death prevent To free us from that fatal punishment Let us consider how we surely may The daily Terrours of that Doom allay The first thoughts then that should our hearts possess Our Souls are not depriv'd of happiness Whose lasting Essence must for ever be Immortal living by the same Decree But where the Question is for none can tell Whether he be destin'd to Heaven or Hell Till by the light of Scripture or by Grace We may be certain of the better place For then will death our blessed Souls convey To our immortal Bliss the surest way This is a Lesson for all Men to learn But is decrepid age's chief concern Who ought to watch for their last puff of Breath Which brings true life tho' we do call it Death Which only faithless Men and Children fright But to good Men proves their supream Delight On Nineveh's Repentance IF God an Angel should from Heaven send To bid us fast and pray can we pretend To feast and dance and not our God offend When we his Goodness and his Will withstand By slighting of so gentle a Command Instead of Fire and Sword when Tyrants rage Slew Saints by thousands in the former age Much greater now will our Offences prove When we despise such favour and such love When Piety and Grace so fast decay That as we ought few neither fast nor pray But careless throw our precious time away As if the world were given us to defie Our God and shew we scorned to comply Till he appears in Glory with such power As wiil both Heaven and Earth by fire devour Our wanton wealth and luxuries do look As if our stubborn Nation were forsook By God until our Nineveh repent In sack-cloth and in ashes to prevent Our fatal Doom and his just Punishment Unless our Princes do without delay Teach all the People how to fast and pray We may be all together swept away But this God's love and anger may divide So as to lay his flaming Sword aside And with his glorious Shield and Spear to rise And free us from our subtilest Foes surprize Thus we may convert God's severe Decree To love by our profound humility And find delicious Joy to fast and pray When servent sacred Zeal bears all the sway On Dying daily TO write of Dying and to spend our breath In long discourses of approaching death Is not the daily dying we should learn Nor is such practice of so much concern For we should live in every respect Like-pious Men or we that rule neglect Which is the true superlative degree Of dying daily while we living be To live in Heaven while we on Earth remain Will greater joy and highest honour gain For death by God is unto good Men sent To give eternal life not punishment On the desire of Variety 'T Is strange Man's nature should be so inclin'd To relish nothing that is most refin'd Without variety which we pursue Tho' worse than what we have because 't is new Yet thus we daily seek for more content By vicious ways which proves our punishment When down-right honesty would more prevail For bliss when all our wandring wishes fail Yet Nature will its natural desires Maintain and such variety requires That often turns our present joys to pain And makes our losses greater than our gain On a covetous rich Man IF wealth can hardly pass a needle's eye Men may with joy their poverty supply With hopes to pass who have no weighty packs Of such rich glitt'ring bundles at their backs As over-load their Souls with houshold-stuff When little food and raiment is enough To pass them through this World Such golden streams As brightest shine prove but fantastick dreams Which mock their sleep with some false pleasing sight Of shadows that do vanish with the night Tho' this unto poor me may seem most true 'T will find but little credit with rich you To part with any parcel of your store To cloth the naked and to feed the poor Tho' Christ declares 't is him whom we do feed When we relieve his Children in their need And may with justice rather curse than bless Such wicked men as do his poor oppress On negligent cold Prayers IF thy Devotion be not always alike delightful Examine thy own heart if thy Addresses to God be alike zealous if thy fervency of Spirit be not sometimes slackned and then do not wonder if God gives cold encouragement to cold Petitions he values his great Blessings at a higher price than to part with them to Men that mind not what they ask nor unto whom they pray He gives his bright shining favours only unto flaming hearts that think of God with awful reverence and pray with such angelical adoration in their approaches to the Throne of Mercy as may obtain the secret joy of a divine rapture in Devotion with such Ideas of eternal bliss as will not be purchased at an easier rate than a whole heart offer'd up to God in a daily Sacrifice On a Desire to die IT is a great mistake to think all Men desire to be with God whose afflictions make them desire to die only to be rid of their uneasiness on Earth as if they could flatter God to welcome them to Heaven who never had a thought of going thither until their Joys on Earth forsook them Such Men should consider that God's all-seeing Eye searches the heart and discerns when Men's chief arguments for love to him are his divine Perfections and their gratitude for Benefits received such a flaming Zeal may raise Men's Souls to such inessable Joys on Earth as Men truly pious can only judge of On frequent Meditation AS our Saviour said when he likened Heaven to a Grain of Mustard-feed so may I say of a Grain of divine Meditation if it be sown in a rectified heart it will in a little time grow unto so great a Joy that nothing can reach nearer to Heaven for it will raise the Soul of such a Man thither that sets himself to a constant practice of blowing those divine Sparks into a flaming love of God by frequent Meditations which ought to be the Souls food daily to make them live unto eternity in Heaven and by custom will create fresh Joys every day so fast and delightful as is inessable to be express'd by words nor can any Man's fancy reach those constant pleasures but he that feels and relishes such divine Ecstasies as a spiritualiz'd Soul can rise to On Time mis-spent TIme is the greatest Treasure that we have For use between our Cradle and our Grave Which we still study how to pass away Tho' no Man can its pace one moment stay 'T is strange that Nature should such Joys resist By which we naturally do subsist So often tir'd with idle thoughts in health As if we knew not how to spend such wealth But daily-wish we could to Time add wings Tho' his approach no welcome tiding brings Yet various hopes still in our hearts create
angelick Happiness as he brings good Men to participate of in God's eternal Glory which natural infirmity of doubting can only by an illustrious Faith be removed and that Faith by frequent Prayers be obtained Then thus to live and so to die will make us live and die in great tranquility though not to reach St. Stephen's Faith who saw Heaven open to him yet to so great a degree of divine Raptures in Devotion as to be filled with elevations of an inward assurance of our Election which must come from God when the Soul is in such a blessed Trance of celestial Delight that is inessable to be described How near such joy is to the joy we read of in Paradise when servent Zeal is by a lively Faith so raised and fixed in God by frequent Meditations it is a wonder that such Men can fear to die or doubt togo to God with cheerful Hearts when thus invited and thus led by his holy Spirit with such bright illuminations of surprizing joys while those divine Flames last cheeras cannot be related When Men's hearts are warmed with such Seraphick high Transports of Love and Mercy from Almighty God to give true Penitents some taste of their eternal Glory that being thus enlightned they may not fear to die but rather welcome death who comes to carry them to Heaven which is the highest Exaltation of the Soul's joy so to delight in God that the expectation of Heaven may be more pleasant than all the momentary Fruitions of this World are compared unto a blessed incomprehensible Eternity Which neither Wit nor Fancy can express When multiplying numbers make it less When neither first nor last can e'er be known Points so far distant yet so join'd in one That the eternal Circle shews us none But is a secret known to God alone 'T is such a sacred Riddle so profound That humane Wisdom never can expound But leaves us still to wonder and adore What will be after and what was before On the Power of Faith THough Men by Nature born to fear and to avoid what may seem hurtful yet that fear by Grace and Faith may be converted into divine Valour of the highest kind as is evident by the Three Children in the fiery Furnace and by Daniel in the Lion's Den which with other the like Examples should invite such Men as trust in God not to fear what he only can prevent if he thinks fit and though a fearful Man cannot remove a Mole-hill for want of Faith much less Mountains how little Faith then have we when the noise only of Ill News does affright our unsetled Souls with dismal apprehensions of what may never happen more than the ill event brings with it if it do unto such pious men as live prepar'd to bear afflictions for few moments here with faithful joyful Thoughts of their eternal Happiness in Heaven So that we see the Power of Faith will remove the greatest terrour and work Miracles when Men dare trust in God Lord give me grace to live as I do write And as thy holy Spirit shall indite To manifest thy mighty Mercy shown To such a Reprobate as must own Christ's Doctrine to suffer CHrist's Doctrine is with patience to inure Our selves to suffer what he did endure On Earth from that malicious cursed Crew Who scorn'd his Miracles and boldly slew Their bless'd Messiah who did then submit To die because his Father did think fit That we redeemed by his precious Blood Might trust in him who dy'd to do us good And now may sighing sing and weeping pray Our death may prove our highest Holy-day When we with Christ in Paradise appear And shine amongst those blessed Angels there On the Power of Love to God TO love and fear God is what every good Christian doth own and what most Men think they do but very few I fear do understand what it is to love and fear Him as we ought with all our Heart Soul and Mind above all other Objects whatever which is a Lesson of great use to bring Men to Heaven who know that we are dying every moment that we live and can not with more pleasure here than we shall find by serving God thus For those who can love him with all their Heart and Mind will worship and adore him with the same Zeal and will obey praise thank pray and trust in him with the like servent affection in all their divine addresses with their utmost endeavours to be with him in Heaven which God never will reject nor can eternal Bliss be purchased at a lower rate of Love Thus God exposes Heaven to entice Good Men to purchase at the Market-price When Love with all its Perquisites comply To fix a blessed Immortality On such exalted Souls as take delight To meditate on his beatick sight When their enlightned Faith does bring them there Enrich'd with love they 'll bid adieu to fear And leave no arguments to justifie Such timorous Men as dare not think to die Though their eternal joy will then be such That none will have too little or too much And those who truly love will surely find Their happiness by God is predesign'd Who sees the heart and thoughts of every Man That loves and serves him to the best they can On Faith WHen Faith grows strong our Fancies will soar high To search the secrets of Eternity Which to our Souls are of so near concern That no man can a greater Lesson Learn Nor have a more serene celestial Bliss Than he 'll enjoy by practising of this Great step which by degrees will lead him on To the sacred Seat of his Adoption Where Faith 'bove all the Gifts of Grace will shine With Love in Bliss and Glory most divine On God's Mercy OUr God from us his Glory keeps conceal'd Because it would destroy us if reveal'd His essence we can never understand 'T is well if we obey his just Command For God to mortal Man will never teach Such great Secrets because what we can reach By Nature cloys as soon as had or known He therefore lets us live by Faith alone Still subject to so many hopes and fears That our prime Joys are damp'd by frequent tears Which daily do our sorrows multiply Until death comes to tell us we must die The only remedy ordain'd to cure All sorts of evils that we here endure Yet God in mercy makes amends at last To free us from all miseries are past By raising them to blifs who do their best To gain a share in his eternal rest Which best in God's esteem is to do all Was done by bless'd St. Stephen and St. Paul On true Valour HAppy are they who in these letter days Are fill'd with love with gratitude and praise To God whose joyful Soúls do ever fly With highest thoughts of their Eternity And by the actions of their lives declare That Faith in Christ has conquer'd their despair For all past Crimes and now with Death has made Strict
our tempestuous wicked minds Full fraught with terrours darkness and dismay While sin doth reign and satan bears the sway To be regenerate is to put on The bright raiment of the Resurrection The hardest Lesson that was ever taught The greatest Miracle that e'er was wrought Was Paul's Conversion and Mannasseh's Crimes Forgiven the hope and wonder of all times To be regenerate does put our God Unto a double task his Grace and Rod Are both employ'd for he must first subdue The old man's crimes ere he can frame a new It was Christ's highest business to convert Our stubborn hearts who labour to pervert The benefit of his most precious Blood So freely shed so little understood How to overcome Temptations by Meditation WHen Satan does our fickle hearts assault With pleasing Objects that do cause revolt From God with subtile arts he does surprize Before we can discover his disguise He has as many advocates within As we have appetites to plead for sin How shall we then avoid to be his prey When thus we do our selves our selves betray 'T is dangerous to treat unsafe to fight With foes at home the Enemy in sight So that our only safety's to retreat Send up our Souls unto the Mercy-seat Of God there fly for succour and there dwell Out of the reach of all the powers of hell There Satan cannot come dares not molest That Soul where Christ doth claim an interest When thus our God 's engaged to defend Wise Satan will not offer to contend He does our weakness and his Own Strength know When our vain hearts and we do dwell below Unsensible of those eternal joys Do entertain our selves with earthly toys Then is his time to dazle our weak eyes And win our hearts with glitt'ring vanities But if we love not this Captivity We must contemplate our eternity Tho' flesh be a dull lump that cannot fly Our thoughts have nimble wings to pierce the sky Rise upward then my Soul till thou obtain The highest pitch of Faith which will sustain Thy love to God and bring thee by degrees To taste and relish Heav'n's felicities A pious fancy rais'd by faith will reach Some glimpse of glory and in time will teach Thee to converse with Angels and to know Their glorious Mansions while I dwell below Thou may'st of Bliss a prepossession take Till both do Heaven our habitation make And thus thy unity with Christ discern The only Comfort and the high Concern When thou art full of these great joys above And dost return this ecstasie of love Will bring our God along and we shall here The same Heav'n have as if we both were there For Souls with such Divinity possess'd In spight of all temptations must be bless'd And thou my Soul by this celestial art Wilt soon spiritualize my fleshy heart Such antepasts of Bliss will raise desire From smoaking flax unto a flaming fire Which will my trust confirm my hope assure And will unto eternity endure Then Satan will on his own Envy feed And we shall gain a Victory indeed Queries HAst thou forsak'n thy known sins that were Just arguments for all thy doubts and fear Do Gospel-Graces in thy heart now grow Where various Vanities did overflow Can'st thou o'ercome thy self the World subdue Caesar was a less Conquerour than you Do'st thou love and fear thy God do'st thou dread To do amiss and trust in Christ thy Head Is the Resurrection thy firm belief Does it equal the crucified Thief Do'st thou think Heav'n in all its Beauty shines Brighter than Diamonds from our earthly Mines Do'st thou fancie what that great glory is That fills the Saints with everlasting Bliss Do'st thou believe thy self shall have a share In Paradise as an adopted Heir I do not doubt but thou wilt now say Aye To all those Quaeries of thy Piety There is yet one behind put to the test Will try the intrinsick value of the rest Do'st thou desire to be dissolv'd to be With Christ new-cloath'd with his Divinity The object of thy Faith and Prayers possess Which frees from ills and fills with happiness If the approach of death does make thee start Examin't well thou art not right at heart It is the business of our life to die And to fear death is infidelity In some degree or madness to desire To be in Heav'n that do'st from Heav'n retire To this some pious Christian may reply How can we chuse but be afraid to die When Christ the head of our Humanity Sweat drops of Blood in his great agony But his Passion differ'd from the small pain We feel he did the wrath of God sustain And on himself he all the torments drew Which for the sins of all the world were due And by that act alone destroy'd the sting Of death that so he might more eas'ly bring Mankind to Heav'n leaving us no pretence To fear the passage but our diffidence In the success We either doubt the bliss Or doubt that we the happiness shall miss Young Babes who neither fear nor fancy have Like equally the Cradle and the Grave A Pious Man fears no Danger DOth sickness poverty and shame unite Their forces and together 'gainst thee sight Do griefs abound do evil tongues desame Thy honest actions and asperse thy name With Lyes Art thou from honour tumbled down And dost now plow the Seas for new renown Where the loud winds do make high waves to rage Till they create a storm which does engage Thy ship 'mongst rocks that in the bottom lie And the next moment toss thee to the sky Where thunder with fierce lightnings do conspire To lick thee up into a flaming fire As if the Heavens did with the Seas contest Which of their power could most disturb thy rest Or hast thou ' scap'd the storm and now on shore Do'st meet with greater terrours than before Do the Mountains move and great Cities shake Does the Earth open and a passage make Unto the dark Centre as if the world Should once again be into Chaos hurl'd And all the joys and glories thou hast seen Be quite forgot as if they 'd never been Would'st thou be free from such Calamities As these trample on dangers and despise The terrours of the world Thou must then stand Under his wings that does the world command There six thy heart and hopes and thou wilt find Contentment for thy Body and thy mind There 's no safety nor joy to be compar'd To Piety nor peace like hearts prepar'd For Heav'n We must live so that when we die We may account that change felicity The Power of Faith 'T Is but a weak expression of our Faith Our Love and Gratitude to Christ who hath By his Death freed us from eternal fires If we do only bridle our desires It is not zeal enough that we refrain Our petty appetites and do constrain Our fancies and affections to retire From acts of momentary high desire Nor is it yet enough to be content With frequent
subtile Agent stand With all his wicked Instruments at hand Ready and glad to be employ'd while we Make haste to Hell by our impiety Till youth and vigour with its power decrease And cause our evil appetites to cease From wicked acts yet he 'll not give us o'er Nor quit us so He has new sins in store When wrinkled age adorns us with gray hairs He terrifies our hearts with high despairs Shews us the ills that we have done too great For pardon are and now too late to treat With Heav'n having resign'd our selves to Hell No holy Charm can e'er dissolve that Spell And dictates thus to our affrighted sense Repentance cannot balance our offence Who have so many years our God refus'd So many ways his Laws and Grace abus'd That in his Justice he can ne'er forgive Our Crimes Thus he torments us whil'st we live When flattering objects fail he thus presents Our fancies with despairing arguments That we must never hope to see God's face 'Cause we have sinn'd beyond the reach of Grace Out-gone the merit of Christ's Blood and have Done things beyond the power of God to save Thus by degrees he leads us to despair Never to hope for better than we are And thus by doubting God's Omnipotence To aggravate his wrath and our offence Unless our great and glorious God do please To free us from this Devil and this Disease So deadly to our Souls and let us see We may be yet redeem'd by Piety If we get Grace to pray and to repent With constant fervent zeal and full intent For ever to forsake and truly hate Those horrid Sins we doted on of late If we get faith to love and serve God thus No doubt he doth already pity us And will in time forgive there 's no dispute But Mercy is God's highest Attribute Severe in Justice yet of Grace not scant When chief of Sinners was the greatest Saint Our Reason must unto our Faith Submit LOrd I have search'd my heart but do still doubt It is not pure enough not clean throughout Nor can be till the Holy Ghost comes in And do assist in casting out of sin That so he may possession take for thee And I may hold my heart in Fealty To pay my God a thousand Thanks a day While thus thy Holy Spirit does bear sway O Holy Ghost when thou art once possess'd I shall not dare disturb so bless'd a Guest With a vile act or a vain thought that may Lessen my Bliss and drive my God away Thy presence will my wavering heart direct To Heaven and will from Enemies protect My Soul and me while thou art my defence Who dares contest with thy Omnipotence So cleans'd and so inform'd I shall soon learn To worship thee aright and shall discern The Mystery of Faith my Reason teach How to submit to what it cannot reach Faith shall take place my Fancy shall retire And I will be contented to admire The mighty Secrets of thy glorious Throne Which thou reserv'st unto thy self alone Lord tho' my heart can never understand The manner nor the motion of thy hand Nor all my Zeal and Fancy raise a thought To comprehend thy Essence as I ought I can persuade my Reason to give way Unto my Faith for if thy Gospel say 'T is so it is enough I do believe Tho' wonder how a Virgin did conceive And bring a Son who was both God and Man And do not doubt thy holy Spirit can Dwell in my heart and teach me to prevent Doubting that Christ is in the Sacrament Or searching of thy high Divinity How the Godhead becomes a Trinity I can see thee now in the Creation Full as great as in the Resurrection Though I know not how all these come to pass Thy Word says so it is and so it was And I believe 't while thou art mine my Faith No curiosity nor doubting hath To the Ambitious Envious Man DOes that Man's honour and his wealth abound Is his felicity sufficient ground For thee to envy what he does possess When thou dost feel no want though thine be less Such envy dwells not in a noble heart Yet I will teach thee a mysterious art Shall make ambition and thy envy swell As high as Heaven and yet thou shalt do well Thou want'st not understanding nor a wit But want'st the will and grace to manage it Let the dull Clown still multiply his Cows And make 't his business to enlarge his Mows The wary Merchant traffick on the Seas The Souldier kill as many as he please The Usurer injoy his full-stuff'd Bags And the gay Courtier boast his golden Rags And greatest Lords to highest Titles born Search all the World they never can adorn Themselves with wealth or glories that shall last Unto eternity Then do not waste Thy life on trifles let thy envy rise Do thou contest with those that Heav'n do prize With all that do pretend a better right Than thou to be God's greatest Favourite 'T is a noble and a brave Religion That allows thy envy and ambition To trample on the World in spight of fate Until thy forehead knock at Heaven Gate To the Luxurious Man ARe thy brave Statues Pictures Jewels Plate Which cost so many thousand pounds of late Destroy'd Is thy vast Building with thy Land Torn from thee by some unjust powerful hand And dost thou sit computing the great cost Of all thy Pleasures and this Treasure lost With a half broken heart and dost not see All this is to deface thy Luxury Which did thy Soul besot Till these were gone Thou hadst no leisure time to think upon Thy God who thus in Mercy and in Love Doth that calamity from thee remove That thy free heart may only Him adore And so be richer than thou wert before If Heaven and Earth be God's and he be thine Thou ought'st to thank him rather than repine Then will thy long-sick Soul recover health And thou possess an everlasting wealth Free from the Cares and Fears that daily hap To Men that seek their Bliss in Fortune's lap Love thy Neighbour as thy self IT is a prime and great Commandment To Love our Neighbour as our selves God meant Us happiness on Earth that did impose Severest Laws to make us love our Foes Including that our Friendships would not need A Law when hearts in unity agreed But we that still his Will prevaricate Do change this pleasant Precept into hate Throughout the World the daily Mischiefs show That Neighbourhood but little love do know We see the best of Men do often do What they themselves would not be done unto And few of us there be that do believe Our plenty should our Neighbour's wants relieve How few the sick do visit or endure The smallest Charges for a poor Man's Cure And yet we hope our God our selves will bless Who neither Love nor Charity express To love our Neighbour as we ought would be Mongst Men angelical Felicity My Toke is easie and
my Burthen light JESVS Christ the great Pattern of our Lives Does bid us follow him and loves who strives To imitate him most for he that can But near him come will be a blessed Man 'T is not commanded nor expected is That our own righteousness should equal His Our God from us doth nothing more require Than our utmost endeavours and desire To do his Will He only calls us to What he does give us Grace and power to do He wills us to believe obey and love But does not give us mountains to remove His yoke is easie and his Burthen light We make of Mole-hills Mountains in our sight To a strong young Man T'Hou'rt young 't is true and strong mayest yet Live many years but do not thou forget That young and healthy People often die By various accidents as suddenly As old nor yet expect that death must bring A Fever to fore-shew thou art dying When death with thee divides this minute's breath Though we call the last act of dying death Because we then do cease to die no more When we are dying all our lives before Thy youth and my gray head now dying are Thou need'st no other Summons to prepare For Heaven but observation every day What multitudes of young men drop away Only the old Man's Dream is almost gone The young Man's Dream but newly is begun The longest is like twinkling of an eye Moments compar'd unto eternity On Hypocrisie HE errs that owns his Crimes in the World's sight To avoid being thought a hypocrite We are not bound our frailties to reveal But may our shame with modesty conceal Rather than aggravate our sins 'gainst God By boasting that we do contemn his Rod. But he that does a feigned Zeal put on To cloak his sins doth scorn Religion And does not only with his base intents Contemn Obedience to Commandments But does that way design his God should shroud His wickedness under a holy cloud And does God's Goodness mock thus to presume Rudely to move his anger to consume Such mad-men as do his known power despise By daring to affront him in disguise Who thinks a Vizard on his face can hide His heart God does such hypocrites deride And will in fury finite so bold offence As undervalues his Omnipotence To GOD. WHen I look back on my past life the ills That I have done my heart with horrour fills And does amaze my frighted Soul to see Thy Judgments due to such impiety But since thy Mercy hath so long forborn To smite and thou art pleas'd at last to turn My heart to Heaven when I was running on Heaping sins on sins to my perdition I bless thy Name that would not let me go To Hell nor suffer me to perish so This Grace gives hope and does my Faith encrease To Confidence that thou wilt now release Me from the punishments and from the shame Due to my Crimes and make me love thy Name It is thy own great Work the honour 's thine I cannot own a vertuous thought for mine Shall I then fear to raise my thoughts to thee When thou dost fill my heart with Piety When my assurance is thy gift I may Approach thy glorious Throne and humbly say Thy Grace hath such a Confidence begot As cannot be in one that loves thee not Lord let this love encrease let it endure Unto my end make my Election sure That I may feast my Soul with thoughts of thee My God the Fountain of Felicity Thus fill'd with Grace and by thy Spirit led I shall for ever live when I am dead And with true courage when I come to die Shall gladly pass to my eternity On a bold profane Sinner WE may well fear great Judgments in our times That dare to boast and glory in our Crimes To sin is humane frailty but to slight Religion and to make 't our chief delight To show how we can triumph in the act Of ev'ry sin does aggravate the fact And make us worse than Heathens heretofore Who never scorn'd those Gods they did adore But Christians now do take the liberty To own no Joy but in the infamy Of their worst deeds and do a War proclaim With Heaven as if they could their God desame The Giants war by Poets feign'd came short Of those who use Devotion as a Sport And rally on their Priests who stories tell To awe the ignorant with Heaven and Hell While Wit and Courage do disdain to be Frighted from Pleasure by such Foppery Thus some gay Gallants of our age do treat Their God as if his Precepts were a cheat To make us live in fear and trembling die With idle Dreams of an Eternity If these Opinions like Contagions spread God may in rigour strike the Nation dead Then sow the Land with Dragons teeth fit seed For soil that does such monstrous people breed On Eternal Life NO sooner born than we begin to die By Nature taught to cry we know not why Till riper years do teach us wicked arts To cozen and betray our wanton hearts That boldly dare our great Creator brave By sinning from our Cradle to our Grave Sad fate for Souls thus destin'd to obey The various Vices of corrupted Clay Involv'd in dangers that we do not fear Because the certain ruine seems not near Till some diviner light our hearts inform How to fail safe in this devouring storm Bless'd be that light which does from terrour free And make us Victors in Captivity For Souls by Grace enlarg'd will quickly taste Such Joys as no Eternity can waste Thus born to live and yet ordain'd to die And live again is such a mystery As only Faith can reach and shew us how To out-live Death by pious living now Which will a prepossession take of Bliss And such angelical transports as this Will such a bless'd celestial Courage give We shall be glad to die that we may live On Valour and Fear VAlour mistaken through the World we see When rashness looks like Magnanimity When senseless Drunkards vap'ring in the Street For want of Courage quarrel all they meet When practised danger brings the meanest Clown To vie with Alexander for Renown When shame will fear remove and money hire The scum of Men to face the Cannon's fire We must some other Rules for Valour find That grows from Vertues of a higher kind These Men do not know why They do not fear to die Experience shews the Valiant and the Wife May start at the first glimpse of a surprise And may avoid such squabbles as will stain Their Courage and no jot of Credit gain High Valour and true Vertue brightly shine When they 're asserted by a Cause Divine When King and Country or thy Church wants aid 'T is basest Cowardice to be afraid True Courage will endeavour to create Safety to them though ruine be their fate These are the Men know why They do not fear to die On Repentance WHen Adam fell GOD did a Curse disperse On all
therefore beg thy holy Spirit may Direct my Faith and teach me how to pray On a Reprobate's Repentance I Thank my God that now my Zeal doth burn Like the joy'd Prodigal 's in his return Tho' not adorn'd with glorious Robes and Rings To fix the reconciled Sons of Kings I meet my Father with his smiling face After his anger and my just disgrace Who will so great a Reprobate embrace And with bless'd Comforts make my heart aspire To such a Sonship as I most desire Such as may Adam's Innocence excell In paradise before he finn'd and fell The Hope of a true Penitent LOrd now my Soul does relish a delight In thee I am assur'dly in the right And will not doubt but my addresses may With hope encourage my joy'd heart to pray For a prime place in the great Judgment-day Where no Man's Vertue can by merit claim Such Mercy as belongs to God's great Name Where Sorrow only and Repentance can Restore to savour a relapsed man Thus will the solitary hours I spend In worshipping of God in glory end If I perform the Sonship I pretend On Faith with Repentance LOrd let thy grace and mercy never cease To make my joy and gratitude encrease By hating my beloved former Crimes And repetitions in these purer Times Since now 't is clearly taught and understood That we are ransom'd by our Saviour's Blood When worthily receiv'd with faith and love 'T will comfort bring and sure Salvation prove With what care then as an invited Guest Should I prepare for this celestial Feast Where Penitence with Faith assur'dly brings Full pardons unto Beggars as to Kings Words quickly said and are as soon forgot As our past sins which we remember not So often as we ought with grief and shame Nor long rejoyce to be thus freed from blame That by a miracle of mercy gain Eternal bliss through our great Prophet slain On a good Man's desire to be in Heaven THose who dare shake the Hour-glass in Death's hand To make the quicker passage for the Sand Have mounting Souls with a serene delight To hasten us to God's beatick sight And surely may a better welcome gain Than those that longer would on Earth remain To a careless Sinner THou dost not sure believe that thou shalt die Or never think'st upon it seriously Because thou liv'st as if thou didst disdain After this life ever to rise again Else thou wouldst set a higher price upon The Glories of thy Resurrection For 't is not possible a Man of sense Can always hold so ill intelligence With Heaven as not to wish or not to fear He never may or never would come there Some Caveats WHen petty Pleasures are procur'd with Gold When youth is gone and we decrpeid old There 's no more Gusto than a Tale twice told The greatest Monarchs while they flourished Were honour'd and ador'd but being dead Were soon forgot and only pitied So that whatever Marble Tombs pretend All their gay glories never can defend Their pamper'd bodies from the Beggar 's end Caesar and Alexander both became The highest splendor of a glorious Name And yet in some things both deserved blame So that when Men have all the World subdu'd They may themselves and all their Fame delude Unless they do in Piety conclude Those mighty Hero's car'd not to be good But brave because they never understood The sacred Sanction of our Saviour's Blood But those who saw the Miracles he did And heard how boldly he their Crimes forbid Are justly scourg'd instead of being chid What 's our due then who do believe yet run The course which that accursed Crew begun To flight God and re-crucifie his Son Which shews Men want some Caveats to restrain The idle Fancies of a busie Brain That frequent losses bring instead of gain These serious Thoughts are Caveats to despise Such Crimes as from our idle hours may rise And captivate our Senses in disguise Till by a power divine we can obtain Such bright serener joys as will sustain Our Souls and to eternity remain For we are born to learn and to express By daily actions what we do prosess To purchase everlasting happiness On Poverty PUre honest Poverty in former times Was no disgrace but now our latter Crimes Have introduc'd new kinds of punishments To expiate our sins for old Contempts In luxury and such profuse expence That we are now chastiz'd for that offence With Penury to make us own our shame And free all present accidents from blame Which from God's mercy now to us is sent To make our most obdurate hearts repent And yet there may such poverty proceed From wicked Men whose malice have decreed Our ruine to get wealth for their support In spight of right or their damnation for 't And such absurd base scandals do invent That no man's innocence can e'er prevent From such Devils good Lord deliver me As hate all those who truly worship thee And with profound repentance do submit To all the judgments that our God thinks fit And make the poverty I now endure For all excesses past a perfect cure On Pride OF all the Vanities I know 't is Pride Which all the World most justly may deride That like an Ass with golden Trappings dress'd Thinks himself 'bove all other Beasts the best And when he brays does all that hear him fright Mistaking their amazement for delight Like gilded Fools that only learn of late To strut and make loud noise when they do prate For Pride did ne'er the greatest man adorn Nor free him from God's hate and wise Men's scorn Satan for Pride and for Ambition sell With his accursed Crew from Heav'n to Hell On Pride's Kindred PRide's next of kin are such as do despise Their Neighbours for the Motes in their dark Eyes Who first their own Beams should remove then learn That Rule by which they may such Motes discern And by this caution constantly prevent Such rash Censures that do raise discontent Between good Friends who seldom will endure A blind Man's Precepts till himself he cure On this Day 's Sacrament received Septemb. 3 1693. LORD I Did believe but not such joy conceive As since I did thy Sacrament receive To ratifie thy mercy and my zeal By adding of thy Holy Spirit 's Seal Upon my heart to manifest thy love And all my doubts and fears by faith remove Which made me shrink from death but now my voice Shall Hallelujah's sing and Soul rejoice To celebrate this Victory obtain'd O'er all my fins by thy bless'd Conduct gain'd How great then is my Obligation grown If thou wilt this day my Election own By adding joys on joys and grace on grace Till I in glory come to see thy face And now adore and worship thy great Name With warm addresses from this sacred Name On Adoption I Have read that he who lives in a constant uniform Obedience to the Gospel and performs the Conditions required in it departs sincerely from iniquity and
Meditations are Divine When God with secret Bliss such joys imparts As does create true Zeal in pious hearts And doth their Souls with flaming Love invite To Paradise inessable to write Unless his Holy Spirit should indite To my Old Sick Friend MY good Old Friend why so sad does thy Age decline so fast that the Idea of thy Grave frights thee with fear to die Are we not all dying and none knows who shall go next nor how soon be gone if this occasion thy dismay I will teach thee an Antidote that will dispell the Poyson of that Serpent's bite and turn that universal carse of Death into a State of Bliss if thou can'st raise thy dejected Spirit to a quick sense of sharing the Eternal Joys of Heaven with those departed Saints who by Faith Prayer and Penitence are now exalted thither Let thy melancholy Meditations and Preparations for the Grave be changed from a Gaol delivery into a constant chearful zealous Conversation in thy Divine Retirements with God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost by a total Resignation of thy Soul and all thy concerns unto them and think with pleasure how near thou art arrived to thy Journeys end to be with them in Paradise Then such Celestial Thoughts will be thy most pleasant entertainment and surely meet with surprising joy from Faith in Christ's plenteous Redemption which will beget a hearty speedy welcome unto Death's arrival who comes to conduct thee to Eternal Bliss and thou wilt also find that every devout step towards this felicity of thy approaching Salvation will make thy heart dance with a Saint-like delight to battle the terrors of the Grave with a serene prospect of thy Eternal Happiness at hand and so make thy last hours full of Angelical transporting joy to be with God the moment thy Soul expires fix thy heart thus and all sad Thoughts will vanish when a sincere Faith becomes predominant Thy Heart by practice will delight in this Divine Elixir of Eternal Bliss On vain Projectors NO mortal Man can limit or restrain The boundless fansies of another's brain But may such Fetters on his own Thoughts lay As will keep them from wandring much astray But naturally Men add wings to try How high their vain ambitious Hearts can fly Until like Icarus their waxen Wings Do melt and all their hopes to ruin brings But when our Souls do with Angellick Love Soar high they will Celest'al joys improve To flaming Zeal and raise our hearts so high As will discern our Immortality To my Rich Friend become Poor TEll me Old Friend and speak the truth If twenty Dishes in thy Youth Did then more please and gratifie Thy Stomach with that Gluttony Which did Diseases daily breed Till now thou dost on one Dish feed Tell me if now thy constant health Gives not more joys than thy lost Wealth Afforded by thy vast excess In frequent Treats and Wantonness Which made a noise more than content For all thy charge and time mispent When to the Poor half that expence Would have procur'd God's Providence And fav'd the loss of thy Estate Which thou hast thought upon too late Tho' now thou dost aloud prosess Thy Poverty proves Blessedness On Injustice IF Charity to Men be God's Command Justice must in much higher favor stand If neither can in wicked Men find place They slight God's Anger and despise his Grace But these are petty Crimes when Avarice Doth harden hearts for gold and Souls intice To sell Salvation at so cheap a Rate Such villanous intentions aggravate When a design'd premeditated cheat With a bold-fac'd fraud shall just Right defeat And a false Cause by power shall justifie Hell only can reward such Infamy For God with indignation does declare He will Poor Men's Oppressors never spare Against Momentary Ioys NOW let my Friend from sighs and sorrow cease For Crimes repented let thy joy increase For thy serene assurance lately gain'd Of pardon by thy Saviour's Blood obtain'd Let thoughts of thy Eternal Glory rise And scorn all Earthly Bawbles that surprise Unsteady Souls with present fading Toyes That cloud the brighter Beams of Heav'nly joys And boldly do those glitt'ring bubbles try In hope they 'll last unto Eternity Who raise their idle fancies by their wit To practise Atheism rather than submit To part with present Moments of delight To purchase Heav'n with God's Beatick sight Who with his known Decrees will not comply But think to live till they are pleas'd to dye Tho of such Men it may be truly said They are that moment both alive and dead The Terror of Death by Death is cured IF Death were not for Sin from Heaven sent It could not be esteem'd a punishment To be deliver'd from our daily woe While 'twixt our Roses Thorns and Thistles grow So that our care should be to weed our hearts From soul excrescents by such holy Arts As will that fatal sting of Sin destroy And so convert our sorrows into joy When we the Pangs of such a Death endure As doth produce both Punishment and Cure To my Old Friend on his Birth-day MY Friend thou dost well to celebrate thy Birth-day as a vow'd Sacrifice to God because he did reserve the first born to himself of Living Creatures and thou art one But let not thy Altar be adorn'd with a superfluous Treat with too many slagons of rich Wine and Tables throng'd with Wealthy Guests as if it were a Bacchanalian Feast But such a moderate Meal for thy own Servants with some Poor Neighbours that may soberly rejoyce to see a New Year begin with a propitious prospect of thy insuing happiness and pray thy Piety and charity may Shine round about thy Habitation here on Earth until thou art advanc'd to Heaven Death is the Beggars highest Holiday 'T Is but a saint Felicity that any Man can have in all the Honours Treasures and Pleasures of this World without a joyful inward assurance of his Salvation when the next moment an angry Neighbour or a Tyrant Prince can end his days Or Sickness by tormenting pains turn all his joy into sorrow while he lives with despairing terrors worse than all at the approach of Death when a poor pious Beggar will die transported full of Celestial Joys for his highest Holiday and be as welcome into Heaven as the greatest Monarch And therefore may be well and truly said Both Souls are of the same sine Substance made To my merry Friend WHY now so joyful my good Friend has thy Princes smiles this Morning added new feathers to thy Heart that makes it fly so high His frowns to morrow may turn those gay feathers into Lead tho' thou deserve not such a change Consider now such frequent sad Fates as do besal the craftiest Men that only truth in mortal accidents for their support in Princes savours and raise thy Souls delight in Service of the King of Kings whose savours will endure unto Eternity above the reach of Earthly Storms and then thy Prince's favours will have a sure foundation to subsist on with higher joys than any Sycophants black Arts by Malice or by Envy can disturb thy Peace or Pleasures when a good Conscience is so center'd and so fix'd on God For no Man can imagine the constant felicity of a strict pious Life in all conditions but he that is so reconciled with a lively Faith to God as chearfully to part with all the glitt'ring Bubbles of this World to enjoy everlasting Bliss in Heaven which ought to be the supreme hope of our best endeavours On the fear of Death THO Men by nature Born to fear to Die May still account it a great misery When Piety and Prayer can't prevail To change the pow'r of that severe Intail Tho' all our Hearts and Souls do still agree To frame our Minds to God's most bless'd Decree Because no other means like that the best To bring Mankind to his Eternal Rest. Yet our weak Faith cannot the credit gain By Heavenly joys and glory to obtain Such Courage and a Valour so Divine Rather to Die with joy than to repine To part with fading pleasures that no Age Can for one moments certain time engage They shall abide nor can find any cure That Men on Earth for ever shall endure How great a shame and folly then that we Should fear to go where we desire to be And so preferr our miseries on Earth Before a bless'd and glorious chearful Death That will in gratitude the surest way Our Souls to God in Paradise convey When Faith with such a Zeal shall so comply 'T will shew a Godly Gallantry to Die On the Art of Meditation WHO will the Art of meditation learn Must make each Paragraph his chief concern For some few moments to consider on Lest reading more create confusion And unavoidably disturb the Brain With more at once than what it can retain When Piety by Art is thus refin'd It will rejoyce the heart inrich the mind With sacred Thoughts beyond all Earthly care Till flesh be turn'd into Angelick Air. All Men should live as ever in God's sight And make Devotion their supreme delight And then observe how God does Grace return To make Seraphick Joy the brighter burn