arch of Babylon, for seven years together as a beast to converse with the beasts of the fields! yet, alas, beasts and men are fellow-creatures; made of one earth; drawing in the same air; returning, for their bodily part, to the same dust; symbolizing in many qualities, and in some mutually transcending each others' so as here may seem to be some terms of a tolerable proportion; since many men are in disposition too like unto beasts, and some beasts are in outward shape somewhat like unto men but for him that was, and is, God blessed for ever, Eternal, Infinite, Incomprehensible, to put on flesh, and become a man amongst men, was to stoop below all possible disparities that heaven and earth can afford. O Saviour, the lower thine abasement was for us, the higher was the pitch of thy divine love to us.

SECT. V.

His love, in his sufferings.

YET, in this our human condition, there are degrees: one rules and glitters in all earthly glory; another sits despised in the dust: one passes the time of his life in much jollity and pleasure; another wears out his days in sorrow and discontentment. Blessed Jesu, since thou wouldest be a man, why wouldest thou not be the King of Men? since thou wouldest come down to our earth, why wouldest thou not enjoy the best entertainment the earth could yield thee? yea, since thou, who art the Eternal Son of God, wouldest be the Son of Man, why didst thou not appear in a state like to the King of Heaven, attended with the glorious retinue of angels? O yet greater wonder of mercies, the same infinite love, that brought thee down to the form of man, would also bring thee down, being man, to the form of a servant! So didst thou love man, that thou wouldest take part with him of his misery, that he might take part with thee of thy blessedness: thou wouldest be poor, to enrich us: thou wouldest be burthened, for our ease; tempted, for our victory; despised, for our glory.

With what less than ravishment of spirit can I behold thee, who wert from everlasting clothed with glory and majesty, wrapped in rags! thee, who fillest heaven and earth with the majesty of thy glory, cradled in a manger! thee, who art the God of Power, fleeing in thy mother's arms from the rage of a weak man! thee, who art the God of Israel, driven to be nursed out of the bosom of thy Church! thee, who madest the heaven of heavens, busily working in the homely trade of a fosterfather! thee, who commandest the devils to their chains, transported and tempted with that foul spirit! thee, who art God all-sufficient, exposed to hunger, thirst, weariness, danger, con

tempt, poverty, revilings, scourgings, persecution! thee, who art the just Judge of all the World, accused and condemned! thee, who art the Lord of Life, dying upon the tree of shame and curse! thee, who art the Eternal Son of God, struggling with thy Father's wrath! thee, who hast said, I and my Father are one, sweating drops of blood in thine agony; and crying out on the cross, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? thee, who hast the keys of hell and of death, lying sealed up in another man's grave!

O Saviour, whither hath thy love to mankind carried thee? What sighs, and groans, and tears, and blood hast thou spent upon us wretched men! How dear a price hast thou paid for our ransom! What raptures of spirit can be sufficient, for the admiration of thy so infinite mercy? Be thou swallowed up, O my soul, in this depth of divine love; and hate to spend thy thoughts any more upon the base objects of this wretched world, when thou hast such a Saviour to take them up.

SECT. VI.

His Love, in preparing Heaven for us.

BUT, O blessed Jesu, if, from what thou hast suffered for me, I shall cast mine eyes upon what thou hast done for my soul, how is my heart divided betwixt the wonders of both! and may as soon tell how great either of them is, as whether of them is the greatest.

It is in thee, that I was elected from all eternity; and ordained to a glorious inheritance, before there was a world. We are wont, O God, to marvel at and bless thy provident beneficence to the first man; that, before thou wouldest bring him forth into the world, thou wert pleased to furnish such a world for him; so goodly a house over his head; so pleasant a paradise under his feet; such variety of creatures round about him, for his subjection and attendance. But how should I magnify thy mercy, who, before that man or that world had any being, hast so far loved me, as to pre-ordain me to a place of blessedness, in that heaven which should be; and to make me a coheir with my Christ of thy glory!

And oh, what a heaven is this, that thou hast laid out for me; how resplendent, how transcendently glorious! Even that lower paradise, which thou providedst for the harbour of innocence and holiness, was full of admirable beauty, pleasure, magnificence; but, if it be compared with this paradise above, which thou hast prepared for the everlasting entertainment of restored souls, how mean and beggarly it was! O match too unequal, of the best piece of earth with the highest state of the heaven of heavens!

In the earthly paradise, I find thine angels, the Cherubim;

but it was to keep man off from that garden of delight, and from the Tree of Life in the midst of it: but, in this heavenly one, I find millions of thy Cherubim and Seraphim rejoicing at man's blessedness, and welcoming the glorified souls to their heaven. There, I find but the shadow of that, whereof the substance is here. There, we were so possessed of life, that yet we might forfeit it: here, is life, without all possibility of death. Temptation could find access thither: here, is nothing but a free and complete fruition of blessedness. There, were delights fit for earthly bodies: here, is glory, more than can be enjoyed of blessed souls. That was watered with four streams, muddy and impetuous: in this, is the pure river of the water of life, clear as chrystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. Rev. xxii. 1. There, I find thee only walking in the cool of the day: here, manifesting thy Majesty continually. There, I see only a most pleasant orchard", set with all manner of varieties of flourishing and fruitful plants: here, I find also the city of God, infinitely rich and magnificent; the building of the wall of it of jasper; and the city itself pure gold, like unto clear glass; and the foundations of the wall garnished with all manner of precious stones.

All, that I can here attain to see, is the pavement of thy celestial habitation. And, Lord, how glorious it is! how bespangled with the glittering stars; for number, for magnitude equally admirable! What is the least of them, but a world of light? and what are all of them, but a confluence of so many thousand worlds of beauty and brightness, met in one firmament? And, if this floor of thy heavenly palace be thus richly set forth, oh, how infinite glory and magnificence must there needs be within! Thy Chosen Vessel, that had the privilege to be caught up thither, and to see that divine state, whether with bodily or mental eyes, can express it no otherwise, than that it cannot possibly be expressed. No, Lord, it were not infinite, if it could be uttered. Thoughts go beyond words; yet even these come far short also. He, that saw it, says, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things, which God hath prepared for them that love him. 1 Cor. ii. 9.

SECT. VII.

His Love, in our Redemption from death and hell.

Yet is thy love, O Saviour, so much more to be magnified of me, in this purchased glory; when I cast down mine eyes, and

a Gardens in general were formerly so called.-CATTERMOLE.

look into that horrible gulf of torment and eternal death, whence thou hast rescued my poor soul.

Even out of the greatest contentment which this world is capable to afford unto mankind, to be preferred to the joys of heaven, is an unconceivable advantage; but, from the depth of misery to be raised up unto the highest pitch of felicity, adds so much more to the blessing, as the evil from which we are delivered is more intolerable.

O Blessed Jesu, what a hell is this, out of which thou hast freed me! what dreadful horror is here! what darkness! what confusion! what anguish of souls, that would, and cannot die! what howling, and yelling, and shrieking, and gnashing! what everlasting burnings! what never slaking tortures! what merciless fury of unweariable tormentors! what utter despair of any possibility of release! what exquisiteness, what infiniteness of pains, that cannot, yet must be endured!

O God, if the impotent displeasure of weak men have devised so subtle engines of revenge upon their fellow-mortals, for but petty offences; how can we but think thine infinite justice and wisdom must have ordained such forms and ways of punishment, for heinous sins done against thee, as may be answerable to the violation of thy Divine Majesty? Oh, therefore, the most fearful and deplored condition of damned spirits, never to be ended, never to be abated! Oh, those unquenchable flames; Oh, that burning Tophet, deep and large; and those streams of brimstone, wherewith it is kindled! Oh, that worm ever gnawing and tearing the heart; never dying, never sated! O ever-living death; O ever-renewing torments; O never pitied, never intermitted damnation!

From hence, O Saviour, from hence it is, that thou hast fetched my condemned soul. This is the place, this is the state, out of which thou hast snatched me up into thy heaven. O love and mercy, more deep than those depths, from which thou hast saved me; more high than that heaven, to which thou hast advanced me!

SECT. VIII.

Christ's Love, in giving us the Guard of his Angels.

Now, whereas in my passage from this state of death towards the fruition of immortal glory, I am waylaid by a world of dangers; partly, through my own sinful aptness to miscarriages; and, partly, through the assaults of my spiritual enemies; how hath thy tender love and compassion, O blessed Jesu, undertaken to secure my soul from all these deadly perils; both without, and within: without, by the guardiance of thy blessed an

gels; within, by the powerful inoperation of thy good Spirit which thou hast given me!

Oh, that mine eyes could be opened, with Elisha's servant, that I might see those troops of heavenly soldiers, those horses and chariots of fire, wherewith thou hast encompassed me! every one of which is able to chase away a whole host of the powers of darkness.

Who am I, Lord, who am I, that, upon thy gracious appointment, these glorious spirits should still watch over me, in mine uprising and down lying; in my going out and coming in? that they should bear me in their arms; that they should shield me with their protection? Behold, such is their majesty and glory, that some of thy holiest servants have hardly been restrained from worshipping them: yet, so great is thy love to man, as that thou hast ordained them to be ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation. Heb. i. 14. Surely, they are in nature far more excellent than man; as being spiritual substances, pure intelligencers, meet to stand before the throne of thee the King of Glory: what a mercy then is this, that thou, who wouldest humble thyself to be lower than they in the susception of our nature, art pleased to humble them in their offices to the guardianship of man, so far as to call them the angels of thy little ones upon earth! How hast thou blessed us; and how should we bless thee, in so mighty and glorious attendants!

SECT. IX.

His Love, in giving us his Holy Spirit.

Neither hast thou, O God, merely turned us over to the protection of those tutelary spirits; but hast held us still in thine own hand having not so strongly defenced us without, as thou hast done within: since that, is wrought by thine angels; this, by the Spirit.

O the sovereign and powerful influences of thy Holy Ghost: whereby we are furnished with all saving graces; strengthened against all temptations; heartened against all our doubts and fears; enabled both to resist and overcome; and, upon our victories, crowned!

O divine bounty, far beyond the reach of wonder! So God, the Father, loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. John iii. 16. So God, the Son, loved the world of his elect, that he gave unto them the Holy Spirit of promise; whereby they are sealed unto the day of redemption; whereby, according to the riches of his glory, they are strengthened with might in the inner man; by the virtue whereof shed abroad in