Meat out of the Eater
The source for this document is http://name.umdl.umich.edu/N00104.0001.001
Project Note
This is licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND. This license allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.
The source of this document is the Early English Books Online (EEBO-TCP) website. Those books were transcribed in a character for character manner and can be very cumbersome to read since there was no standard spelling during that time. Many spelling variations such as "unlesse", "vnlesse", and "vnles" regularly appear.
This project was conceived to clean up those books as much as possible and make them more accessible to the interested reader, leading to the creation of a massive list of variant spellings and their corrections. This was used to clean up the text, but is of course only as complete as the list itself. Because of the nature of the original transcription, some words have missing characters or places where the original language (e.g., Greek) was not transcribed. This effort does not change that. Be aware that the original transcription can also be faulty and in some cases entire sentences may be missing.
Although this is no substitute for a properly compared, proofed, and scholarly edition, I believe that the result is a document which is far more accessible, particularly for searching for terms using standard spelling. The document has been cleaned and presented in what I hope is a pleasing and useful format for the vast majority of Christian brothers and sisters who just want access to read these spiritually nourishing works.
However, a word of warning: The Puritans were a very diverse group of people and their age was characterized with godliness, but also much upheaval, disputation and strife. They disagreed on many doctrines and some of these works contain less orthodox or Scriptural views than others. The reader is strongly advised to read with discernment, particularly if it is unknown whether author is trustworthy.
This project took a huge amount of time and skill to bring to fruition. I would particularly like to thank David Jonescue for the initial list of Puritans he found on EEBO and the concept behind this project as well as the continuous, unceasing efforts toward seeing this complete. Without his labor, this would not be available. Alex Sarrouf was invaluable in providing the initial list of over 7,000 spelling variations he had identified and corrected, as well as continuing to review more than 16,000 additions to that list for any typos.
Logan West
(with David Jonescue and Alex Sarrouf)
www.puritansearch.org
MEAT OUT OF THE EATER: OR, MEDITATIONS Concerning The Necessity, End, and Usefulness of AFFLICTIONS Unto God's Children.
All tending to Prepare them 〈◊〉 and Comfort them under the CROSSE.
By Michael Wigglesworth
CAMBRIDGE: Printed by S. G. and M. • . for John Usher of Boston . 1670.
Tolle Crucem. All Christians must be Cross bearers.
If any man will my Disciple
•
e,
Let him take up his Cross and follow me
None can with me and mine partak
•
Who doth not all for me forsake.
Meditation I.
All Christians must be Sufferers
That would be Christ his Followers.
[1]
ALl that resolve to be
Christ's faithful Followers,
To be great Sufferers.
They must renounce themselves,
And their own wills deny,
Take up their Cross, and follow Christ
Through Sufferings cheerfully.
[2]
Not only lighter Griefs
But, when the Lord us calls thereto,
Greatest Extremities.
This must be taken up,
(Willingly undergone)
For Christ's dear sake, who suffered more
For our Redemption.
[3]
The Christian that expects
An Earthly Paradise
When Christ bids his take up the Cross
And bear it, is unwise.
We must not on the knee
Be always dandled,
Nor must we think to ride to Heaven
Upon a Feather-bed.
[4]
Our way to Heavenly Rest
Is all against the stream;
We must not sail with Wind and Tide
As too too many dream:
But row against them both
And many Storms endure;
Till we arrive at that sweet Port
Where Saints shall rest secure.
[5]
Our way is up the Hill,
Which mounteth to the Skies:
But that's the way to Death and Hell
Which low and down-hill lies.
'It is easy to Descend,
And down the Hill to roll:
But this is labor to Ascend,
And painful to the Soul.
[6]
But who would not take pain
Against the Hill to climb,
That so they may true Rest attain
And Happiness in time?
Rather then down the Hill
With present ease to run
(As most men do) until they be
Eternally undone.
[7]
Which leadeth unto Life:
Heaven is not gained by
•
ase and Sloth,
But by an earnest stri
•
e.
But broad are all the ways
That to Destruction lead,
And many many are the feet
That daily therein tread.
[8]
Let others take their choice,
And run what way they please;
Let them enjoy their Lusts, and take
Their fill of Carnal Ease:
Choose thou the narrow Path,
My Soul, and walk therein;
Thou knowest this is the only way
Eternal Life to win.
Meditation II.
God doth in Mercy scourge his own
In Wrath he others lets alone.
[1]
IF in this narrow Path
And way that is so strait
Be not disconsolate▪
The straitness of the way
Betokeneth opposition,
Afflictions, Dangers, Crosses, Snares
In this our frail condition.
[2]
These are the Common-Lot
Of all God's Children dear.
Through many Sorrows they must pass
The Lord that truly fear.
There's no Calamity
Doth unto thee befall,
Yea to the best of all.
[3]
Though various are the ways
And sufferings whereby
God doth his Children exercise,
Correct, and also try:
Yet all must bear the Cross
All must partake of chastening
Whom God vouchsafes to own.
[4]
It is in Mercy then
That God chastiseth his,
And lets them not Correction want
When as they do amiss.
They are in trouble now
When as the Pit shall digged be
For such as them oppressed.
[5]
All that Christ's Members are
Must be made like their Head:
That's never chastened.
God letteth some alone,
(Leaves them to take their course)
And by his Rod reclaims them not;
They sin without remorse.
[6]
They will not cross themselves,
Nor their own wills deny:
God will not cross them, nor correct,
To do them good thereby.
They w
•
x more impudent,
Through God's forbearance, till at length
Meditation III.
The third doth further hint at th' Ends
For which the Lord Affliction sends.
[1]
GOd doth chastise his own
In love, their Souls to save:
And lets them not run wild▪ with them
That no Correction have.
From posting down to Hell:
So by the same God doth excite
And teach us to do well.
[2]
Wherein he teacheth his
To know and do their Duty, and
To mend what is amiss.
For though Afflictions may
Unto the Flesh be painful:
David
and other Saints of God
Have found them very gainful.
[3]
Saith he, I went astray:
But since I have learnt with better care
To keep thy Precepts way.
Have been afflicted sore,
That I might learn to know thy Laws
And swerve therefrom no more.
[4]
Wherein he melts his Gold,
Consumes the dross and maketh it
These are his Fullers Sope
To wash our spots away,
That being thus refined and washed
Him glorify we may.
[5]
As sharpest Winter Frosts
Do clarify the Air,
And cleanse our Blood, soften the Earth
And it for Seed prepare,
Making it fruitfuller:
So do Afflictions sore
Cl
•
anse, and subdue them more.
[6]
Much Honey turns to Gall
And Cholerick excess;
And too-too-much Prosperity
Afflictions purge them out,
Like bitter Alöe,
Which, though unpleasant to the taste,
Far wholsomer may be.
[7]
Full Diet, dainty Fare,
Heap up bad Humours, and contract
Many a foul Disease,
To Soul, and Body too.
Dang'rous, and Troublesome;
Which must be purged out in Time
By some
Catholicum
.
[8]
Strong Wine makes weak heads giddy
Procuring Drunkenness:
Intemperance and Excess.
We soon are Surfeted
With strong delicious matter:
And therefore God, who knows our frame,
Mingleth our Wine with Water.
[9]
Afflictions are like Ballast
I'th' Bottom of a Ship;
For though perhaps without the same
We might more lightly skip:
Yet every little puff
Would quickly set us over,
And sink us in the Ocean Sea
No more for to recover.
[10]
Much like a fallow Field,
Which must be broke and plowed up
Before it fruit can yield:
Wherewith he breaketh us,
Tears up our Lusts, those noisome Weeds,
And fitteth us for use.
[11]
Grace in Prosperity
Lies hid unoccupy'd:
But is by Chastening set to work,
And by the Cross descry'd.
The Cross to Virtue trains;
It tries, it makes to grow;
It sanctifies, purgeth and heals;
It humbleth and lays low.
Meditation IV.
The fourth by various Arguments
Strives to beat down all Discontents,
And overcome Discouragements.
[1]
SInce then our gracious God
And Father that's above
For such great Ends useth his Rod
Why shouldest thou once repine,
Or murmur at the Cross,
Impatient man? without such blows
Thy Soul would suffer loss.
[2]
And thy Soul's health require,
He useth not severity,
Nor stirreth up his ire.
Then what may reach the End,
And do thy Soul the good for which
He doth Affliction send.
[3]
Afflicts the sons of men,
Cannot take pleasure in the grief
Of his own Childeren.
He lays on his no Crosset,
But that they may attain
Some higher good. He sends no losses
But for their greater gain.
[4]
Burning and Cutting 'bide,
Hunger and Thirst endure
Thou wilt, thy Body from Grim Death,
Or Sickness to recure:
Thy Soul is much more worth,
And its Salvation dear;
Why then what may Soul-health procure
Should'st thou refuse to bear?
[5]
Christ never flattered thee,
Nor promised Carnal Ease,
Nor worldly Honor, Pleasure, Gain,
Security, o
•
Peace.
He told the worst at first,
(It was thine
A, B, C
)
That would his Follower be.
[6]
To meet with fiery Trial?
Or to be put upon the task
Of serious Self-denial?
Thou owest more to Christ,
Who shed his dearest Blood,
And bare God's Wrath, for to procure
Thine Everlasting good.
[7]
The Son of God himself
Took up the Cross, endured Death,
And so our Ransom paid.
He had no need to die;
But we had been undone:
Unless that He our Punishment
And Pain had undergone.
[8]
Into his glorious state:
It's fit that Members be content
Their Head to imitate.
Himself hath born the Curse,
And ta'ne away the Sting:
So that the Cross is now become
A sanctified thing.
[9]
Therefore take up the Cross;
The Rod in meekness kiss:
Be silent and him reverence, who
Thy God and Father is.
Then thou deserved hast;
Yea and afflicteth thee, that so
A gainer be thou mayest.
[10]
In Chast'ning he respecteth;
And none of his beyond their strength
By pain or grief dejecteth.
Although he burn the Dross
If with the one hand he cast down;
His other doth uphold.
[11]
The smothering smoking Flax
To break a bruised shaken Reed
Is none of his delight.
He'll not contend for ay,
Lest that the spirit before him fail,
And Souls that he hath made.
[12]
Of Christ's free love to thee.
A pledge thou hast, if Chastening
Thou bearest fruitfullie.
God deals with us like sons
If Scourging we endure,
For unto patient Suffering
He will his sons inure.
[13]
What if thy strength thee fail?
If Sicknesses increase?
If dearest Friends decease?
If wants do multiply,
And woes come on amain?
If Men and Devils should conspire
To aggravate thy pain?
Meditation V.
The fifth persuades to Patience,
From that rich future Recompence;
Minding us of our Heavenly Rest,
Which should revive us when distrest.
[1]
MEekly to bear Christ's yoke
It is an Honor high:
Thou Christ wilt surely them reward
Who bear it patiently.
For this short Grief of ours,
Shall work of glorious Happiness
A far more lasting weight.
[2]
(Reward laid up in store)
And after mourn no more.
They'll one day wear a Crown,
Who now the Cross sustain:
Nor labor shall be vain.
[3]
With him that suffer do:
Who follow him in's Death, partake
Shall of his Glory too.
Deserve such recompense:
His own Munificence.
[4]
Who can expect a Crop
Or Harvest to obtain;
That breaks no ground, that sows no seed.
That undergoes no pain?
To triumph who can hope
That doth the Battle shun?
Eternal Glory whoso finds,
Must first through rough ways run.
[5]
This world is not thy home:
Then be content with Pilgrims fare,
Till thou to Heaven come.
What if thou tossed art
With boisterous winds and seas?
Enjoy long rest and ease.
[6]
What if thy conflict with
The roaring Lion be?
If thou be called to fight against
World, Flesh, and Devil, all three.
Then strongest Enemy,
Who Satan under thy Souls feet
shall tread down speedily.
[7]
Soldier be strong, who fightest
Dishonor not thy conquering Head
By basely giving out.
Endure a while, Bear up,
And hope for better things:
War ends in Peace; and Morning light
Mounts up on Midnights wings.
[8]
Through Changes manifold,
And Dangers perilous,
Through ways calamitous,
We travel towards Heaven
A quiet Habitation:
Christ shows a Kingdom there prepared
Even from the worlds foundation.
[9]
O Heaven, most holy place,
Which art our Country dear▪
And beg with many a tear?
Earth is to me a Prison;
This Body an useless wight:
And all things else vile, vain, and naught
To one in such ill plight.
Meditation VI.
Christ's Sufferings are our Copy-book,
Whereon we often ought to look.
[1]
Consider Jesus Christ,
What Sufferings great he under-went,
Who is our Blest-High Priest.
What Misery canst thou name,
He hath not undergone,
Who was most innocent and just,
[2]
When we are like to faint,
And when our spirits fail;
When discontents, discouragements
And terrors us assail:
When thou art apt to say,
No grief was e're like mine;
Then think of Christ, and sure thou wilt say,
His far exceeded thine.
[3]
Art thou a Prisoner?
Art thou disgraced? why, he was scorned
And trampled to the ground;
Blindfolded, spit upon,
Most wrongfully accused,
And wickedly abused.
[4]
Art thou in Poverty?
And had not where to lay his head;
It's like he gives thee more.
Art thou in Heaviness?
Whose Soul was sorrowful to Death,
To purchase our relief.
[5]
Or do Temptations vex thee?
He pitieth when such things perplex thee,
And helps thee when thou cries.
Do Sin and Wrath distress thee?
Who underwent God's direful wrath,
From wrath our Souls to free.
[6]
If thus our General
Well may his Soldiers be content
Some hardship for to find.
If he hath suffered
In whom no guilt was found:
Well may we suffer for our faults,
Whose sins so much abound.
[7]
If God's dear Son hath died,
And born his Fathers ire:
Well may the sinful sons of men
Pass through a gentle fire.
All this he under-went:
What cause have we with our light Cross
To be right well content?
Meditation VII.
The worldly man's Prosperity
Is only gilded Misery.
[1]
ALthough God's dealings are
Exceeding various
Respecting outward things, which be
Adverse or Prosperous;
Discern God's Love or Hate,
By being in Affliction,
Or in a Prosperous state:
[2]
(For now and then a Saint
Enjoyes Prosperity:
And sometimes wicked men are plagu'd,
And are in Misery)
Affliction is the Lot
Of precious Saints; whilst others thrive
I'th' world, who serve him not.
[3]
They are afflicted less
Then God's own Children dear:
They have their Portion here.
Yet silly sinful flesh
And at the scandal of the Cross
There are too many stumble.
[4]
They flourish like a Tree;
They have the world at will:
Marrow their bones doth fill.
They have no sorrows great
Their vigor to decay:
Nor is their Moisture radical
Consum'd and sweal'd away.
[5]
While better men are sick,
Their bodies are in health:
Whilst others are distrest with wants,
They flow in worldly wealth.
They have their time of peace,
While others are in trouble.
If other men have Plenty too,
They have it more then double.
[6]
While others are in pain:
And meet not with Calamity
Their mirth for to restrain.
While godly men are weeping,
And laying sin to heart:
They're feasting, singing, or else sleeping,
Because they fell no smart.
[7]
They've more then heart can wish:
Honey and milk, butter and oil
Do drop into their dish.
The World them dandleth,
Like Darlings on her lap,
And streams delights into their mouth
From this and the other Pap.
[8]
And bring their ends to pass,
As ever any was.
Because they have success,
They bless themselves therein:
They think God loves, and favors them,
Though they still love their sin.
[9]
Therefore they fear not God:
They do not dread to anger him,
Because they feel no Rod.
His Sentence speedily
'Gainst wicked works: therefore they are bold
To do more wickedly.
[10]
God gives them outward things,
And they the same bestow
And unto Mammon bow.
In him they put their trust;
Him they most highly prize:
Unto this Idol every day
They offer Sacrifice.
[11]
For having made the World
The God whom they adore,
They rake and scrape, they pill and pull,
and covet more and more.
The World doth fill their Head,
And occupy their Heart:
But God, to whom both these belong,
They leave for him no part.
[12]
And puff them up in mind:
Their Plenty doth besot them too,
And make them worse then blind.
But by his Grace set light:
Despise a Savior, shut their eyes
Against the Gospel's Light.
[13]
Are wanton,
Jesurun
-like;
They kick and spurn against God's Love,
And at his Bowels strike.
Against him they rebel:
Like wicked Imps of Hell.
[14]
Through God Almighty's Curse,
Doth make them wax more insolent,
And grow still worse and worse.
Their Delicates a Bait
Which leads them to turn Belly-gods,
And grow Intemperate.
[15]
Entice to Drunkenness:
And then expose to filthy Lust
Their pampered Carkases.
The greater strength they have:
The stronger to do evil.
The healthfuller their Bodies be:
More fit to serve the Devil.
[16]
They're deaf and do not hear:
He cuts down others with his Sword;
They neither feel nor fear.
Yet they like Mad-men feel not:
Or if they feel, their hearts are hard;
Repent, and turn they will not.
[17]
Perhaps they promise fair:
But,
Pharaoh
-like, when respite comes,
They show you what they are.
Like filthy unclean Hogs,
And to their vomit back again
They run, like greedy Dogs.
[18]
Since then they choose their Bane,
And will no warning take:
They have their choice, and may thereof
Their best advantage make.
To scourge them for their sin:
But lets them glut themselves therewith,
And end as they begin.
Meditation VIII.
Saints happier be when most distrest,
Then wicked men are at the best.
[1]
WE have the Wicked viewed,
And seen his best estate:
And who would choose with him to share,
Except a Reprobate?
Shall turn to his decay:
And the Prosperity of Fools
Shall utterly them slay.
[2]
Do springing up arise,
When they are in a flourishing case
That work iniquities:
'It is for their cutting down
To perpetuity;
It's but to ripen them for woe,
And endless misery.
[3]
They feel, the more's to come
The greater Blessings they abuse,
The heavier is their Doome.
Now let us take a Saint
Whom men account accurst,
Because they judge him plagu'd of God.
And view him at his worst.
[4]
Suppose his case as bad,
As bad it well can be:
And his Calamity more sad
Then commonly we see.
Dispose him where you will,
Do with him what you can:
Yet God is present with him still
He is a happy man.
[5]
Let Sickness come upon him,
Or great Tormenting Pain:
A Saint shall still remain.
In Prison him immure,
All comforts from him take:
You cannot rob him of his God,
Nor him unhappy make.
[6]
Or water; God is near:
Cast him into the burning Fire;
If many roaring waves
Of great Affliction roll
Over his head: God so supports
They cannot sink his Soul.
[7]
(
Jacob
in servitude,
Joseph
in Prison Chains,
Moses
in his long Banishment
Heaven's Favorite still remains.
Three Children in the Fire
Daniel
in the' Lions Den
Have God to guard them: so had
Paul
When Shipwrack'd. Happy Men!)
Meditation IX.
The Carriage of a Child of God
Under his Fathers smarting Rod.
[1]
HE sees a hand of God
And owns it for to be his Rod,
Whatever Cross befall.
For whosoever be
He knows right well that God himself
was the Efficient.
[2]
Rise not out of the Dust:
Nor are they ordered by
〈◊〉
will
Of Man, or Devils lust.
If that the Grief be small
Or the Chastisement light:
Light strokes he dare not slight.
[3]
If greater be the Blow,
Because he knows a Fathers hand
Such stripes may on him lay.
Betimes to meet the Lord
By true Repentance, as he hath
Commanded in his Word.
[4]
To find out what's amiss,
To leave his sins, to loath himself
His first great Business is.
And having once found out
What sin hath God offended;
He seriously bewails it, and
Endeavors to amend it.
[5]
Of Jesus Christ he flies;
That Sovereign Balm applies:
Which can both Cleanse and Heal;
And cure a guilty Sin-sick Soul,
When 'tis improved by Faith.
[6]
And though he be unworthy
To look God in the face;
He begs and hopes for Grace:
Being right well assured
That though the Lord chastise him;
Yet will he not cast off his Soul,
Nor utterly despise him.
[7]
But if by all his search
He cannot find the cause
For which the Lord afflicteth him,
Or from his Soul withdraws:
Yet he believeth, that
For just and holy ends,
To humble, purge, and better him
The Lord Affliction sends.
[8]
I have at random run,
Or wickedly by some known sin
Yet so much sin he sees
Both in his heart and ways,
As God may judge it meet therefore
To scourge him all his days.
[9]
The mighty hand of God:
Doth kiss the sharpest Rod.
He taketh up his Cross,
Denieth his own will,
Advanceth God's above his own,
And yieldeth to him still.
[10]
He doth his neck submit:
He turns his cheek to him that smites,
And meekly taketh it.
And sorest is his pain:
He still endeavoreth good thoughts
Of God for to retain.
[11]
His earnest care and prayer
When greatest is his smart,
Is that he never may blaspheme
God with his mouth or heart.
He beggeth Patience
In his extremities
To bear God's hand, that so his heart
may not against him rise.
[12]
(Or heart begin to swell)
He strives to beat them down again;
He hates such thoughts like Hell.
God he resolves to love,
Deal with him as he will:
Although he should him kill.
[13]
To God that smiteth him
He strives to get more near.
God seem to stop his ear.
Though God hath long delayed
To answer his request,
Yet will he seek, and never cease,
Whilst life is in his breast.
[14]
Untill deliverance come,
To shun what's troublesome.
He hates all sinful sleights
To get his Cross from under:
Till God them out asunder.
[15]
Nor out of Prison break,
Although he saw the ground was dry,
Till God did to him speak.
King
Saul
his mortal Foe,
That persecuted him to Death,
And wrought him so much woe.
[16]
He rather chose to wait
Till God should plead his Cause,
And of his Enemy him avenge,
Then for to break God's Laws.
Thus every Saint will rather
He will not God offend Self-ease
or Safety for to win.
[17]
And over-bearing power
Of strong Temptation, he do swerve
And fall in the' evil hour:
(As sometimes
Peter
did)
He weeps and mourns, repents, returns,
Grows stronger then before.
[18]
The better he is for it:
Love's Holiness the more, loath's sin
And learneth to abhor it.
The more he is bereft
And stripped of outward things:
The less he dotes on these wild Fowl
That take them to their wings.
[19]
When Creature-comforts fail;
When sorrows him surround,
He takes the faster hold of God
In whom true Comfort's found.
When Conduit-pipes are stopped,
When Streams are vanished:
The more he to the Fountain hastes,
And lives at the Well-head.
[20]
And cheered himself in God
When all was gone: although he felt
The anguish of the Rod.
And wrestled with the Lord,
When as he was distrest for fear
Of cruel
Esau
's Sword.
[21]
Prince-like he wrestled
And would not let him go,
Untill he had a Blessing got
To shield him from his Foe.
Thus every suffering Saint
By wrestling shall prevail,
And having overcome at last
Be styled
Israel
.
Meditation X.
Although Afflictions tanne the skin,
Such Saints are Beautiful within.
[1]
The face of suffering Saints,
Where God thus quieteth their hearts
And stilleth their complaints!
Where 'tis their daily care,
And earnest hearts desire,
To love, and bless, and honor God
In midst of the fire.
[2]
Then what their God doth grieve:
Where nothing pleaseth them like that
Which makes them sin to leave.
Where though they have a will
And wishes of their own:
They meekly lay them down.
[3]
These are the happy men,
Vain world; Amongst thy Darlings all
Thou hast not one like these.
As God is dear to them,
So they to him are dear:
And he to all the world ere long
Will make it to appear.
[4]
All glorious is within,
How black soever and Sun-burnt
May seem her outward skin.
Upon me — look not ye
Because that with his beams the Sun
Hath looked down on me.
[5]
A patient suffering Saint
Is a right comely one:
Though black as
Kedar
's Tents, and as
Curtains of
Solomon
.
Thus beautify my Soul
Dear Savior; thus adorn it.
As for the Trappings of the world,
And Bravery, I can scorn it.
A Conclusion Hortatory To those that are, or hereafter may be in Affliction.
[1]
ANd now, my Christian Friend,
That shalt these Lines per use;
Oh that they might thine heart persuade
The Cross of Christ to choose!
And to esteem it more
Then greatest Worldly Treasures!
Short pain Eternal Pleasures.
[2]
I have endeavored
The Cross for to adorn,
By setting forth its comeliness,
Although the world it scorn.
I have discoursed in brief
What profit comes thereby,
That thou mightest be encouraged
To bear it patiently.
[3]
I have before thine eyes
An humble gracious Saint
Bearing the Cross upon his back
Endeavoured to paint.
Now strive to imitate;
After this Copy write:
This is the only end for which
I did the same endite.
[4]
I would not for this world,
Were it a world of Gold,
(Yea for a thousand times as much,
And more then can be told)
I would not Rules prescribe
And unto thee commend,
And yet myself be negligent
Those Rules for to attend.
[5]
It is my daily Prayer,
Lord let me never teach
That unto others which myself
Have little care to reach.
I have not told thee Tales
Of things unseen, unfelt,
But speak them from Experience;
Believe it how thou wilt.
[6]
Yet I shall tell the Truth,
And nothing from thee keep;
Before I wrote this sentence out
I sat down twice to weep
Tears of remorse and sorrow
Because I am so poor
In these rich graces, and because
I have attained no more.
[7]
That having been so long
A Scholar in this School,
I have so little progress made,
And been so great a fool.
But I shall say no more,
But pass from this discourse.
My weeping tears do blind mine eyes,
And me thereto enforce.
[8]
The Lord's chastising hand,
Nor faint when thou corrected art:
But turn at his command.
Oh be not obstinate
(No better then before)
And lay on seven times more.
[9]
For thus he threateneth;
By all my strokes reformed yet
But still walk cross to me:
Then will I also walk
Contrary unto you
In wrath and fury, and seven times
More Plagues will on you throw.
[10]
Dear Brother, Christian Friend,
Be wise for thine own ease,
And do not willfully thy God
And Father mild displease.
Nor crush the sons of men:
Why shouldest thou love to anger him,
Or for to grieve him then?
[11]
It may be thou hast been
Some headstrong Bullock like▪
Kicking and spurning at the Rod,
And running on the Pike.
Now
••
en bemoan thyself;
And cry, Lord turn thou me,
That have a stubborn sinner been,
And turned I shall be.
[12]
If
Ephraim
thus repent
Embraceth him as his dear Child,
And wipes away his tears.
God listeneth for to hear
The voice of true returners,
And is most ready to speak peace
To broken-hearted mourners.
[13]
Oh let
New-England
turn,
When gentler Warning's given:
Lest by our sins the Lord to use
Severity be driven.
It will be to our cost
To put him thereupon:
Oh therefore let's repent in time,
Before we be undone.
[14]
Incorrigibleness
God's Anger will increase:
True Penitence, and Faith in Christ,
This anger will appease;
And nothing else can doit.
Lord give us hearts to say,
Purge out and wash away.
[15]
He hath us torn, He'll heal:
He hath us smitten with his Rod,
And bind us up he will.
After two days are past
He will us so revive,
And on the third day raise us up
That we in's sight shall live.
And make thy countenance
To shine upon us, and so we
Shall have deliverance.
Amen.
RIDDLES UNRIDDLED, OR Christian Paradoxes Broke open, smelling like sweet Spice N • w taken out of Boxes.
Each Paradox is like a Box
That Cordials rare incloseth:
This Key unlocks, op'neth the Box
And what's within discloseth;
That whoso will may take his fill,
And gain where no man loseth.
RIDDLES Unriddled OR Christian Paradoxes.
Light in Darkness,
Sick men's Health,
Strength in Weakness,
Poor men's Wealth,
In Confinement
Liberty,
In Solitude
Good Company,
Joy in Sorrow,
Life in Deaths,
Heavenly Crowns for
Thorny Wreaths,
Are presented to thy view
In the Poems that ensue.
If my Trials had been thine,
These would cheer thee more then Wine.
Light in Darkness.
Light in Darkness followeth next,
Which holds forth Comfort from the Text
To such as are in mind perplexed,
And with Temptations strangely vext.
SONG I.
[1]
THus far in general
About Afflictions,
Wherewith the Lord will exercise
All whom he owns for sons.
Now of particular Ailes
And Exercises great
(Such as most commonly befall)
We purpose to entreat.
[2]
Will many Griefs sustain:
But who can bear a wounded Sp'rit?
This is the greatest pain.
First then for Spiritual Griefs,
Temptations, and distresses,
Wherewith the Devil keepeth down,
And some good Souls depresses.
[3]
That walketh in the light,
That thinks his ill state very good
And therein takes delight.
There is a child of Light
Whose state is very good,
Yet walks in sadness, in the night,
Till this be understood.
[4]
Thick Clouds sometimes arise
And darken the Noon-day:
A Mist may blind Believers eyes,
They cannot see their way.
Although they walk in Light,
Satan so undermines
Their Comfort, that they see no Light
Which round about them shines.
[5]
Sometimes they doubtful are
Concerning their estates:
Sometimes conclude against themselves
That they are Reprobates.
Such things may Saints befall;
Yet are they never left
Of God, nor of his awful fear
Are utterly bereft.
[6]
Away from God depart,
But after his sweet presence mourn,
And seek him with their Heart.
Such bruised trembling Reeds
Christ will in no wise break:
will comfort to them speak.
[7]
He will into a flame
Blow up their little spark,
And make his face on them to shine
That now are in the dark▪
Nor evermore forsake
Those that rely on him for grace,
And him their Portion make.
[8]
Come, poor distressed Souls,
And hear your Grievances:
Learn how you may with Spiritual Arms
Temptations force repress.
Hear what the Flesh suggests
For your discouragement:
Learn what the Spirit may reply
Soul-sinkings to prevent.
SONG II.
Being a Dialogue wherein the Speakers are Spirit and Flesh .
Spirit.
[1]
Thus heavily to droop,
And under thine Affliction
Dejectedly to stoop?
Art thou the only man
That hath Affliction seen?
And have not better men then thou
As much afflicted been?
[2]
Hast thou no part in God?
Or doth he cease to love thee?
If neither this, nor that be so,
What can so greatly move thee?
Flesh.
I heretofore did hope
My sins were pardoned
Through God's free grace, that all my debts
were wholly cancelled:
[3]
That Christ had satisfied
For me, and cleared the score;
That God was therefore reconciled
And would be wroth no more:
Yet now he hides his face
And on me seems to frown;
He will not hear my suit for grace,
But wounds and casts me down.
Spirit.
[5]
He loveth to the end,
And nothing can him change or move
From being still our Friend.
God cannot cease to love,
Where once he did begin:
Although he may with stripes reprove
And chasten thee for sin.
[6]
Be humbled for thy falls,
My Soul, and turn to God,
By this his gentle Rod.
Attend unto his voice,
Return to him that smites
In whom his Soul delights.
[7]
Fathers may chide and whip
Their Children till they smart:
But whilst their hand inflicteth stripes,
They pity with their heart.
They cast not off a Child,
Although they angry be:
Nor doth thy Heav'nly Father mild
Reject and cast off thee.
SONG III.
Another Dialogue or Combat between the Flesh and Spirit .
Flesh.
[1
OH but I greatly fear,
My sufferings are not such
As Children's Nurture use to be,
But that they differ much.
They are too great and long
(I fear) to stand with love:
Such overwhelming strokes, methinks,
Do rather hatred prove.
[2]
Were I a Child of God
He would more gently deal:
Nor would he always use the Rod,
But sometimes help and heal.
But I am day by day
Afflicted very sore:
My sufferings have been many years,
And still are growing more.
Spirit.
[3]
God doth more gently deal
Then thou considerest well:
Thou hadst been now in Hell.
He is not so severe
As thou imaginest;
For some, that were to him most dear,
Have been much more distrest.
[4]
To
Padan-Aram
sent,
The toil and pain of twenty years
Hard service under-went;
Oft being circumvented
By
Laban
's subtle feats:
But he was fain to be contented
For he knew no deceits.
[5]
He after passed through,
One trouble hardly over-blown
Before he met a new▪
Moses
brought up a Prince,
From
Egypt
Banished
Lived in Exile forty years,
And labored for his bread.
[6]
Through Bretherens cruel hate,
Was sold to strangers, and so brought
Into a servile state.
No sooner gains he favor
I'th' eyes of
Potiphar:
Which he did most abhor.
[7]
The innocent is shut
Into a Dungeon dark, his hands
And feet in fetters put.
And though the Lord was pleased
This rigor to abate
After some time; yet dwelt he long
In this imprisoned state.
[8]
In
Egypt
many a day,
And made like Slaves, with rigor too,
To serve in brick and clay.
With groans and many tears:
Yet were they in this Bondage held
Above an hundred years.
[9]
And his great Sufferings?
Do not thy griefs, compared with his,
Seem light and little things?
So dismal was his case,
So strange his sorrows all,
But wicked men befall.
[10]
And lets them understand
That
Job
was such an upright man,
As none was in the Land:
That notwithstanding all
That he had undergone
For a long time, yet was he still
His most beloved one.
[11]
David
a man of God,
One after God's own heart,
In his long lasting Banishment
Of sorrows had his part;
Deprived of God's House,
With restless feet and weary steps
Forced up and down to trace:
[12]
Flying to save his life,
In Caves and Forrests hiding▪
He found some safe abiding.
E're long his Town is burnt,
His Wives are Captive taken,
His Soldiers speak of stoning him,
He seems of all forsaken.
[13]
Had
David
said, God hates me,
In this his greatest need
When as all other Comforts failed,
He had been poor indeed.
But in his deep distress,
And over-bearing grief,
He comforted himself in God,
And from him found relief.
[14]
Was ready for to die,
Distracted with amazing fears
He cries continually;
Complaining that the Lord
His face away did hide,
Had made his wrath pass over him,
And cast his Soul aside.
[15]
Yet
Heman
was a Saint,
And calls the Lord his God,
And lashes of the Rod.
Take courage then my Soul,
And put away thy fear:
Thy sufferings well may stand with love,
Although they greater were.
[16]
And as for length of Time;
Examples do thee show,
That divers Saints have Sufferers been
A longer time then thou:
So that it well appears,
That altereth not the case,
(Of man's short life the longest Time
Is but a little space)
[17]
For what are twenty years
Unto E
•
ernity?
Eternal Rest will make amends
For all this Misery.
When Time shall pass away
Like an untimely Birth,
These transient Griefs shall be forgot,
Or thought upon with mirth.
SONG IV.
A Dialogue wherein the Speakers are Distressed Conscience and Rectified Judgment .
Consc.
[1]
'TIs not Affliction barely
That doth my Soul distress:
And mine own wickedness.
Nor is it former faults
That now are brought to mind,
So much, as swarms of present sins
And hateful Lusts I find.
[2]
Had ever any one
So vile a heart as mine?
So barren under all God's pains
Nurture and discipline?
The Saints of God have found
Affliction to sever
Their Souls from sin; but I find mine
More boisterous now then ever.
Judgment.
[4]
Conscience, this is a Time
Wherein thou art benighted,
And seest not things as formerly,
Because thou art dim-sighted.
Thy doubts that answer may:
Or for the present hark to me,
And hear what I shall say.
[5]
While Physic is at work,
Ill Humours are disturbed:
So while Chastisements are at work,
Corruptions may be stir'd.
They do but show what was
Within the heart before:
They may discover hidden Lusts,
They do not make them more.
[6]
To do his Children good;
And this the Saints in God's due time
Have felt, and understood:
Not always presently,
For some of them have then cried out,
As if they were undone.
[7]
But seems at present hard:
Yet brings forth fruits of Righteousness,
And sweet Peace afterward.
Therefore my sinful Soul,
And doubting Conscience,
Hope well for after-fruit; and do'nt
Judge all by present sense.
[8]
God's Physic is at work
To purge Corruption out:
And this in time he will effect,
Believe and do not doubt,
He first discovereth sin,
Shows thee what wanting is,
Makes thee to feel thy need of help,
And mourn for what's amiss.
Consc.
Judgm.
[11]
There may be tenderness
And notwithstanding want of Tears
The heart may truly melt.
All are not broken-hearted
That store of Tears can weep:
And some that have them not, may have
Humiliation deep.
[12]
Because they God offend,
That tr
••
lie hates them, Pardon begs,
Endeavors to amend:
That flies to Christ for grace
That mourns because he mourns no more;
This man repents I trust.
[13]
Doth not my Soul do thus
(Speak Conscience) day by day?
I know that thou wilt speak the truth:
Thou canst not this gainsay.
Well then be comforted,
And doubt not of thy state▪
But still endeavor every sin
More thoroughly to hate.
SONG V.
A Dialogue between the Flesh and Spirit .
Flesh.
[1]
BUt oh methinks the Lord
Is angry with my Prayers,
The more I cry to him for help
The worse it with me fares.
The more I sue for grace
And beg for some relief:
The more he lets me be distrest,
And doubled is my grief.
[2]
I fear he reckoneth
My Prayers to me, for sin,
And rather is displeased therewith.
Then takes delight therein.
If God reject my Prayer,
I fear he me rejects.
For how can he despise their Prayer
Whose persons he respects?
Spirit.
[3]
Against his people's Prayers
When some sin unrepented of
If
David
sin regard
God will not hear his Prayer:
My Soul make this thy care.
[4]
Would have thee diligent
To find out what offensive is▪
And to be Penitent.
And he'll be pleased with▪ thee:
He'll turn to thee his face, if thou
Turn from iniquity.
[5]
Some-Times the Lord delays▪
And makes us long to wait▪
For other ends▪ as for to make
To try our Self-denial,
Our Faith, Love, Patience.
Sometimes to make his Power shine forth
In-our deliverance.
[6]
He lets our troubles grow
That his Salvation might appear
More glorious in our sight.
For these, and other more,
Such great, and gracious Ends
The Lord defers to hear our prayer,
For he no hurt intends.
[7]
Not just unto our mind,
Yet heard they are, and answered
In some far better kind.
That thing that we request,
Yet answer in a better thing,
For he knows what is best.
SONG VI.
Another Combat between the Flesh and Spirit .
Flesh.
[1]
SOul thou hast cause to fear
Thy Faith will not hold out:
And that it is but counterfeit
Thou doest so often doubt.
See what a mighty power
Of Unbelief prevails
From time to time! and how thine heart
And Faith thee often fails!
Spirit.
[2]
Oh sly and sinful Flesh!
Thou art a treacherous Thief,
That robs me of my Faith, and then
Condemns for Unbelief.
They're thy suggestions vile
(That doest with Hell comply)
That make me doubt, who otherwise
On Christ alone rely.
[3]
I earnestly embrace;
And for my whole Salvation I
Relie upon his grace:
Renouncing all my own
Both Righteousness, and Sin▪
Endeav'ring Holiness, as well
As Happiness, to win.
SONG VII.
Satanical injections foul
Shall not undo the godly Soul
That them bewails, resists and h
•
tes,
Nor need such question their estates.
[1]
I May not here neglect
Another case to mind,
Wherewith some precious Souls to be
Full sore agriev'd I find:
A case calamitous,
Beyond the help of man;
For out of Satan's deadly gripe
Christ only rescue can.
[2]
Blasphemous, hellish thoughts
Into his mind are cast
Concerning God; which make him quake,
And stand like one agast.
Imaginations black,
And Fancies filthy-foul
Are darted in with violence,
Which stab him to the Soul.
[3]
Which way soe're he turns
His Understanding's ey,
Think what he will, these fancies vi
•
e
Do meet him presently.
Poor Soul he them resists
And struggleth as for life:
But yet he cannot keep them out
By all his care and strife.
[4]
The more he with them strives,
The more they wound and vex him▪
The more he dreads and feareth them,
The worse they do perplex him.
And when he meditates
Or prays to God for grace,
Then most of all such horrid thoughts
Do stare him in the face.
[5]
This makes him dread to pray,
Or read, or meditate,
Because such thoughts mix with his prayers
As God, he knows, doth hate.
For all these Blasphemies
And thoughts that Hell suggests,
He judgeth them his own hearts sins,
Although he them detests.
[6]
Experience daily shows
It may befall a Saint
To be thus dog'd with Hell's black Hounds
Until he almost faint.
And barely this to know,
That ever any were
Thus exercised that feared God,
[7]
It yields us some support
To know we are not alone,
But that through such a dismal way
Some have before us gone.
But for to come more near,
And speak unto thy grief
What in a few lines may be spoke,
The answer is in brief;
[8]
Such thoughts how vile soever
And full of Blasphemy,
Then we with them comply.
They are the Devils sins,
And his suggestions foul,
Not thine who mournest under them
And ha
•
'st them with thy Soul.
[9]
Be not discouraged;
God will not them impute
To thee, but unto him who do'th
Those poisoned Arrows shoot.
But, oh thou wilt complain,
As prone and ready to take fire,
As Satan is to strike.
[10]
Well, let it humble thee
To feel a treacherous part
A sinful Self; a wicked Flesh
Remaining in thy heart.
Yet for thy comfort know,
Thou hast not lost the field,
So long as thou doest sin resist,
And strivest not to yield.
[11]
Are wicked thoughts thy load
From which thou longest to be freed
The Lord is nearer thee
Then thou art well aware:
He keeps thee that thou art not caught
[12]
Yea though Temptations strong
May thee sometimes surprise;
God helps thee to arise:
Fear not, all turns to gain;
For Gold is purify'd,
And loseth nothing, but its dross,
By being often tried.
SONG VIII.
[1]
ANd now for such as feel
These hellish Buffettings,
And anguish of these sudden darts,
Which are the Serpents stings;
I shall a word or two
Of Counsel here annex:
God make them useful unto — some
Whom Satan doth perplex.
[2]
Love not to be alone;
Save only when by secret Prayer
Thou makes to God thy moan.
Omit not secret Prayer,
Nor other Means neglect:
The Tempter hath thee where he would,
If once he that effect.
[3]
From him it must be sought:
Use thou the Means, and wait his time,
Who lingers not for naught.
Thy Prayers are poor and vile;
Yet do not them forgo:
For what were that, but for to give
Thy weapon to thy Foe!
[4]
When other Helpers fail:
Relie upon him steadfastly,
When terrors thee assail.
The more the Devil strives
(For this is all his scope)
The faster hold thy hope.
[5]
Unto thine holy things,
Which acceptation brings.
Be not too much dismayed,
Nor 'stonished with fear:
But unto Christ who is thy strength
Labor to keep more near.
[6]
The Soul of strength deprives,
Draws in these thoughts, and to the Devil
A great advantage gives.
Temptations in thy breast:
Keep not the Devil's counsel, if
Thou doest the same detest.
[7]
Make out for help in time;
Or hidden craft to thee unknown,
The Serpent thee beguile.
Temptations are like Poison,
Provide an Antidote:
'It is easier mischief to prevent,
Then cure it when 'tis got.
[8]
Of them to take a view
(No not to make thee loath them more)
Lest thou this folly rue:
But thrust them out of doors,
And if thou canst not rid them so,
Flee thou, and run away.
[9]
Be not thou like the Sheep,
That, being in a maze,
Instead of running from the Woolf
Stand still and at him gaze:
Till having one devoured
He comes to worry more,
And then they run, but stand again
Still gazing as before.
[10]
In general them confess:
But if thou think them over again
They will thee more distress.
Unto his thoughts take heed:
For God can whip thee with thy thoughts,
Until he make thee bleed.
[11]
Give not thy mind to think
Of vain or evil things,
As thou desirest to escape
These hellish Buffettings.
Thus I have briefly given
My Counsel in this case.
The Lord direct thee what is good
To follow and embrace.
Reader, I give thee here
Two Songs in other Meter:
I hope they will not make a jar,
But close up all the sweeter.
SONG IX.
[1]
Unto my supplications voice
Let be attent thine ear.
Should'st mark iniquity:
That feared thou mayest be.
[2]
Against me sore do they:
But as for our Transgressions
Thou shalt them purge away.
Pard'ning iniquity?
And the transgression of his folk
That freely passeth by?
[3]
And I hope in his Word.
My soul more for the Lord.
In waiting hopefully:
Because that with Jehovah there
Is kind benignity.
[4]
Did cry, and he gave ear:
Out of Hells belly I did cry,
And he my voice did hear.
In days that evil be?
When as my heels iniquity
About shall compass me.
[5]
Thy fell
•
own heavily?
And wherefore in me makest thou
A stir tumultuously?
Hope thou in God, because I shall
With praise him yet advance:
Who is my God, he also is
Health of my Countenance.
[6]
See that yourselves you stay;
For there is in Jehovah store
Of strength that lasts for ay.
In peace, in peace thou wilt him keep
Whose mind is staid on thee;
Because that in thyself, O Lord,
His trust repose doth he.
SONG X.
A Dialogue or Discourse between the Believing Soul and her Savior .
Soul.
OH Christ my grief is such,
Because I love not much;
As addeth to my sore,
Because I grieve no more.
Give me a broken heart,
That may both bleed and smart,
That I so often stray,
That I no more obey.
Oh make me love thee dearly,
And trust in thee sincerely:
And help me well to prove
Mine interest in thy Love.
That God Omnipotent
Is freely-well-content
To cancel all my debts,
And all my sins forgets.
O Christ let me be thine▪
And be thou wholly mine:
Let me be thine entire;
Be thou mine I desire.
Sav.
Ah poor distressed Soul
So sad and sorrowful,
That weakly dost believe
And wouldst more strength receive;
Do'st with thine heart embrace
Canst me thy Treasure make,
And for thy Portion take?
And yieldest to be mine?
Would'st thou as willingly
Be ruled as saved by me?
Eternal life, and ease,
With full Redemption,
Shall be thy Portion.
He will to thee impart
An humble broken heart,
Increase of Spiritual strength,
And Victory at length.
For me that waitest long:
And fear not to believe
That I my peace thee give.
Soul.
Is This my Savior's voice
That bids me to rejoice?
To me, vile wretch this word
Directest thou▪ dear Lord!
Will God be reconciled
To one that is so vil'd?
Wilt thou thyself bestow
On me so base and low?
Shall I now live for ay
That went so long astray?
Wilt thou such grace out-stretch
Unto a sinful wretch?
O Gracious Grace indeed!
Shown in a time of need.
O God of Grace,
All Grace!
How pleasant is thy face!
Who me vouchsafes to tender
In this my low estate,
Which was so desolate.
Had I a thousand hands
To do what he commands;
Ten thousand Hearts to love him,
To fear him, and improve him,
As many Lives toexpose
And for his sake to lose:
Yet could I never do him
The service that I ow him.
Thee let me ever serve,
And never from thee swerve:
Let this sweet face of thine
Upon me always shine.
Let no sin interpose
To hide, or make me lose
Thy Countenances light,
Which on me shines so bright.
Sick men's Health.
FOr Sick men to be well,
For those that are in pain
To find some ease, recover strength,
And to wax whole again
(By Means or else without)
This is no Novelty:
But to be sick and well at once,
This is a Mystery.
And for our Sicknesses
To be a Salve to heal.
Our deadly Sores, a sovereign Balm
For to procure our weal;
This is a
Paradox,
Hard to be understood:
But these discourses following▪
Explain, and make it good.
I shall not intermeddle
With the Physicians Art:
Nor Medicines prescribe, which may
Relieve thy Body's smart.
But what may help thee bear
Thine outward Misery
With Patience, as becomes a Saint,
And to get good thereby.
Meditation I.
[1]
OF all Afflictions that
The outward man oppress,
Then Pains and Sicknesses;
Especially if great,
And long continuing:
Oh what vexation to the Flesh,
And Anguish do they bring:
[2]
Yet may such anguish great
Befall a child of God:
Not from an Enemy's wrath, but from
His gentle Father's Rod.
Even when he seems severe,
Exempting not from smarting stripes
Those whom he counts most dear.
[3]
Was broken out all over
With painful boils from head to foot
Loathsome, and grievous sore.
What strange Extremities
Befell this precious Saint
So doth his own complaint.
[4]
His Visage was so mar'd
Familiars knew him not.
The Collar of his Coat
With running of his Sores:
His bowels boiled within:
His bones were burnt with fervent heat
[5]
His bones were pierced with pain;
His sinews took no rest:
Besides the many other woes
Wherewith he was oppressed.
He could attain no ease
Nor respite, not a little;
Have swallowed down his Spittle.
[6]
Whose Zeal for God excel'd,
(In whose defense the Lord of Hosts
Had Proud
Sennacherib
quelled)
With Sickness great and sore
Was sharply visited,
And in the midst of his days
Was numbered with the dead.
[7]
And cries to God above.
He like a Swallow chattereth
And mourneth as a Dove.
But when the Lord him hears,
And doth Salvation give,
He then can see, and also say,
[8]
Though Christ's beloved Friend:
Yea of his Sickness he may die,
And to the grave descend.
Laid at the Rich man's doors
To beg relief, he may be sick
And also full of sores:
[9]
He may through Sickness die,
Or through distressing want;
And yet be carried unto Heaven
And crowned for a Saint.
So then 'tis no new thing
The Saints of God to see
Under Diseases, Sickness, Pain,
And sore Extremitie.
Meditation II.
[1]
ANd now my Soul, go to,
For thine instruction
What Saints have undergone?
Soul.
I see I have too long
And by much poreing on myself
Have been too much ensnar'd.
[2]
I thought my own condition
Sometimes more sad then any:
But now I see I have not felt
One half so much as many.
These Saints forementioned,
It plainly doth appear,
Have suffered more in one Months time,
Then I have in a Year.
[3]
Nay when I ponder well
What
Job
did once endure:
My Pains and mine Infirmities
Are but Flea-bitings sure.
The Lord was just, I know,
In all that them befell:
Both just and gracious toward me
I may account him well.
[4]
So much as I deserve,
That from his just Commandments
So much and often swerve.
And should be still afflict me
Much more then yet he hath:
His everlasting Wrath.
[5]
And howsoe're the Lord
Be pleased with me to deal;
Although he never in this world
Should me release or heal;
To his, that is most just;
Let me not murmur, but abase
My self unto the dust.
Meditation III.
[1]
THough Christ were never sick,
Yet sure he under-went
More then equivalent:
And by his Sufferings
Of all our Sufferings, Sickness, Pain,
And every evil thing.
[2]
Yea he them sanctified
By virtue of his Blood,
Promote our Spiritual Good.
For he knew how to make
Trouble the way to Peace,
Sickness the way to soundest Health,
And Pain the way to Ease.
[3]
Some men have Bodies sound,
But Souls most deadly sick:
Blind Eyes, hard He
••
ts, stiff Wills
'Gainst all Commands that kick.
Though Bodies not in health:
And God doth make their Bodies Ailes
Promote their Spirit's wealth.
[4]
'It is better to be sick,
And have thy Soul wax whole:
Then in a Body hail and strong
To have a sickly Soul.
For through Soul-sicknesses
Thou doest dishonor God:
Who may be honored when thou bears
Submissively his Rod.
[5]
Diseases bodily
May help thee to do well:
But Soul diseases, if not cured,
Will carry thee to Hell.
Our Bodies may sometimes
Need Physic, more then Food:
So may our Souls need Sicknesses
And Pains, to do them good.
[6]
Our Bodies Sicknesses
Are Physic for the Soul,
Corrected by a skillful hand
That can its force control:
Who will so moderate,
And qualify the same,
That it shall do no hurt, but good▪
Oh blessed be his Name!
[7]
By these he doth prevent
Much hurt that might be got;
Preserves us from Infectious Air
As by an Antidot,
'Gainst Constitution sins
Whereto our Nature bends▪
And those whereto our Calling leads,
Hereby he us defends.
[8]
Bad Humours, namely Pride▪
Self-love, Impatience, Worldliness,
And many more beside.
By these he doth our Wills
Unto his Will subdue:
And heavenly things pursue.
[9]
By these he quickeneth us
Our duty to attend,
Makes sin more bitter, teacheth us
To mind our latter end.
More vile in our own eyes,
And helpeth us more heartily
His favor for to prize;
[10]
Makes Christ more precious to us
And Earthly things more vain.
Of present things us wean:
Makes us to think of home,
And long for Heavenly Rest,
Whilest here we feel ourselves to be
With endless griefs oppressed.
Meditation IV.
A Dialogue wherein the Speakers are Fear and Faith .
Fear.
[1]
BUt what if Sickness bring
Extremity of Pain?
How shall I then have Patience, or
Good thoughts of God maintain?
I know Extremities
Are grievous for to bear:
And, which more grievous is, I shall
Dishonor God, I fear.
Faith.
[2]
Dread not Extremities
My Soul, thou needest not fear it,
But if God please to lay more Pain,
He'll give more strength to bear it.
He will no Burthen throw
Upon thy back, but what himself
Will help thee undergo.
[3]
Thy Strength is very small,
Thy Patience that is less;
Thy Foes are strong, the World, the Devil▪
And thine own Wickedness.
Thou canst but little bear,
As well as little do:
Thee, and thy Burthen too.
[4]
If those Almighty Arms,
That made the World, infold thee:
No matter what the Pressure be;
His Spirit helps us bear
Our greatest Miseries,
In our Extremities.
[5]
If that our Pains increase,
And grow upon us sore:
And Spiritual Joyes, much more.
For God most faithful is,
That lets not his be tried
Beyond their strength; but them supports,
That they may it abide.
[6]
Small Trials vex us sore:
And greater ones are better born,
When God assists us more.
In lesser straits, God's help
We are less apt to mind:
In greater straits we seek him more,
And more assistance find.
Fear.
[8]
But what if God withhold
His Countenances light
In time of great Extremity,
And leave me in the night?
If God forsake me then,
Alas, my Faith will fail:
And Satan watching for a prey,
Will over me prevail.
Faith.
[9]
His countenances light
If God from us withdraw,
In Sickness, and with fear of wrath
Be pleased us to awe
•
And 'tis but for a while;
When the end is once attained, his frown
Is turned to a smile.
[10]
To shine out of the sky:
Then Christ can cease to favor thee,
That doest on him rely.
Shall from her Center move:
Sooner then God Unchangeable
Will take away his Love.
[11]
Nay he will thee support
And strengthen with his Grace:
And while the one hand thee corrects
He will not thee forsake,
Nor leave thee in the mire:
Yea he will bring thy Soul like Gold
[12]
Soul, wherefore shouldest thou then
Dread Sicknesses, or Pain?
But always turn to gain.
Lord, help me to rejoice
When I am chastened,
To Christ my blessed Head.
Strength in Weakness.
THat weak ones may grow strong
We very often see:
But Strength in Weakness to behold,
This is a Noveltie.
To see a Weak man Strong,
And Strongest when most Weak;
To see the Strong through Weakness fall
And all their bones to break:
This is a
Mystery
A Christian
Paradox;
But this ensuing little Key
The Cabinet unlocks.
SONG I.
[1]
MAn's Strength mere Weakness is,
As frail as
Venice
glass:
The flower upon the grass.
Adam
in Paradise,
And in his perfect state,
Could soon degenerate
[2]
He that was strong at first
Immediately grew weak:
And let the stock of Grace run out,
Like vessels that do leak.
And neither have Free-will
To choose, nor Power to do what's good,
But only what is ill.
[3]
But God, the God of Grace,
His Blessed Son employ'd
What
Adam
had destroyed.
He having us Redeem'd
And Ransom'd with his Blood▪
All grace and saving good.
[4]
Createth us anew,
Enableth us to do what's good
And evil to eschew▪
Of grace in his own hand,
And hath not left it unto us
To be at our command.
[5]
Of daily fresh supplies:
And Christ will teach them where their strength
And all their power lies.
Unless the Sun do shine,
Soon vanisheth the Beam:
Unless the Fountain feed it still,
Soon dry'd up is the Stream.
[6]
Hence if the strongest Saints
Begin to grow secure,
Neglect their watch, trust in themselves;
Christ will not this endure.
He leaves them to themselves,
And lets them try their strength:
They fall and feel their weaknesses
Unto their cost at length.
[7]
And who more strong then
David?
Or who more graciously himself
In all his straits behaved?
David
, while weak, was strong,
And kept his
•
ands most pure:
But in his strength he grew most weak
By being too s
••
ure.
[8]
And thought he had much strength
To follow Christ through thick and thin:
But what came on it at length?
He thought his Love so great,
He could with Christ have died:
But ah frail man! e're morning light
He Christ three times denied.
[9]
Some haply here will say;
Have been so foiled, and to the ground
In time of Trial thrown;
What will become of me,
That am so weak and frail?
How shall I stand, when violent
Temptations me assail?
[10]
The strongest Saints to fall,
To stain the glory of all Flesh,
And to awaken all:
Yet let not weak ones faint,
Nor be discouraged,
Who feel their wants and weaknesses,
And flee to Christ their Head.
[11]
Do thou on him depend,
And he will make thee stand in storms,
And hold out to the end.
For in our weakness great
Christ's strength doth more appear:
We never are so safe, as when
We get to him most near.
[12]
When sense of our own wants,
And manifold defects,
Drives us to Christ our only strength:
Then he the weak protects.
Hence we are never stronger,
Then when we are most weak:
Because we then most heartily
Christ's help and succor seek.
SONG II.
[1]
ANd now for want of strength
And weakness Bodily,
I could say much; For few, I think▪
Have felt it more then I.
I have been many years
So impotent and weak
As none are able to conceive
That only hear me speak.
[2]
And when I find most strength
And thereupon assay
To serve the Lord with all my heart
In the most public way;
Just when I should set forth
Such feebleness assails me
That I am like a man half dead,
All strength and vigor fails me.
[3]
I go to God and tell him,
Thou Lord hast strength, I want it
To do thee service therewithal,
In faithfulness O grant it.
Thou putt'st me now on service,
And strength in me there's none:
Therefore on thee the God of strength
I will depend alone.
[4]
Mine eyes are wholly thus
Unto the God of strength:
I cast myself upon his Power,
Who succors me at length,
And in the time of need
Doth such assistance give,
That those who hear me scarce know how
My weakness to believe.
[5]
But this is certain truth,
My strength again is gone,
And languishings return, as soon
As e're the work is done.
And every such attempt,
In this my weak estate,
My bodily Ails for divers weeks
Doth much exasperate.
[6]
By every little doing
I suffer very much:
Yet at God's hand I neither dare,
Nor have I cause to grutch▪
Hath not the Potter power
To frame out of the clay
One vessel for to serve him thus▪
Others another way?
SONG III.
A Dialogue wherein the Speakers are Troubled Conscience and Rectified Judgment .
Troub. Consc.
[1]
OH, but my weakness brings
Unserviceableness,
And takes me off from Christ's sweet work▪
Who can this grief express?
When as the Body fails
The Soul, and hindereth it
In all its motions, like a clog;
I am for nothing fit.
Rect. judgm.
[2]
If Christ disable thee
From doing as before,
He calls thee to some other work
That he approveth more.
Passive Obedience
More hard then Active is:
And Christ will own and honor that,
Who owns and crowneth this.
[3]
Though in another way:
And he thy Service will accept
And crown another day.
As well as Doing was:
Thy service in a suffering way
Christ rather chosen has.
[4]
After a short assay,
From Public Service; cease dispute,
And cheerfully obey.
Masters are pleased best,
When as their will is done,
Although a nobler work be left
To do a meaner one.
[5]
If he be pleased to make it
Thy business to sit still:
Thou pleasest him the best, by meek
Submission to his Will.
God hath no need of us,
Nor any work of our:
Yet for the deed he takes our will,
Where he denieth power.
[6]
Although the work be small
Thou canst for him effect:
He doth the same accept.
For not by th'outward bulk
Of what we do fulfill,
God doth esteem our services;
But by the Doers will.
[7]
For this he will reward thee
As richly at the last:
As if thou able wert to do
More work then e're thou wast.
Thou hast a gentle Master,
That sets no cruel task:
But when he deitly abate thy strength
He doth less service ask.
[8]
••••
Do what thou canst, my Soul
For God no more expects:
Where less, hevless accepts.
But make not this a cloak,
Vile Flesh, for Slothfulness:
Be 't more, or be it less.
[5]
He was a Rich Poor man,
Whose Poverty prepared him
For Heaven: But he a poor Rich man
Whose Worldly Wealth ensnar'd him.
That man is Poor indeed
Both when he lives and dies,
That hath some Treasure here on Earth,
But none above the skies.
[6]
To treasure up his store,
Was fetched away to Hell that night,
And died worse then poor.
And so is every man,
That being worldly-wise
Provides for th'outward man, but doth
The Heavenly wealth despise.
[7]
All Poor men are not Rich
('Twere happy if they were)
But such as Christ enriched hath,
And unto God brought near.
All Rich men are not Poor
(That were a woeful case)
But such as have no part in Christ,
Nor any saving grace.
[8]
Let not the poorest Saint
Despond; for thou art rich:
Nor richest Worldling bless himself▪
For thou mayest be a wretch▪
Endeavor to make sure
Of Heavenly Treasure, Spiritual Wealth▪
This only will ensure.
[9]
If others will be fools
And no true wisdom learn:
Yet what belongs unto my peace,
Lord, help me to discern.
Oh let me never choose:
Nor for the sake of trifling Toyes
Eternal Joyes refuse.
Meditation II.
[1]
THe World doth value men
According to their Wealth,
Without enquiring how 'tis got,
By Honesty, or Stealth.
What such a man is worth
They commonly declare
By telling what his yearly Rent
Or his Possessions are.
[2]
But God doth more esteem
Men's Virtues then Estates;
And if they have small Grace, or none▪
Accordingly them rates.
When he
Belshazzar
weighed
Although he were an Emperor
He found him weight to lack.
[3]
I will not envy the Rich,
Nor will I sleight the Poor:
But what God prizeth more then wealth▪
That I will value more.
For Poor men may be rich,
And Rich men may be poor;
If those have Heavenly wealth, and these
Have none but Earthly store.
[4]
When as the day of Wrath
Is come; But Gospel-Righteousness
Delivereth from Death.
(Though in a Sheep-skin clad
And fed with Indian Bread and Water)
Then those whom Wealth makes mad.
[5]
Though Riches in the World
Though Poverty do bring contempt,
And render despicable:
Yet God ofttimes bestows
And Heavenly Glory upon those,
Whom men account most base.
Meditation III.
A Dialogue, the Speakers being, Faith and Unbelief .
Vnbelief.
[1]
THou speakest slightly how
Of all these outward things:
But what, when Poverty thee wounds
With all her Pois'ned Stings?
What if thy Weaknesses
Bring on distressing wants?
How wilt thou then behave thyself?
Or live without complaints?
Faith.
[2]
Perhaps I may not live
Those future Months to see:
And then 'twere folly to take thought
For what shall never be.
But if the Lord see fit
That I on Earth abide
〈◊〉
sustenance provide.
[3]
Though neither of the best,
And Clothes that will but keep me warm,
I shall not be distrest.
Mean things give me content;
For God can mean things bless,
That greatest things possess.
[4]
Those that abound in wealth
May lose it in a night;
And be despoil'd of all they have
Before the morning light:
And if they have no God
To help them in their need;
It matters not what once they were,
They'll then be poor indeed.
[5]
Engag'd by Covenant
To stand his Friend at every turn,
That man can never want,
My Soul be thankful then;
Although thy substance be but small,
Then worldly men have got.
[6]
Thou hast a gracious God
But here on Earth he'll do thee good,
And then to Heaven take thee.
A blessed Portion He
To all that on him trust:
Whose Souls and Bodies he will feed;
But he'll not feed their Lust.
[7]
Our Savior teacheth us
Not for a twelve-months Bread at once,
But for each present day:
That so we might on God
From time to time depend,
Believing that our present help
Will help us to the End.
[8]
Of present things, my Soul,
What present need requires
And bridle thy desires.
Beware lest future things
Thy careful mind distract:
For carking care can nothing else
But guiltiness contract.
[9]
To be content with small things,
Who when he is at lowest ebb,
Yet still possesseth all things.
For God is All in all
The Ocean whence all streams proceed,
And into which they run.
Meditation IV.
[1]
O Man of little faith!
The Ravens, Crows, and Cormorants,
The Kites, the Hawks, the Owls,
Also the numerous Doves
Whose flocks make dark the Air▪
And tell me who for all this Crew
Doth kindly food prepare.
[2]
The Heavenly Father's wise
And wondrous Providence
Gives unto all these Multitudes
Their daily sustenance.
And hear the Ravens cry?
And can he see his Saints in want
And not their wants supply?
[3]
From death his only Son,
But gave him up, that we through him
Might gain Salvation:
He that hath given us
An interest in his Blood,
Will not deny us lesser things
That may promote our good.
[4]
To his Inheritance,
And unto royal dignity
Intendeth to advance:
He that will make us shine
In glory like our Head,
Will not put off his Childeren
With stones instead of Bread.
[5]
For Meat and Drink and Clothes
What need the Child take care
That hath a Father Kind and Rich
To tender his welfare?
Then Earthly Fathers be:
Amongst them all there's none so wise
Nor none so rich as He.
[6]
If Kind, he wants not will;
If Rich, he wants not power:
If Wise, he knows what's best to give▪
And when's the fittest hour.
Before thou them declare:
And oft bestows before thou ask
The things that needful are.
[7]
He hath thy wants prevented,
Rather then wants supplied:
And not without great cause thy Suit
At other times denied.
He knows what things will most
Unto thy weal conduce:
And when such things as may do good
Will be of greatest use.
[8]
And found his readiness
To give thee succor and supplies,
Whens'ever in distress.
Make thee in him confide:
Who will for all that in him trust
Most seas'nably provide.
Meditation V.
[1]
THis Meditation
Mine Heart hath comforted;
Will give his Children Bread.
By Bread I mean both that
Which our frail Body feeds,
And also that which doth relieve
Our Spiritual wants and needs.
[2]
Which never doth decay:
Which maketh those who thereon feed
To live and thrive for ay.
And lets none living dy,
But feeds them to Eternal Life;
This is a Mystery.
[3]
Such Bread Christ Jesus gives,
His own dear Flesh and Blood,
Wherewith he nourisheth our Souls▪
Oh this is wondrous food!
He that the greater gives
But when our Bodies stand in need,
He will their wants supply.
[4]
Again, when I behold
What great things God bestows
On Turks and Pagans (Infidels)
And such as live like those.
I certainly conclude
He hath some better Treasure
To give his Saints, then Worldly-wealth,
Honor, or Carnal Pleasure.
[5]
For will not God deal better
With Servants, then with Foes?
With Children, then with Enemies
And such as Christ oppose?
Hath not Christ purchased
Far better things for Saints,
Then common bounty here affords
To faithless Miscreants?
[6]
The
Turkish
Empire vast,
What is it? but a Bone
That by the Master of the House
Unto the Dogs is thrown?
The Gold Mynes of the West,
And Riches of the East,
Are often-times possessed by one
That lives and dies a Beast.
[7]
If God bestow such gifts
On
••
oody brutish men:
For his dear Childeren!
No mortal eye hath seen,
No Ear did ever hear,
Nor Heart conceive, what Christ prepares
For such as do him fear.
[8]
And carnal Pleasures base,
Unto those Joyes the Saints enjoy
Before Christ's Royal face.
The richest Robes are Rags,
And contemptible geer,
The Saints in Glory wear.
[9]
If we should them compare
With those Celestial Mansions,
More vile then Hog-sties are.
What now we have in hope,
We shall have in fruition,
When all ungodly men at once
Are drowned in Perdition.
In Confinement Liberty.
WHat may this Riddle mean?
Confined, and yet Free!
In Bands, yet Loose! A Prisoner,
And yet at Libertee!
'It is but a Notion sure;
No, No, It's very True,
And that these Pages following
Will prove and plainly show.
SONG I.
[1]
MOst men love Liberty,
And covet Elbow-room
To have their Wills, to serve their Lusts,
And up and down to rome.
God's Ways they count a Prison,
A heavy Yoke; his Threatenings
Like Fetters and strong Bands.
[2]
And cast their cords from us:
Let's give the Reins unto our Lusts,
And not be Bridled thus.
The greatest Bondage is:
For he's a Bondslave unto Sin
That loves to do amiss.
[3]
Unto his mortal Foe,
Who leads him bound with Cords of sin
Unto Eternal woe.
Such Prisoners may enjoy
External Liberty,
And being under no restraint
They run to Hell more free.
[4]
Ah woeful Liberty!
To such as it abuse;
Which leads them to Captivity,
I rather had be bound
With Fetters made of Brass,
Then to enjoy my Liberty
And be at such a pass.
[5]
And in Afflictions Cords,
And by these Bands, unto their Souls
More Liberty affords.
Who would not be in thrall,
Soul-Liberty to gain,
Rather then Sins and Satan's thrall,
And Captive to remain?
[6]
Manasseh
was a slave
To Sin, and never free;
Into Captivitie:
But being bound in Chains,
He calls to mind his sins,
Humbleth himself, and to bewail
His former life begins.
[7]
His Prison was a place
Of greatest Liberty:
For from the bondage of his sins
It helped to set him free.
As Liberty abused
Procur'd his Misery:
So Bonds him humbled and prepared
For blessed Liberty.
[8]
Did over him prevail
It brought him down into the Deeps
And Belly of the Whale.
Him to Repentance brought,
The Lord Salvation wrought.
[9]
To
Babylon
were sent
In mercy, that they might be freed
From sorer punishment.
That being humbled there
Under God's mighty hand,
He might return them back again
Into their Native Land.
SONG II.
[1]
THough Liberty itself
Is greatly to be sought;
And they are happy that know how
To use it as they ought;
Especially whose hearts
Esteem and highly prize
And likewise carefully improve
Their Spiritual Liberties.
[2]
Yet when the Lord is pleased
Such freedom to deny,
He can another Freedom give
Even in Captivity.
When he our Will subdues,
And helps us be content
With his dispose, there's Liberty
Even in Imprisonment.
[3]
Is a most heavy Chain:
That man may walk at Liberty
That can this freedom gain.
When as the Will is brought
Into Captivity
Unto the holy Will of God;
[4]
Its Tyranny undone,
And other Bands that us restrain
Will quickly be as none.
For then the Soul applies
It self to get that good
Thereby, which God intends, and Christ
Hath purchased with his Blood.
[5]
Out of the greatest ill,
If that we seek him seriously,
His Promise will fulfill.
And set our Souls more free,
Even by restraining Bands, from sin
And Satan's Tyranny.
[6]
He'll wean us from the world,
And all things here below;
He will on us bestow.
He'll set our hearts upon
The things that are above:
And give us more and more to taste
The sweetness of his Love.
[7]
He will enlarge our Souls
To run his Precepts way:
Most gladly to obey.
And his Commandments
They shall delightful be.
Thus he can make Restraint a means
Of greatest Liberty.
SONG III.
[1]
THe Saints have never been
To meet with God more free
Then when they have been most deprived
Of outward Libertee.
When Banished, Confined,
Impris'ned they have been:
They have God's Presence more enjoyed,
And more his glory seen.
[2]
When
Jacob
fled from home
Because of
Esau
's spite,
Upon the Earth all night:
He saw that wondrous Ladder,
Whose top to Heaven raught,
Which Jesus Christ God-Man, and our
Salvation by him, taught.
[3]
During his Banishment,
Meets with the God of
Israel
,
And is to
Israel
sent
To carry welcome news
Of their deliverance,
And that the Lord would lead them forth
To their Inheritance.
[4]
Had Angels company.
And when those three were in the Fire,
The Son of God stood by.
John
in his
Patmos
-Isle
Most glorious Visions had,
And Revelations of such things
As make God's
Zion
glad.
[5]
Together in the Stocks;
The Lord an Earthquake sends, and all
The Prison-doors unlocks.
Had
Paul
in his Restraint:
The Lord appearing to confirm
And cheer his Suffering Saint.
[6]
The time would fail to tell
Examples of this kind:
These are enough to prove, that Saints
May God in Prison find,
Where God is most enjoyed,
There's sweetest Liberty:
But many have enjoyed him most
In their Captivity.
In Solitude Good Company.
TO be alone sometimes
And want no Company
Whilst men are Musing; this you will say
Is no great Rarity.
But when we are alone
To have Good Company,
The best that ever man enjoyed,
This is a
Mystery
.
How such a thing can be,
Although Religion teach it,
And many can discourse thereof,
Yet Nature cannot reach it.
[1]
MAn's Nature sociable
Delights in Company,
Declines and dreadeth Solitude,
And loves Society.
Hence to be stripped of Friends,
And to be left alone,
A sore Affliction.
[2]
But bitter though it be,
God's Presence can allay
The Bitterness of Solitude,
And take it quite away.
Our Sav
•
our tells the Twelve,
Yet I am not alone, b
•
cause
The Father's wi
•
h me still.
[3]
And as he was with Christ
So is he nigh to all
(For Christ his sake) that call on him,
And he hath promised
To be with his always:
Nor leave them all their days.
[4]
That when they p
•
ss through fire
The fire it shall not burn, nor floods
Them drown, 'cause he is near.
To see the Fire so blaze,
And yet the Bush keep unconsum'd,
Good
Moses
did amaze.
[5]
Affliction, though a fire,
God's Saints cannot devour;
Because the Lord dwells in the Bush,
And keeps it by his Power.
The Lord is present still,
And maketh his abode
With all true Saints; such Company
Hath every Child of God.
[6]
He will my words obey;
My Father loves him: we will come
And with him make our stay.
The holy Spirit of Truth,
That sweetest Comforter,
That true Believers are.
[7]
Oh glorious Privilege
Of such as God do fear!
The Lord is always near.
Christ holds them in his hand,
The Father, who is more then all,
Them holds; they need not doubt.
[8]
They dwell in Solitude,
Are in a lonely case,
That have no int'rest in this God,
Nor comfort from his Grace.
For such poor Souls as these
My heart could even bleed:
For when their Creature-comforts fail,
They're left alone indeed.
[9]
I can remember still
That dismal Solitude;
The horror of that Lonesomness
(And state of Widowhood)
Wherein my Soul was once,
That was a wilderness indeed.
Such only Lonesome are.
[10]
But he is not alone
That hath the Trinity,
The Father, Son, and Holy-Ghost,
To keep him company.
Can cheer the Desolate:
And make them sing for joy, who sit
In solitary state.
[11]
The Lord will make his Bed:
And when he languisheth, his Arms
Are underneath his head.
And when he sits alone,
The Lord will with him talk:
Or if he wander in the Woods,
His God will with him walk.
[12]
He may securely sleep:
Because the Lord in his own Arms
Will him most safely keep.
He may repose himself
And in the time of danger great
He need not be afraid.
[13]
God watcheth over him
For good, and not for ill:
When he lies sleeping in his Bed,
The Lord is with him still.
And when he doth awake,
Make known to him his wants, and all
His hearts desires rehearse.
[14]
Who can his wants supply,
Support him in, and bring him out
Of all his misery.
Of Christ's redeemed ones
This is the happy case:
We are advanced through Grace.
[15]
Speak then all you that read:
Can that man be alone?
That hath his God so near, to whom
He may his wants make known.
A better Friend then this?
Lord may I but enjoy thee more,
I others less shall miss.
[16]
O turn to me thy face,
For I am in a lonely case,
Afflicted, poor also.
Mine hearts straits be enlarged
Bring me out of distress:
My pain and my affliction see,
And all my sins release.
SONG II.
[1]
ANd now for such as are
Of dearest Friends bereft,
That in a solitary state
Most desolate are left:
Oh might I speak a word
That might allay your grief,
Instruct you how to bear your Cross,
Or lend you some relief.
[2]
Suppose a Friend had lent thee
A Stock at thy desire,
To make thy best improvement of,
Till he should it require.
Would'st think thy Fried unkind
For taking of his own,
When as in lending it at all
Great Courtesie was shown?
[3]
Thy Wife, or Child, or Friend,
They were but Blessings lent thee:
And doth not this content thee?
May not the Lord require,
When he sees fit, his own?
Thou mayest be thankful unto him
They were no sooner gone.
[4]
Hast thou a part in God?
Assure thyself thou hast a Friend
That doth surmount them all.
When other Friends are gone:
Therefore thou needest not to mourn
As if thou wert undone.
[5]
But if thou hast not got
Assurance of this Friend:
Who lives and loves to the end.
He is a better Friend
Then Father, Mother, Wife,
Or any other dearest Friend
Thou hadst in all thy life.
[6]
Let but Christ Jesus come,
And dwell within thy Heart:
And mitigate thy smart.
He will a Father be
U
•
to the Fatherless,
A Husband to the Widow sad,
A Judge in her distress.
[7]
Haste, open speedily,
And he'll come in, and thou shalt sup
With him, and he with thee.
Ye Doors that last for ay
Be ye lift up, that enter in
The King of Glory may.
[8]
That Soul may change her cheer▪
And be no longer sorry,
That entertaineth such a g
•
est,
Even the King of Glory.
Thou canst not be alone,
Nor want Society,
When God the Father, Son, and Spirit,
Shall be thy Company.
This following Song was pen'd
Eight years agone at least:
I hope it may be useful here
As any of the rest.
SONG III.
A Dialogue between the Flesh and Spirit .
Flesh.
[1]
LOrd any Cross but this
I will be content to bear:
But oh I cannot part with one
Whom I esteem so dear.
Sp.
His Maker to instruct?
Or teach Jehovah in what Paths
He shall his Soul conduct?
Fl.
Alas! what means the Lord
To chasten me so sore?
I thought my load was great enough▪
And yet he lays on more.
Spirit.
Flesh.
[4]
What then? am I more vile
Then all the world beside?
That none but I in such a sort,
That none but I am tried.
Sp.
Flesh.
[5]
But oh my loss is such
As none have had but I.
Did ever any feel the like
To my Calamity?
If every Circumstance
Of mine Affliction
Be weighed well; in such a Path
I think no man hath gone.
Spirit.
[6]
Thou mayest be much deceived
To think thy case more sad,
And thine Afflictions heavier
Then ever any had.
What if the way be such
As never foot did tread?
Some must go foremost: why not thou,
As well as others, lead?
[7]
God make thee long to trace?
If yet at last he bring thee safe
Unto a resting place:
Shalt thou not have good cause
His mercy to adore?
And to extol and magnify
His Name for evermore?
[8]
Are not thy sins much more
And doest not thou deserve from God
Ten times more bitter things?
Small reason hath the man
To murmur at the Cross,
Eternal Pain and Loss.
[9]
Be silent then frail Flesh:
Impatience hold thy tongue,
And murmu
•
e not against the Lord,
As if he did thee wrong.
Nor Mercy cruel be:
Wisdom sees this condition
To be the best for thee.
[10]
Love ordereth all for good;
To give thee strength: And Truth hath said
Thou shalt not be forsaken.
Take courage then, my Soul,
And moderate thy fears:
Will wipe away thy tears.
Joy in Sorrow.
CAn Joy and Sorrow meet
That are so opposite?
The one so Bitter, the other Sweet?
What, can such Foes unite?
What! meet in one small Heart!
And lovingly agree!
Join hands and strengthen one another▪
Doubtless it cannot be.
Rods of th'Enchanters swallowed:
So godly Sorrow eateth up,
That Sorrow that's unhallow'd.
It worldly Sorrow kills:
But helpeth Spiritual Joy.
These two will strengthen one another,
And not each other 'stroy.
Spring-Tides of Joy brings in.
The more a Soul can joy in God,
The more he mourns for sin.
This Grief the Channel is
In which Joy loves to run:
And Joy the Channel deeper plows
Then when 'twas first begun.
If any
Nicodemus
Say, How can these things be?
As
Philip
to
Nathaniel
said,
So I say, Come and see.
SONG I.
[1]
UNto this General Head
We need not much to say,
For all that went before doth tend
Our Sorrows to allay.
Yet forasmuch as Grief
From various Causes springs;
Nor is it possible to name
Each thing that Sorrow brings:
[2]
We'll spend a few leaves more
Concerning Grief, th' Effect;
That so we may apply a Salve,
And no man's Sore neglect.
If then thou art a Saint
That languishest in Grief:
God hath provided Cordials
To yield thy Soul relief.
[3]
Thou must these Cordials know,
And how to take and use them:
Beware thou do not in a Pett
Neglect, much less refuse them.
God would not have us Blocks
That nothing lay to heart:
Nor would he have us mourn like those
In Christ that have no part.
[4]
Perhaps thou hast displeased him,
And therefore art in pain:
If thou return again.
He is thy Father still,
And doth not cease to love thee:
Although he scourge thee for thy faults,
Or for thy sins reprove thee.
[5]
Art thou in heaviness
For some great outward loss?
Of choicest Comforts, dearest Friends?
Or for some other Cross?
Thou shouldest feel the smart:
But let Afflictions bitterness
Make thee lay sin to heart.
[6]
If this Affliction be
Oh what a bitter thing is Sin,
That doth Affliction bring?
More evil is the Cause
Then the Effect can be:
Then thine iniquity.
[7]
Is it a bitter thing
To be in Heaviness?
What is it then to grieve the Lord,
To wrong a loving Father?
Provoke a gracious God
(Who takes no pleasure in our smart)
To whip me with his Rod?
[8]
Convert thy Sorrow's stream
Into the Channel right:
Done evil in his sight.
Thus into godly sorrow
Thy worldly sorrow turn,
And God will turn away his wrath
When thus he sees thee mourn.
[9]
As oftentimes we see
In some acute Disease,
To cut a Vein and let him Blood
Will give him present ease:
Right so doth godly sorrow,
The bleeding of the Heart,
Asswage the most heart-killing Grief,
And wondrous ease impart.
[10]
Empty bad humors out;
First cool and cleanse the Blood:
And then a Cordial will revive
And do the man more good.
And purged from thy sin:
The Lord himself will comfort thee,
And Cordials sweet give in.
SONG II.
[1]
HEarken what God doth speak
To such as mourn aright,
That under his Afflicting hand
Are broken and contrite.
Blessed are those that mourn;
As first in Sorrow, so in Joy
They shall be like their Head.
SONG III.
[1]
We must not look to be,
Whilst we are clothed with sinful Flesh,
From griefs and sorrows free.
Here Grief and Joy take turns:
And in the room thereof shall come
Eternal Joy and Peace.
[2]
God seem to frown upon thee:
With Everlasting kindnesses
He will have mercy on thee.
Our time of suff'ring here
Is but a little while:
And then his frown, that makes thee sad,
Will turn into a smile.
[3]
Thy Tears are like good Seed
Sown in a fruitful Field:
They are not lost, but shall in time
A joyful Harvest yield.
In joy: who go and mourn
Bearing choice seed, shall sure with joy
Bringing their sheaves return.
[4]
In midst of Sorrows great
Let this thy Grief allay,
And mirth another day.
The more thy Sorrows here
And Sufferings have been:
The greater joy and Happiness
Hereafter thou shalt win.
[5]
'It is better now to mourn
And to rejoice hereafter:
Then for to wail eternally
For sinful mirth and laughter.
Long-lasting endless pains:
Short and light suff'rings have long joys
And everlasting gains.
[6]
Eternal Happiness
Will make amends for all.
It counts all suff'rings small.
If drops of Heav'nly Pleasure
Be sweet unto thy taste:
Where drink thy fill thou mayest?
[7]
Thy future joy so great
And Ocean-like shall be:
It cannot enter thee.
Oh what a joy is that
That mortal Tongue cannot express,
Nor Heart of man believe!
[8]
The greatest present Griefs,
That thee so much annoy,
Will soon be swallowed in that Sea
Of Everlasting joy.
'Twill then a Pleasure be,
To think of what is past:
And greatly add unto thy joy
To mind how sad thou wast.
SONG IV.
Solamen miseris focios habuisse doloris
Christum cum sanctis—
[1]
IT is an ease in Grief
To have Coparteners:
It yields some comfort and relief
T' have Fellow-sufferers.
Especially to have
Such as our case bemoan,
As lay to heart our sorrows, and
Under our burden groan.
[2]
Have Union with one Head;
Are acted by one Spirit, and
By him are quickened.
But feel each others smart,
Their Burden bear, lament their case,
And in their woes take part,
[3]
They cannot choose but mourn
With such as mourners be:
Whom they afflicted see.
Christ gives them tender hearts,
Therefore they fellow-feel:
They pity, pray for, comfort them,
And seek each others weal.
[4]
This is a Comfort then
To Saints in misery,
To have such sweet Companions
Of their Calamity.
That when they are in sorrow
They sorrow not alone:
But meet with some that heartily
Their Miseries bemoan.
[5]
Oh let it never be
That Saints should Saints infest,
And add unto each others grief,
That are with grief oppressed.
Comes not, but from beneath:
And ill becometh those in whom
The Spirit of Love doth breath.
[6]
That Spirit of Love and Peace,
Who dwells in all the Saints,
Cease quarrels and complaints:
Help us to pity more,
And pray for one another,
To strive who shall in love outstrip
And go beyond his Brother.
[7]
This were a blessed strife;
Thus ought we all to strive:
Were this our strife; how would it make
As many Shoulders make
A heavy Burden light:
So might our Burdens lightened be,
Were but our Spirits right.
[8]
Well: Friends may pity us
And at our Sorrows grieve;
They cannot always help: But Christ
Can pity and relieve.
This is the main support,
And comfort of the Saints,
That Jesus Christ them pitieth, when
[9]
And Brethren may forget us,
Or strangers be unto our griefs;
The World at naught may set us:
Even in our low estate;
He mînds us well, and leaves us not
Forlorn and desolate.
[10]
Is such an One as can
From his Experience pity us
With bowels of a Man.
In their Affliction:
And therefore their Affliction was
[11]
Though far above all Griefs
In Glory Christ remains:
Yet of the Sorrows of his Saints
A feeling he retains.
And bottleth all our tears,
Is well acquainted with our griefs,
And writeth down our fears.
[12]
He knows thy Sicknesses;
He feeleth all thy smart:
Thy sufferings are his sufferings,
And reach his tender heart.
And if he know and feel
All that doth thee agrieve:
Thy fainting Soul relieve.
SONG V.
[1]
THus far we have applied
Our speech to mournful Saints,
To cheer them under all their Griefs,
And silence their Complaints.
But all men are not Saints
Whom Sorrow doth oppress:
Some may be in a heavy case,
Yet far from Holiness.
[2]
Some Hearts are almost broke
That godly Sorrow never touched
With any true remorse.
What shall we say to these
That may some ease impart?
What Sovereign Medicine shall we use
To mitigate their smart?
[3]
Poor Souls! I pity you,
And do your case bemoan:
But peace to you I may not speak,
For God himself speaks none.
To th' wicked when distrest:
But they are like the troubled Sea
Which boils and cannot rest.
[4]
Oh that the Lord himself,
Who now doth thee chastise,
And makes thee sad, would waken thee
And open thy blind eyes!
That God would help thee grieve
For what should grieve thee most!
That thou thy God hast lost.
[5]
Thou hast not him to go to
When sorrows thee agrieve:
That should thy Soul relieve.
Thou hast offended God
And grieved him full sore:
Grieve and ashame him thee more.
[6]
Could'st thou but lay to heart
Thy sinful woeful state:
It quickly would thine other griefs
Asswage and mitigate.
Oh get thy worldly grief
Turned to godly sorrow.
Mourn for thy sins, and put not off
Repentance till tomorrow.
[7]
To God with all thine heart:
And make thy peace with him through Christ;
If sorrow bring thee home
To God in Christ: believe
It will the happiest grieving be
That ever thou didst grieve.
Life in Deaths.
WHat
Mystery
is this
To seek for Life in Death
The great Destroyer of the Sons
Of
Adam
and of
Seth?
Can
Death
beget sweet Life?
Can such an Honey-comb,
So sweet and precious, come forth
Of Death's devouring Womb?
Yes: Christ hath broke the Teeth
And ta'ne away the Sting
Of Cruel Death; that Death is now
Become another thing.
It is a Messenger
Sent for to fetch us home
Unto our Father's Royal House,
Whither all Saints must come.
It is a Bridge, whereby
We pass to Heavenly Rest,
Out of the Sorrows of this world
Wherewith we are oppressed.
But I will not here detain thee:
Read on, and thou shalt see
Both many Deaths in one short Life,
And Life in Deaths to be.
SONG I.
[1]
THis World's a Wilderness
To God's afflicted Saints.
A place of Dangers, Fears, and Foes;
A place of Woes and Wants.
This Life's a very Death,
At least a dying life:
For this is Death in Life, to find
Sin in our Hearts so rife.
[2]
That we not only are
Encompassed with Foes:
That doth with Satan close.
That's ready to seduce
And lead us into Evil,
And on a sudden to betray
Our Souls unto the Devil.
[3]
We pestered are with sin
So long as here we live:
Which makes us cry, From this vile death
Bodies of Sin and Death
We carry to and fro:
And carry must unto our grief,
Whilst we are here below.
[4]
Within our Members dwelling;
Which is against God's holy Law
(Chose by our mind) rebelling:
So that we cannot do
The good things that we would;
And oftentimes we do those things
Which leave undone we should.
[5]
For though we mourn for sin.
And watch, and strive and fight:
Yet is our weakness often foiled
By Satan's subtle sleight.
This is a heaviness,
A Death unto the Saints,
Make sorrowful complaints.
[6]
Oh what a glorious thing
In all true Christians eyes
They would this freedom prize
More then the richest Mynes,
Or most resplendent Gems:
They would prefer it far before
Scepters and Diadems.
[7]
Then Honor, Pleasure, Wealth:
It would be sweeter to their Souls
Then Liberty or Health.
Yea Temp'rall Life itself
Might not herewith compare,
Which is more worth then all things else
Which most esteemed are.
[8]
Who would not then be willing,
When Christ him calleth hence,
To lay aside this sinful Flesh,
Cause of so much offense?
What Saint, that hateth sin,
Can love this life so well,
As for the sake thereof to choose
In sinful Flesh to dwell?
SONG II.
[1]
THis then is Life in Death,
From Sin, which is our Spiritual Death,
And greatest Miserie.
We shall no more be grieved
With minds that are so vain:
Of Pride, or Sloth, or Worldliness
We shall no more complain.
[2]
So shall our Unbelief:
Our Passions shall no longer be
A cause of daily grief.
Against God's Providence
Our hearts no more shall swell:
Nor these our unsubdued Wills
Against his Will rebel.
[3]
Our Senses shall no longer
Be inlets unto Sin:
Nor shall there be an home-bred Thief
To let his Comrades in.
God, whom we here offend
And injure every day
In thought, word, deed, we shall no more
Offend him then for ay.
[4]
During this mortal life
We walk in midst of Snares,
And we are apt to be surprised
And caught at unawares.
Us every hour besets,
Seeks to allure us by his Baits
Into his deadly Nets.
[5]
Runs hunting for his Prey;
And like a subtle Serpent he
Lies watching night and day:
Lets no advantage slip
Whereby he may annoy us,
Draw us to sin, disturb our peace;
Distress, if not destroy us.
[6]
Death is the Red Sea, which
When once we are got through,
Can us no more pursue.
God will this Sea divide
And make it us inclose,
Like walls, letting us pass through safe▪
And then drown all our Foes.
[7]
Th'Egyptians cannot follow
Unto the other side:
They shall be drowned in the Sea,
O're-whelmed with the Tide▪
The Tempter shall no more
A wicked thought suggest:
Nor once entice to anything
That God and we detest.
[8]
Temptations u
••
o sin
(Which vex us
•
ere so sore,
Although they do not Master us)
Shall trouble us then no more▪
Then shall our joyful Souls
Eternal Praises sing,
For this their full Deliverance,
To that Immortal King.
SONG III.
[1]
WHil'st we are here on Earth
Each day brings some new woe or grief
Whilst we are clothed with Clay.
We dwell in midst of Deaths
And Death amidst us dwells,
As too too well appeareth by
These daily doleful Knells.
[2]
Now one dear Friend departs,
E're long another goes:
Whose turn comes next, or mine or thine,
Or whose, God only knows.
Thus we are oft constrained
For Death doth often wound our heart
Through one or other's side.
[3]
Pains, Losses, Sicknesses,
Temptations, Sorrows, Sin;
All these are daily Deaths, from which
We can no freedom win,
Untill we die our last:
One death will end them all,
And set our Souls at liberty.
Which here are held in thrall.
[4]
Amount unto no small pain:
Who would not one Pain more endure
And so get free from all pain?
And wait till he shall call:
And then one Death will set us free
From Pains and Sorrows all.
[5]
That die we may no more:
But live in Bliss eternally
The face of God before.
Death is of Life the Gate:
It is the Door whereby
We enter shall into a state
Of Immortality.
[6]
This then our Comfort is,
This is our Life in Death;
To know our Soul shall be in Bliss
When Death hath stopped our Breath.
That now is laid in dust,
And turned to Earth, within a while
Be raised in Glory must.
[7]
So soon as Death hath closed
Our mortal Body's eyes:
Above the Starry Skies
Born upon Angel's wings
Unto that Heavenly Rest;
She shall be full possessed.
Heavenly Crowns FOR Thorny Wreaths.
SONG I.
[1]
WHen Christ was crowned with Thorns,
Upon the Thorns, to wound his Head
And for to make him bleed;
The world did little think
This was the King of Glory:
So when we speak of Crowns for Thorns,
They think it's but a story.
[2]
But as our Lord doth now
His Crown of Glory wear;
Who for our sake did wear those Thorns
And such Abuse
•
•
ear:
So shall th'Afflicted Saints
That suffer for his sake
E're long be Crowned like their Head,
And of his Joyes partake.
[3]
Those that for doing well,
For keeping Christ's Commands,
For bearing witness to his Truth
Or any other Pain
To keep their Conscience pure;
Such of a glorious Recompence
And rich Reward are sure.
[4]
Those that are persecuted
Because of Righteousness,
Heavens Kingdom shall possess.
And Blest are ye whom men
Revile and persecute,
To whom for my sake heinous Crimes
They wrongfully impute
[5]
Rejoice and be ye glad
Hereat exceedingly;
Because there is a great Reward
Laid up for you on high.
For thus they persecuted
The Prophets that of old
Reprov'd their sins, and faithfully
God's Counsel to them told▪
[6]
For love of Christ forsakes;
Or of his Houses▪ Lands, Estate
For him small reckoning makes:
Shall here an hundred fold
With Persecutions gain;
And in the World that is to come
Eternal Life obtain.
[7]
Of Christ we Followers be:
We shall be unto him conformed
In Royal Dignity.
In Tribulations great,
Shall Reign with Christ, and sit with him
Upon his Judgment-Seat.
[8]
But those that suffer pain
Foul Errors to defend,
That for vile Fancies of their own
Dread not their liv
•
s to spend:
Such do in vain sup
•
ose
They suffer for Christ's sake.
'It is not the Suff'ring but the Cause
That doth a Martyr make.
SONG II.
[1]
THat Eminent Apostle
And holy Martyr
Paul
,
That labored more for Jesus Christ,
And suffered more then All,
When as his race was run
And life almost laid down
Laid up for me a Crown,
[2]
Which Christ that Righteous Judge
Shall give to me above:
And unto all, as well as me,
That his Appearing love.
Christ Jesus at that day
And all their faithful Services
And Patient Sufferings crown.
[3]
Not only such as have
For Jesus shed their Blood;
And firm therein have stood:
All that have meekly born
Christ's Yoke because 'twas his
Shall be rewarded, and shall share
In Everlasting Bliss.
[4]
The rest in Glory bright:
Yet every Star in the' Firmament
Is full of glorious light.
So every vessel then
Shall full of Glory be,
Though some are of a larger size,
Some of a less degree.
[5]
Our Lord will call to mind
The meanest services
That any man with upright heart
Hath done for one of his:
Tend'red unto a Saint
For love of Christ, shall not reward
Nor acceptation want.
[6]
Their love and labor sure
That take great pains, and for his sake
Afflictions long endure.
He that will smallest things
So graciously regard,
Will not far greater things neglect
And leave without reward.
[7]
Christ suffereth now; so he
In all his glorified Saints
Will glorified be.
Their Sufferings now are his,
Their Glory will be his:
Christ should his Glory lose, if Saints
Should future Glory miss.
[8]
And whole Obedience,
Have purchased for us this Crown
And glorious Recompence.
He died that we might live,
Wore Thorns that we might reign.
The End of his own Sufferings
Christ, doubtless, will obtain.
SONG III.
[1]
HOw great this Glory is
No mortal tongue can tell:
And words we know full well.
'It is that which Christ's own Blood
Hath purchased and acquired:
'It is that which God will then bestow
That he may be admired.
[2]
Nor are his thoughts like our:
For he will glorify his Grace
And magnify his Power,
Yea and his Wisdom too
By glorifying us,
And therefore Christ will make his Saints
Exceeding glorious.
[3]
That Glory must be great
And of surpassing fame
An Everlasting Name.
They shall be crowned indeed
With Glory at that day,
When as the richness of their Crown
God's Glory must display.
[4]
A Diamond in Christ's Crown:
They must be glorious Saints indeed,
To set forth his Renown.
Array'd with glorious light,
That through their luster Christ's own Beams
May shine more clear and bright.
[5]
O glorious, rich Free-grace!
And Everlasting Love,
That God's own heart unto these thoughts
Before all time did move!
O wondrous Condescension
And matchless Love of Jesus Christ
Beyond comparison!
[6]
Under a mean outside,
Under the Garment of frail Flesh
His Majesty to hide:
Who ware a Crown of Thorns,
Who shed his dearest Blood,
To purchase Saving Good,
[7]
That he
••
ght us Redeem
And by his Sufferings us advance
To Heavenly Dignity.
He was content to be
Abus'd, Reproach'd and Scorn'd
That we might be advanced, crowned,
And gloriously adorned.
[8]
That such as have deserved
God's vengeance for to bear
Eternally, should Royal Robes
And Crowns of Glory wear!
Saints can you think of this
And not this Grace admire?
And do not you that are no Saints
To share therein desire?
[9]
Which is the better choice?
Or for to roar eternally
Amidst the flames of Hell?
What? are you in a doubt
Which of the twain to choose?
Well, choose to burn, if that be best:
Choose Hell, and Heaven refuse.
SONG IV.
[1]
The God of Heaven shows,
To those on whom Eternal Life
And Glory he bestows!
If now God calls them Sons;
How glorious shall they be,
When being made like Christ, they shall
Him in his Glory see?
[2]
Their Body frail and vile,
That's in Corruption sown,
Shall then be raised up again
In Incorruption.
This Mortal must be clothed
With Immortality:
And then shall Death be swallowed up
In perfect Victory.
[3]
A Body Natural:
But shall arise again e're long
A Body Spiritual.
We now need many helps
Our vigor to maintain,
As Meat, Drink, Sleep: but shall need none
After we rise again.
[4]
It's now in weakness sown;
But shall be raised in power:
Sown in Dishonor; but shall rise
In Glory at that hour.
It shall be wholly freed
From all Infirmities,
And be most active, hale, and strong
When once it doth arise.
[5]
Though subject to Reproach
Whilst living; and when dead
And quickly buried:
Yet Christ shall raise it up
With Beauty shining bright,
More lovely then the Morning fair,
With Heavenly Glory dight.
[6]
And if the Body show
So beautiful and fair:
How shall the Soul be beautify'd
And shine beyond compare?
More precious far then Gold,
Of Christ's unspotted Righteousness
Most lovely to behold.
[7]
When as God's blessed Image
That was defaced by Sin
Is perfectly restored again
And ever dwells therein.
God's Glory shining bright,
And be transformed and glorious made
By that most glorious sight.
[8]
When like a Glass it shall
Receive those glorious Rayes,
And back again reflect the same
To God's Eternal Praise.
When in the Sea of Bliss
It constantly shall move:
And be forever ravished with
The sweetness of his Love.
[9]
By being forty days
I'th' Mount: how shall their faces shine
That dwell with God always?
Moses
his Back-parts saw
But they shall see his face:
And to their joy unspeakable
Enjoy the God of Grace.
[10]
Oh happy, happy Souls
That in God's Bosom rest!
That of the Fountain of all Bliss
Already are possessed!
Your Labor's at an end;
Your Seed in Tears was sown:
And wear a glorious Crown.
SONG V.
[1]
That was before him set,
Endur'd the Cross, despised the shame,
And paid for all our debt.
And as himself did eye
That future glorious
•
state:
So would he have the thoughts thereof
Our Souls to animate.
[2]
To him that hath begun,
And will complete our Faith,
We are commanded for to look;
Who thus despised hath
The Ignominious shame
For that most glorious joy;
And having suffered, is set down
At God's right hand on high.
[3]
And though some Gospellers
Call this an Hireling Spirit:
Yet more of such a Spirit, Lord,
Grant that we may inherit.
For surely thou didst more
Thy Father's Glory prize,
Then these, that at this rich Reward
Would seem to shut their eyes.
[4]
Oh but the love of Christ
Should wholly us constrain
To do all duties, bear the Cross,
And suffer every Pain.
In this most strongly moves us,
That he'll regard us, and thus reward us
Meerly because he loves us.
[5]
If Christ hath purchased
A glorious rich Reward
For all his Followers: shall not w
•
This Recompence regard?
If he Rewards propound
To whet our diligence:
Is not our over-looking them
The way to Negligence?
[6]
Moses
had such respect;
That all the Glory of the World
He could for this reject:
Esteeming Christ's reproach
More rich then
Egypt
's Treasures;
Choosing Affliction with God's Church,
Rather then sinful pleasures.
[7]
Such glorious things as these:
How ought we to bestir ourselves
So good a God to please?
How should the ways of Christ
Most pleasant to us seem?
How should this make the heaviest Cross
[8]
Oh let the thoughts of this
Incorruptible Crown,
Which shall on patient suffering Saints
So frankly be bestow'n,
For to amend our pace,
And with more cheerfulness and speed
To run our Heavenly Race▪
[9]
More readily to do
And willingly to bear
Whatever Christ shall call us to
So long as we are here;
Knowing that all our Pains
Shall such a rich reward obtain
Within a little while.
[10]
How many men can wade
Up to the knees in Blood
To win an Earthly Kingdom, which
Can do them little good?
Which brings them naught but sorrow;
Which cannot satisfy▪
Which may be lost before tomorrow;
And must be, when they die.
[11]
To win a Heavenly Crown;
Which having once, through grace, obtained
Shall ever be our own?
A glorious, ma
••
ie Crown,
That's undefiled, that never fades,
Not subject unto chance.
[12]
Good Lord increase our Faith:
And help us to believe,
That thou wilt such a rich Reward
To all thy Servants give.
To give ourselves to thee:
Thou hast us bought and thine we are
Thine let us ever be.
[13]
Now unto him that loved us
With his own Blood, and made us Priest
To God, and also Kings▪
That we might live and reign
To him be Glory, Honor, Power,
Both
〈◊〉
and evermore.
Amen.
Be
〈…〉
suffering Saint,
〈…〉
down:
〈…〉
turn
Thy
〈…〉