TO THE NOBLE AND worthy Knight, Sir Philip Stanhope of Shelford, in the County of Nottingham. Noble Sir, KNowing a good CONSCIENCE to be every honourable, & (indeed) every honest man's Saint and Mistress (in both which attributes, I assure myself you have a large & plentiful interest) I have ventured here to present to such men's views in general, a poor and rough draft of her perfection; and in special, to you as one, to whom it shall be no disgrace, that I account you amongst her principal servants: which belief in your affection, and devotion to her, draws me to a confidence in your inclination to pardon, and withal to accept this (in truth unskilful) picture that here I send you, though it be as far from the life, as earth is from heaven. I shall happily be censured for not selecting othermore specious servants, & favourites of hers, which boast and make a face of great attempts and endeavours, and employments of their valour, & integrity, in the full maintenance and preservation of her noble and Godlike temper, and in advancing of her deserved honour and reputation: but certainly, I have ever found (in that weak discovery, which my feeble understanding could make of men) those which excel in bravery, and number of words and profession, to fall short in deeds and execution, and on the contrary, least proserers, best performers. And therefore as notwithstanding the want of glorious & flourishing Protestations (commonly faltering in performance) and maugre the spite and devilish devices of your enemies (in whom it is a hard question, whether their malice or folly be greater) seeking to avile and minish your heart's faithfulness and integrity: I yet do firmly credit the unfeigned respect you bear to that heavenly Mistress of yours: so I despair not of fair interpretation and acceptance at your hands of this her portraiture: though (as I told you) done so ruggedly. The poverty of which offering, I have no means to relieve, but by praying almighty God long to continue your health and prospertey; to bless both your outward and inward estate: and that therein you may daily indeed manifest yourself, to be what I fully believe you are; namely, a preserver and a patron to a good conscience. So with the signification of that duty and service, which I am justly tied to tender both you and your worthy and excellent Lady, I remain At your command, THOMAS PESTLE: THE GOOD CONSCIENCE. PROV: 15.15. A good Conscience is a continual Feast. IN this Text is mention of two things, which (it seems) the world hath quite forgotten; at least left off, and disaccustomed. It may be we have heard our Fathers, or Grandfathers report strange things, of Lords, & Knights, and great Men, keeping bountiful houses and continual Feasts, and they perchance heard their Fathers before them speak of keeping a good Conscience. But in this Rotten, Woodden-Age, wherein we live, these two are perished, at least traveled and gone out of the Land together, which together we find as fast friends in the text, A good conscience, & a continual Feast. All I hope to gain is, that the discourse of such things will not be unwelcome to us, because we are fallen upon those times, indeed miserable: wherein men are merely nothing but discourse and talk of these matters. In opening the Text, four several things are to be inquired of, and stood upon. 1. First, what Conscience is in general. 2. What a good Conscience is, and the contrary. 3. The main intendment of Solomon in this place, or the general Doctrine hence observable, having two branches, one implicit, which is, that wicked souls are most anguished, and wheeled, and tempested with affliction, most grieved & galled in mind: another explicit, to wit, that good and honest men are more mirthful, joyous, receive more true solace and contentment, than the former. 4. How this comparison here urged by Solomon may be fitted and applied; proving first that the wicked conscience is no feast, or if one, not continual. Secondly, in the righteous, that theirs is one, and a continual one. A good Consc: is a etc. 1. First, what Conscience is in general. It is defined to be a certain natural understanding of the Law, approving honest and good actions, and disallowing or detesting such as be ill: Or it is a judgement of the soul, fetched from the Law of God, upon which ensues either a joyfulness, or a trembling in the soul. And it consists (saith Melancthon,) of a practic Syllogism in man's understanding, and the heart's motion that ensues it. The Mayor whereof is the rule of certainty and truth, to which the deed is laid, and weighed in the Minor: and the conclusion is the soul's judgement, or reflection on itself, procuring either quietness or vexation. Aquinas defines it to be: Ordo scientiae ad aliquid, an Act by which we apply our knowledge to some-particular thing. And Caluin says, 'tis Medium quid dam, a certain thing of a middle nature twixt God and man, not suffering a man to suppress in himself what he knows offensive to God. Lypsius calls it Sointillam: A sparkle of rectified reason, left still in man, of his good and evil actions, both judex and judex, both judge and witness. To which purpose it hath been named, the Pulse, the Spur, the Monitor, the watchman, the clock or Laerum to the soul; the good Cassandra, foretelling dangers, Gods special Bailiff and Secretary, to arrest us, to register our offences, of which that is true of Tully, Magnum vim habet in utrumque partem, etc. It hath great force on both sides, either to free them from fear, who have done nothing, or to present ever to their face due punishment that be offenders, whereunto agrees that description of Conscience in the scriptures, that it is our own Thoughts, either accusing or excusing us. 2. Hence we may easily descend to the second particular, and gain the understanding of a good Conscience, which yet will be hard to do: in regard a good one is indeed the very Peace of GOD, which passeth all understanding; yet thus far they have cleared us, who define it to be a joyful remembrance of a well-led de life, joined with hope, in the expectation of a Comfortable event: or a joyous motion of the soul, joined cùm scientià, with knowledge of her own right actions, (in which regard it is named concertly, Conscience, not merely Science, for without this conjunction it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Conscience nicknamed, or miscalled:) and we are eased by such, who hold a Conscience then to be free or good when it is at peace, either concerning pardon of sin, or concerning our pleasing God, notwithstanding all imperfections: or when the question is of things in their own nature indifferent, and it being in such a choice, neither Asinina, nor Lupina; neither straining at straws, nor swallowing logs. But then specially, when it is calm and quiet upon the first ground, namely, upon the sense of sin forgiven, and the soul made free & reconciled to God, an estate, neither befalling the proud Pharisee, swollen, and puffed up with a false conception & tympany, a deceivable confidence, and overweening of his own righteousness, nor the dull and stony sinner, who drunk with sins sweetness, is made insensible, and remains seemingly undisquieted. In sum, 'tis nothing else but that inward integrity of the heart, whereof S. Paul speaking, says, The end and complement of the Law, is Charity in a pure heart, with faith unfeigned. 1. Tim. 1.5. And presently after, Vers. 19 differencing it from a mere understanding, he saith, Some have made a shipwreck of Faith, by forsaking a good Conscience: Wherein (saith Caluin) he shows it to be a lively ardour of serving God, with the entire affection of his soul; and a sincere endeavour, to live godly and honestly among men, respecting properly and precisely God, as the main end and object thereof; but less principally men, because the effects and fruits of it extend even to them also. This thus opened, brings us (I hope) some light to find and see what an evil Conscience is, which is, whatsoever the former is not. A remembrance of an ill-led-life, joined with fear of punishment, or a grievous and racking motion of the soul, mixed with knowledge and sight of her own wickedness, and by consequence, with a foresight of her own misery. But in handling the next part of the Text, we shall obtain a manifold discovery of them both, and be made to descry aswell the comfortable nature of the one, as the poor and wretched condition of the other. Come we then to that which I called the main intendment of Solomon, or the general Doctrine hence observable; The first part whereof is, that there is no peace to the wicked, as God speaks by Esay, No joy, no comfort, in an ill soul. And the second, That the good man, is the only merry man alive. For so much is veiled and covered here, under these words. A continual Feast. 3 For the first, as Saint Paul speaks of the good man that he is afflicted: yet always merry. So Solomon of the wicked just contrary, even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, Pro. 14.13. The world then (it seems) is cozened and gulled with shows and shadows, and outward semblances, thinking such a man sick that is in perfect health, esteeming an other in great jollity, of an able lusty body, when 'tis but a languishing carcase. For the full worldling sets out, and paints and struts like a huge Colossus of gold (peradventure) or ivory without, but stuffed with clay and stones within: all their happiness affording no more comfort, then for a thief to be hanged on a painted Gallows. Therefore Seneca calls it Foelicitatem bracteatam, & capsulam totam: gilded felicity, all cover and shell, and bark, straw without grain, or gilded sheaths with leaden weapons: nor yet so merely? 'tis not a froth or wind, or emptiness, but a burning, a corrosion, a sting, a poison, a secret malignity withal: For so Solomon implies, where speaking of all outward things, he sayeth, They are not only vanity, but vexation of the spirit. So that worldlings may complain of all earthly matters, as Agarnemnon doth of honour in the Tragedy: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 't's sweet (in show and semblance a far off) but it sads a man at heart when it comes. The main reason whereof is, that of Senecaes', because all folly and vanity laborat fastidió sui, grows in the end weary of itself. Et maximam sui veneni partem bibit, drinks up the greater part of her own poison, occasioned by a gnawn worm-eaten, a wicked guilty conscience. For as the Cruciaeries in Rome bore that Cross which should afterwards bear them: so God hath laid this conscience as a cross on every sinful wretch, wherein he suffers before before time of his full and final suffering. A thing which the Heathens felt and discovered, Sua quemque fraus & suus terror maximè vexat (sayeth Tully) Each man's own fraud, and his own affrightment most disquiets him, and those Furies (sayeth he) do anguish and pursue wicked men, not with burning firebrands, as we see in Tragedies, sed angore conscientiae, but with the trouble of their conscience. And Seneca most divinely, Nihil prod st inclusam habere conscientiam, patemus Deo. Quid quaeris? quid machinaris? quid abscondis? custos tuus te sequitur? Quid locum abdictum legis? arbitros removes? Putas tibi contigisse, ut oculos ovium effugias? To what end (sayeth he) Doth a sinner choose secrecy, or solitariness? Demens quid prodest non habere conscium, cum habes conscientiam? Madman, what avails to have no witness of thy wickedness, thou having a conscience which is a thousand witnesses. A thing which every sinner would shun and cannot, whose state is therefore resembled to the strike Bear, which running per syluas, saltusque, through woods and groves, yet still haeret lateri laethalis arundo, the deadly arrow sticks still in her side; so runs and rowles the perplexed sinner like Lucan's Bear, Se rotat in vulnus, & secum fugientem circuit hastam, though he wheel and turn round (as the Wiseman saith Impij ambulant in circuitu:) yet the Spear that wounded him falls not out. Such men, sayeth Plutarch are like men seasick, who being in the ship, think they should do better in the boat, and thence back again to the ship: nihil agunt, etc. They do nothing (sayeth he) nothing to any purpose, so long as their choler remains in the stomach: So the Sinner, no shift of place, no change of air relieves him, being dogged and tended on by Erynnis Conscientiae, the Hellish Hag, or fury of his conscience, that ever-gaping Cerberus, that everwaking blood hound; either barking eager, and so disturbs his rest, which is bad enough: or if it chance to sleep, it is far worse: if it wakes, it makes him like a madman; when it sleeps; a Lethargique dull and senseless: if it speak, a thousand wild Chymaeraes and winged furies, and spirting serpents ride upon the tongue of it: but when it is dumb, it casts him into a stony deadness, which is an estate so damnable, as we are wont to express it by resemblance to a Patient, on whom Physic works not, or that seeles not himself sick, when both Physicians and friends know him desperate. ti's- Austin's, Quid miserius misero non miserant seipsum? What more miserable than a wretch, not to take compassion on himself? Nor can it be thought a pleasure for a sinner, that his soul is grown over with a film or cataract, that he becomes obdurate, seared and remorseless, and so secure like jonas under hatches, a sleep: for such a sleep of the conscience is but a dogs sleep, as God told Cain, in Gen. 4. If thou dost ill, Sin lies at the door, lies like a dog at the door, upon a sudden to rise and pluck out his throat. Tandemista tranquilitas tempestas est (saith Saint Jerome) This seeming calm proves in the end a most cruel storm: as a wheel seems not at all to move when it is whirled about with greatest violence. Which if we would have proved or exemplified (beside profane stories and daily trial) the scripture is plenteous in furnishing us with examples and testimonies: joseph's brethren, Gen. 50.15. It may be he will hate us, and pay us again the evil we did him. A fuller example, is Herod in Mat. 14. who when Christ came to offer mercy; out of the hell of his heart imagined john Baptist had been risen again to take vengeance. So the Scribes and Pharisees in that judgement of our Saviour, concerning the woman taken in adultery, accused of their own conscience, went out one by one, john 8.9. The same sting it was made Baltazers' countenance change, and his joints to be loosed, and his knees to knock one against another, Dan. 5.6. So when Paul disputed of righteousness and temperance, and the judgement to come: the Text sayeth, Foelix trembled, Act. 24.26. The time would fail me to speak of Adam, of Saul, of judas, and six hundred more: for it is in all wicked souls, either the first part of hell, a fire that burns and consumes speedily; or the second part, a worm that closely frets and eats away, and rots the soul, and shall never die, saith Esay, 66 24. Such a man is like him the Apostle speaks of, Tit. 3.11. Who is damned of himself, his own judge, witness, hangman: at least finds himself guilty, and nothing remains, but a fearful looking for of judgement, and a violent fire, Heb. 10.27. 2 The second branch of the doctrine, and that which is here expressed, is, that how ever the world rashly conceit good men's estate wretched and tempestuous, yet they are the only merry men alive. It is thought religion dulls their wits, & daunts their spirits, as if mirth and mischief ever met together. But the Heathens have been able to tell us, that all bliss lies not in a giddy lightness. There is (sayeth Statius) hilaris cum pondere virtus, Virtue with mirth, and weight in it: and Tully could say: Non hilaritate modo, nec lascinia, nec ioco comite lenitatis, sed saepe etiam tristes firmitate & constantiâ sunt beati: Men many times seeming sad, are blessed in the firmness and constancy of their temper. For the true Christian man, though he run still away: yet his joys are deeper, than the rushing noise of shallow worldlings; as Claudius speaks of Nilus: Lene fluit, sed cunctis omnibus exit utilior, nullas confessus murmur vireiss: though it show no strength in his murmur and rattling, yet it is more useful than other rivers. This is true of a good conscience, in the general, because it is in every disease a Physician, in strife a Lawyer, in doubt a Preacher, in grief a counsellor, in sin a confessor; like a sweet presume, at once taking away the noisome smell, and leaving a sweet savour for it, or like the unicorns horn in water, driving poison out of any estate. This we shall in like manner find true, if we take into our consideration those things which most afflict and travel men in this life, and wherewith the best men are oftentimes shaken and disturbed, and their evennes interrupted and en cumbered, which be SIN and Affliction. For we shall find that which juvenal speaks of virtue; Semita tranquillae per virtutem patet unica vitae, appliable more fitly to a good conscience, that the way out of the forenamed difficulties, and the path to arrive at quietness is no other. And for SIN first, the daily wrestlings & combats against those relics of sin, are best known to them that have experienced them: Such will cry out in the bitterness of their souls, with S. Paul, I feel another law in my members, rebelling against the law of my flesh, and leading me captive into the law of sin. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? Rom. 7.23.24. Now a good conscience doth not only preserve men from committing some sin, as Pride and envy (that Saw of the soul, and pain of the damned, and so works a peaceful innocency that way: but it likewise clears him from the guilt and horror of all sin: For first, it is a procurer, at least, a fast friend, to a bold & lively faith in God. So the Author to the Hebrews, Heb. 10.22. Let us draw near in assurance of our faith with a true heart, sprinkled in our hearts from an evil conscience; and then in the next place it makes a man confident to come with boldness to the throne of grace: for if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God, 1. john. 3.21. In which regard David ftiles God the God of his praise, & the God of his righteousness: and the Apostle calls integrity of life, and a good conscience, arma institiae, armour of righteousness on the right hand, and on the left, 2. Cor. 6.7. which preserves him safe from all assaults, and snares, and temptations of the devil: nay, the righteous man gains by every such attempt of Satan: Doemones tentando nobis coronas fabricant, every temptation annoyed, as it is a Crown to a man; so it is a curse to his enemy. And Origen imagined, that it should increase the tormentor's punishment. In the mean time, the righteous soul lies covered under his buckler of Faith, like little Teucer under the shield of Ajax, secure from danger. Nay, Sin indeed hath now no further power to endamage him: for as the spirit of God becoming his bosom friend, doth like a new Hercules kill that ravening vulture, which tires upon the liver of his poor soul, and when he is in greatest anguish, that he prays and sighs, and groans, then that prays for him, sighs, groans for him with such sighs, such groans so oppressed, as they cannot be expressed: Rom. 8.26. So Christ jesus his saviour and mighty Redeemer, hath pulled out the sting of it, the poison and virulency, and malignity is taken away by him. For the strength of sin is the Law; now such men, saith the Apostle, are no longer under the Law, but under grace. And therefore Saint john is bold to say of such a man: He doth no sin, nor can do none: a strange speech; yet most true; he cannot sin fearfully, finally, with the whole sway and bend of his mind and affections, or doth no sin which shall be imputed to him, or laid to his charge, as Saint Paul, Rom. 8.33.34. where he seems to give out a general callenge against all comers: to do their worst, to urge the utmost they can. 'tis &c. (saith he) Who is that man so hardy as dare tax the children of God? Who shall lay anything to the charge of Gods elect? It is God that justifies, who shall condemn? etc. So that in such men, sin though it remain, yet it doth not reign there, but is only like a languishing carcase in the grave, daily rotting and consuming away: they shall sin so long as they bear about flesh and blood, wherein dwells corruption: they that fall, cannot but be subject to many weaknesses: yet if they have a good Conscience, their fall is not like the fall of the Elephant, which being down, cannot rise again; but contrary, their falls teach them better how to stand, and their infirmity serves to confirm the virtue of their Constancy: And (which is the sovereign joy of God's people) in every sinful tentation, they do like Hercules, exire maiores, grow greater, which S. Paul means, where he says Become more than conquerors. 2. And as thus they are not depressed by this enemy, so neither do they stoop or stand in sear of the other, which is affliction. It is a bitter thing to look into the manifold distresses and incombiances, to be met and encountered; yet a good Consciences abides the injury and assault & battery of them all, unmoved and unappalled,— Illisos fluctus rupes, ut vasta refundit, Like a rock, against which a thousand Billows rise and roar, yet the stone for all their chase and foaming keeps his place, and beats them in pieces. So the soul of such a man is like Socrates, who was ever in one countenance: nay, it is in affliction, like fire in wind, more inflamed: as a traveler meeting in hindrance, willbe more eager on his journey: like gold in the furnace, neither lessened in his weight, through difference or distrust of God's goodness: Though he kill me, yet still I will trust in him: nor evaporates, or goes away in fume & impatient folly. In all these things did not job sin with his mouth, nor charge God foolishly, but shines out fresher and purer than before, in an holy life and conversation. And after he hath stood the shock, and passed the storm of many afflictions, he can yet encourage and cheer his sorrowful Fortunes, speaking of his good conscience, as Hecuba of Polixena, when the rest were dead. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. Good men indeed seem the poorest and most wretched things on earth; and are counted as S. Paul speaketh of himself, the very offscouring of all things. David and job, and he, had pretty shares in affliction: And a man that should read jobs book, and David's Psalms, and S Paul's Epistles, would marvel to hear that these men were so merry. There is plenteous mention of fasting, of tears, of bonds, of cold imprisonment, nakedness, &c: But where's this joy, this continual feast we talk of? Let the man that moves such questions, know for certain, that he understands not such men's estates aright: For the true Christian man is a bundle and world of wonders, running contrary courses, like the Antipodes, strong when they are weak, as the Moon waning to the earthward, waxeth towards heaven: Therefore (S. Paul saith) I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions in anguish, etc. 2. Cor. 12.10. Indeed the comfort of the wicked is like a compound Medicine: There must be p●●…ing, and dancing, and dallying, or they cannot seem merry, but the godly man's pleasure is of another strain, a new kind, like a light shining in the air, when no matter is seen to nourish it. We are mistaken then, if we think such men upon earth, it is true, we see them hear, as we see the Moon and stars in water, but they are in heaven: S. Paul saith plainly, our conversation is in Heaven already: Their soul is where it would be; as Gregory of Mary Magdalene: Maria ubi nos erat, ubi erat, etc. She was not where she was for she was wholly where her Master was. Hence is it, that when the worldlings shrinks, and sinks under a little trouble, they bear it out bravely, and with a kind of heavenly scorn trample on all encumbrances: So Paul speaks disdainfully of tribulation: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, etc. as though he thought it unworthy the naming. And the reason of this is nothing but the testimony of these men's souls and consciences, assuring them first, that all afflictions are momentany for a night, joy returning in the morning: or if they last longer, yet the Prophet Osee tells us: After two days he will revive us, and the third day he will raise us up. Ose. 6.2. Secondly, their conscience tells them how justly these things are inflicted; that the store of corruption in them deserves not only this fire of affliction to purge them, but even hell fire to consume them: that as God always rewards supra meritum, above man's desert: so he punisheth citra justitiam, on this side his justice: and then thirdly makes them know that they are needful (for wiping away all tears in heaven, doth necessarily ptesuppose wet eyes on earth, resting their toil and labour here) and also good for them: Dona Dei admonentis, the good gift of God admonishing us, sayeth Austin: It is good for me (sayeth David) Nay they are not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, medidicines of their health and safety; but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, special tokens of Gods fatherly love and kindness, as the Apostle reasons, Heb. 12.8. If ye be without correction, then are ye bastards and not sons. So that men being once armed with this armour and strength of a sound heart and good conscience, like David with his stone and sling, no uncircumcised Philistine can dismay him, nothing in the world can sound to his discomfort. Vbi in altum delati sumus, when we are carried into the deep of calamity and trouble, it is then the anchor of a good conscience, (saith Caluin) that keeps us fuse, that preserves our souls from perishing in the waters. If afflictions atise like a spring of bitter waters: yet the salt of a good conscience will season this spring, and the waters shall be healed: or is thy grief yet greater, & risen to a flood, even as the flood of jordane, that thou mayest cry with the Psalmist; The waters are come in (Lord) even to my very soul; yet faint not, for the virtue of a good conscience, like the spirit of God in Elias will cut this jordane, and thou shalt go over it in safety; or yet more, if the course and confluence of thy afflictions be swollen and risen to a sea; whose waves are mad, and rage horribly; yet thy good conscience, shall like the Ark of Noah bear thee above the pride and power of all those surges, over whose backs thou shalt ride like another Arion in mirth and triumph: or last of all, if it come to the worst of all terrible afflictions, that they increase to a red and bloody sea of tribulation and persecution: why? yet fear not, stand still, and behold the salvation of the Lord: the spirit of God in the testimony of thy good conscience, will speak peace to thy affrighted soul; nay, like Moses will stretch his hand and his rod over this sea, and divide it, and thou shalt pass on dry ground through the midst thereof. And as thus afflictions in general do not endamage the true and righteous servants of God, but that they are bulwarks and defenced against them; so we shall find it true by running over some particulars. Let there be war and devastation, sacking & burning of towns, ravishing of Matrons and Virgins, and all the retinue of rage and horror enter upon a land with noise of weapons, and tumbling of garments in blood, as the Prophet describes it: yet all this will not break his truce with heaven; he shall in the midst of war enjoy that peace which Christ left his Disciples, That peace of God which passeth all understanding. Let it be rumorde that all the brave and daring men in the world are coming on: nay, let him be assured, (as undoubtedly he is from the word of God) that all the Peers and Princes of Hell are up in Arms; Principalities and powers, and worldly governors, Princes of the darkness of this world spiritual wickedness in high places, are banded and leagued against him: yet he will be able, not only to resist in the evil day, but having finished all things to stand fast, Ephes. 6.12.13. And where the Apostle there mentions a girdle of verity, and shoes of preparation, a breastplate of righteousness, and a shield of faith, an helmet of salvation, and a sword of the spirit, we must know that he which hath a good conscience, hath all this furniture, this complete harness of a Christian altogether. For that alone is the armour of righteousness on the right hand, and on the left, which makes a good man, as Solomon speaks bold as a Lion, valiant as Gedeon, or Samson, afraid neither of the arrow (saith David) that flies by night, nor the plague which destroys at noon day. Nothing, nothing can dismay the resolute Christian, Stelliger mundus sonnet, flammas & hic & ille iaculetur polus: Let the earth be moved (saith David) and the foundation of it shake, & the mountains be cast into the midst of the sea, I will not fear, Si fractus illabatur orbis, impavidum ferient ruinae, though the world crack and fly off the hinges, yet this shall nor appall him, but his heart will be still like the heart of the Leviathan, firm as a stone, and as hard as a piece of the neither millstone, job. 41.15. Let such a man be defamed, causelessly traduced in his good Name: yet Tully was able to say Conscientia virtuti satis amplum Theatrum: A good Conscience is a Theatre large enough for virtue: and the man that is not guilty, or conscious to himself, of deserving infamy, hath (saith Horace) Murum aheneum, a wall of brass, to retort and shoot into their own bosoms, all these fiery darts of the wicked. It seems indeed that this scourge of Tongues, is no mean vexation, for David calls such detraction by the names of sword, and spears, and sharp arrows, and poisoned darts: and complains miserably in his Psalms, an 100 times at least, how cruelly he was galled and infested with such weapons: yet both he and all the children of God from time to time have used no other rampire, but this of a good conscience, which they have ever sound so firm and , that it hath been able in midst of the hottest assaults, not to preserve from danger only, but to power into them, a noble contempt of their assailers, and a spiritual complacency, in this kind of calamity, as we heard from Saint Paul's testimony of himself, I take pleasure in infirmities (and next adds) in reproaches, in persecutions, etc. Let it be poverty; to him it is an estate full of pleasure, Christ jesus himself hath made it glorious; and the Heathen hath told him, Facile consolatur honestas egestatem: Poverty is soon cheered up with honesty: if hunger or thirst assail him, he hath a good conscience to feed him, which is a continual Feast, assuring him the Kingdom of Heaven, stands not in meat and drink. Nay, the righteous man is so far from affrightment at such trifles, that Elihu tells us, When famine comes, then comes his joy, his delight: a destruction and famine, he shall laugh, and though death be to wicked men ultimum terribilium, a damp, a damp that puts out all their light, and mars their music: yet to an honest heart, and a good conscience, it brings rather an affluence of comfort and rejoicing, a thing, the children of God wish and long for; Cupio dissolui, I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ jesus. So that in all afflictions, how great, how grievous soever the conscience of a godly man is not distracted; it may perchance slacken itself, and be scattered or dissolved at the first encounter: but when it returns into itself, and arrests on the holy spirit of God, and strength of his grace, it doth not only settle from all such waverings and weaknesses; but it grows so firm and bold, as to take joy and solace therein, when that which before was sour and distasteful, becomes sweet and gracious. And this must needs be so, it needs no proof; for how can it be otherwise; but that God's children should be men of joy; glad men, as David speaks; Psal. 68.3. Leaping for joy; when we are taught by God himself, that his Kingdom is the place of joy; nay, nothing else but peace & joy in the holy Ghost; Rom. 14.17. and his Gospel the matter of joy, as the Angel proclaims from heaven: Behold I bring you tidings of great joy, that shall be to all people. To this purpose we have plentiful testimonies in scripture, that God will ever keep and defend his chosen servants tenderly, as the apple of his eye: bears them safe from danger, as he did the Israelites upon his wings: as upon a featherbed, soft and secure; he gives his Angels charge over them, that they dash not their foot against a stone; or if any one chance to fall, Siceciderit, saith David, yet he shall not perish; for the Lord puts under his hand. The Lions do lack, and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good, Psal. 34.10. Many sorrows to the wicked, but he that trusts in the Lord, mercy embraceth him on every side. Be glad, o ice righteous, shout for joy, all ye that are true of heart. Psal. 32.10.11. The voice of joy and rejoicing, and salvation, shall be in the tabernacles of the righteous. Psal. 118.15. (sayeth Solomon) answers a good man in the joy of his heart, Eccles. 5. vlt. They that obey and serve him shall spend & end their days in prosperity, and their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasure, job. 36.11. God gives such (sayeth Esaie) beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of gladness for the spirit of heaviness. And as we have it in promise from God; so in example of godly men that have ever found it so, as David, who out of his experience, began many Psalms with prayer, and ends them with thanksgiving. And the blessed Virgin, My Soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. And Saint Paul is exemplum exemplorum: all his speech of himself is but a comment on this Text, and a large exposition of this point in hand. He confesseth it. Our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, and in the 2. Cor. 7.4. I overflow exceedingly, I abound with all joy amidst our tribulations; and that it is the general condition of all God's servants: Saint Peter tells us, where he sayeth, that though they see him not, yet believing, rejoice with joy unspeakable, and glorious. This might easily be proved, by showing that such men have all the true grounds & foundations of joy and contentment; As first, that they have remission of sins in Christ: and secondly, adoption to become the Sons of God: and in the third place, have ●ight and title to Heaven: but 'tis Horace's counsel, quaedam dicenda remittere, not to amass and heap up all that might be said to any one point; and therefore we come to the last part; namely, the fitting and applying of this resemblance, here urged by Solomon, wherein following the former Method, I will first present to your consideration how the wicked conscience is no Feast, or if one, not a continual one: and next, that the good Conscience is one, and secondly, a continual one. A good Conscience is a continual Feast. First, wicked men have no feast: For such men have lost all taste of good and heavenly things: They do not relish or savour the things that be of God, saith the Apostle, as we see Swine neglect pasture and eat draff; So these men banquet, but 'tis with poison, like Tereus' feast, or rather 'tis Scilicornium, a funeral Feast, for such a man (as S. Paul speaks of a widow) that lives in the pleasure of sin, is dead while he lives. Their food breeds only wind, and froth, and inflation, no perfect, or pure blood: So that we mistake judging such a man full, because Rich, 'tis true, he hath enough, his bellyful, but 'tis with wind, Eccles: 5.16. or else their eating procures a corrosion and convulsion, privy gripings, and qualms, stitches and aches, worms, and distortion of the stotion of the stomach, that they cannot sleep or take rest upon it. The satiety of the Rich will not suffer him to sleep. Or if he do, he shall spew soon after it, (as job saith) he hath devoured substance, and shall vomit it: for God shall draw it out of his belly. job. 20. Or if it settle and stay with him, than it inflames his soul, and hart-burnes him: For a practised sinner is said to have his soul singed and seared, his Conscience burnt with an hot iron. 1. Tim. 4.2. or lastly, as poison, if it kill not presently, breaks out in tumours and biles: so his wickedness doth occasion diseases, and his bones are full of the sin of his Youth. job, 20.11. and as he goeth on, in vers. 12. Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, and though he hide it under his tongue, and keep it (like a delicate Epicure) in the midst of his palate; yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of Asps within him. And this is their viands, their cates, their delicates: of which David desires to eat no part, Psalm. 141. If we desire to know what they drink at such a feast, job tells us they drink iniquity like water: job: 15.16. and their wine the scripture saith, is the wine of astonishment; or else a certain kind of compounded stuff, that David speaks of: ps: 75.8. In the hand of the Lord, there is a cup, & it is red wine: it is full mixed, and he powers out of the same: Surely all the wicked of the earth shall wring out, & drink thereof, and in Psalm: 11. he describes their wine, which seems the very same that the Devils drink in hell. God will rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shallbe the portion of their cup. As for the company of these men, what can it be, but a noise and set of Devils: for Satan returning (saith our Saviour) returning, and finding such men's hearts, like houses swept and garnished, prepared for him, enters with seven worse than himself, and the end of that man is worse than the beginning. It is not strange then, that profane and lewd men will fancy and conceit themselves the only flourishing people upon earth: when we see that their very banqueting stuff is but gall & poison, their drink vengeance, and their company Devils. But let us grant them that their seeming mirth and jollity they live in, may be termed a feast (which is their portion upon earth; & all they can look for,) yet alas, it is not a continual feast, but exceeding fleet and momentany. Even in laughter, the heart is sorrowful; at that very instant. They banquet as thieves in a cave or a wood, always in fear. Esay tells us that the Harp, the Viol, the Tabret & Pipe are in their feasts, Esay, 5.12. But this will not hold: for he adds in ver. 14 Therefore Hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth w●de. And their pomp, and he that rejoiceth shall descend into it: So soon they are gone. They break off, as it were in the midst of their meal, and sink into hell. Nor can the damned soul think to take it out, when he comes there. Indeed as he in his life time made a feast of his soul to the Devil, and dressed it for him to make his Helship merry: (for as the good Angels rejoice at a sinner's conversion: so we must think the devils mirth is his rebellion.) So now Satan to be quiet with him, prepares him a feast, a black banquet, only two dishes, weeping served in for the first course, and gnashing of teeth, for the second: It is true, it shall be a continual feast: but worse to him then any feast: for he shall be so far from receiving pleasure in it, that he shall howl & roar out with Dives, for some drink to his hot meat, even for a drop of water to cool his tongue: And this for the first part of the comparison. The second is, that the goodman hath in his conscience a feast, and not so only, but a continual Feast. First, he hath a Feast: for a godly man (like that ungodly one in the Gospel) fares deliciously every day; keeps a spiritual Christmas always, drinks deep in the Wine-cellar, as it seems by the Spouse in Canticles, 2.4.5. He brought me into the Wine-cellar, and love was his banner over me. Stay me with flagons, and comfort me with apples, for I am sick of love. So it is in that song of the blessed Virgin; He fills the hungry with good things: fills them, gives them enough, feasts them: Like a noble Lord God, with his proper gifts and graces. And in examining, we shall find that they have all things, which make up a sumptuous Feast, and a BANQUET Royal. 1. Plenty and variety of meat and drink, 2. Good company. 3. Lights, and 4. Music. 1. They have plenty and change of dishes; and they are all good meats. One main service is their service of God, their good work: for it is a joy to the just to do justice, Prou. 21.15. David found it so. Psal. 122.1. and in Psalm 84. My soul longs, yea, and faints for the Courts of the Lord; And our blessed Saviour confesseth it, john 4. My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and finish his work: yet this to the most holy man alive, is but a faint food in respect of the second mess or service, whereupon they feed, and that is their faith in God: which is nourishing meat indeed: so saith the Scripture, The just man shall live by his faith: It is his Viaticum, his meat, his maintenance, and this feeds him thicke-fat: He that puts his sure trust in the Lord shall be fat, Prou. 28.25. To which meat, his bread and drink are hearty sorrow and repentance for his sin: So saith David, God gives his people bread of tears, and tears to drink in great measure whole healths, Psal. 80.5. In the third place, the righteous soul contemplates and feeds upon God himself, all the three persons in the thrice blessed Trinity: First, she feasts upon God her Creator, tastes and sees how gracious the Lord is, that not only provided a world to entertain her, & under a starry cloth of State, did place a thousand creatures, and distill a thousand dews for the refection of her body; but also feeds and fats herself with his grace and goodness: and this dish, (if we will believe Saint Bernard) is a wondrous sweet one: Reverâ, illudsolum est gaudium quod de creatore concipitur; cui comparata omnis aliunde iucunditas moeror est, omnis suanitas dolor est, omne dulce amarum est: Indeed that is is only true delight which we conceive of our Creator: in regard whereof all other pleasure is a very bitterness. And this made Austin cry out; O luxuriose, ubi maior delectatio quam insùmmi dulcissime deo? Where canst thou find more sweetness, then in the most sweet God himself? Secondly, the soul takes a sweet repast on the second Person Christ Jesus, from whose fullness we do all receive grace. john 1.16. Whose flesh is meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed: of which whosoever eats and drinks (saith our Saviour, hath eternal life: john 6.54. Who testifies also, that he is the true bread which came down from heaven to strengthen man's heart, and wine to comfort it▪ no adulterate or sophistocate mixture, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the true vine. john. 15. to temper which heavenly liquor, the soul in the thi●d place mixes it, with the water of the holy spirit, which is not merely water; but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: Sweet and living water, springing up into everlasting life. john 4.14. A fourth service, is a main standing dish, and a delicate one, named the Mercy of God; therefore called by David, not only plenteous mercy, but sweet and tender mercy, which is not merely food, but a kind of restorative, as we may see in Psa. 79.8. where David speaks, as if he were in a consumption; make haste, and prevent us with thy tender mercies: For we are brought very low. And in the fift course comes in the Grace of God, whereof (as in Philosophy they say, we are nourished by the same things, of which we are begotten,) we are both borne and maintained, both bred and fed: Saint Paul sayeth plainly: By the grace of God I am that I am, both in root and height: and this also is a standing dish, and tastes like the barrel of meal, and cruse of oil 1. Reg. 17.16 or like that lake & pot of water, which the Angel gave Elias, after which he arose, and did walk in the strength of that meat forty days, and forty nights, 1. Reg. 19.8. It is indeed a whole Feast of itself. So God told Saint Paul, 2. Cor. 12.9. My grace is sufficient for thee: sufficient enough, and enough (we say) is as good as a Feast. Next to make up our meal are served in the word of God, and the Sacrament of Christ's most blessed body and blood, on which the first the soul doth feed and feast: for it is a strong meat to fasten and confirm the righteous soul in faith, a medicine of immortality: An Antidote (saith Ignatius) assuring us, we shall not die but live in jesus Christ: So for the word of God, it is called bread, Deut. 8. Amos threatens a famine of it, Amos. 8. And in Hebrews 5. It is said to be milk for Babes, and strong meat for men of riper age: and therefore God bade the Prophet eat the roll: and Saint john sayeth, he took the Book out of the Angel's hand, and eat it up: and to prove it more than ordinary food, S. Paul calls it wholesome doctrine, and comfortable, that we through patience & comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Ro. 15.4. So comfortable, that in the opening they make men's heart to burn within them. Luc: 24.32. and fills them with joy. These things haus I spoken unto you, that your joy might be full: job: 15.11. Therefore cries S. Austin, Domine jesu, sint castae delitiae mea scripturae tuae: and David Eloquia, etc. Thy word is sweet unto my mouth, yea sweeter than the honey and honey comb: And if it be of this nature, read what is it when the bread is broken and divided, than we have the pure marrow, the Manna, and meaning of it. So that at every sermon we have lautas epulas, plenty and change of dishes. Thus you have heard the meat at this feast. Nor must you think that drink is wanting, for they have (which I named before,) water of Tears, which let none despise; For upon such eyes as stand brimful of repentant tears, Christ works a miracle, & turns their sorrow into the wine of gladness and heavenly consolation. They have secondly David's cup of God's salvation, which overflows: For as the viol of his wrath runs out for fierceness, so the cup of his salvation runs over for fullness. Again, they have the love of Christ, which the Spouse saith, is better than wine. Cant: 1.1. And last of all, David tells us that God will make such to drink out of the river of his pleasures. Psalm. 36.8. If you demand what sauce the children of God have at this feast of a good conscience? I must answer, crosses and afflictions, troubles, & tribulations, which (as Physicians roll pills in sugar, and make that Vehiculum medicinae,) God so wisely mixes, and tempers with their wholesome food, that they are not able to distinguish twixt meat and sauce, but nourish their growth in grace, as well with the one as with the other. So that they find no tartness, no sharpness, no bitterness in these afflictions, no, not in death itself, for as God sweetly disposes and pleasantly compounds the rest: so Christ jesus is their taster in this. He hath tasted death for all. Hebr. 2.9. This is their main cheer: To this, Sage, and Succory, Marjoram gentle, Patience and Honesty, & heartsease, and Hearb-grace, are sprinkled in for salads. And all this before the banquet. For that comes after, wherein as we see at feasts, the same things serve for the Banquet too, but otherwise cooked, and disguised: so it may happily fall out in this, for remission of sins, and hope of everlasting glory, are (says Latimer, the sweetmeats to the feast of a good conscience; And as for fruits, as we are called in scripture, the first fruits of his creatures: so (if we be of S. Paul's company) we have the first fruits of his spirit, Rom: 8.23. where of S. Paul serves in often a brace: Grace & peace in God the Father, etc. And oftentimes a lease, Grace, mercy, and truth, etc. And we find almost a dozen in a dish, Galath. 5.22.23. The fruits of the spirit, is love, joy peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, Faith, meekness, temperance, etc. After these come in all choice and rare dainties, mentioned in Isay: 11.2. Wisdom, and understanding, council, and strength, Knowledge, and the fear of the Lord, which are called in Esay, 55. by the names of Water milk, and wine, saturity, Fatness, etc. In other places, they are jointly named the Anointing, the oil of gladness, where with as Christ jesus was anointed above his fellows, so being (as S. Peter styles him) the Bishop of our souls: he doth therewith anoint and consecrate us, Priests unto God, even an holy, and a Royal Priesthood. 1.2.9. which is an ointment, most savoury and redolent, The savour of thine ointment is better than all spices: Cant. 4.10, which heavenly Oil is shed in our hearts, by the holy Ghost that is given us. Rom 5.5. there's an other banqueting dish of love and knowledge mine together, For knowledge of itself is too windy; it swell a man like puff past, and show him up, but love modefies and alleys it, and makes it wholesome. Then comes in the loving kindness of the Lord, making the Goodman's estate equal with that of Kings, as Saint Paul told Agrippa, in which regard God is said to crown us with loving kindness & tender mercy, Psa. 103.4. So that righteous men are so many crowned Kings. Nay, faith the Apostle, more than conquerors, Rom. 8. What's more than conquerors? Why, Triumphers: for he makes us to triumph in Christ, 2. Cor. 2.14. Next the good & faithful soul receives in this banquet, a Crystal belly, made of the blood of Christ; not Sanguis Draconis, but Leonis, of the Lion of the Tribe of juda, or rather; of the Lamb of God, a strange and strong restorative, more than all their pectoral rolls, or mithridate, or aurum potabile; that will fetch life again sooner than all their cordial waters: for this indeed is the true Aqua Coelestis, and Rosa Solis, of the Sun of righteousness, one drop whereof, is sufficient for a thousand worlds. After this comes that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that full assurance of faith in Christ, which is the true Manus Christi: that passeth all their marmalade, Succate. And last of all is that food of Angels: hidden Manna, so called, Apos. 2.17. which is a kind of secret consolation, which the Lord infuseth into the hearts of his faiththfull servants: such as keep a good conscience, which fairs exceeds all the stellified meats of Alchemists and Conjurers, transports and ravisheth the soul of man, as S. Peter having a taste of it, talks of building Tabernacles, and Saint Paul it seems, had some relish of it, where he sayeth, I overflow exceedingly, I abound with all joy, amidst our tribulation: This it makes a man forget all sensual pleasure, and is not only food, but a river of spiritual drink to the soul, which provokes Austin to cry; Pota me Domine torrent volupt atis, ut nil iam mundanorum libeat degustare venevalae dulcedimis. Give me of this drink, Lord, that I desire not the poisonous delights of the world. This occasioned the same Father to entitle a good conscience, a paradise abounding with graces and delights: And Hugo, to style it a garden of delight, and the golden diving Chamber of the holy Ghost. And so much for the meat and drink. The second thing that commends a feast, is the Company. It is a speech of a Roman in Plutarch, that he had only eaten, not supped when he wanted company. Now company are either guests or attendants: both these magnify the feasts of a good conscience: for the guests are the blessed & glorious Trinity: For a good conscience (we have heard) hath the spirit his bosom-friend; such a foul the Temple, the closet of the holy-Ghost, & for his father, our Saviour tells us, john: 14. to the man that loves him, his Father will come, and dwell with him: And of himself. Rerel: 3.20. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock, if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. Our best friends use to be best welcome; and can a man have a dearer Guest, a better friend than Christ jesus: for he vouchsafes to call good men his friends, Ioh: 15.13. his kinsmen▪ in other places his brethren, his children, his mother, his Spouse, to show that he loves us, with all these loves: the friends, the kinsman's; the brothers, the fathers, the wife's: Nay, his is as high above these, as is Heaven above earth, and therefore having him our guest, we have him in the knot, and ring, and pack of all our friends together. As for the Attendants at this feast, they are no common waiters, ordinary Serving men: but the blessed Angels of heaven. Are they not all ministering Spirits, sent out to minister for their sakes, that shall be heirs of salvation? Hebr. 1. vlt: who as they ministered to Christ, assoon as the devil forsook him, so when we are once rid of the devil of hell, of an evil conscience, they presently be our servants; and as they ministered to him in his hunger: for the Angels to all his in thirst and hunger, are (as Luther is bold to say) Cooks and Butlers. 3. The third circumstance of a feast, is light, 'tis therefore a plague (saith Ecclesiastes) to a covetous wretch, that always he eats in darkness: And indeed what is a feast without light? so 'tis in the soul: therefore the wicked heart or conscience is described in scripture to be void of light, full of darkness, having their cogitations darkened: Ephes: 4.18. Their foolish heart is full of darkness. Rom: 1.21. And all they can do, all their works are deeds of darkness. Rom: 13.12. But the children of God, like the land of Goshen, have light enough: they walk in the light, and are children of the day, translated from the kingdom of darkness into his marvelous light. So as the righteous soul needs no taper or torchlight at his feast, specially if we remember what company is therefore. First, there is the comforter, the bright and glorious spirit, which makes him that is spiritual to discern all things, 1. Cor. 2.15. There is also God the Father in company, who is Pater luminum: the Father of Light. james, 1.17. and Christ jesus, who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, The Light of the world, the dayspring from on high, a Light to be revealed to the Gentiles, and the glory of his people Israel. 4 As for the last circumstance of Music, the good conscience hath enough; every string of his heart sounds out a pleasant melody, pleasing in the cares of Almighty God himself. First, God plays on the heart strings of his children, sila cordaram, sic corda filioram tangit, and moves them easily, than they sound forth his praise in Psalms and hymns, and spiritual songs, making melody in their hearts unto God: at which Music, the envious devil ftands without the door, like the elder brother in the Parable, fretting and discontent at the noise he hears within: Secondly, the very afflictions here endured, as they are music to a good conscience, according to that of Prudencius; Tormenta, carcer, ungulae stridenque flammis, etc. All kind of tortures are pleasant to a Christian. Thy rod (sayeth David) comforts me. So likewise do they serve as so many musical iustruments to praise God withal: as it was said of Romanus the Martyr; Tota ecce laudant ora, quet sunt vuinera, That all his gaping wounds were so many mouths to celebrate God's glory. And as their suffering, so their prayers & tears are sweeter music in the ears of God, than Spheres, or the harmony of Angels. Especially, the repentant tears of a sad soul, are an excellent Music in voices, that is heard as high as heaven; So God tells Manasses, Thou hast wept before me, and I have heard it; & it seems the Angels hear it too: for it is said of them, that they rejoice at a weeping sinners conversion. And yet here is not all: For it is not only a feast, but a continual feast. The royal feast of Assuerus, in Est. 1. lasted but a 100 & 80. days: but this is everlasting. A good conscience than holds out in all weathers, which made Pindar call it the sweet nurse of a man's old age. The comfort of profane worldlings, like a torrent soon runs itself dry and away, but the godly man's peace is like a perpetual spring, he grows and goes on in grace. Therefore in Ezechiel, only the stairs of the Temple were left unnumbered, unmeasured, intimating, that the ascension to God grace, and so to his glory is endless. Therefore God's mercy & his grace, are styled a rich grace; a great mercy, a superabundant grace, a lasting mercy, better than all conserves and preserves, of which the Poet sayeth; Inamarescunt epulae sine fine petitae, They will grow bitter, if common: but this is as sweet, and tender, and delicate to a man in his age, as in his youth, nay sweeter and sweeter, like that wine in john 2. best at last. So that the good man's feast begins at All-Saints, at our sanctity and holiness here; and lasts till the great general Purification, till our bodies be deputed of all earthly dross, & our fowls of sin, that is, till we arrive at Heaven. It is true, the godly man's condition, in respect of death is all one with the wicked; he must die: but when death, like a Voider, comes to take away, he doth not then rise from his banquet discontent, as the wicked soul; Vitaque cum gemita fugie indignata sub umbras: with noise and murmuring, but he departs, Cedit uticonuiva satur, like a full guest satisfied, to sleep, to rest, till supper. For so death, to a man that hath this feast of a good conscience, is but a Feast of slumber till supper time, till he come to that Marriage Supper of the Lamb, spoken of in Reu. 19.9. Where for plenty and variety of meat and drink, he shallbe better then before: for it is said, in God's presence is fullness of joy, and at his right hand are pleasures for evermore. psalm: 16.11. where for his Banquet of grace, he shall have one of glory; for the fruits of the spirit here, he shall there feed on the fruits of the Tree of life, which bears 12. manner of fruits, Revel: 22.2. And for Light he shall need none there: neither Sun, nor Moon to lighten that holy City. For the glory of God doth lighten it, & the Lamb is the light of it. And for company, beside man●… that shall come from the East & from the west, and shall sit down at table, with Abrah: Isaac & jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. Mat. 8.11. & a huge number in Reu: 7 9 which no man can number, of all nations & kindreds, which shall stand before the Lamb, clothed with long white robes, & palms in their hands, and besides the fellowship of Saints and Angels, the soul shall there enjoy her old company of the Glorious & blessed Trinity, and then shall see GOD; not any longer in aenigmatè, but see him face to face, & know even as she is known. As also she shall still retain her ancient attendants of the blessed Angels, & our blessed Saviour telleth us, he will wait upon us. In the Saturnals (saith Macrobius) masters serve their servants, & at this high banquet, our Lord & M. Cor. Ies. will gird himself, & be our servitor. And lastly, for Music. All the Angels shall loudly sound their Clarions. The Prophets shall bring their haps of gold and ivory. And the glorious army of Martyrs shall bring their trumpets of silver, & all the whole Choir & Chorus of heaven, shall sing Huleluiah, that song of 3. parts, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabbath, Amen, blessing & glory, & wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, & power be unto our God for ever and over, Amen. In a word, to resolve this speculation into use & practise: Let us learn, not to love the world, or the vain profit & foolish pleasures of this life: we see there is no true mirth, no sound joy to be found in them: let therefore vain worldlings pamper, & fill themselves with such painted food, and so obtain perhaps a painted tomb, or a partial flourishing Epitaph after death: But let us labour for the meat that perisheth not, the food that lasteth ever, as graces, abundance of content: namely, a good conscience, which is both a feast in this life, and a preparative to a banquet in the life to come, Amen. Gloria Deo in Excelsis. FINIS.