the clouds that they rain no rain upon it Esay 5.5 6. and how gastly doth that place look which is thus fore-let and forsaken by God This consideration made me think it is time for England to look about them gray hairs are here and there upon us yet we consider it not Hosea 7.9 we may see many a withering branch and dying Christian amongst us fetching the last gasp that formerly seemed flourishing fat and in good liking when men employ not their talents well no wonder if God take from them that which they seemed to have this is verified in many that have had fresh and fragrant parts and gifts and have formerly excelled others but these parts are withered for want of use and the diligent Christian formerly below them now excels them and the unprofitable servant is reserved for utter darkness and how ill favoured do those look that are thus withered nay have we not great cause to fear God is leaving his garden in England seeing he hath transplanted so many of his choisest flowers into America and of late hath taken so many into his own bosome and there are so few left that really flourish and so many are on the dying hand and reall holiness and the power of godliness is so scarce oh my soul art not thou one of these dead or at least withering plants art thou fallen from thy first love where are the love of thy espousals or these affections and the zeal manifested in thy younger years hath thy age encreased thy wisdome and is that seen in growing more strange with thy God and more luke-warm in his service and in having less care of thy soul and in taking less pains for heaven time was thou wast more fresh and flourishing and like to a green bay-tree but now thou growest old and dry and little sap and vigour doth appear is this the fruit of all the pains God hath bestowed upon thee is it to make thee more dry and barren the trees of righteousness planted by the rivers of water should never want fruit nor leaf yea should bring forth fruit to old age yea thy fruit in age may be expected to be more and mellower ripened by age and a more mature judgment thou hast born the burthen and heat of the day and wilt thou now quit the vineyard or cease and slack thy work when thou shouldst come and receive thy wages if thou turn back Gods soul will have no pleasure in thee if thou put thy hand to the plow and look back thou art not fit for the kingdom of heaven neither will thy righteousness be remembred in thy sin thou shalt dye thou art ready to go off the Stage of the world and wilt act thy last scene worst and be hist at in the end wilt thou lose all the pains that ever thou hast taken in heavens way and at last remit thy zeal when thou shouldst double thy diligence is it not he that holds out to the end that shall be saved didst thou ever yet repent of any pains thou didst take for heaven and dost thou think thou shalt ever have cause to repent hereafter art thou affraid thy reward will be too great or thy crown of glory too heavy or that God will love thee too well or that thou shalt make heaven too sure if not why dost thou slack thy pace dost thou expect a better master or better work or better wages if not take heed by thy negligence lest thou force God to put thee out of his service oh my God keep my heart upright in thy service and direct my steps that I turn not aside keep me from the rage of satan that I be not captivated by him he seeks my soul to undo it and fain would make me lose my reward Lord make me faithfull to the death and then give me a crown of life Upon the unknown vertues of many vegetables 31. Med. WHen upon the strictest search and scrutiny that I could possibly make I could not finde out the natures properties vertues operations ends and uses of several vegetables and other simples nor indeed the full use vertue and benefit of any one of them and I suppose I have cause to think that the greatest artist in natures garden cannot do it nay if all pretenders to this art should join heart and hand in the work and combine themselves together and use their utmost diligence yet would they fall short of making a perfect discovery of it though I know every age makes some further progress in it then the preceding did yet very many things lie hid from the choisest wits this made me admire the wisdome of the Creator that hath made nothing in vain and hath put such admirable vertues into such despicable weeds that did we know their worth we should prize them at a higher rate that now we despise and if we cannot finde out the vertues and operation of those things which we are every day conversant with no wonder if we are ignorant of God of the Trinity of the Incarnation of Christ and those more abstruce points of Religion more remote from our sences and above our capacity he that cannot attain to know the nature of his own soul no wonder if he be ignorant of the nature of angels my thoughts upon this account roved further and I considered several small seeds so much resembling one another that my eye could scarcely difference them the one from the other and yet I saw when those were sown together in the same plot nourisht in the same mould refreshed with the same Sun and watered with the same showers they produced plants much differing in nature colour scent quantity quality vertue and operations this made me cry out the finger of God that hath put such vertues in so small despicable seeds it minded me also of the Apostles words God hath given to every seed his own body 1 Cor. 15.38 wheresoever these vegetables are sown planted or replanted still the species are continued neither do they degenerate into another kinde When I considered that such efficacy and vertue should be virtually included in so small a seed I thought it matter of admiration yea that so small a thing as a nut or acorn or the kernel of an apple or pear should produce so great a tree of so vast a bulk as the Oak the apple-tree or the pear-tree this made me to admire the wisdom power and providence of the great God which Christ himself seems to take notice of in the mustard seed which being so very small produceth a plant of such a bigness that the birds build their nests in the branches this minded me also of the nature of grace and sin which from small beginnings come to great perfection and whereever they are they become fruitful grace proceeds from a grain to a tree and as a little leaven leaveneth the lump so grace encreaseth till it makes a universal change in the whole man it makes a man
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
thou provided another habitation against this shall be disolved and moulder into dust when this earthly tabernacle shall be dissolved hast thou a building not made with hands but eternal in the heavens hast thou acted thy part well upon the stage of the world that thou maist go off with applause â—f not … s better thou hadst not been born for if death meet thee unprepared as thy body moulders into dust so must thou down to everlasting darkness there to suffer eternally the demerit of thy sin Oh my God! take me not away before I be fit to be lodged in thy bosome kill me not before my sin be killed if any thing that is necessary be wanting Lord give it in and let me not be deceived in so great a thing as the salvation of my soul Let my sins die and let my soul live Let me see the funeral of my vices before others see the funeral of my body Vpon a Tuft of green Grass 3. Med. WAlking into the Garden as at other times to take the ayr I fastened my eyes upon a green tuft of grass that grew besides me the sight of it brought to my remembrance what I had often heard and read viz. that the damned in hell should suffer exquisite torments such as the tongue of men or angels are not able to express and that for as many millions of years as there are grass-piles upon the earth sands on the sea shoar stars in heaven and motes in the Sun and yet after all this long tract of time their torments shall be no nearer to an end nor they to a delivery then they were the first day they were cast in This made me a little to consider the number of piles that was in this little tuft and when I found it too hard for me to number them I considered what was this tuft to one pasture or that to one Parish or that to one County or that to one Kingdome or that to the whole world this made me to cry out Oh Eternity Eternity who can conceive of thee who can fathom thee Oh the horrible nature of sin that provokes a mercifull God to lay such heavy strokes upon his poor creatures Oh the love and pains of our dear Redeemer what did he suffer to quench those flames and discharge those debts for his people in suffering what was due for their sins and oh the madness of men and my own folly that knowing there is such a remediless gulf before us run on so madly towards it and that for momentary pleasures deceitfull riches worthless honour or filthy sin do venture the soul upon the pikes of danger Oh the misery of poor unregenerate wretches what will you do in the latter end who amongst us shall dwell with devouring fire who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burning Esay 33.14 Tophet is prepared of old even for the King it is prepared the pile thereof is fire and much wood and the breath of the Lord like a river of brimstone doth kindle it Esaiah 30.33 Were a man compelled to lie upon a feather bed but one year without turning or stirring though other comforts were afforded how painful how tedious would that year seem but what is this one year to eternity or what is a featherbed to scalding lead and burning brimstone or what is that to hell torments Oh Satan how dost thou deceive us Oh world how dost thou insnare us Oh sin how dost thou bewitch us Oh heart how dost thou betray us to this deadly danger Oh earth how dost thou betray thy fastest friends and payest them off with pains for pleasure and buyest their souls for a thing of naught Oh Satan who would be thy servant if this be thy wages and yet how many fish come to thy net and how prosperous hast thou been when thou hast baited thy hooks with the world Oh my soul is Eternity such a fathomless gulf without bank or bottom how stands the case with thee art thou for everlasting joy or endless torment what interest hast thou in the one or what hopes to avoid the other what hast thou that a hypocrite cannot have or what dost thou that he cannot do God surely expects great difference in the work when there is so much in the reward give thy eyes no sleep nor thy eye-lids no slumber till thou hast some comfortable assurance of the love of God in the pardon of thy sins and the salvation of thy soul make peace with thy Creditour before thou art cast into prison otherwise there must thou remain till thou hast paid the utmost farthing If death surprize thee before thou art ready hell will be thy lodging get oyl trim up thy lamp get on thy wedding-garment that thou be not shut out into utter darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth Oh my God! make me such as thy own soul delights in give me in the qualifications thou hast made necessary to Salvation thou knowest my wants Lord supply them my debts oh forgive them my corruptions Lord subdue them and binde up my soul in the bundle of life write my name in thy book and at last lay me up amongst thy Jewels Vpon a barren plat of ground 4. Med. WHen I perceived one plot in my garden fruitful and another barren and observed the difference between the one and the other how lovely how amiable how pleasant the fruitful plat seemed to me how fresh and fragrant how green and ardent it was how it was diapred with various coloured flowers beautiful and lovely and how lothsome unseemly and unhandsome the other lookt where nothing appeared but briars and thorns weeds and thistles with stones and rubbish which was a fit receptacle for toads and serpents and other venemous vermine I began to consider it was yet possible to reduce this plot into a better form and turn it to a better use And hereupon I caused the rubbish to be stockt up the weeds to be pluckt up and the stones pickt out and after I digged and manured it and had an effect answerable to my expectation for when it was sown with better seed it brought forth better fruit The unlovelinesse of this plot when overgrown with weeds and rubbish produced this following Meditation I thought it lively represented a heart barren of grace and goodnesse but fruitfull of briars and thorns sin and wickednesse which is more odious to God then this plot was to me and yet how lovely a fruit bearing Christian is in his eye the one is like a loathsome muck-heap which stinks the other like a watered garden that yields a sweet favour like a garden of spices Cant. 4.14 the one brings forth fruit for Gods basket the other fewell for the devils fire all the seed sown upon it is lost and choakt with briars and thorns and all the rain that falls upon it doth but make the weeds more rank and flourishing their grape is the grape of Sodom and of the fields of
not of that number or otherwise thou wilt be reserved for the same condemnation O my God! such as these I was and such I had been hadst thou not made the difference and too much of that nature remains in me to this day Oh that thou wouldst throughly change me plant me into that noble Vine that I may bring forth better fruit yea purge me that I may bring forth more fruit Upon the diligence necessary to be used in a Garden 7. Med. VVHen I considered how much time and pains sweat and diligence is necessary to keep a garden in order and make it that it may answer the expectation of the owner what digging delving and manuring what planting setting sowing fencing weeding watering c. must be used and all little enough and perhaps too little to produce a good crop This Observation made me to reflect upon my own soul and to consider whether ever I had taken so much time or pains or been at so much cost for it the only garden God delights in and the chiefest I should look after as I have been for a little spot of earth here it is the herb of grace should grow and this should be a garden of spices Can. 4.10 This Consideration made me blush at my own folly when I considered how carefull I had been of a poor worthless piece of ground and had bestowed so much pains and cost upon it which yet yielded but a little pleasure and less profit and in the mean time neglected the soul which is of ten thousand times a greater concernment and when also I had considered the fruitfulness of my garden and the barrenness of my own heart I concluded had I bestowed as much time and pains in planting watering and fencing that as I have done in this garden it would have yielded better fruit then I can expect thence Well may I say with the Spouse Cant. 1.6 they made me keeper of the Vineyards but my own Vineyard I have not kept I have not taken Gods counsel Ier. 4.3 break up the fallow ground of your hearts and sow not among thorns and when I considered how unfruitful my heart was I concluded it had not been sufficiently humbled but the seed was sown among worldly cares and fears and discontents and those thorns had choaked it seeing no more fruit appears I considered therefore how needfull it was for God to plow long and deep furrows on my back by affliction that he might come to the root of the weeds and this same thing quieted me under some dark dispensations of providence I considered what a folly it was for a man that will not suffer a weed in his garden and yet will suffer the weeds of sin in his soul though they are far more pernitious to the herb of grace there planted then the most pestiferous weeds in the world can be to the choicest flowers and yet one reigning sin is a greater deformity to the soul then a thousand weeds can be to the fairest garden Oh my soul why art thou so prodigall of time and pains of cost and care of sweat and industry for a very trifle and in the mean time neglect thy greatest concerns thy self thy God and thy eternall happiness when didst thou take so much pains for heaven as thou hast done for the earth why art thou digging and delving in the earth as if happiness were hid under the clods when thou mayest be solacing thy self with thy God God hath not been wanting to thee but thou hast been wanting to thy self he gives thee time to run thy race when thou leavest thy way to run after butterflies which if thou take they will but foul thy fingers Thou hast been pruned and drest by many choice gardiners why yet art thou fruitless lay thy hands to the work tear up those weeds that hinder the flowers Dost thou expect happiness here below why else doth thy affection grovell upon the ground Will a handfull of herbs or a bosome full of flowers give thee content Oh what a poor happiness dost thou take up with Is there no better to be had serve a better master and thou shalt have better wages be a better husband and thy gains will be the greater and sow in a better soil and thou wilt have a better encrease Oh my God! what answer shall I return for all the pains and cost and time thou hast bestowed upon me O Lord how have I slighted thee O heaven how have I undervalued thee how have I suffered the world to bewitch me and steal away my heart from my God divert my thoughts rend my affection from these earthly vanities let me see more excellency in Christ then the world affords then shall I be as covetous for grace as others are for gold and take as much pains for heaven as ever I did for earth and be as zealous for God as others are for sin and improve my time for the spiritual advantage of my soul Upon Birds picking up the seed 8. Med. WHen I had sown my seed in the garden I perceived that which lay uncovered was made a prey to the fowls of the air who pickt it up and devoured it this brought to my minde our Saviours parable of the sower and the seed wherein he discovers the reason why though so much seed be sown so little fruit appears the fault is not in the seed for that is good the good word of God though sometimes the envious man may mix tares with it Neither is the fault always in the sower though sometimes it may for many of them are faithfull and painfull but for the most part it lyes in the ground in the heart where the seed should be entertained we finde here there was but one fourth part good and oh that the one tenth part of those that hear the word were really such some of the ground was high-way ground not fitted and prepared for a crop never plowed deep enough the seed indeed was sown upon it never in it it was never covered or harrowed by Meditation nor set out by consideration and therefore lyes liable to be pickt up by the wicked one who will be one at Church whoever is absent he makes a path-way over the heart and hardens it against the word this makes many so Sermon-trodden that they receive no impression some we finde was sown in stony places where it had little earth and less root these rejoice to hear it at present these have some meltings and some sudden pangs of joy but they are too violent to hold out and like a hasty rain slide away and soak not in and leave but a dew behinde them they are inlightned by a flash of lightning and not by the sun beams they are moved by some external principle as clocks or watches or other engines but the root of the matter is not in them and therefore withers away and comes to nothing like corn on the house-top for when persecution ariseth they are
of him or the son of man that thou regardest him thou hast made him a little lower then the angels thou hast crowned him with glory and dignity Psal 8.4 5. I considered that all this rule and dominion glory and dignity was given him that he might serve and honour his Creator whose image he did in the Creation most lively represent but above all sublunary creatures none have more deviated from the rule God hath given them nor transgressed his laws nor frustrated the ends of their creation more then man by whose fall the beauty of the newly burnisht world was soon stained and the glory of it soon ecclipsed This made me wonder that God suffered such enemies to live upon the face of the earth to be lords over the works of his hands Oh the patience and long-forbearance of a merciful God! that such rebels that have their life and breath and being from him and are guilty of so many acts of treason and rebellion against heaven should yet be preserved and provided for as they are and so many offers of mercy tendred to them Oh my soul hath God done so much for thee was this glorious fabrick of the world made for thy sake among others are the creatures yea the angels themselves set a work for thy good and doth thy great benefactor only require the pepper-corn of homage and the thankful acknowledgement of what thou hast received and obediential homage for the time to come and dost thou deny him that art thou fed and cloathed maintained and preserved by his providence and care and hast thou any meat to eat or drink to drink or cloaths to put on or health or strength or limbs or senses or peace or plenty or life or breath or any other enjoyment but what he gives thee and is a thankfull acknowledgment of these favours denyed by thee he doth not need thee neither canst thou add any thing to his glory yet he takes himself honoured by a thankfull obediential observation of his commands but alas how much time didst thou spend before thou dist cordially yield any thanks to him for his benefits and how much wanting art thou in it to this very day he makes his sun to shine upon thee and his rain to fall upon thee he gives thee fruitfull seasons and fills thy heart with food and gladness 't is doubtless then thy duty to devote thy self wholly to his service and give up not only thy name but thy heart to Christ Oh my God! dost thou expect service from me enable me to do it I am by nature a senceless stock or stone dead in trespasses and sins put life into me and I shall perform the actions of life I cannot act without thy assistance give me help from heaven for vain is the help of man open my lips then shall I shew forth thy praise inlarge my heart then shall I run the ways of thy commands touch my tongue with a coal from thy altar then shall I trumpet out thy praise seek thy servant and I shall be found Upon the plucking off the tops of weeds 10. Med. IN a dry season when the bottles of heaven were stopped and the clouds were bound up the rain restrained and the showers withheld from the earth so that it was parched hard and dry and gaped in vain for cooling moistning refreshing softning showers I observed some persons when they could not get up the weeds by the roots tare off their heads which when they had done the garden seemed pleasant to the beholders and gave content for a while to the spectators who imagined there had been a through-reformation but not long after when a shower of rain distilled upon it the cheat appeared the weeds sprung up as fresh and flourishing as before yea like hydra with more heads then at first so this partiall reformation was discovered This observation afforded this Meditation I thought it much resembled a partiall reformation in the soul when men begin their reformation at the wrong end or take a wrong course to kill the tree of sin as many do they crop and lop off some branches and let the root alone this is not the way to destroy it many tear off some of the tops of the weeds but let the root remain in the soul which when it is watered with the devils temptations and the worlds allurements and animated with fit occasions and suitable opportunities they spring forth afresh it may be with more heads then before and then the cheat appears that those sins were not kil'd but laid aside An evident example we have of this in Herod who convinced by Iohn Baptists preaching that his courses were not good sets upon a reformation falls out with many of his sins lops off here one bough and there another but lets the root remain firm which afterwards spring forth and shew themselves It is said he reformed many things but he left much work behinde undone to the undoing of his soul The sore was only skinned over and was not sound at the bottom and after broke out with more violence and greater anguish like a torrent of water dam'd up when the dam breaks it runs more furiously So did Herods corruption even to the taking away of Iohn Baptists head who before had set some stop to it And thus it is with many seeming Converts that after prove wicked apostates and persecute the truth that they did formerly profess the root of the matter was not in them Hazael did not believe so much wickedness to lodge in his heart as the Prophet spake of and afterwards appeared An apple rotten at the heart may have a fair outside but the rottenness within will in time rot the outside also when the fountain is corrupted it is impossible to purge the stream If the heart be rotten all that thence proceeds will have an ill savour This half reformation hath been the undoing of many forward Professors in our days they reformed their lives but not their hearts they lopt off some boughs but medled not with the root they went to clense the stream but not the fountain and in a little time the corruption within breaks forth into the life and conversation without and the unclean spirit that was cast out takes to himself seven more worse then himself and enters in and the last end of that man is worse then the beginning Mat. 12.45 The devil deals by such when he hath reduced them as a Jaylour with one that hath broke prison lays on more bolts Runagate Christians are the devils greatest devotes and such apostates very hardly if ever are reduced O my soul how stands the case with thee hast thou not weeded thy own garden thus and rather tore off the lops of the weeds then pluckt them up by the root how comes it else to pass that upon every showr of temptation they are so apt to spring up again look about thee if thou wilt not kill sin sin will kill thee and if
nothing flourisheth but weeds and nothing appears but confusion and the whole appearing more like a wilderness then a garden This sight brought to my minde the state of the poor soul when it is neglected and not heedfully observed then all run to ruine and tends to confusion nothing that good is prospers nothing that is bad but flourisheth corruption and sin get the upper hand and grace is kept under the fence is let down the watch is neglected and the devil that wilde boar of the forrest destroys the tender vines roots up every good inclination spoils every good motion intention and resolution and lays all waste how many have I known who when they have been under good Masters good parents good Ministers have been very hopeful and towardly and were likely to have made good instruments in the Church for Gods glory if not pillars in the house of God while their graces and good inclinations were well watered and they received encouragement in their religious courses then the flowers of grace seemed to flourish and good desires holy intentions and resolutions to bud forth and hopeful beginnings shewed themselves and promising parts gave hopes of future encrease But when these fire-sticks not well kindled were once removed from those that set them a burning they were soon extinguished when they had changed their habitations their company when they were left to themselves or to those that were careless of them they went out of themselves and vanished in a smoak or in a snuff then their corruptions soon gathered head and their graces were at an under they soon grew rude and bruitish and given to sensuality and the hearb of grace for want of rain and nourishment watering and weeding was soon suffocated by vice and in short time these men lost that which they seemed to have and their souls looked no more like a watered garden but a barren wilderness or a dunghill covered with noysome weeds and the dam which religious education had erected being broken down the stream ran more violently and it is not unusual to see vice so much prevailing that they turn persecutors of what before they profest oh my soul is not this in part thy case are there not sensible decays of love in thee is not thy zeal for God abated and thy courage in his cause decayed are not thy graces choaked with weeds and the wheat overrun with tares where is the kindeness of thy youth and the love of thy espousalls when thou wentst after God in the wilderness hast thou not with the Church of Ephesus lost thy first love dost thou not grow more strange with thy God and doth not God grow more strange with thee where is that heart and fervour which did appear in thee that life and activity in his service hath not the cooling winde of the world abated this and thou beginnest to be as the world calls it more moderate or as God calls it more lukewarm the weeds of sin begin to overtop the hearb of grace do not these grow rank and flourishing when grace grows weak and feeble grace like the house of Saul grows weaker and weaker when sin like the house of David gathers strength well beware betimes if thou grow lukewarm God will spew thee out of his mouth if thou bear wilde grapes he will pluck down thy fence and lay thee waste if thou art barren he will cut thee down and cast thee into the fire oh my God without thy assistance I shall bring forth no fruit or worse then none wilde grapes grapes of sin and disobedience my sins like a bloud-hound will dog me at the heels and finde me out the weeds of sins and the thorns of cares will suffer no good herb nor flower to flourish if God weed them not out Oh pluck up those weeds keep under those thorns and make up those decays in this thy garden let the north-winde and the south blow upon my garden that the spices thereof may flow out Cant. 4.16 that I may be serviceable to thee and profitable to man let my fruits be ripened my graces greatned by the breathing of the Holy Ghost then shall I serve thee with thy own and give thee of thy own 1 Chron. 29.14 Upon the fading of Beautifull flowers 13. Med. WAlking in the garden I fixed my eyes upon the flowers there growing I considered the variety beauty and splendour of them how glorious they appeared after a cooling shower of rain and the refreshing beams of the shining Sun how pleasantly they lookt how sweet they smelt filling the ambient air with their sweet savour delighting the beholders senses with their colour shape and scent and when on the other side I considered how vain and fading all this glory was how transitory these beautifull creatures were and how their glory past was as the morning dew which when the Sun in his glory appears quickly vanisheth when I considered that the same day I saw them in the heighth of their pride and in their lowest debasement to day they are saith Christ and to morrow they are cast into the oven the same day ofttimes sees them both admired and despised hug'd in the bosome and cast out upon the dunghill me thought this did lively resemble the vanity of all humane felicity how transitory it is and uncertain and how little solidity is to be found in any thing under the sun Now they flatter and seem beautifull to the eye and suddenly they wither vanish and disappear If we look upon their little Lord and the owner of these things we shall finde him as frail and brittle as fading and transitory as these this day you may see him in the strength of his youth and his bones full of marrow and to morrow death seizeth upon him and the worm sweetly feeds upon him Job 24.20 they are cut down as the grass and wither as the flower of the field Psal 37.12 13. How frequent is it in Scripture to compare man to grass and to a fading flower Esay 40.6 7. all flesh is grass and the glory thereof as the flower of the field the grass withereth the flower fadeth because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it surely the people is grass Psal 92.7 when the wicked springeth as the grass and when the workers of iniquity flourish it is that they may be out off for ever and as man is thus frail and brittle fading and transitory so are all these sublunary things there is no stability no sollidity in them they are like the moon every day shewing a new face now waxing now waning or like the Sea sometimes ebbing sometimes flowing now a full sea and a few howers after low water we may see many men flourish like green bay-trees and suddenly taken away and the place that knew them shall know them no more now in the height of honour and suddenly in the gulph of disgrace now flourishing in riches and quickly pincht with poverty our age can witness all
they only bear an empty name and notion those that pursue them will finde their mistake and that they were not worth their time and pains and cark and care especially their souls which are like to be lost into the bargain but God and Christ and heaven and glory are worth our labour we cannot buy this gold to dear Oh my God this hath been my folly to hunt after these butterflys and neglect the race where a crown of glory was to be the prize and my own soul lay at the stake I have laid out my money for that which is not bread and my labour for that which satisfyeth not I have been one of these busy creatures that have made a great and confused bustle in the world to little purpose help me now to devote my self to thy service and give up not only my name but my heart to Christ then may I expect a better reward then the world hath given me and better happiness then the creatures can afford Upon the Diligence of the ants 17. Med. UPon the former occasion when I had as before was noted disturbed the ants and put them into a confusion I observed what would be the issue and saw when the present fear and amazement was a little over which put them into that disorder they unanimously with a joint consent applyed themselves with might and main to order what I had disordered with my foot and to repair the breaches I had made in their Castle or strong-hold every one laying hold of something and carrying it to the common heap methought they did resemble a well ordered well governed common-wealth where the whole community joyn heart and hand for the common interest and lay out their strength for the publick benefit but alass where is there such a government such a society to be found what a happy thing were it to see the inhabitants of a Nation of a City of a Town or Village to have publike spirits and every one to concern himself in the concerns of the whole and unanimously minde the publique good as well as their own private concerns but alass it is far otherwise both in Nation Town and Countrey yea publike persons that are in Authority and to whom the welfare of the rest is intrusted too many of them have low base private spirits and will go no further then their own private interest gain and advantage drives them yea if Christians that make more then ordinary profession of religion were of publike spirits and would sympathize with each other in weal or wo and put to a helping-hand and a willing-heart and watch over each other and assist one the other upon all occasions and exigencies for soul and for body what a growing thriving sweet communion would there be the Psalmist tels us Psal 133.1 behold how good and how pleasant it is for men to dwell together in unity it is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down to the beard c. yea like the dew of hermon and the dew that descendeth upon the mountains of Zion c. but such unity is more to be wisht for then hoped for in our days wherein Christians rather worry one another then help and assist The dilligence and industry of these poor creatures also brought to my minde the counsel of Solomon to the sluggard and oh that I could speak it loud enough to my self and others that are guilty Pro. 6.6 go to the ant thou sluggard consider her ways and be wise which hath no guide overseer nor ruler yet provideth her meat in the summer and gathereth her food in the harvest The Naturalists and others have written much of the industry of these creatures not only that they gather their store but also draw it forth say some in a sun-shine-day to dry it to keep it from putrefaction These insects are as one calls them veri Laicorum libri the true Lay-mans books wherein they may learn their duty Oh man how art thou degenerated that wast made but a little lower then the angels and wast indued with reason to rule these inferiour Creatures and not only ad laborem natus sed ratione ornatus and yet now must be sent to learn wisdom not only from the oxe and the asse Isay 1.3 not only from the stork the turtle the crane and the swallow Jer. 8.1 but down to the lowest form the poorest insects the most despicable of all others and that to learn wisedom and diligence these by an instinct of nature gather their food in summer for winter and shall man that hath reason to foresee the danger be careless But how many oh too many as if they had forgot that God had said In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread Gen. 3.19 live idly and cannot give account of one days work in a moneth of this sort are many of our Gentry that eat and drink and rise up to play but God never gave them their parts and their Estates for this end and an account will be required at the last and they will know that they were not the only proprietors of what they enjoy but the Stewards But there are others no less faulty perhaps more guilty and those are our idle drones that make begging their calling and follow no other employment though they are able those that content themselves in diem vivere as the fowls of the air do and some are not only idle but prodigall also and spend and consume that wastefully that might refresh their family handsomly but as one saith care should be taken ne promus sit fortior condo that our layings out be not more then our layings up But the greatest slothfulness is in reference to the soul how strangely negligent are the most of men though God rain manna about their tents yet will they not gather it but suffer the soul to starve they are like the foolish Virgins they seek not for oyl till their lamps are out and the bridegroom be come or like the wicked servant bury their talents in a Napkin Oh my soul thou hast a lesson for thy instruction or an example for thy imitation these poor yet diligent creatures justly reprove thee for sloth and negligence many of thy years are past and little of thy work is done thou hast been playing in the dust and though called neglected to come home to thy fathers house thou hast trifled out the morning and now the shadows of the evening are stretched out and the day far spent beware of idleness this will leave thee short of heaven double thy diligence and amend thy pace give diligence to make thy calling and election sure be diligent in Gods work that when the devil comes to tempt he may finde thee well employed when Christ comes to judge thee he may not finde thee idle when death comes to call thou maist be ready when the bridegroom comes thou maist have oil in thy vessel and a lamp ready trimmed in
seed fructify or one corn grow if God succeed not their endeavour oh the madness stupidity and egregious folly of Athiests that deny a diety and yet cannot make a fly or flea or the leaf of a tree without pre-existent matter nor put life into it when it is made nor know how it is done but many of them their lives are so debaucht that to still and quiet their inraged conscience they would fain race out and obliterate this principle imprinted in the soul by God himself viz. that there is a God but that there is no God they rather wish then believe but to return it is God that doth this work Mark 4.26 The Kingdom of heaven is as if a man should cast seed into the ground and should sleep and rise night and day and the seed should spring up and grow up he knows not how for the earth bringeth forth fruit of her self first the blade then the ear afterwards the full corn in the ear c. when we have done our duties we must rely upon God for the success and depend upon Gods providence if we cannot do it leave it to him that can let us do our part of the work and leave his part to him to do we cannot do his and he will not do ours it is our part to plow and sow and manure and till the ground out of which we were taken Gen. 2.15 but it is God that causeth it to fructifie and encrease he giveth us rain from heaven and fruitfull seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness Acts. 14.17 Diligence is our duty as the blessing upon it is his gift God placed no man upon the earth as he did Leviathan in the sea only to play therein but we are to work either with hand or head the thing that is good and in the sweat of our brow or brain we should eat our bread but when we have done all we must look higher for a blessing Deut. 28.12 the Lord shall open to thee his good treasure the heaven to give the rain unto the land in his season and to bless all the work of thy hand The stars are Gods store-houses which he opens for our profit and causeth them to pour out their influences upon the earth and thereby he scatters his riches to the world If we will cark and care about the event of things when we have done our endeavour no wonder if we faint under the burden if we take his part of the work upon us also no wonder if we truckle under it Now if his blessing be so necessary in temporals it is much more necessary in spirituals for none can make the soul fruitful but God do we not oft see the seed sown by the same hand and that it is watered by the same word yet it thrives in one field and not in another in one heart and not another why God causeth it to rain upon one field and not another and the field it raineth not on withered Amos. 4.7 those that live under the same Ministry sit in the same seat and have the same husbandry one remains barren the other fruitfull what is the cause but the north-wind and the south-wind the pleasant gales of the spirit blow upon one garden and not upon the other Cant. 4.16 when Christ was the preacher that which workt upon Peter workt not upon Judas not being made effectuall by God The springing of the seed also put me in minde of the resurrection the Apostle we finde illustrateth that point by this similitude 1 Cor. 15.35 36 37. but some will say how are the dead raised up and with what body do they come thou fool that which thou sowest is not quickned except it die and that which thou sowest thou sowest not that body that shall be but bare grain it may chance of wheat or of some other grain but God hath given it a body as it hath pleased him to every seed his own body the rotting of the body is but as the rotting of the seed in the ground that it may spring forth again with more vigour if God can say to this dead seed as sometime to the dry bones live why can he not say so to our dead bodies Is any thing too hard for the Almighty he that made them at the first of nothing can we imagine he cannot gather again together our scattered ashes and make it again into a body shall we think that to be impossible to God that seems hard to us if he say it shall be done shall we conclude it cannot be done Oh my soul use diligence both in thy general and particular calling but when thou hast done thy endeavour leave the success to God and not carkingly care nor doubtingly trouble thy self about the event and disquiet not thy self at what thou canst not help take not hâ—s work in hand lest thou canst not finish it leave not thy work undone for he will not do it diligence is thy duty yet promise not success to thy endeavours but depend upon him for a blessing if he give it bless him for it and let it more engage thy heart in his service if he deny it murmure not but wisely search out what was the cause some sin or other is pointed at in the suffering if thou finde it out remove the Achan and bless God for the providence it is better have a reformed heart then a full barn and as for spiritualls use diligence in the duties required but rest not in the work done if a blessing succeed let the Lord have his homage paid if that thou stand at a stay it is a signe some obstruction is between the head and heart that hinders the work rest not till it be removed if thou meet God in his ordinance bless his name for it if he absent himself let no duty please thee rest not till thou hast recovered sight of him as for the resurrection call not that to question which is so clearly held forth in his word heaven and earth shall pass but his word shall not pass till it be fulfilled what is too hard for an omnipotent arm he that made all things of nothing and he that every year raiseth a crop from dead seed why should we think it impossible for him to gather together our ashes however scattered and raise again our dead bodies to life it is thy great concern to live holily that thou mayst die happily and live with God eternally Oh my God enable me to commit all my concerns for soul and for body to thee and let me not murmure under any dark dispensation of providence however thou deal with me in reference to the body or these worldly enjoyments yet deal well with me in reference to my soul and in reference to eternity let the seed of grace grow and flourish let the weeds of sin be rooted out and let my soul like the good ground bring forth an hundred fold then shall I glorify thee when I
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
God forgive I beseech thee my carnal confidence trusting to the arm of flesh both in reference to my body and soul let me see the vanity of all creature-confidences how little they can avail without thy blessing and however thou crossest my designes for the world Lord succeed my designes for heaven with thy blessings leave me not to the teaching of man but teach me thy self water me with the dew of heaven and let thy clouds drop fatness incline my heart to thy testimonies and not to coveteousness Upon flowers seemingly dead in winter yet flourishing in the spring 23. Med. WHen I observed some flowers in the garden that all the winter long when the sun was remote in the Southern climate hid their heads withered seemed to die and to be extinct and buried themselves in their mother earth yet at the return of the year when their beloved smiled upon them when the sun came to the aequinoctial and began to court them and shine upon them with a more direct ray and warmer gleam they crept out of their grave revived sprang again and flourished like a love sick woman killed with a frown and recovered with a smile those that before go in their mourning-weeds now put on their best apparel This consideration made me compare it to the state of a poor soul in desertion when God the Sun of righteousness her beloved hides his face and stands at a remote distance then it is winter with the soul then it droops hangs down the head and is ready to die and cry out with the spouse stay me with flagons comfort me with apples I am sick of love but there may be life in the root when it appears not in the branches when the Sun of righteousness ariseth in the soul with healing in his wings Mal. 4.2 these dry bones will live these dead branches will bud these swouning fainting souls will revive and these buried flowers will spring out again though they are in the shadow of death light shall spring out to them The hearb of grace will not die in a hard winter when the spring comes it will bud and break forth the best of Saints oft have had their fainting-fits David that man after Gods own heart though well acquainted with the incomes of the spirit the smiles of God and spirituall consolations yet had many qualms and fainting-fits upon the apprehension of Gods departure but God though he seem to be long absent will not forsake those that are not willing to leave him Esay 4.14.15 but Zion said the Lord hath forsaken me and my Lord hath forgotten me can a woman forget her sucking-childe that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb yea they may forget yet will not I forget thee A father sometimes hides himself behinde the wall to try the affections of his little son to see whether he will miss him what moan he will make in his absence or whether he minde his play and be content without him when yet he is so far from forsaking him that every tear goes to his heart so God in his withdrawings from his people is much concerned in the moan they make and his bowels yearn at their complaints as he did at Ephraims when he bemoaned himself Jer. 31.18 19 20. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself c. Is Ephraim my dear son is he a pleasant child for since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord who is among you saith the prophet that feareth the Lord and walketh in darkness and hath no light let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay himself upon his God Esay 5.10 Here we see a man may fear God and yet be in darkness sometimes the Sun may he ecclipsed sometimes clouded but it will break forth again those that have their eyes enlightned shall see it though the blinde discern not between day and night light and darkness the greatest part of the world know not what it is to have the Sun of righteousness to arise in their hemisphere But it is the greatest grief to a believer that ever befell him in his life to have the face of his beloved to be clouded from him and his sun to set at noon then he goes with the spouse seeking him sorrowing did ye see him whom my soul loveth Cant. 3.3 when they seek him and cannot finde him when they call him and he gives them no answer Cant. 5.6 they seek from ordinance to ordinance from Minister to Minister and enquire after him every room in the house may witness their moan and their complaint but when they finde they rejoyce with the Martyr Oh Austin he is come he is come oh my soul how stands the case with thee art thou apprehensive of the approaches and departures of God from thy soul dost thou rejoyce in his presence as these poor flowers in the presence of their beloved dost thou mourn at his absence as they do and hide thy head dost thou hunger and thirst after him as the thirsty man for drink or the thirsty land for drops of rain if thou make little matter of him it is a signe thou hast little benefit by him or little love to him or never knewest what it was to have communion with him he is the chiefest of ten thousand therefore the virgins love him get as strong an apprehension of his love to thee and thine to him as possibly thou canst this will keep the soul from stragling thou wilt never leave him whom thou lovest and he will never leave one that loves him his withdrawings are but to try thy affections and he oft loves dearly those he seems to loathe if thou forsake not him he will never forsake thee and an evidence of his love will bear up the heart above trouble the Psalmist when he was so troubled that he could not speak yet comforted himself in considering the days of old and the years of ancient times and calling to his remembrance his songs in the night Psal 77.4 5 6. when there is a calm and tranquillity in the soul examine thy self by Scripture-evidences whether there be the truth of grace in thy soul or no and if thou finde it lay up these records against a stormy-day when the sun is clouded and out of sight then when thou canst not reade thy own heart or see grace in thy soul yet maist thou say at such a time in such a place I examined my self by such and such marks grounded upon such and such Scriptures and plainly and impartially judged my graces were true now true grace cannot be lost and therefore I know there is fire though under the ashes and true grace though buried under corruption and he that then loved me will love me to the end yea with an everlasting love oh my God assist me in this work of examination and not only give
soul alass they cannot they cannot procure thee one days respite out of hell or one days freedome from sickness or from death they cannot give thee any satisfaction here for content grows not in the worlds garden there are indeed joys worth having pleasures worth minding and riches worth labouring for happiness that shall never have an end that are not subject to changes nor vicissitudes as earthly enjoyments are but they are to be sought for above in the enjoyment of God in whose presence alone true happiness dwells The happiness the world promiseth are meer delusions a little honey and many stings a little bitter sweet pleasures that perisheth ere it bud in the midst of laughter the heart is sorrowfull and the end of that mirth is heaviness their joy is but like the crackling of thorns under a pot soon in soon out if thou wilt trade let it be in a surer commodity and not with the merchant have fortunam rudentibus aptam thy estate depending winde and weather if thou wilt be planting let it be in a better soil and not where thorns and thistles are like to be thy reward there is a treasure to be had a pearl of great price to be bought Mat. 13.44 45. whosoever deals in these cannot lose by them in comparison of which pearls and diamonds and precious rubies are not to be named these are they that make the soul rich all other riches doth it no good this makes it rich to God and lovely comely amiable in his sight oh my God give me this treasure and it sufficeth though I have nothing else all other things I can spare Christ I cannot spare he is the breath of my life and the life of my soul let the world take their portion alass it is a miserable portion I envy them not but Lord put me not off with such pittifull poor things let me have an interest in Christ and communion with him let me lie for ever in his bosome and let the enjoyment of him be my portion let me be an inhabitant in the city of pearl where no dirty dog shall tread upon the pavement my heart pants after this as the chased hart after the water-brooks when Lord shall I come and appear before thee come Lord Jesus come quickly Upon the sudden withering of flowers 34. Med. WHen I beheld the beauty splendour and glory of several herbs and flowers and other vegetables when they were in their pride and in their prime and invited all eyes to behold them and to do them homage and when I considered withall how short-lived they were how soon they withered vanished and perished and their glory passed away and came to nothing I thought this was a fit embleme to set forth humane frailty and the worlds glory by for both are transitory and vain for man himself who is Lord of these flowers he soon fades and is withered as a flower yea many times in the flower of his age how frequently doth the Scripture compare man to the grass and to the flower of the field which this day flourisheth and to morrow fadeth their glorious beauty is as a fading flower and as the hasty fruit before the summer c. Esay 28.1 4. all flesh is grass and all the glory of man is as the flower of grass the grass withereth and the flower fadeth away 1 Pet. 1.24 man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble he cometh forth like a flower and is cut down he fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not Job 14.1 2. Now they are fresh and flourishing and sudenly they decline now in the heigth of youthfull vanity and sudenly they pass away and the place that knew them shall know them no more if they live cares and fears sickness and old age succeed of which they are forc't to say they have no pleasure in them death it self many times calls men off the stage when they think they have but begun to act their parts and puts an exit to them and their work is done and their part ended But suppose life were more certain yet our earthly enjoyments and our happiness here are transitory and vain and all the felicity the world brags of is but a meer fancy and a very cheat at the best it is but a mixture of sweet and sowr a little honey and a great deal of gall and the end of that mirth is heaviness if the happiness be such what is the misery man himself is but a bubble how great soever he may seem and with what titles soever he be dignified and soon shall he be prickt by death and the winde let out and then a great bubble and a little one cannot be distinguished and all the pleasures which vain man takes in all his youthful follies is but like a bush of thorns and wisp of straw on fire make a sudden blaze and is forthwith extinguished they make a noise for a while and then vanish into smoak youthfull pleasures are soon over and carking care treads out their steps and old age makes them forgotten youth is like young lambs they leap and frisk awhile while they have the dug to run to when they are hungry but when they are once weaned and set to shift for themselves the sport is over so youth under their parents providence minde their sports but when once at their own provision cares and pains spoil the mirth and make it little minded The world also frowns and smiles upon the same man many times the same day and useth him as a tennisball now lifts him up and sudenly casts him down raiseth him to the top of honour and then plungeth him into the gulph of disgrace Now it shews him abundance of riches and then pincheth him with extremity of poverty now it mixeth him a cup with pleasure and presently fills it with gall and wormwood that which the world calls pleasures and for which so many sell their souls are but like those of the drunkard that last but while he is swallowing the drink and then succeeds belchings and vomitings sickness and sorrow wallowing in the mire and such like or like that of the adulterer which is often attended with pains aches rottenness filthy diseases not fit to be named and death it self and indeed these two beastly sins have much of that which the world calls pleasure but the effects shew it is wrong named sickness succeeds health and deformity beauty sorrow treads upon the heels of pleasure and adversity follows prosperity and there is a vicissitude and change in all humane affairs he is a stranger in the world that knows not these things David tells us Psal 37 35. I have seen the wicked in great power and spreading himself like a green bay-tree yet he passed away and lo he was not yea I sought him but he could not be found whether he have reference to Saul and his family I know not yet in the next generation how was his
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
temptations physick sometimes is as necessary as food and conduceth more to our health the soul hath as much need of threshing and winnowing as the corn Solomon tels us Pro. 22.15 foolishness is bound up in the heart of a childe but the rod of correction will fetch it away old Ely for want of this brought up his sons to bring down his house a lesson set on with whipping is best remembred now this is true of men as well as children for corruption and folly remains in them also till God fetch it out sanctified affliction is the way to consume it It was good for me saith David that I was afflicted before I was afflicted I went astray but now I learn to keep thy Commandments Gods rod as well as his staff comforted him Psal 23.4 as corn must be threshed winnowed ground and baked before it is fit for use or good for food so by affliction men are fitted for Gods service here and for glory hereafter yet as some corn requires not so much threshing as others doth yet all must have some so some men need not so much affliction as others though some be necessary but he that gives man understanding in the one best knows what is necessary for the other Isay 28.24 doth the plowman plow all day to sow doth he open and break the clods of his ground when he hath made plain the face thereof doth he not cast abroad the fetches and scatter the cummin and the appointed barly and rye in their place for his God doth instruct him to discretion and doth teach him for the fetches are not threshed with a threshing-instrument neither is a cart-wheel turned about upon the cummin but the fetches are beaten out with a staff and the cummin with a rod bread-corn is bruised c. he that gives man wisdom shall not he understand the great husbandman that instructs others will not lay on more stroaks or heavier then needs must the goldsmith suffers not his gold to lie in the furnace one hour longer then is requisite God observes when his work is done upon Mount-Zion and then will punish the stout heart of the King of Assiria Esay 10.12 we are apt to be playing in the dust and minde not our fathers house and till we are frightned or beaten we shall not return home but minde our sport the prodigal mindes not his father while he had any thing left to eat oh death how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that lives at ease in his possession and hath nothing to vex him but hath prosperity in all things Ecclus 41.1 physick as I said is sometimes as necessary as food and sickness as health and poverty as plenty we are apt to surfet on sweet-meats our heavenly father who is the best physitian knows best what is best for us were we to choose our food and our physick we should kill our selves sometimes he prepares a diet-drink for us and mixeth it with our tears Psal 42.3 my tears have been my meat day and night Psal 80.4 5. O Lord God of hosts how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people thou feedest them with the bread of tears and givest them tears to drink in great measure he also seasoneth it with their groans to many he prescribes also a spare diet for every man cannot bear a prosperous estate no more then every mans head can bear much wine oh my soul matter not though thou be thresht and winnowed and ground and bak't so thou maist be made bread for thy Masters table all Gods people have tasted of the cup of affliction and canst thou expect to go free Abel began the round and drank a health to all his followers which hitherto they have all pledged and some of them have drunk very deep and Christ himself drunk up the very dregs If God preserve thee no matter whether it be in salt or sugar If thou suffer for him thou shalt reign with him and these light afflictions which are but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory 2 Cor. 4.17 it is but winking said the Martyr and we shall be in heaven presently though thou maist lose something for Christ thou wilt lose nothing by him for every handful of muck thou partest with for his sake thou shalt have a handful of angels afflictions when once past are soon forgotten as a womans pangs in childe-bearing when a man-childe is born into the world John 16.21 to which a Christians sufferings are oft resembled Esay 26.17 Jer. 6.24 but many Christians mourn and overmourn for their losses and become like Mary Magdalen blear-eyed and cannot see Christ for their tears and think God cannot love them because he beats them see how these are mistaken Heb. 12.6 7 8. whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son that he receiveth if you endure chastening God dealeth with you as with sons for what son is he that the father chasteneth not but if you be without chastizements whereof all are partakers then are ye bastards and not sons he hath learned little in Christianity that hath not learnt to suffer corrections are pledges of our adoption and badges of our sonship one son God had without sin but none without sorrow Luther thought the Pope was not Gods son quod sine cruce regnat oh my God whatever affliction lies upon me never let me have a revolting heart and if I suffer let it be for thee and not as an evil-doer if thou hast appointed suffering times for me Lord fit me for them with suffering graces and a suffering spirit fit the back before thou lay on the burthen Lord give me strength to bear it and then lay on what thou wilt and while thou wilt Upon the winnowing of the seed 41. Med. WHen the seed was thus thresht or beat out the next work was winnowing it whereby the chaff and refuse and lightest emptiest part was blown away with the winde but the solid substantiall weighty grain was not hurt by it but benefitted it was refined and purified I saw what the furnace was to mettle such is the fan to the corn that which seperateth purgeth and purifyeth it this made me compare temporal with spirituals and to consider that God hath many ways to purge and try his people sometimes he casts them into the furnace of affliction and trys them this way others had trials of cruell mockings and scourgings yea moreover of bonds and imprisonments c. Heb. 11.36 and sometimes he trys them with the fan to see what solidity is in them the messenger of the Covenant shall come but who may abide the day of his comming or who shall stand when he appeareth for he is like a refiners fire and like fullers soap and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver c. then many a guilded piece will be found counterfeit and many a glittering professor found to be but a
many times God by his providence doth thus dispose of the cruel enemies of his Church and those that thirst after the blood of his Saints they have had blood even their own blood to drink Rev. 16.6 so righteous is God in his judgments and so true in his word thus it was with Pharaoh that sought the destruction of Israel he and his army were overthrown in the Red-sea Adonibezek that had caused threescore and ten kings having their thumbs and their great toes cut off to gather meat under his table was requited in like manner by the men of Judah Judg. 6.7 thus it was with Haman he procured a decree to cut off aâ—â— the Jews and made a gallows fifty cubits high to hang Mordecai upon but he himself was hanged upon it and his own friends and relations were destroyed Thus it was with Daniels persecutors he was delivered out of the Lions den and they were cast in so the flames lickt up the men that threw the three Worthies into the fiery furnace but had no power upon them Phaleris perisht in his brazen Bull the work of his own hands invented to torment others thus Tomyris dealt by Cyrus and the Parthians by Crassus and the Romans by those Jews that cryed out his blood be upon us and upon our children and so God by his providence dealed with our gun-powder conspirators and so let thine implacable enemies perish oh God this Observation also brought to my minde what I had somewhere read and often heard by way of complaint of our English laws viz. that they were like unto spiders webs which hold the little flys but the great ones break through or like fishers nets rather where the little fishes creep through and the great ones break through and I thought the comparison not unfit the laws themselves I know would hold the greatest malefactor were not those that should execute them partiall ofttimes fear or favour makes them open the net and let go their prey how oft may we see partiality sit as judge in some courts of Judicature this is my friend that is my kinsman deal gently with the young man for my sake how oft have I seen a poor man stockt for swearing and drunkenness and well they deserved it but his worship or his honour guilty of the same crimes brake through the net and escaped scot free and was neither punished in person nor purse yea though they offended in the Magistrates presence but whether worshipful titles will bear them out also before the judgment-seat of God is worthy enquiry there is no such exceptions in Gods law let him suffer except he be a Gentleman nay it is an aggravation to the fault of such a one who may well be presumed to have better knowledge and better breeding then others or otherwise I know not what gentility signifies and he that knows his Masters will and doth it not should be beaten with many stripes I have read of a Gentleman being condemned to death for a flagitious crime and pleading for a mittigation of his punishment because he was a Gentleman the Judge yielded him but this favour that he should be hanged upon a higher gallows then the other were and I fear the Ecclesiastical Courts are not much better perhaps much worse poor ones are a prey not worth keeping great ones are too big to be held the middle sort of fish best suits the net and pleaseth the palat oh my soul think not to escape at the judgment-seat of God by any external priviledge the soul that sinneth it shall dye whether high or low rich or poor thou hast a righteous Judge to be tryed by that will not be corrupted by gold nor gain who will hear over again all the causes tryed in our Courts of Judicatory and parhaps pass another sentence if thy cause be good he will not condemn thee oh my God absolve me in thy Court and no matter if man condemn me but if thou condemn me there is none can acquit me Upon the worthlesness of a spiders web 50. Med. WHen I considered further the great diligence and the unwearied pains of the spider yea the fineness of the thread and the curiosity of the work and how she drew it out of her own bowels and yet notwithstanding how useless and unprofitable it was if a man should make a garment of it it would neither wear well nor keep warm or dry neither can it shelter from winde or storm if he make armour of it it cannot defend him if we lean upon it it cannot support us if we fall upon it it cannot bear us up neither can it stand before the besome but it is soon rent and spoiled and ofttimes the work and the workman the weaver and the web are cast both together into the fire I thought it resembled the world and the things of the world for of this it is the devil makes his net to catch souls which are the flys he hunts after which in it self considered is vain and transitory too poor a refuge to trust to either for temporal deliverance or eternal happiness yet many like the spider spend themselves to weave their web and even draw it out of their own bowels yea their very hearts goes along with it and if they meet with a prosperous success they like the rich man Luk. 12.16 c. sing a requiem to their souls and promise themselves a great deal of happiness when alas Gods besome of destruction sudenly comes and sweeps away both the work and the workman in a moment and casts both into the fire yet many spider-like put their trust in these webs of their own making and think they may eat drink and be merry c. right Epicures that make their gut their God and eat that on earth they must digest in hell their glass is run when they think it is but new turned then shall they finde though too late that their money will do nothing and death will not be hired but righteousness alone will deliver from death Solomon tells us Pro. 18.11 the rich mans wealth is his strong-hold and high walls in his own conceit but wealth is never true to those that trust it and cannot help in the evil day Zeph. 1.18 but if sin lie at the foundation though the walls be made never so high they will tumble down Jer. 17.5 cursed is man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm and whose heart departeth from the living God and truly of such refuges we may say as Job of the spiders web Job 8.13 14 15. if a man lean upon his house it shall not stand though he hold it fast it shall not endure most men like to a drowning man lay hold upon something to stay them and to bear up their heads above water but if it be not upon the Lord Jehovah it will do them no good but prove like to Egiptian reeds not only break but run into their hands should we trust in Princes
or Parliaments in armies or Garisons in men or money in food or physick in friends or relations or in any other earthly enjoyment we shall finde disappointments for these are not God but webs of our own weaving nets of our own making which may help to sink us but never to save us yet many men as God complains Esay 59.5 6. they hatch cockatrice eggs and weave spiders webs but their web shall not become a garment neither shall they cover themselves with their work it is too thin to shelter them from a shower of divine justice and too short to cover their nakedness Psal 33.16 17. there is no king delivered by the multitude of an host a mighty man is not delivered by much strength a horse is a vain thing for safety neither shall he deliver any by his great strength what then is the result of all but this Jer. 3.23 truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills and from the multitude of mountains truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel Psal 121.2 my help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth and as for temporals so for spirituals he that trusts for salvation from any thing but God will ere long finde his mistake and yet how many build their hopes upon a sandy foundation and trust to a broken staff some to Church-priviledges because they are baptized and go to Church they think they must needs go to heaven and that God wrongs them if he do not save them they are like the Jews that though they did steal murther and commit adultery and swear falsly and burn incense to Baal and served other Gods yet they cryed out the temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord Jer. 7.4 6 7. when they forgot the Lord of the temple and disobeyed him yet they thought themselves secure but what was Simon Magus the better for his baptismal water when he was still in the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity Is the making of the covenant worth any thing if it be not kept it doth but encrease the guilt and add to their damnation some trust for salvation to a good nature a good disposition a good meaning meer civility common honesty and think it is sufficient I am neither whore nor thief saith one and what then must thou needs be saved do all go to heaven that avoid these sins this is good news for many heathens others trust to humane learning external gifts and parts but the greatest enemies that ever Christ had in the world were men of great learning and profound natural parts the Philosophers of old Scribes and Pharisees yea the Jesuits at this day others trust to a bare profession of religion with the foolish virgins but all this is but to a spiders web oh my soul rest not upon these rotten props or deceitful webs for temporal safety or eternal salvation for they will deceive thee they are not the Lord Jehovah who is thy only refuge lay thy foundation upon that rock that is higher then thee so neither winde nor weather storms nor tempests can molest thee all other foundations are sandy and will down they are Egiptian reeds and will break in thy hand if thou lean upon them trust Gods power and providence and his other attributes for thy temporal preservation and roul thy self upon the merits and righteousness of Christ for thy eternal welfare then wilt thou be happy here and hereafter oh my God pardon my sin and folly in expecting salvation from the hills and from the mountains in trusting to this and that arm of flesh for temporal salvation and leaning upon this and that spiders web for eternal salvation Lord assist me for the time to come to commit both soul and body to thy self who only canst provide for me Upon the painful and laborious Bee 51. Med. WHen I observed the busy and labourious bee how painful and diligent she was in her employment and how industriously she busied her self and how laboriously she toiled and moiled from morning to night in gathering both honey and wax which when she had gotten she was as industrious in the disposal of it I observed how curious how carefull how exquisite she was in furnishing her little cell with the provision she had got by her hard labour in building her combs placing her honey disposing her young ones and feeding them and was so exact in all her labours that the art or wit of man cannot reach her nor erect so exact a fabrick out of such materials so uniform that nothing redundant nothing deficient doth appear and in all her little boxes so exact a symetry doth appear as is admirable to behold and beyond my skill to declare she is so painful and diligent that from morning till night whensoever seasonable weather doth permit she is never idle but either within door or without is busily employed yea the very first day she is placed in her new habitation she rids and cleanseth it decks and adorns it and makes it fit to begin her work and from that day they all join heart and hand as we say in the work and jointly and severally all study and endeavour the common good some order and government also there seems to be among those poor insects not only in their labour where no one is to live idlely but also in resisting the common enemy as we may see how unanimously they set against the idle wasp and at the time of the year against the sluggish drone I observed also in swarming times how unanimously they agreed and followed their leaders where they fled they followed and where they knit or lodged there they aboad also and that no quarrelling nor jarring arise among them yea when one was wronged the other sought revenge I observed also in their work how they gathered honey both from flowers and weeds and as I thought made little difference but extracted the quintescence of them for their own use and that without any wrong to the owner or dammage so far as I could perceive to the hearb or flower these and some such like considerations and observations made me to think it did much resemble a well ordered common-wealth or a well-regulated City Corporation or Community of persons or a family wherein all the members study the common good rather then their own private interest and lay out themselves one for the good of another and be all touched with the sence of others infirmitys and when one suffers all suffer but alass where are such a people to be found that bear such a spirit for the publike good for all seek their own Phil. 2.21 yea Christians themselves that are united each to other in a stricter band then any other community whatsoever are much wanting here and might learn hence a lesson of brotherly love and unity they should be like affectioned one to another and mourn with those that mourn and rejoyce with those that rejoyce Rom. 12.15 they
should be like lute-strings when one is touched all the rest sound like to ingenious children when one is beaten the rest all cry the Apostle adviseth 1 Cor. 10 24. let no man seek his own but every man anothers wealth Phil. 2.4 look not every one on his own things but every man also on the things of others the very heathens could say we were not born for our selves but for others good but alass this shews man as man is degenerate even below the beast yea insensible creatures the sun moon stars earth beasts birds fishes who seem to be created for others use and not their own good Paul himself could finde no man like Timothy to take care for the state of the Church for all saith he seek their own things and not the things of Christ Tit. 2.19.20 21. These poor insects also resemble a diligent Christian that improves every thing for his Masters glory and the inriching of his own soul and gathers honey from flowers and weeds and here the slothful Christian may be sent to school to the Bee as Solomon sends him to the ant to learn diligence for both these provide in summer for winter and there are too many such dust-heaps in the world such sluggards that are degenerated below the beasts themselves There is great reason why men should be more diligent then these their dilligence is for the soul the others for the body they are in greater danger if idle the Bee works for honey the other for heaven if the one want death ends her misery if the other want death begins his torment these poor creatures have nothing to excite them but a natural instinct but man hath the use of reason the directions of the Scripture and the assistance of the spirit Ministry conscience c. to animate him these have indeed flowers and herbs trees and weeds c. to gather honey from man hath a larger field to wander over even the whole creation will supply him there is not a stock or stone or dead tree or withering branch or falling leaf or decaying flower but will yield him honey if he have the heavenly art of extracting it they are feeble creatures man is indewed with more strength we have a better prize before us and have better help we can work by day or by night in winter and summer in frost and snow when they are hindred and yet to our shame be it spoken they are more diligent and we more negligent oh my soul how may these poor insects rise up in judgment against thee and condemn thee thou hast past the spring the flower of thy age and done little winter is drawing on apace what provision hast thou made the night approcheth when no man can work what honey hast thou gotten thou hast had as seasonable a summer as most in the world have had and a long harvest and yet art thou unfurnished what will be the issue of it will the season of grace always last the bridegroom is coming where is thy oyl the marriage feast is near where is thy wedding garment oh my God pardon my former neglects and mispence of precious time Lord keep me close to my work my little time that yet remains and succeed me in it that I may gather honey against the winter comes and may not be unprovided at death Upon the taste of honey 52. Med. WHen I had a little considered the workman and the work I desired to taste of the fruits of her labours but when I had tasted of the honey and found the sweetness of it and cast mine eyes upon the little workman a poor small insect a contemptible fly that yet may challenge all the artists in the world by their Chymistry to extract such excellent food out of stinking weeds sinks dunghills and other filthy places as she doth and that without the help of fire or any other instrument then what God hath indewed her with and when it is extracted to place and dispose of it in such an excellent order and comely manner as she doth for she furnisheth her house so exquisitly so uniformly as she doth that one little hole or cell cannot be found in the whole fabrick in a disorderly form and all the materials being taken from such varieties of flowers herbs and weeds the quintescence being extracted is so orderly disposed the wax to build the house and the honey to furnish it that it is wonderful to behold and yet the herbs and flowers thus robbed to our knowledge receive no detriment nor their owners no dammage for when it is gone it cannot be mist When I considered also the vertues and the operations both of the honey and wax the work of these poor creatures how useful and beneficiall it was not only for food but for physick and surgery and for many other uses it made me cry out the finger of God the finger of God that hath instructed such a poor fly in such an excellent art as this is and made them so painful so diligent for the good of man to help them to what they could not otherwise have nor well be without but if God be the schoolmaster no matter who be the schollars all the men on earth cannot do the like much less teach another fly this art nay we finde God himself seems to glory in this creature how small soever as well as in the great Leviathan and Unicorn and Behemoth Job 41.1 c. and 40.15 and 35.9 When he commends Canaan he frequently calls it a land flowing with milk and honey which is the glory of all lands Exod. 3.8 17. and 33.3 Lev. 20.24 and many other places In other Scriptures also we may see it commended Pro. 24.13 my son eat honey because it is good and the honey-comb which is sweet to thy taste thus Christ accepting the duties and delighting in the graces of his people tells us Cant. 5.1 He hath eaten his honey-comb with his honey and hath drunk his wine with his milk and calls upon his friends to drink abundantly also I considered also how good God was to us as well as unto Canaan in England that have such store of these blessings as well as them and wondred that our provoking sins had not forced him to deal by us as he hath dealt by them and to make our land spew us out also yea to lay a curse upon the land also as he did upon theirs for it is conceived that Judea is at this day far more barren and sterile then heretofore it was so true is that of the Psalmist Psal 107.33.34 He turneth rivers into a wilderness and the water-springs into dry ground a fruitful land into barrenness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein I considered also if there be so much sweetness in the creature what is in the Creator this being but a shadow and resemblance of his infinite perfections all the excellency that is in the creature being but a drop to this ocean a
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
so careless for the body as they are for the soul the most of us sleep in harvest and are like to beg in winter slug away the day and make no provision for night when they cannot work and lose the opportunity God affords them and have a price put into their hands but have no heart to get wisdome they provide not against the winter night of death nor the days of darkness which will be many Eccl. 11.8 for as sure as the night follows the day so sure a change will come a storm will rise and such a storm as will never be blown away to wicked worldlings There is too many professors go on in heavens way as the proverb hath it on a snails gallop we can scarce see them move and many like the crab-fish rather go backward then forward they are like those silly women mentioned 2 Tim. 3.7 ever learning and never come to the knowledge of the truth many have served an apprentiship in Christianity some two some three and some more and never yet understood the mystery of their profession nay not the grounds and fundamentals of Religion those that have been listed souldiers twenty or thirty years have not yet learned to handle their arms nor known the use of their weapons those that have been as long schollers in Christs school yet have not learned the first lesson of self denyal they have the same corruption unmortifyed the same grace weak or wanting the same doubts unresolved and the same fears upon their spirits as they had long since many years are past away and their work stands at a stay no more fitter for death no more assurance of heaven no more communion with God no more knowledge of the state of their own souls and all this notwithstanding the means they have had the Ministry they have enjoyed and the seasons of grace they have lived in Now is not he a monster in nature that is as big at two years old as at twenty and is it not a dullard indeed that goes to school twenty years and cannot take out one lesson Ancient professors should grow with the oak more firmly rooted and with the apple more ripe and mellow these trees of righteousness should bring forth fruit even to old age and add every year to their experience indeed there are some that grow in opinions and think this is growing in grace and in few years run the whole circle of errors and at last end where they began at profaness if not at athiesm they grow most in the head like children that have the rickets when the rest of the body pines these errors the brats of their own brain are like suckers in a tree they draw all the sap that should feed the other branches to themselves and run up into aspiring branches fruitless yea hurtfull the strength and vigor of the soul the life and heat of their zeal is spent upon these to maintain them when the power of godliness languisheth but true grace grows uniformly like a healthy body though every member grows not to the same bigness yet every member grows in proportion to the rest and so the body is compleated but alass where is this growth of grace discerned the most professors are in a languishing condition their pulse beats weakly and their natural heat abates and they are inclining to a consumption or a lethargy oh my soul is not this thy condition that is here described art not thou fitly resembled to this sluggish creature how long hast thou been in Christs school and never the better how many apprentiships hast thou served and yet art a very dullard and little more grace appears then did many years ago well double thy diligence amend thy pace set about thy work to purpose lest God turn thee out of his vineyard for a loiterer and give thee thy portion with the unfaithfull with the unprofitable servant Mat. 25.26 had idleness been a calling doubtless thou hadst been a good husband yet at last up and be doing thou canst not serve a better Master expect better work or wages O my God what shall I say to thee or how shall I answer thee mine iniquity hath found me out and my sin shews it self it is I that resemble this snail and have sluggishly served thee all my days Lord rouse me up out of my security that I may make more haste lest I fall short of my journeys end Upon a snail carrying her house along with her 72. Med. WHen I observed a snail carrying her house upon her back and in so doing carryed all she had with her in her removes it brought to my minde how the Israelites in the wilderness when ever they journeyed they removed their tents and carryed them with them and when ever they rested there they picht them and carryed all their substance for forty years space along with them and this might well put them in minde that they were strangers and pilgrims and there rest was not here I have read of heathen Stilpo when the enemy had seazed upon all he had burnt the town he lived in and took his wife and children prisoners being asked by Demetrius what he had lost replyed nothing omnia mea mecum porto I carry all-along with me esteeming his vertues his only riches which none could take from him but all loseable riches he valued not This made me further consider if any heathen could say thus how much more a Christian that hath all his vertues adopted graces and hath an interest in Christ and a title to glory for this is a Christians all and he can properly lay claim to no more for as he hath all from God so he hath all in God and having God he hath all and a rich portion it is beyond all the gold in the Indies and all the wealth in the world it is a more soul-satisfying portion then the world can afford and such a portion that is durable for the devil and all his instruments cannot deprive them of it and this they may take along with them to a prison to a gibbet yea to the utmost parts of the earth if they are banished thither The men of the world would have their portion in the world and heaven like paper and packthred into the bargain but it will not be they would carry the world upon their backs to heaven but it is too great a burthen to carry up the hill and too big to enter with at the strait gate The only way to make the best advantage of the world is to take Christs counsel Luk. 16.9 make your selves friends of the unrighteouss mammon that when they fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations this is the way to send the world before us to heaven or to improve it to the best advantage testify your faith saith the Apostle by your works improve these talents well and God will reward you for it riches are not properly ours but Gods but if we make sure
then I stood and considered it I looked upon it and received instruction yet a little sleep a little slumber a little folding of the hands to sleep so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth and thy want as an armed man viz. unexpectedly and irresistably sloth and idleness is the nurse of beggery the mother of misery and the forerunner of ruine Solomon makes some use of his observations a bee can suck honey out of every flower and weed but a fly cannot and a spiritual minde can extract good out of every object even out of other mens faults and follies he can gather grapes of thorns and figs of thistles and extract good out of evil This made me raise my meditations a little higher I considered if idleness be so great an hindrance to worldly advantages what is it then to spirituall profits if ground not manured brings forth briars and thorns weeds and thistles what will the soul bring forth if it be neglected this will soon abound with sins and vices lusts and corruptions and Solomon no doubt made this spirituall use of the miscarriages of his foolish neighbour a godly man as I said will gather honey with the bee where the wasp will not the fly cannot and the spider gathers poyson for a wicked mans example is often hurtful but to none but the wise profitable a wise man with Solomon will gather some good by others miscarriages and happy is he that other mens harms do make to beware the soul is more subject to the weeds of sin then any field or garden can be to briars or thorns or other noisome things and more diligence is required to keep it in order and there is more danger in the neglect briars and thorns are not more natural to the ground since the curse then sin and corruption to the soul since the fall and as in temporals so much more in spirituals much diligence is required to keep things in order and great is the advantage when it is done oh my soul refuse no pains neglect no labour heaven will make amends for all stub up thy sins by the root and content not thy self to lop off the branches regulate thy affection subdue thy headstrong passions bring under thy will and make it submit to Gods will set a watch over thy heart look well to thy words and thoughts as well as to thy actions set a guard over thy sences those cinque-ports otherwise the enemy will enter take heed of thy company for seldome good is gotten by ill companions beware of Satans temptations and the worlds allurements avoid all occasions to sin nay all appearances of evil and know that for all the pains thou canst take thou shalt be rewarded heaven will make thee amends but the sluggard is never like to come there Oh my God I have been this spiritual sluggard it is I have neglected my field and vineyard and hence are all those briars and brambles sprung up Lord help me to double my diligence and amend my pace and so run that I may obtain and so fight as to conquer Upon a great tree springing from a small kernel 75. Med. WHen I beheld some great fruit-trees grown to a large stature the persons being yet alive that set them of small kernels and that not very many years ago and yet are come to be trees of very great bulk and bigness the consideration whereof made me to contemplate the mighty power of God that from such contemptible beginings could produce so large a body and that of the small seeds of the cypress tree such a huge bulk should so soon proceed and that a slender akorn should bring forth so vast a tree as some oaks are carrying so many tun of timber and load of wood as some do this brought to my minde the parable of the mustard seed Mat. 13.31 where Christ tells us though it be the least of seeds that it grows up to a great tree and that suddenly that the fowls of of heaven lodge in the branches of it for though in our northern climats it arrive not to that bigness yet travellers speak much of the greatness of it in those hotter Countreys our Saviour Christs intention in this parable is to teach us that as from this small seed proceeds a great tree so is also the progress of the Gospel which though at first it seems contemptible yet it proves very efficatious it is quick and powerful and wonderfull in operation whither the fowls of heaven the elect resort in prosperity for shadow in adversity for defence In the promulgation of the Gospel from small beginnings a few poor unlearned fishermen the Gospel was carryed as on eagles wings to the end of the earth and in a short time subdued potent princes that set themselves against it to the admiration of all those angels came flying with the everlasting gospel and in the reformation how strangely was it carryed on Wickliff John Hus. and Jerome of Prague these paved a way and opened a door to Luther who with a few more withstood the whole popish interest and so prevailed against them that those locusts that came out of the bottomless pit were never able by their smoak to darken the light of the Gospel again but it brake forth more and more to the perfect day even to all mens admiration in many places it was carryed on against their princes consent yea contrary to his will in Holland France Germany Scotland and many more so wonderfully did this little grain spread and in this Nation by what unexpected means was the Reformation carryed on by a prince which writ against it and set himself against it and yet was instrumental in Gods hand to carry on the work God can make use of whom he pleaseth to do his work Heathen Cyrus must be his servant to carry on his designe in Athanasius his time how did God vindicate his truth by small means against a world of Arians and made him victorious against them all the word of God is powerfull as a two edged sword to divide between the joints and the marrow Heb. 4.12 By the growth of this mustard-seed is signifyed not only the spreading abroad of the Gospel in the first promulgation of it but also of the growth of grace in a Christians heart which though it have a small beginning yet it encreaseth wonderfully Job 8.7 the later end doth greatly encrease when the new creature grace is formed in the soul by the finger of God it groweth like the childe in the womb at the first it is an Embrio imperfect and unshaped but is perfected by the degrees the heart the brain the liver and vital parts and in process of time the bones sinews arteryes nerves and other parts covered with flesh and skin till it come to perfection and when it is born an infant it grows up to maturity till it comes to a perfect man when God speaks a word secretly and suddenly to the heart it
to the following Meditation I thought this tree did much resemble many great men which make a pompous shew and make a great coil and keep a great stir and bustle in the world and yet bear little or no good fruit but it is bitter sowr or unsavory they spread abroad their branches far wide fill a countrey have many under them that might bear much fruit but they drop such a poysonful influence upon them that they neither bear no fruit or worse then none bad fruit for they can seldome prosper or bring any good fruit to maturity neither is there any good tree or flower can live near them we may say of them and commonly of those that live under them as God doth of the like Deu. 32.32 c. their vine is the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrha their grapes are grapes of gall and their clusters are bitter their wine is the poyson of Dragons and the cruel venom of asps for what can you observe from many great ones and those that depend upon them but swearing drinking gluttony adultery Sabbath-breaking oppressing persecuting and an enmity of the power of godliness and there shall not a godly man live under them nor within their reach if they can help it and they do so poyson all about them that the very earth it self is cursed for their sakes and by their means toads and serpents brambles and briars those fruits of the curse can only prosper near them and harbour under their shadow and yet alass still they are but men though great men and signify no more then men and like men they shall die and death will level them with the meanest of men great men are indeed like capital Letters they bear a great bulk and possess a great room and have a more pompous dress and people are apt more to look upon them and children to admire them and yet in signification they are but the same with the rest and the other have the same sound though these commonly have the precedence and leading yet they are but letters and so are the rest and stript out of their dress are called by the same name these are but letters and great ones are but men they are indeed like the fore-man on the Jury they have liberty to speak first but their vote is but a vote they make a great bustle in the world for a time and act some great mans part but when the play is done and they are disrobed alass it is but poor man still and when the Lord of the vineyard comes and findes them barren he never regards their bulk or beauty but bids cut them down why cumber they the ground Luk. 13.7.9 those that are not for fruit are for the fire the herb of grace cannot grow near them nor within their reach they cast forth a poysonfull influence round about a godly man cannot live by them but he is poysoned by them or by persecution driven from them but their damnation sleepeth not 2 Pet. 2.3 I know some great trees are good trees trees of righteousness that bear abundantly and these are to be prized these are a shelter a shelter from the storm and to these the godly fly for refuge such was David Josiah Hezekiah and several others Abraham Job and good Obadiah but these are like black swans seldome seen yet some such we have in our days the most of our great ones bear poysonous fruit that infects those that taste of it some more moderate bear only leaves and it is well they bear no worse a bare fruitless profession they make but as they do no good so they do little hurt some bear a little fruit and a little makes a great shew in a great person but the most bear none or worse then none but prove like a blazing star and threaten ruine to the beholders those that have most oftentimes do least but it is pitty Gods good gifts should be thus abused an account of those talents shall one day be required as the Pharisees had their learning hanged in their light which of the Scribes and Pharisees have believed on him Joh 7.48 sapientes sapienter in infernum descendunt there are none so deep in hell as knowing men so rich men have too great a clog at their heels to run the ways of Gods commandements Christ tells us how hard a thing it is to be great and good for it is easier saith he for a Camel to go through a needles eye then for a rich man to enter heaven Mat. 19.24 Shimei seeking his servant lost himself and most men seeking riches pleasures and honours which should be their servants lose their souls Let such reade that flaming text James 5.1 2. c. go to now ye rich men weep and howl for the misery that shall come upon you your riches are corrupted and your garments are moath-eaten your gold and your silver is cankred and the rust of them shall be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire ye have heaped treasure together for the last day ye have lived in pleasure on the earth and been wanton ye have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter ye have condemned and killed the just and he could not resist you did men but consider the temptation that riches exposes them to and the dangerous events that often follow they would not so eagerly pursue them nor so greedily gape after them oh my soul bless God thou art freed in a good measure from those temptations that many others lie under and think thy own condition best hadst thou enjoyed more it might have been thy portion hadst thou had stronger temptation and more baits thou mightest have swallowed the hook as others have done thou hast less to answer for oh my God give me neither poverty nor riches feed me with food convenient give me food and rayment and let me be content but let not these things be my portion Vpon an old yet fruitful tree 81. Med. WHen I saw an old tree that promised little yet was richly laden and had not only more fruit then those that were younger and made a greater shew but the fruit was better also it exceeded not only in quantity but also in quality the other trees this Observation made me think this tree resembled much an old Christian an ancient professor that usually bears more and better fruit then the younger sort their judgements being ripened and mellowed by their experiences and usually they are not so tart and sowr so sensorious and self-wilde as the younger are who are apt to condemn all that are not just of their judgements though otherwise they hold forth as much of Christ and a Gospel conversation as they do themselves This Consideration brought to my minde what the Psalmist saith of such 92. Psal 12 13 14. the righteous shall flourish like a palm tree he shall grow like a Cedar in Lebanon those that be planted in the
be but a trouble so may a great estate to a godly man I might have like that young man mentioned Mat. 19.20 c. parted with Christ for a trifle had he had but a small estate who knows but he might have proved a true convert he cheapens heaven bids fair for it but they disagreed about the price a great estate breaks the bargain as in the world it breaks many a marriage the persons like and love but the womans portion will not answer the mans estate this occasioned Christ to tell us how hard a thing it was for a rich man to be saved Mat. 19.24 it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God most mens honours change their manners and they are the worse for their wealth if heaven be to be had upon no other terms many will refuse it they would be gainers by their religion however they resolve to lose nothing many like Diana's Craftsmen get their living by it they will launch no further into the deep then they may return safe to the shore many come to Christ hastily as this young man but return heavily when they hear the rate All men love Abrahams bosome but few men love Dives door all men love the jewel but few will go to the price all men would have the crown but they love not the cross that leads to it Most men especially great ones will meddle with no more religion then will do them good or boot their needs or serve their designes they will lanch no further into the seas then they can see the shoar pride breeds in wealth as worms do in apples and he is a rich man indeed that thinks himself never the greater or never the better for his wealth oh world how hast thou deceived those that trust in thee and how hast thou bought their profession out of their hands for a trifle and hast had their souls into the bargain how many write themselves happy when they are loaden with thick clay alass what will this do for them in their greatest need poor Spira was betrayed by thee to the shipwrack of faith and a good conscience so were Judas Demas Ananias and Saphira and a thosand more these knew not the worth of the soul nor the vanity of the world that let the devil have so cheap a penyworth they grasp so greedily after gold that they lost their God and loved their sin more then their souls but what good will it do them when they want a drop of water to cool their tongues Luk. 16.24 oh my soul bless God that hath freed thee from many temptations that others are overcome by Covet not overmuch a prosperous condition lest God give it thee for thy portion scorn with the Eagle to stoop so low as to seek thy meat upon a dunghill undervalue not thy self so much as to entertain so poor a suitor as the world is when the sun of God makes love to thee who alone can pay thy debts and make thee happy thou canst not buy this gold too dear but the world thou maist and most men do when they purchase it with the bloud of their souls thou canst not over-value this jewel it is ten thousand times better then thou canst value it oh my God give me Christ and it sufficeth I need no other portion I desire no other happiness let me have him at any rate Vpon trees green in summer but stript off all in winter 86. Med. OBserving further that those trees so fair and specious so green and flourishing in the summer yet when autumn came were stript of all their gallantry and appeared bare and ill favoured dead and dry and looked not like the same they were It presently struck into my minde that this would shortly be the condition of all wicked men let their prosperity be never so great and their enjoyments in the world never so many or large the time is coming all these like leaves will fly away with the winde the nipping frost of death and the winde of affliction will make them fall some carry Lordships on their backs some Earldomes some Dukedomes and some few Kingdomes among the Clergy some carry several steeples on their backs yea some Deanaries and some Bishopricks all these are but leaves and will fall when Autumn winde blows they cannot stand a winter-blast death will level the great and the small the one with the other and the Kings head shall then shew no impression of a crown Many rich men are like sumpter-horses richly laden with gold and silver and costly gems and Jewels all the day but when night comes and come it will ere long they are stript of all turned into a dirty stable and nothing to bring off but their gal'd backs so these at death have nothing left but a gal'd conscience a pregnant example of this we have in the rich man mentioned Luk. 16.19 there was one cloathed in purple and fine linnen and fared deliciously every day but it was but a little time before all those leaves were stript off and he had not left him one drop of water to cool his tongue and he that a little before as some imagine denyed a crumb of bread to Lazarus is now denyed a drop of water Another example we have Luk. 12.16 of a rich man that had abundance and began to sing a requiem to his soul eat drink and be merry thou hast goods laid up for many years he was a right Epicure that made his gut his God another Sardanapalus eating that in earth that Augustine saith he must digest in hell little thinking his death was so near his glass was run when he thought it was but new turned thou fool saith Christ this night shall thy soul be required of thee and then whose are these he was shot as a bird with the bolt while he was staring at the bow of rich men the Psalmist saith their glory will not follow them neither shall they take any thing with them Psal 49.17 then when death entreth into their lodging and knocks at their doors they may bid farewell to their well contriv'd houses sumptuous buildings pleasant gardens and delightful walks yea to all their bags of gold so painfully got so carefully kept and so warily employed even to the wounding of their consciences the hardning of their hearts and the loss of their souls then farewell all their pleasures their merry meetings and their pot companions with their drunken revels farewell then their cocks their hawks their hounds and their whores they must never more delight and recreate themselves with these for though whoremasters and whores shall burn together in hell yet shall they not there burn in lust one to the other but their company shall be their torment not their recreation all these are but leaves the wind of death will blow away Here are no may-games nor morris-dances or deluding shews to entertain
our youthfull gallant no stage-plays for their divertisement no pleasant Comedies acted but a dismal Tragedy wherein they are like to be the miserable Actors but will never come off with applause there is no modish garb for our well-drest gallant no headtire but a flaming periwig here is no use for looking-glass nor tiring woman no use of patches powders paints or frisling irons all these are out of mode and fashion in those Territories here are no healths to pledge but that of damnation they so oft drunk in the days of their life but never knew what it was till now but now must pledge them to all eternity But this is not all their loss will be greater for they must lose the beatifical vision of God blessed for ever in whose presence there is joy and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore then must they be everlastingly separated from him who is the chiefest good Now they say to him depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy ways Job 21.14 and then God will have none of their company but will say depart from me c. Mat. 7.22 and 25.41 oh direfull and dreadfull sentence such as may make their heart-strings crack and their hearts break in pieces it breaths out nothing but fire and brimstone stings and horrours wo and alass seas of vengeance the worm that never dies and the fire that never shall be quenched torments without end and past imagination in this life they cannot endure the company of the godly they are either the object of their scorn or malice but then they shall be eternally separated as far as heaven is from hell or Dives from Lazarus between whom there is a great gulph fixed Luk. 16.26 Then they shall lose their souls which is incomparably their richest jewel which they sold for a trifle and now it will be required and they must stand to their bargain not that they shall be annihilated that news is too good to be true neither shall they lose the faculties of them these shall be inlarged to their further torments but they lose their God which is the life of their souls and put them into the devils hands to be eternally tormented they shall lose their bodies also for whose sake they sold their souls in a word all their happiness and all their hopes and all they accounted dear shall then be stript away all these like leaves shall fly before the winde of death and in the room of these everlasting destruction of body and soul shall succeed oh death what a change wilt thou make at thy coming and how unwelcome wilt thou be to those that live at case in possession oh my soul remember the days of darkness for they are many Eccl. 11.8 provide against this time that this may not be thy case for ere long all these leaves will be blown down provide therefore treasures that neither man nor devil can strip from thee provide a mansion in heaven before this earthly tabernacle be dissolved Lord assist me in this work without thee my endeavours are vain Upon a tree green all the winter 87. Med. WHen I observed how green some trees were all the winter and how flourishing even in the frost and snow when others are stript naked and left bare and seem dead and withered and that neither the pinching frost nor blustring windes neither storms nor tempests could disroab them or change their summer-suit to winter colours that neither summers sun nor scorching heat could make them wither nor winter cold nor storms could make them cast their leaves nor turn their lusty green to any other colour I began to think these trees much resemble a Christian that had the life of grace within him and is planted into that generous vine Christ and sucks sap and nourishment from this root these also are green when others that stand upon their own root wither and decay But these trees of righteousness are planted by the rivers of water and bring forth their fruit in due season and their leaf also shall not wither but whatsoever they do it shall prosper Psal 1.3 c. when others are driven like chaff before the winde from the face of the earth yet the sun-shine of prosperity cannot wither those nor the winde of adversity blow them down or their fruit nor remove their leaves Job was one of these trees of righteousness green at all times winter and summer in his prosperity his leaf flourished for God himself gives as ample a testimony of him as ever he did of mortal man Job 1.8 Hast thou considered my servant Job that there is none like him in the earth a perfect and upright man one that feareteh God and escheweth evill and when he was in adversity he still retains his integrity Job 27.5.6 till I die I will not remove my integrity from me my righteousness I hold fast and will not let it go my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live and see what end God makes with him he crowns him and chronicles him for his sincerity and patience all his affliction could not make him lose one leaf Joseph when he was in prosperity fears God and when in adversity he fears him also when he was a bondslave in Potiphars house he resisteth the temptations of his mistriss with this consideration how shall I commit this great wickedness and sin against God Gen. 39.11 Joseph remains in Egypt like a pearl in a puddle he had set God at his right hand and would not be moved though Satan knock oft at the door there was none within to answer though the iron as the Psalmist saith entred into Josephs soul yet sin could not when the devil could not prevail against him by his hard bondage he trys to do it by a Dalilahs temptation he struck fire oft but it fell among wet tinder Joseph was semper idem when he was wrongfully cast into prison he keeps his integrity still and God owns him and gave him favour and after when he was advanc't to honour and made enter in Egypt he did not forget his God nor God did not forget him all the hot gleams of prosperity nor all the blustring storms of adversity could not shake down any of his fruit or stir any of his leaves it is true wicked men in their prosperity are said to be spreading themselves like a green bay-tree but this denotes the prosperity of the body not of the soul these leaves at death will drop as well as others and their prosperity and happiness will draw to an end and all their enjoyment will be but as a thin mist before the winde soon scattered but mark the upright and behold the just for the end of that man is peace Psal 37.37 I shall be saith the Psalmist as a green olive-tree in the house of God Psal 52.5 when those that trust not in the Lord shall be destroyed It was not banishment that could separate David from the stock
will he lay down his basket and take up his axe and say his spirit shall not always strive with man Shiloe was his house but he forsook it the temple of Jerusalem was his habitation but he left it Judah was his pleasant plant but he hath forsaken it he did walk among the seven golden candlesticks in the Churches of Asia but he hath removed those candlesticks and the Lord grant he may never give England a bill of divorce oh my soul art thou a barren branch then maist thou fear the pruning hook if thou be a barren tree thou maist fear the axe and the fire is like to be thy end if thou bear but a little fruit if God spare thee thou maist expect cutting and pruning by affliction it is better bleed then burn answer Gods ends in his afflicting thee bring forth more fruit if he take any thing from thee 't is but what thou canst well spare yea what fed some excrescence and rendred thee more useless oh my God use me as thou wilt only cut me not down for the fire our me and prune me at thy pleasure but forsake me not nor lay me waste Upon suckers in a fruit-bearing tree 78. Med. FRom those suckers before observed in a fruit-bearing tree I had also this following meditation for observing how they grew rank by the nourishment that should have fed the tree and loftily lift up the head above them and suckt that sap that should have made other branches to bear and as they were unprofitable themselves so they rendred the rest almost useless I thought they much resembled some new upstart opinions which some unwary professors espouse to themselves and because they differ from others they therefore think themselves more holy then their neighbours and hold their heads higher and verily believe growing in opinion is growing in grace In Arragon there were some hereticks who called themselves the illuminati as if they only had been in the light and all the world besides had been in darkness the Gnosticks would be the only knowing men the Manichees thought whatsoever they taught was food from heaven and the Family of Love boast of their Evangelium regni and of late the Ranters and Quakers boast of the infallible conduct of the spirit Now those opinions are ofttimes the brats of their own brain and many times pernicious errours or at least unprofitable things or matters of no great concernment yet they being thus espoused they suffer these opinions to suck all the sap that should maintain the vitalls of Religion that the whole tree is thereby rendred useless and unprofitable How many are there in our age that might have brought God much glory and his Church much good who have set themselves with might and main and spent their time and their strength and laid out their zeal and all for the promoting their own opinion perhaps an errour or at best but some lesser disputable truth perhaps about some circumstance of worship when in the mean time the very fundamentals of religion are neglected and the very vitals languish for want of nourishment for seldome do you see a wrangling Christian eminent in the power of godliness Many men when they have espoused an opinion make provision to maintain it they subject not their opinions to the rule but bring the rule to them and make it truckle under them for it is victory and not truth that many seek and therefore they spend their time and strength this way yea shut their eyes against all that makes not for them they are as zealous for their opinion as if the whole of religion consisted in it and as if they could hardly be Christians which were not of their minde when perhaps for sixteen hundred years they cannot finde a man of their judgement and all this while forgetting that the power of godliness and an holy life is the main of religion for whatever is in the brain if this be not in the heart all is worth nothing these mens knowledge floating in the brain makes them top-heavy but by reason of some obstructions their knowledge sinks not down into nor seasons the heart or the life Many are like the two men in the fable that contended about the shadow of the ass they had found who should go in it in a hot day till at last while they contended the ass got loose and escaped or like the dog in the fable that catching at the shadow lost the substance so these contend about trifles and neglect the main they are like children that have the rickets the head grows too big for the body the head thrives but the whole body pines they spend so much of their strength and zeal for externals that they neglect the internals they have so much zeal for or against ceremonies that they neglect the substance yet mistake me not my designe is not to make men careless in lesser points but more carefull in greater I would not have them think any sin small or to neglect any known duty but I would have them proportion their zeal according to the weight of the matter and not spend it all upon lesser matters and neglect the main concerns I would have no man neglect his little finger yet would I have him in the first place secure his head and heart he may be a man if he want his little finger but not without his head and his heart he may be a Christian though he erre about the modes and circumstances of worship but he cannot without holiness and sincerity some Christians are like the Salamander always in the fire of contention but these mens graces rather then corruptions are like to be burnt I like not those men that moddle religion in their own brain and make their own conceptions the center of unity and like Procrustes make his own bed fit all comers Let all things saith the Apostle be done decently and in order 1 Cor. 14.40 a necessary rule but so extremely wrackt that I conceive through mens corruption it hath produced more indecency and disorder then any one Scripture besides the Papists and others making this the foundation of all their needless ceremonies but to return to the point in hand my desire and designe is to perswade men to maintain the vitalls of Religion in the first place and let the strength of their zeal be laid out here and for lesser points if disputable let every man be satisfied in his own conscience and grant some allowance to others that differ in their judgements till they themselves are infallibly sure that they hold no errors take Christs counsel Mat. 7.1 judge not that you be not judged for with what judgement ye judge ye shall be judged and with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again many men are quick-sighted abroad but blinde at home reade also the Apostles counsel Rom. 14.1 2 3. c. Oh my soul spend not thy time and strength in trifles when thou
hast other work to do let thy greatest zeal be laid out on matters of greatest concernment maintain the vitalls of religion and that will maintain thee do not doat upon the brats of thy own brain neither censure those that differ from thee in cicumstantials love Christ whereever thou see him though in one of another judgement Lord make me upright in the main and to employ and improve all my strength for thee Upon a fair but fruitless tree 79. Med. WHen I saw a fair and large spreading tree that overtopt and overlookt all the rest that had a flourishing head and a promising shew and gave great hopes of fruit to all the beholders but drawing near as Christ did to the leavy fig-tree Mat. 21.19 expecting fruit I found none his whole strength was spent in bringing forth leaves when others that were less promising were richly laden with fruit so apt are we to mistake if we judge at a distance When I had seriously considered it I thought this tree did fitly resemble some high-flown professor that makes a great shew in the world and seems like Saul higher by the head then others are and haply disdains them as not fit for their society for oftentimes hypocrites do so by their poor brethren called weak Christians These you may frequently hear commending their own attainments and their own enjoyments their knowledge gifts and their communion with God and speaking of their holy raptures their assurance and such like and think they are not Christians that have not indubitable evidenee of their salvation when others ly under the hatches under fears and doubts complaining under the sence of their sin the hardness of their hearts under their wants and other spiritual distempers the load of corruption that lyes upon them their want of communion with God and fellowship with Jesus Christ the want of assurance and such like having the sun of righteousness often clouded and hid from their sight but when I have come a little nearer to them and more heedfully observed their course of life I saw that many of these great confidents bear little more then leaves and that where there was so much of the tongue there seemed to be but little of the heart and their religious duties especially in their family were cold enough and answered not to their confident braggs That those doubting Christians were more constant and spiritual in their performances That their lives and conversations were more holy towards God and more righteous towards men then the others were who bare more leaves but less fruit Upon this Observation I thought these fitly resembled the Pharisee and the Publican Luk. 18.9 c. the one brags of his worth the other is ashamed of his duties the one comes with confidence into Gods presence but the other with fear but Christ tells us that the Publican was the better man and better welcome all is not gold that glisters hypocrisy may lodge in a self-confident breast and sincerity under a thred-bare coat amidst many doubtings neither is it always safe to judge of a mans integrity by his tongue a confident bragger is not always to be believed the emptiest barrel makes the greatest sound and the worst spoak in the cart we say creaks first It is the aspiring ear of corn that is most like to be blasted when those that hang the head are usually most fruitful it is the humble self-denying Christian that bears most fruit to God and is likeliest to be most usefull in his generation God dwells in the high and holy heavens with him also that is of a contrite heart to revive the spirit of the humble A hypocrite holds himself to be the whole piece and all others but a remnant he takes his poor counter and sets it down for a thousand pound he prizeth himself above the market but he reckons without his host and therefore must reckon twice the seed of grace seldom prospers upon mountain tops and high-grounds but in low valleys upon the stalk of self-denyal The more fruit is upon any tree the more it inclines to the earth and the more upright and aspiring the more barren it is the valley and not the tops of mountains that bring forth the best corn and grass and other fruits The greatest braggers are not always the richest wisest or the most learned men many high flown professors are like the nighingale as one saith vox praeterea nihil and those that have least speak oftentimes loudest but it is not the best man that hath the best lungs but the best heart the strongest Christian is most sensible of his own wants and weaknesses as the wisest Philosopher could say I know nothing but that I know nothing but the bragadocia discovers his own ignorance where the river runs quietly the ford is deepest but where it makes most noise it is most shallow I dare not then prefer an over-confident bragger before an humble Christian I had rather judge by their life then by their language there are many that talk like Christians but I love to see men walk like Christians a parat may learn humane language but not humane action when the actions are so dissonant to the words I cannot think the heart and tongue agrees oh my soul rather be good then seem so rather bear fruit then leaves for it is fruit and not leaves substance and not a shadow thy Lord expects it is good works as well as good words intentions as well as pretences he requires let another praise thee and not thy own mouth a stranger and not thy own lips Pro. 27.2 let a man do worthyly in Ephrata and he will be famous in Bethelem he need not be his own trumpeter honour followeth vertue as the shadow doth the substance those that honour God God will honour but those that despise him shall be lightly esteemed set the crown upon Gods head and he will set the garland upon thine let thy own works but not thy own words praise thee Pro. 31.31 do well and thou needst not with Jehu proclaim thy own praises if thy conversation give light doubtless it will not be hid Oh my God let me stand approved in thy sight and I matter not what man saith of me give me truth in the inward parts make me sound at the heart give me sincerity and I shall then bear thee fruit Upon a great tree spoiling others under it 80. Med. WHen I considered the forementioned tree that made such a pompous and promising shew and was grown top-heavy and yet fruitless and worthless when many smaller shrubs yielded a plentiful encrease I considered it further and observed this was not all for I plainly saw that it was an enemy to all that grew near it and none prospered about it for in overshaddowing them or dropping upon them it rendred all that were within the reach of it either barren or at least not so fruitful as those that grew at a greater distance This Observation helpt me