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merciful hands: yea, that he should give this honour to dust and ashes, as to style us his friends. How shamefully unthankful, and how justly miserable shall I be, if I make not an answerable use of so infinite a mercy! O God, how utterly unworthy shall I be of this grace, if, notwithstanding these merciful proffers and solicitations, I shall continue a willing stranger from thee; and shall make no more improvement of these favours, than if they had never been rendered! Oh, let me know thee; let me acknowledge thee; let me adore thee; let me love thee; let me walk with thee; let me enjoy thee; let me, in a holy and awful familiarity, be better and more entirely acquainted with thee, than with the world, than with myself: so I shall be sure to be happy, here; and, hereafter, glorious.

XXXIII.

THE ALL-SUFFICIENT KNOWLEDGE,

I FIND much enquiry of curious wits, whether we shall know one another in heaven. There is no want of arguments, on both parts; and the greatest probabilities have seemed to be for the affirmative. But, O Lord, whether or no we shall know one another, I am sure we shall all, thy glorified Saints, know thee; and, in knowing thee, we shall be infinitely happy: and what would be more? Surely, as we find here, that the sun puts out the fire, and the greater light ever extinguisheth the less; so, why may we not think it to be above? When thou art all in all to us, what can the knowledge of any creature add to our blessedness? And if, when we casually meet with a brother or a son before some great prince, we forbear the ceremonies of our mutual respects, as being wholly taken up with the awful regard of a greater presence; how much more may we justly think, that when we meet before the glorious Throne of the God of Heaven, all the respects of our former earthly relations must utterly cease, and be swallowed up of that beatifical presence, divine love, and infinitely blessed fruition of the Almighty! O God, it is my great comfort here below, to think and know, that I have parents, or children, or brothers and sisters, or friends, already in possession of glory with thee; and to believe assuredly, that, in my time, I shall be received to the association of their blessedness: but if, upon the dissolution of this earthly tabernacle, I may be admitted to the sight of thy All-glorious Essence, and may set eye upon the face of my Blessed Saviour, now sitting at the right-hand of thy Incomprehensible Majesty, attended with those millions of his heavenly angels, I shall neither have need, nor use of enquiring, after my kindred according to the flesh. What can fall into my thoughts or desires, beside or beyond that, which is infinite?

XXXIV.

POOR GREATNESS.

I CANNOT but look, with much pity, mixed with smiles, upon the vain worldling; that sets up his rest in these outward things; and so pleases himself in this condition, as if he thought no man happy but himself. How high he looks! How big he speaks! How proudly he struts! With what scorn and insultation, doth he look upon my dejectedness! The very language of his eye is no other than contempt, seeming to say, "Base Indigent, thou art stript of all thy wealth and honour: thou hast neither flocks, nor herds, nor lands, nor manors, nor bags, nor barnfuls, nor titles, nor dignities; all which I have in abundance: no man regards thy meanness; I am observed with an awful veneration." Be it so, Great Sir, think I: enjoy you your height of honour, and heaps of treasure, and ceremonies of state, while I go shrugging in a threadbare coat, and am glad to feed on single dishes, and to sleep under a thatched roof; but, let me tell you, set your all against my nothing, if you have set your heart upon these gay things: were you the heir of all the earth, I would be loth to change condition with your eminence; and will take leave to tell you, that, at your best, you shall fall within my commiseration. It is not in the power of all your earthly privileges, to render you other than a miserable vassal. If you have store of gold, alas, it is but made up into fetters and manacles; and, what is all your outward bravery, but mere matter of opinion? I shall shew you an Indian slave, that shall no less pride himself in a bracelet of glass beads, than you can in your richest jewels of rubies and diamonds. All earthly things are, as they are valued. The wise and almighty Maker of these earthen mines, esteems the best metals but as thick clay: and why should we set any other price on them, than their Creator? And, if we be wont to measure the worth of all things by their virtues, and uses, and operations; what is it, that your wealth can do? Can it free you from cares? can it lengthen your steps? can it keep you from head-aches, from gouts, dropsies, fevers, and other bodily distempers? can it ransom you from death? can it make your account easier in the great day of reckoning? Are you ever the wiser, ever the holier, ever the quieter, for that, which you have purchased with tears and blood? And, were it so precious as you imagine, what hold have you of it? what assurance to enjoy it or yourself, but one hour? As for despised me, I have wealth, that you know not of: my riches are invisible, invaluable, interminable: God all-sufficient is mine; and, with him, all things: my treasure is not locked up in earth, or in heaven; but fills both my substance is sure; not obnoxious

to plunder, or loss, or diminution: no man hath bled, no widow or orphan hath wept, for my enriching: the only difference is this; you are miserable, and think yourself happy; I am happy, whom you think miserable: however our thoughts may bear us out in both for a while, yet, at the last, except truth itself can deceive us, the issue must fall on my side. O God, be thou my portion, and the lot of mine inheritance: let the scum of the world spit in my face, as the most despicable of all creatures: I am above the despight of men and devils, and am secretly happy, and shall be eternally glorious.

XXXV.

ACCEPTATION OF DESIRES.

WHAT a comfort it is to us weak wretches, that we have to deal with a merciful God, that measures us, not by our performances, but by the truth of our desires! David had a good mind to build God a house; his hands were too bloody to lay the foundation of so holy a fabric: yet God takes it as kindly from him, as if he had finished the work; and rewards the intention of building a house to his name, with the actual building of a house to David for ever. Good Hezekiah knew how easy and welcome a suit he made, when, after all endeavours of sanctifying the people for the celebration of that great passover, he prayed, The Lord pardon every one, that prepareth his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary; 2 Chron. xxx. 18, 19. Alas, we cannot be but lame, in all our obediences. What can fall from defective causes, but imperfect effects? If we pray, we are apt to entertain unmeet notions of the Infinite Spirit to whom we address our supplications, and sudden glances of wandering thoughts: if we read or hear, we are subject to vain distractions: if we approach God's Table, our souls fail of that exact preparation and purity, wherewith they should be decked, when they come to that celestial banquet: if we do the works of justice or mercy, it is not without some light touch of self-respect; and, well may we with the blessed Apostle, The good, that I would, I do not; Rom. vii. 19: we should, therefore, find just cause of discouragement in ourselves, if our best actions were to be weighed by their own worth, and not by our better intentions: but that gracious God, who puts good desires into us, is so ready to accept of them, that he looks not so much at what we have done, as at what we wished to have done; and, without respect to our defects, crowns our good affections. All that I can say for myself, O my God, is, that the desire of my heart is to please thee in all things: my comfort then is, though my

say

abilities fail in the performance, yet thy mercies cannot fail in my acceptation.

XXXVI.

HEAVENLY JOYS.

DOUBTLESS, O God, thou, that hast given to men, even thine enemies, here upon earth, so excellent means, to please their outward senses; such beautiful faces and admirable flowers, to delight the eye; such delicate scents from their garden, to please the smell; such curious confections and delicate sauces, to please the taste; such sweet music from the birds, and artificial devices of ravishing melody from the art of man, to delight the ear; hast much more ordained transcendent pleasures and infinite contentments, for thy glorified Saints above. My soul, while it is thus clogged and confined, is too strait to conceive of those incomprehensible ways of spiritual delectation, which thou hast provided for thy dear chosen ones, triumphing with thee in thy heaven. Oh, teach me to wonder at that, which I cannot here attain to know; and to long for that happiness, which I there hope to enjoy with thee for ever.

XXXVII.

MIXED CONTENTMENTS.

WHAT a fool were I, if I should think to find that, which Solomon could not; contentment upon earth! His greatness, wealth, and wisdom gave him opportunity to search, where my impotency is shut out: were there any thing under heaven free from vanity and vexation, his curious inquisition could not have missed it. No, alas, all our earthly contentments are like a Jewish Passover, which we must eat with sour herbs. Have I wealth? I cannot be void of cares: have I honour? I cannot be rid of envy: have I knowledge? He, that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow; saith the kingly Preacher have I children? it were strange, if without crosses: have I pleasures? not without sting: have I health? not without the threats of disease: have I full diet? not without the inconveniences of satiety have I beauty? not without a snare to my soul. Thus it is, in all our sublunary comforts: I cannot have the rose, but I must be content with the prickles. Pure and absolute pleasure dwells elsewhere, far above the reach of this vale of misery. O God, give me to seek it there only; not without a contemptuous neglect of all those deceitful vanities, which would withdraw my soul from thee: and there let me find it, while I am here, by faith; when I remove hence, by personal fruition. In the mean time, let me take what thou givest me with patience

and thankfulness; thankfulness for the meat, and patience with the sauce.

XXXVIII.

TRUE WEALTH.

O

ALL a man's wealth, or poverty, is within himself: it is not the outward abundance or want, that can make the difference. Let a man be never so rich in estate, yet if his heart be not satisfied, but he is still whining, and scraping, and pining for more, that man is miserably poor: all his bags cannot make him other, than a stark beggar. On the other side, give me a man of small means, whose mind is thoroughly content with a little, and enjoys his pittance with a quiet and thankful heart, that man is exceeding rich all the world cannot rob him of his wealth. It is not having, by which we can measure riches; but enjoying. The earth hath all treasures in it, yet no man styles it rich. Of these, which the world call goods of fortune, only opinion sets the value. Gold and silver would be metals, whether we think them so, or not: they would not be riches, if men's conceit and institution did not make them such. my soul, be not thou carried away with the common error, to covet and admire those things, which have no true worth in themselves if both the Indies were thine, thou shouldst be no whit the wealthier: labour for those riches, whereby thy stock may be advanced. The great Lord of All, who knows best where his wealth lies, and where thou shouldst hoard up thine, hath told thee, where to seek it, where to lay it: Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven; Matt. vi. 19, 20. There, thou shalt be sure to find it entire; free from plunder, and all danger of diminution. O God, give me to covet, that my mind may be rich in knowledge; that my soul may be rich in grace; that my heart may be rich in true contentation: as for this pelf of the world, let it make them miserable, that admire it.

XXXIX.

FALSE LIGHT.

LOOKING forth, one starry evening, my eye met with a glorious light, that seemed fairer than its fellows. While I was studying what planet it might be, it suddenly glided down, and vanished. O God, how can we hope to avoid delusions upon earth, when even the face of heaven may thus deceive us? It is no otherwise in the firmament of the Church: how many have there been, that have seemed eternally fixed in that high

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