not been quickned by exercise and opposition and hence it is that Feavours are generally more pernicious here in England then other where in places about us because that disease is lesse familiar to our natures then to those in our neighbour country's Temptations usually are most dangerous where least frequent and their assaults most effectual on those who have seldomest experimented them they are then most to be feared when their power is increased by a strength gathered from long discontinuance and the edge of our resistance rebated by a long restivenesse when our shield is laid by and may have contracted rust then those fiery darts are with most difficulty repell'd when our Bow is unbent and our hand in our bosome no wonder if our disadvantage be great in the enemy's onset Hence Satan hath this Stratagem amongst others not to be frequent in his assaults there where former Alarmes have excited to care and vigilancy and set continual watch and ward but to attempt entrance rather where a long quiet hath bred security and lessened the power of Defence where he bestow's his visits seldomest he is least fear'd and consequently least provided against Let me not think my self secure from those temptations with which I have been little exercised lest I find my self most overpowred there where I least suspected Assault and adde to those Advantages of which Satan hath otherwise too many over me that of mine own Security VI. I read of an African beast called the Dabuh which they take with Musick for being charm'd with the sweet sounding of it in his eares he suffer's his feet the while to be fetter'd and so his death is the Minstrels pay And the folly of the Larke is pitti'd by us which while it playeth with the Feather and stoupeth to the Glasse is caught in the Fowler 's net Ther 's a spiritual charmer which by the pleasing delights and allurements of the world cast's us into security and then we are with ease enchain'd in his shackels a Syren that sing's us to death This is that which hath by sweet and soft conquest enervated the Sampsons overcome the David's subdued the Solomon's that in whose triumphs have been led the most resolved and generous spirits the stoutest and ablest Champions Do thou with the wise Graecian stop thine ear to the Musick of Pleasure for it is Magick trust not her flattery 's O my soul for her kisses are but to betray thee there are snares in her smiles when she fawn's on thee windeth about thee cast off the Viper in the end she will bite as a Serpent to relish her sweetnesse is Mortall for she is the high-way to Death if thou affect her thy face is set towards Hell and thou art in the road thither Lord if I am at any time allur'd into Satans nets and his bolts are cast over me do thou knock off my chains and loose my bands as thou didst to Paul and Silas break the gins and deliver me that my soul may escape as a bird out of the snare of the Fowler VII Alexander the Great was wont to say of Homer's Heroick Poem that it ought to be sung only to a warlike nation at the noise of a Trumpet not when it sounds a Retreat but when it call's to the Battel For it is not for mean spirits to resent motions of Generosity at the recounting of affairs which have no lesse Difficulty in the Conduct then Beauty in the Discription What he said of that admired Poem may with more aptness be apply'd to the Gospel of Christ Tuba est Christi Evangelium it proclam's a warre sounds an Alarme and call's us to the Campe to make every place a Pitcht-field every day a day of Battel against those many and incessant assaults both from intestine and forraigne force And who but those that are inspired with a heavenly courage can bear the Thunder of that sound that calleth them to love them that hated them to doe good to them that Persecute them to take up a heavy crosse and follow Christ naked to glory in reproach to hate Father and Mother and which com's to the quick their life also to be Christs Disciples How many refuse to take up the weapons and enter the Lists and cry these are hard saings who can bear them And those who engage in the encounter when they find the greatest enemy they are to Combat with is Self many throw down their armes and fall to caresse and embrace that which they should Duell with VIII The Deepest Waters move most silently undiscernably and the Spheres have the swiftest motiō yet move without noise The Starres though vast and glorious bodyes yet distance makes them seem very small and many Stars as in the Galaxie shine unseen The Moone when that side towards the Earth is darkned towards heaven shines bright If in some mens conversation I seem to discern little or nosplendour let me not be too rashly forward in my censures of their estate it may be I doe not approach near enough to them perchance our heavenly Father may see that in secret which doth not discover it self openly he may have a bright-side heaven-ward though toward Earth he seem wholy Eclips'd Perchance he hath so much more of the Publican in him then of the Pharisee as to think it a good work to conceal his good workes and therefore is so farre from making his prayers in the open streets to be seen of men that he thinks his Closet scarce private enough when the dore is shut and so farre from proclaiming his Alms-giving by sound of Trumpet that he will not let his left hand know what his right doth when it dispenseth them The Flax may have fire in it though it be but smoaking and doe not break out into a flame As most men doe seem better then they are in truth so some are better then they seem to be I had rather be good and not seem so then seem good and not be so For the Publican went home rather justified then the Pharisee IX THe unjust Steward in the Gospel having wasted his Master's goods and by high dieting his own Lusts brought a plentifull estate to a Consumption and being thereupon accused and discharg'd his Stewardship casteth about with himself what to doe and findeth he was reduced to a great extremity not knowing how to digge and to beg he was asham'd get a sustenance out of the sweat of his brow he could not and turn beggar to crave it he would not Lord when I enter into a serious review with my self and cast up my accounts I find the endowments gifts and advantages the goods thou hast entrusted me with to have been very carelesly Stewarded by me and I have forfeited the benefits both of them and of thy service Digge I cannot I know not how to earn a reward of glory by my own righteousnes but I am not ashamed to begge my spirit is not soe
most part are How eager and vehement they may be in the pursuit of that which is as empty as shadows and dreams And it would be a good Lesson from this Experience to learn how little we are to trust their Impostures and the Representations of our deceitful Fancy's there where the matter is of a more concerning and weighty nature It being an approv'd Rule in Prudence never to trust those entirely who have deceiv'd us though but once How great folly is it in us to permit our selves to the hurry of these blind and hood-wink't yet impetuous guides In this instance likewise methinks we have an insight into the misery unhappiness of our Natures what a strange secret violence Sense exerciseth over Reason what a tyrannical power Passion usurpeth in the Soul How extremely contagious the neighbourhood of the inferiour faculty the Imagination is to the higher and more refin'd the understanding part of the soul Certainly there is in man more of the earth out of which he was taken and framed then of that living spirit which was breath'd into his nostrils Ther 's more body then soul in this proud creature which think 's himself created to have dominion over all others XXXIX SAint Paul when he was breathing out threatnings and committing Murthers in the high roadway to daÌ„nation was met by God by a suddain arrest made stand thrown off his horse and forced to surrender up his heart heart Sometimes God set's a stop to a sinner in his hottest cariere when he is like that Son of Nimshi driving furiously and break 's his course on a suddain while in his full speed His proceedings in this work are not always gradual and leisurely but he delight 's sometimes by a speedy rescue to recover those entirely that were deepely sunk into the jawes of Hell and by a mighty surprize to bring them on their knees to begge for peace whose hearts are full of rage and war against Him and his Laws so that the suddeness of the work may seem to anticipate all previous promptness dispositions and inclinations to good How soon do we finde the Jailour Acts. 16. anointing those wounds which a little before his own scourge had inflicted on the Apostles And that proling extorting Publican Zaccheus from a grinder of the faces of the poor is on a suddain become a charitable refresher of their bowels XL. QUeen Elizabeth before she came to her Crown being kept in restraint as a Prisoner hapned to hear a simple Milkmaid sing chearfully in the field while herselfe was more enclined to sadder Aires of sighing then singing which occasioned her to say that that poor maid was happier then herself Peace and freedom of heart and contentment is more often to be found in a cottage then under a high and magnificent roofe The greatest outward splendour and pompe cannot secure against misfortune or give one night's sleep though it doe disturbe many or satisfy any appetite of reason or nature or religion all which the meanest fortunes may afford Worldly glory and grandeur only make it possible for a man to be made more profoundly and extremely miserable It is the unhappy Priviledge of being advanced to a great height that it make's a man lyable to a greater and more sadly calamitous fall As the Shell fish is carryed up by the Eagle high into the aire only that he may be the more surely broken in the casting down A great condition is exposed to great crosses and misfortunes but rags and a mean fortune can have but small ones However it is certain that greatness of state is but a great vanity and high fortune is nothing but danger trouble and temptation I would rather chuse a mediocrity then the highest condition There I am high enough where I can best stand upright and where my fall can be lest miserable dangerous Fata si liceat mihi Fingere anbitrio meo Temperem Zephyro levi Vela ne pressae gravi Spiritu autennae tremant c. Sen. Oed. Act. 4. XLI IT is storyed of Primislaus first King of Bohemia that being rais'd from a very mean birth to that top of dignity he always kept his country shoes by him to minde him from whence he took his rise to that advancement and prevent pride and insolence And we know Agathocles would always have his table furnished with earthen vessels in memory of his being raised from a Potter to be King of Sicily Methinks every man carry's that about with him that might temper and allay his pride and vanity were his advancement never so high either in external things honour and riches or internal endowments gifts and accomplishments of minde were he no stranger to that great and necessary work of selfreflection For let him consider his Extraction his soule was drawn out of nothing and his body formed out of the slime of the ground a clod of earth kneaded into humane shape If he would think on his relations corruption is his Father and the worm his mother and sister Jâ—b 17. 14. Surely that maÌ„ must needs forget his rise and alliances that entertain's pride and vain glory and he need only study and minde himself to learn to be humble XLII IT hath been a matter of no small debate where Paradise was situated some placing it beyond an immense Ocean others by an extravagant fancy have made a room for it near the Moon 's Orbe some in the third region of the aire others have set it under the Aequinoctial most in or about Mesopotamia But the enquiry is as fruitless as it is curious and the certainest determination we have of it is that which placeth it in Terra incognita I mean out of the Sphear of our knowledge All the Paradise that now the Scripture speak's of is that third heaven into which S. Paul was rapt I will not employ my self to seek where that Paradise was which we lost while I know where that is which I must busy my self to seek Our sin set the guard of the Cherubins and flaming Sword at the entrance of that and hath since spoiled and defaced it's glory our Saviour hath opened a free passage to this and hath prepared it for a reenstatement of us in happiness and this which our second Adam hath purchased doth in as great a portion surpass that which the first Adam lost as the highest heavens do excel the beautifullest and richest earth For that Paradise was but as a transient representation and type shadowing forth the much more exceeding and abiding glory of this our heaven XLIII IT is observable in what manner the contention between Abraham's herdsmen and Lot's is related Gen. 13. 7. and there was a strife between Abraham's herdsmen and the herdsmen of Lot's cattel and immediately follow 's in a strange seeming dependance at first blush and the Cananite and Perezite dwelled in the land Which surely the Spirit of God inserted as no small aggravation of the unseasonableness of the strife
tasting an Apple which prov'd the ruine of Mankind Therefore when he shooteth this Shaft let us take it up and retort it on himself again if he make the smalnesse of the thing a consideration to tempt us to a compliance let us make use of it to facilitate our resistance if it be small to yield to it is little to resist and t is easiest to deny Satan in the smallest things whom we must not gratify in any So long as we shew no kindnesse to him he can never hurt us But if we give him the least corner of our soules but to sojourn in he will soon litter a whole hellish brood of sins in a small roome and by an increased force get an absolute rule If he have easie admittance at the smalest passe Gad behold a Troop comes as the whole power of an Army may fall in upon a City at a narrow breach A little spark may be so fewel'd and managed as to set on fire a whole Town 'T is therefore an excellent saying of the son of Syrack he that despiseth little things shall perish by little and little Let me crush the Cockatrice in the Egge that I feel not the mortall stinges of the Serpent when engendred and strangle sin in its Infancy that the first breath it takes may be likewise the last and it may expire in the first motions that though it be conceived yet it may prove abortive Happy shal he be O daughter of Babylon that thus taketh thy children while young dasheth them against the stones before they are arrived to a more adult and unresistable growth II. I have sometimes seen a blazing Comet much outshining other Starres and attracting the eyes of men to behold it with wonder which yet by its decay and vanishing awhile after hath appeared to have had no true place among the Starres but in the lower Regions to have been nothing else but a slimy Meteor and notwithstanding its glaring lustre secretly to have sent forth vapours of a virulent and malignant nature How many in our dayes have been seen and gaz'd on with admiration who have shined with glorious beames which yet by their fall have at length discover'd themselves to have been Exhalations only guilded with rays and counterfeiting Starres by an exceeding splendour for often doth the Hypocrite outgoe the Saint in Appearance as much as he com's short of him in Reality Many have had a shining zeal in those exercises of Religion that lye open to the view and so have gotten and kept up an high esteeme and credit but not trading on a solid stock but taking up their Saintships all upon trust no wonder they prove Bankrupts at last The foolish Virgins made a great blaze with their Lamps which yet by their going out appeared to want Oyle These Falling-starres shall never shine in the Firmament of Heaven Let all therefore try assure to them selves the fixednesse of their station the consistency of their substance and making just allowances for that ascititious and imposturous Light which Interest Profit worldly credit and advantage slavish fear of God may have vested them with examine what remain's of what is true and firmly grounded Let me never deceive my self or others with a false Light I had rather be a true starre though the smallest and shining undiscern'd as the Stars in the Milky-way which cannot be seen without a Galilaeo's Tube then be the most glorious Comet Lord though a spiritual Falling-sicknesse may cast me into a swoune for a time yet let it never mortally seize on my vitals III. Justinian the Emperour having had his Nose cut off by his Enemies when he was their prisoner and afterward recovering his liberty and his Empire when ever the wipeing off the filth from it put him in remembrance of the injury he caused still one of his enemies to be brought before him and put to death A holy Revenge would well be thus exercised against Satan whenever the working of our corruption remindes us of that cursed depravation of our Natures which that Arch-Enemy of our salvation was the Authour of to slay a Lust and make it fall a sacrifice to the zeal of our indignation if there be any Agag or Ruling one let not our eye spare him but bring him forth and hew him in pieces This will be by a spirituall Chymistry to extract an Antidote out of the Viper to make a soveraigne Treacle of the Scorpions own flesh to pave our way to heaven with the scul's of our Enemys in a sense by a holy guile to make Satan cast out Satan to turn an overthrow into a victory and raise a Trophee out of our ruines to rise by our falling As Peter could then perfectly conquer his self-confidence when he remembred the sad story of his foul fall in the Priests hall and could give a more humble and modest answer when Christ asked him lovest thou me more then these Thus St Paul when he found Satan knocking for entrance fell a buffeting himself IV. Finding my Friend in a passion of anger I gave him a check and endeavoured by some motives to reduce him to moderation but I perceived he was the more incens'd and that after the attempts I made to slake lay his heat it was become greater then before Passion is deaf to all advice but what may seem to encourage it this Wild-Fire makes that its Fewel which was intended to quench it and turn's that into food which was design'd for Remedy Water cast on the Smith's forge doth the more enflame it and makes it burn the fiercer a Torrent is so farre from being restrained by what is set to stop it that it swel's the higher and spread's the farther Pontem indignatur To encounter a man in the boisterousnesse of his passion is to enter the combat with such creatures as St Paul fought with at Ephesus to cast reines on the waves of the Sea when it rageth and to use rational endeavours is to call a Souldier to Councel in the heat and fury of a Battel The method therefore both most kindly and most effectual is to give place to wrath while the tempest rageth not to apply our selves to the cure of it in its Paroxysme not at too great a disadvantage to meet it with reason and counsel when it comes forth armed with fury and hooded with blindnesse when the Fire hath got a full conquest the flame is outragious we seek not to quench it with water and so save the house but by pulling down the next make the want of fewel diminish the flame The violence of Anger is best broken by giving way and yielding to it as a Flint is easiest broken on a Cushion and time is the best Lenitive to mollify it V. It hath been observ'd that those who have the longest freedom from diseases least infested with their assaults do most hardly escape when a disease once tak's hold of them Nature being easiest subdued where it hath
stiffe and incompliant but that I can come once and again to beg relief at thine hands for Christ's sake yea I am not ashamed to be a dayly beggar at this door for I know the more importunate I am in cravinge the more bountifull thou wilt bee in giving X. THe Book which St. John eat while in his mouth was sweet and pleasant but in his belly became bitter we read of waters in Miletum and elswhere fresh at the top and bitter at the bottome and of a Lake in Phrygia whose water make's those that drink it strangely jocund and full of Laughter but such as it ends in their death The Bee hath hony in the mouth but a sting in the taile While wee are pleasing our selves in carnall contents and rowling a sweet morsel in our mouths we should doe well to consider whether it will not be bitternesse in the end there is noe earthly pleasure which hath not the inseparable attendance of Grief and that following it as closely as Jacob came after Esau houlding it by the heele Yea worldly delight is but a Shadow and when we catch after it all that we graspe is substantial sorrow in it's roome The hony shonld not be very delightfull when the sting is so neare better want it then feele the smart and venom that attendeth it A naile in the temples may be the Entertainement where Faire speech was the Usher and butter in a lordly dish the first course to make way for it These Gnats that make a pleasing sound awhile flying about our ears wil bite us ere they part Let me rest on nothing that hath not a real and unmixed pleasure in it and then I shall find I must leave this world and take a higher flight here is no such thing for me to rest the sole of my foote on all things have both the saltnesse and turbulency of the Sea in them I will not bid adieu to innocent delight but neither shall it have any thing of my heart if I unwarily presse too much on Roses in the pulling the prickles may run into my fingers I will honestly enjoy my delights but not purchase them at so dear a rate as my own Danger and hazard That Mortal laughter and dancing which the bite of the Tarantula causeth is only cured by Musick The best remedy against the Madnesse of Laughter is the voice of that wise Charmer God can cure and retrench the exorbitances and profusenesse of our spirits in wordly delights XI LEt us contemplate Prayer in it's journey between Earth Heaven as Jacob did the Angels ascending and descending It ascendeth lightly mounted on the wings of Faith but it come's ever laden down again upon our heads it goeth up it may be in a shower of teares and descendeth in a shower of blessings it is wafted into heaven with groanes for these have a force to open heaven gates and that prayer fly's fwiftly that is carryed on the wings of a Groan and those Sighes returne again laden with comforts like the Southern winds in Egypt whose winges are charged with the sweet odours of Spices They goe out weeping but never come weeping back for where the Spring and Seed-time is wet the Harvest is clear and joyfull they that sow in teares reap in joy XII I Have somerimes wondred almost judged it another Miracle that Balaam was no more appalled amazed at that most strang uncouth Miracle to heare a voice come from that mouth which was wont only to Bray and to see himselfe outreasoned by that which was remarkable for nothing so much as it's stupidity and dullnesse almost as though He and his Beast had exchanged natures that his knees did not tremble and heart become like a stone nor did he so much as alight off for it but as though no strange thing had fallen out he giveth the beast a wrathfull answer without any Symptome of wonder Although perchance being a Sorcerer he might be not wholy a stranger to converses not much different from this which might make it seem lesse uncouth yet I rather think that the transport of Madness which so possessed this Prophet and the covetousnes which blinded his eyes left no roome or capacity to reflect on the unnaturalnesse of the accident And then see how senselesse and stupid Lust and Passion make us Many are so eager in the pursuit of their carnal desires so wholy possessed with contrivances to compasse and Hopes to attain their satisfaction that they regard not any providences though never so strang and remarkable that enterfear crosse them in their course though God meet them in the way with a drawn sword though he speak from heaven in a voice of Thunder against them they are not astonyed or appalled they may storme and rage at the impediments that traverse their unlawfull pursuits and at the blocks which are laid in their way but they take no notice of the Hand of providence which casteth them there though it be perchance as visible and miraculous as that which wrote Beltshazzar's Doom on the Wall XIII WE read in Agellius of a Souldier who riding forth to a Muster with a horse as lean and carcaselike as if he had been newly raised out of a Charnel and himsef so well habited full that he might have been a very sufficient burden for a more able beast being demanded by the Censors whence came such a great disproportion between the Meagernesse of the one and the Grossness of the other answer'd that it was because He tooke care of himself but his Servant tooke charge of his Horse Most men have languid and infirme souls while their Bodyes are in a vigorous athletick habit Their spirituall parts are reduced to meagernesse and Consumption whiles their Sensual parts are Full even to a Plethora And whence is it because their Souls have noe share in their care and treatment they do not mind them as their own charge their time and diligence is all laid out on their Bodys these are the Darlings they pamper and which ingrosse all their thoughts and care or if through a vouchsafement they expend any the other way they soon rescue themselves as from an Usurpation and encroachment But surely souls so weakned and emaciated will not be able to stand the least brunt in the day of Battle with the Enemy's of their salvation labouring under the pressure and weight of a so much indulged Flesh Let me have a lean unhealthy neglected deformed body no matter so I may find my soul sound in good liking strong and beautifull in the eyes of God XIV HOw many weary and tedious steps doe many Mahometans tread in their long Pilgrimages which multitudes of them yearly take to Meccha the place where their grand Seducer Mahomet was buried and that meerly for the increase of a carnal imposturous Devotion that they may be reputed Hoggees i. e. Holy men as such are ever after styled And how many a deluded Popish Pilgrim
she hath wrought a good work for the poor you have alwaies with you not me for she did it for my burial To Mary in the Garden touch me not John 20. Why because I am not yet gone to the Father Lastly to Peter for drawing his sword Mat. 26. John 18. he subjoynes to his reprehension a fourfould reason 1. He that takes the sword shall perish by the sword therefore 't is an unjust attempt to resist and hinder my passion 2. The cup which my Father hath given shall I not drink therefore impossible 3. Can I not ask my Father and he would give me more then ten Legions therefore the attempt is foolish 4. How else should the Scripture be fulfilled therefore 't is undue Our Reproofs would have a more effectual operation if they were thus still attended with reason The ears of men are generally very tender and delicate and a reprehension grateth on them if not attemper'd by a due conveyance A smart rebuke if not clearly evidenced to be just by being backed with sufficient reason doth but irritate and imbitter the mindes of men the Plaister maketh the wound rage if this Ingredient be not in the compost the cauterisme doth more hurt then the disease The reproof even of a righteous man though it be an excellent oyle to allude to the Psalmists expression yet may break the head if unduly administred XX. Many there are that are wont to bestow visits on others not so much out of a motion of love and kindnesse as either not to be reputed negligent in the formalities of common courtesy or to make the wheels of Time seem to move the faster by trifling it away or to make discoveries and observations that they may by prying gather up a stock of discourse for the next The visits which men for the most part bestow on God in his worship are out of principles analogous to these not out of any principle of sincere love delight but either that they may not seem wanting at least in the formal and Customary Exercises of Religion or to passe away the time only or it may be where they should be Bees to suck hony to play the Spiders and suck poyson to gather up matter to defame and calumniate and raise an evil report on the things of God XXI AMong the Prospects which the Scripture open's to us of Eternity my contemplation sometimes placeth me in the midst of that great Gulph fixed between Lazarus in the bosome of Abraham and Dives in the midst of foul Fiends with eyes directed now to the consideration of the one then of the other Whither are all the Rich man's joyes fled in which his soul was steeped and inebriated what 's become of his heightned delights his Musick and Masques Unctions Feastings ample buildings and large and jolly entertainments his train of attendants the purple and the fine Linnen his wanton pleasures and the whole Pageantry of his happinesse On the other side where is the misery and contemptiblenesse the nakednesse and hunger the aches the soars and the stench of the poor man These things are all vanished and the Scene is altered Their past condition is changed into a present as different each from other as Heaven from Hell and the present is fixed in a stability as unalterable as Eternity Let us consider and weigh their Purchases in the Ballance of the Sanctuary The Rich man's exchange is the pleasures of sin which were but for a season for those dreadful pains which are the reward of sin and which never shall have a season either to mitigate or conclude them a seeming Paradise for a real dismal Dungeon moment any contentments for eternal torments Delights that are as empty as froth and as short-lived as the age of a Minute for sorrows so heavy and acute that no Metaphor can equal or Hyperbole transcend them in expression so durable that they shall run parallel with Eternity The Poor man's exchange is from a small weight of infelicity to an exceeding weight of glory from a Wildernesse to a Land flowing with plenty from a Cross to a Crown from tears without their saltnesse sorrows deprived of their sting griefs as short at longest as the span of life to pleasures untainted joyes in the most exalted and sublimated quintessence a happiness as much without a period as Eternity it self And who but joyns with that Ecphonesis of the Father O miserable happinesse of the one that concluded in everlasting misery O happy misery of the other that ended in everlasting happinesse I had rather with Lazarus begge in raggs then be in Dives's coat ruffling it in Silk and faring deliciously every day his low estate is so far above my contempt that it is the object of my wish rather then Dives's which is so far below my envie that it fall's within my pity XXII THere may be Livery and Seisin taken of a whole Lordship only by the delivery of a turfe of earth and a Deed of Gift of the whole may be executed only by giving a parcel of the goods The Rent that is given may be small and inconsiderable yet if it be an anknowledgement of Homage and Fealty and wardship it is of great consequence The smallest Grant that we make to Satan may give him a right to the whole if he be complyed with in the least temptation it may be enough to admit him to a full possession and dominion over us Where this Serpent harh but insinuated his head he can with ease wind in his whole body after Therefore see thou grant him nothing lest he make his advantage of it to the claim of all 'T was said of Hannibal he knew well how to conquer but knew not how to improve his conquests Satan is well skill'd in either he will easily lose no ground he hath got he will be sure to prosecute a victory and improve an advantage XXIII IT is strange how Peter who not long before had been so daring as to draw his sword on a whole Regiment as though he were his Master's Champion and notwithstanding all his resolves and protestations of not forsaking Christ yet how on a suddain he was infected with the air of the Priest's Hall for as soon as he had got in thither as though a contagion had seized on him his temper was changed and while he did but warm himself at their fire his zeal and respect for his Master was abated and chilled Many times our foot in the Devil's snare and we are grievously entangled where we thought we might have been safe enough we venture upon occasions of sin and put our selves within Satan's circle thinking we are sufficiently armed secured by peremptory resolves and engagements little considering either the plausible and insinuative nature of sin to work it self in the treachery and deceit of our hearts to betray us to an admission of it or the craft and importunity of the Tempter to win upon us Hard it is to avoide infection
a kind of uneasinesse but where as familiars we have more freedome and openesse If we transfer this Experience to our spirituall Entercourse with God we shall find the case very coincident surely it would be far more gustfull and delightfull unto us if we did not by our neglect of it keep our selves still as strangers to him Frequency in our Accesses would breed a familiarity that we might converse with God with that freedome with which friends open their bosomes one to another we should be more enlarged in our Addresses and that would make them have a more pleasant relish to us By often treading the way we shall beat out a path to the throne of grace free from that uneasinesse and discouragement which in unfrequented waies we meet with want of Vse maketh that irksome which otherwise would be pleasant He who bestoweth the frequentests visits on Heaven finds himselfe most welcomed there and hath the best entertainment and he who cometh oftnest will still desire to come oftnest Therefore let those who esteem that as void of delight in its selfe which their own negligence only rendreth so learne to judge righteously and impute the effect to t is genuine cause Manna is here to be gathered if they would come out and bring pots to vessell it up The Table lies spread and Christ bids his Guests be merry Eat O Friends drink yea drink abundantly but they stand off as strangers and will not be among his Friends VIII SAltpeter though it self observed to be of a fiery nature yet being mixt with lue-warme water at first it contesteth with it but when overcome and dissolved by it the water becometh abundantly more cold then otherwise it would have been And that water which hath been warmed and after returneth to its native temper becoms more cold and more subject to be frozen then that which hath not felt the fire The convictions of the Spirit of God where they do not work a thorough change the heart becometh afterward benumm'd into a greater coldnesse and deadnesse A spirituall Relapse is very pernicious where God hath been knocking and sent away with a Repulse in judgment he will suffer another bar to be clapt on that dore and make the sinner more hardned He that hath conquered the good motions and desires which heaven kindled in him is given over to a more reprobate sense as the temper of Iron is more hardned by being quenched after it hath been heated in the forge No sinner doth more eagerly wallow in the mire then he that returneth to it after he was once washed and the Dog will not easily again cast up that Vomit which after his first disgorging he hath licked up Where the unclean Spirit after his departure for a season in his return findeth the soul empty of Christ swept and voided of all gracious dispositions and garnished with whatsoever vice may suit the entertainment of so unclean a Guest his reentrance as with new Attendance and his Hold is rendred sevenfold more impregnable then before he taketh to himselfe the black company of seven other spirits worse then himselfe and that mans last estate is worse then his first Lord let me never quench those sparkes which I should be alwaies quickning and kindling into a flame lest by so doing I make my selfe fewell for a flame that shall never be quenched IX PLiny as his Nephew tels us out of curiosity praying into the mountaine Vesuvius that he might discover the manner and causes of those fiery Eruptions in Natures Kill was devoured by them and made fewell to that by which he thought to have encreased his knowledge and so found his death in his too bold advance in quest of that Mystery of Nature Surely to be too curious in our Enquiries and researches into the Mysteries of God cannot but be dangerous God hath drawn a Veile over some things and if we are so bold as to go about to lift it up he may justly strike us with blindnesse even in those things which were before exposed to our view If we longe after such Forbidden fruit God may by a flaming sword set to turn to all points of the Compasse keep us not only from the tree of Life and Knowledge but from all other trees in his Paradise Moses might come to the Hill but not to the burning Bush Come not hither if he had it might have proved a consuming fire to him If the waves of the Sea have their limits set hither to shall ye goe much more man's presumption and curiosity And what security can he give himself that will boldly invade the Privacy's which an infinite wisedom hath lockâ—d up in concealement and breake down the Enclosures which the Allmighty hath set up Cannot we be content to be admitted into his House except we ransack his closet and Cabinet to be of his court except we be his Secretarys If we have an eare to heare where God hath no tongue to speake he may justly cause us to have no eye to read where he hath a hand to write T' is dangerous presumption to breake open God's Seale to goe in quest after the knowledge of that which he hath therefore hidden that we might not know it He who is not content to look on the Sun where his rayes are refracted through a cloud will but loose his sight by staring on him in his naked brightnesse X. ONe that had a thorne run into his foot of which he took small notice till it after caused an Inflamation and Gangrene which soon seis'd on his whole legge was yet unwilling to undergoe an excision to prevent it's further spreading but at length it seized on his vitalls and proved mortall The event of this disaster when told me made me consider how many inlets there are unto death and how the most contemptible thing may be Harbinger to that King of terrours examples of the like kind are frequent in story of Fabius choaked by a hair Pope Adrian by a gnat flying into his throat Anacreon by the stone of a grape c. One of the bravest Spirits that England ever gave a Cradle to or Ireland a Grave haveing received a light hurt beneath his high mind to stoop to the dressing of it by neglecting it lost his life And we read of another whom the prick of a needle under the naile of his thumbe sent out of the world Surely I cannot be certaine this day whether death may lodge with me before the next if the least pricke of my foot may make way for it if the smallest passage be a dore wide enough for it to come in at and the soul to goe out at Any thing from the bowe of death when our appointed time is come may be a sure Arrow to hit the marke a thorne may be as mortall as a sword Though nature had never expos'd our bodyes to the assaults of an army of 300 diseases for so many Pliny's List informes us we are infested
to try if he could settle it firme in an upright posture perceiving how ineffectual his endeavours prov'd sometimes the head falling into the bosome sometimes the armes flagging downward and the whole at last falling to the ground told the slanders by who smil'd at his unsuccesful attempt Ther 's wanting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 something within meaning a Soul Thus it is in dealing with those who are dead in trespasses and sins if we endeavour to hold up their countenances heavenward and would have them fix their eye on Eternity and an immortal estate we can't hold them to it one moment they presently incline towards the earth again if we would set them on their feet and make them upright if we would set their hands at work in deeds of righteousnesse justice and truth and have them to stretch out their armes to the relief of those that are in distresses all is in vain while ther 's no spirit nor principle of motion something is wanting within If God's dreadful threatnings be sounded in their ears with a voice of thunder they hear it not if Hell be set before their eyes in clear and visible representations they see it not if a scourge be laid on their backs their dead flesh feel's it not XXVI 'T is a true and pithy proverb which is in use among the Levantines that Heaven and Hell are seated in the heart of man Every man is a little world within himself and his soul is the scene and Theater in which are represented the Processe of a Court of Iudicature the pronouncing of a sentence of condemnation or Absolution a binding and loosing and according to that awarde an execution in which conscience as in the former it sit's as a deputy Iudge under God so in this it act's the Executioner and there are in the Heart a Paradise of pleasure streams of comfort on the one hand on the other a gibbet fire and a racke Doth not he find a Heaven within him that hath that certain and sincere and untroubled happinesse those gleams of joy and refreshment which a good conscience is authour of Let popular noises vulgar suffrages opinions outward commotions and attempts be what they will they can no more disturbe or raise a wrinkle in this inward calme and Pacifique Sea or correct and restrain that transport of comfort that ariseth from the triumphs and applauses of Conscience then all the thunderings and storms in the lower Regions can discompose the serenity of those which are above the stars This made Paul and Silas sing in their prison while the foundations of it were shaken by an earthquake And doth not he carry a very Hell in his bosome whose soul is rent and distorted with those convulsions of horrour and terrour distracted by those fearful amazements pierced by those sharp Agony's which a guilty conscience punisheth him with Though he seek relief by diversion to wordly businesse by consorting with merry society by running for Sanctuary to false and flattering opinions by rolling himself in his uneasy chaine of fire yet he may assoon forsake himself as by all his Arts and methods get out of these suburbs of Hell XXVII OLd Ely who was so mild towards the notorious sacriledges Adultery's and incests of his sons of which all Israel rang how uncharitably doth he misconstrue poor Hannah's devotion and upon what a weak ground only seeing her lips move without noyse doth he build the heavy charge of drunkness against her But afterwards perceiving his errour he recant's and turne 's his condemning Hannah into praying for her Thus it often happen's that those who are most mildly indulgent to their own are most sharpely censorious of others As the Hedge-hogge hath sharpe prickles without but is smooth and soft within And the Snakes in Syria doe sting forreigners but will not hurt any of the inhabitants as some say He whose judgement is suborned or bribed by Affection to a too partial and soft Gentlenesse will on the same account where the subject is different be as much warped and bias'd to a contrary extreme of a too unjust rigour For the case is much alter'd with the persons that are concern'd in it If nature or affection be allow'd to passe the sentence and in judging offences to accept the persons of the offendours the judgment must needs be partial The same eye which was so blear'd that it could not discern a beam in one case will be so quicksighted as to spy a moate in the other And how apt is hasty and in-considerate zealt to pass a grievous censure where there is no other ground for it but meer misprision Those that are too forward and rash in their reproofs before they have taken sufficient estimate of the ground on which they are to level them are often guilty of a zealous breach of charity Let me imitate Ely not in committing but amending his fault and if in my haste I have prejudic'd or injur'd another by an unjust censure let me not persist in my errour but be as unquiet till I have made satisfaction for my offence as I was till I had committed it Let me in coole blood make the best reparation I can for the wound I have given in my heat and distemper'd zeale XXVIII A Dr. Spigelius that incomparable Anatomist while at the marriage of his only daughter he was gathering up the broken reliques of a Glasse it hap'ned that a fragment of it scratched one of his fingers but the hurt because of it's seeming slighteness being neglected created at last an inflammation which possess'd his whole arm and rais'd a swelling under it and in the conclusion though he might seem by his excellent skill in Physick to have command over death it self by an Empyema brought him to his grave Thus the least wound given to our souls by the smallest sin if neglected and slighted may by degrees fester and gangreen into the intolerable torment of a wounded spirit And the lightest hurt if we have not timely recourse to our spiritual Physitian and to the balme of Repentance may grow to our irremediable woe If we wash not our wounds with our tears while they are fresh and make not speedy application of the playster of Christ's blood a scratch may soon contract such a purulency as may ripen it to an ulcer Specially considering that the flesh of the minde pardon the grosseness of the metaphor is not easy to heal being full of evil corrupt and morbifick humours which will make the least hurt fester and ranckle Neither must we content our selves with a palliative cure a skinniug over the wound for that leave 's it securely to gather all superfluous and noxious humours to it self as to an Abscessus which will in the issue exulcerate and inflame the minde XXIX GOld in the Oare as it newly comes out of the mine before it hath pass'd through the fire can hardly be discern'd from stone or a piece of hardned earth but yet when it hath