Thou art the mouth of truth grant that I may beleeve what thou speakest the Divell is the mouth of vanity grant that what he lyingly utters may be suspected and avoided by mee Grant I may valiantly resist and oppose him in fighting with him Hee is a serpent if he but once gaine but a little intermission hee crowdes him selfe in and wee can hardly expell him but though wee overcome him as it were hee doth recollect himselfe and assayes to get new strength even as the serpents taile cut off doth by licking grow againe and if his head get in any where all his body will quickly follow O thou Conquerour of the Serpent who art not said to bruise his tayle but breake his head helpe me that I yeeld not if I be stricken if I doe fight with him grant me also power O my God to trample under my feet serpents and scorpions and all the power of the adversary that nothing may doe me hurt Vouchsafe holy Trinity but one God that I may alwaies be mindfull of thee that I may alwayes have thee with me and all the power of Satan shall vanish away The serpent is afraid of the three leaved grasse and never lyes upon it Satan abhorres thy name and memory and to call upon thee nor dares approach the adorers of the Trinity nor those that inhabit neere the Deity Bee present with me O God forsake me not my Redeemer The serpent flyes the Hart he is driven away by the fume of the fat and of the Harts-horne thou art the morning Hart thou art that fume that odour whereby that infernall spirit is weakned and repelled Remove farre from me gluttony and intemperancy The serpent cannot endure a fasting man's spittle but dyes being sprinkled with it make mee poure out my prayers with fasting unto thee and that I may send forth my sighes and call forth my groanes and I shall be preserved in safety I often think of that O my God which afterwards I dislike of yet I confesse those things unto thee because thou seest them though I confesse them not unto thee and except I doe confesse them thou dost punish them I often deale thus with my selfe Oh that I had bin so made that I could not have fallen and been deceived I thinke of good in an ill manner I therefore thinke of those things that thou mightest never have been wroth with mee nor that I might have given thee cause to be angry this had been good but I think it in an ill way for why hast thou not made me so because thou wouldst not why wouldst thou not because thou wouldst not I must not bee more wise than is sitting for me But I suppose that reasonable creature is not of a little goodnesse who avoides ill by comparing of evills Thou didst not O God violently hinder mans Fall because thou knewest how to draw some good from it yet followes it not from thence that thou didst will his Fall but didst rather will that good which thou knewest how to derive from his Fall but the Fall it selfe thou didst hate and extremely detest What shall I thinke my God pardon him that hath been deceived thereby mee thinks thy servants are not to be accounted faithfull and thrifty if they must be fettered and shackled to force them to doe thy pleasure but when they freely and of their owne accords do manly act that which belongs unto them That is not acceptable unto thee which is forced and drawne from us by violence but that which proceeds from true virtue for virtue proceeds from a free deliberation not from necessity but free deliberation and election require a freedome of will But why doe I dispute O my God let it suffice me that thou didst not produce a nature not subject to sinne because it pleased thee not to doe it Pardon me pardon me O my God and deny not to forgive my curiosity We should not exercise our selves in an idle and vaine curiosity concerning the creatures but we should direct our steps to things immortall and which indure for ever Those things which thou wouldst conceale are not to be searched into Those things which thou hast revealed are not to be neglected that we be not found unlawfully curious in the one and damnably ingratefull in the other I will seek truth in truth not in vanity I will finde it when I have sought it for truths sake not for vanity nor will I traffique for the gaine of death in the words of life CONTEMP c. 7. Of Gods Providence and Preservation AS there is not O my soule O my sense O my thought any moment wherein my God I doe not use to enjoy thy goodnesse and mercy so ought there not to be any moment wherein I may neglect to have thee present to my memory I should account that I have lost all that time wherein I have not thought upon thee O my God I should account O God all that time lost wherein I doe no meditate upon thee I therefore come again unto thee O thou never failing light O thou untyred and never extinguisht life O thou ever springing fountaine O thou seed-plot of life O thou chiefe beginning of wisdome O thou first originall of goodnesse thou wilt not reject me O my God for I speak not to jeering man but to the Lord that splenitickly laughs not at mee nor flowts mee with his countenance I behold my God this large extended Fabrick and I am struck dumb it was made by thee and thou hadst an end of thy work yet didst thou not leave thy work thou didst not like an Architect depart from the piece of work thou hadst made hee goes away and after regards it not but thou art still present and remainest the same Most powerfull and wise God whatsoever thou didst once make that thou doest alwayes preserve by thy Omnipotency and dost order it by thy wisdome I consider the nature of thy visible creatures their place order condition motion agreements harmony comelinesse beauty greatnesse use delight variety alteration and indurance that is in these corruptible things I find thy providence manifested in each part of thy creation I see it in heaven and in the lights of heaven the Sun the Moon the Starrs in the ayre and in the Clouds in the Earth in the Sea in the plants in the herbs in the seeds in living creatures as well reasonable as unreasonable foure-footed beasts flying fouls in swimming and creeping creatures Think with thy self my most sweet soule who it is that orders heavens axeltree that in so many thousand yeers it 's not growne old nor hath received any alteration and although it be made of a passible and corruptible substance yet by the word of it's creation it remaines still upheld in the same state O Lord our God there is none like unto thee There is none so rude nor of so brutish a behaviour but if he lift up his eyes towards heaven although he may be
mouth I view the letters graven with the finger of God the learning people and teaching God and that there is as it were but one schoole of heaven and earth mixed of men and Angels For so it is written that when Moses had reported to the Lord the peoples words the Lord said unto him Now will I come to thee in a thick cloud that the people may hear me speake to thee And behold a while after they began to heare thunders and lightnings and thicke clouds began to cover the mountains And again He did descend upon the top of Mount Sinah And afterwards he spake with Moses all of them seeing that the Pillar of the Cloud did rest at the doore of the Tabernacle and they stood and worshipped in their Tent doors Thou didst speak O Lord to Moses face to face as one friend useth to doe with another O what a care hast thou of thy creature man thou God that affordst and performest these so great things for him making vile man partaker of thy Word and as it were admitting him to the fellowship of thy holy company opening thy hands full of immortall riches nourishing him with the cup of Nectar and feeding him with heavenly food What greater care I beseech thee couldest thou performe in that thy government or what greater affection couldest thou use that whereas they were but in the action of this present life they did notwithstanding then enjoy a representation of their future blisse Nor let any man here murmure that thou hadst this care of mankinde heretofore but that thou now hast it not Whence shall I beleeve this repining doth proceed by chance because we are not daily fed with Manna as they were although we reap from our fields most plentifull Wheat-harvests or is it because wee catch not Quailes flying as it were into our hands whereas we devour all kinde of birds of cattell and beasts or because we doe not with open mouthes receive the waters springing from the rockes whereas wee drench our Tavernes with the juice of the grapes Somthing I adde more that we our selves who thinke that God did then take care of them and do suppose that God doth now neglect us if wee could exchange our present blessings for theirs which are past wee would utterly refuse to wish to bee in their Condition For we would not lose the things wee now have that wee might possesse the things which they then used Not that wee have better things than that Nation then had but because even they who were fed by the daily ministery of heaven and of God himselfe did preferre the old gluttony of their bellies before the present good things they received beeing sad with the calling to minde of their carnall meates and falling sicke for the filthy love of leeks and oyons not that these things which they formerly used were better but because even as we now do so did they then they loathed the things they had and desired the things they had not We doe rather extol the things that were then than the things which now are not that we had alwayes rather have them if we might choose but because this is an usuall fault that mans soule is incident to to desire the things are absent and for other mens things to please us better than our owne and for ours to please others more than the things they doe enjoy so fastidious are we most miserable men that we are not worthy to live much lesse of life with the good things appertaining to it But what ere thou givest or deniest thou art alwayes a Father and dost never forsake a sonne that trusts and hopes in thee Give if thou wilt but onely five loaves and two fishes a handfull of meale a little oyle in a pitcher a few shreds and branches of trees and no more I will boast of the care thou hast of mee O my God in thee will I boast my heavenly Father who takest me up nor can I receive disquietnesse from thee for ever Thou wilt say to my soul I am thy salvation no good thing shall be diminished to them that seeke thee they shall not bee confounded in the evill day and in a time of famine they shall have enough Although I fall I shall not bee dashed to peeces because thou settest to thine hand I never saw the just man forsaken nor his seed begging their bread I will seeke thee O Lord and thou shalt heare mee and shalt snatch mee out of all my troubles being poore I will call unto thee and thou shalt save mee from all my cares those that feare thee cannot truly suffer want Thou wilt command that the meale in the vessell faile not that the oyle in the pitcher decrease not because I have need of all these things I will first seeke the Kingdome of God and other things shall be added unto me It is so far from thee my God and Lord that thou shouldest forsake thine that thou makest even dogs to helpe and give them ease I will expect thee O Lord I will play the Man I will suffer thine hand O Lord and my heart shall receive comfort let my father and mother forsake mee thou Lord shalt take mee up O God thou shalt be my helpe nor wilt thou despise me O God my salvation Thou shalt set me upon a rock thou shalt hide me in thy Tabernacle in the time of afflictions thou shalt hide me in the depth of thy Tabernacle in the time of affliction that I may see thy goodnesse in the land of the living CONTEMP c. 12. Of the Tabernacle of the Children of Israel Of the Cloud wherein Gods especiall presence was manifested Of the Mercy-seat Of the Arke Of the Manna and Of Aarons rod. I Creepe before thy Tabernacle my God I cōsider how thou didst appear to thy people I find many terrible things but yet comfortable also thou wrappest thy selfe in a Cloud yet is not thy Majesty the lesse resplendent it is so great that thou affrightest and art feared like a consuming fire and how shall I beleeve that an Intellect severed from all mixtion of mortality most excellent most wife and most holy a spirit piercing through all things and intent even to each particular part of the Universe which doth as it were to the strings of a most exquisite Harpe modulate the song of vanishing things in a most pleasing variety a Spirit unbegotten immortall everlasting that is onely a place yea a world able to conteyne it selfe and the greatest world of wisdome of holinesse of understanding of reason of life of formes to whom intelligible nature it selfe doth breath forth and ceases not to frame and render praises can be cloathed in a cloud yet thou cloathest thy selfe with a cloud that thou mightest then exhibit thy selfe according to the time of faith not as thou art a God but as men might endure to behold thee Thou teachest us spirituall things by corporall things and dost demonstrate
many chalenges many and so useth to commend her selfe often unto her beloved Kisse thou also the Lord O my soule lest at any time he be angry and thou perish in the way Who will give thee unto me O Lord O let me find thee and I will kisse not my hands or any thing my hands can touch but even thee O Lord. Let the tumultuous flesh be silent let the phansies of earth and water of ayre and of the vault of heaven hold their peace let dreams and imaginary revelations bee still let every tongue every signe and whatsoever is acted in a trice be quiet say nothing to thy selfe O my soule passe by thy selfe and have no thought upon thy selfe but upon my God For he is truly all my hope and trust For in God and our Lord Jesus Christ most sweet most bountifull and most pitifull is every of our portions our bloud and flesh the lover doth as much as possible desire to be one with the thing beloved and therefore they cling together and glew as it were their bodies in one and they strive to make of both their soules but one by the conjunction of kisses Thou O Jesus my love thou my desire thou my thought thou my hope thou my wish I would I could alwayes cleave unto thee Would to God that where thou my portion doest raigne there I may at least be a subject and where thou my blood doest rule there I may obey and where thou my flesh art glorified I may not bee there confounded I am indeed a sinner but yet I distrust not of the communion of grace and if my sinnes doe forbid it yet my substance requireth it if mine owne offences exclude me the fellowship of my nature drives mee not back for God is not so great an enemie that hee should not love his owne flesh his members and bowels I might indeed despaire by reason of my too too many sinnes and offences my infinite faults and negligences which I have committed and which I daily and without ceasing doe act in heart mouth and worke and by all wayes that humane frailtie can offend except thou haddest kissed me except O Word thou haddest beene made flesh except thou shouldest dwell in me Let reason here be silent and let faith speak the things are true which I say for thy Spirit hath revealed them unto me yet are they so profound that I cannot pierce into them they are so high that my abjectnesse will not suffer me to reach them I will adore them in silence and admire in my adoration And thy miraculous incarnation shall clense my spotted conception Let not reason conceive that which thy overshadowing doth work so that my Salvation may be firme sure and unshaken CONTEMP c. 14. Of Christs Nativitie THat which none ever saw now all the world beholds that which none ever heard now all the world doth heare God the Sonne of God undergoes the shame of our humane nature and takes upon him the reproachfull principles of our earthly originall he lyes in a manger to whom Angels doe yeeld their service he suffers himselfe to be wrapped in swadling cloathes who gives cloathing to the heavens no ambition seene in his house a bare couch in a stable and his Mother lodged in hay such an Inne doth the worlds Creator make choice of these were the dainties of the holy Virgins child-bed ragges in stead of purple for silke and princely trimming nothing but plaine hemmes hee that was before the foundation of the world was laid borne from the heart of his Father who had Alpha and Omega for his surname the beginning and the close of all things which were or are or shall be hereafter now in the end of the determined time put on the shape of a servant and is borne of a poore Virgin Let the vault of heaven sing let every Angell sing let all that belong to vertue sing to the praises of God let no tongue be silent and let every voyce for ever and ever sound forth his praises Old-age and youth quires of Infants troopes of matrons and virgins the simple maydens with tunable voyces let them with chast consorts chaunt forth his praises let every age acknowledge that the reward of our life is come after the bondage of our sharpe enemie Whence is this that not the Mother of our Lord but that the very Lord himselfe comes unto us How great is he that is given to mee hee is the Angell of peace the Lambe of God the Benefactour of all the horne of salvation the Bruiser of the Serpents head the Governour of Israel he is the desire of the Gentiles the guide of our life and the expectation of the Nations He is the Son of the most High the branch of Jesse the humble Caller of mankind he is our Intercessour he is our Righteousnesse he is our Deliverer hee is our Mediatour hee is our Nourisher hee is our Helper He is the Prince of Peace he is the great Prophet the Restorer of our quiet he is our Redeemer Hee is our Reconciler he is King of Sion a Saviour an Expiatory Sacrifice he is the heavenly Bridegroome the Expeller of sadnesse he is the Word made flesh the most ample Present the heavenly Zelote he is all things Let the bright heaven thunder let the glad earth personate let yawning hell mourne but let mankind keepe a Jubily we groaped in darknesse and were blinded and covered in a most thick night he proceedeth out of the darknesse and night that expelleth these mists of ignorance and night of sinnes Our nature is not now strange to God since that in it even in Christ our Mediatour the fulnesse of the Godhead doth now dwell for the Virgins womb was made choice of for the Lord of heaven and earth to spring in nor was that blessed masse the Sonne of God incarnate for her onely but that of his fulnesse all wee might be made pertakers God did not onely make mee but hee made many things for me seeing that the Word is made flesh for me and dwelleth in us he is become one flesh with me that he might make mee one Spirit with him Christ would become that which man is that man might become what God is it is impossible for mee to understand the secret of his Nativity My understanding failes my voice nay not mine only but even the voice of the Angels is stopped it is above Powers above Cherubin and Seraphin and above all sense I therefore lay my hand upon my mouth I may not search after these so high mysteries It may bee knowne that he was borne It is not to bee disputed how hee was borne it is rashnesse to enquire after this This is an unutterable Birth who shall declare it An Angell shewes it the Vertue overshadowes the Spirit assists the Virgin beleeves a Virgin brings forth and yet continues a Virgin who doth not admire the Word is born an Infant 8c length is acknowledged to be
bigger volumes at length they mount so high that by their loftinesse they overturne all those that saile upon them Now also hastens that extreame tempest of soules that shall overwhelme the whole World which sets forth unto us its beginning by wars slaughters as it were by some of his waves And the neerer we do daily come to the end so much the greater are the volumes of troubles which we behold but at the last when all the Elements are in a hurly burly the Iudge will come amongst us and bring an end of all things with him and certainely it is but a moment till he shall shake not only the earth but the heavens themselves We ought vigilantly to looke for this tempest and to be afraid of the waves that daily swell against us and to foresee what must follow upon these troubles which buffet the World God himselfe warnes us so saying take heed least at any time your hearts be over charged with gluttony and drunkennesse for drunkennesse is a smooth devill a sweet poyson a delightfull sin he that is possessed with it hath not himself and he that acts it commits not a sin but is wholly sin it selfe and as the soule which is free from wine is most wise and of the most excellent temper so moystned with the vapours of wine it is as it were enveloped in a cloud it doth confound nature makes us lose grace destroys our glory and makes us incurre eternall damnation He warnes us that we be not entangled with the cares of this life For we cannot serve two God and Mammon for the love of riches doth farre more torture than refresh our soules to get them is toylesome we keepe them with feare and lose them with much sorrow He warnes us that we watch at all times and pray that wee may bee worthy to escape the evils to come and to stand before the sonne of man Let us watch O let us watch for that only day of our Lords comming is kept secret that we might every day stand in awe The Lord will come in an houre when wee thinke not of him when wee shall say peace and all things are safe Whether we eate or drinke or whatsoever we do else let that dreadfull voice alwayes sound in our eares Arise ye dead and come unto judgement Let us watch my companions let us watch hee shall be blessed whosoever he be that doth nothing without the remembrance of this Iudgement let us pray O my companions let vs pray let us pray without ceasing and let us cry with a strong voyce to the Lord and though wee cease with our tongue yet let us cry with good workes and that without ceasing for prayer is rather of the heart than of the lippes rather of our workes than of our words the words of him that prays are not so much observed by God as the heart of the suppliant By how much more we are oppressed with the tumultuousnesse of carnall things so much the more fervently we ought to bend our selves unto prayer Let us pray continually because wee are alwayes tempted and because our sins doe labour without intermission to circumvent us the world to deceive us hell to devour us and the devill to insnare us Let us surround God making as it were a power against him by our prayers that we may bind and overcome our sinnes the world hell and the devill and may without blame wait for the fixed houre and the day of the universall doome That houre shall not be unprofitable to us which to others hath proved most fruitfull for prayer quenched the fiery fornace for the three Children stopped the Lions mouthes that they could not hurt Daniel appeased the seditious Israelites for Moses opened Paradise locked up heaven made the barren wombe fruitfull loosed Pauls and Peters bands nay he hath enlarged the confidence of prayer which carryed Cornelius to heaven and did justifie the Publicane That I might stirre up and encrease this desire of prayer of Groanes and of Sighes in my selfe not long since I framed this incitement when Hanibal as it were was even at our gates and rash death commanded mee to cease from my other labours and I doe willingly impart it to the youth that love learning and religion and to others that please to whom I wholly enthrall my selfe I have willingly and wittingly passed over those quarrels and brawles which many make against things of this nature for I endeavoured not so much to sharpen and embelish the wit as to amend and better the soul nor could I with a soaring wing of wit compasse heaven and earth If any desire a smooth style let him know that I made choyce rather to speak in other mens words and to recollect the sentences of the Ancient than to speake in mine owne phrase and let him consider not the style but the sense of the matter wherin these things are writ neither whether it bee according to the usuall manner of phrase but whether the matter be true for if the sense hee true What skils it saith a learned German in so abstruse a busines whether thou cloath it in a fine or a course vaile or garment so it be not uncomely Surely my minde is good throughout and if my humane tongue or pen shall any where falter let mee not bee too severely punished for there is no malice or obstinacie in it though there may be weaknesse and obscurity if any shall maintaine that these things are neither beseeming my age or condition I shall willingly give him leave to abound in his owne sense and if he please to bee wise in his owne conceit yet every man ought to hold piety deare and to be studious of it of whatsoever qualitie or years they be of I am young sayes one and now I will take my pleasure hereafter will I repent This is as much as to say I will wound my selfe with my sword and then I will goe to the Chirurgion Alas knowest thou not that a wound is received in a minute that can hardly bee cured in a long time Thou mayst sin of thy selfe but rise from sin alone thou canst not in which most grave sentence of S. Augustine I end and seriously rest I beseech you doe so with me Imprimatur THO. WYKES Octob. 30. 1639. CONTEMPLATIONS SIGHES and GROANES of a Christian CONTEMP c. 1 Of the greatnesse of Gods Love AWake my soule out of the sleep of ignorance awake my heart out of the sleep of sloth struggle out my spirit out of the depth of darknesse and look back upon thy God look upon thy God that cannot be seen with corporeall eyes because he dwels in an inaccessible light that none can behold and live yet doe I O my god lift up my spirit unto thee I raise up my soule unto thee I cast up mine eyes unto thee my understanding desires to meditate and consider of thee but sees not where to begin how to goe on aad in
soule beaten with the flood of sinnes findes no refuge in this world no comfort no aide be thou only my retiring place and my peacefull sanctuary the Dove makes her nest in the holes of the rock and in the cave of the flint wall my soule shall rest in the holes of thy wounds and shall therein perpetually delight her selfe no creature so well pleased with gemitus as the Turtle shee mourns both night and day Oh Christ I will send forth no other voice than a mourning and lamenting voice that I have not my portion hereafter with the Ravens but that thou O Christ mayst say to me behold my love thou art faire thy eyes are Doves eyes arise my love my faire one and come away arise make haste my love my Dove my faire one and come away O Christ when shall I come CONTEMP c. 10. Of Jacobs Ladder STir up now thy selfe O my soule and raise up thy whole understanding and consider as much as thou art able how great and what that is that is set before thee goe into Bethel enter into the house of God wherein the Lord inhabits which is the Gate of Heaven Where canst thou take better rest than where thy God doth rest If the heart of man bee not fixed in that eternall place it can never be firme but more wavering than motion it selfe passing from one thing to another seeking rest where there is none to be found for if his captive affections be taken up in these transitory and vaine things he can finde no true rest because the soule is of so great a value that nothing but the chiefe good can content it enter therefore O my soule into Bethel goe into the house of thy God dwell in the high place accompany thy God Ascend O my soule ascend the Ladder is set by which thou maiest climbe to the most High What is that Ladder O my God which thy holy Israel did see in his dreame which stood upon the earth and reached heaven with his top by which also the Angels of heaven did ascend and descend is it not thy righteous Sonne who is the Way the Truth and the Life and by whom only we have accesse to thee He stood upon the earth because hee assumed our humane nature into the unity of his Person and the branch of Iesse sprang from the earthly Virgin Thou my God willing of old to heale man the King of all thy creatures of his sinne didst make as it were thy blessed Sonne in a sort to goe back from the excellency of the Divinity and by extreme humility having passed over nine degrees those nine orders of Angels to descend by the incarnation unto the tenth degree even the humane nature He was borne unto us he lived amongst us he also ruleth amidst us he is with us nor doth he ever forsake those whom he once determined to love O blessed Ladder fixe thy selfe also upon my heart and cause my soule to mount up and remaine with thee Thou didst descend for my sake let me ascend to thee as thou hast conformed thy selfe to my infirmity so make me partake of that rest and pleasure which no care can either interrupt or lessen The top of this Ladder did touch the heaven but thou the Messiah dost not only touch heaven and art from thence to come unto us and hast from all eternity taken thy pastime therein but hast also framed it thou who hast neither beginning nor end of dayes for yesterday to day and for ever art thou the first and the last the great the true and blessed God who wast in the beginning and wast glorified with the Father before the foundation of the world was layd But the Ladder was but one that did reach from earth to heaven so thou O most sweete Jesus art Lord of heaven and a man of the earth yet but one Person but one Man one God and one Mediatour between a displeased God and a wretched man by the union of the Divine and humane nature By this Ladder Angels ascend and descend because Angels desire to look into the mystery of so holy and admirable an union who notwithstanding doe alwayes see and heare the holy Spirit instructing them There doe also other Angels ascend and descend even the Teachers and all beleevers who ought to preach nothing else but Christ because there is no admittance to life by any other nor is there any open familiar and daily passage to the Father but this Imitate O my deere soule the pure chaste and holy Angels in purity in chastity in sanctity except thou wilt lie groveling on the earth and laden with the durt of thy sinnes bee thrust into hell O Lord I cannot lift up my selfe bee thou my guardian where ever I goe and bring me out of banishment into thy promised Land nor neglect or forsake mee till I shall returne into my Countrey In the meane time let mee be like Iacob a supplanter and by faith let mee trample upon sinne let me prevaile and obtaine the blessing let mee rest upon the living Corner Stone and I shall not bee moved or confounded let me be also a spirituall Stone built upon that Corner Stone that I may become an Habitation and Temple of Divinity Ah Jesu my Redemption my Love and Desire bee present with mee I invoke thee I cry unto thee with a strong voice with my whole heart which voice none but thou canst heare I invite thee into my soule enter into it and fit it for thy selfe that thou mayest possesse it without spot or wrinkle for a pure habitation is suteable for a most pure Lord sanctifie mee therefore thy vessell which thou hast made empty out the malice and fill it with grace and keepe it still full that I may bee now and ever a Temple fitting for thee to dwell in Most Sweet most Benigne most Loving most Deere most Mighty most Desired most Pretious most Lovely most Beautifull Thou that art sweeter than Honie whiter than Milke or Snow pleasanter than Nectar more pretious than Gemmes or Gold and deerer unto mee than all the riches and honours of the World CONTEMP c. 11. Of the most tender care of God over his people to be collected from his care for his people Israel in the wildernesse MY soule doth often languish and my heart is often full of great cares when I thinke what I may bee namely an example of weakenesse the ruine of Time the scorn of Fortune the image of Mutability the beame of Envie and Calamity and the rest nothing but Flegme and Choler Oh who sees not how many things may be every where busie upon the circumference of the earth Oh with how many teares and sighes they fill the earth all which doe as it were by a certaine fate accompany mans life he deplores the sicknesses which possesse this his body he deplores the uncertaine condition of his health and the ambiguity of his life For what Age or Time is
short breadth narrownesse heigth lownesse and depth shallownesse there light is found that shines not the Word an Infant thirsting for water hūgring after bread O Nativity honorable to the world in its unpolluted holinesse lovely to men by the greatnesse of the benefit bestowed inscrutable also to the Angels by the depth of the sacred Mystery and admirable in all these things by the speciall excellency of the newnesse thereof even so that there hath not bin seene the like before it nor can there be seen any such to follow it Ah what was the cause of Christs comming and Birth what but to save sinners Take away sicknesse take away wounds and there will bee no use for medicines Therefore the great Physitian came from heaven because men lay sicke in all places all the stocke of mankind was lost by the sinne of one in whom all were and therefore came one without sinne that might save all that were in their sinnes for not our merits but our sinnes drew him from heaven It is a thing becomming our faithfull soules Christian breasts beleeving minds that we celebrate the comming of our Lord with all devoutnesse and that we meditate of his Birth being delighted wirh so great a consolation and amased with so excellent a Dignity and enflamed with so great a love It is a worthy thing my brethren that we sing forth glory to the Trinity in unity and to God the Divine and begotten off-spring and also to the Spirit proceeding from them both O Jesu thou that wouldest be borne an Infant make mee become little in mine owne sight and that I may not too much desire high things Thou which diddest proceed from the wombe of a most chaste Virgin be thou also borne in my chaste heart which is purified by thee Thou who wert born in the town of Bethlehem that is the house of bread and wast sought and found by the Shepherds joyne mee often with thy Shepherds and furnish mee with the heavenly bread and so thy Nativity shall for ever satisfie me The heaven was opened when thou wast borne open heaven also unto me when the dayes of this my earthly birth and pilgrimage are ended that I may see and glorifie thee Angels accompanied the Shepherds that went to thee joyne them also to my company that I be not cast headlong into a by-way or desire any thing besides thee the brightnesse of the Lord did shine upon those that did desire to be neere thee I would that I might bee alwayes present with thee and be illuminated by thy Light that I rush not into darksome fens or be involved in filth and pernitious darknesse They granted thee no roome in the Inne O make choyce of a place in my heart let my heart be thy manger and thy swadling bands wherewith thou wert swathed that I may for ever remaine inclosed within thy wounds and within thy mercy and my soule shall magnifie thee O Lord and my spirit shall rejoyce in God my Saviour I will call out with those lowd crying and fiery inhabitants of heaven Glory bee to God on high on earth peace good will towards men now is wrought salvation and power and the Kingdome of our God and the power of his Christ Thou art worthy O Lord our God to receive Glory and Honour and Power Ah Lord when shall this come to passe when wilt thou bestow this upon mee CONTEMP c. 15. Of the name Jesus WHat sound is this that flies to mine eares it is a name that parents gave not neither did the circucising Priest bestow it but an Angell brought it from heaven and God that it should be brought and declared unto us commanded saying His name is Jesus how pleasant delightfull and forcible a name O how this name doth comfort my soule Jesus is a God of giving men salvation which is expounded a Saviour or saving for this reason of the name was given when before he was to be borne by the Virgin it was said Thou shalt call his name Jesus because hee shall save his people from their sinnes God hath now manifested his salvation all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God hee hath opened himselfe in the earth and salvation and righteousnesse have been fruitfull My God thou makest us safe in the Lord our God thou hast given us a light of the Gentiles which is our salvation even to the ends of the earth Let us therefore rejoyce in God our Saviour say to the Daughter of Sion behold salvation approacheth The other names of the Messiah are taken from the effects of his salvation and doe onely signifie either the beginning or middle or onely the end of salvation but this name Jesus the whole proceeding thereof for it doth sufficiently containe and expresse the beginning middle and end thereof and doth include all other things also within it The Angels adore and the devils doe tremble at this name and men receive it for their salvations This name is glorious in the preaching of it being thought upon doth nourish us called upon doth mollifie and anoint us not in the letters of it but by its spirit and life Whence could there have beene in all the world so great and so sodaine a light of faith but by the preaching of the name of Jesus Hath not God called us in the light of this name into his admirable light to such as are so enlightned and doe see light by his light Paul speaketh deservedly You were sometimes darknesse but now are you light in the Lord. And the name of Jesus is not onely a light but it is also food art not thou as often refreshed as thou dost think upon it What doth so much fatten the soule as the thought of that name What doth so much repaire the decayed senses It strengthens our vertues it quickens good and honest manners it cherisheth chaste affections all meat is dry that is not moistned with this oyle is unsavoury not seasoned with this salt If thou writest to mee I relish it not if thou leave out Jesus Jesus is honey in the mouth harmony in the eare gladnesse and physicke for the heart Is any of us sad let Jesus come into the heart and thence let him flow into our mouths and behold at the rising of the light of that name every cloud is expelled and the cleare light returnes Doth any slip into sinne doth he haste even to the halter of death by his despaire doth he not by invocation of this name of life forthwith respire to life Surely there have beene many others who have had the name of Jesus for the name of Ioshuah that led the Israelites through Jordan into the land of Canaan is the same name with Jesus The son of Syrach is called Iesus and Iesus is mentioned in Zachary but these men beare the name without the thing or if they wrought any safety they performed it by the power and helpe of this my Jesus There
which the Prophet said A new name shall be given thee which the mouth of the Lord shall bestow on thee We have changed our accursed name because God hath given us a new name Take heed to your selves take heed who ever you be that you despise none of the faithfull that you disesteeme or reproach them not though he seeme most miserable most abject and most afflicted for let his misery or affliction be as great as may be yet is he the Almighty Gods Anointed the Prophet of the most holy the Priest of the most High yea he is himselfe a king of most great Majesty Yee are Prophets O Christians therefore let the Word of God dwell plentifully in you with all wisdome teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymnes and spirituall songs singing unto the Lord with grace in your hearts Ye are Priests ye Christians therefore I beseech you my brethren by the mercies of God that you give up your bodies a living and a holy sacrifice and acceptable to God by your reasonable service of him and be not fashioned like this world but be yee changed through the renewing of your mindes that ye may discerne what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God Ye are Kings O Christians be not therefore servants of sin or be subject to the boyling affections of the flesh but mortifie your sinnes tame your lusts nor prostitute your dignity to a most base and impure servitude Extoll your Christ because all your eminencie all your worth all your grace and all your glory proceedeth from him As the rivers do flow from the sea and flow back againe into the same so let your eminency dignity grace and glory be directed disposed of and referred to the authour and giver thereof Call upon Christ O ye Christians because though you be anointed yet may that ointment be overwhelmed defiled and wiped off by the filth of your sinnes and the durt of your corruptions ye carry heavenly gifts in brittle vessels pray that they be not broken and your graces spilt pray that no wind may extinguish your flame that your oyle faile you not and yee be left in darknesse with the foolish virgins Love your Christ yee Christians because he is anointed that you might be anointed because he is a King that hath all the inhabitants of the earth for his subjects because he is a Priest that hath expiated all the sinnes of the whole world because he is a Prophet that doth instruct all the ignorant doth enforme them and teacheth them the right way to life Love Christ you Christians because the most apparant manifestation of a thankfull mind consisteth not in words but works not in promises but in obedience But to the end you may more fully consider your dignity the birth of a Christian is to be weighed God is his Father in heaven the Church is his mother upon the earth The Word of God to be heard and seene is the seed that is the Word preached this is the administration of the Sacraments Yee are borne againe not of corruptible seed but incorruptible by the Word of God that lives and abideth for evermore The Father of lights hath begotten you by the Word of his truth The Churches are the wombe where the seed of the heavenly Word is scattered and in which the eternall Father and our mother the Church doe meet together The heart of man is the matter of this generation the privation is the mortification of the old Adam the forme is the vivification it selfe whence doth arise the assent of the understanding and confidence of the will that the sonne of wrath may become the sonne of grace the blinde may see the deafe may heare the dumbe may speake the lame walke the leaper be cleansed and life may be restored to the dead The time of this formation is when a Christian doth more and more profit in knowledge of the understanding and holinesse in the heart the carrying in the wombe is when in our whole life by meanes of the vessels of the wombe and navell that is by the ministers of the Word he attracteth to himselfe the milke of saving knowledge from the two breasts of the Church the Law and the Gospell and as an Embrion lives in the wombe so he lives in the Word Hee is a brute creature and more silly than a beast that doth not admire that a childe in the wombe should be preserved alive in so darke a prison in so uncleane streights among so many filths corruptions excrements wrapped in filmes and crowded by the bowels but it is farre more to be wondred at that any Christian should be supported amidst so many griefes paines torments snares and calamities For about the wombe wherein we are carried the World cries I will slay him the Flesh cries I will infect him the Devill cries I will deceive him Wee must there lie hid where there is much malice where is little wisdome where all things are viscous and slimie all things hid in darknesse and beset with snares where the soules are in danger the bodies are afflicted where all things are vanity and vexation of Spirit and yet for all this we live and are preserved we live and are not killed we are nourished and not in want we are carried in the wombe and are not abortive we are sustained and are in want of nothing The Embrion in the mothers wombe lives a hidden life he lives indeed in the world but is not seene with the eyes of any he sends forth his breath but scarce draws any in we also Embrions of regeneration lead a hidden life For though we live in the kingdome of heaven yet our glory and desireable life doth not as yet make any great shew we yet behold not the light of eternall blessednesse we yet draw not the aire of the region of Paradise we yet eat not the Angelicall Manna we yet drinke not of the heavenly liquour but have as it were but a light taste of al these things and we have scarce any sensible breathing of these things But the houre is at hand and the time will come that it shall be made manifest what we shall be wherein we shall beginne and never end this glorious light this life not of hope but of the things hoped for even the life of vision We shal begin this life when we die for then begin we to be borne to the true light when we first put off our mortality For the true birth day of Christians is their day of death In death they do begin to live through death they enter into life as the infant lies sighing at the port of the wombe expecting his passage and though he be even at deaths threshold yet is he conveyed into the haven of life O living death of Christians O Christian sonne of God brother of Christ companion of the Angels Lord of the world partaker of the divine nature O Christian exalted above sin and the law
inheritance yet O my Father thou hast not lost the heart of a Father though I have fallen from thee my Father yet wilt not thou fall from me or cease to be my Father that word never failed As I live I will not the death of a sinner but that hee may bee converted and live And although my sins be innumerable and my wounds may seeme incurable yet art not thou ignorant of a way to cure me confirme therefore and fulfill thy promises wash me effectually with the blood of thy Son that as to me his death prove not in vaine I am as well a part of his flesh and he a part of mine as Peter David or Paul he is as well to me an Emmanuel as to any other Hee bare the sins of the whole world and therefore hee bore mine also Looke back therefore look back therefore O Lord upon this lost sheepe regard thy creature nor contend with him in thy fury whom thou hast made with thy hands take care O Lord of the soule which thou hast redeemed I come creeping to thee wounded with many wounds but thou most experienced Physitian of soules and Maâ—â—er of the diseased canst heale them all I come being blinded but thou canst enlighten me I come dead unto thee but thou canst give me life I come full of leprosie but thou canst cleanse me Sprinkle me with Hysop and I shall be cleane wash me and I shall be whiter than snow O my God the God of my life thy mercy is greater than my sins thy clemencie exceeds all my iniquities Thou canst forgiue more O Lord than I can offend thy mercies are bottomlesse and numberlesse but as many as my sins are and as great as they are they are neither bottomlesse nor numberlesse Take me out therefore and deliver mee forgive mee my great injustice take away my stony and hard heart and create in me a soft and a cleane heart that even in this life I may give thee thanks let me by my faith and good example bring sinners to thee and let me glorifie thee and celebrate thee for these and other thy innumerable blessings for evermore Amen my God be it so even so be it my Lord Jesus Christ CONTEMP c. 38. Of the greatnesse and foulnesse of our sinnes and of the Confession of them I Am affraid of my rashnesse when I consider with my selfe what a Majestie I have offended with my sins when I consider how benigne and wonderfull a Father I have forsaken I detest mine owne ingratitude when I consider from how happie a libertie of spirit into how miserable servitude I have cast my selfe I condemne mine owne madnesse and am wholly displeasing to my selfe nor have any other object before my eyes but hell and desperation namely that doth terrifie my conscience by Gods inevitable Justice I am to be consumed like rottennesse sin is rottennesse indeed for it destroyes the beauty of the soule the sweet savour of a good name the worth of grace the relish of glory it is truly durt being wallowed therein we become abominable to honest men the good Angels and the just God It is truely smoak that foretels us that hell-fire is not farre from it and doth drive away the heavenly Dove It is indeed the Devils taverne in which for the price of soules hee sels the world the wine of pleasure it is the dart with which our soule is pierced thorow and is deprived of all vigour and life It is true sicknesse because it leaves us no health in our flesh nor from the presence of Gods wrath grants us any quietnesse in our bones It is truly a Sea for it swels over our head and easily swalloweth up our whole body It is truly a burden because a sinner is most burdened therewith and is even pressed downe unto hell it selfe But whither shall I goe where shall I withdraw my selfe Ah! be mercifull unto me O take pitie upon mee according to thy great mercy and according to the multitude of thy compassions wash away mine iniquities Against thee against thee onely have I sinned and done this evill in thy sight behold I am begotten in iniquitie and in sinne hath my mother conceived me I have gone astray like a sheepe that perisheth seeke out thy lost sheep O Lord remember not the faults and transgressions of my youth O Lord who understands his owne sins Cleanse me from my secret offences Enter not into judgement with thy servant because no man living can be justified before thee Remember O Lord thy mercies and compassions which have been of old Remember me according to thy mercies even for thy goodnesse sake O Lord. O Lord be mercifull unto mine offences make thy mercies wonderfull thou who savest those that trust in thee Turne not thy face from me nor cast away thy servant in displeasure for in death no man remembreth thee nor shall any praise thee in the grave What profit is in my bloud when I descend into corruption Shall dust give praise unto thee or set forth thy truth Regard and heare me O God lighten mine eyes that I sleepe not in death Set not thy mercies farre from me for thy mercy and truth doe alwayes preserve in thee O Lord have I trusted let me never be confounded Amen CONTEMP c. 39. Of Gods readinesse to forgive sinnes and our thankesgiving for the forgivenesse of them WHo can despaire of pardon from him who doth so often in the writings of the Prophets of his owne accord invite sinners to repentance crying out That he would not the death of a sinner but rather that he should bee converted and live How ready is also his pardon to them that repent he hath inculcated unto us by his only begotten Son in many of his Parables as of the groat that was lost and found againe the strayed sheepe brought back upon the shoulders but more plainly by that of the prodigall sonne whose very image I am No man O God is so ready to sinne but thou art far more ready in thy good time to pardon our sinnes O pitifull and mercifull Lord slow to anger and very pitifull He strives not with us for ever neither is he alwayes wrath with us Because as the heaven is higher than the earth so hath he made his mercies to prevaile over me As farre as the East is distant from the West so far hath he set my sins from me As a father taketh pity upon his sonne so hath the Lord taken pity upon me he hath washed me from my iniquity he hath clensed me from my sins he knows whereof we be made he remembers we are but dust Why art thou sad ô my soule and why art thou troubled returne ô my soule into thy rest for the Lord hath done thee good He hath delivered my soule from death mine eyes from teares and my feet from falling Blessed are they whose sins are forgiven and whose offences are covered Blessed is the man unto whom the
power is great and there is no summing up of thy greatnesse and goodnesse beneficence and clemency Though but a man I will confesse thee though I am but one piece of thy Creation and but a man that carries his mortality about him and that beares within him a testimony of his sinnes though such a man such a portion of thy Creation yet will I praise thee If I were without thee I should not be whatsoever I am I should become nothing Thou wast in mee to make me have a being and to be with thee but I departed from thee although I am thus in thee and with thee But how could I depart or be absent from thee how could I fly from thy face if I ascended into Heaven thou wast there for thence didst thou cast downe headlong the spirit of pride and authour of disobedience if I should make my bed in hell thou wouldest be there also for thou hast the keyes thereof and setst open the gates thereof for them that trust not in thee if I should plunge my selfe in the depth of the Sea thou wouldest there find mee for thou didst cast disobedient peevish Jonah into the maw of the whale thou madest him there a prisoner 3 nights and 3 dayes and then didest draw him thence neither torne hurt or wounded if also I should take the wings of the morning and make my habitation beyond the farthest Seas even there would thy hand lead mee and thy right hand take hold upon mee if I should say yet shall the darknesse hide me why even night shall be turned into day unto me darknesse it selfe cannot hide from thee the night to thee shines like the day darknesse is light and light as darknesse not houses nor vailes nor walls nor enclosures no caves that are under ground or dens that are full of darknesse can shut out thy presence thou art more nearely present with us than we are to our selves Thou searchest through our life our actions and all our thoughts Can any lurking place hide any from thy presence Doest not thou fill heaven and earth and art a God at hand and also afarr off Thou art all eye for thou seest all things all eare because thou hearest all things all hand for thou framest all things all foot for thou art every where present thou art neare me thou art with me thou art in mee thou sittest within mee thou art an observer of all my good and evill and art my protector yet my God I went from thee I departed and forsook thee I blush when I speak this yet I speak it willingly because forthwith thy mercy offers it selfe vnto me Souldiers that keep not their stations are punished with death and hee that in the battell first begins to runne loses his life yea for a man but to lose his target is counted a crime and to cast away his weapons is counted a most reproachfull thing Ah! how foulely have I left my station without thy command O heavenly eternall commander there was yet no ordered or marshalled battell with Satan I was but only assailed by a light skirmish and at the very first onset I threw away the buckler of my integrity and faith I suffered my weapons to bee shaken out of my hands and I fled from my allegeance from before thy face With what a slight resistance and by how childish a valour might I have overcome Satan it was my sloath and not his force that made him strong As a man greedy of gaine seeing an orphant have riches entices him often to his house makes him a banquet bestowes something on him and beguiles him with faire words till hee hath gotten his meanes so the devill seeing that I had a pretious treasure heavenly wisdome layd up in an earthen chest presently offered mee wealth pleasures and honours that baited with these hee might spoyle mee of my heavenly riches he hath stripped mee and spoyled mee of all my treasure which I ought to have kept holily and might without difficulty have done it But what gave he me in requitall what riches what pleasures what honours What can he repay whose inheritance and riches is that infernall torment that gulfe that vomits forth pitch and flames whose torments are without end and his confusion everlasting But thou my God for my backsliding hast rendered a reacceptance of me for my falling from thee thou hast requited mee with thy favour For thy grace and mercy is precedent and greater than my whole offence and all my failings I read it spoken by thy Kingly servant that thy mercy is great great hee said it was but how great hee could not tell wee have knowne that it is great but how great we have not knowne nor can perceive We know not the quantity of it's greatnesse which cannot be expressed in words Wee see the fruit of mercy is great for were it not extended beyond measure we had not after our Fall been received of thee Ah what is sinne to the mercy of God A spiders web that a blast of wind makes invisible Consider a spark of fire if it should fall into the Sea could it continue living or visible as a spark to the Sea so is mans malice to Gods Pitty and Clemency yea not so only but farre lesse for the Ocean though it be vast yet is not unmeasurable but of Gods mercies there is no measure CONTEMP c. 4. Of the Councell of the Trinity touching the Creation of Man and of the end why Man was created WHat is man that thou wast mindfull of him what the son of man that thou didst visit him Thou thoughtest of me before I had a being I was in thy minde before I was in the world thou appointedst a consult O my God when thou wast to make me after thou hadst brought forth all things and hadst built this vast stage of the world hadst replenished and adorned it thou didst say Let us make man after our Image Thou God and Father who art the beginning and originall of the Trinity with whom consultedst thou was it with the Angels and those holy Inhabitants of heaven why surely they joyned not with thee in the Creation of man nor was man made according to their similitude Did hee consult with the Earth or with the Sun because the Sun and man are said to generate man who may be suffered to trifle thus Let us make man saidst thou we our selves will be busie about him and not an Angell not the Earth not the Sunne not the Water nor any other thing But who is with thee doest thou speak in the Potentates language Nor was this sutable thou speakest to thy Coeternall and Coessentiall Son and holy Spirit thou speakest God with God one God as the Father workes so works the Son and holy Ghost they work but one Thou createdst man the worke of the whole Trinity to live in this world better than the whole world the most exquisite Creature of all creatures the most
absolute Creature or little world the Compendium and Epitome of the great world yet not properly a world but a man framed by thy hands by the Communion of the Son and the holy Ghost an image enlivened by the breath of thy mouth and a representation of thy selfe Heaven thy habitation is resplendant with shining and sparkling lights the earth thy footstoole doth swell with a thousand sort of fruits and yet none of them is said to be made as man was O God I am thy Image I am thy likenesse therefore I will be thy pleasure thy delight thy content thou wilt take care of me and never forsake me for who will neglect an image and a worke made after his owne likenesse To what end O my God hast thou done all this why didst thou forme and fashion me in so excellent a manner Thou madest man first of al that he might be the stock of us all from which so many branches so many leafes and so many fruits should spring Thou wouldest that all should have one originall and a like beginning that no man should preferre himselfe before another as if he were the seed of a more noble father that none should despise another that one should not hurt another but that we should every one mutually assist each other in his labour that we should be all of one mind will the same thing covet and desire the same thing and that there might not be heard any brawles contentions enviousnesse or deceits amongst us For concord is that most fragrant Balsum that breathes thee that excellent odour Thousand thousands in heaven do serve thee and there is found no discord thousand thousands should also serve thee on earth and there should be found no discord Thou didst make us all that we should be the cleere mirrour of thy Majesty of thy Glory of thy Dignity of thy Power and of thy Wisdome The work commends the workman and the effect shewes the cause O unspeakeable Artist O unvaluable causer of all things Let us take heed that we neither break nor spot that we nor fully nor make dusky this glasse let us beware that we cause not Satans vizard to be seene in this glasse but let wisdome piety goodnesse curtesie chastity and whatsoever is most excellent in thee in part reflect in us Thou madest us all that wee should bee the worlds perfection beauty and ornament The world was a Cage cunningly and wonderfully wrought but it wanted a singing bird by whose warbling notes al things might be expressed let us wordlings beware that we be not to the world like a Crow or dunghill bird or a Jay but a Lark that doth night and day in the evening and at morne celebrate and proclaime his Creatours praise let us not be a disgrace an unprofitable and reproachfull burden that the world may labour to expell with groans and be glad not sorry to be rid of it rather than wish for its returne Thou hast made us all that we should admire and set forth thee and thy works Thou hast endued me with an understanding enlightned with heavenly fire that by thy selfe I might distinguish thee from my selfe and the world Thou hast given me a will that knowing thee I might love thee above all things because thou excellest all things and dost comprehend all good things within thee Thou gavest me a tongue that knowing and loving thee I should lively expresse and redouble thy praises Be present my understanding be present my will be present my tongue know him love him praise him praise the Lord O my soule I will praise the Lord all my life long I will sing unto my God while I have any being Praise ye the Lord for it is good to sing unto our God it is a pleasant and comely thing to be thankfull unto him Thou hast made us all that wee should live with thee and that wee should be made partakers of thy glory and gladnesse The better any thing is the more it communicates its goodnesse to others but thou my God art the best of bests therefore thy goodnesse doth most plentifully flow to all so that they will lay hold and embrace it Vouchsafe safe O Lord that whilst I walke in the way I may dwell and remaine with thee in life Thou ordainest me to life O suffer me not to fall by death death is not of thee but from my selfe life is not from me but from thee take that from me which proceeds from me and give me that which comes from thee and I will praise thee in thine own holinesse I will praise thee in the firmament of thine owne power I will praise thee in thy virtues I will praise thee according to the magnitude of thy greatnesse I will praise thee in the sound of the Trumpet I will praise thee upon the Psaltery and Harpe I will praise thee in the Cymball and Quire I will praise thee upon the stringed instruments and Organs I will praise thee in the well sounding Cymballs I will prayse thee on the loud Cymballs every thing that hath breath shall praise thee Hallelujah My spirit shall leap for joy in God my Saviour for evermore O most blessed God give me a blessed age CONTEMP c. V. Of Paradise and of casting forth of Man from thence OMnipotent Creatour thou didest bestow a threefold grace upon man the grace of the soule originall righteousnesse and the grace of the body immortality and the grace of a most pleasant place to inhabit but what is that place my God wherein thou didest place my first parent and mee in him I read the words of thy penman but what meane those words what is Paradise what is Eden teach me O my God for no man although hee think he hath gotten much knowledg can instruct me sufficiently I collect that thou plantedst a garden and that it looked toward the East I heare of foure rivers Ganges Nile Tigris and Euphrates but yet I am not satisfied for the doubts of Disputants and their wrangling makes the matter very intricate unto me But why doe I seeke for that which is not and neglect that which is give me the heavenly Paradise and the earthly Paradise shall never trouble me I understand it was a most fruitfull Garden and stuffed with joy pleasure and delight in which the eyes did want nothing nor the ears or any other part of that body which it did not enjoy Within thou hadst furnished man with wisdome and understanding without thou sufferedst him not to want any thing All the creatures came about that new king enthroned by the King of kings did tender him homage and did reverence him with humble subjection The tall fertile odoriferous pruned comely and pregnant trees how much did they refresh him the Alder tree Almond tree Cherry tree Fig tree Cidonian Punick aurea and what ever else doe beautifie the fields But above the rest notable are those two which thy booke describes unto me which did most of
ignorant whose providence it is that governes all this that hee sees yet that doth not understand from the very order constancy moderation and profit of these things that there is a Providence Though wee should find some living creatures in regard of their use unprofitable and ordeined to no fit use for us yet might wee receive profit in beholding them and they might be more profitable to their hearts that behold them than to the eyes of those that use them And although ir were apparent that they were hurtfull and pernicious to mans temporary health yet would it not follow but they might mutually serve for his good though not for his meat and service yet to exercise his wit according to that proceeding of common instruction which is ready at hand to every one that will make use of reason whereby the invisible things of God are made apparent to the understanding by the things that are made Thou hast therefore O God made all things profitable and nothing fruitlesse Shall I then bee only without profit shall I bee the vilest creature thou hast made let this be farre from me Let me O God be profitable to all that aske my help or that aske it not for thou hast given me thus many things without asking Let me be a helper to all tâ—â—â— need and having understanding let mee altogether take heed that I be not silent having abundance of all things let mee not grow benummed in charity having skill to governe let me impart the use of it to my neighbour I having opportunity to speak to the rich let mee intercede for the poore let mee as much as may be help others in their necessities and sometime even beyond my ability let me account an other mans distresse mine owne and as I would desire to bee helped in my trouble so that I may not for any respect of my owne deferre to help another Let the help I give a nother be pleasing to mee which doth indeed redound more to his profit that offers it than to his advantage that receives it it is both profitable to the giver and doth according to the necessity of the occasion cheere him that received it that so in one bargaine made which seldome falls out both parties may seeme to have gotten their wished for gaine O thou mad man that for to save a halfepeny dost lose a groat and to preserve a temporary thing dost lose that which is immortall No creature thou ô God didst make was ill though it might seeme ill because I did not rightly understand it thou beholdest all things thou haddest made and behold they were exceeding good Hee that sayes thy works are ill deformed and not beautifull conceives not all things are faire to their former or workman that useth all things to the government of this universe which hee rules with a supreme Law But if an unskillfull man should goe into a workmans shop and should see many tools but knowes not for what use they are if he be very simple he thinks them superfluous But if unawares he light into a work-house or by ill handling of some sharp iron instrument doth wound himselfe he beleeves there are in it many pernicious and hurtfull things but the workman knowing how to use them laughs at his folly and not regarding his foolish words doth constantly make use of his shop And yet men that are so simple dare hardly in the presence of such a workman find fault with things they know not but when they see them judge them necessary and ordained for some use But in this world whose builder and governour thou art O my God men dare find fault with many things whose use they know not and would bee thought to know that which they are altogether ignorant of concerning these instruments of the Almighty Work-master O the rashnesse of fraile man thou my God who art in thy selfe the Alpha and the Omega as thou art in the Angels like sweetnesse and comelinesse in thy Church as a master of a family in his house in the soule like a bridegroome in the bride-Chamber in the reprobate like feare and horrour in the just as a helper and protecter in the world as the author and governour thereof what shall I that am so unprofitable and ugly render unto thee for so many benefits and ornaments I live and prosper in thee in thee am I moved and by thee doe I subsist But thou O Lord who livest for ever dost rest in thy selfe and by thy selfe hast all things in thy selfe and dost enjoy and find all things there thou needest nothing thou seekest for nothing without thee thou sufficest thy selfe in stead of all things and thou thy selfe art all things Thou art both God and Lord of all things thou art before the beginning of ages and before any thing that may bee spoken of art thou both God and Lord of all things created and with thee doe remaine the causes of all inconstant things and the immutable originals of all mutable things doe abide with thee and with thee doe live the everlasting causes of all irrationall and temporary things O mercifull God tell mee thy suppliant and miserable creature tell mee what can I repay thee can I imagine so small a space or such a minute wherein if thou shouldest withdraw thy hand and wouldest leave me who am of no account to my selfe that am nothing I could remaine any thing I can neither move hand foot nor finger except thou grantest mee that motion withhold thy beck and in a beck the frame of the world will be dissolved Seeing then I live and am preserved by thy goodnesse all houres and every minute of those houres O that I might ascend to thee every houre and every point of time O that I might conferr with thee pray unto thee glorifie thee and might consecrate my life and motion my spirit and senses and my whole strength unto thee Thou my God art all things unto mee Let me being in thee be all things to thee In God I will live to God in God I will move to God in God whatsoever I doe I will doe it to God All things my God by thy appointment doe serve mee all that is in mee in like manner shall yeeld a ready service to thee And because thou hast tempered whole nature for my use profit and delight with what face mouth or heart shall I doubt of thy care and providence over mee if thou doubtest my soule thou doubtest of God himselfe and neither knowest the Creator nor the Creature shake off my soule thy trembling Thou hast about thee and in thee thy Saviour whose most bountifull heart the heavens and earth doe witnesse unto thee CONTEMP c. 8. Of the cloathing of Adam the first Man ALas my God Adam did sinne though created by thee yet broke hee thy commandement went back and became unprofitable hee desired to see that thou wouldest not have him to see But what saw hee O my
God he saw his owne nakednesse His first nakednesse was nothing else than tokens of chiefe happinesse and of the greatest riches but the nakednesse that this man saw after he had sinned was meere ruine a testimony of everlasting woe and want That first man saw his body naked but his soule was more naked spoyled and disrobed of knowledge wisdome integrity and originall innocency hee covered his nakednesse being enwrapped with shame but this was a wretched garment he sowed together figg leaves and made aprons to cover himselfe and his seducing wife O vaine mantles O lamentable coverings And what are all mens cloathings that seeme so sumptuous and glittering but figge leafes that quickly vanish to nothing and gald those that weare them O would to God that as often as we cloath our selves wee were urged with the sharp and stinging point of repentance for they are tokens of our wants signes of our shame arguments of our misery and comforts for our extreme infirmities Thou sinfull and fallen man why art thou proud in setting forth thy impieties thou thiefe why braggest thou of a halter why dost thou vauntingly boast of anothers fleece what carriest thou under it but a sack full of dung the rotten bag of thy soule thy skin is not enough to cover thee nor except thou beest most impudent dost thou let any one see it but gettest some other thing to supply the want of thine owne I behold mine owne clothes I see a hell of evills yet I consider the depth of thy care providence and mercy for thou helpest mee thus naked before I can understand mine owne want and nakednesse and commandest all the creatures to haste unto me that they might cover my nakednesse and supply my wants Thou thy selfe most mercifull God as I remember didst clothe sinnefull man in a Lambs skinne not in Lyons Beares Foxes or Wolves skins that thou mightest teach him thy hatred to cruelty greedinesse deceit and wrath and thy love to unspotted simplicity thou madest his garment of the skins of dead cattell that thou mightest shew us how we were fallen from life to death how of immortall we were become mortall that we were from the earth and must returne to the earth againe Thou tookest a skin of a Lamb slaine that thou mightest witnesse unto us that our Fall was only to bee healed by a Lambe to be slaine O thou garment of the golden age thou unspotted Lamb slaine to the beleevers before the beginning of the world O thou Messias that wast promised and food appointed from all eternity thou who wast made the seed of the Woman and hast bruised the Serpents head cloath me with thy merits and mine owne deserts shall nothing hurt mee cloath mee with thy righteousnesse and mine owne unrighteousnesse shall not condemne mee cloath me with thy holinesse and mine owne iniquity shall not accuse mee cloath me with faith in thee and I shall one day receive the robe of happinesse Nothing can cover the filthy nakednesse of a sinner nothing can hide me from Gods judgement but thy coat O heavenly Lambe but the holes of thy wounds but the yawning scarres of thy body I will put thee on by a steadfast faith and with the Church of old I will triumph before thee CONTEMP c. 9. Of Noahs Ark Crow and Dove THou art my God very long suffering and thy wrath grants sinners a very large time nor dost thou root out sinners on a suddaine Mans malice was great and every thought of his heart was continually bent to mischief they neglected thy Word nor did they obey thy Spirit that was to lead them thou therefore didst repent thee of thy Creation and didst resolve to destroy this Inne of the World with all the guests thereof yet did not thy justice haste very much to execute judgement but thy mercy interposed a hundred and twenty yeares that thou mightst see whether by often preaching any could be moved to worke repentance Ah my God thou goest with two feet one of justice the other of mercy but mercy alwayes makes the first step and justice the later nor dost thou delight in the death or destruction of a sinner but thou wilt and commandest that he bee converted and live But all thy expectation was in vaine and thy mercies were entertained with scorne the wrath therfore of thy justice was kindled and the waters of the Flood broke in upon the earth the fountaines of the great deepe were broken up and the Cataracts of heaven were opened and it rained upon the earth for many dayes and almost all thy creatures perished and among men none but thy Noah and his family were preserved in the Ark. Thou forsakest not my God thou most just and most bountifull God those that worship adore thee but dost preserve them in fire and water and amidst the storme of growing miseries thou dost nor despise or reject any thou dost not affright any one except he who is so mad as to abhorr thee My God the horne of my salvation thou that takest me up thou Father of mercies God of all Consolation O Lord my Strength my Fortresse my Refuge my Deliverer Canst thou draw the sword of justice and not annoynt the point with the oile of mercy He lyes therefore hid in safety in that wonderfull ship out of which not life but present death was to bee found What shall I say that that ship did represent but thy Church which is tossed to and fro with sundry Stormes of persecution and waves of adversitie and hath no fixed station yet the true and eternall safety is contained there which out of it is offered to none Noah was the Steere-man hereof but thou O God art the Governour both of Noah and it and thou wast Noahs true and heavenly Comforter who dost not suffer it to sinke The waters of the Flood overwhelmed the palaces of Kings but did every day better than other beare aloft the Ark of Noah so doe persecutions destroy earthly kingdomes but thou sufferest not thine owne Kingdome to be overthrowne but dost even encrease and enlarge it by stormes of temptations Noah sent a Raven and a Dove out of the Ark the Raven pursued his prey and did never returne to the Arke of Noah the Dove did returne and was received in againe of this Steeres-man O Christ let mee abandon the Raven-like gluttony the lovelinesse of pleasures for it is very rare that any one seated amongst the delights of the age should remaine free from a smatch of vice in which although hee bee not forthwith inthralled yet is hee sometimes drawne away by them nor can he be long safe who stands next to danger let me remember that I am to play the Souldier in such a kind of warfare wherein there is no rest given I will resolve to overcome pleasures which have destroyed many good ingenuities The Dove finding no seat to rest upon returned to the Ark and was admitted into it O Christ my repose my
there wherein hee is not thwarted by some evill doth he not so soone as he is borne and newly pulled from the moist receptacles of the womb abound with slime and filth and make all things ring with his bawling cries after if hee live to the flower of his age he is carried violently by his intemperate heate if he attaine to his youth by reason of the ardor and violence of his spirit he cannot be kept within the bounds of his duty by no counsell or admonitions if he live to his old age he then dies and withers by little and little yet all this is not enough for what Art could man ever yet finde out either to divert a plague or to stop the force of violent rayns falling from heaven or stay an earthquake or quench a fire breaking out of the earth I see a ranke and mutuall succession of evills and I behold a continuation of dangers But if I come to the soule I see even there an army of diseases by which it is besieged if I shall wipe away griefe feare comes in its place if feare retire anger ariseth if anger bee appeased envy comes in its roome misery is at hand and evils are neere nor doth ever any certaine rest befall us Alas alas miserable creatures that wee are how often is man even brought to nothing I am astonished when I ruminate on these things and I poure forth my heart like water I am not contented with small drops of teares but poure forth such plenty as the violent and swift running streame is wont to doe I can no where finde ease nor ever peace nor can I finde any where comfort but when I flie to thee my God my Fatherly God for thou pourest forth thy goodnesse night and day without ceasing As it is the property of heate to warme and of cold to coole so is it thy property good God to doe that which is good I am surely a wretch and sufficiently afflicted yet thy goodnesse thy beneficience thy care hath overcome all my misery vanquisheth and utterly brings to nothing all my affliction If I make a just reckoning there is no man but oftner sees it cleare than stormy upon whom thou dost often poure forth thy blessings above his hopes and thy gifts have overcome his wishes thy bounties are free nay unexpected monuments of goodnesse doe of their owne accord flow from thee for thou King of the world art thou compassed about by any offerings or sacrifices that thou shouldest confer on Mankind all these things that are so usefull for his life dost thou not administer the engendring heate of the Sunne the coole refreshings of the Night the Seasons the Winds and Raynes to good and bad to just and unjust to free men and to servants to poore and rich with an equall hand It is thy property O powerfull and true God to afford blessings unsought for to weary and feeble creatures and such as are continually brought low by many sorts of crosses But I am exceedingly refreshed and I am transported with wonderfull joy when I consider that thou art alwaies an evident assister of good men and dost maintain the better cause Although many that belong to thee do behold the posterity of Israel often murmuring and cursing yet is hee a rejoycing victorious rock amidst all the greatest dangers he is invironed withall He is oppressed vexed troubled and almost overwhelmed but my helping God comes in season to his ayde to deliver those that mourne O admirable care of God for his people O more than Fatherly protection I am scarce my self when I behold those great workes of my protecting God Moses set in the Wilderness to feed his flock sees a burning Bush heares thee out of the Bush receives thy Commands is exalted in Power is sent to Pharaoh approaches him speakes to him is contemned and overcomes him Egypt is smitten Pharaohs disobedience is scourged and that not after one manner of way that the sacrilegious King might bee tormented with variety of punishments And what after this he rebells ten times and is so many times punished What is it then that I say why I do conceive that during all this thou tookest knowledg of the estate of thy children thou didst judge of it thou tookest care of them and didst most benignly protect them as often as thou smotest the rebelling Egyptians so often didst thou cast backe thine eye upon thine owne so often didst thou preserve them and judge their enemies But what followed all this I have said Israel is let to depart doth celebrate the Passeover doth rob the Egyptians and goes thence with great riches Pharaoh repents him musters an army overtakes them in their flight his army is stopped hee is divided from them by darknesse the sea is dried up Israell rejoyceth he is delivered by the officious patience of the waves Pharaoh follows after them the sea returneth upon him and hee is swept away by the working waves In order after these things the Hebrew Nation that had conquered without warre enters the wildernesse and journeyth without travel and walketh without a way God ushering them they honourable in having God a fellow-souldier with them and being mighty by his heavenly guidance following the moving Pillar cloudy by day and fiery in the night using fit distinctions of colours for the difference of the times namely that he might distinguish the light of the day by a muddy darknesse and that he might enlighten the dusky night by a bright shining flame Thou addest O wonderfull bountifull and mercifull God Fountains springing in a moment thou addest the healed waters either given or altered keeping their forme but leaving their nature Thou givest them tops of mountains with streames gushing out thou makest their dusty fields flow with new streames thou givest them multitudes of quailes brought to their tents as they journyed Thou God most indulgent in pitty thou givest man things not onely fit for his use but baites to intice him unto thee my God thou lovest and cherishest thy people even with pleasure to thee Thou assistedst them forty yeares long the starres daily affording them food and the dropping poles of heaven in like manner flowing with pleasant sustenance not onely for livelihood but even for their delight Thou preservedst the men without addition or diminution in the parts of their bodies without growing of the nails without wearing of the teeth the haire alwayes of one length their feet not gauled their garments without tearing and their shooes without mending The honour of thy servants doth abound even in the dignity of their vile Cloathing Here I finde God in his office of instructing men descending to the earth the Son of God applying himselfe to the earthly customes of men a numberlesse number of commmon people admitted to the fellowship of thy divine familiaritie to prevaile with thee in the honour of thy holy friendship I heare God speaking neere at hand preaching the Law with his divine
were likewise many that were called Saviours as Othniel Ehud and others but these were onely deliverers of the body and did onely for a time deliver the people from their outward enemies and did for a while keep them free from the spoylers of this world but this my Jesus is the true Saviour for he not onely frees and preserveth his people from outward enemies but from spirituall subtilties in high places Sometimes indeed he delivers us to outward enemies nor is he presently Jesus or a Saviour he sends amongst us warre plague haile cold poverty disgrace diseases captivity bondage but it is for our eternall salvation He is also a faithfull Jesus nor suffers he any one to be tempted above his strength but giveth our temptations such a measure that we may endure them and although our Jesus doth seeme too cruelly and too long to leave us in these externall evils and to lay too heavie a burden upon us that we are in feare to be overcharged to yeeld and to faile under it yet let us expect the comming of our Jesus wwhich will be in a fit season My Jesus best knoweth our strength and how much we can beare and as the pilot doth diligently take care that the ship be not over-fraighted or fall into any fearfull danger so my Iesus doth weigh and ballance our abilities before he layes any crosse upon us that it may not exceed them Thinke alwayes O my soule upon Iesus because thou hast alwayes need of thy Iesus If thy sinnes do vex thee and Satan doth paint them forth and set them before thee that he may perswade thee they are more in number than can be forgiven that they be larger than heaven and earth for magnitude call upon thy Iesus and make Satan thy laughing-stocke Iesus is my Saviour who hath delivered me from my sins and hath taken them upon himselfe he is become for me and all the world a ransome a sacrifice a reconciliation And because it appeares that he is not conquered but is truly a Saviour they must needs be sinners indeed and not feighned sinners that he doth save for this sentence can never be recalled Christ is the Lambe of God that taketh away the sins of the world If the feare of death doth presse thee and if Satan endeavour to dishearten thee with the expectation thereof and doth portrait the figure of death before thee in a most bloody horrible manner and repeats unto thee the threats which God denounces against sinners and the vengeance which he reserves for them protect thy selfe with the Name of Iesus and oppose it to the terrors of death Why should I feare death that I should feare the paines thereof when as my Iesus as himselfe doth teach us hath slaine my death O death I will be thy death Doth Satan strive to make thee sad himselfe being punished and overwhelmed with everlasting woe desiring to draw others into his company pronounce thou therefore but the Name of Iesus with beliefe and he vanisheth away for hee is therefore a Iesus because he hath ransomed thee from the curse of thy sinnes and hath reconciled thee to the everlasting Father that thou mightest for ever rejoyce with him Why then art thou sad What ever befals thee let the Name of Iesus still come into thy heart and betweene thy lips that the force thereof may asswage all afflictions Nothing is more sweetly sung nothing is heard more pleasingly than Iesus the Sonne of God No kinde of sin is so great but the Name of Iesus is above it O thou therefore pleasant Name of Iesus a delightfull Name a comfortable Name O Lord Iesus if I have done that for which thou mayest damne me yet hast not thou lost that whereby thou mightest save me O most mercifull Iesus O most sweet Iesus O most gracious Iesus O Iesu Iesu O Iesus the salvation of those that trust in thee O Iesus the salvation of those that beleeve in thee O Iesus the salvation of those that flie unto thee O sweet Iesu the remission of all our sinnes O Iesu for thy holy Name sake save me that I perish not O Iesus have mercy upon me while there is a time for mercy and condemne me not in the time of thy judgement Iesus Christ have mercy upon me for this thy Names sake doe unto mee according to this thy Name looke on me miserable wretch invoking thy Name it is true my soule hath deserved damnation and my repentance is no satisfaction but it is certaine that thy mercy is farre exceeding all my offences give me therefore for thy Names sake that mercy O my Iesus for thou savest thy people freely by faith alone without all merit of works onely for thy Names sake onely by the power of thy Name onely by the blood of thy body whereby thou diddest appease thy Father and obtainedst redemption and therefore dost thou save thy people freely and not for their works that our soules might be sure of redemption it could not be sure if thou shouldest not save us but for the merit of our works for either we have no merits by manifestly sinning against the Law of God or we have not merits enough because our works are imperfect which can by no meanes satisfie Gods Law therefore that our consciences may be sure of the forgivenesse of sinnes it is needfull that thou be a Iesus gratis unto me who seeing thou art true and constant in thy promises it cannot be that I can be deceived if I trust in thy Name O most bountifull Iesus O Iesu my most sweet Lord keep me in this faith and confidence even to the end let thy last word upon the crosse be my last word in this life and when I can speak no more heare my last desire Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit thou God of truth and God of my salvation thou even thou hast redeemed me O little Jesus I onely require thee comfort my soule thou best of Babes draw mee O draw me after thee by thy sweet favour thou Prince of Glory Lead me O thou our true salvation to thine owne Countrey after thine own victory wherein praise be unto thee for evermore Amen CONTEMP c. 16. Of Christ's and of our Circumcision BEhold my eyes your Jesus my soule consider thy Christ the knife is taken in hand and the Sonne of the most High is drawn away to be wounded stay knife from touching the Innocent let the Synagogue spare the innocent send him away thou Circumcisor without touching him but my Jesus why wouldst thou be so circūcised be so wounded spill thy most tender blood Why doest thou so hasten O Lord to the shedding of thy milky blood it is my salvation which makes thee thus to hasten but why didst thou submit thy self to be circumcised which art the Lord of the Law nay the Law-giver himselfe was it to confirme the Circumcision that thou haddest long before ordained to be rightly observed even till
a flint that with dry eyes canst read this story O heart of man harder than an Adamant that these things cannot penetrate O fierce and steely heart of man that considers not these things Thy Saviour being weary and overcharged under so great a burden cries and cals out and in his soule cals upon us My people what have I done unto thee or how have I beene troublesome unto thee answer me I have beene no Usurer nor hath any thorow the earth taken use for me yet all doe curse me God hath shut me up with the wicked and hath delivered me to the hands of the wicked Many calves have compassed me about fat buls have besieged me They opened their mouths upon me as it were a raging and roaring Lion I am powred out like water and all my bones are scattered abroad my heart in the middest of my bosome is like melting wax my strength is dried up like a potsheard and my tongue cleaveth to my gums and thou hast brought me into the dust of death He cryed he called out but there was none that would heare he is led without the city to the place made infamous for the punishing of the wicked therein as unto a publick separate place that he might not pollute any man by his contagion which the adjoyning inhabitants gave a name from the dead mens souls which lay scattered every where abroad within it The Captaine of the heavenly hostes led forth in the sight of men and Angels to be fastened between heaven and earth unto the accursed Crosse to be refreshed with vinegar he is wounded he is slaine he is thrust thorow with a speare what current of language can sufficiently unfold this misery but thls remembrance of such stupendious things requires rather the teares of the faithfull than the Orators eloquence O who shall give water to my head and a fountaine of teares to mine eyes that I may weepe night and day I will weepe with strong teares I will make drunke my cheeks with my teares the righteous perish and there is none that taketh it to heart the Lord of heaven gives up the ghost and there is not one that thinks it concernes him any thing Raise up thy selfe O my soule and weary thy selfe in meditating upon the passion of thy Lord no time is more happily spent than that which the devout soule imployeth upon the passion O wonderfull condition of his censure and unutterable disposition of a mystery the unjust doth offend and the righteous is punished the guilty transgresseth and God is chastised the impious sinneth and the righteous is condemned the good suffereth that which the wicked deserveth that which the servant is indebted the Master doth pay Whither O whither thou Sonne of God doth thy humility descend how farre hath thy love beene inflamed how farre did thy love reach and how farre did thy pitty eâ—tend O Lord Jesus Christ governe and guide me by thy Spirit that my soule being pricked by thy visitation may crucifie its flesh with the sins and lusts thereof O Lord Jesus I onely put my trust in thy passion and death O Lord Iesus Christ who hast witnessed that thy delight is to be with the sonnes of men thou who becamest man for man in the later age be mindfull of all thy premeditations and inward griefe which from the beginning of thy conception thou diddest endure in thy humane nature but chiefly in the instant time of thy most saving passion fore-ordained from all eternity in thy divine heart Remember the sadnesse and bitternesse which thy soule was possessed with as thou diddest testifie when thou saidst My soule is heavie even to death and when in thy last Supper thou diddest deliver thy Body and Blood to thy Disciples when thou washedst their feet and when sweetly comforting them thou didst foretell thy neare approaching passion Remember the feare anguish and griefe which thou didst endure thorow all thy tender body before thy suffering upon the Crosse When after thy troubled prayer thou diddest sweat that bloody sweat when thou wast delivered by thine owne Disciple taken by thy chosen people accused by false wi nesses unjustly sentenced by three severall Iudges in the holy City when at the time of the Passeover in the florishing time of thy youth being innocent thou wast condemned wast delivered wast spitted on thine owne cloaths pulled off and others put upon thee thou wast buffetted thy face and eyes were covered when thou wast bound to the Crosse and crowned with thornes O most sweet Jesus give me I beseech thee for the memory of thy paines and passion true contrition and confession and also remission of all my sins before my death and in my death grant me comfort and consolation of spirit and after death grant me salvation and glory Amen CONTEMP c. 18. Of the first and second word of our Lord spoken upon the Crosse O My soule one of thy faithfull servants sadly and mournfully cryes out concerning Job what a pageant of triumph hath God made of the Devill in that man what an ensigne of his glory hath he erected from his enemie when he did with great patience cleanse away the uncleane flowing matter of his sores when sportingly hee did call back the wormes that crawled forth from his sores to the same holes and feeding places of his worme-eaten flesh But how much hath thy Saviour out-gone him in constancie of mind and an unshaken patience he in the last necessitie in the pangs of death in the paines of hell sorsaken and made exceeding sad by his angry God failes not in the courage of his mind he shewed no signe that his heart departed from the path of righteousnesse but as he began so continues be to love mankind Heare the words that he utters from the chaire of his crosse they were few but great profitable and worthy never to depart out of a Christians heart as long as he hath his vitall breath Thus he speaks Father forgive them they know not what they doe Oh thy supereminent love O Lord thou prayest not O Lord that they might be punished who afflicted and crucified thee but that they might enjoy the merit of thy passion and be saved Thou so aboundest in thy love that forgetfull of thy most exquisite sufferings thou thinkest on nothing but the reconciling of sinners O incomparable humanitie of unspeakable mercy with what gentle and friendly eyes dost thou locke upon me from the Altar of the Crosse how can any man despaire seeing we have so diligent so faithfull so loving and so zealous an intercessour Where are you trembling sinners where are you affrighted conseiences doe you delight to see the heart of your Lord to overflow with grace Come and behold his Crosse Come come see his heart mounting into his tongue and begging pardon for your sins Iesus my God I am also present amongst sinners amongst those that crucifie thee looke on me and receive me my sins my sins were those
possession of us when the Sunnes last shadow flyes from us and enraged death sharpens his Dart to strike thorow our breast But thou O Lord dost witnesse thy power even in death it selfe not onely by crying out at the last gaspe but also by shaking the earth by cleaving the rocks opening the graves rending the vaile of the Temple The Centurion himselfe being a man conversing with the members of the Church but beleeving out of the Church confessed from hence and said This man was indeed the Sonne of God But the last word thou utteredst in thy mortality is diligently to be noted and seriously to be weighed Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit This was thy last word Ah would to God it might bee also mine and I trust Lord it shall be so and God I hope will heare it for thou hast obtained this for me because thou hast both prayed for me upon the Crosse and hast as my chiefe high Priest suffered all things nor didst thou commend thine own Spirit alone unto thy Father but mine also and of all the faithfull who are members of thy body thou hast bound my soule together with thine owne in the bundle of life and hast delivered it into the hands of the Almighty O how doe the words pierce my soule and spirit which thou utteredst before thou didst passe that deadly way and in which thou didst most devoutly speake unto thy Father I pray for them I pray not for the world but for those whom thou hast given me for they are thine Holy Father keepe them in thy name whom thou hast given me that they may bee one as we are one preserve them from the world sanctifie them in thy truth I pray not only for these but for those also who shall beleeve in me through their word that they may all be one as thou O Father art in mee and I in thee that they also may be one in us that the world may beleeve that thou hast sent mee and I have given them the glory which thou gavest mee that they may be one as wee are one I in them and thou in me that they may be perfect in one and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me Father I will that those whom thou hast given me be where I am that they may see my glory which thou hast given me because thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world What father can more earnestly recommend a son what mother a daughter or what brother his brother to anothers care than thou O Son of the living God hast recommended us to thy Father Thy Father doth heare us his degenerate adopted sonnes how much rather will he heare thee his Sonne obedient even to the death and his issue begotten of his owne substance from all eternity yea he hath already heard him Can saith he even he thy Father a woman forget her owne childe that she should not have compassion upon the sonne of her owne wombe Though she should be so forgetfull yet will not I forget thee behold I have graven thee upon my hands Thou also O Christ my Saviour sayest My sheepe heare my voice and I know them and they follow mee and I give unto them eternall life and they shall not perish for ever and no man shall snatch them out of my hands My Father who gave me them is greater than all and none can take them out of my Fathers hands Resting upon these thine attracting sentences I may be startled at the remembrance of death but I shall not be dismayed because I shall also bee mindfull of thy promises merits and intercessions When at length by thy permission a sharpe sicknesse shall weaken my sinewes and shall gnaw and feed upon my bloodlesse and halfe rotten skinne when my face shall bee bedewed with a cold sweat and I shall be moistned with the drops of death when my wan lips shal be widowed of their rednesse and a sad murmure shall be heard from the horrid noise of the gnashing teeth when my Sunne shall be darkened by my funerall clouds and death shall involve my head in everlasting darknesse yet thou Son of righteousnesse shalt shine cleare unto me thou shalt furnish my soule wrastling and triumphing by the vertue of thy Spirit with thine owne word Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit CONTEMP c. 23. Of the opening of Christs side COme hither come hither O my soule behold him hanging on the Crosse ascend ascend O my soule and pluck out the nailes from his hands and feet wherewith hee is fastened to the Crosse Thou needst no ladder it is devotion it is faith which elevates and lifts thee up thither O miserable spectacle O lamentable carcasse how ill-favourdly in what an ugly manner art thou butchered They could not glut their malice upon him while he lived they insult also upon him being dead and goare him with a speare whence blood and water did flow most holy Symbols of thy two Sacraments Who is he O Lord that hath overcome the world but he that beleeveth that Jesus is the Sonne of God This is that Jesus Christ that came by water and blood not by water alone but by water and blood Thou camest unto us in water in Baptisme thou camest to us in blood in the holy Supper this is that double testimony that we are reconciled to the Father by thee and that wee are washed and purged from our sinnes thou wast very much besotted and soiled yet wast thou lovely to thy Father because thou becamest obedient to death even to the death of the Crosse thou art also most lovely to mee whilst I dive into thy side and into thy wounds not with the eyes of my body with Thomas but with the eyes of faith which are the instruments of life the perspective glasse of the world to come when I see I am freed from death by the death of my Lord and my God When I locke on the immense and love without bounds love without end the love that wee want understanding to conceive and our reason waxeth darke to apprehend For I have sinned and thou hast suffered yea I who have sinned have suffered in thee our flesh was so joyned to the Deitie so as that which was to die everlastingly for sinne became dead in another for us and we neither felt grief nor death yet were we in like manner restored to life for as Christ put upon him our flesh in the wombe so he dyed our death upon the Crosse For whatsoever the God made man did suffer he suffered for man from whom hee can now no more be severed than from his other Nature with which he united this to the end he might save it O great clemencie O unspeakable clemencie O bounty that cannot be expressed with words of mans eloquence God who is for ever blessed is first made man and at length is made a curse
for man O blessed day wherein the head of the Dragon is trampled under the feet of thy crucified and dead body Leviathan is bruised Behemoh that vast and powerfull creature is overthrowne and death is cast out O most milde Tribunall before which I am absolved without punishment freed without death but yet that even by death where I am dismissed from my bloody deeds by the blood of the supreme King by thy blood now shed I see most clearely that thou hast transferred my nature upon thy selfe that I might receive that innocencie from thee which I had altogether corrupted in my selfe but thou keptest thy divine Nature that I might receive glory and dignitie thou joynedst both together that the Deitie being joyned to the humanitie and the humanitie joyned to the Deity he that was sensible of my misery putting on my affections might unite him unto me as a brother whom I did feare as a Judge What shall I say or how shall I speak for I am not my selfe when I think of thee when I lift up my eyes unto thee when I behold thy side launced with the speare and behold thorow that wound thy most loving heart Thou that art immense infinite not circumscribed void of passion and immortall hast put on for love of us even this our flesh straight finite circumscribed and finally liable to passion and death it selfe which by hunger by thirst by miseries by injuries by scourgings by spittings on by blood by death was handled beaten extended and tortured by pieces in the presence of the Devill yet being joyned also with thy Divinitie thou hast placed it above all the Angels above all creatures which are in heaven and earth even at the right hand of thy Father that we who before were even pressed downe to hell may now by thee be taken into the fellowship of the Godhead I would I might alwayes rest in this thy so great passion that I may dwell in thy wounds for whosoever flies to thy wounds and precious scars shall in tribulation finde great comfort and enjoy that comfort the soule doth onely desire CONTEMP c. 24. Of Christs buriall THere is at length an end set to labour and the worke of redemption being wrought and finished and that all-sufficient ransome paid the grave receives and covers this ill-handled body for God is faithfull O Christ my God who set a convenient end to thy labours temptations sorrowes necessities and persecutions for my sinnes thou wast put to death after death thou art buried but it was that thou mightest rise againe out of the grave for my just fication Before the day of preparation for the Passeover was wholly past thou art taken from the Crosse thy Father hastens also our departure from this preparation day by a preparation to the heavenly journey that we may the sooner be brought to thee celebrate Sabbath upon Sabbath unto thee Therewas no reproach that thou hadst not bin loaden with in that Crosse nor any ignominy that thy body had not beene disgraced with in it yet these things could not affright Nicodemus whom thou hadst instructed by thy nightly conference and gained for a secret Disciple and Ioseph of Arimathea a rich good and pious Senatour two of the principall men amongst the Jewish Nation Thou didst hang upon the Crosse betweene theeves thy chosen companions fled from thee the whole rabble of thy persecutors cryed Crucifie crucifie him take him away take him away Pilate delivered thee over to death and judged thee worthy to be tormented yet these men searing nothing breake through the midst of the host of these perverse troops they goe to Pilate and beseech him that the infamously handled carkas yet heavens relique might be given unto them accounting of it as of a most great gift What courage of mind shal I beleeve you had who quickned your spirits O Nicodemus and Ioseph what beliefe could the small reliques of that golden tree raise up in you did you not think that yee might bee accounted partners with Christ whom they had proclaimed for a deceiver and a disturber of the publike peace and that yee might be reckoned for troublers of the Senate and be blamed of Pilate and stoned of the people But the fire of faith was kindled in you which not being to be confined within in your hearts breaks forth on all sides O strange power of God in his faithfull servants O how unsearchable are his works The Disciples had above three yeares beene publicke auditors of Christ now crucified they had beene plentifully and carefully fed and instructed by him but when so great dangers grew thicke they forsake their Master Nicodemus and Ioseph came in private to Jesus fearing to bring the peoples hatred upon themselves now when they see all things seeme desperate they doe not forsake him whom they had worshipped whom they had heard whom they had reverenced but doe now still even now love and honour not unwillingly How great is thy power in those that are weake how great thy perfection in those that are imperfect would to God that nothing also may be able to separate me from the love of Christ neither affliction nor anguish nor persecution nor hunger nor nakednesse nor danger nor the sword but let me be perswaded that nor death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor heighth nor depth nor any other creature whatsoever shall be able to separate me from the love of God which is Christ Jesus my Lord. Those diligent worshippers of thee doe wrap thee in cleane linnen do embalme thee with Myrrh and Aloes O that I may humble my selfe by bitter repentance and purged from my sinnes may receive thee with a pure heart They embalme thee and lay thee in a new tombe in which no other had ever beene laid O that none but thy selfe might enter into my heart renewed by thy blessed Spirit They spend many things willingly for thy sake nor dare spare any cost let me also spend my life and blood for thee and for thine and what else besides my blood thou hast given me in this life When thou shalt call my soule from this wombe of durt let me thinke of nothing but of thy death but of thy blood but of thy wounds but of thy crowne when I I shall be affrighted with the grave let me thinke I shall be buried in no other sepulchre than in that which thou hast touched with thine one body which thou hast sanctified by thy scars that being to be raised at thy command I may live with thee everlastingly Amen CONTEMP c. 25. Of Christs resurrection SEt forth the prayses of the Lord and call upon his name declare his works among the nations sing unto him sing praises unto him declare all his wonderfull works call to mind his wonders which he hath done his strange works the judgements of his mouth Who can sufficiently speak of the power of the Lord
and make all his praises to be heard O Lord my God thou art exceedingly exalted thou hast put on praise and comelinesse and art clothed with light as it were with a garment Ioseph was thrust into a most noysome darknesse of a prison but the third yeere was hee taken thence and made the great commander over all Aegypt Christ was put in the bowells of the earth but the third day he came out thence alive and was made governour of heaven and earth Moses was cast forth into the river being shut into an Arke of bulrushes but was presently drawne from thence and made the people of Israels Captaine and deliverer Christ Jesus was shut into the tomb but was in good time raised thence and designed for a Saviour unto all men The bush in the wildernesse did burne but was not consumed by the fire Jesus burned upon the Crosse and was exposed to the flames of Gods wrath and the assaults of Satan but this fire was put out and now the beames of his fatherly favour shine forth Aarons rod was withered but it flourished againe all Christs bones were dryed by his passion but vigour returned to them from the grave Josuah trampled the five Kings that were brought unto him under his feet and hung them upon five trees Jesus Christ trampled upon our five enemies the world satan sinne death and the grave and carried away most great spoyles and set up glorious trophyes of his victory Sampson was taken in Gaza but hee plucked up the gates of the City and escaped Christ Jesus was taken of death but not kept and having conquered death hee triumphed David overthrew Goliah the Philistims champion with a sling Christ with his blood overthrew and vanquished the devill the leader and captaine of the wicked We blesse thee famous Saviour we laud thee most invincible captaine we reverence thee most triumphant victour arise make haste my soule and come away now winter's past the storme is over and gone the flowers deck our feilds the spring is come the voyce of the turtle is heard in our land the figgtree is budded the flourishing vines send forth a sweet savour arise make haste my soule and come away it is no time for sloth but to make speed it is no time to sleepe but to awake it is no time to weepe but to rejoyce it is no time to complaine but to bee glad wee have beene too indulgent to sadnesse wee have shed teares enough let sadnesse depart let mirth returne the time of the passion is past the time of the resurrection is come all anxiety must fly away when the message sent by the Angell is heard all greife of heart must vanish when the Gospell is received hee is risen hee is risen whom his friend betrayed whom the company of his disciples forsook whom Peter denied whom the Priests delivered up whom the serjeants smot whom the high Priests mocked whom the Iudges condemned whom the hangmen put to death whom the souldiers pierced whom the accursed burden of our sinns did oppresse whom the wrath due to our sinns had tormented hee is risen the Lord our God is risen our brother is risen who hath in his sepulcher buried all our iniquities and by his resurrection hath brought forth for us freedome and salvation Confesse unto the Lord and call upon his name set forth his works amongst the Gentiles sing unto him sing psalmes unto him declare all his wonderfull works This is the day wherein hath fallen what ever lifted up the head against the Lord for the Lord himselfe after hee had drunk of the brock in the way exalted his own head and brake to peeces the heads of his adversaries this is the day wherein hell was overthrowne and the abhominable Kingdome of Satan conquered the devill bound the old dragon spoyled death disabled and the miserable Christian people freed Remember the wonderfull things of the Lord which hee hath done his marvailes and the judgements of his mouth who shall set forth the power of the Lord and make all his praises to be heard this is the day wherein did vanish away the snares of the serpent of paradise which hee layd for the seede of the woman they vanished away and the head of the serpent was cleft in sunder and the enmity betwixt mankinde and the serpents brood brake forth into extreamity of deeds This is the day wherein the second Adam from heaven awaked out of sleepe and received his only beloved and married her to himselfe blesse the Lord O my soule O Lord my God thou hast been wonderfully magnified thou hast put on praise and comelinesse and art clothed with light as with a garment rejoyce in the Lord O my soule this ought to be the solemnity above all solemnities wherein Christ the Lord by his divine power arose from death 〈…〉 as before handled like a 〈…〉 theefe this day is better than tha◠wherein the world did first appeare For that was created for mans labour this was made for his rest that deserved death this frees him from the feare of death the light of that day is buried in darknesse the brightnesse of this day doth even enlighten the graves to conclude the dead see not the light of that day but the light of this day hath even showne forth to the dead let us therefore rejoyce in this day which both shines about the living and quickneth the dead and illuminates those who are to come Let all the world exult with joy for it is meet that as every creature did lament with mournfull teares the death of their Creator and did follow the hearse of him that was put to death upon the Crosse in the dark funerals of the night so they should now joyfully receive him triumphantly returning in his resurrection from the dead And thou also my soule rowse thy selfe from the sleepe of sinne that thou crucifie him not againe after his resurrection awake if thou be asleepe and rise from the dead when the Lord arose from the tabernacle the campe removed and all the people followed to day is the Lord of life and death risen from the grave thou must not lie snorting but follow him by thy fervent devotion the old leaven must be purged out the leaven of malice and wickednesse wee must feed on the unleavened bread of truth and sincerity I am willing O God but not able thou who hast given mee grace to hate the way of the flesh and studies of this age vouchsafe that I may never set foot in that way nor ever be deceived by these inventions Lord Jesus Holy Iesus Good Iesus if thou wilt I shall be able for it is thy will that makes mee able will therefore I may have ability and will I may bring this good work to perfection Thou who did'st vouchfafe to dye for our sinns and to rise againe for our justification I beseech thee by thy glorious resurrection to raise me from the grave of all my sinnes and offences
and give me daily a part in the first resurrection that I may truly deserve to receive a part in thy resurrection Most sweet benigne loving deare precious desired lovely beautifull Jesus thou didst ascend into heaven in triumph of thy glory and sittest most mighty King at the right hand of thy Father draw me up to thee that I may runne after thee for the odour of thy perfumes I will runne and never be weary if thou wilt assist me joyne the mouth of the soule that thirsts after thee to the heavenly streames of eternall satiety yea draw me to thy selfe thou living fountaine that thence I may drinke my fill whence I may alwayes live my God and my life CONTEMP c. 26. Of Christs Ascention CLap your hands O all ye Nations rejoyce in the Lord with an exulting voice because the Lord is high terrible a great King above all the earth he hath subjected the people unto us and nations under our feet he hath chosen us out for an inheritance to himselfe the excellency of Iacob which he loved God hath ascended in a shout the Lord in the voice of the trumpet Sing unto our God sing ye sing unto our King because God is the King of all the earth sing unto him with understanding God hath reigned over the nations God sitteth upon his holy seat the Princes of the people are gathered together with the people of the God of Abraham because God is exceedingly exalted by them that defend the earth This O my soule was the voice and song of the faithfull Jewes in the old Testament wherein they gratulated their Saviour when in spirit and in faith they saw he was to come and did exhort one another that they should sing unto and trust in him that was exalted in his Majesty Say thou also O clap your hands rejoyce in the Lord in the voice of exultation that which they proclaimed in hope doe thou proclaime in fruition for Christ is ascended the eternall offspring of the eternall God and the Sonne of temporary man borne in time Sing O my soule to thy great God and Saviour to the true peacefull Prince of peace Emperour of heaven and earth King of kings Lord of lords The Angels praise his Majesty Principalities adore him Majesties tremble at him the powers of the heaven of heavens and the Society of the blessed Seraphins doe celebrate his praises with exultation doe thou also cry out to thy Messiah be life and victory blessing and honour glory and power for evermore Those sell soules not satisfied with his death torments and Crosse did even warre against him being dead and did most diligently observe all things lest any should steale his body out of the grave yet returnes he the Conquerour returnes cloathed with the brightnesse of his glory as it were with most pure garments he returnes and hastens to higher things he flies up to the highest heavens compassed with quires of Angels and heavenly citizens some of whom as I guesse sing songs of triumph to the Conquerour others dance for joy others offer him palme and bayes others strew handfuls of a most pleasing crop of heavenly flowers Where are now thy pale lips where is that filthy besmearing with spittle where is the congealed blood where the pricks of the thornes where his black and blew shoulders where those streames of blood gushing forth where his torne sinewes by the lashes of whips In so short a moment is this so thicke a mist of ignominy exhaled and the brightnesse of his glory possesses all things And now is the fore-head cleare the eyes sparkling the comely cheeks blushing red now are the lips died scarlet now doth he shake his golden and glittering tresses in briefe he is all over like the Sunne breaking out of a cloud Where now Lord is thy abjection after thou hast pierced the skies and ascended above all heavens when thou wast higher than the heavens and hadst entred into thy Fathers house in which are many mansions where was thy contemptible estate when the glory of the heavens gave place to thee and thou ruledst every where and filledst all places from sea to sea even to the ends of the earth for evermore Thou fillest all things O Lord therefore art thou most present and although thou seemest sometime to be departed from us yet if thou wouldest open our eyes we should finde thee about us and in us Thou art most present therefore let not my sinnes defile me because they offend thee that wast scourged crucified and slaine for them and cause me to be condemned for offending of thee Thou art cleane and dost dwell with those that are pure in heart those that burthen their soules with the filth of sinne doe expell thee the guest of their soule Thou art most present therefore whatever betides me and howsoever the devill batter me and in what manner soever the world afflict me or the flesh doe tempt me yet thou seest it and art both able and joyfull to deliver me When upon mount Olivet thou madest preparation to depart to the full enjoying of thy heavenly kingdome thou didst hold up thy hands to heaven and didst blesse thy Disciples I am also thy disciple therefore thou wilt not withdraw thy blessing from me but wilt make thy ascention to become unto me a descention of many sorts of gifts Thy graces did descend as thy body did ascend so shall I ascend in my heart I will runne after thee not with the steps of my feet but with the desires of my soule and flying from worldly desires I will follow thee thither in heart whither I beleeve thou art in body ascended let me now take no pleasure in vile things here below that am possessed of thee in heaven I will ascend in my affections I will ascend in my progresse and I wil ascend in effect I shall ascend in my affections if I relish heavenly things I shall ascend in my progresse if I shall daily profit in thy ministery and I shall ascend in effect if I have my conversation where thou art even in the heavens And I trust I shall easily obtaine this for thou art ascended to the Father to be my Intercessor The high Priest when he entred the Holy of Holyes made an atonement for the people thou art entred into the Sanctuary of blessed immortality a Sanctuary not made with hands but heaven it selfe thou wilt therefore appear in the presence of God for us Thou art ascended not leaving upon the earth thy humanity which thou tookest from the earth and didst carry about thee on the earth but hast so exalted it that thou hast made it a partaker of heaven Why therefore O man shouldest thou feare why O man shouldest thou afflict thy selfe Be secure flesh and blood you are possessors of heaven and Gods Kingdome in Christ if any deny you are in Christ he denies also that Christ is in heaven the flesh and blood and portion of every of us is in
the man Christ Iesus Therefore where my portion reignes I beleeve I reigne where my blood doth rule I perceive my selfe to rule where my flesh is glorified I know I am glorious Thou wentest to prepare a place for mee that I might be with thee in a most plesant City thou laydst open the way that I might come into thy most loving society Thou didst first break through that I might also enter into most ample felicity in everlasting health of body in perfect purity of our soules in all fullnesse of glory and divine pleasure into the perpetuall familiarity of the Saints to have kindred hope resting place grace and dignity in the heavens CONTEMP 27. c. Of the sending downe of the Holy Ghost HOw great and what an unutterable piety of my redeemer is this hee carried man into heaven and sent God downe upon the earth behold therefore a new Redeemer is sent from heaven behold againe divinity and humanity are mixed together Thou didst foretell O my God by thy spirit which thou hast given us I will powre out my waters to the thirsty and my streames upon those that are scorched I will powr out my spirit upon thy seede my blessing upon thy posterity I will powre out my spirit upon all flesh and your sonns shall prophecy I will sprinckle pure water upon you and you shall be clensed from all your pollutions I will send my spirit into the midst of you Now O my God is thy prophecy fulfilled and the showers of thy graces and streames of thy blessings are powred forth That common expected time of gladnesse of all the righteous is now come the sweet guest of the soule is come the comfortable refreshing the rest in our labour the temper in heate comfort in mourning the washing of that which was foule watering that which was partched with heate healing that which is wounded straightning what was crooked cherishing that which was cold ordering what was gone astray The inspiter of our faith the teacher of knowledge the fountaine of love the ensigne of chastity and the cause of all our vertue is come Hee came when the twelve ministers and dispensors of thy mysteries were unanimously gathered together at Ierusalem in the house of prayer chosen by thine owne selfe in the holy City the City of perfect beauty and a sudden noyse comming from heaven as it were the rushing of a mighty wind cloven tongues appeared to them like fire and sate upon each of them so that they were all filled with the Holy ghost and they began to speak in divers languages They were gathered together with one accord and indeed that spirit loves agreement and doth bind faster together mens peacefull minds it drives away all brawles and contentions and is it selfe driven away by brawles and contentions They were gathered together in Jerusalem it loves a holy place and where thy word is preached there it gratiously abideth This word is not without the spirit nor thy word without the spirit there was a sound like a wind the holy spirit is not still but its voyce is heard hee is not dumbe but speaketh and preacheth redemption to sinners revelations to those in misery comfort to those that bee sad exaltation to those that are opressed deliverance to the captives liberty to the bondmen and rersurrection to the dead There was a sudden and vehement sound from heaven the holy spirit is not the gift of men but of the Almighty God it brings not momentary but things eternall not earthly but heavenly things Gods helpe is also for the most part sudden and unlooked for when wee despaire of all mens ayd the power of the most High is sent us and cures us in a most fit time The holy spirit is cheerefull and makes them nimble and ready in whom it operates for the grace of the holy spirit is not acquainted with sluggish endevours The tongues appeared devided like fire the tongue is the instrument of the holy ghost whereby it prepares and enlargeth the spirituall Kingdome and as the tongue doth distinguish tastes so doth the holy spirit shew us good from ill and to discerne between spirits it also bestowes on us the gift of variety of languages and gathers together in one the multitudes of men dispersed by reason of the difference of their tongues The love of God is lastly fiery it enlightens the understandings drowned in darknesse it warmes the soules by charity makes them shine in good works consumes wicked affections and actions O most wholsome fire descende from heaven into us We burne with the filthy brands of our lusts that the earth seemes rather an Aetna of uncleane flames than an habitation of men For as the hill Aetna doth continually boyle with certaine inward fiery vapors so doth that with the abhominable flames of fornications by this meanes we kindle the fire of wrath the fire of destruction the fire of the Lord the fire of indignation which went out from the Lord and consumed Nadab and Abihu How grievously doth the prophet cry out behold all of you doe kindle his fire and adde fuell to the flames enter yee into the light of your fire and the flames which yee have kindled For after this manner as the scripture mentioneth doth all mankind rush into eternall damnation For first they kindle the fire then they put fuell to the flames and finally they enter into the flames which they have kindled And first doe wee begin to kindle the eternall fire for our selves when first we begin to sinne and we adde fuell to the flames when we heap sins upon sins We enter into the eternall fire when we fulfill the remedilesse summe of all our mischiefes by the iniquity of our multiplyed offences As our Saviour spake to the Rulers of the Jewes Yee serpents yee generation of vipers fulfill yee the measure of your fathers O heavenly Spirit let plentifull showres fall from heaven and quench the accursed flames of this fire that I be not delivered into the unsufferable flames which no water no brooke no river no sea can quench Filth sticks to me on all sides who will wash it off I am polluted with the dirt of my sins who shall make mee cleane My soule is wounded and altogether defiled who shall heale and purifie it My bones are dried up who shall moisten them Shalt not thou wash mee shalt not thou purge mee shalt not thou heale mee shalt not thou cleanse me shalt not thou moysten me Thou didst never yet suffer me to receive a repulse shall this be the first time that thou wilt reject my prayer Surely thou wilt not deny that which I pray for because thou hast bid me pray unto thee because it tendeth to my salvation which thou so much desirest and belongs unto thine owne honour whereof thou art so jealous Give me drink therefore out of the streames of thy pleasure that I may take no pleasure to taste of the poysoned sweets of the world Thou
the more ignoble I ought to beare patiently if I understand not the Creator of the Universe who must even in the smallest parcels of his works professe mine owne blindnesse Let me not then proceed farther in other things than my small capacity wil beare not curiously pry into those things which are so high above me I will say with reason and constancie I know not his secrets and I am ignorant of his divine councell the oracle of the heavenly word is enough for me to try all causes God sayes he sees all things governes all things judges all things If thou wilt know what thou art to hold thou hast the holy Scripture it is perfect reason to hold what thou hast read But I will not suffer my selfe to aske for what cause God doth these things in such a manner I am a man I understand not the secrets of God I dare not search after them and therefore I even feare to meddle with them because even this is a kinde of sacrilegious rashnesse to desire to know more than is permitted unto thee Let it suffice thee that God doth testifie that himselfe doth act and dispose of all things leaving therefore these things let us rather seeke like good merchants to gaine the inheritance of heaven and those things that may profit our soules let us learne to get goods which will continue with us let us first seeke to have Gods seale stamped upon us because in the day of judgement when God shal make that separation when all the nations of the whole earth the sonnes of Adam shall be gathered together when the shepherd shall call his flocke whosoever have beene sealed shall know their shepherd and the shepherd shall know those he hath sealed and shall gather them together out of all nations Every man naturally desireth knowledge but what doth knowledge profit without the feare of God certainly an humble rudenesse is better that is employed in Gods service than a proud Prelate or Philosopher who neglects himselfe and is alwayes contemplating upon God or the motion of the heavens How many are there who in this life by many curious enquiries have endevoured to know God who shall never see his face how many in this life doe labour to measure the heavens and to finde out all things belonging to them that shall never enter into them He that doth well know himselfe thinks meanly of himselfe and is not delighted in the praises of men If I did know all things in the world and were not in charity what would this knowledge profit me in the presence of God who then will judge acccording to my works I will therefore at length rest from the too much desire of knowledge because the more I know the more grievously will the most high God judge me except I live the more holily Give mee most blessed and most wise God the highest and most profitable knowledge that I may know thee God the Father Son and Holy Ghost with moderation and may inwardly know my selfe to be miserable and of no account that I may attribute nothing to my selfe and alwayes have a good opinion of others This is great wisdome and some sort of perfection Though I see another sinne openly and even to commit some grievous sinnes let me not think my selfe better because I know not how long I may continue in goodnesse we are all undoubtedly fraile but let me judge none frailer than my selfe that I may obtaine true strength in goodnesse CONTEMP c. 30. Of the Custodie of Angels BLesse the Lord O my soule all my bowels give praise unto his holy Name Praise the Lord O my soule and forget not any of his benefits praise the Lord yee Angels of his yee that excell in strength fulfilling his Word giving eare to the voyce of his Word Praise the Lord all his Hoasts yee servants of his that doe his pleasure Praise the Lord all yee works of the Lord praise the Lord O my soule in all places of his dominion My heart is ready O God my heart is ready He hath commanded his Angels saith thy faithfull servant David speaking of man to preserve thee in all thy wayes they shall hold thee up with their hands that thou strike not thy foot against a stone God hath commanded it God the true and most excellent Life in whom and from whom are all things the Creator Governor of the world the Sweetnesse Beauty of the Angels the Creator and Preserver of men that God who is God of gods so great a God that no tongue can rightly expresse him hee hath commanded and hath commanded his Angels his holy Angels that are instructed of God by the eternall contemplating of which truth they become blessed hee hath commanded them concerning thee O man What is man that thou tookest notice of him or the sonne of man that thou didst esteeme him Thou sentest unto him thy only begotten Son thou sendest into him thy holy Spirit and that there should be no want of thy carefull working for him in the heavens thou dost also for our sakes send forth those blessed Spirits to minister unto us the most mercifull God sendeth forth those Spirits as it were so many bright sparks of his Deity sparkling from the Torches of his everlasting light who are conceived to bee divided into so great hoastes and into so many orders to prompt us not only with matter of prayer to God but of admiration of his greatnesse and goodnesse when I speake thus O my soule phansie not to thy selfe little faire Boyes whose countenances are over-spread with an admirable splendour whose soft dissheveld haire of colour like the finest gold hangs dangling to their shoulders fanned with the gentle breath of the peacefull westerne wind doth kisse the smooth pillars of their milkie necks if thou phansie such Angels thou art utterly ignorant of their power They have a pure nature subtill and aiery not to be represented in the shape of any body no spot of matter doth cloud it no mole of corruption doth sprinkle it and that I may speak briefly our best part is our soule an Angell is nothing but a soule But what soule not relishing of that fire whereby the Starres doe twinkle and the Axeltree of Heaven is moved but a vigour of a most quick moved understanding made so much the nearer to resemble the patterne the eternal Beauty by how much it approacheth nearer to and is the more plentifully sprinkled with that holy Fountaine Hence truely comes that notable comlinesse of all their ornaments and the immortall concurrence of goodnesse which they with a most acceptable ingenuity of will doe yeeld to their Creator they out-strip in speed the swiftest shippe sailing on the maine and driven by force of windane oares they out-fly a bullet in the aire sent from the sulphury mouth of a thundring Cannon these most excellent mentall Intelligences most wisely foresee all things with no trouble or interposition of time
and most readily untie any the most intricate knots of difficulties If thou consider the grace with which they were ennobled even from the first beginning of things when God the Author of all things was in the Angels framing nature and bestowing grace thou mayst call them vessels of transparent Gumme or Christall framed by the worlds Creator into which the streames of the Divinitie did disburthen so great and unusuall fragrancie of graces if thou weigh the glory and what a large measure of grace this Nature obtained thou shalt see them all emptied and swallowed up with the similitude of the love they have towards God These these are those whom that great workman hath given us men made of durt and clay in this our dwelling place the earth to guide nourish and instruct us to defend us in our way to salvation to drive calamity from us to consult for our happinesse to be fathers in the care of us brethren in the love of us and servants in their obedience to us These these are present for thee O my soule they are not only with thee but they are for thee that they may protect thee that they may profit thee and while we are yet but little ones we are it is thought committed to the charge of Angels as it were to Tutors and instructors to the set time appointed by our Father Thou overwhelmest thou overwhelmest me O my God with thy benefits that I might delight to abide with thee and desire to dwell by thee continually and never to depart from thee Thou settest a watch round about me that I might not escape thee thou environest me with protectours that I be not snatched from thee O my God I will sing I will sing Psalmes unto thee O my glory with my heart lifted up Awake Psaltery and Harpe I my selfe will awake very early I will celebrate thy praises O Jehovah amongst the people and sing unto thee amongst the Nations for thy kindnesse is great above the heavens and thy truth reacheth above the uppermost clouds I will exalt thee O God above the heavens and thy glory is above all the earth I can give thee thanks but I cannot render thee due thanks O my God but thou desirest not thy due thanks because thou knowest I have not the power to performe it it is the custome of people of meane qualitie to shew themselves munificent amongst themselves thy benefits as they excell in Majestie so they require not that which is lent O most bountifull God as thou hast freely set thy Angels over mee so make them freely to abide by to dwell and remaine with mee Troops of the winged Holyes met Jacob at Mahanaim as he was on his way to his Countrey I am also upon my way and am hastening to my Countrey give mee therefore in like manner bands of such most valiant souldiers that may direct admonish and guide me and keepe mee both behind and also before and may on no side leave me open or unguarded O my God send those thy ministers to us from out thy glorious Tower of heaven to us thy weake creatures staggering amidst these mournfull tents of our cumbersome mortalitie that they may encompasse us in our feares comfort us in our griefes and purge us from our growing and oppressing miseries Sicknesses doe devour and overthrow us the plague infests us send Raphael that may heale and cure us rumours of warres doe dishearten us the drawne swords doe prey upon us send Michael to fight for us our ill abetting flesh solicites us devillish suggestions doe assault us send Gabriel that may reconcile thy will to our will Woe is mee if provoked by my sinnes and negligences thou shalt judge me unworthy the presence and visitation of thy holy Angels by whose presence thou usest to protect me and repulse my enemies Seeing then the familiarity of the Angelicall dignity is so profitable for me make me to abstain frō evil which doth offend them and to exercise holinesse in which I know they take delight But they are pleased with such things as they delight to find in me such as is sobriety patient bearing of poverty often sending up sighes to heaven and above all they love truth and peace Let me be Lot in righteousnesse Isaac in obedience Eleazer in fidelitie let me bee Jacob in piety let me be Elias in my zeale let me be Elizeus in my courage Ezechias in devotion Daniel in my constancie Judith in my chastitie Tobias in honesty and let me be Lazarus in my patience Grant me these things O my God and I shall alwayes have thy Angels my companions without separation they will accompany me they will accompany both my soule and also my body and they will accompany my soule after it's departure out of my body and shall bring it into Paradise where is the societie beholding of Angels and Archangels and above all the blessed beholding of Christ my Saviour Grant me these things O my God and I will praise thee with the Cherubims and Seraphims and will sing of thy mercies uncessantly for evermore Amen CONTEMP c. 31. Of Baptisme THey are fearfull words O man which we reade Yee were at that time without Christ and yee were strangers from the conversation of Israel and were aliens from the covenants of the promise and yee were without hope and without God in the world What O wretch can be more miserable for thee and what canst thou heare that can be more terrible unto thee He that is without Christ is without faith he that is excluded from the congregation of Israel knowes not what grace is he that is without hope hath no comfort he that is without God hath no helper O depth of misery what understanding can rightly conceive it or what tongue sufficienly expresse it how many myriades of men are enveloped in more than Egyptian darknesse in superstitions and abominable Gentilisme who are still without Christ being estranged from the common-wealth of Israel strangers to the covenant of the promise without hope and without God in the world they have it may be something which they call by the name of God but what ever they paint unto themselves or what ever they forme unto themselves they are but apparitions of the night fearfull sights amongst the graves terrible noises amidst sepulchers or tame Statues of silver or gold the works of mens hands which have mouthes but speake not eyes but see not eares but heare not noses but smell not hands but handle not feet but walk not nor speake they through their throats O gods without a deity without understanding without life And I my selfe was to be reckoned amongst those many thousands of damned men for the like sentence of damnation did attend them who were all guilty of the same offence But eternall thanks are due to thee O eternal God that thou hast freely separated me from them with whom I had fellowship by reason of my sins it was thy pleasure
most perverse wretch am turned into a beast and become the devils instrument Thou didst descend from the most glorious throne of thy heavenly Father unto mee that devill upon earth and I have not elevated my selfe unto thee nor would I ascend with thee but by the works of the flesh I have beene faster tied to the more base things of the earth and have pressed my selfe downe into the mud by the weight of my sinnes wherein I have long lien wallowing Thou hast delivered me out of the power of the devill and I of mine owne accord have ensnared my selfe in his devillish toiles Thou art made one body with me and I by my voluntary sinnes have plucked my selfe off from thee and have glued my selfe to the body of the wicked So many thy wondrous works could not force me to acknowledge thee So many testimonies of thy love could not soften my stony heart to make me love thee againe thy so great merit could not raise me up to cause me to place all my hope in thee That thy most accurate Justice which shines most clearly out and that many wayes out of the worke of our Redemption could not hold me so that I might consider the plagues and punishments which thou heapedst upon thy onely beloved Son for my sake and cause me to cry out If they have done these things in the greene tree what shall be done in the dry Thy so many torments and paines could not perswade me to descend into my self and to consider with what hatred thou persuest our sinnes for which thou hast permitted thy very Sonne to be most cruelly afflicted For these things ought I to have stood in awe and to reverence thy great Name So hast thou my Jesus humbled thy selfe that he that considers it may admire and with trembling behold thee yet am I growne proud and at this very time alas doe exalt my selfe above my brethren Thou didst hang naked upon the Crosse yet I not content with such cloathing as was necessary to cover my nakednesse have sought after excesse and superfluity and have most tenderly handled my slimy damnable body Thou didst suffer intolerable thirst in thy extreame plagues and torments and didst taste gall mingled with vinegar but I must as it were be fatted to the slaughter with lushious wines I have beene overcharged with gluttony and ravenousnesse and have thereby made my selfe strong in fleshly desires Thou didst beare all things that thy Father laid upon thee nor didst throw off the the burden till thou mightest truely say it is finished but I have esteemed it very troublesome and tedious for me to suffer but a very little for thee Thou that art the blessed Son of God didst suffer blows on the face from wicked wretches but I if I be but touched with a finger or wronged in a word doe presently burne with wrath and am most bitterly moved to indignation that am but a worme and not worthy the name of a man and doe deserve by reason of my filthy sins not only most vile reproach but the punishment scorne of hell it selfe And what shall I farther say of my most wicked life Thou didst most willingly die that I might die to sin and live to righteousnesse but I too much relying on this thy mercy doe wittingly and willingly rush into sins What greater disgrace could I put upon thee I have made thy mercies the occasion of my uncleannesse and have used so precious a meanes of my Redemption which ought to make every one to hate sin to the strengthning and continuation of my sins I thought sins were lawfull for me because thou wast so gentle and mercifull and for giving mee so many blessings I have requited thee with my infamous deeds so that I converted the remedy ordained against sin into the meanes to make me sin more freely and have set the point of that sword against mine owne brest and well-nigh destroyed my selfe therewith that thou gavest me to resist the blowes of Satan Thou art he only O Lord that dyed for us all that they that live might not live to themselves but to him that did both die and rose againe for us but I contrary to this have lived to my selfe and mine owne lusts as if thou hadst dyed for that end that I should live to fill my soule with fleshly desires and abusing thy grace I should weave the web of mischiefe O Lord how great is thy patience that thou wouldest be buffetted for my sake but much greater is thy patience that thou enduredst so many sinners in the world that even buffet thee with their sins But shall this thy patience last for ever I call to mind what thou threatnest against the impenitent I see that the earth which is watered with raine and brings forth no fruit is punished by cursing I see that the Vineyard well manured and yet remaining unfruitfull is wasted and trodden under foot O hard and iron heart O unprofitable and drie wood Dost thou not tremble if thou hearest the voice of the Omnipotent God saying Every branch not bearing fruit will my Father take away if any remaine not in me hee shall be cast out as a branch and it withereth and men gather it up and cast it into the fire to bee burnt What man can be so carelesse that trembles not and shakes not for feare of so horrible a judgement How deafe and sluggish is he that heareth not this voice With what a stupidnesse is he drowned in in what a lethargie is he buried who is not awaked with this thunder Ah! Lord this earthly tabernacle hath hitherto delighted mee I have walked amidst thornes and thistles that have choaked the seed of thy Word sowen in me so that I have had no desire to know thy will my lusts have seduced me my desires have driven me up and downe my thoughts have disturbed mee the worme of my conscience gnawes me and all these have I esteemed as secure delights and reckoned troubles to be peace What shall I doe my God What shall I doe I am forced to confesse that I am not worthy to come before thee I blush for my unrighteousnesse sake to lift up mine eyes unto thee I dare not lift them up to seeke thy favour and most mercifull presence if thou wilt punish me as I deserve nor heaven nor earth can hide me from thee but thou wilt not O Lord my God that any one perish but that all may be converted and live thou createdst mee for thy praise but who in hell where thou art blasphemed shall praise thy Name Thou didst pay so great a ransome for me yet if thou reject me in these my most great necessities who shall receive me if thou shalt refuse thy creature redeemed by so great a price who shall helpe me Why even thou my Father that Father of mercy even that mercy which is immeasurable which is infinite And although by my disobedience I have lost the right of mine
Lord imputeth not sin Rejoyce in the Lord ô ye righteous for praise becommeth the Just taste and see for the Lord is sweet Blessed is the man that hopeth in him Blesse the Lord ô my soule and all that is within me praise his holy Name who is mercifull to all thy iniquities and healeth all thy infirmities who hath redeemed thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with mercy and pity His goodnesse and mercy shall follow me all the dayes of my life and I shall dwell in the House of the Lord for evermore I desire and beseech thee ô God by the death of thine owne son give me thy Spirit to purifie my heart and with his grace to strengthen me that by mine own unadvisednesse I fall not thither whence by thy mercy I have been called Create in me ô God a new heart and renew a firme spirit within me restore unto me the joy of thy Salvation and uphold me by thy free spirit Wash mee daily by pardoning my daily offences translate me from the fennes of this age and the mud of this present life to the excellent kingdome of thy glory where is neither scab nor blindnesse nor doth any one suffer any uncleane issue of blood nor is any one uncleane where is no farther need of a lavacre thy glorious body being joyned unto our body Thou must needs fulfill thy promise made and both finish and confirme the good worke thou hast begun in me through Christ our only Lord and Saviour Amen CONTEMP c. 40. Of the worthy preparation to the holy Sacrament I Will make an entrance unto the Altar of God even to the God that maketh my youth rejoyce Laying aside the garments of my inveterate iniquity I will renew my youth like an Eagle and hasten to approach that heavenly banquet A plentifull and delicate banquet is prepared which is a medicine to the sicke a way to those that wander a banquet that comforteth the weake delights those that are in health cures sicknesse preserves health a banquet that makes a man more pliant to reproofe more patient to labour more zealous to love more wise to warinesse more ready to obedience more devout to thanksgiving a banquet by which our daily sinnes are forgiven the powers of Satan expelled strength given to undertake even martyrdome it selfe finally a banquet by which all good things are brought unto thee because a man partaking of it doth even become the same thing he receives This banquet compared with Ahasuerus his banquet relisheth farre above it compare it with the table spread in the Wildernesse for the children of Israel and it refresheth thee far more For though that Table contained in it the figure of this our Eucharist when God rained downe Manna for our Fathers in the Wildernesse and they were daily fed with food from heaven and men did eat Angels bread yet they that did eat that bread did die but this living bread that is set before thee in this costly banquet did come from heaven and hath given life to the world That Manna came from heaven this from above the heavens That being reserved to the next day was full of worms this is free from all corruption whosoever shall religiously taste thereof shall not see corruption That was given the Fathers after their passage over the red sea where the Egyptians were drowned and the Israelites were delivered so this heavenly Manna can profit none but the regenerate That corporall bread sustained the ancient people in their passage thorow the Wildernesse to the Land of promise this heavenly food sustaines the faithfull of these times in their passage to heaven Moses was Master of their Table and here Christ is ready at hand who hath furnished this Table and blessed it For it is not man that makes the bread and wine set on this Table to be the body and blood of Christ but Christ himselfe that is crucified for us words are uttered by the Priests mouth but the things set before thee are consecrated by the power of Christ who used these words unto his Disciples This is my Bodie this is the Cup of the New Testament in my Blood which is shed for you It is Christ in whom doth dwell all the fulnesse of the God-head bodily who is the power of God unto whom is given all power in heaven and earth Hee when hee was to put an end to the Ceremonies of the Law would prepare for himselfe the Passeover and before he would be condemned to death and be nailed to the Crosse he was pleased according to the solemnitie to celebrate the Passeover the roasted lambe unleavened bread and sowre herbs When this Supper was so prepared amidst these sacramentall dainties both the old and also the new institutions offered themselves to him and having eaten the Lambe that the old tradition did set before them This great Master sets before his Disciples a meat not to be consumed nor are here the people invited to a banquet made exquisite both by cost and paines but the nourishment of immortality is given them differing from common food keeping the forme of a corporeall substance but by the invisible efficacie of the divine power working in us and proving Gods especiall presence accompanying it Come hither yee faithfull soules refresh and recollect your selves cheere and fill your selves joyne in one by your faith your remembrance of Christ with the application of his merits with hearty thanksgiving for your deliverance made through his blood receive the pledge testimony and assurance of your holy communion and fellowship with Christ your Head and by him with the Father and the Holy Ghost also encrease cherish comfort and hold fast the faith of the remission of your sins your faith is imperfect perfect it not only by the hearing of the Word preached but by using this holy Supper the Word offers but this Supper applies Christ unto us Encourage your selves to the studie of good works How too often are we hindred stopt and grow stupid in performing this work Here Christ keepes us company in exhibiting unto us his bodie and blood hee doth daily more and more mortifie in us the body of sinne and beginne in us the newnesse of a spirituall life performe each to other the offices of concord peace and love for we eat the same flesh we drink the same blood we are nourished with the same food we are refreshed with the same drink we are made one body under the same head but who hath ever seene the members of one and the same body to disagree to strive jarre or contend Cast out rancour pluck up hatred purge out the old leaven The faithfull under the Gospell must not be made of leaven The holy Banquet requires pure and sincere mindes The sweet savour that comes from Christs scorching upon the Crosse doth concoct all crudities of our carnall senses and doth harden and settle the affections of the minde nor let there bee any spot in the Sacrament of