the other repented and call'd himself a many Fools yet neither escap'd punishment The Church did not so Not unto us Lord Not unto us c. Christ Jesus the Head of the Church did not so he sought not his own honour but his Fathers The Church Triumphant do not do so they cast down their Crowns before the Throne Do not thou so O my Soul for what hast thou that thou hast not received MEDITAT LXIII Concerning the seeking of the Approbation of Men more than of God TO prefer the applause of men before the acceptance of God is to prefer a great Name before a good Conscience and consequently the World before God the good word of the World before the good will of our heavenly Father It is impossible to act sincerely in any thing and to do that which is right and good if we intemperately seek or thirst after the applause of men if we love the praise of men more than the praise of God forths will corrupt the judgment dispense with things that are sins as if they were none and divert the mind from truth and rectitude When Saul had more mind to humor the People than to approve himself to God as his Executioner of the Amalekites we see how it perverted his administration and caused him to spare that which God had bann'd Men are incompetent Judges They cannot discern the heart nor the integrity of it And the approbation of men is at best but silly and not fit for any wise man to estimate himself by Alas What profits it it makes no man the better man yea it often hinders them from being so good as they might Oftentimes it is false For those things that are highly esteemed in the sight of men are abominable before God It is always fickle and uncertain The good word of men is soon lost He that is cry'd up for a King to day shall be voted to the Cross to morrow Paul and Barnabas that are this hour cry'd up for Gods the next must die like men and be stoned as the vilest of men Every man is subject to Error and Mistake and he that once mistakes forfeits all his reputation for wisdom he that once sins destroys all the good Name that he had got as Solomon assures us Eccles 9. 18. One Sinner destroyeth much good and explains it well in the following Verse Dead Flies cause the Ointment of the Apothecary to send forth a stinking savour so doth a little Folly him that is in Reputation for Wisdom and Honour O my Soul study to approve thy self to God the Searcher of Hearts who judgeth righteous judgment by whose judgment thou must stand or fall at the last For do'st thou not know that the ill opinion of men is one of the Crosses that thou must take up And why should'st thou covet that which makes thee miserable that is declar'd a Woe unto thâ—â— Would'st thou have all men to speak well of thee And do'st thou believe it can be done without a Woe Woe unto you when all men speak well of you Art thou better than thy Saviour who suffered himself to be contradicted by sinners and endur'd their contradictions against himself Lord Though I may not expect a voice from Heaven saying Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased yet let me hear the voice of thy Spirit witnessing with my spirit that I do always the things that please thee And then though the earth murmur and the great waters rear there will be a Calm within Oh blessed Calm like that of the upper Regions which the Winds and Clouds and Vapors below cannot infest or disturb MEDITAT LXIV Of Pride in Birth TO be proud of and glory in our Descent and Parentage is to be a Lover of the World If it be asked Who these are that are proud of their Birth I confess I cannot tell how many are guilty but I conclude these that follow are Those that prefer being Sons of Princes before being Sons of God Those that glory mâ—re that they are born of Noble Parents than of Christian Parents Those that value their Birth so highly that they think Religion to be below them or a disparagement to their quality Those that undervalue Holy Bishops or Pastors or any other Holy Men in their hearts because they were not born Gentlemen Those that esteem Men because of their Birth and prefer Nobility before Virtue in whose eyes not the vile are contemned but the poor are vile The Apostle James was no Quaker and yet he accounted it carnal to prefer a Gentleman in affection or at least in judgment before a meaner man We receive only our Bodies from our Parents our better part is the Noblest as being immediately from God and so a Beggar if the denomination be taken from the Nobler part may well enough be said to be Noble How can any man be proud that he is descended of an ancient Family that he is the thousandth from Inachus or the Etrurian Kings The original of all men is the same and if we reckon right the Beggar is as well descended from the beginning as the Prince Oh what a brave Brag it is I and my Ancestors have dwelt in this House and been Owners of this Estate so many hundred Years when perhaps every Batt or Owl or Swallow may say as much of their Wall or Barn or Chimney Oh but the Family has been all along noble and honourable It is an hundred to one that in a few Generations some oâ— other of them have been Deformed or Vicious or Cowards or Fools or Traytors or Idolaters or Factious Nay do but look into the present Generation and those that are at present alive of the same Family and one may well nigh reckon with the Italians That he that hath neither Rogue nor Whore nor Beggar of his Kindred was born of a flash of lightning But suppose all this What cause of Pride have I in it Am I really the better or the more honourable for what others have been or done Quae non fecimus ipsi vix ea nostra voco Or what thank is it to me that out of my first nothing I sprung up in this place rather than in another that I crept into the world a wretched Infant by this Crevice rather than by that I was so sar from being call'd to counsel to chuse of what Womb I would be born or what Body I would animate that I know not so much as how I came into the World and am more beholden to my Mothers Midwife for my Nobility than to my self or any thing that I could contribute Wretched man Dost thou not believe such plain and easie things as these And yet shall neither Philosophers and Poets laugh thee out of thy folly nor Divinity reform thee Blessed God the Father of Lights and the Fountain of Honour let me esteem it most noble to be a kiâ— to thee and that to be like thee MEDITAT LXV Of Pride in
Measures or by a Yea and Nay Simplicity impose upon the Credulous or the Ignorant who seek to buy cheap by unjust disparagement or sell dear by undue commendation So do they who take Apprentices with promise to instruct them in their Mystery and upon terms that may well challenge it and yet through Ignorance or Idleness or Jealousie do not do it or do it by halves or else through Covetousness employ them and spend their time in Services and Offices Alien to their Vocation so that at the end of Seven Years Apprenticeship instead of being skilful enough to set up of a Trade they only understand how to dress an Horse or tend a Child better than they did at first And indeed all those Tradesmen are Lovers of the World more than of God who do not subordinate their Trading to the Glory of God Gain to Honesty and their Private Inriching to the Publick Weal That are more sollicitous to secure and advance their Worldly Callings than to make their Calling and Election sure And take more pains to work out their Fortunes than their Salvation MEDITAT XXII Of Inn-Keepers I Have no mind to consider the Popular Objections that are made against the very Employment of Taverners and Inn-Keepers For although perhaps it is not proper to call it a Trade yet the Employment seems to be ancient and as the World goes is necessary and rightly managed may be honest enough The Example of Rahab who seems to have kept an Ale-House in Jericho a long time ago justifies the Antiquity of this Employment though I confess the Example of Rahab the Harlot does not add much Credit to it If any Body be so witty as to say the Hebrew word Zâ—nah and the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do signifie an Hostess as well as an Harlot I will not from thence infer That an Hostess and an Harlot are Synonâ—ma and that therefore every Hostess is an Harlot Yet this confusion of the Signification of Words is apt to engender a foul suspicion in men and therefore I think for their Credit should not be much talk'd of But if we allow the Antiquity of this Employment I cannot see what considerable Service it will do them for it seems that Harlotry and many other bad things that I could name are as old as it But be it Ancient or New it is now become necessary in several Respects though perhaps not so necessary in some others as the Inn-Keepers would have it and many Guests do make it I say it is now become Necessary as Men are now adays For in the Primitive and Purer Ages of the World the kind and hospitable Temper of men seems to have superseded this Employment and to have well supply'd the want of it It is not likely may some think there were any Inn-Keepers upon the Road when Abraham Isaac and Jacob Travell'd from one Nation and Kingdom to another and no man wrong'd them Psal 105. 14. Nor any Ale-house in Gibeon a great City of Benjamin when the Lâ—vite and his Concubine had like to have lain in the Streets for want of Lodging But yet there might be for all that and for ought I know those properly hired Inns where Jacob's Sons lodged when they were fain to go as far as Egypt to Market And Mâ—ses when he Travell'd to be their Deliverer out of the same Egypt But be this matter as it will however kind and hospitable the first Ages of the World may be supposed to have been and these last Ages are commanded to be Hebr. 13. 2. we find it necessary now to as many as go abroad and cannot carry their Houses and Provisions along with them that there be appointed places of Entertainment where they may buy the things which otherwise they must want and hire Lodging or else lie out of Doors I confess I do not well know what in the Sense of the Law is called A Laudable Vocation but I doubt not but that this Employment abstracted from all the ill manners of men that have corrupted it is in its own Nature warrantable and honest The Lusts of Man have mingled themselves with the best and purest Employments upon Earth no wonder then if they have brought a Blame upon this The Blame indeed is more general in this than in others but yet it is to be hoped not Universal neither For if we except these that follow and such like for Lovers of the World more than of God the rest may pass for currant Christians I mean Such as are Inn-Keepers out of Covetousness that have other Estates or convenient Ways to maintain themselves and their Families comfortably and yet will adventure to live in an Employment so full of Snares and Temptations to Sins both of Omission and Commission This seems to conclude a greater Zeal for Earth than Heaven Such as are Inn-Keepers out of Luxury and Intemperance not so much to accommodate the Necessities oâ— other men as to pamper their own Lusts Who live in that way meerly because they have made it their Element and must be Inn-Keepers to keep themselves out of Inns. These make not Provisions for the Necessities of Nature but for the Flesh to falfil it in the lusts thereof Such as are Inn-Keepers our of meer Idleness preferring a Life of Temptations and Snares before a Life of Pains and Labour venturing their Salvation to save their Bones Such as over-value their Wares and observe no just proportion between the worth of the Thing and their own Gain that care not how much they get for how little Such as over-reckon their Guests demanding money of them for that which they never had only because they think that they cannot tell but that they had it Such as draw in and inveigle men to spend their money preferring their own Gain before their Neighbours Time or Business or Family Or if they do not draw them in yet draw them on by one Wile or other to pend more Money or consume more Time than they ought or would Is this to love ones Neighbour as ones Self Such as care not to what Excess or Intemperance they serve their Guests but will either put their Bottle to their Noses or will never with-hold it though they have drunk never so long or so largely so long as they see the Shot will be paid that add Fuel when they see that men are already on Fire That make no difference between Day and Night nor between one Day or another Such as either seek to please their Guests by prophane and filthy Speaking or are afraid to displease them by offering any Restraint or Reproof To sit still and be content to see Gods good Creatures abus'd and Man the best of them abusing himself and turning himself into a Block or a Beast to be content to hear God's Holy Name proâ—â—â—ned and blasphemed without Reproof or Regret and all this to make up a Reckoning will make up a bad Reckoning at the last Such Hosts as will
one would give me the large heart of an Angel oh that God would fill up all my capacities and make me yet more capacious oh that he would take up all the room in me and oh that he would make for himself more room in my Soul than yet there is to entertain him And certainly this Predominant Love may be discern'd If I know not what I love best I know nothing Why may I not as well know whether I love God or the World best as I know whether I love bread or husks best By what we constantly choose when things come in competition we may know what we love best But may not the palate of the mind be so alter'd or vitiated as well as that of the body that what I choose at one time I may refuse at an other and prefer its contrary or disparate Yes certainly In every single wilful deliberate Act of Covetousnes or Impatience worldly love does predominate pro hic nunc But it will not denominate the man a lover of the world except it be habitual MEDITAT XX. Of Habitual love THe love that is so predominant as to denominate must be Habitual But may not an habitual lover of the World be converted into an habitual lover of God Yes sure This is the conversion that the Gospel speaks of To turn men from Idols to the acknowledgment of the true God is not a saving conversion To turn them from the commission or love of some single sin of the flesh as Drunkenness Whoring Swearing is a partial but not a saving Conversion The great and saving Conversion lies in changing the Temper the Nature and introducing Divine Habits The habit of worldly love may be destroyed and is destroy'd in all sincere Converts The habit of Divine love may be interrupted in its Acts weakened in its Vigor but shall not be quite destroy'd We read of some indeed that they had left their love Rev. 2. 4. But it does not appear that they had quite lost it or if we will say that they had lost it yet it was not it but some degrees of it that they lost not their love but their first love or some degrees of that love which they had at first I know not what should hinder but that every truly regenerate and habitual lover of God may make the same challenge as the Apostle did What shall sepaparate us from the love of God If it be said that the love of God towards his Elect is immutable and indefectible but so is not theirs towards him One may well reply that consequently the love of the Elect is lasting everlasting too If it be true that whom God loves he loves to the end and that he loves none with this peculiar love but those who love him it will fairly follow that their love is endless too MEDITAT XXI Lovers of the World willing to be deceiv'd ANd now methinks I see the secure world stand unconcern'd every one blessing himself Oh I am not this accursed lover of the world I do indeed now and then prefer the world my gain my pleasure my reputation before God and the observation of the dictates of my own Conscience as I perceive all men do but I do not make a constant custom of it I have no habit of it But hark a while though it be but in one single Act that thou preferrest the World before God or in a sin committed now and then yet glory not account it not a light thing It is something sure and indeed enough to humble and amaze all Men upon Earth to be now and then guilty of such folly and filthiness such Blasphemy Unrighteousness and Idolatry as this is to be but once guilty of preferring the Devil before God But examine Oh look inwardly Do not these acts proceed from an habit these sprouts from a root we had need to search narrowly and examine strictly for if we be mistaken here we are mistaken indeed fatally everlastingly mistaken The worldly mind generally denies and palliats its worldliness Men are generally asham'd to be call'd worldly minded men and very loath to believe themselves to be such notwithstanding which it is most certain that there are many such so that somewhere there will be found a deadly damning mistake MEDITAT XXII The Lovers of God most sensible of their Worldliness ON the other hand the heavenly mind the habitual lover of the Father is most sensible of and complains most of his own worldliness Lord How little do I discern this Disease or lay it to Heart in my self How little do I mourn over it in others where it is apparently praedominant notwithstanding it is so deadly If I be not a predominant lover of the Word yet alass in how many single acts have I given preference to it every one of which was horrible disloyalty and treachery Alas How early how earnestly how eagerly have I pursued the World in my Thoughts in a whole train of Thoughts from morning to evening How unseasonably too has it put it self into my Meditations how boldly intruded into my Devotions how sawcily thrust in it self to interrupt my communion with Heaven with an impudence and importunity exceeding an Harlots Fore-head Wo be to me if thinking more if speaking oftner of this World than of God be a certain mark of a predominant lover of the World who then could be saved Yet when I consider that where the treasure is the Heart will be also and again that out of the abundance of the Heart the Mouth speaketh how can I chose but be asham'd and afraid Lord deliver me from looseness of Spirit from earthliness of Mind from meanness and ordinariness of Temper and Conversation Oh wind up my Heart to Heaven let my Converse be there and with thee Imploy my Mind in contriving my Soul in exerting acts of Love fill my Mouth with thy Praises and let Holiness to the Lord be written upon all my Actions and Enjoyments Oh how are the mighty fallen the high sunk down into a most mean and miserable condition How is the Gold become dim How shamefully does the noble Humane Nature embrace a Dung-hill and the Souls that came out of the blessed Creators hands purer than Snow have contracted a Visage blacker than a Cole Good God I believe Oh help my unbelief I love thee Oh pardon my want my weakness of love and shed abroad thy love in and quite over my dry and parched Soul Rather take from me whatever takes any part of my Heart from thee thâ—â— that I should be a partial an imperfect an unsincere lover of God! MEDITAT XXIII Notwithstanding Mens Self-deceivings there are many Lovers of the World ANd because no Man will confess himself to be a Lover of the World are there therefore none such Has the Apostle suppos'd an Impossibility or a Non Entity when he says If any Man love the World c. or are Men therefore not of the World because they say they
the Pleasures of the Senses though Divines use to confound them To prefer these before God is to be a predominant lover of the World There is no sin that I know of but may be acted over in the Fancy and affect the body no further A mental dalliance with a Mistress though it gets no Bastards yet is Adultery and prefers the World before Chastity and Purity The vigour of the Fancy both prevents and survives bodily uncleanness There are earlier and later Adulteries in Fancy than in Senses Incestos amores a tenero meditatur ungui says the Poet And Fancy acts over again the uncleannesses to which the Body is insufficient Covetousness is acted yea mainly acted in the Fancy Oh the full Bags and Barns the large Fields the Mountains of Gold that are to be found in a covetous Fancy Sure these men who fancy such great things to themselves and delight in such Fancies are they whom the Prophet Ezekiel speaketh of whose heart goeth after their Covetousness Pride is acted mainly upon the Stage of Fancy though somtimes it breaks forth into words as in Nebuchadnezzer yet sometimes it never goes further than the Fancy and yet is mortal and damnable as seems to have been the case of Herod whose Fancy was pleased with the blasphemous acclamations of the people and he gave not glory to God The distractions and strange rovings of Fancy after odd impertinent things in a careless and incoherent manner is a great corruption And to give the reins to a roving desultory Fancy without seeking to reduce and reclaim it is a predominant Sensuality Methinks that even to think nonsense for an hour together should shame a wise Man what can any man think of those men that are more solicitous to reclaim the wild ranging of their dogs than of their fancies but that the beastial part doth predominate over the rational Who can sufficiently lament the sad disorder of the Fancy and the evil that it betrays us to How unseemly and unjust is it that our thoughts which are the first-born of our Souls should be so squandred away in a wild-goose chase much sillier than childrens pursuing of butterflyes or following of crows through thick and thin testaquae lutoquae O my mind hast thou so lowly an object and such important matters to bestow thy self about as God and the things of Eternal life and canst thou have leasure to dream away thy time and spend thy powers upon things that are not that need not be that never will be Dost thou laugh at the Chimerick fictions of Poets and yet spend thy strength in Poetry Dost thou account it time next to lost to read Romances and yet canst be at leasure every day to make them Lord what a fickle fluid ungovernable thing is Mans Fancy How is this contexture of the body a snare to my Soul diverting hindring spoyling its operations Fancy is a necessary faculty without which I can perform no action and alas how has sin got into it and desiled it poyson'd the very fountain To a Worldy Fancy I might add also a Worldly Memory For certainly to be able to remember all Worldly Concernments and still to forget the matters of the Soul and the World to come is a sad Symptom of a worldly mind But amongst the corrupt Pleasures of the Fancy I must insist a little upon Revenge because it is frequently acted only upon the Stage of Fancy and does not proceed into Act And all this while vain men are apt to think themselves free from it To this therefore I will now apply my Thoughts MEDITAT LII Of Revenge UNder this Head of Fantastical Pleasures I bring in Revenge partly because I do not foresee any Head that it will be so fitly reduc'd to and partly because I think it is more usually terminated in the Fancy than other sins are If a man be of a proud lustful covetous Fancy it is ten to one but he will shew it one time or other in Words Actions or Behaviors that shall be significant But Revenge may be and I doubt is usually terminated in the Fancy for want of power or opportunity to shew it self Revengefulness is a temper that does most certainly conclude the predominance of the Worldly Nature above the Divine It seems in short to be nothing else but a retaliation or retribution of Injuries either contriv'd or executed which is a thing so difficult and nice and requires so much clearness of apprehension and purity of mind that no mortal man may meddle with it It is beyond all created Skill and therefore God does challenge and appropriate it to himself alone He allows men to share with him in his other Perfections to imitate his Wisdom Mercy Patience Justice But Vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord Rom. 12. 19. And again Vengeance belongeth to me saith the Lord Heb. 10. 30. It is a great mistake in men to imagine that so long as they hold their hands they have committed no Murder because forsooth no one can Indict or Arraign them For a revengeful temper is Murder He that hateth his Brother is a Murderer 1 John 3. 15. Revenge does not consist in the doing of mischief To desire it to contrive it to meditate with pleasure upon it to rejoice in it if done by any other is Revenge yea to suspend necessary and usual kindnesses not to give meat to an Enemy if he hunder yea not to love an Enemy is a degree of Revenge The Gospel excels all Philosophy in the Doctrine of Revenge The Philosophers yea and the Jews generally held it no sin to do evil to one that had hurt or wronged them They said Thou shalt hate thine Enemy But the Gospel forbids all hatred even of an Enemy and consequently all Revenge For there can be no revengefulness without some degree of hatred It is a very spiritual and close sin it may be and yet not be discerned It puts on divers shapes Sometimes it would be mistaken for Zeal as in the case of the two Disciples calling for fire from Heaven themselves in the mean time little better than set on fire from Hell Sometimes it mingles it self with Justice Bring her forth said Judge Judah and let her be burnt Yes burn her by all means rather than Shelah my youngest Son shall marry her lest he dye as his Brethren dyed Yea sometimes it would fain pass for kindness and be interpreted good Nature Thus the kind King of Israel gave his daughter Michal to Captain David to be a snare to him And the crook-footed Philosopher very charitably wish'd His shoes might fit the feet of him that had stolen them So far was he good man from Revenge A charitable revengeful man gives his Neighbor the hook Malicious Absalom entertain'd his Brother Amnon to his destruction They say the Devils Gifts are Donata Hamata there is a Hook under the Bait. And no doubt but the Devil as ill-natur'd as he is does help some
no great matter whether it be believed or no or may as well be confirm'd and believ'd by a bare assertion will wish they may never see the Sun more never open their hands more that the drink might never go through them the meat might be their poyson that they might never stir more might be hang'd that God would judge them or that they might never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven if such a thing or such a thing be not so or so This I'm sure is more than Yea and Nay it is highly foolish and indeed prophane Mans knowledge is fallible his Memory frail Senses deceitful And if this thing should prove otherwise then thou wicked man out of thy own mouth thou shalt be condemned so shall thy Judgment be There are instances of Gods taking such men at their words but I need not insist upon them It is an argument that men stand not in awe of God when they dare invocate his Judgments and challenge his Justice Secondly But when upon no occasion at all to confirm nothing men will dare God to damn them oh horrible and impudent impiety These men have not so much mercy for themselves as the devils They pray'd that they might not be tormented before their time these pray that they may Of these sure if of any unbeleevers it may be properly said that they are condemned already Thirdly It is worse than no occasion when men use cuâ—sing in design to commend themselves to acceptance as an ornament and imbellishment of speech Secondly Of others 1. When ever and anon upon every small provocation or offence men will passionately call for venveance lay the Pox or Plague upon others or it may be send men to the devil upon no other errand but to tell him they are making hast after them 2. When upon no provocation in no passion but in a familiar jocular way men curse one another nay with the same breath curse their friend and swear how much they love him 3. It is by some reputed a piece of familiarity You must take it as a kindness especially if you be an inferiour that they will be so great with you as to curse you Sic sâ—lent beare amicos There is another sort of prophane cursing inferior to all these a cursing in Short-hand Many men are asham'd to curse in words at length but boggle not to do it in Characters and Abbrevations If these men know the true original of these Characters and the meaning of them it is all one as if they spoke in words at length If they do not but yet suspect them it is bold it is an adventuring upon an appearance of evil which is flatly forbidden Suppose they suspect nothing of this meaning in these common words If they have no meaning they are idle words and that is bad enough And if they profoss sincerely they know not what they mean they proclaim themselves fools that know not what they say It is a miserable shift to embrace foolishness and madness to avoid prophaneness But it is to be suspected that they that mince the matter do know the meaning of these characters well enough how else could they apply them so patly so seasonably as they do One may know they stand in stead of a curse because they come in the order and place of one When I hear a man say a pound on him or a shackle on him for I am much beholden to him and he has much befriended me then I will believe he knows not what he says It seems to be cleanly and charitable to wish men in Heaven and that God had them But I have heard it come out of as prophane mouths and with as spiteful a design as any curse Blessed God who blessest us daily communicate to us of thy gracious nature that we also may bless and not curse let us never presume to reckon our selves a part of Christs purchase till we find our selves actually redeemed from our vain conversation received by tradition from our fathers MEDITAT LIV. Of Idleness AMongst sensual or phantastical pleasures or a mixture of both Idleness must be ranked The greatest sensualists are usually most idle yea though they take more pains in pursuit of their pleasure than other men in their honest employments It is strange that Pleasure should be painful and Idleness operose yet so it is Whosoever is not ordinarily well employ'd in good business is idle Such is the generation of all those that play away sleep away chat away visit away their time from day to day or who fearing lest time should not pass away fast enough make use of that sovereign Receipt called Pastime This Idleness turns man into a Cypher makes him insignificant and surely I do not know a greater reproach to man than to be unprofitable An idle person is convicted and shamed by the whole Creation in which there is nothing insignificant or useless I am persuaded the Devil himself would account it a shame to be idle he seems to glory in his activity Job 2. though it be in mischief The Sun never rises nor sets the Year never begins nor ends but it is to the reproach of the idle person We have all great cause to lament the idleness and playfulness of our Childhood and Youth and the many idle hours and days that we have spent in which we have been no Factors for God no one the bâ—â—â—er for us nor we oâ—r selves been betteâ—ed Some say They have no Trade they have nothing to do And are they too old to learn Can they no way assist their Neighbor by Head nor Hand Can they not read good Books write good Letters or give good advice Oh how is the want of Education to be lamented Parents teach their Children nothing when they are young and so they are good for nothing when they are old Hinâ— illâ—e 〈◊〉 But have they indeed nothing to do but to dress and feed themselves How do many of them live then They live of their money But what they cannot eat money No but they live upon Usury And will that excuse Idleness Or rather Is it not a monstrous thing that the Money the silly inanimate Metal should be active and the man idle Therefore O Man thy Money shall be thy Judge The brightness of the Usurer's Money shall be a Witness against his Idleness as well as the Rust of the covetous Hoarders against them If the Money-man would turn his money or part of it into some kind of stock or other and trade therewith buy and sell and maintain Commerce in the World he might serve the publick good and at least have the comfort of being an example of righteousness But still it will be pleaded We need noâ— work To which I answer If the Command of God make a Necessity all have Need. Men should not be employ'd only to get wealth to themselves but as Members of the Publick they ought to be doing some good God never gave Men
confesses Luke 3. 23. The preaching of the Gospel is call'd foolishness 1 Cor. 1. 2. only because it was so in the judgment of the wise men of the world We read of Clouds without water and wandring Stars Jude 12 13. whereas Philosophers will not yield that those are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but say they are meer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor properly Stars but inflammations of the dry Air extended resembling falling Stars Ivory is often called the Elephant's Tooth wherein Varro saith The Scripture accommodateth it self to the Vulgar Opinion affirming that they are Horns having their root in the temples of the Beasts and bending down thorow the upper Jaw rise again and so resemble Teeth It is evident that Ivory is softned by Fire which does not agree to Teeth but Horn. The Text seems elsewhere to speak out Ezek. 27. 15. and calls them the Horns of Ivory It is said Mark 6. 48. that Christ would have passed by the poor distrested Disciples when he only seemed as though he would Paul's Shipmen deemed that some Countrey drew near to them Acts 27. 27. that is indeed that they drew near to some Countrey spoken according to appearance like that of the Poet Provehimur porta terraeque urbosque recedunt They come from the end of Heaven says the Prophet Isa 13. 5. A Speech borrow'd from the opinion of the Vulgar who following the judgment of their Eyes think that the Heavens are but Hemispherical and do end at the utmost parts of the Earth upon which the extremities of Heaven seem to them to rest With Allusion to which Vulgar Opinion how false soever the Mountains are said to be the Foundations of the Heavens 2 Sam. 22. 8. and the Pillars of Heavek Job 26. 11. Because it seems as if the Heavens rested upon them as upon Foundations or Pillars But to return from this Digression The Devil is the God of this Warld and all his Followers are worldly men These for Method sake I will briefly meditate of under three Ranks viz. the Servants the Children and the Confederates of the Devil By Servants of the Devil I mean Idolaters that serve dumb Idols as they are led and know not the living God By his Children I mean all that imitate him and are of his wicked nature though they be not Idolaters By his Allies I mean such as are in a formal Covenant with him who consult his pleasure and act by his power and skill To the first he is a kind of High Priest by whom they expect Reconciliation and Atonement to the second a King and to the third a Prophet so he is the Prophet Priest and King of worldly men MEDITAT XCIV Of Idolatry THat the Servants of the God of this World are worldly men will not be doubted by any but possibly it will be doubted who are his Servants All wicked men that love 〈◊〉 work the Works of darkness and uncleanâ—â—css 〈◊〉 â—ndeed his Servants but they are in Scripture also call'd his Children therefore I shall refer that general consideration of them to that Head More especially Idolatry is the service of the Devil and Idolaters are his Servants It is most generally supposed that the Apostasie and Ruine of the Devils was their aspiring to be as God And the highest pitch of Pride is described by this This was the Satanical suggestion that prevail'd with Eve to eat the forbidden Fruit Ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil Though the Devil mist of it then and miscarry'd fouly in his attempt yet such is the pride of his Nature and his Envy and Malignity against God that still it is his desire to be taken for a God He has prevail'd with many so to be esteemed and worship'd if not for Love yet for Fear as they report of the Indians that worship him Ne noceat lest he should do them a mischief He has put off himself to some as a great Benefactor to Mankind and so has obtain'd a reverential Worship The Devil at Delphos had obtain'd so much Reputation as that the People generally consulted him about future Contingencies which is a Divine Honour and Sacrifice to him there and elsewhere It was the Pride of the Devil that suggested to the Philosophers a twofold eternal Principle Boni Mali to make himself an Anti-Deity rather to be the God of Mischief than no God at all And from the same proud Nature it was that he directed all the ancient Heathens to feign a God of Hell as well as of Heaven a Pluto as well as a Jupiter Whether it was his Pride or Malice that put him upon tempting Christ to fall down and worship him I cannot tell but certainly he must needs have an high opinion of himself that durst make such a bold motion to the Son of God Yea 〈◊〉 him to be such a Fool as not to know him to be the Son of God it must needs argue a proud conceit of himself to suggest such a thing to any Son of man that was in his right wits It must be confest this is the grossest sort of Idolatry and possibly some will deny that it is posible that any should be so gross as to commit it But the Apostle puts it out of doubt saying The things that the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to Devilâ— not to God There are indeed other sorts of Idolatry more common when men worship the Sun and Moon for Gods or intentionally and yet remotely worship the true God by the medium of Images made with hands To think these Images are Gods is exceeding gross And yet it should seem by the Prophet Isaiah as if some were so gross as to esteem them so But suppose they only fansie that these Images are only inhabited by some special presence of the Deity still it is Idolatry and an interpretative worshiping of the Devil for it is a service that God has forbidden and the Devil invented Nay suppose these Images to be only Monitory and to be of no further use than to put in mind of God or to excite Devotion yet how can it escape the Brand of Idolatrous Will-worship For who has required this at mens hands Yea who knoweth not That God hath flatly forbidden the worshiping of him by the likeness of any thing in Heaven or Earth or under the Earth This I suppose was the Case of the Golden Calves which no one ever imagin'd to resemble the Deity nor to be inspired or inhabited by them only they served to put in mind of God and excite Devotion And yet this Mcscholatrye was cursed and abhorred of God and so were all those that were addicted to it And art thou so gross O my Soul and so sunk into matter that thou canst not see God except thou look out at the eyes of the Body Canst thou not direct thy Devotions to the invisible God except thou fix thy corporeal sight upon matter Be asham'd O Noble Spirit of the imputation of such grossness and
Scripture speaks in other cases Thus it speaks of Christ frequently as a Person in the whole History of his Life sometimes as a New and Divine Nature Christ formed in you and Christ in you the hope of glory The like may be said of Antichrist The Spirit of Deceit and Delusion is called Antichrist This is a Deceiver and an Antichrist These apostate Spirits for there are many of them are frequently spoken of in Scripture in the singular number and call'd the Devil the Wicked One and Satan although there be Devils many and Satans many The reason of this I conceive is either because one and the same Principle of Rebellion and Malignity acts them all as if they were but one Person Or one is call'd the Devil by way of Eminence as being Ring leader and Prince of Devils Or in opposition to God who is but one the wicked Spirits are call'd the Devil to make the opposition the plainer between the two Principles of Good and Evil the two Kingdoms of Light and Darknâ—â—â— This Apostate Spirit though he have no issue of his own Body yet is said to have many Children amongst those that are properly the Children of men The Apostle Jâ—hn makes their number very great when he divides the whole World into the Children of God and the Children of the Devil 1 John 3. our Saviour whose Reflections were always very modest yet makes their number very considerable when he affirms to the whole Generation of the malignant Jews Ye are of your Father the Devil therefore they must needs be his Children According to the Hebrew Idiom of Speech Persons and Things are said to be the Children of those whom they most resemble For Resemblance seems to result from the Relation of a Child to his Parent and therefore they lie under some suspicion of Illegitimate who carry nothing of their Parents about with them but their Names onely Thus they are the Children of God who do the Works of God John 8. 41. Who are followers of him as the Apostle speaks They are the Children of Abraham who imitate the Faith and Piety of Abraham John 8. and the Daughters of Sarah who resemble her 1 Pet. 3. 6. Whose Daughters ye are so long as ye do well Thus Men are called the Children of the Devil Ob simile pravit at is ingenium imitationem And oh good God what a numerous Off-spring has this Apostate Spirit How great a part of Earth is inhabited with the Children of Hell of the Proud Envious False Mâ—licious Contentious and others who are the Children of the Devil I have already meditated Besides all which I find two things more that make Men much like to that Wicked One and denominates them his Children viz. Self-will and Ingratitude Self-will or the Unsubduedness of our own will to the Will of God expressing it self in Discontent Fretfulness Murmuring or Impatience is the express Image of that Apostate proud restless Spirit The Heathens expressed this wicked Temper by an elegant Invention of the Giants the Sons of the Earth making War against Heaven Away with Fables says Lâ—â—sius somewhere Vos queruli â—â—â—stis The impatient querulous and self-will'd are those Monsters that do indeed take up Arms against God and rebelliously oppose the Sovereignty of Heaven Oh the Divine and Lovely Temper of the Blessed Jesus who in the sharpest Case in the bitterest Cup shew'd forth the Exinanition of his own Will Not my Will but thy Will be done Oh dear Redeemer redeem me also from the remainder of all Enmity and Opposition that I may account the Will of my heavenly Father absolutely pure and perfect and more elegible than mine own if I were lift to my choice Yea rather that I may be so perfectly swall w'd up in the Divine Will that I may have no will of my own distinct from his but that as a true Friend of God Oh sweet Character I may will and nill the very same things with him MEDITAT XCVIII Of Ingratitude THE proper Notion of Ingratitude is not to be sensible of a good Turn done to us when we know it Nothing can excuse Ingratitude but Ignorance Impotence cannot A man may be grateful although he cannot act no nor speak Ingratitude is the most notorious when it is malignant and wishes ill or does ill to a person that we know has done us good To proceed justly against any Benefactor is not simply Ingratitude for my Love to Truth and Righteousness ought to prevail against any particular affections or the sense of any personal kindness And yet Gratitude will oblige me to abate something of my own interest and to more remiss in the prosecution of my private Injury But to be injurious to a person that I am beholden to adds Ingratitude to Injustice This is the very natural complexion of the Devil who hates the God from whom he has receiv'd his very Being All sin in man wilfully committed against God has Ingratitude in it but especially the rebellious disposition of the Devil who knows when he sins and has receiv'd greater obligations from God than Mankind What greater obligation could God have laid upon any Creature than he laid upon the Devil in creating him in so happy a state and of so noble a capacity his extract divine his capacity large his condition not only happy but glorious And now for the Son of the morning to despise his own Native glory and brightness and sink into sin and hellish darkness to forsake his own mercies and to be stillendeavouring to put himself and poor Mankind out of a capacity of receiving mercies to fall from the glorious Image of his Creator and then to hate and oppose it wherever it is found to take up Arms against the Eternal God from whom he had his very Being and Existence to flie from the very light and to hate Love it self Lord what created understanding can compreheâ—d such horrible Ingratitude And oh poor wretched man how dost thou resemble this black and devilish temper whose Ingratitude â—f thy obligations had been equal to his would have been as great and if thou refuse the offers of mâ—rcy made to thee by a Redeemer which are not made to him will be accounted greater What a Generation of Vipers is Mankind become who do what in them lies to be the death of him who gave them life Lord Do I well to be angry at the Affronts and Injuries the Neglects and Unkindnesses done to me by those of whom I have deserved well Let the sense of my own more abominable Ingratitude towards thee abate my resentment of theirs towards me Is not the wilful Prophaner of the Sabbath an ungrateful Wretch to deny one day to his Maker who gives him six for one Is it not shamefully ungrateful by Oaths and Blasphemies to speak evil of him by whom alone it is that we speak at all To murmur against him for taking away any thing who gives us all things To lift up our selves
our Lives a doing of God's Will and a preparation for his Kingdom But yet I dare not conclude it to be a Symptom of predominant worldly Love when I hear David crying in some case O spare me a little c. For when we urge the predominant Love of God as absolutely necessary we do not mean by predominant that it should be in the strictest sense perfect The Love of the meanest Saint is predominant and the Love of the devoutest is imperfect There are many other mistakes about the predominant Love of the World which are occasionally met with and corrected in the aforegoing Meditations Lord Suffer not my inflamed heart to rest in the lowest evidences of a predominant Love to thee no nor to be at rest till it arrive at the highest Demonstrations Expressions and Exercise thereof Though the consideration of Sincerity and Predominancy may sustain and comfort me yet let nothing short of Perfection content and satisfie me Oh Almighty Love wrap up my amorous Soul in thy Self And Oh cast forth thy Cords of Love and draw the estranged Souls of men unto thy Self Pity the infinite numbers of prodigal Apostates that have forsaken the Bread of their Fathers house and like Swine feed upon empâ—y Husks those many Noble Souls all of them like so many Kings by their Câ—â—ation that â—s it were with their Thumbs cut off 〈◊〉 gathering Crâ—m for their sustenance Restore their maimâ—d Faculties and lift up their Heads out of Prison change their Prison Garments and let them eat Bread before thee 〈◊〉 And Oh grant that all the Lovers of the Father may be judicious and regular in their own Devotions and charitable towards the Devotions and Affections of their Brethren Amen Amen MAN Considered in his POLITICAL CAPACITY PART II. MEDITAT I. Of the False Despisers of Riches IT is too too evident that the many sorts of persons before nam'd are in the judgment of God Lovers of the World even all that prefer the Profits pleasures Honours Persons Business Fashions of the World before God that is before Righteousness Truth Peace Publick Good Holy Order Charity Purity and the Sacred Will of God But because there are really many of these that will not yet acknowledge themselves to be such let us examine a little more closely to find out if possibly who they are that lie under this black character and to whom it doth agree And now I will a little examine Man considered in his Political Capacity for in that he is more discernable than in his Moral And here methinks I hear a Generation of Monastical People whether Papists or Protestants it matters not blessing themselves and saying It is apparent that they of all People in the World are no Lovers of it They are so far from coveting the Riches of the World that they give away all they have and reject the kindness of those that would give them more They embrace Poverty as a great Perfection and Nakâ—dness as an Ornament It was a high Character of them That took joyfully the spoiling of their Goods But what Perfectionists are these that spoil themselves The Disciples of Jesus were mortified men who reckoned two Coats superfluous but these Evangelists are even weary of the Incumbrance of one Nay they seem to out-vie the Son of Man himself of whom it is said That he had not whereon to lay his Head As if he stood in need of some House or Artificial Conveniencies whereas the cold Earth everywhere affords these hardy Soldiers of his a sufficient Bed and the spangled Heavens a Canopy To all which great Pretensions I only suggest these two or three Inquiries 1. It is highly reasonable that these Pretenders to a Contempt of Worldly Riches do inquire into themselves Whether in Deed and in Truth they do what they seem to do Whether there be no Fallacy Hypocrisie or Juggle in this Matter For we have read of those that pretended to part with all to the Church who yet kept back for their own dear selves and by laying their money at the Apostles feet seem'd to trample it under their own who yet for all their seeming Faith and Contempt of the World did not so strip themselves of all but that they kept a Rag for a sore Finger Ananias and Sapphira are Examples 2. It may be proper to inquire Whether some of the Heathens themselves whom you so undervalue as the Refuse of men have not done as much as all this comes to This I take for granted according to the Logick of Divinity it self that it is but a sorry Perfection in a Christian that does not excel all that can be found in a Heathen Mat. 6. 32. If they seek after these and these things it becomes Christians to seek after higher if they do such and such things it behoves Christians to do greater Now I suppose it is an easie thing to find many men as perfectly and voluntarily poor amongst the Heathen Philosophers as amongst Christians amongst the Cynicks as well as the Hermits as much Contempt of the World to any mans thinking in a Tub as in a Cloyster But it will be said These men did not neglect the World out of a pure design therefore 3. It will not be amiss that these Christian Contemners of the World do examine their Principles and Ends for if this voluntary casting away of the World be only a Trick to draw and convert the eyes of the World to themselves and to procure an estimation of mortifi'd men or a piece of Bribery to merit or purchase the Rewards of Heaven or a design to get Riches by a pretended Contempt of them or a Cloak for Idleness that they may eat and drink of the Best without doing any thing for it chusing rather to eat their Bread in the sweat of other mens Brows than of their own If any such things as these I say happen all this Contempt of the World is spoiled and becomes contemptible in the eyes of God nay indeed it proves to be a Device for the more effectual maintaining of the Worldly Life And who knows but that it may so happen or rather who knows not that it does Contempt of the World must be impartial and regular or else it will not pass for Devotion And if a man predominantly love the World in any branch of it he 's justly denominated a Lover of the World however he may seem to despise it in many other branches of it It is a sorry shift to endeavor to be thought to despise the Riches of the World and in the mean time to be enslaved to worldly Ease and Idleness to some men it is the greatest sensual pleasure in the World to do nothing Has not the same God who commanded us not to covet nor love the World also commanded to work and get our Livings Oh but they have spiritual Work to do What Merchant so industrious as they that compass Sea and Land to make Proselytes And did not Paul
be thought not to lose the day without having taken much pains to get it Nay some I have known so Faithful forsooth to the Person that chose them that they suffer themselves to be bound up and engaged not to yield a â—ot furâ—her thâ—n he shall give them leave though Righteousness or the reason of the thing require never so much Rare Faithfulness to their Friend indeed but shameful Unfaithfulness to God and their own Consciences He that accepts of the Office of an Arbitrator upon these terms before-hand laid down betrays a great meanness and vanity of mind and he that acts by these terms afterwards betrays a great deal of Cowardice and Falsity It seems not very improper to this Head to think a little of Electors who by their Votes and Suftrages are concern'd to chuse Officers Magistrates Members of Parliament or the like For these Electors are a kind of Arbitrators determining the Case between Competitors This is a Business of great Importance all will confess as upon which the right observation of Laws and administration of Justice and Judgment and consequently the welfare of a Kingdom does much depend To have no Regard to the Qualifications of the Person to be Elected but to Vote at a Venture to Vote for him that speaks first or comes next without any Regard to his fitness for Counsel or Business is a Point of great Folly To be led by the predominant consideration of Relation or Dependance or to be acted by Humor or Pleasure of other men or by a respect to private Thanks or Rewards or Entertainments not regarding the just Qualifications of a Person fit to manage such Employment seems to add Baseness to the Folly and argues a mind preferring Private Consideration before the Publick Good that is the World before God Neither is Slavish Fear a less Worldly Principle The poor Heathens are to be pitied who worship the Devil for fear he should hurt them But to advance men whom we suspect to be of a hurtful Nature into a Capacity of hurting us for fear of being hurt by them is a Nonsensical Folly fit to be chastened If I should under this Head take occasion to reflect upon the Generality of Jury-Men at Assizes and Sessions it would make this Meditation bulky and bitter For all of those that proceed not according to Evidence that act not from Judgment and Conscience that knowingly favor the Nocent through foolish Pity base Covetousness Worldly Love or Slavish Fear or oppress the Innocent because he is Poor Friendless Speechless a Stranger or an Enemy do proclaim themselves to be Lovers of the World more than of God And O Lord how loud is this Cry It reaches to the ends of the Earth and goes up to Heaven MEDITAT XX. Of Landlords and Tenants THe Holy Psalmist somewhere sayes Psal 115. 16. The Heavens are the Lords but the Earth hath he given to the Children of Men which is not to be understood according to the sense of the prophane Poet Jupiter in Coelis Caesar regit omnia Terris as if God had thrown the Earth out of his Hands and would take no more care of it or had committed it wholly to the Arbitrary Government of men For still it is true that The Earth is the Lords and however he have granted the possession of it to men yet himself still keeps the Propriety and the Rich are his Tenants and the Poor his Under-Tenants Now amongst those children of men to whom God is said to give the earth some have so little a portion of it that they may say with him that was rich but for our sakes became poor That they have not where to lay their heads or at best they can challenge no more of the Earth for theirs than where they may lay their dead bodies But yet in this unequal distribution there is no iniquity neither For although God dividing the Earth amongst Men do not proceed by the Law of Gavel-kind yet he has made provision for his poor Under Tenants having charged his Landed Tenants which we more improperly call Landlords to see that they be not starved nor so much as opprest It is true and proper speaking to say that God has appointed the rich all the rich to be Overseers of the poor and has declared that he accounts them his enemies whosoever are not their friends If any of you have this worlds good and see his brother have need and shut up his bowels against him how dwelleth the love of God in that man 1 Joh. 3. 17 God has not left it at the liberty of the rich whether they will administer to the poor or no but has as much oblig'd them to charity towards them as to Justice towards one another And it is not to be doubted but that the poor have as good a right to some part of our Estates as we have to the rest And for ought I know this may be one Principal reason of that saying of our Saviours call it Prophesy or Promise The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have always with you that there may be an opportunity for the exercising of Charity and that they that have Mammon may not want a way of doing good with it and making themselves friends of it If it be so that the first Worldly Blessing is to be Rich I think the next is that there are Poor about us The noblest use that can be made of riches is to give them away according to that Golden Sentence that it seems our Savior was often wont to use Beatius est dare quam accipere And I am sure the properest Object of Giving are those that have Little or Nothing of their Own But who can persuade the Mammonists of this world that this is good Divinity Alas how few live and act as if they believed it Oh wretched and barbarous Guardians that in stead of putting on Cloaths upon the Naked Skin pull off the Skin from the Flesh that live in all manner of Pleasure and Wantonness spending profusely upon their Lusts of Playfulness Intemperance or Uncleanness and in the mean time Exact the Money of their poor Tenants whereby these Provisions may be made for the Flesh How dwells the Love of God in that Man whose Hounds and Horses and it may be Whores too are Fat and Fair-liking and in the mean time his poor industrious Tenants and their Children so nearly related to their Landlord are almost ready to perish for want of Bread The Poor in general as Men are nearlier related to us by the Law of Nature than Dogs and Horses as Christians they are still nearer A-kin to us and as Tenants seem to be related to their Landlords in a Political Capacity and to be as it were of their Family For who can think otherwise but that God in distributing the Kingdoms and Lordships of the Earth intended that Kings should take all their Subjects to be their Children as to Paternal Care and Landlords should esteem their Tenants as their
further Prosecution of this to some following Meditations concerning motives to the Love of God and consider the last abominable thing which the Love of the World is and that is Perjury The Jews of our Saviours time had very broad Consciences and many fowl things they made a shift to swallow such as Revenge Hatred of Enemies Neglect of poor Parents and the like yet Perjury was such a Morsel as they could never get down though they had made void many of the Commands of God yet for stark shame they left this standing in its full force Thou shalt not forswear thy self but shalt perform to thy Lord thy Vows What Opinion the Heathen had of Perjury appears by the strange punishments that they say the gods inflicted upon Laomedon King of Troy for falsifying the Promissory Oath that he had made to Neptune and Apollo which vengance did not onely light upon him and his Age but reacht unto posterity So that many years after they cry'dout Laomedonteae luimus perjuria Trojae Herod that could digest Murder and Incest hard bits one would think yet boggled at Perjury though the Oath was a rash one and made but to a Girl and that upon no valuable consideration neither yet his stomach as vitated as it was so nauseated Perjury that he would perform it It seems it was accounted by them an abominable Blasphemy to call God to Witness to a lie to make truth it self a lyar but let the promise be made to whom it would how much more abominable must it needs be when that promise is made to God That is at the same time to defraud and blaspheme the Majesty of Heaven And so do all they who solemnly in the presence of God covenant and swear to fight under his Banner against the World and afterwards turn to the World and enter into a Covenant of Friendship with that which they had once declar'd their deadly Enemy Mercury in the Fable stomach'd â—t grievously that Battus should betray him to himself Et me mihi perfide prodie Me mihi prodis Certainly more intollerable affront cannot be put upon the Majesty of Heaven than that men should swear by him to him and then forsake him making themselves at once guilty of Fraud and Blasphemy which all the Lovers of the World do If now there be anything abominable in Idolatry Adultery Blasphemy Sacrilege Ingratitude Perjury the Predominant Love of the World must needs be abominable even to amazement which is really all these and what needs what can be said more to disswade us from it O Merciful God who alone canst effectually deal with the Hearts of Men perswade us thorowly of the undefiling Nature of thy Love that we may make it our great study to keep our selves unspotted of the World MEDITAT XLI General Motives to the Love of God AND now address thy self O my Soul to the last and sweetest part of thy work to Meditate of som powerful Motives to enflame thy self and the rest of the benumnâ—d World with the Love of God Strengthen me O my God this once not that I may be reveng'd upon but that I may perform the greatest kindness to thine Enemies by rescuing them out of their miserable bondage and inlarging their Souls in the most pure and generous love of thee I let down my Net once more not without thy Command Oh that by thy gracious Assistance and Blessing I may enclose a number of Souls and translate those who all their days have swam in Earthly delights and in the brackish Sea of this World into the sweet Rivers of Pleasures that are at thy right hand or rather into the pure Fountain of Peace and Joy and Pleasure which thou art for evermore And here methinks I have the whole World and all the Individuals therein thronging about me each offering its Vote each offering it self an Orator to plead the Cause of God The holy Psalmist in his 148 Psalm calls upon the whole Creation Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens and the Waters that be above the Heavens the Earth and the Deeps and all the Inhabitants of all those Angels and the Hosts of God the Lights of Heaven Vapors and flying Fowls of the Air all Men great and small young and old Beasts and Cattel and Creeping Things and all Vegetables I say he calls upon them to Praise and Celebrate the Lord but methinks I hear all these calling upon me and all Mankind to love the Lord and to delight our selves greatly in our God For certainly there is nothing in the Creation but does plainly declare the Loveliness of God and whatsoever does so does as good as Preach and say Oh love the Lord ye Children of Men. But I see I shall lose my self in this immensity I will therefore confine my self to some few Topicks from whence to fetch Arguments and Motives to the Love of God The nature of our Christian Profession the Nature of our own Souls the Nature of God the Nature of Love the Nature of the Love of God will furnish us with powerful Motives to the Love of God as well as all these with the Nature of the World and of Worldly Love â—urnisht us with disswaâ—â—ves from the Love of the World For there is as much excellency in the Nature of God and of the Love of God to recommend them as there is unsuitableness and unsatisfyingness in the World or abominableness in Worldly Love to disparage them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no hard thing for a devout Mind to fetch mighty 〈◊〉 the Love of God from the same Heads the Argument being a little altered from which the dissâ—â—asives from the Love of the World were fetcht As for Example if we should therefore not love the World because it is unsuitable and insufficient to us and not that which it seems to be then we should therefore love God because of his infinite fulness and because he is the onely substantial and agreeable good If we should therefore not love the World because by loving we give we assimulate we unite we subject our selves to the World if this be the Nature of Love then what can be more excellent and advantagious to us than the Love of God If we should therefore not oâ—e the Word because the love of the World is Abominable Idolatrous Adulterous Blasphemous Sacrilegious Ungratful and Perjurious The Love of God being on the contrary Excellent and Divine Pure Chast Just Ingeniouâ— and Reasonable ought mightily to allure and attract us unto it self And so of the rest But here also I should be tempted to be too large I will therefore limit my self to a few Considerations which I have found most powerful over my own Soul Oh would it might please God to bless them with a mighty Influence that they may come to the Hearts of those into whose hands they may come MEDITAT XLII A Particular Motive to the Love of God FIrst I am wont to consider that God loves us best of any one The Law of
may all created Strength say may the Behemoth and the Leviathan say Pass on from the chief of the ways of God to God himself contemplate the Allmighty Adore and Reverence the Absolute Indefeatable Uncontroulable Unchangeable Eternal Being compar'd with whom our strength is as straw and all our might but as rotten wood And why stand ye sucking at me may all Created Sweetness say may the Honey and the Honey Comb say Go from the Cistern to the Fountain to the uncreated Sweetness entertain your selves and fill your Souls with the Heavenly Manna in comparison of which Fountain all the Rivers of Created Pleasures are as the Waters of Marah in comparison of which Manna all created entertainments are rather Husks than Bread fitter for Swine than Souls And why dote ye on me may all Worldly Glory say may Solomon in all his Glory say if you will aspire let nothing terminate your Covetousness Ambition below the Supream Goodness and the Inaccessible Glory the Glory of the Highest who hath stampt some little of himself upon me whereby I become desirable or glorious but in comparison of whose brightness I am a dark shadow and a total Eclipse MEDITAT XLVI A further Motive to the Love of God FIfthly Consider that to love God is to gain God It may justly make one wonder to see Men take such pains to gain the World and yet so indifferently affected to the enjoyment of God himself Rising up early and lying down late and eating the bread of sorrows describes but a little of that pains and solicitousness which men use for gaining the World in comparison of that compassing of Sea and Land running of strange hazards adventuring Health and Life Soul and all in pursuit of Wealth and Honour which we may every where discern amongst the greedy Merchants and Ambitious Courtiers and Warriers of the World And after all this it proves that they seek but a very mean thing that they gain but a little of that which they seek and that they are not satisfied with that which they gain Is it worth an Age of pains to gain the Creature yea a small handful of it yea and such an handful too as is gone as soon as it is well gain'd and can any Man that is Master of his Reason choose but think it much more worthy of all possible endeavors to gain the Creator and make the Supream good his own Our Saviour seems to make a supposition of a thing not to be suppos'd when he speaks of a single Man gaining the whole World like unto which there are many Hyperbolical suppositions made in the Holy Scripture But the gaining of God is no Hyperbolical Supposal but a Real Proposal It is sincerely propounded to the Sons of Men and if they fail of it it is their own fault and folly It hath pleased God so to constitute the Rational Soul that nothing besides himself can be the happiness of it It is impossible in the very nature of the thing that any thing below infinite Truth and Goodness should satisfie the Understanding and Will of man or that the same should be any otherwise perfected but in the possession of this Blessed Object It must needs follow then that he is willing to be enjoy'd else he had been cruel to the Souls of Men in giving them faculties which should never be perfected and Appetites that should alwaies be craving and never satisfi'd It must needs be that the Supream Good is most Communicative of himself and that he who every where commands us to give to them that ask us and not to turn away from them that would borrow of us must himself be infinitely willing to be found of them that seek him This being certain it will as certainly follow that the loving of God is the enjoyment of him Dilige frueris It is Love that Assimulates and Unites and makes this blessed Object our own Solomon tells us That he that loveth Silver shall not be satisfi'd with Silver yea it is true also that he that loveth Silver oftentimes does not so much as possess Silver poor men may be covetous as well as rich and there are many in the World no doubt whose hearts do mightily hanker after the World that yet miss of it who pursue this shadow and it flies from them But no man ever set his heart upon God and was disappointed of the enjoyment of him Though many love Riches that never come to be Rich and beautiful Mistrisses that are never admited into their Embraces yea and the Admirers of their own Beauty are miserably disappointed Norcissâ—s like they cannot so much as come to a kiss of that sweet mouth that they so fondly contemplate in the Glass having no advantage of their own fair Faces save the beholding of them with their Eyes yet it is far otherwise with the Lovers of God This most Beautiful and Blessed Object is not shye of himself he envys no good thing no not himself to his Lovers and Friends As the Benign Sun envies not denies not his precious Light no not to the meanest Inhabitant of the Earth that will but look at him see him and you enjoy him so neither does the Father of Light deny himself to any that do but heartâ—â—y desire him love him and you enjoy him For what other way can there be suppos'd to be of enjoying God Every man is alike nigh to God yea and the Devils as nigh as Men Set aside the loving of God and the meanest Man in the World is as much a Kâ—â— to him as the mightiest and the Apostate Spirits as near to him as his Menial Servants the Courtiers of Heaven If we could suppose an unloving Soul to be admitted into Heaven and to be as nigh the Throne of God as the Angels are this very Paradice would be a Purgatory to him and the Bosome of Abraham a Bed of Thorns Oh how Blessed and yet how easie a thing is it to enjoy God Love him and he is your own If Kingdoms could be got with loving what man would not be a Prince If great Fortunes could be obtain'd by being desired who would not be sure of a Rich Match If the meer setting ones Heart upon Silver and Gold would make them to increase the Prophesy would certainly fail of having the Poor always with us God is more easily got than Gold Believe in Jesus and you have him Love God and you are possest of him Droop not thou meanest obscurest poorest of the Children of men come lift up thy head and take Courage I shew thee a way a certain way an easy way how thou mayst be as excellent as rich as honourable as any of the Princes of the Earth as the Angels of Heaven Love the Father for if any man Love the Father and the Son they will come unto him and make their abode with him Good God what Honour and Happiness is this that thou bestowest on thy Saints MEDITAT XLVII A Further Motive
and Sweetness and Beauty and Bravery of the World in our apprehension that we may look upon them as things unsuitable inadequate inferiour to our Noble Natures meer Husks and Trash Dust and Gravel in Comparison of the proper food of Souls Display thy Divine Excellency Sweetnesâ— Fullness Infinite Goodness Suitableness and Allsufficiency to us that we may be throughly convinc'd that thou art altogether lovely and that all other things yea Heaven it self are to be loved for thy sake Let thy good Spirit move upon our Affections and overshadow these Souls so long till it have impregnated them with Divine Love Whether Love be like Water do thou shed it abroad in our Hearts till it overflow all our Faculties as the Waters cover the Sea or whether it be like Fire let the Breath of the Lord Blow it up into a victorious and irresistible Flame Grant good God that this Love of Thee may express it self in the Faith Love and Obedience of thy Blessed Son Jesus in the Entertainment and Prosecution of the Motions of thy Holy Spirit in a sincere Love of all Men in a singular Delight in the Saints in the constant preference of Truth Righteousness the Establishment of Peace and Order the Advancement of the Gospel the Favour of God and our own Consciences before Riches Honours Pleasures Self-pleasing the Favour of Men the Propagations of Parties and all Worldly Interest whatsoever in the preferrence of the Peace and Holiness of our Souls before the gratifications of the Body and the securing of a happy Eternity before the serving of Time Finally I beseeeh Thee O my Gracious Father be daily adding Fewel to this Holy Fire maintain and encrease this pious Ardor Keep us in thy Love waiting for the Mercy of Jesus Christ unto Eternal Life Be daily winding up these Heavy and Lingring Hearts unto Thy Self and carrying on these imperfect Longings till thou hast ripened them into Perfect Lively Fearless Endless Love and Delight in thy Heavenly Kingdom for the sake of the Son of thy Love who hath loved us and given himself for us that we might give our Selves to Thee To him with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Thanks Love and Obedience for evermore Amen FINIS Books Printed for and sold by Samuel Tidmarsh at the Kings-head in Corn-hill THE Triumphs of Gods Revenge against the Crying and Execrable Sin of Murther to which is added Gods Revenge against Adultery A Chronicle of the Kings of England from the time of the Romans Government and continued unto the Fourteenth of his now Majesties Reign by Sir Richard Baker The Court of the Gentiles Compleat by Theophilus Gall. The Use of Passions written in French by I. F. Senault and put into English by Henry Earl of Monmouth A Treatise of Peace and Contentment of Mind by Peter Du Moulin Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty A Treatise of Sacramental Covenanting with Christ shewing the ungodly their Contempt of Christ in their Contempt of the Sacramental Covenant by J. Rawlet An Explication of the Creed the Ten Commandments and the Lords Prayer with the Addition of some Forms of Prayer by John Rawlet Artificial Versifying a New Way to make Latine Verses whereby any one of ordinary Capacity that only knows the A. B. C. and can count 9 though he understands not one Word of Latine or what a Verse means may be painly Taught and in as little time as this is Reading over how to make Thousands of Hexameter and Pentameter Verses which shall be true Latine true Verse and good Sense by John Peter price 6d stitcht Day of Doom or a description of the day of the great and last Judgment with a Discourse about Eternity Christian Directions shewing how to walk with God all the day long A Word â—o Saints and a Word to Sinners The Young Mans Guid through the Wilderness of this World to the Heavenly Canaan shewing him how to carry himself Christian like in the whole course of his Life All three by Thomas Gouge Tables for the use of the Excise Office whereunto is added an Introduction to Decimal Arithmetick and a short Treatise of Practical Gauging also the Excise-mans Aid by John 〈◊〉 Directions with Prayers and Meditations for the worthy receiving the Blessed Sacrament by the famous Charles Drelincourt A Help to English History containing a Succession of all the Kings of England the English Saxons and the Britains the Kings and Lords of Men and Isle of Wight as also of all the Marquesses Earls Bishops thereof with the Description of the places from whence they had their Titles Martial Epigrams Helvicus Colloquia Ovidii Opera Caesars Commentaries Erasmii Collâ—quia Ovidii Metamor cum Not. Farnabii Seneca's Tragedies Virgil. cum Not. Fornab Greek Testament of a full Character