* That, is of ' the Tower of London,' within which State prisoners were confined.
— Gr.
VOL. VTI. M
178 THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.
hereafter for ever, and in the mean time God considers of him as his dear son, and it is no matter how high or low he is in the subsidy"' book.
If we see ill men therefore advanced, and scandalous men insult, let us enter into the sanctuary, and then wc shall see their end to be cursing ; and feed we ourselves with meditations, by f[iith seeing ourselves sitting in judgment on these wicked men. For God's truth and justice will not always sufler these men to rufile,t for then the devil would be a better master than Christ. And for the present times, do we see that wicked men prevails and increases, take no scandal at it. We know we have as great promises as the Jews ever had ; though by these trials God doth purge and quicken his church, it will not always be thus. The beast is going to destruction. They may serve for a while as scouring stuff to purge the church, or as horse-leeches to suck the corrupt blood of the church, and when this work is done, they shall be thrown on the dunghill. It will be thus ere long. * Babylon is fallen ; ' and as Christ out of his deep and basest abasement under death did rise to the highest pitch of glory, so his enemy antichrist contrarily, when he is most high and lifted up, shall suddenly and irrecoverably come tumbling down, and at the judgment day shall be more despicable and confounded. He shall be cast into the lake of fii'e bui-ning with brimstone, Rev. xix. 20. Amen !
* That is, ' the tax-book,' = how great or how small his income is. — G. t See our Glossary, sub voce. — G.
DIVINE MEDITATIONS AND HOLY CONTEMPLATIONS.
DIVINE MEDITATIONS AND HOLY CONTEMPLATIONS.
NOTE.
The ' Divine Meditations and Holy Contemplations ' appeared originally in a small volume (18mo.), published in 1638, having a finely-engraved title-page. A second edition was issued in 1651, and a third in 1658. The last is our text, and its title-page will be found below.* These ' Meditations ' seem to have been taken from Sibbes's Commonplace book, or from his lips as they occurred in his Sermons, as many of them will be found scattered up and down his writings. G.
* DIVINE
MEDITATIONS
And
HOLY
Contemplations
BY
That Eeverend Divine, R. SIBBES D.D. Master of Catherine Hall in Cam- bridge, and sometimes Preacher of Graves Inne in LONDON.
The third Edition Corrected.
LONDON,
Printed for Simon 3Iiller at the Starre in
S* Pauls Church-yard, near the
West end. 1658.
TO THE CHEISTIAN EEADEE.
CouBTEous Reader, — Thou hast here meditation upon meditation offered to thy consideration, as a help to thee when thou art privately alone.
As sweet spices yield small savour until they are beaten to powder, so the wonderful works of God are either not at all, or very slightly smelled in the nostrils of man, who is of a dull sense, unless they be rubbed and chafed in the mind, through a fervent affection, and singled out with a par- ticular view ; like them which tell money, who look not confusedly at the whole heap, but at the value of every parcel. So then a true Christian must endeavour himself to deliver, not in gross, but by retail, the millions of God's mercy to his soul ; in secret thoughts, chewing the cud of every circumstance with continual contemplation. And as a thrifty gardener, w^hich is loath to see one rose leaf to fall from the stalk without stilling ; * so the Christian soul is unwilling to pass, or to stifle the ' beds of spices,' in the garden of Christ, without gathering some fruit. Cant. vi. 2, which contain a mystery and hidden virtue ; and our ' camphire clusters ' in the vineyards of Engedi,' Cant. i. 14, must be resolved into drops by the still of meditation, or else they may be noted for weeds in the herbal of men, which hath his full of all kinds. But some are slightly passed over, as the watery herbs of vanity, which grow on every wall of carnal men's hearts, and yield but a slight taste how good the Lord is, or should be to their souls. It therefore behoveth us, first, to mind the tokens of his mercy and love, and afterwards for the helping of our weak digestion, to champ and chew by an often revolution, every part and parcel thereof, before we let it down into our stomachs ; that by that means it may effectually nourish every vein and living artery of our soul, and fill them full with the pure blood of Christ's body, the least drop whereof refresheth and cheereth the soul and body of him which is in a swoon through his sin, and maketh him apt to walk and talk as one who is now living in Christ.
By this sweet meditation the soul taketh the key where all her evidences lie, and peruses the bills and articles of covenant agreed and condescended unto between God and man. There she seeth the great grant and pardon of her sins, subscribed unto by God himself, and sealed with the blood of Christ.