Righteous in all thy Works Just and True in all thy ways and stedfastly believing that in very Faithfulness thou hâ—st caused us to be troubled Nay even to Bless and Praise thy holy Name amidst the greatest 〈◊〉 that thou dost so far condescend to take Notice of us worthless Creatures as to punish us with thine own hand and chasten us with afflictions that we should not be condemned with the sinfuâ—â— World O how know we but we are more indebted to thee for thy Corrections than for thy more Apparent favours and Benefits and shall we then murmur and be impatient under them God forbid Convince us rather Good Lord that whom thou Lovest thou Chastenest and Correctest every Son whom thoâ— Receivest that if we are without Chastisements then are we bastards and not Sons Convince us that 't was through many Tribulations that the Glorious Company of the Apostles that the Noble Army of Martyrs made their Entranâ—â— into the Kingdom of Heaven that it was through such violences that they took it as it were by force Remind us that 't was through Sufferings that our blessed Saviour was made perfect that He himself went not up to Joy efore he first suffer'd Pain that He enter'd not into Glory before he was Crucified O make us in Conformity to him the Captain of our Salvation patiently to charge thorough all Adversities Losses and Disappointments till we arrive at the mark for the prize of our high calling in Christ Give us holy Father to lye Prostrate at thy feet whenever thou contendest with us let us Repent to the Amendment of our evil ways and not Repine at those smarting Sufferings which tend to Rebuke our foolish forsaking Thee the Author of our Blessedness let us be dumb with a silent Reverence whenever thy heavy hand of Chastisement is upon us O cause us then in all lowliness and Humility to submit to thyProvidence to make diligent Search after the Accursed thing for which thou art Displeas'd with us to Kiss thy Rod of Correction and Learn that Reforming Lesson which it dictates lest otherwise it Breaks us in pieces and there be none to Deliver us O Suppress in us all Repining thoughts and make us drink chearfully the cup of Affliction how bitter soever it is we shall have reason to Thank thee O Lord for it if it proves Medicinal to our Souls O make it such we entreat thee Let this be the use of Temporal Calamities their weaning our Affections from the Vanities below their Raising and Setling our desires on the infinitely more valuable things Above their rendering us Meek Humble Contented Resign'd that so our Faith Hope and Patience may be found in the Day of our Lord Laudable Glorious and Honourable and that being Afflicted for a season we may be endlesly comforted Amen Blessed Saviour Amen Meditation X. On Love to God 'T IS our Duty and 't is our Interest and Priviledge our Duty we being commanded to Love him with all our hearts souls and strengths and our Interest for what greater Love to our selves than to Love the fountain of all Loveliness than to Love him in whom are compriz'd all those Excellencies in infinite Degrees which Scatteringly and imperfectly reside in the Creatures and yet render them Amiable and Admired Nothing is more Reasonable also than to Love God a being so transcendently Good in himself so Gracious and Loving unto us for to Him we owe all the powers of our Bodies all the noble faculties of our Souls all that we Are all that we have comes Entirely from him we should be very ungrateful persons should we Love any thing so well as him much more should we Love any thing Above him for he hath not only created us doth not only preserve and provide for us Comforts as well as Necessaries but he hath also dearly Redeem'd us from everlasting Destruction not with corruptible things such as Silver and Gold but with no Less a Ransom than the precious Bloodshed of his Dear Son God Co-equal with the Father He hath likewise Sanctified us with the Regeneration of his blessed Spirit Thus hath God not only provided us all the Coveniences of this life but also all things appertaining to a Better has given us Spiritual Blessings as well as Corporal means of Grace and hopes of Glory So that He hath layd on us the Strongest obligations to Love him and if any thing else in the whole Creation is Lovely much more Eminently so is the Divine Majesty who is owner of all his Creatures Lovelyness and of Infinite more If Beauty is an object of Love behold God the most beautiful Being in whom dwells perfection of Comelyness If Riches are attractives of Esteem and Valuation behold the Deity the Treasury of all Wealth and of whatever is valuable If pleasure is a thing Lovely and desirable behold in God's presence Fullness of Joy and at his Right hand pleasures for Evermore Sure I must hate my self if I Love not God for therein consists my Wellfare and Happyness Shall I love other things and not Him from whom they Borrowed their Lovelyness Shall I Love the Stream and not the Fountain of blessedness What Joy do I deprive my self of if I Love not God If I hate not all other things in comparison of him He that Loveth Father or Mother sayes our Blessed Saviour more than me is not worthy of me and he that Loveth Son or Daughter the most Near and Dear things more than me is not worthy of me O who know the Enravishing Delights but those who have experienced them of Loving the Deity and being beloved by him of holding such Sweet Communion with the God of all Consolation It is a very Great Favour and Condescension that the Majesty of Heaven and Earth will Admit of our imperfect Love will Graciously Accept it for 't is imperfect though never so Sincere 't is finite Love though never so Seraphical What an inconceivable Honour is it to be vouchsafed the Loving our Creator 'T is certain we can have no better Object no one so Good the benefit of Loving God redounds wholly to our selves not at all to him However I will Love the Lord not so much for my own Ends as because he hath Commanded my Love as because he is a supereminently Amiable Being infinitely Deserving my Love as because 't is a Debt due from me a Dependant Creature to my Maker and the Author of all my Enjoyments I will Delight in Loving and Obeying him as long as I live and I by his Grace will Evidence the Truth of my Love by paying an Universal Respect unto all his Commandments Amen Amen The Prayer O Thou Supream Excellency whom to know is Life Eternal whom to Love is Heaven upon Earth Thou Being infinitely Lovely in thine own Nature Exceeding kind nad Loving unto us manifest thy self more and more unto us that we may Love Thee more and more and that Loving Thee with increase we may Enjoy Thee in a
Essentials of his Religion let our Wills also be conjoyn'd for what an Absurdity is it that we who are to live together in Heaven if our Uncharitableness hinder not should live at variance here below O Heavenly Samaritan Thou holy Jesu Prince of peace Look down Look down behold here a miserably torn and Divided Church torn with Schisme and Faction fallen among Robbers and Spoilers who most inhumanely have Entreated her behold with a succouring compassion her bleeding wounds which are as so many Mouths importunately begging it Pour thy suppling Oyl and Wine of Union into her Sores bind up with the bond of Love and Concord her broken and Disjoynted Members Pass not by on the other side of the way as did the Relentless Levite but let the Distress'd sight of our misery move thee to compassion and thy Compassion produce a Speedy Relieving us Suppress in us blessed Saviour Entirely banish from us that Stingy Selfishness of Spirit that narrow Confinement of Love to a Sect or Party which so much abounds in the Nation and make us of a more publick Generous Temper more Consultive of the Good of the Community both in Church and State And then the Spirit of God the Spirit of Love and Unity shall dwell amongst us Love shall be our Guide and Love shall be our Guard and Defence Love shall fit us for Heaven and Love shall Conduct us thither Nay Love shall bring down Heaven upon Earth unto us shall make us live in Peace in Amity in a Joyous Complacency at each others Happyness Amen Amen The Prayer O OUR God who hast taught us that all our doings without Charity are nothing worth that he only who dwelleth in Love dwelleth in Thee and Thou in him send thy Holy-Ghost and pour into our hearts that most Excellent Gift of Charity the very bond of Peace and of all Vertues make us Children of thee our God Disciples of our Dear Lord and Master in loving one another as he hath loved us in being Merciful as Thou our Heavenly Father art Merciful O that the same mind may be in us which was in Christ Jesus who went about doing Good healing the Diseas'd comforting the Afflicted compossionating the Distressed and whose pity did not content it self with a bare saying Be ye warmed be ye cloathed be ye filld and deliver'd from your Sufferings but which did always Exert it self in Real Acts of Mercy and Beneficence O make us also thus followers of our Redeemer's Steps being Exceeding pittyful and compassionate and actually employing all our abilities for our necessitous Brethrens Succour and Relief Give us we beseech thee O most merciful God such a Sympathizing Tenderness of Spirit that we may be deeply affected with both the miseries and Prosperities of our Neighbours mourning with those that mourn and Rejoycing with those that Rejoyce as Living Members of our Saviours mystical body his Church O that it may become the Center of Unity and Concord the very Joy and Delight of the whole Earth Fulfil O Lord that promised blessing of thine unto the Christian State whereby the Wolf is to dwell with the Lamb the Loeopard to lie down with the Kid the Calf and the young Lyon together a little Child to lead them a weaned Child to put his hand on the Cockatrice-Den and nothing to hurt or destroy in thy holy mountain but all fury malice and bitterness being done away Gospel-Love and Peace and Gentleness of Spirit is to succeed O may this Gracious Promise be near its Accomplishment may this blessed State this Kingdom of thy Dear Son come Quickly O thou Composer of differences thou God of all Peace Compose those unhappy Animosities which are too much propagated among Christians let them not any longer Dishonour thy Name bring an evil Report upon our Holy Profession in General nor weaken the Interest of the Protestant Religion in particular But grant that by Brotherly Love and Concord we may Adorn the Gospel of our Saviour may win over Converts thereunto and thereby Enlarge Strengthen and Advance the Kingdom of the Ever-blessed Jesus Let the Peace of Thee our God Rule in our Hearts to the which we are call'd in one and the same hope of an Heavenly Inheritance that as we have one Lord one Faith one Baptisme one God and Father of us all so we may henceforth be all of one Heart and of one Soul united in one holy bond of Truth and Peace of Faith and Charity And being thus Studious of Emulating each other in kindness provoking thus one another to Love and Good works and being in such a manner the Sons of Peace on Earth we shall be fitted and made meet for the joynt participation of Heavenly Glory where may we all Reign Rejoycing in each others Happyness as Sincerely if not Equally as in our own Amen Blessed Jesus Amen Meditation XV. On Improvement in Grace THe Life of Grace is best evidenc'd by Growth therein Spiritual Life no more than the Natural one can subsist without Activity and progressive Motion where-ever the seed of God is sown in Truth and Reality it will fructifie and become prolifick In the School of Grace as well as in that of Humane Learning not to Go forward and make improvement is to Go backward and Vertue like a tender young Plant if it does not Thrive and Flourish is in a Tendency to Decay and Wither The slothful unprofitable Servant who did not improve his Talent is in the Scripture-reckoning in our Lord and Saviour's account nigh as bad and as severely punish'd as the unjust Steward who wickedly embezzled it and not to make use of Grace is here reputed the same thing as not to have had it To have it by Exercise and Improvement is judg'd by God the only true Possession and he who has not the Gifts and Graces of the Spirit in this manner is said in Holy Writ only to seem to have them And instead of encreasing their Store 't is denounced there that he shall loose even those measures of Divine Vertues which were once afforded him Genuine Grace cannot stand at a stay if it does not Ascend and improve it infallibly Declines And when God gives us this Talent to Trade withal and encrease it shall we frustrate his End of Giving it by letting it lye Dead and unexercised Did Christ purchase us the Graces of the holy Spirit at the Dear and inestimable Rate of his own Bloodshed and shall we Neglect them when so purchased Did He by his precious Death and All-prevalent Intercession procure the Effusion and sending down of those Graces and shall we slight them when so sent and bestow'd on us Ah what will not obstinate Ingratitude of Sinning do It will make us turn the blessed means of Grace into occasions of Damnation make what was intended towards us a Savour of Life unto Life to become the Savour of Death unto Death through our mad folly and supine Negligence If we would but cooperate with Divine
unto Thee who art of purer Eyes than to behold the least iniquity with Approbation With what Joy and Thankfulness ought we to acknowledge this thine inestimable favour that thou who art so highly Exalted wilt humble thy self to take notice of such Despicable polluted Beings as we are For ever blessed be thy Goodness who hast made Prayer our Duty which is so much our Interest and Priviledge O how inexcusable should we be should we neglect so Great a means of Grace and Salvation Wilt thou O Lord Admit and Accept our poor unworthy Services and shall not we Gladly Embrace the Vouchsafement Since our Righteousness Extendeth not unto Thee since we only are the Gainers by thy Service which is its own Reward which is our perfect freedom O cause therefore all that is within us to bless thy holy Name Cause all that is within us to render thee most willing and Chearful Obedience But O God most Glorious whose Transcendent Excellency is Exalted above all Glory and Praise the more we Speak of thine Honour the more we become Sensible how infinitely we fall short of it O make us to shew forth thy praise not only with our Lips but in our Lives by giving up our selves to thy Service by conforming our selves to thy Likeness in Holyness by â—aising Spiritualizing and Enflaming by thy help our Affections towards thee in Prayer Yet Alass Alass how soon are we weary of this most Delightsome most Beneficial Duty of Devotion How much Averseness is there in us unto the Vndertaking how much Distraction of Thoughts and Deadness of Spirit in the performance What formality want of Relish want of Zeal and fervour is there mingled with the best of our Religious Services How prone have we been to Deceive our selves with Shadows of Piety and Devotion instead of the Substance With a form of Godlyness instead of the Life and power thereof How prone to Content our selves with the bare praises of thy Divine perfections which we have not had the Godly Ambition the Sincerity of heart to imitate O pardon the sins and iniquities of these our Holy things But besides the imperfections of our best performances how many ways have we presumptuously offended thee our God! By innumerable Omissions and Commissions Omissions of Duty Commissions of Evil by many frequently Repeated and long Continued acts of wickedness by sinful provocations in Thought Word and Deed against thy Divine Majesty O how often have we Stifled the Convictions the Reproofs of our own Consciences How often Resisted the holy motions the Restraints of thy blessed Spirit How long neglected the Great Salvation of thy Gospel How many times violated our most Solemn Baptismal Vow and Covenant The very Multitude of our sins is Enough to Amaze and Affrighten us to cover us with Shame and Confusion of face but the Heinousness the Baseness the Ingratitude of our mis-demeanours towards so Gracious and heavenly a Father so Long-suffering a preserver so Mercyful a Benefactor Sanctifier and Redeemer O how Grievous is the Remembrance thereof to us the burthen of so much wickedness how Intolerable O our God Strong and patient hadst thou not been God how couldst thou have had patience with such perfidious such ungrateful such willfully Disobedient Rebells Well for us is it that thy mercy and forbearance Exceed that of Man are like the self unlimited O the Riches of thy Grace wilt thou again Receive such prodigal Children into thy favour Wilt thou Still be Reconciled unto us Ah let thy Goodness let thy Reconcileableness lead us to Repentance to a more compleat consummated one and our Repentance may it fit us for thy pardon and Acceptance And not meerly for the Pardon of our sins implore we mercy at thy hands but for a Divine power to enable us to subdue them Set we beseech thee O Lord our hearts in such a perfect Enmity against all things contrary to thy blessed Will and Nature that we may never be Reconciled to them any more dispose us to such an Entire Affection to thy Commandments that they may become our Choice our Desire our Exceeding Great Rejoycing O that we may walk more circumspectly Redeeming the time because the days are Evil O that we may give all Diligence to make our Calling and Election Sure O that the life the pure unspotted life of Christ Jesus may be formed within us the hope of Glory Fill us Gracious God with the whole Knowledge of thy Will in all Wisdom and Spiritual Understanding and Assist us with thy Grace unto the Conscientious practice of such knowledge Increase in us that faith which worketh by Divine Love which purisieth the heart and life and overcometh the wicked world Excite in us that ardent Affection to thee which may make us chearfully Do thy Will or patiently suffer it in all instances and which will cause us to Love our brethren as our selves for Christ's sake with a pure heart out of Love unfeigned not in Tongue only but also in Deed and in Truth Keep us O Lord pure and unspotted with the World Temperate Chaste and Unspotted with the flesh keep us Safe and unseduced by our own hearts lusts by Satans wicked Suggestions and Allurements Cause us to have our Conversation without Covetousness to have it more in Heaven less on Earth teach us contempt of Earthly things teach us to deny our selves to conquer all Temptations to live above the corruptions which so much abound in the Age Give us Patience give us supporting comfort and quiet submission in Adversity let a contented mind be instead of all we want and a thankful heart sweeten all our Enjoyments O that we may mind more the one thing Necessary that we may seek in the first place the Kingdom of Heaven and its Righteousness and whatever other things we leave undone we may be still working out our Salvation with fear and trembling Make us O our God more careful of pleasing thee fearful of offending thee diligent and industrious in thy Service more observant of thy Good Providence in every thing more grateful for thy benefits Received more readily disposed in all conditions to every good thought word and work * Stir us up we entreat thee to a frequent mindfulness of our Latter End and fit and prepare us for it let our approaching sleep this Night put us in mind of our last sleep our Bed remind us of our Grave and the darkness of the evening of the days of Darkness which shall be many in the Chambers of Death Lighten our Eyes O Lord that they sleep not therein but that we may Awake with the morning Light unto thy Praise and Glory Forgive those actual sins of thy servants which the day past hath been witness unto Lord give us a Godly sorrow for them a perfect hatred of them and more carefulness to avoid them for the future and whether we sleep this night in death or awake to the fresh Mercies of the following day O Grant that Christ
much Larger measure Wean we pray Thee our affections from the Creature which can make no Suitable Return to our Love which cannot Satisfie the Longing of our Souls and win them unto Thee who by thy Mercies preventest our Love by thy Mercies dost nourish and improve it canst fully Gratifie the Good desires of our hearts and wil't amply Recompence and Reward them O Thou Joy of Angels and Soveraign Happynes of all thy Saints Oh that our Souls cold Love Thee without Limits as Thou art without Limits Lovely and Amiable Oh that we may Love Thee for thy Essential Goodness in Thy self as much as for thy Derived imparted Goodness unto us Let our thoughts let our desires and affections zealously Embrace Thee and may we be embraced with a peculiar love and favour by Thee may still new Degrees of thy Love widen and enlarge our Capacities of Receiving them and as they Enlarge do Thou flow in with an increase of Divine Communications Convince us O Lord that those Excellencies which are Borrowed which are Imperfect which are variously Dispers'd in the Creation are all concenter'd in Thee the Original in infinite Beauty and Perfection and shall we not Love Thee the Spring head of Blessedness more than the Derived Streams than the lesser Rivulets of felicity O perswade us that we are unkind to our selves if we Love not Thee the Author the Treasury of our Happyness Temporal Spiritual and Eternal Alass we find our hearts Cold Dead and Sluggish in thy Service Lord Quicken Lord enflame them Enflame them with thy Divine Love Quicken them in thy Righteousness They have gone Astray they have wander'd after many other Lovers after the pleasures profits and honours of this world which have miserably Deceived them O fix them upon Thee who wilt everlastingly Love them Everlastingly Contiâ—â— Lovely and never Disappoint them Make holy God our Love of Thee an Vniting an Assimilating Love that We may Love what Thou Lovest and hate what Thou hatest that we may do whatever will please Thee forbear whatever will offend Thee conforming our selves to thine Image in Holyness O that our Affections could Ever continue such towards Thee as they are at present O that we may demonstrate the Truth of our Love to Thee by our obeying with all Willingness Zeal and Chearfulness thy Divine precepts by obeying them Vniversally Sincerely and Constantly to our lives End Then only O Heavenly Father can we have Confidence towards Thee shall we be Assured we Love Thee aright when we Love Thee for thine Own self when we Love Thee Soveraignly and Supreamly when our Love is so Exalted as that we may be said to hate and Despise all other things in Comparison of Thee O give us thus Zealously to be affected towards Thee Grant that the Love of thy Self may Crucifie in us the Vndue Love of our selves the inordinate Love of the World or of any our Dearest Relations and that being Empty of our selves and of all Confidence in the Creature we may be wholely taken up with Admiration Love and Delight in Thine infinite Perfections and in the Astonishing Expressions of thy Goodness and Loving-kindness to the Lost Sons of Adam O may thy Love Conquer and Over-power our hearts Melt them into Gratitude and Obedience may it Disingage their Affections from every Narrow and particular Good and Setile them upon Thee the Vniversal One Causing us to Love Thee Above all things every created blessing as it bears the impressions of thy Wisdom Beauty and Power and all mankind for Thy sake and in Obedience to thy Commands Preserve 〈◊〉 us Good Lord such Devout flames of a Godly Affection and let us be our Beloved's and Thou our Beloved ours to all Eternity Amen Amen Meditation XI On Zeal in the Service of God HOW natural a Consequent is this of the Love of God Zeal to please him Zeal to Resemble him Zeal to promote his Honour and Glory Where if not here is Zeal Becoming Where else can it be so Suitably placed Nay our Divine Services how can they well be Acceptable without it For where there is Sincerity of Intention in doing our Duty without which no Duty can be pleasing to Heaven we can scarce conceive Fervency of Spirit to be wanting unless through weakness and indisposition of Body And for the Service of God the most Glorious and Excellent of Beings to be a cold and Languid Worship how Great an Absurdity how Great an Inconsistency is this Certainly the Service of the Temple the Sacrifice of the Altar requires the flame and Fire of the Altar to render it of a sweet-smelling Savour To perform Duty to God with formality and indifferency of Spirit is neither to consider the Nature of the Work we are about the Greatness and Excellency of the Divine Majesty nor yet what Earnestness and Zeal the Care of our own Salvation exacts from us The Love of God demands our whole heart Soul and Strength and consequently the keeping his Commandments the Genuine Evidence of our Love demands the utmost Exercise of our Powers and Faculties both bodily and Spiritual That is not a Service of God which is carelesly discharged but rather an Affront rather a Contempt of him 'T is a doing somewhat in Religion to Still and Quiet the uneasie Reproofs of our own Consciences but not doing any thing with a design of pleasing God out of Obedience and Love to his Commandments or from a desire of becoming Like unto him in Holiness which Regards alone can consecrate and render acceptable our Services Zeal where is it due if not in the Divine Worship Than which nothing is of greater Importance nothing of greater Worth nothing more for our Interest and Advantage Where the safety of our Immortal Souls our Heaven and Eternal Happiness are concern'd there certainly no warmth of Heart no Diligence of endeavour can be too much Ah did we but consider God's Zeal the sounding of his Bowels and tenderness of his Compassion toward us we could not sure want Zeal and Ardency of Affection towards him The holy Angels above who best understand the Value of God's Service who know best how Exalted a pitch of Love and Duty an infinitely Good and Gracious Divine Majesty merits at our hands what a Pattern do They set us of Industry Zeal and joyful Alacrity in Religious worship And how does their intense and flaming Affection in God's Service Shame and Reprove our doing the work of the Lord negligently Can we serve either a Greater Master or a Better One who Deserves better our Services or who is more willing and Able to Reward them plenteously Do we pray thy Will be done on Earth as 't is in Heaven with a like Universality Constancy Fervour and Chearfulness of holy Duty and yet do we contradict this our Petition by a partial formal and undelightful Obedience Have we that pious Reverence amidst our Devotions which is answerable to the Great and Glorious Presence of God with whom in
To Review all this after an Almsgiving cannot but raise great complacency within us and cause us to applaud our selves for having performed so Generous so Godlike and withall so pleasing and Delightsome an action Nothing will administer to us so much Joy and Consolation when Dying nothing so much strengthen us on a bed of Languishing and make our bed in all our Sickness as the Reflection how we have in our Life past through acts of Charity and Munificence made to our selves Friends of the Mammon of Unrighteousness laid up to our selves Treasures in Heaven a place of the best Security of the largest Interest and Improvement How we have been Eyes to the blind and Feet to the Lame through our supporting Alms-deeds how we have evidenced our Love to God by Love to our Neighbour loving him for God's sake and at his Injunction How we have like wise Merchants in a Foreign Country Transmitted our Goods and Effects before us into that our Native Region whither we intend and expect shortly to Return our selves Indeed I must Confess that Love to our very Enemies which Christianity enjoyns has at first little of this pleasure and Delight which accompanies doing Good to those who never Dis-obliged us nay that 't is an exceeding Irksom and Difficult Duty and that we are apt to cry out 't is an hard Commandment who can bear it But besides that Returning Good for Evil Blessings for Cursings Kindnesses for Injuries is the ready way to overcome our Adversary's Enmity and to convert it into a reciprocal Love and beneficence towards us whereas a Retaliation of dis-kindnesses serves only to multiply heighten and perpetuate Quarrels and oftentimes ends in the utter Ruine and destruction of both the contending Parties Besides this if we would be Children of our Heavently Father perfect as he is perfect we must be Merciful even as he is Merciful who is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil Who as to his common favours makes no Difference in their distribution but causeth his Sun to shine his Rain to descend on the Good and Bad on the Just and Unjust person Matth. 5. 45. And oh how well does it Become us by heaping Coals of Love on our Adversary's heads to endeavour to melt them down into Peace and Reconciliation How well does it Become us the offended not only to forgive but to be the first in suing for a mutual good Agreement with our offenders whenas God himself by his Ministers beseeches Sinners to be Reconciled unto him Whenas his holy Spirit strives with our obstinacy woes and importunes us by his Gospel-Profers and by his inward Solicitations to give over our Rebellion and accept of the terms of Divine Grace and Pardon Ah where is our Love to God if we have little or none to our Brother who bears his Image Where is our Love to the Deity if we obey not his Commandments And this is one of his Commandments that he who loves God should Love his brother also 1 John 4. 21. How dwelleth he in Christ and Christ in him in whom the Spirit of Christ a Spirit of Love and Charity dwelleth not How doth such a Person do what in him lyes to defeat the Prayer of our Saviour that we might be one as he and his Father are one we one in Unity of Affection as they are one in Unity of Divine Essence who hates his Brother or is at variance with him He is not a Christian who hath no true Faith in Christ and he hath no true Saving Faith whose Faith worketh not by Love both towards God and towards Man Hath Christ thought thy Brother worth his Dying for and dost Thou Ungrateful Wretch think him not worth thy Living for in all Offices of Love and Kindness towards him Dost thou consider that thou art no further a Christian than thou art Charitable and yet professest thou Christianity and continuest Uncharitable For Shame Man either Quit thy dissembled profession or else Realize it by acts of Mercy and beneficence O what a pattern was Jesus unto us of Love and Good-will of Real Substantial Acts of Kindness who went about doing Good made it his chief business and Employment healing all that were diseas'd both in Soul and body And who herein Recommended his Love most magnificently Displayed and Illustrated it in that while we were Enemies he Dyed for us and shall not this move us to Live unto him in Obedience to all his Commandments and particularly to That which he hath Dignified with a more peculiar Recommendation Calling it His by way of Eminency above the rest This is My Commandment says He That ye love one another as I have loved you that ye also Love one another John 15. 12. And oh how can we well do otherwise who have our Saviours so expresly plain so frequently inculcated so pressing and urgent Injunctions of this Duty who have his so Illustrious and Transcendent Example for it who have the so potent Aids and Assistances of his Spirit of Love unto the performance Ah can we deny any thing to the Lord who hath so Dearly bought and Redeemed us Had it been some Hard thing that so Great a Benefactor had enjoyn'd us would we not have done it How much more when he bids us Love and be kind to one another The most Easie the most Delightsom of all Duties would we but Try the Experiment Ah shall we not do it Shall not we Christians who have one Faith one Hope one Baptisme one God and Father of us all one Gracious Mediator and Redeemer have also one Heart and Good-will to each other Shall we who are Brethren Heirs of the same hopes of the same blessed promises fall out and Quarrel by the way in our journying to our Home and Father's House upon the account of things indifferent and meer Trifles if compar'd with the Substantials of Religion Shall we violate Charity that most weighty Vital part of Christianity for meer Circumstances and Externals of Divine Worship of no worth in themselves but only as made Assistant to Piety and Devotion What though we are not all of the same mind in matters un-essential to Religion as indeed how should we be unless of the same size of Understanding Does however our Difference of Judgment lay on us any fatal Necessity to Differ also in Love and Affection Though we are not all of one Mouth speaking the same things yet cannot we be all of one Heart We shall never be of one mind till in Heaven we behold things in one and the same Light or at least each of us in a Sufficient one but we both may and ought to be of one Good-will on Earth Ah that our Little Differences in opinion concerning Rites and Ceremonies should contribute more to our Divisions than our General Agreement in fundamental Doctrines which we all acknowledge able to make us wise unto Salvation does conduce to our Union and Coalition While our Minds Agree in Christ in the
thee in Contempt of thy Goodness Patience and forbearance in Contempt of thy Astonishing Love manifested in Christ Jesus in Defiance of the clearest Revelation of thy Will and Pleasure by him in Defiance of thy Great and precious Gospel Promises of all the Convictions of our own Consciences calls of thy blessed Spirit Sacred Word and Gracious Providences admonishing us to be Reconciled unto thee our God! And can'st thou O Lord wilt thou after all this Disobedience after all this presumptuous offending thee be yet Reconciled to such vile wretches and miserable sinners as we are Is there still Mercy with thee that thou may'st be fear'd Is there still Hope for us in a Crucified Saviour O blessed Saviour help and deliver us we most humbly beseech thee by the Merits of thy Death and Passion by the Justifying power of thy Resurrection and Ascension by the prevalency of thy Mediation and Intercession have Mercy upon us Thy Compassions are always free and ready towards Repentant Offenders Lord we Repent perfect our Repentance Lord we believe O help thou our unbelief we solemnly promise thee a more Reformed Obedience a more exalted Righteousness O strengthen us to keep this our promise to perform this our holy Resolution Deliver us O Heavenly Father not onely from the Guilt and Condemnation but also from the power and pollution of our sins Assist us to break off those Chains of evil Custom and Habit those fetters of Wordly Cares and Temptations those sensualizing Tyes of Corrupt Inclinations or inordinate Passions in which we have formerly been held Captive Create clean hearts O God and renew a-right Spirits within us for the time to come beget in us a true Faith a sincere Repentance an enflam'd holy Love towards thee that we may Delight our selves in thy Commandments that we may walk before thee in uprightness in an ingenuous fear of Displeasing thee in a joyous Carefulness of doing what is Acceptable in thy Sight Diligently seeking thee constantly Depending on thee chearfully Submitting to thy Will and Zealously practicing it in the Duties of our several Callings with Godly sincerity and constancy unto our Lives End O Lord keep our feet order our steps that they stray not out of the paths of thy Commandments out of the Paths of Truth Righteousness and Peace O Lord keep our mouths as with a bridle that we offend not at any time with our Tongues through profane Swearing through lying slandering immodest filthy Speech or false-witness-bearing endue us with the most enlarged and raised Christian Charity with Temperance and Sobriety with Purity and Chastity with Meekness and Humility that we may possess these our Earthly Vessels in Sanctification and Honour and being Meek and Lowly may find Rest unto our Souls Give us holy Father to Live more by Faith and Less by Sense to Overcome by Faith the World to live Above its Allurements or Determents to have our Conversation in an higher degree in Heaven to lay up to our selves Treasures there that where our Treasures are there may our Hearts be also Make us account it our very Meat and Drink to be doing thy Will Cause us to Evidence the Sincerity of our Love to thee our God by our keeping Universally thy Commandments open thou our Eyes that we may see the Delightsome Excellencies of thy Law the charming Beauty of Holiness and then none of thy Divine precepts shall appear Grievous unto us amidst all our Temptations whether of the World the Flesh or the Devil make thou us O blessed Lord more than Conquerors through Christ who strengthens us And after we have done all after we have Grown in Grace which we beseech thee cause us to do after we have been fill'd with the fruits of thy Spirit and endeavour'd our utmost the perfecting of holiness in thy Fear keep us humble keep us abased under a sense of the manifold Imperfections of our best and choicest Services Neither Pray we This to be added to the Evening Prayer where you see this * mark for our selves alone but for the whole Race of Mankind That thy ways O God may be known upon Earth thy Saving Health among all Nations Look down in Mercy upon thy holy Catholick Church Enlarge its Borders Unite more its Members Purifie their Faith where Corrupt and work a General Reformation in their Lives and Actions Bless Holy Father more especially these Nations whereunto we belong Pardon our Great and Crying Sins Avert from us thy Judgments Encrease and Continue to us thy Blessings make us an Holy and an Happy People and Settle us upon the sure Foundations of Truth Righteousness and Peace Rule O Lord in the Hearts of our Sovereign Rulers by thy Faith Fear and Love Protect their Sacred Persons Assist and Direct their Counsels Succeed their Arms and all their Righteous Undertakings Make their Government a Great and Publick Blessing to these Kingdoms and to the whole Protestant Interest and after a Long and Prosperous Reign over us Here Crown them with Glory and Immortality in the highest Heaven Influence in a Peculiar Manner our Spiritual Governours and Teachers Give them Wisdom and Prudence from Above Make them O God Faithful and Zealous make them also Successful in the Discharge of their Duties and Grant that by the purity of their Doctrine and Integrity of their Lives they may be as burning and shining Lights amidst a crooked and perverse Generation Visit with thy Salvation O thou Father of Mercies all the Sons and Daughters of Affliction Sanctifie their Troubles Support them with Faith and Patience under 'em and in thy due time send them an happy Deliverance out of all their Sufferings Forgive O God all our Enemies Persecutors and Slanderers and Turn their hearts Bless all our Friends and Relations be thou a God in Covenant with them and make them Partakers of all the Benefits and Priviledges of that thy Covenant Bless all of us here present bless us in Turning us from our Iniquities in the Sanctifying and Renewing our Depraved Nature Bless us with all Temporal but especially with Spiritual Blessings in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus Put us O God in frequent Mindfulness of our Latter End and Fit and Prepare us for it Help us to walk sincerely and uprightly in our whole Conversation that Living here in thy Fear we may Dye in thy Favour may Rest in thy Peace Rise by thy Power be Glorified by thy Bounty and Remain with thee for ever amidst Joys Celestial Enravishing Inexhaustible All which we beg through the Merits and Mediation of thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ who hath taught us when we pray to say Our Father which art in Heaven 〈◊〉 A Prayer for the Evening O OUR God thou Almighty Lord of Heaven and Earth Thou pure immaculate Spirit of Holyness humble us under a sense of our meanness as indigent Dependant Creatures of our exceeding Great Vileness and impurity as Sinners O with what pious fear and Reverence ought we to draw Nigh
Imprimatur Geo. Royse RRmo in Christo Patri ac Dom. Dom. Johanni Archiep. Cantuar. a Sacris Domest Januar. 17 169â— Conversation in Heaven BEING DEVOTIONS Consisting of MEDITATIONS and PRAYERS ON Several Considerable Subjects in Practical Divinity Written for the Raising the Decay'd Spirit of PIETY By LAWRENCE SMITH LLD. Fellow of St. John's College in Oxford LONDON Printed by J. R. for Thomas Speed at the Three Crowns near the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1693. TO The most Reverend Father in God JOHN Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Primate and Metropolitan of all England and one of Their Majesties most Honourable Privy-Council May it please your Grace I Beg your Pardon for my Presumption in Dedicating this Performance to your Name but my Experience of your Goodness and Obliging Temper has encouraged me to this freedom of Recommending it to your Patronage My Lord 't was not an Ambition of appearing in Print which induced me to this Publication but an hearty Desire since I am not in a Publick Station to do all the Good I can in my Private Capacity and if this Endeavour may but prove Instrumental to the encrease of Piety and Devotion in any I shall not Repent my Pains but acknowledge the Success with all Thankfulness to God's Glory May the Almighty long preserve your Grace and make you a great Blessing to this Church which is the earnest Prayer of My Lord Your Grace's most Obedient Son and humbly devoted Servant Lawrence Smith THE PREFACE TO THE READER Christian Reader THE Subjects here treated on are some of the weightiest and most considerable in all Practical Divinity and being Matters of the greatest Importance to a good Life and consequently to our future Everlasting Welfare were therefore industriously handled with all imaginable Plainness and Perspicuity that Persons of all Ranks and Qualities being nearly concern'd in them they might accordingly lye Level to the Capacities of all men The Author is not Ignorant that several excellent Treatises of this Nature have been transmitted into publick View and Consideration which though he has not the Vanity to think he has excell'd yet he hopes this further Help to Devotion may not be without its proper Vsefulness The Composer of these Devotions is indeed conscious of his inability to Gratifie the Expectations of a nicely Critical Reader but however he had much rather expose himself to the Censures of the Over-curious than fail of promoting in the least the Piety and Devotion of â—ruly Religious and well-disposed People To such he Writes who having a Spiritual discerning of Spiritual things these Spiritual Exercises of Prayer and Holy Meditation are the likeliest to prove Relishing and Acceptable unto them Devout and Pious Meditation is that which at once Delights and Profits Recreates and improves in Goodness rendering the Mind by degrees of a Godlike Celestial Temper It ennobles the faculties of our Souls by making them conversant about truly Great and Noble Objects things Spiritual Divine and Heavenly It withdraws us from the Noise and Tumult exempts us from the Cares Fears Troubles and Vexations of this Lower World and causing us to dwell much in our thoughts and desires Above it makes our Spirits too Big and Haughty too Nice and Delicate for any impure sublanary Enjoyments nay of such an Indifferency of Affection even to this Worlds Innocent and Allowable Gratifications as that no Loss or Detriment which befalls them no imaginary Excellency which is in them is able to Excite our Passions to Discompose our Thoughts to abate our Religious Diligence to weaken our Faith impair our Trust or so much as Cool our Love for God Holiness and Celestial Happiness All other things Cloy and Satiate with their often Repeated use but the more we exercise this most Excellent Duty devout Contemplation the more shall we desire to be still exercised therein Its Pleasures will grow upon our Hands and we shall find no Sensual Entertainment half so Quick and Relishing our Vnderstandings will be hereby Enlarged and Exalted our Wills Rightly Byassed and Inclined our Affections Purified and Refined and our whole Spiritual Powers Disintangled from the Depraving Profits and Delights of this inferiour Animal Life and Refreshed with new varieties of a lively prospect into the Joys Celestial which are Pure Sincere Holy and Intellectual Let us then in frequent Solemn Meditation on the Divine most Amiable Perfections the very Life and Employment of Angels become more exact Representations of the Divine Purity and Holiness Let us Spiritualize our Minds Becalme our Passions Deaden and Suppress our Appetites to all Earthly Pomps and Vanities and then neither this World's Honours Profits or Pleasures shall seduce and soften us nor shall its Changes and Mischances Grieve and Disquiet us but being Exalted in our Devout Conversation to Regions whither the Storms and Tempests of this Lower State never reach we shall enjoy an undisturbed Peace and Tranquillity nay a delightsom Enravishment of Mind while Living and when we Dye shall go whither our Pious Thoughts Holy Desires Zealous Endeavours Fervent Prayers and Grateful Thanksgivings went before to prepare us Mansions even into the Heavenly Jerusalem Of which that we may be all Inheritors is the Hearty Prayer of him who earnestly desires thy Spiritual and Eternal wellfare L. Smith The CONTENTS Meditation I. ON the Vanity Vexation and Contempt of the World page 1 The Prayer p. 14 Meditation II. On the Redemption of Time p. 17 The Prayer p. 28 Meditation III. On the Folly and Danger of deferring Repentance p. 32 The Prayer p. 41 Meditation IV. On the Malignity and Evil Nature of Sin p. 45 The Prayer p. 60 Meditation V. On Watchfulness against Sin and Temptations p. 65 The Prayer p. 73 Meditation VI. Against the Sin of Pride p. 77 The Prayer p. 85 Meditation VII Against the Sin of Vnchastity p. 89 The Prayer p. 97 Meditation VIII Against the sin of Immoderate Anger p. 101 The Prayer p. 114 Meditation IX Against the sin of Murmuring and Impatience amidst Divine Chastisements p. 119 The Prayer p. 129 Meditation X. On Love to God p. 135 The Prayer p. 140 Meditation XI On Zeal in the Service of God p. 145 The Prayer p. 151 Meditation XII On Trust in God p. 155 The Prayer 162 Meditation XIII On the Fear of God p. 166 The Prayer p. 176 Meditation XIV On Love and Charity to our Neighbour p. 179 The Prayer p. 197 Meditation XV. On Improvement in Grace p. 202 The Prayer p. 211 Meditation XVI On Death p. 215 The Prayer p. 225 Meditation XVII On the Last Judgment p. 229 The Prayer p. 240 Meditation XVIII On Heaven p. 244 The Prayer p. 253 Meditation XIX On Hell and the Eternity of its Torments p. 258 The Prayer p. 271 Meditation XX. On Prayer and the Powerful Efficacy thereof p. 276 The Prayer p. 291 A Prayer for the Morning p. 298 A Prayer for the Evening p. 311 A Prayer for a Sick Person p. 320 Another Prayer for the
should ease and recreate and usually bends and weighs down the Soul with Covetousness to the Earth Riches what are they but vanishing Treasures Which if not taken out of our Hands by the Fraud Violence and Injustice of others may in time make themselves Wings and fly away from us which we certainly must leave at the day and hour of our Death Riches attended with disquieting thoughts and brain-cracking Projects in the procuring them with anxious Cares and Solicitudes in the keeping them with jealous fears and distrusts of loosing or being despoil'd of them The immoderate Love of which is the Root of all evil That which puts men upon the worst of wicked practices which pierces their Hearts through with many Sorrows and finally drowns them in the Gulph of Perdition Worldly Pleasures what be they But the joyous sensations of a few moments which Decease as soon almost as born and which tasted straightway loose their flavour and Relish Which if dishonest and sinful are likewise hurtful and prejudicial and very severely paid for by succeeding shame sorrow and repentance if innocent and harmless yet carrying vanity in their Nature they add also Vexation of Spirit through a deceit of our Expectations For how should what is Finite as all Terrene Comforts are afford any compleat and settled Satisfaction Oh no Absolute and Durable Contentment is not contain'd within the narrow limits of the Creature Nothing but what is Infinite is proportionate to an immortal Souls Capacity which are next to Infinite O our God that such a thing of Nothing or worse than Nothing of pain sorrow and disappointment as is this World should take up so much of our Affections as it does and that Heaven a Region of the sublimest sincerest ever-durable and most enravishing Delights should share so little in our Love and Approbation Thither did we mount our Thoughts our Desires our Religious Enterprizes even to the Celestial Mansions above oh with what Disdain should we look down on this vile inferiour Earth How little would it appear in our sight Nay how would it in a manner disappear our God our Heaven our spiritual and eternal Concerns having pre-ingaged the main of our Affections and consequently having left little Room for meaner Objects and Entertainments We are Pilgrims here on Earth and therefore ought to have the coldness and indifferency of Pilgrims to its most entertaining Gratifications we are strangers here on Earth and ought on that account to be shy of using too much Familiarity with the World lest it should ruin and betray us with its wicked Seductions For who would trust himself too far who would live careless and unguarded in a Forreign in an Enemies Country We are Strangers here 't is so very Little a time we shall continue in this Alien Countrey that 't is not worth our while to set our hearts upon it to learn its Language or Conform our selves to its Customs and Manners We are Citizens of the New-Jerusalem which is above Heirs of an Heavenly Canaan and shall we basely hanker after the Garlick and Onions of this viler Egypt Can we think this howling Wilderness-Condition a Paradise of Delights Or do we account Heaven the End of our Hopes not worth making it the End of our Pious Labours Not worth the looking after or earnest contending for it Does a life of Voluptuousness of too free indulgence unto or too much Affection for Worldly Pleasure Honour or Profit suit with the Gospel-Duties of Mortification and Self-denial With a being Crucified to the World and the World to us in the immoderate Love thereof With the End of our being sent into it viz. to prepare for our happy going out of it and for a Blessed Eternity Does it suit to our profession of a Suffering Religion suit to the Disciples of a Crucified Saviour To his Mortified Poor and Lowly Example Who was made perfect through Sufferings and Worldly Renunciations Does it suit lastly to our Baptismal Vow and Covenant wherein we solemnly engaged to Renounce the Devil and all his Works the vain Pomp and Glory of the World with all covetous desires of the same and no longer to follow or be led by them O what Perfidiousness what Perjury is it after all this to be false to our Christian Profession false to our Baptismal Vow and Covenant by becoming Idolaters of Earthly Vanity following and being led by it and preferring the things Sublunary before those of Heaven and Eternal Glory The Prayer O Most Amiable Divine Majesty Give us a lively Transporting Prospect of the Glories of Heaven give us a prospect of the Enravishing Beauties and Perfections of thine own Nature and then how will all Sublunary Pomps and Vanities appear dim and faded in our sight How shall we look down with Scorn and Contempt upon them Wilt Thou O Lord allow us to Raise our Thoughts to Thee to Exalt them above this World and shall we still lye Groveling upon it Wilt Thou Admit and Accept our weak imperfect Affections and shall we not do all we can to Elevate our Thoughts to Spiritualize our Affections for thy Service O give us that Victory of Faith whereby we may overcome the World that Assurance of Hope whereby we may live above its Corruptions purifying our selves even as Thou art pure Mortifie in us O Sovereign Excellency the Love of the World with the Quickning Enflamed Love of thy self shew thy Self a Loving Father to us and it sufficeth a Glance of the Light of thy Countenance is enough to Eclipse all Earthly Splendour O make us to see the Vanity of all things here below and then we shall soon discern the Vanity of our Affections in inordinately doteing on them Cause us O Spirit of Divine Grace to consider how our Blessed Saviour the Lord of all things the Lord of Life and Glory despised and contemned the World and certainly after this we cannot continue overvaluing it Cause us to have our Thoughts our Desires our Conversations more in Heaven and then shall we be much less fond of this Earth for finding our infinitely more valuable Treasures Above our Hearts our Affections will be there also Make us O our God to evidence daily our contempt of this World by the coldness and indifferency of our Love towards it by wanting its Enjoyments without Impatience by possessing them with Temperance and Moderation and by Loosing them without murmuring and discontent Perswade us O Lord effectually perswade us that we can never be happy till we have disintangled our Affections from every empty unsatisfying disappointing and transient Good here below and till we love Thee above all things who alone canst fill our desires gratifie all our wishes till we despise this World think lowly of our selves highly of our God and are wholely dead and crucified to all Polluting sensual Lusts and Appetites O come Thou then unto us O our God come and satisfie our Souls with thy Fulness replenish them with thy Likeness in Holiness and
thereby drive out of us all inordinate love for meaner Objects and Gratifications Amen Blessed Lord Amen Meditation II. On the Redemption of Time THere is no Talent committed to our Trust more precious than Time it being a season for the making provision for an Happy Eternity and yet no Trust is there more abused more profusely squander'd away We take Time by the Fore-lock in all our Temporal Concerns laying hold on the first opportunity of well-managing them but in Spirituals we defer and delay and move so heavily about the good husbanding of Time as if the wheels of our Chariots of our Executive Powers our Wills and Affections were taken off and Time was rather to be shunn'd and avoided than diligently pursued But is This running the Race of Christian Obedience set before us Is This giving all diligence to make our Calling and Election Sure Is This Redeeming the Time because the days are Evil Time lies so dead a Commodity on many Peoples hands that they are glad to get rid of it at any rate whatsoever The next vain pleasure and divertisement the next as vain and impertinent Idle-Companion the next fruitless silly or corrupting Spectacle shall ease them of their spare hours as they call 'em of their leisure and wearisome seasons But ah that any time should be accounted spare and vacant when so much as our Eternal Salvation depends upon it and we know not whether we shall Live till the next Moment Ah that what is the dying Man's Want should be the well Person 's Burthen While Living Time is thought by us too Long and Tedious we are hard put to it to spend many of its Hours while Dying 't is accounted too short and Transient which now is likely to be the truest Judgment that of the living or dying man For certain that of the Latter For at the near approaches of Death all false disguises which the Lusts of the Flesh the Lusts of the Eye or the Pride of Life had put on things are pull'd off and then all things appear in their proper Colours and Genuine Native Dress When Death Stares us in the face when Time is nigh at an End with us then we shall know the true value of Time then to our cost and trouble have far different Sentiments concerning it than what we have Now then oh that Time could be Recall'd that Time mis-spent could be lived over-again and be better improved how diligent and industrious would we be in its improvement But alass these Good Wishes come then too late to be converted into Good Practices Death will not be put off Time will not be Recall'd and the Man dies despairingly Disconsolate if not everlastingly Miserable not for that he had no means of Grace no opportunities of Salvation but because he made not that Good Use of them as he both might and ought to have done Time passes away swiftly though we idle and loiter the Minutes the precious Minutes fly while we are speaking we are Now a Moment nearer Eternity than we were the former one but are we in a nearer preparation for it Is there a nearer Tendency in us to an Heavenly Temper the nigher we come to the Heavenly State Or rather grow we not more Earthly Affection'd the nigher we draw to our bed of Earth the Grave Alass the Loss of Time is one of the Greatest Losses in the World and yet how Light a matter do we make of it This Life so short so uncertain every Moment of it so valuable and yet that we should live as if it were never to have an End or as if we had nothing of Concern to do in it How Astonishing is this what an Instance of Folly and Inconsiderateness Blessed God! That a Pearl of so Great price as an indulged space of Repentance as an happy opportunity of Salvation should be cast before Swine before brutish sensual Worldlings should be put into the Custody of those who value it not who know not how to use and improve it The Days the Months the years of our Lives are violently born away by the impetuous Torrent of Time many many Days of our Years are past and Gone as to our ever living them over again but though past yet are they not wholly lost and perish'd They are Registred in God's Faithful Book of Remembrance they are there preserved they are there charged upon us for a demand of their Good Use and Husbandry an Account an Account of them will one day be required at our Hands And it will be but a lamentable Account indeed when all we have to offer for the expence of our Life past will be so much Time spent Idly and in doing of nothing to any Good purpose so much spent to a very Bad one in Riot and Excess in Chambering and Wantonness so much in unnecessary Habitual Sports and Divertisements so much spent in the Devil's Service and so little in God Almighty's Ah will such an Account think ye pass our Great Auditor's Examination Will such an Account procure our Discharge and Acquitment What a strange perverse folly is it in us to complain our Life is short and yet to render it far shorter by letting much of it lye Fallow and unimproved To complain our day time here is quickly spent and our Night of Death is near at hand and yet to invent Arts to lavish this short Remainder of Life and then to lament its being so soon past away and we are Gone But if we would lengthen time let us leave off complaints and fall to the work of improving it let us beside the ordinary Returns of Publick Religious Worship at set appointed Seasons be frequent and fervent in our private Domestick Devotions let us allow to Religion and the exercises of Vertue some of those Great shares of Time which we call spare Hours which we trifle away in vanities and impertinencies in pleasures and recreations in fruitless Visits and Complements which we spend viciously in Luxury Riot and Intemperance or which we suffer to lye waste without any Employment at all 'T is a vast work a man may do if he never permits himself to be Idle 't is a huge progress he may make in Vertue if he never stops in the way through Carelesness or never goes out of his way by wilful and presumptuous sinning Strive to improve all your Time strive to suffer none of it to pass unaccountable and this will be to Redeem it this will be to compensate for its shortness for its uncertainty and Irrevocableness We cannot begin too soon to live well and yet do we demur about it Had we set upon the work of Religion much earlier we should have had none to spare all would have been little enough whereby to have evidenced the sincerity of our Faith and Hope and Trust of our Love to God and his Commandments whereby to have secured an Interest in his Favour and Acceptance and in his free Gift Eternal Life For Heaven cannot
art Holy Thou only art to be feared With Thee is power and Strength with thee therefore ought to be Dominion and fear O who is so much an object of our fear as God A mighty God and Terrible infinite in Justice Almighty in Power Awful in Omniscience and Omnipresence And who if we will nor fear him at present so as to avoid Sin will one day force us to fear him when it shall be too Late to avoid Punishment Now this fear of God to which we are obliged is not so much a fear of him upon the account of his Exact Justice and Almighty power as an Aweful Regard to him mixt with Love and a wariness of forfeiting his favour 'T is a fearing him for his very Goodness that is not only lest we loose our Share in it but 't is a letting his Essential Goodness in himself and his Communicated Goodness unto us out of a principle of Ingenuity and Gratitude be our Chief Motive and Obligation to a Religious Caution more than any regard had to the Divine Punishments and Severities 'T is a fear of Loosing God's Love more than of feeling the fore Effects of his Displeasure And hath this fear of the Lord possession of our Souls Do we fear him with a filial Reverential fear More lest we loose our Interest in his Love and fatherly Affection than for dread of incurring the severities of his Justice as our Judge and Punisher Does our Consideration of his manifold benefits conferr'd upon us write in our hearts such an ingenuous Law of Thankfulness as that we fear him more out of a sense of Gratitude for what we have Received of his Divine blessings than for sear of forfeiting those which are yet in Reversion Ah 't is this fear of Reverence this fear of Displeasing the Deity this Holy Caution and Waryness lest we err from his Commandments which is the true Godly-fear the most Acceptable in our Heavenly Fathers sight with a fear of vengeance to be executed upon them the very Devils fear and tremble but 't is only a Son of God and Heir of Salvation who fears God for his Goodness fear of Divine Justice and Almighty Power is but the Beginning of Godly Wisdom the first step in a profligate Sinners Conversion but 't is a fear of God made perfect by Love of him a fear to offend him and loose his friendship which crowns the work of Regeneration and shews our Advance in a state of Grace and Salvation O our God Thou art Terrible as well as Lovely but Thou art also Lovely in thy very Terrour for therefore stand we in Awe of thee lest we should forfeit thy good will and favour O how will Love as well as Abhorrence create a Dread it us a Dread of offending our Beloved How will Gods Mercy as well as his Justice cause us to fear him Oh that we may fear and Love him more and so much the more fear him by how much we increased and abound in Love of him And certainly 't is our wisest way on all accounts thus to fear God for thy that fear the Lord need fear nothing besides they having such an Almighty Protector and Deliverer their Guardian They need fear nothing but sin and such a fear as keeps them innocent from wilful offences keeps them also calm and at peace in their own bosoms preserves them the Favourites of Heaven and then they may defie all the Power and Policy of Hell The fear of any worldly thing will Lessen mens fear of God but their true fear of God will take from them all slavish fear of the World the Lord is on our side will they say what need we fear what man can do unto us The fierceness of man's anger against us God can turn both to His and our Praise in causing us patiently to bear it and the Residue of Wrath will be Restrain Men can do us no more harme than God wil permit but who can stop his Arâ— when he stretcheth it forth to take vengeance He can suddenly change our Adversaries evil minds toward us into thoughts of Love and Beneficence of Peace and Good will or at least I should have said at most for 't is the Greatest Blessing God can bestow upon us he can amply Reward our light afflictions which are but for a season with a far more exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory The fear of the Lord is our greatest Wealth and Riches as well as Safety and Protection they that fear the Lord both Corporal and Spiritual blessings are theirs pardon of sin healing of infirmities the Supplies of God's Grace whether things present or things to come all are Theirs and they are Christ's and Christ is God's God is the Portion the Lot of inheritance to all those that stand in Awe of him and sin not and in him being hidden all the Treasures of Goodness He being the never-failing fountain of Happyness those consequently who truely fear and have an Interest in Him can never lack If God is our Father where is our Son-like Honour of him If he is our Master where is our Obediential Fear Ah who knows the power of Gods Wrath who knows how Great an Object of Terrour he is like the poor Disconsolate and Despairing Sinner in whom the Arrows of the Almighty stick fast and his hand presseth him sore against whom God writeth bitter things and makes him to possess the iniquities of his Youth Alase to such a one God is fearful and Terrible indeed he believes God's Justice and Judgments and believing that is viewing them with a Sensible and more Lively prospect he fear and Trembles For thereafter as a Man Fears so is God's Displeasure in his account nay thereafter as a man Loves as well as Fears God proportionably Great is his Dread of loosing his favour proportionably Grievous is his Sorrow upon Having lost it Hence we find Holy David crying out with bitterest Complaints Thou didst hide thy face from me O Lord and I was sore troubled O turn thee unto me again and have mercy upon me cast me not away from thy presence neither shut up thy Loving-kindness in Everlasting Displeasure Such a Cutting Grief doth the loss of the Light of God's Countenance produce in those who sincerely Love him This Love indeed casteth out all Servile Despondent fear which hath Torment and generateth to Bondage but it Quickens and improves a filial fear such as restraineth from offending O may we fear God more lest we forfeit his Love than lest we incur the severe penalties of his Displeasure may we fear him with a Reverential Obedient fear as Sons that we may never fear him with a burthensome Dismaying fear as Slaves The Prayer O Thou the fear of Israel who only art to be feared with a Soveraign Supream fear so as to Extinguist in us that of all other things besides when in competition with our fear of Thee possess holy Father our Souls with a pious Awe of thy Divine
Majesty that we may serve thee our Lord with fear and walk before thee with an humble Reverence Endue our hearts with a filial ingenuous fear mingled with Love and Obediential Respect make us to fear thee because of thy very Goodness lest we should forfeit thy Love and favour more than for dread of incurring thy heavy Vengeance and Displeasure Cause us to account thy Loving-kindness better than Life it self and then we shall dread the Loss thereof more than Death Permit us not O our God for fear of man to let fall our fear of Thee but give us to fear Thee Religiously and we need fear nothing else nay we need not fear thee Thy self Slavishly with a Guilty fear Put blessed Lord thy fear into our hearts that we may not at any time presumptuously Depart from thee but may with fear and Trembling work out our own Salvation Make thy fear upon our Souls to be a True Godly fear causing us to walk and behave our selves as alwayes under thy All-seeing Eye and inspection Trembling with a fear of holy Caution at thy presence Ever Obeying thee because we Love thee and ever Obedientially Loving thee because afraid of Loosing thy Love by offending thee Give us Gracious God that fear of the Lord which is clean Converting the soul and Commanding that we depart from all iniquity give us such a Dread of thy Divine Majesty as may make us Careful of pleasing thee fearful of offending thee as may make us inquisitive to search thy Will Diligent to performe it and persevering in the Exercises of a Religious Awe and Reverence unto our lives end and then that Constant habitual fear of thee our God which has perserved us from wilful sinning or put us upon Clearing the Guilt of it by Repentance will afford us upon a Death-bed Peace of Mind Consolation in believing and our fear of God will then be exchanged into Love and Confidence into Joy and Delight in him at that hour of Death and for Evermore Amen Blessed Saviour Amen Meditation XIV On Love and Charity to our Neighbour MUtual Love and Kindness is what the condition of our Nature dictates unto us for man being born a Sociable converseable Creature is for that very reason born an Amicable Loving one for to what End and purpose should mankind Associate and Live together Converse and hold Correspondence but to perform perform offices of Aid and Assistanc of kindness and beneficence to each-other the very Notion and common Acceptation of Humanity imports Courtesie and Good-will Loving-kindness and compassion We are born also calamitous infirm necessitous Beings and therefore mutually Dependant Creatures and Dependance on each other necessarily infers a reciprocal help and beneficience For what more Reasonable than that those who by Nature are liable to stand in Need of other◠help should Afford help to other◠when in want and Adversity 'T is the Prerogative of God alone to be Self-sufficient and Independant and therefore God who saw every thing which he had made and behold 't was very Good yet saw it not Good for man to be Alone but resolved on making an Help Meet for him that they might be mutually comforting and Assistant to each other Though in Paradise man was much nearer Self-sufficiency and further Removed from helplessness than at present So that both Nature Reason and the Ordination of God dictate that we ought to be mutual helps and common Blessings to those of our kind as being our selves in the body Subject to its wants and infirmities as well as other persons A further obligation to mutual Love and Beneficence arises from our being all very nearly Related as Kinsfolks and brethren as all cast in the same mould fashion'd according to the same General Likeness partakers of the same blood of the same common Humanity nay of one very Substance differenced only in some few Accidental Circumstances unessential to our Nature And ought not now this nearest Relation of Consanguinity to make us Loving and Beneficent to all Mankind without exception Ought not the Cement of one blood to unite us in one hearty Good will and Friendship Should not Similitude and Likeness beget Love Should not one common Nature produce in us one common Natural Affection Causing us to love our selves in loving another to do Good to our selves in doing Good to another he being a part and member of our very Substance flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone And no man says the Apostle St. Paul Eph. 5. 29. ever yet hated his own flesh but Loveth and Cherisheth it even as Christ the Church and as we in conformity ought to Love and cherish one another 'T is Natural even among Savage Beasts for those of the same kind to live at a Loving Agreement and not to prey upon each other and shall Mankind whose very frame has Tenderness interwoven in it be less Amicable and Loving than Brute-Creatures Reason and Scripture the Law of Equity and that of Moses the Prophets and Christ all urge acts of Kindness and Charity from this very Argument Whatever you would that men should do unto you even so do unto them Matth. 7. 12. You no doubt were your Circumstances such as to be in Want and Distress would that others should Relieve you have you therefore a ready will and Inclination to Relieve others whose Wants and Necessities Challenge your Relief And since you know not through the vicissitude of Humane Affairs and some sudden turn of Providence but that the Now miserable Condition of others may become your own some time hence let the hazard of your falling into want of Charity your seles excite your Love and Beneficence towards those who are actually labouring under Penury and Affliction Giving Relief to others is an easeing the troublesome Relentings 〈◊〉 our own hearts which must needs be touch'd and sorrowfully affected at the sight of a part of our own flesh of our common Nature being in Misery and Distress so that Love to others is the truest Love to our seles it relieving us of that Grief and mental Disquietude which a view of others wants and sufferings excited in us Nay the very Reflection on an act of Charity fills one with Joy and Delight Refreshes the Giver's mind as much as the Almsdeed did the Receier's body so that we the Benefactors are in some sort beholden even to the Relieved for their yielding us an occasion of so great pleasure and Contentment For to Recollect how we have been the Almoners of Divine Providence in distributing to the Necessitous how we have rescued a poor miserable man from Extremity of want have Triumph'd over his misery and misfortune and caus'd his refresh'd Bowels in the very act of Relieving him to bless us and his whole person to offer up Prayers and Good wishes on our behalfs and how moreover we have made God hereby our Friend and Debtor and have imitated and Gratified in doing Good the Supream Majesty of Heaven and Earth
God its firmest Dependance on him for Supplies and Belief its heartyest Sorrow for Sin its strongest Faith in Divine Mercy it 's most assured Hope in a Saviour its most earnest pantings and breathings after Heavenly Communications its most ardent Love entire Reâ—ignation and Expectant pâ—â—everâ—â—ce in well-doing And of all the parts of Prayer none more Noble and Generous none more endearing and Acceptable unto God because none more Disinterested and unmercenary than Praise and Thanksgiving Petition respects Good things to come which we stand in Need of Deprecation Regards the keeping off or Removal of those Evils which we apprehend our Sins have righteously deserved and therefore Self-Interest as well as Religious Inclination put us upon the frequent use of these parts of Prayer but Praise respecting purely an Admiration and awful Extolling of the Divine perfections and Thanksgiving being the making a Grateful Return to God for his manifold favours and Loving kindnesses past and Gone Praise and Thanksgiving are hereupon the more undesigning the more free and unselfish acts of Devotion and consequently the more valuable and worthy in themselves the more Approved of and well-pleasing to Heaven And indeed what more Just and Reasonable what more becoming and Suitable as well as Joyous and Delightsome a thing than to be Thankful for Divine blessings received Ah since the whole World is but one large Store-house one Magazine and Treasury of Heavenly Love and beneficence how ought the World hereupon to be one large Temple one Universal Quire of Devout Praises and Hallelujahs Of Thanksgivings as Zealous Fervent and Affectionate as the Divine benefactions which we enjoy are Great Prizable and Important How ought our fire of Devotion to be like that of the Vestal Virgins perpetual and unexpiring How ought the Glowing Embers of an habitually Grateful Temper and disposition to be constantly kept alive upon our hearts though they are not ever actually breaking forth into a flame And indeed Prayer let it have never so much LIght never so much Quickness of thought and Lustre of Expression yet if it have not also warmth and Zeal of Affection 't is but as the Glimmerings of a Glow-worme or like those Shining Exhalations which make Men believe they are Safe Conducted when they are leading all the while into Bogs and Rivers into peril and Destruction Devotion if it has not the fire of the Altar will never prove the Sacrifice of the Altar such a Sacrifice wherewith God is well-pleased for 't is the fervent Prayer alone which is Effectual and unless Effectual 't is of no Value and Advantage But the fervent Prayer of a Righteous Man Availeth much it pierceth the very Clouds Enters into God's Presence besieges his Throne and Mercy-Seat and will not turn away will not give over its Solliciting till such time as the Almighty hears and gives an Answer either by a Grant of its Requests or by as kind and obliging a Denyal Importunity at the Throne of Grace in the Court of Heaven is not there accounted Troublesomness and Impertinency Clamour and Ill-manners as 't is in Earthly Courts but Heaven willingly suffers violence the force and power of Devotion is Delightsome unto it and the violent importunate Supplicants are those only who take it by force When Jacob wrestled all night in Prayer with God the Angel of the Covenant the Lord Christ Jesus Such was his Prayers prevalency Such its holy and Spiritual Charms that Almighty God could not or would not free himself from them till such time as Jacob ceasing his Prayer let him Go and Dismist him Gen 32. from 24 to 29. ver Since all our Temporal all our Spiritual Blessings all our Vertuous Abilities all our Vertuous Inclinations the very Beginnings the after-progress the Entire Completion of our Life of Grace depends so mightily upon the Aids and Communications of Heaven and these are only to be derived thence by Prayer and a Good-Life how Assiduous how Diligent how fervent and importunate ought we to be in the Duty Prayer 't is which Lifts us up Above this Earth lets us into Heaven Gives us a Delightsome prospect of the Glories therein makes us talk and utter things as if we had been there Prayer 't is which Spiritualizes our Minds purifies our Affections Exalts us above this World's cares or fears and Sordid Concernments Prayer which giving us a fore-taste of the Joys to come thereby conforms our Relish unto them makes us Scorn and Despise this world's mean Empty Entertainments hunger and Thirst after the Noble Satisfying Delights of another Life which renders us also fit Associates for the pure Intellectual Beings Above who burn with Devotional Love Gratitude and Obedience and whose Continual Employ it is to Adore to praise and offer up Thanksgivings to the Divine Parent of their Beings and Author of all their Enjoyments By Prayer 't is we hold the most Intimate Communion with God and lye open to all the propitious influences of his Spirit then 't is when at our Devotions that the Sun of Righteousness Christ Jesus ariseth by his Grace with more especial Spiritual healing under his Wings Dissipates our Darkness of Understanding mollifies our obduracy of Will imprints his own most Glorious Divine Image on our Souls Then 't is when engaged in Prayer that holy Men feel their hearts Glow within them as if toucht with a coal of Devotion from God's Sacred Altar now 't is that they Disdain sin and every Degenerate action Disdain even the Appearances of Evil nay even Innocent Earthly Delights And being Enravish'd with the Divine Love being transported with Celestial Contemplation every Vertue in them becomes the more Sprightly and Vigorous and every Devout passion arises the nearer to Rapturous and Seraphical So that in Devotion if ever doth the Soul make its most powerful Sallys Heavenward and become whilst in the body as if out of it having its Affections its Conversation Above with God! The Prayer O Blessed Jesu who didst instruct thy Disciples in the holy and heavenly Exercise of Prayer who not only permittest but Invitest us miserable and needy Creatures to present our Petitions unto thee O give us not only Leave and Allowance to pray but also power and Ability to discharge the Duty Acceptably What do we mean O Lord by praying if we pray not in the Spirit with all fervency of Supplication and Thanks-giving What do we mean by offering this Sacrifice of the Altar if the flame and fire of the Altar a Zealous Devotion be wanting in us Ah better were it we were otherwise employ'd if while we now draw near to thee with our lips our hearts are far from thee and so our very prayers become turned into sins O call then home our straggling thoughts fix our Attention confirm our faith raise and enflame our pious Affections pour forth upon us the Spirit of Prayer and Supplication that this petitionary oblation may come up before thee as Incense and this lifting up of our hands
Jesus may be unto us both in Life and Death great Advantage Grant this for the Merits and Mercy's-sake of him who dyed for our sins and rose again for our Justification and who hath left us this most Absolute form of Prayer wherewith to conclude our imperfect ones Our Father which art in Heaven Hallowed be thy Name c. A Prayer for a Sick Person O OUR God full of Compassion and Truth whose Ears are ever open to the Cryes of the Distressed who afflictest not neither Grievest willingly the Children of Men but in very Faithfulness Causest us to be Troubled Chastising us for our Profit that we may be Partakers of thy Holyness We thy Poor Unworthy Creatures Address our selves to the Throne of thy Grace in behalf of this thy Servant Grieved with Sickness O let his Grief of body move thy Succouring Pity behold him with the Eyes of thy Mercy Rescue him with the Al-Almightiness of thy Power however Grant that the Infirmity of his outer-Man may tend to the Health and Improvement of his Soul in all Gracious Qualifications O make him by means of thy Divine Chastisements Resemblant in a larger Measure of thy Divine Nature make him Perfect through Sufferings Train him up a Good Souldier of Jesus Christ by such Disciplining Hardships Teach him a more Compleat Obedience and Conformity to thy Will by the things which he Endures Relieve him under all his Distresses Give him Patience Repentance and Submission under all his Uneasiness Support him under all Tryals and Temptations O suffer not his Faith to fail in this Day of Adversity Strengthen him in the Inner-Man especially now he lyes on a Bed of Languishing O make Thou his Bed in all his Sickness In the midst of the pains of his Body let thine Inward Comforts Refresh his Soul make all things Tribulation as well as Prosperity work together for his Good may he Continue to be thy Servant under all Conditions Permit him not Gracious God for any troubles of Life or fears of Death to fall from Thee but Give him Joy and Consolation in Believing when encompassed with the Sorest Distresses Encrease therefore his Faith Confirm his Hopes Enlarge his Contentedness and Resignation Wean his Affections more and more from the things Below and Raise and Settle them on the Good things Above Free Blessed Lord this thy Servant from all Murmuring and Repining at thy Afflictive Providence and Cause him rather to Rejoyce and Glory in Tribulation as knowing that the Tryal of his Faith worketh Patience and Patience Experience and Experience Hope and Hope maketh not Ashamed O let Patience have its Perfect work in him that he may be Compleat and Entire wanting no Vertuous Endowment let thy Grace be Sufficient for him that he may not faint in the time of Calamity O may his Affliction prove an Exercise and Enlargement of all his Graces Let it beget in him greater Trust and Affiance in thy Divine Mercy less Relyance on and Confidence in the Creature a being Crucified to the World and the World to him as to the immoderate Love of it Cause Holy Father this thy Afflicted Son to Humble himself under thy Correcting hand that Thou mayst Exalt him in thy due Season make him to Cast all his Care upon Thee because Thou carest for him Give him to feel now in this his Distress what is the Hope of his Spiritual Calling and what the Exceeding Greatness of thy Mercy and Power towards them who Believe in Thee O Give him that Saving Faith which worketh by Love and Purifieth the Heart and Overcometh the World Give him Repentance unto Newness of Life never to be Repented of Cause him by means of this Affliction to Search and Try his wayes and turn him unto Thee his God who in Mercy Chastisest him Afford him Gracious Lord afford this Sick Person the Comfort of an holy Hope that thou Acceptest his Penitential Tears and Contrition of heart Support him by this Hope under all his Sickness and Distemper Say unto him by the inward Testimonies of thy Spirit I am thy Salvation Son be of Good Chear thy Sins are forgiven thee I have heard thee in an Acceptable time I have laid Help for Thee on one who is mighty to Save Jesus Christ the Righteous He is the Propitiation for thy sins O Apply the Merits and Satisfaction of his Dying Redeemer unto the Soul of this thy Servant for Pardon and Acceptance wash it clean in the Blood of that Immaculate Lamb which was Slain to take away the sins of the world and through his Saviour's Stripes let him be Heal'd Bless and Succeed we beseech Thee those Remedies which have or shall be used for the Recovering this weak Afflicted Person to his former Health Command Deliverance for him Thou who art the God of Nature Speak Nature within him into a due Temper and Composure Known unto Thee are the most hidden things O do Thou therefore adapt suitable Medicines to any unknown Cause or hidden Spring of this present Distemper Suffer us Heavenly Father to have Power with thee in Prayer and mightily to Prevail on this thy Servants behalf Thou hast Promised that the Prayer of Faith shall Save the Sick and that the Effectual fervent Prayer of the Righteous shall Avail much O make us Pray in Faith and Believing so as to be Heard make us fervent and Zealous in Prayer so as to have our Prayers Answered Restore we entreat Thee this Diseas'd Person that he may be continued a Blessing and Comfort to his Relations that he may live to Performe his pious Vows and Resolutions made in time of Sickness that he may spend the Residue of his Life more to thy Honour and Glory But if in thy Fatherly wisdom thou seest it fitting to Prolong his Corrections thy Blessed Will be done and may thy Afflicted Servant say Amen with an Entire Submission May he bear further Chastisement in his Body so that his Soul be but Saved in the Day of our Lord. Yet O God most Gracious O most Holy and Mercyful Saviour Thou most worthy Judge Eternal be not Thou Extream to mark whatever he has done Amiss Correct him O Lord but with Judgment not in thine Anger lest Thou bring him to nothing and though thou take not off the Rod of Affliction yet take away thy Displeasure we beseech thee far from him Remember O Lord thy tender Mercies and thy Loving-kindnesses which have been ever of old and Cause this our Sick Friend in Thankful Recollection of former Divine Rescues to put his Trust in thee for a Present Deliverance O suffer him not for any Anguish of Body to let Go his Faith and Confidence in Thee but give him to say with the Stedfastness of holy Job though he Kills me yet will I hope in him Fit O God this Languishing Person for whatever Condition thou shalt call him unto that thy Son Christ Jesus may be unto him whether in Life or Death great Advantage O permit him
not to Depart hence at any time but with all imaginable Preparations for Eternity with a Soul thoroughly Changed and Renewed with a Soul full fraught with thy Divine Love Humble and Resign'd Chearful and Enravish'd with future Expectations And then whenever this his Earthly Tabernacle shall be Dissolved he shall have a building of God an house not made with Hands Eternal in the Heavens Which we beseech thee to Grant both him and us for the alone Sake and Merits of thy Son our Saviour to whom together with Thee O Father and thy Holy and Ever-blessed Spirit be Ascribed as is most Dâ—e all Honour Praise Might Majesty and Dominion from this time forth and for Evermore Amen Amen Another Prayer for the Sick when there appears small Hopes of Recovery O Most Glorious and Merciful Heavenly Father the Lord and Giver of Life the Healer and Repairer of our Decay'd Nature who bringest down to the Grave and then sayst Come again ye Children of Men Giving Power to the Faint and to those who have no Might increase of Strength Behold we beseech thee Favourably Visit Graciously and Relieve speedily this thy Servant who standeth in Need of thy Pitty and Relief Be Thou a very Present Help unto him O Lord now in the Necessitous time of his Trouble O let thy tender Mercies come unto him that he may Live Encompass him with thy Favour as with a Shield Pitty and Purifie him Sanctifie and Save him we most humbly beseech thee Either Asswage his Pain or else Increase his Faith and Patience to bear it Either Remove his Affliction or else move towards him with Divine Comfort and Sâ—pport Lay upon him Gracious God no more than thou shalt enable him with Willingness and Submission to undergo and then lay on him whatsoever shall seem Good in thy Sight O Give him a Sanctified Use and Improvement of thy Fatherly Corrections let them teach him more Humility Contentedness and Resignation less Trust and Relyance on the Creature Cause him O Lord by means of his present Distress to see the Empâ—iness Deceit and Instability of all Earthly Possessions and may this Conviction carry up his Mind to the satisfieing Everdurable Enjoyments of Heaven O that his Devout Conversation there in Holy Meditations Fervent Prayers and Transporting Praises may Allay much of his Corporal Pains and Disquietudes and render him in a manner Insensible of them O that thy Word and blessed Promises may be his sure Trust and Confidence in Adversity tho' he walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death yet let him fear no Evil may thy Rod as well as thy Staff Comfort and Sustain him Give him Holy Lord unseigned Repentance for all the Miscarriages of his Life past Stedfast Faith in thy Son Jesus Compleat Pardon and Forgiveness through the Merits of his Blood a lively Hope of that Immortal Bliss which his Redeemer has Dearly Purchased and most Graciously Promised to true Believers a strong Sense of thy Fatherly Love towards him and tender Care over him even amidst his Sufferings O cause this Sick Person to Apprehend and be Assured that thou intendest his Spiritual Benefit and Amendment by these thy Corrections that they are the Chastisements of a Loving Father and not of an Incensed Judge that they are the healing Medicines of a Friend and not the avenging Wounds of an Enemy O Convince him Convince him that in making him endure Chastening thou dealest with him as with one of thy Children for what Son is he whom the Father Chasteneth not That thou seekest to Conform him by Afflictions to the Likeness of his Blessed Saviour O may he be made Perfect through Sufferings Teach him we Pray thee more Obedience through the things which he Endures May his Chastening however Grievous for the Present afterwards yield him the Peaceable Fruits of Righteousness may it turn to his Spiritual Profit and Advantage and help him forward in the Right way which leadeth unto Life Everlasting Take O God from this thy Servant all Murmuring Discontent under thy Disciplining Providence Cause him rather Quietly to submit to thy Afflicting Hand as Considering that Affliction ariseth not out of the Dust proceedeth not meerly from Natural Causes but from thy Wise Providence and Appointment who Orderest all things toward us for our Good O Perswade this Sick Person 't is for his Good that he is Afflicted that of very Faithfulness thou hast Caused him to be troubled O make him by Searching and Trying his ways to find out those particular Sins and Failings which thou Aimest at in this his Chastisement to Observe and Understand thy Meaning in the Calamities which befall him that he may accordingly meet thee in thy Providential Ways and Dealings towards him that so the Removal of his Guilt by Repentance through the Merits of his Saviour may make Way for the Removal of thy Divine Rod of Punishment And do Thou the God of all Grace and Truth who hast called this thy Corrected Son to Suffering by thy Fatherly Wisdom and Goodness after that he hath suffered a while for his Souls Profit Stablish Strengthen Settle him Let we Pray thee thy Merciful Kindness be this Afflicted Person 's Succour and Safety send him Help from Above and Evermore mightily Defend him Defend him O Lord from all Satan's disquietting Assaults from all his Wicked Temptations O let not that Evil one have any Advantage over him in these his sorrowful Hours but Rebuke him Good Lord Rebuke him Tread that old seducing Serpent under this thy Servant's Feet and make him more than Conqueror through Christ who strengthens him Worâ— Holy Father Dâ—liverance for 〈◊〉 whom thâ—â— Châ—stisest Heal him and he shall be Healed Save him and he shall be saved for thou aâ—â— the God of his Praise O make him to hear again of Joy and Gladness that the â—ones which thou hast bâ—oken mâ—y â—â—joice But if thou in thy Wisdom hast Decreed that this thy Servants Sickness shall be unto Death Fit and Prepare him for it we beseech thee Give him a more perfectly Holy and Heavenly Constitution of Soul an Heart Wean'd and Estranged from this World a sanctified Meetness to be made Partaker of an Inheritance with the Saints in Light and Glory O may his last Hours be his Best Hours his last Thoughts his Best Thoughts and his last Words and Actions his best Words and Actions The Nearer he draws to the End of his Days cause him so much the Nearer to draw to the End of his Hopes even the Salvation of his Soul For this Purpose Apply we Entreat thee all the Benefits of our Saviour's Perfect Obedience and Meritorious Sufferings unto this Dying Person for Reconciliation and Acceptance Impute not Gracious Lord unto him his former Sins but thy Well-beloved Son 's Alsufficient Righteousness who was Wounded for our Transgressions and bruised for our Iniquities O let the Peace purchased by thy Son's Chastisements be upon this thy Servant and by his Redeemers Stripes let him