according to Daniels Prophecy five hundred yeares before At this time there was a universall peace over the whole world for the said Emperour after five civill warres waged by himselfe and after infinite broyles and blood shed in the world raigned peaceably alone for many yeares together and in token of an universall peace over the whole earth he caused the Temple gates of Ianus to be shut according to the custome of the Romans in such cases albeit this happened but twice before from the building of Rome to that time And the very same day that Christ was borne in Jury Augustus commanded in Rome as afterward was observed that no man should call him Lord thereby to signifie the free liberty rest joy and security wherein all men were after so long miseries which by continuall warres the world had suffered to fulfill the Prophesie of Esay above an hundred yeares before Daniel that at the comming of Christ people should sit in the Tabernacle of peace in sure dwellings and safe resting places And againe he shall be called the Prince of peace and againe there shall be no end of peace and David long before him in his dayes shall arise Justice and abundance of peace Now for the particular state of Jewry at Christs Nativity thus it was according as Iosephus the Iew who was borne within five yeares after Christs Passion describeth the same One Herod a stranger whose Grandfather was sexton in Apollos Temple and his father called Antipater waâ— brought up among theeves in Idumea came out of Idumea was risen to acquaintance and favour with the Romans partly by his said fathers meanes who was as Iosephus words are a well monied man industrious and factious And partly by his owne diligence and ambition being of himselfe both witty beautifull and of excellent rare qualities By which commendations he came at length to marry the daughter of Hyrcanus King of Iewry that was descended lineally of the house of David and Tribe of Iuda and by his mariage obtained of his father in law to be Governour of the Province of Galily under him But Hircanus afterwards falling into the hands of the Parthians that carried him into Parthia Herod runne away to Rome and there by the especiall helpe and favour of Anthony that ruled together in company with Octavius he obtained to be created King of Iury without any title or interest in the world for that not only his said father in law Hyrcanus was yet alive in Parthia but also his younger brother Aristolulus and three of his sonnes named Antigonus Alexander and Aristobulus and divers others of the blood royall in Iewry Herod then by this means having obtained that Kingdome procured first to have in his hands the foresaid Hyrcanus and so put him to death he also brought to the same end his younger brother Aristobulus and his three sons likewise he put to death also his own wife Mariamnes that was King Hyrcanus daughter as also Alexandra her Mother and soon after two of his own sons which he had by the said Mariamnes for that they were of the blood royall of Iuda And a little after that againe he put to death his third son named Antipater He caused also to be slaine at one time forty of the chiefest Noble men of the Tribe of Juda and as Philo the Jew writeth that lived at the same time with him he put to death all the Sanhedrin that is the seventy two Senators of the Tribe of Juda that ruled the people He killed the chiefe of the sect of the Pharisees He burned the Genealogies of all the Kings and Princes of the house of Juda caused one Nicholaus Damascenus an Historiographer that was his servant to draw out a pedegree for him and his line as though he had descended from the ancient Kings of Juda. He translated the high Priesthood and sold it to strangers and finally he so raced dispersed and mangled the house of Juda as not one jot of government dignity or principality remained therein And when he had done all this then was Iesus of the same house and line of Iuda borne in Bethlehem the proper City of David which David was the founder and first author of regality in Juda. Now then consider the prophesie of Iacoh concerning the particular time of Christs appearance almost two thousand yeares before these things fell out Come hither my children said he that I may tell you the things which are to happen in the latter dayes c. The Scepter shall not depart from Iuda nor a Law-giver from betweene his feet untill he come who is to be sent The expectation of all Nations Which prophesie that it was fulfilled now at Christs Nativity when Herod had extinguished all Government in Iudah no man can deny that will acknowledge the things set downe before which are recorded by writers both of that time and of the Iewish Nation and Religion themselves And that it was never fulfilled from Davids dayes who began the governmeÌ„t of the house of Iuda untill this time appeareth plainely by all histories and records both divine and prophane For that from David who was the first King unto Zedechias that was the last and dyed in the captivity of Babylon the Scripture shewes how all the Kings descended of the house of Iuda And during the time of their captivity in Babylon which was seventy yeares the Iewes were alwayes permitted to chuse themselves a Governour of the house of Iuda whom they called Resch galuta and after their deliverance from Babylon Zorobabel was their captaine of the same Tribe and so others after him untill you come to the Macchabees who were both Captains and Priests for that they were by the mothers side of the Tribe of Iuda and by the fathers side of the Tribe of Levi as Rabbi Kimchi And from these men â—owne to Hyrcâ—nus and Aristobuâ—us whom Herod slew there continued still the same line as Tosephus declareth so that by this Prophesie it is evident that Iesus was borne at the proper time appointed for the Messias when there was neither King nor Captaine nor High Priest nor Counsellor nor any one Governour of the house and Tribe of Iuda left in Iury. For further proofe that Christ came incarnate into the world at the time appointed here might be shewed the destruction of the second Temple according to Daniels prophesie after sixty two weekes Christ shall be slaine The attestation of Oracles the observation of Rabbins and expectation of all the Jewes at that time but I intend brevity and this is else-where learnedly described by divers famous Writers Therefore I conclude as Saint Luke declares it in the second Chapter 1. It was saith he when Augustus Caesar caused the whole world to bee taxed by taking of every person in all places a penny wherby they might professe themselves subject to the Roman Emperour and he might know how many Townes Cities and persons were in the whole world under his dominion and
Ierusalem close by Mount Golgotha in the garden of Ioseph of Arimathea for it was the custome of the Iewes to build their tombes or sepulchres in their Orchards and gardens and beautifie and adorne them with Lillies Roses and other flowers on purpose to put them in mind of their mortality according to that of David The dayes of man are like grasse as a flower of the field so flourisheth he for the wind goeth over it and it is gone and the place thereof knoweth it no more And for this cause the Iewes but especially the Kings would be buried in their gardens So Ioseph a good and just man following this custome had hewen for himselfe out of a Rock a new monument in which there had been no man laid that so when he walked into the garden to take the aire hee might be put in minde of his mortality In this Monument our Saviour was buried and froÌ„ this place upon the third day early in the morning he rose to the terror and astonishment of such as watched the Sepulchre From whence may bee gathered that as our first Parents Adam and Eve trespassed against God and lost felicity in a garden so Christ the Son of God in a garden made satisfaction for that sin restored us againe to grace and made us capable of heavenly felicity This Sepulchre as it is described by Saint Iohn when hee went with Saint Peter to see if that notable miracle of the Resurrection were true was like a little chappell the doore thereof being upon the outside and but one room without any division so that a man might see all that was within it For he saith that Saint Peter did not go in but lookt in and saw the linnen cloathes where they lay wrapped up from whence may be concluded that the Sepulchre which is now extant howsoever perhaps it may stand in the same place is not the same Sepulchre wherein our Saviour Christ was buried for it is described to bee fouresquare to be open at the top to have within two vaults an inward and an outward and that you descend to it by stairs which description doth not agree with Saint Iohn for hee saith that they rouled a great stone to the dore of the Sepulchre but did not lay it upon the top of it And Venerable Bede who was a Doctor of Divinity and lived in England seven hundred years after Christ describeth the holy Sepulchre after this manner This Sepulchre over-head was something round and so high that a man could scarce touch it with his hand standing in that Rock which extendeth it self from Mount Calvary into the garden of Ioseph of Arimathea representing in forme a little chappell the entrance therinto was towards the East And further he addeth That they which went into the vaile found on the right hand towards the North a stone Tombe which resembled a coffin scituated in the pavement joyning to the wall which stone coffin was of a mixt colour that is white and red being seven foot long and three handfulls high This description Venerable Bede records from certaine Monkes that went upon devotion to Ierusalem to visite this Sepulchre but since it hath been divers times destroyed and polluted by the Turkes and other Heathen people From whence may be gathered that the Sepulchre which is now standing shewed unto Pilgrims is some new device to get money of strangers and procure a kinde of blind devotion in the hearts of ignorant people Wherefore as the Angell said Let us not seeke Christ any longer amongst the dead or in the grave but in his Holy Church where the lively portraiture of his divine presence is set forth unto us that so we may be made partakers with him hereafter in that place of eternall glory For the confirmation of the truth of Christs passion besides the true relation thereof set downe by the foure Evangelists the Prophesie of the Sibels and consent of the Rabbins the holy Scriptures long before set downe that the Prophets prophesied of every particular thing in our Saviours Passion First that all his Disciples should forsake kim Zachary told That the Shepherd should be smitten and the sheepe scattered that one of his owne Disciples should betray him David in the person of Christ saith It was my familiar friend whom I trusted which did eat of my bread that lift up his heele against me And Zachary makes relation of the thirty peeces of silver the price of him that was valued which the children of Israel valued and gave for the Potters field as the Lord appointed Esay in the person of Christ relates the Iews spitefull usage of him in the high Priests Hall and before Pilat I gave my backe to the smiters my cheekes to the nippers and hid not my face from shame and spitting David likewise in the person of Christ lamentably complaines That they pierced his hands and his feet so that he might tell all his bones they stood staring and looking upon him they parted his ganments among them and upon his vesture did they cast lots All that goe by have him in derision they mow and nod the head saying He trusted in God let him deliver him if he will have him And in another place he complaines that they gave him gall to eat and vineger to drink And another Prophet cryes That they shall looke upon him whom they have pierced Finally the whole relation thereof is set down by the Prophet Esay in his 53. Chapter which begins with this preface Who will beleeve our report or to whom is the arme of the Lord reveaâ—ed c. to the end of that Chapter where you may behold his deplorable condition upon the Crosse from the first verse to the fourth from thence to the eleventh verse you may see the cause why all this punishment was inflicted upon him And lastly from the eleventh verse to the end of the Chapter you may take a view of the plentifull increase of his Kingdome after his resurrection And as it was foretold by Prophets some a thousand others six hundred and the least three hundred yeares before Christ was borne so it was typified and prefigured in Abrahams time by the sacrifice of his sonne Isaac by the brasen Serpent set up by Moses in the wildernesse and by all the Sacrifices that were in the Leviticall Law Therefore I will close all with that of the Prophet Ieremy Is it nothing to you all ye that passe by behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his wrath And this divine prayer for the day in these words Dearest Redeemer the Mediator of Heaven and Earth who this day wast placed on the crosse betweene them both with thine Armes stretched abroad to embrace and thy head bowed downe as it were to kisse all that come unto thee I humbly prostrate my selfe at thy feet desiring in unfeined repentance with
the heavenly Ladder by which our God descended to the Earth Had she not been humbled to the Handmaide of the Lord she had never sung He hath done great things Virginity would not serve the turn despised humility is above magnified virginity S. Bernard was of that minde To virginity sayes he you are invited to humility you are compelled Of Virginity it is said Let him that is able receive this but of humility except you become as one of these little ones ye cannot enter into the Kingdome of Heaven without virginity you may be saved without humility you cannot And in this very point he concludes and is bold to say that without humility the virginity of the blessed Virgin Mary her selfe had never beene acceptable You saith he to the proud virgins of his time forget humility and glory in your virginity But Mary forgetting her virginity glories in her humility Be not proud of virginity for in the Parable of the Ten there was as many foolish as wise These six vertues were in her as six steps in Salomons Throne which once got over Salomon or rather a greater than Salomon reposed in it where after he was set he had the Duae Manus the supporters of each side the Throne the Father and the Holy Ghost that never left nor utterly faild him And at his descent the twelve Lions the twelve Apostles that shall hereafter sit on twelve Thrones themselves and judge the â—welve Tribes of Israel And as the Queene of Saba came to see and offer Gifts to Salomon sitting in his Throne So came the Easterne Sages to adore and offer to Christ sitting in his Throne even in the Lap of this blessed Virgin Mother where Salomon in all his royalty was not like him Such was this Paradise which God prepared to make our second Adam in Yet how gloriously soever she be compared the burden of her song is He hath respect to the humble and all that she professeth is that she is the Handmaid of the Lord. Now should I write the Story of her life according as it is related in the blessed Gospell or as I finde it written by other learned Authors I should only shew you a Map of misery and mirrour of patience As her very name if it be derived from Maâ—ah signifies a person that is oppressed with carefulnesse and griefe exposed to all misery and calamity and prest with continuall vexation and mourning so her whole life related by the learned demonstrates that she was continually molested and overwhelmed with penury â—xcessive travaile and unsupportable perplexities For though she came froÌ„ the noble stock of many famous Kings of Israel and Juda being the daughter of Eliakim of the house of David yet by reason of the mutation of worldly felicity shee was possessed with no great wealth And so according to her estate a man of mean condition Ioseph a Carpenter of the same lineage of the Tribe of Iuda the son of Iacob who was the brother of Heli whose wife the said Iacob according to the Leviticall Law after his said brothers decease maried so raising up seed unto his brother Ioseph the sonne of Heli according to Saint Lukes Gospell made choice of her for his spouse And their poverty is more evident in that they were not of ability when they were called to the generall taxation to get roome in an Inne but faine to take up their lodging in a poore cold and comfortlesse manger For her laborious travell first she went to Jerusalem being threescore and foure miles from Nazareth to which place of necessity she was to passe over diverse high and steepe hils as Mount Gilboa whereon King Saul kild himselfe Mount Gerizim and Hebal upon which the blessings and curses were denounced and Mount Ephraim upon which Ehud kild Eglon King of the Moabites Then when her Childe was two yeares old with whom she and Ioseph to accomplish the Word of the Lord Hosea 11. 1. and for feare of Herods cruelty were constrained to flye into Aegypt and continued all the dayes of Herods cruell reigne at Hermopolis one of the chiefe Cities of Aegypt three hundred and foure miles from Jerusalem to which place of necessity they were to passe thorow a barren and unfruitfull wildernesse full of rocks and sands destitute of waters and subject to many dangers inhabited by a rude and barbarous people called Saracens who take their beginning from Ishmael and as he so they are very cunning in shooting and hunting and live upon robbery and spoile In so much as Merchants at this day are constrained to go in great companies lest they should be endangered by them and savage beasts which abound in those places And by reason of the windes and sands they are enforced to guide their journey by the Compasse as men do that saile by Sea Yet thorow this wildernesse did Ioseph and Mary passe with the Childe Jesus out of Judea into Aegypt where they were in danger of theeves subject to be smothered by the sands constrained to travell over high rocks and mountaines and to rest in feare of Lions Beares and other beasts of prey that greatly abound there besides other discommodities were incident unto them as want of meat drink and other necessaries there being little water to be found there After when they came from thence to Nazareth she with Ioseph went every yeare to the Passeover at Jerusalem for the space of fourteene yeares together about which time Ioseph dyed when Christ was sixteene yeares old and her selfe thirty And as I finde related during her pilgrimage in this world which was nine and fifty yeares she travelled 3506. miles besides petty journeyes not worth relation And last of all for her perplexity and vexation of spirit behold and see if the prophesie of Simeon was not fully accomplished in her that a sword should passe thorow her soule Besides the miseries which she sustained in her travell into Aegypt as is above specified when she had carefully brought up her Son for the space of twelve years by remissenesse and neglect she with Ioseph thought him lost and were faine to seek him three daies sorrowing After losing her loving Associate yet I beleeve without any caâ—nall knowledge in the prime of her dayes it was no small vexâ—tion to her minde But last of all when her blessed Sonne was to sustaine the wrath of God and punishment for the sinnâ— of man to see him reviled by the accursed Priests Scribes and Pharisees nailed to the crosse by the mercilesse Jewes and his side pierced with a Speare by the cruell Souldier sorrow and griefe did even cut her heart a sunder but that she was armed with invincible patience and comforted by her Son and Saviours glorious Resurrection and Ascention And so from the Passion of Christ to her death which was twelve yeares she lived with the beloved Disciple S. Iohn the Evangelist in Ierusalem and was buried in the Garden called Gethsemane Thus having described the beautifull lustre
such like should all have been comprehended under that fearfull Chaos and so the Earth as it were opened should have sent forth such sulphur'd smoke furious flames and fearfull thunder as should by their diabolicall doomesday have destroyed and defaced in the twinkling of an eye not only our then living Princes and people but even our insensible Monuments reserved for future ages And so not only we but the memory of us and ours should have beene thus extinguished in an instant O Lord what wonderfull distractions and dismall confusion would have beene then in the Land when they who alone could set order in such a time were all on the sudden swept away when the blame of so horrible a Massacre should have beene laid upon the most zealous professors of the truth when the Popes Buls should have been fixed upon the Gates of our chiefest Cities exposing the lives and estates of all that had not the mark of the Beast in their forehead to spoile ruine and destruction How would Atheists Papists Banckrupts and all kind of male-contents have made havock of all things how would they have triumphed in the downefall and danced in the ashes of the Church and Common-wealth How soone would they have turned this most flourishing Island into a desert Our ancient River the river Thames into the dead Sea our land into Acheldama a field of blood our strongest Towers and most magnificent buildings into a Babel of confusion our chiefe Cities into Golgotha's places of dead mens sculs Cursed bee the wrath of all traiterous Papists for it was fierce and their rage for it was cruell nay monstrous and prodigious to cut off the root and all the branches at one blow to remove and overthrow the foundation of Religion and Policy with one lift to offer up the royall stem and the flower of all the Nobility and Gentry the Lords Spirituall and Temporall the Bishops Earles Barons Judges Knights and Burgesses as a Holocaust or whole burnt offering to the Moloch of Rome O let it not be told in Gath nor published in Askalon lest the Heathen and Infidels abhor the name of our Nation that bred up such Vipers or blaspheme the holy profession of Christians for their sakes Or if the report of such a crying or rather thundring sinne cannot but be heard to the uttermost parts of the Earth let the authors and actors be descried to be no true beleevers but Hereticks and Miscreants no servants of Christ but factors for Antichrist and let the Turks Mores and Indians and all Pagans together with seduced Papists in the world know that thou O Lord whom we worship in spirit and truth didst miraculously detect and graciously prevent this bloody design intrapping the wicked devisers in the work of their own hands and taking the Incendiary in his own traine The waters saw thee O God the waters saw and swelled against the proud Spanish Fleet the winds saw thee O God the windes saw thee and furiously blustered at it and both windes and Seas obeyed thee in dissipating and overwhelming it in the narrow Seas And now the fire and Powder saw thee O God and it flew in the eyes and faces of them that would have put out all the eyes of this Island and defaced the whole beauty of this Kingdome for ever Death received the word and destruction observed Law confusion it selfe kept order in blowing up their estates and carrying up their quarters and fixing them for a terror to all Iesuited traitors over that house and in the very place which they would have with Gunpowder sent up all the principall Members of our body Politique every eye may now see that dreadfull judgement denounced in thy Word fallen upon the eyes that waited for the destruction of our Church and Commonwealth The young Ravens of the valley peck at them and the fowles of heaven have eaten them Thus hast thou hitherto fought for thine anointed and thy dearest Spouse and thou art still the same God with whom there are Issues even out of death it selfe Wherefore we beseech thee set our affiance in Thee and fashion our love more and more unto thee imprint the memory of this wonderfull deliverance in our hearts and the hearts of our seed with the point of a Diamond that the children that are yet unborn may in succeeding ages praise thee for it Give us a sight and sence of our crimson and skarlet sinnes that brought us so nâ—ere even to the brink of so bloody a destruction and utter desolation and open the eyes of the Seens of Israel that they may in this our day looke to those things that belong to our peace and prevent the danger and hinder the growth of that Romish weed which if it be not cut off by the execution of wholesome lawes in that kinde provided in time will overrunne the Garden of thy Spouse and destroy all her pleasant plants and flowers Stir them up seriously to consider that though the match by thy providence be taken out of the hand of the Traitors that the danger is not yet past but that they must follow the traine and search the lowest and darkest corners of the Vault and dig into the Barrels of Powder and finding that it was digged out of the rock and foundation of the Iesuits Trent faith that they ought to bend all their forces and by armes and lawes suppresse it and keepe out the grand enemy of the Truth and our peace that he never get footing in this Kingdome Let no such mysts of faire glosses and pretences be cast before their eyes but that they may cleerly see that the Bishop of Rome is the Engineer of these workes Iesuiticall doctrines and perswasions are the traine disloyall hearts the Vaults seditious councels practises the Powder and idolatrous blinde zeale is the fire that hath heretofore and is alwayes ready to set all Kingdomes and States professing the truth of the Gospell in a combustion Discover O Lord more and more the man of sin and make him seeme as odious to us as he is abominable in thy sight Alter their temper or spew them out of this kingdome who are neither hot nor cold among us O let the joyfull Mattens on our fifth of November and the dolefull even-song on theirs convince all enemies of the truth that thou mightily supportest the frame and fabrick of our Sion but hast pulled downe the floore and wilt in due time the wals of their Babylon So let thine enemies perish O Lord but let them that love thee be as the Bunne that goeth forth in his full strength Amen A description of the Aequator Or A Meditation on the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary AS opposite to the foregoing Rainbow you may behold the Aequinoctiall which I have placed as in the North side of this Court. Now the Reasons why I name this dayes commemoration a description of the Aequator are first because as the Aequator or Aequinoctiall is a line drawne in
grace And the duty on our part that we may be fitted for this great benefit is a godly resolution joyned with an earnest endeavour to consecrate our selves to the forsaking of sin and wickednesse and a lively faith whereby we lay hold and feele the power of this inward washing by the Holy Ghost Therefore I conclude with the prayer for the day which I finde excellently framed to my hand in these words Most tender and compassionate Lord now first knowne by thy name Jesus who being the true Vine which yeeldest the wine that gladdeth the heart wast pruned this day with the sharpe knife of circumcision and bâ—eddest for me have pitty and compassion on me who with weeping eyes and a bleeding heart come unto thee beseeching thee that these drops of blood which fell from thee this day may satisfie for the sin of my Birth and the whole streame that ran from all the parts of thy body in the Garden and on the Crosse may expiate all my numberlesse actuall sins whether they be sinnes of lighter tincture or of a skarlet dye sinnes like beames or sins like moats sins conceived in the heart only or sins brought forth into act sins in my beleefe or sins in my life sins once committed or sins often repeated sins before or after my calling sins of impiety against thee or sins of Iniquity against my neighbour or sins of impurity against my owne flesh for of all these I have a great load they are more in number then the haires of my head they are a burden too heavie for me to beare they lye upon my conscience like so many Talents of lead and would presse me downc to hell did not thy mercy take hold of the hand of my faith to support me in hope even above hope How should I hope if I think upon thy greatnesse how should I not hope iâ— I think upon thy goodnesse How should I hope if I weigh my sins How should I not hope if I weigh thy Merits How should I hope if I coÌ„sider my Actions How should I not hope if I consider thy Passions How should I hope if I number my Transgressions How should I not hope if I number thy Blessings and favours towards me How should I hope if I remember how oft I have refused grace after it hath bin offered unto me How can I but hope if I remember how oft Grace hath been offered unto me after I refused it And still hope I will as long as thou retainest thy Name JESUS which this day thou receivedst when thou offeredst the first fruits of thy blood for my sin without which thou couldst not have been my JESUS for so foule and festered were my sores that nothing could heale them but a bloodie knife But why should this bloody instrument be applyed to thy purest tenderest Immaculate flesh made all of Virgins blood There was no superfluity to be pared off in thee nor ranke blood to be let out the superfluous skinne was on me yet the knife is on thee the festered sores were in my body yet the lance is in thy flesh Thou hast the paine I the ease thou the smart I the cure O wonderfull Cure O more wonderfull Love out of the mouths of babes and sucklings as thou hast ordained so maist thou justly challenge Praise who in thy Inâ—ancie madest such an assay of my Redemption and tenderedst the earnest of thy blood for me Not nine dayes old thou sheddest drops of blood for mee far more precious than so many drops of the richest Balsamum to cure my wounds Let all flesh praise thee who healest it by thy wounds eternall thanks be given unto thee for thy Circumcision whereby thou hast abolished Circumcision it selfe and provided me an easier remâ—dy of originall sin the sacred Laver of Regeneration Water now serveth in stead of blood and a gentle rubbing of the flesh for cutting and wounding it By the Circumcision of thy flesh thou hast merited for me the fulfilling of thy Fathers promise and condition of his Covenant to circumcise the fore-skin of our hearts By this thy rasor thou hast fitted the Tables of my heart now write thy Lawes and love in them By receiving this Seale of the Covenant in thy flesh thou hast sealed to me thy care of me in thy nonage First O Lord I am everlastingly to praise thee for taking my flesh upon thee and next for leaving part of it with me as a pledge of thy love thou bearest to me from thy Mothers wombe In thy infancie thou bleddest for me in thy twelfth yeare thou arguedst for me in thy youth thou obeyedst for me and in thy ripe and perfect age thou sufferedst and dyedst for me To thee therefore as it is my bounden duty I offer the buds of my child-hood the blossoms of my youth and the fruits of my age As thou betimes didst set to the work of my Redemption and on those termes acceptedst the Name JESUS So let me betimes give my name to thee and enter into thy service Let me beare thy yoke even from my youth Lord who this day wert circumcised in the flesh Circumcise me in the heart that I may in purity sincerity and uprightnesse of heart walk before thee all the dayes of my life neither circumcise my heart only but my ears eyes hands head and feet that no superfluity of maliciousnesse nor impurity remain in me Now thou hast renewed the face of the earth renew this day and repaire thy decayed Image in me Thou hast begun a new year begin in me a new Reformation make mee I beseech thee a cleane heart and renue a right spirit within me The yeare like the Serpent hath cast off his old skin and put on a new so let mee also cast off my old Man and put on the new Man and from this day to my old age and death walk in newnesse of life That I may be a fit guest to bee admitted into the new heaven where dwellâ—â—h Righteousnesse and to be entertained at thy Table and drink new Wine with thee in thy heavenly Kingdome for evermore Amen MARS or a Meditation on Ashwednesday IN time of the ceremonial Law the Paschall Lambe was commanded to bee rosted with fire dressed and prepared with sowre hearbs to be a fitting sacrifice to God for the people And Christ the true Paschall Lambe in accomplishment thereof throughout the whole course of his life was continually broyled in the fire of affliction and seasoned with the sowre revilings and bitter taunts of malicious men that he might become a pleasant sacrifice to God his Father Now as the Planet Mars is three yeares before he accomplish or fulfill his celestiall race so likewise Christ in the race or circuit of his ministeriall office was three yeares viz. from the one and thirtieth yeare of his age to his death And as Mars though in himselfe inoffensive yet opposed by contrary aspects proves fatall so Christ if well placed in pious hearts
dust and ashes dare speak unto him for my sins cry for vengeance and shall I be silent for pardon Gracious God either silence them or heare me If thou wilt not heare the voice of my words heare the voice of my tears if thou wilt not heare them heare the voice of thy sonnes blood which speaketh better things then the blood of Abel I confesse I have sorely displeased thee but it troubleth me that I have so incensed thee I have grieved thy Spirit but it grieveth me that I should be so gracelesse as to grieve that Spirit of grace which sealeth thy chosen to salvation I deserve that thou shouldest even abhorre me for my sinnes but I abhorre my selfe for them in dust and ashes I have offended thee in gluttony but I now fast for it in pride but I humble my selfe in laughter and sports but I weepe for it in sinfull joyes but I mourne for it I have wallowed in filthy pleasures but I wallow for it in dust and ashes I have broken all thy Comman dements but I have broken my heart in true contrition for it Thou didst not break a bruised reed wilt thou grinde to powder a broken heart What profit is in my blood O Lord when I goe downe into the pit Nay what profit is in thy blood O blessed Redeemer if they for whom it was shed goe downe into the pit of destruction shall the dust give thanks unto thee O Lord or the ashes and cinders of hell praise the God of heaven Heare O Lord and have mercy upon me thou that healest those that are broken in heart and givest medicine to cure their sicknesse raise up my prostrate and dejected soule Why diddest thou hunger O Lord but to satisfie for my gluttony why didst thou thirst but to satisfie for my drunkennesse why didst thou weepe but to satisfie for my sinfull joyes why didst thou endure unspeakable torments but to satisfie for my lewd pleasures why didst thou dye an ignominious death but to satisfie for my sinfull life why didst thou shed thy blood but to satisfie for my crimson sins Adam our first parent did eat the forbidden fruit and all our teeth are set on edge but thy fasting forty dayes hath fully satisfied for his eating But I renew my sins daily and thou renewest thy mercies The guilt of my sinne is great but the price of thy blood is greater I have offended an infinite Majestie but satisfaction hath beene made by an infinite Majestie My wickednesse cannot exceed thy goodnesse for my power of sinning is finite but thy faculty of pardoning is infinite Wherefore sith my sinnes be they never so many never so weighty fall within the measure of thy mercy and compasse of thy goodnesse and sith it is all one with thee to give what I ask and to incite me to aske to heale my wounds and to make me feele the smart of them Lord who hast given me the one deny me not the other rebuke the surges of temptations and quiet my soule Thou who in the dayes of thy flesh offeredst up prayers with strong cries here the strong loud cries of a penitent sinner Thou who tookest upon thee our infirmities take pity upon them thou who wert in thine agony stricken with horror and unutterable griefe allay the troubles of my affrighted conscience Thou who fastedst forty dayes accept of my humiliation these forty dayes and grant that my stomack may not onely fast from accustomed meats but all my sences from their usuall delights and most of all my heart from worldly comforts and contentments Let no sight delight me till I see my sins removed like a mist and thy countenance shine upon mee Let no sound or voice delight me till I heare thee by thy Spirit to speake peace to my conscience and say to my soule I am thy salvation Let no pleasant fields and gardens delight me till I have gathered red flowers out of that garden which was watered with thy blood Let no fruit delight me till I have fully tasted of the fruit of the tree of thy crosse Let no meat delight me till with the sowre hearbs of sorrow and anguish of heart for my sin I have eaten the Christian Passeover the flesh of thee that immaculate Lambe slaine from the beginning of the world Heare me blessed Redeemer and as thou wrotest in dust when thou tookest the woman in adultery so I beseech thee write my sins in dust bury them all in the ashes of oblivion So be it Amen SATVRNE OR a Meditation on Goodfriday HAving in the former meditations shewed you an immaculate Lambe and the first fruits of the meritorious blood thereof then how the said Lambe was prepared to be a fitting Sacrifice for the expiation of the sins of the whole world Now I should according to my promise in the entrance of this work show you how this Sacrifice was laid upon the Altar of the Crosse as on this day under the metaphor of the Planet Saturne But herein I perceive my owne inability and presumption that I should dare to adventure upon such holy things in such vile comparisons for the expulsion of Saturne out of his kingdome by his brother Titan and sonne Jupiter is no way equivalent to the malice of the Jewes against our blessed Saviour For Saturne broke covenant with his brother and kept three of his male children alive contrary to the condition which he held his kingdome by And therefore Titan had just cause to make warre against him and recover his inheritance due to the first borne And Jupiter likewise did expell his father out of his kingdome because his father threatned to kill him But Christ had done offence to none he had broken no bonds but rather made up the breach hee was so farre from destroying that he came on purpose to save and redeeme that which was lost And what were the troubles of Saturne King of Creet to the unsupportable sufferings of Christ the King of glory Nay what were all the troubles of all the men that are or ever were in the world to the troubles of our blessed Saviour And where is the patience of Saturne Iob or any other that was in Christ For as the light of the natural Sun is darknesse to the Splendor of the Sunne of Righteousnesse so all the excellency and worth that is in all mankind is not able fully to demonstrate the excellencie that is in Christ yet because Saturne was imprisoned by his Brother and driven out of his Kingdome by his own sonne I did intend to shew how our blessed Saviour as on this day was bound imprisoned by the cruell Jews his brethren according to the flesh of the Virgin Mary and driven out of the Kingdome of this world by those which should as obedient children to the cōmands of God their Father have kept their hands from killing the innocent But being conscious of my owne insufficiency for the performance of such a work it being excellently