of thy uprightnesse if thou have not Patience thou prayest and God heareth not thou askest he giveth not thou wouldest have plenty and behold want thou wouldest have health and strength and behold weaknesse thou wouldest have peace and behold warre thou wouldest have credit and behold slander thou wouldest be some and art no body and what will become of thy prayers if thou have not Patience To keepe Patience wee must be beholding to experience Try once how much profit Patience doth bring thee and thou shalt never bee weary of it thou shalt sinde succour feele comfort unexpected observe Gods providence forget not his love this will direct to the end where wee shall finde contentment when nothing shall make us more happy then that wee have suffered with Patience they that will not bee patient shall suffer more then wee but wee only which are patient shall receive the reward of suffering Meditation 6. Of Liberty VVEe love to take liberty and fare all the worse because our choice is of such as is agreeable to a nature sick and not sound God is necessarily good and yet doth good most freely man since his fall is necessarily evill and doth evill most freely but alas what a freedome is this so to bee overlookt by sinne that we cannot doe any thing to please God or to ease our selves Christ by his Gospell calleth us to a Liberty not of the flesh to live according to the lusts thereof not an outward liberty to discharge us from duties fit for our callings or prescribed by lawes not repugnant to the word of God but to a Liberty of the spirit first from the curse of the Morall Law by which we are subject to the wrath of God And this Liberty comes from the free remission of our sinnes in his bloud who is become our Saviour so that all the evills which befall us in this life even unto death it selfe turne unto our good and are sent not from an angry Judge but from a mercifull Father as it is said Wee are afflicted but not convicted we doubt but wee despaire not wee are persecuted but not forsaken wee are cast downe but wee perish not Secondly from the tyranny of sinne so that we doe not only begin to strive but doe also prevaile against it more and more and shall at last utterly overcome it even to the breaking of the Serpents head Thirdly from observation of ceremonies and judicialls of Moses as touch not tast not handle not and wee may freely use the creatures of God with sobriety and thanksgiving which are given for meat drink and apparell and use likewise or not use all things indifferent according to charity Fourthly from all Lawes and constitutions of men that they binde not the conscience as matters of salvation though for outward order and policy wee are in cōscience bound to observe them if they bee not contrary to Gods word but agreeable to the generall rules thereof this is true Liberty agreeable to the state of our first Creation and abounding more in grace it wee seeke for it for the which wee are continually to praise God the author thereof It is great Liberty to be out of bondage but it a greater to be the freeman of Christ it is a great Liberty to be taken out of the hands of a Tyrant but a greater to be rescued out of the power of sinne and Satan it is a great Liberty which Nobility doth challenge but a greater which a good conscience What a Liberty is it to doe that which is good to speake that which is wholesome and for edification to wrong no man not to wrong himselse to live without shame and to die without feare Let us detest the youths Liberty to have no Tutor the Theefes to escape the halter the fooles to scoffe at his Brother the blasphemers to sweare the wantons to bee unseene the drunkards to pledge healths and use much quaffing the malecontents to have no state the unthrifts to turn himselfe out of house and home Meditation 7. Humane frailty O Father Adam thy Children are all too much like thee would I were a Pillar of Marble in the House of my God that no tentation might shake mee no sinne displace mee or as the two Pillars of Solomons Temple Jatui and Boa that there might be certainty in my resolution and constancy in my courses A Christian is a man but I am more a man then a Christian nay rather a child then a man I weep for vanities and toies and cast hehind mee the Law of God more worth then the Gold of Ophir I would stand but I fall downe flat I would be better but prove worse I would sinne no more I did not to my knowledge sinne so much before Oh hell in this world to hate sinne yet to entertaine it to beare the shame the sorrow the smart of sinne and yet to shake hands withit Where shall I have teares enough to bewaile my sinnes my heart is broken with sighing and my braines dried up with weeping Would to God my head were a fountaine of teares and mine eyes rivers of waters to bewaile the desolation that sinne hath wrought within mee If I bee not able to match sinne in his strength why give I it time and not rather kill it while it is young If jealous thoughts and occasions not cut off doe increase his band why doe I suffer him to muster Souldiers in mine owne dominions Oh that wee could renew our fight when wee are put to flight as I have read of some people and take our pursuers at a disadvantage but when wee begin once to slie nothing can stay us and though no enemy follow wee run our selves out of breath The comforts wee might lawfully use are ten thousand times more then the pleasures wee unlawfully steale the devotion which Gods law asketh is free noble full of reward the tax which sinne imposeth base slavish beggerly yet how proud are wee in such poverty if wee compare our selves then are wee farre more circumspect more holy then others if any duty required of us then presuming of our owne strength wee follow Christ to the death and a little after deny him Peter did once I would wee did not often for lesse cause How necessary for us then is humility and prayer humility to value our selves as wee are and wee cannot indeed thinke worse of our selves then wee are wandring weake unconstant wilfull wicked and prayer that wee may find in God what wee want in our selves for surely he would never have sent his sonne amongst us had he not had care to redresse our miseries and to aske of the Father in the name of the Sonne is the way to bee gratious in obtaining our suits Let not thy unworthinesse discourage thee to come unto God nor let his mercy make thee forget thy vilenesse that keeping a hard hand on thy corruptions thou maist the better prevaile with God as Jacob did Meditation 8. Of
past have not refused to be Shepheards and they which at this day doe rule in the State have this as no meane title of their authority to be stiled Shepheards of the people yea God himselfe doth vouchsafe to expresse the Government which he taketh over his people under the title of Shepheard and Christ Jesus our Lord who died for mankind is called the great Shepheard of our Soules And indeed the charge over a flock or people are much like wee in England have a great desire to deale on Sheep and it is one of the chiefest commodities in the Countrey they are so profitable their Wool is in great request at home and with strangers their bodies are good for meat or medicine yea their very excrement have their use they are gentle of nature not dangerous to be handled as other beasts which are armed to defend or offend howbeit in this doth not the resemblance hold so well but if you respect the weaknesse and necessities of Sheep it may notably expresse the care the faithfullnesse the diligence which God useth in governing his people God is desirous to rule his servants as a flock of Sheep not for any great profit he can make of them neither is it intended of him which needs it not or lookt for there where it cannot be had for though their bodies were of excellent imployment by creation yet what are they of themselves since Adams Fall but cages of uncleane Birds nests of sinne grievously tainted with a sicknesse that in Sheep makes carcasse and Wool unprofitable It is alone then for our profit that hee will have us under government the Laws which he makes are not for his owne good which is infinite goodnesse in himselfe but for ours neither the courses which wee undertake under his direction for his happinesse who is eternall happinesse himselfe but for ours True it is that he addeth unto his Law authority to make us the rather yeeld unto that which is for our benefit and from his authority doth proceed reward or punishment that wee may know hee commandeth not in vaine Moreover the government of men as they best know which know State matters is the men themselves being so variable full of discontent and malice above all Creatures if wee will count them tame because of reason wee shall find them wild and savage by evill course and custome of life notwithstanding God doth make them so his owne whom he rules as his flock that none shall be able to pull them out of his hands he will not lose one of the least of them he leaveth the ninety and nine to seek out the wandring and lost Sheep and when he hath found him layeth him on his shoulders with joy and returning home maketh merry with his Neighbours for the Sheep that was lost but is found he knoweth his Sheep and is known of them he will lay downe his life for his Sheep and will not forsake them he bringeth them into the sweet pastures of his holy Word and refresheth them with the coole Waters of his Spirit he hath a rod and a staffe the rod keeps in his Sheep and the staffe keeps out the Wolfe by all which it commeth to passe that no flock is in such state as his they have a comely order in their going forth a provident provision of needfull things and sure safety all about them happy is he that can say The Lord is my Shepheard he that is not of this fold is of the Devils wast Christ hath many promises of good to be done unto his flock and for his flockes sake it is he cannot abide the Wolfe of which one is no good Neigbour and the other a deadly enemy to Sheep I count him the Wolfe which is the knowne adversary and the Goat is the loose Christian the adversary hath a bloudy mind and the loose Christian is offensive by an ill life Meditation 13. Dulnesse of Spirit THere is no disease more dangerous to a religious Soule then dulnesse or heavinesse of Spirit which makes the ground of the heart so cold that the seed of grace lyeth for a time as it were dead and hath no growth it makes the Christian either fearfull or slow to doe good and layeth him open to tentations it ariseth from the corruption of nature which is froward increaseth by diseases and discontentments and groweth to a head by particular doubts and uncertainties it hath strange Symptomes even in those which have beene well schooled and trained up in Christianity it suggesteth and would perswade them well-neare that it is all as well with the godlesse as the godly that he is in as good cause that sweareth as he that feareth an oath that an upright conscience is but a ceremonious scrupulosity formality and complement may serve as well that the world is not so unworthy a thing as lightly to be set by and the joyes of Heaven belong rather to Angels then men it is offended at hearing or reading Gods word prayers good workes holy meetings and hath some exception against them all it will perswade thee in particular that God doth not regard or so much as respect thy service and close with thee this at last if thy calling bee so worthy as thou wouldst make it yet art thou unworthy of thy calling unfit and so farre from speeding in it that it were better for thee to doe any other thing or just nothing I know not whereunto I may better compare this disease then to that which in women yong with child they call Longing when the stomach stopt with ill humours the appetite is altered and the Patient importunately desireth strange meats so in this cause naturall inbred corruptions striving against grace and abounding within doe alter the godly appetite making Gods servant loath his ordinary diet and exercises as being uncomfortable unsavory and to affect strange things contrary to the health of the Soule They which travell by Sea when they see it once calme and on a sudden to dance and shake and know no cause why looke for a tempest shortly after so this dulnesse or heavinesse which is so unquiet and out of order goeth many times before some greater sinne let it be considered whether such a kind of dulnesse came not on David before his adultery and numbring the people on the Disciples before they forsooke their master and specially on Peter before he denied his Lord. I put a difference betweene this heavinesse or dulnesse of spirit and that hardnesse of heart deadnesse or benumming which is proper to the wicked in cause for that proceeds from customes and habits in sinne from wilfull stubbernesse this from the reliques of corruption yet abiding in Gods children in degree that is without sense or feeling Like a lethargy this hath some resistance and like the fit of an Ague in event that doth make them worse and in the end overcome them this the godly doe overcome and after grow the better advised The meanes to avoid
this dulnesse is to converse with God and to keep our hearts in ure with him by calling to mind every day his benefits generall particular corporall spirituall what he hath done for thy Soule already what he will doe farther then to examine thy selfe how thou hast beene answerable that day for such kindnesse and love unto thee then to fall to prayer asking pardon for thy sinnes with a faithfull and penitent heart and entring into a new league betweene God and thy Soule to forsake sinne more earnestly and to serve God more carefully then in times past Meditation 14. Of Joy IT is good to rejoyce ever and never to rejoyce I meane carnally wee must not set up Joy as an Idol in our hearts as though there were no higher matter if a man ask us why wee are merry wee can say nothing but because wee love to be merry yet ought wee to preferre God to our Joy and the glory of God the good of our Neighbour and the health of our Soules wee must so rejoyce in temporall things that wee barre not our selves from heavenly comforts wee must be so familiar with outward things that wee grow nothing the more strange with God if otherwise wee sell our birth-right for Esaus Broth Canaan for the flesh-pots of Egypt and as it is commonly said Wee goe out of Gods blessing into a warme Sunne Take heed then to thy selfe it is lawfull for thee to use the blessings of God for thy necessity I say more for thy comfort and recreation so farre forth as doth concerne thy person yea thy state and calling but if thou use them for thy recreation only and have no farther or better end thou wilt quickly fall to the abuse respecting rather what thy appetite doth crave then God allowes God allowes no such use of his creatures as makes thee the lesse able or willing to serve him wherefore a restraint at least in affectation touching these things is better then by loosing too much the reins to our unruly flesh to suffer it to take the bridle and runne away let the feare of God be the steward of our expences and it shall make a good account for us if it cause us to passe by many worldly delights yet wil yield unto our consciences the sounder comfort for God doth bring unto him the joyes of the Holy Ghost which willingly forsakes outward pleasures the later end of such joyes is woe but of this it is said No man shall take it from you Wilt thou rejoyce ever me thought I heard thee say so bee sad ever to the world if thou smile with it let it bee from the teeth outward ingage not thy heart A strange Paradox that a man should bee sorry to make himselfe merry and these as strange wee must stand in feare to make our selves bold wee must bee fooles to bee made wise wee must die that wee may live Meditation 15. Humane reason IS not this our common answer Have I not reason to do as I doe yet are wee not to live by reason but by faith wheras we should rather say Doth not Gods word warrant mee to do as I do If Religion were but the improvement of Reason how would men entertaine it as their owne wheras now they suspect it as a stranger Many have thought that the Articles of Religion might winne credit from principles evident to the light of nature and that Philosophy hath laid as good grounds as Divinity Surely Humane learning can convince us well enough of many things wee doe but cannot bring us forward In that wee ought to doe for salvation it was a power in nature created to obey and beleeve if it would but now in nature decaied it is a want and it is not in mans will to beleeve and obey the truth and the misery is that it knoweth not how to find what it hath lost nor so much as that it hath lost any thing without a borrowed light the word of God is the powerfull meanes whereby the Holy Ghost which worketh inwardly in our hearts doth impart this light unto us our Reason is naturall Faith supernaturall Reason is the begining of Knowledge but Faith of Religion The Papists will say they have more Reason for their Religion then we for Free will Satisfaction Merits Purgatory Prayers Latine Service Images Pilgrimages Hierarchy stand all upon good grounds of Reason Let us give them what they aske wee may the more boldly challenge truth without which there is no Religion and to protest freely what wee maintaine and wherein wee desire by Gods grace to die wee follow not Reason in making choice of Religion but Gods word searching to understand the harder places and easy keeping our selves within the proportion of Faith refusing not the helpe of Humane learning for the phrase or story neither the testimony of better times by this word wee learne that man hath no good will nor hath his will power to returne to God untill grace make the will willing which of it self is unwilling and then but not till then doth it work with grace What if Reason deny this and teach the contrary By the word of God wee learne that there is no satisfaction for sins besides the death of Christ no merit to eternall life but his righteousnesse that sinnes are all mortall by nature though not equall that mans righteousnesse though done in grace is unperfect What if Reason deny this and teach the contrary By the word of God wee learne that bread in the Sacrament is not turned into the very body of Christ nor wine into his bloud yet that it is his very body and bloud to the faithfull communicant who is made partaker of whole Christ not by a grosse and fleshly incorporation but a ghostly and effectuall union What if Reason deny this and teach the contrary By Gods word wee learne that worshipping of Images amongst Christians is but a setting up of Idols as amongst the Heathen that Prayers in a strange tongue for the dead are neither devotion nor charity What if Reason deny this and teach the contrary By Gods word wee learne that Religion consisteth not in Popish shrift Penance difference of Meats Apparell Fasting Pilgrimage Reliques Crossing Holy-oile Holy-water Holy-bread Holybeades Holy-bells What if Reason deny this and teach the contrary to the decay of Christian obedience which consisteth in an inward mortisication and outwardly in a patient bearing of Christs crosse By the word of God wee learne that Christ is the only head of the Church and doth still governe the same by his spirit and word from which Gods Ministers or Priests fetch all their authority and hath not given over his place to another which should take authority above the word What if Reason deny this and teach the contrary By the word wee learne that the Scriptures have sufficient instruction to salvation What if Reason deny it and put us farther over to traditions revelations miracles to enforce doctrines contrary to the
word is not Reason justly to be suspected in all these things as thinking but too well of her self giving too much liberty to nature and justifying her owne hypocrisies for Gods good service of which it will not bee said as our Saviour of the lesser matters of the Law the tything of Mint and Cummin These things yee should have done but rather this Who required these things at your hands for which yee have left my commandements Now my Soule look to thy selfe how thou dost make thy choyce regard not that antiquity universality succession pompe authority which is not grounded on the truth in the word all these will follow Humane Reason regard the word of the Almighty and unchangeable truth it selfe which is alone sufficient without these and they without it nothing worth Meditation 16. Repentance deferred In Summer wee can provide for Winter in Youth wee lay up for Age but who in health doth prepare for sicknesse As long as wee doe well wee will not live well but put it over to that time when wee have much adoe to live then can wee not remedy what is past neither have we leasure to do better Repentance indeed is never too late and mercy may come on a sudden but repentance in health is the ordinary gift of God in sicknesse extraordinary because he doth not give it him which might and would not thou canst tell mee no cause why thou shouldst not repent when thou art well and I can tell thee many why thou canst not repent when thou art sick thy heart is a stranger to goodnesse and God to thee hardly canst thou heare good counsell but it is the hardest of all to settle thy selfe on it then when all things grow so troublesome and uncertaine Many have said it is too late would I could have followed it in times past neither have wee leasure to doe better Repentance indeed is never too late but sicknesse is the time past yet wilt thou not repent in health Dost thou make but a pastime of repentance take heed lest sicknesse be unto thee the end of a bad life which in health thou wouldst not amend and deliver thee over to endlesse death Oh my soule remember thy owne estate thou didst put over repentance and God did put thee over to sicknesse What discomfort was it to thinke on sinnes past what little hope hadst thou of good to come how unable wast thou to recollect thy selfe what meanes didst thou want to bee raised up if thou hadst any holy desire any feeling at the last thou wert more bound to thy Saviour which sought thee out a wandring sheep Where art thou now my soule what doest thou that which thou didst then promise to close nearer with thy God who hath given life to thy desire and yeares to thy life surely I have escaped a great harme and outlived my selfe good Lord have mercy on mee and graunt that I forget not thy goodnesse nor betray my selfe any more into the hands of danger thou knowest well enough what I am the worse for my abused health and if any thing the better for my sicknesse it is thy favour I like not my amendment halfe so well as I heartily lament my neglected time Meditation 17. Gifts of God and Men. ALl blessings without that one for whose sake they are bestowed are but a curse other blessings are given for a good life which is the chiefest blessing they are good but this makes us good they make us welcome to men as strength makes us welcome to the weake learning to the simple wealth to them which want authority to such as are oppressed but this makes us welcome to our owne consciences which entertaine us with a continuall feast to God which sayes welcome good servant for them wee must make reckoning but for this wee shall receive a crowne of righteousnesse yet see that men altogether admire and desire most the former kind of gifts to them give they a stile they come not without grace excellency majesty holinesse they call those that have them rulers benefactors Lords Princes but a good man is in no note no request and indeed he needs it not for he hath more then all the world can give him and his commendation is not from men but God Christ our Saviour the wisest steward provided not for himselfe or us blessings of the former kind but of the latter Judas had the bagge and Peter the sword but Christ in his heart had righteousnesse even to his lipps outwardly there was no guile found in his mouth and what he did by doctrine miracles passion for us tended to this end that being delivered from the captivity of sinne wee might bee made free men of righteousnesse and shew forth good workes to Gods glory The greatest gifts to this purpose that ever were bestowed on mankind was on that glorious day a white and happy day the Lords day a sunday 50 daies after the resurrection when according to his promise like a Prince new crowned he showred down the gifts of the Holy Ghost on his Church cloven and fiery tongues in terpretatiō of tongues knowledge to open the Scriptures and to apply them prophecy healing discerning of spirits and the like by which gifts Christ hath subdued the world and brought men from Idolatry and wickednesse to true godlinesse and righteousnesse amongst which doe excell Apostles Martyrs Confessors Virgins more famous in christianity then the demi-gods which anciently in the ruder times of the world have stored it with the rare invention of divers things profitable to the life of man Oh my soule how hast thou admired state greatnesse authority possession traine and pompe and if not to be one of them yet to bee neere unto them and though farther of yet that the beames of such glory might shine on thee And now observe whether in the meane while God hath not offered thee and thou by thy neglect hast lost better things and so hast proved to God unthankfull unprofitable to thy selfe Call to mind thy baptisme what intends it that thou following this most honourable profession into which thou hast entered shouldest bee enabled and incouraged to live a new life after the spirit and become a good man to God to this purpose comming to discretion God instructed thee in his word there wast thou made acquainted with the royall law his statutes and ordinances and with all the provisions cautions admonitions drawne from the same by the Prophets hence wert thou led on to the Gospell which met thee with abundant and effectuall grace and for thy better assurance that thou art received into the society and body of Christ he fed thee often in his blessed Sacrament with his owne body and bloud and for thy better guide in this course of salvation he hath afforded thee his owne and the examples of his holy ones which have shined as lights in a darke place What doth want unto thee that in the sight of God thou art above all
just subject to sinne There is also sinne so contrary to the conscience of the doer and joyned with such stubbornesse and wilfulnesse that it doth utterly wast decay the conscience killing all seed of goodnesse or godlinesse which sinne cannot stand with grace and there is a sinne of weakenesse or negligence to which the godly are subject and by which they fall grievously and there is likewise sinne in omitting duties required as also in committing things contrary to duty Now if the question be demanded what sinne may be admitted or committed most safely I answer none for all are by nature most deadly and if thou be drowned what odâ— to thee whether in the deep Sea or neare the shore If againe whether some sinnes be not to be avoyded more then others I answer thou art to make conscience of all sinnes the small to be hated as much as the great for the doing of one sinne is but a downfall unto another because thou hast still the lesse grace to resist and findest in thy selfe the greater pronenesse to yeeld unto the next temptation yet thou maist use a speciall caution against those wherein thou hast beene faulty or which by nature do sway most with thee or which being little accounted of in the world are reserved to Gods judgment as Saint Paul saith of whoremongers and adulterers God will judge them What will it profit mee though no mortall man know my faults or if they know them take them for none or very small faults if God at the last condemne mee for them Againe whether sinnes of omission be greater then sinnes of commission as who sinneth more he that suffereth a man to die for want of bread which he could have given him or he which killeth a man and taketh money from him to serve his necessity I hold the sinnes on both sides so great that for to save thy owne life and to gaine a world besides thou shouldest not venture to commit one of them in evils of this nature there is no choice the least is an infinite mischiefe and God doth not hate evill more then he loveth goodnesse and therefore as thou turnest thy back from the one so must thou chearfully embrace the other neither can a man well refraine from doing things contrary to duty except he busy himselfe diligently in the parts of his duty for as nature cannot abide vacuum so neither the will of man not be working and neuters are unto God hatefull of all men If againe it be demanded what is to be done after one hath sinned if sinne be deadly I answer thou must not despaire as a man utterly lost neither give place to sinne that it carry thee away but thou must stirre up thy selfe to a just sorrow for sinne specially that thou canst be no more sorry or touched then thou art and to this purpose it shall not be amisse to meditate of Gods majesty justice and severity against sinne of the grievousnesse of thy owne sinne and how foolishly for some vaine trifle in giving place to thine owne appetite thou hast offended him and when thou feelest thy selfe thus confounded it behoveth thee to remember that God is mercifull and ready to forgive them that repent yet so that thou canst not be reconciled unto him by any of thy owne merits or satisfaction but only by the death and passion of his sonne Christ in whom thou must seek pardon and grace to rise againe Meditation 39. Free confession ZOpyrus a great Philosopher being new know every mans inclination at first sight one day hee viewed Socrates much as he read and they which sate by him pressed him to tell what his opinion was of Socrates he answered I know well that of all men he is the most wicked and vile this tale was forth with carried to Socrates by a Scholler of his which mocked at the Philosopher but Socrates cried out Oh most profound Philosopher thou hast found out indeed my inclination but I have beene altogether drawne from it by Philosophy Behold the ingenuity of Socrates he doth not dissemble his bad disposition but confesseth it The word of God is that Philosophy which not looking on the outward lineaments of the body faith this or that man is ill inclined but which discerning and trying the heart and reines judgeth all men naught and saith of us when it tels us what wee are from Adam that wee are borne in sinne that wee are prone to all sinne and doe nothing but sinne greedily and continually from our cradle to our cossin Now where is there that Socrates amongst us Christians that in such a cause doth freely confesse his naughtinesse that wee doe not it is manifest because wee seek not for grace which might heale the corruption that lieth hid in us Socrates knew his naughty disposition before he was told of it and provided forthwith a remedy to alter it but wee have no respect of the one or the other I had rather be Socrates striving against my ill inclination then a lewd Christian arrogating goodnesse to my selfe which I have not or not seeking grace which I want Meditation 40. Ignorant teachers and ill hearers THe discourses of some Teachers are like a Labyrinth they make their entry plaine briefe easy but after they have gotten their auditors in they lead them on through such by matters as questions doubts resolutions conclusions quotations illustrations digressions transitions that the poore Auditor is quite lost for neither knowes he whence he came nor where he is nor how he may get out againe I cannot blame any true University man for this fault but those which came thither to steale other mens labours and fled away by night for heare you such a one his clothes are not more sutable to his profession then his Sermon to his text and if he find his auditor a Sceptick he makes him an Academick if an Epicure he makes him a Stoick if an Infant he makes him a Man so doth God alwaies blesse good meanes and they thrive not so well which take the Plough in hand and are not acquainted with that kind of Husbandry Such a man is the most necessary of all others for his use and ought to bee the most excellent amongst men for his gifts gravity sanctity integrity divinity affability discourse that when men behold him they may see a second Samuel comming downe from the Lords Mount and they are to be commended which provide for them honour and maintenance I see that all auditors popular mixt or pure desire to have a wise and eloquent speaker wherein they are so curious of their choice that amongst many scarce any hath that happinesse to please the major part but as for the auditors themselves they never reckon in what manner they heare and though they beare away very little yet they think it enough if they can give this report The man spake well and to the purpose whereas in the course and order of these things it is
call consummate in the life to come is in his highest degree and without this imperfection Content as it proceeds from a comfortable use of particular things is either in respect of things tending to the being of life or to the well being and they which tend to the being of life are of two sorts some without which life cannot be as dirt and apparell others without which it cannot be else so liberally and worthily maintained as riches friends dignities and degrees of life and they which tend to wel being are also of two sorts some which are but meere helpes as arts and sciences some which are the well being it selfe of life as wisedome prudence morall vertues for in all these things as there is a good in respect of the giver and the end for which hee gives them so out of them particularly there doth arise a particular and generally a more generall content and therefore both these may be considered againe as outward or inward content the outward is that which commeth from externall things and yet no false content though they be common both to good men and bad And though I said before that false content is that which proceedeth from things seeming good and are not for they are indifferent and have their name from the use to them that use them well they are good but else not so and as flowers or fruit which otherwise would corrupt are preserved in sugar so those outward things which otherwise might prove to be evill are preserved in goodnesse by the sweetnesse and strength of vertue This then is the difference betweene the content which groweth from inward and outward things that outward things are not content in it selfe but as referred to the inward and inward things are content unto it selfe without the outward There be two things which helpe the good in the use of outward things first they have a right judgement of them to know that they are not simply good or necessary but indifferent and secondly they are indifferently disposed towards them to have them or to be without them when they have them they are content with them as they have them because of the good use which is to be made of them and when they have them not they are contented to have used them well and to be no more busied with them as setting their minds on the better things and without this equability of mind there is no content to be had in outward things the inward content is from the true knowledge of God the feeling of his favour and the testimony of a good conscience that wee heartily desire in all our life to obey him and this workes a wonderfull content when as the heart loving God and desiring him doth feele it selfe beloved againe of God yea loved first and before he himselfe did know how to love God and whence all his love and duty doth grow But here it may perhaps be said that they which serve God have the least content of all men for the world is against them and they against the world and as for these things wherein doth consist their chiefe content if wee shall beleeve them they complaine they want much and have very little as the Prophet David where hee saith As the Hart panteth for the rivers of water so panteth my soule after thee O God What content might that soule have which was so emptied with neede and so stretched out in desire and lived in expectation of the good it had not From that antipathy which is betweene the world and Gods servants doth arise their chiefest content for instead of the world they have God to be their steward and provider and the godly soule which having tasted of the sweetnesse of Gods mercy findeth unspeakeable content therein and thirsteth to drinke more yet without discontent though not without desire and this humility and vehement appetite in the children of God maketh their content the greater Thinke what a wretch thou art and most unworthy of that content thou oft feelest that thy content is choaked by turning thy desires after vanity or sinne which are the poyson of content labour by obedience and patience in the end to attaine full content in the meane space be not out of heart if many times thou have it not for God will try thee by all meanes seeke content in the best things else thou wilt lose it in all Meditation 42. Malice and Pride THe worke of sinne is an imitation of the devill but there are two which practised by men do make them in a short time as cunning as their crafts-master and to turne as right after him as any child can after his father they are Malice and Pride the devils malice is so great towards God though his Lord that there can be nothing more hatefull unto him than to be obedient to his will whose service wee count perfect freedome and doth for this cause what in him lyes that the holy and just lawes of God should be held of no force no authority by breaking them himselfe and causing others so to do and by maintaining lawes of his own repugnant to Gods as Idolatry Magicke and the like and so much doth hee please himselfe in this course that hee counteth himselfe and his followers for this doing better and more noble than other creatures as Angels and men which continue in obedience whom hee esteemes but as base slaves for that as hee saith they consent to live in such a bondage whereas living as hee doth under no command they might at least be Gods themselves in conceit and therefore against all such for the malice hee beares to God and obedience to him hee bendeth all his force and sleights if he cannot winne them hee will weary them and hee boasteth that hee hath more to follow his command than God hath And there is nothing that doth vexe him more and indeed it is his hell that when hee hath most deeply plotted and diligently practised to bring to passe a mischiefe to the dishonour of God or the hurt of his servants hee perceiveth himselfe in the end to come short of his purposes because the goodnesse of God by infinite wisdome power and mercy doth over-reach the depth of his malice using him onely to discover his owne naughtinesse but turning the businesse to his owne glory and the good of his servants and leaving him at last unto his shame as in the fall of Adam affliction of Job and the passion of our Saviour this makes him to eate and teare himselfe that hee should be but an instrument which would be counted a master of the worke and in all these appeareth his malice his pride is so great that though hee know himselfe to be over-ruled by Gods power and cannot go beyond the length of his chaine though hee suffer extreme punishment for his rebellion as separation from the divine presence and horror and though hee knowes God is very mercifull yet disdaines hee to