did His Daughter sacrifice to God on high Or consecrate her to virginity Whether Naaman a real convert were Or one in semblance only did appear That scripture then each one that runs shal read Why then are they baptized for the dead When saints the heavenly paradise inherit They shal be hold with ravishment of spirit Those sacred mysteries which here below Some boldly dive into but cannot know They then shal see and shal rejoyce to see How three make one and one again makes three They then shal apprehend with admiration The miracles of Christ his incarnation They then the dark and secret mystery Of providence exactly shal descry While we in tenements of clay do dwel What God is doing of we cannot tel He many times in short-hand writeth and His characters we cannot understand We seeing here but darkly through a glass The footsteps of his providence can't trace But when we'e vested in the costly dress And choice attire of heavens happiness A reason of divine transactions we Shal then without al peradventure see In every providence we then no doubt A wonder or a mercy shal spy out A Limner at the first albeit indu'd With skil enough yet maketh but a rude Draught in the picture but when every part And lineament is limm'd out by his art And in their colours laid it by and by Appears most amiable to the eye We who in robes of flesh are cloathed here Do only see a rude draught as it were Some pieces of mysterious providence Obscurely shadowed out but when from hence We at the haven of felicity Arrived are and clearly do descry The pourtraiture of providence drawn ous In al its lively colours it no doubt Will be a blessed and a glorious sight Feeding the soul with infinite delight In fine when saints upon the shoar do land Of blessedness they then shal understand The mystery of hearts they then shal see To their content an heart anatomy For every work with every secret thing Jehovah then shal into judgement bring They then the cabinet designes shal ken And privy counsels of the hearts of men The heart is deep we may it wel compare Unto a river that hath very fair Streams gliding on the top but when this brook Comes to be drain'd who so doth in it look Much vermine at the bottom shal espy That lay before concealed from the eye Thus with the heart of man it is some fair Streams running on the top there oft-times are A civil life a specious pretence Of zeal of purity and innocence But when the tryer of the reins shal come To drain this river at the day of doom When God shal make a ful discovery Of hearts the crawling vermine by and by Of avarice and of ambition shal Appear and clearly be discern'd of al All secret things shal then be brought to light 'T were worth the dying to behold that sight The Saints Love perfected in Heaven LOve is the jewel the rich ornament with which Christs Bride is deckt more excellent 'T is in a sense than Faith for love doth never Cease but abides for aye as soon as ever The saints to heaven come Faiths orient Gem They straight put off but not loves Diadem Loves sparkling beams with their resplendency Shal gild the soul to al eternity VVhile here below we wallow in the mire Our love to God is rather a desire But when upon the spicy Mountain we Of bliss are lodg'd and face to face do see VVhen Hallelujahs we shal with the quire Of angels sing the smoak then of desire Into a â—â—ame of Love blown up shal be VVe then shal Love God in the highest degree Our love is luke-warme here and sometimes frozen It much afflicts the spirits of the chosen That in the grace of Love they are so poor And that they can their Maker love no more But there 's a time approaching shortly whan Their Love shal blaze and burn as hot as 't can The damned in a flame of fire shal be The saints of Love to perpetuitie Here flattering objects steal our Love away From God but there it never shal decay You in the morning may behold the grass With drops of dew al covered over as So many pearls but when the sun draws near With scorching beams they straightway disappear Perchance whâ—n our affections once are stirr'd Up by the quickning vertue of the VVord Or when we see the pretious bloud of Christ Trickling as 't were down in the Eucharist Our hearts then melt with love some love-drops fal Down from the Limbecks of our eyes but al Again doth vanish in a little space And our first-love declines and spends apace While here on Earth we Mortals have our station This matter is of great humiliation But when our God in glory we shal see Our Love shal fix'd as wel as fervent be It ne're shal taken off be any more From him whom Saints and Angels al adore Such beauty in Jehovah then shal shine That alwayes as a Load-stone most divine He sweetly shal attract each heart and eye Oh blessed fight Oh rare felicity Between the saints a mutual accord There shal be too there Enmity's abhor'd The Pulse of their affection towards each other Shal strongly beat here brother strives with brother But in the Paradise above the plant Of Love arrives at perfect growth I grant Our natures here are sometime so defac'd That grace cannot so great a lustre cast In aiming at that mark we here shoot wide Bad men unite when good-men oft divide 'Mong saints contentions never were more hot Nor Love more cold saints against saints do plot Many there are who Members are of Christ Whose musick al in discords doth consist Whose Harp the Cross is who the truth pretend To Love but won't an ear to concord lend Divisions are the powder-plot whereby Satan blows up the Churches unity Sin brought forth separation and this Daughter Her cursed Mother too much taking after The Grand-child of Division to our smart Hath born great thoughts searchings there of heart Are for these things it is no marvel I Conceive at al to hear the Harlot cry Pray let the Child divided be But oh To hear the Mother of the Child say so That 's very sad No wonder 't is to see Pope Jesuite and Sectary agree To rend the bowels of their tender Mother But for one saint to persecute another That 's very strange 't is such a sight as doth Provoke to pity and amazement both For VVolves to worry Lambs 't is usual For Lambs each other that 's unnatural It is an ordinary thing you know Among the thorns to see Christs Lilly grow But for this Lilly to become a thorn And tear it self to see 't who doth not mourn Well this a foil wil be the more to set Off Heaven there our Love shal ever get And kept the upper hand of Enmity Of judgement there no difference shal be I' th journies end saints shal
end The spouse on Earth in sable doth appear Because she absent is from her most dear And loving husband but in heaven she Of all her mourning weeds shall stripped be Her bloody Robes Christ then will take away And all in white will her forthwith array Hell 's call'd a place of weeping they that here For all their sins would never shed a tear Shall weep enough when they tormented ly I' th' scorching flames of endless misery But when the saints have gain'd the heav'nly crown Christ from the willows will their harps take down He for his trumpeters and heraulds there VVill call who at his beck do all appear The glorious Angels that caelestial Quire VVith one consent do mutually conspire To warble forth the anthemes of divine Praise and with them the saints shall all combine And shall with wondrous skill and heavenly art In that blest consort sweetly sing their part If when we are i'th'arms of Christ it were Possible for a saint to shed a tear It would without all paradventure be A tear of joy Christ to eternitie VVith beams of love upon his spouse will shine And all her water there turn into wine One smile from Christ will make her quite forget Her former grievances and strait-way set Her on the pinacle of joy where she From all afflictions ever shall be free Sorrow 's a cloud that 's gather'd in the heart Upon the apprehension of some smart And weeping which the off-spring is of pain A cloud of grief is dropping into rain But Christ the sun of Righteousness shall shine So brightly in the heavenly Palaestine That there no interposing clouds shall be No sorrow mix'd with our felicitie In heaven there 's no Devil to entice Nothing to breed or to engender vice Saints in the bosome there of peace shall rest No enemy there shall be to molest Though Isr'el had subdued Canaan yet Of all the Canaanites they could not get The mastery or wholly them expel But they amongst them in that Land would dwell But when we with the Father are of Lights VVe shall no more be vex'd with Canaanites God with a flaming sword world without end The heavenly paradise shall still defend The Saints in Heaven shall have perfect Rest. A Pilgrime 〈◊〉 i' th' vale of miserie May to 〈◊〉 silver well resembled be Which hath a principle of motion in it But not of Rest he almost every minute Is like the Ball upon the Racket or The ship upon the waves that swell and rore So long as sin our nature doth deface And a co-habitant remains with grace While Saints do feed on such unwholsome diet They subject are to motion and disquiet There is no rest saith holy David in My bones at all by reason of my sin Here saints are in a constant fluctuation And of their sorrows have no relaxation They 'r like the tyde that flows sometime and than After a while doth ebb as fast again No rest on earth is to be had ' cause we While here below out of our center be The Dove no rest after a tedious flight Could find till on the Ark she did alight But when the saints in heaven do arive An everlasting rest shall them revive The winds of persecution often blow Upon this spiritual corn whilst it doth grow Here in the field and each one passing by Will still be plucking most inhumanely These sacred ears of corn but when this crop Is in the heavenly Grainery laid up It from the injury of wind and weather Shall then preserved be for altogether It with impetuous storms no more opprest Shall be at all but ever be at rest Not that in heaven there 's no principle Of motion spirits neither can nor will Be idle there but such a motion 't is As without lassitude and labour is No weariness the saints shall there infest Their work 's their case their motion is their rest They labour here for rest but there they shall Rest from their labours and be freed from thrall The Saints in Heaven shall have full Security 'T Is possible a saint some minutes may Of rest have here but they soon pass away Security's a flower that doth not grow In Natures Garden whilst we 're here below Sudden eclipses in our hemisphear To over-cloud our comforts oft appear We here in danger are of losing what Our heav'n-blest industry hath fairly got He that upon the pinnacle is plac't Of honour doubts his honour will not last He that abounds in worldly wealth still fears A devastation by the plunderers Nay a Believer though his riches be Most permanent and durable yet he Still pendulous and full of scruples is 'Bout his condition lest of heaven he miss Sometimes he questions and would gladly know Whether in the state of grace he be or no When Satan hath o're-reach'd him in some plot Do I believe saith he or do I not Something I have that shines but is not it A chain of pearl that 's only counterfeit My Faith's presumption and my love what is' t But love of self and no true love to Christ Yea when the holy Spirit hath me taught And in my soul some sound perswasion wrought I soon am shaken like a ship that lies At anchor when the swaggering billows rise Thus these distracting fears oft make him start And sad impressions leave upon his heart Yea when a christian knows himself to be I' the state of Grace yet then he fears lest he Into some scandalous offence should fall And so Gods spirit grieve and deeply gall His own awakened conscience and the heart Of Gods dear children pierce through with this dart Lest he thereby should sinners harden and Make Babes in Grace affrighted at him stand Yea which is worst of all lest God his spark Extinguish should and leave him in the dark These fears out of a gracious heart are still Arising like black vapours and do fill The souls of saints with sorrow but when they Released are out of their house of clay And in th' embraces of their Saviour lye Their hearts shall then have full security When they with Christ in glory shall appear They shall be rid of dangers and of fear A Christian in this life may likened be Unto a man upon the summitie Of some â—all Maste sometime the pirates I Mean perecutors at his ship let fly And though the passenger can't be annoy'd To wit the soul yet oft the ship's destroy'd Sometimes the winds of strong temptation blow Those northern winds and the poor christian now Gods favour questions much and gladly would Know if his name were in Gods Book enrould And though in Christ having an interest There is no danger yet his heart can't rest But when he is with Christ off from the mast And planted on that rock all peril 's past Then you shall hear him say Now I am sure I 've shot the Gulf my soul is now secure I 'm past from death to life no Sirens charms
lodging in eternity Still Rally up thy thoughts and Muster them To prosecute the heavenly Diadem And learn with studiousness to methodise The grand affairs in which thy safety lies O let thy soul unto eternity As Eagles to the carcass swiftly flye And there be alwayes hovering up and down Till thou a fight gain of the eternal crown While others fill their thoughts with dirt and go After the muddy comforts here below O do not thou disgrace and vilifie Thy soul that of-set of divinity With such vain contemplations don't affect I' th' sumptuous casket of thine intellect To lay up pebbles 't is a very gross Sin for a saint to study dung and dross To putrifie his thonghts with objects which Defiling are and oft the heart bewitch Our lives like Candles in the wind are here To which each blast proves an extinguisher Or like to Glasses that are broken by A gentle knock and into shivers flye There 's no distemper but may in the wombe Of Earth our dying carcases intombe Since then we are so brittle and so frail Let us not cease to peep within the vail Let 's fix our thoughts upon eternal bliss Which our estate behind the curtain is Our vessels to that Haven let us steere And anchor al our meditations there The thoughts of Heaven put a mask before The beauties which al carnal hearts adore Of sensual appetites they dul the edge And cast a rust upon the golden wedge Such contemplations do anatomise The flattering world in its varieties And of its cheat each vein and artery Most clearly and distinctly do descry Eternal glory ruminated on Will stain the beauty of the regal throne 'T wil raise the heart and the affections carry Far above al contentments sublunary This opes the eyes and make a saint espy Much paint imposture and fugacity In the most rich and flourishing estate That comes within the worldly mans conceit VVhen once a saint through Faiths prospective glass Peeps into heaven and descries the mass Of never fading wealth laid up in store For such as God in purity adore The cream of creature comforts by and by Grows stale and curdles into vanity The Dagon streight of worldly bliss doth fall Before the thoughts of joy caelestial As pretty labouring Bees although they live I' th' midst of wax and honey in their Hive Yet are their nimble wings not hindred by That viscous matter that they cannot fly Abroad or swiftly pass from flower to flower To gather thyme to carry to their bower So thou that dost in the abundance dwell Of worldly Delicates as in a cell Of sweetness shouldst beware lest earthly things To thine affections cleave which are the wings Of thine immortal soul that may retard Thy daily flight and motion heaven-ward That may abate thy thoughts activity In their oft musing on the mystery Of heavens bliss which chiefly and above All things a saint delight in should and love The Loadstone doth its vertue lose and can't Iron attract plac'd neer the Adamant And shall the world thy heart draw and entice For all the neerness of the pearl of price Hagar no doubt would have contented been With her exhausted Bottle had she seen The Well that was beside her so should saints With little of the world since God acquaints Them with a spring of living water nigh Which shall refresh them to eternity The Fourth Practical Conclusion THough heaven be an edifice so wide That myriads of souls may there reside Yet thither all shall not advanced be To many Christ will say Depart from me I never knew you never did approve Of your Devotion or pretended love Who Vassals are to sin cannot expect A share in blessedness with Gods Elect. The Cherubims with flaming swords do stand To stop their passage to the Holy Land The Chaff may with the Wheat together lie Here in the floor not in the Granatie No sons of Belial e're refreshed shall Be with the dews of joyes caelestial Their heads with glory never shall be crown'd Whose hearts were never consecrated ground Such in the landskip of a single glance Shall ne're behold the saints inheritance Or if they do 't is to accumulate The infelicity of their desp'rate state Although the serpent into Paradise Did winde it self the VVoman to entise Yet no defiled soul by al its skill Shal e're ascend or scale Gods holy hill Great Pompeys theatre was stiled by Turtullian of al filthiness the sty But Heaven's Nonesuch there is not the least Tincture of sin to stain that place of rest There no temptation shal the saints assaile No sinful lust shal lodge within the vaile Heaven is the sacred and imperial court Of Gods immediate presence where in short His purer eyes shal ne're offended be VVith the least rising of deformity Marks of our Interest in Heaven THey that shal wear the Royal Diadem Of glory in the New Jerusalem Are Scions off from Natures Olive broke And grafted new into another stock God hath dismantled the old man in part VVho full possession once had of the heart Some carnal lust falls from them ev'ry day That in the soul did formerly bear sway They loosed are from the grave-cloaths of sin VVhich heretofore they were involved in Their wonted paths they willingly forsake And in the wayes of God much pleasure take The fignet of the word and heavenly print Hath stamped on their hearts once satans mint The spirits gale hath blown upon them and Turned their course towards the Holy Land Their lives bespangled are with holiness His Vertues that hath call'd them they express The rayes of Christs transcendent beauty shine Upon them and their hearts to him encline Temptations womb is in the bitths of sin Less fruitful than it heretofore hath been The weeds of lust decay in them apace And in their room springs up the Herb of Grace The Second Mark THeir souls are carried out with violence Heaven to attain they pine at no expence As Gods redeemed Israel by his aid The Land of Promise stoutly did invade So his Elect and chosen Generation Lay siege unto the heavenly habitation There 's no arriving at eternal life They know full well without this holy strife To heaven with all celerity they hie As flocks of Doves unto their windows flie They march on speedily without delay Although there be a Lion in the way The wings of Faith bear them above those fears Which carnal hearts do penetrate like spears They break through all obstructions that they may Possess themselves of their intended prey The batt'ries of their prai'rs'gainst heaven they plant And storm't till God to them an entrance grant They ask in Faith and will not be denied Heaven they must have what e're they want beside At this they aim to this each saint aspires 〈◊〉 here 's the center of their choice desires The Third Mark THey by the new and living way do go The vaile of Christs humanity they know That there is no salvation
to be had In any other if they be not clad VVith his unspotted robes of righteousness They can't be sav'd in any other dress There 's no name under heaven that can ease us Of sins enthralment but the name of Jesus Saints by his merits only do attain Eternal life which is the greatest gain Good works to heavens kingdom are the way The cause of reigning that we dare not say Christ is the Door and there 's no entring in But by his bloud which clonseth from all sin He is the curtain the refreshing screen Us and Gods scorching ire that stands between The deluge of his wrath no man can shun Unless with speed into this ark he run They lose themselves for ever who assay To go to heaven any other way The Fourth Mark THeir souls oft soar above the spangled sky And unto Heaven in contemplation fly Mount Tabor they do frequently ascend To eye the glory that may there be kenn'd They heaven alwayes have within their eye VVhich makes them earthly trifles to defie Their hearts are only fix'd on things above These are the chiefest objects of their love The blessed God their thoughts still dwel upon An eartely saint's a contradiction Though they to so journ here below are driven Yet is their conversation still in heaven There is their treasure there their chief estate From which no wile their hearts can separate How to be great on earth is not their plot They use the world as though they us'd it not The pleasures of this life they little heed Their thoughts upon the fairest objects feed They 'r alwayes pressing forward tow'rds the mark And long to taste the Manna in heav'ns ark The Fifth Practical Conclusion O Long to be installed in the throne Of endless glory let thy spirit groan After a full and plenary possession Of blessedness transcending all expression Pant after that unparallell'd estate One mite whereof surpasseth all conceit Be like the Bird of Paradise which they say Being intangled in the snare straightway Begins to strive and never giveth o're Till she enjoy her freedom as before Sing Simeons swan-like song at his decease Lord let thy servant now depart in peace Welcome the messenger of death which brings Most joyful tydings from the King of Kings Which tells the saints of an approaching crown Of matchless glory honour and renown Death is the chariot which without delay Saints to their Fathers house soon bears away Death lodgeth souls i' th' twinckling of an eye In the sweet bosome of felicity Death is to humble penitents no less Then a short entrance into happiness Their nasty loathsome rags death frees them from And gives them change of raiment in their room Death is the saints ascension day to bliss Their marriage day with Jesus Christ it is Death is the Charter of their liberty The period of their pain and misery Death gives them an immunity from sin And frees them from the fears they once were in Death is the bane of woe the grave of vice The portal opening into Paradise Where grace that in the bud was here below Into the flow'r of glory straight shal blow Where saints immortal souls made more divine Shal with the Di'monds of perfection shine Where they to their unspeakable delight Of God himself shal have a perfect sight VVhere in their wills there shal a likeness be To God in holiness and purity VVhere having shot the gulph of Death they shal VVear on their heads a crown imperial VVhere the rich caskets of their souls shal be O'relaid with glories best embroiderie VVhere in the river they of pleasures shal Be bath'd whose sweetness is perpetual VVhere no contaminating tincture e're Shall their unspotted purity besmear VVhere God himself unto the saints shall be A spring of life to perpetuitie Where they shal in the fragrant bosome liâ— Of their beloved to eternitie Where saints by vertue of their Saviours merit Shal alwayes have fresh in-comes of the spirit VVhere the enammel of their glory shal Never wear off nor soiled be at all VVhere they shal have a rich redundancy Of peace joy comfort and serenity Where they their safety shal behold from all Insulting foes and their eternal thrall VVhere they a glorious kingdom shal receive Of which no power on earth can them bereave VVhere they shal be partakers of that joy VVhich will them satisfie but never cloy VVhere Baca into Beracha shal be Converted mourning into melody VVhere brinish tears shal never dim their eyes Nor shal their ears be frighted more with cryes Where sorrows ne're shal damp their hearrs again Nor shal their senses be disturb'd with pain VVhere they no more shal persecuted be By Satans imps for their integrity VVhere saints with sparkling Gems of glory shal Be deck'd and not be envi'd for 't at all VVhere length of years without the least decay Of strength they shal enjoy yea where for ay They shal be blessed with the love of many And need not fear the jealoufie of any VVhere for their labour a Quietus est Each saint shal have and ever be at rest Where life and immortality they shall Have for their death in Christ and Christ for all The Conclusion of the whole THe Glory that within the curtain lies Can't measur'd be by our capacities There 's more within the vaile than by the best And most sublimed saint can be exprest Grace may believe 't but Reason cannot sound The bottom of 't though never so profound In fathoming this rich inheritance What 's all acuteness but meer ignorance He cannot reach this glory that 's indu'de VVith knowledge in the largest latitude If Natures secretary did not know The cause why Euripus did ebbe and flow O how then would his Reason puzz'led be To sound the Ocean of Eternity VVhat the inspired Pen-man doth relate Of natural men and unregenerate Respectively to spir'tuals that they are Not able them to comprehend or bear The same more truly may asserted be In reference unto Eternity 'T is with the prospect of eternity As to the Ocean it is with the eye It may its surface not its bottom see And so some dark and glimmering knowledge we May have of heaven but no mortal eye Into its in side able is to pry The blind-man half restored to his sight Said Lo I see by this imperfect light Men walk as trees So may a pur-blind eye Glance at the riches of Eternity Some few weak parcels of the knowledge we May of it gain but not its Centre see He that was carri'd up above the sky To see a Landskip of Felicity To take a view of those transcendencies Heaven was enrich'd withal what there his eyes Had seen to their ineffable content At his return with what astonishment Doth he relate it Yea he doth confess Words were too weak his Vision to express The ravishing and beatifical Sights which his eyes had blessed been withal VVere not to be pourtrai'd in all their glory By th'