Kingdome for he raigned over all Kingdomes from the river Euphrates to the land of the Philistims unto the border of Aegypt and they brought presents and served Salomon all the daies of his life he had besides so great wealth that he had 40000. stalls of Horses for his Charriots and 12000. Horse-men besides his Ships trading to Ophir brought such store of gold and precious stones that silver was nothing esteemed in his daies and was given by him as stones in Jerusalem His pleasure also he tooke after such an unlimited manner that delighting in Women he tooke to him 700. Wives princesses and 300. concubines And yet heare what he saith of himselfe after he had reckoned up these pleasures and many more as you may read at large in the Booke of the Preacher after he had well look'd into them behold all is vanity and vexation of spirit and there is no profit under the Sun Therefore you see he found no true rest either in his riches honour pleasures or wisedome nor could he have found any had they beene many more because the mind of Man is immortall and these things are mortall and of no continuance nor it cannot be that the mind capable of infinite good should be satisfied with finite good For as the humane body cannot rest either in the ayre though it be large or in the water though it be deepe because the earth and not the water or ayre is its center so the minde of Man can never rest in ayrie honour or watry riches which are sordid pleasures but in GOD onely who is the true center of the minde and the onely place of rest for it and proper to it How divinely and wisely then did his Father King David cry out after he had gone into GODS Sanctuary and understood the end of the wicked in their prosperity Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none that I desire in earth in comparison of thee GOD is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever Consider this then and thou wilt confesse that GOD is the Rocke upon which thou most rest and relye other things are but vanitie and vexation of spirit which are not things in true existence but in false apparaence they comfort not but torment being gotten with labour kept with feare and lost with sorrow and griefe Despise therefore if thou beest wise all tranâ—itory things least they snatch thee away with them and set thy rest on GOD alone cleave to him with the bond of love who remaines the same for ever Lift up thy heart to GOD in Heaven least it putrifie in Earth Learne true Wisedome by the folly of many in whose persons the wiseman speaketh Therefore we have erred from the way of truth and the light of righteousnesse hath not shined unto us and the Sun of understanding rose not upon us We have wearied our selves in the way of wickednesse and destruction and we have gone through dangerous waies but we have not knowne the way of the Lord. What hath pride profited us or what profit hath the pompe of riches brought us All those things are passed away like a shadow and as a Post that passeth by Againe this foundation the Earth is an Embleme of GOD in another respect which CHRIST himselfe hath explained unto us in the Gospell by his similitude of a house built upon a Rock which though the raine fell upon it the winds beat upon the side of it and the floods attempted to undermine it yâ—t stood firme and unmovable but the house built upon the sand could resist none of them but fell So the mansion of mans soule which consists of many vertues and graces as of so many roomes and chambers if it be founded upon GOD as upon a Rocke thatis if it stedfastly beleeve him if it put its whole trust and confidence in him if it be rooted and founded in the love of him it may say with the Apostle Who shall separate us from the love of CHRIST The soule so founded may be secure because neither spirituall wickednesses which are above it nor carnall concupiscences which are beneath it nor domesticall enemies our kinsmen and acquaintance which are about it shall at any time prevaile against it Great I confesse are the forces and subtilties of spirituall powers but greater is the power greater is the wisedome of the Holy Spirit which is ruler and president over the house which is built upon GOD. Very much and earnestly doth the flesh fight against the Spirit and concupiscences have overcome many strong Men but the love of GOD easily overcometh the love of the flesh and the feare of the LORD the feare of the World Lastly Mans homebred enemies many times draw them by evill example and conversation to the perpetrating of sinne but the soule whose confidence is that it hath GOD to Father and friend easily shakes such friends off and will say with the Apostle I am perswaded that neither life nor death nor Angels nor Principalities noâ— Powers nor things present nor things to come nor any other creature shal be able to separate me from the love of GOD which is in CHRIST JEsus our LORD The second property of the Earth consists in this that it is as a good nurse to Men and other living creatures in bringing forth herbs fruits and other sustenance in plentifull manner for their preservation And this property â—eads us to the Creator who is the true Nurse For it is not properly the Earth but GOD by the Earth which produceth these good things For so the holy Spirit speaketh by the mouth of David He bringeth forth grasse for the cuttell and greene herbe for the service of men and a little after These all wayt upon thee that thou mayest give them meat in due season When thou givest it them they gather it and when thou openest thine hand they are filled with good and our Saviour in the Gospell Behold the foules of the ayre for they sowe not neither reape nor cary into the barnes yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them and the Apostle Saint Paul in the Acts Neverthelesse he left not himselfe without witnesse in that hee did good and gave us raine from Heaven and fruitfull seasons filling our hearts with food and gladnesse Yet is that true which GOD commanded at the Creation Let the Earth bud forth the bud of the herbe that seedeth seed and the fruitfull tree which beareth fruit according to his kind but it is by the power and vertue which GOD hath given it and GOD himselfe by the Earth producing increasing and preserving these things And for this cause it was that King David inviting all creatures to praise the LORD among the rest calls upon fruitfull trees to doe the same and that the three Children in Daniel sang All things that grow on the Earth blesse ye
and the ordinance of love 1. The light of wisedome which makes a man truly wise and which no man can use amisse and bringeth us to the fountaine of wisedome scituate in the heavenly Countrey is that which teacheth the contempt of temporall things and to esteeme highly of spirituall it teacheth not to trust in uncertaine riches but in the living GOD. It teacheth us not to account this exile of ours as our Countrey nor to love our pilgrimage but to endure it Lastly it teacheth to live here in patience being full of perills and tentations and to dye in desire because Blessed are the dead that dye in the LORD 2. The Ordinance of true love what is it but to love GOD without end without measure he being the end of all our desires to love other things in such measure and meane as will be sufficient to bring us to our end that is beatitude Surely there is not any man that in the cure of his body inverts order so that he loves his health but with an ordinary measure and a bitter potion without all measure seeing that he knoweth that the first is the end and the latter but the meanes How then cometh it to passe that so many that would be accounted wise men confine themselves to no moderation in heaping up riches in hunting after the pleasures of the flesh and attayning to the degrees of honour as it these things were the end of mans heart and are contented to streighten themselves in loving GOD and seeking after eternall fâ—licity as if these were but the meanes to the end and not the end of all meanes without doubt this is the cause that they have the wisedome of this world and not that which is from above and cometh from the Father of lights and that they have not ordinate love nor that which is true love but are full of inordinate desires which are not of the Father but of the World Wherefore while thou travailest from thy Countrey and aâ—t among enemies which oppose true wisedome and love and suggest craft for wisedome and inordinate desires for love make thy moane and bewaile thy case to the Father of lights desiring him earnestly to give thee these good and perfect guifts of true wisedome and regulated love and to inflame thy hearâ— with them so that being fitted with them thou mayest so runne the wayes of his Commandements without stumbling that thou mayst come to that Countrey where thou mayst drinke of the pure fountaine of wisedome and live with the pure milke of love 2. I come now to the time of the night wherein the heaven doth frame and erect one step for us to ascend to GOD by the Moone and Starres for so speaketh David I will consider the heavens the worke of thy fingers the Moone and the Starres which thou hast ordayned If we could see heaven it selfe the Prophet had not said by way of explication of that which he had set down before The Moon and the Starres which thou hast ordayned and truely if our sences could pierce to heaven it selfe or that we could finde out the nature and qualities of it by any certaine reason without doubt we should have an excellent degree of ascent to GOD thereby We know that there have been some who out of the motion of the Starres have defined the nature of heaven to be a quintessence simple incorruptible and perpetually moving in its Orbe And that there are others who will have heaven to be the Element of fire that is not moved in its Orbe neither is incorruptible according to its parts but it is not our intent to looke after these opinions but to seeke out the certaine knowledge and Doctrine of Faith thereby to raise an ascent to GOD. The Moone hath two properties which may fitly serve to this purpose I The first is the neerer it approacheth to the Sun the more it shineth and is enlightned in its upper part towards heaven being darkned at the same time in the lower part of it towards the earth and when it is wholly subject to the Sun and is in full conjunction with it it is altogether light towards heaven and darke towards the earth On the other side when it is in opposition to the Sun it is seen cleare of the earths inhabitants and hath no light in the upper part towards heaven This pâ—operty of the Moone may be a good document or example to us mortalls to make us sollicitous of our neere conjunction to the true Father of lights GOD himselfe The Moone signifieth Man and the Sun GOD when the Moone is in opposition to the Sun then by the borrowâ—d light from the Sun it onely shines and lookes towards earth and after a sort turnes its back to heaven whereby it shewes beautifull to the Inhabitants of the earth and most deformed to the Citizens of heaven So every mortallâ—hat â—hat goes farre from GOD as the Prodigall which went into a farre Countrey abuseth that light of reason which he received from the Father of lights onely to respect the earth and forgetting GOD thinkes onely upon the earth onely loves it and is wholly taken up with desire of the goods thereof for which by the children of this generation they are esteemed wife and happy but by the heavenly inhabitants they are accounted poore naked blind deformed wretched and miserable On the contrary when the Moone is in conjunction with the Sun and is perfectly subject to it it shineth wholly on the upper part respecteth heaven onely turning its backe to men vanishing cleane from their sight So is it with the wicked when he begins to leave his wickednes and by his full conversion is become truly subject to GOD the true Sun of the souâ—e in humility and is joyned to him in love then he fulfills that which the Apostle warneth he seeketh those things which are above and savours of heavenly not earthly things and then is he despised by fooles and accounted by them as if he were dead but indeed he is dead to the World and his life is hidden with Christ in GOD and When Christ his life shall appeare then shall he also appeare with him in glory And this is the cause as St. Augustine observes why the Passeover aswell in the old Law as in the new could not rightly be kept but after the full Moon that is when the Moon which in the full is in opposition to the Sun begins to returne to the conjunction with it to shew that man in opposition to GOD by sinne should begin to be converted to him and to hasten to the union and grace of GOD by the merits of JESUS CHRIST Therefore if thou find thy selfe by the assistance of Gods grace to be subject to the Father of lights by true humility and to be joyned with him by ardent love doe not imitate fooles who are changed as the Moone but follow the wise who continue unchanged as the Sun for the Moone
If a Man had seene not onely with the eyes of his body but of his heart enlightned by GOD the rich Glutton clothed in silke and purple sitting at a Table furnished with all kinds of delicates many wayters attending him and withall had seene poore Lazarus halfe naked full of sores lying at the rich mans gate desiring to be fitted with the crummes that fell from his Table â—ee had seene the rich man whom the World accounted most happy to seeme most abominable in the sight of GOD and his Angels and as vile as the mud and dung of the earth and poore Lazarus to seeme noble and honourable For the first as hated by GOD was hurried by the Devills into hell and the last as beloved of GOD was carried by the Angels into Abrahams bosome But what doe we speake of Lazarus None was ever in higher account with GOD then our Lord Jesus Christ even according to his humanity and yet none ever so humble as he truely reported of himselfe Learne of me that am meeke and lowly in heart For by how much the clearer his most holy soule knew above all others the infinite height of the divinity by so much the more he knew the basenesse of the creature made of nothing and therefore while he was a creature above all others he became subject to GOD and exalted him and therefore also is he exalted above all creatures by GOD. The like we might say of the blessed Angels and holy Saints for there are none more humble then they which are high in the heavens because the neerer they are to GOD the more clearely they see and perceive by how much the greatnesse of the Creator is in distance from the exiguity of the creature Wherefore love humility if thou desire to be exalted Imitate the Lambe without spot and imitate the holy Saints and Angels who as they excell in height excell in humility And not onely doth GOD possesse the highest seat because he judgeth all men but because he excells all in quiet and makes those to be quiet in whom he rests and fits Gods highest seat is his supreme rest for although he governeth the universe wherein are continuall warres and conflicts of elements men and beasts yet he governeth peaceably and quietly nor is there any thing that can disturb his quiet or his contemplation of himselfe wherein consists his everlasting delight Gods proper seat is the blessed spirits upon which it is said by the Psalmist He sitteth betweene the Cherubims and in Samuel the LORD of hosts who dwelleth betweene the Cherubims and GOD is said rather to dwell or sit betweene the Cherubims then the Seraphims because the Cherubims signifie multitude of knowledge and Seraphim the heate of charity now rest followes wisedome and care and anxiety accompany love and charity unlesse it be joyned with wisedome Lastly where Esay saith Heaven is my seat and David The Lords throne is in heaven and all the heaven of heavens are the Lords by the heaven of heavens are understood the spirituall heavens the blessed spirits which dwell in the corporall heavens as S. Augustine expounds that place These heavens saith he GOD causeth to be quiet so admirably that this is the peace which passeth all understanding St. Bernard compares it to a King who being tyred as it were with hearing of causes retyres himselfe and takes his ease and quiet with his familiar servants And therefore by this we may perceive that GOD sheweth himselfe not a Iudge or a Lord to the spirits of the blessed but a familiar friend And certainly it is no small familiarity which GOD shewes to pure minds in this life so that this saying is verified My delight is to be with the children of men Hence it is that the Saints though they sufferd pressures in the World yet in their hearts where GOD is they had peace and therefore ever seemed joyfull and serene and so were For the Truth had told them Your hearts shall rejoyce and your joy shall no man take from you The fourth and last part of the greatnes of Gods Essence is the depth and this is manifold 1. First the divinity it selfe is most deep in him because it is not superficiall or sleight but most full most solid The Deity is not a gilded masse which hath onely gold upon the superficiâ—s or outward part and brasse or wood within but as a whole masse of gold great and immense or rather as a mine of gold so deep that by digging it can never be exhausted nor the bottome be discovered so God of whose greatnesse there is no end is altogether so incomprehensible that by a created mind it can never be so well knowne but that it may be ever more and more understood and it is onely God himselfe which can comprehend this infinite depth because he onely hath the infinite power of understanding 2. Againe God is deep in respect of place for as he is most high because he presides and governs all things and is above all so is he most deep because he is under all things to uphold them Bearing up all things by his mighty word saith the Apostle And therefore he is as it were the foundation and roofe of a building In whom we live and move have our being In that regard most truly said Solomon The heavens and the heavens of heavens are not able to containe thee because God doth rather contain the heavens and the things under heaven as being above the heavens and beneath the earth 3. Lastly the profundity of God is his invisibility For God is light but inaccessible he is truth but most inward He made darknes his secret place saith David and verily thou ô God hidest thy selfe saith Esay St. Augustine sometime inquiring after GOD sent his messengers his eyes from earth to heaven and all things answered them that they were not that he sought for but it is he that hath made us and not finding him by outward things he tooke his search by inward and soon understood truly that by them he might sooner approach to God for he knew the soule to be better then the body and the inward sense to be farre better then the outward and the understanding which is more inward to be better then the inward sense and thence gathered that God who was more inward then the understanding was better then it and that by all this that we understand or thinke it was not God but something lesse then God because God is better then we can understand or conceive Well then if the soule be better then the body to which the soule gives life because that is a body and the soule a spirit and if the eye of the body cannot see the soule because that is without and this within think also that thy God is better then thy soule because he gives it understanding and is as it were thy soule and
therefore thou canst not see him because he is a spirit more high and sublime and more inward then thou art and that thou after a sort stayest without and he within in his most secret and deep retyring place But shalt thou never be admittted into that secret place God forbid Blessed are the pure in spirit for they shall see GOD saith our Saviour who cannot lye and Now we see through a glasse darkly but then face to face saith one Apostle And We know that when he shall appeare we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is saith another And how great will that joy be when being admitted to that sâ—cret place we shall see and possesse that light that shape that beauty even goodnes it selfe then it will plainely appeare how vaine and fading and like shadowes these temporall things were and with which men as drunken and besotted neglected the true and everlasting good things But if thou truly thirstest after GOD and If thy teares have beene thy meate day and night while they daily say unto thee where is thy GOD be not slowe or slacke to cleanse thy heart with which thou must see GOD nor be weary in erecting these degrees in thine heart untill the GOD of Gods appeare in Sion neither waxe cold in thy love to GOD and thy neighbour nor love him onely in word and tongue but in worke and truth for this is the way which leadeth to life DEGREE XI By the Consideration Of the Greatnes of GODS Power by the similitude of Corporeall greatnes GReat is the LORD and of his greatnesse is neither end nor measure Neither is he great only because his height is his omnipotence his depth unsearchable wisedome his bredth mercy spread and extended every where and his length justice like an Iron rod but also because every one of these attributes are great in the magnitude of his infinite latitude altitude longitude and profundity To begin with his power or rather omnipotence This power of GOD hath its latitude which is so placed in him as that it extendeth and stretcheth it selfe to things altogether infinite 1. First it extendeth it selfe to all things which are created for there is nothing in the whole universe from the chiefest Angel to the poorest worme and from the highest heaven to the lowest abysse which is not made by the power of GOD. Allthings saith St. Iohn were made by him and without him was nothing made and a little after The world was made by him 2. Againe it reacheth to all things which shal be made for ever for as without him nothing could have been made so neither shall any thing be made without him Of him and through him and in him are all things saith the Apostle 3. Thirdly it stretcheth it selfe to all things that can be made although they never shall be for so saith the Angell With GOD nothing shal be impossible And Christ himselfe said With GOD all things are possible 4. It also extends it selfe to the dissolution and destruction of all things made For as God could destroy by the deluge all men and creatures upon the face of the earth except a few reserved by himselfe in Noahs Arke so will he be able at the last day to destroy by fire not onely all men and living creatures but Trees Cities and other things in the earth also The day of the LORD saith St. Peter shall come as a thiefe in which the heavens shall passâ— away with a great noyse and thâ— Elements shall melt with heateâ— the earth also and the workes thâ—â— are therein shall be burnt up Great without doubt is â—hiâ— latitude of Gods power which no man can sufficiently admire unlesse he could number the multitude of things which God partly hath partly will and partly can make but who can number such a multitude but he onely whose knowledge is infinite 5. Againe the greatnesse of this power encreaseth much if we consider how great a work it is in a moment to dissolve with great facility the things which are made or as Judas Maccabeus speakes Vno nutu delere at a becke to destroy the whole world Let us then say with Moses Who is like unto thee ô LORD in fortibus among the Gods Now the longitude of Gods power is seene in this that he cooperateth daily with those things he hath made neither is or shal be at any time weary in cooperating for this power of God can neither be diminished weakned nor broken by any meanes being joyned with true eternity the divinity being eternity 1. Many men mervaile how the Sun Moone and Starres for so long time have continued their motions with such swiftnesse and without intermission and it were a thing worth our admiration but that we know that they are carried by Almighty GOD Who beareth all things by his mighty word 2. Others wonder how it comes to passe that in hell either the fire is not consumed with burning so long or that the bodies of the damned should not be dissolved with so long burning And this were not onâ—y to be thought wonderfull but impossible also were it not that he is eternall and omnipotent that makes the fire so to burne alwaies that it shall never be extinguished and so keepes the bodies of the damned in that fire as that they shal be ever tormented and never consumed 3. Lastly others there are that wonder that GOD should sustain and beare all things and without wearinesse support so great a weight almost infinite It is true that a strong Man a Horse an Oxe or an Elephant can carry a great weight but it is for a small time onely but to carry so great a masse for ever without wearinesse passeth the strength of all things created And yet they might well mervaile if GOD had strength by weight and measure as things created have but inasmuch as the strength of GOD exceeds all measure and that he is wholly infinite it is no mervaile at all if an infinite strength beare a great weight or masse without defatigation although it be for an infinite time Let us heare againe say with the holy Prophet Who is like unto thee ô Lord among the Gods The next thing to be considered is the height of Gods power which is chiefly manifested in two things 1. His omnipotencie may be called most high because he onely made most high things Those things which are under the Moone onely GOD made in the first creation and they may by the act of creatures be begotten changed and corrupted for the elements are changed by course according to their parts and of the earth are Herbs and Trees begotten of animals are animals increased and propagated fishes are borne in water clouds and raine in the ayre and comets in the fire But the heaven and starres which are the highest bodies GOD onely created onely preserves neither can the creature have any act
heaven be made and it was made Let the earth be made and it was made Let the light the Sun and Starres be made Let trees creatures Men and Angels be made and all were made and adde to this which hath been said that the same GOD may if he will destroy with one beâ—ke all these things and the whole world as we said before out of the Booke of the Maccabees 4. To these wee may adde one depth more that all these things so many so great and composed of so many members and parts were made by GOD in a moment With us art and nature must have long time to bring any worke to perfection we see seeds sowen long before the herbs grow trees aske oft times many yeares to fasten the roots to sprout spread and beare fruit the fruit of the womb is long in the womb and long in the nursing before it come to any growth to speake nothing of art seeing it is so obvious to us that artificers must have much time to perfect any thing they take in hand How great then is the power of GOD who sooner then a word can be spoken can perfect so great workes It is not my purpose to dispute whether GOD in one moment absolved and finished heaven earth and all things in them or whether he spent sixe whole dayes in the first creation of things for this Treatise was intended for our ascent to GOD and not for dispute but this is it which I affirme and admire that every thing should be made perfect by the omnipotent Creator in a moment and concerning the earth the water ayre and fire no man doubts but that together with all the Angels they were created in a moment Concerning the firmament and the dividing of waters it is well known that they were all made by the onely power of the word speaking Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters and that in a moment for it followeth that it was so done upon which place St. Chrysostome thus He onely spake and the worke followed and the same Authour upon the words Let the earth bud forth c. Who saith he will not be astonisht to thinke how the Word of GOD Let the earth bud adorneth the face of the earth with an admirable embrodery of divers flowers you might suddenly have seene the earth deformed before and untilled and untrimmed to contend with heaven in comlinesse and bravery and upon the words Let there be light he saith He onely spake and this admirable element was brought forth I say the Sun and what if I added that the Moone and all the Starres were made by the same word and in the same moment by the same Creator and lastly upon these words Let the waters bring forth in abundance c. he thus speaketh What tongue can be sufficient to set out the praise and glory of the workeman For as he onely said of the earth Let the earth bud and presently a plentifull variety and multiplicity of flowers and herbs appeared so by saying here Let the waters bring forth so many creeping things and foules were created as no speech can recount Who therefore is like unto thee ô Lord among the Gods By all this thou mayst understand plainly the great power of thy Creator who by his latitude extends himselfe to all things by his longitude continues alwaies and without wearinesse supports and governes all things by his altitude attaineth to the making of those things which seeme to be and are impossible to all but himselfe and by his depth and profundity doth so make all things as that the manner and meanes of making them passeth all created understanding considering that he makes them of nothing into nothing without instruments without time onely by his word and command Hee spake the word saith the Psalmist and they were made hee commanded and they were created By this thou mayst gather if thou be wise how much it concernes thee whether it were best to have him thy angry enemy or thy well pleased friend For he can suddenly bereave thee of all good and load thee with all misery nor is there any that can deliver thee out of his hands for who dares contend with him that is omnipotent If thou shouldst being naked meet with an implacable enemy bending a sharpe weapon against thee what wouldst thou doe but in trembling and fearefull manner prostrate thy selfe at his feet and implore his mercy and yet he being a man thou mightst perhaps escape him by flight or resistance or wresting the weapon from him but what canst thou doe against an angry God from whom thou caust not flee he being every where nor resist him being omnipotent nor make delayes seeing he doth all in a moment and by his sole command and therefore not without cause did the Apostle say It is a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the living GOD. On the other side if thou make him thy friend who more happier then thou for he can if he will and he will if he be thy friend satisfie thee with all good things and deliver thee from all evill and it is in thy power either to make him thy friend or enemy while thou livest here GOD himselfe and he by his Prophets and againe by his Son and his Apostles in the Scriptures ever call and invite sinners to repentance and the just to keepe his Commandements that so he may have both sorts of men his friends or rather deare children and heires of eternall salvation Heare Ezechiel As I live saith the Lord God I desire not the death of the wicked but that the wicked turne from his way and live turn you turn you from your evillwaies for why will ye die ô ye houfe of Israel and as Ezechiel so Esay Ieremie and the rest of the Prophets being moved with the same spirit cry for the conversion of sinners Heare the Son of GOD when he began to preach Amend your lives for the Kingdome of God is at hand Heare the Apostle St. Paul speaking of himselfe and his fellow Apostles We are Ambassadours for Christ as though God did beseech you through us wee pray you in Christs stead that ye be reconciled to God What more cleare more comfortable The Apostle in Christs name doth beseech us to be reconciled to God to have him our friend not our enemy Who can doubt of Gods mercy if he seriously returne to him he will receive all converts as the loving Father received the prodigall Son But when we are returned and have found indulgence and favour what doth he require of us even to persevere as frends and children and to keep his Commandements If thou wilt enter into life keepe the Commandements saith our Saviour If thou wilt say without the helpe of God his Commandements cannot be kept heare what St. Augustine saith speaking of the hardest precept of all other that is
as speedily as she comes to the conjunction of the Sun as speedily departs from it but if thou beest wise and hast obtayned grace forsake it not depart not from it for thou shalt finde nothing better in any place neither dost thou know whether if thou voluntarily leave it thou shalt have it againe For he that hath promised pardon to the repentant and grace to converts hath not promised longer life nor the guift of repentance to thee Therefore in Gods name turne thy backe to the earth and looke upon thy Sun rest in him delight in him and continue in him say with St. Peter It is good for us to be here and with the blessed Martyr Ignatius It is better for me to live with Christ then to be a King upon earth and esteeme not nor regard what they which savour of the earth thinke of thee for it is not he which the world condementh but whom GOD commnedeth that shall be approved in the end 2. There is another custome of the Moone which GOD also observes with his elect The Moone rules the night as the Sun doth the day as Moses and David speake but the Sun enlightens the world with his splendâ—r all the day and the Moone shines sometime with a greater sometime with a lesser light and sometimes not at all in the night So GOD by his perpetuall brightnesse illustrates the Sun Angels and soules of the blessed to whom he is a perpetuall day for there shal be no night to them there but in this night of our pilgrimage and banishment wherein we walke by Faith and not by sight and we apply our selves onely to the Scriptures as unto a light that shineth in a darke place GOD as the Moone by courses visits us by enlightning our hearts and sometime leaves us in the darknesse of desolation Yet ought we not to be too much afflicted if at any time we enjoy not the light of comfort nor to be too much overjoyed if after a time we be refreshed with that comfortable light for GOD in this night of the world doth not carry himselfe towards us as the Sun but as the Moone for he not onely in these times appeareth as in the full Moone of comfort and sometime in the wayne of discomfort to us imperfect creatures but he hath formerly done so too St. Paul a vessell of election who was taken up into the third Heaven and heard words which cannot be spoken which are not possible for man to utter yet he could say sometime I am filled with comfort otherwhile he could complaine and lament his case I see another law in my members rebelling against the law of my mind and leading me captive unto the law of sinne which is in my members O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death and againe We would not have you ignorant of our affliction how we were pressed out of measure passing strength so that we doubted even of life And this is it which S. Chrysostome notes to us that GOD usually dealeth thus with his Saints suffering them neither to be alwaies pressed with tribulation nor lifted up with pleasure but to weave into their lives sometime adversity and at other times prosperity as it were with an admirable variety And so much for the Moone Now follow the Starres as the other ornaments of heaven of which the Son of Syrach speaking saith that they are the beauty of heaven the glory of the Starres yet addes as some translate it GOD in the highest enlightning the World and at whose commandement they stand in their order for whatsoever order or comelinesse is in the Starres or in the Sun or Moone they have it wholly from the Father of lights and neither is it the Sun by day or the Moone or Starres by night which give light to the world but it is GOD who dwelling in the highest enlightens the World by the Sun Moone and Starres for it is he of whom it is said When he sendeth out light it goeth and when he calleth it againe it obeyeth him with feare And the Starres shine in their watch and rejoyce When he calleth them they say Here we be and so with cheerefulnesse they shew light unto him that made them In which words are expressed the infinite power of GOD who with such incredible dexterity and facility in a moment createth adorneth and sets to worke so vast and beautifull bodies for vocare with us is â—reare with GOD for he calls those things which are not and by his calling makes them be that they are and that the Starres should say Here we be is no more then that they are ready to be and worke at the voyce of his command But this is most to be admired in the Starres that whereas they are moved most swiftly and never give over that swift motion and that some of them runne in their Orbe more stoutly others more speedily yet still they observe their own manner and proportion in time with one another that thereby they may make a sweet harmoniacall concent And this is not a concent of voyces or sounds which may be heard by bodily eares but of proportions in the motions of the Starres which is perceived by the earâ— of the heart for all the Starres of the firmament with the same swiftnesse runne about the whole compasse of heaven in 24. houres but the seaven Starres which we call planets or wandring Starres are moved some by swifter some by slowâ—r motions Ascend then a little higher if thou canst and from the great splender of the Sun the beauty of the Moone the multitudâ— and varietie of other lights from the admirable conâ—â—â—â— of the heavens from the most pleasant and harmoniacall courses of the Starres gather and conceive what a delight and happinesse it wil be to see GOD above the heaven that Sun which inhabiteth inaccessible light to behold the quire and orders of many thousands of Angels who garnish the heaven of heavens in greater number and shine more bright then all the Starres to see the soules of holy men added to the Quire of Angels and mingled as planets with the Starres of the firmament and how joyfull a thing it will be to heare the songs of praises and that exâ—llent Alleluâ—a resounded by musicall voyces in the streets of that City and by that it will come to passe that neither the beauty of heaven shall see me great to thee and the things which are under heaven thou shalt account small and almost nothing at all and therefore to be 〈◊〉 and dâ—spised DEGREE VIII By the Consideration of the reasonable soule of MAN HItherto we have passed through things corporall to the ascent to GOD and now we have found that the soules of men excell all corporall things in dignity betweene which and GOD we meet with no medium but the Hierarchies and orders of Angels Mans soule hath such
a resemblance with GOD his Creator that I know not whether a Man may ascend with more facility to the knowledge of GOD any other way then by the consideration of his owne soule And therefore man is inexcusable if he have not knowledge of him seeing he may attaine to it Gods grace assisting without difficulty by knowing his owne soule First then Mans soule is a spirit for so doe the holy Fathers expound those words in Genesis And the LORD formed Man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nosthrils the breath of life and Man became a living soule and that of Tobias Command my spirit to be taken from me and that of the Preacher Then shall the dust returne to the earth as it was and the spirit shall returne to GOD that gave it For although the word spirit agreeth to the wind also of which it is said in the Gospel Spiritus spirat ubi vult The wind bloweth where it listeth and in the Psalmes Spiritus procellarum as S. Ierome Wind and storme as our translation yet without doubt that spirit the wind is a most thinne body which for its great subtilty and raritie doth more imitate and resemble the spirituall nature then any other body But the soule of man is properly a spirit not a body neither is it produced or made of any matter but is immediately created by GOD. And here begins the excellencie of the soule in the resemblance to GOD for GOD is a spirit as our Saviour saith and they which worship him must worship him in spirit and truth But though GOD be a spirit and mans soule be a spirit also yet GOD is a spirit uncreated and the Creator and mans but a spirit created by which it followes that there is a great disproportion betweene the spirit which is the soule and the spirit which is GOD. And in this respect how greatly may the soule rejoyce that it is in the kind of a spirituall substance and so of a higher and more noble nature then heaven or the Starres and againe it should be the more humble and obedient to GOD because it was made of nothing and of it selfe is nothing Againe the soule of man because it is a simple spirit is also immortall for it hath nothing in it from whence it may be divided or severed And in this regard how much may it boast above the soules of bruit animals which die with their bodies and so behold and admire the great excellencie of the creator who is not onely immortall but everlasting For the soule of man sometime was not and came to a being by the onely will of GOD and by the will of the same GOD may againe be reduced to nothing although in it selfe it have no beginning of corruption therfore truly said the Apostle of GOD Who onely hath immortality for he onely cannot be dissolved neither by force chance or ought else because it is his property to be he is life it selfe and the fountaine of being and life Thirdly mans soule is endued with the light of understanding for it is not onely able to know and distinguish of colours tasts smells and sounds heate cold hard soft and other things of the like kind which are plaine to the sences of the body but is able to judge of substantialls and of things singular and universall and knoweth not onely things present but can conjecture at things to come transcends the heavens dives into the deep searches effects from causes and from effects hath recourse to causes Lastly by the eye of the mind it comes to the knowledge of GOD himselfe which dwelleth in inaccessible light and this is the light of which Saint John speakes This was the true light which enlightneth every man that cometh into the World which David calls the light of Gods countenance Of the light of the understanding the same Kingly Prophet saith Be ye not like to horse and mule who have no understanding Certainely this is a great priviledge and dignity of the soule by which man becomes like to GOD and unlike the beasts and by this a man may also conjecture of the excellent sublimity of his creâ—â—â—â— for though the soule of man be endued with this light of understanding yet GOD is the light and understanding The soâ—lâ— as is said runnes from causes to effects and againe from effects to causes and therby hunts as it were with great labour to attain this knowledge but GOD with one aspect and at the first sight knoweth all things The soule understandeth those things which are so that his knowledge depends upon things GOD by his understanding bringeth to passe that things are so that the existence or being of things depends upon his knowledge The soule doth but conjecture of things to come GOD beholds all things past and to come as perspicuously and plainely as if they were present The soule wants many things to exercise the office of its understanding as the object forme fancie and the like GOD wants nothing for essence it selfe is his all things even his owne essence is his understanding Lastly the soule whiâ—e it is in the body neither seeth GOD the Angels nor it selfe nor any substance though corporeall properly and is deceived in many things is ignorant in many of many things he hath but an opinion and of few things the true knowledge but GOD is ignorant of nothing thinks nothing is never deceived never erreth All things are naked and opened c. Therefore if Man hath such an opinion and esteemeth so much of his knowledge as that according to the Apostle his knowledge puffe him up how much ought he to admire the knowledge of his Creator to whose if mans be compared it is no knowledge but ignorance There is also another kind of knowledge in the soule of Man which consists not in speculation but in action from whence it cometh that there are so many Bookes of Philosophers which treat if vices and vertues so many Lawes of Princes Lawyers and others so many institutions to acquire the art of living well In which appeâ—â—eth mans admirable light of reason by which alone he differs farre from beasts in excellencie but all this is nothing to the eternall Law which is powerfull in the mind of the Creator from whence as from a most plentifull fountaine all other Lawes flow and are derived for there is one Law giver and Iudge which is GOD as St. Iames tells us He is Truth Justice and Wisedome By whom Kings raigne and Princes decree Iustice So that we shall never find out the Art of living well and happily till we come to the Schoole of CHRIST who is the true and onely Master by whose word and example we shall learne that righteousnesse which exceeds the righteousnes of the Scribes and Pharisees yea and of Philosophers too whose end is love out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and
fight with an armie and overcome and kill at one time 185000. as in the case of the Assyrian army If then an Angell can doe these things what can the LORD of Angels doe Certainly he which made all things of nothing can againe reduce all things to nothing A mans mind also by the Art of painting and graving with labour and industry can make mens counterfeits and represent them so to the life that they may be thought to live and breath the Angels without labour hands or instruments in a moment of time can so apt and fit to themselves a body out of the elements that by wisemen it shal be conceived to be a humane body that shall walke speake eate drinke be touched felt and washed So Abraham prepared meat for the Angels and washed their feet and his nephew Lot received Angels as pilgrimes into his house and the Angel Raphael accompanied young Tobias many dayes walking speaking eating and drinking as if he had beene a true and reall man yet he being to leave him said I seemed to eate and drinke with you but I did neither eate nor drinke but you did see a vision and presently vanisht out of their sight Certainely it is a great and admirable power to assume a body presently which shall seeme to differ nothâ—ng from a humane and living body and to dissolve it at pleasure as sodainely so that no signe of it shall remaine Now if the power of Angels be so great and wonderfull how great is the power of the Creator of Angels who hath given this and what power he pleaseth As the knowledge of Angels and men being compared with the knowledge of GOD is but ignorance and as the righteousnesse of Angels and men compared with the righteousnesse of GOD is unrighteousnesse so all the power of Angels and men compared with the power of GOD is weaknesse and therefore GOD is truely called onely wise onely good and onely mighty 4. Lastly if we consider the place of Angels and the place of men we shall finde also in this respect that man or the soule of man is not onely little lesse but much lesse the Angels For GOD hath given to the soule of man a place in earth but to the Angels a place in heaven in his owne Palace All the whole heavens are the Lords the earth hath he given to the sons of men Hence it is that our Saviour calleth them the Angels of heaven and in anothâ—r place Joy shal be in heaven for one sinner that converteth and a little after There is joy in the presence of the Angels of GOD for one sinner that converteth Againe GOD hath so bound the soule to the body as that without the one the other cannot move but GOD hath not tyed the Angels to any body but hath given them power to passe from heaven to earth and from the earth to heaven whensoever they will and that speedily so that an Angel bâ— the dignity of his nature being neerest to GOD by his subtility also after a sort imitateth the omnipresence of GOD. For GOD is alwaies every where by the immensity of his nature neither needs hee change of place seeing he is every where and an Angell by the swiftnesse of his motion so easily passeth from place to place and exhibits his presence so easily to all places that in a manner he seemes to be every where If then thou wilt give eare to the LORD of Angels there will be no cause why thou shouldst envie the Angels or their high place or swift motion for not onely thy soule when it shal be loosened from thy body shall be equall with them but also when thy soule shall returne to thy body which Christ shall fashion like to his glorious body with that body thou shalt possesse heaven as thy proper mansion and that body being made a spirituall body it shal be there continually without labour and wearinesse where thy soule will and commands it Thy Lord God will not faile thee in his promise In my Fathers house are many mansions and I goe to prepare a place for you and I will that they be with me where I am c. but where Christ is and what body he hath we know for we confesse every day and say the third day he arose from the dead and ascended into heaven and we know also that his body after his resurrection used to enter to his Disciples the doores being shut and when he left them it was not by walking away but vanishing that is he conveighed his body with so speedy motion from place to place as if he had bin a spirit and not a body But if thou aspire to that place it is necessary that thou first conforme thy selfe to him here thy body to the body of Christs humility and so it will come to passe that Christ will fashion thy body like to his glorious body Againe thou must follow his footsteps for Christ suffered for you leaving you an eâ—sample that you should follow his steps and what are they St. Peter answers in the next verses That did no sinne neither was there any guile found in his mouth Who when he was reviled reviled not againe when he suffered he threatned not These are the two steps to tract him by from which if thou errest thou hast lost thy way and shalt never come to thy Countrey 1 Thou must doe no evill but suffer and 2dly Thou must doe good and expect none here againe and which is the summe of all thou must love thy neighbour for Gods sake with the true and pure love of amity and not of concupiscence freely not for the retribution of man being contented with Gods recompence which exceedeth all proportion and measure 2 We come now to speake of the dignity of Angels according to grace And in this respect it may be truly also said that God made man little lesse and more then little lesse then the Angels For in the beginning GOD so created every Angell that together with their nature he infused grace as St. Augustine testifies Sooneafter they which cleaved to GOD by love were crowned with glory and blessednesse and they which rebelled and were reprobate fell Therefore their pilgrimage must needs be short and their mansion everlasting if we may call that short distance betweene their creaation and blessednesse a pilgrimage We men in our creation received also grace with our nature but it was in our first parent not in our selves and therefore he falling we all fell In whom all men have sinned as St. Paul saith although by the Mediator of GOD and Man CHRIST IESUS we are reconciled to GOD yet we are condemned to a long banishment and while we are in this body we wander from God for we walke by Faith and not by sight and that which much grieveth good men and those who desire their Countrey is that in the meane time they
losses pains and shame might either have an end or some kind of comfort mingled with them as the miseries of this life have they might in some sort be accounted more tollerable Now since it is without all doubt most certaine that as the happinesse of the blessed is to continue for ever without mixture of misery so the unhappinesse of the damned shall for ever be without any temper or mixture of comfort they must necessarily be accounted blind and foolish that labour not with all their might and strength to come to the Kingdome of heaven and heavenly blessednesse through all tribulatious and perills infamie and death all which the Apostle calls but light and momentanie And if any should happily mervaile why a most mercifull GOD hath appointed so sharpe and lasting punishments for the sins of men which quickly passe away and seeme not so grievous let him heare St. Augustine whosoever thinkes this condemnation too much or too unjust cannot measure how great the iniquity was in sinning when there was such a facility not to have sinned and againe Who can sufficiently declare how great a sinne it may be not to obey in an easie matter and in the command of such a power and so great a punishment terrifying this he speakes of Adams sinne but there is the same reason for all sinnes for if we will weigh with just balances we shall finde that all sinnes and offences are most grievous in three respects 1. First it is a fearefull thing that the creature should not obey the Creator confidering the dignity of the Creator is infinitely distant from the basenesse of the creature 2. If the commands of the Creator were heavy and hard yet the creature is bound to obey them but his Commandements are not grievous saith St. John and our Saviour saith that his yoke is easie and his burden light how great an offence is it then that the wormes of the earth should not obey their Creator in so easie a matter 3. If GOD had not threatned sinners with the punishment of everlasting death man perhaps might have covered his sinne with excuse but since GOD by his Prophets and Apostles hath so perspicuously denounced everlasting punishment for sinne who can excuse the contumacie of offendors 4. Lastly if the faults of the damned were not eternall we might mervaile why the punishment of sinne should be everlasting But forasmuch as the obstinacie of the damned is eternall why doe we mervaile though their punishment be eternall And this obstinate will in evill which shall be common with the damned and the Devils this perverse and averse will from GOD which will ever remaine immoveable and firme with them causeth just and holy men to abhorre sinne more then hell Edmer the English man writeth thus of Anselme My conscience beares me witnesse I lye not I have often heard him professe that if he should see on this side the horrour of sinne and on that side the paine of hell and that of necessity he must be plunged in one of them he had rather choose hell then sinne Another thing he was woont to say no lesse wonderfull That he had rather be in hell pure from sinne and innocent then reigne in heaven defiled with the spot or staine of sinne If this holy man so spake and thought because being enlightned by GOD he knew that the grievousnesse of sinne was greater then the paines of hell how much more GOD who searcheth the wickednesse filthinesse and perversitie of sinne to the bottome and will most justly punish and judge it to be most worthy of that punishment which he hath appointed for it from eternity Therefore be not deceived erre not be not like to those who professe themselves to know GOD but deny him by their workes for many have saith but in habit not in act like a sword hidden in a scabbard If they would beleeve in act and by beleeving would seriously consider that GOD is faithfull and just and without doubt hath prepared grievous torments for the wicked never to have end nor to be tempered or qualified with any comforts it could not be that they should consume their time as they do drinking iniquity like water that is so easily so without feare yea with much pleasure and delight without any reluctancie as if there were a reward not a punishment due to sinnes and sinners But let us all beleeve most assuredly and by beleeving seriously consider that GOD in this life is a Father of mercies and ready to pardon the sinnes of all truly penitent and withall that the same GOD after this life wil be altogether a GOD of vengeance and will inflict that punishment upon unrepentant and obstinate sinners which he hath prepared and commanded to be preached and foretold by his Prophets and Apostles and left upon record in writing for the information of posterity For so it will come to passe that by feare of intollerable paines and the hope of great rewards as lifted up by two wings we shall securely passe and escape the perills of this life and come and attaine to rest and life eternall and that through the merits of our Lord and onely Saviour Iesus Christ Amen The end of the Booke A TABLE OF the Degrees or Ascents to God-ward 1 BY the Consideration of Man fol. 1. 2 By the Consideration of the Greater World fol. 29. 3 By the Consideration of the Earth fol. 55. 4 By the Consideration of Water especially of Rivers and Fountaines fol. 77. 5 By the Consideration of the Ayre fol. 107. 6 By the Consideration of Fire fol. 127. 7 By the Consideration of Heaven the Sun Moone and Starres fol. 157. 8 By the Consideration of the reasonable soule of Man fo 185. 9 By the Consideration of Angels fol. 213. 10 By the Consideration of the Essence of GOD fol. 239. 11 By the Consideration of the greatnes of Gods power f. 272. 12 By the Consideration of the greatnesse of the Speculative or Contemplative Wisedome of GOD fol. 297. 13 By the Consideration of the Practicall or Operating Wisedome of GOD fol. 315. 14 By the Consideration of the Mercy of GOD fol. 358. 15 By the Consideration of GODS Iustice fol. 385. FINIS July 31. 1637. Perlegi librum hunc cui Titulus est IACOBS LADDER nec in eo quicquam reperio quò minùs cum utilitate publica imprimatur SA BAKER Psal 49. 20. Iob. 35. Iob 5. 14. 12. 25. Es 59. 10. Act. 1. 11 Ex. 19. 21 1. 1 Chro. 16. 11. 22. 19. Am 5. 4. 6. 2. 1 Chro. 28. 9. 3. 2 Chro. 20. 3. 30. 18. 34. 3. Ps 27. 9 16. 9 4. Deut. 4. 29. c. Ps 9 10. 69. 33. Esay 45. 19. La. 3. 25. 5. Acts 17. 1. 2 Chro. 19. 3. 〈◊〉 27 6. 1 Chro. 15. 13. 2. Sap. 1. 1. Mat. 5. 8. Ephes 5. 5. 3. I am 4. 6. 1 Chro. 13. 9. 4. Eccle. 25. 11. Ps 14. 1. 5. Esay