SECT. I.

DEvotion is the life of Religion, the very soul of Piety, the highest imploi­ment of grace; and no other then the prepossession of heaven by the Saints of God here upon earth; every improve­ment whereof is of more advan­tage and value to the Christian soule, then all the profits and contentments which this world can afford it.

There is a kind of Art of De­votion (if we can attain unto it) whereby the practice thereof may be much advanced: Wee [Page 2] have known indeed some holy souls, which out of the generall precepts of piety, and their own happy experiments of Gods mercy, have, through the grace of God, grown to a great mea­sure of perfection this way; which yet might have been much expe­dited, and compleated, by those helps, which the greater illumi­nation and experience of others might have afforded them: Like as we see it in other faculties; there are those, who out of a na­turall dexterity, and their own frequent practice, have got into a safe posture of defence, and have handled their weapon with commendable skill, whom yet the Fence-schoole might have raised to an higher pitch of cun­ning: As nature is perfited, so grace is not a little furthered, by Art; since it pleaseth the wis­dome of God, to work ordina­rily upon the soul, not by the immediate power of miracle, but [Page 3] in such methods, and by such means, as may most conduce to his blessed ends. It is true, that our good motions come from the Spirit of God; neither is it lesse true, that all the good coun­sails of others proceed from the same Spirit; and that good Spi­rit cannot be crosse to itselfe; he therefore that infuses good thoughts into us, suggests also such directions, as may render us apt both to receive and improve them: If God be bounteous, we may not be idle, and neglective of our spirituall aids.

SECT. II.

II you tell me (by way of in­stance in a particular act of Devotion) that there is a gift of prayer, and that the Spirit of God is not tyed to rules; I yeeld both these; but withall, I must say there are also helps of pray­er, [Page 4] and that we must not expect immediate inspirations: I finde the world much mistaken in both; They think that man hath the gift of prayer, that can ut­ter the thoughts of his heart roundly unto God, that can ex­presse himselfe smoothly in the phrase of the holy Ghost, and presse God with most proper words, and passionate vehe­mence: And surely this is a com­mendable faculty, wheresoever it is: but this is not the gift of prayer; you may call it, if you will, the gift of Elocution. Doe we say that man hath the gift of pleading, that can talk eloquent­ly at the Barre, that can in good termes loud and earnestly impor­tune the Judge for his Client; and not rather he that brings the strongest reason, and quotes his books, and precedents with most truth, and clearest evidence, so as may convince the Jury, and perswade the Judge? Doe we [Page 5] say he hath the gift of preaching, that can deliver himselfe in a flowing manner of speech, to his hearers, that can cite Scriptures, or Fathers, that can please his auditory with the flowers of Rhetorick; or rather, he, that can divide the Word aright, in­terpret it soundly, apply it judi­ciously, put it home to the con­science, speaking in the evidence of the Spirit, powerfully con­vincing the gainsayers, comfor­ting the dejected, and drawing every soul nearer to heaven? The like must we say for prayer; the gift whereof he may be truly said to have, not that hath the most rennible tongue, (for pray­er is not so much a matter of the lips, as of the heart) but he that hath the most illuminated appre­hension of the God to whom he speaks, the deepest sense of his own wants, the most eager long­ings after grace, the ferventest desires of supplyes from heaven; [Page 6] and in a word, whose heart sends up the strongest groans and cries to the Father of mercies.

Neither may we look for En­thusiasmes, and immediate inspi­rations; putting our selves upon Gods Spirit, in the solemn exer­cises of our invocation, without heed, or meditation; the dange­rous inconvenience whereof hath been too often found in the rash, and unwarrantable expressions, that have fallen from the mouths of unwary suppliants; but we must addresse our selves with due preparation, to that holy work; we must digest our suits; and fore-order our supplications to the Almighty; so that there may be excellent and necessary use of meet rules of our Devotion.

He, whose Spirit helps us to pray, and whose lips taught us how to pray, is an alsufficient example for us: all the skill of men, and Angels, cannot afford a more exquisite modell of sup­plicatory [Page 7] Devotion, then that blesser Saviour of ours gave us in the mount; led in by a divine, and heart-raising preface, carried out with a strong and heavenly enforcement; wherein an awfull compellation makes way for pe­tition; and petition makes way for thanksgiving; the petitions marshalled in a most exact order, for spirituall blessings, which have an immediate concernment of God, in the first place; then for temporall favours, which concern ourselves, in the second; so punctuall a methode had not been observed by him that hea­reth prayers, if it had been all one to him, to have had our De­votions confused, and tumultu­ary.

SECT. III.

THere is commonly much mistaking of Devotion as if [Page 8] it were nothing but an act of vo­call prayer, expiring with that holy breath, and revived with the next task of our invocation; which is usually measured of ma­ny, by frequence, length, smooth­nesse of expression, lowdnesse, vehemence; Whereas, indeed, it is rather an habituall dispositi­on of an holy soul, sweetly con­versing with God, in all the forms of an heavenly (yet awful) familiarity; and a constant inter­tainment of ourselves here be­low with the God of spirits, in our sanctifyed thoughts, and af­fections; One of the noble exer­cises whereof, is our accesse to the throne of grace in our pray­ers; whereto may be added, the ordering of our holy attendance upon the blessed word and sacra­ments of the Almighty: Nothing hinders therefore, but that a stammering suppliant may reach to a more eminent devotion, then he that can deliver himselfe [Page 9] in the most fluent and pathetical forms of Elocution; and that our silence may be more devout then our noise. We shall not need to send you to the Cels or cloysters for this skill; although it will hardly be beleeved, how far some of their contemplative men have gone in the Theory hereof; Per­haps, like as Chymists give rules for the attaining of that Elixir, which they never found; for sure they must needs fail of that per­fection they pretend, who erre commonly in the object of it, always in the ground of it, which is faith; stripped, by their opini­on, of the comfortablest use of it, certainty of application.

SECT. IV.

AS there may be many re­semblances betwixt Light and Devotion, so this one espe­cially, that as there is a light [Page 10] universally diffused through the ayre, and there is a particular recollection of light into the bo­dy of the sun, and starres; so it is in Devotion; There is a generall kind of Devotion that goes through the renewed heart and life of a Christian, which we may term Habituall, and Virtuall; and there is a speciall, and fixed ex­ercise of Devotion, which wee name Actuall.

The soul that is rightly affect­ed to God, is never void of an holy Devotion; where ever it is, what ever it doth, it is still lifted up to God, and fastned upon him, and converses with him; ever serving the Lord in feare, and rejoycing in him with trembling.

For the effectuall performance whereof, it is requisite first, that the heart be setled in a right apprehension of our God; with­out which, our Devotion is not thanklesse only, but sinfull: With [Page 11] much labour therefore, and agi­tation of a mind illuminated from above, we must find our selves wrought to an high, aw­full, adorative, and constant con­ceit of that incomprehensible Majesty, in whom we live, and move, and are; One God, in three most glorious Persons, in­finite in wisdome, in power, in justice, in mercy, in providence, in al that he is, in al that he hath, in all that he doth; dwelling in light inaccessible, attended with thousand thousands of Angels; whom yet we neither can know, (neither would it avail us if we could) but in the face of the e­ternall Son of his Love, our bles­sed Mediatour God and Man; who sits at the right hand of Majesty in the highest heavens; from the sight of whose glorious humanity, we comfortably rise to the contemplation of that in­finite Deity, whereto it is inse­parably united; in and by him, [Page 12] (made ours by a lively Faith) finding our persons, and obedi­ence accepted, expecting our full redemption, and blessednesse. Here, here must our hearts be un­removeably fixed; In his light must we see light: no cloudy oc­currences of this world, no bu­sie imployments, no painfull suf­ferings must hinder us from thus seeing him that is invisible.

SECT. V.

NEither doth the devout heart see his God aloof off, as dwelling above, in the circle of heaven, but beholds that infi­nite Spirit really present with him; The Lord is upon thy right hand, saith the Psalmist; Our bo­dily eye doth not more certain­ly see our own flesh, then the spirituall eye sees God close by us; Yea, in us; A mans own soul is not so intimate to himselfe, as [Page 13] God is to his soul; neither doe we move by him only, but in him: What a sweet conversation therefore, hath the holy soule with his God? What heavenly conferences have they two, which the world is not privy to; whiles God entertaines the soule with the divine motions of his Spirit; the soul entertains God with gracious compliances? Is the heart heavy with the grievous pressures of affliction? the soule goes in to his God, and pours out it self before him in earnest be­moanings, and supplications; the God of mercy ansers the soul again, with seasonable refresh­ings of comfort: Is the heart se­cretly wounded and bleeding with the conscience of some sin? it speedily betakes it self to the great Physitian of the soul, who forthwith applies the balme of Gilead for an unfailing and pre­sent cure: Is the heart distracted with doubts? the soul retires to [Page 14] that inward Oracle of God for counsail, he returns to the soul an happy setlement of just reso­lution: Is the heart deeply affe­cted with the sense of some spe­cial favour from his God? the soul breaks forth into the passi­onate voice of praise and thanks­giving; God returns the pleasing testimony of a cheerfull accepta­tion: Oh blessed soul, that hath a God to go unto upon all occasi­ons; Oh infinite mercy of a God, that vouchsafes to stoop to such intirenesse with dust and ashes. It was a gracious speech of a D^r. Preston. worthy Divine upon his death­bed, now breathing towards hea­ven, that he should change his place, not his company: His con­versation was now before-hand with his God, and his holy An­gels; the only difference was, that he was now going to a more free and full fruition of the Lord of life, in that region of glory above, whom he had truely [Page 15] (though with weaknesse and im­perfection) enjoyed in this vale of tears.

SECT. VI.

NOw, that these mutuall re­spects may bee sure not to cool with intermission, the de­vout heart takes all occasions both to think of God, and to speak to him. There is nothing that he sees, which doth not bring God to his thoughts. In­deed there is no creature, wher­in there are not manifest foot­steps of omnipotence; Yea, which hath not a tongue to tell us of its Maker. The heavens de­clare Ps. 19. 1, 2. the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handy­work; One day telleth another, and one night certifieth another: Yea, O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisedome hast thou Ps. 104. 24. made them all: The earth is full [Page 16] of thy riches, so is the great and wide sea, where are things creep­ing innumerable, both small and great beasts: Every herbe, flower, spire of grasse, every twigge and leafe; every worm and flye; every scale and feather; every billow and meteor, speaks the power and wisdome of their infinite Crea­tor; Solomon sends the slug­gard to the Ant; Esay sends the Jews to the Oxe and the Asse; Our Saviour sends his Disciples to the Ravens, and to the Lil­lies of the field; There is no creature of whom we may not learn something; we shall have spent our time ill in this great school of the world, if in such store of Lessons, we be non­proficients in devotion. Vain Idolaters make to themselves i­mages of God, wherby they sin­fully represent him to their thoughts and adoration; could they have the wit and grace to [Page 17] see it, God hath taken order to spare them this labour, in that he hath stamped in every crea­ture such impressions of his infi­nite power, wisdome, goodnes, as may give us just occasion to worship and praise him with a safe and holy advantage to our souls: For the invisible things of God from the Creation of the world, are clearly seen, being un­derstood by the things that are made, even his eternall power and Godhead. And indeed, where­fore serve all the volumes of Naturall history, but to be so many Commentaries upon the severall creatures, wherein we may reade God; and even those men who have not the skill, or leisure to peruse them, may yet out of their own thoughts, and observation, raise from the sight of all the works of God suffici­ent matter to glorifie him. Who can be so stupide as not to take notice of the industry of the [Page 18] Bee, the providence of the Ant, the cunning of the Spider, the reviving of the Flye, the worms indeavour of revenge, the subtil­ty of the Fox, the sagacity of the hedge-hog; the innocence and profitablenesse of the sheep, the laboriousnesse of the Oxe, the obsequiousnesse of the Dog, the timerous shifts of the Hare, the nimblenesse of the Dear, the generosity of the Lion, the cou­rage of the Horse, the fiercenesse of the Tiger; the cheerfull mu­sick of Birds, the harmlesnesse of the Dove, the true love of the Turtle, the Cocks observation of time, the Swallows archite­cture; shortly, (for it were easie here to be endlesse) of the seve­rall qualities, and dispositions of every of those our fellow­creatures, with whom we con­verse on the face of the earth; and who that takes notice of them, cannot fetch from every act, and motion of theirs, some [Page 19] monition of duty, and occasion of devout thoughts? Surely, I fear many of us Christians, may justly accuse our selves as too neglective of our duty this way; that having thus long spent our time in this great Academy of the world, we have not, by so many silent documents, learned to ascribe more glory to our Creator; I doubt those crea­tures, if they could exchangetheir brutality with our reason, being now so docible as to learn of us so far as their sense can reach, would approve themselves bet­ter scholars to us, then we have been unto them.

Withall, I must adde that the devout soul stands not always in need of such outward moni­tors, but finds within it self, suffi­cient incitements to raise up it self to a continuall minding of God; and makes use of them ac­cordingly; and, if at any time, being taken up with importu­nate [Page 20] occasions of the world, it finds God missing but an hour, it chides it self for such neglect, and sets it self to recover him with so much more eager affecti­on: as the faithfull Spouse in the Canticles, when she finds him Cant. 5. 6. whom her soul loved, with­drawn from her for a season, puts her self into a speedy search after him, and gives not over till she have attained his presence.

SECT. VII.

NOw as these many monitors both outward and inward, must elevate our hearts very frequently, to God; so those raised hearts must not entertain him with a dumb contemplation, but must speak to him in the language of spirits: All occasi­ons therefore must be taken of sending forth pious and heaven­ly [Page 21] ejaculations to God; The devout soul may doe this more then an hundred times a day, without any hinderance to his speciall vocation: The Hus­wife at her Wheel, the Weaver at his Loom, the Husbandman at his Plough, the Artificer in his Shop, the Traveller in his way, the Merchant in his Warehouse may thus enjoy God in his bu­fiest imployment; For, the soul of man is a nimble spirit; and the language of thoughts needs not take up time; and though we now, for examples sake, cloath them in words, yet in our practice we need not. Now these Ejaculations may be either at large, or Occasionall: At large, such as those of old Jacob, O Lord I have waited for thy salvation; or that of David, O save me for thy mercies sake: And these, either in matter of Humiliation, or of Imploration, or of Thanks­giving. In all which, we cannot [Page 22] follow a better pattern then the sweet singer of Israel, whose heavenly conceptions we may either borrow, or imitate.

In way of Humiliation, such as these. Heal my soul, O Lord, for I have sinned against thee. Oh remē ­ber Ps. 41. 4. not my old sins, but have mercy upon me. If thou wilt be extream to 79. 8. mark what is done amisse, O Lord who may abide it? Lord thou knowest the thoughts of man that 130. 3. they are but vain; O God, why 94. 11. abhorrest thou my soul, and hidest thy face from me?

In way of Imploration. Vp 3. 7. Lord, and help me O God; Oh let my heart be sound in thy sta­tutes, 89. 48. that I be not ashamed. Lord, 109. 21. where are thy old loving mercies? Oh deliver me, for I am helplesse, and my heart is wounded within me. Comfort the soul of thy ser­vant, 86. 4. for unto thee, O Lord, due I lift up my soul. Goe not far from 71. 10. 86. 11. me O God. O knit my heart unto thee that I may fear thy Name. [Page 23] Thou art my helper and redeemer, Ps. 70. 6. O Lord make no long tarrying. Oh be thou my help in trouble, for 60. 11. vain is the help of man. Oh guide 71. 23. me with thy counsell, and after that receive me to thy glory. My 31. 17. time is in thy hand, deliver me from the hands of mine enemies. Oh withdraw not thy mercy from 40. 14. me, O Lord. Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousnesse because of 5. 8. mine enemies. O let my soul live, 119. penul. and it shall praise thee.

In way of Thankesgiving: Oh 68. 35. God, wonderfull art thou in thine holy places. Oh Lord, how glorious 92. 5. are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep. Oh God, who is like 71. 17. unto thee! The Lord liveth, and 18. 47. 63. 4. blessed be my strong helper. Lord, thy loving kindnesse is better then life it self. All thy works praise 145. 10. thee, O Lord, and thy Saints give thanks unto thee. Oh how mani­fold 104. 25. are thy works! in wisedome hast thou made them all. Who is 18. 31. God but the Lord, and who hath [Page 24] any strength except our God? We Ps. 20. 5. will rejoyce in thy salvation, and triumph in thy Name, O Lord. Oh that men would praise the 107. 8: 31. 21. Lord for his goodnesse. Oh how plentifull is thy goodnesse, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee! Thou Lord hast never 9. 10. failed them that seek thee. In thy presence is the fulnesse of joy, and 16. 12. at thy right hand there is pleasure for evermore. Lord, what is man that thou art mindful of him? Not 8. 4. unto us Lord, not unto us, but unto 115. 1. thy Name give the praise.

SECT. VIII.

OCcasionall Ejaculations are such, as are moved upon the presence of some such ob­ject as carries a kinde of relati­on or analogy to that holy thought which we have enter­tained. Of this nature I finde that, which was practised in [Page 25] S. Basils time; that, upon the lighting of candles, the manner was to blesse God in these words, Praise be to God the Fa­ther, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost; which that Father says was anciently used; but who was the Authour of it he pro­fesseth to be unknown: to the same purpose was the Lucerna­rium, which was a part of the evening office of old; For which there may seem to be more colour of reason, then for the ordinary fashion of appre­cation, upon occasion of our sneesing; which is expected, and practised by many, out of civi­lity: Old and reverend Beza was wont to move his hat with the rest of the company, but to say withall, Gramercy Madame la Superstition; Now, howsoe­ver in this, or any other pra­ctice, which may seem to carry with it a smack of superstition, our devotion may be groundless [Page 26] and unseasonable, yet nothing hinders but that we may take just and holy hints of raising up our hearts to our God. As when vve doe first look forth, and see the heavens over our heads, to think, the Heavens declare thy Ps. 19. 1. glory, O God. When we see the day breaking, or the Sun rising, The day is thine, and the night is 74. 17. thine, thou hast prepared the light and the Sun. When the light shines in our faces, Thou deckest 97. 11. thy self with light as with a gar­ment; or, Light is sprung up for 36. 9. the righteous. When we see our Garden imbellisht with flowers, The earth is full of the goodnesse 39. 5. of the Lord. When we see a rough sea, The waves of the sea rage horribly, and are mighty; but 93. 5. the Lord that dwelleth on high, is mightier then they. When we see the darknesse of the night, The 139. 11. darknesse is no darknesse with thee. When we rise up from our bed, or our seat, Lord thou knowest [Page 27] my down-sitting, and my uprising; Ps. 139. 2. thou understandest my thoughts afar off. When we wash our hands, Wash thou me, O Lord, and 51. 7. I shall be whiter then snow. When we are walking forth, Oh hold thou up my goings in thy paths, 17. 5. that my footsteps slip not. When we hear a passing bell: Oh teach 90. 12. me to number my days, that I may apply my heart to wisdome: or, Lord, let me know my end, and 39. 5. the number of my days.

Thus may we dart out our holy desires to God, upon all occasions; Wherein, heed must be taken that our Ejaculations be not, on the one side, so rare, that our hearts grow to be hard and strange to God, but that they may be held on in continu­all acknowledgement of him, and acquaintance with him; and, on the other side, that they be not so over-frequent in their perpetuall reiteration, as that they grow to be (like that of [Page 28] the Romish votaries) fashiona­ble; which if great care be not taken, will fall out, to the utter frustrating of our Devotion. Shortly, let the measure of these devout glances be, the preserving our hearts in a constant ten­dernesse, and godly disposition; which shall be further actuated upon all opportunities, by the exercises of our more enlarged, and fixed Devotion: Whereof there is the same variety that there is in Gods services, about which it is conversant.

There are three main busi­nesses wherein God accounts his service, here below, to con­sist; The first is, our addresse to the throne of Grace, and the pouring out of our souls before him in our prayers: The second is, the reading and hearing his most holy Word; The third is, the receit of his blessed Sacra­ments; In all which there is place and use for a setled Devotion.

SECT. IX.

TO begin with the first work of our actuall, and enlarged Devotion: Some things are pre-required of us, to make us capable of the comfortable per­formance of so holy and hea­venly a duty; namely, that the heart be clean first, and then that it be clear: clean from the defilement of any known sin; clear from all intanglements and distractions: What doe we in our prayers, but converse vvith the Almighty? and either carry our souls up to him, or bring him down to us? now, it is no hoping, that we can enter­tain God in an impure heart: Even we men loath a nasty and sluttish lodging; how much more will the floly God abhorre an habitation spiritually filthy? I finde that even the unclean spi­rit [Page 30] made that a motive of his repossession, that he found the house swept and garnished: Satans Luc. 11. 25. cleanlinesse is pollution; and his garnishment, disorder and wickednesse; without this he findes no welcome; Each spi­rit looks for an entertainment answerable to his nature; How much more will that God of spirits, who is purity it self, look to be harboured in a cleanly room? Into a malicious soul Wisd. 1. 4. wisdome shall not enter, nor dwell in the body that is subject unto sin; What friend would be pleased that we should lodge him in a Lazar-house? or who would abide to have a toad lie in his bosome? Surely, it is not in the verge of created nature to yeeld any thing that can be so noi­some and odious to the sense of man, as sin is to that absolute, and essentiall Goodnesse: His pure eyes cannot endure the sight of sin; neither can he en­dure [Page 31] that the sinner should come within the sight of him; A­way from me, ye wicked, is his charge, both here, and hereafter. It is the priviledge and happi­nesse of the pure in heart, that they shall see God; see him both in the end, and in the way; in­joying the vision of him, both in grace, and in glory: this is no object for impure eyes: Descend into thy self therefore, and ran­sack thy heart, who ever wouldst be a true Client of Devotion; search all the close windings of it, with the torches of the law of God; and if there be any iniqui­ty found lurking in the secret corners thereof, drag it out and abandon it; and when thou hast done, that thy fingers may retain no pollution, say with the holy Psalmist; I will wash my hands Psal. 26. 6. in innocence, so will I goe to thine Altar. Presume not to approach the Altar of God, there to offer the sacrifice of thy Devotion, [Page 32] with unclean hands: Else thine offering shall be so far from winning an acceptance for thee, from the hands of God; as that thou shalt make thine offering abominable. And if a beast touch the Mount, it shall die.

SECT. X.

AS the soul must bee clean from sin, so it must be clear and free from distractions. The intent of our devotion is to welcome God to our hearts; now where shall we entertain him, if the rooms be full thron­ged with cares, and turbulent passions? The Spirit of God will not endure to be crowded up together with the vvorld in our strait lodgings; An holy vacuity must make way for him in our bosomes. The divine pattern of Devotion, in whom the Godhead dwelt bodily, re­tires [Page 33] into the Mount to pray; he that carried heaven with him, would even thus leave the world below him. Alas, how can we hope to mount up to heaven in our thoughts, if we have the clogges of earthly cares hanging at our heels! Yea, not onely must there be a shutting out of all distractive cares, and passions, which are professed e­nemies to our quiet conversing with God in our Devotion, but there must be also a denudation of the minde from all those i­mages of our phantasie (how pleasing soever) that may carry our thoughts aside from those better objects: We are like to foolish children, who when they should be stedfastly looking on their books, are apt to gaze af­ter every butterfly, that passeth by them; here must be therefore a carefull intention of our thoughts, a restraint from all vain, and idle rovings, and an [Page 34] holding our selves close to our divine task: Whiles Martha is troubled about many things, her devouter sister, having chosen the better part, plies the one thing necessary, which shall never be taken from her; and whiles Mar­tha would feast Christ with bo­dily fare, she is feasted of Christ with heavenly delicacies.

SECT. XI.

AFter the heart is thus clean­sed, and thus cleared, it must be in the next place decked with true humility, the cheapest, yet best ornament of the soul. If the wise man tel us, that pride is the Eccles. 10. beginning of sin; surely, all graci­ous dispositions must begin in humility. The foundation of all high and stately buildings must be laid low: They are the lowly valleys that soak in the showers of heaven, which the steep hils [Page 35] shelve off, and prove dry and fruitlesse. To that man will I look Esa. 66. 2. (saith God) that is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my Word: Hence it is, that the more eminent any man is in grace, the more he is dejected in the sight of God; The father of Gen. 18. 27. the faithfull comes to God under the style of dust and ashes: David under the style of a worm and no man: Agur the son of Jakeh, under Pro. 30. 2. the title of more brutish then any man; and one that hath not the un­derstanding of a man: John Bap­tist, Mat. 3. 11. as not worthy to carry the shooes of Christ after him; Paul, Ephes. 3. 1. as the least of Saints, and chief of sinners: On the contrary, the more vile any man is in his own eies, and the more dejected in the sight of God, the higher he is exalted in Gods favour: Like as the Conduict-water, by how much lower it fals, the higher it riseth. When therefore we would appear before God, in our so­lemn [Page 36] devotions, we must see that we empty our selves of all proud conceits, and find our hearts ful­ly convinced of our own vile­nesse, yea nothingnesse in his sight. Down, down with all our high thoughts; fall we low before our great and holy God; not to the earth only, but to the very brim of hell, in the conscience of our own guiltinesse; for though the miserable wretchednesse of our nature may be a sufficient cause of our humiliation, yet the consideration of our detestable sinfulnes is that which will de­presse us lowest in the sight of God.

SECT. XII.

IT is fit the exercise of our De­votion should begin in an humble confession of our unwor­thinesse. Now for the effectuall furtherance of this our self-de­jection, [Page 37] it wil be requisite to bend our eyes upon a threefold ob­ject; To look inward into our selves, upward to heaven, down­wards to hell. First, to turn our eyes into our bosomes, and to take a view (not without a se­cret self-loathing) of that world of corruption that hath lyen hidden there; and thereupon to accuse, arraign, and condemn our selves before that awfull Tribunall of the Judge of hea­ven, and earth; both of that o­riginall pollution, which wee have drawn from the tainted loyns of our first parents; and those innumerable actuall wick­ednesses derived there-from; which have stayned our persons and lives. How can we be but throughly humbled, to see our souls utterly overspread with the odious and abominable le­prosie of sin: We finde that Vzziah bore up stoutly a while, against the Priests of the Lord, [Page 38] in the maintenance of his sacri­legious presumption, but when he saw himself turn'd Lazar, on the suddain, he is confounded in himself, and in a depth of shame hastens away from the presence of God to a sad, and penitentiall retirednesse. Wee should need no other argu­ments to loath ourselves, then the sight of our own faces, so miserably deformed with the nasty and hatefull scurfe of our iniquity: Neither onely must we be content to shame, and grieve our eyes with the foule nature and condition of our sins, but we must represent them to our selves in all the circumstan­ces that may aggravate their hainousnesse. Alas, Lord, any one sin is able to damn a soul; I have committed many, yea numberlesse: they have not pos­sessed me single, but, as that evill spirit said, their name is Legion; neither have I committed these [Page 39] sins once, but often; Thine An­gels (that were) sinned but once, and are damned for ever; I have frequently reiterated the same offences, where then (were it not for thy mercy) shall I ap­pear? neither have I only done them in the time of my igno­rance, but since I received suffi­cient illumination from thee; It is not in the dark that I have stumbled, and faln, but in the midst of the clear light and sun-shine of thy Gospel, and in the very face of thee my God; neither have these been the ships of my weaknesse, but the bold miscarriages of my pre­sumption; neither have I of­fended out of inconsideration, and inadvertency, but after and against the checks of a remurmu­ring conscience; after so many gracious warnings, and fatherly admonitions, after so many fear­full examples of thy judgements, after so infinite obligations of thy favors.

[Page 40] And thus having look't in­ward into ourselves, and taken an impartiall view of our own vilenesse, it will be requisite to cast our eyes upward unto hea­ven, and there to see against whom we have offended; even against an infinite Majesty, and power, an infinite mercy, an in­finite justice; That power and Majesty which hath spread out the heavens as a Curtain, and hath laid the foundations of the earth so sure that it cannot be moved; who hath shut up the sea with bars and doors, and said, Job 38. Hitherto shalt thou come and no further, and here shalt thou stay thy proud waves; who doth whatsoever he will in heaven and in earth; who commandeth the Devils to their chains, able therefore to take infinite venge­ance on sinners. That mercy of God the Father, who gave his own Son out of his bosome for our redemption; That mercy of [Page 41] God the Son, who, thinking it Phil. 2. 6, 7, 8, &c. no robbery to be equall unto God, for our sakes made him­self of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a ser­vant; and being found in fashi­on as a man, humbled himself, and became obedient to the death, even the accursed death of the crosse; That mercy of God the holy Ghost, who hath made that Christ mine, and hath sealed to my soul the benefit of that blessed redemption; Lastly, that justice of God, which as it is infinitely displeased with eve­ry sin, so will be sure to take in­finite vengeance on every impe­nitent sinner.

And from hence it will be fit and seasonable for the devout soul, to look downward into that horrible pit of eternal con­fusion; & there to see the dread­full, unspeakable, unimaginable torments of the damned; to re­present unto it self the terrors of [Page 42] those everlasting burnings; the fire and brimstone of that in­fernal Tophet; the merciless and unweariable tyranny of those hellish executioners; the shrieks, and howlings, and gnashings of the tormented; the unpitiable, interminable, unmitigable tor­tures of those ever-dying, and yet never-dying souls. By all which, we shall justly affright our selves into a deep sense of the dangerous and wofull con­dition wherein we lye in the state of nature and impenitence, and shall be driven with an holy eagernesse to seek for Christ, the Son of the ever-living God, our blessed Mediatour; in and by whom onely, we can look for the remission of all these our sins, a reconcilement with this most powerfull, mercifull, just God, and a deliverance of our souls from the hand of the ne­thermost hell.

SECT. XIII.

IT shall not now need, or boot to bid the soul which is truly apprehensive of all these, to sue importunately to the Lord of life for a freedome, and rescue from these infinite pains of eter­nall death, to which our sins have forfaited it; and for a present happy recovery of that favour, which is better then life. Have we heard, or can we imagine some hainous Malefactor, that hath received the sentence of death, and is now bound hand, and foot, ready to be cast into a den of Lyons, or a burning fur­nace, with what strong cryes, and passionate obsecrations he plies the Judge for mercy? we may then conceive some little image of the vehement suit, and strong cryes of a soul truly sensible of the danger of Gods wrath deser­ved [Page 44] by his sin, and the dreadfu [...] consequents of deserved immi­nent damnation; Although wha [...] proportion is there betwixt [...] weak creature, and the Almigh­ty; betwixt a moment, and eter­nity?

Hereupon therefore followe [...] a vehement longing (uncapabl [...] of a denyall) after Christ; an [...] fervent aspirations to that Savi­our, by whom only we receive a full and gracious deliverance from death and hell; and a full pardon and remission of all ou [...] sins; and, if this come not the sooner, strong knockings at the gates of heaven, even so lou [...] that the Father of mercies can­not but heare and open: Neve [...] did any contrite soul beg of God, that was not prevented by his mercy; much more doth he con­descend when he is strongly in­treated; our very intreaties are from him, he puts into us those desires which he graciously an­swers; [Page 45] now therefore doth the devout soul see the God of all comfort to bow the heavens, and come down with healing in his wings; and heare him speak peace unto the heart thus thoroughly humbled; Feare not, thou shalt not dye but live. Be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee. Here therefore comes in that di­vine grace of Faith, effectually apprehending Christ the Saviour, and his infinite satisfaction and merits; comfortably applying all the sweet promises of the Gospell; clinging close to that all-sufficient Redeemer; and in his most perfect obedience em­boldning it self, to challenge a freedome of accesse to God, and confidence of appearance before the Tribunall of heaven; and now the soul clad with Christs righteousnesse, dares look God in the face, and can both chal­lenge and triumph over all the powers of darknesse: For, being [Page 46] justified by faith, we have peace Rom. 5. 1. with God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

SECT. XIV.

BY how much deeper the sense of our misery and danger is, so much more welcome and joy­full is the apprehension of our deliverance; and so much more thankfull is our acknowledge­ment of that unspeakable mercy: The soul therefore that is truly sensible of this wonderfull good­nesse of it's God; as it feeles a marvellous joy in it self, so it can­not but break forth into cheer­full and holy (though secret) gra­tulations: The Lord is full of Ps. 103. 8. compassion, and mercy, long suffe­ring, and of great goodnesse; he keepeth not his anger for ever; he hath not dealt with me after my sins, nor rewarded me after mine Ps. 116. 12, 13. iniquities: What shall I render un­to [Page 47] the Lord for all his benefits to­wards me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the Name of the Lord. I will thank thee, for Ps. 119. 18. 21, &c. thou hast heard me, and hast not given me over to death, but art become my salvation. O speak good of the Lord all ye works of his; Praise thou the Lord, O my soul.

SECT. XV.

THe more feelingly the soul apprehends, and the more thankfully it digests the favours of God in it's pardon, and deli­verance, the more freely doth the God of mercy impart him­self to it; and the more God imparts himself to it, the more it loves him, and the more hea­venly acquaintance and entire­nesse grows betwixt God, and it; and now that love which was but a spark at first, grows into a flame, and wholly takes [Page 48] up the soul. This fire of heaven­ly love in the devout soul, is, and must be heightned more and more, by the addition of the holy incentives of divine thoughts, concerning the means of our freedome & deliverance. And here, offers it self to us that bottomlesse abysse of mercy in our Redemption, wrought by the eternall Son of God, Jesus Christ the just, by whose stripes we are healed; by whose bloud we are ransomed; where none will befit us but admiring and adoring notions. We shall not disparage you, O ye blessed An­gels, and Archangels of heaven, if we shall say, ye are not able to look into the bottome of this divine love, wherewith God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son, that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish, but have e­verlasting life: None, oh, none can comprehend this mercy, but [Page 49] he that wrought it. Lord! what a transcendent, what an infinite love is this? what an object was this for thee to love? A world of sinners? Impotent, wretched creatures, that had de­spighted thee, that had no mo­tive for thy favour but deformi­ty, misery, professed enmity? It had been mercy enough in thee, that thou didst not damn the world, but that thou shouldst love it, is more then mercy. It was thy great goodness to for­bear the acts of just vengeance to the sinfull world of man, but to give unto it tokens of thy love, is a favour beyond all expressi­on: The least gift from thee had been more then the world could hope for; but that thou shouldst not stick to give thine onely be­gotten Son, the Son of thy love, the Son of thine essence, thy co­equall, coeternall Son, who was more then ten thousand worlds, to redeem this one for­lorn [Page 50] world of sinners, is love a­bove all comprehension of men and Angels. What diminution had it been to thee and thine essentiall glory, O thou great God of heaven, that the souls that sinned should have died and perished everlastingly? yet so infinite was thy loving mercy, that thou wouldest rather give thy onely Son out of thy bo­some, then that there should not be a redemption for beleevers.

Yet, O God, hadst thou sent down thy Son to this lower re­gion of earth, upon such terms, as that he might have brought down heaven with him, that he might have come in the port and Majesty of a God, cloathed with celestiall glory, to have dazeled our eyes, and to have drawn all hearts unto him; this might have seemed, in some measure, to have sorted with his divine magnifi­cence; But thou wouldst have him to appear in the wretched [Page 51] condition of our humanity: Yet, even thus, hadst thou sent him into the world, in the highest estate, and pomp of royalty, that earth could afford, that all the Kings and Monarchs of the world should have been com­manded to follow his train, and to glitter in his Court; and that the knees of all the Potentates of the earth should have bowed to his Soveraign Majesty, and their lips have kissed his dust, this might have carried some kind of appearance of a state next to divine greatnesse; but thou wouldst have him come in the despised form of a servant: And thou, O blessed Jesu, wast accordingly willing, for our sakes, to submit thy self to na­kednesse, hunger, thirst, weari­nesse, temptation, contempt, betraying, agonies, scorn, buffe­ting, scourgings, distention, cru­cifixion, death: O love above measure, without example, be­yond [Page 52] admiration! Greater love (thou saiest) hath no man, then this, that a man lay down his life for his friends; But, oh, what is it then, that thou, who wert God and man, shouldst lay down thy life, (more precious then many worlds) for thine enemies! Yet, had it been but the laying down of a life, in a fair and gentle way, there might have been some mitigatiō of the sorrow of a dissolution; there is not more difference betwixt life and death, then there may be betwixt some one kind of death, and another; Thine, O dear Sa­viour, was the painfull, shameful, cursed death of the crosse; wherein yet, all that man could doe unto thee was nothing to that inward torment, which in our stead, thou enduredst from thy Fathers wrath; when in the bitternesse of thine anguished soul, thou cryedst out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken [Page 53] me? Even thus, wast thou content to be forsaken, that we wretched sinners might be recei­ved to mercy; O love stronger then death, which thou vanqui­shedst! more high, then that hell is deep, from which thou hast rescued us!

SECT. XVI.

THe sense of this infinite love of God cannot choose but ravish the soul, and cause it to goe out of it self, into that Sa­viour who hath wrought so mercifully for it; so as it may be nothing in it self, but what it hath, or is, may be Christs. By the sweet powers therefore of Faith and Love the soul findes it self united unto Christ, feeling­ly, effectually, indivisibly: so as that it is not to be distinguished betwixt the acts of both: To me Phil. 1. 21. to live is Christ, saith the blessed [Page 54] Apostle; and elsewhere, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, Gal. 2. 20. and the life which now I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himselfe for me; My beloved is Cant. 2. 16. mine, and I am his, saith the Spouse of Christ in her Bridall song. O blessed union, next to the hypostaticall, whereby the humane nature of the Son of God is taken into the participa­tion of the eternall Godhead.

SECT. XVII.

OUt of the sense of this hap­py union ariseth an un­speakable complacency and de­light of the soul in that God and Saviour, who is thus inseparably ours, and by whose union we are blessed; and an high appreciation of him above all the world; and a contemptuous under—valuation of all earthly things, in compa­rison [Page 55] of him; And this is no o­ther then an heavenly reflection of that sweet contentment, which the God of mercies takes in the faithfull soul; Thou hast ravisht Cant. 4. 9. 6. 4, 5. my heart, my sister, my Spouse, thou hast ravisht my heart with one of mine eyes. Thou art beautifull, O my Love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem; Turne away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me. How fair is thy love, my si­ster, my Spouse? How much better is thy love then wine, and the smell of thine ointments better then all spices. And the soul answers him again in the same language of spi­rituall dearnesse; My beloved is Can. 5. 10. white and ruddy; the chiefest a­mong ten thousand. Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal up­on 8. 6. thine arm, for love is as strong as death: And as in an ecstaticall qualm of passionate affection; Stay me with flaggons, and comfort 2. 5. me with apples, for I am sick of love.

SECT. XVIII.

VPon this gracious compla­cency will follow an abso­lute self-resignation, or giving up our selves to the hands of that good God, whose we are, & who is ours; and an humble conten­tednesse with his good pleasure in all things; looking upon God with the same face, whether he smile upon us in his favours, or chastise us with his loving corre­ctions; If he speak good unto us; Behold the servant of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word; If evill, It is the Lord, let him doe whatsoever he will: Here is there­fore a cheerfull acquiescence in God; and an hearty reliance, and casting our selves upon the mer­cy of so bountifull a God; who having given us his Son, can in and with him deny us nothing.

SECT. XIX.

VPon this subacted dispositi­on of heart wil follow a fa­miliar (yet awfull) compellation of God; and an emptying of our soules before him in all our ne­cessities. For that God, who is infinitly mercifull, yet will not have his favours otherwise con­veighed to us then by our suppli­cations: the style of his dear ones is, His people that prayeth, and his own style is, The God that heareth prayers: To him therfore doth the devout heart pour out all his requests with all true hu­mility, with all fervour of spirit, as knowing, that God will hear neither proud prayers, nor heart­lesse: wherein his holy desires are regulated by a just method; First, suing for spirituall favours, as most worthy; then for tempo­rall, as the appendences of bet­ter; and in both, ayming at the [Page 58] glory of our good God, more then our own advantage: And in the order of spirituall things, first and most for those that are most necessary, and essentiall for our souls health, then for se­condary graces, that concern the prosperity and comfort of our spirituall life: Absolutely cra­ving those graces that accompa­ny salvation, all others, conditi­onally, and with reference to the good pleasure of the munificent Giver; Wherein, heed must be taken, that our thoughts be not so much taken up with our ex­pressions, as with our desires; and that we doe not suffer our selves to languish into an unfeeling length, and repetition of our suits: Even the hands of a Moses, may in time grow heavy; so therefore must we husband our spirituall strength, that our de­votion may not flagge with over­tyring, but may be most vigorous at the last. And as we must enter [Page 59] into our prayers, not without preparatory elevations, so must we be carefull to take a meet leave of God, at their shutting up: following our supplicati­ons, with the pause of a faith­full, and most lowly adoration; and as it were sending up our hearts into heaven, to see how our prayers are taken; and rai­sing them to a joyfull expectati­on of a gracious and successefull answer frō the father of mercies.

SECT. XX.

VPon the comfortable fee­ling of a gracious conde­scent, follows an happy fruition of God in all his favours; so as we have not them so much, as God in them; which advanceth their worth a thousand fold, and as it were brings down heaven unto us; whereas, therefore, the sensuall man rests onely in the [Page 60] meer use of any blessing, as health, peace, prosperity, know­ledge, and reacheth no higher; the devout soul, in, and through all these, sees, and feels a God that sanctifies them to him, and enjoys therein his favour, that is better then life; Even we men are wont, out of our good na­ture, to esteem a benefit, not so much for its own worth, as for the love, and respect of the gi­ver: Small legacies for this cause finde dear acceptation; how much more is it so betwixt God and the devout soul? It is the sweet apprehension of this love that makes all his gifts, blessings. Doe we not see some vain churl, though cryed down by the multitude, herein secretly applauding himself, that he hath bags at home? how much more shall the godly man finde com­fort against all the crosses of the world, that he is possessed of him that possesseth all things; even [Page 61] God Al-sufficient; the pledges of whose infinite love he feels in all the whole course of Gods dealing with him.

SECT. XXI.

OUt of the true sense of this inward fruition of God, the devout soul breaks forth into cheerfull thanksgivings to the God of all comfort, praising him for every evill that it is free from; for every good thing it enjoyeth: For, as it keeps a just Inventory of all Gods fa­vours, so it often spreads them thankfully before him, and layes them forth (so near as it may) in the full dimensions; that so, God may be no loser by him in any act of his beneficence. Here therefore every of Gods bene­fits must come into account; whether eternall, or temporall, spirituall or bodily, outward or [Page 62] inward, publique or private, po­sitive or privative, past or pre­sent, upon our selves or others. In all which, he shall humbly acknowledge both Gods free mercy, and his own shamefull unworthinesse; setting off the favours of his good God the more, with the foyle of his own confessed wretchednesse, and un­answerablenesse to the least of his mercies.

Now as there is infinite varie­ty of blessings from the liberall hand of the Almighty, so there is great difference in their de­grees; For, whereas there are three subjects of all the good we are capable of; The Estate, Bo­dy, Soul; and each of these doe far surpasse other in value, (the soul being infinitely more worth then the body, and the body far more precious then the outward estate) so the blessings that appertain to them, in seve­rall, differ in their true estimati­on [Page 63] accordingly. If either we doe not highly magnifie Gods mercy for the least, or shall set as high a price upon the blessings that concern our estate, as those that pertain to the body, or up­on bodily favours, as upon those that belong to the soul, we shall shew our selves very unworthy, and unequall partakers of the Divine bounty. But it will sa­vour too much of earth, if we be more affected with temporall blessings, then with spirituall and eternall. By how much nearer relation then, any favour hath to the Fountain of good­ness, and by how much more it conduceth to the glory of God, and ours in him; so much high­er place should it possesse in our affection and gratitude. No marvell therefore if the Devout Heart be raised above it self and transported with heavenly rap­tures, when, with Stephens eyes, it beholds the Lord Jesus stan­ding [Page 64] at the right hand of God, fixing it self upon the considera­tion of the infinite Merits of his Life, Death, Resurrection, A­scension, Intercession, and find­ing it self swallowed up in the depth of that Divine Love, from whence all mercies flow into the Soul; so as that it runs over with passionate thankfulnesse, and is therefore deeply affected with all other his mercies, because they are derived from that boundlesse Ocean of Divine goodnesse. Unspeakable is the advantage that the soul raises to it self by this continuall exercise of thanksgiving; for the grate­full acknowledgement of fa­vours, is the way to more; even amongst men (whose hands are short and strait) this is the means to pull on further benefi­cence; how much more from the God of all Consolation, whose largest bounty dimini­sheth nothing of his store? And [Page 65] herein the Devout Soul enters into its Heavenly Task; begin­ning upon earth those Hallelu­jahs, which it shall perfect above in the blessed Chore of Saints and Angels, ever praising God, and saying; Blessing, and Glory, and Wisdome, and Thankesgiving, and Honour, and Power, and Might, be unto our God for ever and ever.

Amen.

SECT. XXII.

NOne of all the services of God can be acceptably, no not unsinfully performed with­out due devotion; as therefore in our prayers & thanksgivings, so in the other exercises of Di­vine Worship, (especially, in the reading and hearing of Gods Word, and in our receipt of the blessed Sacrament) it is so neces­sary, that without it, we offer to God a meer carcass of religious [Page 66] duty, and profane that Sacred Name we would pretend to honour. First then, we must come to Gods Book, not with­out an holy Reverence, as duly considering both what and whose it is; Even no other, then the Word of the ever-living God, by which we shall once be judged. Great reason have we therefore, to make a difference betwixt it, and the writings of the holiest men, even no less then betwixt the Authours of both: God is true, yea, truth it self: and that which David said in his haste, S. Paul says in full delibe­ration, Ps. 116. Rom. 3. 4. Every man is a Lyer. Be­fore we put our hand to this Sacred Volume, it will be requi­site to elevate our hearts to that God whose it is, for both his leave and his blessing: Open mine eyes, saith the sweet Singer of Ps. 119. 8. Israel, that I may behold the won­drous things of thy Lan. Lo, Da­vids eyes were open before to [Page 67] other objects; but when he comes to Gods Book, he can see nothing, without a new act of apertion: Letters he might see, but Wonders he could not see, till God did unclose his eyes, and enlighten them. It is not therefore for us, presumptuously to break in upon God, and to think by our naturall abilities to wrest open the precious Caskets of the Almighty; and to fetch out al his hidden treasure thence, at pleasure; but we must come tremblingly before him, and in all humility crave his graci­ous admission. I confesse I finde some kinde of envy in my self, when I reade of those scrupulous observances of high respects gi­ven by the Jews to the Book of Gods Law: and when I reade of a Romish Saint, that never read the Scripture but upon his knees, Carolus Borromaeus and compare it with the care­lesse neglect whereof I can ac­cuse my self, and perhaps some [Page 68] others: Not that we would rest in the formality of outward Ce­remonies of reverence, wherein it were more easie to be supersti­tious then devout; but that our outward deportment may testi­fie, and answer the awefull dis­position of our hearts: whereto we shall not need to be excited, if we be throughly perswaded of the Divine Originall, and autho­rity of that Sacred Word. It was motive enough to the Ephesians zealously to plead for, and reli­giously to adore the Image of their Diana, that it was the I­mage that fell down from Jupiter. Acts 19. 35 Beleeve we, and know, that the Scripture is inspired by God; and we can entertain it with no o­ther then an awefull addresse, and we cannot be Christians if we doe not so beleeve.

Every clause therefore of that God-inspired Volume, must be, as reverently received by us, so seriously weighed, and carefully [Page 69] laid up; as knowing, that there is no tittle therein without his use. What we reade, we must la­bour to understand; what we cannot understand, we must ad­mire silently, and modestly in­quire of. There are plain Truths, and there are deep Mysteries. The bounty of God hath left this Well of Living-water open for all: what runnes over is for all commers; but every one hath not wherewith to draw. There is no Christian that may not en­joy Gods Book, but every Chri­stian may not interpret it; those shallow Fords that are in it, may be waded by every Passenger, but there are deeps wherein he that cannot swim, may drown. How can I without a Guide? said that Ethiopian Eunuch: Wherefore serves the tongue of the Learned, but to direct the Ignorant? Their modesty is of no less use then the others skill. It is a wofull condition of a Church when no [Page 70] man will bee ignorant.

What service can our eyes do us in the ways of God without our thoughts? our diligent and frequent reading, therefore, must be attended with our holy medi­tation: we feed on what we read, but we digest only what we me­ditate of: What is in our Bible, is Gods; but that which is in our hearts, is our own: By all which our care must be, not so much to become vviser, as to become better, labouring still to reduce all things to godly pra­ctice.

Finally, as we enter into this task with the lifting up of our hearts for a blessing, so we shut it up in the ejaculations of our thanksgiving to that God, who hath blessed us with the free use of his Word.

SECT. XXIII.

OUr eye is our best guide to God our Creator, but our ear is it that leads us to God our Redeemer. How shall they be­leeve except they hear? Which that we may effectually doe, our devotion suggests unto us some duties before the act, some in the act, some after the act.

It is the Apostles charge, that we should be swift to hear, but heed must be taken, that we make not more haste then good speed: we may not be so for­ward as not to look to our foot Eccles. 5. 1. when we goe to the House of God, lest if we be too ready to hear, we offer the sacrifice of Fools. What are the foot of the soul, but our affections? If these be not set right, we may easily stumble, and wrench at Gods threshold. Rash actions can ne­ver [Page 72] hope to prosper; as there­fore to every great Work, so to this, there is a due preparation required; and this must be done by meditation first, then by prai­er. Our meditation first seque­sters the heart from the world, and shakes off those distractive thoughts, which may carry us away from these better things: for what room is there for God, where the world hath taken up the lodging? We cannot serve God and Mammon. Then second­ly, it seizes upon the heart for God, fixing our thoughts upon the great businesse we go about; recalling the greatnesse of that Majesty into whose presence we enter, and the main importance of the service we are underta­king; and examining our inten­tions wherewith we addresse our selves to the work intended; I am now going to Gods House; Wherefore doe I goe thither? Is it to see, or to be seen? Is it [Page 73] to satisfie my own curiosity in hearing what the Preacher will say? Is it to satisfie the law, that requires my presence? Is it to please others eyes, or to avoid their censures? is it for fashion? is it for recreation? or is it with a sincere desire to doe my soul good, in gaining more know­ledge, in quickning my affecti­ons? Is it in a desire to approve my self to my God, in the con­science of my humble obedience to his command, and my holy attendance upon his Ordinance? And where we finde our ends a­misse, chiding and rectifying our obliquities; where just and right, prosecuting them towards a fur­ther perfection.

Which that it may be done, our meditation must be second­ed by our prayers. It is an unho­ly rudenesse to press into the presence of that God whom we have not invoked: Our prayer must be, that God would yet [Page 74] more prepare us for the work, and sanctifie us to it, and bless us in it; that he would remove our sinnes, that he would send down his Spirit into our hearts, which may inable us to this great service; that he would bless the Preacher in the deli­very of his sacred message, that he would be pleased to direct his messengers tongue to the meeting with our necessities; that he would free our hearts from all prejudices and distracti­ons; that he would keep off all temptations, which might hin­der the good entertainment, and success of his blessed Word: Fi­nally, that he would make us truly teachable, and his ordi­nance the power of God to our salvation.

In the act of hearing, Devo­tion cals us to Reverence, Atten­tion, Application. Reverence to that great God, who speaks to us, by the mouth of a weak man; [Page 75] for, in what is spoken from Gods Chair, agreeable to the Scri­ptures, the sound is mans, the substance of the message is Gods. Even an Eglon, when he hears Jud. 3. 20. of a message from God, riseth out of his seat. It was not Saint Pauls condition onely, but of all his faithfull servants, to whom he hath committed the word of reconciliation; They are Ambassadours for Christ; as 2 Cor. 5. 20 if God did beseech us by them, they pray us in Christs stead to be re­conciled to God: The Ambassy is not the bearers, but the kings; and if we doe not acknowledge the great King of heaven in the voice of the Gospel, we cannot but incur a contempt.

When therefore we see Gods messenger in his Pulpit, our eye looks at him, as if it said with Cornelius, We are all here present before God to hear all things that Act. 10. 33 are commanded thee of God; whence cannot but follow to­gether [Page 76] with an awfull disposition of mind, a reverent deportment of the body; which admits not a wild and roving eye, a drouzy head, a chatting tongue, a rude and indecent posture; but com­poses it self to such a site as may befit a pious soul in so religious an imployment. Neither do we come as authorized Judges to sit upon the preacher, but as humble Disciples to sit at his feet.

SECT. XXIV.

REverence cannot but draw on Attention; We need not be bidden to hang on the lips of him whom we honour. It is the charge of the Spirit, Let him that hath an ear hear; Every one hath not an eare, and of those that have an ear, every one hea­reth not; The soul hath an ear as well as the body; if both these ears doe not meet together in one act, there is no hearing: Com­mon [Page 77] experience tels us that when the mind is otherwise taken up, we doe no more hear what a man says, then if we had been deaf, or he silent. Hence is that first request of Abig [...]il to David; Let thine 1 Sam. 25. 24. handmaid speak to thine ears, and hear the words of thine handmaid; and Job so importunately ur­geth his friends: Hear diligently Job 13. 17. my speech and my declaration with your ears. The outward ear may be open, and the inward shut; if way be not made through both, we are deaf to spirituall things. Mine ear hast thou boa­red, Psal. 40. 6. or digged, saith the Psalmist; the vulgar reads it, my ears hast thou perfected: Surely our ears are grown up with flesh; there is no passage for a perfit hearing of the voyce of God, till he have made it by a spirituall perfora­tion.

And now that the ear is made capable of good counsell, it doth as gladly receive it; taking in e­very [Page 78] good lesson, and longing for the next: Like unto the dry and chopped earth, which soaks in every silver drop, that falls from the clouds, and thirsteth for more, not suffering any of that precious liquor to fall be­side it.

SECT. XXV.

NEither doth the devout man care to satisfie his curiosity, as hearing only that he might hear; but reducts all things to a saving use; bringing all he hears, home to his heart, by a self-refle­cting application; like a practi­ser of the art of memory, refer­ring every thing to it's proper place; If it be matter of com­fort, There is for my sick bed, There is for my outward losses, There for my drouping under afflictions, There for the sense of my spirituall desertions; If mat­ter [Page 79] of doctrine, There is for my settlement in such a truth, There for the conviction of such an er­ror, There for my direction in such a practice; If matter of re­proof, he doth not point at his neighbour, but deeply chargeth himself; This meets with my dead-heartednesse and security, This with my worldly minded­nesse, This with my self-love and flattery of mine own estate, This with my uncharitable censori­ousnesse, This with my foolish pride of heart, This with my hy­pocrisie, This with my neglect of Gods services, and my duty; Thus in all the variety of the ho­ly passages of the Sermon, the devout mind is taken up with digesting what it heares; and working it self to a secret im­provement of all the good coun­sell that is delivered, neither is ever more busie, then when it sits still at the feet of Christ. I cannot therefore approve the practice [Page 80] (which yet I see commonly re­ceived) of those, who think it no small argument of their De­votion, to spend their time of hearing, in writing large notes frō the mouth of the Preacher; which however it may be an help for memory in the future, yet cannot (as I conceive) but be some pre­judice to our present edificati­on; neither can the brain get so much hereby, as the heart loseth. If it be said, that by this means, an opportunity is given for a full rumination of wholesome Doctrines afterwards: I yeeld it, but withall, I must say that our after-thoughts can never doe the work so effectually, as when the lively voice sounds in our ears, and beats upon our heart; but herein I submit my opinion to better judgments.

SECT. XXVI.

THe food that is received in­to the soul by the ear, is af­terwards chewed in the mouth thereof by memory, concocted in the stomach by meditation, and dispersed into the parts by conference and practice; True Devotion findes the greatest part of the work behinde; It was a just answer that John Ger­son Serm. ad Eccles. cautelam. reports, given by a French­man, who being askt by one of his neighbours if the Sermon were done; no saith he, it is said, but it is not done, neither will be, I fear, in hast. What are we the better if we hear and re­member not? if we be such au­ditours as the Jews were wont to call sieves, that retain no moisture that is poured into them? What the better if we re­member, but think not seriously of what we hear; or if we pra­ctice [Page 82] not carefully what wee think of? Not that which we hear is our own, but that which we carry away: although all memories are not alike, one re­ceives more easily, another re­tains longer; It is not for every one to hope to attain to that ability, that he can goe away with the whole fabrick of a Ser­mon, and readily recount it unto others; neither doth God re­quire that of any man, which he hath not given him; Our de­sires and endeavours may not be wanting wher our powers fail; It will be enough for weak memo­ries if they can so lay up those wholesom counsels which they receive, as that they may fetch them forth when they have oc­casion to use them; and that what they want in the extent of memory, they supply in the care of their practice; Indeed that is it, wherein lies the life of all religious duties, and without [Page 83] which [...] the Philosopher [...] vertue, I must say of true godliness, that it consists in action; Our Saviour did not say, Blessed are ye if ye know these things; But, If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye doe them. The end of our desire of the sincere milk of the Gospel, is, that we may grow thereby in the stature of all Grace, unto the 1 Pet. 2. 2 Eph. 3. 9. fulnesse of God.

SECT. XXVII.

THe highest of all Gods ser­vices are his Sacraments; which therefore require the most eminent acts of our Devotion. The Sacrament of initiation, which in the first planting of a Church is administred onely to those of riper age and under­standing, cals for all possible re­verence, and religious addresses [Page 84] of the receivers; wherein the Primitive times were punctu­ally observant, both for sub­stance, and ceremony; now, in a setled and perpetuated Church, in which the vertue of the Co­venant descends from the parent to the child, there seems to be no use of our preparatory dire­ctions: Onely, it is fit that our Devotion should call our eyes back, to what we have done in our infancy, and whereto we are ever obliged; that our full age may carefully endeavour to make our word good, and may put us in mind of our sinfull fai­lings. That other Sacra­ment of our spirituall nou­rishment, which our Saviour (as his farewell) left us for a blessed memoriall of his death and passi­on, can never be celebrated with enough Devotion. Farre be it from us to come to this feast of our God, in our common gar­ments; the soul must be trimmed [Page 85] up, if we would be meet guests for the Almighty. The great Master of the feast will neither abide us to come naked, nor ill clad: Away therefore, first with the old beastly rags of our won­ted corruptions: Due examina­tion comes in first, and through­ly searches the soul, and findes out all the secret nastiness, and defilements that it hides within it; and by the aid of true peni­tence, strips it of all those loath­some clouts, wherewith it was polluted; Sin may not be cloa­thed upon with grace; Joshuahs Zachar. 3. [...] filthy garments must be pluckt off, ere he can be capable of pre­cious robes: Here may be no place for our sinfull lusts, for our covetous desires, for our naturall infidelity, for our malicious pur­poses, for any of our unhallowed thoughts; The soul clearly de­vested of these and all other known corruptions, must in the next placae in stead thereof, be [Page 86] furnished with such graces and holy predispositions, as may fit it for so heavenly a work. A­mongst the graces requisite, Faith justly challengeth the first place, as that which is both most emi­nent, and most necessarily pre­supposed to the profitable receit of this Sacrament; for whereas the main end of this blessed banquet is the strengthening of our faith, how should that re­ceive strength, which hath not beeing? to deliver these sacred viands to an unbeleever, is to put meat into the mouth of a dead man: Now therefore must the heart raise up it self to new acts of beleeving, and must lay faster hold on Christ, and bring him closer to the soul; more strongly applying to it self, the infinite merits of his most per­fect obedience, and of his bitter death and passion; and erecting it self to a desire and expectati­on of a more vigorous: and [Page 87] lively apprehension of it's omni­potent Redeemer. Neither can this faith be either dead, or so­litary; but is still really opera­tive, and attended (as with o­ther graces, so) especially with a serious repentance; whose won­derfull power is, to undoe our former sins, and to mold the heart and life to a better obe­dience: A grace so necessary, that the want of it (as in ex­tream corruption of the sto­mach) turns the wholesom food of the soul into poyson; An im­penitent man therefore com­ming to Gods board, is so far from benefiting himself, as that he eats his own judgement: Stand off from this holy table, all ye that have not made your peace with your God; or that har­bour any known sin in your bo­some; not to eat is uncomfor­table, but to eat in such a state is deadly; yet rest not in this plea, that ye cannot come because ye [Page 88] are unreconciled; but (as ye love your souls) be reconciled that you may come.

Another Grace necessarily pre-required is charity to our brethren, and readinesse to for­give; For this is a communion, as with Christ the head, so with all the members of his mysticall body: This is the true Love­feast of God our Saviour, where­in we professe our selves insepa­rably united both to him & his; If there be more hearts then one at Gods table, he will not own them; These holy ele­ments give us an Embleme of our selves: This bread is made up of many grains, incorpora­ted into one masse; and this wine is the confluent juice of many clusters; neither doe we partake of severall loaves, or va­riety of liquors, but all eat of one bread, and drink of one cup. Here is then no place for ran­cour and malice; none for se­cret [Page 89] grudgings and heart-burn­ings; Therefore, if thou bring thy Mat. 5. 23. gift to the Altar, and there re­membrest that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave there thy gift, and goe thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

Neither may we doe as those two emulous Commanders of Greece did, who resolved to leave their spight behinde them at mount Athos, and to take it up again in their return; here must be an absolute, and free ac­quitting of all the back-recko­nings of our unkindnesse, that we may receive the God of peace into a clear bosome.

SECT. XXVIII.

BEsides these graces there are certain holy pre-dispositions so necessary that without them our souls can never hope to re­ceive [Page 90] true comfort in this blessed Sacrament; whereof the first is an hungring and thirsting desire after these gracious means of our salvation: What good will our meat doe us without an ap­petite? surely without it, there is no expectation of either relish, or digestion; as therefore those that are invited to some great feast, care first to feed their hun­ger ere they feed their body; la­bouring by exercise to get a stomach, ere they employ it; so it concerns us to do here: and, as those those that are listlesse, and weak stomached, are wont to whet their appetite with sharp sawces, so must we by the tart applications of the law, quicken our desires of our Saviour here exhibited.

Could we but see our sins, and our miseries by sin; Could we see God frowning, and hell ga­ping wide to swallow us, we should not need to be bidden to [Page 91] long for our deliverer; and every pledge of his favour would be precious to us.

Upon the apprehension of our need of a Saviour and so happy a supply thereof presented unto us, must needs follow a renued act of true thankfulnesse of heart to our good God, that hath both given us his dear Son to work our redemption, and his blessed Sacrament to seal up unto us our redemption thus wrought and purchased; And with souls thus thankfully ele­vated unto God, we approach with all reverence, to that hea­venly table, where God is both the Feast-master, and the Feast. What intention of holy thoughts, what fervour of spirit, what depth of Devotion must we now finde in our selves? Doubtlesse, out of heaven no ob­ject can be so worthy to take up our hearts. What a clear repre­sentation is here of the great [Page 92] work of our Redemption? How is my Saviour by all my senses here brought home to my soul? How is his passion lively acted before mine eyes? For lo, my bodily eye doth not more truly see bread and wine, then the eye of my faith sees the body and bloud of my dear Redeemer; Thus was his sacred body torn and broken; Thus was his pre­cious bloud poured out for me; My sins (wretched man that I am) helped thus to crucifie my Saviour; and for the discharge of my sins would he be thus cru­cified: Neither did he onely give himself for me, upon the crosse, but lo, he both offers and gives himself to me in this his blessed institution; what had his generall gift been without this application? now my hand doth not more sensibly take, nor my mouth more really eat this bread, then my soul doth spiri­tually receive, and feed on the [Page 93] bread of life; O Saviour, thou art the living bread that came down from heaven; Thy flesh is meat indeed, and thy bloud is drink indeed: Oh that I may so eat of this bread, that I may live for ever; He that commeth to thee, shall never hunger, he that beleeveth in thee, shall never thirst: Oh that I could now so hunger, and so thirst for thee, that my soul could be for ever sa­tisfied with thee; Thy people of old, were fed with Manna in the wildernesse, yet they di­ed; that food of Angels could not keep them from perishing; but oh, for the hidden Manna, which giveth life to the world, even thy blessed self, give me ever of this bread, and my soul shall not die but live: Oh the precious juice of the fruit of the Vine, wherewith thou refresh­est my soul▪ Is this the bloud of the grape? Is it not rather thy bloud of the New testament, that [Page 94] is poured out for me? Thou speakest, O Saviour, of new wine that thou wouldest drink with thy Disciples, in thy Fathers kingdome, can there be any more precious and pleasant, then this, wherewith thou chearest the beleeving soul? our palate is now dull and earthly, which shall then be exquisite and cele­stiall; but surely no liquor can be of equall price or soveraign­ty with thy bloud; Oh how unsavoury are all earthly deli­cacies to this heavenly draught▪ O God, let not the sweet taste of this spirituall Nectar ever goe out of the mouth of my soul; Let the comfortable warmth of this blessed Cordiall ever work upon my soul, even till, and in, the last moment of my dissolution. Doest thou bid me, O Saviour, doe this in re­membrance of thee? Oh, how can I forget thee? How can I enough celebrate thee for this [Page 95] thy unspeakable mercy? Can I see thee thus crucified before my eies, & for my sake thus crucified, and not remember thee? Can I finde my sins accessary to this thy death, and thy death meri­toriously expiating all these my grievous sins, and not remember thee? Can I hear thee freely offering thy self to me, and feel thee graciously conveighing thy self into my soul, and not re­member thee? I doe remember thee O Saviour; but oh that I could yet more effectually re­member thee; with all the pas­sionate affections of a soul sick of thy love; with all zealous de­sires to glorifie thee, with all fer­vent longings after thee, and thy salvation; I remember thee in thy sufferings, Oh doe thou re­member me in thy glory.

SECT. XXIX.

HAving thus busied it self with holy thoughts in the time of the celebration, the de­vout soul breaks not off in an abrupt unmannerlinesse, without taking leave of the great Master of this heavenly feast, but with a secret adoration, humbly bles­seth God for so great a mercy, and heartily resolves and desires to walk worthy of the Lord Je­sus, whom it hath received, and to consecreate it self wholly to the service of him that hath so dearly bought it, and hath given it these pledges of it's eternall union with him.

The devout soul hath thus sup't in heaven, and returnes home, yet the work is not thus done: after the elements are out of eye and use, there re­mains a digestion of this celestial food, by holy meditation; and [Page 97] now it thinks, Oh what a bles­sing have I received to day! no lesse then my Lord Jesus, with all his merits; and in and with him, the assurance of the remissi­on of all my sins, and everlasting salvation: How happy am I, if I be not wanting to God and my self? How unworthy shall I be, if I doe not strive to answer this love of my God and Savi­our, in all hearty affection, and in all holy obedience?

And now after this heavenly repast, how doe I feel my self? what strength, what advantage hath my faith gotten? how much am I neerer to heaven then be­fore? how much faster hold have I taken of my blessed Re­deemer? how much more firm & sensible is my interest in him?

Neither are these thoughts, & this examination the work of the next instant onely, but they are such, as must dwell upon the heart; and must often solicite [Page 98] our memory, and excite our pra­ctise, that by this means we may frequently renue the efficacy of this blessed Sacrament, and our souls may batten more and more, with this spirituall nou­rishment, and may be fed up to eternall life.

SECT. XXX.

THese are the generalities of our Devotion, which are of common use to all Christians; There are besides these certain specialties of it, appliable to se­verall occasions, times, places, persons; For there are morn­ing, and evening Devotions; De­votions proper to our board, to our closet, to our bed, to Gods day, to our own; to health, to sicknesse, to severall callings, to recreations; to the way, to the field, to the Church, to our home, to the student, to the souldier, to [Page 99] the Magistrate, to the Minister, to the husband, wife, child, ser­vant; to our own persons, to our families; The severalties whereof, as they are scarce finite for number, so are most fit to be left to the judgement, and holy managing of every Christian; neither is it to be imagined, that any soul which is taught of God, and hath any acquaintance with heaven, can be to seek in the par­ticular application of common rules to his own necessity or ex­pedience.

The result of all, is,

A devout man is he that ever sees the invisible, and ever trem­bleth before that God he sees; that walks ever, here on earth, with the God of heaven; and still adores that Majesty with whom he converses; that con­fers hourely with the God of spirits in his own language; yet so, as no familiarity can abate of his aw, nor fear abate ought of [Page 100] his love. To whom the gates of heaven are ever open, that he may goe in at pleasure to the throne of grace, and none of the Angelicall spirits can offer to challenge him of too much boldnesse: Whose eies are well acquainted with those heavenly guardians, the presence of whom he doth as truly acknowledge, as if they were his sensible com­panions. He is well known of the King of glory, for a daily suitor in the Court of heaven, & none so welcome there, as he: He accounts all his time lost that fals beside his God; and can be no more weary of good thoughts, then of happinesse.

His bosome is no harbour for any known evill; and it is a que­stion whether he more abhorres sin, or hell; His care is to enter­tain God in a clear, and free heart, and therefore he thrusts the world out of doors, and humbly beseeches God to wel­come [Page 101] himself to his own: He is truly dejected, and vile in his own eies: Nothing but hell is lower then he; every of his slips are hainous, every trespasse is ag­gravated to rebellion; The glo­ry and favours of God heighten his humiliation; He hath lookt down to the bottomles deep, & seen with horror what he deser­ved to feel everlastingly; His crys have been as strong, as his fears just; & he hath found mercy more ready to rescue him, then he could be importunate: His hand could not be so soon put forth as his Sa­viours, for deliverance. The sense of this mercy hath raised him to an unspeakable joy to a most fer­vent love of so dear a Redee­mer; that love hath knit his heart to so meritorious a deli­verer, and wrought a blessed u­nion betwixt God and his soul. That union can no more be se­vered from an infinite delight, then that delight can be severed [Page 102] from an humble, and cheerfull acquiescence in his munificent God; And now, as in an hea­venly freedome, he pours out his soul into the bosome of the Almighty, in all faithfull suits for himself and others; so, he en­joys God in the blessings recei­ved, and returns all zealous prai­ses to the giver.

He comes reverently to the Oracles of God, and brings not his eye, but his heart with him, not carelesly negligent in seeking to know the revealed will of his maker, nor too busily inquisitive into his deep counsels; not too remisse in the letter, nor too peremptory in the sense: gladly comprehending what he may, and admiring what he cannot comprehend. Doth God call for his ear? He goes awfully into the holy presence and so hears, as if he should now hear his last: Latching every word that drops from the Preachers [Page 103] lips, ere it fall to the ground, and laying it up carefully where he may be sure to fetch it. He sits not to censure, but to learn, yet speculation and knowledge is the least drift of his labour; Nothing is his own but what he practiseth. Is he invited to Gods feast? he hates to come in a foul and slovenly dresse; but trims up his soul, so, as may be fit for an heavenly guest: Nei­ther doth he leave his stomach at home cloyed with the world, but brings a sharp appetite with him; and so s [...]eds as if he meant to live for ever. All earthly de­licates are unfavoury to him, in respect of that celestiall Manna: Shortly, he so eats and drinks, as one that sees himself set at Ta­ble with God, and his Angels; and rises and departs full of his Saviour; and in the strength of that meal walks vigorously and cheerfully on towards his glory. Finally, as he well knows that [Page 104] he lives, and moves, and hath his beeing in God, so he referres his life, motions, and beeing wholly to God; so acting all things as if God did them by him, so using all things, as one that enjoyes God in them; and in the mean time so walking on earth, that he doth in a sort carry his heaven with him.

SECT. I.

WHiles you pity my affliction, take heed lest you aggravate it, and in your thoughts make it greater then it is in my own; It is true, I am under restraint; What is that to a man, that can be free in the Tower, and can­not but be a prisoner abroad? Such is my condition, and every Divine Philosophers with me. Were my walls much straiter then they are, they cannot hold me in; It is a bold word to say, [Page 108] I cannot, I will not be a prisoner: It is my Soul that is I: my flesh is my partner, (if not my ser­vant) not my self: However my body may be immured, that a­gile spirit shall flye abroad, and visit both earth, and heaven at pleasure. Who shall hinder it from mounting up (in an instant) to that supream region of blisse, and from seeing that, by the eye of faith, which S. Paul saw in ex­tasie; and when it hath viewed that blessed Hierarchy of heaven to glance down through the in­numerable, and unmeasurable globes of light (which move in the firmament, and below it) in­to this elementary world; and there to compasse seas and lands, without shipwrack, in a trice, which a Drake, or Cavendish cannot doe, but with danger, and in some years navigation; And if my thoughts list to stay them­selves in the passage; with what variety can my soul be taken up [Page 109] of severall objects; Here, turn­ing in to the dark vaults, and dungeons of penall restraint, to visit the disconsolate prisoners, and to fetch from their greater misery, a just mitigation of mine own; There, looking in to the houses of vain jollity, and pity­ing that which the sensuall fools call happinesse; Here stepping in to the Courts of great Princes, and in them observing the faw­ning compliances of some, the trecherous underworking of o­thers; hollow friendships, faith­lesse ingagements, fair faces, smooth tongues, rich suits, view­ing all save their hearts, & censu­ring nothing that it sees not; There calling in at the low cot­tages of the poor, and out of their empty cupboard furnishing it self with thankfulnesse; Here so over-looking the Courts of Justice, as not willing to seeri­gour or partiality; There listing what they say in those meetings [Page 110] which would passe for sacred, and wondring at what it hears. Thus can, and shall, and doth my nim­ble spirit bestir it self in a restless flight, making onely the Empy­reall heaven, the bounds of it's motion; not being more able to stand still, then the heavens themselves, whence it descen­ded: Should the iron enter in­to my soul, as it did into that good Patriarchs, yet it cannot fetter me: No more can my spi­rit be confined to one place, then my body can be diffused to many. Perhaps therefore you are mistaken in my condition; for what is it I beseech you that makes a prisoner? Is it an allot­ment to the same room without change, without remove? What is that still to a minde that is free?

And why is my body then more a prisoner then the best mans soul; that, you know, is peremptorily assigned, for in­habitation [Page 111] to this house of clay till the day of dissolution: Why more then the starres of Heaven, which have remained fixed in their first stations ever since they were first created? Why more then those great persons which keep up for state; or Dames for beauty? Why more then those Anachorites whom we have seen willingly coop'd up for merit? How much more scope have we then they? We breathe fresh aire, we see the same heavens with the freest travellers.

SECT. II.

BUt we have (you will say) bounds for our restraint, which the free spirit hates; as never being pleased, but with a full liberty both of prospect and passage; Any barre, whether to the foot, or to the eye, is a death: Oh vain affectation of wilde, and [Page 112] roving curiosity! if their desires cannot be bounded, yet their motions must; When they have the full sight of heaven above them, they cannot clime up into it; they cannot possibly see that whole glorious contignation; and when the whole earth lyes open before them, they can mea­sure but some small pieces of it. How can they be quiet till they have purchased Tycho Brahe his prospective Trunk of thirty two foot long, whereby they may discover a better face of Hea­ven; some lesser Planets moving round about the Sun, and the Moonets about Saturn and Ju­piter, and the Mountains, Seas, and Vallies in the Moon? How can they rest till having acquain­ted themselves with the constel­lations of our Hemisphere, they have passed the Equinoctiall, and seen the triangle, the crosse, and the clouds, and the rest of the unknown Stars that move above [Page 113] the other Pole? And when all this is done they are but who they were, no whit better, no whit wiser, and perhaps far lesse happy then those, who never smelt any but their own smoke; never knew any star, but Charles­wayn, the Morning-star, and the Seven. For me, I doe not envie, but wonder at the licen­tious freedome, which these men think themselves happy to enjoy; and hold it a weaknesse in those mindes, which cannot finde more advantage and plea­sure in confinement, and reti­rednesse; Is it a small benefit, that I am placed there, where no oathes, no blasphemies beat my ears? where my eyes are in no perill of wounding objects; where I hear no invectives, no false doctrines, no sermocinati­ons of Ironmongers, Felt-ma­kers, Coblers, Broom-men, Groomes, or any other of those inspired ignorants; no curses, [Page 114] no ribaldries: where I see no drunken comeslations, no rebel­lious routs, no violent oppressi­ons, no obscene rejoycings, nor ought else that might either vex, or afright my soul. This, this is my liberty: who whiles I sit here quietly lock'd up by my Keeper, can pity the turmoiles and di­stempers abroad, and blesse my own immunity from those too common evils.

SECT. III.

IS it the necessity and force of the restraint; since those things which we do voluntarily, are wont to passe from us with de­light, which being imposed seem grievous to us? Why should not I have so much power over my will as to make that volun­tary in me, to undergo, which another wils forcibly to inflict? the mind that is truly subacted [Page 115] to Grace, can so frame it self to what it must suffer, as that it finds a kind of contentment in patience; Thus we daily doe to the Almighty, whose will, by our humble submission, we make ours; and pray that we may do so: And who can restrain us without him? If therefore my wise and holy God think it best to cage me up, by the cōmand of authority (upon what cause so­ever) why should not I think this enclosure a better liberty: who know there is perfect freedome in his obedience? So then, if constraint make a prisoner, I am none; who am most willingly, where my God will have me: And, if my will did not often carry me out of my own walks at home, why cannot it as well confine me to a larger compasse of the Tower?

SECT. IV.

IS it solitude and infrequence of visitation? This may per­haps be troublesome to a man that knows not to entertain himself; but, to him that can hold continuall discourse with his own heart, no favour can be greater; For of all other, these self-conferences are most benefi­ciall to the soul; Other mens communication may spend the time with more advantage of learning or mirth; but none can yeeld us so much spiritual profit, as our own soliloquies: And when all is done, the Greeks said well; It is not much, but usefull [...]. that makes truly wise. Besides this, we can never have the op­portunity of so good company, as when we are alone: Now, we enjoy the society of God, and his Angels, which we cannot so freely do in a throng of visitants: [Page 117] When God would expresse his greatest intirenesse with his Church, Ducam eam in solitudi­nem, saith he: I will bring her in­to Hos. 2. 14. the wildernesse, and there speak comfortably to her. We cannot expect so sweet conversation with God, in the presence of o­thers, as apart. Oh the divine benefit of an holy solitarinesse, which no worldly heart can ei­ther know, or value! What care I for seeing of men, when I may see him that is invisible? What care I for chatting with friends, when I may talk familiarly with the God of heaven? What care I for entertaining mortall guests, when I may with Abraham & his nephew Lot feast the Angels of God: and (which were too great a word, if God himself had not spoken it) be attended by them?

SECT. V.

IS it the reproach & ignominy that commonly attends the very name of an imprisonment? weak mindes may be affected with every thing: but, with so­lid judgements, it is not the pu­nishment, but the cause that makes either the Martyr, or the malefactor. S. Pauls bonds were famous: and Petrus ad vincula is not without a note of yearly ce­lebrity: and it were hard, if so many blessed Martyrs, and Con­fessors, who have lived, & dy'd in Jayls, for the truths sake; should not have brought prisons (such as they may be) into some cre­dit. Shortly, as notorious crimes may be at liberty, so even inno­cence may be under restraint; yet those crimes no whit the better, nor this innocence the worse.

Besides (that which perhaps [Page 119] came not within your freer thoughts) every restraint is not for punishment; there is a re­straint for safety, a salva custodia, as well as arcta, such is this of ours: This strong Tower serves not so much for our prison, as for our defence; what horror soe­ver the name may carry in it: I blesse God for these wals, out of which I know not where we could (for the time) have been safe from the rage of the mis­incensed multitude: Poor sedu­ced souls, they were taught it was piety to be cruell; and were mis­perswaded to hate & condemn us for that, (which should have procured their reverence, and ho­nour) even that holy station which we hold in Gods Church; and to curse those of us, who had deserved nothing but their thanks and prayers: rayling on our very profession in the streets; and rejoycing in our sup­posed ruine: Father, forgive [Page 120] them, for they knew not what they did: Here we were out of the danger of this mis-raised fu­ry, and had leisure to pray for the quenching of those wilde fires of contention, 'and causlesse malice, which (to our great grief) we saw wicked incendiaries dai­ly to cast amongst Gods dear & well-minded people. Here we have well and happily approved with the blessed Apostle, that (what ever our restraint be) the Word of God is not bound; With what liberty, with what zeal, with what successe hath that been preached by us to all commers? Let them say, whe­ther the Tower had ever so many, such guests, or such bene­dictions; so as if the place have rendered us safe, we have endea­voured to make it happy; Wher­in our performances have seem­ed to confute that which Non enim potest mens attrita & oneribus & importuni­tatibus gravata, tanium bo­ni perage­re, quan­tum dele­ctata & oppressio­nibus solu­ta Cornel. ep. 2. Rufo Coepiscopo. Cor­nelius Bishop of Rome long since observed, that the mind laden [Page 121] with heavy burdens of afflicti­on, is not able to doe that ser­vice, which it can doe when it is free and at ease; Our troubles through Gods mercy made us more active, and our labours more effectuall.

SECT. VI.

ADde unto these (if you please) the eminent digni­ty of the place, such, as is able to give a kinde of honour to captivity, the ancient seat of Kings, chosen by them, as for the safe residence of their royall persons, so for their treasury, their wardrobe, their Magazine; all these precious things are un­der the same custody with our selves; sent hither, not as to a prison, but a repository; and why should we think our selves in any other condition? How many worthy inhabitants make [Page 122] choice to fixe their abode with­in these wals, as not knowing where to be happier? the place is the same to us, if our will maybe the same with theirs; they dearly purchase that, which cost us nothing but our fees; nothing makes the difference, but the meer conceit of Liberty, which whiles I can give to my self, in my thoughts, why am I pityed as miserable, whiles their happi­nesse is applauded?

You see then how free I am in that which you mis-call my prison; see now, how little cause I have to affect this liberty, which you imagine me to want; since I shall be, I can be no other then a prisoner abroad: There is much difference of prisons; One is strait and close locked, so far from admitting visitants, that it scarce allows the sun to look in at those crosse-barred grates; another, is more large and spa­cious, yeelding both walks, and [Page 123] accesse; Even after my discharge from these wals, I shall be yet sure to be a prisoner, both these ways; For, what is my body but my prison in the one? and what is the world, but my prison in the other kinde?

SECT. VII.

TO begin with the former, never was there a more close prisoner then my soul is for the time to my body; Close in respect of the essence of that spirit, which since it's first Mitti­mus, never stir'd out from this strait room; never can doe, till my gaole-delivery.

If you respect the improvement of the operatiōs of that busie soul, it is any where, it is successively every where; no place can hold it, none can limit it; but if you re­gard the immortall, and imma­teriall substance of it, it is fast [Page 124] lockt up within these wals of clay, till the day of my chan­ging come; even as the closest captive may write letters to his remotest friends, whilest his per­son is in durance; I have too much reason to acknowledge my native Jayle, and feel the true Symptomes of it to my pain; what darkness of sorrow have I here found? what little-ease of melancholick lodgings? what manacles and shakles of cramps? yea what racks of torturing con­vulsions?

And if there be others, that finde less misery in their prison, yet there is no good soul, but findes equall restraint: That spirituall substance, which is im­prisoned within us, would fain be flying up to that heaven whence it descended; these wals of flesh forbid that evolation, (as Socrates cal'd it of old) and will not let it out, till the God of spirits (who placed it there) [Page 125] shall unlock the doors, and free the prisoner by death; He that insused life into Lazarus, that he might call him from the pri­son of the grave, must take life from us, when he cals us out of this prison of flesh; I desire to be loosed, and to be with Christ, (saith the Apostle) as some ver­sions expresse it; whiles we are chained to this flesh, we can have no passage to heaven, no free conversation with our Saviour: Although it was the singular priviledge of that great Doctor of the Gentiles, that he was in heaven before his dissolution: whether in the body, or out of the body, he knew not: How far that rapture extended, whe­ther to both soul and body, if he knew not, how should we? But this we know, that such extasie and vision was in him, without separation of the soul from the body; which another should hope for in vain: And for him, [Page 126] so he saw this glory of Paradise, that he could not yet enjoy it: Before he, or we, can be blessed with the fruition of Christ, vve must be loosed: that is, freed from our clog, and our chain of this mortall body.

What but our prison wals can hinder us here, from a free prospect? What but these wals of flesh can hinder me from a clear vision of God? I must now, for the time, see as I may: No­thing can enter into my soul, but what passes through my senses, and partakes, in some sort, of their earthlinesse; when I am freed from them, I shall see as I am seen; in an abstracted and heavenly way; so as one spirit apprehends another: I do now, at the best, see those spirituall objects darkly, by the eye of faith, as in a glasse; and that not one of the clearest neither: (Alas, what dim representations are these, that I can attain to here, [Page 127] of that Majesty, whose sight shal make me blessed?) I shall once see as I am seen, face to face; the face of my glorified soul shall see the face of that all-glorious Deity, and in that sight be eter­nally happy; It is enough for a prisoner in this dungeon of clay, to know of, and fore-expect such felicity, vvhereof these earthly gieves render him as yet uncapa­ble.

SECT. VIII.

WOE is me! how many prisons do we passe? so soon as ever this divine soul is insused into this flesh, it is a pri­soner: neither can any more passe out of this skin, till this frame of nature be demolished: And now, as the soul of this Em­bryon is instantly a prisoner to the body, so the body is also a prisoner in the womb, wherein it is formed: what darknesse, what [Page 128] closenesse, what uneasinesse, what nuisance is there in this dungeon of nature? There he must lie in an uncouth posture, for his ap­pointed month, till the native bonds being loosed, & the doors forced open, he shall be by an helpfull obstetrication drawn forth into the larger prison of the vvorld; there indeed he hath elbow-room enough: but al that wide scope cannot free him from a true incarceratiō: Who knows not that there are many diffe­rences, and latitudes of restraint? A Simeon may imprison and en­chain himself in the compasse of a pillar, not allowing himself the ease of his whole dimensiōs; Peter may be lockt up in a lar­ger Jayle, betwixt his two Leo­pards (as that father terms thē;) S. Paul may be two years allow­ed to be a prisoner in his own Acts ult. hired house, but under the guard of his keeper, and not vvithout his chain: There are those who [Page 129] upon hainous, and dangerous oc­casions, may be kept close under many locks; there are prisoners at large, vvho have the liberty of the Tower; yet even these last, notwithstanding the allow­ance of spacious walks, & fresh gardens, are no other then ac­knowledged prisoners: Such is my condition to the world, whē I am at my fullest liberty: It is true, that when I look back to the straitnesse of my first, and native prison, and compare it with the large extent of that wide world, into which I am brought, I may well with Isaacs Herds-men, say, Rehoboth, For Gen. 26. 22. now, the Lord hath made me room: but when I compare that world, wherein I am, with that whereto I aspire, and vvhich I know to be above, and look to enjoy; I can see nothing here, but meer pri­son-vvals, and professe my life to be no other then a perpetuall durance.

SECT. IX.

IF Varro said of old, that the Magna do­mus homu­li. world was no other then the great house of little man, I shall be bold to adde what kind of house it is; It is no other then his prison, yea, his dungeon.

Far be it from me to disparage the glorious work of my omni­potent Creator: I were not worthy to look upon this large, and glittering roof of heaven, nor to see the pleasant varieties of these earthly landskips, if I did not adore that infinite po­wer, and wisdome which appears in this goodly, and immense fa­bricke; and confesse the marvel­lous beauty of that majestick, and transcendent workmanship; Ra­ther when I see the Moon and the Starres, which thou hast ordained, Psal. 8. 3, 4. I say with the Psalmist, Lord what is man?

[Page 131] But, O God, it is no dishonour to thee, that though this be a fair house, yet thou hast one so much better then it, as a Palace is be­yond a Jayle.

This beauty may please, but that ravisheth my soul: Here is light, but dim, and dusky, in re­spect of that inaccessible light, wherein thou dwellest: Here is a glorious sun, that illumineth this inferiour world, but thou art the sun who enlightenest that world above: Thou, to whom thy created Sun is but a shadow.

Here we converse with beasts, or at the best, with men; there with blessed soules, and heavenly Angels: Here some frivolous de­lights are intermixed with a thousand vexations; There in thy presence is the fulnesse of joy: So then, let the sensuall heart mis-place his paradise here in the world, it shall not passe for other with me, then my pri­son: How can it? Why should [Page 132] it? for what other terms doe I find here?

What blind light looks in here at these scant loopeholes of my soul? Yea, what darknesse of ig­norance rather possesses me? what bolts and shackles of heavy crosses doe I beare about me? how am I fed here with the bread of afdiction? how am I watched and beset with evill spirits? how contumeliously traduced? how disdainefully lookt upon? how dragging the same chaine with the worst malefactors? how dis­abled to all spirituall motions? how restrained from that full li­berty of injoying my home, and my God in it, which I daily ex­pect in my dissolution? when therefore, I am released from these walls, I am still imprisoned in larger, and so shall be till the Lord of the spirits of al flesh (who put me here) shal set me free; and all the daies of my appointed time wil I wait, til this my chan­ging come.

SECT. X.

YOu see then by this time, how little reason I have to be too much troubled with this impri­sonment, or my friends for me; But indeed, there are some sorts of Prisoners, which neither you nor I can have tears enow to be­waile: and those especially of two kinds.

The one, those that are too much affected with an outward bondage: The other, those that are no whit affected with a spiri­tuall.

In the first rank are they that sinke under the weight of their Irons; Poore impotent soules, that groaning under the cruelty of a Turkish thraldome, or a Spanish Inquisition, want Faith to beare them out, against the impetuous violences of their tor­mentors: I sorrow for their suf­fering; [Page 134] but for their fai [...] more: could they see the Gro [...] of glory, which the right [...] [...] Judge holds ready for their [...] ctorious Patience, they [...] not but contemne paine, [...] all the pomp of Death, and [...] fesse that their Light affliction (which is but for [...]) works for them a far more [...] ­ceeding and eternall weight of glory: But alas, it is the weak­nesse of their eyes, that they onely look at the things that are seen, close walls, heavy [...] sharp scourges, merciless racks, and other dreadfull engines of torture, and see not the things that are not seen, the glorious reward of their victory, blessed­ness. Had they had Stephens eyes, they would have emulated his martyrdome; Surely whoso­ever shall but read the story of the Mother and the seaven Bro­thers in the Maccabees, and that of the fourty Armenian Mar­tyrs [Page 135] frozen to death, reported by Gaudentius, and shall there see the fainting revolter dying uncomfortably in the Bath, whiles the other thirty and nine (together with their new con­verted Keeper) are crowned by an Angell from heaven, cannot choose (except he have nothing but Ice in his bosome) but find in himself a disposition emulous of their courage, and ambitious of their honour; But alas, what ever our desires; and purposes may be, it is not for every one to attain to the glory of Martyr­dome; this is the highest pitch, that earthly Saints are capable of: He must be more then a man, whom pain and death cannot re­move from his holy resolutions, and especially, the lingering ex­ecution of both. It is well if an age can yeeld one, Mole: In what terms shal I commemorate thee, O thou blessed Confessor, the great example of invincible [Page 136] constancy, in these backsliding times, (if at least thy rare perse­verance be not more for wonder then imitation) whom thirty yeares tedious durance in the In­quisitory at Rome, could not weary out of thy sincere profes­sion of the Evangelical truth? All this while thou wert not al­lowed the speech, the sight of any, but thy persecutors: Here was none to pity thee, none to ex­hort thee: If either force of per­swasion, or proffers of favour, or threats of extremity, could have wrought thee for thy perversion, thou hadst not at last dyed ours. Blessed be the God of all comfort, who having stood by thee, and made thee faithfull to the death, hath now given thee a crown of life and immor­talitie; and left thee a noble pattern of Christian fortitude, so much more remarkable, as lesse frequently followed.

Whether I look into the for­mer, [Page 137] or the present times I finde the world full of shrinking professors.

Amongst the first Christians, persecution easily discovered four sorts of cowardly Renega­does; The first, and worst, whom they justly styled Idolaters, that yeelded to all the publike forms of worship to those false Gods: The second, Sacrificers, who condescended so far, as to some kind of immolation unto those fained deities, or, at least, to a tasting of those things which were thus offered: The third, In­censers, such as (with Marcelli­nus himself) came on so far, as to cast some grains of incense into the Idols fire: The last were their Libellaticks, such as pri­vately by themselves, or by some allowed proxey, denyed the faith, yet with their mony bought out this ignominy, & sin of any publique Act of Idolatry.

Not to speak of those many [Page 138] thousands which fell down be­fore Solyman the second, and held up their finger to fignifie their conversion to his Mahome­tisme, for ease of their taxations; how many doe we hear of daily of all nations, and some (which I shame and grieve to say) of our own, who yeild to receive cir­cumcision, and to renounce their Saviour? Oh the lamentable con­dition of those distressed Christi­ans▪ If constant to their professio they live in a perpetual purgato­ry of torment; If revolting, they run into the danger of an everla­sting damnation in hel; Even this gentle restraint puts me into the meditatiō of their insupportable durance; Why doe not all Chri­stian hearts bleed with the sense of their deplorable estate? why is not our compassion height­ned, according to the depth of their perill, and misery?

What are our bowels made of, if they yearn not at their un­expressible [Page 139] calamity? Ye rich Merchants, under whose imploy­ment many of these poor souls have thus unhappily miscarried, how can you blesse your selves in your bags, whiles you see the members of Christ your Saviour, thus torn from him, for want of a petty ransome? Ye eminent persons whom God hath ad­vanced to power and greatness, how can you sleep quietly upon your pillows, whiles you think of the cold and hard lodgings, the hungry bellies, the naked and waled backs of miserable Christians? Lastly, what fervent prayers should we all, that pro­fesse the dear name of Christ, powre out unto the God of hea­ven for the strengthning of the faith and patience of these affli­cted souls against the assaults of violence? and for their happy and speedy deliverance out of their wofull captivity?

SECT. XI.

THese prisoners are worthy of our deep compassion; as those, who are too sensible of their own misery; Others there are, who are so much more wor­thy of greater pity, by how much they are lesse apprehensive of their need of it; plausible pri­soners under a spirituall tyran­ny; whose very wils are so cap­tived to the powers of darkness, that to choose they would be no other then bondmen; pleasing themselves in those chains, whose weight is enough to sink their souls into hell; such are they, who have yeelded themselves o­ver to bee enthralled by any known sin; No men under hea­ven doe so much applaud them­selves in the conceit of their li­berty; none so great slaves as they; If the very Stoick Philo­sophers had not enough evinced [Page 141] this truth, Divinity should: In­deed, the world is a worse kind of Algier, full of miserable cap­tives; Here lies one so fettered in lust, that he rots again; there another, so laden with drunken excesse, that he can neither goe norstand, and in very deed is not his own man: Here one so pinched with golden fetters, that he can neither eat, nor sleep; nor at all enjoy himself: there, another so pined with envy, that he is forced to feed on his own heart: Here, one so tormented with anger, that he is stark mad for the time; and cares not how he mischieves himself in a furious desire to hurt others; there, ano­ther, so racked with ambition, that he is stretched beyond his own length, and lives in the pain of a perpetuall self-extention.

These, and all others of this kinde are most miserable priso­ners, chained up for everlasting darknesse: So much more wor­thy [Page 142] of our pity, as they are lesse capable of their own: Spend your compassion (if you please) upon these deplorable subjects; But for me, wish me (if you wil) as free from any imputation of evill, as I was, and am from the thought of it; wish me in your free champian, where I may have no hedge so much as to confine my eye: wish me hap­py in the society of so dear and and noble a Friend; but in the mean while, think of me no o­therwise, then as a Free priso­ner, And

SECT. I.

IF there be any hap­pinesse to be found upon earth, it is in that which we call Contentation: This is a flower that growes not in every Gar­den: The great Doctor of the Phil. 4. 11. Gentiles tels us that he had it; I have learned (saith hee) in what estate soever I am, there­with [...] v. 12. [...]. to be content; I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound: Lo, he could not have taken out this lesson [Page 173] if he had not learn'd it; and he could not have learnt it of any other then his Master in Hea­ven: What face soever Philo­sophy may set upon it, all Mora­lity cannot reach it; neither could his learned Gamaliel, at whose feet he sate, have put this skill into him; no, he learn'd it since he was a Christian; and now professeth it; So as it ap­pears, there is a divine art of Contentation to be attained in the schoole of Christ; which whosoeeer hath learnt, hath ta­ken a degree in heaven, and now knowes how to be happy both in want, and abundance.

SECT. II.

THe nature of man is ex­treamly querulous; wee [Page 172] know not what we would have, and when we have it, we know not how to like it: we would be happy, yet we would not dye; we would live long, yet wee would not bee old; wee would be kept in order, yet we would not be chastised with af­fliction; we are loath to work, yet are weary of doing nothing; we have no list to stir, yet finde long sitting painfull; we have Si sedeas requies est magna la­boris; Si multum sedeas, la­bor est. Tert. Car. no minde to leave our bed, yet finde it a kinde of sicknesse to lie long; we would marry, but would not bee troubled with houshold cares; when once we are maried, we wish we had kept single; If therefore grace have so mastered nature in us, as to render us content with what e­ver condition, we have attain'd to no smal measure of perfection Which way soever the winde blowes, the skilfull Mariner knows how to turn his sailes to meet it; the contrariety of [Page 173] [...] [Page 172] [...] [Page 174] estates to which wee lie open here, gives us different occasi­ons for the exercise of Contenta­tion: I cannot blame their choice who desire a middle estate be­twixt want and abundance, and to be free from those inconve­niences which attend both ex­treames: Wise Solomon was Pro. 30. 8. of this diet; Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed mee with the food of my meet al­lowance; Lo, he that had all, desired rather to have but e­nough: and if any estate can af­ford contentment in this life, surely this is it, in the judge­ment and experience of the wi­sest Heathen. But forasmuch as Senec. de Tranquil. this equall poise is hardly attain­able by any man, & is more pro­per for our wishes, and specula­tion, then for our hopes, true wisdom must teach us so to com­pose our selves that we may be fit to entertain the discontent­ments, & dangers of those exces­ses, [Page 175] and effects, which we cannot but meet with in the course of our mortall life: And surely we shall finde that both extreams are enemies to this good tem­per of the soul: prosperity may discompose us, as well as an ad­verse condition; The Sunshine may be as troublesome to the Traveller as the winde or rain; neither know I whether is more hard to manage of the two; a de­jected estate, or a prosperous; whether we may be more in­commodated with a resty horse, or with a tired one: Let us be­gin with that which nature is wont to think most difficult; that contrary to the practice of learners, we may try to take out the hardest lesson first. Let us therefore learne in the first place how to want.

SECT. III.

COld we teach men how not to want, we should have Dis­ciples enow; every man seeks to have, & hates to lack: could we give an Antidote against po­verty, it would be too precious: And why can we not teach men even this lesson too? The Lord Psal. 23. 1. is my shepherd, saith David, therefore can I lack nothing; and most sweetly elsewhere, O fear Psal. 34. 9, 10. the Lord ye that be his Saints; for they that fear him, lack no­thing; The Lions do lack and suffer hunger; but they which seek the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good: Let God be true, and every man a lyer; Certainly, if we were not wanting to God in our fear of him, in our faithfull reliance up­on [Page 177] him; in our conscionable seeking of him, he whose the earth is, and the fulnesse of it, would not suffer our carefull en­deavours to go weeping away: But if it so fall out that his most wise providence findes it better for us to be held short in our worldly estate, (as it may be the great Physitian sees it most for our health to be kept fasting) it is no lesse worth our learning to know how to want; For there is many an one that wants, but knows not how to want, and therefore his need makes him both offensive and miserable.

There are those that are poor Ecclus. 25. 22. and proud; one of the wise mans three abominations; foolish La­odiceans that bear themselves Rev. 3. 17. for rich, encreased with goods, and lacking nothing; when they are no other then wretch­ed, and miserable, and poor, and blinde, and naked; These men know not how to want, [Page 178] their heart is too big for their purse; and surely pride, though every where odious, yet doth no where so ill as in rags.

There are those that are poor and envious; looking with an e­vill eye upon the better fare of others; as surely this vice dwels more cōmonly in Cottages then in Palaces. How displeasedly doth the begger look upon the larger almes of his neighbour? grudging to another what ever fals besides himself, and misli­king his own dole, because the next hath more; whose eye with the discontented Labourers is Mat. 20. 15 evill, because his Master is good; Neither doe these men know how to want.

There are those that want di­strustfully; measuring the merci­full provision of the Almighty by the line of their own sense; as the Samaritan Peer, when in the extremity of a present famine he heard the Prophet foretell a [Page 179] sudden plenty; Behold, if 2 King. 7. 2 the Lord would make win­dows in heaven, might this thing be?

There are those that want impatiently; repining at Gods dealing with them, and making their own impotent anger guil­ty of a further addition to their misery; as the distressed King of Israel, in a desperate sense 2 King. 6. 33. of that grievous dearth; Be­hold, this evill is of the Lord, what should I wait on the Lord any longer? And those wretch­ed ones, who when the fourth Angell had poured out his phiall upon the Sunne, being Rev. 16. 9. 11. scorched with the extremity of the heat, blasphemed the God of heaven: In this kinde was that sinfull techinesse of Jonah: when I see a poor worme that hath put it selfe out of the coole cell of the earth wherein it was lodged, and now being beaten upon by the Sun-beames, lies [Page 180] wrigling upon the bare path, turning it self every way in vain, and not finding so much as the shade of a leafe to cover it; I cannot but think of that fret­ting Prophet; when wanting the protection of his gourd he found himself scalded with that strong reflection; and looking up wrathfully towards that Sun from whom he smarted, could say to the God that made it, I do well to be angry, even to the Ionah 4. 9. death.

Lastly, there are those that are poor and dishonest even out of the very suggestion of their want; It was the danger here­of that made Agur the sonne of Jakeh pray against penury; Lest I be poor, and steal; and (by forswearing it) take the Name Prov. 30. 9 of God in vain.

SECT. IV.

THese and perhaps others do and must want, but in the mean time they do that which they know not how to do; there is a skill in wanting which they have not; Those onely know how to want, that have learnt to frame their minde to their estate; like to a skilfull Musiti­an, that can let down his strings a peg lower when the tune re­quires it; Or like to some cun­ning Spagirick, that can in­tend or remit the heat of his furnace according to occasion. Those, who when they must be abased, can stoop submissely, like to a gentle reed, which when the winde blowes stiffe, yeilds every way; those that in an humble obeysance can lay them­selves [Page 182] low at the foot of the Almighty, and put their mouth in the dust; that can patiently put their necks under the yoak of the Highest; and can say with the Prophet, Truly this is my sorrow, and I must beare it; Those that can smile upon their afflictions, rejoycing in tribu­lation, singing in the Gaole with Paul and Silas at midnight; Lastly, those that can im­prove misery to an advantage, being the richer for their want, bettered with evils, strengthened with infirmities; and can truly say to the Almighty, I know that of very faithfulnesse thou hast afflicted me; Never could they have come out so pure me­tall, if they had not passed under the hand of the Refiner; never had they proved so toward chil­dren, if they had not been be­holden to the rod: These are they that know how to want, & to be abased; and have effe­ctually [Page 183] learned to be content with the meanest condition: to which happy temper that vvee may attain, there will be use of, 1. Certaine Considerations; 2. Certain Dispositions; and 3. Certain Resolutions; These three shall be as the grounds, and rules of this our Divine Art of Contentation.

SECT. V.

THE first Consideration shall be of the just valuation of all these earthly things; which doubtlesse is such, as that the wise Christian cannot but set a low price upon them, in respect, first, of their transitorinesse; se­condly, of their insufficiency of satisfaction; thirdly, the danger of their fruition.

[Page 184] At the best, they are but glas­sie stuffe, which the finer it is, is so much more brittle; yea, what other then those gay bubbles, which children are wont to raise from the mixed sope and spittle of their Walnut-shell; vvhich seem to represent pleasing co­lors, but in their flying up instant­ly vanish? There is no remedy; either they must leave us, or we must leave them. Well may we say that of the Psalmist, which Campian vvas reported to have often in his mouth; My soul is continually in my hands; and who knows vvhether it will not expire in our next breathing? How many have shut their eyes in an healthfull sleep, who have waked in another vvorld? We give too large scope to our ac­count, vvhiles we reckon seven years for a Life; a shorter time will serve; vvhiles vve finde the revolution of lesse then halfe those years to have dispatched [Page 185] Galba Otho Vitellius Ael. Perti­nax Didius. Anno D. 1275. 1276. Gregor. 10 Innocent 5 Hadrian 5 Johan. 20 vel 21 Nicolaus 3 five Caesars, and five Popes; nay, who can assure himself of the next moment? It is our great weakness, if we doe not look upon every day, as our last; why should we think our selves in a better condition, then the chosen vessel, 1 Cor. 15. 31. who deeply pro­tested to dye daily? What a poor complaint was that of the great Conquerour of the Jews, Titus Vespasian, who putting his head out of his sick litter, queru­lously accused Heaven, that he must dye, and had not deserved it; when he might have found it guilt enough that he was a man; and therefore by the very sen­tence of nature condemned, I know not whether to live, or dye.

Indeed, what can we cast our eyes upon, that doth not put us in minde of our frailty? All our fellow-creatures dye for us, and by us: The day dyes into night; the trees and all other plants of [Page 186] the earth suffer a kinde of Au­tumnall mortality; the face of that common Mother of us all, doth at the least in Winter, re­semble Death; But if the Angel of Death (as the Jews term him) shall respite, and reprieve us for the time; alas! how easily may we have over-lived our comforts? If Death doe not snatch us away from them, how many thousand means of casu­alties, of enemies, may snatch them away from us? He that was the greatest man of all the Sonnes of the East, within a few dayes became a spectacle and proverb of penury, which still sticks by him, and so shall doe to the worlds end, As poor as Job.

The rich Plaine of Jordan, Gen. 15. 10 which over-night was as the Garden of the Lord, is in the morning covered over with Deut. 29. 23. brimstone, and salt, and burn­ing; Wilt thou cause thine eyes [Page 187] to flye upon that which is not? saith wise Solomon: For riches Prov. 23. 5. certainly make thēselves wings, they fly away as an Eagle to­wards Heaven: if wee have wings of desire to fly after them, they are nimbler of flight to outstrip us, and leave us no less miserable in their losse, then wee were eager in their pursuit.

As for Honour, what a meer shadow it is? upon the least cloud interposed, it is gone, and leaves no mention where it was: The same Sun sees Haman ado­red in the Persian Court, like some earthly Deity; and like some base vermine waving upon his Gibbet: Doe we see the great, and glorious Cleopatra, shining in the pompous Majesty of Egypt? stay but a while, and ye shall see her in the dust, and her two children, whom shee proudly styled the Sun, and the Moon, driven like miserable Captives before the Chariot [Page 188] of their Conquerour: Man be­ing in honour abideth not, saith Ps. 49. 12. the Psalmist, he perisheth, but his greatnesse (as more fraile then he) is oftentimes dead and buried before him, and leaves him the surviving executor of his own shame.

It was easie for the captive Prince, to observe in the Charet­wheel of his Victor, that when one spoak rose up, another went down, and both these in so quick a motion, that it was scarce di­stinguished by the eye.

Well therefore may we say of Honour, as Ludovicus Vives Ludo. Vi­ves in 3. de Civil­censurā notatus Vellosillo. said of Scholasticall Divinity: Cui fumus est pro fundamento: It is built upon smoak, how can it be kept from vanishing?

As for Beauty, what is it, but a dash of Natures tincture laid upon the skinne, which is soon washt off with a little sickness? what but a fair blossome, that drops off, so soon as the fruit [Page 189] offers to succeed it? what but a flower, vvhich vvith one hot Sun gleam weltreth and fals? Hee that had the choice of a thousand Faces, could say, Fa­vour Prov. ult. penult. is deceitfull, and Beauty is Vanity.

Lastly, for Strength, and vi­gour of Body, if it could bee maintained till our old age, alas, how soon is that upon us, ere we be aware! how doth it then shri­vell our flesh and loosen our sinews, and cripple our joynts! Milo, when he lookt upon his late brawny arms, and saw them now grow lanck and writhled, lets fall teares, and bewraies more weaknesse of mind, then he had before bodily strength: but how often doth sicknesse prevent the debilitations of age; pulling the strongest man upon his knees, and making him confesse, that youth, as well as childe-hood, is Vani­tie?

[Page 190] As for Pleasure, it dies in Eccles: 11. 10. the birth, and is not therefore worthy to come into this bill of Mortality.

Doe we then upon sad con­sideration see and feel the ma­nifest transitorinesse of Life, Riches, Honour, Beautie, Strength, Pleasure, and what­ever else can bee deare and precious to us in this vvorld, and can vvee dote upon them so, as to be too much deje­cted vvith our parting from them? Our Saviour bids us consider the Lillies of the field; And he that made both, tels Mat. 6. 28. us, that Solomon in all his glo­ry was not arrayed like one of these: Surely, full well are they worth our considering. But if those Beauties could bee as permanent, as they are glorious, how vvould they carry away our hearts with them? Now, their fading condition justly abates of [Page 191] their value; Would wee not smile at the weaknesse of that man, that should weep and howle, for the falling of this Tulip, or that Rose, a­bandoning all comfort for the losse of that, vvhich he knows must flourish but his moneth? It is for children to cry for the falling of their house of Cards, or the miscarriage of that painted gew-gaw, vvhich the next showre vvould have defaced. Wise Christians know hovv to apprize good things according to their continu­ance, and can therefore set their hearts onely upon the invisible Comforts of a better Life, as knowing that the things which are not seen, are Eternall.

SECT. VI.

BUt vvere these earthly things exempted from that ficklenesse, vvhich the God of Nature hath condemned them unto, vvere they (the very me­mory vvhereof perisheth with their satiety) as lasting, as they are brittle, yet vvhat comfort could they yeeld for the soul to rest in? Alas! their efficacy is too short to reach unto a true Contentation; yea, if the best of them vvere perpetuated unto us, upon the fairest conditions, that this Earth can allow, hovv intolerable tedious would it prove in the fruition? Say that God were pleased to protract my life to the length of the age of the first founders of [Page 193] Mankinde, and should (in this state of body) adde hundreds of years to the days of my pilgri­mage: Woe is me, how vveary should I be of my self, and of the World? I, that now com­plain of the load of seventy one yeers, how should I be tyred out, ere I could arrive at the age of Parre? but before I could climb up to the third Century of Johannes de Temporibus, hovv often should I call for death, not to take up, but to take off my burthen, and with it my self? But if any, or all these earthly blessings could be freed from those grievances, wherewith they are commonly tempered, yet how little satisfaction could the soul finde in them? What are these outward things, but very luggage, which may load our backs, but cannot lighten our hearts? Great, and vvise Solomon, that had the full com­mand of them all, cries out, Va­nity [Page 194] of Vanities; and a greater Monarch then hee, shuts up the Scene with, I have been all things, and am never the better: All these are of too narrow an extent, to fill the capacious soul of Man; the desires vvhereof are enlarged with enjoying, so as the more it hath, the lesse it is satisfy­ed, neither indeed can it bee otherwise; The Eye, and the Eare, are but the Purveyours for the Heart, if therefore the eye be not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hea­ring, Eccle. 1. 8. how shall the heart say, It is enough? Now, vvho vvould suffer himself to be too much disquieted vvith the losse of that, vvhich may vex him, but cannot content him? We doe justly smile at the folly of that vain Lord, of vvhom Petrarch speakes, who vvhen an Horse vvhich hee dearely loved, was sick, laid [Page 195] that Steed of his, on a silken bed, vvith a vvrought pillovv under his head, and caused him­selfe (then afflicted vvith the Gout) to be carried on his servants shoulders to visit that dear patient; and upon his decease, mourned solemnly for him, as if it had been his Son. We have laught at the fashion of the Girles of Holland, vvho having made to themselves gay and large Babies, and laid them in a curious cradle, fain them to sicken and dye, and celebrate their funerall vvith much passion: So fond are we, if having framed to our selves imaginary contentments here, in the World, vve give vvay to im­moderate grief in their miscarri­age.

SECT. VII.

NEither are these earthlie comforts more defective in yeelding full satisfaction to the soul, then dangerous in their over-dear fruition: For too much delight in them, robs us of more solid contentments: The World is a cheating game­ster, suffering us to win at the first, that at last he may goe a­way with all. Our very Table Ps. 69. 22. may be made our snare; and those things vvhich should have been for our vvealth, may bee unto us an occasion of falling: Leo the fourth Emperour of Constantinople, delighted ex­treamly in precious stones, with these he embellishes his Crown, which being worn close to his Temples, strikes such a cold in­to [Page 197] his head, that causeth his bane: yea, how many vvith the too much love of these out­ward things, have lost, not their lives onely, but their souls? No man can be at once the Favou­rite of God and the World; as that Father said truly: or as our Saviour in fuller tearms, No man can serve two Masters, GOD and Mammon: Shortly, the World may be a dangerous enemy, a sure friend it cannot bee.

If therefore we shall like wise men, value things at their due prices, since we are convinced in our selves, that all these earthly comforts are so transito­ry in their nature, so unsatisfy­ing in their use, and so dange­rous in their enjoying, hovv little reason have we to be too much affected with forgoing them? Our bloud is dear to us, as that wherein our life is, yet if we finde that it is either in­fected, [Page 198] or distempered, vve doe willingly part vvith it in hope of better health: How much more, vvith those things, which are farther from us, and lesse concerning us?

SECT. VIII.

THe second Consideration is of that All-wise Providence which ordereth all events both in Heaven and Earth, allotting to every Creature his due pro­portion, so over-ruling all things to the best, that we could not want, if he knew it better for us to abound: This Station he hath set us in, this measure he hath shared out to us, whose will is the rule of good; what we have therefore, cannot but be best for us. The World is a large Chesse­board, every man hath his place [Page 199] assigned him: one is a King, a­nother a Knight, another a Pawn, and each hath his severall motion; vvithout this variety, there could be no game played; A skilfull Player will not stirre one of these Chips, but vvith intention of an advantage; nei­ther should any of his men either stand, or move, if in any other part of that Checker, it might bee in more hope to win.

There is no estate in this World vvhich can be universal­ly good for all, one mans meat may be another mans medicine, and a third mans poyson; A Turk findes health and temper in that Opium, vvhich would put one of us into our last sleep. Should the Plow-man be set to the Gentlemans fare, this Chick­en, that Partridge, or Phesant, would (as over-slight food) bee too soon turned over, and leave his empty stomach to quarrell for stronger provision: Beef [Page 200] is for his diet; and if any sawce needs besides his hunger, Gar­lick: Every man hath, as a body, so a minde of his own; vvhat one loves is abhorred of ano­ther; the great House-keeper of the world knows how to fit every palate with that which either is, or should be agreeable to it, for salubrity, if not for pleasure: Lay before a Childe a Knife, and a Rod, and bid him take his choice, his hand will be straight upon that edge tool, especially, if it be a little guilded, and glittering; but the Parent knows the Rod to be more safe for him, and more beneficiall: We are ill carvers for our selves, he that made us, knows what is fit for us, either for time, or measure; without his Providence not an hair can fall from our heads; We would have bodily health, I cannot blame us; what is the vvorld to us without it? He whose wee [Page 201] are, knows sicknesse to bee for the health of the soul; whether should we in true judgement de­sire? We vvish to live, who can blame us? life is sweet, but if our Maker have ordained, that nothing but Death can render us glorious, what madnesse is it to stick at the condition? Oh our grosse infidelity, if we doe not beleeve that great Arbiter of the World, infinitely wise to know what is best for us, infinitely mercifull to vvill what hee knows best, infinitely powerfull to doe what he will! And if we be thus perswaded, hovv can we, but in matter of good, say with blessed Mary: Behold thy Servant, be it unto me accor­ding to thy Word; And in mat­ter of evill, with good Eli: It is the Lord, let him doe what hee will?

SECT. IX.

IN the third place, it will be requisite for us to cast our eyes upon the vvorse condition of others, perhaps better deser­ving then our selves; for if we shall vvhine and complain of that weight, which others do run away chearfully withall, the fault vvill appear to be not in the heavinesse of the load, but in the weaknesse of the bearer: If I bee discontented vvith a mean dwelling, another man lives merrily in a low thatched Cottage; If I dislike my plain fare, the four captive children Dan. 1. 12, 13. feed fair and fat vvith pulse and water: If I be plundred of my rich suits, I see a more chearfull heart under a russet Coat, then great Princes have under purple [Page 203] Robes: If I doe gently languish upon my sick bed, I see others patient under the torments of the Colick, or Stone, or Stran­gury: If I be clapt up within four wals, I hear Petronius pro­fesse, he had rather be in prison with Cato, then at liberty with Caesar: I hear Paul and Silas sing like Nightingales in their cages: Am I sad, because I am childlesse? I hear many a pa­rent wish himself so: Am I ba­nished from my home? I meet with many of vvhom the vvorld Heb. 11. 13 vvas not vvorthy, vvandring a­bout in Sheeps-skins, in Goat­skins, in deserts, and in moun­tains, and in dens, and in caves of the earth: What am I that I should speed better then the mi­serablest of these patients? What had they done, that they should fare worse then I? If I have little, others have lesse; If I feel pain, some others, torture; If their sufferings be just, my for­bearances [Page 204] are mercifull; my pro­visions, to theirs, liberall: It is no ill counsell therefore, and not a little conducing to a content­ed want, that great persons should sometimes step aside in­to the homely Cottages of the poor, and see their mean stuffe, course fare, hard lodgings, worthlesse utensils, miserable shifts; and to compare it with their own delicate and nauseat­ing superfluities: Our great and learned King Alfred was the bet­ter all his life after, for his hid­den retirednesse in a poor Neat­heards Cabbin, where he was sheltred, and sometimes also chidden by that homely Dame: Neither vvas it an ill vvish of that vvise man, that all great Princes might first have had some little taste, what it is to want, that so their own experi­ence might render them more sensible of the complaints of o­thers.

[Page 205] Man, though he be absolute in himself, and stand upon his own bottom, yet is he not a little wrought upon by examples, and comparisons with others; for in them he sees what he is, or may be, since no events are so confined to some speciall sub­jects, as that they may not bee incident to other men.

Merits are a poor plea for any mans exemption, whiles our sin­full infirmities lay us all open to the rod of divine Justice: and if these dispensations be meerly out of favour, why doe I rather grudge at a lesser misery, then blesse God for my freedome from a greater judgement? Those therefore that suffer more then I, have cause of more humbling, and I that suffer lesse then they, have cause of more thankfulnesse; even mitigations of punishment are new mercies, so as others torments doe no other then [Page 206] heighten my obligations; Let me not therefore repine to be favourably miserable.

SECT. X.

THe fourth Consideration shall be of the inconveni­ences which doe oftentimes at­tend a fulnesse of estate; such, and so many as may vvell make us sit down content with a lit­tle; whereof, let the first be en­vy: a mischief not to be avoi­ded of the great; This shadow follows that body inseparably; All the curs in the street are rea­dy to fall upon that dogge that goes away with the bone; and every man hath a Cudgell to fling at a well-loaded Tree; [Page 207] whereas a mean condition is no eye-sore to any beholder; Low shrubs are not wont to bee stricken with Lightning, but tall Oaks and Cedars feel their flames; Whiles David kept his fathers sheep at home, he might sing sweetly to his Harp in the fields, without any disturbance: But when he once comes to the Court, and findes applause, and greatnesse creep upon him, now emulation, despight and malice, dog him close at the heels wheresoever he goes: Let him leave the Court, and flee into the Wildernesse, there these bloud­hounds follow him in hot suit; Let him run into the Land of the Philistims, there they finde him out, and chase him to Ziklag; and if at the last, he hath clim­bed up to his just Throne, and there hopes to breath him af­ter his tedious pursuit, even there he meets vvith more un­quietnesse then in his desert, and [Page 208] notwithstanding all his Royal­ty, at last cries out, Lord re­member Ps. 132. 1. David, and all his trou­bles: How many have wee known, whom their wealth hath betraid, and made inno­cent malefactors? who might have slept securely upon a hard bolster, and in a poor estate out-lived both their Judges, and accusers. Besides, on even ground a fall may be harmlesse; but he that fals from on high, cannot escape bruising: He therefore that can think the benefits of E­minence can countervail the dangers which haunt greatness, let him affect to over-top o­thers; for me, let me rather be safely low, then high with pe­rill. After others envy, the next attendant upon greatnesse is our own cares; how doe these disquiet the Beds, and sawce the Tables of the wealthy? brea­king their sleeps, galling their sides, embittering their pleasures, [Page 209] shortning their days: How bit­terly doe vve finde the holiest men complaining of those di­stractions, vvhich have attended their earthly promotions? Na­zianzen cries out of them as no G. Naz. Carm. de calam. suis. other then the bane of the soul; and that other Gregory, whom we are wont to call the last of the best Bishops of Rome, and the first of the bad, passionately bewails this clogge of his high preferment: I confesse, saith he, that whiles I am outwardly ad­vanced, Greg. l. 7. Epi. 12. 7. I am inwardly fallen lower; this burdensome honour depresses me, and innumerable cares disquiet me on all sides; my minde (grown almost stu­pid with those temporall cares which are ever barking in mine ears) is forced upon earthly things; thus he: There are in­deed cares which as they may be used, may help us on towards Heaven; such as Melancthon In vita Melanct. owns to his Camerarius; My [Page 210] cares, saith he, send me to my prayers, and my prayers dispell my cares; but those anxieties vvhich commonly wait upon greatnesse, distract the minde, and impair the body.

It is an observation of the Jewish Doctors, that Joseph the Patriarch vvas of a shorter life then the rest of his brethren; and they render this reason of it, for that his cares were as much greater, as his place was higher: It vvas not an unfit comparison of him, vvho re­sembled a Coronet upon the Shicardus. Temples, to a pail upon the head; We have seen those, who have carried full and heavy vessels on the top of their heads, but then they have walked evenly, and erect under that load; we ne­ver saw any that could dance under such a weight, if either they bend, or move vehement­ly, all their carriage is spilled: Earthly greatness is a nice thing, [Page 211] & requires so much charinesse in the managing; as the content­ment of it cannot requite; He is vvorthy of honey, that de­sires to lick it off from thorns; for my part, I am of the minde of him who professed, not to care for those favours, that compelled him to lie waking.

IN the next place, I see great­nesse not more pale, and worn vvith cares, then swoln up, and sickly with excesse; Too much oyle poured in, puts out the Lamp, Superfluity is guilty of a world of diseases, which the spare diet of poverty is free from; How have vve seen great mens eies surfeited at that full [Page 212] Table, whereof their palate could not taste, and they have risen discontentedly glutted with the sight of that, vvhich their stomach vvas uncapable to receive; and vvhen, not gi­ving so much law to nature, as to put over their gluttonous meal, (their vvanton appetite charging them with a nevv va­riety of curious morsels, and lavish cups) they finde them­selves overtaken with feverous distempers, the Physitian must succeed the Cook; and a se­cond sicknesse must cure the first: But alas, these bodily indisposi­tions are nothing to those spi­rituall evils, vvhich are incident into secular greatness. It is a true word of S. Ambrose, secon­ded by common experience, Ambros. l. 4 Epist. 29. that an high pitch of honour is seldome held up without sinne; And S. Jerome tels us, it vvas a Hieron. Ep. ad Hedibi­um. common Proverb in his time, That a rich man either is vvick­ed, [Page 213] or a vvicked mans heir: Not, but that rich Abraham may have a bosome for poor Laza­rus to rest in, and many great Kings have been great Saints in Heaven, and there is still room for many more; but that com­monly great temptations fol­low great estates, and often­times overtake them; neither is it for nothing, that riches are by our blessed Saviour styled the Mammon of iniquity, & wealth is by the holy Apostle branded 1 Tim. 6. with deceitfulnesse; such as cheat many millions of their souls.

Add unto these (if you please) the torment of parting with that pelf, and honour, vvhich hath so grosly bewitched us; such as may well verifie that vvhich Lu­cius Ep. Lucii ad Episc. Gall. & Hisp. long since wrote to the Bi­shops of France, and Spain, that one houres mischief makes us forget the pleasure of the grea­test excesse. I marvell not at [Page 214] our English Jew, of whom our story speaks, that would rather part with his teeth, then his bags: how many have wee knowne that have poured out their life together with their gold, as men that would not out-live their ear­then god; yea (woe is mee) how many soules have beene lost in the sinne of getting, and in the quarrell of leesing this thicke clay, as the Pro­phet tearmes it? But lastly, that which is yet the sorest of all the inconveniences, is the sadnesse of the reckoning, which must come in after these plentifull entertainments; for there is none of all our cates here, but must be billed up; and great Accompts must have long Audits: how hard a thing it is in this case, to have an Omnia aequè? In the failing whereof, how is the Conscience affected? I know [Page 215] not whether more tormented, or tormenting the miserable soul; so as the great Owner is but (as witty Bromiard com­pares him) like a weary Jade, which all the day long hath been labouring under the load of a great treasure; and at night lies down with a galled back.

By that time therefore wee have summed up all, and finde here envy, cares, sicknesses both of body and soul, torment in parting with, and more tor­ment in reckoning for, these earthly greatnesses; wee shall be convinced of sufficient rea­son to be well apaid with their want.

SECT. XII.

LEt the fifth Consideration be, the benefit of Poverty; such, and so great, as are e­nough to make us in love with having nothing.

For first, vvhat an advantage is it, to be free from those gnawing cares, which (like Tityus his Vulture) feed upon the Heart of the Great? Here is a man that sleeps (Aethio­pian-like) with his doores o­pen; no dangers threaten him, no feares break his rest; hee starts not out of his bed at mid­night, and cries Theeves, he feels no rack of ambitious thoughts, he frets not at the disappoint­ment of his false hopes, hee cracks not his brain with ha­zardous [Page 217] plots, he mis-doubts no undermining of emulous ri­vals, no traps of hollow friend­ship, but lives securely in his homely Cottage, quietly en­joying such provision, as nature, and honest industry furnish him withall; for his drinke, the neighbour Spring saves him the charge of his Excise; and when his better earnings have fraught his trencher with a warm, and pleasing morsell, and his cup with a stronger liquor, hovv chearfully is he affected with that happy variety; and in the strength of it digests many of his thinner meals?

Meals usually sawced with an healthfull hunger, wherein no uncocted Crudities oppresse Nature, and cherish disease: Here are no Gouts, no Dropsies, no Hypochondriack passions, no Convulsive fits, no distem­pers of surfeits, but a clear, and wholesome vigor of body, and [Page 218] an easie putting over the light tasks of digestion, to the con­stant advantage of health.

And as for outward dangers, what an happy immunity doth commonly blesse the poore man? how can he fear to fall, that lies flat upon the ground? The great Pope, Boniface the seventh, vvhen hee saw many stately Buildings ruined vvith Earthquakes, is glad to raise him a little Cabin of boards in the midst of a Meadovv, and there findes it safest to shelter his triple Crown. When great men hoist their Top-sail, and launch forth into the deep, ha­ving that large clew which they spread, expos'd to all windes, and weathers, the poor man sails close by the shore; and when hee foresees a storme to threaten him, puts in to the next Creek; and wears out in a quiet security that Tempest, wherein he sees prouder Vessels [Page 219] miserably tost, and at last, fatal­ly wracked.

This man is free from the pe­rill of spightfull machinations; No man whets his Axe to cut down a shrub, it is the large Timber of the world that hath cause to fear hewing: Neither is he lesse free inwardly from the galling stroaks of a self-accusing Conscience; here is no remur­muring of the heart for guilty subornations, no checks for the secret contrivances of publique villanies; no heart-breaking for the failings of bloudy designes; or late remorse for their successe; but quiet, & harmlesse thoughts of seasonable frugality, of honest recreation, with an un-interrup­ted freedome of recourse to Heaven.

And if at any time, by either hostile, or casuall means, he be berest of his little, he smiles in the face of a theef; and is no whit astonished to see his thatch [Page 220] on a flame, as knowing how easie a supply will repair his losse.

And when he shall come to his last close, his heart is not so glewed to the world, that he should be loth to part; his soul is not tyed up in bags, but flies out freely to her everlasting Rest. Oh the secret vertue and happinesse of Poverty; which none but the right disposed minde knows how to value▪ It was not for nothing that so ma­ny great Saints have embraced it, rather then the rich proffers of the vvorld; That so many great Princes have exchanged their Thrones for quiet Cels; Who so cannot be thankful for a little, upon these conditions, I wish he may be punished with abundance.

SECT. XIII.

NEither will it a little avail to the furtherance of our Contentation, to consider how little will suffice Nature, and that all the rest is but matter of Opinion: It is the Apostles charge, Having food and rai­ment, 1 Tim. 6. 9 let us be therewith con­tent: Indeed what use is there of more, then what may nou­rish us within, and cover us without? If that be wholsome, and agreeable to our bodily disposition, whether it be fine, or course, Nature passes not; it is meerly Will that is guilty of this wanton and fastidious choice; It is fit that Civilitie should make difference of clo­things; and that vveaknesse of [Page 222] body, or eminence of Estate should make differences of di­ets; Else, why not Russet as well as Scarlet? Beef, as Phe­sant? the Grashopper feeds on dew, the Chameleon on air, what care they for other Vi­ands? Our Books tell us, that Paulo primo Eremitae in spelunca vi­venti palma & cibum & vestimentum praebebat: quod cum imp [...]s [...]b [...]le vidcatur. Je­stemm testur & Angelos vi­disse me Mo­nacbos, de qui­bus unus per 30. annos clausus, bo [...] ­deaceo pane & lu [...]ulenta aqua vixit. Hieron de vita Pauli. Revelatur Antonio no­nagenario de Paulo agente jam 113 an­num, esse ali­um se sancti­orem Mona­chum, ibid. those Anachorets of old, that went aside into Wildernesses, and sustained themselves with the most spare diet, such as those deserts could afford, out-lived the date of other mens lives, in whom Nature is commonly stifled with a gluttonous varie­ty: How strong, and vigorous above their neighbour Greci­ans, were the Lacedemonians held of old? who by the Or­dinance of their Law-giver, held themselves to their black broth, which, when Dionysius would needs taste of, his Cook truly told him, that if he would re­lish that fare, he must exercise strongly, as they did, and wash [Page 223] in Eurotas: Who knows not that our Island doth not afford more able Bodies, then they that eat, and drink Oats? And whom have wee seene more healthfull and active, then the children of poor men, trayned up hardly in their Cottages with fare as little, as course?

Doe I see a poor Indian hus­banding one tree to all his houshold uses; finding in that one Plant, Timber, Thatch, Meat, Medicine, Wine, Honey, Oyle, Sawce, Drink, Utensils, Ships, Cables, Sayles? and doe I rove over all the latitude of Nature for contentment? Our appetite is truly unreasonable, neither will know any bounds: We begin with necessaries, as Pliny justly observes, and from Plin. l. 26. c. 6. thence we rise to excesse, punish­ing our selves with our owne wilde desires; whereas, if wee were wise, we might finde me­diocrity an ease.

[Page 224] Either extream is a like dead­ly; he that over-afflicts his bo­dy, kils a Subject; he that pam­pers Hugo. In­stit. Mona. Reg. S. Co­lumb. it, nourishes an Enemy. Too much abstinence turns vice, and too much ingurgitation is one of the seven, and at once de­stroys both Nature and Grace. The best measure of having or Senec. E­pist. 38. desiring, is not what we would, but what we ought: Neither is he rich that hath much; but he that desires not much: A dis­creet frugality is fittest to mo­derate both our wishes, and ex­pences; which if we want, wee prove dangerously prodigall in both; if we have, we doe happily improve our stock to the advan­tage of our selves, and others.

SECT. XIV.

THe next inducement to Contentation, shall be the serious consideration of the mi­serable inconveniences of the contrary disposition; Discon­tentment is a mixture of anger, and of grief; both which are wont to raise up fearfull tem­pests in the soul; Hee teareth himself in his anger, saith Bildad, concerning that mirrour of pa­tience; Job 18. 4. And the sorrow of the world worketh death, saith the chosen Vessell: so as the Male­content, whether he be angry or sad, mischieves himself both ways; There cannot be a truer word then that of wise Solomon, Eccles 7. 9. Anger resteth in the bosome of fools; What can be more foo­lish [Page 226] then for a man, because he thinks God hath made him mi­serable by crosses, to make him­self more miserable by his own distempers? If the clay had sense, what a mad thing were it for it to struggle with the Potter? and if a man wil spurn against strong Iron-pikes, what can he hope to carry away but wounds? How witless a thing it is for a man to torment himself with the thoughts of those evils, that are past all remedy? What wise beholder would not have smiled with pity and scorn, to have seen great Augustus; af­ter the defeat of some choice Troops, to knock his head against the wall, and to hear him pas­sionately cry out; O Varus, restore me my lost Legions? Who would not have been an­gry with that cholerick Prophet to hear him so furiously contest with his Maker for a withered Gourd? What an affliction was [Page 227] it to good Jacob (more then the sterility of a beloved wife) to hear Rachel say; Give mee Gen. 30. 1. children, or else I die? yea, how ill did it sound in the mouth of the Father of the faithfull; Lord God, what wilt thou give mee, Gen. 15. 2. seeing I goe childelesse? Yet thus froward and techy is na­ture in the best; if we may not have all we would have, all that we have is nothing; if wee bee not perfectly humoured, we are wilfully unthankfull; All Israel is nothing worth to Ahab, if he may not have one poor Vineyard: How must this needs irritate a munificent God, to see his bounty contemned out of a childish pettishnesse? How can he forbeare to take away from us his sleighted mercies? How can he hold his hand from plaguing so ingratefull disre­spects of his favours?

As for that other passion of grief, what wofull work doth it [Page 228] make in ungoverned mindes? How many have we knowne, that out of thought for unreco­verable losses, have lost them­selves? how many have runne from their wits? how many from their lives? Yea, how ma­ny, that out of an impatience to stay the leisure of vengeance, have made their own hands, their hasty executioners? And even where this extremity pre­vails not; look about, and yee shall see men that are not able matches to their passions, wo­fully macerating thēselves with their own thoughts, wearing out their tedious dayes upon the rack of their own hearts; and making good that observation of the wise man; By the sor­row of the heart, the spirit is Pro. 15. 13 broken.

Now all these mischiefs might have been happily prevented by a meek yeeldance of our selves to the hands of an all-wise, and [Page 229] an all-mercifull God, and by an humble composure of our affe­ctions to a quiet suffering; It is the power of patience to calm Ps. 37. 7. Jam. 5. 7. the heart in the most blustering trials; and when the vessell is most tossed, yet to secure the fraight: This, if it doe not abate of our burden, yet it addes to our strength, and wins the Fa­ther of Mercies both to pity, and retribution.

Whereas murmuring Israelites can never be free from judge­ments; and it is a dreadfull word that God speaketh of that chosen Nation; Mine heritage is Jer. 12. 8. unto me as a Lion in the forest; it, still, yelleth against me, there­fore have I hated it; A Childe that struggles under the rod, just­ly doubles his stripes, and an un­ruly Malefactor drawes on, be­sides death, tortures.

SECT. XV.

FUrthermore, it is a main help towards Contentation, to con­sider the gracious vicissitudes of Gods dealing with us: how he intermixes favours with his crosses; tempering our much honey, with some little gall; the best of us are but shrewd children, yet he chides us not always, saith the Psalmist: hee smiles often, for one frown; and Ps. 103. 9. why should wee not take one with another? It was the an­swer wherewith that admirable pattern of patience stopped the querulous mouth of his temp­ting wife; What? shall we re­ceive good at the hand of God, Job 2. 10. and shall we not receive evill?

It was a memorable example which came lately to my know­ledge [Page 231] of a worthy Christian, who had lived to his middle age in much health, and prosperity, and was now for his two last years miserably afflicted with the Strangury; who in the midst of his torments could say, Oh my Lord God, how gracious hast thou been unto me! thou hast given me eight and forty years of health, and now but two years of pain; thou migh­te [...]t have caused me to lie in this torture all the days of my life; and now thou hast caried mee comfortably through the rest, and hast mercifully taken up with this last parcell of my tor­ment; blessed be thy Name for thy mercy in forbearing me, and for thy justice in afflicting mee. To be thankfull for present bles­sings is but ordinary, but to be so thankfull for mercies past, that the memory of them should be able to put over the sense of present miseries, is an high im­provement of grace.

[Page 232] The very Heathens by the light of Nature and their own experience, could observe this interchange of Gods proceed­ings; and made some kinde of use of them accordingly: Ca­millus, after he had upon tenne Livius. years siege, taken the rich City Veios, prayd that some mis-hap might befall himself and Rome to temper so great an happi­nes; when one would have thought the prize would not countervail the labour, and the losse of time and bloud; And Alexander the great, when re­port was made to him of ma­ny notable Victories, atchieved by his Armies, could say; O Jupiter, mixe some mis-fortune with these happy news: Lo, these men could tell that it is neither fit, nor safe for great blessings to walk alone, but that they must be attended with their pages, afflictions; why should not we Christians ex­pect [Page 233] them with patience, and thanks?

They say, Thunder and Light­ning hurts not, if it be mixed with Rain. In those hot Coun­tries, which lie under the sealding Zone, when the first showres fall after a long drought, it is held dangerous to walk suddenly a­broad; for that the earth so moistned sends up unwholsome steams; but in those parts where the Rain and Sun-shine are usu­ally interchanged, it is most pleasant to take the air of the earth newly refreshed with kindly showres; Neither is it otherwise in the course of our lives; this medley of good and evill conduces not a little to the health of our soules: One of them must serve to temper the other; and both of them to keep the heart in order.

Were our afflictions long, and our comforts rare and short, we had yet reason to be thankfull; [Page 234] the least is more then God ows us: but now, when if heavinesse endure for a night, joy commeth in the morning, and dwels with us, so, that some fits of sorrow are recompensed with many moneths of joy; how should our hearts overflow with thank­fulnesse, and easily digest small grievances, out of the comforta­ble sense of larger blessings?

But if we shall cast up our eies to Heaven, and there be­hold the glorious remuneration of our sufferings, how shall we contemn the worst that earth can doe unto us? There, there is glory enough to make us a thousand times more then a­mends for all that we are capa­ble to endure; Yea, if this Earth were Hell, and Men De­vils, they could not inflict upon us those torments, which might hold any equality with the glo­ry which shall be revealed; and even of the worst of them we [Page 235] must say with the blessed Apo­stle; Our light affliction which is but for a moment, worketh 2 Cor. 4. 17. for us a far more exceeding, e­ternall weight of glory: When the blessed Proto-Martyr Ste­phen had sted fastly fixed his eies on Heaven, and (that Curtain being drawn) had seen the Hea­vens opened, and therein the glory of God, and Jesus stand­ing Acts 7. on the right hand of God; doe we think he cared ought for the sparkling eies, and gnashed teeth, and killing stones of the enraged multitude? Oh poor impotent Jews, how far was that divine soul above the reach of your malice? how did he triumph over your cruelty? how did he by his happy evolation make all those stones precious?

SECT. XVI.

LAstly, it cannot but be a powerfull motive unto Con­tentation, that we lay before us the notable examples of men, whether worse, or better then our selves, that have been emi­nent in the practice of this ver­tue; men, that out of the meer strength of morality, have run away with loss [...]s, and poverty as a light burden; that out of their free choice have fallen up­on those condition, which we are ready to f [...]ar, and shrinke from: What a shame is it for Christians to bee out-stripped herein by very Pagans? If we look upon the ancient Philoso­phers; their low valuation of [Page 237] these outward things, and their willing abdication of those comforts, wherewith others vvere too much affected, made them admired of the multitude; Here doe Dsee a Cynick housed in his Tub, scorning all wealth and state; and making still e­ven with his virtuals, and the [...]. day; who, when he was invi­ted to supper to one of Alexan­ders great Lords, could say; I had rather lick salt at Athens, then feast with Craterus: Here I meet with him, whom their O­racle styled the wisest of men, walking bare-foot in a patcht thred-bare cloak, contemning honors, and all earthly things; and when that garment would hang no longer on his back, I can hear him say, I would have bought a Cloak, if I had had mony; after which vvord, saith Soneca, whosoever offered to give, came too late; Apollodo­donus, amongst the rest, sends [Page 238] him a rich mantle towards his end, and is resused; With what patience doth this man bear the loud scoldings of his Xantippe? making no other of them, then the creaking of a Cart-wheel: with what brave resolution doth he repell the proffers of Archelaus, telling him how cheap the Market afforded meal at Athens, and the fountains water? Here I meet with a Ze­no, formerly rich in his traffique for purple, now impoverisht by an ill Sea-voyage, and can hear him say, I sailed best when I Ship-wrackt: Here I see an A­ristippus drowning his gold in the sea, that it might not drown him: Here I can hear a Demo­critus, or Cleanthes, when hee was asked how a man should be rich, answer; If he be poor in desires.

What should I speak of those Indian Sophists, that took their name from their nakednesse; [Page 239] whom we hear to say; The sky is our house, and the Earth our Inter opera Ambrosii De moribus Brachman­norum. bed; we care not for gold, we contemn death: One of them can tell Onesicritus; As the Mo­ther is to the Childe, so is the Earth to mee; The Mother gives Milk to her Infant; so doth the Earth yeeld all necessaries to mee; And when gold was offe­red to him, by that great Con­querour; Perswade (said he) if thou canst, these birds to take thy silver and gold, that they may sing the sweeter; and if thou canst not doe that, wouldst thou have me worse then them? Adding moreover in a strong discourse; Naturall hunger, when we have taken food, cea­seth; and if the minde of man did also naturally desire gold, so soon as he hath received that which he wished, the desire and appetite of it would presently cease; but so far is it from this society, that the more it hath, [Page 240] the more it doth, without any intermission, long for more; be­cause this desire proceeds not from any motion of nature, but onely out of the wantonnesse of mans own will, to which no bounds can bee set. Blush, O Christian Soul, (whosoever thou art, that readest these lines) to hear such words falling from Heathen lips, when thou seest those that professe godlinesse, dote upon these worthlesse me­tals, and transported with the affectation and cares of those earthly provisions.

If from these patterns of men that should be below our selves, we look up to the more noble precedents of Prophets and A­postles; Lo, there we finde E­lijah fed by Ravens; Elisha boarding with his poor Sareptan Hostesse; An hundred Prophets fed by fifty in a Cave, with 1 Kings 18. 13. 2 King. 6. 2, 3, 4, 5. bread and water; The sons of the Prophets for the enlarging [Page 241] of their over-strait lodgings, hard at work; they are their owne Carpenters, but their tools are borrowed; There we shall find a few barley loaves, and little fishes, the houshold provision of our Saviours train: Yea, there we finde the most glorious A­postle, the great Doctor of the Gentiles, employing his hands to feed his belly; busily stich­ing of skins for his Tent-work; Yea, what doe we look at any or all of these, when we see the Son of God, the God of all the world, in the form of a servant? Not a Cratch to cradle him in, not a Grave to bury him in, was his own; and he that could command Heaven and Earth, can say, The Foxes have holes, the Mat. 8. 20. Birds have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

Who now can complain of want, when he hears his Lord, and Saviour but thus provided [Page 242] for? He could have brought down with him a celestiall house, and have pitcht it here below, too glorious for earthen eies to have lookt upon: Hee could have commanded all the precious things that lie shrowd­ed in the bowels of the Earth, to have made up a Majesticall Palace for him, to the dazling of the eies of all beholders; He could have taken up the stateli­est Court that any earthly Mo­narch possessed, for his peculiar habitation: But his greatnesse was Spirituall and Heavenly; and he that owned all would have nothing, that he might sanctifie want unto us; and that he might teach us by his blessed example, to sit down conten­ted with any thing, with no­thing.

By that time therefore wee have laid all these things toge­ther, and have seriously conside­red of the mean valuation of all [Page 243] these earthly things, for their transitorinesse, unsatisfaction, danger; of the over-ruling Providence of the Almighty, who most wisely, justly, merci­fully disposeth of us and all e­vents that befall us; of the worse condition of many thousand others; of the great inconve­niences that attend great and full estates; of the secret be­nefits of poverty; of the smal­nesse of that pittance that may suffice Nature; of the miseries that wait upon discontentment; of the mercifull vicissitudes of favours, wherewith God plea­seth to interchange our suffe­rings; and lastly, the great ex­amples of those, as well without, as vvithin the bosome of the Church, that have gone before us, and led us the way to Con­tentation: our judgement can­not chuse but be sufficiently con­vinced, that there is abundant reason to vvin our hearts to a [Page 244] quiet and contented entertain­ment of want, and all other outward afflictions.

SECT. XVII.

BUt all these intervenient miseries are sleight in com­parison of the last, and utmost of evils, Death; Many a one graples chearfully with these tri­viall afflictions, who yet looks pale, and trembles at the King of fear: His very Name hath terrour in it, but his lookes more: The courageous Cham­pion of Christ, the blessed Apo­stle; and with him, every faith­full soul, makes his challenge universall, to whatsoever estate he is in; to the estate of Death, therefore, no lesse then the affli­ctive incidence of life: When therefore this gastly Giant shall [Page 245] stalk forth, and bid defiance to the whole Host of Israel; and when the timorous unbeleevers shall run away at the sight of him, and endeavour to hide their heads from his presence; the good soul armed, not with the unmeet and cumbersome harm­nesse of flesh and bloud, but with the sure (though invisible) armour of God, dares come forth to meet him, and in the name of the Lord of Hosts, both bids him battle and foils him in the Combat; and now having laid him on the ground, can tri­umphingly say, O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave, where is thy Victory? Five smooth pe­bles there are, which if we carry in our scrip, we shall be able to quell, not onely the power of death, but the terror too.

Whereof the first is a sure ap­prehension of both the unavoi­dable necessary, and certain be­nefit of death: A necessity, [Page 246] grounded upon the just and e­ternall Decree of Heaven: It is appointed to all men once to Heb. 9. 27. die; and what a madnesse were it for a man to think of an ex­emption from the common condition of mankind? Morta­lity is, as it were, essential to our Nature; neither could wee have had our souls but upon the tearms of a re-delivery, when they shall be called for; If the holiest Saints, or the greatest Monarchs sped otherwise, wee might have some colour of repi­ning: Now, grieve if thou wilt, that thou art a man; grieve not, that being man thou must die.

Neither is the benefit inferi­our to the necessity; Lo here the remedy of all our cares, the physick for all our maladies, the rescue from all our feares and dangers, earnestly sued for by the painfull, dearly welcome to the distressed: Yea, lo here the [Page 247] Cherub that keeps the gate of Paradise; there is no entrance but under his hand; In vain do we hope to passe to the glory of Heaven, any other way then through the gates of Death.

The second is the Conscience of a well-led life; Guiltinesse vvill make any man fowardly, unable to looke danger in the face, much more Death; where­as the innocent is bold as a Lion: What a difference therefore there is betwixt a Martyr, and a Malefactor? this latter knows he hath done ill, and therefore if he can take his death but pa­tiently, it is well; the former knows he hath done well, and therefore takes his death not pa­tiently onely, but chearfully.

But because no mortall man can have so innocently led his life, but that he shall have pas­sed many offences against his most holy, and righteous God; here must be, Thirdly, a finall [Page 248] peace firmly made betwixt God and the soul. Two powerfull agents must mediate in it; a lively Faith, and a serious Re­pentance; for those sins can ne­ver appear against us, that are washed off with our tears; and being justified by faith we have Rom. 5. 1. peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if we have made the Judge our friend, what can the Sergeant doe?

The fourth is the power, and efficacy of Christs death apply­ed to the soul: Wherefore dy­ed he, but that we might live? Wherefore would he, who is the Lord of life, die, but to sanctifie, season, and sweeten death to us? Who would goe any other way then his Saviour went before him? who can fear that enemy, whom his Redeemer hath con­quered for him? who can run away from that Serpent, whose sting is pulled out? Oh Death, my Saviour hath been thy death, [Page 249] and therefore thou canst not be mine.

The fifth is, the comfortable expectation, and assurance of a certain resurrection, and an im­mediate glory: I doe but lay me down to my rest, I shall sleep quietly, and rise gloriously: My soul, in the mean time, no soon­er leaves my body, then it en­joys God; It did lately through my bodily eyes see my sad friends, that bade me farewell with their tears; now it hath the blisse-making vision of God: I am no sooner lanched forth, then I am at the haven, where I would be; Here is that which were able to make amends for a thousand deaths; a glory, infi­nite, eternall, incomprehensi­ble.

This spirituall Ammunition shall sufficiently furnish the soul for her encounter with her last enemy; so as she shall not only endure, but long for this Com­bat; [Page 250] and say with the chosen Vessell, I desire to depart, and Phil. 1. 23. to be with Christ.

SECT. XVIII.

NOw for that long conver­sation causeth entirenesse, and the parting of old friends and partners (such the soul and body are) cannot but be grie­vous, although there were no actuall pain in the dissolution: It will be requisite for us, seri­ously to consider the state of this conjunction; and to en­quire what good offices the one of them doth to the other, in their continued union, for which they should be so loth to part: And here wee shall finde that those two, however united to [Page 251] make up one person, yet (as it fals out in crosse matches) they are in continuall domestique jars one with the other, and entertain a secret familiar kind of hostility betwixt themselves; For the flesh lusteth against the Gal. 5. 17. spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other. One says well, that if the body should implead the soul, it might bring many foul impeachments against it; and sue it for many great inju­ries done to that earthly part: And the soul again hath no few­er quarrels against the body: betwixt them both there are many brawls, no agreement. Our Schools have reckoned up therefore eight main incommo­dities, which the soul hath cause to complain of in her conjuncti­on with the body: whereof the first is the defilement of Origi­nall sinne, wherewith the soul is not tainted as it proceeds, a­lone, [Page 252] from the pure hands of its Creator, but as it makes up a part of a son of Adam, who brought this guilt upon humano nature; so as now this compo­sition, which we call man, is cor­rupt: Who can bring a clean thing out of that which is un­clean? Job 14. 4. saith Job.

The second is a pronenesse to sinne, which, but by the meeting of these partners, had never been; the soul, if single, would have been innocent; thus matched, what evill is it not apt to entertain? An ill con­sort is enough to poyson the best disposition.

The difficulty of doing well is the third; for how averse are we by this conjunction from a­ny thing that is good? This clog hinders us from walking round­ly in the ways of God: The good that I would doe, I doe not, saith the chosen Ves­sell. Rom. 7. 19

[Page 253] The fourth is the dulnesse of our understanding, and the dim­nesse of our mentall eies, e­specially in the things pertaining unto God; which now we are forced to behold through the vail of flesh: if therefore we mis-know, the fault is in the mean, through which we doe imperfectly discover them.

The fift is a perpetuall im­pugnation, and self-conflict, ei­ther part labouring to oppose and vanquish the other. This field is fought in every mans bosome, without any possibility of peace, or truce, till the last moment of dissolution.

The sixt is the racking solici­tude of cares, which continual­ly distract the soul, not suffering it to rest at ease, whiles it carries this flesh about it.

The seventh is the multiplici­ty of passions which daily blu­ster within us, and raise up con­tinuall tempests in our lives, [Page 254] disquieting our peace, & threat­ning our ruine.

The eight is the retardation of our glory; for flesh and bloud cannot inherit the king­dome of God; wee must lay down our load if we would en­ter into Heaven: The seed can­not fructifie unlesse it die. I can­not blame nature if it could wish not to be unclothed, but to be clothed upon: but so hath the eternall wisdome ordered, that we should first lay down, ere we can take up; and be de­vested of earth, ere we can par­take of Heaven.

Now then, sith so many and great discommodities doe so unavoidably accompany this match of soul and body, and all of them cease instantly in the act of their dissolution; what reason have we to be too deep­ly affected with their parting? Yea, how should we rather re­joyce that the houre is come, [Page 255] wherein we shall be quit both of the guilt and temptations of sinne; wherein the clogge shall bee taken away from our heels, and the vail from our eies; wherein no intestine wars shall threaten us, no cares shall disquiet us, no passions shall torment us; and lastly, wherein we may take the free possession of that glory, which we have hitherto lookt at on­ly afar off from the top of our Pisgah?

SECT. XIX.

HItherto, we have dwelt in those powerfull considera­tions which may work us to a quiet contentment with what­soever adverse estate, whether of life or death; after which, we addresse our selves to those meet dispositions, which shall render us fully capable of this blessed Contentation; and shall make all these considerations effectuall to that happy pur­pose. Whereof the first is true Humility, under-valuing our selves, & setting an high rate up­on every mercy that we receive; For, if a man have attained un­to this, that he thinks every thing too good for him, and [Page 257] self lesse then the least blessing, and worthy of the heaviest judgement; he cannot but sit down thankfull for small fa­vours, and meekly content with mean afflictions: As contrarily, the proud man stands upon points with his Maker, makes God his debter; looks disdain­fully at small blessings; as if he said, What, no more? and looks angerly at the least cros­ses; as if he said, Why thus much? The father of the faithfull hath practically taught us this Lesson of hu­mility, who comes to God Gen. 18. 27 with dust and ashes in his mouth: And the Jewish Do­ctors tell us truly, that in e­very Disciple of Abraham, there must be three things: a good eye, a meek spirit, and an humble soul; His Grandchilde P [...]k. A­voth. Jacob, the Father of every true Israelite, had well taken it out; whiles he can say to his God, [Page 258] I am not worthy of the least Gen. 32. 10 of all the mercies, and of all the truth which thou hast shewed unto thy servant: And indeed, in whomsoever it be, the best measure of Grace is Humility; for the more Grace still, the greater Humility; and no Humility, no Grace: Solo­mon observed of old; and Saint Pro. 3. 34. James took it from him, That Jam. 4. 6. God resisteth the proud, and giveth Grace to the humble; so as he that is not humble, is not so much as capable of Grace; and he that is truly humble, is a fit subject for all Graces, and amongst the rest, for the Grace of Contentation: Give me a man therefore, that is vile in his own eies, that is sensible of his own wretched­nesse, that knows what it is to sin, and what belongs to that sin whereof he is guilty; this man shall think it a mercy that he is any where out of [Page 259] Hell; shall account all the e­vils that he is free from, so many new favors; shall reckon easie corrections amongst his blessings; and shall esteem any blessing infinitely obliging. Whereas contrarily, the proud begger is ready to throw Gods alms at his head, and swels at every lash, that he re­ceives from the divine hand. Not without great cause, there­fore, doth the royall Preacher Eccles. 7. 8 oppose the patient in spirit, to the proud in spirit; for the proud man can no more bee patient, then the patient can be discontent with whatsoever hand of his God. Every toy puts the proud man beside his patience; If but a flie be found in Pharaohs cup, he is straight in rage, (as the Jewish traditi­on lays the quarrell) and sends his Butler into durance: And if the Emperour doe but mistake the Stirrup of our [Page 260] Countreyman Pope Adrian, he shall dance attendance for his Crown: If a Mardochee doe but fail of a courtesie to Haman, all Jewes must bleed to death; And how un­quiet are our vain Dames, if this curle be not set right, or or that pinne mis-placed? But the meek spirit is incurious; and so throughly subacted, that he takes his load from God (as the Camel from his Master) up­on his knees: And for men, if they compell him to goe one mile, he goes twain; if they Mat. 5. 39, 40. smite him on the right cheek, hee turns the other; if they sue away his Coat, he parts with his Cloak also.

Heraclius the Emperour, when hee was about to passe through the golden gate, and to ride in royall state through the streets of Jerusalem, being put in minde by Zacharias the Bishop there, of the humble and [Page 261] dejected fashion wherein his Saviour walked through those streets, towards his passion, strips off his rich robes, lays aside his Crown, & with bare head & bare feet, submissely paces the same way that his Redeemer had cari­ed his Crosse towards his Golgo­tha: Every true Christian is ready to tread in the deep steps of his Saviour, as well knowing that if hee should descend to the Gates of Death, of the Grave, of Hell, he cannot bee so humbled, as the Son of God was for him: And indeed, this, and this alone, is the true way to glory; He that is Truth it self, hath told us, that he who humbles himself shall be exal­ted; And wise Solomon, Before Pro. 15. 33 honour is humility. The Fuller treads upon that cloth which he means to whiten: And he that would see the starres by day, must not climbe up into some high Mountain, but must de­scend [Page 262] to the lower Cels of the earth. Shortly, whosoever would raise up a firm build­ing of Contentation, must bee sure to lay the foundation in Humility.

SECT. XX.

SEcondly, to make up a true contentment with the most adverse estate, there is required a faithfull selfe-re­signation into the hands of that God, whose wee are; who, as he hath more right in us, then our selves, so he best knows what to doe with us: How graciously hath his mercy invited us to our own ease? Bee carefull (saith he) for nothing; but in eve­ry Phil. 4. 6. thing by prayer, and sup­plication, [Page 263] with thanksgiving, let your requests bee made known unto God: we are naturally apt in our necessities to have recourse to greater powers then our own; even where we have no engagement of their help; how much more should we cast our selves upon the Almighty, when he not onely allows, but solicits our reliance upon him? It was a question that might have befitted the mouth of the best Christian, which fell from So­crates, Since God himselfe is carefull for thee, why art thou solicitous for thy selfe? If evils were let loose upon us, so as it were possible for us to suffer any thing that God were not aware of, we might have just cause to sink under adver­sities; but now, that we know every dram of our affliction is weighed out to us, by that all-wise, and all-mercifull Provi­dence; [Page 264] Oh our infidelity, if we doe make scruple of taking in the most bitter dose! Here then is the right use of that main duty of Christianity, to live by faith: Brute creatures live by sense, meer men by rea­son, Christians by faith. Now, faith is the substance of things Heb. 11. 1. hoped for; the evidence of things not seen; In our extre­mities, we hope for Gods graci­ous deliverance, faith gives a subsistence to that deliverance, before it be: The mercies that God hath reserved for us, doe not yet show themselves; faith is the evidence of them, though yet unseen: It was the Motto of the learned and godly Di­vine Master Perkins, Fidei vita vera vita; The true life, is the life of faith; a word which that worthy servant of God did both write and live; nei­ther indeed is any other life tru­ly vitall, but this; for hereby [Page 265] we enjoy God in all whatsoever occurrences: Are we abridged of means? we feed upon the cordiall Promises of our God: Doe we sigh and groan under varieties of grievous persecuti­ons? out of the worst of them we can pick out comforts; whiles we can hear our Saviour say, Blessed are they which are per­secuted Mat. 5. 10. for righteousnesse sake; for theirs is the kingdome of Heaven: Are we deserted, and abandoned of friends? we see him by us, who hath said, I will Heb. 13. 5. never leave thee, nor forsake thee: Doe we droop under spirituall desertions? we hear the God of truth say; For a Esa. 54. 7, 8 small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercy will I gather thee; In a little wrath I hid my face from thee, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer: Are we driven from home? If [Page 266] wee take the wings of the Psal. 139. 8, 9. morning, and remain in the uttermost parts of the Sea; even there also shall thine hand lead us, and thy right hand shall hold us: Are we dungeon'd up from the sight of the Sun? Peradven­ture the darknesse shall cover Verse 10, 11. us; but then shall our night be turned into day; yea, the darknesse is no darknesse with thee: Are we cast down up­on the bed of sicknesse? He that is our God, is the God of salvation; and unto God the Lord belong the issues from Psal. 68. 20 death.

It cannot bee spoken hovv injurious those men are to themselves, that will be mana­ging their owne cares, and plotting the prevention of their fears; and projecting their own, both indemnity, and advantages; for, as they lay an unnecessary load upon their [Page 267] own shoulders, so they draw upon themselves the miseries of an unremediable disappoint­ment; Alas, how can their weaknesse make good those e­vents which they vainly pro­mise to themselves, or avert those judgements they would escape, or uphold them in those evils they must under­goe? Whereas if wee put all this upon a gracious God, hee contrives it with ease; looking for nothing from us, but our trust, and thankfulnesse.

SECT. XXI.

IN the third place, it will be most requisite to furnish the foul with true inward riches; I mean not of meer morall ver­tues, (which yet are truly pre­cious when they are found in a good heart) but of a wealth as much above them, as gold is a­bove drosse; Yea, as the thing which is most precious, is above nothing: And this shall be done, if we bring Christ home to the soul; if we can possesse our selves of him, who is God al-sufficient; For, such infinite contentment there is in the Son of God made ours, that whosoever hath tasted of the sweetnesse of this com­fort, is indifferent to all earthly things; and insensible of those extream differences of events, [Page 269] wherewith others are perplexed; How can he be dejected with the want of any thing, who is possessed of him that possesseth all things? How can he be o­ver-affected with triviall profits, or pleasures, who is taken up with the God of all comfort? Is Christ mine therefore? How can I fail of all contentment? How can he complain to want light, that dwels in the midst of the Sun? How can he com­plain of thirst, out of whose belly flow rivers of living wa­ter? Joh. 7. 38. What can I wish, that my Christ is not to me? Would I have meat and drink? My flesh Joh. 6. 55. is meat indeed; and my bloud is drink indeed: Would I have clothing? But, put ye on the Rom. 13. 14. Lord Jesus Christ, saith the Apo­stle: Would I have medicine? He is the Tree of life, the leaves Rev. 22. 2. whereof are for the healing of the Nations: Would I have safety and protection? [Page 270] He truly is my strength, and my salvation; he is my defence, so as I shall not fall; In God is my health and my glory; the Rock Ps. 62. 6, 7. of my might, and in God is my trust: Would I have direction? I am the way, and the truth: Would I have life? Christ is to Phil. 1. 21 me to live; I am the resurrecti­on Joh. 11. 25 and the life: Would I have all spirituall things? We are in Christ Jesus, who of God is 1 Cor. 1. 30 made unto us Wisdome, and Righteousnesse, and Sanctifica­tion, and Redemption.

Oh the happy condition of the man that is in Christ, and hath Christ in him! Shall I ac­count him rich that hath store of Oxen, and Sheep, and Hor­ses, and Camels; that hath heaps of metals, and some spots of ground; and shall I not account him infinitely more rich, that ownes and enjoyes him whose the earth is, and the fulnesse of it; whose Heaven is, and the [Page 271] glory of it? Shall I justly ac­count that man great, whom the King will honour, and place near to himselfe; and shall I not esteeme that man more honou­rable, whom the King of Hea­ven is pleased to admit unto such partnership of glory, as to professe; To him that overcom­meth Rev. 3. 23. will I grant to sit with me in my Throne; even as I also o­vercame, and am set downe with my Father in his Throne?

It is a true word of Saint Au­gustine, that every soul is either Christs Spouse, or the Devils Harlot: Now if we be matched to Christ, the Lord of glory; what a blessed union is here? What can he withhold from us, that hath given us himself? I could envie the devotion of that man (though otherwise mis-pla­ced) whom Saint Bernard heard to spend the night in no other words, then, Deus meus & omnia; My God, and all things; Cer­tainly, [Page 272] he who hath that God, hath more then all things; he that wants him (what ever else he seemes to possesse) hath lesse then nothing.

SECT. XXII.

AFter these serious conside­rations, and meet dispositi­ons, shall in the last follow cer­tain firme resolutions for the full actuating our contentment: And first, we must resolve (out of the unfailable grounds of di­vine Providence, formerly spo­ken of) that the present estate wherein we are, is certainly the best for us; and therefore wee must herein absolutely capti­vate our understanding, and will, to that of the Highest: How un­meet Judges are flesh and blood [Page 273] of the best fitnesse of a conditi­on for us? As some palates (which are none of the whol­somest) like nothing but sweet meats, so our nature would be fed up with the only delicacies of pleasures and prosperity; according to the false principle of Aristippus, that he onely is happy, which is delighted; but the all-wise God knowes ano­ther diet more fit for our health, and therefore graciously tem­pers our dishes with the tart sauces of afiliction: The mother of the two sons of Zebedee, and her ambitious children, are all for the chiefe P [...]rage in the Temporall kingdome of Christ; but he cals them to a bitter Cup, and a bloody baptisme rather; and this was a far greater ho­nour then that they sued for: There is no earthly estate abso­lutely good for all persons; like as no gale can serve for all pas­sengers. In Africk, they say, the [Page 274] North winde brings Clouds, and the South winde clears up: That plant which was starved in one soile, in another prospers; Yea, that which in some cli­mate is poyson, proves whol­some in another: Some one man, if he had anothers bles­sings, would run wilde; and if he had some other mans cros­ses, would be desperate; The infinite wisdome of the great Governour of the world allots every one his due proportion; The Fitches are not threshed Esa. 28. 27. with a threshing instrument; neither is a Cartwheele turned about upon the Cummin; but the Fitches are beaten out with a staffe, and the Cummin with a rod, saith Esay: And no other­wise in matter of prosperity; Josephs Coat may be party-co­loured, and Benjamins messe may be five times so much as any of his brethren. It is marvell if Gen. 43. 34. they who did so much envie Jo­seph [Page 275] for his dream of superiori­ty, did not also envie Benjamin for so large a service, and so rich gifts at his parting; this it seems gave occasion for the good Pa­triarchs fear, when he charged them, See that you fall not out Gen. 45. 24. by the way: But, there had been no reason for so impotent an envie; whiles the gift is free, and each speeds above his de­sert, who can have cause to re­pine? It is enough that Joseph knew a just reason of so unequall a distribution, though it were hidden from themselves. The elder brother may grudge the fat Calfe, and the prime Robe to the returned Unthrift, but the Father knowes reason to make that difference. God is infinitely just and infinitely mer­cifull, in dispensing both his fa­vours and punishment. In both kinds every man hath that which is fittest for him, because it is that which Gods will hath de­signed [Page 276] to him; and that will is the most absolute rule of justice: now if we can so frame our will to his, as to think so too, how can wee bee other then con­tented? Do we suffer? There is more intended to us then our smart: It was a good speech of Seneca, though an Heathen, (what pity it is that he was so?) I give thanks to my infirmity, which forces me not to be able to do that, which I ought not will to do; If we lose without, 2 Cor. 4. 16. so as we gain within; if in the perishing of the outward man the inward man be renued, we have no cause to complain, much to rejoyce: Do I live in a mean estate? If it were better, I should be worse; more proud, more carelesse; and what a wo­full improvement were this? What a strange creature would man be, if he were what he would wish himselfe? Surely, he would be wickedly pleasant, [Page 277] carelesly prophane, vainely proud, proudly oppressive, dis­solutely wanton, impetuously selfe-willed; and shortly, his own Idoll, and his own Idola­ter: His Maker knowes how to frame him better; it is our ig­norance and unthankfulnesse, if we submit not to his good plea­sure: To conclude, we pray eve­ry day, Thy will be done; What hypocrites are we, if we pray one thing, and act another? If we murmure at what we wish? All is well between Heaven and us, if we can think our selvs hap­py to be what God will have us.

SECT. XXIII.

SEcondly, we must resolve to abate of our desires; for it is the illimitednesse of our am­bitious, and covetous thoughts, that is guilty of our unquiet­nesse; Every man would be, and have more then he is; and is therefore sick of what he is not. It was a true word of Democri­tus, If we desire not much, we shall think a little much: and it is sutable to one of the rules of S. Augustine; it is better to need lesse, then to have more: Paul, the richest poor man, (as Ambrose well) could say, As ha­ving all things, yet possessing Ambros. de vitiorum & virtu­tum confli­ctus. nothing: It is not for a Christi­an to be of the Dragons temper, which they say is so ever thirsty, [Page 255] that no water will quench his drought; and therefore never hath his mouth shut; nor with the daughters of the Horseleach to cry alwayes, Give, give; He Pro. 30. 15 must confine his desires; and that, to no overlarge compasse; and must say to them, as God doth to the Sea, Hitherto shalt Job 38. 11 thou come, and no further; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.

What a cumber it is for a man to have too much? to be in the case of Surena the Parthian Lord, that could never remove his family with lesse then a thou­sand Camels? What is this, but Tortoise-like to be clogg'd with a weighty shell, which we can­not drag after us, but with pain? Or like the Ostrich, to be so held down with an heavie body that we can have no use of our wings? Whereas the nimble Lark rises and mounts with ease, and sings chearfully in her flight. [Page 280] How many have we known, that have found too much flesh a burden? and when they have found their blood too rank, have been glad to pay for the letting it out? It was the word of that old and famous Lord Keeper Bacon, the eminent Head of a noble and witty family, Medi­ocria firma: There is neither safety, nor true pleasure in exces: it was a wise and just answer of Zeno the Philosopher, who re­proving the superstuity of a feast, and hearing by way of defence, that the Maker of it was a rich man, and might well spare it, said; If thy Cook shall oversalt thy broth, and when he is chid for it, shall say, I have store e­nough of salt lying by mee: wouldst thou take this for a fair answer?

My Son, eat thou honey, saith Pro. 24. 13 Solomon; because it is good: but, to be sure, for the preveat­ing all immoderation, he addes [Page 281] soon after; Hast thou found Pro. 25. 16 honey? eat so much as is suffi­cient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith: if our appetite carry us too far, we may easily surfeit; this (which is the embleme of pleasure) must be tasted (as Di­onysius the Sophist said of old) on the tip of the finger; not be supt up in the hollow of the hand: It is with our desires as it is with weak stomachs, the quantity offends, even where the food is not unwholsome; and if heed be not taken, one bit draws on another, till na­ture be overlaid; Both plea­sures and profits (if way be gi­ven to them) have too much power to debauch the minde, and to work it to a kinde of in­satiablenesse; there is a thirst that is caused with drunkennes; and the wanton appetite, like as they said of Messalina, may be wearied, but cannot be satisfied; It is good therefore to give au­stere [Page 258] repulses to the first over­tures of inordinate desires, and to give strong denials to the first unruly motions of our hearts; For, S. Chrysostome well; plea­sure is like a Dog, which being coyed, and stroked, followes us at the heels, but if rated, and beaten off, is driven away from us with ease.

It is for the Christian heart to be taken up with other desires, such as wherein there can be no danger of immoderatenesse: These are the holy longings af­ter grace and goodnesse; This only covetousnesse, this ambi­tion is pleasing to God, and in­finitely beneficiall to the soule. Blessed are they which hunger Mat. 5. 6. and thirst after righteousnesse, for they shall be filled: Spiritu­all blessings are the true riches whereof we can never have e­nough. S. Ambrose said truly, No man is indeed wealthy, that cannot carry away what he hath [Page 259] with him: What is left behinde, Ambros. Epist. 27. is not ours, but other mens: Contemne thou whiles thou art alive, that which thou canst not enjoy when thou art dead.

As for this earthly trash, and the vaine delights of the flesh, which we have so fondly doted on; we cannot carry them in­deed away with us, but the sting of the guilty mis-enjoying of them will be sure to stick by us; and, to our sorrow, attend us both in Death and Judgement: In summe therefore, if we would be truly contented, and happy, our hearts can never be enough enlarged in our desires of spiri­tuall and heavenly things, never too much contracted in our de­sires of earthly.

SECT. XXIV.

OUr third resolution must be to inure our selves to di­gest smaller discontentments; and by the exercise thereof, to enable our selves for greater: as those that drink medicinall waters, begin first with smaller quantities, and by degrees a­rise, at last, to the highest of their prescribed measure; or as the wise Lacedemonians, by ear­ly scourgings of their boyes, in­ured them in their riper yeares to more painfull sufferings: A strong Milo takes up his Calf at first, and by continuall pra­ctice is now able to carry it when it is grown a Bull.

Such is our self-love, that we [Page 285] affect ever to be served of the best; and that we are apt to take great exceptions at small failings: We would walk al­wayes in smooth, and even paths, and would have no hin­derances in our passage; but there is no remedie, we must meet with rubs; and perhaps crosse shinnes, and take fals too in our way: Every one is wil­ling and desirous to enjoy (as they say the city of Rhodes doth) a perpetuall Sunshine; but we cannot (if we be wise) but know, that we must meet with change of weather; with rainy dayes, and sometimes stormes and tem­pests; it must be our wisdome to make provision accordingly: and some whiles to abide a whetting; that, if need be, we may endure a drenching also. It Gen. 3. 2. 26. & 33. 5, 6. &c. was the policy of Jacob, when he was to meet with his brother Esau (whom he feared an ene­my, but found a friend) to send [Page 262] the droves first, then his hand­maids, and their children; then Leah, with her children, and at last came Joseph and Rachel, as one that would adventure the lesse dear in the first place, and (if it must be) to prepare him­self for his dearest losse. S. Pauls Acts 27. 18, 19. companions in his perilous Sea­voyage, first lighten the Ship of lesse necessaries, then they cast out the tackling, then the wheat, & in the last place them­selves. It is the use that wise So­crates made of the sharp tongues of his crosse and unquiet wives, to prepare his patience for pub­lick sufferings. Surely, he that cannot endure a frown, will hardly take a blow; and he that doubles under a light crosse, will sink under a heavier; and con­trarily that good Martyr pre­pares his whol body for the Fag­got, with burning his hand in the Candle. I remember Seneca in one of his Epistles rejoyces much [Page 263] to tell with what patient tem­per he took it, that comming unexpectedly to his Countrey house, he found all things so dis­composed, that no provision was ready for him; finding more con­tentment in his own quiet ap­prehension of these wants, then trouble in that unreadines: And thus should we be affected upon all occasions; Those that promi­sed me help, have disappointed me: that friend on whom I re­lyed, hath failed my trust: the sum that I expected, comes not in at the day: my servant slack­ens the businesse enjoyned him: the beast that I esteemed highly, is lost: the Vessell in which I shipped some commodities, is wrackt: my diet & attendance must be abated; I must be dis­lodged of my former habitati­on; how do I put over these occurrences? If I can make light work of these lesser crosses, I am in a good posture to entertaine greater.

[Page 288] To this purpose, it will be not a little expedient to thwart our appetite in those things wherein we placed much de­light; and to torture our curio­sity in the delay of those con­tentments, which we too eager­ly affected: It was a noble and exemplary government of these passions, which we finde in King David, who being ex­treamly thirsty, and longing for a speedy refreshment, could say; Oh that one would give mee drink of the water of the Well 2 Sam. 23. 15, 16, 17. of Bethlehem! but when he saw that water purchased with the hazard of the lives of three of his Worthies, when it was brought to him, he would not drink it, but poured it out unto the Lord.

Have I a minde to some one curious dish above the rest? I will put my knife to my throat, and not humour my palate so far as to taste of it: Doe I re­ceive a Letter of newes from a [Page 289] far Countrey, over night? It shall keep my pillow warme till the morning: Doe my impor­tunate recreations cal me away? they shall, against the hair, be forcibly adjourned till a further leisure: Out of this ground it was, that the ancient Votaries observed such austerity, and ri­gour in their diet, clothes, lodg­ing; as those that knew how requisite it is that nature should be held short of her demands; and continually exercised with denials, lest she grow too wan­ton, and impetuous in her de­sires: That which was of old gi­ven as a rule to Monastick per­sons, is fit to be extended to all Christians; They may not have a will of their own, but must frame themselves to such a con­dition, and cariage, as seemes best to their Superiour; If there­fore it please my God to send me some little comfort, I shall take that as an earnest of more; [Page 266] and if he exercise me with lesser crosses, I shall take them as pre­paratives to greater; and en­deavour to be thankfull for the one, and patient in the other; and contented with Gods hand in both.

SECT. XXV.

OUr last resolution must be, to be frequent and fervent in our prayers to the Father of all mercies, that he will be pleased to work our hearts by the power of his Spi­rit, to this constant state of Contentation; without which we can neither consider the things that belong to our in­ward peace, nor dispose our selves towards it, nor resolve ought for the effecting it; with­out which, all our Considera­tions, all our Dispositions, all our Resolutions, are vain and fruitlesse. Justly therefore doth Phil. 4. 6. the blessed Apostle, after his charge of avoiding all careful­nesse for these earthly things, [Page 292] enforce the necessity of our Prayers and Supplications, and making our requests knowne unto God; who both knows our need, and puts these re­quests into our mouths: When we have all done, they are the requests of our hearts, that must free them from cares, and frame them to a perfect contentment: There may be a kind of dull and stupid neglect, which possessing the soul may make it insensible of evill events, in some naturall dispositions; but a true temper of a quiet and peaceable estate of the soul upon good grounds can never be attained without the inoperation of that holy Spirit, from whom every good gift, and every perfect giving Jam. 1. 17. proceedeth: It is here contra­ry to these earthly occasions: with men, he that is ever cra­ving, is never contented; but with God, he cannot want con­tentment that prays always. [Page 293] If we be not unacquainted with our selves, we are so con­scious of our own weaknesse, that we know every puffe of temptation is able to blow us over; they are onely our pray­ers that must stay us from being caried away with the violent assaults of discontentment; under which, a praying soul can no more miscary, then an inde­vout soul can enjoy safety.

SECT. XXVI.

LEt this be enough for the remedy of those distempers which arise from an adverse condition; As for prosperity, every man thinks himself wise and able enough to know how to govern it, and himself in it; an happy estate (we imagine) will easily manage it selfe, without too much care; Give me but Sea-room, saith the con­fident Mariner, and let me alone, what ever tempest arise: Sure­ly, the great Doctor of the Gentiles had never made this holy boast of his divine skill, [I know how to abound] if it had been so easie a matter as the world conceives it: Meer ig­norance, [Page 271] and want of selfe-ex­perience, is guilty of this er­rour.

Many a one abounds in wealth and honour, who a­bounds no lesse in miseries and vexation: Many a one is caried away with an unruly greatness, to the destruction of body, soul, estate; The world abounds e­very where with men that doe abound, and yet do not know how to abound: and those e­specially in three ranks. The proud, the covetous, the prodi­gall; The proud is thereby transported to forget God; the covetous, his neighbour; the pro­digall, himself.

Both wealth and honour are of a swelling nature; raising a man up not above others, but above himself; equalling him to the powers immortall; yea, exalting him above all that is called God; Oh that vile dust and ashes should be raised to [Page 296] that height of insolence as to hold contestation with its Maker! Who is the Lord? saith Exod. 5. 2. the King of Egypt: I shall be like to the Highest; I am, and Esa. 14. 14. there is none besides me, saith the King of Babylon; The voice Act. 12. 12. of God, and not of Man, goes down with Herod; And hovv will that Spirit trample upon men, that dare vie with the Almighty? Hence are all the heavy oppressions, bloudy ty­rannies, imperious domineerings, scornfull insultations, merciless outrages, that are so rife a­mongst men, even from hence, that they know not how to a­bound.

The covetous man abounds with bags, and no lesse with sorrows; verifying the experi­ence of wise Solomon; There is Eccl. 5. 13. a sore evill which I have seen under the Sun, riches kept for the owners thereof, to their hurt; what he hath got with [Page 297] unjustice, he keeps with care, leaves with grief, and reckons for with torment; I cannot better compare these Money­mongers then to Bees; they are busie gatherers, but it is for themselves; their Masters can have no part of their honey till it be taken from them; and they have a sting ready for every one that approaches their Hive; and their lot at the last is burn­ing. What maceration is there here with fears, and jealousies; what cruell extortion, and op­pression exercised upon others? & all from no other ground then this, that they know not how to abound?

The prodigal feasts and sports like an Athenian, spends like an Emperour; and is ready to say as Heliogabalus did of old, Aelius Lā ­prid. Those cates are best, that cost dearest; caring more for an empty reputation of a short gallantry, then for the comfor­ble [Page 274] subsistence of himself, his family, his family, his posterity: Like Cleopes, the vain Egyptian King, which was fain to pro­stitute his daughter for the fini­shing of his Pyramid: This man lavisheth out not his own means alone, but his poor neighbours; running upon the score with all trades that concern back or bel­ly; undoing more with his debts, then he can pleasure with his entertainments; none of all which should be done, if he knew how to abound.

Great skill therefore is requi­red to the governing of a plen­tifull and prosperous estate, so as it may be safe and comforta­ble to the owner, and benefici­all unto others; Every Corpo­rall may know how to order some few files, but to marshall many Troops in a Regiment, many Regiments in a whole body of an Army, requires the skill of an experienced Generall. [Page 275] But the rules and limits of Chri­stian moderation, in the use of our honours, pleasures, profits, I have at large laid forth in a former Discourse; thither I must crave leave to send the benevolent Reader; beseeching God to bless unto him these and all other labours, to the happy furtherance of his Grace and Salvation.

Amen.