all thy former labours and fears and watchings and agonies will be reckoned for nothing but as arguments to upbraid thy folly who when thou hadst set one foot in Heaven didst pull that back and carry both to Hell Motives to Repentance I shall use no other arguments to move a sinner to repentance but to tell him unless he does he shall certainly perish and if he does repent timely and intirely that is live a holy life he shall be forgiven and be saved But yet I desire that this consideration be enlarged with some great circumstances and let us remember 1. That to admit mankind to repentance and pardon was a favour greater then ever God gave to the angels and devils for they were never admitted to the condition of second thoughts Christ never groaned one groan for them He never suffered one stripe nor one affront nor shed one drop of blood to restore them to hopes of blessedness after their first failings But this he did for us he paid the score of our sins only that we might be admitted to repent and that this repentance might be effectuall to the great purposes of felicity and salvation 2. Consider that as it cost Christ many milions of prayers and groans and sighs so he is now at this instant and hath been for these 1600 years night day incessantly praying for grace to us that we may repent and for pardon when we doe and for degrees of pardon beyond the capacities of our infirmities and the merit of our sorrows amendment and this prayer he will continue till his second coming Hebr. 7.25 for he ever liveth to make intercession for us and that we may know what it is in behalf of which he intercedes 2 Cor. 5.20 S. Paul tels us his designe we are Embassadours for Christ as though he did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead to be reconciled to God what Christ prayes us to do he prayes to God that we may do that which he desires of us as his servants he desires of God who is the fountain of the grace and powers unto us and without whose assistance we can do nothing 3. That ever we should repent was so costly a purchase and so great a concernment so high a favour the event is esteemed by God himself so great an excellency that our blessed Saviour tels us there shall be joy in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth Luk. 15.7 meaning that when Christ shall be glorified and at the right hand of his Father make intercession for us praying for our repentance the conversion and repentance of every sinner is part of Christs glorification it is the answering of his prayers it is a portion of his reward in which he does essentially glory by the joyes of his glorified humanity This is the joy of our Lord himself directly not of the Angels save only by reflexion The joy said our blessed Saviour shall be in the presence of the Angels they shall see the glory of the Lord the answering of his prayers the satisfaction of his desires and the reward of his sufferings in the repentance and consequent pardon of a sinner For therefore he once suffered and for that reason he rejoyces for ever and therefore when a penitent sinner comes to receive the effect and full consummation of his pardon it is called an entring into the joy of our Lord that is a partaking of that joy which Christ received at our conversion and enjoyned ever since 4. Adde to this that the rewards of Heaven are so great and glorious Christs burden is so light his yoke is so easie that it is a shameless impudence to expect so great glories at a less rate then so little a service at a lower rate then a holy life It cost the heart-blood of the Son of God to obtain Heaven for us upon that condition and who shall dye again to get Heaven for us upon easier terms what would you do if God should command you to kill your eldest son or to work in the mines for a thousand years together or to fast all thy life time with bread water were not Heaven a very great bargain even after all this And when God requires nothing of us but to live soberly justly and godly which things in themselves are to a man a very great felicity and necessary to our present well being shall we think this to be an intolerable burden and that Heaven is too litle a purchase aâ— that price and that God in meer justice will take a death-bed sigh or groan and a few unprofitable teares and promises in exchange for all our duty If these motives joyned together with our own interest even as much as felicity and the sight of God the avoyding the intolerable pains of Hell and many intermedial judgements comes to will not move us to â—o 〈◊〉 1. The filthinesse and 2. The trouble and 3. The uneasiness and 4. The unreasonableness of sin and turn to God there is no more to be said we must perish in our folly SECT X. Of Preparation to and the manner how to receive the holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper THe celebration of the holy Sacrament is the great mysteriousness of the Christian religion and succeeds to the most solemn rite of naturall and Judaicall religion the Law of sacrificing For God spared mankinde and took the sacrifice of beasts together with our solemn prayers for an instrument of expiation But these could not purifie the soul from sin but were typical of the sacrifice of something that could But nothing could do this but either the offering of all that sinned that every man should be the anathema or devoted thing or else by some one of the same capacity who by some super added excellency might in his own personal sufferings have a value great enough to satisfie for all the whole kinde of sinning persons This the Son of God JESUS CHRIST God and man undertook and finished by a Sacrifice of himself upon the Altar of the Cross. 2. This Sacrifice because it was perfect could be but one and that once but because the needs of the world should last as long as the world it self it was necessary that there should be a perpetuall ministery established whereby this one sufficient sacrifice should 〈◊〉 eternally effectuall to the severall new arising needs of all the world who should desire it or in any sense be capable of it 3. To this end Christ was made a Priest for ever he was initiated or consecrated on the cross and there began his Priesthood which was to last till his coming to judgment It began on earth but was to last and be officiated in Heaven where he sits perpetually representing and exhibiting to the Father that great effective sacrifice which he offered on the cross to eternall and never failing purposes 4. As Christ is pleased to represent to his Father that great Sacrifice as a means
in mind and will to dye for the testimony of Jesus and to suffer any affliction or calamity that shall offer to hinder my duty or tempt me to shame or sin or apostasie and let my faith be the parent of a good life a strong shield to repell the fiery darts of the Devil and the Author of a holy hope of modest desires of confidence in God and of a never failing charity to thee my God and to all the world that I may never have my portion with the unbelievers or uncharitable and desperate persons but may be supported by the strengths of faith in all temptations and may be refreshed with the comforts of a holy hope in all my sorrows and may bear the burden of the Lord and the infirmities of my neighbour by the support of charity that the yoak of Jesus may become easie to me and my love may do all the miracles of grace till from grace it swell to glory from earth to heaven from duty to reward from the imperfections of a beginning and little growing love it may arrive to the consummation of an enternall never ceasing charity through Jesus Christ the Son of thy love the Anchor of our hope and the Author and finisher of our faith to whom with thee O Lord God Father of Heaven and Earth and with thy holy Spirit be all glory and love and obedience and dominion now and for ever Amen Acts of love by way of prayer and ejaculation to be used in private O God thou art my God eaâ—ly will I seek thee my soul tâ—iâ—steâ—h for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is to see thy power and thy glory so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary because thy loving kindness is better then life my lips shall praise thee Psal. 63. I am ready not only to be bound but to dye for the name of the Lord Jesus Acts. 23. How amiable are thy tabernacles thou Lord of Hosts my soul longeth yea even fainteth for the courts of the Lord my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God Blessed are they that dwell in thy house they will still be praising thee Psal. 84. O blessed Jesu thou art worthy of all adoration and all honour and all love Thou art the Wonderfull the Counsellor the mighty God the Everlasting Father the Prince of peace of thy goverment and peace there shall be no end thou art the brightness of thy Fathers glory the express image of his person the appointed Heir of all things Thou upholdest all things by the word of thy power Thou didst by thy self purg our sins Thou art set on the right hand of the Majesty on high Thou art made better then the Angels thou hast by inheritance obtained a more excellent name then they Thou O dearest Jesus art the head of the Church the beginning and the first-born from the 〈◊〉 in all things thou hast the preheminence and it pleased the Father that in thee should all fulness dwell Kingdomes are in love with thee Kings lay their Crowns and Scepters at thy feet and Queens are thy handmaids and wash the feet of thy servants A Prayer to be said in any affliction as death of children of husband or wife in great poverty in imprisonment in a sad and disconsolate spirit and in temptations to despair O Eternall God Father of Mercies and God of all comfort with much mercy look upon the sadnesses and sorrows of thy servant My sins lye heavy upon me and press me sore and there is no health in my bones by reason of thy displeasure and my sin The waters are gone over me and I stick fast in the deep mire and my miseries are without comfort because they are punishments of my sin and I am so evill and unworthy a person that though I have great desires yet I have no dispositions or worthiness towards receiving comfort My sins have caused my sorrow and my sorrow does not cure my sins and unless for thy own sake and meerly because thou art good thou shalt pity me and relieve me I am as much without remedy as now I am without comfort Lord pity me Lord let thy grace refresh my spirit Let thy comforts support me thy mercy pardon me and never let my portion be amongst hopeless and accursed spirits for thou art good and gracious and I throw my self upon thy mercy Let me never let my hold go and do thou with me what seems good in thy own eyes I cannot suffer more then I have deserved and yet I can need no relief so great as thy mercy is for thou art infinitely more mercifull then I can be miserable and thy mercy which is above all thy own works must needs be far above all my sin and al my misery Dearest Jesus let me trust in thee for ever and let me never be confounded Amen Ejaculations and â—ort meditations to be used in time of sickness and sorrow or danger of Death HEar my Prayer O Lord and let my crying come unto thee * Hide not thy face from me in the time of my trouble incline thine ear unto me when I call O â—eâ—r me that right soon For my dayes are consumed like smoak and my bones are burnt up as it were a fire brand My heart is smitten down and withered like grass so that I forget to eat my bread and that because of tâ—ine indignation and wrath for thou hast taken me up and cast me down * Thine arrows stick fast in me and thy hand presseth me sore There is â—o health in my flesh because of thy displeasure neither is there any rest in my bonâ—s by reason of my sin * My wicked esses are gone over my head and are a sore burden too heavy for me to bear But I will confess my wickedness and be sorry for my sin O Lord rebuke me not in thy indignation neither chasten me in thy displeasure Lord be mercifull unto me heal my soul for I have sinned against thee Have mercy upon me O God after thy great goodness according to the multitude of thy mercies do away mine offences O remember not the sins and offences of my youth but according to thy mercy think thou upon me O Lord for thy goodness * Wash me thoroughly from my wickedness and cleanse me from my sin * Make me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me * Cast me not away from thy presence from thy all-hallowing and life-giving presence and take not thy holy Spirit thy sanctifying thy guiding thy comforting thy supporting and confirming Spirit from me O God thou art my God for ever and ever thou shalt be my guide unto death * Lord comfort me now that I lye sick upon my bed make thou my bed in all my sickness * O deliver my soul from the place of Hell and do thou receive me * My heart is disquieted within me and the fear of death is
mouth with praises that my duty and returns to thee may be great as my needs of mercy are and let thy gracious favours and loving kindness endure for ever and ever upon thy servant and grant that what thou hast sown in mercy may spring up in duty and let thy grace so strengthen my purposes that I may sin no more lest thy threatning return upon me in anger and thy anger break me into pieces but let me walk in the light of thy favour and in the paths of thy Commandments that I living here to the glory of thy name may at last enter into the glory of my Lord to spend a whole eternity in giving praise to thy exalted and ever glorious name Amen We praise thee O God we knowledge thee to be the Lord. All the earth doth worship thee the Father Everlasting To thee all Angels cry aloud the heauens all the powers therein To thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabaoth Heaven and Earth are full of the Majesty of thy glory * Thâ— glorious company of the Apostles praise thee * The goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise thee * The noble army of Martyrs praise thee * The holy Church throughout all the world doth knowledg thee * The Father of an infinite Majesty * Thy honourable true and only Son * Also the Holy Ghost the Comforter * Thou art the King of glory O Christ. * Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father * When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man thou didst not abhor the Virgins womb * Wheâ— thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers * Thou sittest at the right hand of God in the glory of the Father * We believe that thou shalt come to be our Judge * We therefore pray thee help thy servants whom thou hast redeem'd with thy precious blood * Make them to be number'd with thy Saints in glory everlasting O Lord save thy people and bless thine heritage Govern them and lift them up for ever Day by day we magnifie thee and we worship thy name ever world without end Vouchsafe O Lord to keep us this day without sin O Lord have mercy upon us have mercy upon us O Lord let thy mercy lighten upon us as or trust is in thee O Lord in thee have trusted let me never be confounded Amen A Prayer of thanksgiving after the receiving some great blessing as the birth of an Heir the success of an honest designe a victory a good harvest c. O Lord God Father of mercies the fountain of comfort and blessing of life and peace o plenty and pardon who fillest Heaven with thy glory and earth with thy goodness I give thee the most earnest most humble and most enlarged returns of my glad and thankfull heart for thou hast refreshed me with thy comforts and enlarged me with thy blessing thou hast made my flesh and my bones to rejoyce for besides the blessings of all mankinde the blessings of nature and the blessings of grace the support of every minute and the comforts of every day thou hast opened thy bosom and at this time hast powred out an excellent expression of thy loving kindness here name the blessing What am I O Lord and what is my Fathers house what is the life and what are the capacities of thy servant that thou shoul'd do this unto me * that the great God 〈…〉 and Angels should make a speciall decree in Heaven for me and send out an Angel of blessing and in stead of condemning and ruining me as I miserably have deserved to distinguish me from many my equals and my betters by this and many other speciall acts of Grace and favour Praised be the Lord daily even the Lord that helpeth us and powreth his benefits upon us He is our God even the God of whom cometh salvation God is the Lord by whom we escape death Thou hast brought me to great honour and comforted me on every side Thou Lord hast made me glad through thy works I will rejoyce in giving praise for the operation of thy hands O give thanks unto the Lord and call upon his name tell the people what things he hath done As for me I will give great thanks unto the Lord praise him among the multitude Blessed be the Lord God even the Lord God of Israel which only doth wondrous and gracious things And blessed be the name of his Majesty for ever and all the earth shall be filled with his Majesty Amen Amen Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. A prayer to be said on the Feast of Christmas or the birth of our blessed Saviour Jesus the same also may be said upon the feast of the Annunciation and Purification of the B. Virgin Mary O Holy and Almighty God Father of mercies Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of thy love and Eternal mercies I adore and praise and glorifie thy infinite and unspeakable love and wisdom who hast sent thy Son from the bosom of felicities to take upon him our nature and our misery and our guilt and hast made the Son of God to become the Son of Man that we might become the Sons of God and partakers of the divine nature since thou hast so exalted humane nature be pleased also to sanctifie my person that by a conformity to the humility and laws and sufferings of my dearest Saviour I may be united to his spirit and be made all one with the most Holy Jesus Amen O holy and Eternal Jesus who didst pity mankinde lying in his blood and sin and misery and didst choose our sadnesses and sorrows that thou mightest make us to partake of thy felicities Let thine eyes pity me thy hands support me thy holy â—eet tread down all the difficulties in my way to Heaven let me dwell in thy heart be instructed with thy wisdom moved by thy affections choose with thy will and be clothed with thy righteousness that in the day of Judgment I may be found having on thy garments sealed with thy impression and that bearing upon every faculty and member the character of my elder brother I may not be cast out with strangers and unbleivers Amen O Holy and ever blessed spirit who didst overshadow the holy Virgin Mother of our Lord and causedst her to conceive by a miraculous and mysterious manner be pleased to overshadow my soul and enlighten my spirit that I may conceive the holy Jesus in my heart and may bear him in my minde and may grow up to the fulness of the stature of Christ to be a perfect man in Christ Jesus Amen To God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. To the eternall Son that was incarnate and born of a virgin To the spirit of the Father and the Son be all honour and glory worship and adoration now and for ever Amen The same Form of Prayer
our Patron for our Lord for our friend desiring God to be all in all to us as we are in our understanding and affections wholly his Adde to these 4. To be a stranger upon earth in our affections and to have all our thoughts and principal desires fixed upon the matters of Faith the things of Heaven For if a man were adopted heir to Caesar he would if he believed it real and effective despise the present and wholly be at court in his Fathers eye and his desires would outrun his swiftest speed and all his thoughts would spend themselves in creating Idea's and little phantastick images of his future condition Now God hath made us Heirs of his Kingdome and Coheirs with Jesus if we believed this we would think and affect and study accordingly But he that rejoices in gain and his â—eart dwels in the world and is espoused to a fair estate and transported with a light momentany joy and is afflicted with losses and amazed with temporal persequutions and esteems disgrace or poverty in a good cause to be intolerable this man either hath no inheritance in Heaven or believes none and believes not that he is adopted to be the Son of God the Heir of eternal Glory 5. S James's signe is the best Shew me thy faith by thy works Faith makes 〈◊〉 Merchant diligent and venturous and that makes him rich Ferdinando of Arâ—agon believed the story told him by Columbus and therefore he furnished him with ships and got the west Indies by his Faith in the undertaker But Henry the seventh of England believed him not and therefore trusted him not with shipping and lost all the purchase of that Faith It is told us by Christ He that forgives shall be forgiven if we believe this it is certain we shall forgive our enemies for none of us all but need and desire to be forgiven No man can possibly despise or refâ—se to desire such excellent glories as are revealed to them that are servants of Christ and yet we doe nothing that is commanded us as a condition to obtain them No man could work a daies labour without â—aith but because he believes he shall have his wages at the daies or weeks end he does his duty But he only believes who does that thing which other men in the like cases doe when they doe believe He that believes money gotten with danger is better then poverty with safety will venture for it in unknown lands or seas and so will he that believes it better to get Heaven with labour then to go to Hell with pleasure 6. He that believes does not make haste but waits patiently till the times of refreshment come and dares trust God for the morrow and is no more sâ—llicitous for next year then he is for that which is past and it is certain that man wants faith who dares be more confident of being supplied when he hath money in his purse then when he hath it only in bils of exchange from God or that relies more upon his own industry then upon Gods providence when his own industry fails him If you dare trust to God when the case to humane reason seems impossible and trust to God then also out of choice not because you have nothing else to trust to but because he is the only support of a just confidence then you give a good testimony of your faith 7. True Faith is confident and will venture all the world upon the strength of its perswasion Will you lay your life on it your estaâ—e your reputation that the doctrine of JESUS CHRIST is true in every Article Then you have true Faith But he tâ—aâ— fears men more then God believes men more then he believes in God 8. Faith if it be true living and justifying cannot be separated from a good life it wâ—â—ks miracles makes a drunkard become sober a lascivious person becâ—me chaste a covetous man become liberal it overcomes the world it works righteousness and makes us diligently to doe 2 Cor. 13 5. â—om 8 10. and cheerfully to suffer whatsoever God hath placed in our way to Heaven The Means and Instruments to obtain Faith are 1. An humble willing and docible minde or desire tâ— be instructed in the way of God for perswasion enters like a sun-beam gently and without violence and open but the window and draw the curtain and the Sun of righteousness will enlighten your darkness 2. Remove all prejudice and love to every thing which may be contradicted by Faith How can ye believe said Christ that receive praise one of another An unchaâ—te man cannot easily be brought to believe that without purity he shall never see God He that loves riches can hardly believe the doctrine of poverty renunciation of the world and alms Martyrdom and the doctrine of the cross is folly to him that loves his ease and pleasures He that hath within him any principle contrary to the doctrines of Faith cannot easily become a Disciple 3. Prayer which is instrumental to every thing hath a particular promise in this thing He that lacks wisdome let him ask it of God and if you give good things to your children how much more shall your Heavenly Father give his Spirit to them that ask him 4. The consideration of the Divine omnipotence and infinite wisdom and our own ignorance are great instruments of curing all doubting and silencing the murmures of infidelity 5. Avoid all curiosity of inquiry into particulars In rebus miris summa â—â—dendi ratio est omnipotentia creatoâ—is S. Aug. and circumstances and mysteâ—iâ—s for true faith is full 〈◊〉 ingâ—nuity and â—eâ—rty simplicity free from suspicion wise and confident trusting upon generals without watching and pryâ—ng into unnecessary or undiâ—cernible particulars No Man carries his bed into his fiâ—ld to watch how his corn grows but believes upon the general order of Providence and Nature and at Harvest findes himself not deceived 6. In time of temptation be not busie to dispute but relic upon the conclusion and throw your self upon God and contend nor with him but in prayer and in the presence and with the help of a prudent untempted guide and be sure to esteem all changes of belief which offer themselves in the time of your greatest weakness contrary to the perswasions of your best understanding to be temptations and reject them accordingly 7. It is a prudent course that in our health and best advantages we lay up particular arguments and instruments of perswasion and confidence to be brought forth and used in the great day of expence and that especially in such things in which we use to be most tempted and in which we are least confident and which are most necessary and which commonly the Devil uses to assault us withall in the daies of our visitation 8. The wisdom of the Church of God is very remarkable in appointing Festivals or Holidaies whose solemnity and Offices have no other special business but to
the glory of pardoning all my sins and I may reap the fruit of all thy mercies and all thy graces of thy patience and long-suffering even to live a holy life here and to reign with thee for ever through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Ad Sect. 6. Special devotions to be used upon the Lords-day and the great Festvals of Christians In the Morning recite the following form of Thanksgiving upon the special Festivals adding the commēoration of the speciall blessings according to the following prayers adding such prayers as you shall choose out of the foregoing Devotions 2. Besides the ordinary publick duties of the day if you retire into your closet to read and meditate after you have performed that duty say the song of Saint Ambrose commonly called the Te Deum or We praise thee c. then adde the prayers for particular graces which are at the end of the former Chapters such and as many of them as shall fit your present needs and affections ending with the Lords prayer This form of devotion may for variety be indifferently used at other times A form of thanksgiving with a recital of publick and private blessings To be used upon Easter-day Whit-sunday Ascension day and all sundayes of the yeare but the middle part of it may be reserved for the more solemn Festivals and the other used upon the ordinary as every mans affections or leisure shall determine 1. Ex Liturgia S. Basilii magna ex parte O Eternal Essence Lord God Father Almighty maker of all things in Heaven and Earth it is a good thing to give thanks to thee O Lord and to pay to thee all reverence worship and devotion from a clean and prepared heart and with an humble spirit to present a living and reasonable sacrifice to thy holiness and Majesty for thou hast given unto us the knowledge of thy truth and who is able to declare thy greatness and to recount all thy mervellous works which thou hast done in all the generations of the world O Great Lord and Governour of all things Lord and Creator of all things visible and invisible who sittest upon the throne of thy glory and beholdest the secrets of the lowest abysse and darkness thou art without beginning uncircumscribed incomprehensible unalterable and seated for ever unmoveable in thy own essentiall happiness and tranquillity Thou art the Father of our Lord JESUS CHRIST who is Our Deerest and most Gracious Saviour our hope the wisdom of the Father the image of thy goodness the Word eternal and the brightness of thy person the power of God from eternal ages the true light that lighteneth every man that cometh into the World the Redemption of Man and the Sanctification of our Spirits By whom the holy Ghost descended upon the Church the holy Spirit of truth the seal of adoption the earnest of the inheritance of the Saints the first fruits of everlasting felicity the life-giving power the fountain of sanctification the comfort of the Church the ease of the afflicted the support of the weak the wealth of the poor the teacher of the doubtfull scrupulous and ignorant the anchor of the fearfull the infinite reward of all faithfull souls by whom all reasonable understanding creatures serve thee and send up a never-ceasing and a never-rejected sacrifice of prayer and praises and adoration All Angels and Archangels all thrones and Dominions all Principalities and Powers the Cherubims with many eyes and the Seraphims covered with wings from the terror and amazement of thy brightest glory These and all the powers of Heaven do perpetually sing praises and never-ceasing Hymns and eternall Anthems to the glory of the eternall God the Almighty Father of Men and Angels Holy is our God Holy is the Almighty Holy is the Immortal Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabaoth Heaven and Earth are full of the Majesty of thy glory Amen With these holy and blessed Spirits I also thy servant O thou great lover of souls though I be unworthy to offer praise to such a Majesty yet out of my bounden duty humbly offer up my heart and voice to joyn in this blessed quire and confess the glories of the Lord. * For thou art holy and of thy greatness there is no end and in thy justice and goodness thou hast measured out to us all thy works Thou madest man out of the earth and didst form him after thine own image thou didst place him in a garden of pleasure and gavest him laws of righteousness to be to him a seed of immortality O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness and declare the wonders that he hath done for the children of men For when man sinned and listned to the whispers of a tempting spirit and refused to hear the voice of God thou didst throw him out from Paradise and sentest him to till the Earth but yet left not his condition without remedy but didst provide for him the salvation of a new birth and by the blood of thy Son didst redeem and pay the price to thine own justice for thine own creature lest the work of thine owne hands should perish O that men would therefore praise the Lord c. For thou O Lord in every age didst send testimonies from Heaven blessings and Prophets and fruitfull seasons and preachers of righteousness and miracles of power and mercy thou spakest by thy Prophets and saidst I will help by one that is mighty and in the fulness of time spakest to us by thy Son by whom thou didst make both the Worlds who by the word of his power sustains all things in Heaven and Earth who thought it no robery to be equall to the Father who being before all time was pleased to be born in time to converse with men to be incarnate of a holy Virgin he emptied himself of all his glories took on him the form of a servant in all things being made like unto us in a soul of passions and discourse in a body of humility and sorrow but in all things innocent and in all things afflicted and suffered death for us that we by him might live and be partakers of his nature and his glories of his body and of his Spirit of blessings of earth and of the immortal felicities in Heaven O that men would therefore praise the Lord c. For thou O holy and immortal God O sweetest Saviour Jesus wert made under the Law to condemn sin in the flesh thou who knewest no sin wert made sin for us thou gavest to us righteous Commandements and madest known to us all thy Fathers will thou didst redeem us from our vain conversation and from the vanity of Idols false principles and foolish confidences and broughtest us to the knowledge of the true and onely God and our Father and hast made us to thy self a peculiar people of thy own purchase a royall Priest-hood a holy Nation Thou hast washed our soules in the Laver of Regeneration the Sacrament of
which becometh women professing godliness with good works 9. As those meats are to be avoided which tempt our stomacks beyond our hunger so also should prudent persons decline all such spectacles relations Theatres loud noises and out-cries which concern us not and are besides our natural or moral interest Our senses should not like petulant and wanton Girles wander into Markets and Theatres without just imployment Oedipam curiositas in extremas cojecit calamitateâ— Plat but when they are sent abroad by reason return quickly with their errand and remain modestly at home under their guide till they be sent againe 10. Let all persons be curious in observing modesty toward themselves in the handsome treating their own body and such as are in their power whether living or dead Against this rule they offend who expose to others their own or pry into others nakedness beyond the limits of necessity where a leave is not made holy by a permission from God It is also said that God was pleased to work a miracle about the body of Epiphanius to reprove the immodest curiosity of an unconcerned person who pryed too neer when charitable people were composing it to the grave In all these cases and particulars although they seem little yet our duty and concernment is not little Concerning which I use the words of the Son of Sirach He that despiseth little things shall perish by little and little SECT VI. Of contentedness in all estates and accidents Virtues and Discourses are like Friends necessary in all fortunes but those are the best which are Friends in our sadnesses and support us in our sorrows and sad accidents and in this sense no man that is virtuous can be friendlesse nor hath any man reason to complain of the Divine Providence or accuse the publick disorder of things or his own infelicity since God hath appointed one remedy for all the evils in the World and that is a contented spirit For this alone makes a man passe through fire and not be scorched through Seas and not be drowned through hunger and nakedness and want nothing For since all the evil in the world consists in the disagreeing between the object and the appetite as when a man hath what he desires not or desires what he hath not or desires amisse he that composes his spirit to the present accident hath variety of instances for his virtue but none to trouble him because his desires enlarge not beyond his present fortune and a wise man is placed in the variety of chances like the Nave or Centre of a wheel in the midst of all the circumvolutions and changes of posture without violence or change save that it turns gently in complyance with its changed parts and is indifferent which part is up and which is down for there is some virtue or other to be exercised what ever happens either patience or thanksgiving love or fear moderation or humility charity or contentedness and they are every one of them equally in order to his great end and immortal felicity and beauty is not made by white or red by black eyes and a round face by a straight body and a smooth skin but by a proportion to the fancy No rules can make amability our mindes and apprehensions make that and so is our felicity and we may be reconciled to poverty a low fortune if we suffer contentedness and the grace of God to make the proportions For no man is poor that does not think himself so But if in a full fortune with impatience he desires more he proclaims his wants and his beggerly condition Nam facta tibi est si dissimules injuria But because this grace of contentedness was the sum of all the old moral Philosophy and a great duty in Christianity and of most universal use in the whole course of our lives and the only instrument to ease the burdens of the world and the enmities of sad chances it will not be amisse to presse it by the proper arguments by which God hath bound it upon our spirits it being fastned by Reason and Religion by duty and interest by necessity and conveniency by example and by the proposition of excellent rewards no lesse then peace and felicity 1. Contentedness in all estates is a duty of Religion it is the great reasonableness of complying with the Divine providence which governs all the World and hath so ordered us in the administration of his great Family He were a strange fool that should be angry because Dogs and sheep need no shoes and yet himself is full of care to get some God hath supplied those needs to them by natural provisions and to thee by an artificial for he hath given thee reason to learn a trade or some meanes to make or buy them so that it onely differs in the manner of our provision and which had you rather want shoes or reason And my Patron that hath given me a Farm is freer to me then if he gives a loaf ready baked But however all these gifts come from him and therefore it is fit he should dispence them as he please and if we murmure here we may at the next melancholy be troubled that God did not make us to be Angels or Stars For if that which we are or have doe not content us we may be troubled for every thing in the World which is besides our being or our possessions God is the Master of the Scenes we must not choose which part we shall act it concerns us only to be careful that we doe it well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alwaies saying If this please God let it be as it is and we who pray that Gods will may be done in Earth as it is in Heaven must remember that the Angels doe whatsoever is commanded them and go where ever they are sent and refuse no circumstances and if their imployment be crossed by a higher decree â—an 14.13 they sit down in peace and rejoice in the event and when the Angel of Judea could not prevail in behalf of the people committed to his charge because the Angel of Persia opposed it he only told the story at the command of God and was as content and worshipped with as great an extasie in his proportion as the prevailing Spirit Doâ— thou so likewise keep the station where God hath placed you and you shall never long for things without but sit at home feasting upon the Divine Providence and thy own reason by which we are taught that it is necessary and reasonable to submit to God For is not all the World Gods family Are not we his creatures Are we not as clay in the hand of the Potter Doe we not live upon his meat and move by his strength and doe our work by his light Are we any thing but what we are from him and shall there be a mutiny among the flocks and herds because their Lord or their Shepherd chooses their pastures and
of the family should fear the Father would give meat to the chickens and the servants his sheep and his dogs but give none to them He were a very ill Father that should doe so or he were a very foolish son that should think so of a good Father * But besides the reasonableness of this faith and this hope we have infinite experience of it How innocent how careless how secure is Infancy and yet how certainly provided for we have lived at Gods charges all the daies of our life and have as the Italian Proverb saies set down to meat at the sound of a bell and hitherto he hath not failed us we have no reason to suspect him for the future we doe not use to serve men so and lesse time of tryal creates great confidences in us towards them who for twenty years together never broke their word with us and God hath so ordered iâ— that a man shall have had the experience of many years provision before he shall understand how to doubt that he may be provided for an answer against the temptation shall come and the mercies felt in his childehood may make him fear lesse when he is a man * Adde to this that God hath given us his holy Spirit he hath promised Heaven to us he hath given us his Son and we are taught from Scripture to make this inference from hence How should not he with him give us all things else The Charge of many Children We have a title to be provided for as we are Gods creatures another title as we are his Children another because God hath promised and every of our children hath the same title and therefore it is a huge folly and infidelity to be troubled and full of care because we have many children Every childe we have to feed is a new revenue a new title to Gods care and providence so that many children are a great wealth and if it be said they are chargeable it is no more then all wealth and great revenues are For what difference is it Titius keeps ten ploughs Cornelia hath ten children He hath land enough to imploy and to feed all his hindes she blessings and promises and the provisions and the truth of God to maintain all her children His hindes and horses eat up all his corn and her children are sufficiently maintained with her little They bring in and eat up and she indeed eats up but they also bring in from the store-houses of heaven and the granaries of God and my children are not so much mine as they are Gods he feeds them in the womb by waies secret and insensible and would not work a perpetual miracle to bring them forth and then to starve them Violent necessities But some men are highly tempted and are brought to a straight that without a miracle they cannot be relieved what shall they doe It may be their pride or vanity hath brought the necessity upon them and it is not a need of Gods making and if it be not they must cure it themselves by lessening their desires and moderating their appetites and yet if it be innocent though unnecessary God does usually relieve such necessities and he does not only upon our prayers grant us more then he promised of temporall things but also he gives many times more then we ask This is no object for our faith but ground enough for a temporal and prudent hope and if we fail in the particular God will turn it to a bigger mercy if we submit to his dispensation and adore him in the denial But if it be a matter of necessity let not any man by way of impatience crie out that God will not work a miracle for God by miracle did give meat and drink to his people in the wilderness of which he had made no particular promise in any Covenant and if all natural means fail it is certain that God will rather work a miracle then break his word He can doe that He cannot doe this Only we must remember that our portion of temporal things is but food and ralment God hath not promised us coaches and horses rich houses and jewels Tyrian silks and Persian carpets neither hath he promised to minister to our needs in such circumstances as we shall appoint but such as himself shall choose God will enable either thee to pay thy debt if thou beggest it of him or else he will pay it for thee that is take thy desire as a discharge of thy duty and Pay it to thy Creditor in blessings or in some secret of his providence It may be he hath laid up in the corn that shall feed thee in the granary of thy Brother or will clothe thee with his wool he enabled Saint Peter to pay his Gabel by the ministery of a fish and Elias to be waited on by a crow who has both his minister and his steward for provisions and his Holy Son rode in triumph upon an asse that grazed in another mans postures And if God gives to him the dominion reserves the use to thee thou hast the better half of the two but the charitable man serves God and serves thy need and both joyn to provide for thee and God blesses both But if he takes away the flesh-pots from thee he can also alter the appetite and he hath given thee power and commandment to restrain it and if he lessens the revenue he will also shrink the necessity or if he gives but a very little he will make it go a great way or if he sends thee but course diet he will blesse it and make it healthful and can cure all the anguish of thy poverty by giving thee patience and the grace of contentedness For the grace of God secures you of provisions and yet the grace of God feeds and supports the spirit in the want of provisions and if a thin table be apt to enfeeble the spirits of one used to feed better yet the cheerfulness of a spirit that is blessed will make a thin table become a delicacy if the man was as well taught as he was fed and learned his duty when he received the blessing Poverty therefore is in some senses eligible and to be preferred before riches but in all senses it is very tolerable Death of Children or nearest Relatives and Friends There are some persons who have been noted for excellent in their lives and passions rarely innocent and yet hugely penitent for indiscretions and harmless infirmities such as was Paulina one of the ghostly children of S. Hierom and yet when any of her children died she was arrested with a sorrow so great as brought her to the margent of her grave And the more tender our spirts are made by Religion the more easie we are to let in grief if the cause be innocent and be but in any sense twisted with piety and due affections * To cure which we may consider that all the world must die and therefore to be
will be as tempting with the windiness of a violent fast as with the flesh of an ordinary meal But a daily substraction of the nourishment will introduce a lesse busie habit of body and that will prove the more effectual remedy Chi digiuna altro ben non faâ— spâ—ragna il pane al infernova See Chap. 2. Sect. 2 3. 8. fasting alone will not cure this Devil though it helps much towards it but it must not therefore be neglected but assisted by all the proper instruments of remedy against this unclean spirit and what it is unable to doe alone in company with other instruments and Gods blessing upon them it may effect 9. All fasting for whatsoever end it be undertaken must be done without any opinion of the necessity of the thing it self without censuring others with all humility in order to the proper end and just as a man takes physick of which no man hath reason to be proud and no man thinks it necessary but because he is in sickness or in danger and disposition to it 10. All fasts ordained by lawful authority are to be observed in order to the same purposes to which they are enjoyned and to be accompanied with actions of the same nature just as it is in private fasts for there is no other difference but that in publick our Superiours choose for us what in private we doe for our selves 11. Fasts ordained by lawful authority are not to be neglected because alone they cannot doe the thing in order to which they were enjoyned It may be one day of Humiliation will not obtain the blessing or alone kill the lust yet it must not be despised if it can doe any thing towards it An act of Fasting is an act of self-denial and though it doe not produce the habiâ— yet it is a good act 12. When a principal end why a Fast is publickly prescribed is obtained by some other instrument in a particular person as if the spirit of Fornication be cured by the rite of Marriage or by a gift of chastity yet that person so eased is not freed from the Fasts of the Church by that alone if those fasts can prudently serve any other end of Religion as that of prayer or repentance or mortification of some other appetite for when it is instrumental to any and of the Spirit it is freed from superstition and then we must have some other reason to quit us from the Obligation or that alone will not doe it 13. When the Fast publickly commanded by reason of some indisposition in the particular person cannot operate to the end of the Commandment yet the avoiding offence and the complying with publick order is reason enough to make the obedience to be necessary For he that is otherwise disobliged as when the reason of the Law ceases as to his particular yet remains still obliged if he cannot doe otherwise without scandal but this is an obligation of charity not of justice 14. All fasting is to be used with prudence and charity for there is no end to which fasting serves but may be obtained by other instruments and therefore it must at no hand be made an instrument of scruple or become an enemy to our health or be imposed upon persons that are sick or aged or to whom it is in any sense uncharitable such as are wearied Travellers or to whom in the whâ—le kinde of it it is uselesse such as are Women with childe poor people and little children But in these cases the Church hath made provision and inserted caution into her Laws and they are to be reduced to practise according to custome and the sentence of prudent persons with great latitude and without niceness and curiosity having this in our first care that we secure our virtue and next that we secure our health that we may the beter exercise the labours of virtue lest out of too much austerity we bring our selves to that condition * S. Basil Monast Constit. cap. 5. Cassian coll 21. cap. 22 Nè per causaÌ„ necessitatis eò impingâ—mus ut voluptatibus serviamus that it be necessary to be indulgent to softnesse ease and extreme tendernesse 15. Let not intemperance be the Prologue or the Epilogue to your fast lest the fast be so farre from taking off any thing of the sin that it be an occasion to increase it and therefore when the fast is done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naâ— be carefull that no supervening act of gluttony or excessive drinking unhallow the religion of the passed day but eat temperately according to the proportion of other meals lest gluttony keep either of the gates to abstinence The benefits of Fasting He that undertakes to enumerate the benefits of fasting may in the next page also reckon all the benefits of physick for fasting is not to be commended as a duty bâ—t as an instrument and in that sense no Man can reprove it or undervalue it but he that knows neither spiritual arts nor spiritual necessities but by the doctors of the Church it is called the nourishment of prayer the restraint of lust the wings of the soul the diet of Angels the instrument of humility and self-denial the purification of the Spirit and the paleness and maigâ—enesse of visage which is consequent to the daily fast of great mortifiers is by Saint Basil said to be the mark in the Forehead which the Angel observed when he signed the Saintâ— in the forehead to escape the wrath of God The soul that is greatly vexed which goeth stooping and feeble and the eyes that fail Baruch â— v. 18. and the hungry soul shall give thee praise and righteousness O Lord. SECT VI. O keeping Festivals and daies holy to the Lord particularly the Lords day TRue naturall Religion that which was common to all Nations and Ages did principally relye upon four great propositions 1. That there is one God 2. That God is nothing of those things which we see 3. That God takes care of all things below governs all the World 4. That he is the Great Creator of all things without himself and according to these were fram'd the four first precepts of the Decalogue In the first the Unitie of the Godhead is expresly affirmed In the second his invisibility and immateâ—iality In the third is affirmed God's government and providence by avenging them that swear falsly by his Name by which also his Omniscience is declared In the fourth Commandement he proclaims himself the Maker of Heaven and Earth for in memorie of God's rest from the work of six daies the seventh was hallowed into a Sabbath and the keeping it was a confessing GOD to bee the great Maker of Heaven and Earth and consequently to this it alâ—o was a confâ—ssion of his goodness his Omnipotence and his Wisdom all which were written with a Sun-beam in the great book of the Creature So long as the Law of the Sabbath was bound upon God's
〈…〉 est in noluit 〈◊〉 Senâ—ctâ—◠〈…〉 brevis nec 〈◊〉 mâ—vendas In 〈…〉 facili dâ—â—funditur â—austu 〈…〉 amans culti villicus hâ—â—i â—â—de 〈◊〉 pâ—sâ—t◠〈…〉 Pythagoâ—as Est aliquid puecunque lico quocunque necessu Vnius dominum sese fecisse laceâ—tae Iuven. Sat. 3. but he that feasts every day feaâ—â—â— no day there being nothing left to which he may beyond his Ordinary extend his appetite that the rich man sleeps not so soundly as the poor labourer that his feares are more and his needs are greater for who is poorer he that needs 5 l or he that needs 5000 the poor man hath enough to fill his belly and the rich hath not enough to fill his eye that the poor mans wants are easy to be relieved by a common charity but the needs of rich men cannot be supplied but by Princes and they are left to the temptation of great vices to make reparation of their needs and the ambitious labours of men to get great estates is but like the selling of a Fountian to buy a Fever a parting with content to buy necessity a purchase of an unhandsome condition at the price of infelicity that Princes and they that enjoy most of the world have most of it but in title and supreme rights and reserved priviledges pepper corns homages trifling services and acknowledgements the real use descending to others to more substantial purposes These considerations may be useful to the curing of covetousnesse that the grace of mercifulness enlarging the heart of a man his hand may not be contracted but reached out to the poor in almes SECT IX Of Repentance Repentance of all things in the World makes the greatest change it changes things in Heaven and Earth for it changes the whole man from sin to grace from vitious habits to holy customes from unchast bodies to Angelical soules from Swine to Philosophers from drunkenness to sober counsels and God himself with whom is no variablenesse or shadow of change is pleased by descending to our weak understandings to say that he changes also upon mans repentance that he alters his decrees revokes his sentence cancels the bils of accusation throwes the Records of shame and sorrow from the Court of Heaven and lifts up the sinner from the grave to life from his prison to a throne from Hell and the guilt of eternal torture to Heaven and to a title to never ceasing felicities If we be bound on earth we shall be bound in Heaven if we be absolved here we shall be loosed there if we repent God will repent and not send the evil upon us which we have deserved But repentance is a conjugation and society of many duties and it contains in it all the parts of a holy life from the time of our returne to the day of our death inclusively and it hath in it some things specially relating to the sins of our former dayes which are now to be abolished by special arts and have obliged us to special labours and brought in many new necessities and put us into a very great deal of danger and because it is a duty consisting of so many parts and so much imployment it also requires much time and leaves a man in the same degree of hope of pardon as is his restitution to the state of righteousness holy living for which we covenanted in Baptism For we must know that there is but one repentance in a mans whole life if repentance be taken in the proper and strict Evangelicall Covenant sense and not after the ordinary understanding of the word That is we are but once to change our whole state of life from the power of the Devil and his intire possession from the state of sin and death from the body of corruption to the life of grace to the possession of Jesus to the kingdome of the Gospel and this is done in the baptisme of water or in the baptisme of the spirit when the first right comes to be verified by Gods grace coming upon us and by our obedience to the heavenly calling we working together with God After this change if ever wee fall into the contrary state and be wholly estranged from God and Religion and profess our selves servants of unrighteousness God hath made no more covenant of restitution to us there is no place left for any more repentance or intire change of condition or new birth a man can be regenerated but once and such are voluntary malicious Apostates Witches obstinate impenitent persons and the like But if we be overtaken by infirmity or enter into the marches or borders of this estate and commit a grievous sin or ten or twenty so we be not in the intire possession of the Devil we are for the present in a damnable condition if we dye but if we live we are in a recoverable condition for so we may repent often we repent or rise from death but once but from sickness many times and by the grace of God we shall be pardoned if so we repent But our hopes of pardon are just as is the repentance which if it be timely hearty industrious and effective God accepts not by weighing graues or scruples but by estimating the great proportions of our life a hearty endevour an effectual general change shall get the pardon the unavoidable infirmities and past evils and present imperfections and short interruptions against which we watch and pray and strive being put upon the accounts of the crosse and payed for by the holy Jesus This is the state and condition of repentance its parts and actions must be valued according to the following rules Acts and parts of Repentance 1. He that repents truly is greatly sorrowful for his past sins not with a superficial sigh or tear but a pungent afflictive sorrow such a sorrow as hates the sin so much that the man would choose to dye rather then act it any more This sorrow is called in Scripture a weeping sorely Ier. 13 17. Ioel 2.13 Ezek. 27 31. Iames 4.9 a weeping with bitternesse of heart a weeping day and night a sorrow of heart a breaking of the spirit mourning like a dove and chattering like a swallow and we may read the degree and manner of it by the lamentations and sad accents of the Prophet Jeremy when he wept for the sins of the nation by the heart breaking of David when he mourned for his murder and adultery and the bitter weeping of S. Peter after the shameful denying of his Master * The expression of this sorrow differs according to the temper of the body the sex the age and circumstance of action and the motive of sorrow and by many accidental tendernesses or masculine hardnesses and the repentance is not to be estimated by the tears but by the grief and the grief is to be valued not by the sensitive trouble but by the cordial hatred of the sin and ready actual dereliction of it and a resolution and real resisting
our sins 1 John 3.5 If ye being evill know to give good things to your children how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things to them that ask him Matth. 7.11 This is a faithfull saying and worthy of â—ll accepâ—ation that Jesus Christ came into the World to save sinners He that hath given us his â—on how should not he with him give us all things else Acts of hope to be used by sick persons after a pious life I Am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nâ—â— Principalities noâ— powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord Rom. 8.38 I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me onely but unto all them also that love his appearing 2 Tim. 4.7 Blessed be the God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of mercies and the God of all comforts who comforts us in all tribulation 2 Cor. 1.3 A prayer to be said in behalf of a sick or dying person O Lord God there is no number of thy dayes nor of thy mercies and the sins and sorrows of thy servant also are multiplied Lord look upon him with much mercy and pity forgive him all his sinnes comfort his sorrows ease his pain satisfie his doubts relieve his fears instruct his ignorances strengthen his understanding take from him all disorders of spiritâ— weakness and abuse of fancy Restrain the malice and power of the spirits of darkness and suffer him to be injured neither by his ghostly enemies noâ— his own infirmities and let a holy and a just peace the peace of God be within his conscience Lord preserve his senses till thâ— last of his time strengthen his faith confirm his hope and give him a never ceasing charity to thee our God and to all the world stir up in him a great and proportionable contrition for all the evills he hath done and give him a just measure of patience for all he suffers give him prudence memory and consideration rightly to state the accounts of his soul and do thou reminde him of all his duty that when it shall please thee that his soul goes out from the prison of his body it may be received by Angels and preserved from the surprize of evil spirits and from the horrors and amazements of new and stranger Regions and be laid up in the bosom of our Lord till at the day of thy second coming it shall be reunited to the body which is now to be layed down in weakness and dishonour but we humbly beg may then be raised up with glory and power for ever to live and to behold the face of God in the glories of the Lord Jesus who is our hope our resurrection and our life the light of our eyes and the joy of our souls our blessed and ever glorious Redeemer Amen Hither the sick persons may draw in and use the acts of several vertues respersed in the several parts of this book the several Letanies viz. of repentance of the passion and the single prayers according to his present needs A Prayer to be said in a storm aâ— Sea O My God thou didst create the Earth and the Sea for thy glory and the use of man and doest daily shew wonders in the deep look upon the danger and fear of thy servant my sins have taken hold upon me and without the supporting arm of thy mercy I cannot look up but my trust is in thee Do thou O Lord rebuke the Sea and make it calm for to thee the windes and the sea obey let not the waters swallow me up but let thy Spirit the Spirit of gentleness and mercy move upon the waters Be thou reconciled unto thy servants and then the face of the waters will be smooth I fear that my sins make me like â—onas the cause of the tempest Cast out all my sins and throw not thy servants away from thy presence and from the land of the living into the depths where all things are forgotten But if it be thy wil that wâ— shall go down into the waters Lord 〈◊〉 my soul into thy holy hands and preserve it in mercy and safety till the day of â—estâ—â—â—tion of all things and be pleased â—oâ—n â—e my dâ—â—th to the 〈◊〉 of thy Son and â—o accept of it so united as a punishment for all my sins that thou mayest forget all thine anger and blot my sins out of thy book and write my soul there for Jesus Christ his sake our dearest Lord and most mighty Redeemer Amen Then make an act of resignation thus TO God pertain the issues of life and death It is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth good in his own eyes Thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven Recite Psalm 107. and 130. A form of a vow to be made in this or the like danger IF the Lord will be gracious and hear the Prayer of his servant and bring me safe to shore then I will praise him secretly and publickly and pay unto the uses of charity or Religion then name the sum you designe for holy uses O my God my goods are nothing unto thee I will also be thy servant all the dayes of my life and remember this mercy and my present purposes and live more to Gods glory and with a stricter duty And do thou please to accept this vow as an instance of my importunity and the greatness of my needs and be thou graciously moved to pity and deliver me Amen This form also may be used in praying for a blessing on an enterprize and may be instanced in actions of devotion as well as of charity A Prayer before a journey O Almighty God who fillest all things with thy presence and art a God afar off as well as neer at hand thou didst send thy Angel to bless Jacob in his journey and didst lead the children of Israel through the Red Sea making it a wall on the right hand and on the left be pleased to let thy Angel go out before me and guide me in my journey preserving me from dangers of robbers from violence of enemies and sudden and sad accidents from fals and errours and prosper my journey to thy glory and to all my innocent purposes and preserve me from all sin that I may return in peace and holyness with thy favour and thy blessing and may serve thee in thankfulness and obedience all the dayes of my pilgrimage and aâ— last bring me to thy country to the celestial Jerusalem there to dwell in thy house and to sing praises to thee for ever Amen Ad. Sect. 4. A prayer to be said before hearing or reading the word of God O