shall hold your peace That is ye shall seale vp your thoughtes in silence and let God bee doing So doe yee bee silent for a space daine not Sathans temptations with an answere feare not stand still and see the Saluation of the LORD As Moses said of the Egyptians so will I say of all your temptations within a short space The Egyptians whom yee haue seene to day yee shall see them againe no more for euer The sicke Man Oh that with Iob I could lay mine hand vpon my mouth and with Iacob waite for Gods saluation But alas I am laden with iniquitie Sathan besiegeth mee so that I cannot keepe silence Sathan hath laide downe a bloodie libell before mee wherevnto hee vrgeth mee to make answere The Pastour If yee must needes make answere learne that notable speach of Bernard on his death bed * About an houre before his death hee beeing as hee thought presented before the great Tribunall of his Iudge where hee found himselfe seuirelie charged with the accusation of Sathan forsooke himselfe for to relye vpon Christ alone I freely confesse said he that as thou affirmest I am most vnworthie and that by no worthinesse of mine can I merite eternall life yet I am assured that my Lord Christ hath a double right to heauens glorie one by heritage and another by conquest The first is sufficient for himselfe the other is for mee ex cujus donojure illud mihi vendicans non confundor which by right of gift I claime and chalenge and shall not bee confounded Vpon this Rocke yee must cast the anchor of your soule The Lord is able to doe vnto vs aboue all that wee can aske or thinke Take courage Sir Let Sathan make out his processe your deare and louing Brother is both your Iudge and your Aduocat The sicke Man Oh that I could take that counsell and keepe silence waiting till the Captaine of Saluation bring mee thorow this red sea of bloodie temptations Oh that I could lay hold vpon that right of heauen which Christ hath conquered But alas I can find no ground or warrant in mine heart that such a conquest can belong to mee for I know that in mee dwelleth no good things The Pastour The greatest foe the faith of the godlie hath and the chiefest cause of their trembling troubled heart is that often they seeke in themselues grounds warraÌ„ts of Gods fauour as though the Lord could not loue them vnlesse there bee in them such vertues as in euerie point should be Because they want perfectioÌ„ they thinke they haue nothing By this meanes Sathan shaketh sillie Soules to and fro like Reedes with the winds of distrust Make the right vse of such temptations let them drawe you from your selfe for to rely onelie vpon the mercie of your Lord Bee earnest to finde Gods marke in your Soule euen Sanctification the Saluation mark whereof the marrow is Christs satisfaction From this marke presse toward the marke for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Iesus The sicke Man Faine would I haue grace so to doe But out vpon mee I haue taken such surfet of sinnes that I find my selfe voide of all grace O death death death doolefull is that separation of a Soule dead in sin from the bodie dead for sinne I am so defiled and deformed that while I remember judgement it maketh mee all to shake and to shiuer Fye on mee a gracelesse creature wallowing in a myre of miserie Oh but for a dramme of Gods grace Oh for the greatnesse of the pickle of mustarde seede thereof The Pastour He that desireth grace is not altother gracelesse It is Gods goodnesse that hath giuen you this small and weake desire of grace in this Gods good hand is vpon you Hee who giueth grace to desire grace shall giue also grace for grace God often giueth to a man aboue his hopes I sought but life saide Dauid yet the Lord gaue him to bee a King God who in sicknesse giueth you the desire of grace shall before yee die giue you grace for grace a grace which at last shall make you to sing I sought but grace yet God hath giuen mee glorie If yee feele and feare his wrath seek the more earnestlie for his mercie This was that good counsell which Zephaniah gaue to Israel before the decree of wrath come out Seeke righteousnesse seeke meeknesse it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lords anger Christes cry is Seeke Aske Knocke. Seeing God desireth to be asked hee longeth to giue seeing hee desireth vs to seeke him hee desireth to bee found seeing hee desireth vs to knocke his desire is to open God is more rich and liberall than wee are poore His hand is wider for to giue giftes than our heart can bee for to receiue Hee who will not belieue that God can bee mercifull to him is twise in the wrong to God After that hee hath broken the law of his Iustice by offending hee is not content except that hee wrong his mercie by distrust Gods delight is to bee with the Children of men on earth as also to haue them with himselfe in heauen Now Sir beeing assured of thâ—… loue embrace this Lord with all 〈◊〉 armes of your affections Seeke earnestlie the Spirit of Grace for hee is powred on thirstie grounds I will powre water said the Lord vpon him that is thirstie and floods vpon the dry ground The sicke Man Oh but for one droppe of that water Oh that my Soule were watered with the dropping bowels of his mercie In the meane time my bones with sorrow are dryed vp like an hearth The terrours of the Almightie sticke within mine heart and my Spirit sucketh out the vennome thereof I thinke that I am in the verie gorge pipe of hell If this wrath continue doubtlesse it shall bee my bane The Pastour Gods wrath is fearefull I confesse but God will not bee long wroth with his Children I will not said the Lord contend for euer neither will I bee alwayes wroth For the Spirit should faile before mee and the Soules which I haue made So soone as man beginneth to be wearied of his sins God beginneth to be wearied of his wrath yea which is strange In all our afflictions he is afflicted There is but a moment in his wrath but his mercie endureth for euer There is such a mercie in God that in comparison thereof all the mercies of men are but scrofe and scumme a myte of his mercie shall remoue the mountaines of your miserie in Christ is a mine of mercie The sicke Man I know that it is so But I as yet haue no sense of such a mercie While I seeke and cry for helpe God either answereth not at all or when hee maketh answere it is like that which Elisha said
anguish of his Spirit Behold LORD how hee renounceth himselfe desparing of his owne worth Giue him grace to flee to thy promises that as in the fearefull and perelous path of this val◅y of death he looketh for nothing but hell torments and paine for his owne sake so he may assuredlie look for heauens glorie euen pleasures for euermore and that for thy promise sake for thy Names sake for thy Christs sake in whom thy Soule is best pleased Mak the bones which thou hast brused to rejoyce Leaue him neuer to himselfe LORD till thou hast made thy graces now blooming in his heart to become type for thy glorie LORD blesse thy beloued Church which is hated of the world Shee is now pricked with persecutions as a Lillie among the thornes Let this comfort Her in all Her distresses that thou shalt neuer forsake Her But that thorow many tribulations thou shall bring Her vnto Glorie Lord pitie pardon the vnthankful Church of this Land Bind Her vnto Thee by the vnion of Faith and fasten euerie one of our heartes to another by the bond of loue left at last by our misdemeanour thou bee forced to roote vs out of thy good Land as a fruitlesse Nation GOD bee gracious to our dread SOVERAIGNE the Kings Majestie gard His Royall Person from the rage of His enemies Infatuate their plots Mak giddy their braines discouer their enterprises mak Him the Man of thy right Hand Anoint His Head with the blessed drops of the Oyle of thy Grace gladnesse Make Him an humble Homager to IESVS who hath written on His thigh the King of kings LORD giue Him Grace according to His Place Say vnto His Queene Hearken O Daughter cōsider incline thy eare Mak her to forget her own people Fathers House In stead of Her old acquaintance giue her Children whom thou mayest make Princes on the Earth Aboue all thinges we intreate Thee to discharge vpon Her Soule the beames and brightnesse of sauing Knowledge Blesse all the Nobilitie of this Land Make them truelie Noble like the men of Berea who were couragious for the Trueth Make euerie one of vs faithfull in our place calling keep our Soules euer waking waiting for thycomming Preserue vs from slumber of Conscience deadnesse of heart that liuing according to thy law we may be in this wicked world godlie professours like burning shining Lampes for to shew light vnto others We all heere O gracious Father relying vpon thy promised readines to helpe thy little Ones and to listen to their cryes haue powred out our Soules in thy presence wee intreate The from the sinceritie of our inward partes that of thy Fatherlie indulgence it would please Thee to vouchsaf a fauourable audiēce both to these and to all other our most humble and godlie desires and that for IESVS thy deare Sonnes sake To whom with Thee and the Spirit of Grace bee all glorie and honour world without end AMEN Cause read vnto you this Night Psalme 38. Psal. 39. Psal 40 Psal. 41. Psal. 42. Psal. 130. Isa. 38. Isa. 53. Iohn 16. Let the end of euerie day remember you of the ende of your life Thogh euerie day of ourage should be as long as that day of Ioshuah whē at his word the Sunne stood still in Gibeon yet it would be night at last The Lord teach vs to number our dayes that wee may apply our hearts to wisedome and to well doing The grace of Iesus and the peace of his Spirit rest with you and comfort you in all the groanes of your griefe The Lord turne your smoking flax into a burning fire of zeale The God of all mercie and compassion refresh your weake and wounded heart with the softest o◅le of his sauing grace Nothing Sir is vnpossible to your God who of a brui sed Reede can make a pillar of Brasse which the prince of the powers of darknesse shall not be able to shake I intreat the Lord to giue you such Grace that may leade you vnto the face and presence of your GOD Bee more and more earnest with your GOD that hee would inspire your heart with Life Spirite and motion that thereby yee may bee made fitte for that blessed associatiō with Sainctes and Angels far from the crossing checkes of Conscience THE FOVRTH DAYES Conference The Pastour ACcording to your desire Sir I am come againe this morning for to visite you and for also to reape the fruites of yesterdayes conference This is the sweete fruits of a godlie life It hath saith Solomon hope in the end I pray God to blesse you with such an hope whereby in hope against hope yee may cleaue fast vnto your God finde yee the storme of your temptations alayed hath the Spirit of God giuen edge and vigour to these comfortes which yee heard yesterday Haue yee put on a Christian courage with a resolute and contented patience to abid the blessed will of your God The sicke Man Well is the man and blessed yea thrise blessed is hee whose transgressions is forgiuen whose sinne is couered for hee is free from that sting of Conscience that will for euer torment the Soule of the vngodlie All this night I haue beene sore cumbered with manie spirituall temptations as yee haue heard My Soule for a space hath beene wonderfully perplexed The spirit of mā alas is but too ingenious to debar it selfe from glorie It is a wonder how this shuld be in such a glorious Noonetyde of the Gospel hitherto Glorie bee to God yee haue comforted mee much ye haue handled my sores with the soft and smooth hand of a most wise and charitable discretion wiselie haue yee singled out comfortes most expedient for the cure of my Soule Now seeing by your former discourse I haue reaped comfort let mee bee so bold as to intreate you to declare breaflie how a man may know by the workings of the Spirit within whether he be a Reprobate or one of Gods chosen Ones It is no time for me now to bee beguiled Men which looke to die haue neede to looke well what they doe I desire earnestlie to be instructed touching the diuerse workinges of the Spirit into the wicked and the godlie My chiefe desire is to make my Saluation sure The Pastour I shall doe what I can to giue you contentment in that point The matter indeede is not without difficultie But yet the Lord God will doe nothing which hee will not reueale vnto his seruants the Prophets so farre as is needfull for his glorie the well of his People Mine helpe is in the Name of the Lord that made Heauen and Earth The Spirit of God in man hath two sortes of operations One generall another speciall As for the generall common to all men by the Spirit the wicked will say Iesus is the Lord I know Iesus said the Deuill to the sonnes of Sceuah * By this Spirite also the
of his Throne make Mercie and Trueth goe before his Face Blesse His Royall Match make thy mercie to bee shed abroad in Her Heart Cloth Her with the Royall apparell of Christs Righteousnesse Let readinesse to heare the Preaching of the Word bee Her Eare-ring and good Workes in Her Hand like golden Rings vpon Her Fingers Write vpon the Tables of Her Heart the Loue of true Godlinesse The LORD bee mercifull to the Common-wealth of this Land protect It from the rage of forraine Enemies Let neuer thy protection depart from this Land Let it bee like that Bed of Solomon Threescore stronge men are round about it of the valiant men of Israel They all handle the Sword and are expert in warre euerie one hath his sword vpon his thigh for the feare by night The LORD be gracious vnto vs all whō are heere vpon our kneees before Thee What wee haue said to Thee on earth LORD heare Thou in Heauen Let this afflicted Soule haue a proofe of thine own Trueth that the effectuall prayer of the Righteous auaileth much LORD hea◅ vs for the sake of him who is righteousnes it selfe in whose most perfect Prayer we close vp allour sutes saying Our Father which art c. The Peace Grace and Mercie of our GOD bee with you Sir for euer I hope that by Gods Grace I shall see you earlie in the Morning The sicke Man The LORD render to you according to his gracious promise made to all these that serue him in sinceritie A great blessing requireth great thankes I neuer deserued such kindnesse at your hands The lesse deseruing bee in mee the more deeplie doe I hold my selfe bound vnto your loue I pray you Sir be as good as your word come againe earelie in the Morning The Spirit of IESVS goe with you THE SECOND DAYES Conference Of spirituall temptations The Pastour GOD saue you Sir How haue yee rested this Night Haue yee found any working of Gods Spirit within you since our last conference Is your minde so at quiet now that yee may boldlie say with Simeon Now let thy seruant depart in peace The sicke Man Alas Sir Satans temptations are like that Serpent of Lerne called Hydra which had fiftie heades whereof one beeing cut off two sprang vp in the place thereof I take that serpent to haue beene but a fable But that which I say may bee written for an Historie Many heads of temptations haue yee cut off with the sword of Gods word But now I think that for euerie head cut off two are sprung vp in the place thereof All my temptatons hitherto haue beene but vpon the skin like the scratch of a pinne wrinkles but not woundes All my troubles hitherto hath beene but matters of trifles viz. Feare for my Life feare for my Children feare for the Graue of this our muddie mortalitie and for other such trifles and trashes vnworthie for to trouble a couragious Spirit The Spirit of a couragious man said Solomon will beare his infirmitie But the wounded spirit who can beare it well is the child of God in his ◅orest sicknes for while his bodie is sicke his Soule is sound His God in great loue will make all his bed in his sicknesse and strengthen him into the bed of languishing Hee whom God loueth is armed with Faith and patience all his troubles are but outward scrappings vpon the skinne The temptations wherewith I am lashed are spirituall woundings for my sinnes which neuer troubled mee before I heard oft-ten of such troubles but I neuer knew before this time what such things did meane Thinke ye Sir that the Spirit of a godlie man can bee thus wise troubled I heare Dauid crying in his mourning There is no soundnesse in my flesh neither is there anie rest in my bones But what reckes of flesh and bones if the Spirit were free The Pastour The most godlie that euer liued haue suffered spirituall woundes Christ the Captaine of our Saluation said That his Soule was sadde euen vnto the death Iob cryed that h◅s Spirit was drunken vp with the poyson of Gods arrowes The arrowes of the Almightie said hee are within me the poyson whereof drinketh vp my Spirit See how that holie man of God complaineth that his Spirit was like a drinke drunken vp by the poyson of Gods arrowes By this yee see that spirituall wounds are alloted to the dearest of Gods Elect so that they are not exeemed from inward blowes Trouble of Conscience is the disease of the innocentest Soule The sicke Man That satisfieth mee not As for Christ the blowes which hee suffered in his Soule were blowes of satisfaction for the sinnes of others As for Iob these blowes were blowes of probation of tryall for to let the world see that he was not an hypocrite that serued GOD for rewardes as Sathan did alledge But it is not so with me who am a bond slaue of corruption I suffer for my sinnes which are euer before mee The fainer I would forget them they flow the faster into my rememberance The voyce of my Conscience followeth mee with hue with cry Though God hath spared thee long thou hast not beene bettered looke now for vengeance after so long delayes I can make no answere I can not denie but God hath spared mee long In this is my greatest feare The higher a stroake bee fetcht the longer it is in comming But the higher it bee lifted the heauier it will fall The Pastour I answere to that which yee said first viz. that Christs sufferings are no comfort to you because they are blowes of satisfaction The afflictions of Christ were of diuerse vses first of all for to make payment to Gods Iustice for our sinnes Secondlie he suffered that by his own experience of sense hee beeing expert what it is to suffer might assure vs that hee is both a mercifull and a faithfull high Priest For in that hee himselfe hath suffered beeing tempted he is able to succour thē that are tempted Thus the Apostle declareth plainelie afterward Wee haue not said hee an high Priest which cannot bee touched with the feeling of our infirmities But was in all pointes tempted like as wee are yet without sin This experience which he had of our miserie is called his learning Though hee were a Sonne yet learned hee obedience by the things which he suffered Hee also suffered for to bee an example vnto vs. The sicke Man I vnderstand not well these words that Christ learned obedience by his sufferings The Pastour The words indeed seeme obscure The most Learned think that Christ is said to haue learned obedience by his sufferings because while he suffered hee felt indeed how difficile a thing it is talem obedientiam Deo praestare to yeeld such obedience vnto God others say that by his suffrings hee joyned to his diuine
many doe But yet yee must know that hee that made the Time will not bee subject vnto Time the King of Time is Eternall GOD is eternall and hath all Times at his command There is no Time that can hinder him to bee mercifull to a sinner at whatsoeuer time he sha◅l repent For this cause Christ for to let the world see that hee can forgiue when a sinner can repent hee took from the Crosse the Soule of a condemned Theefe and after that hee had absolued it hee carried it to Paradise God hath said That at whatsoeuer time a sinner shall repent that hee will put away his wickednesse out of his rememberance Fra once hee hath said the word hee cannot take his word againe He is constant in all his wayes and therfore neuer saith and vnsaith one thing Hath he said shall hee not doe it If yee can but waite a little ye shall finde all the fiercenesse of his fur◅e to bee turned into the fulnesse of his fauour * Hee who shall seeke him earnestlie shall not receiue an emptie answere There is mercie in heauen for an hell of conscience vpon earth Cast all your cares aside cast your selfe into the armes of your God Cast thy burden vpon the Lord and hee shall sustaine thee Be strong in the Faith of God In hope belieue against hope though for a space your Spirit bee distempered yet still relye vpon the mercie of your God Goe not off this that the Blood of Iesus was shed for you that Christ hath payed your ransome What euer Sathan by his temptations suggest vnto you belieue him not Take my counsell I pray you Sir that I speak the trueth heere I darre take it vpon my Soules Saluation The sicke Man I thank God from mine heart that euer I heard you your words are ful of comfort O how indebted am I to the mercy of my God who hath vnlocked the bowels of his loue towards me At our first meeting I found my selfe inuolued with much miserie and mischief but since I haue heard you I finde I blesse God some stirring of God Spirit within mine heart mine heart before this time hath beene lik that Altar at Athens wherin was ingrauen in great Letters TO THE VNKNOVVNE GOD I heard often of God but I neuer knew him truelie vntill now This is the infancie of my regeneration I haue beene too long a stranger from so good a God My Soule now rejoyceth after many toes and froes I finde mine heart loosed from the cartropes of my sinnes and linked vnto my Sauiour with stronger chaines than of before There bee better motions within than euer I did feele before this houre O thou who is Loue let my Soule bee possest of a sound and constant loue to thy most mercifull Majestie Bring my Soule from the shadow of death to the light of thy countenance O Lord my strength and my Redeemer O Lord of Hostes giue me strength and courage to fight out this Christian fight whereof the victorie is glorious and the reward a Crowne of immortalitie Inspire mine heart with the life of Grace If thy care had not hitherto preserued my Spirit my Soule had long since bene drowned in a sea of sin and sorrow There haue bene such lecks into mine heart that except the Lord in time had pumped it with repentance my Soule long since had made ship-wracke of Faith O how much am I beholden to my God who hath taken longer day with mee than within any others from whom before they were prouided hee hath demanded his due Blessed bee my God who hath made mee free from the frenzie of Spirite by appearing vnto mee in a greater calme The feeling of his wrath past I hope shall be a sauce for to sharpen my blunted loue towardes him in all times to come with vndaunted constancie I perceiue nowe that the day is darkened and that the night approcheth Oh that I might cōtinue conference with you but least I should wearie you from the best of my bowels my deare Pastour I bidde you farewell I looke to morrow for a new conference for with many difficulties mine heart is yet troubled and tossed I requeast you before yee goe to helpe mee with your prayers The Pastour I blesse God who hath begunne to intermingle the sweete honey of some comfortes with the bitter gall of painefull temptations GOD who hath begunne to make you his his Prentice in Grace shall an one mak you a free man in Glorie As Ministers must first sit at Gamaleels feete for to learne before they sit in Moses chaire for to teach so must Christians first bee humbled with temptations on earth before they bee honoured with exaltations into the Heauens Well is the man that is truelie humbled by GOD and made a foole in his owne eyes for hee which thinketh himselfe wise is a foole ipso facto All naturall wisedome without Spirituall humilitie is like ouernights Manna which did no good but mould and fust God by diuers temptations first carnall and after spirituall hath besieged the corruptions of your nature and hath battered downe the strong holds and fortified Castles of your imaginations and reasoning the high thinges which exalt themselues against the knowledge of GOD Before hee leaue you hee shall bring into Captiuitie euerie thought of your heart to the obedience of Christ According to your desire wee shall bend our knees to GOD in prayer that yee may spell his loue out of such a Fatherlie correction and learne in time to stay your selfe vpon his kindnesse and good will A Prayer for the sicke Man O LORD of Mercie whose bowels are turned within thee when thou beholdest the griefe of the godlie Bee heere present for the reliefe of this thy poore distressed Seruant His eyes are stedfastlie fixed vpon Thee as the eyes of the hand maide are fixed vpon the hands of her Mistresse Behold LORD and heare his amazed broken heart braying after thee as an Hart panting after the Riuers of waters Pitie this sillie Soule which is like the drye ground gaping for droppes of Raine Oh LORD his strength is d◅yed vp like a Pot shard his tongue cleaueth vnto his jawes and thou hast brought him into the dust of death Let the sweetest comfortes of thy bleeding bowels bee powred into his broken heart Make the joyfull Light of thy countenance breake foorth vpon his drooping and cloudie Conscience O strengthen his sillie Soule in this heauie houre Pacifie the pangs of his remorse that hee may laye holde vpon the merits and mercies of thy Sonne IESVS Come gracious GOD with thy strength for his succour Sathan a most bitter enemie hath besieged his Soule with most fearefull temptations There is no mischiefe which could bee deuised but hee hath m◅stered it and set it in battell arraye against him While hee had health and youth this enemie
for to heare Come or Depart Let your attention yet goe a little a long with mee See what it is of olde age Consider how feeble it is being a burden vnto it selfe a time vnfitte for anie affaire And yet most men in their youth swynishlie wallow in vncleannes thinking to keepe the old yeares for the amending of their life for all other spirituall adoes as repentance and returning vnto God as if a man beeing for to goe a farre and foule journey should lay the greatest burden vpon the weakest horse A good man regardeth his beast how much more should hee regard himselfe What regard is heere when a man in his youth rolleth his originall sinne like a snow-ball among actuall sins to such a huge greatnesse that in his strongest youth hee is not able to moue it and yet delayeth thinking that when hee is olde hee shall easilie remoue it and remeede it The sinnes of youth draw vpon old age deadnesse of heart and dulnesse of zeale It is good that man with a watchfull eye holde in perpetuall jealousie the cunning slightes and windings of the deceit of sinne in youth And therefore while it is youth time while God calleth while the wind serueth while the Sea is calme while the Shippe is sound let vs sette foorth in time to saile toward the port of Saluation the harberie of Grace in Glorie O vaine man who in thy youth turneth the grace of thy God into wantonnesse and thinketh to come home to God againe when thou is olde what shall God doe with thy blind lame olde age Is that a sacrifice for God Offer it vnto thy Gouernour saith Malachie If a blind or lame beast wil not please a man what shall God doe with that which is more blind than a beast The King of Babilon commanded Ashpenaz the master of his Eneuches to mak choise of Childrē in whom was no blemish such as had ability in thē to stand in the Kings Palace What shall the Deuill get the finest flower of our age the strength of our dayes and the abilitie of our Soule and thereafter shall God the King of Heauen bee serued with the blind and the lame such as the verie Soule of Danid did hate It is good afore hand to bee furnished with Graces which may be as the staffe of our old age * If we spēd our strēgth in our youth at the seruice of God he shall neuer cast vs off in our olde age But what shall I say nothing will waken foolish Virgines while they sleepe till that shrill voyce bee heard The Bridegrome is come When it is no more time mē who cōtented themselues with counterfeit shewes deceiuing shadowes arise run seeke for Oyle which they shall not be able to get either for buying or begging By all this my discourse Sir ye may perceiue that the long date of dayes bringeth men vnto dotage after dotage vnto dust from thence hee came Man of few yeares is foolish vnto fourtie a little after that folie hath left him dotage succeedeth which vnderstandeth no Precepts In this Mappe of the olde mans miserie yee may see whether or not man haue cause to bee greedie of many yeares Though the world were not vaine yet yee see that man is but vanitie in the world Let all men heere lay aside such doting vanities that bring too doolefull miseries Let all flesh learne that Nothing out of God can affoord sound joye and contentment If a man want God were hee an Emperour as high indeede as the King of Babylon was in conceite euen aboue the stars of God his life shall bee crossed with these th◅ee shrude companions viz. The griefe of thinges by past the paines of things present and the feare of after claps The sicke Man The thought of such thinges beginne to waine mine heart from the loue of all thinges worldlie I pray you yet a little to continue in that purpose concerning the vanities of things below The meditations therof lik sharpe keene spurs should prick and stirre vs forword from the loue of this vnto the loue of these lasting things which are aboue The Pastour The sight of this worlde is like that vision of Ezechiel wherein is often said Turne thee yet againe and thou shalt see moe abominations than all these So say I Sir Turne you yet againe heere and yee shall see greater vanities than either these of Strength or of Honour or of Riches or of Beautie Pleasure Wisedome or long Life Beholde a vanitie which is the cause of all these vanities viz. Sinne and iniquitie where vnto we are all subject so long as we liue in this world the region of corruption where if a man stand on Gods side he shall become the drunkards song with Dauid or a by-word with Iob among the chidren of Beliel Looke thorow this world and consider sin in all sortes of men sorrow following euer sinne at the heeles In this place behold Dauid making his bedde to swimme with his teares for his adulterie In that place againe behold Peter weeping b◅tterlie for his denyall In this place againe behold Lot vexing his righteous Soule from day to day for the vnlawfull deedes of the wicked In that place behold S. Paul groaning vnder a dead bodie of sinne euen a bodie of death No man is able to hunt all the corners of mans corruption From particular men let vs come to whole Churches defiled with spots and blemishes Heere is the Church of Ephesus which hath left her first Loue. There is Smyrna where some of Gods best seruantes are cast into prison Heere againe is Pergamus defiled with the doctrine of Balaame and of the Nicolaitanes In Thyatira the whoore Iezabel sat as a Prophetesse teaching and seducing Gods seruants to committe fornication to eate things sacrificed vnto idoles Sardis had a name to liue and yet was dead Laodicea was neither cold nor hote so that God threatned to spewe her out of his mouth Among all the seuen Churches onelie Philadelphia kept the word of his patience and yet her life was not without feare to losse her Crowne Behold I come quicklie said the Lord hold that fast which thou hast that no man take thy Crowne But long since hauing neglected this precept shee is bereaued of that comfort Crowne Where nowe are all these most flourishing Churches of Asia where now are all these Churches of Grecia most glorious in Constantius dayes Because they helde not fast that which they had they haue all lost their Crowne By deare Experience haue they learned what vanitie is Behold and see how this world is like a working sea wherein sinne like a gall winde or strong Tyde carrieth many tribulations and destructions from Countrie to Contrie All is made thereby
the earth in the Spring to grow greene and the Cornes to come vp at the first with small green points and after to shoote vp to the shot bled after that to come to the Seede that at last beeing cut downe in a white ripenesse it may be lay◅e vp into Girnels Euen so the Gospel like a Sunne shining from the heauens commeth after the colde frostie season of the dead Winter of our Nature and by its Beames warmeth vs and wakeneth vp the seede of grace sowen into our heartes by the good hand of God After that with its heate by little and little it ripeneth these sowne graces at last while wee are ripe and while the graces of God in vs are come to their perfection the Lord sendeth his seruāt Death to cut vs downe with a sickle After that by Death we are cut downe the Lord treasureth vs vp into euerlasting Tabernacles the Girnels of the Prince of Heauen farre from the keene rasors of lying tongues Now seeing the day is f◅r spent here I shall pause leauing that which hath bene said to your nights meditations By that grace of God I shal returne in the morning earelie He that made Peter safelie to walk vpon the swelling waues vphold you so that ye sinke not at the rising of any boisterous blaste of temptation Gods Children in this world are lik these three Children in the fierie furnace though such fire seeme to bee a consuming fyre it shall not bee able so much as to sindge their apparell The sicke Man But before yee goe Sir according to your good former custume by your deuote prayers committe my Soule to the armes of my Sauiour I euer feare that my false heart giue mee the slippe As God hath giuen you a diuine tong so Lord giue me a sanctified eare the sweetest spirituall musick and harmonie of Gods seruice Oh that with Peter I could gird my coate and swimme thorow all the swelling seas of temptations that I might come vnto my Lord. Offer vp I pray you Sir for mee the Christian sacrifice of prayer Resigne my Soule into his mercifull hands Oh that I could with you homage mine heart vnto God in feruent supplications wee are not able as I see to stand a moment in the right way without Gods vnderpropping hand Alas Sir I finde in my prayers great distractions which wonderfullie blunt the edge of my deuotion while my mouth is speaking to God my minde is speaking with follies and phansies If a man speaking vnto a Prince should nowe turne him vnto this man and now to that man would not that Prince at last commaund him silence enjoyning him with all speed to packe him out of his presence as being a man who knoweth not what is matchable to such a Majestie Many a time alas haue I at prayer babled out with my lippes many sauourles words which haue wrought nothing but the sadding and grieuing of Gods Spirit O Lord make this meditation of mine owne vnworthinesse bee like a whet-stone to my prayers that by helpe thereof I may pray better than euer I did before Giue mee grace at all times but speciallie in prayer to keepe watch and ward ouer my thoughts that I neuer let loose the bridle vnto them as most foolishlie often I haue done rushing my Soule ouer head and eares into the myres of earthlie mindednes Now good Lord make mee fresh and nimble in my Spirit for prayer Oh for that Spirit of spirituall groans which maketh intercession for the Sainctes according to the will of God I desire your helpe in prayer The night is noysome I lye downe I say when shall I arise and the night beginne I am full of tossing vnto the dawning of the day The Pastour I rejoyce with my Soule to heare you I know no surer token of Gods Spirit within a man than a ben◅nes to prayer Reprobates with Herod may gladlie heare Preachers But they all in Scripture are branded with this blot They call not vpon God Desire of conference with God is a most sure token of friendship betweene God and man Can two walke together except they bee agreed Can two speake together except they be friendes Hypocrites I knowe will make long prayers which are but lip labour which our Lord calleth much babling But their heartes in their prayers wander from God goe to worldly toyes so that while they are speaking one thing with the mouth their hearts are vpon another subject Thus Scripture calleth A drawing neere to God with the mouth while the heart is farre off * God cannot bee scorned but knoweth howe much is behind though Ananias would seeme to bring all Hee who can pray from his heart by his prayer as with a piercing keye is able to vnlocke the celestiall treasures of God where out of hee will draw comfortable cordials for distressed Soules in their gasping agonies Let vs now bend our knees most humblie before our Maker and worship him both with heart mouth the most pleasant harmonie of a Christian Soule The Lord set all our hearts rightlie on worke For the heart of man in prayer is most bent to play reakes in wandering from God A Prayer for the sicke Man O Great and Omnipoten◅ GOD whose Eyes are ten thousand time brighter than the Sunne at Noone Day Our sinnes cannot bee hidde from The◅ Faine would wee confesse them but alas for this hardnesse of hear◅ Smite O LORD smite these our hearts of yron soften them with the fire of thy Spirit till my sighs sobs they melt within our boweles O◅ LORD who shall not feare thee to whom is giuen all power both in heauen and earth When we remember thy last Sessions which shall bee in that great last judiciall day it maketh all the haires of our head to start vp Wee are instructed by thy diuine Word that the fashion figure of this world shall passe away and that all Thrones shall bee remoued that that most Royall glorious Throne may bee erected for the comming of the Son of man O LORD in that great and terrible day all thinges must compeare naked before Thee Then shalt thou bring to light the things which were hidde in darknesse and shalt make manifest the most secret counsels of mens hearts From thy face nothing shall bee able to procure escape Happie shall that Soule be on whom in that day thou shalt bleink with a reconcealed face O gracious GOD whose goodnesse is bottomlesse and greatnesse immeasurable Now speake home to the hearte of thy seruant heere who in his fainting weaknesse hath desired me to powre out this prayer for him All his desires are toward thee stampe vpon his Soule the Image of thy selfe Giue him a pawne and a pledge of thy fauour make him assured that in that day hee shall finde thee a fauourable Iudge who shall cry on him among the rest of thy Children Come
straight rule to direct thee in all the cariage of thy life let no worldlie businesse with-draw thee from it while it is preached These who eate their bread with greatest sweate eate not the sweetest bread It is not earlie rising nor late going to bedde that enricheth Though for a time Marthas toyling and troubling her selfe about many thinges seeme to bring much profite it shall bee seene at last that it is the grace of God that enricheth This is most certaine the ◅urest fastning in this world is but loofenes without God in whom alone is the certainty of that which shal neuer perish In all thine affaires in all companies remember that in the secrete closets of thine heart thou haue frequent ejaculations vnto thy God that hee may guide and guard thee while thou shalt encounter with temptations hardlie shall shee bee caught that feareth the snare Sathan with his baites lures is euer waiting for to catch his prey Hee hath three great gunnes three great impoysonners whereby hee wasteth the graces and good names of many viz. The lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life It shall bee thy best to arme thy selfe against these three by holding continually a wakening and jealous eye ouer thy whole conuersation If the euill thought be stiffled so soone as it beginneth to stir into the heart it shall neuer bee able to produce an euill action into the hand For this cause wise Solomon gaue a precept which I may call a spirituall Cordiall which is that aboue all watch and ward men and women should keepe their heartes Manie with Hypocrites may seeme to haue their hands in heauen by giuing almes with the Pharisee while indeede their proude loftie faithlesse heartes are in Hell God looketh not so much to the outward action as to the inward affection The Lord cannot away with the painted superficiall flourishes of holines of these that are false hearted and meerelie formall The Israelite indeede in whose heart is no guile is the Lords delight Studie therefore I intreate thee to the puritie and power of godlinesse Bee carefull to write all these heart precepts vpon the palmes of thine handes lest that vnawares thou bee woefullie caught and ensnared in some scandalous sin whereby thou shalt shame thy profession All mortall feete are feeble and stand in a sliperie ground O what danger is in giuing way to our first sinfull motions while sin is least feared it is most to bee feared Sathan is most dangerous while hee is transformed into an Angel of light Poyson confected with Sucre is moste piercing and deadlie Smiling Ioabs are most cunning in smiting faire alluring tickling temptations oftest preuaile Manie are like the Larke which while it playeth with the feather and stoupeth to the glasse is suddenlie enwrapted in the Fowlers net There is nothing more dangerous than securitie While Peter thought himselfe stronger than all men Sathan was hatching three abominations in his heart which at last brake out first in lyes and last in perjurie stand in awe and sinne not One sin draweth on another lik links in a chaine Wee haue sinned wee will goe vp that is wee haue sinned wee will sin Keepe euer GOD in thy sight and bee humble Bee carefull in all thy cariage to liue in good example Allow not thy selfe in that which is euill flee the folies of this age which is wonderfullie giuen to new guises of decking the bodie most womens hearts are sowred with this leauen Let spirituall joyes be thy jewels the good works of thine hands let them be the gold rings of thy fingers the matter of thy pleasures There is nothing more pleasant than to doe wel For this cause good workes are in that Song of songs called a gathering of Lillies and flourishing of the Vines She who is too curious of the outward decking of the Backe cannot bee carefull of the inward trimming of the heart Fard and foolish vaine fashions of apparell are but Bawds of allurement to vncleannesse Away with these dyed Dames whose beauty is in their Boxe such dawbinges are soone washed off from these painted Iezabels such melting faces are not meete for marterdoome for the cause of Iesus vnder such false faces is no lodging for true and honest hearts In all things striue thou to be sobe◅ Beware to out runne thy rank or to out weare the fashions by attyring thy selfe too gorgeouslie Soft appparell is but for Kinges houses What are such Cuts and Cordons Silkes and Satins and other such superfluous vanities wherwith manie aboue their ranke and place are so disguised but infallible tokens of an vnsanctified heart With such follies often are joyned libertine eyes wandering in wanton glaunces Let my counsell please thee Idol not thy bodie with these who habour in their bosome the snake of pride Let thy chiefe care bee to decke the hidden man of the heart A meeke and humble soule is a great ornament in Gods eyes This is Scripture The ornament of a meeke quiet spirit is of great price in the sight of God Shee whose heart is truelie godlie will be most carefull to put on that which most will please the Lords eye Consider well what I say Follow not the fickle fancies of vaine womē whose minds are like the Moone in a continuall change but rather bee a Schooler of these whose wisedome is constantlie contrarie to all new fangled follies Too curious busking is the mother of lusting lookes the Iuy-Bush hung out for to inueigle vnsanctified hearts vnto folie What are these finest silkes the fairest feathers of our pride What are they but wormes worke moathes meate Striue for the power of mortifying grace while the flesh is lusty and at a full sea the Spirit is at vnder euen at a low ebbe The pampering pride of life is the bane and poison of spirituall graces beware of it It is an high treason against the most High it is a sinne which first lifteth vp and after bringeth downe with a shamefull fall that which it hath once lifted vp The heart of man is lik the shell-fish which pride as an Eagle taketh vp into the aire but while it is come to a great hight it anone letteth it fall vpon the rockes of shame and disgrace where after that it hath dashed it in pieces it greedilie deuoureth it Hee who in Heauen could not dwell with Pride will neuer on Earth harbour in that heart wherein it lodgeth Outward counterfeit humilitie may for a time jug gle the eyes of the beholders such a varnished pride is a double abomination O howe detastable vnto God are these who beeing vainlie puft vp in their fleshlie minde haue no lodging for humilitie but into their mouthes And yet who can haue patience to giue ◅are shall at last heare a Sibboleth some
leape the same loupe beeing assured of as much and all because hee seeth that now his neighbour is soundlie healed and feeleth no more paine If yee wander from God hasten your returne A man out of the way must come back againe The soone◅ hee returneth the lesse is his labour If yee fall in sinne and rise againe beware to bee relaps An Horse comming by the same place where hee caught a fall will starte a backe Neither for Spur nor Wand will ye get him into the same hole againe Dauid no doubt after once would not count the Tribes againe neither would Peter after that awefull looke of Christ denye his Master againe neither would Iob seck anie more to dispute with his God againe They all know by experience how bitter a thing such sins were and therefore abhorred all such things at the verie rememberance thereof Remember well I pray you that olde age will inquire what youth hath beene doing This now know that all youthlie pranking pleasures are followed with pages of paines which cry vnto others that they listen not to the allurementes and deceitfull charmes of their filthie flesh While Dalilah lulleth in her lappe shee is armed with Sissers for to cutte the haire of our strength It is good that both old young haue their loynes euer girded their Candles in their hands waiting for that comming of their Lord Learne of the foolish Virgines how dangerous a thing it is to sleepe without oyle in your Lampes Let neuer sinne reigne in your mortall bodies Subdue the flesh to the Spirit If yee liue in Gods feare looke to die in Gods fauour Happie is the man that keepeth a Calender of his days wherby hee may bee roused vp to thinke euerie day his last It is certaine that our life like a shippe vpon the Sea is caried with a strang gale There is none abiding heere our Sunne is fast posting to the West as hee arose so shortlie must hee fall And therefore though yee dwell one earth mind the thinges that are aboue Let your Soules here in earth on earth soare vp toward the euerlasting Tabernacles Too manie Soules bee Trewands from God onlie minding the thinges that are below Beware that thornie cares choak in your Soules the seede of grace To be worldlie minded is death Aspire not aboue your pitch Thrust not yourselues in offices An office is well called A Calling because man should waite till hee bee called vnto it It is better to bee haled by force of others to great offices than to rushrashlie vpon them vndesired It were to bee wished that rather men want Offices than that Offices want men answereable to their discharge Affect not to bee singular in glorious shewes of profession without substance like Pedlers who hang out more than they haue within There bee none so peeuish as prattling professours without the power of practise The new creature in actions is the truest outward witnesse of the trueth of the inward affections Affection bewrayeth the euill affections Malo esse probus quam haberi It is better to bee good than so to seeme Among all humane dueties bee carefull to keepe loue with your Neighbours So farre as is possible winne the good word and will of all men Bee not contentious nor stirrers vp of discordes God hath blessed the peace makers The Apostles Precept is plaine Let brotherlie loue remaine Forget not the poore Hide not yourselues from your owne flesh The rich and the poore will meete together saith Solomō That is One good turne may bee requited by another If they cānot recompence you they will pray for you Though that which yee giue vnto them at the first seeme to be lost like seed sowne into a running water which carrieth it away the Lord who brought backe the Iordan shall bring back your lost seede with a plentifull increase Cast then your bread vpon the waters for yee shall finde it after many dayes Christs counsell is that rich men mak vnto themselues friends of the Mammō of vnrighteausnesse If ye receiue the poore in their neede into your earthlie mansions they by their prayers shall receiue you in your greater neede into euerlasting Tabernacles When Diues hath dyned let Lazarus haue the crums Cursed Adam was couered but with figge leaues and Christ cursed the fig tree for hauing leaues without fruites While ye giue almes let all be done without a desire to be seene or praised of men Let not your left hand know what the right hand giueth and God shall reward that humble secrecie with open honour What euer bee done see that it bee done in Faith without which most glorious workes are but glistering sinnes and Pharisees almes beggers of praise things done to be seene Bee meeke and gentle toward all The Spirit of God cannot light vpon a Soule but in the shape of a Doue Euerie way of a man is right in his owne eyes But the Lord pondereth the hearts My Spirit fainteth my breath shorteneth mine heart sickeneth I finde Death now besieging my Noble partes I cannot tell how soone God shall fetch away my Soule It is most certaine that I drawe neare to the doores of death I haue yet some-thing in my mind for to tell you O my deare Childrē but for weakenesse I cannot till I be refreshed with a little rest Within a little space I looke to bee lockt in my graue O Lord say vnto my Soule I am thy Saluation Refresh mine heart rejoyce my Soule with a sight of thy reconcealed face before that I goe hence and bee seene no more The Pastour Lord heare thou in Heauen O how much fruite groweth off one stalke GODS grace in you hath brought foorth a large haruest of comforts to all that haue heard you The Lord renew your strength and put his Spirit within you The Lord sanctifie your Spirit which is the Candle of the Lord searching all the bowels of the bellie The God of all grace hath cleansed and purified your words throgh the stramer of his great mercie * So soone as ye haue gathered strēgth let vs heare the rest of your counsell to your Children In it is wisedome for to be learned of old age recouer your force a little that yee may conclude that which yee haue begunne It is good in good things to goe throgh stitch The sicke Man O Lord perfect thy strength in my great weaknesse My deare Children hearken vnto mee It is not possible but in this euill world yee shall bee troubled with great and grieuous afflictions In my great griefes I was euer wont to comfort my selfe with that wise speach of Solomon When a mans wayes shall please the Lord hee shall make euen his enemies to bee at peace with him If anie man offend you or is offended against you perswade yourselues that some of your wayes please not
thee in righteousnesse in judgement in louing kindnesse in mercies come now and perfect the marriage in glory before the Sainctes and Angels that are aboue where pleasures are for euermore The Pastour Amen Amen The Spirit of God Sir is with you within you Continue in such holie and heauenlie thoughtes Contemne still the transitorie triffles of this world that gladlie yee may desire to goe dwell with your God Naturallie all men are so stiffe-necked and so steele hearted that they cannot submit their will to the good pleasure of their God O that men would bee wise in time and could consider how they must bee accountable for euerie houre of time they haue imployed in their life Our Soules alas are so sensuall that they will not knit into acquaintance with Right and Reason but like factious ligged lieges rebell stifelie against their Lord Hardlie will mans heart rander vnto that petition which is often in his mouth viz. Thy will bee done in earth as it is in heauen The pride of mans heart perketh it selfe aboue the Lawes of humble obedience Blessed bee God whose mercie hath made you a resolued man such wordes as I haue heard of you were neuer teached in the Schoole of Nature Nature cannot speake the language of Canaan We haue nothing to rander vnto God for his working mercies but the mites of praise O but ye are much beholden vnto GOD who hath endued your Soule with his loue subdued the raging power of temptations whe◅with your Soule at the first was caried lik chaffe or dust before a gale mightie winde O but your heart at the first was fearefullie hacked and mangled with most terrible temptations O but the Spirite of Iesus hath wrought wonderfullie within you Now by him are ye made free from all the terrors of temptations which like venemous hornets did flie in your face The sicke Man I finde now all that to bee true Glade is my Soule that euer it knew that Lord Full welcome is his Spirit to me Christ is now my Loue mine hearts delight Hee hath ridde my Soule of all mine heauie-hearted thoughts By his blessed Spirit hee hath perswaded mee that my Soule hath a true and reall enterest in these blessed tidings of peace and Saluation which hee by his Blood hath bought and broght from the Heauens O the mercie of my God! O the Ocean of his compassions which hath swallowed vp the most hudge mountaines of mine iniquities O what a redemption is this to bee deliuered from so great a death wherin the damned must die so long as God shall liue O death of torments without anie end O life of continuance without anie ease O the immortalitie of that death wherein sinners shall euer bee dying but neuer dead wherein the least touch of paine cannot bee counteruailed with the millions of pleasures O the tumbling and tossing that shall bee there where the wrath of God shall infinitelie burne Now Christ the Lord of life hath made mee free of all these fear◅s I hope shortlie to bee with him I rejoyce in hope of the glorie of God To him will I say as hee said to Zacheus Today I must bide with thee I long to bee out of this state of strife My bodie is weake and mine ◅eart fainteth within mee O Lord recreate and refresh my Soule with the blessed Blood of the Lambe orientle streaming thorow the channell of his wounds Giue mee a constant assurance that all my sinnes are blotted out of thy Register Where no woode is there the fyre goeth out Where sin is taken away there wrath ceaseth to bee O Lord conduct the Ruther of my Soule till it hath sailed thorow al the seas of sorrows and become to the Port of pleasures for euermore The Pastour Take courage and continue so Lift vp your head with the eye of Faith behold the other Shore euen the Land beyond the riuer The Land of vprightnes Canaan which is aboue Bend vp all your heart-strings with hauenlie desires Fixe fast your eyes vpon that Crowne of immortalitie Let now all your thoughts claspe fast about the mercies of your God Hee nowe imbraceth you his hand is a sure hold fast which neuer letteth slip that which it once hath seized on In al appearance your Battell is neare an end Waite stedfastlie vpon the Lord Christ shortlie with a soft hand shal loose the knot of your life that your Soule may goe free to the place of its rest your Soule alreadie by the mercifull Arme of Iesus hath beene deliuered from the painefull racke of repentance and now is sette vpon the rocke of your Saluation The gracious God hath beene your Father Feeder and Defender Your desirs which of before were grappled to the ground now only aspire to things which are aboue Afflictions to the Soule is like the gade to the Oxe a teacher of obedience Finde ye now the tempest of your Conscience so allayed as yee would wish Is all calme and at quiet within I hope that the blessed droppes of the Lambes Blood haue quenched that wilde fyre wherewith once your troubled Conscience was enflammed Yee as I esteeme are no more troubled for your sinnes as though God neither would nor were able to forgiue I pray God that yee may boldlie say with a godlie Father What shall I returne vnto my gracious God that I darre now looke my sinnes in the face and not bee afraide The sicke Man My sinnes I blesse God fright mee no more O the rich bowels of Iesus wherein is a Myne of mercie I remember now of a sweete saying of a godlie mā on his death-bed When mine iniquities saide hee are greater than thy mercies O God then will I feare and despaire The comfortes of my God now refresh my Soule lik the Riuer of Siloah that watered the Citie of God I blesse God for all my try all troubles which hee hath made to worke together to my well Grace in the heart is often like fyre in flint insensible vntill it bee beaten It is good for vs that wee bee afflicted The bluenesse of the wound purgeth away euill My Saluation now is surelie sealed by the hand of the Spirit By his seale it is made sure and authenticall O how my Soule hath with a bright eye discouered the fauours of his face O if God forsake a man hee will shortlie with Iudas passe from the horror to the halter O the mercies of God towards me The Pastour O how much are yee beholden vnto God who by his Spirit hath so directed your heart and mouth with wordes perfumed with the sauour of life vnto life yee haue refreshed all our Soules as with a sweete breath If the Spirit of Grace guided not our tongues in our temptations our mouths to our euerlasting shame should breath out stiffe and stinking blastes of blasphemie against the Lord our
her faire face because Hypocrisies face seemeth to be faire while it is fairded No not God will haue true faith to come out that the world may see her into works Shew mee thy Faith by thy workes Christ who desireth that the niggard or ambitious left hand know not or see not the liberalitie of the charitable right hand commandeth that wee let ouâ—… light so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorifie our Father which is in heauen The graces of Gods Spirit in a man are like a light candle No man light a Candle and put it vnder a bushell but on a Candle-sticke it giueth light to all that are in the house The good life of the godlie man should bee like a Citie sette on an hill which cannot bee hid The labourer soweth not his seede on the ground that it may still remaine hidde vnder the cloddes neither doeth God sow his graces in our heartes that there they may luâ—…k still abide secret I like not these who feare to seeme godlie left they should bee thought to be Hypocrites Euen in that are they Hypocrites that for feare they seeme to affect godlinesse will not doe good that may bee seene which would moue the true Israelits to glorifie our Father in heauen yea and also allure these to come to God who as yet are strangers from the Common-wealth of Israel I confesse that fewe bee troubled with such a feare It is a sin whereof verie few in this Land are guiltie yet seeing it is a sinne it would bee carefullie auoided Because Papists whollie relye on their workes Protestants with great scandale will onelie bragge of their Faith Thus both the one and the other against the truth of doctrine separate that which God hath joyned together The sicke Man O Lord GOD of gods O Father of euerlasting compassions whose blessed bowels did bleede vpon the crosse for to saue sinners pittie heere a fraile feeble creature yet tugging and wrestling in the Barras of this sinfull flesh Furnish mee with strength whereby I may surmount and vanquish all difficulties which are betweene my Soule and the place of its euerlasting rest I am weake forbeare mee Lord in thy great mercie Ioyne thy Grace with my griefâ—… O that I were with my Christ the Marke whereat I aime the Port whereto I saile the rest of my desires Let thy good Spirit O Lord assist mee Let thy fauour and grace bee my vade-mecum till I come to thy Glorie O who shall giue to my soule the wings of a Doue that it may flee out of the Douket of this bodie vp to its God O deare Sauiour set mee as a seale vpon thine heart Draw mee and wee shall runne after thee Holde mine heart aloft that it may onelie minde the things aboue The Pastour Lord heare thou in heauen and grant the sute of thy seruant I feare Sir that yee bee wearied with speaking As I perceiue yee force your selfe in your words aboue the reach of your strength Seeing yee trauell thus in paine of your speach spend the little space of life that resteth in holie meditations concerning the bloodie wounds of Christ your Sauiour The sicke Man Christ now is onelie my comfort I loue him with the best bowels of mine heart In the bowels of his mercie I reade by the eye of Faith most faire lines of his loue all written in great Capitall letters of an heauenlie impression Christ is to mee in stead of all for alreadie in my neede hee hath stood mee in more stead than all O in what a pitifull plight my sillie and forlorne Soule was once into Blâ—…ssed bee hee for euermore who in so great kindnesse hath shined vpon me with the blessed bright and vnspotted beames of his mercy O but my Soule panteth after him Oh how this heart of mine is euill to breake What a piece of clammie teugh clay is this that settereth so my Soule that by no meanes can it bee loosed from it that it may soare vp to its God from griefe to glorie O that I were with him with whom I shall not want the thing that I can wish Now Lord the time is come pull off mee the dull wiede of sinfull mortalitie and cloath my soule in white with the Robe of Christes righteousnesse that it may followe the Lambe O but I am wearied My Soule longeth to see the Face of my God The Pastour Waite vpon the Lords will when it is time hee will open the prison doore and let your Soule flie vp to your Glorie Thinke on Heauen still Mount vp your minde to your Maker who shall shortlie roofe with Glorie the graces which hee hath reared vp into your heart Let the hope of these thinges hearten you in the mudde and myre of this sinfull mortalitie The sicke man O Lord pittie this Soule which I haue defiled and defaced with scarlet transgressions and crimsin iniquities Thou hast begunne the good worke in me It is now neere to perfection Put to now the last hand and perfect the worke Rub out perfectlie with the Blood of thy Lambe the least staines which sticke in my Soule that while thou shalt look vpon mee thou may know mee to bee thy redeemed one by the stampe of thine owne Image O Lord fixe mine heart so into thine owne heart that nothing bee able to pull it out without pulling out thine owne It hath beene like a crooked twigge O writh it so nowe the right way that it may bee according to thine owne heart The Pastour Lord heare thou in Heauen and graunt the sute of thy Seruant Let nothing bee able to tickle tempt or trouble his Soule Be of good heart Sir the Battell is neare an end Fight out the good fight finish your course and keepe the Faith hence-foorth is laide vp for you a Crowne of righteousnesse which the LORD shall giue you at that day Make now full proofe of your courage which shall shortlie be couered with a Crown Hold out still in your holie exercise till your change come The sicke Man I wearie of this cottage of claye I am at a point with all that is vnder the Sunne I care not for this worlds fauour no more for its frowne But O but my Soule longeth to be with my Lord that I may see his face with fulnesse of joye O thou with whom nothing is impossible make the scales of mortalitie to fall from mine eyes that I may fee thee before euen as thou art My Soule longeth to be out of this myry lak of miserie for to dwell with thee into the Pallace of immortalitie O when shall I get ridde of these sinfull bonds O Sauiour of mankind giue eare vnto my sute Deliuere mee from this seeming life that I may die to liue the life of pleâ—…sures for euermore O drawe drawe out this Soule entombed into this bodie Before
will God bring with him For this wee say v◅to you by the word of the Lord that wee which are aliue and remaine vnto the comming of the Lord shall not preuent them which are asleepe For the Lord himselfe shall d◅scend from heauen with a shout with the voyce of the Arch Angel and with the Trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first Then wee which are aliue and remaine shall bee caught vp together with them in the cloudes to meete the Lord in the Aire And so shall wee bee euer with the Lord. VVherefore comfort one another with these words Consider well and weigh these words which that great Pen-man of God hath set downe with a precept that with them wee should comfort one another while wee are in doole for the dead Finallie this M. yee must know that all earthlie sorrowes were they neuer so sharpe will at last growe blunt and will bee meekened and skinned ouer by time Nowe that which Time can doe to a Pagane let Grace doe it to a Christian. I intreate the Lord of all Grace and kindnesse to cast downe his compassionate eye vpon your afflicted grieued case that your mourning beeing tempered with mercie ye may in your greatest griefe rejoyce in your God Amen A compendious Epitaphe fit for a godlie Man deceased To long Eternitie from toylesome Time His Soule is past his Body sleepes in Slime A COMFORT for the fatherlesse MY deare heartes bee not dismayed in this grieuous affliction But take it in patience seeing it is from the Lord who maketh all thinges to worke to the best of th◅se that loue him As Father Iob said while hee was made Childlesse so muste yee say while yee are made fatherlesse The Lord hath giuen the Lord hath taken away and blessed bee the Name of the Lord. If yee can blesse him for the remouing of his blessinges hee shall double his blessinges vpon you and shall make them to meete you at euerie turne The fatherlesse Children of the faithfull whether their Fathers haue beene poore or rich haue a rich Legacie left vnto them ◅or to them belong that promise of shewing mercie vnto thousands Such as bee blessed of him saith the Psalmist mist shall inherite the earth In another place hee saith The generation of the righteous shall bee blessed Wee knowe nothing on Earth more tender than a mother toward the fruit of her wombe This made the Lord to say Cā a mother forget her sucking Childe that she should not haue compassion of the fruite of her nombe But what answered the Lord to that question Yea said hee they ◅ay forget yet will I not forget thee Behold I haue grauen thee vpon the palmes of mine hands This was Dauids greatest comfort that though his Father and his Mother should for sake him yet the Lord would take him vp If yee would heare of sensible Experience My flesh said hee and mine hearte faileth But God is the strength of my heart and my portion for euer Thus as yee see Father and Mother Sister and Brother flesh and Friendes Heart Health and Wealth and all will faile vs but our God is onelie and euer fast hee is the strength of our heart and our portion for euer Seeing it is so let your hearts relye vpon your God alone What euer your distresses bee as Abraham said to his Sonne The Lord will prouide Will yee heare Experience I haue bene yong said Dauid and now am old yet haue I not seene the righteous forsaken nor his seede begging their bread Though the children of the godlie bee but Children of poore fathers yet heere is their comfort their godlie fathers before they die treasure vp for them many prayers in Heauen and leaue vnto them the rich Legacie of Gods fauour Yee knowe certainlie that your Father was one that feared the LORD from his heart whereof to all our comforts hee hath giuen a good proofe And ther◅fore yee may boldlie by the hand of faith laye holde on the promises of God which belong to all the faithfull and to their Children vnto many generations Ye may know by the writen word howe God feedeth the Rauens and clotheth the Lillies Though they neither toile nor spinne and though they neither sowe nor reape and though they neither haue store-house nor Barne yet are they sufficiently prouided How much more are ye better than Fowles or flowers Christs precept is of profitable practise Seeke first the Kingdome of God and the righteousnesse therof and all other things shall bee cast vnto you Pray the Lord not coldlie and careleslie but most earnestlie that hee would cleanse scoure your hearts from all these worldlie cares of what yee shall eate and vvhat ye shall drink and vvhat yee shall put on Learne in time to cast your burden vpon the Lord who desireth you so to doe and that with a promise that hee shall sustaine you A little with Gods blessing is enough It is like that Widowes handfull of meale and little oyle which failed not The vessels of Gods grace are like that other VVidowes pot of oyle which yeelded out oyle continuallie so long as there were vessels to receiue If yee bee earnest with God in prayer hee will not repell your prayers with a deafe eare The Lord himselfe hath taken vpon him to bee your Iudge and defender If anie goe about for to molest you by a violent boisterous course he will certainelie bee their bane like dung hee sh◅ll swee◅e them away from the face of the Earth Seeing then yee haue such faire promises of GOD made both to your faithfull Father and to you also in the day of your Baptisme beware by a lewde life to forfeite such Bandes and Obligations Beware to followe the euill examples of this Worlde in following the droue which either by secret hypocrisie or publicke prophaning biddeth Battells to all the Preceptes of Gods Lawe Sharpe is that sauce which commeth after the sweet◅st worldlie pleasures Let them bee as pleasant as yee please there is an Hooke in the Bate The most part of this world is but a rabble of Reprobates an hoste of damned sinners rushing vpon their owne destruction Their cleanest Garments are spotted with the flesh They are more clammie than pitch None can touch them and not bee defiled Bee euer earnest to doe well Though ye come faire short of that you should and also would doe yet bee not discouraged Gods strength at last shall bee made perfect in your weaknesse It cannot bee auoided but manie will trouble you by fraud by cusenage and by other diuerse afflictions Though such things bee tedious to the flesh and goe against the streame of your affections yet in the latter end all shall worke both to your well contentment Let not sorrow ouerwhelme your hearts Mourne not as these that haue none hope
make answere Oh but I am pressed with an heaui◅ hand I feare much my last houre My Soule is sore troubled The Pastour Learne of Christ in his trouble Now said hee is my Soule troubled and what shall I say Father deliue◅ mee from this houre But for this cause came I into this houre Father glorifie thy Name As hee did so doe yee Hee fearing the houre was earnest with God in prayer for to bee deliuered from it and yet most humblie submitted himselfe vnto his Fathers will So doe yee If ye feare greatlie that houre pray feruentlie that God deliuer you from it and yet notwithstanding let God haue all his will of you His will shall eu◅r bee your well The Sicke Man But alas my paines are grea◅ my breach is like the sea Gods rod vpon mee is torne with stripes and worne to the stomps In my torments I both feare and feele his wrath If hee loued mee would he scourge mee with such scorpions The Pastour Whom God loueth hee chasteneth and scourgeth euerie Sonne whom hee receiueth By this yee see plainelie that hee will receiue none to himselfe but those whom hee is minded to scourge This scourging whereof yee complaine is Gods loue-token telling you that hee is minded for to receiue you Woe ◅o the Childe whom the Father will not correct God commandeth louing Fathers to chastise their children till they cry His command is also that they bee not hindered for their cryes Chasten thy Sonne said God while there is hope and let not thy Soule spare for his crying So long as there is life there is hope While God chasteneth you it is a token that there is hope Woe to that man whom GOD disdaineth to strike It is a sore word when a Father or a Master saith to a Childe I despaire of him there is none hope I giue him ouer will strik him no more It was a fearefull vvord that God said to the rebellious Israelites I will not visite your Daughters when they are harlotes nor your Spouses when they are whoores That is I will correct them no more but let them runne head-long to their owne destruction Woe to him vvhom God vvill not correct Certe tunc magis irascitur Deus cum non irascitur God is most angrie when hee seemeth least to bee angrie The wicked are most fearefullie plagued when God spareth them most Let not therefore your sore paines discourage you but rather comfort you as beeing a speciall token that God will receiue your Soule What reckes what this Carion suffer if so be that God receiue the Soule Shall I not drinke of my Fathers Cup said Christ * To drinke of a Kings cup it vvould bee thought an honour See then vvhat honour is in the affliction of the godlie thereby they drinke of the King of Heauens cup This is also a token of our friendship vvith Christ vvhen wee drinke vvith him of one cuppe Men will not drinke of one cuppe with their enemies Rejoyce then Sir to drink vvith Christ in your Fathers cuppe Though this cuppe bee bitter at the brimme the bottome will haue a pleasant farewell Thinke vvell vpon this Sir and possesse your soule in patience despare neuer of Gods mercie though hee seeme to bee angrie depend vpon him trust into him though hee should slay you In confidence of h◅s Loue rest and sleepe in his bosome hang on him saue his honour by trusting in him If this yee doe I assure you that yee shall dye sweetlie resting into his armes The sicke Man I finde Sir my paines greatlie to increase The Pastour Bee of good comfort If your paines increase God will increase your patience with your paines he is mercyfull and will surelie strengthen you in the weakest houre Gods strength is made perfect in weaknesse In the meane time bee fighting out the good fight manfullie Hold vp your hands with Moses against Amaleke Pray feruentlie to your God that hee would cast into your memorie all the good thinges that euer yee heard or reade wherewith your Soule as with a rempart may bee guarded against the houre of temptations Pray oft-ten with Christ Father deliuer mee from this houre What say yee Sir It appeareth that there bee some thing into your mind yet that vexeth you The sicke Man This Soule of mine is verie loath to depart from this bodie They be of olde acquaintance haplie long shall it be before they meete againe Friendes cannot bee but sorie while they shedde The Pastour That is naturall to all But grace in the Godlie must rule Nature Wee must gladlie leaue all for to goe liue with Christ we must deny our selues for to confesse him we must desire to be dissolued for to bee with him hee who loueth any thing better than him shall not bee found worthie of him Your Soule say ye is sorie to goe from the body What are our bodies for the present but prisons of clay Let them goe to clay till the day of the Resurrection come when those painefull prisons shall bee turned into pleasant Palaces What reckes of an inch of time heere on Earth in respect of eternitie in Heauen Should a mans heart so itch after an inch of Earth that hee would desire to tarrie from Heauen but an houre The Soule must turne its backe vpon the bodie for to turne its face vnto the God of Glorie This is but a childish temptation It is for women children to weepe at the taking of adewes chiefelie while these that depart are going to a better condition of life Because the day draweth towards Euening it is now time for mee to remoue I hope God willing to come againe the Morrow and to visite you that I may minister vnto you some Spirituall comforts In the meane time seeing your minde hath bene so perplexed with carnall temptations concerning Life Lāds Children and Riches Cause read vnto you this night in mine absence the Book of Ecclesiastes from the beginning vnto the end where ye shall see as in a glasse the vanitie of all these things wherewith your Soule now is most enamoured If ye haue time cause also reade vnto you Iob 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Before I goe Sir it shall bee best that I recommend you vnto God by prayer The first Prayer for the sicke Man O LORD in whose hands is the gift of the Spirit of groanes inspire our heartes at this time that with an heauenlie disposition wee may fall downe before thee vpon the knees of our Soules quicken our dead and drowsie heartes to the performance of this duetie of calling vpon thy Name Thou is not close handed to these that seeke thee in sinceritie wee are ashamed O LORD euen wee all who are heere before thee on the Earth thy Foote-stoole wee are ashamed for to face the Heauens the Throne of thy Majestie Our heartes are
song for joye that the night is past The Sicke Man Sathan alas hath so hood-winked my Soule with my sinnes that I cannot get a sight of mercie the sense of my sinnes giueth mine heart many a cold pull I feare to die in despaire What say yee Sir Doeth not your heart pittie mee The Pastour The Lord pittie you giue me an heart to pray for you The Lord put the wordes into my mouth that may comfort your comfortlesse Soule in this Iingring tryall Haue patience in your paine sinne is like a rotten tooth the deeper roote it hath in the jawes the more painefull it is in the drawing Continue Sir to discouer your sore if the boile of such corruption bee ripe I shall launce it that such filthie matter may bee cleansed away I pray God so to direct mee that I may proue a Surgeon cunning in this cure if there bee any thing as yet that troubleth you conceale it not if ye think that my comforts may be helpfull vnto you Many are more ashamed to confesse a faulte than to commit a sinne What is this that grieueth you now Sir The sicke Man The wrath of God affrayeth me His anger is like a Lyon which can not bee tamed My sinne is past but punishmēt is to come Terrors cry out of the fire Thy pleasures now are ended now thou must suffer paines From the toppe of the pinacle of all thy preferments come down to the dungeon of darknes because thou hast fallen downe before the god of this world goe downe goe downe to him whom thou on earth hast worshipped These bee the terrours of God standing in battell array against mee which make mee to fling all comfortes from mee My Soule is possessed with a slauish feare Indeed I must confesse that I am much beholden vnto God for so large a time of repentance But alas I haue neglected it yea and obstinatlie haue kicked against my Maker So now I finde by doolefull sense that I remaine into the guilt my Soule is so sicke with this that I cannot tell All comfortes are vnto it like a dead potion into the stomacke which hath no vertue to worke God thinketh mee not worthie of comfort For while I was in prosperitie I was so couered ouer with the spirit of slumber that I would not be warned nor wakened by the voyce of Gods Trumpeters sounding judgements as sonnes of thunder Because I misregarded Boanarges the Sons of Thunder God will not daine mee with a Barnabas a Sonne of consolation Now behold Sir what grieueth mee what say yee for my comfort The Pastour I rejoyce from mine heart not in your griefe but in that yee are so grieued for your sinnes God in mercie by such sorrow doeth whet vp your desires after him The Child by a knocke a fall knoweth his owne weaknesse and perceiueth the need of his Nourse I rejoyce to see you humbled with the sense of your sins vnder the hand of God I am comforted to see you humbled let this humilitie bee a comfort to your selfe It is good to be of a humble and contrit Spirit To whom will I looke said the Lord euen to him that is of a contrit Spirit and trembleth at my word The more a man be humbled he is neerer to be justified The Publicā a litle before he was justified was knocking vpon his breast and crying to God for mercie to him a miserable man The more humble a man bee hee is the farther from the dint and danger of Gods judgements The sicke Man By your discourse Sir it would seeme that a cast downe Soule with its owne vnworthinesse is in lesse danger of judgement than these who are high lifted vp in their owne conceit The Pastour It is most certaine The humble the proud are like these seeds that were sowne in Egypt when the plague of haile came the Flaxe and the Barley were smitten saith the Scripture for the Barley was in the eare and the Flaxe was bolled But the Wheat and the Rye were not smitten for they were not grown vp The wicked in time of wrath are lik Flaxe Barley because they are lifted vp they are smitten they are in the eare yea and bolled in their pride and therefore cannot escape But as for the humbled heart of the godlie man it is lik the Wheat and Rye the best corne It is not smitten because it is not growne vp but lyeth humble before the Lord Corpora magnanimo satis est prostrasse Leoni Humiliation maketh the Lyon to spare his aduersarie God is pleased and pacified so soone as hee seeth a man humbled in heart Ahah had killed after also had taken possession Yet so soone as hee humbled himselfe in Sacke though all his humilitie was but outward the Lord looked vpon him and would haue Elijah to see it also Seest thou said the Lord to his Prophet how Ahah hath humbled himselfe before mee Because hee humbleth himselfe before mee I will not bring this euill in his dayes Blesse God Sir for your humbled heart yet relye neuer vpon any grace that is within your selfe let Gods meere mercie alone bee your strength and your stay The least opinion of our owne worth is a frost which nippeth Repentance in the blossome The sicke Man Thinke ye Sir that before a man win to Heauen that hee must bee racked and riuen as I am with fearefull temptations The Pastour Before the most part of the Elect can enjoy these joyes that are aboue they are not onelie racked with paine but also as it were racked thorow hell There must first bee an hell in the conscience with the sense of our sinnes wee must haue a sight of wrath before wee enter into Gods Rest Heauen is not winne with a wish Christ saith that it suffereth violence and that the violent take it by force Thorow manie tribulations and afflictions wee must enter into it The Crowne is after a course of crosses The sicke Man I am haled away with the strong streame of temptations I cannot thinke that if God loued mee hee would suffer mee to bee thus way tread vnder foote like dust with such fearefull temptations O how fearefull is the crosse vpon the Conscience The Pastour These whom GOD loueth best hee chasteneth The louing Mother will runne vpon her dearest Daughter with her feete if shee perceiue her to bee giuen to folie God treadeth not vpon his owne but for profite The Godlie are like Saffron or Camomile which grow the better the more they bee troden downe Grace must gripe Nature till it gaspe The sicke Man Mine heart is strained and squised with griefe O the heauie weight of my sinnes which hang so fast on I am like a tyred horse that faine would bee rid of his burden The Pastour To bee tyred of sinne is a token that yee shall
to Ioram seeking comfort vpon extremitie What haue I to doe with thee get thee to tâ—… Prophets of thy father and mother aâ—… desire them to helpe thee get thee 〈◊〉 thy pleasures and profits and preferments which in forsaking mee thou didst so eagerlie pursue This maketh all the wounds of my remorse to blead afresh The Pastour As Samuel tooke the voyce of God to bee the voyce of Eli so manie take the voyce of a temptation to bee the voyce of God Wee must try the Spirits Sathan is craftie He can winde himselfe wonderfullie into the heart of men some times by sleepie securitie some time by fearfull despaire While hee entiseth vnto sinne he maketh God to speak nothing but mercie to a sinner Thou may sinne will hee say and repent againe But while hee accuseth for sin hee maketh all Gods words to bee words of wrath that the sinner may be swallowed vp with dispaire * Tak heed Sir who it is that answereth to your cry Though God should draw you thorow Hell bee yee still assured of Heauen His wrath is but for a moment but his mercie endureth for euer Settle your heart in the secret of God lest it bee carried away with euerie light wind and gale of temptation Seeke out of your selfe in Christ the grounds and warrands of your Saluation The sicke man I feare greatlie to be ouer-blowen and that I make shipwracke of the faith vpon most fearfull bankes and dangers such a boisterous gale did â—… neuer feele The Pastour While temptations are most terrible to our feeling they are often least dangerous Shallow feas are full of broken waters while deeper though more terrible are of a softer swelling carrying the burden more safelie aboue Tak courage the most godlie heart must encounter with manie thorters The Lord humbleth the hearts of his Sainctes lest that in a vaine conceit of their owne worth they should ouer-weene themselues Thinke well vpon that which I say a red-warre in the Soule is better than a sleepie laish Securitie Away with Labans mirth his songs and his Tabrets Flat opposition is not so dangerous as a couered agreement Take to heart this my counsell Though the Lord should sâ—…ay you yet put your trust into him God is not euer gotten at the first verilie said Isaiah thou art a God that hiddest thy selfe O God of Israel the Sauiour The sicke Man I vnderstand not what such hidding meaneth O the fearefull Tribunall of God whose eyes of fire see all the wayes of man In his Ballance hee pondereth all his goinges Gods mercie I know is a good staffe to stay vpon but it is farre from mine heart and hand I am not like these sinners which but trip and stumble and rise againe after a snapper my fall iâ—… with my full weight the milstons oâ—… his wrath are hung about my necke which beare my Soule downe to the bottome of Hell I finde now the trueth of that saying of the wise His owne iniquities shall take the wicked himselfe and hee shall bee holden with the cords of his sinnes The Pastour What shall I say as truelie said the wise By sorrow of the heart thâ—… spirit is broken Seeing yee are acquaint with the speaches of the wise remember that counsell of the wise Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and leane not to thine own vnderstanding I pray you to be plaine with me What is this that maketh you liâ—… a reede shaken with the wind wherein lyeth the strength of your temptations The sicke Man I will not conceale the matter from you This is it mine own heart absolueth me not while I put mine hand into mine owne bosome Oh how liprous pull I it out againe My Conscience giueth mee a terrible twetch * Incessantlie it cryeth out guiltie against mee What shall I say then to that of the Apostle If our heart condemne vs God is greater than our heart Is not this the true sense of these wordes If our owne heart condemne vs much more will God condemne vs who is more mightie than our heart In this I finde my selfe amidst the thickest throng of fearefull temptations wrapped in the wrath of God This temptation is like a fresh post-horse for to carrie mee to damnation it is of Sathans saddling The Pastour * Indeede Sir the judgement of a mans conscience is a liuelie image of the judgement of God It is certaine that whom the conscience condemneth into this world him shall God condemne in the world to come And againe whom the conscience shall absolue into this world him shal God absolue into the world to come The Conscience is Gods Iudge within But this ye must know that it is not time for a Iudge to giue out sentence while his wits are troubled or while he is in a moode or passion A wise Iudge will not bee sudden but will take time to consider well the cause before hee pronounce A Conscience that is troubled should not sit downe in judgement As one appealed from drunkeâ—… King Philip to sober King Philip so must a sinner appeale from his Conscience in a qualme to his Conscience in a calme Moreouer euerie voyce that is within a man is not the voyce of his Conscience but of some temptation shrouded vnder the coat of the Conscience like Iacob cloathed with Esâ—…us garment While Ionah was but in the bellie of a fish his heart cryed that hee was in the bellie of hell Sathan hath a deceiuing Prospect or dioptre for sinne At the one end sin and judgement appeare to bee farre off little like Midges But while the instrument is turned these midges appeare like mountaines Sinne in the doing is like Zoar a little one but in repenting it is like Nineueh hudge and great It seemeth before the doore of mercie like a Camell at a needels eye The sicke Man But thinke yee Sir that the Conscience of a man which God hath sette within him as an Iudge as a Watch and a Witnesse yea as a thousand witnesses can faile at any time The Pastour It is certaine that while the Consciences of men are well wakened and not troubled with terrours of temptations they are into the breastes of men verilie Gods voyce declaring to the Soule what God hath concerning it ratified into the Heauen But yee know that manie a mans Conscience will bee mightilie troubled Sometimes it will bee darkened with Ignorance so that as Samuel tooke Eliab for Dauid it will also take him to bee appointed to bee a King whom the Lord hath rejected Some times it will not know what ailleth the Soule no more than Elisha knew what ailed the Shunamite while shee fell downe at his feete Some times it will be fast asleepe like Ionah while hee snorted in the hatches I compare the Consciences
of the godlie and of the wicked to men in a dreame One man that is lyen downe in his bed hungrie without his supper will dreame that hee is at a feast making good cheare But while hee awaketh his Soule is emptie his dishes flee away with his dreame It is so that it fareth with a wicked man whose Conscience is in a dreame Hee will imagine that assuredlie there is nothing but Heauen for him Hee will thinke with the hungrie dreamer that hee is readie presentlie to sit downe at table euen at that Table with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdome of God Now while hee is euen at the sitting downe which is at the houre of his death his Conscience wakeneth and hee is found emptie Thus all his dishes fl◅eth away with his dreame Againe another man shall dreame of fearefull thinges viz. that hee is in the midst of his enemies readie to bee slaine If any be waking in the bedde with him hee will heare him into his sleepe sighing and sobbing with a sore mone But so soone as hee is wakened he findeth himselfe in suretie lying vpon a bed of downe It is euen so that it will often fare with a godlie man whose Conscience is in a dreame His heart will bee burdened with griefe as with a night mare Hee will imagine that God is become his enemie and that assuredlie he will cast him into hell Now while hee thinketh that hee is euen at the fall and while for feare thereof in his sleepe hee is making his mone God in mercie wakeneth him softlie and loe hee is lying into the armes of his God At last it fareth with the godlie the wicked as it fareth with Pharaohs Butler and his Baker after their dreames the one was restored to his office but the other was hanged The Sicke Man I wish at God that my Conscience were in such a Dreame and that all my troubles were but some spirituall night Mare a disease that is cured by wakening the Soule that sleepeth I know that the spirituall senses of the Soule may bee some times couered with a vaile of grosse dulnesse But I cannot suspect or surmise that this can be a dreame Behold I speake I heare I see I sauour Howe then can this bee a dreame The Pastour He who dreameth will thinke all that He will think that he speaketh that hee heareth seeth and walketh and runneth leapeth ouer brinkes or ditches vvhile indeede he is snorting vpon his bed Yea in his dreame he will think that his dreame cannot bee a dreame but that surely hee is broad awake This cannot bee a dreame hee will thinke euen while as hee dreameth I know Sir that your bodie is surelie awake and not dreaming But in all appearance your Soule is in a slumber The Lord waken you softlie in his mercie The sicke Man If I dreame the Lord vvaken mee soone out of this dreadfull dreame I am filled with a world of woes euerie thought is as it were a thorne thrust into mine heart My feares are like the feuers they goe by fits A litle since I thought that my blood was calmed and that I had some respit Of my sinnes I had but a shallow sense but now behold a new fit of greater force vvhich maketh all the powers of my Soule to shiuer All my sinnes are in Gods quarrell vp in armes against me Gods vvrath followeth mee with a full faile and chargeth mee a fresh with bloodie blowes * While I was but breeding this feuer I was but chained with vvorldlie enchantments All my trouble vvas but for Bairnes Lands Children Houses and other perishing pleasures triffling troubles vvhich I could not for a long space resolue to forsake But now is paine in stead of pleasure a sowre and bitter sauce prepared for Adams sweete Apple feare shame and remorse What recks to vvant pleasure if so be there were no paine I vvould not giue a flee for the vvorld and all the pleasures or profite that therein is if I could once bee reconciled to my God Mine heart is like an Anuile wherevpon the Lord striketh most fiercelie with the hammer of his wrath There is not a power of my Soule which is not loaden with blowes All my distresses hitherto haue beene but light skirmishes now I am come to the maine Battell My Soule is hunted to and fro like a Partridge on the mountaines Who is on my side Who The Pastour The Lord is vvith you though ye perceiue him not This is incident to the faithfull not euer to knovv vvhen God is with them Gideon was a man renouned for his Faith he vvas one of the Catologue of the faithfull yet while the Angel said vnto him The Lord is with thee thou mightie mā of valour hee answered Oh my Lord if the Lord be with vs why then is all this befallen vs See hovv the man of God knew not that God vvas vvith him Take courage Sir seeing the skirmishes are past and that yee are come to the maine Battell God shall bee your maine helpe Come out against all your enemies as Dauid came out against Goliah in the Name of the God of Battels and Lord of Armies There is no Corslet of proofe against a stone cast out of a sling in the Name of the great IEHOVAH Resist the Deuill and hee shall flee from you The sicke Man Gods vvrath hath heate the fierie Fornace on seuen times more thā it was of before I am so dashed with the sense of my sins so pierced with stinging feares that thereby all the powers of my Soule are shaken Hithereto I haue beene crossed with care for my life and for my Children What care I now for my dearest Children Would to God that I might giue my first borne for my transgression and the fruite of my wombe for the sinnes of my Soule Behold heere a poore distressed and distracted sinner who knoweth not to what hād to turne him All the enemies of my Saluation pursue mee with hue and with cry The great God of Iustice hath set vp a Gibbet into my Soule All the terrours of the Lord muster against me I am galled and goared with sinfull feares as Egypt was plagued with Flies Frogges Mine heart is filled with dismaiednesse my bellie trembleth rottennesse is entered into my bones While I had time to repent I willinglie wallowed into the myre of sinne wherin now I necessarilie stick Feare driueth Hope draweth I am tossed like a Tenice ball O the straitnesse of that account which I am shortlie to bee called vnto O that terrible Tribunall O these chaines of darknesse in which sinners shall be reserued vnto Gods last Sessions Who can stand in such a tempest where the creature hath a combat with God and with his wrath hand
to hand I am stricken with such amazednesse that I know not where to finde any true refreshment This maketh death to mee as a King of feare All the sinnes that euer I did commit seeme to mee malicious blowes which I haue set vpon the face of my GOD Hardlie can I thinke that such a Cain or cursed Cham as I cā euer enter into Canaan Thinke ye not this to be true I find this to bee trueth There is no peace saith my God to the wicked The Pastour These bee but temptations of Sathan who is seeking for to fift you as wheate Pray Christ that hee would pray for you that your faith faile not There is full power in Christ for to locke vp the jawes of that roaring Lyon Hee at last shall discouer vnto you those Gun-powder plots The sicke Man I know that there is sufficient power in Christ for to saue mee but I doubt of his will If Christ were minded to saue mee would hee not giue mee an assurance to bee saued This temptation passeth through the barke to the bone The Pastour Our assurance is not perfect into this life Wee are all heere like a Shippe tossed with contrarie Tydes into a raging Sea As the weather beaten Barke is driuen with many contrarie courses before shee can winne her Hauen so hath the Soule manie toes and froes before it pierce to the Skes for to enter into Heauen God giueth to no man heere all good things at once but some wee receiue in hand and some in hope This hope is the Christian Soules plight anchor in the swelling Seas of temptations While all that is present is full of trouble Hope fetcheth comfortes from the times to come While it is foule wee hope it shall bee faire While wee are sicke wee hope for health While we prouid for our Children wee hope they shall doe well While men write Bookes they hope they shall doe good While the Mariner saileth thorow the raging waues hee hopeth to come home againe hee hopeth for vantage While the Sower casteth his seede from him hee weepeth but Hope comforteth him that hee shall receiue againe a plentifull increase The hope of the pleasant Spring is a comfort in the colde Winter The hope of the Day is the long Nights comfort Deaths speciall comfort is in hope that we shall all meete againe Well then Sir seeing it is so the comfortes which wee haue not receiued as yet in hand receiue them in Hope waite vpon God and vvaite vpon him still While all your senses are silent Hope shall come with Helpe assuring you that at last yee shall preuaile Let the deuill doe his worst to dismay you sticke yee fast by this Hope which shall neuer faile you yea though God himselfe should seeme to bee your enemie yet say to him with Iob Though thou should slay mee yet will I trust in thee The sicke Man That Sir is of verie hard practise For if the Lord of Life put out the life who shall put it in againe mine Hope is small if it be not lost I feare to feele shortly that which shal be without either end or ease All sorts of temptations come haile shot vpon mee I am laide open to all the blowes of Gods wrath I am lik a wind-waued tree loose at the roots Mine heart quaketh my Soule panteth my conscience is in a qualme What can such torments bee but verie Postes and fore-runners of euerlasting paines What can they bee but the verie smoke of Gods wrath comming before a fire that shall burne to the bottome of Hell The feare of this clogeth so my Conscience that I cannot thinke but such terrours bee the verie earnest of eternall woe This maketh my liuer to rolle in my bodie O that mercie might bee Bartered for Money The Pastour Indeede Sir such terrours are such of their owne nature euen the smoke of a kindled wrath neuer to bee quenched But vnto the godlie their nature is changed by grace Such tremblings and shakings such thunders and earth quakes feares and fires are but the preparations of the Soule for to meete with its God into the still and calme voyce After this maner as ye know the Lord came vnto his Seruant Elijah Before he came to him he prepared his way by three fearefull Messengers First by a winde which rent the mountaines and brake in pieces the Rockes Secondlie by an Earthquake which made all to shake vnder him Thirdlie by a fire All these came before for to terrifie the man of God that by that meanes hee might be the better prepared to meete with his God in the calme Before Christ would shew himselfe to the world hee sent two austere Messengers before him First Moses with a fierie Law and last the Baptist like a Carpenter with a sharpened Axe in his hand for to hewe downe euerie fruitlesse tree that marred the ground After them came the meekenesse of the Lambe of God crying Come vnto mee all yee that are wearied and laden and I will ease you God will not be mercifull to proud selfe-sufficient men Take Sir these blastes of temptations to be but the Lords wind of preparation These heart-quackes are but earth quakes All your other fierie temptations are but fire from Heauen Posts from GOD in haste for to giue you warning of his comming By such warnings the Lord will waken you lest with the wicked in the slumber of securitie ye should sleepe still in your sins or with scorners should smooth them ouer and jest them away as thogh the sins of men shuld neuer be sentenced nor their life examined Bee of good comfort Sir your sharpest temptations which Sathan hath whet vpon the whet-stone of his malice by Gods grace shall bee to you like the Baptistes Axe for to hewe downe all superfluities of wickednesse within you It is good that God snedde the vnfruitfull and rotten branches of our life that in our hearts a way may bee prepared for the King of glorie Yee must also know Sir that such troubles and tempests are but a preface of Gods presence as Hearken and take head Israel was sette before the Law Suffer therefore patientlie the Lords rebukes Let the righteous smite mee said Dauid and it shall bee a kindnesse and let him reproue mee and it shall bee an excellent oyle which shall not breake mine head These feares Sir that trouble you are nothing but Gods reproofes * Take them as a kindnesse yea as an excellent oyle which shall neither breake head nor heart for your hurt The nature of oyle is not to break but rather to heale that which is alreadie broken God by such trubles intēdeth to refine you Haue patience but a little in your griefes Yet a little while and they shall bee
no more The night is darkest while the dawning is nearest while the feuer it at the hight the cooling sweate is at the doore of the poares While the Mountaines are on both hands and Pharaoh behind and the Sea before then let Israel stand still and see the Saluation of the Lord These Egyptiā temptations are but for to chasse you to Canaan with hard bondage from a Land where it is counted an abomination to offer Sacrifice vnto God So soone as the rod of God shall strike vpon that Sea it shall make way and yee shall safelie passe thorow The Lord shall fight for you and yee shall holde your peace And what then The Egyptians whom yee haue seene to day yee shall see them againe no more for euer God will afflict his owne but not destroy them Bread Corne is bruised but God will not breake it with the wheeles of his cart The sicke Man I haue looked for such comforts but alas they are long in comming In the meane while my Soule is all agast I taste nothing but gall and worme-wood mine heart is filled with sorrow My breach is lik the sea all my worldlie sweetnesse is turned into wormes of Conscience My teares trickle downe both day and night and yet God delayeth to send mee comfort My God shake off the sinnes which hang so fast on The Pastour Haue patience Sir but a little and comfort shall come Before yee reape your fruites yee must first till and sow the ground The seede time is a sorrowfull time Man soweth his seede in teares But againe while hee remembereth that except he sow he shall not reape that as hee soweth so shall hee reape hee casteth from him his seede liberallie downe vpon the ground smilling with his watered cheekes of sorrow in hope of a plentifull increase Thinke it not strange Sir that in this seede-time of grace yee sow in teares Comfort your selfe in this that joye shall arise out of your sorrow While yee sow in teares think not your labour lost Out of your greatest sorrow shall spring your truest joy As at the rising of Christ our Lord was a Earth quake so at our regeneration which is the first resurrection there is an heart-quake Be not discouraged though the hand of God bee heauie vpon you his stripes will worke to your well As an Horse or a Mule beeing once well lashed with a whippe doth euer after feare if hee heare but the Bell which is tyed to the whip So men if he hath bene once well scoured scourged with Gods rod he will so tremble at the sound thereof that he will feare to anger the Lord againe It is good that God mingle the tartnesse and terrours of the Law with the sweetenesse of the Gospel The sicke Man I am so confounded with shame that I cannot face the Heauens Fye vpon my filthinesse my course is backward from my God The Pastour It is an euill token when for sinne there is no shame in the sinner This Scripture calleth a Whoores forehead In this Lot his elder Daughter bewrayed her selfe and shew that she was not touched for her sinne of Incest For after shee had committed vilanie with her father she as it were shameleslie bragged of it by calling her sonne Moab that is Of my father that his name might cry to the world The father of this child begat him vpon his owne daughter Shame euer followeth sinne if men be not ashamed of sinne which is Repentance God shall shame them for sin which is Vengeance As for your backward course a few steps backeward will mak you aduance further in your leaping The sicke Man I feare exceedinglie I feare to losse both Soule and Saluation The Pastour Let Faith moderate your feare When Iacob thought that hee had lossed Ioseph and was in great feare for Benjamin euen then found hee both Ioseph Benjamin Look often vnto God and yee shall finde him with Dauid to bee the light of your countenance The sicke Man God hath opened the floud-gates of his wrath against my Soule O the deepenesse of my troubles The Pastour The Soule in deepest troubles is like Noahs Arke on the waters the higher it was tossed the nearer it approached to the heauens Little Boats of little burden are but for shallow waters But great shippes of greater lod are sent vnto the depths The deepnes of your temptations Sir declare that God hath loden you with many graces Brauest Captaines are put to the Front and forebrunt of the choake Best Christians are battered with most bitter temptations God who suffereth them to be tempted knoweth what they can doe and therefore to encourage others by their example he putteth them to a proofe for to let the world see what his grace can worke in weakenesse at last yee shall say Wee went thorow fire and water but thou hast brought vs to a wealthie place What say yee Sir Beginneth not your heart to rejoyce Be glad Sir say to God with the Psalmist All my springs shall bee of thee The sicke Man I haue little minde of springs the Apostle said wiselie Is any man mirrie let him sing Mine Harpe and Heart both are out of tune The Harpe of my joye is hung vpon the villowes My fingers can guide no more this wirbling instrument All the joye of my light and the light of my joye is quenched with vnspeakable griefe as with a dampe Mine heart is like a moth eaten cloth all rent with temptations and eaten out with the worme of Conscience like that worme which did eate away the pleasures of Ionah By its byte all my joye is fallen downe like that Gourd All the good that euer was within mee is boulted out Sathan hath sifted mee I thinke presentlie that I am at the verie mouth of Hell readie to fall downe to the bottome thereof The Pastour The way to Heauen is neare by the gates of hell The way to pleasures for euermore is paued with paines Dauid first cryed to God de profundis out of the depthes said he haue I called to thee But afterward hee praised him in excelsis with the highest Organs of laude euen with loud Cymbals yea high sounding Cymbals It was vvell said by one Quo acerbior miseria eo acceptior misericordia the sowrer the miserie the sweeter the mercie Let the hope of that sweete mercie which is to come sweeten the tartenesse of your present terrours Hee who can bring light out of darknes and who brought water out of the fierie flint can mak the sweetnesse of his grace spring out of the gall of bitternesse Woe to him whom God vvill not correct This was a sore word Ephraim is joyned to idoles let him alone Pray God that hee neuer let you so alone Blesse
was the chiefe entiser of him vnto sinne by bearing him in hand that it was an easie thing after many sinfull pleasures enjoyed to returne vnto God whose fauour and kindnesse might bee procured by and by without anie labour But now Father while he seeth his day declining the Sun of his life neare its setting of an Entiser hee is become an Accuser striuing by all meanes to cause him make shipwrack vpon the bankes of despare Night and day hee vexeth and teareth his Soule by whispering into his eare most impudent lyes against thy Trueth viz. That hee is so miserable that thou art not able to be mercifull vnto him He suggesteth most craftily that it is in vaine for him to sue to thee for thy grace that there is none hope of mercie left for such a sinner that there is none accesse vnto the Throne of Grace for the prayers of such a miserable wretch and that it is no purpose for him to pray But what LORD thou who art Trueth it selfe wilt thou suffer this father of lyes to trouble still thy Seruant Wilt thou heareanie longer thine infinite mercie thus reproached and reuiled as though thou were not able to paâ—…don the faultes of thine owne poore creature What is that to say but that God shall cease to be that God whose mercie is aboue all his workes O LORD most mercifull can the sinfull scarlet rednesse and the Crimsin colour of mans corruptions bee â—…o dyed that it cannot bee washen away with the Blood of thy Lambe O seale vp the sense of thy loue in his heart make thy Spirit to whisper in his eare that mercie is with thee that thou may bee both feared and loued Shall anie thing LORD withhold the heart broken sinner from the Throne of Grace Is not this the voyce of thy Spirit Come vnto mee all ye that are wearied and ladened with sinned Is not thy promise written in thy Booke that thou wilt ease them O most louing Father euen in despite of Sathan and his most despitfull suggestions make his Soule bolde and confident that it may aduenture it selfe to the mercifull Throne of thy Grace Cleare and cleanse his eyes from the Spirituall goare of sin that with Simeon he may see thy Saluation which thou hast prepared before the face of all people O deare IESVS deliuer his Darling from the power of the Dogge Incline thine eares and heare the grieuous groanes of this poore prisoner Make him a prisoner of hope Turne thee now about and refresh his wearied heart with a blinke of thy mercie Shew him the light of thy Countenance and hee shall bee saued Enlarge his heart that thy Graces finding a spacious roome may plentifully harbour in his soule Alas LORD what shall we say if thou shalt say to him I haue no delight in thee Behold heere hee is doe to him as shall seeme good in thine owne eyes Thou hast not forgotten neither can thou forgette but that thy delight is in mercie Where sinne doeth abound shall not there thy Grace abound much more Thou LORD hast often bathed this sillie Soule in most bitter brimie teares Thou hast hid thy selfe from it and it hath beene troubled Now amid the vexations of so many temptations blinke vpon him with a reconcealed face O GOD of Battels in this Bartell of the Soule send downe thy strength for to guarde him against the assaultes of Satan who pursueth him so eagerly with most sharpe and fearefull afâ—…aultes like a Dogge hunting after a sillie straggling sheepe Though for a space thou suffer him to bee buffeted with a messenger of Sathan yet let him know that thy Grace shall bee sufficient for him Let thy right hand hold him vp and let thy gentlenesse make him great Renew his heart with the power of thy Spirit reinuest him with the image of thine holinesse which once hee lost in Adam Cast his Spirit againe in thine owne mouâ—…d At last LORD put Sathan to silence let thine owne Spirit speake vnto this Sicke in his inward partes Say vnto his Soule I am thy Saluation Make thy good Spirit of comfort to whisper in his eare that thou aâ—…t well pleased and that thou hast receiued a ransome Such wordes of mercie will bee a blessed Balmeâ—… wherby thou shalt heale this sorrow beaten Soule stung with a checke and smart for his sinnes Though LORD hee hath but some poore beginnings of Grace in a time wee confesse when thy graces in him should haue beene ripe for that glorie which is now shortly to bee reuealed vnto him yet notwithstanding let it please thee of thy meere mercie to pittie and â—…don Remember thy mercies of old which were neuer wont to break the bruised reede nor to quench the smoaking flaxe If thy great mercie be not his strength and stay he must needs bee ouercome For whom hath hee in Heauen but thee Or who is on earth whom hee can desire besides thee O Thou whom his Soule loueth tell him where thou makest thy flock to rest at Noone in the greatest heate of affliction Seeing he seeketh after thee onelie let him bee refreshed with thy comforts for why should he turne aside by the flockes of thy companions Consider well wee pray thee LORD how bene he hath vexed and d squieted with many fearfull temptations now at last come with thine helping hand come and abate the force and furie of all his enemies whether within or without subdue their raging and reigning power that when the houre of his departing shall come hee may with Simeon depart in peace Stand LORD fast by him forsake him not in this perelous time Let thy Spirit guide and leade him in the Land of righteousnesse Let thy grace be vnto him a Sunne by day a Moone by night Take all impedimentes out of the way bridle so curbe all his vnrulie affections that they may fold vnder thine obedience Suppresse all his carcing heart deuiding cares whyp out of his heart all treacherous temptations Embalme his hearte with the sweetnesse of thy new fresh graces Settle in his Soule that godlie sorrow which cause Repentance neuer to bee repented of This sillie Soule LORD hath beene fearefullie tossed to and froe with the waues of thy wrath Let it please thee to command a calme Settle thou his heart and stablish it with thy free Spirit Mercifull GOD thou knoweth how Sathan hath sought to sift and to winnow him but of thy mercie thou shalt neuer suffer his Faith to faile Build vpon the Rocke which cannot bee shaken Through thy fauour giue him peace in belieuing and joye in the holy Ghost that by the grace and power of thy Spirit hee may finish his course with comfort Let in now be made manifest that his life hath beene hid with Christ in God Thou who hast numbered his haires obserue his griefe his groans pittie the crouding of thy Turtle-Doue Tak thou to heart the
vices masked with the appearance of vertues Such formal holie persons come farre short of being in Christ Iesus in whom all true goodnesse is most liuelie incorporate The sicke Man I haue heard you Sir discusse verie pertinentlie foure difficulties the fift and last and greatest is behind Often haue I wondered what could bee the true sense meaning thereof the words are these Hee will taste of the powers of the world to come What can a Reprobate haue to doe with the world to come I vnderstand not well these words The Pastour Indeed Sir they want not difficulty Some of the Learned thinke with S. Chrysostome That by the powers of the world to come are to bee vnderstood the powerfull working and miracles vnder the Gospel which in respect of the Lawe vvas called The world to come as if the dayes of the Gospel were the dayes of a new world since Christ that Day spring from on high and most glorious Sunne of Righteousnesse did appeare for to inlighten euerie man that commeth into this world But in my judgement that bee more subtile than solide I had rather thinke that Reprobats are said to taste of the powers of the world to come when they finde some sort of sweetnesse in God with a kind of desire to bee out of this world for to bee with God into the Heauens Such a desire betimes will make their heartes flutter vp toward these heauenlie Mansions But such fluttering desires wanting the feathers of Faith incontinent come short and fall downe againe with a jumpe Hee hath not a settled constancie nor well grounded resolution God at some times will let the Wicked see some glimpse of his glorie as it were a lightning that passeth most swiftlie avvay vvhich for a little space in the darke night letteth a man see that vvhich is before him But so soone as it is past his eyes become more dazeled and darkened thā they were of before such powers are but painted powers They are indeede like the liuing powers as an Image is like a man but they want the heart of godlinesse Thus according to my knowledge in a serious and impartiall search is all the vvicked mans progresse toward the kingdome of glorie All the best graces that hee hath are but glances of graces and dreames of glorie euen extreme pouertie glorious sinnes beautifull abominations These be Gods limets who hath said to him as hee said to the proud vvaues Hitherto shall yee come and no further Such a man in his best estate and conceit is but an Hypocrite lurking vnder the Canopie of a counterfeit profession His best estate is both broken and bankerupt in spirituall thinges For a space such a man may goe pleasantlie like a Shippe before the vvind but at last downe commeth a blast of judgment and sinketh him downe irrecouerablie into the bottome of hell The sicke Man I am glad to haue heard the solutions of these fiue difficulties which often did trouble my minde By all your discourse I perceiue that the Reprobates at their best feele but some generall good motions and that all their perswasions that they shall at last come to heauē are nothing but imaginations and vaine dreames of glorie Many in mine opinion are deceiued in this world who like these that dreame thinke they awake while they indeede are fast asleepe Many in this world as I see thinke to bee saued whose thoghts shal proue to be but dreames Some obscure printes of vnsound joyes though for a space they may be of good acceptance with the most godlie and clappe their owne hands as if they were in the passage to Paradise They are in end disappointed because they want true inward holinesse without which no man shall see Gods face The Pastour It is most true Sir for◅s men for the most part desire to bee flattered by others so tak they delight to flatter themselues feeding vpon fond fancies and phantasies lik Hypochondriackes or braine sicke who cannot bee perswaded but that they are Kings while indeede they are but Beggers The sicke Man This is a terrible disease But to leaue the Reprobates and come to the Elect I desire now to know of you what bee that speciall spirituall working which is onelie peculiar to the Elect and chosen Ones of God I vvish to heare of the proceedings of Gods Spirite working into the hearts of the godlie vnto their Saluation The godlie I am assured are of a more noble and heauenlie temper full of the Spirit of Grace The Pastour In my judgement where the Spirit of God worketh to the Saluation of the Soule of a sinner before it come to a full perswasion hight of assurance there is first a tempest of wrath against sinne going before the comming of God in his mercie viz. A shaking wind a trembling earthquake a burning fire vvhich lik three grimme posts come running before to tell that God is comming into the calme Before that God shew his presence into the still voyce hee proceedeth by steps and degrees First hee rebuketh the sinner of sinne and wakeneth his Conscience with some sight of his iniquities vvith some sense of that vvrath which sin hath deserued From this ariseth a great heauinesse into the heart vvhich breaketh forth both in speach countenance so that the vvorlde which know him of before will vvonder at his change as if he vvere a creature cast into another mould After that God hath thus prepared the Soule of men with thundering tempests and tremblings with blasts and vvith burnings and thereby hath made them more afraid of sin than they were of before of sinne it selfe At last he commeth vnto them into the calme of his mercie first giueth vnto them grace to flee all occasions of sinne and after that to hate the verie garment spotted with the flesh Hee vvho in despight can gnash his teeth against that vvherein once hee tooke pleasure to displease his God is not a sholler of flesh and blood not a naturall man that is content vvith ciuell outwardnesse After that the Spirit hath vvrought a detestation and hatered of sinne into the heart he putteth a cry into the heart for mercie with sighes and sobbes which cannot bee expressed Some times these sighes vvill breake out into such vvords that both speaker and hearer will vvonder vvherefrae they come After that the Spirit in his motions by a sweete and silent inspiration goeth forward in his progresse into the heart by little little with Life Light Libertie and peace of Conscience euen that peace vvhich passeth all vnderstanding and so cannot be expressed in humane words Now am I come Sir as yee heare ad metam non loquendi that I can say no more It were but folie for mee to dyue so deepe in Gods vvorkings as for to take vnto mee to declare vnto you that vvhich passeth all vnderstanding The new
name into the white Stone is knowne to none but to these that haue receiued it Though hee that hath this name know it himselfe yet hee cannot vttter it It is like these wordes of Paradise which S. Paul called vnspeakable Now for to sum vp breaflie all that hath beene declared in a more large and ample discourse I shall obserue three things which are onelie rooted in the godlie heart a◅e altogether strangers from the Reprobates First where true grace is there is a remorse and painefull griefe with many sore sighes for all by gone slips By this as by a Bitte or Bridle the Soule of the godlie man is kept from backesladings and scandalous stumbling relapses Secondlie he hath a present quicke feeling of these sins which of before hee counted but little and veniel If it bee sinne hee will say no more Is it not a little one A ◅ye for luc◅ or for sport yea a light idle worde will checke him at once in the Conscience though hee were perswaded that it were neuer knowne to anie Last of all by a long practise in well doing hee acquireth in his Soule an habituall tendernesse whereby the former good motions are so confermed and strengthened that it is a pleasure to him to doe well Off this ariseth the gracious and most sweete temper of the good Conscience which is to his Soule a perpetual feast This is the Christians progresse in true godlinesse which is neuer so calme in this world that it can be said to be without troubles which maike the way vnto glorie Thus much for the proofe of the point in hand Onelie this I desire you to obserue that such spirituall workinges goe by degrees◅ like a Riuer that is waxing like an Herbe that is growing like a Day that is but dawning or like a Victorie but beginning At last commeth nowe full Flood nowe is perfect grouth nowe is Noone day now haue I foughtē the good fight now I look for the crown of righteous nesse This being all finished therepenting sinner entereth into glorie the place of ful contentment where the restlesse eyes of mans desire shall rest from peeping or prying any further for any greater felicitie Thus brieflie by waye of compend haue I declared vnto you But all this is not so soone done as said B◅tter bee the Battels of a Christian before hee can come to this rest There be bloodie battels against the Deuill bloodie battels against the World bitter and bloodie battels against the corruptions of his flesh Many a stroke will hee giue vpon his breast with that Publican many astroke will hee giue vpon his thigh crying with Ephraim ◅ye What haue I done S. Paul was pricked with a thorne in the flesh and buffeted by a deuill before hee got the Crowne Christ himselfe speaking of himselfe said Ought not Christ to haue suffred all these things and so to enter into his glorie It is easie to heare this short discourse of words But what paines are into the second Birth The paines of the first Birth are so piercing that the verie paines of hel are compared vnto them And yet I haue known women who by their owne confession haue trauelled more into the second birth than euer they did in the first Manie would bee content to dye for to bee borne againe This flesh of ours is ill to die yet it muste die and bee mortified at the birth of Ichabod where is the glorie The first wordes that this new creature learneth to speake is Where is the glorie At the first it seeketh after Gods glorie as the new borne Babe at the first seeketh after that dug with the tongue and the lips * It is the best foode of a regenerate Soule to sette our Gods glorie as it was our Sauiours meate to doe his Fathers will After all that the Soule maketh a procession in well doing neuer standing at a stand but euer going forward though some times more slowlie The way to glorie is from grace to grace Many foullie deceiue themselues because that they forbeare one sinne or other wherevnto at other times they haue beene most slauishlie addicted they thinke themselues reformed men and that if Death should come incontinent the doores of Heauē shuld goe wide open to the walls for to let in their◅ soules with their formes of godlinesse◅ Such are so high in their owne conceit that they thinke to bee after death cannonized Sainctes Of this sorte bee so many that Scripture calleth them a generation There is a generation that are pure in their owne conceit and yet are not washed from their filthinesse In him vvho is truelie a childe of God the strongest corruptions of the flesh must bee snaffled and curbed by the Law of the Spirit It is not enough to beate downe one sinne or two or many as many will doe but reserue aye some one or other for which they must pray with Naaman In this thing the Lord pardon thy seruant Let no man deceiue himselfe there is no place in Heauen but for him or her whose studie is applyed to an vniuersall sinceritie of all their wayes Let it be that Cain was not a Theefe But did not God curse him for his murther Let it bee that Iudas was free of many sinnes yet because hee way a Theefe and a Traitour and died so hee was damned Let it bee that the Pharisee was not an adulterer as hee bragged yet his pride was the bane of his Saluation Hee that maketh not conscience of the least sinne is guiltie of the greatest According to this God himselfe saith That who faileth in one faileth in all If for God and for Conscience sake a man abhorre the great sinnes of murther and adulterie and such others of not orious rank for these same sakes he will abstaine from lesser sinnes otherwayes it is but some worldlie respect either for shame or losse which like a restraining grace with-holdeth him from matching the same Many will neither kill nor committe adulterie and yet will make no conscience to slander or lye either in sport or earnest or by hooke or crooke catch that which is not their owne Who euer hee bee who without controlement looseth the reines to such petit sinnes hath neuer as yet sette his foote forward in the way that leadeth to life the Spirit of grace as yet hath made no residence into him The Spirit he hath is but a sporting Spirit deceiuing him vvith ◅ies The surest note of the Spirit of the grace is a sanctified studie endeuour to an vniuersall sinceritie in all our wayes of thought worde and dead which vvill bee I confesse often with great vveaknesse and failing for in many things wee offend all Now Sir vvhat thinke yee of all that hath beene said according to the knowledge that God hath giuen mee I haue cleared your doubts If my
all bee comfounded and turned backe that hate Zion confound all hatchers of Here◅ies let them bee as the grasse vpon the house tops which withereth afore it groweth vp wherewith the Mower filleth not his hand nor hee that bindeth sheaues his bosome Protect Her by thy cloud by day direct Her by night by the pillar of fire let neuer the bright star of thy Gospel goe downe which pointeth out vnto vs the Sauiour Saluation of our Soule O righteous LORD thou hast juste cause against this Church to make Her Sunne goe downe at noone and darknesse to surprise vs in the cleare day with a sudden and ineuitable sin prizall and destruction GOD blesse vs with an holie vnion and banish farre off the Deuill of diuision Blesse our gracious SOVERAIGNE the Kings Majestie Mak him to joy in thy strength greatlie to rejoyce in thy Saluation Direct His Heart His mouth by thy Spi◅it giue him his hearts desire and with-hold not the requeast of his lips Giue to Him the courage of Dauid and the wisdome of Solomon Be fauourable to His Royall Match Inflame Her Heart with the loue of thy deare Sonne Iesus Let all Her desire be to know him crucified Make Her an happie Mother of happie Children euen a blessed Mother in Israel Blesse our Nobilitie make them noble like the men of Berea so that they may haue courage for the Truth And seeing LORD that as wee may see in this our deare Friende man is like to vanitie and that his dayes are as a shadow that passeth away Take vs to thy schoole and teach vs to number our fewe and euill dayes that wee may apply our hearts to wisedome to wel doing Let it please thine Highnesse to grant vs these out sutes for the onely sake of Iesus the Author and finisher of our faith the verie Anchor of our Soule the onelie stay and staffe of our hope the ende and rest of all created desires the true substance of ceremoniall shewes and shadowes To Him with Thee and thy Spirit of Grace bee praise and thankesgiuing glorie and dominion now and euermore AMEN If your sleepe in the night be interupted cause read vnto you the Booke of Ecclesiastes the strong enemie of all worldlie vanitie Moses his psalme which is the ninty Psalme shal be meete for your meditations cause reade also the 1 Pe◅er chap. I. The LORD sanctifie all your spirituall exercises to the comfort of your wearied Soule The GOD of all mercie blesse the little sparke of Grace enkindled by his Spirite in you till it spread into a big flame GOD with a little Dewe of newe Grace can so bl◅sse prosper another Grace alreadie giuen that Hee will make it though so little like a graine of mustard to growe towardes a tree Blesse GOD who hath not suffered you to tread the fearefull and desperate path of these who from the beginning of their life vnto the end haue beene nothing but disturbers of peace waues of the Sea foaming out their owne shame and casting vp mire and dirt vpon the shore of their whole couersation The LORD edge the little measure of your weake Faith with a longing desire after fulnesse of perswasion And season your heart with sauing Grace The Lord make his most Sacred and powerfull Word so to enter into the secretes of your Soule that it may strike a dead stroke at the sweetest of your sinnes that your sinnes being slaine your Soule may liue and haue a portion in Gods new Ierusalem till yee come there the LORD guard you with an inuincible troupe of his blessed Angels The Loue of the Father the Grace of the Sonne with the Peace his Spirit bee with you for euer THE FIFT DAYES Conference Of the last Iudgement The sicke Man OVanity of vanities O vanity of vanities all is vainity this whole night I haue dreamed of vanitie I thinke that my Dreameproceedeth from vesterdays Conference for Solomon saith that a dreame cōmeth through the multitude of businesse Well is the man that is well occupyed in the day for in the night such businesse maketh an impression into his Spirite An euill doer in the day cānot often dreame of good into the night Happie is the man that hath made the Lord the onelie leuell of his life What houres can it now bee I long for a sight of my louing and comfortable Pastour The Pastour Heere I am Sir come againe for to see what progresse yee haue made into your Christian pilgrimage Ye◅ heard yesterday of the vanitie of all things that are below I desire now to know how your heart hath beene affected since The sicke Man I haue Sir all this night d◅eamed that this world is but vanitie a lifting vp for a fall a race vnto a ruine I see nowe that all the profites and pleasures thereof are but lik a rotten Nut when men thinke to cracke the kernell they find nothing but worms with rottenesse bitternesse which prouocke the eater to spit O how the pure and cleane streames of diuine grace are stained with the stirring of the foule puddle of corrupt nature I am greatlie oblished to my God who hath giuen to me such patience in my sicknesse that I haue beene able to heare that heauenlie discours which ye had yesterday concerning earthlie things This life as I perceiue is nothing but a toilesome task of cares the best of our time is but labour sorrow our ease is a disease and wee rot in our rest Mine heart is no more in this world He is but a foole and so shall hee feele who euer hee bee that is too bent for the transitorie trashes thereof Heere is not our rest Rest heere is not our best As water by standing becometh stinking so the Spirit rotteth by carnall rest The ease of the flesh is the disease of the Spirit If wee bee without God in the world in our well we shall find but woe in our wealth but want in our loue but l◅cke in our mirth but mone In laughing the heart shall be sorrowfull and the end of that mirth shal be heauiness◅ Without God in greatest compan◅ is greatest melancholie Hee whose eyes the god of th◅ world hath not blind-folded may easilie perceiue that all that is heere is but vanitie which vexeth the spiri◅ What follie is this to take pleasure in such perishing things which can bring no comfort at the conclusion of all when dust must returne to the earth as it was Oh that wee were wise to consider that while wee are heere we are compassed about with a bodie of sin in a world of wickednesse All sortes of euil in this world with eager pursute persecute the Soule of sinfull man all the depthes of Sathan and policies of Hell concure into this worke Now Sir I intreat you seeing yee haue spoken so heauenlie of the earth that it would please you to say some-what concerning the last judgement
the jâ—…yes of Heauen The Pastour Such a matter is verie vnpleasant yea very fearefull to a naturall man It is written that while as S. Paul reasoned of Righteousnesse Temperance and Iudgement to come Felix who was but a naturall man tremblâ—…d all while hee heard him and therefore desired him to leaue off preaching any more and to goe his way till a more fitte and conuenient time Thogh the wicked tremble at this discourse yet it is coÌ„fortable profitable into the godly I wish at God that I had that tongue of the Learned that thereby I might produce these reasons of S. Paul which hee vttered while hee reasoned vpon this matter before Felix This Sir yee must first know that the day of Iudgement shall bee a great day a day of Law when all the Sonnes of Adam must compeare before the eyes of him who seeth our thoughts a farre off euen to the very depths of our heart The sicke Man First of all I desire to heare of the time that Christ shall come into the Cloudes for to judge both quicke and dead The Pastour As for the particular time of that great and glorious comming of the Lord no man can define wheÌ„ it shall bee whether in the night or in the day at mid-night or cock-crow It was a time hid from Christ himselfe as man while hee was heere in the dayes of his flesh neither thought hee shame to tell it His vvords and his counsell concerning that are of great weight But that day said hee and that houre knoweth no man no not the Angels which are in heauen neither the Sonne but the Father Now what was his Counsell therevpon Take heede said hee watch and pray for yee know not when the time is For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey who left his house and gaue authoritie to his seruantes and to euerie man his work commanding the Porter to watch Watch ye therefore for ye know not when the Master of the house commeth at Euen or at mid-night or at the cock-crowing or in the morning lest comming suddenlie hee finde you sleeping And what I say vnto you I say vnto you all watch S. Peter saith that hee shall come as a Theefe in the night By all this it euidentlie appeareth that no man can designe the particular time of the comming of the Lord vnto Iudgement No tongue can tell whether his comming shall bee in the night or in the day in the morning or in the euening at the prayer or at the preacing * Watch yee therefore saide Christ and this he doubled againe And what I say vnto you that I say vnto you all watch The sicke Man What can bee the cause wherefore God hath kept vp to himselfe the particular knowledge of that great day The Pastour God in great wisedome hath hidde from all flesh the time of his comming as hee hath concealed from all men the houre and forme of their death that all may striue to be readie at all times The sicke Man Though this Day bee not particularlie knowne thinke yee not but it is verie neere The Pastour S. Iames in his dayes saide The comming of the Lord draweth neere The sicke Man But since hee said that it is more than a thousand and fiue hundreth yeares and yet all thinges remaine euen as they were haue I heard some men say The Pastour These bee the words of them whom S. Peter calleth Scoffers Knowing this first saith hee that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their owne lustes And saying where is the promise of his comming for since the Fathers fell a sleepe all things centinâ—…e as they were from the beginning of the Creation This is as much as if they had said If there were a God indeede for to come to judgement hee would not bee so slacke in his comming But what saith S. Peterâ—…o â—…o that The Lord is not slacke concerning his promise as some meÌ„ count slacknes but is long suffering to vs ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance The sicke Man I see now that no man can be certaine at what time Christ shall come It is a secret which God hath kept vp from all the liuing into his owne bosome The Pastour Indeed Sir it is such a secret thaâ—… may not bee searched Christ after his Resurrection said a wise word to his Apostles It is not for you 〈◊〉 knowe the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his owne power This is the wisedome of God who hath concealed such things from the knowledge of all men as well learned as vnleaâ—…ned as well Kinges as Subjects that all flesh at all times be in readinesse when the Lord shall come to judgement This made the Lord so carefullie to waine his Disciples to watch The sicke Man The Lord graunt that wee may euer haue our loynes girded ouâ—… Candles in our hands waiting for the comming of that Lord. The Pastour That should be our daylie prayer This should teach vs not to lye downe to sleepe like foolish Virgines without Oyle in our Lampes leâ—… before wee waken the Bridegrome come vpon vs vnprouided enter in his Chamber while we shall bee seeking that which we shal not find The sicke Man Now Sir I pray you proceed and declare to mee howe the Lord shall come downe from Heauen for to judge this world wherein we dwell The Pastour He shall come downe not as King Agrippa his Queene Bernice came down 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with much phantasie or vaine shew which is nothing indeede but a foolish phantasie But O the vnspeakable Glorie that shall bee seene at the comming of the Lord. The sicke Man I requeast you earnestlie to continue into that purpose for it affecteth mine heart verie much The Pastour I reade in the Gospel that while Christ was sitting vpon the Mount of Oliues his Disciples came vnto him priuatelie saying Tell vs when shall these things be and what shall be the signe of thy comming and the end of the world Christs answere was That they should take heede that no man deceiue them because saide hee many shall come into my Name saying I am Christ and shall deceiue many The sicke Man But did hee not declare anie particular signes or tokens that should appeare before his comming The Pastour The Lord hath declared that before that great terrible day come The Sunne shall bee darkened and the Moone shall not giue her light and the Starres shall fall from heauen and the powers of heauen shall bee shaken The sicke Man I wish to heare the exposition of these words for they seeme to bee full of difficulties The Pastour Some think that these words are but an allegorie of the callamities that were to befall to the Church and
trauell together vntill now The sicke Man O the great secrets of God! I pray you Sir to let me vnderstand these wordes by some breefe exposition First what is that which hee calleth the earnest expectation of the creature which waiteth for the manifestation of the Sonnes of God What creature is that What expectation can that bee The Pastour By the creature are not vnderstood these little creatures as Frogs Flees Midges Beastes Fowles Fishes Such creatures haue none expectation of better things to come for in the world to come there shall bee no vse for them But by the the creature is to bee vnderstood the whole worlde viz. The Heauens and all the Elements as Earth Fire Water Aire which now are all so knit in loue that euery one as it were taketh another into its bosome Because they are so fast coupled together and so neere to other that nothing can come betweene them for this cause as if they were all but one thing they are called in the singular number the creature As for it expectation it is called by the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a stretched out of the hand In which word the waiting of the world for the comming of the Lord is set out like a woman standing vpon her tip-toes stretching out her head for to see if she can see her husbaÌ„d comming a farre whom shee looketh longeth for hourelie See howe liuelie the Apostle declareth the secret instinct of the worldes desire for the comming of Christ Iesus In a most powerfull word hee letteth vs see the Heauens and the Earth and all the Elements all as it were a man or a woman standing vpon their tip-toes and holding vp their heads for to see if Iesus bee comming according to his promise All the Faithfull who are the Spouse of Christ groane within them selues sighing till they see their Sauiour in the Cloudes so also this creature hath the owne groanes and sighs till Christ come for its deliuerance And as the Churches desire maketh Her to cry Come Lord Iesus come so in this creature there is a secret instinct and earnest expectation which moueth it in the own language to cry for Christes comming The sicke man What vnderstandeth the Apostle while hee saith That the creature was made subject to vaniue not willinglie but by reason of him that hath subjected the same in hope First how is it said That it is made subject to vanitie Can the Heauens and the Earth bee saide to bee subject to vanitie The Pastour The most Learned thinke that by this subjection of the creature to vanitie is to bee vnderstood ejus fluxa evanida conditio that is a condition subject to change corruption wearing away or waxing olde As for the Earth it is euident as for the Heauens Scripture is plaine They waxe olde as doeth a garment This is the vanitie of these creatures Heere is also another vanitie wherevnto they are subject in that they are made seruants to these that will not serue God whoÌ„ they serue That the beautifull Sunne should furnish light to these that delight in Spirituall darknesse it is a vanitie and a drudgerie wherevnto the Sun is subject That the Earth should beaâ—…e and bring foorth fruites for to feede the blacke mouthes that blaspheme its Maker is a great vanitie wherevnto it is made subject The Sea groaneth vnder the Shippes of Pyrats and Robbers See what an vproare was in that Element for Ionahs rebellion So long as he was in that Shippe Gods scourged the winds with his worde of command The windes scourged the Seas the Seas scourged the Shippe wherein Gods Rebell did lye till hee was cast out The Sea euer seethed with the fire of Gods wrath the waues euer tumbled vp and down breaking one vpon another with rushing and roaring till it tooke order with the rebellious man there was no resting for its waues The sicke Man But how is this that it is said that the creature is subject to vanitie but not willinglie It would seeme by that that they obey God but against their will The Pastour The Heauens or Earth properlie haue neither a willing nor a nilling but onelie a secret instinct which is like a will This secret instinct which God hath put into his creature is that Omnis natura conservatrix suiest euerie creature striueth to keepe maintaine it selfe Now while by God it is made subject to such changes weakening and wearing which is against the working of that instinct it is said in Scripture language to bee subject to vanitie but not willinglie Neither for that must wee thinke that the creature in that rebelleth or repineth against God in any wise as if it had a will striuing against Gods will no not But in some measure it may bee saide to haue an instinct like that will of Christ at the drinking of the bitter Cuppe Christs Naturall instinct was that the Cuppe should passe from him and yet for all that his prayer was Not my will but thy will bee done It is euen so in some manner of the instinct of the Heauens and of the Earth They naturallie shrinke from bondage abuse as also they incline to keepe themselues froÌ„ corruption and vanitie neither for that is their will contrarie to Gods will Hee who is called a seruant should not care for it But yet if hee may bee made free the Apostles direction is That hee vse it rather The sick man may will life and seeke cure for to preserue his life though Gods will bee that hee die if so bee that he submit vnto Gods will his whole desire as Christ did euen while hee desired the Cuppe to depart which hee knew to haue beene put into his hand for to drinke it A will that is diuerse from Gods will if it bee subacted subjected vnto Gods wil may bee free of sinne So the Heauens and the Earth are subject vnto vanitie but not willinglie because they incline to bee free of the bondage of mans corruption But seeing it is their Lords will that they beare the burden and bee subject to such changes they become subject but withall they are euer groaning and longing for their redemption As a woman in trauell naturallie desireth to be deliuered and yet submitteth her selfe to Gods wil as naturallie these creatures of God haue an instinct to bee deliuered from the burden of their bondage But seeing their instinct or desire to bee made free is not so soone effectuate neither can bee before the world end the Lord their good and kinde Master for to encourage them vnder the burden of their bondage lest they should faint hath giuen vnto them another secret instinct which the Apostle calleth their hope For to cleare this to you in a word There is in this world groaning vnder the corruption of the wicked a certaine instinct like Hope
tempestuous Sea All these things that shall appeare are called Fore runners sent before to tell all the Faithfull that when they shall see them that they lift vp their heades and looke vp for to see their Redemption that is neere S Luk compareth the time of all these things that appeare before the Lords comming to the spring time when trees begin to budde When the buds shoote foorth saith hee yeâ—… know that Summer is at hand So likewise yee when yee see these thinges come to passeâ—… know that the Kingdome of God is nigh at hand The sicke Man All these fore-said things bee buâ—… buds as I see forewarning vs of the Summer season wherein the Lord shall come But what is that which S. Matthew saith that after all these thinges shall appeare the SIGNE of the Sonne of man in Heauen What is that which hee calleth the SIGNE of the Sonne of man in Heauen What SIGNE thinke yee that to bee that shall bee seene in Heauen after that the world shall bee made new The Pastour The interpreters varie much in their opinions concerning this Signe what sort of Signe it should bee Some thinke that it shall bee the signe of the Crosse vpon which the Lord hang This SIGNE as some think shal be seene into the Aire before the comming of the Lord Such a signe as some write was that which Constantine saw in the Aire while he was going to battell against the enemies of Christ With this signe was heard a voyce vttered in these words IN HOC SIGNO VINâ—…HS Others thinke that by the SIGNE of the Sonne of man is to bee vnderstood Christ Himselfe who is called The Signe of the Sonne of man as Circumcision in Scripture Language is called The signe of the Circumsion I incline rather to thinke with Beza that that signe shall bee some great Majestie and vnspeakable glorie aboue all compasse of comparison glorious which shall appeare whereby the comming of that Lord shall bee knowne to all not to bee the comming of a creature but of Him who is Lord of all the creatures hauing a name aboue all names The Kings and Princes of the earth while they are among the multitudes of their Subjects by some glistering jewell will be discerned from all the rest or by the great respect that is carried to their persons by these that are about them All sheaues fell down before Iosephs sheaues So all creatures at his approach shall fall downe before him As before Ioseph in his progesse was a cry Abrech how the knee so at the comming of this Lord the Angels in a manner shall cry Abrech At his Name euerie knee in Heauen and Earth and vnder the Earth shal bow Before behind and aboue that Bodie of God both white and ruddie the chiefest among ten thousand shall bee such a glorie and throng of Majestie as shall bee a certaine signe that it can bee none other but the Prince of Eternitie hee being among his most bright and glorious Angels like a Sunne among the Starres The wordes of the Earth cannot beare such a signification as may expresse the glorie of this Signe Mine hearte is without mee while I think vpon the glorie of that Lord whom all cyes shall see that day with his golden Head and busâ—… Lockes Christ shall bee clothed in his triumphing apparell with such a brightnesse that the Moone shall be confounded and the Sunne ashamed as these who beeing clothed in course rayment are ashamed to be seene among these who are pasmented with gold In a word at his presence all powers shall shake and all creatures at his bâ—…cke shall obey The sicke Man After that that Signe shall appeare What thinke yee shall bee done The Pastour When Christ the desire of all Nations shall bee readie to come Hee shall send before him his Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet and they shall gather his dispersed and despised Elect from the foure winds from one end of Heauen to the other S. Paul saith That the Trumpet shall 〈◊〉 and the dead shall arise This shall not bee a brasen Trumpet but a â—…stiall which shall found so shrill with a princelie noise that all the creatures on Earth in Heauen and Hell shall heare it S. Paul hath three notable sayinges concerning the sound that shall bee heard at Christs comming First hee saith That hee shall descend with a shoute Secondlie With the voyce of the Archangel Thirdlie With the Trumpet of God The sicke Man The remembrance of that shout maketh mine eares to tingle and my heart stringes to tremble What a shout thinke ye that that shall bee The Pastour Some thinke that it shall bee a great noyse dinne such as is heard into hudge great assemblies It may bee a shout of victorie or of praise The Angels and millions of Sainctes who sing his praise continuallie cannot keepe silence that day They shal be all about Christ that day shouting for the joy of that desired day The worde shout in the originall is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which properlie signifieth that sounding voice which the Mariners vse to others euerie one for to moue another to row Others thinke it to be like a cry of Souldiers qualis est militaris convasatio while they trusse all their baggage for to remoue The sicke Man For what cause chieflie shall this shout bee To whom shall it bee directed The Pastour It shall bee chieflie for the Glory of God It shall bee directed to the dead who are to bee raised vp by the power of God and by the meanes of his Seruants the Angels who at the raising vp of all creatures shall shout like Mariners heauing vp that which is heauy by force of their armes What Archangel that shall be or what shall bee that voyce One saith verie well Dies Domini revelabit The day of the Lord shall reueale it The Lord prepare vs for it O what a Glorie when Christ shall appeare with hands as gold rings set with the Berill and with a bright Bellie ouer laid with Saphires The sicke Man Is it your judgement that Christ the Iudge of the World shall come downe from Heauen with a great Majestie The Pastour It is certaine of the day of his comming againe may well bee said that which was said of his first comming This is the day which the Lord hath made In that day hee himselfe shall come downe in a Charet of a Cloude as hee ascended into a Cloude All the Glorie of Heauen shall bee seene that day The Father shall bee there in vnspeakable Glorie The Holie Ghost shall bee there with vnspeakable Majestie All the Saintes and Angels shall bee about Him like burning Lampes and glistring Suns The sicke Man What passage of Scripture letteth vs see clearlie the Glorie of his comming to judgement The Pastour That passage of Daniel
dead That is in the faith of the Resurrection of the dead For these who were to be baptized first did rehearse the Creede and when they came to the Resurrection of 〈◊〉 dead at these words they were baptized Others of the Learned take the wordes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about the dead The custome beeing of olde that these who were baptized were baptized about the Graues where the dead did lye for to testifie that they did belieue the Resurrection from the dead Some by baptising heere vnderstand that washing and ablution of dead bodies After this signification Cuppes are said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be baptized or washen This washing of the dead bodies before their buriall as some thinke was common to the Iewes who in hope of the Resurrection did both them and make them cleane This was also a custome among the Pagans to wash and anoint the dead bodies Such were called Pollinctores This also appeareth to haue beene done in the dayes of the Apostles by the Christians In the Actes it is written of Tabitha that being dead they washed her and layed her in an vpper Chamber All these baptizings and washings were in hope of the Resurrection As for the Pagans they wrought the wroke as Peter on Tabor spake not knowing what hee said or as Cajaphas prophesied not vnderstanding the prophecie which hee preached This by the moste Learned is approued Others interprete to bee baptized for dead not for the dead or about the Graues of these that are buried but for dead say they that is as dead to sinne for to destroy and mortifie sinne which is the chiefe ende of Baptisme This say they is a maine argument for to proue the Resurrection For if there were no Resurrection to what purpose should men crucifie their sinnes Behold how these few words To bee baptized for dead hath troubled so manie braines Where wee may learne the shallownesse of mans witte God with that little Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath giuen all the Doctours of the Church a taske that may teach them humilitie an Antidote for to cure our swelling knowledge The sicke Man That which ye say is trueth Oh that men were wise in this point that they could consider the weaknesse of their wits But to come to our purpose concerning the Resurrection Manie a time haue I in my Spirit wondered at the greatnesse of that worke The Pastour It shall be a great worke indeede But if anie Saducean spirit would doubt of it it must also doubt more of the creation I take the creation to haue beene a greater worke It is more to haue made our bodies of nothing than to gather their dust together which is now but dispersed This was a Fathers argument Vtique idoneus est reficere qui facit quare miramur quarenon credimus Deus est qui fecit Considera authorem tolle dubitationem That is It is easie for God to mak ouer againe that which he hath once made why marueill wee yea why belieue wee not God hath made all Consider the Maker and doubt no more The sicke Man Let mee heare some-thing out of Scripture concerning this point The Pastour There bee many moste famous passages for the probation of that great worke both out of the olde and New-Testament I know said Iob that my Redeemer liueth and that hee shall stand at the latter day vpon the earth and though after my skinne wormes destroy this bodie yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my selfe and mine eyes shall beholde and not another though my reines bee consumed within mee Daniel is cleare in this Many of them that sleepe in the dust of the earth shall awake Some to euerlasting life and some to shame and euerlasting contempt The Prophet Ezekiel by way of similitude setting the deliuerance of Israel pointeth at the Resurrection Behold O people saith hee I will open your Graues and cause you to come vp out of your graues Christ in the New-Testament made numbers of the Sainctes to come out of the dust of death What they were no man can tell their names whether it was Moses or Ioshua Samuel Dauid Iosaphat Iosiah or who no tongue can tell But this wee know that after Christ arose by the power of his Resurrection hee made manie to come out of their Graues The graues were opened and manie bodies of Saints which slept arose and came out of the graues after his Resurrection and went into the holy Citie and appeared vnto manie The sicke Man O but that was wonderfull Think yee that after that they did returne to their Graues The Pastour The most Learned esteeme that they neuer did returne back to dust but that they waited on Christ vntill the day of his Ascention in which day they did accompanie him vp to the Heauens where with their Head Christ they were receiued into Glorie with the great applause of all Angels and Sainctes whose Spirits aboue are desiring continuallie to see the day when Soule and bodie shall bee joyned for to bee glorified together for euer The sicke Man After that the dead are risen and the liuing changed what thinke ye shall immediatelie follow before we meete with the Lord himselfe The Pastour In the judgment of some so soone as the dead shall bee raised and the liuing changed before that we shall meete with Christ into the cloudes there shall be a sore mourning both among the Godlie and the wicked for the piercing of that Lord Euery one of the Godlie in that day shall say as the Butler said to Pharaoh I 〈◊〉 remember my faultes this day Such a mourning was neuer heard since the world was founded as shall be heard that day for a space Christ himselfe hath declared this saying Then shall all the Tribes of the earth mourne when they shall see the Sonne of man comming into the Cloudes All shall bee agast at the first sight of that High and loftie One that inhabiteth Eternitie S Iohn saith Behold hee commeth with Cloudes and euerie eye shall see him and they also which pierced him And all the Kinrides of the Earth shall waile because of him The Prophet Zacharie compareth this mourning to the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon for the death of good Iosiah Some thinke that onelie the wicked shall mourne in that day In my judgement it is the most true opinion Others by reason of these foresaid passages thinke that all both Godlie and vngodlie at the first sight of Iesus shall uaile with great lamentations while they shall behold him whom they haue pierced All at the sight of him who was pierced for and by our sinnes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 plangent that is shall strik their brests with their hands the signe of great doole After that the Lord hath suffered his to mourne for a space in
bee judged By this it would appeare that all the sinnes which they in their life did commit vnder the curtaine of darknesse shall then bee set in open view O the deepe displeasure of our God Happie they who are highlie in his fauour I would gladlie know what a blacke bible is that which is called the Book of the wicked The Pastour When Christ the Ancient of dayes sitting vpon his Throne readie for to judge the wicked shall bee vpon the touch of their tryall the Books of accounts shall bee laide open The Book of the Godlie is but one Book called The Booke of the Lambe and the Booke of Life But as for the wicked while the Scirpture speaketh of them it speaketh of Bookes in the plurall number The Bookes were opened saith S. Iohn And the dead were judged out of these thinges that were written in the Bookes By these Bookes some vnderstand the Law of God and their own Conscience Their bosome Booke like Vriahs Letters containing their own death Let mee also add◅ vnto these two a third Booke ei◅en the Booke of the Gospel First of all the Lord shall open his Law Book vnto the wicked where they shall see what they haue done that God hath forbidden and what they haue not done that hee hath commanded At the breach of euerie command they shall see curles of Woe woe woe annexed like the reekie taile of a Comet which are nothing but the smoke of Gods wrath After that with sore sighing griefe of minde they haue read through all the Book of the Law haue clearlie seene what filthie breaches they haue made to them shall bee presented the Booke of the Gospel wherein they shall see that they haue sinned against the reemeede of sinne by refusing grace offered vnto them and by treading vnder their vncleane feete the precious Blood of the Lambe the price of their Redemption Thogh the wicked shall indeed be judged according to their workes yet the maine cause of their condemnation shall bee because they would not belieue in the Son of God For this cause the Gospel which is that Book of Faith shal be Gods chiefe Booke of Iudgement according to this S. Paul plainelie saith That in that day God shall judge the secrets of men by Iesus Christ according to my Gospel Nowe lest the wicked should thinke God anie wise to bee vnrigh teous while hee judgeth the third Booke like Iosephs Cup where by hee did diuine shall bee produced euen their bosome Booke the Booke of their owne Conscience the Booke of Nature and of Nations which euerie one of them had in keeping within their brest since they could discerne good by euill What euer they haue spoken wrought or thought there shall they finde it written in most black Characters as it were subscribed with their owne hand so that they shall not be able to haue a face for to deny no more thā a man can denye his owne hand write The Letters of that Booke shall be printed with so great a Character that all the Godlie who shall bee Christs Assessours in that Iurie for to passe their Verdict vpon them shall see easilie a farie off all the shame of the wicked which was once closse couered vnder vanished colours of great godlinesse O in that day all their filthy thoghts and craftie conueyances and secret conspiracies and hidde murthers and adulteries and all other mischiefe the vnhappie cockle darnell of their heartes whereof they were secretlie guiltie shall be sette in open view before GOD Angels and men All their faces shall be couered with the filthinesse of their menstruous clouts All their sins both knowne and secret shall God set in order before them that all eyes of men and Angels may beholde their abominations O short so◅r sweete pleasures with long euerlasting tailes of sorrow O but the Saintes of God shall wonder in that day to see so manie whom they while they liued iudged in Charitie to bee godlie and well set persons O say I but they shall wonder to see them in ba◅e bondage among the blacke band hauing the Books of their Consciences blotted with so many Items of i◅lle and wicked thoughtes which in this life could neuer be taken within the walk of humane justice After the Items of their vile thoughts shall appeare the Items of idle and wicked words After all shall bee seene the most filthie Items of their most vile abominable works which they thought had beene buried in eternall obliuion The dashing tempest of Gods wrath shall wash out all the varnished paintings of their hypocrisie Mercifull GOD what shame in that day shall come with confusion vpon all the faces of the wicked When such secret sinnes as hid murthers by Sword or by poyson hid adulteries incest stollen inches false weights all other such iniquities whereof this world is full and that vnder a faire colour and shewe of godlinesse when all these hid sianes say I shall bee singled out and shall come to light the Godlie whome they once reputed precise fooles and simple Fellowes shall wonder at the sight thereof Then shall they point at such persons saying among themselues Fye fye out vpon him out vpon her Ohshame who could haue thought that euer hee had beene such a man or that shee had beene such a woman was this the life that these dapper delicate persons did leade vnder the faire colour of such a glorious profession Ah stinking hypocrites formall Pharisees with your sodered shewes to whom poore poore Publicans seemed to bee no bodie because while yee sinned God kept silence yee thought that hee was altogether such a one as your selfe But now hee shall reproue you and shall set all your sinnes in order before you It shall bee clearlie proued vnto your faces false hearts that ye were but painted Tombes and whited walls The Lord in his furie shall hurle you out of your place Hee in his rage shall push you all downe like a rotten and tottering wall Nothing shall bee able to dazele or deceiue the eyes of your Iudge The sicke Man The Lord bee mercifull to my sillie Soule The Lord cast all my sinnes behind thy backe and burie them in the bottome of the Sea It is euident then as I see that all secret sinnes shall come to light in that day and shall bee seene written with Letters great like mountaines for to be seen by the eyes of all these that euer tooke life and that to the euerlasting shame and infamie of these who in the dayes of Gods patience turned his grace into wantonnesse The Pastour It is most certaine that there is nothing which shall not bee seene that day All the closse corruptions where with the wicked were stuft and swelled shall bee sette in open view all the wicked shall be known yea euerie mothers sonne of them shal be
remeede of sinne With these two shall bee joyned the Booke of their Consciences ratifying vnto them that what is coÌ„tained into the other two Bookes is an vndoubted trueth At the reading of these bloodie Bookes as yee haue alreadie heard their Consciences shall be â—…ortured with vnspeakable amazement feare Their Soules all agast pricked perplexed shall yawne for a drop of comfort which no creature aboue or below shall bee able to affoorde Now ye desire to know what shal be in that time the estat of the godâ—…lie Christes right hand before that the Iudgement bee pronounced It is certaine that they all in great Glorie wearing the shining Crownes of immortalitie shall sit vpon 〈◊〉 beeing more bright than the Sunnâ—… at the noone-day In judgement they shall passe verdict on the wiâ—…ked They shall all in that summâ—…r processe sit as Christs assessours for 〈◊〉 judge the Angels that is For to approue Christs â—…udgement pronounced against the Deuils the euill â—…gels against all that cursed crue of the Reprobates who in their life liuing vnder maskes of mischiefe branded them with the nik-names of puritanisme proud hypocrisie glorious singularitie phaÌ„â—…astick precisenes who in a word in hight of stomacke ruffling swashing did tread vpon Gods Turtles accounting them the most vile off-scourings of the Earth O but the wicked who on earth were swelled with selfe conceit shall wonder to see these to bee the Assessours of their Iudge in highest fauour with God whose life once they counted madnesse O what a wonder shall it seeme to the worldlie wise when they shal see these simple Ones whose life they loathed whom they counted fools on earth al decked adorned with rarest jewels so high set vpon Thrones with the most glorious Angels of God O how shall they whom their life reposed in beddes of Yvorie be amazed to behold Gods little ones so brightlie shining like Suns with glistering Crownes glorious Garlands possessing fullie Wealth Honour Health and Hearts desire yea pleasures vnparalleled by any that heart of flesh can wish The wicked beholding this shall be swallowed vp with griefe and groanes for then shall they remember how on Earth they haue drowned the good motions of the Spirit in vaine ryots prophanenesse and revillings of good fellowship I say againe that the wicked who once in their swaggering humour accursed gallentnes were wont to braue it out with the best with the great contempt of Christs little Ones shall wonder and wonder againe at the sight of these whom God in that day shall honour Are these they shall they say whom some times wee had in derision and of whom we made a paâ—…able of reproach Are these the men and women whom wee in hight of stomacke disdained to beholde Behold now wee see that they are indeede that which on earth they were called euen Saintes Gods most excellent ones Certainelie the glorious glaunces of these blessed and beautified bodies sitting all in royall apparell shall strike the wicked in a wonderfull maze while they shall behold such jewels of joye they shall be striken into the dumbe dumppes of saddest melancholie O the follie of such miserable mucke-wormes who count it now an heauen to creepe and crawle in oyled and buttered paths of carnall prosperitie But in short to proceede in this purpose orderlie When all things shal be put to an order the wicked beeing at the left and the Godlie at the right hand in my judgement there shall be a great silence that the Iudge may haue audience All men shall beestedfastlie looking for to heare what GOD the LORD shall say Then God shall lay judgement to the Lyne and righteousnes to the Plummet TheÌ„ shall the Lord rise vp as in mount Perazin and shall bee wroth as in the valley of Gibeon that hee may doe his worke his strange worke and bring to passe his act his strange act O that cleare and bright shining Eye which nothing in that day shall bee able to escape The sicke Man To whom thinke yee that Christ in that Iudgment shall first addresse his speach Whether shall he speak first vnto the Godlie who in a sacred violence did tak the Kingdome or to the wicked vvho in the dayes of their flesh did sleepe most softlie in the downes of securitie caring for nothing but their Purses and their Paunches The Pastour The Lord shall speake first vnto his owne who are the chosen generation the royall Priest-hood the holy Nation the peculiar people * To these sitting at his right hand first shall hee say with his Lillie lippes dropping sweete Myrrhe Come yee blessed of my Father inherite the Kingdome prepared for you from thee foundation of the world At the hearing of these words of their Lords most louing inuitation all their senses shall open like floode gates for to receiue vnspeakable Ioyes What tongue can tell what joy the Lambes Bride with her purple Head and Doues Eyes shall haue wheÌ„ She shall see with what a Bridegrome Shee shall bee matched that day After that the Lord hath comforted his owne hee shall turne him to the Goats that bashfull band trembling at his left hand Before that hee open his mouth to speake hee shall behold these bruite beastes made to bee taken and destroyed With fierie lookes with kindled eyes sparkling furie and rage and flâ—…shes of lightening hee shall behold these deuils droiles doolefull creatures In his countenance they shall reade the Characters of awefull terrours euen of the horrours of hell At the first sight of that angrie Majestie with brent browes and his sterne countenance a Torrent of terrours shall violentlie rush vpon their Soules dashing them with a dazling astonishment Then shall they wish in these flamming horrours vexing them to the quicke that mountaines would fall aboue them for to hid them from such angrie eyes TheÌ„ shal they know how foolish they were in their life-time to think that while they sinned the Lord was but a stocke or a stone which could not perceiue them O that glauncing wrath which like fire shall greaslie appeare in the eyes of that Iudge tenne thousand times brighter than the Sunne The glaunces of that fierie furie shall so dazle the sighâ—… of the Reprobate yea shall so dash them that they shall not bee able to abide his countenance No not though their eyes were of steale or of yron nothing then shall stand in the gappe against the irruptions of such a fierce and fierie vengeance While these prophane men liued on earth in a blazing prosperity they thought their mountaine so strong that they could neuer bee moued In their life-time they liued in gladnesse At their end they deceased fairely in the eyes of the world They seemed Saints because that in their death were no bands But O the terrours that abide them At the first sight of their Iudge a Torrent of
hill Hermon In the French paraphrase it is after this manner Car t'ay de toy souuenance Depuis outâ—…e le Iordain Et la froide demourance De Hermon pais haâ—…tain Et de Mizar antre mont c. In the French paraphrase made by Beza also in the English and French versions it is turned the hill Missar which is some other hill lesse than Hermon as the Hebrew word doth import In my judgement our paraphrase is not so correct as the French for Hermon was not a little Hill as our meter calleth it but as it is esteemed by the Learned was higher than mount Sion By the Land of the Hermonits the Learned vnderstand that hillie space of the countrey where is mount Hermon and by Missar they vnderstand some other parte where there be little hils towards the border of Israel as Iunius expoundeth By these three places of the Psalme viz. The Land of Iordan Hermon and Missar are vnderstood saith hee three diuerse Borders of the Land of Israel The Riuer of Iordan bordering at the East Hermon at the North towards vs and Missar these other little hils bordering at the South In the Papists version these be the wordes of the Psalme Memor ero tui de terra Iordanis Hermonoim a monte modico That is Froâ—… the little hill Hermonoim whether that bee mount Hermon or noâ—… saith one of their most learned inteâ—…preters non liquet I cannot tell The most part of these that wriâ—… mount Hermon thinke that there were two mountaines of this name The one was beyond Iordan neere vnto Libanus towards the Northeast distant from it an hundreth twenty two myles The other was neere to mount Tabor towards the North From Ierusalem It is from Ierusalem to it but about fourty myls of this the Psalmist seemeth to speak where hee saith Tabor and Hermon shall rejoyce in thy Name The sicke Man It rejoyceth my Soule to heare the names of things which were said to rejoyce in God Now speake of Tabor The Pastour Tabor is mons rotundus sublimis a round and high mountaine lying towards the North from Ierusalem about fiftie myles It is esteemed to bee one of the chiefe Hils that are in all the Land of Candan both for highnesse and fruitfulnesse Some esteeme that it bee foure myles and more of hight It is decored with all sorts of Herbes and Trees S. Ierome speaking of it saith Ex omni parte finitur aequaliter it is an exceeding round Hill into the partes of Galilee Of this Mount frequent mention is made in Scripture In Ioshuah wee see that it bordered the lotte of the Land of the tribe of Issaâ—…har whose coast reached vnto Tabor It was neere vnto Tabor where Deborah Barak ouerthrew the Armie of King Iabin with his Captaine Sisera For Barak beeing vpon the Mount with his men of warre by the counsell of Deborah hee went downe from mounâ—… Tabor and tenne thousand men after him It was vpon this Mount that Zebah Zalmunna the Kings of the Midianites slew the brethren of Gideon What manner of men said hee vnto them were they whom yee slew aâ—… Tabor It was at the plaine of Tabor where Saul after hee was anoynted by Samuel met the three men going to Bethel with Kids Loaues wine This Hill was so steepe and so strong that Ieremie from thence took his comparison saying That Nebuchadnezar King of Babylon should ouerthrow Pharaoh and his Armie though they were as Tabor among the mountaines It is the opinion of all that vpon this Mount Christe was transfigured when Moses and Elias came downe and conâ—…erred with him touching his sufferings The sicke Man From Tabor proceede to Carmel by the sea I finde within mee great heauinesse of heart while I thinke vpon these places where God once did shew so many tokens of his loue The Pastour I finde also mine owne bowels moued with a mourning râ—…otion Oh that that people had beene wise O â—… their example may teach vs to feare to offend so great a Majestie If God hath not spared the naturall branches wee should not bee high minded but should feare If wee continue not in his goodnesse hee will also cut vs off But to the purpose As for Carmel it is the name of a Citie in the tribe of Iuda Maon Carmel and Ziph were Citâ—…es there It is also the name of that most fertile mountaine which had a valey most fruitfull lying hard by it For its fertilitie in Scripture language all fertile places are called Carmel The flourishing estate of Christes Kingdome is called The excellencie of Carmel It is not farre from Pâ—…lemais neere vnto the Sea for which cause the Prophet Ieremie called it Carmel by the Sea It was at mount Carmel where Elias by his prayer made fire to come downe consume his sacrifice with the water in the ditch wherby he confounded the Priests of Baal proued the Lord to bee God by fire It was vpon the top of this mountaine where Elias cast himselfe downe vpon the Earth putting his head betweene his knees when his seruant spyed the Cloud like a mans hand arising out of the Sea The sicke Man O but mine heart bleedeth to remember of these holie places wherin is nothing now but desolation The Pastour We haue to pray with Moses That the beautie of the Lord our God be vpon vs All these beauties of Canaan are past and gone That glorious Ierusalem is razed and sacked with all her pompe Invndations of woes are vpon that Land which once did flow with Milke and Honey the land hath spewed ouâ—… its habitants All this should bee for to teach vs to minde these better things which are aboue While that Land was at its best it could not containe the shadowes of these pleasures that are aboue Melle fluit terra hoc promissa lacte redundat Ast ea quo sursum est nectare Ambrosia This haue I thus Englished With honey milk that holy Land did richlie ouerflow But Nactar sweete and Ambrosie aboue doe richlie grow While wee remember of that peoples desolations let vs bee instant with God that hee would call them in They haue stumbled not that they should fall but that by their fall Saluation mâ—…ght come to vs for to prouocke them to jealousie If they abide not in vnbeliefe they shall be graffed in Let vs be earnest in prayer for them While they had court with God they were careful for vs Gentiles In their familiaritie with God they spake of vs and for vs Wee haue a little Sister said they What shall wee doe with her in the day shee shall be spoken for The sincere Iewes euer groned for the fulfilling of Noaâ—… prophecie that God would perswad Iaphet to enter into the tents of Sem. LORD of thy mercie bring back Sem that he may remaine
her Consider well I pray you If the beholding of the glorie of an earthlie Prince so rauished the heart not of a rusticke that will easilie wonder at any thing but of a Queene yea and so that no more spirit remained in her what should it bee if we should get but as through the graâ—… one sight thorow the heauens of that great God of Solomon sitting vpon his Throne If but for the quarter of an houre wee might see the meate of his Tablâ—… and the standing of his seruants the attendance of his Ministers Saincts Angels casting downe their Crownes at his feete if I say wee could see these things as they are this our Spirit shuld be caried toward him witâ—… such a strong bent affection thaâ—… 〈◊〉 should not tarie within vs but being rauished should runne out of this body of clay for to goe abide with him that made it among pleasures perfectlie abstracted from paine If God as hee is should appeare vnto vs were it neuer so little the bonds of our bodies should not be able for to fetter so our Soules but at the first sight of God they with a most flagrant desire should flutter out of sinfull clay for to enjoye his most amiable presence wherein are pleasures exempted from all hazard of surprysall That which I say giueth some light to these wordes which God said to Moses No man can see my face and liue As for the wicked I giue this interpretation that the sight of Gods face shuld kil them as light killeth darknes or as the day is the slaughter of the night But God who killeth not but quickeneth the killed of his owne chosen if by them hee were seene in the face on earth they shuld dye not a violent death but they should die for loue to bee at him At the first sight of his Face their Soules would not remaine any more in clay but loathing their bodies they should make haste for to flie to their God So soone as Steuen saw the Heauens opened the Son of man standing at the right hand of God his Soule tooke post to the heauens Albeit the Burrios thought that they chaised it out with stroakes and with stones yet it is certaine that fra once hee got that sight his Soule was more desirous to bee out of his bodie for loue of Heauen than the Soule of the most wicked man can bee desirous to abide still within for feare of Hell There is such an attractiue loue in Gods countenance that if the Soule in flesh could once see it the bodie should not bee able to keepe it any more within no not for the space of a moment As the load stone draweth vnto it the yron by a secret and vnspeakable draught so in the face of God there is such an attractiue force that of neede force the godlie Soule at the first sight of it must flie vp vnto it As the Sun by the force of his beames raised vp the vapours towardes heauen euen so if God would but turne his face to anie Soule with the least blinke thereof hee should draw vp that Soule vnto himselfe like a vapour raised vp by the force of the Sunne Consider how the sight but of his backe partes maketh many a well resolued Christian to cry vp vnto him Cupio dissolvi I desire to bee dissolued What is that but the faithfull Soule haling like an Hawke for to flie from the mortall heart as from the hand of a stranger for to come home to her Lord in eternitie O thrise happie hee whose name is in the Booke and whose Soule is in the bundle of life O the gaine that wee haue by the mercie of God in the fall of Adam In Paradise man might liue or die On earth hee now liueth and must die But in Heauen wee shall so liue that wee can no more die O blessed life of eternitie neuer to haue an end into that other world Oh that wee could spend this life in a sacred violence in pursute of that celestiall crowne of immortalitie Happie is hee who keepeth a narrow watch ouer all the stirringes and imaginations of his heart in consideration of that day Happie is hee who maketh all his joys pleasures and all his best beloued thinges below to bee by standers waiting on the seruice of that one thing which onelie is necessarie The sicke Man My Soule is so rauished with youâ—… speach that it flutters within mee â—… haleth to bee away from this mortalitie for to goe dwell into these heauenlie Mansions with the God of glorie Our best thinges below in their verie quintessence are defiled with the moode of home bred corruption All haue neede to be renewed in the verie spirit of their minde Let it please you Sir yet to continue in describing the beautie of Paradise The Pastour If man oâ—… Earth could belieue the beautie of the Heauens to be in any measure such as it is hee would bee glad at his heart to forsake the moulding cottages of clay Seeing the out-sid of heauen is so glorious what must bee the in side Solomons Temple was a type of Heauen The further a man went in he saw the greater beautie In the out most Couâ—… was but an Altar of brasse for the sâ—…crificing of beastes Into the inward Court stood an Altar of Gold for offering of incense of sweet persumâ—…s But that which was in most viz Sanctum Sanctorum the Holie of holies was all full of Glorie There God himselfe was heard in a voyce beetweene the Cherubins There was the Ark called The Glorie wherin were the Tables of Gods word Aarons flourished Rod the Manna There was the Word for the instruction of the Soule There were the Almond floorishes like a pleasant Spring for rejoycing of the eye There also was Mannah for meate the type of that euerlasting Soule feast in the Heauens Behold a compend of the three most pleasaÌ„t seasons of the yeare First there was the seed of the word after that the Summer flowers of pleasure in the flowrishing Rod And last there was the fruitfull haruish of Manna for meat In a word in that Holie of holies the figure of Heauen was the Mercieseaâ—… the speciall place of Gods residence But all the beautie of that Temple were not sufficient to expresse the shadowe of these that are aboue the starres S. Paul after that hee had beene rauished vp to the third heauens got a charge from God that hee should not tell what hee had heard or seene there Onelie this hee declared after that hee was come downe that vp into Paradise hee had heard vnspeakable words which no tongue of flesh could bee able to pronounce But though such words had beene speakable the Apostle declareth that it was not lawfull for a man to vtter them Alas what can the earthlie low creeping worâ—…s of our highest eloquence expresse of these
some glimpse of joye may yet more clearlie appeare for the recreating of my wearied Soule O deare Redeemer no tong can tell how much poore sinners are beholden vnto Thee who with a strong Arme hast brought them out of a dry pitte wherein was not a drop of comfort O that deepe and darke dungeon of sinne that I haue beene into O these blessed beames which my Soule fealeth comming from his countenance O the Light of that Face which putteth more joye into mine heart than all the worlde can haue when their Wheat Wine and Oyle doe most abound O infinite weight of glorie O pleasures euer to be spoken of though vnspeakeable O joyes euer to bee thought of though none heart bee able to conceiue them O pleasures most pleasant to the eye though eyes below cannot see them O O euerlasting mirth of Musicke O yee celestiall Tunes most worthie to bee heard though eares of flesh cannot heare you O Tree of Life most sweete to the taste though sinfull tongues may not taste of thee O Crystall River proceeding out of the Throne of God and the Lambe when shall my soule drinke of thee with a full Cuppe Mine heart like an Hart panteth brayeth after these water brooks Oh when shall I come and appeare before God O my God keepe mine heart vnder some spirituall serise of these blessed delights till perfectlie I enjoye thee into the armes of my Soule with the contentment of all contentmentes then which there can bee no greater The Pastour It is the Lord who with the Eye-Salue of his grace hath enlightened your minde He hath taken out the mots of temptations which of before did mak the eyes of your Soule so to water till they become drumlie Now Sir yee know full well what it is of God and his goodnesse in the Heauens where faithfull Soules shall be fed with the bread of Angels and feasted with the daintiest delicates that are aboue The wicked in this world are like blinde men which eate many moats and flees They eate them because they cannot sec to discerne them All the knowledge of the wicked is but â—… carkase and carion of knowledge To know God his Son Christ him crucified is the verie marrow kernell of true happinesse A Soule whose eyes the Lord hath enlightned with grace can no more rest off its God than an element out of its own place It may well bee detained with-holden from its place by some stronger power but no power can make it to rest till it be there where God hath appointed it to rest Your Soule now Sir is drawing neere vnto its Rest The neerer 〈◊〉 bee vnto it let your motion towards it bee the swifter In this Grace is like Nature swiftest at the end of the motion which tendeth vnto rest Vp still with your heart rejoyce in your God Happie are yee who now are flitting from this worlde wherein the sillie Soule as a Ball in a Tenice is tossed from wall to wall scourged with the Racket of diuerse temptations which by course one after another are readie to catch it at euerie rebound Let your Soule now altogether rejoyce in your Sauiour That is the only joye which shal neuer be taken from vs All other joyes are but liâ—… flying moats in the aire toyle and toyes toylesome toyes For euen in laughing the heart is sorrowfull and the end of that mirth is heauinesse The sicke Man Blessed bee my Lord for euer I finde now the beginning of these joyes which passe all vnderstanding My Spirit hath receiued the earnest of immortalitie I finde now my Soule in the kindlie temper of a spirituall constitution which as I am fullie perswaded shall neuer bee troubled with anie moodie mixture of distempered mortalitie if once this Battell were ended O the blessed beames of that righteous Sun which shine so brightlie vpon my Soule They shall neuer be intercepted by any earthlie interposition of sinfull shadows Hence foorth nothing shall bee able for euer to â—…et God my Soule at oddes O now nothing shall bee able to affright my Soule any more with dreadfull distempers to God alone belongeth the glorie Well may I say If the Lord had not helped mee it had not failed but my Soule should haue beene put to silence I esteeme all the joyes which I feele to be a Cluster of Canaan which my faith lik a trustie Spy hath broght vnto mee that thereby I may know the goodnesse of that Land But because I cannot tell what assaults my Soule may yet suffer for I finde my former joyes a little ouerclouded I pray you Sir to conceiue a prayer to God for mee that the assurance of his pardons may more and more be sealed vp into mine heart that death bee not vnto mee as a king of feare but rather as a passage and an entrie to life eternall Make earnest requeast for mee that I die not as the wicked whose hope doeth perish with their breath hauing their Soules goared with sinne the sting of Death O Lord bring mee an Out law by Nature within the bounds of thy Sheep-folde Fill nowe my Soule with spirituall and heauenlie inspirations I haue alas the most parte of my life beene like roustie yron vnfitte for anie worke It hath fared with mee as with the Eye which seeing other thinges seeth not it selfe nor the face wherein it is fixed In knowing other things I haue remained ignorant of my selfe a great stranger at home into mine own bosome from my youth my Soule sicke of â—… spirituall dropsie did swell in a conceit of its owne excellencie Now Lord wound this pride of life within mine heart wound it in the head and craze it in the braine Separate all iniquitie from mee that nothing wherewith thy Spirit may bee grieued may harbour in mine heart Vpon this earth there hath beene none hoe with my desires which lik the sore crauing Horse-Leach culd say nothing but Giue giue Now Lord make my Soule to loath that which I haue too much loued prepare my Soule emptie it of all that is euill before it come before thy Face wherein is fulnesse of joy for all Saints and Angels which are aboue Now Lord after that thou hast cleansed mee by the fierie tryall by beating and battering mine hard heart let the workman-ship of thine holie hands be to refine me more more till I become perfectlie a newe creature O powre this heart into the calmes of thy compassions that therein as in a mould it may receiue thy liuelie Image Weede out of mine hearte all carnall and earthlie desires The Pastour I blesse the Lord for such working of his Spirit According to your desire wee shall bend our knees to God in prayer While wee are praying lift vp your heart vnto God and pray with your Spirit Set now all your affections in bensell
before the Lord Let vs all humble our selues heere before our Maker A Prayer for the sicke Man O LORD prepare our heartes to prayer Let vs not be rash with our mouth nor hastie with our heart to vtter any thing before Thee O glorious GOD and all mercifull Father which art the true Physicion both of Soule and bodie we must humblie bend our knees before Thee intreating thee to be with thy seruant heere whom thou hast now laide into this bedde of languishing Let not his sinnes whereof hee hath beene guiltie from his youth vp prouok thy wrath any more against him Knit them all in a bundle and cast them all behind thy mercifull back burie them al into the bottomlesse sea of thy compassions that they neither bee able to accuse him any more in this worlde nor yet to condemne him in the world to come Though his sinnes LORD were like Scarlet and Crimsin there is vertue into the Blood of thy Lambe to make them white like woole and whiter than the Snow For thy Sonnes sake remoue all his transgressions as far frō him as the East is from the west Hell LORD Destruction are before thee how much more the hearts of the Sonnes of men Thine All seeing Eye pryes most clearelie into the in-most closet of mans heart Look with the Eye of thy compassions within the Doores of this wearied heart of thy Seruant Looke in and proclaime mercie and pardon vnto his sillie Soule Let him know that neither Death nor Life shal be able to separate him from thy Loue O LORD assist him and stand fast by him in this houre Desert him not in his greatest last agonie Let thy Spirit possesse him so fullie that there be none entrie or roume for Satans temptations whē the Temper is bufiest let thy Spirite bee strongest Arme him with all Pieces against the last conflict of this bloodie battell Honour him with the Lawrels of victorie Let thy strength be made perfect in his greatest weak nesse Doe the turne by thine owne force and take all the glorie to thy selfe By the vertue of thy Christ crucifie into him the olde Man and his vvorkes Make him to die into him that hee may liue to Thee vvho to all the Faithfull is aduantage both in life and death Hee is now LORD walking betweene thy Mercie and thy Iustice through many-temptations Gouerne thou his steppes vvith such vvisedome that the feare of Iustice may keepe him from presumption and the hope of mercie may preuent despaire Increase his patience vvith his paine Sanctifie his Sickenesse make it as Bellowes to thy graces that thereby they may be kindled and blowne vp to a greater flame Enamour him vvith the loue of thy goodnesse Powre in the oyle of thy mercie into his bruissed hearte which hath bene filled with mournfull groanes And seeing now thou art calling him to repetitions to see vvhat hee hath profited in thy Schoole cast into his rememberance all the good things that hitherto hee hath heard or meditate for to comfort this houre Bee strong in him now in this time of tryall Applye vnto his wounds the Balme of Gilead Hee is weake and therefore O LORD forbea◅e him in thy mercie O pittie this wounded man as did that Samaritane Powre Oyle into his wounds bind them vp and take him to thine Inne For thy mercies sake remember him Forthy Sonnes sake pittie him For thy promise sake forget him not Free his Soule f◅ the maze of all worldlie cares Inspite into him the life of grace with a most fresh vigout and feruent heate of zeale to thy Glorie Hee LORD in his most piercing paines knoweth not what to doe but his eyes are on Thee In thine handes is both Life and Death Thou bringest to the Graue and bringest backe againe In thy greate mercie O LORD make all his bedde in his sicknesse make his bedde to be a Schoole vnto him wherein hee may not onelie learne the hudgnesse of his owne miserie but also the greatnes of thy mercie Let neither Death fright him nor the Graue grieue him Let him knowe that Death is but a sleepe for the friendes of Christ and the Graue a bedde for the resting of their wearied bones Let not the weight of mortalitie beare downe his Spirite frō minding the things which are aboue Make him content to quite gladlie all earthlie pleasures and contentments for to goe dwell with Thee his GOD in immortalitie Let neither the sweetnesse of the Figge nor the grapes of the Vine nor the fatnesse of the O liue hinder his desire to reigne in heauen Against the feare of death comfort him with hope of the glorious Resurrection Assure his Soule though his bodie goe to bee eaten of the wormes that hee in that bodie againe shall see his Redeemer and none other for him Furnish him with spirituall courage vnto the end Giue him boldnesse to march without feare thorow the valey of death for to come to Thee yea to run were it thorow Hell for to come to Thee in Heauen Tell vnto his Soule that his paines dismay him not seeing his trauell is to bring foorth eternall life Let thy Iustice seate trouble him no more seeing Christ hath payed his debts Let him not bee afraide to come before the Face of his Iudge seeing the Iudge himselfe is his Brother who hath both cut cancelled that hand-writting of the Law which no flesh was able to performe Pittie him LORD pittie him for loe hee is nowe in thine handes looking pittifully vp to Thee for thy mercie Some of thy setters are yet vpon him none can loose him but the hands which haue bund him Pittie good LORD and pardon set vnto this Soule the seale of thy pardons by the Spirit of adoption Heale and sweetlie close vp the wounds of his Spirit by the vertue of thy most blessed Blood This is our confidence that thou who hast stricken him is able to heale him and will also doe it if it bee for thy glorie and his well if not Lord in judgement remember mercie If it bee his best that after some dayes sicknesse he depart out of this mortall life let these paines which hee suffers nowe bee like Ionathans arrowes which were not shot for to ◅urt but to giue warning Giue him grace that like an obedient Childe hee may as w◅ll kisse thine hand while it beateth as while it blesseth If thy decree be come foorth that hee must remoue from this World assure him of a better place where pleasures are in greater number th◅ the starres Teach him by thy Spirit that by death hee shall change a mortall habitation a dungeon of darknes◅◅ cage of corruptions for euerlasting T◅bernacles most heauenlie sacred M◅sions where constant peace vnmi◅ joyes remaine Weane his heart from the loue of all things that are vnder the Sunne Let the beautie and glorie of the Heauens whereof hee hath heard at length this day
water but it is God who giueth the increase The best of all Preachers are but like Iohn the Baptist the voyce of a Cryer who could not make all the crooked straight nor the rough plaine If any good bee conuoyed vnto your Soule by mee I am but the Instrument or Channell wherethorow the Spirit of Iesus hath made his Graces to flow vnto you To Him alone belongeth the Glorie and the Thankes It is not humane eloquence which conuerceth Soules One word quickened and enliued with his Spirit is more fruitfull than all the glorious eare-pleasing pompe of mans wordes which like Agrippa and Bernice are full of phantasie All the good that man can doe either by word or worke is like the honie in the combe gathered out of many flowers But the euill is lik the Spidders webbe drawne out of our owne bowels The griefes of your heart Sir haue bene very great but now ye are mercifullie comforted Manie in this world plod on from sin to sin marching merrilie feareleslie towards the plagues of Hell But O how much are yee beholden vnto your GOD who in all your wearisome mazes hath supported and sinewed your Soule by his sauing Grace Because Sir there be here diuerse of your Friendes and other acquaintance vnto whom it may be ye wold desire to speake I giue place to them that now they may learne something of you The last words of a godlie man are verie forcible vnto the liuing And therefore Sir while ye haue breath spend your short time vpon this that by your good counsell yee may doe good to these that are for to liue after you That once done commit your Soule to God as a faithful Creator He himselfe hath said I will not leaue thee neither will I forsake thee A speach of the sicke Man to his Friendes And now yee my trustie Friends whose age God hath crowned with ripenesse of judgement I turne my selfe to you But first of all let mee speak vnto you my spiritual special Friend who in my deepest plunge while I was fast sticking into the myrie clay did vphold me with your comforts Your counsell to sende for my Pastour hath prouen a speciall salue for my sore God by that man of whom yee spake hath now healed my Soule of all its harmes O blessed be that vnspeakable mercy of my God Though Sathan had bereaued mee of my puritie he could not bereaue my God of his pittie The Lord of light hath brought my Soule out of that long and loathsome night which is in the valley of the shadow of death in comparison whereof the most palpable darknesse of Egypt might haue beene esteemed to bee day O that pleasant Sunne-shine wherewith my Soule is nowe inlightned O my God breath more more into my Soule the life of grace The spirituall Friend Glorie bee to God for his wonderfull mercies towardes you The Lord now set your Soule on wing that swiftlie like an Eagle it may flie vp to its God Many a sore assault haue yee suffered since I spake with you at the first Satan his temptations with the world the corruption of Nature had gathered themselues against you like Gebal Amon and Amaleck against Israel Of them may yee well say nowe They compassed mee about like Bees they are quenched as the fyre of thornes To Sathan may yee now say Thou hast thrust sore at mee that I might fall but the Lord hath helped mee When I mette with you first yee were compassed with a chaine of calamities one linked into another To mee yee appeared to bee hanging ouer Hell by the slender twined threed of a lifelesse hope Yee were plunged deeper downe than Ionaâ—… was when hee went downe to the bottome of the mountaines where the weedes were wrapt about his head Now let your Soule say with Ionah I will sacrifice vnto thee with the voyce of thankesgiuing I will pay that that I haue vowed Saluation is of the Lord. The sicke Man Blesse the Lord O my Soule and all that is within mee blesse his holie Name Blesse the Lord O my Soule and forget not all his benefites Farewell my trustie Friend Now as for you mine other friends I turne my selfe to you Hee that is conuerted with Peter should labour the conuersion of others Hee whose weaknesse the Lord hath helped should strengthen his brethren It is nowe time to take our last good night Heere in your presence I say Farewell O world wherein I haue liued which I haue too much loued Learneye in time to set your affections vpon God None of you can tell if God shall giue you such laiser to repent as he hath granted vntome If yee forsake not in time the sweete pleasures of your sins feare lest at last that that be found true which Abner said to Ioah Knowest thou not that it will bee bitternesse in the latter end There is no sinne so sweete to man in his life but before his death it shall bee dissweetned and turned into gall and wormewoode within the bellie of the Conscience I speake by experience as one who hath knowne the terrours of the Lord O my deare friendes looke ouer your shulder back to your bygone life and consider how grieued yee shall bee for the sinnes of your pleasures when yee shall bee warded into your death beddes readie to compeare before the great Iudge of the world As yee see mee this day so shall others see you ere it bee long I haue often beene glad among you Yee see now by mee what it is of all worldlie â—…oye With a little blast of sickenesse such comfort like chaffe are chassed away Your time is fast comming Your Glasse is running my sicknesse cryeth vnto you Learne of the estate of this your olde Friend to make your selues readie for another world To mee to day to you to morrow Where the tree falleth there shall it lye Whether the Glutton and the Begger are gone thither must wee all that is either to 〈◊〉 hams bosome or to the Deuils 〈◊〉 The death of one is like a 〈◊〉 charging all others to bee readie 〈◊〉 flitte and remoue Happie yea thrise happie is that man who in these 〈◊〉 and desperate dayes is not dulde with securitie Blessâ—…d is hee who is forâ—… warned striue to bee forewarned Blessed is that man who is eueâ—… vpon his watch hauing his loineâ—… girded and his Candle in his hand waiting for the comming of his Lord. A dew my louing Friendes Seeke in time the friendship of your God Striue to be worthie the stile of Abraham that was called The friend of God O my deare Friends let mee now tell you what the Lord hath done to my Soule Hee hath at last beene sensiblie gracious to my poore Soule which Sathan hath long hunted vp downe like a Patridge on
who in this sinfull time is least known of the world so that shee truelie striue to know God and her selfe Wise Solomon who in his wisedome excelleth all as also in number of wiues spake by experience that wandering Women were not chast by this special marke hee brandeth the whoore That her feete abide not in her house but nowe shee is without and now in the streetes By Solomons record shee that gadeth abroad cannot bee well thought of With Wisedome shee hath cracked her credit If Dinah had taried at home while shee went abroad shee had not beene deflored which was the cause of great blood-shed which made her brethren Simeon and 〈◊〉 afterward to bee diuided in Iaakob dispersed in Israel The occasion of all that euill was from the vanitie of the Damosell her folie is registred in Gods Chronicles for all Ages to come that women chieflie may read it and bee wise by her example The wordes are these And Dinah the daughter of Leah which shee bare vnto Iaakob went out to see the daughters of the Land Remember well I pray thee these few pâ—…ecepts Bee carefull sincere at the seruice of thy God Serue him not by halfes Hee who is onelie holie must bee serued wholie Take good heed to thy self beware of clawing flatterers who for gaine wil varnish thy vices for to make them seeme vertues Labour for a good name perrell it not for trifflles If for light matters it bee mainelie hazarded it shall bee easilie cut off where euer thou bee bee content with thy lot See that in anie wise thou neuer harbour in thine heart a discontented mind Beware of an euill tongue which is an vnruelie euill within the compasse of the mouth wherein it is is a vvorld of vvickednesse Bee carefull both for the inward and the outward of thy conuersation for many eyes will looke and spye what shall be thy life after me Bee therefore euer vpon thy guard sinne neuer in hope of secrecie for none can sinne without a witnesse Sequester thy selfe from all occasions of euil if thou wold haue grace to bee dearelie and deepelie rooted in thine heart Where euer thou art thinke God thereto be present Tak him at all times to bee an eye-witnes of thy thoughts Thogh ali be barred out the Lord is within Feare God liue in peace with thy neighbours Let the good thoughts of thine heart put the ouer in the handes of practise first know theÌ„ doe which is compleate Christianitie Grow in grace grone for sins past escape relapses haunt the godlie flie these that are of a prostitute Conscience Sinne is like a Ring-worme of a contagious and spreading nature from lesse to more ouer Shooes ouer Bootes like Hezekiels waters from the Ankles to the Knees and so higher and higher from scabbe to scandale Shune all appearance of euill so shall thy conuersation sauour like oyntment and most sweete perfume Now the Lord bee with thee Kisse mee and so farewell The Pastour Heere Sir are your little Children waiting for your blessing it is good that yee say some-thing to them for their instruction The last words of a Friend or of a Father are often of greatest weight and beare most into the rememberance of these to whom they are spoken I feare that ye faint in your weaknesse and therefore bee as summar and short as yee can The sicke Man I thanke God though the strength of my bodie decayeth my Spirit is become stronger like Samson after that his haire beganne to grow My force courage within is renewed like the youth of the Eagle by casting of its bill Blessed be he who giueth power to the faint and increaseth strength to them that haue no might O Lord mould mine heart after the heauenlie modell of thy Law Emptie mine head and disburden mine heart of all earthlie cares that my thoughts may be whollie and entirelie spent vpon thy selfe without any turning awry from holie and heauenlie meditations The Pastour Seeing God is with you in such a spirituall power spend your short time the best yee may for his glorie and for the well of these whom yee desire to bee best in this world after you That new strength which appeareth in you at the sight of your Children remembereth me of old Iaakob lying on his death-bedde when it was tolde him that Ioseph whom he loued was come to see him it is said That Israel strengthen himselfe and satte vpon the bed The sicke Man I finde the like mercie though not in such a measure O my God fit and furnish my Soule with the sanctifying grace of thy spirit Rouse vp my Spirit whet vp my minde to feeke the thinges which are aboue Lord put a liuing Soule within this dying bodie A speach to his Children And now yee my Children gather your selues together and hearken vnto your louing Father that ye may remember well his last words Come neare mee I pray you and receiue your old Fathers blessing Let mee lay both mine handes vpon your heads that I may make my last prayer for you The Angel which redeemed mee from all euill blesse the Lads and lette them grow in multitude as fishes God make you as Ephraim and as Manasses Behold now my deare ChildreÌ„ I goe the way of all the earth keepe the charge of the Lord your God to walke in his wayes that yee may prosper in all that yee doe and whther soeuer yee turne your selues By instant prayers to God hemme in the folies of your youth In this wicked euill world striue to bee like fishes which keepe their fresh taste while they liue in saltest waters Bee carefull to consecrate the first yeeres euen the flower and pryme of your life vnto the Lord which shall bee a meanes for sanctifying the rest of your age The first borne and the first fruites vnder the Law of ceremonies were the Lords The substance thereof in the Gospel is that wee giue the Lord the best of our yeeres and the flower and strength of our age Most men in the prime of youth are both hote and headie Happie is hee who in a sober moode and colde blood passeth the time of his sojourning heere chieflie while hee is in the strength of youth By carefull culture manurance the fiercenesse of Beares and Lyons will be mitigated and tamed It is a great slight of Sathan to make young men sport in their sinnes vnder hope they may repent when they are olde But alas who is so young that can say that he shall liue vntill morrow Is it not seene that there bee as manie little as great skuls in Golgotha As soone say wee commeth the Lambe skin to the market as the olde Sheepes But thogh they who are yong were assured to become old they could not be assured of repentance which is the gift of God which hee giueth to whom and
the Lord and therefore if yee would please good men or haue good men for to please you walke in the wayes which will please the Lord All mens hearts are in his hands like riuers of water Hee can make a foe of a friende and a friende of a foe If yee neglect this counsell yee shall at last be forced to stand at staues end with the whole world Hee who is at variance with his God will neuer agree with himselfe and so shall bee in discord with all for as the Pagan said well Conveniet nulli qui secum dissidet ipse Hee who is not good to himselfe can bee good to none Though commonlie men say of some Hee is or was euill to none but to himselfe A wise man in this land hath made a good replye to that speach viz. It were almes to hang him that is not good to himselfe Now yee are young yet breath is in the bodie Worke while it is light Bee carefull to keepe a Callender as it were of your dayes which may call vpon you hourelie bee diligent for the time is short By years dayes and houres our life is continuallie cut and sklised away What shall I say more The Lord giue you wisedome in all thinges Godlinesse is true wisedome Best spirited men are not euer most spirituall As for you striue truelie to bee religious Nathanaels Israelites indeed Euerie night before ye goe to bedde set before your eyes the mercies of that day Muster them orderlie and take a view of them carefullie that vpon your knees from your heartes yee may giue God his praise While ye are gone from the publick prayer of the Familie vnto your priuate bed Chamber remember Gods mercies afresh While yee remember them let this bee your last collation drinke before yee goe to bedde take with Dauid the cup of Saluation and call vpon the Name of the Lord As trades men haue a day Booke for daylie receites it were expedient that all the godlie haue a register wherein may bee written the noble actes of the Lord for to helpe ou◅ weake memorie lest wee suffer his mercies to slippe out of our minde If yee either forgette your sinnes or Gods mercie remember that yee haue a Conscience which is a daylie obseruer a night watch and a secret spye into your Soules In all your adoes striue to be righteous before God and vpright before men See in a short verse what shall bee the end both of the godlie and wicked The memorie of the just is blessed But the name of the wicked shall rotie O my deare Children lay vp carefullie these wordes into your hearts which I your olde Father haue spoken with much paine Thinke vpon this one day Death will inquire what Life hath beene doing As for my worldlie affaires as Rents or Goods if they bee great lippen not to them If they be little little with Gods grace is enough If yee bee godlie God shall bee your Father and your feeder If yee abound bee not prodigall Make not a god of your Bellie Beware to tipple or quaffe or with the glutton to feede delicatelie Care not for panch pleasures Iohn liued on locusts It is better to liue on Cake and water with a godlie Elias than to feast royallie with a foolish Nabal Though feasts bee pleasant they are dangerous When the dayes of feasting were ended Iob sent sanctified his children rose vp earelie in the morning for to offer burnt offerings for them al for Iob said It may be that my sons haue sinned cursed God in their heart Single feasting is fittest for the Soule and most wholesome for the bodie God sendeth sluggardes to the Pismire as to a Master of worke for to direct them from loitering to labour Let gluttons whose dearest delightes are in panch-pleasures from morning vntill euen learne of the Swallowes who sit not down to dine but feede while they flee As they feede on flees so they flee while they feede What should man doe with his Bellie but feede it as in a flight Let the winges of sobrietie carrie you from glutting plentie before yee bee ouer-taken with that which shall make you to be ashamed to morrow While yebegin to drinke beware of after-clapes Men by a litle distemper at the fi◅st contract easily an habit of sine S. Augustine speaking how his Mother MONICA learned to tipple ◅aith Primoribus labijs sorbebat exiguum Itaque ad illud modicum quotidi◅na modica addendo in eam consuetudinem lapsa erat vt prope jam plenos mero calices inhianter hauriret That is At the first shee began but to kisse the cuppe and to sippe a little of the wine while shee filled the Cup to her Parents but anone shee came to this that shee made no bones to sucke drie full Cups of wine See how from sipping at last shee came to carousing Oh but that is a deare drink which costeth a man a Spot in his name a blot in his conscience Experience telleth that pleasures is more dangerous than paine and feasting thā fasting Remember Iobs children see in what a feare that godlie Father was concerning their ◅easting Certainelie his feare was not a foolish feare without anie ground It is set down in Scripture for to teach men feare in feasting Too manie at such times turne themselues into barrels and beastes swinishlie ouerturning all reason judgement that is within them As for you be yee sobber if yee would bee holie God will not tarie into that heart which hath a god in the bellie Hee who would lodge the Arke must chasse Dagon to the doore like a dogge Manie who neglect the bellie haue pride printed in great capitall Letters vpon their backe Bee yee not sumptuous in apparrell Let God giue you the coat according to the cold Follow not new fashions Beware of euill example Woe to the world for scandales As yee should not bee prodigall bee not also misers pinch-pennies Defraude not your selues of your graunted good Bee thankfull to God for all his giftes Away with these who after they haue receiued that which they sought haue done with God till they neede him againe In all the course of your life striue to hold the Ballance equall vertues in the midst Extremities are like Border Theeues not subject to the Lawes Bee neither too nice nor too pert too scurrile nor too silent In worldlie wealth trye before yee treasure If yee bee rich glorie not in your riches if yee bee poore pray God to keepe you from the extremitie of pouertie lest that yee put foorth your hand to steale If God send pouerty be not discouraged Though it bee sore it is no sinne Lazarus with his ragges was welcomer to God than Diues with his purple Hee who begged from that rich man on earth saw the rich man a begger into Hell Hee is rich enough
Seruant fainting in great weaknesse of bodie But thogh flesh and friends health wealth and all should faile him thou LORD will neuer faile him Hee is thy Seruant he is thy Seruant the son of thy hand-maide Thou hast most powerfullie hitherto supported and vpholdeÌ„ him by thy mercifull hand Now leaue him not while he is drawing neare vnto his long home It is easie to perceiue that his age is departing from him like a shepheards tent and that thou art readie to cutte off his life like a weauer His desire LORD is to bee with Thee Thou hast heard the sighings of this prisoner and thou hast vnderstood the groanes of thine own Spirit As thou hast begunne the good worke in him so perfect it in due time As thou doest with the yeare crowne it with thy goodnesse with-draw not thy Grace from him till it bee made perfect in weaknesse Thou LORD hast manifested thy loue to him wonderfullie by putting into his minde and mouth such diuine preceptes and counselâ—… to his Friends Wife and Children that all that haue heard them haue beene forced to wonder at the glorie of thy grace Now deare Iesus let thy force be with him in his fainting but the nearer hee draweth vnto his end lâ—…t thy Spirit the Comforter enable him the more till victoriouslie hee hath put an end vnto this Battell As the strength of his bodie shall beginne to decrease let the comfortes of thy Spirit increase in his Soule Seale vp in his heart that peace which thou hast purchased by the blood of the Prince of peace Assure him of the rest of these joyes which are to bee reuealed whereof hee hath alreadie receiued the earnest O say vnto his Soule that thou shalt bee his Saluation In the silence of the night while deepe sleepe falleth on man make thou his reines to instruct him Suggest vnto his heart the sweetest wordes of thy comforts which may bee vnto him like apples of gold in pictures of siluer Waine his heart daylie more and more from the loue of things below Make thou his Soule to soare vp with Eagles wings towardes the heauenlie Mansions Prepare nowe his Soule to the last conflict Put vpon him all the Armour of God Strengthen his Faith that hee may holde fast by Thee yea so resoluedlie that though thou should slay him yet hee may trust in thee When the force of sicknesse shall tak away the vse of his tongue make his heart to groane vnto Thee in the secret language of thy Spirite â—…hat in thine hands he commenâ—… 〈◊〉 his Soule and that he desireth thee to come quicklie for his reliefe Let not the increasing throes and pangues of death discourage him In greatest anguish vphold his enfeebled heart with the hope of Glorie Look on him Lord with the eye of thy mercie incline thine eare to the sighes of his heart make haste to come for his Soule is longing for his appointed time till his change come As thou art the Lord of life so vnto thee belong the issues of death Let strength proceede from thee like vertue from Christes garment whereby hee may bee encouraged against the fearefull assaults of death which shortly in all appearance shall besiege his noble parts for to bring him vnto dust froÌ„ whence hee came Make thy Spirit to enter into his hearte for to vphold him against this feare smart of his last and most heauie houre Let him know that if the earthlie house of his Tabernacle bee dissolued that he hath a building of God an house not made with hand eternall in the heauen Make his Soule more and more earnestlie to groane for to bee cloathed vpon with his house which is from Heauen Seeing while hee is heere at home in the bodie hee is absent from the Lord make thou him confident and willing rather to bee absent from the bodie that hee may bee present with Thee in the Heauens Let the hope of the Resurrection vphold him against all the terrours of the Graâ—…e Perswade his Soule that at the sound of that shrill celestiall Trumpet his bodie shall arise and with these same eyes shall beholde his Redeemer and none other for him Innumerable euils Lord haue compassed him about Nowe the time approacheth that thou wilt deliuer him from all his feares Make haste Lord Come Lord Iesus come Rebuke Sathan wee intreat thee that in the darksome night he interrupt not the comforts of thy Spirit Suffer neuer that slie and craftie one to bereaue him of the pledges of thy loue Make him to holde fast that which hee hath that none bee able to take his Crowne O mercifull God take notice of all his wants and necessities and bee thou to him SHADAI GOD all sufficient for to supplie them Let him not want that Grace without the which hee cannot serue thee Through thy selfe make him to push downe all the enemies of his Saluation Through thy Name make him to treade them vnder foote that rise vp against him for he hath not forgotten the Name of thee his God neither hath hee stretched out his hands to a strange God While his eye-stringes shall bee broken and when the throes of death shall make his heart to tumble within him then bee thou the strength of his heart the health of his countenance and his God In his greatest griefes anoynt his Soule with some droppes of that oyle of gladnesse wherewith thou once anointed our Lord and Sauiour aboue his fellowes Let thy Graces like that precious ointment that ran downe vpon the beard of Aaron flowe down from thee aboundantlie vpon all the powers of his Soule Let spirituall vertues drop downe vpon him as the dew of Hermon and as the dew that descended vpon the mountaines of Zion O thou the perfection of beautie shine vpon his Soule Indue him with a melting and relenting heart Bee mercifull to thy distressed Church comfort Her in all Her teares and troubles Pittie Her deformities Adorne Her with Puritie and Vnitie Though Shee bee outwardlie 1. duskie because the Sun hath withered Her yet Shee is the Kings Daughter whose 2. whole glorie is within 3 Awake O North Wind and come thou South blow vpon Her Garden that the spices thereof may flowe out Declare vnto Her enemies that if they 4 touch Her they shall touch the Apple of thine Eye Let them all know that it is 5 hard to kicke against prickes and that if they perlecute thee Thou wilt throw them to the ground Bee mercifull to our gracious SOVERAIGNE the Kings Majestie as by thy Grace thou hast made him a King so by thy Grace make Him a good King Powre down a princelie Spirit vpon his Soule that Hee may haue courage for the Trueth Make Him answerable to his most honourable Style Defender of the Faith Vouchsafe thy mercie vpon his Princelie Spouse Let the beautie of the Lord Her God bee vpon Her Make Her like
Creator Praised be the Name of the most High who hath borne and broken that vnspeakable burden of wrath where with yee were surcharged at our first meeting The sicke Man Amen Amen Blessed bee the Name of Iesus At that Name the knees of my Soule bowe in a most humble manner to the ground for to kisse it with my mouth a thousand times vpon Conscience of my bygone miserie and of his present mercie All mine affections are set on foote and are so cheered and rauished with the loue of my God as no tongue can expresse O happie thrise happie change Once I feared damnation nowe Christ is my Saluation Once I sat in darknesse hee is now my Light Once I was in Death hee is now my Life Once I was in bondage hee is now my Libertie Once I was in want hee is now my Wealth Once I was in sicknesse hee is nowe mine Health Once I was in shame hee is nowe my Glorie What shall I say mo◅e Hee is mine onelie Deare and and dearest heartes desire Hee is my strongest Tower I haue none other Arke to saue mee from the flood Mine heart is prepared mine heart is prepared Oh that I were where without let I shall sing Halleluiah for euer where all earthlie objects shall seeme but filthie abjects in comparison of him Now Sir I intreat you to conceiue another Prayer that thereby as by the Charet of Elijah my Soule may bee carried vp into Heauen Commend my Soule into the hands of Christ the Redeemer Yee the Lords Priest stand still with the Arke till my Soule hath passed the Iordan for to enter into Canaan O Lord Iesus pittie this poore Soule that panteth at thy feete draw it out of this clogge of clay B◅e with mee vnto the end Graue thine owne shape deepe within mine heart that it may bee in judgement as a piece of euidence that the Heauens are mine heritage O look vpon mee who am heere waiting vpon that blessed hope Comfort refresh mee with the sweetest breath of thy blessed Spirit Set my sillie Soule upon Pisga the sight hill of Canaan Guarde mee with the invinsible troopes of thine Angels O thou whose Name and Nature is mercie take my wearied Soule and lull it sweetelie in the softest armes of thy most tender compassions Ioyne your prayers vnto mine The effectuall feruant prayer of a righteous man auaileth much The Pastour According to your desire Sir wee shall worsle with God in prayer that your end may bee peace The Lord gather all our scattered thoughts that beeing as twisted together into one threede they may be like the three-fold corde which is not easilie broken powerfull to draw downe Gods Graces from aboue Let vs pray A Prayer for the sick mā O Lord settle earnest prayer in our Soules vpon true sense of our neede Let not our prayers be tumultuous Tune thou our words by thy Spirit while our lips walke make our hearts to moue Preserue vs from vaine babyling lest our prayers bee turned into sinne O God the God of all Spirites who hast the keyes of Heauen and of Hell Thou steeketh and no man openeth Thou openeth and no man steeketh Open now thy mercifull doores vnto this poore Soule which panteth after thee as the chassed Hart panteth after the water brookes Let none of his sinnes stand betweene thy face and him for to ecclipse his Soule the light of thy countenance Seale vp in his heart by thy Spirit the free full forgiuenes of all his transgressions Thou who by the vertue of thy death made the vaile of the Temple to rent for to mak an open way to the Holie of holies mak also the partition wall of all his iniquities to cleaue from the toppe to the bottome that his Soule remoued from his bodie may get entrie to the Highest and holiest of the Heauens where thine honour dwelleth Make thy Graces in him to growe like Elias his cloud which at the first no bigger than an hand at last by and by did ouer spread the whole skie Sanctifie his Soule and soften his heart with the diuine dew of thy Grace Say vnto his Soule I am thy Saluation Behold Lord his Soule is seeking thee let nothing in his search carie him on the by Keepe fast in his remembrance the blessed bloodie passion of his Redeemer Iesus When Death shall come let him die with thy Christ in his Armes Strengthen and increase his desire to be dissolued assuring him that it shal be much better for him Furnish him with strength whereby he may row against the strictest streams of all temptations till hee arriue into the hauen of the Heauens the sole and safe harberie of Saluation And seeing no vncleane thing can enter into Heauen Lord wash this thy seruant and wash him throughlie that by the vertue of thy Blood his sinnes though they were red like scarlet and crimson may bee made white like wooll and whiter than the snow Pull off his Soule the menstrous cloath of his owne righteousnes and cloth him with the righteousnes of him whose statelie style is THE LORD OVR RIGHT TEOVSNES Thou who hast alreadie added strength vnto his Faith while it was scant like a smoking flaxe let not the sparkle which once thou hast kindled for euer bee quenched Amid the sight of his sins make him to lay hold vpon the merite and full satisfaction of his Sauiour Let him with all the Faithfull receiue of that fulnesse and grace for grace And seeing nowe Lord hee is comming vnto thee thorow the snakie fielde of manie temptations lette his feete bee shod with the preparation of thy Gospel Thou Lord wilt neuer suffer anie that trust in thee to bee confounded Hee followed thee constantlie in his life nowe let thy Spirit tryst him at the houre of death Hee disclaimeth all hope of helpe by anie other than by thy selfe alone Though hee knoweth not perfectlie what to say yet his eyes are on thee Thou who is Alpha and Omega hast begunne this good worke in him crowne it with the perfection of thy goodnesse Let him more more feele that hee is euerlastinglie acquite by the Blood of the Lambe from the terrors of Gods Tribunall Refresh his Soule more and more with celestiall spirituall joyes proceeding from the Spirit of Grace Let him feele himselfe assuredlie knit vnited to thee O thou preseruer of men that in and by thee hee may be presented blamelesse before thy Majesties Iustice-seate Furnish his minde with light and his memorie with strength that hee may vnderstand and remember that Christes death is an absolute and all sufficient Sacrifice for remouing the guilt of all repenting sinners Shewe him a signe of thy loue Multiplie in his heart the pledges of thy kindnes Make him faithfull vnto death that hee may receiue the Crowne of life Thou hast alreadie subdued in him alloue and liking of this world
dreadfull visitatations of Conscience His Soule hath bene sore racked with the pitifull perplexities of a vexed minde Now death is approaching Sight senses all are failing but thou Lord will neuer faile him While the naturall eyes of his bodie beginne to growe dimme then cleare thou the spirituall eyes of his soule that hee may with Stephen see the heauens opened and the Sonne of man readie to receiue him And alwayes Lord as the time of death shall approach so let his Soule draw nearer vnto thee that while sicknesse shall take away the vse of his tongue his heart may cry to thee Come Lord Iesus come in thine hands I resigne my Spirit Nowe Father of mercies seeing thy Girnels are prepared for him by the power of thy grace fanne this Corne cleane from its chaffe that it may bee treasured vp therein Put his life in a readinesse that hee may giue thee a chearefull account of all wherein hee hath imployed thy Talents Let him heare these words of joye Faithfull seruant come and enter in thy Masters joye Long hath his Soule beene wooing the heauens with weake fluttering desires Nowe open the window of thine Arke and let in this wearied Doue crouding for thy Rest Manie depthes bee betweene vs and heauen One deepth calleth vpon another deepth for flesh and blood there is no possibilitie of passing thorowe But Lord that which is impossible with men is possible with thee Let therefore the vertue of thy death be to him like a Bridge for to sette him safe ouer all the gulfes of miserie In his journey to thy Kingdome remoue all rubbes out of the way O Lord listen to our cry Put these our vnworthy prayers into thy golden Censer Perfume them with the incense of thy righteousnesse and offer them vp to thy Father vpon the Altar of thy diuinitie And thou Fatherof mercies for the merites of thy Son his all sauing death which hee hath suffered for al repēting sinners Receiuein mercy this Soule which Sathan hath sought to sift Receiue the deare price of the Blood of thy Son Let thy Iustice say I am satisfied Let thy mercie so smile vpon him that it may bee the health of his countenance and the comfort of his Conscience While hee shall finish his course finish thou his Faith with perfection whereby hee may die hauing a settled assurance of that blessed Inheritance and massie Crowne of immortalitie which Christ hath conquised by his bloodie merites To whom with Thee and the Spirit of Grace bee all Glorie honour dominion and euerlasting power for now and euer Amen The sicke Man Lord heare thou in Heauen O blessed God and Father of eternity seeing my time nowe is short giue mee grace to manage it well Shute not thine eares to my sighes while my tong in the jawes of death shall cleaue fast to the roofe of my mouth O follow me with thy fauours euē thorow the valey of the shadow of death O Lord because thou art faithfull cannot lie I look shortlie to receiue in hand that which I haue in hope O come now and put an ende to the dayes of my vanitie The Pastour Blessed magnified be the Lord of eternitie for such wonderfull mercies towards you He most powerfullie most wonderfully hath brought you back from the corrupt course of Nature as a Boat rowed against the streame by the force of Armes and of Oares Behold now ye approch vnto your Heauen Be of good heart Sir ye are neare vnto your rest the place of pleasures for euermore Nowe seeing the ende draweth neare yee haue to remember well if yee haue anie grudge against anie that before yee decease they may be fetcht and friended with you The sicke Man I wish all men to be well I hope that no man wisheth otherwise to mee My desire was neuer either to reuile or to reuenge I am readie to satisfie where I haue failed and to forgiue where I haue receiued the greatest wrong Mans wronges against mee are but light in comparison of my wickednes against God Hee is not worthie that God shuld forgiue him his sinnes who will not forgiue his neighbour an injury My good God hath forgiuen mee all As hee hath forgiuen mee so I forgiue all men and desire the lik to be done by others vnto mee My Soule abhorreth these words of ranckour I may forgiue him but I will not forgete him The softning Spirit of God cannot dwell where there is such stonie steelie hardnesse of heart O Fountaine of Grace powre the powers of thy Spirit within my breast that my Soule may bee refreshed with thy blessed balmie comfortes of sauing grace Draw vp my spirit toward the Tabernacles of immortalitie O when shall I come and appeare before God! Put to the Spure to this dull jadde of my foggie flesh that I may make more haste in my journey The Pastour Lord heare thou in heauen Seeing God hath blessed you with Wealth I doubt not but that ye will doe some thing for the well of Colledges Hospitales Colledges are the Seminaries or seede-plotes of vertues out of which come these who become Rulers of the Church Common-wealth Hospitals are shelters for the poore the friendes of Christ Christs counsell to the rich is that they make friendes of the Mammon of vnrighteousnes Such words were not spoken by our Lord without great and weightie reasons The sicke Man All these things were done in my Testament while I put mine house to an order I haue not forgot that point of duetie Hee is not worthy to be called a faithfull man who leaueth not behind him some fruits of his Faith That Faith which cannot justifie a man by good works before men will neuer justifie his soule before God Remember mee O Lord cōcerning this wipe not away my good deedes which I haue done for thy glory Let men dreame of Saluation as they please S. Iames his precept is that men shewe their Faith by their workes Though Pharisees doe all that they doe for to bee seene men must not in mens sight forbeare to doe well Because Hypocrites come to preaching prayers publicklie true Israelites for that must not sitte at home The Godlie must not bee so base in heart as to abstaine from all publicke good because the wicked worshippe but outwardlie Shewes without substance in some should not bee able to banish the shewes of substance from others The Pastour Indeede Sir yee speake wiselie As the tree is first seene in the budde and then in the flourish and after in the fruite so muste the life of man bee Because the barren figge tree had nothing but leaues the fruitfull tree must not grow bare the leaues of the tree haue their owne vse among the fruites So haue godlie shewes good vses when they are joyned with true substance The Faith of a Christian should not think shame to shew
thou separate them sâ—…ale surelie thy pardons within my Conscience and doe perfectlie away all my transgressions Guarde mee assist mee and harnesse my Soule against Sathan his last on-sette Let my Soule graspe with an holy greedinesse in the hand of Faith such spirituall comforts as thou O Lord makest to come from the boundlesse and bottomelesse fountaine of thy mercie toward all these whoÌ„ thouloueth Let my soule feele more and more sensiblie these mercies which fairelie oriently streame thorow the bloodie wounds of my blessed Sauiour Iesus the 〈◊〉 wash and bath my drooping Soule in the well of life Giue vnto it a drinke of the riuers of thy pleasures O Lord of loue shedde thy loue into mine heart thorow the bleeding bowels of my blessed Sauiour O blessed Redeemer of lost mankinde O Pelicane of pittie whose heart did euer melt with mâ—…rcifull compassions pittie my Soule in this painefull plight Mine heart strings are racked my bowels are rent the house of the Soule is falling downe nowe open the doore of thine euerlasting Tabernacles that my Soule may goe from Grace to Glorie Make the power of thy loue like a load stone for to draw mine heart after thee from the mudde of this mortalitie The Pastour Lord heare thou in heauen and fulfill the sute of thy Seruant burie all his sinnes and his sorrowes in the bottomelesse sea of thy mercie Entombe in the Tombe of Iesus where they may lye for euer without anie hope of a resurrection The sicke Man I waite for the Lord my Soule doeâ—…h waite in his word doe I hope My soule waiteth for the Lord more thaÌ„ they that watch for the morning I say More thaÌ„ they that watch for the morning My Soule is wearied of this earthlie Tabernacle O when shall I come and appeare before God O that I were at my wished home O nowe moue the poole of thy mercie and moue my Soule to runne into it The Pastour It is likly that within an houâ—…e God shall grant you your desire Could not you watch with mee but an houre said Christ to his Disciples Yee haue nowe but an houres absence from your God Yee haue but an houres voyage from the bodie to the sight of Gods face the place of your rest Fixe fast your eyes vpon the Crowne of immortalitie till your Soule be past from toilesome Time to Eternitie Yet a little while God shall retire you from the tyring trauels of this life Watch but an houre and your end shall bee peace The sicke Man The Lorde sende a good houre wherein I may lay downe the loade of this mortalitie Alas manie an houre haue I euill and idlie spent in pam pering this foggie flesh with the light and loose pleasures of this life O Spirite of Grace drawe neare vnto my Soule Make thy residence into this broken heart Correct cure and couer all the corruptions of my Nature Beginne and end crowne the worke with thy goodnes At last close in me thy graces with thy glorie O make mine eyes to see and mine armes to carrie and mine heart to bee filled with thy Saluation Conuoye vnto my Soule the warmest blood that euer heated the heart of Iesus Let that euer recking blood wherein is a Sauour of life vnto life Comfort and vp-holde my Soule in this last heauie houre Now Sir seeing the end draweth neare helpe mee to spend well this houre which in all appearance shall be my last I wish that all my thoghts and affections bee nowe so bended toward my God that they neither sway nor swerue from him by anie idle wandering of minde O Thou that art high and excellent who dwellest in the high and holie place Thogh thou be high thy promise is to dwell also with him that is of a contrite humble spirit According to thy promise reuiue the Spirit of the humble and giue life to him that is of a contrite heart O Lord according to thy wonted grace make mee in my last agonie to possesse my Soule in peace and patience Disapoint Satan in all his craftie fetches O couer this sillie Turtle vnder the mantle of thy mercie All other couerings are but light and slight like Spiders webbes which cannot endure the breath and blast of thy mouth The Pastour Lord hearken thou in heauen giue eare vnto the sute of thy Seâ—…uaÌ„t I perceiue indeede that now your words wearie you Lest yee faint I shall tak the speach vpon me If it be your will I shall let you heare a most diuine discourse taken from a godly preacher on his death-bed the words surely are weighty of great power If ye please I shal let you heare them while I speake them meditate yee and in your minde make them your owne wordes The sicke Man I intreate your Sir for to let mee heare them I shall follow you in mine heart as I can I finde that my tongue almost now faileth mee O God while I heare let the Spirit of grace take harbour into mine heart Set all mine affections on bensell that I may carefullie giue eare vnto thy comfortes the cordials of thy Gospel O cleare the sight of my minde dazeled with the mist of my corrupt affections The Pastour Lord heare thou in heauen and forgiue the sinnes of thy seruant After this manner Sir the man of God spake vpon his death-bedde I owe to God a death as his Son died for mee Euer since I was borne I haue beene sayling to this Hauen and gathering patience to comfort this houre therefore shall I bee one of these Guestes nowe that would not come to the banket when they were inuited What hurt is in going to Paradise I shall lose nothing but the sense of euill And anone I shall haue greater joyes than I feele paines For mine Head is in Heauen alreadie to assure mee that my Soule and bodie shall follow after O Death where is thy sting Why should I feare that which I wold not escape because my chiefest happines is behind I cannot haue it vnlesse I goe vnto it I wold goe through Hell to Heauen And therfore if I march but through death I suffer lesse than I would suffer for God My paines doe not dismay mee because I trauaile to bring foorth eternall life My sinnes doe not fright me because I haue Christ my Redeemer The Iudge doeth not astonish me because the Iudgâ—…s Sonne is mine Aduocat The Deuill doth not amaze mee because the Angels pitch about me The Graue doeth not grieue me because it was my Lords bedde Oh that Gods mercie to mee might moue others to loue him For the lesse I can expresse it the more it is The Prophets and the Apostles are my fore-runners Euery man is gone before mee or else hee will follow after mee If it please God to receiue mee into Heauen before them which haue serued him better I owe more thankfulnesse vnto
him And because I haue deferred my repentance till this houre whereby my Saluation is cutte off if I should die suddenlie Loe how my God in his mercifull prouidence to preuent my destruction calleth mee by a lingring sicknesse which stayeth till I bee readie and prepareth mee to mine ende like a preacher and maketh mee by wholesome paines wearie of this beloued world lest I should depart vn willing like them whose death is their damnation So hee loueth mee while hee beateth mee that his stripes are plasters to saue mee therefore who shall loue him if I despise him This is my whole office nowe to strengthen my bodie with mine heart and to bee contented as God hath appointed vntill I can glorifie him or vntill hee glorifie mee If I liue I liue to sacrifice and if I die I die a sacrifice for his mercie is aboue mine iniquitie Therefore if I should feare death it were a signe that I had not Faith nor hope as I professed but that I doubted of Gods trueth in his promise wh◅ther hee will forgiue his penitent sinner or not Hee is my Father let him doe what seemeth good in his sight Come Lord Iesus for thy seruant commeth I am willing helpe mine vnwillingnesse Heere is the end of that godlie mans speach As at that Brydell in Cana the best wine came last so shall it be heer◅ After the words of a godlie man I shall let you heare the words of God spoken by a man inspired by his Spirit euen the last words of Dauid the man whose praise is this that hee was a man according to Gods owne heart The last words of Dauid Dauid the sonne of Iesse said and the man who was raised vp on high the a◅ointed of the God of Iaacob and the sweete Psalmist of Israel said The Spirit of the Lord spake by mee and his words was in my tongue The God of Israel saide the Rocke of Israel spake to mee Hee that ruleth ouer men must bee just ruling in the feare of God And hee shall bee as the light of the morning when the Sunne riseth euen a morning without cloudes as the tender grasse springing out of the earth by cleare shining after raine Although mine house bee not so with God yet hee hath made with mee an euerlasting couenant ordered in all things and sure For this is all my Saluation and all my desire although hee make it not to growe But the sonnes of Belial shall bee all of them as thornes thrust away because they cannot bee taken with hands But the man that shall touch them must be fenced with yron and the staffe of a speare and they shall bee vt◅er lie burnt with fyre in the same place Alittle before his death at the inauguration of his Sonne Solomon he spake manie notable words among others these bee of great weight O Lord wee are heere but strangers before thee and so◅ourners as were all our fathers Our dayes on the earth are as a shadow and there is none abiding O Lord God of Abraham Isaac and of Israel our Fathers keepe this for euer in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people and prepare their heartes vnto thee That hundreth and two Psalme is excellent It is intituled a prayer of the afflicted when he is ouerwhelmed and powreth out his complant before the Lord. Heare my prayer O Lord and lette my cry come vnto thee hide not thy face from mee in the day when I am in trouble incline thine eare vnto mee In the day when I call answere mee spe◅dilie For my dayes are consumed like smoke and my bones are burnt like an hearth c. Seeing as wee see that nothing is stable in this world but as it is in that Sermon of the Preacher vanity of vanities and all is vanitie wee haue to intreate the Lord earnestlie as Moses did a little before his death That hee would so teach vs to number our dayes that we may applye our hearts to wisedome and to well doing All things below wither and decay our best beauties are w◅ithed and wrinkled by time But the beautie of the Lord is of euerlasting continuance Let the beautie of the Lord our God bee vpon vs. O the beautie of the things aboue O the beautie of the Firmament O these azured Curtaines spangled with stars of light What jewels of joy are within no mortall tongue can tell Looke vp nowe Sir with the eye of your Faith and visite these heauenlie Mansions and blessed buildinges for immortaltiie Yee are shortlie for to change for the better So long as our sillie Soules are here they are but poore Soules reading and meditating the mercies of God within a cottage of clay hauing nothing to see with but the weak light of the small Candle of grace a light dimmed and darkened with the reekie smok of our sinfull corruptions But so soone as wee shall bee dissolued by Death we shall come to the euerlasting Beames of a Sunne which by nothing is able to bee ecclipsed alight which knoweth no darknesse euen that Light which bringeth light out of darknesse Now Sir vp with your heart saile out your course Be like the Pylot who while hee hath hand on the Helme hath his eye fixed on the heauen Take now the Cuppe of Saluation the great Mazer of his mercie and call vpon the Name of the Lord Hee is worthie to bee praised for his vnspeakable fauour toward you He in great mercy hath toward you turned all the sharpe corrasiues of the Law into most sweete cordials of the Gospel He hath now made you free of all these terrours whereinto yee found your selfe once lyable Oh Lord how did once the sharpe edge of thy Law laide to his mourning heart cutte him thorow the verie gall But blessed bee thou who in thy great mercie hast cut the Cartropes of his sinnes where with hee was once kept fast vnder the most heauie bondage of Hell What say yee now Sir How is it of all Haue yee heard all these words and laide them vp into your minde The sicke Man I haue heard them all that with great comfort now mine heart is in heauen Christ by the vertue of his vnualuable Blood-shed hath takē away the gall of my guiltines Now my bodie is wholly dead to its paine and my Soule is whollie aliue to its glorie I see a Crowne of immortalitie which my Soule would not sticke to fetch thorow the brimstone beames of hell My Soule seeth the face of its Redeemer Christ with a soft hand is now loosing all the bondes of my miserie His most sacred Blood hath melted my marble heart Nowe come Lord Iesus come Long haue I looked for thy Saluation Nowe let thy seruant depart in peace for mine eyes haue seene thy Saluation O my deare Soule I summond thee with all thy powers and faculties to
bee thankfull vnto thy good and gracious Lord O what tribulations am I come thorow O with what balmie comfortes hath the Lord asswadged the dolours of my Soule O my Soule I charge thee by the Roes and by the Hynds that thou haste thee vnto thy God in thy strongest affections Keepe nowe tryst with the Spirit of thy God who is now here waiting till thou bee readie The Pastour My Soule and all that is within mee praise the Lord for the powerfull working of his Spirite within you whereby hee hath made such a change as is wonderfull This particula◅ remembereth mee of a certaine Martyre who beeing condemned to bee burnt could feele no working of the Spirit within his hearte till hee came neare to the stake But beeing once come there with a cry hee clapped his hands and crying out amaine said O Austen hee is come hee is come The Martyr was called Master Goner The sicke Man By the grace of God I hope shortlie to say as much My Soule is readie bent waiting for his comming O come Lord Iesus come Let this mine hungrie Soule win in now at the ports of thy Palace for to get a share of the mariage supper of the Lambe in hope already I feast vpon the joys of eternitie In my Soule is now the Charter of my Saluation sealed with that most pure and purifying Blood of the immaculate and spotlesse Lambe that came to take away the monstrous and menstrous sin◅es of the world In the vertue of his Blood is my strongest comfort and highest resolution By it alone all my blacke and bloodie sinnes are clensed from their crimsin colour The Pastour Indeede Sir it is onelie that Lambes Blood that can purge away sinne and iniquitie Though man should wash himselfe with nitre and take him much sope yet for all that shall his iniquitie bee marked before God except that hee bee bathed into this blood of sprinkling Seeing now your Charter is well sealed hold fast these writtings that nothing aboue or belowe no not principalities and powers bee able to wrest them out of your hands Happie is your heart now wherein is that white jewell of the Reuelation euen the white stone wherein is a new name which no man can knowe except the receiuer O the boundlesse bleeding bowels of Gods compassions O that infinite store-house of Christs merites and mercies which no sinne were they neuer so hainous can bee able to stint or restraine before the repenting sinner get a parte of that purchase Neither Death nor Life things present nor to come shall be able to with hold a mourning sinner from a share in our Lords dearest compassions Christ now Sir is readie to receiue ◅ou Make your selfe readie for him Lift vp your hea◅ for your Redemption draweth neare The ende of your time and toile is fast comming The Angels of God are here waiting vpon your Soule which is now looking out to Christ as the morning faire as the Moone cleare as the Sunne and terrible as an Armie with Banners Wherevpon is your minde nowe fixed The sicke Man All mine affections are bended toward God O what shall bee able to hold or hinder me from hastening to my Lord the repairer of life the destroyer of death the conquerour of Heauen the vanquisher of Hell O my Sauiour come neerer yet vnto mee let my Soule creepe in by thy wounds euen to the verie bowels of thy mercie Warme it like a Chicken vnder the vvinges of thy loue The Pastour In Christ alone is Saluation Out of his side did issue the water that hath quenched the vnquencheable fyre of Gods wrath with the Blood that taketh away the sinnes of the world His holie Heart was racked his Armes of compassiō were stretched out vpon the Crosse for to declare to all repenting sinners the infinite widenesse of his mercies His sacred Head hang down bowed for to giue eare vnto the gronings of his prisoners His blessed Bowels rumbling with compassions rolled together made him to proclaime that Oyas of mercie Come vnto mee all yee that are wearied and ladened with sinne and I will ease you Much hath hee suffered for our cause Like a painefull labourer hee powred out sweate not onely of water but of blood at the working the great worke of mans Saluation At last by laying downe that Life of loue hee achieued the victorie ouer Sathan flesh the world all the enemies of mans Saluation Them all hee hath crushed and trodde vnder foote Stand fast by Iesus In Faith and Hope thrust your heart vpon him What now Sir thinke ye vpon The sicke Man Christ hath bund vp all my woūds he hath perfectlie closed them with the blessed Balme of his comfortes Now at the end of mine appointed time I am waiting earnestlie till my changing come I hope ere it be long to bee translated from grace to glory The Pastour O Lord set this Soule as a seale vpon thine Hearte and as a seale vpon thine Arme Out of thy great loue make this Soule beautifull as Tirzah comelie as Ierusalem terrible as armie with banners Thou Lord who crownest the yeare with thy goodnesse tak in thine hand the crowne of immortalitie in this Soule crowne thy graces with thy glorie Now Sir yee are neare the borders of Canaan three or foure steppes more would set you in that Land of life and loue The sicke Man Mine heart like an Hart braying after waters panteth after God O when shall I come and appeare before him Now mine heart shiuers within mee I am so sicke that I feare to faint The Pastour O Lord now be mercifull shew fauour toward this thy seruant Distill thy graces into his heart vvith a blessed influence from the Spirit of thy loue pull in all his spirits to Thee and thrust out all distractions O Lord of Life and Loue breath into his soule the life of immortalitie Take heede now vnto him ye who are neere about him for death now approacheth with its last assaultes in all appearance Looke well to him for hee seemeth to bee fallen into a sowne THE SICKE MAN IN A SOVVNE A SOLILOQVEE Or a priuie conference betweene the Soule and the bodie of the sicke Man lying in a sowne The Bodie MY Soule desireth thou now to leaue mee that haue borne thee about mee so manie yeares If thou goe from mee I must no longer remaine among the inhabitants of the world but incontinent after thy departure I a vassell of death must bee hid vnder the dust among crawling wormes farre from the eyes of the liuing These who were once glad to kisse my mouth shall abhorre to see my face Is not the Graue a Babel a place of confusion Doe not Iim and Zim resort there Doe not the Satyres and the Fairies daunce there Mine haire startes all vp for feare while I
vp nowe to the Heauens Thou hast alreadie past all toyle and turmoyle The way that rests vnto the Kingdome is both smooth euen without anie rubbe of opposition thou shalt enter into immortalitie O the showres of grace and mercie which raine downe vpon vs both Farewell till that desired day of the Resurrection come The Pastour His eyes stirre a little they are full of teares the tribute of Repentance He beginneth to shake he now seemeth to bee wakened out of his traunce I will inquire what his minde is set vpon What meditations are these Sir that yee are vpon Yee seeme to haue beene in some good motion The sicke Man My Soule Sir and my bodie after a blessed agreement haue beene taking their adewes one from another They haue bene blessing each other beâ—…ause they haue serued God together they looke to bee one day both glorified together A sea of comfortes hath rained downe vpon my Soule from the Heauens in most sweete and pleasant showers The Pastour Surelie that is a worthie exercise Such good motions are plants of God and impressions of his finger Happie are the Soule the bodie that can serue God together with one shoulder At that last day they shall haue a joyefull meeting they two shal be clasped together in loue with such contentmentes as tongues of Angels are not able to expresse But O when the vvicked soule shall returne from hell to take vp its bodie for to carie it to euerlasting torments then shall they curse each other with manie a woe for their Fornications Adulteries Lyes Deceits Ryot Drunkenesse Then would the bodie if it could haue intelligence of the soules comming wish that a rock or a mountaine would fall vpon it for to hide it from the Soule that beeing voyde of life it might bee free of feeling But the decree is come foorth of necessitie they must bee joyned together O but they then shall looke one to another like Lyons Their feede shall receiue none agreement no not They shall neuer agree in anie thing but in this to 〈◊〉 together that their comfortlesse dolours may bee doubled This is a deare pennie-warth so little pleasure for so much paine In that day all the wicked shal bitterlie repent such barganes Now happie is your Soule Sir and your bodie both that are so well resolued to depart Yee are certainelie blessed that euer yee were borne Behold nowe yee rest in hope of the resurrection which shall bee in that great day of Gods generall assemblie when all that euer tooke breath shall compeare before Christ the Iudge of the World for to receiue that which they did in the flesh bee it good bee it euill Now Sir seeing yee are an inrolled Citizen of Heauen and an adopted haire of God vp still with your heart towarde that heauenlie Heritage with sighes and grones beate on still at the doores of Gods mercie God giueth vnto prayer victory against himselfe Nowe the time draweth neere Sir your houre is come to a quarter fight out the good fight fixe the eyes of your Faith vpon the bloodie wounds of Iesus Lay hold on him listen to his voyce ere it bee long yee shall heare these words of joye Come faithfull seruant and enter into thyÌ„ Masters joye O Lord the giuer of grace and of glorie out of the blessed bowels of thy mercie bath and wash this Soule with that arteriall blood which sprang thorow the pierced filme of the heart of his Redeemer At the beginning of this Battell Lord thou did see howe his poore Soule was scorched with the flames of hellish temptations which did burne the verie marrow out of his bones this is thy ordinarie dealing with thine owne Hell on earth is for the heires of Heauen But heauen on earth is the portion of the heires of hell Now Lord from his hell bring him to thine Heauens Mak his Soule more clearelie to look vp toward the blessed bloodie wounds of his Sauiour wherein hee may perceiue the props of his protection Make his Soule now to be fullie possessed with an entire loue to the fairenesse of thy face wherein are pleasures for euermore The sicke Man Lord Iesus make clay againe with thy Spittle for to anointe my dimmed eyes that clearelie with Simeon my Soule may see thy Saluation We in our life receiue but the first impositioÌ„ of handes like the man that saw men walking like trees Now Lord at death giue mee the second imposition that I may see thee euen as thou art The Pastour Lord heare thou in Heauenâ—… Maintaine the life of his loue towards thee Now vvater the seede vvhich thou hast sowne Weede out the tares vvhich Sathan hath sowne Pittie and pardon Lay all his sinnes vpon the Sonne of thy loue Now let his feete be shod for the journey which hee is making to a better place Inspire his Soule with the spirit of grace till his life bee expired Saue him by thy blood which saued theÌ„ that spilt it The sicke Man I finde Death besieging my heart with seÌ„sible blowes O bring out my Soule out of this bricke of bondage of the bodie Mine heart stringes are so racked within mee that they are like to breake The hope that is deferred is the fainting of the Soule Lord helpe mee in this heauie houre The Pastour Lord heare thou in heauen and satisfie his hearts desire The sicke Man Pray pray that the Lord vphold mee in the throng of these throes wherewith mine heart is gripped lest I be whollie swallowed vp of despaire The Pastour O Sauiour of mankinde who out of thy meere mercie and loue came vnder the charge of his accounts Mak now answere for him as his Aduocat before that high Tribunall before which his poore Soule is now arraigned to coÌ„peare Turne all thy wrath in mercie and thy Iustice-seat in a Throne of grace Call home all his wandering thoughtes settle and them vpon thy selfe Maintaine the life of his loue Make death to him a Messenger of mercie and his paines a meane to bring him to thy pleasures O Captaine of his Saluation vnder whose bloodie banner hee hath in his life made warre against the enemies of thy glorie at death ouercome thou all the enemies of his Saluation With thy Trumpets and Lampes terrifie all these merciles Midianites Make them like a wheele as the stubble before the winde Graunt the victorie vnto thy weake Seruant heere that in the Heauens thou may crowne his Soule with glorious garlands of immortalitie Lord heare vs for the sake of thy Sonne vnto whom with thee and the Spirite of Grace bee all glorie and honour Amen Now Sir vp with your heart to the Father of mercies Fight out couragiouslie the fight of Faith Christ now is holding out the Crowne your Saluation is sealed yee neede not feare yee haue your warrant vnder the Broad Seale of the King of Heauen The sicke man O My deare
appointed his boundes that hee cannot passe As the enemies of Christ could not laye handes on him till his houre was come neither Death the 〈◊〉 enemie touch the Sainctes till the houre of their change come As for you M. whom now the Lord hath made a Widow yee haue to take patience and holde your peace with Aaron Dauid said to God I was dumbe and opened not my mouth because thou diddest it A Widow in the holie tongue is called Almanah from a worde that signifieth dumb a word warning her to lay her haÌ„d on her mouth for to seale it with a reuerend silence because God hath done it Let his decease prouoke and enkindle your desire to goe to him for hee will no more come to you God M. hath not left you comfortlesse for now happie is your Husband who hath drunke of deaths cuppe so peaceablie euen a sleeping drinke wherewith hee hath gone to sleepe with these righteous who are said by the Prophet to rest in their beddes The friendes of Christ die not but softlie with Lazarus that friend of Christ they sleepe in their Graues where they lye still and are quiet Trauell M. with your owne heart that it bee silent O but yee haue to blesse God who hath dealt so mercifullie with your dearest hearte whome hee hath so powerfullie vp holden in so bloodie and bitter a Battell against the enemies of his Saluation wherein by the strength of God in his weakenesse After bitter bickeringes hee hath obtained so glorious a victorie which hath made all the heauens torejoyce Now assuredlie M. yee may say My deare Husband the desire of mine eyes is now a Prince in heauen crowned with the euer greene Lawrels of immortalitie Hee hath changed a fraile life a wind in a worme for eternitie of Glorie Faithfull Iob patientlie blessed God by whose permission Sathan in a whirle-wind crushed all his Children together vnder the ruines of an house howe much more comfortablie may yee say The Lord gaue the Lord hath taken away blessed bee the Name of the Lord. How manie good and godlie persons haue their Husbands taken by Pyrates pyned in Galleyes rotting in prisons slaine by poysoÌ„ stobbed in duells murthered by Traitours killed in warre drowned in Riuers sunke downe in Seas with their whole substance and diuerslie taken away in most doolefull manner But be hold which may blunt the edge of your dolours your husband peaceablie deceased in his bed hauing his eyes closed with the finger of a Friend Though all the sortes of death of Gods beloued Ones be precious in his sight yet it is most comfortable for the liuing when these whom they loue best are remoued in this outward peaceable manner both spirituallie and temporallie comforted This Iob calleth to die in our nest If God had done otherwise to you in the rigour of his Iustice who durst controll him This also ye must remember for the settling of any druÌ„blie mood of impatiencie that may be in your heart that hee was but lent vnto you for a space and so contracted yee at the first to tarrie but a space together for if yee will take leasure to reade your Contract of mâ—…rriage yee shall finde that therein is made mention of the death of you both Let mee yet come neerer after hee had taken you by the hand before the 〈◊〉 on your marriage day your handes a little after few wordes spoken did goe asunder againe euen for to tell you that none immortall knot can bee had of any things heere below happie shee whose hearte is plyable and obsequious to the will of her God I confesse that yee cannot but mourne beeing depriued of such 〈◊〉 pleasure the fairest jewell of all your worldlie joy the staffe of your estate on whoÌ„ your greatest comfortes did depend what woÌ„der for many days haue ye bene glad together so that it is no possible were ye neuer so saÌ„ctified but your heart must be deeplie wounded Why not Gods will was neuer against anie moderate mourning for the dead * Grace maketh noâ—… men and women Stoicks and stockes that cannot bee moued for anything Nay God permits vs to mourne but not to carke care as these which haue none hope who â—…ugging out their haire and downe their cheekes powre out their roaringes as waters beeing swallowed vp of discouragement hauing none hoe in their griefe they some out myre and dirt It is permitted to mourne when Gods hand is gone out against vs It is naturall True grace is not against it but against its corruption in excesse In the Olde-Testament Abraham mourned for Sarah For the death of Deborah Rebeccas Nurse was sore weeping for which cause yâ— Oak-tree vnder which she was buried was called Allon Bachuth the Oake of weeping Iacob wept exceedingly for Ioseph whom hee thought by some wilde beaste to haue beene rent in pieces After that Iacob had gathered vp his feete yeelded vp the ghost Ioseph fell vpon his face and wept 〈◊〉 him and kissed him Naomi after shee had lost both Husband and Children would no more bee called Naomi that is pleasant Call me not Naomi said shee that is pleasant but call mee Marah that is bitter For the Almightie hath dealt verie bitter 〈◊〉 with me I went out full and the Lord hath brought mee home againe emptie Why then call yee mee Naomie seeing the Lord hath testified against mee and the Almightie hath afflicted mee These all were interested and therefore they mourned beeing pinched with the smart Behold M. how in the Olde-Testament God by taking away by death hath afflicted his dearest Ones for to vse Naomis words hath testified against them consider also how they haue mourned In the New-Testament Christ himselfe groaning in himselfe wept at Lazarus his Graue The wordes are these And Iesus wept The sight of Christes death was by Simeon foretold to his Mother Marie This Simeon called a sword which shuld pierce her thorow the Soule Thus as yee see a Christian heart is not a Marble heart but a melâ—…ing heart furnishing teares the tribute of our loue appointed for the funeral obsequies of our best beloued whose appointed monethes of life are expired Indeede where grace is it stayeth at the course stoppeth the â—…ent and the streame of Natures blind and bold corruptions bringing our most violent affections into an holie compasse of an humble submission vnto Gods will But it neuer dissalloweth a tempered Turtle crouding for the absence of our dearest comforts Such cleare crystall teares the Lord will put vp in his Bottels But as for these drumlie and barmie teares of fierce and vnrulie passions comming from the muddie fountaine of an vnhallowed heart the Lord will not respect them no more than 〈◊〉 regarded the sacrifice of Cain Sucâ—… teares are like the waters of jealousiâ—… to the whoorish woman which madâ—… her thigh to rotte
her bellie to swell None but humble and godlie grieuances shall bee noted in Gods Register for to be asswaged and allayed with comforts By all that which wee haue saide M. yee see that yee haue licence to mourne like these that haue hope Ye haue indeede nowe to mourne but first for your sins which might haue beene some occasion of his remoue from you What is the best of our hearts but a filthie sinke-hole and stinking dung-hill That done first ye may mourne thereafter for 〈◊〉 losse If the first yee doe sincerelie God in his appointed time shall bee the repairer of your losse with doubled contentmentes as hee did to Iacob who mourning sore for Benjâ—…mine in a clap recouered both Iâ—…seph Benjamin But how can that bee will yee say For him whom I haue lossed can I neuer in this world recouer Know yee not what Elkanah said to his Wife Hannah weeping for want of Children Why weepest thou said hee and why eatest thou not and why is thine heart grieued am not I better to thee than ten Sonnes Shee is not worthie to bee comforted who thinketh not God to bee better to her than ten thousand Husbands Hath not the Lord who sitteth at the Sterne ruling all thinges aboue and below proclaimed himselfe to the worlde to bee that great IAH The Father of the fatherlesse a Iudge of the Widowes Dauid was confident in this 〈◊〉 my father and my mother for sake me â—…aid â—…e then the Lord will take mee vp As for your childreÌ„ lay fast hold vpon the promises of your God who hath oblished himselfe in a Precept of his Law to shew mercie vnto the posteritie of the godlie and that vnto thousands There is Gods Obligation whose word is faster than all the writs of men subscribed with a thousand Noters Such is his loue to the posteritie of the godlie that though the Mother shuld forget the fruit of her womb yet can hee not forget them whom hee hath printed vpon the palmes of hiâ—… hands Hee who hath made the Egyptian to fauour his people and caused the fiâ—…rie flint to yeelde water for the thiâ—…stie moued the deuourer to affoord foode Though he suffer the Lyons to lack and suffer hunger They that seeke the Lord shall not want any good thing All worldlie comforts may deceiue vs as a Brooâ—… as the rising of the Riuers they passe away But God whose bowels are euer earning ouer vs is euer fast and sure With him is no shadowe of change This comforted the Psalmest in the failinges of his flesh and heart God said hee is the strength of mine heart and my portion for euer This may vvell content vs except that wee bee heartlesse cowards I know and am fullie perswaded that yee would gladlie haue still enjoyed your Iewell for some number of yeares euen vnto the last date of mans dayes euen vnto his threescore and tenth yeare or to four score the vtmost feare of sinfull life set for these in whoÌ„ is the reason of strength This I know would haue bene your desire But bee yee thankefull to God for the blessed time yee haue enjoyed him alreadie How many bee Widowes before that their first yeare bee ended And yet though so should haue beene done with you or with all these that liue godlie A good marriage were it but for a day it is in Gods Count Book reckoned to bee of long continuance Many dayes make not the long life but well spent dayes A Childe of God though an Infant of dayes dieth an hundreth yeares olde but the sinner an hundreth yeares olde shall bee accursed hee is but as of yesterday As for your Husband M there is no neede now of lamentations for him for he is well He is now among these ransomed of the Lord obtaining joye and gladnesse where sorrowe and sighing haue none abode God in great mercie hath taken him away that hee should not see the euill to come This was a fauour granted to good Iosiah that he should be remoued in peace before the breake of weather Behold said the Lord I will gather thee vnto thy fathers thou shalt be gathered into thy graue in peace thine eyes shall not see all the euill which I will bring vpon this place In these last Dreggie dayes of the world the dead could speake to the liuing they might well say to them as Christ said to the weeping women of Ierusalem Weepe not for vs but weepe for your selues for behold the dayes are comming c. In all appearance behold in this Age the dayes are comming fast on wherein that of Ieremiah shal be said to the liuing Weepe yee not for him that is dead neither bemone him but weâ—…pe for him that goeth away for hee shall returne no more nor see his natiue Countrie There bee such fearefull calamities now brewing for this Land that by all liklie-hood when yee shall drinke the cup of wrath our griefes shall so goe beyond all such sorrow lik that of Ezekiel that neither shall the Husband mourne for his Wife nor shall the Wife waile for the Husband at their buriall Beholde a Paterne Sonne of man said the Lord Behold I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroake Consider well the sodainnesse the increaser of griefe yet neither shalt thou mourne nor weepe nor teares runne downe Forbeare to cry make no mourning for the dead Bind the tyre of thine head vpon thee and put on thy shooes vpon thy feete and couer not thy lippes and eate not the bread of men All this was to declare that such calamities shulâ—… ouer-take that people that all such mourninges for the death of Husbands Wâ—…ues Children c. should be swallowed vp by a greater griefe This is plaine by the wordes following Yee shall not mourne nor weepe but yee shall pyne away for your iniquities and mourne one towardes another Let vs speake in Conscience May not the Lord most justlie as he did threaten there take from vs our strength the joy of our glorie the desire of our eyes that whervpon we set our minds euen the Gospel the Arke of his couenant O let vs die before that euer that Glorie depart from this Israel This consideration may sufficientlie teach you and vs all moderat mourning in so mercifull a visitation It shall therefore bee your best in your deepest doole to Behaue and quiet your self lik a child that is wained of his mother The choisest argument of comfort which the Apostle could finde concerning the dead is founded vpon the Resurrection the day of the generall meeting of all Saints I would not said hee haue you ignorant concerning them which are asleepe that yee sorrow not euen as these which haue none hope For if wee belieue that Iesus died rose againe euen so them also which sleepe in Iesus
O my Sonne my dearest Sonne is gone Hee is lost where shall I finde him O FREDERICK my Son where art thou Shall I see thee no more Shall I neuer kisse thy mouth againe Once did thou lye in my bellie neere vnto mine heart but now alas thou lyes sleeping in slime Now thy bedde is made among the crawling wormes Thy Princelie Bodie now lyeth in the place of silence O where is thy Coloure now Where is thy Countenance Long shall it before I see thy smilling Face and twinkling Eyes My deare Heart FREDERICK Long may I cry before that thou make answere How haue I lost Thee How past thou from mee When said thou thy last adewes What were thy last adews what were the last words thou spake vnto me Where saw I thee last Oh if I had knowne when I last saw thee that I would neuer againe see thee aliue Then would I haue kissed thee then would I haue more constantlie considered thy countenance I would haue said in my selfe Is this the Face that I shall neuer see againe Is this the Mouth that shall neuer speake againe Are these the Eares that shall neuer heare againe Are these the Eyes that shall neuer see againe That Mouth that Nose these cherrie Cheekes and lillie Lippes these Eares and Eyes would I haue kissed tenne thousand times kissed and ouer againe Alas that I should haue so journed so neere vnto the Waters Alas that euer I knew that mercilesse Element O cursed Waters O Waters of Marah full bitter are yee to mee O Element which of all others shall bee most detestable to my Soule I shall neuer wash mine handes with thee but I shall remember what thou hast done to my best beloued Son the Darling of my Soule I shall for euer be a friend to the Fire which is thy greatest foe Away Riuers away Seas Let me see you no more If ye were sensible Creatures my deare Brother CHARELES Prince of the European Seas should scourge you with his Royall Shippes with his thundering Cannons hee should pierce you to the bottome O Seas of sorrowes O fearefull Floods O tumbling Tempests O wilfull Waues O swelling surges O wicked waters O dooleful deeps O peartest Pools O botchfull butcher Boats was there no mercie among you for such an hopfull PRINCE O that I could refraine from teares and that because they bee salt water like vnto your selues Away with you Seas of sorrowe for yee haue robbed mee of my dearest Darling of account hencefoorth yee shall neuer bee able to repaire my losses O my Sonne FREDERICK my Son my Sonne FREDERICK would God I had dyed for Thee O FREDERICK my Sonne my Sonne A. H. TEMPVS mine or the water took away the life of my Children than that a bloodie Herod should cutte all their throats most cruellie embrewing himselfe in their blood While Dauid was in a great strait doubting of what plague to make choise at last hee resolued saying Let vs fall into the hand of the Lord for his mercies are great and let mee not fall into the hand of man O but will your Majestie say To die and to be suffocate in the waters that is a matter of great sorrow If he had died in a Battel honourablie that had affoorded mee some comfort Then would I haue heard of his valiantnesse The Colonels and the Captaines others of Martial Spirits had beene the Trumpeters of his praise so should hee haue died with great honour Let it please your Majestie to wiegh the matter well in the Ballance of the Sanctuarie Indeede MADAME to die in a Battell is by men accounted honorable To die fighting with a bloodie Sword in the hand is by men called The Bedde of honour But in my judgement it is better for the Soule to die in water than in war For in the one man is often in a rage thirsting like an Horse-leach after the blood of his Brother At that time there is nothing sound or settled within him All his thoughts are in an hurlie burlie If instantlie hee die the Sunne of his life goeth downe vpon his vvrath His whole desire is bended for to destroy his Brother But in the water his chiefest desire is for to saue himselfe To die in war is to die by the hand of man but Water is like the Pest which that great Warriour called The hand of God O but alas will your Majestie object such as die so get not space once to cry Gods mercie God forbid MADAME that our Saluation should depend vpon the last words of our life or vpon a prayer at the last gaspe Our Saluation is better fastened than so There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Iesus Your Majestie knoweth that the day of Iudgment shall come in an instant vpon both the Godlie and the wicked Then shall they all bee changed in the twinkling of an eye Not one of all the men and women then liuing vpon earth shall get so much time wherin they might but say these few words God be mercifull to me a sinner yet for all that shal we think that that suddē change shall bring any prejudice to the Saluation of Gods Elect chosen ones God forbid Whom God loueth hee loueth to the end His giftes and graces are vvithout repentance I know that your Majestie would haue earnestlie desired that hee had bee found aliue and that a Preacher by a prayer had commended his Soule into the hands of his Sauiour For answere I am assured that that young Prince was so well trained vp by your Majestie in the Schoole of pietie that morning euening hee was accustomed to be earnest at his priuate deuotion It is the opinion of learned Diuines That who carefullie in the morning hath cast his Soule into the Armes of his God shall thereafter all the day finde the vertue of that prayer preuailing with God though at the moment of death hee bee not able with his tongue to speake vnto GOD The prayers that were conceiued before cry vp to God at the last gaspe for mercie peace grace and reconciliation through the blessed blood of Iesus which cryeth for better thinges than the blood of Abel Now seeing that without any doubting your Majestie is assured of his Saluation consider these joyes of heauen which his Princelie Soule now enjoyeth These joyes haue I described as I can in this second Volume of the Last battell which I haue dedicated to your Majestie There yee shall clearelie see that hee hath changeth for the better While hee was aliue hee was but a Prince on Earth and now the Lord hath made him a crowned King Thus intreating the most High to send vnto your Majestie the COMFORTER himselfe who can most cunninglie cure the wounded heart I humlie take my leaue Your MAIESTIES most humble and most obedient Seruant M. Z. B. From Glasgow the 12. of Februarie 1629. TO THE QVEENE Of BOHEMIA OVR
so fullie fraughted with all sortes of sins which like most filthie streames flow from the first fountaine or rather puddle of our originall sinne which wee haue from the Loynes of Adam Wee are all infected with this spirituall Leprosie there is nothing that can wash vs and make vs cleane saue onelie the Iordan of the blood of Iesus Besprinkle our consciences O LORD with the vertue of that Blood which cryeth for better things than the blood of Abel Seale vp thy Loue in our heartes by the blood of the Sealed man whom Thou the Father did seale and appoint to bring Life eternall to the world In him thou art well pleased In his Name and for his Loue wee begge thy fauour He himselfe hath tolde vs that what wee shall aske thee in his Name we shall receiue it O Father of mercies remember the promise of thy Sonne In confidence of his Command wee take the boldnesse at this time particularlie to put vp our prayers vnto thee for this thy diseased Seruant tossâ—…d to and fâ—…o with diuerse temptations Sathan the enemie of his Saluation the feare of Death the loue of the world and of worldlie things haue set themselues in Battell-array like armies betweene his Soule and the entrie of Heauen They haue maliciouslie ensnared his heart and taken his affections captiues with the immoderate loue of perishing thinges Oh how hath hee beene bewitched with the seeming sweetenesse of such vanities O Thou LORD IESVS the LORD of Life encourage him so with thy liuelie Spirit that he may be bold couragiously to face Death and the Graue Put these interrogations in his mouth O Death where is thy Sting O Graue where is thy victorie Cause thy Spirit whisper in his eare that thou hast put out the life of Death Cast into his rememberance the words wherewith Thou boasted Death and the Graue O Death I will be thy plagues O Graue I will bee thy destruction Let his Soule knowe that the Graue is a Bed of rest for all these that die in the LORD wherein they rest from their labours beeing at ease in peace without any toile or turmoile Worke in his heart a desire to be dissolued for to bee fred from the sinfull bonds of mortality for to goe dwell where hee shall neuer anger the Lord againe Let the Loue of Christ waine his heart from the desire of anie abiding heere O deare IESVS who was both buffeted slaine and buried for to saue man set the print and stampe of thy mercie vpon this Soule Seuer all his thoughts from all that is earthlie whether it bee Life Lands Children Houses or whatsoeuer other thing may allure him for to sojourne heere in a strange Land wherein wee are all strangers from God whom wee cannot see heere but behind Vntye his heart from the loue of this his natiue soile Purge him of this out-bearing humour O LORD flesh and blood will neuer teach a man to renounce his deare selte and such other carnall things wherewith hee is in phantasie The earthlie minde is so lumpish that it wearieth to thinke of thee and of the pleasures of thy Palace A carnall hearte is euer rouing and wandering heere about this worlds businesse Martha is a mother of many Children who trouble themselues about many thinges But few are these that with Marie can fold their heart for to sit downe at the feete of IESVS for to make choise of that best part which should neuer bee taken from them Thou to whoÌ„ nothing is impossible draw this Soule vnto thee make the bent of his affection to bee vpon thee O great IEHOVAH thou hast heard and seene how carnall temptations haue teared the Soule of thy Seruant this day in the bedde of his languishing Immoderat cares for thinges below haue depriued him of all rest and joyes which he should haue in thee Wee must confesse to thee and from his heart hee acknowledgeth to bee true that his minde hath beene too bent vpon such perishing shadowes which can not bee gripped Such trashes of no worth haue taken too much roome into his heart Hee who is not content to quite all for to come to thee is not worthie of thee But LORD if mans Saluation were grounded vpon the sand of his owne worthinesse such a building could not stand against the winds floodes of temptations But his Saluation shall neuer bee branled because it is builded vpon the euerlasting and most sure Rocke the foundation of thy Church O LORD wee faile all in many things If hitherto this thy Seruant hath not as hee should minded thâ—… thinges which are aboue but lodged in their place the desire of thinges below now in thy greaâ—… mercie inlighten his mistie mindâ—… and bee mercifull to him in thâ—… thing Make the flesh now to cede and giue place vnto the Spirit Let the heauens come in with the pledges of thy Loue which no mortall armes can fadome Come with thy Spirituall and diuine motions and fill therewith the chambers of his heart where earthlie thoughts had their abode Make his Soule to inuite thy Spirit to come in Saying with Laban Come in thou blessed of the Lord wherefore standest thou without O deare IESVS direct so all his thoughts that hee wearie himselfe no more with the desire of that which sooner or later heee must â—…orgoe Why should thornie cares for dust and clay choake the good motions of thy Spirit Let no such care cumber him any more for foolish fáding commoditie Dissolue this glew by which his heart is tyed to the ground In thy Light let him see Light whereby hee may perceiue how fraile fickle are all such transitorie trashes which beeing too much loued both coole our zeale and clogge our affections so that they can in no wise soare vp toward thee O blessed Sauiour in whom is the very pith sweetest marrow of Gods mercies make thy seruants heere to loue thee aboue all things in heauen or earth Make his heart to say Whom haue I in Heauen but thee Make him to loue thee for thy selfe and not for thine onelie which is but an hyred Loue Put in thine owne hand at the hole of the doore of his heart and let some droppes of the Mirrhe of thy mercie this night fall vpon the handle of the Barre that his Soule beeing affected therewith may runne out of the Chamber of sleepe for to seeke him who loueth his Soule euen his blessed Sauiour the LORD IESVS Bee mercifull to all thine afflicted members in the Church militant fighting vnder the bloodie Banner of the LORD IESVS CHRIST The Church is thy Spouse keep her as the Apple of thine eye make all her members with one minde and one mouth to glorifie thy Name Blesse our gracious Soueraigne the Kings Majestie with thy best blessings Adorne him with spirituall Graces and giftes wherewith hee may please thee in his whole carriage both Ecclesiastice and Ciuill Make Iustice and Iudgement the habitation
this Region of corruption without corruption or contempt Within vs without vs aboue vs about vs all is out of order The powers of the heauens are shaken the Aire about our heads is full of tempests flashing meteors the world is waxed old and is come to its decrepite age The last dayes are dayes of diseases the companions of olde age all is wrong The Church is sicke of Sects The Sea is full of Pyrates the Land of Robbers yea and of sins and sicknes vnknowne to former ages The Godly are as sheepe among wolues O that I had winges like a Doue for then vould I flee away and bee at rest Heere is nothing but Mesech Kedar where there is nothing but wâ—…e for the godlie which dwell therin Where shall a godlie man liue or in what state shall hee liue or how shall hee liue but hee shall bee battered and besieged with much toyle and turmoyle If hee bee wealthie hee shall bee enuied If hee bee poore hee shall bee despised If he bee wise hee shall bee accounted craftie If hee bee simple hee shall bee called foolish All that is within vs all that is without vs yea and in our selues are readie to betray vs to giue vs vp into the haÌ„ds of our enemies The eyes beholde that vanitie may come in The eares hearken like open floode gates to lette in streames of vanities for to drowne the Soule The false heart within that keepeth the keyes of all the senses while the Soule is sleeping bringeth in vpon it like a Delilah a number of cruell Philistims Thus the strong men of Israel is made a jest and mocke vnto the vncircumcised that belong not to the couenant This whole world is but a world of vanitie The wise man Solomon the mirrour of wisedome and wonder of the world was sent into this world as a spye from God for the well of man By his wisedome his minde ran thorow the world like a Pilgrime from countrie to countrie yea like a Bee from herbe to herbe for to taste them Hee confidered all the trees from the Cedar to the Hyssope for to prye into and pierce the pith and vertues of all things abroad for to take thorow notice thereof After that hee had thus wandered beeing come home againe from his pilgrimage the world flocked about him to search what hee had heard and seene abroad and what hee thought of the world and of all the glorie thereof What newes Solomon did the Worldings say whose hearte is like a Ferret in the earth What hast thou seene or heard Solomon contracteth all his Newes into a Line Vanitie of vanities and all is vanitie All these thinges which are soloued I haue looked into would Solomon say but I haue found nothing but vanitie from the barke to the bone In Trees is vanitie in Herbes is vanitie as well in the Cedar as in the Hyssope In Siluer is vanitie in Golde is vanitie in Iewels is vanitie in Honour is vanitie in Cloathing is vanitie in Strength is vanitie in Wisedome is vanitie in Beautie is vanitie In a word all is full of vanitie yea all is vanitie yea vanitie of vanities All the creatures saith the Apostle the spye of the New Testament are subject to vanitie For the sinne of man all the Creatures haue lost that glorie and libertie which once they had and are become slaues vnder a base bondage vnder which they grone as a woman in trauell All earthlie comfortes which spring out of sinfull pleasures faile and fad like grasse * Alas what is heere that should moue a Soule to desire to sojourne heere but a moment This world is a Tenise of temptations wherein the sillie Soule like a ball without any ceasing is tossed from wall to wall as one waue of the Sea rusheth vpon another beeing carried with a gale of winde so doâ—… all sortes of sorrowes heere as in a moued sea swell roll and rage with most fearefull rushinges vpon man till hee bee turned into froth It is a wonder how the eyes of man should be so bleared or rather juggled that any thing belowâ—… should make him to say as they 〈◊〉 on Tabor who knew not what they said It is good for vs to bee heere and yet who is hee that is not dulled and darkened with the cloudes of folliâ—… Is not this world a wildernesseâ—… the way 's thereof are rough anâ—… crooked Mans best thinges heeâ—… are like the Hartechoke whereof the most parte is vnprofitable leaues Our joyes are joyned with sorroweâ—… checker worke white and blacke likâ—… Lillies among thornes Our hopes heere are vaine the profite is false the pleasures are passing the labours are losse the promises are but lyes The whole state of this Prince of Creatures is heere but a banishment heere and there he stumbleth where he thoght best to stand where hee purposed to take his rest there hee findeth his ruine No worldlie comforts are to bee trusted into they are like the staffe of a broken reede whereon if a man leane it will goe into his hand Doe what hee can some painefull splinter or other shall bee fastened in his flesh There is nothing on Earth which can bee managed with such cunning that it may bee without cumber The proudest and Ioftiest waues of mens designes are easilie broken into foame Gods fauour is the surest Sanctuarie nothing within the compasse of this created world can yeelde to man solide comfort or contentment nothing can possiblie fill the boundlesse desire of his Soule Such a diuine sparkle can neuer cease rising til it bejoyned to that great SHADAI GOD all sufficient till the Soule bee at Him it can neuer bee settled but is euer tossed whiles to the right hand and whiles to the left Now it is rauished with joye and in an instant againe it is surprised with amazement What euer it enjoyeth heere it cannot bee content but is euer foolishlie peeping and prying beyond all that which it hath affecting with a strong straine greater riches high honours and preferments which I may call The guilted glorious miseries of mankind Woe woe woe dwell into that house where such things are not sanctified to their owners O that I could cunninglie rype vp with a Razour this worldes vanitie that wee might see it within the bowels O what depth of discomfort should bee there seene if wee had eyes to see All the pregnancie of mans Spirit all the most rich indue mentes of his minde without the sanctifying Spirit of Iesus become but an idole of selfe conceite As for all other outward things in the very turning of an hand and closing of an eye they often remoue insalutato hospite not taking their good night Inconstancie is the poison of our pleasures Though a man euen now were neuer so happie in his owne conceit how soone
may the Lord send a change He can make the fruite of all his labours to be like an vntimely birth for whome the Mother hath suffered many woes and yet could neuer enjoye a sight there of aliue The greatest glorie of this world is like Hills which seeme highest a farre off Men in their solie may sav as Dauid said in his prosperitie I shall neuer be moued But O folie There is nothing permanent heere Man is tossed vp and downe as the Locust either with discountenance or disapointment breaking into foame his projects vpon the rocks of disgrace All is turned about with a continual change There is no Time but it passeth there is no Day but it darkneth there is no Fruite but it rotteth there is no Flower but it faddeth there is no Force but it faileth there is no Strength but it weakeneth there is no Beautie but it withereth there is no Garment but it weareth yea the Heauens themselues waxe olde as doeth a garment Behold how all that is aboue vs beneath vs about vs is full stuffed vvith vanitie this at last shall worldlings know to bee true when their laughter shall be madnesse in their owne eyes It is a wonder how men are so blind in this glorious Noone tide of the Gospel All that is most esteemed in this world the fooles Paradise is chieflie of those 1. Strength 2. Honour 3. Riches 4. Beautie 5. Pleasure 6. Wisedome 7. Children 8. Long life of these things may no man say with Niobe Excessere metum mea jam bona I neede not feare to losse them The sicke Man I desire to heare you discusse the vanitie of these eight thinges seuerallie for which men straine the vtmost vaine of their wits as if in this region of corruption such thinges were able to stretch themselues vnto eternitie The Pastour All such thinges are but broken staues of reede not to be relyed vpon To naturall eyes indeede such things are so glancing that they like a starre new created in the Skye will make them to gaze yea often it befalleth that the prosperitie of such things enjoyed by the wicked will not onelie drawe the eyes of the Godly vpon them but will bee eye-fore vnto them I was enuious at the foolish said Dauid when I saw the prosperitie of the wicked Let vs relish these eight thinges a little and orderly try what is their worth 1. STRENGTH As for Strength if Samson the strongest now could speak out of his Graue hee would teach the liuing that it is but a vaine thing What a vaine thing is this which in the highest degree that euer was in man might bee shauen from him with the lockes of his haire Let a Feuer but seaze vpon the strongest that euer breathed before it leaue him it shall teach him to know that all the force of flesh is vas nitie Reuben who was called by his Father The man of his might and the beginning of his strength and the excellencie of power is in the verse following called vnstable as water The Philistims great man the strength of Philistia the terrour of Israel was felled downe with a stone out of a Shepheards scrippe and slung There is no solide strength in flesh but hee who is strong in God of him shall bee said as was saide of Ioseph His bow abode in strength and the armes of his hand were made strong by the hands of the Almightie GOD of Iacob 2. HONOVR What is Honour which men in the hight of Spirit desire with the strongest straine What is it but like a King in a play when the play is done the ornaments are takeÌ„ from him To day man is a King and to morrow a Carrion The greatest pompe of King Agrippa his of Queene Bernice is caâ—…led in Scripture language a meere phantasie or euanishing shew Hee came downe with his Queene saith S. Luke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is he came downe with great phantasie As honours are changeable like a phantasie so often change they men so that they become phantasticke Honores mutant mores Honours change manners but oftest to the worse If men knewe the vanitie of this point they would not so eagerlie hunt after that wherein there is no contentment After that Alexander had fished the whole world with his herrie water-net what found he but follie euanishing shewes wherof the most pleasant rellish was like the white of an Egge wherein is no sauour Kings which are the most honourable men of this world are gods in name but not in Nature I haue said Yee are gods but yee shall die like men-King Herods flatterers cryed that he was god but Death belyed them crying that hee was but a man a god that could not resist the wormes often that which is highlie esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God God liketh not euer best these to whom hee filleth a full cup of temporall felicitie He whom God hath elected to bee a King in Heauen is often hidde like Soul among the stuffe or like Corne among Chaffe I haue obserued in reading the Booke of God that few Kings either of Iuda or of Israel receiued any great praise from Gods penne which can neither faine nor flatter Trueth will yeelde no ground thogh it should meete a Tyrant in the face O fainting flatterer who darre not preach but to pleasethy Prince Who art thou that thou should feare a mortall man which shall bee made as grasse By a wise graue godly reproofe thou might haue saued his Soule in whose blood thou hast embrewed thy selfe either by fearefull silence or flattering eloquence O how dangerous is the high estate of Princes vnto Princes themselues They are followed with such applause that often they are made to forget what they are I haue called you gods is the flatterers Text he cannot passe this point his Glasse is run and Time is spent before he can winne to the other part of the verse But yee shall dye like men Let vs heare what God himselfe speaketh of the Monarchs of his owne people Except a verie few there is not one but hee is either branded with this And hee did euill in the sight of the Lord or with this And hee followed the sins of Ieroboam the sonne of Nebat which made Israel to sinne Honour will not abide with Kings except that they abide with God While Nebuchadnezar was boasting of his Buildinges euen while the word was in the Kings mouth there fell a voyce from Heauen saying O King Nebuchadnezar the kingdome is departed from thee No King standeth so strong in his prosperitie but God can shake him and lay him on his backe King Dauid of this got an afterwit In my prosperitie said he I said I shall neuer bee moued But so soone as God beganne to hide his