have not acknowledged God and who have not obeyed the Gospel of the Lord Mat. 24. Rev. 1. and shall punish them in Body and Soul with eternal perdition in the Face of the Lord 2 Thes 1. and in the Glory of his strength Rom. 2.2 The bodies of those which are dead before shall come out of the Earth Job 5. 1 Thes 4. and of those which shall be found living shall be changed and put on immortality and shall be charged with opprobrious infamy before God and his Saints for he shall make clear the things that are hid and shall manifest the counsels of hearts And then their immortal Soul shall be loaden with fear with sorrow with terrors with grief with desolation and with such despair Mat. 24. Luke 21. that it is impossible for us to comprehend it Mar 13. Rev. 1. Then being in such confusion of Body and Soul the image of Satan their heard shall appear upon them that is to say infidelity iniquity wickedness abomination filthiness hatred cruelty tyranny perjury lying envy and all that is of impiety and unjustice which is the black Roab of the reprobate and even so as the Elect have Christ for their head 1 Cor. 11.12 of whom they are the body unto whom they shall be made alike Eph. 1.5 so likewise the reprobates have Belzebub for theirs Mat. 25. unto whom they shall be made conformable For although that all the Devils are all Apostate Angels nevertheless the Scripture in sundry places attributes the principality to one alone to the end to gather all the wicked unto him as members in one Body for to be put to perpetual ruin Then the wrath and indignation of God shall shew it self clearly upon all the infidelity and unjustice of the unbelievers and execrable 2 Cor. 4. Ephes 2. which shall not be found written in the book of Life Mat. 9.10.12.25 for which they shall receive sentence of Condemnation Mark 3. and being separated from Christ Luk. 11.21 shall be driven from before the presence of the Lord as the dust before the wind Rom. 1.2 Rom. 2. and cast like dogs forth of the City of the Children of God Rev. 21. 17. Rom. 9. and sent with their Captain Satan and his Angles who did accuse the elect before God night and day Psal 1. Isa 17. Rev. 21. 22. in perpetual malediction for to drink of the wine of the wrath of God Rev. 12. Mat. 25. filled into the cup of his wrath and shall be tormented with fire and brimstone before the holy Angels and before the Lamb and the smoke of their torments shall mount for ever Rev. 14. 15. 16. and they shall have no rest neither day nor night Now this place of torment for the wicked is so horrible 2 Thes 1. that it is incomprehensible unto us and even as God is eternal also this ruin shall be eternal The Scripture for to declare it unto us useth many comparisons David saith Psal 55. That the wicked shall be cast into the Pit of ruin and of the bottomless Pit Rev. 9. Isa saith Isa 30. That the torture is already prepared for the wicked which God hath made deep and large the Building of it is fire and much wood and the breath of the Lord like unto a stream of Brimstone doth kindle it Isa 66. then he saith that the worm of the wicked shall not die and therefore shall not be quenched and they shall be hateful to all flesh Daniel sayeth also Dan. 12. That they shall be in perpetual shame and contempt Malachy declares Mal. 4. That the day of the Lord shall come burning like an Oven and all the proud and those that do wickedly shall be like stubble and the day of the Lord shall burn them and shall leave them neither root nor branch St. John Bapist saith Mat. 3. that the chaff shall be put into the fire which shall never be quenched Mat. 3. The Lord saith that they shall be cast into the Furnance of Fire Mat. 25. which is the everlasting Fire Saint Luke sheweth Luc. 16. that the evil rich man whose Soul is in Hell is in such great heat that he greatly desires to have a drop of Water which he shall never be able to get how much more shall he be tormented when he hath put on his body The Apostle saith Heb. s10 that they shall feel a ferventness of fire which shall devour them St. John declareth Rev. 19 20 21. That they shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone which is the second death For although they shall live yet by reason of these incredible torments they ought rather to be called dead then alive Now although that by all these similitudes it is demonstrated unto us that the damned shall be grievously and everlastingly tormented yet nevertheless man cannot think nor comprehend how great the everlasting sufferings shall be no more then he can comprehend the joy of the Children of God Mat. 9. 1 Cor. 2. Wherefore with good cause the Author to the Hebrews saith Heb. 10. that it is a terrible and fearful thing to fall into the bands of the living God For although that we should see one continually knawed with worms and burnt with fire that torment should notwithstanding be as nothing in regard of that which is prepared for the wicked For besides that their bodies shall be horribly afflicted their souls shall be in incredible distresses and sorrows This ought well to stur us up to watch and pray and to refrain from doing evil and to move us to serve God Rev. 3. Mat. 24. 1 Thes 1. Psal 25. 51. and to desire him with the Prophets and Apostles Jer. 31. to change review and increase our faith that so being made new creatures we may escape this place of torment and be numbred amongst the Sons of God Lamen 5. Cant 1. Luc. 17. Joh. 3. Wis 4. 5. Which the Lord grant for the love of his well beloved Son our Saviour to whom be all honor and glory for ever and ever Amen Prayers and Meditations touching Life and Death Meditation the First THe life of Christians ought to be occupied in considering the things that follow and to put them in practise to wit to have always in remembrance the benefits which they have received at the hands of God to give him thanks for them without ceasing both with heart and mouth to love him who is goodness it self to fear and worship him seeing he is the Almighty and only Wise to be stirred up by the love which they bear to God also to love their Neighbours The love of God draws us from the love of corruptible things lifts us up to Heaven and inflames our hearts to a holiness of life The love of our Neighbour turns us from all troublesomness in will or in deed and doth stir us up to integrity and well doing Another LEt us often think what we are The principal part of us is the Soul the which
Jesus Christ and we are by the means of this adoption certain once to come unto Life unto the rest and unto the glory wherein we shall Reign Eternally with his Father Moreover being Children of God we are of his Houshold and it is not in his House where Death dwelleth it is in Hell in the Devil's House in Heaven and the Place where God abides there is an unspeakable Light so great a Beatitude and Happiness that in the Contemplation thereof David crying out said O how they are happy that do inhabit and dwell in thy House And elsewhere In this consists all my good Lord that I may be near unto thee Again being Children we are at Liberty free from Sin free from Death free from the Condemnation and Rigour of the Law freed from Service and Force of the Devil what do we fear being then Children of God and consequently Brothers of Jesus Christ Is it possible that he can ever deny or abandon his Flesh and Blood or suffer them to die having Power to save them Therefore being the Children of God our Father he loveth us with a Love unseigned and Fatherly And if as saith St. Paul during the time that we were his Enemies he had such a care over us that not sparing his only begotten Son he hath delivered him over to Death to preserve us from it and to reconcile us unto himself now that we are his Friends and in his Favour will he not save us Who is that Man who considering these Reasons will not presently assure himself and cast away all fear which he had of Death That which also ought to assure us against Death and take away all fear which we have of it and of the Horrour and Anguish prepared for the reprobate and damned is our Calling that God of his Grace hath vouchsafed to withdraw us out of the Darkness wherein we were and to illuminate us by his Holy Spirit teaching us by his Holy Word wherein we ought to trust and wherein lyeth our Salvation and so what we ought to do to please and obey him to the end that walking in his Law and serving him in all Justice and Holiness we might after we have a little suffered in this World be faithfully glorified with him in the end for that which God beginneth he will accomplish and when he hath determined to call any one to him and to save him he never changeth his Counsel neither doth repent himself of the good that he will do unto him He us Unchangeable and so stedfast in his Purpose and Determination that that which he once Wills and Ordains he doth execute without being turned from it If then we feel in our selves that God hath given us the Grace to hear to believe and to love his Word and to fly from and reject all that which is contrary to it and to have an Affection to observe that which he commandeth us and a dislike if haply by infirmity or otherwise we chrnce to commit any thing against his Law Let us not doubt but we are regenerate elected and predestinated to Eternal Life and consequently out of danger of Death Let us then take away all fear and let us say with St. Paul What shall separate us from the Love and Charity of God What shall make us to think that he hath not a will to save us It shall not be Pain Affliction Hunger Persecution nor Adversity nor Death nor any Creature whatsoever shall make us to doubt that he doth not love us in the favour of Jesus Christ and that having chosen called and justified us in him but that finally he will also glorify us by him The Sacraments which Jesus Christ hath left us for the Confirmation of our Faith ought likewise to assure and strengthen us against the Fear of Death First Baptism by the which we are buried and die with Christ that we may rise again with him in the which we are washed from all our sins and clothed with his Innocency to the end that presenting our selves to the Father so adorned and covered with the Robe of our Elder Brother we may receive his Holy Blessing and be saved from the Deluge wherein all the Infidels perish as Noah was in his time by the Ark. Having then the Promises of God as we have said before and over and above his Sign and Seal by the which he has bound himself to render that Life to us which we havelost by our Sin wherefore then do we fear Death doe we think that he will revoke or that he will deny and disavow his own Sign and Seal Secondly The Lord's Supper where we take the Bread and the Wine for to be received into the Communion and Participation of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and by Consequent into the Fruits of them that is to have part in his Obedience in his Justice in his Satisfaction and Redemption in the Testament and new Alliance and generally in all the promises of God the which by his Death have been ratified It remaineth now to conclude our purpose and to infer upon the precedent things that if we fear Death it is for want of considering them or if we do consider them it is for want of believing them for there is no man so timerous being firmly perswaded of that which is spoken but will take away all fear of Death and will say with David I shall not die but always live to declare perpetually the Works of the Lord and praise him And who will not scorn at it with St. Paul and insult upon it saying O Death where is thy Victory Where is thy Sting Where is thy Strength Where is thy Terrour and Fear which Men had of thee Jesus Christ our Saviour perceiving the time of his Death draw near said that in short time he should pass from this World to go to his Father calling Death a Passage which should greatly comfort us We have almost all this opinion rooted in us and it is that which doth so Discourage us that it is a dangerous passage and uneasie Now for to take it from us and to stir up our Hearts he would needs pass it before us and as it were sound the depth to the end that we seeing that he did not stick at it should take Courage As also we see before and after him the Prophets Apostles Martyrs and other Holy Persons have done it who having passed it without any apprehension of Danger and being escaped safe and well do now rejoice with God that they are gotten to the Land and to the Port where they did aspire Shall we then be such Cowards shall we be so faint hearted and of such tender and effeminate Courage as to fear to go by a place so frequent and a way so great and beaten that Men go it as said some of the Ancients Blindfold Likewise we see that not one alone of those that trusted in God calling upon his aid that put themselves
this true Life even in this World thou dost quicken by thy Truth us that are poor wretched and dead in Sin thou dost augment that life by the Ministry and Efficacy of thy holy Gospel and dost confirm it by the use of the Sacraments which thou hast established to confirm the Faith of those that are thine until that our Corruption and what we have in mortality in us being abolished by the Resurrection we shall be and live everlastingly with thee both in Body and Soul when thou shalt be all in all Life Everlasting is to know the true God and thee his Son which wert sent unto us Now we see thee by Faith in a Glass and in Obscurity but one day we shall behold thee face to face and shall be transformed into thy Glory nd wholly reformed unto thy Image I do beseech thee merciful Saviour to increase my Faith that I may be so well grounded in the Doctrine of my Salvation that nothing may turn me from it Increase in my Heart the Reverence which I owe thee that I may never turn from thy Obedience Strengthen me in such sort that the allurements nor threatnings do neither intrap nor astonish me but that constantly I may cleave unto thee who art my Life till Death Cause that in vertue of thy holy Promises and of thy Spirit I may increase more and more in thy Love and leaving behind me the things of this World I may tend to that which is firm and perfect Increase thy Grace in me that every day I may dye in my self for to be quickned and guided by thy Favour fearing no other but thou God Almighty loving nothing but thee as there is nothing but thee to be beloved boasting my self in nothing but in thy only Grace and Mercy which is the Glory of all thy Servants seeking no other good but thee nor desiring any thing but thee who art the full and entire felicity of all the Faithful Amen Another LOrd Jesus who art always merciful who dost not stick to be my Saviour as well in Adversity as in Prosperity Give me the Grace in all humble obedience to yield unto thy will when it shall please thee to mingle bitterness amongst so many sweet things which thou causest me to taste in living under thy Protection Thou art admirable and most good in the time of Afflictions In that by such means thou dost heal spiritual Diseases and in visiting of us in this World thou disposest us to meditate of a better Life having thy self shewed us the Example thereof True it is that I find it very hard to digest but thou hast been brought to a more strange condition when for to draw me out of Hell thou wentest down into it thy self and for to reconcile me to thy heavenly Father thou hast undergone his Curse by reason of my Sins I have so often deserved Hell and the fiery Torment and thou deliveredst me assuring me that I have part in the merits of thy Death and thy Obedience and that I am one of thy Co-heirs for to reign one day with thee in thy Kingdom and at this present in the midst of so many Afflictions to be nevertheless set in the heavenly Places Having part in so many good things why shall I vex my self for a little endurance by the means whereof thou wilt awaken me and make me better and draw me so much the more to thee But seeing thou knowest me better then I know my self if it be thy pleasure to put me to any tryal give me necessary force and patience to glorifie thee converting all the evil that may happen unto me to good and Salvation And if in supporting my weakness thy goodness is pleased to advertise me by some light affliction cause that this thy well-willing may draw me more and more to love and honour thee to give thee thanks for the care which thou hast of thy poor Servant and by that means to dispose me to weight for thee at my Death that after it I may find the Life which thou hast purchased for me by thy Death and therein with thee to have part in Joy and Rest for Ever Amen Another Lord God Heavenly Father when I consider in how many sorts I have sinned before thy Face and against thy high Majesty I have horrour in my self in thinking that I have so often turned from thee Propitious and favourable Father I detest my ingratitude seeing in what servitude of sin I have been too often precipitate selling as much as in my lay of the precious Liberty which thy Son had purchased for me I condemn my folly I altogether dislike of my self I see nothing but Death and mishap hanging over my head and my Conscience rising for a Judge and Witness of my Iniquities But when on the other side I enter into a Contemplation of thy infinite mercy the which surmounteth all thy works and in the which if so I dare to speak thou surmountest thy self my soul is comforted And indeed why should I make my self believe that I cannot find grace before him that summons and so often and gently calls the sinner to repentance protesting expresly that he desires not the death of a sinner but rather that he turn from his wickedness and live Moreover thy only Son hath so well assured us that we shall find favour in thy sight by the sweet words which himself had uttered as that of the lost sheep and of the prodigal Son the image of whom I acknowledg'd my self to be that I should be most unthankful incredulous and wicked to go back and to be ashamed of thy presence although I am wretched seeing thou dost so stretch forth thy hand unto me and draw me to thee with such wonderful affection I have very vildly forsaken thee O merciful Father I have unhappily let slip thy Graces and adhering to desires of my flesh and straying from thy Obedience I have wrapped my self in the base servitude of sin I am fallen into extream misery I know not whether to retire unless it be towards thee whom I have abandoned Let thy mercy receive this poor supplication whom thou hast supported during his errors I am unworthy to lift up mine Eyes unto thee or to call thee Father But I pray thee bow down thine Eyes to me seeing thou wilt have it so being without that in the power of thine Enemies The sight of thy Face will revive me and bring me again to thee Seeing I have some displeasure in my self I know thou lookest upon me that thou hast given me Eyes to see the danger wherein I was thou hast sought and found me in death and in the world and hast through thy mercy given me a desire to enter into thy house I dare not desire that thou shouldst kiss and embrace me nor that hou shouldst weep for joy that thou hast found thy poor Servant and Slave I do not demand the precious Ornaments wherewith thou doest honour thy great servants
and most affectionate Children It is enough for me to be among of the least of thy House amidst the greatest sinners that have obtained pardon of thee and that have some shelter in thy Palace where there are so many Dwellings That even in thy House I may be as little as thou shalt please provided that thou wilt preserve me thine for ever O Merciful Father I beseech thee that for the love of thy well beloved Son my only Saviour thou wouldst give me thy holy Spirit which may puriâ—â—e my heart and strengthen me in such sort that I may always dwell in thy House there to serve thee in Holiness and Justice all the days of my Life Amen Prayers WHat do we in this world but heap sins upon sins So that the morrow is always worse then the day before and we do not cease drawing thy indignation upon us But being out of this world in thy heritage we shall be altogether assured of our perfect and eternal felicity the miseries of the bodies shall be abolished the vices and filthiness of the Soul shall be done away O Heavenly Father increase our Faith in us for fear lest we should doubt of things so certain Imprint thy Grace and thy Love in our Hearts which may lift us up to thee and strengthen us in thy fear And because thou hast lodged us in this World there for to remain as long as it shall please thee without declaring unto us the day of our departure the which thou alone knowest I do beseech thee to take me out of it when thou in thy mercy pleasest and then to do me that good that I may acknowledge the same that in the mean while I may fit my self thereuuto as thou hast appointed by thy holy Name through Jesus Christ our blessed Saviour and Redeemer Amen Another THis body is the Prison of the Soul yea a dark Prison narrow and fearful we are as it were banished men in this world our life is but woe and misery on the contrary Lord it is in thy heavenly Kingdom that we find our Liberty our Country and our perfect Contentment A wake our Sould by thy word to the remembrance and apprehension of such a good imprint in our Hearts the love and the desire of the Everlasting good things and only to be wished for give unto our Consciences some taste of that joy wherewith the happy Souls which are in Heaven are filled that I may hold as dung and filth all that which the Worldlings find so fair and covet so much which so obstinately they retain and do adore with such fervency Cause that finding taste but in thy verity and grace I may wait for calling upon thee the day of my perfect deliverance thro' Jesus Christ thy Son to whom with thee and the holy Spirit be glory Everlasting Amen Another O Lord Jesus the only Salvation of the Living Life everlasting of the dead I submit my self to thy holy Will whether it be thy pleasure yet to suffer my Soul to be some space within this body for to serve thee or that it please thee to take it out of prison being assured that what thou keepest cannot perish I am content with all my heart that my Body return into the Earth from whence it was taken believing the last Resurrection which shall make it immortal incorruptible and full of Glory I do beseech thee to fortifie my Sould against all temptation environ me with the buckler of thy Mercy to beat back the darts of Satan As for me I am weakness it self but I rely upon thy strength and goodness I cannot alledge any good thing before thee whereof to boast on the contrary alas my sins infinite in number accuse and torment me but thy merit assures me that I shall be saved for I hold for certain that thou wert born for me that thou wert tempted that thou hast obeyed to God thy Father that thou hast taught and brought Life Everlasting for me seeing thou hast given thy self to me with all these good things let not such a gift be unprofitable let thy blood wipe out the filth of my faults thy Justice cover my Iniquities thy Merits make me to find Grace before the heavenly Throne If my Evils do increase augment thy Grace in me so that Faith Hope and Charity may not dye but rather wax strong in me that the apprehension of Death do not daunt me but that even after this body shall be as it were dead cause that the Eyes of my Soul may lift themselves up to Heaven that the Heart may then cry fervently unto thee Lord I commend my Soul into thy Hands fulfil thy work for thou hast bought me I am thine by the Gift of thy Father to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be Everlasting Glory Amen The Humble Suit of a Sinner for the Pardon of his Sins O Most just and dreadful God equitable in all thy Judgments who sufferest no Sin to pass unpunished either in this Life or in the Life to come Let me have with Job this Consolation That afflicting me thou wouldst not spare me here to punish me hereafter Here rather burn here cut that hereafter thou mayest spare me That Union O God which thou didst put at my Creation betwixt my Soul and my Body I have not employed for to serve thee therefore I will that henceforth it be dissolved For too great affection I had to Riches and for my ill employing of them I will deny my self of all things under the Sun and will have no more but a Sheet Coffin and an hole to lye in and wait for thy Coming For the too great love I carried to my Husband Wife Children Parents Friends Companions Conversation and Company I will now willingly abandon them all and their Embracements and kindly Usage I will also have an end put to all my Senses that henceforth I neither See Hear Touch Taste nor Smell any thing for not having ruled them nor shut them up by mortification when the Devil was seeking entry into my Soul From henceforth Lord I will put silence to this wicked Tongue of mine which hath been so great an Instrument of Impiety swearing lying cursing defaming backbiting detracting and breaking forth so often in impure dishonest and injurious Speeches against thee and my Neighbour For the too great mind I had to run go and walk in the ways of the wicked For the too frequent impure postures gestures and motions of my Body I will lye dead in the Grave and desire that henceforth none do so much as name me or speak a word of me by reason I was too desirous to be in every ones mouth and to be praised and conserved in their Memories and because I did so much affect Honour Dignity and the things of the Earth and did so much search after delicate fare soft bedding and good cloathing and did nourish and pamper this flesh of mine with too great care for honour I will lye in abjection and for that I aspired to have others bowing their heads to me and to be lifted above them I will have them to trample over me For my love to the Earth I will return to it for my Food I will have the Worms to crawl in and out at my Mouth for my Bed I will have a Grave for my Garments a Sheet and for thy dainty usage of my Body I will henceforth turn all my Beauty into Corruption Receive then O just God all these things in Punishment of my many Offences for so this being thy just Will it is also mine Only O god of Justice let my Punishment be here in this Life that I may find thee to be a God of Mercy in the Life to come for thou hast declared by thy Servant David that thy Mercies are above all thy Works Grant this O Lord for the Merits of thy only Son my Saviour Jesus Christ Amen FINIS
is endued with understanding with reason and with judgment to know the soveraign good which is God to love him to adhere and unite our selves unto him that we may have part of his immortality and happiness Now we forsake and contemn this great good for to grovel upon the earth and to go down into the pit of carnal desires applying the vigour of our understanding and judgment to things that are not worth the pains that we employ in them We bury our selves quick of heavenly we become earthly and of men created for eternal life we endeavour as much as in us lieth to set our selves in the rank of brute Beasts God doth not forsake us nevertheless although that our ingratitude hath well deserved it but calls us unto him by his word presents unto us infinite testimonies of his grace continues it daily he supports exhorts counsels chides and fatherly chastiseth us Nevertheless we continue blind deaf and negligent despising his goodness or use it not as we should or indeed abusing it nay which is worse we love vain and transitory things better and have our minds too much fixed and setled upon them God stretcheth forth his hand to conduct us we draw back ours and fly when he calleth us If he put us into the way of salvation we grudge and repine for the world we look behind us deferring and remitting our amendment till to morrow Let us awake then let us not always stick in the mire let us strengthen our selves in the vertue of him that supports and succours us let us a little undertake to despise corruptible things and to desire those that are truly good and everlasting When God calleth us let us hearken if he guids us let us follow him that we may come to his house let us receive his good things and himself too for he gives himself unto us in the person of his Son He shews us the means to get to Heaven let us then desire of him to give us the will and courage by faith repentance charity and hope to aim thither and that he would maintain his grace in us until the end to sigh in this mortal life and to wait through the assurance of his mercy for our departure out of this world and our last day which shall be the beginning of our true life Prayers and Meditations HOW great are the illusions and impostures of the enemy of our salvation He sheweth us afar off things that are ridiculous and vain and perswades us that it is all good and happiness he scares us with things that we ought not to fear and makes us to fly from those things which we ought to imbrace He calleth inticeth and flattereth us by the means of our desires if that will not serve he roars and storms and endeavours to astonish us within and without O eternal Light and Verity O Lord and merciful Father disperse those clouds of ignoranee and error illuminate our understanding and do not suffer us to come near to that which thou hast commanded us to flie from and which is hurtful and pernicious unto us let us not desire but what is truly to be desired to wit thy self who art the spring-head of all goodness of our life and of eternal happiness All flesh is grass and the glory of the man is like the flower of the field cause then that we may seek for our firmness and contentment in the grace which thy Son hath brought us let our life lye hid in him so that at the day of the separation of our souls from our bodies we may find it holy in Heaven waiting with assured rest and joy the happy Resurrection of this flesh in which all corruption infirmity and ignominy being abolished and death being swallowed up of victory we shall live eternally with thee in an incomprehensible happiness in thee by the which thou shall be glorified Maintain then thy Children O Lord in this faith and hope finishing thy work in us until they be altogether with thee for to enjoy the inheritance and the glory which thine only Son hath by his Merit purchased for them Amen Prayer OLord Jesus Christ Creator and Redeemer of Mankind who hast said I am the way the Truth and the Life I do bessech thee by this unspeakable Charity which thou hast shewed in yielding thy self to Death for us that I may never stray any jot from the who art the way nor that I doubt of thy Promises seeing thou art the Truth and dost accomplish that which thou promisest Cause that I may only take pleasure in thee who art the Eternal Life beyond the which there is nothing to be desired neither in Heaven nor Earth Thou hast taught us the true and only way to Salvation because we should not abide erring like stray'd Sheep in the lost ways of this World shewing us clearly that which we ought to believe to do to hope and wherein we ought to yield and settle our selves It is thou that hast given us to understand how cursed we are in Adam and that there is no way to escape from this Perdition in the which we are plunged but by Faith in thee Thou art that true Light which dost appear to those that walk in the desert of this Life and who having drawn us out of the darkness of the spiritual Egypt hast driven away the darkness of our Understanding and dost enlighten us to the end we may tend towards the promised Inheritance which is the Life Everlasting into the which the Unbelievers does not enter but those that have assuredly relied upon thy holy Promises O what a Goodness is it that thou hast vouchsafed to descend from thy Fathers-Bosom and from the Everlasting Throne to the Earth to put on our poor Nature of Master to become Servant to the end that by thy Doctrine thou mightest do away the darkness of our Ignorance to guide our feet into the way of Peace and to make plain the way of Salvation unto us which if we follow we cannot stray nor wax weary seeing that thy Grace and Power do accompany us therein all the days of our Life Moreover by thy Spirit thou dost strengthen us in it and double our Courage Thy word is Bread which nourisheth us therein thy promise is the staff which upholds us Thou thy self by thy secret and incomprehensible vertue dost bear and maintain us in it in an admirable manner to the end that both in fair and foul weather we may walk with all Alacrity unto thee And as in preserving us thou hinderest that we do not fall into the snares of Satan and the World also seeing thou art the Truth thou takest away all doubts scruples and mistrusts which may trouble and let us or turn us during our course thou causest us to behold the supernal Vocation the misery and vanity of the World the frailty of this present Life the Gate of Death and the most happy Life which is beyond that And as thou art