Soul Is this giving all diligence to make my calling and election sure when I am infinitely more concerned how to secure a small sum of Money than I am to secure those Treasures which fade not away Will God give a reward to Men that stand yawning and stretching themselves in his Vineyard unresolv'd whether they shall work or no A reward indeed they shall have but such a reward as hypocrites receive a reward from which Good Lord deliver us And am I so stupified that nothing of all this can move me neither the Glory of God nor the interest of my Soul nor all that can be said against my want of Zeal and fervency of Spirit Were these reason laid home by serious consideration it would rowze the Soul from her slumber and make her see how dangerous her rest is and how deer that sleep will cost her she is for the present lull'd in if it be not suddenly dispell'd and scatter'd but want of consideration makes the careless sinner fancy God such a one as himself one that is pleas'd with his indifferency in Religion as well as himself this is it makes him entertain very gross absurd and unreasonable conceits concerning that all Wise most Excellent and most lovely Being despise a Treasure of infinite value trample on the pearl of price and forget what the hope of God's calling is and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance is in the Saints Had the Covetous but a Heart to think with himself vain foolish man How loath am I to confess my self guilty of this vice How do I deceive my self with the fair names of good Husbandry and Frugality but will these delusions stand the fire Will these Paper Walls be proof against everlasting burnings if there be such a sin as covetousness and that sin so odious to God and his Holy Angels as Christ and his Apostles make it and so great an impediment to everlasting happiness as the Scripture represents it it must needs be worth knowing whether I am infected with this plague especially since my behaviour and actions look as if I were why should the Apostle call this sin Idolatry but because it makes men set their affections on the World more than upon that which is to come and more on their Riches Estate or Incomes than upon God and everlasting Glory whereby God is robb'd of his Honor and that high Esteem and Love which is God's due as he is God is given to be creature which in Gods sight is Lighter than nothing and vanity and is not this my case How is my Soul fix'd upon this World How close doth my heart stick to the profits and advantages it affords How is my Soul bound up with my Corn and Wine and Oyl How do I fancy that all my happiness is gone when these outward comforts are gone Did sin ever grieve me a quarter so much as a temporal loss Did offending a Gracious God ever cost me the tenth part of the Tears I shed for being deprived of a little shining Clay How hearty is my joy under the blessings of Gods left hand How little am I affected with the blessings of his right How far greater satisfaction doth my thriving in the world give me than my thriving in Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ How loath am I to honour God with my substance How unwillingly how grudgingly do I part with any thing considerable for Charitable uses How loath am I to part with any of this worlds Goods for Gods service How happy do I count my self when Religion doth cost me nothing How loath am I to be any at charges for Heaven How doth it grieve me when I spend any thing upon Religion How do I dote upon these sublunary vanities How far greater pains do I take to be rich than to be happy for ever How can I dispense with a sin for profits sake How little of my desires and breathings hath God and a bleeding Saviour How dull am I under the most lively descriptions of the joys of Heaven How dull under the stupendous offers of Grace and Mercy How dead under the joyful message of pardon How dull when tempted by all the ravishing arguments of Gods love to love him above all What means my unwillingness to take God for my greatest portion What means that quickness sagacity and wisdom when my Riches Plenty or worldly prosperity is concerned and that strange dumpishness when God courts and beseeches my Soul to lay hold on Eternal Life Are not these evident signs that the World draws and attracts my Heart most powerfully God sees my Heart is not upright with him he sees I am afraid to take up with him alone he sees how covetousness hath possess'd my Soul and can I cherish this root of an evil in my Breast and not tremble at the danger my Soul is in Am I by the Apostles verdict an Idolater and do I make light of so great a guilt if no Idolater must expect a Crown of Glory alas what can I look for but Eternal Darkness when I read that it 's easier for a Camel to enter through the eye of a Needle than for a rich man who sets his heart on his Riches to enter into Heaven am not I frighted with the expression I find how this sin deprives me of a Holy communion with God and shall I loose my greatest comfort and support and satisfaction for it If any man love the World the love of the Father is not in him and can I be contented without the love of God if God be not my friend what doth the friendship of the whole World signify When my Soul must leave this Tabernacle and appear before Gods Barr O God I shall have so many witnesses against me that I shall not know what to say or whether to betake my self for refuge the Poor will accuse me because I have not open'd my Hand and Heart to them my own Conscience will accuse me because I have not been a good Steward of the means God gave me the Ministers of God will accuse me because whatever was laid out upon my Pride and Lust was thought too little and the least kindness I shew'd to those that wait at Gods Altar too much The Devils will accuse me because having a Soul so great so noble so precious I did employ it chiefly in scraping a little Dross and Dung together nay the Lord Jesus will accuse me because his example of contentedness and Heavenly mindedness would not allure me into imitation God will accuse me because having furnish'd me with all the motives and encouragements imaginable to mind Heaven more than Earth I preferr'd this Earth before all the joyes of Heaven and how shall I bear up under all this weight Would the poor deluded Worldling but let such thoughts sink into his Heart what a damp would it strike on his strong desires after the World and how would it make his immoderate love
Gifts or Abilities I have they are thy Gifts and Characters of thy Compassion Thou order'st my steps thou art about my bed and about my paths and dost preserve me in all my ways many a time should I have stumbled and fallen and perish'd irrcoverably but that thou hast supported me and given charge to thy Holy Angels to be my Guardians O my God! how often have I deserv'd thine anger and yet in the midst of thy wrath thou thinkest upon mercy What judgements mightst not thou have inflicted on me for my wilful sins but thou hast sent none as yet and all to magnify thy mercy every morning thy mercies are renew'd upon me and with the natural there rises upon me the Sun of righteousness with healing under his wings Thou prosper'st my endeavours givest success to all my lawful undertakings thou preserv'st me from those disasters which befall other men How wisely dost thou order my affairs How often dost thou bring light out of darkness and turnest my affliction into the greatest joy How wonderufl are thy Providences to me and mine How often have I fear'd such an accident would be my ruine and God hath turn'd it into the greatest good How wisely hast thou many times denied me temporal mercies because thou hadst a mind to enrich me with spiritual Blessings in Heavenly places What Friends what Benefactors hast thou rais'd me How miraculously hast thou turn'd the hearts of Men many times into mercy and compassion for my good How often hast thou heard my Prayer and granted me the request of my Lips When I have been in the greatest straits how hast thou shewn me a way to escape How strangely hast thou wheel'd things about for my deliverance How hast thou allur'd me by the various tokens of thy Love to love thee better than the World How great hath been thy care of my temporal concerns but how far greater thy care of the weighty concerns of my Soul How strong have been the convictions thou hast vouchsafed me How great the light thou hast imparted to me How bright that knowledge thou hast revealed to me How numerous the checks of my own conscience which thou hast sent me How frequent the motions of thy spirit thou hast shed into my Soul How often hast thou reason'd the case and expostulated with me and as the Angel did to Balaam stood in a narrow way where there was no turning neither to the right nor to the left and all because thou wouldst not have me stand out any longer against thy most Gracious offers of Salvation How hast thou adjur'd me by the bowels of Jesus by the wounds and agonies of the Son of God to dye unto sin and to live unto righteousness How strange hath been thy condescension and doth not all this deserve my love Is not here enough to warm my affections towards thee False stubborn heart What canst thou plead for thy averseness from God after such a prospect of his favours Notwithstanding my long contempt of these loving kindnesses of the Lord I am alive yet and on this side Hell How may I stand amazed at this prodigious long suffering of my God Had any man but shewn me the ten thousandth part of that love which God hath manifested to me how should I love him how should I adore his Name How should I study to please him What pains should I take to manifest my gratitude How should I revere his memory How should I speak of his favours How should I praise his munificence Can mans kindnesses be so prevalent and shall not the goodness of God fire my Soul into a practical love to his Name Can I do less than love him to whom I owe all I have To love him is my happiness my interest my greatest felicity O my God shall I love a little shining Clay a little Dust a little Earth and not love thee who art worth more than ten thousand worlds Shall I love Father and Mother and not love thee who hast been better to me than my Parents and when my Father and Mother have forsaken me hast taken me up and with everlasting kindness visited me Shall I love my Friend and shall not I love thee my Joy my Treasure my Hiding-place But how can I love thee except I keep thy Commandments How can I be thy Friend except I doe whatsoever thou commandest me Shall I love thee in words only who hast loved me in Deeds Shall I flatter thee with my Lips and hate thee in my Heart Shall I Judas like kiss thee and betray thee love thee and love my sins which are thy greatest enemies did I but love thee as I do a dear friend how easy would all thy Precepts seem How little reason should I have to complain of the tediousness of thy Yoak What great what noble what generous actions would thy love put me upon Should I pretend to love my Prince and affront his Law how soon would my love be accused of a lye How can I be said to love thee while I hate to conform my self to thy Will and Pleasure How vain will my love appear in the last day if it hath been a stranger to obedience here The Angels love thee and they have no other way to demonstrate their Love but by running at thy commands Doe I hope to be like unto the Angels of God hereafter and shall not I take pattern by their obediential love while I sojourn here O my God thou art the proper object of my love I rob thee of thy Honour and commit Sacriledge if I love any thing here below better than thee I am married to thee and I must love nothing above thee When no eye pittied me to have compassion upon me when I was cast into the open field to the loathing of my Person Ezek. 16.5 6 7 8. thou didst pass by me and sawest me polluted in mine own Bloud and saidst unto me when I was in my Bloud Live thou didst cause me to multiply as the bud of the field and when it was the time of Love thou didst spread thy skirt over me and coveredst my nakedness and swearest unto me and entredst into a Covenant with me and I became thine and shall my Soul be married to so great a Prince and play the Harlot O my Lord hast thou united me so close unto thee and shall I defile my self by setting my love on trifles What Man what Devil can hurt me while I love thee without whose command no creature dares stir or move What should discourage me from loving thee when I have all the promises of the Bible to prompt me to it If I loose in this World by loving thee hast not thou Treasures enough to recompence my losses If men despise me for loving thee hast not thou Honour and Glory enough to crown me withal If I do not thrive in outward Riches by loving thee hast not thou who art rich in mercy a pearl of price to bestow upon me
to these sublunary Riches break into longings after a nobler Inheritance but neglecting this he Serpent-like feeds on Dust and prepares for anxiety discontent and vexation of Spirit and for a miserable death like a Hog lies rooting in the Earth and buries his Soul in a Chest of Money despises all admonitions to Charity and like the Smiths Dog can hear the hammering and beating of his Master and endure the sparks flying about his ears without being stirr'd or concern'd at it Hypocrisie is a sin which the painted Christian does not easily part withal yet would he reflect like a person that hates to sow pillows under his own Elbows can I read Christ's discourses against the Pharisees and not ask my own heart whether the Pharisees temper be an emblem of my complexion Have I no self-end in any Religious Duty What is it puts me many times upon doing good applause from Men or the love of God Do not I pretend God's Glory sometimes when I aim at nothing but mine own Do not I draw nigh to God with my Lips when in my heart and conversation I deny him Do not I by pretending to please God neglect my Duty to my neighbor Am not I more severe in pressing the lesser concerns of Religion than I am in urging the greater Doe not I commend that in a rich or great man which I can reprehend in my inferiors or meaner persons Do not I require those Duties of other men which my self am loath to practise Do not I applaud my self for my own sanctity while I despise others whom I fancy not so Holy as I am Am not I more curious to know other mens conditions than mine own Am not I more zealous in publick than I am in private Am not I Religious for filthy lucre's sake Do not I make a gain of Godliness and use Religion as a cloak to cover my secret sins Do not I make Devotion a scaffold to erect my own credit and profit by What is hypocrisie if this be not Though I can hide it from the sight of Men can I conceal it from him who knows my down-sitting and my up-rising and understands my thoughts afar off Can I remember the fate of Judas and not think of a serious repentance Can I hear the Son of God call so often Woe Woe to ye Hypocrites and hug the sin in my bosom Shall I harbor a Snake there which will sting me into endless gnawings of Conscience How shortly will all these delusions be discover'd Before I am a few days older God may summon me and lay open all my deceits and juglings in Religion Do I think to blind the Eyes of him in whose Book all my Members are set down Is the portion of Hypocrites no discouragement What promise in the Gospel can I lay hold of during this condition They all run to the upright in heart and must I go without these Cordials Must I see others run away with these Treasures while my self can expect nothing but Gods curse and anger Must I see others go to possess the Promis'd Land while I must stay behind in a Wilderness Must I see others gather Manna and feed upon the rich clusters of Canaan while my own Soul must perish for want of that Bread of Life Lord who shall abide in thy Tabernacle who shall dwell in thy Holy Hill He that walks uprightly and works righteousness and speaks the Truth in his Heart And must I have no seat in yonder Mansion No House in that Jerusalem which is above No habitation in that City which hath foundations whose Maker and Builder is God O my Soul stay not here in Mesheck dwell no longer in the Tents of Kedar Away and hate this Garment spotted by the Flesh. Such serious thoughts would check Hypocrisie but the vain man hardens his Heart against them locks them out will give them no entertainment and that makes him serve God to please the Devil and turn Religion into a meer shew and formality burn in Words and freeze in Deeds and like that Son in the Gospel say I goe Sir but he goes not From the Premisses we may easily guess what to think of other sins viz. that the great cause of them is want of consideration and therefore the Holy Ghost likens men that live in any sin or indulge themselves in any transgression to a Horse that rushes into the Battel and considers not what he doth ventures among Swords and Arrows and the greatest dangers without recollecting what will be the issue of it Jer. 8.6 Consideration is the Bridle that must govern our sense and appetite take that away and the Beast runs away with the Rider and hastens him into a thousand inconveniences CHAP. VI. Of the various advantages of serious consideration it 's that which makes a man master of all Christian Duties it helps a man to improve sublunary Objects into Heavenly Contemplations It 's the greatest support under afflictions disposes a man to be a worthy receiver of the Lords Supper Prepares him for an Angelical Life on Earth makes him prudent and discreet in Secular affairs and businesses THough in the preceding Chapters we have already in a great measure discover'd what Men may hope for from Consideration and of what use it is to a truly serious and Christian life yet we must not leave so rich a subject thus without giving an account of some other positive advantages which do render it very desirable to a rational man And 1. It hath most certainly a very great influence upon all Christian Duties whatever qualification Christ or his Apostles require or recommend it 's by consideration of the excellency and dignity of that Duty that Men must expect to arrive to it The first and great Commandment is Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and will all thy Soul and with all thy mind But he shall never be master of this Duty that doth not frequently and seriously consider the immense and stupendous love of God to him and indeed then I may hope to be acquainted with a sincere and cordial love to God when I give leave to such considerations as these to impregnate my understanding O my God can I think of so great so holy so infinite so merciful so munificent a Being and forbear to be enamour'd with thee whence are all my Mercies but from thee thou art the Spring the Fountain of them all Whatever Blessings are convey'd to me by the hands of Second Causes they come originally from thee and thou mov'st and order'st those Second Causes to come in to my assistance By thee have I been upheld ever since I was born when I lay in the shades of nothing thou didst awake me into a Being gavest me a rational Soul a Soul capable of admiring adoring and worshiping thee and ever since thy mercies have follow'd me and thou hast been a pillar of a Cloud unto me by day and a pillar of Fire by night what Parts
Son of God when he was on Earth would have joyned himself to one particular man and would have never departed from him What a priviledge then must it be for one who is Gods friend to have the Divinity always present with him not only as a companion but as an inhabitant for he dwells in us by his spirit Did ever any Father love his Son so as never to part company did ever any Mother love her Child as never to suffer it to goe from her Arms But God is continually embracing his friends Among Men a Father cannot be always there where his Son is but God knows not how to be from him that is his friend and though God be in all creatures by his Essence Presence and Power yet that is because he is God with a Gracious Soul he is because that Soul is his friend and if God were not immense and infinite and could not be with his other creatures yet he would be with such a Soul with whom he is one Spirit and if he could forget things yet he could not forget such a Soul or lay aside the thoughts of his prosperity and welfare and if he could forsake his other creatures yet he could not forsake such a Soul but would work always some good or other in her for Gods love being strong it s always active and where God bears a good Will to a Soul he cannot but communicate goodness to her And shall I after all this repine because I am not a Favourite of Kings and Princes when I have God for my constant guide and associate How should I stand amazed at the strangeness of the favour if God should charge all the Angels of Heaven all the ten thousand times ten thousand Spirits which wait upon him to goe and attend such a man with all the Grandeur and Majesty imaginable yet what is all this but a desart to Gods society in having him for my associate I enjoy more Dignity more Majesty more Pomp and Glory than if I had all the Armies of Heaven waiting upon me and can I think God is always with me and will not provide for me If I should neglect all things in the world and mind nothing but the things of God and my Fathers business I might he confident that he would feed me and support me because so Great so Good so Almighty so kind a friend could not see me perish The Son of God hath not honoured any Angel with the name of Brother and yet if I am united to him by Grace and by his Spirit I enjoy this priviledge and as Mothers love those Children most for which they have suffered and endured most so I may be confident that God loves me most fervently because he hath suffered for me on the Cross and endured most bitter tortures and agonies for me How may I exult how may I triumph in this love O my God! the Angels for the least drop of that Grace thou hast bestowed on them are more beholding to thee than all other creatures for all their natural gifts and for the creation of the whole world but for the least degree of Grace thou hast conferred on me I am more beholding to thee than all the Angels in Heaven for that I might live by Grace thou delivered thine own Son the Son of thy Bosom the brightness of his Fathers Glory to be crucified and to dye for me which is more than thou hast done for all the Angels in Heaven and thus thou hast obliged me more than thou hast done the Heavenly Cherubins and Seraphins Farewel ungrateful treacherous World I have seen enough of thy deceitful Presents I 'll follow thy weak judgement no longer I 'll esteem no Riches but what my Saviour hath counted so In following him I cannot erre self-denial and doing the Will of God were the Treasures he studied to be master of why should not I judge that to be Riches which God hath judged so why should not my mind agree with the verdict of the Most High Nay when God doth love me so entirely why should not I for love of him conform my understanding to his judgement I see those that love the world at the same time confess that they ought to love the everlasting Riches more for if the fading things deserve their love things permanent and solid and eternal ought to be loved much more I will not think much of afflictions now for I find that God by them would make me weary of my fondness to perishable trash and elevate and raise my Soul to embrace those Treasures which neither Men nor Devils can steal away Physitians I see when they would cure a sick man make him sicker than he is by enjoyning him abstinence by adustions by vomitives by putting him to greater torments I know my Soul is sick God would make it perfectly well but such is my sickness that God must put me to pain and anguish and great trouble before I can be well my Heart is all Flint but when this stone is struck sufficiently it will then send forth Holy Fire when my Flesh is weak my Strength will retire more to my Mind and Understanding and I shall be fitter for Heaven The glorified Bodies of Saints in the last day will be the more splendid and illustrious the more they have been afflicted and tortured here and shine the more the more dismal the Dungeon was they were kept in during their abode in this valley of Tears Why should I weep when God takes away from me the cause of weeping How many thousands are now weeping in Hell because they enjoyâ—d so much of the worlds comforts and made them occasions of affronting their Creator Shall I count that loss which is my gain and call my want of Riches a misfortune when it is the greatest remedy to fit my Soul for Heaven what is impudence is it in me to desire that of God which I ought to hate at the most love but with fear and trembling What inhumanity to my self is it to beg poison of the Father of Lights and to murmure that he gives me not that Viper which will sting me into endless tortures My love of the world is Adultery and shall I desire that wherewith I have committed Adultery Is it not all one as if a woman should entreat her Husband to let her enjoy the pleasure of an unlawful Bed the Husband doth shew great mercy to her in that when he might punish her more severely he only removes the Adulterer and shall I count that mercy an injury In wishing for the Riches and Greatnesses of this world I do as much desire God to give me that whereby I may offend him Shall I be angry with a Chirurgeon who to prevent the spreading of my Cancer cuts off a Member to preserve my life and shall I take it ill of God for wounding my Flesh to draw out the Arrows that stick in my heart and would fester and kill me if not
apparently dangerous Thus it is with me why should I deny it Why should I call light darkness and darkness light put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter Whom do I cheat all this while is it not my own Soul And what shall I gain by it in the end Shall I think my self sufficiently holy when I am so little acquainted with the first rudiments of Holiness Shall I think my self a Child of God when that which I do is fitter for a Child of the Devil than for a Favourite of Heaven Conversion or turning to God which the Holy Ghost doth so often and with that vehemence and earnestness inculcate implies an universal change of my disposition and inclinations And where is that alteration that renovation of the Mind Will and Affections My Affections are carried out after Froth and smoke as much as ever My Love is set on Trifles and is regardless of the highest and chiefest good as much as ever I hate Seriousness and delight in childish impertinent Gayeties as much as ever The promises of the Gospel are as inconsiderable in my eyes and the riches of this World as glorious and ravishing as ever and I can dispense with the want of spiritual consolations while I have but my share in these outward comforts My feet run in the wayes of destruction and my eyes are dazled with external pomp and grandeur as much as ever An amorous Song is more pleasing to me than the most harmonious Psalm The Word of God is but a dead Letter to me while a Romance or a Book that Treats of Folly and Vanity Transports me into more than ordinary content and satisfaction And what I must eat And what I must drink And wherewithall I shall be cloathed Are questions I have a far greater desire to be resolved in than to know what I must do to please God and to be happy for ever If I have made light of the Thunders and Threatnings of Scripture I do so still If I have prefer'd my secular Interest before Gods Honour and Glory I do so still If I have feared Men more than God I do so still If I have been loth to do good with the Temporal blessings God hath confer'd upon me I am so still And what Sins I leave it 's more because I have no inclination to them or because I am afraid they 'll spoil and blemish my Reputation in the World than because I love that God who made me and hath obliged me by a thousand Favours to esteem and prize him above all And is this the Coat of the Sons of God Is this the Livery of a Christian indeed Is this done like a Man that lives upon Gods Bounty is fed by his Charity supported by his Alms and maintain'd from his Store-house and cannot subsist one moment without his Concourse and hath not a better Friend in all the World than him who is the Fountain of living Waters Consideration one great design of it being to know how the case stands between God and our own Souls such a Self-examination must of necessity be the Corner stone of this spiritual Building and comparing our Lives with the Rules of the Gospel and the proper characters of such as are in a likely way to enjoy God for ever may justly challenge the first Seat in this intellectual Paradise But then as building of a stately Gate without a House answerable to it doth but expose the Builder to derision and contempt so Self-Examination without a serious Expostulation with our own hearts is but to make the Accuser of our Brethren laugh at our vain attempts and God scorn the endeavour that could be crusht in the Bud and tired before half its Race is run II. Expostulation rouzes the Soul from her Slumber and drives it away from the soft Doune it would have rested and repos'd it self upon and gives the first blow for Self-Examination only threatens it to that Tree of Death I mean to the reigning power of Sin and I see not how Sin can shelter it self any longer or what excuses it can make for its stay and continuance where the Soul doth summon it to appear before the Bar of Conscience and enters into such reasonings and interrogations as these Are these things so and do I stand trifling with my salvation Do I run the hazard of everlasting flames and do I lie playing in the Suburbs of destruction Either I believe an eternity of Torments that shall attend a careless sinful life or I do not If not why dare not I profess my denial Why do I play the Hypocrite and make the World think I do believe it What 's the reason that I cannot shake off the fears of it if I would never so fain Why does something within me check me when I would be so profane as to deny it Can I ever be serious and not believe it But then if I believe it what a mad Man am I to loyter when the Candle I am allow'd to work by is almost burnt out and I know not how soon it may please my great Master to extinguish it Do I lead a life which is the readiest way to eternal Vengeance and shall I not step back and prevent it Can I imagine God will blow out that everlasting Fire to gratifie my vicious temper or destroy that Tophet out of tenderness to my Lusts and Corruptions Can I conceive it possible that God will go from his Word to please a stubborn Sinner or prove a Lyar that I may go with greater ease to Heaven Do I know that I shall be miserable if I continue in that course I have held on in hitherto and am I in love with eternal ruine Am I certain that Iniquity will be my confusion and am I resolv'd to dye I have all the reason in the World to believe that it was the Son of God that was the Author of those Threatnings and Comminations I find in the Gospel Do I believe him to be the Son of God and can I imagine that the least tittle of his words will perish I have run up and down in the World these many years and hunted-after those Vanities which sensual Men do dote upon But will these save me when I dye Will not the remembrance of my eager pursuit after these Butterflies and Gaudes fill me with anguish and sorrow Have I liv'd in the World all this while and am not I nearer Heaven than I was some years ago Must my body engross all my endeavours and must my Soul be starved I have a Soul that cannot dye and must not dye and must shortly appear before Gods Tribunal and shall not I study its safety and happiness as much as I am able Lord God! should Death arrest me before I have made my Calling and Election sure how fearful how wretched would my condition be should it fall to my share to howle in outward Darkness how should I curse the day that ever I was born should those Tortures the
dearest and tenderest love Doth it work by charity too by good works And doth it make me cast my bread upon the water give away freely and chearfully though I have no prospect and see no probability of a recompence here on earth Doth it make me despise the World and overcome it and use it only as my Servant while God alone is my Master Doth it make me resist the Devil and grapple with powers and principalities with the Rulers of darkness and with spiritual wickednesses in high places Eph. 6.12 Doth it make me pray with fervency and importunity Doth it transport my Soul into ravishments upon the sight of yonder glorious things God hath laid up and prepared for those that love him Doth it make me rejoyce in that Saviour I have not seen with joy unspeakable and full of glory Does it make me trust God in Adversity even then when the Fig-tree doth not blossom when there is no fruit in the vines when the labour of the Olive fails and the Field does yield no meat when the flock is cut off from the fold and when there are no herds in the stalls Hab. 3.17 Doth it make me take notice of Gods gracious Dealings and Providences and admire Gods wisdom and greatness and power and goodness in all Doth it make me prize the promises of the Gospel above all riches and doth it make me willing to suffer for Christ Rejoyce O my Soul if Faith hath thus warm'd thy heart and if thou findest these footsteps of God within thee These are ornaments sit for thee to appear in before the great Tribunal On the other side what ease what quiet canst thou enjoy if thy faith be dead and dull and unactive if it doth not touch thy tongue with a Coal from the Altar and doth not make thee break forth into celebrations and admiration of the height and breadth and length and depth of the love of God If thou feelest no holy force in thy Soul to shake off every weight and every sin which doth so easily beset thee If thy faith does not make thee stand upon thy watch and break through all discouragements and oppositions to obtain the end of thy faith even thy salvation If it doth not make thy corruptions abate and thy extravagant desires and passions fall If it doth not chase Discontent in a great measure from thy thoughts and doth not give thee bowels of compassion to Ministers to the Servants of God to Christs distressed members If it doth not drive thee into Heaven into contemplations of a glorious Eternity which shall make amends for all the losses troubles perils miseries and difficulties thou undergoest here If it doth not make thee prefer Christs honour and will before the vain allurements of flesh and blood and the society of those who delight in God before familiarity with the richest and greatest who cast Gods Laws behind them If it works no patience in Afflictions no humility no self-denial no meekness under curses and injuries and persecutions no courage to stand up for God and for his glory no delight in the Word and wayes of God no sincere endeavors to practise what thou hearest no relish in spiritual things no holy revenge upon thy corruptions no indignation against thy former sins no carefulness to please God no vehement desires after him who is fairer than the children of men Faith thus consider'd if it be but a painted fire will quickly betray it self and this Consideration will soon give an item to the sinner that this is no good foundation to build eternal salvation on In this manner we are obliged to proceed in our prayers and supplications Consideration must acquaint us whether it be the desires of our hearts or the desires of our lips only that we offer unto God whether it be a deep sense of our spiritual wants and necessities and of the Greatness Majesty Purity Holiness Mercy and Goodness of God that makes us pray or Custom and Education and Civility to our unruly Consciences So in our Distributions to the Necessities of others Consideration must acquaint us whether we give enough or no whether we fulfill those Rules Christ and his Apostles have deliver'd concerning it and whether it be vain glory and the applause of men that makes us both liberal and speak of our liberality or an honest design to advance the glory of God and the good of our Neighbour So in Fasting Consideration must acquaint us whether it be the outward performance we do regard more than the inward frame of the Soul whether it be a real sincere resolution to mortifie sin that engages us to this severity or an intent of giving God satisfaction for the affronts we have offer'd him and whether the austerity makes sin truly bitter to us and works an eternal detestation of it in our hearts or whether it disposes us to fall on afresh and tempts us upon the credit of that piece of Mortification to venture into new sins and enormities So in our zeal for God Consideration must acquaint us whether we are more passionate in things which concern the honour of God than in promoting of our own interest whether it be a zeal according unto knowledge and kindled by the Sun of Righteousness or furious and lighted by the flames of the burning Lake and whether we are zealous for the greater as well as for the lesser matters of the Law for Judgment Faith and Mercy as well as for paying tythe of Mint and Cummin and Anise Without Consideration our Souls must necessarily remain under very great darkness and mistakes and consequently run the hazard of being cheated in the work of Conversion How should these Cheats be discover'd but by our reason How shall our reason judge of them but by Consideration For Consideration calls them to an account layes them open examines their rise and progress discovers them to be dross and spies out the danger they involve the Soul in and by that means works it into a faithful resolution to take another course CHAP. IV Of the various impediments and remora's of Consideration Men fancy greater difficulty in 't that there is indeed Are continually employ'd about sensual objects Loth to part with their sins Ignorant of the pleasure of Consideration Reflect upon the danger of losing their unlawful gain Fear they shall fall into melancholy or go distracted with so much seriousness Are of opinion that Conversion in that sense the Scripture speaks of it is needless Mistake the nature of Consideration Are discouraged by evil company Neglect consulting with Ministers about this necessary work Delude themselves with the Notion of Christ's dying for the sins of the world COnsideration a Duty so great so noble so necessary one would think should find sutable entertainment with all men that pretend to reason or wisdom or discretion the Guest being so beneficial who can imagine to the contrary but every man will spread open his doors and let it in How Lock
under the smiles and gracious looks of my Benefactor And cannot I consider what a felicity doth attend them that enjoy the light of Gods countenance Here is but changing the object And I that can consider how disingenious and sordid a thing it is to act against a man that hath rais'd me out of dust and advanc'd me to great dignity and preferment cannot I consider what baseness and disgenerous ingratitude it must be to provoke that God who maintains me and preserves me and without whom I cannot breathe or move I that can consider the reasonableness of sorrow and grief where I have offended and done a signal injury to my Superior cannot I consider how just and equitable it is when I look on that Saviour whom my sins have pierc'd to mourn as heartily as one that mourns for his onely Son Why should not my understanding serve me to consider the one as well as the other Spiritual things are the most adequate and most proper objects of my understanding They are the proper fuel for that flame which cherish and feed it and make it rise and soar to Heaven Whatever concerns provision for the flesh or for this present life is but a secondary object more by favour and permission than by design For Gods design in giving us understandings was that they might be receptacles of spiritual Truths storehouses of invisible Treasures Contrivances how we may get our bodily wants and necessities supplied for ought I know may be perform'd and order'd by sense alone without reason without this sublime faculty of understanding as we see in Beasts and ignobler Animals which being strangers to this priviledge and directed only by sense furnish themselves with necessaries conveniencies and superfluities Go to the Ant thou sluggard consider her wayes and be wise which having no Guide Overseer or Ruler provideth her meat in the Summer and gathereth her food in the Harvest Prov. 6.6 7 8. But what will not men call difficult if they are unwilling to do what they should And who sees not that this is but a shift to satisfie their Consciences that they may not twitch them for the omission and they must have some plea left they should sin bare-faced and seem to affront God without cause or instigation And indeed this plea is a true stroke of the Devil for though the way to destruction be far more craggy and infinitely fuller of precipices than the way to life witness mens breaking through infamy the hatred of their Friends the displeasure of their Relations the fences of Modesty the scorn of Angels the indignation of a consuming fire to get at sin witness their venturing sometimes their Fortunes sometimes their Lives sometimes their Reputation sometimes the ruine of their Families to please the Devil yet the broad way being down whereas the strait is up the hill his persuasion prevails the sooner that the former is infinitely more facile and easie and thus he brings an evil report upon the good Land particularly upon Consideration the great Ladder whereby we must climb to Heaven and hard it must be though nothing be more easie it 's a thing portable and is alwayes to be had it 's alwayes in season always at hand alwayes within call no Burthen in a Journey no Load in a Voyage men may carry it with them wherever they go when they are travelling when they stay at home in company and out of company when they are walking when they are sitting down when they go to Bed when they rise they need not run beyond Sea to fetch it nor evolve many Books to be Masters of it they need not fail to the Antipodes to compass it nor dig under-ground to find it they need not ransack the Indies to enrich themselves with it nor venture shipwracks to bring it home they need not sell Lands and Houses to purchase it nor run the hazard of Sword and Fire to secure it they need not clamber Mountains to possess it nor wade through Rivers to inherit it They carry this Treasure in their hearts and it must be meer sluggishness if they let it lie there and make no use of it The fire is hid under the ashes and they need but stir it and blow it and it will soon flame out and God hath made the duty so easie on purpose that men might not be deluded by the Devil into a belief of its impossibility Strange stupidity they do not think it hard to carry Talents of Lead or Mountains of Sin on their backs and yet they think Consideration hard even that Consideration which like a faithful Friend would tell them how to be rid of that heavy Load they bear a Load which would immediately sink them into Hell but that the Devil puts under his shoulder and helps them to carry it and so they feel it not They do not think it hard to dig into Hell and yet they think Consideration hard which would teach them a way how to quench that fire They do not think it hard to be oppress'd by a most bloody Usurper and yet they think Consideration hard which would shew them how they might shake off that yoke which neither they nor their Forefathers were ever able to bear They do not think it hard to obey every little Slave every silly Lust every common Soldier in that Camp of which themselves might be the Generals and yet they think Consideration hard which would free them from that Tyranny and acquaint them with a way how they might be Kings and Priests unto God and shine as the stars in the firmament for ever O men unwise and flow of heart to believe all that the Prophets have spoken you that have courage to meet an Army in the field and to use Job's expression have confidence to laugh at the glittering spear and the shield Job 39.23 you that have courage to plough the Sea to face a Cannon to mock a shower of Arrows to stand under a volley of shot to fight Duels to expose your Lives to lay Siege to a Fort to endure the noise of Guns to hear the clashing of Swords to lie on the cold ground many nights together or to have an Arm or Leg cut off to preserve the founder parts of your bodies you that have courage to do all this and do not think it hard shall you think Consideration hard even that Consideration that would make you live like men and free you from the â—ubbish the lapsed posterity of Adam lies groaning under you that do things every day almost much harder and much more difficult than Consideration is will you scruple that which may be perform'd with greater ease and which you are more obliged to than adventuring on the Dangers I have mention'd II. Impediment II. Love of the World and being continually employ'd about sensual objects This is another impediment of Consideration And indeed we need not wonder to see men neglectful and careless of this great and necessary work when the
ivory or to be clad like Dives with silk and purple It doth not maintain their great Retinue nor present them with soft Airs It doth not provide for their Families nor keep up their pomp and grandeur were it such a powerful thing as the Philosophers Stone is fabled to be and did it enable them to turn their Iron into Gold and did it make their Trade to flourish and did it make their garners full affording all manner of store and cause such fruitfulness among their flocks that their sheep might bring forth thousands and ten thousands in their streets Did it raise them to the power of Senacherib to the magnificence of Nebuchadnezar to the pleasures of Solomon Did it promise a Kingdom and whisper in their ears that they should enjoy ease and plenty without all peradventure nothing should have so much of their care or hearts as Consideration of their wayes But having none of these baits and their hearts being fix'd on the world they can find no time for this exercise Cannot did I say They will not allow themselves time to retire and consider that they have such things as souls or that these souls are capable of punishment and glory when they shake hands with their old companions their bodies They think that time mispent that is bestow'd upon Consideration of another world and what minutes or hours are taken from their fleshly satisfactions or from prosecuting their worldly concerns they look upon as flung away By worldly concerns I do not only mean businesses which an Estate or Trade or Family or office or sensual pleasures cause but business of study and learning too and one may be as much taken up with his study as another is with his Trade and consequently be very loth to allow any time for this Consideration we speak of To be studious and yet inconsiderate implies no contradiction and a man may contemplate God and Heaven and the whole Creation and yet not contemplate them in order to a holy preparation for another life or with an intent to mortifie his sins and corruptions and to imitate God in holiness without which it cannot be Consideration and the best name we can give it is an empty Speculation so that a spiritual Meditation may be but a worldly business if that which puts me upon it be my profession whereby I get a livelihood if that which makes me study and meditate be temporal profit or honour or applause if it be not undertaken with an intent to edifie my own soul as well as the souls of others if it be done either to please the fancy or to please the gentle Reader by publishing it to the world And indeed where worldly concerns fill all the channels of the soul there can be but very little employment for serious Consideration A continunl hurry of business sheds darkness upon the soul thrusts out that eye whereby it should reflect upon it self and makes it intent only on things which tickle and please the flesh and like Felix when any motions to serious Consideration arise replies Go thy way for this time and when I have a convenient season I will call for thee Acts 24.25 It fares much with Consideration as with that Princes invitation Luc. 14.16 worldly cares and businesses like those guests when the soul feels any suggestions or invitations to Consideration are presently ready with excuses and a thousand things are pretended why they cannot come or stoop to the gracious message or vocation and these bryars and thorns choak the good seed that 's thrown among them Thus earth keeps out Heaven and the world like shutters of a window excludes the light that would irradiate the room not but that the business of our worldly callings may lawfully be performed and follow'd and men ought to work with labour and travel night and day rather than be chargeable to others 2 Thess. 3.8 But where the World is made God and fills mens minds as well as their hands and all the time that can be got is spent in embracing and grasping of it it 's impossible Consideration should find entertainment there it 's like a heartless prayer may for that can be hudled up and requires not much time and leaves them as worldly as it finds them and doth not hinder or cross them in their fondness to the world which they are afraid Consideration will do And indeed they guess aright for Consideration would shake their love make them unquiet in their amours and unsettle their affections pull down that high esteem they have of the world and make them see that there is not that beauty that glory or that happiness in things below which their sickly fancy dream'd of before it would shew them that all these Gaudes are but a Pit cover'd with curious flowers where people may irrecoverably perish if taken with the treacherous flowers they smell on them and admire their odour and fragrancy It would shew them the vanity of heaping up riches when they know not who shall inherit them and represent unto them â—he folly of flattering their souls with an Ede Bibe Lude Soul take thine ease eat drink and be merry thou hast much goods laid up for many years It would shew them how false how perishable all these outward comforts are and that they have something more than this deceitful world to look after Consideration like a faithful Counsellor would undeceive them in their fond opinions of this treacherous friend discover to them his base designs the mischiefs he drives at under all his smiles the Serpent that lies under those green herbs and bid them beware of him But such is the love they bear to the world that they are jealous of all things that would subvert their love and hate Consideration as an enemy because they are afraid it will discompose those embraces and break the league between them and these earthly satisfactions and put their hearts that lie close to the world out of their place dispossess them of their earthly mindedness and prompt them to lay up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come and lay hold on eternal life A strange fondness this which doth not only marry the heart unto the world and makes them two one flesh but sends out Spies to watch against all the endeavors of this faithful Monitor viz. Consideration that it may not break the match or dissolve the bond or make the heart sensible of its adulteries O God! How is thy similitude in Man defaced How is that glorious Image thou didst once shed into his breast blotted and defiled Is this the Man that receiv'd a Soul to mind Heaven most Is this the Man over whom thou didst spread thy skirts whose nakedness thou didst cover and with whom thou didst enter into an everlasting Covenant whom thou dost draw by cords of love whose soul thou didst betroth unto thee for ever in righteousness and in judgment and in loving kindness and in
for them riches flow insensibly upon them and every thing they undertake doth prosper insomuch that themselves cannot but wonder at their increase This would convince them that many men who during their ungodly Conversation could not thrive have signally prospered in the world as soon as they have applied themselves to a serious life and that a serious man is best qualified for getting profit and encreasing an Estate and that the generality of men had rather deal with a conscientious man than with a person who is careless of all things but his own interest as knowing that being conscientious he dares not cheat or deceive them but will think himself obliged to deal justly and honestly with them and do by them as he would have others do by him and that this is the great misfortune of ungodliness and the glory of a serious life in that one wicked man dares not trust another but both good and bad dare trust him who stands in awe of God and makes it his great care and study how to please him This would shew them that the serious man in being charitable takes the readiest way to prosper in his secular Concerns and that as great a Paradox as it may seem to sensual men there is not a greater truth in the world than that which Solomon speaks of Prov. 11.24 There is he that scattereth and yet encreases This would lay before them the Examples of men who by consecrating a great part of their Estate and Incomes to pious and charitable uses have enlarged their fortunes and by casting their bread upon the water have found it again with interest after many dayes who have denied themselves in their superfluities and yet are grown rich given away and gotten more than they had in times past This would lead them into the pleasant field of Gods Providence and shew them how that wise and gracious God wheels and turns things about for the good of those that dare trust him for a recompence and makes that money which was laid out for the use of the Needy return with advantage and usury Consideration would let them see how various Gods temporal blessings are which very often light on the head of a serious religious man and though he hath no Trade which stands in need of augmentation but a standing revenue how yet God may watch over him so that he shall lose little and all he undertakes shall prosper that his houses shall be preserv'd from fire and his Cattle from decay that his fields shall bring forth plentifully and his lands be as the garden of the Lord that he shall see his posterity advance in wealth and honour and his childrens children grow as the lillies and spread their branches as the Cedars in Lebanon Consideration would let them see how a whole Kingdom thrives where seriousness and the fear of God is encourag'd with vigor and sincerity What a darling a serious Prince is to his Subjects how well they love him how highly they esteem him and how plentifully and contentedly they live under his shadow This would refresh their memories how upon a publick humiliation God hath been entreated and the judgments under which a Nation groan'd have been averted and the Heavens which before were turn'd into brass have visited the Earth again with showers and the former scarcity hath been transform'd into plenty and abundance and how God hath seen their works that they turn'd from their evil ways and hath repented himself of the evil he had said he would do unto them and hath not done it Consideration would let them see that though a serious man should decay in the world and his conscientiousness be the cause of his ruine yet he would have more to support him under his losses than another man and it could not but be a very great satisfaction to him that it was not any vice of licentiousness that broke him but a good Conscience which is its own reward and the best preservative against murmuring repining and despair and very often a presage That God will set him up again and as it was in Job's case make the latter part of his life more prosperous than the former By such representations as these Consideration would scatter this suggestion of the Devil That a sinful life is the onely gainful and advantageous life But what argument can prevail against Experience and where men have found already that their sins have prov'd profitable and that their carelesness of Religion hath procur'd them no small advantages Their great care and study now must be that they do not put themselves into a way of losing them and therefore exhort them to consider what the end of these things will be and whether this be a likely course to get a title to the inheritance incorruptible reserv'd in Heaven for Believers they 'll be ready to reply What part with my livelihood Quit that which must support my Family Would you have me starve and perish Will your Religiousness give me bread Would you have me precipitate my self into ruine Will nothing less serve the turn than leaving all and following Christ Why should I despair when God blesses me and think ill of my way of living when God by prospering my endeavors declares his approbation of my deportment My gain is his mercy and if he did not allow of what I did he would with-hold his benediction His giving success to what I do shews his love and I have reason to believe he is not angry with me for taking this course because he never cross'd it by his thunders God would have me live in the World and since I have no other way to thrive but this I must suppose it 's that which God hath call'd me to My industry is in obedience to his command and why should I fright my self with his indignation when my prosperous fortunes speak his smiles and sun-shine Consideration would let them see that God doth not bless them for their sins but doth it to invite them to amendment Nay this would suggest to them that it may not be God that blesses them but the Devil and that he that is permitted to shew them all the Kingdoms of the world and the glories of them in a moment hath power also to reward iniquity and that prosperity which is acquir'd by sin cannot be of Gods making but is an effect of the Devils bounty who never gives but with an intent to murther and makes Presents for no other end but to make the Soul a prey to his fury who gives like the Grecians onely to overcome and seems kind onely to get an interest in the sinner and to take advantage against him when there shall be occasion who blesses with a design to curse and rewards to harden men in their contempt of the Almighty who lets men reap profit that they may venture confidently on sin and is contented they should have something for their pains that they may dedicate themselves more entirely to
great Lessons we beg of men that they would hearken to these are the things we would have them labour after when we entreat them to turn or to be converted unto God and what are all these Performances but Duties enjoin'd by our Lord and Master upon pain of Damnation He hath protested that those who wilfully neglect these Laws and do not think themselves obliged to obey them when yet they profess themselves to be his Disciples shall find by woful experience what it is to tread under foot the Son of God and to turn away from him that speaks from Heaven He is unchangeably resolved where Men make light of his invitation and slight these reasonable terms of salvation and entertain his Message with contempt and neither repent of that contempt nor testifie their repentance by tears and sorrow and reformation and obedience for the future to let them have that eternal misery that unquenchable fire whereby he thought to fright and wean them from their Lusts and to drive them into Paradise and which is so far from terrifying of them that they run into it most greedily seem to invade those flames and be in love with endless Agonies And now let any man in his wits judge whether Coversion in that sense we speak of it both in publick and private be not indispensably necessary And whether Consideration how to be converted fall not under the same necessity Our Natures are not so very prone to goodness that we may yield to these Laws without examining and thinking what way we ought to take to work our hearts into a holy willingness to submit For its swimming against the stream climbing up a Hill running counter to our inclinations and therefore the Soul had need be season'd with thoughts of the admirable contrivance goodness profit benefit and advantages of these Laws and of the love and compassion of God that shines in them and of the harmony order calmness peace and satisfaction Obedience causes before we can conform our wills to his will who is resolv'd that Dogs and Swine shall not enter into Heaven But what shall we say when Men are resolved to live like Swine and will not believe that God demands that holiness of them the Scripture speaks of when they believe God to be altogether such an one as they themselves a friend to sin and false in his threatnings when they believe that Discourses of Divines about Conversion are no more but talk a cast of their Office and that themselves give no credit to the things they preach to others when they believe that God denies them nothing that their Nature prompts them to and is pleas'd with their Frolicks and Divertisements When they believe that the great end of their Creation is to get Money and that they have a Being given them in this world to fill their Bellies with all the Dainties they can get when they do not heartily believe a judgment to come and look upon the flames of Tophet but as painted Fire when they take worldly Felicity for their Heaven and wish there were no other Beatitude after this life but Mahomet's Paradise When they do so we had as good tempt them to knock their heads against a wall as persuade them into a serious Consideration of their wayes Without all peradventure its worth considering that God intends something by the aforesaid Precepts and that they are not design'd for Beasts and irrational Creatures that God doth not think so light of them as we do and hath a sense of Honour and will not let a wilful contempt of things so sacred and so venerable go unpunish'd that obedience makes men like unto God and causes them in some measure to approach the Holiness of his Nature that those certainly must be in a better condition when they come to dye who follow these Rules than the other that know no Laws but the dictates of their own licentiousness that these Laws enjoin nothing but what agrees with and promotes the prosperity of Mankind and that if we believe God to be jealous of his Glory to obey these Laws must in all probability be the most likely way to please him that these Precepts do signally advance the dignity of Humane Nature and shew the generosity and greatness of a Mans Soul who dares live above the common level of Mankind that to become subject to these Laws is the safest course and a Man can lose nothing considerable by that subjection if there were no other world that all those that submit to these Laws cannot be Fools and if the wisest of Men close with these Injunctions it must to speak moderately be very great imprudence to laugh at them But where Conversion is thought a thing superfluous no marvel if Consideration be look'd upon as a task fit only for Men who have nothing else to employ their time in When People despise the House they 'll have no great value for the Porch And when the end seems needless they 'll not trouble themselves much about using the means that lead to it And such persons we must leave to be convinced of the necessity of Conversion by their punishment Since Reason cannot persuade them judgment must take away the vail from their eyes What Exhortation cannot effect Thunder must produce What they will not believe upon the Word of God they must be forc'd to give assent to by the flames they shall ere long feel the rage and fury of and God who could not be glorified in their Conversion must glorifie himself in their everlasting confusion IX Impediment IX Mistaking the Nature of Consideration As the way to life is but one so the ways that lead to destruction are infinite and without number And such root doth a sinful life if not check'd betimes take in Men that if they can but find the shadow of an excuse they will not fail to lay hold of it that they may not part with what they love so dearly It 's from hence that all their little attempts to perform their duties pass with them for the duties themselves as if lifting up or moving a piece of Lead were as much as carrying of it from one place to another They would be angry with their servants if demanded what work they have done they should reply that they have executed their Masters commands when they have only touch'd the Plow with a finger or play'd with it to divert them and take it very ill of a Waterman that should ask money of them for carrying them to the place they intended for if he should but give a stroke or two with his Oar and so give over and laugh at that person that should pretend he hath made them a Fire when he hath laid but two or three sticks together The Folly they find fault with in others they practise themselves and while they attempt to take the Mote out of their Brothers eye they are insensible of the Beam that is in their own for thus we
their Souls for ever It 's very probable that God wherein all goodness all mercy and of infinite pity and hath made this world to serve man and endow'd him with a capacity of knowing and adoring God would not leave him destitute of such helps and means as might best promote his knowledge of him but find out a way to manifest himself to him especially when it 's evident that without some better directions than Nature gives men are so very apt to fall into errors and misapprehensions of his glory and majesty Whether this Book contain therefore the true Revelations which God hath been pleas'd to make to mankind is the question Upon examination I find That there is nothing in this Book either promised or threatned or commanded but what is Deo dignum fit for a God to promise and threaten and command Whatever is deliver'd here seems to be very agreeable to his Majesty and Sovereignty and Divine Nature The rewards as well as punishments are Godlike and the Duties pressed here are but the necessary consequents of his Goodness and Justice and Government and Supremacy which consequences because man by reason of his corruption was not able to deduce from the Notion of a God God thought fit to reveal and manifest to him by various Passages Histories Prophecies Parables Precepts and Conclusions Upon inquiry I perceive that the designs of this Book are at least very harmless its great aime being to make men good and just and honest and live like men of reason Whatever verity or truth the light of Nature or Reason dictates is here to be found and this Book is so far from contradicting or abolishing any thing of that nature that it improves and refines it If I search all the Volumes of the ancient Heathen Philosophers men who ransackt Nature and tryed what Nature would discover of God and anatomized the Law written upon mens hearts If I peruse all the Lessons and Rules of Morality they gave and prescribed to Mankind I find them all deliver'd in this Book much purer and much clearer than those Philosophers were able to propose them The Sacred Writers whoever they were for ought I see were men of very noble and generous spirits for their great endeavor is to instruct and edifie mankind and to teach them such delights as are fit for a rational Soul to embrace I see they exhort men to live like themselves like persons capable of conversing with God I see they are all for preservation of humane Societies and to this end they speak against all that 's evil and encourage Justice and Peace and Unity and Charity and Obedience to Governors and all that 's good and holy and condemn al Hypocrisie commend upright dealing and sincerity of heart and proscribe even those sins which the world can take no notice of sins of thoughts sins of the heart and sins of secresie and urge a hearty unfeigned love to our Neighbor Their great care and sollicitude is that men may not be kept unacquainted with themselves and though they liv'd in different Ages at different Times and were of different Educations yet they all agree in their great endeavor and design to purifie mens hearts and to keep their Consciences void of offence towards God and towards men They would have God worship'd and honour'd like a God in Spirit and in Truth and require the cream and marrow of our endeavours our dearest and tenderest love to be given to him which indeed is a worship fit for him that is our Supreme Ruler and Governor in whom we live and have our Being They condemn all Sensuality which makes men live like Beasts and all impatience and discontent which makes their Lives miserable and all Pride and Haughtiness which makes their near Neighbors hate and despise them and all base Selfishness which makes them uncompassionate They prescribe the greatest Cordials against Crosses and Afflictions for they promise a better life after this a life of everlasting joy and bliss and suppose there were no such life yet would the fancy of it be mighty pleasing in distress and calamities and serve to bear us up under the greatest burthens and should we find nothing of that nature when we come to dye to be sure there would be no body to laugh at us They represent God as infinitely merciful to wretched men and willing to accept of those that repent and turn and sincerely fear him and to make them everlastingly happy and yet that men may not presume and turn the grace of God into wantonness they represent him just withall that will take vengeance on those who provoke his patience and mock his compassion and abuse his mercy into contempt of his Laws They represent him as a very reasonable Master that layes upon his servants no more than they are able to bear and expects returns answerable to the favors he bestows on them and such services as are in some measure proportionable to the means he hath afforded them which is no more but what we expect from our servants All which is highly rational and I must needs imagine since no men that ever liv'd in the world could give the world such exact Rules for the improvement and advancement of a rational Soul as these Writers do that they must have had some Divine Spirit to guide them To exalt the Soul and to elevate it above Sense and Earth and Dross and Dung and to make it fit to be admitted to familiarity with its Maker seems to be the very drift and design of this Book and if it were not Divine or Inspired it might however deserve the reputation of maintaining the greatest and most generous designs that ever were carried on by mankind But sure its original is more than humane and the persons who deliver these things had certainly a Divine Commission When I look either upon Moses and the Prophets in the Old or upon Jesus and his Apostles in the New Testament Men who were the chief Promulgers of the Truths deliver'd in these Books methinks there appears something extraordinary in them and I cannot but see the Finger of God that did direct and help them If I believe any thing that I never heard or saw my self I have the greatest reason in the world to believe that that Moses whom both Jews and Heathen call the great Leader and Captain General of the Jews was inspired from above when he gave his Law to the whole Nation of the Jews That he wrought those stupendious miracles which are recorded in Scripture the Jewish Nation hath firmly and constantly believed ever since they were wrought and how 600 000 men before whom they were wrought and who did feed upon many of those Wonders and who have delivered the real performance of those Miracles down to their Posterity and so imprinted it on the hearts of their Progeny that neither Sword nor Fire could ever make them deny it How I say this vast multitude of men could be
Man or can I spend too much time in commemorating so glorious a Favour when God allows me six dayes in the week to follow the business of my lawful Calling cannot I allow one day entire for his service Are the concerns of my Soul so trivial that they do not deserve one day in the week or is Salvation so easy a thing that to spend much time in the contrivance of it is altogether needless I can allow a whole day sometimes two or three for the recreation of my Body and must my Soul have none to feast it self upon God and endless Glory Alas how little do those flashes of contemplating God in the week days which are so often interrupted by worldly businesses warm the Soul how little are mens affections wrought upon by those sits of Devotion except they take a whole day to warm their Souls at the beams of the Sun of Righteousness Alas How little seriousness doe I see in those Families where this day is not Religiously spent where every person is permitted to use their liberty and where the publick Exercises in the Church are not seconded by private Discourses and Prayers and Celebrations of the goodness of God where is my self-denial if I cannot deny my self in my worldly discourses or thoughts one day how can I hope my Spiritual wants and necessities should ever be discover'd to me except I do in my closet apply what I have heard in the House of God and water the incorruptible Seed that is sown in my Heart by self-examination that it may grow and sprout and bear Fruit O the joy the comfort the satisfaction I might reap from the sincere sanctification of this day how quietly might I lye down at night after so sweet a converse with God all day how soft would my rest be having worked in God's Vineyard so many hours how joyfully might I rise next morning and comfort my self with the happy remembrance of the blessings my Soul hath receiv'd the day before Thus to observe and to improve this day would be a Prologue to my everlasting rest a Preface to my Eternal repose in Abraham's bosom a Presage that I should e'r long rest from all Tears and sorrow and pain and anguish and from all the temptations of the World the Flesh and the Devil and be admitted into the Quire of Angels to praise him day and night who lives for ever and ever In this manner all other Duties may be compass'd the Beauty Glory usefulness of them thus spread before the Understanding Will and Affections are apt to work upon these Faculties and they being prevail'd upon the Eyes the Ears the Hands the Feet will quickly do their part and shew their readiness to obey the commands of their superior Officers II. It helps men to improve external objects into very comfortable contemplations When I take a view of the Sun and Moon and Stars or reflect on the Air Fire Earth and Water Consideration may furnish me with very excellent Truths and the noblest Lessons of Religion Consideration can metamorphose objects and spiritualize them and find out the secret designs of the Almighty in those Creatures which the sensual man looks upon and like a Beast passes by without any admiration for after this manner it may argue Take wings O my Soul fly up to yonder Heaven where the Almighty hath set a Tabernacle for the Sun which is as a Bridegroom coming out of his Chamber and rejoyces as a Giant to run his race Behold how this glorious Planet when he rises revives every living thing with his kindly beams and will not the increated Sun from whom this bright star borrows his shining rays when he shall rise unto the Spirits of Men made perfect in the last day fill them all with unspeakable joy and gladness and as a dismal uncomfortable darkness succeds when this created Sun doth leave our Hemisphere so think how dreadful how full of horror and disconsolateness that darkness must be which must unavoidably fall on wretched impenitent sinners that would take no warning when the increated Sun shall withdraw from them his beatifical Presence for ever behold this created Sun how many thousand kindnesses it bestowes upon Mankind and doth not this put thee in mind of the Father of Lights from whom every good and perfect Gift descends how much bigger is this shining Body than the whole Earrh and dost not thou remember how before thy God all Mankind are as Grashoppers or rather as the dust of the Ballance nay lighter than nothing and vanity The Sun that he may enlighten the whole World is forced to go from one place to another but thy God at one and the same time without moving his station can fill Heaven and Earth with his Glory Behold O my Soul the next great Light the Moon which the nearer it approaches the Sun the brighter it grows in that part which looks toward Heaven though it becomes darker in that part which looks towards the Earth and when it is opposite to the Sun looses all that brightness it had in its conjunction with the Sun and is only clouded in that part which respects this lower World and dost not thou see a very lively emblem of a converted and an unconverted sinner in this luminary Behold the nearer thou approachest the Sun of Righteousness in purity and holiness the greater luster and the greater happiness thou receivest the Inhabitants of Heaven behold thy brightness and Innocence and applaud it though sensual Men may be think thee all darkness all obscurity because thou dost not wallow in Works of darkness with them they may be look upon thee as mad and distracted because thou art so busy so earnest so zealous to please thy God and spendest so much time in praising and magnifying and glorifying of him but those that dwell in yonder Region of Light and Bliss know that then and not till then thou art master of thy Reason and dost act like a person that 's capable of being made partaker of the Divine Nature On the other side when thou turnest thy back upon God walk'st opposite and contrary to him whatever respect and credit thou may'st have from the World God and his Holy Angels look upon thee as darkness thy understanding which is that part which properly looks towards Heaven looses all its brightness and no marvel for God alone can satisfy it and he being gone that part must needs be perfect night and no marvel if upon this darkness thy love runs altogether for the world and thy affections are altogether carried out after the dross and Dung of this transitory Earth if thy thoughts are all engaged about the World all thy Speeches employ'd about the World and thou becom'st Wise for the World and loosest all thy wisdom for God and for Salvation O my Soul canst thou look upon the Sun and Moon and not remember how differently God deals with Triumphing Saints in Heaven and his militant Church here on
Earth they enjoy a perpetual Sun-shine we are allow'd no more but Moon-light we see as it were through a Glass darkly they face to face their light like that of the Sun never lessens ours like that of the Moon is sometimes greater sometimes less and sometimes we have none at all How often doth the afflicted Beleever walk in darkness God hides the Light of his countenance from him and he is troubled sometime he is all joy by and by all darkness again sometimes he is like St. Paul wrapt up into the third Heaven sometimes like Men that see God's wonders in the deep he goes down again to the depths and his Soul melts because of trouble how cleer are the apprehensions sometimes he hath of the love and mercy of God! and he seems to be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the depth and breadth of the love of God how often on the other side is a vail drawn over all these bright Conceptions and he groveling in the dust What flouds of Consolation doth God sometimes pour out upon his Soul whereas at other times those comforts come down in drops which use to come in showers how great sometimes is his strength against temptations how weak his courage at another how chearfully sometime can he cry out I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me how mournfully is he forced to express himself at another I see a Law in my Members warring against the Law of my Mind and bringing me into captivity to the Law of Sin Behold O my Soul the vast number of the Stars and Lamps of Heaven how wise how powerful is that God that made them who can look upon those curious Lights without admiring their Creator Behold they rise and goe down at his command and do not fail one minute of their appointed time how should this teach thee obedience how chearfully shouldst thou run at the command of thy God these glorious Stars though their number be vastly great yet they never clash or disagree one with another how should this engage thee to unfeigned charity and peaceableness how should this put thee upon promoting peace and concord and agreement among thy neighbors and doe not these Stars put thee in mind how e're long thou shalt shine as the Stars in the firmament for ever Happy hour Blessed day when thou shalt be cloathed with splendor and immortatity when thou shalt see night no more and shalt need no candle neither light of the Sun but the Lord shall give thee light and thou shalt reign with him for ever Come down lower O my Soul I have not done yet with Gods wonderful Works reflect upon the Air in which all sensitive Creatures breathe without this Air the whole Creation would dye it 's this that keeps Men and Beasts and all Plants and Herbs alive and is not the Holy Spirit of God O my Soul the very same to thee that the Air is to all creatures without this spirit of God to enlighten to move and to direct thee thou hast the name that thou livest but thou art dead it 's this spirit must give thee life it 's he that must warm thee into a practical Love to God it 's he must teach thee how to pray it 's he must help thy infirmities and bear witness with thy Spirit that thou art a Child of God beg this rich gift at the hands of God and thou shalt have it seek it and thou shalt find it knock at Heaven Gate for it and God will open and grant thee thy hearts desire Behold O my Soul how vain and foolish these men are that will not believe the Being of Angels or of Spirits because they never saw any can they see the Air and why do not they question whether there be such a thing as Air or no this Air supports all Creatures so doth thy God much more The Eyes of all do wait upon him and he gives them their meat in due season he opens his hand and fills the desire of every living thing Psal. 145.15 16. When this Air yields to all gross Bodies and lets them pass without opposition how doth it read to thee Lectures of Patience and Humility in that flexibility thou mayst see the sinfulness of thy inexorable temper the odiousness of thy revengeful desires and reviling again when thou art reviled and giving the offender as good as he brings the Air reproves thee when thou art deaf to all entreaties to be reconciled to him that hath injured thee when thou wilt not yield to the humble supplication of distressed creatures and when thou opposest thy own humour to all the rational perswasions of wiser men than thy self Look upon the Fire 0 my Soul and behold how differently it acts upon Bodies it meets withal how it consumes the Hay and Stubble and cleanseth and purifies Gold and Silver doest thou not see here as in a Glass how thy God destroys the workers of iniquity and advances and encreases and purifies the desires and affections of a devout and religious Soul thou seest how hard and black Iron is when it is not near the Fire and how bright and tractable it becomes in the fire and is not this the true picture of a sinner while he is a stranger to the Law of God he hardens his heart as Flint and Adamant no threatenings pierce him no promises prevail with him no judgements fright him no providences move him no mercies melt him he feeds upon Gods Blessings as Swine do upon Acorns without minding the hand that throws them down he hears Sermons but they awake him not he is intreated and he slights the invitation he is reproved and laughs at the reprehension but when that Holy Fire the love of God enters into his heart how flexible how tractable doth he grow how doth the love of God constrain him to avoid sin and to bid defiance to all the works of Darkness he that before scorn'd to hear the glad tidings of the Gospel how doth he now submit to Christs easy yoak he that before thought such a duty unfit and improper for a person of his quality how cheerfully doth he now bow and yield to it he that before had a thousand excuses why he could not do what Christ enjoyns him how doth he now lay all those idle apologies by he that before was churlish becomes now affable and courteous he that before was apt to be very angry at the least affront now bears it more quietly he that before put off the Eternal God with the meanest of his endeavours now is willing to give him the fat and strength of his affections he that before could hear Ministers call to him and call again without effect now cries out Sirs what must I do to be saved he that before could not be perswaded to walk in the strait way now runs in the way of God's Commandments Blessed Fire which consumes not but illuminates never suffers the heart to be harden'd
displeasure thou art in pain but what is this to Hell-fire thou art in torments but what is this to the Agonies the unhappy Spirits in the burning Lake endure how great a mercy is it that it is not worse with thee The Waters of Marah which are but to the Ancles now how soon might God increase them to the Knees and make them a River that could not be pass'd over and he that doth but frown now how easily might he thunder Consider O my Soul thou art not call'd to Persecution to Gibbets to Fire to the Sword to Grid-irons to wild Beasts as the Martyrs of old were if thou complainest now what wouldst thou do if thou wert call'd to Martyrdom Look upon Jesus the Author and Captain of thy Salvation who was made perfect through sufferings art thou better than the Son of God look upon the Apostles look upon the Primitive Saints that were torn assunder stoned slain with the Sword wandred about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins were destitute tormented afflicted and art thou a greater Saint than they why shouldst thou expect better dealing at Gods hands than they thou art not alone in misery thou hast whole Armies of Holy Men to bear thee company canst thou look upon yonder Heaven and repine canst thou behold that Glory which God hath prepared for thee and think much of these fiery Trials the hopes of a Kingdom makes a Captive Prince merry though he is in prison and shall not the hopes of yonder joys keep thy heart from sinking when a Socrates can chearfully submit to the unjust Sentence of the Athenians upon no other account but this because it was God's will shalt thou who art a Christian lye fretting at thy trouble as if thou meanst to resist and controul God's will wilt not thou give God leave to use that priviledge in his great House the World which every Peasant uses in his Cottage and lay what burthens he pleases on his Servants Shall he say Suffer thou this affliction and wilt thou answer with that ill-natur'd Son in the Gospel I will not Look O my Soul look upon the benefit thou wilt receive by this providence thou wast proud before stay awhile and this calamity makes thee humble thou didst despise thy God before have a little patience and this trouble will drive thee hence to thy Fathers house thou didst play with the bread thy Father gave thee this cross will teach thee how to prize it thou didst trust too much to thine own strength this calamity will make thee relye altogether upon him who hath promis'd not to leave us nor forsake us God knows what thou wantest and how thy wants must be supplyed He prosperity would undo thee he therefore takes it away and like a tender Father cries Do thy self no harm He sees such a blessing would make thee surfeit he therefore wisely prevents thy disease by depriving thee of that mercy He sees such a comfort would be but a Knife or Sword in thy hand and kill thee he therefore snatches it away because he would preserve thee from Eternal ruine he sees thou art too much in love with this world he therefore embitters thy sweet morsels to make thee weary of this barren wilderness and in love with that Kingdom which fades not away Dost thou blame a Physitian because he gives his Patient a bitter potion and wilt thou blame thy God for not pleasuring thy pallate with dainties which would encrease thy distemper wouldst thou followthy Saviour in Sun-shine only and not go with him into the Garden of Gethsemane wouldst thou inherit his Crown of Glory without wearing his Crown of Thorns here wouldst thou be with him on Mount Tabor only and not accompany him to Golgotha wouldst thou be about him only when he rides in triumph into Jerusalem and forsake him in the Desart wouldst thou follow him only while the loaves doe last and abandon him when he wants bread for the multitude wouldst thou own him only when men cry Hosanna and run away from him when they cry out Crucify him wilt thou eat of the same Bread he doth and not drink of his Cup too God would save thee by that burthen which lies upon thee and dost thou prefer a little froth before an Eternal weight of blessedness hadst thou rather enjoy thy good things here than lye with Lazarus in Abrahams bosom God sees thou canst not be happy without this affliction and wilt thou prefer living deliciously for a few days before the rich Banquet God hath prepar'd for his favourites in Paradise O my Soul it s but a little while yet and thy Prison will be changed into a Palace thy Poverty into Eternal Riches thy Bondage into perfect Liberty thy Persecution into endless Joys thy mourning Songs into Halelujahs thy Sorrow into Rivers of Delight Alas what is a Prison God's Presence can make it a Heaven Walls cannot keep out the Smiles and Glory of the Highest What is poverty it may consist with being a Favourite of God and he that hath nothing in this world to boast of may have an incorruptible Crown to lay hold of and be really richer than the weakliest of Mankind What are slanders and reproaches they cannot hurt the Soul whatever injury they only do the Body they come sometimes from Men whose tongue is no slander and this may consist with honour from God and reputation in the Court of the Almighty What is persecution a Cloud which soon passes away and he that chearfully endures it great is his reward in Heaven Despair not O my Soul thou hast to deal with a God who will lay no more upon thee than thou art able to bear but with the temptation will make a way to escape that thou mayst be able to bear it one that doth not afflict the children of men willingly one that will certainly if thou obstruct not his operation by thy unbelief cause all these troubles to work together for thy Eternal good May be thy troubles are altogether Spiritual and thou dost not complain so much because thou art destitute of outward conveniences as because thy God is departed from thee a deep sense of thy sins afflicts thee thou seest the wrath of God hovering over thee and God hides his face from thee thou art afraid thou dost not belong to him thou seest not thy former tokens nor feel'st those Gracious influences which formerly water'd and enriched all thy faculties but hast thou such low conceits of the everlasting kindness of thy God O my Soul why shouldst thou believe he hath forsaken thee when he doth give thee daily testimonies of his Love what greater assurance canst thou have of Gods love to thee and of Christs kind thoughts towards thee than thy weariness of sin Hast not thou heard thy Saviour call Come to me all ye that are weary and heavy loaden and I will give ye rest Art not thou weary of iniquity hadst not thou rather be rid of that burthen than keep
own Bloud to this end thou eatest of his Bread and drinkest of his Wine and thus thou sealest the Covenant Dost not thou remember O my Soul how the world Was lost by eating of the forbidden Tree Behold by eating of this Tree of Life thou shalt be saved for ever in the breaking of the consecrated Bread thou seest how Christs Body was broke for thee in pouring out of the Hallow'd Wine thou seest how Christs Bloud was spilt for thee when the Holy Bread is reach'd out to thee thou seest Christ reaching out his crucified Body to thee that thou mayest see in his hands the print of the nails and put thy finger into the print of his nails and thrust thine hand into his side and shelter thy self under that wounded and mangled Body against the wrath and indignation of God When the sacred Wine is given thee thou seest how Christ offers thee his Bloud for the remission of thy sins canst thou behold so great a love and not loose thy reason in the admiration of its greatness when thou seest such condescension such kindness such compassion O canst thou forbear crying out O my Lord what do I see what mean these longings of Almighty God after my happiness what means this industry of that incomprehensible Being to be at all this charge and pains to make me blessed God that might sport himself with my everlasting groans what need he have cared whether I were saved or no God Who can be happy without company and needs no society but his own whence is it that this mighty God humbles himself thus to dust and ashes layes aside his Robes of Glory and wooes me to be content to lye for ever in his Arms and Bosom would no other remedy serve turn to recover me but the death of the Son of God God on whose Laws I have trampled Whose Authority I have slighted whose promises and threatenings I have undervalued that he should be thus concern'd for my welfare and contrive how to advance me unto Glory and contrive it by such stupendious means too will God suffer that I may not will the Eternal dye that I may not fall a prey to the second Death will God be crown'd with Thorns that I may wear an incorruptible Crown of Glory will God be affronted abus'd and scorn'd that I may inherit Glory and Honor and immortality what manner of love is this where is the spring of it what 's the impulsive cause of it how full of miracles is every circumstance here how pleasant is this contemplation What! God love a little slime and earth O my God! how wonderful is thy love it is all Ocean here is no shore to set my feet on be astonish'd at it O ye Heavens and tremble O thou Earth the Eternal the Immense Creator of Heaven and Earth stoops to a miserable creature the God who fills Heaven and Earth with his Presence bows down to a poor inconsiderable worm he that sits on the circle of the Earth and before whom all the Inhabitants of the Earth are as Grashoppers humbles himself to take notice of a poor forlorn wretch Here is love indeed Stay me with flaggons comfort me with apples my Head grows giddy with the Precipice here is an abyss of Love which I cannot fathom my head swims at the sight of it Sense can furnish me with nothing like it I am silenc'd here is a love answers all arguments that are brought for going on in sin Help me O thou blessed Spirit Help me O thou who art fairer than the Children of Men Help me thou who art all Love and Life Help me to admire thy Love In this Love are a thousand charms in this Love are omnipotent enforcives to love God above all the world Run O my Soul run into this Banqueting-house the Banner whereof is Love Is it so and must thou have perish'd and been undone for ever if the Son of God had not come in the Flesh and expiated thy crimes and doth not that Almighty love deserve thy Love see how the ambitious love the applause of men and wilt not thou love him who is brighter than the Sun see how the rich man is enamour'd with his stately Pallace and canst not thou love him who hath done that for thee which no Friend no Money no Gold no Silver could have purchas'd viz. reconciled thee to an offended God wilt thou slight this Love and hope to go unpunish'd wilt thou make this Love a refuge for wilful sins and hope for the light of Christs countenance will not he who loved thee beyond all presidents and examples double and treble his indignation upon thee if this Love cannot melt thee into a truly Spiritual life could the Devils but have such an offer of being partakers of the love of Christ how would they rejoyce and triumph and Love and Honour and Obey their God again as once they did when they were inhabitants of Heaven and wilt thou beworse than a Devil and spurn at that Love which Angels stand astonish'd at were it thine own case O my Sou wouldst not thou revenge such ingratitude with all the severity imaginable and doom the wretch that should affront such condescension to the direst Flames Be wise O my Soul and provoke not that God to swear in his wrath that thou shalt never enter into his rest who flees unto thee on the wings of mercy to embrace thee thou canst never have a more glorious sight of Gods love on this side Heaven than is discovered to thee in this Sacrament and if ever thou wouldst be perswaded to resign thy self entirely to thy Blessed Redeemer make his Will thy Will and desire what he desires and hate what he hates and love what he loves O come hither to the cross and see the Son of God weeping for thy sins come hither and see him sweat drops of Bloud for thy iniquities and offering thee pardon and reconciliation and peace with God and access to the Throne of Grace and union and communion with him and if this be not enough a title to Eternal Happiness or a right to that Throne himself doth sit on But why so backward O my Soul to come to the Table of thy Lord where thou mayst drink Wine and Milk without Money and without Price where thou mayst be satisfied as with marrow and fatness and eat of the living Bread whereof whoever eats shall live for ever hast thou forgot the peremptory command of Christ Do this in remembrance of me Is this remembring thy dearest friend to think of him solemnly but once or twice a year shouldst not thou remember him as often as thou hast an opportunity should thy Saviour remember thee no oftner than thou dost his death and passion how fearful would thy condition be canst thou represent his Love too often to thy mind and affections canst thou remember thy sins that brought him to the Cross too often art thou afraid of thinking too much of this
Love and consequently of being too Religious art thou afraid of being too much enamoured with this Jesus art thou afraid that the sight of his broken Body will break thy Heart too much art thou afraid that the sight of his effused Bloud will make thee pour out too many Tears and Prayers and Praises of his Love considering how dull how dead thou art thou hadst need come frequently to the Cross to have thy Affections suppled and softned with this precious Bloud how frail is thy memory and hadst not thou need of refreshing it often with the sight of Christs incomprehensible love art thou afraid of renewing thy Repentance thy Faith thy Hope thy Charity too often The oftner thou dost resort to this blessed communion the greater will be thy acquaintance with thy best of friends the greater sense thou wilt get of the need and want of him the greater encouragement thou wilt find to imitate him in his Holiness Meekness Patience and Humility and the greater assurance thou wilt get of his Love and Favour and Pardon and everlasting Mercy and are these Blessings to be scorn'd and undervalu'd thou pretendest want of preparation but whose fault is it that thou art not prepar'd what can hinder thee from preparation but love to sin and shall love to a sensual careless life hinder thee from laying hold of the greatest Treasure will this Plea hold when thou shalt appear before the great Tribunal O my Soul this is to excuse sin by sin and to despise God's Ordinance because thou despisest his commands and how will this aggravate thy folly one day and fill thee with shame and horror O play not with everlasting mercy let not business hinder thee from advancing thy Spiritual and Eternal interest Remember what became of the men that pretended they had Farms to see and Oxen to try and Wives to marry when they were invited to the Supper of the Lamb canst thou think of the protestation of the Master of the Feast against these stubborn wretches and not conclude thy fate by their being excluded from Gods Favour forever if it be a sense of thy own vileness and unworthiness that keeps thee away thou mistakest and misrepresentest the goodness of thy Lord and Master No persons more welcome at this Table than the humble and broken-hearted none meet with a more favourable reception than the poor in Spirit these the Crucified Jesus prays for on his Cross Father forgive them and the everlasting Father hears and saith to them Be of good chear your sins are forgiven you V. It prepares a man for an Angelical life here on Earth for he that frequently considers and contemplates the Joyes the Triumphs the Scepters the Crowns the Diadems of yonder Kingdom the everlasting Love and Peace and Satisfaction which Angels and glorified Saints enjoy cannot but think himself during that consideration in Heaven and participating of that content and happiness which is possessed by the general Assembly of the First-born which are written in Heaven Indeed this is to make Earth a Heaven and to change this Wilderness into a Paradise a Closet into the Seat of Glory and a Desart into those Regions of Bliss and Happiness How like an Angel may that Man live that is often engaged in such considerations as these Heaven what do I hear Heaven the harbor of all laden and wearied Souls Heaven the end of all my sorrow and miseries Heaven the Port I have been sailing to these many years Heaven the inheritance of those that keep themselves uspotted from the World Heaven the rest of Gods Servants and the habitation of the Mourners in Sion Heaven the great mark of my Desires the anchor of my Hope the foundation of my Confidence Heaven the University where we shall know even as we are known how undisturb'd how quiet do all the Inhabitants of those blessed Mansions live there rest those Saints who were made as the filth of the World and as the off-scouring of all things how different are the thoughts of God from those of the World these men the world regarded not behold God remembers them and when he makes up his Jewels spares them as a man would spare his own Son that serves him There rests that Mary Magdalen that stood behind Christ at his feet weeping and washed his Feet with her Tears and did wipe them with the hair of her Head and kiss'd them and anointed his Head with ointment There rests that Lazarus who desired to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich mans Table There rest that David that made his Bed to swim and water'd his Couch with his Tears There rests all the Prophets of old who through Faith subdued Kingdoms wrought Righteousness obtain'd Promises stopp'd the mouths of Lions quench'd the violence of the Fire escap'd the edge of the Sword out of weakness were made strong wax'd valiant in fight turn'd to slight the Arms of the Aliens There rest all those Souls that look'd for the blessed hope and the glorious appearance of their Saviour Jesus Christ. There rests all those Martyrs and Confessors that were ready not only to suffer but to dye also for the name of the Lord Jesus There they rest encircled with an Eternal calm There they rest incompass'd with an innumerable company of Angels There they rest surrounded with the Gracious Presence of a merciful God There they rest from all the calumnies and slanders of this poor envious world There they rest from all Darkness in Eternal Light and in the beams of the Sun of Righteousness forever Awake O my Soul awake advance into yonder regions of Glory retire into yonder Paradise leave this world and goe higher let thy thoughts transcend the Sun and Moon and Stars get before the Throne of God take a view of the still waters whereof the vast Armies of Glorified Spirits drink where they are there are no Wolves no Tygers no Bears no Lions as in this barren wilderness in those happy shades is no noise but that of Halelujahs no discontent no War no dissentions inhabit there there all agree there Ephraim is no more against Manasse nor Manasse against Ephraim nor they both against Juda but all are delighted with the everlasting Glory and Love of God there they hunger and thirst no more Wonderful change Here O my Saul thou art ever thirsting after God as the dry Land thirsteth after water there thou shalt be satisfied with him to all Eternity here thou longest after the hidden Manna there it will never be taken from thee here like Solomons Bride by night on thy Bed thou seekest him who is altogether lovely there his Beauty and Presence will ravish thee for ever Here though thy desires after the Blessings of Gods left hand be subordinate to thy desires after spiritual Mercies and thy esteem of God preponderates and is higher than thy esteem of any outward felicities yet while so nearly allied to Sense thou canst not so abandon Nature as to
have no longings at all after external comforts and conveniencies but in Heaven all perishing sublunary objects are forgotten there those Friends and Relations those Children those Honours those Riches which too often made too great an encroachment on thy Love will be no attractives there thou wilt be contented without Bread satisfied without Drink the want of Cloaths will not trouble thee thou wilt have nobler friends than Father and Mother and Brethren and Sisters to converse withal nobler Food than the Delicacies of this world nobler attire than Silk or the softest Down can make there will be no need of contriving how to get a livelyhood Palaces will not tempt thee Gardens will not entice thee Gold will not dazle thee the greatness of the world will affect thee no more than Pebles the glittering Diamond will make no impressions on thee and all thy wants and necessities will be fully supplyed by an immortality of Joy and Glory Here the warm Sun of Prosperity makes thee sometimes forget and neglect the great work of thy Salvation makes thee apt to grow weary of Fasting and Prayer and mortification and self-denial and apt to yield unto Satans temptations but there the tempter must tempt thee no more he dares not fully those Christalline Walks with his steps he dares not come near that Holy place it 's past his skill how to incommode or molest a glorified Spirit Here often like Jonas thou fittest rejoycing under the Gourd or Vine and while thou art solacing thy self the Gourd withers and the Sun scorches thy Body and thou growest faint there this annoyance will have an end there thou wilt live above the Sun and that which is now thy Ceiling shall be then thy Footstool On Earth when Christ is pleased to communicate himself unto thee it s here a little and there a little and he gives thee but sprinklings of his Grace for while thou art in this Tabernacle of Flesh thou art not capacious enough to receive or entertain that stupendious Light in its full vertue and Power and Majesty but when thy Vessel of Clay thy Body shall be shatter'd into Dust and Atomes and thou shalt be freed from thy Prison and live like thy self all Understanding all Intellect all Spirits the Sun that shines in the highest Heavens and irradiates the Throne of God even the Lord Jesus Christ will then reveal himself to thee in his full splendor and Glory thine Eyes will then be strong enough to look upon that glorious and immense Globe of Light and thou shalt be like unto the Angels of God thy extravagant passions will then cease forever thy grief thy sorrows will have no admittance into those Seats of Bliss thou 'lt be refined then from all those turbulent motions which do now so often discompose thy rest Here the death of a near Relation troubles thee there thou wilt be above all trouble and vexation here thine anger like that of Moses doth often wax hot because thou seest thy God dishonoured and his Commands trampled upon there thou wilt see no such dismal sights here a sin thou fallst into against thy will makes thee wish for rivers of Tears there thy grief will be buried in eternal exultations there thy passions will all be calm'd and like water after a storm look smooth and quiet there will be no disorder in thy affections but like a Quire of tuneable Voices they 'l meet in everlasting harmony there no affliction must come after thee Here with Moses thy Body may be thrown into the Water with Joseph cast into prison with Shadrach Meschek and Abednego flung into a fiery Furnace with Daniel hurried into a Lions Den stoned with the Prophets crucified with St. Peter thrown down from a Precipice with St. James cast into a Kettle of boyling Oil with St. John thrust through with a Lance as St. Thomas bound to a tree with St. Andrew flead with S. Bartholomew burnt with Polycarp torn by wild Beasts with Ignatius in all which afflictions thou canst not but sympathize with thy individual companion for it 's by thee that thy Body feels the torments it endures but in that Heaven that glorious Heaven no Enemy can reach thee no Devil fright thee no storm surprize thee no Monarch frown on thee no sickness break thee no distemper crush thee no age waste thee no danger shake thee no Tyrant threaten thee no Lions meet thee no Tyger tear thee no Sword pierce thee no publick commotions startle thee the Sun shall not light on thee nor any heat for thou art secure under the shadow of the Almighties wings for ever The Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne shall feed thee by his everlasting saciety here it is A little while and you shall not see me and again a little while and you shall see me but there with open face and without a glass thou wilt look upon his Majesty for ever here Christ comes and departs there he will never remove out of thy sight there his everlasting love will support thee there his kindness will be subject to Clouds and Eclipses no more there thou wilt not be able to turn thy Eyes away from him This is that Lamb that will give thee to drink of his everlasting Springs Springs which can never be drawn dry Springs which can no more decay than the Son of God decays he is the everlasting Fountain of Delight and in this Fountain thou shalt bathe and recreate thy self forever his Attributes his Kingdom his Beauty shall charm and ravish thee for ever there thou shalt be in an everlasting extasie of joy there thou wilt not need to cry out with St. Bernard Hold Lord for my heart is not able to contain those joys which thou dost so liberally pour out upon me that everlasting Fountain of joy and content and satisfaction shall both fill and enable thee to bear that fulness of joy and light which shall then appear unto thee the remembrance of Christs merits and benefits and what Christ hath done for thee will then transport thee into everlasting Praises and Celebrations of his Goodness Songs as endless as thy duration will be The Rivers that water that Garden of God shall be a perpetuum mobile running and flowing to all Eternity In this Paradise are living no standing waters when millions of ages are past thy Glory shall be still green and lively and after many thousands of years thy happiness like Aaron's Rod shall bud and blossom and bear Fruit. O my Soul when that inexhaustible Fountain fades then and not till then need'st thou be afraid that thy delights will fade there God will put an end to all thy Tears what Rhetorick can reach the favour the Tears thou didst shed for sin the Tears which a deep sense of thy Spiritual poverty did force from thee the Tears which Tribulation and Anguish did command from thine Eyes these will all then be wash'd away How amiable are thy Tabernacles Lord God of
thou putst upon thine own Soul and is thy Soul so inconsiderable a thing that thou makest nothing of deluding and circumventing it What thinkest thou Sinner suppose thou didst see a Senate or Parliament made up of very grave wise sober judicious men who should unanimously give their verdict in a Cause and determine it and while these men after serious deliberation give their judgement in the case propos'd to them in comes the malefactor against whom they have given sentence accuses the Decree of the Senate of injustice charges their Vote with a lye and takes a great deal of pains to make the world believe a tale of his own making whom wouldst thou believe that grave wise judicious Senate or the Malefactor the Senate sure and then when God Angels and Men the wisest the gravest the learnedst of them do all unanimously determine that without a serious consideration of thy Spiritual concerns thou canst not arrive to any sincere reformation of life canst never know the danger thou art in or what thou must do to escape unquenchable fire and that without it thou art a truly miserable man and dost take the way that leads to destruction hast thou the impudence to oppose thy sickly opinion which arises from a distemper'd ed head and a more distemper'd conscience to the grave sound and orthodox judgement of Men infinitely wiser than thy self when all with one consent affirm that thou art sick to death and nothing but consideration can recover thee wilt thou cancel their verdict by prescribing to thy self medicines of thine own making all cry out against thy inconsiderate course of life God doth not justify it Angels do condemn it the Preachers of the Gospel confute it Philosophers arreign it thy Reason hath arguments against it thy Conscience chides thee for it thy sober neighbors reprove it and wilt not thou subscribe to their sentence what insolence is it to think thy self more knowing than he that knows all things Behold sinner here lies the way to Heaven God is intreating thee to walk in it the Devil is busy to discourage thee from it God saith Here I will be found the Devil suggests that the Sons of Anack dwell there God wishes thou wouldst yield and live the Devil that thou wouldst stand out and dye God seeks to crown thee the Devil to rob thee of thy Diadem God assures thee that this is the Garden where thy Graces must grow the Devil argues that nothing but Weeds and Thistles grow there All the dispute is who shall have thy Soul God or the Devil think sinner for God's sake think who is the Rewarder and who is the Tormenter who is the King that can save thee and who is the Executioner that studies only to ruine thee shall not God prevail wilt not thou give him thy heart and shall Satan goe away with thy Soul shall he possess that Treasure which Angels are ambitious of for shame let not God goe away empty think what a condescension it is in God to be willing to accept of so inconsiderable a Present as thy Heart what is thy Soul to him what benefit doth he receive by offering thee his bosom if thou hast such a mind to be the Devils slave what need God take pains to rescue thee from that bondage dost thou think he cannot live without thee dost thou think thy being in his Heaven doth add any thing to his felicity cannot he as well be glorified in thy Torments as he can in thy Salvation cannot he make his Justice triumph over such a stubborn wretch as thou art wherein doth his advantage lye may not he be God and Great and Glorious and admired by Angels while thou friest in Hell thou hast very highly obliged him indeed that he need be at all this trouble to make thee in love with his ways shouldst not thou stand amazed at his Favour shouldst not thou wonder that this immense and infinite Majesty will vouchsafe a gracious look to so vile a worm as thou art and canst thou see a God court thee and grow coy doth God offer to kiss thee with the kisses of his Lips and dost thou scorn his embraces canst thou see him carress thee and turn away thy face wilt thou prefer the motions of a lying Devil before the Oracles of the Great God of Heaven hadst thou rather goe along with him that will murther thee than accompany him that will encircle thy Head with a Crown of Glory shall God magnify his Mercy upon thee and wilt thou fall in love with his enemy doth God intend by making love to thy Soul to give a character to the world of his infinite goodness and compassion and darest thou be so bold as to lessen that character by thy contempt and ingratitude Behold sinner God is willing to lay aside his Flaming Sword thou shalt hear of him no more in the Earthquake or in the Storm or in the mighty Wind that breaks the Rocks in pieces but in the still small voice the voice of Boanerges shall sound no more in thy ears he 'll blow his Trumpet of War no more all his frowns shall be done away he 'll fright thee no more with Hell-fire if his Grace his Mercy his Compassion can but allure thee to bethink thy self and close with him and so to consider the concerns of thy Soul as to resign thy self altogether to his guidance and direction his Aspect shall be kind his Countenance shall be nothing but smiles his Face shall be a perpetual Sunshine if by consideration of thy ways thou wilt become sensible of thy former folly and throw it away and take up with him alone if his kindly Beams can thaw thy frozen Heart if his calm can win thee and make thee prostrate thy self before the Lion of the Tribe of Judah Heaven and Earth shall be no longer in conspiration against thee and thou shalt not need to look any more for Thunders and Lightnings from that Heaven stand still sinner and see the Salvation of God behold Grace and Mercy lies weeping at thy Feet the free the soveraign the extensive the attractive Grace of God comes wooing to thy Soul and doth bespeak thee in this manner Hold Hold thou poor besotted creature whither dost thou run Hear hear I bring thee the joyfullest tidings that ever were brought to the ears of Men God will be thy Father the Lord Jesus thy Saviour the Holy Ghost thy Comforter the Angels thy Companions thy Life shall be a perpetual Holyday thou shalt be a friend of God an Heir of Heaven and Coheir with Christ thy sins shall all be done away thy iniquities shall be remembred no more all the promises of the Gospel shall be thine God will vouchsafe to live with thee the Holy Ghost will make thy Soul his Temple thou shalt have strength to overcome Hell and Devils Flames and Swords and be more than a Conqueror through him that loved thee the Lord Jesus Christ ask a Heaven and
thou shalt have it a Crown and it shall be thrown into thy bosom a Kingdom and it shall be thine ask all the Treasures of Glory and they shall not be denied thee from this time forward thy name shall be inrolled among the Favourites of Heaven and in thy Soul as in Jacob's Ladder the Angels shall be continually ascending and descending and thy Head like Gideon's Fleece shall be water'd with the dew of Heaven while the unbelieving World shall be dry and all this shall be thine if my Love my Mercy my Kindness can prevail with thee and engage thee to think seriously what thou must do to please God and to be happy for ever O sinner had those who now lye sweltring under the burning wrath of Almighty God such an offer as this how would they leap and triumph and agree to so reasonable a condition and thank God upon their bended knees day and night and praise him without intermission that he will vouchsafe to receive them on no harder terms than these O sinner is thy heart of stone that it doth not dissolve at this Gracious Message Can the Rock hold out against these bowels of compassion poor stubborn wretch were not thy Heart all steel were not thy Conscience seared how couldst thou forbear being prick'd at the heart hadst thou but the least spark of good nature left in thee what might not these Golden Chains these Silken strings these Cords of Love doe with thy immortal Soul The only reasons that the Servants of Benhadad had to humble themselves to the King of Israel was this We have heard that the Kings of Israel are merciful Kings Sinner hast not thou both heard and seen and seest it to this day that the true King of Israel is a merciful King and will not this prevail with thee to throw thy self down at his feet and kiss his Scepter and consider thy imprudence in deviating so long from the end of thy Creation and Redemption and make thee contented to part with all the strong holds of iniquity within thee and with all imaginations that exalt themselves against the obedience of Christ Jesus O doe not tell me that thou wilt most certainly bethink thy self sometime hereafter when sickness and approaching death shall take thee off from thy worldly businesses Vain foolish man How dost thou know thou shalt live till tomorrow for What is thy life even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away How many thousands are cut off as they are going up the hill in the noon of their days before half their race be run and what Patent hast thou from Heaven that it shall not be thus with thee God laughs at that repentance which men begin when they can keep sin and the world no longer he sees it is forc'd and squeez'd and weak and feeble and will God accept of thy Devotion when thou hast exhausted the cream and marrow of thy Bones in the Devils service How sinner consider thy ways upon thy death-bed Mad man dost thou know what Consideration means the Soul must be in its full strength that considers the sinfulness and sad consequences of her life Doest not thou see how in sickness the Soul sympathizes with the Body how the Mind languishes with the Flesh how weak how feeble the thoughts are upon a Death-bed how the mind is employed with thinking of the pain and anguish and uneasiness of the Body how Mens weakness scarce gives them leave to repeat the Lords Prayer intire without interruption how setling their Estates and disposing of their worldly affairs and sorrow and vexation that they have not managed their secular concerns with greater prudence takes up their cogitations and how transitory and superficial mens thoughts of sin and of another world are except they have gotten a habit of Heavenly-mindedness by a long and constant practice of Holiness in the time of their health and liberty before And doth Salvation deserve no more but a few slight and skin deep reflexions when thou liest a dying Canst thou have such low thoughts of everlasting Glory as to let Consideration of it come behind all the satisfactions of thy flesh Canst thou entertain such pittiful sneaking conceits concerning that mighty Heaven God out of his singular and unparallell'd mercy hath condescended to promise to his Saints as to delay thy contemplations and thy taking a view of it till thy Heart-strings break and thy throat begins to rattle and the House is falling Goe ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Alas when men are a dying the time of working is past that 's the night wherein no man can work that 's the time indeed to reap comfort of our former conscientious practises but not the time to work out our Salvation in that 's the time of rejoycing because our redemption draws nigh not the time of setting out from the Gates of Hell that 's the time to finish our course with joy not the time to begin a Holy life Alas the strength and vigor which must be used in a Heavenly conversation is then gone and men are just upon the point of reckoning with God their accounts must then be ready not to make up so that if thou art not ready now to take thy Spiritual concerns into serious consideration thy heart will be hardened every day more and more and the longer thou livest the less mind thou wilt have to set about it and if thou dost not think it worth thy trouble to spare now and then an hour from thy worldly businesses to mind this one thing necessary thou doest as good as tell God that thou wilt have none of his Heaven and judgest thy self unworthy of Eternal life O Sinner the present time is the day of Salvation this is the acceptable time now strike and thy sins will fall now strive and the Crown will be thine now fall to work and promise thy self Eternal Rest thou canst call no time thine own but the present time that 's only in thine hands make use of that and save thy self from this untoward Generation Extricate thy self from the delusions of the flesh take courage and be gone stay not in Sodom now accept of Mercy now lay up thy Treasure and secure thy right to the Tree of Life now remember thy Creator and God will remember thee when he makes up his Jewels and spare thee as a man would spare his own Son that serves him Hear then this Men Fathers and Brethren the God of your Fathers the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob hath sent us to you to tell you that his Supper is ready and the doors are open and the Guests are come and yet there is room and that you may fill the room which is left is the message we come to acquaint you withal from him who delights not in the death of a sinner but would have him turn and live Hear this ye
the same manner all other exceptions nay be answer'd and the sinner finding that the reasons he formerly thought invincible are so easily dash'd and blown away is most likely to hearken to the far stronger arguments of God and his own Conscience the rather because he retired on purpose to have a clearer sight of his ways than before he had and since God doth vouchsafe him so distinct a prospect of his Folly and preposterous Love he justly thinks that not to yield to God's reasonings is to mock him and savours of such ingratitude as admits of no excuse Indeed without retirement our Thoughts and Considerations flow at large like Water in the Sea and we can make no great observations concerning them but in retirement they are much like Water in a Weather-Glass and by them we may guess what temper our souls are in whether hot or cold more exactly than men do at the warmth or coldness of the weather by the rising and falling of the liquor in those Glasses In such retirements a Holy awe and reverence seizes on the Soul and when I see men can retire to drink to play to sleep and to debauch themselves I see no reason but they may I am sure they have greater reason to do it retire to consider the good and welfare of their immortal Souls I have already proved that Consideration must be frequent and consequently this retirement must be so too not that a man must never reflect on his actions or mind whether they be good or bad but when he retires No Consideration is either occasional or a solemn and set Duty either a habitual guide or an extraordinary remembrancer the former as it is universally useful and a great means to prevent sin in a true Believer to check him when he would commit it to engage him to repentance when he is fallen to direct him what he must do and to encourage him to those Duties which are proclaim'd in his Ears as necessary to Salvation so it is a necessary companion where ever we are or what ever we are doing and these occasional Considerations need no retirement but then where the stream of man's life must be turn'd or the actions of the day reviewed how far they have been agreeable to the will of God how far they have been contrary to it or where a strict mortification of sin must be used or where a long neglected duty must be made a familiar guest in thy Soul in a word where the work to be done is of some more than ordinary difficulty there those occasional reflections will not serve turn but more solemn considerations must be called in and these solemn considerations are properly the things which require retirement and as its fit they should be used once a day at least so he doth truly mind the interest of his Soul that some time every day retires and considers how he hath behaved himself that day towards God and Man whether his heart hath not been too much carried out after the comforts of this world what incroachment they have made upon his love to God and how they will fill the garden of his Soul with weeds if he do not stop their progress betimes and root them up what company he hath been in that day what he hath done in his Closet what his thoughts words desires actions affections have been that day whether he hath not been more concern'd for the trash and perishable riches of this life than the Glory of God and the Salvation of his Soul and how necessary it is for him having had a fall that day to be more careful and cautious and circumspect the next This Consideration is the pulse of the Soul which while it is beating it 's a great sign that there is life in the Soul and a good argument that God will increase and enlarge that life And as edification and progress in goodness ought to be the real design of retiring from the World so it doth necessarily import that men ought to chuse the liveliest hours or the hours when their Spirits are most active and freest from drowziness for so great a work When men are drowzy and sleepy Considerations may often come in but they are so weak and faint that they leave the Soul as cold as they found it and put it into the circumstances of that man in the Gospel who took Men for walking Trees saw something but knew not what to make of it or what name to give it While I am discoursing thus methinks I see the sensual Reader smile retirement thinks he this were to make my self a prisoner in the soft times of Peace and to deprive my self of that freedom which God and Nature have given me This were to goe into a Monastery and submit to the se verities of a Convent this at the best can only befit a Priest but can be no qualification of a Gentleman indeed if Gentlemen had no Heaven to gain no Hell to avoid if God had made them Beasts as too many doe make themselves we should not be displeased at this rambling talk but it 's an old trick where men have an aversion from a Duty to represent it in a dismal dress and to take off the burthen from their own Shoulders and to bind it upon others If they could satisfy God with these shufflings as easily as they doe their own Consciences they were safe but that the great day must decide and when the Archangel shall sound his Trumpet to gather the dead from all parts of the world and God who prescribed to all Men but one way to happiness shall make a strict examination how every one hath observed the Rules and Statutes of that way it will appear that this retirememt in order to a serious pondering of our actions was a duty incumbent on some people else besides Ministers He that retires upon this account doth indeed imprison himself but it is that he may attain to true and perfect liberty triumph over the slavery of sin lead his corruption captive and free himself from the dreggs and dross which corrupted Nature hath brought upon him Little doth the sensual man think what felicity he robs himself of by scorning this retirement Here Heaven would look more beautiful to him than in a croud here he might in a manner with St. Stephen see the Heavens open and his Saviour standing at the right hand of God here he might truly enjoy himself and look with pity on those men who like Spirits which are sometimes seen in Mines with great labour doe nothing at all to any purpose and when they have tired and wearied themselves in the world like Flies burn themselves in that candle about which they have been hovering Come sinner prepare thy Pencil mingle the richest Colours thou canst get Draw thy sinful careless life give it a beautiful Virgins face Draw all the charms that thy fancy can find out here Draw the Adoration the world pays unto her there
pull'd out betimes How shall I be crown'd if I strive not How shall I strive if I have no temptation I cannot strive without an enemy and without striving there can be no victory the Workman doth not pull the Gold out of the fire till sufficiently refined and shall I murmur that God lets the Fiery Trials continue upon me when it is certain that my Gold is not yet fit to be receiv'd into the Sanctuary I am full of dangers but my greatest danger is security Men fear and quake and tremble if they are in the midst of an hundred enemies I have all the Devils in Hell against me and a whole Army of Lusts bent to ruine me and am not afraid And when there is nothing can rouze me from my security but affliction ought not I to kiss the rod In the greatest troubles I may be assured that God loves me and that it is not his Anger but his Love that follows me with chastisements and why should I fret under the yoak especially when fretting and strugling to shake it off before Gods time doth but make my neck more sore and the yoak far more uneasy I brought the cause of suffering with me into the world which is sin and how can I expect I shall be freed from suffering till I am freed from sin God might have placed me in Heaven immediately upon my coming into the world without any of these outward troubles he could as easily produce Bread out of the Earth as he doth the Ears of Corn but that man may sweat and labour and relish his bread the better he causes only the Ears of Corn to spring and of them Bread must be made so by labour and suffering God leads me unto Glory that I may the better relish his bounty and liberality and my rest may be the sweeter after my toil and tempests here Affliction I know cannot hurt me for my Saviour hath been my taster there can be no bitterness in these herbs when my God hath season'd them Why should I love God less than dogs do their Masters These poor brutes are beaten and struck and chid and pelted with stones and yet the more they are beaten the more they love their owners and cringe and bow and humble themselves before them shall I be worse than a beast and shall I carry a rational Soul in my Breast and kick against those pricks which God hath set to guard me from Eternal Flames All my sorrows and bitterness will shortly be poured out into an ocean of sweetness and how little of it shall I perceive then it will then be all lost in a Sea of Glory and I shall forget that I was poor and wretched and naked and miserable when I shall be Eternally enriched with God bounty enamoured with his perfection decked with his Majestick Robes comforted with his Consolation delighted with his love enriched by his wisdom and satisfied with his beauty in whose Presence there is fulness of joy and pleasure at his right hand for evermore These are some descants upon that Picture of Retirement with such consolations can he that retires refresh himself while the man that wearies himself with the vanities of this world finds no solid peace and when he comes to dye must look back upon his former life with horror and anxiety But II. Another great help to Consideration is Prayer this is the Ambassador that must goe to Heaven and fetch the assistance of Gods Spirit from thence Consideration shews me my danger and my happiness but it 's the Spirit of God must blow upon my affections that they may actually shun the one and reach after the other and this Spirit must be had by Prayer not by Lip-labour not by Prayer unto which the heart is a stranger and knows not what the tongue means in making such a noise but by Prayer which expresses the real desires of the heart by Prayer that flows from a deep sense of the absolute necessity of the grace of God and hath Fire and Flames enough to bear it up into Heaven For if you which are evil can give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your Heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him saith Christ Luc. 11.13 and what kind of asking this is appears from the parable immediately preceding for which of you saith Christ v. 5. shall have a friend and shall goe to him at midnight and say unto him Friend lend me three loaves for a friend of mine in his journey is come unto me and I have nothing to set before him and he from within shall answer and say Trouble me not for the door is now shut and my children are with me in bed I cannot rise and give thee I say unto you though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needs And then it follows immediately Ask and it shall be given you i. e. Ask for Gods Holy Spirit with the same importunity with the same fervency and earnestness that this man did the Loaves follow God with incessant cryes resolve not to be denied and it shall most certainly be given you The truth is importunate and fervent Prayer shews a man is in good earnest and that he doth not come to God out of formality or meerly to satisfy the motions of a fearful Conscience but that a great sense of the goodness and mercy of God and of his Spiritual wants and necessities puts him upon Prayer and such Prayers God cannot despise because he hath promised to hear them and of this the Evangelist gives us a very illustrious example in the woman of Canaan crying unto Christ Lord help me the answer is rough It is not meet to take the Childrens bread and give it unto dogs yet this doth not terrify her she doubles her cryes and seems to catch our Saviour in his own words Truth Lord yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their Masters Table and now God can hold no longer but from his mouth drops the joyful word O Woman great is thy Faith be it unto thee even as thou wilt Matth. 15.25 26 27. Prayer sanctifies Consideration and where the Soul begs hard of God that God would set home the reflexions she hath had and work her into a willingness to close with his Will that he would increase that light which Consideration hath given her give that light fire too to warm as well as cleer her and drive and force those Convictions Consideration hath afforded her into a serious conversion terrify her so with that sight of sin which Consideration hath darted into her that she may remain no longer in the suburbs of Hell but come out of Sodom and so allure her with that beauty of Holiness which Consideration hath let her have a view of that she may not be able to resist the splendor but submit to the power
in the mire and pit thou didst advance me into thy Fathers bosom I lay trembling under the jaws of the hellish Dragon thou gavest me a place in the heart of God I was unworthy of thy gracious Aspect and thou hast made me capable of being embraced by the Great and Terrible God I lay in a Dungeon thou didst promote me to a Throne thou hast done that for me which I durst not have hoped or wish'd for it had been enough to have deliver'd me from Hell but that would not content thee except I were raised above the Heavens and above Angels too it had been favour enough when my condition was so desperate if thou hadst parchas'd for me a suspension or forbearance of thy Fathers Anger but thou didst go further and didst purchase me a Pardon too and not satisfied with that thou didst incline thy Fathers love to me and as if that had not been enough thou didst procure me Gifts and Blessings too and not only Blessings in general but the greatest Blessing imaginable even thine own Kingdom and thine own Heritage How unworthy have I lived of this incomprehensible Love O that I might not be able to reflect upon my life without indignation Thou art the way the truth and the life direct me and I 'll strive to enter in at the strait Gate purify my Spirit wash my Soul with thy Bloud that 's the Eye-salve which will make me see that 's the Medicine which will cure my blindness O cleanse me and I shall be whiter than Snow O thou inexhausted Fountain of Goodness let me not goe away dry from thee let the light of thy countenance always shine about me and by that light let me discover not only my grosser sins but my more secret corruptions Draw me after thee and I shall run hide me in thy wounds be my Advocate and plead my Cause thou spreadest open thy Arms to all that desire Rest behold I come receive me Graciously love me Freely teach me to relye on thee My Joy my Treasure my Sovereign Comfort cause all the fruits of the Spirit to grow in my Soul O help me or else I perish O assist me or else I faint my Conscience terrifies me O do thou speak peace unto it the roaring Lion threatens to devour me O shew thy gliterring Sword and drive him away Gods anger burns against me O throw some drops of thy Bloud into that fire and it will goe out Let me be content to sell all for thee let me not scruple to part even with the best things I have for thy service set me as a seal upon thy Heart stream down the waters of Life upon me I 'll open my mouth wide O do thou fill it I will live to my self no more possess all my faculties and unite them to thee make me truly acquainted with my self let those joys thou hast promised to thy Saints support me in all my tribulations Come Lord Jesus come quickly O Thou Blessed and Eternal Spirit vouchsafe to breath upon me blow upon my Garden that the Spices may flow move powerfully upon my Soul that it may bring forth fruits meet for Repentance Let me be truly afraid to resist thy suggestions Sanctify and give success to all my attempts to make my Calling and Election sure when my stubborn heart would baffile thy designs to save me let thy Grace overcome and conquer me represent the love of God to me in that Glory that I may instantly throw down all I have at the feet of Christ O let my Soul be so dazled with its beams that I may desire and breathe after nothing so much as after a Glorious enjoyment of God Break the chains of my sins command the Fetters I have been bound in to fly asunder whatever good thoughts I have of God increase them enlarge my Soul that I may truly delight in thinking of thee let me feel the sweetness of Holiness let me taste those joys which thou dost vouchsafe to those that improve thy motions tempt me by a foretaste of Heavens Glory to lay force upon it Give me a glimpse of yonder Paradise that I may not faint in my journey give me arguments against my self that I may be deliver'd from my self Fill all the channels of my Soul with thy gifts while I sojourn here on Earth let my heart be in Heaven let not self-self-love in me hinder me from loving thee Take my heart away and give me thy self be thou my heart and all my delight wherever I am be thou my Director let thy word be my rule and enable me to live according to that rule O Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity one God thou immense Sea of happiness make me to know what it is to be one with thee O thou everlasting Goodness O thou everlasting Wisdom O thou everlasting Sweetness grant I may see thee seeing may love thee loving may admire thee admiring may imitate thee and imitating thee may enjoy thee enjoying thee may never be separated from thee but live in thy Light and Love and Glory to all Eternity FINIS Acts 14.11 * Aen. Sylvius Psal. 18.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hagg. 1.5 7. 1 Sam. 15.14 * Tertullian Apolog. c. 50. * Id. Ibid. * Tertull. lib de patientia c. 14. Erumpentes bestiolas in eosdem specus pastus foraminosae carnis ludendo revocibat 1 Pet. 5.8 Matth. 4.3 Eph. 6 12. Sucton in Calig vid. Euseb. Nierem de ador lib. 1. c. 〈◊〉 seq
mercies Hos. 2.19 False treacherous Man Is the world become his Master Is his servant become his Sovereign And is that which was intended for his footstool become his Throne whereon he braves all the messages of grace and pardon Shall so great a Soul be married to so mean a slave So great a Spirit join'd to so pitiful a vassal And shall that which was design'd for him to trample on and despise domineer and use him like a Prisoner put fetters about his feet and shackle his Soul that it may not return to that husband to whom it hath sworn fidelity and promised allegiance and subjection How art thou fallen from Heaven O Lucifer son of the morning and thou who hadst once power given thee to ascend into Heaven and without a metaphor to exalt thy Throne above the stars of God to ascend above the heights of the clouds and to be like unto the most High How art thou brought down to Hell to the sides of the Pit How art thou cut down to the ground How is thy pomp brought down to the grave Isa. 14.11 12 13. III. Impediment III. Vnwillingness to part with their sins This certainly is the greatest Impediment of Consideration and the chief cause of Mens neglecting this most useful work Their consciences or their hearts give them that Consideration will discover the deformity and odiousness of their vices and will put them upon forsaking their darling lusts they are afraid it will raise doubts and jealousies in their heads about their present condition disturb them in their slumber discompose them in their golden dreams drive them from their softs and ease and make their Candle burn dim and blew which for the present gives a very delightful shine and therefore they are loth to apply themselves to it I have heard of some rude and savage Indians who being decently cloathed by our Merchants for in their own Countrey it seems they knew no other ornaments but dung and guts of Beasts about their naked bodies and brought over into England with an intent to civilize them and make them instruments upon their return to teach their own Nation modesty and decency as they were walking about the streets of London and beholding the stately houses that adorn'd that goodly City they were observed to sigh and groan and to look very melancholy those that took notice of them charitably believ'd that their dejected looks were no other but characters of their mourning at their unhappy Countreymen who were strangers to such Edifices such Pomp such Glory such Plenty such Magnificence and Gallantry But being sent over into their own Countrey again they quickly betray'd the reason of their sighs and soon discovered that their melancholy was caused by their being delivered from their nastiness and beastly way of living For they were no sooner come to shore but they tore off their cloaths with indignation fell about the necks of their Countreymen with joy and betook themselves to their dung and guts again and in these ornaments they came triumphing to the English There cannot certainly be a fitter emblem of Sin where Men are enamor'd with it They delight in their Plague-sores rejoyce in their wounds and bruises wounds not bound up nor mollified with oyntment They are afraid of Plaisters and do so desire to be let alone in their misery that they are jealous of a Cure and dread a Physitian Their filth is so pleasing to them their itch so amiable that he that offers to free them from it attempts tearing of their bowels from them and that 's it makes them afraid of Consideration For indeed Consideration would anatomize their sin shew them the venome that 's spread through every part shew them who that God is who professes himself offended at it shew them that he who is provok'd by it is that God who breath'd into their Nostrils the breath of life and gives them the meat they eat the drink they drink and the cloaths they put on that hath the same power over them which the Potter hath over his Vessel and can create and destroy them at his pleasure that sits on the circle of the earth and before whom all Nations are as a drop of a Bucket and are counted as the small dust of the ballance before whom they are as nothing yea less than nothing and vanity from whom all their spiritual and temporal mercies do descend without whom they could not be one moment out of Hell who is their best their greatest and most constant Benefactor who lets his Sun shine upon them and his Rain drop down on their fields and pastures who sends his holy Angels to watch their steps and to keep them in their wayes who hears the Heavens for them and makes the Heavens hear the earth and the earth to hear the Corn the Wine and the Oyl and commands all these to relieve them who preserves them from danger prevents their being hurt and charges all the elements to spare them who keeps them by his Providence supports them by his Wisdom protects them by his Power and thinks nothing too good for them if they will but approve themselves obedient children and live like persons who are sensible of the obligations of the Highest Consideration would let them see that this God who could undo them wooes them to Repentance and that there is nothing in the world God hates more than sin and that this is it his Soul abhors being holiness it self and of infinite purity Consideration would let them see that their sin controlls the will and wisdom of that God who feeds them sets up Laws of its own making in opposition to those commands which the holy Angels dare not mention without trembling This would let them see the majesty and glory of that God whom they do affront a God who charges his Angels with folly and on whose brightness those blessed Ministers cannot look without covering their faces with their wings and crying out in amazement Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts Consideration would represent to them the various mercies and opportunities they do slight and how hard it will be for them to kick against the pricks this would shew them what resisting their own mercies means and what fighting against their own happiness imports how blessings slighted will turn to a curse and mercies abus'd will aggravate their gâ—ilt how stubbornness makes God weary of shewing mercy and how refusing to come in while the gates are open provokes the Master of the house to protest That the invited Guests shall neuer taste of his Supper how opportunities of being serious if neglected may be snatcht away and the Scepter of grace if look'd upon with contempt and scorn may never be stretcht forth again Consideration would let them see what grief their sins do cause in Heaven how they make the eternal God complain how loathsom how abominable they make them in the sight of God and how they treasure up unto the owners wrath against