good and with Paul I am ready not only to be bound but to die for Christ Upon a Garden spoiled through bad fence 19. Med. WHen through bad fence carelesly heeded my garden was much spoiled and wasted by swine and other cattle some cropping off the heads of tender buds and plants some rooting up both root and branch and also by their treading of it much defaced the beauty of it and that which even now seemed pleasant and amiable suddenly seemed a rude indigested and deformed piece so that not without much labour pains and care I secured the fence made up the breaches and all I could do could not at present bring it to its former estate and pristine beauty all which injury might have been prevented with a little foresight and pains-taking how much better is it to prevent an injury then remedy it to prevent a disease then repell it to keep out an enemy then drive him out the cockatrice-egg is better broken while it is an egg then destroyed when it is a serpent sin is better destroyed in the bud then when it is ripe The injury sustained in my garden was something requited by this following Meditation If a garden a small plot of ground cannot be preserved from danger without care and pains-taking without a good fence about it and an needfull eye upon it because it hath so many enemies how then can the soul a more curious garden which is in a thousand times greater danger be kept safe without a fence and watchful guard here are more choise herbs and flowers then the other hath of greater worth beauty and vertue more subject to injury spoil and rapine and these have greater subtiller and more malicious enemies that seek their destruction the devil and his instruments who goes about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour 2 Pet. 5.8 if he finde the fence down or the watch neglected and the watchman either asleep or careless he will enter destroy and waste he envies our condition that we should enjoy that paradice that he left the comforts he once had he hath a spite and hatred against God and goodness and opposes his image wherever he sees it this is the wilde boar out of the wood and the wilde beast out of the forrest that doth devour it Psal 80.30 The devil and the world besiege the fort of our souls and our own heart that inbred traitour watches to surrender it into his hands a thousand snares and nets are spread for this turtle and she is in continual danger in every calling in every condition in every relation in every creature we have to do with in every duty nay in every action some snare or other is laid to intrap us in youth and old age in sickness and health in prosperity and adversity in honour and disgrace all have their peculiar snares our nearest relations oft times betray us into his hands thus Eve betrays Adam thus Jobs wife would have betrayed him thus Lots daughters betrayed him and Peter would have betrayed Christ himself get thee behinde me satan Mat. 26.23 he did his good will to hinder him in the course of his calling we may many times discry a devil in our nearest friends he speaks to us by them we have enemies without and enemies within and many snares are laid for our feet how warily then have we need to walk many are the foxes that destroy these vines Cant. 2.15 what care then need we to have of our souls when they are in so continuall danger and so many snares laid for our feet temptation without and corruption within ofttimes prevail against us and we are snared by it oh my soul hast thou so bloudy and bloudy-thirsty an enemy to deal with that is so malicious so crafty and politick hast thou so strong and potent an enemy to deal with that seeks thy ruine and makes it his business to undo thee oh what need then hast thou to stand upon thy guard if thou fall into his hands nothing but the everlasting destruction of body and soul will satisfie him quit thy self therefore like a man stand upon thy guard resist the devil and he will fly from thee there is none but these throw down their weapon and quit the field that are vanquisht by him though others may be foiled look to the main fort the heart if that be surprized thou art undone lay in provision and ammunition there for a siege watch the five cinque-ports the senses for oft times he sails in with the tide make a covenant with thy eyes take heed to thy ears and other senses examine every passenger that comes in lest he prove treacherous and every one that goes forth to this end set a watch over thy mouth that thou offend not with thy tongue get on the whole armour of God mentioned Eph. 6.11 12 13. the sword of the spirit and the darts of prayer are prevalent thou art to fight with principalities and powers these contended with the angell for Moses his body but with thee for thy precious soul no peace can be had with him no truce can be obtained but upon the condition of the everlasting destruction of soul and body whatever his promises are hell will be his wages a thousand thousand have been deceived by him that took his word look to thy affections that they straggle not lest like Dinah they be ravished by him stand fast and thou wilt prevail call in thy captain Christ to thine assistance so shalt thou be the victor and if thou overcome thou shalt reign with Christ Oh my God be thou my defender I have no strength against these potent enemies neither know I what to do only my eyes are up unto thee O let no cruel beast devour thy turtle that is true do thou watch over me or I shall wake in vain teach me the use of the Christian armour rebuke the tempter and chain him up that he may not hurt me keep me under the shadow of thy wings hide me in the hollow of thy hand preserve me from the rage of this bloud-thirsty enemy and keep me out of the snares that are laid for my feet then shall I praise thee with an upright heart and tell what God hath done for my soul Upon a Mole spoiling the garden 20. Med. WHen I had thus fenced my garden and secured it as I thought from the injury of all enemies that were visible and began to wax secure and careless as if out of the reach of danger behold an inbred traitor an unseen and unexpected enemy did me no little injury a dispicable creature blinde as is reported yet was the occasion to me of no small trouble a poor contemptible Mole ere I was aware digged and rooted up my herbs and flowers disordered my work and spoiled the beauty of it and proved such an enemy then when she was descried I knew not which way to fence for her and for a considerable time knew not how to
wood but leaves off before it be kindled and so all his labour is lost This duty enables a man with Paul to die dayly and with Stephen to see God with Moses to talk with God and with Enoch to walk with God It fits a Minister to preach and the people to hear neither of which can be well done without it that sermon that is not well set on by meditations seldom heats the preachers heart and then the people seldom feel it for a dull and drowsy preacher makes a dull and sleepy people when the minister preaches his own life and experiences this is the life of preaching This meditation is a serious bending of the minde upon some useful subject till we bring it to some profitable issue Occasionall meditation which is it we now treat of ariseth from some occasionall object presented to our sences or understanding by divine providence of which though examples may be given yet hardly can it be restrained or brought under rules for it may be varied according to the variety of the objects presented or other accidents occurrences or circumstances that offer themselvs or the will of the person or his ability the objects that offer themselves are various and innumerable for there is nothing in rerum natura but may be a fit object for occasional meditations God hath given us a large field to walk in and choise of flowers pluck what we will to put into our nose-gay we may gather honey from flowers and weeds out of our own or neighbours fields without offence which way soever we look within us or without us above us or below us before us or behinde us or on either side we may see suitable matter for our meditation above us we may see the sun moon and stars those glorious lamps of heaven who offer themselves not only to our view but also to our contemplation their light their heat their influence their various though unerring motions their magnitude altitude number nature splendor vertue and effects may breed admiration in us as well as in David Psal 8.3 4. and 19.1 or should we descend to sublunary things to the fiery or ayery regions and observe the several meteors in both that present themselves to our view we may finde matter not only for meditation but also for admiration if we consider a while the winde the snow the rain the frost the ice c. all brought out of Gods treasury Psal 135.7 the thunder and lightning with their strange effects the strange apparitions often seen in the air comets blazing-stars dragons fire-drakes c. armies fighting in the air Lyons bears horses and many other things there resembled raining bloud wheat frogs stones c. all this may raise our admiration veiw but the rain bow in its shape and various colours it deserves our consideration The powerful influence of these superiour bodies in exhaling and retaining those hugh weighty and towring clouds those bottles of heaven in the open air and watering the earth with them at their makers pleasure without which neither man nor beast could subsist who can view those things without consideration or if we look upon the earth out of which we were taken we may finde matter enough to exercise our thoughts observe this huge and massy globe hanging in the air upon nothing consider it as it is distinguished into hills and dales and woods and forrests adorned with sumptuous buildings Towns and Castles abounding with trees of all sorts with corn and grass with herbs and flowers watered with rain and showers rivers springs and fountains inhabited with a thousand times ten thousand living creatures of all sorts men and beasts fowls and creeping things all maintained at the great housholders charge who preserves them in their several kindes consider also the perenity of rivers the cause and perpetuity of springs of all sorts some hot some cold some sweet some bitter some salt some fresh some medicinal some not this observation may take up some time or should we consider the several minerals lodged in the concaves of the earth as of gold silver brass tin iron lead allom brimstone coals lime stone and much more and how useful and necessary these are to human life This may teach us many profitable lessons Or should we go to sea to see the wonders of the deep and observe how the huge and roaring element is restrained and bounded by an almighty arm that saith hitherto shalt thou go and no further or if we consider the ebbing and flowing of it a wonder in nature or the numberless number of living creatures therein which are fed and cherished by those salt and brackish waters yet retain their sweetness or if we consider the cause why those waters alone are salt and so remain though a thousand fresh rivers dayly run into it together with their strange creatures therein produced these considerations will take up much time but of all the creatures God hath made none yield more matter for meditation then angels and men Angels both the good and the bad their nature essence and offices and man considered in his body and soul the order use comliness and proportion of the several parts the vegetative sensitive and rational faculties of the soul the understanding will and affections the memory conscience and many more the several sences whereby the soul comes to understand things here below these things deserve consideration but to let pass the works of creation and consider a while Gods works of providence these will take up much of our time we may see and observe the course of nature the generation and production of the several species with their preservation protection and the provision made for them by their Creator he maintains the several species by his providence that for ought we know there is not one kinde of them extinct since the creation nay the power of man was never able to destroy those kindes that are noxious to man and therefore hated by him yet are these maintained by divine providence at his own cost and charges But his providence is more clearly seen and discovered in his providence to man especially to his own Church in maintaining a handfull of men against their numerous enemies these are preserved as lambs amongst wolves and is the bush that is ever burning yet never consumed he spred a table for them in the wilderness in dispight of their enemies the wonderful providence of God for his Church in all ages in Scripture-times and down to this day may fir us with much matter for meditation The word of God also as well as his works may yield much matter for contemplation it furnished David for meditation day and night every Book every Chapter yea every verse is fruitful abundantly that had we the years of Methusalem the time would be too little to run through the Scripture and to consider of all that is held forth therein here are precepts and promises threats and examples for our good
of the fruits 39. Med. AT the end of the year when I received in the crop the fruits of the earth for which I had laboured and for which I had long waited I began to consider what a poor reward this is for all my labour if I must expect no more and what a sad condition poor labouring men are in that moil and toil and cark and care and have much ado for bread to eat and cloaths to put on and this is their all yea they run in arrears to God for this also and are like to be cast into prison for ever and yet we may see the folly of the most they take no care for any other riches but frame to themselves a poor pittifull happiness in these and are never like to have any pleasure here or hereafter but what they fancy to themselves in some sinfull vanity the receiving in of these fruits of the earth as the reward of my labour put me in minde of the reward which believers shall receive at the last day at the hand of God for all the labour toil and trouble they have had which will be a better recompense then the earth can give the husbandman for his pains let us not then be weary of well-doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not Gal. 6.9 he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting ver 8. he that cares only to feather his nest store up riches fit the back and fill the belly and lets the soul sink or swim he is like to have a miserable harvest but they that sow in tears shall reap in joy he that goeth forth weeping bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoycing bringing his sheaves with him Psal 126.5 6. Be patient therefore brethren saith the Apostle till the coming of the Lord behold the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruits of the earth and hath long patience for it till he receiveth the early and the latter rain be you also patient stablish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh Jam. 5.7 8. Now believers sow the seed and water it with their tears but it is not long before the reward comes behold I come quickly saith Christ and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be Rev. 22.12 hold out faith and patience saith the Martyr your work will presently be at an end hope holds up the husbandmans heart and may much more the Christians these things also put me in minde of the great harvest at the end of the world when the great husbandman shall send out his servants the angels to reap down his field and gather in his corn Mat. 13.38 the field is the world the good seed are the children of the kingdom the tares are the children of the wicked one the enemy that sows them is the devil the harvest is the end of the world the reapers are the angels as therefore the tares are gathered together and burnt in the fire so shall it be in the end of this world the day is coming that all shall be brought to judgment and the precious shall be seperated from the vile the good corn shall be brought into the barn but the tares are reserved for the fire the tares and the wheat may grow together in one field but shall never lodge together in the same barn for as the tares cannot well be weeded out which in the blade some say much resemble the wheat and is hardly known till the fruit appears so though God can discern the hypocrite from the sincere yet hypocrisy may be spun with so fine a thread that the best discerning Christian can hardly do it but the time is coming the angels shall know them and they are not to go into the same garner they must be bundled up for the fire when the wheat must be brought into Gods barn oh my soul what seed hast thou sown against that harvest hast thou sown to the flesh then of the flesh thou wilt reap corruption if to the spirit thou wilt of the spirit reap life everlasting what grain art thou art thou wheat or tares then maist thou know whether thou art to go to the fire or into the garner rest not satisfied till thou know that thou art wheat and neither with the tares bring forth bad fruit nor with the chaff fly away with the winde it is not enough to have a flourishing blade so the stony ground had and yet came to nothing it is not enough to make a profession of religion so the foolish virgins did they had lamps but no oyl a profession but no grace it is not enough to have talents but thou must improve them or thou wilt be sentenced to outer darkness it is not enough to grow in the same field be manured by the same hand heated by the same sun and watered with the same showers thus the tares were but there must be good feed well-rooted springing up and bearing fruit in thy heart thou maist live under the same Minister enjoy the same ordinance with the wheat and yet still be but a tare oh my God discover my self to my self and let me not be deceived by a cunning devil and a deceitful heart if I be a tare Lord let me know it ere it be too late that I may sow better seed in my field that I may be gathered into thy barn and not be bundled up with the tares for the fire let my heart bring forth good fruit fit for the basket good wheat fit for thy barn solid wheat that may not be blown away with the winde and much fruit that I may glorify thy name let me not sow to the flesh but to the spirit that I may not reap corruption but life everlasting let me not be deceived in so great a business as the salvation of my soul Upon the beating out of the seed 40. Med. WHen I had gathered in the seed and the fruits of the earth my next work was to make a separation the good from the bad for though some separation was already made and the weeds and other trash were cast out and left behinde yet still there were stalks and husks and chaff adhering to it to this end I threshed rubbed pounded or beat it out according as I saw occasion for I saw it would not out without some violence and that which was most stubborn and gave most resistance received most blows till at length my end was obtained and the separation made this put me in minde of the necessity of affliction how needful it was for the soul which is pestered more with chaff and rubbish then any corn can be though now saith the Apostle for a season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations c. 1 Pet. 1.6 when the heart grows too light God makes it heavy with manifold
better provided the soul here wears the body as a garment which when it is worn out the saints shall have a better suit they shall be choathed with the Lord Jesus Christ death will not spare the best there is no coming to paradice but under the flaming sword of this guardian that stands at the porch no wiping all tears from our eyes but with our winding-sheet assurance of Gods love makes a man even willing to die but the cook on the dunghill knows not the worth of this jewel oh the blindness madness and stupidity of man whose care is to lade himself with thick clay and to take care what he shall eat or what he shall drink or wherewithall he shall be cloathed and makes no provision for the soul but depends upon that for comfort that can do no good when most need is they can provide in the day for the night in the summer for the winter on the market-day for the whole week and at a Fair for the whole year and yet make no provision in life for death or in time for eternity if a coelestial habitation be not provided against those houses of clay our bodies wherein the soul lodgeth as a tenant at will be dissolved our lodging will be worse then with toads and serpents even with the devil and his angels in endless easeless and remediless torments oh my soul how fares it with thee or what preparation hast thou made long it cannot be before night comes where then will be thy lodging the earth then will be to thee as the waters to Noahs dove thou wilt finde no rest here for the sole of thy foot it is in heaven that the weary be at rest Job 3.17 oh my God enable me to clear up my interest in Christ who is the only sanctuary for a troubled soul Upon sickness spoiling all earthly delights 98. Med. WHen I had fitted things to my minde and began to take delight in the works of my hands when I began to sing a requiem to my self and my heart with Solomons rejoyced in all my labour Eccl. 2.10 yea when I had promised my self content in what I had done I was suddenly forced to say with wise Solomon Eccles 14. behold all is vanity and vexation of spirit nothing in themselves yet sufficient to vex and perplex us sin hath produced a confusion in the world and stampt vanity upon the creature every man saith David in his best estate is altogether vanity this is the impartiall verdict brought in by one that could best tell and to this I was forc't to subscribe for God immediatly humbled me for setting my affection upon creature-comforts and let me see the vanity of them by visiting me with a fit of sickness that I was taken off from setting my delight or taking satisfaction in or upon them or taking any pleasure in any thing that I had done nay I was troubled that I had not spent my time better and that I had not planted set or sown in a more fertile soil where I might have expected a more plentiful encrease and had a better crop this providence seemed to speak to me as Christ did to the rich man Luk. 12.16 c. that set his heart on his riches and was not rich to God thou fool this night shall thy soul be required of thee and then whose are these this shewed me more of the vanity of humane felicity then I had before observed I plainly saw there was a double uncertainty in all earthly felicity and in sublunary enjoyments for they themselves are very uncertain and many times short-lived and may leave us or we may by death be arrested and then we shall leave them God sometimes takes them from us they take themselves wings and fly away and shall we set our eyes upon things that are not Pro. 23.5 there is no solid substance in them though the foolish world call it by that name they are as transitory as a hasty headlong torrent but if they remain we shall remove for our life passeth away as a shadow or post or weavers shuttle and continueth not and then those winged fouls that now sit upon our trees shall sit upon other mens sometimes God blows upon them and blasts them that though we do enjoy them they prove but a vexation to us sometimes he disables us to use them and sometimes imbitters them to us mixing them with gall and wormwood that we can finde no pleasure in them and assuredly they will do us little good when we have most need suppose a man to have what the world can afford yea all the delights of the sons of men yea all that his heart can wish as Solomon had Eccl. 2.27 yet one hours sickness spoils all his mirth and robs him of all the comfort he promised to himself one fit of the collick gout strangury or other raging pain yea the extream pain of an aking tooth puts a man besides all these his enjoyments yet how greedily do men grasp after the world as if it included the highest degree of happiness and hug it in their bosome and lodge it nearest to the heart which will prove no better nay much worse then a bush of thorns if graspt too hard so this the harder it is handled the worse it hurts oh folish man cannot these earthly enjoyments give ease to an aking head or heart can they not mitigate the pains of the gout collick stone or strangury and can it be imagined they can ease the conscience or cure a sinsick soul if not what good can they do it could Judas Achitophel Spira and others fetch any comfort here in their extremity no no they are like Jobs friends miserable comforters at such a time what good will gold do at death and judgment this coin is not currant in the other world nay in this world it brings little content if God frown if one spark of hell-fire flash in the conscience all these things cannot extinguish it one drop of it will mar a whole cup of earthly delights that in the midst of laughter the heart will be sorrowful and the end of that mirth will be heaviness Pro. 14.13 nulla est sincera voluptas wicked men may dance to the timbrel and harp but suddenly they turn into hell Job 21.12 13. and their merry dance ends in a miserable downfall the candle of the wicked shall out in a snuff and what will all these outward enjoyments signify then Jobs flower Jonahs gourd and Davids green bay-tree will soon wither and their beauty will fade all these things will leave us at death many times before how much need then have we to make preparation before-hand of something that will stand us instead This sickness of mine also taught me how unfit a time this was for repentance and yet how many post it off till then oh how unfit was I to examine my heart and call my sins to minde to repent of them when racking pains brought
discover to us the state of the fallen angels and of the rich glutton and the state of the damned if no profitable use could be made of it no place is so barren as a barren heart each dead tree will yield some fruit to us if the soul be not dead I have pluckt here and there a flower as others have done before me and he that comes after us may finde as good as any we have gotten Those I have gathered are rather to comfort the heart then to please the fancy rather to benefit the soul with their vertue then to please the eye with their beauty their nature if I mistake them not is to draw the heart and affections to God and cool and deadden it to the world and sin But a gracious heart is then required to make the extraction for if it be mixt with the dregs of hypocrisy it will prove useless The hypocrite like a puppet in a play may counterfeit mans shape and gestures yea like a parrat his voice when he understands not what he saith or doth yea such a one mars all he sets his hands to but a good man hath an holy heart as well as a holy tongue and this will prove a soul-satting Ordinance to such a man this will raise up the heart to hoaven which is one of our surest evidences for heaven If any yet pleade there are too many books on this subject extant already the more shame for us then that the duty is so much neglected that is not sufficiently taught that is not sufficiently learnt and I fear those that are readiest to make the objection are not the most conscientious in the performance of the duty There are many that make conscience of morning and evening prayers in their families that spend little time in this duty if any quarrel at the language these meditations speak let them know my designe is to make men live better and not to make them speak better if they speak the language of Canaan they will be understood by true Israelites and will be owned by those that had rather be fed then flattered it is a distempered stomack that must be fed with kickshaws truth looks best in the plainest dress and a diamond needs no painting via trita est via tuta and plain sence is the best orthography of an honest heart In short the reason why I write upon this subject is not to please mens humours or satisfy squeasy stomacks but because I judge this to be a necessary though much neglected duty and therefore most necessary to be treated of As for the last of your demands why I praefix your names to it I think there are none that knows both you and me and my engagements to you that need stumble at it but I shall answer it first negatively and then affirmatively I do it not because I think you have more need of it then others for I know but few better able then you to gather such flowers as these for your selves But it is because I think you are better able to judge of it then most are and if you think I have not mist my way I care not much what those say that never travailed in this road I speak to those that understand the language for to others haply I may seem a barbarian A hypocrite may pretend to the language but understands it not he spoils this as well as all his other duties I present this first to you for if it pass this text I matter not much what many others say of it And also that thereby I may tell the world rather then you what my thoughts are of you and to point them out a pattern for their imitation for I verily believe and I think upon serious observation that the several branches of both your families do maintain the vitals of religion and the power of godliness in as eminent a manner as any family of your rank that I know in the Nation and keep themselves as unspotted in the world and as free from the contagious diseases of the times And he that is the searcher of all hearts knows I speak my thoughts without flattery or fauning and I do it for no sinister end but as Solomon did commend the good huswife Pro. 31.29 that God may be glorifyed for his bounty to you and your hands may be strengthned in well doing and others may take example by you and your lives may be for their imitation I cannot praise my present any further then from the truth of the heart that sends it had it been better it had been sent with a better will I send it as a poor man doth a present to his superiour not to supply his wants but to manifest his love thankfulness and dependence upon him or as a debtor to his creditor who when he cannot pay the debt pays the interest or at least testifyes his willingness if ability be wanting What I have done in this my undertaking I judged to be my duty David bids us commune with our own hearts Psal 4.4 and he calls upon others Psal 66.16 come and hear all ye that fear the Lord and I will declare what he hath done for my soul I have not the confidence to think that this or any thing I can do can pass the test of this critical age or indeed can contribute much to the adorning of the spouse of Christ I know a handfull of goats-hair was not formerly rejected neither will a cup of cold water where there is no better nor two mites where there is no more by him from whom I expect my reward When you can write fairer then the Copy which will quickly be you may lay it aside and give it to some one that cannot for whose sake it was chiefly written but that it may prove beneficial both to you and yours and to the Church of God for the advancing of the the power of godliness and the life of religion and the restoring this too much neglected duty of holy meditation shall be and is the desire and prayer of him who is Eaton Jan. 12. 1676. Your ever obliged Servant Edward Bury To the Reader Courteous Reader I Have here presented thee with a bundle of Meditations most of them occasional I am not so conceited as to imagine there is any great excellency in them nor so foolish to trouble my self to write or others to reade them did I judge them altogether useless the duty I know is necessary and beneficiall and many Christians can write a probatum est upon it and say it hath been so to them however it is too much neglected by the most I have not long since published some directions how to perform the several parts of Gods worship amongst the rest this of meditation was one and that which is set or solemn was chiefly insisted upon but that which is occasional more briefly touch't which indeed cannot well be bounded but is varied according as the time place
95 l. 9. for then r. that p. 102. l. 3. f. stars r. clouds p. 102. l. 17. for word r. clouds p. 120 l. 9. f. and r. of p. 139 l. 11. for this stake r. the stake p. 153 l. 11. for way r. wall p. 161. l. 13. for savages r. slaves p. 169 l. 13. for occulta r. occultae p. 181. l. 17. f. David r. Daniel p. 184. l. 23. for petivit r. petunt p. 200 l. 27. for ware r. wine p. 200. l. 29. for volunt r. nolunt p. 215. l. 13. bane left out Divine Meditations Consisting of Observations Applications And Supplications Vpon the Earth I. Meditation WAlking in the garden in the cool of the day among other things that offered themselves to my consideration I observed my mother the Earth whence I had my original and out of whose womb I had my being I considered how near of kin I was to those senceless clods that lay under my feet and that I was made of the same matter a little more refined and moulded up in a better form and was made by God a little walking breathing clay and shortly must return to my first matter for dust thou art saith God and unto dust thou shalt return These and the like thoughts had a various operation upon my soul sometimes it put me on to admire the workman that out of such a rude and indigested mass such course stuff could make so glorious a piece as the body of Man is and could indue it with such excellent parts and such noble faculties and make it such a rich cabinet fit to hold that precious Jewel the soul which when I had a little considered I began to glory that I was made a man and did not remain a senseless clod But on the other side when I considered my original and the rock whence I was hewn and the hole of the pit whence I was digged and that I could say to corruption thou art my father and to the worm thou art my mother and my sister Job 17.14 I who was even now proud that I was a man began to vail my peacocks plumes when I beheld my black feet and to wonder at my own folly and when I beheld my mother and my relations I saw there was small cause of pride and little cause to boast of birth or bloud or great parentage or relations 't is a shame and sin for an angel to be proud much more for a dunghill-bird Oh my soul bless God that thou wast made a man and not a clod of clay a rationall creature and not a brute beast thou wast clay in the hands of this potter and mightest have been the most despicable creature that ever dropt from his fingers but he hath made thee little lower then the Angels and crowned thee with honour and dignity what cause then hast thou to admire thy Creator who made thee thus to differ and made thee capable of communion with him here and enjoying him for ever but beware of pride that raigning damning sin that turned Angels out of heaven Adam out of Paradice and many thousands into hell boast not of the greatnesse of thy stock the nobleness of thy bloud the honour of thy progenitors except thou ascend as high as thy great Grandmother the Earth who opened her womb to bear us all and ere long will open her mouth to receive us all where we shall be resolved into our first matter then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return to God that gave it 't is true thou hadst a more noble Father in whose image thou wast made but this image is lost and thou art become more deformed then thy Mother Oh my God! as thou hast indewed me with more noble faculties then many other of thy creatures that I might be better able to serve thee enable me so to do renew thy image in me which was lost by the fall and give me sincerity without which my condition will be worse then the beast that perisheth whose misery ends with his life but mine will begin at my death where much is given much will be required as thou hast made me a man let me act as a rational creature and answer the ends of my Creation Vpon digging the Earth 2. Med. DIgging and delving into the bowels of my Mother the Earth to bury those seeds from whence I expected a future encrease that portion of Scripture came fresh into my minde Gen. 3.19 In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat thy bread till thou return to the ground out of which thou wast taken for dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return me thoughts my work as it was a just punishment laid upon me for my sin so it did much resemble the digging of my grave and put me in minde of my mortality I began to think that ere long some one would do that for me which I did for these poor seeds lay me to sleep in the grave till the Resurrection and that my mother earth was as ready to receive me as them the pains and aches I felt the sensible decays in nature my gray hairs c. fastned this cogitation more home upon me I then began to think of the vanity of man that was but even now crept out from being earth and for a time made a great stir and bustle in the world and then made as much haste out again and like as stage-players every one acting a part upon the stage of the world some longer some shorter some better and some worse and then an exit comes and they disappear The godly they act a Comedy which begins bad but ends well the wicked a Tragedy which always ends in confusion yet whatever part men act few are willing to go off the stage the old man that hath out-lived his teeth his hair his sight and hearing and can hardly use his limbs and senses yet is loath to die too evident a signe his work for which he came into the world is not done viz. to make his peace with his God and to get an interest in Christ and title to glory the godly while they are here are every day quenching those coals which sin hath kindled with the tears of true repentance the wicked are carrying every day a faggot to encrease that fire that never shall be quenched thus 't is in the world as in a Fair or market there is a great crowd some going one way some another and every one driving on some designe or other O my soul must thou ere long be separated from the body by death how stands the case with thee art thou prepared for such a change or art thou not how doth thy pulse beat suppose this were to be the day of thy dissolution couldst look death in the face with comfort hast thou made thy peace with thy God hast thou got an acquittance sealed with the blood of Christ a discharge of all thy debts hast
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
bring forth much fruit Upon a sudden Drought 22. Med. WHen I had digged manured sown and fenced my garden and done what lay in me to do and began from the hopefull springing up of the seed to have comfortable hopes of a plentifull encrease and began to rejoyce in the works of my hands behold an unexpected judgement fell upon it for God withheld the showers of rain and restrain'd the influence of heaven and caused that it should not rain upon the earth and the clouds which were wont to drop fatness and by which God was used to open his treasure and to give a blessing to his people Deut. 28.12 now proved empty clouds promising much but paying nothing hereupon the earth languished and could not nourish what she had brought forth for though she had not a miscarrying womb yet had she dry breasts so that hearbs and flowers yea the grass of the field languished hanged down the head withered and died and their beauty faded away as mans will if he want food as we may see Lam. 4.7 8. Her Nazarites were purer then snow they were whiter then milk they were more ruddy in body then rubies their polishing was of saphire their visage is blacker then a coal they are not known in the street their skin cleaveth to their bones it is withered and is become like a stick c. This providence made me consider how vain and fruitless all our endeavours are either for this life or that to come if God succeed them not with his blessing and that all the men that live upon the face of the earth had they joined with their united counsels with policy and power they could not have removed this judgement had they taken in all the gods of the heathens to assist them Can any of the vanities of the gentiles give rain Jer. 14.22 it is in vain to hope for salvation from the hills or from the mountains in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel When God blows upon our creature-comforts they vanish and prove unsatisfying Haggai 1.9 ye looked for much and lo it came to little and when ye brought it home I did blow upon it c. ye have sown much and bring in little ye eat but ye have not enough ye drink but you are not filled with drink ye cloath you but there is none warm and he that earneth wages putteth it into a bag with holes ver 6. the earth cannot bring forth without the influence of heaven and these cannot be had without a commission from God Jer. 14.22 Can the heavens give showers art not thou he O Lord our God therefore we wait upon thee for thou hast made all these things It is he that cloatheth the heavens with blackness Isay 50.3 Hose 2.21.22 I will hear the heavens and they shall hear the earth and the earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oyle and they shall hear Jezreel but when God refuseth to hear all others cry in vain they may all say as the King of Israel to the woman that cryed to him 2 Kin. 6.26 if the Lord do not help thee whence shall I help thee out of the barn floors or out of the wine-press yet how doth vain man reckon without his host and promise himself a plentifull encrease and much happiness in the enjoyment of it like the fool in the Gospel Luk. 12.16 c. when the event ofttimes proves otherwise if their designe succeed as sometimes it doth for all things fall alike to all as to the good so to the bad the sun shines upon the just and the unjust they give not the glory to God but sacrifice to their own nets and burn incense to their drags Hab. 1.16 they think their own arm saveth them and their own wisdom and endeavours enricheth them they are like the king of Assyria that said Isai 10.13 by the strength of my hand I have done it and by my wisdome for I am prudent but what had all my labour profited me or what good would theirs have done them if God had not given rain I went yet further in my consideration of the great mercy and benefit of water without which it were impossible that man or beast or fish or foul or hearb or plant or any other creature sensitive or vegetable should live or prosper and wondred at my own and others stupidity that we took so little notice of the mercy and gave God so little thanks for it but this mercy was more prized by the ancient by Israel in the wilderness by Jacob yea by Ahab 1 Kin. 18.5 And Ahab said to Obadiah go into the land unto all fountains of water and unto all brooks peradventure we may finde grass to save the horses and the mules alive and they divided the land between them c. When I had a while considered of these things I raised my Meditation a little higher and considered if rain were so refreshing to the thirsty earth and so necessary for the fruits thereof what was the dew of heaven to the poor soul without it all the Ordinances would prove of little use and all the sowing planting and manuring would signifie little the soul under those enjoyments would be like the heath of the desart that sees not when good comes what cause then have we to depend upon God for the one and for the other oh my soul are thy endeavors crost and thy labour lost learn to depend upon God for the time to come concern not thy self overmuch in the world if it smile upon thee let it not steal away thy affection if it frown on thee trouble not at it for these things are at the dispose of thy father and he mindes thy good use diligence and providence because they are commanded duties but beware of murmuring and repining because they are forbidden sins when thou hast gone as far as thou canst leave the success to God and whatever the issue be acquiesce in his will if thy endeavours be blasted think it was best they should be so because God thought thus if he succeed them bless him if he cross them bless him also The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away saith Job blessed be the name of the Lord seek not great things in the world expect no more then God hath promised lest if they fall short of expectation thou be discouraged hast thou neither poverty nor riches but food convenient this was Agars petition hast thou food and rayment the Apostle was therewith content But for the soul thou must not take up with a small portion labour after the highest pitch of godliness and content not thy self with a low frame of spirit be as covetous for grace as others are for gold use the means diligently but trust not to the means though Paul and Apollo's may plant and water it is God gives the encrease he only can speak to the heart and say to thy sins die and to thy soul live oh my
me grace and write thine image upon me but also enable me to reade it that it may keep me alive in the winter when thou seemest to be at a distance from me Upon fine flowers foul-sented 24. Med. WHen I beheld some of the fairest flowers in the garden and those that made the most specious shew and were adorned with the most costly colours and were set forth in the most gorgeous dress and were most sumptuously arrayed to please the eye I commended their form and shape and comely beauty but when I drew near to handle them to smell to them and put them in my bosome I found my mistake for they were of a stinking savour good for nothing but to gaze on at a distance for though they pleased my eye they offended my nose and were neither fit to be handled nor smelt to This made me to consider it is not always good to trust to our own eyes in our choice for the eye hath deceived many a man and will do us if we trust to it and call every thing good that is beautiful may we not see many a gallant in our times in a gayish dress where the bark is better then the body like the cinamon tree that like the butterfly paints her wings to cover her deformed carkass how often have I seen a handsome well-shap't beautiful woman with foul conditions misshapen qualities when under a more rugged skin and less beautiful countenance and more deformed body there was a more beautiful soul and Christianlike behaviour The devil many times baits his hooks with a beautiful woman when he fishes for unwary youth and seldome misses of his prey but by this means destroys them soul and body how oft do men that make their eye their cook and do more care to please their fancy then to please their God in their choise and looks after beauty more then grace undoe themselves and repent of their choise when it is too late Beauty is but skin-deep and age or fickness soon withers this flower when grace and goodness are more durable and will not change colour It were better for many women if they had fair mindes and soul faces then might they have escaped those snares the devil hath laid for their feet and ensnared their pretious souls grace and beauty is a sweet conjunction where they meet and sometimes though seldome we finde them together thus it was with Sarah and Rebeckah both fair both gracious but when they are seperated as too oft we finde grace should be preferred by many degrees An humble gracious spirit is a jewel of great price in the eyes of God and wise men but beauty dazles a fools eyes and makes him blinde and such Dalilah's bring men with Sampson to grind at the mill and makes their neighbours sport I need not prove this experientia docet From these Meditations I ascended higher and I resembled these fair but stinking flowers to an hypocrite that shews much better then he is and looks best at a distance and like deceitful wares worst at hand he is like a stage-player as the word signifies who often acts the part of a King a Prince an honest man when he is indeed a beggarly fellow perhaps a worthless rascal The hypocrite is a saint abroad a devil at home and plays more parts then one he is zealous in the congregation lukewarm in his family and key-cold in his closet under the vizard of holiness he acts wickedness and makes religion a cloak to cover his knavery or a stalking horse to take his prey and thus he deceives men and many times preys upon them but can neither deceive God nor the devil God quickly smels the stinking savour of his rotten lungs and the devil knows him by his own brand upon him Oh my soul art not thou guilty of this folly of judging by the appearance and of being deceived by deceitful shews look more at the substance then the shadow at the inward vertue then the form and feature choose not the tree by the leaves but the fruit nor a man by his words but his actions nor a woman by her beauty but by her good conditions choose not a horse by his trappings but by his mettle nor a professor by his discourse but by his life and conversation respect not a man for a gold ring but for the Jem and jewels of grace that he wears the fairest face hath not always the chastest heart nor the nimblest tongue the most solid wit the greatest bragger is not always the wisest nor the richest man the emptiest barrel makes the greatest sound and the deepest water makes least noise labour more to be good then to seem so for God will not judge thee as thou seemest to be but as thou art If the heart be not right God will wipe off all the paint and plaister that is upon thy words and actions and they shall be esteemed as the fountain is from whence they proceed be in secret what thou seemest in publick for the same eye is upon thee in the one as well as in the other hypocrites seem to distrust God lest he should deny the service they do him and therefore will do nothing but before witness but a true Christian dare take his word and therefore fast pray and give alms in secret popular applause is the oyl that makes the hypocrites chariot-wheels to move but it is the love of God that constrains a Christian Oh my God I cannot excuse my self or wash my hands from these filthy sins of pride and hypocrisie yet my hopes are they are not in me in a prevailing degree Lord curse and blast these bitter roots that never more fruit may grow upon them quell and suppress every motion that ariseth in my soul of this nature give me in sincerity whatever else thou shalt deny me Make my heart upright in thy statutes let me rather be good then seem good and work truth in my inward parts Upon sweet-smelling flowers 25. Med. WHen I considered what a sweet savour and odoriferous smell a garden of flowers and hearbs sent forth when it was watered from heaven by a refreshing shower and cheared again with the sun-beams darted upon it what a place of pleasure a paradice of delights it seemed to be the sight the smell and savour delighted me the melodious harmony and birds pleased me so that my affections began to grow warm and my fancy to be tickled with it and I began with Peter to say it is good being here till upon consideration I checkt my self for my folly for letting out my affection upon such poor objects and letting them grovel so low upon the ground and to close with such poor pittiful nothings then began I to screw my thoughts a little higher and to say to my self fool that thou art is there so much beauty and sweetness in the creature yea in these poor pitifull vanishing fading creatures which to day are saith Christ and to morrow are
cast into the oven Mat. 6.30 what sweetness then is in the creator that breathed this sweetness into them is not he much more sweet and delightfull and why dost thou not place thy affections upon him that is altogether lovely Cant. 5.16 wholly desirable Moses thought him so when he preferred the reproach of Christ the heaviest piece of his cross better then all the treasures in Egypt all the excellencies here below are but the shadow and he is the substance they are but a drop to this ocean a ray to this sun and a spark to this fire Why wilt thou go to the puddle that maist go to the fountain-head and take up with a handfull of muck that maist have a handfull of angels taste and see how sweet God is he is sweetness it self thou that so admirest these vanishing flowers whose beauty suddenly is changed for deformity why wilt thou not be enamoured upon perfect beauty the sun the moon and stars are darksome spots in comparison of the beauty that is in him he is white and ruddy the chief of ten thousands his head is as the most fine gold c. Cant. 5.10.11 red and white shews a perfect symmetry a sound and sure complexion and constitution thou speakest of pleasures but at his right hand are pleasures for evermore all earthly enjoyments yield little content small pleasure and delight there is a pound of sorrow for an ounce of pleasure and those also are but bitter sweet pleasures but with him are satisfying pleasures unmixed delights yea the image of God in the hearts of his people is a thousand times a more perfect beauty then the world affords and the graces of the spirit in the garden of their souls as they shew a more perfect beauty so they yield a more fragrant savour and sweeter smell then all the flowers in the world can do to a spiritual sence here is an orchard of Pomegranats and all pleasant fruit camphire and spicknard spicknard and saffron Calamus and cynamon and all trees of frankincense myrrhe and aloes and all chief spices Cant. 4.14 15. see how precious God accounts the graces of his people which here are likened to these precious things here mentioned they smell sweet in the nostrills of God and man yea the word of God and his Ordinances these were sweeter to David then honey and the honey-comb better then thousands of gold and silver Psal 19.10 and to Job better then his appointed food and are none of these taking with thee is there more true worth in a handfull of flowers that will not please thee from morning till night then in those never-ending never-fading pleasures here presented to thee heaven and earth may stand amazed at thy folly oh my soul wallow not in the mire delight not thy self with the swine in swill when thou maist have better and more dainty food feed not upon husks when thou maist have bread enough in thy fathers house grasp not after the shadow when thou maist have the substance or with the dog in the fable lose not the substance to catch at the shadow despise peebles that thou maist have pearls lay not out money for that which is not bread nor thy labour for that which profiteth not when wine and milk are offered without money and without price Esay 55.12 fill not thy vessel with water that it can hold no wine these outward things may be of use to us but must not be abused by us though they cannot make us happy yet they can point us out where happiness may be had and happy is that soul that can with the bee gather honey from hearbs and flowers there is not the most contemptible creature that breathes nor the most despicable vegetable that lives nor the poorest thing that exists nay nothing in rerum natura but hath a finger to point us to God a fly or flea or leaf of a tree or grass-pile or if any thing be more contemptible will tell us whence they had their being and any or all of these may teach us some lessons for our instruction yea the devil which is the grand enemy to mankinde yet by this heavenly alchymy of divine Meditation may be made nourishment to the soul as of the vipers flesh may be made a soveraign antidote against the vipers sting yea it is possible to extract heaven out of hell and God out of the creature and surely that must needs be a fat soul that feeds in so many fat pastures oh my God keep my affections from closing with these earthly enjoyments and teach me the heavenly art of improving them and drawing out the spirits of them And as commonly they are snares and nets and hurtful to the soul Lord assist me that they may prove beneficiall to it let mine affections close with thee and then I need not fear falling into these snares Upon hearbs withering in a dry season 26. Med. WHen I beheld the hearbs and flowers yea the grass of the field also in a dry season how they fainted and flag'd and hang'd the head for lack of moisture the earth being not able to give them a supply without further assistance It brought to my minde how necessary a blessing from heaven was to our enjoyments upon earth and how vain these things would prove if God did but blow upon them and how foolish those men were that depended upon their own industry and promised themselves great matters like the fool in the Gospel Luk. 12.16 when they often finde such reckoning is without their host he we finde in the midst of his jolity like a Jay was pruning himself in the boughs and came tumbling down with the arrow in his side his glass was run as one saith when he thought it was but new turned he was shot with the boult when he gazed on the bow this was he that trusted in his riches and was not rich to God he had indeed abundance but it signified little to him but many men promise themselves plenty and never come to enjoy it how necessary is our dependance upon God for our dayly bread the greatest of us have no assurance of it neither is any exempted from seeking it daily at the hands of God I saw then that that promise was not in vain which God had made Hose 2.21 22. I will hear the heavens and the heavens shall hear the earth and the earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oyl and they shall hear Jezreel for though the people should cry to the corn and to the wine for relief and the corn and wine should cry to the earth for nourishment and the earth should cry to the heavens for showers and the heavens should cry to God for a commission if God should deny that petition all the prayers of the other would signify nothing the creatures have no more then what God puts into them If God give not rain the creatures must languish and the earth fail the earth must
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
of Saints is heaven upon earth believers are members of the mystical body of Christ and it is with believers as with members in the natural body they have the same care one for another if one suffer all suffer and if one be honoured all rejoyce 1 Cor. 12.25 26. they are like lute-strings if one be strucken all the rest sound but more clear this sympathy would be if it were not for the remaining corruption that is in us oh my soul dost thou meet with hardship in the world wonder not at it thou art in an enemies Countrey the world will love her own but never loved Christ nor any of his hast thou broke satans prison no wonder if there be hue and cry sent after thee to bring thee back the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent did never yet agree Christ hath told thee in the world thou shalt have tribulation yet be of good comfort he hath overcome the world this world is the Saints purgatory not paradice and why shouldst thou expect pleasure it is like the straights of Magellan where it is observed which way soever a man bends his course out the winde will be against him it is an own mother to the wicked but a step-mo-to the godly and will starve them if their father lookt not to them the godly and the wicked fight under two captains the one under the banner of Christ the other under the devils standard and therefore there is no hopes of reconciliation fire and water are not more contrary then Christ and Belial oh my soul manifest thy self the seed of the woman not by making peace but by maintaining war with Christs enemies and by sympathizing with his children mourn with those that mourn and rejoyce with those that rejoyce and be like affectioned one to another like the members of the same body when one is distempered the other suffers when one stands in need all the rest yield their help and assistance Oh my God is there such an antipathy in the hearts of wicked men against thine image in the hearts of thy people what cause have we to admire thy patience that sufferest such enemies to live upon the face of the earth and feedest and maintainest them at thy own cost and charge and what cause have I to admire that thou bearest with me so long when I was in that relation and what cause have we to admire thy wisdom and power in preserving a handful of thy people like lambs in the midst of numerous wolves that seek their destruction when for ought we know there are hundreds to one against them that vow their destruction Lord let me manifest my self to be thine by my antipathy to sin and the works of darkness and my sympathy with the godly those children of light Upon the Marigold and other flowers 36. Med. WHen I considered the marigold and sundry other flowers in the garden that closed in the evening and opened in the morning and all the day turned their heads according to the course of the sun as if they scorned any other beauty and would admit of no other suitor and as if no temptation could divert them from their beloved from whom they received their life and being and in the winter when the sun is remote they bury themselves in the ground and disappear I thought this much resembles a Christian when he acts like a Christian and is a fit embleme of grace in the soul for a gracious soul as he scorns to make love to any other but God so he scorns that proffered love that others make to it or to entertain any in competition with Christ from whom he receiveth life and breath and being In all a gracious man doth Christ is in his eye and if he can please him he matters not who is offended his eye is always upon Christ as these flowers have their eye upon their beloved sun his heart runs out to him and scorns to open to any other when God is present the heart is expatiated when absent it is contracted he retires himself then into himself and thinks there is no company worth having he depends upon him as a childe doth upon his fathers providence and fears not want so long as there is bread enough in his fathers house and as he draws out all from God so he draws out all for God and for his service heart and hand and tongue and all shall be employed for him there is not a dram of love in the heart but it shall run in this channel he shall have it if he have a tongue to speak it shall speak for God if a hand to act it shall act for him and all he can do seems too little for him a gracious soul that is espoused to Christ behaves her self like a chast wife to her beloved husband When suitors come to wooe for her affections they shall have a peremptory deniall my affections are set already I cannot I will not remove them my vows are upon me I cannot yeild I have devoted my self to my husband and will not prove false and it is her trouble she is forced to hear such solicitations and temptations it is so with the soul she repels with disdain the temptations and allurements laid before her the devil knocks by his temptations she will not answer the world knocks she will not open riches honours friends and favourites cannot prevail such a spirit was in Jerome though my father saith he lay upon his knees before me and my mother hanged about my neck and my brethren and sisters lay in my way to keep me from Christ I would throw off my father tread upon my mother run over my brethren and sisters to come to Christ when he calls me a believer is semper idem always the same whether with David upon the throne or with Job upon the dunghill or with Jeremy in the stocks he will still keep his integrity as these flowers do whereever planted in field or garden however honoured or despised no other benefactour shall be owned but the sun when the hypocrite is like the planet Mercury good in a good conjunction and bad with a bad a gracious heart is like Lot good in Sodom temperate amidst the intemperate or like Noah upright in a sinful world or like Joseph holy in a sinful Egypt like the needle in the compass always pointing the same way and never settles in a wrong point however disturbed by a jog of temptation like clear water in a glass which remains clear after all the shaking when the hypocrite hath mud in the bottom which is discovered by the stirring oh my soul is it thus with thee art thou as faithful to this sun of righteousness as these poor flowers are to their beloved that will admit neither moon nor stars nor any other lover to have any room in their affections nor any favour in their eye nor one pleasing look or cast of their head dost thou point right
prayer and tear yet he cannot beget a godly childe but chaff and corruption adheres to them also nay inheres in them and they have as much need of refining as ever the father had for though a sinful man beget a sinful childe yet cannot a gracious man beget a gracious childe for he begets him as he is a man and of the sinful off-spring of fallen Adam and not as he is gracious and though God do more usually make choise of his people out of such families the covenant being with them and their seed and he hath respect to their prayers and gives a blessing to their education and exhortations yet this is not always so neither are they born thus for they are the children of wrath as well as others and though sin be hereditary grace is not Ah sin what woful work hast thou made in the world the most of men perish eternally by thee and those that escape are saved as by fire with a very great deal of pains and difficulty holy David begat a lascivious Amnon and a rebellious Absolom good Ely begat bad sons and holy Isaac a prophane Esau yea faithfull Abraham a scoffing Ishmael for as a learned man cannot beget a learned childe for learning is not a birth-priviledge but an acquired qualification so grace is not born with but freely given to them that God thinks fit to bestow it upon A rich mans childe comes into the world as naked destitute and miserably impotent and helpless as any other This as it may minde us of our miserable condition by the fall so also of our duty to our children that as we are carefull of their bodies so should we be much more carefull of their souls and as we are carefull that they get learning so should we be much more that they get grace an estate is not so needfull as an interest in Christ we should endeavour by instruction correction and good education to train them up in the fear of God and when we can do no more to go to him that is able to give it to beg grace for them for as we were instrumental in their ruine so we should endeavour their recovery But too many train them up no otherwise then they do their horses teach them to drudge and think they have done well especially if they can leave them an estate behinde them which oftentimes is so badly gotten that they entail also a curse upon them and their posterity and God doth in a visible manner punish their children to the third and fourth generation Oh my soul how stands the case with thee thou art a childe of wrath by nature as well as others is thy relation to thy God changed of an enemy art thou an adopted son t is well thou hadst dross is that consumed and the soul refined thou hadst chaff is that blown away hast thou the marks of adoption now upon thee that formerly hadst the marks of an enemy dost thou resemble thy father dost bear his image God hath no children but what have some resemblance to him he never adopts any but he changeth their nature and disposition as well as their relation he hath no unnatural children hath he made good that promise to thee 2 Cor. 6.18 I will be a father to them and they shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord almighty hath he performed the duty of a father in thy new birth in maintaining thee and giving the heavenly allowance in instructing and correcting thee and hast thou the nature disposition and priviledge of children hast thou communion with him doth he feed thee with bread from heaven cloath thee with the robes of righteousness and adorn thee with the jewels of his grace is there a through change wrought in thee and a new nature put into thee hast thou given up thy heart as well as thy name to Christ if it be so it is well if thou hast this priviledge for thy self seek it for thy children also as thou hast dedicated them to God do thy endeavour to make them Gods and that the work of grace may be timely wrought in their souls curb corruption while they are young a green twig will easily be bended but when old and dry the work is difficult many like the ape kill their young ones with embracing and they come to break their parents heart who thought a rod too heavy for them withhold not correction nor instruction and go to God for a blessing upon both Oh my God am I wilde by nature and hast thou planted me into the true olive hast thou taken me off my own stock and planted me into the true vine Lord what shall I render to thee for this Lord help me to give up my heart as well as my name to thee and live thanks as well as speak thanks hast thou made me a son Lord give me a son-like disposition and let me honour my God by a holy life and conversation And O that my children might live before thee Lord purge out the dross blow away their chaff make them thy sons and thy daughters Upon the pleasures of a garden 43. Med. BEing in a well contrived well-furnished well-ordered garden where there was what nature or art could bestow upon it various well-coloured well-sented flowers which chequered the knots and delighted both the sight and smell with various sorts of herbs and vegetables as well physicall as otherwise together with curious walks and shady bowers and other curious contrivances delightful delicacies and various curiosities that it seemed to me an earthly paradice a place of pelights and pleasures which when I had viewed and for a while solaced my self in it I took much pleasure in it and could contentedly have spent my time there my affections were much tickled with it and grew warm upon it and for a while I delighted my self in it but at last I began to call my self to an accompt and to check my self for it with such considerations as these oh my soul what art thou doing or whether art thou going art thou in heaven or upon the earth that thou art taking up thy station art thou like Shimei in seeking a servant dost thou lose thy self wilt thou by admiring the gift neglect the giver or court the maid before the mistress and take up with a handful of muck for a handful of angels is this a suitable portion for thee or rather a suitable match for the soul that thou art espousing thy self to it and letting out thy affections upon it will this serve thy turn or make thee happy or will it endure to eternity alas it will not when winter comes where are then thy delights nay when night comes it deprives thee of thy pleasure yea every shower of rain puts thee on to seek another happiness and a better shelter and security what then will become of thee at death or judgment if thou hast no better a refuge what good can these do thee in heaven or in
also that rob the poor will be found to reproach their maker Pro. 14.31 God is the poor mans king and he will defend him destroy his enemies and will not suffer the injuries offered them to be unpunished winter will come when these wasps will dye oh my God suffer me not now to feed upon those morfels that I must chew for ever in hell if I have but little let it not be with a curse Upon the painted Butterfly 57. Med. WHen I observed the curious gaudy dress of the painted butterfly her various colours and her specious shew and took notice how she spent her time in paint and plaister and all to adorn her self and make her seem beautiful when the laborious Bee improved her time to better ends and purposes viz. to provide in summer for winter and to gather her food in the harvest I considered also that notwithstanding all this paint this proud creature was but a poor infect nay an unprofitable creature doing hurt but no good and when I caught her to take a further view she did but foul my fingers I considered also what would be the end of this so proud so sluggish and so useless a creature and found against winter she put her head into a hole and died and there was the end of all her bravery when the painfull Bee hath her life preserved by her dilligence this made me think that this creature did much resemble many of the Gallants of our times especially of the female sex though others may take it ill if they be excluded which are good for little but to paint and dress and spend their time as vainly as ever the butterfly doth these content not themselves with their own native beauty or with the form and fashion God made them in but cast themselves into another mould and take upon them another shape then God made them and it is to be feared God will never own them for his when they are thus transformed or rather deformed themselves with their own hands and what is the reason of all this paint and plaister but to make traps to catch fools their hair are snares to catch men as the fisher of his hairs makes lines to catch fish or as the spiders web is to take flys for if there be no wine in the cellar why hangs the bush what doth this gaudy dress signifie but a lascivious minde and to let the world know in what ware they deal and how welcome such a motion that brings profit or pleasure with it would be to them and like the signe at the ale-house-door promises entertainment for money what doth this gawdy dress signify less then a lascivious minde when they spend great part of their time in attiring painting dressing and spotting themselves this is their morning devotion and their afternoon service is not much unlike for that is mostly spent in sports and merryments in plays and interludes in idle visits or perhaps worse employments the devil many times makes use of these gaudy flys to fish for souls wherewith he baits his hooks and many unwary youths are caught with these lime-twigs Is it not a wonder that any of Adams sons or Eves daughters and yet both sexes are guilty should take more pains for hell then others do for heaven yea and be at more cost and care also for pride is more costly then humility yea is it not a wonder to see persons pride in that which is the fruit of sin and a cover to shame viz. their cloaths which usually are but the excrements of beasts or insects or at least of as poor an original this is a sure signe of a worthless piece to be like a bubblâ— or bladder blown up with a little winde how many are there that are like the Cinamon-tree the bark is better then the body yea sometimes the cloaths are better then all the estate besides Many that are ashamed of their deformity yet when their crooked ill-shap't bodies are covered are proud of their beauty but what will become of those at death that have spent their time in paint and spot and neglected to adorn the soul it were well with them if with the butterfly they could finde a hole to dye in that they might never more be seen but this will not be they must be seen in their own colours when all the varnish will vanish sincerity will abide the fire I fear others also are guilty of this paint and flourish as some Ministers who paint their Sermons not to profit but to please and preach not in that plain convincing way Christ and his Apostles did but woo more for themselves then for Christ and fish not for souls but for popular applause and seek not to set the crown upon Christs head but their own oh my soul beware of these three grand enemies to thy salvation pride idleness and hypocrisy where these bear sway the soul never prospers pride is the master-pock if it strike to the heart it will surely kill thee pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble Jam. 4.6 he defies those that deify themselves witness Herod and Lucifer grace grows not in high mountains but in low vallies the least degree of pride sets it self against God the highest degree sets it self above God 2 Thes 2.4 and as pride so idleness is a deadly sin pride fulness of bread and abundance of idleness were Sodoms sin and doubtless they are Englands sins also and make many thousands fall short of heaven and the time is coming hypocrisy also will appear in its own colours the paint will not abide the fire oh my God how many poor souls split themselves upon these rocks and make shipwrack of faith and a good conscience Lord keep me humble make me sincere and help me to be diligent so shall I be happy for ever Upon a gnat playing with the candle 58. Med. WHen I observed a gnat play so long with the candle that at length she burnt her wings was taken prisoner suffered for her folly paid dear for pleasure and was exposed to a cruel death even to end her life in the flames I thought this resembled poor man that so long dallies with sin and plays with the devils temptations that at last he is snared in his limetwigs and fettered in his gins and led captive by him at his pleasure 2 Tim. 2.26 those that he thus takes in his snares he useth worse then Sampson was used by the Philistins he puts out their eyes and then makes them grinde in his mill poor man is like a fish nibling so long at the bait till at last he swallows the hook or like the unwary bird so eagerly falls upon the prey that they are taken in the net the devil like a cunning fowler holds out the bait covers the hook and hides himself behind the bush so that they see not the hand that holds it he doth not usually
instinct into them thus to cherish their young hath given them also so much knowledge as to fit them to do it Having spent some time in this Observation unobserved I thought to try her affections to her young ones a little further I approached the nest as if I intended to rob her of her young where I observed that poor creature naturally fearful and timerous with what boldness confidence and undaunted courage she opposed her self to her small power to have rescued her young ones out of my hand even to the hazard of her own life this plainly discovered to me the divine providence of the great householder that doth not only provide meat but also some one to give it in due season and to help those that cannot help themselves and puts such an instinct into such poor despicable creatures that they deny themselves to help their young ones and venture their lives for their safety and never leave them till they are able to help themselves and then forsake them as if they knew them not and that he gives such a blessing to the labours of these two poor wretches that such a numerous brood should be provided for and no doubt brings the prey to them by his providence this also may silence our Atheists and may make him lay his hand upon his mouth for what accidentall concurring of atomes can occasion this this made me also consider how degenerate a piece poor man is many of them having obliterated what the most savage animals have retained viz. this natural affection to their young so that we may take up that complaint against many in our times more deservedly then the Prophet doth against Israel Lam. 4.3 even the sea monsters draw out their breasts and give suck to their young ones the daughter of my people is become cruel like the Ostriches in the wilderness these forsake their children through the extremity of famine or for want of natural affection Rom. 1.31 there are many refuse to labour to maintain their charge the fouls of the air will rise up in judgment against these yea many waste and spend that riotously that is provided to their hands when these poor creatures pinch their own bellies to feed their little ones how many men and women endued with reason do so obliterate it that they expose their children wilfully to want and penury yea to plain beggery yea when the very bruits seek what they can to preserve their young and many venture their lives in their quarrel and set themselves between them and danger yet too many that bear the name of men and women have so far obliterated those principles nature hath imprinted in them that they often lay violent hands upon their own children and not only contrive their death but also effect it I would daily experience did not speak out this truth too lowd what assizes is there almost but some or other are tried for their lives upon this account But though some have a care of their childrens bodies there are but a few that make any provision for their souls though that be their master piece but suffer them to be eternally ruined Oh the stupendious folly of the most of men they train up their children as they do their horses teach them to drudge and then they think they have given them sufficient education many if they can leave them an estate though with a curse intailed upon it have their desires many are too tender of the body that have little care of the soul let that sink or swim but the time will come that the soul will be found the choisest jewel and the loss of that the greatest loss oh my soul be diligent in thy calling make provision for thy relations to thy power he that provides not for his family hath denyed the faith and is worse then an infidel 1 Tim. 5.8 be not without natural affections but that is not enough be not without spiritual affections see that they have mentem sanam in corpore sano though the body must not be neglected nor the things of the world slieghted yet know this is not the main a little grace is worth a great deal of gold keep a mean in earthly enjoyments between coveteousness prodigality fear not an extream in spirituals oh my God help me to regulate my life both to externals and internals by the rule of thy word and spirit Upon the prating of a Parrat 65. Med. HEaring a Parrat talk and prate and counterfeit mans voice and utter words which yet he understood not when I had considered of it I thought it was a lively embleme of an hypocrite for as this bird doth imitate man and counterfeits his voice so doth an hypocrite imitate a true Christian both in words and gestures speaks as he speaks and acts as he acts for what action or what duty can a Christian perform as to the external part of it which an hypocrite cannot doth not do As there is no hearb in the garden but there is some counterfeit of it in the field which resembles it so there is no grace in the heart of a believer but the devil hath its counterfeit and therefore it is a cunning thing to be a Christian and an easy thing to be deceived for what can a true Christian do for the bulk and materiality of duty but a hypocrite can do also yea sometimes seems to exceed him and as in duty so in conference and discourse it is hard to discern the one from the other hypocrisy may be spun with a fine thred and hardly discerned either in the cloath or colour from sincerity but it is often found out in the wearing to be but a cheat in storms and tempests it is apt to change colour and will not hold out but shrinks in the wetting there is indeed a difference now both in garb and language the one is truly beautiful the other is but paint and varnish which time makes to fade they speak it is true the same things but the one speaks what he knows and the other by hearsay both may discourse the deep mysteries of Religion as the parrat may mysteryes of state if taught but understand not what they say Can a true Christian discourse of redemption regeneration conversion adoption sanctification c. so can the other also but the one speaks what he feels the other not the Christian findes the marks and tokens of it in his own soul the other not can the one discourse of the workings of the spirit in the heart of a believer the actings of grace of communion with God c. so can the other can the one speak out his experiences of the goodness of God the vanity of the creature the bitterness of sin the comforts and directions of the spirit the beauty of holiness c. the other can counterfeit this also but all this while the hypocrites heart and tongue agree not he disclaims against that sin which he loves and pleads