this dulnesse is to converse with God and to keep our hearts in ure with him by calling to mind every day his benefits generall particular corporall spirituall what he hath done for thy Soule already what he will doe farther then to examine thy selfe how thou hast beene answerable that day for such kindnesse and love unto thee then to fall to prayer asking pardon for thy sinnes with a faithfull and penitent heart and entring into a new league betweene God and thy Soule to forsake sinne more earnestly and to serve God more carefully then in times past Meditation 14. Of Joy IT is good to rejoyce ever and never to rejoyce I meane carnally wee must not set up Joy as an Idol in our hearts as though there were no higher matter if a man ask us why wee are merry wee can say nothing but because wee love to be merry yet ought wee to preferre God to our Joy and the glory of God the good of our Neighbour and the health of our Soules wee must so rejoyce in temporall things that wee barre not our selves from heavenly comforts wee must be so familiar with outward things that wee grow nothing the more strange with God if otherwise wee sell our birth-right for Esaus Broth Canaan for the flesh-pots of Egypt and as it is commonly said Wee goe out of Gods blessing into a warme Sunne Take heed then to thy selfe it is lawfull for thee to use the blessings of God for thy necessity I say more for thy comfort and recreation so farre forth as doth concerne thy person yea thy state and calling but if thou use them for thy recreation only and have no farther or better end thou wilt quickly fall to the abuse respecting rather what thy appetite doth crave then God allowes God allowes no such use of his creatures as makes thee the lesse able or willing to serve him wherefore a restraint at least in affectation touching these things is better then by loosing too much the reins to our unruly flesh to suffer it to take the bridle and runne away let the feare of God be the steward of our expences and it shall make a good account for us if it cause us to passe by many worldly delights yet wil yield unto our consciences the sounder comfort for God doth bring unto him the joyes of the Holy Ghost which willingly forsakes outward pleasures the later end of such joyes is woe but of this it is said No man shall take it from you Wilt thou rejoyce ever me thought I heard thee say so bee sad ever to the world if thou smile with it let it bee from the teeth outward ingage not thy heart A strange Paradox that a man should bee sorry to make himselfe merry and these as strange wee must stand in feare to make our selves bold wee must bee fooles to bee made wise wee must die that wee may live Meditation 15. Humane reason IS not this our common answer Have I not reason to do as I doe yet are wee not to live by reason but by faith wheras we should rather say Doth not Gods word warrant mee to do as I do If Religion were but the improvement of Reason how would men entertaine it as their owne wheras now they suspect it as a stranger Many have thought that the Articles of Religion might winne credit from principles evident to the light of nature and that Philosophy hath laid as good grounds as Divinity Surely Humane learning can convince us well enough of many things wee doe but cannot bring us forward In that wee ought to doe for salvation it was a power in nature created to obey and beleeve if it would but now in nature decaied it is a want and it is not in mans will to beleeve and obey the truth and the misery is that it knoweth not how to find what it hath lost nor so much as that it hath lost any thing without a borrowed light the word of God is the powerfull meanes whereby the Holy Ghost which worketh inwardly in our hearts doth impart this light unto us our Reason is naturall Faith supernaturall Reason is the begining of Knowledge but Faith of Religion The Papists will say they have more Reason for their Religion then we for Free will Satisfaction Merits Purgatory Prayers Latine Service Images Pilgrimages Hierarchy stand all upon good grounds of Reason Let us give them what they aske wee may the more boldly challenge truth without which there is no Religion and to protest freely what wee maintaine and wherein wee desire by Gods grace to die wee follow not Reason in making choice of Religion but Gods word searching to understand the harder places and easy keeping our selves within the proportion of Faith refusing not the helpe of Humane learning for the phrase or story neither the testimony of better times by this word wee learne that man hath no good will nor hath his will power to returne to God untill grace make the will willing which of it self is unwilling and then but not till then doth it work with grace What if Reason deny this and teach the contrary By the word of God wee learne that there is no satisfaction for sins besides the death of Christ no merit to eternall life but his righteousnesse that sinnes are all mortall by nature though not equall that mans righteousnesse though done in grace is unperfect What if Reason deny this and teach the contrary By the word of God wee learne that bread in the Sacrament is not turned into the very body of Christ nor wine into his bloud yet that it is his very body and bloud to the faithfull communicant who is made partaker of whole Christ not by a grosse and fleshly incorporation but a ghostly and effectuall union What if Reason deny this and teach the contrary By Gods word wee learne that worshipping of Images amongst Christians is but a setting up of Idols as amongst the Heathen that Prayers in a strange tongue for the dead are neither devotion nor charity What if Reason deny this and teach the contrary By Gods word wee learne that Religion consisteth not in Popish shrift Penance difference of Meats Apparell Fasting Pilgrimage Reliques Crossing Holy-oile Holy-water Holy-bread Holybeades Holy-bells What if Reason deny this and teach the contrary to the decay of Christian obedience which consisteth in an inward mortisication and outwardly in a patient bearing of Christs crosse By the word of God wee learne that Christ is the only head of the Church and doth still governe the same by his spirit and word from which Gods Ministers or Priests fetch all their authority and hath not given over his place to another which should take authority above the word What if Reason deny this and teach the contrary By the word wee learne that the Scriptures have sufficient instruction to salvation What if Reason deny it and put us farther over to traditions revelations miracles to enforce doctrines contrary to the
battered and shaken that consent who is Captaine of the place falls to a parley and yeeldes on any conditions to my losse How far better had it beene for mee to have avoided the fury of Saul by wandering in the wildernesse barring my selfe of those betwitching vanities Meditation 24. Presumption and Despaire PResumption and despaire the two extremities of faith faith grounds it selfe on the promise of God presumption assumes unto it selfe Gods mercy without promise desperation takes no comfort by the promise Presumption intrudes it selfe into the promise desperation excludes it selfe out of the promise faith holdes the promise fast as his proper right Presumption is more bold with God then wise desperation puts a man more in feare then is safe faith without boldnesse or feare is confident Presumption hurts the conscience most and layes it open to sinne desperation wrongs God most as though he would not or could not be mercifull to a sinner faith doth keep the conscience from sinne to come and makes the way for Gods mercy for the pardon of sinnes past Presumption hath an eye only on the mercy of God desperation on his justice and faith doth behold in God both justice and mercy Presumption is fed by prosperity impunity Gods long sufferance desperation strengthened by some speciall crosse and adversity at what time sinnes appeare greater and more in number then before Faith standeth on the death of Christ and there doth see both the greatnesse and grievousnesse of sinne and findeth a way to escape the danger Presumption doth despise the justice of God the feare whereof might make him fit for mercy desperation cannot apply unto it selfe the mercy of God in time of need the helpe whereof might cause him to avoid justice Presumption doth cause a man to think well of himselfe of his own wisedome righteousnesse and to preferre himselfe before others desperation doth cause a man to think ill of God and no otherwise then of a tyrant Presumption is a Pharisee despaire a Devill faith the penitent Publican finally Presumption is a steep cliffe without footing desperation a deep pit without bottome and faith Iacobs ladder by which God comes downe to man and man goes up to God Oh my soule thou best knowest thy owne wandring there lies danger on both sides the common waies are the worst and that the safest which fewest find let thy guid be the word of God walk by faith purpose not to offend though pardon were granted thee before hand Hast thou offended seeke for mercy not considering so much how great thy sinnes are but how great is his mercy to them that truly repent A good conscience may presume of mercy when it hath no feeling expecting Gods leasure with patience and this is to hope above hope and despaire of her owne sufficiency when it doth most good so learning to depend ever on God alone Meditation 25. Society with God MAn by nature is sociable and of all Societies none better for him if it may be had then that with God for if wee enter into a common right with them of whose Society wee are how much shall wee by this Society bee blessed above all others which possesse God who is the fulnesse of all good things and are so possessed of him that nothing shall bee able to part us from him Now behold how thou maist attaine to this neere and inward society with God he which dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him for God is love a holy flame burning with the love of goodnesse the Father loveth the Sonne eternally and the Sonne the Father and the Holy Ghost is one and the same incomprehensible love of the Father and the Sonne three persons but one love for God is love and this inferior love of the creature is but a beame a streame of that love which if it bee so necessary betweene the creatures themselves that the course of things may not bee maintained without it how much more betweene the Creator and the creature for both the being and well-being of the creature doth depend on the love of the Creator and these creatures are the lesse happy how excellent so ever otherwise as the Sunne Moone and other glorious bodies which being loved of God cannot love him againe Oh man what cause hast thou to love God which was not content only to make thee a creature whom he would love but endued thee also with a nature to love him againe that so thou mightest enjoy him the more and certainly as the being of God is love so there can bee no greater perfection in men then to love God God doth give most glorious signes of his presence in Heaven but out of doubt the Heaven of his delights and where he is alwaies present is the soule of a true lover Love is a quiet thing yet not idle active as heat and nourishing goodnesse like a naturall heat it is much in giving much in forgiving in giving to God his honour to man convenient helpe and succour in forgiving wrongs and injuries Loves kindred is not of flesh and bloud a Christian unto it is more deare then a brother and a brother the more deare if a good Christian Love soares over all the pleasures the riches the honours of the world and stoopes downe to none of these because with the Eagle it findes nothing worth the looking on but Christ Jesus the sonne of righteousnesse The priviledge of love is this where there is love it is accepted not according to the worke but for the worker according to that one hath and not according to that he hath not many oversights are borne with where there is love and where there is no love the greatest diligence is rejected Oh my soule faile in any other thing rather then in love though a small measure of knowledge must content thee yet love God out of measure above thy selfe for himselfe doe good unfaignedly if not strongly and let thy heart be ready when it hath made thy hand empty Meditation 26. Of Peace I Would that all they which are of one opinion were of one affection How well doth it become them that professe one truth to maintaine peace as one man because the author of their truth hath commended peace unto them as the fruit of goodnesse which springeth up in them that love the truth Now because they which are one in opinion are many times differing in affection truth it selfe which is but one seemes to be rent in parts and is ill spoken of by adversaries which agree with true professors neither in opinion nor affection and shall I wish likewise that they which are of one affection as man and wife parents and children brother and sister master and servant were of one opinion How necessary is it that they which agree in the lesser matters of life should in the greater much more and that they which have vowed to be true to one another should be both true to Christ but now because
they which are of one affection doe square in opinion the knot of love is broken which truth doth commend and it seemes that truth is the author of confusion what then indeed is to be wished that our opinions be ruled with truth and our affections tempered with love and this will bring the diversities of men to a world of university wherein though there be differing parts both for stuffe and use yet they shall all tend to the good of one another and so of the whole chiefly insomuch if that come in question once every particular will lose some part of his interest rather then the whole shall labour and this shall be done more strongly by the guide of reason then by the instinct of nature where for the same cause sometimes heavy things climb upwards and light stoop downe contrary to both their proper rights And were it this then must wee all needs be of one opinion of one affection that is Christians both in name and in truth for this is the thing which our Christian profession doth chaime of us and a thing rather indeed to be wished then hoped for and I think God hath of purpose placed us to live amongst such which if they doe agree with us in affection they shall disagree from us in opinion so barring us of this unity either for the exercise of our vertue or that wee should bee out of love with the world and long for the other to come where wee shall perfectly enjoy it Howsoever in the meane space they which will nourish in themselves any hope of comming to such happinesse promised must maintaine this band of unity in the communion of Saints and that is not only to love the truth but also in truth Oh my soule labour for truth and suffer many things for Peace prefer the truth before all things but use the truth to winne thy brother thou knowest how much truth doth belong to thee as a man reason searcheth truth more as a Christian faith receives truth give thankes to God if thou meet with such as can teach thee and bee as ready to teach others this will bee a stay from wandring opinions which have no end but if thou meet with such as love the truth with thee and affect thee in the truth give God thankes for such a heavenly blessing and let not thy oile bee wanting to keep such a lamp burning Brethren indeed are they which are of the same profession and affection Christ is the head of their society it will never want life the spring of their affection it will never want love and what soever spirituall comfort thou hast in this life remember the greater part is behind and therefore lift up thy selfe for that day when thou shalt bee present with the Lord. Meditation 27. Of Love TO love the truth is the more worthy Love and yet to love in truth more urged and required because that as in the first there is more excellence in respect of the object so in the second more evidence in respect of the subject and though by the order of teaching wee learne first to love the truth and then to love in truth yet according to the order of nature wee can never profit much in the first till wee have well practised the other for love is stirred up by sight and he that loveth not his brother whom he dayly sees how can he love God whom he never saw So God loveth us first after wee love him but this love cannot reach to that heighth except by certaine degrees we climb up thither beginning the love of God in the love of our brother Is not he worthy of my love whom God hath made partaker of his and if I forme my selfe to love all men as brethren shall I not love God the more which loves all those whom I do love As we know so wee love but God would have us to know and acknowledge himselfe first in our brother and to cast our eyes upon him as his Image and therefore if this may not move us to a due consideration of love for the Image sake neither will wee love him for his owne sake who is yet more unknowne unto us In love it is a speciall point to observe the disposition of the beloved for this makes Love acceptable now God is specially pleased when the duties which in Love wee owe unto him are for his sake done unto our brother and therefore when wee resigne up our hearts to serve God which is the chiefest of our Love wee must expresse it in striving to do good one unto another in Love and he that is thus affected cannot bee carelesse of his brother or comfortlesse unto him Love like fire it can neither bee idle when it hath matter to work on nor lye hid water will not quench it cover it you cannot but the flame will break forth The true lover of God doth embrace him in his heart his mind ever thinkes on him and his will desires him But this is raked up and hidden in the inner man how breaks it forth by respecting and affecting all men for Gods sake to his power above his power bearing their necessities for bearing their wrongs feeling with them in joy or grief taking part of their harmes and imparting his owpe advantages unto them God hath made all his creatures that in them wee might know his power reverence his greatnesse admire his wisedome and be thankfull unto him for his bounty but the only use which wee can make one of another is this that by mutuall love for Gods sake wee love God not as in his worke onely which may bee said of the rest but as in his likenesse which no work else can yeeld us Dost thou then love the Olive because of his fatnesse or the Vine because of his strength or the Figge-tree because of his sweetnesse dost thou love the Sunne because he is King of the day or the Moone because shee is Queene of the night dost thou love the Fire because of his heat or the Water because of its moisture dost thou love the Aire because it doth refresh or the Earth because it doth cherish thee yet hast thou a greater cause then any of these to love thy brother for the likenesse of God which is in him love all the Creatures for in them God hath left the print of his footsteps but love thy brother more then all for in him God hath printed his owne face and fashion Thou wilt say that coine shall bee currant with mee which beares my Princes Image and shall not thy brothers love be currant with thee who beares the Image of thy God It seemes when God made man he resolved on a likenesse to himselfe rather then any other patterne that man should love his God better and be the better beloved of another man who is no other then a brother unto him that is another such Oh my soule thou knowest well thy own backwardnesse in this duty
the good of others as his owne and they do all drinke of the same well of eternall life Landed men desire to have perfect surveyes and true plots of their States of inheritance willing not onely to satisfie their minds touching the value but also their eyes beholding under one aspect the houses courtelages wayes walkes ponds parkes woods coppize hills bottomes arable grounds meadowes and pasture and they would have nothing lye hid as though they should seeme to neglect any one jot of their transitory happinesse Oh vaine men are we which take so much paine about the world wherein wee live not onely with beasts which have a better part in this kind of happinesse but also with wicked men worse than beasts whence come unto us envie malice variance deceit violence wrong yea murthers massacres and desolations And this ourinheritance we stand so much on what serveth it but for our bodily necessities and that for a very small time though we use to say to mee And to my heires for ever whereas oft-times the third man doth scarse enjoy a foot thereof The soule is nothing the richer though thou leave it nothing the wiser nothing the better neither can it claime any part of it to follow her when it must depart hence to another world where such earthly provision stands in no stead And if the earth it selfe be but a point in respect of the firmament every least starre thereof being eighteene times greater than the whole what is thy goodly inheritance in comparison of the highest heavens but a shadow or dreame of nothing But this heavenly inheritance may be called so rightly in deed and is worth the seeking for worth the having though a man should sell all and lose his life too to which comes nothing that ill is and from which goodnesse never departs an excellent place of entertainment where comfort hath an everlasting spring not parched with heat or nipped with cold or beaten with violence of windes what can be spoken more gloriously here is God in the height of his favour here are thousands of Angels and Saints like so many Starres about this infinite light at whose presence the Sunne is darknesse here is Christ that died for us and hath life in his hands to bestow on us Come enter into thy Masters joy Canst thou dislike this company how ever thou dost like it thou canst not come to it by nature or art it is not blood or birth that must preferre thee thou canst not claime it by descent and in truth so great did our Lord esteeme it that he spared not one drop of his blood but willingly shed it to purchase this inheritance for thee and if all the crosses or troubles of the world were put together and weighed in the ballance with this masse of glory they would not hold in weight so much as one graine of the insinite greatnesse thereof Holy men in times past have thought no labours too hard no poverty too deepe no death too sharpe if so induring all their daies they might be thought worthy to be made partakers of this grace for true it is that no man brings worthinesse with him to claime such an unvaluable consideration but as it is grace that makes us first to know our unworthinesse and then to imbrace Christ who hath purchased for us this inheritance and hath the right to bestow it on us so is it grace that leading us by the hands of obedience humility doth bring us into the possession of glory this is an inheritance not for the body onely but for the soule also not while wee live here a few yeares but to live above with God for ever this right is such as neither can be taken from us nor exclude us from taking benefit with others which have an inheritance as large as ours What earthly inheritance hath such priviledges to be free from sinne and all punishment following it as shame and misery to see God face to face This O man is worthy thy survay by what title it may be possessed what things they are which bee spoken of this heavenly Jerusalem what mansions and commodities it hath what freedome the dwellers enjoy which there abide that lightned by faith and lifted up on the toppe of holy meditation thou maist so clearely and fully behold the plot of this blessednesse as that from henceforth it may wholly withdraw thy love from this transitory vaine and vile world to an unsatiable desire of it selfe Be sober therefore O my soule be thankfull and in thy ravishment remember thou hast not yet attained it but this do forget that which is behind and endeavour thy selfe unto that which is before and follow hard towards the marke for the high prise of the calling of God in Christ and this is a point so necessary that Saint John saith Every one that hath this hope purgeth himselfe as hee is pure And here my pen stoppeth my meditations never Soli Deo Laus Contempt of the world THe worlds vanity which John reduceth unto three heads the lust of the flesh by which we may understand all kind of delicacy and wantonnesse the lust of the eye which may well intend covetousnesse and the pride of life whereby may be meant ambition about honour are not from God which made the world but from man who forsaking God hath abused the world and made both it and himselfe both vaine miserable many out of the greatnesse of their mindes have despised the world counting themselves too good for it and the world too base for their imployment they have rejected honors as not worth the travell or taking up pleasures as too beastlike riches as heavy and idle burthens and all this they did from the equity of nature which is contented with a little and offended at excesse which beares necessary and common harmes and is onely moved to avoid her owne follies Christians fetch their contempt from a higher Principle What is time to eternity a candle to the Sunne a droppe to the Sea a molehill to a mountaine this world to the World to come the creature to the Creator and yet how few Christians grow to that contempt of the world for the love of God and godlinesse which the Philosophers did in time past for the love of naturall knowledge or morall vertue Yee may see indeed amongst Christians many contemne the World out of a carelesse contempt what become of themselves whether to sinke or swimme because they are not such as they have beene nor could never yet learne to be the men they should of whom the world is as weary as they are of it but how few see you contemne it out of the true account which a Christian ought to have of his owne value I am the member of Christ shall I couple the body of Christ to such a Harlot as pleasure is I am Gods favourite shall I by ambition hunt after that favour which comes from man I am a Citizen of Heaven shall I digge deepe into the earth for a treasure there Many Christians do not so much as the Philosopher did by the eye of reason but looke on things onely with the eye of the sense how can they then be equall judges of these matters which reason it selfe could never reach unto To the naturall eye this world doth so interpose it selfe that it seemes onely great and the world to come nothing at all but faith which lifteth it selfe up and beholdeth God is made partaker of such a heavenly vision that this inferiour world seemeth unto it to have neither goodnesse to be desired nor greatnesse to be admired nor assurance to be trusted unto onely it sees many seeke it which perish by it and they which thrive in it to part from it much the worse for the onely having it Know my soule that this world is but a market if thou be in it as a buyer or a seller thou shalt bee much distracted if as a looker on thou shalt have content using it as though thou didst not use it thou mayst be acquainted with the world but beware of familiarity open not thy selfe unto her for the day will come that you two will be at ods and if thou love her thou wilt say then I have gotten nothing by her and perhaps it will cast thee in the teeth that it hath bestowed too much on thee How happy are they which keepe even reckoning with the world at all times that as they call nothing of the world so the world can challenge nothing in them but are ready still to depart out of it with a saving hand provided for a better Sit Deo Gloria FINIS