Temptations that set upon us from without Saint Paul adviseth us to be provided with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the whole armour of God Which he names particularly in this manner The girdle of Truth The Breast-plate of Righteousnes The feet shodde with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace The Shield of Faith The Helmet of Salvation The Sword of the spirit Ephes 6. 11. 12. 13 Our whole life is like a warfare saith Job we are all Souldiers under Christ's banner Job 7 1. And of the Foot too For that we be not too high mounted in our undertakings the armour which we heard of is such as useth to be provided for the Foot The Girdle is cingulum militare Having our loines girt with Truth or in Truth in veritate that is verè truly If you read it with Truth then Truth it self Divine Truth is the girdle that keeps us in and leaves us not to that liberty which goes along with false Doctrine But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Truth seems rather to signifie the true and real girding of the loines And that is done by the girdle of Chastity the proper curbe of the loines to prevent the danger of that part How needful this military girdle is we may guesse by the old Roman Militia where cingulum deponere was to give over the place of a Souldier The need of this girdle doth not so appeare to the Jew and the Mahumetan who are for many Wives and Concubines and think Fornication a light offence But he that will now be of the Church militant under Christ must have Chastity brought as near to him as the very girdle that he is girded withall And this must appear not in fair professions only but in sober truth in veritate that is in heart and practise When we have this girdle in veritate we may fasten the sword of the spirit unto it which is the word of God Our chaste and pure thoughts will be a means to lead us into all divine Truth and fit our hearts for the whole will of God contained in his holy word which is best seen as God himself is by the pure in heart And because I have put the girdle and the sword together I will so far interrupt the Apostle's method as to continue my discourse of the sword This sword of the spirit that is in the Hebraisme this spiritual sword the word of God is therefore called a sword for the power it hath over sin and sinful men We had some hint of it in a mystery in St Peter's vision where he saw all manner of Beasts and heard a voice calling to him Peter arise and stay If by those Beasts we will understand sins or sinful men no better then Beasts the word of God in the mouth of an Apostle is that sword that can slay and conquer So it may be discovered in a mystery But without a mystery we have it often and more plainly As in Isai. where the Messias the branch of the root of lesse is said to smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips to slay the wicked Isai. 11. 4. in the Rev. where a sharpe two-edged sword is said to come out of his mouth Rev. 1. 16 In the vertue of this sword the Apostles and their succâ—…ssours have been victorious through all the world and subdued whole Nations to the Kingdome of Christ. And how every Christian should use this spirituall sword in his owne defence preferring his obedience to God's holy word before his yeelding to any sinne our blessed Saviour showed us the way in his spirituall combate in the wildernesse Mat. 4. When he was tempted to turne stones into bread our Saviour keeps off the temptation with the spiritual sword Scriptum est It is written Man shall not live by bread onely VVhen we read the other temptations we find the like repulse given to the Devill with the same sword Scriptum est If such be the use of the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God what will the Laitie say to those that would so farre disarme them as to keepe them from this spirituall sword Though it hath beene so abused by themselves and so bowed to their own ends as if they tooke it rather for a sword of wax then a sword of the Spirit And what shall we think for we must say little of another generation of men that talke much of the Spirit and of the word of God but make little use of this spirituall sword if we may guesse by their Actions that looke quite another way But I must looke upon the rest of the Armour that make up the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the next is the Breast-plate of Righteousnesse which we might understand generally of a righteous and innocent life a good defence for the Heart but that the Apostle the best Interpreter of himselfe expressing it to the Thessalonians by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we may take Righteousnes here for Charitie Which is one notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hebr. whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in gr and Justitia in lat are often in the holy Scripture taken for Charity The reason of which Hebraisme is because the Scripture accounts Charitie no more then Justice or Righteousnes It being a just and righteous act to supply others with what we can well spare from our selves or a debt of love which we owe to God and men This is the reason why the Apostle calls that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 righteousnes in his Epistle to the Ephes which in the Epistle to the Thess he expresseth by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Charitie And Charity may well be the Breastplate which is the tie and preservative of all vertues and lies nearest to the Heart When this piece of Armour is put on In the next place our feet are to be shod with the preparation of the gospel of Peace To have our Feet shod is to be fitted and ready for motion To have them shod with a military shooe such as in the brazen and iron age of sword-men were their brasse shooes that armed them against the injuries of the wayes where in time of warre the enemy placed as much danger as he could is in Christian warfare to be provided against the hazard and perill of a Christian course of life And To have them shod with the preparation of Gospel of Peace is to be ready to preach or the practise what belongs to our peace with God and Man as the Gospell directs us Which indeed had not been a Gospell that is not so good tydings without Peace And I doubt though it be a Gospel of Peace yet there are some great Pretenders to Christian warfare that are not so shod in these evill dayes Let us take care that we be so as the Apostle intends such as are ready to use the weapons here commended to us in the defence of this Gospel of Peace and the propagation
same mystical body of whose sufferings he should have a quick sense and expresse it in his good wishes and Prayers wrastling with God for them as an earnest coadjutor and fellow-intercessor the Apostle calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 15. 30. He that will give ear to the many Evangelical exhortations to daily and instant prayer Luc. 18. 1. 1 Thes. 5. 17 c. He that believeth God's omnipotence and all-sufficiency as being the Well of life the Father of lights and giver of every good thing the Lord of Hosts whom all creatures serve and obey He that hath acquainted himselfe with God's Fatherly promises to hear and grant our humble petitions Ask and you shall have Mat. 7. 7. Ioh 16 23. Psal 34. 6 50 15. 103. 13. 81. 11. Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it He that will not deny or forget all these must necessarily acknowledg how foolish and carelesse he is that will rather want then seek that by Prayer which may be so easily purchased VII Other preparatory Meditations before prayers in the morning or at any other time BEfore thou prayest prepare thy self and be not as one that tempts the Lord. Ecclus. 18. 23. And let the first preparation be made in the Heart that thou maist with those in Ier. lift up thy Heart together with thy Hands to God in the Heavens Lam 3. 4. For Prayer is too great a businesse to be committed onely to the Tongue Nor can we expect that He which calls for the heart and directs us to seek him with all the heart and with all the soul Deut. 4. 29. will be any thing moved with the sound of our lips when the heart is silent or that he will be found of those that seek him carelesly Such as those in Isay 29. that draw nigh to God with their mouths and honour him with their lips but their heart is far from him Of whom our Saviour saith that they worship him in vain Mat. 15. 8 9. Now he that would prepare his heart must be told that a sinful impenitent Heart shall have no acceptance It must be such a one as will depart from iniquity 2 Tim. 2. 19. We may learn that from Zohar the Naamathite if thou preparest thy Heart saith he and stretchest out thy hands towards God if iniquity be in thy hands put it far away and let not wickednesse dwell in thy Tabernacles Then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot and without fear Iob. 11. 13. Zohar would have thee come with a pure heart and clean hands and not to forget the reformation of thy Tabernacles that is of thy House and Family too as well as of thy self If Zohar be thought of no great Authority let the Prophet Micah propose a question to this purpose VVherewithall shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the High God saith he Micah 66. and his answer would be out of the highest oracle v. 8. He hath shewed thee O Man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God VVhat Micah saith the Royal Prophet that had best skill in praying resolved long before If I incline to wickednesse with my heart the Lord will not hear me Ps. 66. 16. And the reason of it we may have in his own words elsewhere For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears are open unto their Prayers But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil Psal. 34. 14. The wisest of Kings doth but comment upon those his Father's words when he tells us that a good man obtains favour of the Lord but the prayer of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord Prov 12. 2. and c. 15. 8. 29. VVhen such men pray and spread forth their hands before God he will hide his eyes from them yea though they make many prayers he will not hear saith the Prophet Isaiah c. 1. 15. but he that sets himself to serve the Lord shall be accepted with favour and his Prayers shall reach the clouds saith the son of Sirac Ecclus. 35. 16. And doth not the Gospel speak the same language VVe know that God hears not sinners but if any man be a worshipper of God and doth his will him he hears saith the blind man in the Gospel Ioh. 9. 31. And if we will hear our Saviour himself we must conclude that every one that asketh as he should do shall receive Mat. 7. 8 21. But not every one that carelesly or hypocritically saith Lord Lord shall have his prayers â—…ound so potent as to pierce the Heavens and make way for them or himself to ascend thither That is a priviledge reserved for him that in preparation of heart is ready to do the will of our Father which is in heaven But he that is otherwise minded may receive his answer before hand from the Prophet Isaiah that though God's hand be not shortned nor his ears heavy yet iniquity will separate between God and such a suiter and make him hide his face from him when he would be looked upon with some favour Is. 59. 2. 1. 17 18. VIII A farther supply of such Preparatory Meditations as may make us fitter to be heard in our Prayers WE have shewed already what need we have to come with a penitent heart and resolutions of a good life and how far that may prevaile Shall I now shew if we would have yet more hope of Audience and be sure to have our prayers more acccepted how we should improve a penitent heart truly prepared with Contrition and Humiliation of spirit for those Prayers are most successful that come up to that In which regard as much as we are affected with the desire of a good issue of our Prayers so much we should endeavour more and more to prostrate and cast down our selves before the throne of Grace For he that in a sense of his own miserable està te esteemes himself the most unworthy to be suffered to look up to Heaven or be admitted to any accesse neer the Mercy-seat he is likely to be the first that shall be looked upon and called nearer He that in his own opinion of himself placeth himself lowest as a worme and no man He that descends so far into the thought of his own vilenes that he sees his soul ready to cleave to the dust and his body so despicable that he thinks it worthy to be trod upon his Petition is not unlikely to be look'd upon in the first place and himself preferred before all those that expected to have an Answer before him I say not this without some reason For then we have the best foundation to build high when we are at the bottom of Humility And if we will hear what God himself saith of this kind of addresse to him we will easily believe that as he which exalts himself will be abased according to the degree
But by running and by entreating we may move God to help us And so it is our fault only if we be not helped though it be his grace only if we be Therefore if thou lovest thy self Do not forsake thy Heart because we can do nothing without God's grace and assistance but watch over it the rather Because we are not sure that God will do any thing by his grace and assistance unles our endeavours go along with it If they do He hath promised his assistanced Ask and it shall be given you seek and you shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you Mat. 7. 7. Learn what it is to ask and to seek and to knock And when you have actually done so then your own happy experience will answer your scruples and easily inform you that to your own safety your own care and custody is required For Wisdom is easily seen of them that love Her and found of them that seek Her The unfained desire of reformation is Her beginning and the care of Discipline is love and love is the keeping of Her lawes and the giving heed to Her lawes is the assurance of immortality Wisd. 6. 12 17 18. Every way to ask to seek to endeavour is expected from us Otherwise if we are not kept if we are quite lost we may thank our selves for it To that purpose when God tells Joshuah that no man should be able to stand before him doth He not adde withall only be thou strong and of a good courage Josh. 1. 5. Yes he doth so And we have it four times over in one Chapter that we may be sure to take notice of it And the Royal Prophet hath an exhortation parallel unto it Be you strong and God shall establish your hearts Which I may thus paraphrase in the language of the wise man Keep thou thy heart and God will keep it If thou by thy own negligence and remisnes art not wanting to good thoughts and other good helps they shall never be wanting to thy Heart For whensoever they faile it is only because thou art not vigilant and intent to purchase them to cherish them to encrease them For when the light by which our hearts are enlightned is hid and lost that we cannot perceive it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St Basil that is it is not because the light is spent for that can never be exhaust but it is because we have done somewhat that makes us not so well disposed to apprehend the light as we were before Or because we are drousie and dull and make no use of it If we are not careles of our selves we have the benefit of our Saviour's Prayer Father keep them in thy name And of God's own promise I will not leave thee nor forsake thee But then we must not leave nor forsake our selves Therefore if any man think by magnifying the grace of God to pull down the possibility of doing that which God Himself calls upon us so earnestly to do he takes a wrong course For his very calling so earnestly upon us might breed a security of what is expected from Him and that if we be not wanting to our selves He will not be wanting for those good Motions and that gratious Assistance that conduceth to the performance of those good actions which he so desires For then His Grace is never withheld or denied but upon our former neglect and contemp of it And those denials we may truly reckon to be from our selves and not from Him and therefore rather confesse and bewaile then excuse our sins For every way you see Neither the Malice and Subtilty of the Devil Nor our own natural weaknes to apply the means Nor the unrulines of our Passions and Affections to interrupt them Nor the need of Divine Assistance Nor any other pretended Impediment must any way take off but rather increase our best endeavours for his charge of keeping the heart XXXI Of the Necessity of keeping the Heart AS we have proved it feasable by removing all Lets and Pretences so now I hope we shall prove it a Necessary Duty prae omni custodiâ above all keeping 1. This Necessity will best appear in the Inconveniencies and dangers that follow upon not keeping it In which regard the strongest Antidotes and Preservatives had need be applied to the Heart the strongest Ties and Obligations laid upon that Sin being no where so soon begun no where so easily set forward no where so speedily perfected as there For 1. First The Actions of the body require some degrees and continuance and opportunities of Time and Place but the thoughts of the mind conceive sin in an instant without stirring out of their own nest 2. Again The Actions of the body require some labour and it may be some fellow-labourer too for the effecting of them but the Heart alone without help without labour without company can entertain and consummate any operation of Hers. 3. Lastly The Actions of the body may be discovered and hindered by some others that come to the notice of them but the operations of the mind are so secret to all but God alone that when we are at the worst we may seem the best So that a necessary caution it is in regard of that danger that may come from evill Actions But that is not all 2. In the best Actions if the Heart be not looked too we indanger the carriage and may easily fall short of the reward For if the Fountain be corrupt the streams cannot be clear If our Hearts displease God our Actions cannot be accepted If they proceed out of constraint or out of a melancholy retired discontent whereby we are fallen out with the world or out of Vain-glory or any other byâ—… respect it is but lost labour For God is a Spirit and he will be served in spirit and in truth He looks to the Heart and to the Modus of every Action how good how plausible soever in it self In both these regards 't is a necessary duty that here we urge prae omni custodiâ And yet there are some so far from this careful keeping of the Heart from sin that they earnestly labonr and take pains to actuate and consummate those sins that have there given the onset Their evil actions present them always in motion like the raging and troubled Sea that casts out nothing but dirt and mire But in respect of any good they are liker to standing pooles Many a sweet showr from Heaven falls upon them and for want of motion they suffer them to perish By which supine carelesnes they do not only remain unwholesome as they were before but even that good water that was poured in is corrupted and turned to no use O that they would hear the wise mans counsel de custod â cordis at least to cherish their good thoughts while they have them For it is a shame that true knowledge and gratious admonition should passe through the Heart so often in vain
as good milke passeth through a strainer that leaves nothing but drosse behind It is a shame that they should forsake the Fountaine of life when it is so near them and take so much pains to dig those wells that will hold nothing while with more ease they might have Wells of living water and a good heart out of which are the issues of Life But to prevent this in us if you please we will now cast about what might be the chiefest means and helps by which the heart may and should be thus kept as it is here intended Without them we should leave all imperfect Therefore I will give you a short view of them all as near as I can XXXII Of the means and helps of keeping the Heart and first of the prime and superior Meanes AMongst them all the prime and superior meanes is the immediate presence and assistance of God The very thought of Divine presence is of great moment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Heathen could say but we need no such help In this high point I would intreat you rather to observe how the Royal Prophet was affected with the speculation of it Psal. 139. where we read thus O Lord thou hast searched me out and known me c. that is if I shall entertain you a while with a brief explication of what he saith in the twelve first verses of that Psalm which are all spent upon that subject V. 1. O Lord thou knowest me as well as if thou hadst made great search and inquiry after me thou knowst how I dispose of my self in my times of rest and retirednes and after that how I fit my self for employment Thou discernest my most intimate and familiar thoughts and intentions long before they are actually mine v. 2. Thou art privy to my labour and repose thou art throughly acquainted with all my actions and proceedings in all the course of my life v. 3. There is not a word at my tongues end but thou canst tell it perfectly before it come out I need not expresse it unto thee 4. Thou dost compasse me as close on every side as a city is beset in the strictest siege And I can stirr as little from thy presence as if thou hadst laid thy hand upon me to hold me fast 5 This thy knowledge of me and my wayes is so wonderful that I can neither comprehend it nor be concealed from it 6. For whether can I go to hide my self from thy knowledg of me or from thy dreadful omnipresence If I could mount as high as Heaven or couch my self as low as Hell 8. If I had the agility of the nimble wings of the morning to convey me in a moment from East to West and dispose of me in the remotest parts of the Sea 9. Even there also I must expect to be led by thy hand no other but thy gracious conduct must be my guide 10. If I should think to hide my self from Thee in some dark corner the darkest night would be all one to that purpose with the clearest day 11. For to thee who art the Fountain of Light the Day and Night the clearest and the darkest places are all one 12. So that the abstrusest and most secret piece about me my very reins lie open and naked to thy view who didst cover me with skin and flesh and compact me with Bones and sinews in as secret a place in my Mother's womb This pious Meditation of the Psalmist I was the more willing to expresse according to the Emphatical importment of his own words that the thought of Divine presence might make the deeper impression in our hearts And sure if a man would now and then figure to himself an all-seeing eye wakeful upon his very thoughts an ear open to his words a hand pondering and summing up the account of his works it would be a high degree of custody and make a good intent from the heart put a right tincture upon all that he thought or said or did in matters of any moment This the very thought of Divine Presence would do But if we could joyn the comfort of his Divine presence and Assistance together that would be prae omni custodiâ no custody like it This should be our care I am sure it was his greatest care that was a man after God's own heart Mine eyes are ever looking toward the Lord saith He Ps. 25. 15. and elsewhere in several passages I have set or I use to set God alwaies before me Unto thee O Lord do I lift up my Soul Ps. 16. 9. 25. 1. It is good for me to hold fast by God Ps. 73. 28. O knit my heart unto thee that I may fear thy name Ps. 86. 11. And more Emphatically as the Latin hath it Ps. 119. 120. Confige timore tuo carnes meas as if he would say Pierce me through as it were and nail my thoughts unto thee from being distracted elsewhere to any thing else In which sense St. Paul might say that he was crucified with Christ that is he had nailed his meditations to his Cross. This should be our care sicut oculi servorum Our eyes should be still waiting upon God as the eyes of Servants look to the hands oâ—… their Masters Ps. 123. 2. and then his eyeâ—… would be reciprocally watching over us Oculi Domini super timentes eum Ps. 33. 17. This is tenere se ad Deum to keep close to God Of which phrase we hear so much commendation in St. Aug. de vita beata and whereupon he saith in another place Si vis habere custodem non dormientem Deum elige custodem If you would have a Keeper that shall never slumber nor sleep let God be your Keeper That is it that will keep the Heart safe and confident like Mount Sion that cannot be moved Psal. 125. 1. Especially if this the most eminent means of our support be fed and maintained with the frequent meditation of the Majesty Power VVisdome Goodnes and Attributes of God Whosoever is taken up with these happy varieties of content cannot be much at leasure for the idle excursion of thoughts He will not easily stoop to such base employments nor indure to be rudely shouldred out of that Happines For if we when we are possessed with the serious consideration of any worldly thing are by that so excluded from intention for that time upon other matters that neither the Eye nor the Ear can discharge their natural functions upon an object directly before them Much lesle when a divine speculation hath taken us up shall we be able to condescend to those inferior thoughts that may indanger the Heart XXXIII Of the subordinate Means and helps for keeping the Heart And first of the Antecedent and Preparatory Means WE have seen the virtue of the Prime and Superior Means Under which other subordinate Means there are Whereof some are Antecedent and Preparatory to the keeping of the Heart as Purity and Aequability that make
kind of dumbe and silent thing before Thee Psal. 65. 1. Or the loudest Psalmes and Praises are but as deep silence So many several Songs reach not the excellencies of thy goodnes For how can they reach that which is infinite They are but so many several wayes of an eloquent and Divine Silence In some such Contemplation as this St Aug made it a part of his Consessions Vae tacentibus de Te Domine quoniam etiam loquaces muti sunt Woe be to them that say little in the praise of God for they that have said most and sung loudest and sweetest are little better then mute For the Lord is great and cannot worthily be praised Ps. 96. 4. We may sing well and we may speak much and yet come short For He is great above all his works Therefore when you glorifie the Lord exalt him as much as you can for even yet will he far exceed And when you exalt him put forth all your strength and be not weary for you can never go far enough Ecclus. 27. 28. 30. Let it be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let it be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or what you will it will fall short of his Praise The most we can attain to is to feel that we want capacity and ability to conceive or express the praise of God And they that are most expressive of that want are the best Proficients in the art of praising God in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in singing with art and understanding XLIII The influence that Preaching and Prayer and Reading of the holy Scripture should have upon our Practice AS a Merchant when he hath filled and enriched his Ship if then he suffer Shipwrack he is the more miserable by how much the more wealth he had in his ship So is it with us if we make shipwrack of our selves when much Prayer and Preaching hath filled and enriched our hearts And yet do we often suffer our best merchandise to be taken out the same day that it was taken in Not considering that to frequent the Church unlesse our lives be answerable to it doth not so much prove us more religious as it procures us a greater punishment and sends us a little wiser but deeper into Hell For it is not Learnin̄g and Formality but true holines and obedience that commends us to God and makes us Christians And we may account all our exercises of Hearing but as so many Keyes to open and so many hands to let us in to the exercise of some virtue otherwise of little value To which purpose the Jews had a Proverb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doctrina sine opere non est doctrina Which was shadowed out in the Law at the consecrating of the Priests by laying the blood first upon the right are to shew that they must not be deaf to bear the will of God then upon the thumbs of the hands and feet Exod. 29. 30. to shew that not hearing alone but doing and walking accordingly must make them perfect So that we may conclude that a good life must be the effect and commendation of our Preaching and Hearing and other publick service And we may say more that a good Life is a continual preaching a continual praying and praising of God our good example teaching and perswading most effectually and our good report filling many mens mouths with praise and thankfulnes unto God Which made Chrysostome say tom 1. 82. that he whose Actions speak a heavenly language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath in every action a several tongue and in the harmony of many Actions the true art of Rhetorick and those Divine streins of more then vocal Musick that are so much the more powerful with God and man by how much the more real and effectual they are in themselves and ordered with a sincere intention and affection of Heart XLIV The necessity of frequent Prayer both in publick and private BEside God's precept to pray continually and God's promise Ask and you shall have open thy mouth wide and I will fill it our own necessities and the necessities of other men which the law of Charity binds us to regard will prove the necessity of frequent prayer 1. Our own necessities may bring us to it both in regard of the good things which we have that we may injoy them for we are but Tenants at will for them all and for the good things which we have not for they are so many and so great that no man hath attained perfection 2. Others necessities should not be forgotten by them that should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and such are these The Christians in distresse The Jews in blindnes The Greeks in slavery under the Turk The Latins in Popish superstition The Pagans infidelity The affliction of our Friends Enemies These should not be forgotten And thus should we make others enjoy the benefit of our publick and private Devotions and not frame our prayers for our selves onely and our own Relations XLV The set Hours of publick Prayer THese are the rather to be observed that our Devotions may be accompanied with the prayers of others in our behalf In which regard I think we should do well when our necessary occasions detain us from the publick places of Prayer yet as neer as we can in the set times of publick prayer to commence our sutes unto God Of the great Elijah 1 Reg. 18. 36. whose Prayers were so powerfull when he convinced Baal's Prophets by fire though he was then far from the Temple yet we have this observation of the time It came to passe at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah the Prophet came neer and said The Lord God of Abraham c. And then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice v. 38. Ezra picked out that time when he lamented the affinity with strangers 1 Esdr. 9. 5. At the evening sacrifice saith he I arose from my heavines and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands unto the Lord. The book of Judith hath the same note upon her humbling her self by prayer It was about the time that the incense of that Evening was offered in Jerusalem Jud. 9 1. And it is worth your observation how God hath met with them that interrupted that time And when he would do a favour how he hath often made choice of one of the hours of publick Service The first of these we find in Samuel 1 Sam. 7. 8 10. As he was offering up the burnt offering the Philistins drew neer to battel against Israel but the Philistins might easily perceive that they had better chosen another time And it was not long before the Israelites had a sign that God looked gratiously upon their Sacrifice for he thundred with a great thunder that day upon the Philistins and they were smitten before Israel The other we may clearly see in Jehoshaphat's case 2 Reg 3.
this it is a high virtue to coeceed to be sick with love to be in Raptures and Ecstafies of Love As we may see the Church is in the Canticles and is still loved the better for it 2. Then for Delight What greater delight can you conceive then David took in his divine love when He set his Harp and his Heart to the tune of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal. 116. And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I love thee dearly O Lord As the Hart longeth after the Water-brook Ps. 18. Ps. 42. Such were holy David's loves and delights The like had St. John the beloved Disciple who in every Epistle in every Chapter pleaseth himself to descant upon holy Love And St. Peter being woed with our Saviours question lovest thou Me was able to say Tu nôsti Thou knowest O Lord that I love thee Saint Paul was of his mind accounting all but losse for the love of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philip. 3. 8. And after them thousand of Martyrs and holy Saints that apprehended more delight in those coelestiall flames that kindled this fire within them then the fear of other material flames that turned their bodies into ashes and so delivered them from the assaults of those dangerous Loves without them that were ad oppositum unto this To all those blessed Souls the Love of God was sweeter then life it self and in some stronger then ever lasting death if so we may understand the love of Moses and St. Paul who it seemes could have been content to have been blotted out of the book of Life and made Anathema from Christ if that might any way promote their Loves and the Honor and Glory of Him they Loved Here 's a Love that may take the Kingdom of Heaven by violence and prevail for any thing For what can be denied to such a Love 3. And this brings us to the Third Motive the Profit and the Advantage that accrues to this Divine Love to which all things are pervious For bring as great a sinner as Mary Magdalene that had been a City-sinner peccatrix in Civitate and the unclean Cage of Seaven Devils yet if his Repentance bring with it Mary Magdalene's Love he need not doubt of the same happy success that she had quia ditexit multum This Hope we gather out of the Gospel And before we came to it in the Gospel the body of the Law it self carried so much Hope in those Tables of Stone as might break our Stony Hearts in this Love For how read we there He visites sin to the Third and Fourth Generation of them that Hate Him But what doth He for them that Love Him He shewes mercy to thousands in them that Love Him And this Love reacheth further yet Not only to shew Mercy but all manner of Blessings All are to be had for the price of Love For What else doth God require of you saith Moses Deut. 10 12. that is Lay down that and â—…e all Dii omnia Laboribus vendunt the Heathen were wont to say That God would sell all for Labour We rather say God will part with any thing for Love Wisdome for Love Sapientiam praebet diligentibus Joy for Love Thou hast loved Righteousness or to Love what God loves and Hate what He hates therefore will the Lord Annoint thee with the Oyle of gladness above thy fellowes Protection for Love Because he hath set his Love upon Me therefore will I deliver him saith the Psalmist Psal. 91 14. 16. And He concludes as we would have Him With long life will I satisfie him and shew him my Salvation that 's compleat deliverance indeed And when He comes to shew that what shall we then see but the rewards of our Love That which neither eye hath seen nor eare hath heard nor hath entred into the heart of man that hath he prepared for whom think you for them that love Him This high reward should elevate our Love as high as toto Corde to love him above all that is to love Him as much as we can and as some others that have gone before us in this Love I will name only the Royal Prophet to whom God himself gave this Testimony My Servant David followed me with all his heart to doe that only which was right in mine eyes 1 Reg. 23. 3. Which is the same that was undertaken by Good King Josiah and his people to walke after the Lord with all their hearts and all their souls Such as these had the habit of Divine Love and that is all we can hope for here For to have a heart ever in actual elevation of it self to God that is not for us below that is the perfection we hope for in heaven The nearer we come to it here the better And to that end to our best endeavour we must adde our fervent Prayers that God would shed this love in our heart by the Holy Ghost and keep us in the same Love For he that abides in Love abides in God and God in him Will all this that hath been said advance our desire and delight in this Divine Love All that hath been said of the Security Solace and Advantage added to the Dignity and Value of it God grant it may be so Amen Let that be the Rule of our Honor and Respect to us Let that captivate all the faculties of our bodies and souls and command all our Affections In that bright flame let our foolish wandring desires perish as the silly Flies doe that hover about the clear flame of a Candle Let this be our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 While we live Let it be the touchstone of our Actions The Solace of our Hearts The Fire to warm our Affections And when we dye Let it be the Fiery Charriot to mount us up into Heaven Let us breath out the Soul in some Ejaculation of this Divine Love and so pass to the Blessed Fruition of Him Which Happiness may He grant in whom our best love is accepted In whose Presence is Fullness of Joy and to whom we therefore desire to ascribe all Honor and Glory The Peace of God which passeth all understanding keep our Hearts and Minds in the knowledge and love of God and of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. A Transition to what followes in the Appendix THese Meditations were primarily intended for such as live a Collegiate and speculative kind of life freest for Retirements Out of which commonly are taken the fittest Spies and Intelligencers for the Kingdom of Heaven In such men rather then others we expect as hearty desires and serious resolutions of a constant progress in Piety as appeared in Caeleb and Josuah towards the Land of Promise For they being in a more Regular course of life begin every Morning in via Sacra that is in the way that leades to Gods House where they are daily furnished with excellent Sermons and Prayers I mean with the Lessons duly read out of the word
as though we were born like the stoutest of all Creatures and could not with the fillip of an ague and the blast of 100 diseases be turned again to our womanish weaknes and which is further into the very earth too from whence the choicest peice of manhood was taken So soon are we turned from man to woman from woman to earth and so all our thoughts perish This is our case if we live long enough to see it But as God would have it most of us come short of this experiment of our frailty our short liâ—…e will not reach up to it The Royal Prophet reckons the term of our life 70 years and how few come up to that Or if they do would you but abstract so many years spent in our infancy and ignorance so many in the wild disorders of Youth so many in the sicknes weaknes and necessities of Age. Then so many niâ—…hts in sleep so many dayes in visits and complements and recreations and somewhat worse Then could you but see what is left and compare that with Eternity you would say I have spent too much time to shew how little our life can challenge And how uncertain is that little it fades away insensibly when it presents it self to us in the greatest show and perfection In the middest of all our sweets it is ever spending and drawing to a period In our sleep and other our best wayes of rest and content we consume away and hasten to our graves never continuing in the same state One Month one year one Age of our life ever thrusting on another One change producing an other in every part of our Age till before we expect it for the most part we are suddainly brought to our End Either by some poison that lies hid in our delight and never discovers it self till it is too late or by some accident that we could not forefeeâ—… or at least by the hasty ripenesse of our Age that sometimes makes us fall off from the tree of life before we have well informed our selves how to live VVhile our time is spending so fast we should take speedy care of our eternal state hereafter while our life here is running away we should be the more vigilant over that heavenly race that is set before us To that purpose casting off such impediments as may hinder us in that course and acquainting our selves with the meanes that may advance our security of a better life XIX The fulnes of our misery amplified by way of Instance WE have found the terme of our life to have so much of Nothing that a Day or a short time is too large an expression now you may see it is filled with so much variety of Misery that we shall not be able to expresse it to the full It is no small part of our misery though our hâ—…arts are so inlarged insatiable in the desire of seeming good things so that the whole world is not able to fill one heart yet on the contrary if they come to be filled with misery a little of that if they be not carefully looked to will so choke them up and oppresse them that they will be ready to break And this fulnes discovers it self in trifles How is Haman out of all patience if Mordecai do not shew him some respect Esth. 5. 11. Neither the glory of his riches nor the multitude of his children nor the favour of the King nor any thing would availe him so long as Mordecai the Jew did no reverence to him In the height of his felicity the want of a poor Ceremony made him think of no other way to appease his wrath then by sacrificing the whole Nation of the Jewes to his fury But what speak I of infolent ambitious Haman VVe may see the like in a Holy Prophet but subject to those infirmities that we are How is the Prophet Jonas fully vexed if he do but want his gourd when the Sun began to convey a little more then ordinary heat In that onely misery if it deserve the name he is so full of it that it runs out at his mouth And when God asked him if he did well to be angry for the Gourd he gives him this strange Answer that he did well to be angry unto dâ—…ath As it was in proud Haman and angry Jonas so it is in most of us The losse of one expected Pleasure or Profit or Dignity will set us in a pett and make us forget our selves and our best wayes of solace It were an infinite labour to run over all the Instances in this kind to shew that we have hardly any one kind of misery but is able to fill and burst the little heart of man For the meer fancy and deluded apprehension of a danger that perhaps will never come yes and of a danger past hath power enough to lay wast the poor heart of man And if we escape those and the hazardous mistakes that Fancy in dreams or otherwise presents like bugbears to affright us into nothing we are not then secure So many reall troubles may come from any thing that is near us or about us There is not one member of the Body but may we know not how soon be attended with such pain as may seem a piece of Hell upon Earth and make us think the rest and quiet of the body in a stinking grave to be a Happines not unworthy of our Ambition So intolerable it is to indure the pain and perhaps no less intolerable to indure the remedy But what speak I of diseases there are a thousand other wayes to adde more measure to the fulnes of our misery and make the stoutest of men an instance of frailty A little poison can swell him into Death A little pin can make way for his life to run out at A little superfluous heat can render him in a few dayes key-cold And the very look of a venemous eye can blast him into nothing Hunger can eat him up Thirst can dry him into a very Skeleton His own food that should presâ—…rve his life can breed the matter of his Death So weak a Castle is the Heart possessed of in this house of clay which is full of holes to let in sorrow diseases and death and hath as many passages whereat Life and Comfort can take the wing and fly away And yet can we that know all this busie our selves in building strange Castles in the Air. VVe can triumph in the Cobwebs of our own conceits till death blow them away with our own breath VVe can spend our short miserable life in catching flies or what is more vain And if misery come not fast enough upon us we can invite and purchase it at our own cost For what do we else when we tempt it in by the eye and make our own fears loves and Jealousies the betrayers of our own strength When we swallow it down in the tast and buy our sharpest pains with the shortest pleasure When we
suck it in at the other senses and make our selves senseles by the organ of sense When our wild apprehensions expose us to scorn and contempt if not to the danger of Schism and Heresy or what else may proceed from the rash and disordered notions of the weak brain of man When we make our selves sick of the Epidemical diseases of self-discontent and the desire of change though a thousand to one for that which is far worse We can pick misery out of others seeming Felicity and like all but what we have â—…ot And when we have got what we longâ—…d for we can long as much to be rid of that 〈◊〉 exchange for a new Vanity of another â—…ame Thus we tire our selves out of one â—…ish into another and through severall Emâ—…loyments run our selves out of breath As if â—…ur short miserable life had not shortnes and â—…isery enough of it selfe but we must catch â—…t all meanes and devises that may shorten the â—…ne and fill up the other If all that we have hitherto said be not eâ—…ough to fill the bosome with excesse of miseâ—…y there is nothing about us but is able to â—…rompt our memories with the sad accesses that â—…re often made to all the former dangers by â—…ome heavy and disastrous event The Earth we tread on hath often deceived â—…er inhabitants and devoured whole Cities on 〈◊〉 suddain The Air we live by hath often infected â—…hole whole Countries anf made the most â—…opulous places a solitary wildernes Fire and Water that we refresh our selves â—…ithall have been the unexpected destructiâ—…n and ruine of many healthy bodies and â—…ourishing states The like may be said of other Creatures â—…at some time or other seem to conspire â—…gainst us But from no Creature do we sufâ—…er more then we do from those of our own â—…ind Man's greatest â—…isery is to fall into the hands of man Homo homini Daemon Nature hath not armed any one Creature with such shrewd weapons to fight against menâ—… as we have invented engines and stratagems and malititious devises to make away one another by whole troupes And yet forsooth Man is he that is naturally Animal politicum a lover of society Man is he that Nature brings forth unarmed as if she intended him for Peace and Charity How many of us then are very unnatural For we find it too true there is no such cruelty as the cruelty of one man to another No such variance as that between man and maâ—… between brother and brother Nay I may come nearer No such variance no such civil wars 〈◊〉 those which we have within our selves 〈◊〉 own Affections and Reason are at the greateâ—… oddes The Body and Soul are not so united but that their dissentions are as great 〈◊〉 any Therefore no wonder if we are often affâ—…cted and vext with other men with our beâ—… friends and kindred For we seldome continue long in peace and good termes with ouâ—…selves And which of us is not conscious of somâ—… bitter conflicts that we have had with ouâ—… own passions if we be not ruled by them which is far worse To say nothing of the cruel whippes and lashes that some have had from their own conscience too This is the top of all the misery that can fall upon man Hardly can we adde any thing to this fulnes Put altogether you will say we have heard enough in confirmation of this truth though only by way of Instance and Induction Where the very reckoning up of the Particulars is able to tire and convince us and make us willing to be freed from any further proof XX. The close and fruit of the former Meditations I Hope the pious and heedfull Reader will find out sometime seriously to weigh the former Advertisements which are fit and proper Motives not onely to humble us but to weane us from too much love of a short and miserable life and from doting upon wealth and honour which may leave us or we them we know not soone For our life is so uncertaine that in our greatest strength and hope it is but a puff of breath in our nostrels that puts a difference between our estate and the estate of the dead And againe in this little uncertaine time so full of trouble that every particular Day hath his full measure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sufficient to the day is the evill thereof saith our blessed Saviour himself Mat 6. 34. And if that move us not yet remember that while we procrastinate and spin out the time that spends so fast of it self Vengeance and Damnation do not sleep 2 Pet. 2. 3. While we go on securely live as we list and rant it we know not who sets all upon the score Therefore let us not defer our amendment and reconcilement to God and our selves Let us quickly make sure for those Cordials and Supports that will stand us in most stead when the cup of our Affliction is fullest and the tide of our miseries begin to overflow And withall Let the short continuance of us and our misery here teach us not only to be the more patient our short sufferings working an eternal weight of Glory but the more valiant too and the more desirous of employment wherein to expresse our selves In other cases the more the hazard is the more we rouse up and are pleased with the fair occasions that we have to show our Valour Optat Aprum aut fulvum descendere monte leonem i e. the love of our credit will make us slight all danger But in all cases we take good encouragement from the thought of the reward And why should we not here For If shortnes of time and fulnes of misery cannot awake us this I hope will that they which live well shall have them both answered with length of time and fulnes of joy in the presence of God where there are pleasures for evermore I intend to say more of that fulnes but first I will conclude what hath been said with this Morning prayer following that may help to prepare us for the busines of the day A Morning Prayer IN all that we shall do this day prosper thou O Lord the work of our hands O prosper thou our handy-work Ps. 90. 17. In all that we shall think or say let the words of our mouth and the Meditations of our heart be such as may be ever acceptable in thy sight O Lord our strength and our Redeemer Ps. 19. 14. that thou maist for ever vouchsafe to be with us both in life and death Wherein for the short time of our life here give us grace so to behave our selves as in thy presence fearing nothing so much as thy displeasure hating and sorrowing for nothing so much as our sins loving and joying in nothing so much as in Thee and thy glory And for the time of our Death wee beseech thee in thy good providence and mercy so to order it that we be not found either unprovided or unwilling to
not For so filthy is sin that it makes us and all that is ours corrupt and abominable It defiles the conscience rots our good name inâ—…cts our acquaintance by the contagion of sin and makes our very Prayers abominable which otherwise might be our sweetest odors In which speculation St Basil said the Angels forsake the custody and and company of us when we forsake Holines to delight in sin And the Poet could say Accipiet nullas sordida turris aves And yet we have had but a little glimpse of this Holines in the Purity of it self and the contrary Impurity of Unholines Shall we now come a little neerer to it and take a clearer view of the large extent it hath over all virtues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Hebrew word coming from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 praeparare separare implies that Holines is a separation of our selves from sin to a virtuous and godly life Which is the extent of the word Righteousnes as it is often used in holy Scripture Yet there are some that would-confine Holines to some one part Some lodge it in the ear some in the tongue Though our Saviour came not to smooth our tongues or fill our ears but to present us with pure hands and chast eyes to guide our feet into the wayes of Peace and Holines and to render all our parts and actions such as may receive purity and holines from the right Fountain the Heart it self We must begin with Holines in the Heart if we mean to see God Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God saith our Saviour Mat 5. 8. There we must begin but we must not stay there Thence we must climbe up to those several steps of Holines so often commended to our care in the word of God building up our holy Faith as St. Jude speakes till it come to a full structure To this structure you must bring in all the good works that may be making your holines passe through all Virtues St. Paul meanes that by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being fruitful in every good work Col. 1. 10. But there he is in generals Will you hear him run over the particulars Then observe what he saith to the Philippians Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any virtue if there be any praise think of these things and the God of Peace shall be with you Phil. 4. 8 9. This is the Holines that must be joyned to peace if you will hear the great Doctor of the Gentils VVill you now have some particulars from St. Peter the Doctor of the Jews Thus saith he Adde to your Faith virtue he is no Solifidian then he goes on To your virtue knowledge temperance patience godlines brotherly kindnes Charity for so an entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1. 5 6 7 8 11. i. e. so shall we be admitted to the Vision of God Shall I adde what St. Peter hath in the ninth verse he that lacks these things is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like one that is purblind and cannot see a far off or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 blind outright that is he is so far from seeing God or any divine things that he sees nothing as he should do XXVI Another reflexion upon the proposal of the second meanes Hebr. 12. 14. NOw if we have them we shall not be kept long from the happy sight of him that is the God of Peace and Holines Yes Have them you will say but how shall we have them The answer is laid before our eyes in the words of sacred Scripture Follow Peace and Holines They are both so willing to be had if we will but follow them there needs no more But we must learn what it is to follow The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendred by following we observed before to be a busy and active word It signifies a hearty and serious persuit an eager hunting after what we long for Having told you this I hope I shall have leave to ask one Question He that hath some faint desire hovering about the heart and breathing it self about the lips if he put himself to no farther trouble in the prosecution can he be said in this sense to follow Peace or holines I believe he that seeks or follows any thing as he should must use his head and his feet and somewhat else as well as his wishes and lip-labour And so he had need that thinks of attaining what here we speak of For can we think that peace or holines do so undervalue themselves that they will wait our leisure and â—…e whistled up when we please by the charme of a cold prayer or two Or can we imagine that such Precepts as these to follow after peace and holines without which no man shall see God are so given to us that if we like them we may use them if not we may lay them by Do we conceive that what the holy Scripture enjoyns and we are commanded to preach is left to our liberty to practice as we or you shall see cause Then may our Preaching and your Hearing quickly come to an end like a tale or dream of one running after Peace and Holines and before he came at them stumbling upon Felicity and the Vision of God Let us not deceive our selves God is not mocked He that saith there is no enjoyment of the one without following of the other no seeing God without Holines he will not dispense with the Duty and follow after us with the Reward that care not to make our selves capable of the Blessing For this will prove a necessary Duty And then there would be another Quaestion Whether we do so perform it whether we so follow after holines as if we understood what it is to follow after and what is the value of that which is set before us Shall I more fully explain what is the true Force of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is Following He rightly follows a Duty that avoiding all occasions of the contrary vice watches for and apprehends all hints and opportunities of doing good He that ambitiously laies hold of a happy hour and fair way wherein to approve his virtues And this way of following and persuing we may learn from the practice of those that have little to do with Holines How doth the coveteous man follow his beloved gain Doth he not rise early and late retire himself to rest Doth he not exhaust his strength and abilities by Sea and Land to compasse what he aimes at though with hazard of health and life it self What doth the ambitious and amorous person How eagerly and with what pains do they hunt after that which they fancy their best prize and content Our following of Holines might borrow a little heat and aemulation from
of it then we make the next piece of Armour the Shield of Faith Faith helps to shield and protect every part about us Therefore the Apostle joyned it with the Breast-plate of Charity or Righteousnes And we may joyn it with all the rest 1 Thess 5. 8. Nay it is of such vertue that it is not so much a part of our Armour as indeed the Victory it selfe as Saint John speakes 1 Joh. 5. 4. Therefore Saint Paul Epes 6. 16. might well ascribe unto that the repelling of all those dangerous lusts and temptations that are suggested by the Devil or any of his wicked Instruments It is our certainly believing the threats and promises of the Gospel that hath the power of quenching those fiery darts and preventing the venome which otherwise from thence might spread and diffuse it selfe to the deadly infection of the Soule Wherefore after a Shield of this power and vertue we may well heare of the Helmet of Salvation that crownes the head and makes us now compleat in our Panoplia A good Souldier will have a speciall care of this part of his Armour that defends his head Both because in the head those prime faculties are placed that guide the whole body and because a wound there is most dangerous It is here called the Helmet of Salvation But let us enquire what that is slest we be mistaken in the sound of the words Saint Paul interprets Himselfe and tels us what it is in his Epistle to the Thess 〈◊〉 when he calls it the Hope of Salvation 1 Thess 5. 8. And that Hope is a good Helmet and somewhat more It will keep us from drooping or being ashamed Spes non confundit Rom 5. 5. It will make us to hold up our heads without any feare what danger soever threatens to afflict us For what stormes what blowes will not be indured by him that hopes for no lesse then Salvation and a crowne immortall And who would not strive to purchase the Helmet of that Hope Which being added to what we heard before makes up the whole Armour of God as the Apostle calls it Ephes 6. 18. Because from Him we must expect it and His blessing upon it Which we are advised to beg and intreat by our best prayers and endeavours For this compleat Armour was not set out for us to gaze on but to purchase and put on and be ready to make use of or in the Apostles words v. 13. 14. to stand as if we were provided and resolved to oppose the Enemy And when we thinke we have done so and are armed cap à pè Let him that girds on his harnesse boast himselfe as he that puts it off 1 Reg. 20. 10. He that saith he hath the girdle of Chastity and tels you so in veritate in verity may chance to finde in time and place wherein to be dissolute He that begins with girding on the Sword of the Spirit Let him take heéd he do not end in the flesh It is the Item which the great Apostle gave to the Galatians He that talkes of the Breast-plate of Righteousnesse and Charity Let him be sure of it in corde in that part which is covered with the breast-plate and not boast of the flourishing of Opinion that he hath put into other men That Opinion of theirs perhaps may hold out when his Righteousnesse may prove like the Morning dew that soon passeth away He that walkes as confidently as one that is well shod against the danger of the worst waies shod with the preparation of the Gospell and a ready Heart to serve Christ Let him be careful so to walk with God that he continue to the end For he onely that perseveres shall be saved Mat. 24. 13. And lastly to close up the Panoplia He that secures himself of the Shield of Faith and the Helmet of Hope let him shew his Faith by his works and his Hope by his patience and take heed he make not shipwrack of both at last as did Hymenaeus and Alexander 1 Tim. 1. ult And that this may be done let us all with our armour take the Apostle's advice along with us Eph. 6. 18. Praying upon all occasion with all servency of prayer and supplication in the spirit and vigilance and perseverance that by God's assistance we may continue Christ's Faithful Souldiers servants to our lives end and be able to say with the Apostle I have fought a good fight henceforth is laid up for me a crown of Righteousnes 2 Tim. 4. 7. XXIX Advice concerning the dangers from within us AFter we have been informed of the best advice against all assaults from without in the next place it is of as much concernment to think of the dangers from within Against which we have the best Counsel and direction in those words of Solomon Keep thy heart above all keeping or with all diligence for out of that are the issues of Life Prov. 4. 23. that is It is not onely the Fountain of our natural life but thence also are the Springs of our Health and Solace here and of our Joy and happines hereafter Well might this Caveat come out of a Kings heart and out of Solomon's the wisest of Kings But upon what occasion he spake this or any other of his Proverbs it is not easy to discover in so uncertain a method They are Aenigmata for that as well as Proverbia You may sooner riddle the meaning without the occasion then what the occasion was when you know the meaning But whatsoever the true occasion might be we know there was a time when out of woful experience he had occasion enough to speak it both in regard of his own heart which is here so well advised and in regard of others that were to succeed him in tâ—…e Throne This Counsel this Legacy alone deserved better keeping then the best treasure and the strongest Fort that the great Solomon could leave behind him No Rule of such consequence as this for Him and His and for all Kings and Princes quorum in salute nâ—…stra omnium salus continetur Our safety consists much in theirs and theirs as much in their own circumspection For themselves are their best Guardians under God and their keeping close to this Caution here is their chiefest guard Custodia prae omni custodiâ And it is the chiefest not for them onely but for all others too Therfore it is a Rule born with us non facta sed nata Keep thy Heart is the first voice of Nature the main principle that she leaves imprinted in the Creature Nor is this enough but for the farther safety and easier custody of the heart that provident hand of God that we call Nature set it in the securest place and walled it about with strong Ribs and those Ribs as the Anatomists observe somewhat in the sorme of Swords for a natural defence of this little fâ—…rt of Life So that if we will hear Nature her self it is that which she directs
us unto And as it is in Nature so it is in Grace Grace begins with the heart and having so begun her greatest strength and Spiritual munition is spent in the ordering of that In regard of that beginning My Son give me thy heart Prov. 23. 26. saith this Penman of the Holy Ghâ—…st elswhere in the person of God And in regard of that consequent care and defence he saith here Prae omni custodia So it is in Nature So it is in Grace and so it is in regard of that common enemy of Nature and Grace too He aims at the root of the Tree he strikes at the heart and if he get any hold there he keeps that above all keeping whatsoever he doth for the leaves of Complement and branches of our outward carriage and behaviour So that every way In nature in grace in the opposition of both there is no lesson of such use and consequence as this Keep thy heart above all keeping In which words according to the constant language of the Holy Scripture by the Heart we must understand the Thoughts of the Heart or the whole Soul of man For nothing indeed is so perfect an embleme of the Soul as the heart is 1. It is so in the very outward Form The Heart is wide above and narrow-pointed below So should the Soul be dilated toward Heaven contracted toward Earth Again the Heart is such a Triangle as the round world is not able to fill and the Soul hath an obscure image of more then a Triangle of the blessed Trinity it self For it consists of Reason Will and Memory three distinct Faculties in one Soul and in every part is satisfied onely with God created unto him and never at rest but in him saith St. Aug. The Soul is like the Heart in both these But 2. There is yet a greater resemblance in the very Life of the Heart For the Heart lives by a continued breath per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So in the life of the Soul there be Animae suspiria spiritus sancti influxus Ejaculations of the Soul and influences of the Spirit and without that continual entercourse betwixt God and her self the life of the Soule decayes Therefore in that regard also it follows well in Solomons advice Keep thy heart above all keeping for out of that are the issues of life We understand what is here meant by the Heart and how the Soul is figured in that Thence we may easily gather what it is to keep the heart To keep the heart is the Office of the Soul being watchful and observant over all her thoughts and affections and to keep the heart above all keeping is the Emphasis of Care and Diligence In the same phrase which you have v. 7. with all thy getting get understanding that is in respect of that care not for getting of any thing else So with all thy keeping keep thy heart that is in respect of that care not for keeping of any thing else XXX Of the particular consequences implied in the former Advice and the delivery of it and first of the Possibility of keeping the heart IN the Former Advice and the pathetical delivery of it two things are plainly implied 1. He that saith Keep the heart implies that it may be kept It is not utterly impossible 2. He that saith Keep the heart above all keeping implies that it must be kept there is a necessity of keeping of it First we will see the possibility of keeping the heart And that we cannot see more clearly then in the removal of those lets and impediments that we commonly pretend against the keeping of the heart or at least we magnify a great deal more then we need to excuse our selves Whereas it were better wisdom to baulk such Scruples and rather keep our hearts to some absolute Rule that may raise our endeavours to the highest pitch Of those lets and so much magnified Pretences there are especially Four 1. First the malice and subtilty of the Devil to hinder the meanes 2. Another is our own natural weaknes to apply the means 3. A third our unruly passions to interrupt them 4. And then forsooth if all this were not that yet we can do nothing without a supernatural power and therefore we may sit still These Four 1. For the malice and subtilty of the Devil if that be objected against the keeping of the heart I answer First we may be mistaken in it For I doubt not but that is often father'd upon the Devil that rather issues from our selves according to that of St. James Every man is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own lust Jam. 1. 14. We are often tempted by that natural concupiscence that remains in us ad agonem saith St. Aug. that is onely to increase our cautioâ—… and to exercise our diligence in the resistance For which to make us amends there are also many divine sparks hid in the Soul that are able to encounter it And then again for those attempts that arise meerly from the Devil many of them are such as may be wholly prevented many of them are such as may be frustrated and repelled First they may some of them be prevented For indeed they are more of our own procuring then we are often aware of If we did not give the Devil encouragement and fondly discover our weaknes and put an occasion into his mouth we should not have him so often and so buisy about us And therefore Chrys saith He is like a dog that sawns upon us when we sit at Table If we throw him some meat and bestow our favours upon him we are sure to have more of his company but if we chide or neglect him whensoever he comes after a while he will not loose his labour so much as to try a conclusion upon us So it is with the Devil Resist him and he will fly from you Jam. 4. 7. And if he do not fly if he will try his conclusions there are many wayes also to frustrate his practice and return it upon his own head For whatsoever comes from him if it vanish without any consent of ours it shall not be imputed to us it shall be set upon his score If we fail of that yet we may take the Foxes the little Foxes Cant. 2. 15. that is saith St. Jerom we may intercept his wily tricks before they gather strength To which purpose we had the whole Armour of God in the former Section commended unto us So that if we scan the case as it should be for the keeping of the heart we have no such Impediment in so high a degree either from the Devil or from our own concupiscence as the ordinary complaints of the world do seem to infer 2. And this makes way for Answer to the 2d Obj. the hindrance that we plead from our own natural weaknes in spiritual cases to apply the means for this custody Natural weaknes
heart commonly If worldly thoughts fall to the ground better will ascend into the place of them But when we mount them into the highest place down go the other I say this must be added at fit times For otherwise wordly thoughts and businesses and recreations too have their time when they are necessarie and must not be omitted Neither are we alwayes alike disposed for heavenly employment Nor will the object it selfe indeed be gazed upon long by us And in this Advise where the wise man saith prae omni custodià keep thy heart above all keeping Prae omni is so farre from excluding all other thoughts and employments that it rather implies many more but it puts the Superlative upon this above them all The heart may have her times of other serious entertainments or lawfull Recreation But she must have her time of Privacie and Retirednesse from them all 1. Both because the devout heart is the spouse of Christ and as St Bernard speakes Christ doth not love to come to his spouse in the presence of a multitude At least he will not knock every day at that heart where there is so much other businesse that there is no leasure to let him in 2. And then againe because whensoever the Soul would mount her selfe to heavenly speculations if she be surprised with worldly affaires she is like a bird that hath her feathers limed Intangled in them she is not able to use so much as her naturall strength to elevate her selfe In both these regards there are seasons wherein she must be retired to God and Her selfe And this is the third of those meanes and preservatives that may be used for the keeping of the heart 4. After all these We have no other care unlesse it be this How there may be a continuall supply of good thoughts and Meditations to busie and strengthen the heart upon all occasions And such a supply there may be in the daily perusall of two great Bookes upon which all other are but Commentaries the Booke of the Scriptures and the Booke of the Creatures The Royall Prophet made the Nineteenth Psalme in speculation of them Both. The first part of it begins with the Creation The heavens declare the glory of God The second part from the 7. verse is of the Scriptures The Law of the Lord is a perfect law And so Both those Bookes are there commended to us 1. Whereof That of the Scriptures is absolutely necessary as a Rule and Patterne to them that want a guide or light it selfe to the blinde Therefore we are advised to meditate in that Day and Night Psal. 1. 2. And the other of the Creatures must not be neglected because they were created indeed to that end to serve our weake apprehension of God as so many Spectacles not to looke upon them and stay there but thorough them to looke upon God Himselfe And so we may understand that obscure place in the Preacher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is He hath given the heart of man a whole world of matter for Meditation so large that no man shall ever fully goe through it and find out all the workes of God though he spend all his life time in that studie from the beginning of it to to the end Eecles 3. 11. Out of all which plenty we might every day select something to praepossesse that roome in the heart which otherwise vaine and perhaps worse then vaine fancies will incroach upon If we delight in rarities we might every day pick out some of those reall wonders which God himselfe the God of wonder and the God of Nature hath abundantly afforded to entertaine our speculation Whether we look up to Heaven or downe to Earth whether we looke to other Creatures or to our selves into our bodies or into our soules there is matter enough of wonder and meditation to keep our hearts in the feare and live of God XXXV The Close and Fruit of these last Meditations VVE have seene that the Heart may and should be kept above all keeping We have seen what Meanes and Helps there are for the keeping of it Let us therefore so keep it as our onely treasure which whosoever hath lost hath nothing else to lose or keepe We are carefull enough that the Bodie and Apparrell and every thing else about us be neat and cleanly kept and repaired When are we so forgetfull as to leave the body one day without meat and drinke and sleepe and attendance Let us do as much for the Heart and Soule which is worthy of farre more Let her be Lodged in a roome worthy of Her Let Her be Fed with her own proper food Let her be reposed upon her owne pillow that passeth all understanding To keep it thus is to follow the counsell of the wise man and to prove wiser then He was But to imploy so pretious an Instrument to any base use is the Act of a man that hath lost his wits I will say more It is no better then Sacriledge that a Soule which hath been offered to God as a reasonable sacrifice should after that be made an organ of sensualitie and a Cage for Devils No better did I say Nay it is farre worse For it is not onely the withholding of a Vessel consecrated to the service of God but it is an Attempt upon the Image of God Himselfe The Heart here being the Soul and the Soule a Character of the Divinity And therefore not to be prostituted to publick infections but kept pure and safe above all keeping Our answer to all Attempts against it being that which was our first answer in Baptisme Abrenuncio I for sake them all We undertooke that once and failed of it Let us now resolve and do it And that we may be inabled to doe it Let it be our humble prayer that God would create a new Heart within us and then give us strength to keep it as we ought And to the same end ‑ that He would give us grace to lay sure hold upon the Prime and Superiour Meanes and keepe close unto Him the living God out of whom indeed are the issues of Life XXXVI Instructions for those times wherein we are called to the Church HAving hitherto endeavoured to fit the Heart and Soul for more private devotions and entertainments we may now take the like care to prepare her for times of Divine and Publick Service with the Congregation both for the further confirming of her self and the clearer example to others And if we mean to be so serious in this high employment as the happy exercise and the most happy consequence of it doth require good reason there is that first our Preparation to the Sanctuary then our Demeanour there as in Gods House should exceed all other As the Shekel and measure of the Sanctuary was double to the ordinary measure He that dwels in Heaven hath an especial eye upon that place above all other not only to defend it but to observe our carriage
For as fire will shew it self by smoak and Faith by good works so will the inward devotion of the Soul interpret it self by the outward carriage of the body that men seeing our hearty service may by our good example be led to glorify our Father which is in Heaven XXXIX Our timely addresse and stay to the end of Divine Service LEt us take order that we may be there from the beginning to the end to come in with the first and go out with the last that our Hearts and Tongues may bear a part throughout which is a good means to make us partakers both of the Absolution at the beginning of Prayer and the Blessing at the end For if we would be loth to rise from Table before we have dined or supped much more should we be unwilling to deprive our selves of our spiritual Food in the word of God and in Prayer where above all other places it should be our Meat and Drink to do the will of our Heavenly Father We should rather be willing to wait for the loving Kindnes of God in the midst of his Temple ps 48. 8. and follow that of S. Basel de abdicatione rerum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to let no pretence interrrupt or take us off from any part of Divine Service XL. At our first Kneeling HAving entred into the Church with due reverence we may at our first kneeling down present our selves to Almighty God in one of these or the like short Ejaculations Either in that of King David Psalm 19. 14. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be now and ever acceptable in thy sight O Lord my strength and my Redeemer Or that of K. Hezekiah 2 Chron. 30. 18. The good Lord pardon every one that here prepares his heart to seek after the Lord. Or Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come fit us all for thy service Revel 4. 8 Or Merciful Lord gratiously accept us all that come hither to present our selves our souls and bodies unto thee for Jesus Christ's sake that vouchsafed to present himself bodily in the Temple for us in great love and humility Or that we may hoc agere O most gracious Lord God give us grace to make the best use of our time in thy House and not to offer the sacrifice of Fools and so indanger our selves most where we may be best fitted for Heaven where the Lord God Almighty the Lamb are the Temple thereof Apoc. 21. 22. VVhen we are return'd from Prayers say Lord make our earnest and constant endeavours abroad expresse the heartines of our publick and private Prayers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hierocles XLI Of publick Prayers and Sermons AFter our Reverence and Devotion hath made a good entrance that the rest of our Employment in God's house may be answerable to that good beginning it will not be amiss to say somewhat before hand of publick Prayers and Sermons 1. Of these the first thing I would say is that the Church is the proper place for them not any secret Conventicles Our Saviour commonly made that choice for his Preaching where it might be had He taught daily in their Synagogues The Apostles did the like They went into the Temple at the hour of Prayer Act. 3. 1. And for their Preaching there they had direction to do so from no lesse then an Angel who spake it in these words Go stand and speak in the Temple to the People Act. 5. 20. 2. Another thing to be said of publick prayer and preaching is this that being publick Actions they should appear to be so by the Auditory that is Prayer should ascend to Heaven not from the Priest alone as if it were onely his but from all the People too their hearts going along with him and their tongues declaring it to be theirs also by joyning with him in the Responsals and their Amen which is the seal that confirms it to them They to be parties and partakers in the benefit of that Prayer And so for the Sermon the Preacher should not preach to himself onely though his heart should first and most be affected with it yet if it be the word of God that is delivered by him as Gods Embassador at that time then the Hearers should lay it up and give it their Amen by their Practice which seals up the benefit unto them 3. A third thing we should desire that we may have all the service without mangling or maiming have it as Religion and the Church prescribes not leaving out Prayers or Lessons for the Sermon 's sake but upon special occasions For whatsoever the Sermon may prove we are sure the Lessons are the word of God and God speaks to us by them which we cannot say of our Sermons unlesse they may be reduced to that Touchstone of the written word of God and thence receive their Warrant And be the Sermon what it should be yet they are much mistaken who think they have done their Service if they come soon enough to hear the Sermon For the Sermon is the work of another and tendred in God's behalf to us but our service to God though it be in both in our hearing and praying yet is it rather in our prayers and other the like publick Duties of the Church For which especially Churches were erected and from which they were called Oratoria in the Primitive times and before that in both Testaments Domus Orationis Houses of Prayer where we meet him and make our solemn Addresses unto him 4. Our next desire would be that we may have our Prayers in that Form wherein the Church tenders them without Battologies and extemporary flashes For that which is enjoyned by the Church is most safe and warrantable and wherein the whole Church joyns with us in the same petition and the same terms beside many other advantages which they have And the very proposing of them in a sett Form is that which the Church learned from God himself In times of great affliction wherein there was need of hearty prayer it was God's own direction by the mouth of Hosea Take unto you words and return unto the Lord and say Take away all iniquity c. Hos. 14. 2. And again by the mouth of Joel Let the Priests weep and say Spare thy people O Lord. Joel 2. 17. And have we not a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from our Saviour himself the very word of God when you pray say Our Father we must say it saith our Lord himself And what if we say it more then once what if the Collect of the Day come twice and the Lords prayer thrice into our Service Have we not our Saviours own warrant for it implied in these words of St Mat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 26 44. When our Saviour was to teach his Apostles that were to be guides and directors to us all he puts them into this way of a set form and in his most earnest
20. when he and Jehoram and the King of Edom being distressed for want of water had obtained it by Elijah we read thus It came to passe in the morning when the meat-offering was offered that behold thâ—…re came water by the way of Edom and the country was filled with water Then again we see it in Daniel's vision The Angel Gabriel appeared to Daniel about the time of the Evening oblation it is observed that our Saviour offered himself upon the Crosse the same time And The like observation we have in the time of the Maccab when Onias offered sacrifice for Heliodorus 2. Mac. 3. 32. The like in the Gospel of the Angel appearing to Zachary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luc. 1. 8. And of Paul and Barnabas separated for the Ministry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 13. 2. 22. 17. And then which more cannot be said the Holy Ghost vouchsafed and chose to make his visible descent at that time XLVI The Place VVE have said enough to make us desirous to keep the Time and we should desire as much to keep the Place too We find the Apostles keeping of them both Going up to the Temple at the hour of Prayer Act. 3. 1. Solomon that built the first Temple acquaints us with the Priviledge of this place The eyes of the Lord are open towards this place day and night 1. Reg. 8. 31. God regards that house more then other places and vouchsafes his presence there in an especiall manner And shall not we regard it and afford our presence to meet Him there What is the signe that the Lord will heale me and that I shall go up to the House of the Lord saith K Hezekiah to the Prophet Isai. 2. Reg. 20. 8. That is the first thing that He would wish to do after his recovery from sicknes But of all other K David hath most pathetically expressed himself for this place Though he was a King yet He would not have been loth to have been a Door-keeper there He thought the very Sparrows happy that were near it And if he had been put to his choice for one thing that He would have desired it should have bâ—…en to dwell in the House of the Lord all the dayes of his life This love to the place we find also in the Gospel We read of Hannah the Prophetesse in her old dayes Luc. 237. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 she went not far from the Temple So of the blessed Apostles Act. 2. 46. They were daily in the Temple they were loth to leave it when they knew it was ready to leave them So of all the Faithful with them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 XLVII Before our private reading of the Holy Scriptures I Will say no more of our publick Service but because I presume you will spend some time every day in reading a part of the holy Scriptures Therefore I would intreat you Either before you begin to read use the Collect for the second Sunday in Advent Merciful Lord who hast caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning grant that we may in such wise hear mark learn and inwardly digest them that by patience and comfort of thy holy word we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life which thou hast given us in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And after reading this prayer of Holy David O that my wayes were made so direct that I might keep thy statutes Ps. 119. 5. O Let thy word be a lanthorn to my feet and a light to my paths Or else before or after reading we may recall some one or two of these sayings that follow out of the Holy Scriptures or out of the Fathers Here is the Gate of Heaven Gen. 28. 17. Here is the Fountain of Wisdome Ecclus. 1. 8. The mouth of the righteous is exercised in this Wisdome Ps. 37. 31. The Law of his God is in his heart and his goings shall not slide Here are things which the Angels desired to peep into 1 Pet 1. 12. Blessed is he that reads and they that hear and keep the sayings Rev 1. 3. 22. 7. A good understanding have all they that do thereafter Ps. 112. 10. All that keep it shall come to life Walk in the presence of the light thereof that thou mayst be illuminated Baruch 4. This Commandement is life everlasting Joh. 12. ult Lay up these words in your Heart and in your Soul Deut. 11 18. He that hears and doth them is like a wise man that built his house upon a rock Mat. 7. What nation is there so great that hath such Statutes and Judgments Deut. 4. 8. Able to make us wise unto salvation 2 Tim. 3. 15. profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousnes That the man of God may be perfect thoroughly furnished unto all good works Set your Hearts unto all these words For it is not a vain thing for you It is your life and through this you shall prolong your dayes Deut. 32 46. Kings and Governours shall read in this book all the daies of their life that they may learn to fear the Lord their God c. Deut. 17. 13. He that hath ears to hear let him hear Open thou mine eyes O Lord that I may see the wondrous things of thy Law Ps. 119. y. Chrys. Tom. 1. 1017. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. These are Oracles or Letters sent from Heaven Holy men were the Pen-men of what was dictated by the Holy Ghost Et 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A good stomach and desire of meaâ—… is not a truer signe of bodily health then of spiritual health a love and delight in reading and meditating on the word of God which is the food of our Souls S Scriptura cibus est in locis obscurioribuâ—… quia quasi exponendo glutitur potus verò est in locis apertioribus quia it a sorbetur sicut invenitur Gregor in Job 6. The Holy Scripture in the more obscure places is like meat that requires some paines to prepare it for the stomach in easier places it is like drinke that needs no great preparation to carry it thither Augustinus in Psal. 21. in Confess Apâ—…ri â—…ege Tolle lege Justin Martyr As God first made the Light and afterwards gathered it into the Sun so God first opened the light and knowâ—…edge of Himselfe by immediate Apparitions â—…nd Angels c. and then He reduced the â—…ght into the sacred Scriptures and made them â—…ehiculum lucis thence must we look for the â—…rue light Open mine eyes O Lord that I may see â—…he wonders of thy Law Psal. 119. 5. Testamentum vetus velatio novi Novum Reâ—…elatio Veteris Aug. T. 10. The two Testaments are like the two â—…herubims one looking toward the other i. e. one expounding the other booth looâ—…ing to Christ who is our Propitiation Exod. â—…5 The two Cherubims with their outmost â—…ings touched the sides of the House and â—…e
aut unum saltem mensem fiat cum poenitentia sufficiet ut perfectus virtutis habitus generetur And now my Lords papers failing me I must make use of my own paines and my English tongue again for the present help of those of whom I would but cannot otherwise be understood Can we carelesly cast our eyes over such powerful Motives to a nocturnal scrutiny and Inquisition into our sinful souls Dare we venter to fleep in sin so perhaps to loose those souls before we know where to find them again May we not in such a necessary task prevail with our selves to bestow a peice of a night or two in that employment which is able to make them prove the happiest nights that ever we spent in our lives There was a time when the Royal Prophet found it so that many a night watered his bed with his teares or rather made it swimme so emphatically doth he himself express it Psal. 6. 7. with an Hyperbole 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Would not St Aug. make us fear that the omitting or deferring of that Scrutiny may bring us into extream hazard For he hath said that which may prove too true in many Poenitentia quae ab infirmo petitur infirma est quae autem à moriente petitur timeo ne ipsa moriatur that is It is best to make strict examination and compleat our Repentance while we are in health and have time enough to look into all that is past and prevent all Relapses into the like sins hereafter For the future is a time most uncertain to us and wherein we know not what Indisposition Sicknesses Hinderances or Obstructions may suddainly fall out though we might chance to live longer Now therefore while it is called to day and our day lest us make haste to break off our sins and let us take a penitentiall Psalm into our mouthes or one of the publick Confessions in the first or second Service or one out of the good Bishop's Penitential papers And make a sad and serious resolution for present and real amendment of life and have a great care against all Relapses into sin especially into our darling and habituall sins without which Intention and Resolution all our Nocturnal Scrutinies will bè fruitless and to no purpose Shall I say a little more to help you forward First then I will propose several places of Holy Writ wherein we are most earnestly admonished to beware of Relapses 2. After you have chew'd a litle upon them Iwill prescribe a Prophetical Antidote by way of prevention against the foul returns of sin 1. The First shall begin with the words of the two great Apostles Grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 3. 18. Receive not the grace of God in vain 2 Cor. 6. 1 Giveing all diligence adde to your Faith Virtue c. 2 Pet. 1. 5. He that lacks these things is blind and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins verse 9. If they are again intangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them then the beginning 2 Pet. 2. 20. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of Righteousnes then after they had known it to turn from the holy Commandement But it is happened to them according to the true Proverb The Dog is returned to his own vomit c. Continue thou in the things that thou hast learned 1 Tim. 3. 14. Be not shaken in mind 2 Thes. 2. 2. If I build again the things which I destroyed I make my self a transgressor Gal. 2. 18. What these two cheif Apostles have said we may find to be the frequent advise of holy Scripture elswhere Such as return back to their own wickedness the Lord will lead them forth with evil doers i. e. to be punished with them Psal. 123. ult When the Righteous turnes away c. Ezek. 18. 29. He that hath washed himself after the touching of a dead body if he touch it again what avails his washing Ecclus. 34. 25. No man having put his hand to the Plow and looking back is fit for the Kingdome of God Luke 9. 61. Therefore let not your goodness be as a morning cloud or the early dew that soon vanish away Hos. 6. 4. What God hath cleansed doe not thou make common Act. 10. 15. Be not weary of thy repenting of thy sin least God be weary of his repenting of thy punishment Jer. 16. 6. Turn not your backs and start not aside like a broken Bow Psal. 78. 5. Slide not back as a back-sliding Heifer Hos. 4. 16. But follow on to know the Lord cap. 6. 3. And bring forth fruites worthy of Repentance Mat. 3. 8. Walk worthy of God who hath called you unto his Kingdome and glory 2 Thes. 2 12. O how I wish that all men would make good use of all that refers to this Inquisition and narrow search into the state of our souls that should have more care taken upon them then is ordinarily spent upon the body every day Therefore I hope none will be offended that I mustered up so many good Admonitions together with such a noise about your eares as it were with so many Drums and Trumpets at such an unseasonable time of the night rather to keep you waking then to afford some help towards your quiet rest I think indeed the first night though you make choice of a Fasting night wherein you settle your selves to the purpose about this most Christian and most necessary expression of our duty unto God and love to our selves will prove full of trouble for that part of the night and your prayers may seem to be the voice of crying as the Royal Prophet speaks of his in his several nights Psal. 8. 6. But this is your happiness that such a troublesome and sad peice of such a night may by God's blessing work as great a Miracle as the turning the Water into Wine and the changing a Face sullied with salt teares into a most cheerfull countenance The solitariness of that part of a night may be answered with the company of a merry heart of our own which is a continual Feast all the dayes and nights of our life And after this uncertain life ended it may be crowned with everlasting Joy and Happiness in that only place of blisse where all teares shall at once be wiped quite away from all faces and all hearts compleatly filled with true Joy 2. In hope of this beleif in you I will now goe on to that which I promised in the second place Of an Antidote and Preservative against future Relapses worthy to be remembred every night You shall receive it from the hands of St. Basil that you may know to whom you are beholden for it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Basil. Regul brev Interogat 28. That is If a man hath repented of a sin and after fallen into the same sinne again it is a sign that he pulled