Charity unto God himself who is Love and the Man that can get thither saith St. John dwells in Gods 1 John 4.16 and God in him These Five Ascents are to be often mounted and if in honour to the holiest Trinity they are thrice gone over in our youthfullest in our strongest and in our oldest Age we shall be perfect in our Duty by such Repetitions of it and not think the Fifteen Ascents to God's House at all too many or too steep or tiresom FINIS ERRATA IN the Epistle to the Reader Page 1. Line 28. for quote read Court p. 3. l. 48. read Sketch p. 4. l. 19. for ones read ends l. 49. read Ite In the next Epistle of the Author at l. 12. insert its p. 2. l. 12. read to Heaven p. 3. l. 8. read perfect ones In the Book p. 8. l. 7. read thee p. 9. l. 2. read it natural and born with us l. 32. read or recover it THE Eucharist at Easter 1657 ON THE Happy Recovery Of my Most Dear and Honour'd LUCINDA ANGELS come tune my Joys since they require Notes pure and high like those which ye inspire Blest Saints of Heav'n could ye impart your Mirth Then might I learn to sing of one on Earth One who hath not your Glory yet your Grace One equals you in Piety not Place Because she lives Nor can I more express To tell what 't is the World calls Happiness And since she lives I pray for nothing more But how to praise that help I did implore O God who art most powerful do thou please To give me thankfulness who gav'st her ease Give strength as to her Body to my Brain That with her health may Harmonize my strain And breath still vigorously like my past Fears In Lines more numerous than were earst my Tears While every gladsome Verse records at once My Gods and Mothers Resurrections Within the Spheres of which two Blisses move All I enjoy below hope for above But all my Words and Actions needs must be Lame Offerings fit for Vulcan not for Thee I cannot sing like David nor can I Be even like Saul when Saul did prophecy Yet by that Harp which was his cure I find A Tongue to ease my overjoyed Mind Therefore my Song shall fill the thankful Quire My Voice shall consort with the Hebrew Lyre To drown its Hoarsness in those sweeter Lays So hiding my Defects but not thy Praise The CXVI PSALM verse 1 I Love to praise thy Love most high Who to my Praise gav'st ear verse 2 While I have Breath to thee I 'le cry For thou my Cry did'st hear verse 3 Hell 's Prison made my Soul afraid Death's Snares beset me round 'Till to thy Name I sought for aid Nothing but Woes I found verse 4 But when I pray'd Lord ease my Woe O Lord save thou my Soul verse 5 His Grace and Goodness God did show Making his Patient whole verse 6 His Love and Justice is display'd Shiclding the lowly'st Head And raising mine whom Grief had laid Down low even near the Dead verse 7 Then Soul said I gad not abroad To lose thy sought-for Rest Thou seest Love fills the Heart of God O make that Love thy Host verse 8 That Love which keeps thee from the Grave Thy Foot from falls thine Eye verse 9 From Tears and gives thee Life to have This spent in Piety verse 10 Thus I believ'd and therefore pray'd 'Till Troubles shook my Trust verse 11 Then rashly said all Men are made Of Falshood as of Dust verse 12 But what bring I to thee I 'le take The Cup of Blessing Lord verse 13 And bless thy Name whose Mercies make Our Duty our Reward verse 14 I 'le pay my Vows in sight of them Whose Lives most holy are verse 15 Whose Deaths are in thine Eyes esteem As it s own sight most dear verse 16 Thy Handmaid's Son thy Servant Lord Thy Servant Lord am I bound faster to thee by the Cord Which thou art pleas'd t' unty verse 17 I 'le offer still unto thy Name My Life my Praise my Prayer verse 18 I 'le pay my Vows in sight of them Whose Lives most holy are To God the Father God the Son And God the Holy-Ghost Be Glory and let every one Strive who shall praise God most HALLELUJAH The XXVII PSALM LUCE tuâ fruamur LUCE verse 1 GOD is my Soul 's dear Light What should I fear but him God is my Life 's chief Health and Might What else should dreadful seem verse 2 When wicked ones my Foes Approach me to devour They shall fall down for they that rose Have fall'n into my Pow'r verse 3 Though many Troops besiege None shall my Heart dismay Though Men against me Battel pitch God's strength shall be my stay verse 4 This only Grace this boon Of God I now desire That in his House I may have room To pray in and retire verse 5 There I his Pleasure tast I have his shelter there There on a Rock I shall be plac'd In times of Grief and Care verse 6 For all my Foes surround When God their Siege hath rais'd Around his Courts with joyful sound God shall be greatly prais'd verse 7 O therefore hear me Lord When I rejoyce or cry Comfort or Mercy still afford And to my Call reply verse 8 When once it heard thy Grace my Heart to thee could speak O Lord thou said'st Seek ye my Face Thy Face Lord will I seek verse 9 Thy Face O never hide Nor turn it once away O Leave me not my God my Guide Whose strenth is all my stay verse 10 When Friends no care had took Thou didst for me provide Nay when my Parents me forsook Thou laid'st me not aside verse 11 Lord teach me thy plain way To shun each crooked Path Because my Foes would have me stray verse 12 O save me from their wrath See how the Faithless rise Against me and their Breath Would first ensnare by Calumnies Then cut me off by Death verse 13 Lord I had fainted quite Had I not hop'd to see Thy Goodness in this Life to light My Soul t' Eternity verse 14 Wait then on God poor Soul Take Courage kiss his Rod For he shall make thee strong and whole Wait then I say on God Glory and Praise allow To God in Trinity As at the first he was is now And evermore shall be The XXIII PSALM Paraphras'd THE King of Heav'n the God of Love Takes up a Shepherd's Crook As David did his Son above To his few Sheep will look Then though in Deserts they are left 1 Sam. 17.20 How safe are those few Sheep How safe am I from wolvish Theft Where Christ the Fold doth keep For while I wake he lets me feed By th' Sunshine of his Eye When I want Rest if ought I need His Arm 's my Canopy So that I shall not fear Death's Night Nay when Time's Bell has gone Darkness that harbours many a Sp'rite Shall let my Soul alone My Soul Return array'd then in its Light Such Glories shall put on As they that make my Shepherd white Who is my Shield and Sun He from a howling Wilderness Of Savages th' Aboad Hath brought me by his right Address Into fair Canaan's Road. There up and down meek Lambs he leads While Tides of Joy flow by Can his Flock want who kindly feeds Young Ravens when they cry Like Israel's Leader by the Flood Exod. 14.2 He bids his Army stay Then as he gave Elijah Food 1 King 19.8 He cheers them in their way The pow'r and goodness of our God Return Are our advance and stay Exod. 14.16 Elisha's Staff and Moses's Rod 2 King 4.29 Do Wonders less than they They save the Poor support the Weak Heal sick Folks help the Blind Soft Hearts they bead hard ones they break Thus nurturing the Unking For all Saul's envy Doeg's hate My Head and Beard is crown'd In spite of Foes I fit in state With Ease and Plenty round My Bowl 's with Wine swell'd to the brim With Oyl my Temples shine God is with me e're I with him His Goodness 't is not mine His Grace and not their own anoints Return Kings to the sway they bear His Spirit Royal Feasts appoints His Son is our best Cheer O that towards God my days could move Fast as to Death they tend My Thanks should keep pace with his Love And like it never END
be took for a Jesuit If I conceal some of his Expressions 't is not to abuse his intent of appearing to the World a true Catholick he is now I trust Orthodox and English too Nor would I damp his Spiritual Heats while I fan Superstition from his great Ingenuity and Zeal I know the Silk his words put on is pure Venetian of too curious a Fabrick for me to mend or indeed to meddle with farther than to add a List of courser Materials to the Piece Lest it should seem too nice in its Address to the holy Altars and there be reproved like an Agag for its Delicacy falling under the Censures which many such Works have incurr'd of having more Wit than Zeal in it and too much Rhetorick for much Religion I have rebated the point of Loredano's stile and where I have cut off some reiterated Elegancies and Musical words that as long Fuges were but to the same Tune I took away the Lap of the Senator's Robe I hope without doing him any injury at all 'T is pity a rich Sleeve should be so long as to hang like their Laticlavians in the Dirt Acts 25.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or that Berenice's appearance should hinder Agrippa's Christianity I am more apt to exclude Tertullus than St. Paul and therefore instead of Oratory put in Scripture into the Work that what is lost in Fancy may be retrieved in Devotion And surely no time nor labour would be lost could I be but as much more useful to the Reader as I should be just to the Writer in setting forth his Thoughts with the same pious Impressions and Advantages which they once brought to my Heart To this they have done good as I may publickly own and I am not of so strait so narrow a Spirit as not to endeavour to communicate a good according to the Nature and my Experience of it Indeed before I travell'd into Italy I heard so much ill said of that Country especially of the Venetians in it that I was possessed with a prejudice like his John 1.46 who cryed Can there any good come out of Galileâ— And also prompted by the irreligion of too many Travellers to think that Contagion the Epidemical Disease of Foreigners principally those of higher Rank Therefore when I went abroad lest I should learn Vices more fast than Language or live as formerly in the proud Greek and Roman conceit that every Land was barbarous but our own and all the World was naught but England I was curious to find out what was Spiritual and rightly so called beyond Sea if the lawful Issue of a Noble Laick I look'd upon such a piece of Devotion as more capable of doing good than the more elaborate Volumes of Churchmen who are not thought well enough on because they make it their business to write well whereas the slighter Essays of other Gentlemen which are not of the long Robe fall more gratefully into the hands of great Persons and by Emulation of the precedent if no better motive work often upon them some Pious effect Being acquainted with the Truth before-mentioned and with the mighty number of Memoires and other Works lately put forth by the Noblemen of France I ramass'd a good quantity of the most Illustrious modern Writers in Italy and amongst them the first which I laid hold on was the Third of the seven Volumes of the Honourable Signor Gio. Francesco Loredano's Works Stamp à Venetia 1654. which though set out with all the Garnish that the Poets and Painters could enrich them with yet discouraged my perusal of them because I found the beginning of this Volume very Toyish and Romantic 'Till I consider'd that Men's Books are oftentimes like their Lives the first Parts of them slight and youthfull and such Leaves as will scarce hide a Nakedness nay were better skipt over than perused yet their latter Ends may be Grave and Pious well-order'd and disposed as the Frize and Cornice of all their Works So I searched on for the Pearl among the Shells and left not this great and brisk Wit 'till I found him terminate so well in Meditation as that I fixed my hand upon his Table thus to Copy out his Piety if not his Eloquence and to say to those who cried Come from among them Come and see is not here a Prophet Though he might have been formerly a Saul he is now with the divinest David and this his properest Subject merited Discovery though it lay hid like Saul in a heap of Stuff Nor was I content only to open the Mine or fetch out the Oar but also to fine it from the Dross that this silken Ladder might be useful where stronger like the Bibles were not so portable for to raise or keep up some Devotion in me And this I thank God it did by my often looking on it as La Scala Santa once had done too when it happened to me at Rome as to St. Paul at Athens that I had a good opportunity from an Idolatrous place to pray with much Fervour and Charity for my self and all Men that we might not be mistaken or Hypocritical in our Worshippings of God while with Pity I considered the Superstitions of some Christians there who adored Stocks and Stones more than their Maker and with shame thought upon the Prophaneness of others among Protestants that would not allow God a peculiar manner nor place of Worship Thus have you the occasion of the Title I give to this Book and shall have something concerning the Frontispiece Though by the way take notice that I was never a Promoter of Superstitious Pilgrimages nor so far reconciled to the Church of Rome as to follow her Steps farther than the Church of England approves them For all I have gone up the Stairs above-mentioned and the Ascents of Loredano's Soul I hope with some such true Efforts as that Illustrios Senator design'd in his Preface and endeavour'd in his Paraphrase to which good Act this is but a Scene or rather as the Curtain which may now be drawn away lest it hinder the Spectators better Objects I have fancied the whole Piece to be a Skâ—tch of Jacob's Vision and David's Psalter like Israel's Scale reaching to the Divine Throne whereon devout Spirits have scope to run descant up and down and by the various Motions of their Piety as by the several Degrees of their Understandings they make better Music than the imagin'd Spheres could ever be supposed to do For surely thereupon is grounded the best Harmony of Heaven and Earth and thereon we shall meet with a grateful Consort when we are left never so much alone by the World For they who make no use of the Psalms nor Feast upon them by frequent Meditation are as obnoxious to Errors as I can be in any of these Thoughts Therefore like a Travelling Pilgrim to Mount Sion I pursue my Journey hoping to reach the end of it by doing some good to my self if not
Angel or from what Bethesda could I hope for succor If Thou who art the Fountain of goodness shouldst deny me to drink freely of the Waters of Life for the restitution and repair of my Spiritual health from what peculiar Stream or Cistern could one become so Loathsom and despicable by reason of Infirmities as I am from whom I say could such a one as I expect a draught nay so little as a drop of Comfort 'T is true Lord my yielding to the guidance of a blind Leader hath subjected the liberty of my Will to the Tyranny of my Senses and These adoring some weak and brittle reflexion of thy Loveliness in the fadeing beauty of some dying Objects have made Earth my Heaven and so ingaged me amongst worldly enjoyments as to give me neither List nor Leisure to regard the delights above but a Cloud of terrene satisfactions which will soon vanish as a Mist have taken my Jesus my true Joy out of my sight and I must confess I have been less willing to look on the feasting and refreshing Vessels of Heavenly Joys than God hath been to prepare a Table and to let down a Banquet for my Soul O! how have I scornfully passed by and turned my head away from the good Samaritan When my Saviour hath bowed down his Head even unto my Ear and called upon me thus Is it nothing unto thee O thou that passest by Is it nothing that I have unbarred Heaven Gates for thee and broken down the Gates of Hell Behold and see quite through my Body how the way to Paradise lies open to you and since there are so many passages made thither for Sinners through my Wounds and Heart why will you not believe that I am the Way O my dear God! I cannot excuse either my neglects or infidelity but I know our grievous offences do Crown the glorious Actings of thy goodness and the innumerable Train of those who are conquered by thy clemencies do make such splendid Triumphs in Heaven as thou most delightest in The wondrous Frame and machine of the Heavens the spacious Theatre of the Earth with all the movements and spectators round about them is the great Ball thou givest unto rational considerations and was the work of thy Hands alone Nothing it self was matter enough for thy Omnipotency from whence to build up the mighty Fabrick of the Universe So that by the same power thou didst Create thou mayst also Relieve and Redeem me from the Miseries wherein I am plunged by my Sins Without thy most Divine Assistance all my good intentions flagg and vary from the strict observance of thy Commands My Nature habituated and grown old in Evil wanting thy help on every side finds the Precipices of its endless Ruin Thou only O my God! mayst withold my falling uphold my weak endeavours and raise me out of the Gulphs of my Condition which is sinking down to the lowermost Hell Under the safeguard of thy friendly Aspect mine Eyes fear not the blinding of themselves on Sublunary Glories my Tongue dares not Profane it self with the vain discourse of this loose Age my Feet will not follow the motions of the Flesh my Hands will find themselves obliged to pious Actions and my Ears will not admit of other sounds than such as Eccho forth thy greatness and thy Glories 'T is so indeed most dear Redeemer that under the Banner of thy Love I fear not the Forces of those Enemies both to thy Cross and to my Crowning I am sure the Captain of my Salvation will put to flight whole Armies of those aliens of vain and intemperate affections who would Lord it over thine Inheritance O Lord and thou wilt heal my backslidings so as that Sin shall not be finished to bring forth Death eternal Comfort thy self then O my Soul that the care of God in preserving of men is so great as not to let him seem to slumber when thou hast occasion of thy Shepheards Staff nor will he prove such a stupid Patron as Baal did 1 Kings 18.27 28. when intreated by his Votaries But if thy greater provocations hinder not his pity this will ever be at hand to support to supply thy deficiency and we have no reason to doubt or deny the effects of his Vigilance who with such unwearied and constant attendance makes the Angels wait upon our Motions Nay although we leave and tire God by our Sins yet for all our wilfull Defections and Errors God hath never yet left or abandoned us This great Eye of the Universe is never closed never blinded by our juglings never imposed upon by appearances never heavy with Sleep he decks the Glories of his goodness with the particular kindness which he hath for the Sons of Men. If then the Majesty of the most High not only by the Actings of his bounty but by the Ministry of his Angels thus guards and governs aids and accompanies frail Humanity how comes it to pass O my Soul that thy Affections run from such Fellowship from such Defence to expose themselves to the Shadows of Vanity or the dangers of Sensuality Why dost thou venture thy self so alone like Hagar in a barren Wilderness far from Heaven from Angels and from God to seek for Earthly satisfactions or to let a servile corrupt Wilfulness domineer over the O resist stoutly the assaults of the common Enemy who if it were possible would allay the scorching of his own flames by throwing thee and other Souls into them Therefore quench the violence of those Tendencies that sink thy Soul down from Heaven Master the power of such Affections as despoiling thee of thy most noble part would cloath thee with the filthy Raggs of Sin and then fear not Soul for God is with thee Indeed Lord if my frailties did not rob me of the favour thou shouldst be my Master teaching me the things which belong unto my peace Thou shouldst be my Guide not only unto but through Paradice Thou shouldst be my safe Conuoy to defeat the Enemy of his rejoicing at my falls Thou also shouldst be my keeper to detourne me from the Snares which are daily spread for me by the pleasures of Sense and I am weak as Hezekiah once said Lord do thou undertake for me Take upon thee my Guardianship and thou shalt see how valiantly I will resist all the Temptations of the Devil If thy most powerful Arm dost shield my tender Heart O Lord what Power though ever so insolent dares shoot an Arrow or throw a Dart against it If thy Right-hand be my Support what Force can over-turn me Heaven hath no Thunder Earth hath never a Mouth nor Hell it self an Abysse for such as sit under the shadow of the Almighty When the great God sets his Hand to the Charter of our Protection or to the securing of our safety what alteration can all the changes of the World make on us None not any Non si ruat Orbis We cannot wander as e'rewhile from his
to others And as Jacob was required to make an Altar of those Stones on which he rested in his Journey when he beheld Heaven's Eyes upon him Gen. 35.1 and Angels moving to and fro for his Succour so I thought my self obliged to make an Offering to God 2. as a grateful Monument of that which had better'd me in my Progress and help'd me to see who was with me in the way that I went 3. so as to bring me again to my Father's House in peace May then these Contemplations and our whole Lives too be like Jacob's Ladder scaling Heaven it self and having their highest ones there while some others may be yet upon the low Earth and while good Thoughts and Actions like Coelestial Ministers ascend to Heaven and condescend to Earth let God be set at the end of all we do that we may receive much Good from such gracious Prospects and our Pillars like Jacob's be Anointed to God's Service For my part I desire to build no Babel of several Languages but would bring some Materials unto Bethel though the top of my performance reach no farther than to lay the Foot-pace to God's House If David such a Master-builder thought it Honour enough for him to be but as one of the Nethinim in the Temple it will be more than Grace enough for me to be there if but as a Gibeonite in any degree serviceable to the Flames of â—iety or Wells of Salvation while I officiate in both those parts of Divine Worship the two chief Duties of Religion Prayer and Thanksgiving We see the Soul hath several Steps to take and many Rounds whereby to be exercised in her Addresses to God and they are the Perches whereon she can best recreate or rest her State while she is in this Cage of the Body Let us therefore make her as Musical and as Harmonious as we may therein The very Pagan Worship was Spiritual enough to recommend Hymns and Singing to the Religious of what sort soever they be and had I not mentioned far better Motives from Holy Scripture I should avow my self constrained to this following Psalmody by the convincing words of several Heathens Lib. 1. Dissâ—rtationum Arrian per tot cap. 17. such as those of Epictetus cited by Arrian and partly quoted in my Title-page Nor am I discouraged in doing that which others have done better before me since I hear the Vertuous throughout every Age as well as throughout the Bible like those spoken of in the Revelations singing in the words of the Princely Prophets David and Isaiah Come let us go up unto the House of the Lord Rev. 15.2 3 4 5. c. I was glad when they said not I 'le but Eamus Let us go up For though my Head or Hand be not publicly ingaged in the Service of God or of my King yet neither my Retreat nor Sloathfulness shall make me so bad a Servant or a Subject as not to employ my Pen and Ink and Blood too for Religion and Loyalty as occasion may be offered At present being happy in a long'd-for Recess I have the grateful Leisure afforded me which many good Persons want and might better improve to thank God that notwithstanding our desperate Provocations of him which commensurately heighten our Fears and Dangers we are not yet sunk down into that utter darkness of the days of Antichrist when the saying or singing of Psalms will be rejected with the Church But we have liberty to go up with David into God's House and there still beg those surest Mercies which are best for all Men as well as for me and so should be desired for us all So be it Joannes Franciscus Lauredamus Lauredanus Laureandus Facundus es Clarus eris in annos THE AUTHOR'S EPISTLE TO THE READER THAT Pen which hath so often play'd the Fool upon the Stage of this vain World by soothing most of the fantastic Humours both of our own Genius and of the Age would gladly now take up like a reduced Prodigal staying the Torrent of its wilder Courses that it might a while bemoan its Errors and beg God's favour and so raise its Plumes to a braver pitch taking a glorious flight to the highest place of Paradice For The Glory of this World is raked up or rather buried in the Ashes of our Humane Nature and he is a mad Lover of Vain Glory who is a pretender to Immortality in a Place and Condition where every thing is Mortal like himself * Here the Author reflects on his former Works he having writ many Volumes on the several Subjects here quoted which have been most curiously set forth with ingenious Frontispieces and Recommendations But how shall we stir up or awake the Divine Love that we have either made sad and heavy or made to rest and cease from doing us good by a long Series of Offences Alas no Tales or new Romances dream'd by the finer Wits to please or propagate the Ages Vanity nor any serious Histories drawn like Minerals out of dark Recesses by the Curiosity of their Undertakers to profit and adorn Posterity no nor any politic Maxims that dare teach the Art of Government to the Experience of mighty Princes will now help us to work that Blessed Effect It is needful to withdraw from the fruitless Works from the hurtful Charms of vain Science and Verbosity to avoid the Point and Praise of Men to shun the Title and Esteem of a Master in worldly Arts and to run with devout Requests to intreat the offended Goodness and loving Kindness of our God He continually bows down his Ear to such Cries as bringing with them the Repentance of the Heart come in the stead of Holocausts 〈◊〉 Heaven Therefore that I might at last get thither though I have been long a Malefactor I have walked up some Steps laid by the Royal Prophet which may bring us safely to God's House and from thence to Eternal Felicities And would to God my Heart could travel more with my Hand that the Rellishes of my Soul may be as devout as those of my Pen may seem And that I had mounted these Degrees with such purity of Affection as this Jacob's Ladder should be raised whose top reaches even to Heaven So that whosoever desires to rise to the most glorious Palace of the Son of God if he would reach unto the ineffable Pleasure of a Divine Vision he must walk up these fifteen Stairs which lead to Holiness and Happiness and the main Industry labours in vain to get up to these without Faith and good Works Therefore I have here shewn with David that there are fifteen Degrees to the holy Mount and high Place of Heaven since to advance us thither are so requisite not only the eight Beatitudes but the seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit And he that in this Valley of Vision knows not how to pass on from strength to strength will surely take the wrong way to Sion These are called
Steps of Ascent because who ever intends to make use of them should do it for his Advancement unto God for his climbing up by Grace and not suffer his humblest Thoughts to stoop so low as to give any great Respect or Entertainment unto Earthly Objects The five first Degrees are for Christian Noviciats and Pupils those who begin their Journey towards Heaven in the way of Coelestial Love and venture to pass through the difficulties of Temptation the hardship of Affliction the Swords and Pykes of Censure and Calumniations They are such as with David on his way to Victory stay themselves on their God fix their Confidence with Jacob in his Journey upon Heavenly Succours and rejoyce in Spiritual Supports and press on forward in the hopes of Rewards and in fine have so much true Humility as to attribute the small Progress of their Repentance not at all to their own strength but wholly unto God The five next Degrees assist Proficients in the same Love of God and of Religion who are forward in the way of Mastering their Passions and so are more confident as better Confirmed not only to further themselves but others too in Divine Contemplations as well as encourage and invite to a Plus ultra to a making on in the Love of God 'till they have clearly made it out to themselves They can meekly beg of God a Confirmation of his Grace and of their Strength nor expect any reward nor conceit any Merit nor seek any Commendation either for the exercise of Patience in Adversity or for doing their Duty in that Condition wherein God hath placed them The last five Degrees are for the highest Form of Professors such as are nearest the top of Perfecton above and the Kingdom of Heaven here below who can pray for their Persecutors do good to those that do them hurt and accompany their own tryed Patience with desires of trying it still more and more Begging nothing more of God than Lowliness and Nothingness of Spirit under all the greatest Demonstrations of his Favour lest with St. Paul they should be exalted above measure and grow unworthy by being Proud of that Love with which they long to be made one in an Eternal Charity Therefore taking their Hearts quite off from the World and divorcing their Thoughts from Terrene Objects they imploy their whole Man in beginning their Heaven upon Earth by the continual blessing and praising of God And I pray God these Words may be read with such Thoughts as may stir up each several sort of Christians to the devoutest Action within their Capacities kindling in every Breast one Spark or other more bright and fervent than that can possibly be which is struck out of the black Flint of my Heart who like Absalom have heaped up more Stones of Guilt for the Erection of a Monument in Hell than I have enjoyed Hours of Life for the steering my Course to the Glories of Paradise Every Book that speaks of God should be as a Terminus or Law-Stone either to inform or reform our Footsteps and those Columns are not like Enoch's of Worth nor of Duration that build not up the House of Wisdom Those Figures stand but for Cyphers those Letters are but Mutes that do not teach the Ignorant the Right way or at least turn the Erronious from the Wrong Nevertheless I acknowledge my self not less unapt to Correct the one than unable to Guide the other being neither fit for the Office of a Monitor nor of a Master For what I have written hath been rather to wake my own dying Devotion than to watch for the Encomiums of others and for once I can protest the Puff of worldly Applause which often Tympanies the soundest Minds with Ambition did not blow up the Feathers of my Quill to this its present Flight and Undertaking He that aspires to Abraham's Honour to talk with God as a Man speaks with his Friend doth not give heed to those Whispers of the Serpent to those vain Hopes I mean which Fame and Reputation those Terrae Filiae Children of the Gyant bring along with them to deceive us here I once thought to be Dictator to my self alone because Devotion is a Spirit and like Camphire if let out too far or blown about most commonly 't is lost and vanishes away But when I viewed David like Jonathan climbing up the Rock and commanding his Armour-bearers to follow him I had also the courage both to attend and imitate him in beckening unto others to creep along with me upon these Stairs which lead unto David's Fortress unto the God of Gods in Mount Sion and unto his Temple where every one must speak of his Honour And who knows but some others incited perhaps by my weakest endeavours may assist hereafter with better address those who are getting up these Holy Rounds this Scala Santa of Meditation As we see a little Star shines before the Sun as it were to raise and light up a far greater and more useful Guide than it self But without any more Preamble not to detain or deceive the Reader let me tell him who is not pleased with this Book That he may be pleased in regarding the Subject and if he shall look herein and find any thing that is good it is to be returned with due Interest of Praise to God the true Owner of it who was the Framer of the World from Nothing and the Maker of Mankind Upright though we have sought out many strange Inventions both to be and to do Wrong So that Mistakes and Men go hand in hand together and all the Errors here we must yeild to be our own IN Psalmorum Laudem CHORUS 1. Angelorum 2. Hominum CHORUS THE PSALMS are Paradises Spring Streaming Refreshments every way They 1. Wine 2. Oyl 1. Milk 2. And Honey bring 1. To Cheer 2. To Cure 1. To Feed 2. T' Allay 1. When we are merry Psalms we sing 2. When we 're afflicted Psalms we say 1. They Heav'n's 2. And Earth's Devotions wing 1. While Angels Praise 2. Or Men do Pray CHORUS The PSALMS are Paradises Spring Streaming Refreshments every way c. THE ASCENTS OF THE SOUL The first Step upon the First PSALM of Degrees being the 120 PSALM Ad Dominum cum tribularer c. O Most Gracious God when I have fathomed the tossing Billows of my troubled Spirit either by the depth of humane anxieties or by some thwarting dispensation of that Providence that moves upon the great Abyss and was termed Fortune by the Heathens rolling the whole Globe upon Waves of incertain Casualties Nay when the Storms of my violent Passions make my wicked heart like a raging Sea foaming out nothing but mire and dirt in filthy Motions and in tyrannical or rebellious Actions O then with Humility Contrition and Sincerity of Intention I indeavour to strike sayl for fear of the Shipwrack of a good Conscience and make hast to put into the Harbour of thy Goodness and Compassion Then I
long have I stay'd in a strange Land and rebelled like Absalom in the sight of the Sun before Heaven and against Thee O God! Declaring my self no Son that I might be a Slave to the Tyranny of my basest Affections and a Traitor to my Sovereign Lord Surely much too long and most unhappy hath been my Travel through this Wilderness where I have made Woldly-mindedness my sole Companion so that I may say too too many because Evil have been the Days of my Pilgrimage And surely no greater mishap can befal a Man than to find himself out-lawed from thy Care and made a Vagabond like Cain in the Land of Aberrations under the Rule of Evil Spirits and among his own Deceivings and Temptations such evil Companions as may well be termed Arabians from the Rudeness of their Behaviour the Badness of their Neighbourhood the darkness and deformity of their appearances whereby that Dove the Soul that is conversant amongst them is blacked and sullied as if she had layen among the Pots and lost her silver Wings and is by so much the more unpleasant and unfit for the Eyes of thy Purity by how much the more pains thou hast took to make thy Psyche without spot or blemish or any such thing as the ugliness of Vice disguises the Soul withal Free me therefore O merciful Lord from the iniquity and perverseness of those Tongues that have not known the way of Peace nor had they known it would have loved it because like the grand Enemy in the Gospel they are continually sowing the Seeds of Hatred and the Teeth of Discord Nay while they wear the Vizards of kindness and of peaceableness they conspire treacherously against the welfare of such as would adore and serve Thee Such Tongues O God flattering the sensual Appetite subjugate Reason unto it and make falshood and blasphemies so allyed to them as that although they veil the mischief of their deformities they cannot hide them For Can these Aethiopians change their Skins No they will appear the Black Sons of Cham and like Leopards full of Spots let them daub over their Actions never so deceitfully Lord I wish that my Soul being wholly devoted to Peace may thereby join it self to thy favour and not stray at all from thy Commandments but carefully trace thy divine Examples O Blessed Jesu Thou hast born so good a Will to Man as to will Peace on Earth as well as in Heaven that Glory may be to God in the Highest Thou didst teach on the Mount how that Hatred should be banish'd that Envy not Justice should fly from Earth and that Prayers should be put up for all even for our Persecutors and Kindness reserved for our very Enemies Thou gavest thy Apostles Peace for the best Present thou couldst make them on Earth Thou didst leave them Peace for a Legacy when thou wentest hence and they shall receive from Thee everlasting Peace for their felicity in Heaven At thy Birth the Angels were Heralds who proclaimed a General Peace And what did thy bitter Death bring but the sweetest pacification As the first Words at thy Resurrection were of Peace But Gracious God if thou deliverest me not from that Ishmaelite who pursues me with deadly hatred and from his Children who follow him in Flatteries and Accusations I see alass the Repose of my Soul is so much broken by their Assaults and its own Impotencies as that it may despair of Safety Because without Divine Assistance no body can resist the Witckcraft of those Tongues that are the Fire-brands of the Devil and by his instigation like the Fool in the Proverbs throw about Fire and darts and as if in jeast work nothing but mischief and deceit The second Step upon the second PSALM of Degrees being the 121 PSALM Levavi Oculos O My Soul What dost thou look at What dost thou look for What dost thou look after Whence spring the Hopes which yield some ease to the Troubles and Evils of thy Condition Who is he that can deliver thee from the Arrests of Justice Where wilt thou be secured from the Thunder of Divine Vengeance See round about thee nay within thee there are Ten thousand Witnesses who are accusers also of the Exorbitances of thy Passion Observe both by the late and sad Chastisements of others not so bad as thy self how ready the abused Patience of the Almighty is to change it self into Fury at thy continued provocations Is not thy Conscience gnawing thee like a Vulture and ready to fly in thy very Face to reprehend the vanity of thy desires the extravagance of thy Appetite the blindness of thy Affection and the infidelity of thy Opinions Therefore gape no longer after the Tantalizing fruit of Sodom stare not at the Tinsell Glories of this World but lift up thy Spiritual Eyes in Love and Prayer and Contemplation to the Rock of Ages to the utmost bounds of the everlasting Hills to the Father Son and Holy Ghost those Mountains of perfection who inclose within the bowels of their Love all the Treasures of Wisdom and Holiness and the only means of our Salvation Look up unto the top of this Pisgah and see all that blessed Land see from this Summit how those lower Heights who never feel the showers of our Sorrows nor fear the clouding of their Heads in Darkness I mean the Beatified Saints and Angels who have such glorious Elevations through the Magnetick force of God's goodness upon theirs that like the Hill of the Lord they are venerably to be regarded and though thy weak sight can reach no higher than these Hills O learn from these thy Fellow-creatures the vast distance of thine own unworthiness when but compared even to them in whom thou hast found Folly and be confounded with Shame at thy far grosser failings so shalt thou learn to turn off the Thorns of the Flesh to turn out the Love of the World and to turn away the Messengers of Satan Thou shalt learn the right Methods of a sincere and incorrupt Life thou shalt learn to behold and beholding admire that Hight of Glory that is above and admiring thou shalt learn to get up to that innumerable Company of Saints and Angels already gone to an eternal Passover before the Lord in his Holiest Sion and thou shalt not only have the Ministry of Angels but the help and protection of that great Angel of the Covenant the Holy Jesus to guid thee up safely unto those who are gone before But since O most gracious God! the Aids which thy Creatures afford are but instrumental and Ministerial without force or advantage but by thy Will and Permission I therefore look from them unto Thee directly having recourse to thy Pity only and imploring thy Assistance Thou art my Creator my Redeemer my Comforter my God and my Rock if thou shouldst reject my Supplications to which of the Saints should I turn to offer them up If Thou shouldst deny a Remedy for my weak Condition from what
the privy Chambers of Heaven which are hanged with Eternity and furnished with all real good is so great a favour so inestimable a Jewel so unparalell'd an advantage as that the Soul it self cannot comprehend much less the tongue express it How am I then arrived O dear Redeemer to a blessed pitch of Confidence by considering though I find my self a very unworthy Sinner yet I may come as I am call'd into the Land of the living into the Kingdom of Heaven and when this Earthly Tabernacle shall be dissolved I shall have a Throne a Seat a Building not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens What greater happiness O my God! can a Soul promise it self then by seconding thy divine Commands be secure of inheriting such a Throne such a Seat such a Kingdom in the portion of the blessed and in the presence of Saints and Angels Communicate of thy own Greatness and of thy Glory What delights can equal those of the Celestial Paradise Speak no more of an Earthly one for what satisfactions may keep pace with the Vision of my God Adam himself could but view his works in the Universe But O thou great Ineffable Incomprehensible Transcendent Wilt thou ever become the Object of those Eyes that have been prophaned by Worldly Spectacles In thy presence is Life full Content and endless Joys and these I shall as fully possess being instated by thy Favour as Angels or other perfect Spirits have them so my desires shall be still feasted with the Contemplation of thy Goodness and my affections shall triumph in their eternal injoyments and the insatiable Nature of my Soul and sence will find enough to entertain and quiet them in the infinite Treasure of thy Love and Wisdom But because he deserves no admission into the Clossets of the Righteous who hath made his abode amongst the Carnalities of the World and inslaved his reason to the service of sin I pray thee most gracious God to stay the feet of my longings from going up too hastily too rashly Hold my thoughts yet longer upon the Reflection of my own demerits and then afterward fix them on the sole contemplation of Heavenly things so I shall better find the Obligation I have to serve thee with pure intentions and suitable operations and not continue still only fit to be shut out of the new Jerusalem that is above That Jerusalem I mean whose walls are built up of several orders of Vertues whose stately Pallaces are reared by the Law of Moses the Revelations of the Prophets and the labours of the Apostles the sufferings and Patience of Saints and the power of the Gospel wherein the glorious Majesty of Christ Resides and the best Apartments are set off with Love and Charity and the Angels are the bright Courtiers Thrones Dominions and Powers chief Officers Arch-Angels the Guards and the blest inhabitants are the just made perfect What then should a man do or rather what should he not do or suffer to get to this Jerusalem above O my Soul thou must know that Heaven is a free and General native Countrey that is arrived at not by nobleness of Birth nor by the pride of Life or living not by the glories of Ancestors nor by the Wealth nor Honours of the Earth but by the Holinesâ—acts of our desires the sincerity of the Heart the temperance of the Tongue and the Righteousness of our Actions Here then my Soul fix all thy Complacencies thou hast already cloy'd thy apetite on the momentary pleasures of a short Life and thou findest how brief they are in the fruition how bitter in the recantation of them Get up therefore get up to this new Jerusalem which the pity and goodness of my God doth promise thee while by his infinite Mercies he lets thee tast the fruit of his planting the wonderful Conjunctions of Faith and eternal Glories and will let thee partake of the chief good that common portion of such as are found worthy to be called the children of God Hast thou no reason then O Soul to give thy self up absolutely to the goodness of my God what should hinder or impeach thy submission is not this due to the merits of his goodness and to the demerits of thy former Operations Yea surely by so much the more art thou oblig'd to his service by how much the more his bounties have been extended towards thee Therefore after all this his payment of thy debt of transgressions I find thee bound more fast to thy debt of Duty to fear Gods Power to adore his Majesty to be humbled for my Pride and ashamed of my follies Heaven is no place thou knowest for the unclean there are none but Innocents or Penitents such as have needed no Repentance or else have used it O thou most gracious Monarch of the World whosoever pretends to aproach thy Throne to partake of thy Glories or to enter into thy garden of Life He must of necessity be installed with the Vesture of thy Grace and be stript of all Earthly compliances which so intangle men amongst the snares of Offences or the miseries of this Life All they who to this time have stay'd in the Presence-chamber of the Heav'n of Heavens have been signalized with the special characters of thy Love without which all our indeavours are alike Blind and fruitless they alone have gained that place and honour by the sincerity of their Consciences by the purity of their Lives by the cleanness of their hands in thy sight O Lord as saith the Psalmist Let this be owned by those Children of Israel those chosen people and that Royal Priesthood of Thine who being advanced to an heavenly height by the steps of their Vertues have made thy greatness conjoyn'd with thy goodness to be Ecchoed through the Universe to the shame and confusion of others more oblig'd who notwithstanding they be inriched by millions of Benefits yet know not how to respect the Donor acknowledg the Gift or sanctifie thy Holy name therewithall Lord I am sensible of the backwardness of my Heart to any gratefulness it is conscious of it's own Guilt and would not go no farther till it hath confest how the observation of thy Commands hath been the least of its care and thy Love which ought to have been the first desire of my Heart hath by my ignorance been so neglected as that the fading sparks of a beautiful look have more easily inflamed it then thy presence As many Objects as have been offered to my sense became so many Idols to the which my passions were devoted Thy divinest Name hath been cast out of my Mouth in a Thousand vain asseverations and these have been uttered to no other end then to give Credence to the vanity of my intentions or the falsehood of my Speeches How then can these Eyes these Ears these Hands these words of mine plead themselves guiltless of any Crime since they have or would have offended in all and this conviction of my own guilt
frights me with the thoughts of thy comeing with thy Holy ones to judge the World lest I be then found in the number of such profane wretches as shall be shut forth of thy Caelestial Mansions I therefore dread that last and great Assizes of thy Saints most glorious God I fear that general Summons and the Assembly of thy first born least when that Bench sits upon the examination of my Actions and Omissions how I have neglected the directions of their Doctrine and not imitated the goodness of their Manners nor traced the footsteps of their Charity nor admired the proofs of their Patience I being so vile a sinner such reprobate silver may be rejected for if I am apprehended without the wedding garment of Christs righteousness I have nothing to say for my self no plea to make saving the inexpressible desire of my poor Soul not to be excluded with Doggs but to enter into the Holyest City the new Jerusalem I confess good Lord that I have neither worth nor will to follow the conducts of thy grace nor to arrive at thy Favour all the courses of my Life have been great aggravations of my guiltiness for I have slighted thy Omnipotency by prideing my self in thy extraordinary gifts The very sight and heat of the Sun have appeared not the Loanes of thy peculiar bounty but things made on purpose for my convenience The return and pleasure of each season hath been reckon'd the unavoidable actings of sublunary Creatures Thunder Lightning and storms of Hail were too often counted the necessary effects of second causes Thus Brutish have I been thus blind and yet I knew full well there would not be a Breath of Air nor so much as a lease wag unless it were by thy appointment that makes every Creature live and move and have a Being Yet alass for all I can so speciously declare this I must confess also that many a time when my tongue undertook to disclose thy Name with the due Attributes of thy greatness my wild heart hath then witheld its assent and been ready to give the lye to my speech Since therefore all that I can say of my self speaks me very guilty before thee O Lord I Plead not any Merits but those of my Saviours Passions not any goodness but that of thy Divine Nature afford me these through thy Grace and then I shall have that peace which is an inseparable accident to it I shall have such a Magazine of blessing as may render my Soul like a strong fortress well provided against the assaults of the World and the snares of the Devil Gratious Lord I have often begg'd the favour of thy mercy to draw me out of that wretched state of my prevarications and from the slavery of Concupisence and from the Tyranny of evil habits I know how weak how blind how false or infirme our own Nature finds it self at the best and therefore he that supposeth without the assistance of thy goodness without the armour of thy Grace without the incouragement of thy Love either to quell the impetuousness of his Lusts or to get up to the holy Hill destroying like a Jonathan all his enemies in his way such a one must surely be more then a Man or mistakes himself grosly for he should know 't is only from the excess of thy pitty that a sinner is turned from the evil of his way The prodigal soul that hath long strayed can never make up its losses nor mend its condition unless it be by the inexhausted treasures of thy Grace Help me therefore and redeem me from the power of Satan unto God that being intrusted with thy Talents I may shew forth to all thy manifold goodness and tender Bowels of Compassions so that sinners many with my self may be farther converted unto Thee and by my example inflamed with thy Love renounce Earthly Toyes and pay thy Clemency the due Tribute of penitential Tears And from whence dear God! art yet more glorified then by forgiving us poor sinners Thy mercies are likewise a guide for ours since all the Acts of thy goodness and kindness may in some degree be imitated by man He was formed after thy Image and the more just and holy he is the more doth he approach unto Thee That Prince who best resembles God on Earth must own his power to reward or to punish from thy special grant O Jesu The Martyrs have essayed to copy out thy patience the Virgins thy purity Confessors thy truth and Hermits thy Innocence But alass How far short are they of the Original They have represented thy image as St. Paul speaks but as in a glass very darkly and deficiently For as the Heavens are higher then the Earth so far more excellent are thy operations and affections then ours The proofes of thy goodness are infintly Transcendent and inexpressible rather to be admired then exemplifyed and did not all the Prerogatives of Heaven and Earth concur to set forth thy greatness and to speak thee the Lord of Hosts Yet thy goodness alone would describe thee most admirably according as thou declaredst thy self unto Moses the Lord the Lord merciful and gracious slow to anger and abundant in truth and goodness Therefore extend these glorious attributes towards my relief and advance thy lovely Titles by the forgiveness of my sins I have no farther cause to urge but that by how much the more unworthy my Soul is of pardon by so much the more will thy pity be ador'd in the pardoning of me The fourth Step on the fourth PSALM of Degrees being the 123 PSALM Ad te Levavi c. COme Lord O come and and help my sinking Soul that being sear'd with many troublesom Illusions will let me fall I doubt into the dark of sin I have experienced to my cost how much the ill propensities of my Nature corrupt my sentiments and habituating me to the relish of tentation almost perswade me 't is impossible to resist I live indeed with my self far from my self at such a distance from a good mind as to be without the neighbourhood or acquaintance of my own bad one Self love deludes me with false reflexes and gives to vice it self the surname of Vertue it makes me a self-deceiver and a gross flatterer of my own opinions so that I am apt to spare and connive at my self in the midst of my greatest delinquencies but not to entertain my self any longer among the miseries I contract nor to cast away my life too blindly amongst errors I lift up the Eyes of my Soul to the light of thy divine Presence and with a steady Faith a lively Hope a most ardent Love a fixed Contemplation a strong Patience and a sincere Indeavour I implore thy Assistance and intreat thy Mercy My sight hath lost its ability in regarding worldly Objects and I would not injoy any other Visive faculty but that which thy wonderful grace may afford me let him aim and look at dirt who full of earthly
the Mind to no purpose for the acquiring or preserving of Grace without thy good will or Divine assistance since from thee we have our principles and beginnings our conservation protection and perfection Without thee as thou hast told us we can do nothing but we must likewise know that thou art not far from any one of us nor forsakest such as seek thee truly Many do mis-conjecture that the height of Walls the depth of Waters the thickness of Works the courage of Men the goodness of Arms the fulness of Provisions the watchfulness of Guards and the wisdom of Commanders will secure any Regular Fortification when alas all the Ramparts will founder all the Bastions and Lines fall in together like the walls of Jericho the Curtains will drop down or rend in pieces being too thin and sleight to keep out an Enemy while wrapped in them the sleepy Centinels shall be carried off to Eternal Slumbers unless thy Providence and Protection O Lord of Hosts be over such a Fortress for it is thy favour that must be its strong Tower and Rock of defence and Magazine of safety without that all we can do signifies nothing How far can humane industry advance to raise a man up like Jeremiah out of the Dungeon from the pit of Sin or despair or to support him in thy presence till thou sayest the Comfortable Edict I will be thou clean 'T is true the Angels are ministring Spirits and Holy men help instrumentally to the conservation of Grace and to the disposing of our Minds to good by their exhortations and examples And 'T is certain that I am not seldom affected with the consciousness of my provocations so that I resolve then vigorously to spend the residue of my dayes amongst the Rigors of an Austere Repentance while my Remembrance shames me with the Thoughts of thy abused patience which must needs be turned into fury and this be imbittered by delay Yet for all this without thy special Grace and particular assistance all my Resolutions are but Spiders Webbs my strongest attempts but as Stubble before a consuming fire very weak and ridiculous motions It is not in Man saith the Prophet to direct his Steps Therefore trust not O mortal men either to your selves or to your possessions trust not your enjoyments of great Knowledge or of great Strength no not of the chief Natural or Corporeal Faculties no more than you would credit the turning Wheel of Fortune or the Top of worldly Pomp and Honours Can ye think by robbing your Eyes of Sleep your Minds of Rest your Limbs of Ease or your Bodies of Health ye may do any thing on your own score to gain the applause of Heaven or to throw open the Gates of Paradise No no the Roots of your Merit should be set on another Ground it is not a Plant that will grow in the barren soil of our Earth we must have God's daily Cultivation his Love his Shelter and his Sun too or else we shall go without it And to obtain some worthiness of thy Regard some favour in thy sight a sound and sincere reliance upon Christ doth avail more than all the Watchings Fastings Austerities and Rods which some make such a bustle withall and too often to little purpose for their rising at Midnight or before Day is but a walking in darkness their arrogant reliance on their own Performances is but increasing the difficulties of such achievements as depend not on our own Strength or Merit but on God's Free-will and his alone good pleasure Assist me therefore O most gracious Lord with such a Grace as may gratifie my humble requests and graciously receive the submisness of my Heart in all its acts of Penance with sincerity of Address of Trust and Obedience to thee and to thee onely for to which of the Saints may I turn That although I have been long embraced within the Arms of Sin I may now break away from that Harlot and from the bondage of my Guilt and fly unto thee for a place of rest in the Bosom of thy Favour and Compassion Lord suffer not the naughtiness of my Heart to inveigle me to any further expectation of Comfort or hope of Satisfaction than in those things that are above and there promis'd me by thy Truth and Goodness Let not Worldly concerns or poor transitory Prizes allure my Soul which stoops too oft at low Objects she should tower more out of sight of Earth like a Bird of Paradise and direct her mount to that Summit or height where should be her Airie and which was her Country Ah! did she ply her Wings thitherward like thy holiest Dove she would not be endangered by the Floods of Humane unhappiness she would reach home with her Olive and Myrtle branches with Peace and Purity While Imploying all the Labours of my Life and longings of my Heart after a sight of God in such Righteousness as Peace and Holiness bring along with them I my self might be secured both in Life and in Death and I should find Death but as a sleep and Heaven as an Inheritance long promised to the Faithful and laid up for us in those promises as laid out in that other Life where those who are faithful unto Death may expect a full satisfaction of their Pains Hopes and desires and meet with a farther Solace in a Knowledge of one another and of all their Fellow-brethren even the whole flock of Christ which shall then appear in his Presence and enter into his Joy and triumph in his Courts to all the Ages of an happy Eternity I will therefore O my God! assert my self thy Creature the work of thy Almighty Power the Fruit of the Body of Christ begotten again to a lively hope by his blood and seeking Regeneration by his Ordinances and by my Faith so that I may not love the World nor the things of it but do the will of our Father which is in Heaven But doth it not require much Sweat vast Pains and violent Exercises and very great Self-denial to enter in at the strait Gate and to walk worthy of the Denomination of a Son of God Yea surely 'T is therefore needful to leave off the pursuit of all those vain complacencies which have served onely to amuse and to deceive me here below 'T is needfull O my Soul that thou being armed by devout Prayer and Fasting shouldest be sober and watchful to repell the most furious attacks of his Temptations who is come forth against thee like a ravenous Lion 'T is needful for thee to make Reason thy Pilot Religion thy Load-star for thy better passage through the waves of this troublesome Life and if thou steerest wisely in the faithless Sea of this World weathering all the stormes of Impetuous affections thou mayest at last arrive at the Haven where thou wouldest be and as the feigned Son of Jupiter is said to overcome the many-headed Monster so thou mayest by thy several Labours in Charity Love Faith
Repentance and Restitution subdue the Hydra of Sin and approve thy self a Child of God according to the Apostles assertion Now thou mayest understand that the Sons of God are like Arrows in the Hands of a Gyant they wound the Hearts of Gods Enemies and scatter such as delight in Mischief destroying and beating down what is evil quickening Faith and working Love in the Godly and the Effects of such Divine Instruments as these are the discouragement of Sin the feeding the Hungry Cloathing the Naked succouring the Poor entertaining the Stranger visiting the Prisoner freeing the Captive burying the Slain correcting the Obstinate counselling the Ignorant comforting the Afflicted assisting the Weak forgiving the Injurious and praying for the Persecutors In fine all the most accomplished performances of the Memory Will and Intellect are but as so many barbed Arrows put into our Hands by God to be shot against his Enemy Satan and the maker of the Devil Sin How happy then is the Christian Warrior who makes use of these Weapons How happy is the Jonathan that can strip himself of his Harness of Worldly mindedness of the full Quiver of his Lusts of the Girdle of Self-love wherewith he is too often girded for the sake of the Son of David He is Lovely as much as Lowly who can hate himself and all things here below He is Just and strong indeed who can do Violence to his own Interest for the greater benefit thereby to his Neighbour He is wise that can chuse a Saviour's Thorns rather than the sweetest Flowers of Sin which are but for a season He is Noble that makes use of Greatness chiefly for the Glory of God He is Rich that will lavish his Mammon here to make himself Friends therewith hereafter And he in truth is the alone happy man who with ardent affection and continued watchfulness hears receives and obeys the truth of thy Work and allows no Resting place no Ark nor any Asylum to unlawful desires or inordinate affections within him Such men as these before-mentioned they are who in the midst of the Fire the Thunder and Lightnings Cries and Terrors of the last Judgment shall never be daunted in the presence of their Judge nor by the Indictment of their Accusers For being kept in perfect Peace by the stay of their Souls on thee good Lord they are safely brought into the Harbour of a quiet Conscience and under the shelter of a mighty Jesus who is able to save them to the uttermost from all their Adversaries and from all such accusations as may not then touch the justified by Christ although they may serve to convince other Sinners and display the Ungodliness of Sin The ninth Step on the ninth PSALM of Degrees being the 128 PSALM Beati qui timent HE that would gain the Beatitude of thy Favour O Lord must of necessity fear thy greatness and obey thy precepts so that he is the blessed man upon Earth that knows exactly how to guide his Feet into the ways of Peace into the paths of thy Commandments and doth meet with no other inconveniences in his way than the doubts he may sometimes encounter about thy Love and Favour to him The fear of thy Power and the Reverence of thy greatness is so needful even for the very best Dan. 4.31 32. Ier. 51.9 else why hath thy justest Vengeance armed it self with Thunder to strike down the presumptuous Why hast thou by Fire from Heaven extinguished the memorial of Transgressors Why didst thou command the Waters to climb above the highest Mountains but that thou mightest overcome the greatest Sinners and shew how by thy wrath as by thy Love thou couldest hide a multitude of faults Thou hast bred Monsters within men by conscious apprehensions and often surroundest those Scilla 's with terrors of guilt Thou hast many times suffered thine Enemies to punish one another by their Cruelties And not seldom by Earthquakes by panick Confusions or Fears by Portentous Signes and strange * Such as were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 frequently heard before the Destruction of Jerusalem Voices thou wouldst instruct all them who listen to thee speaking either on Earth or from Heaven and thou wouldest also correct the infidelity of others and thereby convince such how thou art to be feared Yet surely the fear that is struck into us by the Effects of thy Power is not so kindly welcom to thee nor so agreeable to us as that which proceeds from a sense of thy Love and pity and I know by experience that thou wouldst be loved chiefly because thou art Long-suffering rather than Omnipotent and thou hast proved thy self most a God by shewing mercy in being not called now the Lord of Hosts but the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in whom dwels the fulness of the Godhead bodily and in him thou art our Father which art in Heaven Hallowed be thy Name c. How wonderfully this advances the proof of thy Clemency above that of thy Power to the end that mans Fear and Reverence of thee may Spring rather from his filial affection than from thy Supreme Authority And doubtless he that fears thee O my God! out of a regard to thy Statutes that he may not infringe them nor hazard the Loss of thy Favour nor lose the Hopes of his Adoption or of his Admission into the Joy of his Lord he surely reaps the best of Heaven and Earth the truest Comforts of this life and of a better Therefore I wish all Mankind would take such a Course as this How healthful then would be your Sweats how blessed your Pains how profitable your Labours O ye Mortals who too often spend your Strength in vain and your time in fruitless works of darkness Then your Wealth would not be impaired and blasted as 't is now frequently by the Rapine of others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Rigour of ill seasons or by a Thousand Cross events but it would be an enjoyment as sweet as 't is a Possession and serve for your just Satisfactions and Necessities as well as for the profit of many more The care you would then take to be Charitable and the sincerity ye would use in the Application of your Mammon to good purposes would make it return double to you like Job's Estate and be preserved to you by God himself who seing you not besmeared with Envy or Covetousness in respect of these deceitful Goods or mis-led by Pride or Worldly-mindedness he would delight in your Abundance together with your selves and while ye tasted the sweets of all your Industry he the good Husband-man so called John c. 15. v. 4. would also tast a grateful because a gracious Return and Relish of that full Cup of yours which he had first put into your hand as likewise of that penalty which we may thus happily undergoe how in the Sweat of our brows we may eat here comfortably and get up to God's holy Hill at last For let us be
convinced 't is by taking pains and in the fear of the Lord that all the Felicities of every estate must be acquired Universal Nature hath no Bliss nor Pleasure for such as do not fear and tremble pant and struggle after it in Gods way Such as do lack nothing saith the Scripture The Stars and Elements jointly concur not to fight against them as against Sisera but to pour upon them benign influences nay the Incarnate Wisdom of the Deity which is the Bridegroom of every pious and lowly Soul continually waters the Garden of his Spouse and like the Spirit in the Blood runs through the abstrusest Chanels of the Breast and sometimes produces the Peace of God which passeth all understanding sometimes it nurtures Chastity which is as admirable as rare now it presents it modesty by which the most exorbitant ambitions may be checked and then points it out to the means of acquiring true Honour Sometimes it exhorts to the Possession of that Heritage St. Peter speaks of which is all one with a happy Eternity 1 Pet. 1.4 and directs the wandring Thoughts which were nigh lost upon worldly Objects to the contemplation of the Greatness and of the Goodness of that Portion prepared in Heaven At other times it augments the proofs of a right Charity which gilds the way to Happiness And thus at last true Wisdom proves a Vine which being planted in our mortal earth proves like Joseph very fruitful and brings forth Clusters unto Holiness stretching out its Roots towards the Well of Life and its Armes to kiss the top of Glory and rests its whole force and State upon the sufficient strengths of a Saviour Hence comes it to pass that all the Operations of such an one as fears God spring constantly from his Union with the Eternal Wisdom and are very compleat acts of Probity and Vertue His thoughts mount even to the third Heaven not stooping in their flight towards mortal things for any other reason than to make it afterward force up the higher his Heart becoms so emptied of Vanity that no Impressions find long harbour there but such as Limn out Divine Love His eyes enamoured with the Beauties of Heaven meet no objects here below but such as seem unworthy its regards His Tongue that perhaps had been an Eccho to the Licentiousness of the Age now utters nothing but what is full of moral conclusions for himself full of good Counsels for others and more full of acknowledgements of God's kindness to all Those his desires which were once inveigled by the prettiness of a Face by the possession of Wealth or by the vanity of Honour now are settled on the Glories of Heaven on the Indies of another World on the Beauties of Holiness on the Charmes of the Grace of God that hath appeared unto all men And thus the men which are rightly said to fear the Lord Mal. chap. 4. and reverence him indeed with sacred Worship they are renewed in the Spirit of their minds and are still fresh and flourishing like Olive-branches in the House of their God They are Festoons the Garlands which crown his Temples and imbellish his Triumphs for ever more About their rich adornments and noble stations we may find enwreathed such instructions as the Psalmist presents us here Lo thus shall be done to the Man whom the King will Honour Lo thus shall he be blessed that feareth the Lord. Whosoever therefore will learn to joyn Obedience to a Devout fear by holding down his own restif Will to the Law of God and being jealous of his natural Infirmities prove still sollicitous to be safe by taking care not to offend in Thought Word or Deed such a man may be assured of Divine Grace and the Consequence of this both in time and beyond it also Lord I perceive thou requirest nothing of me but a willing mind but that Fear and that Obedience that should be as easily as duely given thee and how come we to Sin but by disobedience what is the chief occasion of our offending thee but the not dreading thine Anger If I would learn rightly how to fear I might shun the Hazards both of Life and Death Negligence for the most part makes us Contumacious whereas on the contrary Fear drives away neglect deters us from Vice learns us Discretion fences the Soul against temptation and plies it to all probity of which in some sort it may be termed the chief Cause Therefore Grant me thy Grace O merciful God! to be qualified by the acts of Love and Charity to fear thy Power and Majesty without ceasing as Joseph did under the greatest temptations Grant that being enamoured with the sanctity of thy Precepts I may not be perverted by the enveiglements of Sinns nor by the vanities of this Age. Grant that loosing my Heart from all Worldly dissoluteness it may abide a Vessel of Honour and Purity of Holyness and Election By these means O my God! I shall hope thy blessing and dearest Lord thou canst not deny the effects of thy Grace towards those who serve thee humbly and love thee sincerely and trust intirely upon thee Wherefore my Soul being parched up with the fervour of my Love for thee waits like a thirsty Land for the Dew of thy blessing to refresh it so as to make it recover the verdure of its Hopes and shoot up like the poor Mustard seed until its Armes may reach up to Heaven and take hold of that Glorious Eternity which makes thy Church there Triumphant Extend thy acoustomed goodness for thine Arm O Lord is not shortened that it cannot save and answer I beseech thee my Prayers with such Blessings as are still sought for by the good and feared by the evil hoped for by the Faithful and despaired of by the Cast-away For they are Sanctified Mercies and the chief blessing of Sanctification which secure a future Inheritance as likewise many temporal Felicities of those kinds as are ordinarily thrown unto the Worst and but seldom allowed unto Gods own Children without a superabundant measure of Holiness and devout Care but these being bound up with the richest Jewels of the Crown inaugurate us with the Earnest of thy Spirit and ensure us that after the troublesome exile of this mortal Life we shall be made Heirs of that Glorious Kingdom which is inconceivably Happy and Desirable and for which we implore thy Favour through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen The tenth Step on the tenth PSALM of Degrees being the 129 PSALM Saepe expugnaverunt FEar not Temptations O my Soul the Apostle saith We should count it all joy when we enter into them for these are but to exercise thy Patience to prove thy Sincerity and to justify thy Fidelity How canst thou hope to arrive at Gods Favour like one of his dear Children unless thou endure the Fiery tryal Resist therefore O my Soul if it should be even to Blood because at last even by the Temptation God can make a way for
hopes of Happiness for indeed obstinate Sinners are like the Ground which the Lord hath Cursed unworthy to have one Shower of good Wishes or Consolations bestowed upon them from good men and much more uncapable of the Dew of God's Blessing But Ah! let not my Portion be with such nor shut up my Life with the Bloody-minded but impower me to resist the Malice of the Evil-ones and so to rely upon thy Favour as to live under thy Protection and Cognisance and to be known for ever by the white Stone with a new name even by the blessing of thy holiest Name O Lord Jesus Amen The eleventh Step on the eleventh PSALM of Degrees being the 130 PSALM De profundis c. O Lord how wretched woful lamentable is the Condition of a Sinner who being turned into his own Enemy doth nothing but lay Ambushes for himself while he forgets ungratefully thy benefits he becomes most worthless and hated both of Heaven and Earth He deserves no Mansion but in Hell Alas unhappy Sinner how art thou forsaken by thy Creator Redeemer and Comforter even by all of thy God! and thy hopeless state is the more dreadful being accompanied with the fearful expectation of Judgement Thy Crimes bring with them unspeakable bitterness because they fore-bode Eternal Torments and thy Life is but a continual Death by reason of the gnawings of Conscience the Horror of thy guilt and the domineering of thine Enemies over thee Yet for all this with the lowest Humility that is due to the height of thy State and to the meanness of mine own while the requests of my Heart keep time with the Words of my Mouth I am bold to cry aloud for Mercy and beg thy Compassion O Lord God! although thy Mercy and Compassion may seem to stoop too low while they take up my Petitions unto thine Ears And if these are better emploied in hearkening to the Ecchoes of thy Glories to the Lauds of thy Saints and to the Harmony of Heaven yet let them not disdain the importunity of those longings after thee which arise from a firm desire and a deliberate Resolution and address themselves to the Footstool of thy Goodness O Lord I know the King of Israel is a merciful King I know thou takest pleasure in hearing the Requests of thy poor Creatures especially if they proceed from humble Hearts and contrite Spirits I know that thou art ready to put a stop to the Musick of Heaven and to give a pause to thine own Praises rather than the Prayers of such a poor Supplicant's should not be listened to Therefore Receive with grateful attention those cries of mine which bring with them the true evidences as I trust of Conversion as well as of Contrition It is the great prerogative of thy Uncircumscribed Majesty as to hear and determine of my guilty State So by thy Mercy to receive my Petitions and reprieve me from the Sentence passed on me by reason of my Crimes Therefore I beg thou wouldst not regard the number of my Sins nor the Quality and Aggravations of them which I will not pretend to enumerate by some few instances because thou knowest the minutest grain of my Offences Thou hast a particular of them all And Shouldest thou weigh our Guilt in the Ballance of thy Justice only shouldst thou be extreamly severe in thy punishment of what is amiss about us if thou shouldst not in thy Displeasure think upon thy pity and give this leave to Plead while the other arraigns O Lord who might abide thy presence or stand before thee in Judgment The brightest Angels are not pure in respect of thee and the most Holy would scarce be safe Where then should the Wickekd and Sinner appear but in the bottomless Pit of Destruction Had thy Wisdom thought good to have set thee only upon the Correction of our failings the World it self as well as we had been long since buried in the Cinders of our last Funerals and wholly burnt up with the Fire of thy just Displeasure But since thou hast set thy Pity and Good-will thy Son and thy Spirit as better Advocates between thy own Purities and thy Creatures Frailties than Mans weakned Nature or worse Infirmities could be for we all are too apt to set these on pleading for us as being ever near us yet Ah! let us beseech thee rather to listen to the others in our behalf hearken to that chiefest Councellor of thy self and us the most holy and gracious Paraclete and hear thy Son Interceding for us Wretches more freely than we hear him instructing of us Continue the incomparable Acts of thy Mercy and exercise the accustomed proofs of thy goodness towards us with the merits of Christ's precious Blood wash out my spots with the floods of my Tears quench the fire of my Lusts that I may not be found the Heir of Wrath or Child of the Devil For indeed the true Repentance of a Sinner is the sole effect of thy Bounty Man that is now made up of nothing but the mud of Earthly Debauches cannot so little as look up to Heaven with the Publican though he look no higher than the Clod he stands on without thy special influencing aid But this Ray thou hast promised by Ten thousand solemn attestations and 't is the Light of Mankind which thou hast afforded that it might light every one coming into the World Saints and Prophets have born witness that thou art the God of Sinnes if Penitent thou art the Redeemer of the most vile and miserable when they truely return to their Father's embraces Let it then be an Addition to thy Glories that thou hast more of Pity than I have of Provocation and that thou yet retainest better Dispositions to pardon Sins than I have Inclinations to commit them Through the excess of thy Goodness thou hast bounded thy own self and given less to thy Power and Justice than it might have challenged and therefore have I long waited for thy Salvation O Lord. I have endured the Stings of delay while I looked for thy Redemption and sighed for the effects thereof and I must avert my Labour hath not been in vain for I have found the Hopes thou gavest me to be answered thy Word concerning me to be true and good and thy promises to be performed They may be left to their own deceivings who wait upon the vanity of the world and build their expectations on mortal assurances My Heart being fixed on the verity of thy Covenant on the certainty of thy Promises on the Anchor of a lively Hope secures it self of meeting with such favour as is inseparable from thy Majesty For my own part I am guilty of a Thousand Crimes nor is there any thing in me but Filth and Frailty I have triumphed in my Vices as if I had liberty to commit them and not to overcome them even while I denied my betters the liberty of reprending them Instead of abasing my self to the Dust that Principle of
my Being I have dared to contend with Omnipotence Death and Hell have been imagined Dreams and Phantasms only to scare the simple and not to be Instruments of thine anger to scourge the guilty But yet my Soul doth humbly now suppose it self an Object not less proper for thy incomprehensible Mercy because of its infinite Unworthiness and will rely only upon that Mercy of thine since it is worse than Folly to trust in any thing else He that doth place his hopes under the protection of great men doth but pass away his Liberty into the Hands of Tyrants He that founds his security on the Commonweal's builds up his Comforts on great Improbabilities He that counts Wealth the Mine of all Happiness is not acquainted with the Wheel of Fortune he that sooths himself with pleasures in worldly Knowledge knows not enough the weakness and incertainty of our Understandings as well as of all intelligible Subjects and whosoever presumes upon his own Merits let him call to mind from whence he came and whither he must return being liable to Myriads of Infirmities and to more than a single Death Friends themselves and Health the best of humane enjoyments are in this point like Honours Riches and other mortal entertainments very short and transient under the influences of a changing state subject to alterations from our own age as much as from the malice of our Enemies Therefore O Mortals cast your Anchor on no other security but on my God there is no Rock like him as I have experienced He can Love us freely and Defend us fully he doth heal our Infirmities and makes up our Losses he protects our Weakness and succors our want Where he associates there it is that Felicity both Roots and Flowers To him let us have recourse every Watch of the Night and every Minute of the Day To him let us offer up both our Lives and Deaths the Beginning and Accomplishment of all our Undertakings For he that is all Goodness hath no other Scope but our Happiness Deut. 32.4 By how much the more our humane Ignorance tempts us out of the Road to Heaven by so much the more his Pity strives to lead us the right way and to keep us in it For all 〈◊〉 universal Impiety weaves a Spider's Webb in every ones Mansion Prov. 30.28 and Pride heaps up Mountains of Guilt to defy Heaven while Avarice scrapes up Dirt to make an Idol of it and Lasciviousness dissolves its own pleasure by excess though Gluttony returns often with the Dog and Idleness looks after no good nor Anger meets with any thing but Precipices Yet for all these the goodness of God abides continually and is not discouraged by our Unworthiness when even this is aggravated by his Love but strives the rather to appear still as far above our Vileness and beyond our Merits as the Heavens are distanced from the lowest Earth And shall I not fly to this City of Refuge when pursued by a many ful-mouth'd Sins that cry aloud for Vengeance the Diseases and Corruptions of my Nature and Condition are not so inveterate but there is Balm in Gilead and a Physician there who can ease them My Wounds though festered by long and evil Habits are not gangrened by Despair nor is thy Hand shrunk up into thy Bosom but thou wilt put it forth to reach me a Cure Thy Remedies O Lord are always ready as thy mind to recover us and thou art never weary of well doing Thou alone canst reduce me into a state of doing better than I have done Thou alone canst pour the Oyle and Wine into my Hurts and bear the Charges of my Recovery Lord lay down the price of this and give Bail for me thy Insoluble Debtor As thou didst upon the cursed Tree Redeem thy Israel from trouble so let the Merits of thy bitter Passion be the powerful means of my deliverance from the slaveries of Sin that I may serve thee without base Fear without any great Disease or Disgust or Luke-warm indifference It must be the heat of thy Love which can dissipate such bad Distempers of my Soul as have brought an Ague upon my Devotion and a Plague upon my Heart Lord see me set right again by the health of thy Countenance when I am made whole see that I Sin not again lest worse things fall upon me But assure the whole residue of my time by such a just and severe Repentance for my past Infirmities as that I may never relapse into them nor thou strive with me who have contended too long with thee But crowning the greatness of thy Glories by the Pardon of my greatest Sins thou mayest give me leave to rely wholly on thy sweet Compassion till I may take Harbour in a Course of Sanctity in the state of Justification and at last in a full and perfect Redemption Amen The twelfth Step on the twelfth PSALM of Degrees being the 131 PSALM Domine non est exaltatum Cor c. O Lord I perceive the greatest Enemy of Mankind leaves no means un-attempted whereby he may draw us out of thy blessed way Sometimes with prosperous Success and sometimes with earthly Grandeurs he well-nigh masters such to their Eternal Ruine as he durst not assail by Crosses or by Want At other times when neither fair means nor foul will do his Work he takes a stranger course and represents to those too good Opinions which we ordinarily have of our selves a long Bead-roll of Religious Performances that wee Priding our selves in our own doings might infect them and arrogate that to our own merit which is wholly due to thy goodness * Aristot in Eth. 1.4 4.3 inquit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ita fecrunt Optimi Gentium Stotcorum scilicet Epicuraeorum qui dixerunt Nos exaequat Victoria Caelo immo ipse Philosophorum Romanorum Imperator Marcus Aurelius erat famae suae curiosissimus c. The Best men of all are too much addicted to this Sacrilege and few there are alass who are so well bred in Humility as not to like their own Reputation or not to covet Glory here no less than above Who doth not think too well or too much of his Service if it appear faithful to God and Charitable to others while he is patient in Adversity and temperate in all his Desires Is he not apt to be exalted above measure Therefore while I purpose with my self to avoid the Pride and Pomps of the World and to give my self up wholly to the execution of thy Commands let not my Heart applaud it self in private but so turn mine Eyes to thy Testimonies that they may not cause nor discover any Vain-glory about me Give me such a likeness to my Jesus such a lowliness of Spirit as to referr all things duely to thy bounty and nothing to my Power or Merit And as by the excesses of undeserved loving-kindness thou hast advantaged my Birth with the Characters of Illustrious
Soul I know mine Ears have been like the Adder's and deaf to thy Commands and to every good Exhortation though open to the Whispers of a lying World The motions of my outward man like those of my inward have been but to hurry me to ruine I know my Heart hath been most vain in its desires blind in its appetites mad in that indulging of them yet I rely upon thy Pity and despair not of thy Forgiveness As thou didst comply with the Vehement struglings of Jacob for a Blessing when he had cause enough to fear his own weakness so do thou afford me thy Guidance and Protection that I may not only begin well to turne towards Thee but that I may go on from Strength to Strength to meet Thee and if thy Grace so forward my Regeneneration I shall not doubt of performing what I have promised that is to give Thee all which the devoutest Soul can offer My Heart would have no other place to recreate its affections in but in the Presence-Chamber of thy Love What do the richest Marbles signify though they have often sweat under the Tools of Cunning Workmen for the adorning of some Closet for me if my Rocky Heart be not broke by thy divine Precepts The Battels wrought in Tapistry which hide the nakedness of my Walls do silently upbraid my Vanity Hypocrisy the Commotions and Quarrels that engage my Soul by many differing Passions all which make spoil of my Reason instead of serving her While the Eye Tries it self through a long Prospect of Apartments wherein much skill might be likewise tired by its Observations of Ten thousand Rarities even there my Remembrance offers me an Inventory of my faults which seem desperate enough to snatch the Golden Scepter of thy goodness even out of thy Hand and to cut me off from all hopes of Mercy Yet Lord cast me out of doors let me be onely covered with the Canopy of Heaven take away not onely my Fineness and Superfluities but my Ease and Prosperity nay even my Houses and Lands my other Comforts and Health too from me rather than deny me thy Grace for what greater Blessing can I beg than it The Favours of Princes are lightnings that blind us with their Splendor Riches and Beauty corrupt daily They seemingly depend upon strange uncertain accidents Power and Honours are no less dangerous than Elevating But the possession of thy Favour is a boundless Gulf of Happiness What Golden Shours of ineffable sweetness are pour'd into their breasts who enjoy the priviledg thereof Wherefore although I should deny Sleep to mine Eyes and Slumber to their Lids for thy sake O God! yet even by such actions I should meet with the greater Repose nay with that unspeakable Quiet and serenity of thy beloved and chosen People So that I desire not that any part of me should find Ease and Rest without a sensibility of thy Grace and a respect to thy Will All my Bones shall say Lord Who is like thee and as thou hast obliged so do thou unite all my disorderly affections Bind them with the Cords of Divine Love unto thine Altars that they may not be undone by the dissoluteness of this Age strengthen my Weakness encourage my Resolutions to get the better of my Frailties and of my Inconstancy least I fall into every Temptation of Sin or Snare of the Devil I seek no farther security than thy Favour no fairer Boon than thy Grace no fuller Bliss than thy Bosom affords But to obtain these Lord there is requisite a more intire Obedience to thy Will a continued Repentance of my Transgressions and a resolution fixed rather upon dying than offending Thee any more And is not this Disposition the Ephratah mentioned wherein we may find Christ Surely he that can behave himself Righteously Soberly and Holily towards the World Himself and Satan need not doubt but that he may see God's Face and Live also For God is good and doth good to all such as keep his Testimonies and walk in his wayes Where there is any goodness he will not be a far off Where there is any true Piety there is God at hand for he loves to Crown his own Gifts and to Glorify his own Graces and to have his delights with the Sons of Men when these are willing to become the Sons of God by coming to his onely begotten Jesus Christ This I have found by experience and how great is my Obligation to thee most dear Redeemer who would suffer thy self to be found in the sharp Covert of my Breast in that strong Wood where Sin left none of the Cedars of God which are full of Sap but only a few Shrubs of impotent affections which are so full of Briars and Asperities as that they opposed thy entrance into my Soul and presented Thee with nothing but another Crown of Thorns Yet since I have not onely heard of Thee with the Hearing of the Ear but my other Senses have been sufficient Witnesses of thy inestimable Kindness and of thy Addresses to me that I might find thee O that I may find such favour in thy sight as to have a sight still of thy Favour Let my Worshipping of Thee keep some measure with thy Working upon me that I may be renewed day by day Undress my Soul of all such mean Garbs and sinful Compliances as will render it uncomly or unfit for thy sight This Soul dear Lord of which thou wouldest be the Maker and Redeemer also doth not more triumph in thy present bounty than it is afraid to forfeit it Therefore Come now and take up thy abode therein Shall my Sins keep Thee knocking at the Door No dearest Lord come in my Lord come in while I am ready as thy Spouse should always be to entertain Thee my beloved Bridegroom What Sinners need despair of Mercy while a Saviour Invites Intreats and even pulls them by force out of the Sodom of their Sins and dangers unto a Repentance which may bring them to Salvation And How easily is Heaven opened by the Tears of Contrition How pleased is the Divine Pity at such Tears These Showers return again upon the Earth with Peace to it Good will to Men they bring God Glory and his Glory to us they cause Heaven's Jubile and the Angels Triumph because the Return of a Sinner is the most grateful Tribute that the Creature can offer to its Creator and God delights himself in the Election of such Instruments as are changed from Vessels of dishonour and fitted for his service by Conversion Since the procurement of his Grace and Favour is not the Fruit of our Merit but of his own Goodness For all we may Weep Sigh Pray Fast make Restitution give Almes resolve against Sin and mortify our Passions and bridle our Affections and our corrupt Appetites in some decent manner yet our Nature hath many Frailties and renders our best deeds so imperfect as without the excess of thy Compassion without the Merits of
much as if he stayed near the place where the Sun makes his Bed at Noon So neither can he receive the warmest influences of Gods Favour who departs from it like an offending Adam Therefore O my Soul Renounce thy Worldly affections altogether and know that whosoever leaves his Heart to be entrapped by the fair semblances of Earthly Toys may lose his share in an Eternity of Glory while he embraces nothing but a Cloud and catches unhappily at a Shadow Alas all Sublunary things are too slight to be compared with the pleasures at God's Right-hand What is most compleat here is ever assailed by its contraries and what appears most Gygantick or mighty is but the greater Imposture cheating our apprehension by the cast of a huge Shadow That which is sweetest to our Senses is incompassed with the most stings as our loveliest Roses have the sharpest prickles here is no Hony but what is scoured with Wormwood and the whole course of our Lives is but a L'ambigue a strange Hotchpotch of Good and Evil. But in God in God alone is found true Good and perfect Happiness Many things that are useful are not pleasant and many pleasant things are noxious Fasting Abstinence and large Alms-deeds enrich the Mind mortify the Passions while they seem to impair our Worldly Concernments On the contrary the satisfaction of sensuality may caresse the Body but they torture the Soul In God alone meets that Profit and pleasure which constitute the chief Good Therefore O my Soul with fervent Devotion sincere Conversion and settled Resolution be fixed to thy Redeemer and enjoy such bliss as is made over to those who are acquainted with God's Mind and obedient to his Commands How unhappy are the Scorners of such acquaintance and Union with God Sit not thou in their place if thou meanest to be happy for they have took leave of their Felicity they have shook hands with Faith and Charity they are Eclipsed from the Beams of the Sun of Righteousness Yet let those sottish Animals inform me if they can why the bright Planet of the Day is so welcom to universal Nature Why the sending forth its Light and Heat draws up their Eyes and the Faculties of the whole World as it were to the admiration of it self Why are the four Elements so needful if they be not Communicative and assistant to every Body and is not the Maker of these much more wonderful as much more necessary to us all He that will lean to his own imaginations makes them his Idols and forfeits the Inheritance that might be had by Communion with God But he that with a right affection and with Filial Reverence binds up all Cravings within the good pleasure and will of God may receive all the Joys that can be handed to him by a Deity for such an Observance Such Union of a Soul to Christ is more sweet and acceptable to Heaven than was that holy Oyle which the High-priests onely were to make and use And as the Heavenly dew that falls upon the Hills of Hermon and of Sion brings Fruitfullness to their Rocks and Health to their Inhabitants so the Largesses of the Divine Bounty many ways advantage all such as are united to a Saviour and to one another by a copious Charity The Dew comes down silently from Heaven and waters the Earth being nourishing and medicinal and such a Celestial thing is Love and Concord Curing all the Diseases of the Mind It softens the very Marbles of a proud Niobe improves the sterile bottom of Good-works sweetens the Asperities of Contrition and prevents the withering of our Hopes Send down this precious Dew upon my Soul O Lord as thou didst another on the Fleece of Gideon that being over-shadowed by thy Love I may never Divorce my self again from it but value my affections as thou dost even as Faculties more considerable than are all those earthly Objects upon which they have been too often cast away but since Mundanities are so imperfect Comforts so vanishing they should be despicable And I would devote my Heart altogether to those Joys of thine which are Eternal Guard it therefore with a generous Fortitude to resist all the assaults of the Devil to disarm all my Senses to defeat all my Corruptions from ever having any more Power to make me rebel against thy Goodness And Lord command all the Forces of my Soul to concur in the desires of thy Mercy in the doing thy Will in the magnifying thy Greatness so shall I be secure of thy Grace here and of thy Glory hereafter Amen The fifteenth Step on the fifteenth PSALM of Degrees being the 134 PSALM Ecce nunc benedicite O My Soul how art thou engaged by the Mercies of thy Creator to reinforce thy Powers for the setting forth his Praise Now lay the Top-stone of thy Happiness in the blessing of thy dear Redeemer who hath suffered thee to get up thus near unto him and to free thee from Sin hath shewed the mighty skill of his Mercy in diverse manners First In the delivering thee from the perils of Infidelity and Profaneness Secondly In giving thee the due confidence thou oughtest to have in his Goodness Thirdly In letting thee see how all true pleasures flow from him who is all Love and Kindness Hath he enriched thee with the Ornaments of Hope Hath he built thee upon the Groundwork of Charity with the strength of a right Faith Hath he taught thee the fear of the Lord and the respect due to his Command Hath he shewed thee the Consequence of Holy Sorrow Meekness and Exinanition and at last invited thee to all Happiness by a perfect union to Himself And Art thou not inaugurated with a Crown of Privileges Art thou not wholly subdued to God and overcome by such powerful Reasons to confess that Religion must needs be thy greatest advantage and highest advancement also Then forget not thy self so much as not to exalt his Merits and bless his Mercy and declare what he hath done for thee as Loudly as Plainly as Continually as 't is possible for thee to do If thou slipp the time for these requisite performances and which is thy time but the present It will look like an Act of Ingratitude and an effect of Obduration To the wicked saith God What hast thou to do to take my Name in thy Mouth since thou hatest to be reformed O Lord thou wilt have none of their Commendations who indeed are unworthy to utter thy holiest Name being thy professed Enemies their Addresses are but like the gnashings of the Damned meer Profanations and no Worship of Thee But thy Servants are the Ecchoing Trumpets of thy Goodness Thou lovest their Eulogies whom thou hast adorned with thy Favours and Redeemed from the Tyranny of their Accuser Consider then again and again O my Soul how Great how Incomprehensible is the Goodness of thy God! since he would Create thee after his likeness and give thee Understanding and Dominion over and
above thy Fellow-creatures Since he would place thee at first but little lower than the Angels and hereafter will promote thee even above those blessed Spirits since he would save thee with no less a Price than his Son's Blood and make thee the chief Magazine or Store-house of all the Treasures of his Grace since he would Manumitt thee by his Service from the Tyranny of thy Sensualities and from the Slavery of great Transgressions which bind up Lucifer himself in Chains of Darkness O! do not fall like him again into the Hell of Ingratitude since thou art raised thus into the Favour of the Most High Employ thy faculties to his Honour else thou art such another unworthy Monster as deserves to be entombed in the bottom of that Gulph which burns for Ever and Ever Shew at least how thou savourest the things of God by acknowledging of them 'T is true thou canst never render unto him according as thou hast received yet return thy improved Talents and thy utmost abilities or else thy chearful readiness for the owning thy self Obliged and not unkind to the Donor Suffer no Excuse or Accident to put thee off from thinking of his Goodness or from thanking of it Thy Prosperity is the Issue of his Providence not of thy Merit God saith the Wise man enables us to get Wealth and all good Fortune Thy Adversaries celebrate his Wisdom for by them art thou taught how he knows thy desert and would try thy Patience and deals not so hardly by thee as he is provoked Therefore in all Conditions set forth his most worthy Praise with clean Hands and a pure Heart lifted up by devout Expressions Let us lead on our Desires and endeavours to set the Crown upon his Head and to put the Scepter into his Hand whose right it is I mean let our Church with that which is Triumphant ascribe All Honour Power Dominion and Glory unto him who sits upon the Throne and unto the Lamb for evermore blessing God every manner of way whereby the Creature may be said to Glorify his maker As First By speaking of God with that Reverence which the Majesty of his Person doth require Secondly By living according to the Rules of Probity that by our good actions both our selves and others may think well of his Service Thirdly By rendering unto God the Honour due to his Name in whatsoever condition may we be that whether he gives or takes away there may be no shipwrack of a good Conscience or of a chearful Spirit because we own our dependance not upon our selves but Him Fourthly By Giving Thanks always for all things unto God Eph. 5.20 as saith the Apostle while we entertain a grateful Tast and Remembrance of the most ordinary Mercy for there is none to be looked upon as little if we justly regard either God or our selves NOW most Gracious Lord since thou hast called up my Soul to this exalted Throne of Felicity to this highest Round of Heavenly Comfort to wit to the resounding of thy Praises for the efficacy of thy Favours towards a penitent Sinner I beseech thee dearest Lord shower down continuall thy Gifts and Graces upon my humbled Soul that it may be fruitful in every good Work and shew no wretched marks of its former Sterility though it Merits not the smallest Dew of thy Blessing nor the least warmth of thy Love having scarce put out the fire of extravagant Lust Yet since thou hast founded the vast Machine of the Universe upon the empty place Thine out-stretched arm can amend and sanctify whatever is amiss about me Thou art both our Lord and our God a Maker and Redeemer too whos 's Operations are beyond all impossibilities and thy Benefits above our Desires espcially in Heavenly things no less than above our Deserts However give me leave here at last to beseech thee so to fit me for thine Eternal Entertainments by a thankful Sense and constant relish of thy Love and Goodness to me here as that I may pass along safely and contentedly through the many disquiets of this mortal Life to the continual Praising and endless Fruition of thee in Heaven our Father which art c. A COROLLARY HAving got up thus far by the help of others with aking Knees and sobbing Respirations my Soul craves leave to pause and look about her lest these Ascents become to her condition like the Scalae Gemoniae to condemned Wretches Degrees of Punishment and sad occasions of more certain Ruine These lofty Mounts afford me a fair prospect of the good Way my Thoughts should take toward Heaven But alas I find at the same time how I am groveling upon Earth and the feet of my Affections would rather step down than go up so high a Hill as that of God's House Therefore have I need of Jacob's Staff to lean upon in my infirmest State Heb. 11.21 Gen. 47.9 Eph. 3.18 Heb. 10.39 36. and to point out how few and evil the days of the years of my Pilgrimage have been and to fathom better both God's Love and mine that I may get up still nearer the point of Life even in Death it self and be keeping on my Journey here for here is not my Rest And as I want a Jacob's Staff such a help and Monitor and Vision as that holy Traveller had at Bethel so I desire likewise that Jacob's Ladder which according to St. Basil in his Homilies on the Psalms is the Exercise of a devout Soul so employing it self as that God may come down to it and the Soul be raised up to Heaven by these five several Degrees or Ascents The first is a generous neglect of all outward and temporal Advantages in respect of Heavenly ones a forsaking of our Nets like true Converts and Christian Disciples Mark 1.18 for the attendance on the Lord Jesus and not only renouneing with St. Paul such things as we counted Gain but Secondly Contemning and even loathing the most admired sensual pleasures nay the World it self when set in competition with Christ out Saviour Because in the third place a we ought to love nothing in comparison of Christ if we would be love by him Mat. 10.37 Cant. 5.10 If we esteem him not most amiable we are not warmed with a right or kindly flame of Devotion which implies a transcendent value for the adored Object of our Worship We are but Samaritans in our pretended Religion and shall hardly arrive at the fourth Step Which is a readiness not only to be bound but to dye for his Name And this propensity for the meeting Death it self in the way to Life Acts 20.24 is a good Token or part of the noblest Mortification which prefers God and his Sanctity before Life nay before Salvation and will secure us from finding Death in the Errors of our Lives Nay lastly will strengthen us to climb up to the Top-round of these Spiritual Exercises Psal 73.25 even to the uniting our Souls by the divinest