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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77267	The penitent pilgrim bemoning his sinfull condition. Faith appeares vnto him affording him comfort hope seconds that comfort charity promiseth him in this vaile of missery to cover all his scarlett sins wth: [sic] ye white robe of mercy, & conduct him safly to ye kingdome of glory. By Io: Hall	Brathwaite, Richard, 1588?-1673, attributed name.; Hall, John, 1627-1656, attributed name.; Herdson, Henry, attributed name.; Le Blon, Christof, d. 1665, engraver.	1651 (1651)	Wing B4275aA; ESTC R224400	106,709	434

hope of future happinesse this very promise of long dayes might have brought thee to Obedience But alas this was the lowest of my thoughts the least of my cares I desired in mine Heart to be the Master of an estate before Nature would allow me it I took my portion and went away into a farre Countrey And there I plaid the riotter till I became a miserable Begger Then and never till then did I consider what I had done For by this time had I forgot my Fathers House So long and so sweetly had I been ●ulled in the Lappe of Sin But having now reap'd the fruites of my Disobedience I begun to have a remorse of Conscience and to have some small sensible feeling of repentance But never till such time as I had fed freely of those empty huskes of vanity and found my selfe so miserably poor as if I return'd not back to my Fathers House I might of necessity perish there were no remedy Nay I must to my shame confesse it that such was my disobedience and so crooked my will amidst my greatest necessities that this my aversion from evill and conversion to good rather proceeded from want of meanes then sincerity of will For had my Portion continued the arme of Sin had been nothing shortned And yet had my want brought mee to this naturall consideration as to thinke with my selfe what Parents were What benefits I had received from them how they had done for mee what I could never possibly do for them How Creatures endued onely with sense by a naturall instinct bore that tender love and obedience to their Parents as in their age they foster'd them on their wings they carried them desiring rather that they themselves should perish then their Parents suffer which gave a being unto them But these Considerations onely floated upon the Waters of mine heart they never sunck A naturall pronenesse to obey the Lusts of my Flesh hung such heavy poizes on the Wings of my Obedience as they kept me from mounting desiring rather to dye then wholly to leave my rebellion Thus was I never weary of transgressing till my transgressions became weary of mee Neither was I sensible of what disobedience meant till I was brought to a Consideration of it through want Wo is mee How could I promise to my selfe length of dayes when I had disseised my selfe of that promise by my disobedient wayes How could I be lesse then rejected of my Father in Heaven who had borne my selfe so disobediently to my Father on Earth How could I look for an inheritance falling so desperately into all disobedience O my deare Lord to whom Obedience is better then Sacrifice call mee now home unto thee Let me no longer run on in my rebellious Course Like a Childe that feareth to be beate let mee tremble at thy judgments Like a Child that flyeth into his Fathers lappe let mee kisse thee for thy mercies Correct mee O Lord but not in thine anger for how shall I stand in thy displeasure O I know as there is no Sonne whom a Father will not correct with the rod of his love so is there no Father who has not a desire to deliver his Sonne Correct me O Lord as thou art my Saviour oh let it never be in thine heavy displeasure CHAP. 18. His contempt of the Second in his practising mischiefe against his Neighbour ONe may commit murder and shed no blood The very thoughts of our hearts may become Conspirators against our Neighbour and so wee murder him in our desires Caine slew his brother Abel which made him turne Runnagate by flying from Gods presence O how often have I staine my brother in conceiving cruell thoughts which reflected upon his life fame and substance O how often have I in mine heart wished a sudden end unto mine Enemy And yet I was perswaded hee was not well prepared for death when I wished this unto him so as my desires were bent to murder him both in soule and body by wishing him so sudden and unprepared a death in his departure from the body Yea I will confesse against my selfe and with much bitternesse of heart will I acknowledge it that neither rich nor poore have beene freed from those murdering imaginations which my corrupt heart had secretly nursed For if he were rich I murdered him with Envy And in this act not only him but my selfe Wasting and eating up my owne marrow consuming my owne strength and falling away with a languishing desire of others ruine Againe were he poore I to my power murdered him by holding from him the staffe of bread when I might have relieved him by grating and grinding the face of the needy by oppressing him injuriously by laying heavier burdens on him then hee could beare O how can I remember these and sinke not downe with the horror of them Can I think that just God who heares the Orphans cry and bottles up the Widowes teares will not avenge himselfe of these things Can hee tender his little ones not revenge himselfe of those who make a prey and spoile of his little ones O no my Lord I know my guiltinesse is not hid from thee Nay I know well thou hast thy Bow ready bent and thine Arrowes in thy Quiver to shoot at the malicious and evill doer even at him that is of a subtile and deceitfull heart How then may I make my peace with thee How may I find favour in thy sight what shall I bee able to answer for my selfe against those my many Accusers While here one proves how I sought his life and with many bitter imprecations discovered my malice unto him Another accuseth me with impeaching his good name that precious perfume of every good man The third of his Substance saying that my wishes were often that he might be rest of it or it of him or that I my selfe might enjoy it with the losse of him Thus like a cruell and bloody Nimrod have I hunted for blood And though I did not actually shed it yet in desiring it and not seeking where I might to prevent it I cannot plead lesse then that I am guilty of it Now my fact is so foule that should I with the poore condemned Prisoner demand my Booke I could not hope to have the benefit of it yet there is a Booke wherein I have read what may afford mee much comfort by it At what time soever a sinner doth repent him of his sinne from the bottome of his heart I will put away all his wickednesse out of my remembrance saith the Lord. It is the Lord that hath said it even he who as hee is gracious in his promise so is hee faithfull in his performance Hence is my trust that though my sinnes be as red as scarlet the blood of the Lambe will make them white Though my garments bee all red as those who came from Bosro my Saviour has in store a white roabe for me As white as the snow of

owne defence to whom shall I fly to what Court may I appeale It shall bee then in vaine for mee to call for the Mountaines to cover me no place of priviledge from the Almighty O what will become of mee when all my offences shall be laid before me nay even those which I doe not now remember shall bee presented to me For by a certaine divine power it shall come to passe that every ones workes good or evill shall bee brought backe to our remembrance and by the sight of the mind shall be seen with a wonderfull quicknesse to the end that knowledge may accuse or excuse conscience that so all and every one may at once be judged O my soule shake and tremble consider thy condition with that heavy inditement that shall bring thee to confusion For whatsoever thou art now ashamed to confesse shall be then made manifest unto all Yea whatsoever in a dissembling manner thou seekest here to cover shall then by that avenging flame of Gods justice be brought to a fearefull censure And by how much the longer God expecteth thy amendment if thou neglect time so much stricter shall bee his judgement severer thy punishment O but wilt thou say who can keepe the Commandements This is an hard taske for flesh and blood But I must tell thee if thou have charity it will make thy burden light and thy yoake easie If thou doe thy endeavour and with a pure affection begge assistance of thy sweet Saviour when all outward helps faile thee hee will be neare thee Hee who bore his Crosse for thy sinnes will nayle all thy sinnes upon his Crosse Hee who bad thee Doe this and live will doe this for thee that thou maist live Hee who commanded thee that these things should bee done will doe for thee whatsoever hee hath commanded to be done But this poore Pilgrim thou knewst long since His goodnesse could bee no strange thing unto thee seeing his natural propriety unto goodnesse his universall power and Omnipotence and his specioll experience have not onely made him knowne to thy infirmities but mov'd him to compassionate thy infirmities Both willing and able is he to heare thee in the bitternesse of thy soule to cheere thee in the bed of thy sicknesse to cure thee And wilt thou yet complaine and say This yoake is hard this burden is heavy when he who trode the Vine-presse alone will make thy burden light thy yoake easie O my sweet Saviour make mee to take delight in thy Commandements Ps 119.54 That thy Statutes may be my songs in the house of my Pilgrimage Give mee the feet of a Roe that I may run after thee O draw me after thee and I will follow thee Set before mee what thou hast done for me so shal the memory of thy Crosse make my burden light and my yoake easie CHAP. 13. Hee examines himselfe touching the first Commandement THough thou hast not heard the voyce of the Lord with Moses yet hast thou heard the Will of the Lord from the hand of Moses Thou hast heard how he was a jealous God he would have none to pertake in his honour nor share with him in what was onely due to him He ha's told thee how he was thy Lord thy God and that thou shouldest have no other Gods but Him Now lye thine hand on thine heart and tell mee Hast thou performed this yes wilt thou say I was never so Heathenish as to worship any Gods of the Gentiles It was his house I went unto His Name I did honour to I joyned in the Supplication of Saints I went after no strange Gods It was the Lord of Hoasts whom I served The Lord of the whole Earth whom I honoured yet tell me were there no other Lords on Earth whom thou served yea didst thou not make the very Earth thy Lord in preferring it before Heaven and the hopes of a better life Whatsoever is by us most loved that for a God is by us worshipped Now resolve mee unhappy Pilgrim wherein can more love bee showne then in weakning and enfeebling our spirits with pursuit of what we love Now compare thy houres which thou hast bestowed on the service of Mammon with those thou hast more happily employed in the Courts of Sion Hast thou not bestowed ten houres on Earth for one on Heaven Nay hast thou not depended more upon those Egyptian reedes these Helps on Earth then those Hopes of Heaven Though thou wentst to the Lords house and with a seeming humility cast thy selfe down before him Though thy Prayers were mingled with teares and thy weake devotions with lifting up of Eyes and beating of thy Brest with other seeming signes of humilation yet was not thine heart there wholly offered where it seemed to be present For long before hadst thou built a little Bethel in thine heart where thou offered thy daily sacrifice And here didst thou erect a Shrine of Gold for thy God Earth was thy Deity thus in the Chamber of thine Heart didst thou commit Idolatry For hadst thou taken him whom thou professedst to serve for thy God thou wouldst not have distrusted his providence but with an holy and heavenly affiance relied on his promises Nay hadst thou taken him for thy God thou wouldest have served him as he commanded thee and with all thine heart loved him as he well deserved from thee Thou wouldest not have suffer'd his Members to have starv'd while thou surfeted nor his Family of faith to have mourned while thou rioted Thou wouldest have had the staffe of bread in readinesse to support them counsell in store to advise them all fitting supplies in the time of their necessity to relieve them Meane time thine heart was more hard then the neather Milstone with a deafe eare couldst thou heare their grones with a pittilesse Eye behold their teares Nay so farre were 't thou from taking him for thy God as thou fled to other Gods chusing rather to lose God by abusing his goodnesse then to lose any of thy substance The Wizard and the Southsayer must be visited by thee the Witch of Endor must not lose her honour Tell me is this to put thy trust in God Is this to have no other Gods before him Is this the way to espouse thy selfe unto him Is this in a true and religious way of obedience to serve him No No thou canst not serve two Masters God and Belial Thou must put off the Old man before thou put on the New Thou must leave those Groves and High-places and in the lowest valley of an humble and contrite heart come before God and with the penitent Prodigall throw thy selfe downe before him with I am not worthy to be called thy Sonne closing thy Supplication with this humble Petition Lord be mercifull to me a Sinner A Sinner aye mee a most grievous and hainous Sinner One who in the fatnesse of his heart has turned himselfe from God One who in the foolishnesse of his heart has

said There is no God For hadst thou reteined in thee one thought of God thou wouldest have trembled to have done that which thou hast done against the Majesty of God Nay whereas he has told thee that there is but one God and him shalt thou serve Thou hast made to thy selfe many Gods one to fullfill thy pleasure another to advance thee to honour another for filthy lucre Oh how can I remember this without heavinesse of heart To leave him who gave me beeing To leave him who is my portion without whom I have no beeing O my good God do not leave mee for what am I without thee or what can I do unlesse thou helpe mee All the Gods of the Gentiles are Divels It is thou Lord onely that hast made Heaven Earth Thou onely O Lord art my God Those Gods who have not made Heaven and Earth let them perish from Heaven and Earth let Heaven Earth praise that God who hath made Heaven and Earth CHAP. 14. His breach of the Law touching the second Commandement BRing forth thy golden Calfe thy treasures of Horeb thy Dagon thy Moloc Tell me hast thou not reared these Idols in thine heart These were but made of Gold and Silver these are the Metalls which thou doest honour Where the treasure is there is the heart Oh upon how unworthy a Subject hast thou bestowed it Oh that thou hadst razed those moulten Images those graven Idols too long ingraven in thine heart which thou so unhappily adored Oh that thou had seene into the vanity of this painted Earth What a folly it was for an unthankfull people to set them up a God in the Image of a Calfe that eateth hay And art thou any Wiser in thy generation Of corruptible things hast thou made thy Gods and on those who could not helpe themselves hast thou relyed What daily sacrifices hast thou offered to those moulten Images These kept thee awaking when thou shouldst sleepe These made thee fearefull to Dye These made thy thoughts strangers to thy true God Oh how bitter is death unto him that putteth his trust in his riches O hatefull Idolatry to be so unhappily wealthy as to make a reasonable Soule to do worship unto vanity Gehazi became a foule Leper by making himselfe such an Idolater O my loose thoughts whither do yee hale mee nay to what fearefull conclusions have yee already brought mee Reason told mee besides that weake beamling of grace that darted upon mee that there was nothing in these but vexation of spirit How the love of the Creature took mee off from loving my Creator How bowing to these so hardned my heart as it could finde no knees to bow to heaven O depart from mee yee workers of iniquity yee drawers of mee to Idolatry In you have I found nothing but vanity Vaine in your promises but lighter in your performances Yee and none but yee brought mee to forget God from whom commeth all good and to fight under his Banner who was a profest enemy to the Crosse of my Saviour But alas where shall I turne mee where may I fly for succour in this time of danger I have fled from him who had comfort in store for mee and polluted my Soule with spirituall Idolatry It is best for mee to leave my selfe and to leane on him who gave himselfe for mee My Soule is of too precious a price to be left to such a keeper as will betray her to her enemy for a moments pleasure O my sweet Saviour receive thou mee into thy bosom Decline my affection wholly from adoring these Moulten Images of worldly vanity Let me imprint thee my crucified Iesu in my heart so shall I ascribe all honour to him whom I love best my blessed Redeemer CHAP. 15. His transgressing of the Third in prophaning Gods name VIle Worme filthy dung Sinfull dust darest thou prophane his name at whose voice the Mountaines shall quake tremble at the breath of whose nostrills the high hills shall be melted the mountaines shall be laid levell with the valleyes the whole foundation of the Earth shall shake and be removed And yet unhappy Pilgrim thou feared'st none of these things Thou went'st on in Dishonouring his Name nay in minting new Oaths as if the reprobate had not already found out enow to dishonour his Maker And these thou held'st a great grace to thy discourse For the imaginations of thy deceitfull heart were so set on mischiefe as thou heldst Deepe Oaths the breaths or accents of a brave spirit the strength or sinnews of any discourse This made thee consort and keepe company with the Dames of the time for with this title are they highly pleased to suck from them this profane venom this spawne of the most odious senselesse Sinne that ever the Divell suggested Senselesse indeed For there is no one Sin which either one way or another affords not some vaine delight unto the Sense whereas this Sinne is so senselesse of any such Object as it onely affrights the Conscience Affright yea and worthily may it affright Seeing Gods judgements shall never depart from the Swearers House Stand amazed poor miserable Pilgrim while thou hearest this Put thy selfe in the Ballance and tell mee whether during all these dayes of thine unhappy pilgrimage thou hast not practised this Sin Sometimes in deceiving thy Brother with subtile Contracts binding the value of thy commodities with an Oath to enforce him to beleeve what thy Conscience told thee was not true Sometimes in thy good resolves calling God to witnesse that thou hast fixed thy resolves on this and if God please thou meanest to effect it and thou wer 't perswaded that it would please God that it should be effected meane time thou either weakly failed in what thou intended or else never meant to performe what thou so ceremoniously vowed Againe how earnestly hast thou sworne and herein taken his blessed name highly in vaine that thou wouldst not sleepe till thou hadst revenged thy selfe of thine Enemy And far more constant wer't thou in pursuit of this ill then in performing ought that was good How deepely hast thou vowed to procure thy pleasure which enjoyed how carelesly were thy vowes regarded with what coldnesse rendred Thou hast read how such prophane Transgressors as these should be taken away from the presence of God never to see his face And yet for all this wouldst not thou lose the glory inglorious glory of one Oath for the forfeit of such a prize Not one part or Member of thy glorious Maker thy sweet Saviour but must bee piece meale rent torn divided to have thine hatefull humour satisfied That precious Head that was with thornes crown'd must bee affresh pierced That precious Side which was with a Speare pierced must be againe wounded Those broad-spreading Armes so cruelly racked Those pure Hands so pittifully nailed must be anew opened Those humble Feet which were so unmercifully bored must be againe pounced Every wound must be revived

task was wearisome to thee and thy mind was elsewhere wandring and would not stay with thee and canst thou now thinke that so rich a kingdom would keep it selfe for thee when thou wouldst neither knock that it might be opened to thee nor seeke that it might be found of thee Health thou know'st well commeth not from the clouds without seeking nor wealth from the clods without digging And yet Heaven must be got without knocking or seeking But great prizes are not to bee so purchased For as Heavens Gate is straite and few there be that enter so are our tribulations to be many that we may be of that few that shall enter But I heare thee now cry out as one that had some sense of his sinne and of the losse hee has incurred by sinne Woe is mee I cannot looke upon this Earth I tread on without blushing nor can I thinke upon Death without sorrowing nor the day Iudgement without trembling nor of Hell without shaking nor of the joyes of Heaven without astonishing For Earth I loved it so well and well might I blush at my selfe for for bestowing my love so ill as the remembrance of Death became sorrowfull For by it I understood how I was to be brought to Iudgement of all others most fearefull and from thence as having nothing to answer in mine owne defence I was to bee haled to Hell a place dismall and dolefull And consequently to forfeit all my title and interest in Heaven which could not chuse but astonish mee being a place so joyfull This I like well in thee for this knowledge of thine infirmity may bring thee to look for remedy and by degrees to find recovery Ioyne then with mee and offer up thy prayer to the Throne of grace that He in his mercy would looke upon thee Gracious God though I bee altogether unworthy to lift up mine eyes unto heaven or to offer up my prayers unto thee much lesse to be heard by thee yet for his merits and mercies sake who sitteth at thy right hand and maketh intercession for me reserve a place in thine heavenly Kingdome for mee Deare Lord in thine House are many Mansions O bring me thither that I may joyne my voyce with those voyces of the Angels and sing prayses to thee who sittest in the highest Heavens for ever CHAP. 70. With the Remembrance of these Hee becomes afflicted in Spirit O But yet I find my soule like dry ground where no water is wheresoever I turne mee I find affliction and misery on all sides encompassing mee O what shall I doe where shall I fly to For behold while I take my selfe aside from the world into some with-drawing roome purposely to forget the world and prepare my selfe for the joyes of a better life while I say I beginne to commune with my owne thoughts in the secret Chamber of mine heart I become so affrighted with the representment of those foure last Remembrances as I wholly forget what I intended to speake my tongue beginnes to cleave to the roofe of my mouth my spatle is dryed within mee those active faculties of my soule leave mee and mine understanding departeth from mee O Death Death How bitter is the remembrance of thee O how mee thinkes thou summons mee and like a surly Guest breakest in upon mee nay uninvited resolvest to lodge with mee And presently I feele my selfe wounded and so mortally as not to be cured O how my divine eye-sight now darkneth my painting breast beateth my hoarse throat rutleth how my teeth by little and little grow black and draw to them a kind of rust how my countenance growes pale and all my members stiffe how every sense and faculty failes how my wasted body threatneth a speedy dissolution yet desires my poore soule to bee a Guest still though there be cold comfort to bee found in such a forlorne Inne but what are all these terrors of Death to that fearefull day of Iudgement when at the sound of the Trumpe all flesh shall rise where none may be exempted but all judged O me Death is nothing unto this For what comparison betwixt a Death temporall and eternall And such shall be the sentence of every Reprobate amongst which I the chiefe O how terrible will that great Iudge appeare to such as in this life would neither be allured by his promises nor awakened with his judgements O how dolefully will that voyce sound in their eare Depart from me I know you not And how ready will that officious Iaylor bee upon the delivery of this heavie sentence to hale them to utter darkenesse a place of endlesse torments where the cursings and howlings of Fiends and Furies shall entertaine their melodious care ougly and hideous sights shall entertaine their lascivious eye loathsome stenches their delicious smell sulphur and brimstone their luscious taste graspings and embracings of snakes their amorous touch Anguish and horror every sense where those miserable damned soules shall be tormented both in their flesh and spirit In their flesh by fire ever burning and never decaying and in their spirit by the worme of Conscience ever gnawing and never dying where there shall bee griefe intolerable feare horrible filth incomparable death both of soule and body without hope of pardon or mercy And now to cloze with the last the losse whereof exceeds our sufferings in all the rest O to consider how I unhappy I have not onely got Hell the Lake of horror and misery but lost Heaven the place of endlesse joy and felicity O what heart can consider it and not resolve it selfe into a Sea of teares in contemplation of it For what may the wretched soule thinke when she lifteth up the beames of her mind and beholdeth the glory of those immortall riches and withall considereth how shee has lost all those for the poverty of this life O how can shee bee lesse then confounded with anguish how can shee doe lesse then rore forth in the affliction of her Spirit Againe when shee shall cast her eyes below her and take a full view of the vale of this world and perceive how it was but as a mist and presently looking above her admires the beauty of that eternall light shee presently concludeth that it was nothing else but night and darkenesse which shee here loved O how shee fainteth faltereth and fruitlesly desireth that shee might but have some small remainder of time allotted her what a sharpe course what a severe manner of conversation would shee take upon her what and how great promises would be made by her with what strict bonds of devotion would shee seemingly tye her But this must not bee granted her as shee had her full of pleasures here so must shee now bee tormented for ever O how my Spirit with the remembrance of these becomes afflicted O who will heale mee for I am wounded O my gracious and deare Lord out of thy boundlesse compassion looke upon my grievous affliction Keepe not

reteiner but a back-sliding follower Nay I deserve martiall Law for I have fled from thy Colours and become a Confederate with thy Enemies yet deare Lord behold my teares for thou accountest them pretious when they are offer'd by a Contrite heart O doe not leave mee for my Soule longeth after thee even as in a dry ground where no water is so has shee thirsted after thee And now Lord that I may present my selfe before thee with more humility I will ever set my imperfections before mee remembring what good I have omitted when I had opportunity to doe it againe what evill I have committed when the remembrance of thy mercy might have declin'd me frō it Amongst which let me now call to mind those Blessings thy gratious goodnesse ha's pronounced to every faithfull follower and then examin my selfe whether I deserve or no to be listed in that number CHAP. 40. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdome of Heaven HVmility is the Path that leadeth to glory There is no vertue that can subsist without it This may be one reason why the very first Beatitude is grounded on it But what are we to learne from hence Not to be high-minded but of an humble and meeke Spirit In suffering dishonour for the honour of our Saviour In possessing our Soules with patience In mitigating wrath with mildnesse In relinquishing himselfe in preferring others before himselfe In judging well of others but worst of himselfe In wishing unto others as to himselfe In rejoycing in nothing but in the Crosse of Christ yet unfainedly suffering with those who suffer for Christ Now return and accompt proud Pilgrim whether there appeare any tokens of this poor spirit in thee Hast thou not ever reteined a good opinion of thine owne worthlesse worth Hast thou not beene of a Contentious spirit Hast thou not answered reproach with reproach Hast thou not beene more ready in defending thine owne honour then advancing the honour of thy Saviour Hast thou not beene so farre from possessing thy Soule in patience as thou couldst not endure the least affront without much violence Hast thou with saft words mitigated wrath Nay hast thou never suffered the Sunne to set upon thy wrath Hast thou in an humble contempt of thy selfe preferred others before thy selfe Nay rather hast thou not with the Spirit of contradiction opposed thy judgment against others and out of a foolish presumption made an Idol of thy selfe Hast thou in the Scale of Charity preferred others before thy selfe or rather hast thou not rashly judged others in thine heart and in thy soo strict examination of him concluded with that proud Pharisee I am not as this man is In a word hast thou judged well of others but worst of thy selfe or wished unto others as to thy selfe or rejoyced like a faithfull Champion in the Crosse of Christ or like a compassionate Member suffered with those who suffer for Christ O no nothing lesse can I finde in my selfe unhappy Pilgrim I have ever held a poor spirit in contempt and an unfit Companion to take acquaintance of in this World How then deare Saviour may I expect an inheritance in the Kingdome of Heaven who am so farre estranged from a mild Spirit on Earth O my Lord incline thine Ear to my petition 〈◊〉 a right spirit within mee so shall I be endowed with what delighteth thee by accounting a meek spirit a spirituall beauty and after this life through thy mercy become inheritour of that Kingdome which thou hast prepared for those that love thee CHAP. 41. Blessed are the meeke for they shall possesse the Earth HEre is a promise that the meeke shall possesse the earth and yet is it hard to find a spirit truly meeke upon the Earth By which thou maist gather poor Pilgrim that there is another Earth besides this Earth wee here tread on which shall bee given for a possession to the meeke That desired Earth prepared onely for such who have wained their desires from earth This is a Land which floweth with better things then Milke and Honey An heavenly Havilah where the purest Gold is to be found nay where the very Streetes are Paved with Gold the Walls are of pretious Stones the Gates are made of the best Margarites those many Mansions founded of square stones built of Saphires arched over with golden Bricks which none must enter but he that is cleane none must inhabit that is defiled Where then must thy possession be in this Land of promise what Mansion maist thou expect in this Holy City Woe is mee I am uncleane I am uncleane from head to foot there is nothing in me but boyles sores and runnings How may I then looke there to receive any Mansion seeing to a Cleane Lord is required a cleane Habitation How may I thinke that my Master will looke on mee who all my life time have observed least what hee commanded most practised nothing more then what he prohibited neglected nothing more then what hee commanded How may I expect from his hands a blessing or this promised possession of that earth who never shewed so much as the least meeknesse upon earth Yet did that meeke Lambe who became an offering for me leave such a patterne unto mee that if I were not wholly unmindfull of my soules honour nor wholly forgetfull of the love of such a Master I could not chuse but after his example become his meeke and obedient Follower For his whole life was a Mirror of meeknesse seeing from the Cratch to the Crosse he suffered all things patiently beare all reproaches meekely to reach unto thee from the tree of his Crosse a Crowne of glory O my Redeemer imprint this meeknesse of thine in my memory let it never depart from me put a meeke and mild answer into my mouth when any one shall revile me Let me referre my cause unto thee and that with such Christian Charity as I may sincerely pray for mine Enemy and in meekenesse of spirit to imitate the example of that meeke Lambe who with so resigned a will became a Sacrifice for mee CHAP. 42. Blessed are they that mourne for they shall be comforted THat wise Preacher could say It was better going to the House of mourning then to the house of rejoycing And yet how little did this admonition worke upon thy thoughts How pleasant have those Consorts of death those Brethren in evill seem'd unto thee How merrily the houre went away Nothing was wanting to make your delights more complete but that you wanted time to make your follies more complete Full cups merry Songs prophane Oathes were the onely Actors that presented themselves in this expence of time A long night soone past over but not so easily accounted for But tell me thou misguided Pilgrim were 't thou as quick in thy visits to the house of mourning didst thou labour to comfort the comfortlesse Didst thou mourne with those that mourn'd or with a tender Christian heart

with one but the unbeseeming'st one of all my Guests for his complexion seem'd so withered and decayed his body so meagre and macilent as he appeared rather like some Anatomy then any living Creature This poor marrow-eaten Wretch I found sighing and making a pittifull mone as if some heavy mis-chance had befalne him but inquiring the reason of his sorrowing he told mee that the occasion of his griefe proceeded not from any mishappe falling to himselfe but for the happinesse he perceived many others lived in For to see anothers field flourish or his goods to increase and prosper was such an eye-sore unto him as nothing could more distemper him This I conceived to be a base condition and such as to humanity had very small relation So as I resolved to quit my house of him and give him his Pasport finding nothing in him but an harsh unsociable humour rejoycing in nothing more then the ruine of another yet desiring to sift him a little further and to the bottom to make tryall of his nature I took first occasion to demand of him of what Parents hee descended and in what Coast he first planted and he told mee that Iewry was his native Countrey and his Parents Iewes with whom he long time remained neare to the Lake Asphaltos I asked of him what content he could take in the World when nothing but the evill successe of others presented him any object of joy in the world And he answer'd mee if I knew what strange content the Envious man apprehended from others misfortunes I would preferre that humour before any personall honour for said hee whosoever stands so affected hee cannot want variety of Subjects to minister to him that content which he desired I must indeed confesse quoth he that I am of necessity now then to encounter with some arguments of discontent as I did this very Morning in seeing your Neighbours Pastures so fruitfull their harvest so hopefull but for one of these Objects I shall find an hundred occasions of content No place is exempted from mee no person excepted from playing one part or other in this enterlude of folly O how it joyes mee to see a proud ambitious spirit entring lists with his Competitor where the one must necessarily fall to advance the other Honour was their bait and it proves their baine Againe to see a Love-sick amorous Foole put his whole patrimony on his back to enamour his light Mistresse with a phantastick Dresse and in the end come home with a repulse and so like a Child put finger i th' Eye or laying it to heart make the losse of her fancy the Cloze of his misery Againe to see a miserable covetous Father scraping up an injurious estate for a Prodigall Child who before his Fathers Funerall bee solemnized takes as much paines how to scatter it as ever his raking Father did to gather it Or to see a base worlding spend himselfe in sighs and teares for the losse of his beast making himselfe no better by his foolish mourning then that poor senselesse Creature for which he mourned To see wisemen lament for the death of their Children as if death were some new thing or that there were no hope after Death To see a confident Client faile in his Suite or an Earth-worme stript of his estate And is not this brave sport for an envious spirit This I considered and methought I begun to bee taken with the pleasure of it The report of others well-fare became distastfull to mee their mis-fortunes cheerefull newes unto me Others Weale became my Wo others Wo my Weale O my redeemer thou who art perfect charity remove from mee the rust of envy Too long ha's this canker eaten mee O let mee neither do nor wish that unto anther which I would not have done nor wished to my selfe O make mee such an enemy to this Sinne as I may live in love yea rather cease to live then surcease to love thee for thy selfe my Neighbour for thy sake CHAP. 53. Gluttony NO sooner had I dismist this starveling then I encountred another cleare of another temper plumpe he was and well-liking one who cared not much what arrow of Gods judgment were shot so famine were left out He told mee he had beene a professor of Philosophy in the Epicures Academy How he was by nation a Sidonian and descended from the Vitellian family Albeit in the manner of his discourse he discovered no great arguments of a Scholler being of a dull and clodded fancy and of apprehension slow and heavy His providence meerly consisted in purveyance for the belly Wherein hee observed such delicacie as hee scorned much to sit at that Table which was not stored with all Variety I told him Strangers were not to be so curious but rather contented with whasoever was for the present provided Wherewith seeming a little moved Sir said he I am neither so wanting in friends nor fortunes as I need rely upon reversions I have thus long lived and fed deliciously making my Bellie my Deitie And if you knew what delight there were in a luscious Tooth and what pleasure in full Dishes what strength they afford to nature and how they infuse into the Bloud a fresh reviving vigour I am perswaded you would preferre this delight before any other pleasure Sir answer'd I take me not up so shortly I was never yet knowne such a niggard as for sparing a little trash to starve my Belly Others through their misery may stand indebted to it but for my part I will rather choose to abridge mine Inventorie then be so taxed by it But by your favour I must tell you what I have heard that Surfets kill more then the Sword How he who makes a God of his Bellie surfets in the delight of such a daintie Deitie And I have sometimes read Lessius his practise in Physick How when Nature grew so weake in him as there was no hope of recovering him and that his Physicians had left him yet by prescribing himselfe a strict Diet and by duely observing what he had prescribed he even in his declining age became youthfull in his recreations fresh and cheerfull and even to his death strong and healthfull And yet he for all this died said my delicious Guest and tell me then what did his rules of Physick availe him Go to Sir he that lives Physically lives miserably let us cramme and feed our selves fat while wee live satisfy our desires in what wee love So long as wee live in the World let us enjoy with all freedom the pleasures of the World Abstinence suites better with an hermitage then a Pallace Take so much paines one day as goe into a Monasterie and what will you find there but as Climacus observeth Breathing Coarses their spirits wasted their radicall moisture with their Lampe-oyle consumed nothing left to present the resemblance of men save only bare Sceletons or fleshlesse Images of men and these so uselesse for Earth as their sole

that they may perform their proper offices to the good both of my soule and body making it ever their absolutest ayme to promote thy glory CHAP. 62. Being thus encompassed with danger hee prepares himselfe for prayer VVHat Sanctuary have I now to retire to or what Refuge may I fly to when I have nothing within mee but practiseth rather to betray mee then free me nothing without mee that may any way availe mee now when dangers of all sorts and on all sides thus encompasse me O my good God I have one in readinesse for thou hast prepared it for mee and by it shall I in due time receive comfort from thee The direction is short and soveraigne If any bee afflicted let him pray and if hee be merry let him sing Psalmes I am afflicted Lord I am inwardly afflicted I will therefore take the wings of the morning and fly with the Dove till I may find some resting place for the soale of my foot till I may bring an Olive-branch in my bill and so bring glad tydings to my poore Soule that the floods of waters are returned backe which have not onely for many dayes but many years encompassed me Those bitter waters of Marah those swelling floods of affliction which have gone over my Soule In the old world when Noahs Arke was builded and all the inhabitants of the earth to the number of eight reduced fifteene cubits onely did the waters prevaile upward and covered the Mountaines But the waters of my affliction have mounted higher they have bound in my soule and brought her downe to the depths High time then is it to fly for succour lest the water-floods swallow mee up and the remembrance of mee bee no more I will direct therefore my Prayer unto God for hee is a God of mercy and all consolation he will take pitty of my affliction and in his appointed time rid me of all my feares But alas though I know the way where comfort is to bee received and the doore of the Sanctuary be open to receive mee in it yet so long have I estranged my selfe from it and so unacquainted am I with the exercise of Prayer as I know not in what forme or manner to make it For when I looke upon my selfe and consider how luke-warme has beene my conversation how earthly my affection how feigned my confession how short and rare my compunction how my obedience has been without devotion my prayer without intention my reading without edification my speech without circumspection I grow ashamed of my condition acknowledging nothing to bee due unto mee but reproach and confusion For when at any time I pray I mind not what I pray nor to whom I pray how may I then hope for any helpe from him to whom I pray or that my prayer shall bee heard by him seeing I my selfe doe not heare my selfe in the prayer which I make unto him The pretious stone Diacletes though it have many rare and excellent properties in it yet it loseth them all if it be put in a dead mans mouth So Prayer which is the only soveraigne pearle and Iewell of a Christian though it have many rare and exquisite vertues in it many promises conferred on it yet it loseth them every one if it be put into a mans mouth or into a mans heart either that is dead in sinne and doth not knock with a pure heart For Prayer without devotion is like the bellowing of Oxen. O where am I then whose imaginations have beene evill from my youth whose life has beene a sinke of sinne and whose heart has beene a stranger to devotion how and in what manner may I pray in hope to be heard how shall I render up my Supplication that it may be received how shall I offer my Sacrifice of thanksgiving that it may be accepted O my deare Lord as thou hast taught me to pray so teach mee how to pray Put sweet incense into the Censor and that it may burne the better inflame my heart with spirituall fervor Behold Lord I fly unto thee open the doore of thy Sanctuary unto mee that I may enter and offer up my prayer to thee after that absolute forme of prayer which thou thy selfe hast taught 〈◊〉 CHAP. 63. He repeats the Lords prayer and in every particular he finds himselfe a great Offender OVr Father which art in heaven Oh make a stoppe here poore Pilgrim before thou goest any farther Hast thou a Father in Heaven where is the duty thou shouldst tender Dost thou use him like a Father much lesse like an heavenly Father when thou preferrest the pleasures of sin before his honour Hallowed bee thy name Oh with what tongue canst thou utter hallowed seeing his name hath been by thee so much dishonoured Thy Kingdome come O shake and tremble fearefull to thee will bee the comming of his Kingdome seeing thou by ascribing to thy selfe what was due unto him shalt bee accused of seeking to rob him of his Kingdome When the foundation of the earth shall be shaken the whole world dissolved and thou brought forth naked to be publikely judged Thy will be done Oh dissembling wretch dost thou pray that his Will may be done when thou never yet with thy Will didst that which thou shouldst have done nor what thou knewest well was his Will to be done In Earth as it is in Heaven And yet has it beene the least of thy care on Earth to doe his will as it is done in heaven Give us this day our daily bread Oh has he not granted thy suite has he not strengthned thee with the staffe of bread But hast thou walked in the strength thereof to his honour or requited him with an offering of his owne by sowing thy bread upon the waters And forgive us our trespasses Oh they are many many in quantity heavy in quallitie yet as a sparke in the Sea so has hee drowned them in the Ocean of his mercy As wee forgive them that trespasse against us O consider well the particle of this petition examine thine heart whether thou hast or no performed the condition Thou desirest but to be forgiven as thou dost forgive oh forgive then that thou maiest bee forgiven Few be the areeres which thou canst demand of thy Brother in comparison of those which are owing by thee to thy Maker And lead us not into temptation And yet thou wilt not stick to lead thy selfe into temptation He is ready to bestow his grace upon thee to send his Holy Spirit to guide thee to spread his Banner over thee yet while thou prayest not to bee led into temptation thou willingly leadest thy selfe into that which thou in thy prayer desirest to prevent But deliver us from evill Oh how many deliverances has he shewn unto thee How often has hee snapped in pieces the Speare which might have dispatched thee Broken those Arrowes which might have wounded thee Taken thy foot out of the snare which had intrapped