satisfied with seeing nor the eare filled with hearing as saith the Preacher whatsoever is offered to man cannot satisfie his desire why because he is capable of infinite good and all created things are circumscribed within certaine limits But he whch beginneth to drinke this heavenly water in which all things are contained covets nor desires any thing more But of this hath beene formely spoken in the rest of the mind in God alone as its proper Center Fourthly Water joynes together and reduceth into one those things which one could not imagine would have beene so united As many graynes of wheate by the mixture of water make one loafe of bread and of many parts of the earth by the same mixture bricks and tiles are made But much easilier and with a stronger tye or band doth the water of the Holy Spirit bring to passe that many men become one heart and one soule as it was with the Primitive Christians in the Acts of the Apostles upon whom the holy Ghost descended This unity Christ himselfe going to his Father commended and foretold when he said I pray not for these alone but for them also which shall beleeve in me by their word that they may be all one as thou O Father art in me and I in thee that they may be also one in us and a little after that they may be one as we are one I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one To which unity the Apostle also exhorts endeavoring to keepe the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace There is one Body and one Spirit even as ye are called in one hope of your vocation O happy Vnion which makes many men to be one Body of Christ which is governed by one Head and to eate of one meate and drinke of one drinke and to live with one spirit and being joyned to God to be made one spirit with him What more can be desired by a servant then not onely to be partaker of all the goods of his Lord but also by an indissoluble bond of love to be made one with him And all this the grace of the Holy Spirit brings to passe as a living and quickning water when it is devoutly received into the heart and there kept with diligence and care Lastly Water asâ—â—nds and riseth as high as it falls low And because the Holy Spirit descends into earth from the highest heaven therefore in that man into whose heart it is received is made a well of water springing to eternall life as our Saviour said to the Samaritane woman Wherefore being thus instructed in the properties of this uncreate water let us thirst after it and say with groanes and sighs unutterable Lord give us of this water which may wash off all our staines coole the heat of our concupiscences appease and qualifie the thirst of our desires may make us one spirit with thee and raise us to the height of thy eternall mansion It was not without cause that the Sonne of God said If ye then being evill know to give good gifts to your children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that aske it He saith not he will give you bread or apparell or wisdome or love or the Kingdome of heaven or eternall life but he saith He will give the Holy Spirit because in it are conteinâ—d all things Cease not then to put God daily in mind of his Sons promise and say to him with earnest affection and assured hope of obteining Holy Father I powre out my prayers unto thee not trusting in mine owne righteousnes but in the promise of thine onely begotten Sonne Make good therefore this promise of thy Sonne who glorified thee upon earth and was obedient to thee unto death even the death of the Crosse give to me that aske thy good Spirit give me the spirit of thy feare and love that I thy servant may feare nothing but offending thee and may love nothing but thee and my neighbour for thee Create in me a cleane heart O God and renew a right spirit within me Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me Restore to me the joy of thy salvation and stablish me with thy free Spirit We come now to the resemblance which rivers or fountaines of water have with God and by it the mind may be lift up to contemplate the wonderfull and excellent work of the Creator For it is not without cause that the Scripture saith that God is a Well of life a Fountaine of Wisedome the Fountaine of living waters And that he is the very Fountaine of being may be gathered out of his owne words to Moses I am that I am and I am hath sent me unto you All which the Apostle seemes to comprehend in this speech In him we live and move and have our being In him we live as in a Fountaine of life in him wee move as in a Founteine of wisedome and in him wee have our being as in the Founteine of being A Founteine of water here with us hath this propertie that from it the flouds arise and whensoever they leave to flow immediately they dry up but the Founteine it selfe depends not upon the flouds because it receives no water from them but not onely hath water in it selfe but communicates with others This is a true resemblance of God and an Embleme of the Godhead for God is the very Founteine of being he receives no being from any thing but from him all things take their being because the essence of God is to be and his existence is his essence so that it cannot come to passe and it were blasphemie to think that God was not or will not be for ever Other things may be not be for a time because a being is not properly to their essence For example it is of the essence of man that he be a reasonable creature and therefore he cannot be a man not be a reasonable creature if it were of the essence of man to be it could not be otherwise but that he must be alwayes but because it is not of his essence to be therefore he may be not be God therefore â—s the onely Founteine of being because in his essence the act to be is alwayes included And these words signifie so much I am that I am that is I am the thing to be and receive not being from any but have it in my selfe to me onely it is proper that essence to me should be to be and hence also it comes that eternity immortality is proper to him onely as the Apostle speakes To the King everlasting immortall c and Who onely hath immortality All other things receive their being from God so that unlesse they alwayes depend on him and be preserved by a certaine influence
a resemblance with GOD his Creator that I know not whether a Man may ascend with more facility to the knowledge of GOD any other way then by the consideration of his owne soule And therefore man is inexcusable if he have not knowledge of him seeing he may attaine to it Gods grace assisting without difficulty by knowing his owne soule First then Mans soule is a spirit for so doe the holy Fathers expound those words in Genesis And the LORD formed Man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nosthrils the breath of life and Man became a living soule and that of Tobias Command my spirit to be taken from me and that of the Preacher Then shall the dust returne to the earth as it was and the spirit shall returne to GOD that gave it For although the word spirit agreeth to the wind also of which it is said in the Gospel Spiritus spirat ubi vult The wind bloweth where it listeth and in the Psalmes Spiritus procellarum as S. Ierome Wind and storme as our translation yet without doubt that spirit the wind is a most thinne body which for its great subtilty and raritie doth more imitate and resemble the spirituall nature then any other body But the soule of man is properly a spirit not a body neither is it produced or made of any matter but is immediately created by GOD. And here begins the excellencie of the soule in the resemblance to GOD for GOD is a spirit as our Saviour saith and they which worship him must worship him in spirit and truth But though GOD be a spirit and mans soule be a spirit also yet GOD is a spirit uncreated and the Creator and mans but a spirit created by which it followes that there is a great disproportion betweene the spirit which is the soule and the spirit which is GOD. And in this respect how greatly may the soule rejoyce that it is in the kind of a spirituall substance and so of a higher and more noble nature then heaven or the Starres and againe it should be the more humble and obedient to GOD because it was made of nothing and of it selfe is nothing Againe the soule of man because it is a simple spirit is also immortall for it hath nothing in it from whence it may be divided or severed And in this regard how much may it boast above the soules of bruit animals which die with their bodies and so behold and admire the great excellencie of the creator who is not onely immortall but everlasting For the soule of man sometime was not and came to a being by the onely will of GOD and by the will of the same GOD may againe be reduced to nothing although in it selfe it have no beginning of corruption therfore truly said the Apostle of GOD Who onely hath immortality for he onely cannot be dissolved neither by force chance or ought else because it is his property to be he is life it selfe and the fountaine of being and life Thirdly mans soule is endued with the light of understanding for it is not onely able to know and distinguish of colours tasts smells and sounds heate cold hard soft and other things of the like kind which are plaine to the sences of the body but is able to judge of substantialls and of things singular and universall and knoweth not onely things present but can conjecture at things to come transcends the heavens dives into the deep searches effects from causes and from effects hath recourse to causes Lastly by the eye of the mind it comes to the knowledge of GOD himselfe which dwelleth in inaccessible light and this is the light of which Saint John speakes This was the true light which enlightneth every man that cometh into the World which David calls the light of Gods countenance Of the light of the understanding the same Kingly Prophet saith Be ye not like to horse and mule who have no understanding Certainely this is a great priviledge and dignity of the soule by which man becomes like to GOD and unlike the beasts and by this a man may also conjecture of the excellent sublimity of his creâ—â—â—â— for though the soule of man be endued with this light of understanding yet GOD is the light and understanding The soâ—lâ— as is said runnes from causes to effects and againe from effects to causes and therby hunts as it were with great labour to attain this knowledge but GOD with one aspect and at the first sight knoweth all things The soule understandeth those things which are so that his knowledge depends upon things GOD by his understanding bringeth to passe that things are so that the existence or being of things depends upon his knowledge The soule doth but conjecture of things to come GOD beholds all things past and to come as perspicuously and plainely as if they were present The soule wants many things to exercise the office of its understanding as the object forme fancie and the like GOD wants nothing for essence it selfe is his all things even his owne essence is his understanding Lastly the soule whiâ—e it is in the body neither seeth GOD the Angels nor it selfe nor any substance though corporeall properly and is deceived in many things is ignorant in many of many things he hath but an opinion and of few things the true knowledge but GOD is ignorant of nothing thinks nothing is never deceived never erreth All things are naked and opened c. Therefore if Man hath such an opinion and esteemeth so much of his knowledge as that according to the Apostle his knowledge puffe him up how much ought he to admire the knowledge of his Creator to whose if mans be compared it is no knowledge but ignorance There is also another kind of knowledge in the soule of Man which consists not in speculation but in action from whence it cometh that there are so many Bookes of Philosophers which treat if vices and vertues so many Lawes of Princes Lawyers and others so many institutions to acquire the art of living well In which appeâ—â—eth mans admirable light of reason by which alone he differs farre from beasts in excellencie but all this is nothing to the eternall Law which is powerfull in the mind of the Creator from whence as from a most plentifull fountaine all other Lawes flow and are derived for there is one Law giver and Iudge which is GOD as St. Iames tells us He is Truth Justice and Wisedome By whom Kings raigne and Princes decree Iustice So that we shall never find out the Art of living well and happily till we come to the Schoole of CHRIST who is the true and onely Master by whose word and example we shall learne that righteousnesse which exceeds the righteousnes of the Scribes and Pharisees yea and of Philosophers too whose end is love out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and
and say to GOD with the Prophet Thou hast beene my helper forsake me not and speake to him not out of custome but heartily againe and againe Thou art my helper and redeemer O LORD make no long tarrying Mans soule hath also a rationall will which not onely can desire good things present particular and corporall such as are proper to beasts to covet but also good things absent generall and spirituall which are demonstrated by faith or reason and indeed GOD himselfe which is the chiefe and infinite good And this is it which makes a Man capable of great vertues especially of love the chiefe of all other and the fâ—â—â—taine from whence all good guists are derived and which joyneth Man to GOD in so strong a tye that GOD shall remaine in him and he in GOD For GOD is love and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him But if this be so great a happines of the created will how great will that happinesse be with which the uncreated will is replenished The will of God is onely capable of infinite love where with the infinite goodnes of God is worthy to be beloved Neither doth this will want vertues nor hath it need to bee directed by the understanding for Gods will and understanding are both but one as his wisedome and love are one and the same thing in him Besides Mans soule is in a humane body but farre otherwise then the soules of bruire beasts are in their bodies for the soules of bruits are materiall and extended through all parts of their bodies so that part of it is in part and all in the whole body But Mans soule which is an indivisible spirit is after an admirable manner all in the whole and all in every part of the body and whereas it fills the whole body yet it occupies no speciall place in it neither increaseth it as the body encreaseth but only begins to be where formerly it was not and if a member of the body bee cut off or wither the soule is not lessened or made dry by it but leaves to be in that member without any may me or impayring This is a true mirrour of Gods existencie in things created for God is an indivisible spirit yet fills the whole world and all the parts of it nor occupies it any one place alone but is all in the whole world and all in every part of it and when a new Creature is made God begins to bee in it and yet is not moved and when any Creature perisheth or dyeth God dyes not but onely leaves to bee there and yet changeth not his place And therefore in these things God and the soule of man agree but God is much more excellent then the soule for the soule to be in a body to rule and stirre it must of necessity have a forme of a body made for it and to be so joyned to it that of the soule and body a man may bee made God needes not the forme or soule of a world nor that of him and the world one compounded substance should bee made but of his owne immensitie he hath this preheminence to bee every where of his indivisible unitie to bee all every where of his omnipotence to governe move and sustaine all things Againe the soule of man though it bee said to be in the whole body yet properly it is not but in the living or animate parts of it and therfore is not in the humors in the hayre nailes dry or dead members God absolutely is in all things not onely corporall but spirituall nor can it be that there should be any thing in which God is not Lastly it is not a soule but in it's owne body and that a streight and small one wherein all the parts are tyed together for if any part as is said be severed from the other in that part the soule cannot be But God is all in this universe of things though it be great and the parts thereof not tyed or joyned together though they be neere one another and if there were more worlds God would be in them all to which purpose it is said Heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot conteine thee for if there were other heavens and another earth created or more heavens and earths without number God would fill them all and where he were not nothing would be at all Againe mans soule hath in it though obscure the Image of the most holy Trinitie aswell in that it hath a fruitfull memorie power to understand and power to love as also because the mind thereof by understanding formes a certaine word and from the mind and word proceeds love because that which is knowne by the mind and represented by the word is presently as it is good loved and desired by the will But after a much higher and diviner manner God the Father begets God the Word the Father and the Word breath God the Holy Spirit who is the living love and the living fountaine of all chast love And in this respect the mystery of the Trinitâ—e transcends the naturall meanes of knowing nor can a learned Philosopher come to the knowledge of this without a supernaturall light for the soule of man produceth a word and a love which are not substances but accidents and in that regard are not Persons but GOD the Father begets to himselfe the Consubstantiall Word and the Father and the Word breath the Holy Spirit consubstantiall likewise to them both whereby it is that the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost are rightly and worthily called three Persons The soule of Man also produceth a Word which is of no long continuance and the will bringeth forth a love which lasteth not long but GOD the Father begets the eternall Word and the Father and Word breath the eternall Holy Spirit nor can GOD be without his Word and Spirit Againe Mans soule by one word represents but one thing and therefore multiplyeth words not onely of the mind but of the mouth and mans will must produce many acts of love if it will love many things But GOD by one Word speaketh all true things and with one act of love loves all good things 10 Lastly the soule of Man while it is in the body hath this property that though it be not seene heard nor moved and is hardly conceived to be in it and that leaving it the body seemes to want nothing it had before yet it is that which causeth all good to the body sense motion speech subsistence beauty and strength for what is the cause that while a man liveth hee seeth heareth talketh walketh and is strong and beautifull nothing but because he hath a soule in him and why cannot a man see nor heare nor speake but lies deformed unprofitable and unserviceable after hee is dead but that his soule is departed from him from whence all these benefits and good things were derived to him So thy GOD whilst
justice GOD the just Iudge punisheth the very least offences such as every idle word as we reade in the Gospell Of every idle word that men shall speake they shall give account thereof at the day of judgement Now there are many faults which men punish not either because the offenders make resistance or escape by flight or because they are ignorant of the committing of them and want sufficient proofes to convict the malefactors or because they are corrupted with bribes or favour so that they will not punish them or else they themselves are as wicked as the offenders and so connive at them But GOD is omnipotent so that no man can withstand him and is omnipresent so that none can be hid from him Whither shall I goe saith David from thy spirit or whither shall I goe from thy presence If I climbe up into heaven thou art there if I goe downe to hell thou art there also Againe GOD is most wise and knoweth all things even in the most secret and inward corners of the heart neither stands he in need of witnesses to prove the faults of men when their owne consciences are instead of a thousand witnesses to him Lastly no bribes nor favours can corrupt his justice because hee needs none of our goods nor feareth our favour or displeasure It remaines then that there is no sinne neither great nor little grievous nor light that can escape the revenging justice of GOD unlesse it be washed away before by repentance for by how much the more plentifull his mercy is towards us now in pardoning by so much the more rigid and severe will his justice be after this life in revenging Of this time of repentance the Prophet Esay speaketh In an acceptable time I have heard thee and in a day of salvation I have helped thee which the Apostle thus expounds Behold now is the accepted time behold now the day of salvation And of the other time after this life the Prophet Zephaniah speakes thus That day is a day of wrath a day of trouble and heavinesse a day of destruction and desolation a day of obscurity and darknesse a day of clouds and blacknesse And not onely shall all sinnes be punished but they shall be punished with horrible torments which wil be so great as scarce any man can imagine for as the eye hath not seene nor the eare hath not heard nor hath it entred into mans heart what the LORD hath prepared for them which love him so likewise hath not the eye seen nor the eare heard nor hath it entred into mans heart what GOD hath prepared for them which hate him for the miseries of sinners in hell shall be great 〈◊〉 and pure that is not tempered with any comfort and which infinitely addes to their misery they shal be for 〈…〉 shall I say be many becaâ—â—e every power of the soule and every sense of the body shall have their severall tormentors weigh well the words of the chiefe Iudges sentence in the Gospell 〈◊〉 from me ye cursed into everlâ—stiâ—â— firâ— Depart saith he that is separate your selves from the society and company of the blessed deprived for ever of the visâ—â—n and sight of GOD which is the chiefest and most essentiall happinesse and the last end for which ye were created Ye cursed that is hope not hence forth for any kind of blessiâ—â— for ye shall be deprived of all spring or growth of grace of all hope of salvation the water of wisedome shall no more raine upon you nor the 〈◊〉 of good inspiratioâ—â— the 〈◊〉 of heavenly light 〈◊〉 no more shiâ—e upon you 〈…〉 of repentance shall bud 〈…〉 more in you nor the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 nor the fruit of good wâ—rkes shall not grow in you for the Sun of my favour shall rise no more upon you hereafter you shall not onely want spirituall good things but corporall nor eternall onely but temporall you shall injoy neither riches delights nor solace but ye shall be like the figgetree which being cursed by me dryed up immediately Into fire that is into a fâ—â—nace of burning and unquenchable fire which shall take hold of all your members and torture them with unspeakable paines Everlasting that is into a fire which needs no supply of fewel to make it burn ever but is kept burning at the appointment of the omnipotent GOD that as your sinne will never be blotted out so your punishment shall never be ended and therefore the Prophet Esay most justly demandeth Who shall dwell with the devouring fire who shall dwell with the everlasting burnings as if he should say no man shal be able to beare them patiently but though they be impatient and desperate beare them they shall and he addes Their wâ—rme shall not dye neither shall their fire bee quenched which words our Saviour diverse times repeats in S. Marks Gospell for there shal be added to the tâ—rments of fire the worme of conscience and of remembrance of this time wherein the wicked might with a little labour if they had beene willing have escaped their punishment and have injoyed everlasting comfort And least any should imagine that the damned by changing of place may receive any ease heare what our Saviour saith Binde him hand and foot and cast him into utter darkenesse there shal be weeping and gnashing of teeth Therefore those miserable creatures being bound hands and feet in everlasting bonds shall lye for ever deprived of the light of the Sun Moone and Starres boyling in the heate of fire weeping and mourning and gnashing their teeth for madnesse and desperation And they which are cast into this horrible and disconsolate place shall not onely suffer the intollerable paines of hell but all kind of penury and want together with shame ignominie and confusion for in a moment of time they shall loose their possessions and riches and bee brought to such want that they shall beg with the glutton in the Gospell one drop of cold water and shall not obtaine it And these proud and high minded men which in this life were impatient of any injury and prefer'd their honour before all other things shall in the presence of all men and Angels a greater never was or will be see all their offenâ—â—â— openly revealed though they were committed in darknesse or though they were hid in secret 〈◊〉 of their hearts for â—s â—he Apostle saith When the LORD shall come who will lighten things that are hid in darknesse and make the counsels of the heart manifest and then shall every man have praise of GOD and without doubt every wicked man shall 〈◊〉 dispraise and condemnation and so great shal be the rebuke and confusion of wicked men in that assembly that St. Bernard is confident that this wil be the most grievous punishment of all others especially to hypocrites and proud men who accounted honour their GOD or Idol in this World But if these fore-mentioned
Essentia Dej Omnipotentia Dej Iustitia Dej Sapientia Theorica Dej Sapientia practica Dej Misericordia Dej Angeli Aêr SOL. Luna Stellae Ignis Aqua Mundus Terra Anima Hominis Homo IACOB'S LADDER Consisting of fifteene Degrees or Ascents to the knowledge of GOD by the Consideration of His Creatures and Attributes 1638. LONDON Printed for Henry Seile and are to be sould at the Tigres-head against St. Dunstans Church in fleetstreet Will Marshall sculpâ—it To the Christian READER IT is the receivedopinion of all that of all the creatures which GOD the Soveraigne Creator made from the beginning â—one was created by him more noble and excellent next to the Angels then Man and that for his sake all things were made as Heaven Earth Sea and all that â—re in them yea that the Angelsâ—hemselves â—hemselves and Principalitiesâ—ere â—ere ordayned to be subservient â—o him But Man being so richly enâ—owed and tyed to his maker in â—o greater bonds then benefits and blessings became rebellious and unthankfull to his so liber all Benefactor and not duely understanding his dignity and excellencie nor satisfied with such extraordinary favours out of those things from which he should have taken occasion to love GOD his Maker extracted that matter which produced his treason and affecting no lesse then a Deity rebelled and brake the commands of his Creator for which he was justly expelled Paradise and deprived of that honour which he formerly possessed and is now compared to the Beasts that perish This was a wofull Metamorphosis an unhappy change from the best to become the worst oâ— Creatures and that so sodainly Nor was this the worst of hiâ— misery for by his fall the wholâ— masse of Man-kinde his posterity became so corrupt as thaâ— the Devill excepted Man waâ— the most miserable of all other creatures by nature fraile and weake headlong in affections tormented with cares and anxieties mad in desires blind in understanding weake in will corrupt in memory obnoxious to all diseases miseries and troubles and lastly liable to infernall punishment and not without just cause for he which became a companion with the Devill in sinne was worthily made his associate in sufferings Now Man being thus wretched and miserable by incurring GODS high displeasure it pleased the same most good and gracious GOD not perpetually to looke upon the injury done to his high Majestie but to compassionate his misery and rather pittying his error then desiring revenge determined to repayre his wofull condition and to reconcile him to himselfe But what tongue or pen is sufficient to expresse the manner of this attonement Nay who can conceive what it was that wrought this reconciliation Surely nothing but his owne meore compassion and that by such a way as may breed astonishment in the most sencelesse heart By His Sonne His onely Sonne CHRIST JESUS GOD and Man brought he this great worke to passe who made such a peace betweene thâ— Creator and Man such an agreement or pacification as that he not onely pardoned the offence but received the delinquent to grace making him one and the same with himselfe by the bond of love And as we are infinitely indebted for this high benefit in generall so are we no lesse obliged to him for the manner of our Redemption then for the Redemption it selfe For there were many wayes whereby he might have saved us without labour without price yet so wonderfull was his bounty to us so great his goodnesse and love that he would have it wrought by the infinite paines and sorrowes even to the losse of the dearest blood and life of His onely Sonne and that by the shamefull Death of the Crosse and all this I say for the love of us without benefit to himselfe For as it is in Job What profiteth it thee and what avayleth it me if thou sinnest If thou sinnest what canst thou doe unto him If thou be righteous what givest thou unto him or what receiveth he at thy hands that is What prejudice could GOD receive by our evill or what benefit by our good For he is nothing the worse if men blaspheme him nor the better if they praise him It was His love then to us and nothing else which repayred our miserable condition This love therefore requires love againe the love of the Creator the love of the Creature Certainly in diverse respects we are bound infinitely to him For our Creation for our Preservation for our Redemption and indeed for so many inestimable blessings as cannot be conceived much lesse expressed What great matter then is required of us when we are onely injoyned to require this love with love We should and ought to imitate a fertile Field or piece of ground which renders much more seed then it receiveth but GOD helpe us poore miserable creatures if this were exacted of us we should come farre short of this retribution Why yet if for the infirmity of our natures while we live in this pilgrimage we cannot doe that which we should yet let uâ— doe what we may Without question love him we may nay love him we must if ever we intend to take the benefit of his Sonnes passion But thou wiltsay how shall I love him that I know not if I knew him I would love him with all my heart with all the affections of my mind and soule Surely this is no difficult worke For GOD himselfe hath made us capable of the knowledge of him and therfore he knowing our capacity sufficient for that act hath commanded our performance of it and that by seeking him No man can come to the knowledge of anything but by paines and labour and the more sublime that is of which we are ignorant the more paines the more labour it will cost before the knowledge of it be attained And certainely GOD being the most excellent object the worthiest of all other our knowledge let us not spare any paines any travaile to possesse our selves of it that knowing we may love him which is a duty chiefly expected from us for all the unvaluable benefits we have and continually doe receive from him Now that in the search or seeking after this knowledge We grope not as blind men of whom holy Iob and the Prophet Esay speake nor that we gaze not gazing being an Act so contrary to seeking as that it was not onely condemned by the Angels in the Acts of the Apostles but forbidden by GOD himselfe gazers being for the most part a sort of people desirous onely of new fangles and novelties and no setled searchers or seekers It will not be amisse by prescribing some rules of seeking to take away filmes from the eyes of the former and to strengthen the sight of the other that so they may be the better enabled to proceed in their search But before we come to the directions we will looke a little into the necessity of this duty that we may understand that a seeking and
thereby a knowing and consequently a love and service of him is necessarily required of us That it is commanded as a speciall duty appeares by many places in holy writ of which I will select a few Seek the LORD and his strength seeke his face continually and Set your hearts and your soules to seeke the LORD your GOD. And GOD himselfe by the Prophet Amos Seeke ye me and live Secondly it was ever the counsaile of GODS Prophets and servants as of King David to his Sonne Know thou the GOD of thy Fathers c. If thou seek him he will be found of thee He adviseth him to know him by seeking him The same King gives the same counsaile to his Princes as also to his Quire and Church-men in the two places before mentioned to shew that neither Prince Nobility nor Clergy are exempt from this duty Againe it hath alwaies bin the practise of Godly Princes and others King Iehosaphat set himselfe to seek the LORD King Hezekiah prayed for those that prepared their whole heart to seeke the LORD King Iosiah when he was yet a child began to seeke after the GOD of David his Father It was also the fame King Davids practise For when GOD said Seeke my race he answers presently Thy face LORD will I seeke And in another place I have set GOD alwaies before me And surely not without reason was this duty either câ—mmanded counsailed or practised for there is a promise of reward annexed we shall not lose our labour but receive much good in seeking to know him In the Booke of Deuteronomie GOD promiseth not onely to be found of them that seeke him but to deliver them from misery and heape blessings upon them King David found by experience that GOD never failed them that seeke him And seeke ye after GOD saith he and your soule shall live And GOD himselfe by the Prophet Esay I said not in vaine to the seed of Jacob Seeke ye me And lastly not to trouble you with many The LORD is good to the soule that seeketh him saith the Prophet Ieremie Lastly it is the end for which Man was created St. Paul after he had beaten much upon the point that a GOD was to be sought out whom men should worship and had made it plaine by the creation of all things who that GOD was came to the end of Mans creation which was to seeke him Man being created for that purpose and end adding that it would be no great labour to find him as being not farre from every one of us He then which shal be negligent in this duty is not worthy of his creation and deserves not to live it being a most absurd and undecent thing for a Manto be ignorant of his Creator having recerved from him the guift of understanding and made capable to know him We see that Rivers naturally returne to the Sea whence they come and all things elso to their first being Wherefore then should not Man returne in his thoughts and desires to GOD who-gave him his being and why should his heart be as rest till be returne to him considering as I said that he made the understanding whereby he might know him the memory that he might ever be mindfull of him and the will ever to love him And now since we have in some sort seene that it is a duty enjoyned by GOD to seeke him that it hath beene the counsaile and practise of many holy Kings and Prophets that we shall not lose our labour but receive benefit by our seeking and lastly that it is the onely end for which we were created let us take a further view how we may so seeke that we may find and know him To the due performance of which act we must observe these cautions 1 That we prepare our hearts carefully and diligently to seeke 2 That we seeke him in sincerity and simplicity without hypocrisie 3 That we be humble and not curious seekers 4 That we seek him in Faith without wavering 5 That wee be earnest and zealous and not cold or luke-warme seekers This carefull preparation of the heart hath ever been commended as most necessary before the undertaking of any pious act and indeed is the foundation and first degree to this seeking Iehosaphat prepared his heart to seeke the LORD as you have seene Iothan became mighty because he prepared his waies And S. Ieâ—ome saith that purgandus est animus ut perspicere illam lucem valeat a man shall never be able to see the clearenesse and beauty of that light if he first prepare not nor fit himselfe before-hand if hee seeke him not in due order It was the Wisemans advice to seeke GOD in simplicity of heart and it is the Pure in heart that shall see GOD. as our Saviâ—â—r speakes The Sun beames shâ—ne brightest upon a cleare glasse and in a cleane heart the beames of Divine grace shine most The uncleane shall not see GOD saith the Apostle Saint Ierome calls the humble Man DEI Templum the Temple or habitation of GOD. He shall not onely see GOD but GOD will abide with him GOD giveth grace to the humble And CHRIST himselfe while he was conversant upon Earth delighted not in great or proud company but chose fishermen to converse with and the Centurions non sum dignus with the Publicans humble confession pleased him more then all the proud vaunts of the Scribes and Pharises He desires not but abhorres to be looked on with curious and prying eyes and therefore St. Augustine writing against the Manichees saith and his counsaile is Compescat se humana temeritas id quod non est non quaerat ne illud quod est inveniat after the fearfull example of Vzza Faith is the beginning of cleaving to GOD saith the Sonne of Syrach And Fides humanae salutis initium saith St. Augustine For by it we understand what soever is necessary for us to know concerning GOD. Now that there is a GOD some Deity all people even the Heathen that had their intellectualls held as a maxime Hee in the Psalme that said there was no GOD said it but in his heart was not so impudent as to speake it out and yet for his thought onely had the brand of a foole This Faith St. Augustine saith Valet ad cognitionem DEI non tanquam omnino incogniti sed quò cognoscatur manifestius And Si quis hic non ambulaverit per Fidem non perveniet ad speciem beatae visionis By it the children of light are distinguished from those of darknesse and per ipsam discitur veritatis scientia et percipitur cognitio Divinitatis By it the knowledge of the truth is learned and of the Divinity perceived Lastly zeale love and hearty affection is of all vertues the clearest sighted and will see GOD soonest For it is the affection to a
thing that drawes a mans desire to see it And yet this vertue naturally depends upon the former of Faith For if Faith be wavering love and affection is soone cool'd Fall from the one and fall from the other quickly For no Man can affect or love that which he beleeves not to be But yet this vertue is so necessary as that without it none can ever attaine to the sight of GOD. St. Augustine saith Quantò flagrantius DEUM diligimus tantó certius sereniusque videamus We shall see GOD the surer and more perspicuously by how much the greater our zeale affâ—ction and love is to him And being thus prepared and fitted with these qualities we must seeke him as the Prophet counsaileth while he may be found Wee must doe it in due time that is while we are in this vale of misery we must seeke and apply our selves to see and know him as much and as soon as we may here that we may see him face to face to our comfort as he is hereafter Time is first either past and that is not we cannot make use of that Secondly or to come and that we know not whether we shall have it to use or no it is onely in GODS power Thirdly or it is present and that we must lay hold of and make use of it Therefore in what condition of what age soever thou art seek the LORD and that instantly And if thou shalt take hold of this time with this preparation no doubt but GOD will be favourable to thee and thou shalt see his face with joy Thou shalt finde him if thou seeke him and the rather if thou doe it early with David or with King Iosias while thou art yet a child and finding him thou shalt know him and being come to the knowledge of greatnesse and goodnesse thou shalt certainly love him which is the chiefe duty he requires of thee And now give me leave to offer to your view a generation that have neither eyes nor hearts aright and with Esay Let me bring forth the blind that have eyes that is to say such as have their sight yet wander like Jeremies blind men and grope at noone day with those in Deuteronomie That have eyes and see not have understanding but make not true use of it for which GOD gave it but it is darkned as St. Paul saith because of the hardnesse of their heart Among which I will set before you the chiefe Woâ—ldlings Ambitious Selfe-lovers Rebellious Covetous and Idle All which sorts of people as I said before have filmes before their eyes that hinder their sight and seeking The love of this World in generall doth so blind the eyes of men that worldlings cannot distinguish betweene good and evill they are not able have neither power nor time to see the true GOD. For the World being once fixed in their hearts they cannot find out the things which GOD made from the beginning that is they cannot think of their Creator And as St. Paul speaketh The God of the World hath blinded their eyes least the light of the glorious Gospell should shine to â—hem and therefore in another place he calls it the darknesse of the World It was this love of the World that caused Demas to for sake St. Paul And St. Iohn affirmes plainely that he which loveth the World hath not the love of GOD in him and therefore neither can nor desires to see him Againe the World as a false glasse deceives the sight it 's a very hypocrite promiseth faire but beleeve it not rather feare the reward of its service for breve est quod delectat aeternum quod cruciat It is impossible to looke to Heaven with one eye and to the Earth with the other It was the dung of a Sparrow or Swallow that deprived Tobias of his sight and the Apostle calls the things of the world Terrena stercora and therefore while we dote on this world and the dung there of falls upon our sight we may be justly reputed blind we grope for the wall like the blind and grope as if we had no eyes we may apply that to our selves which David did unto himselfe The light of our eyes is gone from us while we are in this estate we shall never see God The filme of preferment much darkens the sight and the smoke of honour is so prejudicious to the eyes that it hinders men from the sight of their Creator For though they carrie their eyes loftily yet look they not so high as they should the myst of ambition is so thick before their eyes and the Sun-beames of honour so dazles them that in comparison of a true and cleare sight these may also bee justly reckoned among the blinde Not much unlike to the Ambitious is the Selfe-lover proud and vaine-glorious he is also blind for his eves his sight is wholly reversed and turned inward The Pharisee lost his sight by this vanity and so did Nabuchadonozor and the Angels their blessed vision The proud have not so much as a thought of GOD much lesse a desire to see him but all their desire is to see themselves and that so long in the burning glasse of selfe conceit that in the end they lose their sight And this disease of the eyes begets another worse then the former namely Rebellion For the proud thinks none better then himselfe presently with pharaoh saies Who is the LORD The vice of pride makes the heart rebellious as Ieremy speakes and while a man is in rebellion he never desires to see his Prince It so hardens the heart that it can receive no impression of goodnesse but their eyes are as it were set in their heads as it is said of Ahia in another case They have eyes but see not as Ieremy saith in the same Chapter and as our Saviour seeing they shall see and not perceive because they have closed their eyes And this is that blindnesse of heart which the Apostle St Paul meanes For indeed the cause of this blindnesse is as of all other evills the heart it being to the soule as the eye to the body For the eye is but as a conduit or channell through whose optiques all good or bad desires passe to the heart Riches are as great an eye-sore as any of the former for the eye of the covetous is ever fixed upon a wrong object Avarus est caecus The covetous Man is blind saith St. Augustine and therefore not without cause did our Saviour bid men to be ware of covetousnesse For these terrena stercora of riches the mucke of the World blind the eyes even of the wise they divert the eyes of the mind from seeing GOD. The Prodigall having his porâ—ion went from his Father Place â—â— looking-glasse upward and you shall see Heaven but downward â—nd the Earth is in your sight â—t is not wealth but poverty
which enlightens the understanding David in his prospeâ—ity said he should never be â—emoved GOD did but turn â—way his face and his sightâ—egan â—egan to be cleared Lastly the Idle person canâ—ot shall not see GOD because â—e takes no paines labours not â—or this sight he is as a deadâ—an â—an David in his idlenesse â—â—st the sight of GOD. For the â—yes of the slothfull are also â—losed they cannot see him But â—f thou hast a desire to see GOD thou shalt finde him if thou seek him with all thine heart and with all thy soule that is fervently and diligently Thus have we a short survey of the blind for all which I will pray with Elisha LORD open their eyes and that the eyes of their understanding may be enlightned and advise them with the Prophet Looke yeâ— blind that ye may see that when with Balaam their eyes be opened they may see the vision of the Almighty And now that you have seen that to seeke and know GOD the Creator is every mans duty as being commanded perswaded and patterned and the it is the end for which man wâ—â— created as also having a shoâ—â— direction set before you foâ— preparation to this sight anâ— search together with some cautions to avoyd the hinderance and lets to it let us consider little how farre we may enter into this search by sufficient warrant that we stare not upon the Sun while we become blind For Noli altum saperâ— sed time was a good rule No man hath seene GOD at any time saith St Iohn and No man shall see GOD and live saith GOD himselfe For you must know saith St. Augustine that GOD cannot be expressed in words nor comprehended in any mans thought or knowledge and his reason follows how saith he could we proclaim him immense and in comprehensible if he could be included in the speech or thought of any man and it appeares how admirable he is by that that he is unutterable by all tongues and incomprehensible within any thoughts And againe Because GOD is above all it followes that he must needs exceed the capacity of men Men by the acutenesse of the mind may reach high but they behold what GOD is rather in opinion then definition His fullnesse none either with corporeall eyes or with the mind it selfe have at any time apprehended If then we can neither see nor know nor apprehend him to what purpose is it that we are so often commanded and advised to seeke him We must seeke see and know him iâ— this parallel As the Sun is onely to be looked on so that it may be seene and no more lest by beholding it too stedfastly we see lesse then we might so GOD is to be knowne so much as he permits thee to know and understand of him and no more And how farre or short are we limited how farre may we goe in the lawfull sight and knowledge of him for though we take never so much warrantable paines to know and see him yet wee shall but see him in this pilgrimage through a glasse darkly as the Apostle speakes It is true yet paines we must â—ake and wayes we must and may use to see him For GOD hath given man understanding above all creatures to the end that he should both see and know him in this vale of misery And â—o hold you no longer in suspence I conceive that the best and safest way to come to the sight and knowledge of him is by the consideration of his Creatures and Attributes For in the first place it was Davids practice to muse upon all his workes and the dayes of old that is as some Commentators have it the sixe dayes of the creation And therefore they are justly taxed with the name of vaine that are ignorant of GOD and that could not out of the good things that are seene know him that is neither considering the workes did they acknowledge the worke-master For by the greatnesse and beauty of the Creature proportionably the maker of them is seen And St. Paul affirmes that GODS eternall power and Godhead is understood by the things that are made and St. Augustine goes a little further when he saies That to see the Creator by the Creature the Maker by his worke and the Architector of the world by the World is asmuch as Man can see concerning GOD. And as he may be seene in his Creatures so in his Attributes he is no lesse visible no lesse admirable for if we well consider him besides his infinite Essence in his Power Wisedome Mercy and Justice his principall Attributes we may see and understand so much of him as may conduce to the knowledge of him in this life And yet I must confesse that what sight we have of him here is but as St. Paul speaketh in the place formerly quoted per speculum in aenigmate through a glasse darkely to that which in the beatificall vision we shall see of him to our comfort most clearly if by our lives here he shall hereafter thinke us worthy of that most blessed sight And thus having briefly shewed the necessity of this duty and how farre and by what meanes we may wade to the attayning of the knowledge of the Creator give me leave to tender to your view a more ample devout and pious Treatise tending to that purpose which I have turned into true Orthodoxe English though in a plaine Dialect which at the first I sâ—lely intended for my owne private use but now not doubting of your favourable acceptance for the publique good as I hope Commending it and you therefore to the blessing of that Creator who so instruct us all in his knowledge here that hereafter we may with comfort see him face to face and know him as we are knowne I rest Yours in CHRIST IESUS H. I. THE PREFACE to the ensuing TREATISE WE are oft times admonished in holy Scripture carefully to seek GOD for though he be not farre from every one of us seeing we live move and have our being in him as the Apostle speakes yet are wee farre from him and unlesse we daily frame ascents in our hearts and raise steps and greeces towards Heaven and seeke him with much labour we doe but take our journey with the Prodigall into a Countrey farre from our owne and from our Father where wee but feede swine Now briefly to unfold and resolve how these agree that GOD iâ— not farre from us and yet wee very farre from him We say that GOD is not farre from us because he daily seeth us all things being in his sight He also thinkes daily of us because he careth for us and he also daily toucheth us as bearing all things by his mighty Word And againe we are farre from GOD because we neither doe nor can see him dwelling in inaccessible light and we are not able to thinke any thing of GOD of our selves as of our selves much lesse
to touch him by any pious affection or to cleave to him unlesse he take us up and draw us after him by his power Therefore when David had said I have set GOD alwaies before mee or in my sight he presently addes for he is on my right hand or as St. Jerâ—me me suscepit dextratua Neither are we onely in these three respects farre from GOD that we can neither see him nor easily thinke of him nor joyne to him in affection but wee easily forget him scarce sounding forth his name by praise or prayer the reason is because wee are entangled and taken up with temporall affaires which compasse us round and even overwhelme us This then is the cause why the Holy Ghost in sacred writ as wee said even now so often perswades and counsailes us to seeke GOD. As Seeke yee after GOD and your soule shall live And Seeke the LORD and his strength seeke his face evermore And The LORD is good to the soule that seeketh him And Seeke the LORD while hee may be found and Seeke the LORD in simplicity of heart And If thou shalt seeke the LORD thy GOD thou shalt finde him if thou seeke him with all thy heart and with all thy soule No man of what condition soever is tyed so to give himselfe up to the affaires of the World as not to refresh himselfe with meate drinke and sleepe And if the bodie require such refreshing and repast how much rather should the soule desire food and sleepe Prayer and contemplation one being the meate and the other the sleepe of the soule and by these two are ascents framed in the heart by which wee are to see the GOD of GODS in Sion even asmuch as hee may be seene in this vale of teares Now there can bee no plainer or more easie way for us mortalls to ascend to GOD then by the consideration of his workes For wee cannot properly say that they ascended which by the singular guift of GOD were admitted by another way into Paradise and there to heare the secrets of GOD which are not lawfull to bee spoken or uttered but onely that they were rapt as Saint Paul plainely confesseth in his owne case But that it is possible for a man to ascend to the knowledge of GOD and love of his Creator by his workes that is by his creatures the Booke of Wisedome the Apostle Saint Paul and reason it selfe sufficiently prove seeing the efficient cause may bee knowne by its effects as a Man by his picture or Image And there is no doubt but that all Created things be the workes of GOD and holy Scripâ—ure teacheth us that Man and Angels be not onely the workes but the images of GOD. Being therefore provoked and stirred up with these reasons and having a little ease and rest from other affaires I have attempted to make a LADDER out of the Consideration of the Creatures by which after a sort GOD may bee ascended unto And I have distinguished it into fifteene Staves or Steppes after the similitude of the fifteene Degrees by which men went up to SOLOMONS Temple and of the fifteene Psalmes of DAVID his Father usually called the Gradualls or Psalmes of Degrees THE FIRST DEGREE of our spirituall ascending to GOD is by the Consideration of MAN DEGREE I. WHosoever is desirous to erect his thoughts to God-ward must first begin with the consideration of himselfe For we are every one of us the creature and image of GOD and nothing is neerer to us then our selves And therfore not without cause said Moses Attende tibi Take heed to thy selfe For whosoever shall strictly and narrowly look into himselfe shall finde that he is the very compendium or abridgement of the whole World and by this view with little labour and difficulty he may ascend to the creator of all things And to this search the resolution of these foure ordinary and easie questions wil be necessarie 1 Who was Mans Creator 2 Of what matter he was created 3 What forme was given him 4 To what end he was brought into the World First if thou wilt examine diligently who it was that made thy soule when it was not thou shalt finde that it was GOD and not thy Parents For whatsoever comes of the flesh is fleshly and thy soule is a spirit Not Heaven Earth Sun or Starres for they are corporeall thy soule incorporeall Not Angels or Archangels for thou were not made of any matter but meerely of nothing and none but GOD is able to make something of nothing He therefore without helpe of any others with his owne hands which are his understanding and will created thee And though GOD used thy Parents to the begetting of thy flesh as labourers to a building yet is he the chiefe worke-man and creator both of body and soule For if thy Parents had been the chiefe authors and makers of thee they may as well be able without skill in Anatomy to know all thy bones nerves veines muskles and other things which they are ignorant of they might also be as well able when thou art sicke or lame to cure thee as to make thee like a clock-maker who can take in pieces and amend the watch or clocke formerly made by him But the joyning of soule and body in so strong a tye as that they become one substance is a worke of such transcendence that none can performe but he who is of infinite power Therefore this question is resolved and we may and must confidently affirme that GOD is Mans creator who onely doth wonderfull things And therefore Moses inspired by the spirit of GOD may seeme to confirme this point when he saith by way of question and answer Is not he thy Father he hath made thee and proportioned thee And Job likewise Thy hands have made me and fashioned me and a little after Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh and joyned me together with bones and finewes The Kingly Prophet also acknowledgeth asmuch Thy hands have made me and fashioned me and againe Thou hast fashioâ—ed me behind and before To these I may adde that excelâ—ent speech of that heroicall woman in the Booke of the Maccabees to her sounâ—s I cannot tell how ye came into my Wombe for I neither gave you breath nor life it is not I that â—et in order the members of â—our body but doubtlesse the Creator of the World which formed the birth of man and found out the beginning of all things And upon this it was that CHRIST himselfe said Call no man your Father upon the earth for there is but one your Father which is in Heaven upon which Saint Augustine speaking of his naturall Sonne Adeodatus said to GOD Thou didst make him well for I had nothing in that childe besides the fault Well then If GOD be author both of body and soule if he be thy Father and preserver if what thou
hast thou receivest from him if what thou hopest thou hopest from him Why boastest thou not of such a Father Why dost thou not love him with all thy heart why dost thou not contemne all things in respect of him but sufferest thy selfe to be overswayed with vaine desires and delights Lift up thine eyes to him feare not what any mortall creaâ—ure can doe to thee Say with David I am thine save me Certainly if thou wouldst but seriously consider how gracious GOD is to thee in that he who needs none of thy goods neither if thou perish doth he lose any thing hath his eye of providence still and continually over thee yea so loveth directeth and cherisheth thee as if thou wert his greatest treasure thou wouldst be moved with these his extraordinary favours and put thy whole confidence in him thou wouldst feare him as thy Lord love him as thy Father and loath those things which should divert thee from his love The second quaere is Of what matter was Man created The resolution is easie even of that which is most vile and contemptible and by how much the â—aser the better occasion is ministred to every one of us to labour for that most pretious and profitable vertue of humility And doubtlesse the matter of which the prime part of Man the soule was made was nothing and what can be imagined or thought to be of lesse esteeme then nothing Now what was the first materiall to the making of the body but menstruous blood a thing so loathsome as that the eye flies the sight of it the hand the touching of it and the mind abhorres to thinke of it Thirdly the matter whereof the first Man Adam was made was but red and barren earth or dust or mud Out of the earth wast thou taken saith GOD to Adam because thou art dust and to dust thou shalt returne Which caused Abraham remembring the vile materialls he was made of to say to GOD I am but dust and ashes And yet we have not said all which may be spoken concerning the vilenes of these materialls For the earth or dust it selfe of which his body was created came not from any matter but of nothing also For in the beginning GOD createâ— heaven and earth and surely he created them not of any otheâ— heaven and earth but even oâ— nothing So that this proud thing Man whether you consider soule or body coming from nothing in the end must be reduced to nothing What then hath he to boast of but that which he hath received from GOD. Other things as the workes of artificers vessels of gold and the like if they had sense might boast and expostulate with their workemen in this manner It is true lowe to thee for my form but not for my materialls and that which I had of my selfe before thou tookest me in hand is farre more pretious then that which I received from thee But Man that hath nothing of himselfe and is altogether nothing of himselfe can glory in nor of nothing And therefore St. Paul saith What hast thou that thou hast not received If thou hast received it why boastest thou as though thou hadst not received it and If any man seeme to himselfe that he is somewhat when he is nothing he deceiveth himselfe in his imagination To which St. Cyprian agreeth when he saith we ought to boast of nothing when there is nothing that we may call ours But thou wilt say men doe many excellent things for which they are worthily commended that according to the proverb virtus laudata crescat goodnes having due praise may increase It is true Men doe many good workes for which they may deservedly be praysed and of which they may boast but with this limitation that they rejoyce in the Lord and not in themselves as it is written He that rejoyceth let him rejoyce in the Lord. For let me aske these questions When a Man doth any good worke of what matter by what power by whose aid and direction doth he it surely oâ— the matter which GOD created by that power and strength which GOD gave him and lastly by GODS direction and assistance without which hee could doe no good thing For GOD doth many good things in Man without Man but Man doth no good but that which GOD giveth him power to do And therefore he vouchsafeth to use the Ministery and service of Man in doing good which of himselfe he could do without Man that thereby he might acknowledge himselfe the greater debtor to GOD and not by growing proud to rob God of his honour Therefore if thou be wise in the good thou dost give to thy selfe the last place steale not Gods glory from him neither in little or much enter into thine heart and consider well that nothing of thine which is onely and all that thou hast and all the World shall not be able to puffe thee up And because this pretious vertue of true humility was almost clean gone out of the World and was neither to be found in the Books of Philosophers or in the lives either of the Gentiles or Jewes it pleased the Mr. of Humility himselfe to descend from Heaven Who when he was in the form of God equall to the Father made himselfe of no reputation and tooke on him the forme of a servant and humbled himselfe c. saying to mankind Learne of me that am meeke and lowly of heart and ye shall finde rest to your soules So that if thou perhaps art ashamed to imitate the humility of Men be not ashamed to follow the humility of CHRIST Who resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble The third question followes now to be answered that is What forme was given to Man at his creation Surely by how much the viler the matter was of which he was made by so much the forme is found to be the more excellent To omit the out ward shape of the body which yet may justly challenge eminencie above the shapes of all other creatures for this is not the substantiall but the accidentall forme The substantiall forme therefore of a MAN which makes him to be a MAN and distinguisheth him from other creatures is the immortall Soule indued with reason and will the Image of GOD for so we read that GOD said when he would make Man Let us make Man in our Image according to â—ur likenesse and let him rule over the fish of the Sea and over the foule of Heaven and over the â—easts and over all the Earth and over every thing that creepeth and moveth on the Earth Man therefore is the Image of GOD not in respect of his body but of his spirit For GOD is a Spirit not a body And there is the Image of GOD saith St. Basil where that is which commands the other creatures Now Man commands and rules over the beasts not by the members of his body
clearely as he is in himselfe and shalt enjoy him farre better and more intimately then thou now dost these created and transitorie things For hearken to Christ who saith Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see GOD. Heare what St. Paul saith Now we see through a glasse darkly but then face to face And lastly heare what St. Iohn saith We shal be like unto him for we shall see him as he is Besides I aske thee how much of the world or of the things belonging to it dost thou enjoy Certainely but a small portion or part of it in comparison of the magnitude before spoken of and this also in short time thou knowest not how soone will'st thou nill'st thou thou must leave and forgoe But GOD in whom are all things thou shalt enjoy for ever for GOD shall be all in all He will be life meate apparell house honour riches delights and all things To which we may adde that GOD is so gracious and mercifull that in this time of thy pilgrimage he forbiddes thee not the comfort of his creatures from which he is so farre as that he created them all for thy service but this he commands that thou use them moderately soberly and temperately and that thou impart them to and communicate them with those which want and that chearefully and lastly that they rule not over thee but thou over them Lay these things together and bethinke thy selfe whether it wil be better for thee in this life to be contented with these created things asmuch as shall be necessary for thy sustentation and in the other life to enjoy GOD the Creator in whom are all things or in this life to so covet them as never to be satisfied and in the other life to be bereft of all these temporalls and those spirituall and eternall also Consider also that GOD is not so farre from those which love him as not to afford them great content and delights in this life and those greater then the lovers of the world find in these created things For it is not written in vaine Delight in the LORD and he shall give thee thy hearts desire and the meeke spirited shall possesse the earth and shal be refreshed c. and the Apostle I am filled with comfort c. And the Psalmist againe In the multitude of sorrowes that were in my heart thy comforts ô LORD have refreshed my soule Of which two last cited places the meaning is not that comfort ariseth out of tribulation joy out of griefe for thornes doe not bring forth grapes nor thistles figges but that GOD doth Minister to those which love him such pure and solid comforts to asswage their troubles as that temporall joyes are not to be compared with them Therefore let this be thy firme conclusion be thus ever perswaded in thy heart That he which findeth GOD findeth allthings and he which loseth him loseth allthings It followeth that by the vertue and power of things created and which GOD hath given to them we ascend to the knowledge of the infinite power and vertue of the Creator There is hardly any thing at all which hath not some extraordinary or admirable vertue power or efficacie in it The earth or stone if it fall from high with what force and violence doth it alight what doth it not crush in pieces what doth it not breake what can resist the force of it The holy Spirit in the Revelation when he would describe the fall of Babylon saith thus Then a mighty Angel tooke up a great stone like a Mill-stone and cast it into the Sea saying With such violence shall that great Citie be cast and shall be found no more The water which flowes gently and pleasingly upon the face of the earth if it be stirred in rivers or swift streames with what violence it overthrowes and destroyes all it meets with not onely Cottages but Gates and Walls and Bridges of stone and what not The winds which sometimes blow sweetly being enraged dash Ships against Rockes and turne up old and strong Oakes and other Trees by the roots What shall we say of fire a comfortable element with what speed a little sparkle of it increaseth into so great a flame as consumes and devoures whole Townes Cities and Forrests Behold saith Saint James how great a matter a little fire kindleth Againe how many vertues lye secret in herbs and stones In some beasts what strength appeares as in the Lyon Elephant Beare Horse and Bull. In others what wit and craft as in the little Ant Spider the Bee and the Foxe To say nothing of the power of Angels of the vertue of the Sun and Starres which are farre from us and looke upon and consider the wit of Man whereby so many Arts are invented as that sometime it is a disputable question whether art should give place to nature or nature to art Raise thy mind then againe to GOD and consider how great power efficacie and vertue is in the Creator the LORD GOD of whom the Scripture saith most truely Moses in his song Who is like unto thee O LORD among the Gods and King David Who onely doth great wonders and Saint Paul The blessed and onely Potentate King of Kings and Lord of Lords for the Creatures have their power onely from him and that so long as he pleaseth Who kept Ionas in the Whales belly so that neither the teeth of the Whale nor the violence of the water could doe him any hurt but GOD Who shut the mouthes of the hungry lyons from touching Daniel but GOD Who preserved the three Children in the fiery hot furnace from the force of the fire but GOD Who rebuked the raging Sea and the furious winds but CHRIST who is true GOD GOD it is that hath no power nor vertue from any but his will is his power and a power that cannot be resisted and he hath infinite power alwaies hath it and hath it in all places all the power of Man being compared with his is not small and little but none at all for so speakes the Prophet Esay All nations before him are as nothing and they are counted to him lesse then nothing and vanity Are not they then unwise who fearing the Creature feare not the Almighty GOD and that trust either in their owne or their friends strength and not in GOD Almighty If GOD be on our side who can be against us and if GOD be against us who can be on our side Therefore if thou be wise Humble thy selfe under the mighty hand of GOD cleave to him in true piety and thou shalt not need to feare what either Man the Devill or other creature can doe against thee If perhaps thou hast fallen from goodnesse and hast provoked thy GOD to anger give no rest to the temples of thy head untill thou hast made thy peace againe with him for it is
which conduce to our eternall happinesse and salvation yet His will is to bestow them by the instrument of prayer wee must pray for them because it is more honourable for him and profitable for us to give them to us as labourers and petitioners for them then as to sleepy and idle persons Therefore our most bountifull GOD exhorts and urges us to this dutie saying Aske and it shal be given to you seeke and you shall finde knocke and it shal be opened unto you for every one that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shal be opened And what that is that is chiefly to be asked and that shal be given without doubt he declareth a little after If ye then which are evill can give good guifts unto your Children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that desire him Therefore that which is in the first place to be required is the holy Spirit by which we breath in GOD and by this breathing preserve our spirituall life which holy David did as appeares by that in the Psalmes I opened my mouth and drew in my breath that is I opened my mouth by prayers sighs and grones unutterable and I drew in the most comfortable breath of Gods spirit which cooled the heat of concupiscence and confirmed me in every good worke This being so who can say that they live to GOD who spend dayes moneths and yeares and neither breath to nor receive breath from him It is an evident signe of death not to breath and if to breath be to pray then it is a signe of death not to pray Now the spirituall life by which the Children of GOD are reputed to live chiefly consists in love Behold saith St. Iohn what love the Father hath given unto us that we should be called and be the sonnes of God Now who is there that loves and desires not to see that which he loveth and who desires any thing and asketh not for it of him who he knoweth will give it him if he make suit for it Therefore he which prayeth not continually to see the face of GOD desires not to see him he which desires not to see him loves him not hee which loves him not lives not whereupon it necessarily followes that they are dead to GOD though they live to the world who seriously devote not themselves to prayer Nor is it enough onely to pray with the lippes to make us reputed amongst the living for prayer is rightly defined to be a lifting up of the mind to GOD and not an elevating of the voyce into the ayre Therefore deceive not thy selfe thinke not that thou livest to GOD if thou earnestly breath not to him with all thine heart night and day and say not to thy selfe that thine other affaires will not give thee leave to spend thy time in prayer and divine meditations for the holy Apostles were much imployed aswell in their own affaires as in the worke of the LORD and salvation of soules in so much as one of them said of himself Besides the things which are outward I am combred daily and have the care of all Churches c. yet he besides other recitall of his often prayers writes to the Philippians that his conversation was in Heaven and that because in the heate of his other imployments he was conversant in Heaven in his desire nor ever was unmindfull of his beloved otherwise he would never have said I am crucified with Christ but I live yet not I any more but Christ liveth in me The second property of the ayre is that it is the medium or meanes by which the species or formes of colours are conveighed to our eyes and of sounds to our eares and without which we could neither see heare nor speake For which first we are to give thankes to Almighty GOD for giving such an ornament and benefit to our nature and secondly we are to admire his wisedome in a worke of such finenesse subtiltie and thinnesse 1. In respect that the ayre of it selfe is a true body and so great that it almost filles the universe yet it can neither be seene nor felt for the incredible subtilty of it Antiquity admired the skill and subtilty of one line which Apelles drew with his pencill and yet it was seene and touched and in that regard was by no meanes to be compared with the tenuity and subtilty of this veyle which compasseth and toucheth all men and yet is seene of none 2. But it increaseth our admiration that being a most subtile and thinne body yet when it is divided it closeth againe with so great facility as if it had never been divided when as but a Spiders web being once broken can never be so cunningly amended that the first breach may not bee seene 3. Lastly that which is most worthy our admiration and done or caused onely by the wisedome of GOD that through one and the same part of the ayre should be mingled together innumerable severall species of colours as those in the rainebow He that shall place himselfe in a cleare Moone-shine night in some open field where hee may behold at one time starres in the heaven fields in the earth bedeckt with severall sorts of flowers together with houses trees and many other beautifull â—ights shall not be able to deny but that the severall species of them are contained in that part of the ayre which is neere unto him But who well can understand this who can conceive it for how can it be that so thinne and subtile a thing as the ayre should comprehend together so great varietie of shapes and formes And what if it happen that at the same time and in the same place he shall heare the melodious musique of birds on one side from another diverse musicall instruments in another the silent murmuring of falling waters will it not follow and that of necessitie that all these sounds or species of sounds must be received together with those of the colours before-named and who brings these things to passe are they not wrought by the wisedome of thy Creator who onely doth wonderfull things alone 3. Againe there is yet another benefit which ariseth by this admirable tenuity and thinnesse in the ayre that it hinders not but helpes the motion of all things which passe from one place to another We all know with what labour Shippes or Boats are drawne through water though it be of a liquid quality or substance and is easily divided and parted For many times neither the winds nor Oares serve to make them passe but they are many times forced by the strength of Horses And if at any time upon some occasion a way be to be made through a hill or mountaine what labour sweat and time it costs before a short cut be made But through the ayre horses runne swiftly birds and arrowes flie speedily and men in exercising
of malice doe so blind the mind that they suffer it not to perceive the truth but are like coloured glasse which maketh white to shew like red and the contrary or like optique glasses which make great things seeme small and small great or those things are a farre off to be neere and they which are neere a farre off Whatsoever thing a man loves fervently he ever judgeth it to be most faire and amiable most beneficiall and profitable most excellent and necessary for himselfe and despiseth all other things in comparison of it Againe whatsoever he hates vehemently hee reputes it the most deformed unprofitable evill and pernicious But if once this black and foule iron be put into the fire that is if a sinner begin to be turned from his sinne and be converted to God according to that of the Psalmist Then the Lord shall make his darknesse light then he begins by little and little by degrees to bee enlightned and by that light to perceive the truth according to that in the Psalme in thy light shall wee see light then the false glasse of his passions being broken and a true one look'd upon which is pure love hee esteemeth eternall things great and temporall small and almost nothing as indeed they are and perfectly perceives that all beauty and forms of things created are not to bee compared at all with the light of truth and wisedome which is in God and is God and therfore cryeth out with St. Augustine I have loved thee too late O thou beauty I have loved thee too late And because Christ saith You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free hee that is so enlightened and freed from the bonds and shackles of concupiscence covetousnes ambition and all other passions by the light of truth shall rejoyce with the Prophet and say Thou hast broken my bonds in sunder I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thankesgiving and will call upon the name of the Lord. Secondly fire as it makes iron cleare which formerly was blacke so of cold it maketh it hot yea so scorching and burning as that it seemeth to bee fire it selfe Great is the Lord and great is his power that a man by nature cold fearefull and timorous not daring of himselfe to speake much lesse to attempt any hard or difficult designe yet being once heated with the fire of Love he can make him as bold as a Lyon who terrifies all others with his roaring and overcomes by his power and that nothing shall seeme difficult or hard to him insomuch as being kindled with this fire hee shall say with the Apostle I can do allthings through Christ which strengthneth me But let us speake of the two parts of the efficacie of this fire severally namely of the power of it in words and in deeds 1 There are many now adayes and ever were in the Church of God Preachers and teachers of great note yet what is the reason that with so many of their Sermons so few are converted that so little alteration of manners and conversation appeareth for still the same vices the same sinnes the same coldnes and dissolute behaviour continueth I can ascribe it to no other cause but that in these Sermons though they be learned fluent and elegant there wants the life the fire and love which onely is of power and efficacie to quicken heat and inflame the hearts of the Auditors I deny not but there are many Preachers who can thunder as it were and beat the Pulpit but they are like Gunnes charged with powder onely and can give a crack as great as a peece of Ordinance but fruitlesse because they preferre not the glory of God and the salvation of soules before the applause of men Saint Peter was no Rhetorician but knew only how to steere a Ship and mend a net and to cast it abroad but as soone as the Holy Ghost came upon him in the shape of fiery tongues and filled him with most ardent love he began presently even in the midst of Ierusalem to preach with such power and efficacie that at one Sermon of his many thousands were converted And yet wee read not that he used much clamor or laying about with his body or banging the Pulpit from whence then proceeded such moving of the Auditors from whence such gaining of soules certainly by this that the holy Preacher was as a fire and his Word burnt like a Lamp as it is said in Ecclesiasticus of Elias his words came from him as from a heart burning and sparkling with Lâ—ve 2. Againe this divine fire hath as much efficacie in deeds as in words God had decreed to subject to himselfe the Citie of Rome the head of the Empire by the preaching of the Apostle St. Peter and to send abroad other of his Apostles some for the conversion of the Ethiopians others of the Indians others to the Sâ—ythians and some to the Brittaines and by them not onely to destroy the Idols of the World but to erect â—nd advance the Trophee of the Crosse to alter the rites of the Gentiles and to subvert the â—yrannicall Kingdome of the Devill If any man should have foreâ—old these things to the Apoâ—tles when they were fishing in the Lake of Genesareth or when during the time of our Saviours Passion they lurked in corners they would have been beleeved no more then dreames or old wives fables yet after a while all these things came to passe and that by no other meanes then the power of most ardent love which the holy Ghost kindled in their hearts for as St. Iohn speaketh Perfect Love casteth out seare and againe Love suffereth all things hopeth all things endureth all things thinks nothing impossible but cryes with the Apostle I am able to doe all things in him which strengtheneth me So that wee see that by the endeavour of these men armed with Love onely Idolatry was expelled the whole world with little labour and Churches of Christianity established every where in alâ— Kingdomes without the force of Armies or warlike provision Thirdly fire hath this property that it softens hard Iron that it may be lengthned out into plates and being made thinue fitted to any forme at the Artificers pleasure It is true that this is a great efficacie of fire in iron yet farre greater is the power of GOD over the obstinate and obdurate hearts of men St. Bernard describes a hard heart thus That is not onely a hard heart saith he which is not terribly afraid of it selfe because it is insensible What then is a hard heart That which is not cut with compunction nor mollified with devotion nor moved with prayers yeelds not to threats is hardened with scourges is unthankfull for benefits unfaithfull in counsailes that neither feares GOD nor reverenceth men All these things were verified in Pharaâ—h who the more he was plagued the more he was hardned and the
more Gods mercy appeared to him by removing the plagues the more he was animated to despise him But whensoever it pleaseth GOD to kindle a sparkle of the true fire of His love in a heart though never so hard presently it growes soft and melteth like waxe nor doth it any way resist the power of it but is of a stony become a heart of flesh and the breath of Gods spirit thawes the congealed snow therof into water We have an example in the Gospell of that woman who being a notorious sinner in the City could not be perswaded either by the admonition of her brother or the chiding of her sister or the honour of her family or her owne disgrace to amend her life yet one of the beames of our Saviour pierced so deepe into her heart and kindled a sparkle of his divine love there so that she was sodainely transformed as it were into another woman insomuch as she being of a noble stocke was not ashamed at a publique feast to fall downe at Christs feet and being wholly turned into tears of them made a bath for his feet and with her owne haire in stead of Linnen wiped them and moved with the vehemencie of that love kissed them and annointed them with a most costly oyntment signifying by these her acts of Repentance that from thenceforth she purposed wholly to devote her selfe to his service and therefore shee worthily heard that comfortable speech of our Saviour Many sins are forgiven her for she loved much And these effects hath the power of divine fire wrought which no hardnes of heart can resist The last property of fire is that it maketh Iron light which formerly was heavy And it is the chief cause that men which are not heated and inflamâ—d with divine love are heavy in heart and to such the Kingly Prophet thus speaketh after some translations Vsquequo gravi corde How long will ye be heavy in heart loving vanity and seeking after lyes and the Wiseman saith the corruptible or earthly body weigheth downe the soule And in Ecclesiasticus A heavy yoake is upon the sons of Adam Which heavy yoake he afterwards explaines to be wrath envy feare trouble and unquietnes and the like which are usually stiled the passions of the mind These doe so loade and burden a man that he looks upon nothing but the earth to which hee cleaveth and can neither rise to seeke God nor to run the way of his commandements But as soone as this divine fire begins to inflame the heart of man those passions forthwith decrease and are mortified and that heavy burthen is made light so that hee is able to saâ— with the Apostle Our conversation is in Heaven and with an enlarged heart to say with King David I will runne the way of thy Commandements when thou hast set my heart at liberty Certainely after our Saviour had said I am come to put fire on the earth w see how light many 〈◊〉 became by casting off the affections and desire of honour flesh and riches insomuch as they cryed with the spouse in the Canticles Draw me we will run after thee O blessed fire which enlightens but consumes not and consumes the ill humour onely if it consume but kills not Who will give me this correcting fire 1. that will take away the blacknesse of ignorance and purge the darkenesse of my conscience with the light of true wisedome 2. That will change the coldnesse of my sloth into the heate of devotion and of my negligence into the fervencie of love 3. Which will never suffer my heart to be hardned but keep it soft with its heate and make it obedient and devâ—ut 4. Which will lastly remove and take away the heavy yoke of earthly cares and will so lift up my heart with the wings of contemplation which nourisheth and increaseth love that I may say with the Psalmist Comfort the soule of thy servant for unto thee ô LORD doe I lift up my soule DEGREE VII By the Conâ—ideration of Heaven that is of the Sun Moone and Starres IT will be no hard taske out of the consideration of Heaven to erect one step for our ascent to GOD for the Kingly Prophet hath done it to our hands The Heavens saith he declare the glory of GOD and the firmament sheweth his handie-worke Now forasmuch as there are two times wherein we should ascend to GOD by the wings of contemplation namely the day and night of the former of them the same Prophet saith in the same Psalme In the Sun hath he placed his Tabernacle according to some translations or as others In them hath he set a Tabernacle for the Sun which cometh forth as a Bridegroome out of his chamber and rejoyceth as a Giant to run his course His going forth is from the end of Heaven and runneth about to the ends of it and there is nothing hid from the heate thereof Of the latter he writes in another Psalme I will consider the Heavens the worke of thy hands the Moone and the Starres which thou hast ordained We will begin with the first Of the Sun which is seene by day the Psalmist in the former mentioned place sets down foure severall prayses or commendations 1. That it is the Tabernacle of GOD. 2. That it is most beautifull 3. That it ever runnes most speedily and without wearinesse 4. That by enlightning and heating it chiefly manifests its power In regard of all which qualities the Sonne of Syrach calls it A merveilous vessell the worke of the most High 1. First therefore GOD the creator of all things according to the old translation of St. Jerom hath placed his Tabernacle in the Sun as in a most noble thing to reside in that is he hath chosen the Sun among all corporeall things as a royall palace or divine sanctuarie to dwell in for though GOD fill Heaven and Earth and the Heaven of Heavens cannot containe him yet he is said to dwell more there where he hath manifested the greatest signes of his presence by working wonders But because in the originall it is said In them hath he set a Tabernacle for the Sun that is in Heaven we may gather out of this place in the Pâ—alme another excellencie of the Sun not contradicting or opposing the former The Sun is a great thing for whom GOD hath prepared a large faire and noble palace for as he would have heaven to be the palace of the Sun wherein he might freely walke and worke so hee would have the Sun to be his owne palace So that as we may apprehend the greatnesse and excellencie of the Sun by this that the heaven is its tabernacle so may we conceive the greatnesse and excellencie of GOD in that the Sun an admirable vessell and then which nothing corporeall is more wonderfull is his tabernacle 2. Secondly the Psalmist to denote unto us the great beauty of
valuation and lastly if this were able to fill the desire not onely of men but of Angels of what value wouldst thou thinke it to be Yet the goodnes of this one thing would come farre short of the goodnes of GOD which is so great that it is able to satisfie and satiate the infinite desire or rather the infinite capacity of GOD himselfe Oh the admirable latitude of the perfection of the essence of GOD which containes such immensity of good thingâ— as is sufficient for the infinite capacity which is in himselfe for GOD cannot at any time goe out of or from himselfe because he hath all good things in himselfe and was as rich and blessed before the creation and wil be after because there is nothing which GOD hath made but would not alwaies be after a more transcendent manner in himselfe Therefore consider what kind of good thou shall enjoy in thy Countrey if thou love God while thou art in the way and from what good thou shalt be excluded if thou love him not For GOD offers himselfe to those which love him and he is the onely good and will say to the good and faithfull servant Enter into the joy of thy LORD 2. Againe GOD is immense in another manner because he fills all created things altogether Doe not I fill heaven and earth saith the LORD and if there were more worlds he would fill them all If I climb up to heaven saith David thou art there if I goe downe to hell thou art there also that is if I goe above heaven or beneath it or about it I shall not be alone because thou also art there for I cannot be if thou be not in me and thou sustainest me who bearest all things by thy mighty word Neither doth God fill all bodies onely with his immensitie but spirits hearts and mindes For how could he search the hearts of men if he were not in their hearts how could he heare their prayers unlesse he had his eares to our hearts and how could the Prophet say I will hearken what the LORD GOD will say in me if he moved not his mouth to the eares of our hearts It is a happy soule which loveth GOD because he hath alwaies his beloved with him and cherisheth him in his bosome For he which dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him 3. Neither doth GOD onely fill all things with his presence but with his glory also For the Seraphims cry The earth is full of his glory and the Psalmist addeth O LORD our Governour how excellent is thy name in all the world thou hast set thy glory above the heavens As if he should say not onely thy name fame and glory hath filled the whole earth with admiration but it hath ascended to heaven and above the heavens also And the Son of Syrach of the creation of the Sun saith The worke thereof is full of the glory of the LORD for there is no creature either in heaven or earth which continually praiseth not GOD. And this is the cause why David in the Psalmes and the three children in Daniel doe exhort all creatures to blesse and celebrate the praises of the Creator not that they were ignorant that most of the creatures were of that nature that they could not heare their exhortations but because they knew that all the works of GOD were good and by their species or beauties brought praiâ—e unto him and therefore congratulated and perswaded them to continue in doing that which rhey did And cortainely if we had inward eyes we might see that all the works of the Lord were as so many censers sending upward the sweet savour of his glory and if we had inward eares we should heare a harmonicall concent as it were of all kind of musicall instruments sounding out his praises and saying It is he that hath made us and not we our selves And although the wicked many times speake evill of GOD and blaspheme his name yet they are compelled against their wills in that manner that the worke commends the workeman to praise him for in them also the power of GOD shineth merveilously by which he made them and his wisedome by which he governes them and his goodnesse by which he preserves them though unthankfull and evill and his mercy and justice by which he ordaines them either justly to punishment or mercifully expects them to repentance And though many are so deafe here on earth to heare the voyces of the creatures incessantly crying to GOD yet there are a multitude of Angels and holy men who hearken unto and are delighted with those praises they themselves daily chaunting out the same with hymnes and songs Now the length of Gods divine Essence is his Eternity which as it had no beginning of continuance so neither shall it have end but shall remaine the same without change or alteration Thou art the same saith David to GOD and thy yeares shall not faile and the Apostle calls him The King everlasting because he is not subject to time but is above it and governes all ages and was before all ages Other things have their beginning and end and never continue in one state nor have beginning without end without alteration but may at the will of the Creator leave to be And therefore eternity is onely proper to GOD so as it can agree with no other creature in that measure for never was Prince so arrogant to use eternity amongst his other titles unlesse perhaps in another sense as Constantius did who was stiled Imperator aeternus because he was not Emperour for a time but during life A mans soule may be reckoned among the creatures of both kinds for it hath a body which began to be when it was conceived and borne and by degrees increased to that stature which was prefixed by GOD and then againe it began to decrease and soone after leaves to be by death but it never stands in the same state and condition in all respects every houre being subject to alteration Of this body the Prophet speaks by a similitude of grasse In the morning it is greene and groweth up but in the evening it is cut downe dryed up and withered That is in its childhood it waxeth reene as grasse soone after it passeth to youth in the nooneday whereof it flourisheth and by and by passeth to old age in the evening whereof it hangs the head and is cut downe in death it continueth in the grave it dryeth up and returnes to dust By which we may perceive how farre the body differs from eternity Now the soule was created in time being nothing before and in this regard is much unlike the Creator but being created it shall have no end of continuance which is common to it with the Creator But for asmuch as it is subject to change while it lives in the body from sinne to goodnesse from vertue to vice
If a Man had seene not onely with the eyes of his body but of his heart enlightned by GOD the rich Glutton clothed in silke and purple sitting at a Table furnished with all kinds of delicates many wayters attending him and withall had seene poore Lazarus halfe naked full of sores lying at the rich mans gate desiring to be fitted with the crummes that fell from his Table â—ee had seene the rich man whom the World accounted most happy to seeme most abominable in the sight of GOD and his Angels and as vile as the mud and dung of the earth and poore Lazarus to seeme noble and honourable For the first as hated by GOD was hurried by the Devills into hell and the last as beloved of GOD was carried by the Angels into Abrahams bosome But what doe we speake of Lazarus None was ever in higher account with GOD then our Lord Jesus Christ even according to his humanity and yet none ever so humble as he truely reported of himselfe Learne of me that am meeke and lowly in heart For by how much the clearer his most holy soule knew above all others the infinite height of the divinity by so much the more he knew the basenesse of the creature made of nothing and therefore while he was a creature above all others he became subject to GOD and exalted him and therefore also is he exalted above all creatures by GOD. The like we might say of the blessed Angels and holy Saints for there are none more humble then they which are high in the heavens because the neerer they are to GOD the more clearely they see and perceive by how much the greatnesse of the Creator is in distance from the exiguity of the creature Wherefore love humility if thou desire to be exalted Imitate the Lambe without spot and imitate the holy Saints and Angels who as they excell in height excell in humility And not onely doth GOD possesse the highest seat because he judgeth all men but because he excells all in quiet and makes those to be quiet in whom he rests and fits Gods highest seat is his supreme rest for although he governeth the universe wherein are continuall warres and conflicts of elements men and beasts yet he governeth peaceably and quietly nor is there any thing that can disturb his quiet or his contemplation of himselfe wherein consists his everlasting delight Gods proper seat is the blessed spirits upon which it is said by the Psalmist He sitteth betweene the Cherubims and in Samuel the LORD of hosts who dwelleth betweene the Cherubims and GOD is said rather to dwell or sit betweene the Cherubims then the Seraphims because the Cherubims signifie multitude of knowledge and Seraphim the heate of charity now rest followes wisedome and care and anxiety accompany love and charity unlesse it be joyned with wisedome Lastly where Esay saith Heaven is my seat and David The Lords throne is in heaven and all the heaven of heavens are the Lords by the heaven of heavens are understood the spirituall heavens the blessed spirits which dwell in the corporall heavens as S. Augustine expounds that place These heavens saith he GOD causeth to be quiet so admirably that this is the peace which passeth all understanding St. Bernard compares it to a King who being tyred as it were with hearing of causes retyres himselfe and takes his ease and quiet with his familiar servants And therefore by this we may perceive that GOD sheweth himselfe not a Iudge or a Lord to the spirits of the blessed but a familiar friend And certainly it is no small familiarity which GOD shewes to pure minds in this life so that this saying is verified My delight is to be with the children of men Hence it is that the Saints though they sufferd pressures in the World yet in their hearts where GOD is they had peace and therefore ever seemed joyfull and serene and so were For the Truth had told them Your hearts shall rejoyce and your joy shall no man take from you The fourth and last part of the greatnes of Gods Essence is the depth and this is manifold 1. First the divinity it selfe is most deep in him because it is not superficiall or sleight but most full most solid The Deity is not a gilded masse which hath onely gold upon the superficiâ—s or outward part and brasse or wood within but as a whole masse of gold great and immense or rather as a mine of gold so deep that by digging it can never be exhausted nor the bottome be discovered so God of whose greatnesse there is no end is altogether so incomprehensible that by a created mind it can never be so well knowne but that it may be ever more and more understood and it is onely God himselfe which can comprehend this infinite depth because he onely hath the infinite power of understanding 2. Againe God is deep in respect of place for as he is most high because he presides and governs all things and is above all so is he most deep because he is under all things to uphold them Bearing up all things by his mighty word saith the Apostle And therefore he is as it were the foundation and roofe of a building In whom we live and move have our being In that regard most truly said Solomon The heavens and the heavens of heavens are not able to containe thee because God doth rather contain the heavens and the things under heaven as being above the heavens and beneath the earth 3. Lastly the profundity of God is his invisibility For God is light but inaccessible he is truth but most inward He made darknes his secret place saith David and verily thou ô God hidest thy selfe saith Esay St. Augustine sometime inquiring after GOD sent his messengers his eyes from earth to heaven and all things answered them that they were not that he sought for but it is he that hath made us and not finding him by outward things he tooke his search by inward and soon understood truly that by them he might sooner approach to God for he knew the soule to be better then the body and the inward sense to be farre better then the outward and the understanding which is more inward to be better then the inward sense and thence gathered that God who was more inward then the understanding was better then it and that by all this that we understand or thinke it was not God but something lesse then God because God is better then we can understand or conceive Well then if the soule be better then the body to which the soule gives life because that is a body and the soule a spirit and if the eye of the body cannot see the soule because that is without and this within think also that thy God is better then thy soule because he gives it understanding and is as it were thy soule and
of nothing and to call those things which are not aswell as the things which are so is it proper to the depth of his wisedome by searching the reynes and hearts to see that which as yet is not there as if it were already and which without doubt shal be But because as I said before this Treatise is not for dispute but to stirre and lift up the soule to God let this which hath bin said incite thee to awaken thee and to lift up thy selfe above thy selfe and to consider that deepe abysse of the wisedome of God who searcheth the hearts and the inward parts of them seeing many things there which the heart it selfe sees not O blessed Peter when thou saidst to our Saviour Though I should dye with thee I will in no case deny thee surely thou spakest not with a double but a sincere and right heart neither didst thou see that frailty which God did foresee in thy heart when he said before the cocke crowe thou shalt deny me thrice for that skilfull Physician did see that infirmity in thy heart which thou didst not perceive and that proved true which the Physician foretold not what the patient brag'd of But withal give thanks to thy Physician who as he foresaw and foretold thy disease so he infused the most powerfull medicine of repentance into thy soule which sodenly cured the disease Oh thou good gracious and most wise and omnipotent Physician Cleanse me from my secret sinnes How many are there that I doe not bewaile nor wash away with teares because I see them not Let thy grace assist me by which thou searchest the reynes and hearts and those evill concupiscences and evill workes which I see not I beseech thee which seest them to shew unto me and looking upon me with the eyes of compassion produce and bring out of me a fountain of tears that while I have time I may wash them out by bewailing them and thou mayst utterly put them out of thy remembrance by pardoning them and that even for the merits of Iesus Christ my Saviour DEGREE XIII By the Consideration of the Practicall or operating Wisedome of GOD. THis Wisedome hath also foure dimensions Breadth in creating all things Length in preservation Height in the worke of Redemption and Depth in providence and predestination We will begin with the Creation In wisedome GOD made all things saith the Psalmist and He hath powred her out upon all his workes saith the Son of Syrach So that as by the Creation of all things of nothing we may know the power of the workeman so by the admirable skill which we see in every thing we may admire the wisedome of the Creator for He hath disposed all things in measure number and weight saith the wiseman and this is the savour wherewith GOD hath seasoned all things that by the same we might learne how savory and well seasoned the wisedome it selfe is how to be loved and desired All things created then have a certaine measure a certain number and a certaine weight aswell that they might be distinguished from GOD who hath neither measure as being immense nor number as being one and simple in respect of his essence nor weight because his estimate and price is above all estimation as also that they might be good and beautifull as Moses said most truly And GOD saw all that he had made and loe it was very good I All things therefore have that measure which is necessary to obtaine the ends for which they were created nor can there be any thing added to or taken from them but that they will become deformed or unprofitable and in that respect lesse good GOD made every thing saith the Preacher beautifull in his time and a little after to it no man can adde and from it none can diminish Therefore GOD gave a large and most ample measure to the heaven because it might comprehend all inferiour things within its circuit To the ayre he gave lesse then to heaven yet more then to the earth and waters which make one globe and are contained and compassed round with the ayre He hath given a great measure of body to an Elephant that he might carry great burdens even Towers filled with men To a Horse lesse being made onely to carry one rider The Birds he made little that they might make their nests in Trees and boughes Bees and Ants he created least of all that the one might hide themselves in the holes of hives and the other in the earth 2. The same may be said of number GOD created but one Sun because one was enough to enlighten the earth and the day with his splendor and but one Moone because one was sufficient to give light in the night The Starres he would have to be many because when the Sun and Moone gave no light as in their conjunction they should dispell the darkenesse of the night Nor did he onely assigne a necessary number to things in common but appointed the number of parts to every thing in particular so that nothing might be added or taken from them He gave to man two eyes two eares two hands two feet one nose one mouth one heart and one head whereby he became a most 〈◊〉 creature invert but the order and give to any man but one eye and two noses one eare and two mouthes one foot and two hearts and heads and no creature would seeme more ugly more deformed 3 Lastly concerning weight GOD gave to every thing such an estimation as its nature required Besides under the name of weight and esteeme we understand qualities which make things good and pretious And these three make all things perfect 1 A number of parts which is necessary that none be wanting 2 A measure or apt proportion of parts 3 Lastly internall or externall qualities as pleasantnesse of colour in the outward superficies of the body and vertue within profitable or necessary for severall actions But it is a marveilous thing to consider what power GOD hath imparted to some small creatures that it may seeme he had a desire to manifest his power in great and his wisedome in small things Who can conceive the strength and force of a graine of mustardseed which being the least of all seeds and so little that a man can hardly discerne it and yet from it growes so great a Tree that the birds make their nests in it as our Saviour speakes in the Gospell Nor is this onely proper to mustardseed but common to all other seeds within the vertue wherof roots bodies boughes leaves flowers and fruits of great trees lye hidden Certainly if we had not learn't this by experience we could hardly be perswaded that out of so little a seed so great a masse of severall things could ever have risen Who would conceive that in so diminutive creatures as the Ant Gnat and Flea and others the like were feet so nimble and that
all away and that it is sometimes mercy not to remove misery that a place may be prepared for greater mercy The Apostle prayed three times to have the prieke of the flesh taken from him but was not heard because Gods power might be shewne in weaknesse GOD tooke not away from Lazarus the misery of poverty and sores that with the greater mercy he might be carried by the Angels into Abrahams bosome and where would there need the worke of mercy from the rich if there were not poore hungry thirsty naked sicke pilgrimes and prisoners upon whom they should be exercised and if there were no tentations of the Devill where should be the reward for them which withstand them if labours and sorrowes were not where would be the crowne of patience and if no persecutors what would become of the crowne of Martyrdome and therfore in this pilgrimage both of these sayings may be true that the Earth is full of miseries because even sinnes themselves are miseries and great ones and the earth is full of the Mercy of the LORD because conversion of sinners and many almost infinite spirituall and temporall blessings of GOD what are they but continuall and great mercies of the LORD our Creator Let us then give thankes to our good GOD for his mercies in that as our tribulations increase in this our pilgrimage so our comfort increaseth by his mercy to us Thy mercy reacheth to the heavens saith the Psalmist to GOD because there shall be mercy without misery and because mercy shall take away all misery altogether Now the longitude or length of Gods mercy is his long suffering or patience which the Scripture useth to joyne with mercy as a part or species of it for so speaketh the Psalmist The LORD is full of compassion and mercy long suffering and of great goodnesse And indeed the long suffering or patience of our most mercifull LORD is very admirable such as we cannot finde either in masters towards their servants or in parents towards their children though both sorts of them be men 1. And first GOD is long suffering towards sinners expecting them with incredible patience sometimes from their childhood to the extremity of old age bearing the breaking of his Law and the tearing of his name and in the meane time doing them good from heaven giving them raine and fruitfull seasons replenishing them with food and their hearts with gladnesse as the Apostle speaketh And where will you finde among men either a master or a parent so gentle and facile who if he perceive himselfe to be sleighted or abused by his servant or son and that they persevere long in this obstinacie at the last doe not turne them out of dorâ—s But the mercy of the LORD is not overcome by the wickednes of men but it dealeth patiently with them not desiring that any should perish but all men to come to repentance and even making as though he saw not their sinnes because they should amend 2. Againe his patience is seen more in that many sinners by his grace are drawne out of the lake of misery and the mire of dregges and of children of darknesse are made sons of light and from the guilt of eternall death to the adoption of the sons of GOD and called to the hope of the Kingdome of heaven and though they relapse often to their former filthinesse and ingratitude yet are they not forsaken by the long suffering of GOD but are lovingly expected and invited to repentance and if they shall heartily repent at any time they are received to a kisse of peace and attonement and restored to former favour as the prodigallson was of a most mercifull Father It was not without cause that St. Peter demaunding of our Saviour how often he should forgive his brother sinning against him was thus answered by him I say not unto thee unto seaven times but unto 70. times seaven times for he would have us do the same which he himselfe doth in pardoning sinners And he hath set no bounds to his reconciliation but onely the end of our life for as long as we live if it be to 100. yeares or upward yet wee are received at any time before death by a most loving Father if after many relapses we seriously repent there is no repentance comes too late if it be serious and from a heart truely contrite and humble to receive mercy from GOD. But yet no man ought therefore to abuse the lenity and goodnesse of GOD and deâ—erre his repentance from day to day seeing no man knowes what houre or day the soule will leave the body and appeare before the Tribunall of a most lust ludge but rather all men should be invited and allured to repentance by this so great and incredible goodnesse of GOD For if GOD be so gracious towards sinners often relapsing how great will his favour be to those who after they have once tasted of it can never be drawne to be separated from it notwithstanding any tentations beating against them 3. There is also another admirable patience and long suffering of GOD which he useth in tollerating the offences of godly men for GOD of his goodnesse hath made us of enemies his friends sons of servants and heires of his Kingdome being guilty of eternall death and yet such is our ingratitude that we daily render evill for good for if the Apostle said In many things we offend all what may wee say who stand in so farre a distance from the Apostles perfection for wee talke with GOD in our prayers and presently we are distracted by our imagination with other thoughts and as it were turne our backs to GOD What Master would suffer his servants standing before him and speaking to him to turne to his fellow servants as it were in contempt of him and to talke with them What shall I say of idle words of vaine thoughts of unfruitfull workes of excesse in diet sleepe apparrell and play of our negligence and loose cariage in our holy service to GOD of our omission of brotherly correction and of innumerable other offences wherein wee daily offend and yet our GOD is good and gracious and of great mercy to all them that call upon him he beares with this rudenesse and incivility and as I may so speake this foolishnesse of his children which certainely men would not indure at the hands of men for he knoweth whereof we are made and deales with us as a mother with her little childe whom she cherisheth and nourisheth though perhaps it strike her Yet though GOD beare with many of our offences here because they doe not so breake the bonds of his love as to deprive us of the right of our inheritance yet they shall not goe unpunished in the day of judgement when we shall give an account of every idle word unlesse we shall in the meane time wash them away by teares of repentance But to end
of Faith unfained Againe the soule of Man hath a third kind of knowledge which consisteth in artificiall manufactures you will say that other creatures have the like faculty as the Spider in weaving her web Birds in making nests and Bees hony and combs and Foxes their deunes for houses but it may be answered that these creatures by the instinct of nature make them and those they make are but of one and the same fashion but mans soule endued with reason and judgement invents many Arts by which he hath dominion over other creatures will they nill they for neither doe the wings of a Bird helpe her nor the depth of waters availe the fish nor sâ—rength profit the Lion or Beare nor wildnesse preserve the Horse or Mâ—le nor swiftnesse advantage the Hart and Goate for we see even little Children catch Birds with nets sâ—ares and lime-twigges and Fishermen take Fish with netâ— Hunters by wit and art take Lions and Beares leading them about the Countrey Bores and Deere either taken with stalls or slain with bowes and speares Horses and Mâ—les made gentle with the bit and subject to the service of Man What shall I say of the Art of navigation what light of wit shined in the soule of Man when he invented and taught great Ships and heavily â—aden to cut the Seas not onely Boats and Galleys to runne with â—ares as it were with feet but great vessels to â—ly as it were through the vast Seas with their sailes as with wings What shall I further say of husbandry who wonders not at the severall inventions of Man if he seriously consider after what manner the earth is tilled vines dressed orchards planted gardens trimmed ponds for fish aqueducts to service gardens fields and cities What may be said of architecture in stately Palaces Temples Cities Towers Amphitheaters Pyramides and Obeliskes To omit the excellent Arts of painting and graving by which as by another History things are so expressed to the life as though they were not painted or graved but living things indeed Leaving all other Arts either for pleasure or necessity let us give humble and hearty thankes to GOD that hath made so great difference betweene the nature of Man and other living creatures and withall let us lift up the eyes of our minds to the same GOD Creator of all things in whom is the true fountaine of wit and invention for from him flowes whatsoever is derived to our nature And if we admire the wit of man in that he hath learned by industry and art to tame and have dominion over other creatures which want reason then let us admire the wisedome of GOD to whom all things are obedient and subject not onely things that have but those which want life And if it seeme so great a thing to us that the wit of Man hath found out the Arts of navigation tillage and architecture why should it not rather seeme greater to us that the wisedome of GOD hath made the fabrique of the universe the heavens â—â—rth sea and all things in them and by his power and providence governeth and preserveth them all Lastly if we admire the Arts of painting and graving after the life why wonder we not at the art of the Creator which of the earth made a true and living Man and of the rib of that Man a true and living Woman especially if we take this into our consideration that the things which are made by man cannot be done without Gods cooperating and those which GOD doth are done by his owne power without the helpe of any other Sixthly mans soule is endued with free will onely common to him with GOD and the Angels and wherein he differeth farre from other things created This is a great priviledge and honour yet the liberty and will of GOD the Creator so farre transcends that of mans that if they be compared together mans will is scarse a shadow of Gods For first the liberty even of a regenerate Mans will is weake and prone and facile to choose evill things and hurtfull to him the liberty of Gods will is most strong that it cannot faile or encline at all to that which is evill for as it is the infirâ—ity of a mortallbody that it is subject to dye and the soundnesse of a glorified body that it cannot dye so also it is the weaknesse of free-will to be in subjection to sinning and perfection or strength not to be able to sinne which will come to passe when GOD in our celestiall Countrey shall conferre this power upon us by grace which he alwaies hath by nature Againe our free-will is free indeed so that it can will and not will or to will and nill but it is not able to doe what it wills you may heare the Apopostle lamenting his case in this very point I doe not the good thing which I would but the evill which I would not that doe I. And is not this every mans case I will and desire to pray attentively and seriously to GOD and I command my imagination not to wander while I am at my prayers nor to draw me to any other cogitations yet I cannot containe it in its duty for while I am lesse sollicitous of this I finde my selfe abused by my imagination and instead of praying I fall into other thoughts Againe I will not to covet and not to be angry without reason and I command by my will the irascible and concupiscible faculty which is in me should be by right subject to reason to submit them selves wholly to reason and not suffer themselves to be seduced by any senses of the body but I am oftentimes not obeyed neither is that done which I will but what I will not But that which is admirable and miserable the mind commands the body and presently it obeys but the mind commands it selfe and is disobedient from whence comes this merveilous thing to passe saith St. Augustine The mind commands that the hand move and it doth it with such facility that the distance betweene the execution and the command is hardly perceived and the mind is and the hand is the body The mind commands that the mind would doe somewhat yet though it be the same it doth it not but it wills not wholly therefore commands not fully It is not then a monster but a sicknesse of the mind because it riseth not wholly levated or lifted up by the truth being over burdened before by custome But the freedome of the will of GOD is so joyned to full and absolute power as that it is said of it He doth whatsoever he will and There is none that resist thy will Wherefore if thou be wise boast not too much of the strength of thy free-will untill thou comest to the glorions liberty of the Sonnes of GOD when the heavenly Physicion shall heale all thine infirmities and satisfie thee with good things In the meane time pray daily and fervently