fading pleasures these little Ant-hills which enflame thy heart Thy Country is no longer Earth behold the great Globe of Heaven all replenished with glorious Lights why do we so extreamly torment our poor life running after this worlds shadows which we cannot follow without trouble nor possess without fear nor lose without sorrow He that cloaths the flowers of the Meadows more gorgeously then Monarchs who lodgeth so many little Fishes in golden and azure shells He who but openeth his hand and replenisheth all Nature with his blessings will never forsake us at our need if we love him and keep his Commandments A man that must die needs very few worldly things but whole Kingdoms will not satisfie covetousness O my God Shall I always then fly after that which flies from me and never follow Jesus who follows me and even loves me when I am ungrateful Ah no more let me run after the vanishing Beauties of a deceitful world Our love to Jesus should be like the Needle in the Seamans Chard which though it be ever moving and casting about as it were to several parts yet it still returns and retains its whole setled course to the true Pole-star It should be like the Oak the Hart and the Elephant which as Naturalists observe are long liv'd and not like Pincks Roses and Tulips flowers of sight and smell but delightful only for a few hours If you will examine King David the man after Gods own heart he will tell you he hath conquered the Bear and the Lyon and that great Gyant Goliah yet was not satisfied He had stept from a Sheep fold to a Crown yet was not contented He had subdued all his Enemies and Rebels yet had he no rest until he enjoyed Heaven I have a goodly Heritage saith he but the Lord is the fulness of my Inheritance in whose presence there is fulness of joy and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore Psal 16. And therefore it is that he again saith Psal 73.24 There is none O Lord upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee We finde all sublunary bodies compounded of the four Elements and all the goods of the Body reduced to four heads First Life under which we understand health strength and beauty of Body Secondly Honour under which may be comprised Titles Offices Priviledges and Retinue Thirdly Wealth Lands Money and Revenues have place Fourthly Pleasures which are as various as there are objects of our senses pleasing to our taste sight touch hearing and smell Now though all these ordinately desired and lawfully used may be both useful and lawful yet are they not able to satisfie the soul longer then a wind or lightning And therefore man should not and indeed truly he cannot set his love upon them And alas O poor soul What canst thou finde in all other loves which prove no other then that of Sampson who paid so dearly for relying on his trecherous Dalilah or as the Prodigals Lovers in the Gospel who like Mice Whores and Swallows make love and frequent the house in the Summer of prosperity or like Lice who continue no longer then there is sweat to nourish them but in the end like Actaeon's hounds prove your destroyers The like we finde of Job's friends and of those the Prophet mentions Isa 1.23 Who loved gifts and followed after Rewards Not much unlike to those were the seeming friends of King David of whom he so often complains and prays against as being of his Council and eating his bread Psal 54. yet while they had butter and oyl on their lips their hearts and tongues were spears swords and very poyson And as these to David were more dangerous then his publique enemies for of those saith he I could have taken heed so are all the false Loves of Delight Feature Beauty or other parts or gifts Yea their Loves are like the Apples of Sodom or like that creature called Acucena which at twice handling yeilds out an ill savour or as the flowers of the Garden which long hold neither colour nor scent Ye then which cry Come and let us crown our selves with Roses Let us eat drink and take our fill of love Ah! How suddenly are you and your loves vanished And your place no where to be found How do ye starve like Tantalus in the midst of all your glory and abundance How doth that which seemeth so much to encrease your felicity occasion your punishment Yea How doth the pain you meet with mix gall and bitterness with all the sweet appearances of the world What wanted Solomon of all the desireable things under heaven He had seven hundred Wives and three hundred Concubines He built himself stately Palaces adorn'd them with variety of Orchards and Gardens He had Attendants answerable to his Wealth and Glory yet when he weighed all together instead of proclaiâ—ing himself happy he cryed out All is but vanity and vexation of spirit Prov. 1.1 How great then alas is our folly to seek and expect our happiness here in the best enjoyments and most pleasing delights the world holds forth unto us Sit no longer then O my Soul by the fire of earthly comforts where the cold of carn I fears and sorrows do still afflict thee Wilt thou house thy self still on worldly thoughts and confine thy self to worldly dulness Away with those Soul-tormenting cares and fears Away with those Heart-vexing worldly sorrows Stand by a little O forbear to trouble my aspiring soul whilst I look up and see my eternal happiness whilst I lay aside my mourning robes and partake the joys of an everlasting Spring Happy change to leave these clods of earth and perpetually enjoy the glory of the Sun Blessed Conquest to tryumph on earth and enjoy heaven to conquer death and enjoy life to withdraw thy love from a wretched world and wholly fix it on thy Saviour the Fountain of all true love and goodness O that I were able O that I could feelingly say I love thee But ah Lord What is a Feast without an appetite Thou must give me a stomack as well as meat Thou mayst set the Dainties of Heaven before me but alas I am blinde and cannot see them I am sick and cannot relish them I am benummed and cannot receive them O then thou Spirit of Life breathe thy Graces upon me Take me by the hand and lead me up from earth to thy self that I may see by faith what thou hast laid up for them that love and wait for thee That the Soul can take pleasure in nothing until it meet with satisfaction from its Maker GOd having concluded our salvation in Love shews us that the best and speediest way to be happy is to love him who is the Author of our felicity and the immoveable Sun about which so many changes and agitations of all Creatures circumvolve which continually groan and aim at this first Beauty as the true Center of everlasting repose Oh this is the most assured way
feed on Manna Great riches cannot make our clothes warm nor our meat more nourishing why then do we tumble in the myres of this world Seek rather O Christian Soul for that Kingdom whereof there is no end that Kingdom which is infinitely glorious Luke 1.33 and every way blessed the King that ruleth is eternal and they that live there never die Let our hearts and mouths be ever filled with the praises of it Let our thoughts and words ever bend towards it since we have no other way then this to attain any true and lasting glory Let us also wholly resign our selves to him that sent us here We have too long lived in the Gardens of Adonis which in the beginning make shew of Flowers but at last bring forth nothing but Thorns Let us then fix a nail in the wheel of this furious and yet inconstant Chariot lest at last we expose our selves to the hazard of a precipitous fall Can there be a greater victory then to conquer our own tumultuous thoughts in such a conjuncture of time when our own ruine lies at stake Can we better use our choicest skill then to shake off those enchanting embraces and turn away our earsfrom those betraying sighs lest like that insolent Conquerour who was vanquished by his own slave we become strangely cruel to our selves Alas That we did but consider how fearful will be the case of those who have neglected the day of their salvation If it be a troublesome thing to be tyed to a Bed of Roses though but for a little time with silken strings oh what may we think of those damned Souls which must dwell in a bed of Flames as long as there is a God! It will be in vain then to cry to the Hills to fall on us and to the Mountains to cover us It will be in vain to repent and wish we had not slighted the day of our Visitation nor sold it for a little pleasure It will be in vain then to cry Lord open to us oh spare us oh pity us do not cast us into Eternal Burnings O what ease What eternal darkness Blinded world Prostituted World Desperate World Ah hadst thou but known Hadst thou but known But alas Thy unhappiness hath put a Scarf before thine eyes O poor secure Worldlings What will you then do when he that will be your Judge shall come in the clouds of Glory and Majesty Where will you hide your selves What shall cover you Mountains are gone the Earth and Heavens do pass away and how do you wish your selves might melt away as they do But ah wishes are now in vain To what end dost thou cry Lord Lord It is too late alas too late why then dost thou look about thee Whither dost thou run Can any save thee Wretches as you are To what pass have you brought your selves How happy had you now been if you had believed and obeyed having only time left to bewail and lament your miserable condition Ah drowsie earthy Creatures Are you still hanging downward when heaven is before ye Are you sleeping when so great a Treasure is set before you Are ye taken up with your delights and pleasures Had ye rather sit down in dirt and dung then walk in the Palace of Heaven Is it better to be there then above with your Saviour Alas deceived Soul Come away then out of the Wilderness of this World make no excuses frame no delays look not back on thy worldly business thy unbridled lusts thy sinful company which here took up thy thoughts in this howling Desart this Valley of Tears Do but consider how soon thou art to depart hence then wilt thou finde what thou hast neglected in following trifles and so much minding thy provision in the way whilst thou art hastening so fast to another world and thy eternal happiness lies at stake How wilt thou then cry out upon thy rocky heart thy proud and unbelieving heart thy Atheistical and Idolatrous and worldly heart yea thy carnal and sensual heart for here toyling and selling an endless glory for worldly vanities and adventuring the loss of heaven for the pleasure of sin to have thy portion in this life where the best things are often the lot of the most miserable wretches and to lose thy part in heaven and eternal happiness to take up thy ease and dwelling here in a nest of straw of wind and vanity the greatest of Plagues and forest of curses which God can give thee over to and to lose thy part in Paradise and thy Mansion in the heavenly Jerusalem But oh the strange aversness of our souls from God! that we should account our misery a happiness Nay that we should rather groan under any intolerable burden and servitude then seek our happiness in him That we should think these Honours delightful that Beauty tempting those goods lands and houses our dependance that merry company our solace that health and strength contentful those buildings walks apparel and pastimes to be pleasant and after all those seeming enjoyments and heart-contenting thoughts we shall look behinde us and see death with open mouth proclaiming these words Fool this night shall thy soul be taken from thee O gross Idolatry to make any creature or means our relyance To place any dependance on the worlds favours to settle our soul upon such hazardous enjoyments or to say here am I well here will I rest And wilt thou here rest oh my soul on the top of those tempestuous mountains Wilt thou swallow down those deceitful baits where death is nearest when the pleasure seems sweetest Alas Settle not in this perishing world where all our days are sorrow and our labour grief The Souls solitude and content in her Separation from the great enticements of the world HOw strange a thing is it that God is always with us and we are so little with him We have our life our being our moving from him and yet all this while we scarce know what he is Alas What is the cause But that our eyes are dazled with the false lights of the world they are darkned with so many mists and vapours of our own appetites and passions as that we cannot see the goods of heaven in the brightest of the day Whereas to speak true our Soul should always be languishing after her Jesus and count it a sad thing to be separated from him so much as in thought Would we but learn a little to talk with him O how would it sweeten the sadness of our Pilgrimage by the contemplation of his Beauties Were we but embarqued in his Vessel while we sayl on the Seas of this troublesom world we would not amuze our selves to gather Cockles on the shore but we would always have our eyes fixed upon Paradice Or had we but our eyes well opened to penetrate and see what the world is we should finde its chains indeed to have a certain pleasure and seeming vigour in them but only painted and attended with
phantastick shadows which will at last pay me with nothing but grief shall I flatter my self with the specious hopes of the world which like Dreams of a delicious Fountain never quench the Thirst Ah much rather let me make an Eternal divorce from all those frivolous worldly hopes and look on Jesus as the Pole-star alwaies unmovable let me put my self between the arms of hope and amidst all disturbances of mind pass the veil and enter the Tabernacle of the Sanctuary whereinto he hath entered for our salvation Behold how the Soul is troubled as if through some melancholly fit she were fallen into an Abyss from which issue forth such an infinite quantity of evil vapours as cause night in the most cheerfull brightness and make the most pleasing Beauties to be beheld with affrightment The greatest punishment which can befall a sad and dolorous Soul in this world consisting in being suspended from the presence and sight of God And as it naturally desireth to rejoyn it selfe unto God and the least hinderance it feels is most irksome unto it so how doth it mourn to be deprived of so infinite a comfort which it alone depends on and to see it self bereaved of so great a happiness even by its own fault which is the Needle of the Dial which sheweth how our Souls circumvolve times and the hours of the day And well may she complain of the great distance between her and so infinite a bounty seeing the holy Scripture speaking of Love Gen. 34.3 saies It causeth one soul to claspe into another And truly did we but once begin to dislike the world and heartily to love Jesus Christ we should almost every moment think upon him all the most pleasing Objects of the world would seem mixed with Gall and Wormwood We should seek for our Saviour in all Creatures we should languish after him All that beareth his Name and memory will be delightful to him We shall speak of him in all companies desire to have him honoured esteemed and acknowledged by all the world our solitude would be in Jesus our discourse of Jesus Jesus will be in our watchings and in our sleep in our affairs and Recreations And Oh! how unwilling will be to lose sight of him though but for a little time Did we but once wipe those eyes surcharged with earthly Beauties and covered with a thick cloud of the worlds vanities how soon should we fix them upon the infinite love mercy and goodness of God How cheerfully vvould our Souls be carried with full flight into the bosome of our Saviour and be there held in a sweet Circle of ravishing contemplations our hearts would be as flaming Lamps which perpetually burn before the Sanctuary of the living God we should have but one main desire in the vvorld which is God himself all creatures vvhich use to be the Objects of our contentments will never more be the subject of our fears Neither should we like silly worms turn against God when he permitteth any thing to happen contrary to our liking we would frame unto our selves a life simple and free from all affectations we vvould learn to endure any slight oppositions vvith great tranquility vve vvould cast avvay our vvantonness our pleasures and petty peevishness neither vvould vve here think our selves immortal seeing that every moment vvhich is novv in our hands vve must divide vvith death and the Sun vvhich to day you have seen to rise out of his couch may before his setting see you in your Tomb. Oh horrour then to see men enraged with that avarice which sticks to their bones as doth their Marrow and shall sleep with them in their Grave to see them pride themselves in their Garments which are the food of Mothes to see them glittering with precious Stones which are the excrements of the Sea and Land to see them carrried in Coaches and on Horses which are the Notes of their poverty or to see them glory in Titles which are but imaginary Felicities Deceitful Beauties of the world then where are ye Ah true Turrets of Fairies which are onely in conceit where shall your allurements prevail from henceforth to what calamity do you reserve a wretched life deprived of strength and vigour to resist you and if it have any feeling it is onely of misery How few alas are your selicities in this world where your best lights have its shadows all fruit its vvorm and every Beauty fails not to have its embracements And vvhere are ye also ye admirers of the fortunes of Glass that happen to the vvicked where are these adorers of the Colossu's and heaps of dirt that appear by the help of false gildings and vvhich are immediately reduced to dust Hovv much better had ye been to have contemplated in that great School of Nature vvhere God speaketh to us and teacheth us lessons through the veil of his Creatures how happie had ye been had ye looked upon these delights below as men blind whereby ye would the better have looked up to heaven and into your selves that ye had heard of the worlds vanities as being deaf and no waies ravisht by them as discoursing of them and yet no way concerned Thus should he have been as men in part translated to Heaven and here become earthly Angels For Oh! how little doth the pomp of the world seem to that Soul who every day drowns part of his life in Tears and through long solitude hath purged it selfe from the impurities of the Earth Oh how contemptible do all those Beauties of dust and fortunes of wind seem to that heart which having every day dilated it self in the greatnesses of God renders himself capable with the visits and commerce with Heaven It is time to close the Earth when God opens Heaven and to carry our heart where he is since all our Riches are in him What alas have we to do like Moles to dig the Earth and therein to hide our Treasure surely he deserves to be everlasting poor who cannot be content with a God so rich as he is Canst thou love a little shining Earth Canst thou love a walking piece of Clay before that God that Christ that Glory which is unmeasurably lovely Canst thou love the World thy Friends thy Kindred whose love cannot advantage thee whose weeping cannot ease thee in the time of thy trouble and canst thou not love thy Saviour vvhose Tears and Blood have a healing virtue and are like Balsome and waters of life to thy fainting heart Oh my Soul what incomprehensible love is here If love deserve and should procure love oughtest thou not here to poure out all the store of thy affections shall he not be first served shall he not have the strength of thy love who parted vvith strength and life in love to thee Oh that thy love were more Oh that thy affections were a thousand times greater Alas vvhat vvantest thou to provoke thy love is not here a Sea of love before thee little dost thou
of all thy Actions Behold thy sinnes thus begotten by thee Behold thy iniquities which thou didst love so much as to preferre before thy Saviour Alas alas what Comfort what Happiness hast thou now in all these Thus the unhappy Soul thinking her self undone cuts off her words and deeply sighing with sobs of true Repentance and a lively penetrating grief wisheth her self any thing rather then a Reasonable Creature And how glad would a miserable sinner be if he might turn to nothing and cease to be But alas how doth he find himself lost and involved in misery yea perpetually gnawn and torn with a torrent of inexplicable dolours which cause him to break out into unheard of Phrensies O Pallace of God saith he that I have lost O ugly Den of Serpents whereinto I am thrown O hideous darkness which shall for ever be my inheritance O infernal countenances of enraged Devils who must for ever be my Companions The brightness of Paradice will now be nothing unto me the joyes of Heaven will now but aggravate my grief what alas then shall I do whether shall I turn my self Go then ye Worldlings go let Love fool ye Ambition rack you Covetousness rust ye Lust inflame ye Hope tickle ye Pleasure melt ye Let Anger burn Envy gnaw and Jealousie prick ye Revenge exasperate Cruelty harden Fear sreez and sorrow consume ye Yet know that one day ye will wish to have devested your selves of all your worldly affections and that ye had loved nothing but for God of God and to God See see fond man of Earth who art glutted with delights and with the Richman in the Gospel signest Requiems to thy Soul Luk. 12.11 As having Goods laid up for many years See I say at the doors of these Syrens or rather the Sepulchers of thy lusts the smoak and stench of these dainties which have heightned thy sinnes ready to smother thee See see those pleasures which like Lots wife over the burning Ruines of Sodom cry out against thee with an Eternal voice Traiterous Pleasures Pleasures Enemies of the Cross of Christ how alas have ye beguil'd me how have ye deceived me Alas O voluptuous O carnal Creature how short a time will it be ere those Members which thou wouldest not crucifie by a holy mortification on the Cross of Jesus shall be tormented with those pains of the justice of God! Ah Illusion ah Witchcraft why should we live in the excess of those pleasures which we shall one day have more occrsion to curse then cherish Oh thou ungrateful to God! Traytor to thy own salvation Go I say and place thy self in a better state of happiness Go thou and make a Covenant with Hell and agreement with death But O remember what will be the event Alas poor Soul that thou shouldest purchase Repentance so dear to give up the expectation of Eternity and the fruition of so many glorious years as a prey to one unhappy minute of pleasure Where is thy faith which thou hast promised to God where is thy weariness to avoid sinne Dost thou think that God doth not see thee sinning The time is drawing on when Death shall strip thee to the very skin and leave thee nothing but what thou hast done and given for God How would it then comfort thee to have conformed thy self to a religious life and to have made every action thereof a step to Eternity What greater thoughts of comfort can possess thy heart then those which bring to thy remembrance a lively faith purity of life exemption from grievous sins poverty of Spirit affection to the word of God humility charity to thy Neighbour clemency and a full resignation of thy whole mind to the will of thy Creator Alas how vvill one sole pleasure taken in heavenly Objects be a thousand times better and more esteemed then all the delights and contentments of the world But on the contrary how sad will it be when thy conscience which as Phylo terms it is the little consistory of the soul shall sit on a Throne with a Scepter in her hand and say unto thee wicked Servant recall thy Thoughts Words and Actions how hast thou mispent the time of thy life how many dayes hast thou carelesly lost what sluggishness at thy rising what negligence in thy employment how great Words and how little Works Why this rash judgement that curious question these wandering eyes these stragling thoughts this angry passion that hasty slander why this dayes intemperance that dayes excess this dayes neglect of thy God that dayes uncharitableness to thy Neighbour Oh how sad will these expressions be at the last day Cursed Atheism why wouldst thou rather feel thy torments then believe them Cruel Ambition to vvhat pass hast thou brought me deceitful Riches how have ye beguilded me wicked Company vain Companions worldly Pleasures how have ye been the chains of my Ruine Alas how can I write or how canst thou hear or read this vvithout trembling to think on thy forlorn condition Poor vvretch vvhat vvill become of thee vvhen thou shall look above thee and see the God which hath forsaken thee the Saints whom thou hast despised and all the faithful at the right hand of Glory vvhen thou shalt look below and see those hideous flames which thou must a bide for ever vvretched Soul vvhat vvouldst thou now give for a Christ vvhich onely can but will not save thee vvhat vvould thou give for one hours time of repentance which once thou slep'st under refusedst and esteemedst of no value Then wilt thou say unto thy self O God! O God! whom have I lost yet cannot lose I have lost thee as my Saviour yet have thee still present beholding my pains O Eternity shall there never be end of my evils shall those Torments be alwaies beginning Ah why was not the womb of my Mother the Sepulcher of my birth Why did not the Stars which then ruled throw the sparkles of their influences against me why did not the Earth swallow me up in my Cradle must I live one sole minute on earth to live an Enemy to God eternally Ah Lord what a depth is there in thy judgement let silence smother the remainder of my complaints since I can no longer endure my self nor my Tongue make known the conceptions of my heart Neither canst thou justly complain poor Soul whatsoever thou be that God did thee wrong in making such a hell for thee seeing thy sinne hath neither end nor limits in its Eternity It is an infinite evil becaus it strikes at the head of an infinite Divinity Wilt thou say to an Omnipotent God thou createdst me to serve thee but I will live for my selfe Thou maidst a World for my use but I wil fill it with my sins thou redeemedst me with thy blood but I will contemn and trample it under my my feet O horrible confusion O unspeakable wickedness No way of redress then is there left thee O poor Soul but to live alwaies in a
CELESTIAL AMITIES OR A SOUL Sighing for the Love of her SAVIOUR BY Edward Reynell Esq CANT 7.10 I am my Beloveds and his desire is towards me CANT 8.6 Set me as a Seal upon thy heart as a Seal upon thy Arm for Love is strong as Death LONDON Printed by J. M. for Abel Roper and are to be Sold at his Shop at the Sign of the Sun over against S. Dunstans Church in Fleet-street 1660. To the LADIES of our Times IT was the passage of an able Pen That to describe a Holy State without a virtuous Lady Full. Ho. State pag. 300. were to paint out a year without a Spring And how might I seem guilty of the like neglect should I treâ—t of Love and not reflect on you Ladies who account your selves and indeed should be the chiefe Ornaments thereof Some there are I confess who have an Itch to set down your Crimes rather then your Virtues They say you are the Syrens of the Earth which cause shipwrack without water and if you but step awry they look on you presently as a Star in Eclipse they cry out Omne malum fere ex Gynesio Women are usually the originall of all mischief But the fairest Beauty is not without some Cloud And I shall no way desire to strike at your Vices by slandering your Sex it savouring rather of Passion then Charity to blame the General for the defects of Particulars Though too many there are indeed who follow the steps of the first VVoman and abandon themselves to Luxury vanity and dissolute Pleasures But what though Dinah will be gadding abroad and say it is to visit the Daughters though it be to entangle and to be taken by the men of the Land Do we not find three Maries at the foot of the Cross humble and mortified What though Pride the eldest Daughter of this fair Mother Beauty seldome begets the best House-wives yet how many Women are there truly Divine who shine in their Houses like rising Stars or the Sun in his Orb. And he that would equal their worth shall rather find insufficiency in his purpose then want of merit in the Object Solomon also gives us a large description of a virtuous Woman Eccles 6. perpetually exercised on good works travelling incessantly like Bees from their Birth and losing no time but to give it unto God Devotion being the first Portion which he hath granted them whereas were they never so well composed had they all the Beauties which a heart could desire or the imagination feign it would be but like some cruel Creature whom nature had lodged in a painted house or like a Case covered with precious Stones to preserve a Dunghil And for your incouragement in the wayes of Holiness how many eminent Patterns could I lay before you whom Histories have hardly scope enough to commend and who appear to the world like a blushing Morning which riseth the more fair after a shower Oh what a wealthy Exchequer of true Beauties what a spacious Store-house of heavenly minded Lovers do we find in the sacred Scriptures what a rich Mine of costly Jewels may we there behold Shall I shew you the Humility of the Maries the Faith of Sara the upright and blameless walking in the commandments of God of Elizabeth Shall I present you with a Dorcas fruitful in good works a Priscilla heavenly in discourse a Lidea whose heart was opened a Bersheba Lois Eunice careful to teach their Children in the fear of the Lord. What shall I tell you of the great Woman of Shunem 2 King 4.9.10 vers 23. Act. 16.13 Phil. 4.3 who made preparation for the Prophet and attended his Ministry of such as hearkned to Pauls Sermon and were helpers to him also of a Hanna an Abigail a Judah a Hester and many others which are there registred for our imitation and lie hid like Treasures of great value in the veins of the Earth And as if Innocency were never better lodged then at the sign of Labour Idleness being the source of embroiling the Spirits do we not find the wisest of men further describing a virtuous woman by the Oeconomy she holds forth in the Government of her Family And if we look upon other Histories we shall find Augustus Caesar the Founder of Empires not reputing the working with the Needle such kind of employments unworthy of his Daughters And the Romans much more preferring as a Relick the Distaff of Queen Tanaquilla then the Lance or Sword of Romulus You Ladies then that consume your precious Time in Painting Powdering Perfuming and adorning your selves with such other Actings as if Death and Love had conspired to make their feast in one and the same place you who complain if the least beam pierce through a little hole of your Fan or if a Fly chance to light upon it You who if a Hair be but amiss presently call a Council for the reforming thereof Oh consider that such vanities conclude not your happiness But the perfections of your Sex end in wisdom and the fear of God which is the first and last Ornament Remember also how suddenly the Scene in the Masque will be altered what then will become of your Shops of vanity those superfluous Ornaments and that long Inventory of Ladies Gallantry which made the Gates of the City to lament and mourn Isai 3.11 Isai 3.18.21 and which since that day have been increased amongst you by modern Fashion-mongers Time and Age will one day wither the Blossoms of your youth as the Sun davers the freshest Roses and Lillies Spend some time then more then for the Body Pride and Earth Let not your thoughts strike sail to Affection nor your hearts do homage to that which will ensnare and imprison you in the Fetters of sinne Do you know how speedily the Storms of an evil Conscience may trouble the serenity of your delights and the seeming tranquillity of your Affections the best of our Joyes here being but fires of straw or flattering Sun-shines which are either suddenly washed away with a shower or Eclipsed by a Tempest Labour then to supply your natural defects with the virtues of your mind Read constant Lectures of your own mortality Those Flowers are best and sweetest which grow in the Garden and not in the Wilderness Adam was never more beautiful then when he was in his Innocency and free from gaudiness and we find Solomons Spouse all glorious within and needs no outward Ornaments to make her amiable Oh think not then on Religion as upon some fearful Apparition whose visage is so fair and lovely You say nothing delights you more then to love and to be beloved and is not a true Christian the best Lover and beloved of the best You say nothing is more ravishing then Beauty and can you he better delighted then in the highest Beauty of your Saviour Briefly that you may the better behold that precious Oyntment which drops down from the head of Jesus into the Souls
and easie What though thou here seem to weep for a time thou shalt but onely resemble the Flower-de-luce which weeps a little and out of its own Tears produceth seeds to renew its Beauty The salt Sea of this world shall become a flourishing field as it did to the people of God when they came out of the chains of Egypt Wee are here in this World like little Infants without Air or Light besmeared with blood and swadled in Clouts which Nature onely gave thee for a time to fit thee the better for that life where thou shalt for ever breath in all freedom and liberty We are yet in Prison Fetters and Obscurity until the coming of the great day wherein God shall give us a Spiritual body All the pomp of this World all our life yea all that pleaseth here and taketh up our heart is but the shadow of that Glorious Beauty and contentment which passeth in Eternity Let me then O my God! continually exercise my self in the desires of joyes Eternal let me sanctifie all other Loves to the love of Jesus Christ let me forsake all humane things O my God! and betake my self wholly to the consideration of his excellency When I speak let it be of Heaven as of my resting place and of thee as of the Object of my Felicity Ah! what can be more divine then to see a Soul thus capable of the influences of Heaven whom the Sithe of Time cannot affright whom the Threats of the world nor the wheel of Inconstancy neither the power of Death can dismay O House of God! O Temple of Peace when will the time come which will devest us of all that is mortal which will sweeten the bitterness of our life replenish our hearts with spiritual refreshment and at last put us into the bosom of Immortality The Soul filled with Heavenly Love sends forth the pure flames of her Affection GOd who loves the importunities of his servants often hides his face the longer to the end his Grace may with the more brightness afterwards appear We find in Nature that the Sun is never more resplendent then after an Eclipse the Sea never more calm then after a Tempest nor the Air brighter then after a shower Neither is it ever too late to knock and cry at the Gate of Heaven The fainting Beggar which neglects the re-inforcing of his complaint often goes away without his reward The weary and lingering Christian seldom attains the end of his journey where he shall live for ever in the Palace of Peace and contentment where our happiness shall be perpetual and our fulness never occasion loathing to him that possesseth it Neither doth God do us any injury if after long waiting here instead of a Crown which is the Weather-cock of winds of a Scepter which is the Reed of the times or of a Life which is the Harbenger of Death he affords us delights and glories which outstrip the flight of Thoughts which drie up all our Tears and surmount all our Imaginations It was once told a great Prince being in his Infancy bred up in the House of a Peasant whose Son he took himself to be that he should no longer follow so mean an employment of life that his Hat should be turned into a Diadem his Spade into a Scepter his Raggs into Robes of Gold his Cottage into a Pallace and his servitude into an Empire Oh can we think how he was ravished with the love of a Father by whom he was born to so much Treasure and Greatness And shall we not have the like approbation when our Saviour tells us we are not created to live among Mire and Dirt to be tyed to a wretched frail and miserable Body to walk among Bryars and Thornes and embroyl our selves in the toyls and cares of a mortal life Bring me then O dear Jesus in thine own time into those celestial Palaces of incomprehensible lights and unspeakable Beauties Enlighten me O thou Son of Righteousness to discover those glorious excellencies all white with Innocency and resplendent with the Rayes of Glory from the Syrens of the world which so much abuse us with deceits vanitie and infamies I acknowledge thus far the infinite mercy of thy divine Providence that while I was in darkness and under the black Cloud of thy heavy displeasure thou sanctifiest my Fetters and hast now raised up my Ashes above the Crowns of the World Thou mightest indeed have made me ambitious delicate haughty covetous and adorned with worldly Treasures to have walked on Roses to have putrifed in delights yea made my happiness seemingly to have out-run my desires Such there are I confess who have defiled their names with reproach wearied the Earth with their vices astonished Posterity with their deportments and peopled Hell with their crimes But O mercy that thou makest me to see light in the most dusky Nights and a Haven of comfort in the most forlorn shipwracks O most Mighty O most Soveraign Lord of all things visible and invisible were I with thee in the shades of death what should I fear being between the arms of Life O great eye who seest all and art not seen of any here below Thou art truly worthy if we with mortal lips may call thee worthy yea worthy to whom all the world should give continual thanks for thy inexplicable Benefits Worthy before whom we on our bended knees should all our life-time remain prostrate Worthy that for thee we should have Prayers and prayers everlastingly on our lips O Monsters of impudency if yet we see not thy goodness and persist insensibly of thy mercy With these considerations if the Soul now wholly ravished she walks on Earth as a man suspended in Heaven drenched in God and fill'd with the joyes of his Spirit Her eyes are listed up towards Heaven though streaming down tears for sinne upon Earth Her hands are still lifted up thither by prayer Her heart formerly contracted with sadness for crimes committed against so good a God now melts with joy unspeakable Neither earing nor drinking nor sleeping is able to dissolve the sweet conversation she hath with God Now is it that the Soul begins to lead a life wholly Celestial as one who seems to have nothing to do with the Bodies and conversations of the living Now is it that after so many Tempests so many Thunder-claps and Whiriwinds of grief and sadness she arrives at a Port not of temporal felicity but of the unspeakable joyes of Heaven Ah ignorant that we are of the works of God! perpetually fixed to the Earth and deprived of those sparkles of heavenly fire and light Let us but a little draw aside the Curtain and we shall see through so many Clouds the glorious Rayes of lasting happiness There may you behold the Effigies of a gracious Soul with a Crown on its Head and Scepter in its Hand with prosperity continually smiling with loves free from disturbance with desires void of denials with affairs without
affliction being but the chafing of thewax whereby he means to seal us nearer to himself and the spots of our infirmities but the Letters wherein to write his Name He makes his servants more eminent in their sufferings then actions yea makes them remarkable with the Apostle 2 Cor. 6.4 5. In much Patience in Afflictions in Necessities in Distresses in Stripes in Imprisonments c. And as in worldly Amities it is not enough to have affections languours and lip complements without some better effects so the Souls love consisteth not in slight affectations or idle Devotion She knows that whosoever doth truly love must serve Jesus whose will must be executed his Cross carried and our selves wholly transformed into him by imitation of his Example She looks no more upon a withered and rotten Gourd upon the seducements and flatteries of a most odious and decayed Prostitute But Heaven is still in her Eye where wealth without want delight without distaste and joy without sorrow like undefiled and uncorruptible Virgins sit cloathed and crowned with Glory A devout Soul resembles those Rivers which run under the Earth It steals from the eyes of the world to seek for the eyes of God It studies solitude and retirement and is wholly shut up within it self Whence it often happens that those of whom we speak least on Earth are the best known in Heaven and while the world thinks they lie upon Thornes their Beds are made of Roses Yea God usually makes Ladders and Footstools of our Tribulations to lead us unto Heaven Happy then is that life which hath no eyes for carnal Beauties it being a shame for us still to tread on Flowers and think to attain Heaven without being acquainted with the troubles of Earth to be embarqued in the great Ship of Christianity and not sometimes to cast our eyes on the Rocks but like Jonah and the outcasts from Gods Presence to sleep securely under the Hatches And for ever blessed is that life which is no way dazeled with the sun-shine of worldly vanities How freely doth it taste the comforts of Heaven How doth it forsake the painted pieces of the world what pleasures will it one day take in this one Pleasure what joy is it to derive all our Joys from this one Fountain Why say we not then with S. Austin O Fountain of Life when shall we come to thy Delights and eternall sweetness I sigh here on Earth holy Hierusaleus in a dry Land O dear City with weeping eyes we behold thee afar off Tell me then if thou canst O fond worldling what is it that thou so strangely sets thy thoughts on What alas is it that thou so passionately seekest Wilt thou have Honours who hath more then God to whom so many States Kingdoms and Empires are but a drop of dew Hast thou high thoughts with thy self who more high then thy Saviour who makes Heaven to bow under the shadow of his Majesty who sits upon Thrones and shall at last come with his Angels to judge the World Oh but thou wouldst have power in thy hands Alas who more great then this Judge who makes the Thunder to roar the Lightning to fly the Rocks to rent the Earth to quake the Elements to melt there being neither Place Time nor Power which can deliver any out of his hands If wisdome affect thee who more wise then that God who hath the Riches of Eternal wisdom who seeth all within himself and to whom all things past present and to come are at one instant represented But it may be O wavering Soul thou art wearied with the cares griefs vexations and anxieties of the world If so where canst thou find repose out of God Hath he not all the contentments for the Soul and body But thou saist again thou art no body without Pleasures yea the desires of thy heart are unsatisfied without them And is there not a fulness of joy in thy dear Saviour Is he not an abundance which never fails a sweetness which never corrupteth a Feast which never consumes Is he not a perpetual Treasury of Comforts and an unexhaustible fountain of all contentments Methinks oh unsatisfied Soul I hear thee yet further to complain thou wantest Riches And dost thou think to receive them anyway but from him who possesseth all He is the Beauty of fields the lustre of Flowers the pleasantness of Fruits the wealth of Minerals and the Magazin of total Nature Cannot he whose care it is every year to make Garments all besprinkled over with the pearls of so many Meadow flowers satiate thy hungry desires Surely would we but thus by continual familiarity adore that most pure Spirit which thus enlivens us and disperseth it self throughout the whole world we should not look upon the Sun but break out into desire for that eternal Light wherein there is neither blemish nor darkness We should not behold the Sea but admire the secret depths of the Judgements of God We should not cast our eyes upon the Fields but in so many sorts of Hearbs and Flowers different in colour and quality behold the beautiful eyes of him that hath ordained them neither should we hear a Bird to sing but we will conceit it to speak the love of our Maker The Soul being re-advanced on the wings of Faith sends up her choicest Affections towards Heaven THose that are throughly wounded with heavenly love Cant. 3.1 2 3. are sending out their sighs and groans their thoughts and tears to seek out the welbeloved of their Souls No return nor Letter pleaseth them wherein the Name of Jesus is not comprised They pretend not any more to the Greatness and pleasures of the world after their former affliction but throw themselves between the arms of the Cross that they may there find those of their Saviour daily dissolving themselves into Tears and meeting no comfort but in the wounds of their Saviour and a heavenly Retirement And O how great is the comfort in seeking the remedies of our wounds in the Mercies of an infinite God! who being in his Nature most wise and bountiful hath not so given man over as a prey to grief and calamities but hath withal reserved a life of spirits to himself whereby to please and adore him He wipes the eyes of those that are his so many times drenched in Tears and makes them see through their greatest sufferings a glory and happiness not imaginable which expects their Soul in another life Ah welcome welcome that affliction which is raised from our Saviours Love Happy is that chastisment which comes from so fatherly a hand What though I smart though I bleed under the stripes of my heavenly Father sure there cannot be so much pain in them as comfort in the love of him that layes them on Did he not use to chastise every one whom he doth receive Heb. 12.6 8. Alas I might suspect my self But O repining Soul must thou alwayes feed upon dainties will not the Crums which fall from
the pleasure of sin and the perpetuity of sinners Torments the easinesse of thy gentle yoak and light burden here below and the weight of thy glory provided for me above since there is no moment O Lord void of thy goodness why should there be any moment void of my praise I know it will not be long until death consume me to the very bones and I shall then possess nothing but what I have done for thee Shall I then live in this world to my self and be still vexed with care how to preserve a miserable life Dear Jesus suffer me not thus to be taught by thy Judgements what I have neglected to learn from thy mercy Time and age will one day wither the blossoms of youth The best of our joyes are but fires of straw or flattering sun-shines which are suddenly either washed away with a shower or banished by Tempests The Sun will at last daver the freshest Roses and Lillies O let not then my thoughts strike sail or my heart do homage to the transitory beauties of this world which will onely ensnare and imprison me in the Fetters of sin least the storms of an evil conscience suddenly arise and trouble the serenity of my delights and the tranquility of my seeming felicity The Soul being sensible of its former Mercies sits weeping under the Cross of her Saviour and resolves to partake with him in his Sufferings AS Humility is seldome planted upon Crowns and Scepters so the wisdom of State seldome joyns with that of the Cross where its lustre is too often darkned by the too much glittering of the world and ordinarily finds slippery footing amongst the Rubies and Diamonds of a Crown It was the saying of Tertullian who flourished two hundred years after the Nativity of our Saviour when there had been no speech of any Emperours that had embraced Christianity Tertul. in Apol. That if the Caesars would become Christians they would cease to be Caesars and if the Christians would become Caesars they would cease to be Christians conceiving that poorness of spirit cannot consist with so high and stately Riches neither Humility with a Soveraign Empire or the Tears of Repentance with the vain delights of the Court. Surely the hungring and thirsting after Righteousness upon which our Saviour so often leaves his blessing can no way stand with the desire of Pomp and Greatness in the world no more then Peace can subsist with Licentiousness of War or pureness of heart with the conversing with most pleasing and tempting Beauties or the fairest hopes of the world which are mowed dow in their flower by the pittiless Sythe of death Peter was never so near his ruine as when he was warming himself in the Priests Hall John Baptist was far more secure amongst Wolves Foxes and Tigers then among the wicked Courtiers of Herod He was more happy with his little Dinner of Locusts and wild Honey retired in his Cabin then amidst the Pomps and Pleasures of the King of Galilee Do we know whether our Fancy will run when Ambition rides it or our Minds sail when distempers steer them What makes a Hermit at the Court a solitary man in a Tumult a David in his Tower of Pleasures a Solomon in the midst of so many Wives and Concubines and a Sampson under the enticing hands of his treacherous Dalelah Yea what makes a sacred man amongst the prophane or a Saint in the house of a Tyrant So hard is it also for Carnal eyes to behold the bitter Agony of our blessed Saviour so hard is it for any Tongue without being steeped in Gall to express his sufferings or for any person without pouring out of Tears to approach his Cross What eyes can look on thee as they should and behold all thy flesh wholly imprinted with dolours and thy heart drenched in acerbities What eyes can without bitter relenting behold thy deadly sweat of blood can see thee dragg'd through the streets of Hierusalem every one looking out at the windows to fill their eyes with gazing and astonishment can see thee buffeted flouted tossed from one Tribunal to another spit on every where despised and maliciously affronted What eyes can look on thy spread Arms thy nailed Hands and Feet thy rack't sinews thy pierced side thy bended Neck thy faln looks thy torn Body thy pale and bloodless flesh thy company to be of infamous Theeves and thy miserable Favourite and forlorn Mother ready through grief to expire their last breath what ears could with patience hear thy doleful out-cryes to Heaven and what heart could apprehend thee at first received into a wretched Stable and there laid in a Manger and at last to conclude thy innocent life in so great nakedness as that thou hadst no other veil to cover thee then the blood which gushed from thy wounds Behold O my Soul the whole life of thy Saviour which he passed here on Earth and thou shalt find it a School of Christian manners by the contemplation whereof Holiness is perfected in the fear of the Lord 2 Cor. 7.1 The world loved Riches but he would be poor The world loved Honours but he shun'd and refused a Kingdom and the Treasures thereof the world delighted in a carnal off-spring but he desired neither Marriage not Issue The world feared nothing more then disgrace desertion of friends insulting of enemies bodily Tortures and Death whereas Christ endured the rebukings of the people the flight of his Disciples the mockings of the Souldiers the spitting of the Jews and the death of the Cross O vvonderful that the mighty power of the Divinity would thus manifest it self in the infirmity of the Cross Sure it was onely for God to perform this great Design and thus ascend up to his Throne of Glory by the basest disgraces of the world and if vve vvill be his Children vve must make it appear by participation of his Cross and by suffering Tribulation By this Sun it is that the Eagles are discovered The good Thief saw no other Title or sign of his Kingdom but onely his body covered over vvith bloud and oppressed with dolours by that Book of the Gross he learned all the Glory of Paradise and apprehended that none but God could vvith such patience endure so great Torments Methinks blessed Saviour I hear devout Simon seeing thee heavy loaden with the burden of the Cross thus expostulating with thee O Jesus vvhether goest thou with the extream vveight of this barren piece of Wood whether dost thou carry it and why vvhere do you mean to set it What upon mount Calvary Alas that place is most wild and stony How canst thou plant it there who shall water it to which thou answerest I bear indeed a piece of Wood upon my Shoulders and carry it to mount Calvary This Wood I bear must bear me to bear the salvation of the world and to draw all after me I bear it to place it by my death and water it with my blood Oh Love
having the least motion to revenge alwayes rendering good for evil And last of all behold him pouring out Tears of joy under his Saviours Cross Here onely is the Sanctuary of rest where wearied Souls may lay their heads Here shall we be sure to meet with comfortable embraces Here shall the banished live more contented then Kings in their greatest Royalty Farewel Honours farewel Empires Riches Reputation Pleasures and gorgious Habiliments Farewel stately Buildings great Possessions Gold Silver precious Stones Feasts and all earthly Pastimes But welcome that Sickness Banishment welcome those Chains Reproaches Punishments yea Death it self which at last brings us asleep under our Saviours Cross O happy Cross O welcome Troubles why blessed Jesus should I grieve to have those shoulders wounded with such a load as through thy aid will become so pleasant unto me The world is an uncertain Sea where usually a Tempest doth arise when a Calm is expected But here 's Constancy in a good course of life Here 's Patience in Tribulation Here 's Courage to support injuries and Comfort against distresses O the poor Treasures that can be hoarded in Caves in Houses in Towers What proportion do they bear to this Heavenly Treasure O the scant presence and jealous absence of all the Goods and Delights of the world How fleeting and momentary are they how changeable are their inclinations how hungry are the Benefits and how pinching their Prodigalities How base their Ends and aims in their most real Professions how weak and frivolous their Passions yea how easily are all consum'd in a few trivial distasts O my onely God! what miserable penurious blasts are these to blow the Coals of my love unto thee Henceforth for ever make me to run with Mary Magdalen after the sweet odours of thy glorious presence make it all my pleasure to sit dayes nights and hours weighing the greatness of thy Excellency the richness of thy Glory and the beautifulness of thy Attributes Make me to spend all my strength in blessing thee for thy goodness in rejoycing at thy Mercies in admiring thy Justice and adoring thy Truth and in an awful Reverence of thy Eternal Majesty Thus doth the Soul filled with Humility and the zeal of Devotion often and not without groans speak unto her self What shall I triumph where my Master hath been covered with Reproaches Shall I take glory on my head where my Saviour hath taken the Cross upon his Shoulders shall I adorn that head with Crowns of Pearl where he received one of Thornes No O Jesus I have too long in deep draughts drank of the poysonous sweets of this worlds alurements Now will I hang all Honours at the feet of thy Cross What is Beauty Strength Valour Wisdom Industry Eloquence or all the things in the world but Dung in comparison of thy Cross O beloved Jesus there can I sit and condemn whatloever the world doth honour and esteem O my Saviour what sweetness and allurements are there in thy Sufferings Here is our Wisdome our Justice our Sanctification and Redemption Here is the splendor of the celestial Father and the Character of his substance who by his Word doth support the world And shall I not take up my Cross and follow him as he hath commanded amidst the many great Affronts Disgraces and Persecutions suffered by him Shall I not therein also accompany his Prophets the glorious company of his Apostles and the Noble Army of Martyrs Did my Saviour fly from Scepters and run to the Cross would he have no worldly Kingdoms because their Thrones were made of Ice and their Crowns of Glass and shall I not believe that where he is there can be no Desert or solitude See see then how the Characters of a suffering God are the dearest delights of a sanctified Soul which is no more it self but altogether transfigured with a heavenly transmutation It lives wholly on the bloud of its Saviour it breathes not but by his spirit it speaks not but by his words it thinks not but by his Meditations It defies Tribulation Anguish Pain Nakedness and Dangers It adventures amongst bloody Swords and Persecutions and is no way affrighted with burning Faggots and boyling Cauldrons And if thou O my Soul art at any time unwilling to part with this Earthly Tabernacle think but how willingly the glorious Martyrs of Christ sacrificed themselves in as many Torments as they had members They preached on Crosses sang in Flames triumphed on Wheeles Deserts and Tears Scorchings and Snows were nothing to them in the way to that Glory for which thou art unwilling to forsake a Dung-hil But O my God! if thou think it fit to exercise my patience to try my faith to correct my sin by the wickedness of men give me grave never to be so disturbed with the injustice of Creatures but that I may consider the justice of thee who art the most righteous Creator O let me not be vanquished and suppressed by the burden of the Cross but rather enabled by the weight of it to walk more steadily in all holiness Justice and sobriety before thee And though Affliction here seem like the Cloud which the Prophet saw to carry winds and storms in it but was environed with a golden Circle yet let it at last be encompassed with the brightness and smiling felicity of that day wherein Calumny shall change it selfe into Adoration Rage into astonishment and those that are thought lost in the Labyrinth of misery shall see themselves consecrated and carried through their punishments into the Haven of Eternal safety Be not dismayed then O faithful Soul in the Sufferings and troubles of this life suffer not thy self to be overcome with those Temptations which will snatch so rich a Crown out of thy hands Happy and for ever blessed wilt thou be to enter into so incomparable a Glory vvhen it shall be said unto thee having left the Deserts of this world come now and dwell in the everlasting delights of thy God! O throw away those vanities which too much too much flattered thee with the splendors of a deceitful world Raise up thy self and say O when will that day come which will restore me a body to render it to God a body no longer of frail pondorous and perishable Earth but a body immortal and gilded with the splendors and sufferings of my Saviour Yea let us more fix our Thoughts on an Immortality a Resurrection an Eternal Life a life of God gained for us by the pains sweats and blood of Jesus to which he daily invites us a life which will charm all our Troubles sweeten all our rigours purifie all our intentions animate our virtues and at last after so many hardships and Travels of a wretched life so many Calumnies and Reproaches and after so great a Tumult of miseries Crown us with happiness rest our weather beaten Ark and bring us into a sweet and quiet repose In Imitation of our Saviours great Patience under his Passion the