wandring beggers but whereas others did both pray and labour for them they withdrew themselves from all conversing with men in any calling they noted the Priests which had cures with an odious epithete calling them Seculars and yet in wealth and ease they themselves were farre beyond in paine behind them Solitarines for a time to better those callings that Schollers may returne to converse among men with the greater profit is that which our Saviour used and is to be commended Meditation 9. Of Gods long suffering VVee find fearefull examples of Gods anger against sinne as Adam cast out of Paradise Cain banished from the Lords presence the old world drowned in the Flood Sodome and the Cities adjoyning burnt with fire from Heaven Pharoah and his Host choaked up on the Red Sea Corah and his companions swallowed up of the Earth seven Nations put to the Sword by the Israelites the tweive Tribes dispersed the painfull death of our Lord the sonne of God suffering for the sinne of man yet is God very patient towards sinners first in that he calleth all men to repentance by the sound of his word or the inward touch of their owne consciences seconly because it is long before hee doth punish offenders as the old world had a hundred yeares the 7 Nations foure hundred thirdly because he doth give warning before the stroake fall by threatnings signes and wonders and if men repent and call for mercy he forgiveth and holds his hand as it fell out to Niniveh Fourthly when he doth punish he remembreth mercy and though he make some an example yet saveth he his people which deserved all to perish this fell out to Adam and oft times to the Isaelites notwithstanding that they more then once provoked him Lastly there are many whom he never punishsheth in this life though they daily offend him but doth bestow upon them both peace and plenty filling their hearts with joy and gladness whence it commeth to passe that many dare vaunt there is no God promising unto themselves liberty of doing what they list grow most loose and licentious and draw unto themselves whole multitudes of such as they have corrupted such a one was Nimrod after the sloud a Captaine of them which laid the foundation of that never to be finished tower But this is a wicked abuse of the divine patience which is as it were an Arke wherby the Church is saved from the overflowings of ungodlinesse The godly understanding well the Lords patience observe thereby how willing he is that all men should repent and bee saved for being all as wee are borne in sinne and so fraile ever after that the best doth oft offend what hope were there of avoiding his displeasure if he should not grant time to imbrace those meanes whereby wee might bee again reconciled to him And this he doth not once or twice but often as our Saviour protested How oft would I have gathered you and behold great patience wherfore from him which would not have us tye our selves to seven times but doth inlarge it to seventy times seven times look for the like or greater measure from the length of his owne patience And this is so farre from breeding any dulnesse in Gods Children as though this patience were a slacknesse of the Lord in favour of sinne or a weaknesse as unable presently to punish what he doth not favour that knowing his purpose therein they are the more earnestly inforced speedily to returne unto the Lord and that with great sorrow having offended him which is so patient in forbearing of them And they labour so much the more diligently to redeeme what by negligence hath beene omitted often with thankfulnesse calling to mind this singular benefit and stirre up others to bee partakers thereof and unto all those is Gods patience a sanctuary from his wrath For them only shall it be turned into fury which have despised it If God be so patient and beare with us should wee be impatient and not beare with one another God dealt patiently with him which afterwards tooke his brother by the throat There is nothing which more displeaseth the Lord nothing wherein he desireth rather to bee imitated in so much as he barreth him from all accesse which wanteth patience Prayer is of such force with God that it winneth any thing from him yet if thou be impatient it availeth nothing for thou askest a good turne of God and bearest no good mind to thy brother therfore he will not heare thee Wilt thou have God patient abuse not thy brother as one wanting patience God who doth all things patiently doth all things wisely for patience is quiet and patience takes leasure so that in him followes not this after-wit I had not wist it Impatient men are angry and hasty which two things pervert counsell Oh vaine man thou knowest how patiently the Lord hath dealt with thee and how impatient thou hast beene thy selfe for small matters dost thou not wonder at both how the Lord could beare with thee so long or thou thy selfe so little for Gods sake The Lord would not have thee perish here is thy good intended doe thou that which may turne to thy brothers good that God may be glorified in thy patience This made Jacob say unto his brother Esau I have seene thy face as if I had seene the face of God and indeed a patient man is no other then the very Image of God amongst men Meditation 10. Of Faith and Workes AS the Sunne riseth in the East and setteth in the West so Religion riseth in Faith and setteth in obedience of Workes and as there cannot bee an East but there must be also a West so is there no saving Faith without the obedience of Faith and as the Morning and Evening make one Day so Faith and obedience the life of a Christian I have read of a people which wanting a King did agree on this kind of election they would goe all together into a broad Field neare the Towne and he that could espie the rising of the Sunne first should bee taken as the worthiest man so after midnight they went out to observe the rising of the Sunne and the whole multitude had their Eyes fixed on the East one only amongst them wiser then the rest looked toward the West at whom they all marvelled much but when the day began to dawne and all others were intentive Eastward to take notice of the Sunnes rising this fellow which stood Westward before they wist of it shewed them the rising of the Sunne in the tops of the Houses and Towers of the City It is a common conceit of them which take notice of Religion in any to looke towards his Faith and profession because indeed Religion doth begin and as it were rise there but they which are wise will look towards obedience and Workes because Religion doth first appeare there it may bee hid in Faith and thou canst not certainly discerne it for there is ods
anguish for Christs sake Saint Paul is a notable example unto us of this kind and if thus wee dye dayly as Christians wee shall never be afraid to dye as men wee shall be ever ready for death and so farre from shrinking backe that wee shall boldly meet it it shall be no losse but gaine unto us no end of life but the beginning of a better while wee fly death we runne into sinne headlong yet is there no death so bad Oh that wee could once truely learne to dye that we might live for ever Many are dead which thinke themselves alive Many to avoid a temporall death do lose those things without which life is nothing worth the parting of the soule from the body is no death but the parting of God from the soule if the body without breath be but a carcasse what is a Christian without grace but a painted tombe Our first birth is the death of that life which the infant drawes from his mother and the body is borne into the world for sense and growth by our second birth which is the death of the body the soule is borne into the kingdome of heaven to live a new life from the body for there it understands without phantasie or common sense it seeth without eyes heareth without eares maketh it selfe understood without speech And as the birth of the body into the world is a better life than that which the Infant had in his mothers wombe so must the birth of the soule into heaven be a better life than that of the body by how much the faculties of the soule are more excellent than the bodily senses In our mothers wombe we lived as plants in the world wee lived as men in heaven wee shall live as the Angels neither are soule and body parted so as they shall never meet againe for the body no doubt doth naturally long for the soule and the soule beareth a love to the body Therefore by a holy ordinance of the Lord they abide one anothers absence for a while that they may come together againe as man and wife with the greater comfort the body is gone downe into the grave to leave there his shame of mortality of weakenesse of corruption necessity without all which after the resurrection it shall returne to the soule and the soule trimmed and tricked up in glory like a fresh spouse shall receive the body into the same glory and both shall be received into God and dwell with him for ever Death then is called so onely as it doth appoare unto us and others which live here but in very deed and by the benefit of Christ the state of the dead is the very true life everlasting neither is the birth of the child a greater hope of life in the world than is this of the soule in the death of the body of the life both of body and soule to be glorisied in the kingdome of heaven Many think on death to be more vicious as Epicures Let us eate and drinke for to morrow wee shall dye some will not thinke at all on death and they live neither the longer nor the better but are sure to die much the worse When wee thinke on death which are Christians it should make us live very justly and soberly because wee looke for a Kingdome after death where none enter but the righteous Oh my soule and body if wee must needs part how soone wee know not let us do it willingly to overcome necessity resistance is vaine obedience is profitable let us provide for that which else will prevent us let us make use of death as some do of money which else lyes dead let us die in the Lord to the Lord this is the best advantage Meditation 44. Last Judgement VVEe cannot avoide either judgment or death when sicknesse summous us to the one doth not our conscience to the other and in this life God hath his tryalls judgements executions so that men of times are forced to cry out Justus es Domine just a sunt judicia tua but because the wicked observe them not and God doth desire to appeare unto men rather as a mercifull father than a severe Judge therefore the Majesty the Authority the severity of his judgment is hid unto us so farre that wee are bound to beleeve that he will come to judge a thing which else we would never dream of Though then we see no examples of this judgement as yet neither can conceive the form therof yet do wee beleeve it and that there is a certaine time appointed for it they that looke not for it with joy shall abide it with sorrow that is that last and finall judgement wherein all causes shall be opened all persons censured all workes rewarded what hath hitherto beene suspended shall now be sentenced and never more altered Marke the preparation unto it the heavens shall passe away with noyse the elements shall melt with fervent heat the sea shall be dried up and the earth shall be burnt with all her workes then a summoning trumpet shall sound and awake up all those that sleepe in the silence of death and they together with the living shall be caught up then shall the Judge appeare visibly above in flaming fire compassed about with infinite thousands of Angels ready to do his will A strange judgement towards no doubt whether we respect the Judge or the parties which are to make their appearance or the sentence it selfe the wisdome of the Judge is such that hee cannot be deceived hee knoweth all causes without information things past are to him present and things to come hee made mans heart and findeth out every corner and turning thereof hee heares our words before wee speake them and knowes our thoughts before wee act them we do not will without his power though without his allowance nor worke without his privity though without his consent nay he knowes our purposes before wee are fully resolved and our thoughts before wee conceive them and our workes without producing any witnesse his justice is such that he cannot pervert judgment for favour or bribes his will is the rule of all righteousnesse and therefore hee can favour no cause but that which is right and if hee could be unrighteous what bribe might winne him which wanteth nothing his power is such that all must abide his decree here lyes no appeale no prohibition can be granted againstit no pardon obtained his jealousie shall take on harnesse and hee shall arme the creature to be avenged of his enemies hee shall put on righteousnesse for a breast-plate and take unfained judgement instead of an helmet equity shall be his shield and his fierce wrath as a sharpe sword and his troop are the whole compasse of the world Now what are the parties which are to appeare and abide tryall Adam and his posterity from the first man to the last that shall be borne here shall they be judged which have beene heretofore Judges
the good of others as his owne and they do all drinke of the same well of eternall life Landed men desire to have perfect surveyes and true plots of their States of inheritance willing not onely to satisfie their minds touching the value but also their eyes beholding under one aspect the houses courtelages wayes walkes ponds parkes woods coppize hills bottomes arable grounds meadowes and pasture and they would have nothing lye hid as though they should seeme to neglect any one jot of their transitory happinesse Oh vaine men are we which take so much paine about the world wherein wee live not onely with beasts which have a better part in this kind of happinesse but also with wicked men worse than beasts whence come unto us envie malice variance deceit violence wrong yea murthers massacres and desolations And this ourinheritance we stand so much on what serveth it but for our bodily necessities and that for a very small time though we use to say to mee And to my heires for ever whereas oft-times the third man doth scarse enjoy a foot thereof The soule is nothing the richer though thou leave it nothing the wiser nothing the better neither can it claime any part of it to follow her when it must depart hence to another world where such earthly provision stands in no stead And if the earth it selfe be but a point in respect of the firmament every least starre thereof being eighteene times greater than the whole what is thy goodly inheritance in comparison of the highest heavens but a shadow or dreame of nothing But this heavenly inheritance may be called so rightly in deed and is worth the seeking for worth the having though a man should sell all and lose his life too to which comes nothing that ill is and from which goodnesse never departs an excellent place of entertainment where comfort hath an everlasting spring not parched with heat or nipped with cold or beaten with violence of windes what can be spoken more gloriously here is God in the height of his favour here are thousands of Angels and Saints like so many Starres about this infinite light at whose presence the Sunne is darknesse here is Christ that died for us and hath life in his hands to bestow on us Come enter into thy Masters joy Canst thou dislike this company how ever thou dost like it thou canst not come to it by nature or art it is not blood or birth that must preferre thee thou canst not claime it by descent and in truth so great did our Lord esteeme it that he spared not one drop of his blood but willingly shed it to purchase this inheritance for thee and if all the crosses or troubles of the world were put together and weighed in the ballance with this masse of glory they would not hold in weight so much as one graine of the insinite greatnesse thereof Holy men in times past have thought no labours too hard no poverty too deepe no death too sharpe if so induring all their daies they might be thought worthy to be made partakers of this grace for true it is that no man brings worthinesse with him to claime such an unvaluable consideration but as it is grace that makes us first to know our unworthinesse and then to imbrace Christ who hath purchased for us this inheritance and hath the right to bestow it on us so is it grace that leading us by the hands of obedience humility doth bring us into the possession of glory this is an inheritance not for the body onely but for the soule also not while wee live here a few yeares but to live above with God for ever this right is such as neither can be taken from us nor exclude us from taking benefit with others which have an inheritance as large as ours What earthly inheritance hath such priviledges to be free from sinne and all punishment following it as shame and misery to see God face to face This O man is worthy thy survay by what title it may be possessed what things they are which bee spoken of this heavenly Jerusalem what mansions and commodities it hath what freedome the dwellers enjoy which there abide that lightned by faith and lifted up on the toppe of holy meditation thou maist so clearely and fully behold the plot of this blessednesse as that from henceforth it may wholly withdraw thy love from this transitory vaine and vile world to an unsatiable desire of it selfe Be sober therefore O my soule be thankfull and in thy ravishment remember thou hast not yet attained it but this do forget that which is behind and endeavour thy selfe unto that which is before and follow hard towards the marke for the high prise of the calling of God in Christ and this is a point so necessary that Saint John saith Every one that hath this hope purgeth himselfe as hee is pure And here my pen stoppeth my meditations never Soli Deo Laus Contempt of the world THe worlds vanity which John reduceth unto three heads the lust of the flesh by which we may understand all kind of delicacy and wantonnesse the lust of the eye which may well intend covetousnesse and the pride of life whereby may be meant ambition about honour are not from God which made the world but from man who forsaking God hath abused the world and made both it and himselfe both vaine miserable many out of the greatnesse of their mindes have despised the world counting themselves too good for it and the world too base for their imployment they have rejected honors as not worth the travell or taking up pleasures as too beastlike riches as heavy and idle burthens and all this they did from the equity of nature which is contented with a little and offended at excesse which beares necessary and common harmes and is onely moved to avoid her owne follies Christians fetch their contempt from a higher Principle What is time to eternity a candle to the Sunne a droppe to the Sea a molehill to a mountaine this world to the World to come the creature to the Creator and yet how few Christians grow to that contempt of the world for the love of God and godlinesse which the Philosophers did in time past for the love of naturall knowledge or morall vertue Yee may see indeed amongst Christians many contemne the World out of a carelesse contempt what become of themselves whether to sinke or swimme because they are not such as they have beene nor could never yet learne to be the men they should of whom the world is as weary as they are of it but how few see you contemne it out of the true account which a Christian ought to have of his owne value I am the member of Christ shall I couple the body of Christ to such a Harlot as pleasure is I am Gods favourite shall I by ambition hunt after that favour which comes from man I am a Citizen of Heaven shall I digge deepe into the earth for a treasure there Many Christians do not so much as the Philosopher did by the eye of reason but looke on things onely with the eye of the sense how can they then be equall judges of these matters which reason it selfe could never reach unto To the naturall eye this world doth so interpose it selfe that it seemes onely great and the world to come nothing at all but faith which lifteth it selfe up and beholdeth God is made partaker of such a heavenly vision that this inferiour world seemeth unto it to have neither goodnesse to be desired nor greatnesse to be admired nor assurance to be trusted unto onely it sees many seeke it which perish by it and they which thrive in it to part from it much the worse for the onely having it Know my soule that this world is but a market if thou be in it as a buyer or a seller thou shalt bee much distracted if as a looker on thou shalt have content using it as though thou didst not use it thou mayst be acquainted with the world but beware of familiarity open not thy selfe unto her for the day will come that you two will be at ods and if thou love her thou wilt say then I have gotten nothing by her and perhaps it will cast thee in the teeth that it hath bestowed too much on thee How happy are they which keepe even reckoning with the world at all times that as they call nothing of the world so the world can challenge nothing in them but are ready still to depart out of it with a saving hand provided for a better Sit Deo Gloria FINIS