of thy Sonne in whom say vnto my Soule and seale it vnto mee by thy holy Spirit that thou art my Saluation Lord increase my faith and accept my Repentance MEDIT. IX Of Faith and Hope and the effects of them both and of the glorie to come FAITH HOPE the maine Pillars whervpō are builded all other Diuine Vertues are the meere gift of God without which I doe acknowledge I cannot be saued Saint Paul writing vnto the Hebrewes describes the faith whereby I beleeue in Christ not to be a dead but a working faith knowne by the effects whereof are many Examples Rom. 11. And whereby many most worthy men approued themselues to bee of God and to bee beloued of God who by their faith apprehended things absent and vnseene to their vnspeakable comfort as really and truly a◠if they had beene present and visible confirming thereby that faith is the ground of things which are hoped for and the euidence of things which are not seene By this our faithfull Fore-fathers saw Christ long before he came in the flesh and beleeued him to come to bee the Messiah Moses saith Christ saw my dayes So did the Prophets Dauid and many other who hoped for that which they saw not yet at length obtained the visible glorie of the same Sonne of God by whom and in whose bloud to bee shed they were saued Without faith howsoeuer a man may liue in a seeming sincere course of life before men though he bee obserued to doe no man wrong yet if hee take not hold of Christ by this liuely faith if hee imbrace not his Word lay it vp in his heart if he bring not forth fruits worthy amendment of life he pleaseth not God for in nothing is GOD pleased but in and by his Sonne and is delighted is none but in such as seeke him and serue him in and by his Sonne I cannot come vnto God without Christ nay I cannot beleeue that God is but by Christ. I cannot hope to receiue the good things of Heauen not with patience abide for them but that Christ hath purchased the same for me and promised the same vnto me And therefore I beleeue them to bee certaine and sure though yet but in expectation therefore I wait with patience The Husbandman wayteth for the Haruest many dayes after his chargeable and laborious committing the Seed vnto the earth if the Haruest were instant vpon the casting away of the Seed there were neither Patience nor Hope in the Seedes-man And if by experience hee found not that the Seed cast into the Earth would render recompence hee would either forbeare to cast it away or being sowne neuer hope for fruit So I wretched man though I deserue no other fruit to reape then I haue sowne namely of the flesh corruption yet I hope to reape what I haue not sowne namely of the Spirit euerlasting life and that through Iesus Christ who and not I hath cast the Seed of the Spirit into my Soule the fruit whereof I shall reape at the generall Haruest to mine owne euerlasting vse as if the Seed had beene mine owne for which I hope with patience in Faith As the Light followeth the Sunne so Hope followes Faith But if I beleeued not God in Christ and in him had assurance through Faith of the performance of his promise of future glorie I might well say with Saint Paul I were of all men most miserable for to endure here miseries crosses enemies labours anguishes and perplexities of bodie and minde and to bee also frustrate of future comfort my case were worse then the Bird in the Ayre the Fish in the Sea or the brute Beast of the Field But glorie bee to God in Christ who hath assured mee of a Kingdome to come an inheritance immortall Edifie your selues saith Saint Iude in your most holy Faith praying in the Holy Ghost and keep your selues in the loue of God looking for the Mercie of our Lord Iesus Christ vnto eternall life Eternall life then being the end of my Hope I will with patience abide it for comming I know it will come And the delay of mine enioying it is but the try all of my faith which yeeldeth me that assurance that to mee is much more precious then Gold that perisheth and shall bee found to my glorie at the appearing of Iesus Christ whom though I haue not seene yet I loue him beleeue and reioyce in him with ioy vnspeakeable and glorious and shall receiue the end of my Faith euen the saluation of my soule after this death It may bee demanded Is it so easie a matter to obtaine eternall life To beleeue onely no I beleeue not that simply to beleeue can obtaine saluation But if I confesse with my mouth the Lord Iesus and doe beleeue in my heart that God raysed him vp from the dead I shall bee saued It may bee againe obiected Here is yet but faith of the heart and confession of the mouth If this bee all that is required to saluation it is not so hard a thing as it is conceiued to obtaine it I hold in deed that the bare confession of Christ and to beleeue that Christ is though I beleeue him to bee the Sauiour of the World and yet doe not apply his merits and death vnto my selfe my Faith profits mee little and my Confession nothing at all Thou beleeuest saith Saint Iames that there is one God thou doest well the Deuils also beleeue and tremble and therefore barely to beleeue that there is a God and a Christ to confesse as much is no more then the Deuils doe Therefore this Faith and this Confession is not sufficient to my saluation for then should the Deuils that beleeue bee also saued but they beleeue and tremble I beleeue and hope desiring to shew my Faith by my workes Abraham indeed was iustified by his faith that before the attempting of the offering of his son But by the offering of his sonne hee shewed that his faith was not a naked and bare faith but a faith accompanied with obedience good Workes for his workes preceded not his iustification but beeing first iustified he beleeued and obeyed Abraham beleeued God and it was imputed to him for righteousnesse Faith being the gift of God brings forth good Works which in Abraham grew not by nature but by the free mercie of God wrought and working by the Holy Ghost whose fruits they were yet in Gods mercie imputed as the fruits of Abraham so what-soeuer good thing proceedeth of my faith in Christ I assume it not as mine though through Christ so imputed I beleeue that true and sauing Faith cannot bee without good Works for without good Works faith is dead And I also beleeue that there may bee works of themselues good and yet without true faith not onely not acceptable to God but rather condemned of him for
should I fulfill the desires and vaine delights of my corrupt heart Why should I sweeten and perfume my out-part to make it odoriferous to others mine inward part resting yet odious to God This superfluous care of my bodies vanities would not only make mee the more sweet and pleasing but farre the more hatefull to God and godly men therefore shall my desire and practice bee by the grace of God during the short remaining part of this my miserable life to couer my nakednesse with apparell meerely needfull and seeke to maintaine it with food such as it shall please my God to blesse vnto mee and through the same grace my hearts delight shall bee in the continuall true seruice of my heauenly Father hauing euer an eye vnto and desiring that time when and that place wherein I shall need neither rayment nor food and where I shall be onely delighted with the glorie wherewith I shall bee filled after this bodies death which although it perish for a time my soule resteth euer immortall God being the God not onely of mine immortall soule but of my mortall bodie also And I beleeue that hee will not lose one haire of mine head nor the smallest dust that shall come of my putrified carcasse nor one bone of my rotten and consumed bodie and that hee will rayse my mortall part in all fulnesse of all the parts and make them all ioynt-partakers of eternall glorie in Heauen in the Day of Christs second appearing in what manner soeuer it bee dissolued burnt in the fire drowned in the Sea deuoured by wilde Beasts or by any other meane whatsoeuer I heare naturall reason say It is an easie matter to beleeue that I shall dye experience makes it so common But to beleeue that this my bodie when it shall bee rotten and consumed to dust eaten with fishes deuoured and digested by wilde beasts or burnt to ashes or bee vtterly otherwise consumed that it shall rise againe to glorie is not so easily apprehended no experience teaching it but the resurrection of Christ which I haue not seene I disclaime in this point all naturall reason and doe faithfully beleeue that as my Redeemer Iesus Christ dyed and rose againe So after my death I shall by the vertue of his Resurrection rise againe to eternal life Iob prophesied of the Resurrection of humane dead bodies and affirmeth that hee knew that his Redeemer liued and that though after his death the wormes should deuoure his flesh yet in the same flesh he should see God looke vpon him and behold him and that with his owne namely with the eyes that then hee had And the Prophet Esay affirmeth that the dead bodies in the graue shall rise againe some to glorie some to torment The dead men saith hee shall liue euen with their bodies shall they rise Christ saith maruell not at this The houre shall come when all that are in the Graues shall heare his voyce and shall come forth they that haue done good vnto the Resurrection of life but they that haue done euill vnto the Resurrection of condemnation Christ also affirmeth that it is his Fathers will that sent him that hee shall lose nothing of that he hath giuen him but that hee shall raise it vp at the last Day They that sleepe in the dust shall awake Infinite are the proofes of the Resurrection of humane bodies in the Scriptures both of the iust and of the vniust of the godly and the wicked but to two contrarie final effects The godly shall rise to euerlasting life euer to remayne with the Lord the vngodly shall rise to euerlasting punishment to bee tormented for euer with the Deuill and his Angels in continuall horrour weeping and gnashing of teeth Here is matter of Meditation hence ariseth hope and horrour comfort and calamitie There are but two ends of the Resurrection life and death and both perpetuall And these succeed the death of the bodie Shuld I then be so iniurious vnto my silly soule that dwelleth in my mortall bodie as to forget that it shall come into iudgement in a time comming and at hand and that this bodie this fleshly and corrupted part shall againe bee raised to glorie or shame to partake of eyther with the soule were it not as if I should say in my heart there were no God no Heauen to glorifie or Hell to torment perswading my selfe that either after death there remaineth neither euill nor good but that I should goe into vtter obliuion to an eternall sleepe neuer to returne into any second existence or that GOD were a God onely of the immortall soule and not of the mortall bodie or a God of Mercie and not of Iustice Should I thus foolishly for lesse then a messe of Pottage sell my Birth-right in Heauen for a graine of temporarie vanitie sell a Crowne of perpetuall glorie Farre bee it from me for a Kingdome I know is prepared for me and a Kingdome I seeke waiting for it vntill it fall vnto mee as mine Inheritance through Christ who hath purchased the same by his bloud In the meane time I must taste and vndergoe many troubles afflictions pouertie want enemies and the scorne of the World Doth GOD suffer his owne Children to be afflicted in this life how can hee then bee said a louing Father vnto them Doth not that worthy Prophet King Dauid affirme that they that loue his Law shall haue great prosperitie and no hurt befall them How then comes the cōtrary to passe The Answere The Spirit of God that spake thus by the mouth and pen of Dauid lyeth not for the afflictions that I feele and the crosses that I haue proceede from the loue of God and hinder not but rather doe much further my spirituall prosperitie For whom the Lord loueth hee chasteneth and scourgeth euery sonne that he receiueth If therefore I patiently endure chastening God offereth himselfe vnto mee as to a sonne If I were without correction whereof all Gods Children are partakers I were a bastard and no sonne Blessed is the man saith Iob whom God correcteth therefore will not I refuse the chastening of the Almightie let him therefore deale with mee according to his owne will in giuing me what he will health or sicknesse wealth or want prosperitie or aduersitie for I know that all things worke together for the best to them that loue God he may make a wound but he will bind it vp againe he may smite but his hands make whole againe hee giueth alwaies the issue with the temptation GOD forbid therefore that I should entertaine the least thought in my heart that whatsoeuer crosse or affliction befals me were in GODS indignatiō but onely in loue I doe acknowledge that sinne is the cause of all the crosses calamities afflictions miseries that I endure if God should deale with me answerable to what I haue done I could not beare his
punishments But in stead of ouer-pressing mee with troubles hee mitigatâ—s euen the small corrections that hee sendeth nay rather which I draw as it were vpon my selfe And among other dangers I find pouerty and want not the easiest to bee borne neither can my debts bee long borne withall for I see a necessitie inforceth that which my will is readie but I am vnable to performe And therefore no small portion of affliction oppresseth mee for as I acknowledge my selfe worthily inferior to other men in Vertues so in greatnesse for as by birth I had no pricefull patrimonie so hath not the World affoorded mee a gaiâ—full facultie yet labour I though I lacke What shal I say or thinke Is God only gracious vnto the worldly-glorious and hath he not regard to such as are of a meane estate in this life Doth the Holy Ghost visit the soules of the wealthy with comfort in their carnall fulnesse and delights and leaueth hee the poore forlorne and comfortlesse here Nothing lesse but as Christ had meat to eat that his Disciple knew not of so the poorest of Gods Children haue their inward and spirituall consolation such as worldly and carnall men know not of But what is this to the satisfaction of the World can my inward and spirituall wealth pay worldly debts It may bee a good meanes thereof for God hath promised vnto the faithfull that hee will bee their helping Father what they want he will in his 〈◊〉 supply though hee delay the performance of his promise the more to occasion mee to pray yet iâ— his promise yea Amen as truly to bee performed as if it were already done But saith the fleshly minde it is long looked for And it is but foolish idlenesse of a curious braine that seekes not timely meanes by right or wrong to releeue his wants nay that indeuours not his owne aduancement in this life as doe such as are carefull to prouide for themselues and their posterities Thus the worldly man speaketh to his own heart not vocally but by his present greedinesse of thiâ— lifes fulnesse Soule take thine ease thou hast enough to whom againe the poorest true and faithfull child of God may answere that in his meanest estate hee resteth as well content and hath through the blessing of God a sweeter and more refreshfull Dinner and Supper with a morsell of Bread or a dish of Roots and Herbes in his poore base and beggerly Cottage yea in a Prison or Dungeon then hath the couetous Glutton faring deliciously euery day It may be said vnto me Why doe I then complaine I answere Not for that I am not rich in Reuenewes in Gold Siluer Iewels Sheepe and Oxen Men-seruants and Maydeseruants nor for that I equallize not others in worldly glorie but for that necessitie a great and powerfull Commander hath me vnder her foot keeping mee low that I cannot rise nor attaine vnto meanes by mine honest endeuours to to pay what I owe only my heart earnestly desireth to owe nothing to any man but loue But this dischargeth mee not of the burden of my Creditours clamours and of the conceiued shame that my penurie procures mee What then what remaineth that I should doe Surely I will waite on God who neuer leaueth those that are his without helpe in their greatest need I will indeuour to satisfie all men their due and my desire shall be in all good conscience to discharge mine vttermost dutie and then I doubt not but God in his Christ will excuse all my enforced defects and although man will not God will accept the will for the deed MEDIT. XII Gods Prouidence sufficient for the faithfull man I Haue learn'd that man liueth not by bread only but by the Word of God which contayneth such and so many sweet promises of Gods presence with mee and of his Prouidence ouer mee as I laying them vp in my heart by Faith am fed with that blessed sacietie of spirituall and inward comforts which maketh the new man to grow daily in all fulnesse of heauenly contentment drowning and swallowing vp all superfluous cares of this life wherein I am indeed seene to liue and yet I speake as I desire I wish to haue my conuersation totally in Heauen As I haue a corporall being so I conuerse in the Earth and earthly things but I haue also a spirituall and so I haue my conuersation spirituall namely in Heauen from whence I receiued my spirituall life And where after this life I know I shall liue euer The true Child of God liues here but in shew of his bodily presence his inward part which is his regenerate minde is alwaies coÌ„uersant in heauen which is his home but the carnal and vnregenerate man hath both his visible and inuisible parts set especially on worldly things conuersant with the vanities of this world in spirituall darknesse Heauen I confesse in respect of the locall situation thereof is farre aboue the apprehension of my naturall eyes yet by the grace of God I apprehend such spirituall comforts from heauen as I beleeue they are euen here the very true earnest of that ioy which I shall hereafter receiue at full and though this earnest bee not the quantitie yet it is of the qualitie of the heauenly ioy there laid vp for mee after this life when and where all corporall miseries shall haue an end and I shall become a free-man of that heauenly Citie where I shal want nothing that is good nor bee oppressed with any thing that is euill But who can bee perswaded of this my happie estate to come considering my hard estate here I cannot in my bodie which is corrupt and sinfull shew anie visible token of the assurance of glory to come as it were from heauen as sanctified Steuen did whose face did shine before his Persecutors as the face of an Angell Such a confirmation of inward comfort in mine afflictions by celestiall visible tokens now needes not for that I striue not to seeme a Saint or to bee so reputed in or of the world though I doubt not but I am so wherein the more sincere I seeme to shew my selfe so much the more procure I the contempt of the world The Kings daughter is all glorious within so the children of God howsoeuer base and abiect they may seeme to the world they are beautifull within They may be outwardly as was poore Lazarus beggerly and full of corporall diseases as was holy Iob in his miseries and were not the doctrine of the bodies resurrectioÌ„ true that I beleeued it could I with patience vndergoe the harsh entertaynment that the world imposes vpon me as crosses miseries emulations enuie pouertie labour with contempt and al sorts of discontents domesticke and forraigne within without in body and minde In all which the assurance of my bodies resurrection to glorie which none but mine owne heart feeleth is the
God on your side and his Minister the Magistrate in his stead to defend you Troubles and aduersities of themselues as they are sent of God are to be borne with more then patience euen with ioy they shall cause your mindes to bee set on things profitable and will make you wise in learning good things Therefore saith Dauid It is good for mee that I haue beene in trouble that I might learne thy Statutes PART IIII. The benefit of aduersities ADuersities bring those that are much exercised with them to the contempt of earthly and desire of heauenly things Paul that sanctified Vessell of God had many afflictions imprisonments whippings scourgings stonings reproches which hee yet imbraced for the loue of Christ and they wrought in him a hatred of worldly things and desired only to be disselued to be with Christ his Master in Glorie acknowledging that Christ was his as he is our life and death was to him as it shall bee to vs if wee liue here in him aduantage The light affliction which yee shall here indure but for a moment shall cause vnto you a farre most excellent and eternall weight of Glorie Therefore looke not on with a longing desire for the things of this life which are seene but for the things that are not seene for The things that are seene are temporall but the things that are not seene are eternall Who then would not rather long to bee clothed with that House which is from Heauen then to remaine here in a base Cottage full of troubles and most vncertaine whatsoeuer yee indure here yee cannot merit by it for it is only either in way of a punishment for sinne or sent of God to preuent sinne I account not saith Saint Paul that the afflictions of this present time are worthy of the glorie which shall bee futurely shewed me If Pauls afflictions could not merit the glorie to come how much lesse shall yours or mine Wee must make our account before-hand not to goe to Heauen by eating and drinking by getting and hoording by pleasure and profit but through hunger nakednesse Pouertie Enemies and many troubles and afflictions Therefore saith the Wiseman Refuse not the chastening of the Lord neither be grieued with his correction for whom the Lord loueth him hee correcteth euen as the father doth the childe in whom he delighteth So that afflictions approue you the Children of God if with patience yee endure chastening for by correction God offereth himselfe vnto vs as vnto sonnes and if yee bee without correction whereof all the Children of God are partakers then are yee bastards and no sonnes PART V. Great difference betweene the Children of GOD and Worldlings THere is in deede great difference betweene the children of God and the men of this World in this life for Uerily verily saith CHRIST I say vnto you vnto his owne yee shall weepe and lament but the World Worldlings shall reioyce and yee shall sorrow but your sorrow shall be turned into ioy and your ioy shall no man take from you Seeing the God of Truth affirmeth this good from the seeming euill of affliction I hold correction which comprehendeth all aduersities to be good for that it maketh prosperitie the sweeter wheÌ„ it comes and to learn vs how to behaue our selues in both as to be patieÌ„t in the one and not to waxe proud in the other but in what estate soeuer ye bee to bee therewith content as was Saint Paul Who had learned not of the World though in the World to know how to bee abased and how to abound Euery where and in all things hee was instructed both to be full and to be hungrie hee was able to doe all things through Christ that strengthened him It is not then in our power to beare afflictions and to endure all things with patience namely troubles and to be thankfull in prosperitie it is the gift of GOD in Christ wherefore seeing yee suffer according to the will of God commit your soules to him in well-doing as vnto a most faithfull Creator Yee see then that it is necessarie for you sometimes to suffer afflictions that ye may call to minde your sinnes the cause of your afflictions and then the remedie of your sinnes The whole need not the Phisician but they that are sicke The rich need not to seeke God they haue enough but the poore that want Therefore doe the poore and needie and men afflicted yeeld him more honour then the â—ich and prosperous and are euer more occupied in spirituall exercises then they to whom all things doe so prosperously succeed as they scarcely haue leisure to thinke on the calling vpon God Trouble no doubt is irke some to a carnal mind but to them that feare God acceptable keeping them from securitie For as long and as often as the Israelites enioyed peace and prosperitie they became secure carelesse of seruing of God and to forget his blessings But when troubles came vpon them and Enemies beset them then they sought the Lord and he deliuered them out of their distresse Seeke the Lord alwayes and ye shal find rest for your soules Among all other afflictions Pouertie is one of the greatest and by diuers meanes seizeth vpon a man Some actiue some passiue the actiue are inordinate expendings gaming and a riotous and lasciuious life The passiue are either Gods visitations as were Iobs or Selfeidlenesse the Mother of Pouertie the Step-mother of Wisdome and Godlinesse flye therefore these Ryoting and Idlenesse as two dangerous Vipers that deuoure a man ere hee bee aware vse therefore lawfull meanes commanded honest and vertuous endeuours in some necessarie and praise-worthy Profession or calling The Bee and the Ant little Creatures teach you to bee industrious who cannot abide an idle drone or sluggard in their societies Therefore haue they euer sufficient PART VI. The idle presume to haue that they deserue not IDlenesse presupposeth Presumption for how idle soeuer the slothfull person is yet hee presumeth to craue and haue what hee deserueth not neuer comes good successe to him that so presumeth though it succeed sometimes to satisfie his euill desire yet it brings with it an vnsauourie reward such as commonly befalleth him that feareth not God To liue without labour cannot be held libertie for while the bodie is idle the minde is sowing the seeds of sinne and within few dayes he reapes the fruites of sorrow Without good care and diligence no estate can prosper and by industrie the meanest estate is made competent and what is labour It is not as some idle drones account it a burden to the bodie no it is light and easie if the mind be willing to which nothing is more irkesome then idlenesse and corporall ease yet some thinke nothing so consonant and agreeable to their greatnesse as idlenesse or which is as ill euill and forbidden imployments and therefore is not labour simply
wants redeemeth your liues from the Graue and hath prouided for you a Crowne of Glorie And Wife although I your poore Husband shall leaue you a penurious and desolate Widdow hee will bee vnto you a prouiding Husband cleaue vnto him And though I shall leaue you poore fatherlesse children cast your care vpon him he will care for you hee will bee your Father and as a most louing and helping Father obey him as most dutifull and faithfull Children And when the time of my dissolution shall come which cannot be long I must obey and I am readie I shall goe a little before you and yee shall shortly follow if ye goe not before mee which is in God euen to the place of mine assured happines if with faith ye imbrace obey the wil of him that calleth you while ye yet liue as becommeth the Children of so Gracious a Father In the meane time the same God blesse you all with his true Feare continuall Peace and competent Plentie A briefe collection of Diuine comfort for mine owne and the incouragement of euery Christian to dye willingly FOr asmuch as death is the end of this life and this life duly considered an vnpleasant passage to a better and whether it shall bee long or short it behoueth vs to vndergoe with patience in hope whatsoeuer entertainment this World shall afford vs. Iob had as an inheritance the moneths of vanitie and painfull nights were appointed vnto him The dayes of Iacobs pilgrimage were few and euill yet some thinke their pleasantest dayes are here in the earth therefore desire no better not so with me knowing that after this life there is layd vp for me a crowne of righteousnes and not for me only but for all them that loue the appearing of the Lord Iesus There is little reason therefore that I or any other that haue tasted and do daily taste of the bitter cup of this liues vanities and miseries should desire longer to be pressed or oppressed there with but rather to comfort my selfe in a godly and patient expectation of the time when my dissolution may come desiring to bee dissolued and to be with Christ to whom no man commeth but he must remooue out of this house of clay and that cannot bee by any other meanes but by death that is by the destruction or change of this earthly Tabernacle either leauing it in the earth for a season or to be taken vp suddenly at Christs second comming but howsoeuer I know and am assured that both soule and bodie shall bee together and for euer be glorified in the end be clothed with a house not made with hands eternall in the heauens Who then can but sigh in desire to be an inhabitant in that house which is perpetuall and glorious I looke for it in hope confidently assuring my selfe that Christ shall bee then magnified in my bodie whether it bee by life or death for whether I liue I liue vnto him or whether I die I die vnto him whether therefore I liue or die I am the LORDS for I know that he whom I haue beleeued is able to keepe that which I haue committed vnto him against that day wherein my mortall bodie shall bee quickned made like vnto his glorious bodie therefore will I willingly lay downe my life and commit my soule vnto God as vnto my most faithfull Creator A comfortable Meditation and Prayer to bee considered and said by euery Christian being neere the time of his dissolution NOw O Lord now draw néere vnto my soule and redéeme it for the time is at hand wherein I shall taste of the cup of death Now therefore is the acceptable time for thee to receiue my soule in the multitude of thy mercies which are wonderfull therefore doe I trust vnder the shaddow of thy wings my soule cleaueth vnto thée for thy right hand vpholdeth mée My soule thirsteth for thée my flesh longeth greatly after thée whose louing kindnesse is better to mee then life for from thée commeth my saluation Haue mercy vpon mée O God haue mercy vpon me for my soule trusteth in thée and vnder the shaddow of thy wings wil I trust till this my finall affliction be ouer-past My heart is prepared O God my heart is prepared to come vnto thée make it constant in thée because I know that although this body for a time shall wither yet it shall be in the house of my God as a gréene Oliue trée euer to flourish and be blessed Thou Lord thou hast chosen me and hast caused me to come vnto thée my saluation is of thine owne frée mercy and of thy frée and Fatherly election I shall dwell in thy Courts for euer and shall be satisfied with the pleasures of thine house euen of thy Kingdome of glorie I shall drinke of the Riuers of thy pleasures for with thée is the Well of life and in thy Light I shall sée light Let thy good Spirit leade mee in the Land of Righteousnesse and bring me by thy strength to thy holy and heauenly habitation plant mee in the Mountayne of thine inheritance euen in the place which thou hast prepared and in thy sacred Sanctuarie which thou hast established that I may sée thy goodnesse in the Land of the liuing Let mee behold thy face in righteousnesse and let me be satisfied with the fulnesse of the glorie of thy Countenance for in thy face is the fulnesse of ioy and at thy right hand are pleasures for euermore Into thy hands oh Lord I commend my spirit for thou hast redéemed me O Lord God of truth shew a token of thy goodnesse and fauour towards me that they which wish euill vnto my soule may sée it and be ashamed and they that loue thy Name obserue it and be confirmed in thée who hast euermore holpen me and comforted mée Increase my faith and prepare my soule to come vnto thee AMEN To thee O Lord God only wise and only mercifull be ascribed all praise thanks dominion and glorie for to thee it only belongeth Priuate Prayers for Morning and Euening A Morning Prayer for priuate Families ALmightie LORD GOD most mercifull and louing FATHER Maker and Preseruer of all thy creatures but especially the Sauiour and Sanctifier of all them that beléeue in thée by the merit and vertue of the bloud of Iesus Christ Receiue at the hands of vs thine vnworthy seruants in the Name of Iesus Christ this our morning sacrifice of praise and thanksgiuing for all thy mercies from time to time bestowed vpon vs for electing vs of thine owne free fauour before the world was made for creating vs of nothing in humane and not in the shape of brute creatures for redéeming vs with the most precious death of thine owne Sonne when wee were captiues and slaues vnto Satan for calling vs by the preaching of thy blessed Word and frée Spirit when we were strangers vnto thee for iustifying vs by the
If enemies rise vp against me to take away my life my goods or good name preuc̄t them of their purposes and make their counsels and practices like Achitophels If I bee persecuted for the testimonie of thy Truth giue mee perfect knowledge cōstancie courage and boldnesse through a liuely faith to suffer what it shall please thee shall be laid vpon mee In captiuitie banishment and whatsoeuer other tryalls be thou euer neere vnto me and ease me relieue me and comfort me and neuer lay more vpon mee then I shal be able to beare and in my troubles neuer leaue me nor for sake me and let all things worke for my comfort in thee Blesse and prosper vnto me my vocation giue mee wisedome and strength to execute the same and that sincerely without corruption let thine holy Angels goe with me take charge of me and defend and prosper me in all my iourneys trauailes labours enterprises and endeuours And let my conuersation be such so vpright vnblameable that the wicked haue no iust cause to carpe at the course of my life So will I giue thāks vnto thee thy praise shall be in my mouth continually The godly shall see it and reioyce and I will publish thy goodnesse towards me before the sons of men and will tell how readie thou art to help them that call vpon thee as for mee I will confesse that before I sought thee thou offeredst thy selfe to be found of me when I prayed vnto thee thou heardest mee when I came vnto thee thou reiectedst me not but pardonedst my sinnes and deliueredst mee out of all my feare Glorie bee to thy Holy Name O gracious Lord God in Iesus Christ and thy Name bee euer glorified my heart in thee comforted my sinnes by thee couered my necessities by thee truly relieued a competent estate vnto mee by thee euer preserued my hope in thee euer confirmed and all mine vndeserued enemies conuerted or confounded Make me wise O Lord to vnderstand and consider my latter end let my whole life be a preparation to death and the meditation of death the rule of my life let mee studie to bring forth good fruits in mine age and let my latter dayes bee the dayes of my chiefe spirituall comfort and mine obedience vnto thee more at the last then at the first enable me so to walke in mine old age as I may increase from strength to strength that at the length I may appear with the rest of thy Saints in that Kingdom of glorie which thou hast prepared for all them that loue the appearing of thy Sonne our Lord Iesus Christ whose comming grant to be quickly to finish these dayes of sinne AMEN Lord euermore increase my faith and multiply thy blessings vpon mee vnto the end An eye to Heauen in Earth A necessarie Watch for the time of death MEDITATION I. A Meditation concerning Death IT is a thing not seldom cōming into my mind that I must die that I haue but a short time to liue and that the Time when the Place where and the Manner how I shall dye is vtterly vnknown vnto me And that I shall come vnto Iudgement for all that I haue done or shall doe in the flesh These things I know yet haue I not learned what it is to die To die all men know is the separation of the soule from the bodie but what the soule and the bodie feele at the instant of separation may be coniectured but neuer vttered or conceiued I see men of all ages die and that by sundrie kindes of death and no doubt there is great difference of paines to the bodie for euery death is not alike tolerable nor euery humane creature of like resolution and patience which may somthing extenuate or aggrauate the paine And no doubt there is likewise great difference of the ioy or griefe of soules departing for according to the life and death of the partie so is the soule in hope or horror at the instant of separation for the Angels of God or Satan doe attend the instant of time to receiue it and to transport it to it place of diuine appointment and therefore is it sensible of present succeeding ioy or paine but in what degree of either either hath neuer any dying by whatsoeuer death returned to declare it As touching the future ioy and paine the rich man and Lazarus doe in part shew both in the extreme degree and so vnspeakeable as they cānot be truly conceiued nor expressed And whether the soule be sensible of any earthly or materiall thing in it passage from the bodie to it place as some without warrant haue dreamed is needlesse to dispute yet thus farre I am bold to affirme That the spirituall apprehension of the place whither it passeth swalloweth vp all sense affection and desire of visible creatures I leaue therefore to inquire and search into that which is no further reueiled then I haue warrant to beleeue and doe only desire to be prepared and to be readie when the time of my separation shall come A conflict no doubt I shal feele in the approching of death betweene my bodie which is earthly and my soule which is spirituall howsoeuer notwithstanding they differ in cōdition yet they are louingly linckt together and therefore vndoubtedly vnwilling to be sundred How and whatsoeuer I feele it shall bee vnto mee as is death it selfe aduantage It cannot bee auoided but a diuorce must be as testifieth the holy Ghost It is appointed that all men shall die once There is the separation and that but once It is not with the Soule and the Bodie as it is betweene Man and Wife who may admit a diuorce and yet bee conioyned againe So cannot the soule once seuered from the bodie vnlesse by speciall miracle as was that that Christ wrought vpon dead Lazarus who though he had beene so long dead as he stunke in the graue yet Christ by vertue of his Word which was God raised him soule and bodie so that he may be said to die twice which was an extraordinarie miracle to shew the glorie of God as was also that of the Rulers daughter whom Christ made to liue being dead This was by the power of the great Prophet And both Eliah and Elisha did the same thing by the power of the same GOD. The first in giuing life to the dead sonne of the Widdow of Sarepthah the other to the sonne of the Shunamite Woman these may bee also said to die twice But hath any man learned by their relations what it is to die Or may a man by their examples presume that though hee die hee may yet reuiue againe as did the Souldier cast into Elishaes graue And so by often dying learne to die better No it is neither permitted nor necessarie to fore-know the moment of our naturall death for the houre wherin are many minutes and the minute wherin are many moments as touching naturall
may behold thy glorie and bee changed into the same Image by thy Spirit It is thou only that giuest wisedome and out of thy mouth proceeds knowledge and vnderstanding therefore Make me more and more to abound in knowledge and all iudgement that I may discerne betweene good and euill and bée kept pure with-out offence vntill the finall dissolution of this my mortall body filled with the fruits of Righteousnes which are by Jesus Christ vnto the praise and glorie of God Let mée not good Father be giuen ouer to the lust of my Aduersarie nor to mine owne corrupt hearts desire that iniquitie should haue dominion ouer mé◠but make mee perfect to euery good worke who workest in thy Children both the wil and the deede O Lord teach me to do thy will for thou art my God make my heart constant and euer kéep it vnblameable before thée in holinesse that I may serue thée in al holy duties with a good conscience and may walk before thée in truth and with a perfect heart doing that which is good in thy sight Let thy peace which passeth all vnderstanding preserue my heart mind in Iesus Christ euen to the end and in the end yea euen when the Messengers and pangs of death shal take hold on me euen then support me that Satan with his malicious suggestions and infernall temptations preuaile not against mée in laying before the eyes of my guiltie conscience the vglinesse of my sinnes past or by drawing my minde into any forbidden thought or desire Draw me out of the net that hee priuily layeth to catch my soule in breake it for mee for thou art my strength make haste to deliuer me and saue me for My soule is filled with euils and my life draweth neere vnto the graue And what man liueth and shall not see death Séeing then deare Father I am appointed to die and that death cānot bée comfortable vnto mée when it commeth vnlesse a godly life goe before prepare my hart O Lord prepare it to a holy conuersation and a ioyfull and gladsome resolution that I may lay down this mortall body of miue in the dust whence it was taken and made and to surrender my soule with all heauenly alacritie into thine hands that gauest it And when the snares of death the terrors of the graue take hold of mee then Lord let me find fauour with thée in Christ my Redéemer in whom I beséech thée to deliuer my soule Amen Lord euer increase and confirme my faith MEDITAT II. NOw then I hauing by the grace of God in some measure learned to liue and to know I shall dye what remayneth but that I looke for the day and attend the houre not knowing when it will come And therefore to bee alwayes ready hauing also through Christ receiued the spirit of boldnesse to remooue out of this bodie to bee with the Lord. This boldnesse I confesse I haue not of my selfe it is the gift of God who in the beginning made mee to his Image without spot but spotted before I was borne by him that was once without spot whose fault is now by imputation nay by action mine whereby I bringing sinne and corruption into the World with me haue deeply defiled my selfe by like actuall disobedience and therefore may iustly feare the face of that seuere and iust Iudge especially hauing so many and so strong Aduersaries Satan with his principalities and powers and spirituall wickednesse a million of sinnes and a guiltie conscience besides the horrours of Death and the Graue enough to cast my sinfull soule into vtter destruction were there not a power aboue his power and principalities to subdue his I thanke God in Christ I haue beene taught and I know that the seed of the woman hath subdued Satan led him all his powers principalities and spirituall wickednesse captiue triumphing ouer him and them vpon the Crosse making a shew of them openly And this I am not only taught to know but I beleeue the same stedfastly Lord strengthen my beliefe As for my siunes past I feare them not for Christ suffered for them once the iust for the vniust to bring me to God As touching death I knew that my Redeemer liueth and he hath taken away the sting therof and made a way for mee through the graue to come vnto glorie through the valley of death to passe vntill I come to the Lord my God in Sion I cannot yet but confesse that notwithstanding my boldnesse I feele many wauerings I am not at all times alike bold but often tremble at the consideration of death because I haue had no experience of the terrour thereof and therefore though the Spirit be willing my flesh is weake But I am so much the more strengthened by how much I doe consider that euen the dearest of Gods Children haue sometimes staggered at the consideration of death Saint Paul himselfe confesseth that he had fightings without and terrours within Peter for feare of death denyed his Master And our Sauiour Christ being lest vnto his manhood wished though contrarily resolued that the Cup of the Crosse might passe and that hee might not drinke of it Death comes with an vgly and fearefull countenance to all but especially to them that haue their consolation here Death nay the remembrance of death as the Wiseman affirmeth is better to him that hath the wealth the pleasures and happinesse of this life And vnlesse the Lord by his grace support and sustaine the best man he will feare and faint at the approching of death Therefore will I make my prayer vnto God in Christ to giue me strength and an holy resolution to imbrace death when it shall come A Prayer against the feare of death fit to be said at all times especially in sicknesse The Prayer O Lord my God and gracious Father in Iesus Christ who hast formed mee of the dust of the Earth and by thy Spirit made me a liuing soule in a mortall bodie Giue mée grace continually to remember my mortality how I am borne to dye and that after death I shall come to Judgement yet hast thou hidden the time when the place where and the maner how I shall dye from mee all knowne to thée Teach mee therefore Gracious Father teach mée so to number my daies as to consider that the more they increase in number so much the neerer I draw to the time of my dissolution therefore giue mee wisedome and a heart whereby I may apply me thereunto that I may be at all times and in all places watchfull and readie to imbrace the comming of that which I cannot auoyde Let mée not rest secure in health nor be dismayde in sicknesse but let my heart bee euer set on the things that are where I desire and hope to come and not on the things which I sée and partake herein this life Teach mee thy wayes instruct me in thy Lawes giue me a repēting
heart a sanctified spirit that I may walke here before thée and here doe thy will as thy Saints and heauenly Companies doe thy will in Heauen that in this earthly Pilgrimage I may bee numbred among thy Saints Militant that I may not feare to bee translated from this place of banishment vnto that Inheritance purchased by Christ my Redéemer where I shall partake of his glory with thy Saints now Triumphant in that most glorious new Ierusalem While I liue here let thy Word bée deare vnto me let the Crosse of my Lord and Sauiour Christ be euer before the eyes of my mind euer assuring my selfe that his death is my life make mee therefore holy as he is holy And as hee layd downe his most sacred bodie in the Earth for a time and rose againe to glorie and as hee resigned his afflicted yet innocent Soule into thy hands euen for me to follow him so grant that whensoeuer or howsoeuer my soule shall leaue this mortall bodie it may follow my Loue Iesus to the place to which hee is gone before While I liue here leaue me not Father vnto my selfe for I am weake and mine enemies are strong but thou art Truth the strongest kéepe mée vnder thy feathers and bind mée vp in the bundle of thine Elect neuer to be deuided or set apart from them that shall bee saued make my life perfect to euery good worke and worke in mee that which is pleasant in thy sight through Jesus Christ Amen Lord increase and euer confirme my faith MEDIT. III. THough death now be the end of my fleshly part it is sufficient that I am assured of the continuing life of my soule after the temporall death of my body which yet shall not so perish but it shall haue a future being and bee re-vnited to my soule and so bee made one glorified body by the glory of Christ my Redeemer The present consideration of death can therefore but put mee in minde of and giue mee desire to bee dissolued to enioy a better life And thereby so much the more mooue me to frame my life in my health as if I were presently dying Death is certaine common to all the time vncertaine to all yet all liue not as if their death were neer or that they did think that death would come at all But let no man deceiue himselfe by his long life that death is farre off or that it hath forgotten him it will come as a Thiefe suddenly to some sooner to some later to all when they least suspect it In the first Age of the World men liued long many hundred yeeres Methusalah almost one thousand yeeres Adam Noah and many others to an extraordinarie age In their dayes it might haue beene conceiued by the number of their yeeres that they might haue liued many thousand yeeres But being all seene in their times and turnes to dye the opinion of a perpetuall life in earth was found erronious As the World grew in age so decreased the ages of men In Dauids time the age of man was seldome aboue threescore and ten if hee liued to fourescore it was reputed a great age rare yet nothing pleasant to the partie for weaknesse and infirmities of so many kinds commonly possesse the bodies and mindes of that age as these dayes are but a burden vnto them yeelding only sorrow heauinesse griefes and miseries And yet many of that decrepit age are loth to dye which may argue no godly preceding life Moses before Dauids time liued one hundred twenty yeeres and was then in that state of strength and agilitie of bodie and perfection of his sences as in his best age and strongest yeeres yet he dyed Mine own naturall father liued one hundred and three yeeres lusty and strong much admired for his agilitie euen to that age yet I doe not by these precedents collect any probabilitie or hope that I shall liue much more then halfe his yeeres though I presently feele no apparant tokens but desire of my dissolution And therefore I account my life but a meere watch for the time of death If I had seene the man that had liued many thousand yeeres and were yet in health and strength I should bee farre from flattering my selfe that I might liue the longer for his long life yet I see that one man couets to attaine vnto the yeeres of the most aged The man of sixtie or seuentie yeeres desires to liue to eightie he of eightie to one hundred yet doe we scarcely see one man of ten thousand to see one hundred nor one of one hundred seuentie yeeres nor one of fiftie fortie yeeres If I should liue one hundred yeeres when death comes it is but as if I were in my Cradle Twentie yeeres in expectation seemeth farre more then one hundred yeeres past I thinke it therefore wisedome not to allow vnto my selfe the assurance of many yeeres not of many dayes nay not of one houre for I see some suddenly stricken dead yea in a moment a fearefull spectacle yet little moouing some beholders But this vse Wisedome teacheth me to make of other mens lots namely to keepe continuall watch ouer my desires wordes and wayes that I may so liue as if I saw Death with his Dart at my brest Death then being certaine and his comming vncertayne by the rule of right reason I should bee alwayes readily prepared for Death imports feare and Feare presupposeth danger Danger requireth watchfulnesse Watchfulnesse patience Patience Faith and Hope As touching the first namely feare it is both filial and son-like and seruile or slauish which last I exempt as not the feare required of mee in this expectation and watchfulnes for death But the feare which becomes a most dutifull sonne to a most louing father is it wherewith I desire alwaies to be truly qualified hauing an eye euer vnto God as the eye of a Mayden to the hand of her Mistris fearing in loue not louing for feare When Baruch read the booke of the curses against Iudah and Israel vnto the people both the good and the bad feared Some fearing as children desiring to be reformed according to the Law of the Lord some as slaues feared the horror of punishment threatned without eyther the loue of God or their owne reformation This is not the feare that Salomon prescribes where he saies Feare ye the Lord all his Saints and depart from euil He that sayes he feareth God and walketh not in his wayes feareth not at all as he ought to feare and that for want of Wisedome for as wisedome is giuen to them that feare God so doth the feare of God shew it selfe by wisedome namely by gouerning his life according to the Word of God Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord and walketh in his waies So that it is not in mee nor of my selfe to feare God I must be first blessed of God before I can truly
in sicknesse The Prayer O Lord my God I waite on thée My soule keepeth silence vnto thee for of thee commeth my saluation therefore do I submit my self vnto thy will giuing thée thankes for thy patience towards me in Jesus Christ nor thou hast shewed thy selfe towardes mee slowe to wrath and full of goodnesse and mercy Increase euer more and more thy graces towards mee that in this my Pilgrimage towardes my graue I may possesse my soule in patience waiting thy good time for my deliuerie for here where I now dwel I neither hear nor sée taste nor touch any truly comfortable thing only thy Word is my spirituall consolation and the hope of future glorie my ioy And were I not fed with the hope of a better life by death I were of all men most miserable for nature could not with patience beare the burden of this miserable life being so ful of all infirmities both of body and mind so fraught with sins of all sorts and accompanied with so many and sundry crosses and finally subiect to thy seuere Judgement But thy fauour and thy loue and thy patience towards me worheth in me patience knowing that the time is comming and at hand wherein I shal be fréed from this mortal and miserable to enioy a life immortall and glorious O confirme therefore increase the patience attendance and attention which thou hast begun in me that after I haue here done thy will I may receiue the promise wherein thou hast assured me that the patient abiding of the righteous shall be gladnesse Thou art a God of mercy and blessed are they that waite for thee Grant therefore Lord that I may be found blamelesse in the day of my distation and that I may here walke worthy of thee through Christ beeing strengthned with al might thrugh thy glorious power to all patience and long suffering with ioyfulnes Amen Lord increase my faith MEDIT. VIII Of Repentance and Merit NO man be he neuer so holy is free froÌ„ sinne and therefore neuer free from occâ—sions to mooue him to Repentance And I acknowledge that Repentance Patience Watchfulnesse Attendance and Attention are of no force vnlesse Faith be the ground of euery of them For it sufficeth mee not to bee sorrie for my sins as it séemeth Iudas and Kain were vn lesse by Faith I can feele assure my selfe that my sinnes are also pardoned as neither of them did for it is the free gift of God which God vouchsafed not to them Neither is it sufficient for mee to watch with Patience or to attend the bringing forth of outward oftentiue and vaine-glorious works but I must feele in my selfe the infallible tokens of mine effectuall calling and ingrafting into Christ through Faith before I can bring forth workes worthy amendment of life which is true Repentance Some tokens of mine effectuall calling I feâ—le in my selfe for I desire to do good yet euen then is euill present with me I delight in the Law of God as conceruing the inner man Namely as I am regenerate But I see another Law in my members rebelling against the Law of my minde and lending me captiue vnto the Law of sinne which is in my members So that I cannot doe the good I would doe but the euill which I would not do that I doe Should I then thinke that because I feele not the signes of my calling in perfection and because I am not free from all touch of infirmities and sinnes in thought word and deed that therefore I haue no Repentance God forbid for to perswade my selfe that I haue no sinne were to deifie my selfe and to make mee equall with Christ as doe those that are faithed from yet by their workes of Merit and of Supererogation presume to affirme that they can bring not only them-selues but others to saluation whose arrogate Merit stinkes before God making the death of Christ of none effect the highest Blasphemie that mortall man can spew out against the Trinitie for hereby is the most vnsearchable loue of God the Father in sending his Sonne made vain and fruitlesse the obedience of Christ to his Fathers will made needlesse and his death causlesse and the worke of the Holy Ghost who giueth Faith in the hearts of them that shall bee saued excluded and the corrupt heart of miserable man wherein by nature is nothing but sinne the dregges whereof will remaine euen in the regenerate man during this mortall life exalted aboue the merits of Christ. Which Blasphemy be farre from me Hee that can merit his owne Saluation needs no Repentance which I disclay me and cleaue only and alone to the merits of Christ my Sauiour in whom my Repentance imperfect is reputed true Repentance howsoeuer the â—ing of sinne remaines in me yet without mortall venome only to keepe me euer in minde of mine imperfections for when sinfull motions arise in mee I cannot but acknowledge in my selfe corruption which cannot but humble mee before God and occasion me to pray for the Spirit of Repentance and that God will deliuer mee from this bodie of sinne A Prayer for true Repentance and a reformed life The Prayer O Lord my God I come here into thy presence fearefull to looke vp to Heauen where thou sittest from whence thou beholdest all my wayes and obseruest all mine actions in earth cursed and euill and wherein I haue too too long wallowed my selfe and as it were bathed my selfe in the bloud of mine owne soule which I haue diuersly wounded through my sinnes seldome or neuer calling my selfe to an account what I haue done but resting secure haue followed vanitie vpon vanity heaping â—â—â—ne vpon sin as if there were neither pleasure nor profit but in a carnall course of life O touch my heart with a true sorrow for euery idle thought of my heart for euery vaine word of my mouth and for euery act that I haue commited against thy sacred Maiestie giue mee grace to call to minde my sinnes of all sorts of all seasons and of all places howsoeuer or wheresoeuer I haue done and committed them that they appearing vnto mee in their vgly likenesse I may truely lothe them hate and abhorre them and vnfainedly repent them while Ihane time and while thy Mercies may be found for in death there is no remeÌ„brance of thee and in the graue who shall prayse thee Returne O Lord deliuer my soule saue mee for thy mercies sake withdraw not thy tender mercie from mee O Lord let thy Merrie and thy Truth alwayes preserue me Open Lord my dimme eyes the â—ies of my heart that I may hence-forth sée and walke in thy wayes Soften and molliste my hard and stonie heart that with Peter I may go out of my sinnes and bitterly bewaile them Send thy light and thy truth let them lead mee let them bring me vnto thine holy Mountaine and to thy Tabernacles Giue me a truly repenting heart through a liuely Faith in the Merits
that are in the heauens where no base or corrupt thing commeth The Sunne is a creature that shall be darkned yet who is able firmely to fixe his eyes vpon the glorie thereof How much more glorious may I thinke is he that made it whom neuer mortall man could euer see and liue Moses seeing as it were but the shaddow of his glorie receiued yet such a trāsplendencie of glorie in his coūtenance through that litle sparke of Gods glorie as the Children of Israel could not behold the brightnes of it What glorie then shall I thinke the Elect of God shall receiue from GODS al-fulnesse of glorie which is so vnspeakeable as cannot bee conceiued But as the Iron partaking the feruent heate of the fire becomes like vnto the fire so I with the rest of Gods Saints shall so partake of his glorie as this my corruptible bodie when it hath put on incorruption shall become totally glorious through the transplendencie of his glorie The bodie of man is a beautifull visible workemanship yet it is of the earth earthie how much more beautifull is the inuisible soule of the regenerate man which is of heauen heauenly spirituall and inuisible Seeing then that earthly and visible creatures be so glorious as they doe administer great contentment and delight vnto the carnall eye How much more will Gods inuisible works delight the spirituall sense of Gods elect when they shall at full partake of them Who then will not long and desire to see them much more to be partake◠of them especially of that glory which whosoeuer inioyeth shall bee delighted with no other obiect And I verily beleeue that one day I shall see it and say with Dauid As I haue heard so haue I seene in the Citie of our God and shall not but acknowledge that it exceedes all that I haue heard with mine eares seene with mine eyes or conceiued with my heart by infinite degrees So gracious is God as he giueth greater things then man can conceiue by his promises although I cannot as yet sufficiently conceiue much lesse speak of the surpassing excellencie of that glorie yet will I meditate thereupon the more to make the pleasures of this life of no account and the more to kindle in me a desire to be dissolued to enioy that vnspeakable glorie which cannot be attayned vnto but by death The word Glorie imports matter of dignitie and I see the whole multitude of humane creatures desire it bending all their studies and endeuours to obtayne it But alas what is it is it not like Ionahs Gourd growing vp and withering all in a day What man then of ordinarie vnderstanding will be so earnest eager in atchieuing this moment any and so remisse and carelesse in seeking to obtayne that perpetuall glorie for I see that this worlds glorie is ful of suspicion care feare troubles and dangers euen in the best estate subiect to change but the future shall be free full of all constant happinesse and absolute content and therefore more to be desired then all humane greatnesse it fades not as did glorious Salomons and other temporall Potentates and Princes who yet may truely challenge condigne glorie aboue others in this life through their morall vertues yet not thereby truely glorious without the assurāce of that which is to come which nothing shall be able to blemish as doe enemies sicknesse and crosses dishonour and eclipse the earthly honored Gods iudgements also doe often fall vpon the vnduely dignified not vpon the truely honourable as they are honored by men but as they are men offending the GOD of glorie Who exalteth the humble meeke and casteth the insolent and proud euen Princes downe to the ground The glorie to come shall no man or matter blemish or diminish which glorie I see now but as through a vaile as in a glasse much imperfectly but when I shall be dissolued when my earthly and spirituall parts shall be made one againe then I verily beleeue that I shall see at ful and freely enioy that inestimable glorie namely my glorified Redeemer face to face and shall be transformed into the same glorie so that nothing shall bee left in mee but that which shal be wholly glorious O how hath the Lord magnified his mercie towards me He hath raysed mee from the dust hee hath deliuered my soule from hell and assured mee to sit with him in glorie and to be filled with the ioyes that are at his right hand to eate at his Table to drinke of the Riuers of his pleasures and in his light I shall see light and bee changed by the sight of his countenance The faces of the iust shall shine as the Sunne in the firmament when the glorie of God shall shine vpon their soules and bodies together changed from corruption and made partakers euen of the diuine nature Can the tongue of Man or Angels then expresse the aboundant felicitie that the Saints of God shal enioy no it confoundeth al the imagination of man to conceiue the vnspeakeable glorie that there will appeare now darkely apprehended through faith One torch giueth light to the whole roome where it burnes but where there are many burning the light is farre the greater If one Sunne in the firmament giue light to so ample and spacious a world as we here liue in and the face of euery iust man shal shine as the Sunne what a glorious light and beautifull sight will there bee in the heauens where millions of millions of glorified Men with Angels Archangels Seraphins and Cherubins shall shine as so many bright and beautifull Sunnes together all taking their light from that all-shining Light of lights the Sonne of the liuing God all knit together in the band of one Spirit in so sacred a communion and vnion that euery one of them shall account the glorie of another the augmentation of his owne ioy contrarie to the course and condition of the worldly glorious who emulate and enuie all others that exceede or equalize them in glorie Moreouer with what spirituall ioy shall I behold my most louing Redeemer and Sauiour Iesus Christ sitting as absolute Prince of Glorie by whose Merits I haue obtayned this surpassing glorie MEDIT. XI The glorie to come makes the the godly willing to dye and the rather for the crosses of this life NOw then seeing so great a weight of glorie set before the eye of my faith why should I be afraid to lay downe this my mortall bodie in the graue although I know it shall there rot putrifie turne again to dust yea to more vile Earth then whereof it seemeth now to bee made Were my beautie as Absaloms it shal become a stinking Carrion lothsome and filthie To what end then should I so vnnecessarily respect it as to adorne it with superfluous needles Ornaments Why should I couet to fill and feed it with daintie and delicious fare And why
diuine vnderstanding But GOD sees the blindnes of them that are wise to the world and fooles to God and obserueth also those that are fooles to the world who are wise to GOD. Though he haue his dwelling on high he yet abaseth himselfe to behold things as well in the Earth which is his footestoole as the things in Heauen the throne of his Maiestie And I know and verily beleeue that God is no idle obseruer of the things that befall vnto euery man in this life Some things come to passe euen of his owne meere prouidence for the corporall comfort and reliefe of his distressed children as to the widdow of Sareptha Some to their spiritual comfort as when Philip was sent to the Euâ—uch And some things God tolerates men to atchieue by vnlawful means As Ahab Naboths Vineyard And because things fall not out to an equall allotment to all but some to be aduanced some kept low some in prosperitie some in pouertie some vndeseruing richly rewarded some deseruing not regarded there be that thinke of God as the Syrians did onely to bee a God of the Mountains of great men of the world not of the Vallâ—ies of poore oppressed meÌ„ of the world as if he were not 〈◊〉 God that cared for the poore Whatsoeuer therfore the men of worldly minds think howsoeuer they perswade themselues I doe constantly beleeue that there is nothing great nor small no man high nor low but is vnder Gods Prouidence as touching the successe of whatsoeuer they doe Doth God number the haires of â—â—r heads and put our teares in a bottle and shall I not thinke that hee regardeth ruleth appointeth and disposeth greater things that concerne mee I beleeue that the preferment and dignitie of one and the keeping of another in meane estate is as far from fortune and chance as it is from a mans owne power to adde a cubit to his stature or to make a haire blacke that is white It is not then in him that willeth nor in him that runneth but in God that giueth what euery man runneth for And therefore I thinke that when I haue done all I can by my best and sincerest endeuours to increase my portion I can lawfully adde no more then I haue done to the inlarging of mine estate To heaue to shoue to striue to struggle to insinuate to flatter to cogge to face lye and deceiue are as easily learned as to be an honest man And hee that is either ignorant of or not apt in practice of these he may liue censured 〈◊〉 simple man but no laudable Politician but of a base weak and deiected condition of which ranke I am numbred But I may answere my Censurers as Dauid did How long will yee iudge vnâ—â—â—â—ly and accept the persons of the 〈…〉 yet there is no doubt but that many rich and wealthy men may bee free from the former kind of policie and haue innoâ—ent hearts and cleane hands MEDIT. XVII Not good to yeeld to euill meanes to get wealth IT is a fearefull thing to yeeld vnto vnlawfull motions and meanes to become rich by the Examples of Achan and Gehezi whom God gaue vp to their couetous hearts and to walke according to their own counsels whose rewards well weighed may make others as I desire to beware yet according to the course of common carnall policie these were wise fellowes and prouident There was not so thriftie a fellow in all the Campe of Israel as Achan was for although many precise and scrupulous Fooles past by and neglected the wedge of Gold hee thought it wisdome to singer it though a curse were laid vpon it hauing learned belike of Horace That none but Fooles will refuse Gold that can get it A foolish Proposition without a disiunction and restriction Gold indeed is lawfull lawfully gotten not contrarie Elisha refused but Gehezi his seruant tooke the forbidden reward as many seruants of great men at this day doe who haue not Elishaes spirit to follow and discouer them But he that gaue the spirit to Elisha knows all altogether though the Achans and Gehezies of this olde politike World haue learned to bee more secret vnseene and vn-noted They grow wealthy vn-awares to men hauing but some colourable office or trade who can taxe them with Talents of Siluer or Wedges of Gold Only they are admired for their wit much reuerenced for their wealth gazed on for their glorie and flattered for their felicitie and therefore thinke they are euen here in the very bosome of Paradise and in so high fauour of God as they could bee content to dwell here in the Earth with that contentment they now haue all eternities seldome or neuer calling to mind that they must dye and that it may bee suddenly as others doe and that they must yeeld an account both for the getting and vsing of their wealth and greatnesse God is not ignorant of Briberies Extortions Oppressions and wrongs that men vnlawfully commit in their lawfull callings as they with Gehezi thinke he is no he knowes their thoughts much more secretest Briberies nicely termed Gratuities Gehezi was leprozed for one and that a seeming lawfull Gratuitie and should I thinke to escape a more deadly leprosie by such and so many extorted Gratuities plaine Briberies as I might take to make me rich One common Gratuitie nor twentie can effect that which some men bring to passe vnder colour of some imployments The benefit whereof lawfully taken cannot so much and so speedily enrich them as they are obserued to enrich themselues partaker of whose secrets let my soule neuer be Vnhappie is hee that cannot liue contentedly in a lawfull calling by the fruits of the lawfull execution of the same and more vnhappie is he that to increase his competent estate doth vse vnlawfull and forbidden meanes Such a man no doubt is ignorant that the feare of God is great riches and that godlinesse is gaine Neither of which can stand with a couetous desire of superfluous riches For the feare of God and godlinesse are Twins borne at one birth by the Siprit of God working by faith which brings forth hope both which they seeme to want that are sollicitous and ouer-greedie to get the pelfe and pillage of the World who cannot containe themselues within the limits prescribed by the Holy Ghost namely In whatsoeuer estate wee are therewith to bee content not caring for too morrow as doubting of Gods Prouidence but hauing food and rayment to be therewith satisfied This Doctrine though it be Christs owne is too restrictiue it is a hard and harsh Commandement so contrary to the practice of carnall-minded men as many of them would eyther wish it striken out of the Booke or to heare such a pleasing glosse vpon it as might moderate the seueritie of it They are content to take what the time present will afford them yet they thinke it not sufficient
vnlesse they prouide and lay vp for many yeeres A godly respect no doubt is not hereby forbidden as namely to labour to day the better to liue to morrow this yeere to sow and reape to nourish vs the next yeere and so to prouide for future times as we shew not any distrust in God though we haue not to day but only for the day he hath willed vs to aske of him Bread which comprehendeth all necessaries which he hath promised to giue vs euery day By that Petition which hee hath taught vs Giue vs this day our daily bread And though hee giue me not dainties to eate I know that by his blessing the meanest fare shall satisfie my continent appetite and temperate Dyet Daniel and his fellowes were as well filled and fed waxed as fat and faire with Water and Pulse as were any that fed on the full furnished and varietie of the Kings daintie Dishes Therefore it is not the meate that I eate bee it neuer so rare that feedes and preserues my bodie but the meanest and least blessed to my vse by God worketh the same and through faith a better effect The like 〈◊〉 conceiue of Riches and Possessions what could I account mee the better were I owner of a whole Countie were I not still the same and onely one man And had I the fayrest and most spacious House in the World I could be but in one roome at one time were my calling neuer so great What neede I then hazard my soule for this bodies vaine delights and superfluous vanities I doe consider the varietie of the wished contentments that wise Salomon made proofe of in his most absolute experimeÌ„ts wherein I obserue his finall discontents who cried out against all his delights that they were but vanitie yea Vanitie of vanities all vanity Many superfluous things men couet and the couetous are neuer full the eye is neuer satisfied with seeing nor the heart in desiring crying More more their Chests are full their commings in are great and greatest of all is their desire of more and hauing too much they still plead pouertie and so truly I do beleeue many of them may for in their greatest outward abundance their wants are great within If therefore I should striue to get much my desire to get would alwayes be greater then the gaine and of lesse true value then my trauaile that I might spend vpon better things I will therefore content mee with my poore portion and giue GOD the prayse if hee bee pleased by his blessing to increase it by the lawfull execution of that imployment whereunto I am called fearing by experience that if once the desire of riches possesse my heart it will bee hard for mee to bridle it for the obtayning of that I couetously desire would bee but the increase of the desire of hauing and so I should at length want aswell that which I should attaine vnto and not vse as that which I had not A true meane in desiring a lawfull manner of gathering and a right vse of keeping and disposing of riches are as hard to find as a couetuous man to bee a good man for no man that sets his affections on the things of this world can haue true peace with God nor haue a good conscience If I settle the loue of this world in my heart the loue of God cannot dwell there I cannot loue God Mamman and where the creature is entertayned before and preferred vnto the Creator I exclude Christ my Sauior in whom by whom for whom I enioy all good things here should I not then set him before all yea as All in all things in my heart if I haue Christ I haue all things euen in my corporall pouertie and without him I haue nothing in my greatest seeming something I may and I am commanded to vse all lawfull meanes according to my calling to liue competently in the world but that I ought first to seeke the kingdomâ— of heauen the righteousnesse thereof so all things necessary by diuine promise shall be administred vnto 〈◊〉 And I hold things only necessarie sufficient being obtayned But what are the things that in this life may be reputed oâ—ely necessarie Thaâ— which may be truly held sufficiâ—â—â—â— that a man finde himselfe neither to wâ—â—t noâ— to haue more then he hath iust occasion to vse necessarily according to his calling high or low he hath most I thinke that couets least and he hath enough that owes nought that neither needes to flatter nor to borrow Here is the difference betweene humane policie and diuine wisedome and hereupon they are at odâ— Policie prouides and layeâ— vp in banke increasing it more and more vntill too much bee not sufficient grounding the care vpon the prouidence of the Pâ—ssemire and Bee such small creatures who through the instinct of nature are taught to prouide in Summer for the consequent Winter Ioseph prouided in seuen yeeres plentie for seuen yeeres scarcetie this diuine wisedome and nature it selfe teacheth but neither of them especially diuine wisedome to prouide but according to necessitie and whatsoeuer God sends by blessing a mans lawfull labours and honest endeuors is a Christian mans greatest portion Foode and rayment was Iacobs desire and the same request I daily make vnto God namely that he will afford meate drinke and rayment competent for my selfe and family and to free me and euer to keepe me from debt and danger of other men If I can attaine vnto this meane estate I shall hold me happy amoÌ„g men and blessed of GOD and this is the marke vnto which I only ayme all my desires of earthly preferment for that I labour for that I pray and rest in hope which hope I know shall not finally make mee ashamed though for the time a kinde of shamefull imputation seemeth to be laid vpon me for not raysing my meanes to a higher proportion as if Gods purpose and worke were my fault who knoweth what lot in this life is best and fittest for mee and therefore I rest and relye vpon his prouideÌ„ce wherin I stedfastly beleeue hee will neuer failâ— me nor forsake me to the end of my life short and euill MEDIT. XVIII All men in this life haue vse of their owne labours MY time at the first was reputed but a spanne long and now I cannot account it a fingers brâ—adth yet while I haue my being in this life I shall stand in neede of the continuall vse of mine owne labours hauing no other reuenues no not the bredth of a foote wherein I craue Gods diuine aide direction and blessing who hath been mine original Scholemaster in all the good things that euer I haue learned or haue been able to practise for of my selfe I am a foole ignorant not only of diuine but of humane profitable knowledge yea of mine owne worldly profession and finding mine owne insufficiencie
beautifull flowers are they quickly fade and fall away Whereby we are taught that how gawdily or gloriously soeuer we couet to beautifie our bodies wee make them neuer the more permanent but as these flowers wither and fall leafe after leafe through the defect of the sap that first caused them to flourish so man liue he neuer so long and neuer so full of glorie when the sap of nature begins to wax drie in him his most glorious leaues begin to fade and faile one after another the strong men his legs begin to weaken and falter the grinders his teeth fall out of the head the lookers the eyes wax dim one part after another decayes till the bodie totally comes to dust in the graue This is the glorie of the most glorious hee buds blossoms ripes rots as doth the flower in the garden the grasse of the field and as a shaddow a dreame and as a fancie flyes to his end and liue he neuer so long his life is but as a tale that is told Doe wee not daily see the youngest strongest among humane creatures liuely full of agilitie and corporall actiuitie in the morning who yet before night are eyther naturally or accidētally oftentimes cut downe and in their graues Why therefore should I or you that shall perchance suruiue me be so sollicitous and ouercarefull of worldly things especially seeintg he longest liuer cannot enioy what he desireth with any true contentment aboue fortie or fiftie yeeres for till he bee twentie hee is vnder gouernment not at his owne will after that he is wearied with labours and cares of the world when he comes to sixtie or seuentie yeeres hee be comes decrepit vnapt vnable to follow his owne occasions To bee in league with death as hoping he will forbeare the execution of his warrant vpon vs or by arte to indeuour to put off old age though many desire it none can doe it the richest by his gifts the strongest by his valour the wisest by his policie nor the most cunning by any artificiall deuice or stratagem he can contriue Who can free himselfe of a feuer who can rid himselfe of the gout of the stone or of any other inherent infirmitie of the bodie Surely none but death death is the Phisician that cures all the diseases present in the bodie yet we like not his phisick wee are contented to vse art money we willingly giue to auoyd it and yet it is commonly seene that hee that seekes and desires most to prolong his life is most suddenly taken by death and he that seekes most to flie from it him it followes euen at the heeles and hee that couets most to saue his life soonest loseth it I thinke it therefore greatest wisdome so farre to couet long life as it may stand a blessing of God during which life we are to meditate necessarily two especial points namely how to leade our liues how to entertaine death when it comes As touching the first we are inioyned therefore bound to liue godly which comprehendeth all the dueties of a Christian life which duties although they be many are all performed by holy obedience to God which consisteth in a perfect obseruing of his diuine Precepts namely in doing that which is good and auoyding that which is euill The good commanded cannot be done by nature which is corrupt but by grace freely giuen the euill which is forbidden comes and is done by nature The effects of good and ill affections consist in action by seuerall operations the good which we doe God worketh both in vs and by vs the euill which wee doe is of by our selues The like in suffering the good suffer euill with patience not the euill of doing but the bearing of euils and wrongs offerd without grudging The wicked suffer euen goodnesse as it were against their wils and commit euils against the good wittingly and with their wils The good endeuour to leade their liues vnspotted in the world not as did many Heathen Philosophers who had both the actiue and passiue parts of doing good and suffering euill that in great measure of patience wanting only diuine knowledge consequently faith which are no more ours by nature then they were theirs Therefore if I or you should onely indeuour a kinde of Philosophical outward and morall goodnes without the internal working of grace through faith wee should by our such doing and suffering gaine but that which they gayned a bare name of holinesse although wee as some of them did would voluntarily giue our bodies to death wee should thereby gain but the more future miseries In all our doings and sufferings wee must set GOD alwayes before the eye of our mindes taking hold of Christ by faith by whome hee hath reueiled himselfe vnto vs to be our louing Father not vnto them without Christ wee are euen as the former Gentiles were vnder the curse but by and through him made heires of the Kingdome of glorie whereof although these Philosophers were endued with humane wisedome farre aboue vs they had yet no vnderstāding of nor were partakers of that true glorie which is by Christ. Therefore must we that liue in the light of Truth striue to bee partakers of better things then they that liued in the darknesse of ignorance for vs to come short of their care of doing the good they suppos'd good in doing that wee know to bee good were most palpable idlenesse and seuerely punishable We must therefore while it is to day studie and practise to be holy in deede not in shew like the Pharises whose seeming sanctitic was all external and internally were prophane hypocrites As touching the second point of Meditatiō namely of the vncertayne comming and to be prepared for death cast your eye vpon the fore-part of the former treatie where you may peraduenture finde matter of Meditation touching this point In briefe Remember your ends namely death and if you haue any grace it will preuent sinne in you so walke in health as if you should presently die ye shall find it a remedy against the vanities of this life Who can thinke of present death and yet delight himselfe in the vncertayne things of this world Hee that is still dying begins his eternall life here and remembers that hee hath here no continuing Citie and therefore thinks of seekes that which is to come not liuing as the secure conetous man in the Gospell flattering his soule to remaine many yeeres in his bodie not hauing one night to liue Yee are poore I confesse I cannot enrich you and therefore to disswade you from couetousnesse may seeme superfluous yet I thinke not but a begger may be as couetous and as greedy to get hoord vp as the richest man flie it therefore in your smallest meanes it is the roote of all other sinnes it depriues men of the
sense of future good or euill auoid it left death steale vpon you and finde you so doing depend on Gods prouision blessing of your owne lawfull and laudable industries He is your heauenly Father and knoweth whereof ye haue neede seeke him hee will be found he will supply all your occasions if yee bee faithfull though yee were neuer so poore DAVID depending on God found by experiēce that the righteous were neuer left destitute nor their faithfull children to begge Cast then your care vpon God for hee careth for you And let not the care of the things of this life preuent your carefull preparation to a better life which you cannot attayne vnto but by death and therefore indeuour so to liue as God may bee glorified in your death not giuing your members as weapons of vnrighteousnesse vnto sinne here but giue your selues vnto God as they that are aliue from the dead and giue your members as weapons of righteousnesse vnto GOD. Striue against your owne corruption and let not sinne raigne in your mortall bodies that yee should obey it in the lusts thereof for When lust hath conceiued it bringeth forth sinne and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death not the death of the body only which is but a dissolution of the soule from it for a season but the death both of soule and body which is eternall Walke therefore in the Spirit saith Saint Paul and yee shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh Ye haue the light walke not in darknes for he that walketh in darknesse walkes hee knowes not whither while yee haue the light therefore walke in it So walke as your hearts may mooue from euill to good from sinne to sanctitie cease to do euil learne to doe good and practise it Learne of Dauid to run the way of the Lords Cōmandements Walke not in the counsell of the wicked stand not in the way of sinners nor sit in the seate of the scornefull but delight your selues in the Law of the Lord and thereupon meditate day and night so shall yee bee blessed in life and death Yet thinke not to bee free from troubles enemies and crosses how sincerely soeuer yee liue nay the more carefull yee shall be to lead a holy and a godly life so much the more will Satan seeke to peruert you bee not dismaid cease not to walke honestly as in the open light that men may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in heauen PART II. Gods prouidence towards his IF pouertie want oppresse you Let your Petitions bee vnto God who as he giueth seede vnto the Sower so shall he administer vnto you meat drinke and all things necessarie Remember the rich mercies of God which he hath euer shewed to his faithfull distressed children He sent his Prophet Abacuck to Daniel when hee was not only a prisoner and out of the reach of all his friends to releeue him but had for his companions the fearfull deuouring Lyons whose mouthes that most mightie God who will bee yours closed vp they could not hurt his seruant God might haue sustayned him with-out foode as he did Moses and Eliah but to shewe his secret mercies by visible meanes Remember also the miserable estate of that poore distressed woman Hagar ' who was so farre from any hope of worldly helpe in the barren wildernesse hauing a most heauie heart for her poore infant that with the mother was like to perish for want of a cup of cold water despairing as it were in her selfe laid away the childe from her forsooke it as loth to see the sorrowfull spectacle of its death and looked vp vnto GOD that saw her whose mercy and compassion was such towards her as hee opened a Well of water opened her eyes to see it whereby shee refreshed her selfe and relieued her child shewing thereby how carefull the Lord is of the distressed estates euen of such as are out of the couenant of grace how much more of such as take hold of him by faith in Christ namely of them that truly feare him faithfully beleeue in him and vnfainedly serue him When Samson had wearied himselfe combating with the Philistims became so weake and faint as hee was readie to perish for want of water to refresh him did not the same God yea our God the God of the faithfull giue him drinke out of the drie iaw-bone of an Asse Could he bring water sufficient to quench his great thirst out of so small and so drie a vessell yes for as long as hee desired to drinke so long it yeelded water like as did the oyle which by the power of the same God Eliah infused into the emptie vessels of the widdow of Sarepthah it ranne so long as shee had vessells to contayne it When Christ turned water into wine it ceased not till all the vessells were filled vp to the brim So doth the same God euen to this day deale with his children whom he neuer ceaseth to fill and feede as long as they haue faith to receiue his blessings and necessitie to haue them Hee fed foure thousand with seuen loaues and a few fishes and fiue thousand with fiue loaues and two fishes besides women and children hee could with the same meanes haue fed a more infinite number his power is so absolute what hee will hee works and what hee commands is done The hard Rocke must yeeld Riuers of water shewing that he can mollifie the heart of the most cruell Tyrant and in stead of afflicting to comfort his children The deuouring Rauen when God will vse him contrary to his nature shall carry foode to his distressed Eliah so doth hee at this day doubtlesse worke the hearts of most obdurate men to doe good as it were contrary to their condition to them that feare him and faithfully call vpon him in their distresses The examples of Gods presence with his loue vnto his and his power and prouidence ouer his faithfull children are in the Scriptures numberlesse The like are of his iudgements towards the wicked not only particular enemies of his as was Pharaoh Nebuchadnezzar Scnacherib Herod and others but against whole Kingdomes Cities Multitudes the Kingdomes of Israel and Iudah where are they Is not the Scepter departed from them for the wickednesse of the people that dwelt in them Sodom Gomorrah Zeboim Admah and Zegor where are they Came not fire brimstone from heauen vpon them How did the same God cōfound Ierusalem the slaughter-house as it were not only of his Prophets but of his owne innocent Sonne and doe wee not see daily GODS iust iudgements vpon diuers Countries People by fire inundations of water by pestilence warres and famine And is not the sudden hand of God vpon such as at this day blaspheme his Name Needes there examples of such as haue beene striken some