Meditations
of
Man’s
Mortalitie.
Or,
A Way to True
Blessednesse.
Written,
By
wife of John Sutcliffe Esquire,
Groome of his Majesties
most Honourable Privie
Chamber.
guift of God, is Eternall life,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
London
Printed by B.A. and
T.F. for
Henry Seyle at the
Tygers head
in St. Pauls Church-yard. 16341634.
To
the Most
Illustrious
and
Gracious
Princesse,
Katherine
Dutchesse
of
Buckingham:
A3
and
A3v
and
the Right
Honourable
and
Vertuous
Lady,
Susanna,
Countesse
of
Denbeigh
her Sister.
Gracious Princesse:
When I read
how the
Gods sooner
accepted
of a
Handfull of Frankensence
offered by pure
Devotion, then whole
Hecatombes of Arabian
Spices in Ostentation:
I am incouraged,
having duely consideredA4
red
A4v
Your unlimited
Goodnesse, to present
this my Mite unto
your Grace, and your
Honourable Sister; For
as you are Twinnes in
Virtues, so I have joyned
You in my Devotions:
Where first, I most
humbly crave of You
to passe a favourable
Censure of my proceedings,
it beeing, I know
not usuall for a Woman
to doe such things:
Yet Eliha sayth,
“There is a Spirit in Man,
and the inspiration of the
Almightie giveth them
Vnder-
A5r
Understanding”. And it
is sayd againe: “Out of
the mouthes of Babes and
Sucklings, thou shalt perfect
Praise”. I am assured,
I shall meet with
mocking Ishmaels, that
will carpe at Goodnesse;
wherefore, I runne to
Your selves for refuge;
humbly craving to bee
assisted by your Graciousnesse,
which will appeare
as the Splendant
Sunne to disperse those
Mists. I have chosen a
subject not altogether
Pleasing; but my ayme
is,
A5v
is, that it may prove
Profitable, having observed
in this short
course of my Pilgrimage,
how apt Man
is, not to thinke of his
Mortalitie, which
stealeth upon him as a
“Thiefe in the night”: Experience
teacheth mee,
that there is no Action
wisely undertaken,
whereof the End is not
fore-casted, in the first
place, howsoever it bee
last put in execution; I
have ever accompted
Ingratitude, to be like
a
A6r
a Beast, who having received
benefites, thinkes
not of any acknowledgements.
Owing therefore,
a due Debt of
Thankefulnesse for Your
unexpressable undeserved
Favours, and being
no wayes able to cause
the desires of my Heart
to appeare worthy- your
Acceptances, I have made
choyse of this, as being
perswaded thereto, by
that truely Noble vertuousnes
which hath evidently
appeared in
You, to the strengtheningning
A6v
of Goodnesse, that
heere it may find admittance,
which otherwise
might want Entertainement;
and for that you
have beene more then
a Mother to mee, I having
onely from her received
life, but next
under God from your
Grace, & your honorable
Sister the being both
of mee and mine. By
which as there is none
greater then your Selfe
to whom in duty I am
bound, so there is not
any to whom I wish
greater Prosperity both
for
A7r
for Temporall and Spirituall
blessings, then to
your Grace; beseeching
God to preserve
you and your Honorable
Off-spring here upon
Earth, with my no
lesse vertuous Lady
your Sister, to whom
I am tyed by the same
bonds of Thankfulnesse,
that as God hath made
your Renownes great upon
earth, so I beseech
him to adde to your
Lives length of dayes,
and after life, Eternall
happinesse in the Heavens,vens,
A7v
whither Christ
is gone to prepare a
place for You, I alwayes
remayning,
Your Graces,
and your Honors
truely devoted
Servant,
Alice Sutcliffe.
An
Accrostique,
Upon the Renowned
Name of the most vertuous
Princesse, Katherine
Dutchesse of Buckingham.
Know you this
Princesse, Buckingham’s
Chast Dutchesse?
Aske aged Time with his worm-
eaten Crutches,
To find amongst the numbers of
his Role
Her Paralell of such a Heavenly
moule,
Excelling so i’th’ beauties of the
Soule:
Rich in all Treasures, that to Virtue
tend:
In Faith, Hope, Charity; the blessed’s
end.
Nor is there ought, that lives in
Woman kinde:
Exceeding the rare prowesse of
her Minde.
Borne of High blood, from Rutlands
Family:
United to a Duke of Royall
state.
CUrs’d bee the time, more curs’d
his cruelty
Kill’d him; and reav’d this Turtle
of her mate,
In peerlesse woe, we still lament
that fate:
Nor shall his memorie e’re out of
date,
Goe on then Gracious Princesse,
grac’t by Fame,
Honour shall still, attend your noble
Name:
And as your Goodnesse hath abounded,
so
May Heaven the greatest good
on You bestow.
An
Accrostique,
Upon the Name of the Right
Honourable, and truely vertuous
Lady, Susanna, Countesse
of Denbeigh.
See heere a Lady, blessed in her
birth
Unto whose Greatnesse,
Goodness
joyn’d is still
Susanna ne’re so famous was
on Earth
As is this Lady, lead by vertuous
will
Nothing so sweete to her, as
heavenly
mirth
No Musike sounds like Haleluia
still
Ahappy Soule, which those delights
doth fill
Daigne then to view these lines,
where truely I
Expresse but truth, not using Flattery:
No Fallaces within my mouth
once lurkes,
But hates all those, that use dissembling
workes.
Even as your Goodnesse merits, so
speake I
Iam your Servant, bound untill I
dye:
Give leave, then gracious Lady, for
I finde,
Heaven hath indu’d you, with a
vertuous minde.
An Accrostique,
Upon the name and Titles of the
Right honourable and my ever
honored Lord, Philip Earle
of Pembrooke and Montgomery,
Lord Chamberlaine of his
Majesties Houshold,
&c.
Pembrooke’s great Peere, your
Princely favour I
Heere humbly crave, to guerdon
my weake pen,
If this doth show my imbecilitie,
Like a good Patron, shroud it
from bad men
Iby your favours mov’d doe
this present
Pray then my Lord, accept my
good intent.
Poore are my weake endeavours,
yet if you,
Encourage my Minervaes
infant Muse
My cherisht thoughts, by that,
may frame anew
Booke of true thanks, unto your
Lordships use:
Right Noble then, view but the
vertuous tract,
Of this small Volume, and if
you shall finde,
Ovght good expressed, by our
Sexes act,
Know honor’d Lord, my starres
are very kinde.
Mountgomery, my Cælique
Muse doth mount
On Cherubs wing, from this
low Orbe to heaven,
Uertue is here exprest, vices
account;
Nor is’t a Tale, or Fable that is
given
Truth never is asham’d to shew
it’s face:
Great man and good, but
alwayes loves the light.
Omay it then, find an accepted
Grace
More cause a woman, did the
same indite,
Even then as Deborah’s
sweet tuned song,
RUng out her sacred Peale, in
holy Writ:
Oso, I pray my heart, my pen,
my tongue,
Yea all my faculties, may
follow it:
Your Lordships
Devoted Servant,
Alice Sutcliffe.
To
Mrs. Alice Sutcliffe, on
her divine Meditations.
When I had read
your holy
Meditatiōons,
And in them view’d
th’ uncertainty
of Life,
The motives, and true Spurres
to all good Nations.
The Peace of Conscience,
and the Godly’s strife,
The Danger of delaying
to Repent,
And the deceipt of pleasures,
by Consent.
The cōomfort of weake
Christiāans,
with their warning,
From fearefull back-slides;
And the debt we’ are in,
To follow Goodnesse,
by our owne discerning
Our great reward,
th’ æternall Crown to win.
I sayd, who’ had supp’d so deepe
of this sweet Chalice,
Must Celia bee,
the Anagram
of Alice.
Ben. Jonson.
Upon the Religious Meditations
of Mrs. Alice
Sutcliffe.
To the Reader.
Would’st thou
(fraile Reader) thy
true Nature see?
Behold this Glasse
of thy Mortality.
Digest the precepts
of this pious Booke,
Thou canst not in
a nobler Mirrour looke.
Though sad it seeme,
and may loose mirth destroy,
That is not sad
which leades to perfect joy.
Thanke her faire Soule
whose meditation makes
Thee see thy frailtie;
nor disdaine to take
That knowledge, which
a Womans skill can bring.
All are not Syren-notes
that women sing.
How true that Sexe can write,
how grave, how well,
Let all the Muses,
and the Graces tell.
ThoThomas: Ma
To Mr. John Sutcliffe
Esq. upon the receipt of this
Booke written by his Wife.
Sir, I receiv’d your Booke
with acceptation,
And, thus returne
a due congratulation,
For that good Fortune,
which hath blest your life
By making you
The Spouse of such a Wife.
Although I never saw her,
yet I see,
The Fruit, and by the Fruit
I judge the Tree.
My Praise addes nothing to it:
That which is
Well done, can praise it selfe;
and so may this.
To be a woman, ’tis enough with
me,
To merit praise;
For I can never be
So much their Friend,
as they have heretofore
Deserv’d; although
they merited no more.
When, therefore
to their Woman-hood I finde
The love of sacred
Piety conjoyn’d,
Me thinks I have
my duty much forgot,
Unlesse I praise
(although I know them not)
But, when to Woman-hood
and good Affections,
Those rare Abilities,
and those Perfections,
United are,
to which our Sexe aspire,
Then, forc’d I am
to Love, and to admire.
I am not of their mind,
who if they see,
Some Female-Studies
fairely ripened be,
(With Masculine successe)
doe peevishly,
Their worths due honour
unto them deny,
By overstrictly
censuring the same;
Or doubting whether
from themselves it came,
For, well I know.
Dame Pallas and the Muses,
Into that Sexe,
their faculties infuses,
As freely as to Men;
and they that know,
How to improve their Guift,
shallfi find it so.
Then joy in your good Lot,
and praises due
To Him ascribe, that thus
hath honor’d you.
Geo.George Withers.
Upon the Meditations of Mrs.
Alice Sutcliffe.
Ihave no Muse my owne,
but what I see,
Worthy of praise,
that is a Muse to me.
Divinity (the highest theame)
will find
No fitter subject
then an humble mind,
And as in scorne of them
that are more fit
By instruments lesse notable
expresseth it.
Almes and Devotion,
Zeale and Charity.
Might for thy Sexe
beseeming Scripture be,
But when thou speak’st
of death, and that just doome
Which shall on all
conditions, ages, come,
And thence descending
to Philosophie,
Teachest weake Nature
how to learne to dye:
It seemes to me
above thy Sex and State,
Some heavenly sparke
doth thee Illuminate.
Live still a praise,
but no example to
Others, to hope,
as thou hast done, to doe.
Live still thy sexes honour,
and when Death
(With whōom thou art acquainted)
stoppes thy breath
Fame to Posteritie
shall make thee shine
And adde thy Name
unto the Muses nine.
PetPeter: Heywood.
An
Encomium
upon the Authoresse
and Booke.
Great Ladies that to vertue
are inclin’d,
See here the pious practice
of a wife,
Expressed by the beauties
of the Mind,
And now set forth
in Pictures of the life,
Wherein matter and forme
are both at strife
Who shall be Master:
but i’th end hands shooke,
For that they have
a Mistresse to theyr Booke.
Whose Language I must needs
(in truth) admire,
And how such Elegance
should from her spring:
Untill I thinke of Zeale
(that Cælique fire)
Which might transport her soule,
by Cherubs wing
In Prose or Numbers,
piously to sing
Precepts of Praise,
worthy your approbation;
For she is Rara Avis
in our Nation.
And though her youth,
gives her no Sybils name
Nor doth she Prophecie,
as they of old:
Yet she’s indu’d
with the most sacred flame
Of Poesie Divine;
and doth unfold
Nought but the truth,
and therefore may be bold.
Whose holy paines,
and study here exprest,
Shall Register her name
amongst the blest.
Urania,
is her most heavenly Muse.
Which flyeth upwards,
where her minde is placed.
She sings such Songs,
as Deborah did use.
When she, and Baruch
had their foes abased;
For which, with Lawrell
shee may well be graced.
And stil’d the Paragon,
of these our Times,
In her sweet Prose,
and true composed Rimes.
But thinke not Ladies
that I doe contrive,
Numbers to mend
ought that is done amisse;
Or that I meane,
to keepe her name alive
When she is gone:
and pass’d to greater blisse,
For I ne’re knew her,
when I framed this.
Onely I read her lines,
which forc’t me praise
The Picture of her minde,
with this course bayes.
Fra: Lenton
Meditations
of Mans
Mortality.
I.
Wherein the uncertainty
of Mans life is expressed,
and of the fearefull
end of the Wicked.
When I behold
the Heavens
& the earth,
the workemanship
of
the Almighty, and see in
it all Creatures both for
{Handwritten addition: P.} end of handwritten addition B {Handwritten addition: 36.} end of handwritten addition
com-
A.
B1v
2
commodity and pleasure,
which as a store-house, preserve
all things for the behoofe
and benefit of Man:
I cannot but use to my
selfe, the saying of the
Psalm. 8.
Prophet David; “Lord!
what is Man, that thou
shouldest thinke on him;
or the Sonne of man, that
thou shouldest be mindfull
of him, thou hast made
him but a little lower then
the Angels; thou hast
crowned him with honour
and worship”; by reason, of
which, I thinke him to be
onely happy and a God upon
earth; and that there is
no blessednes beyond this:
but looking into him with
more deliberation, I find
his
B2r
3
his breath is in his nostrils,
Eccles. 3.
and that “hee is as the Beast
that perisheth”; I find his
life to be but a span, and
the perpetuity of his Happinesse,
no better then a
flower, which flourisheth
to day, and to morrow
is out downe and withereth;
and that his habitation
is but a Pilgrimage,
hee hath no certaine abiding,
I perceive there is
no building of Tabernacles
heere, this is no place
of rest. I remember the
foole, that sayd to his
Luke, 12.
soule, There was much laid
up for many yeares, but
that night his soule was
taken from him, and how
that after Death hee must
B2
giue
B2v
4
give an account of his
Stewardship, for they are
not his, but lent him of
the Lord; neyther to abuse
through excesse, nor niggerdice,
but to put them
foorth to the best use, and
to the glory of him who
is the giver of all good
things.
For it is true, that a Philosopher
sayth; “Hee that
seeketh for true Happines
in this world, followeth a
shaddow, which when hee
thinketh hee is surest of,
vanisheth and is nothing”;
and the Apostle Paul
sayth; “If in this life wee
were onely happie, wee
were of all men most miserable.”
Seeing then it is so, That
“man which is borne of a
woman hath but a short
time to live”, and that few
and evill are the dayes of
this Pilgrimage, pointed
out but to Threescore and
tenne, and if Nature befriend
him so farre, as to
affoord him life till Fourescore,
yet is it so full of
infirmities, that it becomes
a burthen to him, Life being
a briitle and miserable
fetter, which chaineth the
pure and everlasting soule,
to the vile, sinfull, and corruptible
body.
Yet where is hee, that
takes the Wise mans
Eccles. 12.
counsell, “To remember his
Creator in the dayes of
B3
his
B3v
6
his Youth, before the evill
day comes, and the
time approach, in the
which, he shall say; ‘I have
no pleasure in them’; for if
a man live many yeares
and rejoyce in them all,
yet let him remember the
dayes of Darknes, for they
are many; the Sun sets and
riseth againe”; but thou alas,
when thy glasse is run,
and the short gleame of
thy Summers Sun is spent,
shall never returne againe.
How soone alas, is thy span
grasped, thy minute wasted,
thy flower dead, thy
vapor of life gone; without
thought, without
dread, eyther of sinnes past,
or accompts to come:
Where
B4r
7
Where is there one, that
lookes into the estate
of his Soule, with a serious
eye, that examines his
conscience, unvayleth his
heart, and considereth his
wayes, and how that he is
every day of his life, a dayes
journey nearer his end, and
nothing is wanting for the
expiration thereof, but the
stroke of death, which commeth
in a moment; and
then thou art gone, eyther
to unexpressable endlesse
Joyes, or easelesse and
endlesse miseries. For no
sooner art thou borne to
possesse this World, but
death issueth forth incontinently
out of his Sepulcher,
to finde thy life; neytherB4
ther
B4v
8
doth he alwayes send
his harbinger before to acquaint
thee with his comming,
but many times entreth
unexpected, unlooked
for; and yet darest
thou rest in security, me
thinkes it should make
thee tremble, were not thy
conscience seared; to think
of the divinenesse of that
Justice, before whom, thou
art to stand, being in the
day of his Wrath, and at
the barre of his Judgment:
canst thou thinke then, to
bee able to indure his angry
eye, whose sight
will pierce to the very
centure of thy heart and
soule, and rip up every festred
corner of thy conscience?ence?
B5r
9
O then! bethinke
thy selfe in time, before
that gloomy day comes,
that day of Cloudes and
thicke darknesse, that day
of desolation and confusion
approach; “when all the
Inhabitants of the Earth
shall mourne and lament,
and all faces shall gather
blacknesse”. Joel. 2. Because,
the time of their Judgment
is come; alas! with what a
fearefull hart and weeping
eyes, and sorrowfull countenance,
& trēembling loynes,
wilt thou at that last and
great assize looke upon
Christ Jesus, when he
shall most gloriously appeare,
with innumberable
Angels in flaming fire, to
B5
render
B5v
10
render vengeance on them
that know him not? What
a cold dampe will seaze
upon thy soule, when
thou shalt behold him,
whom thou hast all thy life
long, rejected in his ordinances,
despised in his
members, and neglected in
his love: what horror and
terror of spirit will possesse
thee; how wilt thou cry
to the Rockes and Mountaines
to fall upon thee, and
cover thee from the fiercenes
of his Wrath; when
thou shalt behold, the Heavens
burning, the Elements
melting, the Earth trembling,
the Sea roaring, the
Sunne turne into darknes,
and the Moone into bloud:
how
B6r
11
how will thy numberlesse
sinnes in hideous formes
appeare before thee, every
one of them bearing the
Ensignes of Gods heavie
displeasure, dipped in a
bloudy coloured dye; and
crying out, for vengeance
against thee: alas! if thy
faultring tongue should go
about to faine some seeming
shew of a colourable
excuse, how soone would
it be stopped, all thy actions
both for thoughts,
words, and deeds, being
registred in a booke, and
kept within the Court of
Heaven. Oh remember!
how terrible his voyce was
when he gave his Law to
his chosen people, and thinkestkest
B6v
12
thou it will bee lesse
terrible, when he shall demand
an account of that
Law, which thou hast so
many times carelesly broken.
Oh then, whether will
his wrath carry thee, where
will the blast of his breath
hurry thee, it was thy sins
that inflamed his wrath, &
his wrath will inflame that
fi re which will never goe
out: Oh then alas, whil’st
thou hast time, become thy
own friend, looke into thy
selfe, and by a serious examination,
prove the Pilot
of thy owne Ship, which
now lyeth floating on the
Seas of this troublesome
World, ballanc’d onely
with cares, and disquieting
pleasures of this life, and
how
B7r
13
how thou sayl’st with a
full course, towards the haven
of endlesse Happines;
yet one blast of unprepared
death will turne thy sayles,
and plunge thee irrecoverably
into that bottomlesse
Gulfe, where one houres
torment, will infinitely exceed
all the pleasures thy
whole life contained: and
wilt thou now standing upon
the very brim of Hell,
melt in thy delights: Alas,
slippery is thy footing, and
thy hold but by the thread
of life, which stretched to
the length, soone crackes:
yet how triflingly spendest
thou thy pretious time, tyring
out thy spirits, and
robbing thine eyes of their
beloved
B7v
14
beloved sleepe, for those
things, to the which, the
time will come, that the very
remembrance of them
will be bitter, and to the
which, thou must bid an everlasting
farewell.
Yet not considering these
things? how many are
there, that only spend their
time in jollity, and sodainly
goe downe to the Grave;
they cry to themselves;
“Peace, peace”, when sodaine
Destruction overtakes
them, not once thinking
of Jeremia’s lamentation
for Jerusalem;
wherein hee complaines,
Lamen. 1.
That shee remembred not
her last end.
Would they but consider,der,
B8r
15
that as the Tree falleth
so it lyeth; and as
Death leaves them, so shall
Judgement finde them;
they would not draw iniquity
with cords of vanity,
nor sinne as with cartropes;
did they thinke
upon the reward of Sinne;
did they consider how full
of griefe and misery, how
short and transitorious
this present life is, and the
vaine Pleasures thereof:
how on every side, theyr
enemies compasse them,
and that Death lyeth in
wayte against them, every
where catching them sodainly
and unawares. Did
that saying often sound in
theyr eares, “Arise and
come
B8v
16
come to Judgement”, they
would not deferre theyr
Repentance to theyr last
end, or their old-age; when
it cannot be sayd, that they
leave Sin, but sinne them.
Shall they offer to the Divell,
the World, and their
owne flesh, the flower and
strength of theyr yeares,
and serve God with the
Mal. 1.
lees and dregs: when the
Prophet Malachy complayned
of the peoples evill
Offerings, hee sayd;
“Offer it now unto thy
Governour, will hee be
pleased with thee or accept
thy person”: and can
they thinke, this great
God will be pleased
King. 18
with them. If Rabshechacha
B9r
17
Judith. 5.
and Holofernes,
but Messengers for theyr
Lords, tooke it so ill; that
the Jewes came not forth
to make theyr peace with
them, that they threatned
nothing should pacifie
their furie but theyr Destruction:
How much
more, shall this King of
Kings, and Lord of Lords,
whose wrath is so kindled
for theyr wickednesse,
condemne them into utter
Darknesse, where shall
bee wayling and gnashing
of teeth, (for no dead carrion
so lothsomly stinketh
in the nostrils of an earthly
man, as doth the wicked,
abhominable unrepentant
man, in the presencesence
B9v
18
of God;) yet not
considering this, they goe
on in a carelesse security,
heaping one sinne upon
another, till the burthen
become unsupportable, and
the vials of Gods wrath
ready to bee powred on
them, not once calling
them, to theyr remembrance;
or if they doe, it is
so farre from Contrition,
that it is rather a delight
to them, often glorying in
the often cōommittings therof;
they neyther thinking
of theyr account, nor their
end, wherein yet they
might have some happines;
if death were the dissolving
both of their body & soule.
For being rid of their
bodies,
B10r
19
bodies, they should also be
rid of theyr Soules and
Sinnes: But forasmuch,
as it is evident, that the
Soule is immortall, there
is left no comfort for
the wicked to trust in.
Therfore, let such remember
Esav, Who having
Gen. 27.
once rejected the Blessing,
could not after obtayne it,
though he sought it with
teares; when it is too late,
with the five Foolish Virgins,
Math. 25
they may cry; “Lord,
Lord, open to us”; but the
gates of Mercy will bee
shut; and it will be answered,
“I know you not”.
Then woe bee to the
sinfull wicked men, that
have not power to turne
from
B10v
20
from the filthy workes of
this sinfull and wretched
World, that hindereth
them from the blissfull
state, and keepeth backe
theyr Soules from the presence
of God: For when
Gods Serjeant Death, shall
arrest them, and they shall
bee summon’d to appeare
before the Tribunall of
the Almighty, with what
terrible feare will that
Soule be shaken and smitten,
and with how many
speares of a piercing Conscience,
is hee gored and
thrust through; he will thēen
begin to thinke of the
time past, present, and that
to come; the time past, he
may behold with astonishment,nishment
B11r
21
to perceive how
fast it fleeted, and the multitude,
of sinnes therein
committed, the which
were accounted pleasures,
but are now terrors, for every
one of which, he must
answere; for as saith a Philosopher:
“An accusing
Conscience is the secret, &
most terrible thing that
can bee, at the approaching
and cōomming of Death, and
infinit & unspeakable are
the feares and griefes it
will bring with it”; for then
hee will grieve, that the
time of Repentance hath
beene so ill & lewdly past,
he seeth the divine Cōommandements
which he hath
contemned; he is aflicted,
because
B11v
22
because he seeth the inevitable
houre approach, of
rendring an account, & of
the divine just vengance;
he would tarry still, but he
is constrained to depart;
he would recover that is
past, but time is not granted:
if he looke behind
him, he seeth the course
and race of his whole life
led, as a moment of time;
if he looke before, he beholdeth
the infinit space of
Eternity which expecteth
him, he sorroweth and
sobbeth, because he hath
lost the joy of everlasting
Eternity, which hee
might have obtained in so
short a time; hee tormenteth
himselfe, because he
hath
B12r
23
hath lost the ineffable
sweetnesse of perpetuall
delight, for one sensuall,
carnall, and momentanry
pleasure; he blusheth, considering,
that for that substance
which is Wormes-
meat, he hath dispised
that which Angels prize
so highly; and weighing
the glory of those immortall
riches, hee is confounded,
that he hath changed
them for the basenesse and
wildenesse of Temporall
things; but when he casteth
his eyes upon things
below, and seeth the darke
and obscure valley of this
world, and beholdeth above
it, the shining brightnesse
of eternall Light,
then
B12v
24
then he confesseth, that all
that he loved in this world,
was blacke night and ugly
darknesse.
To behold the time present,
is as ill; for there hee
can finde nothing but
weakenesse and paines; his
friends eyther mourning
by him, or else not able to
stay with him, to see his
torments, which in this
life, God hath begun to let
him taste; having painefull
Limbes, darke Eyes, a
faultering Tongue, hard
browes, short breath, and
a panting heart, hasting to
appeare before God, whōom
he must behold; not| as his
Father, but a most feirce
Judge, whose pure eyes
beheld
C1r
25
beheld all his actions, and
that through all his life
saw nothing but wickednesse,
no sorrowing teares
to wash away those pollutions;
and therefore that
leporous life must receive
a heavie condemnation:
there will not be any to
speake for him, neyther
will he be able to answere
one word for a thousand;
all those pleasures now
stand up to accuse him, and
his owne Conscience gives
in evidence against him,
saying to himselfe the
Pro. 5.
words of Salomon; “How
have I hated instruction,
and my heart despised reproofe,
and I have not obeyed
the voyce of my teachers,C
chers,
C1v
26
nor enclined mine
eare to them that instructed
me”; woe is me poore
wretch, into what a laborinth
have my sinnes led
me, how suddenly, and
thinking nothing lesse,
hath this houre intrapped
me, how hath it rushed upon
me, I never dreamed
of it; what doe now my
Honours profit me, what
doe now all my Dignities
helpe me, what doe all my
friends for me, what profit
doe now my servants
bring mee, what fruit doe
I now reape of all my riches
and goods which I was
wont to possesse; for now
a small piece of ground of
seaven foot will containe
me,
C2r
27
me, and I must be content
with a dwelling in a narrow
Coffin, and with a
lodging in a poore Winding
sheet; my riches, shall
remaine here behind mee,
which I scraped together
with so great toyle, and
sweating, others shall enjoy
them, and shall spend
them on theyr pleasures,
onely my sinnes, which I
have committed in gathering
them, wayte upon me,
that I may suffer deserved
punishment for them;
what can I make now of
all my Pleasures and Delights,
seeing they are all
over-past, onely theyr
dregges are my Potion,
which are scruples and
C2
bytings
C2v
28
bytings of Conscience,
which like Thornes doe
pierce me, and runne
thorough my miserable
heart.
In what taking is this
poore Soule; if time were
now againe, with what
an austere kinde of life
would hee passe it, how
would hee shun all those
alluring Syrens, sower
sauce findes he for his
sweetes, and for a minute
of Pleasures, must possesse
a world of Woes; nay,
woes without end; sooune
ended those delights, endlesse
are those miseries.
O thou wretched man!
thou that didst chose, rather
to sit by the Fleshpotspots
C3r
29
of Ægypt, then by
induring a little wearisome
travailes, to enter
into the promised Land,
which floweth with Milk
and Honey; See! O see
now, what a long chayne
of Miseries, those thy short
Pleasures have wrought
thee. O thou foolish and
sencelesse! hadst thou no
respect to the death of
Christ, who dyed to
redeeme thee, but that by
thy sinnes, thou must anew
Crucifie him, and make
his Wounds to bleed afresh?
Thou hast againe,
nayled him to the Crosse
by thy pollutions! thou
hast againe, pierc’d his side,
not with one, but many
C3
speares
C3v
30
speares of Blasphemy, and
as it were piece-meale, tearing
him from Heaven!
thou hast grinded him, by
thy oppressions, which
thou didst to maintaine thy
superfluous delights.
It was his love, that caused
him to undergoe his
Fathers wrath, for thy
sake; but what one sinne,
hast thou left for his?
Canst thou say, and that
truly, that thou hast spared
one dish from thy Belly, to
feed his hungry Members;
or one Garment from thy
excessive apparell, to cloth
the naked; or one houres
sleepe, to meditate on his
miseries: a poore requitall
of such infinite Love!
Was
C4r
31
Was Christ stretched
on the Crosse, and couldest
thou recount it nothing to
stretch thy selfe upon thy
downy Beds of sinne?
Did Christ suck downe
Vineger and Gall for thee,
and couldest thou without
pricke of Conscience, surfeit
with overflowne
Boles? Was Christ
crowned with Thornes,
and couldest thou crowne
thy selfe with ease and
pleasure? Then now behold,
(O thou rich Glutton!)
thou, who wouldest
never cast up thine eyes to
behold the true happines,
till it was too late, and
consider what the allurements
of the Flesh now
C4
profit
C4v
32
profit you, which you
then so much delighted
in? What is become of
your Riches? where are
your Honours? where are
your Treasures? where are
your Delights? where are
your Joyes; the seaven
yeares of Plenty are past,
and other seaven yeares of
Dearth and scarcity are
come, which have devoured
up all your Plenty, no
memory or footsteps being
Job. 24.
left of it. As it is in Job,
“Drought and heate, consume
the Snow waters; so
doth the Grave, those that
have Sinned”; your Glory
is now perished, and your
Felicity is drowned in the
sea of Sorrowes; not onelyly
C5r
33
your delights have not
profited you, which you
injoyed in this World; but
they shall bee the causes
of greater Torments: witnesse
the Glutton in the
Gospell, who fared deliciously
every day, being in
Hell; was not that member
his Tongue, most tormented,
which gave him
the greatest delight in Sin.
Nay, speedily and unexpected,
this horror rusheth
upon them; for, as everlasting
Felicity, doth quickly
follow the Godly, in
the short race of theyr Misery;
so everlasting Misery,
quickly followeth the
ungodly, in the short race
of theyr worldly Felicity.
It were better therefore,
for a man to live poorely,
being assured of the blisse
of Heaven, then to be deprived
thereof, though
during life hee possesse all
worldly riches; for intollerable,
are the burthens
they bring with them, seeing
that the Scripture
sayth; “Where much is
given, much is againe required:”
besides, the memory
of the ungodly shall
perish, as saith Job; “The
Job, 24:
pitifull man, shall forget
him, the Worme shall feele
his sweetnesse, he shall bee
no more remembred, and
the Wicked shall bee broken
like a Tree”.
II.
Motives and Inducements
to true Godlinesse.
Having already
spoken of the unstability
of Mans
life, & the wretched
estate the Wicked is
in, at the houre of his
Death; I will now also set
downe, some Motives for
incouragements to true
Godlinesse, wherin it shall
easily bee discerned, that
Godlinesse excelleth Wickednesse,
as farre as Light
excelleth Darknesse; It is
a thing, both usuall and lamentable,menta-
C6v
36
to see how men
goe on in wickednesse, and
can neyther bee drawne, to
thinke of theyr end by the
dayly examples of Mortality;
nor wonne to remember,
the infinitnesse of
Gods Love by their dayly
preservations; they call
not once to theyr remembrance,
the saying of the
Apostle Paul, wherein
hee admonisheth them, to
worke out theyr Salvation
with feare and trembling;
by which, hee depriveth
them of all kind of security;
and the Prophet Jeremiah
Jerem. 22.
cryeth unto
them and sayth; “O earth!
earth! earth! heare the
Word of the Lord”.
Shewing thereby, that
howsoever they esteeme
of themselves, yet, they
are but dust; whose glory
is but for a moment, and all
theyr Pleasures, but Deceptio
visus; “For that there is
Esa. 48.
no Peace” (saith the Lord)
“of the Wicked”.
Wherefore, consider this
yee that forget God, least
he teare you in pieces, and
there bee none to deliver
Psal. 14.
you; “feare this God, for he
is just; love this God, for
hee is Mercifull”; stand in
awe and Sinne not, commune
with your hearts,
consider your wayes, make
your Peace with him,
Psal. 2.
“seeke the Lord, whilest he
may bee found”; If his
wrath
C7v
38
wrath be kindled, yea but
a little, blessed are all those
that puts theylr trust in
him.
O taste, and see! how
good God is, he is a God
of Mercies, and delights
not in the Death of a Sinner,
Ezech. 18.
as hee sayth; “Have I
any pleasure at all, that the
Wicked should dye, sayth
the Lord; and not that hee
should returne from his
wayes and live”: hee will
bee found of them that
seeke him, hee hath ingaged
his word for it and againe
he saith; “Those that
come to mee, I will not
cast away”; nay, hee calleth
with aboundance of love:
Math. 11.
“Come unto mee, all yee
that
C8r
39
that are wearie and heavie
laden with the burthen of
your sinnes, and I will ease
you”; hee is that good Samaritaine,
he may powre
in Wine to make those
wounds of your Sinnes to
smart, but hee will againe
refresh you with the oyle
of his Mercies: O then!
prostrate thy selfe at his
feete, creepe under
the wing of his compassion;
Joel. 2.
“for he is slow to wrath,
and of much mercy, and repenteth
him of the evill”: alas!
it was thy weakenesse
that made thee sinfull, and
thy sins have made the miserable,
& thy miserie must
now sue to his mercie; if
thy misery were without
sinne,
C8v
40
sinne, then thou mightest
pleade before his Justice,
and his Justice would releeve
thee; but for that it
proceedeth from sinne, approach
the barre of his
mercy, and thou shalt finde
the lustre thereof to
shine through all his
workes; remember Christs
Math. 15.
owne words were: “I am
not sent, but to the lost
sheepe of the house of Jsrael;”
what, though with
the woman in the Gospell,
he call thee dogge, wilt
thou therefore leave off thy
sute; consider, that the tender
mother many times for
faults committed by her
childe, hideth her loving
countenance and as it were
alto-
C9r
41
altogether rejecteth it, not
for any hatred she beareth
to the childe, but thereby
to indere the obtaining of
his favour, and to cause the
greater feare of offending;
if then, thou seasing thy
sute goeth without mercy,
whome wilt thou accuse:
Christ sayd to Jerusalem,
“Thy destruction is of thy
selfe, O Jerusalem! but in
me, is thy salvation”. Christ
came not, to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance.
Hee is infinitely good,
and hurteth no man, unlesse
the blame be in himselfe,
through his owne default;
for, as the Sunne beame, is
cleare and comfortable in
it
C9v
42
it self, and so is it to the eye
that is sound, yet to a sore
eye, it is very grievous, not
through any default in the
sunne, but by the diseased
disposition of the eye; so
albeit, he in himselfe, be
perfectly good, and doth
nothing but good; yet to an
unrepentant sinner he is
grievous and terrible, but if
he returne to him by unfained
repentance, he soone
inclineth to mercy; as is evident
in that woman,
whom Christ so called; upon
her humiliation and
acknowledging herselfe
to be no better, she receiveth
this gracious answer;
“Be it unto the even as thou
wilt”; and againe, in the Nenivites;nivites;
C10r
43
though his decree
was gone out against them,
that yet forty dayes, and
Jonah. 3
Ninivie should be destroyed,
upon their unfained repentance,
he also repented
of that evill, and with aboundance
of mercy revoked
that sentence; “For the
2 Chro. 16
eyes of the Lord, beholds
all the earth, to strengthen
them, that with a perfect
heart beleeve, and hope in
him”; and againe, it is sayd;
Lament. 3
“O how good is the Lord
unto them, that put theyr
trust in him, and to the
Soule that seeketh after
him”; never was there any
forsaken, that put theyr
trust in him: and though
the hand of your Faith, be
not
C10v
44
not strong enough to lay
fast hold on him, as Jacob
did, who sayd; “I will
not let thee goe, unlesse
Gen. 32.
thou blesse mee”; yet, if hee
perceive thee creeping after
him, hee will imbrace
thee, for he hath sayd;
Math. 12.
“The bruised Reede, I will
not breake, and the smoaking
Flaxe, I will not
quench”; that is, hee will
not reject the desires of
the heart, though in weake
measure, if unfeyned, and
what he hath promised, is
Truth.
Hee loveth not, as man
loveth; for they in prosperity
wil regard us, but if
Afflictions or wants come,
they regard us not; but
so
C11r
45
so farre is our good God
from this, that his beloved
Sonne Christ Jesus,
tooke our shape upon
him, suffering Hunger,
Cold, Nakednesse, Contempt,
and Scornings; for
his owne mouth testified,
That the Foxes had Holes,
and the Birds of the Ayre
had Nests, but the Sonne
of Man, had not whereon
to lay his head; showing
thereby to us, how farre
hee was from contemning
our Povertie, or refusing
us for our wants; let us
therefore, flie to this God,
who will not fayle us nor
forsake us: let us cast our
care upon him, for hee
careth for us, and let us first
seeke
C11v
46
seek the Kingdome of heaven,
and the righteousnesse
thereof, and all things else
shall bee ministred unto
us.
How many have beene
knowne, which have gayned
to themselves, Riches,
or Honours, by unlawfull
meanes, that have prospered,
but if for a time they
have seemed to doe well,
their Posteritie have come
to ruine, and theyr owne
ill-gathered treasure, like
a dilating Gangrene, hath
rotted theyr owne memory,
and consumed every
part of theyr heyres possession;
seeming as it were,
a Curse and doome, intayled
with the land upon the
suc-
C12r
47
successour, and so proveth,
not a Blessing, but the
bane of him that Injoyed
it.
They may for a time,
flourish like a Bay Tree,
but suddainely they fade
and their place is no
where to bee found. Oh
therefore! that they
would consider, what
great evils, and how many
inconveniences, this
small prosperity bringeth
with it, they should find
this love of Riches, more
to afflict, by desire, then to
delight, by use: for it inwrappeth
the Soule, in divers
temptatiōons, & bindeth
it in infinit cares, it allureth
it with sundry delights,
C512
pro-
C12v
48
provoketh it to sinne, and
disturbeth the quiet, no
lesse of the body then of
the Soule, and that which
is greater; Riches are never
gotten, without troubles,
nor possessed, without
care, nor lost, without
griefe; but that which is
worst, they are seldome
gathered, without sinne
and offence to God?
Why then, should man bee
so greedy of this Worlds
pelfe, life beeing so short,
and death following at our
heeles? What neede is
there of so great Provision,
for so short a Journey?
What would man doe
with so great Riches; especially,
seeing that the
lesse
D1r
49
lesse he hath, the more
lightly and freely hee may
walke, and when hee shall
come to the end of his
Pilgrimage, if he be poore,
his estate shall not be worser
then rich mens, who
are loden with much gold;
the Grave shall both alike
containe them, as sayth
Job. 3:
Job; “The small and great
are there, and the Servant
is free from his Master”.
Nay, it is better with
the poore, then with the
rich; for they shall feele
lesse griefe in parting with
this trash and pelfe of the
World, and a smaller accompt
is to be rendred before
God; whereas on
the other side, Rich men
D
leaves
D1v
50
leaves theyr Mountaines of
Gold, with great griefe of
heart, which they adored
as God; neyther are
they, without exceeding
gerreat hazard and danger,
in rendring an accompt
for them: Besides, “as hee
Eccles. 5.
came forth of his Mothers
Wombe, so naked shall
he returne, to goe as hee
came; and shall take nothing
of his labour which
he may carry away in his
Psalm. 7.
hand”. Therefore a little
that a Righteous man hath,
is better then the Riches
of many wicked. “I have
seen” sayth David, in the
same Psalme; “The wicked
in great power, and spreading
himselfe like a greene
Bay
D2r
51
Bay tree, yet hee passed away,
and loe hee was not;
I sought him but hee could
not bee found, the transgressours
shall be destroyed
together, the end of the
Wicked shall be cut off”;
but marke the upright
man, and behlod the Just,
for the end of that man is
Peace.
Thrice blessed then is
that man, that feareth
God, and they whose God
the Lord is, and he that
sets his feare alwayes before
Job. 5.
his eyes; “For they
shall bee delivered out of
sixe troubles, and in the
seaventh, no evils shall
touch them, in Famine, he
shall redeeme them from
D2
Death,
D2v
52
Death, and in Warre, from
the power of the sword,
they shall come to the
Grave in a full age, like as
a shocke of Corne commeth
in, in his season”:
They may for a time bee
hungry, but they shall be
filld, for God himselfe will
feed them with blessings
from above and from beneath.
Even naturall reason
will not suffer them to
doubt, for he that giveth
meate in due season, to
Ants and Wormes of the
Earth, will he suffer Man
to famish, who night and
day, serve and obey him,
Math. 6.
as Christ himselfe saith
in Matthew; “Behold
the Fowles of the heaven,
for
D3r
53
for they sow not, neyther
reape nor cary into Barnes,
yet your heavenly Father
feedeth them, are yee not
much better then they”;
This happines moved David
to invite us to serve
the Lord, saying; “O feare
the Lord! yee that be his
Psalm 34
Saints, for they that feare
the Lord lack nothing, the
Lyons doe lacke and suffer
hunger, but they that seeke
the Lord, shall want no
manner of thing that is
good”.
The ungodly man, when
he is full of wealth dyeth
for hunger, and when they
sit even up to the lips in
water, yet they are slaine
with thirst, as the Poets
D3
in
D3v
54
in times past, fabled of
Tantalus. But though
many and great be the
troubles of the Righteous,
yet the Lord delivereth
them out of all. For the
eyes of the Lord is over
the Righteous, and his
Eare is open to theyr cry,
Psalm. 34
but the Face of the Lord is
against them that do evill,
to cut off theyr Remembrance
from the Eatrth.
Who would be unwilling
then, to suffer ignominies
and scornings, rather
then with the wicked, to
Revel. 28.
injoy the pleasures of Sin
for a season; God himselfe
will wipe all teares from
theyr eyes, hee will give
them Joyes for theyr Sorrowes,rowes,
D4r
55
as he sayth; “Blessed
are yee that now
Weepe, for yee shall Rejoyce,”
troubles in this life,
are badges of Gods Children,
Prov. 3.
“Whom the Lord loveth,
hee chastiseth”, and
correcteth every Sonne
Luke, 21.
that he chuseth with Patience;
Therefore, possesse
John, 15.
your Soules, and remember
who it is, that sayd;
“You are not of the World,
as I am not of the World,
the world hateth you, because
it hated mee first, if
you were of the world, the
world would love you”.
Oh, blessed Sufferings!
that makes us like to God
himselfe, if wee had the
Wisedome of Salomon,
D4
the
D4v
56
the Treasure of Crœsus,
and the long life of Methusalem,
and out of
the favour and love of
God, our Wisedome were
Foolishnesse, for to know
him, is perfect wisedome,
our Riches were drosse;
for riches will not avayle
in the day of Wrath, and
that life, so long and wickedly
led, no better, then
a man that dreames hee is
a King, honoured of all and
wanting nothing, when
waking, hee findes himselfe
hated of all, and wanting
all things.
III.
Of the Peace of a good
Conscience, and the
Joyfull end of the Godly.
Salomon,
having set
himselfe to behold
all things that were
under the Sun, & having
taken to himselfe, all
that could bee delightfull,
for what can he doe more
than commeth after the
King, at last concludeth;
Eccles. 2.
“That all the dayes of Man,
are sorrowes, and his travailes,
griefe”; therefore
sayth he; “I hated life, for
all is Vanity and vexation
D5
of
D5v
58
of Spirit”; and perceiving
how apt men were, to follow
what delights this
world could affoord them,
scoffes at theyr folly, and
by way of derision sayth:
Eccles. 11
“Rejoyce O young man in
thy Youth, & let thy heart
cheare thee in the dayes
of thy youth, and walke in
the wayes of thine heart,
and in the sight of thine
eyes”, yet would hee not
let them goe on thus, but
gives them an Jtem, saying;
“But know, that for
all these things, God will
bring thee to Judgement,
for though”, sayth hee: “A
Sinner doe evill an hundred
times, and his dayes
bee prolonged; yet surely
I
D6r
59
I know, that it shal be well
with them, that feare God”.
These Caveats, the godly
man placeth before his
remembrance, least hee
should fall into errors, and
making his life of no value
to him, hee despiseth all
things, onely ayming at
that, may make him happy,
which is, a good Conscience,
for that will bring
him peace at the last; death
being to a godly man, the
ending of Sorrowes, and
the beginning of Joyes; he
doth then begin to live
with God, when hee dyes
to the World, as it is sayd
Eccles. 16
in Ecclesiastes; “Who so
feareth the Lord, it shall
goe well with him at the
last,
D6v
60
last, and in the day of his
Death, hee shall be blessed”.
And St. John, was commanded
to Write: “Blessed
are the Dead, that dye in
Revel. 14.
the Lord, even so sayth the
Spirit; that they may rest
from theyr labours, & their
works follow them”. How
can that man bee discouraged,
that heareth this of
the Lord, in the houre of
his Death, when he findeth
himselfe hasting thither,
where hee shall receive
that, which he hath all his
life-time desired.
And Saint Augustine,
speaking of the Death of a
Good man, sayth; “He that
desireth to bee dissolved, &
be with Christ, dyeth not
Patiently, but liveth Patiently,ently,
D7r
61
and dyeth delightsomely,”
and it may be sayd;
That like a Swan, he dyeth
singing, yeilding the glory
to God which calleth him.
With what joy, doth that
Soule behold his end, who
hath all his Life-time possessed
a good Conscience,
nothing fearefull can present
it selfe before him, he
sees all his sinnes, not of a
Crimson die, but White as
wooll, washed by the blood
of Christ; he beholds him,
not as his Judge, but his
Saviour and Mediatour,
his Judge is his Brother,
God in Christ is become
his Father, hee hath no
debts to pay, Christ Jesus
on the Crosse hath Cancelledcelled
D7v
62
the hand writing
that was against him, and
hath not onely made him
free, but also an heyre of
the Kingdome of Heaven.
The presence of Death, is
not terrible to him, for
he feareth not Death, because
hee feared God,
and hee that feareth him
need feare none other; hee
feareth not Death, because
he feared Life, but feare of
Death, are the effects of an
evill Life; hee feareth not
Death, because through all
his life hee learned to dye,
and prepared himselfe to
dye; but a man prepared
and provident, need not
feare his Enemy; he feareth
not Death, because so
long
D8r
63
long as he lived, he sought
for those things that
might helpe him, that is,
for Vertues and good
Workes; hee feareth not
Death, because to a Righteous
man, Death is not
death, but a sleepe, it is not
Death, but an end of all labours,
it is not Death but
a way unto life, and a Ladder
unto Paradice; for hee
knoweth, that Death hath
lost all the bitternesse of
Death, after it hath passed
through the veynes of
Life, and that it hath received
the sweetnesse of life:
hee feareth not the presence
of Divels, because he
hath Christ his defender
and Captaine: he fearethreth
D8v
64
not the horror of the
grave, because he knoweth
that his body is sowne a
corruptible body, but
shall rise againe, in incorruptible
body, often boasting
in the strength hee
hath gained by Christ, saying
with cheerefulnesse
of spirit; “O Death, where
2. Cor. 15.
is thy sting? O Grave,
where is thy victory”?
The strong man, death
comes not upon him unawares;
for hee hath layd
up in store for himselfe a
good foundation against
1, Tim. 6.
this time, which was to
come, that hee might lay
hold on Eternall life.
Even the brest-plate of
Ephes. 5.
righteousnesse, the shield
of
D9r
65
of Faith, the Helmet of
Salvation, and the Sword
of the Spirit, having his
loynes girt about with verity,
and his feete shod
with the preparation of
the Gospell of Peace, what
hope now hath his enemy
of any advantage, though
helped by the weakenesse
of his owne flesh: Death
was ever expected, and
therefore provided for: he
alwayes lived as in the
presence of God, having
a strict eye over all his
actions, and though now
Satan bend all his Forces
against him, because hee
hath but a small time, before
his siege must bee raysed,
and therefore presents
that
D9v
66
that before him which he
dearest loved, his Wife,
Children, Father, and
Friends, with his whole
Estate, Honour, Riches,
Youth, Health, Strength,
and Life it selfe, thereby
thinking to shake his
hold; for this subtill enimy
knoweth, they are not
lost without griefe, which
are possessed with Love;
yet fayles he of his purpose,
for it is certaine, hee
that in this life knoweth
of fewest delights, least of
all other, feareth Death, so
he having never prized
them otherwayes then
they were in themselves,
parteth from them with
the lesse trouble, yet weake
nature
D10r
67
nature strugling with him,
may a little dazle him,
but calling to minde the
Words of his Saviour,
who sayth: “He that forsaketh
Mark. 10.
Father, Mother,
Wife, Children, house and
lands, for my sake, shall
receive an hundred fold”,
hee gaines strength, and
with the greater joy his
Soule answers? “Oh sweet
Jesus! shall I not willingly
forgoe all these, who
for my sake, suffered the
Viols of thy Fathers wrath
due to me for sinne, to be
powred out upon thee, and
in thy body indured that,
which I deserved? It was
for my sake, thou wast
borne in a Stable, and layd
in
D10v
68
in a Cratch; for me, thou
flying into Egypt, livedst
seaven yeares in banishment;
for me, thou didst
fast, thou didst watch, thou
didst run hither & thither,
thou didst sweate Water
and Bloud, thou didst
Weepe, and thou didst
prove by experience, those
miseries, which my sinnes
deserved; and yet thou
wast without sinne, neyther
was there guile found
in thy mouth, neyther
hadst thou offended, but
wast offended; for me, thou
wast taken, forsaken of
thine, denyed, sold, beaten
with fists, spot upon,
mocked, whipped, crowned
with Thornes, reviled
with
D11r
69
with blasphemies, hanged
upon the Crosse, Dead, and
Buried, thou wert not
onely forsaken of all externall
things, but also of
the Divine comfort, as thy
owne Mouth testified,
when thou cryedst out,
‘My God, my God, why
Math. 27.
hast thou forsaken mee’; Oh
the height of Love! Oh
the depth of unmeasurable
humility! Oh the greatnesse
of Mercy! Oh the
bottomlesse Pit of incomprehensible
Goodnes: Oh
Lord! if I be so greatly indebted
to thee, because
thou hast redeemed mee,
what doe I not owe thee,
for the manner by which
thou hast redeemed mee:
thou
D11v
70
thou hast redeemed mee
with most great dolours!
with contumelies, and ignominies,
not to be borne;
insomuch, that thou wast
made a reproach of men,
and the scorne of the
whole world; through
thy reproaches, thou hast
honoured me; through thy
accusations, thou hast defended
me; through thy
bloud, thou hast washed
me; through thy death,
thou hast raysed me; and
through thy teares, thou
hast freed me, from everlasting
weeping and gnashing
of teeth: thine
were the Wounds, that
healed my sores: thine
was the backe, that bare
my
D12r
71
my sorrowes; thine was
the prize, that quit my
scores: thou assumedst my
flesh, to redeeme me here,
and thou raignest as
King, to crowne me hereafter.
Thus by those miserable
Torments, thou didst
free me from all evill; and
shall I be unwilling to suffer
the deprivation of a little
happinesse, and the induring
of a few paines to
come unto thee, who hast
thus dearely purchased me
for thy selfe”: these Meditations
so ravished his
soule, that with Saint Paul
he thinkes himselfe in the
third Heaven, hee hath
drunke so freely of the River
of Paradice, one drop
of
D12v
72
of which is greater then
the Ocean, which alone is
able to quench the thirst
of the whole World, that
he loatheth these puddell
Waters, accounting all
things but drosse and dung
in respect of Christ, all is
to him in comparison, no
more then the light of a
Candle, is to the glorious
beames of the Sunne, he is
now so farre from esteeming
eyther them, or life,
that he desires to be dissolved
and be with Christ,
he longs for the day of
his dissolution, life being
to him a Prison, and with
often groanes and sighes,
cryeth, “Come Lord Jesus,
come quickly”; and with
Da-
E1r
73
David he sayth: “O how
I long to appeare before
God”. If life were offered
him, with all the pleasures
thereof, hee would
despise it, for hee is fitted
for God, he is no man for
the World, his Soule hath
too exactly looked into
the worth of it, to be deceived
with all the glittering
shews thereof, the
which hee findes to bee
vayne and fleeting, and
nothing permanent in this
Life.
IIII.
Of the deferring of Repentance,
how dangerous
it is, and of the
deceiveablenesse of
worldly Pleasures.
Having now seen
the quiet Happinesse,
and happie
Blessednesse
of the Godly, at the houre
of his Death, mee thinkes
it should incourage every
man to prepare himselfe
for his end in the time of
Prosperity, least when the
time of changing shall
come, they bee found naked
and bare, and so lye
open
E2r
75
open to all the assaults and
batteries of Sathan, many
there, bee to whom the
Day of Judgement seemes
terrible, not remembring
the day of theyr Death,
which is the first Judgement,
the which whosoever
passeth, on such the second
shall have no power;
as Saint John sayth in the
Revelation: “The deferring
of Repentance proves
dangerous”. Yet some inreligious
man will say;
“When I am come to old
Age, I will runne to the
remedy of Repentance”:
Dare mans frailtie presume
thus much of himselfe,
seeing hee hath not one
day of all his Life, in his
E2
owne
E2v
76
owne power, for though
God hath promised Pardon
to the Penitent; yet
he hath not promised to
morrow to a sinner: therefore,
whilst it is called to
Hebr. 5.
day, “heare his voyce and
hearden not your hearts,
least you enter into temptation.”
Follow the counsell
of that Kingly Preacher,
“make no tarrying to
Eccles. 5.
turne unto the Lord”; and
put not off from day to
day, for sodainly shall his
wrath come, and in the
time of vengeance, he shall
destroy thee: besides, there
is another evill; sinne having
no restraint, but free
liberty, to runne on in
his owne current; how
dange-
E3r
77
dangerous doth it proove,
and how hard is it to stop
the course thereof, being
once growne to a custome:
Is it not usually knowne,
that hee that driveth a
Nayle into a Post, fasteneth
it at the first stroke that he
giveth it, but more firmely
at the second stroke,
but so fast at the third,
that it can hardly bee pulled
out againe; and the
oftner he striketh it, the
faster it sticketh, and is
pulled out againe, with
the greater difficulty: So
in every one of mans wicked
actions, vice is driven
deepely into their soules,
as if it were with a Mallet,
and there it sticketh so
E3
fast,
E3v
78
fast, that it can by no
meanes be pulled foorth,
but by the bitter teares of
Repentance, which are
seldome and very hardly
found; this same thing
our Saviour shewed in the
raysing of Lazarus, being
foure dayes dead;
Job. 1.
whom he called foorth,
with groaning of spirit:
whereas he raysed others
that were dead, with farre
easier tokens of difficulty;
signifying to us thereby,
how great a myracle it is,
that God should convert
one buried in the custome
of sinning; yet, not considering
these things, how
doth time passe on, and
what numberlesse sinnes
are
E4r
79
are committed without
feare to offend, or care to
provoke him to anger;
through whose Gates thou
must enter, before whose
feet thou must lye prostrate,
will thou nill thou;
whose mercy thou must
sue and deplore; Thou art
pilunged in the Gulfe of
sinne, he onely must rayse
theee? thou art wounded,
he onely can heale thee?
thou art sicke to the death,
hee onely can give thee
life? Oh then, feare to offend
him! of whose helpe
thou standest in need every
Isa. 30.
moment, tremble to provoke
him to anger, who
hath for unrepentant sinners
prepared a deepe and
E4
large
E4v
80
large pit, the Piller thereof
is fire and much wood,
the breath of the Lord,
like a streame of brimstone
doth kindle it; beware of
going on in delights, without
remembering your end,
lest you be like the Fishes,
that sports themselves so
long in the delightsome
streames of the River Jordan;
that unawares they
plunge themselves in Mare
mortuum, from whence
there is no Redemption;
many are the baytes and
snares, which are layed for
man in this life, covered
over with glittering
wealth, and delightsome
Pleasures, but bare these
deceits, and cause them to
appeare
E5r
81
appeare in their own likenesse,
and thou shalt finde
this World to bee a Casket
of sorrowes and grievances,
a Schoole of Vanity,
a laborinth of Errors,
a dungeon of Darknesse,
a Market-place of Cousonages,
a way beset with
Theeves, a ditch full of
mud, and a Sea continually
tost and troubled with
stormes and Tempests:
what other thing is the
world, but a barren Land,
a field full of Thistles
and Weeds, a Wood full
of Thornes, a flourishing
Garden, but bringing forth
no fruit, a River of Teares,
a Fountaine of Cares, a
sweet poyson; A Tragedy
E5
plea-
E5v
82
pleasantly framed, a delightfull
Phrenzie; the
Worlds rest hath labour,
the Security of it without
ground, the feare of it is
without cause, the Labour
of it without fruit, the
Teares without purpose,
and the purposes without
successe, the Hope of it is
vayne, the joy feyned, and
the Sorrow true, the Glory
of this World, is but the
singing of Syrens, sweet,
but a deadly Potion, a Viper,
artificially painted
without, but within full
of venemous poyson: If
the World fawne upon
thee, it doth it that it may
deceive thee; if it Exalt
thee, it doth it that thy fall
may
E6r
83
may bee the greater; if it
make thee merry, it doth
it that it afterwards with
sorrow may breake thy
heart; it giveth all her
goods with a mixture of
incomparable heavinesse
and griefes, and that with
the greatest usurie: if a
Sonne bee borne to thee
and soone after dye, thy
sorrow will be seaven fold
greater then was thy Joy,
the thing lost, more afflicteth,
then found joyeth;
Sicknesse more excruciateth,
then Health gladdeth;
Injury more tormenteth,
then Honour contenteth;
to conclude, what
good things are found in
the World, which are not
coun-
E6v
84
counterfeit, and what evill
which are not so indeed;
If these things be so
indeed as they are, wherefore
should man desire to
stay any longer in this land
of Ægypt to gather stubble,
who would not flye
out of this Babilon, who
would not desire to be delivered
from this fire of
Sodome and Gomorrah: seeing
therefore, that the
World is beset with so
many snares, and that so
many downfals and breakneckes
are in the way, and
the flame of Vices doe so
burne us, who at any time
can bee secure and safe, as
Prov. 6.
the Wise man sayeth; “Can
a man take fire in his bosome,some
E7r
85
and his cloathes not
be burnt, or can a man goe
upon Coales, and his feet
Eccles. 13.
not burnt”; he that toucheth
Pitch, shall be defiled with
the same; estrange then
thy minde from these ycie
Vanities; listen and thou
shalt heare Christ, who
seeth the danger thou art
falling into, calling unto
thee, that hee may teach
thee a way to prevent thy
hurt, and saying; “Behold,
I stand at the doore and
knocke, runne and open
to this Physitian of thy
Soule”. O refuse him not,
neyther delay his entrance,
for thou art sicke, and he
will give thee to drinke of
the water of Life, neyther
for
E7v
86
for money, nor by measure,
but freely, and taking
thy fill, without limitation,
and freely too, being of
his owne Grace and
Mercy.
Can you then, knowing
to whom you are to open,
stand with delayes; as I
cannot yet, I will anon, but
this I cannot yet, I will anon;
is deterred so long,
that this heavenly ghest
goeth away without a
Lodging, by reason of
which, he will hardly bee
brought againe, without
many teares: Oh then! be
ready at the first knock to
open; I meane the first
good motion, so shall you
receive a ghest, whose
compa-
E8r
87
company is sweeter, then
the honey and the honey
Combe; Oh, heart! more
hard then stone, that can
refuse him; if considered
who it is, it is Christ,
the well-beloved Sonne of
his Father, it is hee, in
whom, God the Father is
so well pleased, that all thy
sinnes are forgiven, being
covered with the robe of
his Righteousnesse; it is
he, that suffered Rebukes,
Buffetings, Scornings, Spittings
on, and at the last,
death; I, and that, the most
cursedst death, even the
death of the Crosse, as it
is written: “Cursed are every
one that hang on a Tree”.
Galat. 3.
These things being so,
have
E8v
88
have you not hearts harder
then an Adamant, thus to
oppose his entrance: Oh
doe not deferre this purchase
to the time to come,
for one minute of this time
(which now vainely slydeth
from thee) is more
precious, then the Treasure
of the whole world.
Math. 13.
Be like unto a wise Marchant,
that having found
a precious Pearle, goes
and sels all he hath to purchase
it; what thing more
precious then the Sonne of
God, which heere offereth
himselfe unto thee? why
art thou so slacke in giving
him entertainement, thinkest
thou him not worthy,
because thou beholdest
him
E9r
89
him in his Humility, poore
and despised, or doth thy
flesh puffe thee up with a
conceit beyond thy merites,
if it doe, cast thy
eyes upon thy selfe, and
consider what thou wast
before thou wast borne,
what thou art now, being
borne, and what thou shalt
bee after Death: before
thou wast borne, thou wast
filthy and obsceane matter,
not worthy to be named;
now thou art dung,
covered over with snow,
and a while after thou
shalt be meat for Wormes:
why then, shouldest thou
bee proud, seeing thy Nativity
is sinne, thy Life misery,
and thy End putrifactiontion
E9v
90
and corruption.
Having considered thus
with thy selfe, tell mee if
thou hast not the greater
reason to open with the
Semel.
more celerity, hee of himselfe,
being willing to
passe by these thy Infirmities,
wouldest thou
not account that man most
heathenish, who having a
Friend, that had indured
seaven yeares imprisonment
to keepe him from
that bondage, & at the last
payed his Ransome, at so
deare a rate, as thereby his
estate were for ever ruined,
otherwise hee himselfe
to indure perpetuall
Slavery: if this man, I say,
should come and knocke
at
E10r
91
at the doore of his Friend
desiring admittance, and
acquainting him, with
who it was, and hee for
this his love, should seeme
not to know him, but bid
him be gone and barre the
doore against him; I know
thou wonuldest account
him most inhumane and
Isa. 53.
ungratefull, and yet how
farre short comes this of
Christ’s love and bounty
to thee, for the chastisement
of thy Peace,
was layd upon him, and
with his stripes thou wast
healed.
O wretched Soule! to
loose such a Friend, Oh unhappie
man! by this opposition,
to deprive thy
selfe
E10v
92
selfe of all Happines: for
what greater Happinesse
canst thou have, then to
injoy that Fatherly providence
by which God preserveth
his, what sweeter
Delights, then the Divine
Grace, the Light of
wisedome, the consolations
of the holy Ghost, the Joy
and Peace of a good Conscience,
the good event of
Hope, the true liberty of
the Soule, the inward
peace of the Heart, to bee
heard in Prayer, to be helped
in tribulations, to be
provided for Temporall necessities,
and to bee ayded
and to taste of Heavenly
Comforts in death?
whilst I seriously meditateditate
E11r
93
upon these things,
my Soule is as in a Rapture,
me thinkes I see Christ
Jesus comming in the
Clouds, with thousand of
Angels about him, the
Heavens and Earth flying
away at his presence, millions
of damned Soules,
yelling and crying to the
Rocks and Mountaines, to
fall upon them, and to cover
them, from the fiercenesse
of his sight; The Divels
quaking and trembling
expecting the denouncing
of their Torments; and
the Joyes the Godly have
at that houre: For as it is a
day of horror and terror to
the Wicked, so is it a day
of joy and gladnesse to the
godly;
E11v
94
godly; for as the body
of the one rests in the
earth, without taste of
those miseries it hath deserved,
even so the Righteous,
by this sleepe of
Death, is deprived of this
blessednesse in their body,
untill corruption hath put
on incorruption, and mortality
hath put on immortality;
and that they are
wakened by the sound of
the Trumpet; which sūummoneth
them to appeare before
Christ; when then
their soules become againe
reunited to their bodyes;
and both with Joy, beholds
the face of God, not as
their Judge, for he is their
Brother; and therefore
can
E12r
95
can expect from him, nothing
but mercy; he hath
purchased them for himselfe,
with no meaner a
lo price, then his owne
precious bloud, and there
fore, must needs bee to him
acceptable, this is theyr
yeare of Jubilee, this is the
Marriage of the Lambe,
with him they enter, and
Revel. 21.
he is theyr God, and they
are his Sonnes; they now
behold his face, and his
Name is in theyr foreheads;
They now, receive
the fulnesse of theyr Joy,
Revel. 22.
they now, possesse that happinesse
theyr Soules thirsted
for; they now, injoy
the reward of all theyr labours:
this blessednesse
truly
E12v
96
truly considered on, affoordeth
more pleasures
then the tongue of Man
can utter, or his Soule remayning
in the Prison of
his flesh, is able to receive,
without crying out with
Cant. 2.
the Spouse in the Canticles:
“I am sicke of Love”. It is
no marvell, that the Church
cryeth; “Come Lord Jesus,
come quickly”: for
in this his comming, consisteth
all happinesse. Here
is the finall end of all miseries
and sinnes; it onely,
prooveth the waters of
Mara to the ungodly; it is
terrible to none, but the
unrepentant, even they
who had their eyes sealed
from beholding any other
happi-
F1r
97
Happines, then what tended
to their pleasures;
They which tooke to them
the Timbrell and the Harp,
and rejoyced in the sound
of the Organs, they spend
theyr dayes in wealth, and
were of them that sayd:
“Speake no more to us in
the name of the Lord”; they
sayd to God, “depart from
us, for wee desire not the
knowledge of thy wayes.
What is the Almighty, that
we should serve him? and
what profit shall wee have,
if we pray unto him?” Now
alas! but too late, they see
theyr owne follyes; now
without hope of redresse,
they behold theyr
owne miseries; no marvell,
F
though
F1v
98
though the mentioning of
the day of Judgement, be
terrible to such a man;
who by his wickednesse,
deprives himselfe of all
those Blessednesses; for ill
will it prove, if the day
of Death, be not alwayes
in his remembrance; which
is the first judgement, and
wherein he must stand eyther
convicted, or acquitted;
eyther condemned for
his bad workes, or justified
for his good, whereof he
can have little hope, unlesse
hee meet his Judge
in the way, and make his
peace with him, whilst he
may be found; yet, there
is time to furnish thy lamp
with Oyle, yet the Gates
of
F2r
99
of Mercy are not shut, yet
thou mayest so cry, as
thou mayest bee satisfied
with this gracious answer;
“Come ye o blessed of my Father;”
Whereas, if thou deferre
thy Repentance from
time to time, putting farre
from thee the evill day, if
thou doe not expect the
comming of thy Lord, but
become drunken, and fall
to smiting thy fellow Servants,
if thou hide thy Talent
in the Earth, which
God in his goodnesse hath
bestowed on thee to better
uses: “Thy Lord will come
Math. 28.
when he is not looked for”,
and in a time when thou
art not aware of, and cast
thee into utter Darknesse,
F2
where
F2v
100
where shall bee wayling
and gnashing of Teeth, giving
thee a just hyre for
thy carelesse security: It is
not thy pleasures, that can
deferre thy calamities; it is
not the inlarging thy
Barnes, that can resist thy
misery; the greatnesse of
Friends will not availe; thy
Judge is blinde to Bribery,
and deafe to all but Justice,
if his wrath be not appeased
before he come to give
sentence, it will then be
too late to expect mercy.
V.
Comforts for the weake
Christian; and to
beware of Backesliding.
Our most subtle
malicious Enemy
retayning still the
hatred hee bare
our first Parents at the beginning,
seeketh to bring
us into everlasting Perdition,
and so to gaine us to
himselfe by one meanes or
other; to a man nouzeled
in Sinne, hee useth no other
wayes, theun the lulling
him still the faster
F3
asleepe
F3v
102
asleepe in worldly pleasures;
the Miser he perswadeth
still to covet Riches,
thereby making his Gold
his God; by which meanes
hee filleth up the measure
of Wrath against the day
of Judgement: the Adulterer
hee draweth on more
easily, by the delightsomnesse
of the sinne, telling
Prov. 3.
him that “stolen bread is
sweet, and hid waters
pleasant”: the Proud man,
hee hath hud-wincked,
not to thinke of time, but
to account all lost, but what
is spent in decking and
setting himselfe foorth in
the Divels Feathers: Thus
all sinnes he lessens, that so
he may cause man to defer
his
F4r
103
his repentance till the last,
then the which, there is
nothing more dangerous:
but when he meets a child
in religion, who is glad to
suck milke from the sweet
paps of Gods word, him he
so tosseth & shaketh, with
telling him of his owne
unworthines, and the severity
of Gods Justice, that
the poore Soule is ready
to leave his hold and to fall
into desperation, not daring
scarce to looke up to
Gods Mercy; but if his
weaknes become strength
and he be raysed by Faith,
then hee strives to cause
him to become weary and
backward in well doing,.
Therefore, thou O man!
F4
that
F4v
104
that wouldest doe the
good thou doest not, but
through the deceivablenesse
of thy flesh standeth
loytering, and with Salomons
sluggard cryeth,
Yet a little sleepe, a little
slumber; awake and behold
Christ comming in the
Clouds. Stand up and gird
thy selfe like a man, lift up
thy eye of Faith and behold
thy Saviour, whose merits
plead for thee? See him
dying for thee, and thereby
paying thy debts? See thy
Judge a just one, and therefore
will not require that
againe, which Christ hath
already satisfied, hee hath
beheld the thoughts of
thine heart, and found thy
desires,
F5r
105
desires, are to serve him
concerning the inward
Man, and though thou
didst fall into sinnes most
offensive to the eyes of his
Divine Majesty, yet hee
knowes, that the evill thou
didst hate, that thou didst:
“But it was a Law in thy
Rom. 7.
Members that ledde thee
captive to the Law of sin”:
then if as a Captive forc’t, it
was no longer thou, but
sinne that dwelled in thee.
Let the remembrances
of these Mercies, waken
thy Soule from the drowsinesse
of Sinne, and remember
who hath sayd:
“Awake, thou that sleepest
Ephes. 5.
and arise from the Dead,
and Christ shall give
F5
thee
F5v
106
thee light?” Hee calleth
thee? Hee biddeth thee
awake, let not these sweet
calles, strike thee dead, as
Math. 20.
his presence did the Keepers,
who became astonished,
and were as dead men;
but rather let that voyce
bee of as great power to
thee, as it was to Lazarus;
John. 11.
not onely to rayse
thee from the sleepe, but
also from the death of Sin.
And bee as ready to entertaine
this love as Thomas
was, who no sooner touched
his Saviour, but cryed
John. 20.
out: “My Lord, and my
God”: Neyther deceive
thy selfe, with a soothing
conceit of what is not in
Math. 7.
thee; “For, the Tree is
knowne
F6r
107
knowne by the fruit; for
men cannot gather Grapes
of Thornes, nor Figs of
Thistles”: A good man, out
of the good Treasure of
Math. 7
his Heart, bringeth forth
good things, and an evill
man, out of the evill Treasure
of his heart, bringeth
forth evill things; so that
howsoever thou mayst
seeme to the World, yet as
a shadow doth alwayes
follow the body, so feare
and desperation will at
all times, and in all places,
wayte upon an evill Conscience.
Let not thy Faith be as
a House built upon the
Sands, which will shake
with every blast of Temptations,tations,
F6v
108
or Afflictions, but
found it upon the Rocke
Christ Jesus; against
which, whatsoever beateth
shall returne with a
greater repulse to itselfe,
as not being able to move
it; and having once attayned
this perfection,
take heed of recoyling,
for Christ sayth; “He
that layeth hand upon the
Plough and looketh
backe, is not meet for the
Luke. 9
Kingdome of Heaven.”
What though the way
to Heaven be narrow, and
full of Difficulties? Wilt
thou not therefore, beeing
entred, persevere?
Who would wish or desire
to walke in a way
strowed
F7r
109
strowed with Roses, and
planted with divers fragrant
Flowers, if the
assured end of it be death;
and who would refuse a
rough and difficult path,
that leadeth unto life; is it
not commonly seene, that
many men to attaine to
Preferment, run into most
apparent dangers, and
hazard the losse of theyr
life; (nay I know thou
wouldest doe it thy selfe)
and shall it bee troublesome
and grievous to thee,
to doe that for thy Soule,
which thou refuseth not
to doe for thy Body? Shall
it seeme a great thing unto
thee, to suffer a little
trouble heere, that hereafterafter
F7v
110
thou mayst escape
eternall torment? What
would not the rich covetous
man buryed in Hell,
willingly doe, if he might
have licence to come into
the World againe, that he
might amend his errors?
Is it meet that thou shouldest
doe lesse now, then
he would doe; seeing, that
if thou dost persever in thy
wickednesse, the same torments
remaine for thee.
He that runneth a Race
leaveth not till hee come
to the Gole; So run as you
may obtaine: Remember
Lots Wife, who looking
backe became a Piller of
Salt; so take heed, lest thou
by looking backe upon the
vani-
F8r
111
vanities of this life, forget
the care of thy Soule, commanded
thee by God; & so
of his child, become not a
Piller of Salt, but a child
of Perdition; a man having
much riches, is still
covetous of more, and
what wealth to be compared
to the Soule? A thing
so great in it selfe; that
what gayneth hee, that
getteth the whole world,
and looseth his Soule;
even as great a purchase,
as hee, who having with
much Labour and great
charge, obtayned a precious
Jewell, straight giveth
it for a trifle.
Nay, were it so, it were
the lesse, for that were but
the
F8v
112
the undoing of the body,
this the losse of the Soule;
that friends againe may
rayse, this is a losse irrecoverable:
Wherefore,
thinke no paynes wearisome,
no labours irksome,
nor any troubles grievous,
to attaine true happinesse;
2. Cor. 4.
“For our light afflictions,
which is but for a moment,
worketh for us a farre
more exceeding & eternall
weight of Glory, while
we looke not at the things
which are seene, but at
the things which are not
seene; for the things
which are seene, are Temporall,
but the things
which are not seene, are
Eternall”: wherefore, settingting
F9r
113
all hinderances apart,
with cheerefulnesse of
spirit, take up the Crosse
of Christ, and incourage
thy feeble spirit,
with the saying of the
Apostle Paul: “The troubles
of this Life, are not
comparable to the joyes
that shall bee hereafter”:
2. Cor. 6.
having therefore these
promises, cleanse your
selves from all filthinesse of
the flesh and spirit, perfecting
Holinesse in
the feare of
God.
VI.
That man ought to bee
wonne to follow Godlinesse,
in respect of the
Eternall Hapinesse.
Having now set
before thee, Life
and good, Death
and evill: I desire
thee, to choose Life,
that both thou and thy
seed mayest live, for having
beheld, the deceiveablenes
of worldly pleasures, and
how this momentany felicity
is attended on, by sorrow
and her Confederates,
me thinks thou shouldest
be
F10r
115
be weary of this house of
Clay, scituated in a Wildernes
of miseries, which
hourely produceth Monsters,
that ravenously seeketh
to prey on thy destruction:
and withdrawing
thy mind from these
fleeting delights, elevate
thy thoughts to Heaven,
and contemplate with thy
selfe, of those Cœlestiall
pleasures; note the beauty
of the place, the gloriousnesse
of the company, and
the durablenesse of that
Happinesse, which is Eternity;
for the beautie
of this place, this Heavenly
Jerusalem, looke into
the Revelation, and thou
Revel. 21.
shalt finde; It hath the
glory
F10v
116
glory of God, the light
thereof to be like a Jasper
stone, cleere as Chrystall;
glorious must it needs bee,
when the Wall is of Jasper,
and the City of pure
gold, cleare like glasse,
and the Foundations of
the Wall garnished with
all manner of precious
stones; the twelve Gates
were twelve Pearles; every
severall gate, was of one
Revel. 15
pearle; for the company,
there are Angels, and
Martyrs, with the foure
and twenty Elders, that
offer up golden Vials full
of odours, which are the
Prayers of Saints; but,
which is chiefe of all delights,
there will be God
himselfe,
F11r
117
himselfe who will bee a
Looking-Glasse to the
eyes of his Elect, Musicke
to theyr eares, Nectar and
Ambrosia to their Palates,
odoriferous Balsamum to
theyr Smelling; There
thou shalt see, the variety
and beauty of the seasons,
the pleasantnesse of the
Spring, the brightnesse of
Summer, the fruitfulnesse
of Autumne, and the quiet
of Winter, and there
shall bee whatsoever may
delight thy sences, and every
faculty of thy Soule;
there will be, the fulnesse of
light to thy understanding,
the aboundance of Peace
to thy will, and the continuance
ti of Eternity to
thy
F11v
118
thy memory; there, the
Wisedome of Salomon,
shall seeme ignorance;
there, the beauty of Absaslom
shall seeme deformity;
there, the strength
of Sampson, shall
seeme weakenesse; there,
the long life of Methvsalem,
shall seeme a
span; there the Riches of
Crœsus, shall seeme
drosse: for there, thou
mayst worthily call the
treasures of all Emperors
and Kings, starke poverty
and beggery.
These things beeing
thus? Why shouldest thou
O man! delight to begge,
and live of Almes, when
thou shalt finde such aboundanceboundance
F12r
119
in Heaven,
looke upon thy selfe and
consider, how the Lord
hath bestowed upon thee
a countenance of Majesty,
with thy face erected towards
Heaven, and thy
eye-lids to move upwards,
thereby to teach thee, that
thou wert not formed, to
spend thy dayes in the moiling
cares of this troublesome
world, but to aspire
to that true Happines, that
maketh all the other Misery.
Marke the Sea-mans
Needle, whose nature of
that Iron is, that in what
part it hath touched the
Loadstone, that part alwayes
looketh towards
the
F12v
120
the North, and remaineth
unsetled, till it hath found
the Pole: even so hath God
created Man, and hath infused
into him a naturall inclination
and readinesse,
that hee should alwayes
looke to his Maker, as to
the Pole and onely true
happines.
When the Children of
Israel in the Wildernesse,
were stung by fiery Serpents,
none could live,
but those, that looked up
to that brazen Serpent,
which Moses erected; so
no man beeing stung by
those fiery Serpents of sin,
can live; but those, that by
the eye of Faith looke
up to Christ Jesus,
behol-
G1r
121
beholding him, dying upon
the Crosse, and applying
his death and merits, to
their otherwise deadly-
wounded Soule, whereby
that Ulcer is cured and they
assured of life.
After Adam had sinned
Gen. 3.
in eating the forbidden
fruit, God sent him
to Till the Earth, out of
which he was taken; but
the soule of man was infused
into him by the
Gen. 2.
breath of God; let therefore
the cogitations of
thy heart and Soule bee
turned towards him, from
whence it had the beeing,
seeing, as sayth Saint
Augustine: There is
nothing more blessed, than
G
this
G1v
122
this life, where there is
no feare of Poverty, no infirmity
of Sicknesse, no
deceipts of the Divell, neyther
Death of body or
Soule; but a pleasant life
through the guift of Immortality,
then there shall
be no mischiefes, no discords,
but all agreement;
because there shall be one
concord of all the Saints,
peace and joy imbrace all
things.
What is it, that thou
canst desire heere upon
Earth, that thou shalt not
there freely possesse? If
thou desirest pleasures, lift
up thy heart and see how
delightfull that Good is,
that contayneth in it, the
delight
G2r
123
delight and pleasure of all
good things? If this life
created doth please thee,
how much more shall that
life please thee, which
hath created all things?
If health given make thee
merry, how much more
shall he make thee merry,
that giveth all health? If
the knowledge of the
Creatures bee sweet, how
much more sweeter shall
the Creator himselfe be?
If beauty bee acceptable
unto thee, it is he, at whose
beauty, the Sunne and
Moone admire; the glory
of which, was so great,
that when Moses went
up to the Mount, though
he saw but the hinder part
G2
there-
G2v
124
thereof, his Face became
so bright and shining, that
the Israelites could not
behold him; what should
I stand longer to set forth
the beauty of that, which
if I had the tongue of Men
and Angels, I could not
doe; for as the Apostle
1. Cor. 2.
sayth; “Eye hath not
seene, Eare hath not heard,
neyther hath it entred into
the heart of Man, the
things which God hath
prepared for them that
love him”.
Wilt thou then choose
with the Prodigall Sonne,
to eate Huskes with the
Swine, rather than to returne
home to thy Heavenly
Father, will not all
these
G3r
125
these delights move thee,
nor cause thee to desire it;
it may bee thou art timerous,
knowing thy owne
unworthinesse; but bee incouraged
by the words of
thy Saviour, who seeing
thy faint heartednesse,
sayth, “Feare not little
flocke, for it is your fathers
Luke. 15.
pleasure to give you a
Kingdome”. Thou art one
of the flocke, and this
Kingdome is prepared for
thee; why dost thou not
long to take possession of
thy owne, purchased for
thee by Christ, who
though hee be thy Elder
brother; yet thou shalt
bee co-heyre with him,
whose love, thou mayst
G3
see
G3v
126
see expressed, by his infinite
care; for in his Prayer
to his Father for his
Disciples, he remembred
thee, when he sayd, “I pray
not for these alone, but
John. 17.
for those that shall beleeve
on me, that they may all
be one as thou Father art
in me, and I in thee, and
the glory which thou hast
given mee, I have given
them, that they may bee
one even as wee are one,
I will also, that those thou
hast given mee, bee with
me”.
Canst thou now have
any doubts or waverings
in thy Mind? Repayre
unto him, and in true humility
of Soule confesse
thy
G4r
127
thy selfe unto him, and
say; “Father I have sinned
against Heaven and against
thee, and I am no more
worthy to bee called thy
Sonne”: This done, doubt
not but hee will imbrace
thee in the Armes of his
Mercy, the Ring and Robe
shall be brought, and the
fatted Calfe shall be kild:
for there is more joy in
Heaven, over one sinner
that repenteth, than of
ninety and nine just persons:
It is a place prepared
for thee, before the
Foundations of the World
were layd. O happy Soule!
that art made possessor of
this blessednesse! How art
thou able to behold any
G4
thing
G4v
128
thing in this life, with true
contentment, having seriously
beheld this; though
thou didst dayly suffer
torments, if for a long
time thou didst indure
Hell it selfe, so that at the
length thou mightest see
Christ in his glory, and
injoy this blessednesse,
and have society with
the Saints; were it not worthy
all Sufferings? All
Bitternes? and all Crosses,
that thou mightest be partaker
of all this good. At
last, what though the
world account not of
thee, but deride thee for
thy vertuous living? Remember
Elizeus the
Prophet of the Lord, who
was
G5r
129
was mocked and called
“Bald-head”, in contempt;
Resolve with thy selfe,
no sooner to enter into the
path of Godlinesse, but
such is the malitiousnesse
of thy Mortall Enemie,
that hee will set his members
in the way against
thee; that if it bee possible,
they may hinder thy proceedings,
and turne thee
backe againe into the
broad way of Errors, that
leadeth to destruction.
No sooner did Saul
Prophesie, but the wicked
and the men of Belial,
had him in derision, who
better affected, then Paul
the Apostle, whilst he remayned
a Persecutor of
G5
Christ
G5v
130
Christ in his members,
and carried with him the
authority of the High
Priests, to strengthen his
proceedings; but no sooner
was he converted, but
how many enimies had
he, which streight sought
his destruction, hayling
him to Prisons, to Scourging,
and to Stonings to
death. Yet so farre were
they from being disheartned
by this, as that they rejoyced
that they were
counted worthy to suffer
for the name of Christ.
When we enter into Baptisme,
we professe to become
Christs souldiers,
and to fight under his banner;
and is it the part of a
Souldier
G6r
131
Souldier, to flye at the first
onset, he that indureth to
the end, gaineth not onely
the honour, but the reward;
nay, the fiercer the assault
is, the more we ought
to oppose our selves
against it, and though
through the roughnes of
the incounter, we may
thinke we have the worst,
yet if with patience wee
strive to persever, our Captaine
Christ Jesus will
be at hand to helpe us, for
carefull is he of his owne,
as his owne mouth testifieth;
when he saith, to his
Father, “All thou hast
given me, I have kept, and
none of them is lost”. Let
all these proofes arme thy
minde
G6v
132
minde, to be resolute in going
on in goodnes, till thou
attaine the end where thou
shalt gaine the reward of
thy labours, and take with
theel, the Counsell of the
Philosopher
Hermes,
who sayth, “It is better, to
suffer shame for vertuous
dealing, then to win honour
by vicious living”.
When Salomon had
builded the Temple and
sanctified it, none might
enter into Sanctum Sanctorum,
the holiest of all,
but the Priest onely. So
none can enter into this
Kingdome, which is the
true Sanctum Sanctorum;
but those who have by a
Religious course of life,
put
G7r
133
put off the vanities of this
world, and cloathed themselves
with the Robe of
Christs Righteousnesse,
whereby they are Consecrated
& made fit to enter.
When the Children of
Jsrael were in the Wildernes,
they were commanded
every day to gather
Manna, but on the
Sabboth they that went to
gather, found none, for
that they were on the Even
to provide for that
day: so fayle not thou every
day of thy life, to gather
this Manna, the food
of thy soule, and to lay up
in shore against this day of
thy rest, least when thou
hopest to find, thou become
frustrate
G7v
134
frustrate, and so thy soule
starve with want thereof,
feede not thy selfe with
hopes of entertainement,
unlesse thou have furnished
thy selfe with the
wedding garment, neither
thinke to passe with one
that is counterfeit, though
never so neare the colour;
for if it be not found the
right one, thou shalt be taken
and bound hand
and foot, and cast into
utter darkenesse; therefore
it is that the Apostle sayth,
2. Cor. 13.
“Examine your selves whither
yee be in the Faith,
prove your selves”.
There are many, nay most
that understanding the
infinitnesse of the happinesnes
G8r
135
of this place, that with
Balaam will desire to
Numb. 33
dye the death of the Righteous,
but they will not
live the life of the Righteous:
because they exempt
themselves from many
things, in the which the
wicked place theyr whole
felicity, they accounting
this world theyr Heaven,
shall therefore finde none
other hereafter, as in the
parable, Abraham sayd to
the rich man in Hell; “Son
remember that thou in thy
life-time, received thy
good things”; they were
his, because in them consisted
all his happines: therefore
possessing of them
here, he could not expect
a
G8v
136
a future: For as the Apostle
saith, “Be not deceived,
God is not mocked, for
what a man soweth, that
shall he reape; for he that
soweth to the flesh, shall
of the flesh reape corruption:
but he that soweth to
the spirit, shall of the spirit,
reape life everlasting”.
For true blessednes, consisteth
not in meat or drink,
or in richnesse of apparell,
but in Righteousnes and
Peace, and Joy in the Holy
Ghost.
A man who hath beene
long kept from his father
and mother, wife or children,
by imprisonment, being
once at liberty, and entred
on his Iourney toward
them
G9r
137
thēem, regardeth not neither
the length of the way, the
wearisomnes of his owne
steps, nor the dangerousnes
of the places he is to passe,
but goeth on with chearefulnesse
and longings, till
he attaine the end, and as
a spurre to whet on his
speed, placeth before the
eye of his remembrance
the sweete content hee
shall finde at meeting, can
these earthly delights
cause a man to undergoe so
many difficulties, and shall
not the delights which
God hath prepared for his
and whereof I have given
thee a glimpse, cause thee
with much more fervencie,
to long to attaine to
this
G9v
138
this place of happinesse,
and setting a part all hinderances
whatsoever, fix
thy eye of Faith upon
those unspeakeable pleasures
which thy soule shall
then gayne, & in Joy when
thou shalt meete with God
thy Father, Christ Jesus
thy Brother and Saviour,
who hath by the infinitenes
of his love espoused
thee unto himselfe; and
made the possessor of Heaven,
where thou shalt as
sayth Saint August.Augustine “imbrace
a certaine imbracing
above all imbracings”.
Thou shalt find a sweetnes
above all sweetnesse,
thou shalt see a light above
all lights, thou shalt smell
a savor
G10r
139
a savour above all savours,
most delectable, thou shalt
heare a voyce above all
voyces for rarenes, for that
voyce doth sound where
no ayre doth move it, this
light doth shine, where no
place doth receive it,
this savour doth smell
where no blast doth carry
it, and this imbrace is there
touched, where it is not
sundred; to conclude if
thou desirest to injoy all
blessednesse, and to escape
all kinde of punishments,
tribulations, and miseries,
there thou shalt find libertie
& freedome from them
all. The God of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the
Father of Glory, give untoto
G10v
140
us, the spirit of wisdome
& knowledge of him, that
the eyes of our understanding
being inlightned, we
may know, what is the
hope of his calling, and
what the Riches of
the Glory of the
inheritance of
his Saints,
Amen.
Of our losse by Adam, and our
gayne by Christ; the first Adam
was made a living Soule, the
second Adam a quickning Spirit;
“For as in Adam wee all dye, so in
Christ, shall all be made alive.”
1. Corinth. 15.
God by his Wisedome,
and all-seeing Pow’r
Ordained Man
unto Eternitie,
Sathan through malice
turnes that sweet to sowre,
Man eating the forbidden Fruit
must Die:
No remedy was left
to scape this Curse,
The sore still looked on
became the worse.
He out of that delightsome
place is throwne
To travell in the Warld
with woe distrest,
Through all his life
A Pilgrim he is knowne,
With Cares and Sorrowes,
and with griefes opprest
The more he lookes
into his wretched state,
The more he rues his fact
but all too late.
Whereas he was
created King of all
The Creatures
God on Earth created had,
His Glory bated is
by this his Fall,
No creature now on Earth
remaines so bad:
The sencelesse Beast
the sence of this hath found,
And having Man possest
with death doth wound.
The Earth disdaines
to yeeld to him her strength
But pricking Thornes
and Brambles forth doth send,
Till with his sweat
and labours she at length
Onely for sustenance
some food doth lend:
Thus he that was
a heavenly Creature form’d,
By disobedience
to a wretch is turn’d.
Of all the Trees
that in the Garden grew,
He onely was forbidden
that alone,
His Wife from that obedience
soone him drew,
And taste thereof
he did although but one:
O wretched man!
what hast thou lost hereby
Wicked woman
to cause thy husband dye.
T’’Tis not saying,
the Serpent thee deceiv’d
That can excuse the fault
thou didst commit;
For of all Joyes
thou hast thy selfe bereav’d,
And by thy Conscience
thou dost stand convict.
Thy husband not alone
the fault must rue,
A punishment for sinne
to thee is due.
For as thou now conceives
thy seed in sinne,
So in great sorrow
thou must bring it foorth,
The gaine which thou
by that same fruit didst winne,
Thou now dost find
to bee but little worth:
Obedience to thy Husband
yeeld thou must,
And both must Dye
and turned be to Dust.
The Truth sometimes
is used by the Divell
When as he sayd,
Your eyes, should opened bee,
And that you should
discerne the good from evill,
When you the Fruit had tasted
of that tree:
But hee told not
your actions, should be sinne,
And Death should be the good
which you should winne.
For now your strength
to weakenesse turned is,
You know the Good
but have no powre to chuse’t,
Your eyes is ope, to see
your owne amisse,
And to behold the blisse
you have refus’d:
You see your nakednesse
made vilde by Sinne,
And now seekes for a place
to hide you in.
But O alas!
your deeds discover’d are,
You naked lye
to those all-seeing eyes,
He viewes your actions
and doth see you bare,
Bare of all Goodnesse,
vilde deformities:
And in your selves
you have no power to mend,
For all your strength, is sinne
Sathan doth lend.
Now seizes on your sicknesse
Griefes and Feares,
Which night and day
with trouble will torment;
Your sweet Delights,
are turned all to teares,
And now what you have done,
with woe repent!
Nothing but Griefes and Feares
and sad annoyes;
You now possesse
instead of endlesse Joyes.
You were immortall,
but are mortall made;
You were created pure,
but now are vilde;
Your splendant Glories
turned all to shade,
Your Innocence
The Devill hath beguilde:
You were created
Children of the Lord,
But now are loathsome Dung,
to be abhorr’d.
Which way, can you
recover this your losse?
What friend have you,
that will this great debt pay?
Can you gaine, pure gold
from filthy drosse?
Or have you power
to call againe that Day;
No, you are in
a laborinth of woe,
And endlesse is the maze
in which you goe.
Yet courage Woman,
whose weake spirit’s dead,
God in his love
a helpe for thee hath found,
Bee sure thy Seed
shall bruise the Serpents head,
Christ by his Death
shall Sathan deadly wound:
This Lyon of Judea
resist who can,
In him is blest
the whole Off-spring of man.
This Promise in due time
fulfill’d hath God,
Unto the comfort
of each mortall weight;
Christ payes our Debt
hee’s beaten with that rod
That doth belong
unto our Soules of right:
His Fathers wrath
was powred upon him,
Which doth belong
as due to us for Sinne.
Hee dy’d upon the Crosse
and conquered Death.
That though wee dye
yet live againe wee must,
He buried was
and risen is from Earth,
And raignes with God
in Heaven amongst the Just:
With him, our Soules and Bodies
rais’d hath hee,
And from deaths thraldome
now, hath set us free:
This causeth Sathan
stir himselfe amaine,
To see, if he can winne
what he hath lost:
He strives to make
our overthrow his gaine.
He stormeth now,
that he, by Christ is crost:
And to his ayde,
he all his forces drawes,
That he may cause us
to obey his Lawes.
Whole Armies of his Furies
forth he sends,
In shape transformed,
to delude our mindes;
And unto them
his greatest force he lends,
To seize, where fittest
for his turne he findes:
He marks, to what men
are by nature given,
And unto that,
he turnes his Compasse even.
Sathan’s deceipts
are covered, all with smiles.
That sinne seemes pleasing,
which our Soules destroyes,
With quaint allurements,
hee man still beguiles.
With sweet delights
he breeds Mans sad annoyes,
He imitates a Poyson
rarely framed,
But once being taken
all the life blood’s stained.
Old and craftie
is our Enemy growne,
He knowes all Fish
at one baite will not bite,
Hee’l try a thousand wayes
to gaine his owne,
He will not leave
till he the marke hits right:
Some with Drunkennesse,
Murders, Lust beside,
Others with Idlenesse,
exessive Pride.
Bacchus that drunken God
from Hell comes forth,
And reeling here and there
few scapes his knockes,
Who shunnes his blowes
esteem’d are of no worth,
One Drunkard at anothers
weaknesse mockes:
What Isaiah saith,
thereon they never thinke;
Woe bee to them!
are strong to pw’r in drinke.
God, in his love
form’d all things for mans use,
That for his Comfort
they might daily be,
But they prove poyson
through mans vilde abuse,
Sinne changeth all
into deformity:
Paul for mans health,
to drinke Wine doth advise.
But through excesse,
both Soule and Body dyes.
Man, by this Sinne
more vile is, than a Beast;
Far but sufficient,
they will never take,
Mans sences fayles him
sinnes are still increast,
He tracing vices,
doth all good forsake:
In Drunkennesse,
Lot doth to Incest fall,
Noah in his Wine,
his secrets shewes to all
Then Lust, and Murther
hands together take,
Like full fed Beasts,
they neigh at neighbours wife,
Stolne bread is sweet,
hid water theyr thirsts slake,
They fall to Murther,
through discord and strife.
For when mans reason fayles,
to guide his will;
He into mischiefe,
runneth headlong still.
Most people takes
Idlenesse, for no sinne:
Thus in Simplicitie,
Sathan deludes,
That precious time is lost,
that Grace might winne.
And want of action,
many sinnes includes:
That minde, which unto
Idlenesse gives way,
Doth open lye
to bee the Devils prey.
When David unto ease
himselfe had given,
His eyes extravagantly
looke about,
Uriah’s wife he spyeth
in the Even,
He must, and did enjoy her
without doubt:
Sathan by this his fall
more strength doth gaine,
For David bids
Uriah should be slaine.
Thus by one meanes or other
Sathan snares
Mans soule in Sinne,
and hudwinck’d tills him on;
His cup of Gold
is filled up with teares
A bitter pittance
to theyr sweetes belong:
Pride, in it selfe
doth beare a poyson’d breath,
No Sinne so small
but punisht is with Death.
That sinn’s thought least
that’s spent in trimming fine
That Carkasse vilde,
on which the Wormes must prey,
They thinke not how
theyr hungry Soule doth pine,
They count not
of theyr reckoning at last day.
But time of Grace, once lost,
is without call,
So headlong to destruction
they doe fall.
Pride, of all other
sembleth most the Divell?
’Twas Pride, threw Sathan
downe from Heaven to Hell:
’Twas Pride, that Author was
of all mans evill:
’Twas Pride, made Eve
desire still to excell;
When Sathan said,
“as Gods, you then shall be”;
Incontinent, she tasted
of that Tree.
This Lep’rous sinne,
infected so the bloud,
That through her off-spring,
it hath wholly runne;
Before the child can know,
the bad from good;
It straight is proud,
Nature, this hure
hath done.
A female sinne,
it counted was to be,
But now Hermaphrodite,
proved is shee.
Like Judas, Sathan
with each mortall deales,
His haile, is Hate,
his flattering hisse, is death,
He everywhere
still watching, creeping steales,
With armed troupes
to stifle his soules breath:
His Syrens songs,
mans mortall Death intends,
And hee must Dye
that thereto his eare lends.
As a Physition
with his Patient still
Applyes his potion
as he findes it fit;
Giving to some, more strong
because theyr ill
Disposed body,
oft requireth it:
Even so, doth Sathan
with each Creature deale,
But his is meant for death
and not to heale.
Nature and Sathan,
are sworne Brothers still,
For neyther of them
moveth man to good;
By Nature, we incline
to all that’s ill,
Which runneth through
our body with our blood:
And by our Nature
oft he us assailes,
And through our weaknesse
he oft times prevailes.
He, by our Nature sees
to what we bend,
Whether to goodnesse
or to mischiefes run;
And if he find man ayme
at the best end,
Then strives he for to marre
all he hath done,
And by a pride of Goodnes
makes him be,
Towards his God,
like the proud Pharisie.
The blessings, God to man
doth often give,
As beautie, health, riches,
honours and fame,
That he, in thankefulnes
for them shouldst live,
Still using them
to glorifie his Name:
Sathan transeformeth
all this unto sinne,
Through vilde abuse,
of confidence therein.
This thing, the Scripture
evidently showes,
By Davids numbering
of Israell,
Whereby he thought
more trust for to repose
In his great army,
this to sinne befell:
And drawing on
Gods Judgement for the same,
A heavy plague
he on his Realme did gaine.
There is a sinne, on which
small count is made,
And that is Disobedience;
for which sinne,
Samuel the Prophet
unto Saul once sayd;
From being King
God had rejected him:
When as he Ameleck
all should have slaine,
Sathan mov’d him
to let the best remaine.
This sinne, so great
in Gods pure sight doth seeme,
As that the Prophet
plainly doth him tell:
The Lord, no better
of it doth esteeme;
Then, of vild Witchcraft
which in Israel,
The Lord commanded
banish’d quite to be;
This, like to that
and to Idolatrie.
This onely sinne
on all Mankinde did draw,
Gods heavy wrath,
for this, we suffer still.
By Adams breaking
Gods commanded Law;
Sinne with a poysoned dart
our soules did kill:
For through the breach thereof
there entred death,
For so ’twas sentenced
by Gods owne breath.
O this same sinne,
as an accusing one
On all occasions
still it guilty sayth:
Fulfill Gods Law, who did
nere yet, was knowne,
But Christ who came
for to appease Gods wrath:
Then by his Law
we all convicted stand,
And howerly may
looke for Gods wrath at hand.
Deferring off Repentance
is a bayte
So closely layd
by that old Enemy,
That few doth dive
the depth of his deceit,
But unprovided
many men doe die:
He bids them on the good theefe
their eyes cast,
Who never did repent him
till the last.
O slye, deceitfull
cruell enemy,
How deadly, is thy hatred
to us all
Thou Ehud like
hides that will cause us dye,
And sith thou fell’st
thou aym’st still at our fall:
In Paradice the Tree
death did us give,
But by the Tree
in Golgotha, we live.
From a decline in goodnesse
let each Soule,
With heedfull care
still study to beware;
Least in the end
for it he doth condole,
When as his foote
is fettered in the snare:
Who once his hand
upon the Plough doth lay,
Must by no meanes
looke backe another way.
Easie it is, to plunge
our selves in sinne,
But, O alas!
hard to get forth againe;
If by our faults
our Soules be black with in,
We then shall finde
all his delusions vaine;
His voyce of peace
all peace doth from us take,
Then shun that hearbe
where under lyes the Snake.
Man ought at all times
have a carefull eye;
For many are the Snares
which Sathan layes:
When least he thinketh on
to cause him dye,
He hides the bayte
the which mans soule betrayes:
Of ease and pleasures
he will alwayes tell,
But his smooth path
the brode way is to Hell.
Who on this Panthers skinne
doth gazing stand,
Had need beware
who lyes in wayte to catch,
Who holdes a Woolfe by th’eares
but with one hand,
Must with the other
muzzell up his chaps:
If better thou dost get
leave not off so,
But of all meanes to hurt,
deprive thy Foe.
That man, the which
his Enemy foyl’d hath,
Must straight unarme him
least he gather strength;
Benhadads servants
after Ahabs wrath,
With feyned words
did come to him at length
And from his kindnesse
they advantage draw,
For he, that fear’d to dye
now made a Law.
By his Example
let us warned bee,
Gods Prophet unto Ahab
straight doth come,
And sayd, “Because from death
thou didst him free,
Be sure thy life shall stand
in his lifes roome.
Leave thou not Sathan,
till thou seest him dead,
And Jael like,
kill Sisera in the head.”
He aymes not at thy slips,
but overthrow;
Small hurts content him not,
he life would spill:
With slight advantages,
he will not goe:
When thou securest art,
he waites to kill:
And Joas like
of thy health he’ll inquire,
But ’tis not life,
but death he doth desire.
Can this old Serpent,
this deceiving Divell,
Get in his head,
then follow shall his tayle,
If man but yeeld a little,
unto evill,
Sinne will increase,
though creeping like a Snaile.
And if unto a Custome,
it doth come,
He feeles it not,
his soule is now growne num.
All Sathan baites,
are glittering to the eye,
He leades man on,
in a delight some traine:
Till death arrests them,
saying thou must dye,
And then he lets them see
all was but vaine:
Then in the ugli’st forme
hee shewes them all,
That into Desperation
man may fall.
Now having such a strong
and powerfull foe,
What need hath Man
with heedfull care to watch,
Least on a suddaine
he from hence doe goe,
For Death as well
doth lye in wayt to catch:
Who proves a welcome guest
to a good man,
For unprovided, come
he never can.
Deaths ghastly lookes
to a gtood man seemes sweet,
Who still prepared hath
for that his end,
As Esay Jacob, did
embracing meet,
So doth he death
accounting him his friend:
If teares doe fall
they are not shed through feares
For joy he’s come
forceth from him those teares.
Can he expect Death
Enemie to be,
Who by his Present
hath his force alayd:
He sent before good workes,
much Charity,
Blessings of Orphants
which for him have pray’d:
His sighs and teares,
appeased hath his King,
And this supposed Foe
glad newes doth bring.
Death is our guide
unto Eternall blisse,
Portall of Heaven,
by which we enter must,
The Ladder reaching
to true happinesse,
Which bringeth man
to live amongst the Just:
By him we come
Gods glorious face to see,
From which by life
depriv’d we still shall bee.
Our flesh a prison is
unto our soule,
Which doth deprive it
of that heavenly light;
With spirituall groanes & sighs
it doth condole,
Till it attaine
unto that wished sight:
Death is the key
unlocks our misery,
Looseth our bonds
and gives us liberty.
Death’s fangs are par’d
his bitter potions sweet,
His edge abaited
all his hurt is done,
A godly man
most kindly he doth meete,
And of a Foe
he is a Friend become:
His strooke is like
the striking of a veine,
By which small smart
sick men theyr health doe gaine:
Death is the ending
of our dayes, not life,
For having clos’d these eyes
we wake to live,
Death having finisht
once this mortall strife,
Our Faith in Christ
new life to us doth give:
Our Night is past
our Day star doth appeare,
Our Cloud is vanish’d
and our Morne shines cleare.
Now ends all sorrowes,
now all griefes are done,
Sinne takes his leave
and weaknesse hath his end;
And now behold
our Jubilee is come,
The Harvest of our labors
we attend:
Death’s potion onely
bitter is in show,
The taste once past
no operation so.
Mans Glasse once run
his flower of Life once dead,
That vapor vanish’d
and that span once grasp’d,
His breath once failing
all his body’s Lead,
In sencelesse, coldnesse
all his parts are clasp’d:
He came from earth,
earth house-roome now him
gives
His spirit from God
with God for ever lives.
The carnall wicked
worldly minded men,
Who in this life
their whole content have plac’d
Doth tremble, when Death
mention’d is to them,
Because by him
all Joyes from them are chased:
Their ease and pleasures
changed quite will be,
All mirth is dash’d
by present miserie.
The sight of him
unto their minds doe bring
Remembrance of their sinnes
they slightly past,
The which with woe
their soules doe sorely sting:
For that they see
the count call’d on at last:
Which sure on earth
a hell may deemed be,
When without mercy
man his sinnes doth see.
Those men which onely
to delights are given,
At the approach of death
doth feare and quake,
What earth afforded
they accounted heaven,
And now perforce
they must those joyes forsake,
Gods blessings they
most vildly have abus’d,
And proffered time of Grace,
they have refus’d.
And now those words
which Abraham did say,
To Dives, when for water
he did call;
He findes too true
whose smarts without alay,
His Sorrowes farre more bitter
are then gall:
His good things onely
were upon this Earth,
But life and them, are parted
quite by death.
Terrors and feares
must needs their soules affright,
When guilty Conscience
showes Gods angry eye,
O how they tremble!
to approach that sight,
To whom their sinne
will out for vengeance cry;
He who on earth
to grieve, they did not feare,
Will give a sentence
which their Soules will teare.
O how mans sinnes
that mild aspect doth change,
He, which for man did bleed
doth man condemne,
If by their sinnes
from the right path they range,
Wanting their guide
dangers approacheth them:
The Woolfe once seazing
’tis in vaine to flye,
Theyr Shepheard heares not
bootlesse ’tis to cry.
Alas, who would this world
as ought esteeme,
If truely he consider
every thing,
Those pleasures which to man
most happy seeme,
Doth soonest fade
and gone they leave a sting:
Man upon Earth
no sure abiding hath,
Then feare betime
before thou feele Gods wrath.
Belshazar when hee was
carrousing set,
Amongst his Princes
in his royall Throne;
A writing turnes
those faire delights to Jet,
A hand then shew’d
makes bone incounter bone,
He fearefull sits
whilst thus it doth indite,
“Thou’rt weigh’d in ballance
and art found too light”,
Mans life’s a sceane
and tragicke wo’s succeed,
A Comet alwayes
future harmes foretell,
The happiest life
by death is made to bleed,
If unprepar’d he dye
he goes to hell:
The gate is shut,
and they must take their lot,
For ’twill be answered;
“loe, I know you not”.
Unto a thorney field
and barren land,
How fitly may mans life
compared be,
What cares, what feares,
what griefes, are still at hand,
And for one Joy
ten discontents we see:
We alwayes walke
as on a bridge of glasse,
And oft it crakes
as over it we passe.
Still barren is this world
of true content,
Fruitfull enough
in procreating woes,
Thorny afflictions
towards us are bent,
But certaine Joyes
still backwards from us goes:
Who thinkes to catch them
doth a shadow chase,
And like Ixion
doth a cloud embrace
Then why should man
thus waste his precious time
And triflingly let slip
his golden dayes;
O! turne to God,
whilst thou art in thy prime
And put not off
repentance with delayes:
For when death comes
it then will be too late,
By teares or vowes
for to prorogue thy state.
Boast not of youth, or honours
wealth, or strength,
Who trusts to them
upon a reede doth leane,
The which be sure
deceive thee will at length
Then strive from these vaine
thoughts
thy selfe to weane,
And fill thy Lampe with oyle
whil’st thou hast space,
Least afterward too late
thou call for grace.
Breake off thy sinnes
by true repentant teares,
And turne to God
whilst it is call’d to day,
And rest assured
he their prayers heares,
That unto him
uncessantly doe pray;
For to incourage thee,
he this did say,
“Who comes to me
I will not cast away”.
Is not mans life
compared unto a flower,
And, O how soone! alas,
the same doth fade and dye,
Then let man live
prepar’d (each day and houre)
Least unawares
the force of death he try:
And beare this saying
alwayes in thy minde;
As death, thee leaves
so Judgement will thee find.
And as the Flower
in the chiefest prime,
Doth fade and dye
when Sun his face doth hide,
For ’tis not in the earth’s
vast slippery clime,
An ever fading beeing
to provide:
No more can strength
or skill prevaile at all,
To lengthen life
when God by death doth call.
And as the spring
the water forth doth put,
And by the earth drunke up
no more is seene,
So when by death
our thrid of life is cut,
On earth we are
as we had never beene:
Then whil’st we live
let’s strive to purchase Grace,
That after Death
in Heaven we may have place.
Alas! how many are
the snares and bayts,
Which Sathan layes,
our poore soules to betray,
Hiena like,
he murthers by deceites,
Through false delights
to cause us misse our way,
His Mermaides Songs
are onely sweet in sound,
Approach them not,
lest Death thy life doth wound.
Therefore the safest way
unto our blisse,
Is meditation
of our certaine Death
And though we tread
the steps of carefulnesse,
And all our life
in sorrow draw our breath,
The guerdon of our paines
our Christ will give
In causing us
eternally to live.
Thus by a godly
and an upright life,
Man of a deadly foe
may make a friend
And by a wise provision
stint that strife,
Which Sathan laid
to bring us to our end:
And though our flesh
prove false, our God is Just,
By death our soule
gaines heaven, our body dust.
Be ever vigilant
in all thy wayes,
And alwayes live
as in the sight of God,
Performe good actions
and use no delayes,
Then feare not Death
it brings with it no rod:
With care attend
that sure uncertainety,
And live, as every howre
thou shouldest dye.
This watchfull care
wounds Sathan in the head,
For hee that thinkes of Death
doth shun all Sinne,
By thought of this
man to the world proves dead,
He counts all drosse
and only Christ would win:
No earthly Joyes
can cause him life to love,
His Soule is fixt
and nothing can him move.
Thus each weake Christian
may this tyrant foyle,
For by Christ’s Death
man armed is with strength,
Though in this Combate
he a while may toyle,
But Faith in Christ,
gives victory at length;
And with a courage bold,
man now may cry
Death where’s thy sting?
Grave where’s thy victory?
What though we dye,
as dye we surely must,
Yet by this death,
we now are gainers made.
For when our bodyes
are consum’d to dust,
We shall be rais’d,
from that Eternall shade:
Our mortall bodyes;
shall immortall be,
And with our Soules,
injoy Eternitie.
Our troubles in this life,
now changed are;
From tokens of his wrath,
unto his love.
For though a while
upon the Earth we share;
Of griefes and troubles,
yet when God above:
Shall by death call us
from the vaile of sinne,
We shall injoy
Eternall blisse with him.
Where all teares shall
be wiped from our eyes,
All griefes and sorrowes
then shall ended be,
We shall be freed
from all clamarous cries,
No discontents nor troubles
shall wee see:
But Peace, and Joyes
and comforts shall be found,
And alwayes in our eares
a heavenly sound.
Our Sences shall partake
all of this Blisse,
Our Eyes shall evermore
behold our King,
Our Hearing heavenly musicke
shall possesse,
Our Tongues shall evermore
his Praises sing:
Thus Smell, and Taste,
thus hands, and eares, and sight,
Shall evermore injoy
a full delight.
Unto this Happinesse
and place of Joy,
In thy good time
sweet Saviour Christ us bring,
Where being freed
from Sorrowes and annoy,
Wee evermore
thy blessed Praise may sing:
Where we shall never cease
but Night and Day,
Sing Praise and Glory,
unto Thee alway.
Finis.