am quite disabled that I can doe thee no seruice because my body is full of death Yet according to thy commaundement I will thorough thy grace wholly bend my spirit to serue thee And what seruice my dying body can performe I will put it vnto betaking my selfe euery way to thy good pleasure and most holy will Amen That day in the afternoone I was tormented yet let me say the truth in a manner as it were vnderhand succoured and sustained My back was about and below the kidnies very sore which made mee fearefull of a fit of the stone which from the last Nouember I had not It came many times into my mind to admonish all sorts of people to leaue the most common taking of Gods name in vaine in prating and swearing and cursing O if any that is giuen vnto that horrible sinne knew how deere and precious vse I am driuen to make of Gods name when in hellish torment specially at and after the making of water I haue none other helpe in all the world but to crie out saying O Lord ô God ô Iesu Christ c Whosoeuer you are that shall read or heare this stay a little while I pray you Bethink your selfe well whether the time will not come you know not how soon wherein you shall be forced to call vpon God for present help yea you ought to call vpon him euery day euery houre for your life and all that you haue or hope to haue is at his mercie In the turning of a hand hee can take all that is good from you turne you away into all manner of misery Then if it stand vpon his pleasure what shall become of you and specially when you are in aduersity or anguish whether you shall be releeued yea or no follow my counsell keep his name in store and by no meanes endure to write or speake it in any idle fashion much lesse in swearing tearing and cursing like a limme of the deuil What man is so madde that hauing a most pretious restoratiue able to cure him of any disease will hurle it into the dust fling it against the walls or tread it vnder his feete No you would lay it most charily as a most speciall treasure whereby you may in time of need help your selfe or your freind O then consider that of all restoratiues the name of God passes and excells For it is a soueraigne remedy against all euils both of soule and body Therefore the Psalme saith Psal 124.8 Our helpe is in the name of the Lord who made heauen and earth In few words take this for certen If you meane to haue helpe in the name of God vse it like a most pretious restoratiue Make not an idle word of it take it not in vaine least when you haue neede to call vpon it you call in vaine because the Lord remembers that you made a vaine idle word of his name That euening I did but walke a little in my chamber it made my water bloody what a miserable state am I in Thursday morning a matter that I read gaue me occasion to consider of an offence which many in Derbie lately tooke by the leauing out of the Crosse at the baptising of a child True it is that I neuer left out that signe nor euer will leaue it vntill the Church giue warrant Yet this I must needs confesse A many people thinke that baptisme is not perfect without the signe of the Crosse Yea more They thinke that there is some holy vertue in it The iudgement of God is a great deepe But the commanding will of God is in his word very plaine Hee would not haue poore people to beleeue that holinesse is there to be had where it is not They which first deuised any ceremony without ground of Gods word how good soeuer their intent was little knew what inconuenience would in processe of time grow thereupon Did you neuer see a house so ful of smoke that a man might sooner haue been stifled and blinded then well warmed That is typhos superstition that is the religon of many rude people If any say it is to be required that such people haue good instruction I say againe what instruction are they like to haue whose guides are either vnable to instruct themselues or suffered to be otherwise imploied I once heard Bishop Barlowe saie that touching higher places which is too too generall and extendeth in my simple obseruation farre further then hee intended it His speech in effect was thus The time was that fit men were sought for But now there is not such neede because many proffer themselues How it is in the higher region I know not But in the lower it is commonly thus And so long as it is thus a foole may prophecie that sound holinesse is not likely to thriue In the afternoon my strangurie was very keene my right foote burned with a painfull heat yet see the goodnes of God still a way is made that I may endure it euen when I am readie to crie out because of deadlie torment I am fully perswaded that had not this disease come vpon me yea and preuailed more and more euen to the putting of me quite out of all hope of recouery I should neuer haue beene diuorced and separated from the loue of this world Notwithstanding all that is yet done sin cleaueth vnto my soule like birdlime I haue a world of trouble within my selfe to master the olde setled rebellious thoughts of my heart which are so sturdie and so deuillish specially one my most naturall sinne that were it not for the verie grace of God in Iesus Christ I should bee quite out of all hope of subduing them Let me come into company and there is such an vprore in mine heart that whatsoeuer I can doe is al too little to keep it from breaking out into open rebellion against God Whosoeuer beeing an old sinner doth put himselfe into the continuall conscionable practise of repentance he shall plainely perceiue the sinnes of his heart to be like vnto a company of desperate rebels besieged in a castle yeeld they will not vntill they be famished out They haue succour from the remembrance and from corrupted imagination from the outward sences specially the eies and the eares and who can say how full of temptations the world is temptations fitted to worke vpon the sight and the hearing It is well worth obseruation for any man that knoweth white from blacke and sinne from grace to marke when he comes in companie with any how soone the seuerall wicked corruptions which are both in him and in the other wil conspire together to betray them both to make them sinne against God at least in a deale of idle talke I cannot call to minde that euer I was in company with any and drawne into a familiar communication but that I was also drawne into sinne Yea but some will say idle talke is a veniall sinne wherein they may pleade
would not faile to put my selfe vnto open shame for euery sinne which thenceforth I should openly commit in word or deede Yea I said thus much vnto him That open sinne which I shall wittingly let passe without open confession do thou neuer forgiue I doe humbly craue aide of euery Christian which shall read or heare this As my disease is very tormenting so my state is too too vncomfortable Eccles 4.10 Woe to him that is alone when he falleth for hee hath not another to helpe him vp I must sit and endure my griefe with silence For to whom shall I complaine Or what shall I ease my selfe by complaining The prouerbe is not more olde then true Euery man is for himselfe and God for all If the latter part held not very true I were woe begone for the first is too true But what aide doe I craue of the Reader or hearer I beseech you that euen for the loue of Christ and Christianitie you will very earnestly intreat our Lord God to bee mercifull vnto me and if it may possibly stand with his holy will to grant mee ease of this irkesome torment Amen Amen That Sabbath day at night I hauing somewhat more conscionably kept that Sabbath day then euer before praised God thus O most mercifull Father with all mine heart I humbly thanke thee for this verie little entracne into the way of saluation Good Lord my soule is yet wretchedly tangled in sinne Free me for thy mercies sake and humble mee to the very vttermost that may be thorough Iesus Christ thine only Sonne my Lord and Sauiour Amen Amen Then also I beganne to sing mine euening Psalme which is not in double meeter as that vnto whose tune I haue set it because I neither had leasure nor minde to be so curious ¶ Mine euening Psalme to the tune of All people that on earth doe dwell O God that art most wonderfull the fountaine of all blessednesse I most vnfit to sing to thee yet needes thy mercie must confesse Needes must I for I am most bound therefore O Lord I thee intreat For to prepare mine heart and tongue thy mercies duely to repeat So soone as I into this world by birth was borne thou causedst mee To be baptized in thy Name In signe of my deliuery Deliuerie from Sathans thrall and from the house of bondage hell That with thee and with thy Christ in euerlasting blisse might dwell And when I was of age to learne thou didst acquaint me with thy grace Moouing mine heart to turne from sinne and thy saluation to embrace But I most foolishly did loue this world and gaue my selfe to sinne Deferring time from day to day and to repent would not beginne Yet notwithstanding all my sinne and manifold iniquitie Yea such most hainous wickednes as alwaies did for vengeance crie So great thy mercie was to me that thou wouldst not my soule forsake But patiently didst vse all meanes to saue me from the burning lake And now at last with much adoe a little I am turn'd from sinne A little very small it is I doe repentance but beginne Yet Lord my soule doth trust that thou wilt small beginning not despise But grant me grace turning to thee by small degrees for to arise So be it O most gracious God be it euen so for Christ his sake I doe beleeue therefore I speake thy childe I trust thou wilt me make O Father Sonne and holy Ghost thou onely God and Lord of all Thy name be blessed euermore of all thy creatures great and small Amen Amen Amen say I Gods name for euer blessed be O heauen ô earth ô creatures all say ye Amen Amen with me I most heartily desire that euery one that hath not more experience in deuotion then I will take this my counsell Accustome your selfe to pray to sing oftentimes vnto God let your prayer and song be such matters as is fitting for one in your state to speake vnto God whether it be confession of sinnes begging of pardon and cleansement from sinne or thanksgiuing c. And that which you speake vnto the Lord by way of praying or singing let it not onely be word of mouth but lift vp the thought of your heart and thinke euery word directly vnto God as you would do if you did see his glorious maiesty with your bodily eyes Be well assured and stedfastly minded that he lookes full vpon you and marketh all your behauiour yea and aboue all things taketh most heedful insight of your thought and affection for longer then you steadfastly thinke vpon him your words in prayer please him not and vnlesse your desire be very earnest he will not regard your petition Therefore enforce your mind to thinke very intendingly vpō God and labour to haue an hungry and thirstie desire of that which you pray for You see that I haue often set downe the word Amen yea and sometime doubled it My reason is because I would be very earnest and effectually feruent in my desire Our Sauiour sheweth vs how earnest and importunate we should be in praying vnto God I pray you consider his words Luk. 11.5 Which of you hauing a friend and shall go vnto him at midnight and say vnto him Friend lend me three loaues 6. For a friend of mine in his iourney is come vnto me I haue nothing to set before him 7. And he from within shall answer and say Trouble mee not the doore is now shut and my children are with me in in bed I cannot rise and giue thee 8. I say vnto you though he will not rise and giue him because he is his friend yet because of his importunitie hee will rise and giue him so many loaues as he needeth Our Lords meaning is that as many a man in his necessitie will haue no deniall but is so importunatly earnest that the partie to whom he maketh suit hath no other way to be quiet but onely by granting his request so ought we to behaue our selues in prayer to God most vehemently crying vnto him for mercie and euer and anone praying againe and againe as Christ himselfe did in the garden not ceasing vntil he doe as certainly he wil shew himselfe very mercifull vnto vs. If we ought to pray so earnestly and so often wo is my heart for many a poor soule that seldome or neuer prayeth but when he is laid downe in his bed and then saith his Paternoster and Creed between sleeping waking making none other reckoning but this that the very bare saying of those things serues the turne Surely it is Popery that hath brought the world to this senceles state by teaching folke to pray in an vnknowne tongue and to say praiers by set number and tale as folke buy and sell apples and peares When I was a child I now and then lay with some elder body who beeing in bed would beginne to say the Lords prayer by and by slumber then awake and begin againe and presently fall asleepe againe If this be true as I take the Lord God to witnes that very true it is what doth it shew Surely this that the common sort of people runne snuggling all day after their worldly busines and then at night kennell vp themselues like so many bruit beasts little or neuer a whit minding that which they should principally intend their conuersion from sinne and their reasonable vnderstanding seruing of God in all that they thinke say or doe Whosoeuer is in this slumbring state I beseech you that for Gods sake you will awaken your soule and doe as the Lord Iesus willeth you Matth. 6.33 Seeke ye first the kingdome of God and his righteousnesse and then all other necessaries shall bee added vnto you The things of this world are like vnto the vantage which many times is giuen into a bargaine Therfore let your cheife care be to make sure your saluation and then your good heauenly Father will not suffer you to lack any thing that is good for you O I pray you beleeue it and build vpon it for he hath giuen his word and promise Heare him what he saith Heb. 13.5 I will not leaue thee nor forsake thee Accustome your selues as I said before to pray often and earnestly vnto God and by the grace of Iesus Christ you shall finde that he will most graciously and kindly acquaint himselfe with your soule O then you will remember these my words say Now Gods blessing light vpon that same poor minister which gaue me this counsel I would not that I had missed it for all that this whole world is worth yea you will most heartily praise the Lord God that it pleased him by so simple a man as I am to set you into the way of vnutterable blessednesse By no meanes suffer your priuate praiers to be heard of others for then it is a hundred to one that the deuill and the priuie pride of your owne heart will marre all and make your deuotions loathsome in the sight of God If you be an house-keeper and haue a wife or any child or seruant vse to pray together with them daily vnles you meane to make them heathen people such as haue none acquaintance with God This matter is so far out of request that many will laugh them to scorne which pray with their houshold whereby a man of any vnderstanding may consider into what a wretched state the world is come Now Christian soule whosoeuer you are the grace mercy of God be with you for euer Thus much I am exceedingly desirous to haue printed before I die If God vouchsafe to giue any increase of life and grace you may be sure that I will doe what I can to acquaint you with it The will of God be done and blessed bee his Name for euermore Amen FINIS
c. God is a single spirit farre excelling the singlenes of any Angel for an Angel as also the soule of man or woman hath three wants of perfect singlenesse First in euery angel there is a beeing for it is a certain seuerall thing There is also in the same angel a possibilitie to bee changed into some other thing yea into nothing because the angel is vnder God and God can doe vnto it whatsoeuer hee will But there is no possibilitie of change in God because hee is vnder none Secondly euery angel is that which it is in seuerall and thereby he differeth and is knowne from all other angels And yet the same kinde of nature whereby hee is that which he is is also in other angels But the nature of God whereby hee is that which he is is wholly and onely in himselfe and therefore it is altogether one and the same with that which he is Thirdly in an Angell vnto his spirituall nature diuerse things are added and ioyned which may also be taken or put away as wisedome holynesse power c. But all perfections are in God as in the fountaine and though they seeme diuerse vnto vs yea some appeare to be quite contrary one to the other as most seuere iustice and most pitifull mercie yet all these things in God are but only one thing and that is his most single nature essence and beeing The truth of this we may in some sort perceiue by the shining sun for it appeareth vnto our eies to bee a very single pure thing all that we can see in it is nothing els but light most exceeding pure cleare and peircing light yet many sundry vertues are in this light It shineth it heateth it quickneth man beast foule fish fruit yea it seemeth to worke contraries as softning wax hardening clay These and many other things worketh the single light of the shining sunne Much more excellent is the God that made the Sunne In his most single nature is all vertue abilitie and efficacie His name be blessed Amen God is a durable spirit not onely without ending for so hath he made Angels and soules yea and so he will make the bodies of men women and children to be after the resurrectiō but also the Lord God is without beginning Therefore Dauid saith vnto him Psalm 19.2 From euerlasting to euerlasting thou art God God is vnmeasurable that is of such an exceeding infinitenes that he filleth yea surpasseth the whole compasse of heauen and earth Ier. 23.24 2. King 8.27 Yet not so that one part of him is one where and an other els where but God is wholly in all the whole world and wholly in euery part and place of the world Then why is it said that God is in heauen And why are we willed to lift vp our hearts towards heauen when we pray vnto him Because his pleasure is to manifest himselfe in glory cheifely in heauen and from heauen Why doth the Bible say that God is with good folke and not with bad Because he doth graciously acquaint himselfe with those that serue him but he will not be knowne that he is in the company of naughty people because he hateth their behauiour Yet he is where they are heedfully marketh all that they thinke say or doe purposing to call them to an account and to give iudgement vpon them accordding to the practise of their liues God is mightie most mighty almightie He is well able to doe any worke of power either by himselfe without meanes as hee made the world or by means as he drownd the world with water Sometime his pleasure is to worke by meanes but aboue the nature power of the meanes as when he clensed a man frō the leprosie by the water of the riuer Iordan 2. Kin. 5.14 Sometime he stoppeth the power of the meanes as when three of his seruants were by a tyrant cast into a most hot burning fierie furnace for hee tooke such order that the extreame burning heat had no power vpon them though it mischeiued those which put them into the furnace Dan. 3 God can work in what measure of power he will The least measure of his power is stronger then all the power of man 1. Cor. 1.25 Hee is able to make the least bit of bread to giue so much nourishment as a whole loafe It pleaseth him sometime to work more by one man then by another yea more by some one then by many other 1. Cor. 15.10 The power of God is endlesse limited onely by his owne will for whatsoeuer his pleasure is to doe that he doth Psal 135.6 This the poore leperous man beleeued when hee said vnto the sonne of God Matth. 8.2 Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me cleane whereunto he graciously answered saying I will be thou clean and presently the Lord touching him with his hand the foule disease was cleane gone God is wise he onely is wise Rom. 16.27 The wisedome of Angels and men is his gift It is hee that giueth wisedome to the wise and knowledge vnto them that know vnderstanding Dan. 2.21 There is no number of his vnderstanding it is endles Psal 147.5 From the beginning of the world he foreknew all things which should come to passe euen vntill the ende c. Act. 15.18 He knew what was the very best way to be takē in making continuing altering doing or suffering any thing Psal 104.24 Though he may doe what he will because he is the most high Soueraigne Lord of all things yet he doth nothing hee suffereth nothing without most excellent good reason and yet I must not thereupon presume to sinne for as hee hath reason to suffer a man to sinne so hee hath reason moouing him to punish the partie that sinneth yea such reason that S. Peter saith the righteous be scarcely saued 1. Pet. 4.18 God will beat sinne out of them before they die God is holy most holy altogether holy pure cleane and free from any staine of euill He cannot be tempted with euill Iam. 13. Then how came it to passe that so many angels sinned and turned to be deuils Also how came mā to be a sinner God made the Angels and the first man and woman very holy and well able to haue kept themselues so if they would Yea but why did he suffer them to sinne seeing that sinne is most contrarie vnto his holy nature Because he thereupon took occasiō to shew his dreadfull iustice in punishing some and the most wonderfull ioyning of mercy and iustice in sauing others The iustice of God requireth that euery Angel man woman and child be tried and iudged by that which is in them whether it be righteousnesse or sinne Rom. 2.11 the righteous to be saued and the sinner damned So hee condemned all the sinning Angels and so he will condemne a great many of Adams children He might haue cast them al away because they are a guiltie corrupted brood not only children of a traytor
Fathers will knowne vnto men and is that partie concerning whom the Father gaue his word that he would send him into the world to saue sinners The third person in the godhead is the holy Ghost who proceedeth from the Father and from the Sonne and therefore is the Spirit of them both and he is in either of them both also both the Father and the Sonne are in him Hee is called the Spirit not so much to signifie his nature as to shew his proceeding because he is spired that is as it were breathed from the Father and from the Sonne He is called holy not onely because of the holines of his nature which is all one with the Father and with the Sonne but because he doth sanctifie that is maketh holy all those which shall be saued Rom. 1.4 All and euery outward worke of God commeth from the Father thorough the Sonne and by the holy Ghost The Father beginneth euery worke of himselfe working in and through the Sonne also in and by the holy Ghost Therefore the making and beginning of heauen and earth is intitled vnto him The Sonne worketh in and from the Father in and by the holy Ghost Therefore the redemption and Sauiour-ship goeth in his name because he tooke vnto him a bodie and a soule and so being both God man purchased our saluation and saueth vs in and from his Father in and by the holy Ghost Ioh. 4.19 The Son can doe nothing of himselfe Mat. 12.28 But if I cast out deuills by the spirit of God c. The holy Ghost worketh in and from the Father in and from the Sonne and so by himselfe finisheth euery worke of God specially the sanctifying and cleansing of them which shall bee saued and therefore he is called the sanctifier or the cleanser Thus much of the three persons in one God Now whereas the Lord saith I am thy God the meaning is I saue thee from all euill and bring thee to euerlasting blisse Gen. 15.1 But what proofe haue I that the Lord is my God He further saith Which haue brought thee out of the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage These words were indeed first spoken written vnto the children of Israel whome God deliuered out of the slauish bondage and great miserie which they had long endured vnder King Pharaoh in Egypt Now I ought to take the same words as spoken of God vnto me for as God made the Isralites to passe through the red sea and therein drowned the Egyptians so he caused me to be baptized and sprinkled with water in his name euen in the name of the Father and of the Son of the holy Ghost so by an holy sacramentall signification made me passe through the red sea of Christs blood wherein all the enemies of my saluation are as if they were drowned so disabled that vnlesse I foolishly yeelde vnto them they cannot preuaile against me Rom. 6.3 Neither did God onely giue vnto me that outward signe and seale of saluation but also when I was able to vnderstand caused mee to heare yea and to read yea and in some good measure to perceiue the gospel of his grace wherein hee proffered vnto me his gracious loue and therewithall such a portion of his heauēly blessings in Iesus Christ as should make me to be louely and pleasing in his sight But vpon what condition did God proffer this grace vnto me Vpon this condition Exod. 20.3 Thou shalt haue none other God before my face These words being considered together with the verse next before doe containe a double condition First that I shall take the Lord to be my God Secondly that I shall haue none other to be my God beside him How should I take the Lord to bee my God By performing these foure duties First to be continually mindefull that I am before his face Gen. 17.1 Secondly to esteem his fauour to be my only felicity and therefore aboue all things to loue him and desire to enioy his fauourable kindnesse Luk. 14.26 Thirdly to be alwaies verie fearefull of displeasing him Prou. 28.14 Fourthly to settle all my trust and confidence in him Ier. 17.5.6.7 How haue I performed these duties First I haue not been mindfull of Gods presence for both being alone and in companie my minde hath been so far from that dutie as if there had been in my beleefe no God at all Secondly I haue all my life long more esteemed loued and desired worldly pleasures and profits yea vain toies and trifles then the fauour of God I haue a farre off thought vpon God as of a thing at the furthermost ende of all the world and therefore mine affection was alwaies wedded vnto things which seemed to be nearer vnto me though indeed nothing can bee so neere vnto me as he is for in him I liue and mooue and haue my beeing Thirdly I had now and then some small feare of God but it suddenly vanished away and therefore I plunged my selfe into a sea of sinne not making conscience of one thought word or deed among a thousand Fourthly I had no right trust in God for that can not bee without the feare of God I oftentimes vsed vnwarrantable meanes to helpe my selfe And so doe none that rightly trust in God This hath been the inside of my life not only before but also euer since I entred into the Ministerie And withall mine heart I wish that I had no fellowes for I am afraid that I haue very many If such there be I humbly intreate them to take true knowledge in how dangerous a state they are I trust that God hath pardoned my parents and bringers vp The ground of all my miserie next after the euill inclination which I brought with mee into this world was the euill seasoning of mine heart in my tender yeares Beeing a little boy I was trained to delight in a dogge a cat therfore I remember the dogges name yet and haue loued dogges and cattes euer since Those and other vaine things I was enured to loue when mine heart should haue been taken vp and filled with the loue of God I was feared with bugg-beares and sprits when I should haue been framed to feare God Also I was accustomed to take a pride in this and that to be angrie and reuengefull against some one thing or other to mocke scorn misse-call and speake naughtie words vnto such or such an one Thus commonly for ought that I know are the hearts of children seasoned and thus their soules are died in the blacke colour of hell Beeing inwardly thus behaued I was a little taught outward religion That is to say the Lords Prayer and the Creede by rote to goe to Church vpon Sabbath dayes and heare seruice yea after that I could read to answer the Minister in the saying of Psalmes c. Hauing done thus what heard seruice yea helped to say seruice said the Lords Prayer and the Creede and so forth Oh! I thought I