for the holiness and integrity which he secretly hates and abhors and speaks well of God and his laws his ordinances and his people which in his heart he abhors The knowledge of the one and the other differ like that of a traveller that hath been at Rome or Venice or Jerusalem or Constantinople and hath seen those places and known those inhabitants and dwelt among them and his who hath only heard or read of them or spake with those that have seen them the latter perhaps may speak as much nay more of the scituation of the place the manners of the people the government customes and laws they are ruled by then the others can yet is not their knowledge alike the one is assured by ocular demonstration of what he speaks the other not these eyes saw it saith one these ears heard it saith the other so it is here one speaks what he knows the other what he hears Or it is like the difference between the knowledge of a diseased person and that of a physitian the latter can speak more of the causes signs and symptomes of the disease and more learnedly describe it but the other feels what he saith and knows the working of the disease in another manner of way then the physitian who hath only read of it or heard of it from others this is the difference of the knowledge between the sincere Christian and the hypocrite the one speaks knowingly experimentally feelingly truly the other speaks by rote like the parrat only what is taught him dissemblingly hypocritically and falsly pretending to experience that they do not oh my soul take heed of contenting and satisfying thy self with a bare notional knowledge without experimental heart-knowledge it is not that which floats in the brain but that which sinks down and seasons the heart and life that will do thee good the former a man may carry along with him to hell yea the devils have it in a greater measure then the most knowing man though bad words may yea will condemn thee if not repented of yet good words if any such can be without good actions and good hearts cannot save thee yea thou wilt be guilty of self-condemnation in justifying what thou dost not labour after if godliness and a holy life be good why dost thou not live thus if not why dost thou speak thus why doth not thy heart and tongue agree sincerity is the true philosophers stone it turns all into gold and makes weak performances acceptable hypocrisy turns all into dross oh my God grant me heart-knowledge as well as brain knowledge lest I go to hell with a candle in my hand such knowledge may serve to sink me not to save me to talk of the way and not walk in it little profits to speak of heaven and not enjoy will do me no good Lord let me be in substance what I am in shew yea Lord make me such as I ought to be in truth Upon a Kite kild by a Fowler eating his prey 66. Med. WHen I observed a kite that bird of prey how fiercely he struck at a trembling partrich carrying her away in her griping talons rending her in pieces in an instant when the poor innocent creature could make no resistance and none came to her rescue and devouring her yet alive all reaking in her blood and intombed her in his cruel devouring maw Methought it was as bloudy a spectacle as ever I beheld to see an innocent thus used that had never injured him but while I considered of the act behold a fowler undiscerned shot him dead upon the place in the height of his cruelty with the meat in his mouth so that he had sowr sauce to his sweet meat When I had awhile considered the matter I thought I had seen some such dealing in the world yea amongst men where one makes a prey upon another and like the fishes in the sea the great ones swallow up the lesser and feeds upon them as these birds of prey do upon those that cannot resist them The great ones of the world are like this kite good for nothing unprofitable burthens of the earth feeding upon the brains of their innocent neighbours how many cruel griping Landlords wring so many tears from their Tenants eyes in their life time that at their death they have not one more to shed how unreasonably do they rack their rents and extort unreasonable fines how do they oppress them by unreasonable impositions service and other covenants force them to do their work keep their dogs horses and such like when all this time they pay to the utmost farthing for what they have that were it not for their liberty it were as good for them live in Turky as where they do they cark and care and moil and toil and rise early and ly down late and eat the bread of carefulness they fare hard and work hard and deny themselves even necessaries yea can scarce get cloathes for their backs or meat for their bellies but moil like slaves or horses and yet all too little to satisfy their greedy Landlord who at length strips them of all they have seizeth upon their estates turns them out of house and harbour perhaps throws them into prisons where they end their misery while their families depend upon the courtesy of the parish In their poverty the Landlord deals with them as men do by their horses when one is tired they call for another and shew them not so much favour as they do their dogs for when they be wearied in their service they feed them and make provision for them Now all this cruelty is used to satisfy their insatiable avarice or to maintain their hawks and hounds and whores and other like debaucheries and all too little they suck their brains drink their tears and suck their bloud and if their Tenants or poor neighbours are wronged by them they may expect no more justice then the fox and ass in the fable that were to divide the prey with the lion they must give away their right for peace-sake part with all and think they speed well if they meet with no further mischief the laws themselves prove often like cobwebs they hold little flys but the great ones break through But the time is coming that the fowler death will strike these birds of prey to the heart and long it will not be before it be done and an impartial judge will make them vomit up the blood they have so greedily drunk and pluck the prey from between their teeth and make them know that they were the sole proprietors of what they enjoyed but that he lent it for other ends then they employed it in and now their condition will be worse then their poor Tenants and their accounts greater remember the story of Dives and Lazarus both in their life and in their death oh how good is it for men to live so as not to be ashamed to live nor afraid to dye and to keep
Gomorrah their grapes are grapes of gall and the clusters are bitter Deut. 32.32 they hatch cockatrice eggs and weave the spiders webs vanity or villany is their trade Heb. 6.7 8. the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh off upon it and bringeth forth hearbs meet for them by whom it is dressed receiveth a blessing from God but that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected and is nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burned The fruitful Christian watered with the word and spirit bringing fortth a harvest of holiness and fruit-trees fit for meat were not to be destroyed Deut. 20.14 but fruitless trees are for the fire Mat. 3 10. But oh how much of this sterile barren ground is amongst us that resist all the offered means of their recovery and rave and rage against both the physitian and the physick and though often watered bring forth nothing but briars and thorns whereupon all the seed and all the rain that falls upon it is lost and when God expects fruit behold wilde fruit and yet this wilde and barren ground if well manured and God breathe upon it may prove good land this consideration made me with the servant in the Gospel cry out Lord spare them one year more that I may dig about them and dung them that it may not be my fault that they perish nor laid to my charge oh my soul art not thou this barren plot where nothing but briars and brambles can thrive or at least wise but little good fruit appear God hath done much for thee hedged thee about by his providence watered thee with the dew of heaven sent many of his servants to manure thee whence then this trash and rubbish whence then these tares and weeds was not good seed sown why hast thou not answered the great Husbandmans expectation what could God have done more for his Vineyard then he hath done for thee well look to it if thou remain fruitless ere long he will pluck up thy hedge pluck down thy wall take away thy fence and leave caring for thee and turn in the wilde boar to devour he will lay down his basket and take up his axe Oh the patience of a patient God! that hath born with thee for many years but will ere long if thou remain fruitless pronounce the sentence cut him down why cumbreth he the ground and if this be the danger of barren souls do what in thee lies to make others fruitfull also hereby saith Christ is my father glorified if ye bring forth much fruit Oh my God! Paul may plant and Apollo may water but thou givest the encrease 1 Cor. 3.6 The harp yeelds no sound till touched by the hand of the Musician and my heart will never be made good till thou strikest the stroak 't is God alone must say to dry bones live man can but speak to the ear but God speaks to the heart Lord speak home to my heart and the work will be done If means and ordinances would have served turn the work ere now would have been effected Lord leave me not to other husbandmen for they cannot make me fruitfull Oh be thou my Gardiner and my soul shall flourish blow upon thy spices and they will send forth a sweet savour Vpon the Propensity of the Earth to bring forth weeds 5. Med. VVHen I observed the natural propensity of the Earth to bring forth briars and thorns and weeds and thistles and such unprofitable trash and rubbish and that it brought forth fed and fostered those of its own accord without labour or pains or any help of man nay man without much labour and toil cannot destroy or keep them under but choice flowers profitable herbs wheat and rye and other usefull grain springs not up at so easie a rate there must be pains taken digging plowing harrowing setting sowing weeding fencing watering and a great deal more or no good crop can be expected This Observation made me think that this was the fruits of the curse laid upon the Earth for mans sake Gen. 3.17 Cursed be the ground for thy sake In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee c. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread c. me thoughts the earth in this respect did much resemble a stepmother to the best seeds and choisest fruits but an own Mother to weeds and rubbish this she brings forth and brings up as her own the other she disowns but as she is hired or forc't and if she be not carefully watcht will either starve or choak them and she will suffer her own brats to eat the meat that should nourish them and suck her breasts till they are dry and they shall flourish while the other pine This raised up my Meditations a little higher and I thought the earth in this respect much resembled the world who will willingly nourish no children but her own and plays the stepmothers part with Gods children when the wicked which are her own brats are hug'd in her bosome if their father look not to them they are thrown to the walls if any be wronged it shall be them and if any want be they shall suffer the world loves her own Joh. 15 19. however dogs worry one another yet all agree against the trembling hare Herod and Pilate are made friends when Christ is to suffer and all wicked men are enemies to the power of godliness This propensity also of the earth to bring forth weeds and to starve the choisest plants made me think it resembled also the heart of man by nature which is a fruitful field for briars and brambles and the weeds of sin which grow there without planting but 't is barren of any thing that is good 't is hard to get a good motion a good inclination a good resolution to prosper in that soil but the heart naturally produceth evil thoughts wicked words and bad actions which are the usuall product it bringeth forth The hearb of grace must be planted by the finger of God and watered with the dew of heaven or it will not prosper most of the good seed sown there by the Preachers of the Word is lost and comes to nothing for either it falls among stones or thorns or by the high-way-side and so is choak't or starved or stole away and devoured except the heart be well manured and the nature of the soil changed except it be well fenc't and guarded yea watch't and observed nothing that is good will grow there 'T is not in vain that God bids us break up the fallow ground of our hearts and sow not among thorns Ier. 4.3 Hos 10.12 and God is fain to plow deep furrows by affliction before he can reach the roots of the weeds Oh my soul art not thou this earth that lyes under the curse where nothing but trash and rubbish thrives and prospers how comes it otherwise to passe that thou art
so prone to sin and so backward to obedience vices naturally spring in thee without help or labour without plowing or sowing and are rank and flourishing but grace thrives not without much ado if at all how comes it to pass that so much seed hath been sown and so little fruit appears but that 't is choakt by trash and rubbish or pickt up by the fowls of the air if the devil by his temptation sows his tares there he need neither weed them nor look after them they grow fast enough of themselves the heart cherisheth and nourisheth them as her own but the hearb of grace grows not so easily A good thought is hardly brought to a good resolution nor a good resolution to a good action these are usually stifled in the womb but the product of sin is much more easy O my soul see that the soil of thy heart be changed and true grace be there planted and the weeds of sin rooted out or thou art still under the curse Oh my God! rather plow me and harrow me and pluck and tear me in pieces by affliction then suffer me to be barren or useless ground be thou the husbandman and my heart will be fruitful and yield her encrease blow upon thy garden and the spices will send forth a sweet smell let the sun of righteousness shine upon it and the dew of heaven water it and let it be planted by thy own hand and fenced about that the wilde boar of the forrest may not devour it and it will be no longer barren speak the word and the work will be done Upon a Bush of thorns 6 Med. OBserving a bush of thorns springing up in a place where I expected better fruit I caused them to be stockt up and put into a gap where a fence was wanting for the securing the garden and the preserving herbs and flowers from damage and detriment this occasioned this following Meditation As these being a fruit of the curse spring up of their own accord without labour or toil so sin and corruption a fruit of the fall do naturally spring up in the soul without any pains and as the earth own these so doth the heart own sin as its own proper product God cursed the earth for mans sake Gen. 3.18 and thorns and thistles it hath since brought forth This made me consider how faithful God is in the execution of his threats as well as of his promises and of how dangerous a nature sin is that produceth such effects how happy we had been if we had not sinned and how miserable by reason of sin Had not man fallen the earth had not been cursed but would have yeilded her encrease probably without labour and pain and man might have solaced himself in the contemplation of God and held communion with his Creator and have had nothing to break his peace with his God My contemplation upon this occasion went further I considered how fitly the Holy Ghost had compared wicked men to thorns Micha 7.4 the best of them is as a briar and the most upright of them is as a thorny hedge 2 Sam. 23.6 the sons of Beliall shall be all of them as thorns thrust away because they cannot be taken with hands but the man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the staff of a spear and they shall be utterly burnt with fire in the same place Thorns as they choak the good seed and nothing can prosper that grows near them so 't is with wicked men a godly man shall not live by them but he shall be molested if not infected by them yea wicked Magistrates themselves and those that sit on the place of Judicature may fitly be resembled to a thorn when the poor sheep comes for shelter he is sure to leave some of his coat if not of his skin behinde him I considered this also was the fruit of the fall otherwise man had not been endued with such noxious qualities whereas now wicked men like the Amorites are as pricks in the eyes and thorns in the sides of every true Israelite These also are the tares which the devil sows amongst Gods wheat to molest it and these are like to grow together till the harvest I considered also that as some use was made of thorns for the defence of better fruit so the wise God doth make some use of wicked men for the good of his people sometimes he makes them his skullions to scoure off their rust and make them brighter whereby they fully themselves and when their work is done they shall be turned off Sometimes they arâ— his rod to afflict his Saints Isa 10.5 Oh Assyrian the rod of my anger c. but when the childe is reformed the rod shall be burnt and sometimes he hath made them a defence for his Church Revel 12.15 16. The earth helpt the woman and swallowed up the floud which the dragon cast out of his mouth after her an example of this we have in David when he was in great distresse compassed about by Saul on this side the mountain and on that side the mountain in eminent danger ready like a trembling partridge to have fallen into the hands of the greedy falcon a messenger came to Saul saying the Philistines do invade the land and he withdrew his army and departed 1 Sam. 23.26 these Philistines were but thorns yet were they a defence to David and his followers and God at last will deal with wicked men as with thorns reserve them for the fire for what good they do to the godly is for ends of their own and not for their sakes the Philistines minded not Davids good nor the King of Assiria Gods peoples reformation nor Haman Mordecai's and the Jews advancement O my soul can God turn a curse into a blessing and can he bring good out of evil and of these thorns make a fence for better fruit admire his wisdome and bless his name hath he done thee good by these thorns whose nature were to do hurt bless him for it he might have made thee the thorn and for the present have stopt a gap with thee and reserved thee to everlasting burning if he hath grafted thee into a better stock and thou bringeth forth better fruit no thanks to thee and if thou seest any as yet retaining their old natures desire not presently their burning though they trouble thee God may make better use of them a persecuting Saul may become a preaching Paul and a wicked Manasseth a true convert or he may make them otherwise serviceable to his people Be not therefore like the disciples that would presently call for fire from heaven upon the inhospitable Samaritans if they perish their misery will come soon enough they may say to thee as sometime a Souldier did to some that upbraided him grudge me not my grapes I am like to pay dear enough for them seeing I must die for stealing them 't is thy wisdome rather to see thou be
of him or the son of man that thou regardest him thou hast made him a little lower then the angels thou hast crowned him with glory and dignity Psal 8.4 5. I considered that all this rule and dominion glory and dignity was given him that he might serve and honour his Creator whose image he did in the Creation most lively represent but above all sublunary creatures none have more deviated from the rule God hath given them nor transgressed his laws nor frustrated the ends of their creation more then man by whose fall the beauty of the newly burnisht world was soon stained and the glory of it soon ecclipsed This made me wonder that God suffered such enemies to live upon the face of the earth to be lords over the works of his hands Oh the patience and long-forbearance of a merciful God! that such rebels that have their life and breath and being from him and are guilty of so many acts of treason and rebellion against heaven should yet be preserved and provided for as they are and so many offers of mercy tendred to them Oh my soul hath God done so much for thee was this glorious fabrick of the world made for thy sake among others are the creatures yea the angels themselves set a work for thy good and doth thy great benefactor only require the pepper-corn of homage and the thankful acknowledgement of what thou hast received and obediential homage for the time to come and dost thou deny him that art thou fed and cloathed maintained and preserved by his providence and care and hast thou any meat to eat or drink to drink or cloaths to put on or health or strength or limbs or senses or peace or plenty or life or breath or any other enjoyment but what he gives thee and is a thankfull acknowledgment of these favours denyed by thee he doth not need thee neither canst thou add any thing to his glory yet he takes himself honoured by a thankfull obediential observation of his commands but alas how much time didst thou spend before thou dist cordially yield any thanks to him for his benefits and how much wanting art thou in it to this very day he makes his sun to shine upon thee and his rain to fall upon thee he gives thee fruitfull seasons and fills thy heart with food and gladness 't is doubtless then thy duty to devote thy self wholly to his service and give up not only thy name but thy heart to Christ Oh my God! dost thou expect service from me enable me to do it I am by nature a senceless stock or stone dead in trespasses and sins put life into me and I shall perform the actions of life I cannot act without thy assistance give me help from heaven for vain is the help of man open my lips then shall I shew forth thy praise inlarge my heart then shall I run the ways of thy commands touch my tongue with a coal from thy altar then shall I trumpet out thy praise seek thy servant and I shall be found Upon the plucking off the tops of weeds 10. Med. IN a dry season when the bottles of heaven were stopped and the clouds were bound up the rain restrained and the showers withheld from the earth so that it was parched hard and dry and gaped in vain for cooling moistning refreshing softning showers I observed some persons when they could not get up the weeds by the roots tare off their heads which when they had done the garden seemed pleasant to the beholders and gave content for a while to the spectators who imagined there had been a through-reformation but not long after when a shower of rain distilled upon it the cheat appeared the weeds sprung up as fresh and flourishing as before yea like hydra with more heads then at first so this partiall reformation was discovered This observation afforded this Meditation I thought it much resembled a partiall reformation in the soul when men begin their reformation at the wrong end or take a wrong course to kill the tree of sin as many do they crop and lop off some branches and let the root alone this is not the way to destroy it many tear off some of the tops of the weeds but let the root remain in the soul which when it is watered with the devils temptations and the worlds allurements and animated with fit occasions and suitable opportunities they spring forth afresh it may be with more heads then before and then the cheat appears that those sins were not kil'd but laid aside An evident example we have of this in Herod who convinced by Iohn Baptists preaching that his courses were not good sets upon a reformation falls out with many of his sins lops off here one bough and there another but lets the root remain firm which afterwards spring forth and shew themselves It is said he reformed many things but he left much work behinde undone to the undoing of his soul The sore was only skinned over and was not sound at the bottom and after broke out with more violence and greater anguish like a torrent of water dam'd up when the dam breaks it runs more furiously So did Herods corruption even to the taking away of Iohn Baptists head who before had set some stop to it And thus it is with many seeming Converts that after prove wicked apostates and persecute the truth that they did formerly profess the root of the matter was not in them Hazael did not believe so much wickedness to lodge in his heart as the Prophet spake of and afterwards appeared An apple rotten at the heart may have a fair outside but the rottenness within will in time rot the outside also when the fountain is corrupted it is impossible to purge the stream If the heart be rotten all that thence proceeds will have an ill savour This half reformation hath been the undoing of many forward Professors in our days they reformed their lives but not their hearts they lopt off some boughs but medled not with the root they went to clense the stream but not the fountain and in a little time the corruption within breaks forth into the life and conversation without and the unclean spirit that was cast out takes to himself seven more worse then himself and enters in and the last end of that man is worse then the beginning Mat. 12.45 The devil deals by such when he hath reduced them as a Jaylour with one that hath broke prison lays on more bolts Runagate Christians are the devils greatest devotes and such apostates very hardly if ever are reduced O my soul how stands the case with thee hast thou not weeded thy own garden thus and rather tore off the lops of the weeds then pluckt them up by the root how comes it else to pass that upon every showr of temptation they are so apt to spring up again look about thee if thou wilt not kill sin sin will kill thee and if
me grace and write thine image upon me but also enable me to reade it that it may keep me alive in the winter when thou seemest to be at a distance from me Upon fine flowers foul-sented 24. Med. WHen I beheld some of the fairest flowers in the garden and those that made the most specious shew and were adorned with the most costly colours and were set forth in the most gorgeous dress and were most sumptuously arrayed to please the eye I commended their form and shape and comely beauty but when I drew near to handle them to smell to them and put them in my bosome I found my mistake for they were of a stinking savour good for nothing but to gaze on at a distance for though they pleased my eye they offended my nose and were neither fit to be handled nor smelt to This made me to consider it is not always good to trust to our own eyes in our choice for the eye hath deceived many a man and will do us if we trust to it and call every thing good that is beautiful may we not see many a gallant in our times in a gayish dress where the bark is better then the body like the cinamon tree that like the butterfly paints her wings to cover her deformed carkass how often have I seen a handsome well-shap't beautiful woman with foul conditions misshapen qualities when under a more rugged skin and less beautiful countenance and more deformed body there was a more beautiful soul and Christianlike behaviour The devil many times baits his hooks with a beautiful woman when he fishes for unwary youth and seldome misses of his prey but by this means destroys them soul and body how oft do men that make their eye their cook and do more care to please their fancy then to please their God in their choise and looks after beauty more then grace undoe themselves and repent of their choise when it is too late Beauty is but skin-deep and age or fickness soon withers this flower when grace and goodness are more durable and will not change colour It were better for many women if they had fair mindes and soul faces then might they have escaped those snares the devil hath laid for their feet and ensnared their pretious souls grace and beauty is a sweet conjunction where they meet and sometimes though seldome we finde them together thus it was with Sarah and Rebeckah both fair both gracious but when they are seperated as too oft we finde grace should be preferred by many degrees An humble gracious spirit is a jewel of great price in the eyes of God and wise men but beauty dazles a fools eyes and makes him blinde and such Dalilah's bring men with Sampson to grind at the mill and makes their neighbours sport I need not prove this experientia docet From these Meditations I ascended higher and I resembled these fair but stinking flowers to an hypocrite that shews much better then he is and looks best at a distance and like deceitful wares worst at hand he is like a stage-player as the word signifies who often acts the part of a King a Prince an honest man when he is indeed a beggarly fellow perhaps a worthless rascal The hypocrite is a saint abroad a devil at home and plays more parts then one he is zealous in the congregation lukewarm in his family and key-cold in his closet under the vizard of holiness he acts wickedness and makes religion a cloak to cover his knavery or a stalking horse to take his prey and thus he deceives men and many times preys upon them but can neither deceive God nor the devil God quickly smels the stinking savour of his rotten lungs and the devil knows him by his own brand upon him Oh my soul art not thou guilty of this folly of judging by the appearance and of being deceived by deceitful shews look more at the substance then the shadow at the inward vertue then the form and feature choose not the tree by the leaves but the fruit nor a man by his words but his actions nor a woman by her beauty but by her good conditions choose not a horse by his trappings but by his mettle nor a professor by his discourse but by his life and conversation respect not a man for a gold ring but for the Jem and jewels of grace that he wears the fairest face hath not always the chastest heart nor the nimblest tongue the most solid wit the greatest bragger is not always the wisest nor the richest man the emptiest barrel makes the greatest sound and the deepest water makes least noise labour more to be good then to seem so for God will not judge thee as thou seemest to be but as thou art If the heart be not right God will wipe off all the paint and plaister that is upon thy words and actions and they shall be esteemed as the fountain is from whence they proceed be in secret what thou seemest in publick for the same eye is upon thee in the one as well as in the other hypocrites seem to distrust God lest he should deny the service they do him and therefore will do nothing but before witness but a true Christian dare take his word and therefore fast pray and give alms in secret popular applause is the oyl that makes the hypocrites chariot-wheels to move but it is the love of God that constrains a Christian Oh my God I cannot excuse my self or wash my hands from these filthy sins of pride and hypocrisie yet my hopes are they are not in me in a prevailing degree Lord curse and blast these bitter roots that never more fruit may grow upon them quell and suppress every motion that ariseth in my soul of this nature give me in sincerity whatever else thou shalt deny me Make my heart upright in thy statutes let me rather be good then seem good and work truth in my inward parts Upon sweet-smelling flowers 25. Med. WHen I considered what a sweet savour and odoriferous smell a garden of flowers and hearbs sent forth when it was watered from heaven by a refreshing shower and cheared again with the sun-beams darted upon it what a place of pleasure a paradice of delights it seemed to be the sight the smell and savour delighted me the melodious harmony and birds pleased me so that my affections began to grow warm and my fancy to be tickled with it and I began with Peter to say it is good being here till upon consideration I checkt my self for my folly for letting out my affection upon such poor objects and letting them grovel so low upon the ground and to close with such poor pittiful nothings then began I to screw my thoughts a little higher and to say to my self fool that thou art is there so much beauty and sweetness in the creature yea in these poor pitifull vanishing fading creatures which to day are saith Christ and to morrow are
of the fruits 39. Med. AT the end of the year when I received in the crop the fruits of the earth for which I had laboured and for which I had long waited I began to consider what a poor reward this is for all my labour if I must expect no more and what a sad condition poor labouring men are in that moil and toil and cark and care and have much ado for bread to eat and cloaths to put on and this is their all yea they run in arrears to God for this also and are like to be cast into prison for ever and yet we may see the folly of the most they take no care for any other riches but frame to themselves a poor pittifull happiness in these and are never like to have any pleasure here or hereafter but what they fancy to themselves in some sinfull vanity the receiving in of these fruits of the earth as the reward of my labour put me in minde of the reward which believers shall receive at the last day at the hand of God for all the labour toil and trouble they have had which will be a better recompense then the earth can give the husbandman for his pains let us not then be weary of well-doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not Gal. 6.9 he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting ver 8. he that cares only to feather his nest store up riches fit the back and fill the belly and lets the soul sink or swim he is like to have a miserable harvest but they that sow in tears shall reap in joy he that goeth forth weeping bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoycing bringing his sheaves with him Psal 126.5 6. Be patient therefore brethren saith the Apostle till the coming of the Lord behold the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruits of the earth and hath long patience for it till he receiveth the early and the latter rain be you also patient stablish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh Jam. 5.7 8. Now believers sow the seed and water it with their tears but it is not long before the reward comes behold I come quickly saith Christ and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be Rev. 22.12 hold out faith and patience saith the Martyr your work will presently be at an end hope holds up the husbandmans heart and may much more the Christians these things also put me in minde of the great harvest at the end of the world when the great husbandman shall send out his servants the angels to reap down his field and gather in his corn Mat. 13.38 the field is the world the good seed are the children of the kingdom the tares are the children of the wicked one the enemy that sows them is the devil the harvest is the end of the world the reapers are the angels as therefore the tares are gathered together and burnt in the fire so shall it be in the end of this world the day is coming that all shall be brought to judgment and the precious shall be seperated from the vile the good corn shall be brought into the barn but the tares are reserved for the fire the tares and the wheat may grow together in one field but shall never lodge together in the same barn for as the tares cannot well be weeded out which in the blade some say much resemble the wheat and is hardly known till the fruit appears so though God can discern the hypocrite from the sincere yet hypocrisy may be spun with so fine a thread that the best discerning Christian can hardly do it but the time is coming the angels shall know them and they are not to go into the same garner they must be bundled up for the fire when the wheat must be brought into Gods barn oh my soul what seed hast thou sown against that harvest hast thou sown to the flesh then of the flesh thou wilt reap corruption if to the spirit thou wilt of the spirit reap life everlasting what grain art thou art thou wheat or tares then maist thou know whether thou art to go to the fire or into the garner rest not satisfied till thou know that thou art wheat and neither with the tares bring forth bad fruit nor with the chaff fly away with the winde it is not enough to have a flourishing blade so the stony ground had and yet came to nothing it is not enough to make a profession of religion so the foolish virgins did they had lamps but no oyl a profession but no grace it is not enough to have talents but thou must improve them or thou wilt be sentenced to outer darkness it is not enough to grow in the same field be manured by the same hand heated by the same sun and watered with the same showers thus the tares were but there must be good feed well-rooted springing up and bearing fruit in thy heart thou maist live under the same Minister enjoy the same ordinance with the wheat and yet still be but a tare oh my God discover my self to my self and let me not be deceived by a cunning devil and a deceitful heart if I be a tare Lord let me know it ere it be too late that I may sow better seed in my field that I may be gathered into thy barn and not be bundled up with the tares for the fire let my heart bring forth good fruit fit for the basket good wheat fit for thy barn solid wheat that may not be blown away with the winde and much fruit that I may glorify thy name let me not sow to the flesh but to the spirit that I may not reap corruption but life everlasting let me not be deceived in so great a business as the salvation of my soul Upon the beating out of the seed 40. Med. WHen I had gathered in the seed and the fruits of the earth my next work was to make a separation the good from the bad for though some separation was already made and the weeds and other trash were cast out and left behinde yet still there were stalks and husks and chaff adhering to it to this end I threshed rubbed pounded or beat it out according as I saw occasion for I saw it would not out without some violence and that which was most stubborn and gave most resistance received most blows till at length my end was obtained and the separation made this put me in minde of the necessity of affliction how needful it was for the soul which is pestered more with chaff and rubbish then any corn can be though now saith the Apostle for a season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations c. 1 Pet. 1.6 when the heart grows too light God makes it heavy with manifold
sticks close and never leaves till the work be done and the new creature grace be formed it makes a wonderful change in the man it is like Elijahs mantle when thrown upon Elisha which made him leave his oxen and run after him and desired only to kiss his father and mother and he would follow him the prophet said go back again what have I done to thee 1 Kin. 19.19 but he had done that which made him that he would not forsake him till he was taken up to heaven and remained a prophet to his dying day when God speaks home to the heart the work is done when Christ cals Peter and Andrew James and John they leave all to follow him Mat. 4.18 c. with his word there went forth a secret power inclining them to follow the woman of Samaria left her pitcher and Mathew his tole-book and Zacheus his Sicamore tree yea half of his goods at Christs call when God speaks to the heart it sticks close and never leaves till a through reformation be wrought it turns a man from a lion to a lamb and changes a persecuting Saul to a preaching Paul The smoaking flax shall not be quench't nor the bruised reed shall not be broken till he bring forth judgment into victory Mat. 12.20 it is not the strong oaks only but the bruised reeds Christ cherisheth he despiseth not the day of small things the lest spark of fire may be cherished into a flame and the least true grace will be growing the very pantings after Christ and unsatisfaction without him are highly accounted of by him the earthquake made such an heart-quake in the Jaylor that he crys out what shall I do to be saved and the preaching of Peter to those that put Christ to death reacht to their heart and nothing would serve till they knew how they should be saved so powerfull is the word when set on by God upon the heart oh my soul though the Church of God be brought low despair not yet it hath been so in former times yet recovered and Christ hath told thee the gates of hell shall never prevail against it God will yet say to these dry bones live and if thy graces be at an under despair not if it be true though but as a grain of mustard seed it will spring if thou art but smoaking flax thou shalt not be quenched if a bruised seed thou shalt not be broken oh my God blow upon that spark thou hast given me that it be not extinguished remove the ashes of corruption that it may appear Vpon a crab-tree afterwards grafted 76. Med. OBserving one tree in the orchard wilde by nature which though it had the same husbandry with the rest drest and pruned by the same hand digged and dunged as the others were though it grew in as fat a soil and was refresht with the same sun and watered with the same showers yet still it brought forth sowr and unpleasant fruit and neither art nor labour could alter it till I caused it to be grafted and so changed the nature of it and then the same means used made it answer our expectation this made me to consider that this was the very reason why there was so much difference between persons that live under the same means of grace under the same Ministry enjoying the same Ordinances sit in the same sear live in the same house yea he in the same bed yet some bare good fruits some bad some sweet and some sowr sure the fault is not in the means but in the men I have read of Melancthon that when he came to preach the gospel he preacht with such convincing arguments and so much Scripture light that he was perswaded that he could have convinc't any man but after long trial he found the contrary and was fain to confess that the old devil was too cunning for young Melancthon I have often wondred how drunkards swearers adulterers or other debauch't sinners could sit under the powerfull means of grace and have hell-fire flasht in their faces and never startle at it when both the Scripture and verse hath been quoted where they were excluded heaven and yet they sit as unconcerned but when I considered Paul may plant and Apollo may water but it is God that gives the encrease my wonder ceast man can but speak to the ear but God speaks to the heart the same fun when it shines upon a garden of herbs makes it smell more oderiferously but when it shines upon a dunghill it maks it smell more fulsomly the fault is not in the sun but in the dunghill the same sun softens wax and hardens clay when the sun shines and the rain fals upon a fruitful pasture it makes it more fruitfull but when upon the heath in the desart it is little the better The reason why one bears good fruit and another bad under the same enjoyment is the one is ingrafted into Christ another not but grows upon the stock of nature all the watering dunging and manuring in the world will not make a thorn bring forth grapes or a thistle figs Mat. 7.16 A good tree cannot bring forth bad fruit nor a bad tree good so that the tree is known by his fruit I am the vine saith Christ and ye are the branches he that abideth in me and I in him shall bring forth much fruit for without me ye can do nothing John 15.5 A Christian that is grafted into Christ is like the Aegyptian fig-tree that is said to bear fruit seven times in the year or like the lemmon-tree that ever and anon sendeth forth new lemmons When a man abides in the stock of nature he can bring forth no savoury fruit to God if the fountain be polluted the streams cannot be clear if the heart be bad the life cannot be good if the lungs be infected the breath will stink of such as these God saith their vine is the vine of Sodom and of the field of Gomorrha their grapes are grapes of gall and their clusters are bitter Deut. 32.32 vitis non vinifera saith one sed vene infera the vine is the evil nature and the grapes are the wicked works they hatch cockatrice-eggs and weave spiders webs Isa 59.5 But when they are ingrafted in the true vine they have sap and nourishment from the root then the buds of good desires and the blossomes of good resolutions spring forth and after that the fruit of good works other professors are but like the Ivy that adheres to and hath some shelter and support from the oak but they stand upon their own root and bear their own fruit unregenerate men are hammering out their own happiness and like the spider are climbing by a thread of their own spinning they live upon themselves trade for themselves and attribute all to themselves and have no higher end then themselves for water can ascend no higher then the fountain head but all this will fail them for it is not Christ but
hast other work to do let thy greatest zeal be laid out on matters of greatest concernment maintain the vitalls of religion and that will maintain thee do not doat upon the brats of thy own brain neither censure those that differ from thee in cicumstantials love Christ whereever thou see him though in one of another judgement Lord make me upright in the main and to employ and improve all my strength for thee Upon a fair but fruitless tree 79. Med. WHen I saw a fair and large spreading tree that overtopt and overlookt all the rest that had a flourishing head and a promising shew and gave great hopes of fruit to all the beholders but drawing near as Christ did to the leavy fig-tree Mat. 21.19 expecting fruit I found none his whole strength was spent in bringing forth leaves when others that were less promising were richly laden with fruit so apt are we to mistake if we judge at a distance When I had seriously considered it I thought this tree did fitly resemble some high-flown professor that makes a great shew in the world and seems like Saul higher by the head then others are and haply disdains them as not fit for their society for oftentimes hypocrites do so by their poor brethren called weak Christians These you may frequently hear commending their own attainments and their own enjoyments their knowledge gifts and their communion with God and speaking of their holy raptures their assurance and such like and think they are not Christians that have not indubitable evidenee of their salvation when others ly under the hatches under fears and doubts complaining under the sence of their sin the hardness of their hearts under their wants and other spiritual distempers the load of corruption that lyes upon them their want of communion with God and fellowship with Jesus Christ the want of assurance and such like having the sun of righteousness often clouded and hid from their sight but when I have come a little nearer to them and more heedfully observed their course of life I saw that many of these great confidents bear little more then leaves and that where there was so much of the tongue there seemed to be but little of the heart and their religious duties especially in their family were cold enough and answered not to their confident braggs That those doubting Christians were more constant and spiritual in their performances That their lives and conversations were more holy towards God and more righteous towards men then the others were who bare more leaves but less fruit Upon this Observation I thought these fitly resembled the Pharisee and the Publican Luk. 18.9 c. the one brags of his worth the other is ashamed of his duties the one comes with confidence into Gods presence but the other with fear but Christ tells us that the Publican was the better man and better welcome all is not gold that glisters hypocrisy may lodge in a self-confident breast and sincerity under a thred-bare coat amidst many doubtings neither is it always safe to judge of a mans integrity by his tongue a confident bragger is not always to be believed the emptiest barrel makes the greatest sound and the worst spoak in the cart we say creaks first It is the aspiring ear of corn that is most like to be blasted when those that hang the head are usually most fruitful it is the humble self-denying Christian that bears most fruit to God and is likeliest to be most usefull in his generation God dwells in the high and holy heavens with him also that is of a contrite heart to revive the spirit of the humble A hypocrite holds himself to be the whole piece and all others but a remnant he takes his poor counter and sets it down for a thousand pound he prizeth himself above the market but he reckons without his host and therefore must reckon twice the seed of grace seldom prospers upon mountain tops and high-grounds but in low valleys upon the stalk of self-denyal The more fruit is upon any tree the more it inclines to the earth and the more upright and aspiring the more barren it is the valley and not the tops of mountains that bring forth the best corn and grass and other fruits The greatest braggers are not always the richest wisest or the most learned men many high flown professors are like the nighingale as one saith vox praeterea nihil and those that have least speak oftentimes loudest but it is not the best man that hath the best lungs but the best heart the strongest Christian is most sensible of his own wants and weaknesses as the wisest Philosopher could say I know nothing but that I know nothing but the bragadocia discovers his own ignorance where the river runs quietly the ford is deepest but where it makes most noise it is most shallow I dare not then prefer an over-confident bragger before an humble Christian I had rather judge by their life then by their language there are many that talk like Christians but I love to see men walk like Christians a parat may learn humane language but not humane action when the actions are so dissonant to the words I cannot think the heart and tongue agrees oh my soul rather be good then seem so rather bear fruit then leaves for it is fruit and not leaves substance and not a shadow thy Lord expects it is good works as well as good words intentions as well as pretences he requires let another praise thee and not thy own mouth a stranger and not thy own lips Pro. 27.2 let a man do worthyly in Ephrata and he will be famous in Bethelem he need not be his own trumpeter honour followeth vertue as the shadow doth the substance those that honour God God will honour but those that despise him shall be lightly esteemed set the crown upon Gods head and he will set the garland upon thine let thy own works but not thy own words praise thee Pro. 31.31 do well and thou needst not with Jehu proclaim thy own praises if thy conversation give light doubtless it will not be hid Oh my God let me stand approved in thy sight and I matter not what man saith of me give me truth in the inward parts make me sound at the heart give me sincerity and I shall then bear thee fruit Upon a great tree spoiling others under it 80. Med. WHen I considered the forementioned tree that made such a pompous and promising shew and was grown top-heavy and yet fruitless and worthless when many smaller shrubs yielded a plentiful encrease I considered it further and observed this was not all for I plainly saw that it was an enemy to all that grew near it and none prospered about it for in overshaddowing them or dropping upon them it rendred all that were within the reach of it either barren or at least not so fruitful as those that grew at a greater distance This Observation helpt me
no fruit words but no works a shew but no substance their religion lies in the tongue and brain but never reaches the heart nor seasons the life they are most in externals little in internals they regulate their words and actions but the heart is not restrained or purified the heat of their zeal appears chiefly if not only in their words but the heart is cold enough they take up the easie cheap and safest part of duty but the difficult dangerous or costly part they meddle not with they make a shew of what they are not and brag of what they have not and then they laugh in their sleeves to think how they have couzened and put a cheat upon the world they worship that God in the Church that they matter not in the closet they do no religious duty without witness haply for fear God should deny what he hath received from them they are like rotten wood they shine in the night but look upon them in the day and you will finde the cheat they are like the red and blew flowers in the corn-field fine to look upon good for little but to pester the corn they are like candles they usually go out in an offensive snuff they are Saints abroad and devils at home and usually more dangerous when they appear like Saints then when they shew themselves in their colours and act the devils part bare-faced but doubtless these are not the men that God will accept nor this is not the service he requires he is a spirit and will be worshipped in spirit and in truth yea the father seeketh such to worship him John 4.23.24 he calls for the heart my son saith he give me thy heart not thy tongue or hands but the heart for if he have that the rest will follow Pro. 23.26 as the heart is by nature God will have none of it till the heart be renewed and given to the Lord he will accept of nothing that comes from us he calls for the heart and says of it as Joseph did of Benjamin Gen. 43.3 ye shall not see my face without it or as David did of Michal 2 Sam. 3.13 thou shalt not see my face except thou bringest Michal Sauls daughter when thou comest These men would give the Lord any thing but the heart and he will own nothing without it these professors are like men in a boat they look one way and row another or like the kite that soares aloft towrs on high as if they were all for heaven and made light of all terrestriall things when still her eye is upon her prey and her heart glued to the ground and rooted in the earth they are like unto the peacock they have fine feathers but yet is but a dunghill-bird but these shews will not always serve turn God sees through their thin masks and will ere long pluck off their vizour be not deceived God is not mocked there are none can steal to heaven in a disguise God will know him well that shall enter there there is a sure guard and without this ticket of holiness none will be admitted this is Christ sheep-mark and those and those alone that have it shall stand upon his right hand at judgment when he comes to seek fruit and findes none he will take up his axe he hath long and may for a while spare the tree for the vine-dressers sake but his patience will not always last he will say pray not for this people for they are ripe for destruction when the sins of the Amorites were full their destruction drew neer when these borrowed robes are pluckt from the stageplayers backs for so the word hypocrite signifies then those that acted the parts of Kings will be found but peasants and those that acted the parts of honest men will be found but cheats indeed God hath many fans and much of this chaff is blown away in this life we have seen many that appeared to be something proved just nothing but when Christ comes with refiners fire and fullers soap who can stand before this burning the lamps of profession may light a man to death near to heaven oh my soul thou hast made profession of Religion a long time what fruit dost thou bring forth if thou hast nothing but tears thou maist expect that Christ shall say to thee as to the fruitless figtree never fruit grow more on thee for ever or if thy fruit be bad it will not be long but thou wilt be cut down what cause hast thou to fear that art so sensible of so much unsavory and rotten fruit and of so little that is good up then and be doing that thy last days may be thy best days and thy best wine last oh my good God though hypocrisy lodge in me let it not reign in me give me truth in the inward parts keep my heart sound in thy testimonies and I shall be safe Upon a dead tree 83. Med. OBserving a dead tree in the orchard that had neither fruit nor leaves and so was neither for profit nor pleasure for fruit nor ornament but rather an encumbrance to the ground and a deformity to the place I began upon this Observation to consider that this was the case of many a poor dead soul amongst us who though planted in Gods vineyard hedged about by his providence and watered with the dew of heaven and manured by the skilfullest vine-dressers yet remains dead fruitless and useless and hath done so many years and hath done nothing all this while but cumber the ground and keep a room and did but grow worse and worse and every day more fitter for the fire then other this minded me of Gods mercy and mans wickedness Gods mercy in sparing such unprofitable wretches some of them 50 or 60 years together and all that while sending his vine-dressers to dig and dung and manure them from year to year that never yielded any good fruit in their lives and mans wickedness that will not be won upon by all these entreaties and continued favours that are so hard that neither the sun nor the rain can soften neither fair means nor foul can work upon them and to this day do yet remain a reproach to the place they live in for sin saith Solomon is a reproach to any people Pro. 14.34 when righteousness exalteth a Nation True Religion and the power of godliness is the beauty and bulwark of a Nation but sin is a deformity and an evil disease it is the snuff that dims our candle yea threatens the removal of our candlestick Capernaum that once was lifted up to heaven is threatned to be cast down to hell if a dead tree deform a well-regulated orchard and is such an offence that it will not be endured by the owner nor be suffered to stand or if a dead carkass be so loathsom a thing that in a little time the nearest and dearest relations and the most intimate friends are weary of it how loathsome then is a
to wash off guilt which is not purged but by the blood of Christ or the fire of hell but God and nature begin at the heart and so must a Christian that would be cleansed O Jerusalem Jerusalem wash thy heart from wickedness how long shall vain thoughts lodge in thee Jer. 4.14 clense your hands ye sinners and purify your hearts ye double minded Jam. 4.8 both heart and life must be reformed but reformation should begin at the heart or it will never rightly season the life the most men begin reformation at the wrong end they lop off some of the bigger branches of sin and it is well they do so many go not so far when the root remains firm and untouched and hence it is it quickly springs again at the next gale of opportunity or warm gleam of temptation they are seeking to clense the stream when the fountain that feeds it is corrupt they would make the fruit good when the tree is bad but this is but labour lost the way is first to clense the fountain and then the stream will be clear let the tree be grafted and the fruit will be better the hypocrite like a glow worm makes a great shew in a dark night but if you touch her she yields neither fire nor heat I have read of a Roman Senatour that was giving audience to an Embassadour but beholding his coloured hair and painted face said what sincerity can we expect from these men whose very locks and looks and lips do lie so these mens looks and words and actions lie and shew that outwardly that is not inwardly there in the heart hypocrisy may be spun with a fine thread that it can be hardly discerned in the stuff but usually it is seen in the wearing for usually it is not durable neither will it endure a storm but will shrink in the wetting will the hypocrite pray always saith Job intimating he will not they are like the short-winded Bethulians faint after a turn or two fained conversion often proves unfained apostasy those that receive not the truth in the love of the truth will hardly dye for the maintenance of the truth those that have not the root of the matter in them will soon wither 1. Iohn 2.19 they went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us hypocrites are in the Church as tares among the corn and chaff among the wheat or as a wen or ulcer on the body or a wooden leg when a seperation is made the corn is the better and the body never the worse the foolish virgins had lamps in their hands as well as the wise but wanting oyl in their vessels grace in their hearts were shut out those that only pretend to holiness and the power of godliness and not intend it are like unto Vriah they carry their own condemnation about them for if Religion be not good why do they profess it if it be good why do they not practice it if they would not have the tree of sin kil'd why do they lop off the branches if they would why do they not stock it up by the roots if when they pray that God would mortify their sin and heal them of their hypocrisy they would not have God hear them why do they pray if they would why do they not endeavour it as well as beg it if hypocrisy be good why do they pray against it if it be bad why do they wittingly and willingly use it if they would not have the stream clean why do they purge it if they would why do they not clense the fountain that it may be clean they should be as they seem or seem as they be they should practice what they profess or profess what they practice I would saith God ye were either hot or cold he likes not a lukewarm temper their profession is but a fantastick fire kindled in their own tinder-box oh my soul see thou be sound at the heart that the life of Religion be in thee and not the dead image if the heart be rotten sooner or later it will break out into the life see that there be oyl as well as a lamp and practice as well as a profession oh my God without thine assistance my heart will deceive me Lord make my heart sound in thy statutes How little comfort the world can afford without food 95. Med. WHen I had for a considerable time recreated my self among the flowers in the garden and among the trees of the orchard sometimes solacing my self in the silent walks therein sometimes under the shady trees or in the green alleys delighting my self in the beautiful aspect various forms scent and savours of the flowers and herbs and contemplating their vertues and operations which led me by the hand to admire the Creators wisdome and goodness to make all these for the use of poor man and it made me consider how ill God was requited by man for all these mercies and thus spending my time sometimes in reading sometimes in meditating and in these exercises I continued sometimes walking sometimes sitting sometimes lying or in such postures as pleased my minde or suited my fancy sometimes taking delight in hearing the sweet singing birds at other times in the cool refreshing gales of winde that gently breathed upon me and qualified the heat of the day in a word sometimes taking delight in one thing sometimes in another till at last I began to be an hungry and my craving stomach spoil'd much of the delight and satisfaction that I had taken before in those enjoyments the pleasant sights the sweet smells the melodious harmony which before so pleased me now began to give me no content or comfort my craving stomack spoils all the sport and all the delight vanished and although I purposely propounded several delightful objects to my self to divert my thoughts yet nothing would do it no meditation would fasten no thoughts fix in my minde but the thought of meat This put me in minde of the fable of Midas that when he had gotten liberty of the Gods to wish what he would with a promise that it should be granted wisht that all he toucht should be turned to gold which was immediatly done but when he came to eat and to drink his meat and drink turned to gold also and so lost its nutritive vertue and so in the midst of his riches he was reduced to the greatest extremity and ready to perish for want of food and became more miserable then the poorest beggar I thought with my self if that which is fabled of him were verifyed of me that I were able my self with my touch to turn all those herbs and flowers grass and trees into gold yea the ground I trod upon and all that I did either see or feel how little satisfaction would this
THE Husbandmans COMPANION CONTAINING One Hundred Occasional Medirations Reflections and Ejaculations Especially Suited to Men of that Employment Directing them how they may be Heavenly-minded while about their Ordinary Calling By Edward Bury Late Minister of Great Bolas in Shropshire Psal 77.12 I will meditate also of thy works and talk of thy doings LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and 3 Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers Chappel and at the Bible on London-bridge 1677. Licensed and Entred according to Order To the Worshipful his much Honoured Friend Rowland Hunt of Boare-Eatton In the County of Salop Esquire And to the Virtuous and truly Religious Lady Frances Daughter to the Right Honourable the Lord Paget his Pious Consort E. B. Wisheth Encrease of Grace here and Glory hereafter Sir and Madam I Foresee there may two or three questions arise upon this my undertaking in which you may desire satisfaction the first may be why I write at all the second why I write on this subject and the last why I prefix your Names to what I write To these I shall answer in order For the first though I hope Gods glory and the publique good be chiefly intended yet my own satisfaction is also included for I being set apart in my Education for the work of the Ministry and dedicated thereunto in my Ordination and though I have but one talent I would not have it wrapt in a napkin when an account is required how I have employed it lest I be found speechless Aulaedus sit qui Citharaedus esse non potest a man may be useful that is not excellent and therefore I thought it my duty what howrs I could spare from my secular employments should be improved and employed for the good of souls as for your second demand why I write upon this subject seeing so many have gone before me and what I do is but Alcinoo pomo dare or in our English dialect to light a candle when the sun shines or bring coals to Newcastle to this I answer if this lesson be so well taught it is a shame it is no better learnt I fear there is not one of ten amongst Christians but are guilty of the neglect of this profitable duty which I suppose would bring the soul more real benefit then many litigious controversies about the modes and circumstances of worship about which many argue themselves not only out of Charity but out of their Christianity and lose the substance while they strive about the shadow and fill their heads with notions rather then their hearts with graces I conceive it is real communion with Christ and the life of faith that makes the soul fat and flourishing and I think that meditation doth conduce as much to this as any duty whatsoever prayer I know brings in supplys from heaven and so doth this and these two usually are concomitant and where the one is neglected the other is seldome well performed Meditation like the Bee fetches honey both from flowers and weeds yea this divine Alchymist extracts gold out of the coursest Mettles and is the true Philosophers stone that turns all into gold and gold it self into a spiritual substance those books which reduce religion into practice which in our days lyes much in the theorick and serve to reconcile the head and the heart and maintain the vitals of religion and the power of godliness and further our great designe for heaven should be well studied and of them I think store is no sore By this heavenly art of divine meditation wisdome may be extracted out of folly as Solomon gained instruction by beholding the field of the sluggard Pro. 24.30 c. and doubtless man was not plac't in the world as Leviathan in the Sea to play therein nor indowed with so many excellent faculties to be like bruit beasts only idle spectatours of the works of God The use of reason doubtless was given for an higher end to help us to view the Creator in the glass of the creature and every thing lends a helping hand to a willing minde in this work There is no man so busy if not sinfully employed but may finde some time every day to converse with God and now and then make a journey to heaven and view those Caelestial mansions prepared for those that love God There is none so dull-witted if honest hearted but may learn some profitable lessons in natures school the least worm or gnat or leaf of a tree will point out God to an observant Christian That Meditation is a Christian duty none that pretend to religion or to reason it self will deny and that to meditate upon Gods works as well as his word is our duty is evident God sometimes sends us to the oxe and ass to learn our duty Jsay 1.3 sometimes to fowls of heaven the stork the crane and the swallow Jer. 8.7 sometimes to the pismire or ant those despicable insects Pro. 6.6 and 30.25 and all to learn our duty David learned humility by beholding the moon and the stars Psal 8.3 4. and Christ grounds many of his excellent sermons upon the various occurrences that dayly fell out as we see in the parable of the sower and the seed the tares of the field and the draw-net cast into the Sea the leaven the mustard seed the fruitless figtree and many others what heavenly use doth he make of earthly things and all this is for our imitation that by this means we may of these earthly materials frame to our selves a Jacobs ladder to ascend to heaven for all those visibles will mount us up to beholde invisibles and give us a Pisgah sight of the heavenly Canaan even of those things within the vail And that soul that hath this heavenly art can set it self on work and need not be idle or ill imployed for time will fail us and death surprize us before we can have searched natures garden from end to end or gathered hony from the several flowers here we may walk at liberty and crop what flowers we please and no man is damnified thereby in other respects our bounds are set hitherto may we go and no further but in this we have an unlimitted circuit meum tuum which hath set the world in a flame hinders not in this case the poor here hath as much liberty as the rich and the servant as his master for with the Bee we may suck sweetness from our neighbours fields and flowers without his leave or licence and feed upon his pasture without any dammage to him 'T is true in these my meditations I have contented my self with a small plot and but seldome past the bounds of a garden or orchard but had the publishing of it been designed at the first I should not have tied up my self in so short a lether when the whole creation lay before me The book of the creature stands open to us and God may be read in every line of it otherwise why doth God
object and other circumstances vary and as the will or capacity of the person requireth and therefore may be better taught by example then rule This minded me of some occasional Meditations that had formerly warmed my heart and not knowing but they might warm others also and might be a means to restore this beneficiall though too much neglected duty and therefore gathering together and reveiwing my scattered papers and making some additions substractions and alterations I reduced them to the method here presented that it is every Christians duty I think none will deny and that it hath been the practice of believers is easy to prove this was Isaac's practice Gen. 24.63 and it was Davids work as the whole book of Psalmes testify see Psal 63.6 and 77.12 and 119.15 and 143.5 and many other places wherein we see he meditated both on Gods word and on his works both by night and by day and makes it the character of a childe of God or a blessed man so to do Psal 1.2 and a mark of one ripe for destruction not to regard the works of the Lord nor the operation of his hands Psal 28.5 What I have here written is chiefly for thy imitation and my desire is that thou maist take out this lesson prove an artist and set up for thy self and follow this gainfull trade that hath formerly brought so much glory to God and so much profit to poor souls The method herein propounded is easy and the duty to an honest heart not hard yet remember it is the practick part that is like to do thee most good here maist thou learn to spend thy time and pass away thy solitary hours better then most men do for whether thou be at home or abroad in publick or in private this duty may be in some measure performed yea by every man in every place in every company and in every employment though all places are not alike a gracious heart can steal a thought into heaven and by a Meditation and private ejaculation hold converse wtth God at any time neither slave nor servant though in a Turky-gally can be deprived of this liberty The want of this heavenly art or the not using of it is the cause of the mispence of so much precious time and that there are so many barren empty hearts as we dayly finde for as the Bee gathers honey both from flowers and weeds so doth a diligent man from every thing he sees hears of or observes time is such a precious jewel that it should not be squandred away and I know not well how it may be better improved then by Meditation for this spiritualizeth all we set or hear of it makes a man never idle nor ill employed and drives on a rich trade for the soul and either leads the soul to heaven or brings heaven to it I know meditation may be abused some meditate how they may be rich either by hook or by crook the ambitious man how he may be honourable the voluptuous man how he may enjoy his pleasure but a Christian how he may enjoy his God and secure his soul some study mischief upon their beds some with the spiders gather poyson where the Christian like the bee gathers honey and the very business a Christian is about will furnish him with matter sufficient for his work if the heart be not barren every thing will be fruitful and there is none so dull if not spiritually dead but may gather something from visibles to minde him of invisibles No ship that sails either to the East or West Indies brings home richer lading then meditation doth if rightly steered This is the chewing of the cud that turns all to nourishment the true Philosophers stone that turns all to gold by this means the spirits and quintescence of all earthly things are extracted 't is true of a Christian endowed with his heavenly art what the Poets feign of Midas every thing they touch turns to gold and gold it self into a better substance the hardest flint the barrenest tree the most withering branch or fading leaf will yield good fruit to this artist yea better fruit then the gardens of the Hesperides which are feigned to bear golden apples and every sheep will bear a golden fleece better then ever Jason fetcht from Colchis By meditation a Christian is carried into the third heaven with Paul whether in the body or out of the body be scarcely knows and there is enabled to see things inutterable this makes invisible things visible and gives a man a Pisgah-sight of the heavenly Canaan This heavenly artist can with Daedalus make himself wings to fly aloft and can break prison at his pleasure neither need he fear the melting of the wax This keeps the heart in order and prevents its strayings it keeps vain thoughts from rising or at best from roosting There mans heart is like a mill if it want grist it sets it self on fire and if there be no corn to grinde for God the devil will throw his tares into the hopper The heart it always well or ill-employed and will never be idle holy meditation puts a man out of satans road when otherwise he is in continuall danger of falling into his snares or by being surprized by his wiles when the idle person is commonly snared and taken by this grace is strengthened and corruption weakned our evidences cleared communion with God maintained and acquaintance with our own hearts gained it is the way to store the understanding with knowledge to subject the will to Gods will to warm the â—ffections and to put life and heat into all our duties this discovers to us the sinfulness of sin and vanity of the creatures and the fulness of Christ this reacheth out to us some of Canaans grapes some Pisgah-sights of glory even of those things within the veil and a taste of those pleasures which are at the right hand of God such a taste as this made Moses despise the pleasures of Pharaohs court and Galeacius esteem all the wealth in the world not worth one days communion with God this lets us see there is a worm of vanity bred in our cheifest earthly enjoyments and eats out the very heart of them and if they are abused they will breed and feed the worm that never dies and kindle that fire that never shall go out These and a thousand such lessons meditation will teach us and fastens every lesson upon the heart who then would not follow so gainfal a trade and practice so fruitful a calling Did it enrich the body as it doth the soul we should have many proficients in this School some pretenders there are to this duty but they rather pretend then intend it they throw down the hammer before they have driven the nail to the head and lay down the premises but stay not to raise the conclusion they follow not the work till they come to resolution and practice they are like a man that strikes fire gathers
wood but leaves off before it be kindled and so all his labour is lost This duty enables a man with Paul to die dayly and with Stephen to see God with Moses to talk with God and with Enoch to walk with God It fits a Minister to preach and the people to hear neither of which can be well done without it that sermon that is not well set on by meditations seldom heats the preachers heart and then the people seldom feel it for a dull and drowsy preacher makes a dull and sleepy people when the minister preaches his own life and experiences this is the life of preaching This meditation is a serious bending of the minde upon some useful subject till we bring it to some profitable issue Occasionall meditation which is it we now treat of ariseth from some occasionall object presented to our sences or understanding by divine providence of which though examples may be given yet hardly can it be restrained or brought under rules for it may be varied according to the variety of the objects presented or other accidents occurrences or circumstances that offer themselvs or the will of the person or his ability the objects that offer themselves are various and innumerable for there is nothing in rerum natura but may be a fit object for occasional meditations God hath given us a large field to walk in and choise of flowers pluck what we will to put into our nose-gay we may gather honey from flowers and weeds out of our own or neighbours fields without offence which way soever we look within us or without us above us or below us before us or behinde us or on either side we may see suitable matter for our meditation above us we may see the sun moon and stars those glorious lamps of heaven who offer themselves not only to our view but also to our contemplation their light their heat their influence their various though unerring motions their magnitude altitude number nature splendor vertue and effects may breed admiration in us as well as in David Psal 8.3 4. and 19.1 or should we descend to sublunary things to the fiery or ayery regions and observe the several meteors in both that present themselves to our view we may finde matter not only for meditation but also for admiration if we consider a while the winde the snow the rain the frost the ice c. all brought out of Gods treasury Psal 135.7 the thunder and lightning with their strange effects the strange apparitions often seen in the air comets blazing-stars dragons fire-drakes c. armies fighting in the air Lyons bears horses and many other things there resembled raining bloud wheat frogs stones c. all this may raise our admiration veiw but the rain bow in its shape and various colours it deserves our consideration The powerful influence of these superiour bodies in exhaling and retaining those hugh weighty and towring clouds those bottles of heaven in the open air and watering the earth with them at their makers pleasure without which neither man nor beast could subsist who can view those things without consideration or if we look upon the earth out of which we were taken we may finde matter enough to exercise our thoughts observe this huge and massy globe hanging in the air upon nothing consider it as it is distinguished into hills and dales and woods and forrests adorned with sumptuous buildings Towns and Castles abounding with trees of all sorts with corn and grass with herbs and flowers watered with rain and showers rivers springs and fountains inhabited with a thousand times ten thousand living creatures of all sorts men and beasts fowls and creeping things all maintained at the great housholders charge who preserves them in their several kindes consider also the perenity of rivers the cause and perpetuity of springs of all sorts some hot some cold some sweet some bitter some salt some fresh some medicinal some not this observation may take up some time or should we consider the several minerals lodged in the concaves of the earth as of gold silver brass tin iron lead allom brimstone coals lime stone and much more and how useful and necessary these are to human life This may teach us many profitable lessons Or should we go to sea to see the wonders of the deep and observe how the huge and roaring element is restrained and bounded by an almighty arm that saith hitherto shalt thou go and no further or if we consider the ebbing and flowing of it a wonder in nature or the numberless number of living creatures therein which are fed and cherished by those salt and brackish waters yet retain their sweetness or if we consider the cause why those waters alone are salt and so remain though a thousand fresh rivers dayly run into it together with their strange creatures therein produced these considerations will take up much time but of all the creatures God hath made none yield more matter for meditation then angels and men Angels both the good and the bad their nature essence and offices and man considered in his body and soul the order use comliness and proportion of the several parts the vegetative sensitive and rational faculties of the soul the understanding will and affections the memory conscience and many more the several sences whereby the soul comes to understand things here below these things deserve consideration but to let pass the works of creation and consider a while Gods works of providence these will take up much of our time we may see and observe the course of nature the generation and production of the several species with their preservation protection and the provision made for them by their Creator he maintains the several species by his providence that for ought we know there is not one kinde of them extinct since the creation nay the power of man was never able to destroy those kindes that are noxious to man and therefore hated by him yet are these maintained by divine providence at his own cost and charges But his providence is more clearly seen and discovered in his providence to man especially to his own Church in maintaining a handfull of men against their numerous enemies these are preserved as lambs amongst wolves and is the bush that is ever burning yet never consumed he spred a table for them in the wilderness in dispight of their enemies the wonderful providence of God for his Church in all ages in Scripture-times and down to this day may fir us with much matter for meditation The word of God also as well as his works may yield much matter for contemplation it furnished David for meditation day and night every Book every Chapter yea every verse is fruitful abundantly that had we the years of Methusalem the time would be too little to run through the Scripture and to consider of all that is held forth therein here are precepts and promises threats and examples for our good
soon offended and Christ may take heaven to himself for them if this be his rate of it some seed was sown among thorns and these sprung up and choaked it the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choak it few rich men can handle these thorns and not prick their fingers most overload themselves with earth and so lose heaven they set their hearts with Saul upon the asses when a kingdome is before them these like dissembling hosts welcome us into Innes and at last cut our throats and there is but a little good ground and that also brought forth variously some an hundred some sixty and some thirty-fold every man cannot excell we should strive after the highest pitch of godliness and content our selves with a low frame of spirit but not dispair though we fall short of it God accounts it good ground that brings forth any good fruit to maturity This consideration made me reflect upon my own condition and call my self to an account what sort of ground my heart was since so much seed hath been sown and so little fruit appears Oh my soul how comes it thus to pass that thou art barren and unfruitfull how comes it to pass the seed is lost after so much labour pains and care so much manuring and cultivating what could God have done more for thee by the way of means then he hath done why then bringest thou forth wilde grapes art not thou the high-way-ground and hath not the devil hardned thy heart that it is become sermon-proof and Ordinance-proof and doth he not pick up the seed which lies lose upon it and is not covered by meditation art not thou a forgetful hearer and how can that fructifie that is thus stole away or was it not sown among stones no wonder then if fruit appear not where a root cannot be had trust not to all stirring of the affections Herod heard John Baptist gladly and reformed many things but if the stone of the heart be not removed and a heart of flâ—sh given thee how can corn be expected upon a rock that was never softned mortified or made fruitfull or was it not sown among thorns didst thou not suffer the thoughts the cares the fears of the world or the love desire of or delight in riches to choak it when the heart brings forth such fruits the word cannot prosper when the vessel is full of water it can receive no other liquor O my soul if this be thy case beware of it and prepare thy heart to receive the seed and harrow it in by Meditation what good will meat do if not eaten and digested or what good can physick do if not taken or a plaister if not applied or the word if not set home to the conscience and reduced into practice empty thy heart of all distrustfull cares and fears break up the fallow ground of thy heart and sow not among thorns Oh my God! if thou be not the husbandman there will be no good crop If thou direct not the plow there will be no good furrow If thou bless not the seed and the labour all is in vain Paul may plant and Apollo water but God gives the encrease If God set not a hand to the work old Adam will be too hard for young Melancthon and the devils tares will thrive better then the good seed Man can but speak to the ear God can speak to the heart no plaister can heal if God be not the Surgeon no food can nourish if God be not the nurse Lord reach my heart cure my wounds remove nay distempers empty my soul of froth and vanity that the water of life may be received Say to my ears Ephphatha be opened and they will hear and to my heart be soft and it will be done Say to these dry bones live take my stony heart into thy furnace or what good will it do to preach to a stone all the water that falls upon it will be spilt and all the means of grace lost Lord speak the word and it will be done command my heart and it will obey Upon refreshing rain after a dry season 9. Med. WHen I saw after a dry season wherein the fruits of the earth languished for want of moisture that when a refreshing shower of rain came how they flourished grew and encreased and how fresh and fragrant these were which a little before hang'd the head and droop't I plainly then saw that all the pains and all the cost and all the care which men were at even about these earthly enjoyments signifies nothing if God deny his blessing if the influences of heaven were but restrained what would all our care and labour signify we may rise early lie down late and eat the bread of carefulness and all to little purpose but how few look up to the true cause of plenty or want The most are like to hogs under the tree that eat the crabs or acorns when they fall but regard not whence they come and murmure if they have them not I considered the earth wanted the influences of heaven and the heavens wanted a commission from God and till that was sealed the creatures could not be supplied it was in vain to quarrel the one or the other nay man had no cause to quarrel at any but himself where the obstacle lay for had not he sin'd the creatures had not suffered This made me a little consider the course of nature and how one creature depends upon another and every one seems to be made for another rather then for it self The Sun the Moon and Stars those glorious lamps and beauty-spots of heaven in their uncessant and unerring courses powr out their heat and light and influence upon the earth and by this means the creatures are generated and the earth refresh't without which influence it would be but a barren dry and unprofitable heap and all things therein would languish and die The earth not ingrateful for received favours conceiveth and produceth corn and grass herbs and flowers plants and trees and other vegetables both for the use of man and beast whereby the vegetable and sensitive creatures are maintained beasts of the field fouls of the air fish of the Sea and all creeping things are fed and cherished these again offer themselves for food or service to man their little Lord and he alone is made capable of communion with his creator and especially fitted for his service When I had seriously considered this subordination among the creatures and that every one seemed to minde anothers good rather then his own this led me up to a first cause to enquire who directed them to an end they knew not and led them by a rule they understood not and when I considered that all those famous works were made and thus subordinated each to other and thus directed for the sake of man this made me break out with the Psalmist upon the like occasion Lord what is man that thou art mindefull
thou wilt kill the cursed tree stub it up by the roots and not lop off here one branch and there another for if the root be dead the branches will soon wither but if the root live the branches will revive The way to cleanse the stream is to purge the fountain for sweet water cannot proceed from a stinking puddle if the tree be good the fruit will be good also if the spring be not dried up it will sooner or later overflow the dam the way to cure the sore is to heal it at the bottome and heart-reformation is the best way to life-reformation hypocrisie within will like a botch at length break forth and a rotten heart will ere long rot the life also O my God without thy assistance all my endeavours will prove vain the devil the world and my own deceitful heart will beguile me let me not strive in my own strength nor fail of thine assisting grace rather cast me into the furnace then suffer my corruption and dross to remain in me and rather plow deeper furrows by affliction then suffer the roots of the weeds to remain in my heart turn me O Lord and I shall be turned convert me and I shall be converted let me not take up with a partial reformation and let nothing less then the death of sin give me content Upon the care men take of their Gardens 11. Med. WHen I considered how careful many men and women are to keep their garden in order and what pains and cost they are at in this thing and what time is spent to this end and how many are employed in this work walling fencing and securing it in digging dunging weeding and much more there must not a rarity be wanting that love or labour or money can procure there must not a weed be seen nor hearb nor flower out of order what is dead must be supplied what is wanting must be had and what is superfluous must be cast away the tenderest must be secured from frost and scorching sun and the whole must be formed after the newest mode and latest fashion the alleys and walks must be swept and trimmed and rowled and levelled the grass mown and kept under and all so exactly done that it may appear to be an earthly paradice a place of pleasure and delights And observing also that all this while those very persons so curious and so neat in shaddows yet neglect the substance and suffer their own souls and the souls of their Children servants and near relations the gardens God only takes delight in to be sadly out of order and though they make choise of the choisest skilfullest painfullest men for the other they let out these gardens to the devils dressing without regard who sows tares and poppy cokle and darnell weeds and rubbish thorns and thistles in them and whatsoever bad is which grows and flourishes without controul and choakes all the good seed that is there sown these men are made keepers of others vineyards but their own vineyard they have not kept these men suffer the devil to make a path-way over their hearts when they only look to the ways in their gardens I have oft wondred at their stupidity in spiritualls that are so ripe-witted in temporalls and that those that are so good husbands for the body should be such bad husbands for the soul and those that take so much pains for a little imaginary pleasure here should altogether neglect the true pleasures everlasting joys at the right hand of God for evermore Oh the stupendious folly of men to prefer pebbles before pearls and gold before grace and a handful of flowers before an heartfull of holiness and the shadow before the substance and earth before heaven and a garden before paradice well however they do now the time is coming these men will finde their mistake and will alter their minde and change their judgment when grace will be accounted the choicest flower in the garland and a dram of it will be of more value then a cabinet of Jewels and holiness will then prove the best fashion though many now disdain to wear it Oh my soul art thou not guilty thy self of those sins which thou so sharply chargest upon others doth not this shew that thou lookest too much abroad and too little at home art thou not too deep in the transgression which thou now castest upon others and puts other mens sins in the end of the wallet before and thine own behinde out of sight thou art blinde at home and quick-sighted abroad and seest the mote in thy brothers eye and not the beam in thine own hast not thou thy self been more prodigall of thy pains thy time thy cost thy sweat for meer trifles then ever thou hast been about thy greater concerns and is any mans folly more conspicuous then thy own hast thou not had thy ears open to those bewitching Syren songs of pleasure and been more tickled with earthly sensuall delight then with communion with God in his worship and service when the world hath smiled upon thee how unwilling hast thou been to die and to be with God and hast laid cut thy self thy strength thy time too much for earthly enjoyments to the neglect of heavenly riches sweep therefore before thy own doors before thou complain of the foulness of the street pluck out the beam out of thy own eye before thou offer thy helping hand to thy brother to remove his mote throw the first stone at thy self reform what is amiss and then thou maiest reprove another more boldly get thy affection weaned from the world and thy eye fixt upon better riches and more enduring pleasures lest God give thee these for thy portion and what then wilt thou do in the latter end Oh my God what shall I say to thee how shall I answer thee my iniquity is found out this day to be hatefull had I spent but my time for spirituall advantages which I have prodigally wasted for very trifles it might have been much better with me had I planted and sowed in a more fruitful field I might have had a better crop Lord wean me from the dugs of carnal delights though it be with the gall and wormwood of afflictions and suffer me not to surfet on the worlds dainties leave me not to my own will then shall I undoe my self feed me with food convenient and it sufficeth me Upon a neglected Garden 12. Med. WHen I saw by experience how soon a neglected garden grows out of form and fashion and in a short time comes to be a rude and indigested heap grown over with weeds and nettles trash and rubbish destroyed with moles inhabited with toads serpents or other vermine the wall broken down the fence decayed beasts and swine making a prey of it the one tearing off the tops the other digging up the roots of the tender plants the hearbs and flowers dying withering or decaying choaked by the weeds or starved for want of nourishment
nothing flourisheth but weeds and nothing appears but confusion and the whole appearing more like a wilderness then a garden This sight brought to my minde the state of the poor soul when it is neglected and not heedfully observed then all run to ruine and tends to confusion nothing that good is prospers nothing that is bad but flourisheth corruption and sin get the upper hand and grace is kept under the fence is let down the watch is neglected and the devil that wilde boar of the forrest destroys the tender vines roots up every good inclination spoils every good motion intention and resolution and lays all waste how many have I known who when they have been under good Masters good parents good Ministers have been very hopeful and towardly and were likely to have made good instruments in the Church for Gods glory if not pillars in the house of God while their graces and good inclinations were well watered and they received encouragement in their religious courses then the flowers of grace seemed to flourish and good desires holy intentions and resolutions to bud forth and hopeful beginnings shewed themselves and promising parts gave hopes of future encrease But when these fire-sticks not well kindled were once removed from those that set them a burning they were soon extinguished when they had changed their habitations their company when they were left to themselves or to those that were careless of them they went out of themselves and vanished in a smoak or in a snuff then their corruptions soon gathered head and their graces were at an under they soon grew rude and bruitish and given to sensuality and the hearb of grace for want of rain and nourishment watering and weeding was soon suffocated by vice and in short time these men lost that which they seemed to have and their souls looked no more like a watered garden but a barren wilderness or a dunghill covered with noysome weeds and the dam which religious education had erected being broken down the stream ran more violently and it is not unusual to see vice so much prevailing that they turn persecutors of what before they profest oh my soul is not this in part thy case are there not sensible decays of love in thee is not thy zeal for God abated and thy courage in his cause decayed are not thy graces choaked with weeds and the wheat overrun with tares where is the kindeness of thy youth and the love of thy espousalls when thou wentst after God in the wilderness hast thou not with the Church of Ephesus lost thy first love dost thou not grow more strange with thy God and doth not God grow more strange with thee where is that heart and fervour which did appear in thee that life and activity in his service hath not the cooling winde of the world abated this and thou beginnest to be as the world calls it more moderate or as God calls it more lukewarm the weeds of sin begin to overtop the hearb of grace do not these grow rank and flourishing when grace grows weak and feeble grace like the house of Saul grows weaker and weaker when sin like the house of David gathers strength well beware betimes if thou grow lukewarm God will spew thee out of his mouth if thou bear wilde grapes he will pluck down thy fence and lay thee waste if thou art barren he will cut thee down and cast thee into the fire oh my God without thy assistance I shall bring forth no fruit or worse then none wilde grapes grapes of sin and disobedience my sins like a bloud-hound will dog me at the heels and finde me out the weeds of sins and the thorns of cares will suffer no good herb nor flower to flourish if God weed them not out Oh pluck up those weeds keep under those thorns and make up those decays in this thy garden let the north-winde and the south blow upon my garden that the spices thereof may flow out Cant. 4.16 that I may be serviceable to thee and profitable to man let my fruits be ripened my graces greatned by the breathing of the Holy Ghost then shall I serve thee with thy own and give thee of thy own 1 Chron. 29.14 Upon the fading of Beautifull flowers 13. Med. WAlking in the garden I fixed my eyes upon the flowers there growing I considered the variety beauty and splendour of them how glorious they appeared after a cooling shower of rain and the refreshing beams of the shining Sun how pleasantly they lookt how sweet they smelt filling the ambient air with their sweet savour delighting the beholders senses with their colour shape and scent and when on the other side I considered how vain and fading all this glory was how transitory these beautifull creatures were and how their glory past was as the morning dew which when the Sun in his glory appears quickly vanisheth when I considered that the same day I saw them in the heighth of their pride and in their lowest debasement to day they are saith Christ and to morrow they are cast into the oven the same day ofttimes sees them both admired and despised hug'd in the bosome and cast out upon the dunghill me thought this did lively resemble the vanity of all humane felicity how transitory it is and uncertain and how little solidity is to be found in any thing under the sun Now they flatter and seem beautifull to the eye and suddenly they wither vanish and disappear If we look upon their little Lord and the owner of these things we shall finde him as frail and brittle as fading and transitory as these this day you may see him in the strength of his youth and his bones full of marrow and to morrow death seizeth upon him and the worm sweetly feeds upon him Job 24.20 they are cut down as the grass and wither as the flower of the field Psal 37.12 13. How frequent is it in Scripture to compare man to grass and to a fading flower Esay 40.6 7. all flesh is grass and the glory thereof as the flower of the field the grass withereth the flower fadeth because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it surely the people is grass Psal 92.7 when the wicked springeth as the grass and when the workers of iniquity flourish it is that they may be out off for ever and as man is thus frail and brittle fading and transitory so are all these sublunary things there is no stability no sollidity in them they are like the moon every day shewing a new face now waxing now waning or like the Sea sometimes ebbing sometimes flowing now a full sea and a few howers after low water we may see many men flourish like green bay-trees and suddenly taken away and the place that knew them shall know them no more now in the height of honour and suddenly in the gulph of disgrace now flourishing in riches and quickly pincht with poverty our age can witness all
thy hand and a wedding-garment on thy back improve thy talents well that Christ may say well done good and faithfull servant enter into thy Masters joy when others only wish for heaven do thou work for it Oh my God I have been one of these loitering truants that am justly here reproved and sent again to school to the meanest of thy creatures their diligence shames my negligence they have only an instinct of nature to guide them I have reason experience Scripture and example to put me on they labour only for the body I for the soul and body they for the meat that perisheth I for that which endureth to eternall life they for a winter I for eternity yet are they diligent and I negligent Heaven and earth may stand amazed at my folly Lord pardon what is past and incline my heart for the time to come to give diligence to make my calling and election sure Let me so run that I may obtain so fight that I may conquer and be faithfull to the death that I may receive the crown of life Upon the gorgeous dresse of Flowers 18. Med. WHen I seriously considered the various dress the curious colours of the herbs and flowers which diapred the plot I took some delight to consider the power of God in them and how far he condescended to please our fancies and delight our sences when I saw how gorgeously they were attired how beautiful they appeared it led me up to the fountain-head even to God who is beauty and comeliness it self and the greatest beauty that the world can brag of is but a spark to this fire a ray to this Sun and a drop to this ocean if the creature can be so beautiful what is the Creator end if earth be so pleasant what is heaven but when I considered also the transitory fading nature of these short-lived flowers how soon when they were in their prime they withered away and perished this put me in minde of the vanity of man which is compared to a flower which cometh up and is cut down like a flower and never continueth in one stay and not only he but all earthly enjoyments are short-lived and soon perish But when I considered their beauty with their fading nature it minded me of our Saviours words Mat. 6.28 c. Why take you thought for raiment consider the lillies of the field how they grow they toil not neither do they spin and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory is not arayed like one of these wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field which to day is and to morrow is cast into the oven shall he not much more clothe ye O ye of little faith c. he sends us in the former verses to the sparrows which though they neither plough nor sow reap nor mow nor carry into barns are yet fed by divine providence so here he sends to the grass and flowers who though frail vanishing things are gorgeously attired by him and all is to put us on to depend upon our fathers providence for the force of the argument is thus If God feed these worthless sparrows and not one falls to the ground without his providence and so clothe the withering grass in such a dress doubtless he will not suffer his sons and servants to want necessary food and rayment which as they are better so are a thousand times dearer to him then the fowls or flowers There is in every man by nature a conceit of self-sufficiency as if by our own diligenee we could provide for our selves and are ready to undertake Gods part of the work Now this self-confidence is the daughter of unbelief as one saith is the mother of carking care and carnal thoughtfullness Our Saviour here by many arguments disswades us from these there is a care of the head not only lawfull but commendable but there is a carking distrustfull diffident care of the heart here condemned when a man hath done his utmost endeavour in the use of lawfull means yet vexeth himself about the event what if this or that follow I fear I shall die a beggar c. One day saith David I shall perish by the hand of Saul What shall I eat or what shall I drink c. because God will not let us know how we shall be provided for therefore we are ready with Israel to question Can God provide a table in the wilderness Psa 78.19 Oh my soul how justly art thou reproved and sent to these poor creatures to school hast thou not had distracting thoughts and distrustfull fears hast thou not oft been questioning What shall I eat or what shall I drink or wherewithall shall I be cloathed what shall become of my wife and children when I am dead c. even contrary to the express command of the great God as if thou hadst had no father to provide for thee or no God to depend upon or no promise to uphold thee and though God hath ofttimes silenced thy fears and husht thy cares by an unexpected providence yet upon the apprehension of new danger new fears arise like murmuring Israel though they had seen Gods wonders in Egypt at the Red Sea in feeding them with Manna yet cry out Can he furnish a table for us in the wilderness Psal 78.19 yea though thou hast never wanted food nor rayment nor any thing truly necessary and hast a promise thou shalt never want any thing that is good and though God hath bid leave your fatherless children with me and let thy widdows trust in me yet how hard is it to commit wife and children to him if there be no visible means for their subsistance or to trust him when means are out of sight and the world doth not pass for payment what if thy food be not so dainty nor thy cloathes so fine if the one nourish thee and the other keep thee warm it matters not if thou do not fare deliciously every day nor go in purple and fine linnen thy betters have fared harder and gone more meanly clad reade Heb. 11.36 and be ashamed of murmuring others had trials of cruel mocking and scourgings yea moreover of bonds and imprisonments they were stoned they were sawn asunder were tempted were slain with the sword they wandred about in sheeps-skins and goats-skins being destitute afflicted and tormented of whom the world was not worthy they wandred in desarts and in mountains and in dens and in caves of the earth what if thou hast no certain dwelling-house thy dear redeemer had not where to lay his head and those Worthys were worse bestead then ever thou wast Oh my God charge not upon me those distrustful thoughts but strengthen my faith in thy promises Lord I believe help my unbelief and let not this sin have dominion over me Enable me to say with Job though he kill me yet will I trust in him and with Ely 't is the Lord let him do what seemeth him
take her prisoner nor make her pay for the trespass this unexpected accident made me consider of the vanity of all humane felicity how soon the beauty of it may vanish and come to nothing and by how small a means God can blast all earthly enjoyments All that the world affords is of the nature of Jonahs gourd that grew up in a night and perished in a night no solidity to be found in any sublunary creatures some worm or other breeds in it that eats out the very heart of it and makes it wither and die and when we have the greatest expectations we meet with the greatest disappointments and when we think we are most sure many times we are in most danger and when we think to gripe it fastest we are likeliest to lose it I considered how foolish men were to promise themselves security in their enjoyments when they apprehend no danger in sight for if our ways please God he can make our enemies yea the stones of the field at peace with us but if we please not God he can raise us enemies enow to disturb our peace David a good man yet offending God had his own familiar friend Achitophel nay his own son Absolom that sought his ruine yea the poorest vermine are sometimes a scourge to the proudest tirant frogs and lice and flyes and locusts make proud Pharaoh stoop to God that before had proudly said who is the Lord that I should obey him I know not the Lord neither will I let Israel go Exod. 5.2 but God made himself known to him by his judgements and compelled him to say the Lord is righteous and I and my people are wicked yea he hath made caterpillars cankerworms palmerworms and such like which God calleth his great army Joel 1.2 c. a scourge to potent princes and can destroy the greatest monarch on earth by these poor insects how little trust then should we put in earthly comforts when God can so easily imbitter them to us and how dangerous it is by our sins to provoke God to leave us and to punish us he can easily do it he need not raise many against us no single creature no fly no flea nor grass-pile nor hair but if it have a Commission from God will be our bane Instances of this may easily be given nay if he withhold our breath we return to our dust and all our thoughts perish and for our enjoyments he can make a worm breed in them that shall eat out the very heart of them and can imbitter that which we esteem our sweetest comforts If these earthly enjoyments are vain and perishing like their owners what need have we to make preparation of some thing that is more durable and more certain which may bear some proportion to our immortal souls we can have no abiding city here but affliction and vanity will attend us in all places for if sin go before affliction will follow after as the effect follows the cause or the shadow the substance Now if these our earthly enjoyments are in such continual danger and have enemies without within above beneath and on every side the soul is in much more danger having more potent subtill cruel and malicious enemies how watchfull then ought we to be lest these chiefest Jewels our immortal souls should be bloudily butchered or inhumanely treated what care what providence should we use that we be not made a prey to infernal furies and what need have we to invoke God to be our guardian our defender and our watchman Oh my soul here is a check for thy folly that hast overeagerly grasped after these vanities and sought content where it was not to be had take heed to thy self this will not serve thy turn a few days and thou wilt be stript of all there are better pleasures truer treasures to be had there is a worm in these will eat out their very heart there is vanity writ upon them they are but Egyptian reeds and will break in thy hand cursed is the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm and whose heart departeth from the living God if thou love the world the love of the father is not in thee 1 Joh. 2.15 Use it we may as a traveller doth his staff which he keeps or throws away according as it helps or hinders him in his journey these worldly things are transitory and there is a vanity writ upon them but there are riches durable as the days of heaven and run paralell with the life of God or the lines of eternity these are worth scrambling for they are laid up now and may be drawn forth a thousand years hence these our enjoyments are liable to vanity and violence when we grasp them hardest they prick us most and when we embrace them they vanish into smoke which may wring tears from our eyes but never sorrow from our hearts when others therefore lay hold upon riches do thou lay hold upon eternal life 1 Timoth. 6.12 lay hold upon that pearl in the Gospel though thou let all things else go for nothing else is worth having this will make thee rich to God the time is short thy race is long stand not still to pick up sticks and straws nor leave thy way to catch butter-flyes up and be doing let heaven be thy object and the earth will be thy abject oh my God pardon my former folly that I have spent so much time to so little purpose and made no more haste to my journeys end that I have lost my way mistaken my happiness and laboured so long in vain draw up my affections O Lord from earth to heaven and let me be as zealous for heaven as ever I have been for earth and take as much pains for my soul as ever I have done for my body Upon the springing up of the seed 21. Med. WHen I had digged the garden and sowed the seed in convenient time I observed the springing of them up and after a while I observed how fresh and fragrant that looked that a little before seemed dead and rotten among the clods this minded me of the mighty power of God that could of a small seed seemingly dead and buried and rotten in the earth raise up so great so flourishing an hearb or flower indewed with such beauty and excellent vertue yea so great so mighty a tree I considered how small a matter I did or could confer to them I only disposed them where I would have them grow but no skill nor art nor labour nor industry of mine could make them grow the earth hath a natural propensity to receive them the heavens powred out their influence upon them which through Gods blessing cooperating became effectuall 't is God alone must do the work or it will not be done 't is he that gives to every seed his own body and put life into that which hath no life all the skill industry and pains which the husbandman can use cannot make one
for heaven and can no jog of temptation divert thee or make thee settle in a wrong point If so how comes it to pass that thou art so much taken with the worlds glory that not only thy eyes but thy heart goes after it why art thou so bewitched with her smiles and so cast down with her frowns why hast thou so few serious thoughts of God and so few glimps of him even in the ordinances were thy heart in order thou wouldst always have Christ in thine eye both in thy heavenly and earthly imployments and wouldst soon be sensible when the sun of righteousness was either clouded ecclypsed or set upon thee as these flowers are in the like case if thou art why dost thou not mourn and hang the head in his absence as they do in the like case they will another day rise up against thee and condemn thee as being more faithful to their benefactour then thou art to thy husband oh my God I am sensible of my guilt and the faithfulness of these flowers shames me for my unfaithfulness they have but a natural instinct to incline them to their benefactor and own him but I have reason and Scripture yea my vows are upon me and engage me to my husband Christ Lord divert my affections from the world which doth but flatter me to deceive me incline my heart to Christ that would save me and make me happy let neither life nor death nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor heighth nor depth nor any other creature be able to separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus my Lord nor rend me out of his arms nor draw my affections from him Upon a rose among thorns 37. Med. WHen I beheld and considered how the rose grew and flourished and came to perfection amongst the thorns and prickles that surrounded it and was not hurt but rather defended by them and kept and preserved from their other enemies I thought it represented the Church here in the world for as here there are a thousand prickles for one rose and yet this rose is preserved so in the world it may probably be conjectured there are a thousand wicked men which are compared to thorns for one that is godly the Church in her militant condition while she is in the world is compared to the lilly among the thorns Con. 2.2 as the lilly among the thorns saith Christ so is my love among the daughters these are indeed as the Gibionits pricks in their eyes and thorns in their sides yet not altogether useless wicked men are called briars Micah 7.4 the best of them is a briar and the most upright sharper then a thorny hedge and God threatens to fold them together as thorns and burn them as dry stubble Nahum 1.10 Isay 27.4 but these briars are not useless he hedges us about with them that he may keep us in compass he pricks us with these thorns that he may let out ill humours and happy thorns to us if they open a vein for sin to gush out his house of correction is his school of instruction Psal 94.12 whether the rose in the creation was thus guarded and fenced I know not some think these thorns also are a fruit of the curse yet sure I am before the fall the Church was not pestered with such thorns as now it is man before the fall had not the nature and property of thorns but as thorns by Gods providence are made serviceable for the defence of better fruit so the wicked often prove serviceable to the Church and a defence to better men but no thank to them but to the overruling providence of God God preserves his people from their rage and makes them dwell safe by them as lambs among wolves and not only so but makes one wolf to defend them from another or sets one wolf to worry another while the lambs escape the Gibionites though briars and thorns were yet usefull to Israel and the earth helpt the woman and swallowed up the flouds which the dragon cast out of his mouth after her Rev. 12.16 As the Persians and others drink up the floud which the Turk at this day threatens to overwhelm all Christendome with The Philistins though briars and thorns are a defence to David when he was persecuted by Saul and in a great strait being compassed round about by Sauls army in that nick of time they invaded the land and Saul and his army drew back 2 Sam. 23.27 wicked Pharaoh gave entertainment to Jacob and his family and made provision for them in the seaven years famine and David and his fellows were promoted by a wicked man so was Mordicai and the Jewes and the Barbarians shewed Paul no little kindness Acts. 28.2 and sometimes the sheep finde shelter under a thorny hedge yet the nature of wicked men is not to do good but to rent and tear but God alters their nature at least restraineth their rage for his peoples sake The Church of God is as a bush burning but not consumed for when potent Princes have sought their destruction God hath frustrated their designes sometimes by setting the dogs to worry one another the poor hare escapes so Geball and Ammon and the inhabitants of Mount Seir destroy each other when they had decreed to destroy Israel 2 Chron. 20.23 and the counsell could not agree against Paul Act. 23.7 God maintaineth Noah against a world of wicked men and Lot in the midst of Sodom and Israel in Egypt and Mordicai against Haman and all his enemys and oft gives them favour in the eyes of those that were they not restrained would become their mortall enemies and their bloudy persecutors God turning those thorns which would devour them into a defence for them and into a hedge for his peoples security Oh my soul admire the providence and wisdome of God that can bring light out of darkness order out of confusion good out of evill and can turn a curse into a blessing and make his Churches enemies to become their friends thou wast one of those thorns and thy nature was as bad and if God hath taken thee off the stock of nature and planted thee in that choise vine bless his name it was no thanks to thee If now thou art a rose though encompassed by a thousand thorns he will defend thee If thy ways please God thy enemies themselves shall be at peace with thee Pro. 16.7 sin is the only make-bate between God and the soul and if God have a controversy with the sinner all the creatures are presently up in arms to bring in the rebel and wait but for a commission to take away his life but if God be reconciled to thee no enemy can hurt thee no weapon formed against his Church shall ever prosper Esay 54.17 When Jacob had made his peace with God neither Laban nor Esau could quarrel with him though it is thought both came forth with murderous
prayer and tear yet he cannot beget a godly childe but chaff and corruption adheres to them also nay inheres in them and they have as much need of refining as ever the father had for though a sinful man beget a sinful childe yet cannot a gracious man beget a gracious childe for he begets him as he is a man and of the sinful off-spring of fallen Adam and not as he is gracious and though God do more usually make choise of his people out of such families the covenant being with them and their seed and he hath respect to their prayers and gives a blessing to their education and exhortations yet this is not always so neither are they born thus for they are the children of wrath as well as others and though sin be hereditary grace is not Ah sin what woful work hast thou made in the world the most of men perish eternally by thee and those that escape are saved as by fire with a very great deal of pains and difficulty holy David begat a lascivious Amnon and a rebellious Absolom good Ely begat bad sons and holy Isaac a prophane Esau yea faithfull Abraham a scoffing Ishmael for as a learned man cannot beget a learned childe for learning is not a birth-priviledge but an acquired qualification so grace is not born with but freely given to them that God thinks fit to bestow it upon A rich mans childe comes into the world as naked destitute and miserably impotent and helpless as any other This as it may minde us of our miserable condition by the fall so also of our duty to our children that as we are carefull of their bodies so should we be much more carefull of their souls and as we are carefull that they get learning so should we be much more that they get grace an estate is not so needfull as an interest in Christ we should endeavour by instruction correction and good education to train them up in the fear of God and when we can do no more to go to him that is able to give it to beg grace for them for as we were instrumental in their ruine so we should endeavour their recovery But too many train them up no otherwise then they do their horses teach them to drudge and think they have done well especially if they can leave them an estate behinde them which oftentimes is so badly gotten that they entail also a curse upon them and their posterity and God doth in a visible manner punish their children to the third and fourth generation Oh my soul how stands the case with thee thou art a childe of wrath by nature as well as others is thy relation to thy God changed of an enemy art thou an adopted son t is well thou hadst dross is that consumed and the soul refined thou hadst chaff is that blown away hast thou the marks of adoption now upon thee that formerly hadst the marks of an enemy dost thou resemble thy father dost bear his image God hath no children but what have some resemblance to him he never adopts any but he changeth their nature and disposition as well as their relation he hath no unnatural children hath he made good that promise to thee 2 Cor. 6.18 I will be a father to them and they shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord almighty hath he performed the duty of a father in thy new birth in maintaining thee and giving the heavenly allowance in instructing and correcting thee and hast thou the nature disposition and priviledge of children hast thou communion with him doth he feed thee with bread from heaven cloath thee with the robes of righteousness and adorn thee with the jewels of his grace is there a through change wrought in thee and a new nature put into thee hast thou given up thy heart as well as thy name to Christ if it be so it is well if thou hast this priviledge for thy self seek it for thy children also as thou hast dedicated them to God do thy endeavour to make them Gods and that the work of grace may be timely wrought in their souls curb corruption while they are young a green twig will easily be bended but when old and dry the work is difficult many like the ape kill their young ones with embracing and they come to break their parents heart who thought a rod too heavy for them withhold not correction nor instruction and go to God for a blessing upon both Oh my God am I wilde by nature and hast thou planted me into the true olive hast thou taken me off my own stock and planted me into the true vine Lord what shall I render to thee for this Lord help me to give up my heart as well as my name to thee and live thanks as well as speak thanks hast thou made me a son Lord give me a son-like disposition and let me honour my God by a holy life and conversation And O that my children might live before thee Lord purge out the dross blow away their chaff make them thy sons and thy daughters Upon the pleasures of a garden 43. Med. BEing in a well contrived well-furnished well-ordered garden where there was what nature or art could bestow upon it various well-coloured well-sented flowers which chequered the knots and delighted both the sight and smell with various sorts of herbs and vegetables as well physicall as otherwise together with curious walks and shady bowers and other curious contrivances delightful delicacies and various curiosities that it seemed to me an earthly paradice a place of pelights and pleasures which when I had viewed and for a while solaced my self in it I took much pleasure in it and could contentedly have spent my time there my affections were much tickled with it and grew warm upon it and for a while I delighted my self in it but at last I began to call my self to an accompt and to check my self for it with such considerations as these oh my soul what art thou doing or whether art thou going art thou in heaven or upon the earth that thou art taking up thy station art thou like Shimei in seeking a servant dost thou lose thy self wilt thou by admiring the gift neglect the giver or court the maid before the mistress and take up with a handful of muck for a handful of angels is this a suitable portion for thee or rather a suitable match for the soul that thou art espousing thy self to it and letting out thy affections upon it will this serve thy turn or make thee happy or will it endure to eternity alas it will not when winter comes where are then thy delights nay when night comes it deprives thee of thy pleasure yea every shower of rain puts thee on to seek another happiness and a better shelter and security what then will become of thee at death or judgment if thou hast no better a refuge what good can these do thee in heaven or in
blazing star ominous to the beholders and hurtfull to those that enjoy it and proves ofttimes the devils lime-twigs to catch his fowls meat and drink are necessary yet to many their table becomes their snare and by a plentifull table they come to be guilty of gluttony and drunkenness wine is a mocker and strong drink is raging and he that is overtaken with it is not wise I fed them to the full saith God and they were as fed horses every one neighed after his neighbours wife learning and great parts are lovely endowments and many times it proves dangerous and deadly the greatest scholars oft prove the greatest enemies to Christ and the greatest adversaries to the power of godliness In a word those that have most of the world have frequently the least of heaven Son saith Abraham remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented Luk. 16.25 Wealth many times swells men into a tympany not easily cured I know there are some that follow Christs counsell and make to themselves friends of this Mammon of unrighteousness but most do but encrease their account by them and at the reckoning-day will prove bankrupts and owe ten thousand talents more then they are able to pay earthly enjoyments usually rock men in the cradle of security and lull them asleep that they never wake till hell fire flames about their ears thus the rich man Luke 12.16 and that also Luk. 16.19 c. when the moon is at full it is furthest distance from the sun and nearest to an ecclips and the world many times interposeth it self between the full soul and the sun of righteousness relations and carnal friends oft-times prove snares thus they were to Job to Spira and to many more the things that are in themselves lawfull blessings yet abused prove our licitis perimus omnes immoderately used prove a sin and a snare oh my soul thou walkest in the midst of dangers snares are laid for thee in every creature in every corner trust not therefore to any the most innocent will betray thee if not heedfully observed and wisely enjoyed the most harmless nay the most necessary enjoyments are not free from snares a serpent may lie under thy feet poyson may be in thy cup or dish many temptations are in poverty more in plenty pray therefore with Agar not to have poverty nor riches but to be fed with food convenient Pro. 30.8 as a shoe too big or too little suits not the foot so an estate too big is troublesome and to little pinches a staff may help the passenger in his journey but a burden of staves will be his hinderance oh my God are there so many dangers that attend me both in reference to my body and my soul oh what need have I of divine protection Lord be thou my defender keep me under the shadow of thy wings O let not Satan the world or my own deceitful heart ever betray me but let me be kept by the mighty power of God unto salvation Upon a Toad 45. Med. OBserving as I walked in the garden in an evening a loathsom foul and ugly toad crawling in my way hasting from me as from a deadly enemy to hide her head in a hole to save her life and that from one that she had never wronged this sight occasioned me this Meditation how nigh akin am I to this poor creature this dispicable loathed and abhorred wretch there is but the sheers between us nothing but the makers will she is my sister and may claim the right of primogeniture as coming into the world before me we have the same original the same father and the same mother we were made of the same matter by the hand of the same workman but she hath the precedency in nature and came of the elder brother both of us were of the same clay and fashioned by the same potter hewn out of the same rock and digged out of the same hole of the pit and had it pleased the workman I might have been the toad and this the man no thanks to me that it was not so and it had been no wrong to me if it had been so I might have been crawling into that hole to save my life from one that desired my death and fed upon such loathsom meat that she feeds on but my God hath bestowed more upon me and denied it to her even so Lord because it hath seemed good in thy eyes oh my soul what hast thou done more for thy God then this poor creature hath done doubtless where more is given more will be required thou hast received ten talents for one nay an hundred for one how hast thou improved them and God expects from man much more service then from any other creature in the world being only fitted for communion with himself But hath not this despicable wretch which thou thinkest is not worthy to live served God in her place better then thy self and answered the end of her creation better then man and never transgrest her masters will nor her makers law as thou hast done a thousand times she desires nothing more then life and what is necessary to maintain it and fears nothing more then death and what tends to it and doth no hurt but it is imagined good to mankinde unless hurt or provoked and if she have a noxious quality it is questionable whether the sin of man hath not procured it God hath given thee the use of reason and made thee capable of communion with himself and enjoying him for ever and laid upon her far more innocent this punishment of being hated and abhorred of all and her life is put into thy hands and whosoever killeth her thinks he hath not offended thou canst walk free from fear when every one that sees her desires her death and plots her ruine and destruction what cause then have I to bless God that I was made a man and not a toad and that I had the use of reason given to me and not made a bruit but if I be not regenerate and born again if I have not the image of God renewed in me which I lost by the fall if I answer not the end of my creation and redemption if my sin be not mortified and the power of my corruptions abated if grace be not implanted in my heart by the spirit of God if I have not an interest in Christ and a title to glory if the mistical marriage be not made between Christ and my soul and my affections set upon him if any thing in the world lie nearer to my heart then he doth and be beloved above him the time will come and it will not be long first that I shall wish would God I had been made the toad and this toad the man for then my misery would have ended with my life when now it is like to begin at my death and
appear in his colours he takes not the drunkard and thrusts him into the Ale-house by the head and shoulders this were the way to fright him and make him know his master and leave his service but he hides himself and shews the bait and sets a companion to call him and so he swallows the hook while he observes not the hand that holds it and the oftener he is taken the bolder he grows till at last he sits down in the chair of the scorner makes a mock of sin grows incorrigible and then let all the men in the world nay let God himself say what he will to the contrary he doth sin and will sin and so he hath plaied so long with the candle that his wings are burnt and he is taken prisoner and which is worse like Vlisses men when by Circes charms they were turned into swine and were content thus to be and would not reassume their former shape so these delight so in husks and swill that they know not desire not any other happiness Oh how good had it been for many if they had taken Solomons counsel Pro. 23.31 look not thou upon the wine when it is red when it giveth its colour in the cup when it moveth it self aright at the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder many men die with the wound in the eye it is not unlawful to look but by looking comes lusting for sin is oft let in at the window of the eye or by the door of the ear Peter trusting too much to his own strength thrust himself upon the temptation of wicked company till he was snared sinners by custome grow bold in sin and come at last to dare God to strike them and God sometimes accepts of the challenge and by his immediate hand vindicates himself and shews them their folly thus he dealt by the old world thus by Sodom and Gomorrah thus by Corah Dathan and Abiram by Ananias and Saphira Herod and many others There are many that like the bird gaze at the bough till they are fetcht down with the bolt they give their eyes leave to wander and their hearts to contemplate wickedness and so long nibble at the bait of beauty that they at last swallow the hook they are like the young man void of understanding taken in the strumpets snares Pro. 7.7 8. c. the devil feels which way their pulse beats and suits his temptations accordingly provides them of Mates and sets one Dalilah or other to binde them fit lettice for such lips a fit helve for such a hatchet how good is Solomons counsel Pro. 6.25 lust not after her beauty in thy heart neither let her take thee with her eye-lids for by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread and the adulteress wlll hunt for the precious life yet many like Solomons harlot before-mentioned are grown audacious and even glory in their sin and pleade that adultery is but a trick of youth but let them know it is such a trick that turned Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes and sent twenty four thousand Israelites at once to their graves and many thousands to hell 1. Cor. 6.9.10 For heaven that spewed out the fallen angels will not lick up again the unrighteous such therefore that play with this candle let them beware they be not burnt in the flame if they do escape a fire in their bones they are like to meet with a fire in their consciences which if not quenched with the tears of true repentance will never out nor the worm never die it is not long before we all shall dance after deaths pipe down to the chambers of darkness and we shall make our bed in the dust and then the sport will be over and a reckoning time will come when an account will be required But what Solomon observed in his time is true in ours Eccl. 8.11 because sentence against an evil doer is not speedily executed therefore the hearts of the sons of men are wholely set in them to do wickedly but such will know forbearance is no acquittance when the meal is ended the reckoning will be required the sleeping of vengeance causeth the overflowing of sin but judgment will be awakned at length Esay 3.12 wo to the wicked it shall go ill with him the reward of his hands shall be given him oh my soul beware of the devils temptations how fair and specious soever they may seem they are indeed but bitter pils guilded over or rather poyson offered in a golden cup if thou see the bait look at the hook and observe the hand that holds it make no peace with sin this will certainly break thy peace with God and thy own conscience the devil let him promise never so fair never intends thy good take heed therefore of the occasions of sin crush the cockatrice-egge ere it break forth into a serpent dash Babilons children while they are young give not entertainment to a sinful-thought come not near the door of the harlots house foster not any of the devils brats nor keep his counsel oh my God except thou watch over me I cannot be safe Lord be thou my protector and defend me from my spiritual enemies Vpon many creatures seemingly dead in winter 59. Med. WHen I considered how diverse insects some serpents and other animals which in the heat of summer are active quick and lively but God not having given them wisdome nor any inclination to make any provision for the future and yet by the mighty power of God they are preserved without meat for either they die or sleep or seem so to do yet in the following spring when the sun returns in his strength they recover and the species is continued This made me admire the wonderful providence of the only wise God that these creatures should live the one half of the year without food if at least they do live or if really dead as some of them seem to be that they should be restored to life again for the production of the silk-worm and some others is strange and wonderfull first a small egge then a worm then a fly which soon dies leaving some eggs behinde for the next year which of themselves produce the species this minded me of Gods question to the prophet and of his answer Saith God can these dry bones live and he said Lord thou knowest 'T is not in mans power to preserve them nor beyond the power of God with man it seems impossible but with God all things are possible Mat. 9.26 men may want of their will for want of power nature her self may be interrupted in her course as it was when the fire burnt not up the three worthys nor the water drown Peter walking upon it Satan may be crost and chained up that he cannot hurt but who can hinder the Almighty there is nothing can over-match an omnipotent arm This made me think also God can preserve his childrens lives in
instinct into them thus to cherish their young hath given them also so much knowledge as to fit them to do it Having spent some time in this Observation unobserved I thought to try her affections to her young ones a little further I approached the nest as if I intended to rob her of her young where I observed that poor creature naturally fearful and timerous with what boldness confidence and undaunted courage she opposed her self to her small power to have rescued her young ones out of my hand even to the hazard of her own life this plainly discovered to me the divine providence of the great householder that doth not only provide meat but also some one to give it in due season and to help those that cannot help themselves and puts such an instinct into such poor despicable creatures that they deny themselves to help their young ones and venture their lives for their safety and never leave them till they are able to help themselves and then forsake them as if they knew them not and that he gives such a blessing to the labours of these two poor wretches that such a numerous brood should be provided for and no doubt brings the prey to them by his providence this also may silence our Atheists and may make him lay his hand upon his mouth for what accidentall concurring of atomes can occasion this this made me also consider how degenerate a piece poor man is many of them having obliterated what the most savage animals have retained viz. this natural affection to their young so that we may take up that complaint against many in our times more deservedly then the Prophet doth against Israel Lam. 4.3 even the sea monsters draw out their breasts and give suck to their young ones the daughter of my people is become cruel like the Ostriches in the wilderness these forsake their children through the extremity of famine or for want of natural affection Rom. 1.31 there are many refuse to labour to maintain their charge the fouls of the air will rise up in judgment against these yea many waste and spend that riotously that is provided to their hands when these poor creatures pinch their own bellies to feed their little ones how many men and women endued with reason do so obliterate it that they expose their children wilfully to want and penury yea to plain beggery yea when the very bruits seek what they can to preserve their young and many venture their lives in their quarrel and set themselves between them and danger yet too many that bear the name of men and women have so far obliterated those principles nature hath imprinted in them that they often lay violent hands upon their own children and not only contrive their death but also effect it I would daily experience did not speak out this truth too lowd what assizes is there almost but some or other are tried for their lives upon this account But though some have a care of their childrens bodies there are but a few that make any provision for their souls though that be their master piece but suffer them to be eternally ruined Oh the stupendious folly of the most of men they train up their children as they do their horses teach them to drudge and then they think they have given them sufficient education many if they can leave them an estate though with a curse intailed upon it have their desires many are too tender of the body that have little care of the soul let that sink or swim but the time will come that the soul will be found the choisest jewel and the loss of that the greatest loss oh my soul be diligent in thy calling make provision for thy relations to thy power he that provides not for his family hath denyed the faith and is worse then an infidel 1 Tim. 5.8 be not without natural affections but that is not enough be not without spiritual affections see that they have mentem sanam in corpore sano though the body must not be neglected nor the things of the world slieghted yet know this is not the main a little grace is worth a great deal of gold keep a mean in earthly enjoyments between coveteousness prodigality fear not an extream in spirituals oh my God help me to regulate my life both to externals and internals by the rule of thy word and spirit Upon the prating of a Parrat 65. Med. HEaring a Parrat talk and prate and counterfeit mans voice and utter words which yet he understood not when I had considered of it I thought it was a lively embleme of an hypocrite for as this bird doth imitate man and counterfeits his voice so doth an hypocrite imitate a true Christian both in words and gestures speaks as he speaks and acts as he acts for what action or what duty can a Christian perform as to the external part of it which an hypocrite cannot doth not do As there is no hearb in the garden but there is some counterfeit of it in the field which resembles it so there is no grace in the heart of a believer but the devil hath its counterfeit and therefore it is a cunning thing to be a Christian and an easy thing to be deceived for what can a true Christian do for the bulk and materiality of duty but a hypocrite can do also yea sometimes seems to exceed him and as in duty so in conference and discourse it is hard to discern the one from the other hypocrisy may be spun with a fine thred and hardly discerned either in the cloath or colour from sincerity but it is often found out in the wearing to be but a cheat in storms and tempests it is apt to change colour and will not hold out but shrinks in the wetting there is indeed a difference now both in garb and language the one is truly beautiful the other is but paint and varnish which time makes to fade they speak it is true the same things but the one speaks what he knows and the other by hearsay both may discourse the deep mysteries of Religion as the parrat may mysteryes of state if taught but understand not what they say Can a true Christian discourse of redemption regeneration conversion adoption sanctification c. so can the other also but the one speaks what he feels the other not the Christian findes the marks and tokens of it in his own soul the other not can the one discourse of the workings of the spirit in the heart of a believer the actings of grace of communion with God c. so can the other can the one speak out his experiences of the goodness of God the vanity of the creature the bitterness of sin the comforts and directions of the spirit the beauty of holiness c. the other can counterfeit this also but all this while the hypocrites heart and tongue agree not he disclaims against that sin which he loves and pleads
a conscience void of guilt that it cannot accuse them of any unjust or uncivil act lest the sergeant death put them into the devils hands and they be cast into prison thâ—se that will not now abate their fellow-servants a penny shall themselves pay the utmost farthing he that will shew no mercy shall finde none when they stand in need and those that now feed upon others death shall ere long feed sweetly on them Job 24.20 yea the never-dying worm shall feed upon them as it is fabled the vulture did upon Prometheus his liver oh my soul live so holily towards God and so uprightly towards man that thy greatest enemies may have nothing to object against thee but concerning the law of thy God Improve those talents God hath lent thee to his glory lest thou have the doom of the unfaithful servant consider thou art but a steward of what thou enjoyest and what is under thy hands thou hast but the dispose of it for thy masters use and he will require an account take heed of getting any thing unjustly keeping it unlawfully or parting with it sinfully put not the poors part in any childes portion this will be a canker to consume the rest and bring a curse upon thy posterity grinde not the faces of the poor for their redeemer is mighty and will not bear it do as thou wouldst be done by shew mercy or thou wilt miss of it when thou standst in need if thou wilt not forgive others God will not forgive thee Oh my God I have this sin of cruelty in my nature also oh curse and blast this bitter root that it may not spring up in me incline my heart to lenity and mercy yea to forgive mine enemies that I may resemble thee my father that dost good both to the good and to the bad Upon a kite soaring aloft yet minding her prey 67. Med. OBserving the Kite that bird of prey soaring aloft towring on high as if he meant to scale the clouds and look into heaven and with the Eagle to make his nest among the stars Obad. 4. And yet I observed he suddenly descended fell upon his prey and devoured it This observation satisfyed me that though he aimed at heaven and seemed to scorn these inferiour things yet his eye and minde was fixed here below and grovelled on the ground though the bodv were above the heart was below and his mounting aloft was but dissimulation and upon designe like the fox in the fable that pretended himself dead to take his prey the better so this kite to compass his ends carry on his designes and to take his unwary prey useth this stratagem I thought this was a lively Embleme of an hypocrite who seems to be all for heaven when he mindes nothing less he is only minding his prey driving on some carnal designe and when he seems to be trading for heaven and discoursing with God himself yet his heart and affections are glued to the world and he is carrying on some self-interest or fleshly designe and is like a waterman he looks one way and rows another Thus the Pharisees those noted hypocrites did for under pretence of long prayers they devoured widdows houses and fisht for popular applause with their prayers fastings and almes-deeds Mat. 6.1 2 3 c. their hearts were on earth when their hands and eyes were lifted up to heaven A hypocrite is most devout when preferment profit or applause is in sight but key-cold when there is no temptation they are burning hot in the publike lukewarm in their familyes and key-cold in their closets they are like a Cardinal I have read of and doubtless there are many more of his minde who being a poor fishermans son was for his humility and other qualifications advanced to several degrees of honour but always to minde him of his mean extraction and to keep him humble as he said he would have his Fathers Net in his dining-room that he might not forget his descent but at the last being made Pope the net was laid aside being demanded the reason he replyed when the fish is caught what need is there of the net This net and feigned humility was but to take the fish and there are many in our times fish with such a bait some that depend upon some godly great man or some religious Landlord or great benefactor counterfeit their colours and pretend to wear their livery the better to ingratiate themselves into their favour and friendship but when they have caught the fish the net is thrown aside for when they have attained their end or are frustrated of their expectation they soon cast off the sheeps-skin and appear in their own likeness they make religion but a stalking-horse to take their prey and use it for no other end and when that work is done they lay it afide they have a piece of work to do and when one tool will not do it they lay that aside and take another if profession of religion fail them they will turn persecutors and those that now cry hail master will shortly cry crucify him they follow not Christ for love but for loaves and will be his servants so long and no longer then they gain by him they put their hands to the plow and look back and will have no more of religion then will do them good while it will stand with their credit profit or worldly advantages they will be religious when they must part with any thing they will not buy heaven at so dear a rate but let such take heed of mocking God that will not be mocked or of playing with this candle lest they burn their wings or approach too neer the sun of righteousness lest like Icarus they melt their waxen wings and they deceive them God can easily see through this thin vail of dissimulation and smell the filthy savour of an hypocrites rotten lungs this fire will soon discover this paint and without oyl in the vessel as well as a lamp in the hand there is no entring into the bridechamber it is not then a Lord Lord open to us will serve turn yea often this rotten inside will rot the outside also and those ulcers at the heart will break forth in the life and conversation oh my soul beware of hypocrysy that damning sin that ruines thousands and sends them to hell and unfits a man for any office or imployment in Church or state this will make thee hatefull both to God and man man will hate thee for thy profession God will hate thee for counterfeiting his colours and serving the devil in his livery if religion be bad why wilt thou profess it if it be good why wilt thou not practice it Make the tree good and his fruit good or make the tree evill and his fruit evill be as thou seemest or seem as thou art and do not dishonour God by a great profession and an evil conversation there is no deceiving God by a fained shew who
will he lay down his basket and take up his axe and say his spirit shall not always strive with man Shiloe was his house but he forsook it the temple of Jerusalem was his habitation but he left it Judah was his pleasant plant but he hath forsaken it he did walk among the seven golden candlesticks in the Churches of Asia but he hath removed those candlesticks and the Lord grant he may never give England a bill of divorce oh my soul art thou a barren branch then maist thou fear the pruning hook if thou be a barren tree thou maist fear the axe and the fire is like to be thy end if thou bear but a little fruit if God spare thee thou maist expect cutting and pruning by affliction it is better bleed then burn answer Gods ends in his afflicting thee bring forth more fruit if he take any thing from thee 't is but what thou canst well spare yea what fed some excrescence and rendred thee more useless oh my God use me as thou wilt only cut me not down for the fire our me and prune me at thy pleasure but forsake me not nor lay me waste Upon suckers in a fruit-bearing tree 78. Med. FRom those suckers before observed in a fruit-bearing tree I had also this following meditation for observing how they grew rank by the nourishment that should have fed the tree and loftily lift up the head above them and suckt that sap that should have made other branches to bear and as they were unprofitable themselves so they rendred the rest almost useless I thought they much resembled some new upstart opinions which some unwary professors espouse to themselves and because they differ from others they therefore think themselves more holy then their neighbours and hold their heads higher and verily believe growing in opinion is growing in grace In Arragon there were some hereticks who called themselves the illuminati as if they only had been in the light and all the world besides had been in darkness the Gnosticks would be the only knowing men the Manichees thought whatsoever they taught was food from heaven and the Family of Love boast of their Evangelium regni and of late the Ranters and Quakers boast of the infallible conduct of the spirit Now those opinions are ofttimes the brats of their own brain and many times pernicious errours or at least unprofitable things or matters of no great concernment yet they being thus espoused they suffer these opinions to suck all the sap that should maintain the vitalls of Religion that the whole tree is thereby rendred useless and unprofitable How many are there in our age that might have brought God much glory and his Church much good who have set themselves with might and main and spent their time and their strength and laid out their zeal and all for the promoting their own opinion perhaps an errour or at best but some lesser disputable truth perhaps about some circumstance of worship when in the mean time the very fundamentals of religion are neglected and the very vitals languish for want of nourishment for seldome do you see a wrangling Christian eminent in the power of godliness Many men when they have espoused an opinion make provision to maintain it they subject not their opinions to the rule but bring the rule to them and make it truckle under them for it is victory and not truth that many seek and therefore they spend their time and strength this way yea shut their eyes against all that makes not for them they are as zealous for their opinion as if the whole of religion consisted in it and as if they could hardly be Christians which were not of their minde when perhaps for sixteen hundred years they cannot finde a man of their judgement and all this while forgetting that the power of godliness and an holy life is the main of religion for whatever is in the brain if this be not in the heart all is worth nothing these mens knowledge floating in the brain makes them top-heavy but by reason of some obstructions their knowledge sinks not down into nor seasons the heart or the life Many are like the two men in the fable that contended about the shadow of the ass they had found who should go in it in a hot day till at last while they contended the ass got loose and escaped or like the dog in the fable that catching at the shadow lost the substance so these contend about trifles and neglect the main they are like children that have the rickets the head grows too big for the body the head thrives but the whole body pines they spend so much of their strength and zeal for externals that they neglect the internals they have so much zeal for or against ceremonies that they neglect the substance yet mistake me not my designe is not to make men careless in lesser points but more carefull in greater I would not have them think any sin small or to neglect any known duty but I would have them proportion their zeal according to the weight of the matter and not spend it all upon lesser matters and neglect the main concerns I would have no man neglect his little finger yet would I have him in the first place secure his head and heart he may be a man if he want his little finger but not without his head and his heart he may be a Christian though he erre about the modes and circumstances of worship but he cannot without holiness and sincerity some Christians are like the Salamander always in the fire of contention but these mens graces rather then corruptions are like to be burnt I like not those men that moddle religion in their own brain and make their own conceptions the center of unity and like Procrustes make his own bed fit all comers Let all things saith the Apostle be done decently and in order 1 Cor. 14.40 a necessary rule but so extremely wrackt that I conceive through mens corruption it hath produced more indecency and disorder then any one Scripture besides the Papists and others making this the foundation of all their needless ceremonies but to return to the point in hand my desire and designe is to perswade men to maintain the vitalls of Religion in the first place and let the strength of their zeal be laid out here and for lesser points if disputable let every man be satisfied in his own conscience and grant some allowance to others that differ in their judgements till they themselves are infallibly sure that they hold no errors take Christs counsel Mat. 7.1 judge not that you be not judged for with what judgement ye judge ye shall be judged and with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again many men are quick-sighted abroad but blinde at home reade also the Apostles counsel Rom. 14.1 2 3. c. Oh my soul spend not thy time and strength in trifles when thou
our youthfull gallant no stage-plays for their divertisement no pleasant Comedies acted but a dismal Tragedy wherein they are like to be the miserable Actors but will never come off with applause there is no modish garb for our well-drest gallant no headtire but a flaming periwig here is no use for looking-glass nor tiring woman no use of patches powders paints or frisling irons all these are out of mode and fashion in those Territories here are no healths to pledge but that of damnation they so oft drunk in the days of their life but never knew what it was till now but now must pledge them to all eternity But this is not all their loss will be greater for they must lose the beatifical vision of God blessed for ever in whose presence there is joy and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore then must they be everlastingly separated from him who is the chiefest good Now they say to him depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy ways Job 21.14 and then God will have none of their company but will say depart from me c. Mat. 7.22 and 25.41 oh direfull and dreadfull sentence such as may make their heart-strings crack and their hearts break in pieces it breaths out nothing but fire and brimstone stings and horrours wo and alass seas of vengeance the worm that never dies and the fire that never shall be quenched torments without end and past imagination in this life they cannot endure the company of the godly they are either the object of their scorn or malice but then they shall be eternally separated as far as heaven is from hell or Dives from Lazarus between whom there is a great gulph fixed Luk. 16.26 Then they shall lose their souls which is incomparably their richest jewel which they sold for a trifle and now it will be required and they must stand to their bargain not that they shall be annihilated that news is too good to be true neither shall they lose the faculties of them these shall be inlarged to their further torments but they lose their God which is the life of their souls and put them into the devils hands to be eternally tormented they shall lose their bodies also for whose sake they sold their souls in a word all their happiness and all their hopes and all they accounted dear shall then be stript away all these like leaves shall fly before the winde of death and in the room of these everlasting destruction of body and soul shall succeed oh death what a change wilt thou make at thy coming and how unwelcome wilt thou be to those that live at case in possession oh my soul remember the days of darkness for they are many Eccl. 11.8 provide against this time that this may not be thy case for ere long all these leaves will be blown down provide therefore treasures that neither man nor devil can strip from thee provide a mansion in heaven before this earthly tabernacle be dissolved Lord assist me in this work without thee my endeavours are vain Upon a tree green all the winter 87. Med. WHen I observed how green some trees were all the winter and how flourishing even in the frost and snow when others are stript naked and left bare and seem dead and withered and that neither the pinching frost nor blustring windes neither storms nor tempests could disroab them or change their summer-suit to winter colours that neither summers sun nor scorching heat could make them wither nor winter cold nor storms could make them cast their leaves nor turn their lusty green to any other colour I began to think these trees much resemble a Christian that had the life of grace within him and is planted into that generous vine Christ and sucks sap and nourishment from this root these also are green when others that stand upon their own root wither and decay But these trees of righteousness are planted by the rivers of water and bring forth their fruit in due season and their leaf also shall not wither but whatsoever they do it shall prosper Psal 1.3 c. when others are driven like chaff before the winde from the face of the earth yet the sun-shine of prosperity cannot wither those nor the winde of adversity blow them down or their fruit nor remove their leaves Job was one of these trees of righteousness green at all times winter and summer in his prosperity his leaf flourished for God himself gives as ample a testimony of him as ever he did of mortal man Job 1.8 Hast thou considered my servant Job that there is none like him in the earth a perfect and upright man one that feareteh God and escheweth evill and when he was in adversity he still retains his integrity Job 27.5.6 till I die I will not remove my integrity from me my righteousness I hold fast and will not let it go my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live and see what end God makes with him he crowns him and chronicles him for his sincerity and patience all his affliction could not make him lose one leaf Joseph when he was in prosperity fears God and when in adversity he fears him also when he was a bondslave in Potiphars house he resisteth the temptations of his mistriss with this consideration how shall I commit this great wickedness and sin against God Gen. 39.11 Joseph remains in Egypt like a pearl in a puddle he had set God at his right hand and would not be moved though Satan knock oft at the door there was none within to answer though the iron as the Psalmist saith entred into Josephs soul yet sin could not when the devil could not prevail against him by his hard bondage he trys to do it by a Dalilahs temptation he struck fire oft but it fell among wet tinder Joseph was semper idem when he was wrongfully cast into prison he keeps his integrity still and God owns him and gave him favour and after when he was advanc't to honour and made enter in Egypt he did not forget his God nor God did not forget him all the hot gleams of prosperity nor all the blustring storms of adversity could not shake down any of his fruit or stir any of his leaves it is true wicked men in their prosperity are said to be spreading themselves like a green bay-tree but this denotes the prosperity of the body not of the soul these leaves at death will drop as well as others and their prosperity and happiness will draw to an end and all their enjoyment will be but as a thin mist before the winde soon scattered but mark the upright and behold the just for the end of that man is peace Psal 37.37 I shall be saith the Psalmist as a green olive-tree in the house of God Psal 52.5 when those that trust not in the Lord shall be destroyed It was not banishment that could separate David from the stock
hopes yet in a moment all our hopes are dasht and they are sudenly nipt with the frost or blasted with lightning or the East-winds sometimes they are rendred unfruitful by overmuch drought and sometimes by too much wet for both may be injurious both to the tree and to the fruit and too much wet also is offensive and renders the fruit the worse if they pass these dangers and are loaden with fruit much of it is oft consumed by wasps hornets and another insects yea sometimes not only the fruit but also the leaves are eaten by locusts caterpillars and such like flys and many times with worms sometimes for want of fence they are undermined by swine or broken bruised or fed upon by other cattle and oftentimes the unripe fruit is born down by a mighty rushing winde and all our hopes thus sudenly dasht which is no unusual accident as it is said Rev. 6.13 and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs when she is shaken by a mighty winde that is violently and forcibly and if they escape all these accidents many prove barren and many bring forth fruit that is sowr bitter or unsavoury and very little fruit that is good appears and if it do all the danger is not over many a blow they endure and many a staff and many a stone is cast at them to unload unburthen and deprive them of their fruit and there is scarce a passenger but hath something or other to throw at them and few go away empty-handed from them and no wonder then the owners part is little and a small pittance comes to be gathered in The consideration of this made me to compare poor man to these trees of the field and to consider what is the reason so few bring forth fruit to maturity many an obstruction they meet with before the time of fruit comes which hinders the most of men from fructifying many are planted in the dry desart heath where they see not when good cometh and that never heard of a saviour come into the world or ever enjoyed one soul searching sermon and these are not like to bring forth good fruit they are like to be barren or their fruit to be wilde yea many of those that live within the pale of the Church are not much better it is true the seed is sown amongst them but much of it falls by the way-side and the fouls of the air pick it up the devil steals it out of their hearts this is that troubler of Israel that master of misrule he is one at Church whoever is the other he hath made a foot-path over the heart that the word takes no more impression then rain upon a rock these must needs be barren yea some of it fals among stones where it hath no root which though received with joy and it springs up sudenly yet wanting root must needs wither the root of the matter is not in them Job 19.28 and some falls among thorns and is choaked these saith Christ are the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and it is much ado to handle those thorns and not prick their fingers and but a little fals in good ground and that undergoes a thousand dangers ere it come to maturity many are the obstructions a Christian meets with and many pul-backs the gracious soul hath and the good seed sown hath many enemies sometimes it is parcht with the sun of prosperity and sometimes nipt with the frost of adversity the devils temptations and the worlds allurements oft spoil the fruit sometimes it withers for want of the dew of heaven to refresh it sometimes it is overwhelmed with the flouds of affliction a thousand and ten thousand are the dangers this seed of grace doth undergo before it comes to maturity many trees in the orchard are not transplanted and ingrafted into Christ and many enemies those meet with that are and the little fruit that is brought forth to maturity will have many a stick and many a stone cast at it oh my soul hast thou any stone cast at thee any reproach cast upon thee art thou persecuted and hated for doing thy duty despair not it is a signe there is some fruit the traveller seldome throws at the barren tree and the devil seldome throws down his own fruit hast thou many enemies Christ himself had not a few live uprightly toward man holily towards God that they may have no just occasion against thee but for serving God and let them throw and spare not bring forth much fruit to God and doubtless he will wall thee in and defend thee O my God mine enemies are many and subtil powerful and malicious be thou my defender and lot my fruit be pleasant to thy taste and sweet to thy smell Vpon a fair apple rotten at the core 94. Med. TAking notice of a beautiful apple glorious to the eye having a promising aspect a smoosh skin and a fair outside yet when it was cut it proved deceitful rotten at the heart and corrupted within and little good but a painted skin and the corruption within would soon have brake forth and corrupted the outside also this apple so deceitful lively represented to my thoughts an hypocrite who in outward carriage and demeanour and formalities makes a fair shew and in the external performance of duties represents a true Christian when the heart is rotten and the vitals of Religion are wanting and there is nothing but a sheepsskin drawn over a wolfs body nothing but plaster and paint yet ofttimes so artificially done that it is hard to discover it from sincerity in the external parts of Religion many times he outstrips many sincere Christians and acts his part so cunningly that many times he is taken for the man he represents he oft makes a fair shew to the world and holds out a more fairer profession in the sight of the sun then the Saints themselves for they may afford to pay more for the colour for the cloath costs them nothing what others bestow in the lining they lay it out on the outside like an old withered band rotten within and painted without but the rottenness that lies at the heart many times breaks out and rots the life and conversation also for corruption within will break out our Saviour Christ did lively represent these men by painted sepulchers and whited tombs glorious to the eye but within full of filthiness and putrefaction Mat. 23.27 wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you are like unto whited Sepulchres that appear glorious to the eye but within are full of dead mens bones and all uncleaness so do ye in the eye of the world appear righteous unto men but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity fair professors but foul sinners there are many with Pilate will wash their hands but few will wash their hearts Mat. 27.24 this also the Pharisees did but this is too weak an element