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<DATE>2011-02-04</DATE>
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<NAME>Pip Willcox</NAME>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P><HI>Chymia Coele&s;tis.</HI> DROPS FROM HEAVEN; OR, PIOUS MEDITATIONS AND PRAYERS On &s;everall places of Scripture.</P>
<P>By <HI>Ben. Parry,</HI> Gent.</P>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed for <HI>Humphrey Mo&s;eley,</HI> and are to be &s;old at his &s;hop, at the <HI>Prince</HI>'s <HI>Armes</HI> in St <HI>Paul</HI>'s Church-yard. 1659.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>To His Highly Honored Friend <HI>WILLIAM GLYNNE,</HI> E&s;quier.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Deare Sir,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_GIve me leave to pre|&s;ent you with a few meditations, which owe their birth to that place wherein your Honourable Father received his; and therefore by a kind of Alliance may &s;eem to challenge your acceptance. The &s;olemne retirements of tho&s;e &s;ilent walks, gave life to the&s;e thoughts; which now under your name dare &s;hew them&s;elves abroad, and from the &s;ociety of Groves and Ecchoes take the liberty of a more open
<PB REF="3"> view: They are not that which the world u&s;ually calls by the name of &s;tudy (though heaven cannot be too much &s;tudied on) but the exerci&s;e only of a few &s;pare thoughts &s;ome|times, on a pious &s;ubject; a tribute, which no Godly mind can pay too often. And I was the more ambiti|ous, they &s;hould receive the honour of their Dedication from your hand as being &s;o well acquainted with your vertue, and the noblene&s;&s;e of your &s;pirit; which is already be|come its owne Herauld, beyond the loude&s;t Encomium my pen can give. Let Philo&s;ophers count the orbes and reckon up the &s;tarres, none can &s;peak &s;o feelingly of Hea|ven as he that loves it be&s;t. Of all Knowledge, experimentall is the noble&s;t; and of all Meditation, that which informs not onely the mind, but the manners too. The end of Di|vine Contemplation is reformati|on, and he is but a dry Chri&s;tian who&s;e life con&s;i&s;ts more in &s;pecu|lation
<PB REF="3"> then in practi&s;e: and though I am no Preacher, yet I hope, with|out putting me to the trouble of a Complementall excu&s;e for being in print, you will pardon my ambi|tion, if, de&s;irous to acknowledg my engagements to your Noble Relati|ons (as a te&s;timony of my re&s;pects to your &s;elfe) I have made choice of this, having no other way to ma|nife&s;t how much I de&s;ire to be e|&s;teemed,</P>
<CLOSER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE>
<SIGNED>Your affectionate &s;ervant. <HI>BEN. PARRY.</HI></SIGNED>
<DATELINE><HI>Oxford</HI>
<DATE><HI>Novemb.</HI> 1658.</DATE></DATELINE></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="to the reader">
<PB REF="4">
<PB REF="4">
<HEAD>The Epi&s;tle to the READER.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>READER,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_PErhaps the Title may In|vite thy Eye, though the meanne&s;&s;e of the Comment may not merit thy Peru&s;al. They are indeed the ex|periments of but a very <HI>young</HI> pen, though the &s;ubjects are &s;o divine, they would finde worke enough for the Gra|ve&s;t in that Profe&s;&s;ion. And they have &s;o little of any affected or elaborate Cu|rio&s;ity, that I need not tell thee, They are onely the &s;udden effu&s;ions of a few pious minutes in my vacancies from o|ther studies. And who can Imploy his thoughts better at any time?</P>
<P>And therefore I took no other pains than not to breathe them to the Ayre onely, but &s;ome Noble
<HI>Con&s;er|vator</HI>
<PB REF="5"> that might recal my thoughts; and put me in mind againe of That which &s;o equally concernes all <HI>Eter|nity.</HI></P>
<P>If you wonder at their ha&s;ty ambi|tion of being in Print. It was not in|deed the
<HI>Reque&s;t</HI> of <HI>Friends,</HI> or any &s;uch thred-bare motive, that <HI>&s;tole</HI> them out. I knew not well what el&s;e to do with them, and therefore thought it as good to let them be lo&s;t in the World as in my Trunck: And though I am not &s;o confident, as to think they are &s;o good as to merit thy Applau&s;e; yet I hope they are not &s;o bad, but they may be worth the Reading.</P>
<CLOSER><SALUTE>Farewell.</SALUTE></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="meditations">
<PB REF="5">
<HEAD><HI>Chymia Coele&s;tis.</HI> Drops from Heaven; OR, Pious Meditations and PRAYERS.</HEAD>
<DIV2 TYPE="meditation">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>ECCLES. chap. 12. v. 1.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Remember now thy Creatour in the dayes of thy youth.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P><HI>_REmember thy Creatour,</HI> &amp;c. It is one of the be&s;t expre&s;&s;i|ons in the Preacher's Ser|mon: For who knows whe|ther he &s;hall live to be old? And yet that voice which &s;peaks &s;o loudly to the whole World, and &s;till will tell the end thereof, is &s;carce audible in the eares of many. 'Tis one of this Divine Singer's mo&s;t harmonious Le&s;|&s;ons; and yet the World is not pleas'd
<PB N="2" REF="6"> with the <HI>tune:</HI> Strange! that the Sweet|e&s;t of Preachers &s;hould have &s;o few fol|lowers being his oratory is &s;o Divine: and yet it is a Text, which though they will neither hear nor read, they cannot chu&s;e but &s;ee; for the whole world is but a Comment on it: Every Creature we do but look on, preaches this Doc|trine, which we can &s;o carele&s;ly &s;leep out, with our eyes open. Nature car|ries this memento in her forehead; the very Brutes in this can rea&s;on with us; and it is &s;trange that Man &s;hould <HI>forget</HI> his <HI>Maker,</HI> did he but <HI>remember him&s;elf:</HI> But ala&s;s, youth loves not to be put in mind of Heaven, 't would &s;poyle his memory, and make him thinke of his Prayers too often. Piety, will but dull his blood, Religion makes him look old; the thoughts of Heaven, and ano|ther World will make him graver then becomes his yeers, his blood tels him he is not yet in a temper to turne Divine, he may &s;erve God time enough, when he can doe nothing el&s;e; Thus the&s;e earthly objects of Plea&s;ure hurrie away our thoughts from Heaven and its Pu|rer Joyes; we can &s;pend the beauty of our years in vice, and think to plea&s;e God well enough with the deformi|ties
<PB N="3" REF="6"> of age: wee can revell our piety and time away in vain delights, and thinke our &s;elves &s;trong enough to force Hea|ven, and become religious when we are wither'd with infirmities, and have no|thing left us but <HI>repentance</HI> and a <HI>tomb.</HI> We are &s;o well plea&s;ed with the &s;weet|ne&s;&s;e of &s;en&s;e, that wee are carele&s;s of any other felicity; and &s;o much delight|ed with the happine&s;&s;e of &s;inning <HI>free|ly,</HI> that we could willingly be of that Religion which tolerates vice mo&s;t. We place our devotion with the Epicure in the riots of Nature, &s;portfull mee|tings are our religious Exerci&s;es, a Ser|mon is as trouble&s;ome as a Funeral to us; to hear of our end amid&s;t our plea|&s;ure &s;ounds like a death's Lecture, the unwelcome eccho of the Grave. Let the Preacher le&s;&s;on us never &s;o well, to remember our Maker, Wee had rather follow Satan's doctrine to Injoy the World as long as we can, and thinke of Heaven at our lei&s;ure.</P>
<P>And &s;hall the Lu&s;ts of the World, O Lord, be greater in my Soul then the Love of thee? &s;hall the temporary de|lights of &s;in drown the memory of thy glory? My Life is but a Span, and yet I be&s;eech thee &s;horten that rather then
<PB N="4" REF="7"> it &s;hould be &s;pent in a neglect of Thee: better this Earthly
<HI>tabernacle</HI> &s;hould be di&s;&s;olved, then become a <HI>Theatre</HI> for &s;in to revell in; Let me pay Nature the debt I owe her, &s;ooner then perhaps &s;he would call for it, rather than run in &s;core with thy Ju&s;tice: 'tis better I &s;hould dye and be lo&s;t in the memory of the World, than forget Thee: Thou broughte&s;t me from nothing, not to <HI>&s;in,</HI> but to
<HI>&s;erve</HI> thee, and ha&s;t imprinted in me a ray of Thy &s;elf, that I might not &s;eek
<HI>mine</HI> own, but <HI>Thy</HI> Will, nor pur|&s;ue the World but Heaven; make me therefore to &s;ee the &s;olid and ravi&s;hing con&s;olation that is in &s;erving thee; what Joy accompanies thy grace, that &s;o I may no longer follow my <HI>&s;en&s;e</HI> but my <HI>Saviour.</HI> It is none of the lea&s;t &s;ins of our youth that we are carele&s;&s;e and forgetfull of Thee our Creatour: and no wonder we are &s;o in&s;en&s;ible of the Joyes to Come, that live in &s;uch a con&s;tant and continued neglect of Hea|ven.</P>
<P>Make me therefore, O my God, to con&s;ider, that had I the fruition of all that I can wi&s;h, or long for here, I &s;hould not onely not be &s;atisfied but in the end find how mi&s;erable he is that
<PB N="5" REF="7"> &s;etteth his heart on any thing but Thy &s;elfe: teach me therefore &s;o to enjoy the World that I lo&s;e not thee, nor the memory of that Ble&s;&s;ed reward thou ha&s;t promi&s;ed to them that Honour Thee.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="meditation">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>GEN. Chap. 2. v. 8.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And the Lord God planted a Garden East-ward in Eden.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>WHat an <HI>airy fancy</HI> was it of &s;ome then, to place Paradi&s;e beyond the
<HI>middle</HI> region? could they tran&s;plant the earth at plea&s;ure? or did the clouds, like &s;o many moving walks, become a &s;eminary of vegetables? Was <HI>Era&s;mus</HI> of this opinion when he wi&s;ht him&s;elfe en|caged betwixt heaven and earth? How vaine is ambitious frailty in its que&s;t after knowledge! We &s;earch for Paradi&s;e with more <HI>Curio&s;ity</HI> then <HI>Adam lo&s;t</HI> it: and when we cannot find it here, yet we will <HI>fancy</HI> it a place, though above our reach. That there was a Paradi&s;e, we need not doubt; He that made it tells us &s;o: but where to find it, he that <HI>lo&s;t</HI> it, <HI>knowes not.</HI> So &s;uddenly doth
<HI>&s;in</HI> bla&s;t
<PB N="6" REF="8"> our mo&s;t innocent plea&s;ures. Scarce had Man taken a view or walke in Para|di&s;e, but this expell'd him: the earth was but in its youth, &s;carce warm'd by the new
<HI>born</HI> Sun, when this wither'd it into a <HI>&s;terill</HI> and decrepit
<HI>Complexion:</HI> nay the heavens, &s;carce &s;eated in their orbs, were &s;haken by it, and interrupted al|mo&s;t in their Motions by the <HI>pride</HI> and <HI>fall</HI> of Angells. No &s;ooner had the Ser|pent breath'd out his Contagion, but Paradi&s;e changed it's <HI>vordure.</HI> The Crea|tures fly from the Garden of the world; and infected Man is &s;hut out from his beautifull enclo&s;ure: he that was an In|habitant of plea&s;ure it &s;elf, for whom the mo&s;t choi&s;e and various fragrancies of the New Created earth were epito|mi&s;ed together, is <HI>&s;tript</HI> and cheated of his <HI>happine&s;&s;e</HI> by the <HI>Spirit</HI> of <HI>lies,</HI> and is glad to be beholding to a <HI>Figtree</HI> for his fir&s;t <HI>ve&s;tment.</HI> How perfectly hath his
<HI>naked I&s;&s;ue</HI> inherited his fortune? how many of his wretched &s;ons have been ever &s;ince &s;elling their <HI>Paradi&s;e</HI> for an <HI>Apple?</HI> How does the Covetous wretch adore his Mammon, his yellow God, and Coines heaven and his <HI>Salvation</HI> into <HI>Money,</HI> though the <HI>&s;tamp</HI> be Hell, or the image of the <HI>bea&s;t?</HI> how readily will
<PB N="7" REF="8"> ambition Court Hell it &s;elfe to &s;erve his intere&s;t, make no &s;cruple to &s;ell his Soul for a Glorious vanity, and wor&s;hip Satan for a kingdome? how does the
<HI>Sen&s;uali&s;t</HI> make his life an <HI>enterlude,</HI> leaving Paradi&s;e for
<HI>Tantalus</HI> his Gar|den, and makes <HI>wantonne&s;&s;e</HI> his <HI>heaven,</HI> plea&s;ure his Divinity, and never thinks of a better or another life, but when he is in danger of lo&s;ing
<HI>this?</HI> How many <HI>up&s;tart</HI> lights hath <HI>Satan</HI> &s;prung to <HI>dar|ken</HI> Religion, and eclip&s;e the Go&s;pell? how many eyes hath he put out by opening; pretending to cloathe us with more Knowledge and Sanctity, that he might di&s;mantle us of heaven and hap|pine&s;&s;e? I had rather be for ever blind then u&s;e an eye-&s;alve of the Divells pre|&s;cribing; and be for ever ignorant then learne Satans le&s;&s;on, to belie heaven and di&s;tru&s;t my Maker.</P>
<P>So mi&s;erable hath &s;in made us, O Lord, that by it we have lo&s;t not onely Paradi&s;e but heaven too; forfeited not onely the plea&s;ures of this <HI>life,</HI> but al&s;o the joyes to Come, and with the true Comforts of the world are &s;tript of thy favour too. He whom thou made&s;t the <HI>Monarch</HI> of the Creatures, grones un|der the <HI>bondage of &s;in;</HI> and by the Mi&s;ery
<PB N="8" REF="9"> of his Crimes, hath cancell'd almo&s;t the glory and miracles of thy work. And now might we have been extingui&s;ht in our guilt, had not He, who is the brightne&s;s of thy Glory dropt a new life into our eclip&s;ed natures by the pow|er of his Blood and Merits; and, by re|conciling us to thy &s;elfe, given us an admi&s;&s;ion to better and more enduring plea&s;ures. Grant therefore that having obtained mercy, we may walke accor|dingly; that being <HI>bought</HI> for heaven, we may no more <HI>&s;ell</HI> our &s;elves to &s;in, nor vainely preferre a few moments of plea&s;ure before an eternity of joy; that &s;o, when our &s;ouls &s;hall expire with our breath, they may be tran&s;planted to that Paradi&s;e that never fades, and enjoy the plea&s;ures of eternity in the bo&s;ome of thy Glory.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="meditation">
<PB N="9" REF="9">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>1 King. Chap. 10. v. 18.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Moreover the King made a great Throne of Ivory, and overlay'd it with the be&s;t Gold.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>Twas fit that the be&s;t of Kings &s;hould be &s;utably &s;erv'd; and now he &s;ees him&s;elfe in &s;o glorious a condition, he need not repent of that happy and eter|nall <HI>election</HI> he made in <HI>Gibeon:</HI> where among&s;t all his Sacrifices there was none &s;o plea&s;ing as that which he made <HI>of him&s;elfe</HI> to the di&s;po&s;all of his God. Did the Princes of the world but make <HI>Solomon</HI> their <HI>Pattern,</HI> they might parti|cipate of <HI>his fortune,</HI> and find a more Glorious Hand &s;upporting their Scep|ters, beyond the reach of the mo&s;t ad|mired
<HI>Achitophel.</HI> 'Tis not the paint but the piety of a Throne that both &s;ecures and adornes it. He mu&s;t needs be the <HI>greate&s;t</HI> of Princes whom God <HI>Crownes;</HI> the
<HI>riche&s;t</HI> Monarch, that, be&s;ides the enjoyments of the world, receives even a
<HI>Trea&s;ure</HI> from heaven. Piety never went unrewarded. God can be&s;tow on his, as well the felicities of this life, as that which is hereafter. But if Solomon
<PB N="10" REF="10"> <HI>bow downe</HI> to <HI>Harlots,</HI> his <HI>Crown mu&s;t fal;</HI> and if he for&s;akes God, &s;in <HI>dethrones</HI> him. Greatne&s;&s;e cannot priviledge from pu|ni&s;hment, nor the <HI>eminency</HI> of a Throne excu&s;e the <HI>guilt</HI> thereof. He that
<HI>breath'd</HI> out &s;o many Divine Songs, is &s;truck <HI>dumbe</HI> at the aires of a female tongue, and tho&s;e Ivory &s;teps the &s;eat of Honour grow <HI>black</HI> with &s;in. Had his Guard of Lyons proved <HI>true,</HI> they would have quickly di&s;membred tho&s;e <HI>Syrens,</HI> that having lo&s;t their vertue had nothing but their <HI>vices</HI> left to charm their
<HI>fury</HI> with. <HI>Solomons</HI> youthfullne&s;&s;e in his old <HI>age,</HI> praecipitated him the &s;ooner to his <HI>end,</HI> the end both of his <HI>life</HI> and <HI>Glory.</HI></P>
<P>O Lord, if Solomon's <HI>Throne</HI> was &s;o glorious, how infinitely tran&s;cendent mu&s;t
<HI>Thine</HI> be, from whom <HI>Solomon re|ceived his: that</HI> under which the pillars of the earth tremble and in compari&s;on of which the lu&s;tre of the heavens is but a <HI>&s;park.</HI> Though thou ha&s;t many thrones, yet the mo&s;t glorious one is that of thy <HI>Mercy,</HI> which thou art plea&s;'d to open to the penitent Sinner. I will look upon the glittering guilded emi|nencies of the world with more delight, becau&s;e I &s;ee the foot&s;teps of thy Glory
<PB N="11" REF="10"> in them: and the royalties of the earth &s;hall make me but with the greater re|flection a&s;pire after the enjoyment of that <HI>Throne,</HI> who&s;e <HI>beauty</HI> and
<HI>holine&s;&s;e</HI> ravi&s;hes the <HI>Seraphick Attendants</HI> with <HI>joy</HI> un&s;peakeable and full of Glory.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="meditation">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>1 King. ch. 19. v. 9.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And he came thither unto a Cave and lodged there.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>SEe how malice hath forced <HI>Eliah</HI> to a Cave, and he that could not have the Liberty either of <HI>Life</HI> or <HI>Con&s;cience</HI> among&s;t the Children of his People, was glad to finde out a narrower In|clo&s;ure to &s;ave <HI>both.</HI> The <HI>Prophet</HI> that &s;pake &s;o many Wonders is for the time become an <HI>Hermite;</HI> 't was but a kind of a <HI>type</HI> and
<HI>praeludium</HI> of after-Ages. For, when, through him, I look on tho&s;e famous Votaries of the Church, who, to overcome the World relinqui&s;ht it, turning Caves into Oratories, Caverns into Chappels, and filling the hollow|ne&s;&s;e of a &s;ilent Grot, with diviner Ec|choes, than nature knew; I cannot chu&s;e but admire the purity of that zeal, which made &s;olitude its mirth and
<PB N="12" REF="11"> the freedome of a melancholy devotion the onely object of their Glory; &s;eque|&s;tring them&s;elves from men that they might be fitter companions for Angels; and leaving all other Imployments that they might exerci&s;e their Graces: The&s;e divine Retirers put Satan to the trouble of comming out of his way to tempt them; and &s;o wel obey'd their Ma|&s;ters rule,
<HI>Fa&s;t and pray,</HI> that their whole Lives were a <HI>Lent.</HI> When they could not dye, they liv'd his <HI>Martyrs.</HI></P>
<P>If the&s;e Pious Exiles, who&s;e Vertue hath more <HI>Prai&s;es</HI> then <HI>Practices</HI> (men <HI>loving</HI> now the World too well to <HI>leave</HI> it) have by &s;o noble a Confine|ment made their <HI>memory</HI> as &s;acred as their <HI>Lives.</HI> How great a miracle mu&s;t he be, that lives a religious and devout reclu&s;e among the croud of <HI>&s;inners?</HI> and when the objects of the World face him, Conquers more nobly, by oppo&s;ing than retreating? He was a true Soul|dier that <HI>&s;patt</HI> his tongue into the Har|lots face, le&s;t it &s;hould comply with the wantonne&s;&s;e of hers; and taught his Bloud by nobler motions to obey his Vertue, not his Nature. And he is the divine Hermit, who by not Loving the World leaves it, whil&s;t he lives in it;
<PB N="13" REF="11"> and excluding him&s;elfe more from the &s;inne than the &s;ociety of men, &s;hews, he would not be beholding to &s;olitude for the Glory his Vertue can acquire. Happy hee, that by thus Injoy|ing, both Conquers, and De&s;erts the World, and makes his way to feli|city through tho&s;e Sirens that Salute him!</P>
<P>O My Saviour, if I cannot follow Thee in the Wilderne&s;&s;e, yet I will Wor&s;hip thee in the Garden, where tho&s;e Divine accents of thy Voice thrice &s;ubdued thy Murtherers. Teach me to conforme my &s;elfe to that life which hath &s;o a&s;toni&s;ht the World, tho&s;e &s;ufferings that made the highe&s;t Horrour a plea&s;ure, and the Lo&s;&s;e of Life a Satisfaction in &s;aving mine. Thou ha&s;t taught me that the noble&s;t way to Conquer, is in the mid&s;t of E|nemies.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="meditation">
<PB N="14" REF="12">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Job ch. 11. v. 10.</HI></BIBL>
<P>In all this did not Job &s;in with his lips.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>BEhold this Miracle of patience from whom Hell it &s;elf could not extort one mi&s;-becomming accent! One that could turn his &s;ighs into Mu&s;ick, breathe Divinity in Groanes, and Conquer Satan in his tortures, that could turn his Sorrows into Sermons, his Pains in|to pious Lectures; and in all his Mi&s;e|ry not vent the lea&s;t Invective that might &s;taine the purity of his Maker. What an admirable Creature is the va|liant, though afflicted, Soul; who&s;e hopes are mounted above the World, that makes his Cro&s;&s;e his Triumph, and bears his Sufferings with &s;o much pa|tience, you would think he felt them not, as if Piety had made him in&s;en&s;ible: his Humility hath taught him to enter|tain his pre&s;&s;ures with &s;o much plea|&s;ure, you would think he were in love with Mi&s;ery; &s;o nobly, that he becomes his very misfortunes, and makes them amiable his Devotion, like the Philo&s;o|phers Stone, turnes all into Gold, and though he live never &s;o poor, yet he is &s;ure to dye rich. His very grave becomes
<PB N="15" REF="12"> a Cabinet of Pretious du&s;t, and his re|ward is Heaven; to compare him to a Rock that out-braves the waves and lyes fixt when 'tis over-whelmed; to &s;ay, that his Piety, like the Sunne, becomes more tran&s;parent by being clouded; or that; like the Palm, hee Conquers the very clogs that load him: the&s;e are but poor Encomiums for &s;o Divine a Spirit: like the lower Spheres, that, carried about by a higher Orbe, yet have a motion of their own. Though he be &s;urrounded and hurried away with &s;torms, yet &s;till his heart is the true Load-&s;tone that points at Hea|ven. Tell me of Stones that expell poy&s;on, herbs that fright away Thun|der-&s;pels, or incantations; the&s;e are but poor Vertues, Compared with his. Like a Diamond, his afflictions do but &s;hape and point him to a Lu&s;tre fit to be encha&s;te among Saints, and Rings of Seraphins: his flames doe but purifie and make his &s;tamp the brighter, and he is not a&s;hamed of his mi&s;ery becau&s;e he thinks it as much glory to live as to dye a Martyr. How often did Satan call <HI>Job</HI> Coward for his patience, in hopes at lea&s;t to make him rayle again&s;t
<PB N="16" REF="13"> Heaven? He knew he had no other way to conquer him but by him&s;elfe: in|deed, God is then be&s;t plea&s;ed when he &s;eems to frown at us, and He makes us Sufferers that he might make us Saints. The I&s;raelites mu&s;t pa&s;&s;e thorough a brea&s;t of Enemies, if they would come to <HI>Canaan.</HI> He de&s;erves not to win Hea|ven, who&s;e piety is &s;uch a coward that he dares not fight for it.</P>
<P>And &s;hall the leight afflictions of this pre&s;ent World, O Lord, di&s;courage us from thy Service, and drive us from the Joyes to come. Thou di&s;covere&s;t thy Love even in our puni&s;hments, and thy Goodne&s;&s;e in the mid&s;t of our Misfor|tunes: Whil&s;t we prophanely que&s;ti|on thy Providence, and grumble to en|tertaine the &s;malle&s;t trouble for thy Sake. Were we &s;en&s;ible of thy Glo|ry and the brightne&s;&s;e of our reward, we &s;hould not only &s;ubmit in a comely obedience to thy Will, but al&s;o triumph in our Sufferings; and rejoyce even in the meane&s;t Condition, that we might &s;hevv how much we value thy fa|vour, beyond the intere&s;ts of the World.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="meditation">
<PB N="17" REF="13">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Cant. Ch. 11. V. 1.</HI></BIBL>
<P>I am the Ro&s;e of Sharon, and the Lilly of the Valleys.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>NAture's perfume, the Ro&s;e, di&s;playes its trea&s;ures through the aire, en|veigling our &s;en&s;es at once both with its Beauty and Odours. Other flowers like <HI>Hippocrates</HI> have more Colour then &s;mell; but this growes Lovely in its witherings, and retains a &s;weetne&s;&s;e e|ven in its du&s;t: and when it leaves to be a poe&s;y may be turn'd into a Cordi|all; as if Nature had Epitomiz'd the vertues as well as the beauties of other Vegetals into one, and made its Para|di&s;e in a Ro&s;e. I &s;ee, I can cull not on|ly Phy&s;ick but Divinity from it, and di&s;cover the wonders of Creation in the blu&s;hing enclo&s;ures of a flower. The &s;malle&s;t Violet, as the poet &s;ings, breathes a Diety, and every Plant weares the Livery of Heaven: but in the Crim|&s;on attire of a Ro&s;e, I find a more Love|ly Embleme of Him, who is the Ro&s;e of
<HI>Sharon.</HI> A Ro&s;e in his immaculate Conception, in the beauty and pu|rity of the Divine&s;t Life that ever was or can be, A Ro&s;e in his Crown
<PB N="18" REF="14"> Crown of thornes, the perfume of his prayers, and the fragancy of his miracles. Were the whole earth turn'd into an Arabia, and it's riche&s;t odours &s;ublimed to a perfume; were nature rifled of all it's &s;weets, and it's mo&s;t ravi&s;hing vege|tables, crowded to a po&s;y; yet were they infinitly below the &s;weetne&s;&s;e of this Ro&s;e. Not that Centinel of nature, the Marigold, the early nymph of the godde&s;s of the morne, that ri&s;es from it's golden bed at the fir&s;t appearance of its Lover; not the Suns wooer, the Helio|trope, that &s;trives to ki&s;s and Circulate with that beaming Mover, as if nature had flowerd the earth with Stars or made it's Coloured progeny idolaters of the Skie; nor all tho&s;e growing Prodigies that enamour both our eye and thoughts to admiration, are not worthy to be Compared to this Heavenly Mirror, the Ro&s;e <HI>Sharon.</HI></P>
<P>O my Saviour, I will run after the odour of thy perfumes, and pant after tho&s;e &s;pirituall delights that &s;tream from thy Throne. Thou art infinitly amiable; O imprint on my &s;oul a purity that makes men capable of thy heavenly infu&s;ions,
<PB N="19" REF="14"> the Divine irradiations of thy Grace and Love. What is the Comeline&s;&s;e of the Creatures but a drop of that tran&s;cen|dent excellency that is in thee? O let it be my delight, as it is my felicity, to imi|tate the perfect innocency of thy life, that through the &s;weetne&s;s of thy merits my Sacrifices may be found plea&s;ing; and that, when this corruptible &s;hall be changed, and this mortall put on immor|tality, I may receive the reward of the faithfull, the inheritance of the ju&s;t, and be made partaker of everla&s;ting Glory in thy pre&s;ence for evermore.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="meditation">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Gene&s;. Chap. 28. v. 12.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And he dreamed, and behold a Lad|der &s;et upon the earth, and the top of it reached unto heaven; and be|hold the Angells of God a&s;cending and de&s;cending on it.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>NO &s;ooner had <HI>Jacob</HI> made a &s;tone his pillow (&s;uch is the happine&s;s of contented humility) but a glorious Vi&s;ion &s;alutes his eye: that obedience which brought him from, his father on a
<PB N="26" REF="15"> journey to <HI>Syria,</HI> became a nobler guide, and &s;hewed him the way to hea|ven; tho&s;e divine Travellers, the An|gels, a&s;cending and de&s;cending be|fore him. Happy &s;olitude, that met with &s;uch heavenly company! the hard|&s;hip of his lodging was abundantly re|compenced by this ble&s;&s;ed interview, when the God of his father, the Lord of all creatures, appeared unto him, re|viving him with the gratious &s;upports of his promi&s;es and providence. When I look upon the po&s;ture of this happy &s;leeper, I cannot chu&s;e but wonder at the vanity of tho&s;e, that expect vi&s;ions from heaven on their beds of down, and look for revelations amid&s;t their plea|&s;ures; their tender &s;pirits would grow fick, and out of love with piety, &s;hould it di&s;turb or contradict their ea&s;e: How quickly would their devotion catch cold, &s;hould they, with <HI>David,</HI> get up at midnight to pray? God drops not his miracles into the lap of the wanton, nor communicates the riches of his glo|ry, but to tho&s;e who are re&s;igned to him. <HI>John</HI> mu&s;t be an Exile, before he can be the Divine; and have conference with none but Angels, if he would be a fit Notary for heaven. Tho&s;e holy
<PB N="21" REF="15"> men, that had no other company than &s;olitude and their prayers, could not have traffick'd &s;o purely with heaven, had they not di&s;claimed all commerce with the world; and di&s;roabing them&s;elves of all &s;ecular intere&s;ts, obtained a no|bler furniture of grace, and became ve&s;|&s;els of honour.</P>
<P><HI>Jacob</HI> here had no other Canopy, but the aire; no other lights to his bed, than the lamps of heaven; and the Angels pa&s;s too and fro, as it were a guard to &s;ecure him. How &s;ecurely doth he re&s;t, that leans on Providence, and makes That the depo&s;itory of his &s;oul! Repo&s;e thus ble&s;t becomes a Sanctuary, nor need he fear to be di&s;turbed in his &s;leep, that makes God his keeper; or that his pious night-thoughts &s;hall have any other dreams, than tho&s;e of peace.</P>
<P><HI>Jacob</HI> had no &s;ooner clo&s;ed his eyes, but tho&s;e holy Porters unlock the Hea|vens, and invite him up; but 'tis by a ladder: We cannot climb heaven in a moment; the way to happine&s;s is but by degrees, and, as our Saviour tells us, 'tis narrow too. Every vertue is a &s;tep to eternity, and he is &s;o much nearer heaven, that daily treads his vices under. We cannot be too good proficients in a
<PB N="22" REF="16"> holy life, or thinke that in the &s;mall|e&s;t acts of piety we have enough to carry us to happine&s;&s;e: 'tis not a few &s;teps, but a con&s;tant progre&s;s that mounts us thither. O how bad is he that thinks him|&s;elfe too good to be made better.</P>
<P>The Promi&s;es of thy Glory are infinite, O Lord, and yet how carele&s;ly do we embrace them? Thou ha&s;t &s;hewen us the way unto thy Self, and yet we are not only unwilling but even weary of walk|ing to thee. Alas, Are the joyes of thy kingdome not worth the coming to? can we think to climbe up unto thy Throne by a lame &amp; idle Devotion? how nimbly do we pur&s;ue the vanities of the world, but pretend a faintne&s;&s;e in thy &s;ervice? We can run after the peri&s;hing concern|ments of this life, but make little or no progre&s;&s;e in the race, which Thou ha&s;t &s;et before us; Quicken us, O Lord, and make us more earne&s;t and zealous in thy &s;ervice; and as thou ha&s;t &s;ent thy &s;on to bring us to thy Self, do thou likewi&s;e &s;end thy Spirit to &s;anctifie us for. Thy &s;elf; and then we, who of our &s;elves can &s;carce move unto thine Altar, will, by the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of thy Grace, run the way of thy Commandements.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="meditation">
<PB N="23" REF="16">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Proverbs 18. v. 14.</HI></BIBL>
<P>But a Wounded Spirit who can beare?</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>NOt the pure&s;t temper, not the va&s;te&s;t Bulke, the world it &s;elf, that ho&s;pitall of &s;inners, cannot; for it groanes and travailes, it &s;elf, to be deli|vered. Heaven was no longer a place for tho&s;e ambitious &s;pirits, who ex|chang'd their glory for tho&s;e flames, which torture them not &s;o much as that infinite de&s;paire, which for ever &s;e|cludes, and &s;eque&s;ters them from it. No wonder &s;ome think, there is no other hell then this, for its torments are not to be matcht: Stakes or Gridirons are but flea-bites to this vulture: tortures of the newe&s;t fa&s;hion, are plea&s;ant Martyr|doms, ea&s;ie paines, compar'd to this. Tho&s;e dying mi&s;eries, do but &s;torme, and affright &s;en&s;e; whil&s;t this living death, this killing Life, di&s;playes its cruelties on a more heavenly object; and &s;triving to de&s;troy and rifle an Im|mortall part, makes death it &s;elfe a gentle murtherer to it. Skreeks of
<PB N="24" REF="17"> Owles that add blackne&s;&s;e to the very night it &s;elfe, groanes of parting &s;ouls that fill the eare, and room, with trem|bling Epitaphs, writt in characters mournful as the grave &amp; &s;ilence; are har|monies to the dying Elegies of a woun|ded &s;pirit, that breathes nothing but bleeding Satyrs again&s;t it &s;elfe. See how with <HI>David</HI> it goes mourning all the day, and all the night too, &s;urrounded with black and fatal Ideas, and turnes his bed into a bath, which tho&s;e weep|ing &s;prings, his eyes, have made; and in|&s;tead of bright and gentle aires, breathes nothing but dark &amp; trembling accents, which the bui&s;y Divell labours to re|found back in dolefull and de&s;pairing Ecchoes. How &s;adly doth it expo&s;tulate with heaven, My deare&s;t God, what is become of that Lovely attribute, thy Mercy? are the trea&s;ures of it &s;hut up from a poore &s;inner? and wilt thou be a God of mercy to the whole world, and wilt not to me!</P>
<P>O let me for ever dwell in dungeons deep beyond the reach and &s;ight of man, &s;o I may but enjoy the brightne&s;&s;e of thy face. Let me live more poore and di&s;con&s;olate then
<HI>Job</HI> upon his Dung|hill
<PB N="25" REF="17"> in a naked and for&s;aken deformity, &s;o I may but hide my &s;pots, and put on a Beauty in my &s;oul, which may invite thine eye again.</P>
<P>Who ever thou art that now riotts it in the world, and dallie&s;t with damnati|on, did&s;t thou but know the agonies of guilt, the cruelties of a Murdering &s;in, and the &s;tings thy plea&s;ures leave behind them, how quickly woulde&s;t thou &s;a|crifice thy life to nobler &s;ervices, and employ thy time in &s;weeter thoughts; Wert thou now to die, how would the terrours of an evill Life affright thee, when every &s;in would appear a Me&s;|&s;enger of horrour, and the flattering world prove but an infernall Comfor|ter.</P>
<P>Shew me that Gyant-Con&s;cience this would not at length Ma&s;ter, that fro|zen &s;oul the&s;e fla&s;hes would not melt and bla&s;t againe, that Steel-backt &s;inner whom gentle loades will not at length numerou&s;ly over-burden.</P>
<P>The world knowes not a mi&s;ery like it, the terrours of the Grave are trifles to it, which could it but &s;hroud the Guilty &s;oul, and in it's dark and &s;oli|tary regions promi&s;e a freedome from
<PB N="26" REF="18"> future Mi&s;ery, how willingly will it buy its peace with death, and beg its &s;harp|e&s;t Dart for a &s;peedier pa&s;&s;age: lo&s;&s;e of friends or fortune, Cro&s;&s;es to the very bone are but Scratches to the&s;e wounds: give me a Catalogue of afflictions and there is none I think, except this, which is not tolerable: <HI>But a wounded &s;pirit who can bear?</HI></P>
<P>How un&s;upportable, O Lord, is the burden of a Wounded Spirit? how ter|rible are the Stings of Con&s;cience, and the apprehen&s;ions of thy wrath? how mi&s;erable is he that &s;ecurely wraps him&s;elfe in Sinne, and grows in&s;en&s;ible of his guilt till the memory of his Crimes revive it; and when death puts him in mind of the World to come, hath nothing but the horrours of his Life before him. Thou ha&s;t plac't an impartial Regi&s;ter in our bo&s;omes which no flattery can bribe, nor teares Silence, from reminding us of thy Ju|&s;tice; and yet how many are there who&s;e Leviathan-con&s;ciences, break the Silver Cords of thy Law like threds of Towe; and are &s;o farre from acknowledging their guilt, that they are hardned in im|penitence? But teach me, O Lord, as I
<PB N="27" REF="18"> &s;inne &s;o to &s;orrow dayly; that &s;o when I &s;hall come and appeare before Thee, I may find no other terrours, no other &s;ins my accu&s;ers, then tho&s;e which I have, if not throughly crucified, yet at lea&s;t &s;eriou&s;ly repented of in my &s;elfe before.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="meditation">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Eccle&s;. Chap. 12. v. 13.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Feare God and Keepe his Commande|ments: for this is the whole Duty of Man.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>ANd yet how few are there that per|forme it, which yet is not &s;o much our duty, as it ought to be our de|light. He that hath but once got the habit of adoring his Maker, will quick|ly finde Religion but a plea&s;ure; and that Law which &s;eemes &s;o hard and un|plea&s;ing to the World, will be but a re|creation to his Soul.</P>
<P>But alas, How little is there of <HI>Davids</HI> piety among&s;t us now, when in&s;tead of delighting in Gods Law, we deface it more; &amp; are &s;o far from meditating in it either day or night, that we never think
<PB N="28" REF="19"> upon it at all: 'Tis the duty of the world now to &s;in confidently, and an argu|ment of much valour, to bani&s;h this ti|morous religion of fearing either God or his Law. The Preachers doctrine is now grown wor&s;e then a paradox, mere Apocrypha, 'tis here&s;ie to revive it. To tell us of our duty, is to &s;candalize the times, that &s;o officiou&s;ly break the Law.</P>
<P>And no wonder there are &s;o many Athei&s;ts; there was never &s;uch a time to engender them as now. Track Antiquity to its fir&s;t ri&s;e, and you cannot match this age again. The world never multi|plied &s;o fa&s;t in &s;in; abhominable Sects, like Colonies, new plant the earth; pro|phane&s;s is grown hereditary, and &s;prouts out by propagation: &s;o that, in time, po&s;terity may perhaps become Heathens. Were God and his promi&s;e mutable, a deluge would be but a &s;leight puni&s;hment. We do not onely &s;in, but glory in it more, whil&s;t &s;ome, not con|tent to be private and &s;ilent Athei&s;ts, proclaim it loud, and are mad to have the credit of being known &s;o; as if we could not be ingenious enough, unle&s;s we denyed our Maker. No wonder,
<PB N="29" REF="19"> religion is out of tune, when there is no harmony of a Church; of that Chri|&s;tianity &s;ounds low, when common Morality is not heard.</P>
<P>And yet it is a le&s;&s;on we cannot learn too well, a tribute we cannot pay too much, too often. We owe our beeings to the bounty of his hand, what homage then can we better pay, then that, which by glorifying of him, purcha&s;eth a Crown for our &s;elves.</P>
<P>Tell me, ye blind followers of the world, what's the glory ye pretend to? Ye that laugh at heaven, and make di|vinity a mantle for unrighteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, that, with the Phari&s;ee, count formali|ty your religion, and make an out&s;ide-piety your duty. Ala&s;s, Heaven is not got by pious frauds, guilded crimes, or fortunate tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions; nor the divine Eye to be deluded with a painted zeal. 'Tis not a pretended &s;anctity that can cloathe us with immortality, nor a fa|&s;hionable devotion onely, that will carry us to heaven. How mi&s;erable is he, who&s;e god is the world, and makes it his religion to neglect his Maker.</P>
<P><PB N="30" REF="20">What did&s;t Thou be&s;tow our rea&s;on on us for (O Lord,) but to harken unto the voice of thy Law, that the Cele&s;ti|all Oratory of thy Word, might at lea&s;t win us from an ignorant prophane&s;&s;e? Shall Heathens that had no other end no other reward for their piety, than &s;ome temporary applau&s;e or the in|ward triumphs of their Spirits for do|ing well, out-&s;trip us in the beauties of a Morall life; and we that have high|er and purer hopes, be &s;carce hone&s;t for thy &s;ake? Shall they that knew Thee not be more pa&s;&s;ionately Good, than we that have found out Heaven and expect eternity to &s;ucceed? Though it was not in the power of Man to find Thee, till Thou did&s;t reveal thy &s;elfe in Chri&s;t, yet now having &s;o richly and fully &s;hewn us the Trea&s;ures of thy Love, &s;hall we not &s;trive to doe &s;omething for thy Glory? Make us, we be&s;eech Thee, to con&s;ider the advantages that are in thy Service, the happine&s;&s;e that at|tends obedience, and that Crown which is the reward of Faith, that &s;o out af|fections being mortified unto the&s;e pe|ri&s;hing objects here below, may be en|livened onely with de&s;ires after tho&s;e
<PB N="31" REF="20"> Eternall Excellencyes that are in Thee.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="meditation">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Luke Chap. X. v. 25.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And a certaine Lawyer &s;tood up and tempted him, Saying, Ma&s;ter what &s;hall I doe to Inherite Eternall Life?</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>IT was the be&s;t Que&s;tion that ever he put, and gain'd him more then all his Pleading ever did be&s;ides; nor could it be any di&s;honour to him, from a Lawyer to turne Sollicitor in &s;uch a &s;uite.</P>
<P>This was the highe&s;t Ca&s;e he ever met with; for 'twas his Soul's; and where hee could better be his owne Clyent, then Coun&s;ellour. All his Law could never have divided it, had Hee not &s;o fortunately met with Divinity it &s;elfe to re&s;olve him.</P>
<P>How blinde are they that thinke to finde out the hidden My&s;teries of Sal|vation, by their owne &s;hallow brain; that grope for happine&s;&s;e and eternity
<PB N="32" REF="21"> in Natures bo&s;ome onely; that make <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> their Bible, and goe no further than his <HI>Ethicks</HI> to learne Divinity, who&s;e curio&s;ity is their Religion, and triflingly pour out the happine&s;&s;e of their time; on &s;ome Learned Manu&s;cript, Sacrificing their Nobler Meditations to Nature onely; They &s;tudy the World &s;o long that they forget Heaven, and are &s;o taken with the Pen of &s;ome Witty Mortall, that they &s;eldome peru&s;e Scripture, that Language of Life, the Cele&s;tiall Oratory of the Spirit.</P>
<P>The good Lawyer hath &s;o long la|boured in other mens bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, he had almo&s;t forgot his owne; his many mo|tions had well nigh talkt away his better part: 'twas now time to &s;peak for him&s;elfe; and, after all his wrang|ling, thinke of a VVritt of Ea&s;e.</P>
<P>How naturall are the Thoughts and Enquiries after happine&s;&s;e in every one? The very Pagans would have a Paradi&s;e, as well as gods, of their owne making; and rather then want a felicity, they would phancy an Eli|zium.</P>
<P>'Tis the genuine Ambition of the
<PB N="33" REF="21"> Soul to thir&s;t for &s;omething beyond the World: how vain are they, then, that make the World their happine&s;&s;e, and place Heaven in their Injoy|ments heere? how Inqui&s;itive are &s;ome Lawyers of the World, who&s;e que|&s;tion it is, How they may grow Rich, who&s;e Divinity it is to become weal|thy, and count a good purcha&s;e the be&s;t inheritance. See how the Ambi|tious man gapes after preferment, and places his felicity in his fortune, making honour his Heaven, wor&s;hipping the Glit|tering world, and &s;els Eternity for a title.</P>
<P>See how the Covetous wretch locks up Heaven in his Che&s;t, and ties his happine&s;&s;e in a bagge: who&s;e Diety is his Money, and &s;till his Que&s;tion is, how to get more. See how the &s;en|&s;uali&s;t Courts the world and makes plea|&s;ure his happine&s;&s;e, that &s;pends a good inheritance on his lu&s;ts, but never &s;eeks how to get a better.</P>
<P>So &s;adly do our vices drown Religion that we are inqui&s;itive after any thing but Heaven: we all run after happine&s;&s;e, but cannot over-take it, becau&s;e it is not to be gra&s;p't within the armes of Mortality. 'Tis not all the flattering
<PB N="34" REF="22"> honours and guilded frailties of the World, that can match Eternity, and bring us to a never dying Man&s;ion: we mu&s;t looke for &s;omewhat that is as im|mortall as our Soules, more durable then time, and cannot receive a peri|od with our breath. 'Tis every Mans Ca&s;e as well as the Lawyer's; and every Lawyer's as well as his: 'tis a Que&s;tion that will become any Profe&s;&s;ion, for it concernes all to enquire betimes what &s;hall they doe to inherit Eternall Life?</P>
<P>With what plea&s;ure, O Lord, do we embrace and runne after our earthly ad|vantages; but &s;eldome reflect upon that time when wee and all things with us &s;hall receive a period? Wee can entertaine any thing with more delight, then that which concernes us mo&s;t, the happine&s;&s;e of the World to Come.</P>
<P>Wee are more earne&s;t after the peri|&s;hing intere&s;ts of this Life then in lay|ing up a trea&s;ure for eternity, and ma|king provi&s;ion for our inheritance a|bove: We be&s;eech thee, make us to &s;ee the little u&s;e, but the great vani|ty that is in this World; that &s;o the
<PB N="35" REF="22"> plea&s;ures of it may not &s;teale away our thoughts from the Contemplation of a Better.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="meditation">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Mathew Chap. 15. v. 28.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And he &s;aid unto her, O Woman, Great is thy faith.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>HAppy &s;he, that was found worthy &s;o great an expre&s;&s;ion! her female tongue made amends for all its former follies, having now by its pious an&s;wers merited &s;o divine an encomium. Poor woman, how rich was &s;he, in who&s;e brea&s;t was minted a trea&s;ure which Kings and Princes compared, are beggers to. All Pale&s;tine with its balm and &s;pices, could not furni&s;h her with an antidote to revive her child and charme away the Divell. See the miracles of Faith, that could &s;ave two &s;ouls the, Mother's and the Daughter's!</P>
<P>So miraculous that even a graine of it can remove Mountaines, levell Hills, and plaine the mo&s;t rugged and lofty Soul into an humble and fruitfull val|ley.</P>
<P><PB N="36" REF="23">'Twas this that &s;moothed the &s;urface of the Ocean, that made the waves a walk, and turned their furious curles into a pavement for <HI>Peter</HI>'s feet. 'Twas the Centurion's faith that &s;tav'd death away from his &s;ervant, which all his Guard could never have kept off; that re&s;tored the blind mans eyes again, and made him &s;ee better than nature could have done. All the wonders of the Go&s;|pell were &s;till clo&s;ed up with, Thy faith hath healed thee. And yet that Faith; which then wrought &s;o many miracles, is now become the greate&s;t miracle it &s;elf, whil&s;t &s;ome take the &s;igne for the thing; they place the greatne&s;&s;e of their faith in the greatne&s;&s;e of their works, and have &s;o good an opinion of them|&s;elves, that they think it faith enough meerly to do well. Others hope, to be canonized for their doctrines, though not for their lives, &s;corn the company of all religious duties, and think to travell to heaven by their faith, which is alone. Obedience, true &s;orrow for &s;in, that love|ly robe of a mourning &s;oul, and the no|bler ornaments of our &s;piritual warfare, are but empty ceremonies, &amp; both the&s;e men's Creeds are of their own making:
<PB N="37" REF="23"> but heaven is not got by &s;peculation onely; He that placeth his faith in his braine, and thinks religion hath not its <HI>agenda</HI> too, may like <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> view and talke of <HI>Canaan</HI> a farre off; but never enter it. Our Obedience mu&s;t be low|der then our Preten&s;ions; 'tis not a noi&s;e that will Saint us, 'tis not our Profe&s;&s;ions onely but our Practices too, that proclaime our faith.</P>
<P>Though our Merits cannot reach heaven, yet our indeavours may, if un|feigned; becau&s;e there is a mercy that will pardon our defects: all the blo&s;&s;oms of our Piety &s;prout out from this &s;tem, and he that either believes or loves his Saviour, cannot think he &s;trives too much to live well.</P>
<P>This was the womans Faith here, and &s;he had &s;carce pour'd it out with her Teares, when
<HI>Satan</HI> all affrighted for|&s;akes his hold, not able to abide the Ec|cho of its &s;ound, &s;econded by the di|viner accent of our Saviours Lips. And this faith mu&s;t be our Amulet again&s;t &s;in, and by its diviner charmes drive <HI>Satan</HI> to his chaine: 'Tis this that prepares heaven for us, that makes us &s;urvive our toombs, become Im|mortall
<PB N="38" REF="24"> in our graves, and promi&s;es eternity to our du&s;t; tis this that &s;eales our happine&s;&s;e and brings us there where the &s;ame Je&s;us &s;hall receive us with an
<HI>Euge</HI> to his Glory,</P>
<P>Thou &s;ente&s;t thy Son, O Lord, to die for us that by beleeving in him wee might have life. He under whom thou ha&s;t put all things, was plea&s;ed to put him&s;elf under them and left his Throne to be Crucified for our &s;oules, that we might receive the Triumphs of his pa&s;|&s;ion, and be partakers of his Glory. O let not tho&s;e mi&s;eries of our natures which fir&s;t invited thy mercy, make us uncapable of it: let not tho&s;e that knew Thee not but by thy miracles, be more zealous in their acknowledging thy goodne&s;&s;e, then we who by the manife&s;|tation of thy love plead an intere&s;t in thy blood. But grant that we may live in a perpetuall Gratulation to thy merits, who came&s;t from the Bo&s;ome of thy Father to &s;ave our &s;ouls. To this end do thou give unto us that faith without which it is impo&s;&s;ible to plea&s;e thee, and with which thou give&s;t every other grace: teach us &s;o to rely on thy mercy that we
<PB N="39" REF="24"> may not neglect the meanes, or thinke that a Dead faith will carry us to that life, which Thou ha&s;t promi&s;ed to none but &s;uch as worke out their &s;alvation with feare and trembling.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="meditation">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Iohn: Chap. 20. v. 11</HI></BIBL>
<P>And &s;he stopped downe, and looked into the Sepulcher.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>SEe how religiou&s;ly <HI>Mary</HI> &s;toopes to behold her Saviour in his Toomb, whil&s;t her yonger Si&s;ters that &s;pend more time on their dre&s;&s;e then their devotion will &s;carce kneel to their praiers. 'Twas not an apparition of Angels in the &s;hape of Gho&s;ts, nor the mournfull &s;ilence of a toomb, where dwelt no other object then death, cloathed all in horrour, that could fright her from her contempla|tion.</P>
<P>See the power of Divine love that can even with plea&s;ure looke that in the face, who&s;e very a&s;pect onely &s;trikes the world to palene&s;&s;e; and &s;tand not onely at its doore, but enter into its chamber to meet heaven; and without feare in
<PB N="40" REF="25"> the &s;ad and &s;olitatry vault, repo&s;e it &s;elf among the bones and carka&s;es of the Dead, and make a Coffin its pillow till the morne. Thus the martyrs triumph'd in their flames, and were charioted up in raptures by fire; as if the greedie ele|ment had warm'd them only. How nobly did they meet death, and &s;ang Anthems to the mu&s;ick of their Chaines, as if they had been rather Prie&s;ts then &s;acri|fices in that cruel &s;olemnity!</P>
<P>How &s;weetly did <HI>Stephen</HI> clo&s;e his eyes after he had &s;een Je&s;us, and heaven opened; and then cheerefully expired under an heape of &s;tones; a monument richer than the proude&s;t marble, having with his owne blood writ him&s;elfe this Epitaph, the be&s;t of any;
<HI>I am the fir&s;t Martyr.</HI></P>
<P>Thus the Saints made their torments their plea&s;ure, and turned death with all its terrours into a &s;cene of mirth. 'Twas not the rage of Tyrants, nor the fury of the mo&s;t ingenious kinds of torture, that could force them from the love of Je&s;us.</P>
<P>He that loves his Saviour will with <HI>Mary</HI> not only &s;toop, but &s;tep into a
<PB N="41" REF="25"> Toomb, and pa&s;&s;ionately embrace even a Coffin for his &s;ake, he will looke on death but as the Me&s;&s;enger of his Glory the Harbinger of his happine&s;&s;e; and therefore with St. <HI>Paul</HI> all in rap|tures, all in flames, beg a di&s;&s;olution; whil&s;t his &s;oul full of nothing but ap|proaching heaven is all in exta&s;ies tran&s;|ported thither.</P>
<P>How hardly can we be per&s;waded, O Lord, to for&s;ake the vani&s;hing plea&s;ures of this life for thy glory and our owne happine&s;&s;e? How unwillingly &s;hould we lay downe our lives for thy &s;ake or the Go&s;pells, that can &s;o hardly part with one &s;in in obedience to thy Law? Thy yoake is ea&s;y, and thy &s;ervice a perfect freedome; and yet we count thy &s;an|ctuary a pri&s;on, thy law a trouble, and can &s;carce &s;acrifice &s;o much time to our devotions as to pay unto Thee the hon|our due unto thy name. Pardon and pity this Corruption of our frames; and teach us whether we live or die; to delight in that for which thou mad'&s;t us; even to glorifie Thee: that &s;o when&s;oever this earthly tabernacle &s;hall be di&s;&s;olved we may receive our change with joy and
<PB N="42" REF="26"> be carried by Angells to an everla&s;ting inheritance.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="meditation">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL>Joh. Chap. 11. v. 25.</BIBL>
<P><HI>Je&s;us wept.</HI></P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>O Who can hear this and not di&s;&s;olve all in pious &s;howrs? Can the mo&s;t mo&s;t frozen eye read this and not thaw its &s;elfe all in &s;treames? He that hath not &s;o much piety as to weep for him&s;elf or his &s;ins, yet let him have &s;o much hu|manity as to accompany his Saviour's teares.</P>
<P>And yet &s;ee how the marble Jewes, in&s;tead of &s;econding, cen&s;ure his greife with a, Could not he that re&s;tored the eyes of the Blind, have kept Lazarus's open?</P>
<P>No wounder they would not be mourners with him, who were to be murderers of him, and be but little &s;en&s;ible or compa&s;&s;ionate of his teares who&s;e cruelty was &s;carce &s;atisfied with dearer drops, when his whole body be|came an eye that wept blood.</P>
<P>And yet, Divine&s;t Saviour, how many
<PB N="43" REF="26"> are there that beare thy title, but indeed are Jewes, that pretend to wear the livery of thy name, but blot out the golden characters of thy cro&s;s. How cold+ly mu&s;t they needs be affected with thy teares, that are &s;carce &s;en&s;ible of thy &s;ufferings; and be but carele&s;&s;e of thy life, who are &s;o forgetfull of thy death?</P>
<P>O <HI>Mary,</HI> how richly are thy teares now required, tho&s;e eyes that became moving baths for thy Saviour's feet, did &s;ure now run over to &s;ee His brim-full and di&s;till drops, who&s;e very inbalming revived thy Brother.</P>
<P>O Lazarus! did&s;t thou but know thy glory, thou would&s;t dye &s;till, to be &s;o lamented, and willingly be buried in thy grave again to be &s;o honorably bedewed.</P>
<P>No que&s;tion, when thou wert a &s;pect|ator of his &s;ufferings, but thou did&s;t exceed the women in their teares, and &s;acrifice thy Eyes in &s;howers to thy divine Re&s;torer.</P>
<P>This was indeed the greare&s;t funerall that ever the world &s;aw, or is like to &s;ee; for the Lord him&s;elfe was a Mourner here.</P>
<P>Divine&s;t Saviour, thou wept'&s;t &s;o tho&s;e
<PB N="44" REF="27"> that could not, and for many that would not weep for them&s;elves, and would&s;t not denie thy tears who poured&s;t out thy life: thou art &s;o in initly good, thou de&s;ire&s;t but unfained &s;orrow for &s;in to excu&s;e the gilt thereof; and yet &s;o farre are we (&s;uch is our mi&s;ery) from accom|panying thy teares, that we can &s;carce weep for our owne &s;ins. O teach us, in a pious gratitude to do &s;omething for thy &s;ake, who ha&s;t done &s;o much for ours; that as thou ha&s;t glorified thy &s;elfe by our redemption, wee may al&s;o glorifie thee by a con&s;tant thanksgiving; and may no more &s;ell our&s;elves to &s;in, that have been &s;o dearly bought for heaven and the joys of thy kingdome.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="meditation">
<PB N="45" REF="27">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>John: 12. v. 2.</HI></BIBL>
<P>But Lazarus was one of tho&s;e, that &s;ate at the table with him.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>CAn the dead eate then? was not Lazarus but new wound up in his grave, and is he &s;et at meale? Is his toombe turn'd into a table? and does he wipe his hands in the napkin that bound up his head? He that was ready to have fea&s;ted wormes now fea&s;ts him&s;elfe, and is ri&s;en from his dead companions a gue&s;t among&s;t rhe living.</P>
<P>We read indeed of &s;ome that all pale and livele&s;s, were &s;tretcht out for a coffin but reviv'd again, when that little &s;park of life, that lay glimmering in the expi|ring embers, in a corner of the panting heart recovered its flames. But here death and <HI>Lazarus</HI> had imbrac't too clo|&s;ely to be &s;o parted. His &s;oul had likely taken its flight before, and his body lay &s;o long in his mothers armes, 'twas ju&s;t di&s;&s;olving into its principles againe: and behold him now above, ground, as if but newly ri&s;en from his bed, all fre&s;h with life and vigour: he hath changed his chamber, and from the lower
<PB N="46" REF="28"> regions of the other world is returnd to his old lodgings, where he is now at &s;upper throng'd with multitudes of people that come not for almes, but to be &s;pectators of this wonder. Had the end of the world been then, or a re&s;ur|rection of others for company,
<HI>Lazarus</HI> at his arrivall to the world againe, might well have phan&s;ied with his countrymen, that the &s;econd life &s;hould be on earth, and heaven kept in plea&s;ures here.</P>
<P>No, <HI>Lazarus,</HI> though now alive thou mu&s;t dye againe to live for ever; nor mu&s;t thy revivall now, con ummate thine, but manife&s;t Gods glory; though it be thine too, above expre&s;&s;ion, to have been thus the &s;ubject of it. Thou need&s;t not feare to dye againe having done it once, nor doubt but that hee who rai&s;ed thee now, will do it hereafter too. Did&s;t thou ever thinke to have injoyed this world againe; or to have been freed from thy impri&s;onment, till the great and generall delivery? 'Twas beyond thy Si&s;ter's faith till &s;he &s;aw it; and now having had two lives, if thou &s;pente&s;t the former on thy &s;elfe, or the world, thou did&s;t wholly &s;acrifice the latter to thy divine Re&s;torer.</P>
<P><PB N="47" REF="28">How many expiring &s;oules, all fright|ed with the horror of their crimes, could they but have their &s;pan a little length|ned; or, after an age's durance in their graves, but revive a litle before their doome; how gladly would they turne their &s;ongs of plea&s;ure into penitentiall anthems, their profane notes into di|viner ayres; and tune out their lives in pious &s;traines.</P>
<P>But ala&s;&s;e! he that cannot imploy this life well, in vaine expects to do it in another, which he is not worthy of might it be obtained. He who&s;e piety here hath reacht him a ta&s;te of heaven, a glimp&s;e of happine&s;&s;e, will be &s;o little in love with the vanities of this world, that in&s;tead of de&s;iring a longer or another life here, he will be but ambitious of leaving This.</P>
<P>It was by thy power, O Lord, That <HI>Lazarus,</HI> carried out to his grave, &s;hould returne alive. That Mournefull expre&s;&s;ion (thy friend is dead) drew thee to the di&s;covery of thy love and power, in his re&s;urrection. O let there be the &s;ame concurrence of thy Grace and &s;pi|it, to the rai&s;ing and reforming of my
<PB N="48" REF="29"> &s;oul to a new and holy life; it was the mi&s;ery of expiring man that drew thee from the bo&s;ome of thy Father to re|deem him. O let the Scepter of thy word and truth be as powerfull in its heavenly influence upon my &s;oul, as the Prophet's &s;taffe that reviv'd the dead; that &s;o dying daily I may live for ever, and being p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">epared for my death, may enter into that life from which nothing but &s;in can exclude me.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="meditation">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Joh. Chap. 13. v. 23.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Now there was leaning on Je&s;us bo&s;ome one of his Di&s;ciples whom he loved.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>SEe how &s;weetly is the Di&s;ciple Couch't? how boldly doth he make his Ma&s;ter's brea&s;t his pillow, loading him with a double burden, his &s;ins, and him&s;elfe?</P>
<P>Ble&s;t familiarity! Would not Kings leave their thrones to have been in his room, and ambitiou&s;ly for&s;ake their Golden Canopies, for &s;u<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">h a tepo&s;ure? Here might the va&s;te&s;t ambition both &s;eat and &s;atiate it &s;elfe without a&s;piring
<PB N="49" REF="29"> higher: the greate&s;t Avarice might here have found a trea&s;ure beyond which it could not cover. What Lover would not &s;corne the lap of the mo&s;t admired female, for &s;uch an enjoyment, and be|come a Diviner Amori&s;t.</P>
<P>Was not this Di&s;ciple above the re&s;t? If this be not a precedency, what is? a dignity which none be&s;ides him&s;elfe &s;ucceeded in.</P>
<P>Happy Favorite! Who would not have trampled Crownes and Scepters for &s;uch preferment? Had
<HI>Mary,</HI> in who&s;e bo&s;ome (once Love's Cradle) &s;o many wantons lull'd them&s;elves, that turn'd her eyes into Living Mineralls, and her haire into a towell of the newe&s;t fa&s;hi|on, been graced with &s;uch a priviledge, not her eyes onely but the noble&s;t rivo|lets of her blood would have over|flowne, all tran&s;ported out in gratefull &s;treames. How plea&s;ingly doth the Di&s;|ciple lay his eare to that Heart which was the life of the world, as if he would count its motions, and by its Divine pul&s;e be rockt a&s;leep in raptures?</P>
<P>Behold, O my &s;oul, and &s;ee in the po|&s;ture of this happy man, the Emblem of
<PB N="50" REF="30"> thy owne felicity, the place of thy re|ception and future Glory. Art thou am|bitious of it here, then behold him on his Cro&s;&s;e with his armes extended to receive thee: O run and rowle thy &s;elfe on that Brea&s;t, the fear of Love, wherein lies all the trea&s;ures of thy happine&s;&s;e. Thou ha&s;t a priviledge even beyond the Di&s;ciple, for thou may&s;t not only leane and depend, but embrace him too: In|circle him now then with the choi&s;e&s;t endeerments of thy &s;oule, the mo&s;t pa&s;|&s;ionate raptures of a Lively faith; and &s;o the &s;ame Je&s;us that permitted the Di&s;|ciple here to lean on his brea&s;t, will re|ceive thee likewi&s;e in his arms hereafter, and place thee for ever in the bo&s;ome of his Glory.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="meditation">
<PB N="51" REF="30">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Math. Chap. 16. v. 26.</HI></BIBL>
<P>For what is a man profited, if he &s;hall gaine the whole world, and lo&s;e his owne &s;oul?</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>ANd yet men had rather lo&s;e their &s;ouls than the world. He for whom the world was made, makes him|&s;elfe for the world, di&s;appointing him|&s;elfe of all his Glory, and by a more then bruti&s;h tran&s;mutation, buries the Divinity of his &s;oul all in earth.</P>
<P>Heare this then ye, Inhabitants of the world, yee that fowle all in &s;en&s;e, and climb no higher then the elements for Heaven; that can pawne your &s;ouls for a fading plea&s;ure, and count a delightfull mi&s;ery your felicity.</P>
<P>Hear this, thou a&s;piring Vapour, who&s;e ambition elevates thee to con&s;ume thy &s;elfe; thou that wilt wor&s;hip Satan for a Kingdome, and do him homage for a Crowne, paying him a revenue worth a thou&s;and worlds, the immortall tri|bute of a &s;oul; till thy triumphs be tur|ned to torments, thy revellings of hon|our
<PB N="52" REF="31"> into regrets of horrour, and thy Chaire of &s;tate into a bed of flames.</P>
<P>Heare this, thou Sen&s;uali&s;t, who&s;e &s;oul is as unconfined as Brutes, that pante&s;t for plea&s;ure more then ever the Camae|lion did after aire, thou that wade&s;t all in &s;in, and overwhelme&s;t Morality in floods of vice, bathing thy &s;elfe in tho&s;e wanton &s;treames that drown thee, that counte&s;t religion but a fable, the lives of Saints a melancholly Romance, and laughe&s;t at heaven as if eternity were but a fancy.</P>
<P>Heare this, O thou Mi&s;er, whom the Silver Rhetorick of a bag can court to Hell, and art greedily wonne to damne thy &s;elfe at the Mu&s;ick of a pur&s;e; that can&s;t gaze thy &s;elfe blind at the &s;plen|dour of a Gemme and cur&s;e&s;t Geography for de&s;cribing riches beyond thy reach; wi&s;hing thy &s;elfe an Indian that thou mighte&s;t dwell among Trea&s;ures, and in|habit Mines, till thy very haire became &s;ilver indeed, till thou thy &s;elfe went all turnd to Ore, and and every Bone into a wedge of Gold.</P>
<P>Heare this, ye Gallants, that are &s;o en|amounted with the fa&s;hions of this world, that ye have lo&s;t all Idaea's of a
<PB N="53" REF="31"> better ye that live meerly to plea&s;e your &s;en&s;e, and feed your luxury with the curious martyrdom of a thou&s;and creatures. As ye have purer veins, have purer pa&s;&s;ions too, and have nobler in|clinations for heaven: the riches of your attire wil not cloathe you with immor|tality: &s;hould you &s;ell your e&s;tates when ye die, 'twould not purcha&s;e paradi&s;e. It was the be&s;t &s;peech the old Oratour ever uttered when he &s;aid,
<HI>he would not buy repentance &s;o deare.</HI> 'Twas but an extemporary expre&s;&s;ion, and yet all his Rhetorick could never match it: that one &s;traine was worth all his Orations and will outfame the labours of his pen.</P>
<P>Could we treble the lives of Patri|archs, and with them the plea&s;ures of the grande&s;t Epicures; Could we, like <HI>Cleopatra,</HI> in a di&s;&s;olv'd pearl &s;wallow the trea&s;ure and plea&s;ure of a kingdome at a draught; or command the Creatures as peremptorily as ever the Centurion did his &s;ervants; had we all the enjoy|ments we can either wi&s;h or fancy, what ever the ambition of the mo&s;t vaine and carnall appetite can long for; were the whole earth turnd into a pa|radi&s;e, or a con&s;tant &s;pring beautifying
<PB N="54" REF="32"> its face. Could we live and not grow old, or being old not feele the mi&s;eries of age; could we unwind time againe and rever&s;e it's wheels, &s;top the coele&s;|tiall Mercuries, the po&s;ts of heaven, in their cour&s;e and &s;et the Great Clock of the world backward againe; nay, were our bodies as durable as our &s;oules, that we could out live Time it &s;elf, and be above ground, even when the world &s;hall re|ceive its period: yet what &s;hall we get, if after all our imaginary felicities and &s;liding contentments, we become a &s;a|crifice for hell, enli&s;ted in the cur&s;ed catalogue of the damned crue, a victime for eternal flames, lo&s;t for ever from God and Heaven. Then tell me who ever thou art and aske <HI>Dives</HI> him&s;elf, What is man profited though he &s;hould gaine the whole world, and lo&s;e his owne &s;oule?</P>
<P>What is there in the world, O Lord, that we &s;hould love it thus, weary our &s;elves in vaine de&s;ires and make the plea&s;ures of this life our felicity? How hard is it for him that is a &s;tranger to thy law to perceive the emptine&s;&s;e of tho&s;e enjoyments he hath &s;o long rowled
<PB N="55" REF="32"> him&s;elfe in, to re&s;i&s;t the tempting ad|vantages of &s;in, and undervalew the fla|&s;hes of this life for that glory Thou wilt impart. My God, teach me &s;o to en|joy the world that I lo&s;e not Thee, let the ble&s;&s;ings thou be&s;tovve&s;t quicken and increa&s;e, not dul my devotion; rai&s;e up my obedience not drowne my gra|titude: that &s;o the vanities of the world may be my &s;corne, and the joyes of hea|ven my onely ambition; that I may ne|ver for a peri&s;hing fruition in this life lo&s;e both my &s;oule, and thy grace, to|gether.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="meditation">
<PB N="56" REF="33">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Matth. Chap. 5. v. 8.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Ble&s;&s;ed are the pure in heart: for they &s;hall &s;ee God.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>WHo then would not &s;trive to be|come pure? No wonder <HI>David,</HI> was &s;o earne&s;t for a clean heart, and a right Spirit: if this be the reward of Pi|ety who would not become religious? Ble&s;t Spirits! how happy, how pure are ye, that behold the face of your Heaven|ly Father, who would not labour to im|itate you heer, that he might be like you there, and po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e joyes &s;uch as rap|tures never knew. Shall the fal&s;e and treacherous vanities of the World &s;teale away our hearts, and rob us of the hopes of this Glory, the fruition of this Sight?</P>
<P>A Sight, in Compari&s;on whereof the royalties of the World, the triumphs and &s;plendours of the eye, and the beau|ty of the whole Creation is not worth the looking at. A &s;ight, which no eye ever &s;aw, but may, if it do not blindly lo&s;e it &s;elfe on objects heere. No Ear ever heard its perfect de&s;cription; but
<PB N="57" REF="33"> may the Harmony and Halelujahs of it, if it bow not to the charms of &s;inne and the mu&s;ick of the fle&s;h.</P>
<P>'Tis a &s;ight, who&s;e Ideae cannot be drawn by the mo&s;t lively, and &s;ubtile Speculations of any Schola&s;tick brain though never &s;o Angelical; 'tis not fancy but piety can reach it.</P>
<P>The Divine Traveller St. <HI>Paul</HI> him|&s;elfe, though newly there, could not give us a Copie of it; and Scripture Characters it out but in Similitudes, to &s;hew how infinitely tran&s;cendent is that Glory which is &s;o much above ex|pre&s;&s;ion, &s;o much above all com|prehen&s;ion. Were all the Diamonds the earth is mother of, mu&s;tred to a Splendour they would not match the &s;malle&s;t glance of the Sun's eye: and yet that noble Luminary &s;urrounded with &s;o many waiting Starrs, that begge their lu&s;tre from him, is but a &s;parke to the Brightne&s;&s;e of of His face.</P>
<P>Who then would &s;acrifice that part to the World, which may become the in&s;trument of &s;o much happine&s;&s;e? and &s;uffer the extravagancies of his blood to revell there, where nobler pa&s;&s;ions and flames &s;hould triumph?</P>
<P><PB N="58" REF="34">He that would dwell among the Spirits of the ju&s;t, mu&s;t teach his own to become &s;o; and turne his body to a Temple, wherein his heart mu&s;t be the the Altar and Sacrifice too; or rather a kinde of <HI>Sanctum Sanctforum,</HI> for the choi&s;e&s;t Gifts of the Spirit, to inha|bite.</P>
<P>The Seat of Life mu&s;t be turn'd into the Seat of Love, and the pallace of the Spirits into a Court of Graces, and then that part which (as Naturali&s;ts ob&s;erve) is the fir&s;t that lives, and the la&s;t that dyes, &s;hall become purely vitall, and not dye at all.</P>
<P>Nothing but a Trinity can fill this Triangle, which we mu&s;t therefore &s;hape to the pure&s;t forme, and teach it in all its pul&s;es, to beate nothing but Heaven and Sanctity. Our brea&s;ts mu&s;t become Clo&s;&s;ets of Devotion and our hearts the Cabinets of innocency and prayer, enricht with that great diamond, a lively faith, the Lamp at which all our &s;maller Graces as Can|dles light them&s;elves, and like Stars borrow their Lu&s;tre from this Lumi|nary.</P>
<P>'Tis not a heart that can dance to the
<PB N="59" REF="34"> Tune of any Religion, and pretend a Sanctity which it wears onely in its face, that makes Fancy its Con&s;cience, and &s;tiffne&s;&s;e of humour tenderne&s;&s;e of Spirit.</P>
<P>No, 'tis a heart robed with Humili|ty and Crowned all with Love, per|fum'd by Prayers, the odours of Cha|rity, and the fragancies of a pious life, that couches it &s;elf within the arms of our Saviour's Spou&s;e, and becomes a mourner in its perfections, that looks upon the World as the Enemy of its Glory, and had rather dye then be a Re|bell again&s;t Heaven. 'Tis &s;uch a Heart that prepares us for this Vi&s;ion; and happy is he, that's &s;uch a Puritan.</P>
<P>Strengthen us therefore, O Lord, again&s;t the vanities of the World, and rai&s;e up our thoughts to the Contem|plation of thy Glory. Levell in us e|very proud thought that dares exalt it &s;elfe again&s;t the power and purity of thy Law: and Sanctifie us for thy &s;elfe and thy Service more, that the practi&s;e of a Holy life may be, as it ought, our chiefe&s;t employment, that &s;o when we depart from hence we may be receiv|ed to Thee, and being &s;een no more
<PB N="60" REF="35"> heere may for ever &s;ee there, what be|fore, neither eye hath &s;een, nor eare heard, nor heart conceived, the Glory thou wilt impart in the fruition of Thy &s;elfe.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="meditation">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Matth. Chap. 8. Ver&s;e. 2.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Lord, if thou wilt Thou can&s;t make me cleane.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>IS not &s;inne a Lepro&s;ie! Then the Le|pers Prayer, is every Sinners too. Hee that had &s;een the Leper's body, would not have wondred at his Prayer: and yet could he but have viewed his Soul, he might perhaps have &s;een objects of more prodigie and Horrour: the mi&s;eries of his blood which had lo&s;t its verdure, and become but an unprofitable friend to Nature, every part being as it were dead-alive, by &s;o unnatural a Nutrition, taught his tongue this Nece&s;ary though Mournfull kind of Confidence, <HI>Lord, if thou wilt.</HI></P>
<P>And Hee, who&s;e Compa&s;&s;ion never failes, to &s;hew that his Goodne&s;&s;e was as great as his power, would not reject
<PB N="61" REF="35"> a Suite wherein his Mercy was con|cerned; and tho&s;e limbes which might have been &s;ooner drown'd then bathed into a Cure, re-a&s;&s;ume new life and beauty by the bounty of a Touch.</P>
<P>Thus the Leper is new bodyed a|gaine: but we read not of any Cure wrought upon his better part, and that perhaps had more need. The bedrid Man his Succe&s;&s;our was farre happier, who&s;e &s;inne and di&s;ea&s;e were both taken a|way together.</P>
<P>How many are there that, like the Leper, looke no higher then their bo|dyes, who&s;e Superficies is all their re|ligion; whil&s;t the nobler peece that gives them life, lyes all neglec|ted under &s;ome Chronicall infecti|on?</P>
<P>Our blood &s;hall have all the delica|cies, that Art or the mo&s;t Chymicall Luxury can invent to feed its flames; whil&s;t our brighter part, the Divine and Cele&s;tiall fire which in&s;pires us, lyes all quencht and rob'd of its immortall aliment, and can carry back nothing but a dimme and Hectick lu&s;tre to it Ma|ker.</P>
<P>The torment of Limbe &s;hall teach
<PB N="62" REF="36"> us more devotion in an houre then all the concernments of our Soules could do in a yeer before, and the deformity of the meane&s;t part will be an object of more &s;hame and &s;orrow to us, then tho&s;e pale and infernall &s;hapes that attend &s;inne and disfigure Heaven in us.</P>
<P>Of all plagues this is the greate&s;t and yet lea&s;t feared, as if Hell were but a Toy, Damnation a Plea&s;ure, and the mi&s;eries of our Soules a Recreation to us.</P>
<P>Shew me that beauty that's not a Le|per, that innocence which carries not a guilt to blu&s;h at; that Saint, that infant man, that knowes not what it is to &s;inne.</P>
<P>Were our veines purer then the lips of Violets that perfume the Chymi&s;try of the aire, the drops of the Morne; were <HI>Adam's</HI> &s;inne a &s;tranger to our blood, and our birth cleer, as the Morn, innocent as the new-blown Ro&s;e: yet the deformity of our lives would &s;oon teach us this prayer, and the blackne&s;&s;e of our very thoughts would &s;ilently proclaime our ugline&s;s.</P>
<P>And yet, was not there not in tho&s;e
<PB N="63" REF="36"> dayes a Generation that were cleane in their own eyes, that ju&s;tified them|&s;elves even in their impurity and coun|ted all the World but Lepers to them? Was not the Phari&s;ee a greater Leper than the Publican, though &s;o proudly he di&s;played his be&s;t plumes? His ve|ry Pride carried more Contagion with it, than the other Mans Sinns all put to|gether.</P>
<P>Hee that tru&s;ts to the merit of his owne paint, may lo&s;e Heaven and tho&s;e joyes which an humbler Confidence &s;ecures.</P>
<P>O Lord, though I am not &s;o bad perhaps as &s;ome, yet am I &s;o b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">d in my &s;elfe, that the Leper heere is a beauty to my Soul,
<HI>Lazaru&s;&s;e's</HI> Corps a come|line&s;&s;e to my &s;ores: yet were I more im|potent then the Cripple of <HI>Bethe&s;da,</HI> more Leprous then the Nine, who&s;e ingratitude was more loath&s;ome then their di&s;ea&s;e; were tho&s;e Legions, e|jected by thy word, received in me; were I as bad as Satan could wi&s;h to make me; yet I know thy Goodne&s;s and I do not doubt thy power. For, Lord if Thou wilt, Thou can&s;t make me clean.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="meditation">
<PB N="64" REF="37">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Matth. Chap. 24. v. 39.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And knew not, untill the Flood came and took them all away.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>HOw &s;ecurely did the&s;e &s;inners cram them&s;elves for de&s;truction? or, as if for&s;eeing their inundation, they would by full &s;tomacks labour to prevent an entrance. Life and luxury were &s;uch in|&s;eparable companions here, that nothing but Death could part them. They had waded &s;o long in an Ocean of &s;in, it was impo&s;&s;ible to e&s;cape drowning, and not be &s;urrounded with the depths of a quick and overflowing judgment.</P>
<P><HI>Noah</HI> might have preach't him&s;elfe dumb, and have &s;ooner talk't him&s;elf a|&s;leep in mild and fluent admonitions, than awake the&s;e drunkards; had not the waves made u&s;e of a rougher language; and, in their owne &s;welling dialect, the prodigious roring of the depths buried them and their riotts in &s;ilence toge|ther.</P>
<P>Had not God otherwi&s;e promi&s;ed the world how often had it &s;ince been de|lug'd? They were but eating &amp; drinking;
<PB N="65" REF="37"> but we do even glut and carrou&s;e it in &s;in, commit ryots upon Hell, and can teach the Epicure him&s;elfe to revell.</P>
<P>Our forefathers were but dwarfs to us in &s;in, who&s;e tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions have to far tran&s;cended theirs in bulk, that we are become greater Giants in iniquity then tho&s;e of the fir&s;t age.</P>
<P>So mon&s;trous is Sin &s;till in its product|ions, that the whole earth like an in|fernal Africk brings forth new prodigies of vice daily, that (were the world in a con&s;umption as &s;ome think
'tis, in vertue onely, and the iniquities of the times) when they &s;eem to be quite full, are but increa&s;ing &s;till.</P>
<P>They were but cold phlegmatick crimes that drown'd the world, to the fiery &s;ins of this hotter age, that &s;hall (and have already almo&s;t) &s;et it in a combu&s;tion. 'Tis another element then that of water, mu&s;t puni&s;h the feared Con&s;ciences of this age; and chaines of darkne&s;&s;e mu&s;t fetter tho&s;e that run after new lights, the metors of their owne invention.</P>
<P>The world was already drown'd in &s;in, when the waters, to compleat it's exce&s;&s;e, came and carried away the&s;e living-dead men, and buried them in the &s;ame grave together.</P>
<P><PB N="66" REF="38">Such is the fruit of a carele&s;&s;e life, the mi&s;eries of a retchle&s;&s;e impenitency; they were revelling in their fea&s;ts when the greedy element devoured them, and they that drank iniquity like water, had a fit puni&s;hment for their iniquity. The waves grow high and mount up to a tombe, the &s;ea becomes a &s;patious mon|nument both to hide and wa&s;h away their &s;in, and they that &s;wam in mirth, are now &s;wallowed up in &s;treames, and little dreaming of their deaths, are &s;hip|wrackt in their very hou&s;es in the mid&s;t of their plea&s;ures, being fatally &s;uprized by a terrible and unwelcome gue&s;t.</P>
<P>So righteous art Thou, O Lord, and infinitely pure, that thy Ju&s;tice, though it may &s;eeme to winke at, yet will not pardon impenitence, nor pa&s;&s;e by the re&s;olv'd impieties of wilfull tran&s;gre&s;&s;|ours: and yet &s;o infinitely good that thou never heightene&s;t thy puni&s;hments but when men do their iniquities; nor are thy judgments epidemicall but when &s;in is &s;o. Thou that de&s;ire&s;t not the death of a &s;inner, would&s;t not have de&s;troyed &s;o many even all, had not their tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions been &s;o univer&s;ally pro|digious,
<PB N="67" REF="38"> that they came up in a cry to|gether to pull downe thy ju&s;tice. And though thou ha&s;t &s;ince out of the great|ne&s;&s;e of thy love and compa&s;&s;ion promi|&s;ed a &s;ecurity from the &s;ame, yet not from all puni&s;hment. Let the memory therefore of tho&s;e that peri&s;ht by thy wrath for their neglect, remind us of our duty and thy glory; that &s;o the ex|amples of thy judgments upon others, may teach us, by a lively repentance to prevent our owne.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="meditation">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Luke Chap. 7. v. 5.</HI></BIBL>
<P>For he loveth our nation, and hath built us a Synagogue.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>BEhold the character of a good Magi|&s;trate! one that might well be &s;ty|led the father of his country though a Roman, who&s;e patronage &s;o eminently extended it&s;elfe over both, and the be&s;t part of their commonwealth.</P>
<P>This man was Cheife not onely in place but in piety too, all <HI>Judea</HI> could not match him, which &s;ince it lo&s;t its freedome, was not wont to find
<PB N="68" REF="39"> or enjoy the happine&s;&s;e of &s;uch Rulers: and had they not hated Idolatry they would have wor&s;hipped this lover of their nation.</P>
<P><HI>Herod</HI> indeed, did re-build their Tem|ple, but it was more for feare then love; 'twas not out of piety but policy, the better to get the crowne; 'twas his am|bition not his devotion, that founded that &s;tately edifice; not &s;omuch out of zeale to God or his countrey, as out of pure religion of becoming King.</P>
<P>Such is the Sanctity of the world; which makes Gods Honour, not the foundation, but a pa&s;&s;age to their owne; turnes religion into a foot&s;tool for am|bition, and makes heavenly preten&s;ions a &s;tair-ca&s;e to iniquity.</P>
<P>The Centurion here was a benefactor to the Nation out of pure zeal; and if not of their religion, yet a great freind to it; who&s;e charity, not content to &s;hew it &s;elfe in the management of their civill intere&s;ts only, &s;o nobly em|ployed its power for the good of their &s;ouls and Church.</P>
<P>Unlike the Rulers of the world, who&s;e Religion it is to have none at all, and are &s;uch lovers of &s;acred Foundations,
<PB N="69" REF="39"> that in&s;tead of laying new, they are the onely new fa&s;hion Templers, that dare fight for to ruine the old, and defend their pulling down. Piety is lovely even in the meane&s;t, but in Kings and governours it carries a &s;plendour like tho&s;e rayes that &s;urround the head of a pictur'd Saint.</P>
<P>Pyramids, who&s;e proud-reach dares ju&s;tle the clouds and make them &s;tum|ble in their race; Piles of Alabla&s;ter carv'd to various &s;hapes and pictures, lively as the dead, and the more like becau&s;e both breathle&s;&s;e; Tombes of marble; Vaults of bra&s;s, are but poor monu|ments, worthle&s;se con&s;ervatours, to that building without hands, wherein decea&s;ed Piety eternally &s;hall live.</P>
<P>The Centurion here by building Syn|agogues, rai&s;'d a &s;tructure to his owne memory that hath out la&s;ted them; and the Jewes, ravi&s;h't with &s;uch unwonted favours in a Ruler, to expre&s;&s;e their Gra|titude, run in &s;treames to Je&s;us, and pe|tition him to heal his Son, pre&s;&s;ing him with an argument of great force with them; for, He hath loved our Nation, and built us a Synagogue.</P>
<P>Such honour have all they that Ho|nour
<PB N="70" REF="40"> Thee, O Lord, who&s;e zeale for thy Glory, &s;eldome returnes empty to them&s;elves: the meane&s;t offering to thy Altar, is not onely accepted, but rewar|ded too; and they that make it their Ambition to exalt thy Name, &s;hall not have theirs forgotten.</P>
<P>Let not tho&s;e that knew Thee not, be more pa&s;&s;ionate for thy Glory then we, who&s;e very Profe&s;&s;ion ought to adorne our Religion; who&s;e bodies ought to become Temples, fit to entertaine thy Spirit, the &s;pirit of Holine&s;&s;e of Love.</P>
<P>Thou wilt now no more be wor&s;hipt in Synagogues, but more &s;pirituall A&s;|&s;emblies: Teach us therefore, to turne our &s;ouls into Sanctuaries, and to rai&s;e up our thoughts in more lively addre&s;&s;es that we may not &s;o much endeavour, to obtaine the worlds time by a moral fame as by the Sacrifice of obedience, the Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e of eternity.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="meditation">
<PB N="71" REF="40">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Luke Chap. 9. v. 57.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Lord I will follow Thee, whither&s;oever Thou goe&s;t.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>IT was the be&s;t re&s;olution he ever made: nor can any blame him for his boldne&s;&s;e, when it was his glory to have been an intruder; he might have gone on long and farre enough, and not have met with &s;uch heavenly Company. Was it his Confidence, or his Love to Je&s;us, that put him on?</P>
<P>See with how pious an importunity he acco&s;ts him, whom perhaps, he had never &s;een, nor known before but by his Miracles onely; and that life which &s;o a&s;toni&s;h't the eyes of the world, could not but attract his and his heart too; and therefore thinking it no pre&s;umpti|on to u&s;e all meanes of bettering him|&s;elfe, nor willing to lo&s;e &s;o fair an op|portunity of becoming happy, ambiti|ous of an admi&s;&s;ion, all in raptures without any other Complement then an humble earne&s;tne&s;&s;e, &s;alutes Him. Lord, &amp;c.</P>
<P>Nor could our Saviour's poverty &s;top
<PB N="72" REF="41"> or weaken his re&s;olve, or di&s;courage his intention; being not onely Content, but Ambitious to &s;hare even in the mi|&s;eries of &s;o good a Ma&s;ter, in who&s;e very wants he &s;hould find a felicity be|yond all the enjoyments of the earth.</P>
<P>Is not this Man a pre&s;ident for the whole world? He that will not follow Je&s;us out of love, yet let him not for &s;hame &s;uffer a Jew or Publican to out|&s;tep and &s;trip him too. Are the joyes of an everla&s;ting Bli&s;&s;e, of &s;o poor a value; that they are not worth the coming to? or &s;hal we think any &s;tep too weary that brings us to happine&s;&s;e?</P>
<P>Were the way to heaven but &s;trewed with ro&s;es or a thou&s;and plea&s;ures to re|vive the fle&s;h, the &s;en&s;uali&s;t would turne a con&s;tant walker there, and be the for|mo&s;t in tho&s;e pathes; the rich Man can|not follow Je&s;us for his pretious Lug|gage: with which, becau&s;e he cannot; without it, he will not &s;tirre.</P>
<P>The Epicure will not be of a Religi|on that pre&s;cribes him temperance; for although perhaps he might make a &s;hift to pray, he cannot tell how to fa&s;t.</P>
<P>The way to heaven is too narrow for Ambition, who&s;e lofty port loves not to
<PB N="73" REF="41"> be &s;trained in its pa&s;&s;age, but mu&s;t have a road wide as the world or Hell can make him, wherein his traine of &s;infull glories may follow him in a brea&s;t toge|ther.</P>
<P>So difficult a thing it is, to leave the world even for heaven, and &s;trive again&s;t the blandi&s;hments of &s;en&s;e for an inva|luable bli&s;&s;e; as if all our hopes, all our happine&s;&s;e were lap't and tied up in the Concernments of this life onely, and no other expectation for us be&s;ides the plea&s;ures of Mortality.</P>
<P>And yet how many are there that pre|tend to follow Je&s;us but are meer &s;tran|gers to his foot&s;teps, that pur&s;ue tracks not of his making, but their owne find|ing. That path which &s;o many holy men have footed before us, is too common, too prophane for them to tread in; they have found out a neerer Cut of their own, and think they &s;hall come to Hea|ven the &s;ooner by turning out of the way. So unfortunate is that zeal which will needs be wandring after &s;pu|rious and impo&s;tur'd Lights; and &s;cor|ning the u&s;uall foot&s;teps of the Church, lo&s;es it &s;elfe in the blind and dark Me|anders of Enthu&s;ia&s;me.</P>
<P><PB N="74" REF="42">The way to heaven is not in a Cor|ner, and however narrow, is open &s;till:
'tis a path who&s;e pro&s;pect is happine&s;&s;e; nor need he feare to lo&s;e his way, that doth not wilfully turne out of it, the poore Man here, all tran&s;ported, runs to Je&s;us, and mixing Humility with Re&s;o|lution, becau&s;e he will not be denyed, in a begging kind of Confidence tells him, Lord &amp;c.</P>
<P>Who would not foot it even through wants and wilderne&s;&s;es, to come to <HI>Ca|naan?</HI> He that followes Je&s;us &s;hall have no Cau&s;e to repent his journey. He &s;hall find &s;uch trea&s;ures even in the po|verties of religion, &s;o much of Heaven and Contentment in the &s;eeming mi&s;e|ries of a pious life, that he will not need much per&s;wa&s;ion to make it his own re|&s;olution here, and cheerfully leave all to follow Je&s;us.</P>
<P>Do thou therefore elevate our &s;ouls from the world, O Lord, and make them covetous of &s;eeking thee and the things that are above: Thou art a&s;cended to thy Throne in the rapture of Glory, draw our &s;ouls after thee in the raptures of Love and &s;pirituall exaltation, that
<PB N="75" REF="42"> we may make the virtues and perfection of thy Life the rule of ours, and grant that we may not be &s;o affected with the things of this world, that we &s;hould have no pa&s;&s;ion for thy Glory: but make us to walke Cheerfully in that way which thou ha&s;t gon and &s;et before us, that as we live by thy Goodne&s;&s;e, we may live to thy Glory; and as we move in Thee, we may be ever moving to|wards Thee, till we enjoy the Happi|ne&s;&s;e of an eternall re&s;t in thy King|dome.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="meditation">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Matth. Chap. 9. v. 38.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the Har|ve&s;t, that He would &s;end forth more labourers into his harve&s;t.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>NO Prayer more nece&s;&s;ary than this, nor this ever &s;o much as now. Who would not burne and labour in his de|votions, and earne&s;tly pre&s;s heaven with re&s;tle&s;&s;e and religious votes to Compa&s;|&s;ionate our want?</P>
<P>Every one may well make it his voca|tion now, without encroching on ano|thers
<PB N="76" REF="43"> office, and turne labourers in &s;o pious a work as this, to pray for the pro&s;|perity of the Go&s;pell.</P>
<P>Who can &s;ee the Garden of the Lord become a de&s;art, folds of Lambs inhabi|ted by foxes, the Hou&s;e of prayer turn'd into the ruines of Sacriledge, and the Me&s;&s;engers of our peace glad to become the objects of our pitty, without mournfull and Compa&s;&s;ionate reflecti|ons? How vainely do they pretend af|fection that &s;trip their Mother, and count the exorbitances of their Phan|&s;ies, the decencies of the Go&s;pell.</P>
<P>Can there be any want of Labourers where &s;o many are, where every man becomes one him&s;elfe? when &s;heep be|come &s;hepheards, and Flocks are Meta|morpho&s;ed into Pa&s;tors. Every one can now handle the religious &s;ickle; he that can but talk or &s;matter Scripture, thinks him&s;elfe divinely calld, &s;ufficiently in|&s;pired for a Sermon; and out of the &s;im|plicity of his zeal will needs be climbing up a pulpit.</P>
<P>Thus <HI>multitudes</HI> of <HI>teachers</HI> produce a <HI>&s;carcity,</HI> and we want the
<HI>more</HI> by having &s;o <HI>many.</HI> We may well pray then for a new <HI>Mi&s;&s;ion,</HI> or the <HI>taking away</HI> of tho&s;e,
<PB N="77" REF="43"> that do not <HI>hedge,</HI> but <HI>devour</HI> the vine|yard.</P>
<P>He that loves his Saviour will delight and triumph in the felicity of his &s;pou&s;e, in who&s;e armes alone we can mount to happine&s;&s;e, and ever beg a perpetuity of its Glory. He de&s;erves not to reape or &s;hare in the bli&s;s of an immortall harve&s;t that will neither labour him&s;elf nor pray for the pro&s;perity and increa&s;e of them that do.</P>
<P>And who, O Lord, can ca&s;t his Eye upon thy bleeding Spou&s;e without a teare? or upon its unruly Adver&s;aries without a Sigh for its protection? O let thy accu&s;tomed mercy &s;top the wild|e&s;t Boare, and root out the mo&s;t mi&s;|chievous foxes that may de&s;troy it. Thou ha&s;t founded It upon a Rock, no &s;torms &s;hall ruine it, and ha&s;t plac't it on high to be &s;een and approacht by all; let us not blindly turn out of the Way, or fal into praecipices for want of know|ing guides. Let not thy Oracles be|come dumbe for want of Prie&s;ts; or the Glad tydings of our Peace, be turned to &s;ilence, for want of faithfull me&s;&s;engers; but thou, O Lord, both &s;up|ply
<PB N="78" REF="44"> defects, and reforme abu&s;es that &s;en&s;ibly creepe in: forgive the Zeale of tho&s;e, they know not what they do.</P>
<P>Let the Light of thy countenance graciou&s;ly di&s;pell that darkne&s;&s;e and confu&s;ion wherein we lye Eclips't. Then &s;hall we &s;ing and Pray&s;e Thy Power.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="meditation">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Matth. 2. Ver&s;. 10.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And when they &s;aw the Starre, they rejoyced with exceeding great Joy.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>COuld a Starre become &s;uch a wel|come object to A&s;trologers, who&s;e eyes had contracted an acquaintance with the Spheres and taught the Pla|nets to become familiar? Or was it the appearance of a new born Light that crown'd their Joy. That Stars &s;hould become guides, and not only light but Leade me too; 'twas indeed a wonder they never &s;aw before, and which no A&s;tronomer be&s;ides them&s;elves, though never &s;o cele&s;tiall, could yet Parallel.</P>
<P><PB N="79" REF="44">Had <HI>Ari&s;tot<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">e</HI> known this, he would have made the Stars the Dieties of the Sphears, and not pearcht Intelligences at their backs to roule them. This was &s;ome living &s;plendour, &s;ure, that could both &s;hine, and &s;hew the way. A luminary more quicking then that Giant one, that &s;preads the Morne, and carries Time within his armes. And they who&s;e ruder devotion, who&s;e Idolatry taught them to adore the Sun, could not but religi|ou&s;ly &s;alute the Herauld of a brighter One they came to wor&s;hip.</P>
<P>See how Pagans foot it from the Ea&s;t, and cheerfully make it but a walke from the remote&s;t Climate to come and wor|&s;hip a Redeemer; while &s;ome will &s;carce travell from their chambers to pre&s;ent a cheaper offering of gratitude than this. They counted it the be&s;t journey they ever made, and for a te&s;timony of their joy pre&s;ented offerings, the riche&s;t their Countries yeilded, and made the Inne their Temple, to pay the tribute of their adoration in, to the Lord of Glory; whil&s;t &s;ome &s;acrilegiou&s;ly &s;trip him of his Divi|nity for the greater honour of his name.</P>
<P>They had but a &s;ingle &s;tarre to guide them, but we can &s;hew multitudes of
<PB N="80" REF="45"> new lights to darken the Go&s;pell, troops of Quaking comets, the Apparition of who&s;e zealous and fiery a&s;pects, would rather fright then lead the way.</P>
<P>Thus pretended Illuminations of our owne making, do not embrighten but eclip&s;e religion; and in&s;tead of opening blind us more; It was a reall not affrigh|ted luminary that &s;teer'd the Wi&s;emen here, who triumph't to behold that day which we &s;tudy to forget. If they were not Kings, yet their very fortunes would have made them Illu&s;trious: Ne|ver had Travellours before, &s;o &s;plendid a Convoy, &s;o bright a Guid.</P>
<P>The heavens proclaime thy glory, O Lord, and the firmament reveals the ex|cellence of thy wi&s;edome. 'Twas fitt that thou who ha&s;t cloathed the world with light and inricht it with &s;o many rowl|ing mirrours, &s;hould&s;t have one to be the herald of thy nativity. All the creatures, even with delight obey thy will, whil&s;t we rebelliou&s;ly &s;top our eares to the harmony of thy law. The wi&s;e men had no &s;ooner notice of thy birth, but they grew angry with time it &s;elfe, till they began their journey; and, that they might
<PB N="81" REF="45"> be &s;ure not to loo&s;e their way, thou &s;ent|e&s;t out a Convoy; a Starr becomes an Evangeli&s;t and runs po&s;t to guide them. So fortunate are good motions when they are put in practice, they that would &s;eek thee, &s;hall not want meanes to find thee though it be by miracle. Thou can&s;t &s;teere us by a brighter lu&s;tre than that of a Starre, even the illuminations of thy grace and Spirit.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="meditation">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Philip. Chap. 4. v. 12.</HI></BIBL>
<P>I know both how to abound and to &s;uffer need.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>DIvine&s;t Saint! how few be&s;ides thy &s;elf have learn't it? 'Tis a Le&s;&s;on the world hath long ago putt by; not &s;o much becau&s;e 'tis &s;o hard, as becau&s;e its unplea&s;ant.</P>
<P>Were the way to heaven but &s;et with plea&s;ures for &s;en&s;e to revell in, 'twould quickly become an open and an ea&s;y walke: were there no rubs, no tryalls to to be pa&s;t thorough, who would not be|come a Saint? The Crowne of Glory would be as Common as a Garland; were
<PB N="82" REF="46"> there not one of Thorns to be worne fir&s;t.</P>
<P>The world cares not for a Religion that carries neither pompe nor plea&s;ure with it, but in&s;tead of rich and high en|joyments preaches temperance and pa|tience onely. Even &s;ome of them that pretend heaven mo&s;t, would not wil|lingly learn this, but abundantly provide for their better fortunes: and tho&s;e wants our Apo&s;tle learn't &s;o nobly to &s;u&s;taine, too many out of better devotion labour, not to know.</P>
<P>He that bids us &s;eek heaven fir&s;t, tells us, that to long for earthly enjoyments is a Heathens wi&s;h: For after all the&s;e things do the Gentiles &s;eek. And &s;hall Chri&s;tians live like heathens &s;till, and looke no higher then the world? &s;hall they that make eternity their &s;phere &s;it and rowle them&s;elves in the bo&s;ome of an under element, and poorely make the plea&s;ures of mortality their aime alone?</P>
<P>Was it for this, He that made the hea|vens bowed them and came down, leave|ing his throne to bring us thither, that we &s;hould lie and grovel in our phlegme for ever?</P>
<P><PB N="83" REF="46">How vile and vaine a Creature is that man, that wraps up his felicity in the dull enjoyments of this life, and &s;till re|&s;ignes him&s;elfe to &s;en&s;e alone? Tell me, O thou that &s;wimme&s;t in plenty and drowne&s;t heaven in oblivion, &s;hould the luminaries put on their purple robe, and changing their lu&s;tres, like bleeding Meteors turne their rayes into crim&s;on &s;treams; were the aire now filled with bla&s;ts of the la&s;t Trump ecchoing an ap|proaching judgement; how prodigious would that change looke, what va&s;t and horrid affrightments would the memo|ry of thy prophane and irreligious full|ne&s;&s;e then &s;trike and &s;care thee with? Ala&s;s the enjoyments of the world are &s;o poore, that he which places his hopes in their fruition, will quickly find him|&s;elfe but an eternall Begger, a mi&s;erable Dives.</P>
<P>And yet &s;uch is the &s;anctity of the world, to laugh ar religious poverty, and deride the exigences of a pious life as an enemy to nature. He knowes not the joyes of an expected eternity, that thinks there is no felicity beyond this &s;pan.</P>
<P>Did we but know the reward &s;hall crowne that the world calls Mi&s;ery, the
<PB N="84" REF="47"> happine&s;&s;e that waits on the mo&s;t &s;uffer|ing and dejected devotion, we &s;hould triumph in our wants, be in love with hard&s;hip, and embrace even beggery with delight. We &s;hould be content not onely to die but to live martyrs, rejoyce even in the lowe&s;t ebb to win heaven, and cheerefully learne with the Apo&s;tle to want here, for that fullne&s;&s;e which knowes none hereafter.</P>
<P>And yet how hardly can we endure even the &s;malle&s;t trouble for thy &s;ake O Lord? So in&s;en&s;ible are we of thy good|ne&s;&s;e, &s;o forgetfull of thy power, that we do not onely in our wants accu&s;e and condemne thy Providence, but are ready even to turn infidels in our misfortunes. Make us therefore, O Lord, to &s;ee the vanity both of the world and our owne hearts, that the plea&s;ures of it may neither drowne, nor the cro&s;&s;es of it de|ject our hope or di&s;courage our obedi|ence. Let that glory which thou ha&s;t promi&s;ed to tho&s;e that conquer the world for thy &s;ake, be ever in our eye; that &s;o, in what&s;oever condition we are in, we may &s;till be found crowned and triumphing in Faith.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="meditation">
<PB N="85" REF="47">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Luke. c. 19. v. 9.</HI></BIBL>
<P>This day is Salvation come to this Hou&s;e.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>NO wonder <HI>Zacheus</HI> then made &s;uch ha&s;te to come down, and quickly
<HI>for&s;ooke</HI> the friendly branches at <HI>&s;uch Newes. Hee</HI> who&s;e ambition
<HI>climb'd</HI> no <HI>higher</HI> then a <HI>Sight</HI> of Je&s;us, was all tran&s;ported at the
<HI>Honour</HI> of <HI>receiving Him.</HI> Had he been <HI>taller</HI> perhaps, he had not been &s;o happy; it was his <HI>Littlene&s;&s;e exalted</HI> him, and he who was not onely the
<HI>Lowe&s;t,</HI> but, perhaps, the <HI>meane&s;t</HI> of the Company, for <HI>his</HI> fortune became the <HI>Envie</HI> of the <HI>Multitude.</HI></P>
<P>He that dwells in Everla&s;ting &s;plen|dours, and treads the Heavens under, expo&s;ed Him&s;elfe to the <HI>Courte&s;ie</HI> of the <HI>World,</HI> who&s;e <HI>Charity</HI> was &s;o
<HI>Cold</HI> that he mu&s;t invite him&s;elfe, and be be|holding to a <HI>Sinner</HI> for <HI>his entertainment.</HI> Had the <HI>Princes</HI> of the World but known <HI>Him,</HI> they would have quickly &s;ure &s;ur|rendred up their Thrones, and counted thei<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter"> pallaces too poor a Lodging for the Lord of Glory. And the Vaine
<PB N="86" REF="48"> Jewes whil&s;t they expect a <HI>Me&s;&s;ias</HI> all in pompe, a Redeemer that &s;hould come into the World in <HI>Maje&s;ty</HI> and <HI>tr umph,</HI> are become not &s;o much the <HI>relicks</HI> as <HI>ruines</HI> of a <HI>Nation,</HI> a <HI>wandring Monu|ment</HI> of prodigious <HI>impiety</HI> throughout the earth.</P>
<P>Stand &s;till, ye Monarchs of the World, and behold your Maker now <HI>beneath</HI> you: and if ye have not plac't all your happine&s;&s;e in a Kingdome heere, Learn <HI>Humility</HI> from &s;o
<HI>Ble&s;t</HI> a <HI>Pre&s;ident.</HI> He that came to <HI>&s;ave Sinners</HI> thought it no di&s;honour to be in <HI>their</HI> Company; and, as it were to make amends for <HI>his</HI> entertainment, and to make <HI>Zacheus</HI> compleately <HI>happy</HI> He tells him, This day is
<HI>Salvation</HI> come to <HI>this Hou&s;e.</HI></P>
<P>A <HI>reward</HI> which none be&s;ides <HI>Him|&s; lfe</HI> could <HI>give,</HI> and which he that <HI>hath,</HI> need never <HI>fear</HI> being <HI>poor</HI> againe. Who would not welcome his
<HI>Saviour</HI> on &s;uch termes, and Sacrifice even all his <HI>fortunes</HI> at <HI>once</HI> to be &s;o infinitely <HI>repa 'd?</HI> We cannot make too much <HI>provi&s;ion</HI> for our
<HI>happine&s;&s;e,</HI> nor <HI>welcome Heaven at</HI> too much charge And yet how many are there of &s;o &s;paring a zeal; they will be at no <HI>Expences</HI> in their Wor&s;hip, like
<PB N="87" REF="48"> the thrifty Di&s;ciple; they will not goe to the Co&s;t of Serving God Hand&s;omely; How happy was <HI>Zacheus,</HI> who&s;e <HI>poore</HI> habitation our Saviour pickt out beyond the re&s;t to <HI>harbour,</HI> in and Honour with his <HI>pre&s;ence:</HI> nor yet was &s;o Rich a Mer|cy confined to <HI>him</HI> alone, but extended to the whole World too; Every family may, if they will, &s;hare in the &s;ame fortune, This day is Salvation come to every one.</P>
<P>Hear this then, whoever thou art that Sacrifice&s;t thy <HI>Soul</HI> to <HI>any thing</HI> but
<HI>Hea|ven,</HI> that dance&s;t to the Mu&s;ick of the World, and <HI>make&s;t Eternity</HI> a
<HI>Stranger</HI> to thy thoughts. Can&s;t thou deny thy Saviour an admi&s;&s;ion, or thinke it a trou|ble to leave the fooli&s;h <HI>intere&s;ts</HI> of the World, and welcome the mo&s;t
<HI>Holy</HI> Je&s;us. Behold the <HI>Mi&s;eries</HI> of our <HI>Na|tures</HI> which will not be per&s;waded to <HI>become happy,</HI> but &s;uffer an immortall joy to be lo&s;t for ever in embraces heere.</P>
<P>Thou ha&s;t brought us from Nothing, O Lord, that we might &s;ee thy Salvati|on; that we who might have been for ever without Thee, might through the
<PB N="88" REF="49"> Knowledge of Thy &s;elfe be made par|takers of thy Glory. O Enliven us that we may give up our &s;elves wholly to thy Service, and perpetually &s;tudy to do &s;omething to the Honour of thy Name, that we may not throw away tho&s;e Soules on the vanities of the world, which thou ha&s;t given us for Thy &s;elfe, and to be employed in thy Ser|vice: but that, Sacrificing our Wills to Thine, and our lives to a perfect Love of Thee, we may find that joy which ac|companies thy Grace heere, and that Glory which knows no end or change hereafter in Thy pre&s;ence for ever|more.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="meditation">
<PB N="89" REF="49">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Math. Chap. 13. v. 43.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Then &s;hall the Righteous &s;hine forth as the Sun, in the Kingdome of their Father.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>WHo then would not be ambitious of &s;o bright a change, to become purely Coele&s;tiall; to have his body turn'd into a Luminary, and every part transformed to lu&s;tre? when man &s;hall become not onely a Living &s;oul, but a Living &s;plendour too; and his immor|tal breath, in it's reunion, in&s;tead of parts find beames to quicken.</P>
<P>Heare this, ye blind admirers of the world, that look no higher then a Dia|dem, a purple robe, or &s;ome honoura|ble trifle, and &s;ell your brighte&s;t inheri|tance for a &s;plendid toy.</P>
<P>Heare this, ye Beauries, that carry charmes of Lu&s;tre in your faces, and think your eyes are not onely &s;pheares but trea&s;uries of Light; who&s;e attire Emulates the &s;tarrs, and carries &s;plen|dour with it; that weare your happine&s;s on your back, and count a &s;ilver vanity your Glory.</P>
<P><PB N="90" REF="50">Heare this, who ever thou art that can&s;t dote on &s;hadowes, the fla&s;hes of a tran&s;itory pomp, and for a glorious Mortality bid&s;t adiew to heaven and an Immortall-bli&s;&s;e. Could&s;t thou put on a roabe of Starrs, or pull rayes from that Royall luminary that embrightens the world, they would be but gloomy &s;plen|dours, bright ob&s;curities to that Glory that enwraps a Saint. The lu&s;tre of the heavens is but an emblem of our owne: the Prince of planets that di&s;hevells his rays, and revels it in &s;plendour, the great Magazine that &s;tocks the world with light, is but a Curtaine to that Taberna|cle that &s;hall inve&s;t us.</P>
<P>Our toombs are our wardrobes for heaven, and tho&s;e Chambers of death who&s;e hangings are winding &s;heets over|laid with du&s;t, are the out-rooms that &s;trip us for our robe of immortality; the opening of our Graves is the beginning of our happine&s;&s;e, and we are gather'd to our fathers that we may be gather'd to eternity.</P>
<P>If that Glimp&s;e which the Di&s;ciples &s;aw in the mount made them wi&s;h for three tabernacles or an eternall abode there, how &s;hall the beauty of revealed
<PB N="91" REF="50"> Heaven, and the glory of an a&s;cended Saviour, ravi&s;h us with de&s;ires after its enjoyment? It was the Martyrs comfort amid&s;t their tortures, that though their members were in peeces, yet the haires of their head were numbred. Wert thou bottomed in the &s;eas depth, his power can buoy the up, if cru&s;ted into the earths rubbi&s;h, he can ab&s;tract and forme thee a finer creature then ever thou wert. If <HI>Peters</HI> &s;hadow could cure the &s;ick, how powerfull mu&s;t He be who is <HI>Peters</HI> Glory? He who&s;e name is in the Book of Life, dies here but to be laid as it were in a Pre&s;&s;e, to be extracted a pu|rer modell for eternity.</P>
<P>Who then would not onely de&s;pi&s;e the world, but welcome even mi&s;ery for &s;o invaluable a reward, triumph in his greate&s;t eclip&s;e, and become cheer|full in the mid&s;t of chaines? He that knowes the glory of his inheritance, will little value tho&s;e plea&s;ant trifles, tho&s;e rich nothings the world admires, the painted joyes of an imaginary felicity: but, in nobler and Diviner expectations, prepares him&s;elfe for that change which knowes none; where he &s;hall have no|thing el&s;e to do but to live forever, and
<PB N="92" REF="51"> be eternally received as once the Di&s;ci|ple into the Bo&s;ome of his Saviour.</P>
<P>Thou did&s;t make us for thy &s;elfe, O Lord; and when we by our &s;ins and follies had for ever lo&s;t thee, Thou did&s;t re&s;tore us to thy &s;elfe againe, that we might not be eternally deprived of Thee, our onely Good. O fill us with perpe|tuall meditations of thy Love, let tho&s;e joyes which are &s;o much above our thoughts, be ever in them; let our inabi|lity to comprehend the happine&s;s of thy kingdome heighten the piety of our am|bition after it more, that we may walke in &s;ome mea&s;ure worthy of &s;o Divine a purcha&s;e as heaven, and as thou ha&s;t prepared it for us, do thou prepare us for it. Prepare us with all tho&s;e hea|venly graces that may entitle us to it, and with all tho&s;e &s;pirituall de&s;ires that may make us breathe and long after it; that &s;o our hearts being there before, we our &s;elves may come after, and be|ing tran&s;ported in our de&s;ires may be al|&s;o in our per&s;ons, to everla&s;ting enjoy|ments.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="meditation">
<PB N="93" REF="51">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Luke 18. v. 11.</HI></BIBL>
<P>The Phari&s;ee &s;tood up and prayed thus; God I thanke thee, that I am not as other men are, &amp;c.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>HOw ungratefully does the Proud Phari&s;ee thank heaven? how &s;trangely hath pride altered him? He that u&s;ed to make long prayers, intends to be but &s;hort now: <HI>he &s;tands up.</HI> He comes not to pray, but to bray; not to adore God but to commend him&s;elf. Here is not in the humour of being very devout, being &s;o taken up and ravi&s;ht with his owne graces, that he had &s;carce either the time or the patience to remember the divine Author who&s;e goodne&s;&s;e he would &s;eem to acknowledg, but tis &s;o colldy, 'twere better he were unthankfull &s;till. He exceeded other men indeed, for his im|pudence was &s;uperlative.</P>
<P>Had he known him&s;elfe better, he would have been more thankfull, and le&s;&s;e proud.</P>
<P>How largely doth he urge heaven with his worth, but makes no apology for his Pride: he thanks God indeed, but tis in
<PB N="94" REF="52"> <HI>tran&s;itu,</HI> rather a complement then a Prayer, though it be a &s;in to wor&s;hip images, he thinks it none to be his owne idolater; and therefore dares pre&s;ent God with a catalogue of his own merits. How perfectly hath the world learnt his le&s;&s;on? How do the Catholicke Phari&s;es pride them&s;elves in a &s;upererogatory de|votion and thinke to climbe heaven by a ladder of their owne making; glorying in a &s;uperabundant piety, and triumph|ing in a meritorious exce&s;&s;e, of dooing even more then they need.</P>
<P>How nimbly do our Trembling En|thu&s;ia&s;ts too, follow their leaders &s;teps here, in a &s;anctimonious pride by a &s;uper|cilious purity pre&s;uming to reforme the world, and new modell it, againe: That &s;aint them&s;elves <HI>Stylo novo,</HI> and with the Phari&s;ee not onely thanke but tell God plainly, they are not as other men: That raylingly proclaime them&s;elves the great light of the world, and in a pious Lunacy would new go&s;pell it againe, extravagantly pro&s;cribing all religions but their own. The&s;e melancholy Preten|ders &s;eclude them&s;elves from others, and by a &s;ullen devotion, are become &s;o &s;trangely divine, that they have almo&s;t lo&s;t their humanity.</P>
<P><PB N="95" REF="52">So that if the Phari&s;ee was not as other men, yet the&s;e are as like the Phari&s;ee as may be, having &s;o exactly learnt both his nature and religion.</P>
<P>So naturall is it for us, O Lord, to be deluded even in our be&s;t Performances; and (whil&s;t we vainly thinke our &s;elves not onely better then others, but good enough, in Thy Sight) to be carried into pre&s;umption. 'Tis humility crownes all our Graces and puts a Beauty on our re|que&s;ts, whil&s;t the confidence of our owne merits does not onely deforme but &s;eclude us from thee.</P>
<P>Teach us therefore with &s;uch grati|tude to u&s;e thy gifts, that we become not forgetfull of our &s;elves or Thee. Whil&s;t others Pride them&s;elves in a meritorious &s;upererogation, let us in|deavour humbly to confe&s;&s;e and bewaile our imperfections. Let not a &s;pirituall Pride &s;ei&s;e upon our &s;ouls, &s;o &s;hall we be innocent from the Great Tran&s;gre&s;|&s;ion.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="meditation">
<PB N="96" REF="53">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Romans Chap. 6. v. 21.</HI></BIBL>
<P>For the end of tho&s;e things is death.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>WHo then would propo&s;e that for his happine&s;&s;e which &s;hall peri&s;h with him&s;elf, who&s;e end is not only death but hell, and will de&s;troy him not onely now but hereafter too. Indeed, were there no hope that our remains &s;hould revive again, or the ruins of our frame ri&s;e up to a finer &s;hape, we might well drown our &s;elves in enjoyments heere, and fixe our felicity in plea&s;ures. Every man might then without &s;in become an Epi|cure, and he that could invent new fa&s;h|ions of luxury, would not only be more ingenious but more fortunate too. Mo|rality, would be all vice, &amp; yet vice it &s;elf no more a crime but our felicity: not to be extravagant then, were a &s;in again&s;t na|ture, &amp; he that is mo&s;t Bruti&s;h would be mo&s;t Rational. Law would then become an enemie to Humanity, there could be no &s;ociety but in confu&s;ion; and in &s;pight of policy (were there no heaven no hell) we &s;hould plea&s;antly mingle to a chaos, and obey no other di&s;cipline
<PB N="97" REF="53"> then that of riot. Every one might then turne Athei&s;t without &s;candall; to be without God in the world would be no misfortune; every man might be his own without bla&s;phemy.</P>
<P>Could they that live, dye like Brutes too, and revive no more, the comfort of not being damned would be greater then the &s;weets of &s;in. But alas, he that dies now mu&s;t live againe that his life may be rememberd; nor yet is it &s;omuch the feare of Death as the horrours of a guilty con&s;cence, the terrible pre&s;ages of a future eternity that &s;cares the depart|ing &s;oul: The pangs of expiring nature are nothing to tho&s;e &s;tings; the memory of our crimes bring with them. The &s;or|rowes of the Grave and our being here no more for ever, are joyes to the mi|&s;eries that are to come.</P>
<P>Tell me thou that hug'&s;t the world then, and grope&s;t for paradi&s;e in a grove of &s;ins: thou that make&s;t earth thy trea|&s;ure, and wrap'&s;t up the riches of thy hopes in time's bo&s;ome or the enclo&s;ure of a &s;pan: when tho&s;e bright and nimble guides of life, thy eyes, &s;hall grow weak with age, or weary with paine; when every limbe &s;hall become an object of
<PB N="98" REF="54"> &s;orrow; and tho&s;e parts that were &s;o of|ficiou&s;ly employed in &s;in, &s;hall become in&s;truments of de&s;paire. When that de|licious frame, that darling edifice, thy Body, &s;hall by its tottering qualmes and trembling convul&s;ions affrighten its di&s;con&s;olate owner, how will the fla&s;hes of a future ju&s;tice and the terrours of thy end confound thee!</P>
<P>Can tho&s;e enjoyments that flattered away thy &s;oul re&s;tore it now? can tho&s;e plea&s;ures that &s;tole heaven from thee recover it again? can thy vanities a&s;&s;wage thy &s;orrowes or the memory of thy &s;ins the mi&s;ery of thy end?</P>
<P>Where's that mu&s;ick who&s;e aires, like Davids harpe, might charme the cries of con&s;cience, and by its &s;traines drop a harmony that might &s;till the trouble of thy angui&s;ht &s;oul?</P>
<P>Where are tho&s;e trophies, thy ambiti|on purcha&s;ed at the ea&s;y rate as onely &s;inning for that Honour, for which thou ha&s;t &s;old heaven? that &s;overaignty for which thou becam&s;t a &s;lave thy &s;elfe and lo&s;t the freedome of thy &s;oul? Cannot all thy Greatne&s;&s;e rai&s;e thee up a litle, and by a power once &s;o much feared and applauded reprieve thee from the grave or a more eternall pri&s;on?</P>
<P><PB N="99" REF="54">Where are tho&s;e trea&s;ures thou &s;old|e&s;t thy be&s;t inheritance for, who&s;e ravi&s;hing &s;plendours took away thy &s;ight and made thee blinder then them|&s;elves? Can they neither bribe nor buy thy pardon? or will the grave know no other fee then &s;o rich a mi&s;ery?</P>
<P>Where are all tho&s;e diver&s;ions that robb'd thee of thy piety, and the thoughts of thy Maker? tho&s;e plea&s;ing vanities that took away all &s;en&s;e of hea|ven and fore&s;ight of thy end? Are all va|ni&s;ht to a toomb and an unwelcome pe|riod? are all thy jollities terminated in a Coffin, and no other object left to keep thee company but thy Crimes, and tho&s;e terrours thy guilt pre&s;ents?</P>
<P>Behold now then, ye Lovers of the world more then of God, and &s;ee the picture of your end, tho&s;e ruines you have &s;o &s;moothly built on. Try if all your imaginary felicities are proofe a|gain&s;t this &s;haft, or can &s;ecure you from this intruder, the &s;ingle Conquerour of the world, who&s;e very pri&s;on is but a re|&s;erve for a wor&s;e, and its execution here but a repriefe for a more la&s;ting and yet living death. He that liv'd in plea&s;ures, mu&s;t live in flames, and having revell'd
<PB N="100" REF="55"> it in &s;in, riot it in tortures; and the mi|&s;ery is, that wi&s;hing not to live, he can never die.</P>
<P>And yet how vaine are our de&s;ires &s;till after the world, O Lord? how &s;oon, how &s;moothly are we led by the fal&s;e and tran&s;itory plea&s;ures of this life from Thee? The wages of &s;in is death, and yet how fooli&s;hly do we preferre its &s;ervice before thine, who&s;e reward is life? The end of prophane&s;s is eternall ruine, and the plea&s;ures of impiety period in con|fu&s;ion; and yet we &s;adly embrace the proffers of &s;in, before the promi&s;es of thy glory. Pitty, O Lord, the frailties of our natures, and forgive the irregula|rities of our lives: fill us with noble de|&s;ires after Thee, that the vanities of the world may be our &s;corne, and thy Glo|ry onely our Ambition; that we may not for a pre&s;ent enjoyment in this life, lo&s;e the hopes and inheritance of a better.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="meditation">
<PB N="101" REF="55">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Luke Chap. 15. v. 10.</HI></BIBL>
<P>There is joy in the pre&s;ence of the An|gells of God, over one &s;inner that repenteth.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>SO great are the Concernments of an immortall Soul, that it's recovery from the world &s;ets heaven in a triumph; and it's return to it's Maker is welcom'd back in Quires: the angells &s;ing his re|cantation, and rejoyce as if they them|&s;elves were made happier by his conver|&s;ion.</P>
<P>And yet is not the joy of Angells greater then that of the &s;oul it &s;elfe: when it hath found and regain'd it's Maker, its &s;ighs are turnd into &s;ongs, and it's teares to raptures: each drop is not onely counted and kept up, but turn'd into a &s;treame of joy. His &s;orrowes are turnd to con&s;olation, his troubles into peace, and the &s;tormes of con&s;cience into calmes of love.</P>
<P>Such are the fruits of a holy penitence, the happine&s;&s;e of a religious contrition. He that went mourning all the day, and turned Anchoret for greif; who&s;e life
<PB N="102" REF="56"> was a torment and the grave his feare, that de&s;ired not to live and yet was afraid to die, is now transformed into &s;weeter pa&s;&s;ions, and breathes nothing but the prai&s;es of his Deliverer.</P>
<P>See with what indignation he lookes upon the world, who&s;e embraces had &s;o long impri&s;oned him, to who&s;e fal&s;e allurements, he had been &s;o much a &s;er|vant. Tho&s;e plea&s;ant trifles he once ad|mired are now his contempt, and tho&s;e &s;hadowes of felicity he once &s;o much pur&s;ued he hath now exchanged for more cele&s;tiall enjoyments and enduring plea&s;ures.</P>
<P>And indeed, Who that hath once truly ta&s;ted heaven can well relli&s;h the world againe? who&s;e choi&s;e&s;t fea&s;ts are wor&s;e then an Egyptian diet to this Manna, and its large&s;t roade of plea&s;ure but a preci|pice to that way who&s;e narrowe&s;t path carries freedome and felicity. He that hath once found the goodne&s;&s;e of his Maker, and tho&s;e joyes that flow from his &s;ervice, will &s;acrifice him&s;elfe in pious re&s;olves; and grieving that he was &s;o long a &s;tranger to his law, all tran&s;por|ted beg both pardon and &s;upport.</P>
<P>Tell me, who can character the plea&s;ures
<PB N="103" REF="56"> of this new birth, the joyes of a conver|ted &s;oul re&s;tored to heaven and his ma|ker? He that feels it can expre&s;&s;e it but in raptures, and &s;ilent &s;ignes, the ecchoes of his heart. Even the Angells here can &s;ing it onely, not de&s;cribe it; and in Se|raphick con&s;orts give us notice, not a copy, of it.</P>
<P>Thus the heavens become harmoni|ous, &amp; the frame of nature that groaned under the di&s;order of mans &s;in, is againe revived and &s;et in tune by pardon. And no wonder if the creation feel a &s;ilent mu&s;icke in it's limbs, when the Lord our Maker is not onely the Author, but a partner in this triumph proclaming even his delight in &s;uch happy renovations, and that he is be&s;t plea&s;ed when &s;inners flie to the refuges of his mercy, and hum|bly beg the riches of that Grace and fa|vour, which he onely can give, and which he never refu&s;es to them that &s;eek him.</P>
<P>So infinitely good art thou, O Lord, that thou do&s;t not onely invite but bring us to thy &s;elf; and not onely call but cau&s;e us to returne. We know thou de|&s;ire&s;t not the the death of a &s;inner, having &s;o freely &s;acrificed thy Son for &s;in; and
<PB N="104" REF="57"> that thou delighte&s;t in pardoning it, for thou ha&s;t proclaimed thy &s;elf &s;o. Though thou did&s;t not &s;pare thine Angells when they fell, yet in the riches of thy mercy thou ha&s;t contrived a Redempti|on for our &s;ouls, even by the blood of Je&s;us. Fill us with perpetuall adorations of thy love, that thy goodne&s;&s;e which is &s;o ready to pardon &s;in, may encourage us to beg it; and to continue con&s;tant waiters on thee in thy wor&s;hip here, till we are made companions of tho&s;e ble&s;t &s;pirits hereafter that rejoyce in the reco|very and &s;alvation of a &s;inner.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="meditation">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Matth. c. 6. v. 33.</HI></BIBL>
<P>But &s;eeke yee fir&s;t the Kingdome of God, and his, Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and all the&s;e things &s;hall be added unto you.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>AND He that loved his Saviour would, no Que&s;tion, do it: but ala&s;s, that which ought to be the fir&s;t is &s;carce the la&s;t of our thoughts, the lea&s;t and wor&s;t of our performan|ces.</P>
<P><PB N="105" REF="57">Such Lovers are wee of Heaven that we think it no &s;inne to &s;erve our &s;elves fir&s;t, and make our Creatour waite the lei&s;ure of our Devotion. Mi&s;erable Creatures, who&s;e Religion reaches no higher then their bodyes, for who&s;e ve|ry Superfluities wee &s;tudy to provide, whil&s;t our Brighter part lyes all naked and unthought of. Such Strangers are we even to our own Soules, &s;o in&s;en&s;ible of the joyes to come, that we looke no higher then the World, and in &s;phearing all our hopes within Mortality as if we had nothing durable beyond our breath, &s;uffer Eternity to be forgotten. Wee cannot live without our Maker, and yet how do our lives neglect Him? how ea|ger, how ambitious after an enjoyment heere, but carry not the &s;malle&s;t pa&s;&s;ion for his Glory. The jollities of the World &s;wallow up all thoughts of Hea|ven, and in the plea&s;ures of &s;en&s;e we can drown Immortality.</P>
<P>What is that we &s;acrifice our &s;elves to, but the hopes of a felicity? The very Pagans rather then want a Bli&s;&s;e would fancy one in lovely &s;hades, and place the triumphs of immortality in tho&s;e amo|rous walkes, their Gho&s;ts &s;hould revell
<PB N="106" REF="58"> in. And who can hope for Heaven that neglects it, or expect the joyes of this Kingdome that looks not after it? With|out Holyne&s;&s;e no man &s;hall &s;ee God, and he cannot be Ma&s;ter of much San|ctity that prophanely lo&s;es him&s;elfe in &s;inne, and is a Stranger to that piety which can truly Enrich Him beyond all the trea&s;ures of the mo&s;t &s;plendid and fortunate tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion. How mi&s;era|ble are they then who&s;e plea&s;ures onely divert them from their Maker, and have no other Apologie for their neglect of Heaven, than what &s;inne can make; that Court the World, and for a fading em|brace exchange a Diadem of Bli&s;&s;e, a Crown of Life. Were the whole World turn d into a Seraglio of delight, and e|very region to an Arabia; could every field become a Paradi&s;e, and every object we meet, bring a Magazine of plea&s;ure with it; had we all the enjoyments this Life can triumph in; yet we &s;hould quickly finde them, without God, but mi&s;erable fruitions. Is there any thing dearer then our lives, and yet even the&s;e are of no valew in re&s;pect of a better: the very exigencies of Nature are trifles to the concernments of our Soules. It
<PB N="107" REF="58"> is better to &s;tarve, then dye for ever and lo&s;e God; 'tis better to goe na|ked then not to be cloathed with immor|tality; 'tis better we &s;hould want heere, then hereafter that fullne&s;&s;e which knows none.</P>
<P>And yet, How many are there that had rather lo&s;e Heaven then the World, pawn their Con&s;ciences &s;ooner then want, and for a fortune &s;ell away their very Chri&s;tianity. How many make &s;inne their &s;tudy, and thinke it a credit to invent new methods of impiety; and are &s;uch carefull providers for E|ternity, that they will be laboriou&s;ly wicked; and for a profitable iniquity think it no lo&s;s to be thrivingly damn'd. Are there not nobler wayes of living then by lo&s;ing our names and Souls at once? Is infidelity a pre&s;ervative again&s;t mi|&s;ery? and mu&s;t we build our &s;upports on the ruines of our faith? Piety makes no man poorer, nor does religion robbe us of our enjoyments but makes them &s;weeter. Our content|ments are not le&s;&s;ened but enlarged and lengthned by adoring the Giver, nor is he the further from, but the neerer to a ble&s;&s;ing, that begins with Heaven, and
<PB N="108" REF="59"> preferres his Saviour before the World. De&s;ignes thus founded are not ever un|fortunate, and he that plots for his Soul as well as his body, &s;hall learne a policy will bafle the World, and non-plus its wi&s;e&s;t Generations; when after all his lo&s;&s;es he &s;hall finde a reward richer then all the revenues of the Earth toge|ther.</P>
<P>And yet &s;o in&s;en&s;ible are we O Lord, both of thy Glory and our own felicity that we can entertaine any thing with more plea&s;ure then the thoughts of an eternity, we can &s;pend the allowance of our time in &s;in, and &s;acrifice even all our yeares to vice; but count a moment too long, too much to be employed in thy &s;ervice: we can dwell and drown our &s;elves in plea&s;ures, and think a few &s;pare minutes a faire gift of time for our devotion. The trea&s;ures of the world are a poore gaine for the Morgage of a Soul, and the lo&s;&s;e of thy favour; even the riche&s;t enjoyments of this life, are but wretched contentments without Thee. Do thou therefore elevate our Souls, and withdraw them from the&s;e beggerly elements to purer and more cele&s;tiall
<PB N="109" REF="59"> addre&s;&s;es: let thy Kingdome be, not our refuge onely but our choice; and the perfect re&s;olution of our &s;ouls to de&s;pi&s;e the flatteries of the world, for that glory which nothing but our &s;ins can deprive us of: And as thou ha&s;t made us for thy &s;elf, O Lord, inable us to continue &s;o, that as we have received all that we have from thy bounty, we may &s;acrifice all our de|&s;ires to thy glory: knowing that as no|thing in this life can make us happy without thee, &s;o nothing can make him mi&s;erable that hath Thy Kingdome for his Inheritance.</P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="prayer">
<PB REF="60">
<PB N="111" REF="60">
<HEAD>A Prayer.</HEAD>
<P>O Lord, who inhabite&s;t Eterni|ty; Thou art Exalted above all Principalities and powers, Saints and Seraphims are ravi&s;hed with thy Glory, Angels and Arch|angels adore thy Greatne&s;&s;e, Ho|line&s;&s;e and Honour waite upon Thy Throne, the Scepter of thy Kingdome is an everla&s;ting Scep|ter, Thou love&s;t Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e and hate&s;t iniquity; and therefore they that come before Thee mu&s;t wor&s;hip Thee in Spirit and in Truth, if they would be either heard or received of Thee: Wee confe&s;s, we are not worthy to ap|peare in Thy Pre&s;ence, that can pre&s;ent unto Thee no other offe|ring, than Sinfull and deformed Soules, which de&s;erve no longer to be accounted thine; having lo&s;t
<PB N="112" REF="61"> that purity and likene&s;&s;e which made them &s;o.</P>
<P>We are not worthy to receive any more tenders of Mercy that have &s;o often de&s;pi&s;ed it, nor to &s;ee what is the riches of thy Love, that have &s;o unworthily preferred the trifles of this Life before the trea|&s;ures of thy Grace. Thou mad'&s;t it the end of our Creation, that we &s;hould Glorifie Thee; but we, of all thy Creatures, have lea&s;t per|formed it. That time which we &s;hould have employed in adorning and devoting our lives to thy Wor|&s;hip (which is our mo&s;t rationall and religious &s;ervice) have we Sa|crificed to &s;inne, and the plea&s;ures of the World.</P>
<P>Thou art &s;o infinitely Good, that thou de&s;ire&s;t but unfaigned Sorrow for &s;inne to excu&s;e it; and yet &s;o mi&s;erable and deeply guilty are we, that we cannot bring &s;o much as humble and contrite Spirits to
<PB N="113" REF="61"> plead for our &s;elves. Thou did&s;t &s;o love the World, that Thou &s;en|te&s;t thy Son to dye for it: But we have &s;o lov'd the World, that we have de&s;pi&s;ed Heaven and our Sa|viour, rejected the Holy One whom. Thou ha&s;t &s;ent, and by our unwor|thy lives di&s;honoured that hap|py Name, whereby we are cal|led Thine, and intitled to thy King|dome.</P>
<P>But though our &s;innes cry aloud for puni&s;hment, yet the voyce of thine owne mercy, and Our Savi|ours blood, begs more powerfully for Pardon. O Let His Sufferings be our reconciliation, his puni&s;h|ment for &s;in our freedome from it; let the bitterne&s;&s;e of thy wrath on Him, be turn'd into the &s;weet|ne&s;&s;e of thy love to us, that his cro&s;&s;e may be our triumph, and the merits of his pa&s;&s;ion the purcha&s;e of our peace; and grant that having obtai|ned mercy, we may walk accor|dingly;
<PB N="114" REF="62"> that being bought for hea|ven, we may no more &s;ell our &s;elves to &s;in, nor prefer a few moments of plea&s;ure before an eternity of joy.</P>
<P>Make us to con&s;ider tho&s;e Divine ties that bind us to &s;erve Thee, the infinit and abundant te&s;timonies of thy love which invite our grati|tude, and that happine&s;&s;e which is the reward of them that &s;eek Thee: O let not the motions of &s;inne be more powerfull in us than the obli|gations of thy grace, nor the plea|&s;ures of this life of more value to us than the joyes that are to come. But make us to walke cheerfully in that way which thou ha&s;t &s;et before us, that our temptations may but &s;trengthen us more; that neither the cro&s;&s;es nor yet the plea&s;ures of this life may be able to deject or drowne our piety; but that in what&s;oever condition wee are, we may be &s;till found crowned and triumphing in faith.</P>
<P><PB N="115" REF="62">O thou infinite Goodne&s;s, teach us to a dore Thee with our whole heart, and to conforme our lives unto thy law with a perfect con&s;tancy. Make us to con&s;ider that exceeding weight of glory which thou ha&s;t promi&s;ed to tho&s;e that &s;trive to conquer the world for thy &s;ake. O let tho&s;e joyes which are &s;o much above our thoughts be ever in them; let our inability to comprehend the hap|pine&s;&s;e of thy kingdome, heighten the piety of our Ambition after it more: that the greater thy goodne&s;&s;e is, the greater may our de&s;ire after it be, the greater thy love the greater our obedience, and the le&s;&s;er our de&s;erts the greater our humility.</P>
<P>Make us to &s;ee the litle u&s;e, but the great vanity of this world, that &s;o the plea&s;ures of it may not &s;teale away our hearts from the contem|plation of a better; but that our lives may be a perfect and perpetuall &s;a|crifice of obedience, ever plea&s;ing in
<PB N="116" REF="63"> thy eyes. O let thy &s;ervice be ever mo&s;t delightfull to us, that we may labour to improove our &s;elves be|fore Thee, by our inward and onely de&s;ires after thee; that whatever defects attend our actions this may be in&s;eparable in us, even to feare thy name. That &s;o leading holy lives here, we may lead happy and hea|venly lives hereafter, and being filled with Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, we may be fil|led with glory and po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e joyes un|&s;peakable for evermore.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="penitential" TYPE="prayer">
<PB N="117" REF="63">
<HEAD>A Poenitentiall Prayer.</HEAD>
<P>THe fle&s;h evermore rebelleth again&s;t the &s;pirit in me, O my God; and the infirmities of my na|ture are too &s;trong for me of my &s;elf to conquer. Behold how my frail|ties fight again&s;t my &s;oul, and have wounded me before thee. O &s;hall my &s;ins be &s;tronger then thy grace, and the errours of my life more powerfull then thy law? The pious incen&s;e of a contrite &s;pirit is a &s;acri|fice thou do&s;t not u&s;ally de&s;pi&s;e; and O that I could exhale my &s;elfe in &s;howres, and drop away my &s;oul in teares, that my iniquities could fly away in &s;ighs, and the guilt of my life be wip't off in religious &s;treams. Pitty my irregularities, O Lord, and forgive my crimes: how long &s;hall I groan under the bondage of &s;in, and weary thee too with the burden
<PB N="118" REF="64"> of my corruptions. Thou delight'&s;t to pardon &s;in, and &s;hall mine re|maine? Thou de&s;ire&s;t not the death of thy creatures, and &s;hall I be for|&s;aken? I cannot live without Thee nor enjoy the comfort of my very being till thou revive me: 'tis better I had not beene, than that I &s;hould lo&s;e Thee; and 'tis better I &s;hould be no more for ever, then not regain and find Thee. Return, O thou com|fort of my &s;oule, and fill me with thy love. Purge the &s;tains and wa&s;h away the blemi&s;hes of my life by thine own blood, renew &amp; quicken my &s;pirit with the joyes of Thine. Sanctifie my will with a plea&s;ing obedience unto thine, let the merits of my Saviour's righteou&s;ne&s;s beau|tifie my &s;oule, cloathing me with innocence and purity of heart here, and everla&s;ting immortality in thy kingdome hereafter.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="thanksgiving" TYPE="prayer">
<PB N="119" REF="64">
<HEAD>A Prayer of Thanksgiving.</HEAD>
<P>MY deare and glorious Maker, what &s;hall I render unto Thee for all thy mercies? There hath not a moment of my life pa&s;t by, with|out being made happy to me by &s;ome token of thy love. Thou did&s;t purifie my birth by Bapti&s;m, I was no &s;ooner come into the world but thou did&s;t &s;eale me for Heaven, taking away the guilt which no in|nocency but that of Je&s;us could conceal or pardon; and aboli&s;hing tho&s;e characters of &s;in and death, which were &s;o in&s;eparably imprin|ted on my nature, that no law but that of thy &s;pirit could wipe away; and having brought mee into the bo&s;ome of thine owne Spou&s;e, and plac't me among&s;t thy children, ha&s;t fed me with continuall mercies and meanes of grace: that I might &s;ee
<PB N="120" REF="65"> there hath been no defect in thy goodne&s;s, but my acknowledgments, nor in thy promi&s;es but my perform|ances. And indeed, my God, I can|not looke upon the&s;e obligations without horrour for my ingratitude, nor remember the&s;e pretious te&s;ti|monies of thy love without a reli|gious confu&s;ion of &s;oul for my great neglect and forgetfullne&s;&s;e of thee. Nor can I plead an excu&s;e in the weakene&s;&s;e of nature onely, for tho&s;e &s;ins I have been too willing a comit|ter of. And yet my God, behold how thou ha&s;t loved me, &s;ending thy &s;on to reconcile me to thy &s;elfe, that I might find acce&s;s unto thy Throne, and inherit the joyes of thy kingdom. Behold how thou ha&s;t loved me in reprieving me from that wrath my &s;ins have long ago de&s;erved, and as if thou did&s;t not or would&s;t not take notice of my crimes, ha&s;t made me an object of thy care and an example of thy love, aboun|ding
<PB N="121" REF="65"> in perpetuall di&s;pen&s;ations of mercy to my &s;oul. I will therfore &s;a|crifice my &s;elfe, O Lord, in pray&s;es to thy name, and in the memory of thy goodne&s;&s;e keep an everla&s;ting Jubilee in my &s;oul, thou ha&s;t &s;hewn me the way unto thy Selfe and that in Thee onely are hid all the trea&s;ures of my happine&s;&s;e. I will be no longer then a &s;ervant to the world, and be&s;tow the nobler ad|dre&s;&s;es of my &s;oul on peri&s;hing and empty nothings; and for a poor fu|gitive drop here below, lo&s;e Thee the ocean of bli&s;s and glory. And that I may de&s;pi&s;e the flatteries of the world, O Lord, do thou in&s;pire me with de&s;ires after Thee only, and inable me to do &s;omething for thy &s;ake, who ha&s;t don &s;omuch to make me happy; that &s;o my life may be a &s;acrifice of obedience ever plea|&s;ing in thy eyes.</P>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="table of contents">
<PB REF="66">
<PB REF="66">
<HEAD>The Index.</HEAD>
<P>Meditations on
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Eccle&s;. 12. v. 1.</HI> Remember now thy Creatour in the dayes of thy Youth. <HI>Fol.
1.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Gen. 12. v. 8.</HI> And the Lord God Planted a Garden Ea&s;t-ward in Eden.
<HI>5</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>1 Kings 10. v. 18.</HI> Moreover the King made a great throne of Ivory, and over-laid it with the best Gold. <HI>9.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><PB REF="67"><HI>1 Kings 19.9.</HI> And He came thither unto a Cave, and lodged there.
<HI>11</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Job 11.10.</HI> In all this, did not <HI>Job</HI> &s;in with his Lips. <HI>14</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Canticles 2.1.</HI> I am the Ro&s;e of Sharon, and the Lillie of the Valleys.
<HI>17</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Gen. 28.12.</HI> And he dreamed, and behold a Lad|der &s;et upon the Earth, <HI>&amp;c.
19</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Prov. 18.14.</HI> But a wounded Spirit who can beare? <HI>23</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><PB REF="67"><HI>Eccle&s;. 12.13.</HI> Feare God and keep his Commande|ments, <HI>&amp;c.
27</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Luke 10.25.</HI> And a certaine Lawyer &s;tood up and Tempted him, &s;aying, Ma&s;ter, What &s;hall I do, <HI>&amp;c. 31</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Matth. 15.28.</HI> And He &s;aid unto her, O woman great is thy faith. <HI>35</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Joh. 20.11.</HI> And &s;he stooped down, and looked into the &s;epulcher.
<HI>39</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>John 11.35.</HI> Je&s;us wept. <HI>42</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><PB REF="68"><HI>Joh. 12.2.</HI> But Lazarus was one of tho&s;e that &s;ate at the Table with Him.
<HI>45</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Joh. 13.23.</HI> Now there was Leaning on Je&s;us Bo|&s;ome, one of his Di&s;ciples whom Je&s;us, loved. <HI>48</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Matth. 16.26.</HI> For what is a man profited, if he gaine the whole world, and lo&s;e,
<HI>&amp;c. 51</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Matth. 5. v. 8.</HI> Ble&s;&s;ed are the Pure in heart, for they &s;hall &s;ee God.
<HI>56</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Matth. 8.2.</HI> Lord if thou wilt, Thou can&s;t make me cleane. <HI>60</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><PB REF="68"><HI>Matth. 24.39.</HI> And knew not, untill the flood came and took them all away.
<HI>64</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Luke 7.5.</HI> For He Loved our Nation, and hath built us a Synagogue. <HI>67</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Luke 9.57.</HI> Lord I will follow Thee where&s;oever Thou goe&s;t. <HI>71</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Matth. 9.38.</HI> Pray yee therefore the Lord of the Harve&s;t, that he would &s;end forth more labourers into his Harve&s;t. <HI>75</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Matth. 2.10.</HI> And when they &s;aw the Star, they rejoyced with exceeding, <HI>&amp;c.
78</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><PB REF="69"><HI>Philip. 4.12.</HI> I know both how to abound and to &s;uffer need.
<HI>81</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Luke. 19.9.</HI> This day, is Salvation come to this hou&s;e. <HI>85</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Matth. 13.43.</HI> Then &s;hall the Righteous &s;hine forth as the Sun, <HI>&amp;c.
89</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Luke 18.11.</HI> The Phari&s;ee stood up and prayed thus, God I thank thee, <HI>&amp;c.
93</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Rom. c. 6. v. 21.</HI> For the end of tho&s;e things is Death. <HI>96</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><PB REF="69">Luke c. 15. v. 10. There is joy in the pre&s;ence of the Angells of God, over one &s;inner that repenteth. <HI>101</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Matth. c. 6. v. 33.</HI> But &s;eek ye first the Kingdome of God, and his Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and all the&s;e things &s;hall be added unto you. <HI>104</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<LIST>
<ITEM>A Prayer. <HI>111</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>A Penitentiall Prayer. <HI>114</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>A Prayer of Thank&s;giving. <HI>119</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BACK>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
