Endeavour So that unless thou wilt still go along with me and still quicken and animate me by thy blessed Spirit my Work is so great and my Strength so little that it will be in vain for me to proceed any farther These importunate Temptations that surround me will quickly conquer my present Resolution and I shall do as I have too often done already resolve and sin and sin and resolve and so increase my Guilt by the Treachery of my Vows and Engagements Wherefore for Jesus Christ his sake withdraw not thy self from me but continue to assist my weak Endeavours by thy powerful Grace till thou hast crown'd them with a perfect Victory For which End I beseech thee inspire me more and more with Patience and Constancy of Mind that I may stand fast in my good Resolution in despite of all Temptations to the contrary Suggest to my Mind those holy Examples thou hast set before me especially that of my blessed Saviour and incline my Heart to coppy and imitate them Direct me to some wise and faithful Guide that may be willing and able to assist me in all my spiritual Necessities and by frequently exciting me to dedicate my Actions to thee do thou purifie my Intentions from sinful and from carnal Aims that so I may always live to thy Glory And since thou art present with me wherever I am and dost always behold me whatsoever I am doing O do thou inspire me with such a strong continual and actual Sense of it as may be a constant Check to my sinful Inclinations and render me afraid of offending thee Let thy blessed Spirit be my constant Monitor to put me in mind to consider my Ways and frequently to examine my Actions that so whenever I go astray I may be immediatly convinc'd of it and by my speedy Repentance recover my self before I have wandered too far from my Duty And grant I beseech thee that the sense of my past Failings may still render me more watchful and circumspect for the future that whensoever I have been carelesly or wilfully faulty I may from thenceforth be more cautious of my Actions and more vigilant against the Temptations that betrayed me And that I may not run my self unnecessarily into Temptation for the future preserve me O Lord from sloth and idleness and from intermedling with matters that do not belong to me and do thou still put me in mind to do my own Business and to be faithful and diligent in the State and Calling wherein thou hast placed me And that I may always serve thee with Freedom and Alacrity remove from me I beseech thee all unprofitable Sadness and Melancholy and help me to acquire an equal Tranquillity of Mind and a becoming Chearfulness of Spirit For which end Good Lord do thou inspire me with a lively Sense and earnest Expectation of that blissful State towards which I am travelling that having this glorious Prospect always in my Eye I may go on with Joy and Triumph over all the Difficulties and Temptations that oppose me And that by all these means I may be more and more strengthened and confirmed in the good Resolution I have made do thou stir up my slothful mind to a dilligent Attendance on thy publick Ordinances that so in the solemn Assemblies of thy Saints I may constantly hear thy Word with Reverence and Attention offer up my Prayers with Fervency and Devotion and approach thy Table with all that Humility and Love Gratitude and Resignation of Soul that becomes this solemn Remembrance and Representation of my dying Saviour In these things and whatsoever else is needful to secure my Resolution of Obedience assist me O Lord for Jesus Christ his sake to whom with thy self and eternal Spirit be render'd all Honor Glory and Power from his time forth and for evermore After this Prayer bethink your self a little what Temptations you are like to meet with in the ensuing Business of the Day and briefly recollect those powerful Arguments which the Gospel urges to fortifie you against them and apply them particularly to the Sin or Sins you are most inclined to and then renew your Resolution to God in the following Prayer O God who art my Hope and Strength upon whose Aid and Assistance I depend look down I beseech thee upon a poor helpless Creature who am going forth into a busie World that is full of Snares and Temptations Blessed be thy Name my Heart continues still resolved upon a through Course of Amendment and therefore here in thy dreadful Presence I do again most solemnly promise and ingage my self that whatsoever Temptations I meet with this Day I will not wilfully commit any Sin no not the Sin I am most inclined to nor omit any Duty how contrary soever it may be too my Nature and that I will faithfully indeavour to keep such a constant Guard upon my self as that I may not be surprized and overtaken through my own Inadvertence and Vnwariness But this O Lord I promise not out of any Confidence in my own Strength but in Dependence upon thee and in Hope that out of thy tender Pity to a poor impotent Wretch thou wilt not be wanting to me in any necessary Assistance but that either thou wilt remove from me all great and importunate Temptations or inable me by thy Grace to repel and vanquish them and this I do most earnestly beseech in the Name and Mediation of Jesus Christ with whose Prayer I conclude this my morning Sacrifice Our Father c. In the Evening when you find your self best disposed for religious Exercise set apart such Portions of your Time as you can conveniently spare from your necessary Refreshment and Diversion to call your self to Account concerning the Actions of the Day and enquire whether they have been agreeable to your Morning Promise and Resolution and upon Enquiry you will find either that you have faithfully discharged what you promised or that you have sinned unawares or through Carelesness and Self-neglect or that you have sinned wilfully and against your own Conscience If upon Enquiry it appear that you have been faithful to your Morning Engagement represent to your self the great Reason you have to rejoice in it and to praise God for it and then offer up this following Thanksgiving BLessed be thy Name O most gracious and merciful Father for those great and numberless Favours which from time to time thou hast heaped upon me who am less than the least of all thy Mercies particularly for the signal Mercies of this Day for that thou hast not shut thine Ears against my Prayers nor withdrawn thy self from me but hast accompanied me with thy Grace through all those Snares and Temptations to which I have been exposed Praised be thy Name that thou hast not suffered me to be tempted above what I was able that thou hast so powerfully assisted me against those Temptations I have been ingag'd with and by putting so many good Thoughts into my
his Happiness For what greater torment can our Mind endure than to be an everlasting Spectator of the Bliss and Happiness of one whom it hates How then will it fret and gall our meagre and envious Spirits to see that blessed Being whom we cannot endure surrounded with an infinite Happiness with a Happiness so vast as that it can admit of no Increase and yet so secure as that it can never suffer a Diminution So that 't is impossible you see for the Mind of Man to live happily upon God in the other life unless it be inspired before-hand with an hearty Love and Affection to him AND hence it is that our holy Religion doth so strictly require us to love the Lord our God with all our heart with all our soul and with all our mind Mat. xxii 37 to love him because he loved us first to delight our selves in the Lord Psal. xxxvii 4 and to rejoice in the Lord Phil. iii. 1 and to rejoice in the Lord always Phil. iv 4 i. e. to be habitually complacent or well pleased with the infinite Beauty Goodness and Perfection of the divine Nature Nay of such vast import is the Love of God in the account of the Gospel that 't is there recommended as the proper Principle of Christian Life For so Rom. xiii 10 we are told that love is the fulfilling of the law that is the adequate Principle of all Christian Obedience and Gal. v. 6 we are told that neither Circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing in Christ Jesus but faith which worketh by love that is there is nothing of any account with Christ buch such a Belief of the Gospel as begets in us a hearty Love to God and doth thereby work and exert it self as by that which is the only genuine Principle of Christian Life and Action 'T is true beside this principle of Love the Gospel acts us both by our Fear and Hope exciting the one by Threatnings of the greatest Evils and animating the other with Promises of the greatest Goods but yet it is certain that neither these nor any other Principles of religious Action can be acceptable to God whilst they are totally separated from Love to him For there is no Principle of Obedience can be acceptable to God that is not a Principle of Universal Obedience but to love God being a great and main instance of Obedience that can be no principle of Universal Obedience which doth not effectually excite us to love him 'T IS true the Religion of most men begins upon the Principles of Hope and Fear and it cannot be denied but these are good Beginnings but yet till by these we are excited to love God as well as to do the other Parts of our Duty our Obedience is lame and partial and consequently unacceptable So that though Hope and Fear are good Ingredients to compound an acceptable Principle of Obedience yet without an Intermixture of Love they are by no means sufficient There may be indeed and at first there generally is much less of Love in this internal spring of our Obedience than of Hope or Fear whilst yet the whole Composition is truly pleasing and acceptable to God For the lowest degree of cordial Love intermixed with our Hope and Fear is sufficient to leaven and consecrate them into an acceptable Principle of Obedience but still the less of Love there is in it the more weak and languid and imperfect it is and in all its progresses towards Perfection its ripeness and maturity is to be measured by the degrees of Love that are in it And till our Love is arrived to that degree of Fervour and Ardency as to become the predominant Motive and Master Ingredient of this our compounded Principle of Obedience our state in Goodness is very low and imperfect So that in short the Principle that acts and moves us in Religion is still more and more perfect the more of Love there is in it and the less of Hope and Fear and when Hope and Fear are both swallowed up in Love and this is become the sole Spring of Action in us then 't is the Principle of Heaven the Soul that acts and animates the Religion of just men made perfect SO that if ever we design to grow up to their blessed State we must endeavour to kindle and blow up the Love of God in our Hearts And in order hereunto we must be frequently representing to our own Minds the infinite Reasons we have to love him and pressing our selves with the vast Obligations he hath laid upon us spreading them fairly before our Thoughts in all their endearing Circumstances We must ever and anon set our cold and frozen Souls before those melting Flames of his Love and Beauty and never leave chafing them at 'em urging and pressing them with the Consideration of them till we feel the heavenly Fire begin to kindle in our Bosoms And above all things we must take care by the constant Practice of what is agreeable to Gods Nature to reconcile our Minds and Tempers to him for till this is done we can never be habitually pleased or delighted in him but when once by the Practice of those eternal Rules of Goodness that are founded in his blessed Nature we have so far reconciled our Natures to him as that our Hearts and his stand bent the same way and are for the main alike inclined and disposed then we are prepared for and made proper and convenient Fuel to receive this heavenly Flame of Love to him and when this is once so throughly kindled in our Hearts as that we are habitually well pleased and delighted in him so as to rejoice in his Happiness acquiesce in his Will and meditate on his Beauty and Goodness with an unfeigned complacency of Soul we are then in the same State that is in Kind though not in Degree with the blessed People of Heaven And though in this Life we may not be able to raise our selves to that Height of Love as we desire and much less as that blessed Object deserves our present Knowlege being short our Thoughts unsteady and our Affections entangled in Sense and sensual things yet when we go from hence into the other World and are there admitted to a more intimate View of his Nature Works and Perfections our imperfect Love will be immediately improved into an high Seraphick Flame For now we shall not only know him better having him always in our View and continually shining full in our Eyes but we shall be removed from all other Objects that are apt to divert our Thoughts or divide our Affections from him So that now our Love being kindled and fed with the purest Light with the ever out-streaming Rays of the most perfect Beauty and Goodness will always exert its utmost Vigour and spend it self without Decay in one continued everlasting Rapture AND then how unconceivably happy will our State be when we shall always live in view of the most lovely
because he places it in the midst of those two Virtues which border nearest upon Prudence NOW that the Practice of this Virtue is a most proper and effectual Means of our Everlasting Happiness is evident from hence Because the Practice of it is a constant Exercise of Reason For to act prudently in Religion is to follow the best Reason to aim at Heaven which is the best End and direct our Actions thither by the best Rules 'T is to consult what is best for our selves and how it may be most effectually obtained In a word it is to intend the chiefest Good above All and to level our Lives and Actions most directly towards it This is Religious Prudence in the General and as for those Particulars of it which we are obliged to exercise in the several States Relations and Circumstances wherein we are placed they all consist in doing what is most fit and reasonable with respect to that Great and Blessed End FOR by living in the continual Practice of Religious Prudence we shall by degrees habituate our selves to a Life of Reason and shake off that drowsie Charm of Sense and Passion which hangs upon our Minds and renders our Faculties so dull and unactive And having disused our selves a while to obey their blind and imperious Dictates our Reason will reassume its Throne in us and direct all our Aims and Endeavours to what is Fittest and most Reasonable For we being finite and limited Beings cannot operate divers ways with equal vigour at once and our Faculties are made in such a regular and aequilibrious order that proportionably as the one does increase in Activity the others always decay And so accordingly as we abate in the strength of our Brutish we we shall improve in the vigour of our Rational Faculties But to act suitably to their Natures being the End of all our Faculties and Powers of Action the God of Nature to excite them thereto has founded all their Pleasure in the vigorous Exercise of them upon suitable Objects Since therefore our Reason is the best and noblest of all Powers of Action to be sure the greatest Pleasure we are capable of must spring out of the Exercise of our Reason Wherefore since Prudence consists in the Vse of our Reason the Practice thereof must needs effectually contribute to our Pleasure and Happiness For Vse and Exercise will mightily strengthen and improve our Reason and render it not only more apprehensive of what is fit and reasonable but also more persuasive and prevalent and when once it is improved into a prevailing Principle of Action and hath acquired not only Skill enough to prescribe what is Right to us but also Power enough to persuade us to comply with its prescriptions to chuse and refuse to love and hate to hope and fear desire and delight and regulate all our Actions by its Laws and Dictates then are we entring upon our Heaven and Happiness FOR that which makes us unhappy is that our sinful and ureasonable Affections do so hamper and intangle us that we cannot freely exercise our Faculties upon such Objects as are most suitable to them that our Minds and Wills are so fettered by our vicious Inclinations that we cannot exert them upon that which is most worthy to be Known and Chosen without a great deal of Difficulty and Distraction But now under the Conduct of our Reason our Faculties will by Degrees recover their Freedom and disengage themselves from those vicious Encumbrances which do so clog and interrupt them in all their Rational Motions And when this is throughly effected we are in full Possession of the Heavenly State which as I have shewed consists in the free and vigorous Exercise of our Rational Faculties upon the best and worthiest Objects For when once our Passions and Appetites are perfectly subdued to our Reason all our Rational Faculties will be free and every one will move towards its proper Object without any Lett or Hindrance our Vnderstanding will be swallowed up in a fixt Contemplation of the sublimest Truth our Wills intirely resigned to the Choice and Embraces of the truest Good our Affections unalterably devoted to the Love and Fruition of the most excellent Beauty and Perfection and in this consists the Happy State of Heaven So that to live prudently or which is the same to govern our selves by our best Reason is both a necessary and effectual means of attaining to the Heavenly State II. ANOTHER Virtue which appertains to a Man considered meerly as a Rational Animal is MODERATION which consists in proportioning our Concupiscible Affections to the just worth and value of Things so as neither to spend our Affections too prodigally upon Trifles nor yet be over-sparing or niggardly of them to real and substantial Goods But to love desire and expect things more or less according to the Estimate which our best and most impartial Reason makes of their Worth and Goodness For he that affects things more than in the Esteem of Reason they deserve affects them irrationally and regulates his Passion by his wild and extravagant Imagination and not by his Reason and Judgment And while men do thus neglect their Reason and accustome themselves to desire and love and affect without it they necessarily disable themselves to enjoy a Rational Happiness For besides that their Rational Faculties being thus laid by and unemployed will naturally contract Rust and grow every day more weak and restive Besides that their unexercised Reason will melt away in Sloth and Idleness and all its vital Powers freeze for want of motion and like standing water stagnate and gather mire and by degrees corrupt and putrefie till at last it will be impossible to revive them to the vigorous Exercise and Motion wherein their Pleasure and Happiness consists Besides this I say by habituating our selves to affect things irrationally i. e. to love the least Goods most and the greatest least we shall disable our selves from enjoying any Goods but only such as cannot make us happy For he that loves any Good more than it is worth can never be happy in the enjoyment of it because he thinks there is more in it than he finds and so is always disappointed in the Fruition of it And the Grief of being disappointed of what he expects does commonly countervail the Pleasure of what he finds and enjoys While he is in the pursuit of any Good which he inordinately dotes upon he is wild and imaginative he swells with Phantastick Joys and juggles himself into Expectations that are as large and boundless as his Desires But when once he is seized of it and finds how vastly the Enjoyment falls short of his Expectation his Pleasure is presently lost in his Disappointment and so he remains as unsatisfied as ever And thus if he were to spend an Eternity in such Pursuits and Enjoyments his Life would be nothing but an Everlasting Succession of Expectations and Disappointments So that all inordinate Affection destroys its own
follow their Example we would at least be so honest as to renounce their Kindred and not to claim a Relation to their Family meerly to shame and disgrace them II. CONSIDER the Honour and Dignity of the heavenly Life For if we may estimate Actions by the Examples from whence they are copied as in other Cases we are wont to do doubtless the most noble and honourable are such as are copied from the Lives of the glorious Inhabitants of Heaven For besides that sublime Rank of Dignity whereunto they are advanced as being the Courtiers and immediate Attendants of the Almighty Sovereign of Heaven and Earth a Dignity which by how much more it excells that of the greatest Potentate of this world by so much more it authorizes the Examples of those that wear it besides this I say their Examples being the most perfect Copies and Imitations of the Life of God are thereby rendred not only more eminent and glorious but also more obliging and authoritative For by following them we follow God who is the Standard of all rational Perfection and who by being the first and best in the whole kind of Rational Entities is the supream Rule and Measure of them all So that in imitating the blessed People above we imitate those who in their Place and Station do live at the same Rate as the great God doth in his and regulate themselves by the same infallible Reason We do what God himself would do if he were in our Place and there is no other difference between his life and ours but what necessarily arises out of our different States and Relations And what more glorious thing can we do than to live by the Pattern of their Lives who live so exactly by the Pattern of God's For the Example of living which those blessed People set us is the Example of God at second-hand 't is his most rational Life transcribed so far as it is rationally imitable that is so far as it is honourable and glorious for a rational creature to transcribe it For in the State of finite Creatures they live in a perfect Conformity to the same immutable Reason whereby God regulates himself in the State of an infinite Creator So that their Example is an Imitation in kind of all those particular Excellencies in him which they may and ought to imitate and 't is an Imitation in general of that eternal Decorum with respect to Conditions and States which he constantly observes in all his transactions with his Creatures And as their Example is a perfect Copy of God's so 't is a Copy fitted in all particulars for our Use and Imitation For it doth not only describe to us all those particular Excellencies in him which are to be imitated by us but all those particular Duties to which that eternal Law of Equity and Goodness by which he governs himself in his State requires of us in ours and shews not only wherein we are to imitate him in kind but also wherein we are to follow him in general in doing what is most fit for us in the State and Relation of Creatures even as he doth what is most fit for him in the State and Relation of a God and Creator So that the Example of those heavenly Inhabitants is the Example of God himself exactly fitted and attempered to the State and Condition of Creatures For just as they live the All-wise and All-good God himself would live if he were in their State and Relation Wherefore by imitating their heavenly Lives and Manners we do our selves the greatest Right and do most effectually consult the Glory and Honour of our own Natures For whilst we tread in theirs we tread in the Footsteps of God and have his glorious Example to warrant and justifie our Actions we behave our selves as it becomes the Children of the King of Heaven and so far as it consists with the condition of Creatures we live like so many Gods in the world which is doubtless the utmost height of Honour and Glory that any rational Ambition can aspire to So that methinks had we any spark of true Gallantry and Bravery of Mind in us we should despise all other kinds of Life but this and pity those gilded Bubbles that have nothing to boast of but their fine Cloaths and great Estates and empty Titles of Honour we should look upon all other Dignities as the trifling Play-games of Children in comparison of this of living like the great Nobility of Heaven that do all live by the pattern of the Life of God III. CONSIDER the great Freedom and Liberty of a heavenly Life So long as we live earthy and sensual Lives our free-born Souls are imprisoned in Sense and all their Motions are circumscribed and bounded within the narrow Sphere of sensitive Goods and Enjoyments So that when we would follow our Reason and do as that prescribes and dictates we find our selves miserably hampered and intangled the Lusts of our Flesh do hang like gyves so heavily upon us that when ever our Reason and Conscience call we cannot move with any Freedom but are fain to labour at every Step and after a few faint Essays are utterly tired under the weight of our reluctant Inclinations So that the good which many times we would we do not the law in our Minds being counter-voted by the law in our Members Our reason and conscience tell us that we ought to love God above all to adore and worship him and surrender up our selves to his Command and Disposal and we are many times strongly inclined to follow its Dictates and Directions but alas when we come to put them in Execution we find so many pull-backs within us â—o many strong and stubborn Aversions to our good Inclinations that we have not the power to do as we would or to dispose of our selves according to our own most reasoable Desires but like miserable Slaves that are chained to the Oar we are fain to row on whithersoever our imperious Lusts do command us though we plainly see we are running on a Rock and invading our own destruction And as we are not free in this ill State of life to follow our Reason so neither are we free to follow our Lusts. For as when we would follow our Reason our Lusts cling about and intangle us so when we would follow our Lusts our Reason clogs and restrains us and by objecting to us the Indecency and Danger the infinite Turpitude and Hazard of our sinful Courses lays so many Rubs in our way that we cannot sin with any Freedom but whithersoever we go we walk like Prisoners with the Shackles of Shame and Fear on our heels So that which way soever we turn our selves we find that our Power to dispose of our selves is under a great Restraint and Confinement and we can neither get leave of our Lusts to follow our Reason nor of our Reason to follow our Lusts. For when we attempt the latter our Reason curbs us with
proceeded 2. If once we totally relapse we shall thereby forfeit all the Fruit of our past Labour 3. We shall forfeit the Fruit of our Labour after we have undergone the greatest Difficulty of it 4. We shall not only forfeit the Fruit of our past Labour but also render our Recovery more hazardous and difficult than ever 5. We shall not only render our future Recovery more difficult but also plunge our selves for the present into a far more Guilty and Criminal Condition than ever 6. We shall not only render our selves for the present more guilty but as a certain Consequence of that Expose our selves if we die in our Apostacy to a Deeper and more Dreadful Ruin I. CONSIDER when once we have wilfully relapsed unless we immediately recover we shall go much faster back than ever we went forward For in the Beginning of our religious Progress we are fain to sail for a great while against Wind and Tyde against a strong Gale of Temptation from without and a rapid Stream of Inclination from within and while we do thus we must be contented to get our Ground by Inches and move forward by slow and insensible Degrees but in all our wilful Apostacies we are carried on secundo flumine with a full Drift of Temptation and Inclination So that if when once we have wilfully sinn'd we do not immediately check our selves by Repentance in all Probability we shall be driven farther back in a Day than we shall be able to get forward in a Week For your Progress in Religion lying up Hill but your Apostacy down you must expect when once you are falling to descend much faster than ever you ascended and to get far sooner to the Bottom again than you can to the Top though you should happen to fall just in the mid-way and have no farther to the one than to the other For 't is hardly to be imagin'd what Strength a bad Inclination gets by a short Repast and Gratification how when it hath been almost pined away by a long Abstinence a Taste of sinful Pleasure will raise and revive it and render it as brisk and vigorous as ever insomuch that it usually requires a great many Acts of Mortification to re-extinguish that Life and Strength it acquires in one short Gratification For as the fierce Tyger after a long Confinement will lye down tamely in his Den and by Degrees loose all his Fierceness and grow manageable and obsequious but let him take but one warm Draught of Blood and his old savage Nature immediately revives and he grows as cruel and outragious as ever just so it is with our wicked Inclinations which being reduced from their Excesses and kept under the close Confinement of a holy Resolution will by Degrees grow tame and gentle and forget the alluring Relishes of Sin but if once we suffer them to break loose again and to come at those sinful Pleasures from which they have been a long while alienated they will soon recover their natural Wildness and become as head-strong and violent as ever Wherefore it mightily concerns us to have a great Care of all wilful Apostacies for to be sure your first Slip will vehemently incline you to a second and that more vehemently to a third and so like men that are running head-long down Hill the farther you go the more you will be prest forward by your own Weight and the harder 't will be for you to stop and recover your selves So that if you do not immediately stop you will by a few Days Sin lose back all the Ground you have got by many a Years Warfare you will pull down more of your Religion by one wilful Sin than you will be able to repair again by many a vertuous Action and like some prodigal Drudges spend more in one mad Frolick than you have earn'd by many a hard Days Labour And if you do thus 't is impossible you should ever improve for what you do in a Week you will undo again in a Day and so instead of pressing forward you will dance in a Circle and always end where you begun So that unless you go on and persevere in wel-doing all your Strife and Warfare against Sin will be but like rolling of a Sisyphus his Stone which after you have been a long while raising to the Top of the Hill will in a moment tumble down again upon you so that either you must undergo the same Pains to raise it again or lye down under it and tamely suffer your selves to be crush'd into eternal Ruine by it II. CONSIDER if after we have made some Progress in Religion we totally Relapse we thereby forfeit the Fruit of all our past Labour For so God himself by the Prophet pronounces in the Case Ezek. xviii 24 When the Righteous turns away from his Righteousness and commits iniquity and doth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doth shall he live all his Righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned in the trespass that he hath trespassed and in the sin that he hath sinned in them shall he die i. e. how good soever he may have been for the Time past if he doth not persevere to the End but wilfully relapse into Folly and Wickedness all the Vertue he hath exercised and all the Good he hath done shall be quite struck off from his Accounts and never so much as mentioned to his Benefit and Advantage but in that Wickedness wherein he is faln he shall as certainly perish as if all his Life had been a continued Act or uninterrupted Course of Iniquity So also Heb. x. 38 if any shall draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him And indeed this is a most necessary Effect of our Apostacy for by falling off from our Christian Courese we put our selves back into the same State and Condition wherein we were before we enter'd upon it and the Effect of all those good things which we did from the time we enter'd upon to the Time we deserted it will be so voided and abolish'd that there will not remain the least Trace or Footstep of it in our Natures but our Will will become as obstinate again our affections and Appetites as wild and extravagant as if we had all long permitted them to run on in an uninterrupted Course of Iniquity And having thus exinguisht all the good Effects of our past Warfare and rendered by our wilful Apostacy our Natures as corrupt and depraved as ever we shall thereby be exposed again to the Wrath and Displeasure of God For Gods Love and Hatred are unvariably determined to the same Grounds and Reasons and herein consists their Immutability not that he always loves or always hates the same persons out of a unreasonable Prejudice to the other but that he always loves and always hates them for the same Reasons and he hath expresly declared taht Goodness and Wickedness are the contrary Reasons of this his Contrary affection to his
Creatures which if it be 't will hence necessarilly follow that as his Hatred must convert into Love to us when from wicked we become good so his Love must convert into Hatred of us when from good we degenerate into wicked Which Alteration of his Affection towards us proceeds not from any change in his Nature but from a change in ours he always proceeds upon steady and unchangeable Priniciples and is for ever fixt and constant to the Reasons of his Love and Hatred which he could not be if he did not alter his Affection to us when the Reason of it is altered if he did not abominate us when he sees us fallen and degenerated from that State of Goodness for teh sake of which he loved us and took pleasure in us So that by wilfully retreating from our religious Progress we do not only Extinguish all those good Effects which it had produced in our Natures not only revive those inveterate Lusts we had almost mortified and blast those tender Graces which we had therein acquired and improved but as a Consequence of this we run out of Gods Arms and Embraces and throw our selves head-long from those glorious Hopes to which we have been all this while advancing with so much Labour and Difficulty What a Madness therefore is it for men to think of retreating that have once actually ingaged in the Christian Warfare to surrender themselves back into Captivity to their Lusts after they have fought so many Combats against and obtained so many Victories over them O consider but the great Pains you have been at the many Prayers and Tears Abstinencies and Self-denials Struggles and Convertion with your selves that it hath cost you to retrieve your selves from the Dominion of Sin and the just Vengeance of God and is it not a thousand Pities that all this should prove lost Labour in the End and be rebder'd as fruitless and insignificant to us as if it had never been that after you have taken so much Pains to stem the difficult Tyde and are at last got within fight of Shore you should now faint and yield to the Fury of it and suffer your selves to be born down by it again into that Ocean of Sin and Guilt out of which you were so safely recovered Wherefore as you would not render your albour in vain in the Lord and utterly defeat your selves of all the Fruit of your Religious Endeavours be still persuaded to struggle and contend to strive and press forward to the mark of your high-calling For if now you slacken or remit your Endeavourse yield to the Current of Temptation you will soon be driven down by it again as far from the Love of God and from the Hope of HEaven as ever you were in the most degenerate State of your Natures III. CONSIDER that if by willfully sinning we retreat from our Christian Warfare we shall forfeit the Fruit of our Labour after we have undergon the greatest Difficulty of it For as I shewed above the main Difficulty of the Christian Warfare lies in the Entrance of it and this I suppose you to have already past You have already indured those sharep Pangs and Throws that are wont to accompany the Birth of a new Resolution you have undergon the hard Pennance of a deep and through Consideration the sharp Stings and Remorses of a solemn and sorrowful Repentance you have forc'd your most Importunate Inclinations and withstood the most violent Counter-struggling of a perverse and denegerate Nature you have Conquered your Will in the Height of all its Obstinacy and Resistance and Rescued it from the Arms of your Lusts when 't was most inslaved and captivated by them all this you did if you did any thing to any purpose when you first entered upon this holy Walfare And ever since you have been breaking the Strength of your evil Inclinations and conquering the Antipathies of your Nature to your Religion in which if you have made any Progress you must by this Time have broken the Heart of the Difficulty of your Warfare and have much less Opposition to contend with than ever So that now in all Probability there is nothing so difficult between you and Heaven as that which you have already ingaged with and surmounted and will you now turn your backs upon your Enemy when his main Strength is spent and you have already sustained the most violent Shocks of his Power If you had retreated at the first Onset when your Sin was seated in its Dominion and you were yet but raising your Forces and arming your Resolution against it it had been much more excusable for then you had the sharpest Part of your Conflict to undergo being to contend with a flusht and a victorious Enemy who having as yet all his Strength about him could not fail to put your Courage to a mighty Tryal But now to retreat when you are past the worst and have gotten above half Way through when you have pulled down your Lust from its Throne and Dominion and so far subdued it to your Religion and your Reason that you have henceforward no more to do but to pursue a Victory which though you got with a great deal of Toil you may finish with a great deal of Ease and Pleasure now I say to retreat in such a prosperous Juncture and give up the blessed Prize which you have been so long contending for what desperate Madness is it If you had never begun this Warfare or yielded in the first Conflict of it what a deal of Pains might you have saved How many Prayers and Tears Struglings and Contentions with your selves might you have escaped and avoided and at last been in as good a Condition if not a better than that wherein your Apostacy will certainly leave you And when a man hath been so long taking Heaven by Storm and Violence when he hath broken through so many Oppositions to come at it and in Despite of all the Darts of Temptation from without and of all the Weights and Pressures of Inclination from within he is gotten up as it were to the Top of the Scaling-Ladder has laid hands on the Battlements of Heaven and is ready to leap in and take Possession of the Joys of it what a Madness is it for him now to let go his Hold and tumble headlong down again into that Abyss of Sin and Misery out of which he had recovered himself with so much Labour and Difficulty Especially considering IV. THAT by this our Relapse we shall not only forfeit the Fruit of our past Labour but also render our Recovery more hazardous and difficult than ever For what the Apostle pronounces concerning Apostates from Christianity is in a great Measure applicable to those who having ingaged in the Christian Warfare fall off from it again to their old sinful Courses it is impossible i. e. 't is extreamly difficult for those that were once enlightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made
and for evermore Amen After this Thanksgiving consider briefly with your self the indispensible Necessity of your Perseverance to the End and how not only vain and fruitless but also hurtful and mischievous to you all your past Labour in Religion will be without it and then conclude your morning Devotion with this Prayer for Perseverance O God who art unchangeably holy and blessed who art the same yesterday to day and for ever and dost never swerve or vary from the essential Goodness and Purity of thy own Nature look down I beseech thee upon me a fickle weak and mutable Creature whom thou hast redeemed to thy self and hitherto conducted by thy Grace and Spirit Thou knowest O Lord the Weakness of my Nature and how unable I am without thy Strength and Assistance to finish the Race which thou hast set before me thou knowest what Temptations I must struggle with and what Difficulties I must yet overcome before I am seiz'd of the blessed Prize I am contending for wherefore since thou hast hitherto been my constant Support and Defence forsake me not now for thy Names sake but as thou hast begun a good Work in me so I beseech thee to finish and compleat it to uphold my feeble Soul by thy free Spirit under all Temptations and Difficulties that so by patient continuance in well-doing I may seek for and at last obtain honour and glory immortality and eternal life For which end O Lord preserve me from being over-confident of my own Abilities and inspire me with a holy Jealousie of my self that whilst I stand I may take heed lest I fall And if at any time I should be so base and so unhappy as to offend thee wilfully which I beseech thee to prevent for thy Mercy and Compassion sake O suffer me not to sleep in my Sin but recal me instantly by the Checks of my Conscience and the Convictions of thy Spirit lest while I add Sin to Sin and one degree of Wickedness to another my Lusts should regain their Dominion over me and thou shouldest be angry with me and reject me from thy Covenant for ever And that I may every Day serve thee more freely and stedfastly wean me I beseech thee more and more from those Temptations to Sin that are round about me and give me such a true understanding of the Nature of all the Goods and Evils of this World as that neither the Flatteries of the one nor the Terrors of the other may ever be able to withdraw me from my Duty And lest while I am mortifying my old Sins I should carelesly permit new ones to spring up in my Nature good God do thou mind me to search and try my own Heart and take a severe Account even of the smallest Defects and Imperfections within me that so I may correct and reform them in time before they are improved into inveterate Habits And grant that I may be always so sensible of my own Imperfection as that I may never rest in any present Attainment but may still be pressing forward to the mark of my high calling in Jesus Christ. Suggest to me I beseech thee frequent Thoughts of my Mortality that so while I have Time and Opportunity I may be preparing for my Departure hence and making provision for a dying hour In order whereunto assist me O Lord I beseech thee strictly to examin and review my past sinful Courses that so if there be any remains of Guilt abiding upon my Conscience I may purge them away by proper Acts of Repentance before I go hence and be no more seen And grant that as I have formerly abounded in Sin so I may now redeem that precious Time I have lost by abounding in the contrary Vertues that so as far as in me lies I may revoke and undo the multitude of my past Sins by doing all the Good I am able for the future And that I may hold out and persevere to the end preserve and continue me in the Communion of thy Church and suffer me not to be led away by the errors of the wicked and to fall from my own stedfastness And finally I beseech thee to grant that in the use of these blessed Means I may so far prevail over the Infirmities and Corruptions of my Nature as that at last I may have a clear and certain Feeling of my own Integrity and Vprightness towards thee that so being from thence assur'd of thy Love and of my Title to eternal Happiness I may run the ways of thy commandments more chearfully and at last finish my Course with unspeakable joy And now O Lord I resign my self to thee take me I beseech thee into thy Care and Protection this Day preserve me from all Evil but especially from Sin and quicken me by thy Spirit unto every good work that so I may serve thee with a free and cheerful Mind and make it my meat and drink to do thy blessed will All which I humbly beg for Jesus Christ his sake in whose Name and Mediation I further pray Our Father c. In the Evening when you enter into your Closet consider what is the present Frame and Temper of your Mind and upon Enquiry you will perceive either that through the present Prevalency of your corrupt Nature you are averse to divine Offices or that through bodily Infirmity you are indisposed to them or that through Worldly-mindedness and Vanity of Spirit you are cold and apt to be distracted in them or lastly that your Heart is very much enlarged and your Mind and Affections vigorously disposed towards divine and heavenly things If upon Enquiry you find that through the present Prevalency of your corrupt Nature you are averse to divine Offices indeavour to affect your self with Shame and Sorrow for it by representing to your Mind the great Impiety and Baseness the monstrous Folly and Ingratitude of this your present Temper and then offer up this following Prayer O My most gracious God and most kind and merciful Father thou art the best Friend I have in all the World and hast shewn a thousand times more Love to me than ever I shew'd to my self but after all the vast and most indearing Obligations thou hast laid upon me this vile and ungrateful Heart of mine still retains some Dregs of its antient Enmity against thee Had I but the common Sense and Ingenuity of a Man in me how could I think of thee without Raptures of Love how could I draw neer unto thee without Transports of Delight and Complacency But vile and ungrateful that I am I can think of all thy Goodness with cold and frozen Affections and can come into thy Presence not only with Indifference but Reluctancy Good God what am I made of what an insensible Soul do I carry about me O I am asham'd of my self I am confounded with the sense of my own Baseness and yet woe is me I cannot help it I strive to shake off this Clog of my corrupt
Nature but still it hangs upon me and sinks and weighs down my Soul as oft as 't is aspiring towards thee O my God have pity upon me deliver me from this Body of Sin ease my weary and heavy laden Soul of this grievous Burthen under which it labours and groans and suffer not this spark of divine Life which thou hast kindled in me to be opprest and extinguisht by it but so cherish it I beseech thee with the continual Influences of thy Grace as that it may at length it may break through all this Rubbish that suppresses it and finally rise into a glorious Flame Then shall I always approach thee with Joy and breath up my Soul to thee in every Prayer then shall my Heart be firmly united to thee in a devout and chearful Affection and my Prayers shall come up as incense before thee and breathe a sweet-smelling savour into thy Nostrils Hear me therefore O my God I beseech thee and strengthen me with all might in the inward man that for the future I may contend more vigorously and successfully against these vile Inclinations of my Nature which do so miserably hamper and depress my soul that so at last I may be a conqueror and more than a conquerer through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen If through any bodily Infirmity such as Melancholy Weariness Drousiness or Sickness you find your self indisposed to divine Offices indeavour to quicken your sluggish Mind with the Consideration of some one of the most moving Arguments of your Religion such as the Love of God and of your Saviour the Majesty of Gods Presence in which you are or the blessed Immortality you hope for and then address your self to God in this following Prayer O Blessed God thou art a most pure and active Spirit who doest always move with an uncontrolable Freedom and art never hindred or wearied in thy Operations have pity upon me I beseech thee thy poor infirm Creature who am cumbred with this Body of death and so deprest by its manifold Frailties that I cannot lift up my Heart unto thee Thou knowest O Lord my spirit is willing though my flesh is weak my labouring Soul aspires towards thee it stretches forth the Wings of its Desires toward thee and would fain mount up above all earthly things and unite it self with thee in eternal Love but alas its Fervours are dampt and its Endeavours tired by this clog of Flesh that hangs upon it and perpetually sinks and weighs it down again O my God draw near unto me and touch my Mind with such a powerful sense of thee as in despight of these my bodily Indispositions may attract and draw up my Soul unto thee And if it be thy blessed will release me from these fleshly Incumbrances and fit my Body to my Mind that I may serve thee as I desire to do with a fervent and a chearful Spirit But if it shall seem good in thine Eyes to leave me strugling under these bodily Oppressions Lord give me Patience and Submission to thy heavenly Will that so when I cannot approach thee with that Pleasure and Satisfaction I desire I may be heartily content to serve thee upon any Terms and that what I want of Vigour and Chearfulness in my Religion I may make up in Truth and in Reality And O let the Sense of these my present Indispositions cause me more vehemently to long after that free and blessed State wherein with fixt and steady Thoughts with flagrant Love and an entire Devotion of Soul I shall for ever worship praise and glorifie thy name Amen If through present Worldly-mindedness or Vanity of Spirit you find your self cold and apt to be distracted in your Religious Offices indeavour to stir up your Affections by representing to your self the Greatness and Urgency of your spiritual Wants the Vanity of all outward things and the Reality and Fulness of heavenly Enjoyments And do what you can to recollect your wandring Thoughts by setting your self in the Presence of the great God to whose All-seeing Eye every Thought and Motion of your Soul is open and naked And when by thus doing you have composed your Mind into a more serious Frame present this following Prayer O Thou ever blessed Majesty who fillest Heaven and Earth with thy Presence and art always listening to the Supplications of a world of Creatures that hang upon thee open I beseech thee thine Ears of Mercy to me who am unfit and unworthy to approach thee who by setting my Affections upon things below and plunging my self into the Cares and Pleasures of this Life have estrang'd and alienated my Mind from thee and lost that delightful Relish of thee with which I was wont to draw near unto thee And now that I am retired from the World to converse with thee and spread my wants and my desires before thee those worldly Cares and Delights with which I have been too too conversant are importunately thrusting themselves upon me to divert my Thoughts distract my Intentions and carry away my Affections from thee by reason whereof my Mind wanders my Hope droops and my Desires are frozen and whilst I am drawing near thee with my lips my heart is running away from thee O my God have pity upon me pluck my Soul out of this deep mire quicken raise and spiritualize these my groveling Affections Possess this Heart which opens it self to thy gracious Influences with such a strong and vigorous Love to thee as may lift me up above all earthly things and continually carry forth my Soul in vehement Desires after thee that so I may always approach thee with a joyful Heart being glad to leave the company of all other things to go to thee my God my exceeding Joy Give me a sober diligent and collected spirit that is neither choaked with Cares nor scattered with Levity nor discomposed with Passion nor estranged from thee with sinful Prejudice or Inadvertency but fix it fast to thy self with the Indissoluble Bands of an active Love and pregnant Devotion that so when-ever I prostrate my self before thee I may presently be born away far above all these sensible Goods in a high Admiration of thee and a passionate Longing after thee And now O Lord while I am addressing to thee gather in I beseech thee my wandering Thoughts and fix and stay them upon thy self And O do thou touch my cold and earthy Desires with an out-stretched Ray from thy self and cause them to rise and flame up to thee in Fervours answerable to my pressing Wants that I may so ask as that I may receive so seek as that I may find so knock as that it may be opened unto me through Jesus Christ my blessed Lord and Redeemer Amen If after this you find your Heart is very much enlarged and your Mind and Affections vigorously disposed towards God and heavenly things fix your Mind a little while upon the Beauty and Excellency of his Nature or upon some of the most
affecting Instances of his Love or upon the blessed State above and then go on with this following Prayer O Thou most excellent Being thou infinitely amiable and adorable Majesty thou Pattern of Beauty and Standard of Goodness who art glorious beyond all Praise and dost out-reach all Wonder and comprehend all perfection blessed be thy Name thou hast touch'd my soul with a lively sense of thy Glory I feel it shining through me and like an active Flame insinuating into my Heart it fires my Love cherishes my Hope wings my Devotion and diffuses a vital Warmth over all my Faculties it raises me up into a heavenly State and fills me with joy unspeakable and full of glory it captivates every thought into Obedience to thy Will and brings every Power of my soul into Subjection to thee Blessed be thy Name thou hast conquered me by thy Love and I resign my self to thee with a chearful Heart I am intirely thine I am thy Servant truly I am thy Servant and in this Title I glory more than in all the Honours of the World But though I am highly advanc'd and exalted by serving thee yet thou art so infinitely happy in the boundless perfections of thy own Nature that thou canst reap no other Advantage from it but only the pleasure of seeing thy poor Creature blessed and made happy by it What then shall I render unto thee O thou Joy of my Life thou Treasure of my Love thou supream Felicity of my Nature Alas I have nothing but my self to give thee nothing but this poor Heart that burns with Love to thee that pants and breaths after thee and desires above all things in the world to be eternally united to thee in perfect Love If I had ten thousand Hearts to love thee ten thousand Tongues to praise thee I would devote them all to thee as freely and chearfully as I do my self For whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee O God thou art my God and my Portion for ever In thee I am blest and in the Light of thy Countenance I rejoice more than in all the Joys and Pleasures of the World I am ravisht with thy Beauty I admire thy Love and from the bottom of my Soul adore thy Wisdom and Goodness My heart is ready O Lord my Heart is ready I will sing and give praise Awake up my Glory awake all the Powers of my Soul I my self will awake and celebrate thy praises Praised be the God of Glory praised be the God of Love praised be the Father of Mercies praised be the best Friend of Souls for thy Goodness reaches to the heavens thy Glory shines throughout the Creation and thy Mercy is spread over all thy works Who can comprehend thine infinite Beauties who can rehearse thy noble Acts who can shew forth all thy Praise I do confess my Thoughts are infinitely too short my Affections too narrow my Expressions too scanty to comprehend and sufficiently admire and celebrate thy Glory But O my God thou knowest that I love thee and blessed be thy Name I feel infinite reasons so to do O that I could love thee more that I could love thee but as much as Angels and glorified Spirits do who yet cannot love thee as much as thou deservest because thou deservest to be belov'd infinitely But my soul thirsts for thee and longs after thee O when shall I be admitted into thy blessed Presence there to see and admire and love and adore thee for ever when shall I shake off this clog of sinful Mortality that sinks and depresses me and flee to those happy Regions of perfect Love where I shall continually feed upon thee with inexpressible Delight and be filled with a strong and everlasting Sense of thy goodness O thou that art the beginner and finisher of every good work be pleased to assist my holy Endeavours to withdraw my Mind more and more from these sensible things that it may have a clearer sight of its heavenly Country from whence it came and whither it desires to return that so having my Eye always fixt on that blessed recompence of reward I may live above this World and in despight of all its Terrors and Allurements persevere to the end in a steady and even Course of Obedience And now O Lord since thou hast been graciously pleas'd to inspire my Mind with these delightful Thoughts of thee and to enlarge my Heart with such sweet Transports of Love to thee grant I beseech thee that they may not only please but better me that they may lift me up above all the Temptations of this World and revive my Strength and quicken my Endeavours and compose my distrustful Heart into a stedfast Dependence upon thee that so I may be fruitful in all good works and my heart may be establisht unblameable in holiness before thee unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Amen Amen After you have used one or more of the foregoing Prayers according as they suit with the present Temper of your Mind take a short view of your Defects and Imperfections and especially of those that cleave most to your Nature and briefly represent to your Mind the intrinsick Evil and Vileness of them and how they clog your Religion blemish your Nature and obstruct your Happiness and then conclude with the following Prayer for Growth in Grace O God who art the most excellent Nature the Perfection of all Beauty and the Fountain of all Graces who doest infallibly understand what is best to be chosen and invariably chuse by the best and purest Reason look down I beseech thee upon me thy poor defective Creature who am ashamed of my self to see how unlike thee I am how I am laden with Imperfections and how after all my religious Endeavours my Nature is still vitiated with unreasonable Lusts and Affections how much Vanity and Impertinence there yet remains in my Mind how much Perverseness in my Will how much spiritual and carnal Iniquity in my Affections and Appetites Lord I have been long a contending with this corrupt Nature and yet upon all Occasions I find my self too too prone to be Wo is me even my fairest Graces have their Spots and Blemishes my purest Dispositions their sinful Intermixtures and my best Works their Flaws and Imperfections O my God have pity upon me who here lie sighing at thy Feet under a miserable diseased Nature and as thou hast begun the blessed Cure in me so for Christ his sake I beseech thee to compleat it that being intirely recovered and raised up unto newness of Life I may in the perfect Health and Vigour of my Soul serve and glorifie thee for ever For which end I beseech thee confirm me more and more in the Belief of those immortal Pleasures beyond the Grave which thou hast treasur'd up for those that love and obey thee that by the strength of a lively Faith and vigorous Hope my Soul may be rais'd above this World and learn to despise and trample upon all its gilded Vanities whensoever they present themselves either to allure or to terrifie me from pursuing the heavenly Enjoyments Excite in me such a vehement Thirst after those Rivers of Pleasures above as may every day render me more cool and indifferent towards earthly things more contented and satisfied under all the Events and Issues of thy Providence and more active and vigorous in my heavenly Calling And I beseech thee to inspire me with such clear and lively Apprehensions of thy essential Beauties and Perfections and of thy bountiful Love and boundless Benevolence to all thy Creatures as may every day more and more raise and improve my Love to thee that this being the great Spring and Principle of all my Actions may continually excite me to a chearful Obedience to thy Will and a vigorous Imitation of thy Perfections O cause me to love thee for thy self and Religion for thee and the Instruments of Religion in order to thy Glory and my own Happiness that so founding my Content upon thee and the blessed Interests of a virtuous Life I may grow in Grace and be rich in good Works and go on with a satisfied and triumphant Spirit from Imperfection to Strength from Acts to Habits and from Habits to Confirmation in Grace and may be still more and more confirmed in all the heavenly Graces till they are finally consummated into everlasting Glory And when by thy Grace and Assistance I have perfectly conquered the corrupt Nature within and the Temptations without me and am arrived into the State of everlasting Triumph I will lay all my Victories at thy Feet and with Palms in my hand and Halelujahs on my lips celebrate thy praises to Eternity Hear me O my God in this and whatever else thou knowest to be needful for me even for Jesus Christ his sake in whose Name and Words I further pray Our Father c. FINIS Plat. Phaed. pag. 398. Ibid. Pag. 386. Paedag. l. 2. c. 1. pag. 141. Ibid. Pag. 139. * Dr. Stillingfleets Origines Dr. Patricks Translation of Grotius Sir Charles Wolsely * Here make a particular Confession of all those sinful Courses you have lived in together with all their aggravating Circumstances of Impudence Obstinacy and Ingratitude c. * When you renew your Vow in the Sacrament add * Here name the sinful Act you have committed * Here name the particular Infirmities that stick closest to your Nature