consists in Virtue and true Goodness it hence follows that all the Religion of the Means is insignificant to our Reconciliation with God if it doth not render us truly virtuous So that till this is effected there is so vast a Gulph between God and Us that neither We can go to Him nor He come to Vs and unless he alter his Nature by becoming impure as we are impure or we alter ours by becoming pure as He is pure there will be so immense a Distance between Him and Us as that it is impossible we should ever meet and agree So that what the Prophet saith of Sacrifice may be truly affirmed of all Religion of the Means Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or with ten thousands of Rivers of Oyl will He be reconciled upon our bare believing praying or receiving Sacraments c. No no He hath shewed thee O man what is good And what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God Mich. vi 7 8. II. THIS Religion of the Means is of no farther Use as to the perfecting our Natures than as it is instrumental to produce and promote in us those Heavenly Virtues which are implied in the Religion of the End For doubtless to be a Perfect Man is to live up to the Highest Principle of Humane Nature which is Reason and till we are once released from the slavery of Sense and Passion and all our Powers of Action are so subdued to this superiour Principle as to be wholly regulated by it and we chuse and refuse and love and hate and hope and fear and desire and delight according as right Reason directs we are in a maimed and imperfect Condition Now what else is Virtue but a Habit of Living according to the Laws of Reason or of demeaning our selves towards God our selves and all the World as best becomes Rational Beings placed in our Condition and Circumstances And till we are in some measure arrived to this our Nature is so far from being perfect that it is the most wretched and confused thing in the whole world A more undistinguished Chaos where Frigida cum Calidis Sense and Reason Brute and Man are shuffled together without any order like a confounded Heap of Ruines And therefore as for this Religion of the Means it will be altogether insignificant to the Perfection of our Natures unless by the Practice of it we do acquire a Habit of acting according to the Law of our Reason which Habit includes all Heavenly Virtue For constantly to know and do what is best and most reasonable is the very Crown and Perfection of every reasonable Nature and therefore so far as our Faith and Consideration our Sorrow for Sin and the other Instrumentals of Religion promote this Heavenly Habit in us so far are they perfective of our Nature and no farther III. THIS Religion of the Means is of no farther Use to Us as to the Entitling us to Heaven than as it is productive of those Heavenly Virtues which the Religion of the End implies For our Title to Heaven depending wholly upon Gods Promise must immediately result from our performance of those Conditions upon which he hath promised it which till we have done we can have no more Claim or Title to it than if he had never promised it at all But the sole Condition upon which he hath promised it is Universal Righteousness and Goodness for so without Holiness we are assured that no man shall see God and Mat. v. our Saviour intails all the Beatitudes of Heaven upon those Heavenly Virtues of Purity of Heart Benignity of Temper c. So also Rom. ii 7 the Promise of Eternal Life is limited to our Patient Continuance in well doing And that we may know before hand what to trust to our Saviour plainly tells us that not every one that cries Lord Lord that makes solemn Prayers and Addresses to me shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven And this is the will of God saith the Apostle even our Sanctification that is our being purged from all Impurities of Flesh and Spirit and inspired with all Heavenly Virtues And the Apostle expresly enumerates those Virtues upon which our Entrance into Eternal Life is promised 2 Pet. i. 5 6 7 8. Add to your Faith Virtue and to Virtue Knowledge and to Knowledge Temperance and to Temperance Patience and to Patience Godliness and to Godliness Brotherly Kindness and to Brotherly Kindness Charity For if these things be in you and abound saith he they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ that is That you shall receive the proper Fruit of that Knowledge which is Eternal Life for thus v. xi he goes on For so or upon this Condition an Entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. So that unless our Faith purifies our Hearts and works by Love unless our sorrow for Sin works in us Repentance or a Change of Mind unless our Prayers raise in us Divine and Heavenly Affections that is unless we so practise the Duties of the Religion of the Means as thereby to acquire the Virtues of the Religion of the End it will be all as insignificant to our Title to Heaven as the most indifferent Actions in the World IV. THIS Religion of the Means is of no farther Use to the disposing and qualifying us for Heaven than as it is an effectual means of the Religion of the End Which is a perfectly distinct Consideration from the former For it would be no advantage to us to have a Right to Heaven unless we were antecedently qualified and disposed for it Because Pleasure which is a Relative thing implies a Correspondence and Agreement between the Object and the Faculty that tasts and enjoys it But in the Temper of every wicked Mind there is a strong Antipathy to the Pleasures of Heaven which being all chast and pure and spiritual can never agree with the vitiated Palat of a base and degenerate Soul For what concord can there be between a spiteful and devilish Spirit and the Fountain of all Love and Goodness between a sensual and carnalized one that understands no other Pleasures but only those of the Flesh and those Pure and Virgin Spirits that neither eat nor drink but live for ever upon Wisdom and Holiness and Love and Contemplation Certainly till our Mind is contempered to the Heavenly State and we are of the same disposition with God and Angels and Saints there is no Pleasure in Heaven that can be agreeable to us For as for the main we shall be of the same Temper and Disposition when we come into the other World as we are when we leave this it being unimaginable how a Total Change should be wrought in us meerly
Natures that they will by no means hearken to a Submission but in despight of their own Dread and Horrour do still persist in an open Defiance to their Almighty Enemy and so tremble and sin and sin and tremble for ever And so shall we if we go into the other World habitual Rebels to God our deep and inveterate malice against him will still hurry us on to incense and provoke him and then our natural Dread of his Power and Majesty will break into frightful and horrible Thoughts and so be continually revenging upon us those our continual provocations of him For then our soul will be nakedly exposed to the lash of its own furious thoughts and have no shield to defend it self against the terrours of its guilty Conscience which being rouzed up and kept awake by the unintermitting Sense of our misery will be always clamouring upon us and continually torturing us with black and horrid Reflections So that whilst we are wandering among wretched Ghosts through those dismal shades below we shall be perpetually meditating Horrours and never leave lashing our selves with our own sharp and terrible thoughts till we have chased our selves into Furies and boiled up our self-condemning Rage into an everlasting Madness Thus as our sense of our unlikeness to God will ever fill us with Shame and Confusion so will the sense of our Rebellion against him continually strike us into Fear and Amazement TO prevent which our holy Religion which doth so industriously consult our Happiness requires us now to submit our selves to God James iv 7 to live to God Gal. ii 19 to present our selves living sacrifices holy and acceptable to God Rom. xii 1 to yield our selves unto God and our members as instruments of righteousness unto God Rom. vi 13 the sense of all which is that we should endeavour so to affect our Minds with the sense of Gods Authority over us and with the manifold Reasons of our obedience to him as to be firmly and constantly resolved within our selves neither to chuse any thing that he forbids nor to refuse any thing that he commands that we should set him up a Throne in our Hearts a fixt and prevailing Resolution of Obedience that therein he may sit and reign and have the absolute Empire and Command of all our inward Motions and outward Actions in a word that we should acquire such an habitual Respect to and Reverence of his sovereign Authority that no temptation from within or without us may be able to countermand it or to seduce us from our duty into any wilful course of Rebellion against him And when once we have framed our minds into this obediential Temper we are in a forward preparation for Heaven And though by reason of those Remains and Reliques of corrupt Nature that are in us which are here continually excited by the many Temptations among which we live we may find reluctant and counter-striving Principles within us a stubborn Appetite contending against an obedient Will and sometimes upon Surprize or Inadvertence over-powering it yet if we heartily bewail this as our Unhappiness and if when we thus fall we weep and rise again and take more care of our steps for the future we shall carry with us when we go from hence into the other World a Will that is habitually resigned to God and so being there removed from all the Temptations that were wont to excite in us those contrary Appetites and Inclinations we shall immediately become all Duty and Obedience and freely give up our selves to God without the least shadow of Contest or Reluctancy And in this blessed State we shall continue for ever so intirely devoted to God that between him and us there shall ever be one common Will and End and Interest and our Hearts which before were in a great measure set and tuned to the Heart of God will be instantly such perfect Vnisons with it that whensoever or whatsoever he speaks we shall still resound and eccho to him from our inmost bowels with unspeakable Chearfulness and Alacrity AND being thus reduced to a perfect Submission to the Will of God we shall therein find our selves incomparably happy For now our Wills being always determined by the Will of God we shall be perfectly eased of all the Trouble and Distraction of chusing Now our Minds will no longer hover in Suspence nor be divided between contrary Reasons but all its thoughts will glide gently on in a calm and even Current without ever being tossed and bandied to and fro by cross and opposite Deliberations For now it no sooner knows the Will of God but it rests in it immediately with a free Assent and uncontrolled Approbation so that upon new Occasions it's free from the trouble of forming new Choices and Resolutions being already fixt under all Events to one steady Course of Motion and immovably resolved whatever befals ever to do what God would have it And its will thus perfectly acquiescing in God as in its proper Place and Element it will no longer dispute as it was wont to do no longer waver between two Loadstones but always obey upon the first Motion and follow him for ever without Deliberation In which happy state we shall be no longer ground between those coutermoving Milstones the law in our Minds and the law in our Members but being intirely resigned to God we shall ever obey him secundo flumine with a full Current of Inclination and Nature And what a mighty Ease must this be to the Soul especially considering that by being thus entirely subject to God it will not only be released from the Trouble of chusing and deliberating but also throughly warranted of the Goodness and Rectitude of its own Choices For so far as we are subject unto God our Wills are his and so are our Actions too and whilst they are so we can have no reason to mistrust either that they are bad in themselves or that he is angry and displeased at them For his Will we know is governed by his Nature which is the Standard of Good and Evil the Law and Measure of Right and Wrong so that while we will and act as he would have us we have a sufficient warrant for what we do a warrant that will for ever bear us out and justifie us to our own Minds and always render us abundantly satisfied with our selves so that we shall not only always acquit but always reverence our selves and our Conscience will not only cease to shame us but be continually applauding and smiling upon us and instead of those importunate Clamours with which it was wont to entertain us it s constant eccho to all our actions will be well done good and profitable servant So that being entirely determined by the Will of God which never varies from the Law of his Nature we shall be perfectly satisfied with our selves and for ever chuse and act without the least Mistrust or Hesitance And then our Wills being perfectly subject to
Happiness not only to co-habit but be acquainted with and in Heart and Will united to this Blessed and Glorious Company For what Soul that has any Spark of Cordial Love to Jesus the best Friend of Souls that ever was any grateful remembrance of what he did and suffered for our sakes would not esteem it a mighty Felicity to be admitted into his Presence and to be an Eye-witness of the happy Change of his past woful Circumstances To see him that was so cruelly treated so barbarously vilified tortured and butchered for our sakes raised to the highest pitch of Splendour and Dignity to be Head and Prince of all the Hierarchy of Heaven to be worshipped and celebrated throughout all the noble Choir of Archangels and Angels and Spirits of just men made Perfect Verily methinks had I only the Priviledge to look in and see my dear and blessed Lord surrounded with all this Circle of Glories it would be a most Heavenly Consolation to me though I were sure never to partake of it The very Communion I should have in the Joyes of my Master would be a kind of Heaven at Second-hand to me and my Soul would be wondrous Happy by Sympathizing with him in his Felicity and Advancement But Oh! when that Blessed Person shall not only permit me to see his Glory but introduce me into it and make me Partaker of it when I shall not only behold his Beloved Face but be admitted into his Dear Conversation and dwell in his Arms and Embraces for ever when I shall hear him record the wondrous Adventures of his Love through how many woful Stages he passed to rescue me from Misery and make me Happy and in the mean time shall have a most ravishing Feeling of that Happiness how will my Heart spring with Joy and burn with Love and my Mouth o'reflow with Praises and Thanksgivings to him AND as our Acquaintance with and Choice of the Blessed Jesus must needs contribute vastly to our Happiness so must also though not in so high a Degree our being intimately acquainted and united with Saints and Angels Who being not only endowed with large and comprehensive Vnderstandings but also with perfect Good-nature and most generous Charity must needs make excellent Company For as their Goodness cannot but render their Conversation infinitely free and benign so their great Knowledge must necessarily render it equally profitable and delightful And then being so Knowing as they are they must needs be supposed to understand all the wise Arts of Endearment and being so Good they must be also supposed to be continually practising them And if so what a Heavenly Conversation must theirs be the Scope whereof is the most glorious Knowledge and the Law whereof is the most perfect Friendship Who would not be willing to leave a foolish froward and ill-natured World for the blessed Society of these wise Friends and perfect Lovers And what a Felicity must it be to spend an Eternity in such a noble Conversation Where we shall hear the deep Philosophy of Heaven communicated with mutual Freedom in the Wise and Amicable Discourses of Angels and of Glorified Spirits who without any Reserve or affectation of Mystery without Passion or Interest or peevish Contention for Victory do freely Philosophize and mutually impart the treasures of each others Knowledge For since all Saints there are great Philosophers and all Philosophers perfect Saints we must needs suppose Knowledge and Goodness Wisdom and Charity to be equally intermingled throughout all their Conversation and being so what can be imagined more delightful When therefore we shall leave this impertinent and unsociable World and all our good old Friends that are gone to Heaven before us shall meet us as soon as we are landed upon the shore of Eternity and with infinite congratulations for our safe Arrival shall conduct us into the Company of the Patriarchs and Prophets Apostles and Martyrs and introduce us into an intimate Acquaintance with them and with all those brave and generous Souls who by their glorious Examples have recommended themselves to the World when we shall be familiar Friends with Angels and Arch-Angels and all the Courtiers of Heaven shall call us Brethren and bid us Welcome to their Masters Joy and we shall be received into their glorious Society with all the tender indearments and Caresses of those Heavenly Lovers what a mighty Addition to our Happiness will this be THERE are indeed some other additions to the Happiness of Heaven such as the Glory and Magnificence of the Place which is the Highest Heaven or the upper and purer Tracts of the Aether which our Saviour calls Paradise Luke xxiii 43 and St. Paul the Third Heaven 2 Cor. xii 2 both which in the phrase of that Age bespeak it to be a place of unspeakable Glory for so the Jews do commonly call this blessed Seat the Third or Angel-bearing Region of Heaven by which they denote it to be the Palace of the King of the whole World where his most glorious Courtiers do reside and they also call it Paradise in allusion to the Earthly Paradise of Eden because as that was the Garden of this lower World so this is of the whole Creation And though we have no exact description of this place in Scripture and that perhaps because no humane language can describe it yet since God hath chosen it for the Everlasting Theatre of Bliss and Happiness we may thence reasonably conclude that he hath most exquisitely furnished it with all accommodations that are requisite to a most happy and blissful Life BESIDES which also there is the everlasting Duration of it which is another great Accession to its Happiness That such is the Nature of its Enjoyments as that they do not like all other Pleasures spend and wast in the Fruition that though it will be always feeding our Faculties with new Delights yet it will never be exhausted but be always equally because infinitely distant from a Period So that its Happiness consisting of an infinite Variety of Pleasure extended to an infinite Duration it will be impossible for those that enjoy it to be either cloyd with the repetition of it or tormented with the fear of losing it BUT these Two last I only mention because they do not so properly belong to our present Argument which is only to explain the Nature of Heaven so far as is necessary to the right understanding of the Nature of those Means by which it is to be attained NOW from what hath been said concerning this great End of the Christian Life these Two things are to be inferr'd concerning the Nature of it I. THAT the main of Heaven consists not so much in any outward Possession as in an inward State and Temper For though Heaven be doubtless a most glorious Place and all its blessed Inhabitants do possess and hold it by an everlasting Tenure yet 't is a great mistake to imagine that the main happiness of Heaven consists in living
piercing sense of my Sins as may cause the floods of unfeigned Grief and Contrition to gush forth from it Cause me to bleed for my sins now that I may not bleed for them for ever and that having felt the Smart and Anguish of them I may utterly detest and abhor them and never be reconciled to them more Thus do thou assist me O good God in the Exercise of all these Duties till thou hast throughly conquered my Will by them and prepared it for a firm Resolution to forsake all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world And now that I am going into the world among those very Temptations that have hitherto so miserably captivated and inslaved me O let thy blessed Spirit be present with me to keep my drousie Conscience awake and arm me against them with his holy Inspirations that so those good Thoughts and Desires which thou hast at present excited in me may stick fast upon my Soul in the midst of my worldly Occasions and never cease importuning my Conscience Will and Affections till they have produc'd in me the happy Effect of a serious and hearty Repentance All which I most earnestly beseech of thee even for pity sake to a poor perishing Soul and for Jesus Christ his sake in whose name and words I farther pray Our Father c. In the Evening when you find your self most sit for serious Thoughts go into your Closet again and consider cooly with your self whether you are heartily willing to part with every Sin and particularly with your beloved Sin and to submit to every Duty and even to those that are most contrary to your vicious Inclination if you are not as it 's very probable you will not for some time or if you find the least reason to suspect you are not press your self anew with such divine Reasons as are most apt to affect you with the Hope of Heaven and the Fear of Hell with the love of God and of your Saviour represent your Obstinacy to your self with all its Baseness and Disingenuity Madness and Folly till you find your self affected with a sorrowful Sense of it and then offer up this following Prayer O Father of Mercies and God of all Grace and Consolation who art a ready help in time of need look down upon me I beseech thee a miserable and forlorn Wretch that have wilfully sold my self Captive to the Devil and am now strugling to get loose from this my wretched Bondage into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God I know O Lord that I am striving for my immortal Life and accordingly as I succeed I expect to be happy or miserable for ever I have seriously considered the Reasons on both sides and am fully satisfied in my mind that there is infinitely more Force in thy Promises and Threats than in all the Difficulties of my Duty and the Pleasures of my sin But after all this I find a law in my Members warring against the law in my Mind a perverse Will that rejects the counsels of my Reason that makes obstinate Reservations of some beloved Sins and Exceptions to some particular Duties in despite of all the persuasion of my Reason and Religion So that after all my Endeavours I am still detain'd in Captivity to the law of sin that is in my Members and am not able to incline my self to an intire Resolution of Amendment O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of Sin and Death I know O Lord though I am weak and impotent and of my self unable to shake off the Chains and Fetters of my Lusts yet thy Grace is abundantly sufficient to rescue and deliver me from them and thou hast promised to assist with it my honest Endeavours and crown them with a blessed Success Wherefore for thy Truth and Mercies sake suffer not thy poor Creature who with pitiful and bemoaning Looks cries out for help to thee to spend himself in weary and fruitless Struglings against this violent Torrent of my sinful Nature which without thy aid will quickly overcome my poor Endeavours and drive me down into eternal Perdition My sole Dependence is upon thee my Hope of Success is wholly in thee help Lord help or else I perish stretch forth thy powerful Arm to my sinking Soul and let not this Deep swallow me up but do thou so quicken my faint Endeavours so strengthen my weak and doubting Faith so enliven my cold and languid Considerations so clear up my Convictions of my need of a Saviour and of the Danger and Odiousness of my Sins and thereby so increase my penitential Sorrows and Remorses as that by all these means together my obstinate Will may at last be conquered and effectually persuaded to part with every Sin be it never so dear to me and to comply with every Duty be it never so cross to my vile Inclinations Then shall I freely resign up my self unto thee and with a firm Resolution devote all my Powers to thy Service And that I may do so and by so doing be reconciled to thee O my offended God before I go hence and be no more seen receive me I beseech thee into thy protection this Night that I may yet see the light of another Day and have a longer space to finish my Repentance All which I humbly implore even for Jesus Christ his sake in whose name and words I farther pray Our Father c. If upon searching your own Heart you find that after you have fairly represented to your self what sinful Pleasures you must part with what Duties you must submit to and what Difficulties you must ingage with you are willing without any Reserve or Exception to submit your self to God beware you be not too hasty to form your Resolution but take some little time to try your self see whether you will continue to morrow of the same mind you are in now and if then you perceive you have reason to suspect your self try a little longer and at the present indeavour as much as in you lies to confirm and settle your self in the good Mind you are in by pressing and urging your self with all those Arguments of your Religion by which you have been thus far convinced and persuaded and while you are thus trying your self instead of the former let this be your Evening Prayer O Blessed Lord and most merciful Father thou art a God hearing Prayer and to thee shall all flesh come I admire thy Goodness I adore thy Grace that after so many heinous provocations I have given thee for which thou mightest have justly shut thine ears against me for ever thou hast heard my Cries and pitied my Misery and thus far contributed towards my Recovery I acknowledg 't is by thy Grace that I am what I am that this stubborn Heart begins at last to relent this perverse Will to bow and stoop these lewd Affections to hunger and thirst after
Righteousness that now at last my foolish soul is persuaded to part with those sins which are its Plagues and Infelicities and to imbrace those blessed Duties by which thou hast designed to raise me to immortal Glory By these good Beginnings thou hast given me some Reason to hope for a happy Success upon my poor Endeavours Praised be thy Grace I am at present heartily willing to be thine and were I but sure to continue thus minded and disposed I would immediately make over my Heart and Will to thee by the most solemn Engagement But O Lord I am afraid of my self I dread my own Inconstancy and thou knowest I have too much Reason for it I have mocked thee too often already with my deceitful Promises and Engagements I have sin'd and then promised Amendment I have promised Amendment and then sin'd again as if all that I meant by my Promises were only to ask leave of thee to sin against thee anew Now after so many Falsifications I would not for all the World deal treacherously with thee any more wherefore before I solemnly resign and devote my self to thee by a new Purpose and Engagement I desire to make some farther Tryal of my own Stedfastness to see whether this present Inclination of my Will be the effect of Passion or a setled Judgment In the mean time therefore I do most humbly beseech thee to be present with me in all my ways and continually to influence my Mind with thy Grace and Spirit to strengthen my Faith to fix my Consideration to persuade my Will and feed and cherish these my holy Desires with good Thoughts and Inspirations that so I may remain stedfast and immoveable and no Temptation whatsoever may be able to alter the Temper of my mind or divert it from its good Inclination and that having had a sufficient Experience of the fixed Disposition of my Soul to obey thee I may devote my self to thee with a chearful Heart and an assured Hope of my own Sincerity and Constancy O Lord hear and help me for thy Mercies sake and for Jesus Christ his sake in whose most perfect Form of Prayer I farther pray Our Father c. If after a sufficient Tryal of your self you find you are constantly inclin'd to submit to God to part with every Sin comply with every Duty consider that now it is high time for you to devote your self to God and what abundant Reason you have for it and what a powerful Obligation you must lay upon your self by so doing and when you have seriously considered these things give up your self to God in this following Form of Prayer which for the greater Sanction and more awful Solemnity of your good Resolution you would do well to repeat at the next Sacrament O Most merciful Father so infinite is the Goodness of thy Nature that thou art always ready to pity and relieve the poor and needy and to extend thy timely Succours to us helpless Sinners whensoever we cry unto thee Of the truth whereof thou hast given me who am the vilest of Sinners a most sensible Proof and Experiment For not long ago I was so dead in Trespasses and Sins that hadst not thou took pity upon me and quickned me by thy Grace I had dyed for ever my Vnderstanding was so blind that I saw not my Danger my Conscience so sear'd that I felt not my Guilt my Will so inslaved to my Lusts that I could not indure to think of parting with them but now blessed be thy Grace which first excited my Endeavours and hath hitherto prospered them I do not only see the Danger my Sins have exposed me to and sensibly feel the Guilt of them but am freely willing to renounce them for ever and to part even with those darling Lusts that have heretofore been as dear to me as my right Eye And now O Lord I am come before thee and I hope with a truly Loyal and sincere Heart to offer up my Soul and Body to thee and vow an everlasting Obedience to thy blessed Will For Jesus sake refuse not this poor Oblation which though it be infinitely unworthy of thine Acceptance is the best thing I am able to present thee To thee O glorious Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost I do from henceforth eternally devote my self and all my Faculties And here at the Table of my blessed Saviour and upon these sacred Memorials of his Wounds and Blood I utterly abjure all known and wilful Sins and Rebellions and particularly all such as have been heretofore most dear to me faithfully promising by thy gracious Assistance from henceforth to observe thy Law without any Reserve or Exception This in the Sincerity of my Soul I do here vow to thy divine Majesty and however I may be hereafter tempted I will never wilfully depart from it or from any Part of it so help me O my God for Jesus Christ his sake in whose own words I farther pray Our Father c. Directions for the more profitable Exercise of our private Religion in the state of our actual Engagement in the Christian Life When you go into your Closet in the Morning consider seriously with your self the solemn Engagement you lye under what a crying guilt it would be to violate it what Madness and Folly to recede from it after you have taken so much pains to reduce your self to it what mighty Reasons you have to persist in it and what powerful Assistance is promised you if you be not wanting to your self and then offer up this following Prayer O Eternal God who art the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and dost through him bestow so many good and perfect Gifts upon thy Creatures I desire for ever to remember and adore thy Goodness towards me whom thou hast snatch'd as a Firebrand out of the Fire and at length reduced to a serious Purpose of Amendment after a long and obstinate Course of Disobedience in which if I had still persisted I must have perisht everlastingly O blessed be thy great Name that after so many years Rebellion against thee for which I have long ago deserved to be banish'd into utter Darkness I do yet behold the light of another Day and am allowed a farther Space to repent and execute my Purpose of Amendment And now O Lord as thou hast wrought my Will into a good Resolution in despite of all the corrupt Inclinations of my Nature leave not I beseech thee thy Workmanship unfinish'd but by the mighty Operation of thy Grace excite and inable me faithfully to perform what I have so seriously resolved It is a mighty Work that I have undertaken to cleanse a base polluted Nature and root up all its filthy Lusts and Affections and plant it with all the heavenly Dispositions and improve them into everlasting Happiness and thou knowest what strong Oppositions will be made against me and with what powerful Temptations I must struggle throughout the whole Course of my future