with sin Had his Guard of Lyons proved true they would have quickly dismembred those Syrens that having lost their vertue had nothing but their vices left to charm their fury with Solomons youthfullnesse in his old age praecipitated him the sooner to his end the end both of his life and Glory O Lord if Solomon's Throne was so glorious how infinitely transcendent must Thine be from whom Solomon received his that under which the pillars of the earth tremble and in comparison of which the lustre of the heavens is but a spark Though thou hast many thrones yet the most glorious one is that of thy Mercy which thou art pleas'd to open to the penitent Sinner I will look upon the glittering guilded eminencies of the world with more delight because I see the footsteps of thy Glory in them and the royalties of the earth shall make me but with the greater reflection aspire after the enjoyment of that Throne whose beauty and holinesse ravishes the Seraphick Attendants with joy unspeakeable and full of Glory 1 King ch 19.
fancy Heare this O thou Miser whom the Silver Rhetorick of a bag can court to Hell and art greedily wonne to damne thy selfe at the Musick of a purse that canst gaze thy selfe blind at the splendour of a Gemme and cursest Geography for describing riches beyond thy reach wishing thy selfe an Indian that thou mightest dwell among Treasures and inhabit Mines till thy very haire became silver indeed till thou thy selfe went all turnd to Ore and and every Bone into a wedge of Gold Heare this ye Gallants that are so enamounted with the fashions of this world that ye have lost all Idaea's of a better ye that live meerly to please your sense and feed your luxury with the curious martyrdom of a thousand creatures As ye have purer veins have purer passions too and have nobler inclinations for heaven the riches of your attire wil not cloathe you with immortality should you sell your estates when ye die 't would not purchase paradise It was the best speech the old Oratour ever uttered when he said he would not buy repentance so deare 'T was but an extemporary expression and yet all his Rhetorick could never match it that one straine was worth all his Orations and will outfame the labours of his pen. Could we treble the lives of Patriarchs and with them the pleasures of the grandest Epicures Could we like Cleopatra in a dissolv'd pearl swallow the treasure and pleasure of a kingdome at a draught or command the Creatures as peremptorily as ever the Centurion did his servants had we all the enjoyments we can either wish or fancy what ever the ambition of the most vaine and carnall appetite can long for were the whole earth turnd into a paradise or a constant spring beautifying its face Could we live and not grow old or being old not feele the miseries of age could we unwind time againe and reverse it's wheels stop the coelestiall Mercuries the posts of heaven in their course and set the Great Clock of the world backward againe nay were our bodies as durable as our soules that we could out live Time it self and be above ground even when the world shall receive its period yet what shall we get if after all our imaginary felicities and sliding contentments we become a sacrifice for hell enlisted in the cursed catalogue of the damned crue a victime for eternal flames lost for ever from God and Heaven Then tell me who ever thou art and aske Dives himself What is man profited though he should gaine the whole world and lose his owne soule What is there in the world O Lord that we should love it thus weary our selves in vaine desires and make the pleasures of this life our felicity How hard is it for him that is a stranger to thy law to perceive the emptinesse of those enjoyments he hath so long rowled himselfe in to resist the tempting advantages of sin and undervalew the flashes of this life for that glory Thou wilt impart My God teach me so to enjoy the world that I lose not Thee let the blessings thou bestovvest quicken and increase not dul my devotion raise up my obedience not drowne my gratitude that so the vanities of the world may be my scorne and the joyes of heaven my onely ambition that I may never for a perishing fruition in this life lose both my soule and thy grace together Matth. Chap. 5. v. 8. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God WHo then would not strive to become pure No wonder David was so earnest for a clean heart and a right Spirit if this be the reward of Piety who would not become religious Blest Spirits how happy how pure are ye that behold the face of your Heavenly Father who would not labour to imitate you heer that he might be like you there and possesse joyes such as raptures never knew Shall the false and treacherous vanities of the World steale away our hearts and rob us of the hopes of this Glory the fruition of this Sight A Sight in Comparison whereof the royalties of the World the triumphs and splendours of the eye and the beauty of the whole Creation is not worth the looking at A sight which no eye ever saw but may if it do not blindly lose it selfe on objects heere No Ear ever heard its perfect description but may the Harmony and Halelujahs of it if it bow not to the charms of sinne and the musick of the flesh 'T is a sight whose Ideae cannot be drawn by the most lively and subtile Speculations of any Scholastick brain though never so Angelical 't is not fancy but piety can reach it The Divine Traveller St. Paul himselfe though newly there could not give us a Copie of it and Scripture Characters it out but in Similitudes to shew how infinitely transcendent is that Glory which is so much above expression so much above all comprehension Were all the Diamonds the earth is mother of mustred to a Splendour they would not match the smallest glance of the Sun's eye and yet that noble Luminary surrounded with so many waiting Starrs that begge their lustre from him is but a sparke to the Brightnesse of of His face Who then would sacrifice that part to the World which may become the instrument of so much happinesse and suffer the extravagancies of his blood to revell there where nobler passions and flames should triumph He that would dwell among the Spirits of the just must teach his own to become so and turne his body to a Temple wherein his heart must be the the Altar and Sacrifice too or rather a kinde of Sanctum Sanctforum for the choisest Gifts of the Spirit to inhabite The Seat of Life must be turn'd into the Seat of Love and the pallace of the Spirits into a Court of Graces and then that part which as Naturalists observe is the first that lives and the last that dyes shall become purely vitall and not dye at all Nothing but a Trinity can fill this Triangle which we must therefore shape to the purest forme and teach it in all its pulses to beate nothing but Heaven and Sanctity Our breasts must become Clossets of Devotion and our hearts the Cabinets of innocency and prayer enricht with that great diamond a lively faith the Lamp at which all our smaller Graces as Candles light themselves and like Stars borrow their Lustre from this Luminary 'T is not a heart that can dance to the Tune of any Religion and pretend a Sanctity which it wears onely in its face that makes Fancy its Conscience and stiffnesse of humour tendernesse of Spirit No 't is a heart robed with Humility and Crowned all with Love perfum'd by Prayers the odours of Charity and the fragancies of a pious life that couches it self within the arms of our Saviour's Spouse and becomes a mourner in its perfections that looks upon the World as the Enemy of its Glory and had rather dye then be a
head He that was ready to have feasted wormes now feasts himselfe and is risen from his dead companions a guest amongst rhe living We read indeed of some that all pale and liveless were stretcht out for a coffin but reviv'd again when that little spark of life that lay glimmering in the expiring embers in a corner of the panting heart recovered its flames But here death and Lazarus had imbrac't too closely to be so parted His soul had likely taken its flight before and his body lay so long in his mothers armes 't was just dissolving into its principles againe and behold him now above ground as if but newly risen from his bed all fresh with life and vigour he hath changed his chamber and from the lower regions of the other world is returnd to his old lodgings where he is now at supper throng'd with multitudes of people that come not for almes but to be spectators of this wonder Had the end of the world been then or a resurrection of others for company Lazarus at his arrivall to the world againe might well have phansied with his countrymen that the second life should be on earth and heaven kept in pleasures here No Lazarus though now alive thou must dye againe to live for ever nor must thy revivall now con ummate thine but manifest Gods glory though it be thine too above expression to have been thus the subject of it Thou needst not feare to dye againe having done it once nor doubt but that hee who raised thee now will do it hereafter too Didst thou ever thinke to have injoyed this world againe or to have been freed from thy imprisonment till the great and generall delivery 'T was beyond thy Sister's faith till she saw it and now having had two lives if thou spentest the former on thy selfe or the world thou didst wholly sacrifice the latter to thy divine Restorer How many expiring soules all frighted with the horror of their crimes could they but have their span a little lengthned or after an age's durance in their graves but revive a litle before their doome how gladly would they turne their songs of pleasure into penitentiall anthems their profane notes into diviner ayres and tune out their lives in pious straines But alasse he that cannot imploy this life well in vaine expects to do it in another which he is not worthy of might it be obtained He whose piety here hath reacht him a taste of heaven a glimpse of happinesse will be so little in love with the vanities of this world that instead of desiring a longer or another life here he will be but ambitious of leaving This. It was by thy power O Lord That Lazarus carried out to his grave should returne alive That Mournefull expression thy friend is dead drew thee to the discovery of thy love and power in his resurrection O let there be the same concurrence of thy Grace and spiit to the raising and reforming of my soul to a new and holy life it was the misery of expiring man that drew thee from the bosome of thy Father to redeem him O let the Scepter of thy word and truth be as powerfull in its heavenly influence upon my soul as the Prophet's staffe that reviv'd the dead that so dying daily I may live for ever and being pâ—epared for my death may enter into that life from which nothing but sin can exclude me Joh. Chap. 13. v. 23. Now there was leaning on Jesus bosome one of his Disciples whom he loved SEe how sweetly is the Disciple Couch't how boldly doth he make his Master's breast his pillow loading him with a double burden his sins and himselfe Blest familiarity Would not Kings leave their thrones to have been in his room and ambitiously forsake their Golden Canopies for suâ—h a teposure Here might the vastest ambition both seat and satiate it selfe without aspiring higher the greatest Avarice might here have found a treasure beyond which it could not cover What Lover would not scorne the lap of the most admired female for such an enjoyment and become a Diviner Amorist Was not this Disciple above the rest If this be not a precedency what is a dignity which none besides himselfe succeeded in Happy Favorite Who would not have trampled Crownes and Scepters for such preferment Had Mary in whose bosome once Love's Cradle so many wantons lull'd themselves that turn'd her eyes into Living Mineralls and her haire into a towell of the newest fashion been graced with such a priviledge not her eyes onely but the noblest rivolets of her blood would have overflowne all transported out in gratefull streames How pleasingly doth the Disciple lay his eare to that Heart which was the life of the world as if he would count its motions and by its Divine pulse be rockt asleep in raptures Behold O my soul and see in the posture of this happy man the Emblem of thy owne felicity the place of thy reception and future Glory Art thou ambitious of it here then behold him on his Crosse with his armes extended to receive thee O run and rowle thy selfe on that Breast the fear of Love wherein lies all the treasures of thy happinesse Thou hast a priviledge even beyond the Disciple for thou mayst not only leane and depend but embrace him too Incircle him now then with the choisest endeerments of thy soule the most passionate raptures of a Lively faith and so the same Jesus that permitted the Disciple here to lean on his breast will receive thee likewise in his arms hereafter and place thee for ever in the bosome of his Glory Math. Chap. 16. v. 26. For what is a man profited if he shall gaine the whole world and lose his owne soul ANd yet men had rather lose their souls than the world He for whom the world was made makes himselfe for the world disappointing himselfe of all his Glory and by a more then brutish transmutation buries the Divinity of his soul all in earth Heare this then ye Inhabitants of the world yee that fowle all in sense and climb no higher then the elements for Heaven that can pawne your souls for a fading pleasure and count a delightfull misery your felicity Hear this thou aspiring Vapour whose ambition elevates thee to consume thy selfe thou that wilt worship Satan for a Kingdome and do him homage for a Crowne paying him a revenue worth a thousand worlds the immortall tribute of a soul till thy triumphs be turned to torments thy revellings of honour into regrets of horrour and thy Chaire of state into a bed of flames Heare this thou Sensualist whose soul is as unconfined as Brutes that pantest for pleasure more then ever the Camaelion did after aire thou that wadest all in sin and overwhelmest Morality in floods of vice bathing thy selfe in those wanton streames that drown thee that countest religion but a fable the lives of Saints a melancholly Romance and laughest at heaven as if eternity were but a
Rebell against Heaven 'T is such a Heart that prepares us for this Vision and happy is he that 's such a Puritan Strengthen us therefore O Lord against the vanities of the World and raise up our thoughts to the Contemplation of thy Glory Levell in us every proud thought that dares exalt it selfe against the power and purity of thy Law and Sanctifie us for thy selfe and thy Service more that the practise of a Holy life may be as it ought our chiefest employment that so when we depart from hence we may be received to Thee and being seen no more heere may for ever see there what before neither eye hath seen nor eare heard nor heart conceived the Glory thou wilt impart in the fruition of Thy selfe Matth. Chap. 8. Verse 2. Lord if thou wilt Thou canst make me cleane IS not sinne a Leprosie Then the Lepers Prayer is every Sinners too Hee that had seen the Leper's body would not have wondred at his Prayer and yet could he but have viewed his Soul he might perhaps have seen objects of more prodigie and Horrour the miseries of his blood which had lost its verdure and become but an unprofitable friend to Nature every part being as it were dead-alive by so unnatural a Nutrition taught his tongue this Necesary though Mournfull kind of Confidence Lord if thou wilt And Hee whose Compassion never failes to shew that his Goodnesse was as great as his power would not reject a Suite wherein his Mercy was concerned and those limbes which might have been sooner drown'd then bathed into a Cure re-assume new life and beauty by the bounty of a Touch. Thus the Leper is new bodyed againe but we read not of any Cure wrought upon his better part and that perhaps had more need The bedrid Man his Successour was farre happier whose sinne and disease were both taken away together How many are there that like the Leper looke no higher then their bodyes whose Superficies is all their religion whilst the nobler peece that gives them life lyes all neglected under some Chronicall infection Our blood shall have all the delicacies that Art or the most Chymicall Luxury can invent to feed its flames whilst our brighter part the Divine and Celestiall fire which inspires us lyes all quencht and rob'd of its immortall aliment and can carry back nothing but a dimme and Hectick lustre to it Maker The torment of Limbe shall teach us more devotion in an houre then all the concernments of our Soules could do in a yeer before and the deformity of the meanest part will be an object of more shame and sorrow to us then those pale and infernall shapes that attend sinne and disfigure Heaven in us Of all plagues this is the greatest and yet least feared as if Hell were but a Toy Damnation a Pleasure and the miseries of our Soules a Recreation to us Shew me that beauty that 's not a Leper that innocence which carries not a guilt to blush at that Saint that infant man that knowes not what it is to sinne Were our veines purer then the lips of Violets that perfume the Chymistry of the aire the drops of the Morne were Adam's sinne a stranger to our blood and our birth cleer as the Morn innocent as the new-blown Rose yet the deformity of our lives would soon teach us this prayer and the blacknesse of our very thoughts would silently proclaime our ugliness And yet was not there not in those dayes a Generation that were cleane in their own eyes that justified themselves even in their impurity and counted all the World but Lepers to them Was not the Pharisee a greater Leper than the Publican though so proudly he displayed his best plumes His very Pride carried more Contagion with it than the other Mans Sinns all put together Hee that trusts to the merit of his owne paint may lose Heaven and those joyes which an humbler Confidence secures O Lord though I am not so bad perhaps as some yet am I so bâ—d in my selfe that the Leper heere is a beauty to my Soul Lazarusse's Corps a comelinesse to my sores yet were I more impotent then the Cripple of Bethesda more Leprous then the Nine whose ingratitude was more loathsome then their disease were those Legions ejected by thy word received in me were I as bad as Satan could wish to make me yet I know thy Goodness and I do not doubt thy power For Lord if Thou wilt Thou canst make me clean Matth. Chap. 24. v. 39. And knew not untill the Flood came and took them all away HOw securely did these sinners cram themselves for destruction or as if forseeing their inundation they would by full stomacks labour to prevent an entrance Life and luxury were such inseparable companions here that nothing but Death could part them They had waded so long in an Ocean of sin it was impossible to escape drowning and not be surrounded with the depths of a quick and overflowing judgment Noah might have preach't himselfe dumb and have sooner talk't himself asleep in mild and fluent admonitions than awake these drunkards had not the waves made use of a rougher language and in their owne swelling dialect the prodigious roring of the depths buried them and their riotts in silence together Had not God otherwise promised the world how often had it since been delug'd They were but eating drinking but we do even glut and carrouse it in sin commit ryots upon Hell and can teach the Epicure himselfe to revell Our forefathers were but dwarfs to us in sin whose transgressions have to far transcended theirs in bulk that we are become greater Giants in iniquity then those of the first age So monstrous is Sin still in its productions that the whole earth like an infernal Africk brings forth new prodigies of vice daily that were the world in a consumption as some think 't is in vertue onely and the iniquities of the times when they seem to be quite full are but increasing still They were but cold phlegmatick crimes that drown'd the world to the fiery sins of this hotter age that shall and have already almost set it in a combustion 'T is another element then that of water must punish the feared Consciences of this age and chaines of darknesse must fetter those that run after new lights the metors of their owne invention The world was already drown'd in sin when the waters to compleat it's excesse came and carried away these living-dead men and buried them in the same grave together Such is the fruit of a carelesse life the miseries of a retchlesse impenitency they were revelling in their feasts when the greedy element devoured them and they that drank iniquity like water had a fit punishment for their iniquity The waves grow high and mount up to a tombe the sea becomes a spatious monnument both to hide and wash away their sin and they that swam in mirth are now swallowed up in streames and
little dreaming of their deaths are shipwrackt in their very houses in the midst of their pleasures being fatally suprized by a terrible and unwelcome guest So righteous art Thou O Lord and infinitely pure that thy Justice though it may seeme to winke at yet will not pardon impenitence nor passe by the resolv'd impieties of wilfull transgressours and yet so infinitely good that thou never heightenest thy punishments but when men do their iniquities nor are thy judgments epidemicall but when sin is so Thou that desirest not the death of a sinner wouldst not have destroyed so many even all had not their transgressions been so universally prodigious that they came up in a cry together to pull downe thy justice And though thou hast since out of the greatnesse of thy love and compassion promised a security from the same yet not from all punishment Let the memory therefore of those that perisht by thy wrath for their neglect remind us of our duty and thy glory that so the examples of thy judgments upon others may teach us by a lively repentance to prevent our owne Luke Chap. 7. v. 5. For he loveth our nation and hath built us a Synagogue BEhold the character of a good Magistrate one that might well be styled the father of his country though a Roman whose patronage so eminently extended itselfe over both and the best part of their commonwealth This man was Cheife not onely in place but in piety too all Judea could not match him which since it lost its freedome was not wont to find or enjoy the happinesse of such Rulers and had they not hated Idolatry they would have worshipped this lover of their nation Herod indeed did re-build their Temple but it was more for feare then love 't was not out of piety but policy the better to get the crowne 't was his ambition not his devotion that founded that stately edifice not somuch out of zeale to God or his countrey as out of pure religion of becoming King Such is the Sanctity of the world which makes Gods Honour not the foundation but a passage to their owne turnes religion into a footstool for ambition and makes heavenly pretensions a stair-case to iniquity The Centurion here was a benefactor to the Nation out of pure zeal and if not of their religion yet a great freind to it whose charity not content to shew it selfe in the management of their civill interests only so nobly employed its power for the good of their souls and Church Unlike the Rulers of the world whose Religion it is to have none at all and are such lovers of sacred Foundations that instead of laying new they are the onely new fashion Templers that dare fight for to ruine the old and defend their pulling down Piety is lovely even in the meanest but in Kings and governours it carries a splendour like those rayes that surround the head of a pictur'd Saint Pyramids whose proud-reach dares justle the clouds and make them stumble in their race Piles of Alablaster carv'd to various shapes and pictures lively as the dead and the more like because both breathlesse Tombes of marble Vaults of brass are but poor monuments worthlesse conservatours to that building without hands wherein deceased Piety eternally shall live The Centurion here by building Synagogues rais'd a structure to his owne memory that hath out lasted them and the Jewes ravish't with such unwonted favours in a Ruler to expresse their Gratitude run in streames to Jesus and petition him to heal his Son pressing him with an argument of great force with them for He hath loved our Nation and built us a Synagogue Such honour have all they that Honour Thee O Lord whose zeale for thy Glory seldome returnes empty to themselves the meanest offering to thy Altar is not onely accepted but rewarded too and they that make it their Ambition to exalt thy Name shall not have theirs forgotten Let not those that knew Thee not be more passionate for thy Glory then we whose very Profession ought to adorne our Religion whose bodies ought to become Temples fit to entertaine thy Spirit the spirit of Holinesse of Love Thou wilt now no more be worshipt in Synagogues but more spirituall Assemblies Teach us therefore to turne our souls into Sanctuaries and to raise up our thoughts in more lively addresses that we may not so much endeavour to obtaine the worlds time by a moral fame as by the Sacrifice of obedience the Righteousnesse of eternity Luke Chap. 9. v. 57. Lord I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest IT was the best resolution he ever made nor can any blame him for his boldnesse when it was his glory to have been an intruder he might have gone on long and farre enough and not have met with such heavenly Company Was it his Confidence or his Love to Jesus that put him on See with how pious an importunity he accosts him whom perhaps he had never seen nor known before but by his Miracles onely and that life which so astonish't the eyes of the world could not but attract his and his heart too and therefore thinking it no presumption to use all meanes of bettering himselfe nor willing to lose so fair an opportunity of becoming happy ambitious of an admission all in raptures without any other Complement then an humble earnestnesse salutes Him Lord c. Nor could our Saviour's poverty stop or weaken his resolve or discourage his intention being not onely Content but Ambitious to share even in the miseries of so good a Master in whose very wants he should find a felicity beyond all the enjoyments of the earth Is not this Man a president for the whole world He that will not follow Jesus out of love yet let him not for shame suffer a Jew or Publican to out-step and strip him too Are the joyes of an everlasting Blisse of so poor a value that they are not worth the coming to or shal we think any step too weary that brings us to happinesse Were the way to heaven but strewed with roses or a thousand pleasures to revive the flesh the sensualist would turne a constant walker there and be the formost in those pathes the rich Man cannot follow Jesus for his pretious Luggage with which because he cannot without it he will not stirre The Epicure will not be of a Religion that prescribes him temperance for although perhaps he might make a shift to pray he cannot tell how to fast The way to heaven is too narrow for Ambition whose lofty port loves not to be strained in its passage but must have a road wide as the world or Hell can make him wherein his traine of sinfull glories may follow him in a breast together So difficult a thing it is to leave the world even for heaven and strive against the blandishments of sense for an invaluable blisse as if all our hopes all our happinesse were lap 't and tied up in the Concernments of this
blind us more It was a reall not affrighted luminary that steer'd the Wisemen here who triumph't to behold that day which we study to forget If they were not Kings yet their very fortunes would have made them Illustrious Never had Travellours before so splendid a Convoy so bright a Guid. The heavens proclaime thy glory O Lord and the firmament reveals the excellence of thy wisedome 'T was fitt that thou who hast cloathed the world with light and inricht it with so many rowling mirrours shouldst have one to be the herald of thy nativity All the creatures even with delight obey thy will whilst we rebelliously stop our eares to the harmony of thy law The wise men had no sooner notice of thy birth but they grew angry with time it selfe till they began their journey and that they might be sure not to loose their way thou sentest out a Convoy a Starr becomes an Evangelist and runs post to guide them So fortunate are good motions when they are put in practice they that would seek thee shall not want meanes to find thee though it be by miracle Thou canst steere us by a brighter lustre than that of a Starre even the illuminations of thy grace and Spirit Philip. Chap. 4. v. 12. I know both how to abound and to suffer need DIvinest Saint how few besides thy self have learn't it 'T is a Lesson the world hath long ago putt by not so much because 't is so hard as because its unpleasant Were the way to heaven but set with pleasures for sense to revell in 't would quickly become an open and an easy walke were there no rubs no tryalls to to be past thorough who would not become a Saint The Crowne of Glory would be as Common as a Garland were there not one of Thorns to be worne first The world cares not for a Religion that carries neither pompe nor pleasure with it but instead of rich and high enjoyments preaches temperance and patience onely Even some of them that pretend heaven most would not willingly learn this but abundantly provide for their better fortunes and those wants our Apostle learn't so nobly to sustaine too many out of better devotion labour not to know He that bids us seek heaven first tells us that to long for earthly enjoyments is a Heathens wish For after all these things do the Gentiles seek And shall Christians live like heathens still and looke no higher then the world shall they that make eternity their sphere sit and rowle themselves in the bosome of an under element and poorely make the pleasures of mortality their aime alone Was it for this He that made the heavens bowed them and came down leaveing his throne to bring us thither that we should lie and grovel in our phlegme for ever How vile and vaine a Creature is that man that wraps up his felicity in the dull enjoyments of this life and still resignes himselfe to sense alone Tell me O thou that swimmest in plenty and drownest heaven in oblivion should the luminaries put on their purple robe and changing their lustres like bleeding Meteors turne their rayes into crimson streams were the aire now filled with blasts of the last Trump ecchoing an approaching judgement how prodigious would that change looke what vast and horrid affrightments would the memory of thy prophane and irreligious fullnesse then strike and scare thee with Alass the enjoyments of the world are so poore that he which places his hopes in their fruition will quickly find himselfe but an eternall Begger a miserable Dives And yet such is the sanctity of the world to laugh ar religious poverty and deride the exigences of a pious life as an enemy to nature He knowes not the joyes of an expected eternity that thinks there is no felicity beyond this span Did we but know the reward shall crowne that the world calls Misery the happinesse that waits on the most suffering and dejected devotion we should triumph in our wants be in love with hardship and embrace even beggery with delight We should be content not onely to die but to live martyrs rejoyce even in the lowest ebb to win heaven and cheerefully learne with the Apostle to want here for that fullnesse which knowes none hereafter And yet how hardly can we endure even the smallest trouble for thy sake O Lord So insensible are we of thy goodnesse so forgetfull of thy power that we do not onely in our wants accuse and condemne thy Providence but are ready even to turn infidels in our misfortunes Make us therefore O Lord to see the vanity both of the world and our owne hearts that the pleasures of it may neither drowne nor the crosses of it deject our hope or discourage our obedience Let that glory which thou hast promised to those that conquer the world for thy sake be ever in our eye that so in whatsoever condition we are in we may still be found crowned and triumphing in Faith Luke c. 19. v. 9. This day is Salvation come to this House NO wonder Zacheus then made such haste to come down and quickly forsooke the friendly branches at such Newes Hee whose ambition climb'd no higher then a Sight of Jesus was all transported at the Honour of receiving Him Had he been taller perhaps he had not been so happy it was his Littlenesse exalted him and he who was not onely the Lowest but perhaps the meanest of the Company for his fortune became the Envie of the Multitude He that dwells in Everlasting splendours and treads the Heavens under exposed Himselfe to the Courtesie of the World whose Charity was so Cold that he must invite himselfe and be beholding to a Sinner for his entertainment Had the Princes of the World but known Him they would have quickly sure surrendred up their Thrones and counted theiâ— pallaces too poor a Lodging for the Lord of Glory And the Vaine Jewes whilst they expect a Messias all in pompe a Redeemer that should come into the World in Majesty and tr umph are become not so much the relicks as ruines of a Nation a wandring Monument of prodigious impiety throughout the earth Stand still ye Monarchs of the World and behold your Maker now beneath you and if ye have not plac't all your happinesse in a Kingdome heere Learn Humility from so Blest a President He that came to save Sinners thought it no dishonour to be in their Company and as it were to make amends for his entertainment and to make Zacheus compleately happy He tells him This day is Salvation come to this House A reward which none besides Hims lfe could give and which he that hath need never fear being poor againe Who would not welcome his Saviour on such termes and Sacrifice even all his fortunes at once to be so infinitely repa ' d We cannot make too much provision for our happinesse nor welcome Heaven at too much charge And yet how many are there of so sparing a zeal