THE LAST BATTLE OF THE SOUL IN DEATH, Divided into eight conferences. 1. Volume. Whereby are shown the divers Skirmishes that are between the Soul of Man on his death-bed, and the Enemies of our Salvation. Carefully digested for the comfort of the Sick: By Mr. ZACHARIE BOYD▪ Preacher of God's Word at Glasgow▪ JOB. 14. Vers. 14. All the days of mine appointed time will I 〈…〉 my changing come. I live to die▪ that I may die to live. Printed at Edinburgh, by the Heirs of ANDRO HART▪ 1629▪ C. R. HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE royal blazon or coat of arms DONEC·PAX·REDDITA·TERRIS· blazon or coat of arms TO THE MOST SACRED AND Mighty Monarch CHARLES, King of Great BRITAIN, FRANCE & IRELAND, Defender of the FAITH. MOST DREAD SOVEREIGN, It was wisely said by the Royal Preacher, The memory of the Justice is blessed: Prov. 1●…. 7 But the name of the wicked shall rot: To have a good name both in this life and after Death is a blessing promised unto the Righteous: But as for the vngodlie their names become mouldy and rotten: Qui injust 〈◊〉 om●…tur just damnantur. This consideration should rouse v●… all men to the doing of that which is good but chiefly KINGS and PRINCES▪ whose lives are to be seen in Chronicles by all ages, which come after: While other men's names within a little space are buried in oblivion, the Chronicles the Registers of times cry unto the World, Read and consider what sort of men such and such have been. Of Saul it is writer, that his sin of rebellion in sparing Agag was a 1 Sam. 15, 23. as the sin of Witchcraft, & that his stubbornness was as idolatry: His envy against David, & his consulting b 1 Sam. 28 7 with the Witch at Endor shall be manifest to all Ages to come: David's c 1 Sam, 13 14. Virtues and his Vices d 2 Sam 11 8. are penned: Solomon's e 1 Kin. 3. 9 wisdom & his f 1 Kin▪ 11 9 follies, g 1 Kin 12▪ 14. Rehobo●…ms contemning of the old counsellors h 1 Kin. 16 2●… A habs and i 2 Kin. 16▪ 31 A has his wickedness k 2 Kin. 23 ●…. josiah and l 2 ●…hr. 20, 3 Iehoshaphats goodness shall be to be seen and read so long as this world shall last. * Note Oh, that Kings would consider how in a short life they may soon plot the evil which sh●… stain ●…heir good name to the world's end. * Note Many may Flatter a Prince while he liveth: But so soon as he is gone, Truth which while he lived was warded, then cometh out and plainly declareth to the world whether he was a wise man or a fool. * Note There is no sin so secret, but God joh. 1. 47. in his own time shall bring it to light: If King CHARLES rule well, and be truly godly like Nathanael without guile, An hundreth years after this Great BRITAIN shall bless the Name of King CHARLES, yea, and that till God end Time in Eternity. * The seven Stars of the Charles▪ Wain are not so glorious as shall be the seven Letters of CHARLES in GOD'S Revel▪ 17. 18. Book which is the Book of Life. Though your Majesty's Body after Death lie rotten in the Grave, yet shall your Royal Name as if it were perfumed & enbalmed, have a most sweet savour like these Garments wherein jacob got his Father's Gen. 27, 27, blessing the smell whereof was as the smell of a field which the Lord had blessed. Seeing there is nothing more powerful to move a man to live well, than to remember that he must die, and after come Grego. Mors ipsa cum venerit vinci●… tur si prius quam veniat semper timeatur. for to reckon with his God: For this cause have I penned this Treatise of Sickness bringing unto death where your Majesty may see the most fearful Skirmishes, which are between the faithful Soul & the enemies of our Salvation: For this cause have I called it, THE LAST BATTLE OF THE SOUL. Lo, job. 5. 27 this we have searched, so it is, hear it, and know it for your good. Let it please your Majesty to look upon these my Works with a favourable eye and to take them into your Royal Protection: They were brought forth in the Land of Your Birth, even in your old SCOTLAND, Whereof your Majesty is now the hundreth and ninth King. The particular place where this Book was penned is your own GLASGOWE, a City once greatly beloved of great King JAMES your Majesty's Father of blessed memory: * A City that looketh for the like favour from your Royal MAJESTY. My chiefest spiritual desire is, that this may be comfortable to sick Souls: My first temporal wish is that your Majesty would deign it with a blink of your Favour: Let it obtain your Royal Approbation, which shall be to it as a Passport, which neither Pride nor Envy shall be able with Reason to reject: If any man be contentious, I here appell unto Caesar. Let me be so bold as here to ask a Petition from your Majesty, which granted, I will atcount a sufficient recompense to all my Labours. This is it, That it would please your Religious Majesty to take a specal care that the profanation of the Lords blessed and hallowed day be removed from this Land: It is come to such a custom and that chiefly between Edinburgh and Glasgow, that by no means the Church is able to refine it, except that by your Royal authority their Market days be changed: * Note▪ The abuse is so great that if your godly Majesty knew it, ye could not endure it: The keeping of this Precept is the only one which hath a memento before it, and yet it is most forgotten: It is the very Key of Religion. Let it please your Majesty to consider what good Nehemiah did for the reformation of such an abuse. I contended, said he, with the Nobles Neh. 13. 17 of judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the Sabbath day? Did vers. 18 not your Fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, & upon this City? Yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath. See what Nehemiah did. It came to pass that when the vers, 19 gates of jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the Sabbath, And some of my Servants set I at the gates, that there should no burden be brought in vers. 20. on the Sabbath day: So the Merchands and sellers of all kind of ware, lodged without jerusalem once or twice: Then vers. 21. I testified against them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall: If ye do so again I will lay hands on you. What wrought that? From that time forth came they no more on the Sabbath: Af●…er he had done this good work, he looked up to God by prayer saying, Remember me, verse. 22 O my God concerning this also, and spare me, according to the greatness of thy mercy. I pray God that your Majesty may reform this great abuse with that good Nehemiah: * Note If this ye do, I am assured that Your God shall remember You concerning it, and that he shall spare You according to the greatness of his mercy. One thing I desire earnestly that your Majesty once at least in the day would carefully consider these weighty words of DAVID spoken unto SOLOMON: Think that King JAMES hath said them to King CHARLES: These 1 Chr. 28. 9 Sicut potentes po●… tenter t●…r▪ menta patientur, sic & justi●… pr●…mijs fruentur plenius si recte exercue▪ rint potestatem. be the words, * And Thou CHARLES' my Son know Thou the GOD of thy Father, and serve him with a perfect heart, and with a willing mind, for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: If Thou seek Him he will be found of Thee, but if Thou forsake Him he will cast Thee off for ever. Now I entreat the Lord so to engraff these words into your Royal Heart, that the practice thereof may appear in the outward swaying of your Sceptre. * Note Let this little Manuel of the Last Battle of the Soul be like a Page at your Majesty's Chamber-door with his morning memento mori: Ye Kings are Gods because God hath so called you: I have psal. 28. 6. called you gods, said God, but ye shall die like men: Crowns have their compass and Thrones have their Tombs: Prince, People, great and small, all must go to Golgotha for to make their beds in that place which job calleth the Slimy job. 21. 33 valley The French proverb is true. La mort mord les Rois aussi. bien que les conducteurs des charrois. So most humbly entreating the most high to grant to your Majesty to reign both well and long over us, I remiane Your Majesty's most humble most obedient Servant and Subject both borne & sworn M. Zacharie Boyd. Preacher of God's word at Glasgow Ad Carolum Regem. Maxime magnorum longo sate sanguine Regum. Accipe nunc tenues quos fert tua Scotia fructus: Et si arbusta juvant fragiles ne temne myricas. Another. This Life O Prince is like an raging Sea, Where frothy mounts are heaved up on high: Our painted joys in blinks that are full warm Are like Rainbows forerunners of a storm: All flesh with grief is pricked within without. Crowns carry cares and compass them about. Your State is great, your place is high: What then? God calls you gods, but ye shall die like men. Your Majesty's most humble and most obedient Subject & Servant, M. Z. B. TEMPUS emblem A LA RYÖNE, MADAME, DIEV par lagrace duquel les Rois reignent, vous a esté favorable: Il vous a fait naistre de plus Grand pere qui ait onques reigné en la FRANCE voire de ce Grand HENRY un uray fouldre de guerre: Il vous aussi a fait estre la belle fille de plus sage Prince qui ait onques reigné en la Grand BRETAGNE, lequel ponuoit bien estre nommé IA QVES LE SAGE. Le Roy nostre Sire estant fils de plus SAGE, & vous estant la fille d'vn PRINCE si courageux, nous faites esperer que quand il plaira a dieu de vous donner des enfans, ils seront & sages & valeureux: Ce que la nature ne peut pas, dieu le face par sa grace. Recevez d'vn bon oeil MADAME ce Bonne la mort qui donne la vie. petit oewre: Vous y av●…z LADERNIERE BATAILLE de l'ame contre tous les enemis de nostre salut: vous y verrez comment il se faut porter en telles rencontres: pensez a ces choses es iours de vostre ieunesse: C'est le Conseil d'vn ROY Aye Souuenance, dit il, Eccles. 12. 3. de ton Createur es iours de ta ieunesse, auant que les iours mawais vienent, & que les ans arriuent des quels tu dies, i●… n'y pren point plaisir: L●…s ROYS & ROYNES Sont mortels comme les Isa. 40, 6. autres: La voix dit Crie & on a respondu que crieray ie? Toute chair est comme l'herbe & toute sagrace est comme la fleur vers. 7. d'vn champ: L'herbe est sechee, & la fleur est cheute d'autant que le vent de l'Eternel a soufflé dessus: Solomon qui cognoissoit les femn es mieux qú aucun autre, nous monstre que ce n'est pas Prou. 31. 30 la plus belle qui Soit digne de louange: La grace trompe dit il, & la beauté Beauté sans bonté est comme vin e s●●enté. S'esuanouit: mais la femme qui craint l'Eternel ce sera celle qui Sera louee: Cest'est la fille du ROY toute pleine de gloire en dedans: Dieu de sa grace vous Psal. 45. 14 face telle. je supplie treshumblement vostre Maiesté vouloir prendre en bon ne part ce petit oewre; lequel ie vous dedie comme un tesmoignage d'vn coeur affectioné enuers vostre Maiesté: Cependant ie prie le Tout puissant qu il vous augmente de iour en iour ses graces spirituelles, & vous face la mere des enfans▪ qui soyent Roys apres vous tant que le soleil durera. C'est celuy qui de meurera toute sa vie MADAME. Vostre tres-humble, & tres-obeissant Seruiteur & Subiect. M. Zacharie Boyd. A Glasgove le 6. de May. 1629. A LA ROYNE. Filly de France de royal race, Pearl de prix dieu vous face grace: DIEV le vuelle que ceste nation Sans fin vous loue en benediction: Portezl ' absence & de pere & mere, Car pour eux marriage prosper Voux produira bonne succession * Si vous reverez La RELIGION. M. Z. B. To the READER. AFter sixteen years' absence into France where it pleased God to make me a preacher of his word the space of four years: It pleased the same LORD to visit his Church there with bloody wars, whereby many Churches and mine also were discipated by this occasion it was the Lords will to bring me back to my native Country. In that troublous time I remained a space a private man at Edinburgh with Doctor Sibbald the glory & honour of all the Physicians of our Land: But again within a short space I was sought out by that most worthy Man our Scots Onesiphorus even Sir William Scot of Eli: He sought me out diligently and found me: The Lord give mercy unto his House, for he most loving lie refreshed me, and was not ashamed of mine affliction: The Lord grant unto 2 Tim. 1. 8 him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day. After my removing from him unto this City, it pleased the Lord to visit me with sore sickness, yea, so that in September Anno. 1626. I was phi. 2. 27. like Epaphroditus sick nigh unto death: For when I arose out of that I ever I found in my study my winding sheet among my Books: This gave me occasion painfully to search & describe unto the world this Last Battle of the August. Nescis qu●… hora 〈◊〉 et mors: S●…mper vigila ut quod nescis quando veniet, paratum te inveniat quum ve●… nerit: Ad hoc forte nescis quando veniet, ut semper parat●…s sis. Soul: I pray God to make it profitable for thine use, if thou reap a●…e comfort thereby, I entreat thee to pray for me, that the lord would grant unto me that I may find mercy of the Lord in that day. As for escapes in printing they are marked at the end of the Book: Excuse them in thy favour because I remain far from the ●…resse. Vox morientis ad animam suam. O anima mea egredere; quid dubitas? Egredere; quid time's? His multis annis Christo Domino servisti, & ad huc mortem timebis? O anima insignita Dei imagine, decorata similitudine, desponsata in fide, dotata in spiritu, redempta sanguine, deputata cum Angelis, capax beatitudinis, haeres bonitatis, rationis particeps, quid tibi cum carne, qua haud aliud vilius sterquilinium invenisti? Augustin. Vita haec misera est, mors incerta; si subito obrepat quo hinc exibimus? Et ubi nobis discenda sunt quae hic negleximus? Annon potius hujus negligentiae supplicia luenda sunt? TEMPUS emblem IN OPUS CUM VIventibus tum Morientibus utilissimum A. D. ZACHARIA BODIO Glasguensis Ecclesiae Pastore adornatum. AD LECTOREM. Epigramma. FOElix qui sancte potuit traducere vitam, Et tandem extremum Sanctè obijsse diem▪ Haec duo qui didicisse cupis, tibi pandit utrumque Hic Liber, hunc animo volue revolue tuo. Ad Authorem Libri. distichon ejusdem. Qui calamo qui voce doces, vitaque perennè▪ Vivore, in aeternum vivito ZACHARIA. JOHANNES BELUS Glasguensis Ecclesiae Pastor & Academiae RECTOR. AD VIRUM PIETATE Et eruditione praestantem D. ZACHARIAM BODIUM GLASGVENSIS Ecclesiae Pastorem de praeparatione ad mortem, postquam ex deplorato morbo convaluisset Scribentem. ERGO te nuper mortis de faucibus atrae Ereptum nobis reddidit Omnipotens: Vt Doctus moriendi artem expertusque doceres, Qua datur aetheream transitus adpatriam: Qui bene vivendi toties praecepta dedisti Doctrinae reserans horrea plena sacrae. Foelix Zacharia Doctor; Sanctisima cuius Vox pariter, Scripta, & consona vita docent JOHANNES STRANGIUS S. S. Theologiae. D. & Accademiae Glasguensis Praefectus. IN DIVINA INTEGERrimi viri D. ZACHARIAE BODII Ecclesiastae non è multis meditamenta. cum è desperatâ valetudine ad pristinam salutem revalu●…rat. FRustra veternum sollicitas meum Bodi Thaliae ad munta; barbitos Obmutet, exurdante nostras Voce Scholae str●…perâ Camoenas. jam colligendas sarcinulas monet Quae vulsit aurem Mors modo pallida: Laureta Cyrrhae, Musicasque Thespiadum fugito choreas. Tu perge Homeri carminis alite Laudande quò te mens ammi vocat, Qui baccare, & lauro revinctos Castalio lavis amne crines. Fatalis ex quo crudâ Hecates manu Attonsa pene est caesaries tibi Fato superstes reditusque Incolumis, renovas duellum. De morte partam appendis adoream, Vtque Hydra secto corpore fortior Crevit, reuîxti ter triumpho Clarior, & spolijs opimis. Qualis Caystri fluminis accola Morti propinquus dulciter incinit. Melos supremum, talis ista Naenia, quâ superos remulces. Macte indole istâ, macte faventiâ, Excude fructus uberis ingenî. O aureum vere libellum Melle sacro, & sale temperatum. Hoc amoris ergò scribebat Io. Rayus ludi publici litterarii Móderator Edinburgi THE LAST BATTLE of the Soul in death, divided into eight several Conferences. The first day's conference. Of carnal and worldly temptations▪ The sick man. MY Body is sick, my Soul is wounded: God's wrath is fearful; it burneth to the Deut. 32. v. 22. bottom of Hell▪ The heat thereof already maketh my Soul to sweat: I can find no Skrine or Sconce to set between me and this fire: Oh, in all appearance I shall shortlie●…ee dissolved, for to be brought before that great Tribunal: * Note Alas, what terrors are these, Sin, Sickness, Death, the Grave, and an unprepared Soul? I tremble all like Belshazzar: Mine heart is entangled Dan. 5. 9 with fears: my knees shiver, and smite one against another: Mine heart is pricked, while I remember mine evil spent life: * Note While I had time to do good, I was of the frozen Generation: Now God's glowmes like Boanarges, Sons of Thunder, armed with fiery fury, make heart and Soul to melt, and to fall down in drops within my bowls: Oh, for a drop of water for to cool the boiling heat o●… mine heart: Is there no man here that can afford me a word of comfort, for to uphold mine heart into this heavy hour? A spiritual Friend. Sir, I think it expedient that ye send for your Pastor, the man of God, that beareth the keys of ●…he Kingdom of heaven: It may be that the good God shall put some words of comfort into his mouth whereby your wearied Soul shall be refreshed* while the chosen Servants of God speak his words to the faint heart, the Lord putteth forth a power to enable them to do all that wherefore they are spoken: So soon as S. Peter had spoken to the lamed man, his feet and ankle bones received Act 3▪ 7. strength: Though miracles cease now, yet this shall be true, so long as the world standeth▪ The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth jam. 5. 16 much: Will it please you Sir that I go for to fetch him? The sick Man. He shall be welcome unto me: But alas, while I might I frequented him too little: * Note I haunted rather the company of these that delighted me with sports and jests, whereof now I have no comfort: * Note Because I thought I could repent hereafter, I did that whereof I may now repent, and whereof indeed, as I fear, I shall repent but too late ●… This now puts my Soul into the dumps: now all my foolish laughters are turned into mourning, for I fear exceedingly to die, I tremble and toss within this bed, GOD alone knoweth what shall be the end of this lingering trial: Go Sir, I pray you, and desire the man of God to come and visit a bruised reed, and Isa. 42. 3. a smoking flax. A spiritual Friend. I go for him presently: I hope before he leave you, ye shall find this tempest of temptations to growcalme: * Note In the meantime till he come, I pray you to remember that all your pains are but a cross sent before to crucify the love of the world: In your greatest distress, strive to be a Disciple of jesus, the Author and finisher of our Faith, who Heb. 12. 12. for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross: Be not discouraged in your greatest smarts▪ * Note For reproofs Prov. 6. 13 of instruction are the way of life: In your greatest fear remember the joy that is set before you. The Pastor. Sir, having known of your disease by your godly friend I am come to see you, and to impart unto you some spiritual comforts▪ * Note While the Soul is sore troubled, thereiss danger in delay: A bruised Spiritis like a bone out of joint, the longer it be let alone, the hardlier it is set. If I had known of your sickness sooner, I would have visited you ere now. The Sick Man. I rejoice Sir to see you, my Soul ever loved you: But alas, not as I should have done: If God should but at this time spare my life, with the help of my God ye should see me at once a far changed man. The Pastor. Come Death▪ come Life, God maketh all things to work to the best of these that love him. God's corrections are good directions: * Note With one cross he can work two cures, first a correction for bypast corruption, and after a direction for times to come: If God should not scourge us betimes the reigning of the flesh should prove the ruin of the Spirit: * Note This was the utter overthrow of the Sons of Eli, God would not correct them, because the Lord would stay them. As for that which ye speak concerning 1 Sam. 2. 25 the changing & amending of your life, your resolution is good: But seeing the hour of death is uncertain, it is good that ye be presently prepared: Death cometh upon man with stealing steps: Let no man put far off the day of his death There is great danger, that any man soothe himself with the vain hope of this mortal life: No man can tell how soon he shall be arraigned to compeare before God's Bar: None said a pagan is assured to live until the morrow. * Note Nemo tam divos habuit faventes, Senec. Crastinum ut possit sibi polliceri. * Note It is good therefore daily and hourly to be upon our Watch-Tower, preparing ourselves for death, which shall either be the end of all our misery, or the beginning of our everlasting woe, delay to prepare for death, is a strong thread in the Devil's net. A man will not die the sooner that he prepare himself to die: If a man be prepared to die, and yet die not, hoc sibi ponat in lucro, that preparation is great advantage unto him: But if he die, he hath done that which he should have done: * Note What a dangerous venture is this to a man to delay to prepare himself to die, because it may be that yet he may live? But may it not also be that he die? It is a dangerous thing to peril our Salvation upon a may be, which may as well no be: It is fearful to be hanged over Hell with the evil twined thread of a life that must end, none can tell, how, where, nor when. No man is exemed from this necessity. * Note The post Pale Horse whereupon Revel. 6▪ 8 Death is mounted, caries his Rider thorough all Nations, Cities, and Houses; pulling out of their beds Princes, Prelates, and private men without any respect of persons: thus are their hopes cropped in their fairest flower: It is good therefore that we ever be upon our guard: God offereth grace to day: To day if Heb. 3. 15 ye hear his voice: But who promiseth to morrow? well is him that feareth always. The sick Man. O the terrors of Death and of the Grave! mine heart quaketh while I remember of these last struggle that are in death: It was not without reason that the Pagans called it terribilium terribilissimum, of all fearful things, the most fearful. The Pastor. * Note If men knew what Christ hath made of Death, the living would not be so afraid with the fear thereof, Isaiah saith, that he hath put it into his Stomach, he hath swallowed Isa. 25. ●…. it up in victory: A wife man will not swallow over that which he is not able to digest: Christ hath swallowed Death and hath digested it perfectly: * Note Now Death after Christ's digestion, hath lost all its poison, and is turned into a sleep: The name thereof is changed, for to tell us of the change of its nature: Dead Lazarus in Christ's language is called sleeping Lazarus, Lazarus joh. 11. 11 Our Friend sleepeth, said Christ, speaking of his death: He that liveth and joh. 11. 26 believeth in me, said Christ, shall never die: Death is not death to the Friends of Christ, but a sleep to their body, & a translation of their Soul from a prison to a Palace: * Note As by the grace of God, it is made an Exodus of misery, so is it a Genesis of a better life, the corruption of one thing being the generation of another: * Note What is this, that men should so fear Death, which is the end of the foul & cumbersome way of our Pilgrimage? * Note Hath not God made death like a Chariot to a wearied man, for to carry him to his everlasting rest? This was seen in a visible figure, when Elijah in a fiery Chariot 2 King. 2. 11 went up by a whirl wind unto heaven. The sick Man. All that is true Sir: But ye know that death is fearful to all flesh: So soon as it cometh, it maketh a Soul liable to yield an acount for all the actions of the bypast life: * Note The body and the Soul are of old acquaintance, and have not will to part one from the other: I cannot express what a worsling I find within me; there is such a working fear about mine heart, that I tremble to think upon it: This maketh my words to wade in tears, mine heart is cut with sobs of sorrow: O death, the enemy of Life, is there no comfort against thee? Is there no Balm in Gilead? Of force then must I die? The Pastor. The woman of Tekoah said very well, We must all needs die, and are 2 Sam. 14. 14. as water spilt on the ground, which can not be gathered: Death is an unavoidable passage, there is none entry unto Heaven, but by it. I will strive to let you see before that ye enter in at the doors of Death, that your Soul hath no such cause to be afraid: Indeed I confess, that death to these that know not Christ, is indeed a most fearful thing▪ according to this Satan said, Skin for job. 2 4. skin, and all that a man hath he will give it for his life: * Note See how a Natural man would be content that his skin were pulled off him, if it could be a ransom for to save his life: Such is the fear of death, that for to be free of it, a man would give his skin: * Note Agag called it a 1 Sam. 15 32. bitter thing: Surely, said he, The bitterness of death is past: * Note The wild Gourds shred into the Prophets' pottage, for bitterness, were called Death: So soon as they had tasted them, all cried, Death is into the 2 King. 4 40. pot: The bitter torments of Hell 2 Cor. 1. 10 are called, so great a Death: David speaking of the pangs of death, calleth them waves: The waves of death compassed me: See how death is compared 2 Sam. 22 5. to a raging Sea, with rolling waves: To this David subjoins, The snares of death prevented me: vers. 6. Death indeed is fearful, armed with waves & snares: * Note We in our weakness make it also fearful, painting it with bare bones, with a skull, girning with its teeth, and with its sting, like a flooked Dart, for to pierce thorough the heart of man. * Note It is true that death is bitter in itself, but he that made sweetness to judg. 14. 14. come out of the strong, and meat to come out of the eater, can bring both meat and sweetness out of death for the Christian Soul, though no thing be stronger than death, the greatest eater of the world. One saith well, that there is in death but one bitter morsel to swallow. The chief course that we have to taken for to win to an happy death, is that above all things, we strive to make our acquaintance with Christ, the Lord of life: * Note Till a man know Christ, who hath disarmed Death by taking away its sting and its dart, he will tremble at its buzz: * Note A Bee that wanteth the sting, will afray a Child with its buzz, but the man of understanding is not afraid for a sound. * Note I am assured that the excessive fear of Death in a wicked man, is a most powerful means for to make him die before his day, that is sooner than by course of Nature he should have died: Though a man's day be set, yet God useth means, Death is a distress 2 Sam. 14. 14 unto the wicked. Let him them that would die in peace Luk. 2. 29 make his peace with his God: * Note No man can be willing to die, before his Conscience be at quiet, till God and his Soul have shaken hands, & been friended: * Note A man that is at feed with his God, will say to death God's messenger, as Ahab said to God's Prophet, Hast thou found me 1 King. 21 20 mine enemy. But as for the godly man whose Soul is prepared to meet with his God, he will say to Death, welcome Friend, take my Soul by the hand, and draw it out of this prison, Oh, but it is wearied. O, but it longeth to be free from these bonds of mortality, cumbersome clogs of clay. * Note He that is assured to go to Christ, cannot die unwillingly, what careth he to die an hour, for to live for ever? * Note I will Nazian. in vita Basil. never fear Death, said a Father, which can do no more than restore me to him that made me * Note To change a life that is mortal, for an that is eternal, is an unspeakable profit. The sick Man. But alas: By what way may I come unto that Life? The Pastor. I am the way, said Christ, None joh. 14. 6. cometh to the Father but by me: * Note This way is thorough the valley of death: In this valley ye need not to fear, if Christ be with you. In the valley of the shadow of death, Psal. 23. 4. said David, I will fear none evil: his reason was this, that God was with him: For thou art with me. The sick Man. I find myself Sir exceeding Psal. 1●…7. weak, and that I draw near the doors of Death: I take great delight to hear you: I requeast you to continue your comforts: I entreat you to call to remembrance these special comforts ye have had, either by your own experience, or by reading, or by Meditation: I am assured that ye have some laid up in store for yourself, against the hour of temptation: Let me hear I pray you, what ye think best to be said to a man in his greatest fears. The Pastor. First of all, that ye may be capable of comforts, strive to be patient in your trouble: Acknowledge in this sickness the great mercy of your God: In this affliction he hath given to you, the wish and choice of David's chastisement: You are not fallen into the hands of men, whose compassions are cruel, but in the hands of God, your Father, whose bowels are full of merciful remembrance: * Note Though a Mother should forget her Child, we are printed upon his Palms: It is true, Isa. 49. 15 that no affliction for the present seems Heb. 12. 18 joyous: * Note Yet afterward the bitter seed of sorrow, bringeth forth the sweet & quiet fruit of righteousness. If ye would be armed against the fear of Death, my counsel is, that above all things in the tempest of your temptations, ye have recourse unto the bloody wounds of Christ, wherein as in the holes of the Rock, your Soul like a Dove may find a place of refuge: * Note His wounds well may I call, The secret of the most Psal. 91. 1 High: He who lodgeth there, is under the shadow of the Almighty: * Note An afflicted Soul is like a Bee in a tempest, tossed to and fro: Fraes once the Bee hath win to its Hyve-hole, it entereth into rest: The poor Soul of a man for a space will be wonderfully tossed with tempests, and long will it wrestle: But so soon as it can once win in at the holes of Christ's wounds, than it enters into Rest: * Note Out of these wounds, as out of its Castle and fortress, it will boast the Devil, Death, the Flesh, and the World: In these wounds is the Souls strongest Tower, the secret place of the most High, where none enemy of man's Salvation shall be able to reach unto it for to hurt it: Let your chiefest care be to creep in into these wounds. * Note Again, after that ye have shaken hands with Christ, and made him your friend, consider well what he hath made of Death: Christ hath made it a friend of a foe: Is not Death now a sleep? Christ's friends sleep: Sleep as ye know is our joh. 11. 11 great friend: He must be a great friend without whose friendship we can not live: As we can not live without Sleep, neither can we live without Death: Except that we die on Earth we can not live in Heaven: Thou fool▪ said S. Paul, That 1 Cor. 15 3 which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: * Note The whole course of a Christian is contained within the compass of these words, I live to die, that I may die to live: If man will not resolve to live for to die, he shall not die to live: * Note The course of a Christian is from a good life to an happy death, and from thence to life yea, to life eternal: Well is the man that runneth not without this compass. The sick Man. But alas, O my God, take me not Psal. 102. 24. away in the midst of my days: Alas, Sir, must I die so soon? The Pastor. * Note The Apostle saith, That we die 1 Cor, 15 31. daily. Tunc quoque cum crescimus vita decrescit. It is certain, that so soon as we begin to live, we also begin to die: What are all the days of our life, but a progress unto Death, which is the putting off of 2 ●…et 1. 14 our Tabernacle? * Note What is this body, but a mire of mortality? Hominiquid vita? cylindrus: What is man's life, but a rolling thing. The sick Man. But will the Lord take me away in the midst of my days? Hath not God promised to the godly man that his days shall be long in the land? Long life is a thing whereof God hath made promise unto these whom he loveth. The Pastor. I answer, that such a promise is under two conditions: First of God's glory, secondly of man's well: * Note If God love a man dearly, he will while take him away in his youth, that he may have him near to himself: Moreover God seeth that which no man can foresee, viz. the evil to come. The righteous saith Isa. 57 1. Isaiah is taken away from the evil to come: God hath indeed promised many days to the righteous man: But if God shorten them, and take him away sooner, what wrong hath he done unto him? * Note If a Lord should give to one of his servants some cottage house of clay, with some little piece of ground for Colewort or Cabbage for to live upon, saying, This will I give thee for thy life-time: But if afterward this Lord should say, Fetch me my good feruant out of his clattie Cottage, and bring him to my Palace, that he may eat at mine own Table for ever: Tell me, if by the change that servant hath lost: Would that servant think ye, say, No Lord, I will not come to thy Table, for thou hast promised me this Cottage-house for my life-time? * Note What Lord in the Land was ever troubled with such an answer? And yet indeed it is so, that God doth with his faithful servants, when they die into the midst of their days: * Note When men are departed from this life, it is the Lord that hath sent his messenger Death for to fetch their Souls from their bodies, which Scripture calleth Tabernacles Io●…. ●…. 19 of clay, unto his heavenly Mansions, there for to banquet eternally at his Table with Abraham, Isaac, and Matth. 8. 11 jacob. Now tell me, O man, what have ye lost, for to go from the Earth to the Heavens? Is there any thing in this world of such worth, that should make you desire to live, for to stay from your God but an hour? The sick Man. That which ye say Sir, is very true: But how few are these who in this world can gladly condescend to depart out of this life? The life is sweet. The Pastor. I confess indeed that every one hath not attained unto this high degree of grace, as to say with S. Paul, I desire to be dissolved, etc. Yet all the Philip ●… 23. godly will subscribe to this that all the faithful are happy who are dissolved: * Note Though every man can not wish to die yet every man of God will say, That Death is better than life, Death is a salve which healeth us of all our sores: Is not Death God's messenger, sent for to pull the troubled Soul out of this sinful world, as God's Angel pulled Gen. 19 16 Lot out of S●…dom? Is not our life here a warfare? * Note Are we not here as Daniel was in the Dungeon among Lions? Are not we here D●…n. 6. 16 11 with jeremy sticking fast into the jer. 38. 6. miry clay? Are not we here with Israel, into the House of bondage Exod. 20●… 2. overburdened with sin as they were with brick? Are we not Rom. 7. 24 here with S. Paul, under the body of Death? And with joseph in the Psal. 105. 18 stocks, not of tree, but of sin? If it were well told a man what is here, and what he may look for in the life to come, if he had but a grain of grace, as great as of Mustard seed, he should easily discern whereof to make choice: Is not our life here a wind, and a vapour jam. 4. 14. of vanity? But which is most of all to be considered: Is there not here a necessity of sinning laid upon all the living? Who should not be glad to be fredde and rid of these sinful bonds? * Note Is not this life continually sick of the filthy flooxe of sin, a most loathsome disease? When we seek our daily bread, we must immediately subjoin, Matth. 6. 11 forgive us our sins: First, as we see here, we must beg our bread, and then pardon. * Note What then are we here, but daily beggars for the belly? The King must beg his bread from God: In the Heavens there shall be no begging, but thanking of God for his benefits: Who should for all that he can beg on Earth, desire for to live out of Heaven but one hour? * Note Are we not all here under a corruptible burden, a burden of corruption, under which the Soul is pressed as a Cart full of sheaves? So Amos. 2, 11 long as we are here, our Souls are laden with sins: * Note A Soul burdened with such baggage runs on wheels, as it were down an hill all post haste, except that God stay it, it shall never cease, till it arrive in Hell, where God shall break it in sunder by the tempest of his wrath. The sick Man. But Death is the wages of sin, Rom. 6. 23 who shall not fear? The Pastor. * Note Indeed Death is such of the own nature: But God in great mercy hath made death to the godly like the Rainbow, which being naturally Gen. 9 13 a sign of present rain, by God's Covenant becometh a perpetual sign of fair weather to come after that rain: * Note As through Death Christ wrought our Life, so must we be killed for to be made alive: The glorious Resurrection must be through dust and corruption: Our pains must go before our pleasures, Psal 16. 11 and lashes before our laughters: After that, in come pleasures for evermore. If we had the faith of God, we should not much fear the smart of death which by Christ is made transitus ad vitam, a passage unto Life: * Note Let us once pass thorough this jordan, and behold, we are in an instant in Canaan. The sick Man. All that is true Sir: No man can control you: yet naturally all love Life: The Life is sweet. The Pastor. How sweet is it? I pray you: Is not our whole Life trouble and weariness? * Note What is our sleeping, our resting, our eating, our drinking, but a servitude to the flesh? Who should not desire to be rid from such servile necessities? who for to be free of such bondage, should not renounce his dear self, and all the love of this irk some life? To be with Christ, is it not our best? Yea, is it not our rest? what shame is it for Christians to dote so after this present life, who should have learned to long after the life to come? * Note Christ came down, that we might go up: If we desire not to go up, we know not wherefore he came down: He came down to be a Servant, we go up to be Lords: He came down to be hungry, we go up to a perpetual Feast: He came down to be banished, where he had not whereupon Luk. 658 to lay his head, we go up to dwell in Palaces of pleasures, into everlasting Luk. 16. 9 Tabernacles: * Note In a word, he came down to distress, to sorrow, to pain, to misery, to fight against our enemies, Devils, Death, and temptations, yea, he descended unto Hell we go up to joy, to Honour, to Light, to Life, to Liberty, to our Father, to our Friends, to our Saviour and Comforter. What shall I say more? Even to unspeakable Glory in Paradise with God & his Angels: * Note What a folly is this, that a man should desire to be deprived of such Comforts for a puff Isa. 2, 22. of breath? Be glad Sir, to quite the rank Onions of Egypt, for that heavenly Manna Sweet like Wafers Gen. 15. 31 made with honey. The sick Man. If a man could be fully persuaded of that which ye say, I think that hardly could he withhold himself from putting hands into himself, that so he might change for the better: If all that be, why should any desire to stay from God but an hour? If I may desire to be dissolved, why may I not dissolve myself. The working out of a lawful desire cannot be unlawful. The Pastor. No man living Sir, may absolutely desire to be dissolved, but under condition, that it be for the glory of God, and the Salvation of his own Soul: * Note For two respects a man may desire to be dissolved: First, for to be delivered from the bondage of sin, which the Apostle calleth, A body of death: Rom. 7. 24 secondly, for an earnest desire to be with his God, a man may desire to be dissolved. But for no reason must a man dissolve himself, that were self murder: * Note If we may not kill our Neighbour whom we should love as ourselves, neither must we kill ourselves, who are the rule and square of neighbourly love: * Note Man in this world is as a set Watch, he must not remove, till it please him by whom he was set, to command him to come: * Note Though lawfully we may desire death, that we may be delivered from the body of death, which is sin; for to be with Christ, which is meekle better Philip. 1. 23 for us, yet we must not cry for death for some trifles of worldly troubles, as jonah did for the lossing jona 4. 8. of his leaves: Our desire of Death should be chiefly grounded upon a desire to be with Christ, and to be fredde from the spiritual bondage of our sins: well is him that can sincerely say from his heart, Miserable man that I am, who shall deliver me Rom. 7. 24 from this body of death? * Note That Soul is happy, whose desire is upon that which is meakle better for it: To be with Christ, in Scripture style is called meakle better: What say ye Philip. 1. 23 now Sir, doth not your heart groan under this burden of sinful death? Doth not your Soul long to be out of this body, for to be with him, where it shall be meakle better for you? The sick Man. I take up the matter better than I did: I see by your reasons, that there is no reason wherefore a man should desire to die, but for to be with his Christ, and to be delivered from the body of bondage, which is a death: But alas. The Pastor. I see you yet Sir, into a plunge, I heard that word, Alas: Wherefore say ye Alas? Ye look yet as one who desireth to live: My words are not gifted with persuasion; ye seem to be afraid at that word, dissolved: What aileth you? There be doubtless some thing within that troubleth you. The sick Man. I am sorry to go out of this world, whereunto I am chained by divers respects: In the cutting off of my days, I will mourn with sick Hezekiah in the words of his doole: I Isa. 38, 10. am deprived of the residue of my years, etc. The Pastor. I see Sir, that ye are taking up the Lamentations of Hezekiah: I will strive to make answer to every sentence apart: Ye are deprived, say ye, of the residue of your years: * Note He is not deprived that hath changed for the better: * Note The residue of your few years shall be turned into eternity: * Note He who seeth many years, seeth many miseries, and which is worse, contracteth many sins, the cause of all our woe: Moreover, what is a residue of life? Death is not far, when it is farthest. The sick Man. But if I die, I shall not see the Lord Isa. 38. ●…1 even the Lord in the land of the living. The Pastor. This is your ignorance: What can man see of the Lord, in the land of the living? * Note What can a sinner see of that great JEHOVAH here? What is to be seen on Earth, but the Backe-parts of JEHOVAH? Into the Heavens whereunto ye now approach ye shall see that great and glorious JEHOVAH, face to face. What are all men on Earth, but a number of worms crawling and creeping upon a clat or clod of clay? But again what is this that ye call the land of the living? What is all the Land ye see, but a dead lump of earth, where the most part of men are dead in their sins? Do not the best part die daily, unto Sin, which death is our best life, and yet laden Rom. 7. 24 with a body of death? * Note Can ye now call this earth the Land of the living? Call me not Nahomi pleasant, said Nahomi, Ruth. 1. 2●… but call me Marah that is bitter, for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me: So may the Earth say, Call me not the Land of the living: No, rather call me a dungeon of death, a place for the burying of the dead a place where all must 2 Sam. 14. 14 needs die, and be as water spilt upon the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. The sick Man. But alas, if I die, I shall behold men no more with the inhabitants of the world. The Pastor. This here is your grief, that death will strike you with a blindness, so that ye shall not be able to see any more the faces of these whom ye love best into this world, as of Wife, Children, and of Friends of your old acquaintance: This is your d●…lour them, that ye shall see them no more: * Note Let such thoughts Sir, move these to mourn, who know not Death better than that Pagan, who speaking of a slain man said, In eternam clauduntur Lumina noctem. Virgil. That is, Death closeth man's eyes for evermore: This is most false▪ * Note A true Christian knoweth, that though both his eyes should sink ●…owne into his head, or drop out like blobbes or drops of water, yet that with these same eyes run into water, he and none othér for him shall see his Redeemer: Though after job. 19 26 27. my skin, said job worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold; and not another. * Note Lay this comfort to your heart: Though your eyes were eaten out with the worms, if you die in the faith of jesus, ye shall see God and none other for you, and that with these same eyes ye now look unto mee●… * Note If ye be persuaded that ye shall see your God, in the Heavens, in whose face is fullness of Psal. 16. 11 joy, ye have little cause of doole that ye shall no more behold man with the inhabitants of the world: What are all the creatures of thi●… World, but things that dwell in d●…st? Isa 26. 18. The Saints and Angels that dwell into these upper Chambers whose feet are above ou●… head are so fa●… in glory, above all the glory of the world, as the Heavens are above the Earth: * Note As Zebah and Zalmunah said of gideon's brethren, so may we say of all these that dwell there, every one of them is like the Son judg. 8. 18 of a King: What are all the Creatures below, but beggarly things? The sick Man. But alas, if I die, mine age is departed Isa. 38. 12. and removed from me as a Shepherd's tent. The Pastor. What is your doole? It is all then, that ye must quite your shepherd's tent. * Note Now poor man, What have ye lost? Ye shall change a poor shepherd's tent for the most pleasant Palace of your God, a life mortal, for a life that is eternal: * Note A man brought from age of years unto eternity, is like David, a shepherd brought from the Ewes, for to be made a King: What regret Psal. 78. 71 should a man have, for to change a little Lodge for a London? * Note What is this life. but a daily dying? The sick Man. But alas, I have cut off like a weaver Isa. 38. 12. my life: He will cut me off with pinning sickness, from day even to night he will make an end of me. The Pastor. Take heed Sir what ye say: Your meaning is, that by your sins ye have abridged and cut short your days, or that ye have provocked God by your sins, to take away your Life from you: * Note If it be so, that like a weaver ye have cut your days by your sins; break off now these sins by repentance: If by your sins ye have cut like a weaver the threads of this mortal life, begin now by repentance to spin the web of a new life, some threads of life eternal: Let now the rotten thrums of the vices of your life fall down to the ground: * Note While ye have time, wove into your life graces thorough graces, as warp and woft: Wove on still, till from grace ye work in into the eternity of glory. The sick Man. But alas, He will cut me off Isa. 38. 12. with pynning sickness: I fear greatly that the pains of Death put me out of all patience. The Pastor. Take courage Sir: The pain shall not be so great as ye fear: God will lay no more on you, than ye shall be able to bear: He shall weigh all your pains in his merciful Balance, before that he lay them upon you: He knoweth that your strength is not like the strength of a Whale, he breaketh not the bruised Isa. 42. 3 ●…eede * Note God is so bend unto mercy, that while he scourgeth sinners for their faults, he is said to bring to pass, his strange work and his Isa. 28. 21 strange act. The sick Man. But I fear his cutting: Gods cuts are very sensible: I fear to bee●… cut off with pining sickness. The Pastor. Fear not▪ God is cunning in his cutting * Note He will not cut into the quick like an ignorant Surgeon▪ The merciful God taketh no pleasure to cut you off with pining sickness but he will cut off your corruptions with such pains: In such pains should be pleasure; * Note The blueness of the wound purgeth away Prou. ●…0. 30 evil Pleasant should be that pain which is God's Razor for cutting off man's ●…ptions▪ Away with the pleas●…es of this ●…otten flesh * Note Such in the beginning though lawful, ●…re burning and bloody pleasures: unlawful end into hellish torments, fear not pining sickness. The sick Man. But alas, from day even to night he Isa. 38. 12. will make an end of me. The Pastor. I know Sir, that the night is wearisome, and that sickness some what light in the day, waxeth heavy in the night: From day to night, the sickness increaseth: The remede is this, be strong in God, whose strength is made perfect in 2 Cor. 12. 9 weakness: * Note If dolours increase in the night, here is a comfort, The night time is a most fit time for prayer: The time of silence is most convenient for speaking unto God: * Note The night time is a special time whereof God hath made choice, for in it to speak secretly unto men: It was in the night that Eliphaz saw the vision and heard the voice of job. 4. 13 14. 15. 16. instruction: In thoughts, said he, From the visions of the night, wh●… deep sleep falleth on men, fear came upon me and trembling, which made all my bones to shake: Then a Spirit passed before my face, the hair of my flesh stood up it stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: An Image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, etc. See how in ●…e visions of the night, while there was silence, Eliphaz heard the voice of God: * Note Let no sick man be afraid for the night, it is the time of silence, the chief time of conference with God: * Note When Creatures are most silent, then is a time for man to speak to God, and for God to speak to man: The din of the day marreth our meditations. The sick Man. But alas, from day to night he will make an end of me. Isa. 38. 12 The Pastor. It is better that he make an end of you, than that any other should do it: If he make an end of you, pray earnestly for a good end: If the end be well, all is well: Your complaint is that, from day to night he will make an end of you: * Note Be thankful to God for his mercy toward you, in that he hath given you so long a time to repent as from day to night: * Note He might have made you sink down thorough the Earth Numb. 16. 32. unto hell in a moment with Dathan and Abiram: He might have burnt you with fire from Heaven in a thunder clap with Corah: He might have drowned you into the Sea with Pharaoh: He might Exod. ●…4▪ 21 have slain you under a Tower, with these eighteen at Siloe: He Luk. 13. 4 might have sent a wind for to smite the four corners of your house, while ye had been at a banquet with jobs Children: What job. 1. 19 if the goodness of God had deserted you, and taken his free Spirit from Psal. 81. 12. you? What if he should do so to the best of us? Certainly we●… should either make away our selu●… with Saul by the sword, or with judas 1 Sam. 31 4 and Ahitophel by the cord, o●… Matth. 27. 3 with Zi●…rie by the fire. Many others 2 Sam. 17 23 have in an instant been snatched away in the very swea●…e of their sins. First then, I say, That is a grea●… mercy of God unto man, that God himself maketh an end of him, and not suffereth him to fall into the hands of his mercielesse creatures. secondly, in that, from day to night he delayeth, it is a merciful patience: Take heed Sir, what I say: Count this a great mercy of your God, though ye should die this night, thanke God for his patience, that it was from day to night, before that he would make an end of you: * Note It is a great benefit of God, to get but so much time wherein we may once cry, Lord, have mercy upon me▪ * Note. No man can sufficiently esteem the high price of a days laiser unto night: here is the patience and the long suffering of God. Now Sir consider, and weigh well what hath been said: Is it not now your desire, that ye be dissolved? Are ye not as yet resolved? It would seem, that there be some thing that yet troubleth you: As for the words of Hezekiahs' chattering, which hath been the words of your mourning, I hope that in some measure ye have been cleared with some contentment. The sick Man. I confess Sir, that ye have pertinently made answer to all these difficulties: But, alas, what shall I say? The Pastor. What aileth you? Be plain with me, I pray you Sir, think no shame to tell me what is into your mind: * Note If the Patient cover his sore from the Surgeon, the greater will his danger be: It is an hard matter when the Patient playeth false with the Physician: Lay open your wounds, if ye would have salve fit for your sores. The sick Man. I think shame Sir to tell you what aileth me, yet seeing I have need both of instruction & of comfort, I will be no stranger unto you, * Note whom I know to be a man of God, that is not curious for to ripe up secret sores for your own curiosity, but rather for to cure them: I will not conceal the matter from you: It is this: I have filled my Barns, and I desire to enjoy the fruits thereof: There is no man, but he would desire after great pains, ●…o r●…ape some fruits of his labours: I wish that Death would excuse me for some years: This is my grief, for I must be plain with you, mine heart cannot well accord to forsake such comforts. The Pastor. That Sir is but a worldly temptation: What are Barns of corn on Earth in comparison of Gods most pleasant Palace in Heaven, wherein are pleasures for evermore? * Note Fie Psal. 16. 11 upon Barnes, a nest for Mice and Rattons: Would ye desire to live for to enjoy the leavings of unbeastes? They begin, and as it were sit at the first mess: Thus after that the Fowls of the Air have gotten their share, and the Rattons have gotten their fill, poor man as it were cometh after all, and sitteth down at the latter meat. * Note But what are all these things, though man should enjoy them all his alone? What can he get of them all but a belly full of meat? * Note What is the Belly to that spiritual Birthright and blessing that is laid up into the Heavens? What is the Belly, but a thing ordained for destruction with all that is in it? Meats for the Belly, and the Belly for the 1 Cor. 6. 13. meats, But God shall destroy both it and them. Cast out of your heart the care of your Belly: * Note The Belly in the Heart maketh a man a monster: Let this be your chief, care, that shortly your Soul may sit down at God's Table with Abraham, Isaac, and jacob in God's Kingdom: What grieveth you now S●… The sick Man. God hath blessed me, my Monies are increased; and now my life is but coming to the best. The Pastor. * Note The richest life is not ever the best life; abundance of Monies is no sure token of God's mercies: If it had been otherwise, Christ had never cast the Bag unto judas. joh. 12. 6 That churlish Carl in the Gospel, that would not let Lazarus Luk. 16. 20 dine with his dogs, how soon was his Purple pulled from him, and he made a beggar into Hell, seeking a drop of water from him, whose scabs his dogs had licked on Earth? Nabel like a fool is feasting 1 Sam. 25 36. to day, and tomorrow he shall become sick, and die with an heart vers. 37 like a stone within him: What fatter than shall he be of his Feast? * Note Beware Sir, to marry your mind with your Money, lest ye be thereby divorced from Christ: S. Augustin said wisely, Matrimonium inter aurum & arcam est inter Deum & animam Divortium. A marriage between our Mind and our Money, is a divorcement between the Soul and Christ its Spouse. * Note It is good for us, lest that we should love this world too well, that like a cursed Stepmother it misuse us, and rather strike us, than stroke us, as it doth with these worldly brats, who neither live, nor love a Life but this. What think ye now Sir of this world? The sick Man. I desire yet that God would grant me some space to live, that I might make some better provision for my little Children: I wish that I might live till they were better provided, within a few days if God would spare me, I hope that I should make a conquest. * Note Fie upon that conquest that maketh a man to desire to tarry from God but one hour: Solomon after Eccles. 2. 18. all his conquests said, that he hated all his labour: I said he, hated all my labour, which I had taken under the Sun: The reason is subjoined by himself, Because I should leave it vers. 19 unto the man that should be after me: And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? Yea, he proved a fool indeed, by forsaking the 1 King. 12 13 counsel of the old wise, for to follow the folly of his young fools: * Note What folly is this I play you, for a man to desire to live, for to conquise sparingly for one that will spend it all lavishly, crying among the drunkards, Fill the pint again? * Note Many children will at one cast of the dice, cast more from them into a night, than their fathers were able to win into a year: * Note What is great riches to the most part of Heirs, but fuel to their folly? * Note Is it not commonly seen, that after the Father hath pined himself with scraiping together Habuk. 2. 6 this thick clay and pelfie dung, in cometh a forlorn deboched Heir with his drunken music, singing Veri vades, We have spent more than our Philip. 3. 8 fathers have win. A little with GOD'S blessing is much worth: * Note Hardly can men conquise much with a good Conscience: From thence is the profane proverb, Well is the Heir whose fathers soul is in Hell: The gloze is this, hardly can the father enrich his children, but by lossing his own Soul: What a woeful bargain is this? Neither doth it ever come to pass, that the evil conquist come to the hands of them for whom it was appointed: * Note After that the Worldling by hook & by crook hath taken with the angle, and hath catcht with the net, & gathered in his drag, all that is about him: At last it cometh to pass, that after he hath well ladned his Boat, and is come near the haven, there cometh a blast of judgement which overturneth all into a moment: * Note Thus in the highest of his hopes in sight of the Shore, ladned and fraughted with the fruit of all his labours of his lies, his guile, and deceit, he goeth down to the bottom of the depths, so that none is able to rescue him: Thus after that, first he hath made shipwreck of his conscience, he also maketh shipwarcke of all his goods, and so is he deprived of his imagined profit: * Note What though his ship should come in? What though all should prosper for a while? * Note Let Micah steal his mother's silver and turn it into gods, and get a Priest, & bless himself, when he hath done, thinking that all shall prosper now: But Danites. ere it belong▪ some of the race of the Gen. 49. 17 Adder by the way, shall come and taken away his gods: And if he run out to follow for his own, they shall either scorn him with what aileth judg. 18. 23 thee? or shall boast him to keep silence, saying, Let not thy voice be vers. 25. heard among us, lest angry fellows run upon thee, and thou loss thy life with the lives of thine household. * Note Let no man bless himself with Micah because he hath gods at home: * Note Though men by many means may become rich, and think that they shall leave great wealth unto their children, God can by as many means disappoint them, as by blood, by shipwreck, by fire, by water, by war, by banqueroupts, by plea, and by piracy, etc. He who to day was swaggering in his Silks and swimming in his wealth speaking of nothing but of thousands, within a little space behold him again, and lo, all is changed: The poor man he goeth and no man regardeth him, he is hungry, nacked and cold, but not so cold as the charity of these that may help him: These who were wont to eat at his table, desire no more to see him: The thoughts of old obligations are to them like letters of Caption for to enforce them to give some what to their old distressed friend: But cold are such comforts: here, behold Sir, as in a glass, what vanity into these transitory things, which men think to make permanent to their posterity: * Note But let a man be rich till he die; After that he hath spoiled others to make himself wealthy, shall his children be his Heirs? No, not: The wealth of the sinner is laid up Prov. 13. 22. for the Just: See how God maketh a Worlding to be as it were a drudge or a pack horse for to gather with the sweat of his brows, that wherewith the righteous man may be sustained: * Note As he made the Ravens to flee and fetch flesh for the nourishing 1 King. 17 16 of his Servant Elijah: * Note Some tims also it will befall otherwise, that thewe alth of the sinner shall be laid up for one worse than himself, that all the world may see, and behold, what vanity there is in such carking care: * Note O, will some say, if he that is dead saw such a man in his house, Master of all his labours, What would he now think? * Note Thus God in a manner making deboched bare men like lean Kine prey upon the Gen. 41. 3 wicked, who while they lived, would judg. 9 9 not with the Olive leave their fatness for to be Kings in Heaven, letteth the world see what folly it is to put their trust in such transitory trashes. What say ye now Sir? Are ye now free of such earthly temptations? The sick Man. I am miserable vexed with this world: Worldly things, do what I can, run ever into my mind, and trouble me with carking cares. The Pastor. * Note So long as a man's heart is clogged with this clay, he hath no power to stir hand or foot to heaven-ward: There is both gall and guile in earthly mindedness: Well is him, whose Soul can sore far above this Region of corruption, for to mind above all things the things Col. 3. 1. that are above. The sick Man. My mind alas, is like Martha, busied Luk. 10. 41 about many things, or rather buried in many things. The Pastor. But Christ said, One thing is necessary: * Note He that said it, is that which he said; even that, One necessary thing. * Note We may pass to life eternal without any other thing: But there is such a necessity in Christ, that without him we can do nothing: Without me, said he, ye can do nothing: Christ is that Luk. 10. 41 Best part, Mary's choice: Well is that Soul, that maketh him its part: He is only that which shall never be taken from us▪ But what worldly thing is that, that as yet troubleth you? The sick Man. Mine heart Sir, is over-burdened with the weight of many cares concerning this Life. The Pastor. * Note Our Saviour hath set down a particular Precept concerning that, Take heed, said he, to yourselves, Luk. 21. 34. least at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life: * Note Such cares may snow down white hairs upon our hairy scalp: But it is only the godly care, the care of the Life to come, that worketh Repentance never to be repent of: But come to the panrticulars. The sick Man. I have lately bought some heritage, my servants are ploughing it, before I die I would wish once to reap the fruits thereof. The Pastor. To be worldly minded is death: * Note The command is gone forth ', none can plead ignorance: Love not the world, nor the things of the world: joh. 2. 16. Well is him that so liveth here, Luk. 20. 35 that he may be counted worthy to enjoy that world: * Note It is no time now Sir to think of ploughs, ye must now leave all, for to follow Christ, 1 King. 19 21. like Elisha, who left his ploughing for to follow his new vocation: Take now a kiss of your dearest friends, and follow this great Elijah, the Lord jesus, the Chariot of all his chosen, and the Horsemen of his Israel. The sick Man. My Lands are laboured, the Harvest draweth near, there is a plentiful crop upon the ground, Corns and wheat, and all abound. The Pastor. There is no solid comfort in Wheat or in Corn, but only in God's countenance: * Note I compare all worldly things to the Tallow of a Candle, and spiritual things to the flame thereof: If the Candle be right set, that the flame be upmost, the Candle will shin clearly, and give light: But if ye turn the Candle, and hold the flame down, it shall at once drown in its own tallow: Even so if the Soul of man be well set, that spiritual thoughts be upmost, and worldly considerations sanctified, which have been melted & strained from their dross be under, that Soul will shine in holy life before men: But if the flame of the Spirit be turned down, it will drown under the drops of such earthly tallow: By this at last, all our light dyeth out like a Candle, so that our hearts that were once enlightened, become like a dampish dungeon. * Note I confess, so long as we are here the fire of the Spirit within the best of us, is like ignis in materia, fire in an earthly matter, from whence cometh ever some filthy reek: But when once we shall be above all places, whereunto no reek can reach, this spiritual flame abstracted from all earthly matter, shall shine most clearly into the presence of God for ever. Are ye not yet Sir resolved? Is not your desire now to be dissolved? The sick Man. The world is yet still in my mind: I have taken much pains into it, & am now but beginning for to get some ease: I have builded an house, gladly would I dwell some space into it: Mine heart is sore, yea, it bleeds for to leave this Lodging, and never to come to it again: I had trimmed it for my pleasure, and now behold, shall I be disappointed? The Pastor. There is no great matter of grief Sir, when a man changeth for the better: * Note What are all the sieled Palaces of Princes on earth, but like the house of a Spider? How soon are job. 8. 14. they all swept away with the bosom of vengeance, when God is angry? What are all our dwellings on earth, but Dungeons in a dunghill? Let not your heart Sir be on your house: It is now time to mind the things that are above: Eye upon clay and stones: * Note What are all the royal Palaces of the world to these stately houses above, whereof the floor or pavement glisters with thousands of Stars, as with as many golden nails, o●… twinkling Dya●…onds: There the Sun & the Moon the two great jewels of Heaven, shall be under your feet, which are now above our head. What is within, no mortal tongue can tell: S. Paul saw there something, but 2 Cor. 12 4 he never revealed it, neither was it lawful for him to declare what he had seen: * Note This one thing we may know, seeing the outside of Heaven is so beautiful, how pleasant must it be within? Heaven is like the King's Daughter, whose whole beauty is within: There is profit, Psal. 45. 13 pleasure, health, wealth, honour, happiness, beauty & bless: In a word, there be things that eye never saw, neither ear heard, yea, which never could enter into the heart of man. The sick Man. But alas, must I then forsake all my wealth, and so leave all my treasures behind me▪ The Pastor. * Note Such treasures are but traitors, though they be counted gods: God said to Magistrates, I have called Psal. 82. 6 you gods: But he never called gold god: To call gold god, is Ashdodien language: Gods of gold must be forsaken, for to go to the God of Glory: * Note What are all these worldly things whereon natural men so do gaze? What are they, but idols lying vanities? To overcome the love of such liars, is the triumph of Truth: * Note If God's Ark be within our heart, such Dagons will fall down: Turn therefore your eyes from such clay, and mind the things that are above: Many gather riches Col. 3. 1. as he that earneth wages to put it into Hab. 1▪ 6. a bottomless bag: * Note The first lesson of Christianity is self denial. The Sick Man. How is it then Sir, that a man must go through this world for to come to Heaven? The Pastor. * Note Even as the Israelites desired to go through the Land, of Sihon the King of the Amorites, for to come to Canaan the figure of Heaven▪ Let me go through thy Land, said Numb. 21 21, Israel, We will not turn aside into the fields, nor into the vineyards, neither drink of the waters of the wells we will go by the King's high way, until we be passed thy Country. * Note It is so▪ that we must pass through this world, for to come to that heavenly Canaan, we must not turn aside into the fair fields of pleasure, nor drink ourselves drunk in its vineyards: But we must follow directly the rule of God's Law the King of Heaven's high way, that so we may enter into Canaan. What say ye Sir? Is it not time to be resolved? The sick Man. Mine heart is pined within me: It is like to break for sorrow, when I look to my little Children, Who shortly shallbe fatherless: Alas hard shall their estate be, when I shall be away, who will take care of them? The Pastor. That which Christ said to Peter, Matth. 14 31 may be said to you, O man of little Faith, why hast thou doubted? Hath not God promised to show mercy unto thousands of these that love him? * Note If the King of this Land should now come himself to your bed-stocke and say james, or john, here I give to you mine hand before God and good witness, that I shall be a Father to your Children after you, and shall so provide for them, that they shall want nothing that may do them good: If ye heard such a man make such promises, I think that ye should not be in pain for the estate of your children: And yet what is a King but a man? But so it is, that all men are lyares, Psal. 116. 11. or may lie: But God who can not Heb. 6. 18 lie, hath given his Hand and his truth to the faithful man, yea, hath oblished himself by an oath, and hath taken Heaven and Earth to be witness, that he shall never forsake the godly man nor his seed, his promise is to thousands: If ye Exod. 20, 6 believe God to be true, rely upon his promise: Let not the care of Children trouble you any more, prepare yourself for God, and let Death be welcome: Put your house to an order in time: Discharge yourself of all worldly burdens: denude your hands and your heart of all temporal affairs, that your Soul have nothing to do, but to wait upon your God: * Note It is not time to be cumbered with the world, while the whole heart should be taken up with heavenly meditations: It is now high time to think earnestly upon that life, whereunto ye are going by Death: It would seem Sir that ye are not contentas yet for to remove: What can this be that troubleth you▪ should not your heart rejoice to go unto your God? The sick Man. I find contrary draughts within me: Your words indeed Sir begin to work upon mine heart, and to draw up my Soul toward the pleasures that are above: * Note But again I find the desires of this life like weighty paisses drawing me down to the ground again: This is my regret: Alas, must I then leave this world, and the light thereof, and never see it again any more? Shall I behold man no more Isa. 38. 11 with the inhabitants of the world? Shall I never see after this into the Land of the living any of all these whom I have loved so well? The Pastor. * Note Sir, it shall be your far best to suffer the love of Christ swallow up the love and all other considerations of worldly things, as Moses his serpent swallowed up the serpents Exod. 7. 12 of the Magicians: * Note What ever seemeth pleasant into this world unto the natural eye, it is but by juggling of the senses: If we have the grace of God, this grace shall be indeed like as a four nooked Claver, is in the opinion of some, viz a most powerful means against the juggling of the sight: If we could seek this grace, it would let us see the vanity of such things which beguile the natural senses: * Note The eye of a man's Soul is betimes like the eye of a man come out of a bilious fever, all things seem to him to be yellow, because of the bile which have perverted his sight: * Note Satan can forge temptations like glass, of whatsoever colour he pleaseth, wherethorow all things seem to be of the colour of his temptations: Thorough one glass a man's own spouse will seem to be filthy: Thorough another a bordel-whore will seem to be pleasant: Thorough one the world will seem to be glorious, thorough another the brightest heavens will seem to be but clouds: Thorough one, fables will seem to be Scripture, thorough another, Scriptures will seem to be but fables▪ Thorough one if a man feast as Christ did, he will seem to be a glutt●…n, Luk. 7 34 thorough another if he feast with the Baptist, he will seem to be a devil: vers. 33. The chief gripe of your temptation is in this, that if ye were once dead, ye shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world: Ye are far beguiled into the sight of the wo●…ld, wherewith ye are so ravished: * Note Change your Spectacles, and all that is below shall seem to be of another colour: * Note If your Soul could once sore up towards Heaven, the love of the Earth and earthly things would fall from you, as did the Mantle of Elias, when he 2 King. 2. ●…3 was rapt and ravished up unto glory. The sick Man. * Note But ye know Sir, that it is very hard not to be sore grieved to go out of this world, Non amplius visur us neque videndus, neither for to see any more, nor yet to be seen: * Note Who without tears can say his adewes to all his joys, pleasures, and contentments that are here? When I once shallbe carried out of my house, ye shall see me no more: Henceforth ye and I will speak no more together: I departing from you, must go to the place of silence, among stink & worms: Who can-without displeasure say to all worldly joys, farewell? The Pastor. It is best that ye turn your back unto such naughty things, as Hezekiah turned his back to the stock, and his face to the wall, that he might confer with his God: It is great folly to be so fond upon such transitory trashes: What is so pleasant in this world that should allure us to it? Are not all things inconstant here below? * Note There is nothing that standeth at a stay, but either it is coming in or going out like the Tide: * Note There is no creature but while it beginneth to wax it also beginneth to wain: A child of the age of a day hath less time to live at Even, than he had in the morning: Since he came out of the belly, from the morning unto even he hath made a day's journey in the way to his grave: In ipso ortu vergimus ad occasum: Our arising up is but a course to our fall: * Note The degrees of a man's life, are as as many step unto his death: All that we see below is in a continual whirling from a beginning to an end: The course of all the Creatures below is in a trance of transitory trashes: * Note I can but teach you with words▪ as john baptised with water: Luk. 3. 16. It is only the Lord who can persuade. The sick Man. I take delight to hear you, I pray God to persuade me: Continue I pray you into that discourse concerning the vanity and inconstancy of wo●…ldly things, ripe them up, and open them wider, that I may see them within the bowels. The Pastor. The wisest among men preached, Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity: Eccles. 1. 2 All things are vain, and all things cry unto us that we are vain, So vain a thing is man: * Note The Trees, the Herbs, the Flowrishes, the Fruits, the Fishes, the Beasts, the Spring, the Summer, the Harvest, the Winter, the Air, the Water, the Earth, the Heavens, are all appointed teachers by God, to tell man of his changing: * Note Their line is gone out Psal. 19 4. through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world: All that have eyes & ears may hear, & read their doctrine, that here is nothing permanent: * Note One creature calleth to another, Let us leave this World: See we not how we melt away by drops, for to be dried into dust: Moses saith, that we spend our Psal. 90. 9 years as a tale that is told; a strange speech for to declare the vanity of long life so much desired: while a tale is in telling, it seemeth to be something, but when a tale is once told, these that have heard it will in end say, That it is but a tale: So long as man's life is lasting, it is like a tale that is in telling: But so soon as Death the end of all cometh, it is but like a tale that is told: Thus as ye see all man's life in Scripture language, is called but a tale: * Note All the times of our life past, present, and to come, are turned at last into a fuimus, we have been: We that live now, let us remember our case, Ecce tempus nunc futurum quo dicen●… nos fuisse, The time shall be shortly that man shall say of us that we have been: And thereafter a time shall come that none shall know that ever we had a being: * Note Our life is like a sparkle fleeing out of the fire, which dyeth out into the flight, it faileth before it falleth. The sick Man. These be words of great power, I find now some working thereof within mine heart: I pray you continue. The Pastor. We have none abiding here, * Note We all both young & old post swiftly away to the grave, the last bed wherein every man must sleep, we are long of coming to: But how soon are we pulled down? Our strength saith Moses, is soon cut off, Psal. 90. 10 and we flee away: * Note We are like the Ye which thaweth sooner than it froze: * Note This is the Law of all flesh, Prince, People, Poor and Rich, all must go to Golgotha: The Preacher saith plainly, There is no discharge in Eccle. 8. 18 that war. * Note Though a man in the morning be proud like a Peacock, with lifted up feathers, if Death come before the night come, he must lay down his head among dead men's Skulls: What a thing is this, that within an hundreth years not one of us all that are here shall be left alive, no not in this great City, wherein we live? * Note Are we not all as water spilt upon the ground, 1 Sam. 14 14 which can not be gathered up again▪ What memory is now of these tha●… are past? And what shall be said o●… us, when we are gone? It is o●… far best than to follow our God▪ and to turn our back upon all suc●… lying vanities. The sick Man. I requeast you Sir, not to be wearied: Proceed I pray you into tha●… purpose, that I may learn what vanity is into this life, which is so▪ much desired. The Pastor. * Note Man's life into this world is but a Pilgrimage and a race not of great length; for man that is borne of a w●…man, 2 Tim. 4. 7 job. 14. 1. hath but a short time to live: * Note Jacob's answer to King Pharaohs question concerning his age, was few Gen. 47. 1 and evil have my days been? * Note What is man saith one but Vermis crasti●… moriturus? a worm that will die to▪ morrow: * Note David putteth the length of his days between his little finger & his thumb: My life said he, is Psal. 39 5 like a span long: some get but an inch, consider well I pray you Sir, seeing it is so, what is it then of your life, which is but of the length of a span what though it were an ell of length? * Note Is not Methusalah with his many hundreth years as well in dust, as as he that lived but a day: * Note Other have given place to us, and we must also give place to others: To me to day, to thee tomorrow: There is no lodging for immortality upon the Earth▪ The sick Man. My Soul rejoiceth to hear you Sir, proceed I pray you. The Pastor. We have no great cause to desire to sojourn on earth: * Note What are we here on earth but like poor beggars shoot down to the lowest chambers of the world? This low Cabul, that is dirty. country may well be called Cabul, as Hiram, by disdain called the dirty cities of Solomon: Be glad no●… Sir for to leave this earth, a dirti●… dwelling: * Note Step up the Staire eue●… Gen. 28. 17 the Ladder of jaacob, that ye may mount up to your God, for to see what he is doing above: Well is you who shall hear shortly the music of Angels into that Palace whose pavement is the roof of al●… mortal dwellings: O if ye kne●… what is there! Fie on our ignorance * Note The Children of God in this worl●… are like Lords children, sent out to be fostered into little Cottages o●… clay, when they are sent for by sickness and death; their Father's messengers they weep to come home to their Father's Palace, because they know not these many pleasant Mansions that be in their Father's house▪ But after that they have once trye●… what it is to be in Heaven with their God, they shall wonder 〈◊〉 their childishness: * Note Be not Sir l●… these fort of men that cannot abid●… to hear speak of Death, but even sicken at the name thereof, or wax wroth at the speaker, as Ahab, fumed 1 King. 22 8▪ at the Prophet, because he spoke not good things unto him. The sick Man. Hezekiah spoke more wisely, while he was threatened by the Prophet, Good, said he, is the word of the Lord: 2 King. 20 19 I pray you to continue your purpose concerning death: * Note It is good that we remember our latter end. The Pastor. * Note Indeed Sir the thoughts of Death are helpful and healthful to the Souls of men, to be corrections for their corruptions: Such thoughts keep ever God in our sight: They are like a strainer, wherethrough the thoughts, words and works of men are purified: Hardly can a man think of a sho●…t life, and think evil, as hardly can he d●…eame of a long life, & think well: * Note All the sins of God's Church in Icrem●…es days were imputed unto Lam. 1. 9 this, that she remembered not her end: * Note We for the most part deceive ourselves with the opinion of long life, and so did they who are dead already: O how gracious would one day be to these now, who while they lived, did scorn at these words, Redeem the Time! But Ephes. 5. 16 their ma●…ket time is now past: Gods Fair was ended before they could understand what it was to buy without money: Well is the man who, Isa. 55. 1. while he hath time, so liveth to dye, that he may dye to live: If our life be good, our death cannot be evil: * Note To the godly man death is a comfort, as being a medicine for all his diseases; a cure for all his cares, Reuel. 14 13 a rest●… from his labours: But in this is his greatest joy that by it the filthy flooxe of sin is dried up into an instant: * By it also the prison door is opened that the Soul like a Dove may fly up to its God: The consideration of such Eccles. 7. 3. things made Solomon to preach, The day of death is better, than the day that one is borne: He spoke the truth, for the one is the beginning, the other is the ending of all our woe and misery. Now Sir, before that I proceed any further, I pray you to tell me what ye think now of this world. In this as I remember was your last temptation grounded, that going out of this world, ye should no more see nor be seen: * Note I have let you see as in a glass, what vanity is in it, yea, that all is but vanity of vanities, the very abstract of an abstract, or for to speak so, vanity fined and quintessenced out of vanity, which I may call the spirit or quintessence of vanity. Now Sir tell me what ye think of this world, wherein gods must die like men? No worldly Psal. ●…. 7. thing below in the day of need will be able to keep touch unto us. The sick Man. Fie, fie on my faults, and my folly: * Note I foolishly once thought that I should feather a nest into this world, that should never be pulled down: Mine heart hath been so bend toward this vanity that I have neither moved foot nor finger toward eternal Life. * Note It is true that I have been nourished and brought up into this world like a Child into a rural cottage * Note I like a Child thought that there was no better: jonah was jona. 4. 7. angry for to quite his Gourd: * Note The greatest pleasures that are here being well weighed, are but like the shadow of that Gourd, evanishing and worm-eaten pleasures: All such comforts are but slender, they fail man in his greatest need. The Pastor. * Note Though worldly pleasures be sweet for a space to these whose portion is into this Life, yet as Abner said of the devouring Sword to joab, It will be bitterness in the 2 Sam. 2. 26. latter end: In all the gourds of worldly pleasures are worms of pain, which shall make them to wither. The sick Man. That is most certain: * Note well is him that hath turned his back to all such lying vanities: So long as a man is in nature, not reform by grace, he is but a stranger from heaven: The love of the world in his heart like a moth, cats out all liking of Heaven. * Note I have been too long alas, sucking the breasts of this Nurse, whereout of I have drawn nothing but the swill of wickedness: Blessed be my God, who hath sent this affliction for to wain my Soul from the love of all things below: I begin now to incline for to return to my Father's house in Heaven, where, as I hear, it shall be much better for me. Oh, forlorn Son that I am▪ who have wandered so far from my Father! The Pastor. I thank God, Sir, for these good motions, flesh and blood cannot teach such lessons: But one word I have observed into your speech, ye have said, that ye begin to incline to go home to your Father: Are ye not as yet fully resolved? Desire ye not indeed presently to be dissolved? * Note Is it not your greatest desire to flit f●…om this body which is but a Booth, a Shop, or Tabernacle job 4. 19 of clay? * Note Is not your Soul wearied to sojourn into such a reekie Lodge? Is not your heart panting after God, l●…ke an Hart, panting after the water brooks? He are ye not your Soul crying within Psal. 42. 3. you, O when shall I come and appear before God? * Note A small feeble inclination to go to God is not sufficient, ye must now come to a steadfast resolution: He who is not resolved, is not ready for to be dissolved: Ta●… courage, be not dashed into this danger, declare your mind freely, be not nice, there be none here but friends. The sick Man. I am so pined with sickness, that hardly can I make answer: * Note Oh▪ but I am pressed with an heaui●… hand: I fear much my last hour: My Soul is sore troubled. The Pastor. Learn of Christ in his trouble: Now, said he, is my Soul troubled, joh, 12. 27 and what shall I say? Father, deliue●… me from this hour: But for this cause vers. 28. came I into this hour: Father glorify thy Name: As he did, so do ye: * Note He fearing the hour was earnest with God in prayer for to be delivered from it; and yet most humbly submitted himself unto his Father's will: So do ye: If ye fear greatly that hour, pray fervently, that God deliver you from it and yet notwithstanding, let God have all his will of you: His will shall eu●…r be your well. The Sick Man. But alas, my pains are grea●…: * Note my breach is like the sea: God's rod upon me is torn with stripes, and worn to the stomps: In my torments I both fear and feel his wrath: If he loved me, would he scourge me with such scorpions? The Pastor. Whom God loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every Son whom he Heb. 12. 6. receiveth: By this ye see plainly▪ that he will receive none to himself, but those whom he is minded to scourge: * Note This scourging whereof ye complain, is God's love-token, telling you that he is minded for to receive you: Woe ●…o the Child whom the Father will not correct: God commandeth loving Fathers to chastise their children till they cry: His command is also, that they be not hindered for their cries: Chasten thy Son, said Prou▪ 19 18. God, while there is hope, and let not thy Soul spare for his crying: So long as there is life, there is hope: While God chasteneth you, it is a token that there is hope: * Note Woe to that man, whom GOD disdaineth to strike: It is a sore word when a Father or a Master saith to a Child I despair of him, there is none hope, I give him over, & will strike him no more: It was a fearful word that God said to the rebellious Israelites, I will not visit your Daughters when Hose. 4. 14 they are harlots, nor your Spouses when they are whores: That is, I will correct them no more, but let them run headlong to their own destruction: Woe to him whom God will not correct: * Note Certe tunc magis irascitur Deus cum non irascitur, God is most angry, when he seemeth least to be angry: The wicked are most fearfully plagued, when God spareth them most: Let not therefore your sore pains discourage you, but rather comfort you, as being a special token that God will receive your Soul * Note What recks what this Carrion suffer, if so be that God receive the Soul? Shall I not drink of my Father's Cup? said joh. 18. 11 Christ: * To drink of a King's cup it would be thought an honour. See then what honour is in the affliction of the godly, thereby they drink of the King of Heaven's cup: This is also a token of our friendship with Christ, when we drink with him of one cup: Men will not drink of one cup with their enemies. Rejoice then Sir, to drink with Christ in your Father's cup * Note Though this cup be bitter at the brim, the bottom will have a pleasant farewell. Think well upon this Sir, and possess your soul in patience despare never of God's mercy, though he seem to be angry, depend upon him, trust into him, though he should slay you: * Note In confidence of h●…s Love rest and sleep in his bosom, hang on him, save his honour by trusting in him: If this ye do, I assure you, that ye shall dye sweetly, resting into his arms. The sick Man. I find Sir my pains greatly to increase. The Pastor. Be of good comfort: * Note If your pains increase, God will increase your patience with your pains, he is merciful, and will surely strengthen you in the weakest hour: God's strength is made perfect in weakness: 2 Cor. 12. 9 In the mean time, be fight out the good fight manfully: * Note Hold up your hands with Moses against Amaleke: Pray fervently to your God, that he would cast into Exod. 17. 11 your memory all the good things that ever ye heard or read, wherewith your Soul as with a rempart may be guarded against the hour of temptations: Pray oft-ten with Christ, Father deliver me from this joh. 12. 27 hour: What say ye Sir? It appeareth that there be some thing into your mind yet that vexeth you. The sick Man. This Soul of mine is very loath to depart from this body: * Note They be of old acquaintance, happily long shall it be before they meet again, Friends cannot be but sorry while they shed. The Pastor. That is natural to all: But grace in the Godly must rule Nature: * Note We must gladly leave all for to go live with Christ, we must deny ourselves for to confess him: we must desire to be dissolved, for to be with him; he who loveth any thing better than him, shall not be found worthy of him: Your Soul, say ye, is sorry to go from the body: * Note What are our bodies for the present, but prisons of clay? Let them go to clay, till the day of the Resurrection come, when those painful prisons shall be turned into pleasant Palaces: * Note What recks of an inch of time here on Earth▪ in respect of eternity in Heaven? Should a man's heart so itch after an inch of Earth, that he would desire to tarry from Heaven but an hour? The Soul must turn its back upon the body, for to turn its face unto the God of Glory: This is but a childish temptation: * Note It is for women & children to weep, at the taking of adewes, chiefly while these that depart are going to a better condition of life. Because the day draweth towards Evening, it is now time for me to remove: I hope God willing to come again the Morrow, and to visit you, that I may minister unto you some Spiritual comforts: In the mean time, seeing your mind hath been so perplexed with carnal temptations, concerning Life, Lands, Children, and Riches: Cause read unto you this night in mine absence the Book of Ecclesiastes, from the beginning unto the end, where ye shall see as in a glass, the vanity of all these things, wherewith your Soul now is most enamoured. If ye have time, cause also read unto you job 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Before I go Sir it shall be best that I recommend you unto God by prayer. The first Prayer for the sick Man. O LORD, in whose hands is the gift of the Spirit of groans, inspire our hearts at this time, that with an heavenly disposition we may fall down before thee upon the knees of our Souls, quicken our dead and drowsy hearts to the performance of this duty of calling upon thy Name: Thou is not close handed to these that seek thee in sincerity, we are ashamed, O LORD, even we all who are here before thee on the Earth thy Footstool, we are ashamed for to face the Heavens, the Throne of thy Majesty: Our hearts are so fully fraughted with all sorts of sins, which like most filthy streams flow from the first fountain, or rather puddle of our original sin, which we have from the Loins of Adam: We are all infected with this spiritual Leprosy; there is nothing that can wash us and make us clean, save only the jordan of the blood of jesus; Besprinkle our consciences, O LORD, with the virtue of that Blood, which cryeth for better things, than the blood of Abel: Seal up thy Love in our hearts by the blood of the Sealed man, whom Thou the Father did seal and appoint to bring Life eternal joh. 6. 27. to the world: In him thou art well pleased: In his Name, and for his Love we beg thy favour: He himself hath told us, that what we shall ask thee in his Name, we shall receive it: O Father of mercies, remember the promise of thy Son. In confidence of his Command we take the boldness at this time particularly to put up our prayers unto thee, for this thy diseased Servant toss●…d to and f●…o with divers temptations: Satan the enemy of his Salvation, the fear of Death, the love of the world and of worldly things have set themselves in Battell-array, like armies between his Soul and the entry of Heaven. They have maliciously ensnared his heart, and taken his affections captives with the immoderate love of perishing things: Oh, how hath he been bewitched with the seeming sweetness of such vanities! O Thou LORD JESUS, the LORD of Life, encourage him so with thy lively Spirit, that he may be bold, courageously to face Death and the Grave: Put these interrogations in his mouth, O Death, where 1 Cor. 15. 55 is thy Sting? O Grave, where is thy victory? 'Cause thy Spirit whisper in his ear, that thou hast put out the life of Death: Cast into his remembrance the words wherewith Thou boasted Death, and the Grave, O Death, I will be thy plagues, Hose. 13. 14 O Grave, I will be thy destruction. Let his Soul know that the Grave is a Bed of rest, for all these Isa. 57 2. that die in the LORD, wherein they rest from their labours, being at ease in peace, without any toil or turmoil: Work in his heart a desire to be dissolved, for to be fred from the sinful bonds of mortality, for to go dwell where he shall never anger the Lord again: Let the Love of Christ wain his heart from the desire of any abiding here. O dear JESUS, who was both buffeted, slain, and buried for to save man, set the print and stamp of thy mercy upon this Soul. Sever all his thoughts from all that is earthly, whether it be Life, Lands, Children, Houses, or whatsoever other thing may allure him for to sojourn here in a strange Land, wherein we are all strangers from God, whom we cannot see here but behind: Untie his heart from the love of this his native soil: Purge him of this out-bearing humour. O LORD, flesh and blood will never teach a man to renounce his dear self, and such other carnal things, wherewith he is in fantasy: The earthly mind is so lumpish, that it wearieth to think of thee, and of the pleasures of thy Palace: A carnal heart is ever roving and wandering here about this world's business: Martha is a mother of many Children, who trouble themselves about many things: But few are these that with Marie can fold their heart for to sit down at the feet of JESUS for to make choice of that best part, which should never be taken from them: Thou to whom nothing is impossible, draw this Soul unto thee, make the bent of his affection to be upon thee. O great JEHOVAH, thou hast heard and seen how carnal temptations have teared the Soul of thy Servant this day in the bed of his languishing: Immoderate cares for things below have deprived him of all rest and joys which he should have in thee: We must confess to thee, and from his heart he acknowledgeth to be true, that his mind hath been too bend upon such perishing shadows, which can not be gripped: Such trashes of no worth have taken too much room into his heart. He who is not content to quite all for to come to thee, is not worthy of thee. But, LORD; if man's Salvation were grounded upon the sand of his own worthiness, such a building could not stand against the winds & floods of temptations: But his Salvation shall never be branled▪ because it is builded upon the everlasting and most sure Rock the foundation of thy Church. O LORD, we fail all in many things: If hitherto this thy Servant hath not as he should, minded th●… things which are above, but lodged in their place, the desire of things below, now in thy grea●… mercy enlighten his misty mind●…, and be merciful to him in th●… thing: Make the flesh now to cede and give place unto the Spirit: Let the heavens come in with the pledges of thy Love, which no mortal arms can fathom: Come with thy Spiritual and divine motions and fill therewith the chambers of his heart where earthly thoughts had their abode: Make his Soul to invite thy Spirit, to come in, Saying with Laban, Come in thou blessed of Gen. 24. 31 the Lord, wherefore standest thou without? O dear JESUS, direct so all his thoughts, that he weary himself no more with the desire of that which sooner or later he must ●…orgoe: Why should thorny cares for dust and clay choke the good motions of thy Spirit? Let no such care cumber him any more for foolish fáding commodity: Dissolve this glue by which his heart is tied to the ground: In thy Light let him see Light, whereby he may perceive how frail & fickle are all such transitory trashes, which being too much loved, both cool our zeal and clog our affections, so that they can in no wise sore up toward thee. O blessed Saviour, in whom is the very pith & sweetest marrow of God's mercies, make thy servants here to love thee above all things, in heaven or earth: Make his heart to say, Whom have I in Heaven but thee? Make him to love thee for thyself, and not for thine only, which is but an hired Love: Put in thine own hand at the hole of the door of his heart, and let some drops of the Myrrh of thy mercy this night fall upon the handle of the Bar▪ that his Soul being affected therewith▪ may run out of the Chamber of sleep for to seek him, who loveth his Soul, even his blessed Saviour, the LORD JESUS. Be merciful to all thine afflicted members in the Church militant, fight under the bloody Banner of the LORD JESUS CHRIST: The Church is thy Spouse keep her as the Apple of thine eye, make all her members with one mind and one mouth, to glorify thy Name. Bless our gracious Sovereign, the King's Majesty with thy best blessings: Adorn him with spiritual Graces and gifts, wherewith he may please thee in his whole carriage, both Ecclesiastice and Civil: Make justice and judgement the habitation of his Throne; make Mercy and Truth go before his Face: Bless His Royal Match, make thy mercy to be shed abroad in Her Heart: Cloth Her with the Royal apparel of Christ's Righteousness: Let readiness to hear the Preaching of the Word be Her Earring, and good Works in Her Hand like golden Rings upon Her Fingers: Write upon the Tables of Her Heart the Love of true Godliness. The LORD be merciful to the Commonwealth of this Land protect It from the rage of foreign Enemies: Let never thy protection depart from this Land: Let it be like that Bed of Solomon, Threescore Cant. 3. 7. ●… 8 strong men are round about it, of the valiant men of Israel: They all handle the Sword, and are expert in war▪ every one hath his sword upon his thigh for the fear by night. The LORD be gracious unto us all, whom are here upon our kneees before Thee: What we have said to Thee on earth, LORD hear Thou in Heaven,: Let this afflicted Soul have a proof of thine own Truth, that the effectual prayer of the Righteous jam. 5. 16. availeth much, LORD hea●… us for the sake of him who is righteousness itself, in whose most perfect Prayer we close up allour suits, saying, Our Father which art, etc. The Peace, Grace, and Mercy of our GOD, be with you Sir for ever: I hope that by God's Grace I shall see you early in the Morning. The sick Man. The LORD render to you according to his gracious promise made to all these that serve him in sincerity: A great blessing requireth great thanks: I never deserved such kindness at your hands: The less deserving bee in me, the more deeply do I hold myself bound unto your love: I pray you Sir be as good as your word, come again early in the Morning: The Spirit of JESUS go with you. THE SECOND DAY'S Conference. Of spiritual temptations. The Pastor. GOD save you Sir: How have ye rested this Night? Have ye found any working of God's Spirit within you, since our last conference? Is your mind so at quiet now, that ye may boldly say, with Simeon, Now let thy servant depart in peace? Luk. 2. 29. The sick Man. * Note Alas, Sir, Satan's temptations are like that Serpent of Learn called Hydra, which had fifty heads, whereof one being cut off, two sprang up in the place thereof: I take that serpent to have been but a fable: But that which I say may be written for an History: Many heads of temptations have ye cut off with the sword of God's word: But now I think that for every head cut off, two are sprung up in the place thereof: * Note All my temptatons hitherto have been but upon the skin like the scratch of a pin, wrinkles but not wounds: All my troubles hitherto hath been but matters of trifles, viz. Fear for my Life, fear for my Children, fear for the Grave of this our muddy mortality, and for other such trifles and trashes, unworthy for to trouble a courageous Spirit: The Spirit of a courageous man, said Solomon, Prov. 18. 14. will bear his infirmity: But the wounded spirit who can bear it? * Note well is the child of God in his ●…orest sickness for while his body is sick, his Soul is sound: His God in great love will make all his bed in his sickness, and Psal. 41, 3 strengthen him into the bed of languishing: * Note He whom God loveth is armed with Faith and patience, all his troubles are but outward scrappings upon the skin: The temptations wherewith I am lashed are spiritual wound for my sins, which never troubled me before: I heard oft-ten of such troubles, but I never knew before this time what such things did mean: Think ye Sir that the Spirit of a godly man can be thus wise troubled? I hear David crying in his mourning, There is no soundness in my flesh, neither Psal. 38. 3. is there any rest in my bones: But what recks of flesh and bones, if the Spirit were free? The Pastor. The most godly that ever lived, have suffered spiritual wounds: Christ the Captain of our Salvation, Heb. 2. 10 said, That his Soul was sad even Mar. 14. 34. unto the death: * Note job cried, that h●…s Spirit was drunken up with the poison of God's arrows, The arrows of the Almighty, said he, are job. 6. 4. within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my Spirit: See how that holy man of God complaineth that his Spirit was like a drink drunken up by the poison of God's arrows. * Note By this ye see that spiritual wounds are allotted to the dearest of God's Elect, so that they are not exemed from inward blows: * Note Trouble of Conscience is the disease of the innocentest Soul. The sick Man. That satisfieth me not: * Note As for Christ, the blows which he suffered in his Soul, were blows of satisfaction for the sins of others: As for job these blows were blows of probation & of trial, for to let the world see that he was not an hypocrite that served GOD for rewards, as Satan did allege: But it is not so with me, who am a bond slave of corruption: I suffer for my 2 Pet. 2. sins, which are ever before me: The feigner I would forget them, they flow the faster into my remembrance: * Note The voice of my Conscience followeth me with hue & with cry. Though God hath spared thee long, thou hast not been bettered, look now for vengeance after so long delays: I can make no answer, I can not deny, but God hath spared me long: In this is my greatest fear: * Note The higher a stroke be fetched, the longer it is in coming: But the higher it be lifted, the heavier it will fall. The Pastor. I answer to that which ye said first, viz. that Christ's sufferings are no comfort to you, because they are blows of satisfaction: * Note The afflictions of Christ were of divers uses first of all, for to make payment to God's justice for our sins: secondly, he suffered, that by his own experience of sense he being expert what it is to suffer, might assure us that he is both a merciful and a faithful high Priest, For in that he Heb. 2. 13 himself hath suffered being tempted, Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco. he is able to succour them that are tempted: Thus the Apostle declareth plainly afterward, We have not, said he, an high Priest which cannot Heb. 4. 15 be touched with the feeling of our infirmities: But was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin: * Note This experience which he had of our misery, is called his learning, Though Heb. 5. 8 he were a Son, yet learned he obedience, by the things which he suffered: He also suffered, for to be an example unto us. The sick Man. I understand not well these words that Christ learned obedience by his sufferings. The Pastor. * Note The words indeed seem obscure: The most Learned think that Christ is said to have learned obedience by his sufferings, because while he suffered he felt indeed how difficile a thing it is talem obedientiam Deo praestare, Piscator. Calvin. to yield such obedience unto God: others say, that by his sufferings he joined to his divine knowledge the practice of his passions: that which he had before only in contemplation is now also known unto him by suffering that which he knew: * Note Others say. That he learned obedience by his sufferings, that is, Re ipsa expertus est quid sit patrem habere cut p●…rendum Beza. sit, He knew by Experience what it was, to have a Father to whom obedience was due: Thus Christ while he learned obedience by his sufferings, hath teached all the faithful to suffer patiently. As for that which ye said concerning job, that his afflictions were only blows of probation & of trial; ye deceive yourself, they Lam. 3. 39 were also for his sins: Whenfore is the living man sorrowful? said jeremy, The answer is peremptory, man suffereth for his sins. The sick Man. * Note That seemeth not ever to be true: While Christ's Disciples saw a man that was blind from his birth, they asked Christ saying, Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that joh. 9 2. he was borne blind? jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his Parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him: Oh, that I were that borne blind, that I were not afflicted for my sins, but that the works of God's mercy might be manifested in me! The Pastor. * Note These words of Christ are not to be taken so strictly as though God would lay any affliction upon a man in whom is no sin: This could not stand with the justice of God: If Adam & his Children had never sinned, not one of them could have been stricken either with blindness, or deafness: * Note This blind man then was not afflicted for his sins only, or especially, or as if he had been a greater sinner than others, but chiefly this disease came unto him, that the works of God's power and mercy might be made manifest by his cure: * Note So David was sore afflicted for his adultery and murder, but chiefly for to stop the mouths of these enemies of God, whom he by his scandle made to blaspheme: * Note God as ye see may afflict you for your sins, and yet not chiefly for them; but for to take a trial of your patience, or for to make others fear to sin when they shall perceive by you, how great pains a godly Soul will suffer before that it can be well reconciled unto God again. The sick Man. I confess Sir that ye speak with the tongue of the Learned: * Note But for all that I find such temptations tumbling within me, that I may Ierm. 12. 5 compare them to the swelling of jordan: My sins, alas, huge in greatness, stand up like mountains between me and my God: They are so high that they hide Heaven from my Soul: What shall I do Sir? If ever ye helped me, help me now with your comforts. The Pastor. * Note Though these mountains be high, yet ye must climb the mount with Moses, if ye would see Canaan: So long as Moses was in the valley, he could not see the typ of Heaven: We must all climb up the Hill: We cannot see Christ before we be lifted from the Earth: We are all but men of little stature like Zacheus: Luk. 19 3. We must therefore up the tree with him, and up the mount with Moses, before we can see either Christ o●… Canaan that place of promise: Ye are sorry for your sins: But sanat confessio morbi: A sin well confessed is healed: But what sins be these Sir whose tops reach so high that they hide the Sun from you? The sick Man. Alas, for the sins of my Youth; my Riot and my Drunkenness, my Rom. 13. 13. Chambering & my wantonness, my strif and envy: Fie on my Fornications, and Adulteries, my lying and deceiving Hypocrisy: * Note So I had a lamp of profession, I cared not for oil in it, my chief care hath ever been for the outward shell of my duty, but never for the Kernel: Gods graces in me have been like a pure liquor in a fusty vessel. The Pastor. I am glad to hear of these buffets of your Conscience, such grief is from grace: I know what shall be the event, even Repentance never to be repent of: But say on The sick Man. * Note This is my greatest grief▪ that I sinned into the light with Absolom▪ 2 Sam. 16. 22 even in the clear Sun shine of the Gospel: Now may I well be ranked with these who counted it pleasure to riot in the day time: It were 2 Pet. 2. ●…3 more easy for me to number the sand than my sins. The Pastor. * Note There is no sin either of omission or commission, in the light or in darkness, that can hinder God to be merciful to a sinner, if the sinner can repent: God who is infinite in mercy can forgive the riots of the day, sins of knowledge as well as night sins; which are sins of ignorance: * Note There is one sin of ignorance which shall never be forgiven, even to despair of God's mercy: What ignorance is this, that any Creature should think itself more sinful, than God can be merciful? * Note To make our sins to overreach his compassions, were to make the Centre to contain the Circumference: If your sins be in number like the sand, God's mercies are without number: * Note The greatest number that man's brain can invent either by telling, or by ciphering in comparison of that which is infinite, is not so much as a drop of a Bucket compared to the great Ocean. The sick Man. * Note I have alas, been an impudent sinner, who with my sins have buffeted my God on every side: It were now righteous with God that he should buffet me with his judgements: I slept in sin, and could not be wakened: While Christ's Cock crowed, my Soul lay fast asl●…epe: Yea, while he crowed again, I had past the third deny all: And though I was forewarned, I had none ho in evil doing: While God was in my mouth, he was far from mine heart: O that bloody scarlet scroll of so many iniquities. The Pastor. * Note As ye reason with yourself, and with me, so let it please you to reason but a little with your God: Come now, said the Lord▪ & let us reason together: Though your sins be Isa. 1. 18. as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as will: * Note There is no sin so red though it were double died, but the virtue of Christ's Blood can cause it cast its colour. The sick Man. * Note I have no Faith to apply any salve to my sore: I hear your explication of God's mercies: But there is none application within me: What better will a man be that ye set much meat down before him on the Table, if he cannot eat it? The Pastor. * Note Many have sit down at Table having their appetit so bound up at the first, that they abhorred to see meat, & yet little & little have been brought on first to taste, & thereafter to eat a little, last of all, one piece bringeth on another, till they recover their appetit: This is but a disease in your Soul, which maketh it abhor all comforts, as it is said of these that are bodily sick in the Psalm, Their soul abhorreth all Psal. 107. 18 manner of meat, and they draw near the doors of death: What was their remeedie? Earnest prayer to God: Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distresses: Man's extremity is God's opportunity. Be of good comfort Sir, have the Faith of God within you: Be earnest in prayer, and God shall deliver you from all your fears. The sick Man. Oh, that I had Faith: Oh, that I could pray! I find my griefs to grow: I spoke never in earnest till now: All other temptations before were but for carnal things: They were all but sport, in comparison of this of my sins where with my Soul is pressed and borne down: * Note I take this to be the forebrunt of endless plagues and pains prepared for the damned: I abhor myself, fie on me: What am I, but a dead Sardian, Revel. 3. 1 15. or which is worse, a lukewarm Laodicean neither cold nor hot, a fit provocation of vomit to my God: It is a wonder if by this death he vomit me not out of his Church, for to cast me into Hell: Now what pleasure can I have of all my sins, where of I am ashamed? * Note All the joys of my bygone life being joined together, countervail not the least part of my present pain. Alas, Sir, how can I gladly draw near the doors of death, while there be such impediments between me and the doors of Heaven. The Pastor. I love these lamentations: * Note It is good that a Soul be sensible of sin: Woe to that Soul that is past all feeling: Blessed be God, that hath wakened you out of the slumber of your sins: * Note God's wrath ever followeth drowsy consciences, for to give them up to the spirit of slumber, or to sporting spirits, that make men to sport themselves with their own 2 Pet. 2. 13 deceive: * Note It is good that in our afflictions, we consider well the cause; for Affliction cometh not out of the job. 5. 6. dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground: leremie in this is plain, Lam. 3. 39 Man suffereth for his sins: * Note It is your part to make a careful search for the capital sin, which as ye think may chiefly be the cause of so great a wrath: Till Achan was found Israel jos. 7. 16. could not stand before their enemies: But say on Sir, let me hear you to Amen. The sick Man. God hath set all my sins in order before me: I see nothing but a burning wrath, which Scripture calleth, Heb. 12. 29. a consuming fire: * Note Mine evil thoughts which I ever thought to be free, stand now up in battle array against mee●… O Lord, why hast Isa. 63. 17 thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? I have no comfort within my Soul: * Note I hear a clamour within my conscience crying unto me, What part or interest can thou look for in the Kingdom of him whom thou hast so highly dishonoured? How can thou be of that number that belongeth to the election of grace? I find my conscience raging within me like a swelling sea, except some calm of mercy come, my Soul shallbe swallowed up with some fearful surge: Alas, Sir, what is your counsel: All that is within me is into an uproar, despare is working within the bowels of my belly. The Pastor. * Note These secret throwings in the belly are but Gods secret reproves, tokens of his Love: * Note Such secret checks are like the rebukes of a Father, taking his Child apart to some quiet chamber for to admonish him: This is God's customable doing with his own Children, if by their open and scandalous sins, they have not moved the enemies of God to blaspheme, he will take them to the secret chamber of their heart, & there apart as it were, after that he hath barred the door, and put all out, he will tell them what they have done: * Note joseph would not tell before the Egyptians how his Brethren had sold him: But while he revealed himself to his Brethren, he commanded all others to go forth: Cause every man, said he, Gen. 45. 1. to go out from me, and there stood no man with him, while he made himself known to his Brethren: * Note God would not reprove job before Elihu & El●…phaz his uncharitable friends, but a part out of the while wind: job. 38. 1. After that he had rebuked and scooled his Servant job in the secret whirl of the wind, and had made him to acknowledge his faults, he came to his friends and told them job. 41. 7. that his wrath was kindled against them: * Note After that Peter had thri●…e most shamefully denied his Master Christ, who heard him so perjuredlie lie, would not reprove him openly before the wicked, but only turned his eye with a look towards him: With that secret look which no man perceived but Peter himself, he gave him such a secret check and nip of reproof, that Luk. 22. 62. incontinent he went out, and weeped bitterly: * Ye shall find at last Sir, all these temptations that trouble you within, are but God, taking you apart, and telling you with joseph, what ye have done: God is now in the whirl wind working secretly with you as with job, till ye be humble in dust and ashes: * Note All this bitterness which ye find within, is but from a Love-looke of Christ, that ye may be saved by weeping bitterly for your sins: * Note Be of good comfort Sir, all these troubles within are but God out of love whispering some reproofs into your ear for some bygone faults. The sick man. I wish that it were so: * Note But O, what a stir is this within my Soul? I think those words of God in jerimie to be directly said unto me, Thine own wickedness shall correct Ierm. 2. 19 thee, and thy backslidinges shall reprove thee, know therefore, and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee. The Pastor. * Note While the dreg and mud of a melancholious mind is stirred up from the bottom with grievous temptations, the sinner must spare to judge, till the Soul be settled: Let that muddy mind of yours first be settled, and ye shall shortly see that matters are not as they seem to be: When Christ said to Matth. 16. 23 Peter, Get thee behind me Satan, it was a speech of glouminesse: But O the sweet gloumes of jesus more sweet than the world's smiles: Let that righteous reprove me, and it shall Psal. 141. 5. be as oil which shall not break mine head: * Note God may seem to be angry at his Darlings, but yet in great love he hath locked up their Salvation, and made it sure in his unchangeable decree. The sick Man. Mine heart is pricked with pains and grieved with grief: This is the mischief, I see none out-gate, my Soul is environed with temptations. The Pastor. The words of S. Peter are comfortable, The Lord knoweth how to 2 Pet. 2. 9 deliver the godly out of temptations: * Note If your temptations be great, here is matter of joy, ye have a God who knoweth how to deliver you. There is no temptation so deadly but God knoweth how to cure it: * Note A touch of the garment of Christ's righteousness will anon dry up that flooxe of blood. The sick Man. I am so tossed, that I am not able to touch it: * Note I am like a ship in a tempest, seeking its Haven, but cannot come by it; whiles I am bl●…wen to this side and while to that side: Thus being driven hither & thither as with contrary Tides, mine heart quaketh, and my conscience is in a qualm. The Pastor. Christ, who in the days of his flesh rebuked the winds, will calm Matth. 3. 16. such qualms, that your conscience may be at rest: * Though the rolling sea rage, so that it make the Mariners to reel to and fro, & stagger like drunken men, yet when they cry unto the Lord, He maketh the Psal. 107. ●… 29. storms a calm so that the waves thereof are still: He who can still the waves of waters, can calm the most stirring surgesse of temptations: * Note It is written of the Mariners, that while in the temptest all their cunning is gone, their last refuge is to their prayers, Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivereth them from their distresses: If your distress Sir, be like the tempest which cannot be with stood by care or cunning, run to your God by prayer, confess fully and freely your sins: Suffer no starting holes or hollowness in your heart: But work it to sincerity, use all means for to be friends with your God: Seek earnestly from God, for the sake of his christ, the peace of Conscience. The sick Man. So I do: * Note But alas, while I seek peace, I hear from God as it were that voice of jehu to johoram▪ horseman saying to my Soul, What hast thou to do with peace? get 2 Kin. 9 18 thee behind m●…e: What wonder that God be angry with me, who was never careful to please him? * Note My Soul like a Night-Owle hath hated Light, and loved darkness: Such is the weight of my transgression that I am like to finke thorough the sward of God's wrath: * Note This checketh me sore, that while I sinned, I strove to overmaster my conscience arraigning me for my wickedness: When I think of this, ●… think shame to face the Sun and the Moon. The Pastor. * Note The more ye be ashamed of your sins, the less ye need to fear everlasting shame: The Pharisee Luk. 18. 11 thought no shame of himself, but bragged of his worth, the Publican could not face the Heavens for shame: Your part shall be with the Publican, who returned justified unto his house: He who condemneth himself, shall go home to Heaven with the justice of his God. Cry unto the Lord in your trouble. The sick Man. I am not able to speak, the force of temptations is like to shiver me in pieces: All that is within me is in a fearful uproar: * Note O how fear●…full is the rack and gibbet of an evil conscience: The black scroll of my sins which of before seemed to be enroled, is now unfolded & laid open, wherein every letter seemeth huge, great like a mountain: Every day is a death unto me, all my counts are out of order, there is not a string in mine heart in a right tune: What are sinners, but stubble? God's sentence is, Burn them: * Note Alas, that while I sinned, I weighed not the following woe: I have brewed my grief, and now I must drink in sorrow. The Pastor. * Note One thing I perceive Sir, that your grief must have vent, till ye have disburdened yourself with tears and complaints, ye can not admit any comfort. The sick Man. There is no dolour like to my dolour: The arrows of the Lords wrath are within me, whereof my Spirit drinketh the poison. The Pastor. * Note These arrows are not arrows of wrath, but of warning, like the arrows of jonathan, shot for to drive David from the fury of Saul: * Note Hear the Spirit crying with jonathan, Are 1 Sam. 20. 37 they not beyond thee? God's arrows are flown over you, are they not beyond you? There is no danger. The sick Man. * Note My sins which once seemed little like mots, begin now to swell, and to become thicker than mountains: I have no peace within: In my Soul is kindled an unquenchable fire, in it is the fuel of everlasting burnings: * Note Often have I posted off my sins in the lump with a slubbert general confession: Now resteth nothing within me but fear distrust & qualm●…s of Conscience. The Pastor. Be strong in God Sir: Hope in his mercy, believe in him, though he should stay you: * Note If ye will not Isa. 7. 9 believe, saith Isaiah, surely ye shall not be established: While the woman of Canaan was making request to Christ for her Daughter, she found Christ at the first to be very harsh and sour, in calling her a Dog: But that little blast being once blown out for the humbling of her Soul, she heard incontinent these words of comfort, O woman, great is thy Faith: Be it unto thee Matth. 15 28. even as thou wilt: * Note God's face may seem grimne for a space, but there is but a moment in his wrath: though he should slay you, yet must ye trust in him: In your hurt ye must hope for his help. The sick Man. * Note My strongest hope is but a stinging fear: My greatest confidence is but trembling of conscience: * Note It seemeth to me, that there is one knocking at the door of mine heart and crying in a voice, Is Faith here? Is love within? Is one called the fear of God into this place? Is the Spouse of Christ in this heart? Alas, what can I say, having such an ugly Soul within me? Can Christ the Spouse of the Church love such a Soul as mine, which is like a blear or squint eyed Leah? can the dark night beguile him, that he should take such a loathsome Leah for a beautiful Rachel? * Note If Death now overtake me, I look for fire and faggot, the fuel of everlasting burnings: Oh, my Faith fainteth, and mine hope hovereth: What say ye Sir? Doth not your heart pity to see me in such a plunge? * Note Yet for all this I must justify God: All this is righteously come upon me, though his wrath should so settle upon me, that thereby my bones should be crushed like these eighteen who were slain under the tower of Siloe, Luk. 13. 4 to God should belong righteousness, but to me open shame and Dan. 9 8. confusion of face. The Pastor. * Note Shame of face for sin is the beginning of grace in a sinner; wait upon the Lord a little, and he shall make his mercy to appear like a morning light, at the break of day all the night shadows of temptations shall flee away, and Christ the Sun of Righteousness, shall arise and Mal. 4. 2. shine upon your Soul with his blessed beams: This shall make your Soul like a Bird on a bush welcoming the morning with a song for joy that the night is past. The Sick Man. * Note Satan alas, hath so hood-winked my Soul with my sins, that I cannot get a sight of mercy, the sense of my sins giveth mine heart many a cold pull: I fear to die in despair: What say ye Sir? Doth not your heart pity me? The Pastor. The Lord pity you, & give me an heart to pray for you: The Lord put the words into my mouth, that may comfort your comfortless Soul in this jingring trial: Have patience in your pain, sin is like a rotten tooth, the deeper root it hath in the jaws, the more painful it is in the drawing. Continue Sir to discover your sore; if the boil of such corruption be ripe, I shall lance it, that such filthy matter may be cleansed away: I pray God so to direct me, that I may prove a Surgeon cunning in this cure; if there be any thing as yet that troubleth you, conceal it not, if ye think that my comforts may be helpful unto you: * Note Many are more ashamed to confess a fault, than to commit a sin. What is this that grieveth you now Sir? The sick Man. The wrath of God affrayeth me; * Note His anger is like a Lion, which can not be tamed: My sin is past, but punishment is to come: * Note Terrors cry out of the fire, Thy pleasures now are ended, now thou must suffer pains: From the top of the pinnacle of all thy preferments, come down to the dungeon of darkness, because thou hast fallen down before the god of this world, go down, go 2 Cor 14. 4 down to him, whom thou on earth hast worshipped: These be the terrors of God, standing in battle array against me, which make me to fling all comforts from me: My Soul is possessed with a slavish fear. * Note Indeed I must confess, that I am much beholden unto God, for so large a time of repentance: But alas. I have neglected it, yea, and obstinately have kicked against my Maker: * Note So now I find by doleful sense, that I remain into the guilt; my Soul is so sick with this that I cannot tell: * Note All comforts are unto it like a dead potion into the stomach which hath no virtue to work: God thinketh me not worthy of comfort: For while I was in prosperity, I was so covered over Isa. 29. 10 with the spirit of slumber, that I would not be warned nor wakened by the voice of God's Trumpeters, sounding judgements, as sons of thunder, * Note Because I misregarded Boanarges the Sons of Thunder, God will not deign me with a Barnabas, a Son of consolation. Now behold Sir, what grieveth me, what say ye for my comfort? The Pastor. * Note I rejoice from mine heart not in your grief, but in that ye are so grieved for your sins: God in mercy by such sorrow doth whet up your desires after him: * Note The Child by a knock & a fall knoweth his own weakness, and perceiveth the need of his Nurse: I rejoice to see you humbled with the sense of your sins under the hand of God, I am comforted to see you humbled, let this humility be a comfort to yourself: It is good to be of a humble and contrite Spirit: To whom will Isa. 66. 2. I look? said the Lord, even to him that is of a contrite Spirit, and trembleth at my word: * Note The more a man be humbled he is nearer to be justified: The Publican a little before he was justified, was knocking upon his breast, and crying to God for mercy to him a miserable man: * Note The more humble a man be, he is the Luk. 18. 13 farther from the dint and danger of God's judgements. The sick Man. By your discourse Sir, it would seem that a cast down Soul with its own unworthiness, is in less danger of judgement, than these who are high lifted up in their own conceit. The Pastor. It is most certain: * Note The humble & the proud are like these seeds that were sown in Egypt, when the plague of hail came, the Flax and the Barley Exod. 9 31 were smitten, saith the Scripture, for the Barley was in the ear, and the Flax was bolled: But the Wheat and vers. 32. the Rye were not smitten, for they were not grown up: The wicked in time of wrath are like Flax & Barley, because they are lifted up, they are smitten, they are in the ear, yea, and bolled in their pride, and therefore cannot escape: But as for the humbled heart of the godly man, it is like the Wheat and Rye, the best corn: It is not smitten because it is not grown up, but lieth humble before the Lord: Corpora magnanimo satis est prostrasse Leoni: Humiliation maketh the Lion to spare his adversary: God is pleased and pacified so soon as he seeth a man humbled in heart: Ahah had killed 1 King. 21 19 & after also had taken possession * Note Yet so soon as he humbled himself in Sack, though all his humility was but outward, the Lord looked upon him, and would have Elijah to see it also, Seest thou, said the Lord vers. 29. to his Prophet, how Ahah hath humbled himself before me: Because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring this evil in his days. Bless God Sir, for your humbled heart, yet rely never upon any grace that is within yourself, let Gods mere mercy alone be your strength and your stay: * Note The least opinion of our own worth is a frost which nippeth Repentance in the blossom. The sick Man. Think ye Sir, that before a man win to Heaven, that he must be racked and riven as I am with fearful temptations? The Pastor. * Note Before the most part of the Elect can enjoy these joys that are above, they are not only racked with pain, but also as it were racked thorough hell: There must first be an hell in the conscience with the sense of our sins, we must have a sight of wrath, before we enter into God's Rest: * Note Heaven is not win with a wish: Christ saith, that it suffereth violence, and that the violent Matth. 11. 12. take it by force: Thorough many tribulations and afflictions we must enter into it: The Crown is after a course of crosses. The sick Man. I am haled away with the strong stream of temptations: I cannot think, that if God loved me, he would suffer me to be thus way tread under foot like dust, with such fearful temptations: O how fearful is the cross upon the Conscience! The Pastor. These whom GOD loveth best, he chasteneth: * Note The loving Mother will run upon her dearest Daughter with her feet, if she perceive her to be given to folly: God treadeth not upon his own, but for profit: * Note The Godly are like Saffron or Camomile, which grow the better the more they be trodden down: Grace must gripe Nature till it gasp. The sick Man. Mine heart is strained and squised with grief: O the heavy weight of my sins, which hang so fast on! * Note I am like a tired horse that fain would be rid of his burden. The Pastor. To be tired of sin, is a token that ye shall be shortly delivered: * Note He who is tired with sin, is tired, not to be a drudge of sin: * Note Sin is not heavy to the Wicked, because it is in them as water in its own element, though it be of weight, yet it weigheth not: Well is the wearied Soul, it hath Christ's promise of ease: But woe to them Matth. 11. 28 who with Laodicea, have need of no thing: For the most part, men are drowned in drowsiness: Security is far more dangerous than despair: As was sung of Saul and of David, so may be here, Despair hath slain her thousand, but Security her ten thousand: Many are not wakened till they be so wakened, that their judgement and senses are lost. It is a fearful curse for a man to bless himself, while he should mourn for his sins: Such as bless themselves, while the Lord pronounceth the words of the curse, The Lord will not be merciful to that Deut. 29. 20 man: * Note Security hath shaken hands with Hell and Death: But well is him who feareth always: * Note He is greatest in God's sight, who is least in his own eyes. The sick Man. But alas, Sir, my conscience speaketh home, that I have been a stranger from my God: O but I am wearied, how shall I be delivered from this burden of bondage? The Pastor. These who are ladened and wearied, may hear Christ in his Gospel crying unto them, Come unto me Matth. 11. 29. Go to him who cryeth so lovingly, Come: Strive above all things, to get a sight of your Saviour, by the eye of Faith: Urge upon your heart a deep meditation of his mercy, his merits are able to cure our maladies. The sick Man. * Note There is such a mist between me and the Messias, that it is not possible for me to see him. Oh, that my eyes were cleared with God's Eye-salue, that I might clearly be hold Reuel. 3. 10 him! The Pastor. * Note The great desire ye have to see him is a sort of sight: * Note All men see not Christ alike: All go not up to the mount with Peter, james, and john: Matt. 17. 1. All see not God face to face with Moses: Exod. 33, 11. All men lay not their head in Christ's bosom, with his best beloved joh. 13. 23 Disciple; Be not discouraged: though ye cannot win so near to Christ, as ye would: * Note If ye cannot win to him for to embrace him, as Simeon Luk. 2. 8, did strive to touch the border of his garment behind with the finger of faith Luk. 8. 44 and it shall stay the bloody flux of your Sins: * Note Ye sigh for a sight of Christ * A sigh for a sight of him, is a sight of him indeed: * Note He who would be found of these that sought him not will be much more found of these that seek him, and sigh for him: Be of good heart: * Note Though for a space your spiritual day be misty, yet at last your drumly sky shall be cleared: * Note Christ is not ever absent, while he is not seen: The Sun as we see will be covered with a cloud, & the Moon will be under wake, but incontinent thereafter, the clouds being overblowen, we enjoy their brightness and their beams: What shall be able to separate a Christian from the Love of his Christ? * Note What then shall be able to make a Christian soul despair? Shall Damnation? No, For Christ Gods▪ a Luk. 2. 30. Salvation is ours: Shall Hell? No, For our Christ hath b Reuel. 3. 7. the keys both of Heaven & of Hell: Shall the World? No, For Christ hath c joh. 16. 33. overcome the World: Shall the Law? No, For our Christ hath d Matth. 3 15. fulfilled the Law. Shall Death? No, For our Christ e joh. 14. 6. is the Way and the Life: Shall the Father's wrath? No, For f Isa. 63. 3. He hath trodden the winepress of his wrath for you, and for all repenting sinners: * Note All Scripture pointeth at him, saying, g Isa. 30. 21. This is the way, walk ye in it: Run Sir to him, & he shall deliver you from all your sins, and from all your fears: Strive to curb your own corruptions which are so broodie within you. The sick Man. I cannot alas, be quite of my sins: I strive to run away from them, but the faster they follow me, like cur Dogs that are so accustomed to follow their Master they will not be boasted home again: Where ever I go with my thoughts above or below, my sins follow hard after me: * Note Though I threaten them, though I boast them, yea, betimes entreat them to depart, their answer is, We are thy works, we will go with thee. This putteth my Soul out of peace and order, and thrusteth me away from Deut. 13. 10. the Lord; my God: I have been long seeking and sighing for comforts: But as yet I can espy none appearance. The Pastor. Comforts sought sought, and sighed for, are not aye seen at the first: * Note Elijahs servant went up the hill Carmell eight several times to espy some appearance of rain: The first seven times he could see nothing, & at the eight he saw but a little cloud of comfort: Behold said he, there ariseth a little cloud out of 1 Kin. 1●…. 44. the sea, like a man's hand: A little after that, the heavens were black with vers. 45. clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. * Note Hold your face Sir a little space with Elijah between your knees, and 1 Kin. 18. 42. cast yourself down upon the Earth, as he did, that is, fall down in all humility of Soul before your God in prayer: That done, send up your prayer the spiritual spy unto the top of the hill: * Note Send it again and again, ever till it espy some little cloud of comfort: If your Soul take pains in prayer till ye perceive but an hand breadth of mercy, at last God's comforts shall rain down in great abundance upon your wearied Spirit: What shall I say, if ye will not be informed ye cannot be reform. The sick Man. Indeed that is a pleasant and fit comparison, worthy to be printed with a Note on the margin: It hath been well adapted by you▪ Oh, that it could be as well applied by me: Oh, that the Lord, whose love expelleth fear, would strengthen my weak Faith with an hand-breath, of his mercy: O for such a little cloud of comfort, it would lif●… Heb. 12. 12 up mine hands which hang down, and strengthen my weak knees: But in steed of such a comfortable cloud, I see nothing but clouds of w●…ath, ready to fall and become a deludge of vengeance: from my birth, I must not dissemble, I have dallied with my God, and have despised the gracious day of his visitations: * Note And now all my comforts resemble to the Eagle, that taketh her to her wings, and flieth aloft high into the Sky, from my sinful reach: O fear! O horror! O the multitude of my transgressions! how shall I be quiet? The Pastor. The best way to be quite of sin, that it reign not in us, is to bend up our hearts to Christ, who is Emmanuel, Isa. 7. 14. God with us: Though all be worthy to be damned, yet there is no condamnation Rom. 8. 1 to these that are in Christ: * Note He is that heave-offering, which we must ever hold and heave up like a buckler between God's wrath and our sinful Souls: In what case find ye your Conscience to be for the present? The sick Man. One deep calleth to another deep at the noise of God's water Spouts▪ Psal. 42. 7 My sorrow is like the Sea, it ebbeth and it floweth: As I have swimmed thorough one deep temptation, I fall into another that is deeper: My brain is turned with a whirling giddiness. The Pastor. * Note There is no such deepness either in our sins or in our troubles, but the mercy of God in Christ shall be able to overreach it by innumerable fathoms: S. Paul said, that he was assured, that neither high nor depth shall be able to separate us from the love of God. * Note Though affliction rain down upon us like water falling from spouts, they may well wash us, but shall not be able to drown us: * Note A godly man should not be afraid for a spo●… full of bitter waters: * Note Though th●… waters of the sea roar & be troubled▪ Though the Mountains shake with the swelling thereof, yea, though the surges thereof should boast the clouds, here is the faithful man's Psal. 46. 4. comfort, There is a river the streams whereof shall make glad the City of God: * Note Though the Mediterranean Sea, yea, the great Ocean with its surges, should boast Gods jerusalem, a little river or brook, a Kidron of God's grace sending out streams of comforts like the waters of Siloe shall make glad the City of God. The sick Man. * Note But how shall I pass thórow to Canaan, behold, before me what floods of iniquities overflowing jer. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their banks as in the swelling of jordan: Such fearful floods ru●… between me and Heaven 〈◊〉 place▪ appointed for my 〈◊〉 The ●…our▪ * Note 〈◊〉 ●…oake with the garment 〈◊〉 Christ's righteousness will divide the floods of Belial, as Elisha divided the jordan by striking it with the mantle of Elijah, that he might 2 King. 2. 14. safely pass thorough: * Note Christ's merits are like the Ark, which made the jordan to go back, for to make joh. 3. 16 a way for Israel unto Canaan: * Note Our hearts like the Priests, must stand hard by the side of this Ark, till all our affections the Lords Armies be come thorough the swelling jordan of jer. 12. 5. grievous afflictions. The sick Man. While I behold myself, I abhor myself: * Note The eye of my God seeth me, and what am I, but like a bemired Dog trodden by Satan into the puddle of perdition? Alas, when good motions came into ●…e heart, I crosed them with my lusts▪ Now cursed be my lusts. I am so filth●…▪ ●…hat I abhor myself, my sins are so 〈◊〉, that nothing is able to make them 〈◊〉 The Pastor. Know ye Sir what God said of old in Isaiah? Come now, and let us ●…sa. 1. 18. reason together, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they be red l●…k crimson, they shall be as wool: If ye could but reason a little with God, ye should find this to be true: There is no sin, which Christ's blood is not able to purge: * Note What ever your sin be, if ye can repent, he can forgive: * Note Christ can do any thing butthis▪ he cannot save him that will not repent: Seeing ye know him to be infinite in mercy▪ have all your recourse to him; * Note Take once a proof of his mercy: Humble yourself at his feet, and see whether or not there be mercy with him that he may be feared. * Note The servants of Benhadad knowing that the Kings of Israel were merciful Kings: Put sack-clot●… upon 1 Kin. 20. 31. their loins, & ropes upon their heads, for to seek man's mercy, which also they found: * Note Shall man find mer●… into the narrow bowels of a man, and 〈◊〉 he bound the holy One of Israel? * Note Christ who is not only true, but Truth itself hath said, Whatsoever ye shall ask joh. 14 12. in my Name, that will I do: * Note He who is true may lie, but Truth can not lie. The sick Man. That is truth: While I consider your comforts for the distressed Soul, * Note I think that all your purpose pointeth chiefly at Christ, as though he alone were the ground of Grace: Let me hear I pray you more at large, what Christ is unto us. The Pastor. He is Emmanuell, God with us, Matth. 1. 2●… God with man, God in Man, God-Man: In Him God and Man, are but one Person: Our life is hid with Christ Col. 3. 3. in God: * Note Because we did eat of the forbidden Fruit, He was hanged upon a cursed tree: He hath borne us such a love as is unspeakable: * Note What tongue 〈◊〉 form words sufficie●…●…or to express the least part of the same? By the conduit pipe of his Humanity Grace for Grace hath been conveyed to our graceless Souls, who can express his Love, he loveth us to the end, and of his Love there is none end. * Note This I will say, That he hath borne to man such a love, that hath made all mankind like a Bankrupt, so far unable to pay the principle, that though man should love his Saviour withal his might and his mind, yet should he not pay so much as the interest of so great a love: No, though he should give his body to be brunt for the honour of his Name: No, though he should for his sak have his name if it were possible, scraiped out of the Book of Life: * Note Though all our Souls should suffer for his honour the everlasting pains of the damned, all these pains were not to be counted the interest of his pains for us: * Note It is more that a Prince get a deadly hurt in a Battle, than that a thousand common Soldiers were slain: * Note It is more that the Prince of Heaven suffered upon the cross but an hour, than that a thousand worlds had been cast into a thousand hells, for to be tormented for ever * Note There is no proportion in suffering between the creature & him who was both God and Man into one person. * Note O then, what can be the interest of that principal love, that moved God to die for man? * Note Let this be like a Bell ringing for to waken your drowsy Soul: Let your Soul like john lean upon the blessed bosom of jesus: Have ever your eye upon this Mercy-seat. The sick Man. Is it only then in Christ, Sir, that Salvation is to be found? All Scripture would ye say, doth leavell at him. The Pastor. The Scripture is plain: There is Act. 4. 12 none other Name given under heaven among men, whereby we must be saved▪ He is full of the bowels of love; He is that only Saviour, pointed out by both the Testaments: * Note Like as the two Cherubims, though severed one from another, yet looked one towards another, and both upon the Mercy seat: Even so the Old and New Testament look one towards another, & yet point at one & the same Christ, the marrow and kernel of man's Salvation▪ * Note All Religion is in this, that we know Christ: This is man's Salvation, to know Christ and him crucified: * Note By 1 Cor. 2. 2 his Blood the Bill and Bond of the Law, is crossed and canceled: * Note He is that Carcase whereunto all faithful Souls like Eagles must resort: He Matth. 24 28 is our refuge against the dint of God's wrath: The Spouse could not come up from the wilderness, but by leaning upon her beloved, Christ. Cant. 8, 5 * Note As the Propitiatory covered the Tables of the Law, that were in the Ark, so Christ covered our sins against these Tables: * Note As the cloud covered the Israelites from the fight of Pharaoh hotelie following after them, so Christ's righteousness like a cloud covered us from the judgements of God his fiery wrath pursuing us. * Note Let men cover themselves never so carefully, still some part of them shall peep bare, until Christ come with the covering of his righteousness. * Note If by the temptations of Satan your Soul hath been ruffled or galled upon the sore: The best balm that ever dropped from the pen of God's Spirit upon the leaves of his Sacred Book, is the History of Christ's Bloody passion: There we may see the dearest mercies that ever moved the relenting bowels of God's tenderest compassions. * Note Behold the Sacred Blood of that unspotted Lamb, which saved the Souls of those that spilt it. * Note If ye be pined with Corrasius of terror, in him are Cordials of compassions, the only salve for the sores of the Soul * Note Though ye were covered with scarlet abominations, Isa. 1. 18. here is virtue whereby ye shall be made whiter than the snow: * Note Did he not pray for them, yea, did he not save them, who by bitter railing, discharged upon him the utmost of their gall? The sick man. Such men at last were pricked in Act. 2. 37 their hearts they truly repent: * Note Their sighs and sobs were supported & sinewed with the strength of Grace: Such men became godly indeed: But I did never pass the pitch of formal piety: I ever desired more to seem godly, than so to be: I have been betimes sore shaken with awful terrors: * Note But I never yet could say, that the softening blood of jesus did melt my marble heart. * Note What ever had I, but some light of reason & glimmerings of general grace, which cannot soar so high, as to convoy the soul to the doors of Heaven? * Note The word of saving grace implanteth itself into the heart of the godly man: He only is furnished with a resolute & unswayed uprightness. * Note Alas, alas, alas, mine heart is thrown with a sore wring: There is a large harvest for Hell, many called but few chosen. The Pastor. What shall I say? * Note Man's thoughts are framed into a sinful mould * Note The silly sons of Adam are wonderfully tossed with the contrary Tyd●… of Satan's temptations: Some he benumeth with the sweetness of Sec●…ritie, others he troubleth with the tartennesse of terrors: * Note O but Satan's Balow is sweet to the Soul in the cradle of Security! But O how dreadful shall he be when he appearing grisly and fierce unto the Soul, shall waken it with a cry and a glowre saying, Damned soul come out to fire, & faggot, come out to unqueancheable brimstone beams, come out to weeping and gnashing of teeth. * Note A man after this manner wakened in conscience, is like a man wakened out of his sleep on a sudden: At the first he is in such a maze, that till he be better wakened he cannot well understand what is said to him: All his thoughts are into an hurlie burlie: Then his outward rebellions, and his inward repynings, with all his abominations seem to fall down upon him like clouds of blood: * Note There be no comforts that can settle his fears, till the Spirit of grace appear unto him in the calm. Look up with your eye Sir, and seek a blink of the face of jesus: He only is the Prince and Price of our Peace, our joy, and our liberty: If the Son make us free, we joh. 8. 36. shall be free indeed: Wrestle with him, use violence in an holy boldness: vis Deo grata. In him are the lasting treasures of mercy and immortality: * Note He it is only who can make this biting Conscience to be toothless, he only can command this raging sea: I know Sir, that your sorrows are sore, and my Soul pitieth you, for I see you in the very pangs and terrors of the new birth: I perceive your Soul gasping for grace, as the dry and thirsty ground for drops of rain. The sick Man. O the boisterous blasts of temptations, able to make the tallest and deepest rooted Cedars to stagger, yea, the Sirion to skip like an Unicorn: What shall I do? The Pastor. Seeing Christ alone is our protection and perfection, let all your courage be in him: * Note In him ye must be valiant, for none but the valiant can by violence enter into the Kingdom of God: If a man know Christ well, he shall not be discouraged though he were cast into a raging sea of temptations: * Note Though a man were cast into a gulf of twenty fathom deep, if he can keep his head aloft, he cannot be drowned: * Note So as long as Christ our Head is above, we his members may well be dowked, but we cannot be drowned: All Christian comforts run upon him like the title of a Book, wherein is contained the substance of the whole. If Christ Sir be yours, ye cannot perish: He who is rooted in him, can never be rooted out. The sick Man. But how can Christ be mine, seeing I am but a bag of corruption & a body of Death? What hath mine heart been, but like a viper's belly, filled with a deadly brood? Miserable man that I am, will Christ ever deign to look upon such a vile wretch as I am, who hath turned my Christian liberty in a fleshly licence. The Pastor. These who are least into their own eyes, are in greatest account with him: * Note When ye hear of the wand'ring sheep brought home, and of Matth. 18. 13 the lost groat found, and of the forlorn Luk. 15. 8 Son returned to his Father: Luk. 15, 18. Ye should cast your figure & say, Of whom is this written but of me? for whom is it written but for me? * Note If ye stick fast by him, no peril shall make an hair of your Matth. 19 30. head to perish: Be of good comfort, for your life is hid with Christ in God. Colos. 3. 3 The sick Man. I am so vile, that hardly dare I presume to think that Christ would die for such a filthy rotten creature as I am, who from the sole of the Isa. 1. 6. foot to the crown of the head, is filled with botches, boiles, and putrifying sores: * Note When I behold myself into the glass of God's Law, I abhor the monstrous face of my Soul: * Note I am one of those in whom Satan hath parbreaked, and spewed the spawn of all sorts of sin: Of all sinners, I am the first: * Note For I have not sinned of ignorance, but of knowledge, against the light of my mind, against the voice of my God, against the workings of his Spirit, & against the cries of mine own Conscience: This is my greatest fear, that I have done despite unto the Spirit of Grace. Heb. ●…0. 29 This striketh widest wounds into my Soul, and maketh all the bowels of my belly to wamble. O fie, fie, what a filthiness is within this heart of▪ mine: * Note The small moats move not thicker in the Sun, than sins of all sorts have reeled to and fro in this wicked heart of mine, which is nothing, but a nest of Spiders, and a cage of corruptions. * Note O what a shameful discovery should this be, if mine heart were as well seen as my face! If all the monsters of my meditations were set in open view, if the eyes of men could spy out what thoughts have been within my breast since I was borne: If all the men of Africa a place most fertile of Monsters, were taken to be witness, they would plainly declare that the Earth cannot bring forth such Monsters as are bred into the heart of man. * Note O the great mercy of God, who to the end that man may live with man, hath hid the heart of man from men! O my God, though thou hast sieled the eyes of man, that he cannot see within my breast, thine eyes, which see our thoughts a far off, perceive most clearly all my bygone abominations. To Thee alone belongeth the discovery of a closed heart: Would I be dashed if the eye of a sinner took me at an evil turn, and shall I not be ashamed when I remember how the eye of my God hath followed me in all mine evil ways? Alas, my dear Pastor, ye speak much to me of Christ and of his death, but what portion can such a vile stinking creature as I, have with Christ? I have delayed all to the afternoon, and now my Sun is ready for to set: The black night of darkness is posting upon my soul. My Soul refuseth all sorts of comforts: I think that it shall die in the very grippes of such bloody temptations: Behold, and consider if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow. The Pastor. * Note I know Sir, that no sort of men are sooner or sorer touched for their sins, than are the best children of God: Satan is most busy to blow at the coal of their corruptions. * Note And again, there be no sort of men more ready to appropriate to themselves the comforts of God, than they to whom they least belong. But yet Sir, seeing ye are sick in Soul, ye must not refuse spiritual Physic: Christ is the only comfort against the guilt of sin: * Note His blood is the only trayacle against the poison of this pest: * Note But can any comfort avail to him that will not receive it? As meat set upon the Table cannot nourish, except that it be put into the mouth, and from thence be sent down to the stomach: So, neither can the words of comfort feed the heart, Nitraijciantur in viscera nostrae animae Bernard. & transeant in affectiones nostras, except that they enter into the bowels of our Soul, and pass thorough unto our affections: Your Spirit is so knappish and wayward, that it will not admit the most solid comforts: The mark of Christ's Lambs is an eare-marke: My sheep hear my voice. joh. 10. 27. The sick Man. But think ye Sir, that I can be one of Gods, who have been so great a sinner? My Soul is sick to the death with surfeits of sin: Can God's Spirit abide where there is so great corruption? * Note Can two Guests of so contrary nature, dwell together in one man? The Pastor. They may indeed, though they cannot agree: * Note Grace and corruptions may be into the heart of a man, as Israel was with the jebusites, Hivites, and Perezites, into Canaan: But as Israel wasted these Nations by little & little, so the Spirit of God with grace by little and little rooteth out, wasteth, and foileth these nations of sin that are within us: But not all at once. * Note Lest we should grow idle, and roost for want of such spiritual exercise. * Note The heart of a godly man is like the house of Abraham, where Isaac and Ishmael lodge together: Though for a space they tarry together, at death the old scorning Ishmael shall be cast out: He shall not inherit the promise with Isaac the laughing man. * Note If Sir ye find a wresling within your heart, some new working, which once ye did not perceive, it is a token that grace is conceived in your soul: * Note After that a woman hath conceived, she will find some times a working about the heart, provoking to vomit: It is so with the heart of a regenerate man, so soon as grace is conceived into it, it will overcast till it cast and vomit out many filthy corruptions: * Note Though jacob be little and weak & at the first seem not to be a peregall unto the rugh man, who is full of strength, yet at last he shall catch him by the heel, and overturn him in a moment: Wait but a little, and ye shall be utterly out of the reach of all the powers of Hell. The sick Man. I tremble all with fear, that the Lord cast me off and banish out of the Land of the living this filthy festered Soul. The Pastor. God is more merciful, than man can conceive him to be: Can a mother Isa. 49. 15 forget her Child? that she have no compassion? saith the Lord: * Note A loving Father will be loath to cast his Child out of doors in a deadly disease: If these who are evil can give Matth. 7. 11 good things unto their Children, how much more will that Father who is goodness itself, give the holy Spirit with all other good things to these who will seek then? cry to God in prayer. The sick Man. * Note Alas, the sorrow of mine heart lameth the liberty of my tongue, my words cannot express the groans of my grief. The Pastor. Though ye be not able to utter words, sigh with your heart unto God: * Note God heard Moses his sighs, like cries: Why criest thou to me? Exod. 14. 15 said God to the sighing man: * Note A sigh out of a soft melting heart, is a powerful prayer before God. The sick Man. I am both sinful and senseless: Though I have sinned most heinously, yet I find no melting in mine heart: * Note All the tears of my repentance within me are become like a frozen moisture: I cannot so much as wring out one drop thereof: * Note Oh, that they were so melted, that they might rush out at the floodgates of mine eyes, that thereof I might with the sinful woman make a bath for the feet of my Lord! Oh Luk. 7. 44 that mine heart were form into another mould! * Note Oh that I could in his presence drench my Soul in a shower of tears! O how precious is the sense of a revealed and a reconcealed God * Note I find myself so icy and cold, yea, so benumbed and blockish, as though I were void of all sense of grace: What can this be? The Pastor. * Note He who findeth himself benumbed is not altogether senseless: * Note In such a man there must be some stirring of the pulse of a spiritual life: A dead man knoweth not that he is dead, no more doth a dead soul: A seared conscience feeleth not defertions: * Note That man hath the beginning of grace, who can say from his heart, I have no grace in myself, but only to find that I have no grace. * Note This we must all know, that the best of God's Saints will be troubled with temporal desertions, as jonah was, while he was wrapped with waves and with weeds in the bottom of the sea: Out of this belly of hell they will cry to God, Why hast thou made us to err from thy ways? Isa. 63. 17 and hardened our heart from thy fear? * Note Most godly Souls may swarfe in sin, but they cannot die in their sins: * Note A spiritual man may be do●…ked in a sea of sin or sorrow, but can never be drowned: At last God shall jona. 2. 6. make him sing with jonah, Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruptions, O Lord, my God: * Note The spiritual life and light which God hath once put into the Soul of man, can never be totally extinguished: Gods graces and his gifts are without repentance: Ro. 11. 29. judas from horror may rin to the halter, but Peter cannot perish. The Sick Man. Think ye then Sir, that a man cannot fall from the grace of God, if once he hath been received in Grace? * Note may not Grace like some plants for a space take root, and thereafter wither? May not God begin a good work into a man, and after leave it imperfect? The Pastor. * Note God's working in the godly is not like the doing of him that beginneth to build an house before he Luk. 14. 29 count his cost, but is not able to finish it: I am confident of this very Philip. 1. 6 thing, said S. Paul, that he which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of jesus Christ: * Note God's spiritual gifts and graces which are without repentance, come never within the compass of God's Revocation. * a 1 Sam. 10 24 Good will make Saul a King, and again b 1 Sam. 15 11 repent that ever he was crowned, and thereafter will put him from his kingdom: He will lend out a c Mat. 25. 28. Talon and after take it back again: * Note He will give to man a tongue, and thereafter make him dumb: He will Luk. 1. 20. give Health, Wealth, Riches, and job. 1. 21. after take all back again: The Lord hath given and the * Note Lord hath taken, may be said of all things except of his spiritual and special graces: These he giveth once, but never taketh them back again: * Note Sin indeed will waken and diminish the sense and feeling of their operation, but can never take them quite away. * Note Grace in a godly Soul will be Isa. 42. 3. betimes like flax smoking without a flame, or like embers under an heap of ashes: Though all seem to be dead out, yet there is some little secret spunke within which shall never be quenched: * Note New sins I confess are very dangerous, they will wonderfully impair the sense of mercy into faithful Souls, yea, so that to their judgement the Spirit of God will seem altogether to have forsaken them, * Note But yet into their most desperate-like-cry there is a My of Faith in their prayer, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken Mat●…h. 27 46 me? * Note Grace in a godly Soul will be like sap into an Oak or Elm in the frosty days of December, hid close within the bark: * Note While Christ the Sun of righteousness removeth Malach 4. 2. his hot beams from the faithful Soul, the Soul drouppeth like an Herb into a winter day. * Note Grace like sap runneth in to the heart and there lurketh for a spoke: * Note But again, so soon as this Sun beginneth to return with the heat & health of his countenance in a new Springtime, then will appear again first bude, than blossoms, than flourishes, and after fruits: That which was hid of before, is incontinent perceived: * Note As seed now cast into the ground seemeth to be a dead thing, and yet hath life in it, so is God's grace alive and quickening when it seemeth far otherwise: * Note In a swoon a man liveth, though he seem to be dead. * Note The life of God in a man can never altogether be choked with sin: Our misery is not able to overreach his mercy. * Note A sparkle of fire should be more able to burn up the sea, than man's sins for to dry up the blood of his mercy: * Note Where grace is begun a man may fall, but he can never fall away. * Note If Sir, ye have found once the life of God within your Soul, ye have received a sure pledge & pawn of immortality, say to your Soul, And now my Soul return unto thy Psal. 116. 7 rest. The sick Man. There is no rest within me: I am alas, as a man upon a raging Sea, tumbled and tossed with such fearful temptations, which make all the bowels of my belly to wamble. The Pastor. Sea sickness Sir, is sore while it lasteth: * Note But many seek this sickness for to cure them of a worse: Take courage; God hath embarked you into this temptation, for to cause you cast out some corruptions which lie & lurk about your heart. * Note Be content to tarry a little space upon the Firth, till the filth of you stomach be clean purged away: Assure yourself that all this sore sickness shall work your health in the latter end, which shall cause your to sing, For his mercy endureth for ever. Psal 57 1. In the shadow of God's wings make your refuge, until these calamities pass over. The sick Man. I am ever in great doubt of myself. The Pastor. * Note Though ye doubt of yourself, ye must not doubt of God's kindness and compassions: * Note If ●…e doubt that God can be merciful to your sins, ye deny your Creed wherein ye see forgivennesse of sin to be an express Article of Faith. * Note Though for some space ye be troubled with doubts, at last ye shall know by his Spirit within that Christ was no more willing to suffer for sinners, than he shall prove both willing and able to save you: God's custom is to choose the hardest way for the best end, partly for to prove his power, partly for to try our trust. The sick Man. I wish it be so: But for the present I find a fear within me which maketh my Soul to tremble: * Note I ever think that hardly can it be that the Spirit of God would dwell into mine heart, which is a very cage of corruption: * Note If the men of God, when they see bordels, abhor them, and go by them, shall not the Spirit of God much more pass by me, yea, & abhor me, who of mine heart have made a most filthy stew: * Note Moreover, Satan is busy with his Bellowes blowing at the juniper coals of God's wrath, that against me may be kindled a consuming fire. * Note The frown of a Prince may be the favour of God: But when God frowneth, who shall show favour? * Note O what a cry is in the dumb chop of the conscience! The Pastor. As I perceive ye are in the storm of temptations: * Note As the ship in a tempest goeth with a low sail, So is it good and most sure in the tempest of temptations to take down the top sails of our own worth. * Note But yet Sir, in your humility beware to disprise and set at nought the graces of God that are within you: Virtue standeth in the midst: * Note As the Publican would not brage vainly with the Pharisee, that he was not like other men, so neither would he desperately say with Cain, Mine Gen. 4. 13 iniquity is greater, than that it may be forgiven. The sick Man. * Note Alas, Sir ye know not what weight hangeth upon mine heart: ye are not privy unto my secret sins which I think shame to utter: O these gnawings of my wormish Conscience: hardly can ye imagine what filthy thoughts have been into my heart, since I came into this world: Hitherto they have all been hid from mine eyes: * Note But now I think that I see all my sins set in order before Psal. 50. 21 me: My Soul is poisoned with the stink of such corruptions▪ I abhor myself, and what wonder that God abhor me? The Pastor. * Note The more a man abhorreth himself, God who is mild & merciful, loveth him the better: It is good for a man to stink in his own nose: * Note A wicked man may be well compared to the Latin Cimex French Punaise Tree, Lice that stink most vilely, and yet feel not the stink of their own breath: Laodicea thought herself happy, and yet God said, that he would spew her out of his mouth. Reuel. 3. 16 God's thoughts are not man's thoughts: Ye complain Sir, of the filthiness of your bygone thoughts, it is well done: But here is your comfort, Zach. 13, 1 Now is that fountain of God in Zachrie opened to the house of David for sin and for uncleanness: * Note Though through sin ye were lepper in soul as Na●…man was in body, the jordan 2 Kin. 5. 1. of Christ's Blood is able to make you clean: * Note The precept is not of hard practice, Wash and be clean, believe 2 Kin. 5. 10. and be saved. * Note If ye would have the Spirit of God to take a Chamber into your heart, keep your heart clean: God's house must be a clean house, it must often be swept: * Note If the dust or dirt of sin defile the pavement thereof, it must first be watered with the tears of repentance: * Note The stoure & dust must be laid with holy water, & then we must sweep out all filthiness with the bosom of godly revenge. This doing Sir, God shall delight to dwell in you. * Note If Satan blow at the juniper Psal. 120. 4. coals of your sins kindled with sparkles of fiery wrath, run with the Bucket of Faith to the Blood of jesus which is only able for to quench that flame. The sick Man. My cheeks are watered with tears trickling down both day and night: * my moist eyes are soaked in this salt brimie water: O but they are comfortless tears. The Pastor. * Note God at last shall make them comfortable like the bowl full of dew, judged. 6. 38. which Gideon wrong out of his Fleece, God's sign of Israel's Salvation: Have patience a little Sir, and your watery eyes shall receive the other dryens sign of the fleece, all your tears shall be dried and wiped away, so that ye shall never weep any more: The hour is fast coming, that God shall wipe away your tears, the Reuel. 21. 4. waters of your weeping after that there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, nor pain. Seek the Lord while he may be found, and call upon him while he is nigh: To him alone in jesus must ye have all your recourse, on him alone must ye rely. The sick Man. I wot not where to go: I can neither sit, stand, nor lie: Mine heart alas, is hardened, yea, hard like the heart of the Leviathan, which job. 41. 24. is hard like a piece of the neither millstone: I think that such hardness is from the deceitfulness of sin. Heb. 3. 13 The Pastor. * Note It is a sort of softness when we feel our own hardness: He who hath begun such softening will bring his own work to perfection in his appointed hour: * Note The seeds of grace are like Corn, they are not ripe the first day they are sown, but ripen by degrees: From this is that saying, Grace requireth space, or in space cometh Grace. A reprobate sense is not so near at any time, as when it is least suspected and most neglected: Say in all patience with the Prophet Micah, I will bear the indignation of the Lord, Mic. 7. 9 because I have sinned against him: He will turn again, he will have compassion upon you: He will subdue your iniquities, & cast them in the depths of the sea. Hold up your heart toward the Father of Lights, the giver of every good gift: Let your foul flee up to the Throne of his Grace. The sick Man. My Soul is not fit for fleeing to the Heavens: * Note It is like a pulled foul that wanteth the feathers: It may well nod with its head, and make a mint with the stumpts of its wings, but can by no means hoist itself from the Earth. All my comforts are clipped from me: Sins heavy like millstones, are hung about my neck: Oh, that I were cast into the sea with my sins, there to be buried for ever far, if it were possible, from the presence of my God: Since ye came to me mine heart was not in such a plounge of misery as it is now: There is nothing within me but wrath and woe, warring against my Salvation: Gods heavy hand hath distressed mine heart wonderfully. * Note My Soul is so besieged with temptations that it may well be called, Magor missabib, fear round about: jer. 20. 3. This I fear that my name be crossed out of the Book of Life. Reuel. 3. 5. The Pastor. I remember of a wise counsel which a learned Divine gave to a man sore assaulted upon his deathbed with the temptations of the devil: * Note When thou art tempted of Satan, said he, & seest no way to escape, even them plainly close up Luther. thine eyes, and answer nothing to his temptations: But commend thy cause to God: This said he, is a principal point of wisdom, that we must follow in the hour of death: That is, That we deign not to give Satan an answer but say with Michael, The Lord rebuke thee Satan. If thy flesh tremble and fear to enter into another life, and if it doubt of salvation, if thou yield to these things, thou hurtest thyself, therefore close thine eyes as before and say with S. Stephen, Lord jesus receive my Spirit, and then certainly Christ will come unto thee with all his Angels and be the guider of thy way. * Note At the entry of the red Sea, when Israel environed on both sides with mountains, having the sea before and the Egyptians behind, could see no means of escape: Then Moses Exod. 14. 14. said to Israel, The Lord shall fight for you and ye shall hold your peace: That is, ye shall seal up your thoughts in silence, and let God be doing So do ye, be silent for a space, deign not Satan's temptations with an answer, fear not, stand still, and see the Salvation of the LORD: * Note As Moses said of the Egyptians, so will I say of all your temptations Exod. 14. 13 within a short space, The Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The sick Man. Oh, that with job I could lay mine job. 40. 4. hand upon my mouth, and with jacob Gen. 49. 18 wait for God's salvation: But alas, I am laden with iniquity: Satan besiegeth Isa. 1. 4. me so that I cannot keep silence: Satan hath laid down a bloody libel before me whereunto he urgeth me to make answer. The Pastor. If ye must needs make answer, learn that notable speech of Bernard Bernard. on his death bed: * About an hour before his death, he being as he thought, presented before the great Tribunal of his judge, where he found himself sevirelie charged with the accusation of Satan, forsook himself for to rely upon Christ alone: I freely confess said he that as thou affirmest, I am most unworthy, and that by no worthiness of mine can I merit eternal life; * Note yet I am assured that my Lord Christ hath a double right to heaven's glory, one by heritage, and another by conquest: The first is sufficient for himself, the other is for me, ex cujus donojure illud mihi vendicans, non confundor, which by right of gift I claim and challenge and shall not be confounded: Upon this Rock ye must cast the anchor of your soul: The Lord is able to do unto us above all that we can ask or think. Take courage Sir: * Note Let Satan make out his process; your dear and loving Brother is both your judge and your Advocate. The sick Man. Oh that I could take that counsel and keep silence, waiting till the Captain of Salvation bring me thorough Heb. 2. 10 this red sea of bloody temptations: Oh that I could lay hold upon that right of heaven, which Christ hath conquered: But alas, I can find no ground or warrant in mine heart that such a conquest can belong to me, for I know that in me dwelleth no good things. Rom. 7. 18 The Pastor. * Note The greatest foe the faith of the godly hath and the chiefest cause of their trembling & troubled heart, is that often they seek in themselves grounds & warrants of God's favour, as though the Lord could not love them unless there be in them such virtues as in every point should be: * Note Because they want perfection, they think they have nothing: By this means Satan shaketh silly Souls to and fro like Reeds with the winds of distrust: Make the right use of such temptations, let them draw you from yourself, for to rely only upon the mercy of your Lord: * Note Be earnest to find God's mark in your Soul, even Sanctification the Salvation mark whereof the marrow is Christ's satisfaction: From this mark, press toward the mark, for Philip. 3. 14 the price of the high calling of God in Christ jesus. The sick Man. fain would I have grace so to do: But out upon me, I have taken such surfeit of sins, that I find myself void of all grace: * Note O death, death, death, doleful is that separation of a Soul dead in sin from the I●…phes. 2 1. body dead for sin. I am so defiled and deformed that while I remember judgement, it maketh me all to shake and to shiver: Fie on me a graceless creature wallowing in a mire of misery: Oh, but for a dram of God's grace! Oh, for the greatness of the pickle of mustard seed thereof! The Pastor. He that desireth grace is not altother graceless: It is God's goodness that hath given you this small and weak desire of grace, in this Gods good hand is upon you: He who giveth grace to desire grace, shall give also grace for grace: God often giveth to a man above his hopes, I Psal. 21. 4. sought but life, said David, yet the Lord gave him to be a King: God who in sickness giveth you the desire of grace, shall before ye die give you grace for grace, a grace which at last shall make you to sing: I sought but grace, yet God hath given me glory: * Note If ye feel and fear his wrath, seek the more earnestly for his mercy: * Note This was that good counsel which Zephaniah gave to Israel before the decree of wrath come out Seek righteousness, seek meekness, Zepha. 2. 3 it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lords anger: Christ's cry is, Seek, Matth. 7. 7 Ask, Knocke. * Note Seeing God desireth to be asked he longeth to give; seeing he desireth us to seek him, he desireth to be found; seeing he desireth us to knock, his desire is to open: * Note God is more rich and liberal, than we are poor, His hand is wider for to give gifts, than our heart can be for to receive: * Note He who will not believe that God can be merciful to him, is twice in the wrong to God After that he hath broken the law of his justice by offending, he is not content except that he wrong his mercy by distrust: * Note God's delight is to be with the Children of men on earth, as also to have them with himself in heaven. Now Sir, being assured of th●… love, embrace this Lord with all 〈◊〉 arms of your affections: * Note Seek earnestly the Spirit of Grace, for he is poured on thirsty grounds: I will pour water, said the Lord, upon Isa. 44. 3. him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground. The sick Man. Oh, but for one drop of that water: Oh, that my Soul were watered with the dropping bowels of his mercy: * Note In the mean time my bones with sorrow are dried up like an hearth: The terrors of the Almighty stick within mine heart, and my Spirit sucketh out the venom thereof: I think that I am in the very gorge pipe of hell: If this wrath continue▪ doubtless it shall be my bane. The Pastor▪ * Note God's wrath is fearful I confess, but God will not be long wroth with his Children▪ I will not, Isa. 57 17 said the Lord, contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: For the Spirit should fail before me, and the Souls which I have made: * Note So soon as man beginneth to be wearied of his Isa. 63. 9 sins, God beginneth to be wearied of his wrath, yea which is strange, In all our afflictions he is afflicted. There is but a moment in his wrath, but his mercy endureth for ever. * Note There is such a mercy in God, that in comparison thereof all the mercies of men are but scrofe and scum, a mite of his mercy, shall remove the mountains of your misery, in Christ is a mine of mercy. The sick Man. I know that it is so: But I as yet have no sense of such a mercy * Note While I seek and cry for help, God either answereth not at all, or when he maketh answer, it is like that which Elisha said to joram, seeking 2 King. 3. 13. comfort upon extremity, What have I to do with thee, get thee to t●… Prophets of thy father and mother, a●… desire them to help thee, get thee 〈◊〉 thy pleasures and profits, and preferments, which in forsaking me, thou didst so eager pursue: This maketh all the wounds of my remorse to blead afresh. The Pastor. * Note As Samuel took the voice of God to be the voice of Eli, so many 1 Sam. 3. 5. take the voice of a temptation to be the voice of God: We must try the Spirits: Satan is crafty: * Note He 1 joh. 4 1. can wind himself wonderfully into the heart of men, some times by sleepy security, some time by fearful despair: * Note While he enticeth unto sin, he maketh God to speak nothing but mercy to a sinner. Thou may sin, will he say, and repent again: * Note But while he accuseth for sin, he maketh all God's words to be words of wrath, that the sinner may be swallowed up with despair. * Taken heed Sir, who it is that answereth to your cry: Though God should draw you thorough Hell, be ye still assured of Heaven: His wrath is but for a moment, but his Isa. 54. 8. mercy endureth for ever. * Note Settle your heart in the secret of God, lest it be carried away with Psal. 91. 1. every light wind and gale of temptation: Seek out of yourself in Christ the grounds and warrants of your Salvation. The sick man. I fear greatly to be overblowen, and that I make shipwreck of the 1 Tim. 1. 19 faith upon most fearful banks and dangers, such a boisterous gale did ●… never feel. The Pastor. While temptations are most terrible to our feeling, they are often least dangerous: * Note Shallow feas are full of broken waters, while deeper though more terrible are of a softer swelling, carrying the burden more safely above. Taken courage the most godly heart must encounter with many thorters: The Lord humbleth the hearts of his Saints, lest that in a vain conceit of their own worth they should overween themselves: * Note Think well upon that which I say, a red-warre in the Soul judg. 18. 7 is better than a sleepy laish Security: Away with Laban's mirth, his Gen. 31. 27▪ songs and his Tabrets. Flat opposition is not so dangerous as a covered agreement: Take to heart this my counsel, Though the Lord Isa. 45. 15. should s●…ay you, yet put your trust into him: God is not ever gotten at the first: verily, said Isaiah, thou art a God that hiddest thyself, O God, of Israel, the Saviour. The sick Man. I understand not what such hidding meaneth: O the fearful Tribunal of God, whose eyes of fire see Reuel. 1. 14 all the ways of man: In his Balance he pondereth all his goings: Gods Prou. 5. 21 mercy I know is a good staff to stay upon, but it is far from mine heart and hand. I am not like these sinners which but trip and stumble, and rise again after a snapper, my fall i●… with my full weight; the milstons o●… his wrath are hung about my neck▪ which bear my Soul down to the bottom of Hell, I find now the Deut. 32. 22 truth of that saying of the wise▪ His own iniquities shall take the wicked Proa. 5: 22 himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. The Pastor. What shall I say? as truly said the wise, By sorrow of the heart th●… Prou. 15. 13. spirit is broken: Seeing ye are acquaint with the speeches of the wise remember that counsel of the wise▪ Trust in the Lord with all thine heart▪ Prou. 3. 5. and lean not to thine own understanding. I pray you to be plain with me, What is this that maketh you li●… a reed shaken with the wind, wherein Matth. 11. 7. lieth the strength of your temptations? The sick Man. I will not conceal the matter from you: This is it, mine own heart absolveth me not: * Note while I put mine hand into mine own bosom, Oh, how liprous pull I it out again? My Conscience giveth me a terrible twetch: * Incessantly it cryeth out guilty against me: What shall I say then, to that of the Apostle, If 1 joh. 3. 20 our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart? Is not this the true sense of these words, If our own heart condemn us, much more will God condemn us, who is more mighty than our heart? * Note In this I find myself amidst the thickest throng of fearful temptations, wrapped in the wrath of God: * Note This temptation is like a fresh post-horse▪ for to carry me to damnation, it is of Satan's saddling. The Pastor. * Indeed Sir, the judgement of a man's conscience is a lively image of the judgement of God: It is certain, that whom the conscience condemneth into this world, him shall God condemn in the world to come: And again, whom the conscience shall absolve into this world, him shall God absolve into the world to come. * Note The Conscience is God's judge within: But this ye must know that it is not time for a judge to give out sentence while his wits are troubled, or while he is in a mood or passion▪ * Note A wise judge will not be sudden, but will take time to consider well the cause before he pronounce. * Note A Conscience that is troubled should not sit down in judgement * Note As one appealed from drunke●… King Philip to sober King Philip, so must a sinner appeal from his Conscience in a qualm, to his Conscience in a calm. * Note Moreover, every voice that is within a man, is not the voice of his Conscience, but of some temptation shrouded under the coat of the Conscience, like jacob clothed with Gen. 27. 15. Es●…us garment: While jonah was but in the belly of a fish, his heart cried, that he was in the belly of jon. 2. 2. hell: Satan hath a deceiving Prospect or dioptre for sin: At the one end sin and judgement appear to be far off, little like Midges: But while the instrument is turned, these midges appear like mountains: Sin in the doing is like Zoar a little one, but in repenting it is like Nineveh huge and great: It jon. 4. 11 seemeth before the door of mercy like a Camel at a needle's eye. The sick Man. But think ye Sir, that the Conscience of a man which God hath set within him as an judge, as a Watch, and a Witness, yea, as a thousand witnesses, can fail at any time. The Pastor. It is certain, that while the Consciences of men are well wakened, and not troubled with terrors of temptations, they are into the breasts of men, verily Gods voice declaring to the Soul what God hath concerning it, ratified into the Heaven: But ye know that many a man's Conscience will be mightily troubled: * Note Sometimes it will be darkened with Ignorance, so that as Samuel took Eliab for David, it will also take him to be appointed to be a King whom the Lord hath rejected: * Note Some times it will not know what ailleth the Soul, no more than Elisha knew what ailed the Shunamite, 2 King. 4. 27 while she fell down at his feet: * Note Some times it will be fast asleep like jonah, while he snorted jon. 1. 5. in the hatches. * Note I compare the Consciences of the godly and of the wicked to men in a dream: One man that is lain down in his bed, hungry without his supper, will dream that he is at a feast making good cheer: But while he awaketh, his Soul is empty, his dishes flee away with his dream: * Note It is so that it fareth with a wicked man, whose Conscience is in a dream: He will imagine that assuredly there is nothing but Heaven for him: * Note He will think with the hungry dreamer that he is ready presently to sit down at table, even at that Table with Abraham, Matth. 8. 1●… Isaac, and jacob in the Kingdom of God: Now while he is even at the sitting down, which is at the hour of his death, his Conscience wakeneth, and he is found empty: Thus all his dishes fl●…eth away with his dream. * Note Again, another man shall dream of fearful things, viz. that he is in the midst of his enemies ready to be slain: If any be waking in the bed with him, he will hear him into his sleep sighing and sobbing with a sore moan: But so soon as he is wakened, he findeth himself in surety lying upon a bed of down: * Note It is even so that it will often far with a godly man, whose Conscience is in a dream: * Note His heart will be burdened with grief as with a night mare: He will imagine that God is become his enemy, and that assuredly he will cast him into hell: * Note Now while he thinketh that he is even at the fall, and while for fear thereof in his sleep he is making his moan: God in mercy wakeneth him softly, and lo, he is lying into the arms of his God: * Note At last it fareth with the godly & the wicked as it fareth with Pharaohs Butler Gen. 41. 13 and his Baker after their dreams, the one was restored to his office, but the other was hanged. The Sick Man. * Note I wish at God that my Conscience were in such a Dream, and that all my troubles were but some spiritual night Mare, a disease that is cured by wakening the Soul that sleepeth: * Note I know that the spiritual senses of the Soul may be some times covered with a veil of gross dulness: But I cannot suspect or surmise that this can be a dream: Behold, I speak, I hear, I see, I savour: How then can this be a dream. The Pastor. * Note He who dreameth, will think all that: He will think that he speaketh, that he heareth, seeth, and walketh, and runneth & leapeth over brinks or ditches, while indeed he is snorting upon his bed: * Note Yea, in his dream he will think that his dream cannot be a dream, but that surely he is broad awake: This cannot be a dream, he will think even while as he dreameth. I know Sir, that your body is surely awake, and not dreaming: But in all appearance your Soul is in a slumber: The Lord waken you softly in his mercy. The sick Man. * Note If I dream, the Lord waken me soon out of this dreadful dream: I am filled with a world of woes, every thought is as it were a thorn thrust into mine heart: * Note My fears are like the fevers, they go by fits: * Note A little since I thought that my blood was calmed, and that I had some respite: Of my sins I had but a shallow sense, but now behold, a new fit of greater force, which maketh all the powers of my Soul to shiver: * Note All my sins are in God's quarrel, up in arms against me: God's wrath followeth me with a full fail, and chargeth me a fresh with bloody blows. * While I was but breeding this fever, I was but chained with worldly enchantments: All my trouble was but for Bairnes, Lands, Children, Houses, and other perishing pleasures, trifling troubles, which I could not for a long space resolve to forsake. * Note But now is pain in stead of pleasure, a sour and bitter sauce, prepared for Adam's sweet Apple, fear, shame, and remorse: * Note What recks to want pleasure, if so be there were no pain: I would not give a flee for the world, and all the pleasures or profit that therein is, if I could once be reconciled to my God: * Note Mine heart is like an Anuile whereupon the Lord striketh most fiercely with the hammer of his wrath: * Note There is not a power of my Soul, which is not loaden with blows: * Note All my distresses hitherto have been but light skirmishes, now I am come to the main Battle: My Soul is hunted to and fro like a Partridge on the mountains: Who is on my side? Who? The Pastor. The Lord is with you, though ye perceive him not: * Note This is incident to the faithful, not ever to know when God is with them: * Note Gideon was a man renowned for his Faith▪ he was one of the Catalogue of the faithful, & yet while the Angel judg. 6. 12 said unto him, The Lord is with thee thou mighty man of valour, he answered, vers. 13. Oh, my Lord if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? * Note See how the man of God knew not that God was with him. * Note Take courage Sir, seeing the skirmishes are past, and that ye are come to the main Battle, God shall be your main help: Come out against all your enemies, as David 1 Sam. 17. 45 came out against Goliath, in the Name of the God of Battles, and Lord of Armies: * Note There is no Corslet of proof against a stone cast out of a sling in the Name of the great JEHOVAH: Resist the Devil and he shall flee from jam. 4. 7 you. The sick Man. God's wrath hath heat the fiery Furnace on seven times more than it was of before: I am so dashed with the sense of my sins, & so pierced with stinging fears, that thereby all the powers of my Soul are shaken: * Note Hithereto I have been crossed with care, for my life, and for my Children: What care I now for my dearest Children? Would to God that I might give my first borne for Micah. 6. 7 my transgression, and the fruit of my womb for the sins of my Soul. * Note Behold, here a poor distressed and distracted sinner, who knoweth not to what hand to turn him: All the enemies of my Salvation pursue me with hue and with cry: The great God of justice hath set up a Gibbet into my Soul. All the terrors of the Lord muster against me: * Note I am galled and gored with sinful fears, as Egypt was plagued with Flies & Frogs: Mine heart is filled with dismaiednesse, my belly trembleth, & rottenness is entered into my bones: * Note While I had time to repent I willingly wallowed into the mire of sin, wherein now I necessarily stick: * Note Fear driveth, Hope draweth, I am tossed like a Tennis ball: O the straightness of that account, which I am shortly to be called unto! O that terrible Tribunal! O these chains of darkness, in which sinners shall be reserved unto God's last Sessions: * Note Who can stand in such a tempest, where the creature hath a combat with God and with his wrath, hand to hand? I am stricken with such amazedness, that I know not where to find any true refreshment▪ * Note This maketh death to me as a King of fear: * Note All the sins that ever I did commit, seem to me malicious blows which I have set upon the face of my GOD▪ Hardlie can I think that such a Cain or cursed Cham as I, can ever enter into Canaan▪ Think ye not this to be true? I find this to be truth: There is no peace saith my God to the wicked. Isa. 57 21 The Pastor. * Note These be but temptations of Satan, who is seeking for to fifth Luk. 22. 31 you as wheat: Pray Christ that he would pray for you, that your faith fail not * Note There is full power in Christ for to lock up the jaws of that roaring Lion: He at last shall discover unto you those Gunpowder plots. The sick Man. I know that there is sufficient power in Christ for to save me, but I doubt of his will: * Note If Christ were minded to save me, would he not give me an assurance to be saved? This temptation passeth through the bark to the bone. The Pastor. Our assurance is not perfect into this life: * Note We are all here like a Ship tossed with contrary Tides into a raging Sea. * Note As the weather beaten Bark is driven with many contrary courses before she can win her Haven▪ so hath the Soul, many toes and froes, before it pierce to the Skies for to enter into Heaven: * Note God giveth to no man here all good things at once, but some we receive in hand, and some in hope: * Note This hope is the Christian Souls plight anchor in the swelling Seas of temptations: While all that is present is full of trouble, Hope fetcheth comforts from the times to come: * Note While it is foul, we hope it shall be fair: While we are sick, we hope for health: While we provide for our Children, we hope they shall do well: While men write Books, they hope they shall do good: * Note While the Mariner saileth thorough the raging waves, he hopeth to come home again, he hopeth for vantage: * Note While the Sour, casteth his seed from him, he weepeth, but Hope comforteth him, that he shall receive again a plentiful increase. * Note The hope of the pleasant Spring is a comfort in the cold Winter * Note The hope of the Day is the long Night's comfort: * Note Deaths special comfort, is in hope that we shall all meet again: Well then, Sir, seeing it is so, the comforts which we have not received as yet in hand, receive them in Hope, wait upon God, and wait upon him still: * Note While all your senses are silent, Hope shall come with Help, assuring you that at last ye shall prevail: * Note Let the devil do his worst to dismay you, stick ye fast by this Hope which shall never fail you: yea, though God himself should seem to be your enemy, yet say to him with job, Though thou should slay me, yet will I trust in thee. The sick Man. That Sir, is of very hard practice: For if the Lord of Life put out the life, who shall put it in again? mine Hope is small, if it be not lost: I fear to feel shortly that which shall be without either end or ease: * Note All sorts of temptations come hail shot upon me: * Note I am laid open to all the blows of God's wrath: I am like a wind-waved tree loose at the roots: * Note Mine heart quaketh, my Soul panteth; my conscience is in a qualm: What can such torments be but very Posts and forerunners of everlasting pains? * Note What can they be but the very smoke of God's wrath coming before a fire that shall burn to the bottom of Hell? * Note The Deut. 32. 22 fear of this clogeth so my Conscience that I cannot think but such terrors be the very earnest of eternal woe: This maketh my liver to roll in my body: O that mercy might be Bartered for Money. The Pastor. Indeed Sir, such terrors are such of their own nature, even the smoke of a kindled wrath, never to be quenched. * Note But unto the godly, their nature is changed by grace: Such tremble, and shake, such thunders, and earth quakes, fears and fires, are but the preparations of the Soul for to meet with its God into the still and calm voice. * Note After this manner as ye know▪ the Lord came unto his Servant Elijah: Before he came to him, he prepared his way by three fearful Messengers, First, by a wind which rend the 1 King. 19 1●…. mountains and brake in pieces the Rocks; secondly, by an Earthquake, which made all to shake under him; thirdly by a fire: * Note All these came before for to terrify the man of God, that by that means he might be the better prepared to meet with his God in the calm. * Note Before Christ would show himself to the world, he sent two austere Messengers before him, First, Moses with a fiery Law, and last the Baptist like a Carpenter with a sharpened Axe in his hand▪ for to hue down every fruitless tree that marred the ground: * Note After them came the meekness of the Lamb of God, crying, Come unto me all ye that are Matth. 11 28 wearied and laden, and I will ease you. God will not be merciful to proud selfe-sufficient men. * Note Take Sir these blasts of temptations to be but the Lord's wind of preparation: * Note These heart-quackes are but earth quakes: * Note All your other fiery temptations are but fire from Heaven, Posts from GOD in haste for to give you warning of his coming: * Note By such warnings the Lord will waken you, lest with the wicked in the slumber of security, ye should sleep still in your sins, or with scorners should smooth them over, and jest them away, as though the sins of men should never be sentenced, nor their life examined: * Note Be of good comfort Sir, your sharpest temptations which Satan hath whet upon the whetstone of his malice, by God's grace shall be to you like the Baptistes' Axe for to hew down all superfluities of wickedness within you: * Note It is good that God snedde the unfruitful and rotten branches of our life, that in our hearts a way may be prepared Psal. 24. 7 for the King of glory. * Note Ye must also know Sir, that such troubles and tempests, are but a preface of God's presence, as, Harken Psal. 81. 8. and take head Israel, was set before the Law: Suffer therefore patiently the Lords rebukes: Let Psal. 141. 5 the righteous smite me, said David, and it shall be a kindness, and let him reprove me, and it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break mine head: * Note These fears Sir, that trouble you, are nothing but God's reproofs: * Take them as a kindness, yea, & as an excellent oil, which shall neither break head nor heart for your hurt: * Note The nature of oil is not to break▪ but rather to heal that which is already broken: God by such trubles intendeth to refine you: Have patience but a little in your griefs: Yet a little while, and they shall be no more: * Note The night is darkest while the dawning is nearest: * Note while the fever it at the height, the cooling sweat is at the door of the poares: * Note While the Mountains are on both hands, and Pharaoh behind, and the Sea before, then let Israel stand still, Exod. 14. 13 and see the Salvation of the Lord: * Note These Egyptian temptations, are but for to chasse you to Canaan with hard bondage, from a Land where Exod. 8. 26 it is counted an abomination to offer Sacrifice unto God: * Note So soon as the rod of God shall strike upon that Sea, it shall make way, and ye shall safely pass thorough: The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall Exod. 14. 14 hold your peace: And what then? The Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever: God will afflict his own, Isa. 28. 28 but not destroy them: Bread Corn is bruised, but God will not break it, with the wheels of his cart. The sick Man. I have looked for such comforts, but alas, they are long in coming: In the mean while, my Soul is all aghast, I taste nothing but gall and wormwood, mine heart is filled with sorrow: * Note My breach is like the sea, all my worldly sweetness is turned into worms of Conscience: My tears trickle down both day and night, and yet God delayeth to send me comfort: My God shake off the sins which hang so fast on. The Pastor. Have patience Sir, but a little, and comfort shall come: * Note Before ye reap your fruits ye must first till and sow the ground: * Note The seed time is a sorrowful time: Man soweth Psal. 126. 6. his seed in tears: * Note But again while he remembereth that except he sow, he shall not reap, & that as he soweth, so shall he reap, he casteth from him his seed liberally down upon the ground, smiling with his watered cheeks of sorrow in hope of a plentiful increase. * Note Think it not strange Sir, that in this seede-time of grace ye sow in tears: Comfort yourself in this▪ that joy shall arise out of your sorrow: * Note While ye sow in tears, think not your labour lost: * Note Out of your greatest sorrow shall spring your truest joy: As at the rising of Christ our Lord was a Earth quake, so at our regeneration which is the first resurrection, there is an heart-quake: Be not discouraged, though the hand of God be heavy upon you, his stripes will work to your well: * Note As an Horse or a Mule being once well lashed with a whip doth ever after fear, if he hear but the Bell which is tied to the whip: So men, if he hath been once well scoured & scourged with God's rod, he will so tremble at the sound thereof, that he will fear to anger the Lord again: It is good that God mingle the tartness and terrors of the Law with the sweetness of the Gospel. The sick Man. I am so confounded with shame that I cannot face the Heavens: Fie upon my filthiness, my course is backward from my God. The Pastor. It is an evil token when for sin there is no shame in the sinner: This Scripture calleth a Whores forehead: jer. 3. 3 * Note In this Lot his elder Daughter bewrayed herself, and show that she was not touched for her sin of Incest: For after she had committed villainy with her father, she as it were shamelessly bragged of it, by calling her son Moab, that is, Of my father, Gen. 19 ●… 37. that his name might cry to the world, The father of this child begat him upon his own daughter: * Note Shame ever followeth sin, if men be not ashamed of sin, which is Repentance, God shall shame them for sin, which is Vengeance: As for your backward course, a few steps backward, will make you advance further in your leaping. The sick Man. I fear exceedingly: I fear to loss both Soul and Salvation. The Pastor. Let Faith moderate your fear: * Note When jacob thought that he had lossed joseph, and was in great fear, for Benjamin, even than found he both joseph & Benjamin: Look often unto God and ye shall find him with David to be the light of your Psal. 43. 5 countenance. The sick Man. God hath opened the floodgates of his wrath against my Soul: O the deepness of my troubles! The Pastor. * Note The Soul in deepest troubles Gen. 7. 13 is like Noah's Ark on the waters, the higher it was tossed, the nearer it approached to the heavens: * Note Little Boats of little burden are but for shallow waters: But great ships of greater lod are sent unto the depths: * Note The deepness of your temptations, Sir, declare that God hath laden you with many graces: * Note Bravest Captains are put to the Front and forebrunt of the choke: * Note Best Christians are battered with most bitter temptations: God who suffereth them to be tempted, knoweth what they can do, and therefore to encourage others by their example, he putteth them to a proof, for to let the world see, what his grace can work in weakness, at last ye shall Psal. 66. 2. say, We went thorough fire and water, but thou hast brought us to a wealthy place: What say ye Sir? Beginneth not your heart to rejoice? Be glad, Sir. & say to God with the Psalmist, All my springs shall be of thee. The sick Man. I have little mind of springs, the Apostle said wisely, Is any man merry? jam. 5. 13. let him sing: Mine Harp and Heart both are out of tune: The Psal. 137. 2 Harp of my joy is hung upon the villowes: * Note My fingers can guide no more this wirbling instrument: * Note All the joy of my light, and the light of my joy is quenched with unspeakable grief, as with a damp. * Note Mine heart is like a moth eaten cloth, all rent with temptations and eaten out with the worm of Conscience, like that worm which did eat away the pleasures of jonah: By its jona. 4. 7. bite all my joy is fallen down like that Gourd: All the good that ever was within me is bolted out, Satan hath sifted me: I think presently that I am at the very mouth of Hell, ready to fall down to the bottom thereof. The Pastor. * Note The way to Heaven is near by the gates of hell: The way to Psal. 16. 11 pleasures for evermore, is paved with pains: David first cried to God, de profundis, out of the depths, said he, Psal. 130. 1. have I called to thee: But afterward he praised him in excelsis, with the highest Organs of laud, even with loud Cymbals, yea, high sounding Psal. 150. 5. Cymbals. * Note It was well said by one, Quo acerbior miseria eo acceptior misericordia, the sourer the misery, the sweeter the mercy: Let the hope of that sweet mercy which is to come, sweeten the tartness of your present terrors: * Note He who can bring light out of darkness, and who brought water out of the fiery flint, can make the sweetness of his grace spring out of the gall of bitterness: Woe to him whom God will not correct: Host 4. 17 This was a sore word Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone: Pray God that he never let you so alone: Bless God for this chastisement: Though for a space ye be in the fearful depths of temptations▪ Let nothing make you to despair, Christ the most solid Rock of your Salvation shall turn all such surges into froth. * Note While jonah was in the belly jona. 2. 2. of hell, and all the billows of God's wrath passing over him, yet would he not despair into that hell, but being tumbled up & down there, he trembled in his believing, and believed in his trembling: * Note Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight: There jona 2. 4. was his trembling: Yet I will look again toward thine holy Temple: There was his believing: And the Lord spoke to the Fish, and it vomited vers. 10. out jonah upon the dry land; these were the fruits of his Faith. * Note Learn Sir of jonah, not to despair, were it in the belly of hell: Though for a space ye as it were go down with that Prophet to the bottoms jona. 2. 6. of the mountains, the time shall come that ye shall sing to God, yet haste▪ thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God: * Note God for a space for the sins of his chosen, for his glory, for his praise, for proof▪ for example, and many other reasons may be eclipsed from shining to the silly sinful Souls of his Turtles: * Note But there is none obscurity that shall be able for ever to restrain from them the Celestial influence of his blessed beams of comfort: In a little wrath I hid my face from Isa. 54. 8. thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. The sick Man. But alas, mine heart is al●…eadie wounded with uncurable wounds. The Pastor. In Christ is your remede * Note If ye be wounded, there is health in Mala. 4. 2 his wings for the healing of your wounds: Though for a space such wounds be sore in your feeling, yet fret not: * Note Ye would gladly suffer all that and more, if ye knew how many stripes Heaven were worth: Though Christ tarry, yet he will not tarry. He is more sensible to our sores than we can imagine: * Note Believe him while he speaketh: These be his words of sense, He that toucheth you, toucheth the Apple of mine eye. * Note Be of good heart Sir, Christ shall be the judge of our sins, who was judged for our sins: He to whom all judgement is delivered, was delivered for us unto death: Ye say, that your heart is wounded, let this be a salve for your sore, a broken heart is the very heart of repentance never to be repent of: * Note The heart which was never wounded for sin, is deadly wounded with sin: * Note The heart which was never wounded for sin, hath never known the virtue of Christ's wounds, the only remede of sin: Be of good courage in this good fight, like the Church▪ 2 Tim. 4. 8 who for her valour in spiritual warfare, is compared to the troops of horses in the Chariots of Pharaoh. Cant. 1. 9 Now seeing the day groweth to an end, after that in my prayer I have recommended you to God's protection and direction, I will leave you until morrow. Let us pray. A Prayer for the sick Man, tossed with spiritual temptations. O LORD, how terrible art thou, when thou art angry at thy creatures? Who can stand Heb. 12. 19 before thee, a consuming fire. When thou is provocked, the Earth shaketh and trembleth, the foundations of the hills are moved: When thy wrath is kindled, smoke Psal. 18. 8. cometh out of thy nostrils, and out of thy mouth cometh a devouring fire, whereby coals are kindled. O the terror of these everlasting job. 42. 10 burnings! Who dare approach unto thee? Who shall be so bold as to stand before thee, seeing there is none so fierce that dare stir up the Leviathan, one of thy Vassals, whose scales are his pride, whose eyes are like the eye lids of the morning, & who by his neesinges maketh a light to shine, & kindleth coals by his breath▪ O GOD, most gracious, make thy North wind to awake, and blow Cant. 4. 16 upon him for the cooling of his conscience parched with fiery temptations: Change thine angry countenance toward this silly cast-downe Soul, sore tossed and troubled with spiritual tempest: O hear our earnest suit and be not deaf towards us: O let the bright beams of thy mercy disperse and break thorough the cloudy glominesse of thy wrath▪ Let the clear sky of thy favour appear unto this darkened spirit, that in a holy boldness, he may come unto the Throne of thy grace. Thou hast said, Lord, Anger is not with me: Thy word plainly affirmeth that there is but a moment in thy wrath: In wrath thy custom is to remember mercy: Forget not so good a custom. O remember here a sinner, vexed with thy wrath: Break not this bruised reed, neither Isa. 42. 3. quench this smoking flax, but kindle up the lurking sparkle: Make thy strength perfect in his weakness, 2 Cor. 12. make thy Mandrakes to give a smell, Can. 7. 13 that his Soul may be refreshed with the savour of life unto life. Take from him all hardness of heart: Suffer not his Conscience to be seared with sin, neither too sensible of sin, lest that he loss his patience: Give him a soft and a yielding heart for to admit the comforts of thy Spirit: O take out of his breast the hard marble and flinty heart of Nature, and put in the place thereof a fleshy and melting heart, with a tender & feeling Spirit Open his eyes with thine eye-salue, that he may see thy mercy thorough the crosse-barred gates of so fearful temptations: As the weight of thy wrath hath made his Conscience to bleed, so let the might of thy mercy like Balm, cu●…e & cover the wounds of thy wrath: O GOD of pity▪ pity this poor Soul weeping in secret at thy feet: Pity this Spirit which is filled with heaviness: Sore sorrow, O LORD, is entered through all the powers of his Soul, even to the dividing of Heb. 4. 12 the joints, and the marrow of his bones: Put these words of comfort in his mind and mouth, that thou retainest Mica. 7. 18 not thine anger for ever, because thou delightest in mercy. O sanctify the force of all his painful temptations, that they may work to his well, let him know that thou hast an hand in all his troubles: Psal, 141. 5 Let him say, Let the righteous smite me and it shall be a benefit: Yea, though thou should slay me, yet will I trust in thee. Good GOD, give him not over to the raging evil of his own corruptions: Suffer not his Spirit to be overwhelmed with the burden of temptations, but with the temptation give him an out-gate: Make the spikenard of thy mercy send out a sweet smell, whereby his fainting heart may be comforted. Give him victory over all the enemies of his josh. 10. 10 salvation: As joshuah made his men of war to set their feet upon the necks of their enemies, and tread them under foot; even so, LORD, make this thy weak servant to set his feet upon the necks of these sins, which like Kings have swe●…ed their sinful Sceptre in his heart: Thou who made a Cake of Barley judge 7. 13 bread to tumble upon the tents of Midian, & over turn them, thou can easily work great works by weak means: It is thy custom to make thy strength perfect in weakness: Let this poor sick Patient here have the proof of the practice of thy custom: Let his Soul like a Dove enter in at the cliffs of the Rock, let it creep in by the wounds of Christ unto his blessed bowels, there to be warmed with Gods most fervent love. Whether shall he go? LORD, to whom shall he make his moan, but to thee? Whom hath he in heaven but thee? O LORD, now the day is far spent and the wearisome night approacheth: Before we go let us obtain our suit, that thou would make thy wrath to relent a little: Let not our prayers be poured out in vain, we will not admit a refusal, & therefore set us not off till another time, abandon not this troubled Soul. Thou who hast said unto man▪ Prou. 3. 2●…. Say not unto thy neighbour, Go and come again, and to morrow I will give thee, if thou now have it: O LORD, practise thine own precept, we are here come not for to buy but to beg thy mercy for thy distressed Servant: Thou cannot deny but thou hast mercy, for this is ever true, Mercy is with thee: Seeing then, LORD, now thou hast it, we urge thee with thine own directions, say not, Go and come again to morrow, I will give thee. By such a delay thou should but enhance his grief: Alas, LORD, what rest shall his wearied Soul get all this night, if thou delay and drift him until morrow? O come, come, and power into his heart the comfortable bowels of thy compassions: Pour into his Soul the powers of thy Spirit, whereby he may be revived, and go softly, the rest of his time in the bitterness Isa. 38. ●…5 of his Soul. Refresh his parched Conscience with the dew of thy grace: Dear Father, for Christ's sake, let not hardness of heart creep any more upon him: Receive him softly into thine Arms this night, and cause his spirit to rest into thy bosom: Whether he sleep or he wake, make all his thoughts to run upon thee: In the darkness of the night make thy love like light to break in upon his Conscience, as Prou. 4. 18 the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day: Seeing Satan the lord of the night, the prince of darkness, is most cumbersome in the night, we entreat thee, that thou would shield and preserve him by thy merciful and powerful protection: Make his Soul to stand upon a continual watch, that it may be ready with a well furnished Lamp for the coming of his Lord: Make the day of thy mercy to break, and all the shadows of temptations to flee away: O Father, hear & help, for the sake of the dearest blood of thy Son, the alone purger of the Soul and the chief softner of hardened hearts be thou a Sanctuary unto this troubled Soul: Create upon him a cloud and smoke by day, and Isa. 4. 5. the shining of a flaming fire by night, join the direction of thy fire with the protection of thy cloud: O give now thy blessing unto this halting man: Supple and loosen his stiff and stupefied joints, that being drawn by thee, he may run after thee: Fence and guard his soul by thy grace, till thou bring him unto glory: O jesus, pray thou for him, whom Satan hath sought to winnow, let him be found as good corn upon thy barn floor, unto the praise of thy heavenly glory of thy divine grace Bless thy beloved Church universal, purge her from all Shifmes & divisions which breed great thoughts of heart: Deck and decore her with purity & unity. the two most precious spiritual jewels of thy Spouse, make her fertile like a broodie Vine. Direct our gracious Sovereign in all his ways, Guide him by thy Counsel, Psal. 73, 24 and afterward bring him unto glory: Bless his Royal Match, the Queen's Majesty, make her a Nu●…se mother in Israel, a blessed Mother of blessed Children: Bless all the Estates of thi●… Land; bless thy Ministry, adorn●… their breasts with thy Urinal and thy Thummim thy light of doctrine and perfection of life. Bless us all who are here humbled before thy face this night, while our bodies shall go to bed for to rest, grant that our Souls may go rest in the arms of thee our most loving GOD and Father: To thee with thy Son and the Spirit of Grace we give all praise and glory for ever. Amen. 'Cause read unto you this night wh●… ye awak Psal. 6 Ps. 49. Ps. 102 ps. 130 The grace of God and the peace o●… his Spirit be with you. The sick Man. The Lord direct you Sir in all your ways: I look ye shall return the morrow early: Think upon that where we left at last: I look that ye shall clear that matter more a●… large at our next meeting: My God be with you. THE THIRD DAY'S Conference. Of spiritual temptations. The Pastor. THE Lord bless you Sir, according to your●…d sire I am come again to visit you in your bed of languishing. The sick Man. I was looking for you, for since ye left me yesternight I may say with jacob Sleep departed from mine Gen. 31. 40 eyes: My conscience all this night hath been like a boiling pot: * Note O but weak man is borne to many sorrows! his days are few and evil: The best of them is builabour and Psal. 90. 10 sorrow: But let us now begin where we left. The Pastor. Our last conference, as ye may remember, was concerning Christ, in whose wings, I said, was health for healing of your wounds: * Note I declared unto you, that he is so tenderly touched with the feeling of our sores, that he hath declared that these that touch us, touch the apple of Zach. 2. 8. his eye: Hath this been the matter of your night's meditation? The sick man. That which ye have said of Christ, Sir is true; There is indeed health in his wings, and help in his hands: But alas, Christ will not be helpful but to these that are of a strong Faith: My Faith is both faint and fectlesse, nothing but a smoke of Faith. The Pastor. * Note Christ hath said plainly, that Isa. 42. 3 he will not quench the smoking flax▪ S. Peter was not a man of strong Faith, when in his voyage to Christ upon the sea, he began to sink: Said not Christ unto him, Thou man Matth. 14. 31▪ of little Faith, why hast thou doubted? * Note The Lord reproved him for the weakness of his Faith, but never cost him off for the littleness thereof. The sick Man. That was another matter, Christ was with his Apostle * Note There was virtue into that hand, wherewith he gripped the sinking man, as was virtue Mar. 6. 56 in his garment, while the hem thereof was but touched: Such a weak Faith as mine, cannot reach up so far as to touch him into the Heavens. The Pastor. Though your faith be weak, & that Christ also be bodily absent, yet be not for that disquieted, his Godhead is present: * Note He himself hath said, concerning his bodily presence, that it was expedient for us joh. 16. 7. that he should go away: As for the weakness of your Fa●…th, pray God to strengthen it: * Note Faith though it be little yet it is of great force, a grain Luk. 17. 6 of it will cast a mountain into the sea▪ The Sick Man. Let me see I pray you Sir, any particular example of a weak Faith saving any man. The Pastor. Of this in Scripture we have a cloud of witnesses: I shall let you see two, one in substance the other in type or figure: * Note That of Peter in the New-testament is substantial: Christ called him a man of little Faith, and Matth. 14. 32 yet by that Faith, though little, he was saved: * Note The other is in the old Testament, in the type and figure: When the Israelites were bitten with the fiery Serpents, their only refuge and remede was to look up to the brazen Serpent: This was the Numb. 21 9 very type of a Soul stung with sin, beholding Christ with the eye of Faith: * Note Of these who beheld that Serpent of brass, some were bleared, and other some had weak eyes: But the weakness of their sight could not hinder the cure: * Note Nay, the old man with his dimmed eyes beholding as through a mist that type of Christ, was as soundly cured, as he whose eyes were in their greatest vigour: * Note The meat taken with a paralitique and trembling hand, will not refuse nourishment to the body, no more than if it were taken with a stable hand: Observe Sir, what I say, * Note Faith is the eye of the soul whereof the Israelites eyes were but a figure, Christ is the truth of the brazen Serpent: * Note Though this eye be dimmer in some, yet if it see, the Soul shall be saved: Faith is the hand of the Soul, Christ is the food: * Note Though this Faith tremble, Christ trembleth not: * Note The palsy is not into the food: Be of good courage Sir, fear not this trembling fear, the work of Salvation cannot be wrought out, but with fear and trembling: * Note When Philip. 2. 2 the work shall be ended, all trembling shall cease, and Faith shall be stable, than the Soul shall be made free from all palsy pain. The sick Man. Oh, that I were but sick of such a palsy pain! Oh, that I were assured to have any grain of true Faith! Alas, I am undone: * Note This wretched heart of mine is so wrung with wrath, that there remaineth not within it so much as a drop of grace: All my spiritual moisture is spent, all the faculties of my Soul are so racked, that my tongue cannot utter my grief and smart: * Note Is there no Balm in Gilead for a sorrow▪ beat sinner? Oh, through excessive pain my Liver is rolled within me: If I find no remede, my Soul shall shortly bleade to death, my pains exceed, my sorrow is extreme, thorough the tortures thereof my Soul is compelled to roar: Oh, Lord, turn thy wrath in mercy, and thy justice seat in a Throne of grace, and pardon the sins which more and more ripen thy wrath against me: Mine heart is rend and harrowed with grief, what salve can I find fit for such sinful sores? The more I thrust grief out, the more it throngeth in. The Pastor. The sovereign salve for such sores, is to get a sight of Christ, who bore all our sins upon his battered back, which was torn with merciless strips: Christ in that plight is the most fit object for the eye of a troubled Soul: * Note There is no salve for the sore of sin, but the sight of him who is the truth of that brazen Serpent, Numb. 21. 9 the object of the faithful eye: * Note This remede among all others is like the master Be, the best of all the hive: * Though ye be like Zacheus a man of little stature, Luk 19 3 so that ye cannot see Christ over the multitude of your sins, yet run before, climb the tree of the Cross, and behold him: * Note No, rather behold him now upon the Cross fixed upon a mount high above, that all may see him, even upon mount Caluarie: Luk. 23. 32 Behold him there treading death under his feet: * Though there be a mount of dead mens scules; there is no dead school so high, but Christ may be seen above it: * Note Christ is ever nearest in the hottest skirmish: He is the sea & the seat of mercy: If ye can seek, ye shall find no scant of mercy into him, ye shall wonder at his love when ye shall relish his kindness. * Note To Christ then, yea, to Christ alone must ye run and forsake all, as the Mariner, while all his cunning Psal. 107 27 is gone, runneth to God in the tempest: * Note In him is Balm for all wounded spirits, there is no gash so deep, but his blood can cure it: As all rivers lead to the sea, so should all comforts guide us unto Christ: * Note While he was in the days of Heb. 5. 7. his flesh there was no misery that could withhold sinners from him, neither lameness, nor blindness, nor deafness, nor devils, could stay any from him, nor stay him to do them good, he healed them all: * Note Never a man came back from him, saying▪ I have sought to this God in vain, I came to him, but he could not help me: Or as the father of the lunatic, said, I Matth. 17. 16. brought him to thy Disciples, and they could not cure him: * Note To him may all heart broken sinners say with the Prophet, My flesh and mine heart Psal. 73. 26 faileth, but thou art the strength of mine heart and my portion: * Note Flesh and friends, health and wealth, and all will fail us, but jesus will never fail us: * Note Man's extremity is his opportunity▪ By him alone the Soul of man hath light, liberty, and life: All other helps and hopes are but vain: * Note As no water could wash & cleanse 2 Kin. 5. 10 the leprosy but one lie jordan, so nothing can wash away the leprosy of joh. 1. 28 sin but the Blood of Christ, the Lamb of God, which is a spiritual jordan for washing of leper Souls: * Note In a word in all our stormy troubles Christ jesus is a firm Rock of refuge which repelleth and turneth into froth, all the waves of most tempesttuous temptations: * Note By his Blood alone our Souls are both healed & hallowed, upon the right of your redemption, suit the remission of your sins: Be not abashed, he who hath Christ, needeth not to fear. The sick Man. If I were one of Christ's, would he leave me thus wise comfortless▪ * Note He is the Sun of Righteousness, in Mal. 4. 2. whose beams as in a spring time I was wont to rejoice: But now he is gone down: * Note My Soul is benighted, and I am affrighted with grudgings of despair. Oh, that mine eyes of flint were melted into tears! O smite my flinty heart with the rod of thy mercy, that it may make tears the water of repentance to gush out at the Conduit pipes of my mourning eyes: O what a palpable darkness! The Pastor. Comfort yourself with hope, waiting till that Sun arise again upon your Soul: * Note Suppose a man created upon the earth as Adam was at the first, if he should see the Sun set, he would be afraid at that first darkness, thinking that the Sun were gone down, never for to return: But knowing by experience that he is ordained by God, a Ruler for to rule the day by intercourse Gen. 1. 16. of the night, while he seeth him set, he is content, because he looketh for his rising again: If the year were ever Winter which maketh all things to die and wither, we would all die for sorrow * But now in the deepest snows and most hoary frosts, we have some sparkle of joy kindled by the hope of the approaching Spring. As is in these natural things, so it is in spiritual: * Note Christ the Sun of Righteousness will seem to the Soul Malc. 4. 2. to set under the night cloud of some fearful temptation: In such a case the sinner will think that he shall never see God again: * Note But for all that, after some hours of darkness, appeareth Roseis aurora quadrigis, Christ that Day▪ spring from on high, Luk▪ 1. 17. which the Soul like a Bird on a bush welcometh with a morning spring: After deepest discomforts come dearest comforts Have patience Sir a little, till the night of your temptation be passed▪ After a little open the window, & ye shall s●…e the Sky of day, than again▪ behold that Sun, which seemed to be lost▪ arising with his blessed beams, with a loving and life giving countenance: Be not discouraged, though Christ absent himself, it shall be but for a space, until the Can. 4. 6. day break, and the shadows flee away, * Note All his absence from the godly, is but like that which he said to his Disciples, Yet a little while, and ye shall not see me, and again, a little whi●…e and ye shall see me: * Note It is of his help, as of Habbakkuks' vision, Though it tarry wait for it, because Hab. 2. 3. it will surely come, it will not tarry: Be stout and courageous, the bitterest of your temptations are but the sweet gloumes of a Father. The sick Man. I am pricked with the poisonous rarowes of Satan's spite: I doubt if God would be so rough to one of his own Children as he is to me: * Note Fathers strike with the rod, but I am scourged with Scorpions, wherewith the Lord is now avenging the quarrel of his covenant: Oh, that Levit. 26. 25 ever I came to this wretched pass. The Pastor. Ye are impatient: * There is nothing in all your affliction, but Psal. 141. 5. the smiting of the righteous, which ye should account a kindness: Such smiting is but smiling, in effect a love token, Whom I love I chasten, God's corrections are balm which shall not break your head. The sick Man. I am both bruised & broken, my pains surpass my power, Satan with his snares and fetters hath confined me to a wretched slavery, my soul is out of temper: Trembling of heart Deut. 28. 65 Deut. 32. 25. and sorrow of mind: And terrors from the Chamber assault me on all sides: O but the passage to glory is rough and boisterous. Behold how I sweat for pain, as one roasted with a fearful flame. The Pastor. In that heat is a comfort: The style of the godly is to be called▪ Brands plucked out of the fire: Is 〈◊〉 this a brand taken out of the fire? Zach. 3. 2. said the LORD, in Zacharie: This manifesteth that a godly man for a space may be scorched upon kindled coals, but God incontinent rescueth him, as a man will catch quickly at that which he would not have burnt: God will never leave his own to the full rage of a stinging Conscience: Let all men have patience while God worketh: * Note If for sins he punisheth his deadliest enemies, why should he not also for sin correct his dearest Children? If man uncontrolled may sing Psal. 101, 〈◊〉. of mercy & of judgement for to keep his house in order, shall not God have his will to sing what song he pleaseth unto his own creature * Note Let the cracking Law-musicke of Sinai be ended and then God shall rejoice your heart with the sweet melody of the Gospel: * Note If while God in this your trouble in a manner is mourning unto you, ye lament for your sins, he shall in the end make you to dance at the piping of his Gospel: * Note From Sinai he shall bring you unto Zion, where all your pains shall be turned into pleasures. The sick Man. All pleasures are far from me for the present: A world of pleasures are dear bought with one pang of Conscience: God's wrath hath seized upon me for to drag my Soul down to the bottom of hell: It runneth ever into my mind that I am guilty of the sin against the holy Ghost: This I take to be the mark, that such as once a●…e guilty of that sin, cannot be renewed again Heb. 6. 6. by repentance, this mark seemeth to be in me, for as yet for all the holy words I have heard out of your mouth, I find no renovation, though God's goodness by you hath led me to repentance, I have not been moved: But after mine hardness and impenitent heart I have treasured 〈◊〉 unto myself wrath against the day of Rom. 2 5. wrath: This spoileth me of outward peace and inward joy: What can this be but the sin against the holy Ghost, which shall neither be forgiven in this world nor in the world to come? I pray you Sir, to let me know what a fearful sin that is which Scripture saith, Shall never be forgiven: Let me hear of its name Mar. 3. 28 and nature. The Pastor. This sin Sir, of all sins is the most fearful, as being a sin of highest natu●…e: In Scripture it is called Blasphemy against the holy Ghost: Because Matth. 12. 31 there is no pardon for it, it is called, A sin unto death: Christ 1 joh. 5. 16 himself declared this plainly▪ verily said he, I say unto you, all sins Mar. 3. 18. shall be forgiven to the sons of men, and blasphemies, wherewith soever they shall blaspheme, but he that shall blaspheme against the holy Ghost hath vers. 29 never forgiveness. The sick Man. These words seem strange that all sins shall be forgiven to the sins of men and also blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme, whether against the Father or the Son, but that there is no forgiveness for blasphemy against the holy Ghost: By that speech it would seem that there be blasphemies against God, which are not against the holy Ghost: By that also it would seem that the holy Ghost is greater than the Father or the Son, for what ever blasphemy is uttered against them it may be forgiven, but as for that where with the holy Ghost is wronged, it is an inexpiable stain of it, there can be had no remission: Before ye proceed, clear me of this difficulty. The Pastor. The like of these words are also Matth. 12. 31 in S. Matthewes Gospel, All manner of sins and of blasphemy said Christ, shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men: To this is subjoined in the verse following, Whosoever speaketh a word again the Son of man, it shall be forgiven vers. 32 him, but whosoever speaketh against the holy Ghost, it shall never be forgiven him. By this at the first blink it would seem indeed that it were not so dangerous to offend the Father, or the Son, as the holy Ghost. Wherefore, ye must consider that this sin which is called, the sin against the holy Ghost, is no less against the Father, and against the Son than it is against the holy Ghost. * Note But it is called the sin against the holy Ghost, because it is a most high rebellion, and stiff standing out against the peculiar work of the Spirit, which is to enlighten the mind, and bow the will and affections, that man by repentance may be brought home again unto his God. * Note As the Creation is ascribed to the Father, and Redemption unto the Son, so is illumination and conversion of Souls 〈◊〉 to the holy Ghost, though all these e●…ternall Opera trinitatis ad extra sunt communia. actions of Creation, Redemption, and Sanctification be common to all the three Persons of the Trinity. Understand then, that the reason wherefore this sin is called, the sin against the holy Ghost; it is because it is against that energy & efficatio●…s working of conversion, common to all the three Persons, but particularly ascribed to the holy Ghost, as our Creation is to the Father, and our Redemption to the Son. * Note When man stiffly and stubbornly sinneth against the remede of sin, how can that sin be remeeded? It must of necessity be a sin reremeedilesse. A sin past all remede is a desperate disease. The sick Man. Let me I pray you hear more clearly what this sin is. The Pastor. It is an universal apostasy from a known Truth with an eager, ●…nest & malicious persecuting of the same, by both secret and open hostility. The sick Man. I know that many of the learned call that sin an universal apostasy from the Truth, but I never could well understand that. The Pharisees are esteemed to have been guilty of that sin, yet I cannot read that they had made an universal apostasy from the truth of doctrine: Christ said, that they sat in Moses chair, which did signify Matth. 23. 2 that they had kept some thing of Moses his Doctrine, though miserable mixed with the leaven of their traditions. Mar. 8. 15 Thus as ye see their apostasy was not universal: * Saul did not altother renounce the religion of Israel 1 Sam. 10. 11 1 Sam. 22. 18. though after he had been among the Prophets, he killed the Priests. The Pastor. Indeed Sir, that doubt is not without great difficulty:: * Note Mine opinion concerning that, is that who out of malice and despite renounceth and persecuteth any fundamental point of religion, which he hath before known and approuen, is by consequence guilty of that universal Apostasy: * Note My reason is founded upon the Apostles rule, Whosoever shall keep the whole jam. 2. 10 Law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all: * Note That is, who ever he be that maketh no conscience of one sin, maketh conscience of no sin: If for the fear of God you dare not murder, how dare thou then, if thou fear God, commit adultery? or how dare thou steal or lie. * Note Even so he out of malice & despite, renounceth any main ground of the Truth, which he hath once known and professed, and after that contemptiouslie with a lifted up hand persecuteth the same, he in my judgement hath drawn upon himself the guiltiness of an universal Apostasy. * Note If by this universal Apostasy were only understood an actual, public & total renouncing of God & of all Religion, with railing and raging, such sinners should not be (as indeed they are) most difficile to be known. The sick Man. I perceive by the definition of that sin, that it is not common to all the Reprobates. The Pastor. No not: But only to these who have been enlightened with some knowledge of the doctrine of truth, & after begin maliciously to persecute the same. The sick Man. But think ye that any man would be so beastly as to persecute a known Truth: I cannot think that the Pharisees who are said to have been guilty of that sin, did ever know Christ to be come from God, for had they known him, they had not 1 Cor. 2. 8 crucified the Lord, the Lord of glory. The Pastor. Indeed these words are true of many, but not of those doctors which made Christ to pronounce so many woes against them: * Note They and their complices knew what he was, and wherefrae he came: Ye joh. 7. 28. both know me, said Christ to them, and ye know whence I am. The sick Man. Merciful God, how could they then pursue him with such spite & bitterness? I think that by that knowledge as by a bit their most headstrong corruption should have been snaffled and kerbed. The Pastor. * Note Man doth not despite to the Spirit of grace at the first, but by little and little like clay before the Sun: his heart is ha●…dened by the deceitfulness of sin. First, a man will know the Truth, and will love it with some sort of fervour for a space, after a little this love beginneth to lessen and grow cold, while at last it is turned into hatred: man being fallen in love with lies, which fill his bowels with a boiling hatred of the Truth: From thence cometh a persecution and a final desertion, a just recompense of reward 2 Thess. 2. 10 due to all these that will not receive and keep the love of the Truth, that they might be saved * Note If the poor Pagan for abusing Rom. ●…. 25 his natural ●…ite, by changing the truth of God into a lie by God's just Rom. 1. 28 judgement, was given over to a reprobate mind; what wonder if they who Heb. 1. 6. having once been enlightened fall away, be never possibly reneved again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame? Such men go about presumptuously to grind the face of all godliness. The sick Man. I see then that in the sin against the holy Ghost, there must first be a knowledge of God's Truth, and then a wilful rebellion against it with a lifted up banner. The Pastor. The Apostle is plain: If we, saith Heb. 10. 26 he, sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the Truth, vers. 27. there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgement, & fiery indignation. * Note The poison of that sin is in the word, wilfully after a preceding knowledge: While Peter denied his Master it was not wilfully, but for fear of his life: Soul persecuted most bitterly, beyond measure, said he, I persecuted the Church of God, Galat. 1. 13 and wasted it, but God had mercy on him, for it was in his ignorance. 1 Tim. 1. 13. * Note These two great men road so near unto that unpardonable sin, that between Peter and it was nothing but wilfully, and between Paul and it was nothing but ignorantly. 1 Tim. 1. 13 The sick Man. Knew ye ever in Scripture or out of Scripture any that fell into that sin. The Pastor. * Note In the Old Testament Saul fell into it, and therefore the Lord discharged Samuel to mourn for him: 1 Sam. 16. 1. * In the New Testament judas was guilty thereof, and therefore Christ would not pray for him: While he joh. 17. 12 prayed his holy Father to keep through his own Name the other Apostles, he would not speak a word for the lost son of perdition: In that he practised his precept, There is a 1 joh. 5. 16 sin unto death, I do not say, that he shall pray for it. The sick Man. Is this sin so great that God's mercy cannot be able to overcome it. The Pastor. Some think that it is called, irremissible, because that it is forgiven with exceeding great difficulty: But certainly there is no remission for it: * Note The cause is this, God will not be mocked with men, neither will he suffer his justice to perish for the salvation of any, for seeing he that despised Moses Law, died without Heb. 10. 28 mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sore punishment suppose vers. 29. ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the Blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the spirit of grace? The sick Man. I desire to know how men fall into such a desperati niquitie. The Pastor. * Note Such men having received some general graces of God in a reasonable great measure, first unconscionably begin to neglect them, suffering these sparkles of goodness to die out, after that they have shaken out of their mouth, the Bridle of restraining grace while it is cast loose, lying upon their maine, they plod on from one sin to another, till shame be past the shed of their hair, so that they be passed all feeling. * Note The Spirit being often grieved and the heart made hard with a custom of sin, whereby as with a canker the noble buds of the Spirit are fretted and blasted at last the Lord in his justice rolleth up the sinner, & wrappeth him into a reprobate sense. * Note Thus men by neglecting the inward secret checks of the Spirit, and by harbouring privy inward r●…pinings, boiling lusts, murmurings, grudge, and unthankfulness, the crafty empoisoners of grace, as at last come to this point, that all the good things they seemed to have are most licentiously dissolved into a publ●…ck profanity, whereby they upbraid the Spirit of grace to his face, and that with base and scarrell jests, yea, and often with most filthy belghes of blasphemy. That once done, all their grace clearly melteth away like snails, like the fat of Lambs, or like the winter ice which once being thawed floweth away, and is seen no more: All such things be forerunners posting before the prince of sins, even the sin against the holy Ghost, which is among all sins Luk. 11. 15 like Beclzebub among the devils. * Note Observe again, I pray you, how the unquenchable fire of this unpardonable sin is kindled: While man suffereth diverse sins to lie dispersed in his heart at their natural liberty, without controlment, Satan most craftily by some cunning slight as by an hollow burning glass, so concentrats and unites them together like fiery beams that they set on, fire the whole body of man's corruption, whereby as by a powder plot the Soul is blown up in blaspheming, even up unto the very Ephes. 2. 2 bosom of the prince of the air. Well is the man who from his youth is 1 Thess. 5. 22 sensible of all appearance of evil. Let us then take heed, and consider how this sin again the Spirit of grace creepeth in sensibly upon the heart of man, ordinarily this sin followeth a long custom in sinning, as the head uncurable Scirrhus in the lever, affected with the dropsy, cometh after many surfites. Thus according to that old saying, though a created testimony. Sero medecina paratur, Cum mala per longas invaluere moras. * Note O happy they who curb their corruption in time before they get edge and vigour. The sick Man. While a man is in this life may it not be known if he be guilty of this sin. The Pastor. Very hardly: for as Agrippa was Act. 26. 28 almost persuaded to be a Christian, and yet never came from almost unto altogether, so will a man almost fall into this sin, and yet be rescued, as a man will be for a space in the height of a fever, that ye will neither know whether he be dead or quick: Many have been revived at the putting on of their winding-sheete: * Note Even so it will be in the sickness drawing unto this sin, which is a sin unto death: Some will seem to be dead in it as a man into an Apoplexy, & yet it will be seen that they will arise and repent: Of this assertion I take Manasses for a warrant, for after that he had known the truth & had persecuted the known Truth, making the streets of jerusalem 2 Kin. 21. 16 to run blood, yet saith the Scripture, while he was taken among the thorns, and bound with fetters, and carried to Babylon, In his 2 Chron. 33. 12. affliction he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. * Note A man's flesh whether on his cheek or hand cutted to atacke being taken in time while the flesh and blood are yet warm, will again stick to and receive the life almost lost: If such be the force of Nature, how much more powerful are the workings of grace, except then that a man after knowledge be as Paul was Act. 26. 11 in his ignorance exceedingly mad in the persecuting Truth, I dare not define his sin to be passed remeede. The sick Man. Indeed Sir, these be very clear similitudes which illustrate our purpose wonderfully. But seeing as ye think, no man can certainly know the particular man, that is now guilty of this sin, how is it that we are forbidden to pray for such a man: If any man, saith S. 1 joh. 5. 16 john, see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall pray for him, but there is a sin unto death: I do not say, that he pray for it, so soon as such a man dyeth, without remeed he must in all post haste gallop from the land of the living unto the abhorred region of everlasting death. To what end serveth this inhabitation, if no man can know assuredly who is guilty of this sin? The Pastor. * Note The opinion of the most learned, is that in the time of S. john, the gift of discretion was given unto the Church, whereby both sooner and surer they might discover the damnable sin: * Note As for us we can hardly well perceive it, but by final impenitency and most fearful despair, whereby such miserable Apostats who have revolted from the Truth, declare at last with julian, that the God of Galilee hath fully and fearfully overcome them: Till that appear, let us beware to judge rashly, seeing Peter speaking to Simon Magus, seemeth to set before Act. 8. 2. him a certain possibility to be saved; a perhaps, that the thought of his heart might be forgiven him. The sick Man. Now it appeareth by all your discourse, that the sin against the holy Ghost is a revolting from the Truth, with a most wilful persecuting: I thank God, my Soul is free of that. But tell me I pray you, may not a man be free of that most heinous sin, and yet be damned? It would appear that many Reprobates are free of that sin. The Pastor. It is most certain, for it is only the sin of these who have known the Truth of God's word, and hath made a fearful revolt from it with a persecuting hatred against the same: Many who have lived in a true profession, have denied God in their life: There be but too many whose hollow hearts are covered with outwardness like a potte-shard over laid with silver dross. Prov. 26. 23. The sick Man. Alas, that putteth my Soul in terrible fear, for this is my conscience in a qualm, I have professed with great show, and that without substance: I have been one of Satan's revellers, having a smiling countenance but a bleeding Conscience: Gods judgementes have stayed till my sins was ripe: * Note When the fire is kindled, woe to the stubble: There is no place now for to escape: In Heaven, in Earth, and in the Sea, God's hand will find me out: Fie now on all my greatest pleasures, the Darlings of account: Though I have not sinned that sin against the holy Ghost, which God cannot forgive, I am guilty of sins which God will never forgive: O these eyes of fire, ten thousand times brighter than the Sun, what sin is able to escape them? what glistering golden shows of outwardness, shall make you to dazzle, & ye everlasting eyes? The Pastor Man had great need to be ware that his tongue walk not without a bit: There is no sin, but God can forgive it, if the sinner could repent, the Sea of his mercy is bottomless: As for that that God will or will not it is too great presumption for man to define: * Note Ye continually flit from one temptation to another, whereon ye feed like a Flee happing from scab to scab: Ye often seem desirous to shift the comforts of the Spirit for to go seek a knot in a rush, a difficulty where none is. Be earnest in prayer, sigh to God, for the assistance of his Spirit, that ye may be capable of comforts which the Tempter most enuyeth unto you: * Note When the silly Soul would fainest hear the words of spiritual peace, then cryeth he red-warre, stirring up temptations like the fowls that cumbered Abraham when he Gen. 15. 11 should offer sacrifice: Take heed to yourself Sir: * Note The Serpent now is more crafty than when he pointed Adam to another tree, for to deprive him of the Tree of life: Resign Gen. 3. 24. up yourself in all holy obedience to the will of your God: I can never persuade you to taken heed to that which I say: * Note Between a good tongue, and a bored holy ear, is an happy harmony, such music is melodious, but a deaf ear maketh a dumb tongue: Beware of the Spirit of giddiness, which maketh the Soul to run round as it were in a Circle of needless doubts. The sick Man. I entreat you Sir, for patience, 1 Sam. 1. 15 for I am one of a sorrowful spirit, as Hannah said to Eli, a fiery wrath lurketh in my breast, which maketh mine heart to groan: Pity me Sir, I pray you, for now I am come to the arraignment, and am called to the bar like a Crane or a Swallow, so Isa. 38. 14 do I chatter: The voice of the Preacher did often glide by my faults: But now God's Spirit speaketh home, and setteth all my sins in Psal. 50. 2. order before me: Now must I end my years in the bitterness of my Soul: Isa. 38. 15 * Note Well may I say with that godly Matron, Call me not Nahomi, that is Ruth. 1. 2●… pleasant: But call me Marah, that is bitter, for the Almighty hath dealt very bitter lie with me. The Pastor. * Note That which is most bitter is often most wholesome: God's course with the godly is from the bitter to the Sweet: * Note When Israel in their progress had removed from Mara, Numb. 33. 9 they came to Elim, from a place of bitterness they came to refreshing fountains of waters, and to pleasant palm trees: * Note All this world is but a Mara, a place of bitterness: * Note Let us have patience but for a space, till we arrive in Elim up into the Heavens, where we shall dwell among most pleasant palms, and drink of the wholesome springs of the well of Life, even pleasures for Psal. 16. 11 evermore: The Amen, the faithful and true witness hath promised. The sick Man. My troubles are far from such pleasures: I fear that such troubles be but the forerunners of a greater tempest: This maketh all the bowels of my belly to wamble. The Pastor. * Note Nay, by the contrary take them as I have already said to be messengers posting before the calm: * Note It is good as ye know to see every season like itself: * Note The Christian life in this world must be like the Winter season, subject to frosts and to snows for killing of weeds and of worms: * Note If the earth and men's bodies be not nipped with cold, great are the evil which ensue: * Note The earth becometh barren, and man's body become sickelie and subject to many diseases: * Note It is even so with the Soul, if it remain not here in a wintrous estate, laid open to the tempests & nipping colds of temptations profitable for to mellow and to rot the fellow ground of the heart, there is no great appearance of any good spiritual harvest: * Note But if the winter tempests of afflictions come whereby the weeds and worms of the conscience are killed, then may we look for a pleantifull harvest of Heb. 12. 11 the quiet fruit of righteousness: God in mercy shall step with his merciful feet thorough the fields of our heart, and his steps shall drop fainesse: Psal. 65. 11 * Note Let such hopes comfort you in this wearisome winter of your afflictions: * Note All God's gloumes are but like winter clouds, or like the louring of the Sky, fair weather will be nixt, let such tempests fall but in there own season: Happy is he whose heart with such boisterous blasts is not swayed awry. The Sick Man. O what a longsome winter is this, wherein I can not once see the Sun Mal. 4. 2. of righteousness, neither feel the heat of his beams, the comforter that should relieve my Soul is far Lam. 1. 16 from me. The Pastor. Let not that discourage you Sir, hear what Christ himself the bottomless fountain of all comforts, joh. 16. 22 saith, I go away for a while, and ye shall be sorrowful, but I will come again, and your joy shall none be able to take away: If ye find Christ to be absent, comfort yourself with the hope of his return: * Note His absence is but for a little: * Note While the day is at the shortest, and the Sun farthest from us in the dead of winter, we are comforted with this that the day at once will grow longer, and that the Sun will return to us by the degrees, by which he went away: * Note Your day now, Sir, is at the shortest, tarry but a little & ye shall shortly perceive a Spring januar of joy, after this dead December of distresses: * Note The more wintrous the Season of the life hath been, look for the fairer Summer of pleasures for evermore. Psal. 16. 11 Have patience a little: The Evening of your sorrows is almost past, the day is at the breaking, your reward is a bright morning star of Reul. 2. 28. joy: * Note At the dawning of these joys your night cloudy and darkest dolours shall decease: * Note God with some ray or beam of his reconcealed face, shall lighten you the way to heaven's glory. * Note This sinful life of man is like a surgefull sea, tossed with many blasts and billows. Whiles the floods and waves of wrath, so catch a man till all the bowels of his belly begin to wamble, all that is within him will be in a strange stir while he is as it were jona. 2. 2. with jonah, down in the belly of hell, at the roots of the mountains, having for his best garland the weeds wrapped about his head, in such a pitiful plight, he will be tempted to say to God with jonah, I am cast jona. 2. 4. out of thy sight, so darkened will the eye of his Conscience be. But if so be that in the jaws of his anguish with jonah, he can say to his God in his deepest plunge, yet I will look again toward thine holy Temple (which I may call the godly man's Pole, the director of the Christian course) he shall be saved: If while his Soul fainteth within him, he can with the weak eye of Faith behold that Pole of peace, and with the Mariners in the Psalm, cry unto the Lordin his trouble, the Psal. 107. 28 Lord shall deliver him out of his distresses: He who by speaking unto the Fish, made it to vomit out the prisoner, by a word of his mercy shall hale him out of such seas of sorrows, & shall softly & swiftly bring him thorough the swelling surges to the haven of peace, rest and quietness, even of pleasures for evermore: Wait on a little, and your God shall store Psas. 16. 11 you with spiritual comforts. The sick Man. But Oh, for the present, I am in the extremity of anguish, which any created nature can possibly endure. * Note My silly Soul is lashed with a severe whip of double cords knotty at the end: God's custom is to handle his own nicely and softly like glasses for fear of cracks: But I am crushed under the millstones of his wrath, which are ready every hour to settle down upon my Soul, for to sink it from the brim to the bot tome of hell. O the length and breadth of that flying roll and volume of wrath, that is coming upon me for to curse Zach. 5. 3. me with the Thief and the swearer. There is such a freting canker into sin, that in my judgement, if it could reach unto the very stars, it should make them to roost by staining their brightness and polish colour: I think that if sin could attain thereunto it should rot these fair celestial bodies. In my judgement it should strike the Sun and Moon the two eyes of the world with a catarict suffusion or with a sort of gutta serena, so that the world should go blind. * Note All this woe is most justly befallen me, because while Gods long suffering invited me to repentance, by delaying the day of my death, I turned his grace into wantonness, while I was threatened by his justice, I strained & racked his mercy beyond his truth and promise: I wonder not now that God's judgements make me to reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man: But here is my grief, and most piercing pain: I cannot think that GOD would suffer any of his own Children to be chaissed with such bloody bicker and not incontinent run to his help: Can a Isa. 49. 15 mother forget her Child? though she should, God cannot forget these that are his: God's wrath continueth still against me, my sins are mounted up to his ears with a noise, and he hath taken notice: Behold, and consider, if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow. The Pastor. These be the pains of new birth: * Note In such spiritual travailing the Soul will be in a wonderful distress, like Rachel of whom it is written Gen. 35. 17 that in travailing, She was in hard labour: The hardest labour of the first birth is soft being compared to the labours of the second: No sorrow in the flesh is able fully to express it: * Note I see a shadow of such sorrows in that mourning of Hadadrimmom in the valley of Megiddon. This is a mourning joined with fasting, making man and wife for a space to shed beds, that the man may mourn in one place and the wife in another. The family of the house of Zach. 12. 12 David apart, and their wives apart: The family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart: The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart: The family of Shimei apart, vers. 13. and their wives apart: All the families that remainc, every family vers. 14. apart, and their wives apart. * Note All this mourning is wrought in man's heart by a Spirit which Zacharie Zach. 12, 10 calleth, the Spirit of grace: Behold, & see Sir, what it is of this your great grief: It is a sure token that the Spirit of Grace hath been poured upon your Soul: Too too many undera smiling countenance have a smarting Conscience, while the wieked laugh their heart is sorrowfull-Rejoyce in such a tribulation, after this short seede-time of sorrow, if ye can have patience, ye shall reap the quiet fruit of righteousness, after the Heb. 12. 11 dark cloudy night of sorrow, the day will dawn: * Note At the breaking of the Sky a star of comfort shall arise which shall never set under a night cloud of watery tears. Man naturalliè is so impatient, that he cannot wait in a stayed temper, till the Lord hath ended his work. The sick Man. I understand not such working: * Note I ever heard preached that God was merciful to his own, and that he did proportion even at an hair's breadth, their trials and troubles to their spiritual temper, never surcharging any above their force, in their greatest darkness his custom is to lighten them the way to relieve with some ray or beam of a fatherly favour: But mine heart is altogether soacked and sacked with sorrow: Mine heart is nothing but a gulf of grief. The Pastor. The hand of our God is wonderfully in his works: as for us, we cannot work upon a Creature but by the help of another: * Note As for God, while he worketh, it often befalleth that either there is nothing or that which would seem to be contrary to his working. * Note In the Creation he brought some thing out of nothing, from no-beeing he brought a being: He would not make something of some thing, but made all of nothing: God would not build upon another foundation: * Note Once he destroyed the world with rain, now saith the Lord, I shall never do it again: But how shall a man know it? even by his Rainbow, a certain sign of rain▪ * Note Behold, how in the Heavens he setteth his rain armour for a sign of peace to the world declaring that he will no more shoot down a deludge for to drown the Children of men: * Note Before that God would send down fire upon the sacrifice of Elias for the trial of the true God, he appointed the ditch about it, first to be filled with water: God is ●… Kin. 18. 33. best known in the contrary means: So Christ would open the blind eyes by spittle and clay, which naturally are more fit▪ to put out the sight than put it in: By the heaving up of Moses weak hands, helped up by others: God made choice to overthrow Hamalek rather then by the sword of joshuah: By the bluenes of Prov. 20. 30 the wound he purgeth away evil: Christ by death overcame Death and purchased life: In wrath he remembreth mercy, where mercy would seem to be forgotten: He first killeth that after he may make alive: His strength is made perfect in▪ weakness: 2 Cor. 12. 9 Out of the seed of tears▪ he bringeth an harvest of joy, apply all this to yourself: * Note Before that God make a new Creation in you, he will let you see first that there is nothing in yourself whereof to make it: * Note Though God for a space hath opened the Windows of his wrath and poured down upon you deluges of troubles and as yet seemeth to bend his Bow for a new shot: If he were of mind to shoot he would not show his Bow: Behold, and see a sign of peace, a Bow without a string: * Note Though it were bended, as a token of war by God's merci●…, it betokeneth peace: While the ditch about the sacrifice of the he●…r is fullest of water viz when all is swimming with abundance of tears, God then shall be most ready to answer by fire. * Note Be of good courage Sir, let Christ's mortar lie style upon your eyes until his work be finished, that ye may recover your sight▪ * Note Though clay blind-foldeth, his spittle enlighteneth. The sick Man. I am but a lumppe of clay shut up under unbelief: I cannot practise your precepts: I have a will to do so: But I find stronger powers within me leading this Will into Captivity: What can this be? can both good and evil tarry together in one heart that is Gods? The Pastor. That is most certain, * Note There is both fish and dross in God's net, both corn & chaff in his barn both Wheat & darnall in his field, both Sheep & Goats in his fold: To will is present Rom. 7. 18 with me, said Paul, But how to perform that which is good I find not. The sick Man. * Note While I behold such floods of temptations my brain is so troubled with dizziness that all seem to go round: My Soul is like a Land lying frin the sea, which is beaten with billows and with waves on all sides, mine head is giddy while I behold the strict stream of such tumbling waves. The Pastor. * Note The temptations and troubles of this world may well be compared to a River that runneth with a quick stream: * Note If while ye ride thorough ye ever look down upon the stream your head will wax dizzy indeed, so that ye shallbe in danger of a fall: But those who know what it is, ever behold the yonder brink fixing their eyes upon that which moveth not * Note It is so that we should do while we pass thorough the swift running streams of temptations, we must not fix our eyes upon the stream which runneth but upon yonder immovable shore of eternity, where we mind to land after that we have waden thorough the cumbersome ford of this life: In hope against hope rely upon God's mercy: Challenge your interest therein thorough Christ's bloody merits. The sick Man. * Note While I desire to do so the arrows of fearful temptations come upon me with poisoned points: I hear a voice within me crying, What hast thou to do with the shore of eternity? thou who hast wearied thyself in the way of wickedness, and hast spended thy whole life into black dismal days, by making others to mourn in black, thou shalt never wear the white garments of Christ's righteousness, neither in grace nor glory: Oh, that mine heart were in a true spiritual temper! Oh, that it were seasoned and softened with the dew of Grace! Oh, where shall I hide me, until these calamities be Psal. 57 1. overpast? The Pastor. * Note Your Soul Sir, within you is like a man in a ship tossed with a tempest as the Disciples on the Sea, fearing to drown, cried to Christ, Master, save us, for we perish●…▪ So Matth. 8. do ye; though for a space he seem to sleep, careless of your salvation, he shall show himself broad awake at your cry: Behold, he that keepeth Israel, shall neither slumber nor sleep: Psal. 121. 4 * Note My counsel is that ye wrap and enfold your silly Soul in his bloody merits, as in a close warm garment that shall keep you safe and sure against the wind and weather of all temptations: * Note I like your fears better than the security of these who thinking that they sleep in a sound skin, care not whither judgements blast or mercy bless: If the Hypocrite content man, he careth not for God: All his best things are but form and outwardness, he hath a form of knowledge, he also hath a form of godliness: * Note In this form he sleepeth, not troubled with any check or counter-blast of Conscience Wait ye upon Christ. The sick Man. * Note Christ hath forgotten me▪ If he had mind of me, would he suffer my Soul thus to be eaten away with the bloody gangrene of an evil Conscience? happy are the Psal. 73. 5. wicked, for they are not plagued like other men. The Pastor. Nay, unhappy are the wicked what ever their estate be: while they study to worldly joy encompassing themselves with carnal contentments it is for nothing but that as the devils desired, they should Matth. 8. 29. not be tormented before the time: In such false joys they are led hoodwinked to destruction: While God suffereth his own for a space to be afflicted, it is no token of forgetfulness, nor yet of uncomfortable strictness: Did he not suffer his own Son to suffer, till he cried, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken Mar. 15. 34. me? God in great mercy to us hath set out his own Son as a patrene of patience, for to let all the godly see, that seeing he hath torn with bloody whipes the back and shoulders of his only Son, that no man should taken exception to drink in the same Cup, as also that no man should despair or take in evil part to be chastened of the Lord: But 1 Cor. 11. 32 when we are judged, saith the Apostle, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world: * Note Many will suffer legs and arms to be cut from them into a feaster, for to save the rest: What reck what the body suffer if so be the Soul be saved? what ever affliction ye suffer in body or mind, it is for the salvation of your silly Soul, by such pangs, your God will prevent the pains of hell: * Note In your greatest griefs, God is but practising his own precept of saving Souls by fear, whereby they are pulled out of jud. 5. 23. the fire: The Sorrows of the godly end in joy: But as for the wicked they are like the Sea, whiles tossed, Isa. 50. 20. whiles tumbled, but ever inwardly disquieted. The sick Man. Is this then the estate of the godly here to be betimes crossed with most fearful temptations, whereby as with an Ocean sea they will seem to be overwhelmed? The Pastor. It is certain, for many are the troubles Psal. 34, ●… of the righteous: * Note Christ dearest here are like Lilies among the thorns: Can. 2. 2. * Note This life are the Winter of their affliction: * Note They are a groaning genaration, Turtles crowding with sighs and groans which their tongues cannot express, while Abraham began to sleep, lo an horror of great Gen. 15. 12 darkness fell upon him. The sick Man. But in such anguish of heart will they not have some bosom comforts? salt Sea water strained thorough the earth becometh sweet: At the greatest sense of wrath will they not aye have some hope of mercy though for a space they have swimmed down the current of the times shifting their sails to the turning of every wind. The Pastor. They will be in great distress: * Note Their Soul will be shaken like a sea full of surges, tossed with contrary Tides: * Note As for their comfort it will be like the smoke of flax without a flame: * Note In their deepest temptations they will have some bosom secret graces into the heart as cmbers under an heap of ashes: Some times in all outward appearance they will be so douked that they will seem to be drowned: * Note While they are all under the water with jonah, as it were at the roots of the jona. 2. 6. mountains they will think, and so also will others think, that they are in the belly of hell: * Note This is their estate, while for a space they are borne down with the weight of wrath and with the burden of their sins, they are as it were many fathom deep under the water: But so soon as it pleaseth God▪ for to remove that weight, incontinent they come up to the brim of the water, because there is breath and life within them. * Note So long as there is life in a man, he may well at the first plunge go down to the bottom of a Pool, but incontinent he mounteth up again, because there is a Spirit and breath within him. But if he be once dead, he sinketh down like Lead unto the ground: * Note It is even so with the wicked and the godly, the wicked are dead in the waters of affliction and therefore with Pharaoh and his army they sink down like Lead into the mighty waters: But Exod. 15. 10 as for the godly, though heavy weights of sin for a space hang fast on, yet because the Spirit of God, a Spirit of life and of breath is within them, they may well at one plunge or other duck down, because of the weight of their corruptions, but incontinent they come up again: * Note By virtue of the Spirit as by Cork they are carried above, & so at last swim thorough all the waves of their troubles and temptations, till they come to the shallow, where they may set their feet upon a Rock, even the Rock Christ. * Note When jonah was cast into the Sea, who ever thought that he should come out again? yet hear: how the drouked man sang at last, Yet hast thou brought up my life from jona. 2. 6. corruption, my Lord my God: So little was his hope once, that he said, being in the belly of hell, The earth Vers. 2. with her bars was about me for ever What hope of change can we jona. 2. 6. have of that which we call, For ever? * See what little hope that Prophet had for a certain space, before that God would bring his life from corruption: * Note What out-gate could the poor man see into such a dark dungeon into the belly of the Fish, down at the roots of the mountains into the bottom of the deep? * Note That which the silly man could not see, God saw: He whom the Ship could not save, was saved in the belly of hell: He who could save jonah, in the water, could save his servant Sadrach and his fellows in she fire: * Note While these three poor men were bound in their coats, their Dan. 3. 21 hosen and their hats, and cast into that fearful Furnace, there came in One that afraid them all, a fourth man. even the Son of God, which by an absolute sovereignty loosed the other three, so that they all four in the King's sight walked up & down together without any hurt: * Note All the miracles of the old Testament were but types and figures of God's mercy and spiritual blessings under the New: * Note The passage of the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan, was a type of our walking in this world▪ unto that Canaan that is above: * Note The Egyptians behind, the Sea before, the Mauniaines on every side were but types of our spiritual enemies: Some like Egyptians behind, are chaissing us, some like Mountains on every side hedge us in to keep us from escape: Some before like a Sea are before us, between us and Canaan: Christ is a cloudy Pillar which Exod. 13. 21. in the day time is darkness, & cometh between us and the rage of the Egyptians of this world, so that for mist they cannot see us: * Note In the dark night of our tribulations he goeth before us in a pillar of fire, for to be a light unto our steps: * Note At last, after we have passed by many mountains of miseries, and are come to the red sea of temptations, even to the last temptations on our death▪ bed, where all our sins red like scarlet Isa. 1. 18. stand like a red sea between us and the place of promise, God by the rod of his merciful power, giveth that sea, such a blow that all its billows make room to let his people pass thorough: * Note Then all mourning is Exod. 15. 1. turned into music: Moses singeth with the men & Mi●…ian with the vers. 20. women: Nothing is heard there but songs & sounding Timbrels: Many a ●…ore sigh had they before they came to this Song: * Note Many a pitiful look gave they back to Pharaoh, breathing out rage behind them, they q●…aked like an Hair that heareth the bark of the Dog, breathing to be at it: But while at last they saw themselues bounded with an enemy that boasted them with drowning, than God in their greatest fears sent a powerful deliverance: * Note Behold, here as in a Cart the draughts of the Christian man's journey unto Heaven: Read into it, That thorough many tribulations we must enter into Act. 14. 21 the Kingdom of Heaven, even thorough burning Rivers of Brimstone. The sick Man. But alas, they come thorough all their troubles & were at last delivered: But I see none appearance that God will do the like to me: I have been prodigal of the peace of my Conscience, my sins doubled do daily ripen God's wrath against me: In all liklie-hood God's decree is gone out, that I should porish: * My Faith faileth me, Hope is flown away: Oh, for that peace in believing. Rom. 15. 13 The Pastor. As by bitter Succory the burning blood is cooled and refreshed, so by such bitter bloody blows, the pride of life is subdued & hemmed within a compass: * Note By such to●…turing and tormenting fears: The good Lord is working for your well that thereby he may drive you from all selfeconceate●…nesse & partial overvaluing of your own worth: * Note It is God's custom by such means to doublem as zeal, to blow at the smoking flax; Isa. 42. 3. till the weak reeking sparkle of grace be kindled into a bright burning flame. By such troubles and temptations the good Lord keepeth your Soul in watchfulness: * Note Many in this world sleep soundly in their sins, being fully stuffed and swelled therewith, and for all that never waken, till they be wakened in ye●…re of Hell: * Note Others who are troubled with some inward checks, runne●… to Taverns for to drown their sorrow for sin, by pouring in of strong drink: Others think to smoke it out by the ●…eeke of Tobacco: Some run to the di●…ne of the world among loud laughters. * Note As the Israelite●… in Tophe●… sounded their Drums, that they should not bear the squeeles of their Infants burning in the fire, so so go some about by the noise of sports & worldly joys to deafen so their Souls, that they should not hear the shrighes of their troubled Conscience: * Note But all such comforts and companiourie are like that red wine, giving colour in the cup, and moving Prov. 33. 31. itself aright: But what is the end of all? * Note Such things may seem to cool & refresh for a space, like as when a burnt finger is dipped into cold water, where one quality encirculoth another: But shortly after that little an●…iperistasis is past, in come doubled dolours with all the anwels of the principal sum, at last all such drunk comforts bite like a Serpent, Prov. 33. 32. and sting like a Cockatrice, as doth the drunkard's best claret wine. * Note Well is that Soul which God in mercy exerciseth daily either with one cross or other, not suffering it to be rocked and lulled with Satan's balowes in the cradle of Security. Rejoice then in tribulation, put all your trust in God, yea, though he should slay you, inwarpe yourself in the Mantle of his mercies: Rely upon him with whon nothing is impossible: He who can make the great Camel pass thorough the needle Mar. 10. 25 eye, can open the narrow gate, and let your Soul enter into his Rest. * Note Learn of the Father of the faithful to believe in hope against hope: Rom. 4. 18 God thinketh himself most glorified when men believe in him, while there is least outward appearance: His delight is to allure in the Host 2. 18. wilderness, where is least appearance: Forget never that courageous words of job, Though he should slay me, yet will I trust in him: * Note Not to have Faith, except we feel and see, is to be faithless with Thomas joh. 20. 25 while he said, that he would not believe till he was assured by the two witnesses of his senses, viz. Sight and Feeling: * Note Christ out of pity granted to him contentment of ●…enle, but with a sore & a nipping check, Because thou hast seen me, vers. 29. thou hast believed, blessed are they that have not seen, and yet believed: If ye would be blessed, believe before ye either feel or see: He who brought meat out of the de●…ourer and light out of darkness, can enlighten your misty mind. The sick Man. What then would ye me to do Sir, while within and without I can perceive no token of comfort, none appearance of favour? seeing he hath hid his countenance from my Soul, what think ye best that I should do? The Pastor. * Note Do as Isaiah did, I will, said he, wait upon the Lord, that hideth his Isa. 8. 17. face from the house of jakob, and I will look for him: God is like a Mother Isa. 49. 15 that cannot forget her Child: * Note She may hide herself a little, and let it get a knock, that it may fear and learn to beware of greater dangers: * Note Though God gloume in outward countenance at the faults of his Children, yet in his heart are ever thoughts of peace and of mercy. Of this David produced two Psal. 72. 11 witnesses, Once I heard, said he, yea, twice, that mercy belongeth to God: * Note Once in all appearance he heard this read or preached by the Prophets, and another time by the Spirit the inward teacher of the Soul: * Note Behold how the Spirit and the Word, once yea, twice, both outwardly and inwardly have testified that mercy is with God, yea, as a thing which most properly belongeth unto him: In your more sober mood and cold blood, ye shall confess this to be true: * Note God for a space will seem to be uncouth: He, as Naomie bade Ruth return home with her Sister ●…rpah, will bid a sinner go seek his comforts in his bypa●…t pleasures: But if with Ruth he see him steadfastly minded he will incontinent leave off such speaking. The sick Man. I know that God is full of mercy; Of this the Devils did never doubt: * Note Within the compass of his compassions is mercy for a thousand worlds, but what is that to me? How shall I come by it? The Pastor. The Scripture is plain, Ask, said Mat. 7. 7. Christ, and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find: Stick to him with a truly Christian & vnshaken resolution. What ever ye shall seek from the Father in my Name, said Christ, he will give it unto you: If ye believe Christ to be true, practise his precept: * Note Take once but a proof of his promise seek in the Name of jesus whatsoever thing may do you good, and see whether or not God shall prove faithf●… in his promise: * Before that a man will distrust another, he will first at least be beguiled once: * Note Upon Christ's words then with freedom of Spirit, Ask, seek, and knock, and see whether or not your Soul shall be answered with these three viz, receiving finding, and opening: * Note There is a worthy history in the Gospel which pointeth at this that we should do what Christ Commandeth, though there be little appearance of any good success: After that Christ had teached the people out of Peter's ship, the Sermon being ended, the Lord said, unto Simon, Launch out into the Luk. 5. 4. 5. deep, and let down your nets for a draught, Simon answered, said unto him, Master we have toiled all the night and have token nothing, nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net: What ensued upon his obedience? they enclosed such a multitude of fishes that for the weight thereof their net broke, the abundance was so great that they beckoned to their partners which were into another ship, that they should come to help them: And they came and filled both the ships, so vers. 7. that they began to sink: * Note Let your wearied Soul learn of Peter to obey Christ, though they had toiled all the night and had taken nothing, and had lost all hope of any taking, yet at Christ's word they let down the net. * Note Christ in his Miracle would not cause the fish to leap into their Ship, but he would have them to launch and labour, yea, and seek help of others: * Note Moreover, before Christ did this, they had toiled all the night before, without any profit: * Note Christ came not to abrogat the Law by feeding idle men, but he came to fulfil the Law, and to give a blessing to these that did eat their bread in the sweat of their face: Gen. 2. 19 * Note Trust first in God, Sir, and at his word launch in the deep: * Note Labour in the sweat of your face, seek, ask, knock, and be assured to find Revel. 3. ●… 14. and receive, for yea, and Amen hath spoken it: * Note Though your sins be great, if ye believe his word, he hath given both his word and his oath to forgive, two immutable Heb. 6. 18. things wherein it is impossible that God should lie. O the unlimited & boundless bowels of his mercy. The sick Man. I have already rapped at the door of grace, but I have gotten none answer: * Note God will not cast up his gates to let in such a rotten ra●…call as I am: The din of temptations within me is like the rumbling of a Linne, wherein waters rush with a ●…oise: I by my sins have grown so heavy upon the Lord▪ that I press him as a Cart is pressed that is full of sheaves: While I pray, Christ letteth not on him that he either heareth or seeth me. The Pastor. Though at the first prayer ye receive not, yet cry again, & again: * Note The poor receive not alms at your door at the first cry, and therefore they cry again, and again, till their alms come: * Note That Cananitish woman that came from the costs from Tire and Sidon for to seek help of Christ for her Daughter troubled with a devil, was not heard at her first prayer, she received none answer at all, at the second she received a very hard answer, viz, That he was sent unto others, than to the like of her, viz. Unto the lost sheep of the Matth. 15. 23. 24. house of Israel. At the third prayer she received the hardest answer of all, viz. That she and her Daughter vers. 27 were but dogs, to whom the children's bread, did not belong: What did she then? * Note She took the buffet for the bit: We are but dogs, said she, why then, let us eat the crumbs: At that word Christ could refuse her no more, but gave her all her will, O Woman, said he, great is thy Faith, be it unto thee even vers. 28. as thou wilt: * Note Though while ye cry, Christ make none answer, yet cry again: If he call you a dog, cry for a crumbe: * Note Often his comforts are folded in his judgements: S. Paul prayed th●…ise before God gave to him an answer: While the angel of the Devil did buffet him, 2 Cor. 12. 7 he cried for help once & again, after the third time God made answer that his grace should be sufficient vers. 9 for him: jacob got not his blessing at the first suit, no not, at last it came to worsling, and weeping, and wresting, he wept & made supplication, Host 12. 4 and then the Lord blessed him: Did not Christ himself in his great agony pray, and after one prayer, pray again for the removing of the painful cup? * Note If ye have prayed M●…tin. 26 42 pray yet again, were it in the same prayer, as Christ did, of whom it is said▪ That again he went away & prayed Mar. 14. 39 & spoke the same words: God may let his own cry, and cry aga ne, but he will not let them cry ●…ill they be confounded: At last when his time is come, he will arise to their help: * Note He can not sit the importunate cries of wearied spirits: * Note Because of the importunity of the seeker that neighbour in the Gospel could not get his friend refused, the one friend came to the other friends door, but for the lend of three loaves tor to set down before another friend, who was in his journey, came late unto his house: A friend Luk. 11. 9 of mine, said he, in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him: From within the other answered, that he should not trouble him, because the door was shoot, and his Children were with him into the bed: I say unto you, said Christ, Though he will not rise, and give him▪ vers. 8, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity▪ he willrise and give him as many as he needeth. The spiritual use of this is subjoined unto the verse following, Ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find, etc. * Note Because of the earnest suit of the poor Widow, the evil judge who neither feared God, nor respected man, was forced to do her justice: * Note These things are written for our learning, not to take a refusal from our God in any thing that may be good for our Soul, man's importunity in seeking, is God's opportunity in giving. The Sick Man. These things cannot be written for me: What doth Christ care for me? have not I tread under the filthy feet of mine affections that precious Blood? Have not I counted that Blood f the Covenant as Heb. 10. 29 an unholy thing? My Spirit is in a fear that it hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace: * Note This is the chief gash and wound of my Soul, this is a gangrene, which eateth out mine heart, the temptation is come from the bark to the bone. The Pastor. * Note If ye were guilty of that sin, ye would not be so grieved for it: * Note These who do despite unto the Spirit of grace, mourn not for that siane as it is an heinous offence against God, but as it procureth the wages of everlasting woe: * Note In such a man the fear of judgement is greater than the hatred of sin: judas could say, Oh, I have sinned in betraying the Matth. 27 4 innocent Blood: The fear of judgement, & not the love of Christ made him bewail his treason: The sin against the holy Ghost is not so great, but God could forgive it, if the sinner could repent: * Note The bosom of God's mercy is not so straightened that it cannot receive a sinner because of the huge greatness of his sins: There was no disease which Christ could not cure in the days of his flesh: But because of the unbelief of men, in some parts he could not do many miracles: * Note Observe a strange word, spoken of God by God himself, He could not do? * Note Unbelief in a manner putteth the Almighty in a sort of weakness, so that he cannot do: * Note As there was no sickness but Christ could care it, if men could believe, so there is no sin, but God can forgive it, if man can repent: * Note If any sin vnpardoned lie still, & bear upon the Soul of man, it is because of his unbelief: * Bee earnest with God, that he would increase your Faith: * Note Be of good courage, Sir, though many be the Psal. 34. 19 troubles of the righteous▪ yet here is his comfort, the end of that man is Psal. 37. 37. peace: Your Soul is travelling in the pains of the new birth: Let the Spirit of Christ be doing, till he end the work of your Salvation within you: * Note There is sweet in his gloumes, and love in his look, even while he seemeth to be angry: * Note He who with a silent look, first pricked, and then healed the heart of Peter, shall at last after your troubles wipe away your tears, and ye shall weep no more: * Note The look of our Lord▪ is a working look: * Note Our beholding is but by reception of spaces, but Christ's looking is by emission of graces, which like streams of heat and light come from the Sun, the world's eye, with a most powerful influence. Be of good courage, Sir, be not dismayed in your afflictions: * Note Such is the courage of Christ's Spouse that she calleth all her troubles but Cant. 1. 6. a look of the Sun, a little black bleink wherewith the outward skin is only made dusky: * Note Christ's will is that we suffer here such flea▪ bitings, that we may know what he hath suffered for us in saving us from eternal woe. Fix your Faith in his merits, which are the only Oil that maketh all things easy, even a most precious restorative for a languishing and sorrow beaten Soul. Be wise and ware, by your doubting to confine the boundless mercies of your God, believe and be saved, this is the truth of the Gospel. The sick Man. But the Law of God is of a great strictness; it bindeth all the senses and all the thoughts and imaginations of the heart to a perfect obedience under the pain of Maranatha: This thought straineth hard mine heart, and wringeth it together into a narrow room with a predominant power. The Pastor. * Note Indeed Sir, the Law of God, striketh upon all that is in man, and oblisheth most strict to a perfect and sincere obedience, for not only dischargeth it actual Murder, Adultery, Theft, and such like, but also the counsels, and plots, and desires to practise such villainies: * Note Yea, not only such plots, which are forbidden in the Commandment, which forbiddeth the evil action, but also the least desire of ill, though detasted and abhorred with speed: * Note The tenth Command which is last, requireth such a purity into the heart of man, that it will not only have it to be clean of gross evil thoughts fed and petted with yielding and consent, but also it requireth that it be free of the least impression of any evil thought: * Note The Soul of man is like a Crystal looking Glass: If a man but blow upon it with his breath, at once it is darkened with a dusky scum, wherewith it is dimmed that till it be swept, the image of a man's face will not appear into it: * Note So it is of sin and of our Soul, the least affection or inclination to sin is like a dim scum upon the face of the Soul, caused by the stinking breath of the devil: What is a filthy temptation? but afflatus illius impuri Spiritus, a breathing of that unclean Spirit? Thus as ye see God indeed requireth a great purity to be in his creature, for the hammering down of the pride of flesh, puffed up with vain and overweening conceits: * Note His Law requireth that his Children be so clean that there be not so much as the breath of evil upon them for to darken or make dim the polish of their crystal colour. * Note But here is our comfort, there is an hand in the heaven▪ that is able to sweep away all our sins whatsoever, and make our Soul were it never so roustie, to become clear like gold new come out of the furnace: Psal. 68 13 Though ye have lain among the pots yet shall ye be as the wings of a Dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold. Let not the rigour of the Law affraight you: Christ is he who hath fulfilled the Law: * Note He hath nailed that hand writing upon his Cross, and so hath made us free of its rigour: Sin reigneth not in a godly heart, but so long as man is here, sin hath in him some poisonous and pestilent * Note roots: If we do not what we can to employ his graces faithfully, for to render his Talents with some profit, he shall say unto us, Matth. 25. 23. faithful servant come & enter into thy Master's joy: Be of good heart, after that God's anger like the Moon is come to its height, it shall begin to wain as it began to wax: After a full flood shall come a low ebb. The sick Man. What then think ye best that I do while I am environed with so many troubles and temptations? The Pastor. * Note Your best is to run ever unto Christ in whom alone is virtue for to cure your filthy flux: Let nothing hinder ●…ou in the way till ye be at him: * Note By his blood he shall present you harmless and guiltless before God's Tribunal: Though swarms of temptations wherein is Beelzebub the master flee buzz about you, be not astonished: * Note Hold on your course, till ye come to him: Though many troubles lie into your way, gird up your loins and run with courage through this snaky field, having your feet shod with the preparation Ephes. 6. 15. of the Gospel of peace: Let grief be a whet stone unto grace. The sick Man. * Note If I should now run to Christ, think ye that I would be welcome to him, after that I have sported so long, and solaced myself in security, in the soft and green way of fading pleasures: * Note While his precious word was preached, I like the crafty Psal. 58. 4. Adder closed mine ears, as from the voice of a charm: But think ye that he can love me, who is one so unworthy to be loved, a lazy drowsy drooping drone, altogether careless in the work of my salvation. The Pastor. There is a great misconceit of God in most men's hearts * Note Some there be who with amplifying conceits, make the way to Heaven broader than the Scripture, like the Pharisees broad Philacteries or shaking ribbons: Matth. 23. 5. Others again, as Balaams' Ass thrusted his master to the wall in Numb. 22. 25 a room way, with less reason than the Ass, they thrust aside upon the walls of doubts or despair, as though God's mercies were so narrow that no possibility were for to pass thorough: By this means they fasten upon God, an impossibility to forgive: But to come to the point, your question is, if I think that God can love you, who is so unworthy to be loved I think it verily, and I am persuaded: * Note God, I confess, cannot love sin in man, but he may love man in sin: * Note God inviteth not these whom he loveth not: Come unto me, saith he, all ye that are Matth. 11. 28 wearied: * Note Your weariness cryeth unto you, that which was said to the blind man, Be of good comfort, Ma●…. 10. 49▪ arise, the Master calleth thee, an humble confession in the mouth, is the speech of contrition in the heart: God hath sworn that he liketh not a sinner's death. He is more glad to find us for to help us, than we can rejoice to find him for to be helped by him: * Note Who can think but he is glad to find us, that took such pains to seek us, that not caring for the unwholesome and noisome night air, came to our door having his head full of dew, and his Cant. 5. 2. locks full of the drops of the night? which is more, such was his love and liking of us, that for to save our life he would die a cursed death: The last words of your complaint are that ye are one who is unworthy to be loved. * ay had rather hear a sinner calling himself wretched and unworthy with the Publican, than boasting Luk. 18. 13 of his worthiness with the Pharisee: * Note The swollen hydropie words of thanksgiving that we are not like other men, are a sure toking of a deadly & incurable disease: Man naturally goeth about to lessen & impair his faults, yea, often rather than he will cry guilty he will fasten his folly by consequent upon his Maker: Adam said, The woman which thou gavest me, G●…n. 3. 12 gave me of the tree, & made me to eat: * Note Many are carried down the muddy stream of overweening their own worth. Our greatest worthiness is in the sense of our own unworthiness, and in the seeking of Christ's worthiness: * Note That man is worthy before God, who findeth himself unable to do that which is worthy, and unwilling to do that which is unworthy: * Note The very strife and battle between grace and nature in theregenerat, is a victory in God's eyes: A broken imperfection, if it be sincere without guile, is put up in his merciful count book, for a perfection indeed, such is the mercy of God, while we mislike ourselves: * Note These were the wisest words of Agur, in God's account, Prou. 30. 2 when he said, I am more fool●…sh than any man: S. Paul was never more dear beloved of God, as when he hating himself called himself the first of sinners: * Note Cast your eyes off yourself, and look unto God your strength & your stay: Prou. ●…8, 10 The Name of the Lord is a strong tower the righteous runneth into it, & is safe. The sick Man. O that I could practise your precepts! O that my God would inspire me with such a blessed and lively vigour of his Spirit, that might quicken my Soul to everlasting life! O that it would please my God, strongly to refresh me with the comfort of his countenance! But alas, out of this most filthy puddle of my heart arise such filthy vapours which so over-cloud the Sun of righteousness, that I am Mal. 4. 2. not able to behold his face: while he did shine upon me, his most bright and unspotted beams were fully darkened: * Note The more the heat of his word did beat upon me, the more my conversation became stinking and loathsome like a carrion cast out before the Sun, this I cannot deny, at the remembrance thereof I find myself charged afresh upon the Conscience with terrors and vexations: O the dead slubber of security, wherein I have steeped unto this hour! my custom ever was to post over my sins, in the lump with a general slumbert confession. There is nothing within me but matter of fear, I feel my faith fainting, I fear my sins, I fear the wrath of God, I fear the force of Satan, the king of fear: * Note I may be well be called that which jeremy called Pashur, viz. Magor-missabib, jer. 20▪ 3. that is, Fear round about, yea, I not only fear, but I feel a fearful wrath: * Note My stubbornness and stony heart hath brought upon my Soul God's brazen hands: * Note Now is he doing to me that which of old he threatened against these that were like me, If ye walk stubbornly Livit. 26. 27 against me, I will walk stubbornly with you: In my youth I was guided by the guise of times, my delight was to go with the droue, now I am lost, being cold dead frozen in the dregges of my uncleanness. The Pastor. The force of temptation wringeth such words out of you, as though ye had none hope at all: * Note Your Soul Sir, is like the Moon into an eclipse: * Note There be darkness and changing of colours for a time, because your sins like an earth come between you and the beams of Christ, the Sun of righteousness: * Note I have seen the Moon in her eclipse for a space as though she had not been at all into the heavens, but as she darkened by little and little, so after the greatest darkness was past, the light returned by degrees. Despair not Sir, of an infinite mercy, let not your heart be wasted with weariness: Though the earth of your sins which in comparison of God's mercy is but a point, overshadow the Soul for a space, while it is in this low region, the time shall come that God shall mount your Soul above the circle of the Stars whereunto the shadow of such an earth is not able to attain: * Note Though God for a space walk stubbornly with you, he is not stubborn: When ye shall begin to walk humbly Micah. 6. 8 with your God, God shall walk no more stubbornly with you, but shall deliver you from all your fears: Build yourself upon your holy Faith. jud. v. 20 The sick Man. I may well say with job, My stroke job. 13. 2. is heavier than my groaning: Whereon can my Faith lay hold? * Note God is armed with wrath, and Satan is armed with despite: * Note I see nothing for the present but blows and bloody battles, most dreadful fears tear in pieces mine heart strings, & suck out the inmost of mine heart blood. The Pastor. Though there be many adversaries, yet Christ is with you: * Note Make all your boast of him who is the Captain of your Salvation: He hath Heb. 2. 20 win the field, he hath tread under foot principalities and powers, and hath led Captivity captive: * Note He Eph. 4. 8. whose Faith is founded upon him, shall never be confounded: * Note His fresh bleeding wounds are euer filled with compassions: * Though God by our sins be moved to show some wrath, here is our great comfort, There is no condemnation Rom. 8. 1. to these that are in Christ: Believe ye not the Scriptures? I know ye believe: If Christ be with us, who shall be against us? * Note These who think that their sins overreach God's mercy, make the Centre to compass about the Circumference: Though he should receive a world of sinners in the bosom of his mercy, it will not for that be the more straightened: O the unspeakable compass of God's compassions. The sick Man. I doubt not of the infinite compass of his mercy, but whether or not he will show that mercy to such sinners as I am, this often troubleth my darkened and droopping Soul. The Pastor. * Note To show mercy to most mice rabble persons, is most familiar to God's Nature: * He never executeth judgement till we egg him and enforce him unto: * Note For this cause, where he punisheth, he is said, To 〈◊〉. 28. 2●… doc his work, his strange work, and to bring to pass his act, his strange act: He hath sworn by his life, that he taketh no delight in our death: * Note Our God is not rigorous against these that would fain do well: No not, but like as a father that pitieth his children, Psal. 103. 13. 14. so the Lord pitieth them that fear him, for he knoweth our frame, he remembreth that we are but dust: * Note Our God will not exact strictly a perfection in the life of his Children: * Note If we have an affection to do well, though we cannot affect it, he will accept it: * Note A godly Father hath said well concerning this, Deus magis delectatur affectu quam effectu, that is▪ God is more pleased with the affection of a man than with the effect itself: * Note Christ thought more of the poor woman's mites, than of rich men's millions, and Luk. 21. 2. that all because of her good affection: Well is the Soul in whose bosom it lodgeth. The sick Man. * Note But the good affection must ever be followed with some effect: * Mine heart hath been nothing but a filthy puddle, a false Fox hole: The more I dig into this dung hill I am the more confounded: O what a jewel is a good Conscience co●…ered up into the heart of a Christian! It is like a precious pearl in a Ring: I am ashamed to come into God's presence while I look upon my sins. The Pastor. Shall the sick man be ashamed to lay out his sores to a secret and wise Surgeon: * Note It is good to think shame of sin before we do it, for to abstain from it: It is also good to think shame of it after it is done, for to repent us of it: But we must never think shame to confess it: * Note This is the craft of Satan, he ta k away shame from man at the commission of sin, and restoreth it again to man at the confession of sin. * Note That which he hath once taken away from a man by forged cavillation like Zacheus, he▪ though in a worse sense, refloreth him fourfold: * Note A wicked man after that he hath sinned, hath fourfold more shame to confess his sin before a Congregation, which indeed, should be his honour; tha●… he had at the committing of sin the only cause of shame: * Note If he had been as ashamed to commit sin privily, as he is ashamed to confess it publicly, he had never taken pleasure into sin. * Note Men of widest Consciences whose hearts are s●…uft and engrossed with wickedness, will often I confess seem shame▪ f●…st before men: * Note In the presence of a carnall●… eye, they will strain the g●…ate like ●…e Maidens, which cannot eat at Table where they are seen, their throat is so narrow, that hardly can any meat pass over, quasi vero: O but in secret greatest gluttons, devouring black bread embrued with yesterday broth. * Note She that but pitissat sips before the Sober can skip at the scols with her Comers, till she be sick with healths. Even so it is of such sinners, most modest they are & shamefast while they are seen: The gnate of a light vain word they cannot digest if men have heard it, but in the mean time in the polluted thoughts of their profane hearts, they are filthy jud. v. 8. dreamers, & if secret occasion serve; without shame of God they will swallow Camels, making no bones: * Note Though their sin be never so huge in greatness, even Adultery, the wrack of most famous Families, if they can strain and pass it with a close conveyance, their heart will say of it as Lot said of Bela, Is it not a Gen. 19 20 little one? * Note Well is that Soul which while it is tempted to sin, hath ever an eye upon its God, saying with joseph, Now behold, my God seeth me, and he is a witness of this my doing: How then can I do this Gen. 39 9 great wickedness and sin against God? As for that ye say now that ye are ashamed to come before God, while ye look upon your sins: It is good sir that ye think shame to come into God's presence, because of your sin, but think not shame in God's presence to confess your sin: * Note Sin whether secret or confessed is evil, but the confession of sin is ever good, God's word is true, If we confess our sins, he is faithful joh. ●…. ●…. and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness: * Note Trust in God, Sir, rely upon his merciful bowels, who out of his great compassions hath said, I have job. 33. 24 received a ransom: God loveth those that are feelingly affected, & wakened out of the slumber of Conscience. The sick Man. But think ye verily that God will be merciful to me? whose Soul hath been but a soil for weeds. The Pastor. * Note I think that ye yourself should think none otherwise: A good man, saith Solomon, is merciful Prou. 12. 10 to his beast: * Note It is a beastly thing for a man, to think that God will not be more merciful to his Soul, than any man can be to his beast: * Note God was more offended at Cain for despairing Gen. 4. 13 of his mercy, than for killing of his brother: * Note judas kindled Matth. 27. ●…. more God's wrath for the desperate hanging of himself▪ than for the betraying of his Lord that was hanged by his treason: * Note He who offered his mouth to receive a kiss from Matth. 26. 49 that traitor, had never refused him mercy, if he had sought it with a repenting heart: Because profane Ahab had but a show or ●… King. 21. 27. outward scroofe of repentance, having Sackcloth nearest his skin, the Lord spaired him all his days, to let men see what he will do to true repentance, seeing he is so gracious unto that which is but an outward likeness thereof. * Note There is no sin that offendeth God more highly as distrust: * Note Here is the great injury of doubt or despair, it maketh the sin of a little Grasshopper to overreach the infinite mercy of the most High, as though man a little clat of clay, could be more sinful, than that infinite Majesty can be merciful: Happy is that Soul which God hath singled out in time for to make it loath its best loved pleasures: God delighteth to take up a seat in a bruissed heart, sorrow beaten for displeasing of its God. Take a good heart, Sir, ye have to do with a God, whose Name and Nature is mercy, a God whose mercy Psal. 10●…. 4. is great above the Heavens, yea, and over all his works: * Note That which Psal. 145. 9 over reacheth all God's works, may easily overtoppe all your sins & iniquities: * Note God will have man with his narrow bowels of mercy to forgive his brother seven times in a day, if he shall return seven times in a day, Luk. 17. 4 saying, It repenteth me: * Note If God requireth such mercy of man whose bowels in the widest are not of a span breadth, what shall he do, whose compassions are rolled together into bowels broader than the Sea, yea, wider than the heavens? If ye can repent Sir, God can forgive: When man ceaseth to spurn, God beginneth to spare. The sick Man. I take God to witness, that I am sorry for my sins, and so ashamed▪ that with the Publican I cannot lift Luk. 18. 13 up mine eyes to the heavens: * Note I would be content to kiss the ground a thousand times for to get but one kiss of the feet of him, who is the on●… lie help of the conscience, and the health of the countenance: I find myself deep to the Chine in a gulf of misery: Tell me truly Sir, I pray you: Thinkeyee that if with a mourning heart I confess my sins to God, that he will have pity of me? I am sore perplexed, the deep thoughts of mine own guiltiness strike men with such a set silence that I am not able to utter my grief: My fear is that I be of the family of hell, an hair of horror and utter woe. Be free with me, I pray you, Thinkeyee th●…t such an hoard of misery as mine can ever meet with his mercy. The Pastor. * Note It is great ignorance Sir, to think that any misery of man can over reach the infinite power of his pity, and boundless compass of his compassions: It were more easy to turn the Sun from his course, than God from showing mercy to repenting sinners, both his Name and Nature is mercy: See we not out of what mires of misery God's mercy hath delivered repenting sinners: * Note In Scripture we may read long Catologes of pardoning sins: Consider well I pray you, think deeply upon the mercies of your God: * Note Look well what he hath done to others: Could the adultery of a 2 Sam. 11 4. David, the incest of b Gen. 19 33 Lot, the drunkenness of c Gen. 9 21 Noah, the murder of d Gen. 34. 25. Simeon & Levi, the persecutions of e Act. 8. 3. Paul, the perjury of f Matth. 26 74. Peter, or any other like sin hinder God to be merciful to the●… so soon as they repent? * Wherefore wereall these pardons printed into God; Book, but for to tell all ages that no man were he never so sinful▪ should despair of the mercy Ezek. 33: 11. of his God: As I live, saith the Lord, take no delight into the death of sinners▪ but rather that they should repent and live: These be his own words: If words bear no weight▪ behold effects, God hath so loved the world, joh. 3. 16. that he hath given his only Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life: * Note This is not a verbal love when a man giveth his best beloved for to die for another: * Note God hath not spared his only Son, that by his satisfying sufferings, his justice being paid, he might show mercy to man his poor unworthy creature, not only the Father hath loved the world, but also the Son out of unspeakable love was as desirous to die for man, as the Father was to send him: This out of his own mouth he declared that no love could overreach his love, No joh. 15. 13. man, said he, hath greater love than this, than when a man layeth down his life for his friend: * Note The highest of man's love is to die for his friend: * Note But Christ's love was greater, he died for us even when we were his enemies: * Note In another point, behold the love, of Christ scarcely, saith the Apostle▪ for a righteous man will one die, Rom. 5. 7. ●…. yet per adventure for a good man some would even dare to die: But God commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us: * Note Who shall doubt of this love which the Lord hath registered on earth with the dearest blood of his only begotten Son? * Note There is such a love in the Father, and such a love in the Son, and such a love in the holy Ghost toward the Salvation of man, that all the heavens are filled with love of our well, so that at the conversion of one sinner Luk. 15. 7. on earth, there is more joy among the Saints and Angels, than for fourscore and nineteen righteous who need not repentance. * If Sir, ye would have the heavens to rejoice, cast yourself into the arms of your God, with these words, Lord, do with me what thou wilt, though thou should slay me, yet will I true in thee: If ye would see the picture of God's mercy, ye must draw aside the curtain of all carnal surmises. The sick Man. Oh, that I might cast my Soul into his Arms! But how can I do this? The Lord hath turned his back on me, shall I cast myself Heb. 1●…. 29. into a consuming fire? At the first sight of his angry face my Soul will die for fear. The Pastor. Men often are deceived: So soon as Manoah had seen the Angel, he judge▪ 13. 22▪ said, to his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God: But his wife answered more wisely, If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he vers. 22. would not have received a sacrifice from us: As she said to him, so say I to you, If the Lord were pleased to kill you, he would not have given his Son in a Sacrifice for you: * I is a greater love token, that God hath given his Son in a Sacrifice for you, than that he should receive any sacrifice from you It is the Apostles argument▪ that since God hath given unto us his own Son, he will not refuse us any other thing that may do us good, Christ alone is the sinner's refuge, he is a Rock of comfort which cannot be shaken, a Rock which commandeth all seas of sorrows the pole of our peace. Be earnest in prayer with God, cry till he hea●…e. The sick Man. I am wearied with crying to God, Psal. 22. 2. my prayers may be called, The voice of my roaring: But what shall I say? I cry, but there is none that maketh answer, God hath covered himself with a cloud, that my prayers should not pass thorough, he hath stopped his ears that my prayer should not be heard▪ This is a most fearful blast and blow in his bloo die battle. The Pastor. Deceive not yourself, often our prayer framed and followed by the Spirit of grace is heard, though the fence of grant be not yet brought to us: God for causes will let a time go between, seeking and finding: Dan. 9 23. After this the Angel spoke unto▪ Daniel. At the beginning of thy prayer God heard thee, and now I am come to tell thee: * Note See how a space will intercede between Gods hearing of man's prayer, and man's knowledge that God hath heard him. Though ye as yet know not whither God hath heard you or not, ye must not infer that God hath not heard you at all: * Note Wait on a little with Daniel, till God think it time to send you a Messenger for to tell you that he hath heard you, yea, that he heard you at the beginning of your prayer: till th●…s Messenger come, depend wholly upon Christ's good will: Let all your trust be in him, who is your most faithful Advocate for to plead your cause: * Note He will be a Guide to all these that seek him: and a light to all these that see him, and life to all these that love him: Though a Mother should forget her Isa. 4●…. 15 Child, the Lord will not forget his own, whom he hath printed upon the palms of his hands: Many Mothers think it enough to bear and bring forth their Children, that done, they send them out a fostering unto others: * Note▪ But Christ not only is as a Mother beareth and bringeth us forth by the second birth, but also feedeth and fostereth us upon his own breasts as a loving Osea. 1●…. 3 Nurse, I have, said he, carried Ephraim as a Nurse in mine arms: * Note Be of good comfort Sir, let the joy of Christ relish all your sorrows, he was the man of grief, that he might Isa. 53. 3. bring joy to the world, he was beaten with stripes, that of his stripes he might make physic for sick Souls, by his stripes we have health: * Note In a word his flesh was pierced and bored that in these holes there might be a City of refuge for sinful Souls, pursued with the tempest of God's wrath, the avenger: * Note Woe to him that maketh an idol of his own sufficiency, as the Thunder chiefly beateth the highest steeple heads so doth the fire of God's wrath strike at the height and top of proudest spirits. The Sick Man. By the most part of your speech Sir, I think that your chief comforts against Death and all other troubles, are grounded upon Christ's Blood and his wounds▪ The Pastor. That which I say Sir▪ is true: * Note When as all things will forsake us & fall from us, Christ will stick & stand fast by us, that I speak truly, I dare be answerable for it in the presence of my God: * Note As ye must one day make a reckoning to God, of that which ye hear, so must I that self same day give an account of that which I teach: My Sermons must be read before him that sent me to preach, for he will know how I have fed his Lambs: * If I build upon Note Christ the fundamental Stone, the pearls and precious Stones of Christ's 1 Cor. 3. 21 passions, I shall get a reward: But if I build upon him Stubble, Hay, or vers. 14 Wood: Because I hold fast the foundation, he will save my Soul, when he shall try my Doctrine with the fire and light of his word: But because I builded upon him the combustible light Stubble and Hay of humane words, of wordlie eloquence, I shall be saved very hardly, as by the fire of great affliction: * Note For this cause knowing the great danger, I wish that all my comforts to you and all others be only of Christ, who is both our surety and our Saviour: * Note He in love swallowed the bitter pill of death, the cure of all our diseases: After that, for our cause his face had been covered for our blasphemous, spittle & his back battered with bruises, he continued in his love, and for our cause would be hanged upon that stinking l●…ll Mount Caluarie, suffering a death which God had blasted with a curse. * Note I will tell you plainly, Sir, that there is no meditation so comfortable to a wearied Soul, as that which is concerning the bleeding wounds of jesus, the vanquisher of hell: * Note His wounds are as many windows wherethrow we may see the unspeakable abundance of our Lords love. * Note Let men run from East to West, from South to North, they shall find no place of avoidance from the fie●…ie wrath, but only into these his wounds, which well may be called, The refuge or Sanctuary of a troubled Soul. here is liberty for a Soul that is enfolded into the snares of God's judgements: * Note here is a hiding place against the evil day: here is the hole of the Rock the window of the Ark where Exod. 33. 22. Gen. 8. 9 poor Souls like Doves, that can find no footing, may enter in: * here is a City of refuge for chaissed sinners: The people that dwell Isa▪ 33. 24 therein shall be forgiven their iniquity: There be wide bounds within the compass of his compassions. Seeing Christ is such an One, run and high you as fast as ye can unto this Rock of refuge: * Note He who shall be founded thereon, shall never be confounded: * Note Take up all the matter in a word, the righteousness of Christ jesus purchased unto us by his Blood, is the only cure and cover of our sins: * Note All other things are but like fig-leaues too short and thin a cover, like these cutted coats of David's servants, which covered 2 Sam. 10. 4. not their buttocks. * Note How darreanie rotten stinking attainted flesh attempt to attribute any worth unto itself, in the achievement of that Pearl & peerless work of man's Salvation, whereof Christ jesus is the only Author & actor. Many who would seem in this world to carry away the Garland of godliness, are hanged in this snare: Away with such a pang of pride and elevation of Spirit. The sick Man. I see now Sir, that Christ is only the Salve which is able to heal the sores of the Soul, the blisters and bitings of our Conscience: I see that his Blood is the only liquor of that Fountain of David for sin and uncleanness: * Note But I Ezech. 33. 1. am so defiled with wilful wallowing in the puddle of sin, that hardly think I that ever he will deign to look upon such a bemired Dog as I am, who have followed the swing and the sway of the most filthy: Of me it is written, Let him that is filthy be filthy still. The Pastor. Let not that discourage you: * Ye cannot be ignorant in what estate he found his Church: At the first before he married her, he found her in her first birth, a cast away, a bloody brood, a misshapen creature, with a long Navel vncut, unsalted; Ezek. 16. 5 and not swaddled, lying in the open field to the loathing of her person in the day she was borne: Yet all that made not him to loath her: * Note But after that by two commands of life, he had bidden her, Live live, whereby she got vers. 6. strength, he decked her, and swore unto her, and entered into covenant with her and she became His: Behold and wonder at the love of our Lord, the Spouse of our Souls: * Note All our filthy and bloody deformities could not scare him from the love of our Souls: If any be defiled with sin and uncleanness, let them come to him, who will not refuse to wash them: He is the only laver of the Church: * Note There is nothing pure, but that which he hath purged: It is he alone who hath repaired all our ruins: Listen unto his voice, crying to all sorrow beaten sinners, Come unto me. Think often upon this, Sir, if ye desire comforts in your distress: * Note The great work of man's redemption finished by the Blood & death of God, is a work worthy of continual wondering: As for the work of the Creation, it cost the Lord but his Will and his Word: * Note But the work of man's redemption was a costly work, it was chargeable to God, it cost him the best thing that he could give, even the life of his Love, our Lord: * Note O what a mercy! O what a lively Love! The meditation of this work should work in our heart a loving compulsion and a compelling love: * Note The thought of this made S. Paul to say, The love 2 Cor. 5. 14 of Christ constraineth me: * Note What shall a Christian man fear, having Christ his Brother to be both his Advocate and his judge, his Surety and his Saviour? * Note Was not his blessed Body displayed abroad upon the Cross, with his arms spread, a crying jesture, a jesture crying with a voice, Come unto me all ye that are Matth. 11. 28 leadened and wearied? * Note Oh, that we were sick for the love of him, who died for the love of us! * Note Oh that we were wounded with love, when we remember his precious wounds, from which gushed out the streams of our Salvation: * Note Flee Sir, to the holes of this Rock, flee to the bores of his wounds, run not with Adam unto the shrubs for to hide yourself from God, here is your hiding place in the Lords deepest wounds: * Note He is the fortress of your Faith, our strength and our stay, the only help and ground of all our hopes, our warrantable justice: He only is the body of all spiritual comfort▪ all other things were they never so specious, are but show and resemblance: Shrowded yourself under his protection, and throw no more yourself upon temptations, whereby ye may be disabled from manfully fight out the good fight, followed with a Crown, filled with massines of glory. The sick Man. Now well is me that ever I heard tell of Christ: Blessed be the day the Son of God was borne: But alas, where are the holes of that Rock, where my wearied Soul may enter in? The Pastor. Lift up your lumpish thoughts, seek first to the nail holes in his feet begin humbly, creep in into these lowest wounds, and there for a space settle your abode, kiss his sacred Feet, wash them with the true tears of repentance, wipe them with the hairs of your head, from thence look up, and come to the nail holes of his Hands: * Note Be busy there like a Bee, suck out of them the Honey of Heaven, from thence go to the Spear hole in his side: * Note Let your Soul sit down there, and crowd like a Dove, ever till Christ let it in into the hole of the Rock, the place of its everlasting rest: * Note If once the faithful Soul Christ's Turtle win in into the fortress of his wounds, from thence it will boast all the enemies of its Salvation: Fron thence will it cry to the flesh, crouch: There it careth not for the Serpents hissing, nor for the Cockatrice's den, Isa. 11. 8. nor for the Graves gaping, nor for Death's dungeon, nor for the Pope's Purgatory, his pardons, his dirges, and his Trentals, which bring fat morsels to Baal's Priests: Christ is mine, will he say, He is to me advantage both in death and life: * Note As Gen. 8. 9 the Dove found no footing till she came to the Ark, so the Soul can find no rest, till it come to Christ: I●… ever totters, till it lean upon his Love.. Happy is the Soul that is secured with the seal & secret impression of God's favour. The sick Man. If I had faith, to believe, all would be well: I acknowledge that there is sufficient help in jesus, but such a help is only for these that are strong in faith, my faith is both faint & fecklesse. The Pastor. Christ hath said plainly, that he will not quench the smoking flax: S. Peter was Isa. 42. 3. not a man of strong faith, when he began to sink down into the Sea: Said Matth. 14. 31 not Christ unto him, Thou man of little Faith▪ why hast thou doubted? * Note He reproved him for the weakness thereof, but cast him not off for the littleness thereof. The sick Man. That was another matter: Christ was with him, Christ took him by the hand: * There was virtue in the grip of Christ's hand, as was in the hem of his garment Luk. ●…. 44 while it was touched: Such a weak Faith as mine cannot mount up so high as that it may reach unto Christ into the heavens. The Pastor. Though your faith be weak, and Christ also be absent in body, yet be not for that disquieted: he is present in his Godhead: As for the weakness of your faith, pray God to strengthen and increase your faith: * Note Faith though little, is of great force, a grain of it is able Matth. 17. 20 to remove Mountains, and cast them into the Sea. I pray your Sir, to entreat God for a fixed heart, for as I perceive, endless are the mazes of Satan's circular temptations, which unavoidablie, if they be not barred out by grace, wind themselves into man's heart with a sly and crafty insinuation. The sick Man. O man of little faith that I am, if I had Faith, I would believe that I had it, if I had Faith, I am persuaded that I should have Peace: Being Rom. 5. 1. justified by Faith, we have Peace towards God: That Peace I seek, and cannot find: These troubles wherewith I am tossed plainly argue that my Faith is failed. The Pastor. I answer, that who ever are justified by Faith, they also have peace toward God, though such a Peace be not ever felt: That which a man feeleth not, is not ever absent: * Note A man in a trance knoweth not that he liveth, and yet he is not altogether deprived of life: The tree seemeth to be dead in time of Snow and frost, and yet it hath life, and sap at the root: These then that are justified by Faith, have Peace, but their peace is not ever sensible, but often is disturbed with fearful temptations. The sick Man. I desire to know of you what is that ye properly call the peace of Conscience. The Pastor. I take the qualms of Conscience chiefly to proceed from a sense of God's wrath kindled for some sins of commission or omission: * Note Satan also with his billows bloweth at this fire, yea, often while God is pacified, he assaulteth the silly Soul with false fears and counterfeit alarms. * Note Now when by the virtue of Christ's intercession the fire of God's wrath is quenched, the Conscience of man beginneth to settle and grow calm, and in stead of accusing us any further, it beginneth to excuse and acquit us before the Tribunal of our God: * Note Upon this doth ensue a pleasant calmness, quietness and rest, in the Soul of a sinner. Though this Peace be sore envied and often troubled by Satan's railing and ●…aging, yet the Soul having peace with God, is at last after a little space made free of all its fear●…, & is made sensible of that truce & atonement, even of that Peace which passeth all understanding. Philip. 4. 7 The sick Man. I would earnestly learn of you how a man whose Conscience is troubled, may recover that Peace which once he had. The Pastor. The best method I know, is that a man ripe first up his Conscience, and spy what mot of sin is fallen into his Conscience, which is the eye of the Soul: * Note The eye being hurt will water & pour out tears, so must the Conscience be sore grieved for offending of God: secondly, out of this grief it must sigh before the Lord in feruant prayer, first, for forgiveness chiefly of that sin, which lieth heaviest upon the heart: thirdly and last of all, the Soul must suit earnestly for the restoring of that joy. After this manner David did proceed in that penitential Psalm: First of all, he was exceedingly grieved, which grief did burst out in words watered with tears, Have Psal. 5●…. 1 mercy, upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness, etc. Thus after he had cried for to be washen, & purged with Hyssop, he cried that vers. 7. God would restore unto him the joys vers, 12. of his Salvation: Above all things let such a person be often groaning to God in prayer, for to catch some blink of Gods reconcealed face in jesus his bloody wounds: * Note That blood of sprinkling is the only Salve for the sores of the Soul. To all this let not these helps be neglected, viz. that such troubled Souls make use of good Books, by whose help their devotion may be roused up, for to remember the days of old: * Note My chief counsel is that such persons fix steadfastly the eye of their Faith upon jesus bleeding on the Cross, whereupon he paid our ransom, and triumphed over all the enemies of our Salvation: This is the truth whereof Israel had the typ in the brazen Serpent, which healed all the be holder's: My counsel also is, that such troubled persons frequent the Sermons of powerful Preachers, and seek conference with them, whom God hath stamped with a powerful gift of Teaching and integrity of life, men who have had great experience in the ways of God, and who have smarted themselves at other times by such fearful nipping checks, men who are not ignorant of the Devil's devices. It is said of Christ himself, the Orient and Dayspring, That in all Luk. ●…. 78. Heb. 2. 17 things it behoved him to be made like unto his Brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people: For vers. 18. in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted. See how it behoved Christ himself for to suffer temptation, that he might be able to succour us in our temptations. While the troubled sinner is in doing all these duties, he must carefully watch over all his ways, that by no sin either in thought, word, or deed he grieve the Spirit of God again: For a new sin thrust upon the heart, will make all the closed wounds of the Conscience to gap and to bleed afresh: A Soul that is become relapse shall find God harder, to be entreated, than of before, not without much ado shall it get peace, that after by any known sin it hath quarrelled again the Spirit of comfort. But indeed, he or she whose Conscience hath been once well lashed with God's whip, and battered with his blows, had rather run throw a fire, than anger the Lord again: At the first appearance of a temptation they will start for fear, and with a sigh will cry to God with a trembling voice, O my God, how should I think this wickedness, let be to do it? Who knoweth the power of thy wrath? According to thy Psal. 90. 11 fear so is thine anger. * Note Too too many in this Nation affect this sickness of Conscience, as being only the disease of the holiest: This they will utter as ye would think with bleeding groans before men; while indeed they are but scorning the world▪ sporting wantoness, laughing under a painted mask of misery: Their tears are praeficarum lachrymae, tears without trouble, water sold for the wind of man's praise: They are spots in the Church, which make the ways of God to be evil spoken of, such open a wide door unto Atheism. The sick Man. Fie upon hypocrisy, God will not be scorned, there is nothing so secret but at last it shall be made manifest: I am assured, that who for to ca●…ch men's applauses, fain a mourning for their sins, the Lord shall suffer them to fall either in some scandalous sin, or other fearful inconvenient, whereby they shallbe forced in earnest to mourn to their shame: In my judgement there is no such bitter and comfortless mourning as is that of these for their manifested sins, who once did most fain deep groans for catching of applauses. The Pastor. To such may well be applied that of the Prophet, Thine own wickedness jer. 2. 19 shall correct thee, & thy back-slydings shall reprove thee, know therefore and see, that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of Hostes. Let no man sport in secret sins, were it in a thought, for that which Eccles. 10. 20. hath wings will declare the matter. The sick Man. I have often been seeking out the reason wherefore the wicked in the world for the most part, know not what trouble of Conscience meaneth: What think ye? The Pastor▪ Their heaven is on earth: David seeing their peace and prosperity, did bear them at envy, yea, so that his feet were almost gone: They are not in trouble, said he▪ in trouble like Psal. 73. 5. other men, neither are they plagued like other men, etc. Even at their death he could perceive no bands of any vehement pains, after that the whole space of their life, they had enjoyed morethan their heart could wish: * Note How ever it be that they prosper in this world, yet certainly if a man will go and seek God in his Sanctuary, there he shall tell him vers. 18. that he hath set them in slippery places, and that when he awaketh, vers. 20. he shall despise their image: There is a hell for them after the heaven of this earth. The sick Man. I would gladly be instructed of you, that I might discern between the true solid Peace of conscience which the godly enjoy, and that senseless benumbedness of the wicked, wherein they being deceived, cry, Peace, peace, even while God is 1 Thess. 5. 3. putting the fiery lunt unto the mosine of their sudden destruction. Let me hear of the peace both of the one and other. I think all men should study to mark the difference. The Pastor. The Reprobates who have their portion in this life, will seem indeed to have that true Peace of Conscience, because nothing within troubleth them: * Note Their peace indeed is nothing but a dead benumb nednesse of spirit, their Conscience being Seared, is not capable of feeling. I shall give you two special marks whereby ye shall discern a true Peace and quietness of Conscience from the dead benumbedness which the wicked have. First, a Conscience which hath God's Peace is awful of sin, wittingly and willingly for a world it would not despite the Spirit of grace: * Note But the wicked who is in a false peace, flitteth from sins to sin, as a Fly from scab to scab, laying all his burden securely upon the broad shoulders of God's mercy. secondly, the seared dead Conscience of the wicked hath but a part of that which is called Peace: Their hearts will be senseless of all evil, they will have no war within, no sorrow is there: * Note But as they have no spiritual sorrow for their sins committed, neither have they any spiritual joy for the sense of their sins remitted. here then know the true Peace of God in the Conscience: * Note The unspeakable grief for sin is assuaged, the fearful qualms are calmed, the raging and roaring tempests are allayed, the swelling seas are fallen and ebbed, God is come in the calm, not only for to wipe away the tears of sorrow from their eyes but also for to fill their mouths with laughters of joy: * Note So not only are they void at last of the sense of most terrible horrors, but they are sensible of a joy which will make them to dance with David before the Ark, yea, to laud the Lord at a Stake, amidst tarry powdered flames of fire. This is that continual feast which cheereth the godly Soul amidst the bloody bicker of Satan, and burning persecutions of merciless missacrours. Let all men try their Peace at this Touchstone, if not only they find their former pains lessened, but also a joy in GOD, whereby their Soul is feasted with such contentment, that for all the gold of Ophir they would not loss it, their estate is doubtless happy: * Note Who ever he be that findeth this, he may sing to GOD, Glory be to God in the highest heavens, peace on earth, and toward my Soul good will. The sick Man. Blessed be God who hath enlightened your eyes for the spying out of that remarkable difference between the true and false peace of men's Conscience: Inever heard it so clearly discussed. * Note O but Satan is ever busy to mar this Peace of the godly, who will not war & wage battle under his colours. I have seen these who are now godly before their conversion to be very vain, light, and wanton sinners, while they thus did run riot in sin with the wicked world, I have seen them most merry and solacious company, I often wondered to see them dance and sing, roar & revel: I could see no bands of sorrows in their life: They never complained of Satan's malice against them. * Note But so soon as once they began to love the Preaching of the word, and to loathe the carnal pleasures which once they loved, I have seen them again so courbed down with grief and mainelie crossed, as though it had no more been they: Satan letteth them nor rest, neither night nor day. The Pastor. In that is no wonder, Satan will be very loath to trouble his own: So soon as he hath lulled them asleep into the credle of security, he will be very careful that none waken them: Out of a counterfeit love he will adjure the watchmen, by the Roes and by the Hinds, that they Can. 2. 7. waken not his beloved, till he please: * Note He will say of him, as Christ's Disciples said of Lazarus, but in another sense, If he sleep, he shall do joh. 11. 12 well▪ See how careful Satan is for the rest of his own, lest that being wakened, they run away from him: * Note This Christ himself in the days of his flesh made clear by a similitude, When said he, a strong man armed keepeth his Palace, his goods are in peace. * Note So long as Satan like a strong armed man keepeth the palace of a wicked man's heart his alone, so that none be welcome but he, he will let that man be, lest that by troubling and disquieting his peace, he grow sorry and mislike his service: But if once he perceive the Soul to shrink, seeking an occasion to be quite of him, he will put all the powers of hell in arms and uproar, and will drive furiously 2 King. 9 20 like jehu for to regain it again, into his kingdom: * Note While a Thief or a murderer is in the stocks fast in fetters, the jailor will be merry, and will sing besides him, as though he were his friend, but if the most secret hour of the night he hear him knocking off his bolts, and perceive him to have escaped, he will waken all the city, and pursue him with▪ hue and with cries: * Note Satan is like the jailor, a peaceable spirit so long as the Soul is fast in his fetters and clogged with his bolts in a deep dungeon: * Note But if once he perceive that the Spirit of jesus hath, as the Angel did to Peter in the prison, smote him on the side and raised him up, making all his chains to fall from him, and that the man ariseth up quickly, and girdeth himself, and bindeth on his Sandales, and casteth his garment about him as Peter did, for to run and follow his God, it is a wonder how that cruel Spirit will roar▪ and rage like a Bear Prou. 17. 12 bereaved of her whelps: If he get a grippe of the poor man, he will cause him roar with gasping groans, till God come with an helping hand. The sick Man. Indeed Sir, ye by your both plain and learned discourse have dispelled the mist of many difficulties. The last difficulty wherein my Soul did stick as ye may remember, was concerning my Faith, which I concluded not to be, because I had no peace of Conscience, This did mar and deface all my comforts: My ground was from the Apostle, whose words are, That being justified by Faith, we have peace Rom. 5. 1 toward God: I have heard you declare that a man may have Faith & yet for some space not to be sensible of that peace. O my God, let thy mercy be closely applied to my Soul, strengthen my Faith, that I may grippe and apprehend it with a sure and everlasting hold: Oh that my soul might lie down in that peace that passeth all understanding: I am sore troubled with a weak and wavering heart, which is yet tossed, and swayed to and fro with doubts and difficulties like a feather in the wind. Alas, Sir, I complain of the weakness of my Faith: That Faith must be strong, which is able to draw down Salvation from the heavens, and batter down strong holds and overthrow principalities and powers, and conqueare, and subdue, tame, repress, and repel our strongest corruptions. Let me see I pray you any partiticulare example of a weak Faith, whereby any at any time have been saved▪ by the Light of God's word dispel this mist of ignorance: Make me free of this shrewd temptation. The Pastor. That of Peter in the New-Testament Matth. 14. 31 is remarkable: Christ himself called him, A man of little Faith, and yet who doubteth of his Salvation? The other example in the Old-Testament was in type and figure, when the Israelites were biten with the fiery Serpents, their only remeed was Numb. 21 9 to look up to the brazen Serpent: All this was a type and figure of a Soul wounded with sin, looking up unto Christ with the eye of Faith: * Note Now it is certain, that some in Israel were bleared, and some of a weaker sight than others, but the weakness of their sight could not hinder the cure, nay, the old man with his dimmed eyes beholding as thorough a mist that type of Christ was as soon and soundly cured, as he whose eyes were in their greatest vigour: * Note The meat taken with a paralytic & trembling hand will not refuse nourishment to the body, no more than if it were taken with a strong and stable arm: * Note Faith is the eye of the Soul whereof the Israelites eyes were but a figure: Christ is the truth of the brazen Serpent: * Note Though this eye be dimmer into some, yet if it see, that sight is Salvation: Faith is the hand of the Soul, Christ is the food▪ Though this Faith tremble, Christ trembleth not, the palsy is not in the food. Be of good courage, Sir, fear not this trembling fear, the work of Salvation cannot be wrought, but with fear and trembling: Though ye Psal. 6. 5. fear, yet despair not, there is me●…cie with God in a unspeakable measure: * Note In one Psalm it is said, again and again, unto six and twenty times, that his mercy endureth for Psal. 136. ever. This mercy I confess, is whiles concealed from the godly, for ends best known unto their heavenly Father: * Note Who is he that often shall not spy at divers times his mind to be dulled or overcast with some cloud of Milancholie: * Note While this humour domineers, Satan maketh choice of it, for therein to set a seat for grim and grievous temptations. * Note While he perceiveth the body to be troubled and distempered▪ he quickly afresh representeth unto the view of our Soul the greatest & most grievous sins of our unregeneration, and that into their fullest and foulest shape: By this means deep gashes and wide gaps are made in men's Conscience. Be strong in God, Sir, save his honour, by putting your trust in him: * Note Shall God's word cry to man, six and twenty times, that he is a merciful God; & shall man doubt of such a mercy? If such mercies were but for some days, ●…nners might think that in some dismal days of the year mercy by no means could be found? But behold, the musical twne of God's mercy, is upon an everlasting Note for his mercy endureth Psal. 13●…. for ever. He who doubteth of God's favour after so many testimonies may provoke the Lord against himself: * Note Moses by his doubting at Meribah, made the Lords wrath to wax hot against him: While he should have spoken to the Rock he scourged Numb. 20 8. the Rock more with these words of doubt, shall we cause water come forth▪ vers. 10. than he did with the Rod: That Rock was Christ: Moses while by doubting he scourged the Rock, he scourged Christ, for that Rock was 1 Cor. 10. 4. Christ: Who would ever have thought that Moses with his Law Rod would have scourged Christ the substance both of Law and Gospel? Who ever he be that doubteth thinking that God either cannot, nor will not be merciful unto him, so far as in him is he scourgeth the Lord jesus, as these who by their evil life are said to crucify to themselves Heb. 6. 6. the Son of God afresh, and to put him to an open shame. Believe & be saved: God is both mild and merciful: Is not his Command directeth unto man that he show mercy with cheerfulness? Is he Rom. 12. 8 not called the Father of mercies? Is it 2 Cor. 1. 3 not written, that he is a God rich in Ephes. 2. 4 mercy? O these bleeding bowels of compassions▪ What said he at last, while he saw the great affliction of Ephraim? How, said he▪ shall I give Host 11. 8. thee up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver the Israel? How shall I make thee as Admah? How shall I set thee as Zeboim? After these four, How, how, how, how, Mercy in a manner did turn about h●…s heart with such a force, that he cried out, Mine heart is turned within me, my repentinges are kindled together: If mercy be not in his divine breast, where shall it be found? The sick Man. All that ye have said, Sir, concerning the mercy of God in Christ belongeth on lie to repenting sinners, who have bewailed the errors of their life, but not to such a varnished hypocrite as I am, who have remained fast rooted in the rottenness of must filthy corruptions, which I had never care to curb or control. My secret sins like a consuming canker, have fretted out the very heart of Grace: * Note From my Youth I have wandered from the way of happiness, and have been like an idle Beggar in the way ready to go which way so ever the staff fell. My greatest fear now is, that I have too long delayed the day of my repentance, what know I if God will forgive a man so grievous sins not repent of, till he come to his deathbed? * Note Hardly can I think that in so short a time a man can bind up friendship with his God, with whom he hath been at feed his whole life time. O merciful God, melt my marble heart: Put into my breast the precious pearl of Faith: O that with unspeakable groans of grief for my By past evil spent life, I might redeem the time which I have so lavishly misspent: Oh, that the moisture of my body were all melted into tears, if thereby I could be persuaded that my silly Soul were already utterly out of the reach of all the powers of Hell: I have too long most vainly sported myself in Mesech, and ruffled in the tents of Kedar: * Note If I had not so long delayed to return to my God, my Soul already in hope should be feasting upon the joys of eternity. The Pastor. * Note Indeed Sir, it is a very dangerous thing for to delay repentance to the last gasp, or to one Gods mercy, as many do, who never lay down the weapons of rebellion, till they can sin no more. Oh, that men would understand their danger! * Note Are not our enemies both strong and near? Hannibal ad portas, the Devil is at the door: * Note But such is the madness of many, were their Souls never so soiled with sin, that if once they can get out but these few words, God be merciful to me, they think that they shall be in heaven before their feet be cold: Such men think that in death it is easy to censure the Devil with a word. It is but folly to put Salvation upon such haphazard as many do: * Note But yet ye must know that he that made the Time, will not be subject unto Time, the King of Time is Eternal: GOD is eternal, and hath all Times at his command: * Note There is no Time that can hinder him to be merciful to a sinner, at whatsoever time he sha●…l repent: * Note For this cause Christ for to let the world see that he can forgive when a sinner can repent, he took from the Cross the Soul of a condemned Thief, and after that he had absolved it, he carried it to Paradise: God hath Luk. 23. 43. said, That at whatsoever time a sinner shall repent, that he will put away his wickedness out of his remembrance. Fra once he hath said the word▪ he cannot take his word again: He is constant in all his ways, and therefore never saith and unsaith one thing: Hath he said, & shall he not do Numb. 23 19 it: * Note If ye can but wait a little▪ ye shall find all the fierceness of his fur●…e to be turned into the fullness of his favour: * He who shall seek him earnestly, shall not receive an empty answer: There is mercy in heaven, for an hell of conscience upon earth: Cast all your cares aside, cast yourself into the arms of your God: Cast thy burden upon the Lord, Psal. 55. 22 and he shall sustain thee: Be strong in the Faith of God: In hope believe Rom. 4. 18 against hope, though for a space your Spirit be distempered, yet still rely upon the mercy of your God: Go not off this, that the Blood of jesus was shed for you, & that Christ hath paid your ransom: What ever Satan by his temptations suggest unto you, believe him not: Take my counsel I pray you, Sir, that I speak the truth, here I dare take it upon my Souls Salvation. The sick Man. I thank God from mine heart, that ever I heard you, your words are full of comfort: O how indebted am I to the mercy of my God, who hath unlocked the bowels of his love towards me At our first meeting I found myself involved with much misery and mischief but since I have heard you, I find, I bless God, some stirring of God, Spirit within mine heart, mine heart before this time hath been like that Altar at Athens, wherein was engraven in great Letters, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD: I heard often Act▪ 17. 23 of God, but I never knew him truly until now: This is the infancy of my regeneration: I have been too long a stranger from so good a God: My Soul now rejoiceth after many toes and froes: * Note I find mine heart loosed from the cartropes of my sins, and linked unto my Saviour with stronger chains than of before: There be better motions within, than ever I did feel before this hour. O thou who is Love, let my Soul 1 joh, 4. 8 be possessed of a sound and constant love to thy most merciful Majesty: Bring my Soul from the shadow of Matth. 4. 16 death to the light of thy countenance, O Lord, my strength and my Psal. 19 14 Redeemer. O Lord of Hosts, give me strength Isa. 1. 9 and courage to fight out this Christian 1 Pet. 5. 4 fight, whereof the victory is glorious, and the reward a Crown of immortality: Inspire mine heart with the life of Grace: * Note If thy care had not hitherto preserved my Spirit, my Soul had long since been drowned in a sea of sin and sorrow: There have been such lecks, into mine heart that except the Lord in time had pumped it with repentance, my Soul long since had made shipwreck of 1 Tim. 1. 19 Faith. O how much am I beholden to my God, who hath taken longer day with me, than within any others, from whom before they were provided, he hath demanded his due: Blessed be my God, who hath made me free from the frenzy of Spirit, by appearing unto me in a greater calm: The feeling of his wrath past, I hope shall be a sauce for to sharpen my blunted love towards him in all times to come, with undaunted constancy. I perceive now that the day is darkened, and that the night approacheth: Oh, that I might continued conference with you, but lest I should weary you, from the best of my bowels my dear Pastor I bid you farewell. I look to morrow for a new conference, for with many difficulties mine heart is yet troubled and tossed: I requeast you before ye go, to help me with your prayers. The Pastor. I bless God, who hath begun to intermingle the sweet honey of some comforts with the bitter gall of painful temptations: * Note GOD who hath begun to make you his his Apprentice in Grace, shall an one make you a free man in Glory: * Note As Ministers must first sit at Gamaleels feet for to learn, before they sit in Moses chair for to teach, so must Christians first be humbled with temptations on earth, before they be honoured with exaltations into the Heavens. * Note Well is the man that is truly humbled by GOD, and made a fool in his own eyes; for he which thinketh himself wise, is a fool, ipso facto: * Note All natural wisdom without Spiritual humility is like overnights' Manna which did no good, but mould and fust: God by diverse temptations, first carnal and after spiritual, hath besieged the corruptions of your nature, and hath battered down the strong holds and fortified Castles of your imaginations and reasoning the high things which exalt themselves against the knowledge of GOD: Before he leave you, he shall bring into Captivity 2 Cor. 10. 5 every thought of your heart to the obedience of Christ: According to your desire we shall bend our knees to GOD in prayer, that ye may spell his love out of such a fatherly correction, and learn in time to stay yourself upon his kindness and good will. A Prayer for the sick Man. O LORD, of Mercy, whose bowels are turned within thee, when thou beholdest the grief of the godly; Be here present for the relief of this thy poor distressed Servant: His eyes are steadfastly fixed upon Thee, as Psal. 123. 2 the eyes of the hand maid are fixed upon the hands of her Mistress. Behold, LORD, and hear his amazed broken heart, braying after Psal. 42. 1 thee as an Hart panting after the Rivers of waters: Pity this silly Soul which is like the dry ground gaping for drops of Rain. Oh, LORD, his strength is d●…yed up like a Pot shared, his tongue cleaveth unto his jaws, and thou hast brought him into the dust of death: Let the sweetest comforts of thy bleeding bowels be poured into his broken heart: Make the joyful Light of thy countenance break forth upon his drooping and cloudy Conscience: O strengthen his silly Soul in this heavy hour: Pacify the pangs of his remorse, that he may say hold upon the merits and mercies of thy Son JESUS. Come gracious GOD, with thy strength for his succour: Satan a most bitter enemy, hath besieged his Soul with most fearful temptations. There is no mischief which could be devised, but he hath m●…stered it and set it in battle array against him: While he had health and youth, this enemy was the chief entiser of him unto sin, by bearing him in hand, that it was an easy thing after many sinful pleasures, enjoyed to return unto God, whose favour and kindness might be procured by and by without any labour. But now, Father, while he seeth his day declining & the Sun of his life near its setting, of an Entiser he is become an Accuser, striving by all means to cause him make shipwreck upon the banks of despare: Night and day he vexeth and teareth his Soul by whispering into his ear most impudent lies against thy Truth, viz. That he is so miserable, that thou art not able to be merciful unto him: He suggesteth most craftily that it is in vain for him to sue to thee for thy grace, that there is none hope of mercy left for such a sinner, that there is none access unto the Throne of Grace, for the prayers of Heb. 4. 16. such a miserable wretch; and that it is no purpose for him to pray. But what? LORD, thou who art Truth itself, wilt thou suffer this father of lies to trouble still thy Servant? joh. 8. 44 Wilt thou heareanie longer thine infinite mercy thus reproached and reviled, as though thou were not able to pa●…don the faults of thine own poor creature? What is that to say but that God shall cease to be that God whose mercy is above all his works? O LORD, most merciful, can the sinful scarlet redness, and the Crimson colour of man's corruptions be ●…o died that it cannot be washen away with the Blood of thy Lamb? O seal up the sense of thy love in his heart, make thy Spirit to whisper in his ear, that mercy is with thee, that thou may be both feared and loved. Shall any thing. LORD, withhold the heart broken sinner from Heb. 4. 16. the Throne of Grace? Is not this the voice of thy Spirit, Come unto Matth. 11. 28. me all ye that are wearied and ladened with sinned? Is not thy promise written in thy Book, that thou wilt ease them? O most loving Father, even in despite of Satan, and his most despitfull suggestions, make his Soul bold and confident, that it may adventure itself to the merciful Throne of thy Grace: Clear and cleanse his eyes from the Spiritual gore of sin, that with Simeon he may Luk. 2. 30. 31 see thy Salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people. O dear JESUS, deliver his Darling from the power of the Dog: Incline thine ears and hear the grievous groans of this poor prisoner: Make him a prisoner of hope: Turn thee now about and refresh his wearied heart with a blink of thy mercy: Show him the light of thy Countenance, and he shall be saved: Enlarge his heart, that thy Graces finding a spacious room; may plentifully harbour in his soul. Alas, LORD, what shall we say? if thou shalt say to him, I have no delight in thee: Behold, here he is, do to him as shall seem good in thine own eyes. Thou hast not forgotten, neither can thou forget, but that thy delight is in mercy: Where sin doth abound, shall not there thy Grace abound much more? Thou, LORD, hast often bathed this silly Soul in most bitter brimie tears: Thou hast hid thyself from it, and it hath been troubled: Now amid the vexations of so many temptations, blink upon him with a reconcealed face. O GOD of Battles, in this Bartell of the Soul send down thy strength for to guard him against the assaults of Satan, who pursueth him so eagerly with most sharp and fearful af●…aultes, like a Dog hunting after a silly straggling sheep. Though for a space thou suffer him to be buffeted with a messenger of Satan, yet let him know that thy Grace shall be sufficient for him: Let 2 〈◊〉. 12. 7. thy right hand hold him up, and let thy gentleness make him great: Renew his heart with the power of thy Spirit, & reinvest him with the image of thine holiness, which once he lost in Adam: Cast his Spirit again in thine own mou●…d. At last, LORD, put Satan to silence, let thine own Spirit speak unto this Sick in his inward parts: Say unto his Soul, I am thy Salvation: Make thy good Spirit of comfort to whisper in his ear, that thou a●…t well pleased, and that thou hast received a ransom: Such words of mercy will be a blessed Balme●…, whereby thou shalt heal this sorrow beaten Soul, stung with a check and smart for his sins. Though. LORD, he hath but some poor beginnings of Grace in a time we confess when thy graces in him should have been ripe; for that glory which is now shortly to be revealed unto him; yet notwithstanding, let it please thee of thy mere mercy to pity and ●…don: Remember thy mercies of old which were never wont to break the bruised reed, nor to quench the smoking Isa. 42. 3. flax: If thy great mercy be not his strength and stay, he must needs be overcome: For whom hath he Psal. 73. 25 in Heaven but thee? Or who is on earth whom he can desire besides thee? O Thou, whom his Soul loveth, tell him where thou makest thy flock to rest at Noon in the greatest heat Cant. 1. 7 of affliction: Seeing he seeketh after thee only, let him be refreshed with thy comforts; for why should he turn aside by the flocks of thy companions? Consider well we pray thee, LORD, how been he hath vexed and d squieted with many fearful temptations: now at last come with thine helping hand, come and abate the force and fury of all his enemies, whether within or without, subdue their raging and reigning power, that when the hour of his departing shall come, he may with Simeon depart in peace: Stand, LORD, fast by him, forsake him not in this perilous time: Let thy Spirit guide and lead him in the Land of righteousness: Let thy grace be unto him a Sun by day & a Moon by night: Take all impediments out of the way, bridle & so curb all his unruly affections, that they may fold under thine obedience: Suppress all his carcing & heart dividing cares, whip out of his heart all treacherous temptations: Embalm his heart with the sweetness of thy new fresh graces: Settle in his Soul, that godly sorrow which cause Repentance never to be repent of. This silly Soul, LORD, hath been fearfully tossed to and fro with the waves of thy wrath: Let it please thee to command a calm: Settle thou his heart, and establish it with thy free Spirit. Psal. 51. 12 Merciful GOD, thou knoweth how Satan hath sought to sift and Luk. 22. 31. to winnow him; but of thy mercy thou shalt never suffer his Faith to fail: Build upon the Rock which cannot be shaken: Through thy favour give him peace in believing, and joy in the holy Ghost, that by the grace and power of thy Spirit he may finish his course with comfort. Let in now be made manifest that his life hath been hid with Christ in God: Thou who hast numbered his Col. 3. 3. hairs, observe his grief & his groans, pity the crowding of thy Turtle-dove: Taken thou to heart the anguish of his Spirit. Behold, LORD, how he renounceth himself, despairing of his own worth: Give him grace to flee to thy promises, that as in the fearful and perilous path of this val●…y of death, he looketh for nothing but hell torments and pain for his own sake, so he may assuredly look for heaven's glory, even pleasures for Psal. 16. 11 evermore, and that for thy promise sake, for thy Names sake for thy Christ's sake in whom thy Soul is best pleased: Make the bones which thou hast bruised to rejoice: Leave him never to himself, LORD, till thou hast made thy graces now blooming in his heart, to become type for thy glory. LORD, bless thy beloved Church which is hated of the world, She is now pricked with persecutions as a Lily among the thorns: Let this Cant. 2. 2 comfort Her in all Her distresses that thou shalt never forsake Her: But that thorough many tribulations thou shall bring Her unto Glory: Lord, pity & pardon the unthankful Church of this Land: Bind Her unto Thee by the union of Faith, and fasten every one of our hearts to another by the bond of love; left at last by our misdemeanour, thou be forced to root us out of thy good Land as a fruitless Nation. GOD be gracious to our dread SOVEREIGN the King's Majesty, guard His Royal Person from the rage of His enemies. Infatuate their plots: Make giddy their brains, discover their enterprises: make Him the Man of thy right Hand: Anoint His Head with the blessed drops of the Oil of thy Grace & gladness: Make Him an humble Homager to JESUS, who hath written on His thigh the King of kings: LORD give Him Grace according to His Place Psal. 45 10 Say unto His Queen, Harken, O Daughter, & consider & incline thy ear: Make her to forget her own people, & Father's House: In stead of Her old acquaintance, give her Children, whom thou mayest make Princes on the Earth: Above all things we entreat Thee to discharge upon Her Soul the beams and brightness of saving Knowledge. Bless all the Nobility of this Land: Make them truly Noble Act. ●…711. like the men of Berea, who were courageous for the Truth. Make every one of us faithful in our place & calling: keep our Souls ever waking & waiting for thycomming: Preserve us from slumber of Conscience, & deadness of heart, that living according to thy law, we may be in this wicked world godly professors, like burning & shining Lamps for to show light unto others. We all here, O gracious Father, relying upon thy promised readiness to help thy little Ones, and to listen to their cries, have poured out our Souls in thy presence, we entreat The from the sincerity of our inward parts, that of thy fatherly indulgence, it would please Thee to vouchsafe a favourable audience both to these and to all other our most humble and godly desires, and that for JESUS thy dear Son's sake. To whom with Thee and the Spirit of Grace be all glory and honour, world without end. AMEN. 'Cause read unto you this Night, Psalm 38. Psal. 39 Psal 40 Psal. 41. Psal. 42. Psal. 130. Isa. 38. Isa. 53. john 16. Let the end of every day remember you of the end of your life: Though every day of ourage should Ioshu. 10▪ 12 be as long as that day of joshuah, when at his word the Sun stood still in Gibeon, yet it would be night at last. The Lord teach us to number our Psal. 90. 12 days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom, and to well doing. The grace of jesus and the peace of his Spirit rest with you, and comfort you in all the groans of your grief: The Lord turn your smoking flax into a burning fire of zeal: The God of all mercy and compassion refresh your weak and wounded heart with the softest o●…le of his saving grace: Nothing Sir is impossible to your God, who of a brui. sed Reed can make a pillar of Brass, which the prince of the powers of darkness shall not be able to shake: I entreat the Lord to give you such Grace that may lead you unto the face and presence of your GOD: Be more and more earnest with your GOD, that he would inspire your heart with Life, Spirit, and motion, that thereby ye may be made fit for that blessed association with Saints and Angels, far from the crossing checks of Conscience. THE FOURTH DAY'S Conference. The Pastor. ACcording to your desire, Sir, I am come again this morning for to visit you, and for also to reap the fruits of yesterday conference. This is the sweet fruits of a godly Prou. 14. 32 life, It hath, saith Solomon, hope in the end: I pray God to bless you with such an hope, whereby in hope against hope, ye may cleave fast unto Rom. 4. 18 your God, find ye the storm of your temptations allayed? hath the Spirit of God given edge and vigour to these comforts which ye heard yesterday? Have ye put on a Christian courage with a resolute and contented patience to abide the blessed will of your God? The sick Man. Well is the man and blessed, yea, thrice blessed is he whose transgressions Psal. 32, 1 is forgiven, whose sin is covered, for he is free from that sting of Conscience that will for ever torment the Soul of the ungodly. All this night I have been sore cumbered with many spiritual temptations as ye have heard: My Soul for a space hath been wonderfully perplexed: The spirit of man alas, is but too ingenious to debar itself from glory: * Note It is a wonder how this should be in such a glorious Noontide of the Gospel hitherto, Glory be to God, ye have comforted me much; ye have handled my sores with the soft and smooth hand of a most wise and charitable discretion, wisely have ye singled out comforts most expedient for the cure of my Soul: Now seeing by your former discourse I have reaped comfort, let me be so bold as to entreat you to declare breaflie how a man may know by the workings of the Spirit within, whether he be a Reprobate or one of Gods chosen Ones: * Note It is no time for me now to be beguiled: Men which look to die, have need to look well what they do. I desire earnestly to be instructed touching the divers workings of the Spirit into the wicked and the godly: My chief desire is to make my Salvation sure. The Pastor, I shall do what I can to give you contentment in that point. The matter indeed is not without difficulty: But yet the Lord God will do Amos. 3. 7 nothing which he will not reveal unto his servants the Prophets, so far as is needful for his glory & the well of his People: Mine help is in the Name of the Lord, that made Heaven Psal. 124. 8 and Earth. The Spirit of God in man hath two sorts of operations: One general another special: As for the general common to all men, by the Spirit the wicked will say, jesus is the Lord, I know jesus. said the Devil to the Act. 19 15 sons of Scevah: * By this Spirit also the wicked will refrain from outward scandals yea, they may preach, yea, prophecy with Saul, Cajaphas, and judas, so that they will 1 Sam. 10 11 be wondered at, like Soul among the Prophets, or like Simon magus, to whom Act. 8. 10. the world for a space gave heed from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God: Many having but this superficial glistering of grace applaud and content themselves thinking that they are wise, while they indeed are fools. By this Spirit also they will taste the good gift of God but an one they spite it out again: * Meat tasted in the mouth only, and not let down to be digested in the stomach, is unprofitable for nourishment. * Note By this same Spirit also they will be enlightened, so that they will love the dear Saints of God, and will reverence them as King Herod Matth. 14. 3 did john: * Note But here is their stay, they have ever an Herodias, which they will not forsake: Some one reigning sin or other like pestilent canker cleaveth fast unto them and beareth rule into their mortal bodies: Either one sin or other, secret or public must be their Darling: * Note And this again, like a mother, sin must have a dancing daughter, called, Hatred of reprove, whose chiefest suit is, that the preacher, were he an john, either want the head, or else be silenced. This is the very border of the wicked man's progress with all his might and main in the way to glory: Further I cannot see that he can win but only to a taste in the mouth of the goodness of God's gifts and to a certain or rather incertain, liking of that which is good, which at last shall loss the head with the baptist, before he loss his pleasures with Herod: Thus as ye see many are deceived with the false flashes of an evil grounded assurance, that they are in the ready and right way to Heaven, when as indeed they are but faggots prepared for ever lasting burnings. The sick Man. There be one passage in Scripture which hath often affrighted my Soul, in it I see a Reprobate to ma●… such a progress in the way to Hearen, that hardly can I think that ever I did match him: * Note The Apostle saith, 1. That he will be enlightened. Heb. 6. 4. 2. That he will taste of the heavenly gift. 3. That he will be made partaker of the holy Ghost. 4. That he will taste the good word of GOD. 5. That he will taste the powers of the world to come: And yet for all that he shall fall away, so that he can not be renewed by Repentance, and so shall die a Reprobate, and last after death, shall be carried with the wicked into the same stream, till he fall down into the gulf and pool of perdition. I entreat you Sir, to give me some light for the clearing of these words, for often have they troubled my Soul, and dryvine it deep into the dumps, * At the first view of these words it would seem that a man may get seisin of Heaven, and yet thereafter be diss●…ised by some sins and iniquities and deprived of all hope of eternity. The Pastor. The Lord enlighten my mislie mind that I may clear these your doubts to your well and contentment. I confess that at the first sight of these words I myself was amazed; so that I did wonder how all that could be: Indeed at the first view as ye say, it would seem that a man may get seisin of Heaven and yet thereafter be diss●…ised by one sin or other, whereby all his former vert●…es shall loss their grace: * Note But let a man lift up his heart to God in prayer, and thereafter consider well the words and weigh them in the Balance of the Sanctuary, he shall easily perceive that a Reprobate may be endued with all these gifts, and after all be debarred from entering into glory. In the words ye have observed five difficulties, unto which God willing I shall make answer severally. First of all, it is said that the Reprobate who is but a Belly blind, will be enlightened: For to stand under this, ye must first consider that into that place of Scripture the Apostle speaketh of Apostats, that is, of men that have forsaken the true Religion, which once they did profess, for to become professors of lies, men who have revolted from the Truth after that the windows of their Soul were shoot close, for to barreout the Light and that willingly and of set purpose. * Note First than it is said, That they were enlightened, that is, once they knew the Truth: For knowledge is light: * Note But because that having light, they wanted love, God sent them strong delusions to believe lies: * Note S. Paul speaking of these that had but the light of nature, the twilight of reason, said, That they were enlightened in such a sort that thereby they knew God. But because that when they knew God, they Rom. 1. 21 glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, how grievous was their punishment? * Note A little after, both their sin and their punishment is more plainly ser down: Even, sainth he, as they did not like to retain God vers. 28. in their knowledge, God gave them over in a Reprobate mind: * Note That is, he put out and quenched that little light of Nature which once they Matth. 16. 28 had, as he took the Talon from the idle man that rolled it up into a napkin: * Note The greater that light be within a man if it be abused, the greater is the punishment which is for to ensue: But to come to that Light wherewith a Reprobate brought up in the Church may be enlightened: * Note The Light of knowledge within a man who hath not the love of the Truth, is but like the light of a blazing Comet, which shortly dyeth out, and filleth the world with a pestiferous stink: * Note An Apostate on earth is like a Comet in the heavens, a star but in appearance: Such men with all their apparent eminences of zeal and dazzling shows be but blazing stars, such as the Dragon is said to sweep down with his tail. * S. jude calleth them wandering jud. v. 13. stars, they keep not their Station, * Note They are Planets in their motion▪ and Comets in their substance, not fixed in the heavens, but kindled meteores in the air which seem to be in the heavens, and therefore they loss at last their light, so that as S. jude saith, To them is reserved blackness of darkness: Such may have the spirit of illumination, for the good of others, without the Spirit of Sanctification for the good of their own Souls. * Note Though they have some light of knowledge, yet in love and life they walk by the dark side of the cloud with the Egyptians: * Note There is Love and Light in the life of all true Israelites,▪ whose course is by the light side of the fiery Pillar: * Note The wicked for the most part are with the Sodomites, either stricken with Gen. 19 11 blindness, or if they see, they see as these Syrians saw that came to apprehend 2 Kin. 6. 19 Elishah at Dothan, they saw indeed, but their judgement was so troubled, that though they saw, yet they could not perceive, till out of Dothan they were entered into Samariah, the city of their enemies: * Note That was the figure whereof this is the substance, Hear ye indeed, but Isa. 6. 9 understand not, and see ye indeed, but perceive not: O how the eyes of the Soul of man are dimmed with the misty vapours of vanity; thorough which it is hard even for the godly often to see any glimmerings of grace. But to the purpose observe well what I say: * Note The godly and the wicked will both be enlightened: But the godly is enlightened like a star fixed into the heavens, whose light is firm and constant. But the wicked enlightened is but like a blazing Comet, which for a space will have a greater glance, than a true star into the eyes of the ignorants: * Note But the learned Philosopher knoweth it to be nothing but a bundle of filthy matter kindled into the Air, which shall shortly be quenched: * Note Thus as ye see the wicked like a Comet will be kindled with some strange fire, he will be so enlightened, that he will give light▪ unto others for a space with his hoary beams: * Note But this Siella crinita, hoary star, because he is not fixed into the heauens by faith, he not being in the same Firmament with the Sun of Mal. 4. 3. righteousness, within some few Months he dyeth out, leaving nothing behind him but the pestiferous smoke and stink of an evil name, and of filthy scandales, a cause pest, where▪ with many are infected: * Note Thus as ye see many like a Comet or a Candle, will for a time blaze with beautiefull brightness, being full of godly shows, without any life of grace, but at last dye out with a filthy smell: The twilight of Nature is no light but darkness. * Note Let therefore every man try his Light, by his love: * Note Though a man should know Christ never so well, if he cannot say to him, as Peter said, Lord, thou knowest that I love joh. 21. 17 Thee, the light of that man shall not continue, but soon or since with one sin or other it shall be put out as with a damp: * Note Then many shall wonder what can be word of such a blazing professor, when they shall see all his rootless graces withered and wasted. Now Sir, examine well yourself: * Note If ye find a love in your heart with your light, a love of God, not so much for his benefits as for himself, who is most love worthy, be not affrighted to hear that Reprobates may be enlightened: * Note All their graces at the best are rootless, glorious glances, foolish flashes evanishing in a moment. Let me yet a little illustrate the matter, that it may appear how Reprobates are said to be enlightened? The Godly & the Reprobates are both said to be enlightened, but diversly: the Godly are enlightened like the Sun, but the wicked are like the Moon: In the Sun as all know the Light, is rooted and fixed, so that not only doth it show light unto others, but also it hath light within itself: * Note As for the Wicked, they are enlightened like the Moon, which showeth light unto others being dark within, like a Glass which in the sight of the Sun will glance with some beams, unto others hàuing no light within itself: * Note In this the wicked also are like the Moon, that while they are in plenilunio, in their fullest light, in the midst appeareth some black spots: In the greatest light of the wicked, if men can look up, and behold, they shall perceive often one gross sin or other, where the light have no reflex, which is like the black spot of the Moon. Thus as ye see all the light of the Wicked, is but in an outward reflex, whileas they are dark within: But the Godly are like john the Baptist, whom Christ called a burning and a shining light: Not only joh. 5. 35 shine they outwardly unto others, but also they burn within themselves, like these Disciples, whose hearts while Christ spoke, did burn within Luk. 24. 32. them in going to Emaus, these were their words, Did not our hearts burn within us, while he talked with us by the way? * Note The Wicked may well blaze without, but never burn within: God may so dispense, that like a burning Glass they may make others to burn, while like the burning Glass they remain themselves cold, or at the best but lake warm: Now I think that all men may easily perceive how the wicked are said to be enlightened. Such men I confess are hard to be known at the first: * Note A man at least for a month must be acquanted with the Moon before he can know that it is but a dark body, which hath no light in itself, but borrowed and outward: A life-time is not often sufficient for to try Hypocrites transformed, like Satan, into Angels 2 Cor. 11. 14 of light: Such Moon-men beguile many with outward reflexes. Though these which are outwardly adorned with such colours, bless themselves with Laodicea, as having Reuel. 3. 14 need of nothing, yet their sins by the hand of God's justice are written in the Register of their Conscience, yea, deeply engraven as with the pen of a Diamond. Thus Reprobates cannot now understand because their Conscience●… are seared & senseless: they are in such a Slumber & benumbedness of Conscience, that they cannot consider nor make a sound search into the state of their Souls: * Note Nay, though they could, they would not for fear, that there by they should be enchained to melancholy, a mar mirth of all their carnal delights. * Note Of such I will say something, (I pray God that it may chasse them to seek sincerity) Except that such who care only for colours & shows of godliness, for to be well thought of among men, except, say I, they turn to God with true sound and timely Repentance, in my judgement hardly shall they escape some fearful and remarkable judgement, even in this life: Cannot God appoint them to be his own executioners for to be Burriors to themselves? After that, in his wrath he hath kept an assize in their Conscience, and hath made them with judas to cry out guilty against themselves, he can make them hang up themselves in the loupe of a cord, for to be spectacles of his wrath before the world: He can make them poison themselves, or pour out their life with their blood by sword or by knife: * Note This judgement shall cry to the living, Thus shall it be done with him who dallies with his God. If he escape that: * Note Woe, woe, woe unto him on his deathbed, where Satan with hellish malice & bloody cruelty shall wound him with his empoisoned darts, which he shall fasten deeply in his Soul: Then with many a sore sigh shall he cry, that he is enthralled in the snaires & fetters of the devil: Some I know will win out of this world without any seen blot or blow for secret blo●…s, they will die also with some formal & perfunctory appearance of repentance: Others will die in a quiet drowsiness and so poor like Nabal: Many a●…ye see may die without any seen sign●… of God's wrath: But in the day of the Lord, God shall pull that painted vizard off their face, for the discovering of all their abominations, and that before the face of all Saints and Angels, who shall wonder to see all the filthiness which they in their life could so cunningly colour and cover, with most painful painting: Then mens applause and the world's praise, which they did once under the colour of unhallowed zeal most eager pursue, shall by no means avail them; for the righteous Lord with a gloume of his justice shall banish them to the loathsome dungeon of the bottomless pit. Thus after they have carried the matter smoothly for a time by juggling dissimulation, at last all their abominations are set in open view. The sick Man. I find myself satisfied concerning that doubt of the enlightening of the Wicked, who as I see are stark blind, grossie and palpably ignorant in the mysteries of Salvation. Now teach me what this is, that he will taste of the heavenly gift: How can unsanctified mortality be capable of celestial benefits? The Pastor. By the heavenly gift I understand the favour of God and eternal life▪ * Note The wicked man, whose portion is only in this life, will taste these things, that is betimes he will find a certain sweetness in God: * Note The most wicked man that is will at one time or other lift up his eyes to God, yea; and think himself much beholden unto God: But all this goodness is but like the morning dew; it hath none abiding, a sound of fear is ever into the wicked man's ears: * As a man Host 6. 4. may taste poison and yet not be the worse, because incontinent he spiteth it out again; so a wicked man may taste good things; and yet not be the better because that after he hath tasted them, he letteth them not over his throat, but spiteth them out again: * Note That which he hath tasted with the one ear, he spiteth out at the other care: * Note The good words may flow a little into his brain and rinne into his memory, so that there of he may prattle like a Paroquet, but nothing goeth down to his heart, which I may call the stomach of the Soul: * Note If a man should but taste food, were it never so fit of itself for to feed he should not be able to live thereby: It is even so of the wicked spiritualy: They cannot live by tasting of graces, where God hath not opened the heart as he opened the heart of Lydia, there is nothing Act. 16 14 but a tasted grace: Let me yet clear the matter. * Note The wicked will get a taste of heaven, as the godly w●…ll get a taste of hell: * Note In this doing, I observe a secret justice, and a secret mercy of God: It is a mercy for the godly that they taste the bitterness of wrath here, that they may esteem the more of heaven's glory here after. * Note The base our estate be before we he exalted, we shall think the more of honour when it cometh: What am I, said David, being but a shepherd, that I should marry a King's Daughter? Who am I? said he, and what is my life, or my father's family in Israel, 1 Sam. 18. 18 that I should be Son in law to the King * Note If David had been a King's Son, he could have well thought himself an equal match for a King's Daughter: But while he considered his own base estate and the baseness of his father's family, he thought himself so ouermatcht, that he wondered at such honour, which made him say, Who am I? What am I, said 2 Sam. 9 8 lamed Mephibosheth, that I a d●…ad dog should sit at the Table of a King? * Note The greater adversity a man be come out of, the more sweet is his prosperity when it cometh: * Note The tempestuous by past blasts of Winter commend the beauty of the Spring: * Bring me a man who is daily accustomed to good cheer, to a Banquet, and little shall he think of it, because such is his ordinary fare: But, O if bread was not sweet to that hunger bitten forlorn, when he came home from his husks! * ay think that the godly in heaven Luk. 15. 16. shall remember of the bitter taste of wrath they felt on earth, which shall so ravish them with joy of their changed estate, that no tongue shall be able to express: * Note But again, here is justice and wrath for the wicked: God in this life giveth unto them a taste of his sweet thing: Some common spiritual confections he putteth into their mouth, whereof they find some heavenly relish; * Note I am of this opinion, that while they shall be in hell, the remembrance of that sweet taste shall never go out of their heart, which shall be a most powerful means for the increasing of their smart: * Note What a sting was this unto the gl●…tton in hell, when Abraham, Luk. 16. 25 said to him, Son remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things? * Note Ye may see here that the wicked have remembrance in hell of what good things they have received on earth, which is an hell in hell. Thus as ye see God in justice and and in wrath will let the Wicked here on earth taste his good things, for the increase of their woe thereafter: * Note By the sweet taste they had of God on earth while they lived, they know now in Hell, which is a * Note part of their torment, what joy the godly have in Heaven: * Note And again the godly by that bitter taste of wrath which once they felt on earth, shall know, which shall wonderfully increase their joy, what torments the wicked suffer in hell, from which the Lord in his unspeakable mercy hath made them free. By this as ye perceive both the godly & the wicked taste here both of Hell & of Heaven: The godly taste of Hell, that Heaven, may be to them the sweeter: The wicked taste of Heaven that Hell may be to them the sour: God loveth not the wicked, but hateth them as he hated Esau: * Note For this cause, while he giveth them a taste of his good things, it is that while they shall be in easlesse and endless torments, they may remember how sweet a God they have despised, and how sour a Satan they have served. * Note All these good things which are jointly in the wicked man, are but like fair attire upon a leprous body, or like jewels about the neck of an hanged man: He hath nothing but the dead portraiture of an Israelite indeed. joh. 1. 47. * Note But in all this time while under the shows of godliness, he is drinking in iniquity like water, a dreadful sound is in his ears, for he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his joh. 15. 16 hand: God at last in great wrath shall run upon him, even on his neck, upon vers. 23. the thick bosses of his buckler, because he did cover his face with fatness, and made collops of fat on his flanks, not caring for the leanness of his poor Soul: * Woe to these who content with bare tasting of graces, in wrap themselves i●… clouds of hypocrisy. The sick Man. My Soul Sir, rejoiceth to hear you speak: * Note I perceive now by your speech that the wicked will get a taste of spiritual good things into their mouth, but that from thence nothing cometh down to their heart, because the passage is stopped. The Pastor. It is even so: * Note Quod non deglutiunt multo minus concoquunt, That which they cannot swallow down, less can they digest: * Note The hearts of all men are naturally fast shoot for to hold out God. Christ found Cant. 5. 2 the door of his Spouse barred, when he came, neither would she open it, till the favour of his myrrh had vers. 5. wrought upon her heart: At the best of men's hearts he must often stand and knock, again, and again: But as for the wicked man's heart, it hath no entry for grace, not in all his Psal. 10. 4. thoughts: The heart of a Reprobate is like a Pest-house, closed up: Lidiahs' Act, 16. 14 heart was closed, till God opened it: * Note Thus as ye see the wicked may for to speak so, get a mouthful of God's good things, which they will taste as it were roll up and down with their tongue like a sweet morfell with some sort of pleasure: * Note But at once they loath that which they loved, and spit out these heavenly confections: Thus doing they are said to do despite Heb. 10. 29. ●… unto the Spirit of Grace. O but the hollow heart of man barboureth many close corruptions. The sick Man. Now Sir, I pray you proceed: Let me hear some thing concerning the third difficulty, which is that a Reprobate may be made partaker of the holy Ghost: How can this be? * Note This seemeth to be very hard and knotty, that a man can be a Reprobate, a limb of Satan, and one of the family of hell, and yet ●… made partaker of the holy Ghost: Let me understand what is that to say. The Pastor. * Note By the holy Ghost in Scripture are often understood the gifts and graces of the holy Ghost: According to this it is said, that these of Samariah received the holy Ghost, after Act. 8. 17 that Peter and john had prayed for them, and laid hands upon them, they received the holy Ghost, that is spiritual gifts: it was for to have a power to give such gifts that Simon Magus Act. 8. 18 offered money to the Apostles▪ * Note Whereas then it is said that Reprobates are partakers of the holy Ghost, it is to be understood of such gifts that are common both to the Godly and Wicked: The best temper of their religion, and the highest pitch of all their holiness, is nothing but outwardness and formal Christianity. The sick Man. I Desire earnestly to know what common gifts these be that the holy Ghost will bestow upon a Reprobate. The Pastor. A Reprobate may carry the matter smoothly for a time: * Note He may wonderfully in wrap himself in godly glancing shows, so that he can not be espied for a space, by a juggling dissimulation he will even blear the eyes of the Prophets which are Gods Seers: * Note When he is clothed with a coats of forms, men will think that under such forms be the true substance: While he hath that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 2. 20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 form of knowledge, and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 form of godliness, 2 Tim. 3. 5 men who see not as God seeth, will taken him to be some great Divine, while indeed all the graces he hath are but forms and outwardness, without any life or root of sound inward sanctifying grace: All such forms in end prove stark nought. * Note A Reprobate may be a teacher of God's word, a builder of God's House like Noah's Carpenters, who builded the Ark, and yet drowned into the flood: * Note He may blaze like a Comet with colourable pretences of piety, and show light unto others for a space, yea, so that with most glorious glances he shall make men's eyes to dazzle, and yet shall at last die out, leaving nothing behind but the smoke and stink of an evil life like the snuff of a Candle, when there is loathsome reek without a flame: * Note An Hypocrite may be a man of a mild & merciful disposition, yea, zealous in appearance, without any seen blot or blemish: By his hypocrisy he may do good to others. Men seeing him, will stand in awe to offend, thinking him to be a sincere man: * Note A Reprobate will be like the man that beareth the Lantern in the dark night, wherewith while he giveth light unto others, he is least enlightened himself: * Note While others by that light will see the best and cleanest way, he himself and Lantern together will fall into a mire. * Note Thus after that his light is quenched in some scandalous puddle, the followers know what a man he was: A Reprobate may have immunity from gross and in famous sins, he may be a man of great gifts, wondered at by many as was Simon Magus, Act. 8. 9 to whom all gave heed, from the least to the greatest▪ saying, This man is the great power of God: * Note A whole people's applause is no sure token of God's favour. * Note As Sirion which is Hermon, was called by Moses Zion, so may a godly man both think & call an Hypocrite Deut. 8. 48 a chosen vessel▪ * Note Of such a man often may a Godly man say, as Elisha said of the Shunamite lying at his feet, The Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me: * Note The godly and wicked are sibber unto other in outward shows, than Sirion and Sio●… are sib in syllabes: Nay, in outwardness and glorious glances, the wicked bear the Bell, because their greatest care is cunningly to manage & eager to catch such vain applause. * Note The high stature and fair face of Eliab deceived the Seer: Surely, 1 Sam. 16. 6 said he, the Lords anointed is before him, and yet for all that the voice come out from God, declaring that God had refused him. vers. 7▪ That which is like unto another is not that whereunto it is like: There is but an H between Sibboleth and Shibboleth, and yet the loss of that judg. 12. 6 Letter cost the Ephramites their lives at the passage of jordan. The want of that note of Aspiration made them to loss their breath with their life: Man under a mask of mildness may deceive men with fair words, as Ioa●… 2 Sam. 20. vers. 9 did Amasa; but God well knoweth the Gal●…lean accent, though Peter should deny with an oath. The craft of Hypocrites is wonderful: * Note While they walk in a ploding course of glorious shows, being fast nailed unto outward formality, they will wonderfully blear the eyes of men, so that they will out-steppe the best in low louring and counterfeit cruching, who would not have thought Ahab a true repenting man, while sick in 1 Kin. 21. 27 sack he went sof●…lie with sack cloth nearest his skin? Man's eyes are easily, easily jugguled with soddered shows: But God who seeth not as man 1 Sam. 17 6 seeth, looketh on the heart: They that see such painted men, as they themselves also, may think that they are already possessed of the Kingdom of grace, and also entitled to the Kingdom of glory, while indeed they are but profane men of seared Consciences, seeking for nothing but popular appla●…ses for the advancement either of their profit or preferment or reputation and worth: By some worldly respect they ever are carried on the by, whereby they ever come short of sincerity. * Note Woe unto them even when all men shall speak good of them: * Note For a space they may well think in their own fond conceit, that they are stored with all the riches of God's graces, like Beggars in their sleep dreaming that they are tumbling themselues amid great heaps of gold: O but when such awake they are not only empty of their imagined good, but filled with sorrow for being deprived of that which they had in their imagination, the greatest ground of their contentment: Thus all comforts shallbe sweep from them with the bosom of utter desolation. O the deceitfulness of man's heart! Who can know it? said jeremy: Ier 17. 9 * Note What eye can pierce and pass thorough all the wiles & windings of this juggling sin of Hypocrites, which having nothing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a form of godliness, which bear that world in hand that they are scalded & burnt with the zeal of God's House: The best things that are in such are nothing but civil outwardness clothed with colourable pretences of piety, without any justifying faith in the heart, or renewing power in the Soul, wherein is the practice of piety. What shall I say more? a Reprobate as ye see may be both courtesy and kind, solatious in conversation, a man beloved of his neighbours, yea, such a man may drive out his days without any seen blot, or outward scandal: Hypocrisy may be so small spun, that no carnal eye can perceive it Such a man also may have some troubles of Conscience, some secret checks of remorse for his by-goné follies, even judas his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, repenting or forethinking: But his Soul was never acquainted with travelling and hard labour in the new births which is borne with that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even an universal change of mind, will, and affections which is only peculiar to the godly. I will yet say more, a Reprobate while he possesseth a true doctrine though but outwardly, he may ●…aue the gift of prophecy with Saul & Cajaphas yea, of miracles, & also of healings, of helps in governaments and of diversities of tongues: * Note Behold, how a wicked man may be a Preacher, and a Prophet, or among 1 Sam. 10. 12 the Prophets, and a worker of meracles: Have we not cast out devils in Matth. 7. 22. thy Name? shall many say to Christ at the day of judgement; to whom Christ shall answer, Depart from vers. 32. me for I know you not. All these good things may a man have, and yet be a stranger from the life of God: * Though such outward things have a glorious appearance & be great in the eye of the world▪ yet they are no sure token of God's love: * Note Did not Christ call judas, Matth. 26 50. Friend? All the common gifts & graces of the wicked, are nothing but like the friendship that was between Christ and judas, whom Christ called friend, for to let him know that the greater was his sin: Such for all their glistering shows are strangers from the life of God, holden fast under the power of the first death, and yet none so much as they are puffed up with a conceit of imaginary perfection, so powerful is the devilish influence of pride: The greater Gods gifts shallbe into the wicked, that greater shall be their woe. The sick Man. I hau●… heard, and am satisfied concerning that the wicked may be made partaker▪ of the holy Ghost: I pray you to discuss the fourth difficulty, which is, That ●… man may taste the good word of God, and yet be a Reprobate. The Pastor. He will indeed Sir, taste the good word God, as I have exponded that he will taste the heavenly gift: * Note He will taste the good word of God, That is, he will understand the word, he will take pleasure to read it, and to hear it preached, with some flashes of comfort, whereby he will be moved to harbour some good meanings and intentions, not only that, but also he will do many things as Mar. 6. 20. Herod who heard john gladly, and did also many things: * Note But such a man hathever some herodias a darling sin secret or known, which he would prefer to the head of john the baptist: * Note While he is in the Church it may be he hear the word with some gladness, yea, and weet his cheeks with tears at the preaching of Christ's passion, but let h●…m go from thence to his Banqueting, a dancing of a daughter of this Herodias, viz. Some little tickling joy of his Mistress, & predominant sin will make him to forget all that was preached: A small requeast of some dancing devil will make such a man, if he be of power, to lay the Preachers Mar. 6. 28 head in a platier. * Note There be many who while they hear the Word preached in the Church, are like a Siffe or Riddle into the water, so long as they are in hea●…ing, they seem to be full of God's word, even to the brim: But so soon as they are once departed, all that they heard runneth out, and they to their old by as again. The best thing that are in the wicked are to God, as who for a sacrifice should cut off a Dog's neck, or offer Swine blood. The sick Man. This is a strange matter, this world as I see, is like Sardis. Thou hast a Reuel. 3. 4. few names in Sardis▪ which have not defiled their garments: The Godly are as the shaking of the Olive, Two or three Berries in the top of the upper-most Esa. 17. 6. bough. Christ called them well, The little Flock. Great as I Luk. 12. 32. see is the deceitfulness of sin: * Note I thought when I saw a man or a woman, hearing the word with great attention, and while with tears, that these could not be but the Lords chosen and dearest Ones: And yet I see that a man may hear the word with great appearance of godliness, yea and think the Word most sweet for the time, yea, love and reverence God's Messengers, and yet for all that be kept short of the state of Grace. The Pastor. All that is true, for Herod reverenced john for a space, and heard him gladly: Simon magus believed Act. 8. 13. with a temporary faith: And Esau Heb. 12. 17 though he wept and sought the blessing with many tears, yet could find no place in his heart where he could lodge true Repentance. Many are endued with painted Graces, which having but the face & not that heart of grace, are mere hypocrisy: Even vices masked with the appearance of virtues: Such formal holy persons come far short of being in Christ jesus, in whom all true goodness is most lively incorporate. The sick Man. I have heard you Sir, discuss very pertinently four difficulties, the fifth and last, and greatest is behind: Often have I wondered what could be the true sense & meaning thereof, the words are these, He will taste of the powers of the world to come? What can a Reprobate have to do with the world to come? I understand not well these words. The Pastor. Indeed Sir, they want not difficulty: Some of the Learned think with S. chrysostom, That by the powers of the world to come are to be understood, the powerful working and miracles under the Gospel, which in respect of the Law was called, The world to come, as if the days of the Gospel were the days of a new world, since Christ that Day spring from on Luk. 1. 78 high, and most glorious Sun of Righteousness did appear for to enlighten Mal. 4. 2. every man that cometh into this world: But in my judgement that be more subtle, than solid: * Note I had rather think that Reprobats are said to taste of the powers of the world to come▪ when they find some sort of sweetness in God with a kind of desire to be out of this world, for to be with God into the Heavens: * Note Such a desire betimes will make their hearts flutter up toward these heavenly Mansions * Note But such fluttering desires wanting the feathers of Faith, incontinent come short, and fall down again with a jump: He hath not a settled constancy nor well grounded resolution. God at some times will let the Wicked see some glimpse of his glory, as it were a lightning that passeth most swiftly away, which for a little space in the dark night letteth a man see that which is before him: But so soon as it is past, his eyes become more dazzled and darkened, than they were of before: such powers are but painted powers: They are indeed like the living powers as an Image is like a man, but they want the heart of godliness. Thus according to my knowledge in a serious and impartial search is all the wicked man's progress toward the kingdom of glory. All the best graces that he hath, are but glances of graces and dreams of glory, even extreme poverty, glorious sins, beautiful abominations. These be Gods limets, who hath said to him, as he said to the proud waves, Hitherto shall ye come and no further: * Note Such a man in his best estate and conceit is but an Hypocrite lurking under the Canopy of a counterfeit profession: His best estate is both broken and bankrupt in spiritual things: * Note For a space such a man may go pleasantly like a Ship before the wound; but at last down cometh a blast of judgement, and sinketh him down irrecoverablie into the bottom of hell. The sick Man. I am glad to have heard the solutions of these five difficulties, which often did trouble my mind. By all your discourse I perceive that the Reprobates at their best, feel but some general good motions, and that all their persuasions, that they shall at last come to heaven, are nothing but imaginations, and vain dreams of glory: * Note Many in mine opinion are deceived in this world, who like these that dream, think they awake, while they indeed are fast asleep: Many in this world as I see, think to be saved, whose thoughts shall prove to be but dreams: Some obscure prints of unsound joys, though for a space they may be of good acceptance with the most godly, and clap their own hands, as if they were in the passage to Paradise: They are in end disappointed, because they want true inward holiness, without which no man shall see God's face. The Pastor. It is most true Sir, for●…s men for the most part desire to be flattered by others, so taken they delight to flatter themselves, feeding upon fond fancies and fantasies, like Hypochondriackes, or brain sick, who cannot be persuaded, but that they are Kings, while indeed they are but Beggars. The sick Man. This is a terrible disease: * Note But to leave the Reprobates, and come to the Elect, I desire now to know of you what be that special spiritual working, which is only peculiar to the Elect and chosen Ones of God: I wish to hear of the proceedings of God's Spirit working into the hearts of the godly unto their Salvation: The godly I am assured are of a more noble and heavenly temper full of the Spirit of Grace. The Pastor. * Note In my judgement where the Spirit of God worketh to the Salvation of the Soul of a sinner, before it come to a full persuasion & height of assurance, there is first a tempest of wrath against sin going before the coming of God in his mercy, viz. A shaking wind, a trembling earthquake, a burning fire, which like three grim posts come running before to tell that God is coming into the calm. * Note Before that God show his presence into the still voice, he proceedeth by steps and degrees: First he rebuketh the sinner of sin, and wakeneth his Conscience with some sight of his iniquities, & with some sense of that wrath which sin hath deserved: From this ariseth a great heaviness into the heart, which breaketh forth both in speech & countenance, so that the world which know him of before, will wonder at his change, as if he were a creature cast into another mould▪ * Note After that God hath thus prepared the Soul of men with thundering tempests and tremble with blasts and with burnings, and thereby hath made them more afraid of sin, than they were of before of sin itself: At last he cometh unto them into the calm of his mercy, & first giveth unto them grace to flee all occasions of sin, and after that, to hate the very garment spotted with the flesh▪ * Note He jud. v. 23. who in despite can gnash his teeth against that wherein once he took pleasure to displease his God, is not a sholler of flesh and blood, not a natural man that is content with civil outwardness. * Note After that the Spirit hath wrought a detestation and hatred of sin into the heart, he putteth a cry into the heart for mercy, with sighs and sobs which cannot be expressed: * Note Some times these sighs will break out into such words that both speaker and hearer will wonder wherefrae they come. * Note After that, the Spirit in his motions by a sweet and silent inspiration, goeth forward in his progress into the heart by little & little, with Life, Light, Liberty, and peace of Conscience, even that peace which passeth all understanding, and so cannot be expressed in humane words: Now am I come Sir, as ye hear, ad metam non loquendi, that I can say no more: * Note It were but folly for me to dive so deep in God's workings, as for to take unto me to declare unto you that which passeth all understanding: * Note The new name into the white Stone, is known to Reuel. 2▪ 17 none, but to these that have received it: Though he that hath this name know it himself, yet he cannot utter it: It is like these words of Paradise which S. Paul called unspeakable. 2 Cor. 12. 4. Now for to sum up breaflie all that hath been declared in a more large and ample discourse, I shall observe three things which are only rooted in the godly heart, & a●…e altogether strangers from the Reprobates. * Note First where true grace is, there is a remorse and painful grief with many sore sighs, for all by gone slips: By this as by a Bit or Bridle the Soul of the godly man is kept from backeslading and scandalous stumbling relapses. secondly, he hath a present quick feeling of these sins, which of before he counted but little and veniel: If it be sin▪ he will say no more, Is it not a little one? * Note A ●…ye for luc●…, Gen. 19▪ 20 or for sport yea, a light idle word will check him at once in the Conscience, though he were persuaded that it were never known to any. Last of all, by a long practice in well doing he acquireth in his Soul an habitual tenderness, whereby the former good motions are so confirmed and strengthened, that it is a pleasure to him to do well: Off this ariseth the gracious and most sweet temper of the good Conscience▪ which is to his Soul a perpetual feast: This is the Christians progress in true godliness, which is never so calm in this world▪ that it can be said to be without troubles, which maike the way unto glory: Thus much for the proof of the point in hand. * Note Only this I desire you to observe, that such spiritual workings go by degrees●…, like a River that is waxing, like an Herb that is growing, like a Day that is but dawning▪ or like a Victory but beginning: At last cometh now full Flood▪ now is perfect growth, now is Noon▪ day, now have I fought the good fight, & 2 Tim. 4. 8 now I look for the crown of righteous nesse: This being all finished, therepenting sinner entereth into glory, the place of full contentment, where the restless eyes of man's desire shall rest from peeping or prying any further for any greater felicity. Thus briefly by way of compend have I declared unto you: But all this is not so soon done as said: B●…tter be the Battles of a Christian before he can come to this rest: There be bloody battles against the Devil, bloody battles against the World▪ bitter and bloody battles against the corruptions of his flesh: Many a stroke will he give upon his breast with that Publican many astroke will he give upon his thigh, crying Ier 31. 19 with Ephraim, ●…ye, What have I done? * Note S. Paul was pricked with a thorn in the flesh, and buffeted by a devil, 2 Cor. 12. 7 before he got the Crown: * Note Christ himself speaking of himself▪ said, Ought not Christ to have suffered all these Luk. 24. 26 things, and so to enter into his glory? It is easy to hear this short discourse of words: * Note But what pains are into the second Birth: The pains of the first Birth are so piercing, that the very pains of hell are compared unto them: And yet I have known women who by their own confession, have traveled more into the second birth than ever they did in the first: * Note Many would be content to dye for to be borne again: This flesh of ours is ill to die, yet it must die, and be mortified, at the birth of Ichabod where is the glory? The first words that this new creature learneth to speak is, 1 Sam. 4. 2 Where is the glory? * Note At the first it seeketh after God's glory, as the new borne Babe at the first seeketh after that dug with the tongue and the lips: * It is the best food of a regenerate Soul to set our God's glory, as it was our Saviour's meat to do his Fathers will. After all that, the Soul maketh a procession in well doing, never standing at a stand, but ever going forward, though some times more slowly: The way to glory is from grace to grace: * Note Many foully deceive themselves, because that they forbear one sin or other, whereunto at other times they have been most slavishlie addicted, they think themselves reform men, and that if Death should come, incontinent the doors of Heaven should go wide open to the walls, for to let in their●… souls with their forms of godlinesse●… 2 Tim. 3 5 Such are so high in their own conceit, that they think to be after death cannonized Saints. Of this sort be so many, that Scripture calleth them a generation: Prou. 30. There is a generation that are pure in their own conceit, and yet are not washed from their filthiness. In him who is truly a child of God, the strongest corruptions of the flesh must be snaffled and kerbed by the Law of the Spirit: * Note It is not enough to beat down one sin, or two, or many, as many will do, but reserve aye some, one or other▪ for which they must pray with Naaman, In this thing the Lord 2 Kin. 5. 18 pardon thy servant. * Note Let no man deceive himself, there is no place in Heaven, but for him or her whose study is applied to an universal sincerity of all their ways. Let it be that Cain was not a Thief: But did not God curse him for his murder? Let it be that judas was Gen. 4. 11. free of many sins, yet because he way a Thief, and a Traitor and joh, 12. 6. died so, he was damned. Let it be that the Pharisee was not an adulterer Luk. 18. ●…. as he bragged, yet his pride was the bane of his Salvation. * Note He that maketh not conscience of the least sin, is guilty of the greatest: According to this God himself saith, That who faileth in one, faileth in all: If for God and for Conscience sake, a man abhor the great sins of murder and adultery, and such others of not orious rank▪ for these same sakes he will abstain from lesser sins, otherways it is but some worldly respect, either for shame or loss, which like a restraining grace, withholdeth him from matching the same: Many will neither kill, nor commit adultery, and yet will make no conscience to slander, or lie either in sport or earnest, or by hook or crook catch that which is not their own. Who ever he be, who without controlment looseth the reins to such petit sins, hath never as yet set his foot forward in the way that leadeth to life: the Spirit of grace as yet hath made no residence into him: The Spirit he hath, is but a sporting Spirit deceiving him with ●…ies: The surest note of the Spirit of the grace is a sanctified study, & endeavour to an universal sincerity in all our ways; of thought, word, and dead, which will be I confess often with great weakness and failing, for in many jam. 3. 2. things we offend all. Now Sir, what think ye of all that hath been said? according to the knowledge that God hath given me, I have cleared your doubts: If my discourse hath done you good give God the praise, yet would I know what all these words hath wrought in your heart. The sick Man. I bless God for that which I have heard: * Note By God's Grace I have catcht some hope of a better life: The desires of mine heart begin to enter the confines of eternity: I find the motions of the Spirit of Grace working into my Soul the great work of Salvation: I am now refreshed with the sweet streams of spiritual comforts: I find now my Soul lifted up toward God, and I find the love of this world falling down like the Mantle of Elijah: I 2 Kin. 2. 13 think that I go now more sweetly and swiftly to my God, with a more holy and heavenly desire, than ever I did heretofore: Your comforts Sir make me to hyefaster: * Note I take this to be a new workmanship of grace: * Note I hope shortly to be at the up shot of all my troubles: * Note I find within mine heart some kindled joy, which I take to be the pawn of pleasures for evermore: The Spirit Psal. 16. 11 of God like a Dove hath brought unto my Soul a comfort like an Olive Gen. 8. 11 leave assuring me in some weak measure, that the flood of God's wrath is asswadged upon my Soul: What shall I say? The best of God's blessings are behind: Oh that now my Saviour were into the clouds: I had rather die, than I should live for to anger the Lord again: Alas, that mine heart hath been so gleved to the ground like a shell-Snaile fastened on the wall. Seeing Sir God hath wrought so well by you in this great work of my conversion; I entreat you to continue in some good purpose, that my mind may still be kept bended upon that which is good: * Note If ye leave off to teach me, my mind will but wander in vanity. O Lord, work all my thoughts to holy and heavenly meditations. The Pastor. Blessed be God who hath given you such a resolute and contented mind: See what ye desire me to speak chiefly of at this time. The sick Man. * Note Seeing I am shortly for to leave this world and to go to the Heavens, for to take out of mine heart * Note the least root of regret to quite this world: I pray you Sir, to say something of the vanity of this world, of the last judgement, and of the joys of Heaven, where shortly I hope to be: Let me hear how I shall loss nothing in the change: Strive Sir, I pray to kindle and blow up the dying fire of my devotion, help me to go from strength to strength▪ till I be in Zion. The Pastor. The Lord put such words into my mouth, which may be able to win your Soul up to Heaven, and to wean it from all worldly pleasures. First for to speak but a word in general concerning this world. * Note What is it but a piece of earth, made barren with God's curse, whose fruits without sweaty labours, are but Gen 3. 8. thistles and thorns? As for the vanity of the world, seculum speculum, This world is a glass wherein a drumlie eye may see its vanity: He who was wisest in it, speaking of it, after that he was tired with trying its pleasures, preached that it was but vanity of vanities, a Eccles. 1. 2 very Idea, that is the abstract of vanities, which are the abstracts of things that are vain: * Note So according to Solomon's Text all that we account most substantial, is but an abstract of an abstract, as if a man should dream that he dreamt, which should be the dream of a dream: * Note This is like that vanity which Habak▪ kuke calleth very vanity, wherein Heb. 2. 13 are some few flashes of deceivable comforts. Thus as ye see the life of man in this world is nothing but a fardel of vanities, shadows and dreams, a bundle of displeasing pleasures, vain in inside and outside too: * Note Our greatest pleasures here are but a mixture of misery: They are soon marred like a mistuned song: * Note The flees in the plague of flees were not so thick in Egypt as vanities are in this world, for which the most part of the world exchange the happiness of their Souls: These who are most glorious in worldly pomp, are constrained to say at last with that King in Homer: * The great God hath imprisoned me with cares: O happy they who are free of such dangers, are secured in cottages of clay. After that man hath been upon the top of his pomp, and is come to the vertical point of his pleasures after which he hath hunted with great eagerness of heart: He must come down and be kerbed with pains of divers diseases, distressed till he be turned in to dust. * Note All his pleasures, profits, and preferments shall slide away like a shadow: They shall pass like a Post passing by, like water lift up with a sife, or sand with open fingers. As the ship passeth over the waves, its trace, not being able to be seen on the brim, or as the fowl mounting to the Sky, piercing the Air, so that no mortal eye can perceive any token of her passage, though the ear hear the noise of her wings, so shall it be of all earthly things, when once the inch of this life being ended, our mortal Soul shall be dislodged out of this clay, all earthly contentments than shall be like a Bird, of whose flight no token can be found after for a space by the shaking of her wings, she hath parted the air in a greater heminencie of going: In all our greatest pleasures be lurking sorrows like serpents among the grass, which maketh way to a fairing man to step back or start aside. Oh, that we were wise! What shall I say? In this transitory life we are miserable blind folded, because we love not the heavens, God letteth us dote upon the earth: It is righteous with God so to do: Of Psal. 117. 23. all this we must say, This is the Lords doing, it is marvelous in our eyes: Oh, that we could consider! in these last days of this world, there is come upon the world a plague of vanity, like a plague of flees, whereof pride is Beelzebub the master fly, which buzzeth in most men & women's heads commanding other legions of vanities full of fretting sorrows, or of false flattering pleasures wherewith the silly Soul is fettered: * Note The whole life of man is enclosed in Mesopotamia between two rivers of tears, First we mourn at our Birth, and last others mourn at our Burial: Nascimur flentes morimur gementes: * Note The whole bounds of our life is enclosed between weeping and groaning: * Note At the first sight of the light we weep, and last at the closing of our eyes, we gasp out our life with a groan: What shall I say? So soon as we are borne, we are gone like a shadow when it declineth. Psal. 109. 23 Oh, that we could consider that there is nothing here which is not mixed with some spice of vanity. * If we had eyes to see, we would say, What is below in this Region of corruption without corruption or contempt? * Note Within us, without us, above, us, about. us, all is out of order: The powers of the heavens are shaken, the Air about our heads is full of tempests & flashing meteors! the world is waxed old, and is come to its decrepit age: The last days are days of diseases, the companions of old age, all is wrong. The Church is sick of Sects: The Sea is full of Pirates, & the Land of Robbers, yea, and of sins and sickness unknown to former ages: The Godly are as sheep among wolves. Matth. 10 16, Psal. 55. 6 O that I had wings like a Dove, for than vould I flee away and be at rest▪ * Note here is nothing but Mesech & Kedar, where there is nothing but Psal. 102. 5 w●…e for the godly which dwell therein: * Note Where shall a godly man live, or in what state shall he live? or how shall he live? but he shall be battered and besieged with much toil and turmoil? * Note If he be wealthy, he shall be envied: If he be poor, he shall be despised: If he be wise, he shall be accounted crafty: If he be simple, he shall be called foolish: * Note All that is within us, all that is without us, yea, and in ourselves are ready to betray us, & to give us up into the hands of our enemies: * Note The eyes behold, that vanity may come in: The ears hearken like open flood gates to let in streams of vanities for to drown the Soul: The false heart within, that keepeth the keys of all the senses, while the Soul is sleeping, bringeth in upon it like a Delilah, a number judg. 16. 21. of cruel Philistims: * Note Thus the strong men of Israel is made a jest and mock unto the uncircumcised that belong not to the covenant. This whole world is but a world of vanity? The wise man Solomon the mirror of wisdom, and wonder of the world, was sent into this world as a spy: from God for the well of man: * Note By his wisdom his mind ran thorough the world like a Pilgrim from country to country, yea, like a Bee from herb to herb, for to taste them. He considered all the trees from the Cedar to the Hyssop, 1 King. 4. 33 for to pry into, and pierce the pith and virtues of all things abroad, for to take thorough notice thereof: After that he had thus wandered, being come home again from his pilgrimage, the world flocked about him, to search what he had heard and seen abroad, and what he thought of the world, and of all the glory thereof: * Note What news, Solomon? did the Worldings say, whose heart is like a Ferret in the earth: What hast thou seen or heard? Solomon contracteth all his News into a Line, Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity. All these things which are soloved, I have looked into, would Solomon say, but I have found nothing but vanity from the bark to the bone: * Note In Trees is vanity, in Herbs is vanity, as well in the Cedar as in the Hyssop: In Silver is vanity, in Gold is vanity, in jewels is vanity, in Honour is vanity, in Clothing is vanity, in Strength is vanity, in Wisdom is vanity, in Beauty is vanity: In a word, all is full of vanity, yea, all is vanity, yea, vanity of vanities: All the creatures saith Rom. 8. 20 the Apostle, the spy of the New Testament, are subject to vanity: * Note For the sin of man, all the Creatures have lost that glory and liberty, which once they had, and are become slaves under a base bondage, under which they groan as a woman in travel: All earthly comforts which spring out of sinful pleasures fail and fad like grass. * Alas, what is here, that should move a Soul to desire to sojourn here, but a moment. * Note This world is a Tenise of▪ temptations, wherein the silly Soul like a ball without any ceasing is tossed from wall to wall, as one wave of the Sea rusheth upon another, being carried with a gale of wind, so do●… all sorts of sorrows here as in a moved sea swell, roll, and rage with most fearful rushinge upon man▪ till he be turned into froth. * Note It is a wonder how the eyes of man should be so bleared, or rather juggled, that any thing below●… should make him to say as they 〈◊〉 on Tabor, who knew not what they Luk. 9 33 said: It is good for us to be here, and yet who is he that is not dulled and darkened with the clouds of folli●… Is not this world a wildernesse●… the way's thereof are rough an●… crooked, * Note Man's best things hee●… are like the Hartechoke, whereof the most part is unprofitable leaves▪ * Note Our joys are joined with sorrowe●… chequer work, white and black, lik●… Lilies among thorns. * Note Our hopes here are vain, the profit is false, the pleasures are passing, the labours are loss, the promises are but lies: * Note The whole state of this Prince of Creatures is here but a banishment, here and there he stumbleth, where he thought best to stand, where he purposed to take his rest, there he findeth his ruin: No worldly comforts are to be trusted into, they are like the staff of a broken reed, whereon if a Isa. 36 6. man lean, it will go into his hand: Do what he can, some painful splinter or other shall be fastened in his flesh: * Note There is nothing on Earth which can be managed with such cunning, that it may be without cumber: The proudest and joftiest waves of men's designs, are easily broken into foam: * Note God's favour is the surest Sanctuary, nothing within the compass of this created world, can yield to man solid comfort or contentment, nothing can possibly fill the boundless desire of his Soul: * Note Such a divine sparkle can never cease rising, till it bejoyned to that great SHADAI, Exod. 6. 3. GOD all sufficient, till the Soul be at Him, it can never be settled, but is ever tossed, whiles to the right hand and while to the left: Now it is ravished with joy, and in an instant again it is surprised with amazement: * Note What ever it enjoyeth here, it cannot be content, but is ever foolishly peeping and prying beyond all that which it hath affecting with a strong strain, greater riches, high honours, and preferments, which I may call, The guilted glorious▪ miseries of mankind▪ Woe, woe, woe dwell into that house where such things are not sanctified to their owners. O that I could cunningly ripe up with a Razor this world's vanity, that we might see it within the bowels! O what depth of discomfort should be there seen, if we had eyes to see: All the pregnancy of man's Spirit, all the most rich endue mentes of his mind, without the sanctifying Spirit of jesus, become but an idol of self conceit: * Note As for all other outward things, in the very turning of an hand, and closing of an eye, they often remove insalutato hospite, not taking their good night: Inconstancy is the poison of our pleasures. Though a man even now were never so happy in his own conceit, how soon may the Lord send a change? * Note He can make the fruit of all his labours to be like an untimely birth, for whom the Mother hath suffered many woes, and yet could never enjoy a sight there of alive. The greatest glory of this world, is like Hills which seem highest a far off. * Note Men in their solely may sav as David said in his prosperity, I shall Psal. 62. 6. never be moved: But, O folly! There is nothing permanent here: Man is tossed up and down as the Locust, either with discountenance or disapointment, breaking into foam his projects upon the rocks of disgrace. All is turned about with a continual change: There is no Time but it passeth, there is no Day but it darkneth, there is no Fruit but it rotteth, there is no Flower but it faddeth, there is no Force but it faileth, there is no Strength but it weakeneth, there is no Beauty but it withereth, there is no Garment but it weareth, yea, the Heavens themselves Psal. 102. 26 wax old, as doth a garment▪ * Note Behold, how all that is above us, beneath us, about us, is full stuffed with vanity: this at last shall worldlings know to be true, when their laughter shall be madness in their own eyes: It is a wonder how men are so blind in this glorious Noon tie of the Gospel. * Note All that is most esteemed in this world, the fool's Paradise, is chiefly of those, 1. Strength, 2. Honour, 3. Riches, 4. Beauty, 5. Pleasure, 6. Wisdom, 7. Children, 8. Long life, of these things may no man say with Niobe. Excessere metum mea jam bona. I need not fear to loss them. The sick Man. I desire to hear you discuss the vanity of these eight things severally, for which men strain the utmost vain of their wits, as if in this region of corruption such things were able to stretch themselves unto eternity. The Pastor. All such things are but broken staffs of reed; not to be relied upon: * Note To natural eyes indeed such things are so glancing, that they like a star new created in the Sky, will make them to gaze, yea, often it befalleth that the prosperity of such things enjoyed by the wicked, will not only draw the eyes of the Godly upon them, but will be eye-fore unto them. I was envious at the Psal. 79. 3. foolish, said David, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. Let us relish these eight things a little, and orderly try what is their worth. 1. STRENGTH. As for Strength, if Samson the strongest now could speak out of his Grave, he would teach the living that it is but a vain thing. * Note What a vain thing is this, which in the highest degree that ever was in man, might be shaved from him judg. 16. 19 with the locks of his hair? Let a Fever but seize upon the strongest that ever breathed, before it leave him, it shall teach him to know that all the force of flesh is vanitie: * Note Reuben who was called by his Father, The man of his might, and Gen 49. 3. the beginning of his strength, and the excellency of power, is in the verse vers. 4. ●… following, called, unstable as water: The Philistims great man, the strength of Philistia, the terror of Israel, was felled down with a stone out of a Shepherd's scrip and slung. There is no solid strength in flesh, but he who is strong in God, of him shall be said, as was said of Gen. 49. 24. joseph, His bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hand were made strong by the hands of the Almighty GOD of jacob. 2. HONOUR. What is Honour, which men in the height of Spirit desire with the strongest strain? * Note What is it, but like a King in a play? when the play is done, the ornaments are taken from him: To day man is a King, and to morrow a Carrion. * Note The greatest pomp of King Agrippa, & his of Queen Bernice, is ca●…led in Scripture language, a mere fantasy, or evanishing show: He came down with his Queen, saith S. Luke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is, he Act. 25. 23 came down with great fantasy. As honours are changeable like a fantasy, so often change they men so that they become fantastic: Honours mutant mores, Honours change manners, but oftest to the worse. If men knew the vanity of this point, they would not so eager hunt after that wherein there is no contentment. * Note After that Alexander had fished the whole world with his herrie water-net, what found he? but folly & evanishing shows, whereof the most pleasant relish was like the white of an Egg wherein is no savour. * Note Kings which are the most honourable men of this world, are gods in Psal. 82. 7 name but not in Nature: I have said, Ye are gods, but ye shall die like men-King Herod's flatterers cried that he was god, but Death belied them, crying that he was but a man, a Act. 12. 22 god that could not resist the worms, often that which is highly esteemed among Luk. 16. 15 men, is an abomination in the sight of God. * Note God liketh not ever best these to whom he filleth a full cup of temporal felicity: He whom God hath elected to be a King in Heaven, is often hid, like Soul among the stuff, 1 Sam. 10. 22. or like Corn among Chaff. * Note I have observed in reading the Book of God, that few Kings either of juda or of Israel received any great praise from God's pen, which can neither feign nor flatter: Truth will yield no ground, though it should meet a Tyrant in the face. * Note O fainting flatterer! who dare not preach but to pleasethy Prince, Who art thou, that thou should fear Isa. 51. 12 a mortal man, which shall be made as grass? By a wise, grave, godly reproof thou might have saved his Soul, in whose blood thou hast imbrued thyself either by fearful silence, or flattering eloquence. * Note O how dangerous is the high estate of Princes, unto Princes themselves: They are followed with such applause, that often they are made to forget what they are: I have called Plas. 82. 6 you gods, is the flatterer's Text, he cannot pass this point, his Glass is run, and Time is spent before he can win to the other part of the verse, But ye shall dye like men. Let us hear what God himself speaketh of the Monarches of his own people. Except a very few, there is not one, but he is either branded with 1 Kin. 11 6 this, And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, or with this, And he followed 2 King. 13 2. the sins of jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin. * Note Honour will not abide with Kings, except that they abide with God: While Nebuchadnezar was boasting of his Buildings, even while the word was in the King's mouth, Dan. 4. 31 there fell a voice from Heaven, saying, O King Nebuchadnezar; the kingdom is departed from thee. No King standeth so strong in his prosperity, but God can shake him and lay him on his back: * Note King David of this got an afterwit. In my prosperity, said he, Psal. 30 6. I said, I shall never be moved. But so soon as God began to hide his face, and he began also to be troubled. vers. 7. * That is notable which Isaiah Isa. 14. 13. saith concerning the King of Babylon, who in his fond conceit did reach the height of heaven, as being at league with all contrary powers. Thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend vers. 14. into Heaven, I will exalt my Throne above the Stars of God: I will ascend above the height of the Clouds, I will be like the most High. What saith God to that? It shall not be so, O Lucifer. Son of the Morning, I shall take thee at the trip, though thou should soar above the Skies of heaven, yet thou shalt vers. 15. be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit: They that see thee shall narrow lie look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, & that did shake king: doms? * Note This is the end of all flesh, irrevocably concluded by the KING of King's decree. Dust thou art, and Gen. 3. 19 unto dust shalt thou return: * Note The way of greatest monarchs, is from the Palace to the Pit: Were a man Psal. 30. 9 never so high in Honour, he must say at last with King David, I go the 1 King. 2. 2. way of all the Earth. * Note If Princes in their pomp could practise Memento mori, Self-conceit should not be able to pop in itself with puffs of pride, which make many to quarrel with the reprovers: He is like a Phoenix, who being in Honour, can digest a reproof, and find it good with Hezekiah, who while he was sore threatened, said, Good is the word of the Lord: O how 2 Kin. 10. 19 easily do fail flattering words cog in themselves, by sly and crafty juggling into the hearts of these that are in high places: Tell them that all goeth well, and that this world shall last, and that in their prosperity they shall never be moved, such Preachers will please: But if a jeremiah come in with his woes, some Pashur shall not miss him upon the jer. 20. 2. cheek: Ahab could not abide to hear good Micaiah: Wherefore? 1 Kin. 22. 8. I hate him, said he, for he doth not prophesy good concerning me: In this was all the distemper: But wisely and godly was it replied by good johoshaphat, Let not the King say so. Well is that King who in his honour reputeth this his greatest Honour, to honour him, from whose Grace he hath his Crown: his praises shall not be silent, while he shall lie in the place of silence, sleeping into slime. The Lord make the praise of our Gracious SOVEREIGN to sound like that of josiah: And he did that▪ which is right in the sight of the Lord, 2 King. 22 2. and walked in all his ways and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left▪ AMEN AMEN. What shall I say more of the vanity of Honour and Preferment among men? I am assured of this, that it is no sure token of God's love, for even they that work wickedness Mal. 3. 25. are set up: Of these oftest is said, O they are made, even while they are mad. * Note The most naughty and most unworthy, whose valorous acts and virtuous deads' no man can record: have often found a room where they may drink in a full cup of temporal happiness, many will wonder to see them step with a grave and stayed civility: Have not many seen such in King's Courts with great applouse run up without any rub, as it were to the top of Tabor; where to many who knew them before in a base estate, they will seem to be transfigured. Luk. 9 19 * Note The Liars and the Flatterers will gather about the Gallant, and were it not the fear more of Lice than of God, while he speaketh, they would cry, The voice of God Act. 12. 22 and not of man: While he is thus wise in his greatest pride, princely mounted, galloping upon the highest hills, imperiously dominearing, & revelling in the world; down cometh a thunderbolt with fiery flashes, of a divine wrath; overturning and down throwing horse & man from the steepest of all his Preferments. Thus to all, at last he becometh a spectacle of amazement. * Note Take up now our Minion with all his honours, which once he did so eager, hunt after. The fairest blossoms of his glory, are blasted as with mildew. Behold now, all his honours rolled in the dust, the higher he was mounted, the greater is his fall: who but Haman to day, thryving in this world, and raising up himself a Paramour of a Prince? By his outward gliste●…ing he maketh men's eyes to dazzle: Now he hath the wind at will, and saileth as he pleaseth with flaunting sails amid his greatest jollity: But tarry a little, look up to the weathercock: The wind is turned, Le Marquis d' Ancre en soit tesmoin. the head is where the tail was: Haman is disgraced, his lovers are Apostats, no man dare avouch him, his honours is taken from him: This is his Princes will, Caput obnubito arbori Est. 7. 8. infoelici suspendito: Cover his face●… * Note And seeing he was the chief of a knot of knaves, let him have the highes●… Est. 7. 9 pin of fifty cubits high: By thus he becometh a man of high degree. * Note Thus he to whom once many were glad to hold the basin as to a darling of account, proveth at last to be one of this world's fools, which care not what be their end so that their way be pleasant. * Note At last, after all such pleasures, profits, and preferments, the ungodly man with great shame, with a ●…rou. 10. 7 rotten name, is grieved and gaul●…d with sorrow: Though he both chaff and fiet, yet of necessity must he pack him to the abhorred Regions of Death. This is no new thing under Heaven; and yet alas, how few are these that in their carriage can considder that he that thinketh he standeth, 1 Cor. 10. ●…2. should take good heed, lest he fall. * Note Prosperity striketh most men blind on this eye, until the current thereof be cut▪ or crossed with some disaster. * Note While men are exalted, hardly can they dream of a change: Satan is ever most busy to stickle and strick the bargain between them & Death, and Hell, and all sort of disgrace. Let us also say some thing of the Levites which are the King of Heaven's favourites, and if it may be said, his best beloved Minions: Their Honour is great; if with the shining Urinal of sound and solid Doctrine, they join the Tummim of a good life, the Lord alloweth on them 1 Tim. 5. 17 double Honour: But if either by a foul decay of Grace, they be Loiterers and will not Labour or labour in Doctrine, but not in life, their double Honour shall be turned in double disgrace. * Note Of all Levites the Loon Levite is the greatest. There is nothing but it may be good for something, but unsavoury Salt is good for nothing: While other Luk. 14. 34 most heinous sinners shall swim like Cork on the brim and upper sword of Hell, these that have poisoned these whom they should have seasoned both with life and doctrine, Exod. 15. 10 shall like Egyptian Lead sink down to the lowest of the Gulf. Thus as ye see Honour in whomsoever, if it be without true Godliness; is l●…k a fair woman, wanting Discretion, whom wise Solomon compareth Prou. 11. 22 to a jewel of go●…d in a Swine snout▪ This all flesh will either subscriue or put their hand to the Pen in token of consent, except these that look upon such outward things with the unhallowed eye of profaneness. But to leave all particulars: What is all the glory of Nations? If all their glory and excellency whatsoever, were put in one Scale of the Ballence and Vanity in the other, Vanity should weigh them down: * Note David in his time put them in the weights together, after he had well considered the matter, he gave out sentence, saying, Surely men of low degree are vanity & men of high degree Psal. 62. 9 are a lie, if they be laid in the Balance they are altogether lighter than Vanity. See how Vanity is too heavy a weight for men of low and high degree: If ye would make even weight, out of vanity must be sought that which Habakkuke calleth, very vanity, Hab. 2. 13. even Solomon's vanity of vanities: Eccles. 1. 2. Put in that lightest vanity into the one Scale, and men of all degrees in the other, then shall the tongue of the Balance stand even. What then shall we say of the glory of all Nations? * Note It is well compared by the Prophet unto the drop of a Bucket, and to the small dust Isa. 40. 15 of the Balance: To tell us that no worldly thing can be ballast in God's Balance, no more than the lightest dust can be of weight into a Scale of man's Balance, which is most easily blown away with the least blast of breath. Great is the vanity of the greatest: * Note From the Throne the King himself must come down by death for to go sleep in slime. To God's God hath said, Ye shall die like men. Thus as ye see all earthly Honour, for which is so much strife & debate, all worldly pomp and glory which men so hungerlie hunt after, is but like dust driven away with a pu●…t of breath. * Note Let men in Honour be in his best estate: Man in his best estate is altogether vanity: The whole course of man's life is but a Mine of misery, and a very fardel of vanities: That thereof which is most stable, is but a flash and away. * Note Let God's vine trees keep their wine, and his figs their sweetness, and his Olives their judg. 9 15 fatness, but let the Brambles catch crowns: This was the event and issue of the Parliament of Trees at the crowning of their King. Well is the man that may line and lurk: Who knoweth the weight of Crowns, the lodging of greatest Honours would never deign to desire them. 3. RICHES. Now let us come to Riches▪ what are they? a swift vanity, which with wings fly away like an Eagle. Prou. 25. 5 I compare the most part of rich men unto Spiders, which spend their very bowels in weeving a web wherewith they may catch a flee. * Note What is all the glory of Riches, but like a feast in print? all sorts of meat are there, all sorts of wine are also there but only words & lines: There is nothing there indeed that can either flake the hunger o●… quench the thi●…st of the wearied man, no not after that he hath laboured night and day, might and main, to attain contentment. * Note This world is rich in pr●…ffers, but of petit performance: Man for a space like a Ship before the wind are rich laden, may glide gladly over the sea of this world▪ with a full sail: He may get Ladies sailing, as we say, and that in a wonderful quietness, but a little after such calm, Alcedonian days are past, even while he is swimming in his wealth, blessing himself, as who but he, up getteth a tempest, and down cometh a blast, behold, a little from the Shore in sight of the Haven, in the height of his hopes, and he is tumbled headlong down to the bottom of the Gulf. Let this be a lesson unto all, not to say with David in his prosperity I shall never be moved: Psal. ●…0. 6. Shall this be man's felicity, which daily is in reverence of Wind, and Wave, Pirates, and Perrels'. Certainly it is none happiness for man here to have this wicked world at will: It is God's custom Gen 17 39 to give the fatness of the Earth to the men of this World▪ * Note These only be the things whereof they have an assigned liferent with that rich man in the Gospel, to whom Abraham after Luk. 16. 25 his death cried down, Remember that in thy life-time thou receivedst thy good things: * Note At Abraham's requeast GOD refused not to make Ishmael wealthy in this world: Concerning Gen▪ 17. 20 Ishmael, said the Lord, I have heard thee: Lo, I have blessed him▪ and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly: Twelve Princes shall he beget. The bitter teats of profane Esau were comforted with the fatness of the Earth; Gen. 27. 39 & with the dew of heaven from above. Christ cast first the bag unto judas▪ joh. 12. 6. and after gave him a sop, for to let the world know that neither money joh. 13. 26 nor meat, are sure tokens of God's favour. The wicked men of this world are content with such things, because their heaven is upon earth, they have their portion in this life. As for the Godly though with jacob they have but a staff in their Gen 32. 10 hand for to go out the way▪ they will be content if so be that GOD will give them bread to eat and clothes Gen. 28▪ 20 to put on. * Alas, that we cannot consider that by such heaped up treasures Rom. 2. 5. men often heap up to themselves treasures of wrath against the day of 1 Tim. 16 19 wrath: Happy they who lay up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may obtain eternal life. If we could with a fixed and sanctified eye behold all these things for which men do under go such pains by afflicting their Souls, we should easily perceive our earthliness, when we loss such things, which we love (and who can keep them?) it breaketh the very heart of all our contentments. What are all such things I pray you, even while most pleasinglie and plausibly they are enjoyed to the full in the most fertile plains of plenty & pleasures of this world▪ These whose cup doth overflow, in whose coffers are wages of Gold, can best, if they would, declare the vanity of such transitory things, they know with what cumber they are conquered, and with what care they are kept: * Note Nay, man keepeth not them, but they keep the mind of man in care. Cura facit canos. Care changeth hair. * Note A peevish worldling is a warded Wretch, entangled with golden fetters, his Palace is but a prison of carking cares, in scraping together he taketh pleasure into pain▪ before his end he cannot perceive his folly▪ * Note But still he god's by Sea, & by Land, seeking upon the Sea and upon the Earth an heavenly felicity, till at last frustrate of all his hopes, he falleth down into the Grave with a jumppe. * Note Thus as ye see such is the treason of our Treasures: They come like deceitful dreams, and pass away like vanishing shadows: One lie things Spiritual have a sure and lasting root. * Note Alas, in that our heart is least wherein it should be most, and most in that wherein it should be least: Fools that we are, we all earn wages to put into a bottomless bag▪ Hag. 1. 6. Such wages are often given in keeping to most worthless men, as judas got the bag to keep. joh, 12. 6. Oh, that men's hearts were fixed on the lasting Treasu●…es of immortality: Oh, that we could learn in time this sound Divinity, that all that is under the circle of the Moon is but flat vanity and vexation of the Spirit of man, which continually wanders up and down at random, seeking its felicity in that where it is not to be found. * Note Well is the man whose hearts desires are bounded and confined within the secret compass of contentment. 4. BEAUTY. What is Beauty, but as one faith well, a colour and a temptation? The colour fadeth, & the temptation ●…nareth: * Note Behold, her who within these forty years seemed a perfection of Beauty, a ravisher of eyes; behold 〈◊〉 now in her fourscore, with her wrinkled cheeks, and her glasse●… eyes, and her rotten teeth, and her stinking breath: * Note Behold, and say with a sigh, Favour is deceitful, and prou. 31. 30 Beauty is vanity: But she that feareth the Lord shall be praised. * Note There is nothing more fadding than flesh; and yet man will not consider; while his eye is quick, & his lips ruddy, and his colour lively▪ he cannot think of changes, neither by age nor sickness, such a foolish conceit is bred in the heart: Out of such a Beautiful sleep he cannot be wakened, till God with a shout cause preach him to be Grass: The voice Isa. 40. 6. said cry: The Prophet said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and the goodness thereof as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower faddeth, because the Spirit of the Lord blaweth upon it: Surely the people is grass: By this the Lords public Oyas, all fleshly beauty is cried down, as being but a beguiling colour, and a snairing temptation: Fie on men and woman's folly▪ care for colour is but vanity: here is beauty Psal. 90. 17 without fared: Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: * Note All other beauty is like an Almanac whose use is but for a year: It is but a bait for catching of unstable Souls. 5. PLEASURE. As for all the Pleasures, we reap in earthly things, I compare them to fruits eaten before they be ripe, which fi●…st set the teeth on edge, and thereafter cause divers and deadly diseases. * Note There is no pleasure here without a Page of pain▪ at its back: Our weeds and our flowers grow up together, the best often is borne down by the worst. * Note What I pray you are all the foolish pleasures of this world, but as we ordinarily call them pass times? Hath man so long a time to live? Or is his journey from Earth to Heaven so easy or so short that he may have leisure for pleasures and pass times? Is man's short life so wealthy of time that it must be passed into pass-times? Must we not in end come to count & reckoning for our evil and well spent hours▪ Moreover, what are the most part of all earthly delights? The most excellent are but noble miseries, the fairest are but farded like the face 2 King. 6. 30 of jezebel, only an outside or outward scroofe of pleasure? What I pray you are all carnal delights, but the lymetwiges of the Devil, wherewith the silly Souls of sinners are ensnared and entangled? What shall I say more? * Note All the pleasures that are below may well be compared to a smoky fire in a f●…ostie day whereof the smoke is more hurtful than the fire is helpful: All the joys which are here, are but reekie pleasures purchased with tears, where with the eyes of men are made bleared: Prou. 14. 13 In laughing the heart will be sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness: Worldly pleasures but darkeneth the Reason, & deceive the Senses: Voluptates carnales sunt putida & putrida, both stinking and rotten: Only the pleasures of Heaven are pure, perfect, and perpetual: All other things slide away like water. 6. WISDOM. What is all the Wisdom of this World? Scripture saith, that it is but folly before God: * Note It may well 1 Cor. 3. 19 be compared to the Letters which Vriah carried against himself: If it be not sanctified, it is in the bosom 1 Sam. 11 14. ●… message against the messenger. * Note Knowledge and pregnancy of Wit stored with all moral virtues, without God's fear are witness against the man himself, in whom they are: They will stand up and testify against him▪ that he understood his Master's will, and yet would not do it: * Note Woe to that back in hell whose heart on earth was full engrossed of worldly wit: He that knoweth his Master's will and doth it not, shall be beaten with many strips: Away with that Soul whose understanding is great swelled with knowledge, but lamed in its practical powers, wherein is the working of the life of true Christianity. Many in this world are much counted of their natural ●…it, but wherein I pray you do most men spend their wits and break their brains? Is it not to be great in this world? In the mean time they are so spiritually brutish, that they care not what they be, o●… where they be in the world to come▪ * Note Such fools are like Fishers that leave main seas for to fish in shallow puddle▪ As I began this point so I end it, all natural wit▪ is branded with this, that it is but folly before 1 Cor. 3. 19 God: Let your Soul disavow and disclaim it, that ye may be wise in God: God's wise man to worldly wise, is but a silly Gods Foole. 7. CHILDREN. * Note As for Children, their conception is with sickness & over▪ casting of heart: Their birth is with pains like the pains of hell: Their bu●…iall is with tears, after many a wearisome night: Such pleasures are painful pleasures: Apples of So doom are rotten within. * Note But let us suppone that, like noble branches they live and come to men, yea, to grey hairs: They are our Heirs, the end of all our painful drudgery & careful conquests▪ * Note Though a man had conquered unto them the whole world, he must look upon his conquest with a sigh, and say with the wife Man▪ As for him that cometh after me Eccles. 2. 19 who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool, and yet he must be master of all my labours: Man may conquise Lands to his Children, but Thrift, and Wisdom cannot be bought: The most thrifty is often the father of the most for lost. What a vanity is this? * Note Certainly who would weigh well all the pleasures of Children with the pains past, and the fears for time to come, should find all the pleasures light like will, light like Belshazzar: Dan. 5. 27 But his pains should be found to be like Pharaoh & his Army, that sank Exod. 15. 10 down like Leads in to the might it waters: * Note Such light pleasures are soon overswayed with leaden pains: * Note Too great pleasure in Children, is but a childish pleasure: The best of it is of ten laden shortly after with a lumpish cross, which hath need of a Simon for to bear up the end of it for Luk. 23. 26 the help of the bearer. Alas, the hearts of most men are too too much taken up with that which may be termed the sickness of Eli, or father's folly, which hardly 1 Sam. 3. 13. can suffer controlment, or contradiction: They are so in love with their Children, that though they by a lewd life make themselves vile, they will not restrain them▪ Their minds are so given to them, that they are grieved to grieve them with father's reproofs: But at last out-commeth the voice of judgement, When I begin 1 Sam. 3. 12. I will also make amend. 8. LONG LIFE. Last of all, if there be any thing that would seem to be desired, it should be job. 2. 4. long lif all that a manhath he will give it for his life: * Note Though these be the words of a Liar, yet most men will put their hand to the pen and subscribe the truth thereof: * Note All that most men have, as Strength, Honours, Riches▪ Beauty, Pleasure*, Wisdom, Children, and all will they give for their Life: But what is this life? were it never so long, but a season wherein poor men is tired with toils? What is it but a long martyr doom, and a stormy time of tears? What is this life? Let S. james answer, It is, said he, but a jam. 4. 14. vapour. Nubicula est cito evanescit: Nascimur flentes morimur gementes: It beginneth with tears and endeth with groans: What is life? Let job job. 2. 22. answer, Mylife, saith he, is wind. What is life? Let Isaiah answer, It is but a breath in our nostrile. What Isa. 2. 22. is life? Cry, said the Lord to Isaiah, What shall I cry? said Isaiah, Cry, All flesh is grass. * What is life? Isa. 40. 6. A tale that is told, saith Moses: Psal. 90. 9 * Note What is it? A flitting shadow, a bubble in the water, a deceivable dream, the working of a weevers Sh●…ttle which by winding here and there unwindeth itself to an end: * Note Our life like the shadow on the Dial insensibly stealeth away. See what it is of the vanity of this life: * Note It is begun with weeping▪ and maintained by sweatting, and at last endeth with a gasp: Mors ultima linea rerum: Thus man's life like the beautiful Apple of Sodom, so soon as it is touched, is turned into dust. What should move a man to desire many days? * Note While a man desireth many days, he desireth that which he desireth not, viz. old Age: What is old Age, but many days? Are not the old man's Eccles. 12. 1 days called. The evil days, and the years of which he saith, I have no pleasure in them? What hath he then? will ye say, if he hath no pleasure? All sorts of pains old Age sets on foot all the sorts of diseases. The Guts and the Gravels, and divers Defluxions, with many other maladies run upon him and write a Calendar in his bones, wherein his pain full itchings like Astronomers declare to him what weather it will be to morrow. * Note Thus as ye see, manslife is but an irksome occupation & an hour of tediousness, & to be short a very compend of misery, easy to be understood without any commentary of long discourse, if we were scholars willing to learn. * Note May not men see how all that is below is sick of the flux? for nothing is permanent: He only fitteth sure, who can say with David, Mine heart is fixed, O Lord. Psal. 108. 1 What shall I say more of this whole world? * Note Let men think of it what they will, this is the constant truth of an uncreated Testimony, this present evil world: It is Gal. 1. 4. so evil that it is said to lie in wickedness: The Lord never suffer out Souls to be its Bed fellows: such a Bed is a bloody bed, like that of jezabel: * Note A nest wherein is no rest, but terror, of Conscience. Before I end this point concerning long life, let us roll a space this short meditation in our minds. What is in this world so worthy that it should be so eager desired? Continually while we livewee are in fear of Death, for this cause seek we Physic, Mirth, and Music, and all for to b●…rre Death to the door: And yet fools that we are, cerius out citius, soon or since we must all draw near to the Psal. 107. 18 doors of Death: There is no discharge in this war. Every man in this life hath his appointed time, wherein night and day he must wait till his a●…ange come. job. 14. 14 * Note men's days are distributed unto them like hour's sevemilie divided upon the Horologe: Some must live but till One, another unto Two, another unto Three: The Palm turneth about & with its finger pointeth at the hour: So soon as man's appointed hour is come, whether it be the first, second, or third, there is no more biding for him: Nec prece ni●… precio, neither by price not prayer can Death be moved to spare him but an hour, no not. * Note As the sound of the Clock Bell ringing, his last hour passeth away with all speed, and turneth not again, so must the poor man at Death with all haste pack him out of sight and no mo●…e be seen upon the land of the living. Isa. 38. 11 His hour being sounded, he must with all haste remove, that another might take place: One of whom none can surely say, He shall Eccles. 2. 19 be a wise man or a fool. Then all that the silly man had painfully provided, must be given to him whom the father often in his life beholding▪ said with a sigh within himself, Behold, him for whom is all this drudgery; behold him for whom is all my toil, and turmoil, Who knoweth whether Eccles. 2. 19 he shall be a wise man or afoole? yet shall he be master of all my labours. Now happy and thrice happy they whom GOD in mercy removeth in time from seeing heartbreak of folly, and deboched manner of their godless posterity: Scripture accounteth this for a singular benefit to the Righteous▪ when he is removed, that he should not see the Isa. 57 ●…. evil day to come The sick Man. Alas, of our follies! While we should seek GOD and our Souls Salvation with the strongest strain and power of our Soul, by the corruption of our Nature we are carried on the by: We live here in a sink of sin: The older the world groweth, it groweth the worse: Every Age in its foolish dotage, cometh in with the own guise, scorning former fancies with greater follies, yea, with foolish phrancies of which this predominant, that the wisdom of God, which in all times seemed folly to the wicked, did never seem such a folly as it doth now, from the upper brim of sin the world is come to the dregges: The image of the world's vanity is like that of Nebuchadnezars' all gold and silver in the up most parts, but in this last & most corrupt age we are come to the clay: * Note If we be wise, we must seek a new world in this old world, for this will never grow a better. As the love of Venison wan Isaac to bless one for another, so if we love this world, with a blind love, for a morsel of its Venison, we will preferie it to God's blessing: All the days of this wretched life, we remain in a fool's paradise. But I leave this. I desire your earnestly Sir, that ye would let me hear something more concerning old Age, which is a thing that every man desireth to come unto, as if it were the best time of life. The Pastor. In this point appeareth the vanity of man & the weakness of his wit: Every man would live to be old, and yet no man desireth to be old: Let men say what they will, I speak of natural men, all men desire to live long, which is to be old, and yet they desire to remain young: * Their wrinkles & their grey hairs the companions of old Age, the end of their desires are un welcome unto them: * Note Then would they turn back again, that with the Eagle they Psal. 103. 5 might cast their Bill, whereby they might renew their youth: * Note Hear old Nestor, who as Poet's record, had lived three ages, a surfeit of years: Hear him with his wish. O miht praeteritos referat si Iupiter annos. Like a foolish Pyla●… while he is at the mouth of his Harberie, he would raise up the Sails for to turn to the tempestuous sea again: * Note See how the old man if he get but a fair Sun blink of a week's health after clouds returning after the rain, Eccles▪ 122. how he will rejoice, as though it should never be foul weather again▪ Men may pine themselves with desire of days: But do what they can their life is like one that saileth, whether he standeth or he sitteth, whether he watch or sleep, he is ever upon his course. The sick Man. Let it please you Sir, to continue in that discourse. The Pastor. Solomon in the last lecture of the Book of his preaching letteth the young man see the vanity of many years. * Note In that place is most clearly set down how old Age the end of our appointed time is enwrapped job. 14. 14 with a cloud of miseries, as being a time whereunto like waves in a Sea, one trouble ariseth upon the neck of another, the latter being ever worse than the former, till at last fluctus decumanus, the last and the greatest waves of Death come and sweep the man away: The imaginary sweetness of all earthly contentmentes, is closed and concluded with a bitter Farewell. * Note In that Lecture the Preacher bringeth in the old man like a Skellet whereat in the presence of all young men he pointeth out all his infirmities, saying unto the young Ones, Behold, if such a life be so much to be desired. First of all, he pointeth at his Eccles. 12. 1 days calling them, The evil days, 2. * Note He toucheth his years, calling them, Years without pleasure: 3. * Note He speaketh of the moist, raw & rainy winter of his cold old Age, the days of sorrow, wherein clouds return after the rain: As one defluxtion hath reigned down, another is arising like a cloud: 4. He pointeth out all the imperfections of his body: When old Age is come, than the keepers of the house tremble, vers. 3. that is, the hands which keepeth the body become sick of the palsy, they tremble, so that they can not carry the cup to their head: * Note Then the strong men bow themselves, their legs are not able to bear them: * Note Then the grinders cease, their teeth rot and become mouldy, so that they can eat no bread: * Note Then they wax dark that look out at the windows, their eyes become bleared and blind: * Note Then the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the vers. 4. sound of the grinding is low, when the teeth the mouths grinders are rotten, the lips which are the doors of the street of the mouth are shut, so that the old man cannot speak so distinctly as of before: * Note Then shall he rise up at the voice of the Bird, old men cannot sleep, he must rise so soon as the Birds begin to sing, or his sleep is so unfound, that the chirp of a little Bird will w●…ken him: * Note Then shall all the daughters of singing be abased neither can an old man sing himself for lack of voice, neither can he hear others sing for deafness, so both his wind pipes and his ears the daughters of singing are abased: * Note Then shall vers. 5. he be afraid of the high thing, he dare climb no more, he is no more for Stairs and upper Chambers: * Then fear shall be in the way, while they walk they tremble as one that is afraid to fall: * Note Then the Almond tree shall flourish, their grey hairs grow white like the flourishes and blossoms of an Almond: * Note Then a Grass Hopper shall be a burden, they are so weak, that they can bear nothing, their knees are weak as water, so that they are a burden unto themselves: See how the weight of a grass hopper which is little greater than a Bee, is a burden to the man of years: * Note Then shall the vers. 6. silver cord be loosed, and the golden bowl shall be broken, his Sinews shall become slack, and his Gall shall break: * Note Then shall the pitcher be broken at the well, the veins shall draw no more blood out of the well of the Lever: * Note Then shall the wheel be broken at the Cistern, his Lights become so ●…otten and riven, that he can no more draw any breath with his broken Bellowes: * Note See how Death stealeth upon us with insensible degrees. * Note Behold, O young man the anatomy of thyself, when thou shal●… have gotten thine hearts will of years: * Note here is thy portraiture drawn before hand: Painters can portray but according as they see; but times to come are present unto God: here is thy portraiture for the days of old age that is to come: * Note Behold thyself in it before hand, a receptacle of maladies: See there thy bald head, and thy bleared eyes, and thy deaf ear, and thy wrinkled face, and thy rotten teeth, and thy stinking breath, having thy body bowed and crouched with thy third foot into thine hand: * Note Of thee may be put out a Riddle, What is it which having three feet, walketh with one foot into its hand, I shall assoil it, It is an old man going with a staff: To this let me subjoin another: What is it that hath his stomach into a Booste, and his eyes into his pocket? It is the same, viz. An old man fed with boost Confections, or cured with continual purgations, having his Spectacles his eyes of glass, into a case: His days are days of drowsiness: All his pleasures are out of tune and temper. * Note Behold how this proud and lofty creature is so kerbed, withered, and wrinkled, that it hath nothing but the ugelie shape of a creature. * Note Thus after as in a dote he hath tottered some space about at last he falleth down to dust, and dust ●…neth Eccle. 12. 7 to the earth as it was: That is petere principium: * Note Then all his devices and his discourses, all his arguments and his syllogisms for Riches, Honour, and preferment, infer a conclusion which is but petitio principij, a sort of argument scorned by the Learned, as being an argument declaring the weakness of the Disputer so after we have spended our wits with our words, all our dispute at last is found to be but upon trashes & trifles, or as we say, de lana caprina: At last all cometh to this, that we are in end found to have been neither in mood nor figure, but only jangling and cangling, and at last returning to that where once we began. Thus he who in his youth stepped stately upon the ground, who having the world at wish, was wont to brag it out with the bravest, with big & daring words, after that in his life he hath been tossed with losses, cares, and crosses, he lieth down●…. into his green & growing bed, that dust may return to the earth as it was. * Note The Sun at night seemeth to lie down, in a bed of darkness, but like a Giant in the morning he ariseth with force of light: But man once dead shall not awake till the heavens job, 14. 12. be no more. * Note A man in his youth with a profane & seared Conscience may swallow over Camels of pleasant & profitable Ma●…. 23. 24 sins without any pain, his heart being secured with a slumbe●…ing and superficial quiet: But so soon as the time of the rotten Age cometh, all the sweetness of the sins of his youth is turned into gall and wormwood, the Conscience of his by past evil spent life doggeth behind him. All the dregges and dross of doloviss fall down upon this time: Then the mirth of youth is turned into mourning: This is the nature of sin, the joy thereof ever endeth into sorrow: Who doth not see how the mirth of youthful lusts passeth away with the fair blossoms of youth? after that cometh old age, life the time of the fall of the leaf, a time of deadly diseases: After that man in his youth hath drunken at the brim the clearest pleasures of sin in his old sickly age, when he hath greatest need of comfort, then must he drink the doleful and drumblie dregges of sorrow. This is the course of man's pilgrimage, in this valley of tears: We come weeping into this World▪ where we walk through troubles and temptations, whereof except that God be more merciful, the end shall be bitterness, brimstone fire. Alas, for our benumbed heart: Oh, that we were sensible of our own misery, and could weigh what it is to toil into this world, a wilderness of woe! What is here that should tie our heart from the love of Heaven? If we would speak with Scripture, we would say, that a thousand years in Heaven are but like one day on earth, and again, if we would speak with truth, we must say, that one day on Earth seemeth longer than a thousand years in Heaven: * Note Dolour and grief prolongeth that which is made short by joy and pleasure: * Note An hour in a painful prison is longer than a week in a pleasant Palace: * Note Let me speak a Paradox: A Child of a day is of a thousand years of age, 2 Pet. 3. 8 older than Methushelah: Why? A day on Earth is like a thousand years in Heaven for length: Fie, fie, on our foolish vanity, that we cannot consider: * Note A Child of a day may be content with a day of life, and say, if he could speak, I am full of days, yea, full of years and full of labour, I wish to be in heaven, where a thousand years seem not so long as a day, yea, where Eternity itself shall never seem to be too long: * Note Eye upon too great desire of days, while we live on earth, as worms we creep on it: In death we creep in it. * Note Man's heart on earth, is like a tooth in the jaw, the deeper root it hath, the more pain it causeth, when it is in drawing out with the Turkess * Note A heart fixed to the earth and nailed to the ground either with pleasure or profit or desire of years cannot be rugged from thence without renting of its film: * Note If man's heart be set upon long life, he shall never want the disease of the feaze of disease, the messenger of Death: A feeble fit of a fever will put him in a maze of amazement: * Note In a word, do the best he can, all the days of his life are but labour Psal. 90. 10 and sorrow: * Note The best man that liveth, so soon as he beginneth to live, must say with a sigh, All the job. 14. 14 days of mine appointed time will I wait till my changing come: See I pray you, how the life of man as with loose reins and a laid down head is ever in a course like a swift Dromedairie, posting to a change. * Note Behold, Sir, how foolish this world is, that gappeth so for many years, that all that men have job. 2. 4. even to their skin, they would give it for their life: * Note See and consider how the old man is besieged with dolours and diseases on all sides, some set on his eyes, some on his ears, some on his teeth, some on his tongue, some on his legs, some on his lights, and some on his liver: * Note See how all sorts of diseases is like flesh f●…es prey upon the old man, not leaving a free bit of him from the sole of his feet▪ to the crown of his head: See what a ghostly sight it is to behold such rattling bones covered with a wrinkled skin: * Note Now after that he hath coughed and spitted on a space some few years, being a burden to himself, and a cumber unto others, at last he sickneth and taketh bed, and falleth into the hands of Death, which holdeth him with fearful grippes: * Note Then Death cometh with a cold sweat overrunning all his body, looketh him grim in the face: * Note Then his jaw bones begin to hang down, and his face to grow pale, and his cheeks wan: Then his eyes water, their strings break, his tongue faltereth, his breath shorteneth and smelleth of earth, his heart lifteth, his throat rattleth, his joints stiffen: After that Death hath made a breach with the shot●…es of great artillery whereby it hath beaten and broken down all the noble parts of the body, Death cometh in like a strong man, and grippeth so the heart of the poor man, that by diverses gasps he maketh his heartstrings to leap asund●…: * That done, the ruinous house of man falleth, and his Soul leapeth out with his gasps, which in an instant must compeare before its judge, either Matth. 25 34. 41. for to hear, Come, or Depart. Let your attention yet go a little a long with me. See what it is of old age: * Note Consider how feeble it is, being a burden unto itself, a time unfit for any affair: And yet most men in their youth swynishlie wallow in uncleanness, thinking, to keep the old years for the amending of their life & for all other spiritual adoes, as repentance and returning unto God, as if a man being for to go a far and foul journey, should lay the greatest burden upon the weakest horse: Prou. 12. 10 A good man regardeth his beast, how much more should he regard himself: * Note What regard is here, when a man in his youth rolleth his original sin, like a snowball among actual sins, to such a huge greatness, that in his strongest youth he is not able to move it, and yet delayeth, thinking that when he is old he shall easily remove it and remeede it: The sins of youth draw upon old age deadness of heart and dulness of zeal: It is good that man with a watchful eye hold in perpetual jealousy the cunning slights and windings of the deceit of sin in youth: And therefore, while it is youth time, while God calleth, while the wind serveth, while the Sea is calm, while the Ship is sound, let us set forth in time to sail toward the port of Salvation, & the harberie of Grace in Glory: * Note O vain man, who in thy youth turneth the grace of thy God into wantonness, and thinketh to come home to God again when thou is old, what shall God do with thy blind lame old age? Is that a sacrifice for God? Offer it unto thy Governor, saith Malachi. Mal. 1. 8. If a blind or lame beast will not please a man, what shall God do with that which is more blind than a beast. * Note The King of Babylon commanded Dan. 1. 4. Ashpenaz the master of his Eneuches to make choice of Children in whom was no blemish, & such as had ability in them to stand in the King's Palace: What? shall the Devil get the finest flower of our age, the strength of our days, and the ability of our Soul, and thereafter shall God, the King of Heaven, be served with the blind 2 Sam. 5. 6 and the lame such as the very Soul of Danid did hate? * Note It is good afore hand to be furnished with Graces, which may be as the staff of our old age? * If we spend our strength in our youth at the service of God, he shall never cast us off in our old age: * Note But what shall I say? nothing will waken foolish Virgins while they sleep, Matth. 25 11 till that shrill voice be heard, The Bridegroom is come: * Note When it is no more time, men who contented themselves with counterfeit shows & deceiving shadows, arise, run, & seek for Oil, which they shall not be able to get, either for buying or begging. * Note By all this my discourse Sir, ye may perceive that the long date of days bringeth men unto dotage, & after dotage unto dust from thence he came. * Note Man of few years is foolish unto forty, a little after that folly hath left him, dotage succeedeth which understandeth no Precepts. In this Map of the old man's misery, ye may see whether or not man have cause to be greedy of many years. * Note Though the world were not vain, yet ye see that man is but vanity in the world: Let all men here lay aside such doting vanities, that bring too doleful miseries. Let all flesh learn that: * Note Nothing out of God can afford sound joy and contentment: * Note If a man want God, were he an Emperor as high indeed, as the King of Babylon was in conceit, even above the stars Isa. 14. 13. of God, his life shall be crossed with these th●…ee shrude companions, viz. The grief of things by past, the pains of things present, and the fear of after claps. The sick Man. The thought of such things begin to wain mine heart from the love of all things worldly: I pray you yet a little to continue in that purpose concerning the vanities of things below. * Note The meditations thereof like sharp & keen spurs should prick and stir us forword from the love of this unto the love of these lasting things which are above. The Pastor. The sight of this world is like that vision of Ezechiel, wherein is often said, Turn thee yet again, and Ez●…k. 8 13 thou shalt see more abominations, than all these: So say I Sir, Turn you yet again here, and ye shall see greater vanities than either these of Strength or of Honour, or of Riches, or of Beauty, Pleasure, Wisdom, or long Life: Behold a vanity, which is the cause of all these vanities, viz. Sin and iniquity where▪ unto we are all subject so long as we live in this world the region of corruption, where if a man stand on God's side, he shall become the drunkard's song with David, or a byword with job among the chidrens of Beliel. * Note Look thorough this world, and consider sin in all sorts of men, & sorrow following ever sin at the heels: In this place behold David Psal. 6 6. making his bed to swim with his tears for his adultery: In that place again, behold Peter weeping b●…tterlie for his denial: In this place Luk. 22. 92 again, behold Lot, vexing his righteous 2 Pet. 2. 8. Soul from day to day, for the unlawful deeds of the wicked: In that place behold S. Paul groaning under a dead body of sin, even a body of death: No man is able to Rom. 7. 24 hunt all the corners of man's corruption: From particular men let us come to whole Churches, defiled with spots and blemishes: * Note here is the Church of Ephesus, which hath Reuel. 2. 4. left her first Love.. * Note There is Smyrna where some of God's best servants are cast into prison: here again vers. 10. is Pergamus defiled with the doctrine vers. 14. of Balaame, and of the Nicolaitanes: In Thyatira the whore jezabel sat as a Prophetess teaching and seducing vers. 20 Gods servants to commit fornication, & to eat things sacrificed unto idols: Reuel. 3. 1. Sardis had a name to live, and yet was vers. 15. dead: Laodicea was neither cold nor hot, so that God threatened to spew her out of his mouth: * Note Among all the seven Churches only Philadelphia Reuel. 3. 10 kept the word of his patience, and yet her life was not without fear to vers. 11 loss her Crown: Behold, I come quickly, said the Lord, hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy Crown: * Note But long since having neglected this precept, she is bereaved of that comfort & Crown: * Note Where now are all these most flourishing Churches of Asia? where now are all these Churches of Grecia most glorious in Constantius days? Because they held not fast that which they had, they have all lost their Crown: By dear Experience have they learned what vanity is. * Note Behold and see how this world is like a working sea, wherein sin like a gall wind or strong Tide carrieth many tribulations and destructions * Note from Country to country▪ * Note All is made thereby subject unto changes like the Moon, Crowns have their compose & triumphs have their tombs: All our sweetest things in end prove but honeyed poison. Thus all that ye see here below is unconstant: * Note The greatest kingdoms are turned about as with whirling wheels: The Kings upon its spokes are marked upon this ditt●… 〈◊〉 Regnabo, regno, regnam; su●… 〈◊〉 sine regno. One Prince is lying upon his back, another hath a spoken in his hand climbing up the Wheel: The third is upon the top: The fourth is fallen, having his heels up & his head down: * Note All the things of this world are divided into four: Either they lie low, or they climb, they stand, or they are fallen: The poor man is lying upon his back without any help or hope: Another is fall of climbing conceits: The third being there where all would be even upon the top, the higher he is mounted the greater is his fall: * Note He than falleth, that another may stand in his place: while he again is lifted up he must stand with fear and hear, Let him that 1 Cor. 10 12. standeth take heed, lest he fall: * Note At last also to him the handwritting cometh forth, that in Gods, balance he is found wanting, & that therefore Dan. 5. 27 his kingdom must be taking from him: Then all the pleasures of his wine & of his whores, than all his feasting, his mirth, and his Music is turned into a trembling fever, which maketh all his joints to shiver, and his knees to smite one against another: Behold, and consider, how the glory of Kings, the gods of this Psal. 82. 6. world is brought to destruction. Though their heads be golden, their feet are but of clay like Nebuchadnezars' image: Gods little stone cut Dan. 2. 34 out without hands, is able to bruise & grind in powder, their Gold, Silver, Brass, Iron, and Clay, for the allaying of the pride of their peacock feathers: He can let them see the blackness of their feet: None of them can stand before the wind of that voice: Return ye Children of men. Psal. 90. 3 Though their honours which they do broach with so bold a face were reared above the highest clouds, and exalted above the starry Sky yet must they descend at the Evening of their life, and make their bed with the beggars in the dust. Thus after they have drunk up the pleasures of this world as Behemoth the River of jordan, they at last job. 40. 23. find all to be but vanity and change: * Note When their hour is come, they must quite all, and make resignation of all into the hands of a new succession, for to go dwell in the Land of darkness and shadow of death: * Note Who knew the weight of their Crowns, they would never be so sick for them, as King Ahab was 1 Kin. 21 4 for Nabothes vine yard. If of any man may be said, this is most true of him who is in highest job, 14. 22 places, While his flesh is upon him, he shall have pain, and his Soul within him shall mourn: After that for a space he hath feasted with Belshazzar, Dan. 5. 2. and fatted himself against the day of slaughter with Wheat, Wine, and Oil, at last shall he know, but too late, that no Feast is continual, but that of a good Conscience. * Oh, that great men while their minds with David are beastly, would Psal. 73. 22 with David go to the Sanctuary of God, for to learn that if great men be not good men, though they were Kings, they are set in slippery places. * Note Seeing Kings and Kingdoms are but vanity, what is that on earth that is not vain? There is nothing that can stretch to eternity below. * Note In this world all men are strangers in their birth Pilgrims, in their life, & at last like cumbersome guests by death they are thrust out at doors: The language of Tabor was that▪ It is Luk. 9 33. good for us to be here: But the language of heaven proclaimed that Peter knew not what he said: Strive to keep ever your heart lose from the earth: Reuel. 15. 1 The glassy sea, of this world is never without tempests. * Note He that would have his Soul wained from the love of this world, let him remember but these six things: 1. What he is in himself: 2. What is within him. 3. What is above him: 4. What is beneath him. 5. What is before him: 6. What is behind him. * Note Man in himself is but dust and ashes, a cage of corruption: Thrice with one breath is he called, Earth, earth, jer. 22. 29. earth! Earth by creation, sustentation and corruption, saith Bernard: Within him is a blind mind, a perverse will, and most vile affections, Gen. 6. 5. yea, so that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart are only evil continually: Above is a weighty vengeance, hanging by a small twined thread of God's patience: Below him Matth. 12 45 is a fiery furnace and the smoking brimstone gulf of everlasting burnings: Against him Satan and sin with their legions posting to and fro, so that when one departeth, it is but to fetch seven others worse than himself: * Note Before him is nothing but misery, volumes of woes, and lamentations: Those be his daybook: Behind him pale Death followeth with stealing steps: * Note See what a mass of misery like an huge army besetteth and besiegeth the whole course of the life of man, till death at last come with the dead stroke, and separate the Soul from the lumpish heaviness of clay: Then they that die in the Lord are blessed, yea, saith the Spirit, That they may rest Reuel. 14. 13 from their labours. But because the day is already spent, ye shall now carefully think upon that which hath been said. It was a special property required in Sacrifices fit for God, that they could chew the cude: I leave Levit. 11. 7 that which ye have heard unto your night's meditations. I pray God that by his Spirit he would convoy into the substance of that which your ear hath received. Before I leave you, let us all bend our knees unto God in prayer, that it would please his Highness to blink down upon you with a reconcealed face: His boundless and bottomless mercies did never yet know how to break a bruised reed, or quench a smoking flax. Let us pray. A Prayer for the sick Man. O LORD the GOD of the Spirits of all flesh, the preserver of men, in whom is both power for to save and to destroy: Thou art the true Teacher of Israel: Thou hast the keys of Heaven, of Hell, and of the Grave: Come and cast the arms of thy mercy about this sorrow-beaten sinner: Rejoice him with the comforts of thy Spirit: Inspire him with holy motions, and with the life of Grace, till he be made partaker of the divine 2 Pet. 1. 4 Nature. Thou hast already made his heart to melt within him at the sight of his transgressions: Thou hast set all his sins in order before him: This is out of thy great mercy, whereby thou would not suffer him to freeze in the dregs of his corruptions: Now at last, LORD, after thou hast refined him in the fiery furnace of temptations, send him relief, refresh his Soul, and cool it with thy comforts: Let thy Spirit come unto him with glad tidings, that all his sins are forgiven him. Oh, what sorrow of heart hath he had since he hath felt the power of thy wrath! His poor two eyes have been like two fountains of tears trickling down both day and night▪ The apple of his eye hath ever been drooping down, the salt brimie and bitter tears of sorrow: Oh, how bitter lie hath he wept since this battle began? Hath he not poured out his heart like water before thee, in bemoaning his transgrassions? Now, LORD, for thy mercy sake make him free of all excessive grief: Behold him with the tenderest eye of thy compassions: Rid him of all gripping griefs of Conscience: Settle in his heart a godly sorrowwhich may cause repentance never to be repent of: Be pleased toward him: Turn thine angry face from the bloody colour of all his transgressions, and look upon the perfect and unspotted righteousness of thy Lamb, whose blood hath blanched the red Crimson sins of Isa. 1. 18. the world. No flesh, O LORD, is able to stand before thee, when thou art angry, for what is man▪ which is consumed before the moth? He dwelleth into an house of clay, and his job. 4. 19 foundation is in the dust: When it shall please thee, he must lie down into his growing bed, and there say to corruption, Thou art my father, job. 17. 14 and to the worm, Thou art my mother and my sister. O, who shall stand when thou shall say, Return ye Children of men. Psal. 90. 3. O gracious GOD, pity this creature that was once form to thine own image, which once lost, thou hast repaired with the Blood of thy Son: Stamp his heart with thy lively Image and coin it with thy countenance: Insinuate thyself into his Soul, and compass him with thy comforts: Let thy poor Servant here who hath been most fearfully tossed and scorched with fiery temptations, find a spiritual cooling & refreshing, in thy merciful bowels: Temper so the Spirit of his mind, bow his will, and incline his affections, that his chiefest delight may be in thee: Cover his silly Soul under the shadow of thy Wings, until all these calamities be overpast. Refresh this paunting Soul braying after Psal. 42. 1 thy water brooks. Give him a new heart, put within him a new Spirit, take this stony heart out of his breast and in the place thereof put an heart of flesh. By thy word, O LORD, we have let him see what the vanity of this world is, how unconstant are all things below, and how they are turned upon a whirling wheel: O make his heart consider that there is nothing here on earth that can bring solid contentment unto the heart: What are the best of our days on earth, but labour and sorrow? Is not our life a vapour, a breath? are Psal. 90 9 not our days consumed as a tale that is told? Make the consideration of such naughty things below move him so much the more to mind the things Coll. 3. 1. that are above: Let him know that in the surging waves of this worldly Sea there is no permanent peace, so no cross shall come upon him unawares: Teach him by practice and experimental feeling of thy Graces, that thy strength is made perfect in weakness: Let him feel that it is a fruit of thy loan, that thou suffereth him to be afflicted: Sanctify his sorrows, & make them to lead him unto the face and presence of his GOD. By the loathing of things earthly, work in his heart a love & a liking of things heavenly, an ardent desire of thy celestial dainties: Let him know that so soon as he shall come to thee, that with thy face thou shall fill the desires of his Soul, for in thy face is Psal. 16. 11 fullness of joys O thou to whom nothing is impossible, lift up his Soul to Matth. 19 16 affect that happiness so that earnestly his Soul may desire to see that day when he shall be clothed with the long white robe of Christ's righteousness, even the innocence of thy dear Son jesus: Cover him Lord, cover him with the golden fleece of thy righteous Lamb: Parsume him with the sweet savour of Christ's merits, thy mercies: Let the Blood of his Advocate pl●…ade for his pardon: Naile all his sins to the Cross of thy Son jesus. Rid out of his heart all doubts and difficulties, draw his eyes from looking upon himself, make thine own self the object of his sight in the mirror of the Gospel, wherein as with open face he may behold as in a 2 Cor. 3. 18 glass, the glory of the Lord, and be changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Seeing a good man is merciful to Prou. 12. 10 his beast, how much more wilt thou be, who are mercy itself? Thou who art most plenteous in mercy, unlock we entreat thee the treasures of thy mercies and afford unto thy servant such graces whereby he may come to thy Glory Send a Seraphin for to kindle hi●… Isa. 6. 6. zeal and affection toward thee▪ Publish & proclaim unto his Sou●… that thou art pacified, and that tho●… hast received a ransom. These days by past, LORD, thou ha●… him trained up with divers fearefu●… temptations, whereout of let it please thee now to give him an out gate▪ O put thy quickening Spirit within him, that by the force of thy life he●… dying unto sin, may live unto The●… who art our life, and lengthening of our days: Thine ear hath heard the heavy groans of his heart, which have made thine heart to be turned within thee: O now let thy compassions be so kindled together that he may in all boldness come to the Throne of thy Grace, permit him such familiarity with thee, whereby he may cast his burden upon thee. Psal. 55. 22 Give him, LORD, a full resolution to submit himself always to thine appointments, that his heart never any more repine nor grudge at thy proceedings: By the finger of thy Grace frame fully his heart for the following of thy will. Gracious Father rouse up his Soul and raise up the good motions of thy Spirit within him: Make him in mercy to grow in Grace, which may work a deep detestation of all bygone slips, whether secret or known, with an eager and earnest striving to be renewed in the Spirit of his mind. O thou whose bowels rumble loud with compassions, pacify and calm all the clamours of his Conscience: Thy mercy is most magnified when it relieveth the extremest misery: Thy light is most precious when it shineth into the depth of discomfort and darkness: O pity and pardon him, besprinkle him with the Blood of virtue, that being purged from all carnal and spiritual uncleanneste, he may grow up unto full holiness in thy fear, and so may end his life in thy favour, the surest Sanctuary of a troubled Soul▪ Pity the distressed members of thy Church: Many a time have they Psal. 129. 1. 2. etc. afflicted her from her youth: The plowers ploughed upon her back, making long furrows, let them all be comfounded and turned back, that hate Zion: confound all hatchers of Here●…ies, let them be as the grass upon the house tops, which withereth afore it groweth up, wherewith the Mower filleth not his hand, nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom: Protect Her by thy cloud by day, direct Her by night by the pillar of fire, let never the bright star of thy Gospel go down, which pointeth out unto us the Saviour & Salvation of our Soul O righteous LORD, thou hast just cause against this Church to make Her Sun go down at noon, and darkness to surprise us in the clear day, with a sudden and inevitable sin prizal and destruction: () GOD, bless us with an holy union, and banish far off the Devil of division. Bless our gracious SOVEREIGN the King's Majesty: Make him to joy in thy strength, & greatly to rejoice in thy Salvation: Direct His Heart & His mouth by thy Spi●…it, & give him his hearts desire, and withhold not the requeast of his lips: Give to Him the courage of David, and the wisdom of Solomon. Be favourable to His Royal Match: Inflame Her Heart with the love of thy dear Son jesus: Let all Her desire be to know him crucified: Make Her an happy Mother of happy Children, even a blessed Mother in Israel. Bless our Nobility, make them noble like the men of Berea▪ so that they may have courage for the Truth And seeing, LORD, that as we may see in this our dear Friend, man is like to vanity, and that his days are as a shadow that passeth away: Take us to thy school and teach us to number our few and evil days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom & to well doing. Let it please thine Highness to grant us these out suits for the only sake of jesus, the Author and finisher of our faith, the very Anchor of our Soul, the only stay and staff of our hope, the end and rest of all created desires, the true substance of ceremonial shows and shadows. To Him with Thee and thy Spirit of Grace, be praise and thanksgiving, glory and dominion, now and evermore, AMEN. If your sleep in the night be interupted cause read unto you the Book of Ecclesiastes, the strong enemy of all worldly vanity: Moses his psalm which is the ninty Psalm shallbe meet for your meditations, cause read also the 1 Pe●…er chap. I. The LORD sanctify all your spiritual exercises, to the comfort of your wearied Soul: The GOD of all mercy bless the little spark of Grace enkindled by his Spirit in you, till it spread into a big flame: GOD with a little Dew of new Grace can so bl●…sse & prosper another Grace already given, that He will make it, though so little like a grain of mustard to grow towards a tree. Bless GOD, who hath not suffered you to tread the fearful and desperate path of these who from the beginning of their life unto the end have been nothing but disturbers of peace, waves of the Sea foaming out their own shame, and casting up mire and dirt upon the shore of their whole conversation. The LORD edge the little measure of your weak Faith, with a longing desire after fullness of persuasion: And season your heart with saving Grace. The Lord make his most Sacred and powerful Word so to enter into the secrets of your Soul that it may strike a dead stroke at the sweetest of your sins, that your sins being slain, your Soul may live, and have a portion in Gods new jerusalem, till ye come there, the LORD guard you with an invincible troop of his blessed Angels. The Love of the Father, the Grace of the Son, with the Peace his Spirit be with you for ever. THE fifth DAY'S Conference. Of the last judgement. The sick Man. OVanity of vanities, O vanity, of vanities, all is vainity: this whole night I have dreamt of vanity: I think that my Dreameproceedeth from vesterdays Conference, for Solomon saith, that a Eccles. 5. 3. dream cometh through the multitude of business: * Note Well is the man that is well occupied in the day, for in the night such business maketh an impression into his Spirit: An evil doer in the day cannot often dream of good into the night: * Note Happy is the man that hath made the Lord the only level of his life: What hours can it now be? I long for a sight of my loving and comfortable Pastor. The Pastor. here I am Sir, come again for to see what progress ye have made into your Christian pilgrimage: Ye●… heard yesterday of the vanity of all things that are below: I desire now to know how your heart hath been affected since. The sick Man. I have Sir all this night d●…eamed that this world is but vanity, a lifting up for a fall, a race unto a ruin▪ I see now that all the profits and pleasures thereof are but like a rotten Nut, when men think to crack the kernel they find nothing but worms with rottenness & bitterness which provocke the eater to spit. O how the pure and clean streams of divine grace are stained with the stirring of the foul puddle of corrupt nature. I am greatly oblished to my God, who hath given to me such patience in my sickness, that I have been able to hear that heavenly discourse which ye had yesterday concerning earthly things: This life as I perceive is nothing but a toilsome task of cares, the best of our time is but labour & sorrow, our ease is a disease, and we rot in our rest: Mine heart is no more in this world He is but a fool, and so shall he feel who ever he be that is too bend for the transitory trashes thereof. * Note here is not our rest: Rest here is not our best: As water by standing becometh stinking, so the Spirit rotteth by carnal rest: The ease of the flesh is the disease of the Spirit: If we be without God in the world, Eccle. 2. 17 in our well we shall find but woe, in our wealth but want, in our love but Prov. 14. 13 l●…cke, in our mirth but moan: In laughing the heart shall be sorrowful, and the end of that mirth shallbe heauiness●… Without God in greatest compan●… is greatest melancholy. He whose eyes the god of th●… Ephes 4. 4. world hath not blindfolded, may easily perceive that all that is here is but vanity which vexeth the spiri●… * Note What folly is this to take pleasure in such perishing things, which can bring no comfort at the conclusion of all, when dust must return to the Eccle. 12. 7 earth as it was? Oh, that we were wise to consider that while we are here, we are compassed about with a body of sin, in a world of wickedness: All sorts of evil in this world with eager pursuit persecute the Soul of sinful man, all the depths of Satan and policies of Hell concure into this work. Now Sir I entreat you seeing ye have spoken so heavenly of the earth, that it would please you to say somewhat concerning the last judgement & the j●…yes of Heaven. The Pastor. Such a matter is very unpleasant, yea, very fearful to a natural man: It is written that while as S. Paul reasoned Act. 24. 25 of Righteousness, Temperance, and judgement to come, Felix, who was but a natural man, trembl●…d all while he heard him, and therefore desired him to leave off preaching any more, and to go his way till a more fit and convenient time: * Note Though the wicked tremble at this discourse, yet it is comfortable & profitable into the godly: * Note I wish at God that I had that tongue of the Learned, Isa. 50. 4. that thereby I might produce these reasons of S. Paul which he uttered while he reasoned upon this matter before Felix. This Sir ye must first know that the day of judgement shall be a great day a day of Law▪ when all the Sons of Adam must compeare before the eyes of him who seeth our thoughts a far off, even to the very depths of our heart. The sick Man. First of all, I desire to hear of the time that Christ shall come into the Clouds for to judge both quick and dead. The Pastor. As for the particular time of that great and glorious coming of the Lord, no man can define when it shall be whether in the night or in the day, at midnight or cockcrow: It was a time hid from Christ himself as man, while he was here in the days of his flesh, neither thought he shame to tell it: His words and his counsel concerning that, are of great weight: But that day, said he, Mar. 〈◊〉. 32 and that hour knoweth no man, no not the Angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father: Now what was his Counsel thereupon? Take heed, said he, watch and pray, vers. 33. for ye know not when the time is: For the Son of man is as a man taking a far vers. 34 journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work; & commanding the Porter vers. 35. to watch: Watch ye therefore, for ye know not when the Master of the house cometh, at Even or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning, lest coming suddenly he find you vers. 36. sleeping: And what I say unto you, I say unto you all, watch. S. Peter saith, 2 Pet. 3. 10 that he shall come as a Thief in the night. * Note By all this it evidently appeareth that no man can design the particular time of the coming of the Lord unto judgement: No tongue can tell whether his coming shall be in the night, or in the day, in the morning, or in the evening, at the prayer, or at the preacing: * Watch ye therefore, said Christ, and this he doubled again, And what I say unto you, that I say unto you all, watch. The sick Man. What can be the cause wherefore God hath kept up to himself the particular knowledge of that great day? The Pastor. * Note God in great wisdom hath hid from all flesh the time of his coming, as he hath concealed from all men the hour and form of their death, that all may strive to be ready at all times. The sick Man. Though this Day be not particularly known, think ye not but it is very near? The Pastor. S. james in his days said, The jam. 5. 8. coming of the Lord draweth near. The sick Man. But since he said that, it is more than a thousand and five hundreth years, and yet all things remain even as they were, have I heard some men say. The Pastor. * Note These be the words of them 2 Pet. 3. 3 whom S. Peter calleth Scoffers: Knowing this first, saith he, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts: And saying where is the promise of his coming? vers. 4. for since the Fathers fell a sleep, all things centin●…e as they were from the beginning of the Creation: * Note This is as much as if they had said, If there were a God indeed for to come to judgement, he would not be so slack in his coming: But what saith S. Peter●…o ●…o that? The Lord is not vers. 9 slack concerning his promise (as some men count slackness) but is long suffering to us ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to Repentance. The sick Man. I see now that no man can be certain at what time Christ shall come, It is a secret which God hath kept up from all the living into his own bosom. The Pastor. Indeed Sir, it is such a secret tha●… may not be searched: Christ after his Resurrection, said a wise word Act. 3. 3. to his Apostles, It is not for you 〈◊〉 know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power: * Note This is the wisdom of God, who hath concealed such things from the knowledge of all men as well learned as vnlea●…ned, as well Kings as Subjects, that all flesh at all times be in readiness when the Lord shall come to judgement: This made the Lord so carefully to wain his Disciples to watch. The sick Man. The Lord grant that we may ever have our loins girded & ou●… Candles in our hands, waiting for the Luk. 12.. 35 coming of that Lord. The Pastor. That should be our daily prayer▪ * Note This should teach us not to lie down to sleep, like foolish Virgins, Matth. 25 3 without Oil in our Lamps, le●… before we, waken the Bridegroom come upon us unprovided, & enter in his Chamber, while we shall be seeking that which we shall not find. The sick Man. Now Sir, I pray you proceed and declare to me how the Lord shall come down from Heaven for to judge this world wherein we dwell. The Pastor. He shall come down not as King Agrippa & his Queen Bernice came down 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with much Act. 25. 13 fantasy or vain show, which is nothing indeed but a foolish fantasy: But, O the unspeakable Glory that shall be seen at the coming of the Lord. The sick Man. I requeast you earnestly to continue into that purpose, for it affecteth mine heart very much. The Pastor. I read in the Gospel that while Christ was sitting upon the Mount of Olives, his Disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us when shall Matth. 24 3 these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and the end of the world? Christ's answer was, That they should take heed that no man deceive them, because, said he, many shall come into my Name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. The sick Man. But did he not declare any particular signs or tokens that should appear before his coming? The Pastor. The Lord hath declared that before that great & terrible day come, The Sun shall be darkened, and the Matth. 24. 29 Moon shall not give her light, and the Stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be shaken. The sick Man. I wish to hear the exposition of these words, for they seem to be full of difficulties. The Pastor. Some think that these words are but an allegory of the calamities that were to befall to the Church and to the whole world before the coming of Christ: Others of the Learned taken these words to be spoken properly: And for to clear their opinion to be true, they allege the words of S. Peter as a Commentary upon Christ's words: The Heavens 2 Pet. 3. 10 shall pass away, saith he, with a great noise, and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat, the Earth also, and the works that are therein shallbe burnt up: And a little after he subjoineth, Looking for and hasting unto the coming vers. 12. of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shallbe dissolved, and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat. The sick Man. These be wonderful words of wonderful works, ye will be so good as to make them m●…e clear. The Pastor. * Note First it is said, That the heavens sh●…l pass away praeteribunt, not that they shallbe turned to nothing, or shall ●…o pass away that they shall be no more, but they shall pass away in that they shall be changed: * Note According to this the Psalmist speaking of the heavens Psal. 102. 26. saith, That all of them wax old as doth a garment: As a vesture shal●… thou change them, and they shall be changed: * Note Though in our life-time because it is so short, we cannot sensibly perceive any decay in the heavenly influences, yet it is certhat ta'en the heavens are but cretures ordained for the service of man, creatures subject to fail, wear, and wax old be. The sick Man. What a change Sir, think ye that, that shall be? The Pastor. It shall be a change altogether for the better: All the Elements shall be melted as mettle into a furnace whereby it is refined: After that they are melted they shall be ●…ast into a new mould, for to receive such a ●…orme as it shall please the most High to give unto them. * Note I compare all these great creatures of the world, as the Heavens and four Elements to an old piece of money stamped so long since, that hardly can it be known who●…e superscription is in it, all the Letters being worn off with the using: * Note It is even so of the Heavens and of the Elements in these latter days: It is so long since they were stamped, that the letters of God's name upon them are grown dim & are not so legible as they were wont to be: But in that last day the Lord shall make the old Heavens and this old Earth all to melt into a fire, and thereafter shall stamp them like a new strike Crown: Then he shall give them such a temper that they shall never wax old any more: * Note Gods first impression on his creatures hath by sin been dimmeded and darkened, but this secunda cura, the second coining of these creatures shall be so durable that nothing shall be able to deface it: For God then shall be All in all: * Note Then Tempus edax rerum, Time that eateth all things, yea, all times, as years, months, days, nights, hours, like floods shall all run in into the sea of eternity, where they with all such unconstant things shall be swallowed up in victory. The sick Man. What is that to say, That the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise▪ What sort of noise shall that be? The Pastor. * Note The word in the original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which the French hath termed avec vn bruit siflant de tempeste, that is the roaring of a tempest, which cometh with such a thudde, that it casteth down both Trees and Houses, making all to shake, and also lifting up dust and straes and all in the air as with a whirl wind: Erasmus termeth it, In morem procellae, like a Tempest: * Note Such a Tempest was never heard since the world was founded: It shall be a Tempest which shall shake the world of its foundation. Above and below all shall be shaken with such a roaring and cracking tempest, that no mortal heart can conceive: The Heavens, the Earth, the Waters, the Air, the Sun, the Moon, and Stars, shall be so shaken with that tempest as though they were but pickles of dust, and carried with a whi●…le wind: My mind is in a maze to think upon the greatness of that day: * Note My pen while I have been writing of it, hath fallen out of my hand, so have I been ravished with admiration of that day: O what a day shall that be when all that ever God made shall be set on fire? The Heavens being set one fire, saith the Apostle, shall be dissolved, and the Elements being set on fire shall melt with feruant heat. Isa. 51. 6. Isaiah saith, That the Heavens shall vanish away like smoke: What fearful tempest must that be which shall put all the world into a burning flame? All shall be set on fire, the Heavens above, the Earth beneath, the waters also must be burnt and melted into that wonderful furnace: By this fire all things must be purged. The sick Man. It would seem by Scripture that those heavens which are now, shall be altogether abolished: The Lord saith in Isaiah, Lo, I will create new Isa. 65. 17 Hea●…ens and a new Earth, and the former shall not ●…ee remembered nor come into mind. To create a thing is properly to make something of nothing: What then, ●…hall the Heavens and Elements which are now be red●…cted to nothing? The Pastor. It is most certain that they shall not be put to nothing, but according to their earnest expectation they shall be delivered at the last day from the bondage of corruption into the Rom. 8. 21 glorious liberty of the Sons of God. * Note It is not God's custom so to reward his old servants, as to put them from their being, that so he may be quite of them: * Note As for that which Isaiah saith, that he will create new Heavens and new Earth, and that the former shall not be remembered, it is not to be understood of the last day: The Lord by these words did only declare this to that people, that he would so alter & change the state of his Church at the coming of the Messias, that it should seem to dwell into another world. The sick Man. I took ever that passage otherwise, but I hold that exposition best: But behold what S. john saith concerning the Heavens, the Earth, Reuel. 12. 1 and the Sea, I saw a new Heaven, and a new Earth, for the first Heaven, and the first Earth were passed away, and there was no more Sea. What is that to say? The Pastor. * Note The first Heaven and the first Earth are said to have passed away, not that their substance was no more, but as one saith well, because alia ejus videbatur facies, it was so changed that men would think that it could not be that cloudy Heaven and clattie Earth which was before: The Sea also was no more such as it was before. The sick Man. But S. john saith, That he saw a Reuel. 20. 11 white Throne and One sitting on it, from whose face the Heaven and the Earth fled away, and there was found no more place for them: By this it would seem that they shall be altogether abolished. The Pastor. I answer that they shall not be abolished, but they are said to flee away from the face of God, as most learned Divines think, ad declarandum eorum terrorem & animum ad fugam paratum, for to declare their fear to compeare before the face of so great a Majesty, till they be furbished & scoured of the roost of their vanity whereunto they have been made subject, they think shame of their uncleanness before such eyes of purity: * Note It is said, That there was no place found for them not that they wanted a place, but because of such a Majesty, they did go about to hide themselves: It is well said by a Learned interpreter upon these words, Quorum locus non reperitur, illa latent & occulta manent, whose place is not found, they lurk and remain hid, not that they shall want a place, but because no man can find out by searching what shall be their place: By this is only declared that till the Heavens and Elements be reneved, they shall in a manner go and hide themselves from before the face of that heavenly Majesty, as a ragged man who thinking shame to compeare among those who are richly arrayed, withdraweth himself unto some dark corner that he should not be seen, till he be better arrayed: After that all shall be made clear and clean by the fire, they shall appear before God in their appointed place. The sick Man. Think ye that it shall be a long time before that all can be refined by that fire, as also before that the dead be raised up and gathered together. The Pastor. * All this shall be done in a moment: 1 Cor. 15. 51 In the twinkling of an eye the dead shall be raised, and the living shall be changed where ever they be found, whether grinding at the Luk. 17. 31 Mile, or walking in the fields▪ or lying in their beds, they must all compeare either for to be taken or to be forsaken, all other things shall be speedily dispatched. The sick Man. O but he is a great God who by 2 Pet. 3. 7. his word keepeth in store the Heavens and Earth which are now, reserving them unto fire against the day of judgement: Great must he be who shall kindle such a fire: Now after that this fire shall be quenched, what shall be done? The Pastor. After that by the fire the Lord hath cleansed all his creatures from their roost, and scoured them from all their dross, he shall form them by his word the breath of his mouth: * Note As a maker of Glasses, by the blast of his mouth formeth as he pleaseth the soft melted liquor taken out of the furnace: * Note But whereunto can we compare the most High in his most wonderful works? * Note Then the Heavens which of before he had rolled up like a scroll, shall be unfolded, and put out of their roll, and the Earth being purified and fined, shall be made a Lodging for righteousness, according to his 2 Pet. 3. 13 promise, saith S. Peter, We look for new Heavens and new Earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. The sick Man. What is that to say, That righteousness dwelleth into the new Heavens and into the new Earth? These words seem to be difficile. The Pastor. The opinions of men are divers concerning the sense thereof, some think that Righteousness shall dwell in that new Heavens & new Earth, understanding by Righteousness, the righteousness of Christ: According to this S. Paul's greatest desire was that he might be found in Christ, Not, said he, having mine own righteousness Philip. 3. 9 which is of the Law, but that which is of the Faith of Christ, the Righteousness of God by Faith: Others by a Metommie understand that righteousness dwelling on the new Earth, to be taken or all faithful and righteous men who shall be the Citizens of that new Heaven and of that new Earth: * Note O if we knew the glory of these new things! they would surely ravish our hearts, so that we would all cry, Come Lord Reuel. 12. 17 jesus come: * Note These new Heavens shall never be overcast with clouds, there shall be none eclipsing of light any more: * Note As for the new Earth, there shall be no more sweat of brows: All toils and turmoils shall cease: Sin the cause of all our woe shall be no more there: * Note The most barbarous and barren part that is now on earth, shall be more pleasant than ever was Paradise, for then God shall be All in all: * Note All the Earth shallbe like that Holy of holies, but without a partition wall▪ Exod. 26. 33 In that Holy of holies in Canaan, none but one, & that but once in the year might enter: But in the new Heavens and new Earth all the Faithful shall have their perpetual residence, where they shall follow the Lamb whither-so-ever it shall please Reuel. 14. 4 him to go: There shall they for ever be courting his countenance. * Note Fie that men will not live well for a little space, that they may live with the Lamb for ever, among these pleasures for evermore: Fie Psal. 16. 11 that men for stinking pleasures should loss the comfort of these places wherein nothing but righteousness shall be able to dwell. The sick Man. Seeing the heavens and the earth shall be made new, ye think that they shall change for the better. The Pastor. That is most certain: They have in their own kind been obedient servants unto their God, and God shall also glorify them with a kind of glory which his Wisdom shall think fittest for them: The heavens Psal. 102. 1 like a garment are waxed old at God's service: * Note God will not cast off his old servants, but after their service he will reward them: * Note If their clothes be worn at his service, he will give them a new coat: * Note If their first powers be shaken, he will put new powers into them again: * Note It was truly said by the father of lies, job. 1. 9, That none serve God for nought. * Note It shall not be for nought that the Heavens by their motions, and the Earth by its birth have declared the glory of God omnipotent. The sick Man. But is it possible that such creatures have any knowledge while they serve God, that he will reward them at the last day, that thereby they may be encouraged at his service? The Pastor. * Note They have indeed a certain secret instinct from GOD, which worketh in them a sort of longing for the last day, which shall be the day of rewards, the day of their deliverance: In this the Apostle is Rom. 8. 19 plain, For▪ saith he, the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the vers. 20. manifestation of the Sons of God: for the creature was made subject unto vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him that vers. 21. hath subjected the same in hope▪ because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the Children of God. * Note For this cause the whole creation is said, To groan and to travel together until now. vers. 22. The sick Man. O the great secrets of God I pray you Sir, to let me understand these words by some brief exposition▪ First what is that which he calleth the earnest expectation of the creature which waiteth for the manifestation of the Sons of God? What creature is that? What expectation can that be? The Pastor. By the creature are not understood these little creatures, as Frogs, Flees, Midges, Beasts, Fowls, Fishes: * Note Such creatures have none expectation of better things to come, for in the world to come there shall be no use for them: * Note But by the the creature is to be understood the whole world, viz. The Heavens and all the Elements, as Earth, Fire, Water, Aire, which now are all so knit in love, that every one as it were taketh another into its bosom: * Note Because they are so fast coupled together and so near to other▪ that nothing can come between them, for this cause as if they were all but one thing, they are called in the singular number, the creature▪ * Note As for it expectation, it is called by the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a stretched out of the hand: In which word the waiting of the world for the coming of the Lord, is set out like a woman standing upon her tiptoes stretching out her head for to see if she can see her husband coming a far, whom she looketh & longeth for hourly: * Note See how lively the Apostle declareth the secret instinct of the world's desire for the coming of Christ jesus: In a most powerful word he letteth us see the Heavens and the Earth, and all the Elements, all as it were a man or a woman standing upon their tiptoes, and holding up their heads for to see if jesus be coming according to his promise. All the Faithful who are the Spouse of Christ▪ groan within them Rom. 8. 23 selves, sighing till they see their Saviour in the Clouds, so also this creature hath the own groans and sighs till Christ come for its deliverance: * Note And as the Church's desire, maketh Her to cry, Come Lord Revel. ll 17 jesus come, so in this creature there is a secret instinct and earnest expectation which moveth it in the own language to cry for Christ's coming. The sick man. What understandeth the Apostle while he saith, That the creature was made subject to vanive▪ not willingly but by reason of him that hath subjected the same in hope? First how is it said, That it is made subject to vanity? Can the Heavens and the Earth be said to be subject to vanity? The Pastor. The most Learned think that by this subjection of the creature to vanity is to be understood, ejus fluxa & evanida conditio, that is a condition subject to change, corruption▪ wearing away, or waxing old: As for the Earth, it is evident, as for the Heavens, Scripture is plain, They wax old as doth a garment: Psal. 102. 26 * Note This is the vanity of these creatures: here is also another vanity whereunto they are subject, in that they are made servants to these that will not serve God whom they serve. That the beautiful Sun should furnish light to these that delight in Spiritual darkness, it is a vanity and a drudgery whereunto the Sun is subject: That the Earth should bea●…e and bring forth fruits for to feed the black mouths that blaspheme its Maker, is a great vanity whereunto it is made subject: * Note The Sea groaneth under the Ships of Pirates and Robbers: * Note See what an uproar was in that Element for jonahs' rebellion: * Note So long as he was in that Ship, Gods scourged the winds with his word of command: The winds scourged the Seas, the Seas scourged the Ship wherein God's Rebel did lie till he was cast out: * Note The Sea ever seethed with the fire of God's wrath, the waves ever tumbled up and down breaking one upon another with rushing and roaring, till it took order with the rebellious man, there was no resting for its waves. The sick Man. But how is this that it is said, that the creature is subject to vanity but not willingly▪ It would seem by that, that they obey God but against their will. The Pastor. The Heavens, or Earth properly have neither a willing nor a nilling, but only a secret instinct, which is like a will: * Note This secret instinct which God hath put into his creature is that, Omnis natura conservatrix suiest, every creature striveth to keep & maintain itself: Now while by God it is made subject to such changes, weakening and wearing, which is against the working of that instinct, it is said in Scripture language to be subject to vanity, but not willingly. Neither for that must we think that the creature in that rebelleth or repineth against God in any wise, as if it had a will striving against God's will, no not: * Note But in some measure it may be said to have an instinct like that will of Christ at the drinking of the bitter Cup: Christ's Natural instinct was that the Cup should pass from him, and yet for all that his prayer was, Not my will Matth. 26. 42 but thy will be done. * Note It is even so in some manner of the instinct of the Heavens and of the Earth: They naturally shrink from bondage & abuse, as also they incline to keep themselves from corruption and vanity, neither for that is their will contrary to Gods will: He who is called a servant should not care for it: But yet if he may be made free, the Apostles direction 2 Cor. 7. 21 is, That he use it rather: The sick man may will life, and seek cure for to preserve his life, though Gods will be that he die, if so be that he submit unto Gods will his whole desire, as Christ did, even while he desired the Cup to depart which he knew to have been put into his hand for to drink it: * Note A will that is divers from God's will if it be subacted, & subjected unto God's will, may be free of sin: * Note So the Heavens and the Earth are subject unto vanity, but not willingly, because they incline to be free of the bondage of man's corruption: But seeing it is their Lords will that they bear the burden, and be subject to such changes, they become subject, but withal they are ever groaning and longing for their redemption: * Note As a woman in travel naturally desireth to be delivered, and yet submitteth herself to Gods will, as naturally these creatures of God have an instinct to be delivered from the burden of their bondage: But seeing their instinct or desire to be made free, is not so soon effectuate, neither can be, before the world end, the Lord their good and kind Master for to encourage them under the burden of their bondage, lest▪ they should faint, hath given unto them another secret instinct, which the Apostle calleth their hope. Rom. 8. 20 For to clear this to you in a word: * Note There is in this world groaning under the corruption of the wicked, a certain instinct like Hope. whereby it looketh for to be made free from the bondage and burden of this corruption, as a woman in travel is comforted with hope of deliverance: This is that whereat the Apostle pointeth, when he saith, that God hath subjected the creature in hope Rom. 8. 20 The sick Man. In my judgement ye speak pertinently: In that difficulty I have full satisfaction: But what is this that is subjoined unto the verse following? I understand not the words well. They are these: * Note The creature at last shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the Children of God: What is this liberty of the Sons of God? or how can the Heavens and the Elements be said to be made partakers of that liberty which belongeth to the Children of God? I confess mine ignorance here, in this point I desire to be instructed. The Pastor. This is the liberty, whereof they shall be partakers with the Children of GOD, they shall then have all their will, they shall no more be subject to that whereof they would desire to be▪ free: * Note Not willingly shall be no more in them in all their subjection: * Note They shall be no more slaves to serve sinners, but shall serve God and his Saints which is true liberty: Thus in so far as they shall be free of all that foresaid bondage, they are said to be delivered into the glorious liberty of the Children of God: * Note This shall be a part of the liberty of God's Saints in Heaven, not to be subject to the wicked any more, not to weary nor wax old, all this shall they have commond with the creature: * Note But O what a glory shall the Children have greater than all the creature shall receive! Even a far more and exceeding weight of Glory. 2 Cor. 4. 17 The sick Man. I will not now inquire concerning that weighty glory, I reserve it to afterward God-willing: One thing I desire to know, whether or not the Lord shall come down before the World shall be refined with fire, or if it shall be after. The Pastor. In my judgement before that the Lord come down, the Heavens shallbe new, and the earth & all shallbe new: As a City before the entry of a King, prepareth all before hand, maketh the ways clean, and causeth sweep off the streets the dunghills, so all the steertes of the Heavens▪ and of the Air, and of the Earth must be made clean before the coming of the Son of man: * Note While in the days of his flesh he entered into the City of jerusalem in quality of a King, riding upon an Asse-Colt, all the streets were covered with clothes & green branches of trees, so that the foot of his Ass scarclie could touch the ground, all that was there range with the Matth. 21▪ 9 sound of Hosanna, Hosanna: * Even so in my judgement when that great Lord shall make his entry into the world as a King from Heaven, the world shall all be made new, it shall look with another face than it doth at this day: * Note If our gracious Sovereign King CHARLES, (whom I pray the Lord to bless with a prosperous reign) were coming from London for to enter into this City, we would all cloth ourselves in comely apperall, we would receive him with * Note great applause, all shouting, GOD SAVE KING CHARLES. Would we do this to a sinful man Whose Isa. 2. 22. breath is in his nostrils? What think ye then shall these creatures do, whose necks are yoked under the bondage of corruption ever till the Lord JAH our God come down Psal. 68 4. riding upon the Sky with sound of liberty for evermore? Mine heart here faileth me while I think of that great applause and welcome to the world that Christ shall get when he shall bow the Heavens and come down into the Air: Shall he who in the days of his flesh, in the days of his disgrace, was so honoured at his Royal entry in jerusalem, not be much more honoured at his Royal entry into the world, which is groaning after that hour of his coming, as a woman in travel, earning after the hour of her delivery: At his second coming, all his ways shallbe prepared, and the Hosanna hosannah's of jerusalem shall be turned into Halleluiah Halleluiah: * Note Before Christ came first to appear among Luk. 3. 4. men, he sent a Messenger to prepare his ways: The voice of One crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the vers. 5. way of the Lord make his paths strait: Every valley shall be filled, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made strait, & the rough ways shallbe made smooth. * Note Seeing in his humility his ways were prepared before his coming, there is greater appearance that before he come back to this world again with his millions, this new earth and all shall be prepared. * Note It is a disgrace for a City to be cleansing streets, while the King is already within the ports: It is but rustic manners to sweep an house after that an honest man hath entered, whereby the dust that is under his feet is carried up to his hat and between his shoulders. The sick Man. It is your opinion then that all shall be cleansed with a fire before the Lord come down. The Pastor. It is indeed: And it seemeth also to have some ground into Scripture, for Christ while he was declaring in the Gospel the things that should be fall before his coming, having Matth. 24 29 said, That the Sun and Moon should be darkened, and that Stars should fall from Heaven, which declared the change of this world: In the next verse he declareth that after that appeared the sign of the Son vers. 30. of man in Heaven. The sick Man. According to your discourse it would seem that before the coming of the Lord, at the renewing of this world, there shall be a strange stir among all the Creatures. The Pastor. That is most certain, and that both above and below: S. Luke saith, That there shall be signs in the Luk. 21. 25 Sun, and in the Moon, and in the Stars, and upon the Earth, Pressura gentium, distress of Nations, with perplexity, the Sea and the waves roaring: men's hearts failing them for fear, vers. 26. and for looking after these things which are coming on the Earth; for the powers vers. 27. of Heaven shallbe shaken: Then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and geart glory. The sick Man. All these words be words of great weight: It would please you to give me the interpretation thereof. The Pastor. In these words the Evangelist letteth us see how this big old world shallbe broken down for to be made new again: Some of the Learned expound these words by way of similitude taken from man the little world, while as he is old and failed, the humours of his body like elements are troubled and shaken together: His two eyes like the Sun and Moon are darkened, and his other senses like the Stars fall down and decay: His mind and his reason like heavenly powers are shaken, so at last man like an old house all decayed, falleth down into his dust: * Note As this little world decayeth, so doth this great world, wherein we live, all is failing about us, above us, till at last the very voutes of heaven shall be rend, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, with a noise and shall be melted with fire, and as it were cast into calms whereout of shall come a new world, which shall never any more wax old. The sick Man. That is well said for the general: I perceive now that the Lord by his infinite power shall spread the Heavens like paper or par●…hment, and that they shallbe melted like mettle: Let me now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these words of S. Luke as they are written into his Gospel▪ First he saith, Thi●… there shall be sigues in the Sun, and in the Moon, and in the Stars: What signs shall these be? The Pastor. Some of the Learned think that these signs shallbe 〈◊〉 whereof God from these heavenly bodies shall make a show unto then upon the earth: Some think that this is spoken of great and strange ●…clipes that shall go●… before that day. Some think that there shall be such a great and glorious light that shall go before Christ's coming, that both Sun and Moon shall be darkened as the Stars in the morning are dark 〈◊〉 at the rising of the Sun, so that they cannot any more be seen, being obscured by a ●…ater light: Some by an allegory refer these great eclipses to great learned men, great lights in the Church making defection and Apostasy from the Truth. The sick Man. But S. Matthew, sayeth That the Matth. 24 29 Stars shall fall from Heaven. The Pastor. These words also be diversly interpreted: Some by these fallen stars understand glorious professors of the truth falling away by Apostasy, such Stars are these whom the Dragon is said to draw down with his tail: These be the words of S. john, And Reve. 12. 3 there appeared another wonder in Heaven, and behold a great red Dragon▪ And his tail drew the third part of vers. 4. the stars of heaven▪ and did cast them to the earth: * Note By these stars as a learned man saith well, are understood these whose names in outward appearance were written in Heaven, like the Angel of Sardis who had a name to be living, and yet was Reuel. 3. 1. dead: * Note Wicked men for a space may blaze like Comets and seem to be stars fixed in their orb▪ and yet at last prove to be nothing but a bundle of filthy matter, like these shoot stars, that come not from Heaven but from the Air, whereof the Devil is the prince: Others are Ephes. ●…▪ ●… of the opinion that this be spoken of the stars of heaven, viz. That they shall fall down. The sick Man. But seeing one star is so many times bigger than the whole Earth, as Philosophers esteem, how can they fall? Or if they fall, whither shall they go? The Pastor. One answereth very well to that, that it is very difficile to pronounce, but the day of the Lord shall reveal all: * Note In my judgement by the falling of the stars with other such like things, is understood the decaying and passing away of the Heavens which shall in that day as S. Peter 2 Pet. 3. 10 testifieth, pass away with a noyse●… * Note An house while it is old, and ready to be taken down, will all be full of cliffs and rifts, so that the old ●…yling that was once fast joined together with nails will begin to cling, and then to gape, the nails also will become loose and hang out▪ All signs and tokens of an hasty ruin: It shall be even so of that heavenly house, when it is decayed and near a fall, the stars which are like golden nails into the ●…yling of the world, are said to be loosed and to fall down, for to declare the falling and ruin of the world: Some think that the Stars really shall fall down like the leaves of a tree nipped with a winter frost: S. john speaking of that strange change and perturbation that shallbe both above and below before that great day▪ saith, That the stars of heaven shall fall down unto the earth, even as a Reve. 6. 1●… fig▪ tree casteth he●…▪ untimely figs, when she is a shaken of a mighty wind▪ In these words we see first the infinite power of that Majesty who shall shake the fixed stars out of their firmament, again observe that the stars are said to be shaken like untimlie and green figs, and not like figs that as we say are drop ripe, which drop down of w●…ll without any violence▪ * Note By this it would appear that this world might stand longer than it shall stand I think that if the Lord should suffer the heavens to turn about some hundreth thousands of years, that then the stars should fall down to the earth, nor like green figs, but like fruit that is ripe at the falling▪ But the Lord as we see will shake the starres●…, ere they be ripe▪ and that as some think for the Elects sake: For the Elects sake, said Christ, these days Matth. 24▪ 22. shall be shortened In the Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, decurtabuntur which is to shorten or mutilat. I know that the most Learned interpret these words of the calamities of the jews which God would not suffer to be distressed for many years. The sick Man. Mine heart wonders at these words of the Revelation concerning the stars which shall fall down to the earth like untimely figs shaken with a mighty wind: I think your observation thereupon very pleasant. The Pastor. Indeed Sir, the words are wonderful, but the work shallbe more wonderful: * Note For in all appearance 2 Pet. 3. 12 the heavens being dissolved, that is, all shaken asunder and the stars shaken loose falling down to the earth, and all the Elements being melted together, in all appearance, Stars▪ Sun, and Moon, Day, Water, Fire, and Air, shall become for aspace like a Chaos a confused lump or mass without form as they were Gen. 1. 2. at the first, and that till the God of order hath refined and purified all by his refining fire. Some think otherwise, but the day of the Lord shall reveal all. The sick Man. That shall be a terrible work: * Note Now let me know what S. Luke understandeth by these words▪ That upon the earth shall be distress of Nations with perplexity. The Pastor. * Note That is, men of all Nations shall be so troubled at the sight of such things, that like a man in a straight they shall not wot to what hand to turn them, even as David was when he said, I am in a great strait, 2 Sam. 24. 14 that is, perplexity: As for that which S. Luke saith of the Sea, viz. The sea and the waves roaring, by these words he declareth that the sea shall be all stirred to the bottom, so that the●… waters and all shall be muddy an●… drumblie: * Note The word Salum turened here, 〈◊〉, signifieth properly▪ mare turbatum, a raging troubled and tempestuous Sea. All these things that shall appear▪ are called, Fore runners, sent before to tell all the Faithful that when they shall see them, that they lift up their heads and look up for to see their Redemption that is near▪ S▪ Luk compareth the time of all these things that appear before the Lords coming to the spring time, when trees begin to bud, When the buds Luk. 2●…. 30 shoot forth, saith he▪ ye●… know that Summer is at hand: So likewise ye▪ vers. 31. when ye see these things come to passe●… know that the Kingdom of God is nigh at hand. The sick Man. All these foresaid things be bu●… buds as I see forewarning us of the Summer season▪ wherein the Lord shall come: But what is that which S. Matthew saith, that after all these Matth. 24. 30. things shall appear the SIGN of the Son of man in Heaven▪ What is that which he calleth the SIGN of the Son of man in Heaven? What SIGN think ye that to be, that shall be seen in Heaven after that the world shall be made new? The Pastor. The interpreters vary much in their opinions concerning this Sign what sort of Sign it should be. Some think that it shall be the sign of the Cross upon which the Lord hang: This SIGN as some think shallbe seen into the Air before the coming of the Lord: Such a sign as some write, was that which Constantine saw in the Air while he was going to battle against the enemies of Christ: With this sign was heard a voice uttered in these words IN HOC SIGNO VIN●…HS. Others think that by the SIGN of the Son of man, is to be understood Christ Himself, who is called, The Sign of the Son of man, as Circumcision in Scripture Language is called, The sign of the Circumsion. Rom. 4. 11 * Note I incline rather to think with Beza that, that sign shall be some great Majesty and unspeakable glory above all compass of comparison glorious, which shall appear, whereby the coming of that Lord shall be known to all, not to be the coming of a creature, but of Him who is Lord of all the creatures, having a name above all names: Philip, 2. 9 * Note The Kings and Princes of the earth while they are among the multitudes of their Subjects by some glistering jewel will be discerned from all the rest, or by the great respect that is carried to their persons, by these that are about them: * Note All sheaves fell down before Joseph's sheaves: Gen. 37. 7 So all creatures at his approach shall fall down before him: * Note As before Gen. 41. 43 joseph, in his progesse was a cry Abrech, how the knee, so at the coming of this Lord the Angels in a manner shall cry, Abrech: At his Name every knee in Heaven and Earth and under the Earth shall bow▪ * Note Before, behind, and above that Body of God both white and ruddy Cant. 5. 10 the chiefest among ten thousand, shall be such a glory and throng of Majesty as shall be a certain sign▪ that it can be none other but the Prince of Eternity, he being among his most bright and glorious Angels like a Sun among the Stars: The words of the Earth cannot bear such a signification as may express the glory of this Sign. * Note Mine heart is without me while I think upon the glory of that Lord, whom all cyes shall see▪ that day with his golden Head and bus●… Cant. 5. 11 Locks: Christ shall be clothed in his triumphing apparel with such a brightness, that the Moon shall be confounded and the Sun ashamed, as these who being clothed in course raiment, are ashamed to be seen among these who are pasmented with gold: * Note In a word, at his presence all powers shall shake, and all creatures at his b●…cke shall obey. The sick Man. After that, that Sign shall appear: What think ye shall be done? The Pastor. When Christ the desire of all Nations Hag. 2. 7. shall be ready to come, He Matth. 24 31 shall send before him▪ his Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet, and they shall gather his dispersed and despised Elect from the four winds, from one end of Heaven to the other▪ S. Paul saith▪ That the Trumpet shall 1 Thess. 4 16 〈◊〉, and the dead shall arise: This shall not be a brazen Trumpet, but a ●…stiall, which shall found so shrill with a princely noise▪ that all the creatures on Earth; in Heaven, and Hell, shall hear it. * Note S. Paul hath three notable sayings concerning the sound that shall be heard at Christ's coming: First he saith▪ That he shall descend 1 Thess. 4 16 with a shout, secondly▪ With the voice of the Archangel, thirdly, With the Trumpet of God. The sick Man. The remembrance of that shout maketh mine ears to tingle and my heart strings to tremble: What a shout think ye that, that shall be? The Pastor. Some think that it shall be a great noise & din, such as is heard into huge great assemblies: * Note It may be a shout of victory or of praise: * Note The Angels and millions of Saints, who sing his praise continually, cannot keep silence that day: They shallbe all about Christ that day shouting for the joy of that desired day: * Note The word shout in the original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which properly signifieth that sounding voice which the Mariners use to others, every one for to move another to row: Others think it to be like a cry of Soldiers, qualis est militaris convasatio, while they truss all their baggage for to remove. The sick Man. For what cause chiefly shall this shout be? To whom shall it be directed? The Pastor. It shall be chiefly for the Glory of God: * Note It shall be directed to the dead, who are to be raised up by the power of God, and by the means of his Servants the Angels, who at the raising up of all creatures shall shout like Mariners, heaving up that which is heavy by force of their arms. * Note What Archangel that shall be or what shall be that voice: One saith very well, Dies Domini revelabit, The day of the Lord shall reveal it. The Lord prepare us for it: O what a Glory when Christ shall appear with hands as gold rings Cant. 5. 14 set with the Berill; and with a bright Belly over laid with Saphires. The sick Man. Is it your judgement that Christ the judge of the World shall come down from Heaven with a great Majesty? The Pastor. It is certain, of the day of his coming again may well be said, that which was said of his first coming, This is the day which the Lord Psal. 11●…. 24 hath made: In that day he himself shall come down in a Chariot of a Cloud as he ascended into a Cloud: All the Glory of Heaven shall be seen that day: The Father shall be there in unspeakable Glory: The Holy Ghost shall be there with unspeakable Majesty: All the Saints and Angels shall be about Him like burning Lamps and glistering Suns. The sick Man. What passage of Scripture letteth us see clearly the Glory of his coming to judgement? The Pastor. That passage of Daniel is very formal 〈◊〉 beheld, said he, till the D●…n. 7. 9 Thrones were cost down, and the Ancient of days did ●…ite, ●…base Garn●… was white as snow, and the Hair of his Head like the pure wool▪ 〈◊〉 Throne was like the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and his wheele●… as burning fire▪ A fie●…e stream issued, vers. 10. and came foorih from before him, tha●… sand thousands ministered unto him▪ 〈◊〉 ten thousand times 〈◊〉 thousand stood before him: S. john faith, that the number of them was▪ ten thousand Reuel. 5. 11 times ten thousand, and thousand 〈◊〉 thousands: * Note Let these brutish 〈◊〉 phemers here by 〈◊〉 way ●…ak a 〈◊〉 son, who say▪ That if many be dam●… ned God shall ride with a thin Court, words 〈◊〉 to be scourged with a thousand hells: Away ye barking blasphemers, God hath no need of you nor of your like: * Note He who could of stones raise up seed unto Matth. 3. 9 Abraham, and make stones to cry, Hosanna, Hosanna, needeth not want multitudes of these that will sing his praises: * Note But hath he not Angels in Heaven already, who are in number ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands: But though they were none but himself, is he not that great SHADAI, God all sufficient who hath Exod. 6. 3 need of none, of whom all have need? If I were hungry, said he, I would not tell thee▪ for the world is Psal. 50. 12 mine and the fullness thereof. The sick▪ Man. This would I learn of you, viz. If when the Trumpet of the resurrection shall blow, these that are then living shall die first. The Pastor. The Scripture saith, That they shall be changed: This change which 1 Cor. 15. shall be into the twinkling of an eye, shall stand unto them in stead of death: In that is the word fulfilled, It is appointed to all men once to die. Heb. 9 27 The sick Man. Think ye that these that then shallbe alive, shall win first to Christ? It would seem that they have a fore start of these who are rotten in the Grave. The Pastor. The Scripture is plain: This we say unto you by the word of the Lord, 1 Thess. 4. 15 that we which are alive, and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. Some gather upon these words, that these who are dead shall prevent them who are alive, and shallbe sooner at Christ than they, viz. That Adam and Eve shall be with the first, and in the first rank, and so that at that Convention these who first were dead shall prevent them that shall be alive: But that hath no sure ground in Scripture, for though it be said, That these who shall be alive shall not prevent these which are asleep, it will not follow that these which are asleep shall prevent these which are alive: The Apostle himself saith, That we shall 1 Thess. 4. 16 all be caught up together in the Clouds: As for who shall be foremost, Dies Domini revelabit, The day of the Lord shall declare it. The sick Man. I see them that your opinion is that all flesh that day must arise and compeare before God, and that none must be excepted. But how is it that the Godly only by Christ are called, The Children of the resurrection? Luk. 20. 3●… By that it would appear▪ that none shall arise but the members of Christ? The Pastor. It is most certain that all shall arise: All that are in the grave shall joh. 5. 28. 29. hear his voice, and shall come forth they that have done good unto the Resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. As for the Godly, indeed properly they are the Children of the Resurrection, because they shall arise willingly out of their beds, and because by the virtue of Christ's Resurrection they shall arise, he being the Head and they the members, which must follow after that Head. As for the wicked they shallbe scourged out of their Graves, the force of wrath shall draw them out, that as Malefactors they may come & hear their doom pronounced against them. The sick Man. I hear you say according to God's word that all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth: If that be, where shall the little Children that died without Baptism be? The Roman Church teacheth that such go to a prison where they shall never see the face of God: Shall not their bodies come out of their Graves? If the Heavens and the Earth pass away, what part can they be in where they shall not see God's face? The Pastor. Indeed Sir your reason refuteth that error sufficiently: For certainly their bodies must come out of their Graves: It is not possible but in that day they shall see Christ. * Nonte Truly to put such into an everlasting prison for such a cause, were to blame the Lord himself of injustice: The Lord hath said, The Ezek. 18. 20 son shall not bear the iniquity of the father: What if the father by negligence shall neglect to cause baptise his Child? shall the Child for his father's negligence be clapped up into everlasting prison? If that were, should not the proverb be true, The fathers have eaten sour grappes, Ezek. 18. 2 and the children's teeth are set on edge. It was well said by Bernard. Non privatio Baptismi sed contemptus Bernard. damnat. That is, not the want, but the contempt of Baptism condemneth: If any condemnation be, the Father who contemneth, and not the Child who contemneth not, shall be damned. S. Ambros speaking of Valentinian, Orat▪ funeb▪ de obibitu▪ Valent. who disceased before he could come to him for to be baptised, said, Quem regeneraturus eram amisi, sed ille non amisit gratia●… quam poposcit. That is, I have lost him whom I was for to regenerate, but he hath not lossed the grace which he sought: * Note None but baptizers of Bells will be against this truth. The sick Man. I am well satisfied in that point: I wonder much how men should go so far astray: Where shall these bodies of little Children be in the day of the Resurrection▪ if they shall not compeare before Christ the judge? I think this argument can hardly be answered unto. Another difficulty here may be moved concerning Baptism, which the Apostle taketh as an argument 1 Cor. 15 29 to prove the Resurrection: What shall they do, saith he▪ which are baptised for the dead, if the dead rise not at all, why are they then baptised for the dead? The words seem very difficle. The Pastor. Indeed Sir, they want not difficulty. Some interpret the words for the dead, That is, Vice & loco mortuorum. The custom was among the Christians as S. Ambros recordeth, that if any died without Baptism, some of the living came to the bed where they were dead, or to their Grave, and there were baptised for them: chrysostom and Epiphanius declare that this was a custom among the Marcionites, which they reprove as a vain invention▪ Others interpret these word●… of these who on their deathbeds were baptised, that thereby all bygone sins might be purged away. Others interpret, To be baptised S. Chrysost. for the dead, That is, in the faith of the Resurrection of the dead: For these who were to be baptised, first did rehearse the Creed, and when they came to the Resurrection of 〈◊〉 dead, at these words they were baptised. Others of the Learned take the Luther. words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about the dead▪ The custom being of old, that Bucanus. these who were baptised, were baptised about the Graves, where the Piscator. dead did lie, for to testify that they did believe the Resurrection from the dead. Some by baptising here understand that washing and ablution of dead bodies: After this signification▪ Cups are said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be Ma●…. 7. 4. baptised or washen: This washing of the dead bodies before their burial, as some think, was common to the jews, who in hope of the Resurrection, did both them and make them clean: This was also a custom among the Pagans▪ to wash and anoint the dead bodies: Such were called Pollinctores▪ This also appeareth to have been done in the days of the Apostles by the Christians: In the Acts it is written of Tabytha, that being dead, Act. 9 37. they washed her▪ and laid her in an upper Chamber: All these baptizings and washings, were in hope of the Resurrection▪ As for the Pagans, they wrought the wroke as Peter on Tabor spoke, not knowing what he Luk. 9 33. joh. 18. 14, said, or as Cajaphas prophesied▪ not understanding the prophecy which he preached: This by the most Learned is approved. Others interpret to be baptised for dead, not for the dead, or about the Graves of these that are buried▪ but for dead, say they, that is, as dead to sin, for to destroy and mortify sin, which is the chief end of Baptism: This say they, is a main argument for to prove the Resurrection: For if there were no Resurrection, to what purpose should men crucify their sins? * Note Behold how these few words: To be baptised for dead, hath troubled so many brains: Where we may learn the shallowness of man's wit: God with that little Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath given all the Doctors of the Church a task that may teach them humility, an Antidote for to cure our swelling knowledge. The sick Man. That which ye say is truth: Oh▪ that men were wise in this point▪ that they could consider the weakness of their wits. But to come to our purpose concerning the Resurrection: Many a time have I in my Spirit wondered at the greatness of that work. The Pastor. It shall be a great work indeed▪ * Note But if any Saducean spirit would doubt of it, it must also doubt more of the creation: I take the creation to have been a greater work: It is more to have made our bodies of nothing, than to gather their dust together which is now but dispersed: This was a Father's argument. Vtique idoneus est reficere qui Tertul. facit: quare miramur? quarenon credimus? Deus est qui fecit: Considera authorem & tolle dubitationem. That is, It is easy for God to make over again that which he hath once made, why marvel we? yea, why believe we not? God hath made all: Consider the Maker, and doubt no more. The sick Man. Let me hear something out of Scripture concerning this point. The Pastor. There be many most famous passages for the probation of that great work, both out of the old and New-Testament: I know, said job. 19 25 job that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth, and though after my skin▪ worms destroy this body, yet in my vers. 31. flesh, shall I see God▪ whom I shall see for myself▪ and mine eyes shall behold, and not another, though my reins be consumed within me. Daniel is clear in this: Many of Dan. 12: 2 them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake: Some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. The Prophet Ezekiel by way of similitude setting the deliverance of Israel, pointeth at the Resurrection, Ezek. 37. 12 Behold, O people, saith he, I will open your Graves and cause you to come up out of your graves. Christ in the New-Testament made numbers of the Saints to come out of the dust of death: What they were, no man can tell their names, whether it was Moses, or joshua, Samuel, David, josaphat, josiah or who, no tongue can tell: But this we know, that after Christ arose by the power of his Resurrection, he made many to come out of their Matth. 27 52 Graves: The graves were opened, and many bodies of Saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his Resurrection, vers. 53 and went into the holy City, and appeared unto many. The sick Man. O but that was wonderful! Think ye that after that, they did return to their Graves? The Pastor. The most Learned esteem that they never did return back to dust, but that they waited on Christ until the day of his Ascension, in which day they did accompany him up to the Heavens, where with their Head Christ, they were received into Glory, with the great applause of all Angels and Saints, whose Spirits above are desiring continually to see the day when Soul and body shall be joined for to be glorified together for ever. The sick Man. After that the dead are risen and the living changed, what think ye shall immediately follow before we meet with the Lord himself? The Pastor. In the judgement of some so soon as the dead shall be raised and the living changed, before that we shall meet with Christ into the clouds, there shall be a sore mourning both among the Godly and the wicked, for the piercing of that Lord: Every one of the Godly in that day shall Gen. 41. 9 say as the Butler said to Pharaoh I 〈◊〉 remember my faults this day. Such a mourning was never heard since the world was founded, as shall be heard that day for a space▪ Christ himself hath declared this, saying, Then shall all the Tribes of the earth Matth. 24. 30 mourn, when they shall see the Son of man coming into the Clouds: All shall be aghast at the first sight of that Isa. 57 15. High and lofty One, that inhabiteth Eternity: S, john saith, Behold, he Reue▪ 1. 7. cometh with Clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: And all the Kinrides of the Earth shall wail because of him. The Prophet Zacharie compareth this mourning to the mourning of Zath▪ 〈◊〉▪ 〈◊〉▪ Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon, for the death of good josiah. Some think that only the wicked shall mourn in that day: In my judgement it is the most true opinion: Others by reason of these foresaid passages, think that all both Godly and ungodly at the first sight of jesus, shall veil with great lamentations, while they shall behold him whom they have pierced. * Note All at the sight of him who was pierced for and by our sin's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 plangent, that is, shall strike their breasts with their hands, the sign of great doole. After that the Lord hath suffered his to mourn for a space in his sight, He shall incontinent command them to come, and by virtue of his word they shall all as with wings fly up into the Air, there for to meet their Lord, * Note The strength of their heart, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their minds. So soon as they shall come to Reuel. 21. 4. him he shall wipe all tears from their eyes: * Note Then shall these mourning Mordecais put off the Sackcloth of their doole, for to be arrayed with the King's royal apparel, the a Reuel. 7. 9 White linen of heaven, the glorious Liuer●… of Christ jesus: * Note These having b Reuel. 4. 4. celestial Crowns upon their heads, shall glance in glory like shining c Matth. 13 43. Suns, that all that ever took breath may see d Esth. 6. 9 how it shall be done to them whom the King of Heaven will honour: * Note When the Godly shall see themselves so powerfully delivered from so fearful dangers, they shall cry to Christ as the Israelites said to Gideon▪ e judge. 8. 22 Reign thou over us, because thou hast delivered us: According to their desire he shall reign over them in all prosperity: Then shall his f Cant, ●…5. 11 curled Locks be fully dried of the g Cant. 5. 2 Dew and doole drops of the night of all afflictions. The sick Man. When the Lord shall come to judgement, in what place think ye that he shall sit down as judge for to pronounce his sentence? The Pastor. It is thought by some that Christ and all his Angels shall come down to the Earth, that the sentence may be pronounced in the presence of the wicked, who for fear of distress and destruction, like creeping worms shall strive to hide themselves under Rocks and Mountains, for to cover themselves from the face of the Lamb: Glad would they be for Reve. 6. 16 to have the cliffs of the rocks, and the secret place of the Grave for a Shelter in that day: * Note That shall be a day of trouble and of treading down, Isa. 22. 5. a day of perplexity, and of crying to the mountains: Then shall the Wicked in fearful qualms of grief being haltered with horrors, wish that the Rocks and Mountains would skip like Rams for to leap upon Psal. 114. 14. them, that thereby they might be hid from the Lamb. But from that Royal Presence there shall be none escape: * The Angels of great power shall hail them away by force before his great Tribunal, where all the evil they have committed and all the good they have omitted, both public scandales and secret sins, shall be ripped up and set in open view before all the world to their perpetual infamy. This is the truth of God's word: judge nothing before the time, said S. 1 Cor. 4. 5 Paul, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsel of the hearts. * Note O merciful God what is this? What can foolish man think in himself while he concealeth his since Behold here it is written, that at that day God shall make manifest the counsel of the hearts: The world saith often that Thought is free: * Note But behold here how the very evil thoughts of the wicked in that day shallbe spread out and laid in broad-band before the face of God, of Angels, and of men. * Note What an aw●…and should this be for to make us watch better over our most secret thoughts, seeing in that great day before so many famous witnesses, GOD, Saints, and Angels, the most secret counsels of the heart shall be made manifest? * Note O then, then, shall the black Moor's hiddes and Leopards spots clearly be seen: Then shall all the hid murders and all the counsels thereof be made manifest: Were he a King, he shall not be able to cover himself: Then shall all the hid Fornications and Adulteries, yea, the very plots and counsels for such things, though not effectuate, all shall be brought to light: O ye most vile hearts, in that day ye shall be unboweled and anatamised before the eyes of all that ever breathed on earth. * Note What think ye, O sinners, who will not remember this? Will ye not think upon this, that the day is fast coming, except that by speedy repentance ye prevent the wrath, God shall discharge upon you the thunderbolts of his vengeance? Vengeance shall beat upon your brains and breasts wherein your sins were bred. The sick Man. * Note Oh, that men were wise for to lay such meditations nearest their heart, alas, such thoughts in our hearts are often but raw and evil digested▪ We oftest miss the corn and choose the chaff, such are the follies which are ever afloat in our brains. But to come to the main purpose which we have in hand, let me see what warrant these have in Scripture, who say, That Christ shall come down to the Earth for to sit in his last Assize. The Pastor. They ground their Assertion upon the words of job, who saith, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and job. 19 25 that he shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth: In the French version it is. Il demeurera le dernier sur laterre. That is as our o●…version hath, He shall stand the last upon the earth. By this it would appear that Christ the judge shall come down to the Earth, where he shall have a judgement seat for to * Note do justice upon that Element where sin did most abound. Other learned Divines think otherwise, viz. That Christ's Throne whereupon he shall sit that day, shall be erected in the Air. The sick man. Seeing some are of that opinion that Christ shall judge, he being upon the earth, what place think they that he shall choose for to sit down into? The Pastor. As for the particular place where that last judgement shall be given, some think that it shallbe into the ●…ire over the valley of jehoshaphat, near by the Mount of Olives, which is not far from jerusalem: Their chief ground is, from that of joel: I will, said the Lord, gather all Nations in joel. 3. 2. the Valley of jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there: There will I sit to judge the Heathen round about. The opinion of some is▪ that where Christ was crucified and put to open shame and railed upon▪ there shall he chiefly in that day make manifest his Glory. * Note This great judge in all appearance shall judge the world in righteousness, and convince the world of sin and of righteousness, where he himself was most unrighteously judged and condemned. Many of the Learned School men think that he shall come down Act. 1. 12. toward the mount of Olives: Their ground is this, That Christ ascended from the mount of Olives, and that there the Angels said unto the men of Galilee that were gazing up toward heaven, that as they had seen Act. 1. 11. him go into heaven, so should he come again. These be probable conjectures: But in my judgement no man can assuredly tell in what particular place this great judge shall sit down for to pronounce his judgement: This is most certain that he shall come down: Behold he cometh, saith S. jud. v. 14. jude, with ten thousand of his Saints, to execute judgement upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. The sick Man. After what form think ye that Christ shall come down from Heaven at doomsday that great judicial day? The Pastor. In the most glorious form that is possible to him, with whom nothing is impossible: That glorious King shall be accompanied with all the Armies of heaven. Before him in die illo decritorio, in that judicial day, shall be heard a shout a voice of an Archangel: The most shrill Trumpet of heaven shall sound so high with a rebounding noise that the dead in their Graves shall awake and arise out of their beds like sleeping men that are wakened in the morning with the sound of the Drum, or fifth hour Bell: At that sound all the dead must come out of their Graves, as men after sleep arising out of their beds: * Note None then must lie still with the Sluggard, who turning himself on his bed as a door on its hinges, saith, Prou. 24. 33 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: No, not: At the first shout, at the first voice of the Archangel▪ at the first blast of the Trumpet, all shall arise and compeare before the face of that judge in the day of that great general Assembly, when God shall comfort his own, and make a speedy riddence of the wicked▪ whom he shall denoure by the fire of his jealousy: None shall be able in that day to award his blows: There shall be such pains which no damned Soul shall be able to avoid, or abide: But the Godly most gladly like Eagles about Matth. 24 28 dead body shall flock about their Lord. The sick Man. I hear by your discourse that the LORD shall come down in great pomp and magnificence: After that he is come down into his Chariot with his thousand thousands, what shall be done next? The Pastor. Daniel saith, that the judgement Dan. 7. 10. shall be set and the Books shall be opened: After that Christ by his power hath cast down all the little thrones of Emperors and Kings, he himself shall sit down upon a Throne of infinite Majesty: His Garments shall be white as snow, and his Hair like pure wool: This is said by Daniel, for to let us see that the judge of the world shallbe upright & spotless in his judgement: To this is subjoined by the Prophet, That the judgement was set. The sick Man. I understand not well these last words▪ What is that to say, That the judgement was set? The Pastor. * Note It is in the Hebrew Dinaiethib: In the Latin judicio considonte, or as Arius Montanus hath turned it judicium sedit, that is▪ The judgement sat down, that is, as who would say, The Session sat down. * Note By this judgement some of the Learned, understand Christ and his Saints with him, as Assessors▪ in that jury all sitting, Christ for to judge, & they for to approve his judgement. * Note This than know, That when the Son of man shall come in his Glory, Matth. 25 31 not with a scornful Reed in his hand, but with a celestial Sceptre, he shall separate the Godly and the wicked one from another: His God▪ head which in the days of his flesh did lurk, shall in that Session most ardently appear with such a brightness as shall make the eyes of devils to dazzle. The judgement being thus orderly set, the Books shall be opened. The sick Man. What Books are these which shall be opened? The Pastor. S. john speaking of that last Session Reve. 20. 12 day, saith, I saw the dead great and small standing before God, and the Books were opened, and the dead were judged out of these things that were written in the Books according to their works. Your desire is to know what Books these be which shallbe opened in that great Day: In my judgement there shall be two Books opened that day: * Note The first is that golden Book of the Godly called, Reuel. 20. 12 The Book of life, which in the Chapter following is called, The Lamb's Reuel. 21. 27 Book of life: These whose names are written in that Book, are said in Isaiah, to be written among the living Isa. 4. 3. in jerusalem. This is that Book whereof Moses spoke when he said to God, If thou wilt not forgive this Exod. 32. 32 people, blot me I pray thee out of the Book which thou hast written: This may be called, The predestination Book, which is kept in Heaven: Rather re●…oyce, said Christ to his Disciples, Luk. 10. 20 that your names are written in Heaven. The sick Man. Think ye Sir, that God hath any material Book, wherein the names of his Saints are written? The Pastor. No, not: * Note But as one saith well Infallibilis Dei memoria & aeterna ad vitam▪ electiò, liber dicitur: That is, The infallible memory of God, and his eternal election unto life, is called a Book: Wherefore that? Will ye say, because that which is written in our Book is most surely kept: If we have a thing to day in our memory, we may forget it incontinent: But if it be well written in our Book, we are sure of it: * Note According to this God for to show unto his dear Ones how well he remembereth them, he saith, That he hath written Isa. 49. 16. them upon the palms of his hands: This is that Book of remembrance, Mal. 3. 6. whereof speaketh Malachi. One of the Learned calleth well the Book of Life Symbolum electionis, the sign or badge of our election: * Note This is that which the Prophet Ezekiel calleth, The writing of Ezek. 13. 9 the house of Israel, and secret of the Lord. The sick Man. But how is it said, That this Book shall be opened? The Pastor. The Book of Life or of predestination is said, to be opened when it shall appear to all the world, who they are whom God hath predestinate: * Note So long as the Godly are here, they are Gods secret Ones no more known to the world, than a man is able to read that which is within a closed Book. While it shallbe seen by all what they are, than that Book is said, To be opened: When these offscouring of the world, the most despised among men, shall be seen upon Thrones shining like a Matth. 13 43 Suns about their God, b Mal. 4. 2 the Sun of righteousness, then shall all the wicked read as in an open Book, that these whom they once did despise, were truly the Saints of God. * Note The Book of predestination is like that Book of the Revelation, which was so fast sealed that no man could open it, but the Lion of the tribe Reuel. 5. 5. of judah, without the force of a Lion, such seals could not be lifted up. The sick Man. I have heard concerning the Book of the Godly. Now let me know what be these Books wherein were written all the works of the wicked, according to which S. john saith, that they shall Reuel. 20. 12. be judged: * Note By this it would appear that all the sins which they in their life did commit under the curtain of darkness shall then be set in open view: O the deep displeasure of our God: Happy they who are highly in his favour: I would gladly know what a black bible is that which is called, the Book of the wicked. The Pastor. * Note When Christ the Ancient of Dan. 7. 9 days sitting upon his Throne, ready for to judge the wicked, shall be upon the touch of their trial, the Books Reuel. 21. 27 of accounts shall be laid open: The Book of the Godly is but one Book called, The Book of the Lamb, and the Book of Life▪ But as for the wicked Reuel. 120. 12 while the Scirpture speaketh of them, it speaketh of Books in the plural number: The Books▪ were opened, Reve. 20. 12 saith. S. john, And the dead were judged out of these things that were written in the Books. * Note By these Books some understand the Law of God, and their own Conscience: Their bosom Book like Vriahs' Letters▪ containing their own death: Let me also add●… unto these two a third Book, ei●…en the Book of the Gospel. First of all, the Lord shall open his Law Book unto the wicked, where they shall see what they have done, that God hath forbidden, and what they have not done, that he hath commanded: * Note At the breach of every command they shall see curls of Woe, woe, woe, annexed like the reekie tail of a Comet▪ which are nothing but the smoke of God's wrath. After that with sore sighing & grief of mind they have read through all the Book of the Law, & have clearly seen what filthy breaches they have made, to them shall be presented the Book of the Gospel, wherein they shall see that they have sinned against the reemeede of sin by refusing grace offered unto them, and by treading under their unclean feet the precious Blood of the Lamb, the price of their Redemption. * Note Though the wicked shall indeed be judged according to their works, yet the main cause of their condemnation shall be, because they would not believe in the Son of God: For this cause the Gospel which is that Book of Faith, shallbe Gods chief Book of judgement, according to this S. Paul plainly saith, That in that Rom. 2. 16 day God shall judge the secrets of men by jesus Christ according to my Gospel. * Note Now lest the wicked should think God any wise to be unrigh▪ teous while he judgeth, the third Book, like Joseph's Cup where by he Gen. 41. 5 did divine, shall be produced, even their bosom Book, the Book of their own Conscience, the Book of Nature and of Nations, which every one of them had in keeping within their breast, since they could discern good by evil: * Note What ever they have spoken, wrought, or thought, there shall they find it written, in most black Characters, & as it were subscribed with their own hand, so that they shall not be able to have a face for to deny, no more than a man can deny his own hand write. * Note The Letters of that Book shall be printed with so great a Character that all the Godly who shall be Christ's Assessors in that jury, for to pass their Verdict upon them shall see easily a fairy off all the shame of the wicked, which was once close▪ covered under▪ vanished colours of great godliness. O in that day all their filthy thoughts and crafty conveyances, and secret conspiracies, and hid murders, and adulteries, and all other mischief, the unhappy cockle & darnel of their hearts, whereof they were secretly guilty, shall be set in open view before GOD, Angels, and men: All their faces shall be covered with the filthiness of their menstruous clouts: All their sins both known and secret, shall God set in order before them, that all eyes of Psal. 50. 21 men and Angels may behold their abominations: O short so●…r sweet pleasures, with long everlasting tails of sorrow. * Note O but the Saints of God shall wonder in that day to see so many whom they while they lived judged in Charity to be godly and well set persons: O, say I, but they shall wonder to see them in ba●…e bondage, among the black band, having the Books of their Consciences blotted with so many Items of i●…lle and wicked thoughts, which in this life could never be taken within the walk of humane justice: * Note After the Items of their vile thoughts, shall appear the Items of idle and wicked words: After all, shall be seen the most filthy Items of their most vile & abominable works, which they thought had been buried in eternal oblivion: The dashing tempest of God's wrath shall wash out all the varnished paintings of their hypocrisy▪ Merciful GOD▪ what shame in that day shall come with confusion upon all the faces of the wicked▪ When such secret sins as hid murders, by Sword or by poison, hid adulteries, incest, stolen inches & false weights, & all other such iniquities whereof this world is full, and that under a fair colour and show of godliness, when all these hid sianes▪ say I, shall be singled out and shall come to light, the Godly whom they once reputed precise fools and simple Fellows, shall wonder at the sight thereof: * Note Then shall they point at such persons, saying among themselves, Fie, fie, out upon him, out upon her, Ohshame: who could have thought that ever he had been such a man, or that she had been such a woman? was this the life that these dapper & delicate persons did lead under the fair colour of such a glorious profession? Ah stinking hypocrites, formal Pharisees with your sodered shows, to whom poor poor Publicans seemed to be no body, because while ye sinned, God kept silence ye thought that he was altogether such a one as yourself: But Psal. 50. 2●… now he shall reprove you, and shall set all your sins in order before you: It shall be clearly proved unto your faces & false hearts, that ye were but painted Tombs and whited walls: The Lord in his fury shall hurl you out of your place▪ He in his rage shall push you all down like a rotten and tottering wall▪ Nothing shall be able to dazele or deceive the eyes of your judge. The sick Man. The Lord be merciful to my silly A prayer Soul: The Lord cast all my sins behind thy back, and bury them in the bottom of the Sea. It is evident then as I see that all secret sins shall come to light in that day, and shall be seen written with Letters great like mountains▪ for to be seen by the eyes of all these that ever took life, and that to the everlasting shame and infamy of these who in the days of God's patience, turned his grace into wantonness. The Pastor. It is most certain that there is nothing which shall not be seen that day: * Note All the close corruptions where▪ with the wicked were stuffed and swelled, shall be set in open view, all the wicked shall be known, yea, every mother's son of them, shallbe clearly seen unmasked and unwizored, yea, stripped stark nacked of all their cloaks of craftiness: What have they thought or wrought, it shall be sought and found: The Lord by the light beams of his eyes▪ Sons of thunder, and of lightning, shal●… seek and scearch thorough the secrets of all hearts, after that manner whereof Zephaniah hath written: Zepha 1. 12 At that time, saith the Lord, will I search jerusalem with lamps, and visit the men that are frozen in their dreg●…▪ and say in their heart, The Lord will neither do good nor evil: Then shall be seen who sported in Meshech▪ and who ruffled in the tents of Ke●…ar▪ contented themselves with painted and guilded graces. After that the Lord hath found out with this light all their abominations and hath set them in order before them, then shall he cry, Ah, I will Isa. 1. 42. case me of mine adversaries That said, he shall fling contempt upon their faces. The wicked then shall be so pined with such pinches, yea, so astonished, as that no tongue can express: They who while they had time to repent, would not shed a tear for to get God's mercy, would then, when the Sunshine of their glory is past, be glad to please God, by powering out the dearest drops of their blood into tears, wherewith they might bathe the feet of jesus. * Note O the terrors of that day: That day shall be most fearful, it shall be like a day of Battle, wherein nothing is to be heard but noise, squeaking & yell, nothing to be seen but gaping of wounded men, and tumbling of garments into blood: all these who on earth were rotten at the heart shallbe ranked in the number of that bashful band. O what unspeakable fears and tremble shall then seize upon these wretched souls: In all parts they shall be wounded: Three restless plagues, Sorrow, Shame, and Fear shall continually nettle them, till an heaped treasure of wrath come rushing upon them with breath of kindled juniper: Satan shall continually fl●…sh in their face, fire whose flammes shall beefed with rivers of Brim stone kindled with an everlasting wrath: The great God with the Hammer of his vengeance shall strike thorough the rebellious loins of their pride, and shall break the iron sinews of their obstinacy: * Note Then would they give a world for an hole in heaven for to relish the least pleasures that be there: No tongue of man or Angel can fully express the least part of these woes: * Note Many millions of their earthly pleasures shall be dear boght with one minute of such pains: Their best shall be the ●…rie contrary of that which they like best: For all shall go to all: Reeling shallbe their rest, & pains their pleasures, mourning shall be all their mirth, and their Bone music shall be but gnashing of teeth, even in the presence of their judge before whom they shall stand like abominable monsters, and spectacles of amazement: * Note Thus as is well said in the Psalm, The way of the wicked he turneth up Psal. 1469 side down: At the first dash he shall break in pieces the clasps & haspes of their foolish hopes, wherein once boldly they did sin, that grace might abound. The sick Man. O how fearful shall their condition be, while like Tinder before the fyrereadie to be consumed, they shall stand arraigned before the Bar of God's justice, with the volumes of their sins written in Letters great like mountains, so that every eye may read them. * Note The Lord as I think out of a sour, severe, & imperious austerity, shall behold that cursed band with glancing eyes of unuterable wrath, wherefrae shall come nothing but wild fire, brimstone, and gunpowder, for the everlasting firing of their Conscience. * Note Not only shall the Lord behold their villainies, but to all eyes that ever saw sight, he shall anatamize their guileful hearts wherein all their most filthy plots and devices shall be seen unto their everlasting shame and infamy: O what shame and confusion of face: O what fears and tremble, shall seize upon these who on earth for a point of their hose would be at dagger's dr●…▪ wing with the greatest. Then shall these who were bold to sin in their life, despising God, and his threatenings: Then shall they shake and quake like a man whose neck is laid upon the block waiting for nothing but the dead st●…ok from the instrument of death: The●… 〈◊〉 their comfort shall be turned 〈◊〉 confusion: Then shall they know how foolishly they conceived an imaginary Hell, while pressed down under a sinful load, the wrath of God like a Mile-stone shall cruch them down to the deeps of despair, where one sorrow succeeding, shall forever press at the heels of another. The Pastor. O these unspeakable terrors! It is most certain that Belshazzar never Dan. 5. 6. did speak, so while he saw the hand writing on the wall, as the wicked these doleful wights shall do when they shall stand before God with the Books of the Law Gospel, and of Consciences, laid open before them: Horrors shall be heaped upon them with terrors & torments, whereof a created Nature can be capable: O then what g●…ashing of teeth and volumes of woes! They shall be so soacked in tears and facaked with sorrow, that who shall see them, shall see the ve●…ie image of Death, and yet none shall pity them: There shall they stand script stark n●…cked before their Iudge, ●…ik criminals upon the panel, looking for nothing but present condemnation both of soul●… and body, which God shall make the eternal fu●…ll of everlasting fla●…es: The Soul and body combined mates in misery, shall mourn for evermore. The sick M●…n. O Lord, season my Soul with the graces of thy Spirit, revive it with the A prayer spiritual vigour: Let me live the life of the righteous, and let mine end b●…e like unto theirs. Numb. 23. 10 I have heard you Sir with great attention declare that when Christ shall sit down to judge, he shall separate the wicked from the Godly as Goats from the Sheep, and that Matth. 25 33 the wicked with all the host of hell lapped up in that same bundle of Luk. 22. 30 condemnation▪ shall s●…and at his left hand, and that the Godly shall little upon Thronos at his right hand. Now I desire to know of you what shall be the case of the Godly at the right hand before that the ludgement be pronounced. The Pastor. It hath been told you that the Wicked who on Earth made the world to tremble with their boisterous brags, shall at God's Left hand be standing in disgrace, discount, & discountenance with their judge: There shall they stand all trembling, having before them the Book of the Law, where they shall see all their Sins, of Thoughts, Words, & Works: While their guilted Consciences shallbe crying guilty within them at the sight of the Law Book of their transgressions, the Lord for to aggravate their grief, shall present before them the Book of the Gospel, where they shall see how by unbelief they have sinned against the remede of sin: * Note With these two shall be joined the Book of their Consciences, ratifying unto them that what is contained into the other two Books, is an undoubted truth: At the reading of these bloody Books, as ye have already heard, their Consciences shall be ●…ortured with unspeakable amazement & fear: Their Souls all aghast, pricked & perplexed, shall yawn for a drop of comfort, which no creature above or below shall be able to afford. Now ye desire to know what shall be in that time the estate of the god●…lie Christ's right hand, before that the judgement be pronounced. It is certain that they all in great Glory, wearing the shining Crowns of immortality, shall sit upon 〈◊〉 being more bright, than the Sunn●… at the noonday: In judgement they shall pass verdict on the wi●…ked: They shall all in that summ●…r process sit as Christ's assessors, for 〈◊〉 judge the Angels, that is▪ For to approve Christ's ●…udgement pronounced against the Devils the evil ●…gels & against all that cursed crew of the Reprobates, who in their life living under masks of mischief, branded them with the nik-names of puritanism, proud hypocrisy, glorious singularity, & phā●…astick preciseness who in a word, in height of stomach ruffling & swashing, did tread upon God's Turtles, accounting them the most vile offscouring of the Earth. O but the wicked who on earth were swelled with self conceit, shall wonder to see these to be the Assessors of their judge in highest favour with God, whose life once they counted madness: O what a wonder shall it seem to the worldly wise, when they shall see these simple Ones, whose life they loathed, whom they counted fools on earth, all decked & adorned with rarest jewels, so high set upon Thrones with the most glorious Angels of God: O how shall they whom their life reposed in a Amos. 6. 4 beds of Ivory, be amazed to behold Gods b Matth. 10 42 little ones so brightly c Matth. 13 43 shining like Suns with glistering Crowns & glorious Garlands possessing fully Wealth, Honour, Health, and Hearts desire, yea, pleasures unparallelled by any that heart of flesh can wish. * Note The wicked beholding this, shall be swallowed up with grief and groans, for than shall they remember how on Earth they have drowned the good motions of the Spirit in vain riots, profaneness, and revillings of good fellowship. I say again, that the wicked who once in their swaggering humour, & accursed gallentnes, were wont to brave it out with the best, with the great contempt of Christ's little Ones shall Matth. 10. 42 wonder, and wonder again at the sight of these whom God in that day shall honour: * Note Are these they, shall they say, whom some times we had in derision, and of whom we made a pa●…able of reproach? Are these the men and women whom we in height of stomach disdained to behold? Behold, now we see that they are indeed that which on earth they were called, even Saintes, Gods most excellent ones. Psal. 16. 3. Certainly the glorious glances of these blessed and beautified bodies, sitting all in royal apparel shall strike the wicked in a wonderful maze, while they shall behold such jewels of joy, they shall be stricken into the dumb dumppes of saddest melancholy: O the folly of such miserable mucke-wormes, who count it now an heaven to creep and crawl in oiled and buttered paths of carnal prosperity! But in short to proceed in this purpose orderly. When all things shallbe put to an order, the wicked being at the left, and the Godly at the right hand, in my judgement there shall be a great silence, that the judge may have audience: All men shall beestedfastlie looking for to hear what GOD the LORD shall say: Then God Isa. 28. 7. shall lay judgement to the Line, and righteousness to the Plummet: Then shall the Lord rise up as in mount Perazin, and shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work, and bring to pass his act, his strange act: O that clear and bright shining Eye, which nothing in that day shall be able to escape! The sick Man. To whom think ye that Christ in that judgement shall first address his speech? Whether shall he speak first unto the Godly, who in a sacred violence did taken the Kingdom, or to the a Matth. 11 12. wicked, who in the days of their flesh did sleep most softly in the downs of security, caring for nothing, but their Purses and their Paunches? The Pastor. The Lord shall speak first unto his own, who are the chosen generation, 1 Pet. 1. 17 the royal Priesthood, the holy Nation, the peculiar people: * To these sitting at his right hand, first shall he say with his Lily lips dropping Cant. 5. 13 sweet Myrrh: Come ye blessed of my Matth. 25 34 Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from thee foundation of the world. * Note At the hearing of these words of their Lords most loving invitation, all their senses shall open like flood gates for to receive unspeakable joys. What tongue can tell what joy Reuel. 21. 9 the Lamb's Bride with her purple Cant. 7. 5. Head and Doves Eyes, shall have when She shall see with what a Bridegroom joh. 3. 29. She shall be matched that day. After that the Lord hath comforted Matth 25 33 his own, he shall turn him to the Goats, that bashful band, trembling at his left hand: * Note Before that he open his mouth to speak, he shall behold these bruit beasts made to ●… Pet. 2. 12 be taken and destroyed: With fiery looks, with kindled eyes, sparkling fury, and rage, and fl●…shes of lightning, he shall behold these devil's droiles, doleful creatures: In his countenance they shall read the Characters of awful terrors even of the horrors of hell: At the first sight of that angry Majesty, with brent brows and his stern countenance, a Torrent of terrors shall violently rush upon their Souls, dashing them with a dazzling astonishment. Then shall they wish in these flaming horrors vexing them to the quick, that mountains would fall above them for to hid them from such angry eyes: Then shall they know how foolish they were in their life-time to think that while they sinned, the Lord was but a stock or a stone which could not perceive them. * Note O that glancing wrath, which like fire shall greaslie appear in the eyes of that judge, ten thousand times brighter than the Sun▪ The glances of that fiery fury shall so dazzle the sigh●… of the Reprobate, yea, shall so dash them, that they shall not be able to abide his countenance▪ No, not; though their eyes were of steal, or of iron, nothing then shall stand in the gap against the eruptions of such a fierce and fiery vengeance. * Note While these profane men lived on earth in a blazing prosperity they thought their mountain so strong, that they could never be moved: In their life-time they lived in gladness: At their end they deceased fairly in the eyes of the world: They seemed Saints, because that in Psal. 73. 4 their death were no bands: But O the terrors that abide them. * Note At the first sight of their judge a Torrent of terrors shall most violently rush upon their Souls standing in an heavy dump & waiting on their dreadful doom: While they live here, the stone of their heart is like an gravel stone, so bedded in the bladder, that it cannot be painful: Little dream the wicked now that such fearful and hellish horrors are preparing for them: But O their everlasting woe is presently in hatching and hammering: It is nearest to the birth while the wicked are most secure: Sudden destruction is nearest, while the preaching of peace are doubled by crying, 1 Thess. 5. 3 Peace and safety. * Note Happy is the man to whom the Lord doth vouchsafe the grace in this world to waken out of the drowsy slumber of sin, for to repent in time? Woe to these in whose hearts the long forebearance of God's wrath hath wrought a more frozen coldness & presumptuous security, wherein being lulled, they are carried in a most sweet and sound sleep, to places where their eyelids shall never be refreshed with rest any more: O how shall they fling and cry, when they shall feel themselves stung & galled upon thesore. * Note After that the Lord hath browbeaten them with the biggest looks of his wrath, and hath terrified them with his piercing eyes of fire, and after that he hath disclaimed all interest that ever he had into them, Cant. 2, 15 he shall cause take these Foxes that spoilt his vines: That done, he shall unsheathe the flaming sword of his Gen. 3. 24 vengeance with these most fearful words of excommunication, Depart Matth. 25. 41 from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels▪ In that fire like dry chippie burne-wood they shall burn, but in this they shall be like Salamanders, that they shall never be consumed. By that most fearful blast of wrath the LORD shall chase them all away from before his face as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirl wind: * Note The mighty Lord lowering with a dark and cloudy countenance, shall then in great fury lay about him with the heavy hammer of his judgements, and that with full weight: With one stroke, without any iteration of strokes, from the best strength of a divine Arm: He shall bring down their hairy scalps to the lowest dungeon of Death, even to everlasting burning brimstone beams, which no mercy shall be able to cool or quench: There shall they drink in cups of wrath for ever. * Note If these miserables could be put out of pain upon the sudden, they should not be altogether comfortless: But the merciless vengeance of God's wrath shall add leisure and lingering to their dying life and living death, that sensibly they may feel death in a life of untollerable sufferings: No mercy, no pity, no regard shall be had unto them, no, not but the Lord's justice shall charge the edge of his flaming sword upon the heads and hearts of these doleful creatures of infamous rank: These fearful blows of justice shall be without any mixture of mercy▪ * Note He who created them without any labour, shall destroy them without any loss: Snaires, fire, and brimstone in that day shall rain down upon the hairy scalp of every one which in their life-time did go on in their sins without ●…emorse: In this perplexity & anguish besieged with judgements both felt & feared, shall they sland before their judge all trembling and waiting upon the sentence of that doleful doom. The sick Man. What shall become of the wicked after that the Lord hath dischairged them his presence any more, by commanding them to depart? The Pastor. * Note So soon as the Lord hath pronounced these words of everlastingexcommunication, they shall all incontinent go down to Hell in heaps, for to be scorched & parched with the everlasting burnings of a devouring wrath: They who have been entrapped in their sins, shall be entombent in God's plagues. There shallbe no more abiding for them, in his presence: they shallbe chass from their God, unto everlasting exile in dungeons of Devils and of darkness▪ where they shall be pestered with unspeakable doole in floods of fire, wherein they shall wail and yele for ever. God's most heavy vengeance like judg. 7. 13 a Barley Loaf tumbling from above, shall thrust them down and crush them altogether like the Tents of the Midianites: Satan then with all the spite he can shall lay on load with millstones of miseries hung about their necks: He shall draw them down with chains of curses to the dungeons of darkness: Thus Hell with a gaping gulf shall swallow them all at once: They shall go down most fearfully with grappling Devils with squeeles & roaring voices, which being heard by the blessed (in whose eyes and sides they once were pricks and thorns) shall rouse up their hearts wonderfully to rejoice and sing with such an high tune that shall make the whole world to resound with a rebounding noise. Mine heart trembleth to think upon these torments which the wicked shall suffer into the fiery Lake after their departing from before their judge: All words fail me, I find my conceptions too weak in thinking upon that infinite wrath: * Note▪ O than these who enjoyed once all the pleasures which could be purchased on Earth, shall want all the good which they can desire, and receive all the evil which they can deserve: * Note They shall for ever be dying in a life which shall never end, that they may dye continually, and that in utter darkness, where Sun never shined, where Day shall never dawn: because that in the days of their flesh on earth they would not so live to die, that they might die to live, they shall for ever in the Hell dye to live, that they may living to dye, a living death & a dying life a life & death of woes. These miserable creatures shallbe so perplexed, that they shall both grieve to live and fear to dye: They shall desire absolutely neither death nor Life, & yet in a manner shall they wish for both, but all in vain: The full bended justice of God shall give no truce to their tears, nor place to their plaints. Unto all these terrors of God's wrath shallbe joined, another fear, even Satan the king of fear, he in most bitter spite shall besiege these trembling Souls with unspekable terrors: * Note▪▪ For he shall stare them in the face with most grisly forms and terrible representations: He in great fury shall hunt out upon them most fearful gnawing worms which shall feast on their Consciences. The thoughts of such things should pierce, as I think▪ even unto the very centre of leared Consciences. O but the assurance of happiness in many is false and misgrounded: Obstinate sinners, whose hearts are hard paved with obstinate rebellion, think now that they shall never see that day, because God now keepeth silence▪ Psal. 50. 21 they think that he is like unto them: But the slower Gods hand be in coming on, the fadder and ●…orer shall his stroke be: While the wicked most securely snort in their sins, dreaming of safety and surety, even than their judgement lingreth not, and their damnation is not in a slumber: This 2 Pet▪ 2. 3 shall they know by sense and feeling when Gods most fiery jealousy shall break forth upon them like the sorrows of a woman in travel: No sorrow can be here like unto their sorrows: Fire▪ chains, racks, and lashing whips cannot express the shadow of one infernal tor tour: All the woes that ever were heard on earth are nothing to the least of these unpitied plaints. The sick Man. I have one question for to propound to you: It is concerning the order of Christ's proceeding into judgement: What reason is there think ye that the judge in that day shall first absolve the godly, by bidding them Come with his Father's bl●…ssing, before that he speak a word unto the wicked, whose hearts in their life-time for the most part were sealed up by the spirit of slumber. The Pastor. I find two probable reasons, first because the great God of mercy is more bend to show mercy toward his creatures, than to pour vengeance upon them, and that for to teach all judges to execute justice with Gravity and grief. Behold here how our God, while he is even come unto the last period, giveth unto the wicked who in their life with Whorish foreheads, jer. 3. 3. out faced the Sun, behold, I say, how he giveth them a certain respite▪ and a delay from Hell in that space while he is speaking unto the Godly: And yet the more slowly he striketh, the surer shall he set his blow, which shall shake every sinew of their body and each power of their Soul. * Note The other reason wherefore he speaketh first to the Godly such words of comfort and of coming, is that the wicked who in the days of their vanity combined sport with spite against him, may see how good a God he shall be to all these which have served him here in Faith and truth. * Note O what shall the trembling Souls of these worldlre brates that would not serve Christ in their life think when they shall hear that Lord so sweetly in so sweet heavenly & honey words, say unto all his Saints his dearest Darlings, whom they as outcasts despised Matth. 21. 30 on Earth, Come ye blessed of my Father, come and be all Kings, with me for ever more: Come from the ●…awes of Death to the joys of an ever blessed Life: Such words shall make the hearts of the Godly to dance and leap within them for joy; but shall make the hearts of the wicked to droop and to bleed for sorrow. O what would Dives in the fire boiling Lack then give for to be in the place of Lazarus! * Note Many Kings of Princely but profane blood, which have borne the Crown and swayed the Sceptre above the heads of many thousands being drunk with idolatry: * Note Secret murder of their Parents for to sit upon their Throne, shall them spew and fall, but shall never rise again: They all drenched in a pool of wrath, shall wish in that day that they had wept and wypt the feet of Le●…s with the hairs of their head, yea that they had been borne Beggars, having the Faith and fear of jesus. My heart trembleth to think how so many thousands who deemed & dreamt once to be saved, shall with damned Devils rush down to the snaky pool of perdition, because like Swine in their life they trampled under feet the precious pearl of mercy, purchased by the Blood of jesus. The sick Man. After that the sentence shallbe pronounced, whether think ye that the wicked shall first go to pain, or the Godly unto pleasure? The Pastor. It would seem by the words of the Gospel, that the wicked▪ that base brood of corruption, to whom Christ hath spoken last, shall first go to torment: After that the doom is given Matth. 25. 46 out with a roaring thunder, it is said, & these shall go away to everlasting punishment, but the righteous unto life eternal: After that the wicked are like chaff chaissed away to brimstone beams, the Arms of Christ and the Gates of Glory shall stand wide open for to give entrance to the righteous, whom the Father Christ of jesus shall receive with most cordial embracements unto their everlasting comfort: Blessed are they who now cast their bread upon the waters, looking neither for thanks nor recompense from men, for than they shall be richly rewarded by God. The sick Man. What reason think ye can be of that order? that before the Godly go to Glory, the wicked all in a r●…ue shall be hurled away to everlasting punishment, being thrust down into the dominions of darkness, most fearful spectacles of amazement? O how these so mi●…ie men shall then be pensive and perplexed. The Pastor. This would seem to be the main reason, viz. For thereby to kindle up so much the more the love of the Godly toward their God: The bitter bickering and fearful squeeles of the Reprobate hurling down to hell, being heard and seen by the Godly, shall make the joys of heaven to relish the sweeter unto them. * Note If while a people were in a Church, the Church should fall down and smother the one half, not doing any harm unto the other, these who should escape, should by beholding the crushed and bloody bones of others, much more be ravished with the joy of such a deliverance than if the house had not fallen at all * Note When Dathan and Abiram with their companies sank down to Hell Numb 16. 32 in the sight of all Israel, what joy think ye had these whom the earth did bear above? Many who never in their life gave God thanks for that the sward of the earth hath borne them above, if they should see such a sight as of Dathan and of Abiram, they would regard the benefit the more, and would give God more thanks for that one mercy, than for all by-gane favours showed unto them since they began to walk upon the ground: We thank God little that the earth beareth us above because we see it not swallow up sinners with a gaping gulf: * Note while men see the misery of others it wakens into them the sense of God's mercy toward them. * Note O how glad shall the Godly be then, that they have served God, when they shall see the Devil & his Darnell the wicked seed, cast into a fiery Lake! when these blessed souls shall see the hell's open, & the black devil's flashing fire into the faces of the wicked, & hurling away these damned spirits with fearful cries & shrieks down to the dungeons of distress, & to most vile Vaults of darkness entrinched among gnawing worms stinking Scorpions and hissing Serpents, than they who were wont to weep for the sins of the wicked in this life, shall have no compassion on them; but shall laugh to see them lashed, rejoicing in the justice of their God poured out upon▪ these, that in a self liking of their own estate, despised the▪ sweetness of his mercy: O happy Zepha. 2. 2 they who gather themselves before the decree come forth. * Note Behold, and consider what a change is this: These who mourned of before for their sins shall then solace themselves in their sorrows: The shriks & squoakes of these damned souls falling down to hell which shallbe to the wicked a song of judgement, shallbe to the Godly in that day quite otherwise, even a song of mercy full of mirth and of Music: O how sweet then shall mercy be to the Godly when they shall see what Gods fearful vengeance shall work on the wicked, whom their life by an accursed Alchemy, turned the grace of their God into wantonness! O how rejoiced shall their hearts be, when that great JEHOVAH shall begin to sway with his Almighty Arm, that mace of iron for to dash these forlorn limbs with pain both of sense and of loss. Then shall the Thief wish that both his hands had been maimed and mutilate: Then shall the unclean person whose eyes are filled with adultery and filthiness, wish that he had been borne blind: Then shall the Drunkard wish that he had been borne without a mouth: Then shall the Blasphemer a man of bloody oaths wish that his tongue with a Turkess had been torn out of his throat: * Note This also for a surplus shall be joined to their anguish, none shall be for to wish them well, or for to condole their misery. * Note The decree being once come forth, and the doom of damnation being once pronounced with these words of command, Depart from Matth. 25. 41 me, etc. All the ungodly in scarlet abominations, who in their excessive pride rousted on high as in Eagles nests▪ shall in that day fall down with Devils into that Dungeon and ward house of Hell, where there is no light but for to let these which are tormented see their misery, no darkness but that which may hid from their eyes all sorts of comfort: Then all their bypast burning pleasures shall be quenched into the fire of Hell lik●…ed hot iron quenched into water with an extinguishing noise: Nothing shallbe then but shouting & gnashing of teeth, sighing, sobbing, and fearful groans, a Isa. 9 5. Fuel of fire, and garments rolled in blood: All wicked Souls shall that day be drenched into an Ocean of desperate displeasure, and shall be carried away with an inunding spaite of spiteful wrath. O what joy shall be kindled into the hearts of the Godly, when on the one hand they shall behold the miseries of the Theives, Drunkards, Adulterers, Fornicators, and Blasphemers, who were wont wantonly to stretch out their throats into high blasts of blasphemy, & when on the other part they shall consider how God in mercy hath fastened them as nails into a sure place, Isa. 22. 23 which cannot be shaken! O what gladness of heart shall the Saints have, after that they have seen the wicked tumbled down into Hell, to see what company they shall be into among Angels of light & love with Christ himself, in whose face is fullness of joy, at whose right hand are Psal 16. ●…1 pleasures for overmore. * Note These pleasures unspeakable, for the greatness of themselves, shall be commended unto the Godly by two by-respects: First, by the consideration of that infinite woe and hellish virulency, without any mixture of mercy, whereinto they shall see the wicked to be plunged, whereof they shall be free: secondly, by the remembrance of the misery whereinto they lived, while they did dwell on earth, during the days of their vanity, their estate changed to the better, shall become the sweeter: Are they not these who are called Lilies among the thorns? Cant. 2. 2. doth Scripture call them, These Reuel. 7▪ 14 that are come out of the great tribulations? Their bypast tribulations shall wonderfully commend their present felicity. This we see to be of great force by daily experience▪ The considerations first of other men's woes, & of the calamities wherewith at other times we have been perplexed, are like Hunger which like good sauce giveth relish and taste to course things which at other times we think to be no dainties: To the hungry Soul every Prou. ●…7. 7 bitter thing is sweet: How sweet then shall the sweetness of God's face be to the Godly after all their terrors are past, & after they have seen the wicked these fearful & mis-chappen brats tumbled down the steep precipes of eternal destruction? What pleasures I pray you shall these be, when pleasures for evermore shall be joined with the remembrance of all these tribulations wherein we were enwrapped while our feet stackefast in the mire? All these considerations joined together with unspeakable pleasures shall make the a Reuel. 5. ●… Harps of God sound b Reuel. 19 1. Halleluiah, Halleluiah for ever and ever: Such meditations overflow my Soul, diving in such depths. Now Sir ye have heard of the last things which shall be done in this world, here is the conclusion of the last judgement, The wicked as S. Matthew saith, shall go away to Matth. 25. 46 everlasting punishment, but the Righteous to Life eternal. The sick Man. * Note O but mine heart is sore moved within me, while I think of that deep Gulf whereinto all wretched Souls shall be plunged: O ye who in the days of your vanity drink up the very Cream & flower of the earth, all your pleasures now, them must be gone: Oh that ever & anon we could apply this unto our hearts. My soul is look one liking down from an high and steepy place: The meditations of these woes of the wicked, makal my senses to be troubled, & all my spirits to be confusedly shuffled together: my heart within me is so tossed to & fro, that it is come like a squissed egg, whose yolk is mingled with its white: All my thoughts are confounded as one that is into an hurly burly. Good Lord, let thy visions be unto A prayer my Soul visions of peace. The blessed God preserve us from all these woes: Lord, make us all to cleave to thee with full purpose of Soul. Now to come to the purpose: In your discourse ye have powerfully let me see the wicked swallowed up in a fearful gulf: Let me hear now what becometh of the godly. The Pastor. After that Christ hath given them his Blessing, saying unto them, Come Matth. 25 34 ye blessed of my Father, etc. They all being crowned and clothed in royal apparel shall all in good order go triumphantly in Charets up to the Heaven of heavens with such shouts of triumph and of joy, of Love, and of Laud, as was never heard since the world was founded. * Note Then shall that prophecy be fulfilled, God is gone up with a shout, Psal. 47. 5 the Lord with the sound of a Trumpet: vers. 6. Sing praises to God, sing praises: That shallbe the Lambs marriage day, a day that shall never be darkened with a night, a Feast that shall never be followed with a Fast. * Note The day of the bringing of a Queen to the King of the Land is a day of great joy: What pleasure can be had of Mirth or Music, shall not be away that day. But alas, what can the earth afford, simile aut secundum, that is like unto that joy, which shall fill & overflow all the hearts of the godly, when Christ shall bring up to the Heavens his Church, Cant. 4. 1 which is his Wife, his fair Love, having Doves eyes within her Locks, being clothed and crowned with the glory of himself? what tongue can express? nay, what heart can conceive what joy & glory shallbe there where the Lamb's Wife shall be dected with her Husband Christ, who shall enliue Her with marchlesse joy and glorious immortality? This is that great wonder which S. john in his Revelations, saw in Heaven Rovel. 12. 1 viz. A woman clothed with the Sun, and the Moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve Stars: Behold, & consider the Lamb's Bride all environed with Light, clothed with Christ her Sun, and crowned with glistering stars of glory, heavenly jewels, divine Diamonds: Behold her making a footstool of the Moon, the second great Light of Heaven: See how she treadeth under her feet that most inconstant creature, for to declare that constancy of her love toward her Lord, which shall last for ever, without any change: O the beauty of that Bride whose cheeks shall be comely with rows of Cant. 1. 10 jewels, whose neck shall be dected with the chains of Christ's merits. * Note The Angels themselves, beholding this Bride so royally attired, shall wonder at her beauty: When these Noble Spirits shall see and consider that great familiarity that shallbe between Christ & his Spouse, they shall Cant. 8. 5. wonder, & shall say one to another, Who is this that cometh up out of the wilderness, leaning upon her well-beloved▪ After that the Church the Lamb's Wife, who on earth was betrothed by Reuel. 19 7 grace, shall in the Heavens be married by glory, and convoyed unto his ever green bed, all Eternity shallbe in the Heavens like a marriage day, decored & trimed with all sorts of Flowers, & of Fruits, of feastings, & of Music, and of all contentment that can be conceived, heard, seen, savoured, or touched by a creature: There our wants shall be turned into wishes: That which there shall be least, shall be many thousand degrees above all that any mortal heart here can desire. * Note All our senses shall be possessed and filled with pleasures, our mind shall be enlightened: Our will shall be contented: All our affections shall be satisfied: * Note The Angel in the Revelation gave a command unto john, to write in a Book concerning the Lamb's feast prepared for his Marriage in the day of the gladness, Cant. 3. 11 of his heart, but not being able, neither he to indite nor S. john to write, all the dainties of that Feast he desired him to write that all were blessed which were called unto it: Write, said he, Blessed are they which Reuel. 19 9 are called unto the Marriage Supper of the Lamb: Lest john should have doubted whether it was so indeed or not, the Angel subjoineth, these are the true sayings of God. * Note Let us conceive this much of these pleasures, that they cannot be conceived: All that we can conceive shall be less by many degrees than the least thing we shall receive: * Note Then all our desires shallbe enlarged & made wider: Open thy mouth very wide, Psal. 81. 10 & I shall fill it unto thee: God himself being All in all, all our desires 1 Cor. 15. 28 shall be fully satisfied and though they shall be always satisfied, they shall never be cloyed: All words here are full of wants, for these be things which pass all humane sight and search. The sick man. The consideration of such things enliueth my Soul, & looseth mine heart wonderfully from the love of all worldly things, and draweth my heart with a fervent desire of a sight of that day: It is no wonder that the whole creation Rom. 8, 22 groaneth and traveleth in pain together until now: If we had hearts to believe, we should find into our hearts an earnest expectation and a waiting for the manifestation of the Sons of God: Alas, that our devotion should be so rotten and unsound: * Note If we could get but a glimpse of our God here behind, it should stir up all our desires to see his Face. The Pastor. That is most certain: * Note By this desire shall a man know whether he be a spiritual man or a carnal: He that is but carnal never desireth to go out of this world: It is good for us Luk. 9 33 to be here will he say, as ●…eter said on Tabor: But he that hath received the Spirit will find better motions in his heart: We ourselves, saith S. Paul, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. The sick Man. Alas, we all are here naturally of a temporizing temper, we linger and delay to return to our God. O Lord of eternity, be favourable to A prayer us that we may fear thee, let thy grace work such groans in our hearts, that thereby we may know that we have certainly received the first fruits of the Rome, 8. 27 Spirit: So long as we are here make the current of our affections to run the way of thy Commandments. There is a difficulty now come in my mind, whereof I gladly desire to be cleared: It is concerning Christ himself, of him it is said, That he shall deliver up the Kingdom to God his Father, after he hath subdued all his enemies. The Pastor. I remember well where these words are written: The Apostle speaking of the Resurrection of the 1 Cor. 15. 24 last judgement, saith, Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God his Father, when he shall have put down all rule, authority, and power: For he must vers. 25. reign till he have put all his enemies under his feet, etc. And when all vers. 28 things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be All in all. The sick Man. These be the words indeed of my difficulty: I pray you to make me understand them: What is that to say, That he shall deliver up the Kingdom to his Father, and that after he hath subdued all things, he himself must become subject to him, that put all things under him? It would seem that Christ our Lord shall lose by this means: For first it is said, That he must deliver up the Kingdom, and rule no more: Secondlie, that he must become subject to God the Father: I desire you Sir to lose this knotty difficulty: * Note These who plough with Gods▪ Hyfer may easily find out the darkest Riddles. judg. 14. 18. The Pastor. I shall lose these knots easily: By that change the Lord shall be no loser: * Note As for that it is said, That he shall deliver up the Kingdom to his Father, after that he hath put down all rule, authority, and power: It is not to be understood absolutely that Christ there after shall reign no more, but that he shall reign no more after such a fashion as he did of before, viz. By fight against his enemies, who then shallbe no more, neither by comforting or protecting his friends from dangers, who then shallbe free from all danger. It is certain, that the Father reigneth now by the Son, and that the Son shall reign eternally with the Father, but that shallbe in another manner after the last judgement, than he doth now: * Note Now he reigneth like a Prince, fight his Father's Battles: Then shall he reign for ever, triumphing over all his enemies. This is the interpretation of some learned writers: But in my judgement it declareth not plainly what it is to give up the Kingdom to the Father. I like Beza his exposition best▪ * Note His words are these, Dicitur Christus regnum Deo patri traditurus ultimo demum illo die quo profligatis omnibus ad unum hostibus, omnes quos a patre gubernandos accepit, illi veluti in manus tradet aeterna gloria coronandos. That is, Christ is said to deliver up the Kingdom to his Father at the last day, when having subdued all his enemies he shall deliver into his Father's hand all these whom he had received from the Father for to guide and govern, for to be by him crowned with everlasting glory. By the Kingdom I understand the godly who are the Children of the Kingdom: Christ then is said, To deliver up the Kingdom to the Father, when he delivereth unto him these whom the Father had given to him: * Note All the Godly have been given by the Father unto Christ the Mediator: And Christ again must be countable to the Father for them: Holy Father, said he, keep joh. 17. 11 through thine own Name, those whom thou hast given me: And again, vers. 12. These that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the Son of perdition. See here how the Father is said, to give, and Christ is said to have kept these whom the Father hath given him: * Note while Christ maketh his count & randereth them again to his Father, he is said to give up the Kingdom to his Father. * Note Neither must we here think that while the Father gave this kingdom to the Son, he wanted it himself, or that the Son when he shall give up the Kingdom to his Father, shall reign no more: No, joh. 17. 10 not: All mine are thine, said Christ, and thine are mine: * Note I confess that there is no such giving among men as can express sufficiently how the Father is said to give any thing unto the Son: And again, there is no such giving up among men, as can clearly declare how the Son is said, To give up the Kingdom unto the Father: There be no Mines nor Thines among men which can fully express the Mine and the Thine of the Father and of the Son. The sick Man. Indeed Sir ye speak well: We must all reverence the high mysteries of God, not daring to abridge his infinite wisdom within the bounds of a brain that is not of a span long: The words of Moses are words of great wisdom, The secret things are Dan. ●…19. 29 for the Lord our God, but these that are revealed are for us, and our posterity for ever. That than which is revealed is for us, and that which is for us in Scripture, it is our part to seek it and to search it. O Lord, guide me by thy counsel, A prayer keep my thoughts within compass: Suffer not my Soul to turn awry from thy truth: Sequester mine heart from all vanity, that I be not curious in the knowledge of that which thou hast not allotted for me, as are these whose hearts are filled with dreams and deceitful dotages: Let my Soul never be soured with such leaven as to presume to search that which thou desireth not to reveal The second difficulty I observed in these words which ye have recited out of that Chap. to the Corinthians, is in these words, viz. That Christ must 1 Cor. 15 25 reign till he hath put all his enemies under his feet: What is that to say? The Pastor. That is, Christ must rule this world till God the Father hath subdued unto his Son Christ, all the enemies of his glory, and of man's Salvation, who from the height of their sins shall be brought down into the fiercest flame and lowest pit of perdition. The sick Man. It would appear by the words that Christ shall reign no m●…e after that all shall be subdued: Seeing it is said, That he must reign till he hath put all his enemies under his feet, it would seem that when that shall once be done, Christ shall reign no more. The Pastor. The word Till declareth not that Christ shall reign no more after that subduing, for example it is written 21Sam. 6. 23 of Michal, that she had no Children till the day of her death. It is not therefore to be thought that after death she had any Children: The opinion of many great Divines, is that Marie never married joseph though she had been betrothed unto him, and yet it is said, Matth. 1. 25 That joseph knew her not, till she had brought forth her first borne: So God said unto jaakob, I will not leave thee Gen. 28. 15 VIUTILL I have done that which I have spoken to thee of: Such forms of speeches are very common: I will say to my friend at Even, God be with you, till we meet again: It is not that I desire God to be with him no more so soon as we shall meet again. Thus as ye see when it is said, that Christ must reign Till he hath put all his enemies under his feet, it will not import that, that once being done Christ shall reign no more. Gabriel said to his Mother, That of his Luk. 1. ●…33 Kingdom there shall be none end: * Note If there be any change, it shall only be in the form of his reigning and ruling: Now he reigneth & ruleth by a Sceptre of iron, and by the Sceptre of his word preached: The one is for to convert the most stubborn hearts of the Elect, the other Psal. 2. 9 for to dash the wicked in pieces like a potter's vessel: * Note All that form of doing then shall cease, for as for the wicked they shall be committed fast to the low dungeons of Hell, for to be vexed for ever with the infernal Burrios: Christ then and all his members shall be quite of all their persecutions: As for the Godly they shall be made perfect: They shall need no more the preaching of the word: The Law then shall not be needful, for all the Godly shall be a Law unto themselves: The Gospel shall be of no use: It is a Doctrine of Faith: Then shall be abolished: * Note When things absent are made present, Faith hath no more ado. The sick Man. That point is made clear indeed: But what is this to say, That Christ the Son shall reign, Till the Father hath put all enemies under his feet? It would appear by these words, that Christ overcometh his enemies by another force than his own, seeing it is said, That * Note the Father is he who shall put all things under his feet. The Pastor. The most learned Divines have considered that the Apostle there speaketh not of Christ as he is Filius Dei eternus simpliciter, simply the Son of God, but as he is in the fo●…me of a servant, for that cause, as is well remarked by the best wits, none can affirm that in Christ is, Secundaria divinitas, a Divinity of a base rank. * This we must all know, that Christ the Son & the Father being but one GOD, work with one, and the self same power: As God the Father and he are one, so what power Christ man hath in subduing his enemies, it may be said to be from the Father, Because the Trinity is such a deep mystery, as no humane Wit can search it thorough, so the actions of the three Persons are such, as no man can clearly discern them: It is much for our shallow-wits to know the borders of God's ways: * Note It is good in God's mysteries s●…pere ad sobrietatem, that our wisdom be sober and not drunk with a giddy curiosity, neither must we d●…aw to the other extremity, as to flatter ourselves in a sluggish dulness, having no care to search the Scriptures with the men of Berea for to know that which it Act. 17. 11 hath pleased God to reveal to us: * Note It is good to seek out carefully, though not curiously the knowledge of Gods revealed will so far as can make for the comfort of our Souls. The sick Man. Certainly the knowledge of such things is very needful for the comfort of these that are for to leave this world: And therefore, I who loo●… not for long sojourning here, desire to know the more earnestly what good things the Lord hath prepared for his own into that other world. The hope of Glory is like a strong hold against the fear of Death. * Note O●… that I were that which I would be. There is now resting only one difficulty in the words of the Apostle, which I never as yet could well understand: It is said, That when all 1 Cor. 25. 28 things shallbe subdued unto the Father▪ then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him, that put all thing●… under his feet: Is not the Son even now subject unto the Father▪ If not, how is it said, That he shall be then subject unto him? The Pastor. Christ as God, is not at all subject unto the Father, but, all the Godly are subject both to Him and to the Father: But as man Christ, is with us subject unto the Father: * Note According to this a Father said well, Christus in quantum Deus est, August. lib. de Trinit. 1 cap. 10 cum illo nos subjectos habet, in quantum sacerdos, nobiscum illi subjectus est. That is, To Christ as God we are subject as to the Father, but as Christ is our Priest, he is with us subject unto the Father. Moreover it may be said, that after the last judgement Christ shall be subject unto the Father, because then all the Faithful which are his Mystical body, shall be perfectly subject to the Father, Christ the Head of the Church, since his incarnation, hath in his own Person been subject unto the Father perfectly, and so is he yet: But in his mystical members below there is a miserable rebellion of flesh against the Spirit: Gal. 5. 17. * Note But when all shall be gathered together in one Body into Glory, them shall Christ be perfectly subject unto God both Quoad naturam suam tum quoad corpus mysticum. In his humane Nature and in his mystical Body, which are the faithful: When all the Elect with their Head Christ shall be perfectly subject unto God, then shall Christ be fully and finally subject to the Father: This seemeth to be the true meaning of the words: This is made clear by the words following, viz. That this subjection shall be that God may be All in all. * Note But this we must understand, that this subjection of Christ and of his mystical Body, is not any disgrace or disparagement to our Head Christ▪ or to us: The truth is, that it is a most Princely honour to be the Prince of Heaven's subject: * Note It were better to be the least subject of Heaven, than the greatest commander of Hell: The service of our God is greatest liberty: The more perfect this subjection be, the greater is our Glory: * Note The subjection of a creature to God, is the very Image of God in the creature: God's Image in Adam was chiefly in his subjection to Gods will, which was defaced by his rebellion, which is the very Image of the Devil. The sick Man. We are much beholden to our God, who in his great mercy hath revealed unto us all these things into his word: His word may well be called, A Lantern unto our steps, Psal 19 8. a light which enlighteneth the eyes, burning clearer than any Cresset-light warning from dangers. The Pastor. Indeed God's word is a word of life and of light: It is a saving word, the power of God to Salvation: This Rome, 1. 16 power is only peculiar to the mighty operation of this word. * Note There be in the creatures words and lines of words, for to declare unto man that there is a God, that so man may be without excuse: Day unto day uttereth speech, and Psal. 19 2. night unto night showeth knowledge: Their Line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world: But all these words and lines are but lines of words concerning the creation: All that they can say, is but that there is a God, a mover, a primum ens a first Beer, whereby all things have their being: But in all these lines of words there is not one word of Christ the Redeemer: There is not a day where the Gospel shinneth not, that can utter any speech▪ or show any knowledge of that which concerneth man's Salvation, wrought with the bloody sweat of God: There is not a word let be a line in any work of Nature, concerning the great mystery of Godliness, 1 Tim▪ 3. 16 Christ manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit seen of Angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory. The sick Man. O words worthy to be written jer. 17. 1 with the point of a Diamond: Seeing it is so, this should make us to esteem so much the more of the glorious Gospel which is the power of God to Rom. 1. 16 salvation of all believers. The Pastor. The Gospel indeed is like a m●…st rich treasure digged into a field, for Matth. 13. 44 which a man that hath found it will go and sell all that he hath, that he may buy that field for the treasures cause. This Gospel is like a Sun newly created in the heavens, which shineth both day and night, both in life and death with most glistering & wholesome Beams, whereby the unwholesome cloudy night air of iniquity is rarified, scattered, and dispersed▪ * Note As the Sun in the heavens by its heat maketh all the earth in the Spring to grow green, and the Corns to come up at the first with small green points, and after to shoot up to the shot bled, & after that to come to the Seed, that at last being cut down in a white ripeness, it may be lay●…e up into Girnels: Even so the Gospel like a Sun shining from the heavens, cometh after the cold frosty season of the dead Winter of our Nature, and by its Beams warmeth us, and wakeneth up the seed of grace sown into our hearts by the good hand of God: After that, with its heat by little and little it ripeneth these sown graces, at last while we are ripe, and while the graces of God in us are come to their perfection, the Lord sendeth his servant Death to cut us down with a sickle: Luk. 16. 9 After that by Death we are cut down, the Lord treasureth us up into everlasting Tabernacles, the Girnels of the Prince of Heaven, far from the keen razors of lying tongues. Now seeing the day is f●…r spent, here I shall pause, leaving that which hath been said, to your night's meditations: By that grace of God I shall return in the morning early: He that made Peter safely to Matth. 14 29 walk upon the swelling waves uphold you so, that ye sink not at the rising of any boisterous blast of temptation: * Note Gods Children in this world are like these three Children in the fiery furnace, though such fire seem to be Dan. 3. 23. a consuming fire, it shall not be able so much as to sing their apparel. vers. 27 The sick Man. But before ye go Sir, according to your good former custom, by your devote prayers, commit my Soul to the arms of my Saviour: I ever fear that my false heart give me the slip: As God hath given you a divine tongue, so Lord, give me a sanctified ear, the sweetest spiritual music and harmony of God's service: Oh, that with Peter I could john. 21. 1 gird my coat, and swim thorough all the swelling seas of temptations, that I might come unto my Lord. Offer up I pray you Sir, for me the Christian sacrifice of prayer: Resign my Soul into his merciful hands: Oh that I could with you homage mine heart unto God in fervent supplications! we are not able as I see to stand a moment in the right way without God's underpropping hand. Alas, Sir, I find in my prayers great distractions, which wonderfully blunt the edge of my devotion▪ while my mouth is speaking to God, my mind is speaking with follies and fancies: * Note If a man speaking unto a Prince, should now turn him unto this man, and now to that man, would not that Prince at last command, him silence enjoining him with all speed to pack him out of his presence, as being a man who knoweth not what is matchable to such a Majesty: Many a time, alas, have I at prayer babbled out with my lips many savourles words, which have wrought nothing but the sadding and grieving of God's Spirit. A prayer O Lord, make this meditation of mine own unworthiness, be like a whetstone to my prayers, that by help thereof I may pray better than ever I did before: Give me grace at all times, but specially in prayer to keep watch and ward over my thoughts, that I never let lose the bridle unto them as most foolishly often I have done, rushing my Soul over head and ears into the mires of earthly mindedness: Now good Lord, make me fresh and nimble in my Spirit for prayer: Oh, for that Spirit of spiritual Rom. 8. 27 groans, which maketh intercession for the Saints, according to the will of God. I desire your help in prayer: The night is noisome, I lie job. 7. 4. down, I say, when shall I arise, and the night begin I am full of tossing unto the dawning of the day. The Pastor. I rejoice with my Soul to hear you: I know no surer token of God's Spirit within a man, than a ben●…nes to prayer: Reprobates with Herod may gladly hear Preachers: But they all in Scripture are branded with this blot, They call not upon God▪ Desire of conference with God, is a most sure token of friendship between Amos. 3. ●…3 God and man: Can two walk together except they be agreed? Can two speak together except they be friends? Hypocrites I know will Matth. 6. 7 make long prayers, which are but lip labour, which our Lord calleth much babbling: But their hearts in their prayers wander from God, & go to worldly toys, so that while they are speaking one thing with the mouth, their hearts are upon another subject: Isa. 29. 13 Thus Scripture calleth, A drawing near to God with the mouth, while the heart is far off: off God cannot be scorned, but knoweth how Act. 5. 2. much is behind, though Ananias would seem to bring all. * Note He who can pray from his heart, by his prayer as with a piercing key, is able to unlock the celestial treasures of God, where out of he will draw comfortable cordials for distressed Souls, in their gasping agonies. Let us now bend our knees most humbly before our Maker, and worship him both with heart & mouth, the most pleasant harmony of a Christian Soul. The Lord set all our hearts rightly on work: For the heart of man in prayer is most bend to play reaks in wandering from God. A Prayer for the sick Man. O Great and Omnipoten●… GOD, whose Eyes are ten thousand time▪ brighter than the Sun at Noon Day: Our sins cannot be hid from The●… Feign would we confess them, but alas, for this hardness of hear●… Smite, O LORD, smite these our hearts of iron, soften them with the fire of thy Spirit, till my: sighs & sobs they melt within our boweles: O●… LORD, who shall not fear thee, to whom is given all power both in heaven and earth. When we remember thy last Sessions which shall be in that great & last judicial day, it maketh all the hairs of our head to start up: We are instructed by thy divine Word 1 Cor. 7. 31 that the fashion & figure of this world shall pass away, and that all Thrones Dan. 7. 9 shall be removed, that that most Royal & glorious Throne may be erected for the coming of the Son of man. O LORD, in that great and terrible day all things must compeare naked before Thee: Then shalt thou Heb. 4. 13 bring to light the things which were hid in darkness, and shalt make manifest the most secret counsels of men's hearts: From thy face nothing shall be able to procure escape: Happy shall that Soul be on whom in that day thou shalt bleink with a reconcealed face. O gracious GOD, whose goodness is bottomless, and greatness immeasurable: Now speak home to the heart of thy servant here, who in his fainting weakness hath desired me to pour out this prayer for him: All his desires are toward thee, stamp upon his Soul the Image of thyself: Give him a pawn and a pledge of thy favour, make him assured that in that day he shall find thee a favourable judge, who shall cry on him among the rest of thy Children, Come ye unto me ye blessed of my Father, and receive Matth. 25. 34 a Kingdom. Let this consideration bear out in the stormy hour of the last assaults: Set a strong Guard and a narrow watch over his heart, lest he be unawares surprised by Satan's crafty plots: Let the Sconce of thy mercy fence off the parching hea●…e of Satan's most fiery temptations kindled in a bonfire: Furnish him now with such grace whereby he may possess his Soul in patience, looking for that blessed hope, and appearing of thy glory in the clouds. It was long since written by thy jam. 5. 9 blessed Penmen, That the judge standeth before the door, and that the end of all things draweth near: Now seeing sin is come to such an height, that thy justice cannot much longer forbear, but that thou must come shortly to put an end to this most corrupt world: LORD, cleanse quite away all our corruptions before thou come. Grant that continually with the wise Matth. 25. 4. Virgins we may have our Lamps of oil trimmed for the coming of our Lord, the blessed Bridegroom of joh. 3. 29. our Souls: Grant that in that day with gladness we may lift up our Luk. 21. 28 heads, being assured of a gracious welcomming unto our Master's joy. Matth. 25. 2●… Keep this ever fast in our memory as an aweband above our heads, for to keep us from sin, that Christ the determined judge of the world shall come for to render to every one according as he or she hath done in the days of their flesh: grant therefore that whether we sleep or we wak, the shrill Trumpet of God's voice may be as if it were ever sounding to our Souls, Arise for to compeare in judgement. O LORD, enlighten our misty minds, that with an undazeled eye every one of us may try and descry clearly our own estate in this world, In a more special manner let it please thee to regard thy poor prisoner here in this bed of languishing, whom Satan hath sought to sift that his Faith might fail: Waken his Soul softly with a merciful motion of thy Spirit of comfort: Let him not be like these who in a dull, dead, and senseless security not thinking on Death, chop in the earth before that ever they be awares, neither suffer Satan to quench his clearest comforts with the damp of despare: By this heavy sickness which daily increaseth, thou is now Summoning thy servant here to a particular and personal compearance before thy great Tribunal: Let him find thy Royal seat to be a mercy seat: Proclaim unto his Conscience in his inward parts, that thou wilt never enter into judgement with him: Assure his Soul that he is one of thine, and that there is no condemnation Rom. 8. 1●… to these that are in Christ jesus, who unto all his faithful is like a Ezek. 11. 16. little Sanctuary. Let the graces of thy Spirit be all night like a bundle of Myrrh into Cant. 1. 23 his bosom: Seal up in his heart this comfort, that he who shall be his judge, is he, even he, who is now his Advocate, interceding at the 1 joh. 2. 1. right hand of the Father for him: Give him strength courageously to fight out this bloody Battle, that in the end thou may set on his head that never fadding Crown of righteousness 2 Tim. 4. 8 Let Satan be now chained up that he be not able any more to set by the ears the corruptions of his nature with the motions of thy grace. He confesseth LORD, before thee that if presently thou should pronounce his doom, and suddenly plunge him in the deepest Hells, that righteousness in so doing should belong Dan. 9 7. to thee: This from his heart would he acknowledge being willing, that thy Name may be glorified, to take to himself shame and confusion of face. O LORD, whose bowels ever rumble with compassions rain down upon thy seruamts' heart here a shower of grace, for it is parched and dried with greiefe and sorrow: Pity him for he abhorreth himself as a stained sinner stripped of all good things, worthy to be crushed under the mountains & millstones of thy vengeance, Neither dare he, neither will he plead against thee for his innocence: Here he is ready to subscribe all thy will were it with the best arterial blood of his heart: His confession is, that thou art most just though from thy presence thou should banish him to the black lack and woeful dungeon of darkness, where is nothing but weeping and Matth. 8. 12 gnashing of teeth. Out of a sore sense & abundance of feeling, he poureth out this most plentiful & sincere confession before thee: Behold, him here Lord, opening the bosom of his confession and self condemnation before thee. O thou, whom his Soul loveth, tell him where thou feedest, and where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon in the time of parching and most piercing heat of temptations: O cool this fainting Soul with thy blessed breath coming from the four winds: Besprinkle it with the saving and sacred Blood of jesus. Thou, LORD, who is the chief Pattern and examplar of all true Kindness, Pity, & Love: Let his groans and supplications get entry into thine ears: Send down the Ladder of jaacob, the ministering Spirits Heb. 1, 14 for to wait upon him, who is one of thy Redeemed ones, that when his Soul shall be severed from his body, they may carry it into the blessed bosom of Abraham the father of Luk. 16. 22 the Faithful: Give him a sound & a Sanctified heart, say unto his Soul as thou said of old concerning thy beloved Children, I will delight to do him good: Take away the trespass of thy servant, and save him; for he distrusting his own worth, is now fled to the horns of thine Altar, even to the cross of jesus, the Sanctuary of troubled Souls. As Elishah was first invested with a single Spirit and thereafter with a doubled Spirit, so now in thy tender compassions double thy graces upon him, which were but single of before: Let thy favours falling down upon him, be like the rain which falleth first in small drops, and after poureth down in grea●… abundance: O quicken and enliuhis Soul with a supernatural vigour and life of grace, that by no lowering tempest of temptation his holy Faith be dashed out of countenance: Let not his Hope be like the Spider's web which is easily Isa. 59 5. swept away with the least blast of wind: The weaker his body grow, increase so much the more his spiritual strength: Verify that Text in him, To him that hath shall be given: Matth. 25. 29 Thou who givest repentance to the sinner, give pardon to the repenter: In the boisterous blasts of most fearful temptations let his silly Soul find a shelter under the shadow of thy favour: There is no succour but under thy wings from the plagues of God, and curses of the Law: Thy Blood only is able to purge & purify him from the froth and filth of all his iniquities. Seeing he hath dealt unpartialie with himself, by condemning himself, let thy mercy for the sake of thy Son his surtiship now absolve him, draw out the keen arrows of thy wrath which thou hast made to stick in his ribs, the poison whereof hath job. 6. 4. drunken up his Spirit: O how fearful have thy terrors set themselves in array against him: Begin Lord, and continue to slack thy wrath Be with him now in thy great mercy, O LORD, and convoye him by the graces of thy Spirit thorough the snaky field & wilderness of this world wherein he hath been like a Pilgrim, or a Traveller passing from Town to Town, till he come into his Inn, where he hopeth by thy mercy to be exempt from all mixture of misery: He is now in the heat of his journey: Let some cooling drops of thy comforts be send unto him, for to cool and quench his drought in the scorching heat of this spiritual skirmish: Thou who made waters to rush out of the jaw bone, for the refreshing of Samson judge 15. 19 after his fight with the Philistimes, give unto this wearied soul a drink of that water whereof if a man drink he shall never thirst any more. joh. 4. 14. And now seeing in all appearance he is not for to remain many days upon this Earth, make him to be still looking all the days of his appointed joh. 14. 14. time till his changing come: grant that when it shall come, he may change for the better, and that for the glory of thy great Name, and for the everlasting rest▪ peace, and joy of his silly sorrow beaten Soul: O crush the head and break the heart of every sin, that lurketh, within his breast, left they choke the Soul of this thy Turtle Dove: Be no more sour unto him: If thou should appear grisly with a stern countenance unto sinners, how soon should they be outfaced, if thou straitly m●…iniquitie, who shall stand? But O, mercy is with thee: Let that mercy Psal. 130. 4 that is with thee come to him, whereby all his floating thoughts may be made to sink & soak into the Blood of the Lamb, the softner and soupler of stiff and hardened hearts: In the darkest hour of death be thou the comfort and darlling del●…ght of his heart: O Pastor of Israel, now put an end to all the cloudy and dark days of his distress. Taken in this silly Soul, thy little Lamb within the compass of thine heavenly fold, till it win there, refresh it with a baire in its journey, let no means be deficient, till in it thou crown thy graces with thy glory. LORD, bless thy Church universal, the dear Spouse of jesus, as they are all members of one Body, make them all to be of one heart, that in an heavenly harmony, they may all think one thing: Stop the mouth of the red Dragon from spewing out the red bloody floods of persecution against Her, if not, give Her the wings of Faith whereby She may flee to the wilderness for Her escape: O cloth her Priests with Psal. 132. 16 Salvation, that all her Saints may shout a loud for joy: Give them one mind and one mouth: But, alas, Icabod, where now is that glory? Preserve our gracious SOVEREIGN with his Royal Match: Send down a princely Spirit upon him: Keep them as the Apple of thine Eye: As thou hast bund their bodies into the bond of wed lock, so bind their Souls into the bandle of life: Make the Heavens to rejoice at her Majesty's conversion: Love Her, LORD, as thou loved Lidea, by the opening of her Act. 16. 14 heart. Make both Crown and Court serviceable to thee the greatest Majesty above. Sanctify all our Nobles, make them like the men of Berea, courageous Act. 17. 11 for the Truth, Plants of renown. Guide us all in the way of righteousness, and wean us from the love of this World: Prepare us for the last Battle of the Soul: Suffer never Satan with the mood of his temptations to trouble or distemper the clear Rivers of thy comforts, wherewith thou refresheth thy beloved Ones: Suffer never that prince of darkness to put out with his damps the glorious Light of thy Gospel, which now most orientlie shineth among us. LORD, perfume all our unwhorthie prayers with the sweet smelling righteousness of jesus Christ our Lord & Master, in whose most blessed Name we pray, as he hath pleased him to teach us, Our Father which art. etc. By God's grace Sir, I shall return the Morrow early: The Spirit of jesus print into your heart the best comforts of his Treasures: Remember Sir, that all our goodness is of him, for naturally we are hewn out of a sinful rock: All our guises are but guile, till we be cast into another mould by the Spirit of regeneration. Strive more and more to be constant and courageous till this bitter Isa. 9 5. Battle be ended: For every Battle of the Warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in Blood. Now the night is fallen down: job. 4. 13. while deep sleep falleth on men, strin●… to be acquainted with the Teacher Psal 16 7. of the reins in the night season: If the pain of your sickness rob your eyes of sleep, cause read unto you this night Dan. 7. 1. Cor. 15. 1. Thess. 4. The LORD pull off your Soul all the A prayer filthy menstruous clouts of your corruptions, and clothe you with the most rich & invaluable Robe of Christ's righteousness: The Lord fill your heart with the inspirations of the Almighty: His Grace be with you. THE sixth DAY'S Conference. of Heaven's Glory. The Pastor. ACcording to my promise Sir, I am here come again for to see what it shall please God to do with you at last, wait constantly on your God: * Note His mind is to do you good in the latter end: I earnestly now desire to know what the meditation of the last judgement hath wrought into your heart this night bygone. The sick Man. * Note Except that a man be well occupied in the day, his heart in the night will swarm with worthless & witless thoughts: Satan the lord of the night, is ever busy by secret foisting in of corruptions into man's thoughts, to justle out of his heart all holy and heavenly meditations, All this night it seemeth unto me that I heard the shrill sound of the last Trumpet sounding most fearfully the Alarm of the Resurrection at the second and sudden coming of our Lord: All Saints and Angels seemed to be present at that great jubilee. I thought in my sleep that I saw the Son of man environed with innumberable Charets of fire coming down with unspeakable pomp, Glory and Majesty, I thought him more glistering than the Sun, while he sbineth in his greatest force: Mine eyes were dazzled with the brightness of his Beams: All thrones made room unto his Throne: Mine heart was never so ravished as it hath been this last night bypast. In the thoughts of mine heart in the night, while deep sleep falleth on man, job. 4. 13. there came into my memory some passages of Scripture concerning heaven's glory, whereof most gladly I desire now to hear: The Apostle S. Paul speaketh of this with great 2 Cor. 4. 16 power, We faint not, said he, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day: There be some other good words following, but my memory faileth me. The Pastor. I shall help you Sir in that matter: The verse following is, For our 2 Cor. 4. 17 light affliction which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. The sick Man. These be the words indeed, I find great difficulty in these words, I pray you to make them clear: What is that to say, Though the outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. The Pastor. The interpretation of these words is, that the corruption and decaying of the outward man by divers crosses and calamities, Servit renovando homini interno, is a means for the renewing of the inward man, that we may grow in godliness: By the outward man is understood the body: By the inward the Spirit & the mind: By the weakening of the body the Spirit is made strong. The sick Man. But what say ye of these words, that our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is said, to work for us or to cause unto us an exceeding and eternal weight of glory? Is that the merit and worth of affliction? The Pastor. The Roman Church expounds it so, that by such afflictions men merit everlasting glory: Indeed the words in the original seem much to favour that exposition: The words are these, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cauficit parie operatur nobis, that is, Causeth or worketh that glory. * Note But it is certain, that affliction that is light, & for a moment both light & short, cannot be properly a cause of an everlasting and infinite ●…ight of glory: A moment cannot be the mother of eternity: That which is so light can never bring out an infinite weight: But God who is infinite in po●…er, maketh affliction a means for to bring us vnt●… glory as good works are via reg●… causa reg●…di, Bernard▪ the way to the Kingdom, but not the cause of reigning, so through the way of many tribulations we must enter into God's Kingdom. The Scripture is the best interpreter of itself: Abraham who was the Father of the Faithful, was not justified either by his doings or his sufferings: If Abraham were justified Rom. 2. ●… by works, he ●…th whereof to glory, but not before God. * Note Shame shall come upon him who glorieth of that whereof he may not glory before God: I dare boldly glory before God, of his mercy, and of my Lords merits, but to glory of man's righteousness a monstrous Isa. 64. 6. cloth, is an abomination before GOD: * Note If sufferings and calamities could efficientlie cause & merit that infinite weight of Glory, how did S. Paul reckon, when he Rome, 8. 18 said, I reckon that the sufferings of th●… present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us? This maketh the matter clear that our light afflictions of a moment cannot efficientlie and meritoriouslie purchase unto us an exceeding and eternal weight of glory: they are indeed good means whereby our Souls are fitted and furthered in the way to Glory. The sick Man. I ever hold that the surest ground that a man be little in his own eyes▪ Sinful flesh cannot be too humble before God: * Note That Religion which giveth greatest glory unto God, & casteth man's own worth most down, hath the clearest mark of truth: Daniel pointeth at this while he saith, O Lord, righteousness belongeth Dan. 9 7. unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces▪ I am now satisfied in the exposition of these words, wherein I did ever find much difficulty. Now Sir, if your memory serveth you, can ye tell what is said, by the Apostle in the Chapter following? I remember that some notable things there be spoken of immortal Glory. The Pastor. Indeed in the beginning of that Chapter there be notable words, For we know, saith the Apostle, that 2 Cor. ●…. 1. if the earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with sand, eternal verse. ●… in the heavens: For in this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothi●… upon with our house, which is from heaven. vers. 3. If so be that being▪ clothed, we shall not be found naked▪ For we that vers. 4. are in this Tabernacle do groan, being burdened, not that we would be v●…cloathed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life▪ vers. 6. etc. While we are at home, in the body, we are absent from the Lord▪ etc. We are confident and willing rather to vers. 8. be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. The sick Man. These indeed be the words: I could never well understand them, doubtless they be words full of comforts, for these that are looking for a better Life: I pray you Sir, to give me the exposition thereof. The Pastor. Indeed Sir they want not great difficulty, neither doth that which I say make for the doctrine of papists▪ who affirm that the Scriptures are obscure, and therefore must not be read by the common people. * Note It is by reading that men purchase understanding: The Doctors themselves before they read are ignorant, neither was it ever heard that Scriptures was abused so much by the common people, as by▪ these who are most Learned: Where hear we that the Merchand, the Artifan or rural men begin Heresies? * Note Are not they forged in the unsanctified brains of these in who are lodged the oppositions of science 1 Tim: 6. 20 falsely so called: It is oftest seen that through Philosophy and vain deceit: Col. 2. 8. The Soul of man are spoiled & not by ignorance of the simplest sort. There is none obscurity in God's Word, that should debar the people young or old from the reading of it: * Note The Letter which my God hath written unto me, I may open it, and read it, and see what my Father's will is: The Spirit of God in S. john, leading his hand, hath set down these words, I write unto you, Fathers; 1 joh. 2. 13 etc. I write unto young men, etc. I write unto you little Children▪ etc. Who hath power to forbid any man to read the Missive Letter which his God hath written unto him▪ Moreover, there is such a Light in God's word, that will make a blind man to see: * Note The light of the Sun will show and discover hid things in darkness unto him who hath eyes▪ but cannot make a blind man to s●…▪ But the light of God's word Meira●… Psal 19 8. Hena●…m facit ut oculi videant, it maketh the eyes for to see: In that Psalm also it is said, That the Law of the Lord maketh wise the simple: Psal. 19 7. It is a great ignorance for Papist Doctors to close & clasp their Bibles from the hands of the ignorant & simple ones, seeing by this word the simple are made wise, It is written to the everlasting praise of the men of Berea▪ that after Paul had preached, they searched the Scriptures, for trying of his Doctrine: These be the words of their praise. These were more noble than these in Act. 17, ●…1 Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so. * Note As for difficulties, we acknowledge that there be many and great in Scripture, but as for that which is absolutè & simpliciter absolutely & simply necessary for our Salvation, it is clearly set down in Scripture: if there be any difficulty in one place that which is there obscure will be made clear in some other part of Scripture: This much by the way concerning the obscurity of Scripture. Now to come to the words of S. Paul: In the first verse it is said, For we know that if the earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house ●… made with hand, eternal in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Some after this manner expour●… these words after that this body like a Taber n●…ele is taken away from 〈◊〉 Soul, the Soul shall be in a be●… estate, even in everlasting Glory ●… to the Heavens. The French marginal note upon this, is that that eternal house in the he 〈◊〉 is the body after the resurrection●… * Note So long as we are here in the sinful body, the body is but like a Tubernacle, unconstant; weak, fra●…▪ But in the heavens, it shall be like 〈◊〉 house that is constant; firm, strong: So corpus & gloriosa ejus conditio, the body and its glorious estate in th●… opinion of some is here called 〈◊〉 house, by that house than we must understand the glory that is prepared for the Saints in he iven, which for its constancy and commodity ●… called an house: According to th●… the Apostle in the second verse saith, That we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: That house from heaven, is that Glory which is from heaven. Others of the Learned interpret that word Superindui to be clothed upon ut siquis ind●…tus est thorac●…▪ Piscator. & superinduitur pallio: Pu●…o autem sic. Explican●…um ex versa 4 Sancti capiunt corpore c●…lesti it ●… indui, ut no●… prius exvantur corpore mortali●…sed superinduantur c●…lesti S●… immortali▪ hoc est ●… per 〈◊〉 trans●…tationem absorbiator 〈◊〉 ab immortalitate. Thus would he say, That the Saints being huing at the end of the world, desired not to cast their mortal bodies from them▪ but desire them to be changed and clothed above with immortality▪ Mortality is one 〈◊〉 which must be put off, that immortality may be put on▪ Others think that there be mention here made of a double clothing: aliis placet, saith Beza, primam Beza. vestem dici Christi justitiam, alteram vero illius justitiae praemium quorum sententiae nolim praejudicium afferre, the one they make to be the righteousness of Christ, the other the glory purchased by that righteousness. * Note S. Ambrose speaking of these words, In this we groan, etc. If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found nacked, saith, Vt haec sit sententia destruendum quidem hoc tabernaculum S. Amb. morte sed ita tamen ut non p●…reat: Imo ut corruptibilitate deposita restituatur nobis immortalitate induendum. That is, The Tabernacle of this body shallbe dissolved by Death▪ not so that it shall perish, but that all corruption being taken away, it may put on incorruption, even everlasting glory. For if the body did perish, then in that case the Soul should be naked: Now while we are in the Tabernacle of the body, being burdened with sin and corruption, we groan, not desiring to be unclothed, that is altogether to want our body, but that putting off the corruptions of the body, we may be clothed with immortality of life, which shall swallow up mortality with all cumbers and inconuenients whatsoever. * Note The Soul of man hath an ardent desire to be clothed with immortality, but hath not will to want its body, without which it thinketh its self naked: according to this the Apostle saith, In this we groan earnest lie desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from Heaven, That is, With glory and immortality fast & firm like an house: If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. That is, Shall not want the clothing and covering of our bodies. The sick Man. My brain is so sore troubled that I cannot bend my Spirits so high for the understanding of these things which are so far above my reach: Happy is he who with David is not exercised Psal. 131. 1. in great matters which are too high for him. Lord, enlighten my misty mind, Aprayer and make me to know thee and thy Son jesus Christ, and him crucified: Lord also help me in the knowledge of all that may increase the knowledge of him into my Soul. I have heard you Sir at large upon the last judgement, and all the proceedings thereof: Ye have also cleared some difficulties which this night did run into my mind: Now lest vain thoughts should draw mine heart aside unto toys, let ●…t please you to turn your purpose concerning the joys of Heaven. * Note While I did behold but the out●…id of Heaven, mine heart was ever ravished at the sight of that Tapestry, embroidered like most glorious Arrasse cloth: O what Glory must be within▪ where the Lord himself is with all his endenized Citizens of glory: Let me hear you a little▪ thereupon: There by the grace of my God, I hope to be within a little space, O what place of perfection and bliss my Soul longeth to dwell into that azured Palace. Let me hear of its Glory. The Pastor. * Note The prince of Philosophers Aristot. lib. 1. de coelo. most subtle in Natural Science, speaking of the heavens, said, That it was much to get any little knowledge thereof: All his knowledge c●…ld reach no further but from motion to motion, till he come▪ to the fi●…st Mover, who by the force of his Almighty arm turneth about these relestiall bodies: * Note But he knew no more the great Mov ●…, th●…n ye would know a man a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vp●…n the top of an Hill displaying a●… Ensign or Standart: While the Mover were casting his Standart, ye might perceive the motion of a Banner, and by that motion ye might easily judge that there be a Mover, and yet for all that be ignorant, not knowing the man who is the ca●… of all the motion, whether he were your foe or your friend. * Note The Pagans saw the motions of the heavens, as we see the shaking of a tree moved by the winds: I see the Tree shaken and the Branches rushing one upon another, I hear also the noise, I also know that the Mover is that which we call the Wind: But whence this mover cometh joh. 3. 8. and whether it goeth, or what moveth it, no earthly tongue can tell. * Note Pagans which have not Gospel written in quick Letters by the dead knowledge of Nature, will come from ens to ens that is, from being to being, till they come to ens entium him that is a Being, which causeth all beings: From motions men in nature will come to motions, till they climb up to Primus motor, the first Mover: * Note On him will they look as a man in an high Fever, to whom this man & that man will say, Know ye me? know ye me? The sight of the brain is so dazzled, that it is pain & much labour but to hear these three words, Know ye me▪ * Note Brain sick Nature can by no means know God, till the Fever of nature be cooled with Grace: After that the cool of Grace hath brought a sweat wherewith the Soul is purged from the rotten humours of iniquity, than the Soul becometh like a man after a Fever, come to himself again: * Note According to this it is said o●… the Forlorn, that he Luk. 15. 17 came to himself after that he was cooled of his foolish Fever. Till we come to ourselves by Grace, we shall never be able to know the Lord by Nature: All that the most wise Pagans could do by the whole help of Nature was to come from beeing●… to him that is the cause of all being, and from motion to the first Moue●…: * Note But who that Mover was, the feverof Nature made their brain so giddy that they could not discern him. * Note When all the Clergy of Athe●… into that Famous College of Gre●…, had sought out this God, to feel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. ●…. 27▪ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and find▪ him, they wandered 〈◊〉 and down in their imagination●… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sodomites about▪ Lots 〈◊〉, Gen. 19 11 no●… being able to find it: All their 〈◊〉 knowledge which was but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, could no wi●…e reach vn●…o him: For this cause they set up an 〈◊〉 into their most learned Citi●… with this in●…tion written into great Letters▪ TO THE 〈◊〉▪ 〈◊〉 Act. ●…. 23 〈◊〉 * Behold, where the true God was unknown, even in the City where Socrates, Plato▪ and Aristotle●…▪ the great lights of Nature had reached publicklie▪ The vertical point●… all their knowledge could I never reach unto the borders, nay not unto the base of the Gospel: * Note Behold and see where Science was to be sold in greatest abundance, there was a profession of the ignorance of the true God written upon their Altar in great Letters, for by the greatness of the Letters, to declare the gross dulness of their ignorance. * Note He who knoweth not God, were he never so learned, what can he speak of Heaven▪ 〈◊〉 * Note What should Heaven itself be without the presence of God, but like a City laid waste, or like an old Dungeon not inhabited, where Limb and Isa. 34. 14▪ Zijm resort? * Note As for us▪ blessed be God, we know that there is a God into the Heavens, the sight of whose back Exod. 34. 33 parts made the face of Moses so to shine, that no eye undazeled could behold him: What a Majesty must this be whose backepartes printed such a light into the face of a man, that no man could behold the face of a sinner stamped with a second impression? This is he who as Scripture teacheth dwelleth into an inaccessible 1 Tim. 6. 16 light, of which a learned Pagan having seen some light impression, not in the face of Moses but only into the face of Nature, said a great word, * Note Lumen est umbra Dei, Deus est lumen luminis. Plato. polit. All light which we see is but a dusky shadow of God: * Note But God, is the Light of light, a living Light▪ the Life of light, the Sun that shineth to the world above, and the Candle of Heaven: Christ the Sun Mal. 4. 2. of righteousness in Heaven shall be without any shadow of the Earth▪ which is the cause of ou●… night: He shallbe a Sun which shall shine continually both round about and in all the parts of the Heaven, for there Reuel. 21. 25 shall be no night there: For to come thither man should be content to Matth 5. 29. pluck out his right eye, even his sweetest bosom delights. The sick Man. Mine heart is wained from the love of the base lump of this Earth. I desire to hear something more concerning these celestial buildings, which Scripture calleth, everlasting Luk. 16. 9 Tabernacles, the resting place of all created desires: Seeing there after Death we must sojourn eternally, let me hea●…e of the Glory of these heavenly Mansions prepared for Gods most precious jewels: * Note O these blessed burnished faults all beset with divine Mal. 3. 16 Diamonds: Let me hear a description of that Palace. The Pastor. The matter is high, Our creeping words of Babel cannot reach to the ankles of such lofty matters, are but job. 8. 9 of yesterday, and know nothing: As I know I shall in my stammering tongue and mussling speech do what I can for to allure you to the love thereof. As for the structure, furniture and beauty of that Palace of our God, it is wonderful: By no skill can any mortal hand chalk them out: There is that blessed Bridegroom's chamber garnished with an azured Curtain which is embroidered and spangled with stars of light, as with golden studs, whose beauty no mortal tongue is able fully to express: * Note Well may we say and sing of that City that which David sang of its figure: Glorious things are spoken of Psal. 87. 1. thee, O thou City of our God, nay, let me rather say of the figured City, such glorious things are in thee, that they cannot be spoken, O thou City of our God. * Note All the glories we see without are but sparkles of these infinitely bright blazing perfections, which are within, even things which eye never saw, ear never heard, and which cannot enter into the heart of man: One said very well▪ * Note Res verae sunt in mundo invisibili, in mundo visibili umbrae rerum. That is, In Heaven the invisible world is the substance of things indeed, but in this visible world on earth is nothing but shadows of things, which are less than accidents. * Note The greatest glory that we see in the outside of the Heavens is but a veil that covereth the glory that is within, as the Badgers skins covered the Ark of glory and the Exod. 26. 15 Tabernacle: * Note But because we are in this world as children in the womb, we cannot conceive what can be without this world, we have made a great conception, if we can conceive that it cannot be conceived, we muse well of Heaven, if while we muse we be amazed, counting all joy, pleasure, profit, and preferment Philip. 3. 8 below to be both loss & dung in comparison of things that are above which infinitely go beyond all created comprehensions: If these who go down to the deeps see the Psal 107. 23 wonders of the Lord, what wonders shall they see who are in the heights of eternity? What rest can a man look for till he be into the Heavens? * Note There the blasts of winds, and tempests of tongs & terrors of Conscience are not: there the Church the Lord's Lily is no more among Can. 2. 2. the thorns: There the heart of man is no more grieved nor over clouded with lowering Melancholy, all is in peace within: All is calm & clear. * Note There is day without night, heavens without clouds, mirth without mourning joy without sorrow, and beauty without blemish. * Note All good things must abound there, where God shall be All in all: When we shall be there, our God shall enlighten our mind, and shall give our will its will without controlment: Then shall no man say, I do the evil that I would not, Rome, 7. 19 and do not the good that I would do: nay, but we shall do all the good we would, being in no wi●…e troubled with the evil we would Reuel. 14. 13. not: Then shall we rest from all our labours, refreshed under the everlasting shadows of Christ, that most Cant. 2. 3 pleasant Apple Tree, whose fruit is sweet to the taste: Nothing in a word shall be inlaking that may rejoice all the senses of our body without, & all the faculties of our Souls within: All the Godly these blessed Denizens of Heaven shall ever in a Choir sing the praises of the Lamb▪ Halleluiah Reuel. 19 ●… Halleluiah upon the loud Cymbals, Harps, Organs and Timbrels of God. * Note O Lord, one day in thy Court is better Psal. 84. 10 than a thousand else where said the Psalmest, speaking but of the figure of heaven: Is it so of the figure of heaven: what shall it be them to be in heaven itself? even in these new heavens Let it be but the tenth better, according to that one day in Heaven, shall be better by ten thousands times than the best day that ever man did see on earth▪ * Note There is no serenity below▪ which is not over clouded with some dumps of heaviness, while the flesh is upon the Soul it shallbe sorrowful: Pure & sincere joys cannot dwell in the valley of tears in this muddy mortality: One day above is more bright and better than ten thousand below: Is it so of one day in Heaven? Merciful God, what shall it be then of these days without number, even of that everlasting of days, even that eternal day of light, life, & liberty, clear without all g●…mie clouds of sickness & of sorrows▪ * Note O for a sight of the light of that countenance a light of continuance which no misty vapour shall for ever be able to eclipse: O Day never to be darkened with a following light! O ever fresh pleasures which no sorrow shall be able to fret, waste, or wear out! O Eternity, Eternity, never to have an end! O that fair heritage! unto all these that are there, The lines are fallen in pleasant places. Psal. 16. 6. * Note If we had hearts to believe, the thoughts of such Glories should wain our hearts from the milky transitory trashes below, which worldlings dream to be an heaven, not to be changed with any such preached pleasures: O when shall our Souls get them, with the Spouse to these high Mountains of Myrrh Cant. 4. 6 and hills of frankincense! * Note The consideration of this happiness made Ignatius a Scholar of S. Paul, to defy all the torments Hiero in Catologo●…. that cruel Burrios could invent for the tormenting of his body: Fire, Gallows, beasts, said he, Crushing of my bones, quartering of my members, breaking of my body: Let all the torments of Satan seize upon me together, I care not for them, so that I may enjoy my Lord and his righteousness. O that all the thoughts of our hearts were made subordinate and contributary to such spiritual and divine desires. The sick Man. O Lord, in the multitude of thy thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my Soul. Continued your speech I pray you concerning the beauty of the Heavens within which is the Presence-Chamber of the great King. The Pastor. * Note S. john describes it with such words as men are able to understand or imagine: The understanding of man concerning the beauty of a Place, reacheth no further, than to Gold, Glass, Crystal, Pearls, and precious stones, which indeed are nothing but like Coals, or dross in comparison of these heavenly bodies. * Before that the man of God began to declare what he had seen of Heaven, he said that there came unto him an Angel that carried him away to a great & high mountain, & showed him the great City the holy jerusalem a type and figure Psal. 87. 3. of Heaven: Glorious things are spoken of thee, O City of our God, even of thee jerusalem. Because that jerusalem was a type and figure of Heaven I shall first speak a little thereof. As for the earthly it was a City in judea builded as some think by Melchisedec: Otherwise it was called, Salem, and jebus or jebusi: After that, it was called Aelia, from Aelius Hadrianus the Emperor, who builded a part thereof, and environed Mount Caluarie, Christ's Sepulchre, and Golgotha with a wall. This City had two parts, the upper part and the lower: The upmost part thereof with the Temple was builded upon mount Moriah. 2 Chr; 1 * Note Because in this City the Lord had his residence and did show himself more familiarly than into any other part of the world, it was called The perfection of beauty and joy of the Lam. 2. 15 whole earth: It is written that in circuit & compass it was four miles: In form it was four square, having twelve gates: joseph recordeth that Ioseph. 7 Book chap. 3. it was David that first called the City jerusalem: In the time of Abraham, said he, it was called, Solyme: Some also say, that Homer called it Solyme, which in the Hebrew tongue, saith joseph, signifieth a Fortress. Thus much concerning the earthly jerusalem, which now is in bondage with her Children, the most cursed City in the world, since that desperate voice of blasphemy was heard in it, His blood be upon us and Ma●…h. 27. 1●… upon our Children. The sick Man. That is a fearful desolation. The Pastor. Great was that desolation: It is called, The abomination of desolation, Matth. 24▪ 15 a desolation abominable, or foresignified by an abomination. The sick man. I remember well of these words of that Gospel: This I remember that Christ did speak them with a Nota, Who so readeth let him understand: Often while I did read these words I found myself secretly accused of negligence, in that I took pains to understand the saying which Christ desired the Reader to understand, I pray you Sir let me understand the words. The Pastor. The words are these, When ye Matth. 24 15 therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, stand in the holy place, (who so readeth let him understand)▪ Then vers. 16 let them which are in judea, fly into the mountains. The words of Daniel are these, Dan. 9 6. And after threescore and two weeks, shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: And the people of the Prince that shall come, shall destroy the vers. 27. City, and the Sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined: And he shall confirm the Covenant with many for one week, and in the midst of the week he shall cause the oblation and the sacrifice to cease, and for the over▪ spre●…ding of abominations he shall make i●… desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. These be the words of the Prophet, of which Christ said, Who so readeth, let him understand. * Note The meaning is this: By this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abomination of desolation, The most learned understand that Roman army, which under Vespasian and Titus, fearfully wasted the land of judea, & sacked the City of jerusalem: It was said, To stand in the holy place that is, in the holy Land of judea near unto jerusalem the holy City: In these words Christ foretold of the ruin of that City, according to Daniel who of before had particularly set down the time: Thus as ye see the Roman army was called, The abomination of desolation that is, Abominatio desolans seu vastans, abominably destroying. This is more clear in S. Luke, When ye shall see jerusalem compassed with Armies, then know Luk. 21. 20 that the desolation thereof is near: When that destroying and abominably desolating Army compassed that holy City, than did the abomination of desolation stand in the holy place: * Note Some of the Learned interpret this abomination standing in the holy place, to be that profanation of the Temple, Collocata ibi Aquila, & multis patratis quae per legem non licebant: unde etiam m●…x secutum est Templi & urbis & geni●… excidium: By placing therein the Eagle the Roman Ensign, and by doing divers other things forbidden by the Law, whereupon the desolation of Temple, City, and of Nation did ensue. The sick Man. I think now that I understand by you that which by reading hitherto I have not understood: What other thing could ensue, but an abomination of desolation where the Messiah was cut off? If for the blood of Cain vengeance was to be taken on the murderer sevenfold, & for the blood of Gen. 4. 15 L●…mech, if his brags were true, seventy Gen. 4. 24. and seven fold, what vengeance must be taken upon the shedders of the Blood of God? which not only with the blood of Abel did cry Gen. 4. 10 unto God from the ground, but also from the heavens, wherein the Sun clothed in doole & wrapped for a space in his mourning weed would not look upon that creature whereupon his Master was slain? But for to leave this jerusalem which is now abominably desolate: Let me hear something of the spiritual jerusalem. The Pastor. * Note The spiritual jerusalem is called, jerusalem which is above▪ & also Gal▪ 4. 26. the City of the living God, the heavenly Heb. 12. 22 jerusalem, and also the holy jerusalem descending out of heaven from Reuel. 21. 10 God. The sick Man. Think ye that in all these passages of Scripture jerusalem be taken after one sense. The Pastor. I answer that the spiritual City jerusalem in Scripture is taken two ways, either for the Church below, wherein God as in a City calleth the Godly to immortality and happiness: Or it is taken for the heavens where the Godly actually possess that which they had here but in hope. In the first sense the Church militant on earth is called jerusalem Gal. 4. 26. above, and the heavenly jerusalem. Heb. 12. 22 The sick Man. Seeing by that jerusalem is understood the Church here below, wherefore is it called, jerusalem above, and the heavenly jerusalem? I thought ever that such a jerusalem did signify the heavens. The Pastor. * Note It is called, Above and heavenly, because all the true Godly the denizens thereof, mind the things that are above: Though their bodies Col. 3. 1. be here, their hearts are into the Heavens. For our conversation, as S. Paul saith, is in heaven. For Philip. 3. 20 this spiritual exaltation of hearts, the Church in the New-Testament is called▪ The mountain of the Lords house established in the top of the mountains exalted above the hill. * Note One speaking of this jerusalem which S. Paul. called jerusalem above, Gal. 4, 26. the mother of us all, noteth quickly these things. In hoc quod dicitur sursum, originis altitudo. Hugo Card. Quod jerusalem, Pacis multitudo. Quod matter, Foecunditatis amplitudo. Quod nostrum omnium, Charitatis latitudo. It is called Above from the highness of its Kindred a●…d pedigree. It is called jerusalem from abundance of peace. It is called Free from its great liberties. It is called ●… Mother because of its fruitfulness. It is called the Mother of us all to teach us charity and love. Are we not all the Children of the Church our Mother? Why then as joseph said to his brethren, See that Gen. 45. 24 ye fall not out by the way. The sick Man. I have often heard of jerusalem; that most famous City of the Land of jury, but I could never well know wherefore it was so called Bethlehem, Bethel, & Bethaven, are easily known by their significations, viz. House of Bread, house of God, & house of wickedness: But as for jerusalem I understand not its signification. The Pastor. * Note Learned men are of divers opinions concerning the name thereof: Some think that it be so called from jebus, which was its name while the jebusiens dwelled there: Hierom thinketh that it is so called from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Greek word, which signifieth holy, according to this in Scripture it is called, The holy City: others are of Matth. 27 53 the opinion that Sem the son of Noah called it Salem, that is Peace, and that Abraham called it jehovah I●…eh, The Lord will provide or see: Gen. 22 14 Thus at last Salem & jireh put together by David; made jerusalem, that is, Vision of Peac: while it was called Salem, Heb. 7. 2. Melchizedech was King thereof called by the Apostle, King of Salem. The sick Man. Let me hear a little of the situation of that City, and of that Land of Canaan. The Pastor. From Britain it lieth toward the South East: One calleth it Centrum & terrae umbilicus, the Center & navel▪ of the Earth: In it were two mountains of great renown, mount Zion & mount Moria: Zion like an half Circle as Abricho mijas. writters record, did lie at the South side of jerusalem: On it was builded the strongest Fortress of the City: There before david's time was the strong Hold of the jebusites, so strong as they thought, that blind & lame men Sijah, ariditas. were able to keep it against whomsoever: This Mountain was higher than all the rest: Zion signifieth dryness, because the Hill was dry without any mire or dirt. As for mount Moriah, this was the Hill whereupon that Temple was builded: Then Solomon began t●… 2 Chr. 3. 1 build the house of the Lord at jerusalem in mount Moriah: The ground whereupon that stately House did stand, was that threshing floor of Ornan the jebusite, which David would buy from him for the full price: The occasion was this; David having caused number the people, the Lord was exceeding wroth, so that in revenge, he sent out his Angel who killed with the sword of Pestilence threescore and ten thousand men: At last David lifting up his eyes, saw the Angel between the heaven and the earth, with a drawn sword, stretched out over jerusalem; which having seen, he and the Elders 1 Chr. 21 16. of Israel clothed in sack▪ cloth, fell upon their faces: At that time Ornan with his four Sons, while they were threshing Wheat, saw also the vers. 20. Angel, and hid themselves: David vers. 26. upon that occasion bought the floor, and offered Sacrifices with prayer, and God answered him by fire upon the Altar of brunt offering, and so God was pacified: After David's death Solomon builded the Temple there: It signifieth the fear or doctrine of GOD, The sick Man. Let me hear a little of that glorious Temple. The Pastor. It was seven years in building: 1 Kin. 6. 2 The length thereof was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits, and the hight thereof thritie cubits, all the stones were ready for the wall before they were brought thither: So that there was neither Hammer, vers. 7. nor Axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the House, while it was in building. Those that write of this Temple divide it in three parts: First toward the West was Sanctum Sanctorum, 1 Kin. 6 16 the Holy of holies, called also the Oracle. This by a veil was divided from all the rest: At the death of Christ this Veil was rend from the top to the bottom: Before that no man might enter into it but the hig●… Priest, & that but once in the year●…, not without blood: There stood the Heb. 9 4. Ark wherein was the Pot of Mannah, and Aaron's Rod, and the Tables of the Covenant. The sick Man. While I was a Scholar I heard that passage confronted with another, which declareth that neither the Mannah nor the Rod were in the Ark but only the Tables. The Pastor. Indeed it is written that the Exod. 16. 34 Mannah was laid up before the Testimony or Ark: In another place it is plainly said, There was nothing in the Ark save the two Tables of stone: 1 Kin. 8. 9 So indeed in that passage of the Epistle to the Hebrews the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth juxta beside the A●…ke. The second room of the Temple Heb. 9 2. is called by the Apostle, The first, That is the first part of the Tabern●…cle: Not first in dignity, but in regard of entry, if it be compared with the Holi●…st or Oracle▪ This part is called Sanctum & Sanctuarium, & See Pisc. in the Heb. 9 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sancta, which word some of the Learned take to be corrupt as also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: In this middle room was the Candle stick and the Table of the Shewbread, and the Altar of incense The third part of the Temple toward the East, was the Porch called Atrium: here stood the Brazen Altar whereupon the burnt offerings were burnt sub dio, under the open air, as some think on this altar was kept that fire which came down from Heaven: here 2 Chron. 7 〈◊〉 stood also the Molten sea; set upon twelve Oxen. etc. The sick Man. I have heard concerning mount Zion and mount Moriah, and of the holy Temple with great contentment: Now I entreat you to let me Matth. ●…. ●…. hear of the mount of Olives, while Christ was nigh unto the Mount, he sent his Disciples into a Village for to bring him the Ass, whereon he vers. ●…5 road thorough jerusalem the day the little Children cried, Hosanna, Hosanna. The Pastor. Indeed this Mount is well renowned by Christ's often resorting unto it: While he was sitting upon the mount of Olives, he taught his Matth. 24. 3●… Disciples most divinely concerning the destruction of jerusalem, and the signs preceding, as also of the end of the world, & of the signs of his coming to judgement: It was upon the mount of Olives that Christ told Peter that before the Cock cre●… Ma●…. 14. 30 twice he should deny him thrice: It was to the mount of Olives that he came out of jerusalem, after his last Supper, Matth. 26. 30 for Matthew saith, That after they had sung an Hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives: It was at the descent of the mount of Olives that Christ said, That if men should hold Luk. 19 40 their peace the stones would cry ou●… his praise. It was in Gethsemane a valley at the root of the mount of Olives Matth 26. 36 where Christ suffered the bloody agony: While he there in a cold night did sweat blood, there the Disciples slept: With himself he took a part Peter, james, and john, Mark. 14. 33 34. to whom he said, My Soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death, tarry ye here and watch: There the Lord fell on the ground, praying, that if it were possible the hour might pass from him: all this befell to our Lord at the root of the Mount of Olives: At last from the mount of Olives our Act. 1., Lord ascended unto Heaven. As for the Mount itself, it is so called, because of the Olive trees which grew there in great abundance. S. Augustine calleth it, The mountain●… of unction, because of its great fertility: Others calleth it, the mountain of health, because of divers Herbs good for Physic, which grow there. jerom writeth that upon this mount the red Cow was burnt, whose Numb. 19 2. ashes were prepared by the Priest●… for separation and purification. This Mount was s●…uate toward the East from jerusalem, some thing more than a mile, between it & jerusalem runneth the Brook Kidron. The sick Man. Mine heart is sore wounded to hear of these places which hath been so renowned by the pen of God. I have heard of Zion, & of Moria, and of the mount of Olives: Now let me hear of Hermon. The Pastor. The Hill Hermon is also made glorious by God's word, wherein mention is made thereof. The heavens are thine, saith the Psal. 89. 11 vers. 12. Psalmest, the earth also is thine: The North and the South thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy Name: David speaking of brotherly love and of the communion of the Saints, compareth it to the oil that ran down upon the beard of Aaron: To this he subjoineth, As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the Psal. 133. 3 mountains of Zion: In the Song of Cant. 4. 8 Solomon mention is made of Shenir and Hermon. This Hill hath three names, the jews call it Hermon, the Amorites Deu. ●…3. 9 call it Shenir, and the Sydonians call it Sirion: Moses by the figure Syncope, t●…king out two Letters, calleth it Zion: From Aroer to Arnon, saith he, Deut. 4. 48 even unto mount Zion, which is Hermon. This Mountain is thought by some to be higher than mount Zion that is in jerusalem: It is near the jordan, not far from the mountains of Gilboa where King Saul was slain. Some will it to be called Hermon from Heren res devota, a thing consecrate to God or to an holy use. The sick Man. There is a passage in the Psalm concerning Hermon whereof I know not well the sense. O my God, saith Psal. 42. 6. the Psalmest, my Soul is cast down within me: Therefore will I remember thee from the Land of jordan, and of the Hermonites from the hill of Missar, or the little hill. The Pastor. These words want not difficulty: In our poesy they are turned after this manner, And thus my Soul within me, Lord, doth faint to think upon The Land of jordan, and record, the little hill Hermon. In the French paraphrase it is after this manner, Car t'ay de toy sowenance Depuis out●…e le jordain, Et la froide demourance De Hermon, pais ha●…tain: Et de Mizar antre mont, etc. In the French paraphrase made by Beza, & also in the English and French versions it is turned, the hill Missar which is some other hill less than Hermon as the Hebrew word doth import: In my judgement our paraphrase is not so correct as the French, for Hermon was not a little Hill as our metre calleth it, but as it is esteemed by the Learned was higher than mount Zion. By the Land of the Hermonits' the Learned understand that hilly space of the country where is mount Hermon, and by Missar they understand some other part where there be little hills towards the border of Israel; as junius expoundeth: By junius. these three places of the Psalm, viz. The Land of jordan, Hermon, and Missar, are understood, saith he, three divers Borders of the Land of Israel: The River of jordan bordering at the East, Hermon at the North towards us, and Missar these other little hills bordering at the South. In the Papists version these be the words of the Psalm, Memor ero tui de terra jordanis, & Hermonoim a monte modico, That is, Fro●… the little hill Hermonoim: whether that be mount Hermon or no●…, Bellarmin on the 42. Psalm. saith one of their most learned inte●…preters non liquet, I cannot tell. The most part of these that wri●… mount Hermon, think that there were two mountains of this name: The one was beyond jordan near unto Libanus towards the North-east, distant from it an hundreth Of jerusalem. twenty & two miles. The other was near to mount Tabor towards the North From jerusalem: It is from jerusalem to it but about forty myls: of this the Psalmist seemeth to speak where he saith, Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy Name. The sick Man. It rejoiceth my Soul to hear the names of things which were said to rejoice in God: Now speak of Tabor. The Pastor. Tabor is mons rotundus & sublimis, Hieron. a round and high mountain, lying towards the North from jerusalem about fifty miles: It is esteemed to be one of the chief Hills that are in all the Land of Candan, both for highness and fruitfulness: Some esteem that it be four miles and more of height: It is decored with all sorts of Herbs and Trees: S. Jerome speaking of it saith, Ex omni parte finitur aequaliter, it is an exceeding round Hill into the parts of Galilee. Of this Mount frequent mention is made in Scripture: In joshuah we Ioshu. 19 2●… see that it bordered the lot of the Land of the tribe of Issa●…har whose coast reached unto Tabor: It was Ioshu. 19 22 near unto Tabor where Deborah & judge 4. 6. Barak overthrew the Army of King jabin with his Captain Sisera: For Barak being upon the Mount with his men of war by the counsel of Deborah he went down from moun●… vers. 14. Tabor, and ten thousand men after him: It was upon this Mount that Zebah & Zalmunna the Kings of the Midianites slew the brethren of Gideon: judg. 8. 18 What manner of men, said he unto them, were they whom ye slew a●… Tabor? It was at the plain of Tabor ●… Sam. 10. 3 where Saul after he was anointed by Samuel, met the three men going to Bethel with Kids, Loaves, & wine. This Hill was so steep and so strong, that jeremy from thence took his comparison, saying, That Nebuchadnezar King of Babylon should overthrow Pharaoh and his Army, though they were as Tabor among the jer. 46. 1●… mountains. It is the opinion of all, that upon this Mount Christ was transfigured Matth. 17. 1. when Moses and Elias came down and con●…erred with him touching his sufferings. The sick Man. From Tabor proceed to Carmel jer. 46. 18 by the sea▪ I find within me great heaviness of heart, while I think upon these places where God once did show so many tokens of his love: The Pastor. I find also mine own bowels moved with a mourning r●…otion: Oh, that that people had been wise: O ●… their example may teach us to fear Rom. 11. 21 to offend so great a Majesty: If God hath not spared the natural branches, we should not be high minded, but should fear: If we continue not in his goodness, he will also cut us off. But to the purpose. As for Carmel it is the name of a City in the tribe of juda Maon, Carmel, Ioshu. 15. 55 and Ziph were Cit●…es there. It is also the name of that most fertile mountain which had a valley most fruitful lying hard by it: For its fertility in Scripture language, all fertile places are called Carmel: The flourishing estate of Christ's Isa. 35. 2. Kingdom is called, The excellency of Carmel. It is not far from P●…lemais, near unto the Sea, for which cause the Prophet jeremy called it jer. 46. 81 Carmel by the Sea. It was at mount Carmel where Elias 1 King. 18. 20 by his prayer made fire to come down & consume his sacrifice with the water in the ditch, whereby he confounded the Priests of Baal, & proved the Lord to be God by fire: It was upon the top of this mountain where 1 Kin. 18. 42 Elias cast himself down upon the Earth, putting his head between his knees when his servant spied the Cloud like a man's hand arising out of the Sea. The sick Man. O but mine heart bleedeth to remember of these holy places wherein is nothing now but desolation. The Pastor. We have to pray with Moses, That Psal. 90. 17. the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: All these beauties of Canaan are past and gone: That glorious jerusalem, is razed and sacked with all her pomp: Inundations of woes are upon that Land which once did flow with Milk and Honey, the land hath spewed ou●… its habitants: All this should be for to teach us to mind these better things which are above: While that Land was at its best it could not contain the shadows of these pleasures that are above. Melle fluit terra hoc promissa & lacte redundat. Ast ea quo sursum est nectare & Ambrosia. This have I thus Englished. With honey milk that holy Land, did richly overflow: But Nactar sweet and Ambrosia, above do richly grow. While we remember of that people's Rom. 11. 21 desolations, let us be instant with God, that he would call them in: They have stumbled not that they should fall, but that by their fall Salvation m●…ght come to us for to provocke them to jealousy: If they abide not in unbelief they shall be graffed in: Let us be earnest in prayer for them: While they had court with God, they were careful for us Gentiles: In their familiarity with God, they Can. ●…. 1. spoke of us and for us: We have a little Sister, said they, What shall we do with her in the day she shall be spoken for: The sincere jews ever groaned for the fulfilling of Noa●… Gen. 9, 27. prophecy, that God would persuade japhet to enter into the tents of Sem. LORD of thy mercy bring A prayer back Sem that he may remain with japhet in the Church of God, Amen. The sick Man. I have heard sufficiently concerning the earthly jerusalem, & divers parts of the holy Land, & that with grief of heart, because in that Land where God once was well known, now the enemies of God dominire: The cry of Christ's Blood is yet still against it, so that it hath spewed out the ancient inhabitants. Lord, make all Nations by its example learn to stand in awe to provoke so great a Majesty. Now let us come to that Ie●…usalem which is above, the Palace of the great King, where God is seen of his Saints face to face: In what place of Scripture is mention made of it? The Pastor. In the two last Chapters of th●… Revelation that heavenly jerusalem is described. The sick Man. How can that be, seeing it is said that john saw that heavenly jerusalem descending out of heaven from Reuel. 21. 10. GOD. The Pastou●…. As jerusalem God's Church here Gal. 2. 6. below is call●…d jerusalem which is above, because her heart is in heaven with a great desire to be there: So jerusalem the triumphing Church above may be said, To descend out of Reuel. 21. 16 heaven, because of the great desire they have to see us all well here below: Daily they pray in Heaven for the Saints here fight on earth under the bloody Banne●… of Christ jesus: * Note They pray fo●… them all in general, which cannot be without great affection descending from the reflex of their love toward our God: If by some Angel they hear the report of the conversion of sinners, there is great joy●… Luk. 15. 7 in Heaven: That good will and affection they bear unto the Saints below, in Scripture language is called a descending out of Heaven. Reuel. 21. 10 The sick Man. O but ae I think that City must be glorious! The Pastor. No glory is comparable to that which is there: That City is called an holy City: Holiness is the Matth. 27 53 chiefest beauty that is: This was good Moses his prayer, Let the beauty Psal. 90. 17 of the Lord our God be upon us, that is true holiness. * Note This most excellent beauty of the heavens, is typified by the most bright glancing of precious stones: Her light, saith S. john was like unto Reuel. 21. 11 a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone clear as Crystal, two creatures colour green and clear, most pleasant for the sight of the eye. By all this this City had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve Angels, whom I may well call Coelestes Ianito●…es, the blessed door keepers of Heaven. The building of the wall was of jasper, and the City was pure Gold vers. 1●…. like unto clear Glass: * Note The foundation stones which are laid in our buildings are but of the commonest sort: But all the foundation stones of this City under whose Vaults we sojourn here, are most precious, stones as jasper, Saphir, Chaleedonie, Emerald, vers. 19 Sardonix, Sarduis, Crysolite, Berill, vers. 20. Topas, jacinct, Amethyste: If such glorious stones be the foundation stones, what glory must be above in the Palace top, where is the busking of Beauty? As for the gates, The twelve gates vers. 21. were twelve Pearls, every several ga●… was of one Pearl: Wonderful gates of wonderful jewels, for who ever on Earth saw a Pearl so great as an Apple? * Note Behold and wonder how the greatest door of Heaven should be of one Pearl. As for the streets of the City they were pure gold as it were transparent vers. 21 glass: * Note This Glass one calleth it, Aliquid auro nobilius quod Aret. in Apocalip non est inrerum natura. That is, Some thing more precious & excellent than gold, which thing is not in this world to be found. O merciful God, what stupidity is this in man, that he cannot so fervently love this God, who hath builded for his Soul & body such a pleasant Palace where he shall sojourn for ever in most happy immortality! O merciful God, what a deadness & dulness is this in our spirits, that we cannot but after many reasons & arguments be content to remove from job. 4. 19 these our sinful Tabernacles of clay for to go dwell with our God in his golden City & Palace of silver, where Reuel. 21. 21 the Lord for ever shall feast us with Cant. 8. 9 the joys of his countenance among these purer Spirits, his excellent Ones the Angels of glory! The sick Man. It is certainly a great blindness: Lord, put the eye salve of Grace to our carnal & naturalleyes, that our sight Reuel. 3. 18 being cleared thereby we may get some glimpse of these Palaces and Pleasures that are above: O Lord, hoist up mine heart, & raise it out of the muck of this earth: make the relish of Heaven to dash out of mine heart all earthly desires. It is marvelous how the Soul of man should be such a stranger to heaven: * Note When I consider how the Soul that divine proportion, so nobly furnished with powers of great e●…euation, even of most high contemplation, should so deba●…e itself among mire and dirt, not having a face to behold the heavens, it putteth mine heart into a wonderful maze: What can a Soul find either in heaven or earth, except God alone which is able to satisfy the desires of its so wide Capacity? * Note O the beauty of these celestial buildings, all Gold and Azure▪ But rather O the beauty of GOD himself in whose presence is the greatest glory of that painted Palace! O the beauty of beauties of him whose merciful presence should turn the hells of pain into heavens of Psal. 16. 1●… pleasures for evermore! O let the beauty Psal. 90. 17 of the Lord our God be upon us: * O what a fickle folly is this for man to loss eternity of happiness for the minute of a miserable life, in worldly pleasures wherein is more sensible pain; than joy that can be enjoyed! But to follow out our purpose intended concerning heavens glory: I have Sir already heard of the beauty of that City, now let me hear of its Bounds: None as I think shall be there troubled for want of Elbowroom. The Pastor. * O the unspeakable bounds that be there: S. john saith that it was measured with a golden reed: The Reuel. 21. 15 measure thereof as the word of God testifieth, was Twelve thousand furlongs, vers. 16. which is more than fifteen hundreth mile: Numerus indefinitus pro definito. A City greater in bounds, than who should join together in one that great Niniveh, Paris, Rome, London, Venise, Alexandria, Constantenople, and that great Alcaire, or Babylon a city containing in circuit four hundreth four▪ score furlongs: Nay, join all the Cities of the world together in one, and they shall in no way be comparable unto this City of our God, as it is ●…et down in the Cart of the Revelation. Let a man behold the Cart of the world, and in it he shall easily cover with his hand all the bounds of Europe: But behold how the Heavens in that Cart of God occupy more than fifteen hundreth miles. What I pray you, is all this Earth in comparison of these heavenly Mansions, but an hand-breadth in comparison of fifteen hundreth miles? * Note What wonder seeing as the most learned Philosophers have observed, the least fixed conspicuous star which seemeth to be but a golden nail fixed into this seiled house containeth the greatness of the earth eighteen▪ fold: Others of the greater sort are esteemed to be more than an hundreth sold greater than the whole earth. It is most certain that if the whole body of the earth were where a star is, it should not appear so great as that little black spot that we see into the Moon: Nay, certainly though an hundreth Earth's as great as all this were joined in a cluster or in one mass, they should not there appear so great as a little more in the Sun: for seeing a star which is of such a bigness and such a brightness, seemeth to be but a sparkle; as much of earth as would come to the greatness of a star, being corpus opacum, a body dark and duskish should not in any way be able to be an object for our sight here below. * Note Fie on foolish Atheimse that will not look up to the Heavens for to consider what an Arm it can be which turneth about with a continual whirling Bodies of such a quantity. The sick man. Oh, that we could under▪ value ourselves as we should, to acknowledge our stupidity: * Note He is not a man indeed but a beas●…, that can not say and think with that wise Agure, Prou. 30. 2 Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man. The Pastor. Oh, that we were wise, for wisdom Prou. ●…. 11 is better than Rubies: Oh, that we were wise, for the man that wandreth Prou. ●…1. 16 out of the way of understanding, shall remain in the congregation of the dead: We are such muddy worldlings that we cannot think of that immortality of pure and refined pleasures that are above. The sick Man. But to the purpose: Is there not a Temple in Heaven wherein the Saints convene for the service of their God? The Pastor. S. john saith, That he saw no Reuel. 21. 22 Temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it. The sick Man. I understand not how the Lord God can be said to be the Temple A Godly Prayer. thereof. O Lord, set bounds and limi●…s to my curiosity: Let the love of thyself have the pre-eminence in swaying all my desires. A Temple or Church properly signify a particular house appointed for God's service: for so it is that such an house should not be in heaven: But the Lord himself▪ shall be to all the Saints in steed of such an house▪ The Temple is a place properly for offering up of sacrifices for instruction of ignorants, for comforting of these that are afflicted. * Note To declare unto us that there shall be no need of such things the Scripture teacheth that there shall be no Temple, but that the Lord and the Lamb shall be the Temple, that is, shall be in steed of sacrifice, instruction, comfort, joy, & all other good things unto his own, so that he shall be All in all: No created Spirit is able to conceive & wade thorough such mysteries. The sick Man. The sum of your discourse, as I perceive, is that though that City want a Temple, God himself by his presence shall be in steed of all things which are helpful unto us here: But it would seem by another place of the Revelation, that in the Heaven there is a Temple: There was given me a reed like unto a rod, saith S. john, and the Angel stood saying, Reuel. 11. 1. Rise and measure the Temple of God. The Pastor. * Note By that Temple is to be understood the Church of God on earth, as the most Learned esteem. * Note They also think that this Calamus mensorius measuring Reed. is the rule of holy Scriptures, whereby Sects, & Heresies are discerned from the truth of Religion. By this Temple here I say, We must understand the Church of Christ, according to this it is said to the Faithful, Know ye not that ye 1 Cor. 3. 16 are the Temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? The hearts of all the faithful are a Temple which God hath consecrate unto himself for his Spirit to dwell in. The sické Man. O my God, keep still mine heart A godly Prayer. in an holy spiritual temper: Soften and season it with the dew of thy Grace: enlighten the eyes of my misty mind, that being made quick and nimble, they may sharply discern, and with a lively vigour apprehend their blessed object even God himself, the Sovereign felicity of my Soul: O Lord of immortality, make heavenly meditations only to lodge into mine heart which may bread therein thoughts of a more noble and spiritual temper then ordinarily arise and are fostered in earthly minded men ' who drink up iniquity like water and feed upon it as the horse Leech upon corruption. The Pastor. The Lord give ear to your desires: Oh, that we could consider how our drowsy thoughts, and dull affections are so glued unto the world as though Eternity of happiness were lodged upon earth, and the short time of pleasures had its residence only in the Heavens: Such follies and fancies by the subtility of Satan, are moulded into unstable and unhallowed brains. There is a secret influence of folly from the corruption of our Nature, whereby except that God's Grace stand in the gap and debar it, all the wisdom of God shall seem to be but folly unto the Soul of man. The sick Man. The Lord give us wisdom in all things. But to follow our purpose, seeing we are now speaking of that heavenly jerusalem, I would gladly hear you declare the differences that are between the heavenly and the earthly jerusalem. The Pastor. There be many notable differences worthy our observations: 1. * Note The earthly was builded into dust, and now it hath the salt of Gods curse sown upon it: The other hath its foundation into the Heaven's blessed for ever. 2. That which is below had not a gate for every Tribe neither were all Israel free Denizens therein. * Note But as for the City above, The gates thereof, said Ezekiel, shall be after Ezek. 48. 31 the name of the Tribes of Israel: The name of the City from that day shall be JEHOVAH SHAMMAH, vers. 35. The Lord is there: S. john saith, That he saw this City environed with a wall both great and high with twelve Reuel. 21. 12 gates, and at the gates twelve Angels, and names written thereon, which are names of the twelve Tribes of the Children of Israel. 3 That which was earthly was abhorred by the Gentiles, and at last by them destroyed, and now by Turks possessed and subdued: * Note But as for jerusalem above, The Nations of them which are saved, shall walk in Reuel. 21. 24 the light of it, & the Kings of the earth do bring their honour & glory into it. 4 These of the earthly jerusalem could not see without the light of the Sun by day, and of the Moon by night: It behoved them to have fire and Candles in the night time as in any other City: * Note But to jerusalem Isa. 60. 19 above, God hath said, The Sun shall no more be thy light by day, neither for brightness shall the Moon give light unto thee: But the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy Glory: Thy Sun shall no vers. 20. more go down neither shall thy Moon withdraw itself; for the Lord shall be thine everlasting Light. 5 In the earthly jerusalem, often in place of justice was a seat of malice: * Note But in the new jerusalem evil judges shall have no sitting, but the Throne Reuel. 22. 3. of God and of the Lamb shall be in it Psal. 129. 4 an appointed seat, for the righteous Isa. 28. 17 Lord who shall lay judgement to the line and righteousness to the plummet. The sick Man. O but my Soul is going to a pleasant Palace: O thou my Soul rejoice within me, that God hath prepared such pleasures for thee: O how ami●…ble are thy Tabernacles, O Psal. 84. 1. Lord of hosts: Mine heart is in heaven: Psal. 87. 3. Glorious things are spoken of the●…, O thou City of our God. The Pastor. It is certain that man's heart can not conceive the beauty of these buildings within: * Note If the house of God on earth seemed so pleasant to King David that he counted this the one thing he would seek, that he might dwell into it, what shall we think or say concerning God's Palace in the Heavens? One thing, said he, have I desired of the Lord, that I will seek after that I may dwell in the Psal. 27. 4. house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the BEAUTY of the Lord. Lord's mercy, what dulness and deadness of heart is this, that we seek not after the same? should not this be our one thing? even our only hearts desire to dwell with God above, for to behold that BEAUTY of the Lord, these ever g●…eene pleasures in his celestial arbours. * Note There is nothing here below which can be sufficient for to express the image, nay, not the shadow of these things that are above: In the most glorious creatures which are below, as Gold, Glass, Crystal, Pearls, and precious Stones, we may see some things like shadows of these glorious things above: But there is no creature here which can carry to our imagination the shadow let be the image of the glory that is up into that Holy of holies: O but God is wonderful in counsel and excellent Isa. 28. 29 in working: But our Souls are so sleepy and sluggish that they cannot consider: * Note The fancies and follies of the earth bring us quite out of conceit with celestial pleasures: Alas, in the best of us the seeds of grace lie buried under the thorns shamefully overtopped by them: The little dram of goodness in our hearts is weighed down with weighty talents of wickedness: a mighty stream of earth●…y thoughts and worldly desires like a Torrent carrieth our Souls down the hill from all heavenly contemplations: The clawing flatterers of our worldly affections whisper unto us that it is good for us to be here. The sick Man. The Lord subdue the master sin A prayer which like a Ringleader and head of all wickedness, maketh all our purest conceptions of heaven to be come moody and drumlie. O Lord, let thy graces in me be A prayer presently up in arms for to remove all such earthly mindedness from mine heart, by the power of thy divine Armerouse up this drowsy soul, that it may seek thee afresh by a renewed act of Faith and Repentance: Make mine heart to detaste all earthly pleasures which are but rotten at the heart: Kindle in mine heart a love of thy Palace above, stir up all my desires with a foretaste of the pleasures that are there; that finding the comfortable relish thereof I may most willingly desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ in the heavens for ever: O Lord, in stead of all means both outward & inward, supply me abundantly with the presence of thy Spirit: Wain my Soul from the love of the earth, that thou may win it to the love of the Heavens. O happy they who study to piety and purity for no unclean thing shall be able to enter into these mansions. O Lord, let us not be like these who A prayer after that they have seemed to disgorge their stomaches most filthily with the Dog, swallow up their own vomit again: O shelter me and save me from the unsoundness and unsettledness of a deceitful heart, that I lash not out into the excess of supperfluitie of wickedness: now while we are speaking of the heavens, make all the love of the earth henceforth to be cried down into my Soul. The Pastor. Lord, hear thou in Heaven: I am rejoiced that while we are speaking of the heavens, the Spirit of grace furnisheth you with such heavenly prayers which would hearten any man, to run thorough hell to Heaven, except that he be of the number of these who think it but a trick to go to hell. The sick Man. I pray you now Sir, to continue into that purpose concerning the glory of Heaven, for it affecteth much my Soul: Your powerful speech maketh my mind to stay in a feeling meditation upon these beauties that are above. * Note If I heard not such good purpose, my mind would either feed upon dull and fruitless melancholy, or else should gade and run riot in revel and in a world of foolish and fond imaginations. * Note The thoughts of man cannot run long without rubor interruption in Spiritual things, except that God in mercy both support them outwardly and sinew them inwardly by the finger of his Spirit: The hearts of men are so light in their gading that most easily are they moved to glide over the best things, and either swinishlie to wallow infilthinesse, or furiously to follow these whose whole pregnancy of wit is spended upon trifles: Thus mirrilie they pass away that time wherein they should redeem the time that is past. I wish that mine heart by your discourse were confined to celestial meditations: Proceed now I pray you where ye left at last. The Pastor. My speech was that all the most glorious creatures that we can either see above or below are less than shadows, types or figures, of things that are within the Heavens. * Note In them as in a Glass we see weakly the invisible things of God: As a man not being able to face the Sun beholdeth him in a Basin, full of water, and yet not without some dazzling of his sight: That weakened light will make his eyes to water, and tears to trickle down: If the glory of one of God's servants be so glistering in robes of light, that no man can behold him but into the glass of another creature, and that also with great pain. It is certain that God must put many more creatures between himself and us, that the glory of his beams being weakened by divers reflexes from one creature to another, man with his weak tender eyes may look upon his light. * Note If a man cannot behold the Sun in the day, he may in the night behold his beams upon the body of the Moon: If his sight yet cannot suffer that, he may behold him in his second reflex by beholding the Moon in a glass: If as yet his sight dazzle, there is a third and weaker reflex: By another glass thou may get the reflex of that glassen reflex. * Note Certainly there must be many reflexes of God's brightness from one creature to another, before that his invisible things can be seen by us: What glorious beams of God's face think ye be these which shine within that highest Heaven called, Coelum Empyrium, the fiery Heaven? not that there is fire, but because (as the most Learned think) it is purer than all the other heavens as much as the fire is purer than the other Elements: O what shining brightness of God is to be seen there where all is more glancing and clear, than that fire which Moses saw in the Bush. * Note Let us come down from thence to behold the glorious Stars the twinkling eyes of Heaven, laughing upon the godly with their celestial smiles: O these bright and peerless Pearls. Let us from thence come down to the two great Governors of the day Gen. 1. 16 and of the night from thence descend to the clear pureaire so glancing with the light of the Sun as if it were all of Azure: Come down yet, and under that are Aquae limpidae, the clear waters, the mother of Pearls and of precious gold, for the weakest eye there is terra opaca that thick da●…ke, duskish, and lumpish mass of earth which a blear eyed Leah, may behold, for in it to see without watering eyes the invisible things of God, were it by looking upon a Lily, or a Rose or upon a Snail or a Snaike. * Note Behold the goodness of God, who hath set his creatures by degrees in distance from the place of his inaccessible light that thereby the bleared eyes of men may get some glimpse of the shadows of his invisible things which are of truest worth. * Note But O, O, O, what a glory and matchless fairness is there where God the King of Glory is seen face to face O the glory of the Godhead: The knowledge of the least sparkle of that glory is not attainable by any carnal capacity. * Note Because of that brightness that was in Moses his face by the reflex of that Light which he had seen but in JEHOVAHS' back parts, it behoved Exod. 34. 33 him to cover his face with a Veil when he came for to speak unto men: Was the skin of the face of a sinner so enlightened with bright beams from the Back of God, that no man could behold it, nor look toward it till it was covered with a Veil? How many Veils must God put between his face & ours, lest we should be dazzled with his glory? I take all the circles of the heavens, the Fire and Air above us to be as many obscuring Veils which the Lord hath cast between the Glory of his face & the eyes of sinful man: * Note And yet in the Sun he hath fastened such a sparkle of his glory, that by his heat & his brightness, he will cause man the king of creatures to be ashamed to behold him: He will cause him fly unto the shadows, and go with Goggle eyes of Glass, for to save his eyes of flesh from the reflex of his beams though blunted upon the dark and dusky element of the earth: See how man's sight is so weak that it cannot abide an earthly blunted reflex of that celestial creature. What shall I say more of the heavens which are so far above us? * Note Let us come down and learn humility at the feet of creatures Act. 22. 3. below as at the feet of a Gamal●… even in this elementare▪ Region of corruption: * Note Behold there is such a whiteness into the snow which is but frozen and congealed black water, that it will make the dull sight of man so to dazzle, that when he is entered into his own house, he is not able to know the faces that are his own, yea, many by such brightness, at last have lost their sight: Let me yet come to an obscurer body: The small printed Letters which we read must be darkened with the blackness of ink; and yet because the whiteness of the Paper scattereth so the sight, it must be gathered with the greenish colour of glassen Spectacles. * Note Now I pray you, how should man behold that passing glory of his God, who cannot behold the whiteness of Paper but with borrowed eyes of Glass? Let men hear learn in his weakness to be humble, and to reverence him that hath made so many creatures, which for brightness he is not able to behold: * Note If poor man cannot behold the apparel of God's creatures clothed with light, or with colours not seen without light: If such a little glance is able to dazzle his sight, how should he be able to behold the King of creatures, even the great Creator himself; whose back parts are brighter than ten thousand Suns. Because of this great weakness caused into man by sin, man is removed far from the presence of this King, lest he should be destroyed by the brightness of his beams: * Note If while the Sun shineth with his beams darded directly down, the creatures are so parched with heat below that they are constrained to gasp, what should become of us, if God's glory should appear at our vertical point without the interposition of many other creatures between him and us? If a little sparkle of his Glory in the Sun many thousand miles from us, maketh a man to faint, sweat, and gasp, what should become of us, if God himself the consuming Heb. 12. 29 fire should approach unto us? If the Sun which seemeth to be but of an hand-breadth hath such light and heat, what should it be if all the heavens were enlightened like the Sun? Though all the heavens were turned into a Sun, they should not be of such brightness as are the backe-parts of JEHOVAH: The Sun Exod. 33. 23 with all his light and heat may make the face of man more obscure and dusky, but cannot enlighten it: But the back parts of God, printed such light into the face of a man, that for brightness no man could behold it. * Note Merciful God, what stupidity is this in man, that he will not consider what a Majesty this must be, whose obscurest parts are more bright than the Sun, and who with all is not confined with natural dimensions, as with breadth or length, but is above the Heavens infinitely with infinite bounds and brightness the least sparkle whereof is more bright than if the whole Heavens were wholly tarned into a shining Sun. * Note If men knew the pleasures that are there, they would not loss them for the painful pleasures, or rather unpleasant pains of this sinful life: Alas, that we are so careless of the attainment of such a weight of glory: Alas, that we gaze so greedily upon the painted and varnished vanishing glory of things below which all perish with the using. * Note If men knew what relish is into these dainties that are above prepared for the Saints, they would not so glut themselves with the swinish ●…uskes of earthly things, but would reserve their lust, for that whereof there is no loathing: Fie on men that for folly should loss such an inheritance that fadeth not away. 1 Pet. 1. 4. * Note In this world we have Bethel the house of God, but above is Peniel the place of God's face, wherein are pleasures for evermore: Below all Psal. 16. 1●… pleasures ebb and flow with discontent and comfort: But above is an everlasting full sea of joys which could never enter into the heart of man: Under the Law God was hid under a veil: In the Gospel we see him in a glass: But in heaven 2 Cor. 3. 18. we shall see him face to face, and that indeed even as he is. The sick Man. Mine heart by these words is possessed with a secret lovelier avishment: Continue I pray you to declare what more beaucie is within that Paradise: * Note Let me hear of these pleasures, which the Saints there have in the presence of their God, and what be the order and chief ornaments of that Palace, what be the attire of these that follow the Lamb, & what be the form of their feasting at table with Abraham, Isaac, & jaacob. The Pastor. * Note Such things are transcendent to all the wits of Nature and to all created inventions: It is good that we beware to launch too far into such a boundless and bottomless Ocean. * Note What is the compass of man's brain little like a Nutshell, that it should contain conceptions of that which is infinite? God who killed the Bethshemites for looking into his Ark, and reproved the Galileens 1 Sam. 6. 19 gazing up to the Heavens, will not allow men to pierce and pry curiously Act. 1. 11. into his mysteries which surpass all created capacity: * Note Our greatest wisdom shall be to wonder at that which passeth the reach of all reason and revelation: * Note It may well content the most curious Soul to be of God's Court though it be not of his secret Counsel: * Note In nothing man's reason appeareth more reasonable, than to cease from reasoning in that which is above his reach. The matter is here so high that all words forsake me as it were confessing that they are neither fit nor able to express such wonderful mysteries: * Note As the heavens could not be measured but with a Reed of gold, so cannot these heavenly things be declared but in the golden language of heaven which our sinful mortality can neither speak nor understand: * Note It is dangerous for man to be curious to learn what God esteemeth not necessary to teach: Man must not have ears to listen where God hath not a tongue to speak, God's silence should teach all men sobriety in searching. In that royal Palace of pleasures above without doubt be comforts & contentments, yea, and such, I am persuaded, as greater the Sun and Moon the two eyes of Heaven never saw: What say I greater? The image of such things could never enter into the heart of man. * Note In my judgement all the Godly at the first sight of heaven's glory shall be like men in a dream: As it is written of God's people, When the Lord brought again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream: All such glory, beauty, and pleasure Psal. 126. 1 shall be things so excellent and beyond expectation that for a space they shall seem to the Saint's incredible, for a space in my judgement the Godly shall be like these that dream, wondering how so great a glory can possibly be. My mind is now dazzled with such high considerations. O, O, O, these so unspeakable beauties that are within that Holy of holies! O the order that is there! O the dainties that are on these Tables: O Prou. 23. 2 the Table of that Ruler where all may take of all without, Putting a knife 〈◊〉 their throat! O the apparel of God's servants there: O these fairest flowers which shall deck their garlands of Majesty, O these peerless Pearls of price! O these lovely gems! O these celestial crowns spangled with jewles' more glistering than ●…tarres! O ye Angels and Archangels! O ye all of that heavenly Queire: Cherubins, Seraphins, Princes, Powers, Thrones, Virtues and Dominions, all inflammed with most glorious divine beams of light! O ye Noble followers of the Lamb all decked with glory and garlands of immortality! O the amazing beauties of these celestial Mansions! O ye blessed eternised Denizens who live there into an eternal unity of love, which no jars, strife, or debate shall for ever be able to untwine! O purest Spirits purged from all drossy mood of sinful mortality! O Palace of pleasures wherein Angels & Saints all around with celestial Harps make all to ring with Holy, Holy, Holy, Halleluiah, Halleluiah, Halleluiah! O ye purest ple●…sures of perfection which no fretting canker of time shall be able to outwear, or to cancel the owlish eyes of my mind are not able to reach within the bounds of so bright an Horizon: The most I can conceive is less than the least and lightest glory that shall be there where Souls are solaced without stress or strife in immortality. * Note O glory, glory, glory, without any vein of vanity: Mine heart is ravished and is no more within me. * Note When the Queen of Shebah came to jerusalem to see the glory of Solomon, after that she had considered 1 Kin. 10. 5 the meat of his Table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his Ministers, and their app●…rell, & his Cup bearers, it is said, That there remained no more spirit in her. All her spirits in a manner ran out of her by the holes of her senses, for to come & sit down & wonder at the glory of the man: Thus wondering she remained for a space, as if she had been amazed, till her stupefied spirit returned into her again: then she began to speak, It was a true 1 King. 1●… 6. report that I heard in mine own Land of thine acts and of thy wisdom, howbeit I believed not the words until vers. 7. I came, and mine eyes had seen it: And behold the half was not told me: Thy wisdom & prosperity exceed the fame which I have heard: Happy are vers. 8. thy men, happy are these thy servants which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom. * Note Consider how the glory of a man in its greatest not comparable to the glory of a Lily, drew the spirit so out of the Queen of Shebah, Luk. 12. 27 that for a space she was not able to speak: She wondered at that which she saw, but what she had seen she could not utter in words, bu●… only said in general, that she had heard a true report which she could not believe until she came, and her eyes had seen it: And now whe●… she hath seen, she declareth that the half had not been told her. Consider well I pray you: * Note If the beholding of the glory of an earthly Prince so ravished the heart not of a rustic that will easily wonder at any thing, but of a Queen, yea, and so that no more spirit remained in her, what should it be if we should get but as through the gra●… one sight thorough the heavens of that great God of Solomon sitting upon his Throne? * Note If but for the quarter of an hour we might see the meat of his Tabl●…, and the standing of his servants▪ & the attendance of his Ministers, Saints & Angels casting down their Crowns at his feet, if, I say, we could see these things as they are this our Spirit should be carried toward him wit●… such a strong bend affection, tha●… 〈◊〉 should not tarry within us, but being ravished should run out of this body of clay for to go abide with him that made it among pleasures perfectly abstracted from pain. * Note If God as he is should appear unto us were it never so little, the bonds of our bodies should not be able for to fetter so our Souls, but at the first sight of God they with a most flagrant desire should flutter out of sinful clay, for to enjoy his most amiable presence, wherein are pleasures exempted from all hazard of surprysall. * Note That which I say giveth some light to these words which God said to Moses, No man can see my face Exod. 33. 22 and live: As for the wicked I give this interpretation, that the sight of God's face should kill them▪ as light killeth darkness, or as the day is the slaughter of the night: But God who killeth not but quickeneth the killed of his own chosen, if by them he were seen in the face on earth they should dye not a violent death, but they should die for love to be at him: At the first sight of his Face their Souls would not remain any more in clay, but loathing their bodies, they should make haste for to fly to Act. 7 56, their God: So soon as Steven saw the Heavens opened, & the Son of man standing at the right hand of God, his Soul took post to the heavens: Albeit the Burrios' thought that they chaised it out with strokes and with stones, yet it is certain that fra once he got that sight, his Soul was more desirous to be out of his body, for love of Heaven, than the Soul of the most wicked man can be desirous to abide still within for fear of Hell. * Note There is such an attractive love in God's countenance, that if the Soul in flesh could once see it, the body should not be able to keep it any more within, no not for the space of a moment: As the load stone draweth unto it the iron by a secret and unspeakable draught, so in the face of God there is such an attractive force, that of need force the godly Soul at the first sight of it must fly up unto it: As the Sun by the force of his beams raised up the vapours towards heaven, even so if God would but turn his face to any Soul, with the least blink thereof, he should draw up that Soul unto himself like a vapour raised up by the force of the Sun. * Note Consider how the sight but of his back parts maketh many a well resolved Christian to cry up unto him Cupio dissolvi, I desire to be dissolved: What is that but the faithful Soul haling like an Hawk for to fly from the mortal heart as from the hand of a stranger, for to come home to her Lord in eternity? O thrice happy he whose name is in the Book, and whose Soul is in the bundle of life. * Note O the gain that we have by the mercy of God in the fall of Adam: In Paradise man might live or die: On earth he now liveth and must die: But in Heaven we shall so live, that we can no more die: O blessed life of eternity never to have an end into that other world: Oh that we could spend this life in a sacred violence in pursuit of that celestial crown of immortality: * Note Happy is he who keepeth a narrow watch over all the stirrings and imaginations of his heart in consideration of that day. * Note Happy is he who maketh all his joys & pleasures and all his best beloved things below to be by standers waiting on the service of that one thing which only is necessary. Luk. 10. 42 The sick Man. My Soul is so ravished with you●… speech that it flutters within me ●… haileth to be away from this mortality for to go dwell into these heavenly Mansions with the God of glory: Our best things below in their very quintessence are defiled with the mood of home bred corruption: All have need to be renewed in the very spirit of their mind. Let it please you Sir yet to continue in describing the beauty of Paradise. The Pastor. If man o●… Earth could believe the beauty of the Heavens to be in any measure such as it is, he would be glad at his heart to forsake the moulding cottages of clay: Seeing the out-sid of heaven is so glorious what must be the in side? Solomon's Temple was a type of Heaven: The further a man went in, he saw the greater beauty: In the out most▪ Cou●… was but an Altar of brass, for the s●…crificing of beasts: Into the inward Court▪ stood an Altar of Gold for offering of incense & of sweet persum●…s▪ But that which was in most, viz▪ Sanctum Sanctorum the Holy of holies was all full of Glory: There God himself was heard in a voice between the Cherubins: There was the Ark called, a 1 Sam. 4. 22 The Glory, wherein were the b Heb. 9 4 Tables of God's word, Aaron's flourished Rod & the Manna: There was the Word for the instruction of the Soul: There were the Almond floorishes like a pleasant Spring for rejoicing of the eye: There also was Mannah for meat, the type of that everlasting Soul▪ feast in the Heavens Behold a compend of the three most pleasant seasons of the year: First, there was the seed of the word; & after that the Summer flowers of pleasure in the flourishing Rod: And last there was the fruitful haruish of Manna for meat: In a word in that Holy of holies the figure of Heaven was the Merciesea●… the special place of God's residence: But all the beauty of that Temple were not sufficient to express the shadow of these that are above the stars. * Note S. Paul after that he had been ravished up to the third heavens got a charge from God that he should not tell what he had heard or seen there: Only this he declared after that he was come down, that up into Paradise he had heard unspeakable words which no tongue of 2 Cor. 12. 4 flesh could be able to pronounce: But though such words had been speakable the Apostle declareth that it was not lawful for a man to utter them. * Note Alas, what can the earthly low creeping wor●…s of our highest eloquence express of these joys that are above the Heaven of heavens? He who with pen and ink would set out the greatness of that glory which is to be seen within that blessed Building, should be as who would foolishly taken pains to paint the Sun with a coal: In vain shall a man press to express that which cannot be spoken but into unspeakable words▪ Words come shorter than thoughts, and thoughts come shorter infinitely than the thing itself. The sick Man. I have heard with great joy of the unspeakable glory of God himself, & of the beauty of his Princely Palace: I desire now to hear some thing more at large concerning the estate of the Saints wherein they shall be when they shall dwell with God after the resurrection. The Pastor. It is most certain that they shallbe there into a far better estate than we can imagine: * Note For if Da●…id thought one day in Gods earthly hous●… better th●… a thousand else where, what Psal. 84. ●…0 shall it be when we shall be in Heaven, the City of our GOD, whereof God is the House and the Temple? The Saints shallbe in such glory there, as that no earthly tongue can tell: * Note If in this world by be: holding in a glass the glory of the Lord, 2 Cor. 3. 18. we are changed into that same Image from glory to glory, what a change shallbe made when we shall see not God's Image, not in a glass, but himself face to face? If the sight of his Image in the glass of his Gospel hath such a working power as to change us into the same Image here on earth, what a change shall be made of us in the Heavens, when we shall see God even as he is? All the 1 joh. 3. 2. godly God's warriors then shall live in peace and rest: * Note As their life on earth was a continual battle, so shall their life in Heaven be a perpetual triumph: Then the winter of their affliction shall be passed: The storms of their misery shall blow no more: * Note On Earth joys and sorrows are combined together: In Hell is sorrow without any joy: In Heaven shall be joy without any sorrow: There they all in bleached coats of righteousness shall blaze brighter than the Sun: God being in them shall burn in them as he did in the Bush: They shall burn but not be consumed. While S. john was ravished in the Spirit, he beheld a great multitude which no man could number, all standing before the Lamb's Throne clothed in white robs which had been bleached from their blemish by the blood of the Lamb: * Note having the testimony of two Senses, he reporteth what he saw and heard: With his eyes he saw them clothed with Reuel. 7. 9 white robes and Palms in their hands: The one was their innocence, the other was their victory: With his ears he heard the songs of their triumph. They cried, said he, with a loud voice, Salvation to our God which Reuel. 7. 10 sitteth upon the Throne: With them were Angels & Elders round about the Throne, all falling down upon their face, and singing, Blessing, and glory, vers. 10. and wisdom and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might be unto our God for ever and ever: Then with unconquerable comforts shall all Christ's crowding Turtles be loveinglie comforted: * Note Then shall all their sighs be turned into songs: Then joys unspeakable shall fill all their senses without any surfeit: Every Sense shall receive more than all mortal hearts can conceive: * Note But which is of all good things the sweetest relish, there shall be such unspottedness of life and love among the Saints as the heart of man here cannot conceive: Every one shall rejoice of another's well as much as they shall do of their own felicity: The envious man seedsman of all strife & debate shall not be there: * Note All self-love which is of a niggardlie nature envious of the good of others, shall be quite away, & in the place thereof shall come such an heavenly love that shall make all the joys of Heaven to be common: * Note As was in the primitive Church so shall be there, but in greater perfection, a community of goods: One shall not say, This is mine or that is thine: But as we shall be all in Christ, & Christ in us, so shall we be all one in another filled one with another's joy: All state of strife then shallbe far away. In jerusalem above an everlasting peace is within her walls, and perpetual prosperity within her Palaces: All the godly glistering like stars, shall rejoice one into another's light: * Note Every one of them by twinkling and be●…kning unto other with celestial smiles shall bend all their force for to give Mal. 4. ●…. glory to the Sun of righteousness the fountain of all their light. * Note All Souls there shall be most wonderfully beau●…fied with internal, external, and eternal happiness: There God only shall speak peace unto his people and unto his Saints, who shall never return again to their follies. * Note Man's chief contentment in the heavens shallbe in love, first with God, and then of one with another▪ O these everlasting streams of contentmentes which shall flow into these blessed breasts sequestered for ever from all doole and distress. The sick Man. Lord, make all these things to live freshly in our memories: My Soul is inflamed with love to hear of that love which shall be between God and his Saints and among the Saints themselves: Your discourse Sir, with a plausible and pleasant insinuation windeth itself into the affections of mine heart: It hath already win mine heart to him to whom it most justly belongeth: Blessed be his Name for ever. Seeing ye were speaking of that unspeakable love that shallbe between God and us, and also among ourselves, I pray you to say some thing more concerning that matter. The Pastor. I shall do what I can briefly: * Note As for God, every Soul shall love him better than itself, because it shall then perfectly know that God hath loved it more than ever it was able to love itself. As for all the Saints, we shall love them equally with ourselves, as being all members of that mystical Body: * Note Then and not till then shall be the perfect practice of that second great command the sum of the second Table Luk. 10. 27 which is, to love our neighbour as ourselves: * Note If the Soul of this natural Body in the toil of our pilgrimage hath such a command over our natural affections, that it maketh us to love all the members, and every member to work equally well for the good of another: O merciful God, what greater love shall proceed from that Spirit of Love, which shall be in the Heavens, even the Soul of that mystical body of all the Elect? * Note Look how much grace surpasseth Nature, and Glory surpasseth Grace, the Spirit of God which shall animate this body, shall so much more straitly make the members thereof to live in Love: * Note The holier the Soul be within a man the greater love & concord is between his members: But if the Soul be not holy, all the members will shortly discord: The one Hand will cut off the other: The Hand will wound the Heart, or cut the throat; and the Mouth will bite the Fingers: But O, what love shall be then among the members, when our Sanctification shall be made so perfect, that nothing more can be added unto it! O what love, peace and concord shall be there, where God who is love like a more powerful 1 joh. 4. 8. and noble form shall in an unspeakable manner inform all the members of that mystical body! We all then shall accord to one thing: All our wills shall be according to Gods▪ will: And eue●…ie one of our wills with another shall be like our two eyes whereof the one cannot so soon turn, but the other must follow after it for to behold the same object. * Note We cannot now comprehen●… this: For man's reason here on earth is like a riven vessel which can not contain the discourse of immortality: Our minds are so drossy & ●…mpish that they cannot conceive everlasting matters. We speak now of Love: O but Love now is little among men: * Note we may say of it in this last age▪ as Lot said Gen. 19, 20▪ of Bel●…h▪ Is it not a little one? Though it be little now, it shall be great in these days: Then shall it defy all sickle and foolish changes. * Noet In this world below three graces dwell into the Soul of man like three sisters, viz. Faith, Hope▪ and Charity, two of them conv●…ye the godly Soul unto the doors of Heaven, viz. Faith and Hope, but Charity entereth in: The Lord openeth his Door to Love: * Note Faith Heb. 11. 1 being a substance of things not seen, so soon as the Soul cometh to sight, it ceaseth to be, because there is no such substance there: Hope being of things to come, so soon as the future is become present, it hath no more a do: But Love entereth in, and as fire posteth up to fire, so Love swiftly flieth to God, for God is Love, 1 joh. 4. 8. and for to speak so, the very element of Lou●… Till Love be at him it is like a thing out of its element the place of its ●…ost▪ there shall our souls feed on his Love: In such a feeding they shall be as if they were ever hungry and as if they were ever satisfied: * Note As the heaven's hunger is without any laking, so is its fullness without any loathing: * Note On Earth as it is said, Voluptates commendat rarior usus. Single use maketh pleasures the more agreeable: But in Heaven the more our Souls shall have, the more they shall desire: The more they shall desire, the more they shall receive: So by an infinite multiplication, joys, and pleasures, and contentments shallbe heaped upon godly Souls for ever, like fire in fuel, which, suppone the fuel be infinite, can never die out but day lie increasseth, as it were from a sparkle to a flame. What shall I say more? There shall be such a fullness of all good things, that no Soul shall be able to receive a greater desire of more: All shall be content, all shall be unspeakably glorious and made perfect: There shall be no blemish into our bodies, nor sin in our Souls: jaacob shall not halt, Mephibosheth shall go strait, blind Isaac then shall see, & Leah shall no more be bleared▪ the deaf shall hear, & the dumb shall speak: The lame man shall leap as an Hart, ●…a. 35. 6. and the dumb man's tongue shall sing: Then shall these words be perfectly Ezek. 28. 24. performed, There shallbe no more a pricking briar unto the house of Israel or any grieving thorn of all that are round about them. * Note Then shall our wearied Souls find above the highest circumference of Heaven, the Centre of our rest. God then shall be our Sanctuary in whom we shall have joy and gladness without fear of ending: O folly, folly, folly! Why should we for such earthly toys loss such celestial joys? * Note He that for so little pleasure losseth that which Christ hath bought with so great pains, as said a Father, Stultum Christum reputat mercatorem. S. Aug. That is, He thinketh Christ to be a foolish buyer, while indeed he himself is a most foolish seller: * Note When one day with profane Esau he shall bitterly repent his bargain, then shall he know what a pennie-worth he hath of all his pleasures. The sick Man. Alas, that men cannot consider▪ O my God, master and mortify all such corruptions within mine heart, that they be not able to lay my soul open to Satan's temptations. But to proceed in our purpose, what think ye shall be the chief exercise of Souls in Heaven? The Pastor. It shallbe too sing Psalms of praise, and to follow the Lamb whether soever he goeth, from East to West, or from South to North. The sick Man. * Note Alas, that for this prick of earth men should do that which shall debar them from that Palace of pleasure: Our bodies as ye think shall not then be wearied in following the Lamb, were it to go never so far. The Pastor. O not: * Note Then shall our Souls be refined from the dross of sin: Then shall we be free of all this lumpishness of clay caused by sin, wherewith now we are both cloyed and clogged: * Note Our motion then shall be swifter than the Sun in his course: As with a●…thought our hearts will compass the Heavens▪ so shall we go most swiftly whether we desire: As by the motion of the Eye we look from East to West, or as the Sun beams while he ariseth are suddenly darted from the one end of Heaven to the other, so shall it be of our motion then, for we shall be carried with the infinite power of God, which shall not be subject to the Laws of natural motions below: As for example, here can be no motion without resistance: * Note All motions whether from above or sion below or overthwartlie▪ find enemies by the way opponing themselves to that which is moved, as Edom did to the Israelites, saying, Thou shalt Numb. 20 18. not pass by me: The stronger the opposition be, the motions are the slower: Man cannot wade thorough waters so swiftly as run thorough the air upon the earth, because the party is stronger which is against him, all things go so below, but above no bodies shall oppose themselves to the Children of God: What ever be above, all shall go with them, they shall be like ships before the wind, carried with a mighty gale: There is nothing here like unto that that shall be into that celestial Fabric. But not be curious to dive into such deeps: * Note This is certain, that the Saints shall be carried there with the force of an unspeakable power, and that without any weariness: They shall run, saith Isa. 40 31 the Prophet, and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint: What can these want who being companions Psal. 16. 11 of the blessed Angels, shall abide with him in whose face is fullness of delight: * Note There all our pleasures shall be so pure that no unclean inclination shall be able by any juggling feat of conveyance to cog in itself into our hearts any more: O the foolishness of man's blind and bewitched heart, that for a moment of toilsome time should loss that Eternity of joy. The sick Man. Think ye that in Heaven we shall be of divers ages, Children, men, or old men, as we were here when we deceased? The Pastor. It is hard to tell we must not swerve from the wisdom of God's word: Scripture here is silent: But seeing Heaven is the place of perfection, it is probable as some Divins think, that in Heaven all shall be in greatest perfection: Seeing say, they, that infancy is imperfection and old age is defection, none of two are convenient for bodies that are perfectly glorified: * Note As the Sun taketh the mid course of Heaven, so shall the godly, who shall shine like Suns, abide in the midst beeweene the Poles of all extremities, for there shallbe the perfection of Virtue, Age, Stature, Beauty, and of all that shall concern them: * Note All shall be content, for all shall drink their fills out of the River of the unmixed pleasures & perfections of God, which neither Man nor Devil, the strength of Hell, or length of eternity shall ever be able to trouble or make drumlie. The sick Man. There is one thing which earnestly I desire to know, viz. Whether or not we who on earth have lived together, and loved one another, shall know each other into Heaven. The Pastor. It is thought that so shall be, and that because of the presence of God, in whom is such a Light that by it we shall see and know these whom we never did see or know on earth. * Note When Christ was transfigured Luk. 9 28 upon mount Tabor, down came Moses & Elias whom the Apostles had never seen of before: Though they had never seen them before that, yet by the light of Christ's transfiguration they were so enlightened that they did perfectly know what they were: If the sight of that figured light, gave such a knowledge unto sinners that they knew these whom they had never seen, what shall it be when all obscure figures and also our sins▪ which maketh all good things obscure, shall be removed; and God shall be All in all. * Note But though we should all know one another: as I think indeed we shall▪ all these carnal respects which are here▪ as of Father, Mother▪ Wife & Children, shall all fall from us, like the 2 Kin. 2▪ 13 mantle of Elias, before we enter into Heaven for to enjoy these Empyrian pleasures which are so far above the fathom and reach of all changeable mortality. * Note We think much now of such earthly respects which are indeed Coagulum hujus vitae, the very curding and joining together of greatest natural contentments. But seeing all such things are but things of Childhood, they shall not enter into our thoughts when we shall be perfect men into the Heavens, the presence-Chamber of our 1 Cor. 13. 11 God: When I was a Child, said S. Paul, I spoke as a Child, I understood as a Child, I thought as a Child: But when I became a man I put away childish things. So long as a man is into this world if he be compared with that which he shall be, he is but a Child, he understandeth as a child, he speaketh as a Child, and he thinketh as a Child: All the dearest natural respects that are here, are but childish things: Seeing they are so, when we shall come to Heaven where we shall be perfect men, they all shall be put away. * Note I will let you see this in a natural figure: In this world we have that which we call Child hood, and that which we call the perfection of a man: Now tell me I pray you, should it be seemly for a grave Senator sitting before his Prnce, and confering upon the most weighty matters of the Kingdom, to begin and speak what he did with this Child and that Child, with whom he was wont to ride upon Reeds? Would he being a wise man at such a time begin to discourse how with these little companions he builded under a bower little houses into the sand, or how in their childish conventions they made their little feasts of Peers▪ Nuts, and Apples? Would a wise man think ye in the presence of his Prince put off the time with such purpose▪ No, not. When the foolish Child is become a wise man, he speaketh no more as a Child, neither vnderstandeth he as a Child, neither thinketh he as a Child: Such childish things in Heaven shall not so much as once come into his thought, for that were to think as a Child: That which is now in part shall be done away, at the coming of perfection, which shall be in that Coronation day. * Note Because we are here but children, we cannot now understand the wisdom of the words & thoughts that we shall have above: Languages than shall cease: One shall not speak English, and another French, and another Spanish: That Babylonish confusion of tongues shall be taken away, and we all shall speak the Language of the Lamb: * Note God then shall speak no more unto his people with stammering lips and Isa. 28. 11. with another tongue: Then shallbe no difference of countrymen or estates, whether they were borne in Asia, Europe or Africa: There shall it not be looked to whether they were Kings or Subjects, Masters or Servants, bond or free. Col. 3. 11 In the Heavens is neither Greek nor jew, Circumcision, nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond or free: But Christ shall be All in all: * Note What can be laking unto man, where God shall be unto him All in all, yea, and the Soul of his Soul. As the Soul is in the whole man, & wholly in every part, so shall the whole divinity in the heavens inform the whole mystical body, and be in it wholly, and that into the least member thereof, God being All in all: Then, and not till then, we shall Psal. 36. 8 be satisfied abundantly with the fatness of God's house, and drink of the Rivers of his pleasures, yea and our Souls, shall feast themselves by all our senses upon unmixed joys free from the mud and distemper of all displeasures: In a word our hearts shall be fastened to our God with such cords of love which no thing above or below shall be able to untwine. here is our journeys end, here is our resting place from our labours Reuel. 14. 13 and toilsome travels: here is absence of all evil, and presence of all that is good: * Note here the Lamb is the Temple, and the Light▪ and the Tree of Life that bringeth forth fruit every month, ever new joys without perishing of the old, ever new pleasures without any loathing of the former, ever new light without any darkening▪ ever new life without any dying ever new delights, without any dolours, ever new Glory without any grudge, ever new mirth with out any mud of misery: * Bodily pleasures work a great desire aye till they be gotten: But spiritual delights as a Father said, Cum non habentur sunt in fastidio. Gregor. Cum habentur sunt in desiderio. Before they be gotten they are loathed: But are they gotten? they are loved: * Note So long as our Souls are led hoode-winkt in this our moody and misty mortality, we cannot thoroughly perceive this. O that we had hearts to consider! O that we could rightly mind Col. 3. 1. the things that are above! * Note O that our hearts were wained from this our native soil, a place of hunger and cold, a place of nakedness, sickness and sorrow, that we might earnestly desire to be into that holy Land, where we shall feast on the Tree of Life, and drink of that Crystal River with pleasures for evermore! So Psal: 16. 1●… long as we are in this our mortality we must be still looking till our change come, which being once job. 14. 14 made we shall never change any more: * Note O than the sweetness of the Crown shall for ever allay the sow●…enesse of the Crosse. The sick Man. Mine heart is wonderfully ravished with such purpose: I find my Soul silent within me, that it may hearken and give good heed to that which ye say: Blessed be he who createth the fruit of the lips: O Lord, Isa. 57 19 come & let thy Spirit take houseroume into mine heart. Now let us come to our purpose again: So far as I can observe your mind is that we all shall know one another in Heaven, but without regard to any carnal consideration▪ whether they were our Father o●… Mother, or our Sister? The Pastor. It is even so: * Noet For if any particular respect should be had to any it should be of a man to his wife, or a wife to her husband, who must leave both father & mother and cleave unto another for to become one flesh: Yet so it is that in Heaven, there shallbe no more particular respect between them, than these whom they had never seen before: The Lord hath made this plain: The Saducees who scorned the Resurrection, having told Christ that there had been seven brethren in Israel, which all had married one wife one after another, and that last of all, the woman died also: Now said they, In the Resurrection Luk. 20. 33 whose wife of them shall she be? jesus answered, and said, The vers. 34. children of this world marry, and are given in marriage: But they that shall vers. 35. be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: Neither can they die any vers. 36. more, for they are equal unto the Angels, and are the Children of God, being the Children of the Resurrection: * Note Certainly at that day none of these seven brethren will claim any more acquaintance unto that woman, than unto her whom they had never seen before that day. * Note What created thing can allure the eyes of the creature, where the Creator Psal. 73. 25 is visibly seen as he is? Whom have I in Heaven but thee? said, the Psalmist: * Note As the Sun by his beams at his first rising darkneth all the glorious stars, of light so that they seem to fly away from his presence quite out of the heavens: So shall the love of God hims●…lfe like a greater Light darken and dazzle all other desires whatsoever: No by-respects shall be able to hinder us to have ou●… eye to the main: We shall loathe all things that we may feast on his fac●… wherein is fullness of joy. Psal. 16. 11 The sick Man. I desire Sir to know of you whether or not there shall be degrees of Glory in the Heavens, or if all shall be alike in honour. The Pastor. The most part are of that opinion▪ that there shall be divers degrees: their opinion is founded upon these 1▪ Cor. 15. 41 words, There is one glory of the Sun, and another of the Moon, and another glory of the Stars: For one star vers. 42. differeth from another star in glory: So also is the Resurrection of the dead, it is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption: * Note Some of the Learned who esteem that there shall be divers degrees of glory in Heaven, think that no such thing is intended in these words, but only as one Star differeth from another in glory, so shall the body after the Resurrection differ far in glory from the estate wherein it was in this life: according to this it is said, It is sown in corruption, it is raised in glory, for to declare the different estate of the godly here and hereafter. * Note For this assertion concerning degrees of glory this seemeth to be most clear, which is said by Christ to his Apostles: Behold, said Peter, we have forsaken all and followed thee, Matth. 19 27 What shall we have therefore? And jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on the Throne of his Glory ye shall also sit upon twelve Thrones, judging the twelve Tribes of Israel. The sick Man. Before ye proceed I pray you to clear these words, That ye which have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on his Throne, ye also shall sit upon twelve Thrones: I understand not well what the word Regeneration signifieth there▪ To follow Christ in the regeneration▪ what can that be? The Pastor. These words be diversly read▪ Some read them this way, Ye who have followed me in the regeneration: Others read them, after this mane●… joining therewith the following words, In the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on his Throne, ye also shall sit: If the words be so joined, Ye who have followed me in the regeneration, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the word Regeneration is taken as the most Learned esteem for the preàching of the Gospel, which Christ brought into the world, whereby a new creation or regeneration of men's hearts and Souls hath been made in the world: So to follow Christ in the Regeneration is to embrace his Gospel whereby we are regenerate. * Note But in the opinion of the most part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Regeneration here is rather to be joined with the words following after this manner, In the regeneration they shall sit upon Thrones, according to that In regeneration, is as if he had said, In renovatione mundi vel post renovationem mundi in alterò seculo, That is, In the renewing or after the renewing of the World: Indeed regeneration here seemeth ●…hieflie to signify the Resurrection and restoring of our bodies. The sick Man. It would appear by that saying of Christ in S. Matthew, that the Apostles shall sit upon twelve Thrones in greater dignity than any others. The Pastor. It would seem so to be: As for Moses, Enos, and Elias, and so many worthy Prophets most glorious instruments of God's grace in this world it would seem that their glory there should be greater than that of common persons: Many of them Dan. 12. 2 that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake: And they that be wise shall vers. 3. shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever. The sick Man. That & as much is said as well of all the Faithful as of Prophets & Preachers: them shall the righteous shine forth Matth. 13 43 as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father: Behold, how all the Righteous shall shine forth as the Sun: Likewise, Deborah in her song said▪ Let them that love the Lord, be as the judg. 5. 31 Sun when he goeth forth in his might: By this it would seem that seeing they all shall be like Suns that their glory shall be equal. * Note Moreover, let me reason as I (when I was a Scholar) have heard reason in the Schools, we are not saved by any worth that is in ourselves, but only by the righteousness of Christ jesus: Now for to be saved, a man by Faith must apply unto his soul the whole righteousness of Christ, for Christ's righteousness divided cannot save: Seeing than I a poor Crafts-man or labourer b●… my Faith receive the whole righteousness, I receive as much as Moses, or Elias, Peter, james, and john, & so seeing that Righteousness is the only meritory cause, I having it all by imputation, must also receive the glory in as great a measure as they: For what can they have, except that righteousness, which can deseive at Gods had any thing that is Eternal? Though a man should give his body to be burnt for the cause of Christ, he doth nothing but that which he is oblished to do: By this than it would seem that seeing by the on lie righteousness of Christ eternal happiness is merited, and that all that have Faith, must apply unto themselves that whole righteousness without any division, that whosoever hath Faith to be saved, shall receive as great a degree of glory as any of the Apostles: Otherwise if ye make difference, ye would seem to attribute some part of heaven's glory to the worth of man's doings or suff●…rings. The Pastor. Indeed Sir the m●…tter is full of difficulty, many things would seem to make for that opinion: Particularly the Parable of the Talents, for to him that had gained but two Talents with his two, as well as to him who had gained five with his five, shallbe said, Intra in gaudium Domini, Enter Matth. 25. 23 into thy Master's joy: To all was said alike, Enter into joy: Not thou enter into the greatest joy with thy ten Talents, and thou into a lower Chamber with thy four Talents. * Note Indeed the arguments are both strong, for, and against both the opinions; yea, so strong that they made a very learned man after reasoning to and fro, to say, Vtramque sententiam esse probabilem, Martyr. & habere argumenta ex Scriptures: Neutram tamen ex Scripturis certo confirmari posse. That is, Both the opinions are probable and have arguments out of Scriptures, but by no argument out of Scriptures can it be certainly proven that there shall be degrees of glory in a greater measure in some than in others. And therefore, that learned man seeing the matter so urged with most forcible arguments, leaveth it undiscussed, as being a thing the knowledge whereof is not absolutely necessare for Salvation: * Note There be many deeps in Scriptures where the grossest Elephants must swim: Things absolutely necessary for Salvation, are into the plain shallow fords of the Gospel, where the little Lambs of Christ may wade over for to enter into Canaan: So long as we are here, we know but in part: Multa sunt reservanda futurae scholae: * Note There be many things here whereof we must leave off the searching out, till from these little Classicke Schools below we pass Master into God's celestial University above: * Note It is great wisdom for man to learn here, Sapere adsobrietatem, To be sober in his search. The sick Man. I thank GOD for this well employed time: Oh, that all my words had been from my youth concerning such spiritual purposes: Alas, for evil spent years: Oh, that young men would learn in time to spend well their golden hours: * Note Happy is he who weareth out the short time of this sinful life at the sincere service of his God: My Soul now with the pinched forlorn is returning home to the good fare of my Father's house. Have ye yet any more to say concerning the things that are above? The Pastor. If ye would have a short description of all these things, take it up in these few words, Eye hath not seen, 1 Cor. 2. 9 nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. * Note No man can so imagine of such joy, pleasure, and contentment to be there, but the thing itself shall be many stages above all humane imaginations: It shall be our wisdom to imagine that they cannot be imagined. * Note When I think of that everlasting and exceeding weight of glory which ●… Cor. 4. ●…7 passeth all understanding, my meditation is dazzled, and my tongue is tacked, the one not being able to conceive, nor the other to describe these things, which eye never saw, ear never heard, and which could never enter into the heart of man. * Note This is the godly man's non ultra, his outmost bounds: There is no created capacity on earth which can conceive an everlasting and exceeding weight of glory. The greatness of this glory putteth me to silence: * Note Sight, and Sense, Feeling and Fruition shall one day teach us that which now eye can not see, nor care hear, nor heart conceive: So soon as we shall see God as he is, we shall know him, and his 1 Ich. 3. 2. glory, as we are known: Then shall we see with our eyes, that which now we believe with Faith, which is the substance of things hoped for, Heb. 11. 1 & a demonstration or evidence of things not seen: So long as we are here in this muddy mortality, we live in a valley of tears, where we are forced to hang down our heads, and hang Psal. 137. 2 up our Harps, as being captives in Babel: Above are the comforts of Zion, where joys afresh are infinitely redoubled. Now Sir, according to your desire I have spoken at large of this world's vanity, and also of the last judgement, and of Heaven's glory, and of Hell's horror: think ye that this discourse hath made any motion in your heart, for to make you strive with a stronger strain, to draw nearer unto your God? The sick Man. I thank God from mine heart that mine heart is in another temper and tune, than when ye came first unto me: God by his Spirit in your words, as by a soft & sweet breath hath refreshed my Soul: By Faith my spiritual eye I see now Christ the Sun of righteousness arising upon Mal. 4. 2. mine heart with the brightness of his beams. Mine heart now burneth within me, and panteth with an unuterable longing for a sight of the face of my God: * Note Now, Lord, draw the Curtain that some glimpse of joy may yet more clearly appear for the recreating of my wearied Soul: O dear Redeemer, no tongue can tell how much poor sinners are beholden unto Thee, who with a strong Arm hast brought them out of a dry pit wherein was not a drop Zach. 9 11 of comfort. O that deep and dark dungeon of sin that I have been into! O these blessed beams which my Soul fealeth coming from his countenance! O the Light of that Face which putteth more joy into Psal. ●…. 7. mine heart, than all the world can have when their Wheat, Wine, and Oil do most abound. * Note O infinite weight of glory! O pleasures ever to be spoken of though unspeakable! O joys ever to be thought of, though none heart be able to conceive them! O pleasures most pleasant to the eye, though eyes below cannot see them! O, O everlasting mirth of Music! O ye celestial Tunes, most worthy to be heard, though ears of flesh cannot hear you! O Tree of Life Reuel. 22. 2. most sweet to the taste, though sinful tongues may not taste of thee! O Crystal River proceeding out of the Throne of God and the Lamb, when shall my soul drink of thee with a full Cup▪ * Note Mine heart like an Hart panteth & brayeth after these water brooks: Oh, when shall I come and appear before Psal. 42. 2. God▪ O my God, keep mine heart A prayer under some spiritual serise of these blessed delights, till perfectly I enjoy thee into the arms of my Soul, with the contentment of all contentmentes, than which there can be no greater. The Pastor. It is the Lord who with the Eye-Salue Reuel. 3. 18 of his grace hath enlightened your mind: He hath taken out the mots of temptations which of before did make the eyes of your Soul so to water till they become drumlie: Now Sir ye know full well what it is of God and his goodness in the Heavens, where faithful Souls shall be fed with the bread of Angels and feasted with the daintiest delicates that are above. * Noet The wicked in this world are like blind men which eat many moats and flees: They eat them because they cannot sec to discern them: * Note All the knowledge of the wicked is but ●… carcase and carrion of knowledge: To know God & his Son Christ & him crucified, is the very marrow & kernel of true happiness: * Note A Soul whose eyes the Lord hath enlightened with grace, can no more rest off its God, than an element out of its own place: It may well be detained & withheld from its place by some stronger power, but no power can make it to rest, till it be there where God hath appointed it to rest. Your Soul now Sir, is drawing near unto its Rest: The nearer 〈◊〉 be unto it, let your motion towards it be the swifter: * Note In this, Grace is like Nature, swiftest at the end of the motion which tendeth unto rest. Up still with your heart, & rejoice in your God▪ * Note Happy are ye who now are flitting from this world wherein the silly Soul as a Ball in a Tennis is tossed from wall to wall, & scourged with the Racket of divers temptations, which by course one after another are ready to catch it at every rebound. * Note Let your Soul now altogether rejoice in your Saviour: That is the only joy which shall never be taken from us: All other joys are but li●… flying moats in the air, toil and toys, toilsome toys, For even in Prou. 14. 13. laughing the heart is sorrowful, and the end of that mirth is heaviness. The sick Man. Blessed be my Lord for ever: I find now the beginning of these joys, which pass all understanding▪ My Spirit hath received the earnest of immortality: * Note I find now my Soul in the kindly temper of a spiritual constitution, which as I am fully persuaded shall never be troubled with any moody mixture of distempered mortality, if once this Battle were ended: O the blessed beams of that righteous Sun which Mal. 4. 2. shine so brightly upon my Soul▪ They shall never be intercepted by any earthly interposition of sinful shadows: * Note Hence forth nothing shall be able for ever to ●…et God & my Soul at odds: O now nothing shall be able to affright my Soul any more with dreadful distempers! to God alone belongeth the glory. Well may I say, If the Lord had not Psal. 94. 17 helped me, it had not failed but my Soul should have been put to silence. * Note I esteem all the joys which I feel to be a Cluster of Canaan which my faith like a trusty Spy hath brought unto me, that thereby I may know the goodness of that Land: But because I cannot tell what assaults my Soul may yet suffer, for I find my former joys a little overclouded: I pray you Sir to conceive a prayer to God for me, that the assurance of his pardons may more and more be sealed up into mine heart that death be not unto me as a king of fear, but rather as a passage and an entry to life eternal: Make earnest requeast for me, that I die not as the wicked, whose hope doth perish with their breath, having their Souls gored with sin the sting of 1 Cor. 15. 56 Death. O Lord, bring me an Out. law A prayer by Nature, within the bounds of thy Sheepfolde: Fill now my Soul with spiritual and heavenly inspirations: I have alas, the most part of my life, been like roustie iron, unfit for any work: It hath fared with me as with the Eye which seeing other things, seeth not itself▪ nor the face wherein it is fixed: In knowing other things I have remained ignorant of myself, a great stranger at home into mine own bosom, from my youth, my Soul sick of ●… spiritual dropsy did swell in a conceit of its own excellency: Now▪ Lord, wound this pride of life within mine heart, wound it in the head▪ and craze it in the brain: Separate all iniquity from me that nothing wherewith thy Spirit may be grieved, may harbour in mine heart: Upon this earth there hath been none ho with my desires, which like the sore craving Horse-Leach could say nothing but Give, give: Now, Lord, make my Soul to loathe that which I have too much loved, prepare my Soul, empty it of all that is evil before it come before thy Face, wherein is fullness of joy for all Saints Psal. 16. 1●… and Angels which are above. Now, Lord, after that thou hast cleansed me by the fiery trial by beating and battering mine hard heart, let the workmanship of thine holy hands be to refine me more & more till I become perfectly a new creature: O power this heart into the calms of thy compassions, that therein as in a mould it may receive thy lively Image: weed out of mine heart all carnal and earthly desires. The Pastor. I bless the Lord, for such working of his Spirit: According to your desire we shall bend our knees to God in prayer: While we are praying, lift up your heart unto God and pray with your Spirit: Set now all your affections in bensel before the Lord: Let us all humble ourselves here before our Maker. A Prayer for the sick Man. O LORD, prepare our hearts to prayer: Let us not be rash with our mouth, nor hasty with our heart to utter any thing before Thee. O glorious GOD, and all merciful Father, which art the true Physician both of Soul and body; we must humbly bend our knees before Thee entreating thee to be with thy servant here whom thou hast now laid into this bed of languishing: Let not his sins whereof he hath been guilty from his youth up, provoke thy wrath any more against him: Knit them all in a bundle, and cast them all behind thy merciful back, bury them all into the bottomless sea of thy compassions, that they neither be able to accuse him any more in this world, nor yet to condemn him in the world to come. Isa. 1. 18. Though his sins, LORD, were like Scarlet and Crimson, there is virtue into the Blood of thy Lamb to make them white like wool, and whiter than the Snow For thy Son's sake remove all his transgressions as Psal. 103. ●… 12 far▪ from him as the East is from the west. Hell, LORD, & Destruction are before thee, how much more the hearts of the Sons of men? Thine All seeing Eye, pries most clearly into the inmost closet of man's heart: Look with the Eye of thy compassions within the Doors of this wearied heart of thy Servant: Look in and proclaim mercy and pardon unto his silly Soul. Let him know that neither Death▪ nor Life shallbe able to separate him from thy Love: O LORD, assist him and stand fast by him in this hour▪ Desert him not in his greatest & last agony: Let thy Spirit possess him so fully that there be none entry or room for Satan's temptations: when the Temper is bufiest▪ let thy Spirit be strongest: Arm him with all Pieces against the last conflict of this bloody battle: Honour him with the Laurels of victory: Let thy strength be made perfect in his greatest weaknesse: Do the turn by thine own force, and take all the glory to thyself. By the virtue of thy Christ crucify into him the old Man and his works: Make him to die into him, that he may live to Thee, who to Philip. 1. 21 all the Faithful is advantage both in life and death: He is now, LORD, walking between thy Mercy and thy justice through many-temptations: Govern thou his steps with such wisdom, that the fear of justice may keep him from presumption, and the hope of mercy may prevent despair: Increase his patience with his pain▪ Sanctify his Sickness, make it as Bellowes to thy graces, that thereby they may be kindled and blown up to a greater flame. Enamour him with the love of thy goodness: Pour in the oil of thy mercy into his bruissed heart, which hath been filled with mournful groans. And seeing now thou art calling him to repetitions, to see what he hath profited in thy School, cast into his remembrance all the good things that hitherto he hath heard or meditate for to comfort this hour▪ Be strong in him now in this time of trial: Apply unto his wounds the Balm of Gilead: He is weak▪ and therefore, O LORD, forbea●…e him in thy mercy. O pity this wounded man as did that Samaritan: Pour Oil into Luk. 10. 33 his wounds, bind them up, and take him to thine Inn: For thy mercy's sake remember him: Forty Sons sake pity him: For thy promise sake forget him not: Free his Soul f●… the maze of all worldly cares: Inspite into him the life of grace with a most fresh vigout and fervent heat of zeal to thy Glory: He, LORD▪ in his most piercing pains knoweth not what to do, but his eyes are on Thee: In thine hands is both Life and Death: Thou bringest to the Grave, and bringest back again. In thy great mercy, O LORD, Psal. 41. 3 make all his bed in his sickness, make his bed to be a School unto him, wherein he may not only learn the hudgnesse of his own misery, but also the greatness of thy mercy: Let neither Death fright him, nor the Grave grieve him: Let him know that Death is but a sleep for the friends of Christ, and the Grave joh. 11. 11 a bed for the resting of their wearied bones: Let not the weight of Isa. 57 2. mortality bear down his Spirit from minding the things which are above Col. 3. 1. Make him content to quite gladly all earthly pleasures and contentments for to go & dwell with Thee his GOD in immortality. Let neither the sweetness of the Fig, nor the grapes of the Vine, nor the fatness of the O live hinder his desire to reign in heaven: Against the fear of death comfort him with hope of the glorious Resurrection: Assure his Soul though his body go to be eaten of the worms, that he in that body again shall see his Redeemer and none other for him: Furnish him with spiritual courage unto the end: Give him boldness to march without fear thorough the valley of Psal, 23. 4. death for to come to Thee, yea▪ too run were it thorough Hell for to come to Thee in Heaven. Tell unto his Soul that his pains dismay him not, seeing his travel is to bring forth eternal life▪ Let thy justice's seat trouble him no more, seeing Christ hath paid his debts: Let him not be afraid to come before the Face of his judge, seeing the judge himself is his Brother, who hath both cut & canceled that handwritting of the Law, which no flesh was able to perform. Pity him, LORD, pity him, for lo he is now in thine hands looking pitifully up to Thee for thy mercy: Some of thy setters are yet upon him, none can lose him but the hands which have bund him: Pity good LORD, and pardon, set unto this Soul the seal of thy pardons by the Spirit of adoption: Heale and sweetly close up the wounds of his Spirit by the virtue of thy most blessed Blood. This is our confidence, that thou who hast stricken him is able to heal him, and will also do it, if it be for thy glory and his well, if not, Lord, in judgement remember mercy. If it be his best that after some day's sickness he depart out of this mortal life, let these pains which he suffers now be like Jonathan's 1 Sam. 20. 20 arrows which were not shot for to ●…urt but to give warning. Give him grace that like an obedient Child he may as w●…ll kiss thine hand while it beateth as while it blesseth. If thy decree be come forth that he must remove from this World, assure him of a better place▪ where pleasures are in greater number th●… the stars: Teach him by thy Spirit that by death he shall change a mortal habitation, a dungeon of darknes●…●… cage of corruptions for everlasting T●…bernacles, most heavenly sacred M●…sions where constant peace & vnmi●… joys remain: Wean his heart from the love of all things that are under the Sun: Let the beauty and glory of the Heavens whereof he hath heard at length this day, draw the desires of his heart to abide into that P●…lace of pleasures, where there is Light without Darkness; Mirth without Sadness, Health without Sickness▪ Wealth without want, & Beauty without blemish: For the sake, of thy dea●…e Self, seal up into his Soul the assurance of thy love, that in all bol●…nesse through the bleeding bowels of Christ's compassions he may come to the Throne of thy grace, & from thence he may enter into glory▪ O LORD, the comfort, the joy, and the glory of Israel. Be favourable to thy distressed Saints dispersed upon the Earth: Thy Church here below is like a ship on the sea: Though it float aloft, it is fore tossed to and f●…o with wind and with wave: thou therein▪ seemeth while to sleep: Now, LORD, at last awake, in these boisterous blasts: Master, Master, save us, for we perish: Awake, O LORD, and rebuke the winds: Alas, O LORD, thou seemeth now to lower in thy wrath, by driving all our petitions from Thee with a dark and cloudy countenance, so that these that trust in Thee are clean dashed out of countenance while they hear the scorninge of the adversaries who now waste and havoc thy Vine. Arise, O LORD, as a man of war: Awake, as one out of sleep, and like a Psal. 78. 65 mighty man that shouteth by reason of Wine: Smite thou all the enemies in the hinder parts, and put them to a perpetual reproach: Take the Cudgel into thine hand and strick a way these Dogs which follow Thee but for crusts: Let us never be cold or careless in the distress of others, but for to assure us that we are all members of one Body, give us this pledge of mourning with these that mourn: Make us all to be grieved for the affliction of joseph. Bless our gracious SOVEREIGN Amos. 6. 6 with the Spirit of Wisdom and of Grace, Rescue Him from all dangers both bodily & ghostly: Though He be a Prince among men, yet He is thy Subject: Thou who by Grace hast made Him to reign over thy people on earth, at the end of his appointed time when the days of His Reign shall be happily finished, exalt Him highly in the heanens among thy Saints and Angels: So long as He is here, let Him know that it standeth Him fast in hand to be an Hornager unto Thee: Direct him so in all His carriage that His whole life may be to all His Subjects an holy patronage of good example: Let Him never retract nor repeal that vow which He made at His Coronation for to maintain the purity of thy Gospel, and for to be a loving Father unto thy people: Cloth his enemies with Psal. 132. 18 shame, but upon Himself make His Crown to flourish. Bless His Royal Match: Make Her to strive & stretch all the powers of Her Soul by prayer in searching the sincere knowledge of thy truth▪ LORD, in Her careful search make Her to say at last with the Spouse, I have found him whom my Soul loveth, Psal. 1. 6 I will not let him go: Thou, LORD, lovest Truth in the inward parts, and therefore, so sanctify Her Heart, that She may day lie thrive in the power of Godliness: Though all outward means should fail Her, be Thou to Her in stead of all means, abundantly supplying Her with the power and presence of thy Spirit: Level, LORD▪ Her Heart directly to the love of Christ & of him crucified, that by a true & lively Faith in him She may shine among the Saints in Heaven like one who in a great measure hath been received in Grace on earth: Let thy Preastes be Psal. 132. 9 clothed with righteousness. Bless all our Nobles, make them truly noble, not like Ephraim, whose righteousness was like the morning Host 6▪ 1. dew: Let them never for feed or favour slink or shrink back from the purity of thy Gospel established in this Land: Give unto us all courage for the Truth, that we may be bold to resist even unto the blood▪ not being like these who at the first in an hot and hasty zeal promise fair with Peter, but anon at the first womanly temptation start aside like deceitful bows: Suffer no sin to go current with us without check: Let us never follow the sway of times, with sewed Cushions under our Elbows. LORD, abide with us this night: As thou hast drawn the night Curtain of darkness upon the face of the earth, so be thou a pillar of the cloud between us and our enemies: Hide our souls from Satan's temptations, as by the cloudy pillar thou hid the Israelites from the Egyptians: Make us this night to sleep softly and soundly in thine Arms, that our bodies being refreshed with sleep, may be the better enabled to morrow for to set forth thy Glory in the work of our Vocation. LORD, let these our weak prayers come up before Thee like Pillars of smoke perfumed with the Can. 3. 6. lively savour of thy Son, To whom with Thee and the Spirit of Grace, be endless Glory and Dominion for ever. Now Sir, we have recommended you God, to who is stretching out the Arms of his mercy, ready for to receive your Soul, into the bosom of his Love: Make you now ready for him, for in all appearance ye are not far from the doors of death: Be Psal. 107. 18 vigilant in prayer, lest Satan yet put in his leaven into the Spirits dough, and so by souring it, make it distasteful to the Lord: By a little drop of filth the pure web of the Spirit will become a menstruous cloth. The sick Man. The lost Sheep is found: I give you most hearty thanks for that fervent prayer: I pray God that it be heard in the Heaven, as Solomon prayed for these that prayed in the Temple which he had builded, saying, Then Kin. 8. 34 hear thou in Heaven: Lord, grant that these comforts and contentments be not deceivable feelings and flashings of joy: O Lord, let not the Spirit of Grace in this new birth recoil, as once Zarah in Thamar's womb. Seeing God hath furnished me with a new spiritual strength. I wish that I could employ it well for the short space that I have to live among mortal wights in this region of corruption. A prayer O Lord, stir all the streams of mine affections toward thyself: Wound, ward, weaken, & wasle all my delightful and darling sins, that my whole joy may rest on Thee: command & confine all my thoughts to thyself, that by Faith my Soul may seize and lay hold on the merits of Christ the celestial Pearls of price: Disburden my soul of every weight that hangeth so fast on; lest that thereby it should be swayed away from Thee. I find mine heart stirred with a fervent desire to pour out itself in prayer before God: I pray you all that sit by, to join your affections with mine into this work. The sick man's Prayer for himself. O LORD, the Father of mercies, and GOD of all Consolation, be present in thy great mercy with me thy unworthy servant, into this time of trouble, suffer me earth and ashes to speak with thy mercy: In the multitude of thy compassions, blot out my transgressions: wash me throghlie from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sins, where by the seed of thy grace within mine heart hath been choked and starved. Let the depth of thy mercy swallow up the deeps of my misery: Bridle my sins and spur forward thy graces within me: Set all mine affections on foot, that they may follow after Thee: Put a fairer flame into my smoking slaxe, and more strength into this bruisedreede, that the bones which Psal. 51. 8 thou hast broken may re●…oyce. O Lord, with thine eye salve cleanse Reuel. 3. 18 and open the eyes of my poor Soul, that I beholding these things that are above, may gladly desire to be dissolved for to be there with my Lord, and Saviour: Lord, let thy Spirit carry still a strong hand over me: Furnish me with such measure of thy graces whereby I may patiently wait upon thy will: Except that by a special favour thou uphold me, I shall never be able to secure my feet in so slippery ground: While I have been hearing most glorious speeches of the Heavens, the shadows of earthly things have eclipsed my mind like a Moorie: O make such shadows to fly away, that the horizon of my spiritual sight being cleared, I may in some measure see thy back parts, whereby my Soul may be enlightened like the face of Moses: Though often I have been deaf at thy preachings, be not thou dumb at my prayers: O Father of mercies, listen unto the groans of my drooping spirit assailed with divers temptations: Hear the sighs and crowding of thine own Turtle Dove. O LORD, lead me into the Land of uprightness, and make thy grace to seat itself into mine heart▪ Store my memory with these good lessons which I have heard preached in mine health: Let me never over-pryze any good thing that is within myself: Though james and john bragged that they were able to Matth. 21. 22 drink of thy cup, scarce could they abide to see Thee drink it: O Lord, make me ever to undervalue thy greatest worth, that thorough the valley of humilitte I may come to these ever lasting exaltations. Come LORD, for lo thy servant cometh: I am willing, Lord, help my unwillingness: If it be thy will to lose me out of this sinful prison, when I shall leave this earth to earth, appoint thine Angels to carry my Soul unto Abraham's bosom, where I may sing with thy Saint's Halleluiah for ever: Come, Lord, now and seek thy lost groat▪ Fetch home upon thy Shoulders this wandering Sheep, and make all the Heavens to rejoice: Despise not that which in the creation thou didst ennoble with thy likeness: Give me a warrant and a token to be admitted within the Gates of thine everlasting Tabernacles: Till I come there make my Soul to burn still in holy feelings. Lord, hear me for the dear sake of thy Son to whom with Thee and the Spirit of grace (as it is most due) we render all praise, glory, and dominion for ever, AMEN. The Pastor. Blessed be God, Sir, who maketh his Spirit to work so powerfully within you: We are all greatly refreshed with your comforts: It hath been a great joy to us all to hear that most sweet & fervent prayer, full of the groans of the Spirit of jesus: * Note In you have we seen the truth of that Text, The Spirit helpeth Rome, 8. 26 our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: But the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groan which cannot be uttered: I am assured that that same Spirit hath made intercession for you with groanings in that prayer which now ye have uttered. And again, while I consider in what weakness and faintness I found you at the first I wonder at such a vigour of Spirit which I petceive now to be into you: * Note Truly the word of God is most true▪ God giveth power to the faint, & to them Isa. 40. 2. that have no might he increaseth strength: Even the Youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord, renew their strength: They shall mount up with wings as Eagles. * Note Many in their afflictions either desparatelie rage, or weakly wa●…le: But God in great mercy hath at last filled you with true Christian courage and comfort in your greatest smart: He hath listened to all your desires, being moved with that sacred Love, which always burneth in his bosom: * Note His Grace like the Northern Pole, hath given you aim and direction whether to bend your course. Now the darkness of the night beginneth to over-cloud the earth: By God's grace I shall return in the Morning so soon as the birds shall begin to chirp at the spring of day. * Note Because while the spirit of man is idle, it weareth and wasteth itself away with barren and lumpish melancholy: While ye shall awake, cause read Scripture unto you, and particularly these places, Psalm 27. Psalm 84. Psalm 87. 1. Corinthians 15. 2. Corinthians 12. Revelation 21. Revelation 22. His Grace be you. THE SEVENTH DAY'S Conference. The sick Man's last words to his Pastor, Friends, Wife, and Children. The Pastor. THE Lord bless you Sir: According to my promise yesternight I am come again early: All this night mine heart hath earned to know of your estate: How have ye passed this night? The sick Man. O the mercy of my God towards me, that hath moved you to take such pains for me an unworthy worm: By your most holy Sermons ye have furnished and supplied my mind with store of holy and heavenly meditations: Ye have been both a Paul for to plant me in the true Faith, and an Apollo's for to water me: Christ the Master builder by the Finger of his Spirit hath laid the foundation of his Temple within mine heart: He hath made choice of you, a skilefull Workman to advance the work, till in mercy at last he shall roof his graces in me with celestial Glory: By the word of God ye have comforted me, that is only the word of comfort: * Note Of all other words were they never so eloquent, I will say with a Father, In a thousand talents of worldly words a man shall hardly find an hundreth pence of spiritual & heavenly wisdom: This life is like the Haw thorn, more pricking than pleasant: Ye have ravished my heart with desire of immortality above: I bless God Sir that ever I saw you The Pastor. All these good things are to be ascribed to the working of GOD'S Spirit: All the juice and sap whereby the branches spring and live, ensueth and riseth from the root of the tree: We who are Pastors are but the Lords Spouts and Cocks of his Conduits, whereby his graces are convoyed unto the hearts of our hearers: If the Spirit of God make not a man's Salvation sure, he will incessantly reel from one doubt to another, from one temptation to another, like a drunken man from wall to wall. It is good therefore that ye summon your heart and your glory to give praise unto your God: Let not a thought of your heart absent itself from this point of service: God must not be served by halves: As for me: I am but the Lords weak Instrument for your well: Give God the glory. The sick Man. Bless the Lord, O my Soul, & all that Psal. 103. 1 is within me, bless his holy Name. I desire now to come with David to my last words. A speech of the sick Man. to his Pastor. First of all, I address my speech to you my worthy Pastor: God's mercy in you toward me hath been great, for ye have soundly unfolded all the intricate difficulties wherewith my Soul hath been fearfully entangled: Ye are one of these that may well say, We have the mind 1 Cor. 2. 16 of Christ: God by his Grace have made you that one of a thousand: you job. 33. 23 jona. 1. 1. have I found to be like jonah the son of Amittai, that is the son of truth: Happy is that Preacher who is led in all truth. O the Majesty of that message: O the wisdom of these that gain Souls unto Christ: Wisdom hath said, That he that winneth souls Prou. 11. 30 is wise: O but my Soul loveth you: * Note My love toward you assureth me of God's love toward me, for by this we know that we are translated 1 joh. 3. 14 from death to life, because we love the Brethren. I love you Sir in the dearest blood I have, for ye have been the good instrument of God for my conversion: ye in all my troubles, while mine heart was touched to the quick and my Conscience ransacked to the bottom, have been to me a Barnab as a son of consolations, where with as with splents, ye have bound mine heart: God in great mercy hath given unto you the tongue of the Isa. 50. 4. Learned, with lips touched with a coal from his Altar for the relieving Isa. 6. 6. of my wounded Conscience with words of comfort. O but that is true, a whole some tongue Prou. 15. 4 is a tree of life: By the sword of the Word ye have cut the twisted bonds of my greatest temptations wherein my Soul lay fast fettered. Mine heart hath been greatly rejoiced to hear you resolving all my doubts and difficulties: O how beautiful Isa. 52. 7. are the feet of these that bring go●… tidings! Now I find that of Solomon Eccles. 12. ●… to be true, The word of the wi●… are as goads and as nails fastened by the Masters of assemblies, which are given from one Shepherd: Christ that great Shepherd of the flock 〈◊〉 with your words, as with goads ●… nails so fastened me to himself that Death itself shall not be able to sever us: * Note Ye have wonderfull●… Cant. 7. 8 restored my sick Soul with flagon●… of the most sweet juice of the cluster of wine: Ye have bound up my bro●… ken joints with the spiritual splen●… of divine comforts. * Note O in what woeful plight, O in what seas of gall was I plunged when ye came first unto me! there was nothing sound into my Soule●… All was full of botches, boiles and pu●…trifying Isa. 1. 6. sores: But ye like a cunning Surgeon in curing tumors have brought the matter to an ●…ead▪ and at last with great skill ye have lanced the boiles of my corruptions, whereof now▪ God in mercy hath made me free. I tremble to remember these fearful temptations wherewith ye found me at the first beset and besieged: * Note These were indeed such temptations as Bernard called. Terribilia de fide, horribilia de Bernard. divinitate. * Note Satan hath assaulted me both in a black shape and into an Angel of light: By your sweet comforts my Soul hath been revived like that dead man that lived by touching 2 Kin. 13. 21▪ the bones of Elisha: Ye have fed my Soul with the doctrine of your breasts big as Towers: Ye have Cant. 8. 10 strengthened and sinewed my weak Soul with comfortable words woven and wrought out of a feeling heart by the strength of holy meditations. And now happy are ye who have been the instrument of my conversion: I hope to be one day one of these that shall stand at your back, Isa. 8. 18. when ye shall say to your Master Christ, Behold, here I am, and the children that God hath given me. Account me Sir one of these Talents that ye have gained with the Talon of your gift: Your words have stricken home unto mine heart with powerful and particular applications of comforts, whereby my disaffected Soul hath been wooed and won unto the love of my Saviour jesus: account me therefore a seal of your Ministry: Ye know better than I what God hath promised to these that with a ready mind shall 1. Pet, 5. 2 convert a sinner from his evil ways, such (as God himself hath promised) shall be like the stars in the Firmament for ever: From your Dan. 12. 3 lips is come the sweetest balm that ever dropped from the pen of God upon the leaves of the Book of life. Blessed be my God, who by his good Spirit into your mouth hath breathed most sweet comforts into my Soul: * Note Woe to all Doctors of despair: Blessed be your lips wherein Mal. 2. 7. God hath placed the preservation of knowledge: Your tongue to me hath been like a silver watch bell to rouse and waken up the gifts of God within my Soul: God by his words in your mouth declaring unto man job. 33. 23▪ his righteousness, hath blown up his Isa. 42. 3. Graces which were weak into mine heart like a smoking flax, or a sparkle of fire under green wood: Blessed be my God, who by your divine instructions hath made me to be acquainted with himself: Your comforts hath been cordials and lenitifes to the ranking and festered sores of my Soul: To God be glory, who hath made you most cunning of that great Art of saving sinners. O my dear Pastor, by the refreshing Balm of your consolations ye have infinitely endeared my soul, you to g●…s job. 33. 23 one of a thousand: * Note I am assured that God hath made you faithful with jeremy, for to take forth the preciou●… jer. 15. 19 from the vile. Now my God, with whom I A prayer think to be shortly, be with you in your Ministry, & make you his faithful servant unto death, that ye may be a worthy wooer for Christ, for to bring home many straggling sinners unto him the blessed Bridegroom of our Souls. Farewell now my faithful Pastor: My Soul now is glad to flit from this house of clay: * Note As for my body it must go to the grave where for a space it shall be confined but not confounded, for I look assuredly for the day of the Resurrection. O Lord, seal up in my Conscience A prayer the discharge of all my sins, that I may gladly lay down this Tabernacle. The Pastor. Mine heart rejoiceth with an exceeding great joy to reap such fruits of my labours: But this know, that what good ye have by me, it is not from me, but from him that sent me: * It is God that giveth life & Soul Rom. 1. 16 unto the Word that is powerful to Salvation. Paul may plant and Apollo's may 1 Cor 3. 7 water, but it is God who giveth the increase: * Note The best of all Preachers, are but like john the Baptist, the voice Luk. 3. 4. of a Crier, who could not make all the crooked strait, nor the rough plain. If any good be convoyed unto your Soul by me, I am but the Instrument or Channel wherethorow the Spirit of jesus hath made his Graces to flow unto you: To Him alone belongeth the Glory and the Thanks: * Note It is not humane eloquence which converceth Souls: One word quickened and enliued with his Spirit, is more fruitful than all the glorious eare-pleasing pomp of man's words, which like Agrippa and Bernice are full of fantasy: All Act. 25. 2●… the good that man can do either by word or work is like the honey in the comb gathered out of many flowers: But the evil is like the Spidders' web drawn out of our own bowels. The griefs of your heart Sir have been very great, but now ye are mercifully comforted: * Note Many in this world plod on from sin to sin marching merrily & feareleslie towards the plagues of Hell: But O, how much are ye beholden unto your GOD, who in all your wearisome mazes hath supported and sinewed your Soul by his saving Grace. Because Sir there be here divers of your Friends and other acquaintance unto whom it may be ye would desire to speak, I give place to them that now they may learn something of you: * Note The last words of a godly man are very forcible unto the living: And therefore Sir, while ye have breath, spend your short time upon this, that by your good counsel ye may do good to these that are for to live after you: That once done▪ commit your Soul to God as a faithful Creator: 1 Pet. 4. 19 He himself hath said, I will not leave thee, neither will I forsake thee. A speech of the sick Man. to his Friends. And now ye my trusty Friends whose age God hath crowned with ripeness of judgement, I turn myself to you: But first of all, let me speak unto you my spiritual & special Friend, who in my deepest plunge while I was fast sticking into the miry clay, did uphold me with your comforts: * Note Your counsel to send for my Pastor hath proven a special salve for my sore: God by that man of whom ye spoke hath now healed my Soul of all its harms. O blessed be that unspeakable mercy of my God: * Note Though Satan had bereaved me of my purity he could not bereave my God of his pity: * Note The Lord of light hath brought my Soul out of that long and loathsome Psal. 23. 4. night which is in the valley of the shadow of death, in comparison whereof the most palpable darkness of Egypt might have been esteemed to be day: O that pleasant Sunshine wherewith my Soul is now enlightened: O my God, breath more A prayer & more into my Soul the life of grace. The spiritual Friend. Glory be to God for his wonderful A prayer mercies towards you: The Lord, now set your Soul on wing that swiftly like an Eagle it may fly up to its God: * Note Many a sore assault have ye suffered since I spoke with you at the first▪ Satan & his temptations with the world & the corruption of Nature had gathered themselves against you like Gebal, Amon and Amaleck against Israel: Of them Psal. 118. 12 may ye well say now, They compassed me about like Bees, they are quenched as the fire of thorns▪ To Satan may ye now say, Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall, but the Lord hath helped me. When I met with you first ye were compassed with a chain of calamities, one linked into another: * Note To me ye appeared to be hanging over Hell by the slender twined thread of a lifeless hope: Ye were plunged deeper down than Iona●… was, when he went down to the bottom of the mountains, where the weeds were wrapped about his head▪ Now let your Soul say with jonah, jona, 2. 9 I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving, I will pay that that I have vowed: Salvation is of the Lord. The sick Man. Bless the Lord, O my Soul, and all Psal. 103. 1 that is within me bless his holy Name: Bless the Lord, O my Soul, and forget not all his benefits: Farewell my trusty Friend. Now as for you mine other friends I turn myself to you: * Note He that is converted with Peter should labour Luk. 22. 32 the conversion of others: He whose weakness the Lord hath helped should strengthen his brethren. It is now time to take our last good night▪ here in your presence, I say, Farewell O world, wherein I have lived which I have too much loved: Learneye in time to set your affections upon God: None of you can tell if God shall give you such laiser to repent as he hath granted untome: * Note If ye forsake not in time the sweet pleasures of your sins, fear lest at last that that be found true which Abner said to joah▪ Knowest thou not that it 2 Sam. 2. 26 will be bitterness in the latter end. * Note There is no sin so sweet to man in his life but before his death it shall be dissweetned and turned into gall and wormwood within the belly of the Conscience. I speak by experience as one who hath known the terrors of the Lord: * Note O my dear friends look over your shoulder back to your bygone life, and consider how grieved ye shall be for the sins of your pleasures when ye shall be warded into your death beds, ready to compeare before the great judge of the world: As ye see me this day, so shall others see you ere it be long: I have often been glad among you: Ye see now by me what it is of all worldly ●…oye: * Note With a little blast of sickness such comfort like chaff are chass away: Your time is fast coming: Your Glass is running my sickness cryeth unto you, Learn of the estate of this your old Eccles. 11. 3 Friend, to make yourselves ready for another world: To me to day to you to morrow: Where the tree falleth, there shall it lie: Whether the Glutton and the Beggar are gone, thither must we all; that is, either to 〈◊〉 hams bosom or to the Devil's 〈◊〉 Luk. 16. 22 * Note The death of one is like a 〈◊〉 charging all others to be ready 〈◊〉 flit and remove. Happy, yea, thrice happy is that man who in these 〈◊〉 and desperate days is not dulled with security: Bless●…d is he who is for●… warned, strive to be forewarned. Blessed is that man who is eue●… upon his watch, having his loine●… girded and his Candle in his hand Luk 12. 35 waiting for the coming of his Lord. A dew my loving Friends: * Note Seek in time the friendship of your God▪ Strive to be worthy the style of Abraham that was called, The friend of God. ●…am. 2. 23. O my dear Friends let me now tell you what the Lord hath done to my Soul: * Note He hath at last been sensibly gracious to my poor Soul, which Satan hath long hunted up & down like a Partridge on the 〈◊〉: The Devil like a dogged Doeg hath sought to suck out the heart blood of this trembling Turtle: Blessed be the Lord for ever who hath disappointed him. The Pastor. I fear Sir that long speech trouble you: Your affection carrieth you above your strength: Contract your speech in as few words as ye can: What counsel will ye give to your Spouse here? It is good that she hear your directions; for I see that God's Spirit is mighty in you. The sick Man. If any natural man were here for to hear me, he might willingly think that I were Verbosus, a man of many words: * Note But alas, that I have spoken so few of this sort: From Morning until Evening my tongue in health like the pen of a ready writer was swift to speak of too many things, whereof now I repent from the bottom of mine heart: If Nature be so windy in vain prattling, should grace want wo●…ds in that which may be profitable to the hearers? I care not what carnal men think for my many words: * Note I am shortly for to compeare before him, before whom man's improbation or approbation is of little weight or worth: My strength so long as I can speak, shall be spended into that which may do good to these whom I shall leave behind: * Note I shall do what I can both feelingly and faithfully to warn others to fly from the wrath to Luk. 3. 7. come. Be not offended I pray you Sir, if I be free with you: The last motions of God's Spirit in this mortal life would be very charitably thought of: I pray you Sir to pardon mine hasty and cankered Nature, if I have spok●…n any thing amiss, whereat ye may take exception, The Pastor. The Lord bless you Sir: Praised be his Name who hath touched your lips with a live coal taken with a Isa. 6. 6. tongues from off his Altar: The Lord is with you; speak so long or so little as ye please: Glad am I to hear the motions of that Spirit of Grace which is lodged into your heart. here is your Spouse, Sir: Let her hear your last directions. The sick man's speech to his Spouse. As for thee my Spouse, now shortly thou art for to be a Widow: I counsel thee that first of all thou marry thyself to Christ, let him be thy spiritual Spouse. * As for other marriage the word 1 Cor. 7. 8. concerning widows is plain: It is good for them that they abide so: But if they cannot contain, let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn: * Note No marriage, as thou seest, is directly appointed for Widows, but for these that cannot contain: Otherwise the Apostles words are true: It is good for them that they abide so: * Note If so be that thou marry, plant not a Thorn where a Vine should grow: Dishonour not the fi●…st bed, and prefer not purse or portion to the worth of the person: If GOD call thee to marriage, see that thou call GOD to thy marriage, if Christ be at thy marriage, that is, if thou marry in Christ, thy water shall be turned into wine, which was Christ's first miracle: * Note The water joh. 2. 11 of weariness of trouble and of sorrow which thou hast drunk with me, shall be turned into wine of joy, gladness, peace, and prosperity. But if thou marry not in Christ, but make thy choice by thy sight, and not by sighs to God in prayer, then shall thy wine be turned into water: God shall manifest a new miracle upon thee to the worse, that is, All the prosperity, peace and contentment thou had with me, shall be changed in misery, pinch, and poverty, & many a woe is me: Then had thou never such cause to put on thy doole weeds at when thou shalt put it off. Take good heed to thyself: Now is the last age of the world, this life is full of dangers: Satan hath laid more snaires on earth, than there be stars in heaven. Remember well this watchword, Mat. 13. 33 Watch and pray, having ever thine eye upon thy God: Keep thyself from all appearance of evil: A flee Eccles. 10. ●… great of wickedness will cause all thy perfume to stink: * Note Sin is like a River which at the source is but small: A scandell is like a scab that beginneth with itching, but endeth into blisters, boiles & putrifying sores Taken good heed to thy carriage & to thy, company, evil company vain communication, & rotten words, will work upon the conceptions of the mind, like Jacob's peeled rods set in the gutters and Gen. 30. 38 watering troughes before the flocks: The flocks which conceived before the rods brought forth cattle ringstroaked, vers. 38. spekled and spotted: In evil company at the hearing of vain, idle or rotten words, what can the heart of man or woman conceive but that which after it is brought forth shall appear both spekled and spotted? An evil thought is a sin which besides its own particular sting, is able to trouble sore the Conscience by awaking the old sins of our unregeneration. Let my counsel be acceptable unto thee: * Note Haunt never the man whose name is pitched with a black report: It is hard to touch pitch, and not to be defiled: It is not good for men were they never so good to be haunters of women: Christ's Disciples wondered that he spoke unto a woman joh. 4. 27 apart, a great argument that Christ was never with that Sex but in company: It is no better for women to haunt the company of men: Fire and flax are easily kindled, the least sparkle of fire will kindle Tinder: * Note Good outward means are helpful to inward motions the mothers of our actions. Some I know will say, that they fear none evil, and that they are clean of all such pollutions: If it be so, it is a benefit of God: But yet learn the lesson. Caute & casiè. None stand so well but they have to take heed lest they fall: * Note Were 1 Cor. 20. 12 thou never so holy thou hast need to say the Lords prayer, whereof Led us not into temptation, is a petition: Enter never into that, whereinto thou desireth not to be led: None at the first dash be brought to the height of corruption: S. Peter 1 Pet: 3. 2. willeth that women's chaste conversation be coupled with fear: Fear always if thou be wise: He or she that would avoid a sin, must shun the occasion: * Note The least shows or appearences of evil are these little Foxes Cant. 2. 15 that spoil the vines: How little leaven will sour the whole lump? What is the best of all sinful flesh, but like Gunpowder? a sparkle of temptation may kindle in a moment that which in our whole life time we shall not be able to quen●…h with many tears, no more than Esau could recover the blessing which after it was sold, he sought with many tears: That which we may be tempted to, we may fall into. Let all flesh suspect its own frailty: Scorners may speak as they please, but daily doleful experience will subscribe the truth of my words. * Note In this last age, alas, many godly Sidera volentia. persons in appearance like shooting stars fall down in divers places with their blazing profession from Heaven unto Earth, a most sure token of a tempest to come: * Note Too many, alas, shame goodness by seeming good, like Frogs infro●…kes Vice in the habit of Virtue. While inwardly the heart is rotten, now or then corruption must burst out into scab & scandel: Many with their fair profession are like Rowers in a Boat, who look one way but go the clean contrary. For this cause I entreat thee to study the substance of godliness, and not to be like these whose chiefest care is spended upon shows: S. Paul speaking of the life Coloss. 3. 3. of the Godly, saith, That it is hid with Christ in God: * Note It is so hid there that none shall be able to find it for to steal it away, or to take it by force, but not so hid but that it must also appear in all the effects of godliness. * Note When God commanded Ezekiel to p●…each unto the dry bones, that they might live, he ordained Ezek. 37. 9 for him this Text, Thus saith the Lord God, come from the four winds O breath, and breath upon these slain that they may live For to apply this, where there is a life after slaughter, I speak of a spiritual life, a life hid in God, the●…e must appear four effects from the four winds: From the East, the Orient of that life, there must be an arising from sin: From the West, there must be a dying to sin, even a setting and going down of wickedness: From the South, must come the heat of zeal moisted with showers of tears of true repentance: At last from the North, must come a i'll cold of trembling fear to offend God, whereby we make an end or work out the work of our Salvation with fear and trembling: These be the four parts of godliness wherein all Christian Souls must be carefully exercised: In this is the substance of true godliness▪ It is better to be stark naught, than to double our sins by seeming good: It is easy to juggle the outward eye of flesh, but that inward Eye which seeth our thoughts a far off, nothing shall escape: There is not a Crown of life for carnal livers. Harken unto me mine heart: Be busy in prayer, join fasting thereunto, lest that the high feeding of the flesh make the body to kick against the Soul, which is too far in love with the body: * Note Of a pampered body may the Soul often say, in some measure as Christ said of judas, He who hath eaten bread at my joh. 13. 18 table hath lift his heel against me: * Note All fleshly pleasures are both vain and vile: They are like blisters which begin with itching, but end in swelling sores: Beware of such succred poison. * Note My counsel is that often thou read the holy Scriptures, and particularly the thirty one Chapter of the Proverbes where thrift and godliness are joined together: Be careful and painful in thy manag●…: Think surely that Idleness is the mother of all mischief: Seek God's grace both earnestly and early: A little with God's blessing is a rich heritage: An handful of meal and a 1 Kin. 17▪ 12 little oylein a cruse was sufficient for the Prophet and the Widow of Sarept●… till the famine was passed: That blessed handful was better, than the best provided Barn or Girnell in the Land: * Note The grace of God is an heritage of greatest and surest rent: Unsanctified prosperity is but a seeming Sunshine which unavoidablie must perish: Blessed is the woman who with Marie in some measure Luk. 1. 28. is received in grace. Taken good heed to thine heart watch well over thy thoughts, though thoughts be called light, the sin of thought is heavy: from the inward thoughts spring and sprout all outward mischiefs. As for thine outward carriage▪ meddle not in other men's matters: * Note Curious searchers of the life of others are often careless correctors of their own: Many neglecting the huge beam in their own ye, must needs be tampering with the little mots that are in others▪ A slacked tongue and a slack hand keep other company: An idle woman must be a prattler, when the hand cannot practise, the tongue must prattle: To such it is scorn to preach, that for every idle word we must all be answerable. My dear Spouse I must tell thee all that I think concerning thy well, for I desire thy Soul to be knit with mine into the bundle of life: Take good heed to thyself, these who in this world have a name to li●…e, have great need to rule well their life: The nearer a body be to a lighted Candle the greater is the shadow thereof, so the nearer the body of sin be to one that is enlightened, the greater is the Scandal thereof: * Note Put the breadth of thy finger hard near to the Candle, & it shall make a shadow greater, than all your body: but the farther it be removed the less it will appear: Remember I pray thee how near thou art to the Candle of a bright & glorious profession, a little Mot of evil will be called a mountain in thee, because thou was my wife, and because we have lived with good report: * Note The wicked are most fain to take the Godly but tripping in a lesser fault, of their infirmities they make bucklers for the defence of their maliciousness. V●…e my counsel for fear of scandal, and for to flee all appearance of evil, Hat the very garment jud. v. ●…3. spotted with the flesh: Watch well over thyself both alone and in company: Strive never to seem to be that, which thou art not indeed: * Note Many have much more than they show; but more show much more than they have: The Religion of the greatest part for all their pretences, is but a smoke, a shadow, a blast, or a sound: * Note Substance without appearance is better than appearance without substance: * Note The Soul which hath but a form of godliness is most deformed in God's sight: ordinarily she who is most farded is most filthy: * Note Vices are most vile when they are shrouded and overcast with a countenance of Virtue, a vizard of piety maketh one a monster in God's eyes: * Note There is no such villainy as that which is varnished over with colours of godliness. Sinners may cloak sin and cover it for a space, but they cannot stand long, for wickedness shallbe broken as a tree. Let therefore thy Faith within, appear in thy life without: * Note All the Faithful should be like the roll of that Book which Ezekiel saw in a vision which was written within Eze. 2. 16. and without: If there be no Letters of life written without, there is no living Faith within, but a dead carrion of Faith for Faith without works ●…am. 2. 20. is dead. For this cause flee the foggy lithernesse of the flesh, and strive for the fruits of Faith: * Note Above all be earnest in prayer the preserver of honesty: Hear God's word with reverence as good news from a far Prou. 25. 25. Country: Let this word be a strait rule to direct thee in all the carriage of thy life: let no worldly business withdraw thee from it, while it is preached: * Note These who eat their bread with greatest sweat eat not the sweetest bread: It is not early rising, nor late going to bed that enricheth: * Note Though for a time Martha's toiling and troubling herself Luk. 10. 41 about many things, seem to bring much profit, it shall be seen at last that it is the grace of God that enricheth. * Note This is most certain, the ●…urest fastening in this world is but loofenes without God, in whom alone is the certainty of that which shall never perish. * Note In all thine affairs, in all companies remember that in the secret closerts of thine heart thou have frequent ejaculations unto thy God, that he may guide and guard thee while thou shalt encounter with temptations, hardly shall she be caught that feareth the snare: Satan with his baits & lures is ever waiting for to catch his prey: * Note He hath three great guns, three great impoysonners whereby he wasteth the graces and good names of many, viz. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life: It shall be thy best to arm thyself against these three, by holding continually a wakening and jealous eye over thy whole conversation: * Note If the evil thought be stifled so soon as it beginneth to stir into the heart, it shall never be able to produce an evil action into the hand▪ For this cause wise Solomon gave a precept which I may call a spiritual Cordial▪ which is, that above all watch and ward men Prou. 4. 23 and women should keep their hearts: * Note Many with Hypocrites may seem to have their hands in heaven Luk. 18. 12 by giving alms with the Pharisee, while indeed their proud lofty & faithless hearts are in Hell, God looketh not so much to the outward action as to the inward affection▪ * Note The Lord cannot away with the painted superficial flourishes of holiness of these that are false hearted and merely formal: The Israelite indeed, in whose heart is no guile, is the joh. 1. 47. Lords delight: Study therefore I entreat thee to the purity and power of godliness: Be careful to write all these heart precepts upon the palms of thine hands, lest that unawares thou be woefullie caught and ensnared in some scandalous sin whereby thou shalt shame thy profession: All mortal feet are feeble and stand in a slippery ground. O what danger is in giving way to our first sinful motions, while sin is least feared it is most to be feared: Satan is most dangerous while he is transformed 2 Cor. 11 14 into an Angel of light: Poison confected with Sucre is most piercing and deadly: Smiling joabs' are most cunning in smiting, fair alluring & tickling temptations oftest prevail: * Note Many are like the Lark, which while it playeth with the feather and stoopeth to the glass is suddenly enwrapted in the Fowler's net. There is nothing more dangerous than security: While Peter thought himself stronger than all men, Satan was hatching three abominations in his heart, which at last broke out, first in lies and last in perjury: stand in awe and sin not: One sin draweth on another like links in a chain. We have sinned, we will go up, that Deut. 1. 4●… is we have sinned, we will sin: Keep ever GOD in thy sight, and be humble. Be careful in all thy carriage to live in good example: Allow not thyself in that which is evil, flee the follies of this age which is wonderfully given to new guises of decking the body, most women's hearts are soured with this leaven. * Note Let spiritual joys be thy jewels, & the good works of thine hands, let them be the gold rings of thy fingers the matter of thy pleasures: There is nothing more pleasant than to do well: * Note For this cause good works are in that Song of songs called, a gathering Cant. 6. 1. of Lilies and flourishing of the Vines: She who is too curious of the outward decking of the Back, cannot be careful of the inward trimming of the heart: * Note Fared and foolish vain fashions of apparel are but▪ Bawds of allurement to uncleanness: * Note Away with these died Dames whose beauty is in their Box, such dawbinges are soon washed off from these painted Iezabels, such melting faces are not meet for marterdoome, for the cause of jesus, under such false faces is no lodging for true and honest hearts. In all things strive thou to be sobe●…: * Note Beware to out▪ run thy rank or to out wear the fashions by attiring thyself too gorgeously: Soft Matth. 11. 8 appparell is but for King's houses: What are such Cuts and cordon's, Silks and Satins, and other such superfluous vanities, wherewith many above their rank and place are so disguised, but infallible tokens of an unsanctified heart? * Note With such follies often are joined libertine eyes & wandering in wanton▪ glances. Let my counsel please thee, Idol not thy body with these who harbour in their bosom the snake of pride: * Note Let thy chief care be to deck the hidden man of the heart: A meek and humble soul is a great ornament in God's eyes: This is Scripture, The ornament 1 Pet, 4. 18 of a meek & quiet spirit is of great price in the sight of God: She whose heart is truly godly, will be most careful to put on that which most will please the Lords eye: Consider well what I say: Follow not the fickle fancies of vain women, whose minds are like the Moon in a continual change, but rather be a Schooler of these whose wisdom is constantly contrary to all new fangled follies: * Note Too curious busking is the mother of lusting looks, the juy-bush hung out for to inveigle unsanctified hearts unto folly. * Note What are these finest silks the fairest feathers of our pride? What are they, but worms work & moths meat? Strive for the power of mortifying grace: while the flesh is lusty and at a full sea, the Spirit is at under▪ even at a low ebb: The pampering pride of life is the bane and poison of spiritual graces, beware of it: It is an high treason against the most High, it is a sin which first lifteth up, and after bringeth down with a shameful fall that which it hath once lifted up. * Note The heart of man is like the shellfish, which pride as an Eagle taketh up into the air, but while it is come to a great height, it anon letteth it fall upon the rocks of shame and disgrace; where after that it hath dashed it in pieces it greedily devoureth it: * Note He who in Heaven could not dwell with Pride will never on Earth harbour in that heart wherein it lodgeth: Outward counterfeit humility may for a time jug▪ gle the eyes of the beholders, such a varnished pride is a double abomination: O how detastable unto God are these who being vainly puffed up in their fleshly mind, have no Col. 2. 18. lodging for humility, but into their mouths: And yet who can have patience to give ●…are, shall at last hear a Sibboleth some swelling word, which by the accent, shall give notice▪ that they are not such as they say. * Note Certainly Humility is one of the fairest flowers in the whole garland of spiritual virtues: Whereas Pride a spiritual tympany bloweth up the heart, and maketh the Arteries to swell with unclean spirits, Humility tempereth the blood, and quieteth the Spirit with such a calmness, as that wherein the Lord appeareth to Elijah. 1 Kin. 19 12 Some if they be not Whores or thieves, they think that they cannot fail, and yet in one sin are all sins, for who fail in one, fail in all: * Note That which God said by his Prophet is notable, If a man beget a son that is a Thief or a Murderer, Ezek. 18. 10 or that doth any one of these things: Observe the words, Any one, Though he do all these things, Shall be live? vers. 13 he shall not live: He hath done all these abominations: See how he who hath done but any one is here also said to have done all these abominations: See how all sins by a little bore creep in with a deceitful pace: If one poisonful herb be in the Pot death is there. What shall I say more of Humilie, the rarest virtue in women? This I will say, The lowliest heart is ever in highest in God's account, it ever hath the best share of his favours: * Note As streams of waters run to the low valleys, so do the graces of God flow to the humble Souls: Shame and confusion of face is the ordinatie end of all the puffs of pride and of all unlawful dalliance: This sentence never lighted false, Pride must get a fall: This is Scripture, Psal. ●…38. 6 Though the Lord be high▪ yet hath he respect unto the lowly: But the proud he knoweth a far off. Be constant in all thy ways: strive to keep peace with thy neighbours: * Note For this end set a porter at thine ear, for to hold out fal●…e reports: an open ear and a loose tongue are two deadly foes to all sacred friendship: Where such are, trifles are taken for truth after that a matter it throughly sifted, most men's r●…ports are found to be but babbling. * Note Let the true fear of God harbour in thine heart continually: The fervent zeal of many is agueish like fevers which come & go by fits and starts: Ahab could crouch when 1 Kin. 21. 27. he heard that the Dogs should lick his blood. Till Pharaohs sorcerers were Exod. 8. 19 fearfully plagued, none of them could pronounce, This is the finger of God▪ Be not like the wicked who never fear God but when he is in a tempest: Fools are so stiff and steely that for God they will not stir an inch, till his judgement cause them to stagger. Strive to live by precept & not by example: Many think themselves to be well, because they are not so evil as many others: * Note In this they are like the Drapers who give lustre to a Karsey by laying it to a Rug: The deeper damnation of some in the pool and puddle of perdition, shall be a very small comfort for these that are in the shallow fords of the floods of fire, kindled with the brimstone beams of everlasting burnings: * Note The foreskin of an uncircumcised heart is so thick and brawny that no precepts can pierce through it, till the Spirit himself make a way. Oh then, seeing we are all a brood of corrupt loins, it standeth thee in hand to be earnest with that Spirit of grace, that he would teach thee to keep watch and ward over all thy ways. * Note If any creature offend thee, bite not at the stone, but lift up thine eyes to God: None evil is in the City Amos. 3▪ 6 but that which he hath done. At divine Service be not i'll nor cold: Be fervent in thy prayers, while thou speakest to God with thy mouth, suffer not thine heart to wander upon toys, it is more difficile to pray than to preach, wicked men may preach, but they cannot pray, God hath branded them with this blot they call not upon God: * Note The Lord put into thine heart the juice A prayer and sap of his Grace. My Spirit is so wearied that I am not able to express my mind. The Pastor. The Psalmest said well, The Lord will Psal. 138. 8 perfect that which concerneth me: He who hath begun in you his graces, shall perfect that which concerneth you, yea, and shall make his grace to 2 Cor. 12. 9 be made perfect in your weakness. The sick Man. O my Lord, lead me in the land A prayer of uprightness: O God, with Thee Psal. 143. 10 is the Fountain of life: In thy Light Psal. 36. 9 we shall see light: Revive mine heart, O Lord, with some new supply of strength from above: Let the words Psal. 19 14 of my mouth and the meditations of mine heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength & my Redeemer. Above all things my loving Spouse, beware of evil company, the corruption of good manners; and fuel of folly: * Note It is good to use company as Moses did his Rod, so long as it remained a Rod he remained with it, but so soon as it became a serpent incontinent he fled from before Exod. 4. 3. it: Be not like these most vile persons, who for to varnish their appearances of evil with alleging innocence, say, That they care not what men say of them, and that they cannot hinder men to speak: Away with such words, such vain partlings cannot secure the Conscience, neither content the scandalized beholders of evil appearances: If thou do not evil, do not evil like: Be not altogether careless what others say of thee, but in all security of life strive for a good name, which is better than Eccles. 7. 3 precious ointment: There is no such folly as folly practised with profession of wisdom: Hypocrites may warily watch over their words and outward actions, but none but Nathanaels', have hearts without guile. joh. 1. 47. Consider well I pray thee, that we are now come to the dregges of days, and extremities of time, and also to the extremities of sin, for avoiding of the sands, we rush upon the rocks: We live in the last and most corrupt age, wherein the very confluence of all the corruptions of former ages have made their Randie-vowes: So, (as all may see) it is utterly impossible, except the Lord work wonders that any keep themselves so passingly pure from all spice of contagion, but some one infection or other shall stick unto them, unto God's dishonour, and their own disgrace: O how many rubs are in the way to life eternal! My best beloved let such instructions sink deeply down into thine heart, that thou be not like Hypocrites, who are more thoughtful for plausible conveyances and outward plastering appearances, than for any substance of godliness: Be truly godly, and not profane, like these who say what the Prophets will, must into the house of Rimmon, one thing or other must they do, wherein God must be merciful unto them. * Note As for thee be a Church wife and also an Housewife: It is not seemly for women to be gading here and there she is most happy * Note who in this sinful time is least known of the world, so that she truly strive to know God and herself: Wise Solomon who in his wisdom excelleth all, as also in number of wives spoke by experience, that wandering Women were not chaste, by this special mark he brandeth the whore, That her Prou. 7. 11 feet abide not in her house, but now she is without, and now in the streets: vers. 12. By Solomon's record, she that gadeth abroad cannot be well thought of: With Wisdom she hath cracked her credit: If Dinah had tarried at home while she went abroad, she had not been deflored, which was the cause of great bloodshed, which made her brethren Simeon and 〈◊〉 Gen. 49. 7 afterward to be divided in jaakob, & dispersed in Israel: The occasion of all that evil was from the vanity of the damosel, her folly is registered in God's Chronicles for all Ages to come, that women chiefly may read it, and be wise by her example: The words are these, And Dinah Gen. 34. 1 the daughter of Leah, which she bore unto jaakob, went out to see the daughters of the Land. Remember well I pray thee these few p●…ecepts: Be careful & sincere at the service of thy God: Serve him not by halves: * Note He who is only holy, must be served wholly: Take good heed to thyself, beware of clawing flatterers, who for gain will varnish thy vices, for to make them seem virtues. Labour for a good name, peril it not for trifflles: If for light matters it be mainelie hazarded it shall be easily cut off, where ever thou be, be content with thy lot: See that in any wise thou never harbour in thine heart a discontented mind: Beware of an evil tongue, which is an unruelie evil, within the compass of the mouth wherein it is, is a jam. 3. 6. world of wickedness. Be careful both for the inward and the outward of thy conversation, for many eyes will look and spy what shall be thy life after me: Be therefore ever upon thy guard, sin never in hope of secrecy, for none can sin without a witness: Sequester thyself from all occasions of evil, if thou would have grace to be dear and deeply rooted in thine heart: Where ever thou art, think God thereto be present: Taken him at all times to be an eye-witness of thy thoughts: * Note Though all be barred out, the Lord is within: Fear God & live in peace with thy neighbours: * Note Let the good thoughts of thine heart put the over in the hands of practice, first know & then do, which is complete Christianity: Grow in grace, groan for sins past, escape relapses, haunt the godly, fly these that are of a prostitute Conscience: Sin is like a Ringworm of a contagious and spreading nature, from less to more over Shoes over Boots like Hezekiels waters from the Ankles to the Knees, and so higher and higher from scab to scandal: Shun all appearance of evil, so shall thy conversation savour like ointment, and most sweet perfume. Now the Lord be with thee: Kiss me, and so farewell. The Pastor. here Sir are your little Children waiting for your blessing, it is good that ye say something to them for their instruction: The last words of a Friend or of a Father are often of greatest weight, and bear most into the remembrance of these to whom they are spoken. I fear that ye faint in your weakness, and therefore be as summar and short as ye can. The sick Man. I thank God, though the strength of my body decayeth, my Spirit is become stronger like Samson, after judge, 16. 22 that his hair began to grow: My force & courage within is renewed Psal. 103. 5 like the youth of the Eagle by casting of its bill: Blessed be he who giveth Isa. 40. 29. power to the faint, and increaseth strength to them that have no might. O Lord, mould mine heart after the A prayer heavenly model of thy Law: Empty mine head, and disburden mine heart of all earthly cares, that my thoughts may be wholly and entirely spent upon thyself without any turning awry from holy and heavenly meditations. The Pastor. Seeing God is with you in such a spiritual power, spend your short time the best ye may for his glory and for the well of these whom ye desire to be best in this world after you. * Note That new strength which appeareth in you at the sight of your Children remembereth me of old jaakob lying on his death-bed, when it was told him that joseph whom he loved was come to see him▪ it is said, That Israel strengthen himself, and Gen. 48. 2 sat upon the bed. The sick Man. I find the like mercy, though not in such a measure. O my God, fit and furnish my Soul A prayer with the sanctifying grace of thy spirit: Rouse up my Spirit, whet up my mind to feeke the things which are above: Lord, put a living Soul within this dying body. A speech to his Children And now ye my Children gather yourselves together and hearken unto your loving Father, that ye may remember well his last words. Come near me I pray you, and receive your old Father's blessing: Let me lay both mine hands upon your heads that I may make my last prayer for you. A prayer The Angel which redeemed me Gen. 48. 16. from all evil bless the Lads, and let them grow in multitude as fishes, God make you as Ephraim and as Manasses. Behold▪ now my dear Children, I go the way of all the earth▪ keep the charge 1 Kin. 2. 2. of the Lord your God▪ to walk in his ways, that ye may prosper in all that ye do, and whther soever ye turn yourselves: By instant prayers to God hem in the follies of your youth: * Note In this wicked evil world strive to be like fishes which keep their fresh taste while they live in saltest waters. Be careful to consecrate the first years, even the flower and prime of your life unto the Lord, which shall be a means for sanctifying the rest of your age: * Note The first born▪ and the first fruits under the Law of ceremonies were the Lords: The substance thereof in the Gospel, is that we give the Lord the best of our years and the flower and strength of our age: * Note Most men in the prime of youth are both hot and heady: Happy is he who in a sober mood and cold blood passeth the time of his sojourning here chiefly, while he is in the strength of youth: By careful culture & manurance the fierceness of Bears and Lions will be mitigated and tamed: It is a great slight of Satan to make young men sport in their sins, under hope they may repent when they are old: But alas, who is so young that can say, that he shall live until morrow? * Note Is it not seen that there be as many little as great skulls in Golgotha? As soon, say we, cometh the Lamb skin to the market as the old Sheep's: * Note But though they who are young were assured to become old, they could not be assured of repentance which is the gift of God, which he giveth to whom and when it shall please his Majesty: That which is the gift of God's good pleasure, is not a thing which a man may have when he pleaseth: Youth is joh. 5. 4. like the time of the stirring of the pool, a gracious time, if it be well employed: Christ I know may cure a Soul that hath been sick of the palsy of sin eight and thirty years, but that must be counted a most rare miracle: * Note Late repentance is seldom sound: But alas, though a man were assured that in his old days he should repent truly of all the follies of his youth, how bitter a thing is that which Gods word calleth Repentance? * Note A Pagan having gotten some little glimpse thereof, while he conferred the pleasures of sin with the pains of repentance, refused to bargain for his pleasures, saying plainly, Non eme●…im tanti poenitere, that he would not buy repentance so dear: Most men in the heat of their sins lay about them to find some pretence for the lessening thereof, lest they seem ugelie. Oh, that youth would be wise, our youth is either a great friend or a great foe unto our old age: If we get a fill of God's mercy in the morning Psal. 90. 14 of our age, we shall be glad and rejoice all our days: * Note The remembrance of a well spent youth, is in old age like the casting of the Eagles Psal. 103. 5 bill whereby its age is renewed: * Note O the silver coloured grey head of that old man, who from his youth in the main of his life, hath walked in the ways of righteousness! Grace from the Cradle is of great expectation: * Note Happy is that youth which is old in grace: If ye get grace to your youth, ye shall get glory after age: God it is who giveth both grace and glory. which two I may call the * Note everlasting twins conceived into the breast and bowels of that Mercy that is above. Take heed my Children: In your first days strive to be like the Ancient of days: * Note A good Conscience well kept in youth is a perpetual feast for old age: That man's youth is a great friend to his old age who can say with Obadiah, I fear the Lord 1 Kin. 18. 12 from my youth: A well spent youth is a blessed seed time for Heaven: A well spent youth is spiritual physic unto old age, which of itself on Earth, is a sickness drawing unto Death. As the well spent youth is a friend unto old age, so if it be evil spent, it is a most fearful foe; a foe full of woes: * Note woe to him whose old bones are sores with the sins of his youth: the Psal. 25. 7. Lord hath taken the pen in his hand wherewith after he that hath narrowly searched his ways, he shall write bitter things against him, and shall make him possess the iniquities of his job. 13. 26 youth: * Beware therefore to set your corruption to work, for to give the Prime of your life unto pleasures: Be wise in time, lest Satan shely foist in and closely convey corruptions into your young and tender hearts by tickling and tempting you to folly: * Note It is more easy while it is time to spend well the time, than after to redeem the misspent time: Why would ye trouble your old age with young follies? If ye saw the seed of folly in your youth, ye shall undoubtedly reapesheaves of sorrows in your old age: It is a sore troublé to sow in laughter & reap in tears: * Note In the best man that liveth, there is sufficient matter of mourning for his cloudy and rainy years: The old man hath enough to suffer under sickness, though he had no cumber of his sins: * Note O how pleasant is the bitter harvest of a foolish youth! O folly, hath not old age pains sufficiently in the body, though it be not surcharged with the troubles of the Spirit: What wisdom is this to surcharge the weakest age with the heaviest burden? * Note Think chiefly upon this, seeing the goodness of God followeth the whole life of man from his mother's belly to his burial, it is reason that his whole life as well youth as old age, be framed for to express his thankfulness. My first and chiefest direction to you is, that ye give to God the first fruits of your age: * Note Suffer not sin in your tender years to get hold & haunt in your hearts: A godly Youth hath a special promise 〈◊〉 God, these that seek me early 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 7. 17 find me: This parable was forged in Hell, young Saints old Devils, that is, A good Lad will be an evil man: And this is turned over again by the profane world, viz. An evil Lad will be a good man: Nay, but an evil Lad is in the way to prove an old wagstring: A young scoffing Ishmael will become an old swaggering reveller. Children in Scripture are called Plants: If in the Month of Psal. 128. 3 May a 〈◊〉 be without leaves or buds, we conceive little good hope of any fruits to be had in the harvest time thereafter: will a tree bring forth fruits before it flourish? When flourish time is passed without any blossom, shall we look for any fruit for that year? Learn of the trees to know your seasons: * Note Solomon sent the sluggard to Doctor Pismires school for to Prou. 6. 6. learn wisdom, to provide for the evil day: Strive with the trees in your youth to get a spring of grace, which may app●…are in the sprout and blossom of dispositions unto virtues. Mu●…ium est ass●…escere a teneris. * Note To begin well or evil is to be in the midst of the journey: Most powerful are the first impressions like the love of women which ordinarily is greatest towards her first Match the guide of her youth, who tulit primos Prou. 2. 17 amores, hath gorten the prime of her love: It is hard to fall from her first love: * Note See what a liking these who are in King's Courts will have to remember of the Cottage or rural village whereinto they were borne and brought up: The secret draught is so powerful that hardly can any express the cause: This made a Pagan to say, Nescio qua natale solum dulcedine cunctos Ducit, & immemores non sinit esse sui. By this ye may see how by a certain secret instinct we ever love the places where we have been borne & brought up: * Note Observe the lesson of this, if ye pass your youth in sin & in the pleasures thereof, hardly shall ye ever forget that company, do what ye can, ye shall ever have a certain secret love, which your Soul dare not avouch, toward that which ye once loved while ye were young. * Note If your sins be your Companions in your vouth, they will be your Counsellors in old age: Rehoboams fall was in this, that he took counsel of the young men that were grown up with him: If sin be 1 Kin, 12. 10 brought up with you in your youth, there is danger that ye take its counsel in your old age: The time of youth is most dangerous, for in it the affections are boiling, in it reign and rage unhallowed heat, and passionate distempers, which except they be repressed with the strength of grace, break out into the thunders and tempestuous storms of uncleanness, of riot & of drunkenness, and such like, which make most fearful breaches and deep gashes into the Conscience. Beware therefore at the first to sin, lest at last ye sin by custom: Isa. 48. 4. The hardening custom of sin is in Scripture called, An iron sinew in the neck, and a brazen brow: * Note If custom of sin make you impotent in well doing, it shall at last make you impudent in evil doing: * Note He who manteth or stammereth in his speech while he is young, will in all appearance speak so until his dying day: * Note Fools dream that man is like March, if he come in with an Adder's head, they think that he shall go out with a Peacocks' tail, as if an evil beginning were the way to an happy end. Be wise in time my dear hearts, from your youth consecrat your selves Nazarites unto the Lord, that is, Be pure and holy, touch no unclean thing, give not provocation to the flesh, but rather abstain from all 1 Pet, 2. 11 fleshly lusts which war against the Soul: What shame for God's sons to be sins slaves. If ye would live long, live well: * Note The wicked, saith Solomon, shall not prolong Eccles. 8. 13 his days which are as a shadow, because he feareth not before God: * Note For this cause it shall be your best to take the first handsel of time for well doing: Resist the Devil in the beginning of sin: * Note Fight against iniquity as against a foreign enemy at the borders of your heart, even at the first landing, before it get fitting in fast and stable ground: While it is fleeting, fight it off the shore: * Note Sin is like a Cockatrice it must be killed into the shell before it come out with piercing venomous looks: * Note Satan in this last and most corrupt age hath with many blots branded early holiness: As for you my counsel is, that with great care ye strive to begin well early in the morning of your age, and that thereafter ye constantly go on till like a Sun ye come to the Noon of grace in glory. * Note In three times of our age we should strive to three degrees of holiness: In Childhood we must be good, in Youth head we must grow better, in old Age we must be best: * Note He who is not best at last in mine opinion, was never good at all. In all Ages taken heed to all your ways be never wedded unto any sin, though it seem like Zoar but a little one: There is no sin so base that it will go alone without a Page at its back: while ye hear of others faults, practice Plato his Precept, Numquid ego tale? Have I done any such like thing myself? Strive in all your affairs to be upright before God and man: Be ever of these that stand on the Lord's side for the good cause: Let no consideration of profit or preferment make you to stifle the voice of your own Conscience: Shute not your ears at its cry like the Adder at the voice of Psal. 58. 4. the charmer. Be not loath to know yourselves, try and examine well your inward parts. Do never with great confidence that which ye can not do with a good Conscience. If ye sin, delight not in sin, such pleasures are too dear, & bought at too high a rate. In your whole like reverence your Pastor though subject to many infirmities, for we fail all in many things: Elias refused not his meat 1 Kin. 17. 6 because a Raven an unclean fowl brought it unto him: Best men often are signs and wonders even in Israel. Isa. 8. 18. Oh, that I had words of motion, that might stir you up to all Christian duties: Beware I exhort you to follow any evil example given by me: * Note Strive by grace to be better than the Rock which of ye have been hewn: Many a time have I started aside and stumbled in the way: It is a rare mercy of God that hath brought me thorough this world with honesty: It is only God's guard even his saving grace which hath kept my life from scab & scandal, for in truth, I speak it to my shame, that God may have the glory: I have been like a foolish Flee that flutters about the Candle: It is by the mere mercy of my God that the wings of my profession have not been scorched with the flammes of some one temptation or other, which should have been to me the cause of some filthy downfall: * Note A scandalous sin is like a damp which quencheth the bright Candle of a glorious profession. Let these that are forewarned strive to be forearmed: Happy is he who in time beateth down his own corruptions, and tameth his wild heart like an horse whom the Ridder breaketh, that he may travel him the parts and the pace as he best desireth: It it only God's mercy which hath stopped the torrent of my corruptions: Learn therefore of me to pass the 1 Pet: 1. 17. time of your sojourning here in fear: The evil which man least feareth, he is nearest to fall into. Take heed my dear Children, and give ear unto my counsel: * Where ever ye be, think shame to commit that which ye would think shame to confess: In all things strive to have a clear Conscience toward Act▪ 24 17 God and man: Respect more goodness than greatness and its sway: Be always courtesy: * Note Cut not a man in the current of his speech, be not selfe conceited, but be little in your own eyes: Strive rather to be good, than to seem to be so: Obey your betters, harken to the wise, reverence the grey hairs found in the way of righteousness: * Note Suffer rebuke patiently, for it is better than secret love; faithful are the wounds of a friend: Haunt ever the Prou. 27. 6 company of the godly: In all affairs be like the Bee, such out of all things the best, and leave the worst, seek out the honey, leaving the venom to the Wasp: Let every day be to you as your last day: * Note Before you go to bed at night make your score even with your judge: Be daily careful to fit your count▪ so shall ye have the less to account for at your final reakoning: In all things be upright and do well, for as jehosaphat said, The Lord will be with the good: If ye 2 ●…hro. 29 11 would dye, the death of the righteous, Numb. 23. 10 strive first to live the life of the righteous: * Note If ye would come to the end, ye must not leap over the means: While ye are young, kill your sins in their youth, even in their first motions, while they touch but the spirit Eph ●…. ●…4 of the mind, before they be hatched out from under the affections: Isa. 59 5. Break betimes the Cockatrice's egg, lest at last it break out into a Viper: Beware to conceive mischief, lest ye bring forth iniquity: * Note By the corruption of our corruptions, is the generation of our regeneration. Pamper not the Carion: * Note Beasts fed on the bare commons are not so near the slaughter as these that go into fatter pastures: B●…ware of all uncleanness: Make a covenant with your eyes not to behold wine & women: keep carefully your vessels clean in sanctification and honour: * Note If ye slip in any sin, beware to sleep in it, for that is death, Vita in vigilia est: * Note Godly men in old age regretting their former haunts, are lessons from God to teach Youth not to plot the pleasures wherewith God is displeased: Many sins of Youth be called tricks, but it is a terrible trick to go to Hell: * Note People foolishly cloak Fornication with a trick of youth, but the Spirit of GOD giveth it a scarlet cloak died in red with the blood of 1 Cor. 10. 10 three and twenty thousand. Be ye wise in time, let the remembrance of the shrill sound of the last trumpet ever hold your heart in a stir so soon as ye see the least appearance of evil: * Note Think no sin little, seeing it is against so great a Majesty: For eating of a tree Ada●… was banished out of Paradise: For touching the Ark shaken with the Oxen, Vzzah lost his life▪ For looking 2 Sam. 5. 7 into it fifty thousand three score 1 Sam. 6. 19 and ten men were slain at Bethshemeth: For gathering sticks upon the Sabbath, God declared that the man Numb. 15 39 should be stoned unto death without the Camp: Such things are written for our learning: As for you, stand in awe to sin in a thought: To clip the King's Coin were it never so little, is an high ●…reason: Be afraid at the first gloumes of your GOD: Crouch so soon as he beginneth to shake his rod at you: In all companies be constantly godly; like the Sun in his light: Too many like the Moon, now glister with reflexes of light, and anon are darkened: Now and then they appear with divers faces, now with Saul, they are Prophets among the Prophets, and anon as revoking all former godliness, they run riot with gluttons and revellers: O my beloved, think never shame to be godly among scorners: Care not that by your conscio●…able carriage the wicked be galled and grieved, in their mad mood they will call all godliness but outwardness and formality. Taken good he●…d to all your ways, set a guard about your thoughts, and a watch before your mouth: * Note Seeing the tongue is man's glory, let it not be abused with rotien Psal. 57 8. words: Let not your ears be open for to receive the scouring of other * Note men's filthy mouths. Be calm and quiet in all your ways: Be not rash or hasty, look before ye leap, be not self-willed, 2 Pet, 2. 10 proud contemners of your betters: Aspire not above your pitch: * Note Care not so much for man's d●…spight as for God's displeasure: Let God be the carver of all your car●…s. Abhor to be idle like these who sitting in the Chire of sloth: pass their time at handy dandie: Loiter not while ye should labour: * Note The first word that Pharaoh said to jaakob & his sons was, What is your tread or Gen. 44. 33 occupation? Be painful and faithful in your calling, live not litherlie as these that are given to sleep the sluggards lingering sickness: He is of a base spirit who sluggishlie gaping and stretching himself, lieth lusking on the down: Up, up from the feathers early in the morning strive with the Cock in watchfulness, and rise with the chirping of the birds: join watching against evil, with wishing and prayers for that which is good: * Note It is good that the body be moistened with the morning dew, early rising bringeth health to the body and increaseth the number of man's days: * Note I remember of a verse which while I was young served for a wakener for to rouse me from my morning sleep. Sanctificat sanat, dit at quoque surgere mane. That is it maketh holy, whole and rich to rise early in the morning, for this cause early buckle your selves to your business: Be wise and watchful: In all your enterprisses have an eye upon your God, do all as into his sight, be not too cast down in adversity, nor too puffed up in prosperity: * Note If man's applause make you to overween yourselves at any time, chasten your loftiness with the memory of many infirmities which are nested within you, in all things fear the worst, and hope the best: * Note That which seemeth to man unliklie, is not with God impossible. Let your life in a godly sober, & civil carriage shine before men that they seeing it, may glorify your heavenly Father: Strive not to be called Doctors and Rabbis though ye be men of letters, but above all strive to be teachers of others by good example and not by word only, lest ye be like the File which smootheth all other things, but itself remaineth rough: * Note Beware of all sinful pleasures which like fair Ladies come with alluring propines to woe and catch the unstable soul: * Note In the very throng of all your adoes draw yourselves to a set diet of private devotion. Mine heart beginneth to faint, of force I must make a pause: After that I am refreshed with a little rest, I shall declare to you all that is in my mind and memory. O my Soul, seek & sigh for grace: Be careful for a nearer acquaintance with the Lord of Heaven: Shortly thou shalt embrace him whom the Fathers by faith saluted but a far off. Heb. 11. 13 The Pastor. Lord, hear thou in Heaven the A prayer groans of thine humble supplicant, make him fully & freely to taste and partake of the pleasures of thy graces till he come to glory: Roll his wearied Soul within these compassions, which in thy mercy are rolled together: O dear jesus, besprinkle thou his heart with thy precious Soule-saving blood which is ever lovely to the merciful eye of the Father. Take breath a little Sir, that ye may continue in such precepts: such heavenly sentences were never bred nor brewed upon the earth: The Lord Ezek. 3. 1. himself hath put the Roll of these things into your mouth which ye have eaten, and which make your breath to have the savour of life unto 2 Cor. 2. 16 life: Certainly in some measure the Lord jesus hath breathed upon you, as he did upon his Apostles, when he said unto them, Receive the joh. 20. 22 holy Ghost. The sick Man. Lord imprint thine Image into my Soul afresh. My Spirit is revived, a new power is entered into me: Blessed Isa. 40. 29 be he who giveth power to the faint, and who increaseth strength to them that have no might. Give ear now again unto my speech. O ye my dear Children: Incline your ears unto the words of my mouth: * Note See that ye live in love; a rent is the forerunner of a ruin: If ye would live & die in honesty, practise all Christian duties: Fear God, love the Church, honour your King, be faithful to your Country, reverence your Mother: 1 P●…t. 3. 8 Be pitiful, be courteous, live in love together: * Note Your strength is in unity, like a sheaf of arrows: A Eccles. 4. 1 threefold cord is not easily broken: * Note Our Lord after that he had ended his last Supper prayed five several times, That his Disciples might be one: joh. 17. 11 21. 22. 23. 26. The smallest grain of discord will at last grow to such head & hear, that it will part these who are most entire in love: Let the falling out of Paul and Barnabas that blessed pair of most worthy workmen, teach all good men to live in love: * Note Men of a waspish nature cannot work Honey with the Bees: Bitter poison is only to be found in their Combs. So far as is possible have peace Psal. 34. 14 with all men: Seek Peace, and follow after it: * Note Be not bragger's nor brawlers' like Ishmael the wild man whose hand was against every man, and every man's hand against him: Return never evil for evil, less evil for good, but rather good for evil: Be not like Lions, which while they are young are gentle till their talons grow long: Have peace with all so far as is possible, and the God of peace shall abide with you. * Note Be not busy bodies in other men's matters for fear of after-claps if any thing be amiss: * Note One saith very well, In little ado much rest, in much adoeno rest. Learn of Peter's fall to flee all evil company, lest in the end ye come home with a weeping cross: It were better to suffer cold without, than within to be warmed with such as S. Peter met with in the high Priest's hall, such warmness is but a cold comfort: If ye fall in love with any sin strive not only to leave it, but also to loathe it. The Lord give you wisdom in all things: Be neither given to much company neither to sancie singularity: Enterprise nothing rashly without conferring first with God and with some godly friend: * Note Before ye intent a work, cast first the costs like the wise Builder in the Gospel, hold ever your mind upon God and honest things: * Note In most secret places think on God's eye which seeth our thoughts a far off: Be fervent in prayer: Grieve not the Spirit of Grace: Neglect not his graces within you: What ever they be, let them be carefully employed: See that ye be faithful in traffiqueing with your Lords Talents. for to return them with profit: Away with these who love to lurk in a lazy luskishness. This age is defiled with filthy Belghes of blasphemy: To swear and roar is counted good fellowship: Bridle ye your tongues, beware of the language of Hell: * Note By little and little in oaths the tongue is enured till it strike at Christ's wounds with bloody blows: * Note Cursed shall they be who die their tongue red in that blood, which is the ranso●…e of the world. Consider this I pray you, stand in awe and sin not: * Note Be not like the world's fools who being loose without any bridle of fear, care not what be their end, so that their way be pleasant: Believe not all reports: * Note Try before ye trust: B●…e not like the blind whelps which suck every thing that is put into their mouth, thinking it to be the teats of their mother: While ye live in the world be not worldlings: The most worthy are not most wealthy: Eutrapeles heaped riches upon these whom he hated, for to burden them with cares. Use the things of this world rather with hand than heart: Consider all things with a nature & impartial survey of all circumstances: Let neither Love nor Lucre make you to sway from the square and rule of righteousness: * Note All things below are but tottering and transitory trashes set upon a whirling wheel: There is none earthly thing of such worth for which a man should make a breach in his Conscience: If ye study to be rich, ye will fall into many temptations, it is hard to win much soone and well: * Note A short care is fittest for a short life: * Note Most men's hearts so are kerbed with carnal that spiritual meditations take up their hearts but at reversion by fit and starts. Be in good example one toanother: * Note Ye who are elders be like the great wheels of the Clock whereof if one be set a going, it will move its fellow, & that that other which is next unto it: * Note Let all your strife be in this, who in the Christian course shall out stripe his fellow joh. 20. 4. in well doing, as john and Peter ran a race who should be first at the Lords grave. * Note In all affairs see that your hearts be ever down right for the good cause: If ye would walk circumspectly in all your ways, have ever an eye upon your count: None of you can tell how soon ye must compeare in judgement. While ye are tempted unto sin, ask first your heart but these two questions, 1. What answer shall I make for tbis to my God at that great day? 2. Would I be content that another did the like unto me? Be wise like Serpents and innocent like Doves: Let your life be harmless; for in that day Righteousness shall bear & wear the Crown. If God spare your days, & bless you with years, beware to celebrate new years with old sins: * An old Father said of himself that when in his tender age he had once lost the tenor of an holy life grey hairs were got about his head before that he could recover it again: Grey hairs in the way of righteousness are called, a Crown of glory: But seeing while Prou. 16. 31 ye are young ye have no particular promise of long life, dream not of many days: It is hard to sit fast upon a sandy foundation: Delay not your repentance in a loitering lasines: But as a man that hath a set time for his task daleyes not, but carefully listeneth to the Clock and counteth his hours, so do ye: Be ever upon your watch until the time of your job. 14. 14 changing come: In the prime of your days be thinking on your end: Be instant with God, like Moses that he would so teach you to number your days Psal. 90. 12 that ye may apply your hearts to wisdom and to well doing: * Note Waste not the short Candle of your life at idle play, which God hath allotted to light you unto bed: There is no such foe to repentance, as to think that we have time enough to repent, or that we may repent when we please: * Note He that will not while he may, shall not when he would. Be not profane like Esau: Live not in a customary gross sin: Lose not the reins to your corrupt affections: If ye fall with the Saints, strive also with the Saints to be recovered out of your falls: * Note Many speak of David's fall who never remember David's rising: The repentance of the Godly is set down not to teach sinners to sin, that af●…er they may repent, but rather to drive them from sin, by letting them see how a short sweet is followed with a long sour: * Note What a fool is he, who seeing his Neighbour break his leg in breaking of an Orchard for an Apple, would leap the same loupe, being assured of as much, and all because he seeth that now his neighbour is soundly healed, and feeleth no more pain? If ye wander from God, hasten your return: A man out of the way must come back again: The soone●… he returneth the less is his labour: If ye fall in sin and rise again, beware to be relapse: * Note An Horse coming by the same place where he caught a fall, will start a back: Neither for Spur nor Wand will ye get him into the same hole again: David no doubt after once would not count the Tribes again, neither would Peter after that awful look of Christ, deny his Master again; neither would job sack any more to dispute with his God again: They all know by experience how bitter a thing such sins were, and therefore abhorred all such things at the very remembrance thereof. * Note Remember well I pray you that old age will inquire what youth hath been doing: This now know, that all youthlie pranking pleasures are followed with pages of pains, which cry unto others, that they listen not to the allurements and deceitful charms of their filthy flesh: While Dalilah lulleth in her lap, she is armed with Sissers for to cut the hair of our strength. It is good that both old & young have their loins ever girded & their Candles in their hands, waiting for that coming of their Lord: Learn of the foolish Virgins, how dangerous a thing it is to sleep without oil in your Lamps: Let never sin reign in your mortal bodies: Subdue the flesh to the Spirit: * Note If ye live in God's fear, look to die in God's favour: * Note Happy is the man that keepeth a Calendar of his days, whereby he may be roused up to think every day his last: * Note It is certain that our life like a ship upon the Sea is carried with a strange gale: There is none abiding here; our Sun is fast posting to the West, as he arose so shortly must he fall. And therefore though ye dwell one earth mind the things that are above: Let your Souls here in earth, Col. 3. 1. Luk. 16. 19 & on earth soar up toward the everlasting Tabernacles. * Note Too many Souls be Trewands from God, only minding the things that are below: Beware that thorny cares choke in your Souls the seed of grace: To be worldly minded is death: Aspire not above your pitch: * Note Thrust not yourselves in offices: An office is well called, A Calling, because man should wait till he be called unto it: It is better to be haled by force of others to great offices, than to rushrashlie upon them undesired: It were to be wished that rather men want Offices, than that Offices want men answerable to their discharge. Affect not to be singular in glorious shows of profession without substance, like Pedlars who hang out more than they have within: There be none so peevish as prattling professors without the power of practice: * Note The new creature in actions is the truest outward witness of the truth of the inward affections: Affection bewrayeth the evil affections. Malo esse probus quam haberi. It is better to be good, than so to seem. Among all humane duties be careful to keep love with your Neighbours: So far as is possible win the good word and will of all men: Be not contentious nor stirrers up of discords: God hath blessed Matth. 5. 9 the peace makers, The Apostles Precept is plain, Let brotherly love Heb. 13. 11 remain. Forget not the poor: Hide not yourselves from your own flesh: The rich and the poor will meet together, Prou. 22. 2 saith Solomon: That is, One good turn may be requited by another: If they cannot recompense you, they will pray for you: * Note Though that which ye give unto them at the first seem to be lost, like seed sown into a running water which carrieth it away, the Lord, who brought back the jordan shall bring back your lost josh. 3. 16. seed with a plentiful increase: Cast then your bread upon the waters, for Eccles. 11. ●… ye shall find it after many days: Christ's counsel is, that rich men make Luk. 16. 9 unto themselves friends of the Mammon of unrighteausnesse: If ye receive the poor in their need into your earthly mansions, they by their prayers shall receive you in your greater need into everlasting Tabernacles: * Note When Dives hath dined let Lazarus have the crumbs: * Note Cursed Adam was covered but with fig leaves, and Christ cursed the fig tree for having leaves without fruits: While ye give alms let all be done without a desire to be seen or praised of men: Let not your left hand know what the right hand giveth, and God shall reward that humble secrecy with open honour: What ever be done, see that it be done in Faith, without which most glorious works are but glistering sins, and Pharisees alms, beggars of praise, things done to be seen. Be meek and gentle toward all: * Note The Spirit of God cannot light upon a Soul but in the shape of a Dove: Every way of a man is right Prou. 21. ●… in his own eyes: But the Lord pondereth the hearts. My Spirit fainteth, my breath shorteneth, mine heart sickeneth, I find Death now besieging my Noble parts: I cannot tell how soon God shall fetch away my Soul: It is most certain that I draw near to Psal. 107. 18 the doors of death. I have yet something in my mind for to tell you, O my dear Children; but for weakness I cannot, till I be refreshed with a little rest: Within a little space I look to be locked in my grave. O Lord, say unto my Soul, I am thy Salvation: Refresh mine heart, rejoice my Soul with a sight of thy reconcealed A prayer face, before that I go hence, and be seen no more. The Pastor. Lord, hear thou in Heaven. O how much fruit groweth off one stalk: GOD'S grace in you hath brought forth a large harvest of comforts to all that have heard you. The Lord renew your strength, and A prayer put his Spirit within you: The Lord sanctify your Spirit, which is the Candle Prou. 20. 17 of the Lord, searching all the bowels of the belly. The God of all grace hath cleansed and purified your words through the stramer of his great mercy: * So soon as ye have gathered strength let us hear the rest of your counsel to your Children: In it is wisdom for to be learned of old age, recover your force a little, that ye may conclude that which ye have begun: * Note It is good in good things to go through stitch. The sick Man. O Lord, perfect thy strength in my great weakness. My dear Children hearken unto me: It is not possible but in this evil world ye shall be troubled with great and grievous afflictions: In my great griefs I was ever wont to comfort myself with that wise speech of Solomon, When a man's Prou. 16. 7 ways shall please the Lord, he shall make even his enemies to be at peace with him: If any man offend you, or is offended against you, persuade yourselves that some of your ways please not the Lord, and therefore if ye would please good men, or have good men for to please you, walk in the ways which will please the Lord: All men's hearts are in his Prou▪ 21. 17 hands like rivers of water: He can make a foe of a friend, and a friend of a foe: * Note If ye neglect this counsel, ye shall at last be forced to stand at staff's end with the whole world: He who is at variance with his God, will never agree with himself, and so shall be in discord with all, for as the Pagan said well, Conveniet nulli qui secum dissidet ipse. He who is not good to himself, can be good to none: Though commonly men say of some, He is, or was evil to none, but to himself: A wise man in this land hath made a good reply to that speech, viz. It were alms to hang him that is not good to himself. Now ye are young, yet breath is in the body, Work while it is light: * Note Be careful to keep a Calendar as it were of your days which may call upon you hourly, be diligent for the time is short: By years, days, and hours, our life is continually cut and sklised away. What shall I say more? The Lord give you wisdom in all things: Godliness is true wisdom: Best spirited men are not ever most spiritual: As for you▪ strive truly to be religious Nathanaels' Israelites indeed. joh. 1. 47. Every night before ye go to bedde, set before your eyes the mercies of that day: Muster them orderly and take a view of them carefully, that upon your knees from your hearts ye may give God his praise▪ While ye are gone from the public prayer of the Family unto your private bed Chamber, remember God's mercies afresh: While ye remember them, let this be your last collation drink before ye go to bedde; Psal. 116. 13. take with David the cup of Salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord: * Note As trades men have a day Book for daily receipts, it were expedient that all the godly have a register wherein may be written the noble acts of the Lord, for to help ou●… weak memory, lest we suffer his mercies to slip out of our mind: * Note If ye either forget your sins or God's mercy, remember that ye have a Conscience which is a daily observer, a night watch, and a secret spy into your Souls. In all your adoes strive to be righteous before God, and upright before men: See in a short verse what shall be the end both of the godly and wicked The memory of the just is blessed: Prou. 10. 7 But the name of the wicked shall rotie. O my dear Children, lay up carefully these words into your hearts which I your old Father have spoken with much pain: * Note Think upon this, one day Death will inquire what Life hath been doing. As for my worldly affairs, as Rents or Goods, if they be great lippen not to them: If they be little, little with God's grace is enough: If ye be godly, God shall be your Father and your feeder: If ye abound be not prodigal: Make not a god of your Belly: Beware to tipple or quaff, or with the glutton to feed delicately: Care not for paunch pleasures: Luk. 16. 19 john lived on locusts: * Note It is Matth. 3. 4 better to live on Cake and water with a godly Elias than to feast royally with a foolish Nabal: Though feasts be pleasant they are dangerous: When the days of feasting were ended job sent & sanctified his children, job. 1. 5. & rose up early in the morning for to offer burnt offerings for them all: for job said, It may be that my sons have sinned & cursed God in their heart: Single feasting is fittest for the Soul and most wholesome for the body: God sendeth sluggards to the Pismire as to a Master of work for to direct them from loitering to labour. * Note Let gluttons whose dearest delights, are in panch-pleasures from morning until even learn of the Swallows who sit not down to dine but feed while they flee: As they feed on flees, so they flee while they feed: What should man do with his Belly, but feed it as in a flight: Let the wings of sobriety carry you from glutting plenty before ye be overtaken with that which shall make you to be ashamed to morrow: While yebegin to drink, beware of after-clapes: Men by a little distemper at the fi●…st contract easily an habit of sine: * Note S. Augustine speaking how his Mother MONICA, learned to tipple, ●…aith, Primoribus labijs sorbebat exiguum: August. Confess. lib. 9 c. 8 Itaque ad illud modicum quotidi●…na modica addendo in eam consuetudinem lapsa erat ut prope jam plenos mero calices inhianter hauriret. That is, At the first she began but to kiss the cup, and to sip a little of the wine while she filled the Cup to her Parents, but anon she came to this, that she made no bones to suck dry full Cups of wine: See how from sipping at last she came to carousing. Oh, but that is a dear drink, which costeth a man a Spot in his name & a blot in his conscience: Experience telleth that pleasures is more dangerous than pain, and feasting than fasting: Remember jobs children, see in what a fear that godly Father was concerning their ●…easting: Certainly his fear was not a foolish fear without any ground: It is set down in Scripture for to teach men fear in feasting: * Note Too many at such times turn themselves into barrels and beasts swinishlie overturning all reason & judgement that is within them: As for you, be ye sobber if ye would be holy: God will not tarry into that heart which hath a god in the belly: * Note He who would lodge the Ark must chasse Dagon to the door like a dog: * Note Many who neglect the belly▪ have pride printed in great capital Letters upon their back: Be ye not sumptuous in apparel: * Note Let God give you the coat according to the cold: Follow not new fashions: Beware of evil example: Woe to the world for scandales. As ye should not be prodigal, be not also misers, pinchpennies: Defraud not yourselves of your granted good: Be thankful to God for all his gifts: Away with these who after they have received that which they sought, have done with God, till they need him again. In all the course of your life strive to hold the Balance equal, virtues in the midst: * Note Extremities are like Border thieves not subject to the Laws. Be neither too nice, nor too pert, too scurrile nor too silent: * Note In worldly wealth try before ye treasure: If ye be rich, glory not in your riches; if ye be poor, pray God to keep you from the extremity of poverty, lest that ye put forth your hand to steal: * Note If God send poverty be not discouraged: Though it be sore, it is no sin: Lazarus with his rags was welcomer to God than Dives with his purple: He who begged from that rich man on earth, saw the rich man a beggar into Hell: He is rich enough who hath the favour of his God: * Note In good life is long life. Nequities vitae non sinit esse senem. The wickedness of life abbridgeth the life. Be more desirous to live well, than to live long: Too too many live to spend their grace-right with their Birth▪ right: Such like wanton Widows are dead while they live▪ If ye fall in sin, up, up, make haste to return unto your God: Repentance delayed in youth is a strengthening of sin against the old and weaker age: The least sin entertained maketh a way for more: * Note The least drop of the juice of evil is like leaven that soureth the whole lump▪ If in this world ye prosper, be not taken up with self foolish conceit: Take not outward prosperity to be the ell and measure of God's love: * Note Whether ye whither or ye flourish in worldly things, think upon this, that your misery or happiness can be in nothing but in that which is eternal: * Note Go where ye please, the justice of God one day shall try the footsteps which ye have trodden. The chief Legacy which I leave to you all is the Charter of God's promise, which I have received by the hand of Faith: In it is an Heritage of lines fallen in pleasant places, VIZ. That not only he should be my God, but that he should be a God to Exod. 20. 6. my Children unto thousand generations keep fast this promise into the Charter Chists of your hearts: In confidence of this promise depend upon your God in well and in ●…oe, in wealth and in want: Though he should slay you, yet say with job that ye will trust in him. Now for to draw to an end, for my breath faileth, and mine heart fainteth, I desire you above all things to be earnest in prayer with God: * Note By prayer morning & evening dress your Souls like the Lamps of God's Tabernacle: Fill them of the pure oil-olive of his grace, that always they may shine. * Note Eliphaz charged job chiefly with this, as being the chief cause of all his woe, that he restrained prayer before job. 15. 4. God: With this the Psalmest hath branded the wicked, They call not Psal. 14. 4. Psal. 5 3. 4. upon God, and again, They call not upon God: * Note It is observed by the most cunning Physicians that pain in speaking and loathing of meat, be two symptoms of a diseased & distempered body: A Soul while it prayeth, it speaketh; while it heareth it eateth. If there be pain in the one and loathing in the other, that Soul cannot be well: Thrice a day David was wont to pray, at morning, Psal. 55. 16 evening▪ and at noon: * Note This zeal also wakened him while others were sleeping: At midnight he arole for Psal. 119. to pray unto his God: Happy is that man, who shall so spend the short time of his life in this valley of mortality. Let this in all things be an awband above your heads, that the eye of the Almighty God is ever upon you, and that he is acquainted with all your ways: Where ever ye be think yourselves ever to be in that most awful presence: make Conscience of all your thoughts, for the Prou. 24. 9 very thought of foolishness is evil. Beware of the lusts of youth: Strive with God in prayer, that he would so engage you in his grace & love, that your corruption prove not strongest while your wits are weakest: Entreat earnestly the Lord that he would make perfect his strength in your weakness. 2 Cor. 12. 9 When ye find any good beginnings of Grace within yourselves, wait steadfastly upon the due accomplishment thereof in Glory: Whom the Lord loveth he loveth to the end, his call and gifts are without repentance. If this ye do carefully, ye shall be like twigs which having a vigorous life, sprout and flourish till they come to trees. And now at last for to conclude and sum up the whole briefly: If ye would have God to dwell into you, be ye an holy Sanctuary for his Spirit: If ye would have God to rest in you as he did into his holy Temple there must be in you as was in his Temple an Holy of holies: * Note As were within God's Ark so must ye have within your hearts, the Tables of God's Law the sum of the Old Testament, and with them the pot of Manna, even Christ the bread of life the substance of the New joh. 6. 35. Testament. Love this word; honour this word, bleed for this word, yea, & die for it. Many in this world be like these Pultrons and base spirited men of Thessalonica, who had no Act. 17. 11 courage for the t●…ueth: As for you, strive to be like these of Berea, who were better borne & of a more manly breeding in that they were courageous for the Truth. Strive to the keeping of God's Commandments for like friends they are so linked together that if one be offended, all the rest will interest themselves in its quarrel, fail in one, and fail in all Pray fervently, that ye may practise all these my precepts This doing ye shall never find yourselves fatherless: The great God shallbe your Father: To this Father now I give you, irtreating him to be a Father unto you in all times to ensue. A prayer The Father of mercies, the Son of his love, and the Spirit of c●…mfortes, so guide you in all your carriage that ye may carry an incorrupt Conscience to the 1 P●…t, 5. 10 Grave. The God of all grace make you perfect▪ establish, strengthen, settle you, & lead you in the Land of uprightness: Psal. 144. 10 The Lord bless you all with his best blessings: My blessing I leave you: Kiss me, and so fare well. Now the day is fatre spent, and my strength beginneth to fail me, seeing all things as the Apostle saith, are sanctified by the word of God and 1 Tim. 4. 5 prayer, let us conclude this day's conference with our humble supplications unto our God. My dear Pastor offer ye up this Evening Sacrifice: The Lord perfume it with the spiritual incense of Christ's merits, that thereby our Souls being perfumed, the Lord may find a smell as the smell of a field which the Gen. 27. 27 Lord hath blessed. Pray earnestly for me, that the Lord give me both strength and courage for the fight out of this Battle, that in the end I may be crowned with the Laurels of an everlasting victory. The Pastor. My Soul rejoiceth to have heard so many good words from your mouth: Solomon said very well and wisely, A word spoken in due season Prou. 15. 23 how good is it? According to your desire we shall conceive a Prayer to GOD for you. The Lord power upon all our Souls Zach. 12. 10 that promised Spirit of grace and of supplications. A Prayer for the sick Man. Sore weakened with sickness. MOst gracious GOD, most Psal. 19 24. dear & loving Father, Let the word of our mouth, & the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, our strength and our Redeemer. By thy Spirit banish all straggling thoughts, and keep our minds steady and attentive in this chiefest work of devotion. Behold, LORD, and consider here thy poor Servant fainting in great weakness of body, But though flesh and friends, health, & wealth, and all should fail him, thou, LORD, will never fail him: He is thy Servant, he is thy Servant, the son of thy handmaid: Thou hast most powerfully hitherto supported and upholden him by thy merciful hand: Now leave him not while he is drawing near unto his long home. Eccles. 12. 5 It is easy to perceive that his age is departing from him, like a shepherd's Isa. 38. 12. tent, and that thou art ready to cut off his life like a weaver: His desire, LORD, is to be with Thee, Thou hast heard the sigh of this prisoner, and thou hast understood the groans of thine own Spirit: As thou hast begun the good work in him so perfect it in due time: As thou dost with the year crown it with thy goodness: withdraw not thy Psal. 65. 11▪ Grace from him till it be made perfect in weakness. Thou, LORD, hast manifested thy love to him wonderfully, by putting into his mind and mouth such divine precepts and counsel●… to his Friends, Wife, and Children, that all that have heard them have been forced to wonder at the glory of thy grace. Now dear jesus let thy force be with him in his fainting, but the nearer he draweth unto his end, l●…t thy Spirit the Comforter enable him the more, till victoriously he hath put an end unto this Battle: As the strength of his body shall begin to decrease, let the comforts of thy Spirit increase in his Soul: Seal up in his heart that peace which thou hast purchased by the blood of the Prince of peace: Assure him of the rest of these joys which are to be revealed, whereof he hath already received the earnest: O, say unto his Soul, that thou shalt be his Salvation. In the silence of the night while deep sleep falleth on man, make thou his job. 4 13. reins to instruct him: Suggest unto his heart the sweetest words of thy comforts which may be unto him like apples of gold in pictures of silver: Prou. 25. 11 Wain his heart daily more and more from the love of things below: Make thou his Soul to soar up with Eagles wings towards the heavenly Isa. 40. 31 Mansions. Prepare now his Soul to the last conflict: Put upon him all the Armour of God: Strengthen Ephes. 6. 11 his Faith, that he may hold fast by Thee, yea, so resoluedlie, that though thou should slay him, yet he may trust in thee. When the force of sickness shall taken away the use of his tongue, make his heart to groan unto Thee in the secret language of thy Spirit, ●…hat in thine hands he commen●… 〈◊〉 his Soul and that he desireth thee to come quickly for his relief. Let not the increasing throes and pangs of death discourage him: In greatest anguish uphold his enfeebled heart with the hope of Glory: Look on him, Lord, with the eye of thy mercy, incline thine ear to the sighs of his heart, make haste to come for his Soul is longing for his appointed job. 14. 14 time, till his change come: As thou art the Lord of life, so unto thee belong the issues of death: Let strength proceed from thee like virtue from Christ's garment, whereby he may be encouraged against the fearful assaults of death, which shortly in all appearance shall besiege his noble parts, for to bring him unto dust from whence he came? Make thy Spirit to enter into his heart for to uphold him against this fear & smart of his last and most heavy hour. Let him know that if the earthly 2 Cor 5. 1 house of his Tabernacle be dissolved that he hath a building of God, an house not made with hand eternal in the heaven: Make his Soul more and more earnestly to groan for to be clothed upon with his house, which is 2 Cor. 5. 6 from Heaven: Seeing while he is here at home in the body, he is absent from the Lord, make thou him confident and willing rather to be absent from the body, that he may be present with Thee in the Heavens. Let the hope of the Resurrection uphold him against all the terrors of the Gra●…e: Persuade his Soul that at the sound of that shrill celestial Trumpet, his body shall arise, and with these same eyes shall behold his Redeemer, and none other for him. Innumerable evils, Lord, have compassed him about: Now the time approacheth that thou wilt deliver him from all his fears: Make haste, Lord, Come Lord jesus, come. Rebuke Satan we entreat thee, that in the darksome night he interrupt not the comforts of thy Spirit: Suffer never that sly and crafty one, to bereave him of the pledges of thy love: Make him to hold fast that which he hath, that none be able to take his Crown: O merciful God, take notice of all his wants and necessities; and be thou to him SHADAI GOD all sufficient for to supply them: Let him not want that Grace without the which he cannot serve thee: Through thyself make him to push down all the enemies of his Salvation: Through thy Name make him to tread them under foot that rise up against him, for he hath not forgotten the Name of thee his God, neither hath he stretched out his hands to a strange God. While his eye-stringes shall be broken, and when the throes of death shall make his heart to tumble within him, then be thou the strength of his heart, the health of his countenance, and his God. In his greatest griefs anoint his Soul with some drops of that oil of gladness wherewith thou once anointed our Lord and Saviour above his fellows: Let ●…sal. 45, 7 thy Graces like that precious ointment that ran down upon the beard of Psal. 133. 2 Aaron flow down from thee abundantly upon all the powers of his Soul: Let spiritual virtues drop down upon him as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon Psal. 133. 3. the mountains of Zion. O thou the perfection of beauty shine upon his Soul: Endue him with a melting and relenting heart. Be merciful to thy distressed Church, comfort Her in all Her tears and troubles: Pity Her deformities: Adorn Her with Purity and Unity: Though She be 1 Cant. 1. 6. outwardly 1. dusky because the Sun hath withered Her, yet She is the King's Daughter whose 2. whole glory 2 Psal. 45. 13 is within: 3 Awake, O North 3 Cant. 4. 6 Wind, and come thou South blow upon Her Garden, that the spices thereof may flow out: Declare unto Her enemies that if they 4 touch Her, they shall touch 4 Zach. 2. ●… the Apple of thine Eye. Let them all know that it is 5 hard to kick against 5 Act. 9 5 pricks, and that if they perlecute thee, Thou wilt throw them to the ground. Be merciful to our gracious SOVEREIGN the King's Majesty, as by thy Grace thou hast made him a King, so by thy Grace make Him a good King: Pour down a princely Spirit upon his Soul, that He may have courage for the Truth: Make Him answerable to his most honourable Style, Defender of the Faith. Vouchsafe thy mercy upon his Princely Spouse: Let the beauty of the Lord Her God be upon Her, Make Her like the King's Daughter Psal. 45. 13 which is all glorious within: Make Her a Mother in Israel, a Nurse Mother to thy Church, an happy Mother of blessed Children. Be merciful to all the Nobility of our Land, fix fast their hearts upon the things that are above, Bless our Pastors, make them painful & Faithful at thy Service, that they may gain with the Talents which thou hast committed to their keeping: Make them to strive more then for states to be in thy favour: Let their chiefest care be to win and woo many Souls to the love of jesus, the blessed Bridegroom of joh. 3. 29. the Church. Good LORD, be merciful to us that are here humbled before thee: Increase our Faith, and better our feeling and apprehension of thy love Look graciously upon this our evening sacrifice which we do here render unto thy Majestic perfumed with the merits of thy Son in that prayer which he by his most sacred wisdom hath taught us saying, Our Father which art, etc. The sick Man. Before the market time of my life A prayer be ended, O my dear God, let me have a rich pennie-worth of thy mercy: Thou who biddeth us buy without money, give us grace to taken the advantage of the Market, before the Sun of our life be set. O that in this our day we could know the things belonging to our peace, that in an holy zeal the corruptions of our affections wherewith our hearts here be in●…hralled and sold under sin, may be justled out and tread under foot. THE EIGHTH DAY'S Conference. A Conference with a carnal Friend concerning his Burial: Concerning Funeral Sermons: Divers prayers: Death approaching: A Soliloque●… between the Soul and the body in a trance, their last adewes: The last gasps: Michael and Satan disput for the Soul. The sick Man. THE troublous toils of this world are the bane of Man's life, they surfeit his mind with car●…s: My Spirit is much wearied, Oh, that I had wings like a Dove, then would I fly Psal. 55 7 away and rest: * Note O with how many roots are we fastened unto this earth: The World, Wife, Life, and Children, but most of all our own corruptions are burdens which hang so fast on, that none hand but that of the Almighty is able to shake them off: So long as we have health and wealth we stalk in our vanities, like Nebuchadnezar in his palace of confusion: We never perceive that we dwell in Babble till one judgement or other bring us to confusion: We will not suffer to be reproved while the time is fittest for repentance: We are offended at the word except that it glide by our faults: We will not with Peter be withstood to the face: Gal. 2, 11. * Note The Preacher must whisper his reproofs behind our backs, or he must speak unto us as unto Princes into Parables: We hear like stones, and 2 Sam. 12. 1 go like snails: Fie upon us; Oh, that we were wise. A carnal Friend. What are ye now doing Sir? In all appearance ye are shortly for to leave this world, ye have said all your adewes and have turned your back upon all worldly things as Hezekiah did when he turned his face Psa. 38. 2. to the wall. I desire Sir▪ to know of you but one thing, Where would ye be buried? Were it not expedient that your Corpse lie into the Church, where are buried these which are in greatest account in this world? The sick Man. What have I to do with this world▪ 2 Cor. 7. 31 or with the fashions of this world▪ which pass away? * Note Wherefore should I make the glorious House of my God a flesh pot of corruption? Fie upon our folly: Should it be convenient that my stinking bones cast up any noisome vapours, for to trouble the living at the service of the everliving? What advantage shall it be to my Soul to come and fetch this body out of a Church more than out of a Church yard? What prerogative shall it be to my body in that day, that it hath been buried into God's House? God's House in Scripture is called, An House of prayer; but in Matth. 21. 13 no place is it called, A place of burial: Let no man make me an evil example after my death: * Note What is this; How long shall foolish man go round in his course and compass of vanity, like a blind horse in a Mill? The carnal Friend. But would ye not at least have a Tomb Sir, and your name written upon it with this, here lieth such a man? The sick Man. * Note Vain man is glutted with vanity even unto the gorge pipe: Why trouble ye me with vanity in death, who is now mourning for the vanity of my life? mine account is cast up for another world: My name is written into the Book of life, what care I for Reuel. 3. 5 Letters into stones? away with such Banners of pride: Such things are but cold comforts to a wearied Conscience: Such things are but vanities of none abode: Where are now the Mausels and most glorious Tombs of Emperors: It was well said by a Pagan, Sunt etiam sua fata Sepulchris. That is for to give a gloss to these words, Tombs wherein the dead are buried, will be buried themselves: Nothing is here permanent, Triumphs have their Tombs, and Crowns have their compass. O my God, faste●… A prayer and fix the eyes of my Soul upon that which is eternal. O the follies of men's hearts, who vainly and needlessly waste upon their dead vanities that which might build houses for the poor: But let proud men lie under their stately Towers, such lifted up stones must at last fall down as he fell who now lieth under them. I like well of Beza his answer on his death bed to one that spoke to him Beza his reply on his death bed. of a Tomb, Sub cespi●…e viridi, said he That is▪ Lay me under the green Turf: A notable word of humility: Gen. 35. 8 Good Deborah was buried under an Oak tree: Many may lie under painted stones whose Souls are pined into Hell: God will never inquire of a man's Soul where was thy body buried? But how hast thou lived into that body▪ shall he say: Lay me then under the green Turf: * Note How many Martyrs have been burnt into ashes which have been cast up into the wind, and scattered upon the waters? Coelo tegitur qui non habet urnam. He is covered with the Heavens who wanteth a grave. Facilis jactura Sepulchri est. The loss of burial is no great loss. O that my Soul▪ were truly humble: * Note I have alas in the days of my vanity been too much pined with the pride of life, scandalously appearing without: but, O, O, O, Si trabes in oculo strews in cord, a little beam of pride in the eye telleth that there is a stake of it in the heart: And yet in this Turf of humility which I cry for, I spy a lurking pride: Pride is a secret thing so small spun that hardly can it be discerned: A man will be proud that he is not proud, or rather because he will not seem to be proud: This is privy pride: The humblest heart is not ever covered with coursest apparel, yet certainly it is good both in life & in death to show good example: Lesser sins at the first make way, and pave a causey for greater: follies framed by some are followed by others: Woe to the world for scandales. The chief thing at burials whereof men would take heed, is that the dead bury not the dead▪ Woe to these buriers when these who are dead in sin bury them who are dead for sin: As for you Friend, be wise in your words, The lips of the fool, Eccles. 10. 12 said the wise man, will swallow up himself▪ In many men the affections keep captive the understanding. The carnal Friend. I pray God to make me wise. In all this which I have spoken there is no great matter of folly: Seeing the pomp of burial displeaseth you, ye may be willing that a funeral Sermon be▪ made for your praise & commendation, no man of any worth now wanteth this honour. The sick Man. So many men so many minds: Away with the flattering panegyrics of such funeral praise: Let Christ be preached and not sinful man: Away with that preaching whereof man is the Text: * Note Solomon speaking of the good wife, sayeth wisely, Let Prou. 31. 31 her own works praise her in the gates: So let the by past life of a man praise him in his death: All men are liars, but Dummie cannot lie. * Note If I have lived well, my life shall grace and praise me sufficiently: If not, wherefore should I make the Trumpeter of truth to become a libeler of lies? Vivorum sunt haec solatia non mortuorum. Such comforts are only for the living but not for the dead: O the vanity of stinking pride which blasteth the souls of men with most filthy stains. * Note Tell me I pray you who made Christ's funeral Sermon when he was laid into the Grave? He whose life could never preach, is not worthy to be preached upon after his death: If while we live our life preach, it will preach also after our death: * Note The best funeral Sermon a man can have is when his life maketh all his godly neighbours to say, This man while he lived 〈◊〉 a Nathanael an Israelite indeed, without any fraud or guile: He was a man who truly and sincerely lived in the fear of his God. But men must be preached, will ye say, for such is now the fashion: Well, if men will be preached with Seraphical tongues, let him who preacheth their virtues also preach their vices, as the Prophets did of old, not sparing Kings: David's treachery 2 Sam. 11. 4 and his adultery, his murder and his numbering of the people are as 2 Sam. 24. 1 well set down as his desire of the building of the Temple: So Solomon's 1 Kin. 11 4 idolatry and foolishness is 2 Chr. 32. 25 2 Chr. 20, 37 as well put in write as his wisdom: So Hezekiahs' pride, and johoshaphats loving of these that ha●…ed the Lord, and josiahs' rashness in 2 Chr, 35, 22 battle against Pharaoh Neco, are plainly declared & faithfully penned, that all the world may know that they were but poor sinners: It is written of God's beloved people, that for their sins God delivered his strength into captivity: By Psal. 78. 6 this appeareth evidently that the best Kings and best people are in God's word as well painted in their vices as in their virtues. He who would rightly draw a man's portraiture must paint his blamishes as well as his beauty: In such a case his wrats & his wrinkles must be wrought with the pinsell, that his image may be like unto himself: * Note If men be only portreyed in their virtues, the half of their face shall not be seen: What is the most part of man's life here but a sinning against God, and a provocation of the eyes of his glory? * Note The best men that live here in the greatest perfection of God's image are like a quarter Moon, enlightened but in a fourth part: How many have but a sharp edge like the Moon first seen after the change? If funeral Sermons were made after this fashion, that men's vices were as well reproved, as their virtues commended, the Preacher should be desired to keep silence. If ye would preach my virtues, ye must also preach my vices, and then when should that Sermon have an end? Fie on the pride of life, which all good men chiefly at their death should both condemn and contemn. Of old in Scripture we read of the pride of life: But now in this last age Satan hath hatched a new pride called, The pride of death, even of death which bringeth all men low: * Note Pride printed into stones cryeth to the living, here lieth a proud Fellow: He that will be proud in death, when shall he be humble? * Away with that which is both hateful unto God and hurtful unto man. For all that is said, I would not absolutely blame Funeral Sermons; for the death of God's Saints is precious in his sight: * Note That which is precious in the eyes of God, may be declared glorious in the ears of men. But yet with leave I must say that with reason in a great part of our Churches they have been abrogate and casseered because of abuse: * Note Seeing the Brazen Serpent which was made at the first by Gods own appointment was broken in pieces for the abuse thereof and disdainfully called, Nehushtan, a lump of Brass, much more things which God never commanded in his word for to be, being filthily abused, may be rejected▪ * Note For is it not now come to pass and that to the great disgrace of many Preachers, to the harkening and hardening of lewd livers that men whose life was full of scab & scandales, their names being rotten fore their bodies, are so decked & busked up with flowers of Rhetoric, so wrapped up into hyperbolicke commendations as it were into a seare-cloath, for thereby to keep close within smothered the stinking smell of their most filthy memory. Let all abuse be taken away: As for me I would not that men should be too contentious and eager in things neither bidden nor forbidden by God: * Note Paul and Barnabas for an indifferent thing came at last to such an heat, that they departed one Act. 15. 39 from another: But I cannot read that ever they met again. * Note If none but these whom God set out as lights of life were praised after death for to be a spur unto the living, for to follow their footsteps, it should not be a miss briefly to say somewhat to the praise of the defunct: * Note Why should not the glory of God's graces in his Saints pass along & glance clearly in the eyes of these that are alive? But let ever the body of the Sermon run upon Christ's life & death wherefrae issueth all the grace and virtue of man's life, within one period of a preaching the praise of any man may find sufficient bounds▪ Now I thank you loving Friend for your kindness and good will: But also let me entreat you not to be so worldly minded: It may be that shortly as I am now, so shall ye be: Man's life at the longest may be measured with a span: Behold, said the Psalmest, thou hast made my Psal. 39, 5, days of an hand-breadth: Mine age is as nothing before thee: Our life is but a vapour and a wind which once passeth jam. 4, 14, Psal, 78, 39 away returneth not again: It should therefore be your best in time to prepare yourselves for a better life and not with many to rely securely upon a possibility of pardon: If ye be wise, venture not upon such broken staffs which fail in greatest need. The carnal Friend. Think not the worse of me Sir, if I desire you to be honoured with the best in Burial, be not too precise, I hope that we all shall come to heaven at last, we are all sinners: I hope before I die, to repent me of all my sins. The sick Man. * Note S. Augustins' words are of great power. Metuendum est ne te occidat S. Augu. spes: & cum multum speres de misericordia incidas in judicium. It is to be feared that while men hope for nothing so much as mercy, even than they fall into damnation. I pray God that such hopes deceive you not: * Note Many foolishly make a pack horse of Christ's merits and Gods mercies, not caring what burdens they lay on: * Note A broken heart is only an heart qualified for the pardons of heaven: If Christ jesus his words be of any credit among men, this we must hold that none shall come to heaven but by the narrow way. Matth. 7. 13 * Note Satan with his temptations hath bored out the eyes of many as the Philistines did to Samson: But judg. 16, 21 alas, who hath the courage of Samson to seek to be led to the chief pillars that he may pull them down for to be revenged upon his foes? Alas, this is the fashion of this world, men like the sluggard live in Prou. 24. 33 delays in steep and in sloth; Yet a little while, and yet a little while: No man will build an Ark until the Gen. 19 16. flood come: Let himself did linger to save himself from a brim stone fire: * Note Men have no leisure to be saved; so hard is it for the most part to pluke their feet out of the clutches of this world: * Note If we could overcome the love of this world which is the great Goliath of our enemies then should we easily overcome the pride of the Philislins and the fear of Israel: But carnal men know not what it is to mortify old Adam with his corrupt lusts: * Note Fools feed on follies, and tickle their fond fancies with imagined contentments, not knowing the strike & narrow course of sanctification: Such men's speech is often both unseemly and unseasonable. * Note Blessed be my God who hath given me the staff in the hand, and the stone in the scrip wherewith I have stricken all my strongest corruptions in the temples: Satan is tread under foot, my flesh is subdued, mine heart is in Heaven, I care for the world no more, neither desire I to speak any longer of clay, or of any thing below: My mind is above far from the dirt & dross of all earthly thoughts. O my heavenly Father wrap my A prayer Soul, wrap it up in the righteousness of thy Son: Let that be the white long robe of my Soul while my body wrapped in its winding sheet shall lie rotting into the grave: O my God, fill my fainting heart with a joyful confluence of the precious sufferings of jesus, of the promises of life & of the joys of heaven: make mine end with that of the upright man to be peace: Be not cast down Plas. 37. 37 my Soul, neither be thou disquieted within me: Hope in God, for I shall ●…sal. 43. 5. yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. Oh, but mine heart is sick: Oh, where is my dear and loving Pastor? His conference is most comfortable unto my Soul. The Pastor. I am here Sir, waiting till I see the end of your Battle: I have heard all your words with great contentment: I have plainly perceived that God's Angels these noble Spirits attend both to guide & to guard you: God by the arm of his power hath brought you out of the thicket of thorns and pricking thistles of money temptations: He who hath made all things in number, weight, and measure hath not surcharge your Soul above that which he hath made you able to bear. God in great grace hath made you first to know yourself in your offences and misery, and after that to know him in his Majesty and mercy: The Lord God in great kindness hath furnished you with firm Faith, constant Hope, and sincere Love: He hath led you thorough many traverses and perplexities: Now have ye passed the most dreadful & darkest hour of all your temptations. Now the dawning of a new day approacheth, now labour might & main to be prepared for you: God Mal. 4. 2. within a short space Christ the Sun of Righteousness that day spring from Luk. 1. 78. on high shall arise upon your Soul never for to go down: Continue in your prayers to God, that he would possess your Soul with true hearted holiness, without which no Soul shall see God's face: What now Sir are ye doing? The sick Man. My silly Soul is here waiting till Death come and open the prison door, that she may flee to her God & to her country from whence she came: Fogs & mists arise before mine eyes. O my God, from the Throne of thy A prayer Grace r●…ine down upon my wearied Soul the refreshing showers of thy most iender mercies: Vouchsafe upon me some crumbs of thy comforts. Oh, that I had the wings of a do●…e for to flee to the wounds of jesus Psal. 55. 6 as to the holes of the Rock: * Note My poor Soul in this body is like a Bird in a Cage looking through the wires, Feign would it be free of this sinful captivity. O but my Soul panteth fast after my Saviour: * Note What now shall stay me from my God, from my Christ, from my Father, & my brother, and my Comforter, & my dearest Darling of delight? I long to be in Heaven the place of my rest: My desire is to go to Goshen the Land of light, of Life, and of Liberty: Mine heart is fast linked unto Christ in love: O Lord, what is man that thou art so mindful of him. O man what is God that thou art so forgetful of him? A prayer O my GOD, prepare me to meet thee with a bruised Spirit: Melt my sins into sighs, and my troubles into tears: Let thy good Psal. 143. 10 Spirit lead me into the Land of up▪ rightness: Lord, let never this clay return to clay till my Spirit be ready to go to him that gave it: O quicken & sharpen my care of heaven dulled and blunted with earthly thoughts: Make sound wisdom and discretion to be life unto my Prou. 3. 23 Soul and grace to my neck: Make my Soul trim with that costly wedding Garment bought with thy Blood: O jesus, the blessed Bridegroom, who hast by thy Gospel of Grace betrothed my Soul unto thee, in righteousness in judgement, Host 2. 19 in loving kindness, & in mercies, come now and perfect the marriage in glory before the Saints and Angels that are Psal. 16. 11 above, where pleasures are for evermore. The Pastor. Amen, Amen: The Spirit of God Sir is with you, & within you: Continue in such holy and heavenly thoughts: Contemn still the transitory trifles of this world, that gladly ye may desire to go dwell with your God. Naturally all men are so stiffnecked, and so steel hearted that they cannot submit their will to the good pleasure of their God: O that men would be wise in time, and could consider how they must be accountable for every hour of time they have employed in their life! * Note Our Souls, alas, are so sensual, that they will not knit into acquaintance with Right and Reason, but like factious & ligged liege's rebel stifelie against their Lord: Hardly will man's heart rander unto that petition which is often in his mouth, viz. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven: * Note The pride of man's heart perketh itself above the Laws of humble obedience. Blessed be God, whose mercy hath made you a resolved man: such words as I have heard of you were never teached in the School of Nature: Nature cannot speak the language of Canaan: We have nothing to rander unto God for his working mercies but the mites of praise. O but ye are much beholden unto GOD, who hath endued your Soul with his love, & subdued the raging power of temptations whe●…with your Soul at the first was carried like chaff or dust before a gale & mighty wind: O but your heart at the first was fearfully hacked and mangled with most terrible temptations! O but the Spirit of jesus hath wrought wonderfully within you: Now by him are ye made free from all the terrors of temptations which like venomous hornets did fly in your face. The sick Man. I find now all that to be true: Glade is my Soul that ever it knew that Lord: Full welcome is his Spirit to me: Christ is now my Love & mine heart's delight: He hath rid my Soul of all mine heavie-hearted thoughts: By his blessed Spirit he hath persuaded me, that my Soul hath a true and real interest in these blessed tidings of peace and Salvation, which he by his Blood hath bought and brought from the Heavens. O the mercy of my God O the Ocean of his compassions, which hath swallowed up the most huge mountains of mine iniquities! O what a redemption is this? to be delivered from so great a death? 2 Cor. 1. 10 wherein the damned must die so long as God shall live! * Note O death of torments without any end! O life of continuance without any ease▪ O the immortality of that death, wherein sinners shall ever be dying, but never dead, wherein the least touch of pain cannot be countervailed with the millions of pleasures! O the tumbling and tossing that shall be there where the wrath of God shall infinitely burn! Now Christ the Lord of life hath made me free of all these fear●…s: I hope shortly to be with him: I rejoice in hope of the glory of God: To him will I say as he said to Zacheus, Today I must bide with thee: I long Luk. 19 5. to be out of this state of strife: My body is weak and mine ●…eart fainteth within me. O Lord, recreate and refresh my A prayer Soul with the blessed Blood of the Lamb orientle streaming thorough the channel of his wounds: Give me a constant assurance that all my sins are blotted out of thy Register: Where no wood is, there the fire Prou 26. 20 goeth out: Where sin is taken away, there wrath ceaseth to be: O Lord, conduct the Ruther of my Soul, till it hath sailed thorough all the seas of sorrows and become to the Port of pleasures Psal. 16. 11 for evermore? The Pastor. Take courage and continue so: Lift up your head, with the eye of Faith behold the other Shore, even the Land beyond the river, The Psal. 143, 10 Land of uprightness, Canaan which is above: Bend up all your heartstrings with havenlie desires: Fix fast your eyes upon that Crown of immortality: Let now all your thoughts clasp fast about the mercies of your God: He now embraceth you, his hand is a sure hold fast, which never letteth slip, that which it once hath seized on: In all appearance your Battle is near an end: Wait steadfastly upon the Lord: Christ shortly with a soft hand shall lose the knot of your life, that your Soul may go free to the place of its rest, your Soul already by the merciful Arm of jesus hath been delivered from the painful rack of repentance, and now is set upon the rock of your Salvation: The gracious God hath been your Father, Feeder, and Defender: Your desires which of before, were grappled to the ground, now only aspire to things which are above: * Note Afflictions to the Soul is like the gade to the The Hebrews called the Gad●… judg. 3. 3 Malmad quod boves doceat arare. Ox a teacher of obedience. Find ye now the tempest of your Conscience so allayed as ye would wish? Is all calm and at quiet within? I hope that the blessed drops of the Lamb's Blood have quenched that wild fire wherewith once your troubled Conscience was inflamed: Ye as I esteem are no more troubled for your sins, as though God neither would nor were able to forgive: I pray God that ye may boldly say with a godly Father. What shall I return unto my gracious God, that I dare now S. Aug. look my sins in the face, and not be afraid? The sick Man. My sins, I bless God, fright me no more: O the rich bowels of jesus wherein is a Mine of mercy. I remember now of a sweet saying of a godly man on his deathbed. * Note When mine iniquities, said he, are greater than thy mercies, O God, then will I fear and despair. The comforts of my God now refresh my Soul like the River of Siloah Isa. 8. 6. that watered the City of God: I bless God for all my try all & troubles which he hath made to work together to my well: * Note Grace in the heart is often like fire in flint insensible until it be beaten. It is good for us that we be afflicted: The blueness of the wound Prou. 20. 30 purgeth away evil: My Salvation now is surely sealed by the hand of the Spirit: By his seal it is made sure and authentical: O how my Soul hath with a bright eye discovered the favours of his face: * Note O if God forsake a man, he will shortly with judas * Note pass from the horror to the halter: O the mercies of God towards me. The Pastor. O how much are ye beholden unto God, who by his Spirit hath so directed your heart and mouth, with words perfumed with the savour 2 Cor. 2▪ 16 of life unto life, ye have refreshed all our Souls as with a sweet breath: * Note If the Spirit of Grace guided not our tongues in our temptations, our mouths to our everlasting shame, should breathe out stiff and stinking blasts of blasphemy against the Lord our Creator: Praised be the Name of the most High, who hath borne and broken that unspeakable burden of wrath where with ye were surcharged at our first meeting. The sick Man. Amen, Amen: Blessed be the Name of jesus: At that Name the knees of my Soul bow in a most humble manner to the ground, for to kiss it with my mouth a thousand times upon Conscience of my bygone misery, and of his present mercy: All mine affections are set on foot and are so cheered and ravished with the love of my God, as no tongue can express. O happy, & thrice happy change: * Note Once I feared damnation, now Christ is my Salvation: Once I sat in darkness▪ he is now my Light▪ Once I was in Death, he is now my Life: Once I was in bondage, he is now my Liberty: Once I was in want, he is now my Wealth: Once I was in sickness, he is now mine Health: Once I was in shame, he is now my Glory: What shall I say mo●…e? He is mine only Dear, and and dearest hearts desire: He is my strongest Tower: I have none other Ark to save me from the flood. Mine heart is prepared, mine heart is prepared: * Note Oh that I were where without let I shall sing Halleluiah for ever, where all earthly objects shall seem but filthy abjects in comparison of him. Now Sir I entreat you to conceive another Prayer, that thereby as by the Chariot of Elijah my Soul 2 Kin▪ 2. 11 may be carried up into Heaven: Commend my Soul into the hands of Christ the Redeemer: Ye the Lord's Priest stand still with the Ark till my Soul hath passed the jordan for to enter into Canaan. A prayer O Lord jesus, pity this poor Soul that panteth at thy feet, draw it out of this clog of clay: B●…e with me unto the end: Grave thine own shape deep within mine heart, that it may be in judgement as a piece of evidence, that the Heavens are mine heritage: O look upon me, who am here, waiting upon Tit, 2. 13 that blessed hope: Comfort & refresh me with the sweetest breath of thy blessed Spirit: Set my silly. Soul upon Pisga the sight hill of Canaan: Guard me with the invinsible troops of thine Angels: O thou whose Name and Nature is mercy, take my wearied Soul and lull it sweetly in the softest arms of thy most tender compassions. join your prayers unto mine: The effectual feruant prayer of a righteous jam. 5. 16. man availeth much. The Pastor. According to your desire Sir we shall worsle with God in prayer that your end may be peace. Psal. 37. 37 The Lord gather all our scattered A prayer thoughts, that being as twisted together into one thread, they may be like Eccles. 4. 12 the threefold cord which is not easily broken, powerful to draw down God's Graces from above. Let us pray. A Prayer for the sick man. O Lord, settle earnest prayer in our Souls upon true sense of our need: Let not our prayers be tumultuous: Tune thou our words by thy Spirit, while our lips walk, make our hearts to move: Preserve us from vain babyling, lest our prayers Psal. 109, 7 be turned into sin. O God, the God of all Spirits who hast the keys of Heaven and of Hell: Thou steeketh and no man openeth: Thou openeth and no man steeketh: Open now thy merciful doors unto this poor Soul which panteth after thee as the chassed Hart Psal. 41. 1 panteth after the water brooks: Let none of his sins stand between thy face and him for to eclipse his Soul the light of thy countenance: Seal up in his heart by thy Spirit▪ the free & full forgiveness of all his transgressions. Thou who by the virtue of thy death made the veil of the Temple Matth. 27. 51. to rend for to make an open way to the Holy of holies, make also the partition wall of all his iniquities to cleave from the top to the bottom, that his Soul removed from his body, may get entry to the Highest and holiest of the Heavens where thine honour dwelleth: Make thy Graces in him to grow like Elias his cloud which at the first no bigger than an hand, at last by and by did over spread the whole sky. Sanctify his Soul and soften his heart, with the divine dew of thy Grace: Say unto his Soul, I am thy Salvation: Behold, Lord, his Soul is seeking thee, let nothing in his search carry him on the by. Keep fast in his remembrance the blessed bloody passion of his Redeemer jesus: When Death shall come, let him die with thy Christ in his Arms. Strengthen and increase his desire to be dissolved, assuring him that it shallbe much better for him: Furnish him with strength, whereby he may row against the strictest streams of all temptations, till he arrive into the haven of the Heavens▪ the sole and safe harberie of Salvation. And seeing no unclean thing can enter into Heaven, Lord, wash this thy servant, and wash him throughly, that by the virtue of thy Blood, his sins though they were red like scarlet and crimson, may be Isa. 1. 18. made white like wool, and whiter than the snow. Pull off his Soul the menstruous cloth of his own righteousness, and clothe him with the righteousness, of him whose stately style is, THE jer. 23. 6. LORD OUR RIGHT TEOUSNES. Thou who hast already added strength unto his Faith while it was scant like a smoking flax, let not the Isa. 42. 3. sparkle which once thou hast kindled for ever be quenched: Amid the sight of his sins, make him to lay hold upon the merit and full satisfaction of his Saviour: Let him with all the Faithful receive of that fullness, joh. 1. 16. and grace for grace. And seeing now, Lord, he is coming unto thee thorough the snaky field of many temptations, let Eccles. 6. 15 his feet be shod with the preparation of thy Gospel: Thou, Lord, wilt never suffer any that trust in thee to be confounded: He followed thee constantly in his life, now let thy Spirit tryst him at the hour of death: He disclaimeth all hope of help by any other than by thyself alone: Though he knoweth not perfectly what to say, yet his eyes are on thee: Thou who is Alpha and Omega hast begun this good work in him, crown it with the perfection of thy goodness: Let him more & more feel that he is everlastingly acquit by the Blood of the Lamb from the terrors of God's Tribunal: Refresh his Soul more and more with celestial spiritual joys proceeding from the Spirit of Grace: Let him feel himself assuredly knit & united to thee: O thou preserver of men▪ that in and by thee he may be presented blameless before thy Majesty's justice-seate. Furnish his mind with light, and his memory with strength, that he may understand and remember that Christ's death is an absolute and all sufficient Sacrifice for removing the guilt of all repenting sinners: Show him a sign of thy love: Multiply in his heart the pledges of thy kindness: Make him faithful unto death, that he may receive the Crown of life. Thou hast already subdued in him allove and liking of this world: Now grant that the hope of that glory, which is to be revealed, may be so strong in his Soul, that it may shield and fence him from the force and fury of the last assaults: The nearer he draweth unto death, enlarge the channel of thy graces like a River which is broadest towards the end of its course: Make his heart in the ●…orest pangs of death to be still lifted up towards thee. And seeing Death and the Devil man's two last enemies are ever busy the one for to fright, the other for to tempt: Prepare him, Lord, and furnish him so with thy Graces, that he may prove victorious in this last assault. O gracious GOD, assist him by thy force against the most violent blustering winds of the last and most fearful temptations: If Satan look in at the doors of his heart, seeking for an entry, let him never get so much as one chamber-room set a part for his sojourning: Make thy grace unto him like a Sun, like a Bridegroom coming out of his Psal. 19 5, Chamber to disperse the darkness of his misty mind. Unto his last gasp direct him so by thy good Spirit, that his Soul may cleave so fast unto thee that neither sin, nor sickness, life, nor death▪ may be able to separate him from thee: Though thou should slay him yet will he trust in thee: Fail him not now in time of need: uphold his heart in this heavy hour: Let his Soul lurk under the wings of thy mercy, till the tempest of wrath be calmed & passed over: Be thou to him a shelter against the heavy showers of the last agony. O gracious Lord, in wrath remember Hab. 8. 2. mercy: In the multitude of thy compassions blot out his transgressions, and that for the dearest drops of that sacred Blood that gushed upon the cursed cross: Rinse and cleanse his heart from all uncleanness: Give him courage in his greatest fears: Let not Death be unto him as a king of fear, nor he as one of the wicked, whose hope doth perish with their breath: O Lord, let thy Name be unto him like a strong tower for to hid him into the time of trouble: Let this be the clear candle of his comfort never to be quenched, that Christ by his death hath for him and all the Faithful, overcome Death and disarmed it of its sting: Declare by the inward motion of thy Spirit to his Soul, that the nature of death by the death of Christ is changed into a sleep unto all the friends of Christ, who by the infinite power of his divine Nature, hath swallowed it up in victory, and hath so digested it, that now the bitterness thereof is past. As the Ark was to Noah, and Zoar unto Lot, so be thou a refuge to this faithful Soul fight thy battles, not only against flesh and Ephes▪ 6. 12 blood, but against principalities and powers, against the governors of darkness of this world, and against spiritual wickedness in high places: Let thy strength be made perfect in his weakness: As thou hast up holden him hitherto by the strength of thy Spirit, so continue with him until the end: The battle is the Lords, fight Lord, for thine own cause, even for this Soul one of thy redeemed Ones: obtain thou the victory, and take the glory to thyself. O God, both of grace and glory seal surely up in his bosom the pardon of all his iniquities: Perfect the comforts which thou hast begun, say unto his Soul; That heaven is not so high, nor hell so low, nor the world so wide, as are thy mercies towards him: All thy creatures have their own dimensions, but thy mercy, Lord, like thyself is without measure: Out of these infinite compassions make this silly Soul partaker of the dearest mercies that ever rolled together, the relenting bowels of thy tenderest love. Hear us, Lord, in all these our suits, and that for the sake of thy best beloved and only begotten Son the Lord jesus Christ, in whose Name, and at whole command we pour out our hearts to thee in that prayer which by his own sacred and most blessed mouth he hath taught us, Our Father, etc. The sick Man. Lord, hear thou in Heaven: Blessed for ever be thy Name, for such spiritual comforts, for so many mercies, I can rander nothing but the little mites of praise and thanksgiving. Mine heart is filled with songs of God's mercy: If his Spirit of grace had not upholden me in my first fears while (as I thought) I was wrapped into an infinite wrath, I had certainly been swallowed up with overmuch sorrow: But now blessed eternally be the Lord who hath made the earth to swallow up all the floods of temptations and tribulations, which that red Dragon the Devil a bloody murderer hath cast out of his mouth after me for to carry my Soul down head-longs to perdition: Now find I God's word to be true, that he is overcome Reuel. 12. 11 by the Blood of the Lamb: Except that the Lord had been on my side, O in what a dumb dump had my poor Soul been driven into ere now. The Pastor. He who followed a Gen. 3. 8 Adam thorough the thick bushes, and b Ino●…. 2, 1 jonas in the bottom of the sea, He who c Gen. 32. 29 blessed the crooked man, and made the d 1 Sam. 1. 18 barren fertile, and the e Luk. 1. 62 dumb to speak, the f Luk. 7. 22 deaf to hear, and the g joh. 9 7. blind to see, hath made his grace perfect in your weakness: He best feeleth the pulse of our hearts and the force of our life. Loth would he be to break the Isa. 42. 3●… bruised reed, or to quench the smoking flax: * Note All men by nature are but like an unclean Dunghill of dross, their hearts at the first are but a den of Dragons: But so soon as the Spirit of grace hath begun to draw the draughts and lineaments of God's image within the soul of a man, nothing shall be able to deface or mangle that lively image: To all sorts of temptations God's wisdom shall find an out-gate: * Note Neither the trains of Satan, nor the treason of our bosom sins, nor the terrors of hell, nor the trashes of the world shall ever be able to preveale against psal. 16. 3. Adirim God's excellent Ones: According as Zacharias filled with the holy Ghost prophesied, It is granted unto us that we being delivered Luk. 1. 14. out of the hands of our enemies, may serve him without fear. The sick Man. I bless God for such inestimable comforts: Satan hath shrewdly assaulted me, but could not prevail: My corruptions have been subdued and awed by the Majesty of the Spirit of jesus: My Soul rejoiceth in GOD: In the merits of Christ as in a glass I see him a meek & a merciful Father: I am not now afraid to come to a trial at his Tribunal, I am no more dismayed for the unquenchable flammes of the fiery lake. I think certainly that there was never a man so much beholden to my God as I am: Truly may I sing with the Psalmest, I waited patiently Psal. 40. 1 or the Lord, and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry: He vers. 2. brought me out of an horrible pit, out of the myrrie clay, and set my feet upon a Rock, and established my goings: He hath put a new song into my mouth, vers. 3. even praise unto our God: many shall see it and fear, and shall trust in the Lord. O that I had breath for the setting forth of his praise! Happy is he who while he may utter words, praiseth God continually: Blessed is that man who may call his tongue his Glory: * Note O my Soul, I charge thee by the Roes and by the Hinds of the field, that thou cease not to praise his Might▪ his Mercy, and his Majesty: O my Soul, take heed and listen unto his voice: O jesus, the great Deputy of mercy sent by the Father, forsake me not in this heavy hour. Now I sore sicken, so that all natural▪ force faileth me: My words now so wea●…ie me, that I think ere it be long this body shall be lodged in the place of silence: But let me entreat you Sir; so long as ye shall perceive life to be in me, let it please you to continue in some good purpose concerning the world to come: By some holy discourse rouse up my drowsy Spirit, hold mine heart upon an edge: Let me not die like a senseless Nabal, of whom it is written, that his heart died within him, so that 1 Sam. 25 37. he became like a stone: Many blindlie and boldly rush into hell. I beseech you Sir: to wait well upon me till ye see the end: I think that ere it be long my Soul shall be at the farthest tryst. O Lord, warm my frozen Soul A prayer with the sense of the kindled compassions of the bowels of thy love▪ enlighten my misty mind & clear it with thy countenance: Be thou the comforter of my Conscience, until the day break and the shadows fly Cant. 4 6. away. Take now Sir my Soul into the arms of your prayers, lift it up and lay it into that blessed bosom of my Lord's mercies: Bend yet again your knees before God in prayer, that he for his mercy's sake would receive me into my Master's joy: O but my Soul fluttereth fast within me for to be at my God: Let it please you to be fervent in prayer for me, that I may foil under my feet the Devil, Death, and all the powers of hell: The Devil in death will not fail to give me a furious assault at the chiefest fortress of my Salvation, for to batter it down to the ground: Entreat the Lord that his mercy may be a strong rempart and a blessed Bulwark against all the Engines of hell which are ready bend to waste and havoc all God's graces within me. O Lord, camp thine Angels about A prayer me: Place thy Pavilions of war between me and mine enemies: Refresh me more and more with thy comforts: Give me the earnest of these joys which pass all understanding: Possess me with the Spirit of gladness, for that thou in mercy hast forgiven me my sins: Continue so unto the end, that in the heavens for ever this may be the burden of my song, For his mercy Psal. 136. 1 2. 3. etc. endureth for ever. Let it please you Sir on whom God hath vouchsafed the Spirit of Prayer in a good and great measure, to assist me with your comforts and prayers, lest by temptations I should begin to slack off my care and watchfulness. The Pastor. Hold fast your eye upon Christ your Redeemer: Follow him thorough the valley of death, for he hath Psal. 23, 4 not only pointed out our path, but as Heb. 2. 10, Captain of our Salvation, hath trodden every step before us: Ye may well stick a little in the narrow throat of Death, but that one step Gen. 26. 22 being past ye enter into Rehoboth a place of room, far from the reekie smoke, vain shadows, and dreams of earthly vanity, and perishing pleasures: * Note Be glad Sir, to flit from this barren moorish ground and muddy mortality for to go to a paradise, Psal. 16. 11 a Palace, a place of pleasures for evermore. According to your desire we shall return to God by prayer. A Prayer for the sick man drawing near to the doors of death. O Father of mercies and God of all comforts in whom all goodness and graces are treasured, let it please thee favourably to regard the soul of this thy servant here, whose heart panteth after thee, as the wearied Hart panteth after the water brooks: Refresh his Soul with the Psal. 42. 1. divine dew of thy grace till it be entered in at the gates of Glory: Pour into his heart the sweet streams of thy love: Settle his soul in a right and upright course, so long as it remaineth in this misty & muddy mortality, send out thy light and guide it by thy Grace, till it hath passed the straits of Death for to enter into the Land of uprightness. O Father of mercies, persuade him by thy Spirit, that the coming of Death shall be to him a time of discharge, a time of freedom from sickness of body, anguish of Spirit, trouble of Conscience, and from all possibility of sinning any more: Let him know that while he is going to the Grave, he is going to a bed of ease, where most quietly he Isa. 57 2. shall rest from all his toilsome labours. Turn all fear of Death into a cheerful expectation, and longing for the hour of dissolution: Make quiet his Conscience, that he may die with comfort. O thou Saviour of mankind, whose boweles are filled with merciful compassions, spread the wing of thy righteous garment over this Soul of thy servant: Thou hast shaken him with thy terrors in divers assaults: Thou hast brought him low for to make him a fit passenger for the little door which leadeth unto Glory. Leave him not now, Lord, in his greatest need: Make thine Angels camped about him, powerfully to assist him against all the last assaults of that evil one: Thou who hast heard all his groans, registrat thou his sighs, and put all his tears into thy bottles, suffer not thy kindled zeal to cool in him: In an holy despair of his own worth, make him wholly to rely upon thy mere mercies in Christ, the only salve for sick Souls, and remeed for broken bones. Psal. 51. 8 While he is weakest, work with thy Spirit feelingly and powerfully into his heart: Subdue every evil motion that may arise therein for the troubling of his soul: Draw up his desire above the pitch of all natural knowledge: Banish all earthly things clean out of his mind, and make all his thoughts to attend upon thee: In thy divine might rebuke Satan, that he interrupt not thy comforts: Let him not be able by his secret craft and vyles to steal from him the pledges of thy love. O Son of GOD, O Sun of Mal. 4. 2 Righteousness, send a quickening heat with a shining light into his silly Soul: Make thy blessed Beams to strike on his heart for to warm it with thy love: Set all his desires a float from the mood of sinful mortality: Thou at divers times hast affrighted him fearfully with dreadful visitatations of Conscience: His Soul hath been sore racked with the pitiful perplexities of a vexed mind: Now death is approaching: Sight & senses & all are failing, but thou Lord will never fail him: While the natural eyes of his body begin to grow dim, then clear thou the spiritual eyes of his soul, that he may with Stephen see the heavens opened, Act. 7. 56. and the Son of man ready to receive him: And always, Lord, as the time of death shall approach, so let his Soul draw nearer unto thee, that while sickness shall take away the use of his tongue, his heart may cry to thee, Come Lord jesus come, in thine hands I resign my Spirit. Now Father of mercies, seeing thy Girnels are prepared for him, by the power of thy grace fan this Corn clean from its chaff that it may be treasured up therein: Put his life in a readiness, that he may give thee a cheerful account of all wherein he hath employed thy Talents: Let him hear these words of joy, Faithful servant come and enter in thy Master's joy. Long hath his Soul been wooing the heavens with weak fluttering desires: Now open the window of thine Ark and let in this wearied Dove crowding for thy Rest Many depths be between us and heaven: One depth calleth upon another depth, for flesh and blood there is no possibility of passing thorough: But, Lord, that which is impossible with men is possible with thee: Let therefore the virtue of thy death be to him like a Bridge for to set him safe over all the gulfs of misery: In his journey to thy Kingdom remove all rubs out of the way. O Lord, listen to our cry: Put these our unworthy prayers into thy golden Censer: Perfume them with the incense of thy righteousness, and offer them up to thy Father upon the Altar of thy divinity: And thou Fatherof mercies, for the merits of thy Son his all saving death which he hath suffered for all repenting sinners: Receivein mercy this Soul which Satan hath sought to sift: Receive the dear price of the Blood of thy Son: Let thy justice say, I am satisfied: Let thy mercy so smile upon him, that it may be the health of his countenance and the comfort of his Conscience: While he shall finish his course, finish thou his Faith with perfection whereby he may die, having a settled assurance of that blessed Inheritance and massy Crown of immortality, which Christ hath conquised by his bloody merits: To whom with Thee and the Spirit of Grace, be all Glory, honour, dominion and everlasting power for now and ever, Amen. The sick Man. Lord hear thou in Heaven. O blessed God, and Father of eternity, A prayer seeing my time now is short, give me grace to manage it well: Shute not thine ears to my sighs, while my tongue in the jaws of death shall cleave fast to the roof of my mouth: O follow me with thy favours, even thorough the valley of the shadow of death: O Lord, because thou art faithful, & cannot lie, I look shortly to receive in hand that which I have in hope: O come now and put an end to the days of my vanity. The Pastor. Blessed & magnified be the Lord of eternity for such wonderful mercies towards you: * Note He most powerfully & most wonderfully hath brought you back from the corrupt course of Nature, as a Boat rowed against the stream by the force of Arms and of Oars: Behold, now ye approach unto your Heaven Be of good heart Sir, ye are near unto your rest, the place of Psal. 16. 11 pleasures for evermore. Now seeing the end draweth near, ye have to remember well if ye have any grudge against any; that before ye decease, they may be fetched and friended with you. The sick Man. I wish all men to be well: I hope that no man wisheth otherwise to me: * Note My desire was never either to revile or to revenge: I am ready to satisfy where I have failed, and to forgive where I have received the greatest wrong: Man's wrongs against me are but light in comparison of my wickedness against God: * Note He is not worthy that God should forgive him his sins who will not forgive his neighbour an injury: My good God hath forgiven me all: As he hath forgiven me, so I forgive all men, and desire the like to be done by others unto me: * Note My Soul abhorreth these words of ranckour, I may forgive him, but I will not forget him: The softening Spirit of God cannot dwell where there is such stony steely hardness of heart. O Fountain of Grace, pour the powers of thy Spirit within my breast, A prayer that, my Soul, may be refreshed with thy blessed balmy comforts of saving grace: Draw up my spirit toward the Tabernacles of immortality: O when Psal 42. 2, shall I come and appear before God Put to the Spure to this dull jadde of my foggy flesh, that I may make more haste in my journey. The Pastor. Lord, hear thou in heaven. Seeing God hath blessed you with Wealth, I doubt not but that ye will do some thing for the well of Colleges & Hospitales: * Note Colleges are the Seminaries or seede-plotes of virtues, out of which come these who become Rulers of the Church & Commonwealth: Hospitals are shelters for the poor the friends of Christ: Christ's counsel to the rich is that they make friends of the Mammon of Luk. 16. 9, unrighteousness: Such words were not spoken by our Lord without great and weighty reasons. The sick Man. All these things were done in my Testament, while I put mine house to an order: I have not forgot that point of duty: He is not worthy to be called a faithful man who leaveth not behind him some fruits of his Faith: * Note That Faith which cannot justify a man by good works before men, will never justify his soul before God: Remember me, O Lord, Nehem. 13 14 concerning this, & wipe not away my good deeds which I have done for thy glory. Let men dream of Salvation as they please, S. james his precept is, that men show their Faith by their jam. 2. 18. works: * Note Though Pharisees do all that they do for to be seen, men must not in men's sight forbear to do well: Because Hypocrites come to preaching & prayers publicly, true Israelites for that must not sit at home: The Godly must not be so base in heart as to abstain from all public good, because the wicked worship but outwardly: Shows without substance in some, should not be able to banish the shows of substance from others. The Pastor. Indeed Sir ye speak wisely: As the tree is first seen in the bud and then in the flourish, and after in the fruit, so must the life of man Matth. 21. 9 be: Because the barren fig tree had nothing but leaves, the fruitful tree must not grow bare, the leaves of the tree have their own use among the fruits: So have godly shows good uses when they are joined with true substance: * Note The Faith of a Christian should not think shame to show her fair face, because Hypocrisies face seemeth to be fair while it is fairded: No not: God will have true faith to come out, that the world may see her into works: Show me thy Faith by thy works: Christ jam. 2, 18 who desireth that the niggard or ambitious Matth. 6. 4 left hand know not or see not the liberality of the charitable right hand, commandeth that we let ou●… light so shine before men, that they may Matth. 5. 16 see our good works, and glorify our Father which is in heaven. The graces of God's Spirit in a man are like a light candle: No man light a Candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a Candlestick, & it giveth Luk. 11. 33 light to all that are in the house: * Note The good life of the godly man should be like a City set on an hill Matth. 5. 14 which cannot be hid: * Note The labourer soweth not his seed on the ground that it may still remain hid under the clods; neither doth God sow his graces in our hearts that there they may lu●…k & still abide secret: * Note I like not these who fear to seem godly left they should be thought to be Hypocrites: Even in that are they Hypocrites, that for fear they seem to affect godliness, will not do good that may be seen which would move the true Israelits to glorify our Father in heaven, yea, and also allure these to come to God who as yet are strangers from the Commonwealth of Israel. I confess that few be troubled with such a fear: It is a sin whereof very few in this Land are guilty, yet seeing it is a sin, it would be carefully avoided: * Note Because Papists wholly rely on their works, Protestants with great scandal will only brag of their Faith: Thus both the one and the other against the truth of doctrine separate that which God hath joined together. The sick Man. O Lord, GOD of gods, O Father of everlasting compassions, whose blessed A prayer bowels did bleed upon the cross for to save sinners, pity here a frail & feeble creature yet tugging and wrestling in the Barras of this sinful flesh: Furnish me with strength, whereby I may surmount and vanquish all difficulties which are between my Soul and the place of its everlasting rest: I am weak, forbear me, Lord, in thy great mercy: join thy Grace with my grief●…: O that I were with my Christ, the Mark whereat I aim, the Port whereto I sail, the rest of my desires: Let thy good Spirit, O Lord, assist me: Let thy favour and grace be my vade-mecum till I come to thy Glory: O who shall give to my soul the wings of a Dove, that it may Psal. 55. 6 flee out of the Douket of this body up to its God: O dear Saviour, set Cant. 8 6. Cant. 1. 4, me as a seal upon thine heart: Draw me and we shall run after thee: Hold mine heart aloft, that it may only mind the things above. The Pastor. Lord, hear thou in heaven, and grant the suit of thy servant: I fear Sir that ye be wearied with speaking: As I perceive ye force your self in your words above the reach of your strength: Seeing ye travel thus in pain of your speech, spend the little space of life that resteth in holy meditations concerning the bloody wounds of Christ your Saviour. The sick Man. Christ now is only my comfort: I love him with the best bowels of mine heart: In the bowels of his mercy I read by the eye of Faith most fair lines of his love, all written in great Capital letters of an heavenly impression: * Note Christ is to me in stead of all, for already in my need he hath stood me in more stead than all. O in what a pitiful plight my silly and forlorn Soul was once into! Bl●…ssed be he for evermore who in so great kindness hath shined upon me with the blessed, bright, and unspotted beams of his mercy. O but my Soul panteth after him! Oh, how this heart of mine is evil to break! What a piece of clammy teugh clay is this that settereth so my Soul, that by no means can it be loosed from it, that it may soar up to its God, from grief to glory: O that I were with him with whom I shall not want the thing that I can wish: Now, Lord, the time is come; pull off me the dull wiede of sinful mortality and clothe my soul in white with the Robe of Christ's righteousness, that it may follow the Lamb: O but I am wearied: My Soul longeth to see the Face of my God. The Pastor. Wait upon the Lords will, when it is time he will open the prison door and let your Soul fly up to your Glory: Think on Heaven still: * Note Mount up your mind to your Maker, who shall shortly roof with Glory the graces which he hath reared up into your heart: Let the hope of these things hearten you in the mud and mire of this sinful mortality. The sick man. O Lord, pity this Soul, which A prayer I have defiled and defaced with scarlet transgressions and crimson iniquities. Thou hast begun the good work in me: It is now near to perfection: Put to now the last hand, and perfect the work: Rub out perfectly with the Blood of thy Lamb the least stains which stick in my Soul, that while thou shalt look upon me, thou may know me to be thy redeemed one by the stamp of thine own Image. O Lord, fix mine heart so into A prayer thine own heart, that nothing be able to pull it out, without pulling out thine own: It hath been like a crooked twig, O writh it so now the right way, that it may be according to thine own heart. The Pastor. Lord, hear thou in Heaven, and grant the suit of thy Servant: Let nothing be able to tickle, tempt, or trouble his Soul. Be of good heart Sir, the Battle is near an end: Fight out the good fight, finish your course, and keep the Faith, henceforth is laid up for you a Crown of righteousness which 2 Tim. 4 8 the LORD shall give you at that day. Make now full proof of your courage, which shall shortly be covered with a Crown. Hold out still in your holy exercise till your change come. The sick Man. I weary of this cottage of clay: I am at a point with all that is under the Sun: I care not for this world's favour, no more for its frown: But O but my Soul longeth to be with my Lord, that I may see his face with fullness of joy. Psal, 16. 11 O thou with whom nothing is impossible, A prayer make the scales of mortality to fall from mine eyes, that I may fee thee before even as thou art: My Soul longeth to be out of this miry lak of misery, for to dwell with thee into the Palace of immortality: O when shall I get rid of these sinful bonds! O Saviour of mankind give ear unto my suit: Delivere me from this seeming life, that I may die to live the life of ple●…sures for evermore: O draw, draw out this Soul entombed into this body: Before thou separate them s●…ale surely thy pardons within my Conscience, and do perfectly away all my transgressions: Guard me & assist me and harness my Soul against Satan his last onset. Let my Soul grasp with an holy greediness in the hand of Faith, such spiritual comforts as thou, O Lord, makest to come from the boundless and bottomless fountain of thy mercy toward all these whom thouloveth: Let my soul feel more and more sensibly these mercies which fairly & oriently stream thorough the bloody wounds of my blessed Saviour jesus the 〈◊〉: wash and bathe my drooping Soul in the well of life: Give unto it a drink of the rivers of thy pleasures. O Lord of love, shed thy love into mine heart thorough the bleeding bowels of my blessed Saviour: O blessed Redeemer of lost mankind, O Pelicane of pity, whose heart did ever melt with m●…rcifull compassions, pity my Soul in this painful plight: Mine heart strings are racked, my bowels are rend, the house of the Soul is falling down, now open the door of thine everlasting Tabernacles, that my Soul may go from Grace to Glory: Make the power of thy love like a load stone for to draw mine heart after thee from the mud of this mortality. The Pastor. Lord, hear thou in heaven, and A prayer fulfil the suit of thy Servant, bury all his sins and his sorrows in the bottomless sea of thy mercy: Entomb in the Tomb of jesus where they may lie for ever without any hope of a resurrection. The sick Man. I wait for the Lord, my Soul doe●…h ●… sal. 130. 5 wait & in his word do I hope: My soul vers. 6 waiteth for the Lord, more than they that watch for the morning: I say, More than they that watch for the morning: My Soul is wearied of this earthly Tabernacle: Psal. 42. 2. O when shall I come and appear before God? O that I were at my wished home: O now move the pool of thy mercy, and move my Soul to run into it. The Pastor. It is likely that within an hou●…e God shall grant you your desire: Could not Matth. 26. 40 you watch with me but an hour? said Christ to his Disciples: Ye have now but an hour's absence from your God: Ye have but an hour's voyage from the body to the sight of God's face the place of your rest: Fix fast your eyes upon the Crown of immortality, till your Soul be passed from toilsome Time to Eternity: Yet a little while & God shall retire you from the tiring travels of this life: Watch but an hour, and your end shall be peace. Psa. 37. 37 The sick Man. The Lord send a good hour wherein I may lay down the load of this mortality: Alas, many an hour have I evil and idly spent in pam pering this foggy flesh with the light and loose pleasures of this life. O Spirit of Grace, draw near A prayer unto my Soul: Make thy residence into this broken heart: Correct, cure, and cover all the corruptions of my Nature. Begin and end & crown the work with thy goodness: At last close in me thy graces with thy glory: O make mine eyes to see, and mine arms to carry and mine heart to be filled with thy Salvation: Conuoye unto my Soul the warmest blood that ever heated the heart of jesus: Let that ever recking blood wherein is a Savour of life unto life: Comfort and uphold my Soul in this last heavy hour. Now Sir, seeing the end draweth near, help me to spend well this hour, which in all appearance shall be my last: I wish that all my thoughts and affections be now so bended toward my God that they neither sway nor swerve from him by any idle wandering of mind. O Thou that art high and excellent A prayer Isa. 57 15. who dwellest in the high and holy place: Though thou be high, thy promise is to dwell also with him that is of a contrite & humble spirit: According to thy promise revive the Spirit of the humble, and give life to him that is of a contrite heart: O Lord, according to thy wont grace make me in my last agony, to possess my Soul in peace and patience: Disappoint Satan in all his crafty fetches: O cover this silly Turtle under the mantle of thy mercy: All other coverings are but light and slight like Spider's webs which cannot endure the breath and blast of thy mouth. The Pastor. Lord, harken thou in heaven, & give ear unto the suit of thy Se●…uant. I perceive indeed that now your words weary you: Lest ye faint I shall taken the speech upon me: If it be your will I shall let you hear a most divine discourse taken from a godly preacher on his deathbed, the words surely are weighty & of great power: If ye please I shall let you hear them, while I speak them, meditate ye, and in your mind make them your own words. The sick Man. I entreat your Sir, for to let me hear them: I shall follow you in mine heart as I can: I find that my tongue almost now faileth me. O God, while I hear, let the Spirit of grace take harbour into mine heart: A prayer Set all mine affections on bensel, that I may carefully give ear unto thy comforts the cordials of thy Gospel: O clear the sight of my mind, dazzled with the mist of my corrupt affections. The Pastor. Lord, hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sins of thy servant. After this manner Sir, the man of Quis hic fuit non liquet. God spoke upon his death-bed. I owe to God a death, as his Son died for me: Ever since I was borne I have been sailing to this Haven, and gathering patience to comfort this hour; therefore shall I be one of these Guests now, that would not come to the banquet when they were invited? * Note What hurt is in going to Paradise? I shall lose nothing but the sense of evil: And anon I shall have greater joys than I feel pains: For mine Head is in Heaven already, to assure me that my Soul and body shall follow after. O Death, where is thy sting? Why should I fear that which I would not escape, because my chiefest happiness is behind, & I cannot have it unless I go unto it? * Note I would go through Hell to Heaven: And therefore if I march but through death, I suffer less than I would suffer for God: * Note My pains do not dismay me, because I travail to bring forth eternal life: My sins do not fright me, because I have Christ my Redeemer: The judge doth not astonish me, because the Iudg●…s Son is mine Advocate: The Devil doth not amaze me, because the Angel's pitch about me: The Grave doth not grieve me, because it was my Lord's bed: Oh, that God's mercy to me might move others to love him: * Note For the less I can express it, the more it is. The Prophets and the Apostles are my forerunners: Every man is gone before me, or else he will follow after me: If it please God to receive me into Heaven before them which have served him better, I owe more thankfulness unto him. And because I have deferred my repentance till this hour whereby my Salvation is cut off, if I should die suddenly: Lo how my God in his merciful providence, to prevent my destruction, calleth me by a lingering sickness, which stayeth till I be ready, and prepareth me to mine end like a preacher, and maketh me by wholesome pains, weary of this beloved world, lest I should depart un willing like them whose death is their damnation. * Note So he loveth me while he beateth me, that his stripes are plasters to save me, therefore who shall love him, if I despise him? This is my whole office now to strengthen my body with mine heart, and to be contented as God hath appointed, until I can glorify him, or until he glorify me: If I live, I live to sacrifice, and if I die, I die a sacrifice, for his mercy is above mine iniquity. Therefore if I should fear death it were a sign that I had not Faith, nor hope as I professed, but that I doubted of God's truth in his promise wh●…ther he will forgive his penitent sinner or not. * Note He is my Father, let him do what seemeth good in his sight: Come Lord jesus, for thy servant cometh, I am willing help mine unwillingness. here is the end of that godly man's speech. As at that Bridle in Cana, the best joh. 2, 10. wine came last, so shall it be heer●…: After the words of a godly man I shall let you hear the words of God spoken by a man inspired by his Spirit, even the last words of David the man whose praise is this, that he was a man according to Gods own heart. The last words of David. David the son of jesse said, and the 2 Sam. 23. 1 man who was raised up on high, the a●…ointed of the God of jaacob, and the sweet Psalmist of Israel said. The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, vers. 2. and his words was in my tongue. The God of Israel said the Rock vers. 3. of Israel spoke to me: He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be as the light of the vers. 4. morning, when the Sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. Although mine house be not so vers. 5. with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure: For this is all my Salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow. But the sons of Belial shall be all vers. 6. of them as thorns thrust away because they cannot be taken with hands. But the man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron, and the staff of a spear, and they shall be vt●…er lie burnt with fire in the same place Alittle before his death at the inauguration of his Son Solomon he spoke many notable words; among others these bee of great weight. O Lord, we are here but strangers 1 Chro. 29 15 before thee and so●…ourners, as were all our fathers: Our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding. O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and vers. 18. of Israel our Fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their hearts unto thee. That hundreth and two Psalm is excellent: It is entitled a prayer of the afflicted when he is overwhelmed and poureth out his complant before the Lord. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let Psal. 102, 1 my cry come unto thee hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble, incline thine ear unto me: In the day when I call, answer me spe●…dilie. For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burnt like an hearth, etc. Seeing, as we see, that nothing is stable in this world but as it is in that Sermon of the Preacher, vanity of Eccles. 1. 2. vanities, and all is vanity, we have to entreat the Lord earnestly as Moses did a little before his death; That he would so teach us to number Psal. 90. 12 our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom, and to well doing: All things below whither and decay, our best beauties are w●…ithed and wrinkled by time: But the beauty of the Lord is of everlasting continuance: Psa. 90. 17 Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us. O the beauty of the things above: O the beauty of the Firmament: O these azured Curtains spangled with stars of light: What jewels of joy are within, no mortal tongue can tell. Look up now Sir with the eye of your Faith and visit these heavenly joh. 14. 2. Mansions and blessed buildings for immortaltiie: Ye are shortly for to change for the better. So long as our silly Souls are here, they are but poor Souls reading and meditating the mercies of God within a cottage of clay, having nothing to see with but the weak light of the small Candle of grace; a light dimmed and darkened with the reekie smok of our sinful corruptions: But so soon as we shall be dissolved by Death, we shall come to the everlasting Beams of a Sun which by nothing is able to be eclipsed, alight which knoweth no darkness, even that Light which bringeth light out of darkness. joh. 1. 5. Now Sir, up with your heart sail out your course: Be like the Pilot who while he hath hand on the Helm, hath his eye fixed on the heaven: Take now the Cup of Salvation the ●…sal. 116. 13 great Mazer of his mercy, and call upon the Name of the Lord: He is worthy to be praised for his unspeakable favour toward you: * Note He in great mercy hath toward you turned all the sharp corrasives of the Law into most sweet cordials of the Gospel: He hath now made you free of all these terrors whereinto ye found yourself once liable. Oh, Lord, how did once the sharp edge of thy Law laid to his mourning heart, cut him thorough the very gall! But blessed be thou, who in thy great mercy hast cut the Cartropes of his sins where with he was once kept fast under the most heavy bondage of Hell. What say ye now Sir: How is it of all? Have ye heard all these words, and laid them up into your mind? The sick Man. I have heard them all, & that with great comfort; now mine heart is in heaven: Christ by the virtue of his unualuable Bloodshed hath taken away the gall of my guiltiness: * Note Now my body is wholly dead to its pain and my Soul is wholly alive to its glory. * Note I see a Crown of immortality which my Soul would not stick to fetch thorough the brimstone beams of hell: My Soul seeth the face of its Redeemer: Christ with a soft hand is now losing all the bonds of my misery: * Note. His most sacred Blood hath melted my marble heart. Now come Lord jesus come: Long have I looked for thy Salvation: Now let thy servant depart in Luk. 2. 29 peace, for mine eyes have seen thy. Salvation. O my dear Soul I summoned thee with all thy powers and faculties to be thankful unto thy good and gracious Lord: O what tribulations am I come thorough! O with what balmy comforts hath the Lord asswadged the dolours of my Soul, O my Soul I charge thee by the Roes and by the Hinds that thou haste thee unto thy God in thy strongest affections: Keep now tryst with the Spirit of thy God, who is now here waiting till thou be ready. The Pastor. My Soul and all that is within me praise the Lord, for the powerful working of his Spirit within you, whereby he hath made such a change as is wonderful. * Note This particula●… remembereth me of a certain Martyr who being condemned to be burnt, could feel no working of the Spirit within his heart till he came near to the stake: But being once come ●…ox. Act & monum. Fol. 1555●…. 〈◊〉 impression. there, with a cry he clapped his hands, and crying out amain, said, O Austen, he is come, he is come: The Martyr was called Master Goner. The sick Man. By the grace of God I hope shortly to say as much: My Soul is ready bend waiting for his coming: O come Lord jesus come: Let this mine Reuel. 17. 7 hungry Soul win in now at the ports of thy Palace for to get a share of the marriage supper of the Lamb, in hope already I feast upon the joys of eternity: * Note In my Soul is now the Charter of my Salvation sealed with that most pure and purifying Blood of the immaculate and spotless Lamb that came to take away the monstrous and menstruous sin●…es of the world: * Note In the virtue of his Blood is my strongest comfort and highest resolution: By it alone all my black and bloody Isa. 1. 18. sins are cleansed from their crimson colour. The Pastor. Indeed Sir, it is only that Lamb's Blood that can purge away sin and iniquity: * Note Though man should wash himself with nitre, and I●…r. 2. 22. take him much soap, yet for all that shall his iniquity be marked before God, except that he be bathed into this blood of sprinkling. Seeing now your Charter is well sealed, hold fast these writings, that nothing above or below, no not principalities and powers be able to Ephes. 6. 12 wrest them out of your hands. Happy is your heart now wherein is that white jewel of the Revelation Reuel. 2 17 even the white stone wherein is a new name which no man can know except the receiver: * Note O the boundless bleeding bowels of God's compassions! O that infinite store-house of Christ's merits and mercies, which no sin were they never so heinous, can be able to stint or restrain before the repenting sinner get a part of that purchase: Neither Death, nor Life, things present nor to come shall be able to with hold a mourning sinner from a share in our Lords dearest compassions. Christ now Sir is ready to receive ●…ou: Make yourself ready for him: Lift up your hea●…, for your Redemption draweth near: The end of your time and toil is fast coming: The Angels of God are here waiting upon your Soul, which is now looking Cant. 6. 10 out to Christ as the morning, fair as the Moon, clear as the Sun, and terrible as an Army with Banners: Whereupon is your mind now fixed? The sick Man. All mine affections are bended toward God: * Note O what shall be able to hold or hinder me from hastening to my Lord, the repairer of life, the destroyer of death, the conqueror of Heaven, & the vanquisher of Hell? * Note O my Saviour come nearer yet unto me, let my Soul creep in by A prayer thy wounds, even to the very bowels of thy mercy: Warm it like a Chicken under the wings of thy love▪ The Pastor. In Christ alone is Salvation: Out of his side did issue the water that hath quenched the unquenchable fire of God's wrath, with the Blood that taketh away the sins of the world. * Note His holy Heart was racked, his Arms of compassion were stretched out upon the Cross for to declare to all repenting sinners the infinite wideness of his mercies: * Note His sacred Head hang down bowed for to give ear unto the groanings of his prisoners: * Note His blessed Bowels rumbling with compassions rolled together, made him to proclaim that Oyas of mercy, Matth. 11. 28 Come unto me all ye that are wearied and ladened with sin and I will ease you. Much hath he suffered for our cause: * Note Like a painful labourer he poured out sweat not only of water but of blood, at the working the great work of man's Salvation: At last by laying down that Life of love, he achieved the victory over Satan, flesh, the world, & all the enemies of man's Salvation: Them all he hath crushed and trodden under foot: Stand fast by jesus: In Faith and Hope thrust your heart upon him: What now, Sir, think ye upon? The sick Man. Christ hath bund up all my wounds; he hath perfectly closed them with the blessed Balm of his comforts: Now at the end of mine appointed time I am waiting earnestly till my changing come: I hope ere it be long to be translated from grace to glory. job. 14. 14 The Pastor. O Lord, set this Soul as a seal upon thine Heart, and as a seal upon A prayer thine Arm: Out of thy great Cant. 8. 6, love make this Soul beautiful as Tirzah, comely as jerusalem terrible as army with banners: Thou, Lord, who crownest the year with thy goodness Psal. 56. 11 taken in thine hand the crown of immortality & in this Soul crown thy graces with thy glory. Now Sir, ye are near the borders of Canaan, three or four steps more would set you in that Land of life and love. The sick Man. Mine heart like an Hart braying after waters, panteth after God: O Psal. 42. 2. when shall I come and appear before him? Now mine heart shivers within me, I am so sick that I fear to faint. The Pastor. O Lord, now be merciful & show favour A prayer toward this thy servant: Distil thy graces into his heart with a blessed influence from the Spirit of thy love, pull in all his spirits to Thee, and thrust out all distractions: O Lord, of Life and Love breath into his soul the life of immortality. Take heed now unto him ye who are near about him, for death now approacheth with its last assaults in all appearance: Look well to him for he seemeth to be fallen into a swoon. THE SICK MAN IN A SWOON, A SOLILOQVEE, Or a privy conference between the Soul and the body of the sick Man lying in a swoon. The Body. MY Soul desireth thou now to leave me that have borne thee about me so many years? If thou go from me I must no longer remain among the inhabitants Isa. 38. 1●… of the world, but incontinent after thy departure I a vassal of death must be hid under the dust among crawling worms, far from the eyes of the living: These who were once glad to kiss my mouth shall abhor to see my face: Is not the Grave a Babel a place of confusion? Do not Limb and Zim resort there? Do not the Satyrs and the Fairies dance Isa. 13. 21. there? Mine hair starts all up for fear, while I think upon these solitudes and mansions of silence, I faint at the very thought thereof: Oh, my dear Soul wilt thou abide with me no longer? If thou depart, my Beauty, my Colour, my Conference, my Company and all is gone: Oh, shall all my senses now be closed up? shall I speak no more, hear no more, see no more than if I were a stone? Must I now go remain into the mire of mortality, the place of silence? Must I abide the long nights among the Graves, places fearful to the living, where men make no resort? O wretched weakling that I am, by Death, as I see, I shall be grappled to the ground where I shall be forced to make my bed in the da●…ke. The Soul. My Body be not thou disquieted, I am but for a little space going before thee for to take season of Heaven for thee and for me. Though I be absent for a space, I shall never forget thee: In God's appointed time I shall come again and fetch thee out of the muddy mould of mortality. At the first blast of the last Trumpet I 1 Cor. 15. 52 shall come down, & shall enter into thee and quicken thee again: At that time God shall cleanse thee from all thy corruptions, and shall make thee like an Angel of God. My silly Body we have taken much pains together for to get a rest which we have looked long for, but could not find: now go to thy rest till come again for to bring thee to eternal repose: If thou were commanded to go to labour & to pains, thou should have some cause indeed to whine and to shrink, as one hampered in a snare: But the Lord is now desiring thee like a wearied man to go to thy rest for to sleep soundly into a bed wherein thou shalt no more be disquieted with dreams or with visions: When thou shalt once awake, thou shalt be still with jesus: If in mercy he hath made me to prevent thee in the possession of eternity, let not his favour toward me work in thee any heart rising against that Majesty, who as the Potter doth with his clay, may do with all his creatures what he pleaseth. The Body. But, O my Soul, the Grave is fearful: It is a retired solitude and a place of silence, a place of filthy stink: I abhor to think of it, how that in that dungeon of darkness, and den of corruption I must lie down naked implunged in miry slime among worms, a lump of most vile and lifeless clay. Alas, my Soul. The Soul. My Body be not discouraged: * Note The Grave is a place where the body must lie till with the Eagle Psal. 103. 5 there it cast its Bill, a means for to renew its youth: * Note So soon as once there it hath cast the old slugh of Nature, incontinent thereafter it shall become a new creature: Except, said Christ, that the corn of joh. 12. 24 wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. Have patience but a little: New corn will come at the day of the resurrection: The days of man's mortality are the Lords seed time: The bodies of the Saints are his seed, the Church yard is his field: Suffer now the Lord to sow his own ground. Be not disquieted nor cast down with grief: It shall be thy gain to go down to the grave: There shalt 1 Cor. 15. 42 thou be sown in corruption, but thou shalt be raised in incorruption: Thou shalt be sown in dishonour, but thou vers. 43. shalt be raised in glory: Thou shalt be sown in weakness, but thou shalt be raised in power: Thou shalt be sown a natural body, but thou shalt vers. 44 be raised a spiritual body: See what by God's mercy shall be the great gain of the Grave. After that the Graves of the godly shall be ripe, the Lord by an infinite power shall make all their bodies to be taken up, for like fine wheat to be laid up within his heavenly Girnals: When thou shalt arise, it shall be to an immortal happy life. Have patience for a little space, and be not crabbed: Yet a little while and I shall not see thee, and again a little while after the resurrection & I shall see thee, when thou shalt be transchanged into the blessed estate of glorious immortality: Then shall I dwell in thee without any spot or wrinkle: Let the hope of this, temper thy present grief. Let not the Grave afray thee my dear Body, for it is the last bed which every man must sleep in: Lie down into it gladly: Be content with the silk worm an argument of the resurrection to be enwrapped for a space in thy Winding sheet, till the i'll cold winter-tide of this mortality be pas●…: At the glorious spring of eternity; at the return of the Sun of righteousness Mal. 4. 2. so soon as the heat of the beating beams of God's love shall pierce in unto thy Grave, in a moment in the twinkling of an eye thou shall be quickened and raised up, yea, renewed and refined from the sinful dust of corruption, and after that carried above the brightest azured skies unto the place of immortality among psal. 16. 11 pleasures for evermore. The Body. I cannot but lament and wail to be deprived of thy company: My dearest Soul full dear art thou to me: If two strangers had been but some few days in their journey together, they will have a certain regret for to leave one another: What wonder is it then, that we two who have been of such old acquaintance, mourn at this last and long adieu. The Soul. As thy love is great toward me, so is mine also great toward thee my Body: But seeing it is the will of him who married us together that now we be put asunder, we must submit ourselves unto his good pleasure. This separation shall be but or a little space, and that for the well of us both: * Note The husband will sail the seas and go far from home, in hope to return with advantage: The same hope encourageth his wife to live like a widow for a space: At last the husband's return with expected profit, is welcomed with greater joys than was his former presence. It shall be so with us my dear Body: At my return in the day of the Resurrection there shall enter such a joy into thee, as eye never saw, ear never heard, yea, & which never could enter into the heart of man. As the long dark night maketh the morning seem sweet to the wearied watch, who hath long looked for it, so shall our little absence be a certain commendation of that presence, which after the great day shall be for ever. Cease in time I pray thee to stick at such earthly conceits: I may no longer tarry with thee, the Crown of immortality is already in sight. The Body. But alas, how is this that thou should go to glory before me? and leave me in the dust of death, a peace of moulding clay? Have I done any wrong but by thy counsel and direction? What have I been but the instrument of thy sin? All the action is from thee: Of all that is done amiss thou hast been the inventor the contriver and arch-plotter: God is no accepter of persons or of parties: What then is my guilt, that I should be behind thee left into the Grave a fearful den of death and pite of corruption? What a misery is this for me that I should lie under the power and bonds of Death, a Carrion under a Turf warded in deaths most loathsome den and abhorred jail? There must I lie i'll with cold stinking and rotting with my mouth full of earth and my belly full of worms, closed in a Coffin. O what matter of melancholy is this, that within a few days where are my two beautiful twinkling eyes, shallbe nothing but fearful eye-holes in a rotten skull, which shall be nothing but a nect of clocks and abominable creeping things: Within a few years this head which now lieth softly upon this Pillow shall be rolled and trinnelled up and down by the feet of the posterity: here a bone and there a bone, and not a bone together, all shall lie scattered here and there: the dogs shall play with some and Children shall play with others; some shall lie drying before the Sun, and others shall be bruised into pieces, and ground into powder: O what a change is in this our mortality! Behold presently what a starveling I am, being nothing but skin and bone: Behold, and anon all shall be turned into stink. The Soul. All such thoughts are all but worldly, heavy, dull, and formal: Suffer the Lord to sow his own seed: Thou art afraid for the Turf of the Grave: Care not for the Turf, for under it shalt thou be as a pickle of Corn under a clod: The Spring time of the Resurrection is not far fro, when thou shalt rise up more beautifullie in honour, power, and glory, than ever thou was before. Shall any thing be impossible unto Luk 18. 27 God? He who in his death revived many Saints, whose bodies Death had fast under the key of its power, shall with a blast of his voice make open G●…aues to let out all these who were prisoners of death, from Adam until that day. Let this comfort cheer up thine heart my Body: The Grave shall not be able to keep thee long * Note As jonah was vomited out of the Belly of Hell, so shalt thou be delivered jona. 2. 2. from that Monster's maw. The Body. But in the mean time what reason is it that I a carrionlie carcase should be bund ●…oth hand and foot and committed close prisoner to the grave a cold and chilly house, while thou art set at liberty? Behold, how already I am both withered and wanzed The Soul. The Grave to the Godly is no prison, but a resting bed from their labours, where God re●…resheth with sleep the wearied bones of his beloved: The Prophet saith, That they rest in their beds, and that they Isa. 57 2. enter in peace: * Note While the moulds are cast on them in the Grave it is but the drawing of their Bed curtain: The buried bodies of the Saints are in their grave like Babs lapped in swaddling * Note clothes in their Cradles: As a tired man will not be offended if he be sent to his bed for to sleep, neither should the wearied body be grieved to go to the Grave the place of rest and quietness. Be not peevish nor perverse my Body; envy not mine happy estate: Though the Grave should be to thee a prison, why should thou complain because I am set at liberty? If it hath pleased God in mercy to be good to me, why art thou offended? May not the Lord say unto thee, Is thine eye evil because I am Matth. 20. 15 good? What happier should thine estate be, though God should command me to be buried besides thee? May not God do with his own as he pleaseth? He might have taken thee to Heaven, and have shoot me a prisoner in the Grave: In his justice he might have cast us both into Hell. Think it then a mercy that he is so good unto me, who shall never count my glory full till we be both crowned with immortality in the heavens: * Note Be not offended at the Lords good will towards me, but rather thank him that he hath made death to be temporal in his mercy, which was eternal in his threatening: * Note Of a corrasive he hath made a cordial. Have patience O distressed Body: Suffer a little, that God may be true, Gen. 3. 19 Dust thou art and to dust shalt thou return: Dust being once delivered from the power of the Grave, shall reign with God in glory: * Note The Body is like gold which cannot be rid of its dross, till it be molten and dissolved. Again as this death is not total neither shall ●…t be perpetual for at that first sound of the last trumpet all the buried bodies of that faithful shall like the Eagle cast the bill of their mortality. Now mine old companion and yoke-fellow art thou not content to go to bed and there to sleep till the morning of theresurrection come? That day shall make an amends for all that we have suffered in this valley of tears: Then shall all thy confusion be turned into comforts. Let us now be content that the Lord lose the pines and slack the cords of this our Tabernacle of clay. The Body. Now glad am I my dear Soul that ever I had such a Soul as thee: now my dear Turtle go with my blessing to the service of our God: Go from the Cross to the Crown, from a prison to a Palace, from the mourning-weede to the wedding-garment: Go dwell with the Lord and the Lamb, wait well upon him: Go now from the black and dismal days of drooping distress and dirty distractions, to joy, to peace, to pleasure, to light, to life, to liberty: Go hear that happy harmony of heavenly Musicians in heavenly Mansions where mercies bless without judgement's blasts: Go hear the voice of all the Menistrels of that celestial Quire. Be thou above the Stars, while I am under a Turf: All my comfort is in this that we shall meet again in Bliss: * Note Now blessed Soul prepare thy Lamp, pour out thine oil, the heavenly wooer the Bridegroom Psal. 16. 11 is come for to take thee to his Chambers of Charity wherein are pleasures for evermore. In hope of the Resurrection I go gladly to my Grave, whereout of I am assured to arise for to meet my Redeemer in the clouds: This Candle of my comfort shall never be put out. Now before we shed, let us shed some tears: * Note The last rain of our afflictions, wherewith we may Cant. 2. 11 bathe the bruises of our Lord which he in love did suffer for our glory. Now I go to rest in the dust a prisoner of hope: Go thou to thy God, attend well his service, and court his Countenance for ever in his most pleasant Ivory Palaces: I am now refreshed with a cooling taste to immortality to come: Farewell my dear Soul and truest Turtle, mount up now to the Heavens: Thou hast already past all toil and turmoil: The way that rests unto the Kingdom is both smooth & even, without any rub of opposition thou shalt enter into immortality: O the showers of grace and mercy which rain down upon us both: Farewell till that desired day of the Resurrection come. The Pastor. His eyes stir a little, they are full of tears the tribute of Repentance: He beginneth to shake, he now seemeth to be wakened out of his trance: I will inquire what his mind is set upon. What meditations are these Sir that ye are upon? Ye seem to have been in some good motion. The sick Man. My Soul Sir and my body after a blessed agreement have been taking their adewes one from another: They have been blessing each other, be●…ause they have served God together, they look to be one day both glorified together. A sea of comforts hath reigned down upon my Soul from the Heavens in most sweet and pleasant showers. The Pastor. Surely that is a worthy exercise: Such good motions are plants of God and impressions of his finger: Happy are the Soul & the body that can serve God together with one shoulder: At that last day they shall have a joyful meeting, they two shallbe clasped together in love with such contentmentes as tongues of Angels are not able to express. But O when the wicked soul shall return from hell to take up its body for to carry it to everlasting torments, then shall they curse each other with many a woe for their Fornications, Adulteries, Lies, Deceits, Riot & Drunkenness: Then would the body if it could have intelligence of the souls coming wish that a rock or a mountain would fall upon it for to hide it from the Soul, that being void of life, it might be free of feeling. But the decree is come forth, of necessity they must be joined together: O but they than shall look one to another like Lions: Their feed shall receive none agreement, no not: They shall never agree in any thing but in this, to 〈◊〉 together that their comfortless dolours may be doubled: * Note This is a dear pennie-warth, so little pleasure for so much pain: In that day all the wicked shall bitterly repent such barganes. Now happy is your Soul Sir, and your body both, that are so well resolved to depart: Ye are certainly blessed that ever ye were borne: * Note Behold, now ye rest in hope of the resurrection, which shall be in that great day of God's general assembly, when all that ever took breath shall compeare before Christ the judge of the World, for to receive that which they did in the flesh, be it good be it evil. Now Sir, seeing ye are an enrolled Citizen of Heaven, and an adopted hair of God, up still with your heart toward that heavenly Heritage, with sighs and groans beat on still at the doors of God's mercy: God giveth unto prayer victory against himself. Now the time draweth near Sir, your hour is come to a quarter, fight out the good fight, fix the eyes of your Faith upon the bloody wounds of jesus: Lay hold on him, listen to his voice, ere it be long ye shall hear these words of joy, Come Matth. 25. 21 faithful servant and enter into thyn Master's joy. O Lord, the giver of grace and A prayer of glory; out of the blessed bowels of thy mercy bath and wash this Soul with that arterial blood which sprang thorough the pierced film of the heart of his Redeemer: At the beginning of this Battle, Lord thou did see how his poor Soul was scorched with the flames of hellish temptations, which did burn the very marrow out of his bones: this is thy ordinary dealing with thine own: Hell on earth is for the heirs of Heaven: But heaven on earth is the portion of the heirs of hell: Now, Lord, from his hell bring him to thine Heavens: Make his Soul more clearly to look up toward the blessed bloody wounds of his Saviour, wherein he may perceive the props of his protection: Make his Soul now to be fully possessed with an entire love to the fairness of thy face, wherein are pleasures Psal. 16 11 for evermore. The sick Man. Lord jesus make clay again with A prayer thy spital for to anoint my dimmed Luk. 2. 30. eyes, that clearly with Simeon my Soul may see thy Salvation: We in our life receive but the first imposition of hands like the man that saw men Mar. 8. 24. walking like trees: Now, Lord, at death give me the second imposition, that I may see thee even as thou art. The Pastor. Lord, hear thou in Heauen●… A prayer Maintain the life of his love towards thee: Now water the seed which thou hast sown: weed out the tares which Satan hath sown: Pity and pardon: Lay all his sins upon the Son of thy love Now let his feet be shod for the journey which he is making to a better place: Inspire his Soul with the spirit of grace, till his life be expired: Save him by thy blood which saved them that spilt it. The sick Man. I find Death besieging my heart with sensible blows: O bring out my Soul out of this brick of bondage of the body: Mine heart strings are so racked within me that they are like to break: The hope that is deferred Prou. 13. 12 is the fainting of the Soul: Lord, help me in this heavy hour. The Pastor. Lord, hear thou in heaven, and satisfy his hearts desire. The sick Man. Pray, pray, that the Lord uphold me in the throng of these throes wherewith mine heart is gripped, lest I be wholly swallowed up of despair. The Pastor. O Saviour of mankind, who out A prayer of thy mere mercy and love came under the charge of his accounts: Make now answer for him as his Advocate before that high Tribunal, before which his poor Soul is now arraigned to compeare: Turn all thy wrath in mercy, and thy justice-seat in a Throne of grace: Call home all his wandering thoughts, settle and them upon thyself: Maintain the life of his love: Make death to him a Messenger of mercy, and his pains a mean to bring him to thy pleasures: O Captain of his Salvation under whose bloody banner he hath in his life made war against the enemies of thy glory, at death overcome thou all the enemies of his Salvation: With thy Trumpets and Lamps terrify all these merciless Midianites: Make them like a wheel & as the stubble before the wind: Grant the victory unto thy weak Servant here, that in the Heavens thou may crown his Soul with glorious garlands of immortality, Lord hear us for the sake of thy Son unto whom with thee and the Spirit of Grace be all glory and honour, Amen. Now Sir, up with your heart to the Father of mercies: Fight out courageously the fight of Faith: Christ now is holding out the Crown, your Salvation is sealed, ye need not fear, ye have your warrant under the Broad Seal of the King of Heaven. The sick man. O My dear Pastor, he is come he is come whom my Soul loveth: Cant. 7. 10 I am my Beloveds & his desire is towards me: The lost sheep is found: The unthrifty Son is come home again: All the snares of destruction are broken: My Soul is escaped like a Bird: I am now at a point, infinitely desirous rather to go to my God than to sojourneanie more on earth: Mine heart is more in God, than in myself I have a begun possession of Heaven by the first fruits: I look for perfection in fullness of joy and Psal. 16. 11 pleasures fore evermore. O blessed jesus set me as a Seal upon A prayer thine heart: O dear Saviour, Cant. 8. 6. the Root and the Rock of my Salvation, lo I come: stretch out thine Psal. 40 7. Arms and take my Soul into thy bosom, yet a little while and I shall be no more a stranger with thee Psa. 39 12 and a sojourner. The Pastor. O blessed be our God for evermore who hath made you to triumph so over all your enemies after such unuterable groans of grief where your mind was sore perplexed at the first: Hold fast now that which ye have: Your heart is now richly stored with the true treasures of godliness: Ye are but sipping of these joys whereof in Heaven ye shall drink in a full cup. The sick Man. Christ the Lord is mine: He is mine: Philip. ●…. 21 He is to me both in life and death advantage: My comforts are in my Bosom: The Angelicali Guards are here about me: I die in the Faith of jesus: Come even Lord jesus A prayer come quickly and lose this Soul a prisoner in clay groaning to be at liberty: O my Soul return unto thy rest, psal. 116. 7 for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee: Now may I say, This poor man Psal. 34. 6. cried and the Lord hath heard him & delivered him out of all his troubles. The Pastor. The Lord is with you, who ere it be long shall fulfil all your hearts desires, yea, he shall do above all that ye can think or wish: Now Sir, ye have him whom your soul loveth: His Spirit is in the very bosom of your heart: Hold fast the grip ye have: Dye in his Arms, sleep in the blessed bosom of your God: Full liberty is at the door ready to enter in: Yet a little and ye shall have a joyful meeting with Christ and all his Angels in the Kingdom of your Father: Till ye come out of this body stick fast by Faith to Christ your Redeemer: Claim boldly that which he hath dear purchased by his Blood. O dear jesus, his Staff and his Strength, wrap now his Soul into A prayer the white winding-sheete of thy righteousness: While he hath life live thou in him, that while he breathes he may live to thee, and after death may live with thee for ever: Let neither life nor death be able to separate him from thy love: The nearer death approacheth for to separate his Soul from his body, d●…aw thou the nearer unto his Soul, till thy Spirit the Spirit of Life fully & finally in all perfection live into him the Soul of his Soul. Fix your eye now upon the heart of Christ, deadly wounded for your transgressions: Behold that Speare-hole in his heart, which he suffered for to sa●…e you: Consider his bleeding wounds all dropping the balm of mercy, which hath proceeded from the bowels of his compassions: He it is who hath died for your sins, and is risen again for your righteousness. The sick Man. I know that my Redeemer liveth, his job. 19 25 blood of an unualuable price is the only ransom of my Soul: He only is the joy of mine heart, and the health of my countenance. The Pastor. Hold fast that confidence: Let your Soul repair unto the everlasting Arms of his love: Shrowded & shelter yourself under the wings of the Almighty: Ye are now near the end of the Race: The Lord guard you with his Grace, that no temptation of Satan be able trip your heel before that ye be entered in his rest: Now the lowering showering seede-time of tears is passed, and the Harvest of joy is hard at hand: Now Sir, Christ is at the door: Behold, he standeth at the door and knocks, he is now for to sup with you on earth, that ye may sup with him for ever in the Heavens: Behold, he is with you. The sick Man. I have found him whom my Soul loveth, I will surely hold him, and will not Cant. 3. 4. let him go: My Soul hath already taste of the fruit of Canaan by the report of the spy of my faith: Christ now is mine. The Pastor. Seeing ye have him, wrap your soul into the bowels of his everlasting compassions: wait on, perfection is the last gift: Lift up continually the eyes of your spirit to the worthy wounds of jesus: In them behold * Note & read in great Capital characters the unspeakable love of the Father. The sick Man. O Lord▪ I have waited for thy Salvation: Remember me now while Gen. 49. 18 as thou art into thy Kingdom: Father into thine hands I commend my Luk. 23. 4●… Spirit, my Soul I give to thee who hast given it to me. The Pastor. Now Sir, your wished hour is come: Christ is laying his Arm●…s about you for to receive your Soul in his bosom: Solace yourself in your Saviour, who hath made it free of all weights, that swiftly without any let it may flee up to its God: O the love of jesus towards you: He hath not only been an Inte●…cessour to pray for you, but an Advocatalso to plead for you: By the virtue of his Blood your cause is win: And therefore homage ye now your heart sealed with the sense of his love: Yield and surrender your Soul into the Arms of his mercy, that he may perfect his graces in you with glory in immortality. The sick Man. Lord jesus receive my Spirit, and Act. 7. 59 glad it with thy glory. The Pastor. He again is fallen into a trance: His battle is now near an end: Let us wait a little & see what he doth. He now beginneth a little for to stir: There is yet some life into him as I perceive. Now Sir, be glad: Christ is knocking at the door for to call forth your Soul from bondage to liberty, from your banishment to an heavenly home, from a prison of pain to a palace of pleasures for evermore. That we may have assurance that ye die in the Faith of jesus, show us some sign: Lift up your hand in token that ye are assured to go to God Behold how he hath lifted up his hand. Cortenet quod lingua tacet. His hand telleth what is in his heart: O but this poor Soul since the beginning of this bloody Battle hath been miserable mangled, howed and hacked upon by most bitter and bloody temptations what carnal, what spiritual: Now blessed be God, from all his troubles he is come to his good things: We are all oblished to give praise unto God, who hath set out this man before us as an excellent example and mirror of his mercy. It is the custom of God, as we see, to put his dearest Ones to the hardest proof, as wise Builders put the greatest timber and the heart of the Oak to the greatest stress. * Note Many think that Heaven standeth hard by their Bedside, and that a light, Lord have mercy, will make the door of Heaven to go wide open to the wall, no not: Through man●…e Act. 14 22 tribulations we must enter into that Kingdom: * Note As April showers go before the May flowers, so must our tears trickle before our Triumphs: We must smart before we smile, and groan before we glory: All Christian Souls like Christ himself, must enter by the port of pains unto the palace of pleasures Psal. 16. 11 for evermore: No co-reigning without a co-suffering. O let us consider what pains this godly man hath suffered in this fiery trial since this Battle 1 P●…t, 4. 12 began: O with what difficulties hath he swimmed thorough so many temptations: If the righteous scarcely vers. 18. be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? * Note O sour Apple of Adam's pride, many teeth hast thou set on edge. The Sparrow by wandering & the Swal. low by flying may escape, but where sin Prou. 26. 2 hath been once, there must also be sorrow before that the sinner can come to joy: It is not so easy as many men think to win in at the doors of heaven, as though one Gods-mercy were enough for to do the turn: * Note Before that a man be able to win in at the straight gate for to enter into his everlasting rest, he must be buffeted with divers temptations, and broken with sorrows till his heart become contrite that is, grund & bruished small as if it were corn in a Querne: * Note There is none entry into rest for man before that in great grief he hath plucked out his Matth. 5. 19 right eye, even his dearest darling & best bosom pleasure: * Note He that would lodge with God in eternity must here lay hold on his Kingdom with an holy violence: What wonder that he aven be hard to win, seeing with all the infernal powers of darkness, legions of our own corruptions combined, oppose might & main the growth of God's graces in our Souls. Many foolishly in the idle rowing of their brains content with a blush of zeal, think that Heaven may be win with wishes, and therefore in their life skip wantonly over the threatenings of the Law, in hope that easily at death they may catch at the promise of the Gospel: But who had seen this holy man of GOD upon the painful rack of repentance, would count all the perishing pleasures of sin too dear bought pleasures: * Note Sin at the beginning is like poison in perfume, pleasant at the first, but not long after it worketh deadly, except that it be repelled with some stronger Antidote: The way to heaven as we see is not like the way to great ma●…ket Townes easily discerned by the multitude of footsteps. Our good Friend is now in the very pangs of death: A patient and Lamb▪ like death is this: His life is on his lip: This wearied Traveler is now near the end of his journey: Seeing that the end of a work crowneth it, let us conceive a Prayer whereby we may lay his Soul into the bosom of his God, who shall refresh him with everlasting comforts: O Lord, by the vigour of thy Spirit give wings to our grovelling prayers. A Prayer for the sick Man approaching unto Death. O GOD of mercle and of man's Salvation, who thinketh nothing too dear for a repenting soul, were it to give it a draught of the heart Blood of thy Son▪ we here upon the knees of our hearts humbled again before the footstool of the the Throne of thy Grace, put up to thee our most humble suit for this thy servant who is now coming to thee: His words now fail him, but thou, Lord, wilt never fail him: In stead of words let the crowding sobs the Turtle find room into thine ears: Heave up his heart to thy mercy seat with the requests of thy Spirit, in sighs which cannot be expressed. O charitable Alms giver open the hand of this Beggar and thrust the money of thy mercy into it: Seal fast up in his heart the remission of all his sins in the blood of jesus: Bury all his transgressions in Christ's Burial: Establish thy free Spirit within him: Take from him all dulness and deadness of spirit, all secure and hardened thoughts, all that may hinder him from coming unto thee: Continue his comforts begun: Be thou the end and the ender of his work: Lord, disappoint Satan who by his charms and cunning trains hath gone about both by force & fraud to catch this Soul of thy servant. Now Death is approaching: To thee belongeth the issues of death: Thou killest & thou makest alive: thou bringest down to the grave, and again thou raisest up: Now as evidently appeareth, thou art for to remove Isa. 38. 11. this thy servant from the Land of the l●…uing, and thy will must be done: We could have wished the continuance of his Christian fellowship with the lengthening and enlarging of his days: But most humbly we submit all our affections unto thy good pleasure and will. O Father of mercies in whose boundless bowels are most pitiful compassions without any passion, show thyself merciful, loving, and kind towards this Soul, which in the days of its flesh hath been with thee but a stranger and Psal. 39 12 ●… sojourner: His Soul now is saying to thee with john his two Disciples▪ joh. 1. 38. Rabbi, Master where remaineth thou? Answer it as thou answered them lovingly, Come and see, and after vers. 39 that taken it home to thine own house as john took home thy Mother. joh. 19 27 O dear Father of our Saviour by Nature, O our dearest Father by adoption; be favourable to this thy servant, even for that blood wherewith thou art passing lie pleased: Forget and forgive all his sins whatsoever: Lay now thy loving Arms about him: Clasp him hard to thy bosom, and keep him fast till he be surely and softly placed into the heavens. Now, Lord, thou hast begun to loof this Soul out of its prison: Let earth go to earth, and his Spirit return to thee that gave it: Place it into one of these heavenly Mansions which thy Son is gone to prepare for these that are thine: Strengthen him now at the last and highest point of his trial. O Great JEHOVAH, who never hucketh to give mercy to heart broken sinners, let him find more and more that thy bowels overflowing with mercy, are ready to receive him: In the bottomless sea of thy mercy make his sins all to be choked, and his Soul deliciously to be bathed with everlasting comforts. And because Satan in his last assaults is most furious, be thou most powerful in him by the virtue of thy Spirit: Blunt so the edge of all his temptations that they be not able any more to wound his Spirit: Let thy secret love be unto his Soul like a Secret or jack in this bloody battle, whereby he may be shielded from the bloody blows of a most cruel adversary: Put on him, Lord, the complete armour of God, Ephes. 6. 13 that he may be able to withstand in this evil hour, and having done all, to stand: Before this Battle end make him with stomach and courage to run all his enemies through with the two edged sword of thy Spirit. Have now, Lord, a special care of him: Hemme in all his thoughts within the compass of thy will: Possess him so with the fullness of thy presence, that in him there be found no room for any ill motions: Furnish him with the supply of all these graces which thou knowest to be wanting into him: Let thy Spirit make residence in his heart, as in an house of God. Now, Lord, while it is time to save, save the Soul of thy Servant which is now ready to remove: Open unto it that ever-flowing fountain promised to the penitent of the house of David for to taken away sin and uncleanness: O Fountain of Grace, wash him and wash him throughly with the blessed Blood of thy satisfaction: After that thou hast made him perfectly clean, hold out thy succouring & helpful arms unto this Soul and take it into thy bosom: Let it there taste of the honey of thy Compassions. In this time of gloummines & darkness of death, enlighten his Soul with the light of thy countenance: Turn thy face now unto it: Hitherto it could see nothing but the Backparts of Thee that Great JEHOVAH, which bringeth joy but in part: From such parts now bring him unto the fullness: Turn thyself unto this Soul that it may fully see thy face wherein is fullness of joy. Psal. 16. 11 And seeing no man can see thy face & live, let this thy Servant now see thy face and die, that after death he may live with thee for ever in the Heavens: Let neither the love of life nor the fear of death turn his eyes from the prize of the high Philip. 13. 14 calling of God: Make him now with a long step from the earth to the heavens to step in into immortality. Now, Lord, engrave deeply this Soul into the palms of thine hands Set it as a seal on thine heart: Wrap it within the Mantle of thy mercy, war●…e it within the bowels of thy love, lap it in thy bosom with that unspeakable joy which Christ hath purchased with unspeakable pain, even through the bloody merits of his most bitter passions: His words now are failed: Square thou all his thoughts by the rule of thy Spirit of grace. Lord, make these our weak prayers, to mount up like Pillars of smoke parfumed with the merciful merits of thine only Son: To him with thee his Father, and with the Spirit of Grace, be all Glory, Praise, Power, and Dominion for ever. AMEN. The spiritual Friend. O dear Friend whom I have seen a sorrow beaten sinner; Rejoice now in your Saviour, whose mercies have been the Bane of all your sinful miseries: Cleave still fast unto your Saviour: Let not him go whom your soul loveth, till ye come to Peniel where ye shall see him face to face. The Lord refresh your wearied A prayer. soul with the soft & sweet breath of his Spirit: The Lord kned into your heart these spiritual meditations which are of the purest strain: O Father of mercies give unto this soul a most sure Infef●…ment of heaven by the hand of thy Spirit: Make some drops of thy Myrrh to enter in by some little crevice of his heart: Put in thine hand by the key hole of the door that his bowels may be moved for thee: Let such a strength now repair from thee unto him, that the world may see that thy strength is made perfect in weakness. It shall be expedient that now ye his Pastor in a short prayer recommend him to God again: Behold him now at the last gasps, his eye strings are broken: The water of death trickleth down over his cheeks: His life is now drawn to an hair. O Lord, while bodily sight and senses fail, make spiritual sight and sense succeed in a greater perfection: Make a spaite of thy grace with a mighty stream to carry him to glory. A prayer O dear Friend up with your heart to your God: Now all your sins shall die with your sickness: The Rock of your Salvation jesus hath shivered them in pieces: There is 〈◊〉 Rom. 81. condemnation to these that are in Christ, who out of the pangs of love suffered that pains of hell for man's Redemption▪ His Angel's Sir are here waiting upon your Soul for to carry it to pleasures for evermore: Yet a little ●…sal. 16. 11 while and lo ye shall be at the upshotte of all your woe: Ye are now utterly out of the reach of all the powers * Note of hell, even upon the borders of everlasting pleasures, unmixed pleasures, which shall turn all your tears into triumphs. The Pastor. Now Sir, Gird up the loins of your 1 Pet. 〈◊〉. 13 mind, make haste to your God, who shortly shall put into your hand the palm of victory: Satan is chained up now for doing you any more harm: The night of your trouble is Luk. 1. 78. past: Christ that blessed Day spring hath brought a morning mercy unto your Soul: His graces in you hath shined more and more and so shall do until the perfect day even until your Soul carried on Eagles wings reach the height of Heaven, where without tears or tediousness are pleasures for evermore. Psal. 16. 11 Though your tongue now fail you Sir, let your heart be busy with God in prayer, he will hearten and encourage you in all the business: Your task is at an end: Heave up your heart to Christ crucified with us, and that with sighs and sobs the groan of his own Spirit. Though your body now be cold, the Spirit of jesus shall by a free and vital operation maintain the heat and vigour of your Soul. A prayer The Spirit of comfort convey unto your soul the warmest blood that ever heated the heart of jesus. Let us pray. The last prayer for the sick Man in the very jaws of death. O LORD, whose mercies are above all thy works, it was never thy custom to send away a broken heart without comfort: Now hear the secret g●…oanes and sighs of thy servant, whose soul is ready in this gasping agony to come out of its Tabernacle for to compeare before thee: Thou who hast given him thy Son for a ransom, give him thy Spirit for a pledge: Furnish him with force for to fight and finish this Battle in victory: As thou hast been at the beginning of his being even the beginner of his being, so now be thou the end at which he aims, even the end of all his woes. And seeing he is now in the narrow throat of death, help him by thy power, till he hath passed this passage▪ Put now into him a fresh li●…e that in a strong vigour he may run with the feet of the Hind till he come to thee in ete●…nitie: Make him now supple and nimble while he is near the end of his race: His silly soul hath been sore weather-driven with many temptations, now let his battle take an end: Receive his soul in thy Rest. and lull it in the bosom of thy pleasures. Be a shield and a shelter unto him for to hid and cover him from the last blows and painful thrusts of his enemy the Devil: Disappoint that evil one, while he looketh for the greatest victory: Let him receive the foulest foil. Lose now sweetly these two which thou hast joined together, that after his eyes with old Simeon have seen thy Salvation, he may depart in peace. Seeing the Battle is now come to the la●…f stroke, make thy Spirit, O Lord, in him to fight it out, that having overcome, thou may put the palm of victory into his hand after that the days of dangers are past: O draw this soul now unto thee with the strongest cords of thy love: Proclaim unto his Conscience a full & a final remission of his sins, whether Original or actual, whether of Commission or of Omission: Subscribe his pa●…don with the arterial blood of thy blessed Son. O Father of mercies, the Spouse of all faithful Souls, receive this Spirit into thy wed locke-bedde: It was betrothed unto thee by thy fair promises in the Gospel, now according to thy promise accomplish and fulfil that blessed Band in the presence of thine Angels: Long, Lord, hath he thought on it, and earnestly longed for it: Seal thou it now with the sense of thy love: fulful it, Lord, and this day be thou the Bridegroom of his Soul: here he hath seen but the Copy of thy countenance, let him now come where he may see thee even as thou art: As thou gave him his measure of grace in the world, so now give him his portion of glory b●…sides thyself: Let nothing sway his thoughts from thee in this last ag●…nie: Season so his heart with thy love that there be no room in his heart for any thing by thyself. Now loose the pins of the Tabernacle, while his soul shall be out of the body let it enter into the Palace of pleasures: Say unto it as Laban said Gen. 24. 31 to Abraham's servant, Come in thou blessed of the Lord: Thou who hast clasped his name within the Book of life: Bind now his soul into the bundle of life: Draw it out of this miry mortality, & place it among the Angels and spirits of just men, who are always in thy presence Psal. 16, 11 courting thy countenance, wherein i●… fullness of joy. Unto the end and in the end, keep his heart unblameable in holiness▪ that Satan that roaring Lion be never able to catch him within the reach of his paw: Preserve the true relish and sound joys of thy Spirit of grace within him, till from grace thou bring him unto glory, where thou shalt crown thy gifts and graces with thy goodness. O now open the everlasting doors & let in this Soul decked with the laurels of victory: Let all the Heavens welcome this converted sinner with songs and shouts of joy. O Spirit of Comfort, thou hast guided him thorough many seas of sorrows, sit still at the Helm till thou have brought him to his Haven. O now crown thy graces with thy glory: Lord jesus receive my spirit. To the Father, Son, and holy Ghost, be everlasting praise and dominion for ever, AMEN. Michael and the Devil's dispute for the ' Soul of the sick Man alittle before its departure out of the Body. Satan.▪ I Have many things to lay to this man's charge: I am the Lord's Proctor and Acturney appointed to plead for his justice: I have already sifted his life: Of force this Soul must be damned: None Assize can cleanse it: It is now taken red hand in the path and passage of sin. The Angel Michael. I will not use against thee a railing accusation, neither dare I for my jud. v. 9 Master the God of mercy and of meekness: It hath pleased his royal Majesty to licence thee to accuse the souls of men: Thine accusations are ever most bitter and most bloody: I am here standing on my Master's side for to defend this Soul which he hath bought with his blood. But what can thou say against this man whose Soul is committed to me for to be carried unto Paradise: I know thee of old to be the accuser Reuel. 12. 10 of the brethren: I remember well how once I contended & grappled with jud. v. 9 thee for the body of Moses which was buried sore against thy will: It is likely that of it thou thought to make an idol. Lose now thy leech and let all thy hellhounds come forward: Come, come with thy most foul mouthed objections: what can thou now allege against the soul of this man before that it come out of this body: Thou art here a Lion against a Lamb: Declare now what thou can in this Assize: Thou can say no more than he hath already said against himself: But come on, f●…aime thine indictment against him: Discharge thy fie●…ie darts with the outmost of thy force. Satan. Knowest thou not that there is a large harvest for Hell, many called but few chosen. He is my Vassal, I require but justice: Let him receive but according to his deservings: here is a Bill of indictment able to convinee him: In his wickedness he turned to his course as the horse rusheth into the jer. 8. 6. battle: Both fiercely and feareleslie marching under my colours in the pursuit of his pleasures he ran riot in the way of wickedness. The Angel Michael. Is not God a God of mercy, able to forgive? But what hath he done? Satan. Behold, the pieces of Evidence which I produce against him: Let all the actions of his life be brought to a true touch, and it shall appear what a monster he hath been. In his youth he scorned at the Thunder of God's word, counting it but Paper shot: His soul was never grieved to grieve the Spirit of grace: seldom came he to the Church, he was of the kindred of Noah's Raùen delighting to fly about the Ark, not willing to enter into it: God's honey word of unspeakable sweetness was vinegar to his teeth: The pure commandment of the Lord which enlightened the eyes was like smoke unto his Psal. 19 8. eyes the cause of blearedness. In all points he was disloyal unto his God: He misregarded his Parents: He burned with lust like Host 7. 4. an Oven heated by the baker: He so loved his lust that it was his law: His hands were full of pickery, his eyes were full of adultery, and his heart was full of guile and his tongue full of lies, ever gaggling like a Goose. He was a cunning clawback & a paunchpike thank: His custom was to defile the air with most filthy belghs of blasphemy: He sported at all reproofs: O the noble juggling. Psal. 35. 26 There, there, this gear goeth trim. By hook & by crook he sought for gain: How he won it he cared not if men perceived not his fraud: With judas he was wholly given to the bag and baggage of his covetousness. Shall this man come where God is▪ who never walked in his way? In all his ways he did ever go awry like a Child that scribleth without a rule: All his good intentions were but like false conceptions which are buried before their birth: let me now tread him under foot, that I may lay him dead strait like a worm: O the infamous man whose name doth go with a brand upon it like cain's mark: He followed Christ for loaves: But O when the corn was spent the Rate left the Barn. His whole life was but a mire of mischief: All men can tell that he was but an untrusty Pilferer, a fool hardy felon rushing in rebellion against God & man: If so be that he was exalted, he cared not that God was dishonoured: In the pride of life he walked like Nebuchadnezar strutting in his Palace with bragging words Dan. 4. 30 boasting of his Babel: God's patience hath long suffered. In his sufferings he hath comforted himself in this, When I see a convenient time than will I execute judgement: Now is the time of execution come: Either now or never, for his sin is now ripe and ready for the sickle. I am wearied with accusing, what shall I say? His heart was ever swelled with pride: By costly apparel he gave evil example: With his pleasures he was tied like a dog in a leech: He could neither suffer a Superior nor comport with à Companion: The blue envy in his heart made him hate to see others thrive besides him: The praise of other men's virtues, was as who had dispraised himself in his face: He was ever malcontent at God's graces into others: He was like a Swine under an Oak feeding, and foiling Gods benefits like Acorns: But who ever saw his face lifted up with thanks to the shaker of the tree? He was full of peppered sauciness, sporting himself with checks and taunts: As he had a babbling tongue to speak evil, so had he a bibulous ear thirsty after false reports. O what filthy dung hills & heaps of sins were hoodred in his heart: If he did not any evil, it was not for lack of will, like the frozen serpent he hissed when he could not hurt, but so soon as he began, he lustily lashed on. All his meditations were mould in malice. As for his Religion he used his liberty as a cloak of maliciousness: 1 F●…t, 2. 16 While he come to the Church it was but for the fanshion, for to show the frindges of his hypocrisy: He thought a long Sermon a surfeit, as judas thought the oil spent that was poured upon Christ, so thought he all the time allotted to God's service: He was ever cold in well doing as one of the frozen generation: A proud man was he in his own conceit while he found himself enlightened with some canfused glimmerings of light glancing upon his heart thorough the deceiving glass of a temporary faith: His neck was an iron sinew and his brow brass: In a word Isa. 48. 4. all his affections were out of order as bones beside the joint. It were more easy to count the sand than his sins of omission and of commission with excess of riot. I seek but justice, now his life is near an end, let God's vengeance take him at the rebound. The Angel Michael. That is a bloody Libel, if all be true that is said by the father of lies: Though his sins were thus bloody joh. 8▪ 44. as thou accuses, there is a redeeming Blood in jesus for his ransom, his wounds are the holes of the Rock of refuge: All that accusation is but founded upon surmise. But though he were guilty as thou affirms, is there any sin so great that God cannot forgive? There is no sin so red but Christ's Blood can make it white: God's word is true, sin died in Scarlet-red like crimson, may by God be made white Isa. 1. 18. like the wool & snow: Thou cryeth for justice, Christ's Blood cryeth for mercy; which of you two shall best be heard? Satan. But can God's mercy be against his justice? shall mercy against justice plead for the whiteness of a Raven? shall a most vile sinner escape damnation? shall not justice be his bane? Let me now give him a knock with the bar of judgement: While he had strength to walk he left the narrow path, for to go crowd with the wicked in the broad way: Now let him suffer for all his riotes, let the doors of heaven be bared in his teeth, Gods mercies must not be against his justice: Let me now give him a yercke with my whip. The Angel Michael Avoid, there is no breach in justice while his sins are pardoned, for Christ his Lord hath suffered for him, he hath satisfied for all his debts at the b●…rre of justice, and that to the utmost farthing: When all was paid, Christ cried with a loud voice that heaven and earth might hear Consummatum est, that is, A●…l is paid, joh. 19 30 the whole work of man's Redemption is finish●…d This was h●…ard by the devils themselves, & not one durst stand up to say the contrary. Thou c●…yeth for justice, 〈◊〉 is justice, here is justice: Christ his Cautioner hath paid all his d●…bts: * Note It is against justice to require one debt to be twice paid: By justice than he must be saved, because Christ in great mercy towards him hath made full satisfaction to the justice of God: * Note His Lord's passion is his pardon, for the drops of his Blood his Father hath given him in exchange life everlasting for all repenting sinners, what needs him to fear who hath Christ for his Cautioner. Satan. Christ would never be Cautioner for such a Reprobate goat as he: In wickedness he hath outstripped all others, he put on Christ like an Hat which goeth off to every one that we meet: The wine pint and Tobacca Pipe with sneesing powder provoking snevell were his heart's delight. His life hath been a stumbling block unto many: His best virtues were but splendida peccata glister sins: His most precious pearls are but of pewter. Away with this Child of Belial, out upon him with all his fair words, all his Religion was but scroofe and scum: Would Christ ever be Cautioner for such a Bankrupt as he, who all his days hath been a boisterous reveller, the chief of a knot of knaves. The Angel Michael. He who is not in debt needeth Matth. 9 13 not a Cautioner: I came, said Christ, to call sinners to repentance: Though his sins were many as thou objectes, no misery in man can overreach the mercy of his God: Christ in all will be answerable for him. Satan. What hath Christ to do with this stubborn and steele-necked Bebell who was in his whole conversation both hot & hardy? The voice of his Conscience within was out-cryed, & all honesty outfaced by his corruptions: After the evil turn was done he had his excuse ready at his finger's ends. Think ye that Christ will be Cationer for all men, or that all men shall be saved? The Angel Michael. Not for all, neither shall all men be saved: But this man is one of Gods because of his Faith. Satan. How could he have Faith? Faith is by the Word. The Word had none abode in him a pettifogger a trouble town: What could such a smatterer as he learn at the hearing of the Word? He hath been but a Bungler delighting into gewgowes: He was a leaking vessel, letting things run out as fast as they came in, his Faith was ever feigned. The Angel Michael. Though his Faith was weak, yet was it never feigned, God quencheth Isa 42. 3. not the smoking fl●…xe: * Note He looketh not so much to the strength as to the truth thereof: Thou art fertile in foolish words which are the sum of the Devil's dictionary. Satan. I hear thee brag much of his Faith, but who did ever see it? I H●…b. 11. 1, know not what the evidence of things not seen signifi●…th: I could never understand that Theology: I understand S. james better, show me thy jam. 2, 13. Faith, saith he: If he had Faith let it be seen: To say that he had Faith, is but a vain blast: What hath his life been but a web of vices? What hath he been but a fruitless shrub in the Lord's garden, where he but marred the ground? What hath he been but a ●…luttish sluggard a Gore-bellie, a Bellie-god, petting himself with paunch-pleasures, his mouth like a Bunghole was for nothing but for the filling of his belly among his drunken Gosips: Hypocrisy hath so enwoven itself into his heart, that all his thoughts are become as black as hell: His heart was ever void of all Charity: If he was well he cared not for others in their calamities: This was his ordinary speech concerning the afflicted: What have I to do whether they sink or they swim? Every vessel must stand on its own bottom: Let every man shift for himself: the well & wealth of others was to him an eyesore: curse now this barren ground which hath been a soil only fit for weeds. The Angel Michael. These be but accusations or rather cavillations without any ground. The Godly saw that he was among them a fruitful tree, whose branches were bowed down that men might pull the fruits with their hand. Satan. What fruits Could such a thorn as he bear grapes? Could such a Thistle as he bear figs? Where are these fruits of his Faith? What was he ever but a monstruous person all mouth, tongue, and voice, without heart or hand to think or do good: he seemed to be wise while indeed all his actions were contrived but by quirks of wite: He could give God his lips in stead of his heart: He had many fair sweet words like the sounding of golden Bells, but where are his Pomegranates fruits worthy amendment of life? All might see that he was like that cursed ground where Thistles grow in job. 31. 40 stead of Wheat, and Cockle instead of Barley: Let him now crack of his Cockle and boast of his Barley. The Angel Michael. These be but calumnies and ●…orged slander and detractions: He was indeed like a tree planted by the psal. 1. 3. rivers of water that bringeth forth the fruit in his season. Satan. What was he but a knotty, barren, rotten scrub, marring the ground? Show me his Faith if thou can? make search of his works: Try them and tell me what they are in thy best s●…raphicall discourse. The Angel Michael. This and this and this he did: And if God had spared his days he was well minded to do more: God ever preferreth the willingness of man's mind to the worthiness of his wo●…ke: For if there be first a willing 2 Cor. 8, 12 mind, it is acceptable according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. Satan. All that was but hypocrisy for to be seen and praised of men: His chiefest care in that was fool shlie to gain an opinion of more than ordinary piety, as if he had been a Rabbi in Israel: But O inwa●…dlie in his Soul he jested at hell not caring for Heaven: God's boast seemed to him but Bugs things made to fear Children. His heart was a very Vice of vices turning from evil to worse. The Angel Michael. God alone knoweth the heart: Mala mens malus animus: Thou judgest others to be like unto thyself: * Note Because when thou art Lucifer an Angel of light a white devil in appearance, than art thou most set on blackest darkness, thou thinkest others to be likewise disposed for to juggle. Satan. But can he deny his sins? Are they not all written into mine accusation Book? His debts are so huge that he cannot be able to pay: A way to prison with this Bankrupt, never plead more for him, for his sins are so manifest that they cannot be covered: Did not his open scandals strike the Drum of rebellion against the heavens? Who can deny his sins? Let me now sheathe this dagger in his bowels: The pleasures of his sins are past, now let him find the sting of guilt. The Angel Michael. It is truth that he hath sinned, but also thou cannot deny but that he hath confessed his sins: By the blessed blood of jesus they are canceled and blotted out of the Book of God's remembrance. O despiteful Spirit thou art first 〈◊〉 crafty tempter and after a cruel tormenter: Thou are ever picking quarrels with Gods redeemed ones. What ever he hath done amiss, he hath sore repent it. Satan. He but seemed to repent: His heart which men thought to be a seat of sincerity was but a sink of sin: If it were uncased and laid open this should clearly appear: At preaching, the word without and the dumb chops of his Conscience within could not move him to do well: At his prayers, before men he could chirppe like a grasshopper: But where are the tears of his Repentance? The Angel Michael. His prayers were not chirping, but crowding even the crowding of the Dove: As for his tears the holy water of grace, & most pleasant dew of Repentance, the Lord hath put them into his Bottalls: Many a tear since this Battle began hath trickled down his cheeks for the grieving of his God His eyes like two water sluices running continually. Satan. W●…at is that? Hypocrites which are but peevish hyrlings and miserable wretches with their deceitful rubbinges can wring water from their eyes: By such crafty conveyances they cunningly blear the eyes of men who can see nothing but outward appearance: There be many counterfeit tears in the world. The Angel Michael. The tears of jacob while he wept jos. 12. 4. made supplications were not the worse because profane Esau could shed Heb. 12. 17 tears. The tears of the Godly are like precious pearls, in God's eyes. Satan. I know his treachery better than ye, he was cunning in the art of seeming: I ever knew him a doubling & dissembling C●…mpanion; a Dragon with Lamb's horns: Well could he strain the utmost veane of his wits for to blear the eyes of men: The way of godliness in his heart was as the way of a man with a Prou. 30. 19 maid most close from all access: Many a time could this craf●…ie Bible-carier wring out a tear in the Church for to catch the applause and vain breath of man's praise: But in secret he could profanely laugh in his sleeve and scorn at sincerity: Among such as himself his mouth was blotted with blasphemies, among the Godly again he could prattle much of piety: His chief study was to daub the outward man withfaire shows like a Rogue in a stage with the apparel of a Prince: While he did hear the word and his Bible before him, it was but of course and custom and not of Conscience: He like Nimrod was a mighty hunter not of beasts but of vain praise and applause: When he gave alms, he caused blow the Trumpet that others might know when he did any good in appearance: He in his brags was like the Hen which cackleth at every egg she lay●…th: To his lusts he was a voluntary vassal: Among his neighbours he was like a Cormorant: He was like an empty box with a fair title written upon it, an ●…smaelite in the coat of an Israelite: All his religion was but an outward aperie of profession, a sign hanging without, having nothing within: When he hang down his head like Isa. 58. 5. a Bulrush, it was but for a day, so soon as the morrow came and he to his old bias again: His best thoughts were like a false conception which is buried in the birth; like a stalled Ox he set up himself a fatting after his fasting: For the great treasures of God's graces he never returned the tribute of glory; such was his unthankfulness: Now let me dri●…e him to my den, that I may flash fire into the face of this most wretched forlorn sinner, who in his heart hath hatched all sorts of mischief. The Angel Michael. Well hast thou been called the accuser of the brethren: away with thy slanderous libel, not worthy that I should shape it an answer: what this poor man hath done amise dear hath he bought it, with many a sore sigh and groan to his God, hath he both loathed and lamented his faults: God hath heard him & hath sealed up his pardon with the blood of his Son: The sweet & soft breath of jesus hath refreshed him with comforts, and now his Spirit which was once sore troubled and distempered is made free from all his fears, God in his favour hath seasoned his heart with a saving grace: Thine hid malice hitherto confined within the bounds of thy bosom, is now broken out into great distemper of words. Satan. Behold, behold, the great velumes of the count books of his conscience: Look upon these scarlet & crimson letters of his transgressions: Shall this short and abrupt devotion of his in his sickness, be counted Repentance? Will not the most wicked wail under God's hand while it is weighty upon them? * Note There is no Crown of life for carnal livers: How easy is it to hang down the head Isa. 58. 5. like a bulrush for a day? While he had time to do well he was both cold and coward in well doing: All his good works were but in external form, shows without substance: Cunningly could he trick and trim Psal. 51. 6. the outward man: But he neither loved the truth in the inward parts: As he was double minded so had he a heart jam. 4. 8. & a heart, which he did apparel with fair Mantles of godly appearance. While under fair colours of Religion he did hear the world in hand that he stood for God, & was zealous for the good cause, he in his privy practice was my close factor, serving me for his profits and his pleasures: Glad was he to gogge the world's eyes with the distinctions: Of v●…urie he made a biting & a toothless: lies, he divi-ded in Officio●…s and pernicious: His greatest faults he could well cloak with mincing and excusing. O the deep dungeon of hypocrisy that is within that breast: O how cunningly hath all his wickedness been concealed hitherto? None hath been upon his privy counsel but I and his own corruptions: O that heart of his a pit and a puddle, a den and a dungeon both dark and deep! Who can see it? who can sound it? But why spend I time in the unsavoury raking of this dunghill. Good Lord, it is a strange thing how thou whose clearest eye hath seen him most perfectly in the inmost closet of his heart, shouldest send down an Angel to plead for him: O how cunningly could he with his fists beat the breast with the Publican, being no less in his heart presumptuous than the Pharisee! Here lies in this bed a painted Tomb fair without: But O what rottenness is within his heart? none eye could abide to see it, if it were pierced with a gimlet. Shall this man come where God is, who never walked in God's ways? Like a blind horse he stammered & rushed in every mire: His heart was nothing but a kneding ●…rough of wickedness, yea, a gulf and groope of uncleanness: Let now the heavens cry shame on him. The Angel Michael. Thou art shameless in thine accusations and dogged in thy malice: Thou with thy bellowes, of temptations fi●…st bloweth at the coal of si●…ne, and after that thou cryeth for judgement which should chiefly be directed against thyself, the father of all mischief. But in this last point of thine accusation thou hast plainly bewray●…d thy murdering malice in taking upon thee to judge of the sincerity of the inward parts: Thou presumeth far above the reach of thy knowledge: God alone is the searcher of men's hearts: * Note It is he alone who hath an eye witness within us. Satan. Though God only knoweth the heart, yet by the fruits the tree is known: Matth. 7. 16 It is easy to guess of his heart by the copy of his countenance, he had a swift & a supple tongue: But his hand was heavy to practise: What hath he been all his life-time but a bag of imbred malice, a most filthy excrement into the Church? Behold how he is altogether bewrayed with ordure: Let me now with the bosom of justice sweep him outat Shel●…coth the dirt porte of God's house: What shame shall it be to the heavens to receive such a dung hill & lump of filthin●…sse whose disbanded corruptions have defiled the air? It shall be justice that now he be washed in the Kettle of Hell. The Angel Michael. What God hath cleansed that call thou Act. 10. 15 not common: Christ by his blessed Blood hath made him clean: The Lord of glory who openeth and no man steeketh, hath opened the everlasting doors for to let in his soul: I am here waiting on for to carry it to glory: It is in vain that now thou sets thy temptations on foot & on fire: By thy crafty cozening thou shalt not be able to rob or to filch from him the least grain of grace. Satan. What? shall this bastard professor and runagate escape the doom that is due to his villainy? While he had time he lived in pleasures, and feasted while others fasted: His seven years of plenty are past, now let him smart with the Glutton into hell: Let him there be refused of a drop by him to whom here he refused a crumb: Can God look upon his iniquities and not kindle a consuming fire in his wrath against such a varnished hypocrite, whose whole religion was in a mouth filled with great swelling words of vanity? In such deceitful cunning colouring, he among all did carry away the Bell. The Angel Michael. God will never look upon his iniquities, for he hath cast them all behind his back: God beholdeth none Numb. 23. 21 iniquity in jacob; neither doth he see perverseness in Israel: * Note The Lord judgeth not his Children by the remnant of their old corruptions, but by the beginnings of his renewing grace: * Note The merciful God is more pleased with a dram of grace, then provoked with a pound of iniquity: Sins are not sins before God, except that they be done with pleasure: That which I say is from that truth: He that is borne 1 joh. 3. 9 of God sinneth not. Avoid Satan: Thou art ever covered with rage as with a raiment: When thou seest anger kindled thou art ever ready to add tinder to that fire: Thou art cunning and crafty to clok thy bloody massacres with pretences of seeking justice. Satan. What say I but truth; His whole delight was in sin: While he was in health and strength, he did wear my Livery: Who did ever see him bear Christ's cognisance? All his godliness was but cloak and colour without life and vigou●…: Though he sin not now there where h●…e lieth, he hath not left sin, but sin hath left him: If his tongue could speak. he could not for his heart deny it: Scribitur in fancy: Behold his fierce and kill-bucke countenance: While he had youth and vigour he obeyed no law but his lawless appetits: Was he challenged? Then he fathered his sins upon me. The Angel Michael. Thou in thy fond humour hast ever biting corrasives, for bleeding Consciences: In his members I confess there was a lawless law indeed, but in his mind was God's Law warring against the law of his members: From his heart he hated that law of his members: But his whole delight was in the Law of the Spirit: * Note After that he had sinned he 〈◊〉 cast the first stone at himself. Satan. All these be but fair cloaks and covers for to hide his transgressions: But they will not prevail: The heavens know that he was but the carrion of a Christian, aglozing hypocri●…, having the carcase of knowledge without the life of love & the power of practice, ever fickle like a Chameleon: He is now in his good mood, but if he should yet live a space, all should soon see that in his heart is nothing sound settled & sincere: what need I more? this Soul must be mine, he hath sinned, and therefore he must be cursed, and so he must be mine: Behold his Band and Obligation: By the Law of God he is mine: Now must he run into ruin: Let me give him a girke with my rod. The Angel Michael. Avoid that bloody Band hath been canceled by the blood of God, that Obligation long since hath been ●…uen with the nails of the Cross of jesus: That which the Law had 〈◊〉, hath been loosed by the Gospel: What his works could not do, God's grace hath perfected: By favour the merciful Lord hath chosen him out of the lost mass of mankind: Seeing his ransom hath cost God his blood, all accusations must be sealed with silence: In despite of the utmost rage of all infernal force this Soul shall be saved: Though all the powers of hell prodigiously mad should rage, ramp, and roar, they shall not be able to vn●…ye the knot of Faith and Love where with he is united unto his Saviour. Satan. I fear fore now that he slip the collar and go from me: At least seeing in his whole life I have been his Master, let him be divided, let me have any part and let God take his choice in the partner-ship. The Angel Michael. Avoid Satan with thy witty wickedness, whereby woluishlle thou would worry this red●…emed Lamb. Thy share is not with God: Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: The whole man is Christ's who hath bought him with a price. Away with thy gun-pudered humour: Attempt no more to touch him: Thou shalt never grippe him any more within thy cruel clouthes, nor inwrap him in thy snaires: Wo●… to that Soul that serveth thee: * Note It is like a Bird on a bush which is smitten in her song of the Archer for whom she had tuned her song: In the utmost of all cruelty thou hast discharged the utmost of thy gall upon this wearied heart: I will enter no more in parley with thee. Now come our thou filly Soul unto him that breathed thee in that body: Come to thy rightful owner: Come into mine arms that I may carry thee up the Ladder of jaacob unto bless: Christ thine Advocate hath pleaded for thee, and hath win the cause: Come now Soul out of that body, fly like an Eagle up to the blessed Carcase of thy Lord, where is constant peace, unmixed joy, and blessed immortality: Now thou art Christ's & Christ is thine: Harken & hear the cry of thy Spouse, Rise Cant. 2. 10 up my Love, my fair One, and come away: Rejoice wearied Soul, lift up thine head, Salvation is come: The Heavens are opened go enter into thy rest. The Battle of the Soul is now ended: Now dear Soul come out to eternity, come out to thy Bridegroom who now calleth thee: Be clothed with royal apparel: Put on the massy & bright crown of immortality with the glorious Garland of celestial Laurels spangled with gems of joy: Come out wearied Traveller from doole, dolour and distress, for to enter into Psal, 16. 11 pleasures for evermore. FINIS. A COMFORTABLE Speech for the Widow of the defunct. M. WE daily may see the truth of that in job, Man job. 14. 1. that is borne of a woman is of few days and full of trouble: He cometh forth like a flower and is cut down: He fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not: Of this is a necessity, For it is appointed Heb. 9 27. unto all men once to die: The decree is come forth against all flesh, All flesh is as grass, etc. The grass Isa. 40. 6. withereth, the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: vers. 7. Surely the people is grass: All must go to the vast gulf of the Grave: Be cause all have sinned, all are mortal without exception of persons: prince people, great and small, all must go to Golgotha: To great men God hath said, Ye are gods, but ye shall die like psal. 82. 7. men. What man is he, said the Psalmist, psal. 89. 48 that liveth and shall not see death? Were a man Monarch of the job. 14. 5. whole world, job saith, That his days are determined, the number of his m●…neths are with God: He hath appointed his bounds that he cannot pass: As the enemies of Christ could not say hands on him till his hour joh. 7. 30. was come, neither Death the 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 15. 26, enemy touch the Saints till the hour of their change come. job. 14, 14 As for you M. whom now the Lord hath made a Widow, ye have to take patience, and hold your Levit, 10, 3 peace with Aaron: David said to God, I was dumb and opened not my Psal. 39 9 mouth; because thou didst it: A Widow in the holy tongue is called Almanah from a word that signifieth dumb, a word warning her to lay her hand on her mouth for to seal it with a reverend silence, because God hath done it: Let his decease provoke and enkindle your desire to go to him, for he will no more come to you. God, M. hath not left you comfortless, for now happy is your Husband who hath drunk of death's cup so peaceably even a sleeping drink wherewith he hath gone to sleep with these righteous, who are said by the Prophet to rest in their beds: The friends of Christ die Isa. 57 2. not, but softly with Lazarus that friend of Christ, they sleep in their joh, 11, 11 Graves, where they lie still and are job, 3, 13, quiet. Travel M. with your own heart that it be silent. O but ye have to bless God, who hath dealt so mercifully with your dearest heart whom he hath so powerfully up holden in so bloody and bitter a Battle against the enemies of his Salvation wherein by the strength of God in his weakness: After bitter bickerings he hath obtained so glorious a victory which hath made all the heavens torejoyce. Now assuredly M. ye may say, My dear Husband the desire of mine eyes is now a Prince in heaven crowned with the ever green Laurels of immortality: He hath changed a frail life, a wind in a worm for eternity of Glory. Faithful job patiently blessed God, by whose permission Satan in a whirlwind crushed all his Children together under the ruins of an house, how much more comfortably may ye say, The Lord gave, & the Lord hath job. 1. ●…1. taken away, blessed be the Name of the Lord. * Note How many good and godly persons have their Husbands taken by Pirates, pined in Galleys, rotting in prisons, slain by poison, stobbed in duels, murdered by Traitors, killed in war, drowned in Rivers, sunk down in Seas with their whole substance, and diversly taken away in most doleful manner? But be hold, which may blunt the edge of your dolours, your husband peaceably deceased in his bed having his eyes closed with the finger of a Friend: Though all the sorts of death of God's beloved Ones be precious in his sight, yet it is most comfortable for the living when these whom they love best are removed in this outward peaceable manner, both spiritually and temporally comforted: This job calleth to die in job. 29. 1●…. our nest. If God had done otherwise to you in the rigour of his justice, who durst control him? This also ye must remember for the settling of any drumblie mood of impatiency that may be in your heart, that he was but lent unto you for a space, and so contracted ye at the first to tarry but a space together: for if ye will take leisure to read your Contract of m●…rriage, ye shall find that therein is made mention of the death of you both: Let me yet come nearer, after he had taken you by the hand before the 〈◊〉 on your marriage day, your hands a little after few words spoken did go asunder again, even for to tell you that none immortal knot can be had of any things here below: happy she whose heart is pliable and obsequious to the will of her God. I confess that ye cannot but mourn, being deprived of such 〈◊〉 pleasure the fairest jewel of all your worldly joy, the staff of your estate on whom your greatest comforts did depend: what wonder? for many days have ye been glad together, so that it is no possible were ye never so sanctified, but your heart must be deeply wounded: Why not? God's will was never against any moderate mourning for the dead: * Grace maketh no●… men and women Stoics and stocks that cannot be moved for anything: Nay, God permits us to mourn but not to cark & care 1 The●…, 4. 13 as these which have none hope, who ●…ugging out their hair and down their cheeks pour out their roaringes as waters, being swallowed up of discouragement, having none ho in their grief, they some out mire and dirt. It is permitted to mourn when God's hand is gone out against us: It is natural: True grace is not against it, but against its corruption in excess: In the Olde-Testament Abraham mourned for Sarah: For the Gen, 23, 〈◊〉 death of Deborah Rebeccas Nurse was sore weeping, for which cause the Oak-tree under which she was buried was called, Allon Bachuth, the Oak Gen. 35, 〈◊〉 of weeping: jacob wept exceedingly for joseph, whom he thought by some wild beast to have been rend in Gen. 37. 33 pieces: After that jacob had gathered up his feet & yielded up the ghost, joseph fell upon his face and wept 〈◊〉 Gen. 50. 1 him and kissed him: Naomi after she had lost both Husband and Children, would no more be called Naomi, that is pleasant: Call me Ruth. 1. 20 not Naomi, said she, that is pleasant, but call me Marah that is bitter, For the Almighty hath dealt very bitter 〈◊〉 with me: I went out full, and the Lord vers. 21, hath brought me home again empty: Why then call ye me Naomie, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me▪ These all were interested, and therefore they mourned, being pinched with the smart. Behold, M. how in the Olde-Testament God by taking away by death hath afflicted his dearest Ones & for to use Naomis words hath testified against them: consider also how they have mourned. In the New-Testament Christ himself groaning in joh. 11. 35 himself wept at Lazarus his Grave▪ The words are these, And jesus wept: The sight of Christ's death was by Simeon foretold to his Mother Luk. 〈◊〉. 25. Marie: This Simeon called a sword which should pierce her thorough the Soul. * Note Thus as ye see a Christian heart is not a Marble heart but a mel●…ing heart furnishing tears the tribute of our love appointed for the funeral obsequies of our best beloved, whose appointed months of life are expired: * Note Indeed where grace is, it stayeth at the course, stoppeth the ●…ent and the stream of Nature's blind and bold corruptions, bringing our most violent affections into an holy compass of an humble submission unto God's will: But it never dissalloweth a tempered Turtle crowding for the absence of our dearest comforts: Such clear crystal tears the Lord will put up in his Bottles: But as for these drumlie and barmy tears of fierce and unruly passions coming from the muddy fountain of an unhallowed heart, the Lord will not respect them no more than 〈◊〉 regarded the sacrifice of Cain: * Note Suc●… G●…n. 4. tears are like the waters of jealousi●… to the whorish woman which mad●… Numb. 5. 21 her thigh to rot & her belly to swell: None but humble and godly grievances shall be noted in God's Register for to be assuaged and allayed with comforts. By all that which we have said M. ye see that ye have licence to mourn like these that have hope: Ye have indeed now to mourn, but first for your sins which might have been some occasion of his remove from you: What is the best of our hearts, but a filthy sinke-hole and stinking dunghill: That done, first ye may mourn thereafter for 〈◊〉 loss: If the first ye do sincerely▪ God in his appointed time shall be the repairer of your loss with doubled contentmentes as he did to jacob who mourning sore for Benj●…mine, in a clap recovered both I●…seph & Benjamin: But how can that be? will ye say: For him whom I have lossed can I never in this world recover: * Note Know ye not what Elkanah said to his Wife Hannah weeping for want of Children, Why 1 Sam, 1, 〈◊〉 weepest thou? said he, and why eatest thou not? and why is thine heart grieved? am not I better to thee than ten Sons? She is not worthy to be comforted who thinketh not God to be better to her than ten thousand Husbands: Hath not the Lord who sitteth at the Stern, ruling all things above and below, proclaimed himself to the world to be that Psal. 68 4. great JAH, The Father of the fatherless, & a judge of the Widows? David was confident in this 〈◊〉 my father Psal 27. 10 and my mother for sake me, ●…aid ●…e, than the Lord will take me up. As for your children lay fast hold upon the promises of your God, who hath oblished himself in a Precept of his Law, to show mercy unto the posterity of the godly and that unto thousands: There is God's Obligation, whose word is faster than all the writs of men subscribed with a thousand Noters: Such is his love to the posterity of the godly that though the Mother should forget the fruit of her womb, yet can he not forget them whom he hath printed upon the palms of hi●… Isa. 49. 16. hands: He who hath made the Egyptian to favour his people, and Exod. 12. 36 caused the fi●…rie flint to yield water Numb. 20 11 for the thi●…stie, & moved the devourer to afford food: Though he ●…udg. 14. 14 suffer the Lions to lack and suffer hunger: Psa●…. 34 10 They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. All worldly comforts may deceive us, as a Broo●… as the rising of the Rivers they pass away: But God whose bowels are ever earning over us is ever fast and sure: With him is no shadow of change: This comforted the Psalmest in the failinges of his flesh and heart: God, said he, is the strength of mine heart and my portion for Psa. 63. 26 ever: This may well content us except that we be heartless cowards. I know and am fully persuaded that ye would gladly have still enjoyed your jewel for some number of years, even unto the last date of man's days, even unto his threescore and tenth year, or to four score the utmost fear of sinful life set for these in whom is the reason of strength: Psal, 90. 10 This I know would have been your desire: But be ye thankful to God, for the blessed time ye have enjoyed him already: How many be Widows before that their first year be ended? * Note And yet though so should have been done with you or with all these that live godly: A good marriage were it but for a day, it is in God's Count Book reckoned to be of long continuance: Many days make not the long life, but well spent days: A Child of God though an Infant of days, dieth an Isa. 65. 20. hundreth years old, but the sinner an hundreth years old shall be accursed; he is but as of yesterday. As for your Husband M there is no need now of lamentations for him, for he is well: He is now among these ransomed Isa. 35. 10. of the Lord, obtaining joy and gladness, where sorrow and sighing have none abode. God in great mercy hath taken him away, that he should not see the evil to come. This Isa. 57 1. was a favour granted to good josiah, that he should be removed in peace before the break of weather: Behold, said the Lord, I will gather thee unto 2 King. 22 20 thy fathers, & thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace, & thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. * Note In these last Dreggie days of the world the dead could speak to the living, they might well say to them as Christ said to the weeping women of jerusalem, Weep not for Luk. 23. 28 us, but weep for yourselves, for behold the days are coming, etc. In all appearance behold in this Age the days are coming fast on wherein that of jeremiah shallbe said to the living, ●…er. 22. 10 Weep ye not for him that is dead, neither bemoan him, but we●…pe for him that goeth away, for he shall return no more, nor see his native Country. There be such fearful calamities now brewing for this Land that by all liklie-hood, when ye shall drink the cup of wrath, our griefs shall so go beyond all such sorrow, like that of Ezekiel, that neither shall the Husband mourn for his Wife, nor shall the Wife wail for the Husband at their burial: Behold, a Pattern. Ezek. 24. ●…6 Son of man, said the Lord, Behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke: Consider well the suddenness, the increaser of grief, yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, nor tears run down: Forbear to cry, make no mourning for Ezek. 24. 17 the dead: Bind the tire of thine head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men: All this was to declare that such calamities shul●… overtake that people, that all such mournings for the death of Husbands, W●…ues, Children, etc. should be swallowed up by a greater grief. This is plain by the words following, Ye shall not mourn nor vers. 23, weep, but ye shall pine away for your iniquities, and mourn one towards another. Let us speak in Conscience: May not the Lord most justly as he did threaten there, take from us our strength, the joy of our glory, the desire vers. 25 of our eyes & that whereupon we set our minds, even the Gospel the Ark of his covenant? O let us die before that ever that Glory depart from this Israel. 1 Sam. 4. 22 This consideration may sufficiently teach you and us all moderate mourning in so merciful a visitation: It shall therefore be your best in your deepest doole to Behave and Psal. 131. 2 quiet yourself lik a child that is wained of his mother: The choicest argument of comfort which the Apostle could find concerning the dead, is founded upon the Resurrection, the day of the general meeting of all Saints: I would not, said he, have you ignorant concerning them which are asleep, 1 Thess. 4. 13 that ye sorrow not even as these which have none hope: For if we believe that vers. 14. jesus died, & rose again, even so them also which sleep in jesus, will God bring with him. vers. 15. For this we say v●…to you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall d●…scend vers. 16 from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Arch▪ Angel and with the Trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive, and remain vers. 17 shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the Air: And so shall we be ever with the Lord. vers. 18. Wherhfore comfort one another with these words. Consider well and weigh these words which that great Penman of God hath set down with a precept that with them we should comfort one another while we are in doole for the dead. Finally this M. ye must know that all earthly sorrows were they never so sharp, will at last grow blunt, and will be meekened and skinned over by time: Now that which Time can do to a pagan, let Grace do it to a Christian. I entreat the Lord of all Grace and A prayer kindness to cast down his compassionate eye upon your afflicted & grieved case that your mourning being tempered with mercy ye may in your greatest grief rejoice in your God, Amen. A compendious Epitaphe fit for a godly Man deceased. To long Eternity from toilsome Time, His Soul is past, his Body sleeps in Slime. A COMFORT for the fatherless. MY dear hearts be not dismayed in this grievous affliction: But take it in patience, seeing it is from Rom. 8. 28 the Lord, who maketh all things to work to the best of th●…se that love him. As Father job said while he was made Childless, so must ye say while ye are made fatherless, The Lord hath given, the Lord hath taken job. 1. 21. away, and blessed be the Name of the Lord. * Note If ye can bless him for the removing of his blessings, he shall double his blessings upon you, and shall make them to meet you at every turn. The fatherless Children of the faithful whether their Fathers have been poor or rich, have a rich Legacy left unto them? ●…or to them belong that promise of showing mercy unto thousands: Such as be blessed of him, saith the Psalmist, Psal. 37. ●…2 mist, shall inherit the earth: In another place he saith, The generation Psal. 112, 2 of the righteous shall be blessed. We know nothing on Earth more tender than a mother toward the fruit of her womb: This made Isa. 49. 15. the Lord to say, Can a mother forget her sucking Child, that she should not have compassion of the fruit of her nombe? But what answered the Lord to that vers. 16. question? Yea, said he, they ●…ay forget, yet will I not forget thee: Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of mine hands: This was David's greatest comfort that though his Father and his Mother should for sake him, yet the Lord would take him up: If ye would hear of sensible Experience, My flesh, said he, and mine heart Psal 73. 26 faileth: But God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever. Thus as ye see Father, and Mother, Sister, and Brother, flesh and Friends, Heart, Health, and Wealth, and all will fail us, but our God is only and ever fast; he is the strength of our heart and our portion for ever. Seeing it is so, let your hearts rely upon your God alone: What ever your distresses be (as Abraham said to his Son) The Lord will provide: * Note Will ye hear Experience? I have been young, said David, Psal 37. 25, and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging their bread: * Note Though the children of the godly be but Children of poor fathers, yet here is their comfort, their godly fathers before they die treasure up for them many prayers in Heaven, and leave unto them the rich Legacy of God's favour. Ye know certainly that your Father was one that feared the LORD from his heart, whereof, to all our comforts, he hath given a good proof: And ther●…fore ye may boldly by the hand of faith lay hold on the promises of God which belong to all the faithful and to their Children unto many generations. Ye may know by the written word Luk. ●…12. 25 how God feedeth the Ravens and clotheth the Lilies: Though they neither toil nor spin, and though they neither sow nor reap, and though they neither have store-house nor Barn, yet are they sufficiently provided: * Note How much more are ye better than Fowls or flowers? Christ's precept is of profitable practice, vers. 31. Seek first the Kingdom of God, and the righteousness thereof, and all other things shall be cast unto you: Pray the Lord not coldly and carelessly, but most earnestly, that he would cleanse & scour your hearts from all these worldly cares, of what Luk. 12. 22 ye shall eat, and what ye shall drink, and what ye shall put on: Learn in time to cast your burden upon the Lord, who desireth you so to do, and that with a promise, that he Psal. 55. 22 shall sustain you: * Note A little with God's blessing is enough: It is like that Widow's handful of meal and little oil which failed not: The vessels 1 King. 17 12 of God's grace are like that other Widows pot of oil, which yielded 2 King. 4. 2 out oil continually so long as there were vessels to receive. If ye be earnest with God in prayer, he will not repel your prayers with a deaf ear: The Lord himself hath taken upon him to be your judge and defender: If any go about for to molest you by a violent & boisterous course, he will certainly be their bane, like dung he sh●…ll swee●…e them away from the face of the Earth. Seeing then ye have such fair promises of GOD, made both to your faithful Father and to you also in the day of your Baptism, beware by a lewd life to forfeit such Bands and Obligations: Beware to follow the evil examples of this World, in following the droue, which either by secret hypocrisy or public profaning, biddeth Battles to all the Precepts of God's Law: Sharpe is that sauce which cometh after the sweet●…st worldly pleasures: Let them be as pleasant as ye please, there is an Hook in the Bate: The most part of this world is but a rabble of Reprobates, an host of damned sinners rushing upon their own destruction: Their cleanest Garments are spotted with the flesh: They are jud. v, 23, more clammy than pitch: None can touch them and not be defiled. Be ever earnest to do well: Though ye come fair short of that you should and also would do, yet be not discouraged: God's strength at last shall be made perfect in your weakness: It cannot be avoided but many will trouble you by fraud & by cusenage, and by other divers afflictions: * Note Though such things be tedious to the flesh and go against the stream of your affections, yet in the latter end all shall work both to your well & contentment. Let not sorrow overwhelm your hearts: Mourn not as these that 1 The●…, 4. 13 have none hope of the Resurrection: Let the meditations of God's mercy and promised favour rouse up your Souls from that lumpishness and melancholious drowsiness which may creep in into your hearts in this troublous time: * Note Strive to bond and fence your hearts about deligentlie with the thoughts of God's fatherly favour, who shall never leave you fatherless: * Note Though your father be dead, yet God is alive. Now Sir, ye who a●…t the elder be ye the more thankful to God, who hath given you the first place: Show good example unto the younger: Oppress them not, but rather be a father unto them: By your good counsel strive to make them pliable and frameable to Gods will revealed in his word. As for you who are younger ones, be not discouraged, for often grace maketh the younger to be the elder, and sin maketh the elder the younger: So jacob found the bl●…ssing, Gen. 27, 33 though Esau was the first borne: * Note It is Virtue that maketh the Heir. Let your hearts therefore rely upon the Lord: Let him be the carver of all your cares: If ye depend on him ye shall not want: * Note He who created the world without matter and preserveth it without means, is God all sufficient who can easily find out means for the maintenance of all these that by faith can say claim to his promise: If wealth be expedient for you, the Lord will give you a large allowance, till he make your Cup to over flow: * Note But if otherwise he hath appointed Psal. ●…3 5. to exercise you with poverty, know that he who hath the hearts of all men in his hands can easily for your comfort stir up some who by their liberality towards you shall provide themselves bags which wax not old. Luk. 12. 33 If ye can bend your whole endeavour to the service of your God he shall satisfy you with the provisions of his mercy: * Note But if otherwise ye become lewd and profane haunting evil company the very canker and cutthroat of all godliness, ye shall never prosper; no not though by a painful drudgery ye should draw out the very life-blood of your hearts: It is not early rising no●… late going to bed, but God's blessing that enricheth. Now the Lord of grace bless you Aprayer mine hearts: The Lord teach you to set & seal these comforts with prayers & patience upon your hearts: And seeing the days are now evil even the dregges of days: I entreat the most High to grant you grace hour lie to ren●…w and strengthen your watch, that your hearts & spirits may be preserved unblamable, and that until the day of his most glorious appearance. AMEN. A divine and heavenly discourse fit to be read to these that are convened in the house of mourning, that thereby the living may be remembered of their mortality. dearly Beloved, this our godly Friend one of God's excellent Ones is now deceased, & that peac●…ablie like a Lamb into the arms o●… his God, who hath ever lasting lie fast bund his Soul in the bundle of life▪ The death of such is often a fearful pre●…age of much anger and evil to come. His Soul is now glorious in the Heavens like a Star new created in the Sky: It is now living the life of God above, where it is filled with the infusion of that 〈◊〉 which we have here on earth 〈◊〉 by imputation: He hath now al●… God and all that is in God in ●…speakable perfection being in that place where God is all in all. At last after sore fight and bitter bickering, as divers godly persons have seen, through the bend brows of an angry judge he hath seen the yearning and relenting bowels of a loving Father: Now after his Battle ended, he hath 〈◊〉 the Spirit: * Note Clepsydr●… 〈◊〉 his hour glass is now run out, and his Soul is come to its wished home where it is free from the fetters of flesh: Now from the ●…hanging turns of time, he is at last come to Eternity: * Note Thorough many seas of ●…orrows both bitter and brimie hath he sailed before that he could arrive at that blessed Port. Our hearts cannot be but sorrowful to be deprived of such comfortable company as was ●…is: But here i●… our comfort and the matter of our joy, he is well and shall be so for ever: * Note By the mercy of his God he is now passed over th●… knops of the mountains of misery and thorough the muddy mires of sinful mortality, thorough fearful trials and troubles, even from the diets of grace to the dainties of glory, from the a Cant. 7. 11. Villages of this world unto b Luk. 16. 9 everlasting 〈◊〉, far above the rolling wheel of all changeable pleasures and smarting pains. Poor man's life on earth is like a restless whirle-gigge whirled about: The moving heavens are the place of our rest; and the resting earth is the place of our restless motions: * Note The way of this life as we may see is not adorned with Violets and Roses: No not: It is full of rubs and thorns and pricking whinnes of piercing grief: O with what pains hath his silly Soul sought up the sweet streams of God's mercy 〈◊〉 to the Fountain itself which is 〈◊〉 to the Heavens! God in great mercy hath now 〈◊〉 last after many dolours and bitter bicker put his Spirit into the ac●… tuall and full possession of his 〈◊〉 all joys: Through fire and water 〈◊〉 Psal, 66. 12 Lord hath brought him out into a 〈◊〉 place: Now he is free from the body of bondage which did hang so fast 〈◊〉 His Soul is set out of the reach of 〈◊〉 troubles and sublunary toys: Now blessed be our God, he is no 〈◊〉 liable to our sinful mortality into this earth a gulf of corruption, God at last hath recompensed his light affliction with an everlasting weight of glory: O but he hath had a painful time in his sickness! with many deep sigh and heavy groan hath he been heard in his fears: His face could never be dried for tears continually trickling over his cheeks: * Note Happy is he now for all the clouds of his sins have been dissolved by the rain of mourn●…full tears where with all Souls must be baptised before that they can be members of the Church Triumphant: Now blessed be God, all his tears and his travels are turned into triumphs: If men shed not ●…eares on earth, God cannot wypt them away in heaven: All, as we, must fight the good fight before ●…hey can catch the Crown. * Note Let us all learn in him, and in ●…his House of mourning to see and con●…der the end of us all, that while we are living we may lay it to our hearts and make it a matter of our night's meditations: * Note Happy and thrice happy is he that can practise that saying of job, All the days job. 14. 14 of mine appointed time, will I wait, till changing come. It is good that we ever be watchful upon our guard well prepared for our last departure and final accounts: * Note No man can ●…ll how soon he shall be arraigned in the great judge his Consistory: The day of this life wherein only we can work, declineth a pace: The fearful night cloud hath taken post▪ So soon as it shall come, man shall be discharged to work any more. It is good often to consider (le●… we should dote and dream of Immortality here) that the short thread of this life will be soon drawn out to an end▪ that by such thoughts we may learn in time not to be taken up with abortive earthly pleasures which perish in the bud. What is this earth but a muddy mire? What is poor man's life on this earth, but a map of misery? * Note The best of it is white and black chequer work mixed with pains & pleasures, lashes and laughters: Even in laughter Prou. 14, 13 the heart is sorrowful, and the end of that mirth is heaviness: This godly man's death should be warning for us: * Note Death knocking at our neighbour's door should remember us of our mortality: There is no case of humane calamity, but it is incident to all: In this our old friend we may see and read that we have none abiding here: He is now gone to his long home by the way of Eccles. 12. 5 all flesh: * Note Above the rolling circumference of heaven he hath found the centre of his rest: Nature's necessity subjecteth all flesh to mortality: He is gone before us from the land Isa. 9 20. of the shadow of death thorough the valley of the shadow of death unto everlasting felicity, and we all soon o●… since must all tread the same way: Let us provoke our watchfulness with this, that we shall go to him, but he shall no more come to us: Let us work while the day lasteth: * Note Before we be benighted by death, let us wot where we shall get a lodging▪ So long as we have breath and being let us like Moses be instant with God in prayer, that he would so psal. 90. 12 teach us to number our few and evil days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom and to well doing. We have all great need to go to this School for the learning of that lesson, because death in this narrow passage of mortality stealeth upon us all with insinsible degrees▪ The course of our days is like the Gen, 1, 16 course of the Sun the ruler of the Day, whom our owlish eyes cannot perceive to move, though he rejoice Psal. 19 5. as a strong man to run a race: we know him to be more swift than wind, yet while we behold him in his course, we cannot perceive his motion: It is even so of our life: Our days run fast away, but we perceive not how: * Note It is not long that we stand, but when we begin to fall, we are like the Ice which thaweth sooner than it froze: Our life like smoke or chaff is carried away as with a gale wind, and yet we cannot consider: Oh, that this meditation like the Rowel of a Spur could prick us forward in our voyage from grace to glory. * Note Nature hath taught the ●…sillie Birds, the Cranne, Storke, and Swallows Isa. 8. 7. our winter strangers, to know their seasons: As if they had numbered the days of their absence, they come precisely at their appointed Spring: The Salmon also in their season return to the place where they were spawned: They like skilled Airthmeticiens number well the days of their absence, and for no rubs in the way will they be moved to crack their tryst. All this have they learned in the School of Nature: * Note▪ But men who should have grace with Nature, forget to desire to return to their God who at the first spawned or as Scripture Gen, 2, 7. speaketh breathed within them their living Souls: Men are often worse than the beasts, who would fain know their duty, but cannot: Many men can, but will not, like these whom 2 Pet. 3. 5. S. Peter calleth Willingly ignorant▪ The God of grace give us wisdom, that before our day be spent and our Sun set, we may weigh well and consider how we may so live to die, that we may die to live▪ Ezek. 9 2. * Note Happy is the man whom God his white man, hath in this life marked with the mourning mark: The way to Heaven is not so easy as many dream: Oh, how many lets be within us and without us! * Note Oh how many weight hang ●…o fast on, whereby the unstable Soul of man is tossed and swayed hither and thither. Seeing this holy man of God such a strong Oak hath been so sore shaken, what may we poor little shrubs expect? O but we have great need to coffer up some comforts against the evil day: All worldly helps depart from us, when we depart out of this life, but God's favour faileth never: When all things have forsaken us, then only he will stand by us, and at last will draw us out of this miry lake of misery. Happy and thrice happy is the man that is holy here, whom the Spirit of God may point out with an Ecce, Behold a true Israelite: joh. 1. 47. Such a man after death shall obtain a name, which shall give him after death a second life: O thrice blessed is he whom God in mercy removeth in time, that his eyes should not see the evil to come. Isa. 57 1. The world now is come to its dregs: From little to little our zeal is come to its last gasp: Now, if ever, the Church is a Lily among the thorns: Cant. 2. 2, Our sins are become like Oaks: but our virtues are pinched small like grains of mustard seed: * Note We look in drumblie waters, and therefore we cannot see our sinful blots and blamishes. Lord, teach us to grow better that so long as we sojourn in these mansions A prayer of dying wights, we may strive without guile to glid thorough this world, that at last following this our old dear friend we may come to him and to all the Saints into to that celestial Palace, a place of Psal. 16. 11 plenty, peace and pleasures for evermore. Another discourse of the same sort. O How hard a thing is it for the living to remember that we are but weeds of a day fading and flying vanities. * Note. We are all here like poor Travellers who have far to go and little to spend: In our most constant estate below we are like jonahs' jona▪ 4. 6. gourd that sprang up into a night, & withered into another, even a ●…oish vanity. This life, said a Father, is miserarable: August. Consol. lib. 6. cap. 11. Our death is uncertain: If it surprise us unawares, whither shall we go? & where shall we learn that which we have neglected here? Men for the most part wallowing in their sins, while they look most for life, are by their expectation surprised of Death: But, Oh then, whether shall they go? Alas, that we cannot consider while we have time and breath: * Note Man naturally is so dull and dumpish that he cannot imagine that he is possessed with a melting mortality: * Note The best of us in spiritual matters are pure blind: We cannot see far off, no, that which is near, even this mortality among us, yea, within us: * Note That which hath breath can hardly think of burial: * Note A morning mementomori is not able to waken us, so fast are we lulled asleep in carnal security, even while the dead Bell soundeth we forget o●… niortalitie: * Note The House of mourning is become an house of drinking, of snuffing and of snevelling with Tobacca: Though we be warned, we are not wiser. In Solomon's days, the living in such places laid such things to their heart: But, alas, even while in the Eccles. 7. 2. thoughts of the ghastly visage of death we are carrying others to the grave our hearts are not molten and liquified for sin the cause of our mortality: * Note While we put our hand to the Beire we may get some light sudden flashes of devotion, but anon we forget that within a short time as we do to others, so shall be done to us: Even while we walk with the dead to the Grave, we dream of immortality; forgetting our borrowed days: * Note If there be any heat of zeal in our hearts how soon is it cooled: Man's heart is like water which as the Learned observe, becometh more cold after the heating Arist. meteor. 1▪ 12. than it was before: Such heat because it is not natural and kindly, but forced by fire, it cannot continue, but must be forthwith extinguished: * Note Man is like an Horse that naturally ●…rots, though by industry he be broken and made to ●…mble for a space, yet ever and anon he presseth to go out of his amble for to enter into his trot: While we are at the Beire and the dead corp●… in sight, an ambling sorrow for a space may make the bowels of our belly to wamble: But have we once turned our back upon the Grave, and we anon to the old trot of our former follies. While we should learn to die, we plant ourselves in the face and glory of the world: * Note We are so troubled with Martha's many things that we forget Mary's best par●…: * Note Many come to their deathbed before that they had ever earnestly thought of their life: They die even then when they thought to begin to amend their life: Thus as ye see they die deceived in their delays: they die before they know wherefore they lived▪ Their Sun setteth while they are entering on the journey. The evening of their life is the morning of their task: By by & base respects their mind●… are carried on the by: * Note Foolish fancie●… creep in by stealth & slily insinuate and wind in themselves into their hearts wherein being once fast cogged, they keep the mind musing on vanity till the Sun of their life be set. While their time is thus spent, they can do nothing but lament the loss of that which they cannot recover. Vitae summa brevis, spem Nos vetat in choare longam. * Note A short life is not for long and large projects. * Note Poor man is sent unto this world for a great business to be done in a short time: He must first of all glorify his God, and in that doing he must work out the great work of his Salvation: All the time allotted to this business is but threescore and ten years or four score at the most: But, alas, most men sleep both the morning and noon of their life: And yet which is worse, even while they see their Sun going down, and posting to the west, they have no care to redeem the time: At the coming of death, their assigned business is scarchlie well begun: * Note Most men are so miserable muffled that they cannot see the sand of their hour glass in a continual course: Oh that we were wise to be forearmed for death whereof we are forewarned: As the Cananitish woman picked comfort out of the reproachful name of Dog, so out of all things should we without dainty niceness be storing up comforts for to uphold us in our last and most heavy hour: But Oh, where is the man who in time is careful to redeem his evil & idly spent hours? O foolish man, fie upon thee, shall the sickle folly of an hour cost thee the lose of that glorious immortality? Wilt thou not think in time that grim Death shall come at last like an armed man for to bereave thee of thy Soul, thou neither can tell how, when, nor where: * Note Happy is that man whose journey, time, business and breath, are finished together: Happy shall that t●…yst be when these four shall finish in immortality. It is good that in time we set all the powers of our Soul upon Christ, that out of his Sacred person we may suck the influence of his goodness, whereby we may be saved from the trains & treasons of the Devil: * Note He is ever ready to strike fire with his frezell and his flint, if we will find him tinder: Oh, that our hearts continually could mind things that are Col. 3. 1. above: All things below are unconstant, as water they sl●…d away, but God's favour is more fixed than Mount Zion. What an heart-scald should this be unto us, that we have so long neglected this best part, not remembering our latter end? Let us now therefore consider in time that we are all into this world but Tenants at will: Prince, people, great and small, all must leave this Cottage of clay, at the first warning: Pale Death at its first approach will anon change the copy of their countenance. Stat sua cuique dies. Every man's day is set: None can transgress his appointed hour: God absolutely at Death must be obeyed: None by force or favour may sit his summons: We by the death of others are all lawfully forewarned to flit & remove: All things above us, beneath us, about us, cry unto us, that we must shortly leave this world for to go sleep in slime: No contentment of man below can outlast the date of four score year●…s: O Lord, open our eyes, that we may see how the sickle figure of this world passeth away. * Note Happy and thrice happy is he who after the bitter and bloody Battle of this life is with old Simeon Luk, 2. 29. departed in peace: As the life of the godly is gracious, so is their death precious: This we learn in Scripture: Precious to the Lord is the death Psal. 116. 15 of his Saints: * Note But as for all the wicked who while they lived did justle out of their hearts all fear of God, they shall be so wrapped in his wrath that their hearts shall be slitted with sorrow: * Note While the godly with Elias shall be princely carried into God's royal Coach unto heaven, the wicked Ahab shall be sent into a bloody Chariot unto hell, deprived of all these comforts which they on earth did most eager desire: All their princely pleasures shall be followed with pinching pains: * Note Such will boast boldly before death come, but at the slight and light touch of a Fever or Flux they quickly pluck in their snails horns like Ahab lowering in sackcloth: When sickness beginneth to lay siege to their noble parts, they weakly wail & womanly lament: Then know they but too late that man's life is but a wind in a worm. * O happy is that man in whose heart Christ hath graven deep the shape of himself in this world: when Death shall come then shall he know what blessed treasures of contentment, God hath stored up for his beloved: When the Souls of the faithful which on earth have been endued with a matchless concurrence of divine graces, shall come out of their bodies, Christ the Father of mercies shall cast the arms of his compassions about their necks: At their first entry into Heaven, he shall give them the comfortable kisses of peace. Lord, soften our stony hearts, & A prayer enlighten our misty minds, that all our joy may be in enjoying thee in whom is fullness without dislike: O satisfy us yearly with thy mercy the Psa 90. 14 fairest flower of the Garland of thy Majesty. While we remember the death of others, make us carefully to study unto newness of life, that in this life we dying unto sin, may after death live unto Thee, and with Thee unto the utmost bound of the Gen. 49. 26, everlasting Hills, AMEN. FINIS. A. H. emblem THE LAST BATTLE OF THE SOUL IN DEATH, 2. Volume. Carefully digested for the comfort of the Sick: By Mr. ZACHARIE BOYD, Preacher of God's Word at Glasgow. Bernard in Serm. Novissima sunt quatuor, MORS, JUDICIUM, GEHENNA, GLORIA: Quid horribilius morte? Quid terribilius judicio? Quid intolerabilius gehenna? Et quid incundius gloria? Idem. Senibus mors est in ianuis, juvenibus vero in insidijs. Printed at Edinburgh, by the Heirs of ANDRO HART. 1629. TEMPUS emblem TO THE MOST EXCELLENT PRINCESS ELIZABETH Queen of Bohemia, etc. MADAM, IN corporal troubles let us seek for spiritual Comforts: Days of sorrow are days of drowsiness: For the remede of such sorrows here followeth a Discourse of heaven's Happiness, with divers other Christian comforts which I must humbly and heartily dedicated to your Majesty. If MADAM I were more able to present your Majesty with some matter●… of greater worth, my will should not be deficient to mine Ability. Thus presuming out of your Royal bounty that this little Offer from One of SCOTLAND your Majesty's native Soil shall be graciously accepted, I most humbly present it to your Majesty for to be received and shrouded under your Royal safeguard and loving protection. After many fervent and unfeigned prayers made to God for the esta blishment of the Crown upon your Majesty's Royal Heads, and also for spiritual Graces to be abundantly poured upon you, and upon the rest of these Royal Plants, which by the great mercy of God have branched from You both, I humbly take my leave. Your Majesty's most humble and most obedient Orator and Servant: M. ZACHARIE BOYD Preacher of GOD'S word at Glasgow. From Glasgow the 12. day of Februrie 1629. THE QVEENES' Lamentations for the death of her Son. O But GOD is most terrible, when he is angry, He hath called as in a solemn day my terrors round about: surely against me is he turned, he turneth his hand against me all the day, My flesh and my skin hath he made old, he hath broken my bones: He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travel: He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old: He hath hedged me about that I cannot get out: He hath made my chain heavy: He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: He hath made me desolate: He hath bend his Bow & set me as a mark for his arrows: He hath caused the Arrows of his Quiver to enter into my reins: He hath filled me with bitterness: He hath made me drunk with wormwood: The very Sea monsters are careful for their young ones: They draw out the breast to give them suck. How should I be like the unnatural job. 39 14 Ostrich which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and forgetteth that the foot may orush them, or that the wild beast may break them? She is hardened vers. 16▪ against her young ones, as though they vers. ●…17. were not hers: God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding. Alas, alas, the joy of our heart is ceased: our dance is turned into mourning: The crown is fallen from our head: Woe unto us that we have sinned, for this our heart is faint, for these things our eyes are dim. Wherefore, Lord, dost thou forget us for ever, & forsake us so long time? Thou hast utterly rejected us: Thou art very wrath against us: O that mine eyes were a lively Spring of tears which day and night might trickle down for the lamenting of my loss. O ye Daughters of Britain my native Soil: Conueene your selves together: Come all and join your sorrows with mine: Come contribute tears in abundance, that we may deplore our damage: Come, come and help me to mourn for my first Borne: It is God's will, it is God's commandment that ye mourn with these that mourn: With whom will ye mourn, if ye refuse to mourn with me? O noble Ladies of Britain, think upon my sorrows: My grief is great, mine heart is broken, mine eyes do fail with tears: Come ye all and condole with me: Cast off your Raiments of joy: And thou BOHEMIA with the PALATINAT make to yourselves new Robes of doole: Fill all the Lands with mourning like that mourning in Zacharie, Zach. 12. 11 The mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon, for the death of good josiah. Mine heart is sore gripped with grief: jam like the Pelican in the wilderness: Mine eyes Psal. 102. 6 do fail with tears; my bowels are troubled, my Liver is poured upon the earth: I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder: He hath also taken me by the neck and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark: His Archers compass me round about: He cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare: He poureth out my gall upon the ground: He breaketh me with breach upon breach: He runneth upon me like a Giant: My face is foul with weeping, and on mine eyelids is the shadow of death: My Friends scorn me, but mine eye poureth out tears unto God: When a few years are come, than I shall go the way whence I shall not return. The Lord hath made me as a byword of the people: Mine eyes are dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow: Know now ye all that God hath compassed me with his net: He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths: He hath stripped me of my Glory, and taken the Crown from mine head: He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone, and mine hope hath he removed like a tree. His troops come together and raise up their way against me, and encamp round about my Tabernacle: He hath put my brothers far from me: My Kinsfolk have failed and my familiar friends have forgotten me: Have pity upon me, O ye my Friends for the hand of God hath troubled me. Apostrophe ad filium mortuum O my Son, my dearest Son is gone: He is lost, where shall I find him? O FREDERICK my Son where art thou? Shall I see thee no more? Shall I never kiss thy mouth again? Once did thou lie in my belly near unto mine heart▪ but now alas, thou lies sleeping in slime: Now thy bed is made among the crawling worms: Thy Princely Body now lieth in the place of silence: O where is thy Colour now? Where is thy Countenance? Long shall it before I see thy smiling Face and twinkling Eyes: My dear Heart FREDERICK, Long may I cry before that thou make answer: How have I lost Thee? How past thou from me? When said thou thy last adewes? What were thy last adews? what were the last words thou spoke unto me? Where saw I thee last? Oh, if I had known when I last saw thee, that I would never again see thee alive: Then would I have kissed thee, then would I have more constantly considered thy countenance: I would have said in myself, Is this the Face that I shall never see again? Is this the Mouth that shall never speak again? Are these the Ears that shall never hear again? Are these the Eyes that shall never see again? That Mouth, that Nose, these cherry Cheeks and lily Lips, these Ears and Eyes would I have kissed ten thousand times kissed and over again. Alas that I should have so journed so near unto the Waters: Alas that ever I knew that merciless Element. O cursed Waters! O Waters of Apostrophe ad mare & flumina. Marah full bitter are ye to me: O Element which of all others shall be most detestable to my Soul! I shall never wash mine hands with thee but I shall remember what thou hast done to my best beloved Son the Darling of my Soul, I shall for ever be a friend to the Fire which is thy greatest foe. * Note Away Rivers, away Seas, Let me see you no more: If ye were sensible Creatures, my dear Brother CHARELES Prince of the European Seas should scourge you with his Royal Ships; with his thundering Cannons he should pierce you to the bottom. * Note O Seas of sorrows, O fearful Floods, O tumbling Tempests, O wilful Waves, O swelling surges, O wicked waters, O dooleful deeps, O pertest Pools, O botchfull butcher Boats, was there no mercy among you for such an hopfull PRINCE? O that I could refrain from tears and that because they be salt water like unto yourselves: Away with you Seas of sorrow, for ye have robbed me of my dearest Darling of account, henceforth ye shall never be able to repair my losses: O my Son FREDERICK, my Son, my Son FREDERICK, would God I had died for Thee, O FREDERICK my Son, my Son. A. H. TEMPUS emblem mine or the water took away the life of my Children, than that a bloody Herod should cut all their throats most cruelly embrewing himself in their blood: While David was in a great straight doubting of what plague to make choice, at last he resolved saying, Let us fall into the hand of 2 Sam. 24. 14 the Lord, (for his mercies are great) and let me not fall into the hand of man. O but will your Majesty say, To die and to be suffocate in the waters that is a matter of great sorrow: If he had died in a Battle honourably; that had afforded me some comfort: Then would I have heard of his valiantness: The Colonels and the Captains & others of Martial Spirits had been the Trumpeters of his praise, so should he have died with great honour. Let it please your Majesty to wiegh the matter well in the Balance of the Sanctuary. Indeed MADAM, to die in a Battle is by men accounted honourable: To die fight with a bloody Sword in the hand, is by men called, The Bed of honour: * Note But in my judgement it is better for the Soul to die in water, than in war: For in the one man is often in a rage, thirsting like an Horseleech after the blood of his Brother: At that time there is nothing sound or settled within him: All his thoughts are in an hurlie burlie: If instantly he die the Sun of his life goeth down upon his wrath: His whole desire is bended for to destroy his Brother: But in the water his chiefest desire is for to save himself: To die in war is to die by the hand of man, but Water is like the Pest which that great Warrior called, The hand of God. O but alas, will your Majesty object such as die so▪ get not space once to cry God's mercy. God forbid MADAM that our Salvation should depend upon the last words of our life, or upon a prayer at the last gasp: Our Salvation Rom. 8. 1. is better fastened than so: There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ jesus. Your Majesty knoweth that the day of judgement shall come in an instant upon both the Godly and the wicked: Then shall they all be changed in the twinkling of an eye: Not one of all the men and women then living upon earth shall get so much time wherein they might Luk. 1●…. 13. but say these few words, God be merciful to me a sinner, & yet for all that shall we think that that sudden change shall bring any prejudice to the Salvation of God's Elect & chosen ones? Rom. 11. 29 God forbid: Whom God loveth he loveth to the end: His gifts and graces are without repentance. I know that your Majesty would have earnestly desired that he had be found alive, and that a Preacher by a prayer had commended his Soul into the hands of his Saviour. For answer, I am assured that that young Prince was so well trained up by your Majesty in the School of piety, that morning & evening he was accustomed to be earnest at his private devotion: It is the opinion of learned Divines, That who carefully in the morning hath cast his Soul into the Arms of his God, shall thereafter all the day find the virtue of that prayer prevailing with God, though at the moment of death he be not able with his tongue to speak unto GOD: The prayers that were conceived before cry up to God at the last gasp for mercy, peace, grace and reconciliation, through the blessed blood of jesus, which cryeth for better things than the blood of Abel. Gen. 4, 10, Now seeing that without any doubting your Majesty is assured of his Salvation, consider these joys of heaven which his Princely Soul now enjoyeth: These joys have I described as I can in this second Volume of the Last battle▪ which I have dedicated to your Majesty: There ye shall clearly see that he hath changeth for the better: * Note While he was alive he was but a Prince on Earth, and now the Lord hath made him a crowned King. Thus entreating the most High to send unto your Majesty the COMFORTER himself, who can most cunningly cure the wounded heart, I humlie take my leave. Your MAJESTY'S most humble and most obedient Servant M. Z. B. From Glasgow the 12. of February 1629. TO THE QUEEN Of BOHEMIA. OUR poor life here is not of single joys, But mixed with Gall, and wormewoode of annoys: The dint of Winds, and waves, and stors my streams, We must endure before we reach to Heavens: Pains here wants pause, all is but loss and labour: A thousand cares Within our hearts do harbour. The life of man on Earth is but a blast, I●… comes with Tears and endeth with a gasp: All that is here is with a speedy flight, On jangling wheels soon hurled out of sight. All that is here is out of Tune and taste, All whirls about, but Rest will come at last. Wait still until that Day spring from on High, Come down with thousands brighter than the Sky. Then misty Clouds of sorrows shall depart, When that Aurora shall rejoice our Heart. ANOTHER. Here bubbling Waters Seas of sorrows dash, here Waves, here Winds which make the Clouds to clash: here Fevers, Fires, here fickle vanities, Combined are to bring Calamities To mortal man (not sparing young or old) Whose life is like unto a tale that's told, Now happy he who free from all distress, Rests in the Heavens, far from this wilderness. A Prayer for the afflicted. MY troubled Soul Lord counsel and comfort, My Sternelesse-Boate conduct thou to her Port From cloudy cares my muffled Spirit redress, And of mine heart the grief and groans repress: My Spirit to Thee its Maker high aspires, Who art the Zenith of my best desires. Your MAJESTY'S most humble & obedient Servant and Orator M. Zacharie Boyd▪ Preacher of GOD'S Word at Glasgow. Faults escaped in printing. Faults Corrected 69 feast fast 142 tired tried 172 wakened weakened 176 waken weaken 177 spoke space 191 lperous leprous 198 Bairnes Barnes 213 Skies Skies 259 again against 2●…8 desperati desperate 293 frine far in 307 Tophel Tophet 308 Companiourie Companionrie 332 slubber slumber 332 slumbert slubbert 345 men me 345 hair heite. 355 for with 370 that after after that 376 missacrours mass●…crours 387 directeth directed 405 carcing carking 4●…9 Burriors Burrios' 4●…4 mortal immortal 487 his of of his 516 men man 544 reignam regna●…i 563 co●…sation conversation 597 hand head 602 commond common 603 sterts streets 609 spread shred 620 found sound 633 wr●…ke work 649 decritorio decretorio 659 vanished varnished 664 unwisored unvizored 669 sacaked the godly sacked at Christ's right 672 Christ's right hand hand 689 living live 695 whom who in The 2. Volume Faults Corrected 760 absurbiator absorbeatur 804 hoc haec 807 ac at 851 haruish harvest 960 harbour harbour 98●… pleasant unpleasant 1003 nature mature 1053 hearking heartenin●… 1132 about me about with me TEMPUS emblem