Eliza's babes, or, The virgins-offering being divine poems and meditations / written by a lady, who onely desires to advance the glory of God and not her own.

The Temptation.

MY Soul! Woulst thou finde favour with the Lord, be not then afraid to goe to him; Let not the feare of thy former past sins, nor of thy continuall weak∣ness be an occasion to hinder thee of thy happiness, but let the assurance of the pardon of thy sins, and the certainty of the promise to strengthen thy weakness, animate thee to goe confidently to the throne of grace. There do not imagine that thou seest thy sins stand as

a thick cloud to keep thy prayers from ascending to the presence of thy God, nor think that through that dark cloud thou seem'st unseemly in the eyes of thy loving father; be not thou ignorant that the bright beames of his gracious favour, hath dispersed those clouds of thy sins, never to be gathered again together, before his pure eyes. Know thou, that he will not let such fear∣full sights, and sad appearances, to stand in his presence, to afright his dear chosen children; No my Soul! such sights are not there; he that cals thee hath removed from thee all those things which should hinder thy pas∣sage to him; or disturbe thy quiet appearance, before him. He cals thee, and bids thee be confident in his presence; He assured thee by his word that thou shalt finde his spirit strengthning thy weakness, and inabling thee to performe that which thou thoughtest impossi∣ble for thee to overcome.

My Soul! he hath brought thee from thy straying er∣rours, he hath inabled thee to overcome the manifold temptations of thy suttle enemy, when he would have made thee to have thought there was no God, then thy God manifested himself to thee, when he would have had thee taken pleasure in the vaine delights of this wicked world, then thy dear father having a watchfull eye, and a carefull minde over thee, sent a heavy dulnes into all the powers of thy soul & body, inforcing thee as it were to leave those earthly vanishes, because neither soul nor body could take delight in those things, which o∣thers call pleasures, by reason of thy exceeding heavy dulness. Then dost thou my soul, think that a most se∣vere punishment on thee from thy father, when thou sawest others injoy the blessings of thy God with great contentment; Then in the height of this distemper wert thou my soul almost brought to the pit of despair. When as the enemy pictur'd before the eyes of thy soul, the sad appearance of the anger of thy God, and still he

••ersisting in his pernicious temptations, bid thee leave ••is service, telling thee it was to no purpose to be so ••arefull to serve him, for thy prayers were not heard, ••hy tears not regarded, thy heaviness not removed; and ••f Gods word be true, he hears all that cals upon him, ••nd removeth from them their griefs. Thus subtly ••elt my enemy with me, thinking to have in wrapt me in his hidden nets of most pernicious temp∣••ations. First, making me to think my God was angry, then that he heard not my prayers, and that his word was false: thus by consequence faine would he have made me to have doubted of thy being, O my eternall and ever-being Father. By these snares would he have bereft me of the hope I had in thy word, by which I was brought to know thee. Thy creatures teach us (I acknowledge O Lord) to know that there is a God, but they cannot teach us to know how to come to this God, or how to finde comfort in thee our God; 'tis onely thy word can declare to us what thou art, and thy spirit it is that must assure us, that this word is thine. It was thy selfe O Lord, who art able to performe what thou hast decreed, that hast brought this flinty heart of mine to the knowledge of thee. My Lord, I must ••eeds confess thy powerfull working in framing this heart of mine to the belief of thy word, and thee; for before thy spirit mollified this heart of mine, thy word was to it like water gliding over the hardest marble, no whit entring or piercing the same.

My gracious Lord, thy divine Majesty in all the chan∣ges and chances of my life, hath had a most peculiar care of me, for now hast thou taught me to know, that those temptations, and those perplexities, in which my soul was in, have been all disposed for the good and happiness of my Soul. Now thou makest me to know that thy word is true, and that our grief doth work for our good: for though our temptations be never so

great, thou canst and wilt deliver thy children.

It was thy Majesty that kept me from doubting of thy being; it was thy fatherly goodnes that stupified the powers of my Soul and Body with that heavy dul∣ness, not because thou wouldest punish me for my sins, no! thou didst teach me to know, that my gracious Saviour had already indur'd the punishment that my sins deserv'd; My Lord, thy Majesty did not lay that dejection on me proceeding from thy justice, but thy mercy. For my God! I must confess to thee, that which thou then didst know, for then I did love the world, more then I loved thee, and because thou wouldst have me love the pleasure that should never end; thou madst me to take no pleasure in these delights, which never end but in sorrow. That heaviness was then a bitter pill to purge my Soul from the grosse hu∣mours of earthly love, that afterwards she may be made more fit and apt to receive the sweet blisse of thine e∣verlasting love. This thy love to me kept me from fal∣ling into the miserable pit of despaire; thy loving kind∣nesse it was that moved thee to let that word of comfort with which thou sustainest thy servant St. Paul, sound ever in my ears, That thy grace should be sufficient for me without which grace of thine, I not having sufficient strength of my self, should have fallen into the gulf of e∣verlasting misery. Thy love likewise kept mē constant to thee and thy service, & kept me from doing or saying that in my dispairing thoughts, that had not been fit for thy servant to doe or utter. Thy unwearied love and great wisdome it was that sent those tryals and tempta∣tions to me in my youth, that thou mightest sanctifie my youth to thy service, and make me carelesse of those pleasures, that my young years were too much addicted to.

For if thy Majesty had suffered me to have run on, to have taken pleasure in those vanities, till I had been in∣wrapt

in them, and had set my whole delight in those vanishing pleasures. Then had it been more hard and grievous to me to have left them; But thou, O my Lord, didst deal more graciously with me; for before I knew what pleasures meant, thou took'st from me the ••ove of pleasure, for which great mercy of thine, I ren∣der thee most hearty thanks.

My Lord! When I consider of these thine infinite mercies, I cannot chuse but admire thy goodness, and admiring, say unto thy heavenly Majesty. O Lord, what am I that thou shouldest have such a peculiar care of me; I am not worthy to be in thy thoughts, much more unworthy to be belov'd of thee; yet it doth evi∣dently appear that thou dost love me, in that thou ta¦kest off from me the love of the world; for my Lord-unless thou lovest me, thou wouldest not have cared for my love, and I know that it was in love that thou wea∣••nedst me from the world, because that I should love thee alone, and not the world.