freeman for evermore Those Saviours were meer men but Christ our Redeemer is God and Man They delivered their people by force of arms but Christ by his death first payed the price of our Redemption and then God by his great power rescued us from the hands of the Devil They brought their Redeemed into an earthly Canaan but Christ our Redeemer hath prepared for us an heavenly Inheritance They saved them that were oppressed and evil-intreated against their wills but Christ set us free who had voluntarily sold our selves into the state of slavery Quest How are these things to bee applied unto the heart Answ Upon consideration of these things wee must stir up our selves to seek the knowledge of Christ Jesus fly unto him with sound affiance rejoyce in God and sing praises to his name Oh my soul is deliverance from spiritual thraldome to bee found in Jesus Christ then enquire after him and seek to know him with gladness The Name Jesus is sweet honey in the mouth melody in the ear a Jubile in the heart What a servant were hee that knew not his Masters Name is not hee unworthy the benefit of Redemption that will not vouchsafe to enquire who hath paid his Ransome Oh my soul fly unto Christ in whom thou shalt finde deliverance from all spiritual thraldome God hath made Christ an Adam Head Root Store-house in whom are treasured all those good things which from him are communicated unto us Wee love to thrust amongst them with whom wee may finde benefit and profit Seek this above all that thou mayest bee by Faith in Christ Should Bankrupts hear of any that should answer their creditors for them they would quickly resort to him how much more shouldest thou resort to this Mediatour and Surety who will answer the debt of those that come unto him by Faith seek to bee ingrafted into him strive by Faith to grow up in him for the more nearly wee are united with any thing the more wee partake of the virtue and operation of it Those that are nearest the fire partake in the heat of it more than those that are further removed Thou seest men seek to bee made one person in law to bee most nearly joyned to such as may bring them in wealth Oh my soul why dost thou not seek more earnestly by a spiritual marriage to become one with him in whom is every good blessing Behold hee sueth unto thee not that hee might bee enriched by thee for thou hast nothing to give hee stands in need of nothing but that hee might answer thy debt set thee at liberty adorn thee with grace and endow thee with eternal life O my soul what great cause hast thou to love the Lord and rejoyce in his mercy God hath given his Son to dye for us before we asked it Christ hath when wee could not through our gracelesness once ask him fulfilled all Righteousness and discharged us from the danger of sin Wee take it as love in men if spoken to they will do small matters for us Hee that will bear a blow for us in our behalf bee bound for us in great summs of mony specially hee that will lye by it for our good But how much more art thou to acknowledge this grace of Christ who hath been thy Surety paid for thy deliverance not silver or gold but his precious blood The insensible creatures are called upon to rejoyce for the Redemption of Gods people when they were redeemed from Babel the joy did put them into an extrasie they knew not whether they were asleep or awake But this spiritual Redemption doth as far out-strip that temporal freedome as Heaven is above the Earth or hell worse than the house of bondage Sing unto the Lord oh my soul make a joyful noise unto the God of thy salvation What cause hast thou to praise him who hath visited and redeemed thee with such a Redemption Thou mayest remember the day when thou wast in thraldome to the burning wrath of God and stoodest under the condemnation of the Law when it was death to bee held to the duties of godliness in which is the exercise of true freedome and sin did hold thee so fast that though thou sawest the mischief of it and proposedst sometimes a new course yet thou couldest not return to it as before when this lust and that passion did tyrannize over thee and fears of conscience and death did hold thee in thraldome But now the Lord hath looked upon thee in mercy his wrath is appeased the Law is answered Satan is cast down and thou art received into special favour to walk with him Oh Lord I am ashamed that I should bee so senseless at the remembrance of this unspeakable love so forgetful of this undeserved kindness move the scales from mine eyes I pray thee and take the veil from my heart which will not let mee rejoyce in so excellent mercy Quest Shew how wee must proceed in Meditation on the Resurrection of Christ Ans Wee must consider the Subject Antecedents Causes End Time Place and things that happened with it the effects properties and consequents what is like and what unlike My soul desires to think upon the Resurrection of Christ in which I may behold the reconciled face of God Dear Father direct my mind rightly to conceive of this high mystery to the glory of thy Name and the comfort of my soul To rise from the sleep of sin is to leave or desist from evil Hee that is fallen prostrate ariseth when he gathers up himself Hee that layeth himself down to rest ariseth when hee is raised from sleep Hee that is dead ariseth when the soul is knit to the body The Resurrection of Christ is the first degree of his exaltation wherein the soul being united again to his body hee was raised up to spiritual and immortal life It is a motion partly natural partly supernatural Natural in respect of the subject bound and means For Christ rose so out of the grave that hee is said to bee there no more and he rose by means proper to a natural body that being removed which might seem to hinder Nor was this Resurrection in a moment but in certain succession of time which is required to every natural motion Nevertheless this motion is supernatural in respect of the cause efficient and the end The Divine Nature of Christ could not suffer nor dye nor rise again but hee was raised to life in respect of that nature that died for our sins or in respect of the body which for a time was separated from the soul and laid in the grave This was prefigured by types foretold by the Prophets of the Old Testament and most clearly spoken to his Disciples by our Saviour himself signifying unto them that the Son of Man must suffer at Jerusalem and bee buried and the third day rise again The principal cause of the Resurrection was the Divine Nature most strictly united with the Humanity In
once weaken and distract the powers of the soul To scatter the thoughts upon many things is to attend nothing as it ought when the mind is distracted betwixt divers things the one is a hinderance to the other and we receive benefit by neither nor bring our thoughts to any good issue Secondly Out of this variety of matter seeing thou must take but some one play the part of a wise man and chuse that whereof thou hast special need As salves are not for every sore nor all meats agreeable to every constitution every part of the Word is holy pure and good but times occasions conditions of men make a difference There is a time to mourn and a time to bee merry to put on sackcloth and to sing for joy and there is matter to bee found in Scripture which doth suit with each disposition and will serve to stir up either affection The occasions diseases comforts of Christians are not the same nor alike at all times out of the treasury of the Word wee may gather instructions which will fit every occasion season and estate Fitness of matter is required as in speaking so in musing * Isa 35.3 4. 40.28 Job 8.8 Deut. 4.32 32.7 Lam. 3.56 Psal 77.11 12. Art thou afflicted in conscience for sin speak with thy heart of the promises of pardon and forgiveness that are freely made in Jesus Christ enquire diligently into Gods mercies of old commune with thy self what former experiences of love and favour thou hast felt call to remembrance how tenderly the Lord hath dealt with others upon their humble submission If thou wouldest stir up thy heart to love or reverence the Lord think of his majesty power goodness free-grace and undeserved mercy Thirdly It is neither unlawful nor unmeet to meditate on our sins past that we might be humbled frailties present that we might prevent them but a discreet course must bee held that wee defile not our selves with delightful remembrance of sin Ezek. 16.63 36 31. nor by thoughts stir up the corruption which wee desire to subdue nor cast our selves into despair and horrour for what hath been done amiss nor give place to doubting of perseverance in respect of the time to come for humiliation must bee joyned with confidence in God and watchfulness that wee fall not into sin again Quest What if the heart bee so barren that wee cannot call to minde any thing that hath been taught nor remember any mercy wee have received Answ These may bee observed as matters meet to have good room in our thoughts our own vileness unworthiness emptiness of grace the goodness of God in sparing our lives bestowing outward blessings forgiving multitude of sins and subduing them more and more the sufferings of Christ in the Garden and upon the Cross the Christian armour that must bee put on and kept about us how wee might carry our selves uprightly in all estates and affairs that our hearts bee not disordered nor our lives blemished It is not amiss to propound to our selves the mercies of the day our special wants of grace and the chastisements that are laid upon us as matters to bee mused on that wee might bee quickened to prayer and thanksgiving First More particularly Hee that desireth to have help by Meditation must weigh how slippery bad fickle and wandring his heart is infinite waies to his exceeding hurt Jer. 17.9 and that hee must of necessity appoint some a Psa 55.17 set time to check reclaim and wean it from the same Secondly Hee must watch over his heart having been so often deceived by it throughout his whole life and have it in suspition that so it may be more fit to bee drawn to such heavenly exercise Prov. 4.21 and be stayed therein and attend upon the same Thirdly This being observed let him draw matter of Meditation and Prayer from his own wants and infirmities from Gods benefits from the change and mortality of this life Also it is good to meditate on the Glory of Gods Kingdome the sweet comfort of a peaceable conscience love of humility meekness but specially that which for the present shall bee most suitable to his state Fourthly If hee cannot thus do let him read some portion of the holy Scripture some part of the Psalms some of the Epistles of the Apostles Christs Sermons or some good book fit to furnish him with good matter and season and affect his mind that so hee may learn how to perform this duty and quicken up himself to it oft and from time to time when hee once knoweth how If hee cannot read hee must desire more help of others and for want of help hee must needs look to go the more slowly forward either in the right and kinde use of Meditation or in any part of sound godliness and Christianity seeing wee cannot bee ignorant of this that the old subtil fowler sets his snares and nets so thick in our way that wee have no shift but to fall into them and light upon them except with the wings of Meditation and Prayer wee mount up on high above them and fly over them which to them that cannot read will for the most part bee found more hard and difficult Quest What particular Meditations concerning duties to be performed or practised may wee finde commended unto us in the writings of godly men Answ They are many and most excellent amongst the rest such as these First No man shall bee fit to govern himself aright before men if hee do not usually acquaint himself with and frame himself after that Christian course first which hee should have before God Yet no man must rest in private exercises of Religion without a well-ordered life before men Secondly Every part of our calling must bee so carried on as wee may have peace thereby and it behooveth us to bee best armed and most circumspect where wee are weakest If a man bee fallen hee must not lye still but return unto the Lord with speed though with much difficulty for sluggishness and deadness will follow if the breach bee not made up in our consciences 1 Sam. 7.7 8 9 10 11 12. but if wee seek to God unfeignedly hee is not far off Thirdly If wee rejoyce onely in prosperity it is a sign that Gods benefits not his favour makes us merry It is a good thing to rejoyce in the Sabbaths Psal 119.57 2 Cor. 5.16 and in the communion of Saints yet wee may not rest there but in this that God is our portion alwaies Fourthly In crosses we must use great sobriety otherwise wee shall be unsettled by them especially if they bee many and great to this end wee must prepare for trouble before it come and in it wee must meditate on the best priviledge that God hath given unto us labouring that our graces and strength increase as our afflictions do increase For affliction is doubled 1 Sam. 30.6 Psal 77.3 if the inward infirmity
are these things to bee laid to heart and pressed upon the soul Answ Wee must stir up our selves to desire full knowledge of God and free communion with him to trust love reverence glory in his name and to walk before him in all humility of mind Blessed is the man that knoweth the Lord and cleaveth unto him in love fear and affiance yea happy is the man whose God is the Lord. Look unto God Oh my soul observe his waies seek his face and labour after more intire fellowship and familiarity with him The knowledge of God is excellent easie comfortable it perfecteth the understanding seasoneth the will changeth the affections rejoyceth the heart The worth and excellency the profit and delight that knowledge bringeth is answerable to the object which is apprehended in which the knowledge of God hath infinitely the preheminence Nothing can rejoyce the heart in which the goodness of God is not felt nor his power wisdome and mercy seen Oh how sweet and delightsome is it to behold the face of God as it shineth in Jesus Christ to contemplate the happy Reconciliation of justice and mercy by his unsearchable wisdome to think upon his long-suffering tender love and never-fading compassion Love the Lord Oh my soul and trust in his mercie serve him with fear and rejoyce in his holy name for hee is thy strength thy rock thy portion thy salvation His favour is better than life in his presence is fulness of joy hee is goodness it self the highness of all good things that can bee desired The pleasures of the world are vain earthly gain breeds great vexations Trial. worldly honours vanish and come to nothing but God is our pleasure glory gain everlasting immeasurable But woe is mee my sight is dimm my judgement vain my heart carnal my affections disordered my thoughts loose I know little of God I have been very negligent to seek acquaintance with him These vain things below the gifts of Gods bounty have stollen away my heart from the giver of every good and perfect gift If men speak I tremble if they smile I rejoyce in their presence I am reverent if superiours chearful if friends if absent I long for their company if present I desire to give them content if in distress I mourn if in prosperity I rejoyce when separated from them in body I am with them in spirit If I bee ignorant of the things of this life I inquire after them if I have sustained loss I fall out with my self for it am pinched at the heart learn wisdome against another time and labour by double diligence to redeem it again But I have greatly neglected the knowledge of God when hee threatneth I am senseless in his presence I am irreverent dead-hearted when I appear before him lumpish in Prayer loose in Meditation scarce lifting up a thought to Heaven soon tired in the Meditation of heavenly things never well till my thoughts bee set at liberty to range up and down not moved to hear thy name dishonoured little affected with grief when I have offended Taking shame I am ashamed and confounded in my self to hear and see the wisdome of worldly men in the affairs of this life when I am so rude and ignorant in the things that concern my eternal happiness The Oxe knoweth his owner and the Asse his Masters crib but I am not acquainted with the Lord my life my light my portion from whom I have received what I am in whom I look to bee eternally blessed Ah wretched man that I am I look for reverence from mine inferiours for love from them of whom I have deserved little to whom I can shew small kindness If men give not credit to my Word I take it grievously but in these things I have offered wrong to the Lord of life who is glorious in Majesty dreadful in power plentious in goodness Hearty wishing most constant in his promises Oh that mine eyes were open to behold the glory of God and my heart inclined to love him unfeignedly intirely above all things Oh that my soul were close united to his fear that I could solace my self in his favour and stand in awe of his displeasure that I might not sin against him Awake Stirring up our selves Oh my soul rouze up thy self to seek the knowledge of God in Christ whom to see is eternal happiness What contentment canst thou take in any thing if God bee not seen in it If the eye of the body wherewith wee behold this light bee annoyed or dimmed wee will seek far and wide for help and shall wee not labour to have the eye of our spirits cleared wherewith we see the Lord the Son of Righteousness the light and joy of every Christian Raise up thy self to love reverence and trust in the Lord Thou canst not comprehend his goodness which is immeasurable his power which is unsearchable his truth which is firm and immoveable as his infiniteness passeth thy conceit covet the more inseparably to cleave unto him Couldest thou comprehend his nature hee should not bee all-sufficient in himself nor able to satisfie thy desire But as God is infinite and never to bee comprehended essentially so is our joy in him bottomless our help from him most certain and our love to him should bee above measure our confidence in him without wavering Humble acknowledgment Oh my God I do confess before thee that I am miserably stained with ignorance unbeleef irreverence I am full of carnal wisdome harlotry love vain fear fleshly confidence corrupt joy But grievously wanting in true knowledge sound faith sincere love and holy reverence of thy holy Majesty Nor is my want greater than my inability to help my self the dead cannot restore himself to life nor the blinde to sight supernatural graces must come from above Petition Therefore unto thee O Lord do I direct my supplication give mee grace to know thee as my chief happiness to love thee as the perfect good unite my heart unto thee in Faith and Reverence that nothing may draw mee aside from thy testimonies Confidence It is thy promise to write thy Law in my heart and to put thy fear in the inner man Oh Lord thou art able to do what thou wilt and thou wilt accomplish what thou hast spoken unto thee I commend my soul and upon thee I will relye as long as I live Quest Let the holy Angels be a second instance how are wee to proceed in the Meditation of that subject Answ Wee must consider their author nature properties estate end and offices The Angels are more excellent than man but inferiour to the Almighty from whom they received their being in time according to his good pleasure and by whose goodness such as abode in the truth were still preserved in their being and blessed condition The truth hath taught us to define them to bee spirits finite compleat immortal made after the Image of God who through
of God and destruction of mankind by that temptation but it turned to his confusion and overthrow The seed of the woman hath bruised the Serpents head his power is crushed and his devices frustrated Nor did the instrument of the Devil escape unpunished the Serpent is accursed above all the beasts of the earth most wretched and ashamed to appear abroad hee is adjudged to creep upon his belly with pain to eat the dust for meat a grievous diet And the Lord hath put enmity betwixt him and the woman All sin especially prophanation and contempt of the Sacrament is like to this of our first Parents in some sort but this was the first sin the fountain of all sin the sin of man and his posterity for Adam received and lost integrity both for himself and us Quest How are these things to bee applied unto the heart Answ Wee must work our heart to humiliation stir up our selves earnestly to seek help and deliverance and acknowledge the justice of God in correcting and his incomprehensible mercy in vouchsafing means of recovery unto man How is man fallen from his first dignity and good estate hee was created holy and happy furnished with grace and set in place of high renown Thou Lord didst crown him with glory and honour and gavest him a patent for his posterity that they should live in blessedness before thee But wo is mee what alteration do I finde Man hath sinned and God is displeased Man that was the beauty of the world the beloved of God is now the map of misery the object of divine revenging justice His mind is besotted his conscience unquiet his will and affection poisoned with sin fear dread horrour and trembling possesseth his reins his body is naked deformed subject to annoyance of heat cold distemper many waies The Free-man of God the Lord of the creatures is brought into most miserable and sore bondage unto Satan sin his own conscience who can comprehend the miseries of this life whereunto hee lyes open No words can describe the spiritual plagues that are seized upon the soul already nor the dreadful torments that are prepared for him in hell for evermore Oh my soul enter into thy self consider and bewail thy natural estate thou art exposed to suffer a thousand evils to wearisome vanity in every thing yea through fear of death the upshot of evils thou art in bondage all thy dayes while in that state thou abidest Pharaoh did never put Israel to such hard service as the Devil putteth thee to while thou art under his power Thou art sick filthy naked crooked fallen from the love of God more odious in his eyes than the stink or filthy savour of a dead corps in the nostrils of man exposed to the torments of Hell shut up under the curse of the Law abidest under wrath How do men of the world take on when they have lost a great friend upon whom all their hopes depended when they bee cast from the top of honour into the gulf of misery poverty and disgrace weep oh my soul and pour out tears in secret for thou hast lost thy glory art spoiled of thy ornaments and hast provoked the Lord to anger by thy inventions The brute beasts take it as a grievous thing to bee insnared and taken and wilt thou laugh in the midst of bondage and count it liberty to bee a slave of Satan Death is terrible and wilt not thou fear Hell which followeth after it as a desert of thy transgression Ah miserable man and the more miserable that thou art senseless of thy misery yet now that I know my disease I will seek for remedy The sick person will take bitter pills to recover health the bondman desires liberty the captive freedome the condemned a pardon My present case is very wretched and in no case to be rested in Nature teacheth all creatures to shroud themselves from dangers or being in distress to seek help without delay much more am I to bee moved with mine estate who am subject to eternal death which hath already seized upon mee in a spiritual death of soul and mortality or dying state of the body wee will meet a disease betime labouring to rid our selves of it if any thing threaten our name and estate wee will indeavour quickly to free the one and the other But whither shall I fly for succour where shall I finde the Physician that is able to cure and redeem mee from the tyranny of Satan Set mee free from the fear of Hell I am even at my wits end not knowing which way to turn Oh Lord I am utterly destitute of all means to help my self it is not in my power to satisfie thy justice overcome death or deliver my soul out of the hands of the Devil I cannot think a good thought I know not nor of my self can know the way of Life or means of my recovery Blessed God as of thine infinite mercy thou hast ordeined so I pray thee reveal unto mee the way how I may escape eternal death deserved by my sin and bee made partaker of everlasting happiness through thy special grace Righteous art thou oh Lord and just are thy judgements I know that in very faithfulness thou hast afflicted mee and that I have deserved much more than ever I felt from thee Thou mightest have cast mee for ever out of thy presence and given mee my portion with the Devil and his Angels But loe thou dost correct mee in measure for my good to purge mee from sin and bring mee unto repentance that I might bee saved Oh my God I will magnifie thy name for thou hast redeemed my soul from death my darling from the power of the doggs This mercy was not shewed to the Angels Creatures more excellent than man Should one redeem us from the state of villanage or ransome us from the Gallows wee would think wee could not bee thankful enough But Lord thou hast redeemed mee from revenging Justice from the power of the Devil holding mee under the curse from the power of conscience justly condemning mee from the power of sin commanding as King How great is thy mercy towards mee I am not able to comprehend it As my sin and misery hath abounded thy mercy hath abounded much more Quest Let us now hear what order is to bee observed in Meditation of sin Answ Wee must call to minde and discourse with our selves of the causes ends properties and effects and kinds of sin what is contrary unto it what like and what unlike O my soul what is sin wherewith thou art beset and stained yea miserably besotted since the fall of Adam what is it but the privation of Gods Image and corruption of the soul an aberration from the rule of perfection an evil disposition of the subject turning aside from the path of life and swarving from the mark and end that all should aim at God is the fountain of all good things the giver of every good and
or falling-sickness from my Parents I should bewail mine unhappy nativity But my condition is much more wretched for descending from the loins of Adam by natural propagation with my nature I received the poison of sin which hath corrupted every power of soul and like a running leprosie staineth all it toucheth I am unclean by birth and whatsoever I touch it is unclean Were I with Job from top to toe covered with biles it would grieve mee but my whole spirit is fraught with corruption more filthy than that which breaketh forth at the eye car c. I am ashamed of corporal nakedness deeply affected with lameness or deformity if overtaken with any loathsome disease I grow weary of the world and wish to bee separated from the society of men But the nakedness deformity corruption of soul and life is more shameful and loathsome filthy and abominable Deep is the stain that sin hath made and great is the danger that I am in by reason of my transgressions If I had offended the Law and stood as guilty to bee censured before the Tribunal of an earthly Judge with loss of liberty limbs or life I should bewail my estate and condemn my folly but I have broken the Law of God and stand guilty before him not of temporal but eternal death which the Law hath pronounced and I may expect every moment to bee executed upon mee Wherefore I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes Oh that mine eyes were a river of tears and mine head a fountain of water that day and night I could bewail the misery into which I am plunged by reason of my sin But woe is mee what shall I do whither shall I fly for succour I am bound with the cords of sin who shall unloose them I am guilty before the Throne of Justice who shall acquit mee I am defiled who shall make mee clean Humble thy self oh my soul and fly unto the Throne of grace for with God there is mercy and with him there is plentious redemption against him thou hast sinned and with him there is forgiveness acknowledge thine iniquity that thou mayest bee received unto mercy judge thy self that thou mayest not bee judged How well is hee that sleepeth with his quietus est in his bosome In this regard Gods children have followed God more for this than for deliverance from evils that have been upon them Blessed is the man whose iniquity is forgiven and whose sin is covered Oh happy man who is stirred up to fly the wrath to come Thou art in danger to bee cast into the prison of Hell for thy debts thy sins which make thee debter of punishment to Gods justice Humble thy self compound with thy creditor before his heavy arrest bee served upon thee Shouldest thou have to deal with many men thou mightest have a cold sute but seek mercy of God none that cometh to him doth hee cast forth And now my soul bee warned for the time to come to take heed of sin turn from it with hatred and detestation bee purged from it as a thing filthy and abominable It is the most deadly poison a fretting leprosie a corruption in comparison of all others most detestable Wee would not suffer spots on our face nor lint or other soil upon our cloaths surely wee cannot make clean any thing but thou mayest thence take the rise of this thought how careful should I bee to cleanse my heart wee would not have any natural infirmities which are unseemly or filthy as wry mouths foul breeches lameness or halting in our gate c. But a tongue speaking perverse things rotten speeches crooked walking from Gods Law and the direction thereof are far more uncomely than the other If wee go by a foul stinking place wee stop our noses and haste away if an ugly shape present it self wee shut our eyes and indure not the view of it Thus shouldest thou Oh my soul with indignation turn from all filthy and abominable vices It is enough and too much that thou hast dishonoured God in time past and gone a whoring after strange lovers return now unto the Lord and keep thy self chaste unto him for ever To see a childe war with his loving Parents or a wife contend with her kinde husband is a detestable sight for any subject to rebel against his Prince is wretched lewdness but for one to rebel against such a Prince which out of his bounty hath most highly advanced him and done him favours from day to day this is most loathsome disloyalty Thus it is with sin which offendeth a most kinde and merciful Father who hath redeemed us from death and daily ladeth us with his blessings Oh that I could once finde out power and ability to weed out corruption and to pluck it up even by the root Oh that I were able to destroy the root and bud and branch of this cursed tree that it might never spring or bear fruit any more But alas I sensibly perceive that there is in mee no strength no more than there is in a sick man to recover himself or rather in a man stark dead to restore himself to life If I purpose to amend this or that which I finde to bee amiss I fail presently and come short of the accomplishment of my desire Oh who is it then that is able to deliver mee from the body of this death surely none but the Lord who hath made and fashioned mee to whom it belongs to kill and quicken heal and wound to thee therefore oh Lord do I make my moan to thee I render my humble petition and pour out my soul which hath sinned against thee Oh Lord I beseech thee for thy infinite mercy in Jesus Christ to take pity upon mee and to heal my soul which hath sinned against thee Wash mee thorowly from mine iniquity and cleanse mee from my sin Convert mee oh Lord and I shall be converted set mee at liberty and I shall run the race of thy Commandements Open unto mee the fountain of grace for the washing away of my sin and uncleanness It is thy property to have mercy it is thy free covenant to write thy Law upon my heart Thou hast promised to pour rivers of waters upon the dry and thirsty ground Thou invitest the barren soul to come unto thee for ease and rest O Lord have mercy upon mee for in thee do I trust thou art the well-spring of grace and mercy the fountain of life the author and preserver of grace unto thee do I commend my soul and upon thy merciful promise I will wait as long as I live Quest Let the work of Redemption bee the eighth Instance how are wee to proceed in Meditation on that work Answ In this work wee must consider the Author Subject Object Causes Ends Parts and Properties what is like and what unlike To redeem is to deliver from bondage and misery freely or upon exchange and to free from captivity by strong hand or
this exercise page 11 What the matter or subject of our meditation ought to bee page 17 What the fruits effects and benefits of meditation are page 20 What use wee are to make of this point page 49 What superficial and careless thinking upon some points of Doctrine by fits is page 53 What the lets and Impediments of this duty are page 59 How the first Impediment is removed page 61 What a second let or Impediment is page 65 How it is to bee remedied Ib What a third Impediment is page 68 How it is to bee remedied page 69 What a fourth let is page 71 How it is to bee remedied page 72 What should move us to bee careful to take time for this duty page 73 What things hinder the fruitful performance of this duty page 74 How these abuses are to bee remedied page 75 What the sorts and kinds of meditation are page 77 What occasional Meditation is ib. What Rules are to bee noted touching extemporary Meditation page 78 What the benefits of extemporary meditation are page 80 How a man should fit himself for extemporary meditation page 84 What solemn or setled meditation is page 85 What motives should perswade Christians to set upon this duty page 86 What things must bee looked unto that this exercise might bee taken in hand with good success page 88 What Rules are to bee observed touching the choice of matter Ib. VVhat wee must do if our heart bee so barren that wee cannot call to mind any thing that hath been taught us nor remember any mercy wee receive page 93 VVhat particular meditations concerning Duties to bee performed or practised wee may finde commended unto us in the writings of Godly men page 97 110 VVhat place is fit for meditation page 115 VVhat they must do that have no room to bee alone page 117 VVhat time must bee set apart for meditation lb. VVhat is to bee said to them that pretend multitude of worldly business to excuse the omission and neglect of this excercise page 123 VVhat course must be holden to redeem time out of the world for meditation page 125 How wee must make entrance into this exercise page 127 In what order wee must proceed after the entrance page 130 VVhat must bee observed for the conclusion of this exercise page 137 How wee must meditate on Gods infinite excellency page 139 How wee must proceed in this meditation page 140 How these things are to bee applied upon the heart and pressed upon the soul page 145 How wee are to proceed in meditation of the holy Angells page 154 How these things are to be pressed and urged and applied unto the heart page 156 How wee are to meditate on mans excellency page 161 How it is to bee applied unto the heart for the quickning of the affection page 168 How wee are to meditate on Gods Infinite greatness page 176 How it is to bee applied unto the heart page 181 How we are to meditate on the love of God page 185 How it must bee applied unto the heart page 198 How wee are to meditate on the fall of our first parents page 207 How it is to bee applied unto the heart page 221 How wee are to meditate on sin page 228 How it is to bee pressed upon the heart page 245 How wee are to meditate on the work of Redemption page 246 How it is to bee applied unto the heart page 267 How wee are to meditate on the Resurrection of Christ page 273 How it is to bee pressed upon the heart page 284 A TREATISE OF Divine Meditation Quest WHat doth the word Meditation signifie Answ Those two words in the Original which our Translators render to Meditate signifie Primarily to meditate commune or discourse with ones self or which is the same to imagine study consider or muse in mind or heart Psal 1.2 In his Law doth hee meditate a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 day and night 77.6 I commune b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with mine own heart and my spirit made diligent search Isa 33.18 Thine heart shall meditate terrour 59.13 conceiving c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and uttering from the heart words of falshood And secondarily To pray or express that with the mouth which the heart mindeth either 1 Articulately Gen. 24.63 Isaac went out to meditate d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meditari meditata eloqui in the field i. e. to meditate his evening prayers and pray over his meditations Psal 55.17 Evening and morning and at noon will I pray e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 105.2 Talk yee f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 colloquimini of all his wondrous works Or 2 Inarticulately Isa 8.19 And when they shall say unto you seek unto them that have familiar spirits and unto Wizards that peep and that mutter g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui mussitant should not a people seek unto their God 38.14 I did mourn h Where are words used coming from the same Hebrew root as a Dove 31.4 Like as the Lion and the young Lion roaring i Where are words used coming from the same Hebrew root on his prey The former of these two significations being the Principal Quest How is Meditation to bee defined as it is taken in the former sense Answ Meditation is a serious earnest and purposed musing upon some point of Christian instruction tending to lead us forward toward the Kingdome of Heaven Psal 119.23 48. and serving for our daily strengthening against the flesh the world and the Devil Or it is a stedfast and earnest bending of the mind upon some spiritual and heavenly matter discoursing thereof with our selves till wee bring the same to some profitable issue both for the setling of our judgements and bettering of our hearts and lives Quest How do Prayer and Meditation differ Answ They are often confounded in name but inseparably linked in nature going hand in hand together and can no more bee severed than two Twins who live and dye together only in Prayer wee confer and commune more directly with God by Petition and Thanksgiving Psa 42.11 in Meditation wee talk and confer more directly and properly with our selves and with our own souls Quest What reasons may shew the necessity of this duty Answ First It is commanded by God who hath supream Authority to command what hee pleaseth is infinite in Wisdome to judge what is most profitable for us and most acceptable to himself is of great Power to punish our contempt and abundant in Goodness to reward our obedience It is his good pleasure that wee should purposely separate our selves from other matters to think seriously upon some good and holy observation that our understandings might bee bettered and our affections stirred to hate evil and love good Secondly How necessary this heavenly exercise is may easily be conceived for that the hearts even of good Christians are too much
wee shall see great cause good incouragement to set upon that work with diligence joy and chearfulness as the mercies of God the love of Christ the comforts of grace the bond of Creation preservation redemption the promise of divine assistance and gracious acceptance the peace of conscience and lively hope of an Inheritance in the highest Heavens When these and such like considerations are duly weighed wee shall finde many and more effectual provocations to incite to holiness than possiblely can bee to incite unto sin or to dishearten in any good enterprize Fourthly In company wee are apt to forget our selves and take offensive liberty to bee idle loose vain in speeches pettish in behaviour The reason is because wee are not stored with good matter wee have not seen into the manifold imperfections of our hearts nor tried in secret how wee can master and overcome corruptions Whereby the necessity of Meditation is manifest that gaging the heart thorowly and fighting against sin at home wee might bee more watchful in company lest wee should bee overtaken and better enabled to resist for as hee who goeth to war is first trained and made fit to use his weapon at home and the scholar tryeth masteries privately before hee come forth to dispute openly so must a good Christian try what hee can do against his affections lusts alone by himself in his solitary Meditation and resolve against them accordingly as hee seeth the difficulty to require before hee can in his common dealings with all sorts and companies bee strengthened against temptations and falls and free from offence-giving in his words and deeds 5 Unbeleef and hardness of heart are evils no less dangerous than common to the godly that feel them to the ungodly that are insensible a curse a judgement that cannot sufficiently be lamented The special remedy is earnest communication with our selves and with the Lord in secret How doth the heart relent when wee set our selves in the presence of God to record our disobedience with shame and sorrow and when wee call to remembrance our mortality the day of death the coming of Christ to judgement the favours of God the love of Christ his most bitter death and passion Hardness of heart cometh from want of due consideration a Mark 6.52 8.17 18 19 20 21. Tenderness follows Meditation as contraries are cured by their contraries To chide the heart for sin and force it by strong reasons pressed again and again upon the conscience is effectual to break and rent it as hard stroaks with beetle and wedges are to cleave the knotty Oak They that look up to Christ will mourn over him To stock up infidelity and to plant the word of promise what means to Meditation a Psa 77.9 10 11 12. when wee consider the power goodness unchangeableness of the Lord his free grace rich mercy and constant truth how hee dealt with his servants in former times and hath holpen us in the day of our calamity doth not the heart rise in indignation against distrust To check and reprove dejectedness of spirit and to stir up our selves to wait and trust in the Lord is a ready way to get freedome from distracting thoughts that overwhelm and oppress the soul Thirdly Meditation may be called the beginning of all sound Reformation when will men turn from their sins with an holy resolution to cleave unto the Lord in all things Never till they come to their right mind and bethink themselves b Hos 7.2 Jer. 5.24 Luk. 14.28 15.17 Mark 14.72 Psal 4.4 They may promise fair in sickness conceive some purposes of amendment upon the sight or hearing of judgement denounced against their bosome sin but all this abides meanly with them to break the heart or change it from those sinful delights wherewith it was bewitched They must remember and weigh what they have done before they can rise out of the miry-puddle into which they are fallen c Jer. 8.6 Rev. 2.5 Fourthly Hereby well-grounded and working knowledge is attained encreased without understanding wee cannot begin this exercise but wisdome is begotten and confirmed by it d Psa 119.92 93 99. They that hear often read much but live not in the exercise of Meditation and digest not what is brought to their minds by outward means they continue still in darkness or hang upon the credit of their teachers at the best their knowledge is less profitable to themselves and others as that which swimeth in the brain but is not kindly rooted in the heart In earthly occasions wherein wee are sharper sighted than in spiritual wee conceive not a matter at the first hearing the more we think upon it the better wee come to know it In spiritual things often reviewing the same thing is most requisite It is Meditation that settleth the truth in the judgement assureth it to the conscience and firmly groundeth it in the heart that it becometh a behooveful word ready in the time of need and ruling over the whole man with an universal milde and gentle soveraignty It may bee added that if wee meditate of what we hear wee shall see more into the truth use and benefit of what is taught than hee that preacheth Surely there is no doctrine so plain or work so small but great good might bee gathered much learned out of it by study and diligence Fifthly What an help this is to strengthen memory all men know by continual practice Doth not the light of reason teach us to call that oft to mind which wee would not have to overslip us Psal 119.15 16. I will meditate on thy statutes and will not forget thy Word The Saints of God know it is needful to grow in wisdome and to retain what they have learned but look how necessary it is to bee filled with wisdome and to hold a Heb. 2.1 2. fast what wee have received so needful it is to repeat again and again and to bethink our selves of what hath been commanded and commited to our custody Defect of memory is best supplied by Meditation Sixthly * Quo magis aliquid per contemplatione nobis innotescit eo magis in illius amorem erar descimus quo magis aliquid amamus eô frequentius de ipso cogitamus Meditation enlargeth delight in goodness much blowing will make the fire to burn under green wood Our nature desires liberty and goodness is burdensome to the flesh but if wee accustome our selves to minde and muse and think upon the word until it be made our own it will be pleasant to our taste Psa 119.23 24. sweeter than hony or the hony comb Familiarity is the best Nurse of Friendship better than good turns Even as looking breedeth loving so when by the thought of mind wee look upon good matters there is a love of them bred in us for affections kindle on a thought as tinder doth when a spark lighteth on it The most vehement love doth
wax cold for want of communication and the coldest affections are inflamed by conversings Note and intercourse of speech Seventhly Meditation is a gracious means to ease and refresh the mind wearied in worldly businesses It seasoneth our meat sleep labours Psal 139.17 18. Oh how sweet and pleasant a thing it is to come into the presence of God to record his mercies to solace our souls in the remembrance of his love This is the place of rest after a toilsome journey the cool shade to the weary labourer the water-brooks to the panting Hart Psal 42.1 No mirth no melody is to bee matched to it The joy and comfort of the Spouse in the presence of Christ is a matter incredible to the carnal heart Psal 63.52 6. who never tasted of the refined Wines and fat things in the house of God Eighthly Take away Meditation and the duties of Religion lose their life and vigour Prayer is cold reading unprofitable Think daily with thy self what great honour it is to bee the Son of God what unspeakable joy to possess assurance that our sins are pardoned how unvaluable a prerogative to lay open thy cares into the bosome of the Lord perswade thy self of his readiness to hear mercies to forgive and compassions to relieve them that ask in his Sons name These things will stir up intention and fervency in prayer with what sighs and groans will hee confess and bewail his iniquity who with a single eye doth behold the filthiness of sin and look into his own estate But lay aside Meditation and all is turned into form comes to bee of little use For the appetite will decay if it be not sharpened desire will cool if it bee not quickened Meat received into the mouth and spit forth again presently nourisheth not Seed must bee covered as well as cast into the ground Reading benefits little without Meditation which is to the Word what chewing and digestion is to meat that should feed the body 1 Tim. 4.15 Ninthly Frequent and daily repetition and regard of heavenly things brings us to better and more inward acquaintance with God most comfortable fellowship and communion with him The more wee speak and converse with a man the better wee know him the further wee see into his worth faithfulness and excellency So doth communing with God lead us to the sound and comfortable knowledge of his Majesty This is the fruit of holy musing than which what can give more joy and comfort what knowledge so delightful to the mind as the knowledge of God in the face of Christ in whom the Father hath revealed the treasures of his wisdome the riches of his grace long-suffering and mercy Nothing can revive the soul so much as the feeling of his love and the assurance of his fatherly care over us Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us we shal be safe Tenthly To call to remembrance the Lords mercies of old and his free promises that never fail is a singular ease and refreshing in the time of temptation when Satan doth sift and winnow us with temptations Psa 77.5 6 11 12. Psa 145.5 Psal 119.52 Psal 119.93 and terrours within and troubles without I remembred thy judgements O Lord and was comforted I will never forget thy precepts for by them thou hast quickened mee Eleventhly As the mind is such is the life for that is the fountain of actions whether good or evil if the mind bee pure the life is holy if the mind bee defiled the actions cannot bee upright Wouldest thou live a Christian life and injoy those great liberties which God affords to his children in this life then thou must scatter the bed of disordered cogitations and nourish godly desires and motions in their room meditating on the Law of God doth bring on the doing of it even as evil thoughts do bring on evil actions for the thought is as the seed and conception of all our actions Now look as after conception there is a travel to bring forth and a birth in due season so when the soul by thought hath conceived presently the affections are tickled and excited the will inclined and stirred which commandeth the inferiour powers to execute what the thought suggested Twelfthly Meditation fitteth for conference hee that hath digested good matter by serious cogitation study and care is able to bring it forth and utter it as occasion requireth As they that have treasured up much gold and silver can easily lay it out when it may bee to their advantage whereas others that after long study can speak excellently being put to it upon the sudden can say little for lack of Meditation herein like unto them that having laid up nothing in store are compelled to borrow of the Usurers before they can make their purchase Thirteenthly and lastly The Word of God appears excellent his works great Psa 8.3 his favour unspeakable when wee ponder them in our hearts By it in our solitariness wee enjoy God and our selves and by conversing with him wee are fitted for and made more profitable in all good company Quest What use is to bee made of this point Answ If formerly thou hast been a stranger to this exercise now learn it begin to practise it entertain not conceits as though it were needless unprofitable impossible burdensome for a Christian life cannot stand without it Thou shalt finde it exceeding beneficial delightsome easie when thou art entred into it it is tedious onely to corruption to the heart renewed it is most sweet and comfortable The neglect of this duty is the very cause why many Christians injoy not the tenth part of those priviledges that God hath provided for them in this their pilgrimage why they are kept under their strong corruptions and break forth offensively in their dealings in the world Moreover how should a man bee assured of Gods love if knowing this to bee a duty required hee never address himself unto it in good earnest It is not sufficient to praise that which is good speak well of the children of God keep our selves pure from the gross stains of the time but we must hate iniquity and love righteousness which they do not who harbour such thoughts as are displeasing to his Majesty How can a purified mind take pleasure in those filthy waters that flow from the stinking puddle of original corruption It is for swine to wallow in the mire and corrupt fountains to send forth muddy streams If the treasure bee in Heaven the heart must be there If the soul bee of an heavenly disposition nothing is more delightful than to walk and commune with God By thy thoughts thou mayest know thy self as evil thoughts will argue an evil heart so good thoughts will argue a good heart for these cannot bee subject to hypocrisie as words and deeds are which sometimes come more from respect of the creature than of the Creator It is the will of God
that wee should not onely seek the Kingdome of Heaven but minde it set our thoughts upon it and turn the bent of our desires wholly that way a Mat. 6.19 Col. 3.1 The Lord hath given to us the great things of his Law b Hos 8.12 caused the Scriptures to bee written for our learning and sent his Prophets to declare unto us his mind and pleasure Christ Jesus the great Dr. of the Church hath revealed the glory of God as it were in open face and fully and clearly made known the last will of his heavenly Father touching mans salvation than which nothing can bee more wonderful excellent delightful comfortable Now for us to pass by these things as strange and now and then only to cast an eye towards them is it not an offence intollerable How should the heart be framed after the image of God but by a serious Meditation of heavenly things whereby their likeness is stamped upon the soul as by Application the seal leaves the impression upon the wax Wee are strangers in this world who have no abiding City on earth nor may place our hearts delights and felicity here but Heaven is our home and our chiefest comfort must bee to have daily communion with God Phil. 3.20 and to have our conversation in Heaven with him which cannot bee enjoyed ordinarily without Meditation If it bee tedious at first use will make it easie and the sweetness which at length wee shall taste in contemplation will make it delightful Quest What say you of superficial and careless thinking upon some points of Doctrine by fits seldome in a good mood Answ The chief praise of this duty is that wee be much in its use Psal 119.97 1.2 from time to time through the whole course of our life and every day thereof that by recording holy and divine things especially those which tend to soundness in the matter of salvation a little time more or less as opportunity is offered and occasions will permit may be bestowed of us to dry up fleshly and bad humours of earthly-mindedness and worldlyness c. and to quicken our dull hearts lest after sleep in sin the Devil draw us to deep forgetfulness and security Neither can any thing if it be weighed bee less tollerable in the sight of God Almighty than whereas hee hath given us his Scriptures which tell us his mind and teach us how we may commune with his Majesty and for our behoof hath given us an earnest charge to ponder them in our heart to have them in our minde to make them the matter of our cogitation talk delight and practice yet that Christians should not bee better acquainted with this heavenly course nor bee occupied thus unless it bee seldome as it were upon high daies and that very coldly as if God had been earnest with us about a trifle or as if hee had offered us great injury to move us thereunto Nor is this work sleightly to bee gone about wee must set our hearts to the cogitation of heavenly things thorowly debating and reasoning them with our selves so far as wee are able that wee might bee inabled to order our lives as well in one state as another and strengthened against the assaults of Satan and allurements of this present evil world Meditation is a weighty matter and great pity that works of greatest importance should finde the most sleight regard It is the work of the Lord wherein remiss dealing is condemned as injurious to God hurtful to our selves a Jer. 48.10 The fruit of Meditation stands in fervency hee that is not serious shall reap no profit How should the Word sink into our stony hearts if it bee not minded how should mercy or judgement affect if wee dwell not upon the thought of them The heart must bee pressed before it will relent and fixed upon things above before it will rejoyce in them Meditation is one part of a Christian mans treasure that is ever in his hand can never bee taken from him Many duties must wait their seasons but all estates conditions companies actions minister occasion of Meditation nor can this liberty bee taken from us by the rage of Satan or cruelty of persecuting Tyrants for so long as wee bee with our selves wee may commune with our selves and with the Lord. Now the more excellent our treasure is the more careful must wee bee to preserve and employ it Quest Seeing this duty is so necessary profitable divine and comfortable what doth keep so many from the practice of it Answ The main impediment and hinderance of this as of all other duties is the nourishing of some one sin or more unrepented of which dimmeth the eye of the mind that it cannot behold spiritual things any more than the Owl can behold the light and cloyeth the appetite that it cannot relish heavenly dainties any more than a full stomach doth hunger after sweet meats As a black cloth can take no other dye so an impenitent heart is uncapable of Divine Meditation Quest How is this impediment to bee removed Answ This bar can never bee removed till our hearts bee purged by humble and unfeigned repentance hearty sorrow free confession and well advised purpose of reformation Wherefore as they that intend to keep any precious liquor will see that their vessels bee clean So they that will entertain holy thoughts and desires must give all diligence to keep their hearts pure and undefiled Quest What are the special lets that hinder the performance of this duty Answ They bee diverse whereof some do keep men that they do not use this exercise at all others drive them to use it without any fruit or sound profit performing it sleightly and negligently making it an idle Ceremony or a matter of course or custome Quest What bee these lets Answ One is a deadly custome of ranging after fond and deceiveable thoughts delights and dreams of things either impertinent or unprofitable and oftentimes impossible being such as never were nor are nor ever shall bee or else flatly wicked hurtful and pernicious For the heart of man is exceeding deceitful slippery fickle wandring and wicked infinite waies Besides that the subtil and malicious fowler even Satan that old Serpent doth set his snares so thick in our waies that it is very hard for us to pass thorow them without being intangled To this head may bee referred worldly cares and pleasures which clog the soul that it cannot mount aloft For as a bird whose wings are limed is not able to take her flight on high So the man whose mind is intangled with worldly cares and earthly delights is not able by holy Meditation to soar aloft up to Heaven When the mind is carried after other desires it is unfit for heavenly Meditation slow and unwilling to bee occupied in cogitation and consideration of any holy matters hee that knows it should bee performed is sometimes grieved for the omitting of it but if the mind
perform this duty but hee may finde some place to do it in either in the field with Isaac Gen. 24.63 Dan. 6.10 or in the house with Daniel or at least if they bee hindered all the day long in his a Psa 6.7 4.4 bed with David Quest What time must bee set apart for the performance of this duty Answ First The Lords day is the fittest time in the week for the performance of this exercise but though it must not bee omitted on that day yet it must not bee put off till that day Secondly Some time convenient must bee set apart for this duty every day and that must bee observed constantly as much as wee can for by that means wee shall bee better enabled to finish this work with better success Thirdly No part nor hour of the day is absolutely necessary to bee kept neither is a man so strictly bound to observe the time which hee hath chosen as fit and seasonable that hee should charge himself in conscience to bee guilty of sin if upon occasion hee change it unto some other Order in all good duties is a cause of constancy and constant order is a notable means of continuance Fourthly As for the fittest hour in the day a mans own experience must instruct him and his occasions direct him whether to take the golden hours of the morning when being awakened and refreshed by sweet sleep and quiet rest hee shall finde himself free and fit to meditate upon some heavenly matter as Jacob did or the evening Gen. 28.16 when hee hath ended his labours which was the time that a Gen. 24.63 Isaac took or the midst of the day which was b Act. 10.9 Peters time or any other part and hour of the day c Psa 55.12 David and d Dan. 6.10 Daniel used three times a day to pray and meditate Fifthly The most quiet and free times if strength and wakefulness will give leave are the morning evening and night season which were the times approved among the Heathen who for the better imprinting of any thing in memory give this counsel which common experience doth confirm to think seriously upon it in the evening before they sleep and to call it again to minde in the morning when they awake Oh how sweet it is to awake with God in the morning and to salute him with our first thoughts How safe and profitable to prevent unsavoury thoughts and wicked projects by lodging up in our soul some holy matter worthy our chief employment Psa 88.13 119 48 Psa 5.3 Psal 63.1 Job 1.5 and to prepare the heart to walk with God before wee enter into the world Hee that makes himself well ready every morning shall pass the rest of the day with much ease and great comfort It is much with what liquor the heart is first seasoned if it be well prepared with some heavenly Meditation before the cares of this life take up the room it will be kept in better order in all businesses occasions accidents whatsoever How fit is it when wee have tasted of the blessings of the day that wee should render unto God the fruit not of the lips but of the heart and come into his presence from whom wee have received so many favours What more expedient than that wee should commend our selves into the hands of God with confidence and make our accounts even being to lye down in his fear What more excellent recreation after tedious labour than to recount the mercies of the Lord his fatherly protection the dangers wee escaped what service wee owe to God for all the tokens of his love and what cause wee have to bee humbled for all our sins Of the night David saith a Psa 16.7 My reins shall teach mee in the night season God used to speak to his servants in the * Psa 119.55 Psa 63.6 Job 4.13 night by dreams and visions When wee are freed from cares and incumberances compassed about with darkness that outward objects apprehended by the eye cannot draw the mind away when all things are quiet and still then what greater solace or sweet refreshing can bee found than to lift up the heart to Heaven But these times may bee commended as fit not urged as absolutely necessary Sixthly Every man must set apart some time for this duty but they the most that have most leisure and opportunity Meditation is an affirmative duty which must bee taken in hand when the Lord calleth thereunto and putteth it upon us by affording us means and season Quest What say you to them that pretend multitude of worldly businesse to excuse the omission and neglect of this exercise Answ It is their sin that they will thus set God against himself as though hee should command them to do that which hindereth them from another duty commanded God hath appointed unto us our several standings in our general and personal callings they are both of him and the duties belonging to them both will excellently stand together if the Commandements of God bee not contrary Nay rather wee should think that following of the world to bee too much which is not ordered and moderated by due consideration how far and in what manner wee should deal in the world so as not to bee hindered from holiness by it but even to practise holiness in our earthly affairs If wee bee rich wee have the less cause to bee holden from Meditation by wordly cares If poor wee have the more need of this duty to moderate our care that it exceed not nor carry us to unbeleef What example soever wee have of the contrary in the multitude of worldlings among whom wee live yet wee must know though others will not that wee are not set here in our places to do as loose and wretched servants who when they go to Market neglect their Masters business and mis-spend their time Quest What course must bee holden to redeem time out of the world for Meditation Answ First Walk so on earth as that thy chief delight bee in Heaven still use this world as a Pilgrim doth his cloak Love will finde somewhat to do they that delight in the world will make business in the world as children invent matter of play But if Christ bee our beloved and our treasure in Heaven nothing can hold our hearts from him Secondly Order the affairs of this life wisely that every thing may have its fit time and season wee have sufficient allowance for the dispatch of all our labours if wee take the opportunity and manage both work and means with discretion If thy heart bee upright fear not Eccl. 10.10 God will teach thee how to walk To the man that is good in his sight God giveth wisdome knowledge and joy Thirdly Spend not much time either in consulting privately with thy self or by talking in company with others about that whereof there is no use or which may bee done and ended in
a little space Thoughts of the world do tickle us and that may bee determined in a few sentences and in a part of an hour which may if wee take not heed hold us work the most part of a day Worldly speech doth so relish to our pallats that if wee enter upon it wee cannot tell when to make an end These two great devourers of time must narrowly bee watched against for if wee waste time needlesly about the things of this life wee must needs fall short in better matters Fourthly Gird up thy loins with strength and what thou dost Pro. 31.17 Eccl. 9.10 do it with all thy might thy calling requires labour trifling will not serve the turn Quest How must wee make entrance into this exercise Answ After wee have selected something wherein wee have some knowledge or understanding wee must make entrance unto it by some short yet earnest and pithy prayer unto God to guide and direct us therein by the gracious assistance of his holy Spirit without which wee shall beat our brains to no purpose The Heathen began their business with invocation Of our selves wee are not able to think one good thought and if in presumption of our wit invention memory learning or any thing beside wee set upon this work the success is like to bee answerable to the beginning without the help of God wee can do nothing that is good The matter or form of our prayer must bee this or such like Oh Lord sith it hath pleased thee to give mee a minde ready and desirous to perform this holy duty for which I humbly thank thy heavenly Majesty I beseech thee by thy holy Spirit to assist mee therein that I may bring the same to a profitable and comfortable issue Thou hast charged mee Oh Lord to seek thy face that is thy blessed and holy presence Let my soul answer and say with thy faithful servant Lord I will seek thy face Oh cause the light of thy face to shine upon mee enlighten my understanding strengthen my memory and sanctifie my will and affections with-hold my ranging and truant-like heart from all trifling fantasies deceitful dreams vain hopes carnal fears and worldly cares wherewith it is naturally and customarily intangled keep it unto thy self and unto thy laws that it may wholly delight and solace it self in thee and grant that this point that I now go about to think upon may bee so settled in my memory and rooted in my heart that I may reap the fruit thereof all my life long to thy glory and my own comfort and salvation through Jesus Christ Quest In what order must wee proceed after the entrance Answ First Wee must first travel with our judgement to inform it and then make application that it may work upon the heart Knowledge without affection is dead and fruitless Affection without understanding is blinde and inordinate All good motions arise from sound judgement and must bee ruled by it else they will bee as a ship without a Governour that is in danger to run upon the sands or to split against the rocks Secondly For the helping of our judgement understanding invention and memory it is good for to call to minde so far as wee can what the Holy Ghost saith in the Scriptures of that thing which wee meditate upon referring the particular passages to the several heads or places of reason This is a great help to lead us along in our discourse with more ease and facility and to furnish us more readily with profitable matter touching the point wee meditate upon as the marks set up in the high-way direct a traveller in his intended journey yet wee must not be curious nor scrupulous herein for that would distract the mind and draw us too much from the right end of this holy exercise which is not to practise Logick but to exercise Religion and to kindle piety and devotion And therefore it shall bee our wisdome to take such places or heads only as are most pregnant and ready at hand and do more easily offer themselves to our mind But this order cannot bee prescribed as necessary but as profitable only In this wee must labour with diligence and sincerity that the understanding or memory may bee bettered or confirmed but the method is left free as each man shall finde it most convenient Thirdly Our proceeding to inform the mind cannot bee after one manner in all things We must observe one thing in our Meditation of God another of his Works one of good Duties another of our Sins one thing when wee meditate on simple theams another when wee consider of an intire sentence This shall bee in a good measure made clear by examples hereafter following Fourthly Application is the life of Meditation for the encrease of knowledge and strenthening of memory is vain and to little purpose unless the affection bee reformed and kindled It is not the knowledge of good and evil but the hearty and unfeigned affecting of the one with a zealous detestation of the other that makes us holy and happy Wee must therefore indeavour to have a sensible taste lively touch and feeling of that whereof wee have discoursed with our selves according to the former direction that wee may bee affected either with godly joy or godly sorrow godly hope or godly reverence c. Fifthly The affections to be quickened are divers according to the nature of the thing meditated upon As for example if wee meditate on God or any of his mercies or benefits wee must labour with our hearts and affections to feel how sweet the Lord is that as doting Lovers do inwardly conceive a carnal delight in thinking and speaking of them whom they so love and of the letters and tokens they have received from them So wee may conceive a spiritual joy and contentment by thinking and speaking of the Lord and of his mercies towards us Again if wee meditate on sin according to the former example wee must labour to feel the plague in our own hearts 1 King 8. Jer. 2.19 and to know that it is an evil thing and bitter to forsake the Lord our God and not to have his fear in us Sixthly The chief things to bee observed for the quickening and affecting of the heart are these 1 Trial examination and communing with our selves wherein wee have offended or come short of our duty 2 Taking shame to our selves for our transgressions joyned with lamentable and doleful complaining and bewailing of our own estate either in respect of the sin that aboundeth or the grace that is wanting 3 A most passionate vehement earnest and hearty longing after the removal of this sin and punishment which wee hate and obtaining the good things which wee love 4 Religious quickening and calling upon our souls by many strong and forcible reasons to hate evil and follow that which is good The fifth is an humble and unfeigned acknowledgement and confession of our own weakness and inability either
his grace and goodness abode still in the estate of innocency and blessedness they are created spirits limited in essence compounded of subject and accident act and possibility immortal by participation mutable by creation but established by grace in their first state As spirits they are invisible immaterial incorruptible intelligent as chief instruments of Gods providence they are furnished with great power incredible swiftness singular wisdome burning zeal and undoubted faithfulness as blessed Ministers that ever attend his Throne they are indued with clear knowledge of God inestimable love exceeding joy and admirable glory Their life is spiritual their state blessed and permanent for they stand ever in the presence of God behold his glory and rest in him with full delight Their End and office in respect of God is to praise his Name and execute his Commandement in respect of Christ to minister and attend upon him in regard of men to rejoyce at the conversion of a sinner to guard and protect the faithful against the dangers of this life and the assaults of Satan to curb bridle and destroy their enemies and to gather the elect together at the day of judgement Quest How are these things to bee pressed and urged and applied unto the heart Answ 1 Wee must stir up our selves to admire the power goodness and glory of God in himself his tender care over us rouze up our souls to the obedience of Gods will and respect of his children and take courage to rely upon God in the midst of dangers that compass us about who would not fear thee O Lord our God glorious in Majesty dreadful in Holiness wonderful in Power Thine holy Angels excel in strength are cloathed with glory that man cannot behold but all their might and goodness is derived from thee a drop of thy Ocean a beam of thy Sun if the glory of the creature bee so great the glory of the Creator must infinitely surpass all comprehension Oh how blockish am I that in the view and contemplation of the work have not enlarged my heart to laud and magnifie the work-man Arise my soul and gird thy self to the chearful sincere faithful obedience to Gods Commandement To do the will of God is Angelical preferment a divine and heavenly exercise the greatest freedome and perfection Make haste delay not to exercise his good pleasure Loe the Angels in Heaven are thy samplers whom thou oughtest to follow Let not that seem irksome to thee that is delightsome to them esteem it not a burden which is to them an heavenly solace and refreshing Ah wretched man why should I grudge to yield obedience to my heavenly Father or do his will negligently by the halves when those Noble spirits and heavenly souldiers do alwaies stand in readiness to receive his commands and execute their commission Doth the world despise the poor Saints of God for their outward baseness yet I will honour them as the onely excellent for God is their Father the Angels their Attendants Wee cap and bow to them that are nobly attended gorgeously arrayed honourably served but herein the Saints excel if the thing bee well considered They are esteemed the scum of the world but respected of God in such manner that hee hath given his Angels charge over them the guard that attends upon his Throne is assigned to watch over them Walk on couragiously O my soul walk on couragiously in the waies of piety Fear not the assaults of Satan the fury of any adverse power that shall oppose it self for more are with thee than can be against thee If Satan with his bands endeavour thy destruction The troops of heavenly Angels do watch for thy defence yea the Lord himself is thy keeper and stands at thy right hand to save thee from all them that rise up against thee How great is the clemency and tender care of the Lord over his poor people what tongue can express what heart comprehend his infinite goodness hee sends from on high his mighty souldiers to encamp about us watch over us preserve and save us from them that lye in wait to vex and annoy Oh my Father what can I render unto thee for this thy great kindness and unspeakable mercy I have nothing to give but my heart which here I offer unto thee and because I am weak exposed to the temptations of Satan and allurements of this wicked world I pray thee give mee thy grace confirm and strengthen mee that I may imitate those pure spirits every day more and more that I may praise thy Name execute thy Commandements love thy Children rejoyce in the conversion of them that go astray and fight thy battels against sin and Satan Quest Let man bee the third example how must wee proceed to meditate on that Subject Answ For the better information of our judgement wee must consider these particulars the Author the Matter Form End Properties and Effects what are like and what opposite Man is inferiour to the Angels but of earthly creatures most excellent The Author of this principal work is God himself Father Son and Holy Ghost and that in special manner for other creatures were made by a simple command man not without a divine consultation Gen. 1.26 others at once man hee did first form then inspire others in several shapes like to none other but themselves man after his own Image others with qualities fit for service man for Dominion Hee was made the last of the creatures and brought as the Lords Vicegerent into this world as into a parlour ready trimmed and prepared for so worthy a guest Man consisteth of two parts Matter and Form Heaven and Earth a humane body and divine soul and well may be called a little abridgement map or table of the whole world In his soul is the nature of Angels though not so active and extensive In his body are the Elements Meteors Minerals as may appear both by vapours fumes and spirits Hee lives the life of plants hee hath the senses of beasts and above all the addition of reason His body was framed of the dust of the ground in more exquisite manner than any other furnished with most excellent instruments absolutely composed both for beauty and duty in all the works of holiness and righteousness For variety of parts sweetly knit together and orderly disposed it was wonderful for temperature exact for form erect and streight In the whole beautiful glorious strong subject to no annoyance most artificially fashioned that it might bee the neat stately Palace of a Divine Noble reasonable soul In every part beauty strength convenience meet together The distinct consideration of every member with its temper proportion placing figure and use might well astonish The soul of man was immediately created of nothing and being indued with most excellent faculties and gifts natural and supernatural was infused into the body and inseparably knit had not sin made an unnatural divorce to give life motion and sense unto it
not bee without love But ah wretch that I am I finde mine affection is weak toward God strong to vanity Those wee love do wee not love to bee present with them If they bee absent do wee not think long till they return again Are wee not grieved to hear them wronged by word or deed whom wee esteem dearly of are wee not desirous to give them content doth it not cut us if wee do them any harm Are wee not with them in thought though absent in body glad of a letter that comes from them is not the messenger welcome that can bring us tidings of their welfare But I finde little joy in coming publickly or privately into Gods house or presence I think little of him and that but overly I speak little to him and that not without weariness and distraction Nay I am like those children who can play abroad all the day long and never care to look unto their Parents When did my heart long to return home and to bee with Christ Though God through sundry troubles do even smoak mee out of this world yet I will not come away in mine affection When I see Gods name blasphemed and all wickedness committed do mine eyes gush out with tears or do not I offend daily and pass it over taking too light penance of my self It is irksome to mee to do his will I do not long for his presence nor bewail his absence I do not study to please him in all things nor can I rejoyce in the prosperity of his Saints when I my self am in misery and distress I cannot prize his favour am not cheared with his promises do not delight in his statutes above all things His Word is his Letter sent unto mee but I am not glad and diligent with care and conscience to read it vanity hath stollen away my heart and the transitory bewitching pleasures of the world which cannot profit have taken up my thoughts This hath been mine impudent behaviour against thee my God which I cannot with any words of indignation sufficiently discover If a woman should bee dead in the nest when her husband were before her but should bee affectionate to every stranger if shee should not care how long shee were absent from him but think her self best while they were asunder if shee cared little how her loving husband were offended casting that at her heels which hee takes to heart were not this shameless behaviour in her And shall I not bee ashamed to shew no more love to thee to whom my soul is married in Christ Oh my soul what canst thou finde in the world why thou dost affect it it hath bred much vexation and sorrow thou hast been crossed and molested with it the more thou lovest it the greater trouble discontentment thou findest therein and wilt thou still take pleasure in thy pain what canst thou not finde in God and that above all thought and conceit why thou shouldest intirely cleave unto him what occasion couldest thou finde at any time to draw thy affection from him wilt thou leave the fatness and marrow that is in the house of God to feed upon the refuse and scraps that this world affords Ah wretch that I am who shall deliver mee from this bondage of sin I am full of uncharitable and false love I can love my self I have affection enough to the things of this world to the gifts of God and those the meanest more than to the giver as harlots to rings gold bracelets more than to the sender But I have not power to raise my soul to the love of God in Christ here my affections lye dead and will not mount aloft Oh that the love of God did possess my reins in such sort that in thought I might bee still with him rejoyce in his presence and walk before him in dutiful obedience Oh that my heart did burn with love that is strong as death hot as coals of Juniper that hath a vehement flame that no waters can quench no floods can drown no allurements can draw aside Why art thou so dead Oh my soul why dost thou not lift up thy self to the love of God whom hast thou in Heaven but him and who in earth is to bee desired in comparison of him for whom dost thou reserve thy prime affection for the world sin vanity Oh adulteress knowest thou not that the amity of the world is enmity with God thou hast gone astray and deeply defiled thy self with the love of sin return now unto the Lord and embrace him with most intire and dear affection what thou hast bestowed upon the world pleasure lusts carnal delights to thy great discomfort now set it wholly upon things above that it may finde rest and comfort Oh Lord I beseech thee who art only able to purge my heart of all filthy prophane love and to fill it with the pure love of thy holy Majesty this is thy promise I will circumcise your hearts and make you love mee with all your hearts therefore I am bold to make this prayer and will confidently wait upon thee for this mercy Quest How should a man proceed to meditate on the Fall of our first Parents Answ Hee must consider the subject causes and end of that act aimed at but not obtained the degrees properties and effects of it By the Fall of our first Parents wee understand the first sin of Adam and Eve whereby they transgressed the Commandement of God in eating the forbidden fruit this is fitly so called because as an heavy body falling upon some hard and sharp rock is greatly bruised and hurt so man after hee had received so many and great gifts from God sinning wickedly against his express charge and commandement did grievously wound himself The subject of this transgression was our first Parents Adam and Eve made after the Image of God perfect in stature of body and strength of mind enriched with excellent prerogatives of liberty and dominion planted in a garden of delights that they might dress it and keep it favoured of God and admitted into near fellowship with him The principal outward cause of mans disobedience was Satan the Prince of darkness that old murtherer who being fallen from God and shut up under condemnation did with incredible fury and malice seek the dishonour of God and the destruction of mankind This envious one spying his opportunity set upon the woman as the fitter to be made his prey when shee was alone and by his subtilty beguiled her The Serpent the most subtil of beasts which the Lord had made was the instrument that hee used to seduce the woman and the woman her self being first in the transgression was made the willing instrument of her husbands destruction The quality of the fruit as it was good for meat and pleasant to the eye was by accident a cause that moved them to eat which yet they might and ought to have forborn having liberty to eat of all the trees
ransome which two latter have place in the Redemption of man in divers respects The Author of this great admirable and extraordinary work of Grace is Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God who in time became man and was made under the Law that hee might redeem us that were under the Law For this hee is called our Saviour and Redeemer or Redemption of his people who doth deliver them from the hand of all their enemies that they might serve the Lord without fear Those that God did raise up to redeem his people as Moses the Judges yea those that redeemed as kinsmen this or that were shadows of this our great Redeemer who was in time to bee revealed Christ hath satisfied revenging-justice overcome Satan killed sin and purchased deliverance for his people that are given unto him of his Father and such as beleeve in him are partakers of this Redemption in truth in this life perfectly in the life to come For from what time wee are ingrafted into Jesus Christ by a soveraign well-rooted and all-seasoning Faith wee are freed from being under the Law and revenging-justice of God The strong man is cast forth from what time Christ the stronger is entred The conscience is made a sweet companion and comforter rather than a rigorous keeper Where the King hath released a Prisoner the Jaylor can have no further power over him for hee is but to keep him during the Kings pleasure Again By grace God doth set our wills at liberty so that sin cannot reign in us as heretofore yea the world is crucified to us and wee unto the world For as when health cometh a man beginneth to walk abroad and do such things as hee could not stir to do while his sickness did keep him under so it is here Finally wee are so freed that we can suffer nothing which our wills have cause to be unwilling with all things being such as shal work together for our good Behold the rich grace admirable love and tender mercy of the Lord towards man in himself most miserable rebellious and worthy to bee cast off for ever God so loved the world that hee gave his only begotten Son that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Oh Lord as our sin and misery abounded thy mercy hath superabounded In mercy thou didst provide a means for mans deliverance that justice being satisfied grace might bee glorious in his salvation Oh God when thou hadst determined that justice should take her revenge if by breach of covenant shee bee wronged thine infinite wisdome found out a way to satisfie wronged justice when all mankinde lay under the sentence of condemnation altogether unable to help themselves thine unspeakable mercy did shew her self for our deliverance when man had nothing to pay for his Ransome nor any strength to rescue himself from the hands of justice or the curse of the Law of thine endless love thou didst give Christ to bee our Saviour and by way of ransome to redeem us Oh my soul thou art redeemed not with silver or gold but with the blood of Christ a lamb undefiled This was it which in the blood of all the sacrifices was prefigured The death of Christ is it by means whereof Gods Grace doth set thee free and that in most just manner It doth pacifie justice her displeasure against sin For God that is God as his Revenging Justice is gone forth is said to smell a savour of rest in the death of Christ and by Christs being put under the Law or curse of Gods revenging made manifest in the Law wee are said to bee redeemed from the Law or curse as by an all-sufficient Ransome accepted of Justice This death doth feee us from the Devil for Satans power over us was by reason of sin and the punishment due to it from the Justice of God By death hee destroyed him that had the power of executing death The price of our Ransome was paid to divine Justice and it being paid and accepted Satan was cast down by strong hand This death hath obtained the Spirit to bee given thee which doth free thee from the captivity of lusts Gal. 4.4 5 and enable thee to finde liberty in actions of godliness Through this death thou hast deliverance from all evils So that all tears in Gods Time shall bee wiped from thine eyes and in the mean while all thy sufferings are so changed that they are not effects of Gods Revenging Justice to destroy but such things in which God doth offer himself as a Father intending to make thee partake further by means of them in the quiet fruit of Righteousness And now my soul why hath the Lord done this for thee that the Glory of his Grace might bee magnified in thy salvation and thou mightest serve him all the daies of thy life As for the parts of Redemption it is purchased or possessed and this begun or consummated in respect of guilt and punishment or power and tyranny of sin Rome was not built in a day Great things are not begun and finished all at once Redemption takes not its full effect in this life but it is so begun that it shall certainly bee accomplished in due time The Properties of this deliverance will set forth the excellencies of it in some sort It is true and real as far excelling that Redemption of Israel out of the Land of Egypt as the substance doth the shadow the soul doth the body and Christ did Moses It is spiritual from Sin Satan and the curse of the Law The bondage of soul to the wrath of God tyranny of Satan and slavery of sin is most lamentable and grievous and the more fearful the captivity the more comfortable the deliverance Nor is this mercy vouchsafed to a few that live in some corner of the world in some special age or time which much lessen the value of it but it is universal extended to all ages to all sorts of men high and low rich and poor a Apoc. 5.9 Thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and which is the upshot of all this Redemption is eternal Heb. 9.12 Hee that is ransomed out of the power of a bodily enemy may bee taken captive the second time but hee that is set free by Jesus Christ cannot bee captivated by Satan It was a singular favour that God raised up Saviours to deliver them out of the hands of their oppressors It is a much greater mercy that God hath given us Christ to set us free from spiritual thraldome for that Redemption was typical this real that temporal of the body this spiritual of the soul and conscience That from the cruelty of man this from the tyranny of Satan that thraldome would have ended with life this bondage would ever have increased daily After that deliverance they might and did return to bondage But in this Redemption hee that is once freed abideth a