when its parts do not rightly perform their Offices 11. The parts of the Soul are especially these three The UNDERSTANDING the WILL and the AFFECTIONS And that these are disordered there needs little proof let any man look seviously into his own Heart and consider how little it is he knows of spiritual things and then tell me whether his Understanding be not dark How much apter is he to Will evil then good and then tell me whether his Will be not Crooked And how strong Desires he hath after the pleasures of sin and what cold and faint ones towards God and goodness and then tell me whether his Affections be not disordered and rebellious even against the voice of his own Reason within him Now as in bodily diseases the first step to the cure is to know the Cause of the sickness so likewise here it is very necessary for us to know how the Soul first fell into this Diseased condition and that I shall now briefly tell you 12. GOD created the first Man Adam without Sin and indued his Soul with the full knowledg of his Duty and with such a strength that he might if he would perform all that was required of him Having thus created him He makes a COVENANT or agreement with him to this purpose that if he continued in Obedience to God without committing Sin then first that Strength of Soul which he then had should still be continued to him and secondly That he should never Die but he taken up into Heaven there to be Happy for ever But on the other side if he committed Sin and Disobeyed God then both He and all his Children after him should lose that Knowledg and that perfect strength which enabled him to do all that God required of him and Secondly should be subject to death and not only so but to Eternal damnation in Hell 13. This was the Agreement made with Adam and all mankind in him which we usually call the FIRST COVENANT upon which God gave Adam a particular commandment which was no more but this That he should not eat of one only tree of that garden wherein he had placed him But he by the perswasion of the Devil eats of that Tree disobeys God and so brings that curse upon himself and all his posterity And so by that one Sin of his he lost both the full Knowledge of his Duty and the Power of performing it And we being born after his Image did so likewise and so are become both Ignorant in Discerning what we ought to Do and Weak and unable to the Doing of it having a backwardness to all good and an aptness and readiness to all evil like a sick stomack which loaths all wholsome food and longs after such trash as may nourish the disease 14. And now you see where we got this Sickness of soul and likewise that it is like to prove a Deadly one and therefore I presume I need say no more to assure you our Souls are in danger It is more likely you will from this description think them hopeless But that you may not from that conâ—eit excuse your Neglect of them I shall hasten to shew yâ—â— the contrary by proceeding to the fourth Motive of Care 15. That Fourth Motive is the likelyhood that our CARE will not be in VAIN but that it will be a means to preserve the thing cared for where this is wanting it disheartens our care A Physician leaves his Patient when he sees him past Hope as knowing it is then in vain to give him any thing but on the contrary when he sees hopes of recovery he plies him with Medicines Now in this very respect we have a great deal of reason to take care of our souls for they are not so far gone but they may be recovered nay it is certain they will if we do our parts towards it 16. For though by that Sin of Adam all mankinde were under the sentence of eternal condemnation yet it pleased God so far to pity our misery as to give us his Son and in him to make a new Covenant with us after we had broken the first 17. This SECOND COVENANT was made with Adam and us in him presently after his Fall and is briefly contained in those wards Gen. 3. 15. Where God declares that THE SEED OF THE WOMAN SHALL BREAK THE SERPENTS HEAD and this was made up as the first was of some mercies to be afforded by God and some duties to be performed by us 18. God therein promises to send his only Son who is God equal with himself to earth to become man like unto us in all things sin only excepted and he to do for us these Several things 19. Frst to make Known to us the whole Will of his Father in the performance whereof we shall be sure to be Accepted and rewarded by him And this was one great part of his business which he performed in those many Sermons and Precepts we finde set down in the Gospel And herein he is our PROPHET it being the work of a Prophet of old not only to foretel but to Teach Our Duty in this particular is to hearken diligently to him to be most ready and desirous to learn that will of God which he came from heaven to reveal to us The Second thing He was to do for us was to Satisfie God for our Sins not only that one of Adam but all the Sins of all Mankind that truly repent and amend and by this means to obtain for us Forgiveness of sins the Favour of God and so to Redeem us from Hell and eternal damnation which was the punishment due to our sin All this he did for us by his death He offered up himself a Sacrifice for the Sins of all those who heartily bewail and forsake them And in this He is our PRIEST it being the Priests Office to Offer Sacrifice for the sins of the people Our Duty in this particular is first truly and heartily to Repent us of and forsake our Sins without which they will never be forgiven us though Christ have died Secondly stedfastly to Believe that if we do that we shall have the benefits of that Sacrifice of his all our sins how many and great soever shall be forgiven us and we saved from those eternal punishments which were due unto us for them Another part of the PRIESTS Office was Blessing and Praying for the people and this also Christ performs to us It was his especial Commission from his Father to Bless us as St. Peter tells us Acts 3. 26. God sent his Son Jesus to Bless you the following words shew wherein that blessing consists in turning away every one of you from his iniquity those means which he has used for the turning us from our Sins are to be reckoned of all other the greatest blessings and for the other part that of Praying that he not only performed on earth but continues still to do it in
Sacrifice acceptable to thee by Jesus Christ. A THANKSGIVING O Gracious Lord whose mercies endure for e-ever I thy unworthy servant who have so deeply tasted of them desire to render thee the tribute of my humblest praises for them In thee O Lord I live and move and have my being thou first madest me to be and then that I might not be miserable but happy thou sendest thy Son out of thy bosâ—me to redeem me from the power of my sins by his Grace and from the punishment of them by his Blood and by both to bring me to his glory Thou hast by thy mercy caused me to be born within thy peculiar fold the Christian Church where I was early consecrated to thee in Baptism and have been partaker of all those spiritual helps which might aid me to perform that Vow I there made to thee and when by my own wilfulness or negligence I have failed to do it yet thou in thy manifold mercies hast not forsaken me but hast graciously invited me to repentance afforded me all means both outward and inward for it and with much patience hast attended and not cut me off in the acts of those many damning sins I have committed as I have most justly deserved It is O Lord thy restraining grace alone by which I have been kept back from any the greatest sins and it is thy inciting and assisting grace alone by which I have been enabled to do any the least good therefore not unto me not unto me but unto thy name be the praises For these and all other thy spiritual blessings my soul doth magnifie the Lord and all that is within me praise his holy Name I likewise praise thee for those many outward blessings I enjoy as health friends food and raiment the comforts as well as the necessaries of this life for those continual protections of thy hand by which I and mine are kept from dangers and those gracious deliverances thou hast often afforded out of such as have befallen me and for that mercy of thine whereby thou hast sweetned and allâ—yed those troubles thou hast not seen sit wholly to remove for thy particular preservation of me this night and all other thy goodness towards me Lord grant that I may render thee not only the fruit of my lips but the obedience of my life that so these blessings here may be an earnest of those richer blessings thou hast prepared for those that love thee and that for his sake whom thou hast made the Author of Eternal Salvation to all that obey him even Jesus Christ. A CONFESSION O Righteous Lord who hatest iniquity I thy sinful creature cast my self at thy feet acknowledging that I most justly deserve to be utterly abhorred and forsaken by thee for I have drunk iniquity like water gone on in a continued course of sin and rebellion against thee dayly committing those things thou forbiddest and leaving undone those things thou commandest mine heart which should be an habitation for thy spirit is become a cage of unclean birds of foul and disordered affections and out of this abundance of the heart my mouth speaketh my hands act so that in thought word and deed I continually transgress against thee Here mention the greatest of thy sins Nay O Lord I have despised that goodness of thine which should lead me to Repentance hardning my heart against all those means thou hast used for my amendment And now Lord what can I expect from thee but judgment and fiery indignation that is indeed the due reward of my sins But O Lord there is mercy with thee that thou may est be feared O fit me for that mercy by giving me a deep and hearty Repentance and then according to thy goodness let thy anger and thy wrath be turned away from me look upon me in thy Son my blessed Saviour and for the merit of his sufferings pardon all my sins And Lord I beseech thee by the power of thy grace so to renew and purifie my heart that I may become a new creature utterly forsaking every evil way and living in constant sincere universal obedience to thee all the rest of my days that behaving my self as a good and faithful servant I may by thy mercy at the last be received into the joy of my Lord Grant this for Jesus Christ his sake A PRAYER for GRACE O Most gracious God from whom every good and perfect gift cometh I wretched creature that am not able of my self so much as to think a good thought beseech thee to work in me both to will and do according to thy good pleasure inlighten â—◠〈◊〉 that I may know thee and let me not be barren or unfruitful in that knowledg Lord work in my heart a true faith a purifying hope and an unfeigned love towards thee give me a full trust on thee zeal for thee reverence of all things that relate to thee make me fearful to offend thee thankful for thy mercies humble under thy corrections devout in thy service sorrowful for my sins and grant that in all things I may behave my self so as befits a creature to his Creator a servant to his Lord enable me likewise to perform that duty I owe to my self give me that meekness humility and contentedness whereby I may always possess my soul in patience and thankfulness make me diligent in all my duties watchful against all temptations perfectly pure and temperate and so moderate in my most lawful injoyments that they never become a snare to me make me also O Lord to be so affected towards my neighbour that I never transgress that royal Law of thine of loving him as my self grant me exactly to perform all parts of justice yielding to all whatsoever by any kinde of right becomes their due and give me such bowels of mercy and compassion that I may never fail to do all acts of charity to all men whether friends or enemies according to thy command and example Finally I beseech thee O Lord to sanctifie me throughout that my whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory for ever Amen INTERCESSION OBlessed Lord whose mercy is over all thy works I beseech thee to have mercy upon all men and grant that the precious ransome which was paid by thy Son for all may be effectuall to the saving of all Give thy inlightning grace to those that are in darkness and thy converting grace to those that are in sin look with thy tenderest compassions upon the Universal Church O be favourable and gracious unto Sion build thou the walls of Jerusalem unite all those that profess thy Name to thee by Purity and Holiness and to each other by Brotherly love Have mercy on this desolate Church and sinful Nation thou hast moved the Land and divided it heal the sores thereof for it shaketh make us so truly to repent
should be no contention between him and Lot because they were brethren Gen. 13. 8. And though by brethren there is meant only cousins yet that helps the more strongly to conclude that this neerer relation is in reason to be a greater bar to strise as also that this kindness is in some degree to be extended to all that have any neerness of blood to us 2. This kindness and Love between Brethren and Sisters ought to be very firmly grounded in their hearts if it be not they will be of all others in most danger of disagreeing for the continual conversation that is among them whilst they are at home in the fathers house will be apt to minister some occasion of jar Besides the equality that is among them in respect of birth often makes them inclinable to envy each other when one is in any respect advanced above the other Thus we see Josephs brethren envyed him because he had most of his fathers love and Rachel envyed her sister Leah because she was fruitful therefore for the preventing of such temptations let all who have brethren and sisters possess their minde with a great and real kindness to them look on them as parts of themselves and then they will never think fit either to quarrel with them or to envie them any advantage any more then one part of the body does another of the same body but will strive to advance help forward the good of each other 3. The second kind of Brotherhood is spiritual that containes all those who profess the same Faith with us the Church in our Baptism becomes a Mother to each baptized person and then surely they that have the relation of children to her must have also the relation of brethren to each other and to this sort of brethren also we owe a great deal of tenderness and affection the spiritual bond of Religion should of all others the most closely unite our hearts This is the Brotherhood which S. Peter exhorts us to love 1 Peter 2. 17. And to it we are in an especial manner bound to do all good offices Do good saith the Apostle to all but especially to them that are of the houshold of Faith Gal. 6. 10. Our compassions are to be most melting towards them of all others in all their needs Christ tels us that whosoever gives but a cup of cold water to any in the name of a Disciple shall not lose his reward Mat. 10. 42. From whence we may assure our selves that this peculiar love to Christians as Christians is very acceptable in his sight 4. Several duties there are required of us to these brethren one principal is the holding Communion with them and that first in Doctrine we are constantly to continue in the belief and profession of all those necessary truths by which we may be markt out as followers and Disciples of Christ this is that faith which S. Jude speaks of which was once delivered to the Saints Jude 3. by keeping whereof we continue still united to this spiritual brotherhood in respect of profession which we must constantly do what storms and persecutions soever attend it according to the exhortation of the Apostle Heb. 10. 22. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering Secondly we are also as opportunity serves to communicate with them in all holy offices we must be diligent in frequenting the assemblies of the Saints which is as it were the badge of our profession and therefore he that willingly withdraws himself from these gives ground to suspect he will be apt to renounce the other also But these parts of communion we finde strictly maintained by the first Christians Acts 2. 42. They continued stedfastly in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers they continued and that stedfastly they were not frighted from it by any persecutions though that were a time wherein they were tryed with the sharpest sufferings which may teach us that it is not the danger that attends this duty can acquit us of it 5. Secondly we are to bear with the Infirmities of our Christian brethren according to the advice of S. Paul Romans 15. 1. We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak If one that holds all necessary Christian truths happen yet to be in some errour we are not for this either to forsake his communion or despise his person This S. Paul reaches us in the case of that weak brother who by errour made a causless scruple about meats Rom. 14. Where he bids the stronger Christians that is those who being better instructed discerned him to be in an errour yet to receive him nevertheless and not to despise him as on the other side he bids that weak one not to judge the stronger the lesser differences in opinion must be born with on both sides and must not in the least abate our brotherly charity towards each other 6. Thirdly we are to endeavour the restoring of any fallen brother that is to bring him to repentance after he hath fallen into any sin Thus St. Paul commands the Galatians that they should restore him that was overtaken in a fault considering themselves least they also were tempted We are not to look on him as a cast-away to give him over as utterly desperate neither are we to triumph over him in respect of our own innocence like the proud Pharisee over the poor Publican Luke 18. 11. but we are meekly to endeavour his recovery remembring that our own frailty is such that we are not secure from the like falls 7. Fourthly We are to have a Sympathy and fellow feeling with these brethren to be neerly toucht with whatsoever befalls them either as they are considered in society or in single persons In society first and so they make up a Church that either the universal which is made up of all Believers throughout the world or any particular Church which is made up of all the Believers in that particular Nation and whatever happens to either of these either the whole Church in general or any such single part of it especially that whereof our selves are members we are to be much affected and moved with it to rejoyce in all the prosperities and to mourn and bewail all the breaches and desolations thereof and daily and earnestly to pray with David Psal. 51. 18. O be favourable and gracious unto Sion build thou the walls of Jerusalem and that especially when we see her in distress and persecution Whosoever is not thus toucht with the condition of the Church is not to be lookt on as a living member of it for as in the natural body every member is concerned in the prosperity of the whole so certainly 't is here it was the observation of the Psalmist that Gods servants think upon the stones of Sion and pitty to see her in the dust Psal. 102. 14. and surely all his servants
ordinary communication WORSHIP Not worshipping God Omitting prayers publick or private and being glad of a pretence to do so Asking unlawful things or to unlawful ends Not purifying our hearts from sin before we pray Not praying with Faith and Humility Coldness and deadness in prayer Wandring thoughts in it Irreverent gestures of body in prayer REPENTANCE Neglecting the duty of Repentance Not calling our selves to dayly account for our sins Not assigning any set or solemn times for humiliation and confession or too seldome Not deeply considering our sins to beget contrition for them Not acting revenges on our selves by fasting and other acts of Mortification IDOLATRY Outward Idolatry in worshipping of creatures Inward Idolatry in placing our love and other affections more on creatures then the Creator To our SELVES HUMILITY BEing puft up with high conceits of our selves In respect of natural parts as beauty wit c. Of worldly riches and honours Of Grace Greedily seeking the praise of men Directing Christian Actions as prayer alms c. to that end Committing sins to avoid reproach from wicked men MEEKNES Disturbing our minds with Anger and peevishness CONSIDERATION Not carefully Examining what our estate towards God is Not trying our selves by the true rule i. e. our obedience to Gods commands Not weighing the lawfulness of our actions before we venture on them Not examining our past actions to repent of the ill to give God the glory of the good CONTENTEDNES Uncontentedness in our estates Greedy desires after honour and riches Seeking to gain them by sinful means Envying the condition of other men DILIGENCE WATCHFULNES Being negligent in observing and resisting temptations Not improving Gods gifts outward or inward to his honour Abusing our natural parts as wit memory strength c. to sin Neglecting or resisting the motions of Gods Spirit CHASTITY Uncleanness adultery fornication unnatural lusts c. Uncleanness of the eye and hand Filthy and obscene talking Impure sancies and desires Heightning of lust by pampering the body Not labouring to subdue it by fasting or other severities TEMPERANCE Eating too much Making pleasure not health the end of eating Being too curious or costly in meats Drunkenness Drinking more then is useful to our bodies though not to drunkenness Wasting the time or estate in good fellowship Abusing our strengâ—h of brain to the making others drunk Immoderate sleeping Idleness and negligence in our callings Using unlawful Recreations Being too vehement upon lawful ones Spending too much time at them Being drawn by them to anger or covetousness Being proud of apparel Striving to go beyond our rank Bestowing too much time care or cost about it Abstaining from such excesses not out of conscience but covetousness Pinching our bodies to fill our purses To our NEIGHBOUR NEGATIVE JUSTICE BEing Injurious to our Neighbour Delighting causlesly to grieve his mind Ensnaring his soul in sin by command counsel enticement or example Affrighting him from godliness by our scoffing at it Not seeking to bring those to repentance whom we have led into sin MURDER Murder open or secret Drawing men to intemperance or other vices which may bring diseases or death Stirring men up to quarrelling and fighting Maiming or hurting the body of our neighbour Fierceness and rage against him ADULTERY Coveting our Neighbours wife Actually defiling her MALICE Spoiling the goods of others upon spight and malice COVETOUSNES Coveting to gain them to our selves OPPRESSION Oppressing by violence and force or colour of Law THEFT Not paying what we borrow Not paying what we have voluntarily promised Keeping back the wages of the servant and hireling DECEIT Unfaithfulness in trusts whether to the living or dead Using arts of deceit in buying and selling Exacting upon the necessities of our neighbours FALSE WITNES Blasting the credit of our neighbour By false witness By railing By whispering Incouraging others in their slanders Being forward to believe ill reports of our neighbour Causeless suspitions Rash judging of him Despising him for his infirmities Inviting others to do so by scoffing and dâ—riding him Bearing any malice in the heart Secret wishing of death or any kinde of hurt to our neighbour Rejoycing when any evil befalls him Nelecting to make what satisfaction we can for any sort of injury done to our neighbour POSITIVE JUSTICE HUMILITY LYING Churlish and proud behaviour to others Froward and peevish conversation Bitter and reproachful language Cursing Not paying the respect due to the qualities or gifts of others Proudly overlooking them Seeking to lessen others esteem of them Not imploying our abilities whether of minde or estate in administring to those whose wants require it GRATITUDE Unthankfulness to our Benefactors Especially those that admonish us Not amending upon their reproof Being angry at them for it Not reverencing our Civil Parent the lawful Magistrate Judging and speaking evil of him Grudging his just tributes Sowing sedition among the people Refusing to obey his lawful commands Rising up against him or taking part with them that do Despising our Spiritual Fathers Not loving them for their works sake Not obeying those commands of God they deliver to us Seeking to withhold from them their just maintenance Forsaking our lawful Pastors to follow factious teachers PARENTS Stubbern and irreverent behaviour to our natural Parents Despising and publishing their infirmities Not loving them nor endeavouring to bring them joy and comfort Contemning their counsels Murmuring at their Government Coveting their estates though by their death Not ministring to them in their wants of all sorts Neglecting to pray for Gods blessing on these several sorts of Parents Want of natural affection to children Mothers refusing to Nurse them without a just impediment Not bringing them timely to Baptisme Not early instructing them in the ways of God Suffering them for want of timely correction to get customes of sin Setting them evil examples Discouraging them by harsh and cruel usage Not providing for their subsistance according to our ability Consuming their portions in our own riot Reserving all till our death and letting them want in the mean time Not seeking to entail a blessing on them by our Christian lives Not heartily praying for them Want of affection to our natural brethren Envyings and heart-burnings towards them DUTY to BRETHREN Not loving our spiritual brethren i. e our fellow Christians Having no fellow feeling of their sufferings Causelesly for saking their communion in holy duties Not taking deeply to heart the desolations of the Church MARRIAGE Marrying within the degrees for bidden Marrying for undue ends as covetousness lust c. Unkind froward and unquiet behaviour towards the husband or wife Unfaithfulness to the bed Not bearing with the infirmities of each other Not endeavouring to advance one anothers good spiritual or temporal The wife resisting the lawful command of her husband Her striving for rule and dominion over him Not praying for each other FRIENDSHIP Unfaithfulness to a Friend Betraying his secrets Denying him assistance in his needs Neglecting lovingly to admonish him
hear me and grant I may now approach thee with such humility and contrition love devotion that thou mayest vouch safe to come unto me abide with me communicating to me thy self all the merits of thy Passion And then O Lord let no accusations of Satan or my own conscience amaze or distract me but having peace with thee let me also have peace in my self that this Wine may make glad this Bread of life may strengthen my heart enable me chearfully to run the way of thy Commandments Grant this merciful Saviour for thine own bowels compassions sake EJACULATIONS to be used at the LORDS TABLE LORD I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof I have sinned What shall I do unto thee O thou preserver of men Here recollect some of thy greatest sins If thou Lord shouldst be extream to mark what is done amiss O Lord who may abide it But with the Lord there is mercy and with him is plenteous Redemption Behold O Lord thy beloved Son in whom thou art well pleased Hearken to the cry of his blood which speaketh better things then that of Abel By his Agony and bloody Sweat by his Cross and Passion good Lord deliver me O Lamb of God which takest away the sins of the world grant me thy Peace O Lamb of God which takest away the sins of the world have mercy upon me Immediately before Receiving THOU hast said That he that eateth thy flesh and drinketh thy blood hath eternal life Behold the servant of the Lord be it unto me according to thy word At the Receiving of the Bread BY thy Crucified body deliver me from this body of death At the receiving of the Cup. O LET this blood of thine purge my conscience from dead works to serve the living God Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean O touch me and say I will be thou clean After Receiving WHAT shall I render unto the Lord for all the benefits he hath done unto me I will take the Cup of Salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing Therefore blessing honour glory and power be to him that sitteth upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever Amen I have sworn and am stedfastly purposed to keep thy righteous judgements O hold thou up my goings in thy paths that my footsteps slip not A Thanksgiving after the Receiving of the Sacrament O Thou fountain of all goodness from whom every good and perfect gift cometh and to whom all honour and glory should be returned I desire with all the most fervent and inflamed affections of a grateful heart to bless and praise thee for those inestimable mercies thou hast vouchsafed me Lord what is man that thou shouldst so regard him as to send thy beloved Son to suffer such bitter things for him But Lord what am I the worst of men that I should have any part in this attonement who have so oft despised him and his sufferings O the height and depth of this mercy of thine that art pleased to admit me to the renewing of that Covenant with thee which I have so often and so perversly broken that I who am not worthy of that dayly bread which sustains the body should be made partaker of this bread of life which nourisheth the soul and that the God of all purity should vouchsafe to unite himself to so polluted a wretch O my God suffer me no more I bâ—seech thee to turn thy grace into wantonness to make thy mercy an occasion of security but let this unspeakable love of thine constrain me to obedience that since my blessed Lord hath died for me I may no longer live unto my self but to him O Lord I know there is no concord between Christ and Belial therefore since he hath now been pleased to enter my heart O let me never permit any lust to chace him thence but let him that hath so dearly bought me still keep possession of me and let nothing ever take me out of his hand To this end be thou graciously pleased to watch over me and defend me from all assaults of my spiritual enemies but especially deliver me from my self from the treachery of my own heart which is too willing to yield it self a prey And where thou seest I am either by nature or custome most weak there do thou I beseech thee magnifie thy power in my preservation Here mention thy most dangerous temptations And Lord let my Saviours sufferings for my sins and the Vows I have now made against them never depart from my minde but let the remembrance of the one enable me to perform the other that I may never make truce with those lusts which nailed his hands pierced his side and made his soul heavy to the death But that having now anew listed my self under his banner I may fight manfully and follow the Captain of my Salvation even through a sea of blood Lord lift up my hands that hang down and my feeble knees that I faint not in this warfare O be thou my strength who am not able of my self to struggle with the slightest temptations How often have I turned my back in the day of battel How many of these Sacramental vows have I violated And Lord I have still the same unconstant deceitful heart to betray me to the breach of this O thou who art Yea and Amen in whom there is no shadow of change communicate to me I beseech thee such a stability of minde that I may no more thus start aside like a broken bow but that having my heart whole with thee I may continue stedfast in thy Covenant that not one good purpose which thy Spirit hath raised in me this day may vanish as so many have formerly done but that they may bring forth fruit unto life eternal Grant this O merciful father through the merits and mediation of my Cruâ—ified Saviour A Prayer of Intercession to be used either before or after the receiving of the Sacrament O MOST gracious Lord who so tenderly lovedst mankind as to give thy dear Son out of thy Bosome to be a propitiation for the sins of the whole word grant that the effect of this Redemption may be as universal as the design of it that it may be to the salvation of all O let no person by impenitence and wilful sin forfeit his part in it but by the power of thy grace bring all even the most obstinate sinners to repentance Inlighten all that sit in darkness all Jews Turks Infidels and Hereticks take from them all blindness hardness of heart and contempt of thy Word and so fetch them home blessed Lord unto thy fold that they may be saved among the number of the true Israelites And for all those upon whom the Name of thy Son is called grant O Lord that their conversations may
our Love 39. But I fear there are not many have this to shew for it as appears by the common backwardness and unwillingness of men to come to these and their negligence and heartlesness when they are at them and can we think that God will ever own us for lovers of him whilest we have such dislikes to his company that we will never come into it but when we are drag'd by fear or shame of men or some such worldly Motive It is sure you would not think that man loved you whom you perceived to shun your company and to be loath to come in your sight And therefore be not so unreasonable as to say You love God when yet you desire to keep as far from him as you can 40. But besides this there is another Enjoyment of God which is more perfect and compleat and that is our perpetual enjoying of him in heaven where we shal be for ever united to him and enjoy him not now and then only for short spaces of time as we do here but continually without interruption or breaking off And certainly if we have that degree of love to God we ought this cannot but be most earnestly desired by us so much that we shall think no labour too great to compass it The seven years that Jacob served for Rachel Gen. 29. 20. seemed to him but a few dayes for the love that he had to her surely if we have love to God we shall not think the service of our whole lives too dear a price for this full Enjoyment of him nor esteem all the Enjoyments of the world worth the looking on in comparison thereof 41. If we can truly tell our selves we do thus long for this enjoyment of God we may believe we love him But I fear again there are but few that can thus approve their love For if we look into mens lives we shall see they are not generally so fond of this Enjoyment as to be at any pains to purchase it And not only so but it is to be doubted there are many who if it were put to their choice whether they would live here alwayes to enjoy the profit and pleasure of the world or go to heaven to enjoy God would like the children of Gad and Reuben set up their rest on this side Jordan Num. 32. and never desire that heavenly Canaan so close do their affections cleave to things below which shews clearly they have not made God their treasure for then according to our Saviours Rule Mat. 6. 21. their heart would be with him Nay further yet it is too plain that many of us set so little value on this Enjoying of God that we preser the vilest and basest sins before him and chuse to Enjoy them though by it we utterly lose our parts in Him which is the case of every man that continues wilfully in those sins 42. And now I fear according to these Rules of Trial many that prefess to love God will be found not to do so I conclude al with the words of S. John 1 Ep. 3. 18. Which though spoken of the love of our brethren is very fitly appliable to this love of God let us not love in word neither in tongue but in deed and in truth 43. A Fourth duty to God is FEAR this arises from the consideration both of his Justice his Power his Justice is such that he will not clear the wicked his Power such that he is able to inflict the sorest punishments upon them and that this is a reasonable cause of fear Christ himself tells us Mat. 10. 18. Fear him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell Many other places of Scripture there are which commend to us this duty as Ps. 2. 11. Serve the Lord with fear Psal. 34. 9. Fear the Lord ye that be his Saints Pro. 9. 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and divers the like and indeed all the threatnings of wrath against sinners which we meet with in the Scripture are only to this end to work this fear in our hearts 44. Now this fear is nothing else but such an awful regard of God as may keep us from offending him This the wise man tells us Pro. 16. 17. The fear of the Lord is to depart from evil so that none can be said truly to fear God that is not thereby withheld from sin this is but answerable to that common fear we have towards man who ever we know may hurt us we wilbeware of provoking therefore if we be not as wary of displeasing God it is plain we fear men more then we do him 45. How great a madness this is thus to fear men above God will soon appear if we compare what man can do to us with that which God can And first it is sure it is not in the power of man I might say Devils too to do us any hurt unless God permit and suffer them to do it so that if we do but keep him our friend we may say with the Psalmist The Lord is on my side I fear not what man can do unto me For let their malice be never so great he can restrain and keep them from hurting us nay he can change their mindes toward us according to that of the wise man Prov. 16. 7. When a mans wayes please the Lord he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him A notable example of this we have in Jacob Gen. 32. who when his brother Esau was coming against him as an enemy God wonderfully turned his heart so that he met him with all the expressions of brotherly kindness as you may read in the next Chapter 46. But secondly suppose men were left at liberty to do thee what mischief they could alas their power goes but a little way they may perhaps rob thee of thy goods it may be they may take away thy liberty or thy credit or perchance thy life too but that thou knowest is the utmost they can do But now God can do all this when he pleases and that which is infinitely more his vengeance reaches even beyond death it self to the eternal misery both of Body and Soul in hell in comparison of which death is so inconsiderable that we are not to look upon it with any dread Fear not them that kill the body and after that have no more that they can do saith Christ Luke 12. 4. And then immediately adds But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell yea I say unto you Fear him In which words the comparison is set between that greatest ill we can suffer from man the loss of life and those sadder evils God can inflict on us and the latter are found to be the onely dreadful things and therefore God only to be feared 47. But there is yet one thing farther considerable in this matter
which is this It is possible we may transgress against men and they not know it I may perhaps steal my neighbours goods or defile his wife and keep it so close that he shall not suspect me and so never bring me to punishment for it but this we cannot do with God he knows all things even the most secret thoughts of our hearts and therefore though we commit a sin never so closely he is sure to finde us and will as surely if we do not timely repent punish us eternally for it 48. And now surely it cannot but be confest that it is much safer displeasing men then God yet alas our practice is as if we believed the direct contrary there being nothing more ordinary with us then for the avoiding of some present danger we fear from men to rush our selves upon the indignation of God And thus it is with us when either to save our estates or credits or our very lives we commit any sin for that is plainly the chusing to provoke God rather then man 49. But God knowes this case of fear of men is not the only one wherein we venture to displease him for we commit many sins to which we have none of this temptation nor indeed any other as for instance that of Common Swearing to which there is nothing either of pleasure or profit to invite us Nay many times we who so fear the mischiefs that other men may do to us that we are ready to buy them off with the greatest sins do our selves bring all those very mischiefs upon us by sins of our own chusing Thus the careless Prodigal robs himself of his estate the Deceitful Dishoneft man or any that lives in open notorious sin deprives himself of his credit and the Drunkard Glutton brings diseases on himself to the shortning his life And can we think we do at all Fear God when that fear hath so little power over us that though it be backt with the many present mischiefs that attend upon sin it is not able to keep us from them surely such men are far from fearing God that they rather seem to defie him resolve to provoke him whatsoever it cost them either in this world or the next Yet so unreasonably partial are we to our selvs that even such as these will pretend to this fear you may examine multitudes of the most gross scandalous sinners before you shall meet with one that will acknowledge he fears not God It is strange it should be possible for men thus to cheat themselves but however it is certain we cannot deceive God he will not be mockt and therefore if we will not now so fear as to avoid sin we shall one day fear when it will be too late to avoid punishment 50. A Fift Duty to God that of TRUSTING in him that is depending and resting on him and that is First in all dangers Secondly in all wants We are to rest on him in all our dangers both Spiritual and Temporal Of the first sort are all those Temptations by which we are in danger to be drawn to sin And in this respect he hath promised that if we resist the Devil he shall flie from us Jam 4. 7. Therefore our duty is first to pray earnestly for Gods grace to enable us to overcome the temptation and Secondly to set our selves manfully to combate with it not yielding or giving consent to it in the least degree and whilst we do thus we are confidently to rest upon God that his grace will be sufficient for us that he will either remove the temptation or strengthen us to withstand it 51. Secondly in all outward Temporal Dangers we are to rest upon him as knowing that he is able to deliver us and that he will do so if he see it best for us if we be such to whom he hath promised his protection that is such as truly fear him To this purpose we have many promises in Scripture Ps. 34. 7. The Angel of the Lord tarrieth round about them that fear him and delivereth them Ps. 34. 20. The Lord delivereth the soules of his Saints and all that put their trust in him shall not be destitute and divers the like And also we have many examples as that of the three children in the Furnace Daniel 3. That of Daniel in the Lions Den Daniel 6. And many others all which serve to teach us this one lesson that if we go on conscionably in performing our duty we need not he dismayed for any thing that can be fall us for the God whom we serve is able to deliver us 52. Therefore in all dangers we are first humbly to pray for his aid and then to rest our selves cheerfully on him and assuring our selves that he will give such an issue as shall be most for our good But above all things we must be sure to fix our dependence wholly on him and not to relie on the creatures for help much less must we seek to deliver our selves by any unlawful means that is by the committing of any sin for that is like Saul 1 Samuel 28. 7. to go to the Witch that is to the Devil for help such courses do commonly deceive our hopes at the present and in stead of delivering us out of our streights plunge us in greater and those much more uncomfortable ones because then we want that which is the only support Gods favour and aid which we certainly forfeit when we thus seek to rescue our selves by any sinful means But supposing we could by such a way certainly free our selves from the present danger yet alas we are far from having gained safety by it we have only removed the danger from that which was less considerable and brought it upon the most precious part of us our Souls like an unskilful Physician that to remove a pain from the finger strikes it to the heart we are therefore grosly mistaken when we think we have plaied the good Husband in saving our Liberties or Estates or Lives themselves by a sin we have not saved them but madly overbought them laid out our very Souls on them And Christ tells us how little we shall gain by such bargains Mat. 17. 26. What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul Let us therefore resolve never to value any thing we can possess in this world at so high a rate as to keep it at the price of the least sin but when ever things are driven to such an issue that we must either part with some perhaps all our worldly possessions nay life it self or else commit a sin let us then remember that this is the season for us to perform that great and excellent duty of taking up the Cross which we can never so properly do in this case for our bearing of that which we have no possible way of avoiding can at most be said to be but the
the Apostle saith Rom. 1. 31. We do not only do the things but take pleasure in them that do them and therefore intice and draw as many as we can into the same sins with us Then it is risen to the highest step of wickedness and is to be look't on as the utmost degree both of sin and danger Thus you see how you are to examine your selves concerning your sins in each of which you are to consider how many of these heightning circumstances there have been that so you may aright measure the hainousness of them 7. Now the end of this Examination is to bring you to such a sight of your sins as may truly humble you make you sensible of your own danger that have provoked so great a Majesty who is able so sadly to revenge himself upon you And that will surely even to the most carnal heart appear a reasonable ground of sorrow But that is not all it must likewise bring you to a sense and abhorrence of your basenesse and ingratitude that have thus offended so good and graecious a God that have made such unworthy and unkind returnes to those tender and rich mercies of his And this consideration especially must melt your hearts into a deep sorrow and contrition the degree whereof must be in some measure answerable to the degree of your sinnes And the greater it is provided it be not such as shuts up the hope of Gods Mercy the more acceptable it is to God who hath promised not to despise a broken and contriâ—e heart Psalm 51. 17. And the more likely it will be also to bring us to amendment For if we have once felt what the smart of a wounded Spirit is wee shall have the lesse minde to venture upon sin again 8. For when wee are tempted with any of the short pleasures of sinne wee may then out of our owne experience set against them the sharp pains and terrors of an accusing conscience which will to any that hath felt them be able infinitely to outweigh them Endeavour therefore to bring your souls to this melting temper to this deep unfeigned sorrow and that not only for the danger you have brought upon your self for though that be a consideration which may ought to work sadnesse in us yet where that alone is the motive of our sorrow it is not that sorrow which will avail us for pardon and the reason of it is clear for that sorrow proceeds only from the love of our selves we are sorry because we are like to smart But the sorrow of a true penitent must be joyned also with the love of God and that will make us grieve for having offended him though there were no punishment to fall upon our selves The way then to stir up this sorrow in us is first to stir up our love of God by repeating to our selves the many gracious acts of his mercy towards us particularly that of his sparing us and not cutting us off in our sins Consider with thy self how many and how great provocations thou hast offered him perhaps in a continued course of many years wilful disobedience for which thou mightest with perfect justice have been ere this sent quick into hell Nay possibly thou hast before thee many examples of less sinners then thou art who have been suddenly snatcht away in the midst of their sins And what cause canst thou give why thou hast thus long escaped but only because his eye hath spared thee And what cause of that sparing but his tender compassions towards thee his unwillingness that thou should'st perish This consideration if it be prest home upon thy soul cannot chuse if thy heart be not as hard as the nether Milstone but awake somewhat of love in thee towards this gracious this long suffering God and that love will certainly make it appear to thee that it is an evil thing and bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord Jer. 2. 19. That thou hast made such wretched requitals of so great mercy it will make thee both ashamed and angry at thy self that thou hast been such an unthankful creature But if the consideration of this one sort of mercy Gods forbearance onely be such an engagement and help to this godly sorrow what will then be the multitude of those other mercies which every man is able to reckon up to himself and therefore let every man be as particular in it as he can call to minde as many of them as he is able that so he may attain to the greater degree of true contrition 9. And to all these endeavours must be added earnest prayers to God that he by his holy Spirit would shew you your sins and soften your hearts that you may throughly bewail and lament them 10. To this must be joyned an humble consession of sins to God and that not only in general but also in particular as far as your memory of them will reach and that with all those heightning circumstances of them which you have by the forementioned examination discovered Yea even secret and forgotten sins must in general be acknowledged for it is certain there are multitudes of such so that it is necessary for every one of us to say with David Psal. 19. 12. Who can understand his errors cleanse thou me from my secret faulâ—s When you have thus confest your sins with this hearty sorrow and sincere hatred of them you may then and not before be concluded to feel so much of your disease that it will be seasonable to apply the remedy 11. In the next place therefore you are to look on him whom God hath set forth to be the propitiation of our sins Rom. 3. 25. Even Jesus Christ that Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world John 1. 29. And earnestly beg of God that by his most precious blood your sins may be washed away and that God would for his sake be reconciled to you And this you are to believe will surely be done if you do for the rest of your time forsake your sins and give your selves up sincerely to obey God in all his commands But without that it is vain to hope any benefit from Christ or his sufferings And therefore the next part of your preparation must be the setting those resolutions of obedience which I told you was the third thing you were to examine your selves of before your approach to the holy Sacrament 12. Concerning the particulars of this resolution I need say no more but that it must answer every part and branch of our duty that is we must not only in general resolve that wee will observe Gods Commandments but we must resolve it for every Commandment by itself and especially where we have found our selves most to have failed heretofore there especially to renew our resolutions And herein it neerly concerns us to look that these resolutions be sincere and unfeigned and not only such slight ones as people use
painful and uneasie to a mans self for if as the Psalmist saith it be a joyful pleasant thing to be thankful we may by the Rule of contraries conclude It is a sad and unpleasant thing to be murmuring and I doubt not every mans own experience will confirm the truth of it 3. Secondly It is contrary to Ambition the ambitious man is always disliking his present condition and that makes him so greedily to seek a higher whereas he that is content with his own lies quiet out of the road of this temptation Now ambition is not only a great sin in it self but it puts men upon many other There is nothing so horrid which a man that eagerly seeks greatness will stick at lying perjury murder or any thing will down with him if they seem to tend to his advancement And the uneasiness of it is answerable to the sin This none can doubt of that considers what a multitude of fears and jealousies cares and distractions there are that attend ambition in its progress besides the great and publick ruines that usually befal it in the end And therefore sure Contentedness is in this respect as well a Happiness as a Vertue 4. Thirdly It is contrary to Covetousness this the Apostle witnesseth Heb. 13. 5. Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as ye have where you see contentedness is set as the direct contrary to covetousness But of this there needs no other proof then common experience for we see the covetous man never thinks he hath enough and therefore can never be content for no man can be said to be so that thirsts after any thing he hath not Now that you may see how excellent and necessary a virtue this is that secures us against covetousness it will not be amiss a little to consider the nature of that sin 5. That it is a very great crime is most certain for it is contrary to the very foundation of all good life I mean those three great Duties to God to our Selves to our Neighbour First It is so contrary to our Duty to God that Christ himself tells us Luke 16. 13. We cannot serve God and Mammon he that sets his heart upon wealth must necessarily take it off from God And this we daily see in the covetous mans practice he is so eager in the gaining of riches that he hath no time or care to perform duty to God let but a good bargain or opportunity of gain come in his way Prayer and all duties of Religion must be neglected to attend it Nay when the committing the greatest sin against God may be likely either to get or save him ought his love of wealth quickly perswades him to commit it 6. Secondly It is contrary to the Duty we owe our Selves and that both in respect of our Souls and Bodies The covetous man despises his Soul sells that to eternal destruction for a little pelf for so every man does that by any unlawful means seeks to enrich himself Nay though he do it not by unlawful means yet if he have once set his heart upon wealth he is that covetous person upon whom the Apostle hath pronounced That he shall not enter into the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6. 10. Nor doth he only offend against his Soul but his Body too For he often denies that those necessary refreshments it wants and for which his wealth as far as it concerns himself was given him This is so constantly the custome of rich Misers that I need not prove it to you 7. In the third place Covetousness is contrary to the duty we owe to our neighbours And that in both the parts of it Justice and Charity he that loves money immoderately will not care whom he cheats and defrauds so he may bring in gain to himself and from hence spring those many tricks of deceit and cousenage so common in the world As for Charity that is never to be hoped for from a covetous man who dreads the lessening of his own heaps more then the starving of his poor brother You see how great a sin this is that we may well say of it as the Apostle doth 1 Tim. 6. 10. The love of money is the root of all evil And it is not much less uneasie then wicked for between the care of getting and the fear of losing the covetous man enjoyes no quiet hour Therefore every man is deeply concerned as he tenders his happiness either in this world or the next to guard himself against this sin which he can no way do but by possessing his heart with this vertue of contentedness 8. In the fourth place it is contrary to envy for he that is content with his own condition hath no temptation to envy anothers How unchristian a sin this of envy is shall hereafter be shewed At the present I need say no more but that it is also a very uneasie one it frets and gnaws the very heart of him that harbors it But the worse this sin is the more excellent still is this grace of contentedness which frees us from it I suppose I have said enough to make you think this a very lovely and desirable Vertue And sure it were not impossible to be gain'd by any that would but observe these few directions 9. First To consider that whatever our estate and condition in any respect be it is that which is alotted us by God and therefore is certainly the best for us he being much better able to judge for us then we for our selves and therefore to be displeased at it is in effect to say we are wiser then he Secondly Consider thorowly the vanity of all worldly things how very little there is in them while we have them and how uncertain we are to keep them but above all in how little stead they will stand us at the day of death or judgement and then thou canst not think any of them much worth the desiring and so wilt not be discontented for want of them Thirdly Suffer not thy fancy to run on things thou hast not many have put themselves out of love with what they have only by thinking what they want He that sees his neighbour possess somewhat which himself hath not is apt to think how happy he should be if he were in that mans condition and in the mean time never thinks of enjoying his own which yet perhaps in many respects may be much happier then that of his neighbours which he so much admires For we look but upon the outside of other mens conditions and many a man that is envied by his neighbours as a wonderful happy person hath yet some secret trouble which makes him think much otherwise of himself Therefore never compare thy condition in any thing with those thou countest more prosperous then thy self but rather do it with those thou knowest more unhappy and then thou wilt finde cause
excess yet it is possible there may be one on the other hand men may deny their bodies that which they necessarily require to their support and well being This is I believe a fault not so common as the other yet we sometimes see some very niggardly persons that are guilty of it that cannot find in their hearts to borrow so much from their chests as may feed their bellies or cloth their backs and that are so intent upon the world so moiling and drudging in it that they cannot afford themselves that competent time of sleep or recreation that is necessary If any that hath read the former part of this Discourse be of this temper let him not comfort himself that he is not guilty of those excesses there complained of and therefore conclude himself a good Christian because he is not intemperate for whoever is this covetous creature his abstaining shall not be counted to him as the vertue of temperance for it is not the love of temperance but wealth that makes him refrain And that is so far from being praise-worthy that it is that great sin which the Apostle tells us 1 Tim. 6. 10. is the root of all evil such a mans body will one day rise in judgement against him for defrauding it of its due portion those moderate refreshments and comforts which God hath allowed it This is an Idolatry beyond that of offering the children to Moloch Lev. 20. 3. they offered but their children but this covetous wretch sacrifices himself to his god Mammon whilest he often destroys his health his life yea finally his Soul too to save his purse I have now done with the second head of duty that to our selves contained by the Apostle under the word soberly PARTITION X. Of DUTIES to our NEIGHBOURS Of JUSTICE Negative Positive Of the sin of MURTHER Of the Hainousness of it the Punishments of it and the strange Discoveries thereof Of Maiming wounds and stripes § 1. I Come now to the third part of Duties those to our Neighbour which is by the Apostle summed up in gross in the word righteousness by which is meant not onely bare justice but all kind of charity also for that is now by the law of Christ become a debt to our neighbor and it is a piece of unrighteousness to defraud him out of it I shall therefore build all the particular duties we ow to our neighbor on those two general ones Justice and Charity 2. I begin with JUSTICE whereof there are two parts the one Negative the other Positive the negative justice is to do no wrong or injury to any The positive justice is to do right to all that is to yield them whatsoever appertains or is due unto them I shall first speak of the negative justice the not injuring or wronging any Now because a man is capable of receiving wrong in several respects this first part of justice extends it self into several branches answerable to those capacities of injury A man may be injured either in his Soul his body his possessions or credit and therefore this duty of negative justice lays a restraint on us in every of these That we do no wrong to any man in respect either of his Soul his body his possessions or credit 3. First This JUSTICE tyes us to do no hurt to his Soul and here my first work must be to examine what harm it is that the soul can receive it is we know an invisible substance which we cannot reach with our eye much less with our swords and weapons yet for all that it is capable of being hurt and wounded and that even to death 4. Now the Soul may be considered either in a natural or spiritual sense in the natural it signifies that which we usually call the mind of a man and this we all know may be wounded with gries or sadness as Solomon saith Prov. 15. 13. By sorrow of heart the spirit is broken Therefore whoever does causlesly afflict or grieve his neighbour he transgresses this part of justice and hurts and wrongs his soul. This sort of injury malicious and spiteful men are very often guilty of they will do things by which themselves reap no good nay often much harm onely that they may vex and grieve another This is a most savage inhumane humour thus to take pleasure in the sadness and afflictions of others and whoever harbours it in his heart may truly be said to be possest with a Devil for it is the nature only of those accursed spirits to delight in the miseries of men and till that be cast out they are fit onely to dwell as the possest person did Mar 5. 2. Among graves and tombs where there are none capable of receiving affliction by them 5. But the Soul may be considered also in the spiritual sense and so it signifies that immortal part of us which must live eternally either in bliss or woe in another world And the Soul thus understood is capable of two sorts of harm First That of sin Secondly That of Punishment the latter whereof is certainly the consequent of the former and therefore though God be the inflicter of punishment yet since it is but the effect of sin we may justly reckon that he that draws a man to sin is likewise the betrayer of him to punishment as he that gives a man a mortal wound is the cause of his death therefore under the evil of sin both are contained so that I need speak onely of that 6. And sure there cannot be a higher sort of wrong then the bringing this great evil upon the Soul sin is the disease and wound of the Soul as being the direct contray to Grace which is the health and soundness of it Now this wound we give to every Soul whom we do by any means whatsoever draw into sin 7. The wayes of doing that are divers I shall mention some of them whereof though some are more direct then others yet all tend to the same end Of the more direct ones there is first the commanding of sin that is when a person that hath power over another shall require him to do something which is unlawful an example of this we have in Nebuchadnezzars commanding the worship of the golden Image Dan. 3. 4. and his copy is imitated by any parent or master who shall require of his childe or servant to do any unlawful act Secondly there is counselling of sin when men advise and perswade others to any wickedness Thus Jobs wife counselled her husband to curse God Job 27. And Achitophel advised Absolom to go into his Fathers concubines 2 Sam. 16. 21. Thirdly there is enticing and alluring to sin by setting before men the pleasures or profits they shall reap by it Of this sort of enticement Solomon gives warning Prov. 1. 10. My son if sinners entice thee consent thou not if they say Come with us let us lay wait for blood let us lurk
others as they do who will yeild nothing to be reason but what themselves speak nor any thing piety but what agrees with their own practice 25. Also we must not envy or grudge that they have those gifts for that is not only an injustice to them but injurious also to God who gave them as it is at large set forth in the parable of the labourers Mat. 20. where he asks them who grumbled at the masters bounty to others Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own is thine eye evil because mine is good This envying at Gods goodness to others is in effect a murmuring against God who thus disposes it neither can there be a greater and more direct opposition against him then for me to hate and wish ill to a man for no other reason but because God has loved and done well to him and then in respect of the man 't is the most unreasonable thing in the world to love him the less meerly because he has those good qualities for which I ought to love him more 26. Neither must we detract from the excellencies of others we must not seek to eclipse or darken them by denying either the kinds or degrees of them by that means to take off that esteem which is due to them This sin of detraction is generally the effect of the former of envy he that envies a mans worth will be apt to do all he can to lessen it in the opinions of others and to that purpose will either speak slightly of his excellencies or if they be so apparent that he knows not how to cloud them he will try if he can by reporting some either real or feigned infirmity of his take off from the value of the other and so by casting in some dead flies as the wise man speaks Eccles. 10. 1. Strive to corrupt the savour of the ointment this is a great injustice and directly contrary to that duty we owe of acknowledging and reverencing the gifts of God in our brethren 27. And both those sins of envy and detraction do usually prove as great follies as wickedness the envy constantly brings pain and torment to a mans self whereas if he could but cheerfully and gladly look on those good things of anothers he could never fail to be the better for them himself the very pleasure of seeing them would be some advantage to him but besides that those gifts of his brother may be many ways helpful to him his wisdom and learning may give him instruction his piety and vertue example c. but all this the envious man loseth and hath nothing in exchange for it but a continual fretting and gnawing of heart 28. And then for detraction that can hardly be so mannaged but it will be found out he that is still putting in Caveats against mens good thougâ—ts of others will quickly discover himself to do it out of envy and then that will be sure to lessen their esteem of himself but not of those he envies it being a sort of bearing testimony to those excellencies that he thinks them worth the envying 29. What hath been said of the value and respect due to those excellencies of the minde may in a lower degree be applyed to the outward advantages of honour greatness and the like These though they are not of equal value with the former and such for which no man is to prize himself yet in regard that these degrees and distinctions of men are by Gods wise providence disposed for the better ordering of the world there is such a civil respect due to those to whom God hath dispenc'd them as may best preserve that order for which they were intended Therefore all inferiours are to behave themselves to their superiours with modesty and respect and not by a rude boldness confound that order which it hath pleased God to set in the world but according as our Church-Catechism teaches order themselves lowly and reverently to all their betters And here the former caution against envy comes in most seasonably these outward advantages being things of which generally men have more taste then of the other and therefore will be more apt to envy and repine to see others exceed them therein to this therefore all the former considerations against envy will be very proper and the more necessary to be made use of by how much the temptation is in this case to most minds the greater 30. The second qualification is that of want whoever is in distress for any thing wherewith I can supply him that distress of his makes it a duty in me so to supply him and this in all kinds of wants Now the ground of its being a duty is that God hath given men abilities not only for their own use but for the advantage and benefit of others and therefore what is thus given for their use becomes a debt to them whenever their need requires it Thus he that is ignorant and wants knowledge is to be instructed by him that hath it and this is one special end why that knowledge is given him The tongue of the learned is given to speak a word in season Esay 50. 4. He that is in sadness and affliction is to be comforted by him that is himself in cheerfulness This we see Saint Paul makes it the end of Gods comforting him that he might be able to comfort them that are in any trouble 2 Cor. 1. 4. He that is in any course of sin and wants reprehension and counsel must have that want supplied to him by those who have such abilities and opportunities as may make it likely to do good That this is a justice we owe to our neighbour appears plainly by that text Levit. 19. 17 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart thou shalt in any wise reprove him and not suffer sin upon him where we are under the same obligation to reprove him that we are not to hate him He that lies under any slander or unjust defamation is to be defended and cleered by him that knows his innocence or else he makes himself guilty of the slander because he neglects to do that which may remove it and how great an injustice that of slandering our neighbour is I have already shewed 31. Lastly he that is in poverty and need must be relieved by him that is in plenty and he is bound to it not only in charity but even in justice Solomon calls it a due Prov. 3. 27. Withhold not good from him to whom it is due when it is in the power of thine hand to do it and what that good is he explains in the very next verse Say not to thy neighbour go and come again and to morrow I will give when thou hast it by thee It seems 't is the withholding a due so much as to defer giving to our poor neighbour And we finde God did among the Jews separate a certain
of Parents to look after and the neglect of it is a horrible cruelty We justly look upon those Parents as most unnatural wretches that take away the life of their childe but alas that is mercy and tenderness compared to this of neglecting his education for by that he ruines his Soul makes him miserable eternally and God knowes multitudes of such cruel Parents there are in the world that thus give up their children to be possest by the Devil for want of an early acquainting them with the wayes of God nay indeed how few there are that do conscionably perform this duty is too apparant by the strange rudeness and ignorance that is generally among youth the children of those who call themselves Christians being frequently as ignorant of God and Christ as the meerest Heathens But whoever they are that thus neglect this great duty let them know that it is not only a fearful misery they bring upon their poor children but also a horrible guilt upon themselves For as God sayes to the careless watchmen Ezek. 3. 18. That if any soul perish by his negligence that soul shall be required at his hands so surely will it fare with all Parents who have this office of watchmen intrusted to them by God over their own children A second part of education is the bringing them up to some imployment busying them in some honest exercise whereby they may avoid that great snare of the Devil Idleness and also be taught some useful Art or Trade whereby when they come to age they may become profitable to the Commonwealth and able to get an honest living to themselves 20. To this great duty of Educating of Children there is required as means first Encouragement secondly Correction Encouragement is first to be tryed we should endeavour to make children in love with duty by offering them rewards and invitations and when ever they do well take notice of it and encourage them to go on It is an ill course some parents hold who think they must never appear to their children but with a face of sowreness and austerity this seems to be that which S. Paul forewarns Parents of when he bids fathers not to provoke their children to wrath Col. 3. 21. To be as harsh and unkind to them when they do well as if they do ill is the way to provoke them and then the Apostle tels us in the same verse what will be the issue of it they will be discouraged they will have no heart to go on in any good course when the Parent affords them no countenance The second means is correction and this becomes seasonable when the former will do no good when all fair means perswasions and encouragements prevail not then there is a necessity of using sharper and let that be first tryed in words I mean not by railing and foul language but in sober yet sharp reproof but if that fail too then proceed to blowes and in this case as Solomon sayes He that spareth his rod hateth his son Prov. 13. 24. 'T is a cruel fondness that to spare a few stripes at present will adventure him to those sad mischiefs which commonly befal the childe that is left to himself But then this correction must be given in such a manner as may be likely to do good to which purpose it must first be given timely the child must not be suffered to run on in any ill till it have got a habit and a stubbornness too This is a great error in many Parents they will let their children alone for divers years to do what they list permit them to lie to steal without ever so much as rebuking them nay perhaps please themselves to see the witty shifts of the childe and think it matters not what they do while they are little But alas all that while the vice gets root and that many times so deep a one that all they can do afterwards whether by words or blowes can never pluck it up Secondly Correction must be moderate not exceeding the quality of the fault nor the tenderness of the childe Thirdly it must not be given in rage if it be it will not only be in danger of being immoderate but it will lose its effect upon the childe who will think he is corrected not because he has done a fault but because his Parent is angry and so will rather blame the Parent then himself whereas on the contrary care should be taken to make the childe as sensible of the fault as of the smart without which he will never be throughly amended 21. Thirdly after children are grown up and are past the age of education there are yet other offices for the Parent to perform to them the Parent is still to Watch over them in respect of their souls to observe how they practise those precepts which are given them in their education and accordingly to exhort incourage or reprove as they finde occasion 22. So also for their outward estate they are to put them into some course of living in the world if God have blest the Parents with wealth according to what he hath he must distribute to his children remembring that since he was the instrument of bringing them into the world he is according to his ability to provide for their comfortably living in it they are therefore to be look't on as very unnatural parents who so they may have enough to spend in their own riots and excess care not what becomes of their children never think of providing for them Another fault is usual among Parents in this business they defer all the provisions for them till themselves be dead heap up perhaps great matters for them against that time but in the mean time afford them not such a competency as may enable them to live in the world There are several mischiefs come from this First it lessens the childs affection to his parent nay sometimes it proceeds so far as to make him wish his death which though it be such a fault as no temptation can excuse in a childe yet 't is also a great fault in a Parent to give that temptation Secondly it puts the child upon shifts and tricks many times dishonest ones to supply his necessities this is I doubt not a common effect of it the hardness of Parents has often put men upon very unlawful courses which when they are once acquainted with perhaps they never leave though the first occasion cease and therefore Parents ought to beware how they run them upon those hazards Besides the Parents loses that contentment which he might have in seeing his children live prosperously and comfortably which none but an arrant Earth Worm would exchange for the vain imaginary pleasure of having money in his chest But in this business of providing for children there is yet another thing to be heeded and that is that the Parent get that wealth honestly which he makes their portion else 't is very far
of those sins which have provoked thy Judgements that thou also mayest turn and repent and leave a blessing behinde thee Bless those whom thou hast appointed our Governours whether in Church or State so rule their hearts and strengthen their hands that they may neither want will nor power to punish wickedness and vice and to maintain Gods true Religion and Vertue Have pity O Lord on all that are in affliction be a Father to the fatherless and plead the cause of the widow comfort the feeble minded support the weak heal the sick relieve the needy defend the oppressed and administer to every one according to their several necessities let thy blessings rest upon all that are near and dear to me and grant them whatsoever thou seest necessary either to their bodies or their Souls Here name thy neerest Relations Reward all those that have done me good and pardon all those that have done or wisht me evil and work in them and me all that good which may make us acceptable in thy sight through Jesus Christ. For PRESERVATION OMerciful God by whose bounty alone it is that I have this day added to my life I beseech thee so to guide me in it by thy grace that I may do nothing which may dishonour thee or wound my own soul but that I may deligently apply my self to do all such good works as thou hast prepared for me to walk in and Lord I beseech thee give thy Angels charge over me to keep me in all my wayes that no evil happen unto me nor any plague come nigh my dwelling but that I and mine may be safe under thy gracious protection through Jesus Christ. O Lord pardon the wandrings and coldness of these petitions and dâ—al with me not according either to my prayers or deserts but according to my needs and thine own rich mercies in Jesus Christ in whose blessed Name and Words I conclude these my imperfect Prayers saying Our Father c. DIRECTIONS for NIGHT. AT NIGHT when it draws towards the time of rest bethink thy self how thou hast passed the day examine thine own heart what sin either of Thought Word or Deed thou hast committed what opportunity of doing good thou hast omitted and what soever thou sindest to accuse thy self of confess humbly and penitently to God renew thy purposes and resolutions of amendment and beg his pardon in Christ and this not slightly and only as of course but with all devout earnestness and heartiness as thou wouldest do if thou were sure thy death were as near approaching as thy sleep which for ought thou knowest may be so indeed and therefore thou shouldest no more venture to sleep unreconciled to God then thou wouldest dare to die so In the next place consider what special and extraordinary mercies thou hast that day received as if thou hast had any great deliverance either in thy inward man from some dangerous temptations or in thy outward from any great and apparent danger and offer to God thy hearty and devout praise for the same or if nothing extraordinary have so happened and thou hast been kept even from the approach of danger thou hast not the less but the greater cause to magnifie God who hath by his protection so guarded thee that not so much as the fear of evil hath assaulted thee And therefore omit not to pay him the tribute of humble thankfulness as well for his usual and dayly preservations as his more extraordinary deliverances And above all endeavour still by the considerations of his mercies to have thy heart the more closely knit to him remembring that every favour received from him is a new engagement upon thee to love and obey him PRAYERS for NIGHT. O Holy blessed and glorious Trinity three persons and one God have mercy upon me a miserable sinner Lord I know not what to pray for as I ought O let thy Spirit help my infirmities and enable me to offer up a spiritual Sacrifice acceptable unto thee by Jesus Christ. A CONFESSION O MOST Holy Lord God who art of purer eyes then to behold iniquity how shall I abominable wretch dare to appear before thee who am nothing but pollution I am defiled in my very nature having a backwardness to all good and a readiness to all evil but I have defiled my self yet much worse by my own actual sins and wicked customes I have transgrest my duty to thee my neighbour and my self and that both in thought in word in deed by doing those things which thou hast expresly forbidden and by neglecting to do those things thou hast commanded me And this not only through ignorance and frailty but knowingly and wilfully against the motions of thy Spirit and the checks of my own conscience to the contrary And to make all these out of measure sinful I have gone on in a dayly course of repeating these provocations against thee notwithstanding all thy calls to and my own purposes and vows of amendment yea this very day I have not ceased to adde new sins to all my former guilts Here name the Particulars And now O Lord what shall I say or how shall I open my mouth seeing I have done these things I know that the wages of these sins is death but O thou who willest not the death of a sinner have mercy upon me work in me I beseech thee a sincere contrition and a perfect hatred of my sins and let me not dayly confess and yet as dayly renew them but grant O Lord that from this instant I may give a bill of Divorce to all my most beloved lusts and then be thou pleased to marry me to thy self in truth in righteousness and holiness And for all my past sins O Lord receive a reconciliation accept of that ransome thy blessed Son hath paid for me and for his sake whom thou hast set forth as a propitiation pardon all my offences and receive me to thy favour And when thou hast thus spoken peace to my soul Lord keep me that I turn not any more to folly but so establish me with thy grace that no temptation of the world the Divel or my own flesh may ever draw me to offend thee that being made free from sin and becoming a servant unto God I may have my fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord. A THANKSGIVING O Thou Father of Mercies who art kind even to the unthankful I acknowledge my self to have abundantly experimented that gracious propertie of thine for notwithstanding my dayly provocations against thee thou still heapest mercy and loving kindness upon me All my contempts and despisings of thy spiritual favours have not yet made thee withdraw them but in the riches of thy goodness and long suffering thou still continuest to me the offers of grace and life in thy Son And all my abuses of thy temporal blessings thou hast not punished with an utter deprivation of them but art still pleased to afford me
cares of this life taking thought what I shall eat or drink or wherewithal I shall be clothed but grant that having by honest labour and industry done my part I may cheerfully commit my self to thy providence casting all my care upon thee and being careful for nothing but to be of the number of those whom thou ownest and carest for even such as keep thy Testimonies and think upon thy Commandments to do them That seeking first thy Kingdom and the righteousness thereof all these outward things may be added unto me in such a measure as thy wisdom knowes best for me grant this O Lord for Jesus Christ his sake For THANKFULNES O Most Gracious and Bountiful Lord who fillest all things living with good and expectest no other return but praise and thanksgiving let me O Lord never defraud thee of that so easie tribute but let my heart be ever filled with the sense and my mouth with the acknowledgement of thy mercies It is a joyful and a pleasant thing to be thankful O suffer me not I beseech thee to loose my part in that Divine pleasure but grant that as I dayly receive blessings from thee so I may dayly from an affectionate and devout heart offer up thanks to thee and grant that not only my lips but my life may shew forth thy praise by consecrating my self to thy service and walking in Holiness and Righteousness before thee all the days of my life through Jesus Christ my Lord and blessed Saviour For CONTRITION O Holy Lord who art a merciful embracer of true penitents but yet a consuming fire towards obstinate sinners how shall I approach thee who have so many provoking sins to inflame thy wrath and so little sincere repentance to incline thy mercy O be thou pleased to soften and melt this hard obdurate heart of mine that I may heartily bewail the iniquities of my life strike this rock O Lord that the waters may flow out even floods of tears to wash my polluted conscience my drowzy Soul hath too long slept securely in sin Lord awake it though it be with thunder and let me rather â—â—â—â— thy terrors then not feel my sin Thou sentest thy blessed Son to heal the broken hearted but Lord what will that avail me if my heart be whole O break it that it may be capable of his healing virtue and grant I beseech thee that having once tasted the bitterness of sin I may flie from it as from the face of a Serpent and bring forth fruits of repentance in amendment of life to the praise and glory of thy grace in Jesus Christ our blessed Redeemer For MEEKNES O Blessed Jesu who wast led as a sheep to the slaughter let I beseech thee that admirable example of Meekness quench in me all sparks of anger and revenge and work in me such a gentleness and calmness of Spirit as no provocations may ever be able to disturb Lord grant I may be so far from offering the least injury that I may never return the greatest any otherwise then with prayers and kindness that I who have so many talents to be forgiven by thee may never exact pence of my brethren but that putting on bowels of mercy meekness long-suffering thy peace may rule in my heart and make it an acceptable habitation to thee who art the Prince of peace to whom with the Father and holy Spirit be all honour and glory for ever For CHASTITY O Holy and Immaculate Jesus whose first descent was into the Virgins womb and who dost still love to inhabit only in pure and virgin hearts I beseech thee send thy Spirit of purity to cleanse me from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit my body O Lord is the Temple of the Holy Ghost O let me never pollute that Temple with any uncleanness And because out of the heart proceed the things that defile the man Lord grant me to keep my heart with all diligence that no impure or foul thoughts be harboured there but enable me I beseech thee to keep both body and soul pure and undefiled that so I may glorifie thee here both in my body and spirit and be glorified in both with thee hereafter For TEMPERANCE O Gracious Lord who hast in thy bounty to mankind afforded us the use of thy good creatures for our corporal refreshment grant that I may always use this liberty with thankfulness and moderation O let me never be so enslaved to that brutish pleasure of taste that my Table become a snare to me but give me I beseech thee a perfect abhorrence of all degrees of excess and let me eat and drink only for those ends and according to those measures which thou hast assigned me for health and not for luxury And Lord grant that my pursuits may be not after the meat that perisheth but after that which endureth to everlasting life that hungring and thirsting after righteousness I may be filled with thy grace here and thy glory hereafter through Jesus Christ. For CONTENTEDNES O Merciful God thy wisdom is infinite to choose thy love forward to dispence good things to us O let me always fully and intirely resign my self to thy disposals have no desires of mine own but a perfect satisfaction in thy choices for me that so in whatsoever estate I am I may be therein content Lord grant I may never look with murmuring on my own condition nor with envy on other mens And to that end I beseech thee purge my heart of all covetous affections O let me never yield up any corner of my Soul to Mammon but give me such a contempt of these fading riches that whether they increase or decrease I may never set my heart upon them but that all my care may be to be rich towards God to lay up my treasure in heaven that I may so set my affections on things above that when Christ who is my life shall appear I may also appear with him in glory Grant this O Lord for the merits of the same Jesus Christ. For DILIGENCE O Lord who hast in thy wisdom ordained that man should be born to labour suffer me not to resist that design of thine by giving my self up to sloth and idleness but grant I may so imploy my time and all other talents thou hast intrusted me with that I may not fall under the sentence of the slothful and wicked servant Lord if it be thy will make me some way useful to others that I may not live an unprofitable part of mankind but however O Lord let me not be useless to my self but grant I may give all diligence to make my calling and election sure My soul is beset with many and vigilant adversaries O let me not fold my hands to sleep in the midst of so great dangers but watch and pray that I enter not into temptation enduring hardness as a good souldier of Jesus Christ till at the last from this state of warfare thou translate me to the
state of triumph and bliss in thy Kingdome through Jesus Christ. For JUSTICE O Thou King of righteousness who hast Commanded us to keep judgment and do Justice be pleased by thy grace to cleanse my heart and hands from all fraud and injustice and give me a perfect integrity and uprightness in all my dealings O make me ever abhor to use my power to oppress or my skill to deceive my brother and grant I may most strictly observe that sacred rule of doing as I would be done to that I may not dishonour my Christian profâ—ssion by an unjust or fraudulent life but in simplicity and godly sincerity have my conversation in this life never seeking to heap up treasures of wickedness but preferring a little with righteousness before great revenues without right Lord make me exactly careful to render to every man what by any sort of obligation becomes his due that I may never break the bond of any of those relations that thou hast placed me in but may so behave my self towards all that none may have any evil thing to say of me that so if it be possible I may have peace with all men or however I may by keeping innocency and taking heed to the thing that is right have peace at the last even peace with thee through Jesus Christ our Lord. For CHARITY O Merciful Lord who hast made of one blood and redeemed by one ransome all Nations of men let me never harden my bowels against any that partake of the same nature and redemption with me but grant me an universal charity towards all men Give me O thou father of compassions such a tenderness and meltingness of heart that I may be deeply affected with all the miseries and calamities outward or inward of my brethren and diligently imploy all my abilities for their succour and relief O let not an unchristian self love possess my heart but drive out that accursed spirit and let thy Spirit of love enter and dwell there and make me seek not to please my self but my neighbour for his good to edification even as Christ pleased not himself Lord make me a faithful steward of all those talents thou hast committed to me for the benefit of others that so when thou shalt call me to give an account of my stewardship I may do it with joy and not with grief Grant this merciful Lord I beseech thee for Jesus Christ his sake For PERSEVERANCE O Eternal and unchangeable Lord God who art the same yesterday and to day and for ever Be thou pleased to communicate some small Ray of that excellence some degree of that stability to me thy wretched creature who am light and unconstant turned about with every blast my understanding is very deceivable O establish it in thy truth keep it from the snares of seducing spirits that I may not be led away with the error of the wicked and fall from my own stedfastness my will also O Lord is irresolute and wavering and doth not cleave stedfastly unto God my goodness is but as the morning cloud and as the early dew it passeth away O strengthen and confirm me and whatever good work thou hast wrought in me be pleased to accomplish and perform it until the day of Christ. Lord thou seest my weakness and thou knowest the number and strength of those temptations I have to struggle with O leave me not to my self but cover thou my head in the day of battel and in all spiritual combates make me more then conquerour through him that loved me O let no terrors or slatteries either of the world or my own flesh ever draw me from my obedience to thee but grant that I may continue stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord by patient continuance in well doing seek at last obtain glory and honour and Immortality and eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. A Brief Paraphrase of the LORDS PRAYER To be used as a Prayer Our Father which art in Heaven O LORD who dwellest in the highest heavens thou art the Author of our being thou hast also begotten us again unto a lively hope and carriest towards us the tenderness and bowels of a compassionate father O make us to render to thee the love and obedience of children and that we may resemble thee our father in heaven that place of true delight and purity give us a holy disdain of all the deceitful pleasures and foul pollutions of this world and so raise up our minds that we may always have our conversation in heaven from whence we look for our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ. 1. Hallowed be thy Name STRIKE such an awe into our hearts that we may humbly reverence thee in thy Name which is great wonderful and holy and carry such a sacred respect to all things that relate to thee and thy worship as may express our reverence of thy great Majesty Let all the people praise thee O God let all the people praise thee 2. Thy Kingdome come Establish thy Throne and rule for ever in our souls and by the power of thy grace subdue all those rebellious corruptions that exalt themselves against thee they are those enemies of thine which would not that thou shouldst reign over them O let them be brought forth and slain before thee and make us such faithful subjects of this thy Kingdome of Grace that we may be capable of the Kingdom of Glory and then Lord Jesus come quickly 3. Thy will be done in earth c. ENABLE us by thy grace chearfully to suffer thy will in all thy inflictions and readily to perform it in all thy commands give us of that heavenly zeal to thy service wherewith the blessed Angels of thy presence are inspired that we may obey thee with the like fervor and alacrity and that following them in their obedience we may be joyned with them to sing eternal praises in thy Kingdom to God and to the Lamb for ever 4. Give us this day our dayly bread GIVE us that continual supply of thy grace which may sustain and nourish our souls unto eternal life And be thou pleased also to provide for our bodies all those things which thou seest fit for their support through this our earthly pilgrimage and make us cheerfully to rest on thee for them first seeking thy Kingdome and the righteousness thereof and then not doubting but all these things shall be added unto us 5. Forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive them c. HEAL our souls O Lord for we have sinned against thee let thy tender mercies abound towards us in the forgiveness of all our offences And grant O Lord that we may never forfeit this pardon of thine by denying ours to our brethren but give us those bowels of compassion to others which we stand in so much greater need of from thee that we may forgive as fully and finally upon Christs command as we desire to be forgiven for his merits
and famished Souls make my desires and gaspings after it answerable to my needs of it I have with the prodigal wasted that portion of grace thou bestowedst upon me and therefore do infinitely want a supply out of this treasury But O Lord how shall such a wretch as I dare to approach this holy Table I am a dog how shall I presume to take the childrens bread Or how shall this spiritual Manna this food of Angels be given to one who hath chosen to feed on husks with swine nay to one who hath already so often trampled these precious things under foot either carelesly neglecting or unworthily receiving these holy mysteries O Lord my horrible guiltiness makes me tremble to come and yet makes me not dare to keep away for where O Lord shall my polluted soul be washed if not in this fountain which thou hast opened for sin and for uncleanness Hither therefore I come and thou hast promised that him that cometh to thee thou wilt in no wise cast out This is O Lord the blood of the New Testament grant me so to receive it that it may be to me for remission of Sins And though I have so often and so wretchedly broken my part of that Covenant whereof this Sacrament is a seal yet be thou graciously pleased to make good thine to be merciful to my unrighteousness and to remember my sins and my iniquities no more and not only so but to put thy laws into my heart and to write them in my mind and by the power of thy grace dispose my soul to such a sincere and constant obedience that I may never again provoke thee Lord grant that in these holy mysteries I may not only commemorate but effectually receive my blessed Saviour and all the benefits of his Passion and to that end give me such a preparation of soul as may qualifie me for it give me a deep sense of my sins and unworthiness that being weary and heavy laden I may be capable of his refreshings and by being suppled in my own tears I may be the fitter to be washed in his blood raise up my dull and earthly mind from groveling here below and inspire it with a holy zeal that I may with spiritual affection approach this spiritual feast and let O Lord that infinite love of Christ in dying for so wretched a sinner inflame my frozen benummed soul and kindle in me that sacred fire of love to him and that so vehement that no waters may quench no floods drown it such as may burn up all my drosse not leave one unmortified lust in my soul and such as may also extend it selfe to all whom thou hast given me command and example to love even enemies as well as friends Finally O Lord I beseech thee to cloath me in the wedding garment and make me though of my self a most unworthy yet by thy mercy an acceptable guest at this holy Table that I may not eat and drink my own condemnation but may have my pardon sealed my weakness repaired my corruptions subdued and my soul so inseparably united to thee that no temptations may ever be able to dissolve the union but that being begun here in grace it may be consummated in glory Grant this O Lord for thy dear Sons sake Jesus Christ. ANOTHER O Blessed Jesus who once offeredst up thy self for me upon the Cross and now offerest thy self to me in the Sacrament let not I beseech thee my impenitence and unworthiness frustrate these so inestimable mercies to me but qualifie me by thy grace to receive the full benefit of them O Lord I have abundant need of thee but am so clog'd with guilt so holden with the cords of my sins that I am not able to move towards thee O loose me from this band wherewith Satan and my own lusts have bound me and draw me that I may run after thee Lord thou seest dayly how eagerly I pursue the paths that lead to death but when thou invitest me to life and glory I turn my back and forsake my own mercy How often hath this feast been prepared and I have with frivolous excuses absented my self or if I have come it hath been rather to defie then to adore thee I have brought such troops of thy professed enemies unrepented sins along with me as if I came not to commemorate but renew thy passion crucifying thee afresh and putting thee to open shame and now of what punishment shall I be thought worthy who have thus trampled under foot the Son of God and counted the blood of the Covenant an unholy thing Yet O merciful Jesu this blood is my only refuge O let this make my atonement or I perish eternally Wherefore didst thou shed it but to save sinners Neither can the merit of it be overwhelmed either by the greatness or number of sins I am a sinner a great one O let me find its saving efficacy Be merciful unto me O God be merciful to me for my soul trusteth in thee and in the clefts of thy wounds shall be my refuge untill thy fathers indignation be overpast O thou who hast as my high Priest sacrificed for me intercede for me also and plead thy meritorious sufferings on my behalf and suffer not O my Redeemer the price of thy blood to be utterly lost And grant O Lord that as the sins I have to be forgiven are many so I may love much Lord thou seest what faint what cold affections I have towards thee O warm and enliven them and as in this Sacrament that transcendant love of thine in dying for me is shed forth so I beseech thee let it convey such grace into me as may enable me to make some returns of love O let this divine fire descend from heaven into my â—oul and let my sins be the burnt offering for it to consume that there may not any corrupt affection any accursed thing be sheltered in my heart that I may never again defile that place which thou hast chosen for thy Temple Thou dyedst O dear Jesu to redeem me from all iniquity O let me not again sell my self to work wickedness but grant that I may approach thee at this time with most sincere and fixed resolutions of an entire reformation and let me receive such grace and strength from thee as may enable me faithfully to perform them Lord there are many old habituated diseases my soul groans under Here mention thy most prevailing corruptions And though I lye never so long at the Pool of Bethesda come never so often to thy Table yet unless thou be pleased to put forth thy healing virtue they will still remain uncured O thou blessed Physician of souls heal me and grant I may now so touch thee that every one of these loathsome issues may immediately stanch that these sicknesses may not be unto death but unto the glory of thy mercy in Pardoning to the glory of thy grace in Purifying so polluted a wretch O Christ
of my heart and my portion for ever I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is far better Lord I gâ—oan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with that house from heaven I desire to put off this my tabernacle O be pleased to receive me into everlasting habitations Bring my soul out of prison that I may give thanks unto thy name Lord I am here to wrestle not only with flesh and blood but with principalities and powers spiritual wickedness O take me from these tents of Kedar into the heavenly Jerusalem where Satan shall be utterly trodden under my feet I cannot here attend one minute to thy service without distraction O take me up â—o stand before thy Throne where I shall serve thee day and night I am here in heaviness through many tribulations O receive me into that place of rest where all tears shall be wiped from my eyes where there shall be no more death nor sorrow nor crying nor pain I am here in a state of banishment and absence from the Lord O take me where I shall for ever behold thy face and follow the Lamb whither soever he goeth I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness OBlessed Jesu who hast loved me and washed me from my sins in thine own blood receive my soul. Into thy hands I commend my Spirit for thou hast redeemed me O Lord thou God of truth Come Lord Jesu come quickly PRAYERS for their use who Mourn in secret for the PUBLICK CALAMITIES c. Psalm 74. O God wherefore art thou absent from us so long why is thy wrath so hot against the sheep of thy pasture c. Psal. 79. O God the Heathen are come into thine inheritance thy holy temple have they defiled and made Jerusalem an heap of stones c. Psal. 80. Hear O thou shepherd of Israel thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep shew thy self also thou that sittest upon the Cherubims c. A Prayer to be used in these times of Calamity O Lord God to whom vengeance belongeth I desire humbly to confess before thee both on my own behalf and that of this Nation that these many years of calamity we have groaned under are but the just yea mild returns of those many more years of our provocations against thee and that thy present which is but the due punishment of thy abused mercy O Lord thou hast formerly abounded to us in blessings above all people of the earth Thy candle shined upon our heads and we delighted our selves in thy great goodness peace was within our walls and plenteousness within our palaces there was no decay no leading into captivity and no complaining in our streets but we turned this grace into wantonness we abused our peace to security our plenty to riot and Luxury and made those good things which should have endeared our hearts to thee the occasions of estranging them from thee Nay O Lord thou gavest us yet more precious mercies thou wert pleased thy self to pitch thy Tabernacle with us to establish a pure and glorious Church among us and give us thy word to be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our paths but O Lord we have made no other use of that light then to conduct us to the chambers of death we have dealt proudly and not hearkened to thy comandments and by rebelling against the light have purchased to our selves so much the heavier portion in the outer darkness And now O Lord had the overflowings of thy vengeance been answerable to that of our sin we had long since been swept away with a swift destruction and there had been none of us alive at this day to implore thy mercy But thou art a gracious God slow to anger and hast proceeded with us with much patience and long-suffering thou hast sent thy judgements to awake us to repentance and hast also allowed us space for it But alas we have perverted this mercy of thine beyond all the former we return not to him that smiteth us neither do we seek the Lord we are slidden back by a perpetual backfliding no man repenteth him of his wickedness or â—aith what have I done 'T is true indeed we fear the rod we dread every suffering so that we are ready to buy it off with the foulest sin but we fear not him that hath appointed it but by a wretched obstinacy harden our necks against thee and refuse to return And now O God what balm is there in Gilead that can cure us who when thou wouldest heal us will not be healed we know thou hast pronounced that there is no peace to the wicked and how shall we then pray for peace that still retain our wickedness This this O Lord is our sorest disease O Give us Medicines to heal this sickness heal our souls and then we know thou canst soon heal our land Lord thou hast long spoken by thy word to our ears by thy judgments even to all our senses but unless thou speak by thy Spirit to our hearts all other calls will still be uneffectual O send out this voice and that a mighty voice such as may awake us out of this Lethargy thou that didst call Lazarus out of the grave O be pleased to call us who are dead yea putrified in trespasses and sins and make us to awake to righteousness And though O Lord our frequent resistances even of those inward calls have justly provoked thee to give us up to the lusts of our own heart yet O thou boundless ocean of mercy who art good not only beyond what we can deserve but what we can wish do not withdraw the influence of thy grace and take not thy holy spirit from us Thou wert found of those that sought thee not O let that act of mercy be repeated to us who are so desperately yet so insensibly sick that we cannot so much as look after the Physitian and by how much our case is the more dangerous so much the more sovereign remedies do thou apply Lord help us and consider not so much our unworthiness of thy aid as our irremediable ruine if we want it save Lord or we perish eternally To this end dispense to us in our temporal interest what thou seest may best secure our spiritual if a greater degree of outward misery will tend to the curing our inward Lord spare not thy rod but strike yet more sharply cast out this devil though with never so much foaming tearing But if thou seest that some return of mercy may be most likely to melt us O be pleased so far to condescend to our wretchedness as to afford us that and whether by thy sharper or thy gentler methods bring us home to thy self And then O Lord we know thy hand is not shortned that it cannot save when thou hast delivered us from our sins thou canst and wilt deliver
to mens Souls Bodies Goods c. THE second branch of Duty to our Neighbours is Charity or Love This is the great Gospel duty so often enjoyned us by Christ the New Commandement as himself calls it John 13 34. That ye love one another and this is again repeated twice in one Chapter John 15. 12. 17. and the first Epistle of S. John is almost wholly spent in the perswasion to this one duty by which we may see 't is no matter of indifference but most strictly required of all that professe Christ. Indeed himself has given it as the badg and livery of his Disciples John 13. 35. By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye have love one to another This Charity may be considered two wayes first in respect of the Affections secondly of the Actions Charity in the affections is a sincere kindness which disposes us to wish all good to others and that in all their capacities in the same manner that justice obliged us to wish no hurt to any man in respect either of his Soul his Body his Goods or his Credit so this first part of Charity bindes us to wish all good to them in all these And first for the Soul If we have any the least spark of Charity we cannot but wish all good to mens Soules Those precious things which Christ thought worth the ransoming with his own blood may surely well challenge our kindness and good wishes and therefore if we do not thus love one another we are far from obeying that Command of loving as he hath loved for 't was the Souls of men which he loved so tenderly and both did and suffered so much for Of this love of his to Souls there are two great and special effects the first the purifying them here by his grace the second the making them everlastingly happy in his glory and both these we are so far to copy out in our kindness as to be earnestly desirous that all men should arive to that purity and holinese here which may make them capable of eternall happiness hereafter It were to be hoped that none that himself carried a Soul about him could be so cruel to that of another mans as not sincerely to wish this did not experience shew us there are some persons whose malice is so divelish as to reach even to the direct contrary the wishing not only the sin but the damnation of others Thus may you have some who in any injury or oppression they suffer make it their only comfort that their enemies will damn themselves by it when alas that should to a Christian be much more terrible then any suffering they could bring upon him He that is of this temper is a disciple of Satans not of Christ it being directly contrary to the whole scope of that grand Christian precept of loving our neighbours as our selves For 't is sure no man that believes there is such a thing as damnation wishes it to himself be he never so fond of the wayes that lead to it yet he wishes that may not be his journeys end and therefore by that rule of Charity should as much dread it for his Neighbour Secondly We are to wish all good to the Bodies of men all health and welfare we are generally tender enough of our own bodies dread the least pain or ill that can befal them Now Charity by vertue of the forementioned precept extends this tenderness to all others and whatever we apprehend as grievous to our selves we must be unwilling should befal another The like is to be said of the other two goods and credit that as we wish our own thriving and reputation so we should likewise that of others or else we can never be said to love our neighbour as our selves This Charity of the affections if it be sincere will certainly have these several effects which are so inseparable from it that they are often in Scripture accounted as parts of the duty and so most strictly required of us First it will keep the mind in a peaceable and meek temper towards others so far from seeking occasions of contentions that no provocation shall draw us to it for where we have kindness we shall be unapt to quarrel it being one of the special qualities of Charity that it is not easily provoked 1 Cor. 13. 5. And therefore whoever is unpeaceble shewes his heart is destitute of this Charity Secondly it will breed compassion towards all the miseries of others every mis-hap that befalls where we wish well is a kinde of defeat and disaster to our selves and therefore if we wish well to all we shall be thus concerned in the calamities of all have a real grief and sorrow to see any in misery and that according to the proportion of the suffering Thirdly it will give us joy in the prosperities of others Solomon observes Prov. 13. 19. That the desire accomplished is sweet to the Soul and then whoever has this real desire of his neighbours welfare his deâ—ire is accomplished in their prosperity and therefore he cannot but have contentment and satisfaction in it Both these are together commanded by St. Paul Rom. 12. 12. Rejoyce with them that rejoyce weep with them that weep Fourthly it will excite and stir up our prayers for others We are of our selves impotent feeble creatures unable to bestow blessings where we most wish them therefore if we do indeed desire the good of others we must seek it on their behalf from him whence every good and perfect gift commeth Jam. 1. 17. This is so necessary a part of Charity that without it our kindness is but an unsignificant thing a kinde of empty complement For how can he be believed to wish well in earnest who will not thus put life and efficacy into his wishes by forming them into prayers which will otherwise be vain and fruitless The Apostle thought not fit to leave men to their bare wishes but exhorts that supplications prayers and giving of thanks be made for all men 1 Tim. 2. 1. which precept all that have this true charity of the heart will readily conform to These severals are so naturally the fruits of this Charity that it is a deceit for any man to perswade himself he hath it who cannot produce these fruits to evidence it by But there is yet a farther excellency of this grace it guards the mind and secures it from several great and dangerous vices as first from Envie This is by the Apostle taught us to be the property of Charity 1 Cor. 13. 4. Charity envieth not And indeed common reason may confirm this to us for Envie is a sorrow at the prosperity of another and therefore must needs be directly contrary to that desire of it which we shewed before was the effect of love so that if love bear sway in the heart 't will certainly chace out Envie How vainly then do those pretend to this
vertue that are still grudging and repining at every good hap of others Secondly It keeps down Pride and Haughtiness This is also taught us by the Apostle in the forementioned place Charity vaunteth not it self is not pusfed up and accordingly we finde that where this vertue of love is commanded there humility is joyned with it Thus it is Col. 3. 12 Put on therefore bowels of Mercies Kindness Humbleness of minde and Romans 12. 10. Be kindly affectioned one towards another with brotherly love in honour preserring one another where you see how close an attendant humility is of love Indeed it naturally flowes from it for love alwayes sets a price and value upon the thing beloved makes us esteem and prize it thus we too constantly finde it in selâ— love it makes us think highly of our selves that we are much more excellent then other men Now if love thus plac'd on our selves beget pride let us but divert the course and turn this love on our brethren and it will as surely beget humility for then we should see and value those gifts and excellencies of theirs which now our pride or our hatred makes us to overlook and neglect and not think it reasonable either to despise them or vaunt and magnifie our selves upon such a comparison we should certainly finde cause to put the Apostles exhortation in practice Phil. 2. 4. That we should esteem others better then our selves Whoever therefore is of so haughty a temper as to vilisie and disdain others may conclude he hath not this charity rooted in his heart Thirdly It casts out censoriousness and rash judging Charity as the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 13. 5. Thinketh no evil is not apt to entertain ill conceits of others but on the contrary as it followes ver 7. Believeth all things hopeth all things that is it is forward to believe and hope the best of all men and surely our own experience tells us the same for where we love we are usually unapt to discern faults be they never so gross witness the great blindness we generally have towards our own and therefore shall certainly not be likely to Create them where they are not or to aggravate them beyond their true size and degree And then to what shall we impute those unmerciful censures and rash judgements of others so frequent among men but to the want of this Charity Fourthly It casts out Dissembling and feigned kindness where this true and real love is that false and counterfeit one flyes from before it and this is the love we are commanded to have such as is without dissimulation Rom. 12. 9. Indeed where this is rooted in the heart there can be no possible use of dissimulation because this is in truth all that the false one would seem to be and so is as far beyond it as Nature is beyond Art nay indeed as a divine vertue is beyond a foul sin for such is that hypocritical kindness and yet t is to be feared that does too generally usurp the place of this real charity the effects of it are too visible among us there being nothing more common then to see men make large professions to those who as soon as their backs are turned they either deride or mischief Fifthly It casts out all mercinariness and self-seeking 't is of so noble and generous a temper that it despises all projectings for gain or advantage Love seeketh not her own 1 Cor. 13. 5. And therefore that huckstering kind of love so much used in the world which places it self only there where it may fetch in benefit is very far from this charity Lastly It turns out of the heart all malice and desire of Revenge which is so utterly contrary to it that it is impossible they should both dwell in the same breast 't is the property of love to bear all things 1 Cor. 13. 7. To endure the greatest injuries without thought of making any other return to them then prayers and blessings and therefore the malicious revengeful person is of all others the greatest stranger to this Charity 'T is true if this vertue were to be exercised but towards some sort of persons it might consist with malice to others it being possible for a man that bitterly hates one to love another but we are to take notice that this Charity must not be so confined but must extend and stretch it self to all men in the world particularly to Enemies or else it is not that divine charity commended to us by Christ. The loving of friends and benefactors is so low a pitch that the very Publicans and sinners the worst of men were able to attain to it Matth. 5. 46. And therefore 't is not counted rewardable in a Disciple of Christ No he expects we should soar higher and therefore hath set us this more spiritual and excellent precept of loving of enemies Matth. 5. 44. I say unto you love your enemies blesse them that curse you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you and whosoever does not thus will never be owned by him for a Disciple We are therefore to conclude that all which hath been said concerning this Charity of the Affections must be understood to belong as well to our spitefullest enemy as our most obliging friend But because this is a duty to which the froward nature of man is apt to object much 't will not be amiss to insist a little on some considerations which may inforce it on us And first consider what hath been already toucht on that it is the Command of Christ both in the Text above mentioned and multitudes of others there being scarce any precept so often repeated in the New Testament as this of loving and forgiving of our enemies Thus Ephes. 4. 32. Be ye kinde one to another tender hearted forgiving one another And again Col. 3. 13. Forbearing one another and forgiving one another if any man have a quarrel against any even as Christ forgave you so also do ye So also 1 Peter 3. 9. Not rendring evil for evil nor railing for railing but contrarywise Blessing A whole Volume of Texts might be brought to this purpose but these are certainly enough to convince any man that this is strictly required of us by Christ and indeed I think there are few that ever heard of the Gospel but know it is so The more prodigiously strange is it that men that call themselves Christians should give no degree of obedience to it nay not onely so but even publickly avow and profess the contrary as we daily see they do it being ordinary to have men resolve and declare that they will not forgive such or such a man no consideration of Christs command can at all move them from their purpose Certainly these men understand not what is meant by the very word Christian which signifies a servant and Disciple of Christ and this Charity is the very badg of the