laboriously wicked and for a profitable iniquity think it no loss to be thrivingly damn'd Are there not nobler wayes of living then by losing our names and Souls at once Is infidelity a preservative against misery and must we build our supports on the ruines of our faith Piety makes no man poorer nor does religion robbe us of our enjoyments but makes them sweeter Our contentments are not lessened but enlarged and lengthned by adoring the Giver nor is he the further from but the neerer to a blessing that begins with Heaven and preferres his Saviour before the World Designes thus founded are not ever unfortunate and he that plots for his Soul as well as his body shall learne a policy will bafle the World and non-plus its wisest Generations when after all his losses he shall finde a reward richer then all the revenues of the Earth together And yet so insensible are we O Lord both of thy Glory and our own felicity that we can entertaine any thing with more pleasure then the thoughts of an eternity we can spend the allowance of our time in sin and sacrifice even all our yeares to vice but count a moment too long too much to be employed in thy service we can dwell and drown our selves in pleasures and think a few spare minutes a faire gift of time for our devotion The treasures of the world are a poore gaine for the Morgage of a Soul and the losse of thy favour even the richest enjoyments of this life are but wretched contentments without Thee Do thou therefore elevate our Souls and withdraw them from these beggerly elements to purer and more celestiall addresses let thy Kingdome be not our refuge onely but our choice and the perfect resolution of our souls to despise the flatteries of the world for that glory which nothing but our sins can deprive us of And as thou hast made us for thy self O Lord inable us to continue so that as we have received all that we have from thy bounty we may sacrifice all our desires to thy glory knowing that as nothing in this life can make us happy without thee so nothing can make him miserable that hath Thy Kingdome for his Inheritance A Prayer O Lord who inhabitest Eternity Thou art Exalted above all Principalities and powers Saints and Seraphims are ravished with thy Glory Angels and Archangels adore thy Greatnesse Holinesse and Honour waite upon Thy Throne the Scepter of thy Kingdome is an everlasting Scepter Thou lovest Righteousnesse and hatest iniquity and therefore they that come before Thee must worship Thee in Spirit and in Truth if they would be either heard or received of Thee Wee confess we are not worthy to appeare in Thy Presence that can present unto Thee no other offering than Sinfull and deformed Soules which deserve no longer to be accounted thine having lost that purity and likenesse which made them so We are not worthy to receive any more tenders of Mercy that have so often despised it nor to see what is the riches of thy Love that have so unworthily preferred the trifles of this Life before the treasures of thy Grace Thou mad'st it the end of our Creation that we should Glorifie Thee but we of all thy Creatures have least performed it That time which we should have employed in adorning and devoting our lives to thy Worship which is our most rationall and religious service have we Sacrificed to sinne and the pleasures of the World Thou art so infinitely Good that thou desirest but unfaigned Sorrow for sinne to excuse it and yet so miserable and deeply guilty are we that we cannot bring so much as humble and contrite Spirits to plead for our selves Thou didst so love the World that Thou sentest thy Son to dye for it But we have so lov'd the World that we have despised Heaven and our Saviour rejected the Holy One whom Thou hast sent and by our unworthy lives dishonoured that happy Name whereby we are called Thine and intitled to thy Kingdome But though our sinnes cry aloud for punishment yet the voyce of thine owne mercy and Our Saviours blood begs more powerfully for Pardon O Let His Sufferings be our reconciliation his punishment for sin our freedome from it let the bitternesse of thy wrath on Him be turn'd into the sweetnesse of thy love to us that his crosse may be our triumph and the merits of his passion the purchase of our peace and grant that having obtained mercy we may walk accordingly that being bought for heaven we may no more sell our selves to sin nor prefer a few moments of pleasure before an eternity of joy Make us to consider those Divine ties that bind us to serve Thee the infinit and abundant testimonies of thy love which invite our gratitude and that happinesse which is the reward of them that seek Thee O let not the motions of sinne be more powerfull in us than the obligations of thy grace nor the pleasures of this life of more value to us than the joyes that are to come But make us to walke cheerfully in that way which thou hast set before us that our temptations may but strengthen us more that neither the crosses nor yet the pleasures of this life may be able to deject or drowne our piety but that in whatsoever condition wee are we may be still found crowned and triumphing in faith O thou infinite Goodness teach us to a dore Thee with our whole heart and to conforme our lives unto thy law with a perfect constancy Make us to consider that exceeding weight of glory which thou hast promised to those that strive to conquer the world for thy sake O let those joyes which are so much above our thoughts be ever in them let our inability to comprehend the happinesse of thy kingdome heighten the piety of our Ambition after it more that the greater thy goodnesse is the greater may our desire after it be the greater thy love the greater our obedience and the lesser our deserts the greater our humility Make us to see the litle use but the great vanity of this world that so the pleasures of it may not steale away our hearts from the contemplation of a better but that our lives may be a perfect and perpetuall sacrifice of obedience ever pleasing in thy eyes O let thy service be ever most delightfull to us that we may labour to improove our selves before Thee by our inward and onely desires after thee that whatever defects attend our actions this may be inseparable in us even to feare thy name That so leading holy lives here we may lead happy and heavenly lives hereafter and being filled with Righteousnesse we may be filled with glory and possesse joyes unspeakable for evermore A Poenitentiall Prayer THe flesh evermore rebelleth against the spirit in me O my God and the infirmities of my nature are too strong for me of my self to conquer Behold how my frailties fight against my soul and have
life onely and no other expectation for us besides the pleasures of Mortality And yet how many are there that pretend to follow Jesus but are meer strangers to his footsteps that pursue tracks not of his making but their owne finding That path which so many holy men have footed before us is too common too prophane for them to tread in they have found out a neerer Cut of their own and think they shall come to Heaven the sooner by turning out of the way So unfortunate is that zeal which will needs be wandring after spurious and impostur'd Lights and scorning the usuall footsteps of the Church loses it selfe in the blind and dark Meanders of Enthusiasme The way to heaven is not in a Corner and however narrow is open still 't is a path whose prospect is happinesse nor need he feare to lose his way that doth not wilfully turne out of it the poore Man here all transported runs to Jesus and mixing Humility with Resolution because he will not be denyed in a begging kind of Confidence tells him Lord c. Who would not foot it even through wants and wildernesses to come to Canaan He that followes Jesus shall have no Cause to repent his journey He shall find such treasures even in the poverties of religion so much of Heaven and Contentment in the seeming miseries of a pious life that he will not need much perswasion to make it his own resolution here and cheerfully leave all to follow Jesus Do thou therefore elevate our souls from the world O Lord and make them covetous of seeking thee and the things that are above Thou art ascended to thy Throne in the rapture of Glory draw our souls after thee in the raptures of Love and spirituall exaltation that we may make the virtues and perfection of thy Life the rule of ours and grant that we may not be so affected with the things of this world that we should have no passion for thy Glory but make us to walke Cheerfully in that way which thou hast gon and set before us that as we live by thy Goodnesse we may live to thy Glory and as we move in Thee we may be ever moving towards Thee till we enjoy the Happinesse of an eternall rest in thy Kingdome Matth. Chap. 9. v. 38. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the Harvest that He would send forth more labourers into his harvest NO Prayer more necessary than this nor this ever so much as now Who would not burne and labour in his devotions and earnestly press heaven with restlesse and religious votes to Compassionate our want Every one may well make it his vocation now without encroching on anothers office and turne labourers in so pious a work as this to pray for the prosperity of the Gospell Who can see the Garden of the Lord become a desart folds of Lambs inhabited by foxes the House of prayer turn'd into the ruines of Sacriledge and the Messengers of our peace glad to become the objects of our pitty without mournfull and Compassionate reflections How vainely do they pretend affection that strip their Mother and count the exorbitances of their Phansies the decencies of the Gospell Can there be any want of Labourers where so many are where every man becomes one himselfe when sheep become shepheards and Flocks are Metamorphosed into Pastors Every one can now handle the religious sickle he that can but talk or smatter Scripture thinks himselfe divinely calld sufficiently inspired for a Sermon and out of the simplicity of his zeal will needs be climbing up a pulpit Thus multitudes of teachers produce a scarcity and we want the more by having so many We may well pray then for a new Mission or the taking away of those that do not hedge but devour the vineyard He that loves his Saviour will delight and triumph in the felicity of his spouse in whose armes alone we can mount to happinesse and ever beg a perpetuity of its Glory He deserves not to reape or share in the bliss of an immortall harvest that will neither labour himself nor pray for the prosperity and increase of them that do And who O Lord can cast his Eye upon thy bleeding Spouse without a teare or upon its unruly Adversaries without a Sigh for its protection O let thy accustomed mercy stop the wildest Boare and root out the most mischievous foxes that may destroy it Thou hast founded It upon a Rock no storms shall ruine it and hast plac't it on high to be seen and approacht by all let us not blindly turn out of the Way or fal into praecipices for want of knowing guides Let not thy Oracles become dumbe for want of Priests or the Glad tydings of our Peace be turned to silence for want of faithfull messengers but thou O Lord both supply defects and reforme abuses that sensibly creepe in forgive the Zeale of those they know not what they do Let the Light of thy countenance graciously dispell that darknesse and confusion wherein we lye Eclips't Then shall we sing and Prayse Thy Power Matth. 2. Vers 10. And when they saw the Starre they rejoyced with exceeding great Joy COuld a Starre become such a welcome object to Astrologers whose eyes had contracted an acquaintance with the Spheres and taught the Planets to become familiar Or was it the appearance of a new born Light that crown'd their Joy That Stars should become guides and not only light but Leade me too 't was indeed a wonder they never saw before and which no Astronomer besides themselves though never so celestiall could yet Parallel Had Aristotâ—e known this he would have made the Stars the Dieties of the Sphears and not pearcht Intelligences at their backs to roule them This was some living splendour sure that could both shine and shew the way A luminary more quicking then that Giant one that spreads the Morne and carries Time within his armes And they whose ruder devotion whose Idolatry taught them to adore the Sun could not but religiously salute the Herauld of a brighter One they came to worship See how Pagans foot it from the East and cheerfully make it but a walke from the remotest Climate to come and worship a Redeemer while some will scarce travell from their chambers to present a cheaper offering of gratitude than this They counted it the best journey they ever made and for a testimony of their joy presented offerings the richest their Countries yeilded and made the Inne their Temple to pay the tribute of their adoration in to the Lord of Glory whilst some sacrilegiously strip him of his Divinity for the greater honour of his name They had but a single starre to guide them but we can shew multitudes of new lights to darken the Gospell troops of Quaking comets the Apparition of whose zealous and fiery aspects would rather fright then lead the way Thus pretended Illuminations of our owne making do not embrighten but eclipse religion and instead of opening
they will be at no Expences in their Worship like the thrifty Disciple they will not goe to the Cost of Serving God Handsomely How happy was Zacheus whose poore habitation our Saviour pickt out beyond the rest to harbour in and Honour with his presence nor yet was so Rich a Mercy confined to him alone but extended to the whole World too Every family may if they will share in the same fortune This day is Salvation come to every one Hear this then whoever thou art that Sacrificest thy Soul to any thing but Heaven that dancest to the Musick of the World and makest Eternity a Stranger to thy thoughts Canst thou deny thy Saviour an admission or thinke it a trouble to leave the foolish interests of the World and welcome the most Holy Jesus Behold the Miseries of our Natures which will not be perswaded to become happy but suffer an immortall joy to be lost for ever in embraces heere Thou hast brought us from Nothing O Lord that we might see thy Salvation that we who might have been for ever without Thee might through the Knowledge of Thy selfe be made partakers of thy Glory O Enliven us that we may give up our selves wholly to thy Service and perpetually study to do something to the Honour of thy Name that we may not throw away those Soules on the vanities of the world which thou hast given us for Thy selfe and to be employed in thy Service but that Sacrificing our Wills to Thine and our lives to a perfect Love of Thee we may find that joy which accompanies thy Grace heere and that Glory which knows no end or change hereafter in Thy presence for evermore Math. Chap. 13. v. 43. Then shall the Righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdome of their Father WHo then would not be ambitious of so bright a change to become purely Coelestiall to have his body turn'd into a Luminary and every part transformed to lustre when man shall become not onely a Living soul but a Living splendour too and his immortal breath in it's reunion instead of parts find beames to quicken Heare this ye blind admirers of the world that look no higher then a Diadem a purple robe or some honourable trifle and sell your brightest inheritance for a splendid toy Heare this ye Beauries that carry charmes of Lustre in your faces and think your eyes are not onely spheares but treasuries of Light whose attire Emulates the starrs and carries splendour with it that weare your happiness on your back and count a silver vanity your Glory Heare this who ever thou art that canst dote on shadowes the flashes of a transitory pomp and for a glorious Mortality bidst adiew to heaven and an Immortall-blisse Couldst thou put on a roabe of Starrs or pull rayes from that Royall luminary that embrightens the world they would be but gloomy splendours bright obscurities to that Glory that enwraps a Saint The lustre of the heavens is but an emblem of our owne the Prince of planets that dishevells his rays and revels it in splendour the great Magazine that stocks the world with light is but a Curtaine to that Tabernacle that shall invest us Our toombs are our wardrobes for heaven and those Chambers of death whose hangings are winding sheets overlaid with dust are the out-rooms that strip us for our robe of immortality the opening of our Graves is the beginning of our happinesse and we are gather'd to our fathers that we may be gather'd to eternity If that Glimpse which the Disciples saw in the mount made them wish for three tabernacles or an eternall abode there how shall the beauty of revealed Heaven and the glory of an ascended Saviour ravish us with desires after its enjoyment It was the Martyrs comfort amidst their tortures that though their members were in peeces yet the haires of their head were numbred Wert thou bottomed in the seas depth his power can buoy the up if crusted into the earths rubbish he can abstract and forme thee a finer creature then ever thou wert If Peters shadow could cure the sick how powerfull must He be who is Peters Glory He whose name is in the Book of Life dies here but to be laid as it were in a Presse to be extracted a purer modell for eternity Who then would not onely despise the world but welcome even misery for so invaluable a reward triumph in his greatest eclipse and become cheerfull in the midst of chaines He that knowes the glory of his inheritance will little value those pleasant trifles those rich nothings the world admires the painted joyes of an imaginary felicity but in nobler and Diviner expectations prepares himselfe for that change which knowes none where he shall have nothing else to do but to live forever and be eternally received as once the Disciple into the Bosome of his Saviour Thou didst make us for thy selfe O Lord and when we by our sins and follies had for ever lost thee Thou didst restore us to thy selfe againe that we might not be eternally deprived of Thee our onely Good O fill us with perpetuall meditations of thy Love let those joyes which are so much above our thoughts be ever in them let our inability to comprehend the happiness of thy kingdome heighten the piety of our ambition after it more that we may walke in some measure worthy of so Divine a purchase as heaven and as thou hast prepared it for us do thou prepare us for it Prepare us with all those heavenly graces that may entitle us to it and with all those spirituall desires that may make us breathe and long after it that so our hearts being there before we our selves may come after and being transported in our desires may be also in our persons to everlasting enjoyments Luke 18. v. 11. The Pharisee stood up and prayed thus God I thanke thee that I am not as other men are c. HOw ungratefully does the Proud Pharisee thank heaven how strangely hath pride altered him He that used to make long prayers intends to be but short now he stands up He comes not to pray but to bray not to adore God but to commend himself Here is not in the humour of being very devout being so taken up and ravisht with his owne graces that he had scarce either the time or the patience to remember the divine Author whose goodnesse he would seem to acknowledg but t is so colldy 't were better he were unthankfull still He exceeded other men indeed for his impudence was superlative Had he known himselfe better he would have been more thankfull and lesse proud How largely doth he urge heaven with his worth but makes no apology for his Pride he thanks God indeed but t is in transitu rather a complement then a Prayer though it be a sin to worship images he thinks it none to be his owne idolater and therefore dares present God with a catalogue of his own merits How perfectly
fragancy of his miracles Were the whole earth turn'd into an Arabia and it 's richest odours sublimed to a perfume were nature rifled of all it's sweets and it 's most ravishing vegetables crowded to a posy yet were they infinitly below the sweetnesse of this Rose Not that Centinel of nature the Marigold the early nymph of the goddess of the morne that rises from it's golden bed at the first appearance of its Lover not the Suns wooer the Heliotrope that strives to kiss and Circulate with that beaming Mover as if nature had flowerd the earth with Stars or made it's Coloured progeny idolaters of the Skie nor all those growing Prodigies that enamour both our eye and thoughts to admiration are not worthy to be Compared to this Heavenly Mirror the Rose Sharon O my Saviour I will run after the odour of thy perfumes and pant after those spirituall delights that stream from thy Throne Thou art infinitly amiable O imprint on my soul a purity that makes men capable of thy heavenly infusions the Divine irradiations of thy Grace and Love What is the Comelinesse of the Creatures but a drop of that transcendent excellency that is in thee O let it be my delight as it is my felicity to imitate the perfect innocency of thy life that through the sweetness of thy merits my Sacrifices may be found pleasing and that when this corruptible shall be changed and this mortall put on immortality I may receive the reward of the faithfull the inheritance of the just and be made partaker of everlasting Glory in thy presence for evermore Genes Chap. 28. v. 12. And he dreamed and behold a Ladder set upon the earth and the top of it reached unto heaven and behold the Angells of God ascending and descending on it NO sooner had Jacob made a stone his pillow such is the happiness of contented humility but a glorious Vision salutes his eye that obedience which brought him from his father on a journey to Syria became a nobler guide and shewed him the way to heaven those divine Travellers the Angels ascending and descending before him Happy solitude that met with such heavenly company the hardship of his lodging was abundantly recompenced by this blessed interview when the God of his father the Lord of all creatures appeared unto him reviving him with the gratious supports of his promises and providence When I look upon the posture of this happy sleeper I cannot chuse but wonder at the vanity of those that expect visions from heaven on their beds of down and look for revelations amidst their pleasures their tender spirits would grow fick and out of love with piety should it disturb or contradict their ease How quickly would their devotion catch cold should they with David get up at midnight to pray God drops not his miracles into the lap of the wanton nor communicates the riches of his glory but to those who are resigned to him John must be an Exile before he can be the Divine and have conference with none but Angels if he would be a fit Notary for heaven Those holy men that had no other company than solitude and their prayers could not have traffick'd so purely with heaven had they not disclaimed all commerce with the world and disroabing themselves of all secular interests obtained a nobler furniture of grace and became vessels of honour Jacob here had no other Canopy but the aire no other lights to his bed than the lamps of heaven and the Angels pass too and fro as it were a guard to secure him How securely doth he rest that leans on Providence and makes That the depository of his soul Repose thus blest becomes a Sanctuary nor need he fear to be disturbed in his sleep that makes God his keeper or that his pious night-thoughts shall have any other dreams than those of peace Jacob had no sooner closed his eyes but those holy Porters unlock the Heavens and invite him up but 't is by a ladder We cannot climb heaven in a moment the way to happiness is but by degrees and as our Saviour tells us 't is narrow too Every vertue is a step to eternity and he is so much nearer heaven that daily treads his vices under We cannot be too good proficients in a holy life or thinke that in the smallest acts of piety we have enough to carry us to happinesse 't is not a few steps but a constant progress that mounts us thither O how bad is he that thinks himselfe too good to be made better The Promises of thy Glory are infinite O Lord and yet how carelesly do we embrace them Thou hast shewen us the way unto thy Self and yet we are not only unwilling but even weary of walking to thee Alas Are the joyes of thy kingdome not worth the coming to can we think to climbe up unto thy Throne by a lame idle Devotion how nimbly do we pursue the vanities of the world but pretend a faintnesse in thy service We can run after the perishing concernments of this life but make little or no progresse in the race which Thou hast set before us Quicken us O Lord and make us more earnest and zealous in thy service and as thou hast sent thy son to bring us to thy Self do thou likewise send thy Spirit to sanctifie us for Thy self and then we who of our selves can scarce move unto thine Altar will by the assistance of thy Grace run the way of thy Commandements Proverbs 18. v. 14. But a Wounded Spirit who can beare NOt the purest temper not the vastest Bulke the world it self that hospitall of sinners cannot for it groanes and travailes it self to be delivered Heaven was no longer a place for those ambitious spirits who exchang'd their glory for those flames which torture them not so much as that infinite despaire which for ever secludes and sequesters them from it No wonder some think there is no other hell then this for its torments are not to be matcht Stakes or Gridirons are but flea-bites to this vulture tortures of the newest fashion are pleasant Martyrdoms easie paines compar'd to this Those dying miseries do but storme and affright sense whilst this living death this killing Life displayes its cruelties on a more heavenly object and striving to destroy and rifle an Immortall part makes death it selfe a gentle murtherer to it Skreeks of Owles that add blacknesse to the very night it selfe groanes of parting souls that fill the eare and room with trembling Epitaphs writt in characters mournful as the grave silence are harmonies to the dying Elegies of a wounded spirit that breathes nothing but bleeding Satyrs against it selfe See how with David it goes mourning all the day and all the night too surrounded with black and fatal Ideas and turnes his bed into a bath which those weeping springs his eyes have made and instead of bright and gentle aires breathes nothing but dark trembling accents which the buisy Divell