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<DATE>2012-05-09</DATE>
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<NAME>Jayanthi Reddy</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1">
<PB REF="1">
<P>DIVINE MEDITATIONS ON ACQUAINTANCE With <HI>GOD.</HI></P>
<P>BY <HI>E.W.</HI> E&s;quire.</P>
<Q><P>There be many that &s;ay, Who will &s;hew us any good? Lord lift up the light of thy countenance upon us.
<BIBL><HI>P&s;al. 4.6.</HI></BIBL></P>
<P><HI>Omnis copia quae non e&s;t Deus meus mihi e&s;t e|ge&s;tas.</HI></P></Q>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed by <HI>Thomas Maxey,</HI> 1653.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="introduction">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>The Introduction.</HEAD>
<P>_WHen I fir&s;t gave vent to the&s;e night Meditations by penning them, I had much debate with my &s;elf, whe|ther to conceal or publi&s;h them were mo&s;t comely and convenient; when I recollected the frequent prejudices that attend good meanings, and the great <HI>odium</HI> that is ca&s;t on &s;erious men by tho&s;e triflers, who&s;e utmo&s;t am|bition it is to bla&s;t the ble&s;&s;ed fruit of Vertue, by their unbenign breathes of detraction, and how few there are of the Genteel World, that think any thing more poy&s;ie then <HI>Romances,</HI> worthy their peru&s;al; I condem|ned it to the heap of wa&s;t Papers, as that which curi|ous eyes would view with regret, and captious natures peru&s;e with little calmne&s;s.</P>
<P>But for as much as I have hitherto often offended God, (I will accu&s;e my &s;elf and humbly implore his pardon) in &s;acrificing by fire many (though not beau|teous, yet undisfigured) children of my fancy, to &s;ilence, upon the Altar, and on the account of Mode&s;ty, or perhaps Security, le&s;t like unnatural <HI>Ab&s;aloms</HI> they &s;hould ry|ot again&s;t their Parent: My re&s;olution for the future is, and by Gods help &s;hall be, to pre&s;erve &s;uch ble&s;&s;ings of God on my Studies as Memorials of his Mercy, and Excitations to my Gratitude.</P>
<P>In all earthly things there is change and &s;orrow, yea, the be&s;t Commodity our Nature trafficks in, &s;ome|times brings home lo&s;s, or di&s;quiet; there is a toyl in
<PB REF="3">multitude of Books, and a kind trouble in common friend&s;hip; in the Favour of God only is Life, and in his Acquaintance Peace; the experience whereof made me methodize this Meditation, and now print it.</P>
<P>In the latter clau&s;e of the coun&s;el to <HI>Job,</HI> which mo&s;t Ver&s;ions read by <HI>Thereby &s;hal good come unto thee,</HI> or <HI>So &s;halt thou have the be&s;t fruits,</HI> or <HI>So &s;halt thou have pro&s;perity,</HI> or <HI>So &s;hall good things hap|pen unto thee,</HI> or <HI>So &s;hall thy fruit be in good things;</HI> or <HI>In them is good increa&s;ed:</HI> I have ren|dred it, <HI>So &s;hall no evil come unto thee,</HI> which I humbly conceive is pardonable, the peace of God in the former clau&s;e couching the good things of acquaintance with God; and al&s;o there being no good, truly &s;o called, which this protection from evil comprehends not; for what ever defends us from the Fallacies of Satan, this world and our own hearts, mu&s;t needs leave us in Gods Ble&s;&s;ing, as meet Objects of his Mercy and Bounty. I will here conclude with this humble Petition to God, That he would pardon the temerity of my pen, and accept of my plea in <HI>Ephraims</HI> bemoaning words, <HI>Af|ter I was in&s;tructed, I &s;mote upon my thigh, I was a&s;hamed, &amp;c.</HI> Jer. <HI>31.19.</HI> And I tru&s;t that he that <HI>breaketh not the brui&s;ed reed, and quencheth not the &s;moaking flax,</HI> will not refu&s;e this offering at my hand.</P>
<CLOSER><DATELINE><DATE><HI>Octob. 15. 1653.</HI></DATE></DATELINE>
<SIGNED>EDW. WATERHOUSE.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
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<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB N="1" REF="3">
<HEAD>DIVINE MEDITATIONS ON ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD, From tho&s;e words in <HI>JOB,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">22 Job 21.</NOTE> Acquaint now thy &s;elf with GOD, and be at peace, &s;o &s;hall no evill come unto thee.</HI></HEAD>
<P>_TWas a competent and congruous Definition of Man which the Philo|&s;opher gave, when he called him a &s;ociable Creature, the nature of man being more receptive and &s;par&s;ive of good then any Creature, which hath not rea&s;on to di&s;tingui&s;h, and entertain what it knows to be u&s;efull and conducing to content; for though all creatures have the imperfect and fir&s;t lines of &s;o|ciation effigiated on them, and in &s;ome degree or
<PB N="2" REF="4">other affect their own &s;pecies, or other creatures which either &s;uite or &s;erve to their ends; yet is no de&s;ire &s;o wi&s;ely impetuous as that which origina|ted from rea&s;on, is &s;econded by the a&s;&s;urance of unque&s;tionable Experience; nor do we &s;ober|ly believe any thing &s;o undoubtedly, which hath not the probate of a cleer evidence, to the advan|tage of which the life of man (plea&s;ured by no|thing more then generous and pious &s;ociety) is a clear and noble in&s;tance. That therefore Man, the Epitome of this Microco&s;m, and the little Lord (next under his MAKER) of this glo|rious Pile of Divine Architecture, might not mi&s;take his match, <HI>and while he ought to &s;eek a Kingdom, find a&s;&s;es;</HI> or by vain delu&s;ions, and pretended nothings mi&s;s the Mark of Eternity, and the Pawn of an unerring Conduct to that <HI>Canaan;</HI> This Scripture, like a goodly Gla&s;&s;e rightly modelled, and truly hung to a Chri&s;ti|ans view, &s;hews him the mo&s;t reall and incompa|rable object of the Soul, illu&s;trated from the Di|vinity of its nature, pure, unmixt, neither capa|ble to be tempted or to tempt; unle&s;&s;e it be to a holy Love and happy Acquaintance, which ends not wor&s;e, but better then it began, in tempo|rall Peace, and in eternall ble&s;&s;e, abandoning evill either of <HI>&s;in or &s;ufferings;</HI> all which are com|prized in the&s;e Words, <HI>Acquaint, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Me thinks my Meditations fix on a double &s;ort of &s;ubjects in this Scripture: <HI>Self, GOD, Peace, Evill;</HI> in their natures different, for what le&s;&s;e harmonius then corruption and incorrupti|on, then good and evill, then the be&s;t we wi&s;h and the wor&s;t we fear? yet both accorded and
<PB N="3" REF="4">united in the Term, <HI>Acquaint.</HI> Man who ought to be linked to God by the bond of Love, as well as &s;ubjected to him by the Law of obedience (as he hath no adver&s;ary to fear, &s;o no good to de|fire beyond that Monarch GOD: who is all to the &s;oul by way of completion, and to the out|ward man by way of munition) by this means, may obtain felicity in <HI>Acquainting him&s;elf with GOD,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>There is &s;o much Trea&s;ure in this Scripture, that the rich Spoils of it are beyond the capacity of men to conceive, or Angels to language; I &s;hall confine my thoughts to the&s;e en&s;uing Heads, as the Tracts by which to come to the Man&s;ion of holy Comfort re&s;iding in it.</P>
<P>1. <HI>What is meant by Acquaintance with GOD.</HI> 2. <HI>How it is to be attained.</HI> 3. <HI>What Peace it is that tho&s;e have which attain it.</HI> 4. <HI>How it may be &s;aid to repell evill from us.</HI> 5. <HI>When this is to be &s;ought after; The&s;e di&s;cu&s;&s;ed, will enodate the ob&s;curity, and pre&s;ent the ble&s;|&s;ing in its true and Princely Dre&s;&s;e.</HI></P>
<P>OF the Fir&s;t (<HI>Acquaintance with GOD:</HI>) I &s;hall &s;ay in the P&s;almi&s;ts Phra&s;e,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm 87.3.</NOTE> <HI>Glorious things are &s;poken of thee,</HI> O thou light &s;prung from on high, thou ray of eternity, to which all mortall contents and Mundane confedracies are but as atoms, yea non-entities. <HI>Acquaintance with God</HI> is &s;omwhat &s;tupendious, and requires a touch from the Altar to decypher it; 'tis a beam of glory darting on the face of a Child of glory,
<PB N="4" REF="5">a Love-token erranded to &s;ignifie the good will of him that dwels in the Bu&s;h, to his that are a|mong the pots, &s;lurred among&s;t the brambles, &s;cratched; in the fire and in the water, abu&s;ed de|ba&s;ed, but not for&s;aken; but this is rather an ef|fect of it then a De&s;cription of it, that which forms it is the being, and that which expatiates it is the wel-being of it: For the more this grace (for le&s;&s;e it is not) is meditated upon, the grea|ter are the touches of &s;weetne&s;&s;e in the Souls vi|&s;age, from this lovely Pen&s;ill of the mo&s;t lovely Arti&s;t, GOD: And therefore I &s;hall conceive it to a&s;cend its Zenith by the&s;e Gradations.</P>
<P N="1"><MILESTONE N="1" UNIT="Step."> 1. The lowe&s;t and inchoate &s;tep to this Mount is the <HI>&V;nder&s;tanding,</HI> that mu&s;t know him the chief good, or el&s;e it will never de&s;ire him; mans in|tellect is the Bucket by which he drawes, and the Ladder at which he climbs to will and wed; the object he knowes good, without this 'tis as im|po&s;&s;ible to love and obey, as without eyes to judge of colours, or without ta&s;te to di&s;criminate Li|quor and Meats, God hath given the priority to this faculty as that which mu&s;t &s;ea&s;on to, and pre|pare appo&s;itely for the re&s;t. And truly, this is of the foundation and reall nature of the rationall &s;oul; for from this are we determined to be wor|thy (as to other creatures) of that Supremacy and juri&s;diction God hath given us over them; for did not our Under&s;tandings direct us to a car|riage proportionate to the natures of Creatures, and things, we &s;hould &s;oon di&s;cover our follies to be too bruti&s;h either to be admired or followed, and the Creation would &s;oon renite obedience to &s;o &s;en&s;le&s;&s;e Governours. But ble&s;&s;ed be God,
<PB N="5" REF="5">he hath not left us without a witne&s;&s;e of his libe|rality. He hath informed our &s;pecious bodies with perfect &s;ouls, and made a noble Lodging of State for him&s;elf, that high room, and top battle|ment, our Under&s;tanding; which though too va&s;t to be filled with the little puncto's and contemp|tible grains of worldly nothings, yet receives completion from God, and tho&s;e apprehen&s;ions of him which he (in much conde&s;cen&s;ion to us) is plea&s;ed to vouch&s;afe us, not to make us proud of our fatne&s;&s;e, but provident to improve fulne&s;&s;e to gratitude, and to &s;erve him more compleatly; who does good and is good, and from whom goodne&s;&s;e effluxeth to all creatures: for of his fulne&s;&s;e they receive fulne&s;&s;e.</P>
<P>That this Under&s;tanding is the Key of Di&s;covery, and <HI>Acquaintance,</HI> needs no &s;econd to confirm it; for even nature tels us by the Rule, that there is no de&s;ire of what we know not,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ignoti nulla cupido.</NOTE> and Scripture directs to this as the path to all gracious Intercour&s;e with God; in one pa&s;&s;age of holy Writ I hear this a&s;&s;erted,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 9.10.</NOTE> <HI>They that know thy Name, will put their tru&s;t in thee;</HI> in another, <HI>He that cometh to GOD, mu&s;t believe that he is.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11.6.</NOTE> Now effects imply cau&s;es, as Ci&s;terns do Springs, and Rivers Seas: If God be to be believed on, he mu&s;t be conceived of, and under&s;tood by tho&s;e that thus believe him; for as articulation is con|&s;equent to generation, &s;o is adhae&s;ion to a&s;&s;ent, and a&s;&s;ent to intellect.</P>
<P>The nece&s;&s;ity of intellect to head the will and affections, which in a &s;ort compleat acqaintance, is evincible from many things: from the order of God in Creation &amp; Nature, which makes this as the
<PB N="6" REF="6">womb, at which port every thing which tends in its progre&s;&s;e to action, enters. The light natural, typicall of this internall Luminary, was the fir&s;t Creature; as that which God erected to give light to his Library, the World, which God com|piled of nothing, by a power eternal, complete, and indeterminable; and the fir&s;t tryall hee put man upon, was to touch his Intellect, and to try the magneti&s;me of that faculty, which could draw all things to it, and incorporate it &s;elf with every thing: And if when there was no di&s;tortion, if be|fote the mi&s;-rule which &s;in and Satan brought in|to the Under&s;tanding; this was the tendency of that Faculty; It mu&s;t &s;till remain what it was, as to the Nature and &s;acred De&s;ign of God, though vayled and denegrated by acce&s;&s;ions of &s;in, and contractions of puni&s;hments, which by under&s;tan|ding any thing but God, and in order to God, is ju&s;t up on it.</P>
<P>The faculty then is the &s;ame in its nature, in its imployment; onely the Ro&s;e hath prickles, the Swan deformed legs: <HI>Death is in the pot,</HI> if God doth not heal the waters, and turn our Under&s;tan|dings to that right object, Him&s;elf; <HI>whom to know is life eternal,</HI> And whom to glorifie as God, our mo&s;t excellent and onely good, is the &s;ole end of our creation.</P>
<P>Nor is the order of God in Creation, the only In&s;tance of this precedence of the Intellect; but experience atte&s;ts this in the whole latitude of In|&s;tances, the Heavens; by that in&s;tinct they have, as it were, and after their kind, do their duty to earth, Man, nay their Maker; by a duct (which to them is in &s;tead of Intellect) do they &s;erve times and
<PB N="7" REF="6">&s;ea&s;ons; do they remit, and extend influence, ac|cording to the law of their fir&s;t Cau&s;e; and the Birds and Bea&s;ts, by their &s;en&s;ual Energy (<HI>analo|gous</HI> in &s;ome &s;ort to Intelect in man) direct their cour&s;e, and run their race; not attempting to love or flye that which is not Good or Evil in their eye, and plea&s;ing or di&s;plea&s;ing to their Na|tures. Now if that rule of the Schools be true, which neither is yet, nor ever will be contradicted, That the work of Nature is the work of the God of Nature:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Opus Naturae e&s;t opus Authe ris.</NOTE> then what is the concurrent practice of Univer&s;al Nature, according to its &s;pecifick be|ing, mu&s;t be Po&s;itive and Ab&s;olute, and &s;o from him who is the Beginning and End of all things, and therefore mo&s;t true. And &s;o I have mounted the fir&s;t Step, the <HI>&V;nder&s;tanding.</HI> Acquaintance imports Under&s;tanding; for how &s;hall De&s;ire be heightned, but from Knowledge; and Knowledg be gained, but by that Faculty,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom 10.14.</NOTE> which is admi&s;|&s;ive and receptive of it? <HI>How can they</HI> (&s;aith S. <HI>Paul) believe on him of whom they have not heard? and how can they hear without a Preacher?</HI></P>
<P>Nor is this Step con&s;ummative to our Acquain|tance, if here we &s;tay, pitching this as the <HI>Non ultra,</HI> beyond which we will not go: for God hath placed his Seat on High, and the Rounds of the Ladder which reacheth him are many; he will have us engaged in much colluctation, many brea|things and pantings, before we come up to the Mount of Mercy, where Peace is, and Evil is not; and therefore he cryes out to man, <MILESTONE N="2" UNIT="Step."> in the <HI>&s;econd</HI> place, for his <HI>Heart,</HI> his <HI>Will,</HI> which is the Jewel in this Cabinet of Glory: This, this to the Intellect, is as the Sailes to the Ship; takes the Winds gales,
<PB N="8" REF="7">and carrys it to the Port of Lo&s;s or Gain: this, this is the Womb in which are the I&s;&s;ues of life and death: this, this is the Paradi&s;e, which we ought to guard with the <HI>Flaming Sword</HI> of an uninter|rupted and earne&s;t Zeal; for as the Sailes move the Ship, by rea&s;on of the wind which acts upon them, and &s;o is cau&s;al of their &s;welling, as they of the Ships motion; and according to the quantity of the wind, &s;o ordinatily is the way of the Ship: &s;o doth this act upon the Intellects premi&s;es, ad|mitting whatever hath the Watch-word from that Centinel. I &s;ay not, that the Will alwayes followes the rectified Under&s;tanding:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bonum &amp; velle convertuntur.</NOTE> but this I &s;ay, No man wills what is evil under the notion of evil, for the Wil and Good are convertible; and many great|e&s;t evils have &s;ome good in conjunction with them, for which they are admitted, though as to the predominant parts of them, they de&s;ervedly be termed and judged Evil; for whatever erreth from the perfect Rule of Gods Law, and defa|ceth the Image of God in the &s;oul, hath not the allowance of Heaven to make it currant.</P>
<P>Now this Will of man is highly concerned to the completion of rea&s;onable Actions, it being the <HI>vehiculum</HI> which carries the Intellect to its Object, and thereto unites it: the Under&s;tanding ap|proves the Match, but the Will tyes the knot and adunates; as I mu&s;t know before I can will, &s;o mu&s;t I will before I can be acquainted with that I will; which is the rea&s;on why between things a|ver&s;e there is no acquaintance properly &s;o called, but rather an Antithe&s;is and Retrogade Motion; Contraryes meet not, nor cohabit they in inten&s;e degrees, in the &s;ame Subject at one and the &s;ame
<PB N="9" REF="7">time, becau&s;e they are incon&s;i&s;tent, and are made what they are by the non being of each other: Fire is no fire, if water prevail again&s;t it, for it is &s;uppre&s;&s;ed and led captive by the Victor; and &s;o water cea&s;eth its moy&s;ture and liquidity, if the heat of the fire accede it to Ma&s;tery; whereas other things that are not at this variance, meet like Mercy and Peace, and ki&s;s each other: Active heat, and Pa&s;&s;ive moi&s;ture, make way for Genera|tion; Steel and the Load-Stone are in amity, and do with eagerne&s;s approach each other; &s;o is it in Love, by the will di&s;po&s;ed of to any object. There is no Soveraign more ab&s;olute, as to things &s;ubje|cted to his will, then the will of man; for it wheels about the <HI>totum mobile</HI> in him. This mo|ved <HI>Sam&s;on</HI> to love <HI>Dalilah, Archimedes</HI> to dye with his Art; <HI>Judas</HI> to betray his Ma&s;ter, <HI>Julian</HI> to Apo&s;tatize; and by Gods &s;everity, this &s;eals, as the meritorius Cau&s;e, the wicked under unbelief, that they <HI>may be damned who have plea&s;ure in un|righteou&s;ne&s;s:</HI> for this once perverted and engaged,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 The&s;&s;. 2.12.</NOTE> the whole man is circumferred and hurled after the genius of its project: by this are the affections alarm'd and keened to good or evil; and without this Velliety is nothing fea&s;ible, without the pow|er of God come to aid; yea, and that too deales mildly, by a &s;weet compul&s;ion and in&s;uperable per|&s;wa&s;ion, transforming the &s;oul from what it is, and as corrupted, would; into what it is not, but ought to be: &s;ubmi&s;&s;ive <HI>to,</HI> &s;equacious <HI>of,</HI> and volun|tarily captived <HI>by</HI> God.</P>
<P>Now all the quarters of the inner man are beat up, and Proclamation is made in the name of the great King of Heaven: now the word is, I am not
<PB N="10" REF="8">what I was,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;ai. 26.13.</NOTE> <HI>Other Lords have had dominion over me, but the de&s;ire of my &s;oul is to thee, and to the remem|brance of thy Name:</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">ver. 8.</NOTE> now there is this only outcry, <HI>None but Chri&s;t, none but Chri&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>That is the &s;econd Step, and the Advance is great. Acquaintauc is in a good progre&s;s, when we under&s;tand the worth, and will that worth to be acquainted with. But there is more Marches to be made to this Conque&s;t;
<MILESTONE N="3" UNIT="Step"> therefore the 3^d. Step is Di&s;covery of this De&s;ire to that Object we love; and this, though in regard of Gods Omni&s;cience needs not,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P&s;ai.</HI> 132.2.</NOTE> <HI>For he knows our thoughts afar off;</HI> yet in order to our Obedience, and his declared Will, ought to be done by us again and again; the Ca|non is,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 7.7.</NOTE> <HI>Ask, and ye &s;hall have; &s;eek, and ye &s;hall find; knock, and it &s;hall be opened.</HI> 'Tis a minute trifling boon that is not worth asking; God hath entailed Bli&s;s to our Prayers and tears, not as the price, but the way to them: as he <HI>hides not him&s;elf from his people that pray;</HI> &s;o doth he not own them that look big with the Phari&s;ee, and have too &s;tiff knees to bend before him.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hab. 2.4.</NOTE> He <HI>knowes the heart is not upright,</HI> when it is unhumble, and condemns. it as a fal&s;e Character of a good heart not to ask Do&s;t thou (O man) conceive God the be&s;t Good, and thy &s;elf mi&s;erable without him, and wilt thou not &s;eek by Prayers and tears to gain freedom? Do&s;t thou think he <HI>will ever be waiting to be graci|ous,</HI> who ought to be waited upon becau&s;e he is, and will be &s;till &s;o, unle&s;s thou provoke him to turn his back, and not his face? Thou art <HI>blind,</HI> and wilt thou not ask Eye-&s;alve? <HI>Naked,</HI> and art thou too &s;turdy to be&s;eech Chri&s;t to ca&s;t his Gar|ment of Salvation upon thee?
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 3.18.</NOTE> If thou can&s;t
<PB N="11" REF="8">not <HI>confe&s;s thy &s;ins,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 John 1.2, 9.</NOTE> he declares not him&s;elf a <HI>For|giver of &s;ins;</HI> for his fidelity is engaged only to Penitents. Will any man thats worthy, put his friend&s;hip upon an unwilling party, or motion a|mity but upon the reque&s;t of him, whom thereby he &s;hall oblige? It becomes tho&s;e that will have part of anothers propriety, either to beg or pur|cha&s;e it: all the Coyn in thy pur&s;e, and the pride in thy heart, will not capacitate thee to gain God for thy friend upon any termes, but <HI>repent and be|lieve:</HI> The&s;e are the wedding Garments which bring thee into the <HI>Fea&s;t of fat things</HI> with appro|bation; and if thy holy Motions be as eager as they ought, and as thy acquaintance with God de&s;erves, then thou wilt not find a repul&s;e; for thy God is ready to meet tho&s;e with open armes, who offer their &s;ervice to him upon bended knee, and with aba&s;hed faces.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="4" UNIT="Step"> <HI>Step</HI> 4. to Acquaintance with God is his Word,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 77.13. John 5.39. P&s;al. 25.14.</NOTE> his Servants, his ways. <HI>God is known by his out goings in his Sanctuary; the Scriptures te&s;tifie of him; his &s;ecrets are with them that fear him.</HI> If any man be a &s;eeker of God, him he hears. But above all, be &s;ure of the favour of the Well Beloved; he that comes from his hand, is carryed into the Bed-cham|ber, and refre&s;hed with the good things of his right hand. Chri&s;ts bloud cro&s;&s;eth the Roll of Indictments, and di&s;chargeth the guilt: If thy &s;oul be dipped in that bloud, it will hold colour again&s;t all waters, again&s;t all a&s;&s;ayes to interpo&s;e; perhaps Satan puts in his plea, and informes, thou art his; What though? a &s;tronger then he hath taken po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion. Suppo&s;e thy &s;ins re&s;t upon thee as upon <HI>Mary Magdalen;</HI> yet if thou <HI>love&s;t
<PB N="12" REF="9">much,</HI> why &s;hould&s;t not thou hope to be forgiven, as was &s;hee? There is no &s;in in Mortal man can out|poi&s;e the mercy in an immortal God; nor the merit of a &s;potle&s;s Saviour, who&s;e blood in value out-prizes them as far as the noble&s;t Gemme doth the mo&s;t vulgar pibble. To this bounteous <HI>Ema|nuel</HI> (who when he was Rich became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich; who when he was in the bo&s;om of his Father, came to conver&s;e with men, that he might elevate men to communion with God in Grace, and compartying with him in glory) do thou (O holy &s;oul) conjoyn thy &s;elf by a Covenant never to be broken. He, he it is that &s;oders God and man, that gives thee <HI>acce&s;s with boldne&s;s to the Throne of Grace,</HI> that moves thee to good, confirms thee in it, rewards thee for it, by the Holy Gho&s;t, which the Father &s;ends in his name. Is thy Peace begun and per|fected, thy Comfort continued and encrea&s;ed? in the a&s;&s;urance of this, thou wilt live a life of good example to men,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 3.14. P&s;al. 149.9.</NOTE> and of glory to God, and after all, <HI>reach the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Chri&s;t Je&s;us.</HI> For this <HI>honour have all his Saints.</HI></P>
<P>And the better to keep thee in this, le&s;s and lower to that better good, it becomes thee, O man, to attend on the revealed Will of God, that bears witne&s;s to the Truth, Mercy, Ju&s;tice, Pati|ence, and other Holy Attributes of the Divine Nature; it records al&s;o what thy duty (O man) is,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 12.24. P&s;al. 7.11.</NOTE> namely, <HI>To fear God and keep his Commandments,</HI> not only becau&s;e he is angry with the wicked eve|ry day, but becau&s;e he by his love con&s;traines thee, and expects no returnes from thee but thy &s;elf:
<PB N="13" REF="9">Own him in all his holy Coun&s;els, Precepts, Threats, Ordinances, Servants, and love whate|ver bears his Image and Super&s;cription: Follow <HI>Peter</HI> in his tears and Faith, not in his frailty and abnegation; thy Saviour is thy Lord, and thou oughte&s;t to own him for &s;uch, as well on the Cro&s;s, as on the right hand of Glory; and his &s;e|vants ought to be as dear to thee, when they are tormented, per&s;ecuted, afflicted (provided they be &s;tedfa&s;t, and &s;uch as &s;uffer for well doing, on whom the Spirit of Glory re&s;ts) as when applau|ded, preferred, and crowned; for this, if thou doe&s;t, enterance will be made thee into Ac|quaintance with thy God, whom to know, is to be wi&s;e; and whom to live with, is to be happy.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="5" UNIT="Step"> <HI>Step</HI> 5. to Acquaintance with God,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 2.5.</NOTE> is identity of mind: therefore the Apo&s;tles &s;ays, <HI>Let the &s;ame mind be in you which was in Chri&s;t Je&s;us:</HI> not the &s;ame e&s;|&s;entially, but the &s;ame di&s;po&s;itively, the &s;ame ef|fectively; wi&s;h (in a holy ardency and warranta|ble impatience) that you could oblige God as much by &s;ervice, as he doth you by Creation, Pre&s;erva|tion, and the good things of Glory, which he promi&s;eth; yea, rather wi&s;h to be like him in Grace and Holine&s;s, then in Greatne&s;s and Pu|i&s;&s;ance: There is nothing works Acquaintance &s;o kindly and rea&s;onably, as congruity; the Proverb is, <HI>Birds of a feather will flye together:</HI> there is natu|ly a kind of Magick in a&s;&s;imulation; we love Cli|mates and Cloathes, Books and Meats, Faces and Fa&s;hions, proportionable to our Geniu&s;&s;es mo&s;t; and the exterior &s;en&s;e is much at the Devotion of the interior idea, and the fanciful Formatory:
<PB N="14" REF="10">Did you ever &s;ee contrarys agree while &s;o? and not rather their friendline&s;s bubble up from their uni|on, as one prevayling, forced the other into com|plyance? Or can it be imagined that God and man &s;hould agree, while the one is too great to have equal, the other not humble enough to own a Su|perior? In wordly conver&s;ation there is nothing more di&s;ta&s;ted, and declines Acquaintance, then contrariety of Principle; yea it often invites to hatred and ho&s;tile procedures, even where natu|rally there is antithe&s;is to contrariety, and alto|gether an ignorance of any demerit in the object, &s;aving this nude inconformity.</P>
<P>All Compounds are made of Simples that &s;erve in their conjunction to the propo&s;ed end; and though numerically they differ, yet <HI>in coa|gulo</HI> they con&s;pire to &s;erve one univocal De&s;igne. In building, crooked, &s;traight, long, &s;hort, little, great, &s;appy, hearty Timbers conforme to the model of the Edifice, and the Surveyers Art. In medicines, &s;imples laxative, retentive, hot, cold, by a kindly, and even cooperation, recover health, and honour the Phy&s;ician; which other|wi&s;e would di&s;credit the one, and endanger the o|ther: the like effect hath complea&s;ans in friend|&s;hip, which is a marriage, not of Sexes, but minds; not to purpo&s;es of Generation but Conver&s;ation. And therefore tho&s;e mi&s;take the Mark much, who think to reduce God to their bounds, his holy na|ture to their impure practices, and will be acquain|ted with him, not upon his own, but their own termes. If they may have a <HI>Dalilah</HI> in their lap, if they may keep their right eye and right hand, if when they go into the hou&s;e of <HI>Rimmon</HI> they may
<PB N="15" REF="10">be pardoned, well and good: they are contented to enter amity with God. But if he commands to <HI>cut off the right hand,</HI> and <HI>pluck out the right eye:</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 5.29. Gen. 12.1. Rev. 18.4.</NOTE> if he call to them to leave their Country, <HI>to come out of Babylon,</HI> to for&s;ake father and mother; then with the rich man in the Go&s;pel, they go away <HI>heavy,</HI> crying out with him,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 19.22.</NOTE> <HI>Non tanti emam poeni|tentiam:</HI> to the&s;e, <HI>Gadarens</HI> Swine are beyond Chri&s;t, gla&s;s before pearles, and this little world in <HI>view,</HI> more precious then that better in <HI>pro|mi&s;e.</HI></P>
<P>Well, but Acquaintance with God is never the wor&s;e becau&s;e the&s;e cover it not but upon cheap and di&s;honourable termes, which wil not be yeilded unto. Tho&s;e that know what it is to have the eyes of their Under&s;tanding opened, to conver&s;e with God, not remotely (but as mortal Nature by Divine indulgence) may <HI>with open face,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cer. 3.18.</NOTE> think all things lo&s;s and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ung in compari&s;on of</HI> it; accounting them&s;elves never e&s;tranged from the true end of their being, but when they are without the Vail, when the lines of their inheritance are not ca&s;t out to them in this lot of love, when they wander in the Wilderne&s;s of the wolrd, and commune not with that God, who&s;e comforts are above the world, who is whatever earth and heaven can yeild admired: for he is all in both, and nothing in either is delectable, but what he is; nor are we ever tru|ly our &s;elves, but when we are like him, in that partaking of his Divine Nature, which our being is capable of, and his ble&s;&s;ed purpo&s;e hath de&s;ign|ed us to.</P>
<P><HI>La&s;t Step</HI> to Acquaintance with God,
<MILESTONE N="La&s;t" UNIT="Step."> is a&s;&s;iduous attendance on him: fits and gird, now and then vi|&s;its
<PB N="16" REF="11">&s;eldom amount to intimate friend&s;hip, tho&s;e inter|vals and faint treatments, like cold and indige|&s;ted Meteors hang hovering, but never conden&s;e, and body into any &s;olidity, like dainty meats which rather puff up then feed; or like gay clothes, which adorn more then comfort Nature: The greate&s;t ingredient to many mens friend&s;hip, is a Cap, or a Congee, Your humble Servant, and Pa&s;&s;ionately yours, which wi&s;e per&s;ons eye as the purliew in which the Ra&s;cal Deer mo&s;tly, the No|bler rarely; and therefore u&s;e tho&s;e Modes rather in Symphony with the plurality, then out of allow|ance and choice. Many in the matters of God, and in Duties of Religion (whereby we &s;hould ac|quaint our &s;elves with him) are as fetchant and wavering, as the&s;e in le&s;s con&s;equentials are: they wait not at the po&s;ts of Wi&s;doms door; they come not early, they go not to bed late; they eat not the bread of &s;orrow, that they might purcha&s;e this one thing nece&s;&s;ary: Earne&s;t they are not, nor do they by a holy impetuo&s;ity and violence &s;ei&s;e on Heaven, not wra&s;tle with God, not let him go til he ble&s;s them with his Acquaintance; yet do they expect to partake of God as fully, as <HI>Zachary</HI> and <HI>Elizabeth,</HI> who <HI>wait upon him daily, and walk in his Commandments without reproof;</HI> but how vain|ly the&s;e expect grapes from thornes, and figs from thi&s;tles, the Con&s;equence &s;hewes; God keeps them at di&s;tance, he feeds them with the husks; he loves tho&s;e that fear him, not <HI>formidine poenae, &s;ed vir|tutis amore;</HI> and he values tho&s;e highe&s;t who are mo&s;t importunate, undi&s;mi&s;&s;able, whom not a <HI>non decet</HI> will di&s;courage from <HI>begging crumbs;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 15.26, 27.</NOTE> whom no Moment, no company will di&s;hearten
<PB N="17" REF="11">from re&s;olving with <HI>Job, Though thou kille&s;t me,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 13.15.</NOTE> yet will I tru&s;t in thee.</HI> The&s;e are the Merchants our Lord &s;peaks of, who &s;ell all to purcha&s;e the Jewel of Divine Intercour&s;e; the&s;e are they that cry out for the <HI>light of Gods countenance,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm 4.</NOTE> and care not what they &s;uffer &s;o they have it. To the&s;e humble pro|&s;trates are the Doles of Heaven dealt out, on the&s;e that cry out, as <HI>Rachel</HI> did to <HI>Jacob, Give me Grace, or el&s;e I dye,</HI> doth God give the ble&s;|&s;ing of Acquaintance, and for the&s;e and the&s;e on|ly hath he a Re&s;erve, a Man&s;ion in his Kingdom, <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> above, which is the vi&s;ion of Peace; and in the fruition of which; by holy Acquaintance with God as the way and means, we &s;hall obtain adunition to God, as the end and fruition of Peace in that felicity, for &s;o &s;aith the next words, <HI>Acquaint now thy &s;elfe with God, and be at peace.</HI></P>
<P>But &s;tay man a while, There is &s;omewhat inter|current 'twixt Acquaintance and Peace, there are bars and bounds to keep the Stage free from pe&s;ter. God hath appointed Means and Degrees, by which to come at length to this Cu&s;men, this top of the Mount on which &s;hall be our Transfigurati|on: Chri&s;t <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Elias</HI> are to be met with when we can &s;ay our Chri&s;tian Alphabet roundly, when we can &s;ay, not only as Saint <HI>Paul,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 3.12. Rev. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">.9, 10.</NOTE> Non|dum attigimetam,</HI> but &s;ing that <HI>Epinichyon, Thou art worthy, O Lord, for thou ha&s;t redeemed us from &s;in, &s;orrow, the world, and made us Kings and Prie&s;ts to thee.</HI> Till then, there is <HI>aliquid agendum;</HI> if ever thou wilt come to the end of thy race, it mu&s;t be by the Means ordained to that end, which is the &s;e|cond Scruple to be explicated.
<MILESTONE N="2" UNIT="Scruple"> 2 <HI>What are the
<PB N="18" REF="12">Meanes of obtaining this Acquaintance?</HI> The Solution of this is partly done in the foregoing Con&s;ideration, and therefore will require the le&s;s an&s;wer here; the pre&s;cribed Steps of a&s;&s;ent are al|&s;o many &s;everal Paces towards it; what is nece&s;&s;a|ry to be added by way of Illu&s;tration, is only this; God requires of every Acquaintance, 1. <HI>Reconci|liation to Chri&s;t:</HI> 2. <HI>Re&s;ignation to his holy Spirit:</HI> 3. <HI>Adoration of his Ordinances:</HI> 4. <HI>Admira|tion of his Works.</HI> 5. <HI>Renovation of life.</HI></P>
<P N="1"><MILESTONE N="1"> 1 <HI>Reconciliation to Chri&s;t:</HI> All &s;in is Ho&s;tility a|gain&s;t him; 'tis Rebellion again&s;t the Prince of Peace, and folly again&s;t him the Wi&s;dom of the Fa|ther: He came to unite God and thee, and thou (O man) laboure&s;t the Defeat of his advent; the end of his de&s;cent from Heaven to earth, was to draw men after him; thou in &s;tead of <HI>coming to him that thou maye&s;t have life,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 5.40.</NOTE> runne&s;t away from him: in &s;tead of ca&s;ting down thy &s;elf at his feet and craving his pardon, thou holde&s;t up Weapons of unrighteou&s;ne&s;s again&s;t him: Is this thy kind|ne&s;s to thy friend? Is this thy Loyalty to thy Prince? Is this the Badge of Acquaintance and friendly intimacy? Do&s;t thou crown Chri&s;t with <HI>thorns,</HI> and expect he &s;hould <HI>ki&s;s thee with the ki&s;|&s;es of his lips?</HI> Do&s;t thou deliver him to the Cor&s;s, and looke&s;t from him for a place in <HI>Paradi&s;e?</HI> Do the&s;e rough hands of <HI>E&s;au,</HI> de&s;erve from <HI>I&s;aak</HI> any Ble&s;&s;ing? O man mi&s;taken, erring thorow the Delu&s;ion of thy Pro&s;pect, and the Temptation incumbent on thy heart! Return, and &s;eek to him by tears, whom thou ha&s;t provoked by Treachery, crave his blood, thine Attonement, which thou ha&s;t &s;hed in triumph to thy Lu&s;ts; thou ha&s;t made
<PB N="19" REF="12">him thine Adver&s;ary by &s;in, humbly pro&s;trate thy &s;elf as his Purcha&s;e and Penitent: Let him &s;ee thy tears trickle down thy tender cheek, from a pen&s;ive heart, and a gracious eye, that now looke&s;t upon thy &s;elf with greater &s;corn, then ever &s;infully thou did&s;t upon him, when wickedly thou &s;aid&s;t, <HI>I will not have this man raign over me;</HI> and let no hour, day, moment pa&s;s without &s;ome earne&s;t Petition for Reconciliation, That he would cea&s;e to be what thou ha&s;t de&s;erved; thine Upbraider, Ac|cu&s;er, &s;evere Judge: and be what he hath promi|&s;ed to all that turn to him with all their hearts, <HI>an Advocate, a Load-&s;tone, the Way, the Truth, and the Life:</HI> An Advocate, to plead thy Cau&s;e; a Load-&s;tone, to touch thy heart; the Way in which, and Truth by which thou &s;houlde&s;t walk; and the Life to crown thee after thy work done.</P>
<P>But perhaps thou conclude&s;t thy &s;elf at too great a lo&s;s to recover, too far out of favour to be re|ingratiated? Why &s;o? <HI>If where &s;in abounds,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 5.20.</NOTE> Grace &s;uperabounds,</HI> there is hope for thee: Be&s;peak not (O man) thy denyal, do not &s;tay thy career towards heaven, becau&s;e thou feare&s;t the door of Grace is &s;hut. Such Conclu&s;ions may hinder thy endeavour, they cannot add to thy comfort; therefore covet in the &s;econd place,
<MILESTONE N="2"> the <HI>Holy Spi|rit</HI> to thy <HI>comfort;</HI> entertain him kindly, grieve him not by reiterated &s;ins; quench him not by a|ver&s;e ob&s;tinacy, <HI>Anne&s;cis (anima) te verecundum habere &s;pon&s;um?</HI> This holy Dove &s;ent from the Deity, brings the Olive Branch with him; the Peace is bought by Chri&s;t, but the Spirit &s;eals and applies the Purcha&s;e; the Salve is rare, but works not kindly, except that hand layes on the Plai&s;ter:
<PB N="20" REF="13">therefore re&s;ign thou thy &s;elf to the Spirit of God, let him rule in thee, and by his Steerage be thou acted; follow this Star, it ever leads to Chri&s;t; hearken to his voice, it is <HI>vox dilecti,</HI> its a calm, &s;weet, lovely, light&s;ome voice; be ravi&s;hed with this Mu&s;ick, which with <HI>Hyper-Syrene</HI> notes, charms mo&s;t wi&s;ely; give up thy &s;elf, &s;oul and body to this Be&s;ieger, that &s;ummons thee to deliver up the &s;trong Holds of Sin and Satan to Chri&s;t the King of Saints, and the Savionr of his Body the Church. Make no terms with him, the Holy Gho&s;t will not be tyed to Articles: He is free to intercede, and thou mu&s;t be free to render: as he will have good quarter, &s;o gives he &s;ure comfort. The &s;oul that receives him, is Scot-free from Terror and Fear of Divine di&s;plea&s;ure, for this Gue&s;t &s;ecures his Quarters; yea, the power of the Almighty over|&s;hadoweth tho&s;e with Grace, who&s;e hearts are prepared to cry, <HI>Veni Spiritus Sancte.</HI> And till (O man) this be thy temper, thou art as unfit for Acquaintance with God as for Heaven; of which it is a real Type, and to which it is the <HI>Bap|ti&s;t:</HI> for as into Heaven fle&s;h and blood, <HI>qu&agrave;</HI> &s;uch, cannot enter; &s;o into familiarity with God can none be admitted who have not the Te&s;t of this Comforter, who never beares witne&s;&s;e that they are the &s;ons of God, who re&s;t unreconciled to Chri&s;t, unre&s;igned to him.</P>
<P>But how may the&s;e Graces appear in me, may the &s;oul &s;ay? God, Chri&s;t, and the Holy Gho&s;t have their Court in Heaven, I am in the Valley of <HI>Bochim,</HI> in the frigid Zone of earthly vanities, where du&s;t and a&s;hes, wormes, and no men, live,
<PB N="21" REF="13">and acclamate the <HI>Diana</HI> of Pomp and &s;plendid nothing; my bucket is not deep enough, my &s;tature not high enough to reach Heaven; my bulk will not bear tho&s;e breadthy Sails which that Glory fils. What &s;hal I do? How may I contract acquaintance with God by union with Chri&s;t, and rendition to his Spirit? <MILESTONE N="3"> To the&s;e the third Step is an&s;wer, <HI>A|dore his Ordinances:</HI> Tho&s;e are his Leidgers which here he leaves to negotiate about affaires of Hea|ven; the&s;e are the Chariots in which <HI>Eli|ahs</HI> are whirled thither; the&s;e bring forth, and there is none barren among&s;t them; the <HI>good will of him that was in the bu&s;h</HI> are upon the&s;e,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 33.16.</NOTE> which Athei&s;m and Irreligion would &s;eparate and unbro|ther, as rejectitious and illegitimate. God hath appointed his Word for our Rule, his Mini&s;ters for our Guide, his Sacraments for our Comfort, his Day for our Re&s;t and Refection, his Church for our Pillar and Ground of Truth; and tho&s;e who adore not the&s;e are not like to be Gods Ac|quaintance; Soveraignty will have no limits pre|&s;cribed by Subjects. Heaven knowes no Method but that of its own dictation: Tho&s;e that will be beggars, mu&s;t not be chu&s;ers: Intere&s;t with God is worth gaining by cap in hand, and upon bend|ed knee; and they de&s;erve not to be heard in their reque&s;t, who reque&s;t any thing <HI>contra formam Sta|tuti inde editi;</HI> the Declarative Law is, <HI>Search the Scriptures,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 5.3, 9. Luke 16.29.</NOTE> for they do te&s;tifie</HI> (&s;aith Chri&s;t) <HI>of me.</HI> And in another place: <HI>If they will not hear Mo&s;es and the Prophets, neither will they be per&s;wa|ded if one ri&s;e from the dead.</HI></P>
<P>Wander not then (O &s;oul) after wild phan&s;ies and blazing figments; expo&s;ed to view, and &s;et on
<PB N="22" REF="14">broach of purpo&s;e to deceive and mi&s;lead ignorant and inqui&s;itive worldlings, who &s;et the Crown on <HI>Coridons,</HI> and believe Chri&s;t the Saviour of the world, rather from his riding on an A&s;s-Colt, and ob&s;cure parentage, then from his glorious atte|&s;tation from Heaven, or his convincing conver|&s;ation here on earth; and judg nothing Sacred, but what is indeed common and unclean: But (O &s;oul) keep thou clo&s;e to the Ordinances of Chri&s;t, which his &s;ervants have received from him by the unque|&s;tionable tradition of the Church, to the Truth of which the lives and deaths of holy Martyrs, and glorious Confe&s;&s;ors, have in all ages born witne&s;s; and do not believe that any thing is &s;o lovely and truly advantageous to thy peace, and orderly con|duct, as to &s;erve thy God in that manner which he hath appointed: and adore thou the&s;e holy my|&s;teries,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 46.4.</NOTE> by which waters the City of God in thy &s;oul, ought only to be made glad.</P>
<P N="5">5 And though thus to do be to do more then many now will, yet is it not the <HI>totum po&s;tulatum</HI> of thee: God (O man) requires of thee &s;ome tribute of prai&s;e; the quit-rent of Gratitude. The P&s;al|mi&s;t tells us in the per&s;on of God,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 50.23.</NOTE> <HI>Who&s;e offereth me prai&s;e, honoureth me:</HI> and to give God the glo|ry of his Munificence, is but to offer him of his own; it is but to pay him our Fine in his owne Coyn;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 4.7.</NOTE> for <HI>what have we that we do not receive?</HI> And in no kind is this &s;en&s;e of our obligation to God better re&s;ented by him, then by <HI>Admiration of his Works,</HI>
<MILESTONE N="4"> which is the fourth Requiry of God to|wards the perfection of our Acquaintance with him, <HI>Admiration of his Works.</HI> And here me thinks I am enforced to exclamate with the holy Pophet,
<PB N="23" REF="14"><HI>Lord, what is Man?</HI> What his Being, Capacity, Dignity, that thou &s;houlde&s;t honour him with Contemplation of thee, and of tho&s;e Works which &s;et thee out in thy back parts, though not to the ineffability of thine E&s;&s;ence? Who, O, who wi&s;hes not his tongue were untied, and tip|ped with Eloquence, excelling mortal Emulation,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;alm 150.2.</NOTE> that he might <HI>give to God the glory due to his name, and prai&s;e him according to his excellent greatne&s;s;</HI> not only for that he is <HI>high,</HI> not for that <HI>he is, and there is none be&s;ides him;</HI> but for that <HI>he vouch|&s;afeth to look down upon us here below, and calls us to contemplate</HI> his good Will, as well as matchle&s;s Power in the Formation of things, and the order|ly production of them! Here is Matter to amu&s;e the Secretary of Nature, and to puzzle the great|e&s;t <HI>Oedipus;</HI> here is a full point to <HI>Plato</HI>'s Eloquence, and <HI>Plotinus</HI> his Profundity. Who can &s;earch the Center of that Idea which was in God, when he made the Sun, Moon, and Stars, appointing them their &s;ea&s;ons, influences, order, and &s;weetly tu|ning them each to other? Who knowes the Na|ture of Creatures animate and inanimate, vegetive and &s;en&s;itive; and can &s;ay of their Natures, as God doth of the Seas proud Waves, <HI>Hitherto and no further; this you can, and this you cannot do?</HI> Where is he that &s;ees the aby&s;s of Providence, and penetrates into that privy Chamber of Divinity, which is for Gods eye only? daring to affirme what &s;hall and &s;hall not be; and the con&s;equences of things natural and contingent? Sure, no mor|tal man, undementated, dare &s;o confide in Art, and dote &s;o fondly on his vain &s;hadow, as to boa&s;t of this, which is Gods incommunicable Jewel, and
<PB N="24" REF="15">the Prerogative of his Crown. Our portion (Oman) is to wait Gods di&s;covery; <HI>Secret things belong to God,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 29.29. Exod. 24.2.</NOTE> but things revealed to us;</HI> and <HI>God forbid we &s;hould come neerer the Mount</HI> then is indulged us, or <HI>endeavour after Wi&s;dom beyond Sobriety;</HI> Our duty is to acquaint our &s;elves with God, not by knowing him as he is, for thats impo&s;&s;ible; but by knowing him as he manife&s;ts him&s;elf in works of Power, Providence, Mercy; and in the improve|ment of what light we borrow from this Lamp, we may &s;ee enough to make us in love with him, who made all things as, and what they are, and to what they &s;hall be: In him the Rich and the poor, the wi&s;e and the &s;imple, the Brute and the Rational, the Worm and the Angel, the Flye and the Eagle, the Ant and the Elephant, the Mou&s;e and the Li|on, the Eele and the Whale meet; God is the Maker of them all, and the &s;ame power went to the production of the lea&s;t as greate&s;t; from him come winds and &s;ea&s;ons, and without him nothing is that is, nor &s;hall be that he wills not: this is the &s;um of what we can reach to in the folio of Con|templation and practice; for whatever helps Art &amp; Nature give us, come far &s;horter of the utmo&s;t ex|tent of Gods Works, than the &s;horte&s;t ladder is &s;hort of the Heaven we &s;ee, or the impure&s;t &s;oul of that better Heaven we hope for: The be&s;t Meditati|on we can make, is that of the Father, <HI>Si tale Artifi|cium, qualis Artifex? &s;i tale e&s;t quod fecit, qualis e&s;t quifecit?</HI> If the courage of the Lion, &s;trength of the Elephant, capacity of the Whale, prudence of the Ant, continence of the Dove, If the world be &s;o variou&s;ly fitted with nece&s;&s;aries, for delight, &s;upport, and exerci&s;e of man, and his Nature
<PB N="25" REF="15">&s;o adapted to &s;earch into, and ble&s;&s;ed to find out and improve the &s;ecrets, and &s;everal qualities of things, creatures, and continents, in &s;ome pro|portion &s;utable to his being, and Gods de&s;ign|ment; hath he not great cau&s;e to cry out with that Kingly Prophet,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 139.14. 19.1.</NOTE> <HI>O how fearfully and how won|derfully am I made!</HI> for who can confe&s;s le&s;s then this, <HI>The Heavens declare the glory of God, and the Firmament &s;hewes his handy Work?</HI></P>
<P>But (O man) wander not too wildly in this wilderne&s;s, wherein are bea&s;ts of Prey, un|couth paths, di&s;mal up&s;hots; thine errand and end is to admire the works of God; that thou mai&s;t do, it is thy duty, and Gods exact of thee &s;o to do, and thou thy &s;elfe art a fair Text to &s;uch pious Meditations; God created thee &s;ome|thing of nothing, a Man, not a Toad, a Chri&s;ti|an, not a Heathen, of clear intellect not bru|ti&s;h, of right &s;hape not deformed; and con&s;i|der, this calls for Gratitude. God hath beau|tified thee with a bright Sun, refre&s;hed thee by a &s;weet gale of wind in thy &s;ayls, thou art at the wi&s;hed Port, &s;upported by a mira|culous hand of Providence, he hath di&s;cove|red to thee thy dangers, conducted thee in thy way, mini&s;tred to thy wants, when others not le&s;s his, nor le&s;s them&s;elves then thou, go mour|ning all the day long, are on their duty,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 5.4.</NOTE> wai|ting (with the Cripple) when the good An|gel will come to their comfort, but all in vain: No Butter &s;ticks on their bread, their cake is dough, as the Proverb is; All is fruitle&s;s; Remem|ber the more thou receive&s;t, the more thou mu&s;t re|turn: <HI>Cui plus datur, ab illo plus exigitur;</HI> in fine, ra|ther
<PB N="26" REF="16">labour to improve wel that thou ha&s;t, then to covet more to mi&s;u&s;e it, and abu&s;e thy &s;oul; for God expects from all men, as he &s;owes, &s;o to reap; and thou art an Unthrift on his Bounty, if thou returne&s;t him not obedience and love, who hath crowned thee with Honour and Plenty above thy fellowes.</P>
<P>But (O man) above all things,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 32.15.</NOTE> be not like <HI>Je&s;u|run;</HI> &s;purn not with the heel; when thou art fat, forget not the hand that feeds thee, and the paps of Providence that &s;uckle thee; nor let thine hornes be exalted to worry and plague thy fellow &s;ervants of a lower Form then thou art: This is not to be like God, good, gentle, and <HI>nigh unto all tho&s;e that call upon him;</HI> but liker the &s;ervant in the Go&s;pel,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 32.32.</NOTE> who <HI>took his fellow &s;ervant by the throat,</HI> when he him&s;elf was forgiven by <HI>his Lord the grea|ter Debt;</HI> yea, this is not to admire God, but to reproach him, as mi&s;giving Power and Greatne&s;s, and tru&s;ting it in the hands of tho&s;e, who by it prey upon, not protect the Sheep. This is not to admire the Works of God, but to admire thy &s;elf, and to &s;acrifice to thine own Ambition and inordinacy, and &s;o to di&s;honour God who com|mands,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 4.5.</NOTE> <HI>Our Moderation &s;hould be known to all men;</HI> yea, this is to be unworthy of Acquaintance with God, who is Shepherd of his Sheep, and de|lights in Lillyes, things harmle&s;s and benigne; and tho&s;e that are not &s;uch, &s;hall do well to con|&s;ider that of the Prophet,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 30.16.</NOTE> <HI>I will &s;poil the Spoiler;</HI> and &s;teer another cour&s;e for the future, even to <HI>e|mendation of life;</HI> which brings up the rear of what God requires from tho&s;e that wil be acquain|ted with him, and calls for my next Meditation.</P>
<PB N="27" REF="16">
<P N="5"><MILESTONE N="5"> 5. La&s;tly, <HI>Renovation of Life</HI> is a chief adjunct to Acquaintance with God: Light and darkne&s;s, Chri&s;t and Belial, Dagon and the Ark do not agree; new cloth and old garments &s;ute not, nor will gene|rous Wine endure crazy bottles; nor a Kingly mind brook the thatched cottage: There is nothing more aver&s;e to the pure Nature of God, then the im|pure life of a &s;inner; his eye loathes, his hand corrects, his heart relucts, his Word reproves, his Spirit labours again&s;t it; he cannot but call with a loud voice,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 44.4. Rom. 1.18.</NOTE> <HI>O do not that abominable thing which I hate;</HI> and correct, by <HI>revealing his wrath from Heaven again&s;t the ungodline&s;s of men:</HI> Till thou (O man) return to him by Repentance, there is no peace with God to be hoped for, no a|mity to be attained. The means to gain God, is to own thy &s;elf, and to return to thy fathers love,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 15.18.</NOTE> to weep over thy wandrings, and to drown thy &s;ins in penitent tears, as did <HI>Mary Magdalen</HI> and <HI>Peter.</HI> Then, then only are we worthy to be friends of God, when we are not profane as <HI>E&s;an,</HI> but ho|ly as <HI>Abraham;</HI> not rude as <HI>Nimrod,</HI> but meek as <HI>Mo&s;es;</HI> not rebellious as <HI>Ab&s;olom,</HI> but devout as <HI>David;</HI> not treacherous as <HI>Judas,</HI> but penitent as <HI>Peter;</HI> not vexatious as <HI>Saul,</HI> but couragious as <HI>Paul;</HI> not embracing the world as did <HI>Demas,</HI> but contemning it and our &s;elves, as <HI>ought the Di&s;ciple of Chri&s;t, who mu&s;t deny him&s;elfe, and take up the Cro&s;s.</HI> This, this is to be <HI>born again,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mark 8.34. John 3.3. Ephe&s;. 4.23. I&s;ai. 1.16. Rom. 13.14, Ephe&s;, 5.11.</NOTE> Nichodemus</HI> his le&s;&s;on; this is to be <HI>renewed in the &s;pirit of our minds;</HI> this is to <HI>cea&s;e to do evil, and learn to do well;</HI> this is to <HI>put on the Lord Je&s;us, and to take no thought for the fle&s;h;</HI> this is <HI>to have no fellow&s;hip with unfruitful works of darkne&s;s, but rather to reprove
<PB N="28" REF="17">them;</HI> this is to <HI>put off the old man, and to put on the new man,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 4. 22,24</NOTE> which after God is created in Righ|teou&s;ne&s;&s;e and true Holine&s;&s;e;</HI> this is to lay the bur|then of our &s;ins upon Chri&s;t, and to take the beauty of Holine&s;s from him: this is to gain heavens amne&s;ty, to <HI>remove our &s;ins far from us, as the Ea&s;t is from the We&s;t,</HI> and <HI>to cau&s;e them to come no more in remembrance before God;</HI> yea, this is to be throughly acquainted with God, and to have him the &s;ouls Sun and Shield, <HI>who will give Grace and Glory,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 84.11.</NOTE> and withhold no good thing from it.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e are the <HI>bona notabilia,</HI> which God keeps as the reward of Piety; as his &s;ecrets, &s;o his comforts are with tho&s;e that fear him. Clu&s;ters of <HI>Canaan,</HI> grow not upon Crab&s;tocks of <HI>Sodom:</HI> Divine familiarity is not with mortal foe|dity: They which will have God their Lord, mu&s;t have his Rule for their Guide. Penitence mu&s;t &s;upply the want of Innocence, or el&s;e God will deny acceptance: it is not for me to &s;ay, I will return after, and be received fir&s;t. God will have his Doles of Mercy di&s;tributed to Pennancers; and the Oyle of Gladne&s;s re|turned to tho&s;e faces who&s;e heads were cove|red with a&s;hes: A weeping eye is no &s;mall Favourite with a merciful God, who not only greets with an <HI>Euge,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 15,7.</NOTE> returning &s;ins, but com|mands an <HI>Exultate,</HI> in Heaven among&s;t the An|gels for it; and tho&s;e that &s;ow their wild oats in tears, &s;hall reap their wages in due time; namely, Mercy and Joy, in, <HI>Come ye Ble&s;&s;ed of my Father, receive the Man&s;ion prepared for you,</HI> by Acquaintance with God; namely, <HI>Peace,</HI> which
<PB N="29" REF="17">is the third hinge of my Meditation, and followes in the Scripture, <HI>Acquaint now thy &s;elf with God, and be at peace.</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE N="3" UNIT="Que&s;t."> The third Quere is, <HI>What Peace it is tho&s;e have who are acquainted with God?</HI> And here <HI>&s;ilet lingua, &s;tupet animus, deficit oratio.</HI> Peace which pa&s;&s;eth Under&s;tanding (&s;uch the Peace of God is) may well exceed utterance. The tongue is the hearts Bell-man, and the cry is acording to the concep|tion. As what food nouri&s;heth not, will not tran|&s;ide into the members aggrandization; &s;o what the thought &s;prings not, will never &s;well into words; Peace then, of this peace of God, it is &s;omewhat ineffabile, pa&s;t finding out, it is hid in the hollow of his hand, under his pavillion, from the &s;trife of tongues, which in treating of its peace, would break the peace of Truth. But (O my &s;oul) is this the forbidded tree? mai&s;t not thou ta&s;te and not dye? Hath God cabinetted up this Jewel, and mu&s;t not man &s;ee it and live? Is this the one thing nece&s;&s;ary; yet prohibited? Doth God require that of me which is impo&s;&s;ible to me? And are my comforts &s;urrounded with a flaming Sword inacce&s;&s;ible? Nothing le&s;s? The well is deep (O my &s;oul) but thy backet is &s;utable; the Pearle is dear, but thy price in hand will reach it; thy peace is precious, and it is de&s;po&s;ited with him, who hath <HI>broke down the wall of Separation;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 2.14.</NOTE> there is a <HI>new and living way to this Holy of Holies, not by blood of Bulls and Goats; but by the blood of Chri&s;ts Cro&s;s,</HI> the Chri&s;tians glory, and Signature of his Peace.</P>
<P>But is this peace a complete Armature and Pa|noply? Doth it fit every part? Is it proof in
<PB N="30" REF="18">every joint; is there no &s;oft place in it, through which the poi&s;on of Satans power or policy will pierce? Is it a &s;weet Nightingale in the bre&s;t, as well as a Head-piece and Guard to the outward man? Yes &s;ure, the peace &s;poken of in this Scrip|ture is every way lovely, like <HI>Jonathan,</HI> lovely in life, and lovely in death; a great &s;ource of Joy to thee, while thou art on thy way, and a glo|rious Epitaph on thy Monument, when thou ha&s;t done thy work, and run out thine Hour|gla&s;s.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>This Peace is <HI>Tripartite Pax Temporis.</HI> Or <HI>External</HI> Of vi&s;ion to the Eye.</ITEM>
<ITEM>This Peace is <HI>Tripartite Pax Pectoris.</HI> Or <HI>Internal</HI> Of Contemplation to the Mind.</ITEM>
<ITEM>This Peace is <HI>Tripartite Pax Numinis.</HI> Or <HI>Eternal</HI> Of Fruition both to Soul &amp; Sen&s;e.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P N="1">1 <HI>Peace outward,</HI> that is a fruit of Acquain|tance with God: for thus he giveth his Beloved re&s;t: that the Creatures are under thine awe, that the Elements are thy Pavillion, the Clouds thy Ci&s;terns, the Sun, Moon and Stars thy Tapers, the earth thy Granary, the Cattle thy Food and Rayment, is from God who is good, and doth good. I do not &s;ay, that Peace is always the Badg of Grace, or that it ever, in regard of Externi|ties, fares well with tho&s;e who are good. I know the contrary, and &s;o did <HI>David</HI> to his trouble long ago; and <HI>Job chap.</HI> 12.6. complainins that the <HI>Tabernacles of Robbers pro&s;per, and they that provoke God are &s;ecure;</HI> yea and <HI>Jeremy</HI> rea&s;ons with God concerning his Judgments, <HI>Why do the wicked pro&s;per
<PB N="31" REF="18">and tho&s;e that hate God are exalted? Jer.</HI> 12.1. While holy men are clad in &s;ack-cloth, and covered with a&s;hes, <HI>go mourning all the day long,</HI> have not (with their Saviour) <HI>a hole to hide their heads in,</HI> nor a crumb to feed their bellies, or a rag to cover their nakedne&s;s.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 16.19. Dan. 5.23.</NOTE> Do I not read of <HI>Dives</HI> faring deli|ciou&s;ly, of <HI>Nebuchadnezzar</HI> quaffing in the holy ve&s;&s;els? yet the one wanting nothing but room to lay his wealth in, and the other priding in the <HI>Babel that he had built for the glory of his Maje&s;ty?</HI> And doth not the &s;ame ear let in the Narrative of <HI>Elijahs</HI> poverty, <HI>fed by a Raven;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King. 17. Act. 20.34.</NOTE> and of <HI>Pauls</HI> ne|ce&s;&s;ities, <HI>&s;upplyed by the labour of his hands?</HI> Are not wicked mens <HI>Oxen &s;trong to labour?</HI> and &s;ee we not their per&s;ons and fortunes free from captivity and re&s;traint? when men more holy then they, having no oxen to labour for them, are fain them|&s;elves to labour like oxen to tread out their &s;up|port, and to pay from the &s;weat of their brows, a tribute to their Tyrannous Ma&s;ters; who with more then Egyptian &s;everity, lay load of brick, and withdraw the allowance and furtherances thereto? If it be &s;o, how is acquaintance with God a way to outward peace?</P>
<P>I an&s;wer, Yes: it is the way to outward peace truly &s;o called, that is, to &s;anctified outward peace, which is peace in a proper and &s;avoury &s;en&s;e: Meer &s;erenity of &s;tate, is as far from ble&s;&s;ing, as ea&s;e is from health; which &s;eldom is propagated by it, but often impeached and deflowred. When peace and pro&s;perity is be&s;towed upon bad men, 'tis to reward &s;ome good thing in them: &s;ome &s;ervice they have done God; God leaves not tho&s;e un|rewarded, whom <HI>his own bounty,</HI> not <HI>their propen&s;ions</HI>
<PB N="32" REF="19">hath made <HI>&s;erviceable</HI> to him; or at lea&s;t to leave them without excu&s;e, <HI>that they may be &s;ilent when they are judged.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 45.1. &amp; 4.</NOTE> This is the portion that <HI>Hagars</HI> chil|dren have; this is the husk that Gods <HI>prodigals</HI> feed upon; this is the mark they level at; like Hel and the Grave, they cry <HI>Give, Give.</HI> And what do they gape after? 'Tis <HI>auri &s;acra fames, Alexan|ders</HI> Conque&s;ts, <HI>Crae&s;us</HI> his Wealth, <HI>Tully</HI> his Ora|tory, <HI>Metellus</HI> his pro&s;perity: the&s;e take up their pro&s;pectives, bound their aims, &s;well their plumes: This fatted calf have the&s;e for their entertainment; <HI>&V;ltra neque &s;pes, neque timor;</HI> they con&s;ider not the &s;owr &s;awce that follows this Pa&s;&s;over. On the contrary, When Affliction befalls the Godly, it is to ventilate, to winnow their chaffe from them, to correct them for frailtie, and to cha&s;e them out of their covert, in which they delighted them&s;elves as on beds of Ivory, and in wayes of Ro&s;es: Sup|purated &s;ores mu&s;t have Corro&s;ives: 'Tis too much cruelty to powr in Oyl, where there is need of mundifying: Afflictions and external qua&s;&s;ations are like thunder, purgations to the air: The Soul is never better then when out of the Sun-&s;hine: Then it gathers up its garments, and crowds clo&s;e to God:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 5.15.</NOTE> <HI>In their afflictions they will &s;eek me early.</HI></P>
<P>Nor have the wicked pro&s;perity and peace in peace; <HI>Aliquando &s;ub hilari vultn tri&s;tis animus. Solomon</HI> tels us,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Pro. 14.13. Dan. 5.5.</NOTE> <HI>In the mid&s;t of laughter, the heart is &s;orrowfull;</HI> &s;ometimes there is <HI>an hand on the wall,</HI> a red Cro&s;&s;e of Gods di&s;plea&s;ure on the fronts of our peace; There is peace, peace, and no peace; <HI>Midas</HI> his mi&s;ery, <HI>Ery&s;ickthons</HI> thir&s;t, a coveting eye and a nau&s;eating &s;tomack, a grand e&s;tate and a penurious &s;oul:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 6.2.</NOTE> here is <HI>the evil under the Sun Solomon</HI> &s;peaks of.</P>
<PB N="33" REF="19">
<P>Sometimes pro&s;perity and peace, as Riches is given to the hurt of the Owners;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 5.3.</NOTE> &s;ometimes there is denyed &s;omewhat with it, for which it is appetible, as Heires, Health, Friends;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 15.2. Prov. 10.22.</NOTE> and ever there is denyed to wicked men, <HI>Gods ble&s;&s;ing on it, which brings no &s;orrow with, nor after it:</HI> the ab&s;ence of which, cau&s;eth the dregs in the bottom of all worldly peace to worldly minds, for it makes them cry out of Pro&s;perity, as captived <HI>Crae&s;us</HI> did of <HI>Solon; O</HI> Solon, Solon, <HI>had I hearkned to thy pre|monitions, I had never been &s;o unprovided for bonds and captivity.</HI> Of the&s;e then, that which the A|po&s;tle &s;ayes of the Uncha&s;te widdow, is mo&s;t true, they are <HI>dead when they live.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 5.6.</NOTE> But to the Godly it is far otherwi&s;e their peace outward is ever &s;an|ctified, not as to the pre&s;ent u&s;e of it (for they may faint in the Sun&s;hine, they may be lifted up through abundance of Revelation) but as to the Sacred end, and ultimate re&s;ult of it: God &s;hall turn this by the Sacred Chymi&s;try of Omnipoten|cy, into Good:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.28.</NOTE> This is within the pale of <HI>All things work together for good to them that love God.</HI></P>
<P>Away then, thou Accu&s;er of the Brethren, avoid thou Tempter to Evil, and thou Mortar Piece of Divine Fury, Satan. Away yee chil|dren of Darkne&s;s, who hate tho&s;e of Light, becau&s;e your deeds are evil; forbear your taun|tings of tho&s;e whom the Lord hath &s;mitten; ju&s;tifie not tho&s;e who&s;e Iniquitous Ballances have made them&s;elves onely weighty, and all others too light: the Standard of Ju&s;tice is coming round;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 5.25.</NOTE> your doom is <HI>Mene tekel &V;|phar&s;in;</HI> the glory of your forged Sanctimony
<PB N="34" REF="20">is defaced; God will humble the pride of men, and poli&s;h his ru&s;ted Saints, by the ari&s;ing beams of the Sun of Righteou&s;ne&s;s: The Churches Soveraigne is at hand; and though his fir&s;t coming was in humilitie, his next will be in glorie, to ride in triumph over all feigned Piety, and to &s;et the&s;e Goats of Lu&s;t and Rage on his le&s;t hand; Lift up. (O holy ones) your heads, Your Redemption draws nigh: Hee that dy|ed for you, will owne you, and expects you &s;hould owne him, in pre&s;erving his &s;eamle&s;&s;e coat from rents, and in keeping unity of Spirit, though there be difference of Language. Peace be (O holy &s;ouls) to you, the peace of this world, not by its gifts, but by Donation of him, who hath &s;ubject|ed all things; prepare your &s;elves by holy love to deal out your Riches to tho&s;e that want; freely ye receive, freely give: O far be it from you to give vinegar and gall to your brethren, &s;ince your Father in Heaven gives you the generous liquor of Love, and bids you do as you would be done by. Take your fils of the waters of outward plen|ty; <HI>Marah</HI> is cured, the bitterne&s;s of death is pa&s;t, Chri&s;t hath by his Cro&s;s &s;o crucified the wor<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">d to you, that it is now become your Va&s;&s;al, not your Lord: remember there is the portion of Peace annexed to Acquaintance with God, <HI>So do, and &s;o have.</HI></P>
<P>But is this all? are the grains of allowance only in Externals? Is my Carca&s;s more worthy then my Soul? What &s;hall be done to that <HI>animula blandula,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 1.4.</NOTE> which is after a &s;ort <HI>Partaker of the</HI> DIVINE <HI>Nature?</HI> is there no accrewment to
<PB N="35" REF="20">that? Doth God take care of Sparrowes, and of the haires of our heads; and is there no provi|&s;ion made for that which is the Nightingale of E|ternity? Surely yes, two for one; the double portion for this fir&s;t-born: One portion re&s;pects its conjunction here with the body; and the other its &s;eparation from, and glorification with the body in Heaven; the fir&s;t in Grace, the &s;econd in Glory; the fir&s;t in <HI>via,</HI> the Comfort and Peace of a good Con&s;cience; and the latter and better, in <HI>Patria,</HI> of a good God, in a glorious Kingdom, <HI>Heaven.</HI></P>
<P N="2"><MILESTONE N="2"> 2 <HI>Peace Internal;</HI> not Phy&s;ical, <HI>&s;ans</HI> Palpitati|on of the Heart; <HI>&s;ans</HI> exclamation of the Pa&s;&s;ions, or their crowing &s;hrils in the brain: but peace Metaphy&s;ical; the peace of God in the bre&s;t of man; God as it were incarnate, &s;itting on the Tribunal of a Mortal Judicatory. <HI>Now the winter is pa&s;t, the &s;tormes are over, the &s;inging of birds is come, the voice of the Turtle,</HI> of the <HI>Primum Mo|bile,</HI> is heard: O Extatick Elamire! O Seraphick Ela! O Note &s;tept a&s;ide from the Quire of Angels, to entice our Admirations! <HI>Doth God dwell with man? can the&s;e hou&s;es of clay contain him</HI> that is whatever is Infinite and Incomprehen|&s;ible, which he is? Be thou, O Lord, with my pen, and let it be thine In&s;trument to decipher this, which is &s;o rare, which is whatever Nature can a|&s;pire to value.</P>
<P><HI>Peace of Con&s;cience,</HI> a Jewel which abates not price; a child of light admired in all Ages. Per|&s;ons, Countries &s;ought after when not had, che|ri&s;hed where po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed, deplored when lo&s;t; whom Patriarks, Prophets, Apo&s;tles, Martyrs, Con|fe&s;&s;ors,
<PB N="36" REF="21">Chri&s;tians valued, and to which they peered nothing.</P>
<P><HI>Peace of con&s;cience,</HI> the Salt that &s;ea&s;ons Mirth, &s;weetens Sorrow, and the Plummet that &s;ounds the bottom of every coa&s;t, and di&s;covers Shipwrack and &s;afety.</P>
<P><HI>Peace of Con&s;cience,</HI> the Touch&s;tone of our in|nocency, the probate of our Zeal, the Furnace of our Charity; for then only can we love God and our Neighbor when his love is &s;hed abroad in our hearts, by his holy Spirit, who works this peace in us.</P>
<P><HI>Peace of Con&s;cience,</HI> that Phenix ne&s;t made up of the Perfumes of Graces, out of which expiring, ri&s;es peace of Eternitie.</P>
<P><HI>Peace of Con&s;cience,</HI> heaven on earth, glory in weakne&s;s, light in ob&s;curitie, <HI>Abrahams</HI> bo&s;om in <HI>Lazarus</HI> &s;ores.</P>
<P><HI>Peace of Con&s;cience; Go&s;hen</HI> in <HI>Egypt,</HI> Gods <HI>Segullah</HI> to the <HI>Alchimy of</HI> the worlds Admirables; the fat kine of holy &s;erenity, that by a miraculous tran&s;po&s;ition &s;wallow up all the lean kine of world|ly cares, and confounds the wi&s;dom of &s;ecular inte|re&s;ts.</P>
<P><HI>Peace of Con&s;cience,</HI> the Lily of the vallies in which Chri&s;t ne&s;tles; the Ro&s;e of <HI>Sharon,</HI> on which the Sun of Righteou&s;ne&s;s &s;miles; to which <HI>Solomons</HI> bravery is but Beggery, and <HI>Herods</HI> oratory but babling.</P>
<P><HI>Peace of Con&s;cience,</HI> compared with which, Balm of <HI>Gilead</HI> is but like the trifling Compound of a Quack Salve; and the Gold of <HI>Ophir</HI> but as dro&s;s and dung.</P>
<P><HI>Peace of Con&s;cience,</HI> to which Power and Policy,
<PB N="37" REF="21">Arts and Armies, Councels and Senates are but as Molehils to Mountains, Ants to Men, Atomes to the body of this earth, and the dwindling light of the candle, to the center of light enveloped in the Sun</P>
<P><HI>Peace. of Con&s;cience,</HI> the Mu&s;ick, to which <HI>Orpheus</HI> his Harp, and <HI>Arions</HI> Pipe, helped on with <HI>Syrens</HI> voice, are but &s;o many &s;traines of perfect di&s;cord and di&s;plea&s;ing Har|mony.</P>
<P><HI>Peace of Con&s;cience,</HI> the be&s;t companion of life, the &s;weete&s;t Confe&s;&s;or at death, the noble&s;t Me|morial after death; nay, the &s;ouls <HI>prodomus</HI> (next under Chri&s;t) to Heaven, for thither it ran on <HI>Cornelius</HI> his errand, to di&s;play his Almes; and thither it mu&s;t go, to the credit and comfort of all that have it, <HI>For there is none of this peace to the wicked, &s;aith my God.</HI></P>
<P>Here, O profane worldlings, here, O wretched Politico's, yee are out&s;tripped; plea&s;ures, pro|fits, honors, have no &s;uffrage in this con&s;i&s;to|ry, they cannot make their Ma&s;ters partakers of this delight, to which all others are but &s;ha|dowes, as far beneath them as drops to the Ocean. Neither <HI>Alexanders</HI> Power, nor <HI>Solomons</HI> Wi&s;dom, nor <HI>Mithridates</HI> his Wealth, nor <HI>Ju&s;tinians</HI> Learn|ing, nor <HI>Galens</HI> Receipts, nor <HI>Archimedes</HI> his Ex|periments can procure this; 'tis a gift from <HI>above, de&s;cending from the Father of Lights,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jam. 1.17.</NOTE> and referring the &s;oul to him as the Author and Fini&s;her of its Felicity.</P>
<P>Here is &s;omewhat &s;tupendious; but this, how far &s;oever tran&s;cending the utmo&s;t outward advantage, is but porch and prologue to tho&s;e
<PB N="38" REF="22"><HI>Magnal a Dei,</HI> tho&s;e <HI>Arcana Patriae,</HI> which <HI>nei|ther eye hath &s;een, nor ear have heard, nor entred in|to the heart of man to think of;</HI> namely, the good things God hath laid up in heaven for tho&s;e that fear him, not to be attained or enjoyed here (a|las, our Ve&s;&s;els are too narrow to receive that Ocean where there is incapability of reception, there is no probability of retention:) if we cannot be in po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion while in the fle&s;h, let us covet to depo&s;e this garment of incapability, and thir&s;t af|ter that glory which Heaven exalts us to; &s;pecifi|ed to us in that Jewel, <HI>Peace Eternal.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Acquaint now thy &s;elf with God and be at Peace;</HI> that is, be every way ble&s;t; <HI>within,</HI> in a &s;erenity of mind; <HI>without,</HI> in a fortunate condition, ex|empt from evils, or &s;anctified to thee in &s;pight of evils;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 17.7.</NOTE> for when a <HI>mans wayes plea&s;e the Lord, he will make his enemies be at peace with him;</HI> or with|out fail, above, in the beatitude of thy &s;oul to all eternity.</P>
<P>This is the <HI>re&s;t that remains to the people of God;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 4.9. John 14.3.</NOTE> this is the <HI>Man&s;ion prepared by Chri&s;t,</HI> of which he took po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion by his A&s;cen&s;ion, and in which he now is in Se&s;&s;ion at the right hand of God. This is that <HI>Jeru&s;alem above,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 4.26.</NOTE> which is free, the mother of us all,</HI> where Hallelujahs are Mu&s;ick, Angels Cho|ri&s;ters, the Divine Nature pro&s;pect, Saints Com|panions, and the Lamb Light in the mid&s;t thereof.</P>
<P>This is Heaven, not in Enthu&s;ia&s;tick rap&s;odies, not in fanatick Novelties, not in raving Bla&s;phe|mies, but in deed and truth.</P>
<P>This is Heaven, not that of plea&s;ure in <HI>'Amnons</HI> Lu&s;t, in <HI>Achans</HI> Wedg, in <HI>Solomons</HI> Wi&s;dom, in <HI>Methu&s;elahs</HI> long life, in <HI>Achitophels</HI> Craft, or in
<PB N="39" REF="22"><HI>Judas</HI> his gain by Treachery; but Heaven in the bo&s;om of Chri&s;t, who is <HI>Exalted above Principali|ties and Powers.</HI></P>
<P>This is heaven, not in Types and Figures, not in dark and remote viewes, not in variating forms, and unfixed Stations, but in real con&s;i&s;tence, and unalterable duration.</P>
<P>This is Heaven, not blemi&s;hed by &s;in, not te|dious through &s;orrow, not ruled by &s;inful will, not vanqui&s;hed by lawle&s;s power, not tainted by profanene&s;s, not de&s;erted by time, not impairable in value and real worth, but ever what can be wi&s;h|ed for, and never le&s;s then it at any time was or is.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, This is Heaven, not infected with pride, not dejected with poverty, not &s;hrivelled with age, not &s;corched with heat, not determining with time.</P>
<P><HI>Heaven,</HI> a Kingdom for its glory and capacity, purcha&s;ed by the price of blood, and the pre-ap|pointment of Mercy; for not all, but for many, yet tho&s;e a little flock, tho&s;e who are acquainted with God in grace, and by him rewarded with this Peace.</P>
<P>Now I am in Meditation at the Ladders top; but have we &s;poke well of this <HI>Canaan?</HI> Is not this Peace of eternity the lea&s;t of our treatment, though in it Chri&s;t be, as was <HI>Bethlehem Ephrata</HI> little among&s;t the Tribes of <HI>Judah,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Micah. 5.2.</NOTE> out of which Chri&s;t came? Is not <HI>I&s;aak</HI> mi&s;taken, and &s;ent a|way with a &s;mal pittance, in &s;tead of the &s;on of <HI>Hagar?</HI> What means my line upon line on other Subjects le&s;s worthy, and my brevity on this head that exceedeth them all.</P>
<PB N="40" REF="23">
<P>Truly more Devotion then words, more Ad|miration then Oratory befits this Subject; Schola|&s;tick Di&s;pute, and eloquent Panegyricks are the Fucu&s;&s;es that adorn this Elementary world, and plea&s;e its Aery Inhabitants; the&s;e are the <HI>Diana</HI>'s of vain men, and tho&s;e Trea&s;ures which they pride in, and relye on, as inexhau&s;tible; and with the&s;e they delude &s;ouls, and di&s;honour him who beau|tified us with that bravery, that we might honour him as our Creator, follow him as our Pattern, yea fall down before him as our Judge. When I am in Meditation of Heaven, I rather pray for a warm heart, and keen affections; for abilities to believe in, and adhere to God, then for curious Specula|tions and pathetick words; and therefore &s;ince faith mu&s;t &s;upply what &s;en&s;e cannot attain to, and tho&s;e things that are &s;ecret and ineffable, are rather to be adored, then &s;earched into, or written upon; I can here conclude this part of my Meditation in the Wi&s;emans words, <HI>The knowledg of this is too Wonderful for me, it is high, I cannot attain un|to it.</HI></P>
<P>And declining further thought of this Peace which here I cannot under&s;tand; enquire into the e|vil we are a&s;&s;ured to e&s;cape both here and hereafter, which is the fourth Enquiry, <HI>How this Peace may be &s;aid to repel evil from us?</HI> in that clau&s;e, <HI>So &s;hall no evil come unto thee.</HI></P>
<P>Peace and Evil are here oppo&s;ed, not more in the words then &s;en&s;e. Evil like the Canker eats out either our Peace, or at lea&s;t eclip&s;eth the comfort of it, evil of &s;in de&s;erves no peace; evil of pu|ni&s;hment believes and finds no peace; to the one peace is not, to the other it &s;eems not to be, and &s;o
<PB N="41" REF="23">is not at all as to the pre&s;ent di&s;covery: That there|fore the Holy Gho&s;t might &s;et every Trophie up|on its proper ba&s;is, I conceive him, u&s;ing this or|der in this Scripture, to teach us, that as Acquain|tance with God is the way to peace, &s;o is the peace of God crowned with exemption from evil; and that none can expect to have Gods cu&s;to|dye; but tho&s;e which are in League and A|mity with him; <HI>Bee at Peace, &s;o &s;hall no evil come unto thee.</HI></P>
<P>No Evil, Not Satan, the Tempter to it, and the Traducer for it; Chri&s;ts Prayer is our Antimure, <HI>Deliver us from evil;</HI> that is, from that evil one. From his Power,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 5.8. Ephe&s; 6.11.</NOTE> as the <HI>Lion that goes about &s;eeking whom he may devour:</HI> From his Policy, for we know his Methods, his pious Fraudes, his <HI>Scriptum e&s;ts,</HI> his Lamblike, Angellick manife&s;ta|tions,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 11.14. Matth. 24.24.</NOTE> his transformations into &s;hews of Light and external &s;anctity, and all to <HI>deceive, if po&s;&s;ible, the very Elect.</HI></P>
<P>From his Agents, who Ape-like act his part to much perfection (<GAP DESC="foreign"> and <GAP DESC="foreign">) make Merchandi&s;e of Faith and a good Con&s;cience, care not what they do to make Pro&s;elytes and per|vert &s;ouls. This crafty <HI>Policrates,</HI> Satan,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 2.3.</NOTE> moves every &s;tone to his advantage, and hath flags of all colours to hang out for our &s;urprize; he hath In|&s;truments that with the Zeal of old <HI>Ar&s;enius</HI> &s;eem to for&s;ake their Countries and Fortunes to devote them&s;elves to God; his <HI>Luciferians,</HI> that come in the ve&s;ts of innocency, but <HI>inwardly are ravening wolves, having the poi&s;on of A&s;ps under their tongues,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 7.15.</NOTE> and the rancour of Divels in their hearts; whom Chri&s;t commands us <HI>to beware of, Mat.</HI> 10.17. He
<PB N="42" REF="24">hath his <HI>Artemova's,</HI> that have &s;uch convict|ing deportments that they lead men which way they li&s;t, by their <HI>&s;uaviloquius</HI> charmes, and complea&s;ant influences; his Phari&s;ees, that &s;wallow downe Widowes hou&s;es in the hol|low of long Prayers; that are all to all men, that they might reduce all men to be nothing to a|ny but them&s;elves; his Saduces that deny Re&s;ur|rection, Angels, Spirit, but what is theirs, tho&s;e they cry up as Ocular, execrating all that are not of their party, and cry not Grace, Grace to this <HI>Apollyon</HI> of their de&s;igning. Lord, what a Galla|maufry of Frauds hath this great Engineere on foot? How is he furni&s;hed to deceive, who hath not only the tongues and pens of many men Learned, but lying Wonders and miraculous Ar|tifices at his &s;ervice? But we know his methods, and may &s;ee this <HI>Apicius</HI> gaping to devour all; contented with nothing but ruine and di&s;order, though he cry out with <HI>Jehu, Behold my Zeal.</HI></P>
<P>And it were well if men would try the &s;pirits that now are abroad, for Satan is often a Lying &s;pirit in the mouth of Prophets, and a Prophecy|ing &s;pirit in the mouth of Lyers: and if he dur&s;t mingle him&s;elf with the Sons of God, when they came before him of old, may he not now be well mi&s;tru&s;ted:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 1.6.</NOTE> though he quote Scripture with the zeal of a Seraphim, and in the meetings of Chri|&s;tians pray and &s;peak with notable evidence; he who dur&s;t appear before Chri&s;t with Scripture a|bu&s;ed to his own purpo&s;e,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 4.6.</NOTE> dare do the like to Chri|&s;tians, who&s;e weakne&s;s is more opportune to his Conque&s;t. He is that Evil one, who in his
<PB N="43" REF="24">whites is a Divel of Deceit, in his blacks a Divel of Malice, in his Crim&s;ons a Divel of blood; a Divel in all &s;hapes, actions, &s;en&s;es, and happy is it for us that we know his Methods. And Agents; not men of triffling talents, who need vulgar helps to make them eminent; but men of great parts, noble wits, yea often noted lives; &s;peaking to wonder, writing to amazement, living to envy and example; the Leaders of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> &s;ometimes cau&s;ed them to err; <HI>The Prie&s;ts divined a fal&s;e|hood;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;ai. 9.16.</NOTE> the Divel of <HI>Sauls</HI> heart (in <HI>Samuels</HI> fle&s;h as it were) is potent enough to mi&s;guide milli|ons. O Lord what a Progre&s;s hath the my&s;tery of iniquity made, when the Serpent &s;tings the Dove to death; Religion becomes politized! What an <HI>Egypt</HI> will <HI>Canaan</HI> be, when Mannah is exchanged for Garlick and Onions, when the Screech Owl extrudes the Turtle; and that be upon us which the <HI>Jewes</HI> feared, <HI>John</HI> 11.48. The Romane come and take away our Religion, and (I pray God) not our place and Nation.</P>
<P>Is not this evil of the Divels de&s;igning? Is not the hand of hells <HI>Joab,</HI> Satan in it, but the &s;word of the Lord and of his <HI>Gideon</HI> Chri&s;t Je&s;us &s;hall prevent this, though none &s;tand in the gap; no <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> intercedes, no <HI>Phineas</HI> executes Judg|ment; yet this Plague &s;hall cea&s;e; God for his own name&s;ake will turn tho&s;e Locu&s;ts (the Je&s;u|its) back to their quarters; and make their De|&s;ign as a red &s;ea to bury them&s;elves in. The Thumbs of the&s;e <HI>Adonibezeks</HI> &s;hall be cut off, the Pride and Policy of the&s;e <HI>Ab&s;oloms</HI> become their ruines, <HI>So let all thine enemies peri&s;h, O Lord.</HI></P>
<PB N="44" REF="25">
<P>Well, we have a &s;ight of Satan in his power, and agents; now &s;ee him in his Policy and end, which is to cut off <HI>Sam&s;ons locks;</HI> to de&s;troy the <HI>Males of I&s;rael;</HI> to ruine all the Smithes and Forges by which our Spiritual weapons &s;hould be edged to oppo&s;e him, and defend our &s;elves a|gain&s;t his a&s;&s;aults; thus did the Phili&s;tims of old to <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> 1 <HI>Sam.</HI> 13.9. But I hope God will turne this Wi&s;dom into Folly, and this <HI>Babel</HI> of Hope into a <HI>Babel</HI> of Defeat; yea, I will be&s;peak the&s;e Gates of Hell to give way to the Rock of A|ges, and to Chri&s;t the Corner &s;tone, who is with his Church to the end of the world; and I will pray that the iniquity of their hearts may be for|given them, who hate the Church of <HI>England</HI> without a cau&s;e, and endeavour to &s;ubvert the Religion of it again&s;t Scripture that a&s;&s;erts it.</P>
<P>And now is not cu&s;tody from this evil an un|&s;peakable Ble&s;&s;ing? Is it not as rain to the parch|ed gra&s;s, and ought we not to receive this Mercy with the joy of Harve&s;t? Is it not a &s;erious collect which deprecates Satans &s;ucce&s;s; while he with <HI>Herod</HI> acts a Tragedy on Innocents, and labours to &s;teal away the Babe Chri&s;t out of his mothers lap the Church; his mother the Church; not to rob the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin of her Crown (<HI>All Gene|rations call her Ble&s;&s;ed,</HI> becau&s;e &s;he bare his body in her womb) but to right the Church again&s;t her Rival, the Synagogue of Satan, which di&s;owns her, and &s;eeks Chri&s;t out of her, who &s;piritually is only formed in her, from which evil, and the infatuation of it, good Lord deliver us.</P>
<P>This is the fir&s;t Evil <HI>(Satan)</HI> from which the Peace of God &s;hields us, the next is from <HI>Sin;</HI> like
<PB N="54" REF="25">father, like child; a chip of the old block, a branch of that Lye which was from the beginning.</P>
<P>From &s;in, the evil of inquination, that which de|files the man, defaces Gods image, pa&s;&s;es an eternal exile twixt the &s;oul and him, for he hath no <HI>fellow|&s;hip with unfruitful works of Darkne&s;s; His eye is on them that are upright, but he cutteth off the wicked from the earth, and rooteth out the Tran&s;gre&s;&s;ors.</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 2. <HI>ult.</HI></NOTE></P>
<P>From &s;in, the Evil of Angels, for becau&s;e of fol|ly beheld in them, they were ca&s;t from Heaven;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 2.4. I&s;ai 30 33.</NOTE> the evil of Kings and great men, for whom <HI>Tophet is prepared of old;</HI> Sin, the evil of men of low de|gree; &s;in, the evil of all;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 John 5.19.</NOTE> for the <HI>whole world greaneth under it, and lies in it.</HI></P>
<P>From &s;in, the eyes grief, prevailed again&s;t <HI>Eve,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.6. 6 6.</NOTE> by that again&s;t the &s;ons of God of the old world: Sin, the hearts ake; thus in Saint <HI>Paul</HI> crying out,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom 7.24. P&s;al. 39.1.</NOTE> <HI>O wret|ched man that I am, who &s;hall deliver me from the body of this death!</HI> Sin, the feets &s;nare, again&s;t which <HI>David</HI> cautions, <HI>I &s;aid I wil take heed to my ways;</HI> Sin, the tongues temptation to &s;peak unadvi&s;edly; Sin, the Catholick Cro&s;s to all that are crucified with Chri&s;t, and my&s;tical members of him; Sin, the breach of Gods Law, the grief of his Spirit, the price of his Son, the torment of his Comba|tant, and the triumph of his Crowned ones; Sin, the Mon&s;ter of <HI>Paradi&s;e,</HI> for there it was plot|ted; the fir&s;t born of life, for therein it is act|ed; the plague of this world, on who&s;e Stage it is attyred, and thence maturated. Sin, &s;ome|thing of nothing, a tumourous bubble of pe&s;tilent pride, &s;corching Lu&s;t, and empty va|nity, evaporating in nothing but the Lu&s;t
<PB N="46" REF="26">of the fle&s;h, Lu&s;t of the eye, and the Pride of life.</P>
<P>Sin an evil inward in the thought, outward in the act, upward again&s;t God whom it contemnes, and downward again&s;t earth whom it burthens, and all to gratifie him who is <HI>Prince of the Air, and rules in the hearts of the Children of di&s;obedience.</HI> Sin again&s;t the Creation, whom it di&s;orders; a|gain&s;t Redemption, which it fru&s;trates; again&s;t Sanctification, which it defies; again&s;t Pre&s;erva|tion, which it contradicts; again&s;t Salvation, which it abjures. Sin, again&s;t which, as the great|e&s;t evil, God prote&s;ts; to prevent which Angels watch; to recal from which the Spirit &s;ollicites; to direct how to avoid which, the word is po&s;itive; again&s;t which to practi&s;e the holy men of all ages are pre&s;idents; yea, to expiate which the blood of Chri&s;t the Lamb of God was &s;hed, and his &s;oul for it made an Offering.</P>
<P>What &s;hall I &s;ay more again&s;t this which is &s;o di&s;honourable to God, and ought to be execra|ble to his people? but in the words of <HI>Mo&s;es, Cur|&s;ed be he that continues not in all the words of the Law to do them;</HI> that is, who de&s;ires not to give &s;in the foil, by a contrary and con&s;tant cour&s;e of virtue, according to the will of God in his Word, and the a&s;&s;i&s;tance he hath from God in this Race to complete this re&s;olution; for without that we can do nothing.</P>
<P>Wel then, to be helped from this evil, is a mercy, a con&s;equent of Gods peace with the &s;oul; that is clear from the Prophet, <HI>Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace</HI> (or neerer the Original, <HI>in peace, peace</HI>) <HI>who&s;e heart is &s;tayed on thee, becau&s;e hee trusteth in
<PB N="47" REF="26">thee.</HI> He. O holy &s;oul, that keepeth thee never &s;lumbereth, his eye is on thy feet, to keep them; <HI>He keepeth the feet of his Saints,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Hannah:</HI> On thine <HI>eye,</HI> to hinder thy lu&s;t; on thy <HI>hand,</HI> to prevent thy cruelty; on thy <HI>tongue,</HI> to &s;u&s;pend thine ob&s;cenity; on thy <HI>whole man,</HI> to keep thee from &s;in, <HI>that it raign not in this mortal body</HI> of thine. He was with <HI>Noah in the Ark,</HI> to keep him from de|&s;pair of out-living the Floud, which drowned the world; with <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> in the wilderne&s;s, to pre&s;erve him from disbanding his rude multitude, whom God de&s;igned for <HI>Canaan,</HI> and inclining him to bear the petulancies of popularities; rather then chu&s;e the contents of a private retirement: He was with <HI>David</HI> in his flights from <HI>Saul,</HI> and fights with Phili&s;tims: And kept him from de&s;ponding, upon a&s;&s;urance of a Kingdom for his reward: He was with <HI>Jeremy</HI> in the Dungeon, and with <HI>Jonah</HI> in the Whales belly; to &s;weeten &s;traights to his, and to make them more pure in their enlargements. He was with <HI>Peters</HI> tongue, converting thou&s;ands at a Sermon, and making his pride do pennance where it offended, yea, weep out its own retra|ction. He was with <HI>Paul</HI> by <HI>grace &s;ufficient for him,</HI> when he &s;aw the <HI>me&s;&s;enger of Satan</HI> tempted him by abundant <HI>revelations to be lifted up above mea&s;ure.</HI> In the fire he is with his, and in the wa|ter he is with his: yea with you, O holy &s;ouls, he is alwayes, to the end of the world. With you (O holy &s;ouls) to keep you in all your wayes, to &s;ecure you in all your dangers, to re&s;olve you in all your doubts, to &s;upport you under all your &s;uf|ferings, and with you to deliver you out of them: With you as a Sun to enlighten, as a &s;helld to
<PB N="48" REF="27">defend, as an Anchor to re&s;t on, as a Pilot to guide you, and as a Champion to overcome your feares. With you, to keep you in your Race, that you faint not; and with you, to reward you with fulne&s;s of joy in his pre&s;ence. This is &s;econd to the former priviledge, the peace of God keeps from Evil. 1. <HI>Satan:</HI> 2. <HI>Sin.</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE N="3"> The third Viol is not yet pa&s;t, but behind, that is, <HI>Sorrow and Sufferings:</HI> tho&s;e it al&s;o pre&s;erves again&s;t, not that they da&s;h not on us, but that they overwhelm us not; not that they come not nigh, but that they come not over us to overcome us: Chri&s;t in the Ship priviledgeth not from to&s;|&s;ing, but drowning. I will not fear the ranting Seas, if my rebuking Saviour (who&s;e voice tho&s;e waves and winds obey) be embarqued with me. Mi&s;take not (O holy &s;oules) your Le&s;&s;on; it is the voice of your Beloved that &s;ayes, <HI>In the world yee &s;hall have Tribulation:</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 16. la&s;t.</NOTE> the Cro&s;s is your Saviours Sheep-mark, and tho&s;e that are of his flock, brook his Eare mark; their ear mu&s;t not re|fu&s;e the Tryal Chri&s;ts &s;ide had; if that was pier|ced, they mu&s;t expect like mea&s;ure; and tho&s;e that will not follow him in the Regeneration, have lit|tle cau&s;e to conclude him theirs in his Kingdome. What (O man) wilt thou with thy Saviour wear the Crown of Glory, and refu&s;e that other of Thornes with him? Wilt thou be acclamated for a Co-heir, a King, and Prie&s;t with Chri&s;t, and not be &s;pit upon and derided with him here? Wilt thou drink the new wine with him in his Kingdom, and decline the Vinegar and Gall here given him? Do&s;t thou hope to be drawn up after him, and
<PB N="49" REF="27">not re&s;olve here to tread the Wine-pre&s;s of wrath, to endure the contradiction of &s;inners with him? If this thou looke&s;t for, thou art on thy wander, far from thy Mark; thou art of the rich young mans pack, who would keep Chri&s;t and his Wealth too, or no Chri&s;t; <HI>Cre&s;ianus es, non Chri&s;tianus;</HI> there is one thing nece&s;&s;ary which thou neede&s;t, <HI>Deny thy&s;elf, take up the Cro&s;s, and follow Chri&s;t,</HI> to Mount <HI>Calvary,</HI> before thou come to Mount <HI>Zion.</HI></P>
<P>And O that this Meditation were but canon with many &s;uch Zelots as <HI>Julian</HI> was, who gra&s;p Power and worldly greatne&s;s with as eager tal|lons as Lions and Panthers do Lambs and Infants, and think they never have enough, till they have too much Mammon for Chri&s;t to cohabit with. The&s;e are they that are Saints, as <HI>Peter</HI> was a Pe|nitent, after many denyals and perjuries; not Saints becau&s;e penitent as was he, whom a Cock wakened; when the&s;e &s;top their eares again&s;t good coun&s;el, and harden their hearts a|gain&s;t reproof; yea, hate him that repro|veth in the Gate. The&s;e are they who love Chri&s;t when he is with tho&s;e in Prin|ces Courts, cloathed in &s;oft Rayment, &s;at in Royal Apparel on the Throne, when the people cry him up; but when he is tra|duced, when in the High Prie&s;ts Hall, when trampled upon, then they are gone like Summer birds in Winter; they are all for a Pompous Reign on earth, before that more glorious Reign in Heaven; and therefore they will &s;ecure them|&s;elves by might and main again&s;t all danger and di|minution here. Do the&s;e con&s;ider Chri&s;t had ne|ver
<PB N="50" REF="28">been glorious, but by &s;ufferings, nor the Church been victorious but by the red Cro&s;s? How much of holy Writ do the&s;e men make A|pocryphal, while they entail external pro&s;perity to Saint&s;hip, and think none worthy to live, but tho&s;e who look upon the Cro&s;s as a cur&s;e, <HI>&s;ervile &s;upplicium?</HI> What think they of tho&s;e words of the Lord Je&s;us, <HI>In the world yee</HI> (Who? my holy Apo&s;tles, as pure Saints as any &s;uch, none excepted; nay, to whom compared, tho&s;e are but as Jewi&s;h Sepulchers) <HI>&s;hall have affliction;</HI> not be afflicted, but <HI>have affliction,</HI> in the Ab&s;tract; there &s;hall be a kind of connaturality betwixt you and affliction. What judge they of Saint <HI>Pauls</HI> peremptory po&s;ition, <HI>All that will live godly in Chri&s;t Je&s;us &s;hal &s;uffer per&s;ecution?</HI> What of Saint <HI>Peters</HI> prediction of fiery Tryals, and Encouragements to prepare for them? Nay, what of our Saviours Benediction on tho&s;e that <HI>&s;uffer for Righteou&s;ne&s;s &s;ake?</HI> Are the&s;e Tales and Figments? Are the&s;e Legends and Foy&s;ts? Are the&s;e Lillies of his field, not to be compared to the <HI>Solomons</HI> of their fancy in all his Royalty? I trow there is no man &s;o fond, but &s;ees &s;elf more &s;et up then Chri&s;t in this Pageant; for take away &s;uffe|rings, and where is Faith? where Charity? where Martyrdome? nay, where is, or to what purpo&s;e that animative reference of the Holy Gho&s;t di&s;|playing Chri&s;t, glorious in witne&s;&s;ing a good con|fe&s;&s;ion before <HI>Pentius Pilate</HI> his Judg, who could wa&s;h his hand, and prote&s;t Chri&s;ts innocency, and yet dur&s;t not deliver him from the rage of the multitude. No wonder they cry down Scripture, and Fathers, and Church Stories, who cry up &s;uch
<PB N="51" REF="28">wild, excentrick, worldly &s;ubtilties for Religion, and own Chri&s;t with their mouthes, as the Jewes did him on the Cro&s;s, only the more to reproach him.</P>
<P>Well, let the&s;e &s;tray from the fold as wildly as they will, it is thy part (O holy foul) to keep clo&s;e to thy colours,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Voti tunc Curi|&s;tianis crat pro Chri&s;ti nomine gladio percuti.</HI> S. Hie|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">on. in vita Pauli Eremitae de Temp. De|cii.</NOTE> Chri&s;t looketh thou &s;hould&s;t not only he ready to own, but of need be, to dyefor him; thou mu&s;t expect &s;orrows, perhaps not &s;uch as with <HI>Spira</HI> will make thee de&s;pair, turn thy back on Gon, as <HI>Ephraim</HI> did in the day of Battel; but &s;uch as may exerci&s;e thy Grace, correct thine out|goings, mind thee of thine end, admoni&s;h thee of thy duty, rouze thee to get thine Evidence ready, to make thy Calling and Election &s;ure, and by a holy end prepare thee for a ble&s;&s;ed Exchange.</P>
<P>The Promi&s;e is to be &s;ecure, not exempt; not that yee &s;hall not to be a&s;&s;aulted, but not be o|vercome; not that ye &s;hall not be cha&s;tned, but that ye &s;hall not be condemned; not that evils &s;hall not come neer you, but that they &s;hall not domineer over you; not that ye &s;hall not be bu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">|fetted by Satan, but that Divine Grace &s;hal be &s;uf|ficient for you.</P>
<P>The Peace of God gained by Acquaintance with him, is no plea of pre&s;cription again&s;t trouble and evil; but this it doth, it modifies evil, &s;o that it comes not noxiou&s;ly neer a godly man, as it is evil, &s;o its kept at di&s;tance, as it is a Mark of Divine love, as it is a voice to reclaim, as it is commanded to be Gods Mo|nitor to us, &s;o we mu&s;t welcome it as did <HI>David, It is good for me that I was afflicted;</HI> and pray for it as preventive Phy&s;ick, that keeps us from Pletho|rick
<PB N="52" REF="29">Di&s;tempers. Many men may thank God for their cro&s;&s;es, without which they had never come to Heaven: there is a mo&s;t notable Story in the Legend, of a blind woman, who be&s;ought Saint <HI>Bridget</HI> to give her &s;ight; the Saint (&s;o called) at her intreaty,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Quo pre&s;entor &s;um mundo, co ab&s;en<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ior &s;um Chri&s;to.</NOTE> did; and when &s;he had &s;een four dages, &s;he de&s;ired Saint <HI>Bridget,</HI> that &s;he would take away her &s;ight again, adding this for rea&s;on, <HI>The more I &s;ee of the world, the le&s;s am I conver&s;ant with Chri&s;t.</HI></P>
<P N="4">4. La&s;tly, The peace in Acquaintance with God, will keep thee from thr Evil of Evils, <HI>Death eternal.</HI> God &s;uffers not his to fall into that pit, out of which there is no redemption; His, as they have no part in the &s;in of the Damned, &s;o &s;hall they not partake in the torment of the Damned: 'Tis not, <HI>Go ye Ble&s;&s;ed,</HI> but <HI>Go ye Cur&s;ed into ever|la&s;ting fire, prepared for the Divel and his Angels.</HI> And indeed, this is the Mercy of Mercies; this is one part of the Recompence of Vertue and Godly life, that it &s;hall not only have comfort in &s;eeing God gloriou&s;ly waving the Banner of love over it, but becoming its Guard to Heaven, and nulli|fying Satans attempts on it; this is, that in which the mercy of God &s;hines as at noon tide, and com|fortably exalts its &s;elf above Ju&s;tice, as that which crowns God, and renders him Beloved and admi|red of all that know him.</P>
<P>But perhaps (O man) thou art curious to know what this Death Eternal is? This is a vanity, and if thou beware not, may be the vexation of thy &s;pirit, but if thou woulde&s;t ken the &s;cantling of it, our ble&s;&s;ed Lord hath defined it to be <HI>utter dark|ne&s;s,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Matth. 8.12.</NOTE> where is weeping and wailing, and gna&s;hing of
<PB N="53" REF="29">teeth;</HI> it is exile from God, and judgment to the &s;ociety of damned &s;pirits, for ever.</P>
<P><HI>Death Eternal,</HI> what is it not that is ab&s;olute tri|&s;ticity? it is a living death, and a dying life; it is the wages of &s;in, the &s;entence of Ju&s;tice, the utmo&s;t period of Plagues; a mo&s;t exqui&s;ite mi&s;ery, a mo&s;t Mercile&s;s Torment, an Eternal Pa&s;&s;ion! <HI>Eternal Death;</HI> it is mi&s;ery to the eye, for it &s;hall not &s;ee God; it is a worm gnawing on the heart, for it &s;hall con&s;ider the evil it hath done, for which is inflicted that evil it &s;uffereth; it is a vexation to the &s;en&s;es, which to augment the tortures of their condition, &s;hal be renewed and made more &s;en&s;ible; it is an exce&s;s which &s;hall never have end, but be e|ternally what it is, and impo&s;&s;ible to be what it is not.</P>
<P><HI>Death Eternal;</HI> it is the region of Bla&s;phemy, the Caldron of <HI>Nimrods, Nero's Juda&s;&s;es,</HI> tho&s;e chambers of ruine into which they de&s;cend, who de&s;ert God by &s;in, and are de&s;erted by God in ju&s;t Judgment. <HI>Death Eternal;</HI> it is a gulfe without bottom; a doom beyond ran&s;ome; a fire that burnes, and is never extingui&s;hed; and a re&s;tle&s;s craver, never &s;atisfied.</P>
<P>What &s;hall I &s;ay other then that of the P&s;almi&s;t, <HI>Remember this yee that frrget God,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 50.2<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> le&s;t he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e are the Evils from which peace in Acquaintance with God priviledgeth the &s;oul.</P>
<P><HI>But how</HI> (cries the holy &s;oul) <HI>cometh this to be my priviledge?</HI> How, O &s;oul? Surely not by thy merit, but 1. By the <HI>Mercy of God,</HI> which hath be&s;towed that good, as an Enticement to be his; God in|vites
<PB N="54" REF="30">&s;inners to his Mercy. He <HI>waites to be gracious,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 span"> 18.</NOTE> he would have them <HI>come to the waters of Life and drink freely;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 span"> 11, 28.</NOTE> he calls to you to come, <HI>Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden;</HI> he re|wards them when they come, <HI>Tho&s;e that come unto me, I will in no &s;ort ca&s;t away;</HI> he complains of them when they do not come, <HI>They will not come unto me that they might have life.</HI> God in good|ne&s;s begins with man, and gives him co-operating Grace; and it is his own obduration that makes Mercy retreat; while we are willing he a&s;&s;i&s;ts us, but <HI>when we draw back, he will have no plea&s;ure in us.</HI> Mercy makes the Marriage betwixt God and the Soul, and Peace is the Dowry that God gives his beloved; tho&s;e that are one with him by Grace cannot be &s;ever'd from him and them&s;elvs through Evil. Here is the be&s;t Exchange for profit, here is the <HI>Indiaes</HI> of holy Riches, here is <HI>Canaan</HI> flow|ing with Milk and Honey, here is the light which admits no darkne&s;s, and the day that never &s;ees night. here is the Price and the Pearle, the work, and the wages: God to whom by faith we mu&s;t run, and Mercy, which by faith from him we may receive; here is the door by which we mu&s;t enter into the joy of our Ma&s;ter; and here is the Ma&s;ter, who will not &s;hut the door again&s;t us, be|cau&s;e we come not before bid, nor can we &s;tay there longer then welcome. By thee, O Sun of the Mor|ning, and fir&s;t born of Heaven (for thou wa&s;t in the beginning) is our Acquaintance wrought with God, and our evil from &s;in prevented.</P>
<P N="2">2. This comes to be the holy &s;ouls priviledg, from the <HI>Purcha&s;e of Chri&s;t;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 word"> 1.21.</NOTE> He, he redeemed us, not only from our <HI>vain conver&s;ation,</HI> but from the
<PB N="55" REF="30"><HI>wrath to come;</HI> from the <HI>bondage of &s;in and Satan, into the glorious liberty of the &s;ons of God:</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 3.13. Rom. 8.21. Ephe&s;. 2.14.</NOTE> 'Tis he that is <HI>our Peace,</HI> and 'tis he that <HI>keeps us from that Evil one.</HI> The Redemption wrought by him on the Cro&s;s, was not only from wrath, but to him&s;elf: <HI>He hath redeemed us to him&s;elf out of every Nati|on,</HI> &amp;c.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 5.9, 10.</NOTE> Not only to free us from the rage of &s;in and Satan, but to <HI>make us Kings and Pri&s;ts,</HI> to <HI>pre&s;erve us to his Heavenly Kingdome; and herein he is a Saviour to the utmo&s;t;</HI> to the <HI>utmo&s;t of men:</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 7.25.</NOTE> he is the Saviour of his whole body, Jewes, Gen|tiles, far, neer, bond, free, rich, poor, high, low, his Providence is over his whole family; his rain rains upon bad as well as good. To the <HI>ut|mo&s;t of things,</HI> all co-operate hy his interpo&s;ition and ordination, to the good of his; the Graces of Godly men make them admire him; the &s;ins of others to watch over them&s;elves more; nay, their own failings carry them to God by Petition for pardon and grace &s;ufficient for them; the cro&s;&s;es they carry have Chri&s;t in them, the reproaches they &s;uffer have Chri&s;t with them, the glory they aim at, Chri&s;t will bring them to; Life, which to many is a plea&s;ure, Chri&s;t imbitters, and yet re&s;cues them from any provocation to impatience: they u&s;e it as the time wherein to work, but they de&s;ire to be di&s;&s;olved in Chri&s;ts time, <HI>For to be with him is be&s;t of all.</HI> To the <HI>uttermo&s;t of time:</HI> his merit is a light unextingui&s;hable, was, is, and ever &s;hall be: the Patriarks before, the Prophets in, the ho|ly men after the Law got to Heaven upon this wing, in this Chariot were they thither tran&s;por|ted, in the garment of this elder brother were they wrapped, for that only is the Wedding garment;
<PB N="56" REF="31">This is the one and only way; narrow, not open to all, but to tho&s;e that believe; but yet a &s;ure way, bounded by the &s;ure mercies of <HI>David;</HI> and herein he is a Saviour be|yond all, a Superlative Redeemer, for he is eter|nal, whereas others are but Temporary; he is complete, whereas others are but partial. Where are <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Jo&s;huah, David</HI> and <HI>Jeptha,</HI> who &s;aved the <HI>Jewes?</HI> Where <HI>Cae&s;ar, Scipio, Metellus</HI> the Deliverers of the <HI>Romanes?</HI> Where <HI>Codrus, Themi&s;tocles, Photion,</HI> by whom the <HI>Greeks</HI> were delivered? The&s;e are dead, and their Territories by others po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed; nay, their a&s;hes are become the prey of Tyrants, who glut them&s;elves with re|venges on their relicts; but Chri&s;t is the Saviour of his body, the Church; for ever he is, and ever will be the light in the mid&s;t of it, and a wall of fire round about it; For Chri&s;t hath purcha&s;ed its peace, and paid (with reverence be it conceived) for that intere&s;t in God, which will keep off evil from coming to his.</P>
<P N="3">3. This priviledg from evil is the natural child of Acquaintance with God; God never gives him|&s;elf, without all that is his; and if all, then his peace, then his protection from evil; the Prophet tels us of Gods &s;peaking <HI>peace to his people;</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 85.8. I&s;ai. 26.20.41.14. P&s;al. 145.20</NOTE> of his coun&s;els to them to <HI>enter into re&s;t till the indignati|on be over;</HI> of his cordial, <HI>Fear not thou worm Ja|cob, I will be with thee:</HI> of his corra&s;ive to wicked men whom <HI>he will de&s;troy.</HI> And whence (O holy &s;oul) comes all this, but from that proximity twixt God and the &s;oul? This is the pay of our patience, the re&s;ult of our fidelity to God;
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 2.17.</NOTE> he that <HI>followes the Lamb,</HI> &s;hal not mi&s;s his <HI>white &s;tone and new name.</HI>
<PB N="57" REF="31">God never di&s;mi&s;&s;es his without a ble&s;&s;ing, like that from the womb of the Morning; he gives them peace to poy&s;e them here amid&s;t their many &s;torms in this life, and he keeps evil far from them; yea, that which is the greate&s;t evil, after their deaths, eternal evil.</P>
<P>And now me thinks I am of S. <HI>Peters</HI> mind on the Mount, <HI>It is good to be here:</HI> here are three words in this Scripture, like the three Tabernacles in that: Acquaintance with God, Peace and Protection from evil; and the&s;e are (as Chri&s;ts face was transfigured) in a &s;ort &s;eraphickly expre&s;&s;ed, and propo&s;ed after a cele&s;tial method; here is Acquaintance; u&s;ually <HI>res doloris,</HI> a vanity of vanity, in the multitude of which there is &s;orrow and di&s;traction, &s;trangely meliorated by its adjunct, highly imbeautied by its entail to God, of a Ceremony and a nece&s;&s;ity made a virtue; <HI>Ac|quaint thy &s;elf with God.</HI> Next, here is the Lady Peace, not like that of the world, with <HI>Rachel</HI> mourning, with <HI>Thamar</HI> thru&s;t out of doors after it hath &s;erved a turn; but like the Queens daugh|ter, <HI>glorious within,</HI> as beloved of God, and beaute|ous without, as decked with the Needle work of ex|ternal accommodations: La&s;tly, here is evil pro|fligated and di&s;mantled of its force; the Lion ex|ungued, and the &s;ting taken out of the Serpents tall, as an effect of divine bounty, and this by the Chi|mi&s;try of God, who is able to bring good from evil.</P>
<P>What then remains to this Meditation, but to &s;ummon the la&s;t Quere to give in its verdict? And that is the &s;ea&s;on when this Acquaintance w^t^h God is to be had, and the&s;e con&s;equences obtained, in the Particle <HI>now, Acquaint [now] thy &s;ef with God,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<PB N="58" REF="32">
<P>Now: Sea&s;on &s;ea&s;ons every thing; the Wi&s;e man &s;aid it,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 25.12.</NOTE> <HI>A word in &s;ea&s;on is like apples if Gold in Pi|ctures of Silver;</HI> a fair &s;hew, but Mettal upon Me|tal makes no Hera<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">y, but in a Picture 'twill pa&s;s, and &s;o will time pa&s;s, of which this <HI>now</HI> is a part, and the be&s;t part becau&s;e pre&s;ent; <HI>Acquaint new? Now;</HI> when? in life, in the day of time, in the &s;ea&s;on of Mercy, in Youth, before time be not, thou go down into the grave, and be &s;een no more, yea, before thou be gathered to du&s;t, and worms feed upon thy fle&s;h.</P>
<P><HI>Now;</HI> not anon: <HI>Now,</HI> left &s;ickne&s;s, age, death prevent anon, and thou have no time t o groan for Peace, or cry for Mercy; our pardon is e|ver in danger, where our repentance is in debate.</P>
<P><HI>Now:</HI> this is to be wi&s;e for thy &s;elf (O &s;oul) for it only is in thy po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, what a day wil bring forth thou knowe&s;t not, therefore hearken to Wi&s;doms voice, <HI>While it is called to day;</HI> delayes ought to be as pa&s;t time, out of thy power, &s;ince to <HI>work out now thy &s;alvation with fear and trembling</HI> is thy prudence.</P>
<P>Time hath no longer a race than a Creature hath, it is alwayes on a &s;wift Ebb, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ere long it will be low water, and then where the tree falls, it mu&s;t lye: and &s;ince time and tide &s;tay for no man, O my &s;oul, do thou watch them, and take time to do thy task; eternity gives good wages. Remember who &s;aid,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 4.7.</NOTE> <HI>I have fought a good fight, I have fini&s;hed my cour&s;e, I have kept the faith, from henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteou&s;ne&s;s.</HI></P>
<P>Now: not at the &s;ixth or la&s;t hour of the day, for it is not certain whether thou &s;halt live upon this hazard to receive the penny of Eternity, which
<PB N="59" REF="32">followes the orderly expence of time; but now, this in&s;tant, moment &s;et to thy Tackling, the &s;torm is great and thy ve&s;&s;el quea&s;ie, and therefore put in to the next Habour: What thou do&s;t, do quick|ly,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 9<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="2 letters">.</NOTE> <HI>For there is neither wi&s;dom nor &s;trength in the grave whither thou goe&s;t,</HI> nor ever will be in thy power to untie thy chain of torments, or regain a lo&s;t happine&s;s.</P>
<P>Therefore (O my &s;oul) receive thou this coun&s;el with joy, and perfect it by holy indu&s;try, while thou ha&s;t time, talents, and what may further help thee in this ble&s;&s;ed Husbandry and Sacred Thrift. Look not upon the Lions in the way, the narrow pa&s;|&s;age to life eternal, the obloquies of men who will judge thee mopi&s;h, becau&s;e thou laboure&s;t for that Jewel that thou ha&s;t lo&s;t, and would&s;t find a|gain. The&s;e di&s;couragements may work on lazy and thriftle&s;s &s;ouls, who <HI>&s;tarve when there is bread enough in their fathers hou&s;e:</HI> follow thou the Saints of all ages, who by Faith and Patience inherit the Promi&s;es; and by their holy example be thou &s;timulated to take the Cro&s;s for thy Title to the Crown of Life; yea, conte&s;t thou for their Crown, not to rob them, but to right thy &s;elf, who art born to equal hopes with them: and comfort thy &s;elf in that promi&s;e of the holy Apo&s;tle (who is now at peace with God,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 6.9.</NOTE> and is taken from the e|vil of this world unto the glory above) <HI>In due time ye &s;hall reap if you faint not.</HI></P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
<PB REF="33">
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<PB REF="34" MS="y">
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