I must meditate of Idolatry Under the second of Witchcraft And under the third more particularly of Self-Willedness and Ingratitude and in general of the Devilish Nature And so I will shut up this First Part which concerns Man consider'd in his Moral Capacity with a Cautionary Meditation lest any one should falsely judge another Man to be a Lover of the World who is not so and endeavor to prevent mis-judging In the Second Part I will first endeavor to undeceive the False Pretenders to the Love of God and here meditate of Monastick Persons of the Votaries of Virginity of the Votaries of Penance and of Quakers of Pretenders to Charity and Righteousness And having diseharg'd that Examination I will proceed to consider Men in their Civil Capacity and meditate of Conformists and Nonconformists of Parents Guardians Tutors of Persons marrying and giving in Marriage of Patrons of Chaplains of Judges and Magistrates Arbitrators Electors Jurors of Landlords and Tenants of Tradesmen of Inn-Keepers of Beggars of Wagerers of Gamesters of Debtors of Creditors particularly of Usurers And so conclude with some Dissuasives from the love of the World and Motives to the love of God MEDITAT III. Of the World THE World is taken either in a Physical Sense or in a Theological In a Physical Sense it signifies that vast Globe that make up Heaven and Earth and Sea and all things contained in them But in a Theological Sense it is put in opposition to God as it is here in this Text of the Apostle John and often elsewhere The World taken in a Physical Sense is lovely and the Strength Beauty Order and Variety thereof are to be Reverently regarded and admired as the workmanship of Infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness It is very proud and prophane or very foolish to despise the World in this Sense and to disregard the Operation of God's Hands To despise the Workmanship reflects a Dishonour upon the Workman and those that see nothing excellent in the World may be justly suspected to see nothing above it The Psalmist says Psal 111. 2. The works of the Lord are sought out of all that have pleasure in them and I â—hink if we Translate it have pleasure in him the Divinity will be as good if the Grammar should not The best Men are the best Philosophers for they make the best Observations upon the admirable Structure and Furniture of the World they see most beauty in it who behold and admire the Divine Wisdom Power and Goodness shining forth in it He that converses in the World and beholds the many Demonstrations there given and the Lectures there read and does not from thence learn the Eternal Power and Godhead is a Notorious Dunce He that does understand and know them and does not love and admire them is prophane and proud and so for all his knowledge may be truly said to know nothing Of these prophane Philosophers I shall have occasion to meditate hereafter amongst the Lovers of the World At present I only conclude That Philosophy especially the Philosophy that discovers and comments upon the stately Fabrick the harmonious Order the magnificent Furniture and the admirable Variety of the World the proper Causes and Ends of Things is a very Laudable Study in its own Nature and may be a singular means for the advancement of the Name and Honour of the Blessed Creator It was an extraordinary Expression of a Person of great Quality amongst us when he was but about two and twenty years old That he could be content even then to quit this World and all the Pomps and Hopes thereof though it were for no higher Felicity than to be perfected in the knowledge of Natural Things I cannot tell precisely what degree of value we ought to set upon Philosophical Learning but this we know That no Man in the World and in all the Ages thereof were more famous and admirable than those two Princes of the Jews Moses and Solomon who excell'd in this kind of Learning And the great God himself has given fair encouragement to the study of it by those Philosophy-Lectures that he read out of the Whirlwind to the Eastern Prince which are contained in the 38 39 40 41 Chapters of the Book of Job MEDITAT IV. Of the World taken in a Theological Sense THE World taken in a Theological Sense is put in opposition to God and so it signifies all that which is contrary to the Spiritual Kingdom of Christ and Warreth against it and true Religion all that which doth not comply with the Will of God or withdraws the hearts of Men from him And consequently all that which besides the knowledge and love of God Men covet delight in or lament In this Sense it is said 1 John 5. 4. Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the World And Gal. 6. 14. that the true Believer is crucify'd to the World and the World to him In this Sense The Friendship of the World is said by the Apostle James to be Enmity against God and by the Apostle John to be hatred of him This is sometimes called Mammon and is put in opposition to God sometimes it is call'd our own things in opposition to the things of Jesus Christ. And this appears to be the meaning of it in this Text which I meditate upon by the following Verse which explains the World by the Lust of the Eye the Lust of the Flesh and the Pride of Life which certainly if they be put together are of a large Extent In this Sense we read of Worldly Lusts Tit. 2. 12. of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Things of the World 1 John 4. 5. of the Fornicators of the World 1 Cor. 5. 10. of the Rulers of the darkness of this World Ephes 6. 12. of the Spirit of the World the Wisdom of the World the Nations of the World Luke 12. 30. the Men of the World which have their Portion in this Life Psal 17. 14. the Sorrow of the World 2 Cor. 7. 10. The World in a Theological Sense is in general whatever is not God and so even Life it self may be call'd the World The Apostle James puts the Theological Notion of the World out of dispute in that famous Text wherein he describes the pure Religion to be a keeping of ones self unspotted from the World Jam. 1. ult So then the Apostle St. John means If any Man love any created Being or cleaves to it more than God or prefers it before him he is a Lover of the World and consequently no Lover of the Father MEDITAT V. Of the Noble Affection of Love IF any Man love c. The Noblest Affection that God hath endu'd the Sons of Men yea or the Angels of Heaven with is Love For when that blessed Being was minded to copy out Himself upon the rational Creature He made it apt to love as He Himself is Love God is Love and the power of Loving is his Image However Liking and Lusting and Appetite
338. l. 4. r. etymologies l. 25. r. notation p. 339. l. 4. r. Vetarbith p. 346. l. 1. r. it p. 351. l. 2. 〈◊〉 MAN Considered in His MORAL CAPACITY PART I. MEDITAT I. Introductory REturn O my mind Return What dost thou so early in the World Art thou not afraid lest this unseasonable Excursion should be a Symptom of a Lover of the World And think oh think what a dangerous what a deadly thing it is to be a Lover of the World Thou needest no more to convince thee of this but that one plain Text of the devout Apostle St. John If any man love the World the Love of the Father is not in him Are not these words plain to be understood Are they not startling to any one that understands them But if thou wilt think on a little further thou wilt find that the whole Gospel runs in this strain There is no Doctrine deliver'd either more plainly or more frequently than this The Apostle James does so fully consent with his Brother John in this Doctrine as if they spoke with the same mouth Jam. 4. 4. The friendship of the World is enmity with God Whosoever therefore will be a Friend of the World is the Enemy of God And this he speaks of either as a Truth generally known or very important as appears by the Interrogatory Form of Speech wherewith he ushers it in Know ye not As if he should either say It is a thing well known or it is a thing well worthy to be known The Apostle Paul though junior to both these yet knew this great Doctrine as well as they and delivers it almost in the same words with them Rom. 8. 7. The oarnal mind is enmity against God He makes the spirit of the world and the Spirit of God directly contrary the one to the other 1 Cor. 2. 12. writing to the Galatians he makes the plain end of Christ's giving himself for us to be that he might deliver us from this present evil world Gal. 1. 4. and chap. 6. 14. He makes this to be the great priviledge that he had by Christ Jesus that by him he was crucified to the World Writing to his Philippians he makes it the short but sure Character of the Enemies of Christ that they mind earthly things Phil. 3. 18 19. And writing to his Son Timothy he gives him the reason why Demas had forsaken him and the Work and Profession of the Gospel viz. Because he was in ove with this World plainly intimating That the Gospel and the World are inconsistent one heart cannot hold them And all these do but in different words speak that which they had heard of or had been taught by their Lord and Master who in the days of his Ministry openly declared That no Man could serve God and Mammon Mat. 6. 24. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon And at another time as I suppose in the self-same words Luke 16. 13. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon If this Doctrine delivered by so many and so worthy hands be true and cannot be spoken against Return O my Soul Return Fuge nata Deo teque immundo eripe mundo Strengthen me O my God unto the hearty and effectual Belief of this Proposition That I may be as afraid of the prevalent love of the World as I would dread to be accounted what is not to be named without horror an Hater of God! MEDITAT II. The Method of the Ensuing Meditations MY great Design shall be to determine the Lovers of the World and to distinguish them from the Lovers of the Father Inasmuch as the Love of God is the Great Commandment and the Great Test of Christians and the Love of the World is so contrary to it and exclusive of it it must needs be worthy of the most serious consideration of the most serious Christians rightly to state and know the condition of their own Souls in this matter But it will not be amiss first to take a general Survey of the words of the Apostle John 1 John 2. 15. and in a preliminary manner to gloss upon the several terms in the Text. After that I will consider the World in a Physical and in a Theological Sense And Man in a Moral and Civil Capacity The World consider'd in a Physical Sense will afford but little Matter pertinent to my Design But the World considered in a Theological Sense will comprehend the Things of the World the Persons of the World the Business of the World the Fashions of the World the Wisdom of the World and the God of the World Under the Things of the World I will comprehend the Profits of the World the Pleasures of the World and the Honours of the World Whil'st I consider of the Lovers of the Profits of the World I must meditate of Injustice Worldly Confidence Covetousness Carefulness Discontentedness Impatience and Uncharitableness When I consider of Injustice I must meditate of those that use undue means for worldly advantage and those that use due means in an undue manner Under the first of these will come to be taxt Stealing Defrauding Lying Oppression Bribery Under the second will be taxt all those that ossend in the Degree and in the Season of seeking the World When I come to meditate of the Lovers of the Pleasures of the Wotld I must consider of Fleshly Pleasures unlawful in their Matter in their Measure in their Manner and in their Season And of Fantastical Pleasures under which I must meditate of Revenge Idleness Easefulness And under this last will come to be consider'd Worldly Fear viz. Fear of Sickness Fear of the Death of Friends Fear of Poverty and of Persecution When I come to consider of the Lovers of the Honours of the World it will be proper to meditate of seeking the Approbation of Men of Pride in Birth Pride in Beauty in Apparel in Children in Wit and Learning in Riches in Strength in Priviledges in Power and Great Place in Vertuous Actions and in a Party After the Things of the World will come to be consider'd the Persons of the World And these are either ones Self ones Relations or other Men. Under the first will be consider'd Self-love and the several kinds of it To the last will be reduc'd the foul sin of Flattery When I come to consider of worldly Business it will be proper to distinguish between a Holy Activity and a Sensual Curiosity When I come to meditate of the Fashions of the World I shall have a fit opportunity to meet with the Sin of Swearing When I come to consider of the worldly Wisdom the Apostle St. James will direct me to meditate of it in this Order viz. of the Impure Wisdom the Envious Wisdom the Contentious Wisdom the Implacable Wisdom the Merciless Wisdom the Unfruitful Wisdom the Partial Wisdom and the Hypocritical Wisdom When I come to consider the God of this World I must consider his Servants his Allies and his Children Under the first
other things still so that the poverty is mightily increased by the mans being inrich't And is it not thus with Honours too Was not Haman base and vile with all honour who was subject to Mordecai a Captive a Slave If it be said it was by accident I answer that all honour lies perfectly at the mercy of the People they kill or save by the turning of a Thumb as they did in the Arena of old It is ill provided for proud men whose Greatness depends upon a small matter which is in the power of the meanest man to deny And to be a servant to so many men and those of the meanest too methinks is a great reproach And as for pleasure I doubt not but that honest self-denying Urias had more satisfaction of mind in not going home to his Wife than David had in fetching her home to him his denying of pleasure was pleasant whereas the others pleasure was painful and shameful And wilt thou O my Soul be impos'd upon wilt thou be so childish as to pursue a painted and gadding Butterfly which either thou canst not catch or it will weary thee to catch it or it will at last ashame thee of the pains and weariness that thou hast been at in catching it when thou seest it will not answer thy expectations Nay worse wilt thou follow a falsity a delusion a shadow instead of a substance a name instead of a thing Wilt thou travel all the day in pursuit of a Notion and at last it will prove nothing but a Fallacy Is it such an admirable atchievement after all thy pains and ploddings and periclitations of health and case and soul and all to be falsly called rich or honourable Nay nay for stark shame lose not the substance for the shadow and yet not get that neither Reckon rather that true riches stand in not wanting any thing then in having much and not wanting depends upon not desiring lessen thy desires and thou art truly and compendiously become rich If thou desirest many worldly things to make thee happy thou both missest of thy happiness which these things can never afford and loosest a great part of thy self too in the enquiry for look how many desires do distract thee so many bits and parcels of thy self are wanting every Concupisence runs away with a piece of thee To think to be made happy by the addition of more worldly things is just as if one should go about to make up an entire Garment all of Patches MEDITAT XXXVII From the Consideration of the Nature of Love WHen I begin to think of the Nature of Love I see a wide Field open wherein I might either tire my self or lose my self I will therefore confine my Mind to the Meditation of the Nature of Love as it is Giving Transforming Uniting and Subjecting These are Four famous Properties of it to give away the mind to the Object to assimulate it to it to unite it and to subject it thereunto From every one of which will arise a strong Disswasive from the Love of the World He that loves gives And what does he give He gives his heart he gives himself The Text seems to justify this Notion That predominant loving is a giving away of the Heart to any Object My Son give me thy heart He that predominantly loves God gives him his heart And it is true on the other hand that the Covetous Man is given to the World and the Sensualist is given to Pleasures Anima est ubi amat non ubi animat The Soul that loves sojourns abroad all the while and is anothers not its own He that loves God gives himself to God and dwelleth in him which giving away of our selves is most advantageous For in lieu of this poor gift our selves we receive God who is infinitely better than Ten thousand Selves But he that by Love gives himself to the World parts with the best he has even himself for nothing He gives himself to that which can give him nothing back again cannot so much as love him In which respect I doubt not to affirm that the Covetous Man is the greatest Prodigal in the World he parts with that which is most precious for no price at all For to allude to our Saviour he hath nothing in Exchange for his Soul Again Let us a little consider the Assimulating Nature of Love As he that looks into a Glass even by looking into it makes a face therein so he that loves even by loving contracts a similitude No Man loves God but he forthwith necessarily becomes God-like How precious and honourable must this love be then that makes this blessed Transformation And how vile and dishonourable is that worldly love that transforms Man into Money nay into Muck The Poets tell of a covetous King that turn'd all he toucht into Gold but lo here a stranger sight the Covetous Worldling turning even himself into Gold by loving it Wouldst thou be content O Man that God should turn thee into Gold or Silver into House or Land Why then wilt thou make this voluntary Transformation of thy self And yet so it is thou becomest the thing that thou lovest even as a lump of Brass Cast and Carv'd into the shape of a Man is said to be a man but cut the Effigies of a Beast upon it and it will be call'd a Lion or a Dog Yea more than so the nature of Love is not only Assimulating but Uniting The Soul of Man is no otherwise united to any Object but by Love this makes him as much one with God as he is capable if God be his best belov'd Object and it makes him one with the World if that be his darling even one with a Whore if he be by love joyn'd unto her The Particles of some Worms cut off seek to be united to the Head sure I am that man who is call'd a Worm and no Man being by his Apostacy cut off from God ought ever to be enquiring after his Original and seeking to be re-united to the blessed Object from which at first he is so unhappily divorc'd In a word the nature of all created love is to subject the Heart to the Belov'd Object Qui aliquo fruitur ei necesse est ut per amorem subdatur He that loves God above all confesses that he needs him above all and seeks to be made happy in conjunction with something more excellent than himself is which is but reasonable and indeed honourable And so he that loves the World Predominantly proclaims his need of and dependance upon the World in the enjoyment of which he expects himself to be happy which is unreasonable and shameful The covetous Rich Man does not so properly possess the World as indeed is possest by it the World has the command of his Heart therefore it is his Master and he is the worst of Slaves as giving himself into a voluntary bondage and that to the vilest and meanest of Masters What
Nature suggests yea dictates and requires this that we love those that love us our Saviour takes it for granted that all men do this because the worst of men do it yea the very Beasts do it Saevis inter se conveniâ— Ursis Nay it seems that there is a kind of an agreement in Hell and an Order and Amity amongst the Devils else their Kingdom could not stand If two cannot walk together except they be agreed how much less can Four thousand for so many was a Roman Legion in our Saviours days dwell together in one Man without some mutual kindness The Nature of Love is sociable it can endure any thing but solitude this it can no more endure than the Wind can endure to be and not to blow Now what properer Object of Love can there be than one that loves us or a thing that is our own No one is our own so properly as he that loves us I am more truly possest of a Friend that loves me than of a Child that I carry in mine Arms or Wife that I lay in my bosome that cares not for me Of all the World therefore God is most ours because he loves us best The love that comes from above is strong We commonly observe that the love that comes down from Parents upon their Children is stronger than that which rises up from the Children to their Parents An Arrow falling from an high wounds deeper What deep impressions then in the hearts of Men should the Arrows of Love make that are shot from above the highest Heavens It is truly said That God hates nothing of what he hath made His hatred of the Wicked and of the Devils if we understand it aright is not so much his hatred of them as their hatred of him There is no such thing as hatred in the pure Nature of God his Name is Love and certainly he is nam'd according to his Nature But speaking after the manner of Men he is said to hate Evil-doers onely to denote a contrariety of his Nature to Sin and Wickedness as if one should say Fire hates Water or Light hates Darkness It is a passage of St. Bernard somewhere in his Meditations Diligo te Deus plusquam mea plusquam meos plusquam me That was a pure strain of Devotion and to be imitated by every Soul of Man that understands the nature of his Happiness and Relation wherein he stands to God But if we alter the Grammar of it it is as true Divinity still Deus diliget me plusquam mea plusquam mei plusquam ego God loves us better than all our Friends loves us better than we our selves love our selves Of all our Friends our Relations are suppos'd to love us best and of all Relations our Parents The Love of God towards us therefore is compared to the love that a Father bears to his Son that serves him and a Mother to her Sucking Child But it infinitely excels these for what wretched Mortal can pretend to love with that strength and wisdome as God loves If we who are by Nature evil and impotent Parents can love our Children tenderly how much more doth our Heavenly Father It is our Saviours own Argument and it concludes as strongly concerning loving as concerning giving And if giving good things be an Argument of Love God loves us better than our Parents for he has given us much more then our Parents could for he hath given us noble Souls and his Son to redeem them yea and he gave us those very Parents themselves who give us any good thing He loves us better than we love our selves I am much taken with that expression of the Satyrist speaking of the Gods and their Providence towards Men Charior est ipsis homo quam sibi Gods love towards us is purer and wiser than our own He loves us so well that he will deny us things hurtful to us though we pray for them so well that he will afflict us for our good though it be sore against our wills so well that he will remove us out of this world that we are so fond of into a much better which we poor Souls have little mind of MEDITAT XLIII A further Motive to the Love of God SEcondly I consider that I am beholden to God and it is by him that I am able to love any thing therefore I ought to love him above all things The bare possession of any thing is not the enjoyment of it it is not by having but by loving things that we enjoy them If meer possession were enough the Sparrows had enjoy'd the Altar of God as much as David and the Owls had been as happy in the full Barns of the Gospel rich Mâ—n as he himself Light is sweet but it is to them that see it and so are Meats and Drinks and Perfumes but it is only to them that can taste and smell Nâ—buchadnezzar in his distraction when the heart of a Man was taken from him had no more enjoyment of his Princely treasures than a Jack-Daw or a Mâ—â—pie has of a Thimble or a Bodkin that they have hoarded up Beauty is a pretty thing but if there were no Looking Glasses in the World to represent it the Ladies would not be so proud of it as they are nor dote upon themselves as they do I durst appeal to the greatest Mammonist in the World Whether he would think it worth his care and toyl to covet and serape together great Masses of Money if he were sure he should be depriv'd of the power of taking any pleasure in it Certainly if it be Vanity and an Evil Disease that a man should have Riches Wealth and Honour and no power to eat thereof Eccles 6. 2. It must needs be worse to have these things and not be able so much as to love them or esteem them lovely The Poets tell a pretty tale of Apâ—lle that having promised the Princess Cassandra the Gift of Prophecying for a Nights Lodging with her the afterward refusing but he not able to falâ—â—sie his word he endow'd her with the Spirit of Prophesie indeed but entail'd this mischief upon it that though she Prophesi'd never so truly she could never be believ'd Suppose God should give a man all the conveniences advantages and ornaments imaginable and should annex this onely curse to them that he should not be able in any degree to take any pleasure in any of them I wonder who would account this man happy sure I am he himself would not Is it not God that gives us those Aâ—â—ections and that Power by which we love any thing ought we not to love him above all things by whom it is that we love all things It was a reasonable Expostulation of the Prophet He that hath madâ—th Ear shall no he hear And is it not as reasonable to ask He that haâ—h made the Ear shall not he be heard He that hath created the affection of love in us shall not he
be lov'd I had rather never to have been than not to have been a loving Creature Having is nothing without enjoying and there is no enjoying without loving If a man have never so beautiful sweet chast vertuous a Wife if he cannot love her it destroys all the pleasure of Relation Etiam Medio de fonte leporum surgit amari aliquid Now certainly if I be beholden to God onely for all the pleâ—sure that I take in my Wife and Children who hath given me power to love them it is highly reasonable that I should love him above them Tell me â—hou man of pleasures Is there any pleasure in Meats Sports in Wine or Woman That very pleasure that thou takest in them ought in reason to call thee off from the intemperate and unchast use of them because it is inconsistant with the Love of God who gives thee the power of sensating even thy impure pleasures The very Gusto's of the Table and the Dalliance of the Bed do Preach the Predominant Love of God And tell me thou Mammonist dost thou love to look upon thy Gold and Silver dost thou take pleasure in beholding them with thine eyes Is it not highly reasonable thou shouldst love God who hath enabled thee to love Gold The power of loving is from God therefore he ought to be the principal Object of our Love MEDITAT XLIV A further Motive to the Love of God THirdly I consider with my self and do propound it to the consideration of any Man that is in his right Wits and his Senses exercised to discern any thing that whatever is lovely in the Creature is from God Our Saviour somewhere saith to Philip desiring a sight of the Father Have I been so long with you and sayest thou shew us the Father q. d. What an impertinent request is it for a man that has so long Converst with the Son the express Image of the Father to desire to see the Father I may with some reason wonder and say the same concerning every lovely Object in the whole Creation Have we seen so many beautiful Objects and tasted to many pleasant things and can we not in all those see the Beauty and taste the Sweetness of the Creator Why that whereby any thing is lovely is of God Deus est quodcunque vides and so we cannot miss of tasting the Divinity in every pleasant Morsel of smelling it in every flower of beholding it in every sweet Face and Feature Created good being nothing else but a Reflection of the Uncreated Goodness The Wit and Ingenuity for which thou lovest thy self the Beauty and Symmetry for which thou lovest thy Wife or any other Woman the Deliciousness for which thou lovest Meat or Drink or Musick the Health and Honour for which thou so much dotest upon the World is but a drop issuing out of that Immense Ocean of Wisdome Beauty Sweetness and Perfection which God is To speak properly The Excellencies which we see in the several Creatures are not the Perfections of this or that particular Being but the perfections of God for they are nothing but what he made them and it is by stamping his own Beauty and Goodness upon them that they are any of them in any kind good and beautiful and indeed not only the Perfections and Ornaments of every particular Being are of God but the very thing it self Because he is therefore we are for in him we live and have our being In spight of all Grammar I cannot but sometimes ask my self this strange question Where was I before I was A little Philosophy will resolve it whatever there was of me as I was future and to exist was in God Ibi nobilissimum mei exemplar All things are in God I amongst the rest Age anima repete illud unde prodiisti unde fuisti There is a great deal of Reason why I should love God more than my self who is the Original and Womb of my being of whom it is not only that I am thus accomplisht but that I am at all And if more than my self then certainly more than all other things whose Being and Excellencies are derivative as well as my own The Apostle John Argues strongly 1 John 5. 1. Every one that loveth him that begat loveth him that is begotten of him Methinks I may invert the order of the words and argue with no less clearness for the same Spirit of God justifies this Argumentation also If any one love that which is begotten he ought to love him that begat If any one love any lovely Creature be ought much more to admire the Creator If a man delight in the Picture of his Friend and love to contemplate it in his Chamber how much more will he hug his Friend the Original and Prototype when he hath him in his Arms Arise O my Soul dwell not upon the lowest Round of the Ladder but sâ—ring up by the several Creatures as by so many steâ—◠〈◊〉 till thou arrive at the very Original of Beauty and Being MEDITAT XLV Further Motives to the Love of God ANd now pursue this Meditation a little and add hereunto That if all the Loveliness of the several Creatures be by way of communication from God he himself must needs be infinitely mere Lovely That blessed Supream Being from whom these Excellencies are deriv'd must needs himself be more Excellent The sweetness of the Stream must needs fall short of the sweetness of the Fountain as it is true Nihil dat quod non haber so it is also Nihil dat omne quod habet All Created Perfections do flow forth from God as from an infinite Fountain by way of Redundancy how inconceivably infinite must the Fountain fulness 〈◊〉 be God hath given power to Kings to kill the Body who would not fear them He has given them Authority that they can 〈◊〉 to this man come and to another do this and who would not obey them How much rather then ought we to fear him that can cast both Soul and Body into Hell how much rather ought we to be obedient to the Supream Authority of Heaven be in subjection to the Father of Spirits and live In like manner may any devout mind Reason God hath endowed the Souls of Men with Wisdom Ingenuity Good Nature gracious disposition Who can chuse but love such lovely Objects as these nay rather who will not love the Infinite Wisdom Beâ—igâ—ity and Holiness from which these are but little Emmanations and to which they do not bear so much proportion as the small dust of the Baliance does to the vast body of the Earth Why stand ye admiring us or the Miracle said the Two Disciples Admire the Divine Jesus by whose power these mighty Miracles are wrought And why stand ye gazing upon me may all Created Beauty say Pass on to the great Exemplar contemplate admire and love the ravishing unspotted Beauty in comparison of whom I am meer vileness and deformity And why stand ye gazing upon me
and Sweetness and Beauty and Bravery of the World in our apprehension that we may look upon them as things unsuitable inadequate inferiour to our Noble Natures meer Husks and Trash Dust and Gravel in Comparison of the proper food of Souls Display thy Divine Excellency Sweetnesâ— Fullness Infinite Goodness Suitableness and Allsufficiency to us that we may be throughly convinc'd that thou art altogether lovely and that all other things yea Heaven it self are to be loved for thy sake Let thy good Spirit move upon our Affections and overshadow these Souls so long till it have impregnated them with Divine Love Whether Love be like Water do thou shed it abroad in our Hearts till it overflow all our Faculties as the Waters cover the Sea or whether it be like Fire let the Breath of the Lord Blow it up into a victorious and irresistible Flame Grant good God that this Love of Thee may express it self in the Faith Love and Obedience of thy Blessed Son Jesus in the Entertainment and Prosecution of the Motions of thy Holy Spirit in a sincere Love of all Men in a singular Delight in the Saints in the constant preference of Truth Righteousness the Establishment of Peace and Order the Advancement of the Gospel the Favour of God and our own Consciences before Riches Honours Pleasures Self-pleasing the Favour of Men the Propagations of Parties and all Worldly Interest whatsoever in the preferrence of the Peace and Holiness of our Souls before the gratifications of the Body and the securing of a happy Eternity before the serving of Time Finally I beseeeh Thee O my Gracious Father be daily adding Fewel to this Holy Fire maintain and encrease this pious Ardor Keep us in thy Love waiting for the Mercy of Jesus Christ unto Eternal Life Be daily winding up these Heavy and Lingring Hearts unto Thy Self and carrying on these imperfect Longings till thou hast ripened them into Perfect Lively Fearless Endless Love and Delight in thy Heavenly Kingdom for the sake of the Son of thy Love who hath loved us and given himself for us that we might give our Selves to Thee To him with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Thanks Love and Obedience for evermore Amen FINIS Books Printed for and sold by Samuel Tidmarsh at the Kings-head in Corn-hill THE Triumphs of Gods Revenge against the Crying and Execrable Sin of Murther to which is added Gods Revenge against Adultery A Chronicle of the Kings of England from the time of the Romans Government and continued unto the Fourteenth of his now Majesties Reign by Sir Richard Baker The Court of the Gentiles Compleat by Theophilus Gall. The Use of Passions written in French by I. F. Senault and put into English by Henry Earl of Monmouth A Treatise of Peace and Contentment of Mind by Peter Du Moulin Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty A Treatise of Sacramental Covenanting with Christ shewing the ungodly their Contempt of Christ in their Contempt of the Sacramental Covenant by J. Rawlet An Explication of the Creed the Ten Commandments and the Lords Prayer with the Addition of some Forms of Prayer by John Rawlet Artificial Versifying a New Way to make Latine Verses whereby any one of ordinary Capacity that only knows the A. B. C. and can count 9 though he understands not one Word of Latine or what a Verse means may be painly Taught and in as little time as this is Reading over how to make Thousands of Hexameter and Pentameter Verses which shall be true Latine true Verse and good Sense by John Peter price 6d stitcht Day of Doom or a description of the day of the great and last Judgment with a Discourse about Eternity Christian Directions shewing how to walk with God all the day long A Word â—o Saints and a Word to Sinners The Young Mans Guid through the Wilderness of this World to the Heavenly Canaan shewing him how to carry himself Christian like in the whole course of his Life All three by Thomas Gouge Tables for the use of the Excise Office whereunto is added an Introduction to Decimal Arithmetick and a short Treatise of Practical Gauging also the Excise-mans Aid by John 〈◊〉 Directions with Prayers and Meditations for the worthy receiving the Blessed Sacrament by the famous Charles Drelincourt A Help to English History containing a Succession of all the Kings of England the English Saxons and the Britains the Kings and Lords of Men and Isle of Wight as also of all the Marquesses Earls Bishops thereof with the Description of the places from whence they had their Titles Martial Epigrams Helvicus Colloquia Ovidii Opera Caesars Commentaries Erasmii Collâ—quia Ovidii Metamor cum Not. Farnabii Seneca's Tragedies Virgil. cum Not. Fornab Greek Testament of a full Character
belong to Beasts Love properly belongs to the rational Creature neither can there be any proper Love without understanding and choice And those Species of the rational Creation that are most able to love or able to love most are the most Noble and Divine Love is the Union of the Soul with the Object beloved and makes it as much one with it as it 's possible to be with a thing that is not our self Now how shameful a thing is it that such Noble Affections should match themselves so basely especially when such an excellent Object is in view The Daughter of a mighty Prince chusing a Scullion Boy for her Husband is not so unseemly a sight as the Soul of Man enamor'd of the World neither is the Eagle catching Flyes or the King of Israel hunting a Flea so ridiculous The Prodigal Gentleman turn'd Fellow-Commoner with the Swine or great Nebuchadnezzar herding himself with the Oxen is not so absurd The beautiful Sun indeed in its kind Condescension doth visit the very Dunghils as the glorious God is said to be even in Hell it self but will not lodge his Beams there But alas this Noble Off spring of Heaven the rational Soul how familiarly doth it lodge and lie down with the World and rest in the Embraces of that which is not God! A Debauchery every whit as abominable as a Humane Body lying down before a Beast Our Bodies indeed are a part of the Machine of the World and it is no great wonder if they be delighted in it as the Beasts are But for Souls and Spirits to immerse themselves in to unite themselves to material Objects and mundane Things is as odious and as monstrous to behold as the coupling of living Men to dead Bodies which the Poet describes as a great piece of Cruelty in the Tyrant Mezentius The style of the Prophets makes it an Argument of extreme Desolation when filthy Birds and Beasts do rest in a Land when wild Beasts of the Desart lie there when their Houses are full of doleful Creatures and Owls dwell there and Satyrs dance there and wild Beasts of the Wood cry in their Houses and Dragons in their pleasant Palaces as the Prophet Isaiah elegantly expresseth it Isa 13. 21 22. when the wild Beasts of the Desart meet with the wild Beasts of the Islands and the Satyr cryes to his Fellow the Shrich-Owl rests there the great Owl makes her Nest and lays and hatches and the Vultures be gathered every one with his Mate as the same Prophet expresseth it Isa 34. 14 15. Filthy Affections do certainly argoe a desolate Soul forsaken of God and forlorn and do extremely desile that which was once and ought to be the Temple of God And what shall be the Portion of these Profaners the Apostle Paul tells us 1 Cor. 3. 17. If any man defile the Temple of God him shall God destroy MEDITAT VI. Of the Love of the World YET we must consider what this Love of the World is that is so dangerous And here sure it must be granted even by the devoutest Lovers of the Father Negatively First That it is not every kind glance toward the World that is it If so we may well stand and wonder and ask with the Disciples of old Who then can be saved Although one may apply our Saviours words hither and say If any Man look upon the World to lust after it in his heart he hath committed Adultery with it Although Discontent nay even the very rathering of Things is to be suspected yet certainly it is too severe to determine every single fond glance toward the World to be this damnable love of it There was a famous time wherein the Sons of God beheld the Daughters of Men and I think there will be no time wherein they will be perfectly blind to them whil'st we carry about with us these Bodies it is to be feared that the Beauties and Gayeties of this World will be creeping in at our Senses or Fancies and more or less infesting and infecting our hearts Secondly That a moderate seeking of the World so as to provide Things honest in the sight of God and Man is not it If it were as the Apostle speaks in another Case We must go out of the World For we see there is no living in it without some degree of caring for it No it must needs be an immoderate an excessive Love that is so dangerous and fatal If it be ask'd When that is I answer Whenever it prefers the World or any thing therein before God and that which God is Alas then every single Act of Covetousness wherein the World is preferred before God is Vicious Yes so it is and pernicious and necessarily to be repented of And if it be a Temper it is that damnable Love of the World here spoken of This Love must be predominant and it must be a Temper or else it cannot denominate the Man a damnable Lover of the World Lot committed Incest and I doubt was drunk too but I do not think the love of Wine or Women was predominant in him David committed Adultery but I do not think that he was of an Adulterous Temper But they that are carried by a predominant and habitual Love of the World are the Lovers of the World here spoken of whether they be the Covetous whom God abhorreth or the Proud whom he resisteth or the Voluptuous who are dead to the living Lord MEDITAT VII Men are to try themselves by their Love IF any Man love c. It seems that God doth estimate Men by their Loves not by their Impulses nor their Professions not by their Words no nor by their Actions neither For although it is true That pure Affections will ordinarily produce pure Actions and that as Faith worketh by Love so Love sheweth it self by Works yet Actions materially good do often prom a Principle not Divine and Pure but Carnal and Corrupt Therefore the great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Tryes of the Reins visits and views the hearts of Men and from thence he values them It doth not only appear from this Text but indeed from the whole current of Scripture that the Estimate that God makes of Men is from their hearts Hence it is that we read so often concerning such and such men that they had such and such Faults and Failings in their Conversation or Government yet nevertheless their hearts are perfect with the Lord And other men were thus and thus specious and zealous in their Conversation yet their hearts were not perfect with the Lord And of others that they were very formal and forward Professors but in the mean time their heart went after their Covetousness It were endless to shew the special regard that God has to the hearts and affections of men And ought not we to estimate our selves as God estimates us If any man love c. This sure is the chiefest and one would think the easiest thing in the world to
which was lost The holy Angels his Menial Servants imitate him they continue their despised Ministry to wretched Man contribute what they can to his Conversion and rejoice in it The Rhetorical description that the Prophet makes of the welcome that the damned or the miserable give to the Babylonish Monarch Isa 14. 9. as fitly agrees to them Their Charity rejoices as much as the others Malignity The Sun in the Firmament as if it were afraid that Man should lie in darkness rises and rejoices to run its Race and without disdain or envy sheds abroad its influences upon the fairest and the vilest parts of the World The Rain descends upon the barren ground to enrich it and upon the Rich to make it yet richer The richer any Man is in any endowment or accomplishment the less he is grieved at the prosperity of others The contented Man be he who he will is the Richest therefore he is the freest from Envy When the Devil was fallen from his Happiness he envied the Happiness of Man yet standing and sought to bring him into the same condemnation with himself so that the Wisdom that serves Envy may well be called Devilish But it is well call'd Earthly too for it is found predominant in none but earthly minds David indeed cast an envious glance at the prosperity of the wicked men of his time Psal 73. 3. But it was but a glance he did not allow himself in it he calls himself a Fool and a Beast for it ver 22. But a predominant envious temper is worldly it is contrary to the Divine temper of Charity and to the nature of that blessed Being whose Name is Love The Wisdom that serves Envy is a worldly Wisdom Envy travels with many Plots and Projects and Serpentine Wiles to supplant its Rivals and undermine its Superiors Envious Men are the eldest Sons of the old Serpent they resemble him as being his genuine Off-spring and most natural Spawn Them therefore he inspires and assists with his Wiles and Methods O my Soul let not thinâ— Eye be evil because God's is good But rejoice rather in all the Bounty of God express'd towards all men Rejoice in them all as if they were thy own which is the honestest way of making them thine own Do Men excel thee in Vertue Imitate them Do they excel thee in Wealth Power or Preferment Rather pity them and fear for them lest their Prosperity destroy them than envy them The Instances of the Envious Wisdom are such as these One while Envy will break out into open Wars kill and slay all before it How did the two proud Princes fill all Italy with Blood and Confusion of which their own Poet assigns a cause in the character that he gives of them Nec ferre potest Coesarve priorem Pompejusve parem Another while it lays snares privily and like a deadly Pestilence walks in the dark like a Serpent in the way like an Adder in the path that biteth the Horse-heels so that his Rider shall fall backward One while it rages and professes its self an Enemy another while it glavers and makes great shew of friendship Saul possess'd with this Devil will give away his Daughter if by her he may ensnare the man that had kill'd his Thousands One while it will behave it self proudly to outvy a Competitor another while it will behave it self humbly lick the dust prostrate it self shamefully lie down under the feet of its Rival if by that means he may be made to stumble and fall He croucheth and humbleth himself that the Rival may fall by that means Sometimes it acts by Cruelty as in Cain sometimes by Policy as in the Patriarchs sometimes it is covetous and receives money as in the chief Fathers Gen. 37. sometimes it is prodigal and spends money as in the chief Priests Mat. 26. Sometimes it will put on the Vizard of Devotion as in Jezabel This same was a dear Daughter of the Serpent her he inspir'd with special Wiles to get Naboth's Vincyard as we read in the Story 1 Kings 21. All these and the like to these are Instances of the Serpentine Wisdom and such a kind of Wisdom to serve the designs of Envy is a Symptom of a Lover of the World Lord Give me that full contentment with my own condition that true valuation of things that sincere love of all men that I may not envy any and that this may be my rejoicing at the last the testimony of my Conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God I have had my conversation in the world MEDITAT LXXXVI Of Contentiousness and Contentious Wisdom COntentiousness and Strivings are another work of the Flesh and a Symptom of a worldly Mind To contend and that earnestly too for the Truth is not the worldly Contention Though the Truth be never so mean we ought to contend earnestly and suffer all things rather then deny it But some Truths are so mean that a man ought not to contend for the propagation of them nor suffer for the profession of them I believe that Paul had a Cloak and I would suffer a man to take my Coat and Cloak also rather than deny it But it is such a Truth as I would not contend for the profession or propagation of nor trouble the Churches peace nor the Consciences of men about I cannot tell whether many matters of Order and Discipline may not be of the same value with the Apostles Cloak possibly they hang as loose from the Essentials of Religion as his Cloak did from him and Religion may live and be kept warm without them But to contend earnestly to strive unto blood for the defence of the Essential things of Religion is Heroical and an argument of a powerful Lover of God To contend about worldly Interests if they be weighty if they cannot be amicably adjusted so it be with moderation charity and meekness and no more zeal than bears proportion to the thing in controversie before a lawful Judge is not the Worldly Contention There is a sort of Magisterial men who will condemn every man for contentious that appears in vindication of his own right though never so duly nay that will brand every man for obstinate and quarrelsome that will not tamely suffer himself to be captivated by their reasonings be they never so weak and pin hisr Faith upon their Sleeve though it be never so ragged or rotten These men themselves are the most contentious and the truest Authors of Schism But the Worldly contention is when men contend eagerly or chargeablely about small matters or are resolv'd to part with nothing of their right in any case for peace sake When men delight to be in Controversies and to have their hand against every man As some Fishes delight in muddied or troubled waters so some men are never in their own element but then When men contend to shew their own Parts to ostentate their Power