Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	let_v	lord_n	sin_n	4,896	5	4.6771	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77267	The penitent pilgrim bemoning his sinfull condition. Faith appeares vnto him affording him comfort hope seconds that comfort charity promiseth him in this vaile of missery to cover all his scarlett sins wth: [sic] ye white robe of mercy, & conduct him safly to ye kingdome of glory. By Io: Hall	Brathwaite, Richard, 1588?-1673, attributed name.; Hall, John, 1627-1656, attributed name.; Herdson, Henry, attributed name.; Le Blon, Christof, d. 1665, engraver.	1651 (1651)	Wing B4275aA; ESTC R224400	106,709	434

hope of future happinesse this very promise of long dayes might have brought thee to Obedience But alas this was the lowest of my thoughts the least of my cares I desired in mine Heart to be the Master of an estate before Nature would allow me it I took my portion and went away into a farre Countrey And there I plaid the riotter till I became a miserable Begger Then and never till then did I consider what I had done For by this time had I forgot my Fathers House So long and so sweetly had I been ●ulled in the Lappe of Sin But having now reap'd the fruites of my Disobedience I begun to have a remorse of Conscience and to have some small sensible feeling of repentance But never till such time as I had fed freely of those empty huskes of vanity and found my selfe so miserably poor as if I return'd not back to my Fathers House I might of necessity perish there were no remedy Nay I must to my shame confesse it that such was my disobedience and so crooked my will amidst my greatest necessities that this my aversion from evill and conversion to good rather proceeded from want of meanes then sincerity of will For had my Portion continued the arme of Sin had been nothing shortned And yet had my want brought mee to this naturall consideration as to thinke with my selfe what Parents were What benefits I had received from them how they had done for mee what I could never possibly do for them How Creatures endued onely with sense by a naturall instinct bore that tender love and obedience to their Parents as in their age they foster'd them on their wings they carried them desiring rather that they themselves should perish then their Parents suffer which gave a being unto them But these Considerations onely floated upon the Waters of mine heart they never sunck A naturall pronenesse to obey the Lusts of my Flesh hung such heavy poizes on the Wings of my Obedience as they kept me from mounting desiring rather to dye then wholly to leave my rebellion Thus was I never weary of transgressing till my transgressions became weary of mee Neither was I sensible of what disobedience meant till I was brought to a Consideration of it through want Wo is mee How could I promise to my selfe length of dayes when I had disseised my selfe of that promise by my disobedient wayes How could I be lesse then rejected of my Father in Heaven who had borne my selfe so disobediently to my Father on Earth How could I look for an inheritance falling so desperately into all disobedience O my deare Lord to whom Obedience is better then Sacrifice call mee now home unto thee Let me no longer run on in my rebellious Course Like a Childe that feareth to be beate let mee tremble at thy judgments Like a Child that flyeth into his Fathers lappe let mee kisse thee for thy mercies Correct mee O Lord but not in thine anger for how shall I stand in thy displeasure O I know as there is no Sonne whom a Father will not correct with the rod of his love so is there no Father who has not a desire to deliver his Sonne Correct me O Lord as thou art my Saviour oh let it never be in thine heavy displeasure CHAP. 18. His contempt of the Second in his practising mischiefe against his Neighbour ONe may commit murder and shed no blood The very thoughts of our hearts may become Conspirators against our Neighbour and so wee murder him in our desires Caine slew his brother Abel which made him turne Runnagate by flying from Gods presence O how often have I staine my brother in conceiving cruell thoughts which reflected upon his life fame and substance O how often have I in mine heart wished a sudden end unto mine Enemy And yet I was perswaded hee was not well prepared for death when I wished this unto him so as my desires were bent to murder him both in soule and body by wishing him so sudden and unprepared a death in his departure from the body Yea I will confesse against my selfe and with much bitternesse of heart will I acknowledge it that neither rich nor poore have beene freed from those murdering imaginations which my corrupt heart had secretly nursed For if he were rich I murdered him with Envy And in this act not only him but my selfe Wasting and eating up my owne marrow consuming my owne strength and falling away with a languishing desire of others ruine Againe were he poore I to my power murdered him by holding from him the staffe of bread when I might have relieved him by grating and grinding the face of the needy by oppressing him injuriously by laying heavier burdens on him then hee could beare O how can I remember these and sinke not downe with the horror of them Can I think that just God who heares the Orphans cry and bottles up the Widowes teares will not avenge himselfe of these things Can hee tender his little ones not revenge himselfe of those who make a prey and spoile of his little ones O no my Lord I know my guiltinesse is not hid from thee Nay I know well thou hast thy Bow ready bent and thine Arrowes in thy Quiver to shoot at the malicious and evill doer even at him that is of a subtile and deceitfull heart How then may I make my peace with thee How may I find favour in thy sight what shall I bee able to answer for my selfe against those my many Accusers While here one proves how I sought his life and with many bitter imprecations discovered my malice unto him Another accuseth me with impeaching his good name that precious perfume of every good man The third of his Substance saying that my wishes were often that he might be rest of it or it of him or that I my selfe might enjoy it with the losse of him Thus like a cruell and bloody Nimrod have I hunted for blood And though I did not actually shed it yet in desiring it and not seeking where I might to prevent it I cannot plead lesse then that I am guilty of it Now my fact is so foule that should I with the poore condemned Prisoner demand my Booke I could not hope to have the benefit of it yet there is a Booke wherein I have read what may afford mee much comfort by it At what time soever a sinner doth repent him of his sinne from the bottome of his heart I will put away all his wickednesse out of my remembrance saith the Lord. It is the Lord that hath said it even he who as hee is gracious in his promise so is hee faithfull in his performance Hence is my trust that though my sinnes be as red as scarlet the blood of the Lambe will make them white Though my garments bee all red as those who came from Bosro my Saviour has in store a white roabe for me As white as the snow of

Salmon shall my soule be made though she be now soil'd with the leprosie of sin Yea but dangerous wounds require longer cures My afflicted conscience tels mee that I have grievously sinned against his sacred Majesty both in quantity and quality I have not had God before mine eyes the pathes of righteousnesse were estranged from me Those sinnes which with such greedinesse I had committed had sent forth their cry to the clouds they were of no inferior nature but suchas derogated highly from the honour of my Maker What may I then expect but that those Viols of his wrath should be poured forth even to the bottome if hee did not looke upon me with his eye of fatherly compassion It is true my deare Lord it is true No sinner ever exceeded me in number and nature yet comming to thee with an humble contrite heart receive me loving Father for one of thine Though my sinnes might justly make a partition wall betwixt my soule and thee my sweet Spouse for ever yet hast thou promised to be a Saviour to every penitent sinner O Lord looke upon me in thy mercy for my soule is sore vexed within me CHAP. 19. His Contempt of the Third in playing the Wanton IS it time to feast and play the Wanton when the Flood is comming Every houre ushers me to my Grave yet am I still farre off from receiving the motions of Grace Woe is me that my Dalilah has rob'd mee of my strength What a long time of youth did I lead as if that Spring would ne're have done How strongly nay how strangely have I beene taken with a whorish behaviour as if there had beene no well-beseeming beauty but what was accompanied by impudence How often have I taken delight in the count●nance of a strange woman How desirous have I beene to take how ready to bee taken That Belcone could not open nor in her opening discover the feature of a woman which my wanton eye did not fixe on Forbidden fruit and stolne waters were ever sweetest Lightnesse had got such possession of mee as were it in action or discourse there was nothing which took mine eare more or made the houre lesse tedious I had read how that the Adulterer and Whore-monger God would judge How that the pleasure of fornication was short but the punishment of the Fornicator eternall And sometimes I had the grace to consider with my selfe what thing this Eternity was And the more I begun to consider it the further I was from it yet I found it to bee such a thing as admitted no end and yet I unfortunately made a forfeiture of it for a moments pleasure Pleasure shall I call it no that cannot be properly called a pleasure but a torture which dams the soule for ever I found the deceitfulnesse of this sinne with what resolves I made hourely to become a true and unfeined Penitent never to returne to my vomit I consider'd how a continent soule was the precioust treasure how God would not dwell in that heart that was infected with this sinne All this I applyed to my heart but alas how long did it remaine uncorrupt No sooner was there an occasion of temptation offered then my vaine heart quite forgot what shee had resolved The thought of Eternity was presently choaked with an hapleste desire of enjoying what was lighter then vanity Woe is me that any reasonable soule should bee so deluded That neither the promises of a better life nor the shame of this present life could decline mee from working such iniquity I found how all bread was sweet unto the Adulterer How none was more estranged from his love then whom hee was bound most to love Thus I perished with open eyes for I knew well how the Harlot would bring a man even to a morsell of bread How her paths were full of deceipt and how her foot-stepps led unto death And I understood how there was nothing to be compared to a vertuous Woman and what felicity I enjoyed in such a Choice With what pious Obsequies I solemniz'd her Funeralls whom I once enjoyed with what purposes I entertained to remaine a constant Widdower after such time as I was deprived of her Yet though ripenesse of yeares had nipped in mee the blossoms of of youth nay though age had writ deepe furrows in my brow yet found I youth enough in my doating fancy For I am ashamed to thinke with what an unbeseeming lightnesse I encountered a strange face How soone I could gather by the wandring motion of her eye the disposition of her heart Thus in my declining age begun I to renue my acquaintance with light love and to practise that which did least become me So dangerous is the custome of sinne when it has taken full seazure or possession of the soule O my sweet Iesu clense me from my secret sinnes and give mee grace to remember these things with heavinesse of heart Let me goe all the day mourning and with teares of hearty contrition move thy tender heart to compassion O cure this bloody issue of my sinne apply unto my bleeding wounds a present cure As thou lookt upon Magdalen and made her an holy Saint of an hainous sinner so looke upon mee with the eye of pitty that I may find thee in the day of my visitation a gracious Saviour CHAP. 20. His breach of the Fourth in his cunning defeating of his Neighbour MY conscience hath oft-times told me and woe is mee that I remembred it not how there were many other kinds of Theft besides purloyning or imbezling of my Neighbours goods In defeating him of what was due unto him nay in finding what I knew to bee his and not restoring it unto him this even this convinc'd my conscience of guilt and that I was a Robber of him These seeme but light sinnes and of such easie digestion as they seeme no sinnes at all But these must not be forgotten for they are writ in his Booke with a pen of steele and are not to be wiped away but with the soft Spunge of his mercy I have often thought out of the foolishnesse of mine heart that privily to take away or defeat any one of small toyes or trifles as I accounted them was no sinne because they were of small or no weight whereas if I had knowne the quality of sinne aright I would have confest that it was not the value of the thing but the intention of the heart that made the sinne It skils not much whether the substance be vile or precious which is unjustly procured or injuriously required so as the affection bee to either of these equally corrupted Though they be of different dammage in respect of him from whom they are taken yet bring they equall detriment to him by whom they were taken O with what sighes with what teares did that devout Father bewayle his breaking into an Orchard though hee was then a Boy and therefore pardonable These are now so easily dispenc'd with as

divine Majesty O no! How is it then Must hee both forget and forgive and thy rancour such as thou wilt only forgive but not forget O poure thy selfe forth into a Sea of teares be so farre from not forgiving offences when thine enemie does begge it as thou dost heartily forgive him before hee begge it Deare Lord this I resolve to doe but weake are my resolves if they be not assisted by thee O give mee then in these holy motions such constancy as in the remembrance of thy love unto mee J may forget offences heartily and so receive remission of my sinnes at thine hands in the day of mercy CHAP. 30. Praying for his Persecutors fervently THis Lesson was taught me by my Saviour when amongst others hee suffered for mee the worst of all others When the feares of death encompassed him when nothing but sorrow and heavinesse accompanied him even then when his Persecutors deserved least shewed he his charity most Father forgive them for they know not what they doe Thus did hee excuse them from malice imputing all they did unto ignorance so full of compassion was hee even in his greatest anguish Now resolve mee poore Pilgrim wherein hast thou showne thy selfe an obedient Scholler to such a Master wherein hast thou observed this Lesson Hast thou prayed for them who sought to make a prey on thee Hast thou wished from thine heart that he might ride on with honour who sought thy dishonour Nay rather hast thou not cursed where thou shouldst have blessed Hast thou not reviled him who wronged thee nor sought to impeach his fame who wrought mischiefe against thee yes yes unhappy Pilgrim none could bee more ready to inflict then thou to requite To pray for them or to performe any office of charity in behalfe of them was so farre from thine intention as thou accounted it rather an act of weaknesse then devotion Deare Father this I consider and with griefe of heart confesse my selfe herein a foule transgressor Sweet Iesu thou who prayed for thine Enemies teaching us to doe the like for such as should persecute us give mee grace to doe good to those who doe evill unto me to love those that hate me to forgive those who trespasse against me to spare such as offend me and to pray for all such as persecute me and that with such fervency as my prayer may bee accepted in the time of their necessity CHAP. 31. He takes the like view of those seven corporall workes of Mercy and acknowledgeth likewise his failings in each of them FRom the view of those Spirituall Works of Mercy in every one whereof thou hast found thine infinite failings descend now poore Pilgrim to those corporall workes of Mercy necessarily required of every Christian to make him of a bond-man to sinne a Free-man and a Citizen But alas I much feare mee that my desires have been so long allied to earth nay laid in earth as these Workes of Mercy are estranged from my knowledge Truth is poore Pilgrim that I am I have observed these Workes neglected with the reasons from whence such neglect proceeded For taking my Survey of all conditions I found here one who priding himselfe in his youth bestow'd so much time in company as he reserved no time to thinke of Workes of Mercy Another I found taken with his owne beauty who tooke such content in looking upon himselfe as hee had not one looke to bestow upon his needy Brother Another was so rich and so devoted to that worldly Idol as it was death to him to afford one crumme of comfort to relieve him that was distressed Another as one distrustfull of Gods providence refused to performe all offices of charity fearing his too much bounty might bring him to poverty Another I might heare presuming of Gods mercy and flattering himselfe with Tush God will be mercifull Though wee should forget what hee hath commanded us hee will not forget to performe what hee hath promised us Another seeing the whole world set on mischiefe and how the simple and innocent were most scorned to avoid the scorne of the foole hee scornes not to become such a foole as to follow the haunt of the wicked Lastly I might find an other of so soft and delicate a condition as these Workes of Charity were too sharpe and full of austerity this man would take no acquaintance of them lest hee might become enfeebled by them And such as these in thy Survey on earth hast thou seene and observed but pray thee poore Pilgrim all this while that thou observedst others was there nothing thou couldst find in thy selfe Sure I am thou oughtst to have endeavored with all thy power and all thy knowledge to know thy selfe for farre better and more laudable had it beene for thee to know thy selfe then by neglecting and forgetting of thy selfe to have knowne the course of the starres the strength of herbes the complection of men the natures of all inferiour creatures with the experience and knowledge of all heavenly and earthly things For better is a simple Swaine then a proud Philosopher I gather by thy owne words thou hast been a notable Observer but wherein hast thou shewne thy selfe an able Professor O my Lord I know not what to answer I stand at thy Barre and have nothing to plead for my selfe Onely deare Lord I must confesse to my shame I have sinned I have sinned Not one work of Mercy but I have either wholly neglected or not performed as thou hast commanded O Lord impute not my sinnes unto me lest I perish everlastingly CHAP. 32. Feeding the Hungry THou hast heard read the parable of Dives and Lazarus and thou condemned the hard-heartednesse of Dives that rich Glutton who amidst those various dishes of his would not afford some few Crums some poore fragments from his well-furnish'd Table to feed a poore hunger-starv'd Begger And upon re-view of that story concluded him justly damned for suffering his needy Brother to perish while he surfeited So as his very dogges might partake what poore Lazarus could not get Nay this hungry Begger received more court'sie from his dogs then from their Master For they licked his sores wheras from Dives hee received no comfort no succour But now tell me unhappy Pilgrim may not I say to thee as that Prophet said to David Thou art the man Didst thou never see thy poore necessitous Brother hungry but thou hadst compassion of his poverty Didst thou goe to thy Cruse to refresh him with oyle or to thy Barrell to make him a Cake that hee might walke in the strength thereof and not die Nay rather hast thou not suffered him to cry at thy gates till his very bowels earned within him and thou wouldst not heare him Hast thou not bestow'd more liberally upon the proud Actor then on thy poore Brother Nay hast thou not sowne so lavishly thine ill-bestowed fortunes upon the Brothell or Stage as thou hast left nothing to give to the poor mans

Child of God but how can hee have any interest in that title how dares he presume to derive any such promise from God who all his life time has beene a profest Enemy to the peace of God Hee has laboured to encourage Neighbour against Neighbour to bring all things into confusion by his distemper and may such an one have any hope to aspire to a title of such honour The world has beene long since weary of him because nothing but contention relished well with him and shall his spirit which disquieted every place and became an instrument of faction in every place enjoy the comfort of peace Or the reward of such as embrace peace or that superlative title of those Peace-makers to be called one of the Children of God Thus may I poore Pilgrim be justly accused and by what meanes may I be freed How may I cleare these accusations whereof I am not onely endited but convicted Even by thy meditation my deare Saviour who brought peace unto us by suffering so many things for us O be thou my Peace-maker my sweet Redeemer Let mee now at last after my breach of peace with thee and with those whom I ought to have showne my selfe peaceable to for thee let mee I say love peace and ensue it that I may enjoy that Crowne of peace after my dismission from this Campe of Earth which thou before all times hast prepared for those who embraced peace upon Earth And since none can bee called the Child of God unlesse hee bee a Peace maker give me grace to love and live in peace that I may receive that blessed title from thee my only Saviour CHAP. 47. Blessed are they that suffer persecution for righteousnesse sake for theirs is the kingdome of heaven STraite is the Gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life and few there be that enter in at it the reason is because by many tribulations wee are to come unto it The high way unto the Crowne is by the Crosse Christian devotion and spirituall discipline must bee workes of paine not of the contented So shall my hope bee in thee planted my herrt on thee sixed and my horne by thee filled CHAP. 51. Lechery BY this time I had received sufficient instructions from two of my Guests how to thrive in the world as likewise how to reserve a port or proud posture in the world And howsoever Pride and Covetousnesse seemed to bee of different conditions and of such dis-consorting humours as these two never tooke liking to any Musicke but what was full of discord yet me thought they agreed well enough together under my roofe yea I I bestow'd them in the very next lodging to mee that I might enjoy the benefit of their Company more freely But having now broke off my discourse with that Guest of mine a man wholly made of earth and looking aside I might perceive a fresh youthfull Consort entring the room where wee conversed By his habit gate and fashion I could scarcely distinguish him whether hee were man or woman So strangely effeminate and to light discourses so affected as hee breathed nothing but amorous Songs and Sonnets loose love was the line by which hee directed the whole course of his life His bosome was farced full of amorous Knights adventures His morning Lectures were Boccace and Alcaeus His evening Anthems were Ariosto and Reginus For his person he was of a promising constitution but of pale complexion a quick piercing eye a nimble perswasive tongue and of such a wooing winning action as no expression came from him which would not enforce affection I must confesse I no sooner saw him then I found a glowing heat within mee towards him yea I begunne mee thought to conceive better of him then either of the two with whom I had before conversed so full of delightfull variety was his discourse so melodious his voyce so affectionately moving and compleate in every part I desired much to know his descent and Countrey and hee resolved mee readily that his first plantation was neere to the banks of that famous River Sybaris where he erected a Schoole for love afterwards richly endowed by such eminent proficients as had beene Schollers in it but desiring much to see forraine Countries not onely to improve his own knowledge but observe her commands to whose service he stood obliged Hee coasted along by Paphos where his Mother the Soveraignesse of every loyall Lover then kept Court And from thence with merry gale hee came to Cyprus and some few moneths after to renowned Latium Where hee found such entertainment as neither care nor cost were awanting to procure his liking I importun'd him much to heare some of those Lessons which he had formerly taught and wherein I desired much to become his Scholler but small importunity needed seeing his owne desires were thereto directed so as taking me apart from the rest of the Company hee imparted to mee such directions as nothing became more pleasing to me then the embraces of folly Wanton Pictures light amorous Poems loose licentious meetings luscious Feastings seazed so strongly on my deluded fancy as love became both my Ditty and Deity For hee advised me to walke by the twi-light and and to engage mine honour to an Harlot Thus was I drawn by the cords of vanity made a slave to sinne an enemy to my owne soule and in the end a by word to the people O my beloved what may I answer in defence of my lost honour woe is mee miserable wretch to lose that without all hope of recovery which I should have preserved perpetually O incomparable and inconsolable losse to loose that which is not onely the losse of all goodnesse but the purchase of all torments O thou pretious treasure of a continent soule how unhappily am I robbed of thee O my soule my beloved how art thou now to bee loathed O my soule no more my solace but my anguish O my deare how art thou now become my despaire whether art thou falne how hast thou left me nay how hast thou rest mee of those comforts which I expected from thee To what a sinke of all silth and pollution hast thou O lust of my flesh drawne mee How may I hope for pardon in playing so impudently the wanton Even by thy mediation my sweet Saviour O offer up my poore petition unto thy Father that I may become thy devout Saint and Servant who was sometimes a servant to sinne in every member CHAP. 52. Envy HAving thus freely enjoyed the conference of these three Guests in whose familiarity I took much content For as the first and third had recommended to mee Rules of State and motives to pleasure so had the Second taught mee a thriving way how to cram my Coffers that I might more fully maintaine the port both of th' one and th' other holdding my selfe satisfied in these I resolved to enter into treaty with the rest so as walking one day very early I chanced to meet

with one but the unbeseeming'st one of all my Guests for his complexion seem'd so withered and decayed his body so meagre and macilent as he appeared rather like some Anatomy then any living Creature This poor marrow-eaten Wretch I found sighing and making a pittifull mone as if some heavy mis-chance had befalne him but inquiring the reason of his sorrowing he told mee that the occasion of his griefe proceeded not from any mishappe falling to himselfe but for the happinesse he perceived many others lived in For to see anothers field flourish or his goods to increase and prosper was such an eye-sore unto him as nothing could more distemper him This I conceived to be a base condition and such as to humanity had very small relation So as I resolved to quit my house of him and give him his Pasport finding nothing in him but an harsh unsociable humour rejoycing in nothing more then the ruine of another yet desiring to sift him a little further and to the bottom to make tryall of his nature I took first occasion to demand of him of what Parents hee descended and in what Coast he first planted and he told mee that Iewry was his native Countrey and his Parents Iewes with whom he long time remained neare to the Lake Asphaltos I asked of him what content he could take in the World when nothing but the evill successe of others presented him any object of joy in the world And he answer'd mee if I knew what strange content the Envious man apprehended from others misfortunes I would preferre that humour before any personall honour for said hee whosoever stands so affected hee cannot want variety of Subjects to minister to him that content which he desired I must indeed confesse quoth he that I am of necessity now then to encounter with some arguments of discontent as I did this very Morning in seeing your Neighbours Pastures so fruitfull their harvest so hopefull but for one of these Objects I shall find an hundred occasions of content No place is exempted from mee no person excepted from playing one part or other in this enterlude of folly O how it joyes mee to see a proud ambitious spirit entring lists with his Competitor where the one must necessarily fall to advance the other Honour was their bait and it proves their baine Againe to see a Love-sick amorous Foole put his whole patrimony on his back to enamour his light Mistresse with a phantastick Dresse and in the end come home with a repulse and so like a Child put finger i th' Eye or laying it to heart make the losse of her fancy the Cloze of his misery Againe to see a miserable covetous Father scraping up an injurious estate for a Prodigall Child who before his Fathers Funerall bee solemnized takes as much paines how to scatter it as ever his raking Father did to gather it Or to see a base worlding spend himselfe in sighs and teares for the losse of his beast making himselfe no better by his foolish mourning then that poor senselesse Creature for which he mourned To see wisemen lament for the death of their Children as if death were some new thing or that there were no hope after Death To see a confident Client faile in his Suite or an Earth-worme stript of his estate And is not this brave sport for an envious spirit This I considered and methought I begun to bee taken with the pleasure of it The report of others well-fare became distastfull to mee their mis-fortunes cheerefull newes unto me Others Weale became my Wo others Wo my Weale O my redeemer thou who art perfect charity remove from mee the rust of envy Too long ha's this canker eaten mee O let mee neither do nor wish that unto anther which I would not have done nor wished to my selfe O make mee such an enemy to this Sinne as I may live in love yea rather cease to live then surcease to love thee for thy selfe my Neighbour for thy sake CHAP. 53. Gluttony NO sooner had I dismist this starveling then I encountred another cleare of another temper plumpe he was and well-liking one who cared not much what arrow of Gods judgment were shot so famine were left out He told mee he had beene a professor of Philosophy in the Epicures Academy How he was by nation a Sidonian and descended from the Vitellian family Albeit in the manner of his discourse he discovered no great arguments of a Scholler being of a dull and clodded fancy and of apprehension slow and heavy His providence meerly consisted in purveyance for the belly Wherein hee observed such delicacie as hee scorned much to sit at that Table which was not stored with all Variety I told him Strangers were not to be so curious but rather contented with whasoever was for the present provided Wherewith seeming a little moved Sir said he I am neither so wanting in friends nor fortunes as I need rely upon reversions I have thus long lived and fed deliciously making my Bellie my Deitie And if you knew what delight there were in a luscious Tooth and what pleasure in full Dishes what strength they afford to nature and how they infuse into the Bloud a fresh reviving vigour I am perswaded you would preferre this delight before any other pleasure Sir answer'd I take me not up so shortly I was never yet knowne such a niggard as for sparing a little trash to starve my Belly Others through their misery may stand indebted to it but for my part I will rather choose to abridge mine Inventorie then be so taxed by it But by your favour I must tell you what I have heard that Surfets kill more then the Sword How he who makes a God of his Bellie surfets in the delight of such a daintie Deitie And I have sometimes read Lessius his practise in Physick How when Nature grew so weake in him as there was no hope of recovering him and that his Physicians had left him yet by prescribing himselfe a strict Diet and by duely observing what he had prescribed he even in his declining age became youthfull in his recreations fresh and cheerfull and even to his death strong and healthfull And yet he for all this died said my delicious Guest and tell me then what did his rules of Physick availe him Go to Sir he that lives Physically lives miserably let us cramme and feed our selves fat while wee live satisfy our desires in what wee love So long as wee live in the World let us enjoy with all freedom the pleasures of the World Abstinence suites better with an hermitage then a Pallace Take so much paines one day as goe into a Monasterie and what will you find there but as Climacus observeth Breathing Coarses their spirits wasted their radicall moisture with their Lampe-oyle consumed nothing left to present the resemblance of men save only bare Sceletons or fleshlesse Images of men and these so uselesse for Earth as their sole

gaine that divided thee from him or the love of honour or pleasure that made thee a stranger to him O who then will bring thee to him seeing what hee hated most divorc'd thee from him O none but thy selfe deare Saviour O draw me after thee and I will follow thee O too much hold has the present world had in mee the cares whereof tooke mee quite from thee Let it henceforth have no interest in mee that I may bee wholly possessed of thee O inflame mine heart with a love of thee that I may live with thee for live I cannot unlesse I enjoy thee And since I cannot live here and see thee let mee dye that I may see thee CHAP. 60. Taste ADams posterity had beene blessed had hee only seene the fruit and never tasted O how sweet is the taste of sinne to the palat but how cold in the stomacke Though it shew a cheerfull welcome it ever leaves us with a sad farewell Thou hast had a free and full taste of this unhappy Pilgrim in preferring a messe of pottage before an inheritance In feeding so greedily on the Huskes of vanity and preferring them before those wholesome Viands in thy fathers family Yet what were all these compared to those spirituall dainties that incorruptible food but as chaffe to wheat branne to bread Onions and Garlicke of Egypt to the heavenly Manna yet behold my misery Though I daily observed how the world was full of troubles perplexities tumults and confusions how such onely had the best part in it who had the least to doe in it how the Great One had ever some Corrivall to oppose him the little one had some Great One to crush him How honour like Hamans halter brought the unhappy Enjoyer of it unto ruine How Greatnesse pretending priviledge for guiltinesse brought the Land to mourning How there was nothing in the world but shouldring one another labouring to advance themselves even by their nearest friends dishonour How the world was an empty Sponge outwardly flourishing fruitlesly promising rarely prospering How it was wholly set on mischiefe and how there was none that did good no not one How there was a world of men but a wildernesse of good men How many times vertue bare vices livery While vice became so innocently cloathed as it past current for downe right honesty Yet though I say I considered these things I never treasured them in mine heart I went along with the multitude for my taste it was so inured to sinne as I tooke most delight in that which impoysoned my soule My liquorish taste my luscious tooth brought mee to fare deliciously with the rich Glutton and to carouse deeply in Balthasars cups I feared no more the deluge of sinne then those before the Flood did that deluge of waters before it came O consider then thou ungracious sense seeing every one must bee punished wherein hee has been delighted what shal thy portion be in the Lake where every impenitent sinner is to receive the wages of his mis-spent life Woe is me who will deliver me or take thee off from accusing me Even thou my gracious Redeemer who as thou hast discovered to mee how bitter the world is wilt bring mee to taste and see how sweet the Lord is O lead mee forth to thy greene pastures neare those Rivers of sweet waters where J may taste of the fulnesse of thy pleasures and drinke of those heavenly waters for evermore CHAP. 61. Touch. SOme things were not to be touched for their exceeding sanctity and holinesse other things were not to be touched for their impurity and uncleannesse The Arke was not to bee be touched because of its holinesse and Pitch is not to bee touched because of its uncleannesse Evill conversation is a spirituall infection There be sundry evill concupiscences which though they touch not the outward faculties of the body yet they touch the very life and well-being of the Soule Which though they wound yet are the wounds to a worldling so infinitely pleasing as nothing delights him more then to bee wounded nothing displeaseth him more then to be cured The fish Torpedo is the very Embleme of the world Shee is ever sure to take him by whom she is taken Some things wee shall every where meet withall which for their pollution beare in their fore-head this Prohibition Looke not taste not touch not handle not Least the eye of the soule become blemished the whole inward man infected the powers or faculties of the intellectuall part wholly disordered But how hast thou poore miserable Pilgrim observed this Lesson How hast thou employed this peculiar sense but to satisfie thy concupiscence Easie it was for any one if they touched thee never so gently to move thee to passion but not so easie it was for any object of charity to touch thy bowels of compassion Long might poore sicke Lazarus lye at thy Gate before thou wer 't touched with remorse or moved with pitty to relieve him Long might that way-faring man lye wounded by the way side before thou were 't touched as that tender hearted Samaritan was to minister least comfort to him O how insensible were 't thou of poore Iosephs misery but how quickly touched at the least smart which fame or fortune might dart on thee nor was it any wonder thou insensate sense that thou shouldst grow thus obdurate seeing thy Chambering and Wantonnesse thy spirituall Fornication and Drunkennesse thy trampling of Gods word under feet thy murmuring and discontent in every estate thy partiall and corrupt love to thy selfe made thee wholly forgetfull of all others but thy selfe Meane time thou little knew how thou were 't thine owne Enemy in not seeking to cure that mortall infirmity which by processe of time became so much more incurable as thou of thine owne malady were 't grown insensible For howsoever they seemed to cherish thee and so delude thee these were Ismalites thy mortall enemies who sported with thee Thus have I loosely rioted and fearefully transgressed in the abuse of every sense and by obeying the lusts of the flesh hatefully sinned against mine owne own soule Deare Lord thou who breathest the spirit of life into every living soule and from whom if thou take away thy breath they dye Breath into my soule new affections rectifie my disordered and mis-employed Senses O give unto mee thou invisible light such a sight as may see thee Create in me a new smell O thou breath of life that I may runne after thee in the smell of thy sweet oyntments cheerfully Heale thou my taste that I may taste know and discerne how great is the multitude of thy sweetnesse O Lord which thou hast laid up in thy heavenly Treasury for those who are full of thy charity Sanctifie thou mine eare that it may bee edified by thee and so direct it that my heart may be inflamed by it to the practise of piety Quicken my touch with compassion to thy little ones and so order every Sense

of too hard digestion to a foolish worldling and yet it must be sowne upon the water or your harvest is lost for ever Let mee then second what my deare Sisters have proposed as your discomforts were by them not onely allayed but with assurance in Gods promises confirmed So heare what charity the Worldlings out-cast will doe unto you to make you perfect throughout for Him who will receive you I have never yet beene known to bee more ready to promise then performe Yet shall the promise which I make unto you bee of infinite consequence for it shall make you eternally happy in the performance You are here planted in a vaile of misery where I promise to cover all your scarlet sinnes with the white roabe of mercy Nay I will yet goe a little farther to conferre on your peacefull progresse the higher honour If you will deagne to leave the world and receive mee who am despised of the world If you will I say leave her society and bid adue to her blooms of vanity by keeping mee company I shall conduct you safely to the Kingdome of glory Nor let it be the least of your feare that I promise above my power For as my sisters imparted their love unto you in cheering comforting and confirming you So shall you find no lesse alacrity in mee in perfecting what they have so happily begunne in you For I must tell you neither would I have you thinke that this proceedeth from any vaine glory being that which could never challenge the least affinity with true charity that though my sisters may seeme to have priority in list and number yet am I to challenge precedency in respect of dignity and order This that vessell of Election confirmed when he said Now abideth faith hope charity these three but the greatest of these is charity Neither shall you need to receive any other description for the portraiture of my feature or quality of my nature then what that glorious Champion hath already returned to you For tell mee have you desire to bee informed in what most concerns you to bee edified in what most imports you It is not knowledge but charity that must worke this good effect in you For knowledge puffes up but charity edifieth Or would you bee perswasive in Oratory or powerfull in prophesy or an usefull Almner for your soules safety you must necessarily bee accompanied by Charity or you are but as sounding brasse or a tinkling Cymbal Your power to remove mountaines shall not remove in you the least Mole-hill of your sinne Your bestowing all your goods to feed the poore shall not make your soule rich these cannot profit you if charity doe not accompany you Seeing then the tongues of men and angels are but tinklings and very sounds without charity knowledge becomes fruitlesse without the edifying helpe of charity prophesies bee they never so mysterious Sciences bee they in their owne nature never so commodious are altogether unprofitable without charity Let all your things be done with charity Follow after charity Above all things put on charity Above all things have fervent charity for charity shall cover the multitude of sinnes Adde to godlinesse brotherly kindnesse and to brotherly kindnesse charity For the end of the commandement is charity And now seeing I have here given you a full draught of charity by a due examination of your selfe you shal easily find whether she be in your heart or no For by these divine effects you shall find her to be yours and she possessed of yours charity suffreth long is kind envies not charity vaunteth not it selfe is not puffed up You shal likewise know even by your outward behaviour whether or no you have received charity or given her harbour for Charity doth not behave it selfe unseemly seeketh not her owne is not easily provoked thinketh no evill You shall perceive likewise by the very joy of your heart whether charity have taken up there her lodging For shee Rejoyceth not in iniquity but rejoyceth in the truth Lastly you shall gather by your constancy whether or no you hold correspōdency with perfect charity For charity never faileth Well may I then conclude with that glorious Light of the Eastern Church where charity is present no good thing can be absent wher charity is absent no good thing can be present Againe There is not any thing be it never so little but being done in charity it is esteemed for great And there is nothing bee it never so great but being done without charity it is accounted little To cloze then all in one seeing Charity is one in all Wee see how all signe themselves with the signe of the Crosse how all answer Amen all sing Alleluia all are baptised all obey the commands of their Mother the Church yet are not the children of God discerned from the children of the Devill but by Charity If then you desire to live learne to love you are now in your Iourney towards your Countrey keepe me but company and I shall safely conduct you to a City where there raigneth perfect Charity It is not to be exprest what infinite content I tooke in the sweet discourse of this divine Consort For me thought I felt a fervorous heat or glowing within me So as I desired nothing more then to reteine her still in my company But having told me that shee had many places to goe to and that in her absence I might find occasions in every place to remember her for I could not possibly give the least entertainment to my afflicted Brother but I might become her Remembrancer which I should not feare to see plenteously rewarded hereafter with a longing eye after her I tooke my leave of her Desiring no greater solace then to bestow the small remainder of my time in her service and resolving in all humble manner ever from that time to become her faithfull Almner Deare Father thou who art perfect Charity purifie my heart throughout that I may prepare a roome therein fitting to entertaine thee Though Charity grow cold in the world let my desires become so wained from this present world that my Charity may witnesse for mee that I am preparing for an other world Give mee a liberall heart that freely communicating to the necessity of thy Saints and constantly relying on thy promises through a firme Faith and Hope reposed in thee I may at last come unto thee and of a poore Pilgrim become an happy Citizen in thy Kingdome there to sing Alleluia amongst those glorious Saints for ever more CHAP. 74. He takes comfort And now wearied with sojourning longer in Idumaea he turns to Canaan SO ineffably sweet were these comforts which I tasted and so plenteously flowing were those Fountaines from whence they were derived as I gathered thence if there were such comforts in the day of mourning what would there bee in the day of rejoycing If such spirituall delights