TWO BRIEF MEDITATIONS I. OF MAGNANIMITY UNDER CROSSES: II. OF ACQUAINTANCE With GOD.  
BY E.W. Esquire.  Pene omnis vita Naufragium est. Salvian. l. 3. Sunt fata deum, sunt fata locorum, Statius. In hoc profundum inquietumque projecti mare, alter●is aestibu● reciprocum, & modo allevans nos subitis increments, modò majoribus damnis deserens, assidueque jactans, nunquam stabili consistimus loco. Pendemus et fluctuamur, et alter in alterum allidimur, et aliquando Naufragium facimus: semper timemus. Senec. consol. ad Polib. c. 28. 
LONDON, Printed by Thomas Maxey, 1653.   

To the nobly accomplished Pair, Dr JOHN GAUDEN, AND Mris ELIZABETH GAUDEN his Wife.  
Sir, Madam,  
I Hold it an Heresy in Civility as well as Religion, to divorce those whom GOD and their Loves have united, 
Ex affectu omnes introducuntur nuptiae, Justin. cod. de Nupt. l. 26  not only in a near Relation, but a more dear Affection. And since I am highly satisfied, 
Par pari jungatur conjux, quicquid impar diffider.  that no Marriage is more amply expressive of sincere love, and real complacency, then is Yours, which God hath blessed with a Diapason of Contents, I cannot but bespeak You to pardon me, while I conjoin You in this Dedication, which tells the World, that it is much my ambition to appear a friend to Your Virtues, and (in what I may) a requiter of Your Civilities. Accept therefore (my noble Friends) these Papers, not as in the least proportionate to the real service I should do you, nor as clad in such Tissues of Language and florid Fancy, as would become me to prepare for entertainment of your curious eyes, but as an earnest of that great respect, which shall be ever owned due to You, from  
Greenford this 30 of Novem. 1653. Sir, Madam Your humble Servant, and truly affectionate Friend, ED. WATERHOUSE.   

A MEDITATION OF MAGNANIMITY under Crosses.  
THere is no man but as he is mortal, and by sin subjected to sorrow; so ought he to prepare for, and submit to those Trials, 
Servitutis nomen culpa meruit, non Natura. S. Aug. de Civ. Dei l. 19 cap. 15.  which not Nature but Transgression hath brought upon him. God created us for his own service, and it had been our perfection to continue what he made us: While Nature knew no Master but him, it needed no help, nor feared it any hindrance in doing what was required of it. But when Curiosity deluded by the varnish of the Serpent's suggestion, had persuaded man to usurp upon God, in exceeding the bounds of his Maker's appointment, than rushed in those rebel Passions, and troublous Diseases, as God's avengers of that insolence which had Pride and presumption for its Author and Encouragement.  
Our Nature kerbed by nothing but necessity, and bound to the peace by the power of divine Sovereignty, began to sink under the sense of that Might it had provoked, and that Mercy it had abused: God the protoplast, and grand exemplar of pity, considering whereof we are made, by that promise (that he would not strive with man always, 
Gen. 6.3.  seeing he was but dust,) securing us against utter ruin, calls our wand'ring minds to contemplate, and hearts to bemoan that folly, which at once lost us Innocence and impassibility.  
Now we are left to Passions, which switch and spur us without mercy, and like all comers, knock at our gates for entrance: Love, Joy, Anger, Fear, etc. act like tumultuous waves, their several parts in our minds and lives; yea, 'tis of the Lords mercy, that the Jewel of Eternity is not lost in this crowd, and the vessel in which our durable Treasure is, proves not prize to those Pirates that surround her, and is not naufragated in those seas that rise high, 
Unum habuit filium sine peccato, nullum sine flagello. Zech. 13.7.  and call to heaven for vengeance. In all the catalogue of Mankind, there was but one who prescribed against sin, and that was the Man God's Fellow; but not one who could bring a writ of privilege from sorrow: for Christ, though the Son of Love, was designed by God the Father to be the Captain of our salvation perfect through sufferings; 
Heb. 2.10.  not as he deserved them, 
● Pet. 2.22.  for there was no sin in him, nor guile found in his mouth: but as he observed the method of God, who by his death and passion called immortality to light. Here is the great Trophy of a combating Christian, that no trial can harmfully vanquish him, who is one with that Victor, who hath triumphed over all worldly evils, leading captivity captive, and condemning death in his body on the tree.  
But since the Man is elder than the Christian, 
Ezek. 16.6.  (God finds us in our blood, before he refines us by effectual vocation) and Arguments from Nature seem more congruous to lead the Van of this discourse, than those which being more precious and persuasive are as the reserve, for the dead lift, to speed home execution, I shall by God's leave, and by his assistance, assign some arguments to fortify us against the utmost disappointments our course of life can meet, and be made seemingly unhappy by.  
And truly (me thinks) I hear my heart a suitor to my pen in the words of Livius Drusus, 
Si quid in te artis est, ita compon● domum meam. ut quicquid agam ab omnibus perspici possit: Velleius Paterculus l. 2. p. 28.  to the Architect that was to build his house, O Friend, if thou hast any art, so dispose mine house, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 X●nopn. Memorab. 4.  that mine actions therein done may be visible to every eye. So would I frame and model my Discourse, 
Satius est moribus Antiquorum prudentium vivere, quam corum tantum linguâ & arte loqui. Auson. lib. 2. cap. 33.  as one who desires to practise what he prescribes; preferring actions above words and endeavouring rather to follow the Virtues of Wise men, then to speak their Language.  
And here, as the Poet of old, Inopem me copia fecit, There is so great a harvest of Arguments, that it seems more than an Herculean labour to answer the importunities of them, and becomes a straight to me to choose which of them shall be Master of the feast, and Prince de l'Amour: for what is there in Nature which contributes not to man's incommodation? from what quarter of this Globe are not wafted to him engines of mischief? in what state, climate, age, is he not infested with somewhat, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  which makes him cry out with him in Stobaeus, O that I were one day free from trouble. And therefore, since every thing more or less serves to this drudgery, I will omit curiosity of order, and produce them in that Method my Genius presents them to me.  
And the first Argument to allay impatience, Argum. 1 and persuade to courage under them, is that of the Preacher, The thing that hath been is that which shall be, 
Eccles. 1.9  and that which is done, is that which shall be done: That nothing is new under the Sun: That Providence calculates every thing for the Meridian of its great design: That not a sparrow falls to the ground, nor an hair from the head, without the permission of God. The noble Homer tells us this, 
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〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  Homer V. 109. de Jove. 
Both good and evil come to men  
By God's appointment: bear them then.   
He it is that so appoints the gests in the whole latitude of this vital progress, that there is no turning out of the high road of Mankind, Misery; nor no coming to the Upshot, Glory, but by these cross-ways: at which in the processions of life, there are more Epistles of Complaint, than Gospels of Joy rehearsed. God, who is Lord of all, condemns us his vassals to pay tribute de alto & de basso, as our Predecessors have, whose Vices we continue, though their Virtues be eraced. And if they who with great devotion and gallantry lived to God and their Ages as eminent Tapers, and Magnalian Heroes, had Crosses like snuffs to allay their brightness, and encumber their Comforts; We who outweigh them not in worth, must not outpass them in serenity: nor ought we to expect our harbours free from Pirates, when others have been infested, who had no less prize to provoke, but more care to prevent Assailants then have we. He who in greatest brightness falls from that Heaven of lustre in which not long ago he glittred to beholder's amazement; He that dies in strength, beauty, fame, fortune, with friends bewailing; Poets acclamating, and what not, which adds to the tumour and congeries of an earthly aggrandization, hath companions more than many in this Tragedy. He that by his ingenious avarice accumulated Art, and made it his Monopoly, engrossing it in his brains, and thence retailing it to men of less note, who deserved not the Epitaph of Anaxagoras, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc.— 
Laertius in vita ejus, p. 98.  
Here lieth he that skilled was  
In both world's secrets: Anaxagoras.  Even he must resign to Mortality, and give quarto inevitable and unequal Vicissitudes. 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Mare. Antoniu. lib. 2.  Changes are the world's degrees of ascent, by which it comes to perfection, and thence returns back to dissolution. Darkness and light, heat and cold have their times, and by their seasons of height & decay make way for each other; 
Lux quotidie interfecta resplendet, et tenebrae pari vice decedendo succedunt, sidera defuncta routvescunt, Tompora ubi siniuntur, incipiunt; fructus consumuntur et redeunt. Tertul. in apol. c. 48  the generation of one thing is the corruption of another. every thing in nature is finite, and to hasten the period, there must be variation of ●orms and shuffling of tempers. The world's lubricity bids every one expect what any one hath undergone: when the sap falls, leaves decay, and the tree is dismantled of its viridity, there seems to be a temporary recess of Nature, out of her Belcony into her Parlour: When the winds grow clamorous, and storms belch out their Menaces, the King-fisher departs, and leaves the rougher Choristers to their winter notes. Every thing hath its season, and what hath been shall be, till the periodic Non ultra be declared, and our writ of Ease sued out by the dissolution of all; To which the whole Creation tendeth, 
Rom. 8.22.  and for which groaneth, but till which must labour with those troublous guests, excesses. And since change betides every elementary compound, why should not we men the rather provide against it? 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Demetrius apud Stobaeum, Ser. 254. p. 840  for that we see it at greater distance, and aught with less dread than other creatures, whose direction is from instincts less rational, and not more certain. The very Heathen tell us, It is folly in grain, not to bear what we cannot avoid, because necessary.  
It was a brave resolution of Anaxagoras, who told, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. Plurarc. lib. de Tranquil, animi  that his son was dead, replied, I knew him to be mortal when I begot him. And it doth no less become a man to consolidate himself against the inconstancies of the world, from the assurance of heaven, than it doth the hireling to confront the dolour of his pains; with the comfort of his pay: for even in the best of this world goods, felicity, there is not only care to get and keep it; but a discord amongst the learnedst, in the termination and consistence of it. Crates placed it in a prosperous Navigation, Stilpo in amplitude of power; Simonides in the good will of ones Countrymen; Archyta in victory over Enemies; Gorgias in pleasant Stories; Chrysippus in goodly Buildings; Antisthenes in Fame after death; Eurypides in a beauteous Wife; Sophocles in Children; Palaemon in Eloquence; Themistocles in Nobility; 
Eccles. 2.11  Aristides and Heraclitus in Wealth; and Solomon, wiser than them all, concludes all things vanity; 
Prov. 15.15.  professing the continual feast, and unceasing Jubilee to be only in a good conscience and a contented mind, which is ever merry, 
1 Tim. 6.6  because never disappointed; for it resigns to God.  
Me thinks now, I hear one of the old Philosophers upbraiding the vanity of relying on things mundane, after this sort: Whither, O man, tendest thou? what is thine industry bribed by? where thy treasure deposited? 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Philiscus ad Ciceronem apud Dionem. lib. 38. p. 73.  why seekest thou life in death, stability in decay, glory in contempt, ease in disorder? Own thyself to be more than this Universe; and see thou be'st the same thou seemest, which this is not. Credit no suggestions which lure thee from thyself: to keep watch and ward at home, is to be safe. Thy fortune is embarked in thy Mind, as that is, such is thy bliss: Without thee there is little but chaffing, and puffs of boasting Nothings. The Favour of Caesar, Pompey, Alexander; the Wealth of Croesus; the Eloquence of Tully and Demosthenes; the Art of Aristotle and Archimedes, the strength of Hercules serves not against Crosses and disharmonies: or if it doth bear off those baffles, yet not Death, which rides first or last in triumph over all worldly greatness, and confines every thing which pretends exemption from other Conquests. Why then pitchest thou (O man) upon these groundless bottoms, which waft away, and with winged haste speed their flight thorough all seasons and climates; yea change their Masters upon every pet or occasional disquiet? Look to times diary; see if that besom hath not swept away Men, Things, Places, Governments upon the account only of a concluded revolution: And when thou hast prepended that fatal systole, and sadly numbered out the measures of Mutation which have fallen to the share of the most serious Men and useful Things, then conclude, Vanity is impressed upon all, and that which hath been shall be, till Time cease, and the hourglass of Nature be exarenate. Then, then only may room be made for better hopes, when Nature is refined, and that disafforested, which so harbours our Virtues in its Coverts, that it degenerates for want of chase and exercise, into that overgrown Monster, Ambition: For nothing but Vice makes Change a burden to us; since Virtue loves those Trials that polish it. Thus Herald  
And not amiss: For the mischief of provocations upon Disappointments, ariseth from the combustible matter in us. If we were good, we would thank God for trying us; since to try, where temptation gains no conquest, is to crown, or at least to prepare for it; So true is that of 
* 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Apud Stob. ser. 254. p. 84●  Democritus, Magnanimity appears in nothing more than in meek demeanour amidst merciless deceive and unexpected failings.  
And well need we this Preparation: Fowl Natures, like ill-humoured bodies, call for Purges. Those that will live healthily, desire as well the evacuation of peccant, as augmentation of good humours; and therefore have not less gratulated those Crosses and unfortunate frowns with which the Court Armours of their Virtues have been charged, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Laertius in vita ejus. Stob. ser. 248  than their Birth or Marriage days. I read of Zeno, losing all in a wrack at sea, yet giving thanks that he had his garments left, and that necessity brought him to profess Philosophy; accounting loss of all nothing, so long as Virtue, his mental Jewel, kept head above water, and survived.  
Not that the Ancients did set light by these defeats, out of a stupid nescience, or brutish ignorance, like those Indians who value glass above gold, because they know no better; but merely from a through experience of the danger that came from those favourable gusts of Fortune, which oftener cause shipwreck then security, like vehement winds, driving Virtue on the Rocks of Ambition and Luxury: which occasioned that prudent admonition, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Plutarch.  In prosperity to remember storms, and prepare for them. And if at any time they have coveted prosperity and affluence, it hath been for this cause chief, that they might evade such ignominy as Envy casts on Pilots that are on ground. 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Theol. apud Stob. for. 248.  And as those Mariners that put to sea in calmest weather, carry Tackling against a Storm; so have they in their day provided against that night, which turns edge upon the noblest metal; yea makes it strike sail to that which before it bore aloft from, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Theologi Stob. Serm. 248.  as too much beneath the flounce of its project: which Romulus noted well, when he told his friend, Harms are men's Tutors; many men are taught that by their disappointments, which their obtaining could never teach them. Hence came it to pass, that they stormed not like men cholerikly frenzy; much less did they opprobriously blaspheme the gods as the authors of their miseries, 
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〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.—  Eryp. in Helen. 
In storming 'gainst the Gods no virtue's shown:  
To bear what they appoint, hath praise alone.  or justify their deserts of better things; nor in felonious outrage did they rid themselves of life; but submitting with all mildness and grateful moderation, 

〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Isocrates.  
Talis est Sapientis anim●●, qualis Mundi status supra lunam, semper illic serenum est. Senec. Ep. 59  
Platonica familiâ nihil novimus nisi festum, & laetum, & solemn, et superum, & coeleste. Apuleius in apolog.   receive them as a common fortune, which devolved contempt upon no man, but had an happy issue betrothed to it, their Minds being like those things above the Moon, in a continual serenity; Wisdom keeping a perpetual Sabbath in divine appointments. Hence the Moralist characters the Wise man, least thinking of good fortune, 
Sapientis est semper de fortuna cogitare, et sibi nihil de side ejus promittere. Sen. benef. l. 4. c. 34.  not boldly concluding it his, but considering defeats, which like April showers, often mar the present Sunshine, though they produce the May-flowers of aftercontent; resolving to be what he may, if not what he would: By which artifice he deceives many, 
Tu illum putas premi malis, utitur.  who deem him lost in the wood of worldly mischiefs; whenas indeed he is never more blessed, then when, with Proteus', he is fain to change shapes, to avoid surprises; being with Phidias, 
Non ex Ebore tantum Phidias sciebat facere simulachrum, etc. Sen. Ep. 85 Quamounque fortunam acciperit, aliquid ex illa memorabile efficiet. Ibid.  able to frame a Mercury out of any material which will endure the tool, and express his virtue in any condition: In riches, in poverty, abroad, at home, as a Commander, as a private Soldier, in health, in Sickness: In every action and station somewhat he'll do worthy.  
Do we not read the bravest of Earth's gallants of both sexes, militating with crosses, and extracting comforts from them? yea glorying in them as their probatories and marks of Chivalry, which they reported as testimonials of their emeritings? Is there any one but hath met with these Adders, which nibble at the heel; or any order, age, action of man but procreates this satire? One finds a cross in his Nativity, and cries out of his vufortunate birth and unnatural parents, who begat him to sorrow, and bring him up in sloth: One is a plague to the Family, nay the Nation he lives in; another fires the world by dissension, and makes all men crouch to the cross of his erection: One finds his cross in his deformity, another in his beauty; one in his poverty, another in his wealth; one in his youth, another in his age; one in his body, another in his mind; one in his wife, another in her husband; one in his bed, another in his Garden; one cries out of Science that he cannot gain, another of Conscience that he cannot still: yea there is a Cross (past Lord have mercy upon us) in the next world, which too few think upon and pepare for, Hell.  
Some find their vexations (like Moths) rise out of themselves, and cry out in the Father's words, 
O flumen moris humani! S. August. in confess.  O cursed Corruption, how long wilt thou stain the purity of my best actions! O deceitful heart, why consentest thou to felf-ruine? etc. Others complain of Satan that tempts them; whenas, indeed, they run into that evil they ought to pray against, 
Mali malorum Damonum & fictores, et saaerdotes, ' et cultores, Orat. 38.  and avoid. Evil men (saith Nazianzene) are the Makers and Worshippers of evil Devils. Some cry out, that their Company infects and engages them; and yet they will not out of Sodom, but if they be by mercy dragged (as it were) to Zoar, they look back with appetition and desire, having that in their mouths, which the young man had, when told that vice would bring him to blindness; 
Vale amicum Lumon.  Farewell (quoth he) dear sight. So they return like the dog to his vomit, & the sow to her wallowing in the mire. Others decry the Age as bad, and exemplary to evil; when alas, they promote the plague by their putrid breath & bloody hands, with which untainted they ought to cool the flame, and prevent the riot. Some cry out of Heresy and Schism as the grief of their souls, and that which makes them go mournning all the day long; whenas themselves have some leaven as sour as Julian, or John of Leyden had. Others have no cross more grievous to them, then to see Order and Learning (the beauty of God in the face of this Commonwealth, the World) like the goodly Whale, sporting upon the surface of the waters, and not yet mortally struck with the Harping irons of men's displeasures.  
Some cry out against Riches, because they have them not; others against Poverty, because they fear it. Some would have Power out of others hands, that they (as they pretend) may be secure: others fear security in change, and wish rather to die nobly, then live doubtfully. Some hold it a punishment to be commanded; others hold it no less not to be so, because they find that by sorrow the heart is made better, and by service more humble and tractable. In fine, the faces of men differ not more than their desires and fancies; Every one thinks that an evil which he endures, and wishes the worse evil, to be rid of the rod by which he is corrected, 
Ad hoc corrigit Dcus, ut emendet, ad hoc emendat, ut glorifices.  but not amended; Amendment is the end of God's punishment on his people. To this end (saith Saint Cyprian) doth God correct, that he might amend; to this end doth he amend, that he may glorify.  
I know there are some men beneficial to all they come near, or tamper with; whom Fortune favours to a miracle: over whose ways, works, families all felicities constellate, and in whom concentre; 
Vix ullius goutis, aetatis, ordinis, hominem inveneris, cujus foelicitatem fortunae Metelli compares. l. 1. p. 18  as if all sheaves were made to do homage to theirs, and no cross line permitted by Heaven to be drawn upon them and theirs. Such an one was the famous Roman Metellus, whom Paterculus sets forth not to be matched for his felicity in any Age, Order, or Nation (almost) of men: in whose Family, at least twelve in twelve years were either Censors, or Consuls, or Triumphed; 
Plut. l. 2. p. 29  who lived in troublesome times untouched, saw his four sons grown up, left them behind him in great honours, all of them having been either Censors or Consuls, or not long after so. 
lib. 1. p. 18  But this one swallow makes no summer; this Phoenix, the sole wonder of an age, opposeth not the consent of experience, That Crosses attend the best and most of sublunary accommodations. The Poet tells us, Irus & est subito qui modo Craesus erat. 
When Fortune frowns, full soon men see,  
Croesus' exchange with Irus' poverty.   
Since then nothing of this nature is new, prepare thou, O man, for any cross that may, and fume not at any that doth come upon thee: If the piety of thy Calling as a Christian, persuade thee not (which God forbidden) let the examples of civilised heathens shame thee to a patiented & generous submission. He is a man of soft metal, who upon a small scratch, calls for the Chirurgeon, 
Cum Fortuna nimis contumaciter agit, qui accepto vulnere statim miscr esse dissimilat, Sym. l. 1.  and gives over the Enemy: and he a too modest Lover, who interprets himself denied, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Demetrius Phaler.  because courtlily delayed. It is a concluded rule, He who cannot bear ill, is not worthy to be blessed with good Fortune. Well far him in Stobaeus, who ingenuously confesseth his demeanour amidst ill accidents: 
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〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 
Philemon apud Stobaeum, ser. 254. p. 836   
At Fortune ill (indeed) I grieve,  
But Wisdom doth my heart relieve:  
Discretion's much in temper seen,  
Reason in virtuous mindes' a Queen.  For Crosses are Nature's burdens, and those must rest on some shoulders: Every Citizen of the world must pay scot and lot in common with his neighbours, and bear proportion of the toil and turmoil it affords. Remember, the patience of man works to praise and pity; and his passion to contempt and obduration: For who can do less than despise and parvipend him, 

〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alexandrin. Strom. lib. 2.  
Bonus, etiamsi serviat, liber est; malus, etiamsi regnet, servus est tot dominorum quam vitiorum, Prosp. sent. 52   who knows not himself above the command of his Valet. He is a slave with a vengeance, whose Laws are dictated by Lusts and Passions: and the Marches to which to go, and beyond which not to go, are bounded by these irrational Tyrants.  
'Twas a noble and right Princely Moderation of Charles the Fifth, who having presented to him by the Citizens of Antwerp, a rare piece of Hang, in which was represented the Battle of Pavia, with the names of Francis King of France, and all the Noblemen and men of Blood taken and slain there, refused to accept it, lest he should seem to upbraid to others their calamities and miseries: For fit was he to rule Countries and men, who had perfected that Conquest over passions, which few of the greatest Hector's ever attained to. That brave King of Hungary, Mathias, who was one of the most victorious men in the field that Christendom had; yet died of anger upon a slight occasion: Many Ambassadors were with him, and he called for figs; answer was made, they were all eaten; his rage was so great, that he fell into an Apoplexy, and so died. A fig for that courage which rages against reason; I will never admire him whom Pompey's spirit brings to Pompey's end.  
This for the first Argument.  
The next is like unto it, Argum. 2 Reason has borne down these fits of the Mother which swell to disturb us, and why should those of old attain to that, which we more advantaged and better enabled than they, reach not to? alas we are on the backs of those giants, ploughing with their heifers, and might make more dispatch and better work than they (who were feign to grapple with almost insuperable arduities, to hue stones, as it were without tools, and to blow up the little spark of art, buried in the ashes of oblivion, and abstruseness, into any flames of moderate observableness) did we not wrap our talents in Napkins, and misspend them on lusts; which fight against the soul, making them as the Mountains of Gilboa, upon which neither dew nor rain of heavenly virtue, falls. There is nothing more stimulative to a generous nature, then to follow, if not outgo those whose virtues in their respective ages have made them most conspicuous and estimable. He spoke like a man, who said, The praises of Myltiades awakened him: And no less he, whose Attempts took fire from the Train of Alexander's Conquests. Who can read the story of Bias (who both overcame and relieved the Mantineans, and by them had Memorials of Brass erected to him) losing unfortunately in the City of Priene his Wife, Goods, and Children, who were taken captive, yet uttering no speeches worse than these: If any one seeing me deprived of my Country, Wife, 
Si quis quòd patriâ caream, ●●òd conjuge, domo, liberis, bonísque omnibus orbatua sim, aliquid mcorum me perdidisse, ideoque me contristari opportere dicunt, two neque fortuna quid sit sciunt, neque rectè de Philosephia sentiunt. Patientiam mecum & Philosophiam fero, & alieno exoneratus, nullius jam praeterquam mei solius curam gero. Guev. l. 1. c. 21  Children, Fortune, conceive me sorrowful; or less contented in mind then when I enjoyed them all to utmost improvement, let them know, they neither skill what Fortune is, nor how great the force of Philosophy is in a virtuous mind. In this I am happy, my left riches is Learning and Patience: I have care of nothing but myself, how to keep within the boundary of Reason. Who (I say) reading this, can guess a virtuous mind less than happy, even in a condition as low as envy and misfortune can sink it?  
The soul of man is of a divine and immaterial substance, and delights in those things which are of analogous' offspring with itself. 
Major sum, et ad mojora genitus, quàm ut mancipium sim carnis meae. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. Laert. in vita ejus, p. 389  Tell Philosophers and men of gallant emulations, of great Presents, and grand Fortunes to be accumulated from this or that inglorious action, they'll reply with him in Seneca, It becomes not our free minds to be vassals to foul passions & lewd designs. When Alexander asks the Cynic what he shall give him, his request is only that the King would stand out of the Sun, and not hinder its access to him: valuing the light and comfort of those heavenly beams, above the Behemoth of the Conqueror's greatness and bounty.  
Wise men have not ever been acclamators of external pomp; but rather of internal purities, and unseen perfections. Cippus the Noble Roman returning from the Conquest of his Enemies, being told by the Oracle, that if he entered the gates of Rome, he should be King of it, sent into the City for the Senate and People to come out to him, and without the City gave them an account of his proceed: And contenting himself with one acre of land on which to live, willingly banished himself to a Country solitude.  
He in Stobaeus cries out, 
Serm. 249  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉,  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉,  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
To mortal man the chiefest bliss is Health:  
A gallant. Wit is second: next comes Wealth  
Gained by virtue, not obtained by stealth:  
And last of all a pleasant life with friends,  
Which never ends.   
So Theognis, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉,  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉,  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
If Riches separate were from sinful cares,  
My life exempt might be from loss and snares:  
Riches I would not wish; mine aims to be  
Blessed with content: to that a Votary.   
For however Caius boast that he is a god, hath accompanied with the Moon, and commanded his Image to be worshipped: yet the merry Shoemaker, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Dion. l. 59 p. 661  in spite of all his costly attire and pompous folly, censures him but a great Nothing; since no man is great if wicked, and overmastered by vice. 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Plutarch. Orat. 2. de Fortit. & Virtute Alex. magni.  Fortunateness separated from Virtue, is but a vanity, and will appear in gaining good will, to be illiberal; in enduring labour, effeminate: 'twill be superstition to God, cause the envy of good men, and break out into all exorbitancies.  
Therefore Socrates defined those happy only who were rich in their Intellects, 

〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Laertius in vita Diogenis lib. 6. pag. 378.   and practised those Virtues they understood. This made Antisthenes prefer the company of the Cynic (whom for his worth he was resolved to follow) beyond fear of the smartest cudgel the Cynic had to fright him with. Some there are that have thought Art and Learning worthy their enquiry, and have bought it at loss of sleep, society, and almost of food; accounting all time lost that's stolen from its pursuit; being exstimulated with the memory of this, That Knowledge is an ample Theatre and reward to itself; that the mind therewith enriched is not in danger of the rape of thiefs, nor corruption of Moths, no nor the fret of Time, which the best of worldly things are subjected to, and by which come not only not to be; but while they are, to be as if they were not: Of which that of the Epigrammatist is true; 
Fundus Achamenidae fueram, nunc cedo Menippo;  
Mox alium rursus, mox aliúmque sequar;  
Vtque suum hic credit, sic me prius ille putavit,  
Sed me, Fortunae sum, quiae nullus habet.  
My Lord was Achamenidas, but now  
Menippus hath me purchased soil and bow:  
Ere long I shall another owner have;  
New Masters fortunes rise from th'elder's grave.   
That which only makes Change strange to us, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plu●a●ch lib. de animi tranquil. pag. 474. Edit. Paris.  is because we expect it not; for Wisdom directs to look upon this world as a River which carries to and fro things in a hurry, and leaves little but sorrow to those that most confide in, and most resign themselves to it.  
The consideration of this made way for the reception of that Stoical Maxim, 
Viro sapienti omnem suam felicitatem intra se esse repositam.  That a wise man's Treasure was magazined in his mind, and not in any thing out of his power either to keep or get: which Socrates explicated in his Question to Nicias the Athenians Groom, whom (leading the admired Horse) he asked, What money that Horse had: The Groom wondered at the Question, and replied, As much as any horse hath, that's just none. O (quoth Socrates) If an Horse may be an excellent and lovely Horse, and admired in every eye, that hath neither Money nor Goods, but the brave qualities of a generous Horse, Why may not a Man, having eminent virtues, be a brave and gallant Man, though he have not the Wealth of Croesus, or an Indian abundance; nay, though he want necessaries, and is fain to earn, before he hath them? Which Photion also assented to, when he refused the great Present of Gold sent him by Alexander, after his conquest in Persia; ask of his servants, why the Conqueror singled him out as the object of his bounty; Answer was made. Because he thinks thee most noble of all the Greeks. O replied Photion, 
Quoniam te omnium Gracerum optimum arbitratur Sinite igitur me esse. inquit: hotion, quem ille autumnat, etc. Magnus quidem Alexander, sed Phetion major: qui cum peuper esset, tantum munus cum muneris autore contempserit. Sabellicus l. 2 Exemp. p. 24, 25.  Suffer me then to be what he opineth me to be: which I shall not, if being born free, I make wealth the boundary of my care. Alexander is great, but Photion is greater; who though poor, hath a spirit beyond either Alexander or his gifts. Valerius Publicola, 
Indubitato argumento, Reipubls. domi forisque continenter & sanctè administrata.  that brave Roman (who thrice triumphed, and yet never before he deserved it) died so poor, that he was fain to be buried at the public charge. An undoubted sign of a noble mind, and of an unabused trust.  
I know there are some that depreciate this Position, and are apt to undervalue whatever is not laden with thick clay, and hath not the equipage of worldly triumph attending it: They judge Self-denial and Patience too much asnery for a brave spirit to be captived by; and they are all upon the rant, choosing with that Heroic Queen, rather to have her children's heads chopped off, than their amorous locks polled. To bear the grudge of Fortune, and palsies of Time, they impute to pusilanimity, not considering that we men are God and Nature's Galleries, in which they hang forth their choicest pieces of Art, exposing them to view, that their Master skill may be more notorious, and their Empire appear more absolute, while their commands are answered with obedience, not dispute.  
The Heathen man tells us, 

〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. Marc. Antonin. l. 5. c. 27.  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, jamblichus de virture, ad Sopatrum.  
Malae secundaeque res, opes, non ingenium mihi mutabunt. Sallust. Orat.  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. S. Chrysostomus.  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Plut. in Dem.   that to live to the Gods is commendable, and that every good man aims to be like God to the utmost of his capacity, and that no man copies better than he, whose mind equally poised, welcomes whatever is his lot, and acquiesces in that portion, which is therefore best because his, and directed to him from a wise and merciful Being: considering that every thing is ordered by a gracious hand, which so connects things each to other, that they all in the end work forth Issues of good and gain to them that are pious and patiented: and therefore the holy Apostle gives us the sum of Christianity and sound external bliss in this, 
Phil. 4.11  I have learned in what estate soever I am, therewith to be content.  
For alas, whatever this ignis fatuus the World, pays, as its largess for our toil and vexation, is but tainted with sin, and dishonoured by inconstancy. Mark Anthony banishes Nonnus a Romon Senator, merely to have the precious Opalus worth 300000 Crowns, which Nonnus wore in a Ring: but he was deceived; for Nonnus, though he left much wealth behind him, carried that Jewel with him. Riches have wings, and fly away, 
Prov. 23.5  maugre the birdlime of Care, with which we catch them, and whereby we hope to keep them. 
Pro. 31.30.  Beauty is vain, favour is deceitful, and friends glide away as the brook; Honours (like the palefaced Sun) forerun foul weather, and portend a storm as infallibly as fire doth promise heat, or air moisture. There is nothing so perpetuated by Art, or dulcified by opinion, but hath its allay entailed to it. King's have somewhat in Crowns and Robes of State, which makes them uneasy; and the Soldier comes hardly by what he hath, which Sosiphanes mentions bewailingly, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉;  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
Unlucky men, in nothing happy ye,  
That bloody Battles wage for mastery;  
Leassors for term ye prove, no Lords o'th' Fee.  For (poor souls) one day lost, reduceth them to complaints of ill Fortune; perhaps puts Belisarius and Hannibal out of condition ever to put to Field again. 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  Yea Learning (after which the Scholar thirsts more than parched ground doth after showers, preferring a dram of Wisdom before an ocean of Wealth) often proves an Arab to life's comfort: And the very Eliabs and goodliest statured sublunary things have for the most part written on them, as had ezekiel's Roul, 
Ezek. 2. last.  Lamentation, and mourning, and woe.  
Good God how many hocus pocus tricks, how many mazes and turn see we in this Olleo of Elements, the world? What a forge of Disguizes and Mint of follies is this Idol we adore; this Tabernacle we so eagerly covet, though we see it ever versatile? how unnaturally doth it bring up to ruin its offspring, occasioning as many different ways of distaste, as there are grains of sand in the Seas boundary, or drops of water in her store-house? How are the worthiest of her Procreates shriveled up to nothing, by with-drawing of Support, 
Avaritiae potentiorum subjectiubique inferiores sunt, quo quisque infirmior, co praedae patet; minor apud illos esca majoris est. Beat. Ambros. Hexam. 5.  and uneven distillations of influence! Too much of favour, makes some proud; too little, others despond: Too great wealth, some oppress; too little, others beg and want: too much power tempts some to Tyranny; too little makes others submit against their wills, and meditate revenge against their natures.  
Who would be a slave to such a regardless Mistress, that turns love the deaf ear, and charges folly on the Marble for relenting in sympathy with the Skies, who by showry tears express their charity to indigent and importunate pastures? that kills the fatted calf for a scornful Prodigal, and minds not him that best deservs. Noble Ulysses in his return to his Country, has misfortune like Hailshot; is wracked on the Ciconian shore, thence loosed, has the same misfortune in Africa, after is fain to encounter a Cyclops in Sicily, thence is forced by cross winds into Aetolia, and last of all, 
Alber. cognatus in Com. in l. 1. Tom 2. Luciani.  is cast upon Sylla and Carybdis. Augustus Caesar, for all his Greatness, cannot sleep, and when his noble Livia asked the reason; he replies, Who (Dear heart) is a moment free from cares, who hath so many enemies, not more vigilant to ruin me, than one another? Yea, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Dion. l. ●5. p. 557. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Plutarch. lib. animi tranq. p 475.  Marcus Antoninus, the mirror of men and Emperors, hath upon him the black cloud of an unchaste Wife, and a deboist Son; and Socrates, whom the Oracle declared wisest of men then living, yet had the people's envy; and two villainous foes Melitus and Anytus, who may kill, but not harm him: Ill Fortune (quoth he) may bring sickness on me, and take away mine estate; but to make him evil, fearful, dejected, base and envious, who is good, constant, magnanimous, liberal, that it cannot do: These and many others have been unfortunate; whenas the Varlet Cleander (a Slave bought in the Market and carried to Rome to be a drudge) had Rome at his pleasure, gets the favour of Commodus, gives Civil and Senatorian honour at pleasure, sells Goverments, both Military and Civil, as and to whom he pleased, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dion. l. 72. p. 823  makes the Magistracy of Rome a refuge for fortuneless persons; yea, so chopped and changed Government, that he made twenty five Consuls in one year, which the Historian notes, was never done either before or after.  
Why, 
Amor forma rationis oblivio est, & insania proximus. S. Hyeron. l. 1. Adu. Jovinian.  O why should the reason of man suffer eclipse so far, as to give way to choose a courtesan for her fair looks, while virtue in a less venust person is refused? Or how shall men be defended from censure of madness, who are enamoured of that Butchery, in which Creatures of greatest procerity are put to slaughter, 
Cuncta mortalium incerta, quantoque plu● (ipse Imperator) adoptus foret, tunto se magis in Lubrico esse. Tiberius' apud. Tacit. l. 1.  and things of rascal and macilent aspect, are fully provided for?  
O mutable world, O mercless Fortune, how many hast thou flattered into ruin, and left there unpitied! How few hast thou befriended with a peaceful old age, whose youth thou hast alured and trifled out in perishing vanities, to whom thou hast promised a perennity of Glory, 
Solet fatigari fortuna, solet postea quam nimium indulsit, in fine deficere. Quintil. Declam. 271.  and yet sent them packing with Pompey in a Flyboat! They that trust thee, are sure to be ruined, and they that mistrust thee, to be secure; Cavete vobis principes, as well befits thine as Loyola's Motto; for thou art what ever Divine Justice permits, and Satanick malice can invent and send abroad mischievous.  
Let us read and consult the upshots of Greatness, and there will be little cause for any passion but that of Tears, when we see the sons of Honour pass through the fire to this Molech; and those Phaeton's who managed the reins of Power, hurled from their Chariot-box, into the abyss of servility and want; yea, often with Actaeon, torn in pieces by their own Brood. Julius Caesar was once so great in the world, 
V●rquiuon immeriton cx maxima parte Deo fimilis est putatus; etc. Eutro. l. 7. p. 576. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Dion. l. 44. p. 235.  that the Roman Senate erected Temples to him, and decreed him the Title of Caesar; nay, they so flattered him, that they allowed his sons and Nephews (of which he had none) to be called Caesar's: yet at last he was murdered in the Senate by the Senators. Pompey on a time was so victorious, that men called him Agamemnon; yet when Caesar prevailed, he was forced to fly Rome, and by a treacherous Surprise comes to his end, the same day of the year that he had triumphed upon after his Conquest of Mithridates and the Pirates; that (saith Dion) his end might not be as his entrance was, fortunate; 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. Dion. l. 42. p. 188.  but allayed with somewhat which might declare him miserable. Vitellius made Emperor by the Soldiers, became at last so odious to them, that they apprehended him, bound him hand and foot, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Dion. l. 66. p. 743. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. Dion. l. 58. p. 628.  and dragged him into the Market place, where they smote him with their fists, tore off his beard, and shamefully reproached him. Sejanus, whom in the morning all the people looked upon as a rising Star and Peerless Personage, whom nothing was too worthy for; at night was guarded like a Villain, and hated as a Traitor.  
Was not Cato Major as wise and worthy a person in the Romans opinion, as any of his age, 
Nemo in ea civitate majoribus est odiis exercitus, quadragies sexies reus causam dixit, estque semper absolutus, etc. Sabellicus Exemplor. T. 4. l. 1. p. 19 Edit. Basileae.  yet none more tortured by envy than he, forty six times was he accused, and absolved, his Eloquence and innocence ever bearing down his opposites malice.  
Manlius, who kept the Roman Capitol, 
Servavit Capitolium M. Manlius saepius in acie stetit pro patriam strenueque démicavit, etc. Sabellicus l. 4. c. 3. Tom. 4. Edit. Basileae.  valiantly defended his Country, received many wounds, and preserved many worthy Citizens by his own hazard, yet at last by vote of the people was publicly condemned; and all (forsooth) upon a brute that he aspired to somewhat above a private Citizen: by which action of theirs it appeared that the Romans were impatient to have any one so great or so innocent, which the Law would justify against their levity, and changeable petulancy.  
Yea, of later times, are there not equal instances of the world's inconstancy? What think we of Paulo Vitelli, the great Florentine General put to death by them, after all his famous Services, only upon suspicion? Of Hugoline Girardescus, a noble Citizen of Pisa, chief of the Faction of the Guelphs; who being in Supreme Command in Pisa, Luca, and their Territories, was surprised by the Gibelines, a contrary Faction, and with his two sons and three Nephews, shut up alive in the Castle, the keys of which were thrown into the River Arno, so they starved to death. 
Filesacus Selector. l. 2. c. 9  There are thousands of other instances produceable, but confessions need no proof; no man will deny this, that dares justify himself to be a man; who may seal to this from his own observation: so true is that of Metrodorus, 
Mortal est omnium mortalium bonum, de his loquitur bonis, ad quae concurritur; nam illud verum bonum non moritur, certum est, sempiternumque, sapientiact virtus hoc u●um contingit immortale mortalibus. Senec. Ep. 98  Every worldly good is perishable; true good is durable and eternal; Wisdom and Virtue abide immortal, and fade not for wind or weather, but retain that grain colour, which defies the tartest trial, and most defacing fally: 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Psal. 112.6. Prov. 10.7.  And therefore 'twas good counsel that Antisthenes gave, Those (saith he) that would immortalize their names, must live to the precise rule of Piety and Justice. To which Scripture suffragats, The Righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance, when the name of the wicked shall rot.  
Let men dote on what they please, Content shall be my Darling; 
Ex mediocritate fortuna pauciora esse pericula. Tacit. Annal. 14.  a modest mind satiated with what God assigns me, shall be my Prayer to obtain, and praise of God, received; other things are but termers, and pass away, leaving no print of their once abode with us: where is the Art of Hypocrates, who saved others, but could not preserve his own life? What are become of those Viragoes, who chased Nations into their Nets, and came into Continents with fire and Sword, writing Laws in blood and wounds; these Nephews of Nimrod, where are they? Where are Heraclitus, Democritus, Aristotle, Plato? Are worms awed from their ashes? and is Putrefaction barred seizure on them? Are not those honoured names of Camillus, Caeso, Volefius, Scipio, Cato, Trajan, Antonine, become Vassals to every Varlet's tongue? Are they not reproached by every Mimic, and hardly credited to have been the distinctions of persons famous in their ages? Surely, it is clearer than the light, that time hath gullopped down men's merits, and caused an high silence on them, so that they live only in the tender Monument of Virgin paper, and at the Devotion of those that slain them to make them legible to after ages; the counsel then of Marcus Antoninus is good, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. l. 4. c. 33.  There is one piece of Prudence (quoth he) worthy practice, to have a just mind, a sociable life, a true speech, a heart contented with whatsoever falls out, as best for its good. These are things most worthy endeavour after, and most beneficial when enjoyed.  
Therefore mistake not (O man) the mark thou oughtest to levelly at, the Goal thou shouldst make to; thy figure tends to heaven, thence thy proportion is appointed, thy bulk requires but little pabulary supply; if thy mind be not bottomless, thy necessities will easily be answered: If thine eye be not curious, thy stomach will not be squeamish; what ever is man's meat, will down, and what will exclude cold, 
Sabellicus Tom. 4. l. 2. c. 8. p. 37. Edit. Basiliae.  and comfort nature, sit upon thy back with honour and decency enough. Be thy Diet as rude, and Vests as rough as were those of elder times, whose materials were from the Beast and Field unplained, and in their Native colours and hue, thou art not the first, nor shalt be the last that must sit down in sorrow: If comfort be in company, thou hast enough to make up a sad consort with thee.  
Ferre quam sortem patiuntur omnes,  
Nemo recusant.— Senec. in Troad.  
Who doth that fortune count his woe,  
Which all men with him undergo?  
So Merops comforts herself.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. Eurypid. in Chresiph. 
Deprived of husband and of children dear,  
To thee dame Nature I present my tear;  
I see no comfort in this widowed state,  
Save millions with me do participate.  
The sorrows which in life I now endure,  
To them, as unto me, shall soon endure.  
Thus much for the second Argument.  
The third Argument is, Argum. 3 from consideration, that to contest with, and conquer disapointments, by patiented abiding them, is a great step to Glory, and an uncontroled instance of self-mastery: Storms show Pilots, and Combats assert Valour; yea, there is nothing gives a more substantial taste of worth, than these opportunities to display it in. 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Marc. Anton. l. 4.  Were not Aristides and Themistocles renowned by their banishments? Who had heard of Hercules, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Philiscus ad Circeronem. Dion. l. 38. p. 76.  had not his combats with the Claeonaean Lion, and the Hydra, the Stag, the Wild Boar, and many Gigantine and fierce men, whom heworsted, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. Epictetus l. 2. c. 6. de provide.  and from whom he received many virrulent and threatening Charges, argued his valour? What made Socrates greatly opinionated, 
Cicuta Socratem magnum fecis, Catoni gladium assertorem Libertatis extorque magnam partem detraxeris gloriae: Sonec. Ep. 13.  but the poison that he drank with as cheery a heart, as wine? And what greater dishonour can be done to Cato, then to suppress the mention of those hazards he despised, to assert Public Liberty?  
Tully brings in Popilius as a most generous and well poised Roman: 
Fortis & corstans in optima ratione civis P. Popilius somper suit, tamen ejus in omni vita, nihil est ad laudem allustrius quam calamitas ipsa. Cicero pro Dom. ●ua. Et paulopost, M●telli clarum imperium in re militari fuit, Egregia censura, omnis vita plena gravitatis tamou hujus viri laudom, ad sompiternam memoriamacmpor is calamit as propagavit.  yet in nothing more laudably notorious, then in his undeserved, yet well borne calamities. And Metellus as reaping praise and same from those tumultuous times, and that prudent demeanour of his amidst them.  
Yea, had not Livius Drusus been basely murdered by the people, he might (for aught I know) have miss that honourable mention which he hath from Paterculus, 
Vir nobilissimus, eloquentissimus, sanctissimus, meliore in omnia, ingenio animoque quam fortunâ usus; hic tamen à civibus cultro caesus est. Paterculus lib. 2. p. 28 Edit. Antwerp.  to be most Noble, most Eloquent, most Pious, more worthful both in body and mind, then fortunate.  
I am not of their minds, who so far indulge Epicurean ease, that they think that life uncomfortable, which is clogged with any adversity, or cross gust of touchy displeasure; Virtue hath a Come to me, which strongly attracts, and with undeniable Courtship, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Arist, Ethic. l. 3. c. 7.  obliges good minds to entertain her. Good men do suffer for goodness sake, what to carnal minds and worldly ends, seems folly and loss; not because they are not tempted to comply with a la modes; and to cry the popular language of Great is Diana; but for that they know it is their duty to be what they ought, and to submit to God for the event; which, what ever it is, they welcome, as what is best, and most conducing to their ultimate felicity. And therefore in the greatest storm and saddest night, wherein neither Moon nor Star of comfort appears, they cry out with him in Seneca, Ep. 101.  
What though mine hands, 
Debilem facito manu, Debilem pede, etc.  feet, thighs enfeebled be,  
My bowed back, and loosened teeth you see;  
If life abide, my spirit will disdain  
Of multiplied torments to complain.  
For courage carries men to view victory afar off, and to believe what they love, gainable; yea, it often solicits to muster against effeminacy and impatience, and on that score whets endeavours to so keen an edge, that shall by the truth of its metal, rescind all disaminations, though twined together more cunningly, than was the Gordian knot; yea, it shall (by a kind of confident augury) preoccupate Victory, and make what we honestly desire ours, before it actually be so. For as in Pictures the draught is well nigh dispatched, where the ground lines are well ordered, and the proportion regularly designed and expressed, so in all actions of the mind, there is fair progress made, when resolution is taken, not excluding reasons consult; and when what we ought, and how to do what we ought, precedes in our Design, what we do.  
I know there are no actions of men, but come under the tortures of censure, and must pass, the ordeal of detraction, and commonly, as rascal Cattle come not to the Shambles, 
Non min●● p●riculum ex magna famam quam ex mala. Tacit. annal. 3  but goodly and fat, so not the basest men and actions, but the best and bravest hear worst, and are most broken and dismembered on the wheel of prejudice. 'Twas a brave speech of the Emperor Manuel, 
Quid virtute dignum unquam retribuit calumniosa interpretati● malignorum? Nihil tam Sanctum quod non audeat tentare calumnia. Nicet. Tom. 1.  What (saith he) of true and Noble tendency, hath not by ill will been misnamed? Nothing so sacred but calumny profanes and deturpates; And the rise hereof is envy, and that from those who neither can. 
Improbi vel tacitis justorum moribus arguuntur. In Psal. 118.  nor will imitate or excel that virtue they condemn; they know, in S. Ambrose his words, there is no greater a blemish to their impure lives, than the holy conversation of a Man, that is exact with God, and walks by the rule. Some have the hap to be applauded, for what deserves censure and disfavour, 
Praelatio alterius sine alterius contumeliá non potest procedere, quia necelectio fine reprobatione. Tercul. Apolog. 12.  as was that ignorant Scholar of Hyppomachus the Musician, who kept neither touch nor time, yet was cried up for a rare Artist; 
Maximum erroris Argumentum quod ab ignara turba laudaretur.  but his Masterprotested, that the praiseful clamours of the ignorant multitude, palpably blemished him: for Virtue is seldom the darling of popularities, nor Art the favourite of Crowds. Some men are fortunate all their lives; but envy to be revenged on them, gnaws on their bones, and disquiets their ashes; the famous Duke of Bedford, Regent of France, under King Henry the VI was envied his Tomb by certain French Monsieurs, who requested Lewis the XI to deface it; saying, It was a reproach to their Nation to have such an enemy so honourably Entom'b. 
Holinshed. p. 612.  But the wise and brave King replied, What Honour shall it be to us, or to you, to break this Monument, and to pull out of the ground the dead bones of him, whom in his life, neither my Father nor your Progenitors, with all their Power, Puissance and Friends, were once able to make flee one foot backward; but by his Strength, Wit, and Policy, kept them all out of the principal Dominions of the Realm of France? Wherefore, I say, God have his soul, and let his body now lie in rest, which when he was alive, would have disquieted the proudest of us all. A noble speech, and an eternal honour to the mouth that spoke it: Lilia mixta rosis. Some men are traduced when they are past answer, 
Semper quidem vertutes sequitur invidia, feriuntque summos fulgura montes. S. Hieron. Ep. 27. ad Eustochium.  and are indicted of Crimes in this lower bench, when they are acquitted in the High Court of Heaven, from which there is no appeal, and to reverse which, no Writ of Error lies: but most see themselves miserable by the malice and inconstancy of those they have never enraged, but rather deserved of.  
Gabinius the famous Roman General, prays to be discharged his Office not for fear of the stab or poison of a discontented and irreligious Monk, (which befell King John of England, and King Henry the iv of France; a cursed engine of Dispatch, which God hath appointed Hell to revenge;) nor yet fearing the Votes of the Senate to exoffice him, (he was a brave man, and they could not find a meeter person for that charge;) but merely blaming the people's inconstancyes: 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. Dion l. 36. p. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Dion. l. 75. p. 863. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Dion l. 75. p. 863. An major in co fuit doctrina à diis daiae copia, an malitiae quâ persequebantur illum aemulicrudclitac. Tusc. l. 5.  For who (saith he) of sound mind will wish a life of Envy, or desire Power, where Events, which no mortal eye can foresee, or hand prevent, are the pledges of his fame or infamy; where good fortune causeth envy, and ill censure. Severus put two brave Commanders (Crispus and Laetus) to death, upon no other cause but Envy, because they had better skill in Conduct then himself. Quintillus Plautianus, a chief and aged Roman Senator, who lived peaceably and retired from Rome to avoid suspicion, & meddled with nothing; a man of great years and veneration, yet was put to death by Severus, merely out of fear, because he was an exemplary man. Anacharsis the brave Scythian, of whom Tully says, That he knew not whether the Gods gave him the greater measure of Learning, or his enemies of malice, came to his end, by the prosecution of envy. Famous Narses, General to the Emperor Justine, a victorious Conqueror over all his Master's foes, and a dread to the world, had many domestic enemies that detracted from him, and so highly accused him, though without all colour of deserving such misusage, that he left his Charge, the Court, yea, and his Master too, and in revenge brought the Lombard's into Italy, who wasted it. Cardinal Pool, after all his Legations in the Council of Trent, his observances of the Pope and Cardinal Farnese; yea, notwithstanding his noble nature, Genteel demeanour, cordial adhesion to the Court of Rome when the Pope died and there was a choice to be made, was not chosen Pope, for suspicion of Lutheranism (as was pretended) but rather for that they envied that one of so winning a nature should have the Chair. 
Hist. Council Trent. p. 298.  Great Athanasius the hammer of Primitive Heresy, whom the Arians, 
Sozom. l. 4. c. 9 Theod. l. 1. c. 30  when they could not silence by Argument, sought to ruin by defamation; of him they invented that he was a Magician, that he consulted with the Devil, that he gulled the world with a Sanctimonious outside while his heart and life was wicked, lecherous and what not which was odious; whereas indeed he was a a man of men, and God cleared up his fame to the brightness of noon day. 
Brown's Addition to the Annals p. 326.  The great Favourite of Queen Elizabeth's time, the Earl of Essex, had these shaking and burning fits of envy and glory, a long time upon him, he was in his Mistress favour as was never any, of her Privy Council before 23 years of age, Knight of the Gartar, Earl Marshal of England, General of her Forces by Sea and Land, fortunate in the love of them; yet had he Envyers who so ill construed and misrepresented his actions, that thereby he came to the block, and drew many to death with him. Famous Sir Francis Walsingham, Secretary to the Queen, Knight of the Gartar, and Chancellor of the Duchy, was a man of great wisdom and industry to promote his Mistress and the Nations Service, yet was he so nibbled at by those Momusses his enemies whom he detected; and by others, whose parts he obscured and therefore incurred their revenge and disaffection, that having spent his estate, contracted many debts for service of the Public, lost his credit by nonpayment of them, and resting wholly unrecompensed (at least to the proportion of his desert and labour) his heart broke, his enemies had their desire, glorying in the obscurity of his Funerals, which were at S. Paul's Church in the night time, without any Funeral Solemnity or magnificent proceeding. There are multitudes of instances of this nature, as numerous almost as the fishes were in the Disciples net, enough to overcharge this paper, as they did that net; but I pass them by, concluding this with the dying lamentation of famous Queen Elizabeth, who finding herself when she grew old and sickly, slighted by her Courtiers as unfit for Government and applications covertly made to the rising Sun, 
Brown's Ann. Q. Eliz. p. 382  complained of her inconstant Favourites and false Courtiers, in these words, They have yoaken my neck, 
Sapienti maju● periculum ab invidia, quam navigarti à tempestate, vel pralianti ab hostibus.  I have none now to trust, mine Estate is turned topside turvey. So true is that of Apollonius Tyanaeus, Greater danger betides a wiseman from envy, than a Sea man from a Tempest, or a Soldier from his enraged foe.  
Sometimes self-love made the Thessalian women murder Lais the beautiful Mistress of their youthful men, that so they might be less despised; sometime the tickle of popular giddiness, 
Ad reprehendenda alia dicta & facta ardet omnibus animus. Salian. de Ord. Religios.  eggs on to censure, and pursues desperately, what it hates, but understands not: things by ill will, are ever represented worse than they are, and so as may give some lovely blush to envies meager deformity. 
Secta Stoicorum licet apud imperitos male audiret, tanquam nimis dura, nullam benigniorem, lenioremque esse, nullum amantiorem hominum. Senec. Clem. l. 2. c. 5.  Seneca tells us, that the Stoics, who were ill thought on by the ignorant, as too rigid, were the most gentle and loving Sect of men.  
Good Lord, that Satan should have such power in our passions, as to make our eyes evil on good men and graceful actions! yea, so far to degenerate, as to cross as much as in us lies, what God has crowned, and will support to full growth? Who would think that Fulvius the Roman should coin a scoff for every action of Antoninus, and charge on him neglect of the Senatorian gravity, in going amongst the Captives, the day dedicated to Janus, and letting them touch his garment, whereby they were enfranchised, and that he walked without his train and Equipage of State? Or that Cardinal Langi should acknowledge the Reformation of the Mass honest, the liberty of meats convenient, and the demand just, to be disburdened of so many commandments of men, 
History Counsel Trent. p. 55.  and yet cry out against Luther as a poor Monk, and a not to be endured instrument in such a cause; or that Saint Jerom should be forced to complain, that his detracting enemies were such, 
Scribere disposui si vitam tamen dominus dederit, & si vituperatores mei saltem fugientem me, & inclusum persequi desierint. In vita Malchi. Monachi.  that they carped at his words, and followed him with reproaches, even when he both shunned all provocation of them, and was a Recluse: But that is true of Xenophon and Velleius, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Xenophon. Paedag. Nunquam Eminentia invidiâ carent, Vellcius lib 2.  Great parts occasion great envies; this Envy is the Gallows that Hamon's have for Mordecays: in this day of mourning, the worlds Esau's plot revenge on jacob's. For as Caesar said (in his Oration against Ariovistus) Every thing that transcends the Vulgar, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. Dion. l. 38. p. 84.  is subject to dislike and emulation, which breaks out into an array of Subjects against Governors, and arrives at the ruin of both.  
Nor must it be strange to us, thus to suffer for well doing, since that good actions and brave men have been mistaken and misused, ariseth from the good pleasure of God, who by this, designs their clarification, and calls to wise men to look about them, while these evils of Satan's malice, and man's envy surround them: 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epictetus.  the Devil is no Loiterer, he is ever in his walk: the perpetual motion to mischief is his, and he trains up his Instruments to assiduity, and ruining vigilancy; in every Garden-plot of Virtue he brings up weeds; over every clear Heaven in the soul, he casts some dismal and unbeauteous cloud; his ill will to man, is in combat with the best actions, though he fights against small and great virtues in us; yet his main design is to surprise man's King, the Heart; and if he miss that, he fumes and projects revenge, with great accurateness; and when he sees the Michael of Mercy, with his Angellick Forces, come to the rescue of man, by him assaulted, than he retreats to his small games, and turns Adder, hissing out his poison upon all occasions: He hath not only Vinegar and Gall to embitter the sufferings of good men, but the poison of Asps to blemish their best actions and most spotless intents. Read we not in holy Writ of the Devotion of Hannah, (begging a man child of God, and that not for Politic, but Pious ends, that she might consecrate him to God) censured Drunkenness, and that by a good man through, 
1 Sam. 1.14.17.28.  his mistake? And of David's brethren miscalling his coming to the Army to be pride of heart; when as, indeed, God led him thither, the better to bring his pleasure about in the surprise of Goliath by his courage? Is not Jobs Sanctity asserted Craft, 
Job 1.9, 10, 11  and his Godliness Gain, by Satan, who avers his love to God mercenary, and his Zeal coolable, upon withdrawing of Blessings on him and his? Was not our Lord Jesus traduced for a Wine bibler, 
Matth. 1.19.12.24.  a friend of Publicans and sinners, a deceiver, 
Luke 11.15.  one that cast out Devils by Beelzebub? when as he in Superlative love and stupendious Charity, came from the Region of Glory, and out of the bosom of his Father to accomplish the Work of our Redemption, and to endow us with his Grace and Glory, who were, and without him ever had been strangers to both; and after he was ascended, and left his Apostles to seminate the Gospel, and to impregnate the believing world, were they not accounted the very dregs of mankind, Babblers, Seducers, enemies to Government, when indeed, they were to serve, not rule; to obey, not resist; and had no other project but to accomplish the glorious work of the Ministry, conversion of soul●, to which they were consecrated? And in after times have not the Zeals, Sufferings, and Labours of his Servants been nicknamed, and reproached as simplicity, Singularity, Pertinacy, Ambition, Pride, and what not? yea, have not Arts and Forces been mustered out to suppress and discourage; and often to destroy them? Was not Julian against root and branch of Christianity? Did he not lay load on the Christians backs, under pretence that they would rebel, whereas they knew nothing more execrable, 
Christianus si nullius criminis no men est, ineptum est; si nominis solius crimen est. Tertul. Apolog. c. 2. Abolendo rumori intentu● falsos testes subornavit, qui id factian à Christianis causarentur, etc. Tacitus. Platina. Pag. 9  and by Religion disallowed, then to rise against Authority? Were not Christians afore, then, and since, feign to beg favour for the very name of Christianity? Was not Nero a wretched man, who notwithstanding his ingenious breeding, and calm documents from his Master Seneca, sets fire on Rome, and ruined the houses and fortunes of many of the noble Senators; and to colour his villainy, suborned Witnesses, who accused the Christians as Authors of the conflagration, which caused such a Massacre of them, that for divers nights together the City was as light as day by the fires of their dispatch? And when softer methods to ill designs have been in fashion, have not men piously addicted, been disheartened by counsels and intimations, that had both Judas his kiss and treachery in them? If Celestine, as a holy man, coming to the Popedom by an unusual providence, think to reform things amiss and grossly scandalous to the Church, 
Celestine, Celestine, cede negotium supra vires.  he has a whisper, Celestine, Celestine, desist, the work is too great for thy weakness to effect: and if the good man turns away from this by-path, and keeps on in the tract of his resolves, than there is a second whisper in plain language, 
Celestine, cede, si salvus esse cupis. Wolph. in Memor. ad Annum. 1294. Cent. 13. Sub nomine aterni spiritualisque Evangelii, verum Christi Evangelium obliterare & antiquare. Idem. eodem loco. Platina in vita Alex. Psal. 119.  Celestine, give over, if thou wilt be safe. Nay, hath not the truth of God been censured for Error and Heresy by Conclaves and Counsels, when figments under the name of the Spiritual and holy Gospel, asserting not the Law of God, but the Spirit in man to be the touch of man's interest in God, have been published, on purpose (saith Wolphius) to suppress and abolish the Gospel of Christ, which rests on Scripture for its Authority, and gives to christian's all solid comfort, according to the testimony of King David, Had not thy word been my delight, I had perished in mine affliction?  
Yea, has not the Devil heretofore appeared, pretending Moses his meekness and familiarity with God: and seduced many Christians to damnable Heresies and impure practices, as that Impostor did by personating Moses, 
Platina in Caelestin. 1. p. 63.  delude the Jews in Valentinians time? And was not the Emperor Julian (an Apostate not only from Christ, but from his Order, for some think him a Priest or Clergy man) more vexatious to the Christians by his moderate carriage at first, 
Julianus clericus secundam quosdam, calidior caeteris persecutor, non vi neque tormentis primo; sed praemiis, honoribus, blanditiis, persuasionibus, majorem fere populi partem quam si atrocior fuisset, elicuit. Plat. in vita Damasi 1 p. 54.  and his winning on the world thorough those his adulatorious and self denying crafts, than all the persecuting Emperors besides? 'tis too too true, that the Wolves heart in the Lamb's skin did irreparable hurt.  
Christ had Judas in his Family, and the Church hath unnatural children in her bowels; such as with Pilate wash their hands, but give sentence with the outcries against her; Snakes in bosoms, who like treacherous confessors, learn secrets, not to conceal, but reveal them; not to pity, but to propalate men's follies. Delilahs', that by the Chemistry of look and lap, evirtuate Sampsons' love and strength, and return affection (which when not answered, is treacherous to itself) the Granado and concave dispatch of falsehood.  
How ought men to summon their wits to avoid these snares, which have fire in their Fox-tails? of what consequence it is to live lives harmless and open, when there are such arts of blemish and defeat acted! He is wise that follows Epiphanius, of whom Saint Jerome writes, That his life was so holy and blameless, that even Heretics, 
Tantae venerationis fuit, ut regnantes Haeretici, ignominiam suam putarent, si talem virum persequerentur. Epist. 61. ad Pammachium.  who hated him for his Doctrine, were ashamed to appear against him, and shunned the scandal of persecuting him. This will make us live peaceably, and not groan under, nor grieve at the censures and unkindnesses of the world to us; 
Ut quid enim de alterius hominis 〈◊〉 de m●● ipsius judicio solicitus sum, cujus nec vituperio reprob●●, nec laude probatus inveniar. S. Bernardus de tripl. gloria.  but teach us to take revenge on them, by pardon of, and prayer for them; and in God's time, their loves and admiration will be the returns of our prayers, the rewards of our patience, and the crown of our constancy. He has not learned the lesson of heathens, that cannot bear evil words and evil will from evil men.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
Maximi Collect. c. 10. & Stob. Tom. 2. c. 42.  etc. 
He that an ear to calumnies doth give,  
His mind with vice abounds, full ill doth thrive,  
Wit in his drony brains hath made no hive.  
For Marcus Antoninus, when he made his Defence against the malicious Charge of envious Fulvius, concluded, All that he had learned from the wisest men in the Universities of Rhodes, 
Hoc tantum fine hominibus colenda esse studia, ut norint quo pacto inter maliciosoes & inutiles eluctari debeant: non enim alius est Doctrinae fructus, nifi ut vitam quis si●●eram & linguam occlusam habeat. Gnev. l. 1. c. 39  Naples, Capua, Tarentum, amounted to this only, to be able to keep innocency, to deserve no blemish, but to bear it when it comes, with a mind unmoved, and to live so as to shame it, and those that first endeavoured to bring it on him.  
Nay, what's more, he is not arrived to that which is the Jewel of this world, the true use of reason (man's impropriation as it were;) no creature here below, besides him, having it:) For that he can revenge wrongs, is somewhat he has in common with beasts; but that he forgives them, is from a principle of grandeur and princely bounty, from Reason canonised and heightened by the influences of divine communication. When I hear men bravely accomplished, repine that they cannot quit scores with their injurious foes, I think of that reply of S. Anthony, which S. Jerom mentions he gave to blind Didimus, who complained he wanted eyes: I wonder, quoth he, that a prudent man should grieve for the loss of that, 
Miror prudentem virum ejus rei dolere damno, qua●● formica, muscae, & culices, habent; et non latari illius possessione, quam soli Sancti, & Apostol● meruerunt. In vita Anthonii, & apud Nicephor. l. 9 c. 17. Acts 20.35.  which flies, fleas and aunts have; and not rejoice in that treasure in his possession, which holy men and Apostles, yea Worthies only deserve and have: It being a far more blessed thing to give pardon, then receive provocation.  
I know this is not only a paradox to men of high mettle, who admire punctilios of Honour, and had rather die, than not dispute a tittle, or word misplaced; but even to all who find it hard to suppress these Jebusites, the inhabitants of our internal Canaan, whoso long as we live, 
Josh. 15.62.  will be in us. Passions of all sorts are clamorous, and will have audience; and if they come with Petitions, and make moderate requests, 'tis fit they should be heard. God hath placed them in us as the Angels that ascend and descend the ladder of our lives, and while they are modest and bounded, they serve God, and beautify man: Love and Joy makes me sociable; Fear and Anger makes me wary; Sorrow prompts me to poysiness and solidity. Love makes me admire God in his Nature, Works and administrations. Joy calls me to a testimony of my gratitude for mercy's favours, not only to necessity, but plenty. Fear awes me from abuse of what enjoying I am happy, and wanting I may be miserable. Anger evidenceth my dislike of that which is evil, and Sorrow my loss of what is good; or at least apprehended so to be.  
Passions in the Mind are like members in the body, good or evil in their use: The hand acting Murder, the eye darting lust, the mouth speaking blasphemy, the foot nimble to do mischief, is as far from the design of God in creating them, as the passions concupiscible and irascible are, when they are most exorbitant, and press hardest on man to tempt God, and dishonour himself.  
Passions (the elements of excellent Graces) have been vessels of honour in God's Family: Moses his Zeal, and Phinehas his Justice, David's Tenderness, Jeremy's Tears, and Peter's Penitency, are things offered to God with acceptance. Our blessed Saviour (who knew no sin, nor had sinful passion, yet) was holily and harmlessly passionate at Lazarus his decease; he groaned, he wept, 
John 11.  (Lazarus our friend sleepeth:) Death was but a sleep to him whom Christ's tears bemoaned, and his power resolved to awaken again to a worldly life: 
Vers. 11.  yea, not only Saints and Martyrs, but also Heathen men, whose chief riches were in this, Conquests of Nature and inordinate appetite, have been notable for this. Love is an openhanded passion, and cannot deny to the party it loves, 
Tama tranquillitatis fuit, ut vultum nunquam mutaverit moerere vel gaudio.  the key to the cabinet of life: Secrates his Aspasia, Aristotle's Hermia, Plato's Archenassa, brought great infamies on those mirrors of Science: Marcus Aurelius, whom Capitolinus reports to be of such a composed nature, that he never changed countenance either for joy or grief, yet when his beloved Faustina died, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  wept bitterly, and more than some thought was decent: but his Friend Pius corrected the censorious unnaturalness of those Bachilour standers by, with this, Permit him to be a man; neither Power nor Learning ought to cashier affection. 
Permit ill● ut homo sit; noque enim vel Philosophia vel imperium tollis affects.  He deserves to be eternally in the hornbook, and never to come to the primer of Esteem, who cannot water his plants, and his couch too, when he bids adieu to such a Companion, as with the famous Duchess of Suffolk, will go a pilgrimage with her Mr. Berty, 
Anno 1558. Holingsh. p. 1143. 1144.  and not think either her honour debased, or her life embittered by such a wander, with her Love, and for her Religion. Nay, I will be no bail for his true answer of the Acton of Ingratitude brought against him, who hath now, heretofore had, or hereafter may have a Wife like that of Dionysius of Syracuse, who takes him for better, for worse, 
An elegisti 〈◊〉 secundarum fortunarum sociam, non adversarum?  and would be the companion of his Banishments, as she had been of his Greatness; and yet can bid her farewell with dry eyes, or an unbroken heart. Solomon, for all his Wisdom, and Caesar in spite of his manliest stomach, here bites the lip, and comes to this bar of tears, crying Guilty.  
I have read of some that have died for Joy and Grief, for Love and Hatred; yea, so active are the Passions in us, that it is not only hard, but almost impossible to give man a better definition than Passion. Not Passions then (simply,) but the exorbitancies of them are to be decried, and suppressed.  
I like not the frigidity of those whose resolves are so far North, that the warmest love which Virtue presents them, hardly kindles, at most doth not inflame them, to pay their sacred debts in kind. Nor do I approve of that impure madness and Amazon ardour which the young Duchess of Meron expressed to Bruchgrave of Noremberg, 
Nisi prohiberent quatuor oculi. 〈◊〉 Van. Manden. disc. Moral. 7. in 6. Preceptum p. 838. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Cicer. ad Philiscum. Dion. l. 38. p. 71, Maximum sapientia & indicium, & officium, ut ipse ubique parsit, idem que sit. Seneca.  son to Count Frederick Zollern; who hearing that he had said, that he could love, and would marry the Duchess, if four eyes did not hinder (which she interpreted to be her two children) with her own hands murdered them, to make way for his enjoyment. Passion, as it is vitiated and deflected from its right use, as fire out of the chimney, and water out of the channel, puts all into confusion and misrule; this to prevent is the part and prime quality of a wise man; and though it be easier to say then to do it; yet ought it to be the endeavour of every sober mind, to attain this Mastery, without which, man is never more in danger, then from these enemies of his own house; for then do we provoke God to deprive us of good, and send evil things upon us, when we are imtemperately acted by them to use them forbiddenly; and when we glorify not God, but engage ourselves to admire and prise them beyond that bound which God hath set us, and that value he hath put on them. Lot's wise may love Sodom as a pleasant and useful place, but when once God discovers the sin of it, so earnest a plea for Judgement, as that Hell out of Heaven is plague little enough for the matchless pollution of it; than it is not safe to look back wishfully; God can distinguish an eye of desire from that of pity; and he punisheth according to the tendency of the aim; he must needs give righteous judgement, who weighs in the balance, touches by the Standard, and measures by the line of Justice, every thought, word and work: therefore ought man to be exact and wary, that there be not in his soul any guest without the wedding garment, any desire or fear which is not qualified and brought into subjection: For as temporal Thrones are never secure while any emulous Competitors continue in power, unsubjected to the one, that pleads he has the right, or that resolves he will have it; so in man's Mind there is no serenity while Passions importunity be subjected to Reason's Empire, and the will of man strikes sail to the pleasure of God: Which is the next Argument to be urged.  
Hitherto I have borrowed Earrings (as it were) from Egyptians, drawn water out of the wells of humane Learning, and produced Instances out of Moralists; now I will be bold with the fruit of Paradise; such Arguments as being drawn from God's purpose and his Saints sufferings, aught to be very persuasive to us.  
The first whereof is the Will of God, Argum. 1 that his in this world should not have a serenato, but be chastened, 
1 Cor. 11.32.  that they might not be condemned with the world. God suffers his to be often stung by the Taratantula of this World, that they may cry out for the music of his Mercy for cure. Alas (O holy soul) this world is thy Pathmos, 'tis thine Egypt, wherein thou hast load of labours laid on thee by thy merciless Taskmasters; 'tis thy nonage, and thy Guardians in it are such as sell thee to what Vice, and what Mischief bids most: 'tis the Den into which Gods daniel's are shut, that they may by faith conquer difficulties, and civilize Lions; Heaven that remains, is thy Rest, thy livery and seisin, thine emancipation. God commands his to wait for that blessed reversion, to pray that it may come, and till it comes to submit, to feed on short commons. O these children of the Kingdom have often bread of sorrow, and water of affliction given them; yea, so great exigents are they driven to, that sometimes they deceive the dogs, in licking up the crumbs that fall from men's tables, whose portion is in this world, 
Psal. 17.14.  and whose bellies God fills with his hid treasures. And fit it is, they that would succeed to Christ's purchase, Heaven, should clear the encumbrances, and carry the crosses of this world exsultingly; not with repine, not crying out mournfully, 
Euseb. l. 4.  but resolutely, as Polycurpus did, 
Malus miles est qui Imperatorem gemens sequitur.  whom his persecutors burned, No matter (quoth he) what becomes of my body, so my soul get to heaven. He is an ill soldier that follows his Commander weeping: and as bad a Christian that comes to the stake lamenting, resolving to keep his place in Paris, 
Foelix vita & beatitatis plena, semper ac verè vitalis & in numinis comitatu, perpetuo boni participes. Sabellicus Exemplo. l. 1. c. 6 Tom. 4. Judas ver. 14 Memento Philippe, te esse mortalem.  though he lose a Mansion in Paradise.  
I read of the Saints of God glorious by sufferings, but never glorious without them. Indeed Enoch (who lived heaven upon earth) is said to be translated without any mention of sorrows (though I believe he had them from the wicked world, of whom he prophesied:) But besides him do I find none but had these mementoes of mortality, and fescues to fear. Abraham the friend of God, was he not in a straight, when Grace and Nature, like two violent torrents, met in him? or like notable Advocates tempted him by turns, to gratify requests antipodick each to other? God commands him as it were, to embark his son, 
Gen. 22.2.  and hoist sail to the port he appoints, Moriah; Faith bids him get ready, the wind was fair, the fraught beneficial, the return safe; no miscarrying, if we keep God's way on God's errand. Well, when Abraham comes whither he is bound, what must he do? He must unlade and ease the vessels of her burden, Isaac must be sacrificed: Faith calls to him to run, not halt; to obey, not dispute, and that because the supreme Power willed it, which was able to raise children to him out of stones, and to remand life into its forsaken cell, Isaac's body. But Nature much amused, boggled somewhat at the action; and Abraham (me thinks) thus reasoneth; What, O Lord, my Son? What, mine only Son? the Son of the Promise, and of mine old Age? What, Isaac? What? is effusion of innocent blood, a child's by his Father, unlawful? And shall I be precedent to this cruelty? Shall I, who am noted for sanctity, teach others upon occasion of passion and displeasure to be Assassins of their Issue? That be far from thee, the Judge of all the world to command from me the Father of the faithful, and of Isaac, to do. O the good man's agony! Did he not (think ye) repent he was a Father, who was commanded to unchilde his child, and destroy the temple of his son's body, which not long before he was instrumental to build, by God's blessing on his generative energy? In this difficulty, what course steers he? Abraham's Isaac, and Abraham's God must not be Competitors; the Father of the faithful is faithful to his Father, God, who commands and resolves Isaac for a Sacrifice. 
Gen. 22.13.  But see the grace in the reward, Abraham above Nature prepares his son for God; and God beyond nature provides a Lamb, hung by the horns for reprieve: Abraham's Faith was not more mirculous, than God's Mercy in accepting so poor an exchange for so rich a captive. How ready is God to accept our wills for deeds! God looks at the willing mind, and rewards Abraham's faith with isaack's freedom. Thus God tried Abraham; and were not his sorrows like those of a woman in travel, fit only for his faith, the winds suitable to the sail that this vessel of glory navigated by to Eternity?  
Next was Moses the servant of God, who spoke with God as never mere man did, 
Exod. 33.11.  face to face 40 days together in the Mount, 
ver. 28.  and was kept without food all that Lent, the power of God for that time heaventizing his body, and giving it privilege from natural indigencies, and satisfying it without their ordinary supplies; yet was this man not without troubles and cross gales; One while his Wife with a feminine clamour, and in a motherly rage cries out to him, 
Exod. 4.25.  Thou art a bloody Husband; words like the messenger of death, portentous and ghastly; words that (deserved) which by no worthy husband ever can) are potent enough to make a man turn Runagado, and exulate himself never to see Christian or man more. Had Moses his demeanour been uncomely, he little deserved his Wife, though a Zipporah; but since it was wise and husbandly, he less deserved the taunt, especially since he was as beauteous a man in his married relation, as a child in his Ark of reeds; and yet then Pharaohs Daughter was in love with him; when as now Zipporah an Aethiopian (for marrying of whom Aaron and Miriam were offended with him) turns upon him in a pettish reproach, 
Numb. 12.1.  Thou art a bloody Husband. This was evil enough for a good man to live under, and too much for a good woman to traduce her husband by: but Moses replies not: He was wise to leave the issue to God and her. 'twas more fit he should prepare for the people's roughness, than reproach his own choice.  
In Numb. 11.12. the people. (Rebels as he calls them) murmur against him; not as he was Moses, but as he was their Magistrate; that makes the contumacy against God, whose delegates Magistrates are. Well, what would the people have? If they entreat Moses to pray for them, or to instruct them in their duty to God, and one to another; he's ready to do by them, as they desire: but the people like hell and the grave, cry Give, give: (infiniteness only can satisfy the cravings of multitudes.) What then is it they would have? Food: Alas poor souls, they are pardonable that are tempted to impatience by hunger, and nakedness. Can a Magistrate condemn necessitous importunities? Or think he does his duty, if he provide not supply for his people? Moses was mindful of Israel, but Moses was but a man, Israel must come to their Prince with reverence, and to their Priest with duty, especially when they want: what they have not, bread and water; and are in a wilderness, where barren soil yields no corn, nor hard rocks water. Lord, what a pass was Moses brought to, when the people, whom he (as God's Captain Lieutenant) had led out of Egypt from hard Masters and a harsh Prince, should now in the wilderness tempt God, and reproach him, by expressing desires of returning to Egypt! yet so it was. Moses heard all this, and much more: yea, to complete his sorrows, might not enter the Land of Canaan, which was the reward of his long March in the wilderness, but must up to the Mount, and die a remote and unknown death, without any one's knowledge of of the place of his burial, or any pompous Ceremony: a sad exit to Israel's glorious General. But Moses was content to be punished for his distrust at Meribah: Sin at the waters of strife, is punished by death on Abarim, 
Numb. 27.12, 14  the Mount of Passage.  
A Patriarch, a General full of sorrows, matched by a King full of sorrows: and let no man wonder; Crows often build in Steeples; and Polecats infested Dovecoats. David the King, the man after Gods own heart, had a bead-roll of sorrows, as long as his life: His brethren hate him, Saul disgusts and pursues him, so that he cries out, I shall one day fall by the hand of Saul; his Wife Michol scoffs at him, the Amalekites surprise his Wives, 
1 Sam. 30.  and the people of Ziklag murmur against him. O Lord, what a pack of troubles was he in, who had Shimei's Curse, Absolom's Treason, and Amnon's lust to labour with, and the discontent of them to overcome? Is it not a sad story that he tells, of his going mourning all the day long, of his being chased as a Partridge in the wilderness, of the sorrows of his heart, the slippings of his feet, his fainting fits for love of God, and fear of his departing from him, when trouble is near, and there is none to help? Can we consider the blood that he shed, the sins (that blasphemed God, and embased his Honour) even those against Vrijah, and not conclude, they brought sorrows of heart upon him? 'Tis too palpable that he was loaden with troubles, who had such innate corruptions to contest with, such unnatural obstructions to remove.  
I shall not mention Joseph's, Job's, Noah's, Daniel's, jeremy's, Jonah's, with the other servants of God famous for afflictions on them; but cast anchor in the sufferings of the blessed Virgin, our blessed Lord, and his blessed Apostles and Saints; these mentioned, will dulcify afflictions to us. The married Virgin Mother of Christ, a miracle in her station; a Mother, yet a Virgin, and miraculous in her Production, God, Man born of her, and born to us, CHRIST JESUS; yet is there mention of a Sword that shall pierce to the heart of this holy Saint, Luke 2. Like Mother like Son for suffering; not in the quantity, but the truth: Saint Mary suffered (according to her proportion) sorrows, as did Christ: but hers were drops to the Ocean of his. And the Apostles and holy men of aftertimes have been afflicted and tormented, 
Heb. 11.38.  though of them the world was unworthy. If we peruse the Gospels and Martyrologies, we shall find Peter tempted by presumption to follow Christ, and by fear betrayed to deny him in the High Priests Hall: Thomas his incredulity, that reduced faith to sense: and all the Apostles pusillanimity, who fly from their Master, and dare not own him when apprehended. Do we not think that Paul's thorn in the flesh, did macerate him? and twitch the Herod in him, (when in the royal apparel, and on the throne of Self-admiration) with a Memento, that if Grace be not sufficient, Nature will be too strong to be kept under? Was it not (think we) a bitter pill of after penance, to the Disciples, that they cried not One and all? and went not with their Lord to Golgotha, as readily as to the miraculous Meal, where five loaves and a few fishes fed five thousand with advantage: Or to the Marriage at Cana, where he turned water into wine; Or to the Mount, where he transfigured himself before them, and they saw (to their infinite ravishment and delight) a model of heaven, and of his divine clarification there?  
Yea, Are not the sufferings of the Saints in all ages left on record as a basis for our Faith, and a target for our security, that we may not despond, or be like them who have lost Mast, Sails, Rudder, yea and Compass in the storm of this world; but take heart, and quit ourselves like men, though we have sorrows on every side, and adversaries as the Church bad, the chief, who prosper; for the Lord hath afflicted her? Lament. 1. ver. 5. Since those that belong to God, find, 'Tis good for them that they are afflicted; and know, that in very faithfulness he afflicts them; yea, that there is fruitfulness in this land of affliction, as Joseph said, Gen. 41. vers. 52. For as once Vibius Crispus, a Companion of that Glutton Vitellius, who killed all his Friends that kept company with him, said, Had I not been sick, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Dion lib. 65. p. 734.  that kept me from the Court, I had died of surfeits for company with the rest: So may many of God's precious ones say, I had been lost eternally, had not God brought me in by crosses and troubles, and made me loathe the World, which hath in every angle of it shelves of danger, and rocks of shipwreck. 'Tis well noted by S. Jerome, Josiah the holiest King of Juda was slain by the sword of the Egyptians; 
Quid inter reges Jofiâ sanctius? Aegyptio mucrone interfectus est. Quid Petro, quid Paulo sublimius? Neronionum gladium eruentarunt. Et ut de hominibus taceam, Dei Filius sustinuit ignominiam cruck. Et tu put●● beatos qui falicitate istius seculi & diliciis fruuntur? Magna ira est quand● peccantibus non irascitur Deus. Ep. 33. ad Castrutium.  Peter and Paul the great Apostles, were put to death by wicked Nero; yea, the Son of God suffered by the Jews; and (Castrutius) dost thou think the prosperity of this world a portion for God's beloved ones? God is never less in love with men, then when they go unpunished, and have the world at will. God then doth afflict his, and his hear his voice, when he calls to them to afflict themselves: not like creatures of envy, who when they want other objects to torment, rend & perplex themselves by vain and impertinent angariations. God loves not the sacrifices of fools, nor the devotion of mad men: He delights in the reasonable services we offer. Religion is no heathenish digladiation, but an holy imitation of Christ, and a willing resignation to the rule of his word: It commands man to chasten Nature; not by destroying it, as that Philosopher did his bags, which he threw away into the sea, 
Perdam te, ne perdas me. Aurum deponere incipientium est, non perfectorum: fecit hoc Crates, Thebanus, fecit Antisthenes. Scipsum offerre Deo proprie Christianorum est, & Apostolerum. S. Hyeron. Ep. 28. ad Lucinium.  that they might not throw him away. No man hath any warrant for self-abuse: We are not nostri, sed alieni juris; and God will see we shall not destroy his work besides his will. We are to afflict ourselves; but not as Macarius, Asisias, Lewis the first of France, Lithophorus the Monk, Paconius, Caecilia, Radigundus, Sarrae, and others, of which Sabellicus makes mention, Exemplor. pag. 42. Nor as the Popish Pennances; who with the servants of Baal, whip and dilaniate themselves; nor in that mistaken sense of Origen, who made himself an Eunuch for the Kingdom of God: no, nor in that Hypocritick way which the Prophet condemns, 
Isa. 58.5  Hanging down the head like a bulrush: or fasting and praying to smite with the fist of wickedness: These are as smoak in God's eyes, and have no better entertainment from him, than Who required these things at your hands? 
Isa. 1.12.  The self-controll that he accepts and rewards, is that of Job, 
Job 42.6.  I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes; that of Mary, weeping at Christ's feet; the devout Publicans prostration to beg pardon; the humble confession in jacob's words, and with jacob's heart, 
Gen. 32.10.  I am not worthy of the truth and faithfulness that thou hast showed to thy servant. In fine, to do and suffer the will of God; and when thou hast done all, to think thyself an unprofitable servant.  
This duty God enjoined the Jews of old, Levit, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  16.29. There is a statute for self-affliction: The LXX read it by, Ye shall humble your souls; Afflictions on good men work humiliation: The pride of man sullies God's beauty in the soul, and the nipping frosts of affliction revive and refresh it: 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  The Hebrew word rendered Humble, signifies to answer and to testify, and to attol the voice either in expression of joy or sorrow: A Metaphor possibly taken from Musicians, who sing in parts, one side of the Choir answers the other. God expects there should be an Antiphona betwixt his Judgements and our souls: We should answer his castigations with emendations. True Humiliation is not only the grace of a corner and closet; but it (when God calls) is on the house top, accusing itself, and admiring God in public, that others may see, and bless God on its behalf.  
Nor was this only enjoined the Jews, as the law of their bondage, from which Christians are manumitted; but continues still in force to the end of the world: Sin and sorrow came into, and go out of the world together; one grave (the Dissolution of all) lodgeth them both: till then, there is no parting those whom God hath chained together: Sin is sorrows merit, and sorrow is sins malady; and we must be contented with these Sergeants to serve Execution on us at the suit of our Maker. Sorrow is the Jordan that all naaman's must wash in: 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. S. Basilius.  It becomes Misery to be humble; Our Lord Jesus commands us to be such, not only towards God, whom we provoke all the day long; but also to one another, as was Christ, who though Lord of all, washed his Disciples feet, and fed them by miracle, yea paid their ransom in great charity, that by these actions of condescension, and yet Grandeur, he might lesson them their duties and his divinity. 'Tis a great degree of Christian perfection to follow Christ in the regeneration; and to be what Saint Paul says he was, all things to all men for Christ and the Gospel's sake: He that considers Christ's exaltation throughly, must take the rise of it from the centre and bottom of it, his humiliation; God forbidden, saith the Doctor of us Gentiles, 
Gal. 6.14.  that I should glory in any thing save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby the world is crucified to me, and I unto the world. It seems, crosses to Gods are great indications of divine love, not only for that God especially errands them to his; that his saints and servants in all times have born them; but also because Gods promise of comfort is to the afflicted. 2 Sam. 22.28. The afflicted people thou wilt save; He heareth the cry of the afflicted, Job 34.28. In all their afflictions, he was afflicted, Isa. 63.9. If afflictions were not useful, God would not send them to his; if they were not expressionsof love, he would never support his under them by his promises, he would not be a strong fortress and refuge, Jer. 16.19. not a deliverer out of affliction, Ps. 18 27.  
Methinks I hear the holy soul breaking forth into this Ejaculation. Welcome crosses sanctified by Christ to his, welcome sorrows sweetened by him who bore our sorrows, that ours might be less grievous to us; welcome stake the ladder of eternity, which Martyrs kissed, and Virgins who were not defiled, wedded: welcome prison, banishment, and loss of all for my Saviour's sake, who after all the sorrows of a troublous life is ascended up to take possession of glory, and to draw me into fellowship with him; O my God, give me grace to welcome the crosses I have, or further may have, as my Saviour did his revile, not reviling again; not returning, but remitting injuries: Rejoice, O holy soul, in those Monitors which rouse thee from thy sinful slumber: Remember the Co●k crew, and minded Peter of a glorious Master denied, by a presumptuous servant: And fear not but thy frailty may have an aspect of mercy as had his; the more thou art at loss, the greater ought thy care be to seek God with more ardency, and serve him with less indevotion: Trust not too much in any arm of flesh which says, life and lustre is in me, 
Falix necessitas quae in meliora compellit, S. Aug. ep. 45.  all things here pass and repass by uneven vicissitudes, and leave their confidents in trouble and complaints. In the Lord Jehovah put thy confidence; He only is the same yesterday, to day, and for ever. O holy soul, thy time here is but short, thy task great, thine opposites many; be diligent, improve opportunities warily, practise that sacred chemistry; which from fetid simples, outward crosses, extracts the precious Elixir of divine cordials: Be not weary of well doing, study rather how to quit sin, then wave the cross; there is no lesson it learns, but is savoury; and thou art not to refuse the point of Doctrine, it commends to thy meditation: Think upon good things had as trials how thou wouldst use them; and lost, how thou canst bear them; bemoan not so much what thou hopest for, but hast not, as what thou hast and usest not aright: perhaps God hurls thy pride from the pinnacle whence it took rise: Great thoughts are often confronted by him, who will have no Dagon of folly cheek by jowl with his Ark of Virtue. O consider, hadst thou not Babel's in thy brains? waste thou not of their mind, who thought of nothing but sitting at the right and left hand of glory? If so, art thou not befriended, that payest fine and ransom for thy Rebellion in the stubble and straw of an external Content? Is God contented with a turtle Dove? and art thou discontented because he hath that which thou sayest was the Lamb that rested in thy bosom? Is any thing too good for God? too great for him who is thine all? O holy soul, study thyself better: God hath been merciful to thee, thou art a gainer by every loss, which if it had not betided thee, had endangered heaven. Lift up thine eyes, the Canaan Mercy promiseth thee, is in view; that is thy Country, that thine Inheritance, that the Haven to which thou art bound, and in which only thou shalt be safe. Cheer up (O holy soul) thy drooping spirits; Remember thy treasure is in heaven; there ought also thy heart to be: Call upon thy Saviour in glory, and ask in his way, that thou mayest receive for his sake. Is any thing too hard for God? Do not all things serve Providence, and lackey to Power? Why doth thy Faith misdoubt access to God, and success in those things thou with Conscience and Wisdom managests. The holy confidence of a Believer scales Heaven, and by an humble pertness obtains it: so great a prize is worth waiting for, though it be attended with Serpents of craft, and Dragons of felness. He that said, Though thou slay me, 
Job 13.15.  yet will I trust in thee, counsels thee to venture all thy welfare upon mercy: There is no fear of miscarriage where good things in a good manner are prayed for and pursued after: Then only we miss our wages, when we work amiss; Then our Prayers are returned without answer, when we turn our Prayers into Subsidies to lusts; when we pray for accommodations to our vices, and forget that of our Saviour, 
Matth. 16.26.  What will it profit a man to gain the whole world, and to lose his soul?  
Much then hath been written of the benefit of Afflictions: But the great Argument, which puts all Question of the advantage of them out of question, is behind; that is, the Sufferings of Christ; potent enough to force, a thaw on Marbles, and to liquifie Adamants.  

— Quis talia fando  
Temperet à lachrymis.—   

Whoso those troubles doth conceive,  
Can't choose but from the heart to grieve.   
He it was that went before his Apostles and Martyrs, in treading the Wine-press of wrath: Like that Commander.  

— Monstrat tolerare labores,  
Non jubet.—   

To others he doth not command  
What he himself done't take in hand.   
God appointed the Man of his right hand, his fellow: (Alas, we cannot drink of the cup of wrath, nor be baptised with that baptism he was baptised with;) for our sakes to be our forerunner in sorrows; Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world; declared a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Isa. 53.  
A man of sorrows: 'tis an Hebraism denoting fullness of sorrows, a sea of sorrows in Christ's soul; 
Tristis corde propter multitudinem afflictionum suarum. Rab. David in lib. Radicum. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  sin imputed, and mercy inherent, were at a holy contest (as it were) for Mastery, and the pangs of such twins must needs be grievous. The word (sorrows) comes from a root which signifies, to be weakened, and denotes a sorrow internal, even to expiration; and the learned distinguish it from those words which they express outward sorrows by: 
Verus bo●●o vere doluit. Gloss. Lyrae.  Christ's sorrows were such as brought grief upon him, even to the decision of the silver thread of his life.  
Yet further, he is said to be acquainted with grief; the word rendered acquainted, comes from a root that signifies to apprehend: 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  And the Learned say, 
Verbum mentis et intellectus. Pagn. in verbo.  'tis a word of the Mind and Understanding, importing that Christ was so qualified, and obfirmated, that no sorrows (with reverence be it written) could come amiss to him; he had a sinless Manhood to undergo, and a divine power to overcome sorrows. God had made him the Church's rock, against which, the waves of sorrow could not prevail. He must himself have armour of proof, upon which, no humane Machination can hurtfully prevail, who is the captain of a Christians salvation; and who has gloriously triumphed over all the enemies of it.  
Acquainted with grief: I cannot but renew the thoughts of these Sorrows of my Saviour, 
O beatum mortem, unde vita nostra nata est! O falicem stultitiam, quae nostram p●perit sapientiam.  because his sorrows are my rejoicings; not as they were exprobratory from the Jews, but as they are expiatory for me. There was not only dolour, but external disdain, as the Jews managed the death of Christ, they crucified him, and that between two thiefs. 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, from a word near of kin to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, prophanari, or violari. John 19.34.  Might not this dishonour of Christ be reasonably thought a profanation of, and violence done to his Excellency? He who was consecrated in the womb, had sorrows in his soul, before on the cross wounds from spears in his side, that he might appear to be A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, whose soul had the propassion, before his body the Passion.  
Yet further, verse 10. It pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief: What means this? is there any degree of misery beyond that of a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief? Is not every twitch of anguish an Orator to God and man's pity? What can be a depression more irrecoverable, then to be condemned to the Cross? for the Son of God to bear the sins of men? yet this puts a further emphasis on Christ's Suffering, God permitted him to be bruised in the mortar of men's malice, that the fragrancy of his charity may affect his, and make them admire him for this savour of his ointment. 
Cant. 1.3.   
And 'tis well coupled (To bruise him, with It pleased the Lord:) God commended his love to man by giving his San to die; an act of pure choice, and perfect charity. 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Simul affectum & acceptationem includit, Pagn. in verbo  Nothing could have moved Christ to come from heaven, to suffer on earth, but free and unmerited benignity: Christ had a body given him to be broken for us, that our Ransom might be effected, by his life's dissolution, our debts solution. Thus it pleased the Lord; what to do? To bruise him, not to humble him, as a Virgin rob of her Ornament; (that could not be, Christ is what he was, and ever will be, a Lamb without blemish; this Helen of heaven hath no mole or black spot on the face of his glory.) though He was apprehended by Clubmen, yet was He Lord of Millions of Angels. The humiliation of Christ consisted in this, that He should lie in the dust as man, 
Home rarus, home singularis, home extra omnium hominum numcrum, & solus talis in hoc mundo. Corn. Mussus in concione de Pass. hab●u Romae in Palatio.  who could not see corruption in the grave, because God: that he must die an unusual way, who was an unusual Sacrifice. He must be bruised: Our Lord Jesus, not like Jonah for disobedience, but like him in the tumultuous sea of sorrow, had a grave prepared to lodge him in, till his time of detension was over, and that of Ascension was come; then he opened Death's prison doors, and took a speedy course ●o heaven, where he is now sitting at the right hand of God the Father.  
O Lord, how great sorrows pressed upon Christ! What unparallelled grief had he, who was the Son of God, and could not sin; the Son of God, and deserved not to suffer! ('tis we (O Lord) that provoked thee, what did that Lamb do? Nay rather, (Lord) what did he not do, that deserves our admiration and eternal gratitude?) yet behold his sorrows.  
Sorrow, that's an unworthy singular of detraction; such a prelation of passion, calls for a plurality of expressive Gratitude. Come then (O holy soul) to this sacred Audit, and behold sorrows numberless; Love without merit; 
O opus absqu● exemplo, O gratia sine merito, O amor sine mensura! Cornel. Mussus Epis. Bitont. in Ser. de Passione Luke 2.  Charity beyond Measure: Had he not sorrow, who was the Son of God, yet became the son of Man; and that of no King, no Grandee, but the reputed son of a Carpenter, born in an Inn, in the Stable of that Inn; laid in the Manger of that Stable? Had he not sorrow, who wanted a hole to hid his head in, bread to feed upon (unless by Miracle) whose Followers were poor, whose Tribute was paid by a fish, and Triumph solemnised by an Ass Colt, and by boughs and garments spread in the way? Had he not sorrow, who spoke and did as never man (his enemies being Judges) yet was traduced, envied, followed with Reproach, betrayed by his own servant and put to death by his Country men, after a shameful manner, and by a lingering and protracted Engine of dispatch, the Cross, on which he was exposed to shame, naked, unpitied, reviled; given Vinegar and Gall to; yea, as it were forsaken of God? What call ye this, if not furrows? Was, is, shall be any sorrows like these sorrows of Christ? When his soul was made an offering for sin, his body subjected to, violence; yea, body and soul for a time parted, to join God and man together, whom sin had severed, & whom only his death could reconcile? 
Mat 2.7.45.  Well might the Sun refuse to give light to such a deed of darkness as was the Jews cruelty, in crying to death their King, 
John 19.15  which the wisdom of Pilate hinted to them by way of Reproach, in these words, Shall I crucify your King? Well might the vail of the Temple be rend, when the Temple of his body, more glorious than Solomon's Temple, not made with hands, as was that, but compaginated by the miraculous art of Omnipotency, was torn apieces by cruelty. 
Matth. 27.51, 52, 53.  Well might the graves open, and the dead yield themselves no longer prisoners, when Jesus (Lord of the grave) was on his march to the grave. Well might the dead appear to many in the holy City, since the City appeared but a grave of dead men who knew not what they did, nor whom they acted cruelty upon. O holy soul, since it is thine ambition to have Christ thy reward, resolve to follow him, bearing his reproach: Fear not the infulting of men, nor the oppositions of flesh and blood. If to accompany Christ to Golgotha be to be vile, be yet more vile. The Cross of Christ hath treasure under it; 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Marcus Anton. ad Silenum.  much glory results from contempts for his sake. There is nothing so becoming thy holy Procession as to imitate Christ. 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Greg. Nissen. de relig. Christian. Profess.  Christianity is nothing else but to live holily and die patiently, as did Christ; and so much nearer him shall we be in glory, as we are here like him in our Conversation. Christ made it his meat and drink to do his Fathers will. Thou (O holy Soul) must not think his good pleasure thy penance; his providence thy disappointment; his service thy slavery: He uttered no discontent, thou must not rave and rage's: He suffered contradiction of sinners, thou must not expect approbation from them: He forgave his Enemies, thou must not remember injuries to revenge them: 
Percussorem Episcopum ille condemnat, qui dorsum suum posuis ad flagella, & maledicius non remaledicit. S. Hieron. Epist. 83. ad Oceanum.  He came unto his own, and they received him not; thou must not wonder if thou suffer from those whom thou hast obliged: He wanted a hole to put his head in, use thy plenty well, that thy Lord may say to thee, Well done, good and faithful servant, and continue thee ruler in thine own house, which many thy betters are not; who yet are not greater sinners than thou, though greater sufferers. His usages, varied from hosannah's to Crucifige's, bids thee not marvel. If the same breath blows hot and cold, or that Favour hath a dark and bright side to thee. He died (lastly) a shameful death; do not thou defeat a noble death by a shameless life.  
Thou (O holy Soul) hast met with disappointments here; Who hath not? Let thy comfort be, that thou art (or oughtest to be) above all this world can afford: Perhaps thy crosses have been in those things thou most admiredst; Thou art well served, who lovest any thing passionately but God, whom thou shouldst love with all thy heart, with all thy mind, and with all thy might: thy defeats are in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of thy hoped for fruition. God sees thou art too indulgent to flesh, and he loves to abase confidence in it. What to others proves Gold, to thee becomes dross; Comfort thyself, thy best advantage is to come; Heaven makes amends for all; those manageries thou thinkest wise and wary, succeed not, when & as thou wouldst: wait upon God, there is more in the lot cast into the lap than thou art ware of; honest endeavours in the end have sure pay; Patence though late, profligates difficulty, and disarms petulant resolution: Mercy often forms noble Mercuries of rude logs, and the greatest designs of beauty from the dull lowrings of mortal opposition. That which is sown in weakness, shall in God's time rise in power, and bear down all that stand against it. Thou lastly, art out of love with thyself; because thou canst not have thy will of this world; study to prepare for that better before thou desire a call from this; death is a terror to those who have not part in the first Resurrection.  
And if (O holy soul) thou findest thy comforts come in, and thy God gives thee access to him with boldness, then despise whatever would part thee and thy joys; cheer up thyself with this, that Christ is thine, in his life thy pattern; in his Spirit thy Comforter, in his Word thy Rule, in his death thine Atonement, and in his glorious Session in Heaven thy Triumph; that he is thy Sun, by whose influence thou shalt be drawn up after him, that he is thy shield to defend thee from evil, that he will give thee grace to glorify him in a holy life before men, and grace thee with glory before his Pather and his holy Angels.  
But (O holy soul) all is not Gold that glisters, all sufferings are not sanctified to sufferers, because Pride and Folly has Martyrs which Christ crowns not, Christ's flock hear his voice, and not a strangers; keep in the fold, not wander into byways; Let it be thy care to suffer not as a busy body, not as an enemy to Government, and a subverter of Order and civil Peace; 
Non erga qui propter iniquitatem, et propter Christianae unitatis impiam divisionem; sed qui propter justitiam persecutionem patiuntur, ●bi Martyres veri suns. S. Aug. Ep. 50. ad Bonifac. Countem.  (in these mistakes sober and prudent Christians ought not to be involved; nor can any from just grounds of Magistratick severity against offenders, take comfort in sufferings) but as a Christian Martyr: not with clamour, but meekness; 
Ann. 33. Q. Eliz. Acts 7. last.  not reviling Powers, as did Hacket, but praying for persecuters, as did Stephen, Lord lay not this sin (my suffering) to their charge. See (O holy soul) thou cleanse the inside of the cup, and keep thy heart upright and trim; Christ cares not for Pharisaical outsides and ceremonious pomps: he delights in the inner man, in those addresses that are made to him from a pure heart and faith unfeigned: to evidence which to men (who judge by outward appearance) the body's concurrence in all devout and lowly demeanour, is requisite.  
And since thou knowest him a Spirit, fear nothing more than a spiritless offering, and believe nothing less acceptable to him, then to be denied the Male of thy Flock, thy best and ripest parts. Take heed thou mistake not Leah for Rachel, and choose the blear-eyed world, before Christ the Word, that from the beginning to this moment speaks life and love to thee; And who (in all holy reverence be it written) drank the health of Eternity to thee in his own blood, 
Matth. 26.58.  and invites thee to pledge him in that Eucharistick Nectar, which our holy Mother the Church fills out to all worthy Communicants, and in which, 
1 Cor. 11.25.  by command of him, they celebrate the memorial of his Passion. And if (O holy Soul) the sorrows of thy life are too pressing for thee to prevail against, Call thy Saviour to thy rescue; He is a ready help in trouble; He is a door of hope in the valley of Anchor: 
Hos. 2.15. Anchor vallis turbationis. Gloss.  He that was thine Antisignanus in sorrow, expects thou shouldest follow his Colours. There is no fear of suffering and dying with this Photion of Eternity, who for his Martyrs hath Comforrs in, 
Nolitimere mori cum Phocione.  and Crowns after torments. This, this held up Primitive Saints, even to generous contempt of Death. Saint Jerome reports, that Hylarion being to die, with eyes fixed on heaven, thus spoke, My soul, go forth of thy prison the body; 
Egredere, quid times? egredere anima mea, quid dubitas? Septuaginta prepe aunis servisti Christo, et mortem times? In vita Hylar.  what fearest thou? wherein doubtest thou? Thou hast served Christ almost 70 years, and dost thou now fear to does?  
I know it is a great work to obtain this Conquest, 
Turkish Hist. p. 220.  to bring a Bajazet of mortal pride into the Cage of Self-denial: yet the Scholar of Christ must be this Tamberlaint, and con this Part exactly. 
Plus debet Christi Discipulus praestare quam mundi Philosophus. S. Hieron. Epist. 26. ad Pammachum.  Christians, who excel Philosophers in their Wages, must also go beyond them in their Work. And if (O holy Soul) thou retreatest, and darest not enter the lists, 'tis a sign thou art unsatisfied of thy duty, and settest light by thy birthright, 
Heb. 11.8  which is no better evidenced to thee, then by Afflictions, the badge of Legitimation. Consider therefore that whatever trouble befalls thee, is to file off thy pollution, to give thy Virtue a transparency, and to make thee more like him who is far above the Powers and Principalities of this vain World, and its dulling and dangerous ●nvie. Bid therefore defiance to all that would either court or compel thee to resign Faith, Hope, Charity, Patience, Perseverance, or any other piece of thy holy Armour, to diffidence, and impsous despair. Consider, every thing in this world shall have end; and then (if not before) thy frailties and thine enemy's injuries shall determine; and till then, 
Breve putabe malum quod finis melior subsequetar. S. Hieron. ep. 25. ad Blesillam.  bear them manfully: For though sorrow be in the night of this life, yet in the Morning of Eternity joy shall be to those sons of the morning, on whom Christ the Sun of Righteousness ariseth, for whom he is a Ransom, and to whom he will be a glorious Benefactor. The consideration hereof makes a good man's Departure hence more comfortable, then can be the puissantst Nimrod's: For though Saladine the great Conqueror of Asia, 
Es Saladinus Asia Dominator ex tante Regno tantisque opibus nibil aliud secum fert. Wolph. in Memor. ad ann. 1192.  carries nothing with him to his grave, of all his Power and Wealth, but his winding sheet; yet doth a holy soul expire, with assurance that he hath a building of God, not made with hands, but eternal in the heavens.  
Indeed, corporal death, as an avoidance of evils, and a safe port to a tempestuous life, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Suidas in yerbo.  is accounted a great accommodation to man, and many have wished for it, that they might unbend the bow of Nature, which by long girding grows feeble; but these little dreamed of that judgement succeeding it, which all men must expect, and which will make the greatest Foelix tremble: From the dread of that the holy soul is freed; his Advocate is his Judge; the Accuser of impenitents (Christ's precious blood,) is his Evidence for Mercy. He that hath the blood of this Lamb of God for his Laver, cannot but be clean; for it purgeth from all sin: And he that by faith overcometh the world, ought not to fear the fear of men, but to stay himself in expectation of that Livery of Lustre, which Christ hath promised to those whose names are in the Book of Life, 
Rev. 3.5.  and whom he will publicly avow his, before the Father and the holy Angels. To these death is sweet: Why sweet? it is their rest from labours, it is their incoate Jubilee, it is their pass by the first guard which obstructs their access to Christ, whom to love is their grace, and with whom to live their glory; it is their Remove from a Valley of Tears to a Mount of Triumph; from a tedious Service into an absolute Freedom, from Sorrows, to Joys; from wants, to Plenty; from Pains to Pleasures; from Decay to Confistence. This is the portion of God's children; this is the Canaan for Israelites; this the Kingdom prepared; this, the Top and Top-Gallant of a Christians Faith and Hope; on this his eye of Faith is fixed; with this his hand of Love is joined; and after this his foot of Perseverance speeds, refusing all discouragements with that confidence, Heaven makes amends for all.  
This I am sure, transcends the utmost bounds of Mortal largess, the greatest Mirror of manhood, the likest unlimited Precedents of Sovereignty, can but give Rewards and Honours impermanent as themselves are; these sons of Change cannot draw what lot they please, and entail the Crown of Glory on whom they most favour. The greatest indulgence Legal Right and general Obedience expresseth to Temporal Monarches, is but that they declare the Heir to their petty Dominions. Internal Virtues are not ex traduce, nor are External Advantages ever entailed to our imperfect Bequests, God only can speak that Peace which is melody to a holy ear: He can call the soul that is ready to sink, as he did Peter on the water, 
Matth. 14.29.  Come to me; and it is a happy ear that hears his voice and follows it. There is no cause of fear when Obedience answers Divine. Commands. God never suffers them to lose their labour, who duly seek what their soul lacketh, and whom their soul delighteth in, Himself; nor, is any man's Exit so conspicuous and noble as his whose death hath hope, and whose renewed life is Glory and Eternity; for though all rest from their Labours when their bodies are inhumated, 
Rev. 14.13.  yet are not all blessed, because works of Comfort follow only those who die recti in curia Coelesti, in amity with the Church's Prince, and the Believers Pilot Christ Jesus. 
Luk. 1.23, 31.  I will never envy the Prodigal's one fatted Calf, when I may have all my Faith dare beg, and my Father will give; since my Saviour assures me, it is but ask and have, I will ask, but not, I trust, amiss. For Wisdom, to know how to live exactly in doubtful times: Patience, whereby to undergo mischievous provocations: Grace, to manage what I have aright, and acceptance of what I do, while I strive to do what I can, and am humbled that I can be no more serviceable to him, who deserves far above whatever creatures can think or do.  
FINIS.   

The Errata may be thus corrected:  
In the first Meditation.  
Page 3 line 14 read meet with, l 22 margin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, p. 5 l 27 r quarter, p 9 l 9 r Coat Armour, p 8 l 32 r since, p 10 l 15 r Ruryp. p 23 l 27 ● 〈◊〉. p 25 boom r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, p 46 l 27 r those, p 47 l 17 r. rection p 50 l 27 m r particeps, p 53 l 22 r to one another, p 56 l 30 r had, p 59 l 30 r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
In the second Meditation.  
P 4 l 3 [;] after ●●urred: p 9 l 25 r veliety, p 25 l 14 r exacts, p 28 l 28 r sinners, p 32 l 21 r no need, p 34 l 15 r gift, p 36 l 18 r his sores p 38 l 2 r hath, p 42 l 10 r Oracular, p 47 l 23 r retractation, p 51 l 11 r God, p 52 l 6 r days, mar r praesentior, p 59 l 6 r will it be   

DIVINE MEDITATIONS ON ACQUAINTANCE With GOD.  
BY E.W. Esquire.  There be many that say, Who will show us any good? Lord list up the light of thy countenance upon us. Psal. 4.6. Omnis copia quae non est Deus meus mihi est egestas. 
LONDON, Printed by Thomas Maxey, 1653.   

The Introduction.  
WHen I first gave vent to these night Meditations by penning them, I had much debate with myself, whether to conceal or publish them were most comely and convenient; when I recollected the frequent prejudices that attend good meanings, and the great odium that is cast on serious men by those triflers, whose utmost ambition it is to blast the blessed fruit of Virtue, by their unbenign breaths of detraction, and how few there are of the Genteel World, that think any thing more poysie than Romances, worthy their perusal; I condemned it to the heap of waste Papers, as that which curious eyes would view with regret, and captious natures peruse with little calmness.  
But for as much as I have hitherto often offended God, (I will accuse myself and humbly implore his pardon) in sacrificing by fire many (though not beauteous, yet undisfigured) children of my fancy, to silence, upon the Altar, and on the account of Modesty, or perhaps Security, lest like unnatural Absaloms' they should riot against their Parent: My resolution for the future is, and by God's help shall be, to preserve such blessings of God on my Studies as Memorials of his Mercy, and Excitations to my Gratitude.  
In all earthly things there is change and sorrow, yea, the best Commodity our Nature trafficks in, sometimes brings home loss, or disquiet; there is a toil in multitude of Books, and a kind trouble in common friendship; in the Favour of God only is Life, and in his Acquaintance Peace; the experience whereof m●de me methodise this Meditation, and now print it.  
In the latter clause of the counsel to Job, which most Versions read by Thereby shall good come unto thee, or So shalt thou have the best fruits, or So shalt thou have prosperity, or So shall good things happen unto thee, or So shall thy fruit be in good things; or In them is good increased: I have rendered it, So shall no evil come unto thee, which I humbly conceive is pardonable, the peace of God in the former clause couching the good things of acquaintance with God; and also there being no good, truly so called, which this protection from evil comprehends not; for what ever defends us from the Fallacies of Satan, this world and our own hearts, must needs leave us in God's Blessing, as meet Objects of his Mercy and Bounty. I will here conclude with this humble Petition to God, That he would pardon the temerity of my pen, and accept of my plea in Ephraim's bemoaning words, After I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh, I was ashamed, etc. Jer. 31.19. And I trust that he that breaketh not the bruised reed, and quencheth not the smoking flax, will not refuse this offering at my hand.  
Octob. 15. 1653. EDW. WATERHOUSE.   

DIVINE MEDITATIONS ON ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD, From those words in JOB, 
22 Job 21.  Acquaint now thyself with GOD, and be at peace, so shall no evil come unto thee.  
'tWas a competent and congruous Definition of Man which the Philosopher gave, when he called him a sociable Creature, the nature of man being more receptive and sparsive of good than any Creature, which hath not reason to distinguish, and entertain what it knows to be useful and conducing to content; for though all creatures have the imperfect and first lines of sociation effigiated on them, and in some degree or other affect their own species, or other creatures which either suit or serve to their ends; yet is no desire so wisely impetuous as that which originated from reason, is seconded by the assurance of unquestionable Experience; nor do we soberly believe any thing so undoubtedly, which hath not the probate of a clear evidence, to the advantage of which the life of man (pleasured by nothing more than generous and pious society) is a clear and noble instance. That therefore Man, the Epitome of this Microcosm, and the little Lord (next under his MAKER) of this glorious Pile of Divine Architecture, might not mistake his match, and while he ought to seek a Kingdom, find asses; or by vain delusions, and pretended nothings miss the Mark of Eternity, and the Pawn of an unerring Conduct to that Canaan; This Scripture, like a goodly Glass rightly modelled, and truly hung to a Christians view, shows him the most real and incomparable object of the Soul, illustrated from the Divinity of its nature, pure, unmixed, neither capable to be tempted or to tempt; unless it be to a holy Love and happy Acquaintance, which ends not worse, but better than it began, in temporal Peace, and in eternal bless, abandoning evil either of sin or sufferings; all which are comprised in these Words, Acquaint, etc.  
Me thinks my Meditations fix on a double sort of subjects in this Scripture: Self, GOD, Peace, Evil; in their nature's different, for what less harmonious than corruption and incorruption, then good and evil, than the best we wish and the worst we fear? yet both accorded and united in the Term, Acquaint. Man who ought to be linked to God by the bond of Love, as well as subjected to him by the Law of obedience (as he hath no adversary to fear, so no good to desire beyond that Monarch GOD: who is all to the soul by way of completion, and to the outward man by way of munition) by this means, may obtain felicity in Acquainting himself with GOD, etc.  
There is so much Treasure in this Scripture, that the rich Spoils of it are beyond the capacity of men to conceive, or Angels to language; I shall confine my thoughts to these ensuing Heads, as the Tracts by which to come to the Mansion of holy Comfort residing in it.  1. What is meant by Acquaintance with GOD. 2. How it is to be attained. 3. What Peace it is that those have which attain it. 4. How it may be said to repel evil from us. 5. When this is to be sought after; These discussed, will enodate the obscurity, and present the blessing in its true and Princely Dress. 
OF the First (Acquaintance with GOD:) I shall say in the Psalmists Phrase, 
Psalm 87.3.  Glorious things are spoken of thee, O thou light sprung from on high, thou ray of eternity, to which all mortal contents and Mundane confedracies are but as atoms, yea nonentity. Acquaintance with God is somewhat stupendious, and requires a touch from the Altar to decipher it; 'tis a beam of glory darting on the face of a Child of glory; a Love-token erranded to signify the good will of him that dwells in the Bush, to his that are among the pots, slurred amongst the brambles, scratched; in the fire and in the water, abused debased, but not forsaken; but this is rather an effect of it then a Description of it, that which forms it is the being, and that which expatiates it is the well-being of it: For the more this grace (for less it is not) is meditated upon, the greater are the touches of sweetness in the Souls visage, from this lovely Pencil of the most lovely Artist. GOD: And therefore I shall conceive it to ascend its Zenith by these Gradations.  
1. Step. 1 The lowest and inchoate step to this Mount is the Understanding, that must know him the chief good, or else it will never desire him; man's intellect is the Bucket by which he draws, and the Ladder at which he climbs to will and wed; the object he knows good, without this 'tis as impossible to love and obey, as without eyes to judge of colours, or without taste to discriminate Liquor and Meats, God hath given the priority to this faculty as that which must season to, and prepare appositely for the rest. And truly, this is of the foundation and real nature of the rational soul; for from this are we determined to be worthy (as to other creatures) of that Supremacy and jurisdiction God hath given us over them; for did not our Understandings direct us to a carriage proportionate to the natures of Creatures, and things, we should soon discover our follies to be too brutish either to be admired or followed, and the Creation would soon renite obedience to so senseless Governors. But blessed be God, he hath not left us without a witness of his liberality. He hath informed our specious bodies with perfect souls, and made a noble Lodging of State for himself, that high room, and top battlement, our Understanding; which though too vast to be filled with the little punctoes and contemptible grains of worldly nothings, yet receives completion from God, and those apprehensions of him which he (in much condescension to us) is pleased to vouchsafe us, not to make us proud of our fatness, but provident to improve fullness to gratitude, and to serve him more completely; who does good and is good, and from whom goodness effluxeth to all creatures: for of his fullness they receive fullness.  
That this Understanding is the Key of Discovery, and Acquaintance, needs no second to confirm it; for even nature tells us by the Rule, that there is no desire of what we know not, 
Ignoti nulla cupido.  and Scripture directs to this as the path to all gracious Intercourse with God; in one passage of holy Writ I hear this asserted, 
Psal. 9.10.  They that know thy Name, will put their trust in thee; in another, He that cometh to GOD, must believe that he is. 
Heb. 11.6.  Now effects imply causes, as Cisterns do Springs, and Rivers Seas: If God be to be believed on, he must be conceived of, and understood by those that thus believe him; for as articulation is consequent to generation, so is adhaesion to assent, and assent to intellect:  
The necessity of intellect to head the will and affections, which in a sort complete acquaintance, is evincible from many things: from the order of God in Creation & Nature, which makes this as the womb, at which port every thing which tends in its progress to action, enters. The light natural, typical of this internal Luminary, was the first Creature; as that which God erected to give light to his Library, the World, which God compiled of nothing, by a power eternal, complete, and indeterminable; and the first trial he put man upon, was to touch his Intellect, and to try the magnetisme of that faculty, which could draw all things to it, and incorporate itself with every thing: And if when there was no distortion, if before the misrule which sin and Satan brought into the Understanding; this was the tendency of that Faculty; It must still remain what it was, as to the Nature and sacred Design of God, though veiled and denegrated by accessions of sin, and contractions of punishments, which by understanding any thing but God, and in order to God, is just up on it.  
The faculty than is the same in its nature, in its employment; only the Rose hath prickles, the Swan deformed legs: Death is in the pot, if God doth not heal the waters, and turn our Understandings to that right object, Himself; whom to know is life eternal, And whom to glorify as God, our most excellent and only good, is the sole end of our creation.  
Nor is the order of God in Creation, the only Instance of this precedence of the Intellect; but experience attests this in the whole latitude of Instances, the Heavens; by that instinct they have, as it were, and after their kind, do their duty to earth, Man, nay their Maker; by a dust (which to them is in stead of Intellect) do they serve times and seasons; do they remit, and extend influence, according to the law of their first Cause; and the Birds and Beasts, by their sensual Energy (analogous in some sort to Intelect in man) direct their course, and run their race; not attempting to love or fly that which is not Good or Evil in their eye, and pleasing or displeasing to their Natures. Now if that rule of the Schools be true, which neither is yet, nor ever will be contradicted, That the work of Nature is the work of the God of Nature; 
Opus Natura est opus Authe ris.  then what is the concurrent practice of Universal Nature, according to its specific being, must be Positive and Absolute, and so from him who is the Beginning and End of all things, and therefore most true. And so I have mounted the first Step, the Understanding. Acquaintance imports Understanding; for how shall Desire be heightened, but from Knowledge; and Knowledge be gained, but by that Faculty, which is admissive and receptive of it? 
Rom 10.14.  How can they (saith S. Paul) believe on him of whom they have not heard? and how can they hear without a Preacher?  
Nor is this Step consummative to our Acquaintance, if here we stay, pitching this as the Non ultra, beyond which we will not go: for God hath placed his Seat on High, and the Rounds of the Ladder which reacheth him are many; he will have us engaged in much colluctation, many breathe and pant, before we come up to the Mount of Mercy, where Peace is, and Evil is not; and therefore he cries out to man, Step 2 in the second place, for his Heart, his Will, which is the Jewel in this Cabinet of Glory: This, this to the Intellect, is as the Sails to the Ship; takes the Winds gales, and carries it to the Port of Loss or Gain: this, this is the Womb in which are the Issues of life and death: this, this is the Paradise, which we ought to guard with the Flaming Sword of an uninterrupted and earnest Zeal; for as the Sails move the Ship, by reason of the wind which acts upon them, and so is causal of their swelling, as they of the Ships motion; and according to the quantity of the wind, so ordinarily is the way of the Ship: so doth this act upon the Intellects premises, admitting whatever hath the Watchword from that Centinel. I say not, that the Will always follows the rectified Understanding: but this I say, No man wills what is evil under the notion of evil, 
Bonum & velle convertuntur.  for the Will and Good are convertible; and many greatest evils have some good in conjunction with them, for which they are admitted, though as to the predominant parts of them, they deservedly be termed and judged Evil; for whatever erreth from the perfect Rule of God's Law, and defaceth the Image of God in the soul, hath not the allowance of Heaven to make it currant.  
Now this Will of man is highly concerned to the completion of reasonable Actions, it being the vehiculum which carries the Intellect to its Object, and thereto unites it: the Understanding approves the Match, but the Will ties the knot and adunates; as I must know before I can will, so must I will before I can be acquainted with that I will; which is the reason why between things averse there is no acquaintance properly so called, but rather an Antithesis and Retrogade Motion; Contraries meet not, nor cohabit they in intense degrees, in the same Subject at one and the same time, because they are inconsistent, and are made what they are by the nonbeing of each other: Fire is no fire, if water prevail against it, for it is suppressed and led captive by the Victor; and so water ceaseth its moisture and liquidity, if the heat of the fire accede it to Mastery; whereas other things that are not at this variance, meet like Mercy and Peace, and kiss each other: Active heat, and Passive moisture, make way for Generation; Steel and the Loadstone are in amity, and do with eagerness approach each other; so is it in Love, by the will disposed of to any object. There is no Sovereign more absolute, as to things subjected to his will, than the will of man; for it wheels about the totum mobile in him. This moved Samson to love Dalilah, Archimedes to die with his Art; Judas to betray his Master, Julian to Apostatise; and by God's severity, this seals, as the meritorius Cause, the wicked under unbelief, that they may be damned who have pleasure in unrighteousness: for this once perverted and engaged, 
2 Thess. 2.12.  the whole man is circumferred and hurled after the genius of its project: by this are the affections alarmed and keened to good or evil; and without this Velliety is nothing feasible, without the power of God come to aid; yea, and that too deals mildly, by a sweet compulsion and insuperable persuasion, transforming the soul from what it is, and as corrupted, would; into what it is not, but aught to be: submissive to, sequacious of, and voluntarily captived by God.  
Now all the quarters of the inner man are beat up, and Proclamation is made in the name of the great King of Heaven: now the word is, I am not what I was, 
Isai. 26.13.  Other Lords have had dominion over me, but the desire of my soul is to thee, and to the remembrance of thy Name: 
ver. 8.  now there is this only outcry, None but Christ, none but Christ.  
That is the second Step, and the Advance is great. Acquaintauc is in a good progress, when we understand the worth, and will that worth to be acquainted with. But there is more Marches to be made to this Conquest; Step 3 therefore the 3d. Step is Discovery of this Desire to that Object we love; and this, though in regard of God's Omniscience needs not, 
Psai. 132.2.  For he knows our thoughts afar off; yet in order to our Obedience, and his declared Will, aught to be done by us again and again; the Canon is, 
Matth. 7.7.  Ask, and ye shall have; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened. 'Tis a minute trifling boon that is not worth ask; God hath entailed Bliss to our Prayers and tears, not as the price, but the way to them: as he hides not himself from his people that pray; so doth he not own them that look big with the Pharisee, and have too stiff knees to bend before him. 
Hab. 2.4.  He knows the heart is not upright, when it is unhumble, and condemns. it as a false Character of a good heart not to ask Dost thou (O man) conceive God the best Good, and thyself miserable without him, and wilt thou not seek by Prayers and tears to gain freedom? Dost thou think he will ever be waiting to be gracious, who ought to be waited upon because he is, and will be still so, unless thou provoke him to turn his back, and not his face? Thou art blind, and wilt thou not ask Eyesalve? 
Rev. 3.18.  Naked, and art thou too sturdy to beseech Christ to cast his Garment of Salvation upon thee? If thou canst not confess thy sins, 
1 John 1.2, 9  he declares not himself a Forgiver of sins; for his fidelity is engaged only to Penitents. Will any man that's worthy, put his friendship upon an unwilling party, or motion amity but upon the request of him, whom thereby he shall oblige? It becomes those that will have part of another's propriety, either to beg or purchase it: all the Coin in thy purse, and the pride in thy heart, will not capacitate thee to gain God for thy friend upon any terms, but repent and believe: These are the wedding Garments which bring thee into the Feast of fat things with approbation; and if thy holy Motions be as eager as they ought, and as thy acquaintance with God deserves, than thou wilt not find a repulse; for thy God is ready to meet those with open arms, who offer their service to him upon bended knee, and with abashed faces.  
Step 4. to Acquaintance with God is his Word, Step 4 
Psal. 77.13. John 5.39. Psal. 25.14.  his Servants, his ways. God is known by his out go in his Sanctuary; the Scriptures testify of him; his secrets are with them that fear him. If any man be a seeker of God, him he hears. But above all, be sure of the favour of the Well Beloved; he that comes from his hand, is carried into the Bedchamber, and refreshed with the good things of his right hand. Christ's blood crosseth the Roll of Indictments, and dischargeth the guilt: If thy soul be dipped in that blood, it will hold colour against all waters, against all assays to interpose; perhaps Satan puts in his plea, and informs, thou art his; What though? a stronger than he hath taken possession. Suppose thy sins rest upon thee as upon Mary Magdalen; yet if thou lovest much, why shouldst not thou hope to be forgiven, as was she? There is no sin in Mortal man can out-poise the mercy in an immortal God; nor the merit of a spotless Saviour, whose blood in value out-prizes them as far as the noblest Gem doth the most vulgar pebble. To this bounteous Emanuel (who when he was Rich became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich; who when he was in the bosom of his Father, came to converse with men, that he might elevate men to communion with God in Grace, and compartying with him in glory) do thou (O holy soul) conjoin thyself by a Covenant never to be broken. He, he it is that soders God and man, that gives thee access with boldness to the Throne of Grace, that moves thee to good, confirms thee in it, rewards thee for it, by the Holy Ghost, which the Father sends in his name. Is thy Peace begun and perfected, thy Comfort continued and increased? in the assurance of this, thou wilt live a life of good example to men, 
Phil. 3.14. Psal. 149.9.  and of glory to God, and after all, reach the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. For this honour have all his Saints.  
And the better to keep thee in this, less and lower to that better good, it becomes thee, O man, to attend on the revealed Will of God, that bears witness to the Truth, Mercy, Justice, Patience, and other Holy Attributes of the Divine Nature; it records also what thy duty (O man) is, 
Eccles. 12.24. Psal. 7.11.  namely, To fear God and keep his Commandments, not only because he is angry with the wicked every day, but because he by his love constrains thee, and expects no returns from thee but thyself: Own him in all his holy Counsels, Precepts, Threats, Ordinances, Servants, and love whatever bears his Image and Superscription: Fellow Peter in his tears and Faith, not in his frailty and abnegation; thy Saviour is thy Lord, and thou oughtest to own him for such, as well on the Cross, as on the right hand of Glory; and his servants ought to be as dear to thee, when they are tormented, persecuted, afflicted (provided they be steadfast, and such as suffer for well doing, on whom the Spirit of Glory rests) as when applauded, preferred, and crowned; for this, if thou dost, entrance will be made thee into Acquaintance with thy God, whom to know, is to be wise; and whom to live with, is to be happy.  
Step 5. to Acquaintance with God, Step 5 is identity of mind: therefore the Apostles says, 
Phil. 2.5.  Let the same mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus: not the same essentially, but the same dispositively; the same effectively; wish (in a holy ardency and warrantable impatience) that you could oblige God as much by service, as he doth you by Creation, Preservation, and the good things of Glory, which he promiseth; yea, rather wish to be like him in Grace and Holiness, then in Greatness and Puissance: There is nothing works Acquaintance so kindly and reasonably, as congruity; the Proverb is, Birds of a feather will fly together: there is natuly a kind of Magic in assimulation; we love Climates and , Books and Meats, Faces and Fashions, proportionable to our Geniusses most; and the exterior sense is much at the Devotion of the interior idea, and the fanciful Formatory: Did you ever see contraries agree while so? and not rather their friendliness bubble up from their union, as one prevailing, forced the other into compliance? Or can it be imagined that God and man should agree, while the one is too great to have equal, the other not humble enough to own a Superior? In worldly conversation there is nothing more distasted, and declines Acquaintance, than contrariety of Principle; yea it often invites to hatred and hostile procedures, even where naturally there is antithesis to contrariety, and altogether an ignorance of any demerit in the object, saving this nude inconformity.  
All Compounds are made of Simples that serve in their conjunction to the proposed end; and though numerically they differ, yet in coagulo they conspire to serve one univocal Design. In building, crooked, strait, long, short, little, great, sappy, hearty Timbers conform to the model of the Edifice, and the Surveyors Art. In medicines, simples laxative, retentive, hot, cold, by a kindly, and even cooperation, recover health, and honour the Physician; which otherwise would discredit the one, and endanger the other: the like effect hath compleasans in friendship, which is a marriage, not of Sexes, but minds; not to purposes of Generation but Conversation. And therefore those mistake the Mark much, who think to reduce God to their bounds, his holy nature to their impure practices, and will be acquainted with him, not upon his own, but their own terms. If they may have a Dalilah in their lap, if they may keep their right eye and right hand, if when they go into the house of Rimmon they may be pardoned, well and good: they are contented to enter amity with God. But if he commands to cut off the right hand, and pluck out the right eye: 
Matth. 5.29. Gen. 12.1. Rev. 18.4.  if he call to them to leave their Country, to come out of Babylon, to forsake father and mother; then with the rich man in the Gospel, they go away heavy, crying out with him, 
Matth. 19.22.  Non tanti emam poenitentiam: to these, Gadarens Swine are beyond Christ, glass before pearls, and this little world in view, more precious than that better in promise.  
Well, but Acquaintance with God is never the worse because these covet it not but upon cheap and dishonourable terms, which will not be yielded unto. Those that know what it is to have the eyes of their Understanding opened, to converse with God, not remotely (but as mortal Nature by Divine indulgence) may with open face, 
2 Cor. 3.18.  think all things loss and dung in comparison of it; accounting themselves never estranged from the true end of their being, but when they are without the Veil, when the lines of their inheritance are not cast out to them in this lot of love, when they wander in the Wilderness of the wolrd, and commune not with that God, whose comforts are above the world, who is whatever earth and heaven can yield admired: for he is all in both, and nothing in either is delectable, but what he is; nor are we ever truly ourselves, but when we are like him, in that partaking of his Divine Nature, which our being is capable of, and his blessed purpose hath designed us to.  
Last Step to Acquaintance with God, 
Last Step.  is assiduous attendance on him: fits and gird, now and then visits seldom amount to intimate friendship, those intervals and faint treatments, like cold and indigested Meteors hang hover, but never condense, and body into any solidity, like dainty meats which rather puff up then feed; or like gay clothes, which adorn more than comfort Nature: The greatest ingredient to many men's friendship, is a Cap, or a Congee, Your humble Servant, and Passionately yours, which wise persons eye as the purliew in which the Rascal Deer mostly, the Nobler rarely; and therefore use those Modes rather in Symphony with the plurality, than out of allowance and choice. Many in the matters of God, and in Duties of Religion (whereby we should acquaint ourselves with him) are as fetchant and wavering, as these in less consequentials are: they wait not at the posts of Wisdoms door; they come not early, they go not to bed late; they eat not the bread of sorrow, that they might purchase this one thing necessary: Earnest they are not, nor do they by a holy impetuosity and violence seize on Heaven, not wrestle with God, not let him go till he bless them with his Acquaintance; yet do they expect to partake of God as fully, as Zachary and Elizabeth, who wait upon him daily, and walk in his Commandments without reproof; but how vainly these expect grapes from thorns, and figs from thistles, the Consequence shows; God keeps them at distance, he feeds them with the husks; he loves those that fear him, not formidine poenae, sed virtutis amore; and he values those highest who are most importunate, undismissable, whom not a non decet will discourage from begging crumbs; 
Mat. 15.26, 27.  whom no Moment, no company will dishearten from resolving with Job, Though th●u killest me, 
Job 13.15.  yet will I trust in thee. These are the Merchants our Lord speaks of, who sell all to purchase the Jewel of Divine Intercourse; these are they that cry out for the light of God's countenance, 
Psalm 4.  and care not what they suffer so they have it. To these humble prostrates are the Doles of Heaven dealt out, on these that cry out, as Rachel did to Jacob, Give me Grace, or else I die, doth God give the blessing of Acquaintance, and for these and these only hath he a Reserve, a Mansion in his Kingdom, Jerusalem above, which is the vision of Peace; and in the fruition of which, by holy Acquaintance with God as the way and means, we shall obtain adunition to God, as the end and fruition of Peace in that felicity, for so saith the next words, Acquaint now thyself with God, and be at peace.  
But stay man a while, There is somewhat intercurrent 'twixt Acquaintance and Peace, there are bars and bounds to keep the Stage free from pester. God hath appointed Means and Degrees, by which to come at length to this Culmen, this top of the Mount on which shall be our Transfiguration: Christ Moses and Elias are to be met with when we can say our Christian Alphabet roundly, when we can say, not only as Saint Paul, 
Phil. 3 12. Rev. 5.9, 10.  Nondum attigimetam, but sing that Epinichyon, Thou art worthy, O Lord, for thou hast redeemed us from sin, sorrow, the world, and made us Kings and Priests to thee. Till then, there is aliquid agendum; if ever thou wilt come to the end of thy race, it must be by the Means ordained to that end, which is the second Scruple to be explicated. Scruple 2 2 What are the Means of obtaining this Acquaintance? The Solution of this is partly done in the foregoing Consideration, and therefore will require the less answer here; the prescribed Steps of assent are also many several Paces towards it; what is necessary to be added by way of Illustration, is only this; God requires of every Acquaintance, 1. Reconciliation to Christ: 2. Resignation to his holy Spirit: 3. Adoration of his Ordinances: 4. Admiration of his Works. 5. Renovation of life.  
1 Reconciliation to Christ: All sin is Hostility against him; 'tis Rebellion against the Prince of Peace, and folly against him the Wisdom of the Father: He came to unite God and thee, and thou (O man) labourest the Defeat of his advent; the end of his descent from Heaven to earth, was to draw men after him; thou in stead of coming to him that thou mayest have life, 
John 5.40.  runnest away from him: in stead of casting down thyself at his feet and craving his pardon, thou holdest up Weapons of unrighteousness against him: Is this thy kindness to thy friend? Is this thy Loyalty to thy Prince? Is this the Badge of Acquaintance and friendly intimacy? Dost thou crown Christ with thorns, and expect he should kiss thee with the kisses of his lips? Dost thou deliver him to the Corss, and lookest from him for a place in Paradise? Do these rough hands of Esau, deserve from Isaak any Blessing? O man mistaken, erring thorough the Delusion of thy Prospect, and the Temptation incumbent on thy heart! Return, and seek to him by tears, whom thou hast provoked by Treachery, crave his blood, thine Atonement, which thou hast shed in triumph to thy Lusts; thou hast made him thine Adversary by sin, humbly prostrate thyself as his Purchase and Penitent: Let him see thy tears trickle down thy tender cheek, from a pensive heart, and a gracious eye, that now lookest upon thyself with greater scorn, than ever sinfully thou didst upon him, when wickedly thou saidst, I will not have this man reign over me; and let no hour, day, moment pass without some earnest Petition for Reconciliation, That he would cease to be what thou hast deserved; thine Upbraider, Accuser, severe Judge: and be what he hath promised to all that turn to him with all their hearts, an Advocate, a Loadstone, the Way, the Truth, and the Life: An Advocate, to plead thy Cause; a Loadstone, to touch thy heart; the Way in which, and Truth by which thou shouldest walk; and the Life to crown thee after thy work done.  
But perhaps thou concludest thyself at too great a loss to recover, too far out of favour to be reingratiated? Why so? If where sin abounds, 
Rom. 5. 2●  Grace superabounds, there is hope for thee: Bespeak not (O man) thy denial, do not stay thy career towards heaven, because thou fearest the door of Grace is shut. Such Conclusions may hinder thy endeavour, they cannot add to thy comfort; therefore covet in the second place, the Holy Spirit to thy comfort; entertain him kindly, grieve him not by reiterated sins; quench him not by averse obstinacy, An nescis (anima) te verecundum habere sponsum? This holy Dove sent from the Deity, brings the Olive Branch with him; the Peace is bought by Christ, but the Spirit seals and applies the Purchase; the Salve is rare, but works not kindly, except that hand lays on the Plaster: therefore resign thou thyself to the Spirit of God, let him rule in thee, and by his Steerage be thou acted; follow this Star, it ever leads to Christ; harken to his voice, it is vox dilecti, it's a clam, sweet, lovely, lightsome voice; be ravished with this Music, which with Hyper-Syrene notes, charms most wisely; give up thyself, soul and body to this Besieger, that summons thee to deliver up the strong Holds of Sin and Satan to Christ the King of Saints, and the Saviour of his Body the Church. Make no terms with him, the Holy Ghost will not be tied to Articles: He is free to intercede, and thou must be free to render: as he will have good quarter, so gives he sure comfort. The soul that receives him, is  from Terror and Fear of Divine displeasure, for this Guest secures his Quarters; yea, the power of the Almighty overshadoweth those with Grace, whose hearts are prepared to cry, Veni Spiritus Sancte. And till (O man) this be thy temper, thou art as unfit for Acquaintance with God as for Heaven; of which it is a real Type, and to which it is the Baptist: for as into Heaven flesh and blood, quà such, cannot enter; so into familiarity with God can none be admitted who have not the Test of this Comforter, who never bears witness that they are the sons of God, who rest unreconciled to Christ, unresigned to him.  
But how may these Graces appear in me, may the soul say? God, Christ, and the Holy Ghost have their Court in Heaven, I am in the Valley of Bochim, in the frigid Zone of earthly vanities, where dust and ashes, worms, and no men, live, and acclamate the Diana of Pomp and splendid nothing; my bucket is not deep enough, my stature not high enough to reach Heaven; my bulk will not bear those breadthy Sails which that Glory fills. What shall I do? How may I contract acquaintance with God by union with Christ, and rendition to his Spirit? To these the third Step is answer, Adore his Ordinances: Those are his Leidgers which here he leaves to negotiate about affairs of Heaven; these are the Chariots in which Eliahs are whirled thither; these bring forth, and there is none barren amongst them; the good will of him that was in the bush are upon these, 
Deut. 33.16.  which Atheism and Irreligion would separate and unbrother, as rejectitious and illegitimate. God hath appointed his Word for our Rule, his Ministers for our Guide, his Sacraments for our Comfort, his Day for our Rest and Refection, his Church for our Pillar and Ground of Truth; and those who adore not these are not like to be God's Acquaintance; Sovereignty will have no limits prescribed by Subjects. Heaven knows no Method but that of its own dictation: Those that will be beggars, must not be choosers: Interest with God is worth gaining by cap in hand, and upon bended knee; and they deserve not to be heard in their request, who request any thing contra formam Statuti inde editi; the Declarative Law is, Search the Scriptures, 
John 5.3, 9 Luke 16.29.  for they do testify (saith Christ) of me. And in another place: If they will not bear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rise from the dead.  
Wander not then (O soul) after wild fancies and blazing figments, exposed to view, and set on broach of purpose to deceive and misled ignorant and inquisitive worldlings, who set the Crown on Coridon's, and believe Christ the Saviour of the world, rather from his riding on an Ass-Colt, and obscure parentage, then from his glorious attestation from Heaven, or his convincing conversation here on earth; and judge nothing Sacred, but what is indeed common and unclean: But (O soul) keep thou close to the Ordinances of Christ, which his servants have received from him by the unquestionable tradition of the Church, to the Truth of which the lives and deaths of holy Martyrs, and glorious Confessors, have in all ages born witness; and do not believe that any thing is so lovely and truly advantageous to thy peace, and orderly conduct, as to serve thy God in that manner which he hath appointed: and adore thou these holy mysteries, 
Psal. 46.4.  by which waters the City of God in thy soul, ought only to be made glad.  
5 And though thus to do be to do more than many now will, yet is it not the totum postulatum of thee: God (O man) requires of thee some tribute of praise; the quitrent of Gratitude. The Psalmist tells us in the person of God, 
Psal. 50.23.  Whoso offereth me praise, honoureth me: and to give God the glory of his Munificence, is but to offer him of his own; it is but to pay him our Fine in his own Coin; 
1 Cor. 4.7.  for what have we that we do not receive? And in no kind is this sense of our obligation to God better resented by him, then by Admiration of his Works, which is the fourth Requiry of God towards the perfection of our Acquaintance with him, Admiration of his Works. And here me thinks I am enforced to exclamate with the holy Pophet, Lord, what is Man? What his Being, Capacity, Dignity, that thou shouldest honour him with Contemplation of thee, and of those Works which set thee out in thy back parts, though not to the ineffability of thine Essence? Who, O, who wishes not his tongue were untied, and tipped with Eloquence, excelling mortal Emulation, 
Psalm 150.2.  that he might give to God the glory due to his name, and praise him according to his excellent greatness; not only for that he is high, not for that he is, and there is none besides him; but for that he vouchsafeth to look down upon us here below, and calls us to contemplate his good Will, as well as matchless Power in the Formation of things, and the orderly production of them! Here is Matter to amuse the Secretary of Nature, and to puzzle the greatest Oedipus; here is a full point to Plato's Eloquence, and Plotinus his Profundity. Who can search the Centre of that Idea which was in God, when he made the Sun, Moon, and Stars, appointing them their seasons, influences, order, and sweetly tuning them each to other? Who knows the Nature of Creatures animate and inanimate, vegetive and sensitive; and can say of their Natures, as God doth of the Seas proud Waves, Hitherto and no further; this you can, and this you cannot do? Where is he that sees the abyss of Providence, and penetrates into that privy Chamber of Divinity, which is for God's eye only? daring to affirm what shall and shall not be; and the consequences of things natural and contingent? Sure, no mortal man, undementated, dare so confide in Art, and dote so fond on his vain shadow, as to boast of this, which is God's incommunicable Jewel, and the Prerogative of his Crown. Our portion (Woman) is to wait God's discovery; Secret things belong to God, 
Deut. 29.29. Exod. 24.2.  but things revealed to us; and God forbidden we should come nearer the Mount than is indulged us, or endeavour after Wisdom beyond Sobriety; Our duty is to acquaint ourselves with God, not by knowing him as he is, for that's impossible; but by knowing him as he manifests himself in works of Power, Providence, Mercy; and in the improvement of what light we borrow from this Lamp, we may see enough to make us in love with him, who made all things as, and what they are, and to what they shall be: In him the Rich and the poor, the wise and the simple, the Brute and the Rational, the Worm and the Angel, the Fly and the Eagle, the Ant and the Elephant, the Mouse and the Lion, the Eel and the Whale meet; God is the Maker of them all, and the same power went to the production of the least as greatest; from him come winds and seasons, and without him nothing is that is, nor shall be that he wills not: this is the sum of what we can reach to in the folio of Contemplation and practice; for whatever helps Art & Nature give us, come far shorter of the utmost extent of God's Works, than the shortest ladder is short of the Heaven we see, or the impurest soul of that better Heaven we hope for: The best Meditation we can make, is that of the Father, Si tale Artificium, qualis Artifex? si tale est quod fecit, qualis est quifecit? If the courage of the Lion, strength of the Elephant, capacity of the Whale, prudence of the Ant, continence of the Dove, If the world be so variously fitted with necessaries, for delight, support, and exercise of man, and his Nature so adapted to search into, and blessed to find out and improve the secrets, and several qualities of things, creatures, and continents, in some proportion suitable to his being, and God's designment; hath he not great cause to cry out with that Kingly Prophet, 
Psal. 139.14.19.1.  O how fearfully and how wonderfully am I made! for who can confess less than this, The Heavens declare the glory of God, and the Firmament shows his handy work?  
But (O man) wander not too wildly in this wilderness, wherein are beasts of Prey, uncouth paths, dismal upshots; thine errand and end is to admire the works of God; that thou mayst do, it is thy duty, and Gods exact of thee so to do, and thou thyself art a fair Text to such pious Meditations; God created thee something of nothing, a Man, not a Toad, a Christian, not a Heathen, of clear intellect not brutish, of right shape not deformed; and consider, this calls for Gratitude. God hath beautified thee with a bright Sun, refreshed thee by a sweet gale of wind in thy sails, thou art at the wished Port, supported by a miraculous hand of Providence, he hath discovered to thee thy dangers, conducted thee in thy way, ministered to thy wants, when others not less his, nor less themselves than thou, go mourning all the day long, are on their duty, 
John 5.4.  waiting (with the Cripple) when the good Angel will come to their comfort, but all in vain: No Butter sticks on their bread, their cake is dough, as the Proverb is; All is fruitless; Remember the more thou receivest, the more thou must return: Cui plus datur, ab illo plus exigitur; in fine, rather labour to improve well that thou hast, then to covet more to misuse it, and abuse thy soul; for God expects from all men, as he sows, so to reap; and thou art an Unthrift on his Bounty, if thou returnest him not obedience and love, who hath crowned thee with Honour and Plenty above thy fellows.  
But (O man) above all things, 
Deut. 32.15.  be not like Jesurun; spurn not with the heel; when thou art fat, forget not the hand that feeds thee, and the paps of Providence that suckle thee; nor let thine horns be exalted to worry and plague thy fellow servants of a lower Form than thou art: This is not to be like God, good, gentle, and nigh unto all those that call upon him; but liker the servant in the Gospel, 
Matth. 32.32.  who took his fellow servant by the throat, when he himself was forgiven by his Lord the greater Debt; yea, this is not to admire God, but to reproach him, as misgiving Power and Greatness, and trusting it in the hands of those, who by it prey upon, not protect the Sheep: This is not to admire the Works of God, but to admire thyself, and to sacrifice to thine own Ambition and inordinacy, and so to dishonour God who commands, 
Phil. 4.5.  Our Moderation should be known to all men; yea, this is to be unworthy of Acquaintance with God, who is Shepherd of his Sheep, and delights in Lillyes, things harmless and benign; and those that are not such, shall do well to consider that of the Prophet, 
Jer. 30.16.  I will spoil the Spoiler; and steer another course for the future, even to emendation of life; which brings up the rear of what God requires from those that will be acquainted with him, and calls for my next Meditation.  
5. Lastly, Renovation of Life is a chief adjunct to Acquaintance with God: Light and darkness, Christ and Belial, Dagon and the Ark do not agree; new cloth and old garments suit not, nor will generous Wine endure crazy bottles; nor a Kingly mind brook the thatched cottage: There is nothing more averse to the pure Nature of God, than the impure life of a sinner; his eye loathes, his hand corrects, his heart relucts, his Word reproves, his Spirit labours against it; he cannot but call with a loud voice, 
Jer. 44.4. Rom. 1.18.  O do not that abominable thing which I hate; and correct, by revealing his wrath from Heaven against the ungodliness of men: Till thou (O man) return to him by Repentance, there is no peace with God to be hoped for, no amity to be attained. The means to gain God, is to own thyself, and to return to thy father's love, 
Luke 15.18.  to weep over thy wander, and to drown thy sins in penitent tears, as did Mary Magdalen and Peter. Then, then only are we worthy to be friends of God, when we are not profane as Esau, but holy as Abraham; not rude as Nimrod, but meek as Moses; not rebellious as Absolom, but devout as David; not treacherous as Judas, but penitent as Peter; not vexatious as Saul, but courageous as Paul; not embracing the world as did Demas, but contemning it and ourselves, as aught the Disciple of Christ, who must deny himself, and take up the Cross. This, this is to be born again, 
Mark 8.34. John 3.3. Ephes. 4.23. Isai. 1.16. Rom. 13.14, Ephes, 5.11  Nichodemus. his lesson; this is to be renewed, in the spirit of our minds; this is to cease to do evil, and learn to do well; this is to put on the Lord Jesus, and to take no thought for the flesh; this is to have no fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness, but rather to reprove them; this is to put off the old man, and to put on the new man, 
Ephes. 4.22, 24  which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness; this is to lay the burden of our sins upon Christ, and to take the beauty of Holiness from him: this is to gain heaven's amnesty, to remove our sins far from us, as the East is from the West, and to cause them to come no more in remembrance before God; yea, this is to be throughly acquainted with God, and to have him the souls Sun and Shield, who will give Grace and Glory, 
Psal. 34.11.  and withhold no good thing from it.  
These are the bona notabilia, which God keeps as the reward of Piety; as his secrets, so his comforts are with those that fear him. Clusters of Canaan, grow not upon Crabstocks of Sodom: Divine familiarity is not with mortal foedity: They which will have God their Lord, must have his Rule for their Guide. Penitence must supply the want of Innocence, or else God will deny acceptance: It is not for me to say, I will return after, and be received first. God will have his Doles of Mercy distributed to Pennancers; and the Oil of Gladness returned to those faces whose heads were covered with ashes: A weeping eye is no small Favourite with a merciful God, who not only greets with an Euge, 
Luke 15, 7.  returning sins, but commands an Exultate, in Heaven amongst the Angels for it; and those that sow their wild oats in tears, shall reap their wages in due time; namely, Mercy and Joy, in, Come ye Blessed of my Father, receive the Mansion prepared for you, by Acquaintance with God; namely, Peace, which is the third hinge of my Meditation, and follows in the Scripture, Acquaint now thyself with God, and be at peace.  
The third Quere is, Quest. 3 What Peace it is those have who are acquainted with God? And here silet lingua, stispet animus, deficit oratio. Peace which passeth Understanding (such the Peace of God is) may well exceed utterance. The tongue is the heart's Bellman, and the cry is  to the conception. As what food nourisheth not, will not transide into the members aggrandization; so what the thought springs not, will never swell into words; Peace then, of this peace of God, it is somewhat ineffabile, past finding out, it is hid in the hollow of his hand, under his pavilion, from the strife of tongues, which in treating of its peace, would break the peace of Truth. But (O my soul) is this the forbidded tree? mayst not thou taste and not die? Hath God cabinetted up this Jewel, and must not man see it and live? Is this the one thing necessary; yet prohibited? Doth God require that of me which is impossible to me? And are my comforts surrounded with a flaming Sword, inaccessible? Nothing less? The well is deep (O my soul) but thy backet is suitable; the Pearl is dear, but thy price in hand will reach it; thy peace is precious, and it is deposited with him, who hath broke down the wall of Separation; 
Ephes. 2.14.  there is a new and living way to this Holy of Holies, not by blood of Bulls and Goats; but by the blood of Christ's Cross, the Christians glory, and Signature of his Peace.  
But is this peace a complete Armature and Panoply? Doth it fit every part? Is it proof in every joint; is there no soft place in it, through which the poison of Satan's power or policy will pierce? Is it a sweet Nightingale in the breast, as well as a Head-piece and Guard to the outward man? Yes sure, the peace spoken of in this Scripture is every way lovely, like Jonathan, lovely in life, and lovely in death; a great source of Joy to thee, while thou art on thy way, and a glorious Epitaph on thy Monument, when thou hast done thy work, and run out thine Hourglass.  

This Peace is Tripartite Pax Temporis. Or External Of vision to the Eye.  
This Peace is Tripartite Pax Pectoris. Or Internal Of Contemplation to the Mind.  
This Peace is Tripartite Pax Numinis. Or Eternal Of Fruition both to Soul & Sense.   
1 Peace outward, that is a fruit of Acquaintance with God: for thus he giveth his Beloved rest: that the Creatures are under thineawe, that the Elements are thy Pavilion, the Clouds thy Cisterns, the Sun, Moon and Stars thy Tapers, the earth thy Granary, the Cattle thy Food and Raiment, is from God who is good, and doth good. I do not say, that Peace is always the Badge of Grace, or that it ever, in regard of Externities, fares well with those who are good. I know the contrary, and so did David to his trouble long ago; and Job chap. 12.6. complainins that the Tabernacles of Robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure; yea and Jeremy reasons with God concerning his Judgements, Why do the wicked prosper and those that hate God are exalted? Jer. 12.1. While holy men are clad in sackcloth, and covered with ashes, go mourning all the day long, have not (with their Saviour) a hole to hid their heads in, nor a crumb to feed their bellies, or a rag to cover their nakedness. 
Luke 16.19. Dan. 5.23.  Do I not read of Dives faring deliciously, of Nabuchadnezzar quaffing in the holy vessels? yet the one wanting nothing but room to lay his wealth in, and the other priding in the Babel that he had built for the glory of his Majesty? And doth not the same ear let in the Narrative of Elijahs poverty, fed by a Raven; 
1 King. 17. Act. 20.34.  and of Paul's necessities, supplied by the labour of his hands? Are not wicked men's Oxen strong to labour? and see we not their persons and fortunes free from captivity and restraint? when men more holy than they, having no oxen to labour for them, are fain themselves to labour like oxen to tread out their support, and to pay from the sweat of their brows, a tribute to their Tyrannous Masters; who with more than Egyptian severity, lay load of brick, and withdraw the allowance and furtherances thereto? If it be so, how is acquaintance with God a way to outward peace?  
I answer, Yes: it is the way to outward peace truly so called, that is, to sanctified outward peace, which is peace in a proper and savoury sense: Mere serenity of state, is as far from blessing, as ease is from health; which seldom is propagated by it, but often impeached and deflowered. When peace and prosperity is bestowed upon bad men, 'tis to reward some good thing in them: some service they have done God; God leaves not those unrewarded, whom his own bounty, not their propensions hath made serviceable to him; or at least to leave them without excuse, that they may be silent when they are judged. 
Isa. 45.1. & 4.  This is the portion that Hagars children have; this is the husk that God's prodigals feed upon; this is the mark they levelly at; like Hell and the Grave, they cry Give, Give. And what do they gape after? 'Tis auri sacra fames, Alexander's Conquests, Croesus his Wealth, Tully his Oratory, Metellus his prosperity: these take up their prospectives, bound their aims, swell their plumes: This fatted calf have these for their entertainment; Vltra neque spes, neque timor; they consider not the sour sauce that follows this Passover. On the contrary, When Affliction befalls the Godly, it is to ventilate, to winnow their chaff from them, to correct them for frailty, and to chase them out of their covert, in which they delighted themselves as on beds of Ivory, and in ways of Roses: Suppurated sores must have Corrosives: 'Tis too much cruelty to power in Oil, where there is need of mundifying: Afflictions and external quassations are like thunder, purgations to the air: The Soul is never better than when out of the Sunshine: Then it gathers up its garments, and crowds close to God: 
Hos. 5.15.  In their afflictions they will seek me early.  
Nor have the wicked prosperity and peace in peace; Aliquando sub hilari vultu tristis animus. Solomon tells us, 
Pro. 14.13. Dan. 5.5  In the midst of laughter, the heart is sorrowful; sometimes there is an hand on the wall, a red Cross of God's displeasure on the fronts of our peace; There is peace, peace, and no peace; Midas his misery, Erysickthons' thirst, a coveting eye and a nauseating stomach, a grand estate and a penurious soul: 
Eccles. 6.2.  here is the evil under the Sun Solomon speaks of.  
Sometimes prosperity and peace, as Riches is given to the hurt of the Owners; 
Eccles. 5.3.  sometimes there is denied somewhat with it, for which it is appetible, as Heirs, Health, Friends; 
Gen. 15.2. Prov. 10.22.  and ever there is denied to wicked men, God's blessing on it, which brings no sorrow with, nor after it: the absence of which, causeth the dregs in the bottom of all worldly peace to worldly minds, for it makes them cry out of Prosperity, as captived Croesus did of Solon; O Solon, Solon, had I harkened to thy premonitions, I had never been so unprovided for bonds and captivity. Of these then, that which the Apostle saves of the Unchaste widow, is most true, they are dead when they live. 
1 Tim. 5.6.  But to the Godly it is far otherwise their peace outward is ever sanctified, not as to the present use of it (for they may faint in the Sunshine, they may be lifted up through abundance of Revelation) but as to the Sacred end, and ultimate result of it: God shall turn this by the Sacred Chemistry of Omnipotency, into Good: 
Rom. 8.28.  This is within the pale of All things work together for good to them that love God.  
Away then, thou Accuser of the Brethren, avoid thou Tempter to Evil, and thou Mortar Piece of Divine Fury, Satan. Away ye children of Darkness, who hate those of Light, because your deeds are evil; forbear your taunt of those whom the Lord hath smitten; justify not those whose Iniquitous Balances have made themselves only weighty, and all others too light: the Standard of Justice is coming round; 
Dan. 5.25.  your doom is Mene tekel Vphursin; the glory of your forged Sanctimony is defaced; God will humble the pride of men, and polish his rusted Saints, by the arising beams of the Sun of Righteousness: The Churches Sovereign is at hand; and though his first coming was in humility, his next will be in glory, to ride in triumph over all feigned Piety, and to set these Goats of Lust and Rage on his left hand; Lift up (O holy ones) your heads, Your Redemption draws nigh: He that died for you, will own you, and expects you should own him, in preserving his seamlesse coat from rents, and in keeping unity of Spirit, though there be difference of Language. Peace be (O holy souls) to you, the peace of this world, not by its gifts, but by Donation of him, who hath subjected all things; prepare yourselves by holy love to deal out your Riches to those that want; freely ye receive, freely give: O far be it from you to give vinegar and gall to your brethren, since your Father in Heaven gives you the generous liquor of Love, and bids you do as you would be done by. Take your fills of the waters of outward plenty; Marah is cured, the bitterness of death is past, Christ hath by his Cross so crucified the world to you, that it is now become your Vassal, not your Lord: remember there is the portion of Peace annexed to Acquaintance with God, So do, and so have.  
But is this all? are the grains of allowance only in Externals? Is my Carcase more worthy than my Soul? What shall be done to that animula blandula, 
2 Pet. 1.4.  which is after a sort Partaker of the DIVINE Nature? is there no accrewment to that? Doth God take care of Sparrows, and of the hairs of our heads; and is there no provision made for that which is the Nightingale of Eternity? Surely yes, two for one; the double portion for this firstborn: One portion respects its conjunction here with the body; and the other its separation from, and glorification with the body in Heaven; the first in Grace, the second in Glory; the first in via, the Comfort and Peace of a good Conscience; and the latter and better, in Patria, of a good God, in a glorious Kingdom, Heaven.  
2 Peace Internal; not Physical, sans Palpitation of the Heart; sans exclamation of the Passions, or their crowing shrils in the brain: but peace Metaphysical; the peace of God in the breast of man; God as it were incarnate, sitting on the Tribunal of a Mortal Judicatory. Now the winter is past, the storms are over, the singing of birds is come, the voice of the Turtle, of the Primum Mobile, is heard; O Extatick Elamire! O Seraphic Ela! O Note stepped aside from the Choir of Angels, to entice our Admirations! Doth God dwell with man? can these houses of clay contain him that is whatever is Infinite and Incomprehensible, which he is? Be thou, O Lord, with my pen, and let it be thine Instrument to decipher this, which is so rare, which is whatever Nature can aspire to value.  
Peace of Conscience, a Jewel which abates not price; a child of light admired in all Ages. Persons, Countries sought after when not had, cherished where possessed, deplored when lost; whom Patriarches, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, Christians valued, and to which they peered nothing.  
Peace of conscience, the Salt that seasons Mirth, sweetens Sorrow, and the Plummet that sounds the bottom of every coast, and discovers Shipwreck and safety.  
Peace of Conscience, the Touchstone of our innocency, the probate of our Zeal, the Furnace of our Charity; for then only can we love God and our Neighbour when his love is shed abroad in our hearts, by his holy Spirit, who works this peace in us.  
Peace of Conscience, that Phoenix nest made up of the Perfumes of Graces, out of which expiring, rises peace of Eternity.  
Peace of Conscience, heaven on earth, glory in weakness, light in obscurity, Abraham's bosom in Lazarus sores.  
Peace of Conscience; Goshen in Egypt, God's Segullah to the Alchemy of the world's Admirables; the fat kine of holy serenity, that by a miraculous transposition swallow up all the lean kine of worldly cares, and confounds the wisdom of secular interests.  
Peace of Conscience, the Lily of the valleys in which Christ nestles; the Rose of Sharon, on which the Sun of Righteousness smiles; to which Solomon's bravery is but Beggary, and Herod's oratory but babbling.  
Peace of Conscience, compared with which, Balm of Gilead is but like the trifling Compound of a Quack Salve; and the Gold of Ophir but as dross and dung.  
Peace of Conscience, to which Power and Policy, Arts and Armies, Counsels and Senates are but as Molehills to Mountains, Aunts to Men, Atoms to the body of this earth, and the dwindling light of the candle, to the centre of light enveloped in the Sun.  
Peace, of Conscience, the Music, to which Orpheus, his Harp, and Arion's Pipe, helped on with Siren's voice, are but so many strains of perfect discord and displeasing Harmony.  
Peace of Conscience, the best companion of life, the sweetest Confessor at death, the noblest Memorial after death; nay, the souls prodomus (next under Christ) to Heaven, for thither it ran on Cornelius his errand, to display his Alms; and thither it must go, to the credit and comfort of all that have it, For there is none of this peace to the wicked, saith my God.  
Here, O profane worldlings, here, O wretched Politicoes, ye are outstripped; pleasures, profits, honours, have no suffrage in this confistory, they cannot make their Master's partakers of this delight, to which all others are but shadows, as far beneath them as drops to the Ocean. Neither Alexander's Power, nor Solomon's Wisdom, nor Mithridates his Wealth, nor Justinians Learning, nor Galens Receipts, nor Archimedes his Experiments can procure this; 'tis a gift from above, descending from the Father of Lights, 
Jam. 1.17.  and referring the soul to him as the Author and Finisher of its Felicity.  
Here is somewhat stupendious; but this, how far soever transcending the utmost outward advantage, is but porch and prologue to those Magnalia Dei, those Arcana Patriae, which neither eye hath seen, nor ear have heard, nor entered into the heart of man to think of; namely, the good things God hath laid up in heaven for those that fear him, not to be attained or enjoyed here (alas, our Vessels are too narrow to receive that Ocean where there is incapability of reception, there is no probability of retention:) if we cannot be in possession while in the flesh, let us covet to depose this garment of incapability, and thirst after that glory which Heaven exalts us to; specified to us in that Jewel, Peace Eternal.  
Acquaint now thyself with God and be at Peace; that is, be every way blest; within, in a serenity of mind; without, in a fortunate condition, exempt from evils, or sanctified to thee in spite of evils; 
Prov. 17.7.  for when a man's ways please the Lord, he will make his enemies be at peace with him; or without fail, above, in the beatitude of thy soul to all eternity.  
This is the rest that remains to the people of God; 
Heb. 4.9. John 14.3.  this is the Mansion prepared by Christ, of which he took possession by his Ascension, and in which he now is in Session at the right hand of God. This is that Jerusalem above, 
Gal. 4.26.  which is free, the mother of us all, where Hallelujahs are Music, Angels Choristers, the Divine Nature prospect, Saints Companions, and the Lamb Light in the midst thereof.  
This is Heaven, not in Enthusiastic rhapsodies, not in fanatic Novelties, not in raving Blasphemies, but in deed and truth.  
This is Heaven, not that of pleasure in Amnons' Lust, in Achans Wedg, in Solomon's Wisdom, in Methuselahs' long life, in Achitophel's Craft, or in Judas his gain by Treachery; but Heaven in the bosom of Christ, who is Exalted above Principalities and Powers.  
This is heaven, not in Types and Figures, not in dark and remote views, not in variating forms, and unfixed Stations, but in real consistence, and unalterable duration.  
This is Heaven, not blemished by sin, not tedious through sorrow, not ruled by sinful will, not vanquished by lawless power, not tainted by profaneness, not deserted by time, not impairable in value and real worth, but ever what can be wished for, and never less than it at any time was or is.  
Lastly, This is Heaven, not infected with pride, not dejected with poverty, not shriveled with age, not scorched with heat, not determining with time.  
Heaven, a Kingdom for its glory and capacity, purchased by the price of blood, and the pre-appointment of Mercy; for not all, but for many, yet those a little flock, those who are acquainted with God in grace, and by him rewarded with this Peace.  
Now I am in Meditation at the Ladders top; but have we spoke well of this Canaan? Is not this Peace of eternity the least of our treatment, though in it Christ be, 
Micah. 5.2.  as was Bethlehem Ephrata little amongst the Tribes of Judah, out of which Christ came? Is not Isaak mistaken, and sent away with a small pittance, in stead of the son of Hagar? What means my line upon line on other Subjects less worthy, and my brevity on this head that exceedeth them all.  
Truly more Devotion than words, more Admitation than Oratory befits this Subject; Scholastic Dispute, and eloquent Panegyrics are the Fucuses that adorn this Elementary world, and please its Airy Inhabitants; these are the Diana's of vain men, and those Treasures which they pride in, and rely on, as inexhaustible; and with these they delude souls, and dishonour him who beautified us with that bravery, that we might honour him as our Creator, follow him as our Pattern, yea fall down before him as our Judge. When I am in Meditation of Heaven, I rather pray for a warm heart, and keen affections; for abilities to believe in, and adhere to God, then for curious Speculations and pathetic words; and therefore since faith must supply what sense cannot attain to, and those things that are secret and ineffable, are rather to be adored, then searched into, or written upon; I can here conclude this part of my Meditation in the Wiseman's words, The knowledge of this is too wonderful for me, it is high, I cannot attain unto it.  
And declining further thought of this Peace which here I cannot understand; inquire into the evil we are assured to escape both here and hereafter, which is the fourth Enquiry, How this Peace may be said to repel evil from us? in that clause, So shall no evil come unto thee.  
Peace and Evil are here opposed, not more in the words than sense. Evil like the Canker eats out either our Peace, or at least eclipseth the comfort of it; evil of sin deserves no peace; evil of punishment believes and finds no peace; to the one peace is not, to the other it seems not to be, and so is not at all as to the present discovery: That therefore the Holy Ghost might set every Trophy upon its proper basis, I conceive him, using this order in this Scripture, to teach us, that as Acquaintance with God is the way to peace, so is the peace of God crowned with exemption from evil; and that none can expect to have God's custody; but those which are in League and Amity with him; Be at Peace, so shall no evil come unto thee.  
No Evil, Not Satan, the Tempter to it, and the Traducer for it; Christ's Prayer is our Antimure, Deliver us from evil; that is, from that evil one. From his Power, 
1 Pet. 5.8. Ephes 6.11.  as the Lion that goes about seeking whom he may devour: From his Policy, for we know his Methods, his pious Frauds, his Scriptum ests, his Lamblike, Angellick manifestations, 
2 Cor. 11.14. Matth. 24.24.  his transformations into shows of Light and external sanctity, and all to deceive, if possible, the very Elect.  
From his Agents, who Apelike act his part to much perfection (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) make Merchandise of Faith and a good Conscience, care not what they do to make Proselytes and pervert souls. This crafty Polycrates, Satan, 
2 Pet. 2.3.  moves every stone to his advantage, and hath flags of all colours to hang out for our surprise; he hath Instruments that with the Zeal of old Arsenius seem to forsake their Countries and Fortunes to devote themselves to God; his Luciferi●ns, that come in the vests of innocency, 
Matth. 7.15.  but inwardly are ravening wolves, having the poison of Asps under their tongues, and the rancour of Devils in their hearts; whom Christ commands us to beware of, Mat. 10.17. He hath his Artemona's, that have such convicting deportments that they lead men which way they lift, by their suaviloquius charms, and compleasant influences; his Pharisees, that swallow down Widow's houses in the hollow of long Prayers; that are all to all men, that they might reduce all men to be nothing to any but themselves; his Saducees that deny Resurrection, Angels, Spirit, but what is theirs, those they cry up as Ocular, execrating all that are not of their party, and cry not Grace, Grace to this Apollyon of their designing. Lord, what a Gallamaufry of Frauds hath this great Engineer on foot? How is he furnished to deceive, who hath not only the tongues and pens of many men Learned, but lying Wonders and miraculous Artifices at his service? But we know his methods, and may see this Apicius gaping to devour all; contented with nothing but ruin and disorder, though he cry out with Jehu, Behold my Zeal.  
And it were well if men would try the spirits that now are abroad, for Satan is often a Lying spirit in the mouth of Prophets, and a Prophesying spirit in the mouth of Liars: and if he durst mingle himself with the Sons of God when they came before him of old, may he not now be well mistrusted: 
Job 1.6.  though he quote Scripture with the zeal of a Seraphim, and in the meetings of Christians pray and speak with notable evidence; he who durst appear before Christ with Scripture abused to his own purpose, 
Matth. 4.6.  dare do the like to Christians, whose weakness is more opportune to his Conquest. He is that Evil one, who in his whites is a Devil of Deceit, in his blacks a Devil of Malice, in his Crimsons a Devil of blood; a Devil in all shapes, actions, senses, and happy is it for us that we know his Methods. And Agents; not men of trifling talents, who need vulgar helps to make them eminent; but men of great parts, noble wits, yea often noted lives; speaking to wonder, writing to amazement, living to envy and example; the Leaders of Israel sometimes caused them to err; 
Isai. 9.16.  The Priests divined a falsehood; the Devil of saul's heart (in Samuel; flesh as it were) is potent enough to misguide millions. O Lord what a Progress hath the mystery of iniquity made, when the Serpent stings the Dove to death; Religion becomes politized. What an Egypt will Gunaan be, when Mannah is exchanged for Garlic and Onions, when the Screech Owl extrudes the Turtle; and that be upon us which the Jews feared, John 11.48. The Roman come and take away our Religion, and (I pray God) not our place and Nation.  
Is not this evil of the Devils designing? Is not the hand of hell's Joab, Satan in it, but the sword of the Lord and of his Gideon Christ Jesus shall prevent this, though none stand in the gap; no Moses intercedes, no Phineas executes Judgement; yet this Plague shall cease; God for his own namesake will turn those Locusts (the Jesuits) back to their quarters; and make their Design as a red sea to bury themselves in. The Thumbs of these Adonibezeks shall be cut off, the Pride and Policy of these Absoloms become their ruins, So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord.  
Well, we have a sight of Satan in his power, and agents; now see him in his Policy and end, which is to cut off Samsons locks; to destroy the Males of Israel; to ruin all the Smiths and Forges by which our Spiritual weapons should be edged to oppose him, and defend ourselves against his assaults; thus did the Philistims of old to Israel, 1 Sam. 13.9. But I hope God will turn this Wisdom into Folly, and this. Babel: of Hope into a Babel of Defeat; yea, I will bespeak these Gates of Hell to give way to the Rock of Ages, and to Christ the Corner stone, who is with his Church to the end of the world; and I will pray that the iniquity of their hearts may be forgiven them, who hate the Church of England without a cause, and endeavour to subvert the Religion of it against Scripture that asserts it.  
And now is not custody from this evil an unspeakable Blessing? Is it not as rain to the parched grass, and ought we not to receive this Mercy with the joy of Harvest? Is it not a serious collect which deprecates Satan's success; while he with Herod acts a Tragedy on Innocents'; and labours to steal away the Babe Christ out of his mother's lap the Church; his mother the Church; not to rob the blessed Virgin of her Crown (All Generations call her Blessed, because she bore his body in her womb) but to right the Church against her Rival, the Synagogue of Satan, which disowns her, and seeks Christ out of her, who spiritually is only form in her, from which evil, and the infatuation of it, good Lord deliver us.  
This is the first Evil (Satan) from which the Peace of God shields us, the next is from Sin; like father, like child; a chip of the old block, a branch of that Lie which was from the beginning.  
From sin, the evil of inquination, that which defiles the man, defaces God's image, passes an eternal exile twixt the soul and him, for he hath no fellowship with unfruitful works of Darkness; His eye is on them that are upright, 
Prov. 2. ult.  but he cutteth off the wicked from the earth, and rooteth out the Transgressor's.  
From sin, the Evil of Angels, for because of folly beheld in them, they were cast from Heaven; 
1 Pet. 2.4. Isai 30.33.  the evil of Kings and great men, for whom Tophet is prepared of old; Sin, the evil of men of low degree; sin, the evil of all; 
1 John 5.19.  for the whole world groaneth under it, and lies in it.  
From sin, the eyes grief, 
Gen. 3.6.66.  because by that it prevailed against Eve, by that against the sons of God of the old world: Sin, the hearts ache; thus in Saint Paul crying out, 
Rom 7.24. Psal. 39 ●.  O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death! Sin, the feets snare, against which David cautions, I said I will take heed to my ways; Sin, the tongues temptation to speak unadvisedly; Sin, the Catholic Cross to all that are crucified with Christ, and mystical members of him; Sin, the breach of God's Law, the grief of his Spirit, the price of his Son, the torment of his Combatant, and the triumph of his Crowned one's; Sin, the Monster of Paradise, for there it was plotted; the first born of life, for therein it is acted; the plague of this world, on whose Stage it is attired, and thence maturated. Sin, something of nothing, a tumourous bubble of pestilent pride, scorching Lust, and empty vanity, evaporating in nothing but the Lust of the flesh, Lust of the eye, and the Pride of life.  
Sin an evil inward in the thought, outward in the act, upward against God whom it contemns, and downward against earth whom it burdens, and all to gratify him who is Prince of the Air, and rules in the hearts of the Children of disobedience. Sin against the Creation, whom it disorders; against Redemption, which it frustrates; against Sanctification, which it defies; against Preservation, which it contradicts; against Salvation, which it abjures. Sin, against which, as the greatest evil, God protests; to prevent which Angels watch; to recall from which the Spirit solicits; to direct how to avoid which, the word is positive; against which to practise, the holy men of all ages are precedents; yea, to expiate which the blood of Christ the Lamb of God was shed, and his soul for it made an Offering.  
What shall I say more against this which is so dishonourable to God, and aught to be execrable to his people? but in the words of Moses, Cursed be he that continues not in all the words of the Law to do them; that is, who desires not to give sin the foil, by a contrary and constant course of virtue, according to the will of God in his Word, and the assistance he hath from God in this Race to complete this resolution; for without that we can do nothing.  
Well then, to be helped from this evil, is a mercy, a consequent of God's peace with the soul; that is clear from the Prophet, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace (or nearer the Original, in peace, peace) whose heart is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee. He, O holy soul, that keepeth thee never slumbereth, his eye is on thy feet, to keep them; He keepeth the feet of his Saints, saith Hannah: On thine eye, to hinder thy lust; on thy hand, to prevent thy cruelty; on thy tongue, to suspend thine obscenity; on thy whole man, to keep thee from sin, that it reign not in this mortal body of thine. He was with Noah in the Ark, to keep him from despair of out-living the Flood, which drowned the world; with Moses in the wilderness, to preserve him from disbanding his rude multitude, whom God designed for Canaan, and inclining him to bear the petulancies of popularities; rather than choose the contents of a private retirement: He was with David in his flights from Saul, and fights with Philistims: And kept him from desponding, upon assurance of a Kingdom for his reward: He was with Jeremy in the Dungeon, and with Jonah in the Whale's belly; to sweeten straits to his, and to make them more pure in their enlargements. He was with Peter's tongue, converting thousands at a Sermon, and making his pride do penance where it offended, yea, weep out its own retraction. He was with Paul by grace sufficient for him, when he saw the messenger of Satan tempted him by abundant revelations to be lifted up above measure. In the fire he is with his, and in the water he is with his: yea with you, O holy souls, he is always, to the end of the world. With you (O holy souls) to keep you in all your ways, to secure you in all your dangers, to resolve you in all your doubts, to support you under all your sufferings, and with you to deliver you out of them: With you as a Sun to enlighten, as a shield to defend, as an Anchor to rest on, as a Pilot to guide you, and as a Champion to overcome your fears. With you, to keep you in your Race, that you faint not; and with you, to reward you with fullness of joy in his presence. This is second to the former privilege, the peace of God keeps from Evil. 1. Satan: 2. Sin.  
The third Viol is not yet past, but behind, that is, Sorrow and Sufferings: those it also preserves against, not that they dash not on us, but that they overwhelm us not; not that they come not nigh, but that they come not over us to overcome us: Christ in the Ship privilegeth not from tossing, but drowning. I will not fear the ranting Seas, if my rebuking Saviour (whose voice those waves and winds obey) be embarked with me. Mistake not (O holy souls) your Lesson; it is the voice of your Beloved that says, In the world ye shall have Tribulation: 
Job 16. last.  the Cross is your Saviour's Sheep-mark, and those that are of his flock, brook his Ear mark; their ear must not refuse the Trial Christ's side had; if that was pierced, they must expect like measure; and those that will not follow him in the Regeneration, have little cause to conclude him theirs in his Kingdom. What (O man) wilt thou with thy Saviour wear the Crown of Glory, and refuse that other of Thorns with him? Wilt thou be acclamated for a Co-heir, a King, and Priest with Christ, and not be spit upon and derided with him here? Wilt thou drink the new wine with him in his Kingdom, and decline the Vinegar and Gall here given him? Dost thou hope to be drawn up after him, and not resolve here to tread the Wine-press of wrath, to endure the contradiction of sinners with him? If this thou lookest for, thou art on thy wander, far from thy Mark; thou art of the rich young man's pack, who would keep Christ and his Wealth too, or no Christ; Cresianus es, non Christianus; there is one thing necessary which thou needest, Deny thyself, take up the Cross, and follow Christ, to Mount Calvary, before thou come to Mount Zion.  
And O that this Meditation were but canon with many such Zelots as Julian was, who grasp Power and worldly greatness with as eager talons as Lions and Panthers do Lambs and Infants, and think they never have enough, till they have too much Mammon for Christ to cohabit with. These are they that are Saints, as Peter was a Penitent, after many denials and perjuries; not Saints because penitent as was he, whom a Cock wakened; when these stop their ears against good counsel, and harden their hearts against reproof; yea, hate him that reproveth in the Gate. These are they who love Christ when he is with those in Prince's Courts, clothed in soft Raiment, sat in Royal Apparel on the Throne, when the people cry him up; but when he is traduced, when in the High Priests Hall, when trampled upon, than they are gone like Summer birds in Winter; they are all for a Pompous Reign on earth, before that more glorious Reign in Heaven; and therefore they will secure themselves by might and main against all danger and diminution here. Do these consider Christ had never been glorious, but by sufferings, nor the Church been victorious but by the red Cross? How much of holy Writ do these men make Apocryphal, while they entail external prosperity to Saintship, and think none worthy to live, but those who look upon the Cross as a curse, servile supplicium? What think they of those words of the Lord Jesus, In the world ye (Who? my holy Apostles, as pure Saints as any such, none excepted; nay, to whom compared, those are but as Jewish Sepulchers) shall have affliction; not be afflicted, but have affliction, in the Abstract; there shall be a kind of connaturality betwixt you and affliction. What judge they of Saint Paul's peremptory position, All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffex persecution? What of Saint Peter's prediction of fiery Trials, and Encouragements to prepare for them? Nay, what of our Saviour's Benediction on those that suffer for Righteousness sake? Are these Tales and Figments? Are these Legends and Foists? Are these Lilies of his field, not to be compared to the solomon's of their fancy in all his Royalty? I trow there is no man so fond, but sees self more set up then Christ in this Pageant, for take away sufferings, and where is Faith? where Charity? where Martyrdom? nay, where is, or to what purpose that animative reference of the Holy Ghost displaying Christ, glorious in witnessing a good confession before Pontius Pilate his Judge, who could wash his hand, and protest Christ's innocency, and yet durst not deliver him from the rage of the multitude No wonder they cry down Scripture, and Fathers, and Church Stories, who cry up such wild, eccentric, worldly subtleties for Religion, and own Christ with their mouths, as the Jews did him on the Cross, only the more to reproach him.  
Well, let these stray from the fold as wildly as they will, it is thy part (O holy soul) to keep close to thy colours, 
Voti tunc Christianis erat pro Christi nomine gladio percuti. S. Hieron. in vita Pauli Eremitae de Temp. Decii.  Christ looketh thou shouldst not only he ready to own, but of need be, to die for him; thou must expect sorrows, perhaps not such as with Spira will make thee despair, turn thy back on Gon, as Ephraim did in the day of Battle; but such as may exercise thy Grace, correct thine out-going, mind thee of thine end, admonish thee of thy duty, rouse thee to get thine Evidence ready, to make thy Calling and Election sure, and by a holy end prepare thee for a blessed Exchange.  
The Promise is to be secure, not exempt; not that ye shall not to be assaulted, but not be overcome; not that ye shall not be chastened, but that ye shall not be condemned; not that evils shall not come near you, but that they shall not domineer over you; not that ye shall not be buffeted by Satan, but that Divine Grace shall be sufficient for you.  
The Peace of God gained by Acquaintance with him, is no plea of prescription against trouble and evil; but this it doth, it modifies evil, so that it comes not noxiously near a godly man, as it is evil, so it's kept at distance, as it is a Mark of Divine love, as it is a voice to reclaim, as it is commanded to be Gods Monitor to us, so we must welcome it as did David, It is good for me that I was afflicted; and pray for it as preventive Physic, that keeps us from Plethoric Distempers. Many men may thank God for their crosses, without which they had never come to Heaven: there is a most notable Story in the Legend, of a blind woman, who besought Saint Bridget to give her sight; the Saint (so called) at her entreaty, 
Quo presentor sum mundo, eo absentior sum Christo.  did; and when she had seen four dages, she desired Saint Bridget, that she would take away her sight again, adding this for reason, The more I see of the world, the less am I conversant with Christ.  
4. Lastly, The peace in Acquaintance with God, will keep thee from the Evil of Evils, Death eternal. God suffers not his to fall into that pit, out of which there is no redemption; His, as they have no part in the sin of the Damned, so shall they not partake in the torment of the Damned: 'Tis not, Go ye Blessed, but Go ye Cursed into everlasting sire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels. And indeed, this is the Mercy of Mercies; this is one part of the Recompense of Virtue and Godly life, that it shall not only have comfort in seeing God gloriously waving the Banner of love over it, but becoming its Guard to Heaven, and nullifying Satan's attempts on it; this is, that in which the mercy of God shines as at noon tide, and comfortably exalts its self above Justice, as that which crowns God, and renders him Beloved and admired of all that know him.  
But perhaps (O man) thou art curious to know what this Death Eternal is? This is a vanity, and if thou beware not, may be the vexation of thy spirit, but if thou wouldst ken the scantling of it, our blessed Lord hath defined it to be utter darkness, 
〈◊〉. 8.12.  where is weeping and watling, and gnashing of teeth; it is exile from God, and judgement to the society of damned spirits, for ever.  
Death Eternal, what is it not that is absolute tristicity? it is a living death, and a dying life; it is the wages of sin, the sentence of Justice, the utmost period of Plagues; a most exquisite misery, a most Merciless Torment, an Eternal Passion! Eternal Death; it is misery to the eye, for it shall not see God; it is a worm gnawing on the heart, for it shall consider the evil it hath done, for which is inflicted that evil it suffereth; it is a vexation to the senses, which to augment the tortures of their condition shall be renewed and made more sensible; it is an excess which shall never have end, but be eternally what it is, and impossible to be what it is not.  
Death Eternal; it is the region of Blasphemy, the Cauldron of Nimrods', Nero's Judasses', those chambers of ruin into which they descend, who desert God by sin, and are deserted by God in just Judgement. Death Eternal; it is a gulf without bottom; a doom beyond ransom; a fire that burns, and is never extinguished; and a restless craver, never satisfied.  
What shall I say other then that of the Psalmist, Remember this ye that frrget God, 
Psal. 50.22.  lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver.  
These are the Evils from which peace in Acquaintance with God privilegeth the soul.  
But how (cries the holy soul) cometh this to be my privilege? How, O soul? Surely not by thy merit, but 1. By the Mercy of God; which hath bestowed that good, as an Enticement to be his; God invites sinners to his Mercy. 
Isai. 30.18.  He waits to be gracious, he would have them come to the waters of Life and drink freely; 
Matth. 11.28.  he calls to you to come, Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden; he rewards them when they come, Those that come unto me, I will in no sort cast away; he complains of them when they do not come, 
John 5.40.  They will not come unto me that they might have life. God in goodness gins with man, and gives him co-operating Grace; and it is his own obduration that makes Mercy retreat; while we are willing he assists us, but when we draw back, he will have no pleasure in us. Mercy makes the Marriage betwixt God and the Soul, and Peace is the Dowry that God gives his Beloved; those that are one with him by Grace cannot be severed from him and themselves through Evil. Here is the best Exchange for profit, here is the Indias of holy Riches, here is Canaan flowing with Milk and Honey, here is the light which admits no darkness, and the day that never sees night. here is the Price and the Pearl, the work, and the wages: God to whom by faith we must run, and Mercy, which by faith from him we may receive; here is the door by which we must enter into the joy of our Master; and here is the Master, who will not shut the door against us, because we come not before bid, nor can we stay there longer than welcome. By thee, O Sun of the Morning, and first born of Heaven (for thou wast in the beginning) is our Acquaintance wrought with God, and our evil from sin prevented.  
2. This comes to be the holy souls privilege, from the Purchase of Christ; 
P●t. 1.21.  He, he redeemed us, not only from our vain conversation, but from the wrath to come; from the bondage of sin and Satan, into the glorious liberty of the sons of God: 
Gal. 3.13. Rom. 8.21. Ephes 2.14.  'Tis he that is our Peace, and 'tis he that keeps us from that Evil one. The Redemption wrought by him on the Cross, was not only from wrath, but to himself: He hath redeemed us to himself out of every Nation, etc. 
Rev. 5.9, 10.  Not only to free us from the rage of sin and Satan, but to make us Kings and Priests, to preserve us to his Heavenly Kingdom; and herein he is a Saviour to the utmost; to the utmost of men: 
Hebr. 7.25.  he is the Saviour of his whole body, Jews, Gentiles, far, near, bond, free, rich, poor, high, low, his Providence is over his whole family; his rain reins upon bad as well as good. To the utmost of things, all cooperate by his interposition and ordination, to the good of his; the Graces of Godly men make them admire him; the sins of others to watch over themselves more; nay, their own failings carry them to God by Petition for pardon and grace sufficient for them; the crosses they carry have Christ in them, the reproaches they suffer have Christ with them, the glory they aim at, Christ will bring them to; Life, which to many is a pleasure, Christ imbitters, and yet rescues them from any provocation to impatience: they use it as the time wherein to work, but they desire to be dissolved in Christ's time, For to be with him is best of all. To the uttermost of time: his merit is a light unextinguishable, was, is, and ever shall be: the Patriarches before, the Prophets in, the holy men after the Law got to Heaven upon this wing, in this Chariot were they thither transported, in the garment of this elder brother were they wrapped, for that only is the Wedding garment; This is the one and only way; narrow, not open to all, but to those that believe; but yet a sure way, bounded by the sure mercies of David; and herein he is a Saviour beyond all, a Superlative Redeemer, for he is eternal, whereas others are but Temporary; he is complete, whereas others are but partial. Where are Moses and Joshuah, David and Jeptha, who saved the Jews? Where Caesar, Scipio, Metellus the Deliverers of the Romans? Where Codrus, Themistocles, Photion, by whom the Greeks were delivered? These are dead, and their Territories by others possessed; nay, their ashes are become the prey of Tyrants, who glut themselves with revenges on their relics: but Christ is the Saviour of his body, the Church; for ever he is, and ever will be the light in the midst of it, and a wall of fire round about it; For Christ hath purchased its peace, and paid (with reverence be it conceived) for that interest in God, which will keep off evil from coming to his.  
3. This privilege from evil is the natural child of Acquaintance with God; God never gives himself, without all that is his; and if all, than his peace, than his protection from evil; the Prophet tells us of Gods speaking peace to his people; 
Psal. 85.8. Isai. 26.20.41.14. Psal. 145.20  of his counsels to them to enter into rest till the indignation be over; of his cordial, Fear not thou worm Jacob, I will be with thee: of his corrasive to wicked men whom he will destroy. And whence (O holy soul) comes all this, but from that proximity twixt God and the soul? This is the pay of our patience, the result of our fidelity to God; he that follows the Lamb, 
Rev. 2.17.  shall not miss his white stone and new name. God never difmisses his without a blessing, like that from the womb of the Morning; he gives them peace to poise them here amidst their many storms in this life, and he keeps evil far from them; yea, that which is the greatest evil, after their deaths, eternal evil.  
And now me thinks I am of S. Peter's mind on the Mount, It is good to be here: here are three words in this Scripture, like the three Tabernacles in that: Acquaintance with God, Peace and Protection from evil; and these are (as Christ's face was transsigured) in a sort seraphickly expressed, and proposed after a celestial method; here is Acquaintance; usually res doloris, a vanity of vanity, in the multitude of which there is sorrow and distraction, strangely meliorated by its adjunct, highly imbeautied by its entail to God, of a Ceremony and a necessity made a virtue; Acquaint thyself with God. Next, here is the Lady Peace, not like that of the world, with Rachel mourning, with Thamar thrust out of doors after it hath served a turn; but like the Queen's daughter, glorious within, as beloved of God, and beauteous without, as decked with the Needle work of external accommodations: Lastly, here is evil profligated and dismantled of its force; the Lion exungued, and the sting taken out of the Serpent's tail, as an effect of divine bounty, and this by the Chemistry of God, who is able to bring good from evil.  
What then remains to this Meditation, but to summon the last Quere to give in its verdict? And that is the season when this Acquaintance with God is to be had, and these consequences obtained, in the Particle now, Acquaint [now] thy sef with God, etc.  
Now: Season seasons every thing; the Wise man said it, 
Prov. 25.12.  A word in season is like apples if Gold in Pictures of Silver; a fair show, but Metal upon Metal makes no Heraldry, but in a Picture 'twill pass, and so will time pass, of which this now is a part, and the best part because present; Acquaint now: Now; when? in life, in the day of time, in the season of Mercy, in Youth, before time be not, thou go down into the grave, and be seen no more, yea, before thou be gathered to dust, and worms feed upon thy flesh.  
Now; not anon: Now, lest sickness, age, death prevent anon, and thou have no time to groan for Peace, or cry for Mercy; our pardon is ever in danger, where our repentance is in debate.  
Now: this is to be wise for thyself (O soul) for it only is in thy possession, what a day will bring forth thou knowest not, therefore harken to Wisdoms voice, While it is called to day; delays ought to be as past time, out of thy power, since to work out now thy salvation with fear and trembling is thy prudence.  
Time hath no longer a race than a Creature hath, it is always on a swift Ebb, ere long it will be low water, and then where the tree falls, it must lie: and since time and tide stay for no man, O my soul, do thou watch them, and take time to do thy task; eternity gives good wages. Remember who said, 
2 Tim. 4.7.  I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith, from henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness.  
Now: not at the sixth or last hour of the day, for it is not certain whether thou shalt live upon this hazard to receive the penny of Eternity, which follows the orderly expense of time; but now, this instant, moment set to thy Tackling; the storm is great and thy vessel queasy, and therefore put in to the next Harbour: What thou dost, do quickly, 
Eccles. 9 ●●.  For there is neither wisdom nor strength in the grave whither thou goest, nor ever will be in thy power to untie thy chain of torments, or regain a lost happiness.  
Therefore (O my soul) receive thou this counsel with joy, and perfect it by holy industry, while thou hast time, talents, and what may further help thee in this blessed Husbandry and Sacred Thrift. Look not upon the Lions in the way, the narrow passage to life eternal, the obloquys of men who will judge thee mopish because thou labourest for that Jewel that thou hast lost, and wouldst find again. These discouragements may work on lazy and thriftless souls, who starve when there is bread enough in their father's house: follow thou the Saints of all ages, who by Faith and Patience inherit the Promises; and by their holy example be thou stimulated to take the Cross for thy Title to the Crown of Life; yea, contest thou for their Crown, not to rob them, but to right thyself, who art born to equal hopes with them: and comfort thyself in that promise of the holy Apostle (who is now at peace with God, and is taken from the evil of this world unto the glory above) In due time ye shall reap if you faint not. 
Gal. 6.9.   
FINIS.