ever was is and ever shall be he also exalteth the horn of his people Christ the horn of David and the horn and salvation of the Church as well as the praise of all his Saints Male and Female for ye are all one in Christ Jesus and so are Jews and Gentiles Greeks and Scythians all Nations having drunk of his Blood and Saints too even the Children of Israel a People near unto himself yea as the apple of his eye Praise ye the Lord sing a Song of Praise Psalm 149. and rejoyce in your King the Lord reigns the Lord is King for ever and ever let the Earth be glad let them praise his Name in Dances spiritual ones with Timbrel and Harp joy and comfort in their Souls for the Lord taketh pleasure in his People shall a Worm do it in his hole a Bird in the Sun a Saint in God and not God in his people Oh yes he taketh pleasure in his people and will beautifie the meek with salvation We told you the meek should inherit the earth a little before but here is heaven and salvation too Oh! Blessed are the meek and blessed are all these blessed ones whom he takes pleasure in Let the Saints be joyful in glory let them sing upon their beds go in all the divine and heavenly discoveries of Gods love to their souls and let a sword be in their hands the holy word of God which is as a two edged one to cut down all ungodly lusts and reigning sins in their souls yea let the law of God as a golden chain bind their unruly Kingly lusts and Lordly ones too from acting against God and their souls for ever and to execute on them the doom that is death and mortification as St. Paul saith Col. 3. 5. This honour all his Saints shall have that is his sanctified justified ones as I told you a little before yea in these no sin shall ever reign as Kings and Noble men for these are not under the Law but under Grace so saith the great Apostle and experienced Saint St. Paul Rom. 6. 14. Wherefore praise him in the sanctuary yea that that is of all most proper yea in the congregation of his people yea in the great congregation will I praise thee sayes David ay and in the little one too I will praise thee with my whole heart and my tongue shall be as the pen of a ready writer Psal 45. 1. I will extol thee O King I will bless thee for ever and ever Psal 145. 1 2. Every day will I bless thee great is the Lord most worthy to be praised his greatness none can reach Ladies Men and Angels may try their skill and strain their voices but can never reach it no the uttermost thoughts of men and Angels cannot do it for he is still as far beyond them as the heavens are beyond the earth yea he is more excellent than all creatures can conceive to eternity and Christ also fairer than the children of men the chiefest of ten thousands altogether lovely Psa 45. 2. 6. Cant. 5. 10. And saies God concerning Christ I will make thy name to be remembred in all generations And therefore shall the people love and praise thee for ever and ever Psal 45. 17. And to thee shall every knee bow Phil. 2. 10. that is submit and be disposed of by Christ as he pleases and how he pleases Oh! praise him for his acts he hath led Captivity Captive and is judge of quick and dead according to his excellency give him praise with Timbrel and Harp yea with ten stringed instruments all the veins in tongue and heart praise him praise him for musical instruments has Christ put down in his Gospel worship and therefore 't is the lip 't is the life 't is the heart 't is the soul that must now praise him O Lords Lords Ladies and other English Mortals won't you joyn to Praise him Then you are undone utterly undone For EVER Written by WILLIAM BLAKE House-keeper to the Ladies Charity-School FINIS
for all which we heartily and most humbly beg as on our Knee that we may have your Noble step in this Good Work as a Leading Card to other Pious Ladies and a little small Acknowledgment which you cannot better make to the Great and Good God of the deep sense you have of all his many mercies To whom be Glory Honour and Dominion world without End Pray all we Poor Boys May it please you most Great and Noble Countess AS your Title bears the greatest sound so your Name and Memory will be more beloved than all that shall succeed the Protestants loved and they all bewailed it in the Nation when it fell but while Sion-House shall last Old Northumberland's Name will live and may you live also for ever Live when Sun Moon and Stars shall be no more Live in the heavenly Jerusalem when earthly Sion and earthly things shall be no more And that you may so do let the Love of God now dwell in you the Blood of Christ and his Spirit wash and sanctifie you Soul and Body to make both blameless at his coming and to wait for his Son from Heaven which though it may not be in your daies yet will it be a pleasure all your life long to think indeed upon it and that when he comes the second time it will be without sin unto salvation without sin that is a good word indeed At his first coming he was loaded with sins for us Isa 53. O read often this Chapter but he is now without and shall appear without sin for us Christ is got rid of our sins by his sufferings he gave satisfaction for us to the Father no Pens nor Tongues can sufficiently set out this Madam feed your thoughts upon it frequently the worlds all vanity from top to bottom and must pass away 1 Joh. 2. 17. But the Love of God and Blood of Christ abides for ever O happy man that maketh that his portion All things fail but my God and my Duty said a great one Oh! keep close to Christ then that he may clasp you when you and this world must part Trust not in worldly Princes saith the Psalms Their breath is in their nostrils and will soon fall to earth Happy is the man who hath the God of Jacob for his portion which made Heaven and Earth and that Heaven and Earth may both be yours One you have already and the other may you ever have also That shall be the prayers of us poor School-Boys yea we shall all pray that you may for ever sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob Luke 13. v. 28. be in the Kingdom of God to sing the everlasting praises of the Lamb and his Joys to Eternity Revel 7. 16. May it please your most Great and Noble Ladiship WE the Ladies Hospital-Boys of Highgate have humbly presumed to pray and dedicate one of these little Charity School house-Sticks to your Right Honourable Family which is Illustrious as a Star of great Magnitude and has shin'd if not out-shin'd most in this our Horison for great Wisdom in the Laws and Statutes of the Kingdom which made the Nation so happy in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth when your Lord 's Noble Ancestor governed all as only Minister of State and may your present Lord be as great and as good a Patriot to his Country the Laws and Priviledges of it yea and Patron to the best of Preaching-Ministers as his Noble Family or Grandfather has been heretofore and so whilst he really loves both his Prince and Kingdom with the Preaching-Ministers also he must needs be a good and great friend to both and our Protestant Religion so much struck at at this time which is far beyond all the earthly things in the world for true value and esteem may your Ladiship and Lord therefore both long live together and may your mutual Love be blessed by the Great God with many Children as it is and may they all live and stand round your great Table as Olive-branches flourish in the Courts of God's own House be good and pious here holy and happy to all Eternity for that is a long thing and must be and our Immortal Souls too when the Sun the Sea and World shall be no more Most Honourable Madam WE are come again though the Year be hardly out since our setting up But for the future we will never trouble your Right Noble Ladiship more than once if so often but now necessity puts us upon it for getting something out of Great Families to carry on this next Years Charge And we remember how your Honour gave a Caution when you sent your Guineys not to be too troublesom for that you had very many objects in the Country which did need my Lord's help and the truth is the whole World is full of wants so that Good and Great Persons can never lack Objects but this is a thing not common that bears your Noble Name and is Dedicated to the Honour of your Sex and in feeding it two or three Years you will make it live it self and stand upon its own Legs and would your Honour but be pleased to send to see how well it stands in the mean time we well know you to be a good and prudent Lady and therefore will not believe in the least you will yet stick out to help us till the thing be a little stronger and have taken better Root which it will soon and certainly do and then you nor no other Noble Ladies will ever repent in the least of what has been done for us who will ever pray for you my Lord his Sons and all your Noble Family that your Souls may be truly happy when the World shall fly away like a mighty Eagle and be seen no more for ever the Sun Moon or Stars be darkened the Silver Cord loosed or the Golden Bowl broken and the Spirit return to God that gave it Eccles 12. v. 2 6. Right Honourable Madam THough all Good Works may be said to speak for themselves yet a powerful Intercessor does do well and for your house or most Noble Family a greater than your self cannot be for as our Lord Jesus Christ his greatness with the Father makes every thing to be easie and readily granted that he moves the Father for so your Power and Influences must needs be very successful because you move the nearest of Relations and them too that are all eminently Religious and such as have been so for many years the Grandmother being yet living in the Children Grandchildrens graces Madam assure your self 't is for a Good Work we are now a begging and it must be none but good and great Families and a few Citizens that are very eminent indeed that we intend thus to go unto and in so doing how can we miss especially when it is fully resolved by God's grace that the Discipline of this little Charity-School shall be as near as may be for the Honour of God and Religion
may your most worthy Husband say Thousands thousands Soul-happiness lies at stake if Popery should come in and Property quite be lost then we are miserable and like to be unhappy for both worlds to live in fear in this dye in doubts and dangers as to the other is a great slavery as all out of the way must needs do God Almighty grant the Truth may never be lost nor any thing prevail against it or those either that contend and care for it day and night But the Church is founded on a Rock God's Love and Christ's Merit which the Gates of Hell cannot prevail over and much of the Nation 's Happiness is in the two Houses and the good Acts there to be made May your dear Relation sit who bears the whole name of that not forgotten proper brave beloved man his Father may he Vote may you both Live may you dye to God and Love your Country as you really do so shall your Names and Souls both live one on Earth for a while and the other in Heaven for ever with the Lamb and his Redeemed ones So prays all of us Right Honourable Madam WEre not your sharp quick and great parts naturally mixt with good and pious Principles we should not in the least presume or endeavour to engage your cheerful good and prudent Inclinations to accept of this your Family's Roll or Charity School-house Stick but presuming the work it self to be very good and the Noble Lady your Mother who is so eminently blest with good and many Children abounding in the world and they very Charitable also makes us complain of a peck of troubles for having raised near forty Poor and Fatherless Boys they prove very chargeable to be kept with Meat Drink and Cloaths as you know they have Now pray dear Madam speak or write to my Lady out of hand and tell her how it is with us and if she will subscribe a good gob and get the young Ladies to do something too and then put it all together with your Ladiship 's and Sir James's also for it is necessary he or you in his stead should do something now the great Ship is come safe in At the Rearing of the Tabernacle every one brought something Exod. 25. 22. And if in this you will to the Rearing of our School give something as the first fruits of your great Bay or new Plantation as it were to be sure the rest will be blessed the better and therefore pray give freely that we may say Received from you and your Family so much For we would not have them nor you out of the Noble List of Ladies nor want those prayers in the least which all our good Benefactors have May it please your Honourable Ladiship SIR Francis being a pious good charitable and most worthy person our only great Neighbour able to relieve support and help us we humbly pray this our Charity School-house Stick may be accepted by your Ladiship for we have nothing in the world to keep up us Poor Boys or put us out but the Benevolence of pious good and charitable Ladies therefore pray Madam be intreated to do a little for us who will never cease to pray the great God and his Son to bless you both in Soul and Body and your Olive-branches also ye may also be blessed with the blessing of Abraham sit down with Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven Luk. 13. 29. and never know troubles on the Earth but such as God's nearest and dearest Children meet with for the good of their Souls and a Soul-mercy it is for to have his Love and Providence turning all things to our good yea the worst things that do befal us here he can make the Best Sickness Death and Sin And may all this be and Sin forever pardoned to both your Souls and blotted out as if they had never been Oh the blessedness of that man whose sins are pardoned in Life Death and Eternity May this blessing with all others your Souls can wish or desire be your portion for ever and ever prays one and all us now at Highgate May it please your Ladiship SIR Walter Rawleigh in the Tower said That true and eternal Happiness lieth in God and no where to be tasted but in Religion which is a certain thing going up and down the world too little minded by the greatest but of more concern than all things in it said the Lord of Marlborough that was lately slain And that man that doth not first or last live to God will certainly wish he had never been when he cometh to die saies another great one and yet we must bleed and bleed saith the Doctor to keep Life or prevent Consumptions Cough Dropsie Ptysick and Diseases which it tells and foretels certain Death to be at hand as gray hairs doth a youthful Life past And if we have got over one bout of Sickness or Disease yet still another hangs over or upon us and is nigh or ready for to shake force or tear poor frail man all to pieces yea and something or another still at hand to turn us where we cannot turn namely Coffin Grave Prison and the Winding-sheet or last shift which may be eaten but never shaken off by mortals No Skin Flesh Bones and the faggs of pale Beauty must all be Earth and turn to that from whence we first of all came and 't is but just and reasonable that as that did feed cloath and nourish us as it were our Mother for a while we should sink dye fall and lay down our heads again into that most natural Lap or Bosom as being its most proper place to take our last or longest sleep in But O Madam may you yours or Sir Richard never come go into one world and another without a great Errand And may the Great God direct us what it is he sent us hither for For this end was I born every one says namely to know God and live to him Christ was born to die for us as he told Pilate and we are bound to live to him and must or else we shall wish we had never been The world is nothing but the world a dream and shadow that must pass away Were the Sands Sea and Mountains beaten Gold Death stretcheth out the fingers and we let go again all that head hand will heart or thoughts could ever hold wish or eye see May you then know may you then love Christ and live to him whilst you may he is yet near and dear but you would both be lost for ever if you should neglect him till it be too late Christ once wept often bled and wept too but will dye no more nor do no more for us if we do not live to him O let 's live to him and die to sin before we die Sin dies and dips the Soul in black and bloody Scarlets of defiance Old long and great ones eat it quite up O let not Canker Death Hell's Worm
of God 1 Tim. 6. 11. fly these things and Covetousness Fight the good fight of Faith Lay hold of Eternal Life And witness a good Confession as Christ did v. 12 13. I have done it I have done it sayes Paul and there is laid up for me a Crown of Life and that is Life indeed 2 Tim. 4. 8. Temporal Life flies away but Eternal Life never ends and Charity leads to that under Christ Oh! let 's not want that which leads to him who is all and will be all for ever Gal 3. 11. Other things will fail but Christ will never fail if we be his and he ours Oh! get a never-failing Christ to be your God and Guide Lord and Master now If all the Princes Kings and Queens in the world had but one Lord and Master as they have not in a strict sense to whom Account at last must be given would they or should they not love him I am sure all the Ladies in the world have but one Lord at last to trust to Oh! love him now that he may love you in a dying hour and save you then when you and the world must part and part you must for ever but then to be for ever with the Lord of Lords the Lord of Life and Glory 1 Thes 4. 17. And where he is to be also there according to his last prayer Joh. 17. 24. Oh! how happy will that be and may this happiness be the portion of your Honour and all your Honour 's sweet and lovely Children too but that can never be unless you love and live to him embrace and chuse him as the Chiefest Good Be wise then O ye Honourable of the Earth Lords Ladies and others Psal 2. 10. If ye were a thousand times more Noble Rich and Bountiful than ye are yet yet you will all certainly perish if you do not stoop if you do not bend to him to whom every knee must bend Psal 2. 12. what will become of you Lords Ladies and others you have but one true friend in Heaven and Earth and that is the good God and our good Lord Jesus and if ye do whatsoever he has bid you he will love you to the end of Time and Eternity too if that could be supposed to have any but that is without end sayes a great Father and clasps in all times and things that ever were or shall be but this you may easily suppose none but he can Creatures dye and the love of Creatures but the Love of God abides for ever 1 Joh. 2. 17. 1 Cor. 7. 31. And the Blood of Christ sticks by us in a dying hour yea 't is the only thing that sticks by us as great Lord Strafford said and if you great Ladies would wash in that it would make you whiter than the Snow Wash me sayes David Psal 5. 1. v. 52. Oh! ye had all need wash and pray David's prayer Lords Ladies and others but especially to you great Ladies do we commend and beg these few lines may be accepted 'T is not for your Charity alone but good as well as Charity that we thus plead Gold and Silver is but little worth to us or our School in comparison of God and Christ Oh! look to him that ye be not undone at last when ye should be happy yea utterly undone once in Hell and never out once in Hell and utterly undone other losses may be gained but Heaven can never be gained if once lost Ye weep for Love and weep for Honours weep for Frowns and weep for Friends many times but how will ye weep sayes Christ if such a thing should happen which God forbid namely that some or many of you great Ladies should ever see great sinners and little we mean mean sinners in respect of you Noble Ones that shall come from the East and from the West from the North and from the South Luk. 17. v. 22. and from places where Preaching has never been and yet these sinners shall sit down with Abraham with Isaac and Jacob Luke 13. 28. and you great Ladies should be shut out as Christ speaks into utter darkness where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth for evermore Weep to think that weeping avails not We suppose it a vain story that the Queen of Carthage wept for Aeneas but 't is true Divinity that the Lord of Glory wept for the Jews saying Oh Jerusalem Jerusalem how oft would I have gathered thee as a Hen would have gathered her Chickens Matth. 23. 37. But oh who can or will weep for you if you should once miscarry in the daies of Eternity Nay there will be no day if that night once overtake you John 9. 4. But you will long and long and lose your longing for a Gospel day can never come when 't is once finally lost Now as we would beg from you so we would beg for you that you would mind whilst you may and work whilst you may for the night cometh wherein no man can work John 9. 3. And if indeed you would work for your Souls God and another world first make Christ and his Love the ground of all your Joys and Sorrows for the future Christ is a true Foundation and others can no man lay 1 Cor. 3. 11. Honours Riches Smiles Favours with all the Mirth Musick and Embraces in the world are but Toyes to a soaring Soul Yea I have experienced it said a great Lady If you would soar aloft as the lofty Eagle flies then fly away in your Soul's Loves Joys and Pleasures to a heavenly Object and a heavenly Christ yea Christ in Heaven who sits there and ever lives to make continual Intercession for such sinners as come unto him Rom. 8. 34. Madam as we would beg heartily so we would deal plainly with your Honours and your Noble Sex do rather need more plain dealing than any others in the world for all things seem to smile and flatter you and will till you be in Hell if you have not a care the greatness of your Birth Beauty Train Fortune and Relations yea some of your own Chaplains deal not so faithfully with you as they should many times but wink at sin say little When Dives was in Hell he would fain have sent to his kindred then on Earth to forewarn them Luk. 16. 24. but who almost of a thousand gives you half that timely warning that you should have to look after Heaven and the God of Heaven which will be a lasting Good for ever and ever Oh Madam home is home as we use to say but there is no home like to Heaven and he that made that will ye mind whilst ye may and live whilst ye may for Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens I mean the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the God of all Glory as the Apostle calls him I repent of all the hours I ever spent in my life said Sir Thomas Mason save what I spent in communion with God And that man
you be his servants you shall sing and others shall weep grieve and mourn Isa 65. 14. You shall drink and others shall be thirsty The Heavens declare his wondrous work saith the Psalmist and the Earth is full of his Goodness Psal 8. 1. And will you be full of Sin Enmity and Folly Oh! God forbid that such lovely Creatures as many of you young Lords and Ladies be should be full of sin Sin is an evil an evil Disease in the Soul and to the Soul it kills it worse than Leprosie to Eternity if Christ do not save it Oh! value him fly to him clasp about him that ye never miscarry in Time nor Eternity Compare both how short is one and long the other The pleasures of sin are but for a season Heb. 11. 25. Moses left Pharaoh's Court preferring afflictions before these pleasures which betrays into Gulphs Snares and Rocks Do not you make your selves unhappy in another world when you may do well in both A thousand years should be more valuable than fourscore However let not fourscore be more to you than three or fourscore thousand thousand thousand This is certain Riches Honours Estates and Courtships with all that is Terrene and Sublunary shall fly away Heaven and Earth shall pass away before one Jot or Tittle of God's Word Joh. 2 17. Luk. 21. 33. 'T is a very dangerous thing though you do not mind it to be irreligious Pleasure one day in God's Court is worth a thousand elsewhere Psal 114. 10. Oh! taste and see the sweet and honey of it Less pains will serve for Eternal Life than some take for Temporal yea to dress themselves What! three hours about that and not a quarter at prayers Some get great Fortune by Marriages others a little by Plough Cart and pains others by Play and that 's almost cheating but get the Lord Jesus Christ and you get all 1 Tim. 4 8. This world you see but do not you believe the other and the Resurrection-state if you do not you are Sadduces and irrational Do not you see all things spring again every year Dead Seeds and Corn bring the same Grain and shall not man spring again as well as Worms Flies and Spiders which seem to be dead all the Winter yet live again in the Summer Oh! believe the Resurrection-state and the Promises for Godliness hath one for both worlds But this lies in wickedness 1 Joh. 5. 19. Ephes 2. 2. Shall honours pleasures profits be your portion ever it cannot be Oh look ye after another world then Why choose you not then that that you would have when you come to dye let me dye the death of the Righteous and my latter end be like unto his Num. 23. 10. And every one will say and wish so Let go sin and sorrow take faith and you shall do it how much better is that than fancy heaven and earth than earth and not heaven God can give a thousand pleasures a river of pleasures Psal 36. 8. But vain sinful pleasures are certainly the way to hell 2 Tim. 3. 4 And I could never reconcile them and Religion together said a great one Lovers of pleasures that are sinful are really Lovers of Death yea the whores house goes down to death her feet take hold on hell Prov. 2. 16. 5. 5. He that cannot cease from sin and repent of it must needs be damned for it it is an ill bed-fellow and a worse grave fellow And a cutting saying it was to the Jews that they should dye in it Joh. 8. 21. If ye believe not that I am he you shall die in your sins sayes Christ Sinful lusts make men beasts and sinful wrath makes men Devils What! kill a man in anger Go into the field to seek honour but find Death and Hell live a Murtherer or dye by one If furious sparks did mind the sparkles of an eternal fire and how much the Devil is glad when he finds such fools they would never do as they do sight and damn one another for a thing of nought many times My Life is of more worth said the Philosopher to the rude Mariners who were swearing and careless in a storm than to be cast away And indeed Life is a thing to be valued at a high rate And upon a Life well spent depends Eternal happiness therefore 't is the wise and not fools that redeem time for Eternity The Aegyptians pictured time with three heads a Dog a Lion and a Wolf a Dog signifying Time to come flattering and a Lion to denote Time present strongly working and a Wolf denoting Time lost or past to be biting And Death on a dark Throne with a Rod in one hand and a Key in the other as if by one he drove us together and the other he lockt us up Oh Ladies every moment of time commands Regions of Blessedness when 't is improved but lost it becomes a Worm in conscience and eats to Eternity If men in health and Duellers did but mind this they would not send one another to Hell as they do Certainly such Duellers will be sad repenters as I said before in another world Do they believe a God or do they not If there be a God he is a Rewarder of Virtue and will certainly punish all unpardoned sins which lead us into Gulphs Snares and Rocks Say when temptations are upon you to any great sin Now are the Philistines come and the Cords of Death and Hell are upon me shall I be foolish base vile and unclean do this and wrong my own soul Prov. 8. 36. And all that hate me love death sayes Solomon Some vices have short pleasures long throws and after-pains if vice sin sinful sin and folly have spoiled youth Have a care of old Age one foot is in the grave What! sin all your life and have Heaven at last no it will be Hell And I had rather be in it sayes a Father without sin than in Heaven filled with it Oh! take a fair farewel of it betimes it never did will nor can do any one good no it cannot it brings all the losses crosses in the world on us here or hereafter And how can we think of going to Heaven if we do not live to it but leave a Hell of sin seeds and spawn by bad example behind us or if we should live for Heaven a little and lose it for want of living a little more would it not be sad A good bargain lost for want of a second or third bidding proves a great vexation many times one step more and all had been well and safe but to lose a Heaven for nothing for nothing for want of a little Religion and being serious in it bites to Eternity Oh! if you fall but a step or two short this will be your case and you will never come in Take heed and again take heed O ye great Ones of the times Lords Ladies and others that ye do not miscarry in the daies of Eternity
but give at length some diligence to make your Calling and Election sure Honours and Evidences are never sure enough can Heaven be too sure for you Come look after God and Christ more pray oftener throw your selves into the Arms of Jesus depend upon Free Grace and he will certainly save you and your Souls Like and love holiness Be in love and league with no sin and you shall have Joy Happiness and Holiness to Eternity And therefore as ever you would be Lodgers out of Hell live in the Church as a holy member of the Church love the best of Protestants persecution is a devilish sin And good preaching a great mercy And if ye love one another then are ye my disciples indeed sayes Christ Joh. 14. 21. And 't is reported of St. Chrysostom that they had rather want the shining of the Sun than his preaching and sayes he if I had a Mountain for my Pulpit and the whole world to hear me it should be upon that Text. O ye sons of men how long will ye love vanity Psal 4. 2. The delight of the soul is to know its maker and heavenly preaching is a soul-ravishing thing there being infinite sweetness in the love of God But he that does not lift his head and his heart above this world will perish with the world And he she that is for much ease new fashions and fine cloaths haiting up down in Coaches is oftentimes for little religion If you cannot live without excess of pleasures I say excessive ones you will be carried down the stream of Nilus to the deadly Sea called Mare Mortuum like the skipping fishes till they fall into it Come let brave Sparks and gallant Ladies mind better things the great God and his Son that came down from heaven and never knew pleasure here on earth but in doing his Fathers Will and if you will now do it when the Dore is once shut it is too late Some would be troubled if they should never go to the Park again or see another May-day But if you should never go to heaven you are utterly undone for there are but two places all go to one place saith Solomon but he means that of the grave Eccles 12. 7. But all besides believe two places if the principles of Religion were never so dubious yet it concerns us to be serious because they are of such mighty concernment to us Said the great Earl of Leicester Fools play with their souls and drawlers at Religion cut the thread of life and throat of them But sink not into this deadness and deadly wickedness as to make sin a sport of at any time especially such kind of sinning as throws a contempt upon God and his word and hardens others to despise and condemn that namely Religion which all ages and nations beside this have never done before But it were better to be drowned with a milstone about our necks than left to dye and be buried with a hard heart in the grave or live to draw others to hell Take heed which way you go the broad way is most easie but the narrow is most safe Luke 13. 24. Safe bind and safe find but sin loosened and the Reins let go carries us whither we should not and whither we would not If we did but consider but the want of due consideration if you will indeed do it too then you shall know it more than you do and taste it to be far better than all the sports and pleasures of the Court and Country too Oh! that I had never been King of Spain said that great Prince Charles the fifth and that I had lived a Hermite's life But a heavenly life will never be repented of Should not Ladies strive to be Angelical and holy in the eyes of God as well as lovely in the eyes of men why should you be all for Honour and not for Religion as some of you are It becomes great Sparks to seek great things and not to spend their time in Ladies Chambers tossing of a Play-Book or reading this or that little Jest crying Faith Madam here 's a good one Lord Bacon said Nothing concerns us so much in all the world as Religion and the Principles of it Come then and let us seek the world to come this passes away like May-day and May-flowers all but smoak or dew quickly gone but everlastingness is a mighty thing The world and times are bad let us make Christ all in all Col. 3. 11. He is so and will be so Let him be to us in point of Justification Sanctification and Redemption Imitate him and lean upon him in Life Death and Eternity Wisdom waits at his Gate to keep you from sin which a Play-house leads unto But I will go to the house of God sayes David and pay my Vows in thee O Jerusalem Psal 116. 19. And I mine in thee O Smithfield said that brave Hampshire Martyr John Philpot but if you care not for God's Honour he will not care for yours nor what becomes of you when you dye But he that honours me will my Father love said Christ Joh. 14. 21. But no man can love serve or honour him enough who has loved us so much as to wash us in his own blood Rev. 1. 5. And Philpot shed his free and boldly and disputed as bravely as ever man did for Christ and his Truth in the Convocation-house And the world is not worthy of those men which have been burnt upon this account in all or divers Countreys by the Man of Sin But take heed you be not foolish Virgins and foolish Ladies and such as have not Oil in your Lamps nor saving Grace in your hearts at midnight when the Cry of the Bridegroom shall come For if the door be then shut and Repentance too late Christ will never hear though you knock beg and cry upon your knees and were more beautiful than Angels saying Lord open open with ten thousand tears in your eyes The day is past and the night will never have an end But 't is non-consideration is the cause of men and women's damnation said a good Divine Therefore said God O that my people did but consider But the Ox knows his Owner and the Ass his Masters Crib but my people doth not consider Isa 1. 3. The length of Time the certainty of Eternity the impossibility of more than a long Life and how vain it is to labour not to dye once Methusalem dyed Gen. 5. 7. Piety strength or policy keeps none from the grave Consider saith Solomon do not all go one way to the dust Eccles 12. 5. But Christ shall say Come ye Blessed Go ye Cursed I was an hungry and you fed me naked and you cloathed me or you did it not Nay what you did to one of these little ones you did to me Matth. 25. 41 42. O Do something for the School if you have not yet though works do not merit 'T is impossible saith St. Austin
for our Souls And though our care be great for the Body yet a man may be as happy in Russet as in Cloth of Tissue A golden Cap and a rending Head a Silken Stockin and a sore Foot or a great Estate and the torment of the Stone or Gout in the great Toe is a grievous misery And I see sayes the Emperor that sovereignty commands no diseases nor the seas having set himself and chair on the shore at the Tides coming in crying back back and I command you proud waves back but the Emperor was fain to move And Bardue Coesar cryed I begot him mortal when word was brought him his only Son was dead which was the reward of Trophimus after he had finished the famous Oracle of Apollo and beg'd that which was the best for him and 't was promised in three dayes he should have it in which time he died But 't is our duty said Seneca to dye often yet one complained against the long life of a Raven and his own short but the old Romans counted it Ominous to see one and not two in the morning as if it had betokened Wife or Husband's death yet though that be the most known 't is the most unknown thing in the world The Sexton Clerk and Coffin-maker are most apt to forget their own though they nail up and bury others and the best Men Citizens and their Neighbours too when they have got their rings and gloves but 't is ill preparing for death when t is a burden to live Sick repentance is seldom true and 't is certain 't is labour and trouble enough to be head and heart sick and then a man can hardly do any thing but mind his ease or pillow Oh! put not off your Will but especially your souls weal and happiness to a dying hour My care was when young to live well and 't is now to dye well said a Heathen Physicians Lawyers and Ministers cannot be heard at once and it may be friends are troublesom too Come to live well is best and that will prevent the worst Oh! then play not the Courtiers part who some say do all things late Rise late Dine late Sup late and Repent late many times never but it is never too late if true but it should be of the whole man but when death has folded up mens dayes opportunities are all gone Moles see and Swans sing a little before they dye but a true Saint and a Simeon sayes let me depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation Luk. 2. 29. But the fashion of this world is to put men in mind of dying when they see they cannot live above a day or two longer but as I have lived uncertain so I now dye doubting said a wise man and a great Scholar yet after a thousand thousand millions of years eternity will be as long as ever sadly and suddenly will all worldly pleasures be turned into walking dreams and great Alexander is less now than a little whiteish to thistle down which the least wind or air rouls about the world passes away 1 Cor. 7. 31. time is short sayes Burroughs and sayes he the word signifies folded up to the last end or fag of it like a peice of cloth but eternity is still as long as ever Oh! set your house in order 2 King 20. 4. as the Prophet said to the good King if every one has not an house yet every one has a soul as well as a body and there be great affairs that concern both and the greatest wits in the world have been concerned for them said the Right Honourable the Earl of Northampton and have ever found sooner or later the power of God or Religion in their consciences yea the Great and Godly ones Oh my soul my soul said the French Cardinal And Oh mine said the wretched Pope And thou must never be merry more To dye safe is a good thing and the best of men are best at last and have heaven in their Bosoms and Breasts and say Let me go let me go Oh Christ thou are mine said another The Jews said God kissed Moses's soul out of him And the Minister said so he did a great Ladyes in Essex But though some men dye not so comfortably yet they all dye safely who have the habits of true Grace in their souls and many very bad men seem to dye quietly and go to hell like a Lamb in dull diseases consumptions senslesness and hardness of their hearts in sins for Satan can let men alone well enough when he knows he has them sure enough but 't is a sad thing to have a mans eyes never opened till they are sing'd and burnt open in hell break from him and sin now by true and timely repentance and you make sure work for ever Go forth go forth said one to his soul thou hast served God and trusted Christ many years and now Heaven is just at hand and this dying Body of mine shall live again as Job speaks Job 26. 27. and my Soul return with the Joys of Heaven to fetch it to it self Some say There are veins or strings in a man's Tongue which reach to the Heart and when they break he dyes But when heart and tongue shall speak this oh what a comfort is it in a dying hour Plato though a Heathen said All men almost were out of the way because they did not seek after the mind of God and that those did dye most comfortably that lived by reason and adored the first Being Therefore sayes Lucicrema to his friends when he had called for the Glass and combed his head Now clap your hands if I have acted my part well And Seneca sayes Since Nature has stamped a God in the mind of every man and the belief of him arose not from custom nor was enacted by a Law it necessarily follows there must be a Deity the belief is so natural And Cato sayes Epicurus did dread Death more than any thing in the world upon this account Lord Chancellor Edgerton sayes The Atheist and Prophane layes a wager with the Pious but upon mighty odds for one ventures his Life and Soul or the Life of his Soul for ever and the other but his Lust and Sin which is yet his Interest to be without and yet if it were on equal ground the disproportion is vast and infinite and what a sad surprize will he be in when by death he shall be instantly seized by horrid Spirits And this truth of reward and punishments will be tryed in a little time And 't is but a little while and every man shall be no man And though every one should strive to mend one that the world may be better yet may we not think that the world is angry with some because they are no worse When good men are sorry in themselves they are no better but he that is angry with sin and repents of it shall not easily sin in his anger when he
a heavenly holy zealous Preacher than a rich Drone a thousand times Some Shepherds have for little so much that the great Shepherd will owe them nothing at all Others have so little for their faithfulness that he will give them a Crown 'T is better for Ministers it should be said Why are not you and you provided for than Why have such and such so much As he nobly said I had rather it should be said Why does not Cato 's Image stand here than it should be said Why does it stand here But Preachers of Faith must live by Faith as well as other men and the world to come will make amends for all Come Thee and I shall be happy when King Jesus comes said one to his friend And they that fear the Lord speak often one to another Mal. 3. 16. And then shall the Righteous shine as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father Matth. 13. 43. But many men make work for Repentance and many Ministers never put them seriously upon it as they should for want of Skill Love Faithfulness or Zeal The Lion sent for the Wolf and asked him if he had not a stinking breath Yea Sir said he and for that he tore him in pieces and sent for the Dog and asked him no said he 't is very sweet for that he tore him in pieces and sent for the Fox and asked him who cunningly told him He had a great Cold in his head and could not smell and so saved his Skin 'T is a brave thing when neither fear nor flattery moves men nor ministers from saying what they should few love Reproof fewer who reprove for love of souls and fewest of all who sincerely love the reprover Am I your enemy because I tell you the truth sayes Paul Gal. 4. 16. and we may say the greatest sin timely repented of is pardonable but the least never repented of is damnable in its own nature it being against a holy law and a holy God and Oh! how would Mr. Fowler that brave Redding and Thames-street preacher set out this 'T is for us to bring our will over to God in every thing and not his to us in any thing contrary to his Law and holy Writ whilst the world stands Religion is an inward thing takes off from self and creature but gives to God reverence in the heart and the heart and sum of religion is to love God and our Neighbours sincerely but Religion can do more for Learning than Learning can for Religion can bless and sanctifie that but that can do nothing but adorn dress and set it out with words which yet is a most excellent thing And oh that all the preachers in the world were practisers and learned too but more especially the former yet sayes God I will set thy Sons O Sion against thy Sons O Greece Zechariah 9. 13. And the quarrel shall never be ended There is naturally so much Scorn Malice Enmity and Disclain in Learning against the Simplicity Purity and Holiness of the Gospel that the corrupt unsanctified mind of man cannot but disdain it as the Pharisees and Sadduces did the preaching of Christ the Greeks and other learned men Paul counting him a babler and the cross of Christ foolishness 1 Cor. 1. 23. and he a mad man and Christ a publican and sinner for being a Physician to them and a preacher frequently among them and therefore a sociable life is better than a solitary Monkish one in a cell Christ did eat and drink at great tables with publicans and sinners but he was still as a physician to heal and reprove sin and Dod the old Puritan minister of Northampton was so holy and good at this and had that reverence and presence with him that a young gentleman at Sir Anthony Cope's could not eat half his Dinner for fear of swearing before Dod but he is dead and gone to Heaven and so may the Gentleman too for ought that we know God calls at several hours but 't is better to go to Heaven alone than not at all or to Hell with half the world Let me be happy it matters not how many then be miserable yet Balak's Balaam wished that he might dye the death of the Righteous and thought of death another world and eternal Joys Numb 23. 10. And so some will send for good men at their death which they care not for in their life to come and pray and secretly desire that their last end might be like unto them Yet the world is apt to think of Religion clean contrary to what it is sayes Lord Bacon and to make it madness a thing that dulls spirits and is apt to make Ladies look wrinkled before their time depresses them of Joy and to be looked upon by Wits and Sparks as some of God Almighty's Shee-fools and must never see good or merry daies more Alas alas said he What a miserable mistake is this Can there be better and greater Joy than Joy in the Holy Ghost 1 Thes 1. 6. unspeakable and full of Glory And can there be better Sorrow than such Sorrow which is accompanied with Joy and Works or Repentance unto Salvation never to be repented of 2 Cor. 2. 10. Can there be better chear than a good Conscience Ask Abraham Isaac and Jacob if the Waies of God be not good Ask all the Prophets Patriarchs and Apostles if the Waies of God be not Good Yea the Martyrs and the Prisoners I am in a Bed of Roses sayes one And I am in my Paradice and Palace with God and his Angels said the Noble Marquess Galliaces in the Dungeon And I have Christ who is was and ever will be all in all sayes another All in Health Life Death and Sickness and Eternity too to Men and Angels Yea ask your own Conscience when the Curtain 's drawn and the Candle out Which is best a house of Prayer a house of God or a Play-house or a days sinning or a days communion and waiting on God and his Worship Come fy pish you are mad if you prefer the pleasures of sin before Heaven or sinful pastime before Heaven's Joy Oh ye vain and foolish young Ladies do not think of being Religious when you have nothing else to do but lay aside the Lute and Citern now and dance a little in your thoughts to Death's Pipe and think you hear his Night-watch and where you shall be a hundred years hence and what when you have lain a month or two in the Grave and this will help you to be good betimes Young Ladies might be merry enough if they would be good and godly and begin betimes and have better Husbands too for good men will love good Ladies especially when they are young and good too And we hope some are left though but a few that look for Heaven and Religious Wives True Recreations are in another world All the pleasures of this are either sins or snares if we use them too much But moderation may be
Chrisostom And when the Empress threatned to Banish him for preaching against her Covetousness he told her I fear nothing but Sin As for Banishment the Earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof If she cast me into the Sea or saw me asunder I will remember Jonas and Isaiah if she Stone me or cut off my Head I have Stephen and John the Baptist for my Companions Plato praised God for three things First That he was a Man 2. That he was born in Greece 3. That he had seen Socrates You may thank God that you are Lords and Ladies as well as Men and Women but you may thank God that you are Christians and such as have the holy Gospel and may hear it preached every day if you will But especially that you have the holy Bible in your own Tongue which doth reveal the Will and Mind of God concerning Man and his Salvation A Mercy which the poor Italians and Spaniards and other whole Countrys are debarr'd of or if they have the Bible it is so very very scarce and corrupted that the poor People are more Blind and Ignorant than Bats and Beetles all running after lyes whil'st we enjoy a Goshen of light through the blessed Bibles in our own English Tongue which cost so many mens lives May be you never minded scarce what the Bible cost for having it bound Translated and brought into the English Tongue 't is probable the Papist brought Lord Cromwel to the Block upon this account and the Monks fat houses more than any thing who cried going to the Scaffold Though our Breakfast be sharp yet our Dinner will be very sweet And how many have been burnt for Translating of it into English Sure we are bound in conscience to love the names of these men especially such as love the Word of God and live to it yea and almost the very ground of Smithfield where they were burnt If Papists give KETCH money for a Bit of Rope why should not we love the Name of Smithfield where those brave ones suffer'd but especially above all the Cross of Christ that is to say the Sufferings that Christ endured on the Cross for us or any Sufferings that he brings upon us for his own Glory and our Good Now his Suffering is called the Blood of the New Testament Matth. 26. 28. Mark 14. 24. And he himself is called the Testator Hebr. 9. 16. And the Holy Bible is the Will and Testament of this Testator wherein he gives us the love of God pardon of Sin Eternal Life and Glory O it were better better a thousand times the Pope should take all your Lands again than the Holy Bible or last Will and Testament of Christ in the Four Evangelists more especially contained but it may be his Conscience would be content to swallow both Yet Bellarmine loved Whitaker's Picture Because he was a brave Scholar and a learned Heretick as he said But the charity of their Church is for burning them alive yea sometimes after they are dead John Whitcliffe 41 Years after because he denied the Popes-Pence And Mrs. Marter was digged up at Oxford and buried in a Dunghil because her Husband had been a great Preacher in Queen Maries time But I am neither ashamed to live nor afraid to dye said Austin And Holy Marriage is better than proud Virginity a thousand times and how can we merit when we can neither will good nor do good says he My heart is in Heaven and I would fain be there also For thy Sabbath O Lord shall be my Eternal One into thy Hands I commend my Spirit And so he died O Christ said another I depend upon thee and resign up to thee Farewell Riches farewell Honour said the great Earl of Somerset unhappy in his good nature I would rather suffer and lose all than speak a wicked word against God I suffer now for sins past said he in his penitent frame in the Tower I have a great many and but a little time to repent of them said a Knight and he that succors the Poor lays up safely for himself As Clouds darken the Heaven so Intemperance does the Mind as Winds and Waves sink a Ship so Uncleanness Gluttony Drunkenness do our Souls Yet we should never hate the Man for his Vice nor love the Vice for the Man but with pity do what we can to save a Sinner A good Mariner would be loth to have any of his Passengers miscarry or a good Shepherd who takes care of all his flock John 10. 2. The Papist don 't love the Name of John Fox because he wrote the Book of Martyrs And their Priests do so scoff and jeer at Martin Luther because he wanted a Wife forsooth as they say as if it had been a great sin to follow God's Word and holy Ordinance instituted in Paradise and honour'd by the first Miracle that Christ ever wrought O filthy Fools to despise that when God has ordained a Mate for every Creature Fish Fowls Birds and Beasts Worms and creeping things put an instinct in Nature to love chuse and mate with one another 1 Tim. 4. 6. Doctrine of Devils If an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel let him be accursed Gal. 1. 8. If any man shall add unto these things God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book Rev. 22. 18. And yet you thrust out one of his Commandements so that if the Priests be Men they must needs desire Natures enjoyment and priviledge as well as all creatures but they themselves need never want one who have so many Wanton Women and Confessions to be whisper'd in their ear every day with money to boot But Bugentius says of Martin Luther I did once think him the most pestilent Fellow that ever lived upon the earth but now what shall I say of him all the World is in a seminarian darkness and he has found the light and I am more instructed in one little Page of his than in all Thomas Aquinas 's great Library And he and Luther Translated the Bible into the German Tongue and when they had finish'd it kept a day of Thanksgiving every Year to their lives end But John Jewel was a brave Man too almost as ever writ but the Queen said I doubt I shall spoil him when I have made him a Bishop for a Preacher Yet he continued saying It well becomed a Bishop to die in his Pulpit But when John Fox was poor he had a Purse of Gold and Money sent him he knew not from whence would some Body would do the like for Highgate to help up our new School-House which is just a Building and will have a brave Green by it but the Duke of Richmond was Fox's great Friend and Patron yet he would say he forgot some Lords and Ladies to remember poor People that truly fear God and yet great Saints are little and poor in their own Eyes I am less than the least of all Saints and the
greatest of all Sinners said St. Paul And if I were equal says Deering in holiness to Abraham Isaac and Jacob and had the purity of Angels yet I would confess my self a Sinner and expect no Salvation but in Christ and from his Righteousness And if I had the excellency of all Creatures in Heaven and Earth I would still rely upon that for as there is but one Sun for all the World so there is but one Communion and Saviour for all Saints Oh! that I might live more to him or die to go to Heaven says a Father He is my Life he is my All said another And whenever thou art tempted to Uncleanness Lust or Pride consider what thou art already by Sin in respect of its desert and punishment and what thou shalt be in the Grave when thou hast lain a Month or two there and thy thoughtful Lusts and Plumes will quickly fall as the Soul is the Life of the Body so God is the Light and Life of the Soul When the Soul departs the Body dies and so the Soul dies too when God leaves it for when he forsakes us he utterly overthrows us and gives us a deadly Wound But Anselmus says That Christ died for Elect Men and Angels For Men that they might rise out of Sin and for Angels that they might not fall into it And if they should go to Hell that do not feed the Hungry and cloath the Naked Mat. 25. 42. what will become of them that oppress the Poor and take from them Prov. 14. 31. Ezek. 12. If want of Charity shall be Tormented what will become of Covetous Oppressors One said of Gregory the Great That he was the worst and the best Bishop worse than all that went before him and better than all those that have succeeded who used to be troubled when he read these words Son remember in thy Life-time thou receivedst thy good Things Luke 16. 25. A great Preacher said in his Life-time he was often tempted to despair but God gave him strength to overcome it But the same subtile Serpent in my Sickness would have persuaded me That my Labours and Fidelity in the Ministery had even merited Heaven but blessed be God that gave me strength to overcome him by bringing these two Scriptures especially What hast thou that thou hast not receiv'd 1 Cor. 4. 7. yet not I but the grace of God which was with me 1 Cor. 15. 10. These Texts made the Enemy get away ashamed Fools go laughing to Destruction as well as to the Correction But do any thing with me says another so thou save my Soul I had rather be in Hell without Sin than in Heaven with it Sayes Anselmus Ambition is a gilded Misery a secret Poyson and an hidden Plague the Parent of Envy the Original of Vice and Moth of Holiness Oh the unhappiness of great Men said a great Earl in the Tower that know no other end of their Greatness than to abuse Inferiours Young men middle-aged and old are oft surprized by Death and Ladies too while the Gown is making But this is life eternal to know thee the eternal true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent John 17. 3. And said a great Scholar and English Gentleman now in being I have studied almost all the Learning in the World and find more mystery in that short saying of Paul to Timothy This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the World to save Sinners 1 Tim. 1. 15. But when we consider what was done to John Huss of Bohemia and Thomas Cranmer Bishop of Canterbury in Queen Maries days we have just reason in this Land to fear the worst Dr. Cranmer was discourst about the lawfulness of King Henry's Divorce from Queen Catharine his Brothers Wife and his judgment was The King would do well to consult the Word of God and take able Divines counsel This advice was hearkned to and he sent for by the King and so dispatch'd away to Rome to dispute it with the Pope and the Earl of Wiltshire Ambassador along with him And it is said when they both came before the Pope the Pope put his Foot out for them to kiss the Earl's Spaniel being young fond and foolish and it may be train'd up catcht him by the Toe but however Cranmer and the Earl both scorn'd to kiss after him and presently after his return he was made Archbishop of Canterbury and soon after the Proverb grew Do him but a shrewd turn and he will be your Friend as long as you live And some say by Nature he Was a very Charitable Man I wish you Ladies for your own sakes were so too But we have no reason to complain nor I hope never shall against your most Noble Sex He was the freest from Passion of any man in the World But when they had set him upon a high Scaffold in Queen Maries dayes to make his Recantation for owning the Protestant Principles Dr. Cole having made a sad Popish Sermon to him to take his Death patiently and to rejoice in his Conversion as he called it After Sermon Cranmer said Pray you good People pray for me who have contrary to Truth and my Conscience for fear of Death Signed a Writing of Recantation for which this Hand of mine shall be first burnt holding it up with many tears running down his cheeks and at the fire he held it out that all might see it first burnt never stirring of it but once to wipe his Face to the grief of many Beholders in the Year 1556. But for John Huss he was burnt in the Year 1415. There being a Council about three Popes the Cardinals being divided after Alexander the fifths Death to which Council the Emperor commanded John Huss to go giving him his safe conduct to pass and return in which journey he preacht and set up letters of his judgment in every City At Constantine he was sent for by the Cardinals imprisoned and tyed up to a Rack against a Wall many Nobles and Lords of Bohemia petitioned for him but that would do no good But a good thing it is for great Lords to appear on the behalf of poor Ministers when imprisoned and persecuted for the Truth yea there were fifty of them in Bohemia that stood up and petitioned for him and Jerom of Prague A brave pattern for all Ages when the Truth is suffering but yet all signifi'd nothing For when the Council had degraded and condemned him he kneeled down saying Lord Jesus forgive them they know not what they do In degrading of him they pared off the hair so close that they even cut the skin off his Crown the Council having made an Order That Faith was not to be kept with Hereticks Going to be burnt they put upon him a Triple Crown of Paper all painted over with ugly Devils which when he saw he said My Lord Jesus did wear a Crown of Thorns for me and I will this for
12. And we are now lately called Protestants from the seven Princes of Germany protesting against the Pope's Supremacy but are indeed the true real Catholicks because we hold the Universal truths which were from the Beginning are and shall be so to the Worlds end the main of which is the Worshipping of God in and through Christ and loving Him and his Son for ever But many beyond Sea are called Lutherans Calvinists and Hussites for following those great Lights and their Doctrine But now this Righteousness of God Christ Abraham Jews Gentiles and Believers is called the Saints for two or three Reasons First Because it is this that makes them so Christ's Righteousness is our Justification and Sanctification too before God and it is that and his holy Spirit sanctifying of us which makes us Saints in the Eyes of God and before Men in this World too take three distinctions and they will end 20 disputes about this Point ☜ for Christ justifies us before God by his Blood Life and Death Faith that is the object of Faith Christ justifies us in our own Consciences so that it is not so much Faith in a strict sense as Christ by Faith Justifies us and that too And indeed Faith being imperfect at the best needs a Christ for Justification as well as other Graces though it still shews us Christ as in a glass for our justification and good Works which are really so and the fruits of God's Spirit namely good Works these do justifie us before Men And therefore says Christ let your light so shine before Men that they may see your good Works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven Mat. 5. 16. And says St. James Shew me thy Faith by thy Works and do not tell me so much thou hast it but let me see it by thy Works So that to God we must plead the Blood of Christ and nothing else and to our Consciences shew the Blood of Christ and witness all to others by good Works and a Godly Conversation and this is the Saints visible and invisible Justification And now had I the Tongue of Men or Angels 1 Cor. 13. 1. I could never enough set out the Blessedness or Blessednesses of Men or Women that do Hunger and Thirst that is Long Love and secretly wish and pray for day by day this Righteousness and to be found in it namely this of God and Christ and the sanctifying graces of his Spirit for they shall be satisfied yea they shall certainly be satisfied in the discovery of it and present comfort also yea in the everlasting wearing and enjoyment of it in the highest Heavens For as Kings Cloath all their Yeomen in their Gold Embroidered Coats So Christ the King of Kings doth spiritually Cloath the Souls of all his and by vertue of this They shall shine as the Sun in the Kingdom of his Father for evermore Mat. 13 43. Yea all his Rich and all his Poor and all his Gifted and all his Ungifted that hunger after it Here one has his Silken Suit and another his Thred-bare Habit here one has their Holland Shifts and fine Laces others want course Linnen but Time shall pass and Time shall come when all wants shall be done away and small Gifts and no Gifts scarce shall be equally happy with the greatest for all shall everlastingly shine as the Sun in the Righteousness of Christ which is the Blessedness here hunger'd after which is the White Linnen and the Wedding Garment so often spoken of in the Revelations Rev. 19. 8. And that which Paul would so feign be found in Counting his own Righteousness but dung and dross in comparison of it Phil. 3. 8 9. But Fifthly Our Lord and Saviour goes still on with his Blessings saying Blessed are the Merciful for they shall obtain Mercy Mat. 5. 7. And the merciful Man will be merciful to his Beast saith Solomon And now Noble Ladies give me leave to plead with you a little from this good Text The Mercies of God are dear and tender Things the choicest chiefest things in Heaven and Earth We have nothing to hang upon Living or Dying but the tender Mercies of God in Christ which he proclaims and shews to us Exod 26. And he was with Joseph and shewed mercy in the Pit Isa 39. 21. Prov. 11. 17. And A merciful Man saith Solomon doth good to his own Soul And if you will shew a little to some 30 or near 40 poor and fatherless Boys now in your School at Highgate you will shine as lights before men and your candle shall be on a hill and not under a bushel which Christ bids you do and in doing of it do good to your own so saith Solomon Prov. 11. 17. and in this and doing something for it you will to yours But you will say You have ways enough and need not a new design for Charity Oh! but you can never have too many ways nor do too much good in the world and if it be new 't is the more pity that so many brave Noble English Ladies as there be that profess the true Religion and are Religious also that they have not done some publick thing for the honour of it as well as old Sutton when you see so many burnt to ashes for the Gospel and that Religion which you profess Oh then do a little eminent and something that may have a little notice taken of it for the honor of their Lord Master Religion and your own also all which this would do surely the great and famous Hospitals of London are famours praise-worthy things and honourable to Religion and should nor you most Great and Noble English Ladies which all the world must needs give place unto do something for the honour of it If they did well that did build and set up them as you will not say but they did you cannot do amiss in a little countenancing this Those were done by some one particular person at first which would swallow up a great and whole Estate this would hurt no more than a little Tradesmans Bill because there are so many of you to join in this good and pious Work surely God will incline some of your hearts yea many we yet hope to it The Wiseman saith You will do good to your own Souls And we are certain it can be no hurt to your children come and take Christ's counsel and lay up treasure in Heaven where no Rust nor Moth nor Thief can ever come and to the merciful God will shew himself merciful But if you do not love your Souls care for treasure in Heaven nor the tender mercies which is the Rise Spring-head and Fountain of all we hope for or can hope for from God in this world or t'other you need not mind these sayings in this blessed Book of his Oh! but you dare not say or think so in the least for God and his mercies are your last and lasting Refuges Oh! then dear good Ladies
nor are given in Marriage neither can they dye any more Luk. 23. v. 36. for they are equal to Angels and are the Children of God being Children of the Resurrection Mark the Children of the Resurrection are the Children of God that is those and all those Christ rose as a Head for they and all they have a part in the first Resurrection Rev. 20. 6. Blessed and happy are they that have part in the first Resurrection for on such the second Death shall have no power that is Hell the Devil or Jaylors Prison above mentioned O Ladies Look to Christ who is the first Resurrection and the first begotten from the Dead and the Prince of the Kings of the Earth for he has loved you and washt you from your sins in his own Blood Heb. 1. 6. Yea look to him that he be your Resurrection and that you have a part by Faith in him who is the true Book of Life Revel 21. 27. And if by Faith in him you rise from the Grave and Death of sin here then may you assure your selves of a share and part in his Resurrection unto Eternal Life which was typified by the First Fruits and the Sheaf of Corn which the Priest held up and wav'd under the Ceremonial or Levitical Law And that you are indeed the Children of it And of God too and so shall never dye Oh! believest thou this as Christ said in another place about Lazarus I am the life and resurrection of the dead and he that believeth in me shall never dye Joh. 11. 25. Yea though he were dead yet shall he live again Believest thou this sayes Christ so say I to you noble Ladies Gentlewomen and others if you be the Children of God and the resurrection you shall dye no more dye once you must to this world and the things sleep a little in the grave and imitate Christ your Head and your Husband your Lord and your Saviour who was there before you three dayes and three nights and then destroyed and tore the grave open to assure you of the resurrection also but in that you shall never dye more Oh! happy resurrection when Christ shall say awake and sing O ye that sleep in the dust and with my dead body shall ye awake Isaiah Come with me my love from Bebon the Leopard and the Lions den Canticles All which promises and a thousand more are made to you if you be the children of God and peace-makers in the Church or World or where you are The Children of Israel were happy that they were the Children of Israel and the seed of Abraham though all were not the true seed but Oh! how happy are you that you are the Children of God and shall be like his Angels in the resurrection yet Israel died in the wilderness and never entered into the land of Canaan but you shall never dye be as Angels enter in and possess the true Canaan Heaven 's Kingdom and the Kingdom of God be among the Angels to sing with that Coelestial Quire the high prayses of God and the Lamb to all eternity Rev. 7. Oh happy day Oh happy hour that ever you were born or made to be the Children of God and peace-makers in the world and places where you come Hell is full of brawling the world is full of brawling but your Breasts and Lives are full with peace and the love of God and the wayes and things of God Oh! keep that Nightingale and sweet ever singing Bird of Paradise close to you and let it never fail you day nor night yea all you Children of God 't is a heaven to begin a heaven here and a double hell to lose it for a straw as one said or a bubble which Children blow from a walnut shell whilst 't is a little heaven or young heaven as a great Lady called it but old heaven and the heaven of heaven of heavens shall be your portion yea he that compasseth heaven and earth and is within the Starry Element where Sun Moon and Stars are Oh! how glorious is that this is but the Tileing we see Gods house is all invisible and the inside no mortal man nor eye can see nor him neither and live Exod. 33. v. 20. But time shall pass and time shall come when these things shall be no more and we for ever with the Lord 1 Thes 4. 17. and see him as he is face to face and eye to eye and all tears shall be quite wiped away sorrow and mourning fly away for ever former things be forgotten and all your Lords unkindness and your own unworthiness of the Lamb and your Redeemer's love yea the want of Grace and comforts here the young Lord and little Ladies death will be forgotten in another world yea in resurrection glory all will be swallowed up in everlasting joy some Fountains have their mouths or pipes through which they send their Chrystal streams with pleasant noises Revel and in heaven shall the Children of the resurrection Saints and Angels continually send their Praises to God and the Lamb and that unweariedly for worthy is the Lamb to receive Power Glory and Dominion for ever and ever Revel 7. 10 11 12. And every creature in heaven and earth heard I say Amen Amen Amen Oh! ye Lords Ladies Princes Kings Queens Potentates and highest Mortal of the earth joyn ye for it becomes you well and all ye with that kingly Prophet David in his three last Psalmes 148 149 150. and with this I shall close this little little book of yours which was made a little before and just after a great sickness but the work is Praise the Lord from the heaven Praise him in the highest for the highest is too low for him Praise him all ye Angels an Angelical praise becomes him and them very well praise him all ye host be ye what he will praise him Sun and Moon for ye are man and wife to rule both day and night and he made you both praise him all ye Stars of light which are as Sun and Moons children and are of great influence to the children of men praise him O heavens air ye terrestrial coelestial heavens heaven of heavens praise him and him alone he only made you with the word of his power and ye waters that be above the heavens the airy heavens and clouds that we see and in the deep let the fountains of the deep praise him he hath commanded and you were created he establish a Decree and you cannot pass Praise him Dragons and deep fiery Mountains Hail Snow and Storms and fulfil his word Mountains Hills Trees and Cedars high Men and low Men little Beasts and Cattle Creeping things and Flying little Ants and mighty Eagles Kings Judges Princes and all People young Lords and mayden Ladies of nine ten eleven twelve and thirteen let them praise his name for his name alone is excellent and before him let all flesh be for ever silent His glory is above the Heavens