seeth not therefore the land is full of blood and the city full of perversenesse What a childe would do in the eye of his Father and a Pupil before his Tutor and a Wife in the presence of her Husband and a servant in the sight of his Master let us alwayes do the same for we are made a spectacle to God to Angels and to men we are alwayes in the sight and presence of the Allseeing and Almighty God who also is to us a Father and a Guardian a Husband and a Lord. Prayers and Devotions according to the religion and purposes of the foregoing Considerations I. For grace to spend our time well O Eternal God who from all eternity doest behold and love thy own glories and perfections infinite and hast created me to do the work of God after the manner of men and to serve thee in this generation and according to my capacities give me thy grace that I may be a curious and prudent spender of my time so as I may best prevent or resist all temptations and be profitable to the Christian Common-wealth and by discharging all my duty may glorifie thy Name Take from me all slothfulnesse and give me a diligent and an active spirit and wisdom to choose my imployment that I may do works proportionable to my person and to the dignity of a Christian and may fill up all the spaces of my time with actions of religion and charity that when the Devil assaults me he may not finde me idle and my dearest Lord at his sudden coming may finde me busie in lawful necessary and pious actions improving my talent intrusted to me by thee my Lord that I may enter into the joy of my Lord to partake of his eternal felicities even for thy mercie sake and for my dearest Saviours sake Amen Here follows the devotion of ordinary dayes for the right imployment of those portions of â—ime which every day must allow for religion The first prayers in the Morning as soon as we are dressed Humbly and reverently compose your self with heart lift up to God and your head bowed and meekly kneeling upon your knees say the Lords Prayer after which use the following Collects or as many of them as you shall choose Our Father which art in Heaven c. I. An act of adoration being the song that the Angels sing in Heaven HOly Holy Holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come Heaven and Earth Angels and Men the Aire and the Sea give glory and honour and thanks to him that sitteth on the throne who liveth for ever and ever All the blessed spirits and souls of the righteous cast their crowns before the throne and worship him that liveth for ever and ever Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Great and marvellous are thy works O Lord God Almighty Just and true are thy wayes thou King of Saints Thy wisdom is infinite thy mercies are glorious and I am not worthy O Lord to appear in thy presence before whom the Angels hide their faces O Holy and Eternal Jesus Lamb of God who wert slain from the beginning of the world thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every nation and hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests and we shall reigne with thee for ever Blessing honour glory and power be unto him that sitteth on the throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever Amen II. An act of thanksgiving being the song of David for the Morning SIng praises unto the Lord O ye saints of his and give thanks to him for a remembrance of his holinesse For his wrath indureth but the twinkling of an eye and in his pleasure is life heavinesse may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning Thou Lord hast preserved me this night from the violence of the spirits of darknesse from all sad casualtyes and evil accidents from the wrath which I have every day deserved thou hast brought my soul out of hell thou hast kept my life from them that go down into the pit thou hast shewed me marvellous great kindesse and hast blessed me for ever the greatnesse of thy glory reacheth unto the heavens and thy truth unto the clouds Therefore shall every good man sing of thy praise without ceasing O my God I will give thanks unto thee for ever Allelujah III. An act of oblation or presenting our selves to God for the day MOst Holy and Eternal God Lord and Soveraigne of all the creatures I humbly present to thy divine Majesty my self my soul and body my thoughts and my words my actions and intentions my passions and my sufferings to be disposed by thee to thy glory to be blessed by thy providence to be guided by thy counsel to be sanctified by thy spirit and afterwards that my body and soul may be received into glory for nothing can perish which is under thy custody and the enemy of souls cannot devour what is thy portion nor take it out of thy hands This day O Lord and all the dayes of my life I dedicate to thy honour and the actions of my calling to the uses of grace and the religion of all my dayes to be united to the merits and intercession of my holy Saviour Jesus that in him and for him I may be pardoned and accepted Amen IV. An act of repentance or contrition FOr as for me I am not worthy to be called thy servant much lesse am I worthy to be thy son for I am the vilest of sinners and the worst of men a lover of the things of the world and a despiser of the things of God proud and envious lustful and intemperate greedy of sin and impatient of reproof desirous to seem holy and negligent of being so transported with interest fool'd with presumption and false principles disturb'd with anger with a peevish and unmortified spirit and disordered by a whole body of sin and death Lord pardon all my sins for my sweetest Saviours sake thou who didst dye for me Holy Jesus save me and deliver me reserve not my sins to be punished in the day of wrath and eternal vengeance but wash away my sins and blot them out of thy remembrance and purifie my soul with the waters of repentance and the bloud of the crosse that for what is past thy wrath may not come out against me and for the time to come I may never provoke thee to anger or to jealousie O just and dear God be pitiful and gracious to thy servant Amen V. The prayer or petition BLesse me gracious God in my calling to such purposes as thou shalt choose for me or imploy me in Relieve me in all my sadnesses make my bed in my ficknesse give me patience in my sorrows confidence in thee and grace to call upon thee in all temptations O be thou my
company in his funeral sorrow for the losse of one of Pâ—ppea s hairs or help to mourn for Lesbia's sparrow and because he loves it he deserves to starve in the midst of plenty and to want comfort while he is encircled with blessings 4. Enjoy the present whatsoever it be and be not sollicitous for the future for if you take your foot from the present standing and thrust it forward toward to morrows event you are in a restlesse condition it is like refusing to quench your present thirst by fearing you shall want drink the next day If it be well to day it is madnesse to make the present miserable by fearing it may be ill to morrow when your belly is full of to dayes dinner to fear you shall want the next dayes supper for it may be you shall not and then to what purpose was this dayes affliction But if to morrow you shall want your sorrow will come time enough though you do not hasten it let your trouble tarry till its own day comes But if it chance to be ill to day do not increase it by the care of to morrow Enjoy the blessings of this day if God sends them and the evils of it bear patiently and sweetly for this day is only ours we are dead to yesterday we are not yet born to the morrow He therefore that enjoyes the present if it be good enjoyes as much as is possible and if onely that dayes trouble leans upon him it is singular and finite Sufficient to the day said Christ is the evil thereof Sufficient but not intolerable but if we look abroad and bring into one dayes thoughts the evil of many certain and uncertain what will be and what will never be our load will be as intolerable as it is unreasonable To reprove this instrument of discontent the Ancients fained that in Hell stood a man twisting a rope of Hay and still he twisted on suffering an Asse to eat up all that was finished so miserable is he who thrusts his passions forward towards future events and suffers all that he may enjoy to be lost and devour d by folly and inconsideration thinking nothing fit to be enjoyed but that which is not or cannot be had Just so many young persons are loath to dye and therefore desire to live to old age and when they are come thither are troubled that they are come to that state of life to which before they were come they were hugely afraid they should never come 5. Let us prepare our mindes against changes alwayes expecting them that we be not surprized when they come For nothing is so great an enemy to tranquillity and a contented spirit as the amazement and confusions of unreadinesse and inconsideration and when our fortunes are violently chang'd our spirits are unchang'd if they alwayes stood in the Suburbs and expectation of sorrowes O Death how bitter art thou to a man that is at rest in his possessions and to the Rich Man who had promised to himself ease and fulnesse for many years it was a sad arrest that his soul was surprized the first night but the Apostles who every day knockt at the gate of death and looked upon it continually went to their Martyrdom in peace and evennesse 6. Let us often frame to our selves represent to our considerations the images of those blessings we have just as we usually understand them when we want them Consider how desirable health is to a sick man or liberty to a prisoner and if but a fit of the tooth-ach seizes us with violence all those troubles which in our health afflicted us disband instantly and seem inconsiderable He that in his health is troubled that he is in debt and spends sleeplesse nights and refuses meat because of his infelicity let him fall into a fit of the Stone or a high Feaver despises the arrest of all his first troubles and is as a man unconcerned Remember then that God hath given thee a blessing the want of which is infinitely more trouble then thy present debt or poverty or losse and therefore is now more to be valued in the possession and ought to out-weigh thy trouble The very privative blessings the blessings of immunity safeguard liberty and integrity which we commonly enjoy deserve the thanksgiving of a whole life If God should send a Cancer upon thy face or a Wolfe into thy side if he should spread a crust of Leprosie upon thy skin what wouldst thou give to be but as now thou art Wouldest thou not on that condition be as poor as I am or as the meanest of thy brethren Would you not choose your present losse or affliction as a thing extremely eligible and a redemption to thee if thou mightest exchange the other for this Thou art quit from a thousand calamities every one of which if it were upon thee would make thee insensible of thy present sorrow and therefore let thy joy which should be as great for thy freedom from them as is thy sadnesse when thou feelest any of them do the same cure upon thy discontent For if we be not extremely foolish or vain thanklesse or sencelesse a great joy is more apt to cure sorrow and discontent then a great trouble is I have known an affectionate wife when she hath been in fear of parting with her beloved Husband heartily desire of God his life or society upon any conditions that were not sinful and choose to beg with him rather then to feast without him and the same person hath upon that consideration born poverty nobly when God hath heard her prayer in the other matter What wise man in the world is there who does not prefer a small fortune with peace before a great one with contention and war and violence and then he is no longer wise if he alters his opinion when he hath his wish 7. If you will secure a contented spirit you must measure your desires by your fortune and condition not your fortunes by your desires That is be governed by your needs not by your fancy by Nature not by evil customes and ambitious principles He that would shoot an arrow out of a Plow or hunt a Hare with an Elephant is not unfortunate for missing the mark or prey but he is foolish for choosing such unapt instruments and so is he that runs after his content with appetites not springing from natural needs but from artificial phantastical and violent necessities These are not to be satisfied or if they were a man hath chosen an evill instrument towards his content Nature did not intend rest to a Man by filling of such desires Is that Beast better that hath two or three Mountains to graze on then a little Bee that feeds on Dew or Manna and lives upon what falls every morning from the Store-houses of Heaven Clouds and Providence Can a Man quench his thirst better out of a River then a full Urn or drink better
the spirits of one used to feed better yet the cheerfulnesse of a spirit that is blessed will make a thin table become a delicacy if the man was as well taught as he was fed and learned his duty when he received the blessing Poverty therefore is in some sences eligible and to be preferred before riches but in all sences it is very tolerable Death of Children or neerest Relatives and Friends There are some persons who have been noted for excellent in their lives and passions rarely innocent and yet hugely penitent for indiscretions and harmlesse infirmities such as was Paulina one of the ghostly children of S. Hierom and yet when any of her children dyed she was arrested with a sorrow so great as brought her to the margent of her grave And the more tender our spirits are made by Religion the more easy we are to let in grief if the cause be innocent and be but in any sence twisted with piety and due affections * To cure which we may consider that al the world must die therfore to be impatient at the death of a person concerning whom it was certain and known that he must die is to mourn because thy friend or childe was not born an Angel and when thou hast a while made thy self miserable by an importunate and uselesse grief it may be thou shalt die thy self and leave others to their choice whether they will mourn for thee or no but by that time it will appear how impertinent that grief was which served no end of life and ended in thy own funeral But what great matter is it if sparks fly upward or a stone falls into a pit if that which was combustible be burned or that which was liquid be melted or that which is mortal do die It is no more then a man does every day for every night death hath gotten possession of that day and we shall never live that day over again and when the last day is come there are no more dayes left for us to die And what is sleeping and waking but living and dying what is Sping and Autumne youth and old age morning and evening but real images of life and death and really the same to many considerable effects and changes Vntimely death But it is not mere dying that is pretended by some as the cause of their impatient mourning but that the childe died young before he knew good and evil his right hand from his left and so lost all his portion of this world and they know not of what excellency his portion in the next shall be * If he dyed young he lost but little for he understood but little and had not capacities of great pleasures or great cares but yet he dyed innocent and before the sweetnesse of his soul was deflour d and ravished from him by the flames and follies of a forward age he went out from the dining-rooms before he had fallen into errour by the intemperance of his meat or the deluge of drink and he hath obtain'd this favour of God that his soul hath suffered a lesse imprisonment and her load was sooner taken oâ—f that he might with lesser delayes goe and converse with immortal spirits and the babe is taken into Paradise before he knows good and evil For that knowledge threw our great Father out and this ignorance returns the childe thithe * But as concerning thy own particular remove thy thoughts back to those dayes in which thy childe was not born and you are now but as then you was and there is no difference but that you had a son born and if you reckon that for evil you are unthankful for the blessing if it be good it is better that you had the blessing for a while then not at all and yet if he had never been born this sorrow had not been at all but be no more displeased at God for giving you the blessing for a while then you would have been if he had not given it at all and reckon that intervening blessing for a gain but account it not an evil and if it be a good turn it not into sorrow and sadnesse * But if we have great reason to complain of the calamities and evils oâ— our life then we have the lesse reason to grieve that those whom we loved have so small a portion of evil assigned to them And it is no small advantage that our children dying young receive for their condition of a blessed immortality is rendred to them secure by being snatcht from the dangers of an evil choice and carried to their little cells of felicity where they can weep no more And this the wisest of the Gentiles understood well when they forbade any offerings or libations to be made for dead infants as was usual for their other dead as believing they were entred into a secure possession to which they went with no other condition but that they passed into it thorough the way of mortality and for a few moneths wore an uneasy garment And let weeping parents say if they do not think that the evils their little babes have suffered are sufâ—icient If they be why are they troubled that they were taken from those many and greater which in succeeding years are great enough to try all the reason and religion which art and nature and the grace of God hath produc'd in us to enable us for such sad contentions And possibly we may doubt concerning men and women but we cannot suspect that to infants death can be such an evil but that it brings to them much more good then it takes them from in this life Death unseasonable But others can well bear the death of infants but when they have spent some years of childehood or youth and are entred into arts and society when they are hopeful and provided for when the parents are to reap the comfort of all their fears and cares then it breaks the spirit to loose them This is true in many but this is not love to the dead but to themselves for they misse what they had flatterd themselves into by hope and opinion and if it were kindnesâ—e to the dead they may consider that since we hope he is gone to God and to rest it is an ill expression of our love to them that we weep for their good fortune For that life is not best which is longest and when they are descended into the grave it shall not be inquired how long they have lived but how well And yet this shortening of their dayes is an evil wholly depending upon opinion For if men did naturally live but twenty years then we should be satisfied if they dyed about sixteen or eighteen and yet eighteen years now are as long as eighteen years would be then and if a man were but of a dayes life it is well if he lasts till even long and then sayes his compline an hour before the time and we are pleased and call not that death
the publick wisdom and necessity shall impose upon me at no hand murmuring against government lest the Spirit of pride and mutiny of murmur and disorder enter into me and consigne me to the portion of the disobedient and rebellious of the Despisers of dominion and revilers of dignity Grant this O holy God for his sake who for his obedience to the Father hath obtained the glorification of eternal ages our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen Prayers for Kings and all Magistrates for our Parents spiritual and natural are in the following Letanies at the end of the fourth Chapter A Prayer to be said by Subjects when their Land is invaded and over-run by barbarous or wicked people enemies of the Religion or the Government I. O Eternal God thou alone rulest in the Kingdoms of men thou art the great God of battels and recompences and by thy glorious wisdom by thy Almighty power by thy secret providence doest determine the events of war and the issues of humane counsels and the returns of peace and victory now at least be pleased to let the light of thy countenance and the effects of a glorious mercy a gracious pardon return to this Land Thou seest how great evils we suffer under the power tyranny of war although we submit to adore thy justice in our sufferings yet be pleased to pity our misery to hear our complaints and to provide us of remedy against our present calamities let not the defenders of a righteous cause go away ashamed nor our counsels be for ever confounded nor our parties defeated nor religion suppressed nor learning discountenanced and we be spoiled of all the exteriour ornaments instruments and advantages of piety which thou hast been pleased formerly to minister to our infirmities for the interests of learning and religion Amen II. WE confesse dear God that we have deserved to be totally extinct and separate from the Communion of Saints and the comforts of Religion to be made servants to ignorant unjust and inferiour persons or to suffer any other calamitie which thou shalt allot us as the instrument of thy anger whom we have so often provoked to wrath and jealousie Lord we humbly lye down under the burden of thy rod begging of thee to remember our infirmities and no more to remember our sins to support us with thy staff to lift us up with thy hand to refresh us with thy gracious eye and if a sad cloud of temporal infelicities must still encircle us open unto us the window of Heaven that with an eye of faith and hope we may see beyond the cloud looking upon those mercies which in thy secret providence and admirable wisdom thou designest to all thy servants from such unlikely and sad beginnings Teach us diligently to do all our duty and cheerfully to submit to all thy will and at last be gracious to thy people that call upon thee that put their trust in thee that have laid up all their hopes in the bosome of God that besides thee have no helper Amen A Prayer to be said by Parents for their Children O Almighty and most merciful Father who hast promised children as a reward to the Righteous and hast given them to me as a testimony of thy mercy and an engagement of my duty be pleased to be a Father unto them and give them healthful bodies understanding souls and sanctified spirits that they may be thy servants and thy children all their dayes Let a great mercy and providence lead them through the dangers and temptations and ignorances of their youth that they may never run into folly and the evils of an unbridled appetite So order the accidents of their lives that by good education careful Tutors holy example innocent company prudent counsel and thy restraining grace their duty to thee may be secured in the midst of a crooked and untoward generation and if it seem good in thy eyes let me be enabled to provide conveniently for the support of their persons that they may not be destitute and miserable in my death or if thou shalt call me off from this World by a more timely summons let their portion be thy care mercy and providence over their bodies and souls and may they never live vitious lives nor dye violent or untimely deaths but let them glorifie thee here with a free obedience and the duties of a whole life that when they have served thee in their generations and have profited the Christian Common-wealth they may be coheirs with Jesus in the glories of thy eternal Kingdom through the same our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen A Prayer to be said by Masters of Families Curats Tutors or other obliged persons for their charges O Almighty God merciful and gracious have mercy upon my Family or Pupils or Parishioners c. and all committed to my charge sanctifie them with thy grace preserve them with thy providence guard them from all evil by the custody of Angels direct them in the wayes of peace and holy Religion by my Ministery and the conduct of thy most holy Spirit and consigne them all with the participation of thy blessings and graces in this World with healthful bodies with good understandings and sanctified spirits to a full fruition of thy glories hereafter through Jesus Christ our Lord. A Prayer to be said by Merchants Tradesmen and Handicrafts men O Eternal God thou Fountain of justice mercy and benediction who by my education and other effects of thy providence hast called me to this profession that by my industry I may in my small proportion work together for the good of my self and others I humbly beg thy grace to guide me in my intention and in the transaction of my affairs that I may be diligent just and faithful and give me thy favour that this my labour may be accepted by thee as a part of my necessary duty and give me thy blessing to assist and prosper me in my Calling to such measures as thou shalt in mercy choose for me and be pleased to let thy holy Spirit be for ever present with me that I may never be given to covetousnesse and sordid appetites to lying and falsehood or any other base indirect and beggerly arts but give me prudence honesty and Christian sincerity that my trade may be sanctified by my Religion my labour by my intention and thy blessing that when I have done my portion of work thou hast allotted me and improv'd the talent thou hast intrusted to me and serv'd the Common-wealth in my capacity I may receive the mighty price of my high calling which I expect and beg in the portion and inheritance of the ever blessed Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Amen A Prayer to be said by Debtors and all persons obliged whether by crime or contract O Almighty God who art rich unto all the treasure and Fountain of all good of all justice and all mercy and all bounty to whom we owe all that we are and all
and will save such as are of an humble spirit Psal. 34.17 Thou Lord shalt save both man and beast how excellent is thy mercy O God and the children of men shall put their trust under the shadow of thy wings Psal. 36.7 They shall be satisfied with the plenteousness of thy house and thou shalt give them to drink of thy pleasures as out of the rivers v. 8. For with thee is the well of life and in thy light we shall see light v. 9. Commit thy way unto the Lord and put thy trust in him he shall bring it to passe Ps. 37.5 But the salvation of the righteous cometh of the Lord who is also their strength in the time of trouble v. 40. So that a Man shall say verily there is a reward for the righteous doubtlesse there is a God that judgeth the earth Psal. 58.10 Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and receivest unto thee he shall dwell in thy court and shall be satisfied with the pleasures of thy house even of thy holy temple Psal. 65.4 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy Psal. 126.6 It is written I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Heb. 13.5 The prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up and if he have committed sins they shal be forgiven Iam. 5.15 Come and let us return unto the Lord for he hath torn and he will heal us he hath smitten and he will binde us up Hos. 6.1 If we sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins 1 Iohn 2.2 If we confesse our sins he is faithful righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse 1 Iohn 1.9 He that forgives shall be forgiven Luke 6.37 And this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask any thing according to his will he heareth us 1 Iohn 5 14. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins 1 Iohn 3.5 If ye being evil know to give good things to your children how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things to them that ask him Matth. 7.11 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the World to save sinners * He that hath given us his Son how should not he with him give us all things else Acts of hope to be used by sick persons after a pious life I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord Rom. 8.38 I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me onely but unto all them also that love his appearing 2 Tim. 4.7 Blessed be the God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of mercies and the God of all comforts who comforts us in all our tribulation 2 Cor. 1.3 A prayer to be said in behalf of a sick or dying person O Lord God there is no number of thy dayes nor of thy mercies and the sins and sorrowes of thy servant also are multiplied Lord look upon him with much mercy and pity forgive him all his sinnes comfort his sorrowes ease his pain satisfie his doubts relieve his feares instruct his ignorances strengthen his understanding take from him all disorders of spirit weaknesse and abuse of fancy Restraine the malice and power of the spirits of darknesse and suffer him to be injured neither by his ghostly enemies nor his own infirmities and let a holy and a just peace the peace of God be within his conscience Lord preserve his senses till the last of his time strengthen his faith confirm his hope and give him a never ceasing charity to thee our God and to all the world stir up in him a great and proportionable contrition for all the evils he hath done and give him a just measure of patience for all he suffers give him prudence memory and consideration rightly to state the accounts of his soul and do thou remind him of all his duty that when it shall please thee that his soul goes out from the prison of his body it may be receiv'd by Angels and preserved from the surprize of evil spirits and from the horrors and amazements of new and stranger Regions and be laid up in the bosom of our Lord till at the day of thy second coming it shall be reunited to the body which is now to be laid down in weaknes and dishonour but we humbly beg may then be raised up with glory power for ever to live and to behold the face of God in the glories of the Lord Jesus who is our hope our resurrection and our life the light of our eyes and the joy of our soules our blessed and ever glorious Redeemer Amen Hither the sick person may draw in and use the acts of several vertues respersed in the several parts of this book the several Letanies viz. of repentance of the passion and the single prayâ—rs according to his present needs A prayer to be said in a storm at Sea O my God thou didst create the earth and the Sea for thy glory and the use of Man and doest daily shew wonders in the deep look upon the danger and fear of thy servant my sins have taken hold upon me and without the supporting arm of thy mercy I cannot look up but my trust is in thee Do thou O Lord rebuke the Sea and make it calm for to thee the windes and the sea obey let not the waters swallow me up but let thy Spirit the Spirit of gentlenesse and mercy move upon the waters Be thou reconcil'd unto thy servants and then the face of the waters will be smooth I fear that my sinnes make me like Ionas the cause of the tempest Cast out all my sins and throw not thy servants away from thy presence and from the land of the living into the depths where all things are forgotten But if it be thy wil that we shall go down into the waters Lord receive my soul into thy holy hands and preserve it in mercy and safety till the day of restitution of all things and be pleased to unite my death to the death of thy Son and to accept of it so united as a punishment for all my sinnes that thou mayest forget all thine anger and blot my sinnes out of thy book and write my soul there for Jesus Christ his sake our dearest Lord and most mighty Redeemer Amen Then make an act of resignation thus To God pertain the issues of life and death It is the Lord let him do
for him the salvation of a new birth and by the blood of thy Son didst redeem and pay the price to thine own justice for thine own creature lest the work of thine own hands should perish O that men would therefore praise the Lord c. For thou O Lord in every age didst send testimonies from Heaven blessings and Prophets and fruitful seasons and preachers of righteousness and miracles of power and mercy thou spakest by thy Prophets and saidst I will help by one that is mighty and in the fulnesse of time spakest to us by thy Son by whom thou didst make both the Worlds who by the word of his power sustains all things in Heaven and Earth who thought it no robbery to be equal to the Father who being before all time was pleased to be born in time to converse with men to be incarnate of a holy Virgin he emptied himself of all his glories took on him the form of a servant in all things being made like unto us in a soul of passions and discourse in a body of humility and sorrow but in all things innocent and in all things afflicted and suffered death for us that we by him might live and be partakers of his nature and his glories of his body and of his Spirit of the blessings of earth and of immortal felicities in Heaven O that men would therefore praise the Lord c. For thou O holy and immortal God O sweetest Saviour Jesus wert made under the Law to condemn sin in the flesh thou who knewest no sin wert made sin for us thou gavest to us righteous Commandements and madest known to us all thy Fathers will thou didst redeem us from our vain conversation and from the vanity of Idols false principles and foolish confidences and broughtest us to the knowledge of the true and onely God and our Father and hast made us to thy self a peculiar people of thy own purchase a royal Priesthood a holy Nation Thou hast washed our soules in the Laver of Regeneration the Sacrament of Baptisme Thou hast reconciled us by thy death justified us by thy Resurrection sanctified us by thy Spirit sending him upon thy Church in visible formes and giving him in powers and miracles and mighty signes and continuing this incomparable favour in giâ—ts and sanâ—tifying graces and promising that hee shall abide with us for ever thou hast fed us with thine own broken body and given drink to our soules out of thine own heart and hast ascended up on high and hast overcome all the powers of Death and Hell and redeemed us from the miseries of a sad eternity and sittest at the right hand of God making intercession for us with a never-ceasing charity O that men would therefore praise the Lord c. The grave could not hold thee long O holy eternal Jesus thy body could not see corruption neither could thy soul be left in Hell thou wert free among the dead and thou brakest the iron gates of Death and the bars and chains of the lower prisons Thou broughtest comfort to the souls of the Patriarchs who waited for thy coming who long'd for the redemption of Man and the revelation of thy day Abraham Isaac and Iacob saw thy day and rejoyced and when thou didst arise from thy bed of darknesse and leftest the grave-clothes behinde thee and put on a robe of glory over which for 40 dayes thou didst wear a vail and then entred into a cloud and then into glory then the powers of Hell were confounded then Death lost its power and was swallowed up into victory though death is not quite destroyed yet it is made harmlesse and without a sting and the condition of Humane Nature is made an entrance to eternal glory art become the Prince of life the first fruits of the resurrection the first-born from the dead having made the way plain before our faces that we may also rise again in the Resurrection of the last day when thou shalt come again unto us to render to every Man according to his works O that men would therefore praise the Lord c. O give thanks unto the Lord for he is gracious and his mercy endureth for ever O all ye angels of the Lords praise ye the Lord praise him and magnifie him for ever O ye spirits and souls of the Righteous praise ye the Lord praise him and magnifie him for ever And now O Lord God what shall I render to thy Divine Majesty for all the benefits thou hast done unto thy servant in my personal capacity Thou art my Creator and my Father my Protector and my Guardian thou hast brought me from my Mothers wombe thou hast told all my joynts and in thy book were all my members written Thou hast given me a comely body Christian and careful parents holy education Thou hast been my guide and my teacher all my dayes Thou hast given me ready faculties and unloosed tongue a cheerful spirit strait limbs a good reputation and liberty of person a quiet life and a tender conscience a loving wife or husband and hopeful children thou wert my hope from my youth through thee have I been holden up ever since I was born Thou hast clothed me and fed me given me friends and blessed them given me many dayes of comfort and health free from those sad infirmities with which many of thy Saints and dearest servants are afflicted Thou hast sent thy Angel to snatch me from the violence of fire and water to prevent praecipices fracture of bones to rescue me from thunder and lightning plague and pestilential diseases murder and robbery violence of chance and enemies and all the spirits of darknesse and in the dayes of sorrow thou hast refreshed me in the destitution of provisions thou hast taken care of me and thou hast said unto me I will never leave thee nor forsake thee I will give thanks unto the Lord with my whole heart secretly among the faithful and in the congregation Thou O my dearest Lord and Father hast taken care of my soul hast pitied my miseries sustained my infirmities relieved and instructed my ignorances and though I have broken thy righteous Lawes and Commandements run passionately after vanities and was in love with Death and was dead in sin and was exposed to thousands of temptations and fell foully and continued in it and lov'd to have it so and hated to be reformed yet thou didst call me with the checks of conscience with daily Sermons and precepts of holinesse with fear and shame with benefits and the admonitions of thy most holy Spirit by the counsel of my friends by the example of good persons with holy books and thousands of excellent arts and wouldest not suffer me to perish in my folly but didst force me to attend to thy gracious calling and hast put me into a state of repentance and possibilities of pardon being infinitely desirous I should live and recover and make use of thy grace and partake
of charity that this day and ever I may serve thee according to all my opportunities and capacities growing from grace to grace till at last by thy mercies I shall receive the consummation and perfection of grace even the glories of thy Kingdom in the full fruition of the face and excellencies of God the Father the Son and the holy Ghost to whom be glory and praise honour and adoration given by all Angels and all Men and all Creatures now and to all eternity Amen To this may be added the prayer of intercession for others whom we are bound to remember which is at the end of the foregoing prayer or else you may take such special prayers which follow at the end of the fourth Chapter for parents for children c. After which conclude with this ejaculation Now and in all tribulation and anguish of spirit in all dangers of soul and body in prosperity and adversity in the hour of death and in the day of judgement holy and most blessed Saviour Jesus have mercy upon me save me and deliver me and all faithful people Amen Between this and Noâ—n usually are said the publick prayers appointed by Authority to which all the Clergy are obliged and other devout persons that have leisure do accompany them Afternoon or at any time of the day when a devout person retires into his closer for private prayer or spiritual exercises he may say the following devotions An exercise to be used at any time of the day In the name of the Father and of the Son c. Our Father c. The hymn collected out of the Psalms recounting the excellencies and greatnesse of God O be joyful in God all ye lands sing praises unto the honour of his Name make his Name to be glorious * O Come hither behold the works of God how wonderful he is in his doings toward the children of men He ruleth with his power for ever He is the Father of the fatherlesse and defendeth the cause of the widow even God in his holy habitation He is the God that maketh men to be of one minde in a house and bringeth the prisoners out of captivity but letteth the runnagates continue in scarcenesse It is the Lord that commandeth the warers it is the glorious God that maketh the thunder * It is the Lord that ruleth the sea the voice of the Lord is mighty in operation the voice of the Lord is a glorious voice Let all the Earth fear the Lord stand in awe of him all ye that dwell in the world Thou shalt shew us wonderful things in thy righteousnesse O God of our salvation thou that art the hope of all the ends of the Earth and of them that remaine in the broad Sea Glory be to the Father c. Or this O Lord thou art my God I will exalt thee I will praise thy Name for thou hast done wonderful things thy counsels of old are faithfulnesse and truth Isay 25.1 Thou in thy strength â—etst fast the Mountains and art girded about with power Thou stillest the raging of the Sea and the noise of his waves and the madnesse of his people They also that remain in the uttermost parts of the Earth shall be afraid at thy tokens thou that makest the out-goings of the morning and evening to praise thee O Lord God of Hosts who is like unto thee thy truth most mighty Lord is on every side Among the gods there is none like unto thee O Lord there is none that can do as thou doest * For thou art great doest wondrous things thou art God alone God is very greatly to be feared in the counsel of the Saints and to be had in reverence of all them that are round about him Righteousnesse and equity is in the habitation of thy seat mercy and truth shall go before thy face * Glory and worship are before him power and honour are in his Sanctuary Thou Lord art the thing that I long for thou art my hope even from my youth through thee have I been holden up ever since I was born thou art he that took me out of my mothers womb my praise shall be alwayes of thee Glory be to the Father c. After this may be read some portion of holy Scripture out of the New Testament or out of the sapiential bookes of the Old viz. Proverbs Ecclesiastes c. because these are of great use to piety and to civil conversation Vpon which when you have a while meditated humbly composing your self upon your knees say as followeth Ejaculations My help standeth in the Name of the Lord who hath made Heaven and Earth Shew the light of thy countenance upon thy servant and I shall be safe Do well O Lord to them that be true of heart and evermore mightily defend them Direct me in thy truth and teach me for thou art my Saviour and my great Master Keep me from sin and death eternal and from my enemies visible and invisible Give me grace to live a holy life and thy favour that I may dye a godly and happy death Lord hear the prayer of thy servant and give me thy holy Spirit The prayer O Eternal God mercifull and gracious vouchsafe thy favour and thy blessing to thy servant let the love of thy mercies and the dread and fear of thy Majesty make me careful and inquisitive to search thy will and diligent to perform it and to persevere in the practises of a holy life even till the last of my dayes II. KEep me O Lord for I am thine by creation guide me for I am thine by purchase thou hast redeemed me by the blood of thy Son and love me with the love of a Father for I am thy childe by adoption and grace let thy mercy pardon my sins thy providence secure me from the punishments and evils I have deserved and thy care watch over me that I may never any more offend thee make me in malice to be a childe but in understanding piety and the fear of God let me be a perfect man in Christ innocent and prudent readily furnished and instructed to every good work III. KEep me O Lord from the destroying Angel and from the wrath of God let thy anger never rise against mee but thy rod gently correct my follies and guide me in thy ways and thy staffe support me in all sufferings and changes Preserve me from fracture of bones from noisome infections and sharp sicknesses from great violences of Fortune and sudden surprizes keep all my senses intire till the day of my death and let my death be neither sudden untimely nor unprovided let it be after the common manner of men having in it nothing extraordinary but an extraordinary piety and the manifestation of thy great and miraculous mercy IV. LEt no riches ever make me forget my self no poverty ever make me to forget thee Let no hope or fear no pleasure or pain no accident without no weaknesse within hinder or
discompose my duty or turn me from the wayes of thy Commandements O let thy Spirit dwell with me for ever and make my soul just and charitable full of honesty full of religion resolute and constant in holy purposes but inflexible to evil Make me humble and obedient peaceable and pious let me never envy any mans good nor deserve to be despised my self and if I be teach me to bear it with meeknesse and charity V. GIve me a tender conscience a conversation discreet and aâ—fable modest and patient liberal and obliging body a chaste and healthful competency of living according to my condition contentednesse in all estates a resigned will and mortified affections that I may be as thou wouldst have me and my portion may be in the lot of the righteous in the brightnesse of thy countenance and the glories of eternity Amen Holy is our God * Holy is the Almighty * Holy is the Immortal Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabbath have mercy upon me A form of Prayer for the evening to be said by such who have not time or opportunity to say the publick prayers appointed for this office I. O Eternal God Great Father of Men and Angels who hast established the Heavens and the Earth in a wonderful order making day and night to succeed each other I make my humble addresse to thy Divine Majesty begging of thee mercy protection this night ever O Lord pardon all my sins my light and rash words the vanity and impiety of my thoughts my unjust and uncharitable actions and whatsoever I have transgressed against thee this day or at any time before Behold O God my soul is troubled in the remembrance of my sins in the frailty and sinfulnesse of my flesh exposed to every temptation and of it self not able to resist any Lord God of mercy I earnestly beg of thee to give me a great portion of thy grace such as may be sufficient and effectual for the mortification of all my sins and vanities and disorders that as I have formerly served my lust and unworthy desires so now I may give my self up wholly to thy service and the studies of a holy life II. BLessed Lord teach me frequently and sadly to remember my sins and be thou pleased to remember them no more let me never forget thy mercies and do thou still remember to do me good Teach me to walk alwayes as in thy presence Ennoble my soul with great degrees of love to thee and configne my spirit with great fear religion and veneration of thy holy Name and laws that it may become the great imployment of my whole life to serve thee to advance thy glory to root out all the accursed habits of sin that in holinesse of life in humility in charity in chastity and all the ornaments of grace I may by patience wait for the coming of our Lord Jesus Amen III. Teach me O Lord to number my dayes that I may apply my heart unto wisdom ever to remember my last end that I may not dare to sin against thee Let thy holy Angels be ever present with me to keep me in all my wayes from the malice and violence of the spirits of darknesse from evil company and the occasions and opportunities of evil from perishing in popular judgements from all the wayes of sinful shame from the hands of all mine enemies from a sinful life and from despair in the day of my death Then O brightest Jesu shine gloriously upon me let thy mercies and the light of thy Countenance sustain me in all my agonies weaknesses and temptations Give me opportunity of a prudent and spiritual Guide and of receiving the holy Sacrament let thy loving spirit so guide me in the wayes of peace and safety that with the testimony of a good conscience and the sense of thy mercies and refreshment I may depart this life in the unity of the Church in the love of God and a certain hope of salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord and most blessed Saviour Amen Our Father c. Another form of Evening Prayer which may also be used at bed-time Our Father c. I Will lift up my eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help My help cometh of the Lord which made heaven and earth He will not suffer thy foot to be moved he that keepeth thee will not slumber Behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep The Lord is thy keeper the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand The sun shall not smite thee by day neither the moon by night The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil he shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth for evermore Glory be to the Father c. I. VIsit I beseech thee O Lord this habitation with thy mercy and me with thy grace and salvation Let thy holy Angels pitch their tents round about and dwell here that no illusion of the night may abuse me the spirits of darknesse may not come neer to hurt me no evil or sad accident oppresse me and let the eternal spirit of the Father dwell in my soul and body filling every corner of my heart with light and grace Let no deed of darknesse overtake me and thy blessing most blessed God be upon me for ever through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen II. INto thy hands most blessed Jesu I commend my soul and body for thou hast redeemed both with thy most precious blood So blesse and sanctifie my sleep unto me that it may be temperate holy and safe a refreshment to my wearied body to enable it so to serve my soul that both may serve thee with a never failing duty O let me never sleep in sin or death eternal but give me a watchful a prudent spirit that I may omit no oportunity of serving thee that whether I sleep or wake live or die I may be thy servant and thy childe that when the work of my life is done I may rest in the bosom of my Lord till by the voice of the Archangel the trump of God I shall be awakened and called to sit down and feast in the eternal supper of the Lamb. Grant this O Lamb of God for the honour of thy mercies and the glory of thy name O most merciful Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Amen III. BLessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus who hath sent his Angels and kept me this day from the destruction that walketh at noon and the arrow that flyeth by day and hath given me his Spirit to restrain me from those evils to which my own weaknesses and my evil habits and my unquiet enemies would easily betray me Blessed and for ever hallowed be thy name for that never ceasing showre os blessing by which I live and am content and blessed and provided for in all necessities and set forward in my duty and way to heaven * Blessing honour
the use of it perpetual and unreasonable to all purposes but that they have made it habitual and necessary as intemperance it self is made to some men 11. Use those advices which are prescribed as instruments to suppresse voluptuousnesse in the foregoing Section Of Chastity Reader stay and reade not the advices of the following Section unlesse thou hast a chaste spirit or desirest to be chaste or at least art apt to consider whether you ought or no. For there are some spirits so Atheistical and some so wholly possessed with a spirit of uncleannesse that they turn the most prudent and chaste discourses into dirt and filthy apprehensions like cholerick stomacks changing their very Cordials and medicines into bitternesse and in a literal sense turning the grace of God into wantonnesse They study cases of conscience in the matter of carnal sins not to avoid but to learn wayes how to offend God and pollute their own spirits and search their houses with a Sun-beam that they may be instructed in all the corners of nastinesse I have used all the care I could in the following periods that I might neither be wanting to assist those that need it nor yet minister any occasion of fancy or vainer thoughts to those that need them not If any man will snatch the pure taper from my hand and hold it to the Devil he will onely burn his own fingers but shall not rob me of the reward of my care and good intention since I have taken heed how to expresse the following duties and given him caution how to reade them CHastity is that duty which was mystically intended by GOD in the Law of Circumcision It is the circumcision of the heart the cutting off all superfluity of naughtinesse and a suppression of all irregular desires in the matter of sensual or carnal pleasure I call all desires irregular and sinful that are not sanctified 1. By the holy institution or by being within the protection of marriage 2. By being within the order of nature 3. By being within the moderation of Christian modesty Against the first are fornication adultery and all voluntary pollutions of either sex Against the second are all unnatural lusts and incestuous mixtures Against the third is all immoderate use of permitted beds concerning which judgement is to be made as concerning meats and drinks there being no certain degree of frequency or intension prescribed to all persons but it is to be ruled as the other actions of a man by proportion to the end by the dignity of the person in the honour and severity of being a Christian and by other circumstances of which I am to give account Chastity is that grace which forbids and restrains all these keeping the body and soul pure in that state in which it is placed by God whether of the single or of the married life Concerning which our duty is thus described by S. Paul For this is the will of God even your sanctification that ye should abstain from fornication that every one of you should know how to possesse his vessel in sanctification and honour Not in the lust of concupiscence even as the Gentiles which know not God Chastity is either abstinence or continence Abstinence is that of Virgins or Widows Continence of married persons Chaste marriages are honourable and pleasing to God Widowhood is pitiable in its solitarinesse and losse but amiable and comely when it is adorned with gravity and purity and not sullied with remembrances of the passed license nor with present desires of returning to a second bed But Virginity is a life of Angels the enamel of the soul the huge advantage of religion the great opportunity for the retirements of devotion and being empty of cares it is full of prayers being unmingled with the World it is apt to converse with God and by not feeling the warmth of a too forward and indulgent nature flames out with holy fires till it be burning like the Cherubim and the most extasied order of holy and unpolluted Spirits Natural virginity of it self is not a state more acceptable to God but that which is chosen and voluntary in order to the conveniences of Religion and separation from worldly incombrances is therefore better then the married life not that it is more holy but that it is a freedom from cares an opportunity to spend more time in spiritual imployments it is not allayed with businesses and attendances upon lower affairs and if it be a chosen condition to these ends it containeth in it a victory over lusts and greater desires of Religion and self-denial and therefore is more excellent then the married life in that degree in which it hath greater religion and a greater mortification a lesse satisfaction of natural desires a greater fulnesse of the spiritual and just so is to expect that little coronet or special reward which God hath prepared extraordinary and besides the great Crown of all faithful souls for those who have not defiled themselves with women but follow the Virgin Lamb for ever But some married persons even in their marriage do better please God then some Virgins in their state of virginity They by giving great example of conjugal affection by preserving their faith unbroken by educating children in the fear of God by patience and contentednesse and holy thoughts and the exercise of vertues proper to that state do not onely please God but do it in a higher degree then those Virgins whose piety is not answerable to their great opportunities and advantages However married persons and Widows and Virgins are all servants of God and coheirs in the inheritance of Jesus if they live within the restraints and laws of their particular estate chastely temperately justly and religiously The evil consequents of Vncleannesse The blessings and proper effects of chastity we shall best understand by reckoning the evils of uncleannesse and carnality 1. Uncleannesse of all vices is the most shameful The eye of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight saying No eye shall see me and disguiseth his face In the dark they dig through houses which they had marked for themselves in the day time they know not the light for the morning is to them as the shadow of death He is swift as the waters their portion is cursed in the earth he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards Shame is the eldest daughter of Uncleannesse 2. The appetites of uncleannesse are full of cares and trouble and its fruition is sorrow and repentance The way of the adulterer is hedg'd with thorns full of fears and jealousies burning desires and impatient waitings tediousnesse of delay and sufferance of affronts and amazements of discovery 3. Most of its kindes are of that condition that they involve the ruine of two souls and he that is a fornicatour or adulterous steals the soul as well as dishonours the body of his Neighbour and so it becomes like the sin of falling Lucifer
her face to represent that no vertue hath cost the Saints so much as this of Chastity 5. Fly from all occasions temptations loosenesses of company Balls and Revellings undecent mixtures of wanton dancings idle talke private society with stranger women starings upon a beauteous face the company of women that are singers amorous gestures garish and wanton dressings feasts and liberty banquets and perfumes which are made to persecute chastity some of these being the very Prologues to lust and the most innocent of them being but like condited or pickled Mushroms which if carefully corrected and seldome tasted may be harmelesse but can never do good Ever remembring that it is easier to dye for chastity then to live with it and the Hangman could not extort a consent from some persons from whom a Lover would have intreated it For the glory of chastity will easily overcome the rudenesse of fear and violence but easinesse and softnesse and smooth temptations creep in and like the Sun make a mayden lay by her vail and robe which persecution like the Northern winde made her hold fast and clap close about her 6. He that will secure his chastity musâ— first cure his pride and his rage For oftentimes lust is the punishment of a proud man to tame the vanity of his pride by the shame and affronts of unchastity and the same intemperate heat that makes anger does enkindle lust 7. If thou beest assaulted with an unclean Spirit trust not thy self alone but runne forth into company whose reverence and modesty may suppresse or whose society may divert thy thoughts and a perpetual witnesse of thy conversation is of especial use against this vice which evaporates in the open air like Camphyre being impatient of light and witnesses 8. Use frequent and earnest prayer to the King of Purities the first of Virgins the eternal GOD who is of an essential purity that hee would be pleased to reprove and cast out the unclean Spirit For besides the blessings of prayer by way of reward it hath a natural vertue to restrain this vice because a prayer against it is an unwillingnesse to act it and so long as we heartily pray against it our desires are secured and then thâ—â— Devil hath no power This was S. Pauls other remedy For this cause I besought the Lord thrice 9. Hither bring in succour from consideration of the Divine presence and of his holy Angels meditation of Death and the passions of CHRIST upon the Crosse imitation of his purities and of the Virgin Mary his unspotted and holy Mother and of such eminent Saints who in their generations were burning and shining lights unmingled with such uncleannesses which defile the soul and who now follow the Lambe whithersoever he goes 10. These remedies are of universal eâ—ficacy in all cases extraordinary and violent but in ordinary and common the remedy which GOD hath provided that is Honourable marriage hath a natural efficacy besides a vertue by Divine blessing to cure the inconveniences which otherwise might aâ—flict persons temperate and sober Sect. 4. Of Humility HUmility is the great Ornament and Jewel of Christian Religion that whereby it is distinguished from all the wisdome of the world it not having been taught by the wise men of the Gentiles but first put into a discipline and made part of a religion by our Lord Jesus Christ who propounded himselfe imitable by his Disciples so signally in nothing as in the twinne sisters of Meeknesse and Humility Learne of me for I am meek and humble and ye shall finde rest unto your souls For all the World all that we are and all that we have our bodies and our souls our actions and our sufferings our conditions at home our accidents abroad our many sinnes and our seldome vertues are as so many arguments to make our souls dwell low in the deep valleys of Humility Arguments against Pride by way of Consideration 1. Our Body is weak and impure sending out more uncleannesses from its several sinkes then could be endured if they were not necessary and natural and we are forced to passe that through our mouthes which as soon as we see upon the ground we loathe like rottennesse and vomiting 2. Our strength is inferiour to that of many Beasts and our infirmities so many that we are forced to dresse and tend Horses and Asses that they may help our needs and relieve our wants 3. Our beauty is in colour inferiour to many flowers and in proportion of parts it is better then nothing For even a Dog hath parts as well proportion'd and fitted to his purposes and the designes of his nature as we have and when it is most florid and gay three fits of an ague can change it into yellownesse and leanness and the hollowness and wrinkles of deformity 4. Our learning is then best when it teaches most humility but to be proud of Learning is the greatest ignorance in the World For our learning is so long in getting and so very imperfect that the greatest Clerke knowes not the thousand part of what hee is ignorant and knowes so uncertainly what he seemes to know and knowes no otherwise then a Fool or a Childe even whaâ— is told him or what he guesses at that except those things which concerne his duty and which God hath revealed to him which also every Woman knowes so far as is necessary the most Learned Man hath nothing to bee proud of unlesse this be a sufficient argument to exalt him that he uncertainly guesses at some more unnecessary things then many others who yet know all that concernes them and minde other things more necessary for the needs of life and Common-wealths 5. Hee that is proud of riches is a Foole. For if he be exalted above his Neighbours because hee hath more gold how much inferiour is hee to a Gold Mine How much is he to give place to a chain of Pearl or a knot of Diamonds For certainly that hath the greatest excellence from whence he derives all his gallantry and preheminence over his Neighbours 6. If a man be exalted by reason of any excellence in his soul he may please to remember that all souls are equal and their differing operations are because their instrument is in better tune their body is more healthful or better tempered which is no more praise to him then it is that he was born in Italy 7. He that is proud of his birth is proud of the blessings of others not of himself for if his parents were more eminent in any circumstance then their Neighbours he is to thank God and to rejoyce in them but still he may be a Fool or unfortunate or deform'd and when himself was born it was indifferent to him whether his Father were a King or a Peasant for he knew not any thing nor chose any thing and most commonly it is true that he that boasts of his Ancestors who were the founders and raisers of a
serve some of Gods ends and the purposes of universal Providence And when a Prince fights justly and yet unprosperously if he could see all those reasons for which God hath so ordered it he would think it the most reasonable thing in the world and that it would be very ill to have it otherwise If a man could have opened one of the pages of the Divine counsel and could have seen the event of Iosephs being sold to the Merchants of Amalek he might with much reason have dried up the young mans tears and when Gods purposes are opened in the events of things as it was in the case of Ioseph when he sustained his Fathers family and became Lord of Egypt then we see what ill judgement we made of things and that we were passionate as children and transported with sence and mistaken interest The case of Themistocles was almost like that of Ioseph for being banished into Egypt he also grew in favour with the King and told his wife He had been undone unlesse he had been undone For God esteems it one of his glories that he brings good out of evil and therfore it were but reason we should trust God to govern his own world as he pleases and that we should patiently wait till the change cometh or the reason be discovered And this consideration is also of great use to them who envy at the prosperity of the wicked and the successe of Persecutors and the baits of fishes and the bread of dogs God fails not to sow blessings in the long furrows which the plowers plow upon the back of the Church and this successe which troubles us will be a great glory to God and a great benefit to his Saints and servants and a great ruine to the Persecutors who shall have but the fortune of Theramenes one of the thirty Tyrants of Athens who scap'd when his house fell upon him and was shortly after put to death with torments by his Collegues in the Tyranny To which also may be added that the great evils which happen to the best and wisest men are one of the great arguments upon the strength of which we can expect felicity to our souls and the joyes of another world And certainly they are then very tolerable and eligible when with so great advantages they minister to the faith and hope of a Christian. But if we consider what unspeakable tortures are provided for the wicked to all eternity we should not be troubled to see them prosperous here but rather wonder that their portion in this life is not bigger and that ever they should be sick or crossed or affronted or troubled with the contradiction and disease of their own vices since if they were fortunate beyond their own ambition it could not make them recompence for one houres torment in Hell which yet they shall have for their eternall portion After all these considerations deriving from sence and experience grace and reason there are two remedies still remaining and they are Necessity and Time 6. For it is but reasonable to bear that accident patiently which God sends since impatience does but intangle us like the fluttering of a bird in a net but cannot at all ease our trouble or prevent the accident it must be run thorough and therefore it were better we compose our selves to a patient then to a troubled and miserable suffering 7. But however if you will not otherwise be cured time at last will do it alone and then consider do you mean to mourne alwayes or but for a time If alwayes you are miserable and foolish If for a time then why will you not apply those reasons to your grief at first with which you will cure it at last or if you will not cure it with reason see how little of a man there is in you that you suffer time to do more with you then reason or religion you suffer your selves to be cured just as a beast or a tree is let it alone and the thing will heal it self but this is neither honourable to thy person nor of reputation to thy religion However be content to bear thy calamity because thou art sure in a litle time it will sit down gentle and easy For to a mortal man no evil is immortal And here let the worst thing happen that can it will end in death and we commonly think that to be neer enough 8. Lastly of those things which are reckoned amonstg evils some are better then their contraries and to a good man the very worst is tolerable Poverty or a low Forâ—une 1. Poverty is better then riches and a mean fortune to be chosen before a great and splendid one It is indeed despised and makes men contemptible it exposes a man to the insolence of evil persons and leaves a man defencelesse it is alwayes suspected its stories are accounted lies and all its counsells follyes it puts a man from all imployment it makes a mans discourses tedious and his society troublesome This is the worst of it and yet all this and â—arre worse then this the Apostles suffered for being Christians and Christianitie it selfe may be esteemed an affliction as well as poverty if this be all â—hat can be said against it for the Apostles and the most eminent Christians were really poor and were used contemptuously and yet that poverty is despised may be an argument to commend it if it be despised by none but persons vitious and ignorant However certain it is that a great fortune is a great vanity and riches is nothing but danger trouble and temptation like a garment that is too long and bears a train not so useful to one but it is troublesome to two to him that bears the one part upon his shoulders and to him that bears the other part in his hands But poverty is the sister of a good minde the parent of sober counsels and the nurse of all vertue For what is it that you admire in the fortune of a great King Is it that hee alwayes goes in a great company You may thrust your self into the same croud or goe often to Church and then you have as great a company as he hath and that may upon as good ground please you as him that is justly neither for so impertinent and uselesse pomp and the other circumstances of his distance are not made for him but for his Subjects that they may learne to separate him from common usages and be taught to be governed But if you looke upon them as fine things in themselves you may quickly alter your opinion when you shall consider that they cannot cure the toothach nor make one wise or fill the belly or give one nights sleep though they help to break many nor satisfying any appetite of Nature or Reason or Religion but they are states of greatnesse which onely makes it possible for a Man to be made extremely miserable And it was long agoe observed by the Greeke
labour extreamly and watch carefully and suffer affronts and disgrace that he may get money more then he uses in his temperate and just needs with how much ease might this man be happy And with how great uneasinesse and trouble does he make himself miserable For he takes pains to get content and when he might have it he lets it go He might better be content with a vertuous and quiet poverty then w th an artificial troublesom vitious The same diet a less labor would at first make him happy and for ever after rewardable 6. The sum of all is that which the Apostle sayes Covetousnesse is Idolatry that is it is an admiring money for itself not for its use it relyes upon money and loves it more then it loves God and religion and it is the root of all evil it teaches men to be cruel and crafty industrious in evil full of care and malice it devours young heirs and grindes the face of the poor and undoes those who specially belong to Gods protection helpless craftlesse and innocent people it inquires into our parents age and longs for the death of our friends it makes friendship and art of rapine and changes a partner into a Vultur and a companion into a thief and after all this it is for no good to it self for it dare not spend those heaps of treasure which it snatched and men hate Serpents and Basilisks worse then Lyons and Beâ—rs for these kill because they need the prey but they sting to death and eat not * And if they pretend all this care and heap for their Heirs like the Mice of Africa hiding the golden oare in their bowels and refusing to give back the indigested gold till their guts be out they may remember that what was unnecessary for themselves is as unnecessary for their sons and why cannot they be without it as well as their Fathers who did not use it and it often happens that to the sons it becomes an instrument to serve some lust or other that as the gold was uselesse to their Fathers so may the sons be to the publick fools or prodigals loads to their Countrey and the curse and punishent of their Fathers avarice and yet all that wealth is short of one blessing but it is a load coming with a curse and descending from the family of a long derived sin However the Father transmits it to the son and it may be the son to one more till a Tyrant or an Oppressour or a War or a change of government or the Usurer or folly or an expensive vice makes holes in the bottom of the bag and the wealth runs out like water and flies away like a Bird from the hand of a childe 7. Adde to these the consideration of the advantages of poverty that it is a state freer from temptation secure in dangers but of one trouble safe under the Divine Providence cared for in Heaven by a daily ministration and for whose support God makes every day a new decree a state of which Christ was pleased to make open profession and many wise Men daily make vows that a rich Man is but like a pool to whom the poor run and first trouble it and then draw it dry that he enjoyes no more of it then according to the few and limited needs of a Man he cannot eat like a Wolf or an Elephant that variety of dainty fare ministers but to sin and sicknesses that the poor Man feasts oftner then the rich because every little enlargement is a feast to the poor but he that feasts every day feasts no day there being nothing left to which he may beyond his Ordinary extend his appetite that the rich Man sleeps not so soundly as the poor labourer that his fears are more and his needs are greater for who is poorer he that needs 5 l. or he that needs 5000 the poor Man hath enough to fill his belly and the rich hath not enough to fill his eye that the poor Mans wants are easie to be relieved by a common charity but the needs of rich Men cannot be supplyed but by Princes and they are left to the temptation of grâ—at vices to make reparation of their needs and the ambitious labours of Men to get great estates is but like the selling of a Fountain to buy a Fever a parting with content to buy necessity a purchase of an unhandsome condition at the price of infelicity that Princes and they that enjoy most of the world have most of it but in title and supreme rights and reserved priviledges pepper-corns homages trifling services acknowledgements the real use descending to others to more substantial purposes These considerations may be useful to the curing of covetousnesse that the grace of mercifulnesse enlarging the heart of a Man his hand may not be contracted but reached out to the poor in almes Sect. 9. Of Repentance REpentance of all things in the World makes the greatest change it changes things in Heaven and Earth for it changes the whole Man from sin to grace from vitious habits to holy customes from unchaste bodies to Angelical soules from Swine to Philosophers from drunkennesse to sober counsels and GOD himself with whom is no variablenesse or shadow of change is pleased by descending to our weak understandings to say that he changes also upon Mans repentance that he alters his decrees revokes his sentence cancels the Bils of accusation throws the Records of shame and sorrow from the Court of Heaven and lifts up the sinner from the grave to life from his prison to a throne from Hell and the guilt of eternal torture to Heaven and to a title to never ceasing felicities If we be bound on earth we shall be bound in heaven if we be absolved here we shall be loosed there if we repent God will repent and not send the evil upon us which we had deserved But repentance is a conjugation and society of many duties and it containes in it all the parts of a holy life from the time of return to the day of our death inclusively and it hath in it somethings specially relating to the sins of our former dayes which are now to be abolished by special arts and have obliged us to special labours and brought in many new necessities and put us into a very great deal of danger and because it is a duty consisting of so many parts so much imployment it also requires much time and leaves a Man in the same degree of hope of pardon as is his restitution to the state of righteousness and holy living for which we covenanted in Baptism For wee must know that there is but one repentance in a Mans whole life if repentance be taken in the proper and strict Evangelicall Covenant-sense and not after the ordinary understanding of the word That is wee are but once to change our whole state of life from the power of the Devil and his intire possession from
thou doest receive the blessed elements into thy mouth that thou puttest thy finger to his hand and thy hand into his side and thy lips to his fontinel of blood sucking life from his heart and yet if thou doest communicate unworthily thou eatest and drinkest Christ to thy danger and death and destruction Dispute not concerning the secret of the mystery and the nicety of the manner of Christs presence it is sufficient to thee that Christ shall be present to thy soul as an instrument of grace as a pledge of the resurrection as the earnest of glory and immortality and a means of many intermedial blessings even all such as are necessary for thee and are in order to thy salvation and to make all this good to thee there is nothing necessary on thy part but a holy life and a true belief of all the sayings of Christ amongst which indefinitely assent to the words of institution and believe that Christ in the holy Sacrament gives thee his bodie and his blood He that believes not this is not a Christian He that believes so much needs not to enquire further nor to intangle his faith by disbelieving his sence 11. Fail not this solemnity according to the custom of pious and devout people to make an offering to God for the uses of religion and the poor according to thy ability For when Christ feasts his body let us also feast our fellow members who have right to the same promises and are partakers of the same Sacrament and partners of the same hope and cared for under the same providence and descended from the same common parents and whose Father God is and Christ is their Elder Brother If thou chancest to communicate where this holy custom is not observed publickly supply that want by thy private charity but offer it to God at his holy Table at least by thy private designing it there 12. When you have received pray and give thanks Pray for all estates of men for they also have an interest in the body of Christ whereof they are members and you in conjunction with Christ whom then you have received are more fit to pray for them in that advantage and in the celebration of that holy sacrifice which then is Sacramentally represented to GOD. * Give thanks for the passion of our Dearest Lord remember all its parts and all the instruments of your Redemption and beg of GOD that by a holy perseverance in well doing you may from shadowes passe on to substances from eating his body to seeing his face from the Typicall Sacramentall and Transient to the Reall and Eternall Supper of the Lambe 13. After the solemnity is done let Christ dwell in your hearts by faith and love and obedience and conformity to his life and death as you have taken CHRIST into you so put CHRIST on you and conforme every faculty of your soul and body to his holy image and perfection Remember that now Christ is all one with you and therefore when you are to do an action consider how Christ did or would do the like and do you imitate his example and transcribe his copy and understand all his Commandments and choose all that he propounded and desire his promises and fear his threatnings and marry his loves and hatreds and contract all his friendships for then you do every day communicate especially when Christ thus dwells in you and you in Christ growing up towards a perfect man in Christ Iesus 14. Do not instantly upon your return from Church return also to the world and secular thoughts and imployments but let the remaining parts of that day be like a post-Communion or an after-office entertaining your blessed Lord with all the caresses and sweetnesse of love and colloquies and entercourses of duty and affection acquainting him with all your needs and revealing to him all your secrets and opening all your infirmities and as the aâ—fairs of your person or imployment call you off so retire again with often ejaculations and acts of entertainment to your beloved Guest The effects and benefits of worthy communicating When I said that the sacrifice of the crosse which Christ offered for all the sins and all the needs of the world is represented to God by the Minister in the Sacrament and offered up in prayer and Sacramental memory after the manner that Christ himself intercedes for us in Heaven so far as his glorious Priesthood is imitable by his Ministers on earth I must of necessity also mean that all the benefits of that sacrifice are then conveyed to all that communicate worthily But if we descend to particulars Then and there the Church is nourished in her faith strengthened in her hope enlarged in her bowels with an increasing charity there all the members of Christ are joyn'd with each other and all to Christ their head and we again renew the Covenant with God in Jesus Christ and God seals his part and we promise for ours and Christ unites both and the holy Ghost signes both in the collation of those graces which we then pray for and exercise and receive all at once there our bodies are nourished with the signes and our souls with the mystery our bodies receive into them the seed of an immortal nature and our souls are joyned with him who is the first fruits of the resurrection and never can dye and if we desire any thing else and need it here it is to be prayed for here to be hoped for here to be received Long life and health and recovery from sicknesse and competent support and maintenance and peace and deliverance from our enemies and content and patience and joy and sanctified riches or a cheerful poverty and liberty and whatsoever else is a blessing was purchased for us by Christ in his death and resurrection and in his intercession in Heaven and this Sacrament being that to our particulars which the great mysteries are in themselves and by designe to all the world if we receive worthily we shall receive any of these blessings according as God shall choose for us and he will not onely choose with more wisdom but also with more affection then we can for our selves After all this it is advised by the Guides of souls wise men and pious that all persons should communicate very often even as often as they can without excuses or delayes Every thing that puts us from so holy an imployment when we are moved to it being either a sin or an imperfection an Infirmity or indevotion and an unactivenesse of Spirit All Christian people must come They indeed that are in the state of sin must not come so but yet they must come First they must quit their state of death and then partake of the bread of life They that are at enmity with their neighbours must come that is no excuse for their not coming onely they must not bring their enmity along with them but leave it and then come They that have variety
Death Hear my Prayer O Lord and let my crying come unto thee * Hide not thy face from me in the time of my trouble incline thine ear unto me when I call O hear me and that right soon * For my dayes are consumed like smoaâ— my bones are burnt up as it were a firebrand * My heart is smitten down withered like grass so that I forget to eat my bread that because of thine indignation and wrath for thou hast taken me up cast me down * Thine arrows stick fast in me and thy hand presseth me sore There is no health in my flesh because of thy displeasure neither is there any rest in my bones by reason of my sin * My wickednesâ—es are gone over my head and are a sore burden too heavy for me to bear * But I will confesse my wickednesse and be sorry for my sin * O Lord rebuke me not in thy indignation neither chasten me in thy displeasure * Lord be merciful unto me heal my soul for I have sinned against thee Have mercy upon me O God after thy great goodnesse according to the multitude of thy mercies do away mine offences * O remember not the sins and offences of my youth but according to thy mercy think thou upon me O Lord for thy goodnesse * Wash me thoroughly from my wickednesse and cleanse me from my sin * Make me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me * Cast me not away from thy presence from thy all-hallowing and life-giving presence and take not thy holy Spirit thy sanctifying thy guiding thy comforting thy supporting and confirming Spirit from me O God thou art my God for ever and ever thou shalt be my guide unto death * Lord comfort me now that I lye sick upon my bed make thou my bed in all my sicknesse * O deliver my soul from the place of Hell and do thou receive me * My heart is disquieted within me and the fear of death is falen upon me * Behold thou hast made my dayes as it were a span long mine age is even as nothing in respect of thee and verily every man living is altogether vanity * When thou with rebukes doest chasten man for sin thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth fretting a garment every man therefore is but vanity And now Lord what is my hope truly my hope is even in thee * Hear my prayer O Lord and with thine ears consider my calling hold not thy peace at my tears * Take this plague away from me I am consumed by the means of thy heavy hand * I am a stranger with thee and a sojourner as all my Fathers were * O spare me a little that I may recover my strength before I go hence and be no more seen * My soul cleaveth unto the dust O quicken me according to thy word * And when the snares of death compasse me round about let not the pains of hell take hold upon me An Act of Faith concerning resurrection and the day of judgment to be said by sick persons or meditated I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self mine eyes shal behold though my reins be consumed within me Iob 19. God shall come and shall not keep silence there shall go before him a consuming fire and a mighty tempest shall be stirred up round about him he shall call the heaven from above and the earth that he may judge his people * O blessed Jesu thou art my judge and thou art my Advocate have mercy upon me in the hour of my death and in the day of judgment See Iohn 5.28 1 Thessal 4.15 Short Prayers to be said by sick persons O Holy Jesus thou art a merciful High Priest and touched with the sense of our infirmities thou knowest the sharpnesse of my sicknesse and the weaknesse of my person The clouds are gathered about me and thou hast covered me with thy storm My understanding hath not such apprehension of things as formerly Lord let thy mercy support me thy spirit guide me and lead me through the valley of this death safely that I may passe it patiently holily with perfect resignation and let me rejoyce in the Lord in the hopes of pardon in the expectation of glory in the sence of thy mercies in the refreshments of thy spirit in a victory over all temptations Thou hast promised to be with us in tribulation Lord my soul is troubled and my body is weak and my hope is in thee and my enemies are busy and mighty now make good thy holy promise Now O holy Jesus now let thy hand of grace be upon me restrain my ghostly enemies and give me all sorts of spiritual assistances Lord remember thy servant in the day when thou bindest up thy Jewels O take from me all tediousnesse of Spirit all impatience and unquietnesse let me possesse my soul in patience and resigne my soul and body into thy hands as into the hands of a faithful Creator and a blessed Redeemer O holy Jesu thou didst dye for us by thy sad pungent intolerable pains which thou enduredst for me have pity on me ease my pain or increase my patience Lay on me no more then thou shalt enable me to bear I have deserv'd it all more and infinitely more Lord I am weak and ignorant timerous and inconstant and I feâ—r lest something should happen that may discompose the state of my soul that may displease thee Do what thou wilt with me so thou doest but preserve me in thy fear and favour Thou knowest that it is my great â—ear but let thy Spirit secure that nothing may be able to separate me from the love of God in Jesus Christ then smite me here that thou mayest spare me for ever and yet O Lord smite me friendly for thou knowest my infirmities Into thy hands I commend my spirit for thou hast redeemed me O Lord thou God of truth * Come holy Spirit help me in this conflict Come Lord Jesus come quickly Let the sick person often meditate upon these following promises and gracious words of God My help cometh of the Lord who preserveth them that are true of heart Psal. 7.11 And all they that know thy Name will put their trust in thee for thou Lord hast never failed them that seek thee Psal. 9.10 O how plentiful is thy goodnesse which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee and that thou hast prepared for them that put their trust in thee even before the sons of men Psal. 31. Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him upon them that put their trust in his mercy to deliver their souls from death Ps. 33. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart