refuse the seal thereof I know I am vile I am vile but thou hast pardoned me Lord I have abused thy love a thousand times refused thy offered self and withstood the tenders of thy Grace but thou hast covered all my sins thou hast freely justified me by thy Grace and made a full attonement for me by thy blood this is that thou freely biddest me take and I have freely drunk it Never was Wine so full as this is Never was Bowl so full of pleasure as this I have swallowed down my life and pardon at one draught I took it from my Saviours hand it was a cup of his own preparing If ever drink was sugared this was I never tasted better rellisht Wine in all my life The richest Cordials cannot match this draught Divine Spirits of pearls dissolved would but dead this Wine Oh when my hopes but kist the purple dews they hung and cleaved so As if they were loth to let thee go They strove and strugled to get near my heart As if intending there to take a part I dare not say them nay blood from that bowl May the best room command within my soul What a sudden strange yet happy alteration do I find within my languid spirits are revived my winter is over Methinks I feel my life and joy to spring amain My Aarons Rod a dry stick but now doth bloom and flourish My newly ingrafted soul is full of Infant-clusters Blood at the root of Vines They say produceth richest Wines Oh! if my Lord will undertake to dress this Vine and trickle down his blood into my root then draw it up into each branch of Grace by the warming beams of his reviving love then let my Dearest come let him come as he hath promised and bring my Father and his Father with him and sup both with me and in me Let them come and I will bid them a welcome I shall have a fruit to present them with which they themselves shall say is pleasant I shall not send my Father away now so oft complaining I came to seek for grapes and fruit but behold wild ones The Conclusion Oh! how unwillingly do I rise methinks I could sit here and feast my heart and eyes for ever What running-Banquets doth my Lord afford me here surely he should not need to fear that I should surfeit on himself But alas I must be gone what shall I do in yonder hungry soul-starving world again I have been feeding on my Paschal Lamb and now I must go and eat my sowr herbs but if it be his will I must obey if it be so I must arise I know thou hast prepared the endless feast above where I shall ever sit and enjoy thy love and glut my hungry eye and heart on the Banquet of thy everlasting self As yet I am now on earth my toil and work lyes heavy on my hands I have yet an afternoon to labour out God knows my work is hard too hard for me my self to perform I scarcely should have lasted out so long but that sometimes at such seasons as this is he repaired my sinking spirits by pouring in the Cordials of his Blood Now I must go and perhaps find as sharp conflicts with my self as ever I know the World and Hell have been laying their snares and gins to catch my new-fledg'd soul and all conspire against my welfare Now it is well if I escape a fall a bruise a breaking of my bones in which sad plight I have so often lain that my Lord might have took me for dead but that my groanings told him loudly I lived Lord must I leave this feast must I go Take me then by the hand and lead me if I must walk let me see thee by me that I may know I walk with my God Lead me away and I will go with thee and let me not go till thou bringst me hither again I cannot will not live without thee And do thou Lord say I must not shall not If both our hearts in love so well agree What then shall separate my Christ from me A Meditation on the Death of Christ Preparative to the Sacrament Pen'd for his private use BUT is he dead Oh sad yet joyful news how strangely is my soul amazed and diversly mov'd and troubl'd by these contrary passions methinks I could pull up the floodgates of my sorrow and vent it out in tears but something bids me hold Shall I mourn for him that 's just now past his state of mourning He 's dead and what of that And so are all his griefs his bloody sweats his sighs and groans concluded He hath drunk on the brook in the way bitter while they were in his mouth and he was living but sweet now they have sunk into his belly and and he in Heaven Sweet to him because it was his work and he hath finisht it and sweet to me because it was the potion of sorrow death hell that I must have taken And canst thou mourn methinks if thou didst love thine heart should rather sympathize with his He is singing and shalt thou be sighing He is joying that his work is done and now is welcoming into Heaven by God his Father and shouting up by Angels voices as the great Conquerour of the hearts of men on earth and that now in triumph he is returned And will a mournful weed a wet eye and a cloudy brow become thee at these times of Festivals Shall the Heavenly Angels be joyful and thou sad How strangely will this be construed Will it not be said thou dost not love him or thou dost envy his recovered glory that he had left and now again hath taken Or that thou canst not endure to see him wear his Princes Crown in Heaven that for a time he had laid aside to come down to the earth to fetch thee thence to Heaven But ah my Lord thou wilt not sure interpret sorrow thus thou hast not sure forgot to give a meaning unto tears to teach a sigh to speak and then to know its language Hath my Lord forgot so suddenly that he was on earth and that he sweat and groan'd and wept and bled as well as I do now What though now all tears and sorrow and sighing is done away and he ceaseth to be any longer subject to our infirmities yet sure he knows it is not thus with us I am not yet in Heaven nor am I yet quite past the vale of sorrow and it cannot then be strange to him if he sees sometimes our faces look of a sadder hue than those that are in Heaven But why should thus my tears be check'd and my throbbing heart be chidden were it for a thing of nought I might be counted fool or child but shall my Saviour die and vent his soul in a stream of blood and all in love to me and shall he thus forsake the world and die and then be laid in the grave and I be denied the liberty of following
setled up he mounts Upon his Royal Steed Who prancing through the streets is prais'd For his victorious deed Just so my glorious blessed Prince With vict'ry on his side Being won with ghastly gaping wounds In triumph he must ride Down with a Chariot made of clouds From th' Palace-yard on high His Father sent to setch his Son In great solemnity Before he steps up to his seat Like Royal Prince he gave Rich-wonder-working gifts to 's friends And then he took his leave Strait at command the foaming winds With prancings up they fly Proud of the burthen that they drew A load of Majesty When he got home Oh! with what shouts Of joy did Heav'n resound When th' Father sat him on his Throne And there himself him crown'd Angels and Saints do all at once The Song of the Lamb sing As worthy of all honour praise Yea worthy to be King Sit there thou great Victorious Prince At thy Fathers right hand Bring down thine en'mies to thy feet Rule all by thy command HYMN V. The Souls Access LOrd hear my knocking 's hark my crys Want drives me to thy door Oh! chide not do not say Away I was here once before Where shall I go thou only hast That life none gives beside I went about the world to beg For life but all deni'd Thou art my God and Saviour To thee I naked creep Besmear'd in blood and tears I lie Lord pity see I weep If I have sin'd Lord thou hast di'd To free me thou wast sent And thou hast said I shall not die If that I will repent Justice Oh hold a while thy stroke Suffer a sinner plead It 's for my life one word and then Strike on and make me bleed If I had sin'd and would not yield But stoutly stand it out Thy wrath might then have broacht my heart And let my life run out If I had heard a Christ was come With open arms to save Had I not run for refuge there Mercy I might not crave Now Justice strike 't is done but see Where I incircled lye Within the folds of Jesus arms Strike in his arms I 'le die Chear up my heart the storm is o're Justice is ris'n and gone All thy accusers creep away Thy Christ is lest alone What blessed voice was that I heard My Son rise off thy knees Thy sins are pardon'd thou art free And I have paid thy fees Lord what a quick dispatch hast thou In grace giv'n to my cause I am arraign'd acquit set free By thy most gracious Laws Had I not guilty dar'd to plead Though fraught with Angels skill How sure my impannel'd conscience would Have sought and found the bill HYMN VI. The descent of the Spirit WHO knows the winds from whence they come Or whither they do go The holy breathings we receive Are from the Spirit ev'n so Sometimes its cooling gales we feel On Conscience all on fire Sometimes its cooling heats we find Our nummed hearts inspire This is that Holy Ghost that Christ Did promise for to send This is that pow'rful Spirit that Our stubborn hearts must bend Jerusalem the City was Design'd for his descent Thither the Christians at th' command Of th' Heavenly Angel went No sooner were they set but straight A mighty tempest rose Shook the foundations of the house Which they for pray'rs had chose Struck with amazement soon there fell Flames shap't both flat and long Which hovering light upon each head Much like a Cloven-tongue Those little fiery bushes were But wonders for to shew That th' wonder-working Spirit was Come down to men below For straight he tun'd each Christians tongue All Languages to speak The Parthians Medes and Elamites To them their minds might break Thousands of Salem flock to see This strange unheard-of thing They flock too fast for they forget Good hearts with faith to bring Some are amaz'd but others scoff Some praise but others say They have too much of tongue they 'r drunk With much new wine to day Oh injur'd God! how can'st thou bear These dreadful Blasphemies These wonders speak thy Gospel true They say it 's nought but lyes Scarce fifty days now past thy Son With nails they Crucifi'd And now to heap up sin on sin Thy Spirit they deride Instead of wrath Gods bowels yern Yet thinks them thoughts of Grace The bleeding Christ while Peter preacht The Spirit gave them chace Three thousand hearts at once he struck Who bleeding came and cri'd What shall we do we do believe On Christ we Crucifi'd O holy conquering Spirit thou Those souls did'st captivate This is a second wonder wrought Which we with Songs relate Oh let me find thy heats within As a refiners fire Purge from my heart all dross and sin This this is my desire HYMN VII First Part. THOU dreadful Judg whose Majesty Angels themselves adore That can't with open face thee see But clap their wings before When thou with whispers dost but chide The arch of Heaven doth quake Big-bellied clouds forth lightning bring And into thunders break When that thy wrath it doth but breathe Great storms of whirlwinds rise Hail snow and rain come tumbling down Whilest th' trembling sinner flies The lofty mountains stoop their heads To hide them in their vales Great men and Princes shrink for fear Their hearts and courage fails Some high and mighty Angels hatcht Treason against his Crown He spar'd them not but from their Throne With vengeance pull'd them down He chains of darkness on them laid As pris'ners doth them keep Against the great and terrible day When hardest hearts shall weep When the old world thy name forgot And laid aside their fears The gentle wrathful Heavens wept Drowns it with showers of tears When Sodom and Gomorrah burnt With fires of wanton lust With flakes of fir'd brimstone thou Those Cities burnd'st to dust Sion it self that darling hill In Salem that did stand Them both for slaying of thy Son Thou mad'st a fire-brand Our bleeding carcasses thy sword leaves reeking on the ground Yet after this we no more fear Than men fall'n in a swound Second Part. When thou O mighty God shalt come Riding upon the wind To judg the world Oh! in what place Will th' wicked refuge find How shall we hear thy shrill voice't trump Cleaving th' air asunder To wake our ashes in their graves With noise like claps of thunder Lord what a glorious train is that That on their wings do ride Look how they post in full career Thronging on either side Oh! they 're the Angels of the Lord Egypt's first-born that slay'd That took poor Lazarus soul that di'd And him in bosom laid The Trump shall sound and Michael then Th' Archangel strait shall cry Arise you dead to judgment come The Lord your lives must try Look how the wicked's bodies crawl Like Toads out of their den What ghastly fearful looks they bear They look like frighted men Why do you sinners now thus quake Call for your
although Men's wanton fancies would not have it so But by God's Post attempt to set their own As if that were too weak to stand alone 'T was not Event but Duty which his Eye Fixt as the measure to be guided by His Courage in this warfare was so great Nothing could ever force him to retreat But still he kept his ground as who should say If I lose that I also lose the day Therefore let Enemies do what they can My fear of God hath drown'd the fear of Man Thus did he sow in tears till now at last To him this low'ring stormy season 's past And his full sheaves of Glory make amends For light afflictions with what far transcends He liv'd belov'd and dy'd bewail'd and such Wh ' enjoy'd him most enjoy'd him not too much His Body's Earthen-vessel henceforth must Be laid up silent in its native dust Until that matter when the Trump shall sound Start with another form out of the ground He walks in his uprightness but the sense Of this his sleep should make our Diligence That when with Christ the Judg among the train Of Saints and Angels he shall come again Then in that General Assembly we May sing these Sion-songs eternally S. O. Not worthy to unloose The Latchet of his Shooes To the Reader on the Picture and Book HERE you may see some Lines of Wadsworth's face More of his thinking pow'r sublim'd by Grace His Sacramental thoughts in Prose are sweet His Sermons lively Fancies walk on feet His Letters great affections shew'd when young Yet all fall short of Wadsworth's Pulpit-Tongue A Pathetical Meditation on the Passion of Christ to be read by Communicants before their reception of the Sacrament of the Lords-Supper Quest WHat is the Sacrament of the Lords-Supper Ans It consists of two visible signs Bread and Wine which by the Lords appointment was to represent to the receiver his bloody death that so his Disciples may keep it fresh in their memories Q. But is it only to remember that there was a Christ and that he was crucified and no more Ans Experience tells us that such a bare remembrance as that doth little move upon the heart and upon the affections and so will do little or no good It is not the remembrance of any mans death that doth of it self affect me but as I consider him as a father or as a husband or as a friend with many other expressions of his love to me when living this will exceedingly work upon the heart so as to cause sorrow and grief and the like Quest What is it then that I must call to mind when I think upon a bleeding and dying Christ so as to affect my heart Answ The cruel and bloody nature of his Death here you may consider the whole story of his Arraignment his being betrayed by his own Apostle his being spit upon and crowned with thorns his being mocked and jeered by putting a reed into his hand instead of a scepter afterwards his bearing of a Cross and his being nailed to it in his hands and feet after that his being pierced through with a spear this Mat. 27. will fully acquaint you with Secondly the causes of his Death it was no natural disease neither was it for any evil done of his own but for us He bore our iniquities upon the cross Thirdly the effects of his death which was to obtain power of his Father to conquer the Devil and pull us out of his hands to break our hearts and to conquer us to himself to pardon our sins and to give unto us eternal life with himself in glory and this upon our faith and sincere repentance Now from all these things are your Meditations to be raised before you come to the Sacrament and when you are receiving of it An Example of Meditation I have here set you down as followeth Away these wanton wandering worldly thoughts you are clogs to my soul Away all trifling worldly business I cannot now attend your call my heart hath now something else to do Adieu my Friends farewell my Husband Wife and Child I must go see my bleeding Lord that 's dearer to me than you all Come now my soul thou art alone thou knowest the way make hast and speed look yonder see how the people flock cross but this vale and climb but up this Mount thou wilt soon arrive at bloody Golgotha where thou shalt see thy bleeding and dying Saviour to sigh and linger out a dying life on the Cross in love for thee This this might Oh my soul have been thy day and thou might'st have been the prisoner this I say might have been the day in which thou might'st have drunk the bitter cup of the fierce anger of God But look yonder there he goes that must drink up the dregs and all for thee Look again there he goes that must lay down his life that thou maist be reprieved But come my soul draw up a little nearer thou canst not see him well at so great a distance stand here and thou wilt see him passing look there he goes with a train of Virgins following But see how cruelly these barbarous Jews do use him they make him bear his Cross himself and press his wearied fainting limbs above his strength see how they laugh and scoff and wag their heads as if he were their May-game Methinks my heart boils up with rage to see these cruelties revenged Oh! how could the blessed God forbear to see his blessed Son thus wronged Why did he not send twelve Legions of Angels for his rescue Why doth he not send down fire from Heaven upon the heads of these his Sons enemies and so consume them But stay my foelish heart thou knowest not what spirit thou art of this debt was owing and it must be paid God requires so much and it must be given or thou canst not be saved Thy Lord did know this well enough for this he came from Heaven and committed himself to the rage of men he knew he must endure all these revilings and doth it grieve thy soul to see him thus abased Stay but a while and thou shalt see him more look up my soul come tell me what thou seest Oh I cannot sorrow tyes my tougue I cannot speak I see and hear those things that I want a power to utter I see a troop of Virgins following him their weeping eyes their blubbering lips their sighs and throbbings speak them mourners I see my Lord looks towards them and kindly chides their loving sorrow Why weep ye Oh ye Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me My Lord what need was there for that question Should not they weep when thou must bleed Would not their eyes have been flints if that then they should not drop tears for thee when as thou wert about to pour out thy life and blood for them Ah! could they chuse or do less then weep to see thine innocent self among a herd of Tygers what should
you come to ground Ye glorious Angels and ye blessed spirits of just men made perfect that live above you that have been wading downward these five thousands of years do ye feel a bottom or are ye near one Away away my foolish heart if this be all thou hast to plead he may redeem thee and take thee for his Spouse and betroth thee to himself notwithstanding all this Object But Oh this filthy loath some fleshly self this base unthankeful earthly heart that can prefer a dunghill dross and dirt before him that can freely lay out his love to a creature like my self But Oh how hard and stiff and unrelenting am I to my God But Oh he will slight me because I have often put him off and slighted him he cannot love and die for such a one as I am Answ Cease fool thy reasonings he cannot love an enemy because thou canst not he cannot die because thy cowardly heart will not suffer thee Why should he fear the grave that had power over it And what though thou art unworthy of his love if he will have thee and make thee worthy Thy heart is base and what of that if he will mend it thy filthy rotten and polluted soul he intends to wash and cleanse it till it is without spot and wrinkle or any such thing Thy stubborn proud earthly and lustful heart he can make humble tender soft and yielding And when he hath made thee as he would why may not he take thee to himself and lay thee next his heart and delight over thee everlastingly Object But will his Father yield to this I am too poor a match for the Son and heir of all things But will he can he suffer his Son to die to buy such a beggarly thing to himself as I am Answ Away these silly simple childish thoughts how like an inhabitant of this earthly sensual world dost thou reason thou wilt not under-match and therefore will not God his Son Thou fool thou wilt not because thou canst find another equal But dost thou not know that God can find none equal to his Son he must stoop or else go without It 's true he might have gone without but what if he would not why should not Heaven have its will as well as thou Thou hast no dowry and he doth need none and yet thou arguest as if Heaven would make traffick with his Son and his love as we filly worms do here but we are beggars and so are Angels and all the glorious Hosts above they are his Creatures hang and depend upon him and cannot subsist one moment happy without supplies and helps of his Grace and why may he not bring a beggarly man as near to himself as a beggarly Angel if so it pleaseth him Object But doth it so please him Answ How often have I told thee it doth please him and hast thou not believed Come if thy hearing will not satisfie let thy seeing do it Look if thou hast eyes Come tell me doth not Heaven look as though it was pleased with the offer of his Son What cloud or darkness dost thou see about the Throne what sign or token of displeasure canst thou at all discover Open thine eyes view the God of Glory Do his looks bespeak him to be thy Father or thy Judg And canst thou not read both Husband Father and Lord and all in his countenance What not see it surely thou art blind If he had not told as much from his own mouth his eyes and looks bespeak his love and favour loud and clear enough to thee But doth he not tell thee to put thee out of all doubt this is my well beloved Son hear him hear him what 's that believe him whatsoever he says why what saith he O dull and stupid heart hast thou forgot already He said he will pay his life for thine and doth not his Father bid thee hear him He said he would reconcile thee love thee and make thee friends again And is it not comfort when the Father bids thee believe him he said he will pardon wash and cleanse thee and take thee to himself and betroth thee to him for ever and after all will give thee to see his Glory even the same Glory which he had before the world And the Father is willing to all this for he tells thee his Son is his well-beloved Son and bids thee believe him and misdoubt not one syllable And canst thou after all this doubt that the Father is not willing But do not his Angels likewise who are ministring spirits with voice and looks proclaim as much that Heaven is well pleased with the Son and with his Death and Passion and so with thee in him Do not the Angels admire the mystery of Redeeming Grace that makes them so desirous to peep into it Why did they proclaim his coming into the world and sing for joy that there was good-will in Heaven to men on earth or why do they so diligently attend thee by night and by day Thou seest them not keep guard about thy Chamber-door and round about the curtains of thy bed Why do they attend thee from room to room and follow thee down stairs and out of doors if it were not but that thou art some great Princess nearly allied to their Lord and Master Thou dost not see this blame then thine eyes and the infidelity of thy heart shall it be less true because thy base infidelity cannot digest it Thou might doubt God Heaven and every thing else on that score but hast thou not it from his own mouth that the Angels are ministring spirits for the heirs of glory Come tell me I say tell me quickly I must have an answer Can this and all this be true and Heaven yet not be pleased If God with his Son and Angels be all content that thou shouldst be restored and so exalted to such dignities as to be heir unto the Crown of Heaven if these be pleased who is there in Heaven that can else be displeased What saith my heart what not yet one word Oh how long shall I be troubled and pestered with thy unbelief Oh my God strike chide and break this flint reprove this stubborn and unbelieving heart I cannot perswade it that thou lovest me or art willing to love me I urge thy word and my best reason to prove it but I cannot make it yield Oh break I pray thee this Flint or Adamant upon thy downy breast of love strike and one blow of thine will make it fall in pieces and confess at length that thou art well pleased with thy Son and fully satisfied that he should bleed and die for me But let me try thee once again if thou hast lost thine ears and eyes I 'le see if thou hast lost thy feeling too Thou sayest thou canst not believe that God is willing to accept the Son for thee or that thou so vile a wretch canst be accepted of by the Father
that shall keep the Angels of Heaven company to all eternity in the Heavens to glorifie the Maker and the Redeemer of the world This is the Church a Church in a Kingdom is the glory of the Kingdom and God in the Church is the glory of the Church When God leaveth a Church or Kingdom you may name it this name the glory is departed the glory is departed from a Town or Kingdom when the Church of Christ is departed If it be so it will be worth our while to inquire which is this Church of Christ for there are many pretensions laid to the Church many would call themselves the Church the Jews they would be the Church of God the Turks would be a Church of God for they profess to worship the God of Heaven the Papists they would be a Church of God and in England there are many parties laying their claims to the Church of God No wonder my brethren that every one is so desirous to bear that title of being the Church of God 't is the most glorious title of the world as I have shewn you 't is the glory of the world But to help you to find out this Church in the midst of all these claims that are laid to it I have chosen this verse wherein the Holy Ghost giveth a description of it for by these characters you will be able to find it out for this verse is nothing else but a characterizing of the nature of the Church of God And there appeared a great wonder in Heaven a Woman clothed with the Sun and the Moon under her feet and upon her head a Crown of twelve Stars The Church is described two ways First In General Secondly More Particularly First in general There appeared a great wonder in Heaven that is in this Vision of John he did seem to see a very strange and unusual sight we call things wonders that are strange things it is no wonder to see the Sun shining because it is common and the Stars to give light because common but when we see a Blazing-star we call it a wonder so the meaning is I saw a great wonder saith John and what of that I saw a Woman I saw a Woman in the Heavens It is common to see the Sun and Moon and Stars there but to see a Woman is a wonder and so the Church is a wonder to see a fire keep alive in the midst of the Sea to see a people keeping themselves holy in the midst of a wicked and perverse generation to see a people live to the glory of God in a wicked and debaucht Kingdom is a wonder for in spite of all the wrath and rage of the Devil they are resolved to love God and follow the Lamb where ever he leads them this is a wonder and in many respects the Church may be said to be a wonder a wonder to Angels a wonder to Devils and a wonder to the wicked world A wonder to Angels we read they desire to peep into the mystery of Redemption of Christs coming into the world to die for a company of sinful creatures that deserve no better a condition than the dungeon of Hell but for you Angels to see God taking poor sinners from the dungeon of sin and wrath and raising them upon Thrones by giving them repentance and faith in Jesus Christ and adopting them Sons and Daughters and taking them to be his friends this the Angels wonder at And why may I not guess a wonder to the Devils for them to see the Son of God come and themselves to be past by to be forsaken eternally reserved in chains and to see such creatures as we are to be brought into a state of fellowship and communion with God may make them stand and wonder And truly how can it chuse but be a wonder to our selves if David in seeing the Heaven Sun Moon and Stars could cry out Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him How can we chuse but wonder when we look upon our selves being guilty of all manner of sins either in heart or life to see God take us and wash us like swine out of the mire and cleanse us and make us live like his children and call us his own and write his name upon us and seal us up for an eternal state in the Heavens And so the wicked world do wonder that we do not follow them in the same excess of riot drunkenness and singing and ranting in the Taverns and Alehouses they wonder at it Well I saw this wonder in Heaven that is in a most exalted state and so my Brethren it is in its own self in its nature it is highly exalted in the heavens of Gods favour and affections and when the time shall come that God will perfect his Church she shall shine in glory as in a most exalted state and condition and it is this she expecteth and for this she saith Come Lord Jesus and for this he saith I come quickly But more particularly to the nature of this wonder What is it 1. It is described by a Woman 2. The Attire And 3. the place of her standing First A Woman and her attire and that is first of her head a Crown of twelve Stars 2. The attire of her body clothed with the Sun And then 3dly Here is her standing She standeth upon the Moon trampleth that under her feet and this is a description of you so many of you as are true members of the Lord Jesus Christ what great things are here spoken are spoken of every believer here First a Woman why is the Church compared to a Woman that the Church is compared to a Woman in Scripture that is plain the Book of Canticles which is Solomons Song is a Song of the Church represented as a Spouse to Jesus Christ the Prophets frequently compar'd the Church to a Woman in the Old Testament and God is her Husband the Apostles compared it to a Woman I have endeavoured as a Virgin to present you to God without spot And the Church is called the Lambs Wife But for what reason does the Holy Ghost compare the Church to a Woman For these four Reasons 1. For her Beauty 2. For her Affection 3. For her Fruitfulness 4. For her Weakness For these four she may well be compared to a Woman 1. For her Beauty I speak not of that outward that skin-deep beauty which a little time will bring to wrinkles but I speak of an inward beauty a soul beauty the Church of Christ is beautiful that is soul-beautiful the Graces of the Saints upon the soul of the Saints is the red and white nothing enamours Christ so much as your faith in his Promises love to his Glory patience in afflictions obedience to his Commandments Thou art fair my beloved saith Christ to his Spouse The Church is compar'd to a Woman for her beauty and therefore the Apostle saith I have endeavoured to present you as a Virgin how not
daily conversant in Philosophical Exercises but did frequently meet to promote the great business of real godliness and growth in grace and to make experiments on their own hearts of that Religion they should be called to impart to others And it seems he began betimes to impart what he had received of the grace of God for not long after he had been of the Colledg he observ'd a young Scholar of good parts and a good humour but having nothing of real godliness whom he would often seek and single out and talk with to draw him off from vanity and to engage him to mind the concerns of his precious soul and as it pleased God in some short time that same Scholar fell sick unto death and upon his Death-bed sent for this young Mr. Wadsworth as his spiritual Father to whom he declar'd he was much affected with what he had formerly spoken to him in his health giving him hearty thanks for the love he had shew'd to his soul and bewailing his own folly in his formerly declining such an ones company and importuning his earnest prayers to God with him and for him Whereupon this early spiritual Father dealt freely and most compassionately with him in farther instructing and then comforting of that spiritual penitent who gave good evidence that he had a true work of grace wrought upon his heart was a new creature and died very comfortably to the great rejoicing of the instrument V. Whom we find in a piece of his own Journal or Note-book Aug. 8. 1650. on a day of Thanksgiving to God for his mercies in exalting the Throne of Christ in the Land the Vniversity and Colledg to which he did then relate recording the frame of his heart That it was pretty spiritual in the former and later part of the day but in communion of some choice Servants of Christ whom he and his Associates had invited to Supper he was exceedingly rais'd in joy so full that his mouth could not express his heart and so was another of his friends then but he observ'd that the Devil did suggest to him there was much carnalness in his joy which made him afraid though still he was persuaded there was much spiritual joy mixt with it for he adds Oh! how sweet was the Communion of Saints to me Truly it was so pleasant that I remember I wisht I could have always liv'd in that state and was loth to leave this company The next day reviewing the temper of his spirit he notes he was very freely carried out for the good of Saints Whereupon he resolv'd first to mortifie carnal joy in which he had been before immers'd in that he found it very destructive to his spiritual comfort and secondly to be more active for God in the company to select some out and discourse with them to inflame their souls in love to God in Christ and to the Children of God praying for strength thereunto from Heaven VI. The next Lords-day after he records to the exaltation of the riches of Gods grace That he appeared very clearly to him as a Father in Christ I may truly say I never found such a discovery of the mortification of carnal joy and carnal love as then when I was exceeding melted with a sense of love and with the remembrance of Gods dealings with me Further VII If any would have me distinguish 'twixt carnal love and spiritual let them first consider that spiritual love is carried out only to a Saint as the image of God appears in him now carnal love to a Saint appears when it is upon account of a sweet disposition humility meekness and loveliness of body usually accompanied with a propensity to laughter and lightness of spirit but spiritual love is accompanied with abundance of seriousness of spirit and composedness of mind as I found at that time Carnal love and carnal joy in Saints is a great rock against which they are very apt to run You shall have Saints sometimes so extasied with joy that they know not why nor for what and it is commonly in meltings of soul 'T is true there may be the spirit there working as he is often and likewise there is the flesh mixed with it therefore 't is good to consider that rapture of St. Paul carried into the third Heavens where were things unutterable There was joy with an high discovery of God but thou wast joyful and may be sawest nothing Whence may be this Inference VIII That the more discovery of God and thine own nothingness take them together the joy comming in upon such discovery is the more spiritual but the less the discovery of those things the more carnality in that joy 'T is true it is the common complaining of Saints Oh I want comforts joys discoveries of love and these they daily pray for but because they have them not so given in as they us'd to be they wonder Alas they little conceive that there is some lust some corruptions that they cherish in their bosom which supplies the room of grace and comfort and therefore note God doth or would do thee a greater kindness to subdue thy corruption than in giving thee in the comfort thou prayest for IX As to carnal love mark whether thy love to other Saints comes from discovery of grace in them or from the sweetness of their dispositions for the carriage and sweetness of their natural temper is excellent and be sure the more love doth arise from the sweetness of their natural dispositions the more that love is carnal because such is common to any carnal man And as to the effect that love which ariseth from their carriage doth decay and flag upon more familiarity with them but spiritual love decays not yea it increaseth by more acquaintance And again spiritual love to Saints is accompanied with a composedness and serenity of soul and doth not so much express it self in other outward joy as in merriness of the countenance The same may be said of that spiritual love in soul to God it is not so much carried out in joy which is external but in the inward man and the more thy love is spiritual and thy joy spiritual as to God the more it is accompanied with a discovery of self-emptiness and self-vileness and this kind of love is masculine and far more durable than that love which ariseth from the apprehensions of Gods love and a less of self-vileness These are Truths much discovered to me Aug. 12. 1650. X. On the 14th saith he I cannot but remember that being drawn out then as two or three days before for a discovery of the Majesty of God to keep me from sin I had such a strong persuasion set home upon my soul that if God should have answer'd my prayers in such a measure as I beg'd I should not have endur'd his presence for that glimpse I had then though it was but confus'd and vail'd it put me into a kind of fear And I could then say If
for thee and wilt thou love thy friend the worse because he shares in sorrow with thee for thou canst not but know that he came from Heaven to take to himself a Spouse on Earth and if I was one that he loved and grieved for to see my stubborn heart so hard to yield was this the cause he wanted beauty Oh such a want as this is lovely and methinks my heart could have cleaved the closer to him There was no beauty or comeliness in him and what of that my ugly and deformed soul deserves more loathing my righteousness the comeliest part about me is but rags or a menstruous cloth if there were no more desirableness in him than in me Oh had I loved him then and left all for him it were no wonder but that he should love me I rather stand amazed There was no beauty in him it may be so but could it be otherwise expected from him who came to work in fire and smoke who came to quench the flames of Hell and to satisfie Gods wrath and justice to pull out filthy souls from the jaws of lustful sensual flesh and blood it was not beauty but strength that was here needful A glance of an amorous eye would not have wounded Satan and made him fall from Heaven like a flash of Lightning A comely countenance could not have inchanted and unbar'd Hell-gates and made them fall and break before him into shatters What need a fair hand to touch our filthy rotten souls and take them up in menstruous blood and wash them clean or what need such clean hands to clasp about the rusty iron gates wherein I and all the world lay bound in chains and to pull them down to take our cankered bolts and knock them off to take us by the hand to help us up and lead us out Alas there needs no such eye face or hand for such a work It is powerful all-conquering strength that is here required It was a powerful victorious arm that here was needed and such a one he had But what should he do with a beauteous body that must be so abased and abused as his was an uncomely face will serve where it must be spit on What must he do with a fair soft delicate tender hand which must be pierced another kind of hand is good enough to knock a nail into And what needs his body be of a clear white thin transparent skin will not any serve that body that must be bruised and wounded as his was nay as it was necessary his should be But why thus necessary either he must be thus dealt with or else my sin cannot be pardoned Either he must be despised of men or I must be of God Oh he must drink up this bitter cup with all its dregs or else I must have drunk it up my self It was I that sinned and I must have suffered this cursed proud and earthly heart of mine rebelled and broke the Laws and should have suffered and born the punishment had not he stept in and born the stroke off from me I had been now burning in everlasting flames and have been lingering out this time in torment which I am now spending in the sweet thoughts of my escape And is not this all true speak out my soul hath not the Prophet said as much Surely saith he he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace lay upon him and by his stripes we are healed All we like sheep are gone astray we are every one turned to his own way and the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquities of us all He was oppressed he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth he was brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before the shearers was dumb so he opened not his mouth He was taken from prison and judgment and who shall declare his generation for he was cut off from the land of the living And for the transgression of my people was he smitten Thou seest thy debt and thy Saviours payment of it these are no fictions thou hast just now read a sure word of Prophecy that hath confirmed it Those wounds those stripes those bruises which thou readest of he bore for thee and which were due to thee It was thou that shouldst have been led from prison to judgment from prison to the Judgment-seat of the great God who should have sat as Judg he should have arraigned thee sentenced thee and have sent thee to the slaughter-house of Hell where thou shouldst have been weeping and wailing and gnashing of thy teeth But Oh amazing love and grace the Son of God that loved me better than his life stept off his Throne and took my nature on him and became a man like to me only sin excepted he came and bid me comfort my trembling heart he would put himself in my condition and become the prisoner and if my sin would cost his life he would freely part with it Methinks I feel my bowels turn my spirits melt within me was ever love like to his love he was a stranger to me why did he not let me die It was his Father I did wrong why did he not let me suffer What if my punishment was as great as Hell surely I did deserve it What if my pains and screeches were eternal Ah! I was a creature a worm a fly a nothing to him and what need he have cared but he loved me and could he love a prisoner at the Bar I was a sinner a vile polluted one methinks he should have loathed me but he did wash thee and make thee clean again I but I was his Fathers enemy and so no friend to him or would he love an enemy or did he not know so much but how could that be when he saw my heart and the enmity that was in it yes he did and yet he loved thee even while we were enemies he died for us But why did he love an enemy or how could he do it I know not why it is past my reason to imagine it Oh inexpressible love Oh love past thought I cannot fathom thee with my reason thy ways are unaccountable he loves because he will love And though his love displeaseth us yet it pleaseth him to love us What ails my heart I cannot find it stir What dead under the reviving thoughts of thy dearest Redeemer I just now said he loved thee though an enemy and when thou lovedst not him I see the enmity is not quite remov'd thou canst not love him yet Arise shake up thy self and look about thee thou dost not sure see thy mercy surely thou understandest not what thou oughtest to understand Come away Oh come away lift up thy drowsie head I will make thee look and love while I set thee all on burning and make thee ere I leave thee confess thou lovest him Think think Oh my soul
that thou hadst just now sinned and broke that law which threatned death and upon the breach doth find thee guilty Think that thou sawest a flaming Cherubim a messenger of the Court of Heaven flirt in at that door and arrest thee for High treason and give thee a summons to rise from the seat thou sittest on to make a sudden answer for thy life Look then my soul Ah! I lookt just now I see that door wide open What 's this a spirit Ah me I am undone for I have sinned I think the room shakes under me or else 't is my heart that 's trembling What 's this I hear I must now answer for my life Oh what shall I say I know not what I have sinned my Conscience tells me that I have sinned the witness within will cast me I see the Inditement writ with blood on my heart the pride sensuality and the earthliness of which I am charged with I am not able to deny one tittle Oh for a mountain to cover me Oh whither shall I go whither shall I fly That Bed these Curtains this Closet cannot hide me My Mother Father Wife or Child cannot help me O who then shall I run whither I know not vengeance will find me out where ever I go Oh cursed and subtil Satan are all thy fair promises and inticements come to this O my wicked cursed foolish heart that ever I should believe him before my Creator that told me the day I sinned I should surely die Oh that for a little simple transient pleasure I should so madly hazard my eternal life and now I must be cast to Hell to bear the punishment of my folly Think once again think that this were the day and this the very place in which God should come and sit in Judgment on thee Methinks I see the Heavens bow themselves Oh what a crackling do I hear in the Clouds look yonder see who comes it is my Judg his countenance is as a flame of fire he utters his voice like Thunder the mountains skip or rather shake or rather tremble Now now is the time of my utter destruction near at hand Oh how shall I look him in the face his looks do already affright me I shall not say one word and I have not one friend that will say one word for me It 's true I see a terrible glorious Troop of Angels that do attend him but they are all his friends and therefore all my enemies I dare not speak a word to them and alas if I should they are all but his servants and fellow-creatures with my self alas they cannot yea they will not help me It 's true there is one that one that seems as one with God the beams of whose countenance are far brighter than all the Host of Heaven Besides if God have a Son it may be it is he methinks he is a mirrour of his Fathers Glory but this I know not be what he will he cannot pity me a sinner the doors of hope are all shut up and now as a miserable wretch I must prepare to hear my sentence the Judg is set and with trembling heart and joints I stand a prisoner at the bar for my life and now I must attend his call God speaks Sinner where art thou The Sinner answers Lord here am I. God speaks How darest thou thus abuse my Grace and kindle up my zeal against thee that now as stubble it will consume thee Is this the thanks that thou hast returned for all the love that I have shewed to thee Must I make a whole world and give it to thee and as if that was too little I bid thee freely take my self and all and would not this content thee Was I not as a father to thee the time thou lovedst me and didst obey me Did I not make thy seat a Paradise and strewed thy paths with pleasure Did I not rejoice over thee as a young man over his bride What evil hast thou found in me that thou shouldst thus rebelliously revolt and break my Laws and for a trifle sell my favour and hazard my eternal pleasures Speak sinner was it not so The Sinner answers My God these weeping eyes and bended knees confess so much God speaks Had I not told thee that sin would have cost thee thy life then thou hadst had some excuse have I said it and will the great God change Sinner thou must die I told thee so before and now I tell thee again the God of Heaven cannot lye Get thee gone thou cursed wretch into eternal flames and keep that Devil company in chains and torments with whom thou hast rebelled against me and go see what pleasure thou hast in sinning The Sinner answereth Thou great God and terrible Judg I do confess thy sentence just but if there be any bowels of mercy in thee pity me or I die for ever Mercy mercy Lord for I am thy creature the workmanship of thy hands If there be any thing in the trembling heart and hands and knees of this thy sentenced prisoner that will move compassion Oh pity pity a condemned sinner God speaks What! stays he longer to trouble my patience I say be gone thou cursed though thou art my creature know that my wrath hath kindled on better creatures than thou art get thee to Hell and the howling Devils will tell thee as much The Sinner speaks Ah wo wo wo to me for ever cursed I am and cursed must I go for ever My Righteous Judg and ye Glorious Angels adieu for ever Live live for ever blessed and happy in his love I might have lived and joyed and gloried in that God that made both ye and me but like a wretch that I am wo that ever I was born I sold his favour and so my eternal life for a thing of nought a vain lust a sinful pleasure that lasted but for a season and I go I go into eternal flames What says my heart to this Methinks the very thoughts of it do make my heart to quiver and my flesh to shake all round about me I feel no strength in all my joints God speaks So so I am glad something moves thee But think again that the Devil did take hold of thee and drag thee from the place thou sittest on to Hell suppose the Father frowning on thee and all the Angels shouting thee down to Hell and glorying in thy damnation but think again thou sawest when all were joying to see thee sentenced to Hell that he that sat just by the Judg whom thou thoughtest even now to be his Son but knewest it not Look look methinks I see him rise off his Throne see see how the Angels fall to adore him methinks he is a coming near thee Oh how my heart doth tremble Oh what will he torment me before my time Ah me my doom is great enough already Sinner speaks Thou wilt not send me to a worser place than Hell my Judg hath passed my
through the merits of his Death and sufferings Come tell me is not this thy language I know thou darest not to speak so much in words But ah my Heart I find thou hast got a Tongue as well as my Mouth that often mutters and speaks a different language But tell me if thy unbelief hath any ground for it What makes it then that thy self is so free from fears and terrours when thou shouldst believe the Almighty of thy Bodies Death Resurrection and coming to Judgment if thou thoughtest him not thy friend and reconciled to thee in his Son if not methinks thy fears should fright thee and trembling seize on every joint and yet thou wilt foolishly mutter against thine own feeling Soul speaks O blessed God! I feel thou hast overcome I yield I yield I have not left a word to speak against thy love thy Son hath offered satisfaction and thou hast accepted it thou hast laid down O my Saviour thy life for mine and thy Father and my Father is well pleased with it Blood is paid Justice is satisfied Heavens doors are widened thine arms opened to receive me nothing is wanting but my heart make it such as thou wilt have it and then take it to thy self Come up my soul thou hast an heart and there is a Christ the Father thou feest is willing and the Son is willing give but thy consent and he is thine for ever Fear not thy hardness blindness deadness loathsomeness all these cannot hinder if thou be but willing He hath been in the world to ask the worlds consent already and also thine thou canst not doubt of his good-will speak but the word and he hath thine too What stickest thou at surely thou art a sluggish spirit what dost thou ail Half of this ado would find a heart for a little mire or dirt or something else that is worse and is not Christ better But ah yet I feel a spice of unbelief still working in thy very bowels as if that Jesus that died at Jerusalem were not the Son of God and the Redeemer of the world And is this all O were I certain thou wouldst ne're doubt more how freely should I make satisfaction But Oh! I faint and tire with the trips and stumblings of my unbelief But mount my soul thou must resolve to tire and put to silence all thy unbelieving bablings or they will thee which if they do never expect an hours peace or quiet more thou must resolve to conquer thy unbelief or to be conquered thou knowest her tyranny too well to let her go away the victoress He was not the Christ thou sayest but tell me why Object His Parentage was too low and mean what the Saviour of the world a Carpenters Son how can it be Answ My unbelief in the first place thou lyest his Mother was a Virgin and her Conception knew no Father but the Almighty power of the overshadowing Holy Ghost he was more truly the Son of God than Joseph's Son And was his birth thinkst thou so mean whose Parentage was so glorious Object His birth but mean and beggarly no sooner born but cradled in a manger and could Heaven suffer this Answ It is confest But yet it was as glorious for did not a Star proclaim him born and did not a whole Host of Angels sing and shout it up for joy and did not wise men yea and Kings bring Incense Myrrh and Frankincense being but as so much tribute unto the new-born King and heir of all things as if by instinct they knew they held their Crowns of him a greater honour than ever any new-born Prince hath yet received before him or ever shall or will do after him Methinks my unbelieving heart I could dare to tell thee that room was no stable it was a Palace and did not the cost presents and glorious presence of Kings speak as much Object But his days were spent in poverty meanness and disgrace and can I dare I trust my soul with such a one and take him to be the Son of God Answ And now I wonder at thee it's true what thou fayest if thou lookst upon him one way his life was such as thou tellest me of but 't is a strong argument against thy self for just such a one was the Christ to be according to the Prophets the 53 Chapter of Isaiah shews as much But yet if thou truly understandest what true pomp and glory means even to an eye of sense as well as to that of faith Solomon's life imbroidered with all his glorious acts was not comparable to this life of his Was it not filled with miracles and wonders was he not proclaimed the Son of God with voices from Heaven did he not conquer Devils and therefore the Kingdom of Hell Was ever Prince on Earth honoured with so great a Conquest Were not his miraculous Feasts more splendid than those of Princes the fare was but poor and mean but the miracles made it rich and glorious Had I been present should I not have wondered and gazed more at the Master of this Feast and have taken more pleasure to have seen him sit down with these five thousands than with a Table full of Princes and great men Alas it were a trifling sight to this Methinks my unbelief that pleads so much for sense sense it self pleads too strongly against thee for thou canst not argue one syllable Object But would the Son of God be hanged and crucified could Heaven have suffered this could not the Saviour of the world save himself how could he then save me Answ Hadst thou not the blindness of the Jews thou couldest not reason thus like them but was it not necessary it should be so Did not the Prophets foretell his death and such a death Had he not died and died as he did I might then have had some ground to doubt him whether he were the Messias or not for it was needful that the Prophesies should be fulfilled Dan. 9. But yet as wretched and as contemptible a going out of the world as he had and his manner of dying on the Cross how vile soever it seemed to be yet was there not enough to silence all the doubts that could possibly from thence arise and much for the confirmation of my faith in the wonderful Eclipse of the Sun the rending of the veil of the Temple the opening of the Graves the raising of the dead and afterwards his own rising the third day and ascending up to Heaven in a Cloud If my faith might have staggered in seeing him on the Cross dying it could not when it saw him risen and in the Clouds ascending Object But were those wonders true and certain Answ But hast thou any ground to doubt them are they not written in thy Bible and art thou not certain that it is the word of God or hast thou not sufficient reason to believe it to be so But hast thou not a whole Nation yea Nations that do believe the
same and before this age did not our Fathers and Grandfathers and great Grandfathers and so continued a testimony of ages from the time that they were done to this day witness to the truth of them and that so unanimously and resolutely that ten thousands have rather chosen to lose their lives than the truth of them Now put all these together and tell me canst thou doubt Away I see thou dost but trifle confess the truth or I am resolved to heed thee no longer Come take and embrace that crucified Jesus account all things else but as loss and dross and dung in comparison with him stick not at his outward meanness scruple not at his ignominious dying it is the very Christ the Saviour of the world Oh why shouldest-thou thus torment me Dost thou not see all thy fellow-Christians to glory in that Cross and in that Christ that died on it Do they not bear it as a badg of honour and shall it be to thee as shame Do not all the Christian World eat and drink as often as they can the Symbols of this their dying Lord And do they not all sing and joy and triumph in it and wilt thou the while lye vexing thy self over a company of needless fears and scruples Farewell all needless doubts and tormenting questions I see my faith is built on a Rock blow winds beat waves you cannot now remove me Blessed God! I thank thee for thy Son thou hast given his life for the spoiler thou hast bowed his back to the enemies long furrows have they plowed upon it and the day of his calamity they laughed at Lord thou hast wounded him for my sins and bruised him for my iniquities These speak the depth of thy counsels and the ways of thy mercy past finding out and the tenderness of thy Bowels Thou hast made him my Rock and my shield and my strong tower and in the day of my sorrow through him thou wilt hear me To thee O God will I make my vows and to thee will I pay them I will humble my self before thee I will always lye at the feet of my Redeemer Lord his Cross and his shame shall be no more a stumbling-block to me I will take it up and follow him it shall be my Crown my Song and the glory of my rejoicing I will enter into thy Courts with joy and in the Congregations of thy Saints shall be my delight I will remember thy loving-kindnesses of old and the days in which thou didst afflict thy only Son for the sins of my Soul I will call to mind the Covenant of thy Grace and my heart shall praise thee when I see it founded on blood Then will I betroth my self to thy Son join thou Lord both our hands and hearts and we will strike up a match for ever Praise thou the Lord Oh my soul and all you that love and fear him praise his holy name The SACRAMENT The Dress Lord where am I What! all the Children of the Bride-chamber up and drest and I slumbering in my bed Tell me ye fairest what make you up so early Alas our Lord was up before us all He called us up by break of the day and wondered that we were not triming our lamps knowing with whom we were to feast this day Oh! well then I will rise up too Oh what a shew do these bright and glittering Saints make in mine eyes What a brightness do these pearls and diamonds cast in mine eyes they do strike me into amazement Oh what a lovely humble look doth crown their brow and what a comely countenance hath joy and Heavenly delight cast on their cheeks surely they did not thus dress themselves it was my Father that made them thus prepar'd to entertain his Son But where are my Clothes Now for the fairest sweetest robe of thoughts and wishes that can be found or that the wardrobe of my Father can afford me Oh how naked am I But where are my silken golden twists of Faith to hang the jewels of joy and love and humility upon I am never drest till they be on Oh where where are they I saw them by me but just now I laid them by my heart before I went to bed Oh what was I so long a reasoning about Oh what long and many threds did my reason spin even now but to make these twines to tye up my joy and to raise up my love and to hang my Heavenly delight upon But ah I fear this envious world hath with her vanities stollen them away or hid them from me or the envious Devil or unbelief have been ravelling or snarling of them that now I am as far to seek as ever Whither O whither shall I go to find them out Now will the Bridegroom come and I am not ready I cannot dare not go to day Now will my Lord be angry and ask me why I came not and I have no answer to make him And if I go undrest he will ask me where is my Wedding-garment and then I shall be speechless Ah foolish simple heart that thou wouldst take no more care but to let these thoughts of earth so intangle themselves with thy so pure and Heavenly contemplations Now how to get them loose again thou knowest not this thou mightst by heed and care have prevented but now what help Lord I have sinned O holy Father pardon this time and I will take more heed Oh come and unty my thoughts from this earth and come and dress me up as best pleaseth thee Come be not discouraged Oh my soul Let but thy attire of Grace be whole that is sincere thy God and so thy Saviour will accept thee Though thy garments are not so much perfumed with heaven as thy brethrens are but yet if they are but white and free from the spots of flesh and spirit thou wilt be looked on and liked of well enough Thy Lord doth know that all have not talents alike and where he gives but a little he expects but little A Faith that is richly embroidered over with love and delight is not given to all and is not expected from any but from those to whom it is given Thou hast an honest willing serious heart that thinks it doth despise and trample under feet the nearest dearest pleasures profits and glories in the world in compare with him that gave himself to death for thee and hadst rather anger flesh and blood the dearest friends and all the world than him by sinning against him in the least If this be true fear not thou hast thy Wedding-garment on thou art well clad as mean soever as it is it is such a one as Heaven gave thee and such a one as thy dear Redeemer can and will embrace thee in The Presence-Chamber Fear not O my soul I charge thee do not faint Let not thy weakness and the poverty of thy grace discourage thee see how thy Lord draws nigh Fear not I say he will not ask
earnestly beg of God on thy knees as if thou wert pleading for thy life that God would humble thee and give thee more love to himself and to the rest of thy brethren and take heed likewise of angering them O that thou wouldst but practise this truly truly I should rejoice Angels in Heaven would rejoice as it is written The Angels rejoise at the conversion of a sinner Secondly Look that thou readest the Scriptures diligently every day and let this be thy first work in the morning and the last at night And if thou canst not understand go to God and beg that he would give thee more light and if thou dost this likewise happy shalt thou be And seeing it is late before you go to supper and bed therefore thou maist set apart some time for this duty in the afternoon And this you must do and then wait upon God for a blessing And truly do but reflect on your self and tell me what 's the cause of all that gross ignorance which is in you Truly 't is because you read little in the Scripture and other good Books And if perhaps you read a Chapter now and then it is either because you are forc'd to it or because you would read some story in the Old Testament only to recreate your carnal mind Let me but ask you this one question Do you when you take the Bible in your hand consider it is the book of God and if you do not practise what you read it will turn to your condemnation Do but consider this thing seriously and the God of Heaven bless it to your soul Now I pray and entreat you not to slight this which I have said but turn it into practise And it will be my desire thâ—t you will write this out fair that thou maist read it sometimes and maist know that thy brother loves thy soul as dearly as his own What I have now writ unto thee in particular thou wilt do well if thou communicatest it to all thy brethren that they may not be wanting in these things which I have here desired of thee in particular for I could desire that thou mightest begin to lead the way to Heaven in that family but especially let this be known to my Sister Anne I pray her not to think much that I direct this to you and not to her for I thought you would write to me and I questioned whether she hath not forgot but if she doth write I assure her if my soul and body can do her service it shall I shall not mention my Sister Mary because I have hinted her case in my Fathers Letter The God of Heaven be with you So I pray who am Your tender and most affectionate Brother Tho. Wadsworth Dear and Loving Sister IT hath been such a great interval of time since we last exchang'd Letters with one another that I know not whether to charge you or my self with negligence but I hope neither of us are guilty of forgetfulness God is my witness that I daily make mention of you in my prayers and I assure you it will exceedingly raise my heart in praises if God will but answer them upon your soul And truly my expectations are very great towards you and the rest of my friends I know not who they shall be either in that family or some where else but rather there for God of late hath shewn me much of his goodness as to the answering of my prayers as to particular persons And I am assured that he hath several times drawn out my heart as much if not more for that family So that I live in continual expectations of hearing of the Sun of Righteousness to rise among you and the day star of holiness and purity to break out of some of your souls And to this purpose I have sent you this Letter that you among the rest might be one that may fulfil my joy in the Lord. I am sorry that all this while I have not heard from my Brother John I hope that the Lord will stir up his heart likewise Heaven-ward Tell him that I would have writ to him but that I had so much to write to others so that I was fain to steal a little time to write these few lines As for your self for the present I shall only desire you to read Scripture much and pray constantly if possibly you can twice or three times a day For directions herein I desire you to peruse seriously my Sister Anne's Letter which I have here sent her Lastly Take a special care of my Sister Mary labour to get her to pray though she can but chatter God can hear He hears the young Ravens when they cry and feeds them and will he not much more hear a young child To whom I pray you commend my love very kindly I have no more at this present but that I am Your ever Loving Brother Tho. Wadsworth Loving Sister AS the Letter was with great affection desired so was it as gratefully received by me Neither was it so much because that you did write but because you writ so well and heartily And I shall here assure you that you cannot rejoice me more than in letting me see such sentences dropping from your pen as did in the last Letter And I am likewise as certain that your discovery of them proceeding from your heart carries in it a far more exceeding weight of joy to your own soul I shall have but one or two things to you at this time and I shall conclude First Be constant in Prayer morning and evening and labour not only to speak words but let your words express your heart Secondly Before and after Prayer join reading of the Scriptures Thirdly Take heed of vain and foolish discourse be as little in talk as may be without it is in good discourse I shall now only desire you to write to me every week or fortnight and I doubt not but you will find your parts encrease and abour but to put Letters in practice and you shall find likewise your graces encrease And with this I conclude only desiring you to remember me to your Brother and Sisters and I shall be as I ever was Your Loving Brother T. W. A SERMON PREACHED BY Mr. THO. WADSWORTH Taken in Short-hand REV. XII 1. And there appeared a great wonder in Heaven a Woman clothed with the Sun and the Moon under her feet and upon her head a Crown of twelve Stars IN these words you have a description of the Church of Jesus Christ on earth the Church of Christ is of all Societies of the world the most glorious it is a Society founded by the Counsel of the great God a Society that is purchased and bought by the blood of the Son of God 't is a Society called out of this wicked world to worship God in spirit and in truth 't is a Society that is to God himself as the apple of his eye 't is a Society
a deformed one but a Virgin without wrinkle without spot when the Church is sanctified by the Spirit of Christ and nothing in your hearts but love fear and holiness then you have this beauty that is without spot or wrinkle sin does sully the soul but grace taketh away spots and wrinkles Likewise 2. The Church is compared to a Woman for her affection their affections ordinarily are more strong 'T is said of Jonathan his love did exceed the love of women The Holy Ghost compareth the Church to a Woman to signifie that all the members of Christ have a very ardent love and affection to Christ No love so strong as the love of a Saint to Christ and therefore 't is said That many waters cannot quench it There are few will be beggered for the sake of another or banished or hanged upon a Gallows for the sake of another burnt at a stake for anothers sake and yet the love of a Saint maketh nothing of all this it rejoiceth to see its goods spoil'd for Christ to think it self worthy to be whipt for Christ to go up a ladder and to be thrown down with a rope about its neck for Christ Water cannot quench a Saints love neither can fire hinder a Saint from Christ neither things present or things to come can sepaparate from Christ You would all be of this Church pray look that you have affections suitable for Christ You may have a time to try your affections if you want affections you are none of this Woman 3. The Church is compared to a Woman for her fruitfulness the Church of Christ is a fruitful Church that is the society of the Lord Jesus do bring forth daily children to God and as like the Father as they can look The Church does meet together to preach the Gospel and to pray and praise God together and God does so bless them with the Ordinances that they do convert sinners unto God they bring souls that were aliens in their mind they bring them to acquaintance with God The Church is always travelling and bringing forth and God does bless her to bring Sons and Daughters to himself and when they are born they are like Christ patient as Christ was patient meek as he was meek humble as he was humble and heavenly as he was heavenly Whoever pretend to be a Son or Daughter of this Woman and do not bear the Image of the Lord Jesus Christ they are bastards Barrenness under the Law 't was counted a very great curse So take this note to find out the Church of Christ upon earth and in England look upon the several societies professing the name of Christ see which look the most like him have they affections to Christ is there a beauty in their lives are they barren do they convert sinners to them Some cry with a loud voice The Temple of the Lord are we but I pray see if they are fruitful Are they travelling and bringing forth and have they Sons and Daughters brought forth daily to them or little conversion among them they are not fruitful they have not Sons and Daughters born to Jesus Christ and by that you may know where to find Christs Church Lastly The Church is compared to a Woman because of her weakness the Woman is the weaker sex she is not made for fighting but in case of danger for flying for this is the nature of the Church it is not of a domineering boisterous spirit but a womanly spirit modest humble and meek Where you see a people pretend to be this Woman pouring out malice and wrath a domineering people are they like this Woman that flyeth in time of danger but not from Christ vers 3. And there appeared another great wonder in Heaven behold a great red Dragon and that 's the Devil and the Dragon stood before the woman to devour her child as soon as it was born But what was the end did she fight no there were Angels stood to contend for her she took up no arms thought not upon fighting but presently the Angel rescued her vers 7. And there was war in Heaven Michael and his Angels fought against the Dragon and the Dragon and his Angels fought and prevailed not That is the host of Angels did contend with the Devil and his Angels and would not permit him to destroy her and she fled into the Wilderness vers 6. And she fled into the wilderness where she hath a place prepared of God that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days She fled into a Wilderness but in a secure state she was secur'd in her Wilderness and God lookt after her and we are in this thousand two hundred threescore days She is a weak Church but strong in Christ and if so my brethren though you be weak and meek as a sheep and compared to a Woman the weaker sex yet notwithstanding fear not for I cannot stand to speak of all the things in this Chapter Great wings were given her to fly with the whole earth stept out to help her and swallowed up the flood which the Dragon cast out of his mouth and the Angels helped her Well now let us come to the attire I have shewn you the reasons why she is compared to a Woman and we will begin at her head and so come down to her foot On her head a Crown of twelve Sâ—arâ— and her body was clothed with the Sun and under her foot the Moon What was this Crown of twelve Stars if you do but mark the H. Ghost through this book of the Revelations you will find him take a great deal of pleasure in this number twelve and he does always use it when he speaketh of the true Church the new Jerusalem it had twelve Gates and the Tree of life in the midst of this new Jerusalem this Tree of Life bore twelve sorts of fruits this you have in the last Chapter And in the midst of the streets of it and of either side of the river was there the tree of life which bare twelve manner of fruits and yielded her fruit every month and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the Nations Why twelve Gates for the City and twelve fruits upon the tree and twelve Stars upon the Crown of this Church what is the meaning of this I will tell you what it is You know Jesus Christ when he went about to gather this Church out of the world he did chuse twelve men that were his Apostles and these twelve men he did acquaint with the whole mystery of the Gospel all the things that he would have them teach the world he gave them in commandment and they were to be under him the Fathers to beget this Church And Christ calleth them lights Ye are the lights of the world because they were to deliver forth this Doctrine of the Gospel this light from Heaven these truths that lead men like tapers through this dark Dungeon
man would have done it 2 And was not God himself slighted by those that were invited to the feast Was not Christ worse than slighted and was not Paul called a Babler and the Gospel foolishness 3 But consider further Is not the Gospel and the God of it slighted in thee the message thou knowest is not thine but his that sent thee 4 And think is it not natural for the carnal mind to have unsavoury dark foolish thoughts of the Gospel was it not always so did not Christ wonder seeing their unbelief 5 But think it 's God in Christ or the strictness and spiritualness of the Gospel that they undervalue and think nothing of the excellency of They say it 's thou speakest nothing they would say the other but they dare not speak out and so they cast it on thee and art thou not willing rather to suffer than it wouldst not thou have interposed thy face to Christ to have received the spittle and kept it from him and thine head to have been crowned with thorns and what dost thou shrink in taking of this 6 But think what reason have they to charge thee with a nothingness and impertinency in preaching what mean so many to follow thee they may hear nothings and impertinencies nearer home Wherefore go on chearfully and boldly in thy work and regard not what some few scoffers say when thou art carrying on that work for the good of souls which the Lord will own and bless HYMN I. WHat ails my soul to look so wan My vitals they are fled What faintings do I feel within My heart as 't were is dead Love-beams do shine full in my face From off the throne above They sparkle glories round my soul Yet yet I cannot love I see the Heavens open wide My Lord upon his throne I see his Saints all cloth'd in gold Bedeckt with glittering stone I fee a Crown held in his hand To set upon my head If once I were laid low in grave Yet yet my heart is dead What my distemper is God knows It 's cause I can unfold My heart lay down upon the earth And there it caught a cold This this alone had been enough My health to overthrow But I of flesh a surfeit took Which made my grief to grow Lord what compassions in thy looks What pearls stand in thine eye Like a kind friend thou turn'st away As loth to see me die No cordials can my sp'rits revive Those glorious sights do'nt move Oh I am lost there is no hope I see yet cannot love My God! my God! don 't me forsake If I must needs then die Whil'st I am breathing out my last Oh! do but thou stand by Help help thou great soul-curing God In languishments I lye Speak but the word my heart revives Oh yet I shall not die I find my native heat restor'd My wonted joys return I love thee Lord I love thee now With love my heart doth burn Oh what are all the things below What toys they seem to me When shall I leave them and come up To dwell my Lord with thee HYMN II. The Souls Farewell to her Body TIr'd with a body now at last In travel on my road I must take Inn and rest my self I must of flesh unload I see my prison-walls fall down And mold'ring into dust I feel my chains of flesh break off As eaten up with rust Oh! I am going help my God! A little respite give Reverse thy sentence add some years That I on earth may live Ah! foolish soul how fond of life Dost thou thy self betray Why a few minutes more dost thou With tears for life thus pray Are not the years enough thou ' st been A Pilgrim here below Thy Father calls bids come away Ah! fool thou wilt not go What seest thou in this wicked world That thus delights thine eye A father brother or dear friends Thou ' lt find them all on high Thy Saviour hath a Palace there Imbost about with Gold Thine's but a den where now thou dwell'st Whose walls scarce keep out cold What canst thou see more than thou hast The same Sun runs its round The rivers ebb and flow alike No new thing can be found The pleasant faces of thy friends Thou feest but o're again The sweets of meats and drinks thou tasts Are but the very same Yet these sweet and beloved things Have thorns been in thy side Their Prickles have so torn thy heart Thou scarce could'st them abide But Oh thou lump of Gold my Soul How full of dross and tin Thy Father would but melt thee now And purge thee of thy sin Thou art my Soul a ball of light Here in dark lanthorn place't God in a golden socket would Thee set to burn not waste Arise my Soul come shake thy plumes Prepare thy self for flight Like a fledg'd Eagle mount aloft And bid the world Good-night Farewell then dearest friends farewell Farewell fond world I say Lord now I come Oh take me up With sighs and groans I pray HYMN III. The Resurrection of our Blessed Lord. ON Golgotha that fatal day While Christ on Cross did bleed The whole Creation groan'd they say To see that bloody deed The Earths big heart with sorrow swells Which burst out in earth-quakes The Sun his eye hides in a cloud The lowring Heaven shakes The bodies of the dead arise Most ghastly look and wonder Because mens hearts nor garments rent The Vale doth tear asunder Yet one thing do I admire more To see a God-man dead His breathless royal trunk they took And laid in grave deaths-bed Like conquer'd captive there he lies In th' prison of a grave Three days the tyrant death him holds In fetters like a slave So long said he I 'le lye then cry'd Hell grave death do your worst Fast tye me bind me chain my hands I 'le all your fetters burst Rowl rowl a stone upon his tomb The Jews of Pilate pray Set watch and ward lest that his friends By night steal him away With bills and lanthorns there they stand With scoffs they him deride See how he riseth jeeringly They flout one very side At length the third days morn doth dawn Our Lord begins to ' wake Whilest the hard stony Cover-lid Away the Angel takes Look look the watch-men see they run As frighted hark their crys The buried Jesus he is risen We saw him with these eyes Shout shout for joy ye Saints of his This is your Saviour dear When you this wretched life must leave Graves Coffins do not fear This day a perfect conquest he Of grim-lookt death hath made Your moulder'd rotted bodies he Can raise as he hath said HYMN IV. Of our Lords Ascension into Heaven I Sometime wondred why thou Lord Those forty-days didst stay On earth betwixt thy Grave and Crown Or thy Ascension day It seems most like a Captain great After some bloody fights Who walks to shew his friends he lives And puts his Host to rights Thus all things
i' nt that I Do fear thou canst not save Nothing can hinder if thou please Nor Devil Hell nor Grave Nor do I doubt but 't is thy will To save some such as I For as vile wretches as I am Thy Son did freely die In the deep Seas of thy rich love Blaspheming Paul did swim He though thy Saints he sought to kill Yet thou didst pardon him The Harlot Mary Magdalen Who deeply ran on score Who did ten thousand talents owe Yet that debt-bond was tore A swearing cursing Peter thou Didst to thy mercy take That Son whom he did fear to own Thou pardon'st for his sake This makes me confident my God That Heav'n may be my place If thou would'st please to grant to me Maries or Peters Grace Give me O God to go aside And in some corner creep That there with Peter bitterly In dolors I may weep Give me but sinful Maries love Love shall my ointment be Which I upon my Lords feet will Pour out as well as she But ah my God! this is my fear Their faith and love I want My carnal proud and sensual heart Speaks me no penitent This only Lord I have to plead Those lusts my heart doth hate I long I wish to be set free From this sad sinful state Sure Lord I am no enemy To holiness within Thou seest my soul contend and strive To beat down every sin When that perchance my foot doth slip And thee I do offend Doth not my sin make me to mourn And don 't I strive to mend Had not I faith why should I fear The threatenings of thy Law Why should I dread thy Majesty And of thee stand in awe Had I not faith why should I long Thy face above to see Why should I praying sue so hard To get my liberty Did not I love thee why should I My loved self forsake Why should I loath my loved sins For thy beloved's sake Did I not love why don 't the shell Of duties me suffice In Sacraments and pray'rs why do I thus thy presence prize Did I dissemble to be seen Of men why doth my sin Which none knows but my self alone Me trouble that 's within Did I dissemble then my tears My sighs in company Would more be heard and seen then when My God alone stands by It 's true I love thee not enough Nor is my faith so strong But that with grief I do confess Thy faithfulness I wrong But Lord remember I 'm but dust In weakness here I live That little which I have thou gav'st The rest above shalt give Did not those Stars that now do shine With thee in Heav'n above While living on the earth complain Of want of faith and love Nay Lord do not I read that thou The hungry soul didst bless And it that thirsts for righteousness Such am I I confess But Lord remember he that thirsts And hungry is for grace He some degree of grace must want And I am in that case If he is blessed why not I My hung'rings thou dost see If thou hast said he shall be full Why sha'nt that word reach me I sin I sin but thou hast place't The righteous Christ on high To advocate and plead his cause That at his feet doth lye Lord there a sinner I do lye Thy promise I will trust For pardon and for love will hope Till I fall to the dust The Welcome I. WElcome my child on high Heaven joys to see thee here Be not afraid it is thy Fathers house And thy Saviour bought it dear It was for this he bled And his soul ' n offering did make When my Son thou didst accept this Jointure he thee made Now possess it for his sake Whyart thou asham'd come behold me behold me I have forgot thy sin And made thee clean within Now thou' rt arrived here above Of nought think but of love I shall ne're be angry with thee agen II. My servants that attend Put on his best attire Set a Crown on his brow in brightness that out-shines The clearest flames of fire Spread out that cloth of Gold His foot-cloth it must be If you have him drest come bring him set him here He must keep me company Have you done if you have bid him welcome bid him welcome He was our friend on earth And royal in his birth For whilest he lived I saw he Forsook all to love me And did truly serve me to his his death III. A child a bride a wife Ragg'd and adorn'd so soon From the Dungeon to the Throne how quickly am I rais'd And my midnight turn'd to noon Even now on my death-bed I sigh'd I sob'd I groan'd I weeping cri'd my God hath me forgot And by all my friends was moan'd What they think now on earth I do not know I do not know Nor for't do I much care What a weeping though they are Of little do they think I Do possess such glory That I 'm made so much-of here above IV. This is Jerusalem Pav'd o're with slates of Gold Her rows of houses like to towers stand It 's more stately than was told Here 's not a street but 's strow'd With flowers of Paradise Not a step that I tread but such sweetnesses I pownd More rich than Arabian spice Walls that her inclose are far brighter far brighter Than th' oriental flame Or a thing that wants a name Her sparkling gates are well known To be made up of such stone That the richest Diamonds doth excel V. Blest shades that here do dwell These mansions that possess I never till now a place or people saw That the God of Heaven doth bless Here 's not a look speaks care No sign of tear or grief Not a sigh or a groan through all the streets I hear Nor a beggar that wants relief All yet that I 've met are like Angels like Angels In clearness they surpass A Star or chrystal-glass Whose unsoil'd beauty doth seem To out-vye a Sun-beam Far Oh far more splendid than all these VI. Their locks like curls of light Their Lilly-necks hang o're Bedeckt with Ribbonds richer than of Gold I ne're saw such before Sweetness of spirit blooms And blossoms all the week In smiles of joy and love that do adorn In their flowrings on each cheek In mantles as white as the fair Moon the fair Moon They walk about each street And embrace all that they meet I never saw friends so love As they do here above Oh! I could lie at any of their feet VII I am where I would be In the City of my King This is the place I have desir'd to see And to hear the cherubs sing What lofty strains are these I ne're heard voice so lavish Not a note that I hear but melts me into joy And my heart doth in me ravish In the close when they shout Hallelujah Hallelujah Glory to God on high And the Lamb that below did die There 's warmth methinks in these names That melts me into
run The flowry garland will be won The conquest which I get by wounds Shall Ioad my head with splendid crowns A Description of Paul 's Shipwrack Act. xxvij WEll rig'd Paul in a various tempest 's tost Yet ne're by ship-wrack faith or conscience lost When boist'rous winds broke from the hollow caves Of hellish breasts ' gainst Paul himself he saves Taking occasion by appeal to God To Rome's great Caesar and it must be so Passing by various Islands 't length they came To the Fair Havens so they had their name But the Sun's spirit 's spent his languid cares Shortens their work by short'ning of the days Now the cold damps like rebel subjects plays Their rackets in the skies a Prince though wise In age may have his subjects mutinise They gather head white round bullets form Wherewith they pelt us in a furious storm Their pointed spears in Icicles they make Which they against our trembling bodies shake Then they contract winds into skins of clouds Which breaking like to drums they rattle loud Thus in a mutiny they tumults raise In woods in groves in sea amongst her waves This grave sage Paul well weighing did advise To Sea they would not set in any wise But the bold Captain otherwise inspir'd The owners bad gain had his spirits fir'd Wind wave or billow could not now allay His heats he must lanch out that very day Unty her cables to his men doth cry Unpinion all her wings and let her fly Thetis her straight did in her mantles wrap And kindly seem'd to dandle't in her lap Plowing the waves look how she on doth haste Like to a nimble-steed that is well pac't Or like a nimble Hind doth jump away O're tops of hills low dales without all stay Thus wantonly she had not posted far There rose a wind that all the sport did mar Wide-jaw'd Boreas out his cheeks doth stretch And from his lungs a long-breath'd blast doth fetch Which beating full upon the teeming sails Makes them miscarry so the journey fails Lank-bellied Canvas now no longer could Help for to waft them where the Captain would When men despair the next means seems the best They throw her reins so wish the voyage blest The Ship being Master Pilot to her self Had almost run them all upon a shelf A little embrio of a Ship that play'd By the Dams-side the Cock-boat was fast lay'd Fear wings their hands and arms their sinews stout With much ado at length they pull'd it out Which drawing up they laid it in the breast Of her big mother there to lye at rest Just like the Possive when she danger spies Her young in belly laps and ' way she flies But lest her wieldy body which yet safe did ride Or moves should stick they undergird her side At their wits ends and almost of their lives They do unplume the Ship and on she drives Daring not trust her winged as before Once they did trust her but will trust no more The churlish winds and now the grumbling waves They do petition and their mercy craves Their saileless Ship now helpt with wind and tide More slow yet with more jolting trots doth ride Like pamper'd steeds now great curvets doth take Yet no great riddance in their journey make Now you might see a billow stooping low To take its burthen on its back below Which straight with swift career she lifts on high With such a noise as if 't would storm the sky The ancient Gyants once a war would wage With God ' gainst whom a Babel in their rage They rais'd if they this way had found By Sea their war they 'd manag'd none on ground But soon the billow with Ship both fall down Like horse and rider tumbling shake the ground Now you would think in some deep pit they lay And that they ne're again should see the day Or that the watry walls whose tops past sight Would have confin'd them to eternal night Thus in their swimming prison up they 're tost Then down so in a wood of waves they 're lost Thus lay the Ship a tipling night and day Up Neptune's Nectar reeling every way Both sides and stern and keel do drink amain And out by pumps they spew it up again The Mariners to know each others minds With shouts do mingle voices with the winds Now under deck now up again they call Now for this thing and then for that they bawl Such great confusions in their voices seem That th' Ship a Babel one would truly deem At length by signs they do at once agree T' unlade the Ship of all its trumpery Out fly the Trunks the Chests the Feather-beds The Bolsters Pillows where they laid their heads Though they had boxes stust with massie Gold Or Pearls or Diamonds out they must be roll'd Sweet life sweet life nothing is thought too brave For to redeem thee from a loathed grave Thus like a scatter'd troop that 's put to flight They throw down all to make themselves more light Down falls the Musket ' way the Pike is twirld Off goes the Scabbard ' way the Sword is hurl'd Here flies their Hats there their shoos do lie Nothing they care or fear but lest they die Or like a bird with prey when in a fright Le ts fall the prey and takes her self to flight The Ship far lighter than she was before For one curvet she now doth take a score To the winds whistling she doth dance apace Till th' briny sweats run down her wooden face Yet for all this the Ship a burden feels That hung as clogs about her nimble heels The heedful Captain this observing well That her stretcht-side with burden yet did swell Gave in command that all the Tackling should Be thrown o're board to swim where e're it would The wire-sinew'd Mariners distrest with hands Hard'ned to steel obey their Roy's commands This anchor some and that do others heave And all their anchors in the Sea they leave Some on the Tarry-cables hands do fasten And through the Port-holes do with speed them hasten One cuts the Tackling others th' Masts do mow And them with sail-yards in the Sea they throw Fourteen long tedious nights as many days Nor Sun nor Stars did yield them any rays Black reaking smokes from th' boiling Seas did rise Which the bright Heavens with sad fables dyes Those damping vapors that in fleeces flew Made the skies flaming tapers burn but blew Just as where scalding liquors fume l 've been Candles go out and nothing can be seen In this black dungeon hark the Pris'ners cry Who now on heaps and now asunder lye As the Ship tost them some like statues stand As pale as those carv'd by the Artists hand Others with drooping heads and arms a crost Bewail their Gold and Silver they have lost Fool that I was I could not be content To stay at home with that which God had sent Others their rashness that they dar'd to venture Their lives with Seas thus in
each chink or cranny you had best Yet that is vain through brazen walls they 'l pass As easie as a Sun-beam through a glass Thus when proud Pharoah scorn'd his sail to strike To th' Crown of Heaven proudly did dislike To own an equal God his warrant gave To bring th' Egyptians first-born to the grave In th' dead or night when all their doors were fast Fast lockt and bolted through his Angel's past Stifles them round no bars bolts doors could keep The infant safe in th' mothers arms asleep Thus when sweet slumber seiz'd the pris'ners eyes Whilst Peter 'twixt two Soldiers fleeping lies Closely confin'd within close prison walls Angels whip in and up the pris'ner calls Opens the doors sets free the shackled man Thus walls doors windows penetrate they can Amazing Natures somewhere you exist Now here now there yea where so e're you list Yet in no place no circumscribing air Can fit you with a garb that you can wear Your spungy parts sometimes so puff and swell That what wo'ld shroud a mountain can't you well Again you bend and fold up every joint Into the compass of a Needles point Like to the candle beams that can emit Yet can again themselves so closely croud That in dark lanthorn they themselves can shrowd Or like a silken robe we can command Into the hollow of a Ladies hand Yet long and wide enough to cover o're The body of that she I nam'd before Or take a shadow from another thing The glove that 〈…〉 â—â—ine hand can pass my ring Witness the various Spectres that have been The sport and maygame of the Magick sin Sometimes they flirt and caper here and there In shapes of flies about the flexile air Then shifting coats they make a Mouses skin The utmost confines of their room within Dislodging thence the next-made randevow Is in a figur'd Hog a wanton Goat or Cow Or else that spirit within a Fly contract Can the dimension of Giant act And turn a weavers-beam about the sky As nimbly as it did the wings of th' fly Speak Holy Pen-man how many spirits can Crowd in the body of one living man More than six thousand as his name doth tell Being called Legion that sum's known full well Thus they contract and squeeze themselves together Thus they dilate and spread I know not whither Now for self-motion to them propriate My winged quill doth fly to explicate Source of all action and the genuine spring Of motion lodg'd in th' center of each thing Matter 's too dull too lumpish for to raise It self or stir When I with wonder gaze On th' foaming Planets that do swiftly fly Prancing their rounds on th' pavement of the sky My thoughts do rise and inly ask my mind Whence is that motion that outstrips the wind When I a stone mountain or rock behold I find them to all motion stark and cold Yet have they limbs as able for to move As Luna Mars or else triumphant Jove Whence should it come surely it cannot be That from themselves comes that ability Then from some other 't must but tell what is' t Not other matter that h 'as little list To move as they what then may we it call What is the spring or the original Of all this swiftness sure it was some sp'rite That put this world first in this moving plight Casting mine eye now downward I behold Mine animate flesh strange motions t' infold Whence so spontaneously have I the skill To move my flexile members where I will Whence move my sinews muscles I command My joints to bend and then again to stand Is' t from my spirits that in purple-flood Now ebbs now flows in them as they think good But what moves them is it from Chance or is' t From deep consults Or tell me do they wist What they are doing By Chance fain I 'de know Why only when I need them they do flow Is chance so constant can it their forces bend And stedily direct to th' thing I intend The Clock may well count th' hours of the day But can I think that sturdy iron may Direct it self or else by chance may strike This hour one next two our case is like When I believe I run when I do set That water dries and the fire it is wet That with mine eyes I hear or with my Toes 〈◊〉 see and that my taste lies in my nose Then I 'le conceive that less than a sp'rite can Point out the motion that I see in man But how can that which is without extension As spirits are perform the thing I mention Having no parts but such are penetrable How to unite with matter are they able How can they thrust or force dull matter on And yet themselves want parts to fasten ' pon The parts they move who can then this avouch That this move that yet neither of them touch Answer me this and I will that What sight So pierceth that sees matter to unite With matter how do they cleave together That hammers chissels axes cannot sever How do they fasten is' t by certain glew But that hath parts What then why fain I knew Is' t from their rest or stillness as they lie Why doth not then each stick or stone fast tye It self to th' ground when there it 's cast Would not all things incrustate hard at last Should not we need a Chissel for to pick Up what with ease we take be 't stone or stick Yet this we know that parts of bodies bind And tye themselves most fast and yet our mind Spies not the manner how what if then Union of sp'rits to body's hard to men Oh! my brains sweat some gentle breathing wind Of finer fancies chear up a tir'd mind Pollish this rug'd discourse make it so bright That it may sparkle in the darkest night I know no motion but from sp'rits arise And mostly from their presence lives or dies The wheels of Heav'n now working we 'd seen stand If not been turn'd first by th' Almighty's hand What is' t that hoists the feather'd sails of birds And nimbly wasts them through the airy floods What rudder turns those Pinnaces around Steers them now upwards then slopes to the ground What can it be that sports and plays within The center of the scaly peoples skin With bended tails when they do skip above Their glassie ceilings that they mostly love The Fox Horse Hare and Greyhound see them run Observe their jerks how they proceed and turn Tell me if sluggish matter could produce Such pretty freaks or any purple sluce Of blood that opens and now shuts again Could make these machins post the way amain O're hedg and ditch bushes of briar and thorn And mend their pace by switch or wind of horn Tell me in July it doth fiercely freez I will believe 't as soon as I can these Yet more prodigious motions I can tell Acted by sp'rits on matter sprung from Hell A cloud is seen by many to