necks of mine enemies." Glory and praise be to thee, O Lord, "which always causest us to triumph in Christ; who crownest us with loving kindness and tender mercies ;" and hast not held us short of the best of thy favours.

Truly, Lord, hadst thou given us but a mere being, as thou hast done to the lowest rank of thy creatures, it had been more than thou owest us, more than ever we could be able to requite to thy divine bounty; for every being is good, and the least degree of good is far above our worthiness.

But that to our being thou hast added life, is yet a higher measure of thy mercy; for certainly, of thy common favours, life is the most precious.

Yet this is such a benefit as may be had and not perceived; for even the plants of the earth live and feel it it not. That to our life, therefore, thou hast made a further accession of sense, is yet a larger improvement of thy beneficence; for this faculty hath some power to manage life, and makes it capable to affect those means which may tend to the preservation of it, and to decline the contrary.

But this is no other than the brute creatures enjoy equally with us, and some of them beyond us. That, therefore, to our sense thou hast blessed us with a further addition of reason, is yet a higher pitch of munificence; for hereby we are men, and, as such, are able to attain some knowledge of thee our Creator, to observe the motions of the heavens, to search into the natures of our fellow-creatures, to pass judgment upon actions and events and to transact these earthly affairs to our own best advantage.

But when all this is done, woe were to us, if we were but men! for our corrupted reason renders us, of all creatures, the most miserable. That, therefore, to our reason thou hast superadded faith; to our nature, grace; and, of men, hast made us Christians; and to us, as such, hast given thy Christ, thy Spirit; and thereby made us, of enemies, sons and heirs, co-heirs with Christ of thine eternal and most glorious kingdom of heaven; yea, hast incorporated us into thyself, and made us one spirit with

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thee our God-Lord, what room can there possibly be, i these strait and narrow hearts of ours, for a due admiration of thy transcendent love and mercy?

I am swallowed up, O God, I am willingly swallowed up, in this bottomless abyss of thine infinite love: and there let me dwell, in a perpetual ravishment of spirit, till, being freed from this clog of earth and filled with the fulness of Christ, I shall be admitted to enjoy that which I cannot now reach to wonder at, thine incomprehensible bliss and glory which thou hast laid up in the highest heavens for them that love thee, in the blessed communion of all thy saints and angels, thy cherubim and seraphim, thrones, dominions, and principalities, and powers; in the beatifical presence of thee, the ever-living God, the eternal Father of spirits, Father, Son, Holy Ghost, one infinite Deity in three co-essentially, co-eternally, co-equally glorious Persons: To whom be blessing, honour, glory, and power, for ever and ever. Amen. Hallelujah.

MEDITATIONS AND VOWS,

DIVINE AND MORAL.

CENTURY I.

I.-IN meditation, those who begin heavenly thoughts and prosecute them not, are like those who kindle a fire under green wood, and leave it as soon as it but begins to flame; losing the hope of a good beginning, for want of seconding it with a suitable proceeding. When I set myself to meditate, I will not give over till I come to an issue. It hath been said by some, that the beginning is as much as the midst, yea, more than all; but I say, the ending is more than the beginning.

II. There is nothing, but man, that respecteth greatness; not God, not nature, not disease, not death, not judgment. Not God; he is no excepter of persons. Not nature; we see the sons of princes born as naked, as the poorest; and the poor child as fair, well-favoured, strong, witty, as the heir of nobles. Not disease, death, judgment; men sicken alike, die alike, fare alike after death. There is nothing, besides natural men, of whom goodness is not respected. I will honour greatness in others; but as for myself, I will esteem a dram of goodness worth a whole world of greatness.

III. As there is a foolish wisdom, so there is a wise ignorance, in not prying into God's ark, not enquiring into things not revealed. I would fain know all that I need, and all that I may. I leave God's secrets to himself. It is happy for me, that God makes me of his court, though not of his council.

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IV. As there is no vacuity in nature, no more is there spiritually. Every vessel is full, if not of liquor, yet of So is the heart of man. Though by nature it is empty of grace, yet it is full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Now, as it filleth with grace, so it is emptied of its evil qualities as in a vessel, so much water as goes in, so much air goes out. But man's heart is a narrow-mouthed vessel, and receives grace but by drops; and therefore asks a long time to empty and fill. Now as there be differences in degrees, and one heart is nearer to fulness than another, so the best vessel is not quite full while it is in the body, because there are still remainders of corruption. I will neither be content with that measure of grace I have, nor impatient of God's delay; but every day I will endeavour to have one drop added to the rest; so my last day shall fill up my vessel to the brim.

V. Satan would seem to be mannerly and reasonable, making as if he would be content with one half of the heart; whereas God challengeth all or none: as indeed he hath most reason to claim all, that made all. But this is nothing but a crafty fetch of Satan; for he knows, that if he have any part, God will have none; so the whole falleth to his share alone. My heart, when it is both whole and at the best, is but a strait and unworthy lodging for God. If it were bigger and better, I would reserve it all for him. Satan may look in at my doors by a temptation, but he shall not have so much as one chamber-room set apart for him to sojourn in.

VI. I see that, in natural motions, the nearer any thing comes to its end, the swifter it moveth. I have seen great rivers, which, at their first rising out of some hill's side, might be covered with a bushel; which, after many miles, fill a very broad channel; and, drawing near to the sea, do even make a little sea in their own banks: so the wind, at the first rising, is a little vapour from the crannies of the earth, and, passing forward about the earth, the further it goes, the more blustering and violent it waxeth. A Christian's motion, after he is regenerate, is made natural to God-ward; and therefore the nearer he comes to heaven, the more zealous he is. A good man must be like the sun; not like Hezekiah's sun, that went back

ward, nor like Joshua's sun that stood still; but David's sun that, like a bridegroom, comes out of his chamber, and, as a champion, rejoiceth to run his race. Only herein is the difference, that when he comes to his high noon, he declineth not. However therefore the mind, in her natural faculties, follows the temperature of the body, yet in these supernatural things, she quite crosses it; for with the coldest complexion of age is joined, in those that are truly religious, the most fervent zeal and affection to good things; which is therefore the more reverenced and better acknowledged, because it cannot be ascribed to the hot spirits of youth. The devil himself devised that old slander of early holiness, "A young saint, an old devil." Sometimes, young devils have proved old saints; never the contrary; but true saints in youth do always prove angels in their age. I will strive to be ever good; but if I should not find myself best at last, I should fear I was never good at all.

VII. Consent hearteneth sin, which a little dislike would have daunted at first. As we say, "There would be no thieves, if no receivers;" so would there not be so many mouths open to detract and slander, if there were not as many open ears to entertain them. If I cannot stop other men's mouths from speaking ill, I will either open my mouth to reprove it, or else I will stop mine ears from hearing it; and let the slanderer see in my face, that he hath no room in my heart.

VIII. I have oft wondered how fishes can retain their fresh taste, and yet live in salt waters; since I see that every other thing participates of the nature of the place wherein it abides: so the waters, passing through the channels of the earth, vary their savour with the veins of soil through which they slide: so brute creatures, transported from one region to another, alter their former quality, and degenerate by little and little. The like danger have I seen in the manners of men, conversing with evil companions in corrupt places; for, besides that it blemishes our reputation and makes us thought ill though we be good, it breeds in us an insensible declination to ill; and works in us, if not an approbation, yet a less dislike of those sins, to which our ears and eyes are