hearts be inriched with some portion thereof to carry us to heaven and in our way thither so to arm us here that no approaching evils may divert us We are also to consider that the Gospel does not invite us to forsake the pleasures of this World to go into a Dungeon which were a hard lesson but to remove from hence to inhabit Heaven with all its glory to Eternity yet this natural cowardly disease of fearing to die being born with us is without cure until the Holy Ghost do fall so on us and dwell so in us as to overcome our frailty by his grace and to make us see and understand how to value our Interest in Heaven on Christs account and by that faith to raise in us such holy courage as to pass through the Grave with joy to our Eternal Bliss which requires a Divine valour beyond the reach of a Natural mans fancy with assistance from above VI. MOst men do forget that our greatest affair on Earth is to serve God frequently diligently and publickly to own him in the first place to secure our blessed Eternity by his favour while we have time to do it And in the second place to follow our Callings for a Subsistance by his providence prospering our labour during our abode here But we do often invert this by doing quite contrary all our Lives by hungring and thirsting after perishing Goods and serving God at spare times only as our least concern until the Agonies of a Death-bed shews our mistake too late For it is a great presumption to neglect God all our days and expect a Crown of Glory at our last gasp as a reward for our neglect it is dangerous to provoke God so VII IF we did set our hearts to take pleasure in Piety as we do to improve our delight in other things we should find that Heaven Gates would fly open to our sincere addresses and perceived the Spirit of God working in our hearts with Divine transports full of unexpressible joys while that Sacred flame burns bright within us And such Emanations from the Holy Ghost are the greatest invitations we can have to encourage us to prepare for a place in Heaven and to make us esteem those Celestial joys above all the glories of this world where the greatest Princes terminate their highest ambition to die the Sons of God or should do so VIII WHat God hath revealed to us at Mid-night alone shall be our portions in the next World And if we can repeat the same Communication with joy in the day-time which we had with Christ in the night we may entertain a comfortable assurance that the Holy Ghost was at first and is at last enkindling those Divine flames within us to raise our elevated transported Souls to Heaven IX THe greatest Epicure cannot have so much pleasure in satisfying all his Appetites as a regenerate man has in his conversation with God during his devout Addresses in which he finds the Holy Ghost raising up his heart to an assurance of his favour with God and giving his Soul a delight far above all Carnal fruitions by the very victory over them But this is only intelligible by Pious hearts and requires a Divine Valour to encounter and overcome in such skirmishes with Satan and to relish the Felicity and Glory of such triumphant joys as follow every such victory X. IF we consider that God asks nothing of man for all his benefits bestowed but the heart of man and that nothing but man can give the heart to God and that we ever heard nor read of any man that ever made that sincere Present to God but did receive it back infinitely enlightned and enriched with treasures of never fading blessedness who then can believe this and omit to make so advantagious a Present of his whole heart unto God To shew his Faith his Love and Obedience as his greatest happiness on Earth For we may in a way of speaking and I hope without offence suppose the heart of man was made Triangular as three Seats for God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost who are all one God as the three Corners are one Heart which can no more be divided than the Godhead Who will so fiâ— when he dwells therein as to leave no place for the World the Flesh or the Devil to abide there And from hence it is that God forsakes us when we forsake him When we deliver up his Habitation in our hearts unto his enemies when we thrust him out to admit of any of those Rivals into any corner of our hearts we then affront the whole Trinity and drive away all them all him to entertain and court a destroying Guest instead of the Lord of Life XI GOd will not suffer those that are his to live in the dark for if God be with us he will make us see that he is with us and will never go out of our sight until he has brought us where we shall never go out of his and will sometimes make us start with a surprizing joy to find he is so near us as to give our hearts a taste of the same joy we shall have in Heaven though infinitely increased then and superinvested with Glory How great comfort then must this be when long habitual sinners are thus Blessed thus Converted and thus reconciled to God by faith in Christ's blood when God does so eminently manifest his glorious goodness in visiting the Souls of sinners and powerfully calling us great Criminals to become chosen Vessels where himself vouchsafes to dwell To think fully of this is to think of nothing else in comparison of this our great concern which now begins and now assures our Eternity with God which is above all earthly Felicities that pass away like Dreams As what signifies the Persian Grecian or the Roman Empires now Where are those Great Glorious Glistering Bubbles now Never worthy to come into competition with the higher aims of regenerate men indued with Divine love whose Immortal Souls are fed with such Celestial joys as can only flow from their Immortal object God on whom their ambitious hearts are fixed with such a lively Faith as doth create a contempt of all earthly Fruitions and stand ever ready as adopted Sons of God with joy to pass through the Grave to an immediate possession of a Crown of Glory for when God is pleased so to descend and dwell with us here it is to assure our Souls they shall ascend and dwell with him in Heaven XII HE that has heard the Bell Toll for him to the Grave and lives after it will do well to call to mind what Agonies he then felt and what Vows he then made to God on his Recovery and now every day to examine his heart how well he has performed those Vows and how much fitter he now is for his next Summons thither For every Bell that he hears now Toll for others is his Alarm to make ready for his day
take us from God but what we love better And though there is no felicity to be compared to Piety nor any diversions so delightful as Devotion when we love God and serve him with sincerity yet we mind it not enough that mind it most too much no man can LXXIV WE are naturally apt to cozen our selves with thinking we believe what we do not believe and for want of due consideration of all our ways we run on in such undiscernible errors as must offend God while we think we serve him best and this by indulging many kinds of innocent diversions until they become crimes though we know that vain and idle thoughts do often grow to foul suggestions which pious men should therefore not admit of LXXV WE are often misled by thinking too much of what may be and too little of what must be in providing too much for our uncertain hope of living from year to year with too little regard â—o our assured death that must come as if our moments here were of more value then our Eternity in Heaven though we do know that nothing in this World is worthy to entertain our Immortal Souls with true delight but by making ready to go unto God with chearful hearts of which few men do think enough and none can think too much because it is the greatest felicity that our Piety can reach and a sure mark that the Holy Ghost is working in us which no habitual sinner is capable of LXXVI NO man can want a subject for Meditation nor have a more useful entertainment than frequently and seriously to consider and examine his own life by recollecting what mercies what blessings and deliverances he has had from God and to enquire of his own heart how little obedience gratitude and love he has return'd what vows made in sickness dangers and in times of trouble but never kept And above all to consider how often God has knocked at our hearts for entrance and been denied or delayed to admit of some more pleasing Guest or whenever permitted to enter how coldly received and slightly treated until thrust out again to make room for some darling sin that must be welcomed This if fully considered may bring us to a sense of our offences and shame to think how unfit we are for our Death-beds and Eternity to come with the amazing terrors to think how we can call on our so much offended God for mercy which He could never prevail with us to accept of and what hope then can such insolent contemners of God have in their last day But on the contrary this Meditation will bring comfort to a Regeneâ—ate man who has entertain'd Christ in a chearful heart with sincere integrity to such a joyful trust in God's love by his fixed Faith that no carnal affections can remove his transports for Heaven the expectation whereof is delightful to him above the terrors of death to lessen LXXVII THe sum of all the great Lessons we can learn is to shew that a faithful penitent sinner who is become so Regenerate as to forsake all his iniquities and can perform an universal obedience to all God's Laws with such Evangelical sincerity as to make a total resignation of himself with all his Interests into God's hands must be led by the Spirit of God which will keep up his heart to Heaven in a constant concern for God's favour where Satan dares not appear to tempt when he sees us so united unto Christ and this will bring a Penitent to endure his Pilgrimage through all the storms of this World and defend him from the glittering vanities also so as to know no fear nor joy to interrupt his expectation of Heaven and the happy hour to breath out his Soul into the Bosom of God which holy ambition will entertain his heart here with more present happiness than all the Worlds wealth can afford to a wilful habitual sinner LXXVIII A Prayer LOrd I beseech thee let thy Holy Spirit direct my prayers in my approaches to thy Throne of Mercy and there pray within me that so guided I may find grace from Heaven to support me in my passage out of this World unto thy habitation of Eternal Bliss And now wean me from longer wandering in the vain Labyrinths and Glories here by having ever in mind that all the greatness and various pleasures I have seen and shared in are vanished like a Dream and thereby find that nothing is so delightful to a Regenerate reconciled sinner as a retired habitation free from the noise of Worldly affairs where by thy Grace peace of conscience may encourage me to be ever ready at thy call O God! with a joyful heart to make my last step into the glorious Eternity I hope for by the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ. LXXIX WHen the Holy Ghost dwells in our hearts we shall find new principles of a Divine Nature producing there an universal Victory over all our carnal appetites and an universal obedience to all God's Laws with trust in his Providence and such Faith in Christ's Merits and Intercession as will assure us of all God's promises as if now actually in our possession from whence will arise continual comforts with hearty gratitude for such love and mercy to penitent sinners And by this first Resurrection from Sin to Grace be assured of our second to Glory so that to be thus sanctified by the Holy Ghost we are united unto Christ brought home to God the Father as his adopted Children and do begin to enter on our everlasting happiness even in this World by our continual Meditations and Prayers so to raise this Holy flame as high as here we can reach without presumption so to fix in our hearts the joyful practice of such a Divine Life and Divine Love to God as will produce Divine joys here and for ever in Heaven which no carnal fruitions can attain And thus we are led by the Spirit of God and do become the adopted Sons of God LXXX IF the most voluptuous sinners could discern the felicity of an Holy life what constant elevated joys the peace of a quiet conscience brings to those who can wean their minds from the fading pleasurâ—s and drudgeries of this World to fix their hearts on things above sinners would make hast to become Regenerate For if we consider right of Eternity we must know that our Immortal Souls when freed from the slavish appetites of flesh and bloud can have no transports like those immortal joys they find when settled in their Centre God's Bosom from whence they came so that our Souls can relish no felicity like the hope of Heaven nor be much concerned for any thing less then Eternal Bliss which though of our selves we cannot reach yet if we give our hearts to God we cannot miss it But if in contempt of God we live and die in endless sinning we may justly fear that our Eternity will be in scorching flames We ought also to consider
of Judgment A concern so great that no man can guess at the terrible terrors of a dying despairing sinner but he that has felt them nor can any man know the Felicity of living ever ready to die but he to whom God has given the grace to live so and to accustom himself to compare frequently those past amazing terrors of despair from which God did then deliver him with such new light by grace from above as will exalt his Soul out of those dark despairing clouds to expire in a full reconciliation to God at his last hour XIII IF we believe Christ on earth did all those Miracles the Gospel mentions and that by Faith so many of all sorts were healed of their Infirmities the same faith now no doubt will procure the like mercies from the same Christ now he is ascended anâ— united unto God the Father where he sees all our Maladies and hears our Cries and is as ready now to Cure our Leprous Souls our Withered Limbs our Bloody Issues and to cast out as many Legions of Devils thaâ— possess us with Pride Envy Lust Revenge Gluttony Avarice and all the rest of that black train So that if we be now as desirous to be Cured as they were then anâ— do cry out for Mercy as they did we shalâ— be made whole like them and follow Christ 〈◊〉 ever after until we enter into 〈◊〉 Eternal Rest. XIV IF we observe how the Holy Ghost works on our Souls when our sincere â—â—evotions do raise our hearts to Heaven â—â—d how much our fancy soars above â—â—r own reach in Extasies of joy and â—elestial delight at that time we may â—ereby know how God accepts such Saâ—â—ifices and by his returns of comfort â—nd ardent desires to repeat such adresses as often as our affection and feliâ—ity does encrease by our devotion for â—â—en God meets our sincere prayers with â—â—ch consolations and inward depenâ—ance on his mercy and grace as will â—â—lighten our hearts with divine love and â—â—ing us to a constant conversation with â—im by living a divine life So to wean 〈◊〉 from the World and fill us with such â—oly flames from Heaven as nothâ—ng â—â—all shake our faith nor divert our â—houghts from making ready for our â—ourney thither But 't is neither writing â—hus nor talking thus nor praying thus â—â—ut doing thus must bring us thither XV. IT were well if we did treat God with as much respect as we give to one another for men generally when invited to a great man's house in common civility do dress themselves to their best advantage suitable to such Company and fit for such respect and welcom as they expect there How much more ought we to prepare and adorn our Souls and Bodies when we are invited by the glorious Majesty of God unto Heaven and by his Holy Spirit are daily solicited to come where we are sure to be received and welcomed by his Son our Saviour and all the Host of Heaven with Divine Caresses suitable to the dress we appear in and what we want of that innocent whiteness we shall find the Angels adorned with there his Son will make up by covering us all over with his bright Rayment of Celestial purity So then such men whose hearts are ambitious of that Ornament and that Honour will prepare for it before they go and then will not miss of being so arrayed when they come thither So that our sincerity in making ready is our work here as it is Christ's work to own us there and is also in a great measure the business of God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost all three as one to encourage and contribute to assist us in our desires and endeavours towards this Holy dressing for our blessed reception into Heaven and our whole lives are given us here for time to make ready to enter into that Eternal Glory at the Resurrection Let no man then who has faith in Christ's Bloud afflict himself with doubts or fears that he knows not how to serve God acceptably for God sees through the hearts of men and observes such as are set humbly and sincerely to love fear and obey him unto such he will send his Holy Spirit to fill their Souls with his guiding Light so fully as thâ—y cannot miss their way to Heaven XVI IF we consider the Soul of man as an Extract of the Divine nature we may well think that true devotion is the highest Epicurism we are capable of in this World where we may make Evangelical Righteousness our superlative delight and by it express our gratitude to God in raising our hearts to Divine love of Him So to manifest our high and glorious extraction by a constant joyful conversation with God in humble Addresses and so fix our election as the consummation of God's prime purpose to adorn his best Creature Man with his greatest blessings for nothing can be greater than to give himself as He always doth unto those who desire him in whom they have all that Heaven and Earth contains XVII WE are to seek God and not to leave seeking till we find him and we may be sure to find him who desires to be found by those that seek him as they ought and delights to be so sought that we may be sure we have found him that is when we delight in him more than in all his â—reatures So we do not deceive our selves by mistaking our delight in God but are pleased with all his methods in weaning us from the uncertain glories of this perishing World that our Souls may be ever â—oaring up to Him when we have found him so as not to lose him again But we too often meet with men who have skill to make the World believe they have found God and do enjoy him above others and are full of Divine joys in shew from their dissembled Piety professed so to obtain credit and trust to deceive the Innocent which when gained they soon unmasque themselves to act as they designed And then how vaâ—t a difference is seen betwen such and a truly Regenerate man that has found God indeed and does converse with his Great Maker in full tranquility of Soul through the expectation of his joyful Resurrection from the grave while the Hypocrite has an aking heart in the midst of all his joys and all his hopes that fears to find God too soon whom he never had a thought to seek XVIII THe Divine Lover who is accustomed to converse with God at midnight will then at first waking find his heart so full of fervent zeal so glowing hot that no sleepiness can suppress those devout flames from soaring up towards Heaven where his Soul enjoys those refreshing comforts it is used to find from the kind welcomes of his beloved while that holy flame lasts and when his Soul descends from this early visit it retains the Idea of that delight the whole day after still exciting this Divine Lover to retire and repeat those
momentary touch of a sharp Lancet that makes him bleed for future health So that men prepar'd for Heaven may change the terrible aspect of a grisly Death into a Divine Angelical form fit to be courted with a most hearty welcome who is sent by God to conduct us unto Him where every wise good man desires to be and this is a great â—ark of the Holy Ghost on the hearts of men to bring sinners to such an Evangelical felicity to live so in Gods favour as to rejoyce to ride on Deaths Chariot in Triumph into Heaven XXIV A Pious man is never alone when most alone but then takes more delight in his approaches to God then this World can afford the greatest Epicure for his devout heart is ever on the wing towards the Throne of mercy from whence his Soul is filled with Divine comforts beyond expression for God never fails to entertain a sincere Soul with high consolations XXV WAtch thy first waking thoughts which will declare thy Soul unto thy self whether Carnally minded or Spirituallized for then is thy fancy fresh unclogg'd with Worldly affairs and then the time to blow up thy flaming gratitude to God in some proportion towards what thou hast received from Him in mercies and in blessings though short in point of merit yet such holy aimes such pious ambitious contests God allows of and is well pleased to see such use made of his grace by such Divine emulations in the hearts of men who do endeavour to raise up their gratitude in competition with his benefits But this must be in such humble Addresses as doth become Dust and Ashes who can do nothing of our selves that is good nor think beyond what we receive and must thank God for the thanks we give him For it is the Holy Ghost that excites and enables us to such a frequent and free conversation with our Great Maker by which elevated zeal and sincere affection in our daily acknowledgments we â—hew that we have some taste of that joy and some glimpse of that glory here which we expect in Heaven and is some Testimony that we have not received the grace of God altogether in vain For no Man can give effectual thanks to God for his mercies until he find some assurance of his reconciliation by the Bloud of Iesus Christ which is the Fountain of all mercies and the great argument for our gratitude to the Father of mercies who forgives transgressions to raise our gratitude to Love XXVI WHoever has so much Faith as to create true notions of the Holy Trinity and Gods eternal habitation of Glory and Bliss in Heaven where he believes that Christ has purchased places for all penitent reconciled sinners that man cannot chuse but wish and indeavour to be one of that blessed number so redeemed from Hell and raised to everlasting Glory on Christs account But how to attain unto this felicity and to find in our hearts that we have attained it is our greatest work in this World and our most joyful entertainment here which is a pre-possession of Heaven as much as our frail nature is capable of with the Divine assistance of the Holy Ghost So then we must observe if our hearts are become so Regenerate as to find more pleasure in our approaches to God and our devout conversation with Him then all the fruitions this world can afford us for then we shall find an inward dependance on God in our own hearts such as will guide us by his Divine guiding Light unto the means and methods of attaining our wished salvation and within a little time certainly grow to a much more habitual delight in Piety then our forsaken sins formerly were and will hold our hearts up to Heaven ever ready to enter in when Death comes to conduct us thither and it will be great joy to pass the pangs of a Death-bed and â—errors of the Grave with an assurance that our Souls shall be with God the moment that we depart from this World if we live Righteously in it XXVII IF we give our whole hearts to God wherever we are whatever we do our minds will be fixed on Him the only Centre of our Souls intrinsick happiness 't is like a man forced from his beloved companion by some great affair he dispatches it quickly and with speed returns where he left his heart And thus we may try our hearty Love to God But when trivial objects and vain diversions do easily withdraw us from his converse and then detain us whole days in idleness so as to afford God but some few moments for our morning and evening Sacrifices we may reckon that our Love bears the same proportion with the time spent in his service we may also find on a strict search that we are mistaken in the Donation of our hearts to God by keeping of a small corner of our hearts in reserve for diversions only to gratifie some fair-faced appetites which do insensibly rob the major part until that corner have ingrossed the whole heart by which we fool our selves to think our All-seeing God will be mocked with such thin Vizards on our hearts Take heed therefore of idle diversions and pray for grace to become Regenerate to set thy heart on things above which begets true Love to God with Blessedness here and for ever which eternity can never be too much thought on nor the Lord who disposes of Eternity be too much loved or too much feared and if when we lye down to sleep we could but learn to think that we might wake in the other World we should labour to live close up to God so that Satan may find no time to come between to tempt and then such reconciled sinners would discern their conversion to be a sure Testimony of God's mercy and the Spirit of Faith fixing the foundation of true Piety by which we must ascend as the first step of that Ladder towards Heaven XXVIII IT is a stupendious thing to think how our corrupt Dust and Ashes may be exalted when the Spirit of God is at work in the heart of man when a great sinner is cleansed from his pollutions and all his past transgressions are so wiped off by the Holy Ghost in the receiving of the Sacrament that he finds Christ born within him and his Soul filled with a new kind of Divine transports which raise him in Meditations up to Heaven by such devout Addresses as grow higher and higher in ambitious zeal to be near God until he obtain to be owned an Adopted Son and while he remains on Earth by Faith to share with Angels in some degree of Heavenly joy and to perceive some beams of their Glory which he shall participate of at the Resurrection and until then be here feasted with such devout Celestial delights as will give him an assurance that these are the marks of his Election to comfort and to fix his heart on God who will guide his Soul through his Pilgrimage on Earth
maintain this Christian Warfare without Thy strong supplies from Heaven for which I daily pray and by which I shall at last subdue the World and my own heart with all the Powers of Hell and Death together Then from the Grave in Triumph rise with thee my God and thy departed Saints to my Eternal Rest in thy Celestial Glory XLVIII THe uncertain certain time of death was by Divine Providence concealed from Mankind to make us live ever ready for that great concern which sets a period to our Mortality the same moment on which our Immortality depends for Eternal joy or misery yet this known truth by all believed is by our perverse nature so much neglected as if not believed or as if by our wisdom and care we could foresee or prevent the moment of our Dissolution contrary to God's decree by which blind contradiction few men do prepare for their Pass to Heaven until too late and so become wilfully surprized by an Enemy we might subdue if ready Armed and well prepar'd for the encounter for 't is we that make Death terrible who is sent in kindness to conduct unto everlasting Bliss unless we by our Impiety do compell him to lead us the wrong way into eternal Flames A near dead-despairing sinner reviving from the Jaws of the Grave can best describe its terrors and best judge of the felicity to become fit to die when next summoned to step into his Eternity XLIX THough we cannot guess at the glorious Essence of God nor fancy what Heaven is nor can tell whether the Joy or Glory there be greatest nor do know any thing whereby we may express either of them yet by our Faith in all Gospel-truths God does so enlighten and encourage those Souls that are wholly devoted to love and serve him and that approach his presence with such humble Zeal and sincere Awe as is due to His Almightiness that He sometimes descends into the hearts of such men and spiritually dwells there as in his own Temple and sometimes raises the Souls of men with such high transports of Sacred Love to Him that they are filled with Holy Air or something nameless so Divine for joy and glory while that Seraphick flame doth last it looks like Raptures and holy Extasies sent from Heaven to invite men thither by shewing them so vast a difference of delight between Heaven and Earthly fruitions so to encourage us to expell all carnal Vapours when ever they ariâ—e to interpose that nothing may Eclipse that Divine Light from shining on us by which God gives us grace to endeavour with all our power to raise up our hearts to Him as often and as high as our clogged Souls can mount with such a weight of flesh and bloud about them But when the Holy Ghost lends wings to a Divine Lovers heart in his devotions nothing can hinder his Souls ascent to Heaven and by Faith to raise his â—ancy to such a joyful conversation with God as will enrich his mind with chearful thoughts the whole day after L. IF the felicity of Piety were as generally known as it is despised there would be more Saints then Reprobates on Earth But as it is Satans chief work to amuse and abuse our frail natures with present fruitions of fallacious delights that last not so it must be our business to get better Guides that we may find our way to Heaven in spight of His diversions which the Pious man finds in a constant conversation wiâ—h God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost in his sincere Meditations and Prayers when They are all at work within him raising his Soul to such a Divine felicity that he has no room for such contemptible delights as carnal fancies can suggest to dâ—vert him for his pious Life keeps him as much above all the fading gaieties of this World as the Reprobate is enslaved to them And if it were possible to make a voluptuous Epicure see and relish those continual joys which true peace of conscience affords to a Regenerate man it might wean him from his mistaken momentary happiness while the Pious mans felicity is founded on a sure Rock that reaches up to Heaven and shews him such a delightful prospect of his Eternal Interest there as gives him a holy courage to out-face Death when he chearfulâ—y submits unto his summons to the Grave as the only Gate to Heaven LI. THe great felicity of true Piety is only known to the Regenerate man become a Divine Lover whose Soul is ever busie in servent Addresses to his Beloved from whom he receives such welcom that his transported Soul forgets this World while that bright flame burns within him which fills his heart with such transcending joys in conversation with his Beloved as can only be expressed when two such Divine Rivals meet with pleasure to repeat the great favours that both do daily receive from the glorious object of their Love and with such Angelical affections to each other as doth raise their felicities by the holy emulation their united hearts have to joyn in a constant Adoration of their Beloved whose universal kindness does afford so great pleasure and consolation to all his true Lovers that their joys increase by the number of new Rivals which makes them invite all they can get into their Society and together sing Hallelujahs on Earth until they be added unto those Choirs of Angels already in the Glory of God LII WE all know that we are every moment dying and that Death is but the last puff of breath and though nothing else be worth the thinking on nothing is less thought on then Death which we can neither prevent nor delay and should therefore be made as easie as we can by a constant expectation of his approach because surprizes are most terrible which the Divine Lover is ever Armed for and best knows how to baffle that great Conqueror by chearful embraces as a welcom Friend who comes to conduct him to his Souls joy in Heaven which holy Valour God always provides his Lovers with at their hour of death LIII A Divine Lover has ever in mind the glorious Idea of his Beloved and remembers that he is always in His sight who doth observe all his looks thoughts words and actions how they do agree with his professed Love that is if the whole man be resigned up to study and to do the will of his Beloved with a chearsul heart as the supreme delight and fullest happiness his Soul can wish for here on Earth This Divine Lover does also take all the opportunities he can every day and night by holy Meditations and Prayers to approach the Throne of Mercy with a sincere heart so full of his Beloved as to leave no room for sin or Worldly vanities to abide there either to divert or clog his Soul when raised on the wings of servent Devotion And thus he spends his time ever striving to please and as careful not to offend his Beloved still jealous
labouring to change our conditions still aiming to get what we have not though the last acquisition rarely brings more satisfaction then what we had before Whereas a contented man has all that he desires and enjoys what he has because allotted to him by the Divine Providence who doth chuse better for those that do relie on Him then we can for our selves CLXXXIV WE ought not to repine at crosses nor to murmur at sickness or any other affliction whatever because they are God's Cordial Antidotes to repell the poison of such sins as He sees do use to infect our Souls with malignant diseases such as create a despairing conscience when we die and hazard Eternal Torments in the next World we are therefore to kiss the Rod that works so great a cure and that Hand that smites us in Love to make us fit for his Mercy by repentance and conversion from being great sinners to become his Adopted Sons and so above the venom of future biting afflictions for He only hath perfect peace whose mind is stayed on God the Rock of our Salvation CLXXXV NO man can do all that he should do but all men may do as much as they can do and God requires no more to obtain his Love here and Salvation hereafter But we are naturally so prone to flatter our selves in this point that when we think our hearts most safe we are often surprized by a forsaken sin and shamefully subdued by it For when we make a Covenant with our Eyes and Hearts not to go astray though we cannot hinder the first look or thought that is amiss we may so check them at first appearance as they shall not invade us a second time nor bite on to harm us so that if we do stumble heedlesly we may prevent wilful tumbling into Relapses and wallowing in them for which there is no excuse CLXXXVI IT is worthy of observing how some men by a long customed and settled habit of living ill have so Naturalized their sins to themselves and themselves to the Devil as in time they grow to think it a point of honour and conscience to be constant to that profession and are asham'd to quit Satans black Livery which they prefer before their first engagement to God in Baptism I have heard a Gentleman say that when he had lived many years in great Iniquities it pleased God by a long sickness to beget such remorse in his heart as upon his recovery to become a Convert But for a long time after he did conceal this change as asham'd to practise his conversion by a publick new course of life so much out of fashion and did many times in conversatioâ— seem to like what he liked not to avoid being thought an Hypocrite until he consider'd how much greater a shame it was to serve God in a corner so to smother his highest Act of Mercy towards him in not daring to own the thoughts of his Salvation and how unworthy he was to become an Adopted Son of God while he feared to declare his Hope of so high an Advancement On which account he did take courage to profess his Conversion which he thought not fully to manifest until the hour of his death By which we may see how dangerous it is to run on in habitual sins until we grow ashamed to forsake them CLXXXVII IT is a wonder to consider that mankind should be so universally bred up from our Infancy to study and by laborious callings to imploy our Talents of Sense and Reason in the acquisition of such perishing goods as the World affords and generally so late begin to inform our selves of our Souls intrinsick value being created for a participation of God's Glory when ascended into Heaven how unworthy an exchange then do we make who believe this and yet do violently labour for the short-liv'd vanities and indeed the nothingness of this World in comparison with Eternity at the immense price of our Immortal Souls loss and our Eternal joys in Heaven for everlasting flames in Hell And this because we do not consider that God did not make the World to mock man with fallacious delights in the enjoyment of his Creatures but intended it for our entertainment and diversions in our Journey to Heaven and therefore has given us rational Souls such as by living virtuously we may enjoy the World and Him together and so advance our selves by gratitude and love here to a confirmation of a full â—ruition of Him at the Resurrection Thus if we would sincerely study virtue and set a true value on the perfection of Righteousness we might enjoy this World with double pleasure and have Heaven hereafter with all its Glory also CLXXXVIII WE do mistake nothing in this World more then our pleasures which we do compell our fancies to comply in and do often take more pains to justifie those vanities then any delight we find in such short-liv'd fruitions Whereas if our hearts were set on God and our Souls raised to serious thoughts of our Eternal Bliss such Divine entertainments would grow to a continual feast â—ull of surprizing joys and such Heavenly delights that we should with pain suffer and with remorse endure our vain diversions and lament to see that our Nature does require such frequent relaxes from our most rarified and ratified Devotions CLXXXIX WE cannot want Arguments for Meditation if we call to mind our Christianity that is diligently examine if we do participate of Christs Righteousuess to such a degree that our conversion from sin and our natural corruptions be changed into such an Evangelical habit of Holiness as to manifest our Spiritual Resurrection and Election to our own hearts for then nothing can engage us unto higher gratitude and love then a true sense of so great a benefit received which when seriously considered will mount up our Souls to frequent extasies of blessed Joy by our devout approaches in Adoration of God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost who are all three always working us up to our Salvation Then which nothing can be more worthy of our Meditation and sincere examination that we may be ready for the day of Judgment which no man can be that does not live so as to be chearfully ready to die for it is a much greater business to go out of the World then to live in it CXC NO other man can cozen us so much as we cozen our selves in what we like because we naturally raise fallacious reasonings against true reason to justifie our unlawful desires and do very easily perswade our selves to comply with our most idle fancies and eagerest appetites to what we know is against all Reason and Religion too thinking that our frailty is excuse enough to follow our blind inclinations to evil and do also indulge our aversion to goodness on the same account so long as our endeavours do prosper in wickedness But when we are Thunder-struck by some surprizing affliction then we can begin to think and
to find how much better and pleasanter it is to delight in God and by our utmost endeavours to improve that delight by frequent and fervent Addresses until we obtain new Celestial joys which soon discard all our old Carnal fruitions by a constant fixing of our whole hearts on Heaven so as to be really offended at the most necessary diversions when they interrupt our Divine communication with Christ for the hastning on of our preparation towards that Eternal Glory he has purchased for us Which is the most joyful expectation of a Regenerate man who sees the difference between momentary Vanities and everlasting Bliss and sets him on fire to desire above all things to fix his heart on God and to delight in Holiness as his supreme felicity on this side Heaven CXCI. WHoever has the patience to read and the Piety to practice these plain Lessons if he observe it will find that his felicity does increase with his Devotion and that his days will grow fuller and fuller of tranquility in the midst of Worldly Storms and feel them not Let him also observe with what security he sleeps with what joy he awakes at all hours to find his heart at work with God before his Eyes are quite open giving God thanks for all his Mercies and above all the rest for thus turning him from all his Iniquities before it be too late that he might not trust unto the uncertain security of the best Death-bed Repentance but to live and die so reconciled to God as to manifest his pre-conversion by a chearâ—ul Righteous life and a joyful Resignation of his Soul unto Christ when he expires will be joy indeed CXCII JUdge not the serious looks of every pensive man as if his heart were oppressed with discontents who may that minute be conversing with God in Meditation and triumphing over the Glories of this World which thou enjoyest with all its delights and which he may have had as high as mortal man can fancy fading happiness But now as tired with busie Crouds and cloyed with glistering Vanities He entertains his Soul with inward elevated joys for so great a Victory over himself which thou seest not and dost therefore pity or condemn what thou wouldst admire if clearly understood CXCIII IF the Spirit of Divine Meditation were wâ—th sincere affection fully improved by the diligent practice of raising our Souls as near to God as our mortal fancies can reach the Holy Ghost would at such times assist us with such increase of Piety and such growing joys in our near approaches to the Throne of Mercy as would shew us some bright Rays of that glorious Majesty we adore to affect our Souls with such transporting thoughts as would set our hearts on fire with eager desires to be amongst those Angels that do attend on the Majesty of Heaven whose love and goodness in mercy admits us Dust and Ashes so to converse with Him as a clear Testimony to our own hearts of our Adoption by which pious practising to fix our affections on God we shall so delight in Him as now to conquer all those Imperious Appetites that have so often conquer'd us and may soon learn the Celestial Military Art to subdue all temptations that assault us and from their Ruines raise fresh Trophies every day most acceptable to God and so beneficial to our selves that we may discern our Souls mounting up to Heaven thereon CXCIV WE ought to look on Death as chief Goaler on Earth God's prime Officer by Him intrusted only with the custody of our imprison'd Bodies in the Grave until the great Goal-delivery at the day of Judgment when Death must deliver up our imprison'd Dust at a moments warning to meet our Souls at God's Tribunal where his Office ends with Himself who is then no more So that instead of quarrelling with Death for doing of his duty let us make peace and get a Reconciliation with his great Master that we be not lodged in Deaths Dungeon amongst the impenitent Malefactors but may be placed in his best Apartment with the Reconciled sinners by God's Grace become Saints and pray that we may with them appear in their glorious Resurrection with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. CXCV. I That write my own thoughts only to review them for my own satisfaction must say again and again that whoever seeks God with sincerity will certainly find him and shall find that he has found him And though early seeking and early finding be best as most safe because no man can promise himself one minute longer to seek God then his first call to it yet if he find favour to be called again and be sent to work in God's Vineyard at the last hour of his day and God see that he works then with such vigour in that last hour as if he would equal or out-do any that came in to work before him the Lord of the Vineyard observes his endeavours and rewards him equal with the first comers Though no man ought to trust unto a Death-bed Repentance on this Argument Because the best Rule is to remember thy Creator in the days of thy Youth the next best is to remember Him in the time of full Manhood in the strength and vigour of thy Age but if not then the next best is to remember him in thy Old Age before thou hast quite forgot him lest it be too late for though it be last and worst yet then is not too late with God if we answer whenever He calls He will give us Gâ—ace to do whatever he calls for And to give him then our whole hearts bathed in peniâ—ential tears full of contrition for all past offences he will accept thâ—m and make us see that his Mercy has â—ollowed us through all our wild insolent conâ—empts of the highest nature which aggravates repeated sins after pardons upon pardons begged So that when God doth not forsake but follow and watch over such Reprobates and does snatch them from the brink of destruction it is to bring them to a Reconciliation and such a Resurrection from sin as will support them for ever after by his Holy Spirit which shews that his Mercy and his Grace are beyond the power of our sins to deface for if our Repentance and Contrition be His own work within us the operation of that Grace will testifie that his Mercy endureth for ever Let no man then despair of Gods Mercy or think it too late to repent if he can forsake his Iniquities so as for the future to love and serve God as he ought for above all things we must believe that God does abound in Mercy and Grace more then we can do in sins and that Jesus Christ is the Lord our Righteousness and when we find that the Holy Ghost dwells so in our hearts as to create an effectual application of God the Father and the Sons work within us we may comfort our selves with an humble assurance that all three the whole Trinity
together have wrought this Salvation for our sick Souls when restored to such health and favour as to fall into no more desperate Relapses after we come to a true sense and shame for our dangers past and such a joy for our escape as becomes Regenerate men And then we shall know no felicity on Earth that exceeds such an expectation of Heaven as will fill the hearts of men endued with such transports from above And this great Blessedness the most illiterate man is as capable of as the most Learned for God will be found according to the sincerity of those that seek Him not for their Abilities or Qualities and Jesus Christ is ever as willing to be the Rock of our Salvation as we can be desirous to build on Him for our Foundation CXCVI. WE do too often mistake Repentance and abuse our selves with a belief that a few customary sighs will blow our sins out of Gods remembrance and his Judgments also from lighting on us but we shall find it far otherwise in the end For if by the recollecting and renouncing of our sins with zealous confessing them to God will not draw tears from our Eyes we are to heighten our contrition by a foresight and aggravation of such Eternal torments as are due unto us from our incensed God and to pray with vigorous sighs and ardent groans instead of tears until our hearts do melt within us to express the sense we have of our offences and by frequent repeating our indignation against our selves with the greatest remorse we can raise our hearts to that so we may divert Gods Judgments and convert them into Mercy and Grace through our Faith in the Bloud of Christ which only can wash all sins and all sorrows for sin from our hearts and then fill our Souls with a joyful feeling of our Reconciliation Thus by sincerity striving with our utmost endeavours to imitate and to out-do the returning Prodigal in our Repentance we may be restored and welcomed into our Fathers house and in his Arms find our Eternal Rest. CXCVII WHen long habitual sinners are call'd to repentance by Grace from above so as to become fully reconciled to God such men ought to give Glory unto his Holy Name by some eminent way of expressing their gratitude for so great a blessing and for ever after to live close up to Heaven on the strength of their new Reconciliation and in expectation that every moment they breath may be their last puff of breath which is Death in which puff their Souls expire into everlasting Bliss So that as often as they lye down to sleep and when they awake to work until they sleep again they should with all their worldly affairs mingle devout reflections on the Mercies they have received and feed on those Celestial Fruits which grow from their Divine Reconciliation such as will keep them ever watchful and ever ready for Gods call to their Eternal Rest and make them joyful at their quickest passage thither For sudden death seems only uneasie and unsafe to lookers on unto whom surprizes are most terrible but can be none unto them who every minute do expect what they know is every minute coming on and is most welcom to such Souls as the Holy Spirit dwells with by which sure marks of their Election they are ever ready and desirous to be with God which expectation is the highest felicity that man can have on Earth CXCVIII. WE do generally flatter our selves with a belief that our chief aim is to be in Heaven and to enjoy God there while we fear nothing more then going thither and it is because we do not seriously enough consider what it is to die until the moment we are dying And yet our tongues do talk so frequently of Death as if we thought of nothing else but such slight thoughts do vanish with those Airy discourses and we as soon forget to prepare for what we were talking of which makes so many men start back from the fruition of their highest wishes and are frighted from taking possession of their Eternal happiness And though dying chearfully be a Divine valour above the reach of Dust and Ashes God doth ever support those that are his with such a proportion of Holiness and Righteousness for their Souls spiritual food and nourishment as shall add courage unto all that desire to be with Him and they shall be so the moment that they die which is sufficient consolation to invite men to live so piously as to die chearfully CXCIX THough no mans Piety can attain to the purity of Angels until they become Angels yet pious mens Evangelical Righteousness may be blessed with such a degree of Angelical Holiness as to raise their Divine affections towards God so high as to delight in Him above all the glories of this World and fix such a conversation in Heaven as to be humbly assured of a joyful Resurrection to Glory with Christ and his departed Saints which is felicity enough to set mens ambitious hearts on cleansing and purifying here that they may become capable of so great honour and Eternal joy as to have Angels places in Heaven when they die CC. THough the Divine Mysteries of Heaven and the Joys there be Gods secrets undiscernible by us yet we are allowed to think that all things there must be far more excellent then our highest fancies can reach and yet by the sanctified operations of the Holy Ghost which we find in our own Souls when inflamed with elevated zeal to God in our sincere Addresses and when our hearts are engaged in Meditations above whaâ— any words can express it is evident that those Seraphick joys which are reserved until we see God face to face must needs be infinitely more ravishing delightful then what is revealed unto flesh and bloud so that it is no wonder if some men who do believe this do retire from the diverting affairs of this World to entertain their Souls with such contemplations of Heaven as may bring them unto a more frequent and nearer conversation with God when they have such a taste of those joys in Heaven as no other man can guess at unless by the same Light led And then such Meditations will be of great use to prepare such men for a chearful departure out of this World for ever which nothing can so well do as an inward assurance from above that they shall go to a better place for ever and to better company for ever and happy is that man whose Soul is feasted here with the thoughts of the joys in Heaven CCI. OUr Time is the greatest Treasure that we have which we may call one way well spent when we give it with our selves to attend on Gods Vicegerents here on Earth by his appointment to serve his Princes and Himself together and so may live eminent examples of virtue and die with the credit of our time well spent to shew others that Piety may grow in Courts and prosper
grow to such a delightful zeal to God that every step as he ascends will raise his holy ambition higher and higher with joy on joy until his last puff of breath conveys his Soul into God's Eternal Glory and all the way thither will teach him to tread on the Thorns and Thistles of this World as if he walked on Roses and Lillies through the joyful expectation of his felicity at last CCVIII A Divine Author says That every man ought to be of some calling that he may be of some use unto the State where God has made his station for he that will be good for nothing in this World is as nothing and shall be nothing in the next he is but as an Excrement on Earth none of Gods useful Creatures so that to be of a lawful calling and diligent in it may expect a blessing from Heaven on his honest endeavours And Princes whose calling is of a general concern are set on Pyramids that all the World may see and imitate their Virtues Judges must be vigilant in doing Justice great Commanders at Sea and Land must be prudently not rashly valiant the Workman must work the Courtier must wait the Merchant must travel the Preacher must teach and the greatest Reprobate if he becomes Regenerate has a great calling also for he ought to declare his conversion by his future life and conversation that his Devotion may be more eminent then his Crimes were so to manifest Gods mercy to himself and by his example to shew others the way to Heaven So that no man should hide his Talent that can by any honest means improve it for the good of others The Hypocrite is the only unhappy man this way who will himself perish though he do good by encouraging others to Piety by his example who cannot discern the Hypocrites counterfeit zeal that travels through the Church of God as his nearest way to Hell CCIX. WHen we have repented our sins and forsaken them and received the Holy Sacrament which is the Seal of our Reconciliation we are not to fright our selves with the memory of our forgotten crimes but must express our gratitude by recollecting and acknowledging the evils we have done with the highest aggravation that we can so to magnifie the free mercy of God with Christs merits for pardoning such great crimes and then to comfort our hearts with the Gospel-consolations thereon So that no man ought to despair of a place in Heaven that does sincerely endeavour to get in when the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost are so active to bring us thither and yet we find it a very hard Lesson to learn to die chearfully when the practice of our whole lives can seldom teach us in seventy years to be perfect in it when we die CCX LEt us not lament the long time we lye in Dust before the day of Judgment for those who died six thousand years since and we that die now with them that die a thousand years after us shall all awake the same moment at the Resurrection and all this time shall be but as one moment divided amongst us all for death and sleep distinguishes no time until we awake from both So that we may reckon that we shall be in Abraham's Bosom the moment we expire though we shall not know what is meant by Abraham's Bosom until we with the departed Saints arise from thence together CCXI. HE that considers what Evils he has done with all the aggravations belonging to such crimes must needs be terror-struck at his hour of death to think what great punishments are due to such innumerable offences so often repeated if not reconciled unto God before that time but if so bless'd what comforts will that black Soul find when by truâ— Repentance and Faith he is washed white as Snow by Christs Bloud in the Sacrament and purified into Adams first Innocence and so be thus metamorphosed from a Devil into an Adopted Son of God by a blessed union with Christ and filled with such serene joys as are beyond expression and yet our frailties are such that when we know this and can do thus we are still so subject unto Relapses that we cannot stand in this happy station a minute longer then by Gods Grace supported to let us see that we must not depend on our own Righteousness but are to pray continually for Christs Righteousness to bring us to Heaven CCXII. CHrist said I am in the Father and you in me and I in you he also said that if you ask any thing in my Name I will do it these are two short Lessons of mighty consequence for what can man desire more then to be in God and what can we wish for more then to have what we ask and what can sinful man ask more then forgiveness of all past sins and Grace to sin no more by Christâ— sâ—nding the Holy Ghost to sanctifie us and to dwell with us for ever and so to conduct us into Heaven when we die CCXIII. WE ought to think often and to rejoyce as often as we think that the Holy Ghost is never absent from them that sincerely desire Him and do give Him a warm welcom into a chearful heart and he that can afford this Holy Spirit a full possession at his reception may keep him ever there and will always find that He is with him by the operation of his Grace where He inhabits still exciting him to love and delight in the Law of God and impowering him by his Divine-guiding Light to live after the Law of Righteousness which will bring him to such a union with Christ here as will assure his Eternal Rest with God in Glory at the Resurrection CCXIV. THough a lazie idle retired life be not according to the Christian Rule that says no man is born only for himself but is bound to imploy his Talent given to him for Gods Glory and the good of others yet some men who have spent many years in the busie affairs of this World with honest industry in their callings may without a crime retire in their old Age from the noise and hurry of business and also quit those gaieties which they find through a long custom that their frailty cannot totally reâ—ist their participation of and on that account may retire from such diversions as do disturb the full consideration and preparation for their Eternal Being in the next World By which retiring also they may teach others to become so Regenerate as to find more felicity in private contemplations of Heaven then in all Earthly fruitions which those that live in continual crouds can hardly find time for CCXV IT is great Piety for a man in health to live ever ready to die but it is another kind of story for a dying man to rejoyce that his hour is come to go to God and to quit his share in all the glories of this World So that we are often to contemplate this great point of Religion and to