lost his pristine purity and subjugated himself to the cruel tyranny and dominion of sin in this deplorable state being utterly unable to help himself our blessed Lord redeemed us from our captivity by offering up himself a ransom to satisfie divine Justice and all this that we might walk in newness of life And now what ingratitude is it to despise so much love Sure If he that despised Moses law died without mercy of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the Bloud of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing Heb. 10.28 29. He must certainly be of a very base and disingenous spirit who takes pleasure in sin when he considers how dearly Christ paid for it Hath he been at so much pains undergone such dismal sufferings to purchase our peace and will we notwithstanding frustrate his designe how strange to astonishment is this that men should prefer captivity to freedom Alas is it not enough that our blessed Master was so barbarously and despitefully used by the Jews and Roman Souldiers but must we be also Actors in the Tragedy and by our sins crucifie him again Did he not die that we might live and shall we spend our life in offering despite unto him Strange that so much madness should lodg in the breasts of any into whom God hath breathed the breath of life I might here also adde that it is a contemning and offering of the greatest despite to the Holy Spirit to despise Holiness for upon this account is the third person of the blessed Trinity called the Holy Ghost because his peculiar office is to enable us to perform holy actions now if we continue in our rebellion if we reject the offers of grace and the internal motions of the Spirit to Holiness we do hereby become guilty of quenching the Spirit of God and offering despite unto him which is so horrid a piece of villany that Heaven threatens it with the severest torments SECT 5. Holiness the most proper and effectual means for attaining length of days Of all outward and temporal blessings length of days hath justly the precedency since without this all others can afford little or no comfort The possession and enjoyment of other mercies can bestow no satisfaction to men lying on their beds of languishing nay there is no comfort be it never so great but men would willingly quit with to acquire this Now since this is above all things so universally desired it cannot but very much enhance the value of Holiness to demonstrate that there is nothing so proper nor more effectual to procure length of days than this In order to my proving of this I shall first make it plain from Scripture that length of days is due to holy men by vertue of the many true and faithful promises and secondly I shall appeal to common experience to determine the case First there is nothing more evidently asserted in Scripture than that Holiness hath the promise of length of days annexed to it Prov. 3.1 2. My son forget not my law but let thine heart keep my commandments for length of days and long life shall they adde unto thee This encouraging motive is pressed very effectually by Moses in his exhortation to obedience Deut. 4.40 Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes and his commandments which I command thee this day that it may go well with thee and with thy children after thee and that thou maist prolong thy days upon the earth Upon this account we also finde that there are many promises of this nature to obedient Children Exod. 20.12 Honour thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee And as Righteousness tendeth to life as the Wise man observes so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death Prov. 11.19 There is nothing more evident from Scripture than that sin hath a natural tendency to shorten mens lives nay the great God who is serious in his threatnings hath assured us it is so upon which account we may well conclude with the Wise man Prov. 10.27 The years of the wicked shall be shortned The whole tenour of the Scripture abounds with many such promises and threatnings and the thing is so plain that I need not stand to transcribe many texts But besides Scripture this truth is also plainly attested by common experience for if we examine who are the men who for ordinary are most obnoxious to diseases and live shortest we shall finde it true enough that the vitious are the men who live not out half their days Prov. 23.29 30. Who hath woe who hath sorrow who hath wounds without cause they that tarry long at the wine c. Holiness is repugnant and inconsistent with excess which naturally puts a period to the lives of men It forbids all manner of vice which leads down to the chambers of death and keeps men within due bounds in their eating and drinking Before mankind had corrupted themselves by their notorious and impudent vitiousness we read of their great length of days but the increase of sin multiplied diseases which hurry men to untimely deaths I deny not but the great Lord and Master of the Universe may for holy and wise ends known unto himself cut short the lives of the righteous yet surely if we consult either Experience or Reason we shall finde it certain beyond doubt that vertuous men enjoy for ordinary far the longest lives Some good men may be naturally of a brittle constitution yet how strangely has their life been protracted by their moderation and sobriety and how many strong men have had their days shortened by their intemperance and excess Indeed he that considers this well shall finde that Holiness is the most effectual means to promote long life both upon a moral and natural account Upon a moral account long life is the reward which the divine promises do secure to such men and on the contrary wickedness is threatned with shortness of days Upon a natural account the fire doth not more naturally produce heat than Holiness does procure health and length of days and there is nothing more evident than that the most of vices have a physical efficacy in the shortning of humane life That this is the necessary product and genuine effect of intemperance and lasciviousness needs no other argument to prove it but the daily examples of multitudes whom those sins have hurried to their graves And truly there is not any vice which does not like fire in mens bosoms torture and consume them and so disorders and discomposes them that they even neglect the necessary means of their health See Period of Humane life pag. 111 124 Edit 2. SECT 6. Holiness that which makes men honourable vice rendering men mean and ignoble Honour is an ornament so noble and venerable that he is but very sottish if not quite bruitish who doth not
Psalmists Example Psal 119.59 I thought on my ways I doubt not but they should also imitate the course he did take I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments But men consider not what they are doing and so no wonder though they perish no wonder that they prefer darkness to light and despise Holiness as a thing of no value Let us therefore humbly and heartily invoke the Father of Lights to open the Eyes of men whom the God of this world hath blinded that they may flee from the wrath to come by cleansing themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God Holy Devotions OR A COLLECTION OF PRAYERS AND THANKSGIVINGS Fitted to the main uses of a Christian Life PHILIP 4.6 Be careful for nothing but in every thing by Prayer and Supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God London Printed for Rob. Sollers at the Kings Arms and Bible in St. Pauls Church-yard 1683. HOLY DEVOTIONS OR A Collection of Prayers A Prayer for Families on the Lords day in the Morning O Most holy and eternally blessed The heavens and the heaven of heavens is thine the earth also with all that therein is Thou art everywhere and canst not be excluded from any place but art present to the greatest secrets of our Souls and seest the closest and most retired thoughts of our Hearts Thou knowest very well with what designs and Affections we now bow our selves before thee and canst not be deceived by any words that we are able to speak in thy praise whilst our Hearts are far from thy fear and love Behold O Lord our Hearts are full with desires to be possessed with a mighty reverend sense of thee and all the benefits thou hast bestowed on us and be lifted up to Heaven in Love to thee and Joy in thee whilst we bless and praise thee and speak good of thy Name We here remember with all humility and thankfulness that thou art our Creator and acknowledge thy care and providence over thy antient People in blessing and Sanctifying a day wherein thou thy self restedst from thy works that they might cease from all other employments and admire thy wonderful works extol thy Power bless thy Goodness and be astonished at thy Wisdom in making preserving adorning and governing this excellent frame of the World The Heavens declare thy glory O God and the Firmament sheweth thy handy-work The Sun the Moon and all the Host of Heaven proclaim the greatness and splendour of thy Majesty The whole Earth is full of thy rich goodness so is the great and wide Sea wherein are things moving innumerable both small and great living Creatures There is nothing but what speaks of thee and above all the Children of men whom thou hast wonderfully made curiously wrought and impressed with thy own Image that they might understand thee and love thee in all and above all things The variety the order the stedfastness of all thy works in this great World abundantly utter thy adorable perfections But thou O Lord by thy goodness in giving thy Son for us and then raising him up from the Dead and setting him at thy right hand hast given us new matter of wonder and praise and consecrated a better rest and holy day of rejoycing wherein we should behold the glories of another World and have before our Eyes the happiness thou intendest for us there together with all the excellent means which lead unto it Thou givest us occasion not onely to reflect upon all the good things thou hast provided for our bodies which we can never acknowledge enough the very Health and Ease of one day deserving the thankfulness of many but we must also remember that we are thy redeemed ones and that thou hast done great things for our Souls in thy Son Jesus who is entred into the Heavens for us and gone to prepare a resting place for all those that follow him This exceeding riches of thy grace infinitely surpasses all our acknowledgments since all the praises we are able to render thee are less than is due for thy temporal blessings To this Love we owe the knowledge of thee the true and onely God our freedom from Idolatry and a vain Conversation the true principles of Holy living the benefit of repentance the promise of a pardon the assistance of thy Holy Spirit the ministry of thy Angels the hope of immortal Life and the pledges our Lord hath left us of his endless love To this we owe thy forbearance in the days of our ignorance thy unwearied patience towards us in a continued Rebellion and thy earnest intreaties of us when we were passionately bent upon our own destruction Thou hast sent us in much love many Holy Instructors and Guides to blessedness we have had the benefit of sundry Pious Sermons good Examples holy Admonitions and serious Councels of the Power of the Holy Ghost and divers restraints of Fear and Shame and Love and thou still pursuest us with thy merciful kindness and beseechest us to attend to thy gracious invitations and receive thy blessings and make thee our choice and be Eternally happy in thy divine favor and likeness What shall we render to the Lord for all his benefits towards us O help us to manifest our real and unfeigned desires to make some worthy returns to thee by our careful improvement of the Holy opportunity which thou this day puttest into our hands O that our mindes may be more enlightened to understand the Truth as it is in Jesus that our wills may be more stedfastly resolved to cleave unto it that our Affections may be excited to a stronger and more ardent Love to thee and a greater delight in thee and all the powers of our Souls disposed to serve thee at all other times more cheerfully and readily in all the Duties of Piety Soberness Righteousness and Mercy So that every day may become an Holy rest to the Lord by ceasing to do Evil and constantly doing well that we may Glorifie thee throughout our whole life in all our actions shewing forth thy praise who hast called us out of Darkness into thy marvellous Light And enlighten good Lord the whole World with the beams of thy Glorious Gospel and dispose the Hearts of all Christian People among whom the Son of righteousness hath shone so long to walk as Children of the Light that so they may offer unto thee this day most acceptable Sacrifices for themselves and for all mankind and be fitted and prepared by serving thee in Righteousness and true Holiness here to shine for ever in his Heavenly Kingdom with Christ Jesus our Saviour by whom thou hast given us good hope in thee that thou will hear our Prayers and do for us above all that we can ask or think which we humbly beg in those Holy words which he hath taught us saying Our Father c. Another for the Lords-day at Night O Most blessed for
dejections of spirit keep me from charging thee foolishly Bestow upon me a chearful spirit by an humble hope in thee and by referring my self wholly to thee Endue me with such wisdom and uprightness that I may neither neglect my duty nor suspect thy gracious acceptance of me Give me an hearty zeal to do the best that I am able and a setled perswasion that thou requirest no more of me Defend me O my gracious God from dishonouring thee and my Religion by distrusting thy goodness and calling thy loving kindness in question towards those that are sincerely bent to please thee Remove all troublesome imaginations from me and give me a clear understanding of thee and of my self or when I am in darkness and confusion of thoughts grant me so much light and judgment as not to conclude my self forsaken by thee but to reflect upon thy long-continued favours to me and many deliverances of me that so I may resolve still to hope in thee to bear my present trouble patiently and to resign my will absolutely to thy good pleasure And good Lord enable me to look beyond these clouds to that blessed state whither my Saviour is gone in which there is no darkness at all and in an humble hope of coming to the same place where he is to content my self with any condition whilst I am here so far remote from that Region of light and glorie Hear me most loving and merciful Father I most humbly beseech thee Pity my great dulness and deadness of heart Strengthen my weak and feeble endeavours support my fainting spirit and cause it humbly to hope in thee for ever Confirm and establish every good thought desire and purpose which thou hast wrought in me perfect that which thou hast begun make me to grow in wisdom faith love and willing obedience conduct me hereafter so evenly and steadily so peaceably and quietly so cheerfully and sincerely in thy ways that I may Glorifie thee whilst I live by encouraging others to accompany me in thy service and when I come to die may resign my Soul unto thee with an undisturbed mind and in an holy hope also of a joyful resurrection of the body at the great day of the Lord Jesus to whom be glory and dominion for ever Amen The Prayer for a Woman with Child MOst merciful and gracious God who wilt not turn away thine ear from those that call upon thee in sincerity and truth look down with an Eye of pity and compassion upon thy unworthy Servant I must confess my sins are very great and so is my danger which is at hand my pains to come will be grievous and my life is now most uncertain Assure me I beseech thee of the forgiveness of all my sins mitigate my fear and sorrows strengthen me with the comforts of thy Spirit confirm me in the faith of my Saviour and bless all good means appointed for my comfort that in due time I may be a joyful Mother and see the fruit of my Body safe sound and perfect without blemish or deformitie O Lord I know not how soon my travel will steal on me when I must fight that battle of Life and Death one drop of thy mercy hath soveraign power to cure all the Wounds of those sorrows shed therefore O holy Father that drop of grace upon me in that minute when I am to encounter with so stern an adversary strengthen me with patience bless me that I perish not bless the work of my Midwife let not the Child yet unborn the Babe in my womb be punished for mine offences but give it growth give it flourishing and form and when the time is come that thou wilt call it out of this close House of flesh where it now inhabiteth to dwell in the open World sanctifie thy Creature make it by Baptism a member of thy Church a Lamb of thy flock and direct it in the ways of Godliness to its lives end And all through Jesus Christ our Lord in whose blessed words I continue to pray Our Father c. A Thanksgiving by the Woman after safe deliverance to be used when she is able MY Soul doth magnify the Lord and my Spirit rejoyceth in God my Saviour He hath given me my Hearts desire and not denied me the request of my lips Children are his heritage and the fruit of the Womb is his reward Glory be to thee O Lord God eternal who hast now delivered me from the great pains and peril of Child-birth who hast taken away my reproach and made me an instrument to increase thy Kingdom It is in thy power to strike death into my Womb but thou hast given me a double life all mine anguishes thou hast sweetned with gladness Continue thy mercies and favours to me thy servant put strength into my bloud bloud into my Veins and courage into mine Heart that my lips may render thee deserved thanks Thou that art the Father of love and life look upon this mine Infant which thou hast given me preserve it in health quicken it with grace crown it with long life that it may grow up to be a servant in thy houshold Send the Father of it and me much comfort by it that it may be a staff to our old age Bless it with store of friends in this World and be thou the chief friend to it for evermore and for the better growth in godliness feed it with the Milk of thy Word defend it from all dangers and all enemies Bodily and Ghostly And whereas it is written that the great red Dragon stood before the Woman which was ready to be delivered that he might devour her Child when she had brought it forth so guard me and regard this my birth that Satan rule not nor reign within us but deliver us still out of his Jaws as a Bird out of the Snare of the Fowler Let thy blessing O Lord be upon me and my Children strongly to help keep and defend us from this time forth for evermore Amen A Prayer to be used by one that is sick O Eternal and most merciful Father look down I beseech thee upon thy poor servant who is punished and afflicted in Body with the smart of my pain and sickness and who is also troubled with the fear of thy heavy displeasure for my many sins and iniquities wherewith I have provoked thy holy Majesty in the time of my health I confess that of very faithfulness and goodness to me thou hast laid this scourge upon me to the end that by the stripes of my flesh my Spirit might be healed and saved in the day of the Lord Jesus I valued not the benefit of health as I should have done and therefore thou hast made me sensible of it by the want of it in prosperitie I remembred not the afflictions of my Brethren and therefore thou hast afflicted me like unto them I was in a kind of Spiritual lethargy till thou didst awake me with the stroke of thy
our mouths who shall deliver us from the misery due unto us for our transgression nothing can be expected in this life but misery and confusion and in the world to come eternal condemnation But yet O Lord in obedience to thy command and in confident assurance of thy endless and unspeakable mercy promised in Jesus Christ to all sinners which come unto thee with sorrow in our hearts shame in our faces and in all humility of spirit And we would appeal from thee a just Judge to thee a merciful Father from the Throne of thy Justice to the Seat of thy Mercy beseeching thee O Lord to have mercy upon us and to turn away thy face from all our sins and to blot out all our transgressions for the onely meritorious Death and Passion of Jesus Christ who so abundantly shed his Blood on the Cross to take away the sin of the world and be pleased now to reform our affections transform us out of sin into the glorious liberty of thy own Children to live in newness of Life in a holy conversation and continual obedience to thy divine Majesty And now we further intreat thee O Lord for a blessing upon the Church universal more especially we beseech thee to continue the peace and prosperity of these Churches wherein we live and every member thereof and in a more especial manner bless with the chiefest of thy blessings our King Queen Duke and the rest of the Royal Family bless our Counsellours Ministers and Magistrates bless our Friends Kindred and Acquaintance bless the whole Church every afflicted member of it accept of our morning-sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for all themercis and favours comforts and deliverances which from time to time thou hast afforded and continued to us We thank thee for thy last mercy in preserving us from the dangers of this night past for refreshing our bodies with seasonable rest and bringing us safe to the beginning of this day Lord what is man that thou art so mindful of him and the Son of man that thou shouldst thus visit and remember him Give us grace O Lord to remember thee and to be mindful of thy mercies that we may praise thee for all the truth and faithfulness which thou shewest to us in the land of the living that as thou hast brought us to the comforts of this day so thou mayst go along with us in the same to enable us for the Duties of those callings wherein we are placed and to deliver us from those dangers to which we are exposed even for Jesus Christ his sake in whose most blessed name and words we conclude these our weak and imperfect prayers saying as he himself hath taught us in his holy Gospel Our Father c. A Prayer for a Family at Night MOst glorious and everlasting Lord God which inhabitest eternitie and dwellest in that light which no mortal Eye can attain unto the God in whom we live and move and have our being we thine unworthy Servants do here in all lowliness and humility present our Persons and Prayers before thy Divine Majesty confessing and acknowledging that we were conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquitie and as if that had been but a small matter we have heaped up our Actual transgressions as the sand upon the Sea-shore and as the Stars in the Firmament for number we have broken thy Commandments we have prophaned thy Sabbaths we have dishonour'd thy Name we have abused thy Creatures we have neglected the day of our Visitation and turned thy Grace into wantonness whereby we have most justly provoked thy wrath and everlasting displeasure we have wounded our own consciences weakned our assurance of Salvation and grieved thy good Spirit which sealeth us up unto the day of our Redemption And now O Lord if thou shouldst deal with us after our deservings thou mighest pour upon us the deluge of thy wrath and fury to sweep us out of the Land of the living into that place of torment prepared for the Devil and his Angels But thou hast revealed thy self to the Sons of men to be the Lord the Lord merciful and gracious long-suffering and of great goodness who pardons sins and passest by the transgressions of thy People this is thy Name for ever and thy Memorial throughout all Generations We beseech therefore for Jesus Christ his sake to be merciful unto us in the free pardon and forgiveness of all our sins that we have ever committed against thee Accept of his obedience for our disobedience of his righteousness for our unrighteousness of his sufferings for all our sins wash them away in his blood nail them to his Cross hide them in his Wounds and bury them in his Grave that they may never rise up for our confusion here or for our condemnation hereafter O Lord be unto us a Father of mercy and a God of consolation speak peace unto our Souls and consciences and say unto us that thou art the God of our Salvation And give us Grace for the time to come to dye daily unto sin by vertue of thy Sons death and to rise up to newness of life by the power of his resurrection Wean our Hearts and take off our Affections from the things of this world which endure but for a season and raise them up unto those things which are at thy right hand for evermore Enlighten the darkness of our understanding subdue the stubbornness of our wills rectify the disorder of our affections and bring into obedience whatsoever exalteth it self against thy will that at last we may become such as thou would'st have us to be Continue and enlarge thy blessings upon the Church and Land wherein we live upon the Person and Government of our King bless all the Royal family together with his Majesties Councels the Nobilitie Magistracy Clergy and Gentry of the Land Be merciful to all those who are afflicted with any cross or calamitie all our relations and aquaintance and all others whom we are bound to pray for O Lord accept our thanksgivings this Evening for all the mercies and favors which thou hast afforded for our Souls or Bodies for this Life or a better more especially that thou hast preserved us and our Family this day in health and happiness Now holy Father seeing the Night is upon us and we are ready to take our rest in thy hands we commit our Souls and Bodies and all that we have beseeching thee who art the keeper of Israel that neither sleepest nor slumberest to take care of us for if thou protect us not Satan will devour us yea we shall sleep a perpetual sleep and never arise up to praise thee we pray thee therefore to be good to us this night defend us from danger refresh us with comfortable rest and raise us up to glorifie thee in the duties of the day following that thou mayst still be our God and we may be thy People Hear us and gratiously answer us in these our
may further my Salvation Keep me O Lord in my old age forsake me not when I am gray-headed And whensoever it shall please thee to cast me upon my sick bed grant that I may take my sickness patiently and at the last gasp let not either sin or Satan take such hold upon me that I depart this life with cryings and screechings and words of despair but that believing thy word and yielding to thine ordinance my last hour may be my best hour and I may say with the Psalmist Lord into thy hands I commend my Spirit for thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of Truth Pardon O Lord my misspending the time my unprofitableness my unthankfulness for thy goodness Supply what is wanting in me through the fire of compunction make me at all hours to seem a living sacrifice in thy sight Continue towards me thy love and make me to love thee again Without thee alas I die but when I think on thee I revive again To thee therefore be ascribed all honour and glory world without end Our Father c. A Prayer before the receiving of the Sacrament O Most gracious and merciful Lord God thou hast called all those that are weary and heavy laden with their sins to come unto thee and hast promised to ease and refresh them thou hast invited all those that hunger and thirst after thy Kingdom and the righteousness thereof to come to thy Table to tast of thy supper and hast promised that thou wilt satisfy them in assurance therefore of these promises I come to thee blessed Lord Jesus beseeching thee to ease me to refresh me to satisfy me with thy mercy for my Soul hungers and thirsts after thee and thy Salvation I confess and acknowledge that my daily sins have made me unworthy of my daily Bread much more of this Manna this Bread of Life that came down from Heaven I confess O Lord I am not prepared according to the preparation of thy sanctuary yet for as much as this day I have set my Heart to seek to thee thou O God be merciful unto me and though I cannot bring with me a clean Heart for who can say his Heart is clean yet behold O Lord I bring with me a contrite Heart and a broken Spirit despise not O God this Sacrifice As for the sins that I have committed against thee binde them up in one bundle and cast them into the bottomless Sea of thy mercy bury them in thy Wounds and wash them away in the blood of that immaculate Lamb Christ Jesus and for the time to come sprinkle my conscience with the same blood that being cleansed from dead works I may serve thee the Living God in righteousness and true holiness all the days of my life That so this blessed Sacrament may be a means to quiet my conscience to increase my Faith to inflame my Charity to amend my life to save my Soul and to assure me that I am of the number of those blessed ones who shall eat at thy Table and be called to the Marriage-supper of the Lamb. Grant this O Lord for Jesus Christ his sake in whose Name and words I conclude these my imperfect prayers saying as he himself hath taught me Our Father c. A Prayer after the receiving of the Sacrament O Most gracious God from whose bountie every good and perfect gist is derived I and all that is within me praise and magnify thy holy Name for all thy mercies and favours which from time to time thou hast bestowed upon me But especially I thank thee for Jesus Christ thy Son the fountain and foundation of all blessings and benefits that thou hast sent him into the World to take our nature upon him and to die for us and that thou hast fed me who am unworthy of the least of thy favours with the precious merits of his death and passion Blessed Lord God thou hast been pleased this day to set thy Seal to the Pardon and forgiveness of all my sins Oh let me not lose it again by unthankfulness or relapsing into my old sins from which thou hast purged me lest my last end be worse than my beginning But if hereafter I shall be tempted by the Devil allured by the World or provoked by my own flesh then set before mine eyes by the remembrance of thy Spirit how dear the expiation of my sins cost my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ even the effusion of his most precious and holy blood that in the contemplation of his death and application of his most bitter passion I may die daily unto sin and so may shew forth the Lords death till he come and bring his reward with him I may receive the Crown of Righteousness which he hath purchased and prepared for all those that love and expect the day of his appearing with the precious price of his incorruptible blood And whereas I have this day renewed my covenant with thee my God in vows and purposes of better obedience assist me by thy grace and strengthen me by thy power that I may pay the Vows which I have made unto thee and that by vertue of thy heavenly nourishment I may grow up in grace and godliness till at last I come to be a perfect man in Christ Jesus Preserve and maintain always this thine Ordinance that it may be a note and a badge of my publick profession and give unto all of us that have been partakers of thy body and blood one heart and one mind in the unity of Spirit for the worthy and reverend receiving of the same whensoever we shall come to thy holy Table again And for this thy mercy towards me do I yield unto thee all praise and glory and power and might and majesty through Jesus Christ our Lord in whose most blessed Name and words I further pray Our Father c. Another Prayer before the Sacrament DEpart from me Luk. 5.8 for I am a sinful man O Lord. I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof For the house of my Soul which thou hast made a fit Temple for thy holy Spirit to inhabit in I have defaced and defiled with all manner of pollutions and abominations It is become a den of ravenous Beasts and a cage of unclean Birds and every corner so crowded with filthiness that thou wilt not find where to lay thy head Luk. 9.58 But thou O Lord which despisest not a penitent sinner but hast promised to dwell with the humble and contrite Spirit I beseech thee cast me not away from thy presence but cast out all profaneness and uncleanness out of my Heart and remove every thing that may offend the pure Eyes of thy glory and the holiness of thy presence and then O Lord vouchsafe to come and enter in and dwell there and abide with me for ever Behold O Lord I am before thee in my sins Zach. 3.1 clothed with filthy garments and Satan standing at my right hand accusing
me and bringing my transgressions into remembrance before thee with loud clamours for justice against me O Lord I acknowledge and confess my self guilty and that I have deserved the utmost of thy wrath and indignation But O Lord I appeal from thy seat of judgment to thy throne of Grace and Mercy humbly beseeching thee to rebuke and repel the malitious accuser of thy servants and hearken to the intercession of our advocate in thine own bosome for his sake have mercy upon me and pardon my offences and blot out the hand-Writing that is against me and put away all mine iniquities and drown them in the depth of the Sea Wash me throughly from all my pollutions in that Fountain which thou hast opened for Judah and Jerusalem to purifie in and then cloth me with that white robe of thy Son's righteousness the Wedding-garment requisite at this feast and admit me to thy Table which thou hast prepared for thy Children And grant O Lord that when I have tasted of these thy Heavenly dainties I may no more return like the Dog to his vomit or the Sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire but I may keep my self unspotted from the World and walk before thee in all puritie and holiness And now O Lord thou invitest and exhortest me to come to thy holy Table O my God I know mine own unworthiness yet in the multitude of thy mercies I will humbly approach to thine Altar beseeching thee to behold me not with a severe but a gracious eye Thou knowest the earnest desire of my Soul be thou pleased to pass by the weakness of the flesh and accept the willingness of the Spirit and grant that I may now receive this holy Sacrament to the honour and glory of thy Name and the good and comfort and Salvation of my own Soul The Good Lord pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek God 2 Chron. 30.18 19. the Lord God of his Fathers though he be not purified according to the purification of the Sanctuary Amen After the Sacrament LOrd what is man that thou art mindful of him Psal 144.3 or the son of man that thou visitest him What is thy servant 2 Sam. 9.8 that thou shouldest look upon such a dead Dog as I The Dogs eat of the crums that fall from their Masters Table Mat. 15.27 but thou hast fed me with the bread of thy Children and given me to drink of thine own cup. Thou hast fed me in a green Pasture Psal 23.2 and leadest me forth beside the waters of comfort O taste and see how gracious the Lord is Psal 34.8 blessed is the man that trusteth in him What reward shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me Psal 116.12 Lord I offer up unto thee my self my soul and body Psal 84.4 and all that I am and have beseeching thee graciously to receive me for thy servant to dwell in thy House and praise thy Name for evermore Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory Revel 4.11 and Honour and Power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Thou art worthy to take the Book and to open the seals thereof Revel 5.9 for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to our God out of every Kindred and Tongue and People and Nation and hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the Throne Rev. 7.10 12. and to the Lamb. Amen Blessing and Glory and Wisdom and Thanksgiving and Honour and Power and Might be unto God for ever and ever Amen An Admonition after Receiving ANd now you have thus solemnly devoted and consecrated your self to God and his Service beware that you do not fall back and return to your former course of sin 2 Pet. 2.22 like the dog to his own vomit or as the Serpent which casts up his Poyson when he goes to drink and when he hath quenched his thirst returns and sucks it up again And thus some are content to leave their sins at the Church-door but with an intent to take them up again when they come out But God will not be so mocked And know this that if you have well and worthily performed this Duty to day yet if you do not persevere in Piety as you have promised and begun not onely your former sins but even the Piety of this day shall one day rise up in Judgment against you But a diligent watching and wariness over your ways after this will be the best preparation against the next time A Prayer for one that is troubled in mind O Lord the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort I acknowledge and adore thy eternal Power and Wisdom and Goodness I render thee my most hearty thanks for all the benefits thou hast bestowed on me from my first coming into the world until this time Many O Lord my God are the wonderful works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which are to us-ward they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee if I would declare and speak of them they are more than can be numbered Above all I bless thee for that great demonstration of thy Love and Good-will to Mankind by Christ Jesus whom thou hast sent into the world to save sinners and for bringing me to the clear knowledge of him and unfeigned affection to thy holy Will declared to us in his blessed Gospel O God thou hast taught me from my youth up and hitherto been marvellously gracious to me Hide not I beseech thee thy face now from me and put not thy Servant away in displeasure Thou hast been my help leave me not neither forsake me O God of my Salvation But for Jesus Christ his sake I humbly intreat thee to pardon and pass by all my neglects of thee and unthankfulness to thee and offences against thee And as I here sincerely devote and dedicate my whole self soul and body to thy service so help me O my God and further me in the performance of my duty by the grace of thy holy Spirit To thee all hearts are open and from thee no secrets are hid deal with me according to the earnest desire and full purpose of my soul to conform my self in all things to thy holy Will Settle in me an immoveable faith in thy infinite Mercies a constant love and chearful affection to my duty and a readiness of heart to obey thee and to submit to thy wise appointments in every condition The whole Earth is full of thy Mercies That I may rejoyce and be glad all my days compose my broken and disturbed thoughts quiet my troubled and disordered spirit and appease all the ragings and tumults there by a sweet sense of thy most tender mercies which have been ever of old and endure continually Banish from me all causeless fears and jealousies deliver me from all unprofitable sadness and
hand And because I know that it is good for me to be thus disciplined by thee I humble my self under thy mightie hand and kiss this thy rod which I trust through thy grace shall make my Soul appear fair and beautiful in thine Eyes Comfort O Lord my fainting Spirit and strengthen my feeble knees and support my weak hands and revive my deaded heart and so powerfully assist me with the Spirit of strength that I may with confidence call upon thee with patience endure this trial with hope expect thy good pleasure with wisdom make use of this thy visitation and with thankfulness ever praise thy goodness and mercy for my safe recovery if it may be with thy sacred will whereunto I submit and wholy resign now and for ever through Jesus Christ my blessed Lord and Saviour in whose most holy words I further pray Our Father c. A Prayer to be said by them that visit the sick O Eternal God who in thy holy word by the Apostle hast promised that the Prayer of faith shall save the sick and thou wilt raise him up and if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him We come unto thee in the behalf of our diseased and distressed friend visited under thine hand Speak comfortably O Lord unto his Soul seal in his heart by thy holy Spirit the forgiveness of all his sins Have mercie upon him and according to the multitude of thy mercies do away all his offences blot all his sins out of thy remembrance Grant him thy grace to bear willingly this Cross the Cross of sickness to drink heartily of this Cup the Cup of affliction to endure patiently this Yoak the Yoak of tribulation and to suffer meekly this Rod the Rod of correction He hath received good things of thee make him willing to receive evil also as heretofore he rejoyced in his health so teach him now to rejoyce in his sickness and as he was not ashamed to live so let him not be afraid to die because his life is hid with Christ in Heaven Let the sweet feeling and tast of a lively faith distast all the filthy corruptions that are in him and after the example of the good Samaritan after the sharp wine of grievous tribulation instill also the suppling Oil of comfort whereby he may be able to endure those troubles which otherwise would be intolerable unto him Strengthen his memory whereby to call upon thy glorious Name Settle his Spirits that they may not wander and fly out into any unruly motions Lay thy finger upon his lips that they may not fall into cursing or blaspheming thy Deitie or into any vain language Take from his Eyes all delight of this frail world and let his Soul make ready onely for a voiage to Heaven Set thy saving mark upon his Soul and give order to the destroyer that he hurt it not But having fought a good fight let him now triumphantly exult and say O Death where is thy sting O Hell where is thy victory I thank thee O Lord who hast given me victory by Jesus Christ Be merciful unto us here present who as feeling members of one body adore thy holy Name and implore thy Divine help for this thy servant grant him assistance of thy Spirit to the last gasp and us assurance to be heard of thee for him and all others upon the like occasion We could wish that thou shouldst speak to this our friend as thou didst unto thy servant when thou saidst Arise take up thy bed and walk but yet alas we know not whether we ask aright or not thy will be fulfilled we know that he shall but change this life transitory for Eternitie cast off mortalitie and be clothed with immortalitie and this light affliction which is but for a moment shall cause unto him a far more excellent and eternal weight of glory Wherefore make us all wise to salvation and teach us so to number our days aright that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom Give both this thy servant and all of us grace willingly to forsake this present evil world and so to live in thy fear that we may die in thy favour and so reign with thee for ever hereafter Grant this for Jesus Christ his sake our onely Lord and Saviour Amen A Thanksgiving after Sickness O Most merciful Lord God I thy late sick and sorrowful servant do with bended knees and a thankful heart prostrate my self before thee at this time acknowledging that thou hast been a loving Father unto me not onely before I was yet born but ever since I hung upon my Mothers breast Manifest experience have I had of thy manifold mercies many times but never more than in my late and last visitation I offer now unto thee a sacrifice of praise Because I employed not the faculties of my Soul and members of my Body as I should have done thou didst bereave me of the strength and vigor and use of them for a season but now because thy compassions fail not thou hast returned them to me again wherefore I consecrate and devote them perpetually to thy service and as I am in the state of my Body so by the power of thy renewing grace I will become in the estate of my soul a new man My broken heart which thou hast healed shall now entirely love thee my feeble knees and weak bones which thou hast setled shall night and day bow to thee my weak hands which thou hast strengthned shall continually be lifted up unto thee I confess unto thee O Lord that in my health I often read and heard that worldly delights and comforts were vain and much like Flags and Bulrushes which men in danger of drowning catch to bear them up but they sink down under water with them yet did I not learn till I suffered till thy rod had imprinted it even in my flesh Now O Lord I beseech thee to knit my heart unto thee that I may fear thy Name create in me a new heart and renew a right Spirit within me I asked life of thee and thou gavest it me I now desire and crave thy salvation O my God with-hold it not make me to repent of my sins the cause of my sickness and to depend upon thee the giver of all good things and make me in the time of prosperitie to think of adversity in health to think of sickness in sickness to think of death and at all times so to think of judgment that whether I wake or sleep eat or drink or whatsoever I do else I may ever have this sounding in mine ears Arise ye dead and come to judgment Give me grace O Lord to make this use of mine affliction past and to cleave and stick fast unto thee in all holiness for the time to come through my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in whose Name and words I further pray Our Father c. Of DEATH ANd now I cannot think any conclusion more fit and proper
Sir Joseph Copâ—ley Baâ—â— Without holiness no man shall see the lord Heb 12 14 Sold by R Sollers at the kings Armes Bible in St Pauls C yard F. H. Van Houe Sculp THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS WRITTEN By the Author of the Whole Duty of MAN c. To which is Added HOLY DEUOLIONS UPON Several Occasions Fitted to the Main Uses of A Christian Life 1. Chron. 16.29 Worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness Heb. 12.14 Without Holiness no Man shall see the Lord The Fourth Impression LONDON Printed for Benjamin Crayle at the Lamb in Fleetstreet next White-Fryers-Gate 1684. THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. OF the Nature of Holiness page 7. CHAP. II. Of the Rule of Holiness 11 CHAP. III. Motives and inducements to the practice of Holiness 48 Sect. 1. The noble pattern of Holiness 49 Sect. 2. Holiness the condition of future happiness 74 Sect. 3. Holiness the onely safe way to escape the wrath to come 82 Sect. 4. Holiness the main designe of the Gospel and the end of all Christs sufferings 87 Sect. 5. Holiness the most proper and effectual means for obtaining length of days 91 Sect. 6. Holiness that which makes men honourable Vice rendering men mean and ignoble 96 Sect. 7. Holiness attended with the most solid and real Pleasures 106 Sect. 8. Holiness accompanied with peace 114 Sect. 9. Holiness the best evidence of true Wisdom and real Worth and Courage 119 Sect. 10. Holiness universally profitable and above all things most advantageous 124 CHAP. IV. Frivolous Cavils and Objections removed 142 THE INTRODUCTION MAN in his original condition when he first came out of the hands of his Maker was a very noble and venerable Creature adorned with many peculiar excellencies and as the Psalmist observes Onely made a little lower than glorious Angels But of all his perfections Holiness as it was the principal and most oriental so did it also give a beauty and lustre to the rest It made his Authority and Power lovely and desirable his Wisdom and Knowledge venerable and every other attribute which without this is terrible and dreadful to be comely and praise-worthy This was that single perfection that raised Man above the beasts that perish and made him Heavens great favourite and darling which if it had been carefully preserved had undoubtedly secured our first Parents in Paradise and prevented that dreadful calamity that hath seized upon their Posterity But alas how are we fallen from Heaven to Earth from a Paradise of pure pleasures to a miserable and painful Prison We have lost that divine Image that was impressed upon Man in his primitive state which indeed compleated and alone preserved its beauty and comeliness and with it have also lost every thing that did then contribute to make us happy and are now become vile and abominable and as miserable as we were formerly happy How much a serious view of that primitive felicity Man in his innocent state enjoyed would contribute to plant in us a holy life I know not but I am sure it could not but mightily inhaunce the value of Holiness and make it lovely and desirable That man that reflects upon the dismal miseries he is exposed to in this lapsed estate to what an infinite number of inexpressible evils of insupportable pains he lies upon how he is hurried from a state of perfect bliss to a woful hell of extream torments How exceedingly amazing is this The very Poet could say Miserum est suisse heatum But God knows this is out very seldom and if ever but faintly reflected upon we are to our sharow become contented slaves and satisfied to bear Fetters and Chains we continually live in the midst of all evil never enjoy a moments solace or comfort notwithstanding of which like mad-men we are content with our state and like the Sow take pleasure to puddle in the mire And although that same diffusive and boundless goodness that first breathed in us the breath of life and framed us in his own likeness and image again pitied us in our low estate and provided the most valuable and Soveraign remedie to recover us from this mortal disease though he has procured a compleat Ransom to liberate us from the insupportable slavery and tyranny of sin has offered to restore our former beautie to repossess us of that happiness we had lost and to make us again Favourites and Freemen yet how insolently have we rejected this kinde offer how impiously have we cut those cords of love asunder and refuse to be healed 'T is indeed matter of great sadness to consider the lofty and intolerable affronts that are now cast upon Holiness how men are arrived at that pitch of impietie to scorn and deride Religion which former ages were at some pains to advance as if Holiness were inconsistent with the principles of Generosity and onely becoming mean and morose spirits How transcendent a folly and madness this is will easily appear by what I shall afterwards lay down Methinks the naked representation of Holiness should be motive enough if not to court it yet to engage men to correct their unreasonable prejudices they entertain against it and even force its greatest Antagonists to become its Advocates But alas vice hath cast such a dark shadow upon mens Judgements that they are become as unfit Judges of its beauty as blind men are of colours otherwise we might yet expect to see contemned Vertue much more in vogue than ever Vice was To excite our desires Scripture has represented it under the most comely dress has discovered its beauty and excellencie and recommended it by the most endearing motives which are apt to work both upon our hope and fear Vpon our hope by proposing an infinitely valuable reward to the righteous besides the present advantages that attend it Vpon our fear by opening to our view the powers of the world to come and discovering the insupportable misery that the damned suffer day and night so that if men would but so far actuate their Reason as soberly to consult their own interest and happiness I doubt not but this alone should be motive enough to excite them to the practise of Holiness and scare them from those ways of sin that lead down to the chambers of death It would make one would think the greatest Sensualist to relinquish the momentary pleasures he enjoys here to be possest of those eternal joys that the pure in spirit shall reap in the Kingdom of their Father and the most hardned and impregnable sinner tremble to think of dwelling with devouring flames Now the onely infallible way to attain those coelestial felicities and to evite the miserable consequences of vice and those pains and tortures that it exposeth its votaries to is to abandon every lust be it never so impetuous and to cleanse our selves as the Apostle adviseth us from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit and to perfect holiness in the fear of God For the better directing our present
court and caress it Upon this account it is nothing strange that ancient Philosophers who wanted the assistance of revelation placed mans happiness in it How many brave and gallant actions have been performed which if they had wanted the bait of Honour had never been attempted Gallant souls who despise all other rewards have been hereby excited to undergo the greatest dangers Now since honour is so highly esteemed especially by those who pretend to generositie I shall to encourage such to befriend Holiness endeavour to prove that the most effectual means to procure Honour and to be in esteem both with God and man is to live as the Apostle adviseth men soberly righteously and godly Onely before I proceed to prove this I shall premise one Caution namely that by Honour I do not chiefly understand one dignified with any extrinsecal honour arising either from his Birth or Office though both these are to be highly esteemed and must not be denied that external respect due unto them but by Honour I understand that esteem and reputation that the best and wisest men do give to any whose Moral honour is conspicuous and under this notion the Stoick-Moralist hath very well expressed it Nobilitas sola est atque unica virtus which upon the matter disagrees not much from that sacred position of the Wise man Prov. 22.1 A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches Having premised this I come now to prove that Holiness is the path-way to Honour And indeed this is so plainly asserted in Scripture that it is needless to insist The God of Heaven hath assured us that those that Honour him he will honour and those that despise him shall be lightly esteemed 1 Sam. 2.30 Much like to this is that inducement to Holiness urged by our Lord Christ Joh. 12.26 If any man serve me him will my Father honour Now men cannot honour God more than by being holy for the word is comprehensive and includes all those duties that God hath enjoyned but every vice is a despising of his sacred Authority If then holy men are those onely whom God will honour and vitious men those whom he will contemn we may easily conclude who are the honourable and who are the base and ignoble Sure those men must be honourable whom the Fountain of Honour esteems such 'T is upon this account that the Saints are called in Scripture the excellent of the earth and the worthies of the world how meanly soever men esteem them of whom the world is not worthy And the righteous is said to be more excellent than his neighbour And indeed Holiness doth not only promote the honour and esteem of private persons but of publick Communities and Kingdoms also Prov. 14.34 Righteousness exalteth a nation but sin is a reproach to any people This is a truth which the wisest of the Heathens who yet wanted Revelation constantly taught namely That Honour is the reward of vertue Hence the large Lectures they have written in the commendation thereof it would be too tedious to transcribe even the Elogies that they have written in the praise of Vertue and indeed it is well worthy of our observation that as they have illustrated Vertue by their large Encomiums of it so Vertue which they courted hath made them venerable to posterity and transmitted to us their memories under the most amiable Encomiums imaginable And however their birth was but mean and almost regardless yet their vertues have made them more famous than Princes and Emperours The vertues of Aristides Socrates Seneca Marcus Regulus and many others have made their renown glorious whileas many Emperours and great men have had their names buried in silence Let a man be as rich as ever any of Adam's posterity was or that I may extend it farther as high as his ambitious thoughts can wish let him be wise as Solomon and endued with all other perfections and advantages yet if he want vertue how insipid will his Name be to posterity It is Vertue alone that conduceth to same 'T is true some wicked men called in Scripture vile notwithstanding their authority have been set in high places and honoured for fear when alive yet they never received that honour which hath in all ages accompanied the Righteous They have had the external which is indeed due to men by vertue of their Descent or Office but wanted that internal reverence and honour which is onely due to good men and I doubt not to say that there is nothing more incongruous and unsuitable than to see Honour given to such men As snow in summer and as rain in harvest so honour is not seemly for a fool Prov. 26.1 Vice is in the judgement of all considering men so mean and base that it casts a stain and reproach upon men makes their names unsavory and stink in the nostrils of after-ages but Holiness forces a veneration from men and makes posterity raise Elogies in their memory but the memory of the wicked shall be forgotten Virtue was that alone whereby many Kingdoms and Empires have been raised was that which made them so flourishing and potent and prevailed more to their establishment and advancement than Strength or Policy Thus it was with the old Romans for their virtues are a shame to the present state of that Empire their Clemencie and Justice conquered Kingdomes and made Rome renowned and glorious beyond all other Kingdoms and Commonwealths and as Vertue hath raised Kingdoms so hath it also particular Persons whileas Vice hath cast Emperours from their Thrones and made them as unfortunate as they were wicked Many of the primitive Martyrs who were renowned by Kingdoms and Commonwealths who keep Festivals in honour of their memories were but of an inferiour degree and had nothing to recommend them to posterity but their Holiness and Sanctity and indeed any man that consults Reason will easily finde himself constrained to reverence and esteem virtuous men 'T is a wonder that any man who pretends to generosity should be vitious there being nothing so mean and base as Vice which like to cowards always lurketh and dares not approach the light I doubt not but this present age hath arrived at as high a confidence in proclaiming their sins as Sodom as ever any former age acquired and it may to the reproach of it be said as ever any is like to reach to yet till men cast quite off humanity it cannot be expected that Vice shall have Advocates to plead in its defence 'T is a noble saying of the great Moralist Seneca Licet Deus nesciret nec homo puniret peccatum non tamen peccarem ob peccati vilitatem 'T is no wonder then though Vice appear as the Devil in Samuel's mantle under the cloak of Vertue though Lust mask it self with the pretence of Love and Cruelty of Zeal but by this means it proclaims its timorousness not daring to own publickly what it really is It were a large field to descend to
irresistible power and force in her charmings which conquereth the hearts of men insensibly Now if Beauty mixed with so much deformity accompanied with so much attendance and slavery be so enchanting and attractive how much more powerfully should the Beauty of Holiness which is every whit perfect and unspotted and attended with no dismal accidents raise our admiration and make us say as David of Goliah's Sword There is none like it Alas all earthly beauty will be quickly laid in the dust a little time will deface the fairest face and make its beauty consume like a Moth an unexpected accident may disfigure it and marre the most lovely features and there is no doubt but old Age which draws on a pace will make wrinkles in the smoothest face and make it wither as a flower But the Beauty of Holiness is lasting it fades not with time nor can it be impaired by the most loathsome and nauseating disease Since then Pleasure is so ready to excite our affections and draw out our complacency 't is pity that the noblest the most satisfying and the most lasting should be so much contemned Eccl. 5.10 He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver nor he that loveth abundance with increase All the caresses of this World are unable to satisfie the Soul but how ravishing are the joys of a holy conversation The pleasures of this world are short and momentary are onely as the Apostle phraseth them for a season which quickly passeth but the joy of the Holy Ghost is as lasting as unspeakable and this joy saith Christ to his Disciples no man shall take from you It is without the reach of the malice of men and Devils too Alas how diminutive does it make the pleasures of the wicked to say they are short how exceedingly does this one circumstance diminish them But indeed this were not so very considerable if there were a concurrence of no worse circumstances but that which mostly is an allay and damp to temporal pleasures is the consequence a painful and lasting eternity of the severest punishments 'T is this life that puts a period and conclusion to the joys of wicked men whileas the pious have Rivers of pleasures for evermore to delight and ravish them 't is at Death that they enter into the joy of their Lord. This is a subject so ravishing and pleasant that I cannot without reluctancy conclude it O how unsatisfactory are all the delights of Sense if compared with those Spiritual Joys the holy Soul partakes of The delights that the Drunkard hath in his Cups and Companions the Covetous in his Riches the Ambitious in his Preferments c. fall all incomparable short of that joy that is the lot of the righteous The delights that the holy man enjoys do upon a double account far over-poise the transitory pleasures of the wicked First the present satisfaction that the holy Soul tastes of in this valley of tears is incomparably greater than the delights that arise from sense The soul that hath once tasted of the love of God findes more pleasure in the very acts of mutual love than in all the feasts of delight that sense is capable to enjoy Food is indeed sweet to the hungry and drink to those who are languishing with thirst the taste does without doubt finde some meats sweet and relishing even where there is no extremity of hunger much more where it is for to the hungry every bitter thing is sweet Beauteous Sights ravish the Eye melodious Musick the Ear and Odoriferous things please the Smell But alas how far beyond these is the delight which the devout soul receives in Ordinances the antipasts of joy which their Heavenly Father bestows upon them are more delightful than the concurrence of all sensual pleasures The soul that is in trouble can fetch more consolation from the promises of the Word than the carnal man can from his pleasures Vnless thy Law had been my delight saith the Psalmist I had perished in my affliction Other things could not avail him they could afford no relief but to have access to God in prayer and to pour out our complaints to our willing God this is more ravishing than I can express And I am sure there is no man who hath tasted these joys who would part with them for sensual pleasures and no man dare inveigh against those spiritual delights but strangers who intermeddle not with this joy The very Heathens have taught us that Vertue is a reward to it self they experimented more real satisfaction in moderation and temperance than in Drinking and Whoring But Christianity gives us more uncontrolable evidences of the reality of that joy that good men even in this state of absence taste of Into what a rapture and unexpressible extasie of joy did the abundance of revelation St. Paul met with put him and the Apostle St. Peter was so transported with joy when he did see Christ in his Transfiguration that he could not forbear crying Master it is good being here How full of joy have Martyrs been in the midst of the flames what comforts have they even then expressed And is not all this evidence that the joy of holy men is more real more sweet and ravishing than the transitory pleasures of the wicked which in several seasons can afford no delight a little pain or disease is such an allay and damp to their pleasures that it quite extirps them But besides those foretastes of joy that the holy Soul experiments here which as I have shewed infinitely overwhelms all trouble and pain that which contributes most to advance the joy of good men are those felicities above which are prepared for them and to these wicked men can lay no claim their farthest prospect being confined to temporal delights What abundance of delights and unexpressible pleasures are laid up for the holy Soul above How delectable will it be to be constant residents in the Heavenly Jerusalem whose Streets are pure Gold and whose Gates are Pearl how ravishing will it be to be always in his presence where there are Streams and Rivers of perpetual pleasures How sweet will it be to be a member of that blessed Society of the first-born in Heaven where there is a perfect concord and agreement But I confess I am not able to express half the joy of this future felicity Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it entred into the hearts of men to conceive what a store of happiness God hath laid up in Heaven for those who are holy in all manner of conversation SECT 8. Holiness accompanied with Peace There is nothing more suitable to and agreeable with Humane nature than Peace as those who endure trouble and vexation can fully attest Amongst earthly blessings it deserves not the last place it being a mercy which crowns all others and without which the fullest fruition could not prove satisfactory Those languishing and much to be pitied Kingdoms which now lie bathed in
whom the promises of eternal life belong In the last pace there is nothing in the world that will prove so effectual to comfort men at the hour of death as the sweet thoughts of their being separated from the pollutions of the world How unspeakably comfortable is it for men when they are just stepping into the other world to reflect upon the good life they have led and that they carry in their bosoms Consciences void of offence both towards God and towards man This is indeed that noble and Sovereign Cordial that revives the spirits of good men in their passage through the valley and shadow of death and makes their comforts abound and overflow Death is not so small a matter as some men think in Scripture it is not unfitly called the King of terrours Now nothing can free men from the terrour of it but a good Conscience and this cannot be had without Holiness which makes all calm and serene within It will afford men little pleasure when they come to die to reflect upon the earthly pleasures they have enjoyed these things profit not in the day of wrath but the Conscience of well doing makes men salute death without dread and astonishment and lift up their heads with joy because the day of their redemption approacheth But with the ungodly and wicked it is not so then their sins stare them in their face and so terrifie and affright them that no wonder though in the extremity of their agony they prefer strangling and death to life If holy Job doth so heavily complain of the terrours of God how much more terrifying shall the apprehensions of a severe and terrible judgement be to the unsanctified and polluted To think how shortly he must be everlastingly separate from the good things he enjoyed here and be cast into utter darkness to have his portion with the damned in devouring Flames to be an everlasting resident in the Lake of fire and brimstone where he shall be continually tormented with that gnawing worm that never dies These are the amazing thoughts that will seize upon the sinner his Conscience then will not sleep nothing will be able to allay those Storms and Tempests that are raised by the fearful expectation of the reward due to sin At death men are generally wiser than at other times then they begin to consider what they have been doing and call themselves fool a thousand times for their disobedience and wickedness The smoak of worldly cares that formerly blinded their eyes are now dispelled they see their folly when it is too late to mend it and if they do no more yet Balaam-like they will cry O that I might die the death of the righteous CHAP. IV. Frivolous Cavils and Objections removed THe former Chapters having discovered the Beauty of Holiness and the mighty power and force of Arguments that excite to the practice of it one who weighs all this by the measures of equity cannot as any man would think but look upon it as the strangest prodigie that so just a Cause should miss of its effect and finde the sons of men who pretend to be such Masters of Reason so monstrously foolish in rejecting it upon the account of some frivolous and very fallacious cavils But the truth is resolute Impiety is set upon the Bench and made Judge and no wonder though it pass an unjust sentence and condemn Holiness because of its opposition to Vice The common imputations and prejudices which wicked men load Holiness with I shall reduce to the four following Heads First Holiness lays upon men heavy burdens and grievous to be born which makes humane life joyless and uneasie they being so inconsistent first with Peace and secondly with Pleasure and Satisfaction Secondly Experience informs us that wicked men enjoy pleasure and satisfaction in their ways there being no men so jovial and merry as they and that men who pretend to Holiness are sullen and melancholy and are exposed to heavy sufferings and trials Thirdly 'T is singularity and ambition that prevail more with men than any other motive to be holy Fourthly 'T is the greatest piece of folly ignorance and impudence for men to quit with present pleasures for mere uncertainties The first being the most material Objection I shall therefore more largely and distinctly examine it and in doing of this I shall desire these four things may be considered First that the divine Laws are not grievous and uneasie Secondly that Vice is much more troublesom and difficult than Vertue Thirdly that Holiness conduceth both to the Peace and Happiness of humane Societies and to the temporal Advantage of private persons And Fourthly that there is a great deal of more pleasure in the ways of Holiness than in the commission of sin That the divine Laws are not grievous and uneasie but extreamly reasonable and wise is a truth I have already made plain when I discoursed of the rule of Holiness The whole tenour of the Laws of Christianity being so exceedingly suitable to the very nature of men it cannot be rationally supposed that they can be grievous to them St. Paul to the Philippians gives us a brief and compendious but very full and comprehensive account of what things the Laws of our Christianity enjoyn viz. Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely and whatsoever things are of good report all which are so agreeable to Reason that even the light of Nature prompts men to the doing of them and fully discovers it self to be an irreconcilable Enemy to all kinde of vices 'T is not then Reason but the impetuous Lusts of men that determines a holy Law to be grievous and uneasie and indeed no wonder though this unjust Judge make Holiness appear formidable and represent it as grievous to Mankinde it being so much the interest of this partial Judge to condemâ— it as criminal and to decrie it as a yoak intolerable and grievous to be born 'T is not probable that the most innocent shall pass uncondemned when an Enemy is set up in the Judgement seat to pass Sentence our blessed Saviour must be pronounced guilty by Pilat although even this uniust Judge openly profest he found no fault in him And seeing our great Law-giver met with so severe a sentence who can expect any more upright verdicts should pass upon his Laws But that the divine Laws are not indeed grievous to be born may easily appear from plain Texts of Scripture which is the onely infallible rule Our great Lord hath himself taught his Disciples That his yoak is easie and his burden light And one of his inspired Disciples has assured us that his commands are not grievous two Texts sufficient methinks to remove all those prejudices that are cast upon a holy life as if it were full of fatigue and trouble But besides Scripture Reason and Experience too come in to witness this truth First Reason
and madness is it to be careful for the Body and careless what becomes of the Soul to provide for Time and neglect Eternity Sure 't is no wonder though the Wise man does so frequently characterize the sinner a fool and represents him as one that lacketh understanding And indeed we may rationally say This their way is their folly their foolish choice proclaims that those workers of iniquity have no knowledge The Conclusion WE have now seen the Excellency and Beauty of Holiness have discovered the absolute Perfection of its Nature and the Compleatness of its Rule have taken a view of its Allurements and powerful Motives and have discovered the weakness of those Cavils that are urged against it and what remains but that we set about this work with the greatest seriousness imaginable that we give no sleep to our eyes nor slumber to our eye-lids till we forsake our sins and enter upon a course of Holiness If God had imposed upon us a heavy and intolerable yoak if he had commanded us to perform some grievous and uneasie service had we not been obliged to have obeyed But since he onely commands us to wash and be clean requires onely our consent to what is so much our own interest onely exacts that we separate our selves from those lusts that pollute and defile us that vex and torments our mindes and which if continued in will certainly ruine and undo us what fools and mad-men are we if we refuse to hear his voice Almighty God has been drawing us with the Cords of Love has presented to us the most charming motives to excite our love and esteem has carried us as it were to the Pinacle of the Temple and discovered to us all the glory and beauty of this world has taken us to Pisgah and given us a view of the good Land of Canaan of the City of the living God of which glorious things are spoken and promised that all these things shall be ours if we will but be holy in all manner of conversation And to excite our fear he has opened to our view the powers of the world to come has plainly told us of the pains and torments that the damned suffer day and night and that indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish remains as the due portion of those that do evil And now may he not take up that same protestation that he used to his ancient People the Jews What more can I do for you But alas we have in the most insolent manner despised all these charms of Love and like the mad-man in the Gospel have broken to pieces the strongest Fetters and Chains We are God knows as deeply sunk into sensuality and bruitishness as those to whom the Grace of God that bringeth salvation hath never appeared 'T is not credible I may say possible that men could have been more wicked than they now are supposing they had never heard of Heaven or Hell 'T is a wonder as any one would think that those very men who profess they believe in Christ should so grosly and openly contradict his plain Precepts that those who believe that without holiness no man shall see the Lord and that the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness yet persist in their abominable wickedness and are neither awed with fears nor animated with hopes What is all this but for men to expose themselves to the contempt rather than pity of discerning men We have surveyed the several advantages which attend Holiness have discovered how much mans temporal as well as his eternal welfare and happiness depends upon it We have explained how in her right hand is length of days and in her left hand are riches and honour that her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths peace And now may we not give the same testimony of it which Joshua and Caleb did of Canaana Numb 14. The land which we passed through to search it is an exceeding good land The Sons of Anak I mean the pretended difficulties are not so strong as some men represent them to be we need not be discouraged to encounter with them greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world Alas what Objection can men possibly make against a Duty that is so excellent useful and necessary that is founded upon such mighty motives as may prevail with any who is not quite petrified in desperate Impiety Good God! what stupid folly is this that men hide their hands in their bosom and will not so much as stretch them out to this tree of Life that they may eat of this fruit which is pleasant to the eye and profitable both to our present and future happiness 'T is indeed pity that men should be thus permitted to run headlong to destruction Alas is perdition so lovely and desirable that like Rachel a double servitude is thought light for it and shall wise and discerning men be Eye-witnesses of the bad bargain those men make and not warn them of their folly I know this is a duty chiefly incumbent to our spiritual Watchmen to discharge I doubt not but many of them stand upon their watch and warn men of their danger It were to be wished that all and every of them were thus faithful but sure every man is in some manner concerned to be his brothers keeper and he is highly criminal who should see a mad man running upon danger and not stop him in his course I wish some new-coined Doctrines had not an inauspicious influence upon the bad practices of many had not too much countenanced and authorized vice but my present designe is so far from controversial that I shall rather think my self concerned to inveigh against needless disputes than start any If I may speak from my own experience I ingenuously confess I finde Disputes so insipid and fruitless and in the review so unsatisfactory that I am resolved henceforth to bid an eternal adieu to them and to condemn them as the great underminers of Christian Piety And if any shall after this fair warning assault any Doctrine I have elsewhere owned I hope discerning men will neither esteem me nor the Cause the worse that I draw not my Sword in its defence And now what shall I say more but conclude with Moses's passionate Exhortation Deut. 32.46 Set your hearts to the words which I testifie to you this day for it is not a vain thing because it is your life Let us no longer delay and put off this duty while it is called to day let us not harden our hearts through the deceitfulness of sin but seriously search and try our ways and turn to the Lord this is the proper season for so necessary a work ere long there will be no time left us to consider our ways O that in this our day we did understand the things that belong to our peace before they be hid from our eyes If men would but be induced to imitate the
evermore the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort How precious are thy promises to us-wards how great is the sum of them Thou renewest thy favours continually and art still pouring upon us innumerable benefits of which this is not the least that thou givest us leave to come into thy Presence to call thee Father and to make known our requests to thee by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving We accept O Lord with all thankfulness this thy great Grace and Loving kindness to us and are here again prostrate before thee this Evening to acknowledge thy goodness in making us such excellent Creatures capable to know thee and acknowledge thee and love thee and by being made like thee to be Eternally happy with thee Blessed be thy Name that we are now alive and that we have lived so long in health and strength and peace and plenty of all good things whereas our Eyes might have been consumed with grief our Bones sore vexed and we might have mingled our Drink with continual weeping We are bound unto thee for the free use of our understandings for the good inclinations we find in our will for any devout affections which are stirring in our Hearts for all the advantages we have had by our educations good company and holy Examples and more especially for the Illuminations of the Holy Ghost by thy blessed Gospel the breathings of it frequently into our Spirits the importunities thou hast used to draw us to thee and the great and precious promises whereby thy love in Christ Jesus constrains us to resign our selves entirely to the Obedience of thy Precepts We ought likwise to admire and praise thee for thy Goodness to all thy Creatures who live daily upon thy bountious allowance The eyes of all wait on thee and thou givest them their Food in due season thou diffusest thy blessings in several Streams to every one of them according to their needs That thou givest them they gather thou openest thy hand they are filled with good We give thee the Glory of thy plentiful provision thou hast made for them and more particularly admire thy great liberality to the Children of men under whose Feet thou hast put in subjection all Sheep and Oxen yea and the Beasts of the field the Fowl of the Air and the Fish of the Sea and whatsoever passeth through the Paths of the Waters O Lord we praise thee for thy Goodness to those who praise thee not themselves Be thou adored and acknowledged in thy bounty which bestows so many blessings unasked and unsought and continues them notwithstanding abundance of provocations and most high Offences that they have given to thy merciful kindness And let thy Goodness to thy Church be never forgotten by us which thou hast in all Ages Protected and defended in a marvelous manner propagating the Gospel of our Saviour confounding its opposers and spreading it by the power of the Holy Ghost over the face of the Earth We thank thee for thy singular favor to these Countries wherein we live to whom these glad tydings of Salvation have reached and who have long enjoyed a more glorious light than many other places and been delivered from the Darkness of Popish superstition and from sundry attempts that have been made to bereave us of this Happiness and are again setled after many Confusions in a peaceable enjoyment of thy true Religion which thou hast also continued to us though we have not brought forth Fruit worthy of the Gospel of thy Grace O that all thy undeserved Goodness may have this effect upon us to make us heartily love thee and devoutly worship thee and zealously obey thee and stedfastly trust and hope in thee for ever That by a careful improvement of the knowledge of thee our God and our Lord Jesus Christ by whom thou hast given us all things that pertain unto life and goodness we may still enjoy this inestimable treasure and all thy love to us may at last be finished in those eternal Joys which he hath promised to the Faithful And as we have been taught exhorted and encouraged this day out of thy holy word and have likewise publickly acknowledged our obligations to thee and made profession of Love and Gratitude and Durifulness to thy Divine Majesty So help us all the Week following openly to testifie the Truth and Honesty of our Hearts in all this by a blameless conversation in all Humility Meekness Temperance Righteousness Charity and Peace with all them that call on the Lord out of a pure Heart Bless our Soveraign the defender of the Faith we profess and all imploy'd under him in their several Offices that they may be Instruments of continuing to us these Holy opportunities with all other good things that may make these Kingdoms happy O that all our friends may be thine and if we have any Enemies Father forgive them comfort and support the Sick the Needy and all other distressed persons with an immoveable belief of thy wise and good Providence to which give them Grace patiently and obediently to resign themselves And when all our senses this Night shall be bound up with sleep be thou O Lord our keeper and after the refreshment of that repose and this Holy rest from our Labours raise us in the Morning to return unto them with cheerful minds and ready wills Praising still and Magnifying thy multiplied Mercies to us in Christ Jesus by whom we present our selves and petitions to thee saying farther as he hath taught us Our Father c. A Prayer for a Family on any Morning O Most holy most glorious and eternal Lord God we thy poor and unworthy Servants in all humility of Soul and Body and unfeigned acknowledgements of our duty prostrate our selves before the throne of thy Mercy praising magnifying thy Fatherly goodness for the abundance of thy blessings and for the multitude of thy Mercies heaped upon us beseeching thee for Christ his sake to be merciful to all our sins committed against thy Divine Majestie upon the consideration of which we confess we are not worthy to appear in thy presence much less to ask a blessing at thy hands for by reason of our corrupt Nature in us derived from our first Parents our inclinations have been prone to commit all manner of sin and wickedness against thy Goodness Thy Laws and Precepts we have broken both in thought word and deed out of our hearts proceed evil and wicked imaginations which defile the soul and body Yet O Lord thou art our Creator thou hast sent thy dear Son Jesus Christ to die for us and thy Holy Spirit to sanctifie us and many are the benefits and blessings which thou hast bestowed upon us and which by thy goodness we enjoy both of soul and body and therefore by the Testimony of our own Consciences we stand convicted and the thoughts of our great sins and transgressions do much astonish us What shall we say therefore or wherein shall we open
requests and what else thou knowest needful and expedient for us and that for Jesus Christ his sake in whose most blessed Name and words we conclude these our imperfect prayers saying as he himself hath taught us Our Father c. A Morning-prayer for a private person O Lord my God merciful and loving to all thy servants pitiful and patient to me thy child gracious and favourable to all those that meekly come unto thee I dare not with the proud Pharisee justifie my self or say I have not sinned I dare not press into thy presence with hope or confidence through mine own merits to be saved but with the poor Publican laying my Soul upon the work of Repentance and with an unfeigned sorrow casting my self down at the footstool of thy Majesty I cry and say O Lord be merciful to me a sinner O my God the horn of my Salvation and my refuge my stony Rock and my defence in whom onely I trust and to whom alone I flee for succour miserable wretch that I am how have I provoked thee I have done evil in thy fight I have stirred up thine anger I have deserved thy displeasure I have sinned I have offended yet thou bearest with me One deep calleth to another the depth of misery to the depth of mercy I feel O Lord but it is thy Spirit that giveth me this feeling that mine Understanding is darkned Conscience seared Memory decayed Will bewitched Heart hardned Affections disordered Conversation corrupted my thoughts desires best actions are abominable in thy sight Mine eyes cannot see thee in thy Creatures mine ears cannot hear thee in thy Word my mouth cannot praise thee in thy Works my hands and feet cannot serve thee in my Calling destruction and calamity are in all my ways and the way of peace I have not known Unto whom now shall I come for comfort unto whom now shall I sue for succour but to thee O Lord whom I will look up to as unto the Brazen Serpent If I repent thou sparest if I return thou embracest yet beside all this though I defer thou waitest Thou teachest the ignorant thou comfortest the pensive thou liftest up from destruction after a fall thou givest to him that asketh thou reclaimest him which wandereth thou invitest him that resisteth thou lookest for him that sleepeth and him thou embracest which returneth Now O Lord what to answer for my disobedience I am ignorant for what am I not subject to by reason of my sins I cannot hide my self from thy presence I could not abide it if thou shouldst enter into Judgment O Father of mercies and God of all comfort pierce my flesh with thy fear so that by fearing I may escape such things as thou dost threaten and restore to me the Joy of thy Salvation that by loving I may taste the felicity which thou hast promised Put thou into my remembrance O Lord the things I should conceive of thee teach me by what words I may call upon thee instruct me with what good works I may please thee Cover thou mine head in the day of battle Let me not be of that number which for a time believe but when temptation cometh go back Grant me I beseech thee the gifts of regeneration to become thy child of Faith to believe thy promise of obedience to do thy will of prayer to seek thy presence of comfort to endure thy trials and of strength to continue thy servant to my life's end Open my blind eyes to see the sins I am most given to give me grace to sigh and groan under the burthen of them and give me spiritual understanding to discern and judge betwixt good and evil Thou hast been good unto me O Lord many ways in my creation redemption vocation sanctification in preserving me all the days of my life hitherunto and in opening thy hand continually and filling my mouth with good things Thou hast preserved me from all dangers of this night past and brought me safe to the beginning of this day whereas thou mightest have made my bed my grave thou mightest have turned my sleep into death unto me but thou lendest me a longer and a larger time to repent Lord increase my zeal further my repentance make me sincerely to imbrace thy mercies I will take the Cup of Salvation and call upon thy Name Receive O Lord this early sacrifice both of my soul and body I offer them up into thy hands to be disposed at thy pleasure and with them unfeigned sighs for offending thee Go on with thy favours towards me thy humble servant go along by me and with me all this day and all the days of my life that I may not step into the path of sin but that thy Law may be my delight all the day long Thou O Lord Christ art risen from the dead Let the power of thy resurrection make me rise unto newness of life And that which is impossible to flesh and bloud make it possible by the virtue of thy blood And so in thy Name I shut up my imperfect prayers both for my self and others in that manner and form of prayer which thou hast taught me Our Father c. An Evening-prayer for a private person O Lord my God who aboundest in all good things and art a liberal bestower of the dainties of heavenly safety I praise and glorifie thee for thy love and bounty towards me this day past having bestowed upon me all things necessary for the day with-holding nothing from me that might be beneficial to me The night now stealeth upon me like a thief and I am nearer to old age than I was in the morning though not nearer to goodness I know not whether thou wilt this night make my bed in the dark and the hour of my visitation be this present evening A wake me then out of that slumber of sin remove from me that sloth that hath all this while hindred thy Grace Forgive me my sins which are more infinite than the stars and more heavy than if mountains lay upon my bosome but thy mercy and the merits of my Redeemer do I trust in in his Name do I sue for a pardon Let my mind O Lord flie from the parching heat of worldly cares under the shadow of thy wings that being hid in temperate coldness it may joyfully sing and say I will lay me down and also sleep in peace Let my memory sleep O Lord my God let it sleep from all evil Suffer not unclean thoughts this night to pollute my body and soul but keep my cogitations chast Let not the Sun go down upon my wrath but if any man this day have done me wrong grant that I may freely and heartily forgive him as I desire at thy hands to be forgiven Keep me from the adversary who sleepeth not but seeketh how he may devour me Anoint me O Lord with the Oyl of thy Spirit that of thy fulness I may be filled with Grace even that Grace which