A relgious treatise upon Simeons song: or, instructions advertising how to live holily, and dye happily. / Composed at first for the use of the truly pious Sir Robert Harley, knight of the honourable order of the Bath but since published by Timothy Woodroffe, B.D. Pastor to the church at Kingsland, in Herefordshire.

The Author's Letter to Sir ROBERT HARLEY, about the beginning of his long sick∣ness.

Honorable Sir!

AS I do much bless God for the Re∣ligious stedfast∣ness, in such ver∣tiginous times; when so many reeds have been shaken with every wind; so I am confident, you will ever bless God, for that your house was built upon the Rock: and

for the excellencies of Christ, and of his attractive loves to your soul: who made you sick of love, after the more full in∣joyment of him, who is a head of fine gold, and a Cluster of Camphere: the Lord your righteousness; the chief of ten thousand: who hath invited you to repentance unto life, and to more daily communion with his excellency. Pardon my boldness Gracious SIR, possibly God will use my little Talent, to warm your heart, with the shining love of Je∣sus Christ: so peerless, so sweet, so chast, so full, so unchage∣able, so adequate, and magne∣ticall, in all his Mediatoriall

works upon your soul, I say up∣on your soul, so miraculously saved by the Lord: and pul∣led out of the suburbs of Hell, so unexpectedly, so undeserv∣edly, so freely, in the day of your souls first love, & espous∣all to his blessed self. Time was (Noble SIR) that your Honour walked in the way of your own heart, bathed and rolled in a worldly Paradise of princely favour, when your thoughts, were too much (I presume) taken up about ad∣ditionalls: with which to en∣amell your present state, with worldly contentments: whose emptiness, together with your Christlesseness, the God and

Father of all your mercies, dis∣covered in his own time, to that your pretious soul, and with∣all, did let down some beams and glimpses of the unum neces∣sarium, more necessary then to be born, to live, to be fed, and clad: I mean Jesus Christ, and him crucified: when heavens infinite mercy, caused the day to break, and the shadows to flye away: presently upon which you must confess with godly Junius, statim mihi alio facies apparuit: when you then heard with other ears, under∣stood with another intellect, saw with other eyes, spake another language, and with a new tongue, read the Scripture

with another spirit, and under∣stood with another sense, and understanding: yea, and acted by other principles then before, old things then vanished away, & all things became new; But how? I answer, by that power of God, that exceeding greatness of power, which raised Christ from the dead, and set him at the right hand of God. SIR! thus you came to know Jesus Christ, and him Crucified, which is above all knowledge, especially to know our selves to be Crucified with him; Oh! that is wisedom indeed, and knowledge most transendent∣ly excellent: for it will make a man wise to salvatiō. Besides,

thus to know Christ, and thus to know him for our selves, is of most excellent use to us at present, since it is not onely an informing, and speculative knowledge, but a conforming and reforming, a practicall and operative knowledge, which works mightily on the unre∣generate part: perswading that also (by degrees) to bee Crucified with Christ, and to live more intirely by the faith of the Son of God, who loved us, and gave himself for us. (Pretious soul) this life by faith, is life indeed, the pre∣sent life naturall is a death to this life, but the believers spi∣rituall life, that is a life purcha∣sed

at the dearest rate, viz. by the most unvaluable blood of Christ. It's to live in God the Father spiritually, to live in Jesus Christ by the mysticall union, and by the sanctifying Spirit of God; breathing this life into dead souls, and quic∣kening our dead & dry bones, enabling & impowering us, to cry Abba Father by the Spirit of his Son: and loosing the ty∣ed tongue, to say from our own particular interest, O Lamb of God which takest away my sins; all my sins: the sins of all my li••e: nay, all my other mens sins; all the sins of my vile nature; nay, my sins of the first Adam: and all this blessed

Jesus, as freely as ever the rain did fall, or the Sun did shine, never to impute any one of them to me, but acquitting and absolving thy poor crea∣ture, meerly for thy mercies sake: to justifie me for ever, before the eyes of thy glory; nor is this all, (O Father of mer∣cies, says the pardoned soul) but thou dost also richly en∣gratiate thy poor servant, to be the beloved Spouse of thy dearest Son: and to confer that grace of Adoption, to bring me nigh to thy self, by the blood of Christ: yea to confer sanctification on mee, that I might also partake of thy divine nature; of a Briar, to

make me a sweet Rose, of a Ly∣on, a Lamb; of most deformed, defiled, abominable within and without; to make mee lovely, comely, fair as the Moon, beautifull as the Sun▪ & so to take me into thy most holy Covenant, with thy self: and to give me a propriety in all things in heaven, and earth. Thus life is mine, and death is mine, the world is mine, things present, and things to come, all is mine, I am Christ's, and Christ is Gods: a very strange Paradox, a very large Inven∣tory, yet no larger then the New Covenant, in which God hath said, I will be your God, and you shall be my people,

that's proof enough: for qui habent habentem omnia, habent omnia: here is a Bee-hive of the sweetest honey (much be∣loved in the Lord) before your the effectuall calling, like the wandring Bee, your honour went from flower to flower, from one tree to another, and found but little sweetness, if any at all, and what ever it was, you were content to forsake that too for Christ: but then you said as Jacob in another case, I have enough, my son Joseph is yet alive; my soul is yet alive, alive to God in Jesus Christ, and with old Simeon, you are daily singing forth this Cantionem Cygneam, Lord

now lettest thou thy servant de∣part in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation▪ Lo! the budding of Simeon's Almond tree, one bud is, Simeon, is a vo∣lunteer to death, not dragged thither by fatall necessity, nor his soul thrust out of doors, with a violent hand, but wil∣ling now, or when-ever his Master shall please: So, good Old Abraham, dyes in a good old age, full of years, and full of grace, scarce an empty cor∣ner in his soul: both instances had enough of days and years, therefore did breathe, and pant after eternity.

And now (celestiall soul) hearken a while and you shall

hear the Spirit of Christ, sweet∣ly whispering, Arise my love, my dove, my fair one, and come away: why tarriest thou? To whom the redeemed doth joy∣fully answer, Be it so (O bles∣sed Saviour) I do only tarry thy leisure, I come Lord, I come; but in thy time, and ac∣cording to thy Word, not be∣fore: mean while, Lord help me to act faith in thy rich pro∣mises, and in a blessed reliance of most holy recumbency, to sit at the footstool of thy great mercy; admiring the honour thou do'st to all thy holy ones, and magnifying thy grace, to thy Saints, differing onely in degrees from glory; for grace

is glory militant, and glory is grace triumphant.

And to conclude, Honour∣able SIR! Holiness in heart and life, is greater honour, then to be born the son of a King: for the holy ones of the Lord have (as it were) the blood Royall of heaven, running in every vein, and the remem∣brance of every such one after death, is as a pretious ointment powred out; or as the smell of the Wine of Lebanon: bear up then (souldier of Christ) against all discouragements in your journial towards heavenly Canaan; what if you do meet with temptations, and trialls, nay with fiery Serpents in the

way: follow your Captain Christ Jesus, who for the joy and crown set before him, did endure the Crosse, and despise the shame, and is now set down at the right hand of the most high. Wonder not (O warri∣er of Christ) if bullets of temp∣tations, and fire balls of hellish terrours threaten to destroy your faith, which if they hit, they cannot hurt you: Jesus Christ (in whom we are more then conquerours) takes all the blows, and gives you most insultantly to triumph over them; and to read down ally our spirituall adversaries, and to be gainers by them all, in the day of your blessed change;

when you shall bee clothed upon with the same glory which Christ himself had, from the Father by speci∣all donation; and the very day of your death you shall be with Christ in Paradise; as a Bride welcomed by the Bridegroom, when your ho∣nour shall for ever sit with the King of Saints, in hea∣venly places: congratulated by innumerable Angells, and by the generall Assembly, and Church of the first born; en∣rolled in heaven, by the spi∣rits of just men made perfect, and with whom your blessed self, shall make one, saying,

Hallelujah, salvation, and honour, and glory, and power unto the Lord our God, Amen. Hallelujah.

Yours

FINIS.