divine Excellencies Do they not take the Wings of the Morning and fly to the utmost end of the Earth in their musings and thoughts to find out riches that will not profit in the day of wrath when their Essaies to Heaven are as weak as the Grashoppers who give only a small slirt upwards and then falls down to the Earth again O that I could with plenty of tears bemoan that monstrous Ataxie and perverseness which sin hath wrought in the most noble parts of man Was not that agility of mind given unto him by God that he might have his Conversation in Heaven though his abode was on Earth And that he might enter into the holy of holies not like the High Priest once in a year but in every prayer and duty like a winged Angel behold the face of God and look into those things that are within the Veil But now alas he can only like that lapsed Angel compass the earth to and fro in his thoughts and descend as low as hell in his lusts but cannot raise himself above the world to the performance of the least good I feel O my God continually the sad change which sin hath made in me not so much destroying my Faculties as perverting them I have not lost the use of them but the rectitude of them I am no more weary of sinning than a swift stream of running the same weight of sin that hinders me from running the race which is set before me hurries me to evil and makes me through the impulsions of Satan to gather strength by an accessory impression In the births of sin I am like the Hebrew women lively and quick of delivery but in the bringing forth of whatever is good like a slow Egyptian that needs the aide of a Midwife l therefore beg of thee holy Lord to heal my distempers by thy grace and to renew me in the spirit of my mind that I may run the way of thy Commandments when thou hast enlarged my heart Meditation XXXVII Vpon a Sun-Dyal and a Clock THese two Artificial measures of time give one and the same account of its motions but in a very differing if not contrary manner The Clock doth it by a motion of its own but the Sun-Dyall while it self is fixed by an extrinsick motion of the Sun upon those Lines drawn upon it effects the same thing And this occasioned me to think in what a differing way the same services and duties of Religion are done by those that profess it Some like Clocks have a Spring of motions in themselves and the weight that quickens and actuates it is love They pray confer exercise holiness in their Conversation in a progressive manner Salvation being nearer to them than when they first believed Others again are like Sun-Dyals that are as useless posts in a gloomy day and are destitute of all principles of motion The Sun moveth upon them but they stand still The Spirit comes upon them as it did on Saul but themselves are not in the least moved by those duties that others may think they profit by There is a light and shine which passeth upon their gifts and abilities that may render them useful as well as visible unto others but it effecteth no alteration in their hearts to the bettering of themselves What divine Visions and Prophesies did Balaam both see and utter concerning Israel And how remarkable is the Preface which he sets before them The man whose eyes are open hath said yet his heart is fixed to his lust of Covetousness and he is so far from taking the least step towards their Tents which with admiration he beholds to be goodly as that he gives Balack counsel how to destroy them Let not then any rest in a bare illumination or transient work of the Spirit upon them as if that such things would be sufficient evidences of the goodness of their conâ—ition Light may make a good head but it is heat and motion that must make a good heart without which all profession of Religion is but an unsavoury Carkass Be wise therefore O Christians and build not the foundation of your eternal happiness upon such uncertain principles May not the Spirit assist where it never inhabits May it not move upon him whom it never quickens Were not many workers of iniquity who were workers of miracles Were not many famous for their Prophesies who were infamous for their Profaneness Are not such things made by Christ the plea of many in the last day for their admittance into heaven whom he will not know Why then should any be so foolish to make that a Plea to the Judge which he knows beforehand will be rejected The best way to discern our condition is not to argue the goodness of it from the light which the Spirit darts in upon us but by the motions which it produceth in us As many as are the Sons of God are led by the Spirit of God in a constant way of progression from grace to grace from vertue to vertue Such light as it is sudden in its Eruptions so it is also in its Interruptions the one oft times are as speedy and momentary as the other Look therefore to the attractions of the Spirit by which you are moved drawn to walk in holy waies rather than to such motions of the Spirit which pass only upon you but do not beget any motion or stirring in you Meditation XXXVIII Vpon the payment of a Pepper-corn LOgicians have a Maxime that Relationes sunt minimae entitatis maximae efficaciae Relations are of the smallest Entity and of the greatest efficacy The truth of which may appear in the payment of a single Pepper-corn that Freeholders pay to their Landlord they do it not with any hope or intent to enrich him but to acknowledge that they hold all from him To effect the one it is of too mean a value yet it preserves the Lords right as fully as a greater Rent and aggravates the Tenants folly to withhold more than if the demands had been higher To such an one may be justly said what Naamans Servant spake unto him If the Prophet had bid thee do some great thing wouldest thou not have done it How much rather then when he saith to thee wash and be clean If the condition which meer bounty happily hath made so easie had been by the same hand and power restrained to a more costly and â—mple homage ought it not to have been performed How much more when nothing is required but what may witness a dependency and not burden it How inexcusable then must the ingratiâ—ude of those men be who receiving all their blessings from God withhold that Pepper-corn of praise and honour from him which is the only thing that they can pay or that he expects To câ—st the least Mite into his Treasury which may adde to its riches is beyond the Line of men or Angels for if it could admit an increase the abundance of it
into realities for him but that he could readily frame to himself a condition as full of happiness as the Sun is of light or the Sea of water What poor and contemptible thoughts would he have of all that glory of the world which the devil shewed to Christ as a bait when he tempted him to the worst of sins to those stately Schemes and representations which he could suppose to be the objects of his delight If wishes were the measure of happiness what is it that the boundless imagination of man would not suppose and desire What strange changes would he forthwith make in the Universe in levelling of Mountains in raising of Vallies in altering of Climates and Elements themselves Happily he might wish that the Sea were turned into a delicious bath in which he might sport himself without any fear of drowning that the Rocks were as so many polished Diamond the Sands as so many fair Pearls to beautifie it and the Islands as so many retiring houses of pleasure to betake himself unto when he pleaseth He might wish that all the Trees of the earth were as the choicest plants of Paradise every one of which might at his beck bow down their branches and tender their ripe fruit unto him And thus may he multiply his wishes until every spire of Grass and every dust of the earth have undergone some remarkable mutation according to the lust of his fancy and yet be as far from any satisfaction in his desires or rest in his thoughts as the Apes in the Fable were from warmth which finding a Glow-worm in a cold night gathered some sticks together and blew themselves breathless to kindle a little fire For all these supposed gaieties are not the perfection but the disease of fancy which hath as I may so speak a Boulimia in respect of objects as some corrupt and vitiated appetites have in respect of meats who though they eat much are yet never satisfied And hence it is that men who enjoy plenty and are far from having any just cause to complain of want do yet as unsatisfied persons feed themselves with fond suppositions of being in such an estate and condition of which they can have no possibility much less any real hope for to obtain The ambitious man pleaseth himself in thinking how bravely he could King it if he were but set upon a Throne and how far he would out-strip all other Princes that have been before him both for state and glory he fancies what pleasures he would have for his recreation what meats for his Table what persons for his attendants what Laws for his Government and then Absolom like he wisheth in himself O that I were made a Judge in Israel The covetous person whose heart is set upon Riches never ceaseth in the midst of his abundance to desire more Riches and his desires still keep at a distance as they come on so do his desires come on too the one can never overtake the other no more than the hinder wheels of a Coach can overtake the former If he should as Peter cast his hook into the Sea and take up the fish that first cometh up with a Stater or piece of money in his mouth how eagerly straitwaies would he wish to take a second and then a third yea how would he still renew his wishes so as sooner to empty the Sea of all its fish than to satisfie his desires with accumulated treasures But are these O vain man the highest wishes with which you would impe your present enjoyments and so make your speedy flight unto perfect happiness What if all these suppositions and wishes which are as I may so speak the creations of fancy were real existency Yea what if your condition did as far exceed the pomp of all humane Imagination as Solomon did the fame that was spread abroad of him Might I not yet say as David did O ye Sons of men how long will ye love vanity and seek after leasing Are these things for which Angels will give you the right hand of fellowship Or will this glory make them stoop to become ministring spirits unto you Though you may conceive as highly of your selves as the Prince of Tyrus did of himself who said he was a God and sate in the seat of God yet they will look upon you no better than gilded dust and ashes That which they adore and with wonder look into is not the happiness of the worldings but of believers who are blessed not according to what they ask or desire but far above whatever could have entred into the thoughts of men and Angels to conceive Who could ever have said to God as Haman did to Ahasuerus if he had been asked What shall be done to the man whom God delighteth to honour Let the foundation and corner stone of his happiness be laid in the exinanition of the Son of God let him come from heaven to earth to purchase it with his bloud let his nature be dignified by being personally united unto the Divine Nature let him be a co-heir with him who is the brightness of his Fathers glory sit with him upon the same Throne and be conformed to his likeness let him stand for ever in the highest and sweetest relations unto the three most glorious Persons having God to be his Father his Son to be his Elder Brother and the Holy Spirit to be his Friend and Comforter are not these things such as may pose Angels to tell whether is greater the wonder or the mercy May it not be truly said that Omnipotency it self is exhausted so that there remains neither power in God to do nor wisdom to find out a greater happiness than this which he hath vouchsafed to man in his lowest condition Can there then be any additions made by the narrow conceptions of weak Creatures Let me therefore expostulate with Christians whose happiness in Christ is compleat and yet as if there were an emptiness in their condition are still hankering in their minds after the worlds vanities and wishing like carnal Israelites to eat of the Flesh-pots and Garlick of Egypt as if the true bread from heaven were not a sufficient and satisfying food Is there any thing in the world which you cannot find made up to you in Christ Are not all the scattered comforts which can be had only in the Creatures by retaile as being parcelled out some to one and some to another to be had fully in Christ in whom they are summed up as broken particulars are in the foot of an account Though he be Bonum formaliter simplex a good formally simple yet he is Eminenter multiplex A good eminently manifold And there is more to be had in Christ than can be had any waies out of him who as the first figure in a number stands for more than all the figures that can be added unto it Whom saith holy David have I in heaven but thee And there is none upon earth that I
desire besides thee Surely if Heaven which hath legions of beauties and perfections in it yield nothing worthy of his love and affection but God and Christ we may well conclude that Earth which is as void of good as Heaven is full can have nothing in it that is to be desired by us Why then should any in whom Christ is the hope of glory be as the men of the world who cry out Who will shew us any good For them to be unsatisfied who feed upon vanities is no wonder but for those who possess him that is and hath all things it is strange that they should seek any thing out of him Quid ultra quaerit cui omnia suus conditor fit aut quid ei susficit cui ipse non sufficit What can be seâ—k further saith Prosper to whom his God is made every thing Or what will susfice him to whom He is not sufficient I know but one wish that any Believer hath to make and that is the wish of St. John with which he seals up the Book of God as the common desire of all the Faithful with which I shall shut up this Meditation as with the best of wishes Come Lord Jesus even so come as thou hast promised come quickly in whose presence there is fulness of joy and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore Meditation LI. Vpon first Fruits and Gleanings VVHat the Apostle saith of the heavenly Bodies that one Star differeth from another Star in glory is true also of the heavenly Laws and Commands of God as well Ceremonial as Moral that they differ from each other in their weight and worth Some of which set forth the greater things and others the less as may be easily seen in this double Command of First fruits and Gleanings one of which is far greater than the other though the less is not to be neglected because it is a stream that flows from the same Fountain the Soveraign will and appointment of God But that we may the better take the Dimensions of this Law of First fruits let us view it by the help of some Considerations as Astronomers by instruments judge of the Altitude and Magnitude of a Star We may first see it in the extent of those things in the offering of which God would be honoured and acknowledged he required the firstlings of Men and Cattel the first fruits of trees and of the Earth in the sheaf and in the threshing floor in the dough and in the loaves It did reach to all their Substance and the encrease which without this Service was but a polluted and an unclean heap Secondly In the solemn manner of the offering of them unto God which was to be done with an humble Confession of their Fathers poverty A Syrian ready to perish was my Father and of the hard bondage in Egypt sustained by them and with acknowledgment of Gods gracious looking upon their Affliction Labour and Oppression bringing them also forth with a mighty hand and out-stretched arm with great terribleness and with signs and wonders and giving them a Land that floweth with milk and honey Thirdly In the express command for the speedy payment of them they were not to be delayed much less withheld to keep them back was robbery to defer them was disobedience and rendred them rather to be of the Gleanings and Corners of the field which God had appointed to be reserved for the poor then of the First fruits which he required for himself It was an injury to the moral duty which they did teach of Consecrating to God the first and prime of their years and abilities which is to him far more acceptable than all Offerings and Sacrifices whatever for how could it be that he who was careless of the Rite and Ceremony which typified his duty to him should ever be mindful of doing that which was the marrow and substance of it And now when I think that First fruits only were the shadow of our early honouring God and remembring him in the day of our youth when all the faculties both of soul and body are in their vigour and strength I cannot but wonder as well as mourn to see that under the Doctrine of the Gospel which reacheth men to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts that thereby they might become a kind of first fruits unto God and the Lamb. So few make Religion the work of the morning of their Age and so many of the Evening What else is this but to give the First fruits to Satan and the Gleanings to God To him the finest of the flower and to God the bran But tell me O ye deferrers of holiness who make it both the least and the last work of your lives Is it only necessary to die to God and not 10 live to him Or is it reasonable to say as that young man did to his Companion when he saw Ambrose dying Tecum viverem cum Ambrosio moriar I would live with thee and dye with Ambrose Is not this to mock God whom yet you would have to save you And to minister matter of triumph to the God of this world whose Captives you have been that though the God of heaven pay you your wages yet you have done wholly his work Unto you therefore O men I call and my voice is unto the Sons of men be not deceived God will not be mocked It is not the owning of him when you can serve neither your selves nor your Lusts any longer that will be acceptable unto him It is not a few bedrid prayers that are as those Ears of Corn which Pharaoh saw in his dream withered thin and blasted with the East wind that will expiate those black Crimes with which your ill-spent life is overspread Can an Offering of Gleanings which is made up of robbery and disobedience of wronging the poor and violating the Command of God ever hallow the whole Harvest No more can such duties be availing to reconcile you to God who requires that you should seek him early Yea hath he not cursed the deceiver which hath in his Flock a Male and sacrificeth to the Lord a corrupt thing And what are you but deceivers Who waste the Lamp of time that God hath given you to work by in the sinful delights of the flesh and alienate the chief of your strength and parts from him that should have been honoured both with the first and best of your abilities and in your Age have nothing to offer to him but a large bedroll of hainous enormities which may justly bring down your gray haires with sorrow unto the grave How blessed a thing is it then for Men to give to God the first-fruits of their Youth that he may not give them bitter after-fruits and cause them to feel more smart of their sins in their Old Age then ever they found pleasure or delight in them in their Youth and what better Perswasions can I suggest then to consider First That early
upwards to the heavens which will after all climbing to them seem to be still at the like distance as they were at first Suppose that a man after hard labour and toyl in reaching the top of some high and steep Cliff should conclude that he had wearied himself to no purpose in the gaining of a delightful prospect because the Sun appears to be at the same distance and also of equal bigness as when he was at the bottom of it or that the Stars seem still to be but as so many twiâ—ckling watch lights without the least encrease of their dimensions or variation of their figure Might he not be easily refuted by bidding him to look down to those Plains from whence he had ascended and behold into what narrow scantlings and proportions those stately buildings and Towers were shrunk and contracted whose greatness as well as beauty he erewhile so much admired And may I not with the like facility answer and resolve the discouraged Christian who calls in question the truth of his heavenly progress because all those glorious objects which his Faith eyes and his soul desires to draw nigh unto seem still to be as remote from him as at his first setting out by wishing him to consider whether he cannot say that though heavenly objects do not encrease in their magnitude or lustre by the approach that he makes to them that yet all earthly objects do sensibly lose theirs by the distance that he is gone from them And if he can but so do surely he hath no cause of despairing to obtain heaven who hath travelled so far on the way as to lose well near the sight of Earth If once his faith hath raised him to that height as to make the glory of the world to disappear and to be as a thing of nought it will quickly land him in heaven where his fears of miscarrying as well as his lassâ—ude in working will be swallowed up in an everlasting rest And he that did once believe more than he saw shall for ever see far more than ever he could have believed Lord therefore do thou who givest power to the faint and to them that have no might encrease strength to me who wait upon thee renew my strength that I may mount up with wings as an Eagle and may run and not be weary and walk and not faint untill I come to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills and behold thy face in glory Meditation LVII Vpon the Bible QUintilian who makes it a question why unlearned â—en in discourse seem ofâ— times more free and copious than the Learned gives this as the answer That the one without either care or choice express whatsoever their present thoughts suggest to them Cum doctis sit electio modus When the other are both careful what to say and to dispose also their Conceptions in due manner and order If any thing make this Subject difficult to my Meditation it is not want but plenty which is so great as that I must like Bezaleel and Aholiab be forced to lay aside much of that costly stuff which presents it self to me And what to refuse or what to take in is no easie matter to resolve It will I am sensible require and deserve also more exactness in chusing what to say and what not to say concerning its worth and excellency and how to digest what is spoken than what is meet for any to assume unto himself I shall therefore account that I have attained my end if I can but so imploy my thoughts as to encrease my veneration to this Book of God which none can ever too much study or too highly prize and with which to be well acquainted is not only the chief of duties but the best of delights and pleasures What would be our condition in this world if we had not this blessed Book among us would it not be like Adams when driven out of Paradise and debarred from the Tree of Life Would it not be darker than the Earth without the Sun If the world were fuller of Books than the heaven is of Stars and this only wanâ—ing there would be no certain way and rule to Salvation But if this alone were extant it would enlighten the eyes make wise the simple and guide their feet in the paths of life True it is that for many years God made known himself by Visions Dreams Oracles to persons of noted holiness that they might teach and instruct others But it was while the Church of God was of small growth and extent and the persons to whom Gods Messâ—ges were Concredited of unquestioned Authority with the present Age. But afterward the Lord spake to his Church both by Word and Writing the one useful for further revealing Divine Truths and the other for the recording of them that when the Canon was once compleated all might appeal unto it and none take the liberty of coyning Divine Oracles to himself or of obtruding his fancies upon others And were there no other use of this Book of God than this that it should be the Standard for the trial of all Doctrines it were to be highly prized for its worth without which the minds of men would be in a continual distraction through the multitude of Enthusiasts that would be pretending Commissions from heaven none knowing what to believe in point of Faith or what to do in point of Obedience or whereby to difference the good and evil Spirit from each other But this single benefit though it can never enough be thankfully acknowledged to God by us is but as a Cluster to the Vintage or as an Ear of Corn to the Harvest in respect of those many blessings that may be reaped from it Doth not Paul ascribe unto it an universal influence into the Welfare of Believers when he ennumerates so many noble Ends for which all Scripture is profitable What is it that makes any man wise to Salvation Is it not the Scripture What is it that instructs any in Righteousness and makes him perfect and throughly furnished unto all good works Is it not the Scripture Is not this the only Bock by which we come to understand the heart of God to us and learn also the knowledge of our own hearts Both which as they are the breasts of mysteries so they are of all knowledge the best and fill the soul with more satisfaction than the most exact discovery of all created Beings whatsoever What if a man could like Solomon speak of Trees from the Cedar that is in Lebanon to the Hysop that groweth upon the Wall and of Beasts Fowls and Fishes and yet were wholly ignorant of his own heart would not the light that is in him be darkness Or what if a man could resolve all those posing questions in which the Schoolmen have busied themselves concerning Angels and yet know nothing of the God of Angels would he not become as a sounding Brass and a tinckling Symbal Is the knowledge of
desire a Saviour who hath no sence of his need O therefore blessed Lord do thou dayly more open my eyes that I may see my self to be among the sinzers and not among the righteous among the sick and not among the whole that so I may be healed by thee who camest not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance nor to save the whole but the sick Be thou my Physician and let me be thy Patient untill thou makest me to say I am not sick because thou hast forgiven me all mine iniquities Meditation XVI Vpon a Lamp and a Star SUch is the disparity between a Lamp and a Star as that happily it may not a little be wondred at why I should make a joynt Meditation of them which are so greatly distant in respect of place and far more in respect of quality the one being an earthly and the other an heavenly body What is a Lamp to a Star in regard of influence duration or beauty Hath it any quickning raies flowing from it Or is its light immortal so as not to become despised by expiring Can it dazle the beholder with its serene lustre and leave such impressions of it self upon the eye as may render it for a time blind to any other objects Alas these are too high and noble effects for such a feeble and uncertain light to produce and proper only to those glorious bodies that shine in the Firmament But yet this great inequallity between the one and the other serves to make them both more meet Emblems of the differing estate of Believers in this and the other life who in Scripture while they are on this side Heaven are compared to wise Virgins with Lamps burning and when they come to Heaven to Stars shining which endure for ever and ever Grace in the best of Saints is not perfect but must like a Lamp be fed with new supplies that it go not our and be often trimmed that it be not dim Ordinances are as necessary to Christians in this life as Manna to the Israelites in the wilderness though in Canaan it ceased And therefore God hath appointed his Word and Sacraments to drop continually upon the hearts of his Children as the two Olive trees upon the golden Candlestick What mean then those fond conceits of perfectists who dream of living above all subsidiary helps and judge Ordinances as useless to them as oyl for a Star or a snuffing of the Sun to make it shine more bright It is true when we come to heaven such things will be of no more use to our souls than meat or drink will be to our bodies but yet while we are on the Earth the body cannot live without the one nor the soul without the other Do thou therefore holy God perserve in me a due sense of my impotency and wants whose light is fading as well as borrowed that so I may dayly suck supplies from thee and acknowledge that I live not only by grace received but by grace renewed and while I am in this life have light only as a Lamp in the Temple which must be fed and trimmed and not as a Star in Heaven Meditation XVII Vpon a Chancery Biâ—l ONe cause and original can have but one orderly and genuine birth else what means our Saviours question Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles Or that of Sâ— James Doth a fountain at the same place send forth water sweet and bitter May it not then justly be the opinion and mind of many that the least fruit of any holy Meditation can never grow from such a bramble of Contention as a Chancery Bill And that from such a spring of Marah a sweet and delightful stream can never issue Yea who will not be ready to take up Nathanaels question Can any good thing come out of Nazareth And then what better answer can I return to such than Philips Come and see And now let me say what I have often thought That between such a Bill and most mens Confessions of sin in prayer in which they implead themselves to God there is too great a likeness in this respect that the complaints in both have more of course and form than truth and reality In the one it is Mos curiae the usage and custome of the Court for the Plaintiffe to pretend Fraud Rapines Combinations Concealments done and made to the prejudice of his right which yet he never intends to prove against the Defendant but only to make use of as a ground of inquiry And is it not thus also in the other Are there not in Prayer large Catalogues and Enumerations of sin which many charge themselves with before God as if it were their great work to justifie God in their self condemnation Pride Wantonness Hypocricy Contumacy are the black shall I say or Scarlet sins that are among others instanced in And yet what other thing is intended by them than to make up the outside of a Prayer These sins are only placed in it as dark shadows in a Picture to set it off with more advantage and to commend it rather to men than to God In the doing of the duty they think not in the least the worse of themselves for what they say against themselves nor would have others so to do else how comes it to pass that in charging themselves so deeply at Gods Tribunal there is as little appearance of shame or sorrow in their face as there was of a Cloud in the Heavens when Elijahs Servant returned this Answer that there was nothing Now though it be no part either of my work or purpose to justifie or condemn the practises of humane Judicatories which admit loose suggestions that are Arrows shot at random because that now and then they serve for a discovery Yet I cannot but condemn and abhor that the confession of sin in prayer should be as slight and overly as the complaints of a Chancery Bill and that particular sins specified in it and aggravated with hainous Circumstances should be no other than things of course done rather to lengthen out the duty then affect the heart to discover quickness of Parts rather then truth of grace What is this but to make Prayer iâ— self which should be as sweet Incense burning upon the Golden Altar to be as an Offering of Sulpher or Assafaetida What is this but to mock God the great searcher of the heart with vain words and to publish to the World how little they fear his anger or vallue his pardon for if the Confession of Sin be formal how can the seeking of forgiveness be real O holy Lord preserve me from such hypocrisie and remember not what in this kind I have been guilty of my desire is to judg my self not in word but in truth and unfeignedly to beg that I who am in the court of thy justice wholly inexcusable may in the Chancery of thy Mercy become altogether inaccusable Meditation XVIII Vpon the philosophers stone
THis Lemma or Title may happily as much affect such who make Gold their God as the sight of the Star did the Wise Men hoping that it will be both a light and guide to the discovery of that rare and matchless secret of turning the more base and inferiour Metralls into the more noble Iron into Silver and Brass into Gold and so Enrich them with an Artificial Indies But I can scâ—rce resolve my self whether the Philosophers Stone which is thus framed for wonders be not rather a Speculation than an absolute reallity or an attempt assayed by many rather than an Atcheivment attained by few or any How many have melted down Ample Revenues in their Crusibles and while they have with much labour sought the Sublimation of Mettals have sunk themselves into the deepest beggery and how have others consumed their time if not wasted their Estates in a fruitless pursuit of it and yet have seen no other change then what age and care hath made in themselves by turning their golden hair into silver hair or at the best have gleaned up some few Experiments onely which have not Compensated their cost and travel But what if any Man after long search and study can Archimedes like cry out joyfully that he hath found Yea what if every Man who have busied his thoughts and imployed his time in diving into this Mystery should be able to effect such a Change and to multiply his Treasure as the Sand yet how worthless and inconsiderable would such productions of his Philosophical Stone be found if compared with the noble and transcendent effects of the Divine or Theological Stone which Christ promiseth in the Revelation to him that overcometh whose worth as it is far greater so the way to obtain it is more facile and certain it being not a work of labour but a gift of grace This Stone is of such power and energy that whosoever is possessed of it can have nothing befâ—l him which it changeth and turneth not to his good it turneth all temporal losses into spiritual advantages all crosses into blessings all asflictions into comforts it dignifies reproach and ignomy it changeth the hardship of a Prison into the delights of a Pallace it is an heavenly Anodyne against all paines and makes the Soul to possess it self in patience in every condition It is a Panacea an universal Salve for every Sore to all acciâ—ents that can befall a Man It is as the Seal to the Wâ—x putting upon them a new stâ—mp and figure and making them to be what they were not before and what they never could have been without it Such it is that he who hath it hath all good and he that wants it whatever else he seemes to possess hath little less then nothing Who then can without mourning as well as wondering think at the prodigious folly of those Men who labour in a continual fire to effect the Stone of the Transmutation of Mettalls and yet deem this Divine Stone scarce worth the begging of God in a Prayer Is this wisdom to toile in the refining of Clay and to be able to make a dull piece of Earth to shine and then to value our happiness by it is this wisdom to set a low rate upon what God hath promised to give and highly to esteem what we can do O Lord if this be the Worlds wisdom let me become a fool I had rather have this Divine Stone of thy Promise then all the Treasures that Nature and Art can yield Let the Mountains be turned into Gold the Rocks into Diamonds the Sands into Pearles yet this Stone with the New Name written in it is to me more desirable then all as being a sure pledg of life and happiness in heaven Meditation XIX Vpon a Greek Accent ACcents are by the Hebrews aptly called Sapores Tastes or Savors because that Speech or Words without the observance of them are like Jobs White of an Egg without Salt insipid and unpleasant In the Greek they derive their name from the due tenor or tuning of words and in that Tongue words are not pronounced according to the long or short vowels but according to the accent set upon them which directs the rise or fall the length or brevity of their pronunciation now what accents are in the Greek to words that methinks circumstances are to sins which as so many Moral accents do fitly serve to shew their just and certain dimensions and teach us aright to discern how great or small they be and he that without respect had unto them doth judge of the bigness of sins is like to erre as much as a Man that should take upon him without Mathematical Instruments to give exactly the greatness of the Heavenly Bodies and to pronounce of Altitudes Distances Asspects and other appearances by the scantling of the Eye Is not this the Scripture way to set out Sin by the Place Time Continuance in it and repetitions of it doth not God thus accent Israels sins by the place in which they were done they provoked him at the Red-Sea where they saw the mighty workes of his power in making the deep to be their path to Canaan and the Aegyptians Grave They tempted him in the Wilderness where their Food Drink Clothes were all made up of Miracles the Clouds yielding them Meat the dry Rock Water and their Garments not waxing old Dotâ— he not aggravate them by the long space of their continuance in them in saying that they grieved him fourty years doth he not number the times of their Reiterated Murmurings and Rebellions and make it as a ground for his Justice to destroy them Necessary therefore it is that in the duty of Self-examination and reviewes of the Book of Conscience we do not only read over the naked Facts which have been done by us but that we look into those Apices peccati little dots and tittles which are set upon the heads of many sins the Circumstances I mean with which they were committed or else we shall never read that book aright or learn to know what sins are great or what small The Fact and the Circumstance are both noted in the Journals of Conscience though they be not haply equally legible and he that is truly peniâ—ent will make it a chief part of his work to find out one as well as the other as being the best meanes both to get the heart broken for sin and from sin What shame what fear what carefulness what revenge will a serious sight of the several aggravations that meet in the perpretation of a sin move and stir up in the heart of a sinner will he not say what a beast am I to â—in thus against so clear light to break so often my own vowes to defer so long my Repentance and Rising again what revenge shall I now take of my self to witness my Indignation what carefulness shall I exercise to evidence the truth of my return what diligence shall I use to redeem
my lost time who have joyned the Morning of the Task and the Evening of the day together These and such like thoughts will sin when it is Read as it is Written and Accented in the Conscience produce But a general â—nowledg and sight of it without such particularities will neither mâ—ke nor leave any impressions but what are both slight and confused Do thou therefore holy God teach me to understand the errors of my wayes aright and by the light of thy spirit make me to see that Circumstances in sins are not Motes but Beames and greatly intend their guilt if not their bulke That so I may mourn for those sins which Carnal Men conceive to be but so many black nothings and abhor my self for those Corruptions in which they indulge themselves Meditation XX. Vpon a debauched Minister IT is a Truth though it hath been questioned by some and denied by others that the Function of a Minister is Formally executed by Gifts which are not made effectual by his Personal Sanctity but by the grace of God in the hearer The one may move Morally but it is the other which worketh Efficaciously and for any to conceive otherwise is a smatch of Donatisme who made the validity of Ordinances wholly to depend upon the real goodness of those that Administred them which opinion if it were true it must necessarily follow that there must be an absoluâ—e knowledge in the People of discerning unfeigned Grace in the heart of the Minister from all pretended semblances and showes or else what comfort can they have in the validity of his Acts while this suspicion abides upon them that is if he be not really holy all that he can do is no other then a Nullity we must then distinguish between the grace of gifts which God bestowes for the good of the Church and the gift of grace which he gives for the good of the Soul of him who is partaker of it By the one of these a Man may become a Minister but without the conjunction of both he can never be a good Minister Holiness then as it is that which no Man can be well without so a Minister least of all it being the great end of his Office to turn Men from sin to God and to draw Men up from earth yea from the danger of Hell to Heaven And should he not do what he Teacheth and second his Doctrine with his Example he must needs sin against his Calling which alwayes heightneth the notoriety of the fact No sins being so inexcusably sinfull as those that are committed against Mens Callings For a Steward to be a Thief for a Physician to be a Murderer for an Ambassador trusted with the Affairs of his Prince to be a Traitour are Crimes of greater Infamy in them then in another How then can the impieties of a Minister but be above all others by so much the worst by how much his Calling is above all others the best what then can be more prodigious then for him who should be Gods Mouth to the People to have his Tongue set on Fire of Hell and not touched with a Coal from the Altar or for him whom God hath honoured with that high imployment of winning Souls to be an accursed Appollyon in undoing and destroying them by his nefarious and impure living If he that shall break the least Commandment and Teach Men so shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven what then shall he be called who breaks the greatest Commandment and Teacheth Men so surely I scarce know what to call him who hath of a Minister thus transformed himself into a Monster he is not a Star in Christs right hand but in the Dragons Tail which drew many from Heaven and cast them down upon the Earth He is amongst the Prophets the Simeon rightly called Niger not for his Complexion but for his Conversation he is in the House and Temple of God not as the Priests which did bear the Ark but as the Beasts which drew it and shook it For if the sins of any Man do loosen and endanger the Foundations of Christian Religion it is the wickedness of Ministers which makes many to question whether there be an Heaven an Hell or a God And though it may possibly now and then fall out that the Seed of Divine Truth like Corn sown by a leprous hand grow up into some fruit yet how small is the good that is wrought by this Doctrine to the great hurt that is done by the dissolute life of such a Minister is it likely that he who in the Pulpit pleads for honour to be given to Christs Person obedience to be yielded to his Precepts faith to be exercised in his Promises and when he is out of it gâ—insayes all that he hath spoken in his sensual practises should win many Disciples to Christ will he be ever much hearkened unto who decries Drunkenness Swearing wantonness as the high-Rodes and Pathes to destruction and yet turns not his own feet from walking in them will it not be said unto him Physician heal thy self or thou hypocrite first cast out the beam out of thy own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the moâ—e that is in thy Brothers eye But what ever the issue be whether Men hearken oâ— not hearken yet will the condition of such a Minister be most sad in the great day if he be instrumental in the saving of any yet they shall be none of his Crown or Joy nor in the least extenuate his misery but aggravate it in that he hath been onely to them as a standing Statue to point out the way to heaven not a living Companion to walk with them in it How much then will it augment his pains and anguish when the blood of many misled and lost Soules must fall upon his head and he be condemned as the cursed Murderer of them O that these few words might prick the hearts of such who have worn the badg of God and yet done the Devils work who have been his Servants by Office and his Enemies by Practice that they might timely think both of saving themselves and others However blessed God help me to do the Ofsice of a Minister and keep me from the punishment of a Minister Pardon mine inabiliâ—ies in thy Service and deliver me from scandalous sins Enable me to bear Reproach for Christ but let me never be a re-Proach to Christ or his Gospel Meditation XXI Vpon the Golden Calfe and the Braâ—en Serpent THe Makers of these two Images were Moses and Aaron such a pair of Brethren as History cannot parallel for Eminency and whose Names out-shine greatly all others of the like alliance that have an honourable mention in the Book of God Where are there two Brethren in that Sacred Chronicle so renowned for sundry Miracles done by them or so highly dignified by Titles given to them by the Spirit of God as they Moses being stiled signally the Servant of God
unto them A form of Godliness without the power will condemn as well as real and open wickedness To be found too light in Gods Scale may be a bar to heaven as well as the load of many sins O remember who hath said it Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of heaven How gladly then would I perswade Christians that the best way to climbe the Jacobs Ladder which hath its foot on Earth and its top in glory is to be fully laden with all fruits of holiness Christi sarcina pennas habet non pondus the burden of Christ is not a pressing weight but a winged thing which carries the Soul upwards and helps it to soar aloft towards God himself None are crowned with greater glory or set upon higher Thrones than they who have their fruit unto true holiness above others Meditation XXV Vpon false Mediums THe fruition of the end is the Sabbath of all action having this property in it to quiet as well as incite the Agent for nothing moves that it may move but moves that it may rest And yet though the end be alwaies desirable it is by Agents who act freely and out of choice often missed and falls short of as well as enjoyed And this sometimes comes to pass by their dividing the means from the end presuming they may obtain the one and yet not use the other With this Sophism Satan hath cheated many of Salvation while he hath made them confident of happiness and yet careless of holiness and to think they may Inne with the righteous though they never travel with them in the way that they may reap glory though they sow seed to the flesh Sometimes again they miss the end though they use the means because they do not proportion the one to the other They use the means but it is as some Patients take Physick to stir the humours rather than to carry them away and thereby endanger themselves rather than effect a cure Many through the strength of Conviction yield that if they will have heaven something must be done by them but their study is rather to find out the invisible point where nature and grace part than to abound in all manner of holy Conversation and so while they strive to do no more then what will save them they miserably fall short of what is requisite Others again miscarry in regard of the end by pitching upon false and vain means such when laboured and persisted in do not profit in the least Would any man wonder at his disappointment that should hunt an Hare with a Snail Or to hit the Mark should shoot an Arrow out of a Butchers Gambrel Or to make a Tree fruitful should cloath the body of it with costly Silks instead of feeding the root with good mould Would not this folly be rather greatly reproached by all then his frustrated endeavours in the least be pitied by any And yet how many men who would brand such a person with the deepest mark of folly and madness are guilty of as great infatuation in matters of far higher moment Is there any thing that can be of more real consequence than the eternal welfare of an immortal soul Can the care of Anxiety be too great what Rocks to shun what paths to tread what means to use that may bring the soul and salvation together And yet behold what an ill choice of Mediums do such who profess themselves wise make to effect it The Idolater he after a strange manner first makes his God and then begs his happiness from it one part of the Wood he burnes as Fuel to serve him and the other part of it he serves and dreads as a Deity and falling down unto it worshippeth it and saith deliver me for thou art my God The wretched Libertine he thinks it little skills what Religion any man is of so he be but true unto it and walk according to the Rules and Principles of it as if Heaven were a Port to which all Windes would drive an Inn in which Travellers that journey from contrary quarters may be equally received The Pharisaical Christian layes the stress of his Salvation upon his Duties which at best are like chaines of glass more specious then strong like flourishings in Parchment that cannot bear a fiery trial O how few are they who consider that Heaven stands like a little Mark in a wide Field where there are a thousand wayes to erre from it and but one to hit it yea though God hath said that there is but one Sacrifice by which we can be perfected but one Blood by which we can be Purified but one Name by which we can be saved yet how hardly are the best drawn to trust perfectly to the Grace revealed and to look from themselves to Christ as the Author and Finisher of their blessedness To make them a right choice of the way that leads to Salvation is not an act of Natural Wisdom but of Divine Illumination and Teachings of the Spirit who both inlightneth the Minde and inclineth the will to chuse the one thing which is necessary O therefore holy Father seeing thou hast made the whole Progress of Salvation from first to last to be in Christ and by Christ Election to be in him Adoption to be in him Justification to be in him Sanctification to be in him Glorification to be in him grant that whatever others do I may never chuse the Candlelight of Reason but the Sun of Righteousness as the guide of my feet into the pathes of life and both in life and death say as that blessed Martyr did none but Christ none but Christ Meditation XXVI Vpon the Royal Oak THe Perfections of God his Soveraignty Power Wisdom and goodness are seen as in a bright mirror not onely in the standing workes of Creation but in the transient workes of Providence who doth as Job acknowledgeth great things past finding out and wonders without number But among the many signal Birthâ—s of Providence this which my thoughts are now upon may justly challenge the right of the First-born in a double portion both of Meditation and Admiration As then Zacheus to see Jesus climbed up into a Sycamore-Tree and thereby gained not onely a sight of Christ but a gracious look and comfortable words from him let us also climbe this Royal Oake that we may have an awfull â—ight of God such as may not onely fill us with wonder but further us in holiness which is the great end of Gods Providences as well as of his Ordinances And the first step or motion that I shall make to ascend this Oak by is the consideration of Gods Power in using the same Creatures not onely in differing but in contrary Services as he is pleased severally to apply them The Fire at the same time preserves the three Children in the Furnace and devours the Instruments of their Persecution The Red-Sea is
Joseph and on the Crown of the Head of Him that was separated from His Subjects but is now wonderfully restored to them Meditation XXVII Vpon the Weapon Salve VVHo was the Author of this Weapon Salve cannot certainly be affirmed Some attribute it to Paracelsus who was very pregnant in mysterious Inventions others to one Parmensis Anshelmus an Italian who was called a Saint as Simon Magus of old the great power of God though both were no better then grand Sorcerers But whoever he were the Ointment is much famed yet not altogether unquestioned for its strange manner of healing and curing of wounds differing from other Physicall Applications in a double respect The one is that it is applyed not to the person who receives the wounds but to the active Instrument that inflicts it which is a subject not at all capable of sickness or sanity of ease or pain and so cannot be receptive of the alterative power of the Oyntment which if it work by a vertual contact must necessarily have the intermedial Bodies to participate of it The other is that this Salve effects its Cure at distances which are inconsistent with the Rules of a mediate Contact it heales the Patient when he is a hundred miles off as well as when he is near and that requires a vicinity of place as well as a right disposition of the Medium Now these differences though they have served to heighten its esteem in the apprehensions of many and have given occasion to Learned Men who are great admirers of Sympathies to Write for it or to be fautors of it yet others of no less worth and repute have divided from them and have slighted it as an empty vanity or censured it as a Magical impiety For my part I am not satisfied with such subtill nicities as are used to defend it of common and universal Spirits which convey the action of the remedy unto the part and conjoyn the vertue of bodies far disjoyned neither can I think it worthy of such speculations it commonly healing but simple wounds and such which being kept clean need no other hand then that of Nature and the Balsam of the proper part But there is a Weapon Salve of which it is easie to speak much but Impossible to say enough so full it is of divine and mysterious wonders if we consider either what it is or what the cures are which it effects or what the distance is in which it operates Would you know what this Salve is it is the Blood of Christ Crucified whose sufferings do all turn to the advantage of Believers the Blood is his but the Balme is theirs the Thornes are his but the Crown is theirs the Price is his but the Purchase is theirs Would you hear what Cures it doth it healeth inveterate Ulcers and mortal Wounds it extinguisheth the Fiery Darts of Satan it drawes forth the Venom of the Sting of Death it easeth Pressures it destroyeth Yokes and what not that riseth up as a let or barr 10 a Believers life or happiness Would you know the extent of its vertue and at what a distance it operates Paul tells us that by the Blood of his Cross Christ hath reconciled all things unto himself whether they be things in Earth or things in Heaven There is no Person that can stand so remote or be at any such Angle or Corner of the Earth but he may partake of the influence of it if he do but cast up an eye of Faith towards Heaven and be as fully healed as any other Like as the stung Israelite who lay in the utmost part of the Camp did receive equal benefit by looking to the Brazen Serpent with him that stood next unto the Pole upon which it was Erected O therefore let not any who are excercised with Spiritual Conflicts cast away their Confidence but fight the good fight of Faith unto the end for though they be not invulnerable yet none of their Wounds are incurable The Blood of Christ is more powerful to Save than Sin or other Enemies to Destroy else the great end of Christs Coming into the World of being a Physician to the Sick a Deliverer to the Captive an Healer of the Broken-Hearted would be in vain and all the Saints must be still in their Sins Set then Faith on work ye that Faint and Droop in your Mindes and say not who shall go up for us to Heaven and bring this Salve-unto us that we may liye or who shall go over the Sea for us and bring this Soveraigne Balme of Gilead unto us that we may be healed by it Do but Believe and the Cure is wrought Faith is the Instrument which makes a vertual Contact between Christ and every Believer It receives healing Grace from him and straitwayes conveys it unto the Subject in which it is to terminate For as Futurition in respect of the Existency of things is no prejudâ—ce to the Eye of Faith in the beholding of them as present So neither is distance of place any hinderance to the efficacy of the touch of Faith but that it may forthwith transmit the Sanative Efflux of Christs Blood unto him who by Faith toucheth him The Woman that laboured many yeares of the Bloody Issue in the same instant that She touched the Hem of Christs Garment felt in her self that She was healed of her Plague But I am jealous that whilest I commend this sacred remedy some presumptuous Sinner who is more apt to abuse Grace than a Wounded Spirit to improve it should make no other use of it than to think he may sin securely and needs not fear what bruises and wounds he contracts seeing the Cure is certain and speedy I can therefore do no less then express my self in an holy Indignation against such who would make the precious Blood of my Saviour subservient to their lusts desiring rather to be freed from the danger than from the Dominion of their sins O my Soul come not thou into their secret unto their Assembly mine Honour be not thou united Cursed be their lusts for they are vile and their desires for they are devillish Let me bless God who hath made me whole and sin no more least a worse thing come unto me Meditation XXVIII Vpon the Rudder of a Ship AMongst other Similitudes which St. James useth to shew thâ—t great matters are effected by smâ—ll means this of the Rudder of a Ship is one and he ushereth it in with a signal word which the Scripture often prefixeth to weighty sayings to render them the more remarkable Behold also the Ships which though they be so great are driven of fierce winds yet are turned about with a very small Helm whithersoever the Governour listeth The right guidance of this single part is of such consequence to the safety of the whole as that every irregular motion may either hazard the Vessel or greatly hinder its progress when it answereth not the just point of the Compass How continually
of Trees more various in their falling or the Feathers of Birds more facil in their moulting than the Fancy and Pomp of all Earthly greatness is frail in its continuance How many accidents do make a change where Men do promise themselves the most firme stability How soon is Jobs hedg pulled up who said he should die in his nest and multiply his dayes as the sand And Davids Mountain removed and he troubled who pleased himself in its strength What strange alterations doth the frownes of a Prince make in a Courtiers glory Hamans plumes of honour and riches which were lifted up and spread to the wonder of beholders upon the change of Ahasuerus his Countenance flag and trail in the dirt like the Peacocks train in a storm yea drop and fall off leaving him exposed to the utmost of shame and ignominy What stedfâ—stness had the rich Man in his great Possessions beyond his own conceit he promised himself the rest of many years and yet lived not to see another morning Death made subitum pennarâ—m depluvium an unexpected breach upon his designed projects and while he thinks to Impe his wings for an higher flight and mount he falls as low as the grave Can we then make a better or more seasonable meditation when we find our affections carried out to the prizing and seeking of such perishing vanities then to expostulate thus with our selves Why is my foolish heart eaten up with cares mine eyes robbed of sleep mine hands wearied with uncessant labour to grasp clowdes Shadowes trifles that have little of reallity or worth and less of duration are these the things that make Angels happy are the Robes and Crownes of Sâ—ints made of no other Matter then that we may see in the Courts of Princes O what a poor place were Heaven if it had no other riches beauty excellency than what might be fetched out of the bowells of the Earth or the bottom of the Seas and Rocks Adde but Eternity to such Common Comforts and you turn them into burthens which cannot be borne into a satiety that produceth loathing and not delight It is a change onely that makes them to be grateful it being sometimes as pleasing to want them as to have them to lay them aside as to put them on Is it not then wisdom for me for every one to make a right judgment concerning true happiness and to know that it is one thing and not many things and yet it is sufficient for all persons for all places both in Heaven and Earth for all times both in this life and after it It is ever the same and maketh us ever the same it hath no change in it self but the communication of its growth in us and what is now Grace shall be Glory in Heaven If it could decay or loose it were not happiness but misery Lord therefore what ever others judge or think make me like the wise Merchant willing to sell all to buy the Rich Pearl yea to contemne all for the one thing necessary and to say as David did Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee Meditation XXXIII Vpon a Pleasure-Boat APrivate house is often built by the same Model which Princes use for their Pallaces the dimenâ—â—ons onely being contracted with the observance of the same Figure And so a Boat or Vessel of Pleasure differing in its use and design as well as in its bulk from another Ship is yet by the skill and Ingeny of the Artist exactly made after the mould or shape of the tallest Ship of War and Traffick it having its Rigging Sailes Anchors Cables False Pâ—rts and what not that please the fancy and eye of the beholder bâ—t how many of these things are more for pomp and bâ—auty then for use and necessity when the Vessel it self is made onely to receive the carasses and blandishments of the Sea and not to endure the hardship of a storm It is not an Aâ—k for necessity as Moses his was not an Ark for safety as Noahs was but a Vessel for Pleasure and therefore a gentle breath that may sweâ—l the Saileâ— and the curling of the Waters that may cause a little agitation and a serene skie which may invite the Fishes to sport do much heighten the delight of the Passengers but loud Windes Waves that roar Cloudes which mask the Heavens with darkness carry in them so many Imâ—ges of deâ—th and soon tâ—rn their Pleasure into afrightments and put them upon nothing more than an earnest longing and wishing for the safety of the Shore But the resolute Marriners in their Ships they both expect and prepare to wrastle with such difficulties they ply their Sailes they fathom the Sea with their Line they have their hand to the Helm and their eye to Heaven they let fall their Anchors and ride amidst the Tempest till it hath spent its fury with an undaunted Courage I have now methinks set forth in an Allegory the Temporary Professor and the sound and reall Believer the one having onely the forme and the other the power of godliness the one serving himself and the other his God in the Work of Religion In the Sunshine and Prosperity of the Church who spreads a fairer Sail of Profession then the Temporary who seemes more eager of following Christ Coast after Coast then he who is more expressive of his joy and delight in his approaching to Ordinances who more confident in his boastings of following Christ and dying with him when others leave him then he And yet if but a Cloud of an hand breadth arise in the Firmament of the Church who is more full of boding feares and repentings in himself than ever he went so far If Christ be but apprehended and led away to the High Priests Pallace to be there buffeâ—ed and spit upon who more ready to say I know not the Man or if it be needfull to renounce all with an Oath Now the ground of all this is because he makes his Religion an Art rather than a Duty and doth rather inform and actuate it then is informed and guided by it He took it up not to honour God but to better himself by it and therefore resolves if he cannot be a gainer he will be no loser But how greatly differing from such an one is the true and real Christian who enters into Religion as into a Covenant of Marriage which requires Performances not retractions and hath its Praemeditata Commoda incommoda fore-thought of Burdens aâ— well as Delights He looked upon the Church of Christ not as a Pleasure Boat which is onely for pastime but as a Ship that must expect stormes though not fear a wrack because Christ is in it And therefore he is resolved with fortitude to withstand the Corruptions of the Times to out-face the sins and scornes of Men to be valiant for a Truth trampled upon and not to be ashamed of a Persecuted Profession and to
shadow of death should ever be passed thorough without any distracting fears without heart breaking sorrows yea with great rejoycings in such tribulations It is true that some there be who like sullen Hawks live upon the frets and bear many of these things out of the stoutness of their stomack and their natural courage But alas this is not to suffer as a Christian who doth not suffer out of obstinacy but out of Conscience who is not supported by his own inherent strength but by the power of God which puts forth its self in such glorious effects oft times as that it makes a greater change in the Prison for the better than ever the vilest Prison can make in the Prisoner for the worse Is it not the presence of the King that makes the Court let the House be never so mean where he resides What then can that place be less than a Pallace where the Presence of God dwells in a special manner He that shall read in the Book of the Revelations of a City or place that had no Temple in it nor had no Sun or Moon to shine in it and then break off would sooner conjecture that he was beginning the description of some forlorn place under the Northern Pole than of the heavenly Jerusalem But when he shall understand that God and the Lamb are the Temple of it and the glory of God and the Lamb are the Eternal Light shining in it he will then say as an awaked Jacob Surely this is none other but the house of God and the place where himself dwelleth Such like thoughts must that man have of a Prison who knows no more of it than what it is in appearance a place of bondage solitude darkness and sore wants but he who hath in this condition once experienced the presence of God in it how differently will he speak of it Have not many of the Saints when shut up in a Dungeon dated their Letters to their Friends from their Pallace from their delectable Orchard from their delicious Paradise Have they not gloried in their bonds as being Gods Freemen though mans Prisoners Have they not in their solitude been ravished with the sweetness of that Communion they have had with God who alone hath been better than a thousand Friends Have they not been filled with hidden Manna in their souls when their bodies have been pinched with the sharpness of Famine Have they not in the midst of their Conflicts cried out If it be thus sweet to suffer for Christ how full of Joy unspeakable will it be to reign with him May I not then say to this timorous Christian as God did once to Israel Fear not to go down into Egypt For I will go down with thee into Egypt and I will surely bring thee up again Fear not to go into a Prison in which God will be with you and out of which he will deliver you with joy and triumph It matters not what your pressures be if God put under his Everlasting Arms or who your Enemies be if he be your Friend or what your sorrows be if he be your Comforter And this I may adde that commonly in the greatest straits he sheweth the greatest love as waters run strongest in the narrowest passages As the sufferings of Christ saith Paul abound in us so our Consolation aboundeth by Christ O therefore say as David did Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear none evil for thou art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort me Meditation XXXVI Vpon the motion of the Sun on the Dyall IT was the saying of one who was none of the least of the Philosophers to him that asked him what he was born for That it was to contemplate the Sun But though it be not the end of mans breath yet it may well be the object of his thoughts in regard both of its beauty and motion Holy David takes notice of them both in the same Psalm in which he compared the Sun for its Lustre to a Bridegroom coming out of his Chamber cloathed in such shining Array as may draw the eyes of Spectators towards him And for its swiftness to a strong Champion who runs his prescribed course both speedily and unweariedly Tully in his Academicall Questions saith Tanta incitatione fertur ut ejus celeritas quanta sit ne cogitari quidem posset It is whirled about with that vehemency that the greatness of the Suns speed cannot easily be imagined Is it not then a Riddle that at the same time when it travels thousands of miles in the Heavens it should make so slow a motion and progress on the Dyall as not to move above the breadth of an inch or two To the quickest eye its motion is imperceptible and it so moves as we can only say it hath moved not that it doth Now from whence comes this inequality but from the vast disproportion between the Heavens and the Earth the one being but as a Center or small prick to an immense Circumference O how happy and regular also would the lives and actions of men be if after the same manner they were moved to heavenly and earthly objects To the one with a swiftness like to that of the Sun in the Firmament To the other with an insensibleness like to that of the Sun upon the Dyall Surely such a disproportion doth the differing worth and excellency between the one and the other justly challenge in our pursuit of them Is it not meet that he who casts a single glance of his eye to the Creature should bestow a thousand looks on his Saviour And when he creeps to one as a Snail to fly to the other as the Eagle to the Carkass He alone moves to God as much as he ought who moves to him as much as he can and strives to repair the imperfection of that motion with a real dislike and regret of the slowness of his own heart to the best of goods But alass if the rule by which men walk must be thus bounded or dilated according to the object to which they move where shall we find that person that thus proportions the out-goings of his soul in his care desires or industry If the standard and measure of goodness should be taken from the unweariedness of mens travels from the strength of their affections or from the fixed bent of their resolutions to obtain what they design to themselves as their end Who must not then put the Crown of blessedness upon the heâ—d of the Creature which ought to be set at the foot of the Creator Who must not then conclude that it is better building Tabernacles here than seeking a Country which is above Do not men contract their hearts to the things of Heaven and dilate them to what is below Do they not run and pant to the very breathing out of their souls after perishing vanities when they cannot be drawn to set one foot towards spiritual and
were not infinite but to adore its fulness and to acknowledge that from it they derive theirs is the duty of all that partake of it This is the only homage that those Stars of the Morning and sons of God who behold his face do give in heaven and this is it which the Children of men should give on Earth But alas from how few are those sacred dues tendred to God though all be his debtors Doth not the rich man when wealth floweth in upon him like a river forget that the Lord only giveth him power to get riches And sacrifice unto his Net and burn Incense unto his Drag Is it not the sin that God chargeth all Israel with that they rejoyce in a thing of nought and say have we not taken horns to us by our own strength Yea doth he not expresly say thar he will nor give his glory unto another Shall any man then take it unto himself And yet what stoln bread is so sweet to any taste as the secret nimmings purloynings of Gods glory are unto the pallate of most If any design be effected they think that their wisdom hath brought it about if any difficulties be removed they ascribe it to their industry if success and victory do build upon their Sword it is their own arm and right hand that hath obtained it O how great is that pride and unthankfulness which reigns in the hearts of men who affect to rob God rather than to honour him and to deny him to be the Author of what they possess than to acknowledge their Tenure that they hold all in Capite Stealing from men may be acquitted again with single or double with fourfold or sevenfold restitution But the filching from Gods glory can never be answered for who can give any thing to him which he hath not received Others may steal of necessity to satisfie their hunger but such violate out of pride and wantonness the Exchequer of heaven and shall never escape undetected or unpunished Consider therefore this all ye who are ready to kiss your own hands for every blessing that comes upon you to what danger you expose your selves while ye rob God whose name is Jealous who will vindicate the glory of his neglected goodness in the severe triumphs of his impartial Justice It is Bernards Expression Uti datis ut innatis est maxima superbia to use Gods gifts as things inbread in us is the highest arrogancy and what less can it merit than the very condemnation of the Devil Whos 's first sin as some Divines conceive was an affectation of independant happiness without any respect or habitude unto God I cannot a little wonder that the blackness of his sin and the dreadfulness of his Fall should not make all to fear the least shadow and semblance of such a crime in themselves as must bring upon them the like ruine Look upon him ye proud ones and tremble who are abettors of Nature against Grace and resolve the salvation of man ultimately into the freedom of his Will rather than into the efficacy of Gods Grace who in the work of Conversion make the Grace of God to have only the work of a Midwife to help the Child into the world but not to be the Parent and sole Author of it Is not this to cross the great design of the Gospel which is to exalt the honour of God and Christ that he that glorieth might glory in the Lord. And is not every tittle of the Gospel as dear to God as every little of the Law Can then any diminish ought from it and be guiltless Oh fear then to take the least due from God who hath threatned to take his part out of the Book of Life and out of the holy City and from the things which are written in the Book of God Non est devotion is dedisse prope totum sed fraudis retinuisse vel minimum It is not devotion saith Prosper rightly against his Collator to acknowledge almost all from God but accursed theft to ascribe though but a very little to our selves Lord therefore whatever others do keep me humble that as I receive all from thee so I may render that tribute of praise which thou expectest from me both chearfully and faithfully and though it can adde nothing to thy perfection no more than my beholding and admiring the Suns light can encrease it yet let me say as holy David did Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy name be the glory for thy mercy and for thy truths sake Meditation XXXIX Vpon the Bucket and the Wheel THe saying of Democritus which he spake concerning Philosophical truth that it did latitare in juteâ— hide it self and take up its abode in a dark and deep Well may much more be affirmed of Theological truth when the whole Doctrine of the Gospel is called the Mystery of Christ and the great Mystery of Godliness that there should be three distinct Persons in one Essence and two distinct Natures in one Person That Virgiâ—ity should conceive Eternity be born Immortality dye and Mortality rise from death to life Are not these and many more of the like intricacy unparalelled mysteries May we not then justly say as the Samaritaâ— woman did to our Saviour when he asked water of her Puteus profundus est the Well is deep and who can descend into it or fathom it And yet such is the pride and arrogancy of many men as that not contenting themselves with the simplicity of believing many make Reason the sole standard whereby to measure both the Principles and Conclusions of Faith for which it is as unapt as the weak Eye of a Bat to behold the Sun when it shineth in its full strength or the Bill of a small Bird to receive into it the Ocean These high mysteries are not to be scanned but to be believed the knowledge and certainty of which doth not arise from the evidence of reason but from the revelation made of them in holy Scriptures the mouth of God who is truth it self and cannot lye hath spoken them and therefore it cannot be otherwise But must then reason be wholly shut out as a useless thing in the Christian Religion or must it be confined to the agenda matters of duty and morality in which it cannot be denied to be both of necessary and constant use Surely even the Credenda also the Doctrines and points which are properly of Faith do not refuse the sober use of Reason so it be imployed as an Handmaid and not as a Mistress I have therefore thought that Faith is as the Bucket which can best descend this deep Well of mystery and that Reason is as the Wheel which stands over the mouâ—h of it and keeps alwaies its certain and fixed distance But yet by its motion is instrumental both to let down the bucket and also to draw it up again Faith discovers the deep things of God and then reason teacheth us to
greatly differing from what others find and feel whose lines are not fallen in so fair a place But still I say when shall I dwell in that blessed Country where sorrows dye and joys cannot Into which Enemy never entred and from which a Friend never parted When shall I possess that Inheritance which is a Kingdom for its greatness and a City for its beauty where there is Society without Envy and rich Communications of good without the least diminution Meditation XLIII Vpon Time and Eternity THe two Estates of this and the other World are measured by Time and by Eternity as their just and proper measures there being nothing in this World which is not as transient as Time nor in the other which is not as fixed and lasting as Eternity How inexpressibly then must the good and evil the happiness and the misery of those two Estates differ from eacâ— other What is the duration of all earthly greatness in respect of the stability of heavenly glory but as a flash of lightning to a standing Sun in the Firmament or as a spark ascending from a furnace to a never setting Star What are the most fiery trials of this life either for intension or length unto the everlasting burnings and scorchings of hell but as the soft and gentle heat of a blushing face unto the constant flames and torments of the bowels What are Racks Stone Collick Strangury Convulsions heaped together into an extream horrour but as the simple grudgings of an Ague to the desperate rage and anguish which the least bite of that worm that dies not creates in the lowest faculty of the soul There are additions to things which are limited and diminuent terms of that to which they are annexed and contain in them as Logicians speak oppositum in opposito one opposite in another He that saith a dead man or a painted Lion by saying more saith less than if he had said but a man or a Lion only without any such additions it is all one in effect as if he had said no man no Lion For a dead man is not a man neither is a painted Lion a Lion Such are the additions of Time which put to good or evil expresse less than if nothing had been added He that saith happiness for a season or sorrow for a time saith less than if he had said happiness or sorrow only For perfect happiness or sorrow cannot be circumscribed in the narrow limits of Time no more than Immensity in the points of a place What is happiness that will expire but misery at a distance Or what is sorrow that endures only for a time but an evil supported by hope But adde Eternity to good or evil and it makes the good to be insinitely better and the evil to be infinitely worse Can I then do less than wonder that men who carry eternal souls in their bosoms such as are of kin to Seraphims yea advanced to the participation of the Divine Nature that are the immediate Subjects of Endless woe or bliss should yet so live Aâ— si fabula esset omnis eternitatas as if Eternity were a fable as if they had neither God to serve or souls to save May I not say be astonished O heavens at this and be horribly afraid be ye very desolate as the Lord himself did at Israels folly What greater stupidity can there be than this which most are guilty of to busie themselves like Martha about perishing trifles and to neglect the one thing which is necessary To be thoughtfull of things below and seldom think of heaven till death summon them to leave Earth To make Salvation the by-work of their lives and the fulfilling the apperites of the flesh their chiefest task and care Were it not a strange thing if a man who is to be judged on the morrow and to receive the sentence either of a cruel death or of a rich and honourable estate could not keep in mind the concernments of the next approaching day without tying some Scarlet thread upon his finger as a significant Ceremony to remember him Or the writing of some Caveats upon the posts of the Prison which might hint unto him what danger his life is in Is it not much more strange that the weighty matters of eternal life or eternal death should not by their own greatness press the heart of man unto a constant remembrance of them especially when he knoweth not what a day may bring forth Can the miscarriage of such a person be other than dreadful when their follies as well as their pains shall make them to gnash their teeth and to curse themselves for the neglect of that great Salvation which hath been often tendred them in the Gospel When they shall feel everlastingly what they could never be perswaded for to fear When they shall be convinced that at a far cheaper rate they might have been Saints in Heaven than Salamanders in Hell O that I could therefore awaken and excite all those whom the present enjoyments of the world serve as Opium to cast them into a deep sleep and will happily be angry with those that seek to raise them out of it though they keep them from perishing in it And how can I better do it than in St. Chrysostomes expressions to this purpose Suppose a man saith he much desirous of sleep and in his perfect mind had an offer made of one nights sweet rest upon condition to be punished an hundred years for it would he except of his sleep upon such terms Now do not they who would be loath to be reputed fools do far worse that for the short fruition of a few transient delights hazard a double Eternity the loss of an Eternity of blessedness and the sustaining of an Eternity of miseries for what other proportion can all earthly things bear to heavenly in respect of their duration than a few beatings of the pulse or twinklings of the eye unto Myriads of Ages Be then timely wise ye worldlings in a frequent consideration of your eternal being that you may not pass your life away in a dream of happiness and awake in the horrour of a begun Eternity in misery Say unto your selves are we not in the world as the Child conceived is in the womb not to abide there but to come out in a due time to a more full and free life Why then do we fondly think of building Tabernacles here Why do we so please our selves in our present condition as to be wholly regardless of our future Is not death such a combate as we never enter into but once and therein are either saved or shin eternally Why do we then make little or no provision against what we know will and must certainly follow Do we think that our glory shall descend after us and screen us from Gods siery indignation Will our riches purcâ—ase heaven or bribe hell Will the first-born of our body be accepted for the sin of our soul What is it
that makes our cares and fears so preposterous are we anxious for to morrow and thoughâ—less of Eternity We fear the Grave and mock at Hell we dread the Lightning and slight the Thunder-bolt O methinks such pungent Interrogations should startle the most secâ—re if they would but put Conscience upon an answer and not like Pilate only ask the question and then go their way It is mens living by sense that is that stone of stumbling upon which they ruine themselves Some surfet and over-charge themselves with sensual delights as that their Intellectuals are wholly lost to all acts of Reason others who have jealousies concerning their future estates are more willing to venture what the issue will be than undergo an impartial trial they fear more what sentence Conscience will pass than the Condemnation that God will inflict Few there be that put Time and Eternity in the Ballance and weigh them one against the other or consider that life upon which Eternity depends is a vapour a wind a span at most which the further it is stretched the more painful it is And that Eternity is a bottomless gulph which no Line can fathom no time can reach no tongue can express It is a duration alwaies present a being alwaies in being an everlasting now It swallows up all revolutions of Ages as Pharaohs lean Kine did eat up the fat which when they had eaten them up it could not be known that they had eaten them but were still as at the beginning What strange thing can we imagine that in its duration would not be effected A tear let fall from the damned once in ten thousand years would fill the earth with far more water than it was covered with in the Deluge A dust taken from the Mountains and â—neven parts of the world would in the like intervals level the Universe and turn it into a Plain and yet there would be still an Eternity behind Never never is the killing word that breaks the heart of all these hopeless Prisoners that lye buried in the flames of Hell Suppositions and possibilities which I tremble to think of if they might be but turned into promises unto them of the termination of their anguish and torment O how would their hearts revive within them and how thankfully would they acknowledge Gods goodness unto them Do thou therefore O glorious Lord who art the Ancient of daies the Rock of Ages the Father of Eternity teach me to number my daies that I may apply my heart unto true wisdom that I may walk in the way of life which is above to the wise and depart from hell beneath Meditation XLIV Vpon a Physicians feeling the Pulse HOw often and how exactly do Physicians feel the Pulse of their Patients Not a day passeth without a strict observation of the motions that it makes according unto which they judge both of the greatness and danger of the distemper and what the Issues are like to be both in respect of life and death They do not as other Visitors ask the Patient how he doth but inform him rather how he is and from the report which they make of his malady his fears and hopes are the more or less And yet how rarely do they feel their own pulse who are so seemingly anxious about anothers Daies Weeks Months do Elapse and pass away without any such studious heeding of themselves as they continually in their profession Exercise towards others And yet happily in so doing they are as the Priests in the Temple who as our Saviour saith prophane the Sabbath and are blameless But they occasion me to think of the practise of many who cannot so easily be acquitted Such who are severe observers of other mens waies and actions and as great neglectors of their own who are far more glad that they can espy a fault in others than grieved that it is committed who presume to look into the breast and to discover how the Affections which are the pulse of the soul do bear and work in every duty In some they mislike the heat of their Zeal as too much resembling an high and vehement pulse whose strength and quickness comes not from health but from a Feaver In others they condemn lukewarmness an indifferency whose affections they judge to be as a weak and slow pulse or as the Spring of a Watch that is well-nigh down which Clicks and moves very faintly In some again they observe an inequality in their Profession which is accompanied with frequent stands and pauses that they make like Asthmatical and short-breathed persons they run a while and blow longer before they can move again And upon these they look with as sad a countenance as a Physician doth upon his Patient that hath a false and intermitting pulse Few or none can be found to escape their censure who observe the failings of others as some ancient Criticks did the imperfect Verses of Homer which they learned by heart not at all regarding the many good But what can be more contrary to the Law and rule of Christianity than such practises How many Prohibitions are gone out of the Court of Heaven to stay such irregular proceedings Are we not by Christ forbid to judge that we be not judged To judge nothing before the time untill the Lord come And yet what if any man could know the true temper of the affections of others as fully as a Physician câ—n distinguish a well a sick pulse would this knowledg be any advantage unto him while he is both ignorant and regardless of his own estate Would he thereby find such joy and comfort in himself as he that by an impartial examination of himself can discover the truth and sincerity of his own heart to Christ though he can say nothing of others Surely this man as the hungry would be filled with good things when the other as the rich should be sent empty away He as the humble Publican would be justified when the other as the proud Pharisee should be condemned Let others then Physician like study the condition of others I shall look upon it as my duty and make it my work not to find out what others are but what I am in regard of my unfained love and affection unto Christ who hath transcendently merited my love though I am wholly unworthy of his Erasistratus is famed in History for discovering the love of Antiochus to his Mother-in-law which shame forced him to conceal by the motion of his pulse which he observed to move differently in her presence from what it did at other times O how happy should I deem my self if I could find the pulse of my affections alwaies working more quick and lively in me whenever I behold my Saviour present in the feast of love in which he is pleased not only to let me see him but to enjoy him or when I hear his name mentioned in a duty or when I read his name written in his Word which is therefore
of any necessity of death As God made us living Creatures so his power was able to sustain us immortal creatures we had bodily life by our soul in our body and spiritual life by Gods Image in both but sin brought on us death of all sorts Death spiritual in the loss of Gods Image death bodily in the begun corruption of our body and death eternal in the endless ruine of both And whom would not this single thought afflict with dread and sorrow to see what a change sin hath made in the condition of man If Adam would have lived without sin he might have lived without end But now by his credulous receiving the Serpents Poyson Death is glued to our nature necessity of evil to the freedom of our will and all misery to our selves Another dark and posing thought did arise from the progress of death which keeps no order or method It thrusts its sickle not only into the ripe corn but the green blade it nips the blossom as well as gathers the fruit it dissolves the knot that was but new made between the soul and the body as well as that which age and years had conâ—â—rmed There were I observed skulls of all Sizes There were some who had never seen the Sun to pass from one Tropick to the other Others there were whose life could not be reckoned by daies or hours but by minutes they dropt only from the Womb to the Grave And is not this amongst the secrets of God that thousands should thus pass through the world and be determined to different Estates for Eternity What can I say But that the waies of God are unsearchable and his Judgements past finding out As it now shews his Soveraignty thus to deal with his Creatures as it pleaseth him so the Great Day will manifest the Wisdom and Justice of God that is wrapt up in these mysterious providences He that is the Judge of all will be found to be righteous towards all A third sad thought The consuming power of the grave did stir up within me so that I was ready to say Can these dry bones live Can these mingled dusts be distinguished Can the dusts that are scattered into distances be ever united Doth not the Noble and the Base the Saint and the Sinner lye equally under the power of corruption Who then would not dread to descend into the Grave and make Hemans question Will God shew wonders to the dead shall the dead arise and praise him But when I consider that Believers in their ascending into heaven do only let fall their bodies to the earth as Elijah dropt his Mantle when he was taken up and that their Spirits return to God that gave them That Death striketh not on the New man but on the Tabernacle which is a common Lodging both to Flesh and Spirit my fears are greatly Alleviated for who is much solicitous for the Cabinet when the Jewel is safe Yea when I think that death which separates our persons from the world our soul from the body and every part of our body from another cannot dissolve our Union with Christ but that then we sleep in him and shall be raised by him and conformed to him as the pattern of our glory O how do these most radiant thoughts dispell both the black fears of death and the lightsome comforts of the world as the rising Sun makes the bright stars of heaven to vanish as well as the dark shades of the night How little then doth the love of this life or the difficulties of death abate the desires of a Believer to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is far better Who can wonder at old Simeons importunity to depart in peace when his eyes had seen the Salvation of God and his arms embraced it Who would not be of the same mind that hath once tasted of the Clusters of the heavenly Canaan to long after the full Vintage How pathetical is that of Austin upon Gods answer to Moses Thou canst not see my face for no man can see me and live Who replies with great confidence Lord is that all that I cannot see thy face and live Eja Domine moriar ut te videam videam ut hic moriar nolo vivere volo mori dissolvi cupic essecum Christo I pray thee Lord then let me dye that I may see thy face Or let me see thee that I may dye in this place I would not live I would dye I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Thus also have other Saints been affected who have had death in desire and life in patience O what a strange change then hath Christ made in death and the grave and his grace in the heart and affections of Believers Death which sin brought into the world is now become the only means to destroy and kill sin Death which is only contrary unto life is now turned into a Port and passage into life So that when we pass out of this life we lose neither life nor being but are admitted to a more glorious life and being than ever we had Death that before was an armed Enemy is now made a reconciled and firm friend a Physician to cure all our diseases and an Harbinger to make way for glory The Grave also by Christs lying in it is become a bed of rest in which his Saints fetch a short slumber untill he awaken them to a glorious Resurrection It is the Chamber into which he invites his beloved ones to hide themselves untill his indignation be past the Arke into which he shuts his Noahs whilest he destroyes the world with an overflowing deluge of his wrath and displeasure And therefore it is that by his grace they are not afraid to meet Death which others would shun and make it as a voluntary offering unto God which others pay only as a necessary debt Yea they esteem it as one of the choicest Jewels in that exact Inventory that Paul hath made of the riches of Believers and next unto Jesus Christ bless God for it as the greatest mercy O holy Saviour do thou then who art the Lord both of the dead and of the living unto whom all ought to live and all ought to dye enable me thy servant to love thee above life which of all blessings is the sweetest and to hate sin above death which of all evils is the bitterest to nature that so I may have this testimony of the power of thy grace in the change of my heart that for the enjoyment of perfect Communion with thee I can gladly lose my life and be separated from sin can willingly undergo death which is of all evidences the Clearest Meditation XLIX Vpon a Spring in an high ground THe additional blessing which Achsah sought of Caleb her Father was Springs of water for her south or dry land who gave her the upper and the nether Springs If the distinct recording of this particular in Scripture carry any thing of
its own concernments If there were but a clear insight into that Blessedness into which Peace of Conscience doth Estate a Believer it could not be but that it being laid in the Ballance with the health of the Body it should as far over-weigh it as a full Bucket a single drop or as the Vintage of Wine a particular Cluster True it is that health of Body is the Salt of all outward blessings which without it have no relish or savour neither Riches nor Honours nor Delights for the Belly or Back can yield the least Pleasure where this is wanting So that the enjoyment of it alone may well be set against many other Wants And better it is to enjoy health without other additional-comforts then to possess them under a load of Infirmities And yet I may still say Quid Palea ad Triticum What is the Chaff to the Wheat Though it be the greatest outward good that God bestowes in this Life it is nothing to that Peace which passeth all understanding Sickness destroyes it Age enfeebles it and Extremities imbitter it But it is the Excellency of this divine Peace that it worketh joy in Tribulation that it supports in Bodily languishments and creates confidence in death Who is it that can throw forth the Gauntler and bid defiance to Armies of Trialls to persecution distress famine nakedness peril and sword But he whose heart is established with this Peace the ground of which is Gods free love the Price of which is Christs satisfaction the Worker of which is the Holy Spirit and the Subject of which is a Good Conscience This was it that filled old Simeons heart with joy and made him to beg a Dimission of his Saviour whom his eyes had seen his armes embraced and his Soul trusted in What a strange thing is it then that there should be so few Marchant-men that seek this goodly Pearl which is far above all the Treasures of the Earth that are either hid in it or extracted from it Many say Who will shew us any good but it is David onely that Prayes Lord lift up the light of thy Countenance upon us Others like the scattered Israelites in Egypt go up and down gathering of Straw and Stubble when he like an Israelite indeed in the Wilderness of this World seeks Manna which his Spirit gathers up and feeds upon with delight and then cries out Thou hast put gladness in my heart more then in the time that their Corn and their Wine increased It is the love of God shed abroad in the heart that doubleth the sweetness of prosperity and sweetens also the bitterness of asfliction A wonder onely therefore it is not that few should seek but a much greater that any in this World should live without it Can any live well without the Kings Favour either in his Court or Kingdom And yet there are many places wherein such Persons may lie hid in his Dominions when the utmost ends of the Earth cannot secure them against Gods frownes But if any be so profligate as Cleopatria-like to dissolve this Jewel of Peace in his Lusts and to drink down in one prodigious draught that which exceeds the World in its price and yet think they can live well enough without it let them consider how they will do to die without it Sweet it is in life but it will be more sweet in death â—t is not then the Sun-shine of Creatures but Saviourshine that will refresh them It is not then Wine that can cheere the heart but the Blood of Sprinkling that will pacifie it The more Perpendicular Death comes to be over our head the lesser will the shadow of all Earthly comforts grow and prove useless either to asswage the paines of it or to mitigate the feares of it What is a fragrant posie put into the hands of a Malefactor who is in sight of the Place of Execution and his Friends bidding him to smell on it or what is the delivering to him a Sealed Conveyance that Intitles him to great Revenues who hath a few minutes onely to live But O what excess of joy doth fill and overflow such a poor Mans heart when a Pardon from his Prince comes happily in to prevent the Stroak of death and to assure him both of Life and Estate This is indeed as health and marrow to the bones And is it not thus with a dying Sinner who expects in a few moments to be swallowed up in those flames of wrath the heat of which already scorch his Conscience and cause Agonies and Terrors which imbitter all the comforts of life and extract cries from him that are like the yellings of the damned I am undone without hope of recovery Eternity it self will as soon end as my misery God will for ever hold me as his enemy and with his own breath will enliven those Coles that must be heaped upon me Of what value now would one smile of Gods Face be to such a person how joyfull would the softest whisper of the Spirit be that speakes any hope of Pardon or Peace would not one drop of this Soveraign Balm of Gods favour let fall upon the Conscience heal and ease more then a River of all other delights whatsoever Think therefore upon it O Christians so as not any longer through your own default to be without the sense of this Blessing in your hearts that so in life as well as in death you may be filled with this Peace of God which passeth all understanding If Prayer will obâ—ain it beg every day a good look from him the light of whose Countenance is the onely health of yours If an holy and humble Walking will preserve it be more carefull of doing any thing to lose your Peace then to endanger your health remember that Peace is so much better than health as the Soul is better then the Body But Grant Holy Father however others may neglect or defer to seek Peace with thee and from thee yet I may now find thy Peace in me by thy Pardoning all my iniquities and may be found of thee in Peace without Spot and blameless in the great day Meditation LV. Vpon a Looking-Glass VVHat is that which commendeth this Glass is it the Pearl and other precious stones with which the Frame that it is set in is richly decked and enammelled or is it the impartial and just representation which it makes according to the Face which every one that beholds himself brings unto it Surely the Ornaments are wholly forraign and contribute no more to its real worth then the Cask doth to the goodness of the Wine into which it is put or the â—ichness of the Plate to the Cordial in which it is administred That for which the Glass is to be esteemed is the true and genuine resemblance which it makes of the object which is seen in it when it neither flatters the Face by giving any false Beauty to it nor yet injures it by detracting ought from it To