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
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 save thy self if thou put not thy selfe under the shelter of thy Saviours Cross If thou lose him thou hast nothing left to comfort thee In him thou hast all things If thou art Hungry thou needest but to taste of his love if Thirsty the light of his countenance is farre better then the Corn and Wine of this world We read of many accomplished Beauties in former ages which have drawn the affections of those that beheld them but what are those but fading shadows to the love of Jesus which winneth whole Nations and Monarchies to it From hence it is that so many Kings Queens and great Personages have forsaken the Pomp and Beauty of the World and followed him through Thornes and Rocks that so many millions of the wisest and most purified Souls upon Earth have abandoned themselves and loved him even to the suffering of Flames and Wheeles yea the dismembring of their whole Body Oh that our hearts could then dissolve for him Oh that they could dayly melt in his service without consuming since there is nothing which equalizeth the excellency of this Celestial Love But wretched Creatures as we are can we chuse but grievc to see them torn and divided by so many vile and base Objects which divert our Affections and hinder us from giving them to God for which they were made Oh how much should we blush thus to contaminate our hearts with the wickedness and impurities of the Earth The heart of Man should be as a fortunate Island wherein there is nothing but God and it Or like the Nest of that little Bird which cannot hold one silly Fly more then it self But alas what Creatures are there there lodged to the prejudice of our Creator O poor Soul really miserable do but once open thine eyes and thou shalt soon see the head-long ruine which threatneth thee Carnal Souls have much ado to conceive how a man may become passionate in the love of God it is a love too high say they to transfer our Affections into Heaven we know no affection but for temporal and visible things O blinded Spirits ignorant of the glorious Mysteries of Heaven How do ye thus argue with your selves O sad Souls is Heaven a Country wherein they have no commerce Doth God speak to thee in all his Creatures nay doth he seek for thee dost thou behold him through the veil of Nature in somany various Objects Dost thou daily see him in the Image of his Bounty and Greatness of his power and the splendor of his Beauty and in the lively Characters of his Majesty and wilt thou be so much charmed with the present pleasures and delighted so with the Workmanship as to forget the Workman Wilt thou embrace the shadow for the body and momentary Beauties for Eternal verities Oh! but thou objectest that he is a secret so hidden and invisible to men that our poor spirits finde more confusion then light in seeking him I answer hold thy peace O thou ignorant and mis-judging Soul God shews himself in as many mirrours as there are Creatures in the world All that we see hear touch or handle cease not to recount unto us the love of our Maker Do we not find the daily experience of his love in every minutes preservation Do we not hear the sweetness of his voice and harmonies in the chirping of every little Bird and Nightingale yea the least silly Fly holds forth a tone which all the art of the world cannot frame If we behold the murmuring of those silver streams which so sweetly charme and delight our senses if we cast an eye upon those various party-coloured Flowers with what an exquisite delicacie shall we find them adorn'd insomuch that as we have it from the sacred lips of Eternal Wisdom Solomon in all his Royalty was not like one of these But when we cast our eyes towards Heaven when we behold the Sun the Moon and those silver sparcles which shew themselves as soon as the Night spreads its Mantle over the inferior Regions of the World Ah! how may we with the Princely Prophet cry out The Heavens declare the Glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy-work Expose not then the loss of thy innocency and sanctity O poor Soul to the alluring occasions of this tempting world and thou needest not fear but in him to find salve forall thy wounds It may be thou fearest Poverty alas hath not thy Saviour consecrated it in the Crib and in Clouts Dost thou fear Reproaches he hath sanctified them in the loss of his Reputation Dost thou fear dolours he hath lodged them in his own flesh Dost thou fear Death he hath overcome it for thee only let thy heart be devested from the ardent affections thou hast towards worldly enablements beholding them as an inconstant moving of shadowes and Spirits which with a swift course glide before our eyes And lastly let us look towards the eye of God which perpetually beholdeth us Let us behold it as our Pole-star and flaming Pillar whereby at last we shall learn to repose our selves in his bosome slumber upon his heart and sleep eternally between his Arms. The Soul breaks into Sighes and dissolves into desires for the presence of God THe Soul of Man being made to the Image of God and for the possession and fruition of God will never rest but in the conformity of its understanding and will to its Creator It casts its eyes indeed oftentimes on the Sea the Earth with so many Rivers which moisten it so many Trees which cover it so many living Creatures which furnish it so many men which inhabite and dress it but yet rests not there It figures also the Air in its thoughts with all its Birds so different in shape so various in colour so diversified in their Notes but alas like Noahs Dove she finds no rest for her footing It glanceth up further to those Christaline and azure Vaults where the Sun the Moon and so many silver Stars perform their career with such measure as God hath determined yet finds not God in any of them It contemplates those innumerable Legions of Angels Spirits of Fire and light which resplendently shine as Lamps before the face of God yet ever cryes out it is not be God onely being he who comprehendeth all things and not onely bounds them but incomparably surpasseth them What do I here then O Jesus without thee but sail without Stars and labour without the Sun Alas if I can do nothing here without thee if without the Sun-shine of thy presence I am but an unprofitable servant and burden to the Earth what do I here All that satisfieth the desires of the curious all that which inviteth the admiration of the wisest all that which enflameth the hearts of the most passionate yea Land and Sea Thrones and Scepters Arms and Empires are but as a silly drop of dew before thy face And wilt thou yet O disloyal Soul entertain in thy heart a mass of
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
in all its dimensions Here it is that our Reason is Eclipsed and we often stray from our chiefest good but there it is that after an admirable Transformation the Soul is wholly absorpt in Felicity And as a small drop of water pouted into the Sea instantly takes the colour and taste there of so the Souls taste is fully inebriated and coloured with the divine Glory O Beauty O Greatness O Goodness Beauty to inhabite in the Idea of God as in a Paradise of Glory and Greatness to have capacity infinite and truly apprehensive of divine Majesty Hence also may we take notice that as there is ever some weakness in humane things which sticketh to the most smiling Felicities and never giveth us wine but with a mixture of dregs so never doth the day of God shine clearly in a Soul which hath too much light of man and sips too deeply in the fading vanities of the world such dayes being seldom without Clouds For O deceitful Riches O fading Beauty O Phantasms of Honour How painful are ye to those that sue for you How Traiterous are ye to those that possess you and dolorous to those that leave you unhappy are those that prize you through error that court you through vanity and obtain you by iniquity How much better is it to put our hands in flames then to lay them on Crowns covered with injustice what will it avail us to have worn Purple when we arrive at the period of Death if we have defiled it with the spots of uncleaness and that we must make an Exchange of all our glory and greatness for a habite of Flames which shall no more wear out then Eternity And who so blind as those who behold not the Diamonds of a Royal Crown to sweat with horrour upon a Head poisoned with Pride and Ambition Who is so weak as sees it not his best course to withdraw from the great conversations of the world from the imbroilment of affairs wherein is so little profit from the Court from specious Offices Preferments and Negotiations from all worldly Ambitions and to cultivate a sweet repose and quiet in the service of Jesus O God of the Patient and Eternal mirrour of Patience may my Soul for ever hover in that Region where thou inhabitest may it speedily arrive to that fortunate Island where divine tranquility dwelleth and where there is an everlasting springof Beauty and Glory may it enter into the Temple and may the continual odours of the Sacrifice of Reconciliation Mercy and Propitiation mount up to thy Throne which thou taughtest us upon Calvary in the bitter and sharp dolours of thy body amidst the sorrow of Heaven the darkness of the Sun the opening of Sepulchres the breaking of Stones the effusion of thy Blood and the desolation of thy Soul And as thy arms Blessed Lord were stretched out upon the Cross so at last receive me into the stretched-out arms of thy mercy The Sin-sick Soul can take no rest until she be further reconciled to her Saviour AS there is never any thing good without the experience of evil so God is often pleased here to afflict his Children the berter to make them relish his comforts And hence is it that as David saith Psal 55.19 The wicked fear not God because they have no changes God sending troubles to his Children in mercy but gives prosperity to the wicked in his wrath And hence it is that while the workers of iniquity do flourish the children of God being heavy loaden with the weight and burden of their sinnes cry out Lay on us O God! any affliction rather then suffer us to prosper in the way that is evil As the little Nightingale which lives innocently by some little seeds of Plants sings sweetly while we see all those Birds of Prey which feed upon the flesh of Beasts send forth a horrid cry And as the poor Turtle ceaseth not to groan having lost her Mate and often beholds her self in the silver streams where in every wave she sees she laments the waving Image of her misfortune yet is far more secure since the memelancholly Object of pitty then those who are more obvious to the eye of the Fowler so a pious Soul though seemingly deprived of her sweet liberty and seeing her self severed from all commerce with Man kind to be banished into a Desert where nothing but Rocks are witnesses of her sufferings is notwithstanding still fastned unto God by Chains not to be dissolved whom she fervently desires to vouchsafe her comfort and to confirm her spirit which was descended into the bottom of the miseries of this world When the poor Soul hath offended her God she can never be friends with her self untill she be reconciled to him and conceive his countenance to be turned again to her If he once but hide himself she looks forward if he be there on the right hand and on the left if she may find him She takes all ocasions of holy Conferences and useth all means with the Spouse to enquire for her Beloved which way he was gone and whether he was turned aside Early and late doth she seek the Lord of her life she takes no rest in traversing the Forrests the Woods the Meadows the Mountains and Floods Cant. 1.3 and 6.3 She seeks him by night whom her Soul loveth she will arise and look about the streets with groans and cryes with sighes and prayers in her Chamber and Closet in Church and Chappel she sends up her vowes to the God of her salvation How powerfully also doth she desire God first bedewing her own eyes to water the barrenness of her Soul what sad complaints being all swoln with Tears doth she pour out What is Heaven turn'd Brass that neither Tears nor sighes can enter Shall there be no more commerce between Heaven and the unhappy Progeny of sinfull Adam Alas O God! saith the forlorn Soul Wilt thou alwayes be hidden from me Shall I never see that face which with one glimpse of splendor can make me eternally happy where am I what do I Alas my soul is in night and darkness and I sadly feel O blessed Saviour that thou art far from me My heart is near sinkingin a sea of sorrow I row strongly but can advance nothing except thou come into my Soul Come then O my most blessed Saviour walk upon this tempestuous Sea of my heart say unto me It is I be not afraid O come speedily and Reign within me to disperse those cares to enlighten my understanding to enflame my will to cure my Infirmities and recover my decayed Senses Many and bitter no doubt are the assaults of Satan all this while within the poor Soul Can God love thee saith he and leave thee thus to my power Why then is all this befaln thee where are all his mercies thou boastest of sure he hath now forsaken and delivered thee into my hand why then shouldst thou wait any longer But still doth the Soul stop her ears
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
Fear not O Spouse thy Beloved is not wholly departed Be not troubled if thy journey to Canaan be through the wilderness of this world and if in thy way to Sion thou pass through the valley of Baca since Christ is a Cloud and Pillar to direct thee Thus by the Gates of Hell doth God oftentimes shew us the way to Heaven He who is not tyed alwayes to bring a Soul thither by one and the same Road can make Death the way to life The Sun of Righteousness is stil bright though behind a Cloud and not seen to us The Nurse is withdrawn oftentimes that the Mother may get the chiefest affections of the Child And though God leave a poor Soul labouring in the Pangs of Desertion yet through the Sun-shine of Gods countenance ripening its Graces cloudy weather still advantageth her growth and her Barrenness at last yeelds a fruitful Harvest Gods relief comming alwaies in the best time and she patiently attends his help from Heaven even until the fourth which is the last watch of the Night And when vvith Peter she is freed out of the Prison of strong Temptation and God is pleased to come in unto her with abundance of comfort Oh! how is she raised to bless the Lord who hath forgiven her sinnes and healed all her infirmities The waves of Terrours and flouds of Afflictions never beat so violently upon her neither did she so much complain of spiritual wants as now she saw the wonders of God in the deep and the infinitenefs of his Wisdom in the dispensations of comfort and joy of grief and terrour The Souls complaint now is no longer Where is my God become or that There is no soundness in her flesh because of his anger All her distempers seem but as so much Physick to clense her from her manifold sins Yea she now seems even drown'd in sweetness and in sinking cryes out Oh the breadth of thy unfathomable love what Saint what Tongue what Angel can speak out thy unexpressible kindness Ephes 5.17 Thou hast loosed my Bonds Oh that my heart could burn in love towards thee Oh that I could as I desire make known to others hovv good thou hast been to me in preserving strengthning and fixing my fiath on a Rock not to be over-born vvith the storms and swelling Surges of Satans Temptations Methinks I meet thee every where O blessed Jesus with a hundred arms unfolded to do me good what place what time what moment is not filled vvith thy Bounty Though passions have for a time assailed my mind and thy Terrours have affrighted my spirits yet behold now thy Grace hath shot through the dark Clouds of my Sin and doubting thy Darts have pierced the Center of my heart with quickning sparklings my spirits are come again Ah how my Soul is fill'd with joy ravishment and admiration Oh God! who is he who beholds the fading shadows of the world this dismal place where cares and sorrows are still growing young and never die that would ever betray his Soul Heaven and his God to yield obedience thereunto who vvould betray an Eternity of blessing for a Pleasure so short and wretched who would build Tabernacles here to lose a Mansion among Celestial Souls where Love onely Reigns who would not give a farewel to those earthly Cottages to ascend those mounts of Bliss vvhere every season is a constant Spring who vvould desire to make his name great here on Earth and desire to have them enrolled among the Saints in Heaven O what Celestial mirth what an expansion of all the faculties of the Spirit yea what rejoycing is there in the heart of Man vvhen Christ begins to make it his Throne all Powers do him homage all Passions render him service Who can conceive what joy passeth in the Soul vvhen Jesus is pleased to take up his lodging in it Hovv is the heart excited awakened and enflamed towards Heaven what distaste is there of all things in the world It is as light to bleared eyes It is as food to hungry Travellers It is the repose to the wearied the Country of poor Pilgrims and the Crown of all our happiness Nothing but Fires Desires Sweetness Affections Joyes and Admirations will transport our Souls having once regained our wel-beloved our thoughts will wholly be employed upon Jesus we shall be dead and insensible to all the Objects of the world All the Thornes wherewith it is encompassed will seem as Roses If we swim in the Tears of Wotmwood it will be no other then sweet water All the wounds we receive will be but like Rubies and Pearls Our Maladies will prove but sports our Calumnies will be our blessings yea Death it self no other then a happy life When the Soul sleeps Jesus is in her sleep vvhen she speaks Jesus is under her Tongue when she Writes Jesus is under her Pen and when she is merry she chaunts forth the praises of her Jesus in her solitude she seems all environed with Raptures And vvhen any reproves her for being alone she cries out nothing less before she vvas interrupted with their company In the morning she grieves to think how often she shall offend God before Night Being about to rest she bitterly vvith scalding Tears laments that she shall have no more power over her Dreams but offend her Saviour while she slept Thus is her mind alwayes running after her dear Spouse Se is in a prison of Love vvhere her Thoughts her Hopes her Joyes were Chains And still doth she elevate her self upon the wings of Faith in the highest postures she can towards Heaven taking the choisest affections vvith her vvhereby to ascend that Mountain of pure and inexpressible light She vvell knew that true Pleasure vvas to be found no vvhere but in God vvhose Joyes are like those Gardens which never vvither but are perpetually watered vvith immortal Graces And oh How if it vvere possible vvould she express her love to him by daily offering her self a hundred times for him in as many Sacrifices as she hath Thoughts and Body Members Never Ship laden vvith Gold arrived more gladly at the Haven after many tedious Tempests and a thousand disasters among Pirates at Sea as the poor soul novv seems to take content in the love of God And having spun out all the Web vvhich he gave her cryes out I have ended all the hopes of the vvorld why stayest thou O my God! to receive my Soul which I bear in my lips O Jesus at whose name the Heaven the Earth and Hell do bend the knee I now care not what I suffer for thee so I sin not against thee so I may for ever injoy thee Thus the love of God is like Lightning in a Cloud still striving to break forth and suffers the Soul to take little rest in any thing but what it undertakes for the glory of her Maker Joh. 11. who many times defers the cure that his power may be the more manifest the heats of