heat would scorch Therefore when God promised to Israel the beauty of the Lilly the stability of the Cedâ—r the fruitfulness of the Olive to effect all this he saith he will be as the dew And what ground can but bring forth when he who is the Father of the Rain and begetteth the drops of the dew shall himself descend upon it in bounty and goodness Who can but love him with a love of duty whom he shall thus tender with a love of mercy Who can but love him with a love of Concupiscence as being more desirous of new Influences than satisfied with former Receipts whom he so freely loves with a love of Beneficence O Lord my Soul thirsteth for thee as the gaping and chapped earth doth for the moysture of the Heavens I am nothing I can do nothing without thee my fruitfulness my growth my life depend wholly upon the droppings of thy grace when they dew lieth all night upon my Branch my glory is fresh in me and my whole man is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed Be not therefore unto me O my God as a Cloud without Rain left I be as a Tree without fruit But let thy grace alwaies distill upon me as the dew and as the small rain upon the tender herb and then shall I be as the ground which drinketh in the showers that come oft upon it and bringeth forth fruit meet for him by whom it is dressed and receive also new blessing from God Meditation XIV Vpon a Pearl in the Eye VVHat specious names have Physicians put upon diseases who call a Plague Sore a Carbuncle and the white film which taketh away the delightful sight a Pearl in the Eye Do they gild over Diseases as they do their Pills or a Bolus that so their Patients may less fear and feel the evil of the one as they less taste the bitterness of the other And are any by such slender Artifices brought into an opinion that a Carbuncle is less mortal or loathsome than any other swelling that hath not so gay a name Or that blindness which is caused by a Pearl in the Eye is more comfortable than the loss of sight that comes by other accidents Methinks Reason should not run at so low an ebb in any as to please themselves in such fancies may not a Poyson have a name that sounds better to the ear a colour more pleasing to the eye and a taste that is more grateful to the Pallate than the Antidote which expels it May not Alchimy glister when Gold looks pale And yet alas in spiritual maladies in which the danger is so much the greater by how much the soul is of more value than the body with what strange delusions are many transported who when their minds are poysoned with Errour and Blasphemy do then put upon their corrupt Opinions and Tenents the glorious names of Revelations Visions Raptures refined notions and what not that may confirm themselves in their own dotages and win others into an admiration of their persons Thus Montanus gave out himself to be the Comforter that Christ had promised to send forth into the World Arius proudly boasted that God had revealed something to him which he hid from his Apostles And Eunomius fondly imagined that he was taken up to Heaven as Elias was and had seen Gods face as had Moses and was wrapt up to the third heaven as was Paul But what other thing are these Follies or rather Phrensys than as if an Israel te infected with the botch of Egypt and overspread with it from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head should boast that he had robbed the Egyptians of their most precious Jewels and had decked himself with them Would not men pitty his distemper rather than believe his confidence Would not they offer medicines to heal him rather than suffer him to perish under his miserable delusion of possessing great riches How is it then that in matters of faith in which there is both clear evidence and certainty Hereticks that are no other than ulcerous persons fitter for Dogs to lick than Christians to love should throughout all Ages so easily gain to themselves such a great multitude of Proselytes only by putting fair Names upon foul Errours It is because men for their lusts sake will not see but willingly corrupt themselves in those things which they know or is it because God hath smitten them with a spirit of blindness that they shall not see for their not receiving of the truth in the love of it Surely whatever the cause be such is the infatuation as that I had need both to tremble and to pray To tremble at the sad woe which is denounced by God himself against those that call evil good and good evill That put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter And to pray as David did Teach me thy way O Lord I will walk in thy truth unite my heart to fear thy name Meditation XV. Vpon Spiritual and bodily sickness THe soul hath its maladies as well as the body and such that for their likeness to them do often borrow their names from them Pride is a Timpany Avarice a Dropsie Security a Lithargy Lust a Calenture Apostacy an Epilepsie And yet though these names of bodily diseases do happily serve to point and shadow out the nature of spiritual how wide is the difference between the Patients of the one and of the other in regard of those qualities which may dispose them for a cure and recovery out of them In the diseases of the body it matters not whether the Patient know the name of his disease or understand the vertue of the medicines which are prescribed or be able to judge of the increase height and declination of his distempers by the beatings of his pulse the whole business is managed by the care and wisdom of the Physician who oft times conceals the danger on purpose least fear and fancy should work more than his Physick and hinder the benefit of what he applies But in the maladies of the soul it is far otherwise the first step unto spiritual health is a distinct and clear insight of sin such which makes men to understand the Plague of their own hearts Christ heals by light as well as by Influence he first Convinceth them of sin and then gives the pardon he discovers the disease to them and then administers the medicine Ignorance is a bar to the welfare of the soul though not of the body and makes the divine remedies to have as little effect upon it as Purges or Cordials have upon the Glasses into which they are put It is Solomons peremptory Conclusion that a soul without knowledge is not good nor indeed can be because it wants a principle which is as necessary to goodness as a visive power to the eye to enable it to discern its object How can he ever value holiness who understands not what sin is Or
my lost time who have joyned the Morning of the Task and the Evening of the day together These and such like thoughts will sin when it is Read as it is Written and Accented in the Conscience produce But a general â—nowledg and sight of it without such particularities will neither mâ—ke nor leave any impressions but what are both slight and confused Do thou therefore holy God teach me to understand the errors of my wayes aright and by the light of thy spirit make me to see that Circumstances in sins are not Motes but Beames and greatly intend their guilt if not their bulke That so I may mourn for those sins which Carnal Men conceive to be but so many black nothings and abhor my self for those Corruptions in which they indulge themselves Meditation XX. Vpon a debauched Minister IT is a Truth though it hath been questioned by some and denied by others that the Function of a Minister is Formally executed by Gifts which are not made effectual by his Personal Sanctity but by the grace of God in the hearer The one may move Morally but it is the other which worketh Efficaciously and for any to conceive otherwise is a smatch of Donatisme who made the validity of Ordinances wholly to depend upon the real goodness of those that Administred them which opinion if it were true it must necessarily follow that there must be an absoluâ—e knowledge in the People of discerning unfeigned Grace in the heart of the Minister from all pretended semblances and showes or else what comfort can they have in the validity of his Acts while this suspicion abides upon them that is if he be not really holy all that he can do is no other then a Nullity we must then distinguish between the grace of gifts which God bestowes for the good of the Church and the gift of grace which he gives for the good of the Soul of him who is partaker of it By the one of these a Man may become a Minister but without the conjunction of both he can never be a good Minister Holiness then as it is that which no Man can be well without so a Minister least of all it being the great end of his Office to turn Men from sin to God and to draw Men up from earth yea from the danger of Hell to Heaven And should he not do what he Teacheth and second his Doctrine with his Example he must needs sin against his Calling which alwayes heightneth the notoriety of the fact No sins being so inexcusably sinfull as those that are committed against Mens Callings For a Steward to be a Thief for a Physician to be a Murderer for an Ambassador trusted with the Affairs of his Prince to be a Traitour are Crimes of greater Infamy in them then in another How then can the impieties of a Minister but be above all others by so much the worst by how much his Calling is above all others the best what then can be more prodigious then for him who should be Gods Mouth to the People to have his Tongue set on Fire of Hell and not touched with a Coal from the Altar or for him whom God hath honoured with that high imployment of winning Souls to be an accursed Appollyon in undoing and destroying them by his nefarious and impure living If he that shall break the least Commandment and Teach Men so shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven what then shall he be called who breaks the greatest Commandment and Teacheth Men so surely I scarce know what to call him who hath of a Minister thus transformed himself into a Monster he is not a Star in Christs right hand but in the Dragons Tail which drew many from Heaven and cast them down upon the Earth He is amongst the Prophets the Simeon rightly called Niger not for his Complexion but for his Conversation he is in the House and Temple of God not as the Priests which did bear the Ark but as the Beasts which drew it and shook it For if the sins of any Man do loosen and endanger the Foundations of Christian Religion it is the wickedness of Ministers which makes many to question whether there be an Heaven an Hell or a God And though it may possibly now and then fall out that the Seed of Divine Truth like Corn sown by a leprous hand grow up into some fruit yet how small is the good that is wrought by this Doctrine to the great hurt that is done by the dissolute life of such a Minister is it likely that he who in the Pulpit pleads for honour to be given to Christs Person obedience to be yielded to his Precepts faith to be exercised in his Promises and when he is out of it gâ—insayes all that he hath spoken in his sensual practises should win many Disciples to Christ will he be ever much hearkened unto who decries Drunkenness Swearing wantonness as the high-Rodes and Pathes to destruction and yet turns not his own feet from walking in them will it not be said unto him Physician heal thy self or thou hypocrite first cast out the beam out of thy own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the moâ—e that is in thy Brothers eye But what ever the issue be whether Men hearken oâ— not hearken yet will the condition of such a Minister be most sad in the great day if he be instrumental in the saving of any yet they shall be none of his Crown or Joy nor in the least extenuate his misery but aggravate it in that he hath been onely to them as a standing Statue to point out the way to heaven not a living Companion to walk with them in it How much then will it augment his pains and anguish when the blood of many misled and lost Soules must fall upon his head and he be condemned as the cursed Murderer of them O that these few words might prick the hearts of such who have worn the badg of God and yet done the Devils work who have been his Servants by Office and his Enemies by Practice that they might timely think both of saving themselves and others However blessed God help me to do the Ofsice of a Minister and keep me from the punishment of a Minister Pardon mine inabiliâ—ies in thy Service and deliver me from scandalous sins Enable me to bear Reproach for Christ but let me never be a re-Proach to Christ or his Gospel Meditation XXI Vpon the Golden Calfe and the Braâ—en Serpent THe Makers of these two Images were Moses and Aaron such a pair of Brethren as History cannot parallel for Eminency and whose Names out-shine greatly all others of the like alliance that have an honourable mention in the Book of God Where are there two Brethren in that Sacred Chronicle so renowned for sundry Miracles done by them or so highly dignified by Titles given to them by the Spirit of God as they Moses being stiled signally the Servant of God
of Trees more various in their falling or the Feathers of Birds more facil in their moulting than the Fancy and Pomp of all Earthly greatness is frail in its continuance How many accidents do make a change where Men do promise themselves the most firme stability How soon is Jobs hedg pulled up who said he should die in his nest and multiply his dayes as the sand And Davids Mountain removed and he troubled who pleased himself in its strength What strange alterations doth the frownes of a Prince make in a Courtiers glory Hamans plumes of honour and riches which were lifted up and spread to the wonder of beholders upon the change of Ahasuerus his Countenance flag and trail in the dirt like the Peacocks train in a storm yea drop and fall off leaving him exposed to the utmost of shame and ignominy What stedfâ—stness had the rich Man in his great Possessions beyond his own conceit he promised himself the rest of many years and yet lived not to see another morning Death made subitum pennarâ—m depluvium an unexpected breach upon his designed projects and while he thinks to Impe his wings for an higher flight and mount he falls as low as the grave Can we then make a better or more seasonable meditation when we find our affections carried out to the prizing and seeking of such perishing vanities then to expostulate thus with our selves Why is my foolish heart eaten up with cares mine eyes robbed of sleep mine hands wearied with uncessant labour to grasp clowdes Shadowes trifles that have little of reallity or worth and less of duration are these the things that make Angels happy are the Robes and Crownes of Sâ—ints made of no other Matter then that we may see in the Courts of Princes O what a poor place were Heaven if it had no other riches beauty excellency than what might be fetched out of the bowells of the Earth or the bottom of the Seas and Rocks Adde but Eternity to such Common Comforts and you turn them into burthens which cannot be borne into a satiety that produceth loathing and not delight It is a change onely that makes them to be grateful it being sometimes as pleasing to want them as to have them to lay them aside as to put them on Is it not then wisdom for me for every one to make a right judgment concerning true happiness and to know that it is one thing and not many things and yet it is sufficient for all persons for all places both in Heaven and Earth for all times both in this life and after it It is ever the same and maketh us ever the same it hath no change in it self but the communication of its growth in us and what is now Grace shall be Glory in Heaven If it could decay or loose it were not happiness but misery Lord therefore what ever others judge or think make me like the wise Merchant willing to sell all to buy the Rich Pearl yea to contemne all for the one thing necessary and to say as David did Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee Meditation XXXIII Vpon a Pleasure-Boat APrivate house is often built by the same Model which Princes use for their Pallaces the dimenâ—â—ons onely being contracted with the observance of the same Figure And so a Boat or Vessel of Pleasure differing in its use and design as well as in its bulk from another Ship is yet by the skill and Ingeny of the Artist exactly made after the mould or shape of the tallest Ship of War and Traffick it having its Rigging Sailes Anchors Cables False Pâ—rts and what not that please the fancy and eye of the beholder bâ—t how many of these things are more for pomp and bâ—auty then for use and necessity when the Vessel it self is made onely to receive the carasses and blandishments of the Sea and not to endure the hardship of a storm It is not an Aâ—k for necessity as Moses his was not an Ark for safety as Noahs was but a Vessel for Pleasure and therefore a gentle breath that may sweâ—l the Saileâ— and the curling of the Waters that may cause a little agitation and a serene skie which may invite the Fishes to sport do much heighten the delight of the Passengers but loud Windes Waves that roar Cloudes which mask the Heavens with darkness carry in them so many Imâ—ges of deâ—th and soon tâ—rn their Pleasure into afrightments and put them upon nothing more than an earnest longing and wishing for the safety of the Shore But the resolute Marriners in their Ships they both expect and prepare to wrastle with such difficulties they ply their Sailes they fathom the Sea with their Line they have their hand to the Helm and their eye to Heaven they let fall their Anchors and ride amidst the Tempest till it hath spent its fury with an undaunted Courage I have now methinks set forth in an Allegory the Temporary Professor and the sound and reall Believer the one having onely the forme and the other the power of godliness the one serving himself and the other his God in the Work of Religion In the Sunshine and Prosperity of the Church who spreads a fairer Sail of Profession then the Temporary who seemes more eager of following Christ Coast after Coast then he who is more expressive of his joy and delight in his approaching to Ordinances who more confident in his boastings of following Christ and dying with him when others leave him then he And yet if but a Cloud of an hand breadth arise in the Firmament of the Church who is more full of boding feares and repentings in himself than ever he went so far If Christ be but apprehended and led away to the High Priests Pallace to be there buffeâ—ed and spit upon who more ready to say I know not the Man or if it be needfull to renounce all with an Oath Now the ground of all this is because he makes his Religion an Art rather than a Duty and doth rather inform and actuate it then is informed and guided by it He took it up not to honour God but to better himself by it and therefore resolves if he cannot be a gainer he will be no loser But how greatly differing from such an one is the true and real Christian who enters into Religion as into a Covenant of Marriage which requires Performances not retractions and hath its Praemeditata Commoda incommoda fore-thought of Burdens aâ— well as Delights He looked upon the Church of Christ not as a Pleasure Boat which is onely for pastime but as a Ship that must expect stormes though not fear a wrack because Christ is in it And therefore he is resolved with fortitude to withstand the Corruptions of the Times to out-face the sins and scornes of Men to be valiant for a Truth trampled upon and not to be ashamed of a Persecuted Profession and to
desire besides thee Surely if Heaven which hath legions of beauties and perfections in it yield nothing worthy of his love and affection but God and Christ we may well conclude that Earth which is as void of good as Heaven is full can have nothing in it that is to be desired by us Why then should any in whom Christ is the hope of glory be as the men of the world who cry out Who will shew us any good For them to be unsatisfied who feed upon vanities is no wonder but for those who possess him that is and hath all things it is strange that they should seek any thing out of him Quid ultra quaerit cui omnia suus conditor fit aut quid ei susficit cui ipse non sufficit What can be seâ—k further saith Prosper to whom his God is made every thing Or what will susfice him to whom He is not sufficient I know but one wish that any Believer hath to make and that is the wish of St. John with which he seals up the Book of God as the common desire of all the Faithful with which I shall shut up this Meditation as with the best of wishes Come Lord Jesus even so come as thou hast promised come quickly in whose presence there is fulness of joy and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore Meditation LI. Vpon first Fruits and Gleanings VVHat the Apostle saith of the heavenly Bodies that one Star differeth from another Star in glory is true also of the heavenly Laws and Commands of God as well Ceremonial as Moral that they differ from each other in their weight and worth Some of which set forth the greater things and others the less as may be easily seen in this double Command of First fruits and Gleanings one of which is far greater than the other though the less is not to be neglected because it is a stream that flows from the same Fountain the Soveraign will and appointment of God But that we may the better take the Dimensions of this Law of First fruits let us view it by the help of some Considerations as Astronomers by instruments judge of the Altitude and Magnitude of a Star We may first see it in the extent of those things in the offering of which God would be honoured and acknowledged he required the firstlings of Men and Cattel the first fruits of trees and of the Earth in the sheaf and in the threshing floor in the dough and in the loaves It did reach to all their Substance and the encrease which without this Service was but a polluted and an unclean heap Secondly In the solemn manner of the offering of them unto God which was to be done with an humble Confession of their Fathers poverty A Syrian ready to perish was my Father and of the hard bondage in Egypt sustained by them and with acknowledgment of Gods gracious looking upon their Affliction Labour and Oppression bringing them also forth with a mighty hand and out-stretched arm with great terribleness and with signs and wonders and giving them a Land that floweth with milk and honey Thirdly In the express command for the speedy payment of them they were not to be delayed much less withheld to keep them back was robbery to defer them was disobedience and rendred them rather to be of the Gleanings and Corners of the field which God had appointed to be reserved for the poor then of the First fruits which he required for himself It was an injury to the moral duty which they did teach of Consecrating to God the first and prime of their years and abilities which is to him far more acceptable than all Offerings and Sacrifices whatever for how could it be that he who was careless of the Rite and Ceremony which typified his duty to him should ever be mindful of doing that which was the marrow and substance of it And now when I think that First fruits only were the shadow of our early honouring God and remembring him in the day of our youth when all the faculties both of soul and body are in their vigour and strength I cannot but wonder as well as mourn to see that under the Doctrine of the Gospel which reacheth men to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts that thereby they might become a kind of first fruits unto God and the Lamb. So few make Religion the work of the morning of their Age and so many of the Evening What else is this but to give the First fruits to Satan and the Gleanings to God To him the finest of the flower and to God the bran But tell me O ye deferrers of holiness who make it both the least and the last work of your lives Is it only necessary to die to God and not 10 live to him Or is it reasonable to say as that young man did to his Companion when he saw Ambrose dying Tecum viverem cum Ambrosio moriar I would live with thee and dye with Ambrose Is not this to mock God whom yet you would have to save you And to minister matter of triumph to the God of this world whose Captives you have been that though the God of heaven pay you your wages yet you have done wholly his work Unto you therefore O men I call and my voice is unto the Sons of men be not deceived God will not be mocked It is not the owning of him when you can serve neither your selves nor your Lusts any longer that will be acceptable unto him It is not a few bedrid prayers that are as those Ears of Corn which Pharaoh saw in his dream withered thin and blasted with the East wind that will expiate those black Crimes with which your ill-spent life is overspread Can an Offering of Gleanings which is made up of robbery and disobedience of wronging the poor and violating the Command of God ever hallow the whole Harvest No more can such duties be availing to reconcile you to God who requires that you should seek him early Yea hath he not cursed the deceiver which hath in his Flock a Male and sacrificeth to the Lord a corrupt thing And what are you but deceivers Who waste the Lamp of time that God hath given you to work by in the sinful delights of the flesh and alienate the chief of your strength and parts from him that should have been honoured both with the first and best of your abilities and in your Age have nothing to offer to him but a large bedroll of hainous enormities which may justly bring down your gray haires with sorrow unto the grave How blessed a thing is it then for Men to give to God the first-fruits of their Youth that he may not give them bitter after-fruits and cause them to feel more smart of their sins in their Old Age then ever they found pleasure or delight in them in their Youth and what better Perswasions can I suggest then to consider First That early
upwards to the heavens which will after all climbing to them seem to be still at the like distance as they were at first Suppose that a man after hard labour and toyl in reaching the top of some high and steep Cliff should conclude that he had wearied himself to no purpose in the gaining of a delightful prospect because the Sun appears to be at the same distance and also of equal bigness as when he was at the bottom of it or that the Stars seem still to be but as so many twiâ—ckling watch lights without the least encrease of their dimensions or variation of their figure Might he not be easily refuted by bidding him to look down to those Plains from whence he had ascended and behold into what narrow scantlings and proportions those stately buildings and Towers were shrunk and contracted whose greatness as well as beauty he erewhile so much admired And may I not with the like facility answer and resolve the discouraged Christian who calls in question the truth of his heavenly progress because all those glorious objects which his Faith eyes and his soul desires to draw nigh unto seem still to be as remote from him as at his first setting out by wishing him to consider whether he cannot say that though heavenly objects do not encrease in their magnitude or lustre by the approach that he makes to them that yet all earthly objects do sensibly lose theirs by the distance that he is gone from them And if he can but so do surely he hath no cause of despairing to obtain heaven who hath travelled so far on the way as to lose well near the sight of Earth If once his faith hath raised him to that height as to make the glory of the world to disappear and to be as a thing of nought it will quickly land him in heaven where his fears of miscarrying as well as his lassâ—ude in working will be swallowed up in an everlasting rest And he that did once believe more than he saw shall for ever see far more than ever he could have believed Lord therefore do thou who givest power to the faint and to them that have no might encrease strength to me who wait upon thee renew my strength that I may mount up with wings as an Eagle and may run and not be weary and walk and not faint untill I come to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills and behold thy face in glory Meditation LVII Vpon the Bible QUintilian who makes it a question why unlearned â—en in discourse seem ofâ— times more free and copious than the Learned gives this as the answer That the one without either care or choice express whatsoever their present thoughts suggest to them Cum doctis sit electio modus When the other are both careful what to say and to dispose also their Conceptions in due manner and order If any thing make this Subject difficult to my Meditation it is not want but plenty which is so great as that I must like Bezaleel and Aholiab be forced to lay aside much of that costly stuff which presents it self to me And what to refuse or what to take in is no easie matter to resolve It will I am sensible require and deserve also more exactness in chusing what to say and what not to say concerning its worth and excellency and how to digest what is spoken than what is meet for any to assume unto himself I shall therefore account that I have attained my end if I can but so imploy my thoughts as to encrease my veneration to this Book of God which none can ever too much study or too highly prize and with which to be well acquainted is not only the chief of duties but the best of delights and pleasures What would be our condition in this world if we had not this blessed Book among us would it not be like Adams when driven out of Paradise and debarred from the Tree of Life Would it not be darker than the Earth without the Sun If the world were fuller of Books than the heaven is of Stars and this only wanâ—ing there would be no certain way and rule to Salvation But if this alone were extant it would enlighten the eyes make wise the simple and guide their feet in the paths of life True it is that for many years God made known himself by Visions Dreams Oracles to persons of noted holiness that they might teach and instruct others But it was while the Church of God was of small growth and extent and the persons to whom Gods Messâ—ges were Concredited of unquestioned Authority with the present Age. But afterward the Lord spake to his Church both by Word and Writing the one useful for further revealing Divine Truths and the other for the recording of them that when the Canon was once compleated all might appeal unto it and none take the liberty of coyning Divine Oracles to himself or of obtruding his fancies upon others And were there no other use of this Book of God than this that it should be the Standard for the trial of all Doctrines it were to be highly prized for its worth without which the minds of men would be in a continual distraction through the multitude of Enthusiasts that would be pretending Commissions from heaven none knowing what to believe in point of Faith or what to do in point of Obedience or whereby to difference the good and evil Spirit from each other But this single benefit though it can never enough be thankfully acknowledged to God by us is but as a Cluster to the Vintage or as an Ear of Corn to the Harvest in respect of those many blessings that may be reaped from it Doth not Paul ascribe unto it an universal influence into the Welfare of Believers when he ennumerates so many noble Ends for which all Scripture is profitable What is it that makes any man wise to Salvation Is it not the Scripture What is it that instructs any in Righteousness and makes him perfect and throughly furnished unto all good works Is it not the Scripture Is not this the only Bock by which we come to understand the heart of God to us and learn also the knowledge of our own hearts Both which as they are the breasts of mysteries so they are of all knowledge the best and fill the soul with more satisfaction than the most exact discovery of all created Beings whatsoever What if a man could like Solomon speak of Trees from the Cedar that is in Lebanon to the Hysop that groweth upon the Wall and of Beasts Fowls and Fishes and yet were wholly ignorant of his own heart would not the light that is in him be darkness Or what if a man could resolve all those posing questions in which the Schoolmen have busied themselves concerning Angels and yet know nothing of the God of Angels would he not become as a sounding Brass and a tinckling Symbal Is the knowledge of
excellent demeanour of himself at the Bar well-nigh overcomes Agrippa upon the Bench to be a Christian O how careful then should every man be who in what condition soever he stands is a part of the body of humane society to abhor evil and to cleave to that which is good When the effects both of the one and other are not terminated in our selves but do more or less benefit or hurt others as well as our selves Meditation XXIII Vpon a Multiplying Glass WHat a vain and fictitious happiness would that be if a poor man who had only a small piece of money should by the looking upon it through a multiplying Glass please himself in believing that he is now secure from the fears of pressing wants his single piece being suddenly minted into many pounds with which he can readily furnish himself with fuell to warm him cloaths to cover him and food to satisfie him But alas when he puts forth his hand to take a supply from what he beholds he can feel nothing of what he sees and when the Glass is gone that presented him with so much Treasure he can then see nothing but his first pittance which also becomes the less desirable because of the disappointment of his hopes Upon what better foundation doth the felicity of the greatest part of men stand which is not fixed upon any true and spiritual good as its proper Basis but upon the specious semblances of a corrupt and mutable fancy What is it that rich men do not promise themselves who conceive riches to be a strong Tower They think they can laugh at Famine and when others like the poor Egyptians whose Substance is exhausted sell themselves and their children for food they can buy their bread at any rate If Enemies rise up against them they question not but they can purchase a peace or a victory If Sickness come oh how can they please themselves in thinking that their Purse can command the Physicians skill and the Drugsters shops Elixars Cordials Magisterial powders they conceive beforehand will be prescribed both as their dyet and Physick And every avenue of the body at which the disease or death may threaten to enter shall be so fortified as that both of them shall receive an easie and quick repulse Now what are all these representations but the impostures of the glass of fancy which like the colours in the Rainbow have more of shew thaâ— of Entity Doth not Solomon counsel men not to labour â—o be rich And expostulate with them Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not Doth not our Saviour call them deceitful Riches And Paul uncertain Riches What then can they contribute to the real happiness of any man Surely the transient sparks that with much difficulty are forced from the flint may as soon add light to the body of the Sun as Riches can yield any solid comfort to the soul or keep it from lying down in the bed of darkness and sorrow Away then from me ye flattering vanities and gilded nothings of the world get you to the Bats and to the Moles and try what beauteous rayes you can dart into their eyes I will hence no more behold you in the Glass of Fancy but in the Glass of the Word which discovers that ye are alwaies vanity and vexation no objects of trust in the times of strait or price of deliverance in the day of wrath It is methinks observable that four times in Scripture this saying is repeated That Riches and Treasures profit nothing in the day of wrath twice in the Book of Proverbs and then again by two Prophets Ezekiel and Zephaniah Doubtless these holy men knew what an universal proness there is in the minds of most to exalt Riches above Righteousness and to think that by them Heaven might be purchased and the flames of Hell bribed How else could such words ever drop from the mouths of any that they had made a Covenant with Death and were at an agreement with Hell to pass from them But Lord keep me from imagining to save my soul by Merchandize or of entituling my self any other way to the Inheritance of Heaven than by the Bloud of Christ who is my Life my Riches my Rejoycing and sure Confidence Meditation XXIV Vpon Gravity and Levity THe Stoick Philosophy was famous for Paradoxes strange Opinions improbable and besides common conceit for which it was much admired by some and as greatly controuled and taxed by others Howbeit not Stoicisme only but every Art and course of life and learning hath some Paradoxes or other but Christianity hath many more which seem like nothing less than truth and yet are as true as strange What can be more contrary to the Principles and Maxims of Philosophers than to hold that there is a regress from a total privation to an habit It was that which the Epicureans and Stoicks derided in Paul when he preached the Resurrection from the dead and yet Christians build all their happiness and confidence upon it What can seem to carry more of a contradiction in it than that saying of our Saviour He that will lose his life shall find it And yet it is a truth of that importance that whosoever follows not Christs counsell will certainly miss of life What will happily appear more novel and strange than that which I shall now adde by inverting the common Axiom and affirming this as a truth Levia tendunt deorsum gravia sursum Light things fall downwards and heavy ascend upwards The lighter they are the lower they sink and the heavier they are the higher they rise and yet this Riddle hath a truth in it In Scripture the wicked that must fall as low as hell are resembled to things of the greatest Levity as well as vileness Dust Chaff Smoke Fume Scum and the Saints that must ascend as high as Heaven are likened to things of weight as well as worth To Wheat the heaviest of which is the best to Gold which is of Metals the weightiest as well as the richest to Gems and precious Stones that are valued by the number of the Carrats which they weigh as well as by their lustre with which they sparkle Yea God hath his Ballance to weigh men and their actions as well as his Touchstone to try them He is a God of knowledge by whom actions are weighed saith Hannah in her Song And if he find great men a lye and vanity upon the Ballance he will not spare them What a severe Judgment did God execute upon Belshazzar who being weighed and found wanting was in the same night cast out both from his Kingdom and from the Land of the living And what a dreadful Sentence hath Christ foretold shall come from his mouth in the great day against those who have made a vain and empty profession of his Name who are bid to depart from him and go accursed into everlasting fire not for doing evil against his but for not doing of good
Joseph and on the Crown of the Head of Him that was separated from His Subjects but is now wonderfully restored to them Meditation XXVII Vpon the Weapon Salve VVHo was the Author of this Weapon Salve cannot certainly be affirmed Some attribute it to Paracelsus who was very pregnant in mysterious Inventions others to one Parmensis Anshelmus an Italian who was called a Saint as Simon Magus of old the great power of God though both were no better then grand Sorcerers But whoever he were the Ointment is much famed yet not altogether unquestioned for its strange manner of healing and curing of wounds differing from other Physicall Applications in a double respect The one is that it is applyed not to the person who receives the wounds but to the active Instrument that inflicts it which is a subject not at all capable of sickness or sanity of ease or pain and so cannot be receptive of the alterative power of the Oyntment which if it work by a vertual contact must necessarily have the intermedial Bodies to participate of it The other is that this Salve effects its Cure at distances which are inconsistent with the Rules of a mediate Contact it heales the Patient when he is a hundred miles off as well as when he is near and that requires a vicinity of place as well as a right disposition of the Medium Now these differences though they have served to heighten its esteem in the apprehensions of many and have given occasion to Learned Men who are great admirers of Sympathies to Write for it or to be fautors of it yet others of no less worth and repute have divided from them and have slighted it as an empty vanity or censured it as a Magical impiety For my part I am not satisfied with such subtill nicities as are used to defend it of common and universal Spirits which convey the action of the remedy unto the part and conjoyn the vertue of bodies far disjoyned neither can I think it worthy of such speculations it commonly healing but simple wounds and such which being kept clean need no other hand then that of Nature and the Balsam of the proper part But there is a Weapon Salve of which it is easie to speak much but Impossible to say enough so full it is of divine and mysterious wonders if we consider either what it is or what the cures are which it effects or what the distance is in which it operates Would you know what this Salve is it is the Blood of Christ Crucified whose sufferings do all turn to the advantage of Believers the Blood is his but the Balme is theirs the Thornes are his but the Crown is theirs the Price is his but the Purchase is theirs Would you hear what Cures it doth it healeth inveterate Ulcers and mortal Wounds it extinguisheth the Fiery Darts of Satan it drawes forth the Venom of the Sting of Death it easeth Pressures it destroyeth Yokes and what not that riseth up as a let or barr 10 a Believers life or happiness Would you know the extent of its vertue and at what a distance it operates Paul tells us that by the Blood of his Cross Christ hath reconciled all things unto himself whether they be things in Earth or things in Heaven There is no Person that can stand so remote or be at any such Angle or Corner of the Earth but he may partake of the influence of it if he do but cast up an eye of Faith towards Heaven and be as fully healed as any other Like as the stung Israelite who lay in the utmost part of the Camp did receive equal benefit by looking to the Brazen Serpent with him that stood next unto the Pole upon which it was Erected O therefore let not any who are excercised with Spiritual Conflicts cast away their Confidence but fight the good fight of Faith unto the end for though they be not invulnerable yet none of their Wounds are incurable The Blood of Christ is more powerful to Save than Sin or other Enemies to Destroy else the great end of Christs Coming into the World of being a Physician to the Sick a Deliverer to the Captive an Healer of the Broken-Hearted would be in vain and all the Saints must be still in their Sins Set then Faith on work ye that Faint and Droop in your Mindes and say not who shall go up for us to Heaven and bring this Salve-unto us that we may liye or who shall go over the Sea for us and bring this Soveraigne Balme of Gilead unto us that we may be healed by it Do but Believe and the Cure is wrought Faith is the Instrument which makes a vertual Contact between Christ and every Believer It receives healing Grace from him and straitwayes conveys it unto the Subject in which it is to terminate For as Futurition in respect of the Existency of things is no prejudâ—ce to the Eye of Faith in the beholding of them as present So neither is distance of place any hinderance to the efficacy of the touch of Faith but that it may forthwith transmit the Sanative Efflux of Christs Blood unto him who by Faith toucheth him The Woman that laboured many yeares of the Bloody Issue in the same instant that She touched the Hem of Christs Garment felt in her self that She was healed of her Plague But I am jealous that whilest I commend this sacred remedy some presumptuous Sinner who is more apt to abuse Grace than a Wounded Spirit to improve it should make no other use of it than to think he may sin securely and needs not fear what bruises and wounds he contracts seeing the Cure is certain and speedy I can therefore do no less then express my self in an holy Indignation against such who would make the precious Blood of my Saviour subservient to their lusts desiring rather to be freed from the danger than from the Dominion of their sins O my Soul come not thou into their secret unto their Assembly mine Honour be not thou united Cursed be their lusts for they are vile and their desires for they are devillish Let me bless God who hath made me whole and sin no more least a worse thing come unto me Meditation XXVIII Vpon the Rudder of a Ship AMongst other Similitudes which St. James useth to shew thâ—t great matters are effected by smâ—ll means this of the Rudder of a Ship is one and he ushereth it in with a signal word which the Scripture often prefixeth to weighty sayings to render them the more remarkable Behold also the Ships which though they be so great are driven of fierce winds yet are turned about with a very small Helm whithersoever the Governour listeth The right guidance of this single part is of such consequence to the safety of the whole as that every irregular motion may either hazard the Vessel or greatly hinder its progress when it answereth not the just point of the Compass How continually
divine Excellencies Do they not take the Wings of the Morning and fly to the utmost end of the Earth in their musings and thoughts to find out riches that will not profit in the day of wrath when their Essaies to Heaven are as weak as the Grashoppers who give only a small slirt upwards and then falls down to the Earth again O that I could with plenty of tears bemoan that monstrous Ataxie and perverseness which sin hath wrought in the most noble parts of man Was not that agility of mind given unto him by God that he might have his Conversation in Heaven though his abode was on Earth And that he might enter into the holy of holies not like the High Priest once in a year but in every prayer and duty like a winged Angel behold the face of God and look into those things that are within the Veil But now alas he can only like that lapsed Angel compass the earth to and fro in his thoughts and descend as low as hell in his lusts but cannot raise himself above the world to the performance of the least good I feel O my God continually the sad change which sin hath made in me not so much destroying my Faculties as perverting them I have not lost the use of them but the rectitude of them I am no more weary of sinning than a swift stream of running the same weight of sin that hinders me from running the race which is set before me hurries me to evil and makes me through the impulsions of Satan to gather strength by an accessory impression In the births of sin I am like the Hebrew women lively and quick of delivery but in the bringing forth of whatever is good like a slow Egyptian that needs the aide of a Midwife l therefore beg of thee holy Lord to heal my distempers by thy grace and to renew me in the spirit of my mind that I may run the way of thy Commandments when thou hast enlarged my heart Meditation XXXVII Vpon a Sun-Dyal and a Clock THese two Artificial measures of time give one and the same account of its motions but in a very differing if not contrary manner The Clock doth it by a motion of its own but the Sun-Dyall while it self is fixed by an extrinsick motion of the Sun upon those Lines drawn upon it effects the same thing And this occasioned me to think in what a differing way the same services and duties of Religion are done by those that profess it Some like Clocks have a Spring of motions in themselves and the weight that quickens and actuates it is love They pray confer exercise holiness in their Conversation in a progressive manner Salvation being nearer to them than when they first believed Others again are like Sun-Dyals that are as useless posts in a gloomy day and are destitute of all principles of motion The Sun moveth upon them but they stand still The Spirit comes upon them as it did on Saul but themselves are not in the least moved by those duties that others may think they profit by There is a light and shine which passeth upon their gifts and abilities that may render them useful as well as visible unto others but it effecteth no alteration in their hearts to the bettering of themselves What divine Visions and Prophesies did Balaam both see and utter concerning Israel And how remarkable is the Preface which he sets before them The man whose eyes are open hath said yet his heart is fixed to his lust of Covetousness and he is so far from taking the least step towards their Tents which with admiration he beholds to be goodly as that he gives Balack counsel how to destroy them Let not then any rest in a bare illumination or transient work of the Spirit upon them as if that such things would be sufficient evidences of the goodness of their conâ—ition Light may make a good head but it is heat and motion that must make a good heart without which all profession of Religion is but an unsavoury Carkass Be wise therefore O Christians and build not the foundation of your eternal happiness upon such uncertain principles May not the Spirit assist where it never inhabits May it not move upon him whom it never quickens Were not many workers of iniquity who were workers of miracles Were not many famous for their Prophesies who were infamous for their Profaneness Are not such things made by Christ the plea of many in the last day for their admittance into heaven whom he will not know Why then should any be so foolish to make that a Plea to the Judge which he knows beforehand will be rejected The best way to discern our condition is not to argue the goodness of it from the light which the Spirit darts in upon us but by the motions which it produceth in us As many as are the Sons of God are led by the Spirit of God in a constant way of progression from grace to grace from vertue to vertue Such light as it is sudden in its Eruptions so it is also in its Interruptions the one oft times are as speedy and momentary as the other Look therefore to the attractions of the Spirit by which you are moved drawn to walk in holy waies rather than to such motions of the Spirit which pass only upon you but do not beget any motion or stirring in you Meditation XXXVIII Vpon the payment of a Pepper-corn LOgicians have a Maxime that Relationes sunt minimae entitatis maximae efficaciae Relations are of the smallest Entity and of the greatest efficacy The truth of which may appear in the payment of a single Pepper-corn that Freeholders pay to their Landlord they do it not with any hope or intent to enrich him but to acknowledge that they hold all from him To effect the one it is of too mean a value yet it preserves the Lords right as fully as a greater Rent and aggravates the Tenants folly to withhold more than if the demands had been higher To such an one may be justly said what Naamans Servant spake unto him If the Prophet had bid thee do some great thing wouldest thou not have done it How much rather then when he saith to thee wash and be clean If the condition which meer bounty happily hath made so easie had been by the same hand and power restrained to a more costly and â—mple homage ought it not to have been performed How much more when nothing is required but what may witness a dependency and not burden it How inexcusable then must the ingratiâ—ude of those men be who receiving all their blessings from God withhold that Pepper-corn of praise and honour from him which is the only thing that they can pay or that he expects To câ—st the least Mite into his Treasury which may adde to its riches is beyond the Line of men or Angels for if it could admit an increase the abundance of it
were not infinite but to adore its fulness and to acknowledge that from it they derive theirs is the duty of all that partake of it This is the only homage that those Stars of the Morning and sons of God who behold his face do give in heaven and this is it which the Children of men should give on Earth But alas from how few are those sacred dues tendred to God though all be his debtors Doth not the rich man when wealth floweth in upon him like a river forget that the Lord only giveth him power to get riches And sacrifice unto his Net and burn Incense unto his Drag Is it not the sin that God chargeth all Israel with that they rejoyce in a thing of nought and say have we not taken horns to us by our own strength Yea doth he not expresly say thar he will nor give his glory unto another Shall any man then take it unto himself And yet what stoln bread is so sweet to any taste as the secret nimmings purloynings of Gods glory are unto the pallate of most If any design be effected they think that their wisdom hath brought it about if any difficulties be removed they ascribe it to their industry if success and victory do build upon their Sword it is their own arm and right hand that hath obtained it O how great is that pride and unthankfulness which reigns in the hearts of men who affect to rob God rather than to honour him and to deny him to be the Author of what they possess than to acknowledge their Tenure that they hold all in Capite Stealing from men may be acquitted again with single or double with fourfold or sevenfold restitution But the filching from Gods glory can never be answered for who can give any thing to him which he hath not received Others may steal of necessity to satisfie their hunger but such violate out of pride and wantonness the Exchequer of heaven and shall never escape undetected or unpunished Consider therefore this all ye who are ready to kiss your own hands for every blessing that comes upon you to what danger you expose your selves while ye rob God whose name is Jealous who will vindicate the glory of his neglected goodness in the severe triumphs of his impartial Justice It is Bernards Expression Uti datis ut innatis est maxima superbia to use Gods gifts as things inbread in us is the highest arrogancy and what less can it merit than the very condemnation of the Devil Whos 's first sin as some Divines conceive was an affectation of independant happiness without any respect or habitude unto God I cannot a little wonder that the blackness of his sin and the dreadfulness of his Fall should not make all to fear the least shadow and semblance of such a crime in themselves as must bring upon them the like ruine Look upon him ye proud ones and tremble who are abettors of Nature against Grace and resolve the salvation of man ultimately into the freedom of his Will rather than into the efficacy of Gods Grace who in the work of Conversion make the Grace of God to have only the work of a Midwife to help the Child into the world but not to be the Parent and sole Author of it Is not this to cross the great design of the Gospel which is to exalt the honour of God and Christ that he that glorieth might glory in the Lord. And is not every tittle of the Gospel as dear to God as every little of the Law Can then any diminish ought from it and be guiltless Oh fear then to take the least due from God who hath threatned to take his part out of the Book of Life and out of the holy City and from the things which are written in the Book of God Non est devotion is dedisse prope totum sed fraudis retinuisse vel minimum It is not devotion saith Prosper rightly against his Collator to acknowledge almost all from God but accursed theft to ascribe though but a very little to our selves Lord therefore whatever others do keep me humble that as I receive all from thee so I may render that tribute of praise which thou expectest from me both chearfully and faithfully and though it can adde nothing to thy perfection no more than my beholding and admiring the Suns light can encrease it yet let me say as holy David did Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy name be the glory for thy mercy and for thy truths sake Meditation XXXIX Vpon the Bucket and the Wheel THe saying of Democritus which he spake concerning Philosophical truth that it did latitare in juteâ— hide it self and take up its abode in a dark and deep Well may much more be affirmed of Theological truth when the whole Doctrine of the Gospel is called the Mystery of Christ and the great Mystery of Godliness that there should be three distinct Persons in one Essence and two distinct Natures in one Person That Virgiâ—ity should conceive Eternity be born Immortality dye and Mortality rise from death to life Are not these and many more of the like intricacy unparalelled mysteries May we not then justly say as the Samaritaâ— woman did to our Saviour when he asked water of her Puteus profundus est the Well is deep and who can descend into it or fathom it And yet such is the pride and arrogancy of many men as that not contenting themselves with the simplicity of believing many make Reason the sole standard whereby to measure both the Principles and Conclusions of Faith for which it is as unapt as the weak Eye of a Bat to behold the Sun when it shineth in its full strength or the Bill of a small Bird to receive into it the Ocean These high mysteries are not to be scanned but to be believed the knowledge and certainty of which doth not arise from the evidence of reason but from the revelation made of them in holy Scriptures the mouth of God who is truth it self and cannot lye hath spoken them and therefore it cannot be otherwise But must then reason be wholly shut out as a useless thing in the Christian Religion or must it be confined to the agenda matters of duty and morality in which it cannot be denied to be both of necessary and constant use Surely even the Credenda also the Doctrines and points which are properly of Faith do not refuse the sober use of Reason so it be imployed as an Handmaid and not as a Mistress I have therefore thought that Faith is as the Bucket which can best descend this deep Well of mystery and that Reason is as the Wheel which stands over the mouâ—h of it and keeps alwaies its certain and fixed distance But yet by its motion is instrumental both to let down the bucket and also to draw it up again Faith discovers the deep things of God and then reason teacheth us to
wickedness Is it not solly to refuse the warm breast and to suck the Milk from the bottle when it is dispirited and hath lost both its warmth and lively taste and what less difference is there between a Sermon in the Pulpit and in the Prâ—ss Is it not also wickedness to offer Sacriledge for Sacrifice and to rob God of one Duty to pay him another to withhold the greater and to seem Conscientious in the less Are they not in thus doing fures de se thieves to their own Soules depriving themselves of the profit of both while they are willfull neglecters of each Be wise therefore O Christians in keeping up an high esteem of the Word Preached and be alwayes as Babes for hunger and desire after it though not for knowledg and understanding in it And remember that there is no way so dangerous to lessen your desires as to keep your selves fasting from it For the Word of God still creates new appetites as it satisfies the old and enlargeth the capacities of the Soul as it fills it Use good Books as Apothecaries do their Succedanea one simple to supply the want of another when the Preacher cannot be had then make use of them but let it rather be to stay the stomach in the absence of an Ordinance then to satisfie it And when you enjoy both say as Aristotle sometimes did of the Rhodian and Lesbian Wine when he had tasted of both that the Rhodian was good too but the Lesbian was the pleasanter Holy Books are good and relish well but the Word Preached is more sweet the one is as the Wine the Bridegroom provided at the Marriage Feast and the other as that which Christ made which was easily discerned by the Governour who knew not whence it was to be by far the better Meditation XLII Vpon Mixtures THe wise God hath so tempered the whole Estate of Man in this life as that it consisteth altogether of Mixtures There is no sweet without sower nor sower without sweetness All simples in any kinde would prove dangerous and be as uncorrected drugs which administered unto the Patient would not recover him but destroy him Constant Sorrow without any Joy would swallow us up and simple Joy without any Grief would puff us up both extreames would agree alike in our ruine he being in as dangerous a case who is swolne with Pride as he who is overwhelmed with Sorrow This Mixture then though it seem penall and prejudicial to our comfort is yet Medicinall and is by God as a wise Physician ordered as a Diet most sutable to our Condition and if we did but look into the grounds of it we shall find cause to acknowledge Gods wise Providence and to frame our hearts to a submission of his will without murmuring at what he doth For have we not two Natures in us the Spirit and Flesh the New and Old Man have we not twins in our Womb our Counter-lustings and our Counterwillings Are we not as Plants that are seated between the two different Soiles of Earth and Heaven Is there not then a necessity of a mixed Diet that is made up of two contraries The Physician is not less loyal to his Prince if he give to him an unpleasing Vomit and to a poor Man a cheering Cordiall because his Applications are not according to the dignity of the Person but to the quality of the Disease neither is God the less kind when he puts into our hand the bitter Cup of asfliction to drink of then when he makes us to caste of the Flaggons of his sweetest wine Paul his Thorn in the Flesh what ever the meaning of it be was usefull to keep down that tumor of pride which the abundance of Revelations might have exposed him unto and so joyned together they were like the rod and the Honey which enlightned Jonathans eyes when he had tasted the sweetness of the one God would have him feel the smart of the other At the same time also when God blessed Jacob he Crippled him that he might not think above what was meet of his own strength or ascribe his prevailing to the vehemency of his Wrâ—stling rather then to Gods gracious condescention Yea who is it that hath not experienced such Mixtures to be the constant Methods which he useth towards his dearest Children what are the lives of the best Christians but as a Rainbow which consists half of the moisture of a Cloud and half of the light and beames of the Sun Weeping saith David may endure for a Night but Joy cometh in the Morning And what other thing doth the Apostle speak of himself when he gives the Corinthians an account of his Condition As dying and behold we live as chastened and not killed as sorrowfull and yet alwayes rejoycing as poore yet making many rich as having nothing but yet possessing all things Blessed then is he who doth without repining yield himself to the dispose of Divine Providence rather then accuse it and looks not so much to what at present is gratefull to the sense as to what for the future will be profitable to the whole For in these Mixtures Magna latent beneficia 〈◊〉 non fulgeant great advantages do lye hid though not shine forth Hereby we are put upon the exercise of all those Graces which are accommodated to our imperfect state here below whose acts shall not be compleated in Heaven but shall all cease as being not capacitated for a Fruition and yet are of great use while we are on this side Heaven How necessary is Patience to bear up the Soul under trials that it fret not against God who inflicts them How greatly doth Hope temper any present souer by its expectation of some happy change that may and will follow and so worketh joy in the midst of sadness How even to wonder doth Faith manifest its power in all distresses when it apprehends that there are no degrees of extremity unrelieveable by the Arm of God or inconsistent with his compassions and friendship Again such Mixtures serve to work in us a greater hatred of sin and an earnest longing after Glory in which our life light joyes are all pure and everlasting Our life is without any seed of death our light without any shadow of darkness and our joyes endless Hallelujahs without the interruption of one sigh Therefore are we burdened in our Earthly Tabernacle that we should the more groan to be clothed upon with our house which is from Heaven Therefore yet have we the remainders of sin by which we are unlike God and the first-fruits onely of the spirit by which we resemble him that we might long and wait for the Adoption and Redemption wherein what ever is blended and imperfect shall be done away When not to sin which is here onely our Duty shall be the top branch of our reward and blessedness O holy Lord I complain not of my present lot for though it be not free from mixture yet it is
greatly differing from what others find and feel whose lines are not fallen in so fair a place But still I say when shall I dwell in that blessed Country where sorrows dye and joys cannot Into which Enemy never entred and from which a Friend never parted When shall I possess that Inheritance which is a Kingdom for its greatness and a City for its beauty where there is Society without Envy and rich Communications of good without the least diminution Meditation XLIII Vpon Time and Eternity THe two Estates of this and the other World are measured by Time and by Eternity as their just and proper measures there being nothing in this World which is not as transient as Time nor in the other which is not as fixed and lasting as Eternity How inexpressibly then must the good and evil the happiness and the misery of those two Estates differ from eacâ— other What is the duration of all earthly greatness in respect of the stability of heavenly glory but as a flash of lightning to a standing Sun in the Firmament or as a spark ascending from a furnace to a never setting Star What are the most fiery trials of this life either for intension or length unto the everlasting burnings and scorchings of hell but as the soft and gentle heat of a blushing face unto the constant flames and torments of the bowels What are Racks Stone Collick Strangury Convulsions heaped together into an extream horrour but as the simple grudgings of an Ague to the desperate rage and anguish which the least bite of that worm that dies not creates in the lowest faculty of the soul There are additions to things which are limited and diminuent terms of that to which they are annexed and contain in them as Logicians speak oppositum in opposito one opposite in another He that saith a dead man or a painted Lion by saying more saith less than if he had said but a man or a Lion only without any such additions it is all one in effect as if he had said no man no Lion For a dead man is not a man neither is a painted Lion a Lion Such are the additions of Time which put to good or evil expresse less than if nothing had been added He that saith happiness for a season or sorrow for a time saith less than if he had said happiness or sorrow only For perfect happiness or sorrow cannot be circumscribed in the narrow limits of Time no more than Immensity in the points of a place What is happiness that will expire but misery at a distance Or what is sorrow that endures only for a time but an evil supported by hope But adde Eternity to good or evil and it makes the good to be insinitely better and the evil to be infinitely worse Can I then do less than wonder that men who carry eternal souls in their bosoms such as are of kin to Seraphims yea advanced to the participation of the Divine Nature that are the immediate Subjects of Endless woe or bliss should yet so live Aâ— si fabula esset omnis eternitatas as if Eternity were a fable as if they had neither God to serve or souls to save May I not say be astonished O heavens at this and be horribly afraid be ye very desolate as the Lord himself did at Israels folly What greater stupidity can there be than this which most are guilty of to busie themselves like Martha about perishing trifles and to neglect the one thing which is necessary To be thoughtfull of things below and seldom think of heaven till death summon them to leave Earth To make Salvation the by-work of their lives and the fulfilling the apperites of the flesh their chiefest task and care Were it not a strange thing if a man who is to be judged on the morrow and to receive the sentence either of a cruel death or of a rich and honourable estate could not keep in mind the concernments of the next approaching day without tying some Scarlet thread upon his finger as a significant Ceremony to remember him Or the writing of some Caveats upon the posts of the Prison which might hint unto him what danger his life is in Is it not much more strange that the weighty matters of eternal life or eternal death should not by their own greatness press the heart of man unto a constant remembrance of them especially when he knoweth not what a day may bring forth Can the miscarriage of such a person be other than dreadful when their follies as well as their pains shall make them to gnash their teeth and to curse themselves for the neglect of that great Salvation which hath been often tendred them in the Gospel When they shall feel everlastingly what they could never be perswaded for to fear When they shall be convinced that at a far cheaper rate they might have been Saints in Heaven than Salamanders in Hell O that I could therefore awaken and excite all those whom the present enjoyments of the world serve as Opium to cast them into a deep sleep and will happily be angry with those that seek to raise them out of it though they keep them from perishing in it And how can I better do it than in St. Chrysostomes expressions to this purpose Suppose a man saith he much desirous of sleep and in his perfect mind had an offer made of one nights sweet rest upon condition to be punished an hundred years for it would he except of his sleep upon such terms Now do not they who would be loath to be reputed fools do far worse that for the short fruition of a few transient delights hazard a double Eternity the loss of an Eternity of blessedness and the sustaining of an Eternity of miseries for what other proportion can all earthly things bear to heavenly in respect of their duration than a few beatings of the pulse or twinklings of the eye unto Myriads of Ages Be then timely wise ye worldlings in a frequent consideration of your eternal being that you may not pass your life away in a dream of happiness and awake in the horrour of a begun Eternity in misery Say unto your selves are we not in the world as the Child conceived is in the womb not to abide there but to come out in a due time to a more full and free life Why then do we fondly think of building Tabernacles here Why do we so please our selves in our present condition as to be wholly regardless of our future Is not death such a combate as we never enter into but once and therein are either saved or shin eternally Why do we then make little or no provision against what we know will and must certainly follow Do we think that our glory shall descend after us and screen us from Gods siery indignation Will our riches purcâ—ase heaven or bribe hell Will the first-born of our body be accepted for the sin of our soul What is it
that makes our cares and fears so preposterous are we anxious for to morrow and thoughâ—less of Eternity We fear the Grave and mock at Hell we dread the Lightning and slight the Thunder-bolt O methinks such pungent Interrogations should startle the most secâ—re if they would but put Conscience upon an answer and not like Pilate only ask the question and then go their way It is mens living by sense that is that stone of stumbling upon which they ruine themselves Some surfet and over-charge themselves with sensual delights as that their Intellectuals are wholly lost to all acts of Reason others who have jealousies concerning their future estates are more willing to venture what the issue will be than undergo an impartial trial they fear more what sentence Conscience will pass than the Condemnation that God will inflict Few there be that put Time and Eternity in the Ballance and weigh them one against the other or consider that life upon which Eternity depends is a vapour a wind a span at most which the further it is stretched the more painful it is And that Eternity is a bottomless gulph which no Line can fathom no time can reach no tongue can express It is a duration alwaies present a being alwaies in being an everlasting now It swallows up all revolutions of Ages as Pharaohs lean Kine did eat up the fat which when they had eaten them up it could not be known that they had eaten them but were still as at the beginning What strange thing can we imagine that in its duration would not be effected A tear let fall from the damned once in ten thousand years would fill the earth with far more water than it was covered with in the Deluge A dust taken from the Mountains and â—neven parts of the world would in the like intervals level the Universe and turn it into a Plain and yet there would be still an Eternity behind Never never is the killing word that breaks the heart of all these hopeless Prisoners that lye buried in the flames of Hell Suppositions and possibilities which I tremble to think of if they might be but turned into promises unto them of the termination of their anguish and torment O how would their hearts revive within them and how thankfully would they acknowledge Gods goodness unto them Do thou therefore O glorious Lord who art the Ancient of daies the Rock of Ages the Father of Eternity teach me to number my daies that I may apply my heart unto true wisdom that I may walk in the way of life which is above to the wise and depart from hell beneath Meditation XLIV Vpon a Physicians feeling the Pulse HOw often and how exactly do Physicians feel the Pulse of their Patients Not a day passeth without a strict observation of the motions that it makes according unto which they judge both of the greatness and danger of the distemper and what the Issues are like to be both in respect of life and death They do not as other Visitors ask the Patient how he doth but inform him rather how he is and from the report which they make of his malady his fears and hopes are the more or less And yet how rarely do they feel their own pulse who are so seemingly anxious about anothers Daies Weeks Months do Elapse and pass away without any such studious heeding of themselves as they continually in their profession Exercise towards others And yet happily in so doing they are as the Priests in the Temple who as our Saviour saith prophane the Sabbath and are blameless But they occasion me to think of the practise of many who cannot so easily be acquitted Such who are severe observers of other mens waies and actions and as great neglectors of their own who are far more glad that they can espy a fault in others than grieved that it is committed who presume to look into the breast and to discover how the Affections which are the pulse of the soul do bear and work in every duty In some they mislike the heat of their Zeal as too much resembling an high and vehement pulse whose strength and quickness comes not from health but from a Feaver In others they condemn lukewarmness an indifferency whose affections they judge to be as a weak and slow pulse or as the Spring of a Watch that is well-nigh down which Clicks and moves very faintly In some again they observe an inequality in their Profession which is accompanied with frequent stands and pauses that they make like Asthmatical and short-breathed persons they run a while and blow longer before they can move again And upon these they look with as sad a countenance as a Physician doth upon his Patient that hath a false and intermitting pulse Few or none can be found to escape their censure who observe the failings of others as some ancient Criticks did the imperfect Verses of Homer which they learned by heart not at all regarding the many good But what can be more contrary to the Law and rule of Christianity than such practises How many Prohibitions are gone out of the Court of Heaven to stay such irregular proceedings Are we not by Christ forbid to judge that we be not judged To judge nothing before the time untill the Lord come And yet what if any man could know the true temper of the affections of others as fully as a Physician câ—n distinguish a well a sick pulse would this knowledg be any advantage unto him while he is both ignorant and regardless of his own estate Would he thereby find such joy and comfort in himself as he that by an impartial examination of himself can discover the truth and sincerity of his own heart to Christ though he can say nothing of others Surely this man as the hungry would be filled with good things when the other as the rich should be sent empty away He as the humble Publican would be justified when the other as the proud Pharisee should be condemned Let others then Physician like study the condition of others I shall look upon it as my duty and make it my work not to find out what others are but what I am in regard of my unfained love and affection unto Christ who hath transcendently merited my love though I am wholly unworthy of his Erasistratus is famed in History for discovering the love of Antiochus to his Mother-in-law which shame forced him to conceal by the motion of his pulse which he observed to move differently in her presence from what it did at other times O how happy should I deem my self if I could find the pulse of my affections alwaies working more quick and lively in me whenever I behold my Saviour present in the feast of love in which he is pleased not only to let me see him but to enjoy him or when I hear his name mentioned in a duty or when I read his name written in his Word which is therefore
not in the abundance of things which he possesseth If there be any happiness upon Earth it is in that we call Contentation which cometh from the Minde within and not from the things without Perfect Satisfaction is to be had onely in Heaven where we shall be happy not by the Confinement but by the Fruition of our desires Then saith David I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness How happy therefore is every Godly Mans Condition who are the onely Persons that are instructed in the Mystery of Contentment while they live on Earth and shall be in Heaven the sole Possessors of perfect and everlasting Blessedness True it is that Philosophy hath greatly prized and earnestly sought this Rich Jewell of Contentation but Christianity hath onely found it The Moralists have exercised their Wits in giving of Rules to attain it and have let fall some Sentences that may deserve to be put in the Christians Register but they could never look into the true Grounds from whence sound Contentment doth arise and upon which it is to be built The highest of their Precepts have not as I may say the root of the Matter in them and are therefore insufficient wholly to compose the Minde to such a Calme and Even Temper as may in the variety of Changes shew and discover its self to be so reconciled to its present Condition as not to lose its Inward Peace and Serenity whatsoever the Stormes and Cross Accidents are from without What are the Considerations which they prescribe as a support against Poverty Sickness Imprisonment loss of Friends Banishment and such like Evils are they not Perswasions drawn from the Dignity of Man from the vanity and uncertainty of all outward things from the shortness and frailty of Life from the befalling of the same things unto others But alass ◠what slender Props are these to bear the stress and weight of those Armies of Trialls which at once may affault the Life of Man These may haply serve as secondary helpes to alleviate the bitterness of some Afflictions when we are apt to think them greater than what others have felt or longer than what others have endured But to keep the Minde in Peace in the midst of all aestuations from without there must be more Effectual Remedies than either Nature or Morality can suggest From whence then can true Contentment arise but from Godliness which hath a Sufficiency to establish the Heart it is that alone which bringeth a Man home to God out of whom neither Contentment nor Satisfaction can ever be had It is that which acquainteth a Man with that great Secret of Gods Speciall Providence over his Children who Rules the World not onely as a Lord to make them sensible of his Power but as a loving Father to make them confident of his goodness whereby he disposeth all things for the best O when Faith hath once apprehended this how firmly can it rest upon the Promises which are made to Godliness both of this life and that which is to come How can it work far more Contentation with the meanest Food than others have with the costliest Delicates with the poorest Raiment than others have with their richest Ornaments It is Faith onely that teacheth a Christian like a skilfull Musician to let down a String a Peg lower when the Tune requires it or like an experienced Spagirick to remit or intend his Furnace as occasion serves Such an one was Paul who learned this heavenly Art not at Gamaliels feet but in Christs School the Holy Spirit of God being his Teacher so that he knew both how to want and how to abound and in whatsoever State he was therewith to be content Let none then so far admire those Heathen Sages in those speculations of theirs concerning this Mystery as if they had attained to hit that Mark at which they levelled and had arrived at the utmost boundaries of it Whenas in all their Essayes they have fallen as far short of true Contentation as Sick Mens Slumbrings and Dreams do of a sound and healthfull rest Of all their Precepts and Rules I may say as Erasmus did of Seneca in an Epistle of his Si legas eum ut paganum scripsit Christianè si ut Christianum scripsit paganicè If you read them as the Sayings of Heathens they speak Christianly but if you look upon them as the Sayings of Christians they speak Paganly And how could it be that they should ever do otherwise they being wholly destitute of the Light of Grace and the Guidance of the Spirit which are both requisite to this high and holy Learning the one as a Principle and the other as a Teacher But yet this I must say also that they have done enough to shame many who enjoying the Benefit of Divine Revelation and living in the open Sun-shine of the Gospel have profited thereby in so small a Proportion beyond them Who can forbear blushing to see those who Profess to be Christians to live so contrary to the Law and Rule which they should walk by to seek contentment not by moderating their desires but by satisfying them which will still encrease as things come on like to Rivers which the more they are fed and the further they run the wider they spread Can it rationally be deemed by any that those things which are Summes in the desire and Cyphers in the fruition should ever effect contentedness in the minde Is not the deficiency that Men see in their abundance the ground of their Multiplying it and can they ever by the Additions which they make heal its deficiency why then should any try and attempt such fruitless projects which cannot but end in disappointment Methinks I should not need to expostulate the matter with Christians That anointing which teacheth them all things should instruct them in this that Godliness is the onely way to Contentment in this life and satisfaction in the other But Lord however others live help me to bring my Minde to my Condition which is as well my duty as my happiness while I am on earth and to rest assured that in heaven thou wilt bring my Estate to my Minde which is that I may enjoy thee in whose presence is fulness of joy and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore Meditation XLVII Vpon the Perching of a piece of Cloth LAwes signally good oft times derive their birth according to the common Saying from evil Manners springing like fair and beautifull Flowers from a black and deformed Root And so likewise the many and ingenuous Explorations of finding out the difference between things of worth and their Counterfeits and of seeing into the particular defects of Commodities have been occasioned from the multiplicity of deceits which have risen either from natural semblances or corrupt Practises The skilfull Lapidary hath by his observation learned to know a false Stone from a true which the common Eye cannot distinguish The Herbalists do difference Plants
importance with it is it not that he gave her some portion of Land that was well watered as the low valleys for the most part are And that he gave also such Springs that by their high lying were apt to convey their stream to the enriching of other parts that stood in need of such helps to make them fruitful Now what is it that can more commend a Spring than a free diffusion of its waters and the spreading of its moisture not only to grounds that are near but to such as are at a distance from it and what can more conduce unto this commodious usefulness than the Springs rise from some hill or place of ascent Another Spring may haply serve to water some little spot of ground to benefit some private Garden but an upper Spring will greatly advantage a large Inheritance Such a like difference methinks there is in the moral Well-springs of grace and holiness as is between the natural according to the diversity of subjects in which they are seated Grace in a poor man is as a nether spring which is not less useful through a defect of water but through an incapacity to make any large communication of it in regard of those circumstances in which he stands His wants his paucity of Friends the little notice the world takes of him the slightings that Poverty exposeth most men unto are all great obstacles to the eternal diffusions of his grace though not to his intrinsecal fulness of it But grace in a great Person is like an upper Spring which may convey it self far and near because of the many advantages which he hath above others His Counsels will be sooner harkened unto his Reproofs will over-awe more his Conversation will win more his Example having the force of a Law So willing have many been to make Greatness their pattern as that they have imitated their infirmities Dyonisius his Courtiers affected to seem to be purblind and justle one against another that so they might be like their Prince Alexanders Followers would imitate him in their gesture and go as if their shoulders were one higher than the other because there was some inequality in his Among the Persians they were wont highly to esteem a long and narrow head and were industrious to fashion the heads of their new-born Infants to such a shape because some of their Kings heads were of that figure O what pity is it then that greatness and goodness should be ever out of Conjunction together or be as Stars of a different Hemispheer that are never seen shining at the same time Yea why should not those who are the highest among men affect also to be the best that so they might bring a beauty and shine into the world that they might allure others not only to behold it but also to imitate it by conforming themselves to their happy example It is the saying of Plutarch that rare Moralist That God is angry with them that counterfeit his Thunder and Lightning his Scepter and his Trident and his Thunderbolts he would not have any to meddle with He loves not that any should imitate him in absolute Dominion and Soveraignty But he delights to see them darting forth those amiable and cherishing beams of Justice Goodness and Clemency Without these things be conveyed down unto others by those who have the reines of Power and Government in their hands though they look upon themselves as Gods on earth yet they are as unlike to the God of heaven as a blazing Comet is to a bright and glorious Sun or a deceitful Glow-worm to an heavenly Star What low thoughts Solomon himself hath of Soveraignty when put into an ill hand we may read in his Book of the Preacher where he tells us that better is a poor and a wise Child than an old and foolish King who will not be instructed to manage his power and authority for the good of those that are under him It is wisdom that makes a mans face to shine but most of all those that are in highest places Good in them is most conspicuous and both more applauded and Imitated than in others What evil cannot a King forbid whose wraâ—â— is as the roaring of a Lion What good can he not encourage whose favour is as a cloud of the latter rain which promiseth an harvest of blessings I cannot but wonder at the great changes which the Scripture reports to have been made by godly Princes in the midst of a general Apostacy such as Asa Jehoshaphat Ezekiah Josiah who purged the Land from a spreading Idolatry and restored Sabbaths Ordinances and Temple-worship to their power and purity who have bowed the hearts of the people towards them like to the top of a fishers Angling rod this way or that way as it pleaseth them Who but Princes that had grace in their hearts and power in their hands could have ever effected such things as might well seem to be of insuperable difficulty O that I could therefore suggest such Considerations that might prevail with all whose conditions God hath raised above others to be accordingly instrumental in the doing of good to others that move in a lower spheer Shall I say God expects it from you If I do it is no other than what himself hath spoken when he saith He will get him up to the great men for they have known the way of the Lord and the Judgement of their God Or shall I say God signally commands it from you above others Is it not to you that he particularly calls Be wise now O ye Kings be instructed ye Judges of the earth Serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way Do you think that greatness doth rather exempt from than oblige to obedience or that you shall have a more favourable Audit at the last Day when every man must give an account of himself unto God Be not deceived God will enquire what you have done more for him above others as he hath for you above thousands and woe be unto you if you be found too light Your Exaltation in this life will serve only to make your casting down to be the more dismal in the other and to confirm the truth of that Proverb Inferni pavimentum fit ex magnatum galeis Sacerdotum capitibus That Hell is paved with the Corslets of Noblemen and the skulls of Priests Meditation L. Vpon the vanity of Wishes TRue and perfect happiness is a good which neither the light of Nature can discover nor its endeavours obtain it being as impotent to the acquiring of it as it is blind to the beholding of it And yet there is nothing in which man less apprehends himself at a loss than in this of fully contriving at least if not effecting his own happiness Who is it that is not confident that if he might have the liberty of his options to wish whatever he would and to have them turned
into realities for him but that he could readily frame to himself a condition as full of happiness as the Sun is of light or the Sea of water What poor and contemptible thoughts would he have of all that glory of the world which the devil shewed to Christ as a bait when he tempted him to the worst of sins to those stately Schemes and representations which he could suppose to be the objects of his delight If wishes were the measure of happiness what is it that the boundless imagination of man would not suppose and desire What strange changes would he forthwith make in the Universe in levelling of Mountains in raising of Vallies in altering of Climates and Elements themselves Happily he might wish that the Sea were turned into a delicious bath in which he might sport himself without any fear of drowning that the Rocks were as so many polished Diamond the Sands as so many fair Pearls to beautifie it and the Islands as so many retiring houses of pleasure to betake himself unto when he pleaseth He might wish that all the Trees of the earth were as the choicest plants of Paradise every one of which might at his beck bow down their branches and tender their ripe fruit unto him And thus may he multiply his wishes until every spire of Grass and every dust of the earth have undergone some remarkable mutation according to the lust of his fancy and yet be as far from any satisfaction in his desires or rest in his thoughts as the Apes in the Fable were from warmth which finding a Glow-worm in a cold night gathered some sticks together and blew themselves breathless to kindle a little fire For all these supposed gaieties are not the perfection but the disease of fancy which hath as I may so speak a Boulimia in respect of objects as some corrupt and vitiated appetites have in respect of meats who though they eat much are yet never satisfied And hence it is that men who enjoy plenty and are far from having any just cause to complain of want do yet as unsatisfied persons feed themselves with fond suppositions of being in such an estate and condition of which they can have no possibility much less any real hope for to obtain The ambitious man pleaseth himself in thinking how bravely he could King it if he were but set upon a Throne and how far he would out-strip all other Princes that have been before him both for state and glory he fancies what pleasures he would have for his recreation what meats for his Table what persons for his attendants what Laws for his Government and then Absolom like he wisheth in himself O that I were made a Judge in Israel The covetous person whose heart is set upon Riches never ceaseth in the midst of his abundance to desire more Riches and his desires still keep at a distance as they come on so do his desires come on too the one can never overtake the other no more than the hinder wheels of a Coach can overtake the former If he should as Peter cast his hook into the Sea and take up the fish that first cometh up with a Stater or piece of money in his mouth how eagerly straitwaies would he wish to take a second and then a third yea how would he still renew his wishes so as sooner to empty the Sea of all its fish than to satisfie his desires with accumulated treasures But are these O vain man the highest wishes with which you would impe your present enjoyments and so make your speedy flight unto perfect happiness What if all these suppositions and wishes which are as I may so speak the creations of fancy were real existency Yea what if your condition did as far exceed the pomp of all humane Imagination as Solomon did the fame that was spread abroad of him Might I not yet say as David did O ye Sons of men how long will ye love vanity and seek after leasing Are these things for which Angels will give you the right hand of fellowship Or will this glory make them stoop to become ministring spirits unto you Though you may conceive as highly of your selves as the Prince of Tyrus did of himself who said he was a God and sate in the seat of God yet they will look upon you no better than gilded dust and ashes That which they adore and with wonder look into is not the happiness of the worldings but of believers who are blessed not according to what they ask or desire but far above whatever could have entred into the thoughts of men and Angels to conceive Who could ever have said to God as Haman did to Ahasuerus if he had been asked What shall be done to the man whom God delighteth to honour Let the foundation and corner stone of his happiness be laid in the exinanition of the Son of God let him come from heaven to earth to purchase it with his bloud let his nature be dignified by being personally united unto the Divine Nature let him be a co-heir with him who is the brightness of his Fathers glory sit with him upon the same Throne and be conformed to his likeness let him stand for ever in the highest and sweetest relations unto the three most glorious Persons having God to be his Father his Son to be his Elder Brother and the Holy Spirit to be his Friend and Comforter are not these things such as may pose Angels to tell whether is greater the wonder or the mercy May it not be truly said that Omnipotency it self is exhausted so that there remains neither power in God to do nor wisdom to find out a greater happiness than this which he hath vouchsafed to man in his lowest condition Can there then be any additions made by the narrow conceptions of weak Creatures Let me therefore expostulate with Christians whose happiness in Christ is compleat and yet as if there were an emptiness in their condition are still hankering in their minds after the worlds vanities and wishing like carnal Israelites to eat of the Flesh-pots and Garlick of Egypt as if the true bread from heaven were not a sufficient and satisfying food Is there any thing in the world which you cannot find made up to you in Christ Are not all the scattered comforts which can be had only in the Creatures by retaile as being parcelled out some to one and some to another to be had fully in Christ in whom they are summed up as broken particulars are in the foot of an account Though he be Bonum formaliter simplex a good formally simple yet he is Eminenter multiplex A good eminently manifold And there is more to be had in Christ than can be had any waies out of him who as the first figure in a number stands for more than all the figures that can be added unto it Whom saith holy David have I in heaven but thee And there is none upon earth that I