way of truth and to feede their soules with the spirituall food of his coelestiall doctrine Oh most mercifull and blessed Iesus thy words are spirit and life which thou doest speake to thy Disciples and that knew thy Seruant Peter when he said Thou hast the words of eternall life For thy words are pure and sweet to the taste of them that loue thee yea more sweet then honie and the honie-combe They also knew that those who were sent by the chiefe Rulers to lay hands vpon thee were taken with such wonderfull admiration at the gracious words which did proceede out of thy blessed mouth that they were constrained to proclaime thy worthie praises telling them That neuer any man spake so graciously Oh most eloquent Orator streames of sweetnesse doe flow from thy lips Honie and Milke are euer plentifull vnder thy tongue Oh how powerfull how eloquent how wonderfull were the words which my Lord vttered to his Disciples in the end of his sweet Oration Hee exhorteth them to sow the seedes of true loue in their hearts and to shew forth the fruits thereof one to another After hee admonisheth them that they should be constant in their loue and permanent in their Faith towards him their louing Sauiour For hee that is destitute of the former can neuer be possessed of the latter And after those things he fore-telleth them what great dangers they should passe what tribulations troubles afflictions and calamities they should suffer after his departure that being fore-warned they might be better armed Lastly hee powreth forth his prayer vnto his heauenly Father for them that they might not shrinke backe like cowards in the day of their triall nor their Faith faile them in the bitter stormes of affliction but aboue all things oh my most sweet IESVS I am not able to wonder enough at thy earnest Exhortations which thou diddest vse to kindle the sparkes of feruent loue towards thee in the hearts of thy faithfull Disciples thou doest specially aboue all things charge and command thy Disciples that they loue thee and couet after nothing but thee Oh how great is the excellencie of true loue Oh how feruent is the vehemencie of a deuout spirit Oh how forcible is the preheminence of a charitable affection Thou didst commend and leaue loue my beloued Iesus as a most rare and precious Iewell to thy deare Disciples Therefore this is highly to be extolled of vs and chiefely to be desired by vs as our greatest riches and onely treasure Let him oh louing Iesus be abiected out of thy gracious fauour let him haue no taste of thy kindnes that doth not honour thy name and possesse his heart with thy loue Truely many riuers of water haue not beene able to put out the fire nor quench the flame of true loue for loue is as strong as death Verilie if I should giue all my substance were it neuer so great I would regard it as nothing rather then I would want or forgoe my true loue for hee that loueth thee faithfully my most louing Sauiour will leaue all things willingly take vp his Crosse chearefully and follow thy steps constantly Therefore who shall seperate mee from thy loue Oh my most sweet Lord What shall diuert the current of my affections from thee Shall tribulation or anguish shall persecution or hunger But because I can doe nothing without thy grace my gracious IESVS nor performe any thing without thy power set such a deepe stampe of thy loue in my heart that the print of it may neuer be raced out but abide in it for euer yea so wound my heart with thy sweetest loue that all my desires may be turned towards thee and that I may finde no ease but when I thinke vpon thee that I may loue thee with all my heart with all my soule with all my strength that my whole will desires and affections may couet nothing but thee Let all my cogitations be onely occupied in the meditation of thy loue Seperate and remoue from mee all other desires of the flesh oh my sweet Iesus that my whole heart may be solelie conioyned to thee in the day my soule humblie attend vpon thee in the night and that my spirit and bodie may chearefully seeke after thee when I awake earely in the morning for my soule thirsteth after thee oh God which art a liuing fountaine oh when shall I come before thy face when shall I appeare in thy presence And I doubt not oh most mercifull Lord but that I shall be loued of thy Father if I shall loue thee as thou hast taught thy Disciples and that thou and thy Father will come to mee and make your dwelling place with me And what doe I craue more what doe I couet so much as that my Iesus may dwell and remaine in mee Oh how happy were my state how blessed were my condition if I could truelie say my beloued as a bundle of Mirrhe vnto me will remaine betweene my breasts If I could imbrace my beloued Iesus I would hold him fast betwixt mine armes I would neuer let him depart any more from me his presence should be my pleasure in the day his societie should be my solace in the night Kindle my reines oh most louing Iesus with the burning sparkles of thy loue inflame my heart with the fire of an ardent deuotion towards thee so that I may long after thee alone my deare beloued Christ Iesus and euermore search for thee and neuer cease to seeke thee vntill I finde thee which by the vehemencie of thy loue and compassion of thy mercie wert willing to be cruellie crucified for my grieuous transgressions and to dye a shamefull death for my sinnes Ingraue the memorie of this thy great loue so deepe in the Table of my heart that it neither decay by length of daies nor be worne out by the iniquitie of the time A Meditation concerning Iesus his going vp into Mount-Oliuet and of his praying thrice in the Garden MED VI. My a Marke 14.34 soule is heauie euen vnto death Mans sinne doth b Luke 22.44 bloud and water from me draine For sinne I feele my Fathers angry c Marke 14.35 wrath For sinne I drinke this cup d Luke 22.42 of deadly paine IT was the custome of our louing Iesus to ascend vp often vnto the Mount Oliuet which was distant the space of a mile from Ierusalem that he might pray There also was a Towne named Gethsemani where there was a Garden scituated on the Mountaines into the which beloued Iesus was accustomed to enter specially at night time with his Disciples to pray Wherefore after he had ended his glorious and blessed Supper and also his sweet and comfortable exhortations made to his beloued and faithfull Disciples hee resorted towards this place late in the night accompanied with them Here oh my soule behold thy Iesus looke vpon that innocent Lambe which goeth of his owne accord to the slaughter Take a view of his
Repentance arme me with strong confidence in thy mercie against desperation AMEN A Meditation how Iesus was sent vnto Pilate MED XI Like an offender Iesus Christ is a Mat. 27.2 bound And b Mark 15.1 sent to Pilate Pilate doth confesse That Christ is c Math. 27.24 guiltles Nothing could be found To proue that Christ their d Luk. 23.14 law did ere transgresse NOw let vs returne from weeping Peter to meditate vpon my louing Iesus who remained all night in the house of Cayphas where hee was scorned with opprobrious words and buffeted and beaten with cruell blowes no man spake in his cause no man pleaded his case hee sustained their iniuries with meekenesse hee did beare their intollerable reproches with mildnesse Now in the morning my innocent Iesus was brought before the high Priest and others who sat in counsell to examine him as a pernicious traytor not worthie to liue but worthie of a most cruell death And after they had reuiled him with proud words and haled him too and fro with cruell hands they cried out in their madnes and roared out in their furie he is worthie of death let him be led bound vnto Pilate that hee may pronounce iudgment against him to die a most shamefull cruell death Oh how was my sweet Sauiour molested for my sake how was his soule afflicted for my sinnes I was the cause that thou vvert conuented before the counsell of the high Priest and my sinnes did send thee to Pilate Oh let mee weepe in the morning when I awake out of sleepe and make my bed to swimme with teares when I lie downe to rest because I haue beene delighted with that as my chiefest felicitie which caused thee to abide the bitternesse of all their crueltie and vvill be the cause of mine owne endlesse miserie vnlesse my wounds be healed and my sores salued with the pretious balme of thy sauing mercie Teach me oh Lord to suffer any affliction for thy sake with alacritie and to sustaine the malice of persecution with cheerefull humility which shal be by Sathan raised against me or by his instruments inflicted vpon me for thy cause Let the patterne of thy perfect humilitie be alwayes placed before mine eyes let the memorie of thy patience neuer depart out of my minde Oh ye vvicked Iewes Oh ye false accusers oh ye lying caluminators oh ye periured wretches How maliciously how vniustly how spitefully how impudently doe yee accuse my Lord ye raile vpon him as if hee were a most damnable traytor ye reuile and curse him as if hee had complotted some horrible treason or inuented some notable mischiefe when as his hands were neuer stained with any euill action nor his heart tainted with any wicked cogitation his words were nothing but verity and truth and there was no guile to be found in his mouth who alone is good the author of goodnesse and the fountaine of euerlasting happines Tell me ye deceitfull and spitefull accusers what euill hath he done what vvicked deed hath he committed Enquire of them vvhom hee deliuered from the vncleane spirits vvherewith they were miserably tormented aske the blinde vvhom hee had made to see demand of the deafe whom he made to heare aske the Leapers whom he clensed and the dead persons whom hee reuiued let them answere your false accusations and ouerthrow the forged testimonies of your criminall obiections Are ye so vvilfull that ye will not acknowledge his mercy are ye so blinde that ye cannot see his miracles If an vngodly man can performe such mercifull deedes then you may iustly accuse him as a vvicked doer and condemne him as a dangerous malefactor Thou seest my soule vvhat cause thou hast to vvater thy cheekes vvith continuall teares and to ouerwhelme thy hart in deepe streams of vvofull sorrow vvhen thou dost thinke vpon the afflictions of thy blessed Sauiour and meditate on the cursed torments executed by the cruell Iewes against thy innocent Iesus Was there euer any Traitor so execrable to men for his bloodie deeds or any vile wretch so odious for his vitious life vvhich sustained so many opprobrious vvords scornfull derisions bitter taunts and grieuous torments as the furious Iewes inflicted vpon my mercifull Iesus Oh my blessed Sauiour and louing Redeemer what did moue thee to sustaine such a heauie burthen of afflictions what was the cause that thou didst submit thy selfe to so many miseries I know my most gratious Lord it did flow from the fountaine of thy vnmeasurable loue in tendring the wofull estate of me a most wretched sinner and because thou vvert moued with the bowels of compassion towards mee a most forlorne and miserable creature Thy exceeding loue vvas the cause of thy admirable humilitie and thy vnspeakeable mercie the soueraigne medicine to cure my miserie Therefore grant me my humble and lowly Iesus vvhich am thy poore and most vnworthy seruant that I may suffer any contempt vvith humilitie for thy cause endure any vile reproach vvith alacritie for thy sake esteeming it my chiefest honour to be scorned for thy loue and accounting my selfe most happie vvhen I suffer any persecution for thy holy name Possesse my heart vvith true humilitie that my thoughts may not thirst after vaine glorie nor mine affections hunt after worldly honour For I know oh Lord that thou doest resist the proud and that thou giuest grace to the humble Iames. 4.6 Pro. 15.25 and I know oh Lord that hee vvhich desireth to ascend to the place of euerlasting glorie must ascend vnto it by the steps of humility Therefore thou vvhich art onely able teach mee that I may be truly humbled so that my minde may not swell vvith pride in time of my prosperitie nor any ambitious thoughts find any harbour in my heart in the time of my peaceable tranquility that I may sing vvith the sweet singer Dauid It is good for mee that thou hast humbled me And that I may more easily learne to leuell my thoughts by the rule of humility inflame my heart vvith thy loue for if my heart be incensed and kindled with thy loue my desires will be ready to performe thy wil and I shall be chearefull to walke in thy vvayes vvhich doest teach mee to be lowly in minde and humble in heart A Meditation how Pilate caused Iesus to be scourged and hovv aftervvard he pronounced sentence of death against him MED XII Though Pilates mouth did Iesus a Luke 21.4.14 iustifie And Pilates b Mat. 27.19 wife the like did testifie Yet c Mat. 15.15 scourg'd he is therewith not pleas'd they crie His bloud on d Mat. 27.25 vs and ours him crucifie VVHen Pilate had strictly examined my innocent Iesus and could finde no cause why the cruell Iewes should so grieuously accuse him but knew that they had deliuered him for enuie and did spite him for malice he was vvilling to haue set Iesus at liberty but the furious Iewes did so greedily thirst after his
looking vpon my miserable wofull and distressed estate with thine eye of pitty wert willing to be scourged for me a most wretched sinner and being innocent to suffer for mine offences that the streames of thy pretious bloud might wash away the filthy staines of my hainous sins Alas how is the wonderfull glory oh my most sweet Lord of thy super-excellent beauty decayed how is the gracefull decency of thy amiable feature diminished And how much is the delightfull comelinesse of thy most sacred body disgraced Oh let mine eyes send forth a sea of teares and let my perplexed heart breake into pieces with exceeding sorrow to see my beloued Sauiour stained with his owne blood and leopard-like bespotted with deformitie who did farre excell all the sonnes of men with his glorious beauty Now thou seest oh my soule how the snow-white skin of the bodie of thy Sauiour is changed into a bloody tincture Thou maist see and sigh when thou seest how his tender flesh is made black and blew with the cruel blowes which cruell tormentors inflicted vpon him whose stony hearts had no sense of his grieuous paines when they saw with their eyes and yet alas they would not pitty his wofull case how the bloud ran out of his veines as water floweth out of a fountaine Mourne and lament oh my soule send forth deepe groanes and sorrowfull sighes at so pittifull a sight For now thou canst not say My beloued is white and ruddy Cant. 1.14 as sometime thou mightest But rather say my beloued is blacke and blew his pretious bloud gushing out of his veines and his tender flesh mangled with grieuous wounds Who is so cruelly minded and so stony-harted which cannot be moued to shed plentifull teares when he vieweth my sweet Sauior Iesus so sauagely abused without any pitty and so spitefully taunted and maliciously tormented without any mercy Now when those cursed Tormentors had almost tired their hands but yet not tamed the crueltie of their hearts they cloathe him with a vesture of purple colour set a crowne of sharpe thorns on his head and put a Reed for a Scepter into his hands calling him King in derision vvith their blasphemous mouthes whom they accounted more base then the meanest abiect in al the world Mat. 27.2 Is it possible for thee my sorrowfull soule to keepe backe the tide of thy streaming teares when thou dost meditate in thy perplexed minde and as it were view within thy secret thoghts how cruelly thy harmelesse Sauiour was tortured by those bloody tormentors how spitefully he was tanted and shamefully mocked by those blasphemous wretches There was no man oh my sweet Iesu that did afford thee so much as a signe of pitty in thy greatest paines thou mightest not haue a Chirurgion to stanch thy bleeding wounds no man sought to ease thy smart nor to bathe thy scourged body no man offered thee a cup of water to refresh thy fainting spirits Oh let shewers of teares trickle downe my cheekes and let a sea of sorrow ouer-flow my heart when I enter into a serious meditation of the grieuous paines derisions and afflictions which my innocent redeemer patiently endured Oh then let mine eyes send forth a flood of teares because my mercifull louing Iesus suffered all those intollerable extremities for mee a most wretched sinner that he might pay the price of my redemption and deliuer my soule from euerlasting captiuitie Oh how should I my bountifull Iesu sound the bottomlesse profunditie of thy vnspeakeable mercy And how can I search the endles depth of mine owne wretched miserie Touch my heart oh Lord by the vertue of thy holy spirit and teach me by the sacred documents of thine vnsearchable wisdome so that the affections of my heart may be faithfully affianced and for euer affixed vnto thy immeasurable loue and my minde euermore imployed in the diuine meditation of thy holy law Instruct mee to lay vp in the store-house of my perpetuall memorie how many how great and grieuous paines thou hast endured for me What should I render vnto thee in requitall of thine immeasurable loue how should I be able to demeane my selfe thankefully vnto thee when of my selfe I am so vile a creature that I cannot thinke dutifully of thee Wherefore open mine eyes oh my sweet Iesu that I may see the inestimable riches of thy bountie Infuse thy working grace into my vnderstanding that I may know acknowledge the greatnes of thy loue and goodnesse of thy gratious benefits Graunt me such a portion of thy grace that in the highest degree of my prosperitie I may meditate on thy pouerty so that my minde may be brideled from ambitious thoughts and my actions neuer transgresse the bounds of moderate humility And when I decke my body with costly attire let me thinke of thy nakednes that it may asswage my swelling pride and induce me to abate somewhat of my superfluitie to cloathe and relieue my poore brethren in their naked necessitie And when my Table is furnished with delicate meates and my cuppe filled with delicious wine then oh my louing Sauiour let me remember thy hunger Oh let me not forget thy thirst that I may be sober in my diet and temperate in my drinke and remember to refresh poore hungry Lazarus when he lieth crying and crauing at my gate When I enioy my libertie let me thinke of thine imprisonment that I may not let mine affections runne ryot but tame their wilde motions before they breake forth into desperate actions Let not worldly pleasure haue such soueraigne dominion ouer my peaceable thoughts but that I may alwayes haue some taste of the paines which thou didst suffer for my sinnes with patience and sustaine for my transgressions with silence Lastly let me neuer dispaire of thy potent mercy though by my owne merit I finde I haue deserued nothing else but hell and damnation Now that this blessed worke of thine excellent goodnesse oh my gratious Lord may be affected in mee make a deepe impression of thy loue in my bowels and ingraue the true character of thy kindnesse on my heart so that nothing may please my taste nothing breed my delight nothing affect my desires but onely thou my King God my Sauiour and my Redeemer Kindle the fire of thy loue within my bones that my ardent zeale may neuer be quenched towards my beloued Lord Iesus who did willingly abide the curse and die on the crosse to pay my debt and to deliuer my soule out of the prison of eternall death But stay not here my soule turne thine eyes toward thine afflicted Iesus view him harmlesse and innocent and see in what scornefull habit iniurious Pilate doth present him to the bloudy-minded Iewes his body is arraied in a roabe of purple his cheekes bedewed with blood running out of the veines of his head wounded with a Crowne of sharpe thornes A ruthfull spectacle which might haue made their stony-hearts haue melted with compassionate pitty But alas vvhat can
couet to be present there vvith thee by remembrance when thou powrest forth deuout Prayers before God for thy selfe thy familiar acquaintance Parents and Friends Neither meruaile The iust are all the Image of God if I haue said I desire to be present if thou loue mee and therefore doest loue me because I am the Image of God I am as present to thee as thou art to thy selfe for whatsoeuer thou art I am the same substantiall For euery reasonable soule is the Image of God wherefore he which seeketh the Image of God in himselfe doth as well seeke his Neighbour as himselfe And hee vvhich shall light vpon it and finde the same Image by seeking knoweth the same in euery man For the sight of the soule is the vnderstanding therefore if thou seest thy selfe thou seest mee because I am no other thing then thou art And if thou louest the most righteous and great GOD thou louest me being the Image of God The loue toward God appeareth in the loue of our brethren And also I if I loue God doe loue thee And so while wee seeke one thing and bend and encline to one thing we are alwayes present together but in GOD in whom we loue one another That a man ought to be diligent and deuout in singing of Psalmes and in performing other Diuine exercises in the Church or else-where MOTIVE VI. VVHen thou shalt enter into the Church to pray or to sing leaue the tumultuous and disquietfull motions of thy vvauering cogitations vvithout dores Cares of externall things stop the passage of our prayers that they cannot ascend into Heauen and vtterly forget the care of externall things that thou maiest be at leasure to God alone For it cannot be that hee can talke with God at any time which holding his peace doeth also prattle to the vvhole World Be therefore earnest and deuout towards him which is earnest and intentiue towards thee heare him speaking to thee that hee may heare thee speaking to him And this shall be effected if thou shalt bee present at the performing of Diuine praises and holy exercises vvith due reuerence and diligent carefulnes and attend to the diuine Scripture I do not say that I can doe these things but that I would and it repenteth mee that I haue not done them it doth not grieue me to doe them But thou to vvhom greater grace is granted by vowes and deuout prayers turne the kind eares of the Lord to thee with thy teares and sighes and entreate him gently for thy grieuous transgressions and with spirituall songs laud and glorifie him in his workes For the heauenly Citizens are delighted in nothing so much as to behold it nothing can be performed more pleasant delightfull to the King of Kings as hee doth testifie The Sacrifice of praise shall honour me A Consort of heauenly Musick Oh how happy shouldest thou be if thou mightest once behold with spirituall eyes how the Princes goe before ioyned to the Singers in the middest of the Damosels playing on the Timbrels Thou shouldest see vvithout doubt with what care with what dancing and reioycing they are present among the Singers with vvhat care and dancing they are present to them which are silent to them vvhich meditate They are present with them which are silent they rule ouer them which prouide and gouerne all things in order Angels reioyce for the saluation of men For the supernall powers doe loue their fellow-Citizens and they all doe seriously reioyce together for them which receiue the inheritance of saluation they comfort furnish defend and prouide for all For they desire our comming because they expect the ruines of their Citie shall be thereby repaired They diligently enquire and vvillingly heare good things of the good they run carefully too fro in the midst of vs betweene God and vs carrying our sighes and groanes to him most faithfully bringing backe againe to vs his grace and fauour most deuoutly They will not disdain to be our companions which are made our seruants wee make them to triumph with ioy when we are conuerted to repentance Therefore let vs make hast to fulfill their ioy by vs. Woe vnto thee whosoeuer thou art vvhich doest desire to goe againe to thy vomit and to returne to the mire Doest thou thinke thou shalt haue them pacified and pleased at the day of iudgement vvhom thou vvilt depriue of so great and so long hoped for ioy They exceedingly reioyced when we came to the profession of true Religion euen as for them whom they did see called backe from the very gate of Hell What will it be then vvhen they shall see vs returne from the gate of Paradise and that they should goe backwards againe vvhich had one foote in heauen For although we haue our bodies here beneath yet wee may lift vp our hearts aboue Therefore let vs runne not vvith the steppes of the body but with the affections but with the desires but with sighs of the soule because not onely the Angels but also the Creator of the Angels doth vvaite for vs. GOD the Father doth vvaite for vs as children and heires that he may put vs in possession of all his good The Sonne of God doth waite for vs as Brethren and co-heires with him that hee may offer vs to GOD the Father the fruit of his Natiuitie and price of his blood The holy Ghost doth wait for vs for hee is loue and benignity Gods election irreuocable in which we are predestinated from Eternitie and there is no doubt but hee will haue his predestination to be accomplished Therefore because all the heauenly Court doth expect and desire vs let vs desire it with as great desire as we can For he shal come to it with confusion and blushing vvhosoeuer doth not vehemently desire to see it But vvhosoeuer is conuersant in the same by continuall prayer and daily meditation hee doth both depart from hence without griefe and is also receiued into it with great ioy Therefore wheresoeuer thou shalt be pray within thy selfe If thou shalt be farre from the place of prayer thou thy selfe art a place If thou shalt be in thy bed or in some other place pray thou and where the Temple of prayer is thou must pray often and the body being bowed downe the minde is to bee lifted vp to GOD. What gesture is to be vsed of him which prayeth For as there is no moment in vvhich man doth not vse or enioy the goodnesse and mercie of GOD So there ought to bee no moment in vvhich hee should not haue him present in memory Obiection of a faithlesse petitioner But you vvill say I pray daily and see no fruit of my prayer but as I come to it so I returne from it no body doth answere mee no body speaketh none giueth any thing at all but I seeme to haue laboured in vaine So speaketh mans foolishnesse nor marking what the Truth afterward
sweet and louing Iesus But first of all kisse his blessed feete and bathe them as Mary did with the teares of true repentance sighing and groaning with sense of thy sinnes that the comfort of his mercie may be extended vnto thee when such welcome tokens of thy loue are bestowed vpon him Prostrate thy selfe oh my Soule on the earth that thou maist cease to be wretched Imbrace the feete of thy IESV pacifie them with thy teares who spared not to poure forth bloud out of his feet hands heart and side to clense thy pollution and to wash away thy sinnes so that after thy sorrowfull contrition thou maist heare him pronounce vnto thee the ioyfull word of saluation saying Thy sinnes are forgiuen thee And now my Soule after wee haue fallen downe before the Lord in true humilitie and haue powred out before him the teares of an vnfained contrition let vs arise with a comfortable heart to kisse his blessed hands And then doe we kisse his gracious hands with a reuerent and lowly heart when our mouthes are filled with his worthy praises for his bountifull benefits freely bestowed vpon vs proclaiming his wonderfull mercie and disclaiming our vnworthie merit whose hand hath raised vs vp out of the mire and hath aduanced vs to euerlasting honor Lastly after wee haue reuerently kissed his hands wee may more boldlie approach to kisse his blessed mouth to behold the glorie of our Creator that the bright beames of his countenance may illuminate our obscure vnderstanding and that his sweet breath may so inspire our soules that all our cogitations may be consonable and our actions conformable to his most holy will Shew vs the light of thy countenance oh my louing Iesus and then our hearts shall be filled with gladnesse and wee shall be satisfied with the abundance of thine euerlasting goodnesse for to see the beautie of thy face is our chiefest felicitie and to be banished from thy face is our endlesse miserie Therefore kisse the Sonne lest he be angry for if his wrath be kindled yea but a little blessed are all they that trust in him Psal 2.12 Thou hast heard oh my soule how traiterous Iudas betrayed my innocent Iesus consider the crueltie of the one wonder at the mildenesse of the other Oh that all treacherous persons and bloudie minded Traitors might haue a view of desperate Iudas strangling himselfe with an Halter that the horror of his cursed death vpon earth and the terror of his continuall paines in hell might stay the rage of their furious mindes and manacle their bloudie hands For although desperate Iudas was so tormented with horror of a guiltie conscience that hee could haue no peace in his fearefull thoughts nor chuse but crie in his tormenting miseries depriued of all hope of comfortable mercie I haue sinned in betraying the innocent bloud Matth. 27.4 and could finde no other medicine to cure his desperate maladie but the helpe of an halter being his owne Hang-man to shorten his woefull dayes vpon earth that hee might make the more haste to abide euerlasting torments in hell yet there are manie whose hearts are so sore infected with his venemous humour and their thoughts so poisoned with greedie desires of vnlawfull gaine that they make no conscience to betray their Prince and Countrie to prooue disobedient and cruell to their naturall Parents and faithlesse to their dearest friends yea to sell Heauen their soules and themselues for a base piece of money but woefull is their inheritance which buy Hell for their purchase Yet let mee not so bitterly inueigh against the monstrous fact of cursed Iudas that I forget the mildenesse of my mercifull IESVS who did not rate and reuile him calling him in name as hee was indeede a damnable Traitor saluting his Master with a kisse as a token of his loue but alas it was onely to betray him My patient Sauiour Iesus called him by the name of a friend Mat. 26.50 whom hee knew to be a deadly foe that the mildnesse of the name might haue bred remorse in his heart but that the Diuell had taken full possession in his minde and ruled powerfully ouer his thoughts But why did my louing Sauiour vse such affable words to such a detestable Traitor It was to teach mee to represse mine affections from raging furie when any of his wicked brood lie in waite to take away my life and secretly seeke to contriue my death Teach mee my Iesu to imitate thy patience when my curtesie is rewarded with crueltie when supposed friends proue faithlesse and when my kindnesse is recompenced with bad words and rewarded with worse deedes Thou hast willed vs to blesse them that curse vs and to pray for our persecutors Mat. 5.44 But our flesh is wayward and it cannot away with this doctrine wherefore I beseech thee my gracious Lord to lend me thy helping hand it is thine owne worke to conforme my minde to thy blessed will that I may be made obsequious and obedient to thy sacred Law But now my Soule turne aside thine eies from hatefull Iudas to looke vpon louing Peter who beganne to be touched with the heate of true loue when hee saw his Master attached by the hands of his enemies and did boldlie obiect his owne life vnto danger that hee might deliuer his harmelesse Master out of perill and that hee might performe in deede that which a little before he had professed in word Mat. 26.35 Ioh. 18.10 As his loue was much so his courage was great in the defence of his dearelie beloued Master hee regarded not the multitude that came against him hee respected not how well they were armed his true heart dreaded no danger But so soone as hee saw his dread master Iudasly betraied and cruellie apprehended by his malicious foes he drew out his sword and laid about him and cut off Malchus his eare Thy loue was strong louing Peter although thy strength was feeble to resist so manie so ill-minded and so well armed I cannot but commend thee for thy loue although thy louing Master doth not praise thee for thy deede thou diddest shew a token of thy feruent loue and affection although alas he stood not in neede of thy weake protection my louing Sauiour came to fulfill the will of his Father to suffer death yea to suffer a cruell and shamefull death on the crosse that we might be restored to life be freed and deliuered from the curse It was the feruencie of thy loue that had inflamed thy aged heart with courage thou couldest not hold thy hands when thou diddest see thy beloued Master so violently apprehended so currishly handled and haled to the slaughter For whosoeuer my louing Sauiour hath his heart knit vnto thee with bands of true loue hee dreadeth no danger for thy sake but will be more willing to forgoe his life then to leaue his true loue But thou diddest not desire my louing Iesus nay thou didst not allow that Peter should shew his manhood or
tongue did not cease to prattle when multitudes did flocke after thee through the Cities and when the base people did swarme after thee through the villages and desarts And art not thou hee which preaching to the rude multitude in the Temple and pleasing their giddie humor with thy long orations was so impudent to inueigh against vs Pharises Doctors of law and Rulers of the people calling vs hypocrites checking vs rudely for our Manners and reproouing vs rashly for our Doctrine neither respecting the dignitie of our persons nor dreading the force of our authoritie Now behold wee haue thee sure enough thou canst not escape our hands thou art bound for feare of starting we are no babes to be wonne with faire wordes Now we haue thee thou wretch as thy wicked deedes haue deserued such shall be thy recompense Wee are none of the rude and base multitude thou canst not gull vs with thy flattering speeches nor beguile vs with false apparitions Suppose oh my wofull soule that thou doest heare the cruell Iewes bellowing out such bitter taunts against my harmelesse and innocent Iesus in the heate of their rage adding more cruell deeds to their cruell words for all of them like mad-men rush vpon him in their violent furie Some thumpe him with their hands some spurne him vvith their feet some strike him on the necke and as their hands vvere nimble to load him with blowes so their tongues were not idle from rayling and reuiling him with scornefull words Oh how wonderfully is my Lord derided how vnworthily is hee scorned Yea some so barbarous was their mindes and so brutish was their manners do spit in his face Who euer did see such grosse inhumanitie who doth not abhor such beastly inciuillitie They all striue who should doe him most hurt and contend one with another to doe him most mischiefe seeking by spightfull words to vexe his minde and by cruell blowes to wound his bodie Oh my louing Iesus how bitter are their speeches direfullie breathed out against thee How terrible are their practises so bloodilie inflicted vpon thee Why are not my vitall spirits damped with woe why are not mine eyes drowned in a flood of teares and why is not my soule ouer-whelmed with the waues of sorrow in this my sadde Meditation of thine afflictions and deuout contemplation of thy humane miseries Wherefore gush forth oh yee teares from the inward fountaine of my heart and ouerflow mine eies with your plentifull shewers But art thou made of flint Oh my hard heart that thou doest not breake into pieces Is thy substance of marble that thou doest not cleaue asunder when I meditate vpon these cursed inuectiue reproches and wicked deedes done to my innocent Iesus by the stony-hearted Iewes Alas for mee a most wretched sinner that my Lord should suffer such great and grieuous affliction for my sake and yet that I should still remaine sencelesse in my sins and haue no remorse of conscience for my hainous offences Haue mercy vpon mee most mercifull Lord because I call all these things to minde and haue them in my meditation but for want of true loue I am depriued of true deuotion and my hard heart is without all sense of sorrowfull contrition Therefore wound my heart my louing Iesus that I may be grieued with thee and suffer for thee that thou maist vouchsafe to shew me mercie that I may with more boldnesse approach vnto thy Maiestie Thou wert humbled and I disdaine my brethren vvith pride Thou wert pinched vvith hunger and I surfeit with abundance thou wert afflicted with torments and I spend my dayes in wanton pleasure Thou didst weepe to thinke vpon the vvofull destruction of Ierusalem but I am not touched with any tender affection of mercie when I see thousands oppressed vvith miserie I can finde no place my sweet Iesu to hide my face from confusion I can finde no remedie for my deadly maladie but in the vertue of thy comfortable mercie Oh cure my disease with this excellent medicine and salue all my vvounds with this pretious Balme that all mine affections may be so kindled vvith thy loue that I may reioyce to suffer and suffer vvith reioycing for thy glorious name vvho wert content to bee scorned and scourged to be accounted as an abiect amongst the vile and wicked that I might be raised out of the pit of endlesse miserie to be exalted for euer vvith thee in the Pallace of eternall glorie A Meditation how Peter denied his Maister three times in the house of Cayphas and of his weeping for the same MED X. Trembling with feare caus'd by a silly a Iohn 18.17 Maid Once twise yea b Luk. 22.60.61 thrice Saint Peter doth deny His blessed Lord c Mar. 14.72 Remembring what Christ sayd Goes forth repents and d Mat. 26.75 weeps most bitterly NOw let vs cease a while to meditate on my Sauiour and consider how Peter carried himself in the afflictions of his Master He was loath to leaue him because he did loue him and therefore although at the first hee fled yet hee returned againe with the other Disciple who by friendship brought him into the Pallace of the high Priest and as Peter stood there by the fire a maide looked vpon him and said to them that were by This man also was with Iesus of Nazareth But Peter who not long before had made such great brags of his loue was now so daunted with feare that he flatly denied his seruice saying I know not the man And a little after another sayd vnto him Art not thou also one of his Disciples So that now Peter was not content simply to denie him but hee beganne earnestly to forsweare him Now within a while after another came and said Verily thou art one of them And then Peter began to curse and sweare saying I know not the man whom thou speakest of and immediately the Cocke crew And the Lord who stood not far off in the hands of the wicked looked back vpon Peter not refusing faint-hearted Peter to be his seruant although he had denied and abiured him for his Maister Then Peter remembred the words which Iesus had spoken to him and he went out wept bitterly Mat. 26. Now let vs seriously meditate on the frailtie of Peter that seeing so stout a Souldier so soone daunted with feare we may take heed not to presume too much vpon our owne weakenesse lest we play the cowards and start backe as he did when wee are put to our tryall Consider oh my soule the feruency of his loue and greatnesse of his feare the willingnesse of his minde and weakenesse of his might I dare not say but that Peter did loue his Lord and was sorry for the distressed estate of his master although his heart fainted and his stomacke failed in the time of danger hee thought hee should haue beene able to haue performed in deedes that which he had so boldly boasted in wordes but alas hee
did not know his owne imbecilitie his eyes were blinded that hee could not see his owne infirmitie the spirit indeede was willing but the flesh was weake He began to shew some courage when he drew his sword and cut of Malchus his eare but alas it was soone abated and he fled from his Maister when hee saw him in the hands of his enemies and surprised by his cruell foes And albeit hee was so bolde spirited then that hee durst resist a multitude of men yet hee was so timerous now that being terrified with the voyce of a Mayde hee did renounce his gratious LORD and flatly denie his louing Maister so soone were his boasting words turned into cowardly deeds the professed constancie of his loue found most inconstant in the day of tryall So we may note that Peter presumed hee was able to haue done great exploits while hee was with Iesus but we see the vigor of his courage was soone diminished and the heate of his loue cooled when hee was separated from his Lord Iesus so long as he did enioy peaceably his blessed societie so long he dreaded no danger he liued in securitie In time of peace he thought of no war In time of calme weather he feared no suddaine storme But when he entered into the house of the high Priest where hee saw his poore Master spightfully derided mocked and cruelly scourged then his courage was cooled his haughtie words proued no deedes and hee became a starke coward Learne thou also oh my soule by the example of Peter to loue thy Lord Iesus but so to loue him that no affliction or calamitie may compell thee to leaue him But say with the Apostle Who shall separate me from the loue of Christ shall tribulation or anguish shall persecution or hunger I am readie not onely to be bound but also to die in Hierusalem for the name of the Lord Iesus Learne likewise by the example of Peter not fondly to vaunt of thine owne courage or to boast of thy strength let the remembrance of his fall be as a bridle to restraine thee from running headlong into the like fault Say not in the prosperous time of thine aboundance vvhen all things succeede happily according to thy wish and nothing falleth out contrarie to thy desire I shall neuer be moued least afterward thou be constrained to change thy note vveeping vvith bitter teares for thy folly and lamenting for thy presumption with sorrowfull sighes saying Thou didst turne away thy face from mee and I was troubled Teach mee oh Lord to know mine owne weakenesse open the eies of my vnderstanding that I may see the frailtie of my flesh and ficklenesse of my minde when any cloud of persecution doth appeare ouer my head or any dread of future affliction trouble my heart I often presume vvith Peter that I could goe to prison vvith thee abide any torment for thy sake yea lose my life for thy loue my louing Sauiour but alas I see by the frailtie of thy beloued Disciple that I should proue but a dastard when I come to fight thy battell and begin to seeke some couerture to hide my head from danger For how can I boast of my valour or bragge of my manhood when as one of thy stoutest Souldiers who had beene so long trained vp vnder thee and had receiued so many encouragements by thee began to faint at the word of so weake an enemie that hee did denie the seruice of so good a Master onely for feare before he felt the bitternesse of affliction What is man that hee may boast of his strength or be proud of his vertue when the best is so vnable to performe a good action that he is altogether vnable to conceiue a good motion Lighten thou oh my gratious Lord my darke and obscure vnderstanding that I may not fondly runne into the snares of temptation through a vaine confidence of my owne power or through a fond presumption of my owne strength seeing I am so weake that I cannot conceiue any good thought in my heart nor do any good deed with my hands vnlesse thy diuine grace doe gouerne mine affections and direct the course of my actions But oh my most mercifull Sauiour although the allurements of the flattering world should so intice me the pleasures of the wanton flesh so ouercome mee and the feare of persecution so terrifie me that I should be ashamed of thy liuerie and denie so gracious a Lord yet vouchsafe oh my sweet Iesu to turne thy fauourable eies towards mee that my faith may not vtterly faile though it begin to quaile and that thou wilt neuer leaue mee vvhen I begin to shrinke from thee Oh let me not presume of thy loue nor dispaire of thy mercy Let remembrance of thy words wound my heart and awake my sleepie conscience that my soule may be cast downe with true sorrow and that I may vveepe yea vveepe bitterly vvith sorrowfull Peter Luk. 22.62 for my sinnes that I may be made partaker of the benefit of thy comfortable mercie and obtaine remission of my grieuous transgressions by true Repentance as he did Thou hast left this example of the fall of thy louing Disciple recorded in thy holy word not to animate vs to commit the sinne of presumption but to comfort vs that wee runne not into the pit of wofull desperation when wee are ouertaken with the like fault and haue committed the like folly therefore teach me oh Lord so to presume of thy mercie that I may alwaies stand in awe of thy Iustice I am not assured that thou wilt turne thine eies towards mee as thou didst towards him so that my heart may be smitten with sorrow and mine eies streame forth bitter teares of true Repentance and that thou wilt receiue me into thy blessed seruice againe as thou didst him after I haue denied thee to be my Lord and Master It was thy free mercie to afford vnto him such an vnspeakeable grace of thy extraordinarie loue he could plead no worthinesse of words nor merit of workes to deserue thy fauour But oh most gratious Lord if my guiltie conscience doe at anie time tell mee that I haue or doe commit the same offence yet vouchsafe that I may resort to the euerlasting fountaine of thy plentifull mercie that there my thirstie soule may bee refreshed with the sweet waters of comfort so that it may neither be drowned in the Sea of excessiue sorrow nor wounded with the Darts of curelesse dispaire Now consider thou oh my soule the place where Peter was and the conditions of the people who were vvith him vvhen hee made such a fearefull defection from his gracious Lord and failed in his loue towards his kinde and louing Master He was in the Palace of the high Priest who sate in counsell with the Scribes and Pharises against the Lord and his annointed amongst a wicked crewe of these cruell Ministers vvhose mindes were incensed with furie and hands armed with crueltie to
torment my innocent Sauiour Marke how soone he was infected by their vvicked manners how soone his soule was corrupted with their naughtie conditions for now he began to protest with swearing and to affirme with cursing that he knew not his louing Maister to whom not long before hee had made a solemne vow not onely to forgoe his libertie for his cause but also to loose his life for his sake Luke 22.33 Oh fearefull downfall of so great an Apostle for if his louing Master and mercifull Sauiour had not beene more constant towards him in his loue and tenderly compassionate towards him by his mercie hee had neuer recouered himselfe but had perished for euer No man can touch Pitch but hee shall be defiled no man can tread vpon thornes with barefeete but he shall be pricked nor any man holde his hands amongst fierie coales but they will be burned Euen so no man can remaine amongst lewd persons and conuerse in the companie of the wicked but his minde shall be stained with the spots of impietie his conscience wounded with the thornes of sinne and his soule made loathsome vvith the botches and blaines of iniquitie But so soone as my beloued Iesus had turned his eies towards Peter and vvith his lookes had awakened his drowsie memorie then perplexed Peter remembred the words of his Master so that his heart being surcharged vvith sorrow and his eyes flowing with teares he left that wicked companie and went out and wept yea he wept bitterly Luk. 22.62 Teach me oh Lord to leaue the dangerous societie of the wicked neither let mee desire or delight to dwell in the Tents of the vngodly Let me also learne by the example of thy sorrowfull Disciple to goe into some secret place and with-draw my selfe from the people when I call my selfe to reckoning for my transgressions but alas I am negligent in casting vp this account and begin to sorrow for my sinnes and to shed teares for my grieuous offences that all impediments may be remoued from mine eies and as much as is possible all vaine and vvicked cogitations out of my heart vvhen I come before thy presence oh Lord to prostrate my selfe before thee in submissiue humilitie desiring thee to passe ouer mine offences and to forgiue me my sinnes through thy infinite mercie Then oh my good Lord so deepely vvound my conscience vvith horrour of my detestable sinnes that I may offer vp a broken and contrite heart vnto thee because thou art alwaies vvell pleased vvith such a Sacrifice and it sendeth vp a sweet sauour into thy nosethrils Now consider oh my soule that as the trespasse of Peters deniall vvas great so his sorrow vvas grieuous as the remembrance of his fall vvas sowre so the streames of his teares vvere bitter yet they vvere not so bitter vnto him for feare of punishment as they vvere bitter because hee had denied so sweet and so louing a Master the remembrance of his horrible ingratitude vvas more bitter vnto him then gall and more vnpleasant then wormewood his teares vvere bitter vnto him in respect of his presumption who promised so much and performed so little and they vvere bitter vnto him vvhen he thought vpon the sweet loue of his Master and the great benefits hee had receiued of him And yet their bitternesse vvas mixed vvith sweetnesse because they were signes of his hartie sorrow and tokens of his true repentance for where true repentance goeth before remission of sinnes alwaies followeth after Eze. 33.19 Thou seest also that the lookes of the Lord did draw out teares from Peters eies Neither is it any wonder for the eies of the Lord were as a flame of fire and the eies of Peter as Ice vvhich began to melt into teares by the influence of their heat as true tokens of his sorrowfull relenting and penitent heart Oh happie are thine eies my blessed Sauiour vvhich doe so warme the coldnesse of our harts that they may bee able to haue some sense of thy loue and doe so illuminate our dimme vnderstanding that we may see our errours and seeing may sigh and weepe for our transgressions Oh how soone doe they dissolue the Ice and melt the frost of our hard harts and turne it into the waters of bitter lamentation and sorrowfull deuotion Oh my most bountifull Iesu oh my most mercifull Lord haue mercy vpon mee pitty my vvofull case shut not the dore of thy compassion against mee oh let me taste of the sweetnesse of thy wonted clemency vvhich haue so often so stubbornely renounced thee through the peeuishnes of my will so often denyed thee by my wicked words and most often forsworne thee by my wretched deeds Haue mercy vpon me oh my most sweet Iesus let the beames of thine eyes make their reflection towards mee that mine eyes may melt into teares as the rocke did gush forth water when Moses smote it with his rod Exod. 17.5 that I may weep for my sins and bewaile my transgressions which haue so often refused thy seruice because I vvas loath to leaue the vanities of the wicked world or to forsake the pleasures of the wanton flesh Heale mee oh Lord for I am full of sores and my bones doe rot away with corruption Stay me vp oh Lord when my feete begin to slide and lift me vp when I am downe vnlesse thou support mee I cannot but slide and vnlesse thou doe lift me vp I cannot rise againe when I doe fall I can doe nothing vvithout thee thou onely doest heale those that are bruised and thou alone doest raise them vp that are fallen Therefore looke towards mee and haue mercie vpon mee for I am desolate and poore Neither turne away thy face from me but let thine eyes be fixed vpon me If thou wilt vouchsafe oh my most kind and louing Lord to shew me this mercy and to regard the wofull estate of mee a most wretched creature then oh Lord I shall call my transgressions to remembrance mourne for my grieuous offences that I haue committed against thee Raise mee vp oh Lord out of my dead sleepe of carelesse securitie as thou didst Lazarus out of his graue Ioh. 11.43 44. open the eyes of my vnderstanding that I may see to tread in the pathes of thy commandements Be thou as a strong Pillar to support and stay me in my weakenesse for I am so feeble that I cannot stand without thy helpe and euery moment I shall bee ouerwhelmed vnlesse thy strong hand doe support me Let thy eyes oh my louing IESVS be euermore turned towards mee that I may euery day returne vnto thee by true and harty repentance sorrowing for my sinnes that are past and endeuouring by thy grace to take better heed to my wayes in time to come so that I may do that which is agreeable to thy sacred law and acceptable to thy holy will Oh my GOD let thy seruant Peter his falling put me in continuall minde to take heed to mine owne standing and his
sauage cruelty without mercy so their words and speeches were vnciuil void of all modesty Some cry out He saued others let him saue himselfe if he be the Sonne of God the Souldiers disdainfully deride him and scornfully mocke him saying If thou be king of the Iewes saue thy selfe Also they that passe by nod their heads at him reuile him bitterly and blaspheme him saying Ah thou which doest destroy the Temple of God and in three dayes dost build it againe saue thy selfe If thou be the Sonne of God come downe from the Crosse Oh how cruelly was my innocent Sauiour tormented with their vnmercifull hands oh how was his righteous soule woūded with their malicious tongues their words do sauour of Gall and their speech is more bitter then wormwood But so great was their malice so grieuous was their indignation so deadly was their hatred against my louing Iesus that they thought all their cruell deeds were too litle to be inflicted vpon him and that all their words were not halfe bitter enough which their venemous mouthes did spue out against him But as my blessed Redeemer did patiently suffer the extreame tortures of their merciles hands so hee did meekely beare the bitter taunts of their reuiling tongues Oh let the memory of this thy exceeding patience bee so deepely sealed in my minde that my thoughts may stil meditate on thy infinite loue let my teares often flowing out of my eyes be true tokens of my inward sorrow and let my grieuous groanes be as faithfull messengers to declare my true repentance For it was my horrible transgressions and hainous offences my kinde and louing Sauiour that made thee to abide the tyranny of their bloody and murthering hands and to feele the sting of their sharpe and malicious tongues But alas mine eyes are so dry that they cannot shed a teare and my heart so hard that it cannot yeeld a groane vnlesse thou moysten the one with the gratious raine of thy graces and mollifie the other by the vertue of thy spirit Now not onely the irreligious Gentiles who were actors of this bloody Tragedy and the enuious Iewes who were authors and Spectators of all their cruelty did disgorge the bitter choller of their malice against my crucified Iesus but also one of the malefactors hauing no remorse of conscience for his owne offences nor pitty on my Sauiour so grieuously taunted and spightfully scorned of the basest of the people began to raile vpon him without modestie to vse these tearmes against him full of vile indignitie If thou art Christ saue thy selfe and vs Luke 23.39 But his other fellow touched with sorrow for his sinnes and freely confessing that they had both worthily deserued did iustly suffer death for their transgressions began to reprehend him for his blasphemous impietie and to iustifie my Iesus for his blamelesse innocency And when he had rebuked his fellow for such great inhumanity he turned to my Sauiour to implore his mercy that he might be made partaker of the ioyes of his heauenly Kingdome vttering this short and sweet prayer Lord remember me when thou commest into thy Kingdome And hee had scant ended his short petition but my mercifull Sauiour made him this gratious answere Verely I say vnto thee this day thou shalt be with mee in Paradise Luke 23.43 But now let vs consider oh my soule with deuout attention and behold with attentiue deuotion what riches of infinite bounty what large promises of vnmeasurable liberalitie what a blessed inheritance my bountifull redeemer doth promise vnto this poore naked and true though late repenting sinner How might this blessed promise mittigate the sorrowes Oh thou sorrowfull sinner of thy perplexed minde How might it ease the soares of thine afflicted body for as faith bred in thy heart a true contrition and opened thy mouth to make that humble petition so no doubt it sealed such an assurance vnto thy wounded conscience that thou didst stedfastly beleeue his promise and faithfully looke for the performance But how may my speech extend it selfe to the length of thy boundlesse liberalitie my most liberall Redeemer How may my words measure the bredth of thy vnlimited mercy yea how can my thoughts sound the bottomlesse Sea of thy benignitie in thy first words vttered on the Crosse thou doest pray thy Father to forgiue thy cruell tormentors and in thy second words thou doest bountifully giue Paradice vnto a sorrowfull sinner Oh who can worthily estimate the dignitie of the gift who can sufficiently extol the bounty of the giuer although my sweet Iesu thy whole life was the merit of our saluation yet at thy bitter death thou didst pay the full price of our redemption Oh happy theefe that had such a sweet tast of thy mercy Oh blessed soule that wert made partaker of such infinite bounty Oh what great graces excellent vertues were infused into thee that thou didst beleeue my Iesus to be the true Son of God thy Creator whom thou didst see to die the death of a miserable creature As thy faults were intollerable in thy dissolute life so thy faith appeareth admirable at thy sorrowfull death For what but faith was the motiue to moue thee to sue to him to be remembred in his kingdome of eternall felicity who to thy outward eyes appeared nothing else but a spectacle of wofull misery and as thy confidence was great and thy loue much so thy Iesus doth speedily assure thee to enioy a bountifull reward Therefore I pray thee my most bountifull Iesu so to inspire my minde with thy grace and so to kindle thy loue in my brest that I may be contented to be crucified with thee here vpon earth that I may be receiued by thee into thy kingdome of heauen And grant that I may so truly lament for my trespasses and shed such bitter teares for my sins that I may faithfully say with this penitent theefe Lord remember mee when thou shalt come into thy Kingdome For I confesse O Lord I haue beene no better then a Theefe for I haue robbed thee of thy honor I haue bene vntrue vnto thee concerning thy glory My lips are defiled with lying my hands haue wrought the workes of deceipt I haue often beguiled the widdow and defrauded the Orphane I haue sought to make my selfe rich by oppression I haue beene disobedient to my gouernours and would not liue vnder their lawfull subiection Oh Lord remember not my great and grieuous offences let thy mercy blot them out of thy memory that they may not be laid against me when I shall be summoned to appeare before thee Remember me according to the multitude of thy mercies as thou didst this late-repenting malefactor whom thou hast left vnto mee as one rare example of thy infinite mercy that I should not dispaire in regard of thy iustice and that I should not presume to sin in respect of thy mercie Oh let me remember this rare example of thy extraordinary goodnesse so that I may
neither dispaire with the heauy burden of my sinnes nor presume without feare to transgresse the bounds of thy holy law that although I haue runne long the wilde race of vnbrideled iniquitie yet at last I may returne home vnto thee out of the way of impietie vvith this faithfull and true repenting offender and be a companion vvith him in thy Paradice of euerlasting felicitie A Meditation concerning the lamentation of the Virgine MARY beholding her Sonne lifted vp vpon the Crosse standing by it accompanied with Iohn the Euangelist and Mary Magdalene MED XVI The blessed Virgin a Iohn 9.25 standing by the Crosse Of Christ our Lord Behold thy b Ibid. 26. Sonne sayd he Vnto his Mother Oh most grieuous losse That he must die who from all c Luke 23.14 faults was free NOw turne thy thoughts Oh my sorrowfull soule from the blasphemous reproches scornfull derisions and malicious slanders of the wicked Iewes insulting against my innocent IESVS And now thou hast heard how bountifull thy Sauiour was vnto the penitent Theefe that was sorrowfull for his owne iniquity and couragious to iustifie my mercifull Redeemer for his vnspotted innocency Meditate a while on the Lamentation of his blessed Mother whose heart was wounded with sorrow to see her Sonne so cruelly tormented when hee had neuer offended in word nor imagined any euill in thought How sharpe was the sting of dolour to wound her heart how intollerable was the griefe that did trouble her minde when shee saw his body bleeding with so many wounds before her wofull eyes and heard their bitter words and diuelish reproches cast out against him in the audience of her dolefull eares As shee had cause to reioyce at his blessed Birth so now shee had good occasion to mourne for his cruell death For though no doubt she was annointed with oyle of graces aboue her fellowes yet we may not thinke shee vvas quite exempted from the passions of a woman or void of the tender affections of a Mother when shee saw the harmlesse head of her louing and beloued Son bleeding with a Crowne of Thornes his innocent hands and blessed feete fastened to the Crosse with iron nailes Certainely shee knew that his Conception vvas so sanctified by the holy Ghost in her wombe that his most blessed body vvas alwaies free from the infection of impiety and his flesh neuer tainted vvith the corruption of iniquitie But yet shee knew hee did not suffer without sense of his paines and although he was endued with a supernaturall patience yet shee knew that he felt the pangs of his bitter Passion subiect by his humane nature to many infirmities as we are yet euer hauing a pure heart and cleane hands from the spots of sinne vvherewith our soules are polluted our bodies continually infected Wherefore thinke oh my soule that as her afflictions were grieuous so her lamentation vvas great suppose that thou doest see her with her face discolored with palenesse discouering her motherly sorrow to thy outward eies and that thou didst heare her mournefull tongue telling this dolefull tale to thy attentiue eares vvhich should cause thee to be a partner with her in her woe and sigh for thy sinnes which vvere the cause of her sorrow to see her beloued Sonne so cruelly crucified by the Gentiles and so disdainfully derided by the Iewes Thinke I say that thou doest see her vvatering her eyes vvith store of teares vttering these or the like words with her sorrowfull lips to her dearely beloued Son which words should draw out teares from thine eyes and driue out groanes from thy hart which shee pronounced with a dolefull accent in this or the like manner Oh what medicine be it neuer so soueraigne can asswage the rigour of my malady what salue be it neuer so precious can heale the wounds of my bleeding heart vvhat vvords be they neuer so comfortable can cheare vp my dolefull minde when I see thee my beloued Sonne so cruelly tormented and so ignominiously taunted Alas for me poore wretch thy sorrowfull Mother How intollerable is the paine how grieuous is the punishment that is inflicted vpon thee Thy death is not so bitter vnto mee and yet how loath I am to forgoe thee as these cruell torments which I see doe torture thy innocent body and doe greatly augment the sorrow of my perplexed minde As thy blessed life was the cause of my chiefest felicity so will thy bitter death be the beginning of my miserie Who shall afford mee comfort in the time of my calamity who shall giue me counsell who shall be my succour in the time of my necessitie vvhen I am separated from thee How shall I spend the daies with sorrowing and passe through the teadious nights with mourning But thou oh my GOD omnipotent vvhich art his eternall Father vvho canst not shut thine eies of compassion from thine afflicted Sonne comfort mee his sorrowfull Mother Thou seest the wounds of his body thou knowest the sorrowes of my heart and because thou art a Father of mercies and a GOD of all consolation looke downe vpon me out of thy holy Sanctuarie and as thou hast proued me to be thy faithfull Handmaide so let the sweetnesse of thy Fatherly loue temper the bitternesse of my griefe that although I be depriued from the humane societie of my Sonne yet the vvings of thy prouidence may still ouershadow mee and thy omnipotent arme safely protect me But as the Virgine Marie did bewaile the cruell and bloudie death of her innocent Sonne so Marie Magdalene vvith many teares gushing out of her eyes began to lament the wofull case of him her louing Master on this or such like manner Oh my deere Master oh my gracious Lord oh my blessed and bountifull benefactor I cannot liue without thy louing company I cannot abide without thy amiable Societie What tongue though it speake neuer so dolefull can truly relate my sorrow What vvords be they neuer so rhetoricall can ease my inward griefe vvhen I see I shall be separated from so louing and so kinde a Master Oh how tyrannous are the torments wherewith the bloudy tormentors doe torment thine afflicted body How sharpe are the arrowes of their malice vvherewith they vvound thy righteous soule How grieuous is the sight of their cruell deedes vnto mine eyes How odious are their dogged words vnto mine eares Yet my constant loue vnto thee will not giue mee leaue to leaue thee though it be a death vnto mee to see thy calamity so long as mine eyes may behold thee The sight of the bitter pangs of thy Passion doth affright me with horrour The signes of thy approaching death doth confound my senses with continuall terror I see thy head which I annointed with pretious oyntment cruelly pierced with Thornes pittifully bleedihg with many wounds I see thy harmlesse hands pierced with iron nayles and thy innocent feete stained vvith bloud which I bathed with the teares of mine eyes and vviped vvith the
offer vnto thee the wine of my true deuotion vvith the Mirrhe of mortification and gall of hearty contrition But as it might be dolefull vnto thee my soule to heare thy louing Iesus cry out Sitio I thirst so let it be ioyfull vnto thee to heare him take his farewel with Consummatum est It is finished Ioh. 19.30 Oh let the Meditation of this word be more sweet vnto me then the hony vvhich Sampson found in the carkasse of the Lyon vvhen he was hungry Iudg. 14 8. and more delectable vnto mee then the vvater vvhich hee found in the Iawbone of the Asse vvhen he vvas thirsty Iudg. 15.19 For now had my blessed Redeemer fulfilled the sacred decrees of the holy Scriptures concerning my saluation and appeased the wrath of his Father kindled against me for my sinnes Now he had cancelled the Obligation of my infinite debt and not vvith siluer and gold but with his owne most pretious blood purchased my Redemption And by his death conquered death hell and the deuill Oh happy death that hath redeemed mee to eternall life Oh glorious victory although my Sauiour obtained it so dearely Therefore let mee not be carelesse to sell that so cheape which my Sauiour hath bought so deare Let mee consecrate my soule and body wholly to him for they are his owne he hath dearely bought them Direct my spirit oh Lord by the leuell of thy perfect word let the meditation of my heart be day and night in thy sacred law that I may offer vp vnto thee daily the calues of my vnfained lippes speaking of thy meruailous kindnesse early in the morning and telling of thy manifold mercies late in the euening send downe a gratious raine of thy holy Spirit into the furrowes of my heart that the memory of thine innumerable benefits may perpetually flourish in my minde and thine euerlasting praises euermore sound in my mouth for thou alone art my Redeemer oh Lord God of my saluation A Meditation how CHRIST gaue vp the Ghost and of the wonders which were seene at his death MED XIX Strange a Mar. 15.38 wonders at our Sauiours death were wrought The graues did b Matt. 27.51 open and the dead came forth The Temple rent in c Luke 23.45 twaine Dumbe creatures sought T' expresse to blinded d Luk. 19.40 Iewes their makers worth LIft vp thine eyes oh my soule and behold how the countenance of thy Sauiour is couered with a deadly palenesse his sight beginneth to faile and his heart to faint yet a little before the departure of his soule and in his greatest pangs hee cryed out with a lowd voyce as if he had felt no paine saying Father into thy hands I commend my spirit and vvhen he had said thus bowing downe his head and closing his eyes he gaue vp the Ghost Luke 23.46 Now so soone as his blessed soule was dissolued from his breathlesse body the vaile of the Temple vvas rent into two peeces from the top the bottome the earth did quake the stones were rent the graues opened and many bodies of the Saints which slept arose out of their graues came into the holy Citie and appeared to many Awake thou now oh my soule lie no longer snorting in the bed of carelesse security vvhat wilt thou say what wilt thou doe oh my soule Thou seest that the earth trembleth quaketh that the stones doe cleaue in pieces and that the beholders are all amazed at the death of the Lord Iesus Oh! why art thou so senselesse oh my soule and as it were dead without motion at the recordation of the death and meditation of the Passion of thy Sauiour Oh let the sinnefull vaile of the Temples of thy head rend into peeces which couereth the eyes of thy vnderstanding let thy earthly body tremble with horror and thy stony heart cleaue in sunder with terror of thine impietie and now arise thou out of the graue of thine iniquitie let thine eyes waste and consume away with weeping and let thy heart melt away with sighing that thou mayest shew some signes of sorrow for thy sinnes and some tokens of true repentance for thy transgressions which caused the bitter Passion and procured the cruell death of thy innocent IESVS and cry out vvith the astonished Centurion Verely this man was righteous Hee was the Sonne of GOD Mat. 17. Lift vp thy hands crie out with a faithfull heart Oh my gratious Lord my sweet Sauiour and louing Redeemer how terrible were my trespasses how haynous were my transgressions that nothing but thy pretious blood could wash out the staines of mine iniquitie and nothing but thy death deliuer me out of the chaines of euerlasting captiuitie What shall I doe to gratulate the greatnes of thy loue how shall I perfectly rellish the goodnesse of thy mercy how shall I throughly tast the sweetnesse of thy compassion For how doth thy loue exceede in greatnesse how doth mercy abound in goodnes and how doth thy compassion excel in sweetnes that thou being the true and naturall Sonne of God shouldst be made man that we being sinnefull men should be made the sons of God yea when vvee were thine enemies vessels of sinne and vassals of Sathan And that thou being man shouldest be made subiect to the same passions to the same affections to the same afflictions that we are yea obnoxious to death to pay our debt but yet thy life was neuer infected with any sinfull action no not so much as affected with any euill cogitation Oh my kinde Iesu Oh thou innocent Lambe Oh my most louing Lord by how much the more I consider thy calamity by how much the more I ruminate thy mercy by so much the more cause I finde to be faithfully affected towards thee for the greatnes of thy loue and to be afflicted with thee for thy grieuous torments Oh let me behold in my serious meditation and see with the eye of mine vnderstanding how thy most sacred body is brused vvith cruell blowes thy tender flesh mangled with bleeding wounds thy venerable head perfored and pierced with a Crowne of pricking thornes thy beautifull forehead spotted and thy comely haire knotted with coniealed blood thy nosthrils offended vvith stinking spittle and thy blessed mouth distasted with gall and vinegar thy most bright eyes obscured with a vaile thy amiable face buffeted with fists and defiled with dust thy chast eares filled with reproaches thy naked body scourged with whips thy vveary shoulders shrinking and thy weake knees failing vnder the heauy burthen of the crosse thy most holy hands pierced thy blessed feet bored with sharpe iron nailes thy blessed side opened and thy heart wounded with a speare Oh let the remembrance of thy grieuous torments my louing Iesu let the memory of thy bleeding wounds and scornefull reproaches wound my heart with vvofull compunction and pierce into my hardened bowels that they may relent vvith tender compassion that I may feele some sense of painefull sorrow for thy
exception Oh how bitter was the malice how horrible was the enuie how blinde were the eyes how bloody were the hearts of the cruell Iewes to crucifie my deare Sonne my innocent Iesus how dolefull is it to mine eyes and dolorous to my heart to behold thy bright eyes obscured with deadly darknesse thy blessed hand depriued of action and thy beautifull feete senslesse vvithout any motion to see thy cheerefull countenance couered with an ashy palenesse thy skinne blacke and blew with blowes and thy flesh mangled with wounds This spectacle is so wofull that I can no longer behold thee with mine eyes and the waues of sorrow doe ouerflow my heart so fast that they stop my words and stay the current of my mournfull speech Now as Marie Magdalene did behold the blessed body of my Sauiour with his mourning Mother so she did not cease to lament his death who had beene so kinde a Master vnto her in his life What a plentifull streame of teares ran downe her cheekes What a spring of sorrow arose in her heart How did her sorrowfull sighes second her heauie sobs How did her dolefull sobs preuent her lamentable sighes Thinke thou doest see her kisse his senslesse hands thinke thou doest see her kisse his breathlesse feet speaking vnto her louing Master with her trembling voice being dead as if he did heare her and were aliue bathing them with her teares and giuing a little ease to her sore diseased heart by vttering these or the like words with her feeble lips Mary Magdalens lamentation for the losse of her Master Alas my sweet Master alas my most louing Lord the staffe of my stay the onely ioy of my heart the sole comfort of my perplexed spirit Alas for me how comfortlesse doest thou leaue mee how sorrowfull shall I bee by being without thee To whom shall I haue recourse for comfort in the straightnesse of my sorrow To whom shall I goe for succour in time of my trouble How lamentable is the view of thy vvounded head vnto mine eies How grieuous is the view of thy sacred hands and feet vnto my sight pierced with iron-nailes and depriued of sense which I so carefully annoynted bathing them with the teares of mine eies and drying them with the haires of my head Ioh. 11.2 and 12.3 Mat. 26.7 But now alas in stead of odoriferous oyntment they are mangled with wounds and spotted with blood Oh wretched woman oh miserable creature because I am depriued of such a louing and welbeloued Master Where shall I find one who will loue me so deerely and regard me so entierly Thou art hee which diddest often vouchsafe to come into my cottage and to sit downe at my Table and didst vouchsafe to honour my poore house with thy gratious presence when alas I was not able to afford thee any such entertainement as might in any sort requite thy kindenesse or recompence thy loue Iohn 11.28 Oh my most sweet Iesu thou didst defend me from the Pharisie who disdained me for my trespasses and loathed me for my sinnes Thou didst kindely excuse mee speaking in my cause and pleading my case when my sister began to be angry with me and to conceiue displeasure against mee Thou didst commend me when I did annoynt thee with a pretious oyntment washing thy feete with my teares and wiping them with my haire thou didst mittigate my sorrow thou didst remit my sins thou didst kindely aske for mee when I was not present with thee and commanded my sister to call me vnto thee Oh what great and how many demonstrations of thy loue how many tokens of thy kindnesse how many signes of thy charity how many arguments of thy mercie Oh my most sweet Lord hast thou shewed vnto mee vvhat a rich treasure of thy bounty hast thou conferred vpon mee When thou didst see my mourning for the death of my Brother thou didst comfort mee in my sorrow thou didst asswage my griefe thou didst weepe with me such was thy kinde affection towards my louing brother such was thy tender compassion towards mee his sorrowfull sister and thou didst not onely shed teares as signes of thy loue but thou didst raise my dead brother out of his graue for my consolation and restored him to life againe for my comfort Iohn 11.35 Ibidem 43. As nothing was more sweet and pleasant vnto me then to enioy thy blessed company so nothing can be more sowre and sharpe vnto me then want of thy comfortable societie But alas sorrowfull words are too weake a medicine to cure my maladie and although I haue cause to say much yet extreamity of griefe vvill suffer mee to say no more Now thou hast heard oh my soule the lamentation of a tender Mother deploring the death of her Sonne and also the pittifull mourning of a faithfull seruant bewayling the want of him who was her louing Master and bountifull benefactor canst thou be so stonie-hearted that thou art moued with no feeling compassion Is thy heart so hard that it cannot giue a groane Are thine eyes so dry that they vvill not yeeld a teare at the meditation of the death and buriall of thy Sauiour who died for thy sinnes and was slaine for thine iniquities I flie vnto thee my most mercifull Lord that thou maist mollifie and moysten my hard and dry heart with plentifull showres of thy graces turne my head into a spring of water and change mine eyes into a fountaine of teares I know not how to excuse my selfe because I haue beene so vnthankfull for thy benefits so forgetfull of thy mercies and so vnkinde vnto thee for thy loue What shall I say but woe and alas for me a most wretched and wicked sinner Who can measure the quantity of mine infelicitie Who can describe the horrour of my miserie Who can quiet the troubles of my minde Who can pacifie my troubled conscience because my hard heart hath not beene touched with any compunction nor my bowels moued with any compassion when I did think on thy cruell death and meditate on thy bitter Passion Oh wretched man that I am oh miserable creature for when others doe mourne at the meditation of thy Passion shed teares and send forth sighes at the remembrance of thy death my hart is so ouer-growne with hardnesse that it cannot be touched with sorrow and mine eyes are so dry without moisture that they vvill not send forth a teare Oh why doe I not sigh sob and weepe in my Meditation of the bitter Passion of my Sauiour my gratious and bountifull benefactor who did abide so many painefull torments and reproachfull taunts for my sinnes and suffered a most shamefull and cruell death on the Crosse for my transgressions How can I excuse the coldnesse of my loue How should I cleare my vnthankfull minde If Death take away my Father or depriue me of my Mother I water my cheekes vvith teares and vvearie my heart vvith groaning I can weepe for the death of a Brother and wring my
in him they reioyce continually in other creatures hee is admirable because he createth all things powerfully gouerneth all things wisely disposeth all things bountifully In men hee is amiable because he is their GOD and they are his people Hee dwelleth in them euen as in his Temple and they are his Temple Hee disdaineth neyther particular nor vniuersall Whosoeuer is mindefull of him and doth both know and also loue him Motiues to moue vs to loue God hee is vvith him Wee ought to loue him because hee hath first loued vs and hath made vs after his Image and similitude which thing he would not impart to any other creature Wee are made according to the Image of GOD that is according to the vnderstanding and knowledge of the Sonne by whom we vnderstand and know the Father and haue accesse vnto him So great is the affinitie betweene vs and the Sonne of God as that wee are the image of him who is the image of God Which affinitie also the similitude doth testifie because wee are not onely made according to his similitude but also to his likenesse Therefore it behoueth that that which is made according to his image doe agree vvith his Image and not participate onely a vaine name of the Image In vvhich regard let vs represent and expresse his Image in our selues in the feruent desire of peace in the beholding of truth and in the loue of Charitie Let vs holde him in our memorie let vs carrie him in our conscience and let vs adore and vvorship him euery where vvho is present euery where For our vnderstanding in that same respect is the image of him in which it is capable of him and may bee partaker of the same The minde or soule is not therfore the Image of him because the minde remembreth it selfe How the soule is sayd to be the Image of God vnderstandeth and loueth it selfe but because it may be able to remember vnderstand and loue him of whom it was made The which when it doth it becommeth vvise The three faculties of the soule to wit Memory Will and Vnderstanding resembling the Trinitie For nothing is more like to that most excellent and highest Wisedome then a reasonable Soule which through Memory Vnderstanding and Will consisteth in that vnutterable Trinitie But it cannot consist and abide in the same vnlesse it remember vnderstand and loue the same Let it therefore remember her God loue and worship him after whose Image it was made with whom it may alwayes bee blessed Oh blessed Soule with vvhom GOD hath found rest in vvhose Tabernacle hee dwelleth and remaineth How the soule is said to be truly blessed Blessed which may say and hee which created mee resteth in my Tabernacle For hee cannot denie the rest of HEAVEN vnto her Therefore why doe wee forsake our selues and seeke God in these externall and outward things who is at home with vs if vvee will be with him Verely hee with vs and in vs but as yet by faith vntill vvee shall see him face to face Wee know saith the Apostle that Christ dwelleth in our hearts by faith How God dwelleth in vs. Because Christ is in our Faith Faith in our Vnderstanding our Vnderstanding in the heart the heart in our breast Through Faith I call God to minde as a Creator I adore him as a Redeemer I attend and wait for him as a Sauiour I belieue to behold him in all his Creatures to haue him in my selfe and that which is more pleasant and blessed then all these vnspeakeable to know him in himselfe What life euerlasting is For to know the Father Sonne and the holy Ghost is life Euerlasting perfect blessednesse What life euerlasting is chiefest pleasure The eye hath not seene the eare hath not heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man what great loue what great sweetnesse and what great pleasantnesse doth remaine vnto vs by that vision when we shall see God face to face Which is the light of those which doe inlighten rest to the labouring a Countrey to them that returne from exile life to the liuing a Crowne to the conquering Therefore in my vnderstanding I finde the Image of that most high and supreame Trinitie to the vvhich most supreme Trinitie alwayes to be remembred looked vpon and to be loued that I may remember it be delighted with it embrace and view it I must referre and employ that time which I liue The minde is the Image of GOD The faculties of the soule resembled to the Father the Sonne the holy Ghost in vvhich are these three things Memory Vnderstanding and Will or Loue. VVee attribute to the Memory all vvhich vvee know although we thinke not of it Wee attribute to the Vnderstanding all vvhich vvee finde to bee true in thinking vvhich wee also commit vnto Memory By Memory vvee are like to the Father by Vnderstanding to the Sonne by Will to the holy Ghost Nothing in vs is so like to him as Will Loue or Charitie which is a more excellent vvill For Loue or Charitie is the gift of God So that no gift of GOD is more excellent then this For the loue which is of GOD and which is also GOD is called properly the holy Spirit by whom the loue of God is disfused in our harts by whom the whole Trinitie doth inhabite and dwell in vs. Of the miserie of Man and the examination of the last Iudgement MOTIVE II. COncerning the outward man I proceed from those parents which made mee to be worthy of damnation before I was borne Sinners begot a sinner and nourished mee with sinne the miserable brought a miserable creature into the miserie of the light I haue nothing from them but misery sinne and this corruptible body which I carry about mee And I hasten to goe to them which through the death of the body are departed from hence When I looke vpon their Graues and Sepulchers I finde nothing in them but ashes vvormes stincke and loathsomnesse What I am they haue beene and what they are I shall be What am I Man proceeding from a liquid humour For in a moment of conception I was conceiued of humane seed afterward that froth congealed increasing a little was made flesh Mans corruption and afterward crying and lamenting I was deliuered to the banishment of this World and behold now I die full of iniquities and abhominations Now euen now I shall appeare before a seuere and strict Iudge to render an account of my workes VVoe bee to mee miserable vvretch when that day of Iudgement shall come and the Bookes shall bee opened in vvhich all my actions and cogitations shall be recited in the presence of the Lord. Then hanging downe my head with confusion of an euill conscience I shall stand in iudgement before the LORD trembling and sorrowfull to vvit reckoning vp my wicked deeds which I haue committed The conscience of the wicked shall be their owne
promiseth saying Verely I say vnto you that whatsoeuer yee aske praying beleeue that you shall receiue it and it shall be performed to you Doe not therefore make slight account of thy prayer because he to whom thou prayest doth not make slight account of it but before it passeth out of thy mouth God giueth that he knoweth to be best for vs. he willeth that it should be written downe in his Booke And we must vndoubtedly hope for one thing of two that eyther he will giue vs that vvhich we aske or that which he knoweth to be more profitable for vs. Thinke therefore the best whatsoeuer thou canst of God and the worst of thy selfe that thou maist thou oughtest to beleeue of him more copiously and amply then thou canst thinke Make account that thou hast lost all that time in which thou dost not thinke of God For all other things are none of our owne but the time onely is our owne Therefore finde leisure to serue GOD and wheresoeuer thou shalt be there be thou safe without danger Doe not wholy deliuer vp thy selfe to worldly affayres but vse the world as if thou vsedst it not In what place or state soeuer thou dost consist cast thy thoughts vpon God and ponder something belonging to thy Saluation in thy minde We must relie onely vpon God Therefore with all facilitie gathering thy minde together dwell freely with thy selfe and walke in the latitude and bredth of thy heart there prepare and make ready a large supping parlor for CHRIST for the minde of a wise man is alwaies with God We ought to haue him alwayes before our eyes by whom wee are liue and vnderstand For we haue him our Creator that we should be wee also ought to haue him our Teacher that we should be wise and the giuer of inward sweetnesse that wee may be blessed and in this wee know his Image in vs that is the Image of the most high Trinitie For as he is he is both wise and also good so also we according to our small measure both are and know that wee are and both loue to be and to know the same Therefore vse thy selfe as the Temple of GOD because of that vvhich is in thee like to God For it is the greatest Honour which can be performed to GOD to vvorship and to imitate him Thou doest imitate him if thou art godly for a godly minde is a holy Temple to God and the hart of a godly man the best Altar Thou doest worship him if thou art merciful He worshippeth God truly that doth the deeds of charitie as he is merciful vnto all For it is an acceptable sacrifice to God to doe good to all in regard of God Doe all things as the childe of God that thou maist be worthy of him who hath vouchsafed to call thee childe But in all things which thou dost God is present euery where know that God is present Beware therefore that neither thy eyes nor thy thoughts be fixed on that which breedeth a sinfull delight neither say nor doe that which is vnlawfull although it like thee neither offend God by any deed or gesture which being present euery where beholdeth whatsoeuer thou doest any where Thou hadst need to watch and looke to thy selfe narrowly because thou doest all things before the eyes of a Iudge which seeth all things cleerely Neuerthelesse thou needest not to stand in dread of him but art secure with him if thou prepare thy selfe to be such a one as he may vouchsafe in fauour to be present with thee but if hee be absent by grace yet is he present with thee by reuengement God correcteth them whom he loueth But woe be to thee if it be so with thee yea rather woe be vnto thee if he be not so vvith thee For God is angry vvith him whom he scourgeth not when he sinneth for he condemneth him in time to come perpetually whom hee doth not amend by scourging vvhen he liueth vvickedly A Consideration of Death MOTIVE VII IT is certaine that Death threatneth thee euery where the Deuill lieth in waite that hee may snatch away thy soule when it departeth out of thy body but feare thou not for GOD which dwelleth in thee if hee yet dwell in thee will deliuer thee from death God forsaketh none but such as willingly forsake him first and from the Deuill For hee is a faithfull friend neither doth hee forsake them which trust in him vnlesse he be first forsaken of them But hee is forsaken when the heart through wicked vile and vnprofitable cogitations roaueth hither and thither with a wandering vnderstanding Therefore thou must with all carefulnesse and vigilancy watch and keepe it that God may rest and remaine in it For in euery Creature which is busied and toiled in the vanities of the world vnder the Sunne Nothing in the world more noble then the heart of man nothing is more excellent then mans heart nothing more Noble nothing is found more like vnto God wherefore hee requireth no other thing of thee but thy heart How to purifie the heart Therefore cleanse the same by pure and sincere confession vnto God and continuall Prayer that thou maist see God with a pure and cleane heart by a continuall looking vpon God In euery place be thou subiect and intentiue to him and frame thy manners that he may be pleased in thee Loue all men inwardly and shew thy selfe louing to all that thou mayst be a peace-maker and the childe of God So thou shalt be a good childe like vnto thy heauenly Father also holy humble and righteous And when thou shalt be such a one be mindfull of mee to commend mee to GOD in thy prayers Woe bee to mee which say those things and doe them not Good words must be seconded with good deeds and if I doe them sometime I continue not long in them I haue those things in my memory and doe not obserue them in my life I haue them in my words and not in my conditions I ruminate and ponder the Law in my heart and my mouth all the day and doe things contrarie to the law I read of Religion in it and I loue Reading more then prayer Notwithstanding the holy Scripture doth teach me no other thing but to loue Religion to preserue Vnitie and to haue Charitie Some body waiteth and attendeth for mee desirous to speak to mee concerning his want and necessitie but I take some idle booke or other Immoderate reading must not let the practise of Charitie nor the exercise of Meditation which this man or that man commends vnto me I read in it and by immoderate reading I loose the practise of the fruits of Charitie the affections of piety the lamentation of compunction and heartie sorrow the profit of the holy Sacraments and contemplation of heauenly things Neuerthelesse nothing is found more sweet in this life nothing is receiued more delicious nothing doth
downe and consorted vvith the sonnes of darkenesse Why hast thou refused sweet Hony to feed on Gall and wholesome food to cloy thy stomacke with stincking dung At that time oh sweet Christ thy Family was cleared thy Houshold purged when such a leaprous person and deadly diseased creature went out into the world from the company of the Angels societie For then at last were the thirsty soules of that blessed company plentifully filled with sweet flowing streames of thy Diuine Word and vvith the most pleasant liquor of thy true celestiall Nectar which thou art alwayes able and euermore willing to giue vnto thy faithfull Seruants when hee was worthily cast out from thy most holy and blessed Family whom thou didst know to be vnworthy to taste one drop of that liuing water which quencheth the thirst of all sinfull soules for euer when thou of thy free loue dost afford them to drinke of that blessed Fountaine be their thirst neuer so great or the people neuer so many which resort to receiue refreshing by it SECTION X. NOW when thou hadst giuen a new Commaundement to thy louing Disciples that they should knit their hearts together with the true vnion of perfect loue Iohn 13.34 and arme themselues with patience against the approaching day of their fiery triall and also hadst disposed the kingdome of thy heauenly Father to thy faithfull Brethren thou cammest to the place with them well knowne vnto couetous Iudas that Traitour which did betray thee into the hands of the cruell Iewes who were as greedy to buy as he was couetous to sell thy innocent and precious bloud Yet thou diddest not audaciously obiect thy selfe vnto suddaine danger or desperately throw thy selfe into perill but thou wert willing to offer and lay downe thy owne life to deliuer vs poore condemned vassals from the heauy doome of eternall death knowing all things which should come vpon thee Iohn 18.4 Oh vnsearchable profundity of thy infinite loue Oh glorious beames of thy gracious mercy For like a tender-hearted Father thou haddest willingly cast thy selfe into suddaine danger to haue deliuered thy Children from some imminent perill or if thou haddest aduentured thy life to haue rescued thy friends from threatned death this without doubt had beene a deed of true naturall affection and excellent loue But that thou shouldest of thine owne accord offer thy selfe to death to saue thy deadly enemies and willingly shed thy bloud to ransome thy mortall foes This oh sweet Sauiour is a miracle of superadmirable kindenesse beyond the compasse of all vnderstanding SECTION XI VVHen thou wert come to the place where wretched Iudas had bargained to betray thee into the hands of the wicked Iewes thou wert not ashamed to confesse the heauy pangs which thou didst sustaine by thy approaching Passion in the audience of thy Brethren which thou wert willing to endure not for thy owne desert but by thy owne desire for our sakes and our sins saying My Soule is heauy euen vnto death Mat. 26.38 So ponderous was the burden of our iniquities so heauy was the weight of mine yea of all our sins layd vpon thy shoulders And there bowing thy knees on the ground and falling downe with thy face on the earth thou diddest in thy bitter agonie offer vp thy humble petition to God thy Father saying My Father if it be possible let this Cup passe from me Matth. 26.39 Indeed that Cup contained a deepe draught to be taken of thee for the health of our languishing soules more bitter then Colloquintida to the mouth or Gall in the maw And no doubt but the bloody sweat which trickled downe on the earth by drops from thy most holy flesh did plainely declare the sorrowes of thy perplexed minde and the anguish of thy sorrowfull Soule Luke 22.44 Oh powerfull Lord Iesus what meaneth or what is the cause of thy lamentable supplication Didst thou not wholly of thine owne accord offer vp thy selfe for a Sacrifice to thy Father and willingly shed thy bloud to pay the price of our ransome Yes verely oh gracious Lord it was thy exceeding great loue and onely mercy that did moue thee so patiently to vnder-goe the wrath of thy Father that thou mightest deliuer vs condemned sinners from his iust and heauy displeasure that by thy stripes wee might be healed and that by thy free and voluntary death wee might be restored to a second and euerlasting life But we thinke that thou didst willingly taste the bitternesse of our miseries and in thy selfe expresse vnto vs a true passion of our weakenesse for the comfort and consolation of all thy feeling members that no man might dispaire or let goe the Anchor of stedfast Hope when our weake flesh fainteth and our naturall faculties faileth but yet the spirit is ready to abide the painefull pangs of any passion and to suffer the conflicts of any affliction whatsoeuer Truly thou didst expresse the naturall weakenesse of the flesh in thy selfe by those tokens vnto vs that wee might the sooner be prouoked to embrace thee with more loue and gratefully to yeeld thee greater thanks Whereby also we are taught that thou didst truly beare our diseases and infirmities and that thou hast not runne through the thornes of grieuous passions vvithout the sense of painefull afflictions For that voyce seemeth to be the voice of the flesh not of the Spirit by that which thou hast added The Spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weake Marke 14.38 And thou diddest openly declare that the Spirit was willing to suffer the deadly pangs of thy grieuous passion when thou diddest goe forth of thine owne accord to meete those bloudy minded persons conducted by their damnable General trayterous Iudas in the night time furnished with lanternes torches and weapons seeking without any cause raging vvith malice to destroy thy harmelesse life and cruelly to shed thy innocent blood and there didst openly discouer thy selfe to their eyes and offer vp thy selfe to their bloudy hands least they might thinke themselues beholding to their bloudy guide and that by his craftie pollicie thou hadst beene suddainely and vnwillingly apprehended For thou diddest not repell or put backe that cruell monster comming to kisse thy most holy mouth but diddest gently put thy mouth in which there was found no guile to his mouth abounding with venome and filled with malice who vnder token of loue pretended nothing but deadly hate and with a dissembling kisse to betray thee into the hands of those who were ready armed to kill thee And although desperate Iudas became his owne hangman Mat. 27.5 yet many doe follow his steps and desperately runne to their wilfull wofull destruction Oh innocent Lambe of GOD how couldest thou endure that such a rauenous Wolfe should come neere vnto thee that came so greedily to deuoure thee What fellowship hath light with darkenesse What agreement hast thou with Beliall But this oh Lord was a deed of thy gracious benignitie and an act of thy exceeding
with an honourable triumph hath entred the heauens And behold he being crowned with glory and honour sitteth at the right hand of thy Maiestie who being our Aduocate maketh continuall intercession for vs that we being the children of wrath and disobedience by Nature may bee reconciled vnto thee for euer by the exceeding riches of thy grace For hee is flesh he is our brother Looke oh Lord vpon the amiable face of thy sweet Christ which became obedient vnto thee euen vnto death that thou being well pleased in beholding him mayest send downe the comfortable dewe of thy mercy vpon vs neither let his scarres depart for euer out of thy sight that thou mayest remember what a great satisfaction thou hast receiued of him for our sinnes I wish it might please thee to ballance the sinnes wherewith vvee haue deserued thy wrath and indignation together with the calamitie and sorrow which thy innocent Sonne hath suffered for vs. Certainely the waight of his heauy miserie vvill more then counterpoyse the waight of all our iniquities and it hath rather deserued that thou shouldest raine downe the sweet shewers of thy mercy vpon vs then that our sinnes haue demerited to kindle the fire of thy deuouring vvrath against vs that wee should vtterly be depriued of thy wonted clemency which should slake the fury of thine incensed ire and put out the flame of thy burning indignation But oh gratious and mercifull Father let euery tongue proclaime immortall thankes vnto thee and sound forth aloud thine eternall praises for the exceeding largenesse of thine immeasurable bounty vvhich hast not spared thine onely Sonne which was as deere and neere as thine owne heart vnto thee but hast deliuered him vp vnto death for vs all that we might haue him as a faithfull Aduocate and louing Mediatour before thee in Heauen And to thee oh Lord Iesus a most couragious and constant Louer and my gratious Redeemer what thankes be they neuer so many can I returne or what praises be they neuer so great may I vtter which might counteruaile the least iot of thy vvorthy merit when as I am but a base creature made of dust and shaped out of the clay whose breath is in my Nosthrils and I subiect euery moment to forgoe it although I commonly forget it and to returne againe into the wombe of the Earth from vvhence I vvas taken SECTION XIX FOR what oh sweet Sauiour shouldest thou haue done which thou hast not vvillingly done to finish the great worke of my saluation Thou hast diued and cast thy selfe ouer head and eares into the troublesome Ocean of thy stormy Passions that thou mightest draw mee wholly out aliue from those perillous Waters when the waues haue entered euen into thy Soule For thou diddest willingly subiect thy selfe to the paines of Death that thou mightest restore my soule vnto mee which I had so wilfully lost Luke 1.71 And now behold I am obliged vnto thee by a double debt because thou hast twise giuen mee my soule once by Creation and once by Redemption what haue I that I may more iustly giue thee then my soule But for thy precious soule vexed perplexed and troubled vvith so many and such heauy tribulations I finde not what recompence man can bee able to render vnto thee in any sort to gratifie the worthinesse of thy desert For if I should be able to giue thee Heauen and Earth and all their beautifull furniture and the glorious ornaments of them I could in no wise attaine the measure or discharge the infinite sum of such an euerlasting debt But that I may render both that which I owe and also that which is possible for mee is a matter wholly belonging to thy liberall bountie and must onely flowe from the sweet fountaine of thy beneficiall goodnesse Thou art to be loued oh Lord with all my heart vvith all my strength I must tread in thy path and follow thy steps vvhich hast endured all the extreamities of thy bitter Passions with exceeding patience and being Lord of life hast of thine owne accord vouchsafed to yeeld thy selfe vnto death to redeeme mee and all faithfull repentant sinners to the ioyes of eternall life And how shall that thing bee effected and wrought to mee but onely and wholy by thee through thy mightie power which is able to worke all things in Heauen aboue and in the Earth beneath Let my Soule cleaue vnto thee let it be vnited vnto thee with the bond of euerlasting loue because all the vertue and faculties of it depend onely vpon thee and because it must needs sinke into a bottomlesse pit of endles misery if it bee but a moment debarred from thy louing mercy And now oh Lord my gracious Redeemer I worship thee as true God I trust in thee I hope in thee I couet long to approach so neere vnto thee as the feeble wings of my mounting desires will carry me Let thy strong hand support my weakenesse Let the rich treasure of thy mercy supply the wants of mine infirmity Let the greatnesse of thine vnsearchable goodnesse neuer depart out of my remembrance Let a memoriall of thy bitter passion by which thou hast wrought mine euerlasting Saluation be perfectly written vvithin the palmes of my hands so that mine eyes may still be viewing it and let it be deepely ingrauen in my heart that mine inward thoughts and cogitations may euermore be meditating and musing vpon it Let thy Crowne of Thornes thy redde bloudy nailes thy pierced side thy grieuous vvounds thy precious bloud thy death and buriall bee euermore presented before the eyes of mine vnderstanding that I may vvater my Couch and make my bedde to swimme vvith teares of true sorrowfull repentance that I may duely and truely bewaile the multitude of my haynous sinnes vvhich haue beene like so many Iron-nayles to enter through thy harmelesse hands and innocent feete and like so many sharpe Speares to pierce thy blessed side to make thy wounded heart send forth plentifull streams of thy deere and precious bloud Lastly let the fresh remembrance of thy most glorious and victorious Resurrection and the blessed memory of thy triumphant Ascention comfort the fainting Spirits of my drooping soule with a sweet taste of ioy mittigate the sorrowes of my perplexed minde For in all these the sweet odour of life doth ascend vp into my nosthrils Raise thou oh Lord my spirit with their reuiuing odour from the death of sinne and out of the Graue of perpetuall darkenesse Touch my heart oh Christ that I may touch thee yea although it bee but the hemme of thy Garment that Vertue may come out of thee Matth. 14.32 Marke 6.56 Which may keepe me from the snares of Sathan and comfort me in the houre of tribulation so that the yoake of thy commaundements may be made easie vnto mee and the burthen of the Crosse which thou commandest mee to carry after thee may be light to my soule What am I a silly worme What is