contain thy blood and spirits in a word of all the parts and passions of thy body which are all made for necessity and comeliness and then admire the great goodness as well as wisdom of thy Creator and say with the Psalmist that thou art fearfully and wonderfully made and that Gods works are very marvellous After this let thy thoughts dive deeper and consider thine interior senses the mysterious union of thy soul and body with the beauty of that Divine Light which we call Reason thy memory thy will thine understanding which are the faculties of thy precious soul which is not only created after Gods image but is capable and desirous to enjoy him and then see how numerous or rather innumerable are the benefits which God hath bestowed upon us in our creation and how just it is that we should love him that we should glorifie God in our Body and in our Spirits which are Gods CHAP. II. How much we are obliged to God for our Preservation PReservation comes next to be considered a benefit of very large extent and well deserving that rank the Church hath placed it in in making it the subject of our daily thanksgiving for ever since man changed the impenetrable armour of Original Righteousness for a thin covering of fig-leaves he became so defensless and yet exposed to so many sharp and wounding arrows that should not Divine Protection interpose for to shelter and secure him his temporal Life would be a true and a sad Emblem of Eternal Death It appears by the history of patient Job that if we were not fenced about with the hedge of a gracious providence we should find that all creatures conspire our vexation and ruine God had no sooner broke the inclosure but afflictions crowded in so fast upon that happy man that in a short time there remained nothing of his former prosperity but a bare and bitter remembrance to make the sense of his present misery more grievous There is no man but is exposed to all the greatest Calamities that ever befel any of the Sons of Adam and there is none able by his own power to defend himself against the least of them Fortune and accidents sport themselves if I may so speak with our goods and estates Moths fret our garments rust cankers our mettals thieves break through and steal our riches or else they make to themselves wings and fly away Besides their own corruptibility which of it self would consume them they are exposed to so many hazards that it would be as impertinent as 't is impossible to number all the ways and means whereby men are afflicted with losses and brought to poverty only from hence we may justly infer that the same God who gives us all things richly to enjoy must al 's secure them in our possession or else we certainly lose them If we look on our selves we shall like the Prophets man in Dothan 2 Kings 6. see armed enemies on all sides of us our spiritual enemies are many strong and full of rage and malice and yet we have no defence against them but that God makes his heavenly host to wait on our safety incamps his Angels about us to be an invisible guard against our invisible enemies and not only so but to secure us also from thousands of sudden and sad accidents which might every moment befall us All creatures are now furnished with a sting wherewith they may either vex or kill us The elements and all compounded bodies the air we breath and the food that nourisheth us all things in nature and all things in chance may become our tormentors or murtherers Nay we carry swords and daggers in our own bosoms we have within our selves the matter of all sorts of distempers not one joint in our bodies but may be afflicted with the gout Not one humour but may overflow its banks and quench the light of Reason or the fire of Life Not one pore or part within or without but may unexpectedly at all times and in all places become an entrance to death and sorrow In the midst of so many and great dangers it were impossible for us to stand one moment but that God defends us under his wings and keeps us safe under his feathers Psal 90. as the Psalmist speaks and so the blessings of immunity which most men slight or overlook are never enough to be acknowledg'd but deserve the thanks of a whole life We dwell under the defence of the most high and abide under the shadow of the Almighty therefore let us set our love upon him and glorifie him CHAP. III. Of the positive Blessings of this life THe Positive Blessings of this life are now to be exposed to view but of them I may use the words of the Psalmist If I would reckon and speak of them they are more in number than can be numbred Psal 40. Health and strength and comliness with industry and learning are shared among the sons of men in several proportions and so are good friends and a good name peace plenty and pleasures any one of those single might make a rich portion for one man for each within it self contains many rich and precious blessings yet oftentimes God unites all or most of these together to crown us with loving kindness and tender mercies Psal 103. The works of creation and the works of providence are not more numerous than the graces and gifts of God to mankind any one that should seriously meditate upon this subject would find it multiply and increase almost to immensity and would be forced to break off with the exclamation of David Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of many that thou so regardest him Psal 8.4 God renews his mercies to us every day together with our lives every hour we eat of the fatness of his house drink of the river of his pleasure Psal 36. and receive the sweet emanations that flow continually from the fountain of life But of those benefits which God pours open hands upon us how many are there that pass unregarded we usually mind not what we receive but what we desire Let heaven rain Manna never so thick upon us if we wish for Quails Angels food shall be unsavory and perhaps distastful They that long for great and well covered tables find no relish in their daily bread they that pursue after wealth look not on the blessings of competency they that aspire to honour receive health food and raiment rather with a disdainful anger than with thankfulness all the favours we receive from God are unobserved or slighted as long as he doth not gratifie our humour with what we desire and even those gifts whereof we are most sensible are soon laid in oblivion an hours pain will cause many longer pleasures to be forgotten and if God sends evil upon us only for one day it makes us forget the many good things which we for many years received from him This I say because
canes and clubs and put a reed instead of a scepter in his hand and when he was all over spittle and blood they brought out their mock-King and Pilate presented him to the people and said behold the man thinking to move them to pity by so sad a spectacle but nothing less than his death would satisfie their enraged cruelty therefore he was condemned and then abused afresh by the Souldiers and loaded with his Cross and driven out of the City to Mount Golgotha Now here begins a new scene of sorrows the afflicted Son of Man having lost much blood and suffered so much having been rudely haled from the garden to Annas from Annas to Caiphas from Caiphas to Pilate from Pilate to Herod from Herod to Pilate again and from thence to the place of his Execution arrives at last faint and weary and sorrowful upon Mount Calvary where he was to die here his hands and feet which are most sensible parts of our bodies by being most full of nerves were pierced through and nailed to the Cross and though there was a seat where to rest his body as the Ancients say yet the Cross being lift up and put into the hollowness of the ground to make it stand upright his wounded body was shaken and affected doubtless with a most acute pain He was exposed naked not only to the view of the multitudes but also to the open air which was extremely cold in that the Sun was hid he was burnt inwardly with an excessive heat and driness being tired with so many journeys and being exhausted of spirits and moisture by his sorrows and bleeding insomuch that he complained of this above all his other sufferings crying out I thirst though we may say that he thirsted most our happiness that he thirsted to drink out the dregs of his bitter cup that we might drink the cup of Salvation He wanted the use of his hands and feet being tied to suffer so that he could not so much as stir nor wipe the blood off of his face he was afflicted with the sight of his afflicted Mother who from her wounded soul reflected sorrow upon her dying Son and Saviour His soul was also as it were crucified by the sense of the Divine Anger against the sins of men for the which he was making expiation insomuch that he complained that God had forsaken him And lastly his heart-strings were broke and his body deprived of life by a most violent and bitter death And now who shall not love JESUS and who shall not admire that love which is exprest in the breadth of the Cross Lord how exceeding broad was thy Cross which contained so many sorts of torments Nothing can be compared to it but thy charity which made thee take it up that we might be charged with nothing but a pleasant and easie yoke But Lord why do we most vile and sinful creatures refuse to bear thy light burthen when thou the Most Holy and Most Highest hast born for us so sad and intolerable a load CAAP. IX The length of the Cross WE are now to measure the length of the Cross that is the time of Christs bitter passion the tedious duration of his sufferings which began with his birth and continued to his last breath The Life of JESUS as we have seen was as it were a chain of miseries every link every connection had something grievous and afflictive he was a man of sorrows therefore we no where read that ever he laught or injoyed the pleasures and the mirth of this world but that he suffered much and wept several times is recorded by the Evangelists Every day was in some manner the day of his Crucifixion which to us is Good but to him was sad Friday for he knowing all along what he was to suffer and living in expectation of that cruel death we may say that his fears did in some manner prevent his murtherers and by anticipation acted upon him while he lived what they were to inflict on him to put him to death for he was pleased to assume together with our nature our innocent passions and infirmities I have a Baptism saith he to be Baptized with and how am I constrained until it be accomplished that was the Baptism of his Blood which he wisht for because of his love to mankind his great desire of paying our ransoms but feared because of the repugnance of his humane nature to such bitter sufferings wherefore saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am constrained I am in a streight betwixt two I wish and yet I fear to die But that which we most properly call his Passion because it exceeded the rest of his sufferings lasted eighteen hours without intermission nine of Thursday night and nine of Friday from the time of his agony in the garden about nine at night while three in the afternoon of the day following all which time he suffered those several sorts of pains and tortures which are already mentioned all that time he drank full draughts of that bitter cup the fear whereof made him sweat drops of blood when he began to taste of it all that time he suffered what no tongue can express but what all hearts should endeavor to feel and to think of daily Lord JESU thou wert tormented a long time that we might not be tormented to all Eternity grant that we may endure any thing for thee and from thee our God who didst endure so much for men and from men CHAP. X. The depth of the Cross WE have seen that bar of the Cross on which the hands of our Blessed Saviour were nailed the breadth and the length that is the variety and the tediousness of the pains and sufferings he underwent for us Now we are to consider the biggest piece which stood upright whereon his body rested and his feet were nailed the depth and the height that is the pureness and the greatness of his sorrows If we read with attention the passion of Christ in the four Gospels we shall see our Blessed Redeemer as it were sunk into a deep abyss of misery by the heavy burthen of our sins he might well cry by his Prophet See whether there is any sorrow like unto my sorrow for the greatest of humane afflictions admit of many comforts whereas he was deprived of all as there was no part in us but was infected with sin there was none in him but was affected with pain he was all over stripes and sores an universal wound within and without he suffeed in all his capacities in his outward and inward senses in all the parts and faculties of his soul and body the very circumstances of his passion did all concur to make it more bitter and afflictive He was deprived of that ordinary comfort of being assisted by his friends all the Disciples forsook him and fled as the Prophet had foretold of him I have trodden the wine-press alone and of the people there was none with me I looked and
there was none to help I wondred that there was none to uphold Isa 63. He was like a mild and defenceless lamb in the midst of ravenous wolves there were none about him but such as thirsted for his blood And no wonder if man forsook him when he was in some manner forsaken even by his Father It pleased God to give him up to the cruelties of wicked men and the sorrows of death and that his Divine Nature though personally and inseparably united to his humanity should for a time suspend the effects of its beatifying union and leave him suffer as a man in soul and body the greatest pains without the least comforts They that saw our crucified Saviour suffer so patiently as not to open his mouth to complain might have thought that he had no sense of pain therefore he cries out so bitterly My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Why dost thou suffer me to be plunged into this gulf of sorrow so that I have nothing but anguish within and without Why dost thou suffer me to be almost overwhelmed by so great a distress and art so far from helping me and from the words of my complaint Psal 22. Lord we had deserved to sink and evermore to cry and groan in the bottomless pit and to rescue us thou art pleased to descend very low and with strong crying and tears to say de profundis clamavi out of the depths have I cried unto thee O Lord hear my voice Psal 130. be pleased to hear us dearest Lord when we call upon thee and make thy voice sink into our hearts and there find a cheerful admission and a constant and sincere obedience CHAP. XI The height of the Cross NOw we have only the height of the Cross to look on that is the sublimity the greatness of the torments of Christs crucifixion that in this sense his Cross was very high appears already by what hath been said and yet we may consider further that he being conceived by the Holy Ghost of a most pure Virgin was therefore of a most healthful constitution so that his senses being very quick and apprehensive were sensible of pain beyond other men's and so all the blows and wounds he received and his being nailed and stretched three long hours on the Cross as upon the Rack must needs have been a most exquisite torture Also the vigor of his nature being neither weakned nor spent by age or distempers he being full of strength and in the flower of his age was capable to taste the smart and sharpness of his pain to the very last moment of his life and so 't is written by S. Luke that he cryed with a loud voice when he gave up the ghost to shew that he was still very strong and that his death was bitter and violent to extremity There was likewise an invisible Cross which afflicted his soul and made it sorrowful even unto death his heart was like wax melted in the midst of his bowels Psal 22. and in the midst of so many and such intolerable pains his murtherers shook their heads made mouths at him scoft at his sorrows by cruel and insulting mockeries and by their tongues and derisions aggravated those sufferings which their hands could hardly increase but thaâ— the Cross of Christ was higher in the greatness of its pains than that of any Martyr of any man that ever suffered is evident enough only by considering who it was that was crucified on it for it was more that JESUS being perfect God as well as man should shed one drop of blood than that all Men and Angels should for Millions of years bear the greatest torments Lord we were wonderfully made by thy power but we are yet more wonderfully redeemed by thy mercy Lord what is man that thou shouldst thus be mindful of him or rather what is man that he is unmindful of thee CHAP. XII What an infinite love is exprest by the Cross NOw we have seen the whole frame of the Cross writ all over in blood with characters of love expressions of the greatest kindness for a testimony that JESUS loved us unto death Not any sorrow or anguish in his soul not any gap or wound in his body but are as many mouths to cry aloud in the ears of all men Behold what manner of love God had for his enemies his sinful and unworthy creatures to suffer such things to die in such a manner for to redeem them and make them happy Now let us if we can comprehend the breadth and the length O dilectio quam magnum est vinculum tuum quo ligari potuit Deus Idiot the height and the depth of the love of JESUS that love which bound him much harder than the cords of the Jews and nailed him to his Cross much faster than those Irons which pierced his hands and feet for he that could with one word cast his enemies to the ground could easily have broke their bands and escaped from them but that his love did constrain him and make him desirous and willing thus to die What man would suffer one half of what Christ did for his dearest Benefactor And then how immense and wonderful was that charity which he exprest in suffering the ignominy and pains of the Cross for those that were his enemies and had highly injured him and from whom he could expect no reward but only to be loved again Let us therefore remember it throughout this whole book or rather throughout our whole life that we have been redeemed from eternal despair and misery and from our vain and sinful conversation not by any corruptible thing as silver and gold but by the precious blood of Christ shed with great pain and great ignominy CHAP. XIII Of the eternal happiness merited for us by the Cross of Christ and measured by it THis Love of JESUS is more already by far than ours can answer Could our hearts burn perpetually with those brightest flames of love which beatifie the Cherubims could they contain all the most passionate affections of all Saints both in heaven and earth yet we could not love JESUS so much as he deserves for having died to save us from eternal death and yet he did more he suffered death that we might have life that we might have eternal life Not only that we might not be intirely miserable but also that we might be perfectly happy Heaven is the purchase of the Blood of Christ as well as Redemption from hell God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us when we were dead in trespasses and sins hath quickned us together with Christ and hath raised us up and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus Ephes 2.5 Let us meditate a while upon that far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory reserved in heaven for us 2 Cor. 4.17 and in it consider the same dimensions as in the price wherewith it was bought the Cross of
and all little enough to keep it in any vigor These voluntary observations should not lead them to scruple or censoriousness that are pleased to use them and should not be clamoured against by others indiscreetly and uncharitably for in themselves they are adminicula pietatis handmaids to devotion and holy contrition And they that know themselves are sensible that they want all possible helps to stir them up and relieve their dulness When our understandings are convinced we have not quite done means must be used also to affect the fancy and to ingage the affections And he had need be very sure of his strength that refuseth the assistance of all auxiliaries CHAP. XXV A passionate Meditation on the Passion of our Blessed Saviour MY love is crucified said that loving and holy Martyr Ignatius declaring how earnestly he wished to die for JESUS and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 considering the passion of JESUS I meditate with him My love is crucified my dearest Saviour dies in most bitter pains he hath been rudely bound and drag'd from place to place he hath been stript tied to a post and whipt like a vile slave he hath been buffeted and caned and abused with all manner of contumelies and now I see him crowned with thorns all over spittle and blood I see him stretched upon the Cross where his hands and his feet are nailed his head hangs down I read in his pale face and his weeping eyes the extremity of his pain the anguish of his wounded soul Lord art thou he whom my soul loveth O Domine Jesu Christe si intelligentia quam mihi dedisti uti vellem sicut deberem cernerem manifeste quo modo â—â—o quam sine modo a me creatura tua amari merueris qui prior dilexisti me tantus tantum gratis tantillum talem ingratum Idiot art thou my dearest JESUS were it my father my brother my friend or my benefactor that should suffer this undeservedly how would I pity them but should they suffer this upon my account Lord I could not outlive such a sight if nothing else love would certainly wound my soul to death But behold it is so this crucified this dying man is my father he gave me my being he is my brother he came down from heaven and took humane flesh that he might have that relation to me he is my friend he lays down his life to save mine he is my greatest benefactor from him I receive all I have all the blessings the good things I enjoy I owe to his kindness But now my soul suppose that from his Cross thou shouldest hear him thus expressing his love and bespeaking thine Christian dearest Christian for whom here I die consider seriously imprint it it thine heart what in my words what in my mysteries thou readest of my suffering for thee consider who I am what I endure and to what end I am the eternal Son of God whom the Angels adore I became Man to make thee partaker of the Divine Nature I am infinitely rich the whole universe is mine I became thus destitute of all things to purchase true riches for thee I am of an Almighty Power the whole world was made and subsists by me I am now weak to make thee strong I am overcome of mine enemies to make thee conquer thine I am crowned with glory and clothed with Majesty I now were these thorns and am become naked to cloth thee with robes of righteousness and Crown thee with a Royal Diadem I am the inexhaustible fountain of joy and happiness I now indure sorrows and miseries to make thee joyful and happy I am infinitely pure and innocent I am become a sacrifice for sin to merit thy pardon and to sanctifie and make the holy I am the Author of life the first and the last I now die to make thee live for ever nothing but love moves me thus to suffer for thee and nothing but love I require for it Dearest soul thy sins are more grievous to me than my wounds Aspice serve Dei sic me posuere Judei Aspice mortalis pro te datur hostia talis Aspice devote quoniam sic pendeo pro te Introitum vitae reddo tibi redde mihi te In cruce sum pro te qui peccas desine pro me Desine do veniam dic culpam corrige vitam add not sorrow to my sorrow by remaining impenitent deny not this request to thy dying bleeding Saviour that thou wouldest mortifie thy lusts and forsake thy sins all that is past I heartily forgive if thou becomest true penitent I freely give my self for thee and beg that thou wouldst give thy self to me To this O my Soul with the greatest love and wonder thou maist thus reply What shall I say now dearest Lord Words cannot answer thee I am amazed I am astonished I know not how to speak my tongue cannot express what my heart feels Lord I will say nothing I will answer with sighs and tears with devout affections by resigning and giving up my body and soul to thee I will answer by obedience by actions by now falling to work to reform my life to mortifie my sinful lusts to cut off the members of the body of sin Sweetest JESU I will love thee with all the affections my heart can entertain no bosome sin shall be so dear to me but for thy sake I will heartily part with it no lust shall be so pleasing but I will kill it at thy request and command even my natural desires and inclinations will I gladly deny when they come in competition with that duty and love I owe and ever will pay my dearest JESUS Sweetest Lord it was I had deserved to be smitten to be covered with shame to be deprived of life and thou sufferest all these for me for me vile wretch for me my Lord was it for me O where shall I find such another friend or rather what shall I do to requite thy kindness and mercy I can give thee nothing but love and thanks and that will I do O my Blessed Lord who wast spet upon I humbly worship thee Thou wast reviled like a vile slave I praise thee and own my self thy servant The Jews refused thee for their King but thou art mine thou art my Blessed Master I care not what becomes of me here so I may come to bless and adore thee for ever Lord if there is a place where thou art not loved and magnified let me never come into it Assist me dearest Lord let no pleasure or pain no fear or hope no profit or loss no temptations within or without ever make me to offend thee O ye Spirits and Souls of the Righteous praise ye the Lord praise him and magnifie him for ever O that I could but join with you to express worthily my thanks and gratitude O that all the world would join with me to praise and glorifie the Lord that died for us Blessed JESU cleanst
and with whom my love hath crucified me and that now is the time to make it appear that I love him and to justifie the sincerity of my protestations And so for covetousness pride intemperance and all such temptations I will reject their attempts and proffers with indignation as a true friend would scorn the solicitations to betray his friend thus saying to my self What shall I be false to him I love to him that loveth me who hath shed his bloud for me and to whom I have often protested that I would even die for him shall I break the sacred bonds of love and my most sacred vows and put my soul into a state of regret unquietness shame and sorrow for this vile transitory profit or pleasure O my dearest JESUS thou knowest that I love thee I beseech thee make that love victorious against thine enemies and mine I would rather die than deny thee for any interest in the world and I hope thou wilt not deny me at the last day but own me among thy faithful servants Lord I serve thee not for nothing great are the reasons why I should obey thee thou hast done much for me and from thee I still expect much infinite rewards for such due and poor services Lord let me die before I deliberately over sin against thee and forfeit thy love by falling from mine Thus by love I resolve to conquer my self to deny and mortifie my lusts by love I will strive to overcome all unlawful desires all sinful motions and then I shall rejoice in the victory It shall not make me either proud or peevish or severe to others but rather humble and meek cheerful and contented so that it shall be seen by my outward deportment how much pleasure and tranquillity my soul hath inwardly that I rejoice in what I do for Christ that it is delicious to me to deny my self for his sake to oblige so great so true so generous a lover as JESUS who hath done all acts of friendship for me and owns me for his friend I call you not servants but friends ye are my friends indeed if ye do whatsoever I have commanded you Joh. 13.14 Those that are accounted gallant men in the world will venture their lives to second a friend in an idle an unchristian quarrel and their wound they bear with courage and count them honourable 'T was to serve a friend how much more should I rejoice in that violence I offer to my appetites and unruly desires in what I do or suffer for to please and serve my heavenly my best my dearest friend whom I can never love so much as he deserves and in loving of whom I am infinitely happier than if I should enjoy all the pleasures of sin as long as I live I only grieve and am displeased that I can do so little for him that I can requite his love no better I know that many persons have done far more for their less deserving friends than I do or can do for my Saviour JESUS CHAP. XXXII A singular example of humane Love with a short reflection upon it IT is reported by Greek historians of two loving sisters Eudoxia and Irenea daughters to the last unhappy Prince of Morea Niceph. Gregor Chalcondys who with his life lost his Crown and Country that an uncle saved them from the general desolation and captivity which soon succeeded the lost battel and carried them to old Andronicus their kinsman then Emperour of Constantinople There with pity they found a kind welcome and as great respects as they could wish Their beauty their vertues and accomplishment surpast their princely birth and were as eminent as their fortune was low so that young Andronicus who was to succeed in the Empire was in process of time taken with Eudoxia loved her passionately and obtained the Emperours consent to marry her This caused great troubles to Irenea who liked it well as she loved her sister but could not but grieve at it as she loved the Prince for unhappily she had setled her affections on him Upon this she fell sick and almost to death and it being observed that some distemper in her mind caused the distemper of her body her sister protesting of her love to her assuring her that Eudoxia should have only the title and the trouble but Irenea the priviledges and the power of an Empress conjured her to declare what caused her discontent Having understood what it was and grieving that she should be the occasion of her sisters danger and sorrow she presently took from her head a jewel the Prince had given her in form like a half-moon and with it she so wounded and disfigured her face that she cured the Prince of his love as she designed and afterwards retired to Galliopoli where she entred a Cloister and devoted the rest of her life to God The Prince finding in Irenea what he had lost in Eudoxia soon after entertained the same passion for her he had for her sister but Irenea remembring her sisters generosity forgot her affection to the Prince considering what Eudoxia had voluntarily suffered for her how great how tender a love she had exprest in what she had done resolves to forsake Andronicus to forgo her ease and pleasure and what she had so earnestly desired rather than be ungrateful Whereupon she steals away from the Court goes to Galliopoli enters her sisters Cloister and having exprest to her her love and acknowledgments she takes the same vows and resolves to live and die to God and with her beloved sister This story makes me grieve and blush that so little gratitude should be paid to JESUS for greater benefits for that incomparable love he hath shewed men in dying for them that I my self should so ill requite his much greater kindness so poorly and imperfectly return his most wonderful love What shall I think it much to refrain my intemperance for his sake who for mine fasted long and often and tasted vinegar and gall shall I think it much to mortifie my pride and anger for him who for my sake despised the shame of the Cross and returned nothing but meekness to the greatest provocations shall I think it much to refrain my worldly covetous desires for him who for me became poor naked destitute of all things though he were Lord of all shall I think it much to deny my self some momentary sensual pleasures for him who carried my sorrows who shed his blood and was crucified to save me No my dearest JESUS thy love hath overcome my heart I will be no more what I have been henceforth it shall be my wealth my delight my glory and ambition to serve and obey thee give thee all possible demonstrations of a devout a most passionate love CHAP. XXXIII Some Scriptures to shew the necessity of departing from Sin according to our Baptismal Vow With some protestations to conclude this first Part. THis Repentance and Reformation is what our Religion requires The
me whilst I obey what he hath commanded I do what is infinitely my duty what his love to me challengeth and what my love to him desires to return Had I ten thousand years to live and could I serve him all that while and do nothing else I could not repay him for the least part of that great ransom he hath paid for me neither could I deserve any thing of those great wages which he will give me but my life is but short and he allows me time for other things even for pleasure and recreation I have therefore a most gracious Master and therefore I resolve and promise to do what he requires of me I will except at nothing he commands it shall be my joy to pay my duty to him I will make it appear that I serve out of love and affection O my dearest JESUS would my heart did feel what it should Qui viget affectu non gemâ—t imperie would I could express what it feels and would I could perform as much as I express But O my Blessed Lord how frequently and unhappily do I forget that thou art my Master and I thy servant that my chiefest business is to do thy will and that my greatest happiness as well as duty is to obey thee Is it not because I also forget that thou didst redeem me from a most wretched slavery that thou didst pay an immense price for me that thou becamest a servant for me before thou requiredst any service from me and that thou didst first love me before thou dist intreat my love O thou great Lover and Saviour of men I wholly give my self to thee body and soul heart and affections I desire to be thine I pray that thou wouldst make me to be thine and that thou wouldest own me for thine that so thou maist be mine to eternity Wouldest thou know saith S. Aug. what thou must give for heaven give thy self Aliud non quaerit precium nisi te ipsum tantum valet quantum es te du habebis illud Manual that is the price nothing less will serve that alone is accounted sufficient heaven is worth just what thou art give thy self and thou shalt certainly have it Do not men seek to serve and oblige great persons expecting to be by them gratified are they not ambitious to wait upon Princes in regard of an honourable stipend and why should I not count it the greatest Honour and preferment to serve the King of Kings and Lord of Lords the salary he pays his servants is infinitely greater than any the greatest Monarch can give they oftentimes cast off with disgrace their most faithful officers my Lord is so far from so doing that he bears with the faults of his meanest servants and never turns out any that will live with him 'T is highly difficult to become a Prince his favorite many spend their time their wealth and themselves and never can get the least share in his affections but I am sure my heavenly Master loveth me I know it by what he hath done by what he daily doth and by what he hath declared he would do for me Although he hath bought me and so might well require the utmost I can do without any reward yet he hires me and gives me more infinitely more than I can earn or claim I will therefore be diligent faithful and zealous in fulfilling the work he hath appointed me I will often say to my self I am a servant and a lover of JESUS a servant and a lover of the Blessed JESUS I will every morning consider what can I do this day of what my Lord hath commanded me what duties of sobriety righteousness or godliness can I discharge to make it appear that JESUS is the Master I own and obey None of us liveth to himself and no man dies to himself for whether we live we live unto the Lord or whether we die we die unto the Lord Whether we live therefore or die we are the Lords for to this end Christ both died and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and living CHAP. IX Meditation to excite us to a sincere and fervent love O MY Soul whither canst thou fly for to be secure and at rest thou dost converse with snares and temptations thou art taken up with cares and concerns that come to nothing whither canst thou retire to be free from dangers what place of leisure canst thou find wherein thou maist secure thy duty and thy happiness The Love of JESUS must be thy refuge thy Claustrum Animae a Cloister or shelter for thee to dwell in and be safe Thither retire under the banner of love Cant. 2.4 and there thou shalt want neither protection nor encouragement Ye that love the Lord hate evil he preserveth the Souls of his Saints he delivers them out of the hand of the wicked Light is sown for the Righteous and gladness for the upright in heart Psal 97.10 Consider what love hath done for thee and thou shalt easily believe that it can do much upon thee Love like active fire Omne agens omne amans vult sibi passum amatum assimilare turns all things into its likeness It vested the most perfect God with thy flesh and infirmities Because resemblance begets love Ne etiam similitudo deesset amori ecce immortalis mortalis factus est God would become like thee that thou mightest love him And if thou wilt entertain and follow the Love of JESUS it will make the become like him if thou wilt walk in love as he walked Eph. 5.2 it will make thee easily follow his footsteps and arrive to his perfect happiness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Rom. Behold how great how wonderful a thing is Love Its power and perfection can not be uttered we want words for to express them In this was manifested the love of God towards us because God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him 1 John 4.9 He made thee with a word Qui te totum semel dicendo fecit in reficiendo dixit multa pertulit dura Bern. but to save thee he wrought many wonders and suffered many pains The Jews when they saw him weep for dead Lazarus behold said they how he loved him when thou seest him shed not only tears but his bloud also dying that thou maist live wilt thou not say behold how he loved me and then my soul what canst thou do but return love for love It is easie and it is profitable and it affords the greatest of pleasures to love him who thus loved thee If by a hearty sincere love thou canst dwell in the bosom and approach the heart of thy dearest Lord there thou shalt find the sweetest rest the purest joy the best of instructions and the greatest helps and incouragements to perfect holiness till thy happiness be perfect If with an unfeigned