as that I may ingage thee to prosper all my undertakings in the remaining part of it undertaking nothing but what may be pleasing to thy self and consonant to thy Will and Word Let my labours be sweetned by thy blessing and support me under all Help me to be useful in the place and station where thou hast set me that I may not be branded with the name of a cumber-ground All this and what thou the only wise God knowest necessary for me I humbly beg for Jesus Christ's sake Amen A Prayer for Monday Evening GRacious Lord I humbly thank thee that thou hast been pleased this day to preserve me and to support me under all my undertakings and concerns and that thou hast given me health and strength and liberty and life all which are in thy hand and at thy disposal Lord let the consideration of these things instigate my dull heart to praise thee O Lord in all thy dealings with the Sons of Men there is matter both of prayses and rejoycing Lord thou never dealest with thy People but in a way of love not in a way of Judgment but Mercy If thou shouldest have marked strictly what I have done amiss I have done more amiss and against thee than ever I can or have done for thee in the course of my whole life I beseech thee O Lord pass by all my offences and let them all be washed away in the Blood of that immaculate Lamb Christ Jesus O Lord I bless thee for thy watchful Eye of Providence how much of thy goodness has been manifested this day to me ward In the Morning thou affordest Mercies and in the Evening thou withholdâ—st not thy hand O let Morning and Evening Mercies be of use to bring my Soul into a nearer communion with thy self Let all the bedewings of both right hand and left hand Mercies the blessing of the upper and neather Springs of spiritual Mercies and temporal Mercies be continued and sanctified to me that I may being forth fruit anserable to the pains God the great Husbandman has taken with me and cost he has laid out upon me Lord that I may not be as a fruitless Vine that bears either no grapes or else wilde grapes but O that I may bring forth grapes in clusters fruit much fruit and good fruit Lord now wilt thou be pleased to pass by the negligence of this day and let my defects be made up in him that is fulness it self Jesus Christ and as I am about to betake me to my repose Lord let me acquiesce in thee and grant that lying down I may sanctifie thee in my heart and lying down in peace and rising again I may know and say the Lord sustains me and that for Christ Jesus sake Amen A Prayer for Tuesday Morning GRacious Lord God who fillest Heaven and Earth with thy Goodness and makest the hearts of thy people glad thereby O who is a God like unto thy self a God glorious in Holiness fearful in Praises doing wonders The Heavens declare thy Glorâ— the Firmament sheweth the work of thine hands day unto day sheweth thy wisdom and night unto night uttereth knowledge that thy Name may be exalted above all the gods O Lord let thy wisdom be manifested in and upon me and let a powerful operation of thy Spirit be manifested in the renewing of my heart and mortifying the corruptions of the Old Man that my will may be changed and that the spirit of the Prince of the Power of the Air that worketh in the children of disobedience may be dispossessed Extinguish all the revivings of mortified Iusts O Lord thou knowest that this work is a very hard work such a work as none can do but thy self therefore grant thy assistance And as thou art pleased to renew my strength night by night by moderate sleep and rest Lord renew my spiritual strength that I may be more than a Conqueror over all my carnal corruptions through Jesus Christ O Lord wilt thou pardon all my vain thoughts this night past whatsoever has been disconsonant to the Will and Word of thy Sacred Mâ—iesty O Lord these things thou knowest arise from the Principles of a corrupt nature mortifie them I pray thee for me seeing the work of the new Creation is by and of thy self the heart-work is to be done by a more potent hand than man's Subdue my corruptions renew my will streng then my judgment illuminate my understanding and capacitate me for every good word and work Thou Lord hast preserved me this night past preserve me this day and undertake for me and let all my undertakings be blessed by thee in and through thy Son Christ Jesus Amen A Prayer for Tuesday Evening INfinitely wise God thou hast manifested abundantly thy loving kindness unto me though I sinful dust and ashes have provoked thee by my many miscarriages not only this day but every day Lord I bless thee for thy Providential care over me this day and for that ability under all my Undertakings by which thou hast sustain'd me and kept me by thy free Grace and Mercy not that there was any thing in me that might move thee so to do Lord let all these Mercies be so remembred by me as that they may be a means to stir me up to a more active and lively frame of Spirit to act more in those things that may conduce to thy Honour O Lord I have lived but not to thy self O pardon all my unprositableness my barrenness and leanness let the bedewings of thy Spirit so water my parched Soul that I may be more fertile under the same I confess I have been a very Truant in Christ's School yet Lord thou hast not dealt with me according to my failings but according to the riches of thy free streams of Grace and Love O let not my sins stop that Fountain running towards me but let the Fountain that is set open for sin and uncleanness wash my sins all away O Lord let me be washed white in the Blood of the Lamb and let the searlet crimson stains that sin has made in my poor Soul be washed out Let not my unworthiness this day prevent my night Mercies let not thy Providential care desist to me-ward but rather forgive my sins and offences and let my miserable failings move thee to pity me O do it for thy Names sake Thou Lord hast said thou wilt blot out the sins of thy people for thy Names sake O accomplish this rich Promise to me-ward that I being sensible of thy great forgiveness I may be greatly moved to love thee 'T is said Mary loved much because she had been forgiven much Lord let my rest be sweet unto me that being refreshed thereby I may the next morning be caused to rejoyce in thee and praise thy Name Let this nights rest put me in mind to seek Christ that I may have everlasting rest through him All which I beg for his sake alone the purchaser and procurer
Satan come and catch away the Seed but O that it may be as seed sown in good and honest hearts bringing forth fruit with patience meet for repentance and let it be for the weakning of sin but for the strengthening of faith and grace Let thy Word be as Manna for our poor Souls to feed upon for the week to come that thereby we may grow up in grace as we grow in years Let thy word be a sutable word unto every one of our conditions and come thou into our Souls with it with the freest influence of thy Spirit that we may of a truth meet with God communicating of himself unto us by his Word and Spirit And as the Soul is separated from the Body by Death so let sin be separated from our Souls by thy Word and Spirit O let it be separate from our Souls or else it will separate the Souls of us poor Creatures from God Let thy Minister who is thy Messenger be strengthened and touch his tongue with a coal from thine Altar that he may preach experimental truth to the hearts of us poor Creatures that desire to attend on thine Ordinances O let us taste and see how gracious the Lord is and let us have cause to say It is good to draw nigh to God in his own Ordinances on his own Day And let this day of rest be a certain pledge of an eternal rest purchased by our great high Priest who is preparing a place for his select ones O that this thy day may be spent in the performances of holy duties in praise and thanksgiving the work of thine appointment Unvail some secret this day let us be drawn nigher every day unto thy self Let us be so enlightened that sin may decay and grace may be renewed in us Let us come hungering and thursting after Spiritual Food for our Souls so that in the close of this day we by a grounded experience may say that God has satisfied our hungring Souls with refreshing influences from Heaven thorow the Blood of Jesus Christ in whose words we conclude our imperfect requests as he himself has taught us saying Our Father c. An Evening Prayer for the Sabbath MOst Holy and ever Blessed Lord God who fillest Heaven and Earth with thy presence fill the Souls of thy poor empty Creatures with the presence of thy Grace and let thy good Spirit bring to our remembrance the truths that we by thy providence have heard this thy day that we may lay it up in our hearts and practice it in our lives that we may be of those blessed ones that hear thy word and keep it and bring forth fruit in abundance and let it take root in our hearts downward and bring forth fruit upward Establish our Souls in the practice of Holiness without which we can never come to see thy self and let the power of sin be weakened but let Grace be strengthened every day Pardon that unpreparedness that we have intruded into thy presence with and that irreverence whilst under thy Ordinances and that carelesness after that we all have been guilty of Pardon our forgetfulness and pardon our imperfection in the perfection of Christ our weakness in the strength of Christ that thereby we may find acceptance with thee who art all fulness and in whose hands is all perfection Fill our Souls with the fulness of God and let the bedewings of thy Spirit and Word cause us to grow in our spiritual stature Help us to prize the priviledge of the Gospel at an inestimable rate and give us repentance from dead works that we may be changed from darkness unto light and from the power of sin unto God And help us to manifest in our lives and conversation what is the hope of our calling that we may be in Heaven whilst on Earth Pardon the sins of our holy things sins of omission and commission sins against thy Law and sins against thy Gospel Give us Wisdom to direct and teach us Righteousness to establish us Redemption to deliver us from the jaws of Sin and Hell Strengthen our weak Faith enlarge our shallow Capacities quiet our disturbed Consciences tread down Satan under our feet and subjugate our Necks under thy Yoak and help us to resign our selves to thy Will and fit us for Eternity at last that after these Sabbaths be ended here we may begin an everlasting Sabbath with the God of Sabbaths where we shall admire thy self in Christ in whose Name we conclude our imperfect requests in his own words as he hath taught us saying Our Father c. A Prayer for Monday Morning BLessed Lord thou renewest thy mercies every Morning it is of thy mercy that one day more is added to us poor Creatures Thou art he on whom depends our being rest life and all thou has been pleased to cause us to acquiesce in and under thy protection for our refreshment O Lord preserve us this day under the shadow of thy wing and keep us in thy ways and let thy watchful providence be an instigation to an holy walking and to redeem the time seeing the days are evil and to live as ever before the Eye of thy All-seeing Providence Keep us from sin and enable us to live with thankful hearts bearing in mind the acts of thy Spirit and the daily Mercies we enjoy help us to shew a thankfulness for Mercies received and humility for and under Afflictions Let the bitterness of Sin and the loveliness of Holiness make deep impression on the hearts of thy poor Creatures Let the great work of Salvation be much meditated upon that that work daily may be propagated by us with fear and trembling Let union and communion with Christ be our great design Let our Natures be changed Deliver us from a dark understanding and hardness of heart stupid consciences together with unmortisied wills Help us to be wise for the future wherein we have done foolishly and help us wisely to improve our Talents in every opportunity Let thy mercies constrain us to love fear and obey thee Subdue us wholly to thy self that our affections may be elevated from the Earth and transplanted into Heaven Help us in every transaction in our lives to consider that with thee every action is poised and thoughts words and works reviewed and taken notice of O that the affairs of this day and all the week to come may be no obstruction to the work of our immortal Souls And grant that every day that passes over our heads we may be a step nearer to thy self Preserve us by thy Grace and Spirit until it shall be thy will to translate us into that Glory that is prepared for them that wait for the coming of Jesus Christ Amen A Prayer for Monday Evening MOst Holy Eternal and ever Blessed Lord God in whom all our springs are it is good to draw nigh to thy self Thou that never slumberest nor sleepest suffer us not to sleep the sleep of Death The Day thou hast
The unconverted Sinners Prayer for a full Conviction of the dangerous state he is in GReat Gracious and most Righteous Lord God blessed for ever be thine unspeakable mercy that desirest not the Death of the worst of Sinners that turn unto thee to live for ever Oh thou that of Persecutors madest glorious Martyrs of an Adultress madest an humble Penitent O shew forth thy Long-suffering Patience and Forbearance upon me Deliver me from all my Sins from thy Wrath to come and that Eternal Judgment that ends in Hell with Devils and damned Impenitents Leave me not in the state of Devils without hope of pardon O pardon that great sin of setting more by Meat and Drink and beastly Pleasures than by thee the God that made me a rational Creature that slighted endless Glory that took more care of an Earthly Tabernacle than an Immortal Soul that took more care to avoid Shame Poverty and Sickness than to avoid everlasting Shame Pain and Horror in Hell Blessed be the Lord that will not leave such sinners as my self to die in their sins but pluck such sire-brands out of the jaws of Hell and gives them to know the evil of sin O that I were once fit to taste and see how gracious the Lord is to believers to them alone he is precious the fairest of Ten thousands O guid my feet into those untrodden paths that lead to the Fountain of Living Waters set open for sinners to wash in and be purged from their filthiness O give me faith to see him whom my sins have pierced Give me the grace and spirit of supplication to mourn after him without which grace I have not nor can have no hope of pardon For what communion hath darkness with light O possess my Soul with this belief That without holiness there can be no happiness without fanctity no salvation nor without heavenly-mindedness no Heaven O be it so unto thy servant for his sake that suffered for great nay the greatest of sinners of whom I am the chief that I may live to praise thee and admire the riches of thy immense and boundless love to Eternity Amen A Prayer for power to believe O Glorious and Merciful Lord God whose abundant and unspeakable goodness has been extended to poor man before he had a being in the World Let the beams of thy loving kindness environ me and as thou hast been pleased to convince me of sin righteousness and iudgment O help me to believe in him whose mercy extends to the ends of the Earth and that I may take iâ—â—â—â— on him by the hand of faith that it may be the substance of things not seen to take holâ— on the rich promise laid down in thy word concerning thy Son who is mighty to save all them that come unto God by him and to accept him in all his Offices as King and Law-giver to rule and defend me as Pâ—ieâ—t to sacrifice for me as Prophet to reveal the will of God unto me Help me to trust in thy holy Spirit to mortifie and kill my sin in me and to illuminate and sanctifie and quicken me that thereby I may be rendered meet for serving thee here and enjoy thee hereafter O help me to demonstrare out of my Conversation what is the hope of my Calling and establish me in a constant belief of Salvation by the apprehension of a renewed mind from fleshly and transitory joys to an heavenly and permanent happiness where there are pleasures for evermore Help thy poor Creature to be Conquerer yea more than Conquerer through Jesus Christ over Devil World and Flesh that I may be renewed in the spirit of my mind Possess me with the New Birth strengthen all my inward Faculties my Faith my Love and Zeal and whereas my desire was to run from God it may now be to run unto him and cast my self upon him for all in Christ Jesus Amen The Converts Prayer MOst powerful Lord God thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory thy ways are perfect and pure Let God be true and every one a liar Blessed be thy Name for thy unspeakable kindness and love to me who am less than the least of all thy mercies Thou hast been pleased to bring me out of darkness and shadow of death and lead me into the way of peace and out of darkness into thy mervellous light and to bring me into the Kingdom of thy dear Son O the immensity the breadth and length depth and height of the loving kindness of God in the Lord Jesus Christ that wast pleased of a Bond-slave to make a Free-denizon of Heaven of a Prisoner of Hell and Death one at Liberty and delivered me from that Eternal Wrath to come Oh! the free mercy of God that hath withholden death from seizing upon me the which if it had where had I been Oh happy and blessed was it that thou shouldst put out thine hand and touch me with the rod of thine affliction so that I may say It is good for me that I was afflicted O blessed Redeemer give me thy Spirit without which I am undone to apply the precious Blood of the New Covenant to my Soul without which I can do nothing that thy good Spirit may direct me into the way everlasting to know God and Jesus Christ which is Life Eternal Inflame me with love to thy self thy Laws and Commandments Preserve me from the sin of Presumption let the love of Holiness in me express it self in the abandoning all and every similitude of sin from my heart that I may abhor that viz. Sin that once was so amiable to me Let thy strength appear in my weakness and let thy grace be sufficient for me Accommodate me with a resolvedness to follow thee Let Christ Heaven and Glory be my Object and my Mark to aim at Let Christ be my Center upon whose account I conclude my imperfect requests in his own words Our Father c. Considerations of Death 1. COnsider That all the Pleasures Treasures and Comforts of this Life as Wife Children Goods Gold Friends Lands Livings large Possessions Dignity Honours sumptuous Fare and pleasant Prospects spacious Walks delicate Gardens nay even the World it self in its lustre and all that is therein on which thou hast doted so much and squandered so much time in shall and must all at the stroke of Death be extinguished the which Heaven it self or any created Power cannot prevent but will quite be obliterated and for ever lost never more to be minded or meddled with or enjoyed either in this World or the World to come but in as much as we must give an account of our using and abusing of them When our breath goeth forth out of our Bodies our thoughts perish and therefore make it thy business and think it thy chiefest prudence to wean thy affections from this fading World by little and little with a resolute and holy violence least thou find it harder to part with all at once 2.
What distractions their Minds What fear their Hearts What deadness their Understanding at the Great Assize Then they will say what madness and distractedness did possess us that we should be so foolish as list our selves under his Banner that now will be our tormentor and that like so many Esau's sold our Birth-right for a mess of Pottage for a few merry hours and a little ease and delight When they see the Heavens pass away as a scroll and the Earth melt with fervent heat they shall see the resemblance of their approaching misery pourtrayed Then they shall feel the punishment both of sense and loss then they shall have God's Vials of wrath and indignation poured upon them then they shall be sensible of that devouring fire that God so many times by his faithful Ministers hath pressed upon them that fire that either consumes or refines the world shall burn the sinner to all Eternity and yet shall neither be consumed nor refined always a dying but never dead And then how will his merry days be vanished as a dream and his jovial life will be as a tale that is told and his Repartees pleasant Sports and wanton Dalliances his Cups and Queans his vain hopes of Heaven and confident Conceits all all deceased all will be pass'd away together This is the time that sinners that the wretched world shall be discriminated from the happy Saints whose misery and property is to be wise too late The Vizard of the World will then be taken off it will be then unvailed and then the seeming holiness of the Hypocrite will be conspicuous and will be exposed to the face and view of all the world and then shall he see his own folly not only in reference to his own Soul but also in slighting Christ offered to him in the Gospel then he shall see how nigh he came to the Kingdom of Heaven and yet came shert of it and how shall he expect or imagine to be hid in the day of the Lords anger that knew that his Judge every day was looking on when he so dissembled and cheated the world himself and God as he supposed O ye Hypocrites God one day will force your Consciences to witness against you and your tongues to consess the accusation Christ's Ministers must be brought in to â—â—â—est for God and if God be against you who shall then be for you If Christ that would have saved thee be against thee and condemn thee who shall be able to justifie thee All that feared God will attest against thee What a deplorable condition will it be to think how the Master shall evidence against his own Servant the Husband against the Wife and the Wife against the Husband the Parents against their own Children and the Children against their own Parents Sinful Compotators or Pot-Companions little conjecture they must bear witness of and concerning those sins that they have helped forward in others and they themselves heard and did swearing and execrating and mocking those that feared God and scoffing at an holy Life The Fornicators little think that their lustful and wanton Mates must bear witness against them that thought they had been concealed in secret places and that that secresie shall be laid open to the view of the world and that those that encouraged them to sin shall accuse them of sin O! the cold comfort that such will have in the reflection of all their pleasures at that day when the very devils that tempted them to such and such sins will stand at their elbows to accuse and witness against them and tell them that they were no readier to tempt than they were ready to assent to every temptation Where on the contrary they slighted Gods Ministers and strivings of God's Spirit within them The very Angels will witness against them at that day and Conscience will produce its black Bill of his secret reclamings and of all the Examples that have ever been to demonstrate the displeasure and hatred God has against such sins as they have been Assenters to and Agents in In turning the Grace of God into wantonness and in gaming and squandring away precious time in which time instead of working out their own salvation they have wrought out their damnation God's Book of Record will be produced concerning all the thoughts words and actions against sinners Nothing shall have been done in secret that shall not be revealed Luke 8.17 Nay every man shall be his own Accuser at that day The painted Hypocrite will then cry out of his out-side profession fair without but foul within a meer painted Sepulcher The covetous Usurers Conscience will accuse and condemn him for cozening and cheating others for griping and grinding the faces of others The rich Man's wealth will so cry out against him and the Canker of his Gold and Silver will witness against him that he shall be forced to say Lord I am in thy hand do as it seemeth good in thy sight with me His Riches will be corrupted and his Garments moth-eaten And the profane Sabbath-breaker that notwithstanding all the rebukes by evident Judgments from God did profane the Sabbath and instead of communicoting divine Truths as for spiritual Food and Manna for his Soul to feed upon from Sabbath to Sabbath shall be forced to cry out Lord I have neglected the day of Grace do as it pleaseth thee towards me I have instead of learning those things that would have instructed me in the way of life learned that that has brought me to destruction and this is the fruits of my Labour instead of keeping and subjugating my self to Divine Laws I have rebelled both against Divine and Humane Laws even the very Laws of Nature and Humanity have I broken Instead of attending thy Ordinances I have attended the Invitations of my own Lusts O you that are yet on this side Hell this side Eternity have a care of stifling a good Conscience and know that if you will not hear it now you shall be constrained to hear when all your political excuses shall be debarred your mouths stopped you shall stand speechless and Conscience God's Witness set up in every Mans breast shall be heard There were four sorts of Hearers specified in Christ's Parable but one sort good the rest were Sabbath-breakers such as there are many now a-days that instead of getting their hearts prepared according to the preparation of the Sanctuary to meet with God and hear what he will dispense to them from his Word they trim paint and pin away a good Conscience in trimming and painting and pinning their Bodies Where is that that the Scripture commands I say the time that should be spent in preparation for meeting with God is spent in dressing and trimming these crasie and rotten houses of clay that is like to fall at the blast of every Distemper and e're long shall be turned into earthy dross and clay as trees that cumber the ground and are useless in their Generation They
have leaves without fruit shew without substance and if Christless and graceless Devils will e're long be their Associates the worms to destroy their Bodies and the worm Conscience that never dies to gnaw upon their Souls to all Eternity Every Creature that has been abused that now groans under sin will that day come in as a witness to attest against those unmerciful Creatures All things that have been abused that ought to have been used to the Glory of God as the Apostle speaks will testifie the just Judgment of God the Meat Drink Apparel that have been so vainly spent and consumed the very Time Place and Room shall witness against the Whore-monger and Adulterer whom God will judge All these things God will make use of as Evidences against those that shall have consumed and spent them upon their own lusts 16. Endeavour still after an higher Attainment of Perfection The Soul that grows in Grace is the Soul that God will delight in and love Mercies improved is the way to engage God to love and to grant a further supply of Mercy As none can be impossible it is so holy as God and perfect as God for so we must understand when he says Be ye holy as I am holy not that any man can be as holy as God but he must be understood in respect of perfectio partium non graduum so none is to rest in any Attainment until they come to the Center until they enjoy all that the precious Blood of Christ can purchase for them I have read a notable Story wherein we have by way of discourse betwixt a Begger and a Divine a notable Example of Self-resignation and an high Attainment of Perfection I mean as I said before perfectio partium non graduum of parts not of degrees for it can be no otherwise it is impossible to be as perfect as God Which is as follows There was a certain Divine famous in Learning and Piety that did earnestly importune God by prayer for some time together conceiving that he had not the true knowledge of the ways of God notwithstanding his much Learning attained belong Studies begging that God would give him to know more of him and himself and that God would direct him to some that would teach him the way of Truth and being inâ—lamed at a certain time with vehemency of desire a Voice as was supposed spake thus to him Go forth to the Church yard and there thou mayest find a man that can teach thee the way And going forth he found there a certain Beggar with patched and torn Apparel and filthy dirty feet whose cloaths were not worth three half-pence whom he spake thus unto Divine God give thee a good morning Beggar Sir I do not remember that ever I had an evil one Div. God make thee fortunate and prosperous Why speakest thou on this manner Beg. Neither was I unprosperous neither was I ever unhappy Div. God save thee speak now plainly Beg. Truly Sir I will do it willingly Sir Thou didst wish me a prosperous and good Motning and I answered I never had an evil one for when I am pinched with hunger I praise God if I suffer cold if it snow if it hail or rain if the weather be fair or foul I praise God and therefore there never happened any sad or evil Morning to me Thou didst likewise wish that I might be fortunate I said I was never unfortunate because whatever God gave me I suffered or whatever hapned to me whether it were agreeable to me or otherwise were it sweet or bitter to me I gladly received it at his hands as the best and therefore I was never unfortunate Thou saidst moreover that God would be eased to make me happy whereunto I likewise answered That I never had been unhappy for I am fully resolved through his Grace to adhere and cleave to the will of God abandoning mine own will into which I have so wholly poured out my will that whatsoever he will I may will the same and for this cause as I said I was never unhappy being that I will cleave to his will only and have wholly resigned mine own proper will Div. This is very strange but what I pray thee wouldest thou do if the Lord of Majesty should cast thee into the bottomless pit couldst thou be content with his will Beg. Drown me in the bottomless pit Why certainly if he should I have two arms by which I would still embrace him the one is true Humility and that I lay under him and by him I am united to his sacred Humanity The other and that is the right one which is Love which is united to his Divinity and also by this Love from himself I hold him so fast that he would go down to Hell with me and it is much better for me to be in Hell with God than in Heaven without him By this the Divine learned That the most compendious way to God is a true Resignation with profound Humility Hereupon the Divine spake again to the Beggar and asked him Div. Whence comest thou Beg. From God Div. Where foundest thou God Beg. Even there where I left all the Creatures Div. I pray thee friend Who art thou Beg. Who am I Truly I am a King and Jesus himself crowned me with Peace Power and Rest Div. A King Where is thy Kingdom Beg. Sir the Kingdom of Heaven is within me that is in my Soul and I can now and and do by his power not mine own in me so govern and command all my inward Parts and Senses that all the Assections and Powers of the Old Man in my Soul are conquered and are in subjection to me which Kingdom no man can doubt but is better than all the Kingdoms and Glories in the World Divine What brought thee to this Perfection Beg. My sublime Meditations and union with that great God of Peace and improvement of Mercies to his Glory and by growing in Grace adding one Grace to another and I could rest in nothing less than an assurance of God's Love and this I have found I have forsaken the unquiet World and in him I have peace of Conscience and therein I rest And thus we see to what an excellency of Perfection may be attained But to conclude our Discourse I shall give thee in five words though very comprehensively the whole duty of a Christian 1. Be much in the Mortification work Get thy Corruptions subdued and mortifie all sin in thee otherwise thou shalt nay canst not have a communion with God 2. Be sure above all things to get thy self in favour with Christ for withal thou must understand of and from him thy Salvation is and doth proceed he it is that hath purchased both thy Salvation it self the way also and the means thereunto and without him thou canst do nothing 3. Bear much in mind the great day of accompt that thou may'st give up thy accompt with joy otherwise thou wilt never be
inconceivable delight to all Eternity in another World with St. Chrysostom chuse rather the punishments of Hell than offend Christ Of the pains of Sense 1. COnsider the horror anxiousness heart-corroding and too late vain repentance that will torment thy Soul for thy so sinful transacted life when thou thinkest how many precious opportunities thou mightest have improved for thy Souls eternal good but hast wilfully cast them away how many a good Sermon and Soul-market thou didst negligently go through How many dreadful things thou hast committed How many necessary duties thou hast omitted How thou hast dishonoured God grieved Friends and Relations and when thou wast call'd upon to repent thou wouldst not turn and live Ah! I say such considerations as these will then tear thy Soul to pieces and be a great part of thy Hell 2. And as to the things thou doest at present feel they will be unexpressible There is no tongue can express or heart conceive the extremity and exquisiteness of it all that the angry Arm of an Almighty power can inflict upon thee O sinner shall be inflicted upon thee to the full In a word If the several pains of Discases and Maladies incident to our Nature nay and add to it all the most exquisite and unheard of Tortures c. be collected all into one extream anguish yet it will be nothing to the Torment which shall ever possess and plague the least part of a damned Body And as for the Soul let all the griefs horrors and dispairs that ever rent in pieces any heavy heart and vexed consciences c. be heapt together into one extream Terror it would all fall infinitely short of that desperate rage and restless anguish which shall eternally torture the least and lowest faculty of the Soul Oh what rational man that hath Understanding Affections and Senses would not tremble at such thoughts as these and seriously project how to evade all this 3. As to the everlastingness of these Tortures consider that that will be another Hell to thee O Eternity Eternity upon which depends the height length breadth and depth of immortality in the World to come even two Eternities the one infinitely Blessed and the other infinitely Cursed the loss of everlasting joys and lying in eternal flames and never ending pleasures or pains follow the well or mispending this moment upon Earth With what unwearied Care and Watchfulness ought we to watch all the days of our appointed time to make our Calling and Election sure With what industry and diligence to ply this Moment to fit us for that Eternity Of the Joys of Heaven THe excellency of Heaven no mortal Heart no finite Head can possibly Conceive or Comprehend The Eye of Man hath seen Wonderful Things and the Ear heard most Delicious and Ravishing Melody the Heart can Conceive and Imagine strange Felicities yet cannot Apprehend this Our Gracious God in his Holy and unsearchable Wisdom doth detain from the Eye of our Understanding a full comprehension of the most Glorious state above to Exercise in the mean time our Faith Love Obedience Patience c. Heaven is caled a great City a Place most Glorious above all Comparison and Conceit Wherein many Mansions are Prepared for many thousands of glorified bodies after the last day besides the numberless numbers of blessed Angels Oh with what infinite sweet Delight may glorious Souls be Drowned in the Imaginations of these Felicities whilst in this vale of Tears Heaven is called the Kingdom of God of his own making who doth all things like himself It is called an Inheritance a rich and glorious Inheritance an Inheritance of the Saints in Light an Inheritance incorruptible a Crown of Righteousness a Crown of Life a Crown of Glory an exceeding Eternal weight of Glory fulness of Joys Everlasting Pleasures Who would not be ravisht with the very thoughts of this eternal and matchless Glory to which all other things are but as loss and dung and in comparison of whom are not worthy mentioning Of the Beauty and Blessedness of Glorfied Bodies THey shall be made like the Glorious Body of Christ and that is Honour enough and Happiness too besides their freedom from all Defects and Imperfections they shall be like the Angels of God in Heaven Pains Miseries and all Evils they shall have an Everlasting Redemption from and shall be Crowned Gloriously with many possitive Prerogatives c. 1. Imortality Glorified bodies cannot possibly die 2. Incorruptibleness never more to be obnoxious to the least Corruption or Putrefaction or Dissolution They shall be Spiritual and Heavenly as the Angels in Heaven and in all things subject to the Spirit of God Of the Happiness of the Soul WE shall know as we are known our Memory shall be perfected we shall be beatifically enlightned with a clear and glorious sight of God himself which Divines call a Beatifical Vision It is sufficient that in Heaven we shall see him face to face whose very Countenance to behold is the life of the Soul It ravisheth the Soul and fills it yea as full as ever it can hold or contain insomuch as some that have had but a glimpse of it whilest in this lower Orb have cryed out Enough enough Lord I can hold no more And if so full by one glance here what shall it be when immerg'd in the middest of that boundless Ocean of Immortality and Glory that for its Immensity can never be defined Paul when taken up in the Third Heaven saw things unutterable not to be express'd by any mortal man as if he should have said If any one should ask me what I saw I saw things a thousand times beyond what I or any montal man can express or imagine O the heighth breadth length and depth of that glory that is prepared for the Saints before the foundation of the the World Eye hath not seen Ear hath not heard neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive what great things are laid up for them that love God O happy Soul that shall be drowned in this boundless happiness No wonder if the sense of this makes Martyrs to rejoyce in their sufferings Paul desired to be dissolved A Consolatary Discourse OR A DIALOGUE between CHRIST and a Disquiet SOVL Christ MY Beloved why fearest thou and art so disquieted within thy self do'st thou well to be angry with my Chastisement And why art thou offended that I should make thee like unto my self causing thee to walk in that way of inward and outward griefs which I did tread before thee Why refusest thou to take up my Cross and follow me and to taste of that Cup that I drank before thee Soul O Lord give me of that Spirit of thine and that trouble with thee and for thee shall be sweet unto me Whatsoever thou didst bear it was for me and if I were so disposed as I should then would I be content to bear all that thou my God shouldst lay upon me But ah
Power working in thy Soul Have I not sprinkled thy Conscience with my pacifying Blood from which hath flowed an attestation of good things such a sense of mercy as many times hath filled thy heart with Joy and thy mouth with a song of Praise Have not I stirred thee up in great fervency to call on the Name of the Lord Have I not made thee to give my Name a publick testimony with thine own disadvantage and how oft hath thine heart been effectually moved at the hearing of my Word in such sort as it hath wrought in thee an holy remorse and inward contrition for thy sins which hath broken out into tears Have I not made thee a wrestler against thine inordinate lusts Have I not given thee strength many a time to stand against Sathans tentations whereas if I had left thee to thy self how oft hadst thou been made a prey to thine enemy Rememberest thou not that the Tempter hath assaulted thee but I have withdrawn the occasion of thy sin and when the occasion served did I not restrain and hold back the Tempter yea when both the occasion and the Tempter were present have I not filled thy heart with the fear and love of my Name and so kept thee from sinning against me And whereas many times thou of thy weakness hast offended did I not with a melting Heart and a mourning Eye raise thee again and renew my former familiarity with thee so that thou canst never say from the first hour I began to renew thee that I suffered thee to lie in thy sins as have done others that are strangers to my Grace And many notable effects of my workings in thee thou canst not deny Are not these undoubted tokens of my Grace in thee Will Nature do such things Mayest not thou feel that by these I have begun to apply to thee my merit for the remission of thy sins and my vertue for quickning thee to a new life Therefore think of thy self as basely as thou wilt but let the work of my Grace be esteemed of thee according to the excellency of it Be humble and cast down when thou lookest upon thine own corruption I find no fault with thee but I rejoyce at the new workmanship I have begun in thee Indeed if there were nothing in thee but that which thou hast of Nature thy estate were miserable but seeing thou seest a new workmanship in thee be comforted Art thou so in darkness that there is no light in thee that besides it there is not in thee a will to do good also and a love to righteousness If thou sayest thou hast no sin in thee thou art a liar and thinkest thou that I who have begun to translate thee from darkness to light and to make thee a new creature will leave thee until I have done my work in and upon thee Therefore beloved give not ear to thine own Corruption and Satan as to take their testimony against thee or to make thee think that my pledges that I have given thee are not worthy of credit that by them thou shouldest be assured of mercy Soul I cannot deny O Lord but that many times I have felt the sweetness of thy consolations which have greatly rejoyced my Soul But alas my grief is so much the greater that by mine own default I should now be deprived of them for I have grieved thy holy Spirit yea I have done what I could to quench him and therefore it is that the Comforter who was wont to refresh my Soul is away nor can I feel his presence with me as before Christ Because I am not changed therefore is it that the Sons of Jacob are not consumed Many indeed are the changes whereunto ye are subject but I remain the same and there is no shadow of alteration in me James 1.17 Be not afraid O my well beloved neither esteem thy self to be rejected of me albeit I sometimes hide my Face from thee all my ways are mercy and truth to mine It is for thee that sometimes I go from thee and it is for thee that again I turn unto thee for if I come it is for thy consolation that continual heaviness through manifold temptations should not oppress thee How oft hast thou found this when thou wast sick of love I have strengthened thee with the Flaggons of Wine and comforted thee with my Apples my fruit hath been sweet in thy mouth and I have put my left hand under thy head and with my right hand I have embraced thee Can. 2. But least the greatness of my consolations should exalt thee to disdain thy Brother and offend me by imputing that to thine own disposition I have again drawn these glorious feelings from thee give me the praise that I know best what is expedient for thee Had my servant Paul need to be humbled with the buffets of Sathan lest he should be exalted above measure by the greatness of his Revelations and hast not thou need that by my inward exercises I should hold thee humble If my comfort were always present with thee thou wouldest think that thy Heaven and permanent City were on Earth and so cease to inquire for a better to come Thou wouldest take the place of thy Banishment for thy home and the Earnest for the Principal Summe which I have promised thee Consider this wifely with thy self that albeit I smile not alike on thee at all times and fill thee not always with my Joys yet I always love thee if thou continue in my Love for whom I love I love unto the end If I close my Chamber door upon thee it is not to hold thee out it is to learn thee to knock If I cover my self with many vails that thou canst not see a glance of my loving Countenance 't is only to stir thee up to seek me and if sometimes I seem to go from thee 't is to provoke thee to follow me that thou mayest make haste from the Earth to Heaven where thou shalt injoy me without intermission Was Joseph so wise as to conceal his tender affection from his Brethren till he brought them to an humble acknowledgment of their sin And was he again so loving as when he saw them so humbled his affection was enflamed and compelled him to reveal himself unto them And thinkest thou that I am less wise and loving in dealing with mine I gave at first sharp answers to that Woman of Canaans Petitions and so will I to deal roughly seemingly with those whom I love and to be angry even at their Prayers but in the end I will make my love manifest to them and with mine endless mercies imbrace them Soul Suffer me yet once again Lord to speak unto thee that thou mayest answer me and I shall complain no more If we saw that such were our Disposition as thy holy Word doth require in us then should thy comforts rejoyce us but alas how far am I from that which I should be my
may continue therein serving thee in Holiness and Righteousnes all the days of my life till I shall enjoy thy self fully to all Eternity in Heaven where there shall be an end of these things and that for thy Names sake Amen Short though sweet MEDITATIONS Or sweet Cordials for the HEART 1. IT is folly to think that we should have Physick and Health both at one time resolve therefore upon waiting his leisure after a weary Week comes a Sabbath and after a Fight Victory 2. Unkindness of others to us is but a correction of our unkindness to God 3. He that can't abound without Pride and High-mindedness will never want without too much dejectedness 4. Let us not seek our selves abroad out of our selves in the conceits of other men That man shall never lie quiet that hath not learned to set light by others causeless ill conceits 5. Them that set too high a price upon themselves where others will not come up to their price they are discontented 6. Those whose condition is above their worth and their pride above their condition shall never want forrow yet we must maintain our Authority in our places for that is Gods and not ours and we ought ro carry our selves so as that we may approve our selves to their consciences though we can't have their good word 7. One end why God suffereth the Soul to tire and beat it self is that finding no rest in it self it might seek to God 8. A man can be in no condition wherein God is at a loss if comfort be wanting he can create Comfort not only out of nothing but out of discomfort He made the Whale that swallowed Jonas a means to bring him to Land 9. The only way to have our will is to bring it to Gods Will. 10. The way patiently to suffer Gods will is to enure our selves to do it they that have not enured themselves to the yoke of obedience will never endure the yoke of suffering 11. When we can say to God Wilt thou have me poor and disregarded I am well content Thus a gedly Man says Amen to Gods Amen and puts his Fiat to Gods Fiat 12. None feel more Experience of Gods Providence than those that are most resolute in their obedience 13 After we have given Glory to God by relying upon his Wisdom Power Strength and Truth we shall find him imploying these for our Direction Assistance and bringing things to our desired Issue yea above what we desire or thought of 14. The more Passion the less Discretion because Passion hinders the sight of what is to be done 15. It is good to observe the particular Becks of Providence how things joyn and meet together Fit occasions and suiting of things are intimation of Gods Will. Providence hath a Languags which is well understood by those that have familiar acquaintance with God They see a train of Providence leading one way more then another 16. Labour to fit a promise to every condition thou art in There is no condition but hath a promise suitable to it 17. He that loveth too much will grieve too much It is the greatness of our Affection that causeth our Affliction 18. All our noise proceeds from a Swelling Vapour of Pride It is Air inclosed in the Bowels of the Earth that shakes it which all the four Winds can't do 19. There is an Art of bearing troubles if we can learn it without over-troubling our selves as in bearing a burthen there is a way to poize it that it weigh not over heavy if it hang on one side it poizeth the Body down the greater part we pull on our selves by not imparting our Care so as to take upon us only the care of duty and leave the rest to God 20. We must not mingle our Passions with our Crosses like foolish Patients chewing the Pills which they should swallow dovvn 21. He that sees not God every where sees him no where 22. He that loses himself in self denia I finds himself in Gods Bosom 23. In Prosperity fear God in Adversity love God 24. Praying will make thee leave sinning or sinning make thee leave praying 25. Our weakness and inabilities break not the bond of our duties 26. No sin but is easier kept out than cast out 27. What we are afraid to do before men we should be afraid to think before God 28. Nature vexed and Nature armed soon discovers it self 29. They that retain the memory of mercies seldom lose the sight of mercies 30. What unthankfulness is this to think upon two or three crosses so as to forget an hundred blessings What folly is it to darken our Spirits and to indispose our selves to the taking or doing of good 31. A Limb out of joynt can do nothing without deformity and pain Dejection takes off the wheels of the Soul Joy is as Oyl to the Soul it makes Duties come off chearfully from our selves pleasing to others and acceptable to God 32. Let us go on to add Grace unto Grace a growing Christian is always a comsortable Christian the Oyl of Grace will bring forth the Oyl of Gladness 33. Melancholy Persons are things that seem black and dark to themselves their Souls are as it were dead-black whatsoever comes to a Melancholy Person comes in a dark way to his Soul 34. In all grievances let us look to something that may comfort us as well as discourage us let us look as well to what we enjoy as to what we want As in Prosperity God mingles some cross to diet us so in all crosses there is some thing to comsort us As there is vanity lieth hid in the best worldly good so there is a blessing lies hid in the greatest worldly evil 35. We must neither bring sin to nor mingle sin with our sufferings for that will trouble the Soul more than the trouble it self We are not hurt till our Souls be hurt 36. In sudden encounters some sin doth many times discover it self the seed whereof lieth hid in our hearts which we think our selves free from What cause have we then to fear continually that we are worse than we take our selves to be The force of Gun-powder is not known till some sparks lite in it 37. What a sight were it to see the Feet where the Head is and the Earth to be where the Heaven is To the Spiritual Eye it seems as great a deformity to see the Soul to be under sinful passions 38. A good heart when any Corruption is discovered by a searching Ministry is affected as though it found out some deadly enemy Techiness and Passion argues Guilt 39. The imaginary grievances of this life are more than the real 40. The way to expel Wind out of the Body is to take wholesome Nourishment so to expel Windy Fancies from the Soul is to feed upon Serious Truths Our best way therefore is to propound three objects to the mind as 1. To consider the greatness and goodness of God 2. The Joys of
Heaven and the Torments of Hell And 3. The last and strict day of account 4. The vanity of Earthly Things 5. The uncertainty of our Lives 41. A Man naturally is weaving Spiders Webbs or hatching Cockatrice Eggs exercised either in mischief or vanity 42. It would much avail to the well-ordering of our thoughts to set our Souls in order every morning and to streng-then and perfume every morning our Spirits with some gracious Meditations especially of the chief end and scope wherefore we live and how every thing may be reduced and ordered to farther the main that is to say Gods Glory and our own Salvation 43. Some will be content to embrace Truth without hatred of the World and Christ without a Cross and a Godly Life without a Persecution They will pull a Rose without Pricks Such empty conceits will be too weak to encounter with such real Trials 44. It is a course that will have a blessing attended to joyn in a league one to watch over another and to observe each others ways T is usual to joyn in Prayer why not in this 45. Happy is he that in the way to Heaven meets with a chearful and skilful Guid and fellow Traveller that carrieth Corbials against all faintings of Spirit 46. There is an heavy imputation on them that comforted not the weak when men will not own others in trouble but as the herd of Deer forsake and push away the wounded from them 47. God often suspends comforts from us to make use of our Christian Friends by whom he purposeth to do us good Oftentimes the very opening of mens griefs brings ease without any farther workings upon them the very opening of a Vein cooleth the Blood 48. A Christian when he is beaten out of all other comforts yet hath a God to turn unto he can wrestle with him with his own Strength and plead with him with his own Arguments 49. Labour to answer every relation wherein thou standest to God 1. As a Father by trusting to his care 2. A Teacher by following his Direction 3. A Creator by depending on him 4. As an Husband by an inseparable love to him 5. And lastly as a Lord by obedience to him 50. Despair is often ground of hope when the darkness of the night is thickest then the morning begins to dawn 51. We may safely expect God in his ways of mercy when we are in his ways of obedience 52. By trusting any thing more than God we make it an Idol and a Curse It will prove a lying vanity and vexation bringing that upon us we looked not for 53. 'T is a vain pretence to believe that God will give us Heaven and yet to leave our selves to shift in the way 54. The way to have any thing taken away and not blest is to set our hearts too much upon it 55. The greatest honour we can do to God is when we see nothing for us but 〈…〉 things contrary to what we look for then to shut our eyes to all inferior things and to look altogether to his sufâ—â—â—â—â— 56. It is an 〈…〉 of true trust when 〈◊〉 a wait Gods leisure and not make haâ—â— 57. â—â—ith doth not especially at first so â—â—â—y the Soul as to take away all suspicion and fears to the contrary though the prevailing of mis-belief is taken away The Needle in the Compass will stand North though with some trembling and the Ship that lieth at Anchor may sometimes be tossed yet it will remain so fastned that it cannot be carried away by wind or weather 58. Look not so much on those miseries which our weak Natures are subject unto as upon God for strength and comfort in them mitigation of them and grace to profit by them 59. The time of sickness is the time of purging from the defilements of sin which we have gathered in our health till we come purer out which should make us the rather willing to obey God and abide his time Blessed is that sickness that proves the health of the Soul we are best for the most part when we are weakest 60. In all kind of troubles 't is not the ingredients that God puts into the Cup that so much afflicts as the ingredients of our distempered passion mingled with them 61. We are not much disquieted when we put off our Cloths and go to Bed because we trust Gods ordinary providence to raise us up again and why should we be disquieted when we put off our Bodies and sleep our last sleep considering that we are more sure to rise out of our Graves than our Beds yea we are already raised up in our head Christ 62. Let us do our own work and leave God to do his Diligence and Trust in him is only ours the rest of the burden is his Let us think of Christ as our duty and God will think what is for our comfort 63. In the worst times there is a presence of God with his Children 1. By moderating the measure 2. The time 3. In joyning some comfort with it And 4. By supportation 65. A good Christian hath 1. A God to go unto 2. A Promise 3. Former Experience besides some present Experience 65. What is our Life but a Web woven with some intermingling of Wants and Favours Crosses and Blessings Risings and Fallings Combats and Victories 66. God deferrs but his deferring is no empty space wherein no good is done but there is in that space a fitting for the Promise 67. Christ prays in the Garden before he enters into the Combate of his resolved passion whence we may learn that Prayer is an Anchor to stay the Soul being tossed a support under a burden a removal of a judgment or an affliction or changes the nature of the affliction 68. It is more comfort to receive strength in suffering than to be delivered from suffering 69. Our sins were the cause of Christs Agony the Thorns that prick'd him the Spear that pierced him the Torments that afflicted him 70. We should always abhor sin more in regard it is hateful to God than because it is hurtful to us 71. We had need to pray that the great change be wrought in us before the great change be wrought upon us 72. As the Blood of Jesus only can free us from the guilt of sin so his Spirit alone can cleanse our hearts from the filth of sin 73. Let us pray that God would shew us what we are by Nature and make us what he would have us by Grace 74. There is nothing terrible in death but what a wicked life hath made so 75. Let us chuse to suffer rather than sin seeing we may suffer without sin but we can never sin without suffering 76. Shall Christ shed his Blood for those sins that were others and shall not we shed tears for sins that are our own 78. A true Christian believes that good works can't save him and yet he believes that he can't be saved without them 79. Let us repent