in thee a thankfull remembrance of his benefits and some answerable returns to God for his mercies which thou hast had beyond expectation let his continued series of providences banish out of thy heart all atheistical thoughts and conceipts and also all desponding despairing distrustful thoughts and carking care keep in Gods way and he will never forsake thee he that feeds the young ravens when they cry will not suffer thee to starve nor shut his ear to thy prayer if thou leave him he will leave thee oh my God all my springs are in thee all my mercies flow from thee though the pipe be cut Lord show me the way to the fountain-head Vpon birds building their nests 63. Med. OBserving in the spring time when the fouls of heaven build their nests how variously they did it and every sort had a several way fashion mode or manner which all of that sort kinde or species did exactly observe not by imitation but by a natural instinct those that had never seen nest built before were excellent artists and needed no instruction The several kindes also build in several places as well as use several forms and methods some build in houses in the chimneys thatch and other places others have places provided for them as pigeons stares and such like these are defended from winde and weather which others endure to their sorrow but are less secure some build in high and craggy rocks in inaccessible places to defend their young and some in lofty trees as the oak the ash the Elme the pine and the cedars far out of danger and dread others that aspire not so high hide their nests in rough hedges bushes brambles and obscure places where the passengers eye shall not behold them and generally all obscure them what they can from sight yet some build upon the ground as the ostrich which layeth her egges in the earth and warmeth them in the dust and forgetteth that the fool may crush them or the wilde beast may break them she is hardened against her young ones as though they were not hers her labour is in vain without fear because God hath deprived her of wisdome neither hath he imparted to her understanding Job 39.14 c. every one acteth according to the wisdome God hath given them to some more to some less I observed also the materials with which they built and these were different also some built with sticks others with straws some with moss some with wooll feathers and many other things the fashion also was various some bigger some less according as need required some built only a bottom some raised up wals some covered it over head to secure the young some daubed their castle and made it weather-proof others not various are the forms and fashions they use and for ought I know no two species or kindes make their nests in every point alike and in the working both the male and the female join heart and hand in the work and use diligence till it be effected and in sitting on their eggs both take their share in the work and relieve each other by courses as the careful observers testify at least of some kindes and undauntedly endure the frost and snow the winde and the weather as also in feeding their young they have a mutual love and a mutual care and take mutual pains Methoughts this did much resemble the love and amity the care and industry between man and wife and oh that there were so much between them as there is between these silly birds they are faithfull each to other and loving and helpfull and that by a natural instinct without the use of reason or any other bond or obligation and thus it should be and oh that it were so between man and wife they have more obligations each to other God hath given them the use of reason the Scriptures and many other helps yet many break all these bands asunder yea the very marriage-knot by their adulteries and neighing after other mens wives and other womens husbands and many times return hatred for love and wish if not practice the death one of another they should lend mutual help to build the nest and feed the young but sometimes both of them are wanting oftentimes the one there are many foolish men as well as foolish women that pluck down their house with their hands and turn off their children into the wide world destitute and neglected many spend that rioteously that their yoak-fellows or their parents have got painfully and prove a hindrance and not a help to their relations and as for the body so much more for the soul they prove ill husbands and hindrances and not helps in the way to heaven God might send these men and these women to school to these silly birds to learn faithfulness love and mutual friendship and assistance as he doth the sluggard to the ant to learn diligence and to the stork the crane and the swallow to observe their times and to the oxe and ass to learn to know their benefactour These poor creatures minded me also of the wise providence of God that hath thus instructed these otherwise silly creatures Job 39.27 doth the eagle mount up at thy command and make her nest on high intimating it is at Gods command it is he that gives goodly wings to the peacock yea wings and feathers to the ostrich Job 39.13 and it is he that takes care of these birds Deut. 22.6 oh my soul learn those lessons from these poor creatures faithfulness diligence and care learn those relative duties here hinted out unto thee fly idleness as the bane of vertue let thy general and particular calling take up all thy time especially be a good husband for thy soul oh my God implant every grace in my soul to this end out with every corruption make me diligent for the world but especially for heaven Upon a small bird feeding many young ones 64. Med. OBserving a little wren one of the smallest of birds that had a dozen young ones lying upon her hands to maintain to take care of and make provision for I heedfully attended to see what the event would be I observed with what unwearied pains she labours for their sustenance how chearfully she imployed her little strength to that end even to the neglect of her own belly how self denyingly she behaves her self sparing that which she should have fed upon to sustain them and from morning till night busieth her self to feed them but that which most put me to a stand was this in her returns with meat they all stand with open mouth to receive the new taken prey which made me admire that such a silly creature void of reason was able to distinguish between those she had fed and those she had not which might in such a multitude have puzled a better head I wondred that some of the most lively did not get all and starve the weaker but that God hath put such an
didst remain stone still how is the case at present with thee what is thy present condition hath God melted thee in his furnace hath he changed thy nature hath he fashioned thee anew and moulded thee into a better shape and given thee a better form hath he taken away the heart of stone and given thee a heart of flesh hath he fitted thee for his own work and hewn and squared thee for his own building to be united to Jesus Christ the chief corner-stone if so bless God for it for it was his own work thou wast not able to fit thy self nor all the Ministers in England to help thee had not God put his hand to the work but if thou retain still thy old inflexible nature as hard and senseless as ever if thou be unpollished rough and craggy notwithstanding all the pains God hath bestowed upon thee after so much melting and so much hewing well maist thou fear thou wilt be cast out amongst the rubbish as unfit for Gods use and reserved for the fire of hell which will neither refine thee nor yet consume thee Oh my God great pains and cost thou hast been at with me but I have not answered thy pains nor quit thy cost I remain still rough and hard notwithstanding all the blows of thy workmen but Lord if thou wouldst blow the fire I should melt if thou wouldst lay thy hand upon the workmans axe I should be squared and sitted for the work Lord rather lay great blows upon me then suffer me to be unpolisht or cast out into the rubbish take away the heart of stone give me a heart of flesh that I may melt at thy mercies and tremble at thy judgements Upon worms in the garden 15. Med. WHen I was digging in the garden I observed many worms and other insects which divine providence had there disposed to be fed and cherished but by what I know not here it is like they had their birth and first being here they led their lives and here for ought I know they will finish their course and take their ends I considered that the same providence that had appointed out my place and station where I should be born where I should leade my life and where I should end my dayes had appointed the like for them and when I had spent some time in this Consideration what a poor miserable piece man is by what names or titles soever dignified or distinguished that is so near a kin to these despicable creatures these silly helpless worms they have the same father and the same mother and were made of the same matter by the hand of the same workman and were made of dust and unto dust they must return we may say to corruption thou art my father and to the worm thou art my mother and my sister Job 17.14 Holy David a great man both for worth and dignity beloved of God and King of Israel yet remembers his original and this made him humble he cryes out Psal 22.6 I am a worm and no man what then are we poor shrubs that we should have high thoughts of our selves or entertain a proud conceit of our own worth we may finde in Scripture man is frequently call'd a worm from the similitude that is between us and them being poor helpless shiftless creatures Job 25.56 Behold even to the moon and it shineth not and the stars are not pure in his sight how much less man that is a worm and the son of man which is a worm Esay 41.14 fear not thou worm Jacob and ye men of Israel I will help thee c. And truly as to the body there is not much difference but in the shape they were made of the same matter digged out of the same hole of the pit were clay in the hand of the same potter and ere long shall be reduced to their first original and had God pleased the man might have been the worm and the worm the man yea the most of men have the very nature and disposition of worms they moil and toyl and dig and root in the earth and bury themselves in it their affections grovell upon the ground and aim at no higher an end nor carry on no higher a designe then Scraping muck together and minde no other happiness but how to make provision for back and belly fitly therefore do they bear the name of muckworms and ere long they shall lodge together in the dust where man shall be made a feast for worms Job 24.19.20 as drought and heat consume the snow-waters so doth the grave those which have sinned the womb shall forget him the worm shall feed sweetly on him he shall be no more remembred Esay 51.8 the moth shall eat them like a garment c. this is the portion of poor man from which grace it self cannot exempt him Holy Job was not free Job 19.25.26 for I know that my redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God c. Oh that this were well minded by our dainty dames that now plaister and paint and spot their faces to take their prey and spend their time in wanton dalliance and put far from them the evil day Oh that they would consider it is not long before they shall dance after deaths pipe down to the chambers of darkness where they must make their bed in the dust and the worms shall make their nests between their breasts and eat out these wanton windows of love and messengers of lust Oh what an humbling consideration might this be if well thought on to those that now scarce think the ground good enough to tread upon and must not have the winde to blow upon them or the sun to see them and go in an antick dress and study how to pamper worms meat and go like petty angels little thinking they are so near akin to poor despicable worms Oh my soul wast thou as clay in the hand of the potter and made of the same mold with this poor worm bless God that hath made the difference it was in his power to have made thee the worm and this worm the man then hadst thou lain liable to be dasht by every foot but God hath made thee a rational creature capable of Communion with himself and enjoyment of him for ever let the thoughts also of thy original dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return keep thee humble have still in thy minde the worm thy mother and sister it is a sin and shame for an angell to be proud much more for a dustheap and one of these days thou must make thy bed in the dust and this earthly tabernacle will be dissolved provide therefore a new habitation a house not made with hands but eternal in the heavens Thou hast a better part indewed with more noble faculties then these poor creatures have which if not
this if our own Nation yielded not sufficient examples we might pass over into Ireland for proof where a hundred thousand were suddenly stript of all and for beauty those that have most gloried in it in a short time by a disease they have been deformed so for friends those that love to day do hate to morrow the like we may say of all earthly enjoyments Oh my soul if earthly delights how pleasing soever be so fading and transitory here thou seest thy folly in spending so much of thy time in planting pruning fencing and watering so fading a gourd and so perishing a plant and contenting thy self with a painted nothing beauty is but skin-deep and when the frost of sickness or the winde of old age comes it will wither death will equal the fair with the foul the young with the aged riches are no surer they take themselves wings and fly away strength will decay and Sampson himself cannot grapple with death honour is the emptiest of bubbles and he that this day is ascending the highest round of the ladder of promotion may suddenly break his neck in the fall as Haman did but there is a beauty which will never fade grace and holiness will never change colour there are riches which will be certain laid up where neither rust corrupteth nor theives can steal or plunder there are honours which will last to eternity pleasures at Gods right hand that never shall have end there is meat that perisheth not but endureth to eternal life spend not thy time in seeking after these guilded nothings and painted vanities Oh my God bestow these things upon me that will do me good these garments will adorn me and make me beautiful in the eyes of God and good men this food will nourish my soul and these riches will make me rich indeed put me not off with such trifles as the world affords and with which the devil pleaseth fools and franticks the riches of Christ the jewells of grace the crown of glory are worth wishing for working for suffering for striving fighting running wrastling yea dying for when all other things are not worth the pains and sweat which usually are spent upon them Lord no portion but thy self will satisfie no husband but Christ will serve my turn no pleasure will please but those at thy right hand no jointure but a kingdom will content Lord give me these though thou take from me all the rest Upon Stones in the Garden 14. Med. OBserving in the garden many stones mixt with other soil and considering how useless fruitless and unprofitable they were yea though they had the same husbandry bestowed upon them the same sun to shine upon them and watered with the same showers though they had the same seed and labour the same mucking and manuring the same tilling and weeding as the other soil had yet were never the better never the softer or more pliable they remained stones still fruitless and unprofitable yea though I broke them in pieces I could neither mollify them nor make them fruitfull nor profitable but they were hurtfull and pernicious to the place they were in neither axe nor hammer fire nor water could change their nature neither fair means nor foul the summers sun nor winters frost could not change them they were still the same hereupon I caused them to be gathered together and cast out of the garden to mend a foul way and by this means that which before was a detriment now became a benefit This Observation helpt me to this Meditation it brought to my minde the nature of a stony heart oh how lively do these stones represent this to us the stony heart is of the nature of a stone mercyes cannot melt it judgements cannot break it see this in Pharaoh his heart after all the judgements continues stone still good seed sown in a stony heart brings nothing to perfection neither can it take any deep root as we see in the parable of the stony grounds they receive the word with joy but have not root and therefore soon wither they only taste of the good word of God Heb. 6.45 as cooks do of their sauces saith one they let nothing down they digest it not this ground though never so carefully husbanded even by Christ himself the wisest husbandman yet brings no fruit to maturity I have sometimes wondred how wicked men could sit under the powerful means of grace and Ministry of the Word and have hell-fire flasht in their faces and yet never startle at it though the same sins which their consciences know they are deeply guilty of are again and again condemned to hell and it be proved that those that live in such sins shall never go to heaven and the Chapters and verses alledged where God doth sentence such sinners to hell and exclude them out of heaven yet they remain as insensible as blocks or stocks or the stones they tread upon or the seats they sit upon or the pillars they lean against and what wonder is it that one stone should be as insensible as another And on the other side when the melting promises of the Gospel are prest and God and Christ and heaven and happiness everlasting pleasures and treasures glory and happiness is offered this makes not so deep an impression as the offer of one shilling nay of one penny will from a man Doth not this plainly prove that these mens hearts are senceless stones Now it is the nature of some stones fire will not melt them water will not soften them nothing will mollifie them so it is of wicked men neither mercies nor judgements will work upon them Pharaoh was such a stone nothing would work upon him though he was broken to shivers each piece retains its naturall hardness it is stone still but such stones that will not be fitted for Gods building he will employ them otherwise and make stepping-stones of them God will not lose by them if they will not serve for one use they shall for another 'T is true he hath a furnace that can melt them and happy is he that is cast into it if they miss of that they shall be reserved for the infernal furnace where they shall always burn but never be consumed neither shall any of their dross ever waste in the mean while as God made use of thorns as before was noted so can he of these stones for the good of his Church oh my soul this was thy case this was thy condition by nature out of the same rock wast thou hewn and out of the same hole of the pit wast thou digged thy heart was as hard as the nether millstone and resembled the flinty rock that would neither bend nor bow and was as insensible of spirituall things as the stones in the street much water was spilt upon this rock which could not be gotten up again much washing was bestowed to make this blackamore white but all in vain many a melting Sermon thou hast heard and
saw whereever life is in the root it will shew forth it self in the branches oh my soul thou hast had a long and sharp winter what effect hath in wrought in thee thou hast lain in the furnace of affliction is thy dross consumed or is it not I have been under pining sickness brought to the gates of death yet hath God said to me live I have been threatned with pinching wants yet more frightned then hurt and when stript of all God let me see that he could make provision and was able to provide and furnish a table in the wilderness the barrel of meal wasted not and the cruse of oyl did not fail God blessed a little and it sufficeth when I was driven from friends and relations he raised me up friends more true then many of my relations and in due time he said to me as sometime to Jacob Gen. â—2 9 return into thy own countrey and to thy kindred and I will deal well with thee sometimes I have been under a cloud and then again the cloud hath been scattered and the sun hath broke out again many have been the dispensations of providences I have been under oh my soul how dost thou answer Gods expectations in these providences affliction springs not out of the dust neither doth trouble rise out of the ground is there evil in the City and the Lord hath not done it whoever is the instrument God hath a hand in the work whoever be the rod it is he that layes it on it hath a voice and we should hear it he hath an end and that is thy reformation dost thou answer his end if the rod be removed before the childe be reformed either he intends to get a bigger rod or leaves thee off as incorrigible which is the sorest judgement The winter now is past and the singing of birds is come the earth and all things therein look lovely and each vegetable where life is discovers it and is it only winter with thee and doth no fruit appear God justly may say to thee as of the fruitless fig-tree never fruit grow more on thee for ever if all his labour be lost and all his expectations frustrated and all his plowing sowing and manuring vain he will say of thee as sometimes of his vineyard what could I have done more for him then I have done wherefore then when I expected fruit doth he bring forth wilde grapes canst imagine God will always bear with a barren fruitless tree in his orchard or an unprofitable unfaithfull servant in his house or a hard and stony heart that neither summers sun nor winters frost can work upon neither judgements nor mercies mollify many a year he hath been seeking fruit and findeth none and yet hath been prevailed with to try thee one year more but his patience will not long bear with thee if reformation prevent not the sentence will ere long be past cut him down why cumbers he the ground many a time the sun hath shone with a favourable aspect upon thee and many a time the dew of heaven hath been showred down many a faithfull skilfull husbandman hath been sent to dress thee and manure thee and must Christ when he seeks fruit still meet with disapointments art thou so hard and rocky that no furnace will melt thee nor hammer break thee or bring the into form meet for his building then must thou be thrown out amongst the rubbish Oh my God this is my condition by nature but thou canst change my nature thou hast a furnace will melt me and bring me into any form thou hast a hammer can break me and fit me for thy work thou canst soften me and make me pliable thou canst take away the stony heart and give me a heart of flesh Lord is it not thy promise make it good to me blow upon my soul and the graces of thy spirit will bud and break forth speak the word and my soul shall live Lord teach me thy self and leave me not to the teaching of man there is no other can reach the heart they speak only to the ear Upon a withering knot of herbs 30. Med. WHen I beheld a knot of herbs mixt with flowers in the garden in a decaying withering condition some part dead others languishing and but a few alive and flourishing I left off weeding dressing cutting and manuring them as those that never were likely to answer my pains or recompence my labour but considering there were some living which were likely to be choaked with weeds if let alone and disregarded I transplanted them into better soil leaving the dead ones to themselves for the fire or any other use I mattered them not I considered then how gastly and unseemly the place was when the living herbs were removed what a confused heap and worthless piece it was of no profit pleasure or benefit the thoughts of this strait brought to my minde that as I had dealt with these withering herbs and flowers so God oftentimes doth by a withering Church some of them he takes into his bosome others he transplants and findes them a better place and then roots up the rest or reserves them for the fire or some other judgement perhaps lets them alone a while to bear a place and perhaps the name of flowers till at last they are rotten-ripe and fit for nothing but burning Thus he preserved Noah for another plot which he was about to make when he destroyed the old world which before was his garden when the plants were most dead He removed Lot into another soil when he rooted up his garden in Sodom he would not fence a place for so few living herbs but laid it waste and burnt it up he transplanted Abraham from the place of his nativity and found room by his providence for Isaac and Jacob whose posterity he transplanted into Egypt where for a long time they did thrive and prosper till in the end overrun with weeds briars and thorns he transplanted Israel into Canaan and cast the Egyptians those dead and worthless plants those weeds and thorns into the Red-sea and since that time hath laid waste many a garden which formerly did flourish when they withered and decayed witness the seven famous Churches of Asia mentioned Rev. 2. and 3. chapters and suffereth briars and thorns to overrun the places I considered that when God removes his own plants either into his bosome or elsewhere it is time for the other to look about them Esay 57.1 the righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart and mercifull men are taken away none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evill to come When Gods jewels are removed his care of that place is over when his flowers are gone he will pluck up his hedge and throw down his wall and let it be eaten up and troden down he will lay it waste it shall not be pruned nor digged and there shall come up briars and thorns and he will command
a conscience void of guilt that it cannot accuse them of any unjust or uncivil act lest the sergeant death put them into the devils hands and they be cast into prison thâ—se that will not now abate their fellow-servants a penny shall themselves pay the utmost farthing he that will shew no mercy shall finde none when they stand in need and those that now feed upon others death shall ere long feed sweetly on them Job 24.20 yea the never-dying worm shall feed upon them as it is fabled the vulture did upon Prometheus his liver oh my soul live so holily towards God and so uprightly towards man that thy greatest enemies may have nothing to object against thee but concerning the law of thy God Improve those talents God hath lent thee to his glory lest thou have the doom of the unfaithful servant consider thou art but a steward of what thou enjoyest and what is under thy hands thou hast but the dispose of it for thy masters use and he will require an account take heed of getting any thing unjustly keeping it unlawfully or parting with it sinfully put not the poors part in any childes portion this will be a canker to consume the rest and bring a curse upon thy posterity grinde not the faces of the poor for their redeemer is mighty and will not bear it do as thou wouldst be done by shew mercy or thou wilt miss of it when thou standst in need if thou wilt not forgive others God will not forgive thee Oh my God I have this sin of cruelty in my nature also oh curse and blast this bitter root that it may not spring up in me incline my heart to lenity and mercy yea to forgive mine enemies that I may resemble thee my father that dost good both to the good and to the bad Upon a kite soaring aloft yet minding her prey 67. Med. OBserving the Kite that bird of prey soaring aloft towring on high as if he meant to scale the clouds and look into heaven and with the Eagle to make his nest among the stars Obad. 4. And yet I observed he suddenly descended fell upon his prey and devoured it This observation satisfyed me that though he aimed at heaven and seemed to scorn these inferiour things yet his eye and minde was fixed here below and grovelled on the ground though the bodv were above the heart was below and his mounting aloft was but dissimulation and upon designe like the fox in the fable that pretended himself dead to take his prey the better so this kite to compass his ends carry on his designes and to take his unwary prey useth this stratagem I thought this was a lively Embleme of an hypocrite who seems to be all for heaven when he mindes nothing less he is only minding his prey driving on some carnal designe and when he seems to be trading for heaven and discoursing with God himself yet his heart and affections are glued to the world and he is carrying on some self-interest or fleshly designe and is like a waterman he looks one way and rows another Thus the Pharisees those noted hypocrites did for under pretence of long prayers they devoured widdows houses and fisht for popular applause with their prayers fastings and almes-deeds Mat. 6.1 2 3 c. their hearts were on earth when their hands and eyes were lifted up to heaven A hypocrite is most devout when preferment profit or applause is in sight but key-cold when there is no temptation they are burning hot in the publike lukewarm in their familyes and key-cold in their closets they are like a Cardinal I have read of and doubtless there are many more of his minde who being a poor fishermans son was for his humility and other qualifications advanced to several degrees of honour but always to minde him of his mean extraction and to keep him humble as he said he would have his Fathers Net in his dining-room that he might not forget his descent but at the last being made Pope the net was laid aside being demanded the reason he replyed when the fish is caught what need is there of the net This net and feigned humility was but to take the fish and there are many in our times fish with such a bait some that depend upon some godly great man or some religious Landlord or great benefactor counterfeit their colours and pretend to wear their livery the better to ingratiate themselves into their favour and friendship but when they have caught the fish the net is thrown aside for when they have attained their end or are frustrated of their expectation they soon cast off the sheeps-skin and appear in their own likeness they make religion but a stalking-horse to take their prey and use it for no other end and when that work is done they lay it afide they have a piece of work to do and when one tool will not do it they lay that aside and take another if profession of religion fail them they will turn persecutors and those that now cry hail master will shortly cry crucify him they follow not Christ for love but for loaves and will be his servants so long and no longer then they gain by him they put their hands to the plow and look back and will have no more of religion then will do them good while it will stand with their credit profit or worldly advantages they will be religious when they must part with any thing they will not buy heaven at so dear a rate but let such take heed of mocking God that will not be mocked or of playing with this candle lest they burn their wings or approach too neer the sun of righteousness lest like Icarus they melt their waxen wings and they deceive them God can easily see through this thin vail of dissimulation and smell the filthy savour of an hypocrites rotten lungs this fire will soon discover this paint and without oyl in the vessel as well as a lamp in the hand there is no entring into the bridechamber it is not then a Lord Lord open to us will serve turn yea often this rotten inside will rot the outside also and those ulcers at the heart will break forth in the life and conversation oh my soul beware of hypocrysy that damning sin that ruines thousands and sends them to hell and unfits a man for any office or imployment in Church or state this will make thee hatefull both to God and man man will hate thee for thy profession God will hate thee for counterfeiting his colours and serving the devil in his livery if religion be bad why wilt thou profess it if it be good why wilt thou not practice it Make the tree good and his fruit good or make the tree evill and his fruit evill be as thou seemest or seem as thou art and do not dishonour God by a great profession and an evil conversation there is no deceiving God by a fained shew who
dead soul to God though the unsavoury smell of it be not perceived by natural men for how can one dead man smell another you may as well expect good fruit from a dead tree as any good action from a dead man perhaps something good for the matter may be done by a natural man as prayer fasting and almes-deeds from the Pharisees but the manner or ends spoil all but he that can say to dry bones live can say to a dead soul live and he that at the first brought light out of darkness can enlighten a darkned understanding The soul can act nothing truly good or acceptable to God till it be taken off the stock of nature and planted into that generous vine Christ then will it bear good fruit when it is nourished with sap from this root it must needs germinate and bring forth but without this there is neither bud nor blossome the soul by nature brings forth briars and brambles thorns and thistles weeds and baggage for to these it is not dead but only to good works these other are the fruits of the curse and these will choak the good seed and render it unprofitable the heart is alive to those but dead to grace and holiness of natural men God saith their vine is the vine of Sodom and of the field of Gomorrha their grapes are grapes of gall and their clusters are bitter their wine is the poyson of dragons and the cruel venime of asps their works yea their best works are pernitious the vine is their corrupt nature and the grapes their evil works which proceed from this vine their spot is not the spot of Gods people Deut. 32.5 the saints have their spots but these are not like theirs they are not so deeply ingraven wicked mens spots are like the Leopards not only in the skin but in the flesh yea in the very heart and therefore can be cured by none but Christ the great Physitian they cannot be cured by the art of man or washt away by any water the sin of the saints is but like the viper on Pauls hand through Gods mercy they hurt him not how many of these dead trees may we observe among us yea how few that be alive and few bear so much as a leaf they make no profession of Religion at all but deform the place where they are and procure a curse upon it I fear it may be said of England in a spiritual sence as once it was said of Egypt there was not a family that there was not some dead person in it and I fear there are very few free amongst us nay are not most familyes all thus spiritually dead and it appears they are dead when after twenty years dressing pruning watering and manuring and that by the most skilfull husbandmen who have spent their time their strength and their lives in the work yet they do not bring forth one leaf much lesse any good fruit and there is none can cure them but he that can put life into them and say to a dead soul live and can transplant them from the stock of nature into that noble vine Christ that they are dead is apparent for their souls have all the symptoms of death upon them they have neither heat nor breath nor sence nor motion if God call they hear not if his hand be stretched out they observe it not if a load of sin ly upon them as heavy as a mountain of lead they feel it not nor the deep gashes sin makes in the soul present before a dead man the bloudiest spectacle that ever was beheld or the pleasantest sight that ever was seen all is one he sees neither the one nor the other the roaring cannon and the sweetest musick is all one the sweetest savour and the fulsomest stink he cannot difference the lightest feather and the heaviest mountain signify the same the sweetest meat and the rankest poyson and why because he is dead no more can a dead soul judge of spiritual things promises and threatnings are all alike he is moved neither with the one or with the other oh my soul this hath been thy case thou hast been spiritually dead dead in trespasses and sins thou hast been spiritually deaf and dumb and blinde and lame and if it be better with thee bless God for it for it was he and not thy self put life into thee bring forth now fruit sutable to a tree that hath life that is transplanted into Christ that hath had such planting dressing and manuring as thou hast had that Gods labour be not lost upon thee oh my God remove those obstructions that hinder me from bearing fruit and purge me that I may bring forth more fruit put life into me and I shall live Upon a tree seemingly dead in winter 84. Med. WHen I observed in the winter-season those trees formerly green and flourishing and richly laden not with leaves only but good fruit but now were stript of all and had neither leaf nor fruit but lookt withered dead and dry and no difference appeared between the fruitfull and the barren yea scarce any between the living and the dead yet in the spring following when the sun shone upon them with a more direct ray and warm beams and the rain from heaven watered them and refresht them they revived sprung again budded bloomed and bare fruit I thought this did lively resemble a poor deserted souls condition in her widowhood when her husband hath forsaken her and seems to give her a bill of divorce when the sun of righteousness is either set upon her clouded or ecclipst or at least very remote from her sight then with the Marigold she droops hangs the head and is contracted into her self it is then winter with her and little difference appears between her and a dead soul at least in her own apprehensions when God hides his face from the soul or any thing interposes between them that she cannot see him then is she in a languishing condition and crys out with the spouse did ye see him whom my soul loveth Cant. 3.3 she cannot hide this fire in her bosome or conceal this love but it will break out then she goes from one Ordinance to another from one Minister to another enquiring after her husband Christ every corner of the house can witness her moan for his absence nothing will satisfie nothing will content but him give me Christ or else I die never did hungry man more earnestly desire meat nor thirsty man desire drink or Rachel desire children then an hungry soul desires Christ But when the sun of righteousness doth arise with healing in his wings Mal. 4.2 the soul that before was cold and chill now becomes lively and active these cherishing rays make her bud and bloom and bring forth what Job speaks of a tree seemingly dead and withered yet saith he through the scent of water it will bud and bring forth boughs like a plant Job 14.7 c. is really true of