are our bodies but the food of worms Our gaudy Attires but nourishment for Moths Our stately pyled Houses but stones and morter Our most precious Jewels but the excrements of an enraged Sea which borrow their worth from our weak fancy and all our honours but the golden Masks and Weather-cocks of inconstancy O unfortunate Worldling Where then are thy thoughts fixed What is here in the world that can deserve thy love Behold the whole Fabrick of the Creation and see what thou canst meet with worth thy affection Canst thou then embarque thy self among such trecherous Syrens Seest thou not that thy riches friends reputation companions and all will at last forsake thee as a Butterfly which escapes the hand of a childe Whereat then aims thy strong Ambition What means thy burning Avarice Thy profuse Ryot What will one day become of thy wretched profit thy fading pleasures Will not all vanish into fancy and a body of smoak and nothing avail thee when thy mouth shall be stopt with eternal silence Be not then so bad a Merchant as to sell things eternal for temporal It is for silly flies to gad only in the Sun-shine of this world This Enchantress which thou so much admirest and enjoyest after thy own lusts will at last prove but a very bad bargain full of vanity deception and sorrow Ah! That thou shouldest love poyson and embrace death That we should seek our own ruine and confusion Doth the world tempt thee to honour Oh despise it in humility If to Riches O scorn it in contentment And O my Soul Let not the wings of thy love to God be entangled with the bird-lime of temporal things God hath espoused thee a chaste Virgin to himself Let not those Love-tokens which he hath sent to engage thy Affections more strongly to himself seduce thy heart from him who except he may have the choicest will admit of none of thy love Temporal Goods cannot content the Soul and therefore deserve not our Love ALl the happiness and felicity of man in this world is a Dream it comes on we know not how and when it vanisheth we cannot so much as discern whether it is gone Yea How do all the possessions thereof pass away in an unperceived motion When we suppose them fast lock'd in our arms they creep from us in a mist or smoak which silently steals out at the chimnies top after it hath fouled and smutted it within Our life is but like the nest of some silly Bird whose best composure and materials are straw and dust and as soon doth the stately Palaces and Courts of the greatest Princes decay as the poor resting place of a Swallow comes dropping down at the approach of Winter What alas shall I say since wheresoever we reflect our eyes we shall finde cause sufficient to dissolve them into Tears If we look up to heaven while we behold our Country aloof we cannot but consider our selves in banishment If on earth it is but the upbraiding remembrance of our grave and how proudly soever we trample it under our feet at present it makes full account to have the disposure of our heads yea the greatest Emperours after death are found sitting in Vaults under earth in silence and mournful Majesty Neither is there any thing when all other Beauty Honours and happiness proves brittle and inconstant which remains to yeild us comfort but the benefit we receive from the few hours we spend in Prayer Meditation and the Exercises of a pious life Now now is the time that in one little part of an hour we may obtain pardon here which all Eternity shall not hereafter Now is the time that in one short day we may have more debts so given us then in all the years and times to come Here may we so lament for sins committed as to escape everlasting punishment Here 's nothing but the fearful cracks of ruines every where the dreadful roaring of storms and tempests on every side Our house still threatens its fall and we are with S. Stephen in the midst of a violent shower of stones on every hand and shall we not think of retyring our selves to our heavenly Countrey Shall we not willingly then leave the house of our Pilgrimage here for those glorious Mansions above O happy Countrey O blessed Mansions which are provided for us in our Fathers house But O Eternity Eternity How little do we think on thee Or strive to avoid those endless miseries and those perpetual nights of horrour and sadness which custome in sinning will assuredly bring upon us Alas What more fond then for a little earthly Beauty for Riches and for the love of this world to lose heaven and procure eternal wretchedness Alas How do all the sweet waters of our pleasures at last run hastily into a Sea of sorrows and bitterness How doth sadness dive into the bottom of the Soul when delights tickle us in the outside of the skin How like a bunch of Grapes saith S. Bernard are the Worldlings joys whose juyce is pressed out How full of disquietness are they Their fulness at best being seasoned with shame and repentance Oh! How do they like abortives die in the birth yea too often prove the executioners of the owners or leave us like a poor Pilgrim dispoiled by thieves We finde our Saviour disswading his Disciples from Ambition Matth. 20.20 and to call Riches thorns as bearing fair flowers but the fruit very bad yea serves as a shelter for Vipers and serpents Yet oh insatiable Avarice Whither dost thou transport our manners and understanding Ah! the forgetfulness of our condition Alas What are we Whence came we Was it not a few years since we were born naked creeping on the earth and having a mouth open to cries and hunger and do we think we have nothing except we possess all things Alas Our misery lies in our life we die when we do not die In our last end is all our happiness which will transport us from earth to heaven from Aegypt to Canaan if so be we make it our care to avoid as well the affections as the presence of all the creatures of this world and unite our selves to God by the practise of vertues which will serve as so many steps to glory Nor is there any other way to take away the sting of death or make our life comfortable Our honour will lie in the dust and sleep in a Bed of earth Our Riches will not deliver us in the day of wrath what if thou leave them behind to procure a few mourning weeds to attend thy Herse or erect some glorious Monument to thy memory yet will they at last rather afflict then relieve thee at the hour of thy passage Oh but thou wilt say thy friends shall help thee Alas All that they can do is but to attend thee to thy last resting place and to shed some friendly perchance feigned Tears for leaving them behinde thee Such miserable comforters are all things
enquire to pray and yet not finde the light of thy presence But O Lord Leave not this poor Soul of mine but make it to understand the unmeasurableness of thy Bounties and Mercy Oh for that day when this knowledge of mine now childish and darksome shall be turned into a full and clear Vision O happy darkness if thus to become lightsome The more hidden thou art now blessed Saviour the more glorious wilt thou be then Ah that my heavie thoughts had the wings of an Angel to soar aloft amongst those celestial Quires Me-thinks I see when thou shalt be pleas'd to remove the skreen of my mortal body which now detains me from thy presence and interrupts the view of thy glory how nothing will be able to hinder the eagerness of my Soul from flying to thee Me-thinks I see Eternity too short to enjoy thee Surely there 's no possibility of pleasure without thee no faculty of Soul to wish or think any thing but thee yea my Soul would more willingly wain into nothing then part with thee Thee my only incomprehensible and Eternal All my dear dearest Lord and God! Adieu then those charming warbles of a fleeting and deceitful world O merciful Father Behold my prodigal Soul which returns unto thee Receive me as a mercenary servant if thou wilt not receive me as a Son for I resolve no longer now to run after the salt waters of worldly pleasures and contentments The light of thy countenance is far better then life it self being able to turn the shaddows of death into life and the midnight of the sharpest adversities into the noon-tide of joy and chearfulness Oh how great is the clemency of God to hide from us the greatest part of things which will befal us in the world The knowledge whereof would continually overwhelm our wretched life with sadness and affrightment and give us no leave to breathe among the delicious Objects of the earth Had many great and eminent persons mounted on the highest degree of honour but seen how they were still falling into endless Abysses or beheld the change of their Fortune and the bloody ends of their life it is impossible but the joys of their Tryumphs would have been moistned with Tears and through a perpetual fear of inevitable necessity they would have lost all the moments of their felicity And did the poor and seemingly forsaken Soul thorowly at once apprehend the severe anger of an omnipotent God what alas would it do when it sees it self menaced by the hideous and affrightful terrors and mischiefs of Satan What shall the poor heart do when God is pleas'd to write bitter things against it when he shall scare it with dreams and terrifie it with Visions Surely not pains imprisonments poverty or death it self can be more troublesome to it Whereas the comforts of a quiet conscience becalmed with the gracious in-comes of Gods gracious presence and enlightned with his glorious Beams which expel the darkness and ignorance of our cursed Nature as are so many threads of gold which involve us here below in precious repose and a certain expectation of beatitude until at last we finde wings to take our flight to the City of Peace and Refuge promised unto us by that mouth which never erred and whose Laws are established upon foundations stronger then the pillars of heaven and earth and where we shall receive the excellent Promises and clearest revelations of Eternity The Soul admires the infinite Riches of her Saviours Love in taking Humane Nature upon him WIth what admiration is not the heart of man seized on when he entereth into the great Abysses which are discovered in our Redemption and when he seeth Jesus a Saviour to reveal unto us the secrets and wisdome of heaven by his blessed Incarnation For what saw he in our Nature but a brutish body and a Soul all covered over with crimes and wholly drenched in remediless miseries Or what could he set before him but a miserable ungracious wretch cast forth upon the face of the Earth wallowing in uncleanness abandoned to all sorts of scorns and injuries And yet behold how the Prince of Glory looking on us with the eyes of his mercy taketh us washeth cloatheth adorneth and tyeth us to himself by a hand of infinite Love He laid aside the beautiful Angels and came upon earth to seek this lost creature though a Foe to his Honour and injurious to his Glory See O my Soul How that God far beyond all other created Essences hath been so liberal as to bestow himself on thee He bowed the Heaven and came down rendering his sacred Person subject to all the misery of humanity to bruises to tearings to shatters to violences oppositions and tyrannies and all to accomplish a King of sorrow calamity and scorn He laid aside all the Prerogatives of his most perfect Soul exposing it to labours to tears and griefs to those stupendious Throws in the Garden which made him cry out in those expressive words My God! My God! To what a point hast thou let me to be brought and in the end to be commended even to death it self How alas didst thou abandon thy body to heat to cold to weakness to hunger to thirst to travel to weariness to fear to sadness of Soul and death it self What was it but Love and Love alone that brought down God from heaven to be incarnate in the womb of a Virgin and to suffer all the hardships not sinful to which humane Nature is subject So that thou art not able to conceive the multitude and greatness nor any way comprehend the worth of his mercies And what then canst thou say but only lie gasping with admiration of so vast so unknown a goodness and sigh out the rest in the Center of thy heart Good God What sublimate is made in the Limbeck of Love What attractive was there in Humane Nature to draw thee from the highest part of the heavens to its love Thou out of thy goodness wouldst not lose him who through his own weakness delighteth to lose himself O miracle That humane Nature should be thus tyed to the Divine That glory should be separated from the estate and condition of glory yeilding his Soul up as a prey to sadness O dear Saviour Thou stretchest out thy hand to him who turns his back to thee Man flyeth as a Fugitive and thou pursuest him even to the shaddow of Death What may we say more of so profuse a Bounty Oh how thou courtest sinful flesh Being not content to pardon his crimes but even through thy own death to procure him a Kingdom All the ancient Patriarchs who were persecuted in times past and all the glorious Martyrs who since our Saviour have endured such torments made but a tryal of his Dolours Impatient souls then as we are Can we expect a greater motive to suffering then to have our Saviour for an example Who then will complain Or who is the man who cannot bear a
phantastick shadows which will at last pay me with nothing but grief shall I flatter my self with the specious hopes of the world which like Dreams of a delicious Fountain never quench the Thirst Ah much rather let me make an Eternal divorce from all those frivolous worldly hopes and look on Jesus as the Pole-star alwaies unmovable let me put my self between the arms of hope and amidst all disturbances of mind pass the veil and enter the Tabernacle of the Sanctuary whereinto he hath entered for our salvation Behold how the Soul is troubled as if through some melancholly fit she were fallen into an Abyss from which issue forth such an infinite quantity of evil vapours as cause night in the most cheerfull brightness and make the most pleasing Beauties to be beheld with affrightment The greatest punishment which can befall a sad and dolorous Soul in this world consisting in being suspended from the presence and sight of God And as it naturally desireth to rejoyn it selfe unto God and the least hinderance it feels is most irksome unto it so how doth it mourn to be deprived of so infinite a comfort which it alone depends on and to see it self bereaved of so great a happiness even by its own fault which is the Needle of the Dial which sheweth how our Souls circumvolve times and the hours of the day And well may she complain of the great distance between her and so infinite a bounty seeing the holy Scripture speaking of Love Gen. 34.3 saies It causeth one soul to claspe into another And truly did we but once begin to dislike the world and heartily to love Jesus Christ we should almost every moment think upon him all the most pleasing Objects of the world would seem mixed with Gall and Wormwood We should seek for our Saviour in all Creatures we should languish after him All that beareth his Name and memory will be delightful to him We shall speak of him in all companies desire to have him honoured esteemed and acknowledged by all the world our solitude would be in Jesus our discourse of Jesus Jesus will be in our watchings and in our sleep in our affairs and Recreations And Oh! how unwilling will be to lose sight of him though but for a little time Did we but once wipe those eyes surcharged with earthly Beauties and covered with a thick cloud of the worlds vanities how soon should we fix them upon the infinite love mercy and goodness of God How cheerfully vvould our Souls be carried with full flight into the bosome of our Saviour and be there held in a sweet Circle of ravishing contemplations our hearts would be as flaming Lamps which perpetually burn before the Sanctuary of the living God we should have but one main desire in the vvorld which is God himself all creatures vvhich use to be the Objects of our contentments will never more be the subject of our fears Neither should we like silly worms turn against God when he permitteth any thing to happen contrary to our liking we would frame unto our selves a life simple and free from all affectations we vvould learn to endure any slight oppositions vvith great tranquility vve vvould cast avvay our vvantonness our pleasures and petty peevishness neither vvould vve here think our selves immortal seeing that every moment vvhich is novv in our hands vve must divide vvith death and the Sun vvhich to day you have seen to rise out of his couch may before his setting see you in your Tomb. Oh horrour then to see men enraged with that avarice which sticks to their bones as doth their Marrow and shall sleep with them in their Grave to see them pride themselves in their Garments which are the food of Mothes to see them glittering with precious Stones which are the excrements of the Sea and Land to see them carrried in Coaches and on Horses which are the Notes of their poverty or to see them glory in Titles which are but imaginary Felicities Deceitful Beauties of the world then where are ye Ah true Turrets of Fairies which are onely in conceit where shall your allurements prevail from henceforth to what calamity do you reserve a wretched life deprived of strength and vigour to resist you and if it have any feeling it is onely of misery How few alas are your selicities in this world where your best lights have its shadows all fruit its vvorm and every Beauty fails not to have its embracements And vvhere are ye also ye admirers of the fortunes of Glass that happen to the vvicked where are these adorers of the Colossu's and heaps of dirt that appear by the help of false gildings and vvhich are immediately reduced to dust Hovv much better had ye been to have contemplated in that great School of Nature vvhere God speaketh to us and teacheth us lessons through the veil of his Creatures how happie had ye been had ye looked upon these delights below as men blind whereby ye would the better have looked up to heaven and into your selves that ye had heard of the worlds vanities as being deaf and no waies ravisht by them as discoursing of them and yet no way concerned Thus should he have been as men in part translated to Heaven and here become earthly Angels For Oh! how little doth the pomp of the world seem to that Soul who every day drowns part of his life in Tears and through long solitude hath purged it selfe from the impurities of the Earth Oh how contemptible do all those Beauties of dust and fortunes of wind seem to that heart which having every day dilated it self in the greatnesses of God renders himself capable with the visits and commerce with Heaven It is time to close the Earth when God opens Heaven and to carry our heart where he is since all our Riches are in him What alas have we to do like Moles to dig the Earth and therein to hide our Treasure surely he deserves to be everlasting poor who cannot be content with a God so rich as he is Canst thou love a little shining Earth Canst thou love a walking piece of Clay before that God that Christ that Glory which is unmeasurably lovely Canst thou love the World thy Friends thy Kindred whose love cannot advantage thee whose weeping cannot ease thee in the time of thy trouble and canst thou not love thy Saviour vvhose Tears and Blood have a healing virtue and are like Balsome and waters of life to thy fainting heart Oh my Soul what incomprehensible love is here If love deserve and should procure love oughtest thou not here to poure out all the store of thy affections shall he not be first served shall he not have the strength of thy love who parted vvith strength and life in love to thee Oh that thy love were more Oh that thy affections were a thousand times greater Alas vvhat vvantest thou to provoke thy love is not here a Sea of love before thee little dost thou
affliction being but the chafing of thewax whereby he means to seal us nearer to himself and the spots of our infirmities but the Letters wherein to write his Name He makes his servants more eminent in their sufferings then actions yea makes them remarkable with the Apostle 2 Cor. 6.4 5. In much Patience in Afflictions in Necessities in Distresses in Stripes in Imprisonments c. And as in worldly Amities it is not enough to have affections languours and lip complements without some better effects so the Souls love consisteth not in slight affectations or idle Devotion She knows that whosoever doth truly love must serve Jesus whose will must be executed his Cross carried and our selves wholly transformed into him by imitation of his Example She looks no more upon a withered and rotten Gourd upon the seducements and flatteries of a most odious and decayed Prostitute But Heaven is still in her Eye where wealth without want delight without distaste and joy without sorrow like undefiled and uncorruptible Virgins sit cloathed and crowned with Glory A devout Soul resembles those Rivers which run under the Earth It steals from the eyes of the world to seek for the eyes of God It studies solitude and retirement and is wholly shut up within it self Whence it often happens that those of whom we speak least on Earth are the best known in Heaven and while the world thinks they lie upon Thornes their Beds are made of Roses Yea God usually makes Ladders and Footstools of our Tribulations to lead us unto Heaven Happy then is that life which hath no eyes for carnal Beauties it being a shame for us still to tread on Flowers and think to attain Heaven without being acquainted with the troubles of Earth to be embarqued in the great Ship of Christianity and not sometimes to cast our eyes on the Rocks but like Jonah and the outcasts from Gods Presence to sleep securely under the Hatches And for ever blessed is that life which is no way dazeled with the sun-shine of worldly vanities How freely doth it taste the comforts of Heaven How doth it forsake the painted pieces of the world what pleasures will it one day take in this one Pleasure what joy is it to derive all our Joys from this one Fountain Why say we not then with S. Austin O Fountain of Life when shall we come to thy Delights and eternall sweetness I sigh here on Earth holy Hierusaleus in a dry Land O dear City with weeping eyes we behold thee afar off Tell me then if thou canst O fond worldling what is it that thou so strangely sets thy thoughts on What alas is it that thou so passionately seekest Wilt thou have Honours who hath more then God to whom so many States Kingdoms and Empires are but a drop of dew Hast thou high thoughts with thy self who more high then thy Saviour who makes Heaven to bow under the shadow of his Majesty who sits upon Thrones and shall at last come with his Angels to judge the World Oh but thou wouldst have power in thy hands Alas who more great then this Judge who makes the Thunder to roar the Lightning to fly the Rocks to rent the Earth to quake the Elements to melt there being neither Place Time nor Power which can deliver any out of his hands If wisdome affect thee who more wise then that God who hath the Riches of Eternal wisdom who seeth all within himself and to whom all things past present and to come are at one instant represented But it may be O wavering Soul thou art wearied with the cares griefs vexations and anxieties of the world If so where canst thou find repose out of God Hath he not all the contentments for the Soul and body But thou saist again thou art no body without Pleasures yea the desires of thy heart are unsatisfied without them And is there not a fulness of joy in thy dear Saviour Is he not an abundance which never fails a sweetness which never corrupteth a Feast which never consumes Is he not a perpetual Treasury of Comforts and an unexhaustible fountain of all contentments Methinks oh unsatisfied Soul I hear thee yet further to complain thou wantest Riches And dost thou think to receive them anyway but from him who possesseth all He is the Beauty of fields the lustre of Flowers the pleasantness of Fruits the wealth of Minerals and the Magazin of total Nature Cannot he whose care it is every year to make Garments all besprinkled over with the pearls of so many Meadow flowers satiate thy hungry desires Surely would we but thus by continual familiarity adore that most pure Spirit which thus enlivens us and disperseth it self throughout the whole world we should not look upon the Sun but break out into desire for that eternal Light wherein there is neither blemish nor darkness We should not behold the Sea but admire the secret depths of the Judgements of God We should not cast our eyes upon the Fields but in so many sorts of Hearbs and Flowers different in colour and quality behold the beautiful eyes of him that hath ordained them neither should we hear a Bird to sing but we will conceit it to speak the love of our Maker The Soul being re-advanced on the wings of Faith sends up her choicest Affections towards Heaven THose that are throughly wounded with heavenly love Cant. 3.1 2 3. are sending out their sighs and groans their thoughts and tears to seek out the welbeloved of their Souls No return nor Letter pleaseth them wherein the Name of Jesus is not comprised They pretend not any more to the Greatness and pleasures of the world after their former affliction but throw themselves between the arms of the Cross that they may there find those of their Saviour daily dissolving themselves into Tears and meeting no comfort but in the wounds of their Saviour and a heavenly Retirement And O how great is the comfort in seeking the remedies of our wounds in the Mercies of an infinite God! who being in his Nature most wise and bountiful hath not so given man over as a prey to grief and calamities but hath withal reserved a life of spirits to himself whereby to please and adore him He wipes the eyes of those that are his so many times drenched in Tears and makes them see through their greatest sufferings a glory and happiness not imaginable which expects their Soul in another life Ah welcome welcome that affliction which is raised from our Saviours Love Happy is that chastisment which comes from so fatherly a hand What though I smart though I bleed under the stripes of my heavenly Father sure there cannot be so much pain in them as comfort in the love of him that layes them on Did he not use to chastise every one whom he doth receive Heb. 12.6 8. Alas I might suspect my self But O repining Soul must thou alwayes feed upon dainties will not the Crums which fall from
a gross indiscretion I shall shew you the Medeas we often Court under the Story of One who had almost lost his Wits as well as Reputation through the violent pursuit of a Lady he much adored who finding no other slight or stratagem to vanquish the importunate extravagancies of this passionate Lover shewed him her Neck and uncovered her Bosome all gnawn and eaten with a maligne Cancer Behold fond Lover said she what thou so eagerly Courtest and so instantly made the Cancer of her body to cure the Cancer of his minde vitae Patrum Occid l. 6. Is it not a shame to entertain such worldly Amities and petty Loves only to please flesh and blood and which are no sooner disliked by the Eye but distasted by the heart We read of some who have fought with it on Thorns Hair-clothes and other austerities and we finde mention of One who being bound to a Bed of Roses with silken Cords to resigne himself to the love of a Courtezan spit out his Tongue in her Face Some have also asswaged their Passion by flames Others have quenched the heat of their desires in snows Others by living in rocks and solitary wildernesses as if nothing were so invincible and hardly attain'd as this Vertue of Chastity Nothing so difficult as to see all the follies of entranced Lovers But the chiefest way amongst many humane Industries which tend to the curing of Love it being to no end to hold long Discourses and to appoint many Meditations to a sharp Fever which is full of ravings and furious symptomes is to owe all our health this way to the fear of God to Prayer Fasting and Devotion which is far better then all other inventions Make use also often of the memory of death Set an assiduous watch over thy eyes ears heart and senses Avoid anger since anger and love work upon one subject Absent your self from that Presence which is the nourishment of your Flames Those Comets which are said to be fed by the vapours of the Earth are no longer maintained then nourishment is afforded and that Love which burns and shines like a false Star in our heart will soon go out if you refuse sustenance from the face you admire and the company which entertains you in an enchanted Palace full of chains and charms Withdraw your self then betime from this captivity gain the Haven before the storm surprize you for if you be once engaged there is neither Arm nor Oar can bring you safe Let us enter seriously into our selves and daylie consider what passeth there cutting off this Passion which raiseth such a Storm within us Let us ever keep a vigilant Guard lest Satan betray us and our lusts like expert Enemies who politiquely strengthen themselves with all advantages make head against us And lastly Let us throw out this Jesabel who with her Natural cruelty hath slain so many Innocents ruined so many Cities disturbed States and let us come out of that servitude in which like a Mill-wheel we labour much and get little and which hath always folly for guide Poverty for Dowry and Misery for recompence That Outward Ornaments should not invite our Love HE that loves the World and the Glories thereof entertains a thousand businesses and every business hath a world of employments and those so multiplied by variety of circumstances as that it is troublesome to understand them and much more to encounter with them whereas sweet are the sleeps of those who prefer heaven before earth and Chastity and Temperance before the wantonness and impurities of a debauched conversation Why alas then should we ruine our certainties in the fruitless expectation of vanity and shaddows What slender footing will these accessory commodities have when death deformity poverty contempt and sickness are at our heels Let us timely consider then how many boxes full of Pills the fairest Beauties have at home in their Chests to take when the Rheum and other infirmities assail them Since God gives us leave to dispose of our dislodging from these fading Tabernacles shall we not prepare our selves unto it O let us seasonably bid farewel to our company and let us shake off those violent Hold-fasts which estrange us from our future happiness As those eyes seldom burn with Lust which are bedewed with Tears so those who prefer the light of God's presence before all corporal Beauty do easily perceive how little it is to be regarded They will not exchange the glorious Sun for the light of a candle Here they can have no Lightning without the Thunder that makes it seems more dreadful then delightful and therefore will prefer a silent night before a tempestuous day and the everlasting views of the face of God before the false Lights of the world The light of the Sun indeed lighteth all the world but how useless will it be when Jesus who is the true light of the world shall appear in the glory of heaven The Rose looks fair indeed but is not the Beauty faded and the sweetness expired oftentimes before the scars in gathering of it be healed The honey seems pleasant to the taste but alas Who would have it with so many smarting stings Thou then that art taken with a pleasing smile thou whom a sigh a glance or tears beguil oh turn thine eyes aside Forbear to Sayl in so dangerous a Tyde lest Syrens assail or shipwrack attend thee few attaining their desired harbour with such a wind of vanity all thy labour and rowing in so leaking and weather-beaten a Vessel will prove at last but as a handful of waters to a man that is drowning which will help rather to destroy then save him Alas What is the Beauty that thou so admirest When the night comes it is nothing to thee and while thou hast gazed on it Hath it not withered away Canst thou not even shut thy eyes and fancy all into darkness or deformity Or will not a few leprous spots or malignant ulcers soon divert thy affections and make the Idol of thy Love to become the sad spectacle of thy distaste Suppose that thou saw'st that beautiful Carcass lying on a Bier carrying to be buried or rotting in a grave the skul digged up and the bones scattered where will be thy lovely object Canst thou then love a skin full of dirt Or didst thou but behold thy beautiful Dalilah thy lovely Mistris on a dying Bed panting schrieching groaning turning from one side to another and panting for breath her eyes gastfully rolling her lips fading her hands trembling her mouth distorted through violent Convulsions those White and Reds so much admired turn'd into a black swarthiness and her whole body declining into clay Ah tell me now what thou thinkest Canst thou now sweetly embrace it or take any pleasure in it O my Soul then Withdraw thy thoughts from the fading Beauties of the world Let not the shaddow but the Sun direct thee Labour to fix thy eyes upon the only true and lovely object
thou canst think on here below When all things leave thee the love of God and a good Conscience will be thy familiar friends and which must ever attend thee That Balmof Gilead which must chear thee and that Palm of Peace which must at last crown thee And truly we have daylie need of God and not of man to help us One cries out here Wretch that I am who will help me out of misery Where shall I finde Tears enow to save me Another cries out What shall I do Must I needs leave my only Father my dear Husband my loving Brother my sweet and only Childe Oh let me die Some good body or other make an end of me The black clouds of sorrow somtimes so sadly overshadow us as that with Jacob we rend our clothes and will needs go down with sorrow to our Grave We often cry out What for ever In aeternum valedicere What to part for ever To forsake the world and all our friends what more troublesome What To take this young betrothed this poor Maid this intended Husband What To lay hold on one so well beloved in the flower of his age so fresh so flourishing so full of Honour and Prosperity O cruel and malicious Death What Hast thou Ears of Brass and Diamonds and wilt not hear our cries Alas What do I here I am but a living death and an unprofitable burden to the earth Why hadst thou not rather taken away this Begger that Cripple who hath not wherewith to live Ah Death Now shoot the utmost of thy Darts Thus do our humane respects too often seem to withstand the Divine Providence But oh thou that art thus unwilling to part with a Dunghil an earthly Cottage to enjoy a life of perpetual Beauty and felicity What alas may we think of thee That Heaven should open it self to thee and thou wilt neither embrace it nor open thy heart to love him that offers it Alas O Soul many times ungrateful and disloyal what wilt thou answer for so great a neglect when God shall call thee to an account Ah! If we love any thing in the world let us love it for life eternal The joys of heaven are without example Oh that we might then know our names to be written in the book of Life Oh how should we finde our Spirits ravished with those beautiful Ideas of glory Where can we more fitly commend our selves then unto so vast a bosom of Compassion as shall set a period to all the miseries of this sinful life To God I say who is an endless Ocean and boundless Sea of mercy How can we better fix our thoughts then on our crucified Saviour and in his countenance to read the lively characters of that infinite love he bears us the remembrance of death it self being sweet to those who lead their life so as to meet him comfortably as their Judge at the last day It will be no more to him to die then is one nights sweet repose on a bed of Roses Who can but behold the spirit of Jesus amongst those great Convulsions of the world moving round about the Cross in the midst of those bloody dolours insolent cries and insupportable blasphemies O behold and see him there as in a Sanctuary bleeding weeping and praying yea mingling his prayers with his tears and blood and at last to die unmoveably upon the Throne of his patience Oh madness of men That spend all their time encrease their account and lose so many fair opportunities when they might have gotten heaven for a tear a sigh or a groan from a penitent heart for the attaining of that which not only proves their eternal ruine hereafter but occasions their miserable vexation here O worldlings Thus to deceive your selves Who shall weep over you since you know not how to lament and bewail your selves Why alas are you so careful and tender of your bodies yet daylie entangle your poor souls in a thousand vanities a thousand Courtships and a thousand worldly loves which defile you and must one day be discharged at a dear rate Miserable wretches How will you then cry out what have we done Once had we time to have wrought out our salvation O precious time but these golden days are past And have we thus miserably undone our selves Come Rocks and fall upon us Come ye Furies and tear us until we moulder into nothing Sad creatures then as we are to procrastinate and put off our Repentance Since the Sun which goes so many miles in a minute and the Stars in the Firmament which go many more make not so much speed as our body hastens to the Grave The devouring sword the consuming fire the winds from the Wilderness the Diseases of the Body and all that afflicted holy Job are still at our heels what daylie reports do we hear Such a man is slain another is drowned a third breaks his neck this man died eating that man playing another sleeping this by accident that by his own hands Oh how great an Elephant and yet how small a Mouse can destroy us a pin a comb a hair pulled out hath gangren'd Nay our joy our mirth and laughter our shame and blushing may ruine us and in the very flower of our youth and blossome of our age we may be untimely nipt and sent down into the dust And alas If God but a little withdraw our breath vain is the power of art vain is the Physitians skill vain and fruitless are the sighs and tears of thy friends yea vain and helpless are the wishes of all our kinsfolk Here sits one weeping there another lamenting yet all to no purpose Neither is it Beauty or the Damask skin that can help us when we feel the slow pace of our panting pulse It is not mirth nor greatness which can then affect us when death in a moment shall dissolve all our honour into darkness The whole world cannot afford us content when our Soul is expiring from our body Neither can all her alluring baits smiling blandishments and beautiful temptations avail thee when thy spirits shall tremble with affrightful pangs when all thy senses shall decline and all the faculties of thy soul attempt which way soonest to leave thy body O then that we did but present unto our selves the sad and miserable condition at present and the happiness which is to come How effectual it would be to raise up our thoughts from the fading blossoms and perishing pleasures of this transitory world How would it comfort us in all conditions whatsoever How little would we care for the losses and crosses of this world did we think of a heavenly kingdom We are all in the time of our absence from God but strangers upon earth Let us then pass the time of our sojourning here in fear 1 Pet. 1.17 and then he needs not care for ill usage in his pilgrimage here who knows he is a King at home But alas We too often eat husks when we should
feed on Manna Great riches cannot make our clothes warm nor our meat more nourishing why then do we tumble in the myres of this world Seek rather O Christian Soul for that Kingdom whereof there is no end that Kingdom which is infinitely glorious Luke 1.33 and every way blessed the King that ruleth is eternal and they that live there never die Let our hearts and mouths be ever filled with the praises of it Let our thoughts and words ever bend towards it since we have no other way then this to attain any true and lasting glory Let us also wholly resign our selves to him that sent us here We have too long lived in the Gardens of Adonis which in the beginning make shew of Flowers but at last bring forth nothing but Thorns Let us then fix a nail in the wheel of this furious and yet inconstant Chariot lest at last we expose our selves to the hazard of a precipitous fall Can there be a greater victory then to conquer our own tumultuous thoughts in such a conjuncture of time when our own ruine lies at stake Can we better use our choicest skill then to shake off those enchanting embraces and turn away our earsfrom those betraying sighs lest like that insolent Conquerour who was vanquished by his own slave we become strangely cruel to our selves Alas That we did but consider how fearful will be the case of those who have neglected the day of their salvation If it be a troublesome thing to be tyed to a Bed of Roses though but for a little time with silken strings oh what may we think of those damned Souls which must dwell in a bed of Flames as long as there is a God! It will be in vain then to cry to the Hills to fall on us and to the Mountains to cover us It will be in vain to repent and wish we had not slighted the day of our Visitation nor sold it for a little pleasure It will be in vain then to cry Lord open to us oh spare us oh pity us do not cast us into Eternal Burnings O what ease What eternal darkness Blinded world Prostituted World Desperate World Ah hadst thou but known Hadst thou but known But alas Thy unhappiness hath put a Scarf before thine eyes O poor secure Worldlings What will you then do when he that will be your Judge shall come in the clouds of Glory and Majesty Where will you hide your selves What shall cover you Mountains are gone the Earth and Heavens do pass away and how do you wish your selves might melt away as they do But ah wishes are now in vain To what end dost thou cry Lord Lord It is too late alas too late why then dost thou look about thee Whither dost thou run Can any save thee Wretches as you are To what pass have you brought your selves How happy had you now been if you had believed and obeyed having only time left to bewail and lament your miserable condition Ah drowsie earthy Creatures Are you still hanging downward when heaven is before ye Are you sleeping when so great a Treasure is set before you Are ye taken up with your delights and pleasures Had ye rather sit down in dirt and dung then walk in the Palace of Heaven Is it better to be there then above with your Saviour Alas deceived Soul Come away then out of the Wilderness of this World make no excuses frame no delays look not back on thy worldly business thy unbridled lusts thy sinful company which here took up thy thoughts in this howling Desart this Valley of Tears Do but consider how soon thou art to depart hence then wilt thou finde what thou hast neglected in following trifles and so much minding thy provision in the way whilst thou art hastening so fast to another world and thy eternal happiness lies at stake How wilt thou then cry out upon thy rocky heart thy proud and unbelieving heart thy Atheistical and Idolatrous and worldly heart yea thy carnal and sensual heart for here toyling and selling an endless glory for worldly vanities and adventuring the loss of heaven for the pleasure of sin to have thy portion in this life where the best things are often the lot of the most miserable wretches and to lose thy part in heaven and eternal happiness to take up thy ease and dwelling here in a nest of straw of wind and vanity the greatest of Plagues and forest of curses which God can give thee over to and to lose thy part in Paradise and thy Mansion in the heavenly Jerusalem But oh the strange aversness of our souls from God! that we should account our misery a happiness Nay that we should rather groan under any intolerable burden and servitude then seek our happiness in him That we should think these Honours delightful that Beauty tempting those goods lands and houses our dependance that merry company our solace that health and strength contentful those buildings walks apparel and pastimes to be pleasant and after all those seeming enjoyments and heart-contenting thoughts we shall look behinde us and see death with open mouth proclaiming these words Fool this night shall thy soul be taken from thee O gross Idolatry to make any creature or means our relyance To place any dependance on the worlds favours to settle our soul upon such hazardous enjoyments or to say here am I well here will I rest And wilt thou here rest oh my soul on the top of those tempestuous mountains Wilt thou swallow down those deceitful baits where death is nearest when the pleasure seems sweetest Alas Settle not in this perishing world where all our days are sorrow and our labour grief The Souls solitude and content in her Separation from the great enticements of the world HOw strange a thing is it that God is always with us and we are so little with him We have our life our being our moving from him and yet all this while we scarce know what he is Alas What is the cause But that our eyes are dazled with the false lights of the world they are darkned with so many mists and vapours of our own appetites and passions as that we cannot see the goods of heaven in the brightest of the day Whereas to speak true our Soul should always be languishing after her Jesus and count it a sad thing to be separated from him so much as in thought Would we but learn a little to talk with him O how would it sweeten the sadness of our Pilgrimage by the contemplation of his Beauties Were we but embarqued in his Vessel while we sayl on the Seas of this troublesom world we would not amuze our selves to gather Cockles on the shore but we would always have our eyes fixed upon Paradice Or had we but our eyes well opened to penetrate and see what the world is we should finde its chains indeed to have a certain pleasure and seeming vigour in them but only painted and attended with
inexplicable sweetnesses of his bounty O the excellency of divine Love which thus causeth a Calm to be found in a Tempest Safety in the midst of Dangers Life on the brinck of Death Comfort in Disasters an Upholding in the midst of Weakness and which protects so many people under the shadow of its Branches Happy Souls which flyes hence into heaven enricht with the purple stains of so heavenly a Fountain yea happy are the wounds from whence flow so much virtue and goodness What greater mercy could there be then to see a Humane Nature sought unto by God which was once despoiled of the Robe of Honour and Diadem of Glory as a just chastisement of its Rebellions and condemned to a Prison of Flames and Darkness even then when it was unable to free it selfe and when neither Angel nor Man could deliver it from the misery whereinto it was plunged To see it I say sought unto by God when it flew from him and to consider how so heavenly a Father transported with unspeakable love said unto it Take my only Son to redeem thee from thy many remediless calamities And this onely Son disdaineth not to become its Ransom and delivered himself for it to Torments so enormious and Confusions so hideous What shall we further admire in the ineffable mystery of the Incarnation Can there be any thing in the world greater then a Man-God If we cast our eyes on our heavenly Father we there see a work of the power of his Arm wherein he seems to have exhausted all his strength The Heaven and the Stars saith Gregory Nyssen were but the works of the Fingers of this divine Majesty but in the Incarnation he proceedeth with all the extent of his might with all the Engines of his power and Miracles of his greatness Blessed Jesus who can chuse but love and adore thee who wert not content onely to reconcile us to thy Father but espousedst our Nature and unitedst it to thy selfe by an indissoluble Band we naturally use to shew an aversion and dislike to such persons as are loathsome mishapen and infected and if with those defects we find a Soul wicked ungrateful and an Enemy to God we conceive him with such horror as that we had need be more then men to endure him But were not we in as bad estate as this for besides the mis-fortunes and calamities which encompassed us on all sides were we not Enemies to God by being too much a friend to our selves and yet all this while he accepteth us and appropriateth us unto himselfe amongst all these contrarieties The Soul checks her selfe for her backwardness and too much neglect of her Saviours invitations WHat imagination is sufficiently powerful to figure to its selfe the ardent dolours of a wounded Soul who desiring to be free and purified from the contagions of the earth and apprehending the shadows of the least sinnes hath its spirit seised on with the consciousness of some more hainous and grosser omissions How hard a matter is it for the Soul to guid the Helm of Reason in so tempestuous a storm of disturbances and in so dead a night of misery to adore the Ray of Gods Providence since almost swallowed in the depth of her sorrows But Nature having at last evicted a huge Tide of Tears she thus sighs out the other in Complaints My God! how justly have my sins deserved this desolate condition yea to endure the Trial of those sorrows which might ever befall the thoughts of a wretched Creature How happy alas are those pure and innocent Souls who have departed from their Bodies when they were ignorant of the sinnes which have approached my knowledge and defiled my thoughts They like little blossoms were cut off in the tenderness of their Age and thrice happy had my Soul been to have been transported into the other world before I had felt that trouble and anguish of Spirit which through the sense and horrour of my sinnes in refusing those gracious tenders of a mercifull Saviour now so sadly afflicts me O wicked and ungrateful heart it is thou which art the source and spring of all my disasters wretch whether goest thou what hast thou to do with the things of the world which will at last ruine thee wilt thou thus cast underfoot the Laws of thy God! Is it not madness to let pass so many golden Harvests which time presents thee and to sow nothing but wind and vanity which onely return thee thorns and sorrows and at last abandons thee as a Pilgrime rob'd and dispoil'd by a Thief O poor Soul wilt thou live rather amongst feavers and burning coals in an inconstant world then tie thy self to the will of God Miserable man to have thy heart fill'd with such restless desires wilt thou like Ravens be ever feeding upon Carrion Is it for such infamous pleasures thou renouncest the delights of heaven unhappy man where wilt thou find place to rest on at the last Dost thou forget the words of the Prophet Jer. 17.11 Silly Partridge thou broodest borrowed Eggs thou hast hatched Birds which were not thine let them fly since thou canst not hold them And canst thou yet fix thy beatitude upon this Gold that Silver that Beauty that Profit and Pleasure as on a little Divinity Is not Jesus thy Saviour enough to content thee must a world be made of Gold and Roses to please thee Alas senseless Soul canst thou have any better Object to behold then a Saviour on the Cross all naked and who in his nakedness giveth all things Oh! how little are all things mortall with him who looks upon a God immortal Blessed Jesus having thee for my guid I will walk confidently in the shades of death since they cannot separate me from the fountain of life I came not into the world glittering with precious Stones neither can I go out poorer then I came Let Poverty then come against me with all its terrours I shall account it a Glory to die poor for a God so dispoiled If Banishment come what need I care what Land be under my feet so my eyes be fixed in Heaven Or what at last can Imprisonment Fetters Gibbets yea death it selfe take from me but a life of Pismires and Flies and a miserable Carkass subject to a thousand deaths And woe unto that Soul the darkness of whose understanding is so great that though Jesus be all light he cannot see him how deprived is that will who though he be all goodness he cannot love How are his affections perverted who though he be all power will yet refuse to submit unto him Alas how art thou estranged from him when thou wert created it was by his power If thou live it is by his bounty if thou move it is by his assistance If thou lie down he sustaineth thee if thou sleep he refresheth thee if thou awake he enlightneth thee if thou read he teacheth thee if thou eat he nourisheth thee if thou art cloathed he warms
trouble Greatness without change Pleasures without sorrow and at last fully laden with celestial Honours This surpassing Joy having one time so far transported a heavenly lover as to give occasion to some who beheld him to think him besides himself you are in the right said he my Beloved hath taken away my will and I have given him my understanding there is nothing left me but memory to remember his mercy Oh what a great Abyss of Delights are reserved for those purified Souls who are thus wholly rapt in the contemplation of heavenly Beauties and altogether ravished in the consideration of Gods divine Goodness No longer do they suffer themselves to be transported with earthly prosperities but in the midst of all worldly Pomps their eyes are firmly fixed upon the many benefits received from God their Ears being charmed their Tears wiped their Fetters broken And what way do they more seek out then how to testifie their gratitude and poure themselves as incense upon Coals towards the Altar of divine Majesty Yea there is a love so tender in them and a fear of offending so infinite a Saviour as that they apprehend the least shadows of sinne as Death Day and Night do they send forth Centinels before the Altars who cease not to implore the assistance of Heaven for the salvation of their Souls How often in the deep silence of darkness when no eye sees nor ear hears do they cause their weeping eyes to speak to God and address their many vowes to Heaven for the attaining of Eternal life How willingly do they part with all the Interests of Flesh and Blood and all other impediments about them They think they can never do too much for eternal happiness whatsoever are their sufferings here the know Paradice will still be purchased at a good penny-worth Oh true zeal O most powerful Alchymie changing all Tears and Troubles into Marble and Gold What Wisdome what Grace what Eloquence doth a heart truly endowed therewith use towards the attaining of Heaven What love for its Soul what fervour for its salvation what care for its direction what resignation of its will to the mind of God What a heart of Diamond doth it express against a thousand stroaks of dolours and sufferings how joyfully doth it meet death yea what Triumphs afterwards in all conditions and after all its afflictions offering up unto God the obedience of the heart the Prayers of the lips and all the faculties of Soul and Body which appear in a general conformity to the commands of God And what indeed can that Soul fear nay what can he not hope for who hath a Jesus for a Protector and a God absolutely powerful and whose power and essence walk hand in hand which is without limits embraceth all places and no way confin'd to any certain number of Ages since it is Eternal and involveth all time What can he doubt of who can conclude an Interest in him who made the world with the least blast of his mouth and can as easily the same way unmake it all the great variety of this Universe where there are Creatures without number Beauties without end and Greatnesses innumerable being but an effect of his word O how brave a thing do we account it for a Prince to possess an earthly Kingdom in the hearts of men to make himself a Throne of Peace to which love raiseth an Eternal Basis and on which God raineth infinite Blessings Whereas what a hideous spectacle is it to see Tyrants hidden like Owls in perpetual Nights with a mind possest and beset with horrid Fancies filled with suspitions and seised by distrust whose Dreams are full of bloody spectacles for whom Thunder seems to roar and for whom Heaven prepares all its Thunderbolts Oh what horror is it to see them not dare to appear in publick without being clothed with Iron and dispoiled of the peoples affections to appear among their Subjects in nothing but Blood Terrors Torments and Massacres and afterwards to be hated like Plagues and poysons Is not this the way to make a Hell of his life a Tyranny of his manners and to increase vowes towards his death Just so is the difference between a poor Soul vvho daily marcheth under the standard of Gods providence and is every hour replenished with the mercies and benefits of Heaven Like a virtuous King the one adventures to live in the most unfrequented Wildernesses without Corps-du-gard He finds assurance in Battels prosperity in his House veneration abroad admiration at home When he sleeps his Saviour who is more watchful then a million of eyes wakes for him when he prayes that voice which is better then a million of mouthes makes intercession for him His joyes are pure his pleasures innocent his repose dreadless his eating and drinking without fear of poyson his Life happy and his Memory blessed Whereas divine Providence which sharpens the Sword of Justice in the Tears of the miserable pours it on the head of the other consumes him by strange Maladies a thousand hands are ready to punish him his life is a reproach his memory full of cursings dung-hills are provided to interre him yea the Stones or Mettals afterwards punished and defaced for no other crime but to mention his Actions and set forth his feature The Soul contemplates and sets forth her Folly in hazarding Eternal Joyes by preferring Earthly Vanities AReprobate sense being the last step which any one makes to enter into Hell O how great is the happiness of an enlightned Soul which sets all the glory of the world at its feet and preferres the knowledge of Christ and an obedience to his will and command beyond any thing here below which shall come in competition with it Often doth she thus expostulate with her self what alas shall the sight of Temporal Beauty which too often fills our Soul with nothing but fire and flames abate the more fervent love of Eternal things Is it possible that I should so adore my prison and fetters here as to ballance them with the Cross of my Saviour Jesus who alas can give me Tears sufficient having thus forsaken my God! Origen mentions of Mary Magdalen That Heaven and the Angels were a burden to her and that she could live no longer then she beheld him that made them and shall we here preferre an Earthly Pilgrimage before a Heavenly Paradice Is it possible that I should suffer my self to be entangled with worldly vanities which are more brittle then Glass more light then smoak and more swift then the wind that I should fatten my self in earthly Pleasures that I should nourish this Carrion this Dunghill of my Body and neglect and forget and despise my Soul Oh! what horrid Phantasms will seem to reproach me with ingratitude when the affairs of my conscience shall be set in order and say unto me I am the Pleasure thou hast obeyed I am the Ambition to which thou wert a slave I am the Covetousness which was the aim
friends Ranters Gamesters Amorists and all the delights of former Companies since from this moment we shall be for ever separated Whereas far otherwise shall it be with those heavenly and victorious souls who have lived to God Time and the Laws of Death have nothing to affright them with All that they have to do is but to go out of a dark Dungeon and a streight Prison to leave a world of sadness and misery and enter into a spacious Temple of Eternal Splendors where their Being shall have no end their knowledge no ignorance nor their love suffer change Repair then unto him O my Soul who is all-sufficient and though the discharge of thy duty be above the power of thy ability yet can he give thee a heart to perform what he requireth from thee There is no Prison for a Soul whom God hath set at liberty The whole world belongs to him who knows how to misprise it God seeketh thy conversion and he is able to turn thee He requireth thy faith and he is able to make thee believe he requireth thy love and by knocking at the door of thy heart he is able to get entrance into it Be not sad then O my Soul but adore that infinite mercy which doth at any time chastise thee with Temporary punishments being not willing to make thee an Object of that fury which is kindled by Eternity of Flames Why shouldst thou not bend all thy affections to Jesus who is onely able to delight thee Why shouldst not thou be enamoured of his Beauties Why shouldst thou not sigh after his Attractives If we behold the Sun we cannot chuse but love God that Glorious Light being the Image of the Soveraign King the Eye of the which enlightneth the Stars in Heaven createth the Fruits and Flowers upon Earth and giveth strength to all living Creatures How pleasant a thing also is it to behold those goodly Forrests to trace those flourishing Woods to be delighted with the murmuring Waters to hear the pleasant notes and warbling of Birds in the sweetness of solitude and retirement But O my Soul rest not here Let thy Spirit fly to that hidden Spirit which thus distributeth it self through so many melodious Divisions throughout the whole world When thou contemplatest the world and all things thereto belonging think on that secret Spirit which insinuateth it self thereunto with such admirable power ravishing sweetness and incomparable harmony Oh love thy Jesus because he is fair and made all these Beauties presented before thee Love him because he is good and communicateth himself unto thee Love him because he is thine and thou art wholly his O be thou still touched with his beauty his wisdom and goodness and let his mercy still soften thy heart And how a thousand times wilt thou bless the hour of this Resolution Ah Jesus why should I argue any longer with my vain Thoughts Why should I dispute any longer with my sinful Lusts Why do I not fly away weigh Anchor set Sails and go forward towards my Eternal happiness Shall I create unto my self an Empire in my Banishment shall I suppose my self in a Haven in the midst of shipwrack surely the Soul which is ravished with the contemplation of Heaven will not stay upon Flesh She hath nothing to do with the standing puddles of Egypt which do onely enflame thirst in her veins but is ever seeking refreshment in the Cisterns of Bethel No more will she ask where is her God become not a tract of a Tear will be visible on those cheeks where Flouds and Billowes of sorrow had formerly appeared Though formerly she went weeping under the heavy load of her sinnes she at last returns with precious seed she soons recovers her joy Psal 51.10.11 and peace and loseth no Graines Psal 126.6 but rather gets ground in the fire of Temptation she receives double with Iob for all her losses for a Cup of Affliction Vessels of joy and for a few disconsolate dayes moneths and years of delight and comfort in Heaven where she no longer complains of her frailties but cryes out It is enough Lord it is enough what am I or what is my Fathers House that thou shouldst thus deal with me And oh if there be such pleasures in the Kingdom of Grace how unspeakable are those laid up for us in the Kingdom of Glory The Soul is ravished upon the Return of her Saviours Presence THough the Soul of Man may live at uncertainties upon a certain Faith and in time of desertion trembling may accompany the people of God yet it truly relies upon Christs mercy Job 13.15.16 Psal 6.8 it shews a true saving and justifying faith in the very act of Reliance and dependance And though Gods Afflictions are oftentimes like hot Spices comfortable to the stomack though hot in the mouth yet the Soul with the Spouse is ever waking whensoever it falls into any spiritual slumber The greatest darkness ordinarily as we use to say is about the break of day And it is not impossble but that when sadness and melancholly which is many times the Nurse of doubting shall pervert our Reason and clad the Soul in mourning weeds there may be an Eclipse at the fairest Noon through the with-drawment of Gods favour and the interposition of Satans Temptations The dark Cloud which sometimes comes between God and the Soul is again cleared with many Lights and most sweet consolations insomuch that being again gilded over with the most radient Splendors and admirable Beauty of her beloved she breaks out with profusions of heart not to be expressed Holy Asaph may complain Will the Lord absent himself for ever Will he be favourable no more hath God forgotten to be Gracious hath he in anger shut up his tender mercy Psal 77.7.8 9. and yet all this expostulating with God is not because he suspects the truth of his Promises but because at such times the Soul cannot so plainly see it it looks upon its sinnes in a multiplying-Glass and in the gloomy day of Affliction is ready to behold them as an evidence that it wants that interest in God it should have and thinks with David and the Church it is wholly cast off Psal 43.2 44 9 80 1. But after those fainting and soul-swounding fits and too much eying and poaring on sin without observing the nature of God in his Covenant when the poor Soul as well looks upwards with one eye towards Gods mercy as with the other downward on her sins she is kept from being over-powred with Satans temptations she concludes there is yet some help in her God she still layes hold on the merits of her Saviour And however her stomack may be gone for a time yet when she awakes out of her spiritual Desertion she cryes out Surely the Lord is in this place though I knew it not Ps 4.3.8 I shall again sit at Davids Table who bids me to come and taste and see how good the Lord is
the pleasure of sin and the perpetuity of sinners Torments the easinesse of thy gentle yoak and light burden here below and the weight of thy glory provided for me above since there is no moment O Lord void of thy goodness why should there be any moment void of my praise I know it will not be long until death consume me to the very bones and I shall then possess nothing but what I have done for thee Shall I then live in this world to my self and be still vexed with care how to preserve a miserable life Dear Jesus suffer me not thus to be taught by thy Judgements what I have neglected to learn from thy mercy Time and age will one day wither the blossoms of youth The best of our joyes are but fires of straw or flattering sun-shines which are suddenly either washed away with a shower or banished by Tempests The Sun will at last daver the freshest Roses and Lillies O let not then my thoughts strike sail or my heart do homage to the transitory beauties of this world which will onely ensnare and imprison me in the Fetters of sin least the storms of an evil conscience suddenly arise and trouble the serenity of my delights and the tranquility of my seeming felicity The Soul being sensible of its former Mercies sits weeping under the Cross of her Saviour and resolves to partake with him in his Sufferings AS Humility is seldome planted upon Crowns and Scepters so the wisdom of State seldome joyns with that of the Cross where its lustre is too often darkned by the too much glittering of the world and ordinarily finds slippery footing amongst the Rubies and Diamonds of a Crown It was the saying of Tertullian who flourished two hundred years after the Nativity of our Saviour when there had been no speech of any Emperours that had embraced Christianity Tertul. in Apol. That if the Caesars would become Christians they would cease to be Caesars and if the Christians would become Caesars they would cease to be Christians conceiving that poorness of spirit cannot consist with so high and stately Riches neither Humility with a Soveraign Empire or the Tears of Repentance with the vain delights of the Court. Surely the hungring and thirsting after Righteousness upon which our Saviour so often leaves his blessing can no way stand with the desire of Pomp and Greatness in the world no more then Peace can subsist with Licentiousness of War or pureness of heart with the conversing with most pleasing and tempting Beauties or the fairest hopes of the world which are mowed dow in their flower by the pittiless Sythe of death Peter was never so near his ruine as when he was warming himself in the Priests Hall John Baptist was far more secure amongst Wolves Foxes and Tigers then among the wicked Courtiers of Herod He was more happy with his little Dinner of Locusts and wild Honey retired in his Cabin then amidst the Pomps and Pleasures of the King of Galilee Do we know whether our Fancy will run when Ambition rides it or our Minds sail when distempers steer them What makes a Hermit at the Court a solitary man in a Tumult a David in his Tower of Pleasures a Solomon in the midst of so many Wives and Concubines and a Sampson under the enticing hands of his treacherous Dalelah Yea what makes a sacred man amongst the prophane or a Saint in the house of a Tyrant So hard is it also for Carnal eyes to behold the bitter Agony of our blessed Saviour so hard is it for any Tongue without being steeped in Gall to express his sufferings or for any person without pouring out of Tears to approach his Cross What eyes can look on thee as they should and behold all thy flesh wholly imprinted with dolours and thy heart drenched in acerbities What eyes can without bitter relenting behold thy deadly sweat of blood can see thee dragg'd through the streets of Hierusalem every one looking out at the windows to fill their eyes with gazing and astonishment can see thee buffeted flouted tossed from one Tribunal to another spit on every where despised and maliciously affronted What eyes can look on thy spread Arms thy nailed Hands and Feet thy rack't sinews thy pierced side thy bended Neck thy faln looks thy torn Body thy pale and bloodless flesh thy company to be of infamous Theeves and thy miserable Favourite and forlorn Mother ready through grief to expire their last breath what ears could with patience hear thy doleful out-cryes to Heaven and what heart could apprehend thee at first received into a wretched Stable and there laid in a Manger and at last to conclude thy innocent life in so great nakedness as that thou hadst no other veil to cover thee then the blood which gushed from thy wounds Behold O my Soul the whole life of thy Saviour which he passed here on Earth and thou shalt find it a School of Christian manners by the contemplation whereof Holiness is perfected in the fear of the Lord 2 Cor. 7.1 The world loved Riches but he would be poor The world loved Honours but he shun'd and refused a Kingdom and the Treasures thereof the world delighted in a carnal off-spring but he desired neither Marriage not Issue The world feared nothing more then disgrace desertion of friends insulting of enemies bodily Tortures and Death whereas Christ endured the rebukings of the people the flight of his Disciples the mockings of the Souldiers the spitting of the Jews and the death of the Cross O vvonderful that the mighty power of the Divinity would thus manifest it self in the infirmity of the Cross Sure it was onely for God to perform this great Design and thus ascend up to his Throne of Glory by the basest disgraces of the world and if vve vvill be his Children vve must make it appear by participation of his Cross and by suffering Tribulation By this Sun it is that the Eagles are discovered The good Thief saw no other Title or sign of his Kingdom but onely his body covered over vvith bloud and oppressed with dolours by that Book of the Gross he learned all the Glory of Paradise and apprehended that none but God could vvith such patience endure so great Torments Methinks blessed Saviour I hear devout Simon seeing thee heavy loaden with the burden of the Cross thus expostulating with thee O Jesus vvhether goest thou with the extream vveight of this barren piece of Wood whether dost thou carry it and why vvhere do you mean to set it What upon mount Calvary Alas that place is most wild and stony How canst thou plant it there who shall water it to which thou answerest I bear indeed a piece of Wood upon my Shoulders and carry it to mount Calvary This Wood I bear must bear me to bear the salvation of the world and to draw all after me I bear it to place it by my death and water it with my blood Oh Love
into Adamant are the Eternal Springs of Lebanon dryed up are the Heavens become Iron that no drops of dew can distill down to refresh thy languishing Soul Where are now thy old friends which were so much delighted with thy Glory upon mount Tabor who lately sung so cheerfully at thy entering into Hierusalem yea even solemnly protested their readiness to die with thee Alas they are all asleep so fast so dead asleep that neither shame nor compassion on their Masters disconsolate condition can make them to say so much as one short prayer for themselves Oh weak condition of humane friendship unhappy and miserably deluded are all they who build on so false a Bottom How far better is it to trust in God then Man O ill requited Master is this the fruit of all thy Teachings Is this thy reward for all thy Benefits Is this the Profit of all thy Wonders thou hast made amongst them What though Judas were tempted with the glittering of Silver which dazels the eyes of all the World yet what Plea have thy beloved Disciples to excuse their dulness their coldness and want of Love Though Earth fail Heaven should be kind And now O my Soul thou who hast been witness to this great Spectacle What shall not this strange and incomparable love of thy Saviour make thee wholly to go out of thy self Look if thou are able to look at so glorious a Light or judge of so infinite charity and tell me what thou canst do Canst thou love any thing after this but thy Lord Jesus Canst thou affect any thing but thy dear Saviour Can thy greatest troubles or hardships distaste thee Thou complainest indeed of thy Sufferings but weigh them in this Ballance and alas how little cause hast thou to complain Ah! what poor flea-bitings are those which thou art afflicted with in respect of the Torments thy Saviour underwent for thee whom thou thus seest to have traced out the way with his own gored footsteps having his Head Crown'd with Thorns his shoulders charg'd with the infamous Burden of the Cross his ears pierced with Reproachful speeches and his eyes floating with Tears in which condition he ascended mount Calvary and invites thee to follow him Were they not thy sins O my Soul which were the Nails that fastned his Hands and his Feet were they not the Spears which pierced his sacred side Look upon thy Hypocrisie which was the kiss that betrayed him Behold thy Back-slidings which made his Soul weary to death which caused the withdrawment of his Fathers love and made him cry out that he was forsaken Hath Christ endured so much for thee and wilt thou not suffer a little for him Ah happy is that Affliction which is raised from thy Saviours love How rich shall we be when we have him for our Portion yea how high when we shall see a true contempt of the world under our feet Maist thou forbid O blessed Jesus that I should go about any worldly Throne which carries not thy Scepter or that I should talk of Honours when there is mention made of thy Holy Cross Let all greatness where thou art not be baseness unto me and let me mount up unto thee by those stairs of Humility whereby thou camest down to me O let me kiss the paths of that Mount which thou hast sprinkled with thy precious Bloud and esteem that Cross above all earthly things which thou hast consecrated by thy cruel pains Alas is it not a shameful thing that God should seek us among the heats of his Love and Sufferings and yet we cannot be found by him Shall we not forsake all the Disorders of a sensual life which hinder the effect of his Grace shall we not with the Samaritan woman forsake and leave behind us our Pitcher that we may return full of Jesus Christ shall we not bid farewel to all those occasions which lead us to sin O dear Saviour the most pure of all Beauties since it is for thee that so many Champions have peopled Deserts and passed the stream of bitterness and sorrow bearing their Crosses after thee and amongst the most cruel of dolours have felt the sweetness of thy presence shall I shed no Tears for those sins that pierced thee shall Jesus carry so many Thorns upon his Head and shall I have none in my heart Alas my Soul canst thou behold a Crown of Thorns grafted upon a man of sorrow what Spectacle alas is this no more a man but a skin dispoiled and bloody taken from the teeth of Tigers and Leopards Every stroak made a wound every wound a fountain of blood O hideous Prodigies which took away from us the light of the Sun and covered the Moon with a sorrowful darkness Heaven wears mourning upon his Cross all the Citizens of Heaven weep over his Torments The Earth quakes the Stones rend the Sepulchres open the Dead arise and all to teach us by insensible Creatures the pitty we should take of his Sufferings And in conclusion of all what should we hence learn but imitating our blessed Saviour who having sadness in his Soul even to death yea taking up a resolution and deprecation in the approaches thereof cryed out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me willingly to submit to all those Sufferings he shall think fit to lay upon us Neither to be any way fearful or solicitous in what manner God will please to take us to him or in the least manner to be troubled touching the place hour or manner of our Dissolution since he that made us best knows how to dispose of us as he please who can give us a Cordial in our greatest fainting Fits and therefore his will ought to be the rule of our Life and Death our Sufferings and our Sorrows since from him who is all goodness of himself we cannot expect any thing but the best Are we mortal and shall we grieve to die Shall we not gladly drink of that Cup whereof our Saviour hath begun Death is unwelcom onely to those who have not mortified their desires and affections here while they lived why then should we have regret to leave so miserable a lise Why should we be unwilling to bid adieu and quit this place where we have endured so many Deaths and which hath so long been the place of our sorrows O my God! what a vain fear then is that which startles me what a sad Pensiveness which over-spreads me Oh when and where shall I take my flight unto thee Do not tell me O dear Saviour there is a great Chaos between thee and me since thou hast already passed it and wilt thou not then lift me up by thy mercy I am here as within the Deserts of Africa in a burning world the drought whereof makes it a habitation for Devils O my God! I am tormented in this flame until some Lazarus be found to dip the end of his finger in thy blood to allay the burning of my thirst and restore me into the bosome of a merciful God O bessed day when we shall be free from sorrow and suffering but not from comfort where we shal rest from our Labours and perfectly injoy the most perfect God who as he is love it self will perfectly love us yea love us for ever O comfortable words how sweet must they needs be to our ears how refreshing to our wearied Senses and languid Spirits Ah What smiles shall we then perceive in that face of Sorrows and with whom we have here suffered when he shall pronounce that joyful sentence Come ye blessed of my Father shal we then repent our Sufferings and Sorrows are not the Tears of Repentance sweet unto us This is that joy which was procured by sorrow This is that Crown which was procured by the Cross Jesus did weep that our Tears might be washed away Our Saviour bled that we might not be wounded O blessed Love Oh in what a frame will our Soul then be who can express who can conceive the infinite love and unexpressible joy of so happy a Union so sweet a Reconcilement who can question the love which he doth so sweetly taste or doubt of that vvhich vvith such joy he feeleth vvhen vve shall be incircled in Eternity and for ever praise him FINIS