of mercy If God do so much for a Slave on Earth what will he do in Heaven for a Son Therefore ye holy ones that are so offended at the flourishing of the wicked Oh leave your envy and see your glory for Heaven lyes above ground As the adversity of the Saints shall therefore give me a glimpse of Hell so the prosperity of the wicked shall give me a glance of Heaven LXX Meditat. GOd hath made all things for his elect and his elect for himself All is yours and you are Christs I will therefore serve my God in all things my self in nothing LXXI Meditat. THe Creature hath a goodness in it no further than it stands in reference to the chiefest good if you cut the stream off from the fountain it will quickly lose its sweetness pureness and it self at length the comforts and enjoyments of the wicked because they flow not from the spring of love they are but like dainty Channels mudded and imbittered with the wrath of God fading Brooks which at length will make the soul ashamed so that he which only enjoyes the creature in it self shall lose the creature and himself The purest and the sweetest mercies only run in the rivulets which are fed by the upper celestial springs of mercy Therefore O Lord Whatsoever I enjoy let it stream from the fountain of thy love and flow to me in the blood of thy Son LXXII Meditat. AS the Rivers which flow from the Sea run back again into the Sea So those blessings wich come from God must alwayes be employed for God What I have received from God in his mercy he must have it back again in his glory Therefore Lord Whatever I enjoy let me find thee in it and serve thee with it LXXIII Meditat. LOve should alwayes be the life of motion Amor meus pondus meum eo terror quocunque terror That soul goes true that hath true love to way it and that soul loves truly that hath a true object to center it a gracious spirit loves the Lord not because he does good but because he is good I will not weigh that friends affection that loves a fluent sweetness before an inherent goodness that soul that loves Christ for himself though you take away all weights else yet there is strength enough in love to move and constrain the soul O blessed be that Saint Lord that 's so taken with thy love that can truly say Were there neither Heaven nor Hell yet sin should be my Hell and holiness my Heaven LXXIV Meditat. TO speak the truth our Life what is it but a vital death The Poet being asked What he did Answered very well Paulatim morior I dye by little and little We do but then begin to live indeed when we begin to live to God our life before is but a race to the sepulcher but when we live to God then we are in our way to eternity As Alexander when he reckoned up his age counted not his years but his victories so when I take an account of my life I will not reckon up my time but my duties LXXV Meditat. O Thou precious Saint thou gracious Soul Three questions calls for thy answer thy answer for thy praise 1. What wast thou 2. What art thou 3. What shalt thou be 1. What wast thou A Rebel to thy God a Prodigal to thy Father a Slave to thy Lust an Alien from the Common-wealth of Israel 2. What art thou The Son of God the Spouse of Christ the Temple of the Holy Ghost begotten of the Immortal Seed born of the Blood Royal of Heaven made free among the Denizens of Sion written among the living of Jerusalem 3. What shalt thou be A glorious Saint a Companion of Cherubins a triumphant Victor a crowned King and an Attendant on the Lamb wheresoever he goeth a spectator of those soul-ravishing and ineffable excellencies that are in God the beholding of the King of glory face to face and enjoying immediate communion with Jesus Christ Nay more made one with Jesus Christ cloathed with his excellencies enthroned with his glories crowned with his eternity filled with his felicity The glory which thou hast given me I have given them Oh! Stand amazed at free grace and seeing God hath made thy soul a vessell filled with his mercy make thy self thy life a spring flowing with his praise LXXVI Meditat. THe Soul takes its rise from every creature to Heaven When I see the Stars Lord I think if one Star be of such magnitude what are the dimensions of those Heavens in which so many are fixed Nay how immensible is that God whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain When I see the Sun I think if one Sun make such a glorious and lustrious day what a glorious Heaven will that be wherein every Saint shall be a Sun and every Sun so farr brighter than this as this is brighter than our bodies And yet all these Suns are but a shadow to the Sun of righteousness Again when I consider the rising Sun how by the perfection of his beams he puts beauty life and joy upon the face of the whole Creation paints the Flowers guilds the Corn puts a flourish upon the Plants chears and exhillarates the Birds and makes the Valleys shout for joy I then think what shall be the shining beauty and soul ravishing delights of that soul upon which the brightness of thy glory shall fully rise and rest and into which the glorious splend our of thy beauty shall clearly shine to all eternity And when I consider the Air this is my thought That as here I cannot think at all unless I draw in this Air so I cannot think well at all except thou puts goodness into my thought Lord When I view the variety of thy Creatures and see one excell in beauty another in strength another in wisdome another in love and of others in swiftness Lord I think these are but beams of thy brightness and streams of thy fulness as they had only their being from thy hand so they have only their perfection in thy essence here they are mixt but there they are pure how happy then shall that soul be that enjoyes all perfection in God and God infinitely above all Lord I see stately buildings shady groves and crystal brooks and pleasant meadows and yet perhaps a wicked man the owner why then I think if Simeon goes away with such a mess what will Benjamin's portion be If the Children of the Concubines have so large a gift what shall be the inheritance of a Son of Promise Again when I look upon my self in temporals Lord I bless thee that I have a convenient sufficiency a goodly heritage my tents are by the wells of Elim my portion is from the hands of thy wisdome and though corruption may think it of the least yet wisdome it self knows it to be best Now Lord if thou givest me so much in the time of my vanity what wilt thou do
of Faith one smile of Christ one glance of Heaven one grape of Canaan one glimpse of my Crown of Glory yields more sweetness comfort and content than all the pleasures and delights the World affords the very gleaning of spiritual joy is better than the vintage of carnal delights Let no man then stand off for want of pleasures for here he shall not lose them only change them LIV. Meditat. SOlomon tryed many Conclusions but not one took but the last the fear of God Oh my Soul thou mayest tire thy self with varieties of Objects but none satisfies but this the fruition of thy God he only is the plenary and primary goodness he only is the efficient and sufficient fulness As it was said of manna that it was the delight of every pallate so it may be said of Jesus Christ that he is satisfaction to every soul Taste therefore and see how sweet the Lord is What 's the reason we wander after such variety of Creatures Because we cannot find sufficiency in one were one herb as virtual or one flower as delectable as the Collection we would never trouble our selves to gather many Take up then thy rest Oh my Soul in the chiefest and choicest good which comprehends all other goods Those golden rayes of goodness which lye scattered in the Creature are only to be found conjunctively in God Those pure ingredients which goe in to make up the highest excellency largest goodness fullest perfection are onely to be found collectively in him Knowest thou any thing is profitable delectable or desirable in the Creature Thou mayest see it in thy God find it in thy Christ Art thou captivated He is thy Redeemer Art thou wounded he is thy good Samaritan Art thou broken-hearted Go unto Christ and he will bind it up Art thou sick He is thy Physician Art thou persecuted He is thy refuge Art thou hungry or thirsty He is the living bread and the flowing stream Art thou weary He is thy rest Art thou in want or poverty He is an inexhaustible treasury Art thou in disgrace or contempt Why he is thy honour Art thou dull and heavy He is a quickning Spirit Would'st thou have grace He is the fountain Would'st thou have Heaven He is the way he shall guide thee by his counsel and after receive thee into glory Let that mans name therefore be written in the dust that leaves the flowing Fountain to quench his thirst at a broken Cistern Why should I tire my self to gather drops of honey from so many dying flowers when I can satisfie my self with streams of sweetness in the living Christ Therefore Creatures in this you and I must part for Christ out-bids you all LV. Meditat. A Christian may raise another Paradise here below may make a lower Heaven on Earth for this is life eternal to know thee and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent To know Christ in the evidence of his love revealed to us and Christ revealed in us is the very entrance of Heaven for what is the perfection of grace but the fulness of this knowledge And what is the consummation of glory but the blessedness of this fulness Therefore Lord be every day adding to my knowledge that so at my last day I may be perfect LVI Meditat. GOdly Sorrow like weeping Mary seeks Christ Saving Faith like wrestling Jacob finds and holds Christ Heavenly Love like the affectionate Spouse dwells with Christ here it brings him into the chambers of the Queen and hereafter Christ brings the loving Soul into the chamber of the King so that it is an eternal grace alwayes lodging in the bosome of Christ Lord thou art the desire of my soul Oh that I could seek thee find and love thee that I may for ever enjoy thee LVII Meditat. THe stream of sorrow like waters ascends no higher than the spring from whence it came We know that sin gives two bloody stabs the first is at the soul of man the second is at the heart of Christ And if the first stab only grieve me if I mourn for sin as it only wounded my soul it is a sign this stream flows but from a natural heart because it ascends but to a natural heighth but if I weep for sin as it hath wounded Christ as it hath shed that blood that would save me as it hath pierced that heart that would love me then no question but the spring is in Heaven because it riseth to a super-natural ascent Lord that my sorrow may be sound pierce my heart for sin as it strikes through my soul and pierces Christ LVIII Meditat. MY life is sweet but my Christ must be sweeter to me than my life my soul is precious but Christ must be dearer to me than my soul my salvation is much but Christ must be more to me than my salvation Christ must be loved above all Nay were there no armes of mercy to receive me no Heaven of bliss to entertain me no weight of glory to crown me yet Christ must be loved above and without all these As it is a sign of a carnal love to follow Christ for the loaves so it is a sign of a base mercenary love to seek Christ for a reward that 's but an adulterate affection that affects the present more than the party loves the Ring more than her Beloved that choice cannot be cordial that aims only at a portion that love cannot he real that aims only at a benefit Lord thou art amiable in thy self Oh that I could love thee for thy self LIX Meditat. I Must not venture on a Duty unless I bring God to it nor rest satisfied unless I carry God from it Hear David's precept Oh seek the Lord and his strength seek his face for evermore Be sure thou rise not from duty before the countenance of God rise in mercy upon thy soul it must be Christ that must fit thee and it must be Christ that must meet thee or else it will be no Ordinance of comfort to thee What is the Chariot if thy Beloved be not in it Then here St. Bernard's practice Lord I never come to thee without thee I nerver goe from thee but with thee Oh blessed be that soul that never prayes hears or receives but carries Christ to all enjoyes Christ in all and brings Christ from all Lord in all my approaches to thee let me goe out in thy strength and return in thy presence LX. Meditat. OH my Soul Thou art alwayes striving yet sin alwayes stirring thou fearest the truth of grace because thou findest the working of sin but it will be alwayes thus thou canst not come out of Aegypt but Amalek will lay wait in the way the flesh will be sure to trouble thee although it be never able to conquer thee He therefore that sits down and is at rest in sin it is a sign that Satan is there the strong man because his Kingdom is in peace But where there 's any work with Christ there
for me in the day of my glory But above all that sweet communion I enjoy with God those glorious rayes which shine from the face of Christ those ravishing joyes that flow from the wells of Salvation sets me upon the top of Nebo and gives me the largest view of my happiness For if the Lord give me so choice a mercy for my earnest how rich a blessing shall I have for mine inheritance If this be the first fruits what shall be the full harvest If the Lord let me have such a glorious beam in my Prison what a glorious Sun shall shine in my Palace If there be such a joy in the expectation of what I shall be what a happiness shall there be in the consummation of what I shall be LXXVII Meditat. ANaxagoras being asked What he thought he was born for Answered Vt Coelum contemplar That I may meditate upon Heaven Oh my Soul what dost thou think thou wast re-born for Is it not that thou mayest live in Heaven God hath made thee to enjoy communion with himself thou needest not stay one hour on Earth but with Enoch spend thy dayes with God walk and converse with Jesus Christ in the galleries of his love with Moses live on the mount of glory Why then my dear Soul art thou one hour out of Heaven Oh live so strictly and walk so closely with God that thou mayest say with David Whether I awake in the morning or whether I walk abroad in the day I am ever with thee LXXVIII Meditat. LOrd How near wilt thou bring me to thy self Must I abide in thee and thou in me Must we be of one soul and of one spirit Is it not enough that I must alwayes repose my self in the bosome of thy sweetest affections that I should alwayes be enclosed in the embraces of thy choicest love that I should be ever wrapt up in the bowels of thy tenderest mercies But must I so dwell with thee and wilt thou so dwell in me as to be made an equal sharer in thy bliss a partmer in thy glory What is man that thou shouldest so regard him What am I that thou shouldest so remember me Lord let thy mercies so constrain me that all my affections may run out unto thee and all my strength may run out for thee LXXIX Meditat. EVery real Christian is the spiritual Temple of the living God Worldly cares and earthly desires are the buyers and the sellers that pollute this Temple Now what an unworthy part is this to make the House of God a Den of Thieves what an Idolatrous sin is this to set up Dagon by the Ark a Lust by Christ Again Every Member is a Vessel of that Temple Now what a debasing thing is this to take these golden Vessels with that drunken King and employ them to a sordid use To take that Heart which should be filled with God and fill it with Lust Those Ears which should be alwayes ready to hear what God shall speak to lay them open to a detracting tale a foolish jest That Tongue that should be setting out the praises and must hereafter be singing forth that sweet triumphant Hallelujah for to defile it now with idle speeches lying words What a sacrilegious thing is this to let forth Gods vessels to sin and Gods roomes to lust O Lord therefore what thou takest to be thy own owne rule and use it as thy own LXXX Meditat. MY Duties are then upright with God when they turn me into the very nature of themselves It was St. Jerome's praise of Nepolitan That by his continual reading and daily meditation he made his breast the very library of Christ This is the praise of a Christian when he shall see here that the word abideth in him it is as it were incorporated into him when he shall so read as that he shall make himself a living Epistle so that the world may read again in his life what he hath read before in the World when he shall so bless God as to make himself his praise when he shall so pray as that every petition shall as so many living veins run through his practice when his duties shall be the fire and his life the incense this is the only sweet acceptable sacrifice till worship is distill'd into practice it is but an empty cloud till duties are as vitals in our walkings they are but dead performances Lord therefore let my duties receive life from thy Spirit and let my walkings receive life from those duties LXXXI Meditat. I Read of Bazil that he perswaded himself if he were in the Wilderness free from the company of men he should be happy and serve God more devoutly but when he came there he said I have forsaken all things but yet I retain my old heart I have often sought the privatest place for duty and have often prest to hear the best men and to enjoy the best means thinking to have gained much ground in the advantages of the Place and of the Ordinance and yet Lord I have got but little good because I still carry with me a bad heart this is the that Remora that stayes my Ship in its course to Heaven So that I find it is not he with St. Bazil that treads the paths of retiredness that grows in grace but he that with that Father walks first into the cloysters of his own heart in the secret places and crooked turning of his own spirit it is not he that comes to the pure Ordinances that advances his Communion with God but it is he that brings a pure heart Lord I have often searched my heart and still my heart deceiveth me in the search Oh! come and fit my heart for every duty that every duty may fit for thy self LXXXII Meditat. PRinces combate with flesh and blood Christians wrestle with Principalities and Powers their warrs give dayes of truce ours not a minute of Cessation Conditions of peace there may cause retreat nothing but death here can raise the siege Kings if overcome may save themselves by flight but Christians may as soon flye from themselves as from their enemies whatsoever may make a battel dangerous here it is whether policy potency cruelty or perpetuity Not only the powers of Earth but all the forces and stratagems of Hell are alwayes charged upon thy soul so that a Christian is not in a Garrison of rest but in a Field of conflict and he cannot let fall his hands but Amalek prevails Not to be a conquerour is to be a prisoner not to winn the field is to lose the soul security wounds thee yielding kills thee nothing but victory crowns thee therefore watch as for thy life sight as for thy soul the time will come these enemies thou seest to day thou shalt see them no more for ever when thou shalt lay down thy Sword and take up thy Palm and solemnize thy victory in glory to perpetuity A certain man rehearsing a sad Oration to Aristotle in
Praise of those that were slain in the Wars by the Lacedemonians received this answer from him Quales igitur nostros esse putas qui istos vicerunt If those were such brave and valiant men what dost thou think that we are that overcame those What though now we read a sad relation of the potency and policy of our enemies and find the heavy experience of it yet how glorious and victorious dost thou think we shall one day be when in the strength of Christ we shall have overcome those enemies What though my assaults be many my enemies mighty if God strengthen me I have enough to comfort me for the greater my enemy the more glorious my victory and the more glorious my victory the more triumphant my glory LXXXIII Meditat. I Have seen some Christians that for ordinary losses have been inordinate in their mourning as if not only the Stream but the Fountain had been exhausted whereas if the understanding part of the soul did truly act it self it would reason thus What must the stream of my sorrow run altogether in this channel Is there no mourning to be made for sin What shall I suffer my heart to swim away in tears Are there no duties to be performed for God And do I not know that a sad heart cannot serve a good God I have lost the Creature but I must keep my God I have parted with an outward comfort but I shall meet it again with advantage in Jesus Christ I have lost something were it more were it all so that I were not the owner of any thing yet enjoying Christ I should be the possessor of all things The failing Stream shall but therefore send me to the flowing Fountain Thus did the soul put forth it self it would quickly sweeten those bitter waters and presently turn those tears into duties For my part I will mourn for the loss of the Creature but it shall be in the Cause which is Sin so shall my sorrow be godly and not worldly and I will never be satisfied till I make good the absence of the Creature but it shall be in the Fountain which is Christ so shall it be a gain and not a loss LXXXIV Meditat. T Is observed as a point of wisdome in Husbandry to set those Plants together that have an Antipathy in their natures and draw severall juyces out of the Earth therefore it is thought a Rose set by Garlick is sweeter because the more fetid juyce of the Earth goes into the Garlick and the more odorate into the Rose I am sure 't is true in spirituals therefore I wonder not why afflictions are the portion of the righteous for I see prosperity is too strong a sucker to exhaust and steal the spiritual sap and celestial vigour of the Soul and so to debilitate the principles of growth and life Whereas adversity hath a contrary extraction it only draws out what may be malignant and leaves behind it what may be for nourishment it takes the dregs and leaves the spirits whereby the soul is elevated and made more fruitful in the works of holiness Therefore Lord so I may but grow if the Flowers of the World be too succulent transplant me among the Bryars LXXXV Meditat. WHen I look up to Heaven how oft do I both see the Sun shine and set When I look down into my soul how oft do I see my comfort rise and fall Eye but that Ship which now seems to touch the clouds and you shall see it in the depth anon as if it would be swallowed by the waves One while a Christian is upon mount Tabor and hath a glance of Heaven another while lyes in the valley of Bochim weeping because he hath lost the sight of his Country Joshuah's long day is many times turn'd into Paul's sad night God would quicken our affections therefore now and then he gives us a glance of Heaven that so we might be in love with what we see and now and then he draws a black veil over that bright vision that so we might not loath what we did love He suffers our happiness here to be imperfect that so we may be pressing on to that place where we shall be perfectly happy Lord when thou shewest thy self let me love thee and when thou withdrawest thy self let me follow thee and under all these changes here let my soul be always breathing panting longing and reaching after thee till I shall so perfectly enjoy thee that I may never lose thee LXXXVI Meditat. WHere the King is there is the Court and where the presence of God is there is Heaven Art thou in Prison with St. Paul and Silas If God be with thee thou wilt sing thy Hallelujahs Art thou at the Stake with blessed Martyrs As the beams of the Sun puts out the fire so the beams of Gods Countenance puts out the flames and turns their troubles into comforts so that 't is but winking and thou art in Heaven Therefore that soul that enjoyes the Lord though it may want the Sun or Moon to shine in Creatures comforts worldly delights to solace it yet it needs them not for the glory of God doth enlighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof God himself irradiates it with the brightness of his beauty and Christ himself fills it with joy unspeakable and full of glory This God brings his Heaven with him and that man that enjoyes God carries Heaven about him so that here is his happiness cast him in a Dungeon in a Furnace when you please yet he is still in Heaven Therefore for my part Lord give me thy self and then deal how thou pleasest with me LXXXVII Meditat. MArk the wicked man though his Intrat may be Comical his Exit is alwayes Tragical Belshazzar in his first Scene is revelling out his time in sin and pleasure feasting carousing with his Concubines in the vessels of the Lord but view him in the Catastrophe and you shall find the hand writing and him trembling Darius rending away his Kingdom and Death snatching away his Life If you look upon the entrance of a wicked man his gates are riches his seats honours his paths pleasures he goes delicately fares deliciously every day he hath more than hart can wish But wait his going out and see a sad conclusion in a moment he goes down to Hell The man is cast out from God as an everlasting curse Destruction closes her mouth upon him and his place beholds him no more His body is wrapt in the dust his soul is buried in the flames and his name is covered with darkness But now behold the perfect man it may be thou mayest see a few tragical Scenes the World hating mocking persecuting him but the end of that man is peace Though he may come forth weeping yet he goes off rejoycing Though he come forth combating yet he goes out triumphing so that the Saints and Angels clap their hands for joy When I therefore judge of a happy