heat would scorch Therefore when God promised to Israel the beauty of the Lilly the stability of the Cedâ—r the fruitfulness of the Olive to effect all this he saith he will be as the dew And what ground can but bring forth when he who is the Father of the Rain and begetteth the drops of the dew shall himself descend upon it in bounty and goodness Who can but love him with a love of duty whom he shall thus tender with a love of mercy Who can but love him with a love of Concupiscence as being more desirous of new Influences than satisfied with former Receipts whom he so freely loves with a love of Beneficence O Lord my Soul thirsteth for thee as the gaping and chapped earth doth for the moysture of the Heavens I am nothing I can do nothing without thee my fruitfulness my growth my life depend wholly upon the droppings of thy grace when they dew lieth all night upon my Branch my glory is fresh in me and my whole man is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed Be not therefore unto me O my God as a Cloud without Rain left I be as a Tree without fruit But let thy grace alwaies distill upon me as the dew and as the small rain upon the tender herb and then shall I be as the ground which drinketh in the showers that come oft upon it and bringeth forth fruit meet for him by whom it is dressed and receive also new blessing from God Meditation XIV Vpon a Pearl in the Eye VVHat specious names have Physicians put upon diseases who call a Plague Sore a Carbuncle and the white film which taketh away the delightful sight a Pearl in the Eye Do they gild over Diseases as they do their Pills or a Bolus that so their Patients may less fear and feel the evil of the one as they less taste the bitterness of the other And are any by such slender Artifices brought into an opinion that a Carbuncle is less mortal or loathsome than any other swelling that hath not so gay a name Or that blindness which is caused by a Pearl in the Eye is more comfortable than the loss of sight that comes by other accidents Methinks Reason should not run at so low an ebb in any as to please themselves in such fancies may not a Poyson have a name that sounds better to the ear a colour more pleasing to the eye and a taste that is more grateful to the Pallate than the Antidote which expels it May not Alchimy glister when Gold looks pale And yet alas in spiritual maladies in which the danger is so much the greater by how much the soul is of more value than the body with what strange delusions are many transported who when their minds are poysoned with Errour and Blasphemy do then put upon their corrupt Opinions and Tenents the glorious names of Revelations Visions Raptures refined notions and what not that may confirm themselves in their own dotages and win others into an admiration of their persons Thus Montanus gave out himself to be the Comforter that Christ had promised to send forth into the World Arius proudly boasted that God had revealed something to him which he hid from his Apostles And Eunomius fondly imagined that he was taken up to Heaven as Elias was and had seen Gods face as had Moses and was wrapt up to the third heaven as was Paul But what other thing are these Follies or rather Phrensys than as if an Israel te infected with the botch of Egypt and overspread with it from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head should boast that he had robbed the Egyptians of their most precious Jewels and had decked himself with them Would not men pitty his distemper rather than believe his confidence Would not they offer medicines to heal him rather than suffer him to perish under his miserable delusion of possessing great riches How is it then that in matters of faith in which there is both clear evidence and certainty Hereticks that are no other than ulcerous persons fitter for Dogs to lick than Christians to love should throughout all Ages so easily gain to themselves such a great multitude of Proselytes only by putting fair Names upon foul Errours It is because men for their lusts sake will not see but willingly corrupt themselves in those things which they know or is it because God hath smitten them with a spirit of blindness that they shall not see for their not receiving of the truth in the love of it Surely whatever the cause be such is the infatuation as that I had need both to tremble and to pray To tremble at the sad woe which is denounced by God himself against those that call evil good and good evill That put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter And to pray as David did Teach me thy way O Lord I will walk in thy truth unite my heart to fear thy name Meditation XV. Vpon Spiritual and bodily sickness THe soul hath its maladies as well as the body and such that for their likeness to them do often borrow their names from them Pride is a Timpany Avarice a Dropsie Security a Lithargy Lust a Calenture Apostacy an Epilepsie And yet though these names of bodily diseases do happily serve to point and shadow out the nature of spiritual how wide is the difference between the Patients of the one and of the other in regard of those qualities which may dispose them for a cure and recovery out of them In the diseases of the body it matters not whether the Patient know the name of his disease or understand the vertue of the medicines which are prescribed or be able to judge of the increase height and declination of his distempers by the beatings of his pulse the whole business is managed by the care and wisdom of the Physician who oft times conceals the danger on purpose least fear and fancy should work more than his Physick and hinder the benefit of what he applies But in the maladies of the soul it is far otherwise the first step unto spiritual health is a distinct and clear insight of sin such which makes men to understand the Plague of their own hearts Christ heals by light as well as by Influence he first Convinceth them of sin and then gives the pardon he discovers the disease to them and then administers the medicine Ignorance is a bar to the welfare of the soul though not of the body and makes the divine remedies to have as little effect upon it as Purges or Cordials have upon the Glasses into which they are put It is Solomons peremptory Conclusion that a soul without knowledge is not good nor indeed can be because it wants a principle which is as necessary to goodness as a visive power to the eye to enable it to discern its object How can he ever value holiness who understands not what sin is Or
bestowed by God upon Judea the Country which is renouned for Christs Birth is also only celebrated for this Balm all other Nations wholly wanted it or at least had none like it Moses tells us that it was anciently one of the Isâ—maelites Commodities which they carried from Gilead to Egypt And Ezekiel saith it was Israels and Judahs Merchandise to Tyrus Doth it not then genuinely poynt out unto us that the whole world must be beholding to Christ for Salvation and healing Doth it not as a spiritual Hierogliphick assert that weighty Doctrine of Peters That there is no name under heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved but by the name of Christ Why then do men lay out their money for that which is not Balm Why do they take hold sometimes on one Creature and sometimes one another saying Be thou our healer let this ruin be under thy hand Is it not one of those glorious Appellations which God in Scripture is pleased to take unto himself Ego Jehovah curator tuus I am the Lord that healeth thee Take heed then O Christian when thou art under any distress or under any malady to cheat thy self with false remedies to use Fig leaves instead of Figs themselves Adam took the one which did only hide his nakedness but not cure it but to restore Hezekiah God took the other Use what God hath appointed not what thou fanciest Secondly This Balsâ—me tree drops and weeps forth its Balm to heal their wounds that cut and mangle it and did not our blessed Saviour do thus What a strange requital did this great innocent and holy person make unto those from whom he suffered They mock and revile him hanging upon the Cross and he prayes and begs forgiveness for them They shed his bloud and he makes it a precious Medicine to heal their putred sores They smite and pierce him to the heart with a Spear and he erects in his heart a fountain to wash them from their sin and uncleanness Was it ever heard that a Physician would sweat and bleed for his surfeited Patient Or that an offended Prince would expiate the foul Treasons of his Subjects with his own life Surely well might the Apostle say that God commended his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Be astonished O ye Angels of Heaven who delight to pry into Gospel mysteries at this Abyss of divine love from which Seraphims themselves cannot but detract if they should in the least conceive that they could either fathom with their knowledge or express in their praises And be ye melted O rocky hearts of sinners with the ardency and strength of such love which is stronger than death it self It was his love which held him upon the Cross to finish your salvation when death could not hold him in the grave Let this love of Christ constrain you henceforth not to live unto your selves but unto him that died for you Thirdly This Balm which distills from this wounded tree is of such vertue and efficacy as that it is Medicina omni morbia Physick to cure all diseases being applied inwardly or outwardly It allayeth the Head-ach it restoreth thy eye-sight helpeth the Astmah purgeth Ulcers cureth the poysonful Sting of Serpents healeth all kind of wounds Is not then this Balm in the Letter an apt Emblem of the Balm in the mystery of the bloud of Christ Which is of an unlimited power and excellency What is the evil that can befall any for which this is not a certain Cure Oh when taken inwardly as in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper it is both Food and Physick it enlightens the dark mind it heals the broken in heart it fills the hungry with good things When sprinkled outwardly as in Baptisme it is effectual to stop the Leprosie of Sin to cure the venome and rage of Lusts to mollifie the stony heart and to make fruitful the Barren Be then of good chear O ye drooping and afflicted souls let me say to you as Paul to those in the tempest The lives of none of you shall be lost If you complain No sins like yours let me adde There is no Salvation like Christs If you say you are a Systeme a fardle of sins and lusts hear what the Apostle saith The bloâ—d of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin No man ever miscarried for being a great sinner but only for being an impenitent sinner Be not in love with your sins as Beggars are with their sores that will not part with them and then doubt not of your Physicians skill or care It is his peculiar glory that never any Patient miscarried under his hand though such was their condition that they were all utterly incurable by any other Meditation XXX Vpon the palpitation of the heart THe Pearl which in the Oyster is a disease in the Cabinet is a Jewel of rich value and in the Ear an Ornament of an orient beauty and such a thing is this trembling or palpitation of the heart in the body it is a sad malady in the soul it is an heavenly grace They who are afflicted with the one seek earnestly to the Physician for a Cure And they who want the other importune God to obtain it from him as a blessing when once they know the excellency and worth of it Who is the Favourite of heaven with whom the high and lofty one that inhabiteth Eternity will dwell And to whom he will look with an eye of protection with an eye of care and delight Is it not to him that is of a contrite heart and that trembleth at his word Who is the best Saint on Earth Is it not he who useth most diligence to work out his salvation with fear and trembling All duties are best done when accompanied with this holy trembling Prayer and Confession of sins are never better made than when we imitaâ—e those Penitents in Ezra who sate trembling in the street of the House of God The Word is never more awfully received as the Will and Command of a Great King than when received as the Elders of Bethlehem did Samuel who trembled at his coming O methinks I cannot without wonder read how Paul lived among the Corinthians in fear and much trembling as sensible of the weight of his Ministry and how they again received Titus Pauls Messenger with the like affection not entertaining him with costly banquets with Court-like Salutations but with fear and trembling which is the highest respect that can be showen to the Doctrine of Christ Yea the Supper of the Lord it self though it be a Feast of Love in which Christ qui est totus amor est caput coenae who is all love is the chief and onely dish that a Soul hath to feed upon is best Celebrated with a Divine trembling which may correct our joy and keep it from degenerating into a carnal mirth The sparkling raies of light which are reflected from the polished Diamond are
THE Spiritual Chymist OR SIX DECADS Of Divine Meditations On several Subjects By William Spurstow D. D. Sometime Minister of the Gospel at Hackney near London My meditation of him shall be sweet Psal 104. 34. LONDON Printed in the Year 1666. The Preface to the Reader Christian Reader THe natural Sun in the Firmament whether we consider the vastness of its Globe or the splendour and dazling of its light or the variety and beneficialness of its motion and operations attended with duration and perpetuity is the top and Prince of all inanimate beings Yet the least insect that the most Artificial Microscope can discern life in is able to weigh against it and in genere entium is more perfect How excellent a being then is the Soul of man that doth not only out-strip the Sun but all other sensitive things even those that have the most lively 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Philosopher calls them which the Oratour translates Virtutum simulacra the faint imitations of Reason Now among the many demonstrations of the excellency of the Humane Soul the operations of it do abundantly witness for it and among them to go no farther the operations of those two supream Faculties the Understanding and Will in apprehending and loving God These are more excellent than the Suns enlightning the world I choose to instance in that because the ornament beauty life of all things depend upon it for to what purpose were these things made were it not that the light of the Sun made them Proximè visibilia Yet this is nothing in compare with the Soul of man in its apprehending and loving God This speaks the Subject endued with a principle not to be transcended but only in degree in perfection You cannot have more persect operations in heaven in kind though you may in degree Angels and Souls made perfect it is true do this more intirely more perfectly more constantly and unweariedly But in knowing God and making choice of him in loving and cleaving to him the souls of holy men do according to the capacity of the present state communicate with them Now these two have a mutual aspect on each other and the happy Conjunction of Knowledge and Devotion speak the Soul Regular and Uniform in its Acts and to be in a good measure of spiritual health When Knowledge doth guide and steer as it were Devotion and Devotion doth in a kind of gratitude warm and enflame our Knowledge which otherwise is apt to chil and grow cold as experience shews in many knowing Creatures in whom the waters of the Sanctuary have put out the fire And as the separation of the love of God from the knowledge of God breeds swarms of hypocrites in the visible Church so the separation of the knowledge of God from affection to God begets a strange kind of wild fire in the Spirits of men and while they have Zeal for God which is nothing but Affection in its full stature got out of its swadling cloaths without Knowledge they are but like a Ship without a Rudder or Ballast that is a prey to every Pirate and if it miss them is carried by its own levity and the winds impetuousness on its own ruine When therefore the blessed Spirit comes to work in the soul he first enlightens the mind and sets open 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the gates of light and then the Will ecchoes to the Understanding and certainly that action is most congruous to so excellent a being as the Soul when the Mind takes its aime before the Affections shoot For otherwise though the action doth prove materially good yet it is no more commendation to him that doth it than to him that shuts both his eyes and then contingently hits the mark The apprehensions and affections of Mans Soul being thus regulated and conjoyned do admirably fit and dispose for that we call Meditation I mean Divine and Christian Meditation which is the off-spring of a good heart and a good head How excellent and sweet an employment this is none can know but those that have tasted it and have the skill to spiritualize all objects and providences turning every thing by a Divine Chymistry in succum sanguincm into spirit and nourishment Making the Word and Works and Ordinances of God as so many Rounds to climbe up to a more clear Vision and fervent love of God and then descending make these a clear Mirrour wherein they see themselves and to be like windows to let in that light into the private and dark recesses of the heart that discovers the hidden works of darkness and so provokes the soul to endeavour a more through purgation of it self which it is the more easily exstimulated to being under a deep sence of Gods purity and a serious affection to be like him But this duty of Divine and Spiritual Meditation is a thing that in this degenerate age the generality of Christians are utter strangers to and very hardly brought to the practice of Though there was never any time wherein the thoughts and minds of men were more busie and active and the helps inducements and encouragements more plentiful and cogent and the calls and invitations on Gods part both by his Word and Works more frequent Yet it is a work of inexpressible difficulty to bring these subtil and volatile acts of the mind to a fixation to make any considerable immoration upon those subjects that are in themselves of the greatest worth and to us of the nearest consequence Now considering that man is by God made a providential Creature and doth naturally cast up damages and gain and project the obtaining the one and avoiding the other I have therefore thought it worth the enquiring what should be the reason of their awkness to this beneficial employment and considering that Knowledge and Love are the two things that dispose for it I have thought it might arise from some defect in these and sometimes thus argued Surely this wisdom is too high for fools that men that have incrassated their souls and almost extinguished this Divine Lamp by shooting themselves so deep in sensuality and worldliness that they who have well-nigh forgot their God their own being their happiness should ever be able to mount so high as Meditation But when I considered how stupid or sottish soever these men were by debauchery or pretended to be through want of education yet they were ingeniously wicked and could in their minds lay Schemes of villany and that their phantasies were alwaies minting and forging wicked devices which they could in their second thoughts revise and polish and like a Second Edition make the Model to be Auctior nequior larger and more wicked I then saw no excuse for them that had wit enough to be wicked but none to do good And therefore looking further into the ground of it I found it arose from the second want of love to God which is the stream that sets all the Wheels of the soul
the Insition of a Graff into a forrain stock which aptly shews forth the entire deâ—endance we have upon Christ without whom we can do nothing and how also we that are at a distance from him are truly made one with him But yet methinks it is matter both of delight and wonderment to see how much the spiritual implantation out-goes the natural In the natural sweet Graffs are advised to be set in sowre Stocks for though it be proper to the Stock to be vehiculum alimenti the conveyance of the nourishment yet virtus temperamenti the quality of the Juyce comes from the Graff and not from the Stock But in the spiritual it is quite otherwise the Graff is vile and worthless but the Root to which it is united is precious The Scion of a Crab is put into a tree of life the wild Olive into the true Olive and is thereby so changed as that it can no more degenerate into what it was but shall for ever abide what the Almighty power of grace hath made it to be a branch of righteousness bringing forth the fruits of new obedience to the glory of him who hath made this blessed Change Meditation VI. Vpon a Glass witbout a foot THat which chiefly renders this Glass of little or no esteem is not the Brittleness of it which is common to every Glass but an unaptness for use and service through a particular defect in regard it hath only a capacity to receive what is put into it and no ability to retain it unless some hand or other forrain aide supply the place of a natural foot In the hand it is useful to convey drink to the thirsty or a Cordial to the Patient but as soon as it is out of the hand through meer weakness it falls and spills the liquor if not ruine it self O how lively doth this imperfect Glass resemble the best Condition of Believers on this side heâ—ven who in themselves are not only britâ—le and so apt to be irrecoverably broken but are also totally unable to retain either grace or comfort with which Christ is pleased to fill them unless he bear and hold them alwaies in his hand And O how great is the care and love of Christ to preserve such Frail Creatures to life and to honour such weak Instruments in his constant service Who can think upon this goodness of Christ and not be transported with Raptures and Ecstasies in the deep admiration of it Who can believe that sure Salvation that is in him out of whose hand no man can pluck us and not passionately desire it Is it not better with us than it was with us in Adam who had Feet to stand upright but no Hand which might preserve him from falling Freewill hath made many Servants but hath it ever made one Son Are not all that are saved Children of grace Let others then magnifie Natures Power and like sick men talk confidently of walking when upon trial they cannot stand I shall alwaies desire to have a due sense of my own emptiness and weakness and to make this my dayly prayer that Christ would alwaies fill me with his grace hold me by his hand and use me ever in his service Meditation VII Vpon the sight of a Lilly and a Violet THese two Flowers brought to my Mind a saying of Hierom to this effect That it is better and more honourable to be a Lilly then a Violet Which when stripped of its Metaphorical Clothing comes to thus much That to be alwayes pure is more commendable then to bear the blush of a Sin Spotless Innocency doth far exceed the greatest Penitency A Truth questionless it is beyond Controversie and no way needing the aid of the School to determine that Innocens est praestantior poenitente The Innocent is more worthy then any Penitent Innocency being the onely Robe of Glory with which Man was covered when first Created and of which had he not divested himself he had never experienced Shame or Sorrow they both being Passions that had their entrance into the World with Sin and shall in the same Moment with it Die and Expire But yet next to this Virgin Purity from Sin The most desirable thing is true and unfeigned Penitency for Sin Which though it cannot restore a Man to his Primitive State Time Lost and Innocency being two irrecoverable things yet it will through Gods Ordination abundantly capacitate him for Mercy and Pardon When Ephraim Smote upon the Thigh and was ashamed because he bare the reproach of his Youth how earnestly did God remember him Is Ephraim my dear Son When the Prodigall returns a Penitent how affectionately doth his Father embrace him and falling upon his Neck kiss him how doth he cut off and prevent a part of his Confession which he was purposed with himself to have made by his speedy calling for the Ring the Robe the Shooes to adorn him and the fatted Calf to Feast him O blessed Lord how willingly would I therefore who have nothing of the unspotted purity of the Lilly partake plentifully of the Tincture of the Violet how fain would I who have had a Forehead to commit Sin before thee have a Face to blush for Sin done against thee my Sins are as the sand of the Sea for number O that my Teares were as the Water of the Sea for abundâ—nce But who Lord can make me of a Proud and unhallowed Sinner a real and Broken Convert but thy self That Grace by which mine whole Man must be moulded to a Penitential Frame is altogether thine heart hand eyes tongue cannot in the least move without thee they are lifeless Members till thou quicken them yea Rebellious till thou subdue them do thou therefore by a powerful Energy fit every part for its proper Duty let my hand smite the Breast as the fountain and root from whence all mine Iniquities do spring let my tongue confess them mine eye mourn for them my face blush and my heart bleed for them then shall I unfeignedly say and acknowledge My ruin is from my self but in thee is my help O Lord. Meditation VIII Vpon a Crum going the wrong way VVHat more mean and contemptible thing can there be then a single Crum either in regard of its doing the least hurâ— or effecting the least good and yet like the Tongue which Sâ— James saith is a little Member exâ—ollit sese it boâ—steth great Matters in the Mouth it is true it hath scarce substance enough to be felt but in the Throat it is such as can hardly be endured If it descend into the Sâ—omach it can contriâ—ute nothing to the support of Life but if it miss the due passage to it how often doth it threaten Death and sometimes also effect it O how frail and mutable is the Life of Man which is not only Jeoparâ—ed by Iâ—struments of War and Slaughter which are made to destroy but by an Hair a Raisin-Stone a Feather a Crum and a thousand such
are these words of direction Starboard Starboard Port Port spoken by him that eyes the Compass repeated by him that holds the Helm to prevent all danger that might arise from mistakes Or else how suddenly would Rocks Waves or Sands make a prey of them Well then might Aristotle in his Mechanical Questions propose it as a Problem worthy of a resolution why a little helm hanging upon the outmost part of the Ship should have such a great power as to move a vast bulk and weight with much facility amidst storms and gusts of wind And may we not answer that the wisdom in these Arts is Gods though the industry in the use of them is mans But the more power it hath the more apt Emblem it is of that faculty of the Will which in all moral actions is the Spiritual Rudder of the soul to turn the whole man this way or that way as it pleaseth The Position of the School is a truth Inclinatio voluntatis est inclinatio totius compositi The inclination of the will is the inclination of the whole person and according to the rectitude or pravity of its motions both the man and his actions are denominated good or evil And hence it is that Austin doth often define Sin by a mala voluntas and good by a bona voluntas because of the dominion which the Will hath in the whole man Of how absolute concernment is it then that this great Engine which commandeth all the inferiour powers of the soul be not disordered If there be a Dyspepsie in the Stomack an inflamation in the Liver or a taint in some other Vitall what can the less noble parts of the body contribute unto its health If the Foundation be out of course how can the Building stand If the Spring be polluted who can expect the Streams should be Christalline If the will be vitiated how can it be that Fear Hatred Love Joy Desire which in the sensitive part are Passions but in the soul are immaterial affections or rather operations of the Will and are found in Angels themselves should be pure and free from the corruption of their principle It is therefore necessary that this spiritual Rudder have also a spiritual Compass by which it may steer that so its motions may not be destructive or at the least vain And what can this Compass be but the Word and Will of God Conformity and obedience unto which is the only happiness as well as the whole duty of man It is mans duty to will what God wills because as he was made like unto God in his Image so he was made for God in his end And it is the happiness of man to will and nill as God doth because he thereby only comes to obtain a true and perfect rest Else Seu caret optatis seu fruitio miser est whether he have or want what he desires he is still miserable like Noahs Dove restless and fluttering till it can find out an object wherein it may acquiesce Like the Grave and the Horse-leech alwaies craving and never satisfied See then O Christian from whence is it that this world which is a tempestuous Sea unto all proves so fatall to many in the sad shipwrack of their eternal happiness Is it not from the lawless motions of their will which when not governed by the will of God as its perfect rule is Cupiditas non voluntas an impetuous and raging lust rather than a will What was it that ruined our first Parents and in them all their Posterity but the inordinacy of their will by which they lost both their happiness and holiness at once And what is it under the Gospel into which Christ resolves the damnation of those that perish Is it not that they will not come unto him that they might have life All obedience or disobedience is properly or at least primarily in no part but in the will so that though other faculties of the soul in regeneration are sanctified and thereby made conformable to the will of God yet obedience and disobedience are formally acts of the will and according to its qualifications is a man said to be obedient unto God or disobedient O that I could therefore awaken both my self and others to a due consideration of what importance it is like a wise and industrious Pilot to guide this Rudder of the soul the will of man by the unerring Compass of the will of God Heaven is the Port for which we all profess our selves bound and can it ever be obtained by naked and inefficatious velleities by a few faint wishings and wouldings What blind Balaam would then miss of it What sloathful man that hideth his hand in his bosome and will not so much as bring it to his mouth again might not then possess it as well as any Caleb or Joshuah that wholly followed the Lord or as David who fulfilled all his wills Methinks that saying of our Saviour should be as a Goad in the side of every sluggard Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that doth the will of my father which is in heaven However O holy God let it quicken me to all diligence in an entire conformity of my will to thy will that so I may readily do what thou commandest and let me esteem it as the best part of heavens happiness that I shall one day do it perfectly as the Angels which behold thy face Meditation XXIX Vpon the Balsam Tree SOme faces are by the Painter drawn with less difficulty than others the lineaments and features of them being such as are more easie for his eye to observe and for his hand also happily to express And so it is with some Subjects of meditation above others which with less labour of the mind are by the Pencill of the thoughts formed into lively resemblances of heavenly things and thereby bearing a proportion to our Senses do convey spiritual mysteries in a facile and delightful manner to our understanding Such a subject is this Balsam Tree which while I think of the place of its growth the way of obtaining its Juyce and the soveraign vertue that it hath to effect strange cures and to heal Inveterate diseases it carries forthwith my thoughts to my blessed Saviour who is the only repository in which God hath laid up all his invaluable treasures of healing Balsams It readily suggests to me such moving Considerations as serve to exalt Christs Excellency in my heart and to endeare him to me in all the ties of choycest affections And that it may do so to others I will draw the parallel between this Tree and Christ that others may see what a sweet representation it is of him who as David saith forgiveth all our iniquities who healeth all our diseases First the sole place of this trees growth is in Emanuels Land It is Plinies observation Balsamum uni terrarum Judeae concessum est it is a special grant
of any necessity of death As God made us living Creatures so his power was able to sustain us immortal creatures we had bodily life by our soul in our body and spiritual life by Gods Image in both but sin brought on us death of all sorts Death spiritual in the loss of Gods Image death bodily in the begun corruption of our body and death eternal in the endless ruine of both And whom would not this single thought afflict with dread and sorrow to see what a change sin hath made in the condition of man If Adam would have lived without sin he might have lived without end But now by his credulous receiving the Serpents Poyson Death is glued to our nature necessity of evil to the freedom of our will and all misery to our selves Another dark and posing thought did arise from the progress of death which keeps no order or method It thrusts its sickle not only into the ripe corn but the green blade it nips the blossom as well as gathers the fruit it dissolves the knot that was but new made between the soul and the body as well as that which age and years had conâ—â—rmed There were I observed skulls of all Sizes There were some who had never seen the Sun to pass from one Tropick to the other Others there were whose life could not be reckoned by daies or hours but by minutes they dropt only from the Womb to the Grave And is not this amongst the secrets of God that thousands should thus pass through the world and be determined to different Estates for Eternity What can I say But that the waies of God are unsearchable and his Judgements past finding out As it now shews his Soveraignty thus to deal with his Creatures as it pleaseth him so the Great Day will manifest the Wisdom and Justice of God that is wrapt up in these mysterious providences He that is the Judge of all will be found to be righteous towards all A third sad thought The consuming power of the grave did stir up within me so that I was ready to say Can these dry bones live Can these mingled dusts be distinguished Can the dusts that are scattered into distances be ever united Doth not the Noble and the Base the Saint and the Sinner lye equally under the power of corruption Who then would not dread to descend into the Grave and make Hemans question Will God shew wonders to the dead shall the dead arise and praise him But when I consider that Believers in their ascending into heaven do only let fall their bodies to the earth as Elijah dropt his Mantle when he was taken up and that their Spirits return to God that gave them That Death striketh not on the New man but on the Tabernacle which is a common Lodging both to Flesh and Spirit my fears are greatly Alleviated for who is much solicitous for the Cabinet when the Jewel is safe Yea when I think that death which separates our persons from the world our soul from the body and every part of our body from another cannot dissolve our Union with Christ but that then we sleep in him and shall be raised by him and conformed to him as the pattern of our glory O how do these most radiant thoughts dispell both the black fears of death and the lightsome comforts of the world as the rising Sun makes the bright stars of heaven to vanish as well as the dark shades of the night How little then doth the love of this life or the difficulties of death abate the desires of a Believer to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is far better Who can wonder at old Simeons importunity to depart in peace when his eyes had seen the Salvation of God and his arms embraced it Who would not be of the same mind that hath once tasted of the Clusters of the heavenly Canaan to long after the full Vintage How pathetical is that of Austin upon Gods answer to Moses Thou canst not see my face for no man can see me and live Who replies with great confidence Lord is that all that I cannot see thy face and live Eja Domine moriar ut te videam videam ut hic moriar nolo vivere volo mori dissolvi cupic essecum Christo I pray thee Lord then let me dye that I may see thy face Or let me see thee that I may dye in this place I would not live I would dye I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Thus also have other Saints been affected who have had death in desire and life in patience O what a strange change then hath Christ made in death and the grave and his grace in the heart and affections of Believers Death which sin brought into the world is now become the only means to destroy and kill sin Death which is only contrary unto life is now turned into a Port and passage into life So that when we pass out of this life we lose neither life nor being but are admitted to a more glorious life and being than ever we had Death that before was an armed Enemy is now made a reconciled and firm friend a Physician to cure all our diseases and an Harbinger to make way for glory The Grave also by Christs lying in it is become a bed of rest in which his Saints fetch a short slumber untill he awaken them to a glorious Resurrection It is the Chamber into which he invites his beloved ones to hide themselves untill his indignation be past the Arke into which he shuts his Noahs whilest he destroyes the world with an overflowing deluge of his wrath and displeasure And therefore it is that by his grace they are not afraid to meet Death which others would shun and make it as a voluntary offering unto God which others pay only as a necessary debt Yea they esteem it as one of the choicest Jewels in that exact Inventory that Paul hath made of the riches of Believers and next unto Jesus Christ bless God for it as the greatest mercy O holy Saviour do thou then who art the Lord both of the dead and of the living unto whom all ought to live and all ought to dye enable me thy servant to love thee above life which of all blessings is the sweetest and to hate sin above death which of all evils is the bitterest to nature that so I may have this testimony of the power of thy grace in the change of my heart that for the enjoyment of perfect Communion with thee I can gladly lose my life and be separated from sin can willingly undergo death which is of all evidences the Clearest Meditation XLIX Vpon a Spring in an high ground THe additional blessing which Achsah sought of Caleb her Father was Springs of water for her south or dry land who gave her the upper and the nether Springs If the distinct recording of this particular in Scripture carry any thing of
desire besides thee Surely if Heaven which hath legions of beauties and perfections in it yield nothing worthy of his love and affection but God and Christ we may well conclude that Earth which is as void of good as Heaven is full can have nothing in it that is to be desired by us Why then should any in whom Christ is the hope of glory be as the men of the world who cry out Who will shew us any good For them to be unsatisfied who feed upon vanities is no wonder but for those who possess him that is and hath all things it is strange that they should seek any thing out of him Quid ultra quaerit cui omnia suus conditor fit aut quid ei susficit cui ipse non sufficit What can be seâ—k further saith Prosper to whom his God is made every thing Or what will susfice him to whom He is not sufficient I know but one wish that any Believer hath to make and that is the wish of St. John with which he seals up the Book of God as the common desire of all the Faithful with which I shall shut up this Meditation as with the best of wishes Come Lord Jesus even so come as thou hast promised come quickly in whose presence there is fulness of joy and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore Meditation LI. Vpon first Fruits and Gleanings VVHat the Apostle saith of the heavenly Bodies that one Star differeth from another Star in glory is true also of the heavenly Laws and Commands of God as well Ceremonial as Moral that they differ from each other in their weight and worth Some of which set forth the greater things and others the less as may be easily seen in this double Command of First fruits and Gleanings one of which is far greater than the other though the less is not to be neglected because it is a stream that flows from the same Fountain the Soveraign will and appointment of God But that we may the better take the Dimensions of this Law of First fruits let us view it by the help of some Considerations as Astronomers by instruments judge of the Altitude and Magnitude of a Star We may first see it in the extent of those things in the offering of which God would be honoured and acknowledged he required the firstlings of Men and Cattel the first fruits of trees and of the Earth in the sheaf and in the threshing floor in the dough and in the loaves It did reach to all their Substance and the encrease which without this Service was but a polluted and an unclean heap Secondly In the solemn manner of the offering of them unto God which was to be done with an humble Confession of their Fathers poverty A Syrian ready to perish was my Father and of the hard bondage in Egypt sustained by them and with acknowledgment of Gods gracious looking upon their Affliction Labour and Oppression bringing them also forth with a mighty hand and out-stretched arm with great terribleness and with signs and wonders and giving them a Land that floweth with milk and honey Thirdly In the express command for the speedy payment of them they were not to be delayed much less withheld to keep them back was robbery to defer them was disobedience and rendred them rather to be of the Gleanings and Corners of the field which God had appointed to be reserved for the poor then of the First fruits which he required for himself It was an injury to the moral duty which they did teach of Consecrating to God the first and prime of their years and abilities which is to him far more acceptable than all Offerings and Sacrifices whatever for how could it be that he who was careless of the Rite and Ceremony which typified his duty to him should ever be mindful of doing that which was the marrow and substance of it And now when I think that First fruits only were the shadow of our early honouring God and remembring him in the day of our youth when all the faculties both of soul and body are in their vigour and strength I cannot but wonder as well as mourn to see that under the Doctrine of the Gospel which reacheth men to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts that thereby they might become a kind of first fruits unto God and the Lamb. So few make Religion the work of the morning of their Age and so many of the Evening What else is this but to give the First fruits to Satan and the Gleanings to God To him the finest of the flower and to God the bran But tell me O ye deferrers of holiness who make it both the least and the last work of your lives Is it only necessary to die to God and not 10 live to him Or is it reasonable to say as that young man did to his Companion when he saw Ambrose dying Tecum viverem cum Ambrosio moriar I would live with thee and dye with Ambrose Is not this to mock God whom yet you would have to save you And to minister matter of triumph to the God of this world whose Captives you have been that though the God of heaven pay you your wages yet you have done wholly his work Unto you therefore O men I call and my voice is unto the Sons of men be not deceived God will not be mocked It is not the owning of him when you can serve neither your selves nor your Lusts any longer that will be acceptable unto him It is not a few bedrid prayers that are as those Ears of Corn which Pharaoh saw in his dream withered thin and blasted with the East wind that will expiate those black Crimes with which your ill-spent life is overspread Can an Offering of Gleanings which is made up of robbery and disobedience of wronging the poor and violating the Command of God ever hallow the whole Harvest No more can such duties be availing to reconcile you to God who requires that you should seek him early Yea hath he not cursed the deceiver which hath in his Flock a Male and sacrificeth to the Lord a corrupt thing And what are you but deceivers Who waste the Lamp of time that God hath given you to work by in the sinful delights of the flesh and alienate the chief of your strength and parts from him that should have been honoured both with the first and best of your abilities and in your Age have nothing to offer to him but a large bedroll of hainous enormities which may justly bring down your gray haires with sorrow unto the grave How blessed a thing is it then for Men to give to God the first-fruits of their Youth that he may not give them bitter after-fruits and cause them to feel more smart of their sins in their Old Age then ever they found pleasure or delight in them in their Youth and what better Perswasions can I suggest then to consider First That early
accipiet nummum fractum vel fictum A wise Exchanger that will not take Money that is broken or false though we cannot mock him as one Man mocketh another how many do take a liberty to mint Doctrines and Tenents that have onely the Semblance but not the Purity and substance of Divine Truth and upon these they set the Name of God that they may the more easily deceive the incautious As Pompey built a Theater Cum Titulo Templi with the Title of a Temple and Apollinar is the Heretick a School Cum Titulo Orthodoxi with the Title of Orthodox What prevalency such Arts in this kinde have had I would the defections of many Particular Persons yea of Churches did not abundantly witness Was not the whole Church of Galatia soon removed from him that had called them into the Grace of Christ unto another Gospel by their false Teachers blending the necessity of Circumcision with the Gospel and of Workes with Faith And did not the Corinthians comply more readily with the false Apostles then with Paul Ye suffer if a Man bring you into bondage if a Man devour you if a Man take of you if a Man exalt himself if a Man do smite you on the face It is the temper and disposition of most to be far more circumspect and jealous in the concernments of their Estates then of their Faith and to use both the scale and the test to finde out false and light Coynes when in matters of Faith the question is seldom made whose Image and Superscription do they bear It is enough if they please Fancy or else have the allowance of such whom they have in admiration Can I then do less then bemoan the slightness and indifferency of Christians about Truth which is the onely deposite that God hath Concredited to the Saints and awaken both my self and others to buy the Truth at any Rate but â—o sell it or debase it at no Rate Rob but God once of his Truth and what Riches of Glory do you leave him Is not he the God of Truth and are not ye witnesses Chosen by himself to give Testimony unto it And can you dishonour him more then to make him like the Father of Lies while you either spread the infection of Errouâ— to others or receive it from others into your own Bosome Bethink therefore your selves you who Deliver the Oracles of God that you be not as the Lying Vanities of the Heathen which deceived those that repaired unto them What comfort can you ever have in departing from the Form of sound Words and in Speaking Affected and Swelling words which are one of Satans Lures to seduce into Errors Who can ever understand Behmens greeming of the inward Root or the Canting of the Familists of being Godded with God and Christed with Christ And be you wise O Christians in the differencing of such impure Gibberish from the Holy Dialect of the Spirit Let not such Arts which serve onely as the light of the Fowler in the night first to amaze the Birds and then to bring them into the Net ensnare and captivate you Keep untainted from Errours the doctrines of Faith that you profess which will be your glory and the Duties that you performe to God from hypocrisie which will be your Comfort Let not your intercourse with Heaven be in such Services that are guilded onely with words of Piety which make them specious to Men and wholly destituâ—e of sincerity which can alone commend them to God Would it not be a piece of inexcusable folly for any to heap up a Mass of Counterfeit Coyn and then to value himself to be worth thousands And is it not far greater for Men to think that they have laid up much Treasure in Heaven and are rich towards God by the Prayers that they have made and other Services that they have done which will all be sound at the last day dross and not gold and will produce no other return then the increase of a sore Condeâ—nation O the thoughts of it are dreadfull to think how many will be found poor miserable and naked Laodiceans who confidently presume that they are rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing I cannot theresore but Pray Lord help me to buy of thee Gold tried in the fire and to get such truth of Grace into my heart that I may never be amongst the number of those who are justly hated by Men for hypocrites in this World and condemned by God for hypocrites in the other World Meditation LIV. Vpon health of body peace of conscience IT was an high and Eminent testimony given by Sâ— John to the Elder Gaius in the Prayer that he made for him with an earnest wish that he might prosper and be in health even as his Soul prospereth It is a Crown that I could heartily desire might be deservedly set upon the head of every one that is called by that honourable Name of Christian and then I doubt not but those reproaches which are dayly cast upon them would fall as far short of them as stones that are thrown at the Sun and those Scandals at which those who are without do stumble would be removed and they also won by their Conversation to the obedience of the Faith But alass â— I must invert the Apostles wish and if I will wish true Prospeâ—ity to the Saints themselves Pray that their Soules may prosper and be in health as their Bodies prosper So unequal is the welfare for the most part that is between the one and the other Where may I find the Man or who can tell me what is his Name whose care and observance hath so far prevailed as to make his Soul in an equal Plight with his Body and to keep the one as free from Lusts as the other from Diseases Who ever thought it necessary that Pensions should be given to Oratours to disswade Men from runing into Infected Houses or to be out of love with Mortal Poysons Is not the least jealousie and suspition of such things Argument enough to secure themselves against dangers that may fall out But is there not need to admonish and warn the best and holiest of Men that they abstain from Fleshly Lusts which war against the Soul Is it not requisite to bid the most watchful to take heed of a Lethargie when the Wise Virgins are fallen asleep Did not Christ himself Caution his Disciples against having their hearts at any time over-charged with surfeting and drunkenness and the Cares of this life And yet the meanest of their Condition might seem to exempt them from such Snares From whence then is it that the welfare and health of the Body should be more studiously endeavoured by all then the well-being of the Soul in its Peace and Serenity is almost by any Is it not from the strength of fleshly Principles which abide in the best and darken oft times the eye of the understanding that it cannot rightly apprehend
into realities for him but that he could readily frame to himself a condition as full of happiness as the Sun is of light or the Sea of water What poor and contemptible thoughts would he have of all that glory of the world which the devil shewed to Christ as a bait when he tempted him to the worst of sins to those stately Schemes and representations which he could suppose to be the objects of his delight If wishes were the measure of happiness what is it that the boundless imagination of man would not suppose and desire What strange changes would he forthwith make in the Universe in levelling of Mountains in raising of Vallies in altering of Climates and Elements themselves Happily he might wish that the Sea were turned into a delicious bath in which he might sport himself without any fear of drowning that the Rocks were as so many polished Diamond the Sands as so many fair Pearls to beautifie it and the Islands as so many retiring houses of pleasure to betake himself unto when he pleaseth He might wish that all the Trees of the earth were as the choicest plants of Paradise every one of which might at his beck bow down their branches and tender their ripe fruit unto him And thus may he multiply his wishes until every spire of Grass and every dust of the earth have undergone some remarkable mutation according to the lust of his fancy and yet be as far from any satisfaction in his desires or rest in his thoughts as the Apes in the Fable were from warmth which finding a Glow-worm in a cold night gathered some sticks together and blew themselves breathless to kindle a little fire For all these supposed gaieties are not the perfection but the disease of fancy which hath as I may so speak a Boulimia in respect of objects as some corrupt and vitiated appetites have in respect of meats who though they eat much are yet never satisfied And hence it is that men who enjoy plenty and are far from having any just cause to complain of want do yet as unsatisfied persons feed themselves with fond suppositions of being in such an estate and condition of which they can have no possibility much less any real hope for to obtain The ambitious man pleaseth himself in thinking how bravely he could King it if he were but set upon a Throne and how far he would out-strip all other Princes that have been before him both for state and glory he fancies what pleasures he would have for his recreation what meats for his Table what persons for his attendants what Laws for his Government and then Absolom like he wisheth in himself O that I were made a Judge in Israel The covetous person whose heart is set upon Riches never ceaseth in the midst of his abundance to desire more Riches and his desires still keep at a distance as they come on so do his desires come on too the one can never overtake the other no more than the hinder wheels of a Coach can overtake the former If he should as Peter cast his hook into the Sea and take up the fish that first cometh up with a Stater or piece of money in his mouth how eagerly straitwaies would he wish to take a second and then a third yea how would he still renew his wishes so as sooner to empty the Sea of all its fish than to satisfie his desires with accumulated treasures But are these O vain man the highest wishes with which you would impe your present enjoyments and so make your speedy flight unto perfect happiness What if all these suppositions and wishes which are as I may so speak the creations of fancy were real existency Yea what if your condition did as far exceed the pomp of all humane Imagination as Solomon did the fame that was spread abroad of him Might I not yet say as David did O ye Sons of men how long will ye love vanity and seek after leasing Are these things for which Angels will give you the right hand of fellowship Or will this glory make them stoop to become ministring spirits unto you Though you may conceive as highly of your selves as the Prince of Tyrus did of himself who said he was a God and sate in the seat of God yet they will look upon you no better than gilded dust and ashes That which they adore and with wonder look into is not the happiness of the worldings but of believers who are blessed not according to what they ask or desire but far above whatever could have entred into the thoughts of men and Angels to conceive Who could ever have said to God as Haman did to Ahasuerus if he had been asked What shall be done to the man whom God delighteth to honour Let the foundation and corner stone of his happiness be laid in the exinanition of the Son of God let him come from heaven to earth to purchase it with his bloud let his nature be dignified by being personally united unto the Divine Nature let him be a co-heir with him who is the brightness of his Fathers glory sit with him upon the same Throne and be conformed to his likeness let him stand for ever in the highest and sweetest relations unto the three most glorious Persons having God to be his Father his Son to be his Elder Brother and the Holy Spirit to be his Friend and Comforter are not these things such as may pose Angels to tell whether is greater the wonder or the mercy May it not be truly said that Omnipotency it self is exhausted so that there remains neither power in God to do nor wisdom to find out a greater happiness than this which he hath vouchsafed to man in his lowest condition Can there then be any additions made by the narrow conceptions of weak Creatures Let me therefore expostulate with Christians whose happiness in Christ is compleat and yet as if there were an emptiness in their condition are still hankering in their minds after the worlds vanities and wishing like carnal Israelites to eat of the Flesh-pots and Garlick of Egypt as if the true bread from heaven were not a sufficient and satisfying food Is there any thing in the world which you cannot find made up to you in Christ Are not all the scattered comforts which can be had only in the Creatures by retaile as being parcelled out some to one and some to another to be had fully in Christ in whom they are summed up as broken particulars are in the foot of an account Though he be Bonum formaliter simplex a good formally simple yet he is Eminenter multiplex A good eminently manifold And there is more to be had in Christ than can be had any waies out of him who as the first figure in a number stands for more than all the figures that can be added unto it Whom saith holy David have I in heaven but thee And there is none upon earth that I