by thy goodness and speedily led to Repentance We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. And may it please thee to give us that which is Repentance to Salvation a Godly sorrow working a thorough amendment of every evil Thought and Word and Work Good Lord we beseech thee to hear us That it may please thee to assist us in our Addresses to thy Holy Altar where we will again dedicate our selves intirely to thee and do thou verifie our Offering We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. Pity our Infirmities and prepare our Hearts for the reception of our dearest Saviour hearken to the good desires which thou thy self hast put into our Minds and grant that by thy help they may be brought to good effect thro' Jesus Christ our Lord Good Lord we beseech thee to hear us And thou Eternal Son of God we most humbly beseech thee to hear us O spotless Lamb of God that takest away the Sins of a wretched wicked World have Mercy upon us and now and ever grant us thy Peace we are thine O therefore save us for thy Mercies sake Lord have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us Lord have mercy upon us Our Father which art in Heaven hallowed be thy Name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven Give us this Day our daily Bread And forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive them that Trespass against us And lead us not into Temptation but deliver us from evil For thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen BOOKS newly Printed for and Sold by Richard Wellington at the Lute in St. Pauls Church-yard A Discourse of the Nature and Faculties of Man in several Essays with some Considerations of the Occurrences of Humane Life By Timothy Nourse Gent. price 4 Shillings A Treatise of Education especially of Young Gent. in 2 parts By Obadiah Walker D. D. the Sixth Edition much enlarged price 3 s. Reflections upon Ancient and Modern Learning the Second Edition with large Additions By William Wooton B. D. Chaplain to the Right Honourable the Earl of Nottingham price 6. s. A Brief and Easie Method to understand the Roman History with an exact Chronology of the Reigns of the Emperours an Account of the most Eminent Authors when they flourished and an Abridgment of the Roman Antiquities and Customs by way of Dialogue for the use of the Duke of Burgundy Translated from the French with large Additions By Mr. Tho. Brown Very proper to be read in Schools price 2 s. The whole Works of that Excellent Practical Physician Dr. Tho. Sydenham wherein not only the History of Acute Diseases are Treated of after a New and Acurate Method but also the shortest and safest way of Curing most Chronical Diseases Translated from the Original Latin By John Pechey of the College of Physicians Travels in and thro' Italy Describing the Libraries Monasteries Nunneries Temples and Palaces of Princes with an Account of their Habits Customs and Laws By Mr. Lassels Gent. The Second Edition enlarged price 5 s. The History of Polybius the Megalopolitan Containing an Account of the Transactions of the whole World but principally of the Roman People during the first and second Punick Wars in three Volumes Translated by Sir Henry Sheers and Mr. Dryden The third Volume never before Printed price 10 s. Sir Thomas Pope Blount's Essays upon several Important Subjects The third Edition enlarged To which is added a New Essay of Religion and an Alphebetical Index to the whole price 3 s. De Re Poetica Or Remarks upon Poetry with Characters and Censures of the most Considerable Poets whether Ancient or Modern By Sir Thomas Pope Blount price 5 s. A Natural History containing many not common Observations By Sir Thomas Pope Blount price 3 s. A short History of Monastical Orders in which the Primitive Institution of Monks their Temper Habits Rules and the Condition they are in at present are treated of by the Author of Frauds of the Monks The Art of Knowing ones Self or a Diligent search after the Springs of Morality price 2 s. 6 d. Lilly Improv'd Corrected and Explained with the Etymological part of the common Accidence By W. T. Master of a Boarding-School at Fulham above 22 years price 1 s. Five Love-Letters Written from a Nun to a Cavaleer with the Cavaleer's Answer Translated by Sir Roger L'Estrange price 1 s. 6 d. A Discourse of Plurality of Worlds Translated from the French price 1 s. 6 d. The Dialogues of the Dead in two parts Translated from the French The French Common-prayer in 12 s. or in large 8vo Mauger's French Grammar The Sixteenth Edition price 2 Shillings Where you may be Furnish'd with all sorts of Novels FINIS
it withdraws the Soul from Earth and mounts it up to Heaven Indeed it gives the Highest Relish to Religion and prepares the Mind for a due Reception of every thing that 's good The Pleasure it creates is so Refin'd and Spiritual that Flesh and Blood can't bear it long but faints and almost dies away as overcharg'd with Heavenly Delight In short where there is never so small a Spark 2 Tim. 1.6 either of Natural or Religious Fire this will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 awake and blow it up into a vigorous Flame And now 't is time to recommend to young Peoples greatest Care the cherishing and more and more increasing that Natural Disposition which they generally have to Devotion from the Consideration of the great Benefit and Pleasure that attends it To begin with the Latter And indeed True Devotion must needs be extremely Delightful because the chief Ingredient of it is Love T is a willing Dedication of ones self to God and a Warmth and Fervour in his Service as a Being above all others infinitely Lovely and both to our selves and all the Creation infinitely kind and good Now there is no Passion so pleasing and delightful to the Soul as Love It carries Pleasure in the very Notion of it and all Delight does necessarily suppose it And therefore Devotion and Pleasure are as Inseparable as Pleasure and Love Indeed by Accident Love may have some Mixture in it of Vneasiness as when 't is plac'd upon and Object empty and undeserving and which at length does therefore balk and disappoint the Soul or when the Object lov'd as yet can't be enjoy'd which gives a Dash of Perplexity and Fear But the Proper Act of Love is Complacency and which when God is the Object must needs be Vnallay'd and Pure When therefore a Man has so Lovely an Idea of God as entirely to Devote himself to him and finds that the closer he views him and the more he knows of him the more Beauties he still discovers and has his Devotion and Love still more and more encreas'd How will his Delight Proportionably grow with ' em How will he applaud his happy Choice and say with the Seraphick Psalmist One day in thy Court is better than a Thousand Especially when he reflects with what Tenderness and Endearment all his Addresses are receiv'd and repaid with the most Affectionate Returns No forbidding State and Pride no unreasonable Reserves nothing that will damp and chill the Votary's Affection but all the Sweetness and winning Charms that are apt to encourage and invite and then to crown the highest Pitch of Love So that Devotion is Love Triumphant 't is both Desire and Fruition Desire that is sure of Success and Fruition that fully satisfies but never cloys And were the Object is so infinitely lovely the Love so entire so pure so reciprocal and the Enjoyment so compleat How truly Heavenly must the Pleasure be For what are the Felicities of that Glorious Place but the Result of Devotion and Love So true is that of Holy David Delight thy self in the Lord and he shall give thee the Desires of thine Heart Ps 37.4 But Secondly the Benefit of a Devout Temper of Mind is as great as the Pleasure of it and that First Because 't is so delightful No doubt but whatever will fix and root Religion in the Soul and make a Christian stedfast and unmoveable in it always abounding in the Work of our Lord ought to be esteem'd as highly Beneficial but now nothing more certain to do that than the Pleasure and Satisfaction we receive from it when we find by our own happy Experience at present that our Pious Labours are not in vain and are assur'd that the delight we now have in Religion tho' it be very great is but as the First Fruits of the full Plenteous Harvest of Happiness which we shall reap from it to all Etenity in the Kingdom of God Devotion therefore making Religion so delightful will make it lasting too and when its Pleasures have been so fully tasted by us that the divine Relish of them is quick and lively upon our Spirits all Attempts to remove us from it will be as ineffectual as the Dashes of a Wave against a Rock But further This devout Temper of Mind is highly Beneficial to us because 't is the Living Fountain under God of every good Thought and Word and Work It warms the Heart with Seraphick Affections sends up Heavenly Breathings and Aspirations to God and fills the Mouth with Halleluja's It furnishes the Closet and the Church with Prayer and Praise and joins us to the Angelick Choir above 'T is this supplies the Penitent with Groans that can't be utter'd with Holy Sighs and Tears and lays him prostrate in the Dust and then raises him up to New and Heavenly Life This 't is enkindles Zeal for the Glory of our Beloved and engages our best Endeavours to promote the Interest of his Kingdom In fine this is the Life and Spirit of Religion and derives it self from no less Principle than the Spirit of God He is the great First Mover and this his Powerful Instrument So that the Devout Person is truly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rightly prepared and dispos'd to Eternal Life and has the Seed of God abiding in him that blessed Principle of Spiritual Growth and Improvement which will in due time exert it self till he comes to the measure of the Stature of the fulness of Christ and is throughly furnish'd and instructed to every Good Work Nothing therefore is of greater Consequence to all People but more especially to those who are beginning their Christian Course than by forming in their Minds true Apprehensions of God and Religion and a frequent Retreat from the World spent in Meditation and Prayer and Conversation with Books of Piety and Practical Religion to preserve and encrease such a truly Devotional Temper of Mind as will make 'em pursue with Life and Spirit the great Business of their Salvation The Fifth Advice BUT lest Warmth of Temper alone should be taken for Piety and Devotion as it too often is and Religion by this means degenerate into Hypocrisie and outward Shew and become Wordly and Designing or at best humoursome and uncertain 't is highly needful to advise Young Persons carefully to take heed of Insincerity That their Affection to Religion be True and Hearty fix'd and deep Rooted in their very Souls and not made up of sudden Flashes of Passion and a few Fits of natural Enthusiasm which are often made use of to the worst of Purposes And first in General let them confider That whoever is Religious indeed his Aim and Design in the Practice of Religion is sincerely the same with that of our Lord in Teaching it which was no other than to Advance God's Honour in the present and eternal Happiness of Mankind By making them Holier and Better to render their Lives easy and comfortable while upon Earth and capacitate
but be so since 't is order'd by him who is infinitely Wise and Good and withall so Powerful that no Affliction can be too great for him to remove when his Wisdom and his Goodness see it fit to do so Infinite Wisdom knows best when and Infinite Goodness will not suffer it to last a Moment longer and Infinite Power can remove it with a Word Again as is evident at the first Glance excessive Trouble is very unbecoming a Christian because 't is utterly inconsistent with Patience which is that Temper of Mind whereby a Christian calmly and quietly bears all Pressures however heavy and afflicting with entire Submission to the Divine Will as being assur'd that God's great Design tho' by various Methods is to make us compleatly happy He that thus evenly behaves himself under the Discipline of Providence and will not be tempted to think ill of God or Desert his Service tho' he smarts under his Corrections nor take Ill Courses to remove his Trouble this is the Patient Christian And the more he may be sensible of Affliction in other respects the greater is his Patience if he thus calmly and quietly submits Very remarkable are our Saviour's Words to his Apostles when he foretold them what they should suffer for his sake and such as bespeak this quiet submissive Temper to be the Great Security of all our other Duty Luk. 21.19 Possess ye your Souls in Patience As if without it ev'n a Man's Soul all the Powers of it not only his Will and Affections but his very Vnderstanding could not be his own but perfectly at the Command of any other who could lay more Troubles on him than he had Patience to bear And therefore the Scripture frequently joins Faith and Patience together Heb. 6.12 10.36 as each others Mutual Support And indeed in a World so thick set with Troubles and Vexations Eccl. 2.15 Woe be to him as the Wise Man says that has lost Patience and what will he do when the Lord shall visit him That is when God shall lay any great Calamity upon him how will he do to bear it who can bear nothing with any tolerable Temper not so much as common Crosses and Disappointments Another great Duty of our Holy Religion is Contempt of the World or at least such an Indifference to it as that we may hang loose from things below and employ our chief Care and Endeavour to make sure of our Glorious Reversion above 〈◊〉 19.26 Lay not up for your selves Treasures upon Earth says our Lord but in Heaven for where your Treasure is there will your Hearts be also What shall we think then of their Religion who are so inseparably fastned to the World in their Affections as not to be able to bear any of its Frowns without an excessive Concern as if their whole Happiness was torn from them and nothing worth their Notice left to hope for or expect What we lightly esteem we can easily part with and live contentedly without especially if what we value most of all be secure and safe If therefore we had Religion enough to fix our Hearts there where our Heavenly Treasure is and set a due Estimate upon it and believed it as certain to the Sincerely Good as it is Glorious and Everlasting and look'd upon the World as empty in Comparison and of no Esteem we should with much less Regrett part with the Enjoyments of it than we do and bear its Troubles with more Sedateness and Evenness of Temper I don't say with no Concern at all for that 's Impossible and during our Abode in the state of Mortality there are many things so necessary to our Support and Comfort in it that as we may and ought to Pray for 'em and be thankful when we receive 'em so may we in Due Degree desire to keep them and be Loath to part with 'em and when they 're gone resent their Loss But then all this must be Temper'd with so prevailing a Mixture of Heavenly-mindedness as may soon make us lose our Resentment of any Worldly Crosses in the cheering Thoughts of what a Glorious Reversion we have in the Kingdom of God This is the True Noble Spirit of Christianity which makes a Man so much Above these little things of Earth as to permit no more than a Transient Uneasiness to affect him at the â—â—ss of any of them reflecting presently upon there Immense Treasures of Eternal Happiness which are Reserv'd in Heaven for Him and which his Comparatively Light Afflictions Here do only serve to raise his Value of and increase his Desire of enjoying Nothing more demonstrates the Strength and Power of Religion than this nor does any thing more betray the Weakness and Infirmity of it than the contrary In the Last Place Immoderate Trouble removes a Man to a vast distance from the Temper and Example of Jesus our Blessed Saviour For if we enquire how he behav'd himself under those almost continual Troubles which he met with we shall find no Turbulency of Passion no Murmurings and Repinings but a quiet Resignation of Soul a Calm Sedateness of Demeanour an entire Trust in God and an Admirable Charity to the worst of his Enemies This the Story of his whole Life will Witness and when his Days grew near their End with what incomparable Patience and Submission to the Divine Will did he receive the bitter Cup of his approaching Sufferings Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me there are express'd the feeling Resentments of relucting Nature Nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt there is his entire Acquiescence in God's Will concerning him And when he Actually Sufferd what was so Dreadful to him in the Expectation with what Meeâ—â—s and Silence and Wondrous Deâ—ency and Presence of Mind did he demean himself and that under the sharpest Afflictions both of Body and Soul And when in the midst of his Agonies upon the Cross he was Barbarously Insulted by the Meâ—ciless Spectators all they could Provoke him to utter was this strangely Good Prayer Father forgive them they know not what they do This is our Lord's Example in this matter and which in some measure at least he expects that we should Imitate and 't is a great part of our Religion to do so But now if we 're so far from this as to Indulge that Passion to Excess which our Lord's Practice as well as Precept engages us to keep under and Controul if we lose all Patience when we 're afflicted tho' our Lord when he was so was a Perfect Lamb if we can bear nothing when our great Master with admirable Temper did bear so much and that too for our sakes and in our stead If Christ and Christians are so very much unlike in this Respect what is their Religion Such Considerations as these if we go no further will let us see both how unreasonable and unchristian a thing it is to suffer Trouble to proceed without
'em for the Happiness of Heaven when this short Life shall end Thus the Apostle 2 Tit. 11. c. The Grace of God that bringeth Salvation to all Men hath appear'd teaching us that denying Vngodliness and Worldly Lusts we should live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World Looking for that Blessed Hope and the Glorious Appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purify unto himself a Peculiar People zealous of good Works For this purpose then our Holy Religion was taught us by the Son of God and True Religion no doubt will effectually bring to pass that for which it was design'd And he that is Religious indeed is therefore so that the design'd Effect may throughly be wrought upon him in full perswasion that unless it is so his Pretences to Christianity however warm and forward they may be will signify nothing and he must never expect to be really Happy here or to give a good Account of himself at the day of Judgment And consequently his great Care is to be Master of the Power and Substance of Religion without which the Form of it tho' manag'd with never so much Decency and Constancy and seeming Zeal and Earnestness is really but a Piece of Mimickry a Holy Stage-play an excellent Part Acted by an Ill Man in Masquerade Which tho' perform'd never so much to the Life is still without Reality and therefore indeed puts an Abuse upon Religion and robs God of his Honour defeats all his Gracious Intentions for our Happiness and will be very Tragical in the Conclusion This in General But more particularly in the first Place Let young People have a care of putting on Religion either as a thing of Custom only an Ornamental Dress to recommend them to the Good Esteem of the World and get them Reputation or to bring on Business and Preferment or which is still worse as a Cover to vile Practices which must be disguis'd before they can be put in excution If only the first of these be a Man's End in his Religion Math. 6.2 our Saviour assure us He has his reward a few empty Commendations will be all his Recompence But what a strange Religion is he of who values the Praise of Men more than the Applauses of his own Conscience and the Praise of God! Our Lord's Directions are quite otherwise Thou says he to every one of his Disciples shalt not be as the Hypocrites are whose Character we have Matthew 6. Take heed let Secresie and Sincerity be mingled with all thy Religious Performances which is the Sum of what is there diliver'd in this matter and then Thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly But if he further designs it as an Instrument of Wordly Gain and Advancement or a Disguise for those Ill Methods which he intends to take in order to them this is rank Hipocrisie indeed And not only the Pharisees of Old but very many since have ruin'd Kingdoms as well as private Persons by Prayer and Fasting and the Semblance of an extraordinary Devotion In short he whose Religion is not at least as great in secret in his Closet and his Bed when only God can see it as 't is in Publick when in the Eye of Men ought to look upon himself as a Diessmbler in it especially if Gain he his Godliness and Religion only made use of as a Hook to draw it to him Secondly Let the employing our Zeal about the Circumstantials of Religion only be carefully avoided whether in observing or not observing 'em is all one as was touched before when we neglect and it may be violate the Greatest Duties of it For can any Man be so weak as to believe that the observing or not observing such and such Modes of Worship can cleanse the Soul and make it like to God and fit for Heaven They serve indeed for Decency and Order when used with Judgment and Moderation and ought not to be slighted and neglected when enjoyn'd by Lawful Authority but 't is those Duties that will renew us in the Spirit of our Mind and work our Souls into a Divine Frame and Temper which should be a Christian's chief Care to practise in Sincerity of Heart Was it not Gross Hypocrisie in the Pharisees to be more careful and diligent in Titheing Mint and Cummin and Annise in their Washings and Fastings and Attendance at the Publick Offices in the Temple and the like than in performing the weightest matters of the Law Justice Mercy and Fidelity nay indeed to Act quite contrary to them Would not the cleansing themselves from Extortion and Excess have been a much more becoming Employment for them than to be always taken up with washing their Hands and their Garments and Scouring the Cup and the Platter These things ought ye to have done says our Lord and not to have left the other undone Let us beware therefore of Depending too much upon our being of this or that Party for or against such and such Ceremonies going so often to Prayers hearing so many Sermons and the like For 't is not this that will stand us in any stead unless we follow the Example of the Holy Jesus walk as he walkâ— and adorn our Souls with the Graces of his most excellent Religion And if we still are Envious and Malicious Furious and Revengeful Intemperate and Unchaste Unjust and Uncharitable and the like and find our selves very little careful to mortify these vile Affections spending our Zeal and Warmth upon things of infinitely less Consequence it must be concluded that we are not yet Christians in Sincerity Our best Performances at this rate are but as a Sacrifice without a Heart which was always esteem'd as one of the worst of Omens and an Argument of God's great Displeasure Thirdly 'T is a very Ill sign when People pick and choose the Instances of their Obedience to the Christian Law and make a great Shew of and Stir about some Particular Duties which are agreeable to their Natural Temper and which they have no Temptation or it may be Ability to Transgress and all the while Indulge themselves in the Sins they Love and Delight in tho' never so expresly forbidden in the Gospel As if for Instance Because a Man's Constitution inclines him to be Temperate and Chaste he should therefore place the greatest Part of his Religion in Chastity and Temperance and in the mean time allow himself to be Censorious Malicious Covetous Unjust or the like or on the Contrary because he is honest and good natur'd tho' he Whores and Drinks and lives like a Brute yet shall imagine he may fare well enough because he has no Gall in him wishes no body any Harm and is no ones Enemy but his own But this is a Religion of every Man 's own making not that which our Saviour taught the World 't is as various as Mens Tempers and at