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fruits, is there; what beast, what worm, wherein we may not see the footsteps of a Deity, wherein we may not read infiniteness of power, of skill, and must be forced to confess, that he which made the angels and stars of heaven, made also the vermin on the earth? O God, the heart of man is too strait to admire enough even that which he treads upon! What shall we say to thee, the Maker of all these? O Lord, how wonderful are thy works in all the world! in wisdom hast thou made them all: and in all these thou spakest, and they were done. Thy will is thy word, and thy word is thy deed. Our tongue, and hand, and heart are different: all are one in thee, which art simply one, and infinite. Here needed no helps, no instruments: what could be present with the Eternal? What needed, or what could be added to the Infinite? Thine hand is not shortened, thy word is still equally effectual: say thou the word, and my soul shall be made new again; say thou the word, and my body shall be repaired from his dust: for all things obey thee. O Lord, why do I not yield to the word of thy counsel; since I must yield, as all thy creatures, to the word of thy command?

CONTEMPLATION II.-OF MAN.

names from man. How should we be con
secrated to thee above all others, since thou
hast bestowed more cost on us than others!
What shall I admire first? thy providence
in the time of our creation; or thy power
and wisdom in the act? First, thou madest
the great house of the world, and furnish-
edst it; then thou broughtest in thy tenant
to possess it. The bare walls had been
too good for us, but thy love was above
our desert: thou, that madest ready the
earth for us before we were, hast, by the
same mercy, prepared a place in heaven
for us, while we are on earth.
The stage
was first fully prepared, then was man
brought forth thither, as an actor, or spec-
tator, that he might neither be idle nor
discontent. Behold, thou hadst addressed
an earth for use, an heaven for contempla-
tion. After thou hadst drawn that large
and real map of the world, thou didst thus
abridge it into this little table of man: he
alone consists of heaven and earth, soul
and body. Even this earthly part, which
is vile in comparison of the other, as it
is thine, O God, I dare admire it, though
I can neglect it as mine own; for, lo! this
heap of earth hath an outward reference
to heaven. Other creatures grovel down
to their earth, and have all their senses
intent upon it; this is reared up towards
heaven, and hath no more power to look
beside heaven than to tread beside the
earth. Unto this, every part hath his
wonder. The head is nearest to heaven,
as in place, so in resemblance, both for
roundness of figure, and for those divine
guests which have their seat in it: There
dwell those majestical powers of reason,
which make a man; all the senses, as they
have their original from thence, so they do
all agree there to manifest their virtue. How
goodly proportions hast thou set in the
face! such as, though ofttimes we can give
no reason when they please, yet transport
us to admiration. What living glasses are
those which thou hast placed in the midst
of this visage, whereby all objects from
far are clearly represented to the mind! and
because their tenderness lies open to dan-

BUT, O God! what a little lord hast thou made over this great world? The least corn of sand is not so small to the whole earth, as man is to the heaven. When I see the heavens, the sun, moon, and stars, O God, what is man? Who would think thou shouldst make all these creatures for one, and that one well-near the least of all? Yet none but he can see what thou hast done; none but he can admire and adore thee in what he seeth: How had he need to do nothing but this, since he alone must do it! Certainly the price and virtue of things consist not in the quantity: one diamond is worth more than many quarries of stone; one loadstone hath more virtue than mountains of earth. It is lawful for us to praise thee in our-gers, how hast thou defenced them with selves. All thy creation hath not more wonder in it, than one of us: other creatures thou madest by a simple command; MAN, not without a divine consultation ;others at once; man thou didst first form, then inspire others in several shapes, like to none but themselves; man, after thine own image: -others with qualities fit for service; man, for dominion. Man had his name from thee; they had their

hollow bones, and with prominent brows, and lids! and lest they should be too much bent on what they ought not, thou hast given them peculiar nerves to pull them up towards the seat of their rest. What a tongue hast thou given him; the instrument not of taste only, but of speech! how sweet and excellent voices are formed by that little loose film of flesh! what an incredible strength hast thou given to the

thoughts upon thee, who alone created them in their infusion, and infused them in their creation? How should they long to return back to the fountain of their being, and author of being glorious? Why may we not say, that this soul, as it came from thee, so it is like thee? As thou, so it is one, immaterial, immortal, understanding spirit, distinguished into three powers, which all make up one spirit. So thou, the wise Creator of all things, wouldst have some things to resemble their Creator. These other creatures are all body; man is body and spirit. The angels are all spirit, not without a kind of spiritual composition: thou art alone after thine own manner, simple, glorious, infinite: no creature can be like thee in thy proper being, because it is a creature. How should our finite, weak, compounded nature, give any perfect resemblance of thine? Yet of all visible creatures, thou vouchsafest man the nearest correspondence to thee: not so much in the natural faculties, as in those divine graces, wherewith thou beautifiest his soul.

weak bones of the jaws! what a comely | rise up to thee, and fix themselves in their and tower-like neck, therefore most sinewy because smallest! and lest I be infinite, what able arms and active hands hast thou framed him, whereby he can frame all things to his own conceit! In every part, beauty, strength, convenience meet together. Neither is there any whereof our weakness cannot give reason why it should be no otherwise. How hast thou disposed of all the inward vessels, for all offices of life, nourishment, digestion, generation! No vein, sinew, artery, is idle. There is no piece in this exquisite frame, whereof the place, use, form, doth not admit wonder, and exceed it. Yet this body, if it be compared to the soul, what is it, but as a clay wall that encompasses a treasure; as a wooden box of a jeweller; as a coarse case to a rich instrument; or as a mask to a beautiful face? Man was made last, because he was worthiest. The soul was inspired last, because yet more noble. If the body have this honour to be the companion of the soul, yet withal it is the drudge. If it be the instrument, yet also the clog of that divine part, the companion for life, the drudge for service, the instrument for action, the clog in respect of contemplation. These external works are effected by it; the internal, which are more noble, hindered; contrary to the bird, which sings most in her cage, but flies most and highest at liberty. This my soul teaches me of itself, that itself cannot conceive, how capable, how active it is. It can pass by her nimble thoughts from heaven to earth in a moment: it can be all things, can comprehend all things; know that which is, and conceive that which never was, never shall be. Nothing can fill it, but thou which art infinite; nothing can limit it, but thou which art everywhere. O God, which madest it, replenish it, possess it, dwell thou in it, which hast appointed it to dwell in clay. The body was made of earth common to his fellows; the soul inspired immediately from God. The body lay senseless upon the earth like itself: the breath of life gave it what it is, and that breath was from thee. Sense, motion, reason, are infused into it at once. From whence then was this quickening breath? No air, no earth, no water, was here used to give help to this work. Thou that breathedst upon man, and gavest him the Holy Spirit, didst also breathe upon the body, and gavest it a living spirit. We are beholden to nothing but thee for our soul. Our flesh is from flesh; our spirit is from the God of spirits How should our souls

Our knowledge, holiness, righteousness, was like the first copy from which they were drawn. Behold, we were not more like thee in these, than now we are unlike ourselves in their loss. O God, we now praise ourselves to our shame, for the better we were, we are the worse; as the sons of some prodigal, or tainted ancestors, tell of the lands and lordships which were once theirs. Only do thou whet our desires, answerably to the readiness of thy mercies, that we may redeem what we have lost; that we may recover in thee, what we have lost in ourselves. The fault shall be ours, if our damage prove not beneficial.

I do not find that man, thus framed, found the want of an helper. His fruition of God gave him fulness of contentment: the sweetness which he found in the contemplation of this new workmanship, and the glory of the Author, did so take him up, that he had neither leisure nor cause of complaint. If man had craved an helper, he had grudged at the condition of his creation, and had questioned that which he had, perfection of being. But he that gave him his being, and knew him better than himself, thinks of giving him comfort in the creature, while he sought none but in his Maker. He sees our wants, and forecasts our relief, when we think ourselves too happy to complain. How ready will he be to help our necessities, that thus provides for our perfection!

God gives the nature to his creatures;

man must give the name; that he might see they were made for him, they shall be to him what he will. Instead of their first homage, they are presented to their new lord, and must see of whom they hold. He that was so careful of man's sovereignty in his innocence, how can he be careless of his safety in his renovation?

If God had given them their names, it had not been so great a praise of Adam's memory to recall them, as it was now of his judgment (at first sight) to impose them: he saw the inside of all the creatures at first, (his posterity sees but their skins ever since;) and by this knowledge he fitted their names to their dispositions. All that he saw were fit to be his servants, none to be his companions. The same God that finds the want, supplies it. Rather than man's innocency shall want an outward comfort, God will begin a new creation: not out of the earth, which was the matter of man; not out of the inferior creatures, which were the servants of man; but out of himself, for dearness, for equality. Doubtless, such was man's power of obedience, that if God had bidden him yield up his rib, waking, for his use, he had done it cheerfully but the bounty of God was so absolute, that he would not so much as consult with man's will, to make him happy. As man knew not while he was made, so shall he not know while his other self is made out of him: that the comfort might be greater, which was seen before it was expected.

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If the woman should have been made, not without the pain or will of the man, she might have been upbraided with her dependence and obligation. Now she owes nothing but to her Creator; the rib of Adam sleeping can challenge no more of her than the earth can of him. It was an happy change to Adam of a rib for an helper; what help did that bone give to his side! God had not made it, if it had been superfluous and yet if man could not have been perfect without it, it had not been taken

out.

Many things are useful and convenient, which are not necessary; and if God had seen man might not want it, how easy had it been for him, which made the woman of that bone, to turn the flesh into another bone! but he saw man could not complain of the want of that bone, which he had so multiplied, so animated.

O God, we can never be losers by thy changes; we have nothing but what is thine. Take from us thine own, when thou wilt: we are sure thou canst not but give us better.

CONTEMPLATION III.-OF PARADISE.

MAN could no sooner see, than he saw himself happy: his eye-sight and reason were both perfect at once, and the objects of both were able to make him as happy as he would. When he first opened his eyes, he saw heaven above him, earth under him, the creatures around him, God before him; he knew what all these things meant, as if he had been long acquainted with them all. He saw the heavens glorious, but afar off: his Maker thought it requisite to fit him with a paradise nearer home. If God had appointed him immediately to heaven, his body had been superfluous; it was fit his body should be answered with an earthen image of that heaven, which was for his soul. Had man been made only for contemplation, it would have served as well to have been placed in some vast desert, on the top of some barren mountain; but the same power which gave him a heart to meditate, gave him hands to work, and work fit for his hands. Neither was it the purpose of the Creator, that man should but live. Pleasure may stand with innocence. He that rejoiced to see all he had made to be good, rejoiceth to see all that he hath made to be well. God loves to see his creatures happy; cur lawful delight is his: they know not God, that think to please him with making themselves miserable.

The idolaters thought it a fit service for Baal, to cut and lance themselves: never any holy man looked for thanks from the true God by wronging himself. Every earth was not fit for Adam, but a garden, a paradise. What excellent pleasures, and rare varieties, have men found in gardens, planted by the hands of men! and yet all the world of men cannot make one twig, or leaf, or spire of grass. When he that made the matter undertakes the fashion, how must it needs be, beyond our capacity, excellent! No herb, no flower, no tree, was wanting there, that might be for ornament or use: whether for sight, or for scent, or for taste. The bounty of God wrought further than to necessity, even to comfort and recreation : Why are we niggardly to ourselves, when God is liberal? But for all this, if God had not there conversed with man, no abundance could have made him blessed.

Yet, behold! that which was man's storehouse, was also his work-house; his pleasure was his task: paradise served not only to feed his senses, but to exercise his hands. If happiness had consisted in doing nothing,

man had not been employed; all his delights could not have made him happy in an idle life. Man therefore is no sooner made, than he is set to work: neither greatness nor perfection can privilege a folded hand; ne must labour because he was happy; how much more we, that we may be! This first labour of his was, as without necessity, so without pains, without weariness: How much more cheerfully we go about our businesses, so much nearer we come to our paradise.

Neither did these trees afford him only action for his hands, but instruction to his heart; for here he saw God's sacraments grow before him: all other trees had a natural use; these two in the midst of the garden a spiritual. Life is the act of the soul, knowledge the life of the soul; the tree of knowledge, and the tree of life, then, were ordained as earthly helps of the spiritual part. Perhaps he which ordained the end, immortality of life, did appoint this fruit as the means of that life. It is not for us to inquire after the life we had, and the means we should have had. I am sure it served to nourish the soul by a lively representation of that living tree, whose fruit is eternal life, and whose leaves serve to heal the nations.

O infinite mercy! man saw his Saviour before him, ere he had need of a Saviour: he saw in whom he should recover an heavenly life, ere he lost the earthly. But after he had tasted of the tree of knowledge, he might not taste of the tree of life; that immortal food was not for a mortal stomach: yet then did he most savour that invisible tree of life, when he was most restrained from the other.

O Saviour! none but a sinner can relish thee; my taste hath been enough seasoned with the forbidden fruit, to make it capable of thy sweetness; sharpen thou as well the stomach of my soul by repenting; by believing, so shall I eat, and, in despite of Adam, live for ever. The one tree was for confirmation, the other for trial; one showed him what life he should have, the other what knowledge he should not desire to have. Alas! he that knew all other things, knew not this one thing, that he knew enough: how divine a thing is knowledge, whereof even innocency itself is ambitious! Satan knew what he did: if this bait had been gold, or honour, or pleasure, man had contemned it: who can hope to avoid error, when even man's perfection is mistaken? He looked for speculative knowledge; he should have looked for experimental: he thought it had been good

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to know evil; good was large enough to have perfected his knowledge, and therein his blessedness.

All that God made was good, and the Maker of them much more good; they good in their kinds, he good in himself. It would not content him to know God and his creatures; his curiosity affected to know that which God never made, evil of sin, and the evil of death, which indeed himself made by desiring to know them: now we know evil well enough, and smart with knowing it. How dear hath this lesson cost us, that in some cases it is better to be ignorant! and yet do the sons of Eve inherit this saucy appetite of their grandmother: how many thousand souls miscarry with the presumptuous affectation of forbidden knowledge!

O God, thou hast revealed more than we can know, enough to make us happy; teach me a sober knowledge and a contented ignorance.

Paradise was made for man, yet there I see the serpent: what marvel is it, if my corruption find the serpent in my closet, in my table, in my bed, when our holy parents found him in the midst of paradise? No sooner he is entered but he tempteth; he can no more be idle than harmless. I da not see him at any other tree; he knew there was no danger in the rest: I see him at the tree forbidden. How true a serpent he is in every point! in his insinuation to the place, in his choice of the tree, in his assault of the woman, in his plausibleness of speech to avoid terror, in his question to move doubt, in his reply to work distrust, in his protestation of safety, in his suggestion to envy and discontent, in his promise of gain!

And if he was so cunning at the first, what shall we think of him now, after so many thousand years' experience? Only thou, O God! and these angels that see thy face, are wiser than he. I do not ask why, when he left his goodness, thou didst not bereave him of his skill: still thou wouldst have him an angel, though an evil one; and thou knowest how to ordain his craft to thine own glory. I do not desire thee to abate of his subtilty, but to make me wise: let me beg it, without presumption, make me wiser than Adam. Even thine image which he bore, made him not (through his own weaknesss) wise enough to obey thee: thou offeredst him all fruits, and restrainedst but one; Satan offered him but one, and restrained not the rest. When he chose rather to be at Satan's feeding than thine, it was just with thee to

turn him out of thy gates with a curse: why shouldst thou feed a rebel at thine own board?

And yet we transgress daily, and thou shuttest not heaven against us: how is it that we find more mercy than our forefather? His strength is worthy of severity, our weakness finds pity. That God, from whose face he fled in the garden, now makes him with shame to flee out of the garden: those angels that should have kept him, now keep the gates of paradise against him. It is not so easy to recover happiness, as to keep it or lose it; yea, the same cause that drave man from paradise hath also withdrawn paradise from the world.

That fiery sword did not defend it against those waters wherewith the sins of men drowned the glory of that place: neither now do I care to seek where that paradise was which we lost: I know where that paradise is, which we must care to seek, and hope to find. As ran was the image of God, so was that earthly paradise an image of heaven; both the images are defaced, both the first patterns are eternal: Adam was in the first, and stayed not: in the second, is the second Adam, which said, "This day shalt thou be with me in paradise.' There was that chosen vessel, and heard and saw what could not be expressed: by how much the third heaven exceeds the richest earth, so much doth that paradise, whereto we aspire, exceed that which we have lost.

CONTEMPLATION IV.-OF CAIN AND ABEL.

Look now, O my soul! upon the two first brethren, perhaps twins, and wonder at their contrary dispositions and estates. If the privileges of nature had been worth any thing, the first-born child should not have been a reprobate.

Now, that we may ascribe all to free grace, the elder is a murderer, the younger a saint: though goodness may be repaired in ourselves, yet it cannot be propagated to ours: now might Adam see the image of himself in Cain, for after his own image begot he him; Adam slew his posterity, Cain his brother. We are too like one another, in that wherein we are unlike to God: even the clearest grain sends forth that chaff from which it was fanned ere the sowing: yet is this Cain a possession. The same Eve that mistook the fruit of the garden, mistook also the fruit of her own body; her hope deceived her in both so, many good names are ill bestowed; and

our comfortable expectations in earthly things do not seldom disappoint us.

Doubtless their education was holy; for Adam, though in paradise he could not be innocent, yet was a good man out of paradise: his sin and fall now made him circumspect; and since he saw that his act had bereaved them of that image of God, which he once had for them, he could not but labour, by all holy endeavours, to repair it in them, that so his care might make amends for his trespass. How plain is it that even good breeding cannot alter destiny! That which is crooked, can none make straight: who would think that brethren, and but two brethren, should not love each other? Dispersed love grows weak, and fewness of objects useth to unite affections: if but two brothers be left alive of many, they think that the love of all the rest should survive in them; and now the beams of their affection are so much the hotter, because they reflect mutually in a right line upon each other: yet behold, here are but two brothers in a world, and one is the butcher of the other. Who can wonder at dissensions among thousands of brethren, when he sees so deadly opposition betwixt two, the first roots of brotherhood? Who can hope to live plausibly and securely amongst so many Cains, when he sees one Cain the death of one Abel? The same devil that set enmity betwixt man and God, sets enmity betwixt man and man; and yet God said, "I will put enmity between thy seed and her seed." Our hatred of the serpent and his seed is from God; their hatred of the holy seed is from the serpent: behold here at once, in one person, the seed of the woman and of the serpent ; Cain's natural parts are of the woman, his vicious qualities of the serpent: the woman gave him to be a brother, the serpent to be a manslayer; all uncharitableness, all quarrels are of one author: we cannot entertain wrath, and not give place to the devil. Certainly, so deadly an act must needs be deeply grounded.

What, then, was the occasion of thus capital malice? Abel's sacrifice is accepted: what was this to Cain? Cain's is rejected: what could Abel remedy this? O envy! the corrosive of all ill minds, and the root of all desperate actions. The same cause that moved Satan to tempt the first man to destroy himself and his posterity, the same moves the second man to destroy the third.

It should have been Cain's joy to see his brother accepted: it should have been his sorrow to see that himself had deserved a rejection; his brother's example should

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