secur'd of the enjoyment of our God who by the sole perfection of his own free Goodness can never deny himself to those that love him else would their very loving him be a cause of great misery since the misery of a Soul is the want of what it loves Indeed he that is possest with love is so far already a partaker of a divine nature for thou hast told us O Lord that God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him He then that loves must needs be proportionably happy too for so much as he has of God so much he possesses of his true good Thus Lord Jesus whatever thy holy books do record of thee in expressions suited to our low capacities Whatever they say of thy restoring all things and repairing again the ruines of Mankind All is exactly verified with this one line which our thankful Hearts should repeat with joy Heaven is attain'd by Love alone and Love alone by thee MEDITATION III. STill my Soul let us repeat a few Lines more to the praise of him whose Mercies are no fewer than infinite Of him whose pity took us by the hand and kindly led us into his own light Of thee O Blessed Jesu our Lord our God who alone art the source of all our Happiness The World till thou camest sate wrapt in darkness and few discern'd so much as a shadow of thee They follow'd the Appetites of Sense and Humour and plac'd their felicity in being prosperous here Little considering the Life to come and less the joyes that entertain that Life This was alas their miserable State and which was worse than this they had no power to help it How could they believe what they never heard of or love what they never believed How could they desire what they never lov'd or be glad to receive what they never desir'd It was thou O Lord didst first teach us our true end the blissful Vision of the Eternal Deity It was thou didst first teach us the true means to attain that end by a hearty love and desire to attain it O the blest change which thy hand has wrought the happy improvements which thy coming has produc't Now every Woman and illiterate Man can discourse familiarly of the highest Truths The Creation of the World and the fall of Adam the Incarnation of God and Redemption of Man the mystery of the Trinity and Miracle of the Resurrection the day of Judgment and State of Eternity All these we know but it was thou O Lord who taught'st us and by thy holy Church first spread them over the World. Now thou hast opened our Eyes we plainly see what unassisted nature could never have reacht We see the framing right of our Affections here is both cause and measure of our Happiness hereafter If we supreamly esteem the goods of the future life we shall find them there and be happy If we love Heaven with our whole Soul and press on strongly with all our force we shall enter its Glories with a strange surprizing delight and possess them for ever in a perpetual extasie We see our Souls are made to know and perfect themselves by the worthiest objects We see their Nature is free and unconfin'd and nothing can fill them but that which is infinite All other knowledges enlarge our faculties and breed new desire to know still more which if unsatisfi'd we yet are miserable since none can be happy who want their desire Only the sight of God fills us to the brim and infinitely overflows our utmost capacities It fills and overflows all the powers of our Souls with joy and wonder and inconceivable sweetness O blest and glorious sight when will the happy day appear and open to my Soul that beauteous prospect When dearest Lord shall I fee thee face to face when shall I heartily at least desire to see Thee Thou art my full and high felicity and only and alone sufficient for me PETITIONS O Most Gracious and adorable Jesu who so lovedst this sinful World as to die for us we cannot think thou wilt deny us any thing that we humbly ask of thee according to thy will. Those that believing come unto thee thou wilt in no wise cast out Let me then obtain I beseech thee these important favours and whatever else thou seest conducing to my Happiness Teach me I pray effectually that this low world can never make me happy that I must set my affections on things above Make me seek therefore in the first place the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof to love with my whole affections the enjoyment of God since nothing but love can qualifie me for that enjoyment and nothing without that enjoyment can ever render me happy O my God make me ardently love thee that I may eagerly desire thee and eagerly desire thee that I may with joyful transport enjoy thee Make me O Blessed Jesu so meditate on thy infinite Mercies that my whole Soul may be fill'd with the memory of thy love that the frequent remembrance of it may diffuse a vigorous love of thee into all my powers let the mark and badge which they all bear be the love of Jesus Let every step of thy love dear Lord in redeeming lost Mankind confirm my Soul in Love and Duty fortifie me thereby against all Persecution and discouragement and so effectually draw me into thine own Kingdom of Glory by thy Holy Life and precious Death and glorious Resurrection Make me to persevere in thy obedience to the end that I may die in thy favour and rise again to rejoice with thee for ever Who with the Father and the Holy Ghost livest and reignest one God World without end Glory be to c. Amen For the Evening MEDITATION I. REtire now my Soul from thy common thoughts that are permitted to entertain thy less serious hours Retire and call thy wandering Fancies home and speedily range them in peace and order that thou may'st be so prepar'd to hear thy Lord who invites thee among the rest to taste his sweetness The Prince of Love and Bounty sayes Come to me all you that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest to your Souls For my yoke is easie and my burthen is light Enough dear Lord enough is said to draw all the World to thy holy Discipline What can be offer'd so agreeable to our Natures too much alas inclin'd to pleasure and profit What can be offer'd so powerfully attractive as to make our work delightfull and then reward it As to propose an Employment like the Musick of Churches devout sweet and gainful to the Performers Whither O my God should we go but unto thee Thou alone hast the words of eternal Life Thou art our wise Instructor to know what to do and our onely Enabler to do what we know Thou
that relish it and thoroughly digest it 's strong nourishment to them that feed on it as often as their daily bread We shall be hereafter like the Angels in Heaven Those that now set their Affections on things above shall be hereafter like the Angels in Heaven And what O dearest Lord are those blest Angels but Spirits that know and love and delight for ever Such O my soul we shall be if we follow now the Instructions of our Saviour We shall lead that sweet life and be and live like the Angels in Heaven We shall know all that is true and love all that is good and delight in that Knowledge and Love for ever No ignorance shall darken us nor errour deceive us for we shall be like the Angels in Heaven No Cares shall perplex us nor Crosses afflict us for we shall be like the Angels in Heaven Our joyes shall be full and pure and everlasting for we shall be like the Angels in Heaven Chear thee my Soul and bless thy bounteous Lord by whom thou shalt be exalted to that dignity Comfort thy self and raise thy hopes yet gloriously higher raise them to the expectation of more than thou canst conceive for so much yet more is intended for thee so much more is included in those wonderful words We shall be like him for we shall see him as he is PETITIONS O Blessed Jesu whose Sacred Body was laid in a Sepulcher after thou hadst finisht in it the work of our Redemption Make me so frequently to renew in my Mind the memory of thy Death and burial as may put me upon a serious preparation for my own Since thou didst not design to abide long on this Earth let not my Heart be set on any condition here make me to grow daily less affected to this transitory life and more in love with thy eternal joyes Give me O thou that art the only giver of repentance a truly penitent Heart for all my past neglects of thee Deliver me O Lord from the punishments my Sins deserve and deliver me from the Sins which deserve those Punishments Make thy self O my ador'd Redeemer the Master-wish of my Heart the scope and end of all my time Wherever I am in this unconstant World and whatever business entertains my hand still let my inward eye look up towards thee and fix it's sight on thy glorious face Soon as I awake let me look up towards thee and when I rise first bow my knees to thee Help me often in the day to call in my thoughts to thee and when I go to rest close up mine Eyes in Thee Suffer me not O Lord to be any longer distracted about many things from thee who art the one thing Necessary but gather me up from the World into my self and then take me up from my self into thee there to be ravisht with thy kind embraces there to be feasted with the Antipasts of Heaven So shall my time be govern'd by thy Grace and my Eternity be crown'd with thy Glory Grant these things the purchases of thy precious blood O Lord for thine own Eternal Honour and Glory Amen Hymn 36. LOrd now the time returns For weary man to rest And lay aside those pains and cares With which our day 's opprest Or rather change our thoughts To more concerning cares How to redeem our mispent time With sighs and tears and prayer's How to provide for Heaven That place of rest and peace Where our full joyes shall never wain Our pleasures never cease Blest be thy Love dear Lord That taught us this sweet way Only to love thee for thy self And for that Love obey O thou our Souls chief hope We to thy Mercy fly In ev'ry place thou canst protect And all we need supply Whether we wake or sleep To thee we both resign By Night we see as well as Day If thy light on us shine Whether we live or dye Both we submit to thee In Death we live as well as Life If thine in Death we be Glory to Thee Great God One Coeternal three To Father Son and Holy Ghost Eternal Glory be Amen FOR THE FEASTS OF THE HOLY GHOST For the Morning MEDITATION I. COnsider now my Soul the Mercies of thy God consider the wonders he has wrought for the Children of Men The Eternal Father created us of nothing and set us in the way to everlasting Happiness the Eternal Son came down from Heaven to seek and restore us again to it when we had lost our selves the Eternal Spirit sends his Grace to sanctifie us and gives strength to walk that holy way Thus every Person of the Sacred Trinity has freely contributed his peculiar Blessing and all together as one co-infinite Goodness have graciously agreed to compleat our Felicity But O Ingrateful we was it not enough to receive of our God all we have and are was it not enough that the Son of God should come down and live here to teach us and dye to redeem us was not all this enough to make us Love And Love is all he aim'd at and Love is all we needed We will confess to thee O Lord our miserable condition and to the Praise of thy necessary merciful relief Such alas was the corruption of our nature and so many and so strong the Temptations round about us that without this thy last miraculous favour of sending the Holy Ghost to guide and quicken us we should still have remain'd in our old dull pace slow to understand and slower to obey We should have quite forgotten our God that made us and neglected the service of our Lord that bought us had not thy fulness been furnisht with one Blessing more and thy goodness ready to bestow it on thy poor Creatures hadst thou not providently reserv'd a better Blessing than the dew of the Clouds and fatness of the Earth better than Plenty of Corn and Wine or the multitude of Posterity or Dominion over our Brethren These were the great Rewards of the old Law but behold far greater than these are here Divine Refreshments from the Heaven of Heavens and the rare delicious fruits of the Holy Ghost Meekness and Peace and Joy diffus'd in our Breasts Strength and undaunted Courage kindled in our Hearts The strong and sweet Ardours of Divine Love that make every Duty in our way delightful and every Cross tolerable A thousand sweet Embraces of the Spouse of Souls a thousand dear Pledges of his everlasting Love These are the great Rewards of the Law of Grace and are given to prepare us for the Kingdom of Glory Hymn 37. COme Holy Spirit send down those beams Which gently flow in silent Streams From thy bright Throne in Heaven above Come thou Enricher of the Poor And bounteous source of all our Store Come fill our Souls with thy pure Love. Come thou our Souls delicious Guest The weary'd Pilgrims sweetest Rest The injur'd Suffe'rers best relief Come thou our Passions cool allay Whose Comfort wipes all tears
cross art thou to that design For which we had our birth Us who were made in Heaven to shine Thou bow'st down to thy Earth Nay to thy Hell for thither sink All that to thee submit Thou strew'st some flowers on the brink To drown us in the pit World take away thy tinsel wares That dazle here our eyes Let us go up above the Stars Where all our treasure lies The way we know our dearest Lord Himself is gone before And has engag'd his faithful word To open us the door But O my God! reach down thy hand And take us up to thee That we about thy Throne may stand And all thy glories see All Glory to the sacred Three One ever living Lord As at the first still may he be Belov'd Obey'd Ador'd Amen For Monday Morning MEDITATION I. IT is highly fit and just that all Mankind do adore their Maker The great God form'd our bodies out of the Earth and gave us the Spirit in man which bears his likeness a Soul that all created nature cannot sill nor any thing that is below his own Immensity He has freely bestowed on us all the rest of his Creatures which are fitted to serve and delight our bodies But he has moreover design'd us for his glorious Kingdom that we might dwell with him in perfect bliss All the Creatures he has made the great God has alwayes under his observing eye so long as they continue in being All things are open and naked to his Omniscience Though his Throne of State be establisht above and the splendours of his glory shine only on the Blessed that are there yet his unlimited Eye looks down to this lower World and beholds all the wayes of the Children of Adam If we go out he marks our steps and when we retire our shut Closet cannot exclude him while we are alone he minds all the vain and roving imaginations that we have he observes too the end that we aim at in all the Studies which we apply our selves to When we converse with others He observes our deportment and the good or ill we do to them or our selves In our Devotions he takes notice of our carriage and regards with what attention and affection we make our Prayers All the day long he considers how we spend our time and the darkest night conceals not our works from him If we deceive our Neighbour He spies the fraud and hears the least whisper of a slandering tongue If we in secret oppress the Poor or by private alms relieve their wants If in our hearts we murmur at the Rich or live contented with our little portion Whate're we do He perfectly sees us where e're we are He is sure to be with us He that made the Eye shall not he see and shall it be said that he cannot hear who formed the Ear But O thou Sovereign Lord of Heaven why dost thou stoop thus low thy glorious Eye What canst thou find that here does deserve thy view among the trifles of this empty world It is not thy own satisfaction that thou seekest herein but thy design is our advantage Thou appearest still ready to punish our sins that the fear of thy rod may prevent our miseries Sure O my God thy favours must be sweet since even thy threatnings have so much mercy And I must be worse than blind if I venture to be wicked in the face of Heaven Thou dost also Lord graciously stand by us to see us work that thine awful Eye may quicken our diligence thou art still at hand to relieve our wants When all thy work my Soul is done in the sight of him thou servest this may justly encourage thee this may make thee hope that the Labours and Sufferings of thy love shall not go unrewarded Happy we who have our God so near us if our pious Lives keep us near to him Hymn 3. WAke now my soul and humbly hear What thy mild Lord commands Each word of his will charm thine ear Each word will guide thy hands Hark how his sweet and tender care Complies with our weak minds What er'e our State and temper are Still some sit work he finds They that are merry let them sing And let the sad hearts pray Let those still ply their chearful wing And these their sober way So mounts the early chirping Lark Still upwards to the Skies So sits the Turtle in the dark Among her groans and cries And yet the Lark and yet the Dove Both sing though several parts And so should we how er'e we move With light or heavy hearts Or rather both should both assay And their cross notes unite Both grief and joy should sing and pray Since both such hopes invite Hopes that all present sorrow heal All present joy transcend Hopes to possess and taste and feel Delights that ne're will end All glory to the sacred Three All honour power and praise As at the first may ever be Beyond the end of days Amen MEDITATION II. MY God since Thou art never absent from us we will endeavour to be alwaies present with thee Often will we go up to thy Throne above and there contemplate and admire thy glory We will often wait upon thee in thy house and there adore and praise thy mercy Every where will we seek to meet thee and every where delight to find Thee My soul let it be thy endeavour to walk with God in all the parts of thy conversation and take heed that thou walk humbly with thy God. Gracious God we will spread all our wants before thee and offer all our Petitions unto thee Thou dost willingly incline a favourable ear to the Prayers that come from an upright and fervent heart Thou art a rewarder of those that diligently seek Thee Our God loves to hear us treat of Heaven as if we made it the main business of our lives to get thither All other things we must ask with submission to Him since we do not know what of them is absolutely good for our selves But his Eternal Joys we may beg without restraint we may urge and press for his assistance to gain them Heaven is the thing we may wish for if for any thing without resignation We may pray for it with great fervency and perseverance and he will not account us too importunate O wise and gracious Lord whatsoever thou dost thy love intends it for the good of thy servents If thou dost sometimes defer to grant our requests it is only in charity to us to make us repeat them It is that we may more sensibly feel our own poverty and be more strongly convinc't of our dependance on Thee That we may practise our Hope and exercise our Faith and Patience while we long expect and may practise the higher gratitude when we receive at last It is that we may learn this sure and happy skill of working in our souls the Vertues that we desire For those very desires by being often renew'd do at length
spirits who neglect this Means appointed to convey spiritual strength and to furnish them with the Spirit of Grace Such must needs have lamentable cause to bewail the weakness of their Graces and the slow progress of their Holiness Well may they contract very deep stains that do not often wash themselves with the blood of the Lamb. Well may they that begin in the Spirit soon after end in the Flesh who do not often here renew their resolutions and receive fresh strength to hold on their race Those were times of vigorous and sound piety when Christians had a strong appetite to this Spiriual Food This Appetite discover'd their health and by often eating they maintain'd it When they could hardly be contented a Day without receiving one of these blessed meals When they never came together to worship but they also broke this holy Bread Then they were patient under the hardest sufferings and then they abounded in every good work Then did the love of Jesus burn hot in their breasts and the light of it shined bright before men Then they had great charity towards all men and much peace one with another It is a sad sign and may be reckon'd a cause that the Spiritual life greatly languishes in our daies When the proper Food of it is little relisht by many and a great many more never desire it Our sad dayes are likely still to languish in devotion to be over-run with impiety and profaneness Still will the base love of the world abound amongst us every one minding his own things and none the things of Christ Christians will be enemies to one another and more barbarous and cruel than wild-beasts They will go on to bite and devour their own kind and to consume and destroy the Christian Church If we do not oftner commemorate the Love of our Lord and solemnly bind our selves to love one another MEDITATION III. Does our gracious Lord make a Feast of himself for us and invite us poor Sinners to sit down at his Table And should we not readily obey his call and go to the Feast he has so kindly prepared Behold our Lord himself is willing to meet us and to bring a Heaven with him to entertain us O leave the trifles of this world ye reasonable Souls and go to partake of his substantial Joyes Suspend the pursuit of transitory goods ye immortal Creatures and seek of Christ his eternal Treasures O how ungrateful Dear Lord to thee are all they that neglect this thy incomparable Provision The Eternal Fathers Love is slighted by them who gave his beloved Son to dye for us The Love of our kind Redeemer is not duly valu'd while we have no esteem or desire for the blessings he has purchas'd The sweet and saving Influences of the Holy Spirit are set at nought while we decline the proper means to enjoy them Is it not a most unspeakable ingratitude in mankind to trample under foot the Blood of the Son of God to despise that precious Blood which was shed for our sakes which was shed for the remission of our sins should we forget that painful Death he underwent to excuse us from suffering an eternal death It was the particular charge that great Love left when he was just a going to be sacrificed for us That we should devoutly celebrate this holy Supper and often do it in remembrance of him Are we not under great Obligation from his Love to do any difficult or dangerous thing for his sake and much more to comply with his dying will when it requires so easie and so pleasant a duty Did our Saviour drink Vinegar and eat Gall for us and shall we refuse at his command to take these pleasant dainties He drank off the bitter Cup which the Father gave him to purchase for us a Cup of blessing O how well would it become the whole world to say We will take the Cup of Salvation and praise the name of the Lord We will remember thy Love more than Wine dear Lord and never forget thy most useful Benefits We will show that we love thee as we ought to do by keeping this and the rest of thy Commands Had we but ingenuous Souls we should be extreamly glad that he who has done so much for us has told us what will please him This Feast is appointed by our Lord to shew forth his Death 'till he come For he will come again in Glory and with Power to Judge both the quick and the dead When he will render to every man according to his works and severely Punish all those that obey not the Gospel What must become of all those in that dreadful day that do constantly neglect an undoubted Precept Men pretend to fear the incurring of damnation by unworthy receiving but do not fear to deserve it by neglecting to receive his Supper But since we disobey and offend our Lord in both of these it should be our labour and care to prepare our selves and draw nigh PETITIONS O Most Gracious and Merciful God who hast in kindness sent thy Son into the world O let the same kindness effectually draw us and we will run after him for none of us can come unto him except the Father that has sent him draw them Alas Lord we know not our true Interest 'till thou do effectually reveal it we certainly refuse our own mercies if thou do not incline us to pursue them O send forth a mighty power of thy Spirit upon the world and convince men of sin because they believe not in Jesus let him convince men of their guilty state by nature and of their further guilt in not obeying the Gospel Bring them in multitudes to Jesus Christ by making them sensible that there is no other name but his by which they can be saved Teach us how necessary to make atonement for our sins the great Sacrifice of himself was which he offer'd upon the Cross and make us all earnestly concern'd to partake of that Sacrifice and therefore forward to use the appointed means of it Convince us that we are poor without the riches of his grace and naked without the robes of his righteousness and in want of all things necessary to Salvation 'till we are possest of an interest in him O make us come to Jesus Christ that we may have life that our forfeited right to eternal Life may be restor'd and that he by his Spirit may quicken us to a spiritual and divine Life who are by nature dead in trespasses and sins Quicken us O thou who wast dead and art alive for thou alone hast the words of eternal Life Make us discern and seek and relish divine and spiritual things capable of the pleasures of devotion and desirous above all things of Communion with thy self Make us in retir'd Devotion and publick Worship often seek to have Communion with the Father and the Son through the Spirit And Lord whenever we draw nigh to thee by coming carefully prepar'd to
thine Ordinances do thou graciously draw nigh to us and satisfie us with those good things thou hast to bestow make us joyful in thy house of Prayer and renew our strength while we wait upon thee Let every approach to thee in Worship conform us more to thy likeness and fit us more to see thy face in Heaven These things O Lord our God are desired as the purchases of our dear Saviours Blood to whom be Glory and Praise world without end Amen Hymn 10. COme Royal Sion come and sing Thy Soul 's kind Saviour thy hearts King Stretch all thy powers thy Song to raise And since this lofty Theam's above The best ambition of thy Love Call Heavens loud Quires to help thy Praise Sing how his Love from Heavens high throne To Earth's low footstool brought him down For thee a cursed death to dye Sing that when hence he did remove He lest a Legacy of Love His needful Presence to supply Lo here the Bread of Life this day 's Triumphant text provokes thy Praise The living and life-giving Bread See the heart-chearing precious Wine Which Great Love 's pierc't Heart did resign To the Great Twelve distributed Praise him who has thy Pastors bid Ever to do what he once did And thankfully his gifts receive Sing loud that to this bounteous Feast Each hungry Soul may be a guest And from his Death may Life derive The Heav'n-instructed House of Faith Here a mysterious dictate hath Himself to me my Saviour brings With graces which are all divine Under the veils of Bread and Wine Immortal cloath'd with mortal things Lo the life-food of Angels then Bow'd to the lowly mouths of men Lo the full final Sacrifice The ransom'd Isaac and his Ram The Manna and the Pascal Lamb As figures fixt on this their eyes Jesu to thee we sinners sue O Thou our Food and Shepherd too Grant in all good we may improve Still by thy self vouchsafe to keep As with thy self thou feed'st thy Sheep And from us Lord all ill remove Blest be that love which thus makes thee Mix with our low mortality O may it raise and set us up Coheirs with Saints that so all may Drink the same Wine and the same way Convicters all of thy full Cup. Amen For Fryday Morning MEDITATION I. MY God who can complain of doing too much if they consider the labours of the loving Jesus those painful labours that he freely undertook and the humble task he so mildly stoopt to When he might have flown on the wings of Cherubims he chose to walk with us Worms in the dust When he might have call'd for Manna from Heaven in the sweat of his brows he would eat his Bread When he might have made the Angels his foot-stool he rather became the servant of his Parents living with them in their little Cottage and readily obeying even their least Command There in that humble privacy he encreas'd in wisdom and grew in favour with God and man still by his pious candour gaining the love of those happy few that saw his life Happy they that saw thy life O glorious Jesu and heard with joy and wonder thy incomparable sayings that felt a gentle motion stir their hearts to love and imitate so blest a pattern O that the same sweet Spirit of grace might draw our minds dear Lord to thee O that we could my Soul in every passage of our life still actually reflect on the example of His His retirements were fill'd with holy Speculations and in the midst of business his mind was free for Heaven His Converse with others mispent no time but bestowed every moment in excellent Charity sometimes he was imployed to instruct the ignorant sometimes to inform aright those that were deceived He apply'd himself to comfort the afflicted and heal the diseased to convince the froward and absolve the penitent and perswade all the world to be truly happy It was meat and drink to him to do his Fathers will and it should be ours to perform his It was for our sakes that he made himself subject to the Law and to obtain for us an everlasting happiness he perfectly obey'd it Take up thy Cross my Soul and follow thy Lord for his yoke is sweet his burthen is light He humbled himself for us and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross to save us When we had sold our selves to sin and were all become the slaves of Satan our blessed Jesus descended from Heaven and brought a vast price to buy out our freedom The price was no less than his own dearest Blood which he plenteously shed on the ignominious Cross depositing so his inestimable life to rescue us sinners from eternal death Come let us adore our God that redeem'd us Hymn 11. COme let 's adore the King of Love And King of Sufferings too For Love it was that brought him down And set him here in woe Love drew him from his Paradise Where flowers that fade not grow And planted him in our poor dust Among us weeds below Here for a time this heavenly Plant Fairly grew up and thriv'd Diffus'd its sweetness all about And all in sweetness liv'd But envious frosts and furious storms So long so fiercely chide This tender Plant at last bow'd down Its bruised head and dy'd O narrow thoughts and narrower speech Here your defects confess The Life of God the death of Christ How faintly you express O Thou who from a Virgin-root Mad'st this fair flower to spring Help us to raise both heart and voice And with more spirit sing To Father Son and Holy Ghost One undivided Three All highest Praise all humblest Thanke Now and for ever be Amen MEDITATION II. MY God who can repine at suffering too much if they remember the afflictions of Jesus Those many afflictions He so patiently endur'd and bore with Silence all their weight Even from his humble Cradle in the City of Bethlehem to his bitter Cross on the Mount of Calvary How little do we read of glad and prosperous in his Life how much of pains and grief and perpetual affronts sometimes he was abandon'd by his nearest Friends and left alone among all his discomforts sometimes pursu'd by his fiercest enemies and made the common mark of all their spite sometimes they plot to insnare Him in his words and enviously slander his miraculous Deeds sometimes they tumultuously gather about him to gaze at and abuse a man of sorrows Sometimes they furiously seize on his Person and hale and drag him along the streets At last they all conspire to take away his life and condemn him to a sharp and cruel death Have you ever seen a harmless Lamb stand silent in the midst of ravenous Wolves so stood the Prince of Peace and Innocence besieg'd with a ring of savage Jews When they blasphemed Him he reply'd not again and when they injuriously struck him he only observ'd their rashness When they provok't him with their utmost Malice he
his Church and go to live with him and that part of his Holy Church which is triumphant O Blessed Jesu King of Clemency and great rewarder of every little Grace Thou who by all we can do pretendest no gain but bestowest on us all that thy self hast done Instruct my gratitude to consecrate all to Thee since all by thy bounty will redound to thy self O Thou who tookst upon Thee all our frailty to bestow on us thine own perfections teach me to prize the joyes of Heaven and part with all things else to purchase Thee O let not the flatteries of worldly pleasures any more delude me nor any superfluous cares perplex my mind O may my chief delight be to think of thee all my study to come to the enjoyment of thee Let the shortness and vexation of all worldly enjoyments so disparage them to my Apprehensions that they may become less tempting to me and take the less hold of my heart Make me thankfully sensible of thy mercy and kindness to Mankind in mixing this worlds enjoyments with so much trouble and inconvenience since we cannot attain thee the Heaven of Heavens if we do not fix our selves intirely upon thee Nor can we do this if we are or may be satisfied with any thing beside thy glorious self Thus has thy wisdom fitly qualified this life the present dark womb of our Souls so that by its own uneasiness it will with thy blessing the more easily dispose them for a happy birth into thy blessed Eternity Through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son who with the Father and the Holy Ghost together is worshipped and glorified Amen Hymn 14. LOrd what a pleasant life were this If all did well their parts If all did one another love Sincerely with their hearts No Suits of Law no noise of War Our quiet minds would fright No fear to lose no care to keep What justly is our right No envious thought no slandoring tongue Would e're disturb our peace We should help them and they help us And all unkindness cease But the All-wise chose other Laws And thought it better so He made the World and sure he knows What 's best with it to do 'T is for our good that all this ill Is suffer'd here below 'T is to correct those dangerous sweets That else would Poyson grow So storms are rais'd to clear the air And chase dull clouds away So weeds grow up to cure our wounds And all our pains allay How often Lord do we mistake When we our Plots design Rule thou hereafter thine own world Only thy self be mine Or rather Lord let me be thine Else I am not mine own Give me thy self or take thou me Undone if left alone To thee great God of Heaven and Earth Each knee for ever bow May all thy Blessed sing above And we adore below Amen Devotions FOR Every Day IN THE WEEK The Second Part. For Sunday Morning MEDITATION I. SIng to our Lord a Psalm of Joy sing Praises to the God of our Salvation Sing with a loud and chearful Voice sing with a glad and thankful Heart Say to the weak of spirit Be strong say to the staggering Faith Be stedfast say to the sorrowful Be of good comfort Tell all the World this Soul-reviving truth and may their Hearts leap within them to hear it Tell them the Lord of life is risen again and has cloath'd himself with immortal glory He made the Angels Messengers of his Victory and vouchsaf't even himself to bring us the happy news How many wayes did thy condescending mercy invent O thou wise contriver of all our happiness to convince thy followers into this blest belief and settle in their Hearts a firm ground of hope Thou appearedst to the holy Women in their return from thy Sepulcher and openedst their eyes to know and adore thee Thou didst purposely overtake in their Journey two of thy Disciples that were discoursing of Thee and make their hearts burn within them by thy Discourse whilst thou didst kindly expound to them the things that related to thee in all the Scriptures and which by thee had been fulfill'd Thou didst show thy self on the Shore to thy Disciples labouring at Sea to intimate that they must now leave that fishing to become Fishers of Men They labour'd all night in vain without the Blessing of their Master Jesus Thou didst show thy self to them and tell them plainly who thou wert by the kind known token of a beneficial Miracle When the doors of the House were shut thou who hadst insensibly come in didst appear to give them peace and satisfaction to satisfie them of thy Resurrection from the dead and of thy continued tender Love to them How didst thou condescend to eat before them and invite them to touch thy Body How didst thou sweetly provoke the incredulous Thomas to thrust his hand into thy wounded side And thou hast taken occasion from his hardness to believe to facilitate the Faith of thy Church in after Ages We bless Thee O Lord who has so order'd the Duties of our Faith that the true reports of Sense may help us in some of them and do contradict us in none How often O gracious Lord in those blessed forty dayes did thy Charity cast to meet with thy Disciples that thou mightest teach them still some excellent truth and imprint still deeper thy Love in their Hearts Discoursing perpetually of the Kingdom of Heaven and establishing proper means to bring us thither At last when all thy glorious task was perfectly finisht and thy hour of departing from this Earth did approach Thou didst tenderly gather thy Children about thee and in their full sight goe up into Heaven leaving thy dearest Blessing on their heads and promising a kind Comforter in thy absence O how adoreable are thy Counsels O Lord How strangely endearing the wayes of thy Love Say now my Soul is not this evidence clear enough to answer all our darkest Doubts Is not this hope abundantly sufficient to sweeten all our bitterest Sorrows What though we mourn and be afflicted here and sigh under the Miseries of the world for a time we may be sure that our Tears shall one day be turn'd into Joy and that Joy none shall be able to take from us What though our Bodies be crumbled into dust and that dust should be blown about over the face of the whole Earth Yet we undoubtedly know that our Redeemer lives and shall appear in brightness at the last Great Day He shall appear in the midst of all the numerous Hosts of Angels and before him shall be brought all Nations Then with these Eyes which now read of him we shall see him we shall see him in whom we have so long believed we shall find him whom we have so often sought In our full and final Redemption we shall find him a faithful and mighty Redeemer We shall possess him whom our Souls have loved and be united to him for ever who is the only
glorious Dear Lord are the effects of thy Grace How shameful the instances of our folly and weakness PETITIONS OBlessed Jesu who art a Prince and Saviour whose kindness it is to give repentance and remission of sin Bestow I beseech thee on me such a hearty Contrition for all the wandring steps that I have made from my Duty as to fit me to receive thy Pardon And then Pardon O Meek Redeemer what my passions have done and what my weakness has omitted Let a sence that thou my God art reconcil'd to me give me this night a sweet repose as in the arms of thy tender Mercy Make me too hereafter O Lord if I shall live after this night more carefully watch my self that my few dayes do not slide unprofitably away and especially that they be not spent in sin Make me every day retire to study thee and my self My self that I may know and correct my many Infirmities and Thee that I may adore thy infinite Perfections And to thy Perfections O Lord and the strength from them communicated unto me make me ascribe all the good that I am able to do Let me alwayes say as I ought This is not I but Christ that liveth in me Make me also the more attentively obsequious to the steady guidance of thy Grace and grant I may never want it while the time of my warfare and pilgrimage continues Instruct me I beseech thee O thou who art the best of Teachers in these great and wise truths that the things of this world are of very little import since its joys and griefs will last but a very little while and that the future state does infinitely concern me where the Life and Death are for ever Fix my heart O Sovereign Goodness I pray thee on thy self alone Let me not be good only by halves since there is a glorious Heaven prepared that is worth all our labours Prevent by the power and prevalence of thy grace in me my mingling so much as formerly thy pure Grace with my corrupted Nature Deliver me O Lord from the Temptations of this world and mercifully save me from the wrath to come that dreadful wrath which we so justly fear and which many condemned wretches do already irrecoverably feel Hymn 22. AND do we then believe There is a world to come Where all this world shall summon'd be To take their final doom Is there a Heaven indeed To crown the Innocent Is there a Hell and horrid Pains The Wicked to torment Are these Eternal too And never to have end Shall never those Delights decay These Sorrows never mend Good God is all this true And sure most true it is And yet we live as if there were Nothing so false as this O quicken Lord our Faith Of these great Joyes and Fears And make the last dayes Trumpet be Still sounding in our Ears Still may this glorious hope Shine bright before our eyes We shall go up at last to meet Our Jesus in the Skies Come Jesu come and take Our banisht Souls to thee Come quickly Lord that in thy light Our eyes thy light may see Glory to Thee great God One Coeternal Three As at the first beginning was May now and ever be Amen For Thursday Morning MEDITATION I. HE who made the Sun to enlighten our steps in the Pilgrimage of this short Life has he ordain'd no guide to conduct our Souls in the difficult way to our eternal home Yes he sent his Son a bright light into the world by whose Directions we may find our Happiness He who feeds the Ravens when they call upon him has he not provided Bread for his Children He has and still his Mercy furnishes means to perform whatever his Justice commands The Son of God himself became incarnate and took the humane nature into a Personal Union Thus it was consecrated by him to become the Instrument wherewith he would accomplish our Redemption He was sacrificed for us upon the Cross that so he might become food to our Faith And that food he gives with the Sacramental Bread and Wine to every the meanest meet receiver Though he be now exalted to the right Hand of God and his Glorified Body shall suffer Death no more Yet the believing Soul that comes to this Supper finds him really present and does partake of his Body and Blood. The Lord of love has espoused to himself an Holy Church and promis'd it his presence to the end of the World He has made her all Glorious within the Saints are the excellent of the Earth With these he is present at the celebration of his worship and feeds them with his own Crucified Body at his Supper O Souls redeem'd by the Blood of Jesus and nourisht with his Sacred Body why melt you not away in Tears of Joy for being so regarded by the King of Heaven What hast thou promised O Gracious and Faithful Lord to him that receives Thee with an Humble Love All that is contain'd in those sweet and mystick words He dwells in me and I in him O Blessed Words if once my Soul can say He dwells in me and I in him He is my Refuge in all Temptations He is my Comfort in all Distresses He is my Security against all mine Enemies He dwells in me and I in him What can an infinite bounty give greater than it self and what can an empty Creature receive better than the Alsufficient God Blessed O Jesu are they who discern Thee under the Veils of Bread and Wine Blessed are the Souls prepar'd by Faith and Love to receive Thee at this Sacred Supper Blessed yet more is that devout Heart that desires thy second coming into the World that longs to see thy immediate self and to see thee in thy Glory O thou Lord of Grace and Glory our chiefest Joy and best Portion in the land of the living what hast thou prepared for thy Servants to give them hereafter when thy bounty is so liberal to them here What dost thou reserve in thy Kingdom who givest us thy self in this place of Banishment How will thy open vision transport our Souls when our dark Faith yields us now such delight O my ador'd Redeemer my Soul longs for the Happy Day when I shall see thy Face without a Veil When I shall be able to endure the beams of thy Glory shining out upon me in their full brightness And my weakness will not need as now to converse with Thee with Clouds and Shadows interpos'd My Soul seek thy Saviour now and thou shalt find him hereafter receive him thus veil'd and thou shalt enjoy him in his Glory Take these things that he offers Thee with a thankful Heart and humble Faith and then they shall prove sure pledges that Christ himself will be ever thine Hymn 23. WIth all the Pow'rs my poor Soul hath Of Humble Love and Loyal Faith I come Dear Lord and worship Thee Whom too much love bow'd low for me Down busie Sense Discourses dye And all
Crucified Redeemer I cannot question the love of the Father to Mankind God the Father it appears did so love the world as that he gave his only begotten Son to dye for them God the Son I see is willing that many should be partakers in his Death since he has Instituted this Blessed Sacrament and Invites all men to it With Angels then and Archangels and all the glorious host of Heaven I Praise and admire the Love of God the Father and God the Son I Praise and adore the ever blessed Trinity for the Redemption of the World by our Lord Jesus Christ And I come O Saviour to take and eat thy Body which was broken for me I come joyfully to drink that Cup which is the New Testament in thy Blood which Blood thou hast shed for the remission of the sins of many and invited all believing Souls to partake of I desire I long to partake of this my necessary Food I desire I long to receive these incomparable dainties As the Hart pants after the water-brooks so thirsteth my Soul after thee O Christ I will open my mouth wide O Lord for thy fullness can suffice my largest desires When O my Soul thou seest the Holy Bread broken and the Consecrated Wine apart from it say I remember thy sufferings O crucified Love and that bitter passion which ended in Death it self I call to mind how thy Blessed Body was scourg'd and bruised How thy Sacred Head was prick't with the sharp Thorns How thy Hands which had wrought many a kind Miracle were bored through and torn with great Nails How thy Feet which had carryed Thee about to do good were now by ungrateful men nail'd to the Cross How thy tender Heart was pierc't by the Souldiers Spear and at these wounds thy Blood and thy Life forsook Thee I must grieve and I must love O thou great Martyr of Love when I consider all this was undergone for me I must needs detest my self and abhor my Sins when I consider thou wast made a curse for me My numerous Sins increas'd thy heavy load my Sins were some of the procuring causes of thy bitter Death With a broken and contrite Heart I deeply lament my past transgressions and resolve that from henceforth every Sin shall be very odious to me I resolve to sight against it with all possible care and industry and will not allow any known Sin to be quiet in me When the Bread and Wine my Soul are by Christs Ministers given to thee say These kind Lord are thy Instruments of conveyance and they make over to me the Blessings of the New Covenant Welcome dear signs of my Saviours presence Welcome sure pledges of his love and of my Happiness Open ye everlasting doors of my Heart and let this King of Glory enter in Welcome dear Lord to my poor Soul and sit thou as sovereign of my Heart I shall be very happy under thy Dominion and very safe under thy protection My Beloved is mine and I am his I will live to my Love that dyed for me When the Bread and Wine are given to others in thy sight thou must look upon them as members of Jesus Christ Thou must look with love upon those whom he loves and resolve to practise all the kindness to them that thou canst Conclude the solemnity with hearty Joy and Thankfulness and say What shall I render unto the Lord for all his Benefits O matchless love of God to a poor Sinner O Love beyond Degree O Love that passes Knowledge I can never sufficiently show my self grateful Yet bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me praise his Holy Name Praise him who graciously forgiveth all thy Sins and justifies thee freely by his Grace Praise him who healeth all thy diseases Study to make as liberal returns to thy Lord as thou canst for thy Lord has dealt very bountifully with Thee PETITIONS O Lord thou art the great searcher of Hearts and thou know'st us altogether O assist my serious examinations of my self that I may overlook no secret Sin. Thou Lord know'st how to influence and turn our Hearts even as pleaseth thee O prepare my Heart according to thine own will to draw nigh to thee Breath O Divine Spirit upon my Soul and then the grateful odours of my Grace will flow forth O Lord I would with all due affections commemorate and receive my Saviour and I earnestly desire that every Grace may renew its strength Let every Grace O Lord be so improv'd as that I may bring forth more fruit in doing well and may more steadily resist the assaults of all temptation to evil Lord I believe help thou my unbelief and fill me with all Joy and Peace in believing Inflame my Heart with a more ardent Charity let my love be stronger than Death let me be rooted and grounded in love Make me to mind more the things above and despise the things below to be more patient in adversity and more humble and fruitful in prosperity To be strictly just and honest in a deceitful World and charitable to those that injure me and set themselves against me Increase in me the Love of all thy Commands and the hatred of every Sin. O God the Father our Creatour and Sovereign Lord regard I beseech Thee thy Son's death which we shall now commemorate before Thee remember how well he pleased thee in all things and when I am united to him regard me with favour too When I partake of his Sacrifice accept it as a propitiation for my Sins and pardon for his sake all my transgressions O Spotless Lamb of God once slain for us Sinners on the Cross have Mercy upon me O Christ hear me and be my powerful Advocate with the Heavenly Father Solicite by thy merits his Mercy for my poor Soul. Offer thy sacred Body before his Throne and turn away the wrath that my sins have deserved If thou wilt O Eternal Merciful God one God in three persons do all these kind things for me for the sake and merits of the Redeemer and out of thy great love to Souls then since I can never have given thee praises enow grant that I may ever live to praise Thee Glory be to the Father c. Amen For Thursday Evening MEDITATION I. HAst thou my Soul been Feasting at the Table of the Lord Has he given thee himself and his rich blessings What thou hast done signifies the renewal of that Covenant that was made in Baptism between the Lord and Thee Thou hast in coming to this Feast profest thy self a Christian and declar'd a resolution to live and dye so Thou hast pretended to account nothing so precious to thee as thy Saviour and that no other Lord but he shall have dominion over thee The Loving Jesus must now have full possession of thy Heart and thou maist not be govern'd by the love of this World. Thou hast bound thy self my Soul to be the Servant of Jesus Christ
and to observe the whole Religion of our Saviour To be taught by his Precepts and to follow his excellent Example Thou must not then learn the foolish Maxims of this world nor conform to the sinful practices of it But live as one redeem'd from a vain Conversation and engag'd to hate every wicked way Thou must hereafter challenge no right to have thy self at thine own disposal But deny thy self to please thy Master and take up thy Cross when he requires it When it would cost thee thy Estate or Life to own him and profess his Truth thou must cleave to him with full purpose of Heart and forsake all things as dross and dung for his sake Thou must endeavour to walk worthy of thy Heavenly calling and that thy Conversation be such as becomes the Gospel And therefore live not after the Flesh but after the Spirit and live Godly Righteously and Soberly in this present world Do good to them that hate thee and pray for them that despitefully use thee Forgive those that injure thee and live in Charity with all Mankind As thou hast opportunity it is required that thou do good to all men but especially to those of the houshold of Faith. The Law of thy Saviour requires that according to thy capacity thou do cloath these when they are naked and feed any of them when they are hungry direct them when they are wandering restore them when they are fallen quicken them when they are slothful fortifie them when they are tempted Bear with their acknowledg'd infirmities and encourage them in all their well-doing And the Lord having plentifully entertain'd thee at his Table does expect my Soul that thou shouldst encrease in strength He expects that thy knowledge of Divine things should be more clear thy Faith be stronger to resist Temptations That thou be more patient under the adversities of this Life and more ardent in thy desires after a better That thou be fruitful in Holy Thoughts and pious words fruitful in just and charitable deeds fruitful to thy self in thine own improvements and to others in thy good example If thou do not encrease in strength it is because thou art slothful in business Be diligent then in thy work and hold on thy way so shall thy exercise of Grace make thee grow stronger and stronger for to him that hath shall be given and he shall have abundance MEDITATION II. MY Soul thou didst dissemble with God in going to his Sacred Table if it was not in thy intention and purpose to love him and keep his Commands And if thou do not continue in that purpose afterwards and endeavour to put in practice thy resolutions thou despisest the obligations of his Love and art basely false to thy Covenant Every act of sin that thou commitest after thou hast been a partaker of thy Lords Supper is not only a neglect of thy Duty but the breach of a renewed Oath Canst thou find in thy heart to take the Cup of Salvation and not call upon the Name of the Lord if he delivers thee from Death and Hell thou art highly obliged to Worship him and reverence all his Institutions Wilt thou take an interest in Christ without giving him an interest in thee Is it not a very fitting act of Thanksgiving for this to offer and resign thy self to his disposal Is it not great shame that thou shouldst ever hereafter account any thing too much to part with or do for his sake when he loved not his own Life to the Death that he might ransome thee from eternal misery Thou hast renewed the remembrance of thy Saviour's dying Love received new Pledges of thy interest in it These things ought to tye thee faster in bonds of Love to him and spread the divine Love further in thy Soul 'till all thy faculties and powers be under the command of it and thy whole self as it were chang'd into Love. Such should thy Love be as never to forget how great things his Love has done for thee such as never to think of those great things without the most fervent and hearty adorations such as to make thee much delighted to think often of his Love and often to commemorate him at his Supper to make thee study what will please him and strive to do it in an universal Obedience to make thee desire that his Honour may be promoted in the World and his Kingdom enlarged to all the corners of the Earth Did our Saviour come into the World to destroy the works of the Devil and shall I help to carry on those works in the world by retaining and living in any sin This sure were highly to affront the great Redeemer and despise his kind undertaking To such there remains no other Offering for sin but they ought with fear to expect a terrible Judgment Wilt thou my Soul entertain and cherish that which has pierc'd the heart of thy Saviour O with what Indignation should we regard all sin even our most beloved sins when it was these that gave him his many Wounds these brought him to the Agony in the Garden these caused his secret Sufferings on the Cross which his Soul felt when he sadly cryed out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me All these things will condemn me if I regard any Iniquity in my heart Consider further my Soul what is worthy of them who are washt in the precious Blood of the Lamb. How very much ought they to love to whom much has been forgiven How should they love one another whom the Father so lov'd as to give them his Son Consider again how they ought to walk who are consign'd to immortal Blessedness How should they purifie themselves as God is pure and cast away all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit With what Contempt should they look upon all the Pomp and Glory of this World and pity those that fondly admire it and never envy any the enjoyment of it With what Moderation and Indifferency should they desire and enjoy these things They should never be proud of any enjoyments in this world nor be dejected with any wants In vain was our Saviour a man of Sorrows and acquainted with Griefs to purchase for us the Glories and Joyes of Heaven if the hopes of Glory are not worthy to delight us and make us rejoyce evermore Thou dost undervalue thy Saviours Purchase if the thoughts of Heaven do not enflame thy desires and account his Blood cheaply thrown away if thou think it not worth thy endeavours To answer then the obligations of thy Saviours Love thou must earnestly strive to fit thy self for Heaven thou must greatly desire to be there and cherish the hopes of it as thy chiefest Joyes and Consolations on Earth MEDITATION III. I Acknowledge O Blessed Son of God and Lord of Heaven and Earth that as I am thine by receiving my being from thee so I was early devoted to thee I was engaged in a Solemn Covenant by which I stand bound to
who can see we who believe Praise to the glorious Three in One Let Time ascribe till Time be done Then let the work continued be By an endless Eternity Amen For Friday Morning MEDITATION I. COme let us glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ in whom is our Life and Health and Resurrection Shall we rejoyce my Soul to day Shall we not rather mourn at the Funeral of our dear Redeemer Such O my Lord was the Excess of thy Goodness to derive joyes for us from thine own Sorrows Thou forbad'st thy followers to weep for thee and reserved'st to thy self alone the shame and grief Thou invitest all the World to glory in thy Cross and command'st us to delight in the memory of thy Passion Sing then all you dear-bought Nations of the Earth sing Hymns of Glory to the holy Jesus Sing every one who pretends to Felicity sing immortal praises to the God of our Salvation To him who for us endur'd so much scorn and patiently receiv'd so many Injuries To him who for us sweat drops of Blood and drank off the dreggs of his Father's wrath To the Eternal Lord of Heaven and Earth who for us was slain by the hands of the wicked who for us was led away as a Sheep to the slaughter and as a meek Lamb opened not his Mouth Whither O my God did thy Compassion carry thee how did thy Charity too far prevail with thee Was it not enough to become Man for us but thou must expose thy self to all our Miseries Was it not enough to labour all thy life but thou must suffer for us even the pains of Death No gracious Lord thy Mercy still observ'd some wants in our condition as yet unsupply'd Thou saw'st our too much fondness of Life needed thy parting with it to reconcile us to Death Thou saw'st our fear of Sufferings could no way be abated but by freely undergoing them in thine own person Thou saw'st our Souls so deeply stain'd with Guilt that without thy Blood we could have no Remission O Blessed Jesu whose Grace alone begins and perfects all our hopes How are we bound to praise thy Love how infinitely oblig'd to adore thy goodness At any rate thou would'st still go on to heal our weak and wounded Nature Even at the price of thine own dear Blood thou would'st accomplish for us the purchase of Heaven Hymn 25. TUne now your selves my Heart-strings high Let us alost our Voices raise That our loud Song may reach the Skie And there present to thee our Praise To thee Blest Jesu who cam'st down From those bright Sphears of Joy above To purchase us a dear-bought Crown And wooe our Souls to ' espouse thy Love. Long had the World in darkness sate 'Till thou and thy all-glorious Light Began to dawn from Heavens fair Gate And with thy Beams dispel their Night We too alas still there had stood As common Slaves in the same shade But Mercy came and with his Blood Our general Ransome freely paid Not all the Spite of all the Jews Nor Death it self could him remove Still he his blest design pursues And gives his Life to crown our Love. And now my Lord my God my all What shall I most in thee admire That power which made the World and shall The World again dissolve with fire Oh no thy strange Humility Thy Wounds thy Pains thy Cross thy Death These shall alone my wonder be My Health my Joy my Staff my Breath To thee Great God! to thee alone Three Persons in one Deity As former Ages still have done All Glory now and ever be Amen MEDITATION II. AWake my Soul and speedily prepare thy richest Sacrifice of humble Praise Awake and summon all thy thoughts to make haste and adore our great Redeemer To him let us reverently go and offer our devout hearts at his sacred Feet Thither let us fly from the Troubles of the World with him let us dwell among the Mercies of Heaven Under the shade of that happy Tree let us fix our abode A Tree of safe defence and delicious fruit Let us remember every passage of our Saviour's Love and desire that none may escape our thanks Let us compassionate every stroke of his Death and one by one salute his sacred Wounds Blest be the Hands that wrought so many Miracles and were bor'd with cruel Nails Blest be the Feet that so often travell'd for us and at last were unmercifully fastened to the Cross Blest be the Head which was crowned with Thorns the Head that so industriously studied our Happiness Blest be the Heart which was pierc'd with a Spear the Heart that so passionately lov'd our peace Blest be the entire person of our Crucifi'd Lord and may all our powers joyn in his praise In thy eternal praise O gracious Jesu and the ravishing thoughts of thy incomparable Sweetness O what excess of Kindness was this what strange extremity of Love and Pity The Lord is sold that the Slave may be free the innocent condemn'd that the guilty may be sav'd The Physician is sick that the Patient may be cur'd and he who was God dies that man may live Tell me my Soul when first thou hast well consider'd and lookt about among all we know tell me Who ever wisht us so much good Who ever lov'd us with so much tenderness What have our nearest Friends done for us or even our Parents in comparison of this Charity No less than the Son of God came down to redeem us no less than his own dear Life was the price he paid for us What can the favour of the whole World promise us compar'd to this miraculous Bounty No less than the joyes of Angels are become our hope no less than the Kingdom of Heaven is made our Inheritance MEDITATION III. TO thee O God we owe our selves for making us after thine own Image To thee O Lord we owe more than our selves for redeeming us with the Death of thine onely Son. Nor were our Ruines so soon repair'd as at first our Being was easily produc'd Thy Power to Create us said but one word and immediately we became a living Soul But thy Wisdom to Redeem us both spake much and wrought more and suffer'd most of all To redeem us he humbled himself to this low World and all the infirmities of our miserable Nature He patiently endur'd hunger and thirst and the malicious affronts of enraged Enemies How many times did he hazard his life to sustain with Courage the Truths of Heaven how many Tears did he tenderly weep in compassion of his blind ungrateful Country how many drops of Blood did he shed in the doleful Garden and on the bitter Cross the Cross where after three long hours of grief and shame and intolerable pains he meekly bow'd his fainting Head and in an Agony of Prayer yielded up the Ghost So sets the glorious Sun in a sad Cloud and leaves our Earth in darkness and disorder but goes to shine immediately in
mind was born to know and love What this life ne're can see Malicious world how dost thou lay And cover thy false Baits Here those of pleasure there of gain Each for our ruine waits Unhappy we it is our fault 'T is we our Life abuse The world presents a furnisht Shop And we the tools misuse So have I seen a little Child If Nurse but turn her Eye In stead of haft take hold o' th' blade And cut it self and cry This little Child alas am I Self-will'd Self-wounded too But Lord turn not thy face away Lest I my self undoe O make me still so use this world That I the other gain O make me so the other love That this its end attain It s end to breed up Souls for Heave'n Then be it self new drest No more corruption no more change But one perpetual rest To Father Son and Holy Ghost The undivided Three One equal Glory one same Praise Now and for ever be Amen Devotions FOR THE Holy-dayes The First Part. FOR THE FEASTS OF OUR BLESSED SAVIOUR For the Morning MEDITATION I. BRing to our Lord all you his Servants bring to our Lord the Sacrifice of Praise Bring to our Lord all you Nations of the Earth bring Hymns of Glory to his great Name at the Name of Jesus let every knee bow of things in Heaven and things on Earth and let his whole Church Militant and Triumphant gladly adore our God that Redeem'd us Come now and hear you that fear our Lord and I will tell you what he has done for my Soul Hear and I will tell you what he has done for yours and the wonders of his bounty towards all the World. When we lay asleep in the shades of nothing his mighty hand awak'd us into Being Not that of Stones or Plants or Beasts o're which he has made us absolute Lords but an accomplisht Body he has given us and an immortal Spirit and has made us little inferiour to his glorious Angels He printed on our Souls his own similitude and promised to our Obedience that we should partake of his own felicity He endu'd us with Appetites to live well and happily and furnisht us with means to satisfie those Appetites Creating a World furnish'd with excellent Creatures to serve us while we abode on Earth and providing a Heaven of Bliss to glorifie us when we remov'd hence Thus didst thou favour us O Infinite Goodness But we what return did we make thee Blush O my Soul for shame at so strange a weakness and weep for grief at so extream an Ingratitude We childishly preferr'd a trivial Apple before the Law of our God and the safety of our own Lives We fondly embrac'd a little needless Satisfaction before the Pleasures of Paradise and the eternal Joyes of Heaven Behold the unhappy source of all our Miseries which still encreas'd its streams as they went farther on 'Till they exacted at last a deluge of Justice to drown their deluge of Iniquity And here alas had been an end of Man a sad and fatal end of the whole World had not our wise Creator foreseen the danger and in time prevented the extremity of the ruine reserving for himself a few choice Plants to replenish the Earth with more hopeful Fruit Yet they quickly grew wild and brought forth sour Grapes and their Childrens teeth were set on edge Quickly they aspir'd to an intollerable Pride of fortifying their wickedness against the power of Heaven Justice was now provok'd to a second deluge and to bring again a Cloud over the Earth but Mercy discover'd a bow in the Cloud and our faithful God remembred his Promise allaying their Punishment with a milder Sentence and only scattering them from the place of their Conspiracy which yet his Providence turn'd into a Blessing by making it an occasion of Peopling the World. Still their rebellious Nature disobey'd again and neither fear'd his Judgments nor valued his Mercies but with a graceless emulation they propagated sin as far as his Goodness propagated Mankind Then he selected a private Family and increas'd and govern'd them with a particular tenderness giving them a Law by the hands of Angels and engaging their Obedience by a thousand favours But they neglected too their God and Heaven and fell in love with the wayes of Death When thou hadst thus O dearest Lord used many Remedies and our Disease was beyond their power to cure when the light of Nature proved too weak a guide and the general Flood too mild a correction when the Miracles of Moses could not soften their Hearts nor the Law of Angels bring any to perfection when all was reduc'd to this desperate State and no imaginable hope was left to recover us Behold the Eternal Wisdom finds a strange Expedient the last and highest Instance of Almighty Love Himself he resolves to cloath with our Flesh and come down among us and dye to Redeem us Wonder O my Soul at the Mercies of our Lord how infinitely do they transcend even the utmost that we could have wished Wonder at the admirable Providence of his Councels that they are so exactly fitted to their great design Had our Saviour been less than God we could never have believed the sublime Mysteries of his Heavenly Doctrine Had he been other than Man we must needs have wanted the powerful motive of his holy Example Had he been only God he could never have suffer'd the least of those Afflictions which he so gloriously overcame Had he been meerly Man he could never have overcome those Infinite Afflictions which he so patiently endur'd In thee O blessed Saviour the two Natures of God and Man were so mysteriously united without either change or confusion that they made in thee but one Person one Mediator and Lord. Hymn 29. JEsu who from thy Fathers Throne To this low vale of Tears cam'st down In our poor nature humbly drest Oh may the charms of that sweet love Draw up our Souls to thee above And six them there on thee to rest Jesu who wert with Joy Conceiv'd With Joy wert born while no pain griev'd Thy Blessed Mothers Virgin-womb O may we breed and bring thee forth In our glad hearts for all is Mirth Where thou kind Lord art pleas'd to come Jesu whose high and humble Birth In Heaven the Angels and on Earth The faithful Shepherds gladly sing O may our Hymns which here run low Shoot up aloft and fruitful grow In that more warm Eternal Spring Jesu how soon didst thou begin To bleed and suffer for our sin Cut by the Circumcising Knife O may thy grace by making good Our Souls just cause ' gainst flesh and blood Cut off for us that dange'rous strife Jesu who took'st that heave'nly Name Thy blessed Purpose to proclaim Of saving self-destroy'd Mankind O may we bowe our Heart and knee Bright King of Names to Glorious thee And thy hid sweetness ever find Jesu who thus began'st our Bliss Thus carry'edst on our happiness To thee
love and constantly do the things that belong to my Everlasting Peace Till my understanding with the Knowledge of such Truths as may fix it on thee the Eternal Verity Inure my will to embrace such objects as may unite them to Thee the Sovereign goodness O suffer me not obstinately to persist in any known wickedness nor maliciously to impugn any know Truth Grant I may never be deceiv'd by any false spirit nor be overcome by the vicious suggestions of Flesh and Blood. In all my doubts do thou direct me into the way of thy Truth in all my weakness grant me the assistance of thy Grace Help me devoutly and most thankfully to commemorate thy Descent to this World in the likeness of fiery Tongues which sate on each head of thy Disciples and fitted them to preach the Gospel to every Nation And let it so encrease the holy fervour of my Heart that my Life may attest by all fruits of Grace the same Spirit 's still abiding with me To the Glory of thee O God the Holy Spirit who with the Father and the Son livest and reignest ever one God world without end Amen Hymn 32. COme mild and Holy Dove Descend into our Breast Do thou in us make us in thee For ever dwell and rest Come and spread o're our heads Thy soft all-cherishing wing That in its shade we safe may sit And to Thee Praises sing To thee who giv'st us Life Our better Life of Grace Who giv'st us Breath and Strength and Speed To run and win our Race If by the way we faint Thou reachest forth thy hand If our own weakness makes us fall Thou mak'st our weakness stand When we are sliding back Thou dost our danger stop When we again alas are fall'n Again thou tak'st us up Else there we still must lye And still sink lower down Our hope to rise is all from thee Our ruin's all our own O my Ingrateful Soul What shall our dulness do For him that does all this for us Only our Love to wooe We 'l Love thee then Dear Lord But thou must give that Love We 'l humbly beg it of thy grace But thou our Prayers must move O hear thine own self speak For thou in us dost Pray Thou canst as quickly grant as ask Thy grace knows no delay Glory to Thee O Lord One Coeternal Three To Father Son and Holy Ghost One equal Glory be Amen FOR THE FEASTS OF THE SAINTS For the Morning MEDITATION I. TEll me you eager Lovers of this present World what is it you aim at in all your pretences You weary your Bodies with restless labour and afflict your Minds with perpetual care day and night you are still perplext still busily plotting to compass your ends Tell me what are those ends you so long have sought and I will tell you what you soon will find while they are many they but distract your thoughts and often engage them to quarrel among themselves One end and one alone is the way to true and lasting Peace and on that one must all the rest depend It is true perhaps you will say and by that rule we guide our Lives whatever we undertake our ultimate design is only to be happy It is to be happy that we strive to be great and enrich our selves by defrauding others It is to be happy that we run after Pleasures and covet to have in every thing our own proud will But you alas mistake your Happiness and foolishly seek it where 't is not to be found As silly Children think to catch the Sun when they see it setting at so near a distance they travail on and tire themselves in vain for the thing they seek is in another World Just so we foolish Mortals commonly judge and are just so deceived when we think to meet with Heaven upon Earth This World alas has now no Paradise but all its Fruits are mixt with Weeds and Thorns all dangerously mixed with occasions of sin all sprinkled over with the bitterness of sorrow What did we ever passionately love but still in the end it made us repent Nay the best end was heartily to repent and learn by our falling to tread more sure It is not then here that we must seek our happiness and yet it is happiness that we all must seek Happy are thy Saints O Lord who wisely chose their end and constantly pursu'd the means to attain it Come let us adore the King of Saints Hymn 33. AWake my Soul chase from thine eyes This drowsie sloth and quickly rise Get up and to thy work apace No less than Kingdoms are prepar'd And endless bliss for their reward Who finish well this short Life's race 'T is not so poor a thing to be Servants to Heaven Dear Lord and thee As this mistaken World believes Not even here where oft the wise Are most expos'd to Injuries And Vertue poor and friendless grieves Sometimes thy hand lets gently fall A little drop that sweetens all The present bitter of our Cup O what hereafter shall we be When we shall have whole draughts of thee Fill'd to the brim and drink them up Say happy Souls whose thirst now meets The fresh and living stream of sweets Which ever spring from that blest throne Did you not find this true even here Do you not find it truer there Now Heave'ns strong Joyes are all your own Oh yes the sweets we taste exceed All we can say or you can read They satisfie and never cloy On Earth our Cup was sweet but mixt Here all is pure refin'd and fixt All highest Quintessence of Joy. Here in Heave'ns splendid Court have we Our blest abode and ever see The kind and radiant face of Love Whose Beams make us with Glory shine Our glad hearts warm with Love divine And these our Tongues with Praises move Hear'st thou my Soul what glorious things The Church of Heave'n in triumph sings Of their Seraphick life above Chear thy saint hopes and bid them live All these thy God to thee will give If thou embrace his bounteous Love. Great God of rich Rewards who thus Hast crown'd thy Saints and wilt crown us As we do both to thee belong O may we both together sing Eternal praise to thee our King In one Eternal thankful Song Amen MEDITATION II. IF thus our Nature tends to Happiness there is sure some Happiness to content our Nature Sure the All-wise Creator has provided means to satisfie the Appetites which himself has made Doubt not my Soul the Bounty of thy Lord but turn all thy fear on thine unworthiness and yet correct that fear again that it do not degenerate into despair by consisidering the worthiness of our kind Mediator Look up then and see a rich delicious Land that flows with sweeter Streams than Milk and Hony Look up and see a glorious City incomparably braver than the splendid Courts of Kings Behold the blessed Angels shining on their Thrones and all the holy Saints triumphing with
Praises to the God of our Salvation He is our full and all-sufficient Redeemer he has perfectly finisht what he graciously undertook for all our Trespasses he has made satisfaction for all our forfeitures he has paid the ransome We by our Disobedience were banisht from Paradise and he has received us into his own Kingdom He has set up a Kingdom of Grace on Earth to prepare us for his Kingdom of Glory We wandred up and down in the wilderness of Errour and he has guided us into the wayes of Truth We were by nature Children of wrath and he has mediated our Peace with his offended Father We were become the Slaves of sin and he has bought our Freedom with his own Blood We were in bondage to the dominion of Satan and he has overcome and confin'd his Power We were in danger of sinking into Hell and he has sav'd us from that bottomless Pit The gates of Heaven were shut against us and he went up himself and opened them to all Believers dissolving for ever the terrours of Death and rendring it now but a passage into Life O dearest Lord who mad'st us first of nothing and restor'dst us again when we had undone our selves Who wouldst at any rate redeem us from Misery at any rate procure our Felicity How came we wretches to be so consider'd How came we Sinners to obtain such Favour that from thy Throne of Glory where Seraphims ador'd thee thou should'st descend on our Earth where Slaves would affront thee That thou should'st lead a Life of poverty and labour and in perfect Innocence dye a Death of shame and sorrow That thou should'st do all this for such contemptible worms as we without the least concern or benefit to thy self only to raise us up from our humble dust and set us to shine amongst thy glorious Angels O infinite Goodness the bounteous Authour of all our hopes What shall we say to thy excessive Charity O gracious Lord and mighty deliverer from all our fears What shall we render for thy unspeakable Mercies We cannot chuse but search over all we have but we can find nothing to return but what thou hast given us We will therefore use the gifts thou hast bestowed on us according to thy direction and give the Praise to Thee of what we do well All the Glory of our Salvation we will ascribe to thee and to thee alone as the great cause who hast begun alone as and wilt at length finish it By thee we will alwayes say we do good and not lean to our own understandings by thee we will expect our Reward and never rely upon our own Merits Hymn 35. SWeet Jesu why why dost thou love Such worthless things as we Why is thy Heart still towards us Who seldom think on thee Thy Bounty gives us all we have And we thy Gifts abuse Thy bounty gives us ev'n thy self And we thy self refuse My Soul and why why do we love Such worthless things as these These that withdraw us from our Lord And his pure Eyes displease Break off and be no more a Child To run and sweat and cry While all this stir this huge concern Is only for a Fly Some silly Fly that 's hard to catch And nothing when 't is caught Such are the toyes thou striv'st for here Not worth a serious thought Break off and raise thy manly Eye Up to those Joyes above Behold all those thy Lord prepares To wooe and crown thy Love. Alas Dear Lord I cannot love Unless thou draw my Heart Thou who thus kindly mak'st me know O make me do my part Still do thou love me O my Lord That I may still love Thee Still make me love thee O my God! That thou may'st still love me Thus may my God and my poor Soul Still one another love Till I depart from this low World To ' enjoy my God above To thee Great God to thee alone One Coeternal three All Pow'r and Praise all Joy and Bliss Now and for ever be Amen MEDITATION II. PRoceed my Soul to celebrate the Praises of thy Lord go on with fresh attention to remember the Mercies of thy God whose Wisdom has contriv'd to save Mankind by so compendious a method as may be exprest in one short word He saw the only cause of all our ruin was our Love misplac'd on this present World He saw the only remedy of all our Misery was to fix our Love on the World to come This therefore was his great intent and in this concentred all his Merits to possess us with Love the end of Faith and greatest of divine graces to change the byass of our wrong-set hearts by establishing among us new motives of Charity such as might strongly incline our Affections and efficaciously draw us to Love our true Good such as might gain by degrees upon all Mankind and render Salvation easie and universal For this he came down from his Fathers Bosom to teach us the rules of Eternal Life that we might firmly believe those Sacred Truths which God himself with his own mouth has told us For this he Converst so long on our Earth to encourage and provoke us by his own example that we might confidently embrace those unquestionable Virtues which God himself in his own Person had practised For this he endur'd so sharp and many Afflictions and became at last obedient to the Death that we might patiently suffer whatever should befall us when God himself was so treated by his Creatures For this he so often Preacht of the Joyes of Heaven and set them before us in so clear a light that seeing so rich a Prize hang at the end of our Race we might run and strive with our utmost force to obtain it For this he ordain'd all the means of Grace and left us the Sacraments of his Body and Blood that he might breed and nourish in us the Life of Charity and ravish our Hearts with the sweetness of his Presence For this he establisht a perpetual Church and sent the Holy Ghost to Inspire and govern it that it might be maintain'd through all Ages in Truth and Sanctity and plant the same heavenly Seed over all the World For this he assum'd those strange endearing Names of Friend and Brother and Spouse to us Wretches doing far more for us O wondrous Love than all those Names import than all our hearts can wish Blessed O Glorious Jesu be the Wisdom of thy Mercy that has found so sweet and short a way to save us Thou art O Lord the cause of all our Love and Love the cause of all our Happiness By Love we fulfil all thy Commands and in keeping thy Commands there is great reward By Love we are reconcil'd from Enemies to Friends by Holy Love we are translated from Death to Life by Love we are deliver'd from the fear of Hell by Love we are the regenerated Heirs of Heaven by Love we are dispos'd for that blissful Vision by Love we are
art the free Bestower of all we have the faithfull Promiser of all we hope for Thy kind Saviour my Soul has given thee a gracious Call to thee has he sent the Invitations of the Gospel Shall he call and wilt thou not hear his voice and constantly follow it till thou come to him Wilt thou be so foolish as still to go astray like a lost sheep wandering up and down in thine own By-wayes Wandering out of his wayes and the wayes of Happiness pursuing only thine own Perdition By seeking our selves in this World of Vanity we lose both thee O Lord and our own Souls By seeking our selves in thee and in thy Love we find both thee and our own Happiness O how unspeakable are thy sweetnesses O Lord which thou hast hid for those who fear thee which thou hast partly reveal'd to those who love thee and keep their taste uncorrupted with the World. But O! what are they then to those who see thee and in that sight see all that is necessary to their Happiness to those who rejoyce perpetually before thee and in that joy find all joyes beside O beauteous Truth which known inforces Love and which well lov'd begets Felicity Live thou for ever in my faithfull Memory and be my constant Guide in all my wayes Still my Soul let us think of the Joyes above and undervalue all things compar'd with everlasting Salvation Still contemplate thy dear Saviour's Love that purchased for thee all those unutterable joyes MEDITATION II. MY God when I remember those Words of thine Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand When I consider they were the first thou spakest in publick the chosen Text of the Eternal Wisdom I cannot think but they contain a very important Precept and that I ought to be deeply affected with the power of the Motive My Soul did Christ begin his publick work with this Command Apply then those searching Words to thy self and bind them fast upon thee Repent O my Soul for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand repent for the Kingdom of Heaven depends upon thy Repentance Unhappy me that I cannot live without sin but blessed be our God that I may obtain Pardon by my Repentance Practise then my Soul that safe and easie method of censuring thy self to be acquitted by him Every night sit as an impartial Judge and lay before thee all thou canst of the past day Severely examine every thought and word and strictly search every Deed and Omission And since thou art not strong enough to be perfectly innocent at least endeavour to be humble enough to be truely penitent Say Woe to the day and hour wherein I sinn'd woe to the many dayes and hours I have foolishly mispent Or rather Woe to me who abuse my dayes and hours allow'd by thy goodness to work out my Salvation Be heartily sorry for what thou hast done amiss and make firm and wary resolutions not to do again what will make thee sorry Implore for the past the Mercy of Heaven and for the time to come the same indulgent Mercy Ask it in the Name of Jesus Christ for 't is only by his Blood that our Repentance can obtain the remission of our Sins If perhaps thou find in thy Examination that some little thing has been well done return to God all the Glory for this and beg his Grace to continue thy good and improve it His is the hand that sowes the seed his is the Blessing that gives the Increase Thus I will once in a day at least look home and seriously inquire into the state of my Soul Whate're my Malice or weakness may have done I should now undo it as it were by a hearty Contrition Let not the Sun go down upon thy Wrath nor upon any other unrepented Sin. O happy man that can write at the foot of his Account Reconcil'd to my God and in Charity with all the World. Such an one may go to Bed with a quiet Conscience and fall asleep in peace and hope MEDITATION III. LOrd e're I take my leave of this Day which thy Church has devoted to the honour of thy Memory I would repeat some few words more of those incomparable many that thou hast left among us I would attentively meditate their substantial sence and settle them as Principles of my Life and Actions Thou hast said I remember O divine Wisdom and well worthy it is to be remember'd Lay not up for your selves treasures on Earth where moth and rust do corrupt and Thieves break through and steal But lay up for your selves treasures in Heaven where neither moth nor rust do corrupt nor Thieves break through and steal For where your treasure is there will your heart be also Go now you curious and study what you please for me I 'l stay and listen to my Saviour He will teach me high and sure and useful Truths he 'll teach me Truths that will bring me to Happiness Only I must receive and keep the Truths he teaches me and obey their direction in my course of Life In vain am I told this Instruction if I will still dote on the uncertain Goods of this World utterly in vain if I will not be concern'd for the more durable and certain possessions of a better Notwithstanding this wise instruction I shall be a fool if I suffer my heart to six below if I set my Affections on that which is not All our few dayes we live here my Soul are full of Vanity and our choicest pleasures are sprinkled with bitterness The things here perish in the using and our transitory joyes vanish like a Dream Besides consider there is no reason thy Heart should six here when thou thy self art design'd for a removal Thou art but a meer Sojourner and Stranger on Earth and art passing hence to an eternal home Already I am dead to all the years I have lived and shall never live them over again All must go down to the same dark Grave and none can tell how soon he may be call'd To day we are in health among our friends and neighbours and to morrow Arrested by the hand of Death Nature may faintly struggle for a time but must yield at last and be buried in the Earth At last we must take our leave of nearest Relations and bid a long Farewell to all the World. And how sad a thing my Soul will it be in that day to have no Treasure but what thou must leave and to leave the onely Treasure that thy heart is set upon Let thy chosen Treasure then be in Heaven since where the treasure is the heart will be also Ye careless Worldlings hear but this one word more which our great Master has also spoken and then I expect you will stay and observe his Instructions too if any sense of your eternal good can hold you Heark he tells us this new and glorious secret We shall be hereafter like the Angels in Heaven O precious word to them
keeps alive in some the same Primitive Fire Still there are some Hearts full of the Holy Ghost full of the ravishing Wine of Divine Love Still there are some who renounce the World and readily take up the Cross and follow our Lord Still the Almighty Goodness is true to his Church and keeps it one and Holy and Universal Still the Holy Spirit thanks be to his unwearied goodness maintains in his Church some burning and shining Lights He that as a Wind breaths where he listeth and is the free Dispenser of his own Gifts is often found of those that seek him not and vouchfafes to strive with them that resist him Though the ungrateful World abuses his blessings yet he has not utterly withdrawn himself from the ungrateful World. Yet O ye Sons of Adam consider what your Maker has said My Spirit shall not alwayes strive with Man. If this refining Fire does not purge you from your wickedness the slames of his wrath will devour your World and you PETITIONS O Kind and gracious Spirit who art often near to us when we are far from thee often ready to grant when we are unmindfull to ask Vouchsafe now to hear these few humble Petitions which thy Grace disposes me to present I pray O Lord for the good Estate of thy Catholick Church Fit and dispose thy Servants first to entertain thee then graciously vouchsafe to descend into our hearts Fill us O Holy Ghost and our little Vessels and as thou fillest us enlarge our Capacities Make us the more we receive of thee still grow in desire of receiving more till we ascend to those satisfying joyes above where all our Faculties shall be stretch'd to the utmost where they shall all be fill'd to the brim and overflow'd with a Torrent of Pleasure Make us fit to entertain thee and then possess us with the holy fire of Meekness and peace that all the World may know whose Disciples we are by seeing us love one another O deliver us from the contrary fire the fire of the false and evil Spirit that scorches without warming and smoaks without shining and consumes without enlightening Deliver us from Schism and Heresie and every the least uncharitable Passion Vouchsafe to give us the spirit of Fortitude the spirit of Temperance Justice and Prudence the spirit of Wisdom Understanding and Counsels the spirit of Knowledge Piety and the fear of thee the spirit of Patience and Benignity the spirit of Humility Sobriety and Chastity And bring we pray thee the whole World into thy one Flock that all may be so far of the same mind here as all to enjoy the same happiness hereafter Grant these things O Lord to the Merits of our only Mediator Jesus Christ Glory be to c. Amen For the Evening MEDITATION I. WE are not our own but the Temples of the Holy Ghost let us dedicate our selves intirely to his Service Come let us now again prepare our Hearts and humbly offer this our evening Sacrifice Who will give me this happy favour that I may now find my God alone that I may find him in the silence of retirement where the noise of this World can no way interrupt us but that my God may speak to me and I to him as dearest friends converse together That I may unfold before him all my wants and freely ask the Charity of his Counsel What shall I do O gracious Lord to be happy here what shall I do to be happy hereafter Nature already has thus far taught me that in all I undertake I seek mine own good Onely I have cause to fear I may mistake that good and set up a vain Idol instead of thee unless my God the Spirit of Truth vouchsafe to instruct me and shew my Soul its true Felicity Heark my Soul how the eternal Wisdom gives thee Advice and let every word sink deep into thee Seek with thy first endeavours the Kingdom of Heaven and all things else shall be added to thy wish Love with thy whole Affections the enjoyment of thy God and all things else shall conspire to thy Happiness All these my lips confess are excellent Truths but my Life O God is not so ready to confess them I cannot perfectly overcome my Passions nor guide them so as to tend steadily towards thee Often do they draw me into sin by setting me upon the pursuit of this World. While they are mine I cannot govern them behold dear Lord I offer them to thee to be subjected in all their Motions to thy Laws and entirely employ'd in thy Service That my fond heart may be wean'd from the follies of this World and its Appetites quicken'd to thy solid Joyes That I may hunger and thirst perpetually after thee and those glorious Promises thou hast made to thy Servants That my whole Soul may seek thee alone since thou alone O Lord art all my Heaven O glorious God my Life my Joy and the onely fit Center of all my Hopes were my too unsteady Soul once firmly united to thee and could I relish the true sweetness of thy presence how would all other Company seem dull and tedious and the whole World be even bitter to my taste How would my thoughts cleave fast to thee and gladly seal this everlasting Covenant If thou O Lord wilt dwell with me my Heart shall continually attend on thee Night and day will I sing thy Praises and all my life long adore thy Mercies MEDITATION II. WHen O my Soul shall thy God find thee alone free from those busie thoughts that fill thy head O with what ready Charity would he then instruct thee and let thee into his blessed Secrets Himself would become thy familiar guest and dwell with thee in perpetual joy Strive then to clear thy self of all other thoughts that fill thee at best with nothing but emptiness Remember thy God is a pure Spirit and delights to dwell in a clean Tabernacle He will not entertain a Soul that regards any Sin nor stay where he finds his grace neglected If he vouchsafe the blessing of a Visit and O how sweet and ravishing is his presence let us open wide our bosoms to receive him and summon all our powers to entertain him Say Come my Understanding and bring all thou knowest all that enlightens thee in the way to Felicity Come my Will and call in all thy Loves and contract them into one and settle them here for ever Come my Memory but lay aside thy swarm of Notions and forget them all but what concerns thy Eternity Come my whole Soul with these Faculties about thee and prostrate adore the Eternal Spirit Behold he now is nigh and sits in the devout heart as on the Throne he delights in In devout retirement and calm silence he will familiarly speak to us and teach us what shall be for our good Come then and with devoutest reverence attend my Soul to what now thy God will say Let thy Understanding be ready to assent to his
King too O Blessed Jesu and we alas thy unprofitable subjects we cannot praise thee like those thine own bright Quires above yet will humbly offer our little tribute And while with thy present goodness to us we consider thy great bounty to them the glorious hopes which we from thence conceive give our praises the more spritely accents O praise our Lord we are constrain'd to say all the powers of our Souls praise the immortal King of Saints and Angels Praise him as the Author of all their Graces praise him as the Finisher of all their Glories Praise him for the mighty Hosts of Angels whom he sets about us for the guard of our lives that they may safely keep us in all our wayes and conduct our Souls at last to their eternal home Praise him for the consecrated company of Apostles to whom he reveal'd the Mysteries of his Kingdom that they might teach us too those heavenly truths and shew us the same blest way to felicity Praise him for the generous fortitude of Martyrs whom he strengthned with courage to resist even to death that we might learn of them to hold fast our Faith and rather lose this Life than hazard the other Praise him for the eminent sanctity of Confessors whose whole design was a course of Heroick Vertue That we might raise our minds from our usual lazy slight and with a quick and active wing mount up towards Heaven Praise him for the Angelical purity of those Virgins whose Hearts he so inflam'd with his Divine Charity that they would admit no such desires as would bring upon them other cares besides those of pleasing himself alone And pray him to possess thee too with such a fervent love to him the spouse of Souls as may make thee regard with great indifferency even the best of this worlds goods Praise him for the excellent holiness of all his Saints whose lives he has moulded into so various shapes that every sort of ours might be readily furnisht with a pattern cut out and fitted for it self O praise our Lord all you powers of my Soul praise the Immortal King of Saints and Angels Praise every Person of the Sacred Deity for every person has concurr'd in these glorious works say Blessed for ever be the Eternal Father who has fixt his Angels in so high a Happiness Triumph bright Angels on your radiant Thrones and shine continually in the presence of your God Blessed for ever be the Eternal Son whose love has exalted weeds of Earth to be flowers of Paradise There as they shall Eternally grow and shine their lustre shall alwayes redound to his Glory Blessed for ever be the Eternal Spirit whose Grace prepares the Saints for Glory where every happy Saint rejoices in his own felicity and every one in the felicity of all Blessed for ever be the Undivided Trinity whose sight alone is the Heaven of Heavens O sing his praise all you the Citizens of Heaven sing all together your everlasting Hymns MEDITATION III. WHo are we born here below in the Dust and still kept down with the thoughts of this World Lord who are we that our polluted hands dare offer to thee the Incense of praise We who so often disobey thy commands and so seldom lament for our many follies Yet is praise from us thy undoubted due and we cannot neglect it without omitting our duty But because our praises alone are too low to reach the deserts of thy wondrous nature and perfect works we will in our hearty wishes call upon those to do it who are better able to praise thee O praise our Lord you pure unblemisht Angels praise him ye mighty ever-active flames Praise our Lord all you the Spirits of Just men made perfect now you are free from the heavy clogs of mortal bodies And thus they do look up my Soul and see the innumerable multitude of triumphing Spirits See how they stand all cloath'd in white robes with palms in their hands and with golden Crowns on their Heads Behold the glorious Angels fall down before the Throne and prostrate adore him that lives for ever Behold the blessed Saints lay their Crowns at his feet and on their faces adore him that lives for ever Heark how they fill that spacious temple with their Hymns while night and day they continually sing Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come Hallelujah Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of thy Glory Hallelujah Glorious art thou in creating all things glorious in preserving them in every moment of their being Glorious in governing them their several wayes glorious in appointing them their proper ends Glorious in rewarding thy Servants above their hopes glorious in punishing Sinners below their demerits Glorious art thou O Lord in all thy works but infinitely more in thine own self-blessed Essence Thus they rejoice above thus they triumph and may their joy and triumph last for ever While we who live below may as faithful Ecchoes to their praises repeat every day these few short Ends of their Seraphick Hymns Salvation to our God that sits on the Throne and the Lamb that redeem'd us with his Blood Hallelujah Blessing Honour Glory and Power be to him that sits on the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever Hallelujah PETITIONS O Most Glorious and Gracious God we are all so beholden to thy abundant goodness that we owe thee the utmost praises our Hearts and Lives can render O do thou excite us to endeavour and assist us to succed in the discharge of this mighty debt Open our lips that our mouths may shew forth thy praise bestow upon us every divine Grace that our lives may shew forth the vertues of him that has called us from the dark to his glorious Kingdom Make us inure our selves by degrees to thankful acknowledgments and praises in this place of our banishment that we may at length be fit to sing the lofty songs of the celestial Zion O let us see thy goodness still preparing us for the blessedness of Heaven sanctifying every condition to the promoting our growth in Grace which as it will raise our hopes of the future Glory will proportionably raise our praises O let thy love dear Lord at length be pleased to take us to the fellowship of those joyes and glories which so raise the thankful praises of the happy Spirits above Bring us to that perfect state where no defect shall weaken us to that happy place where nothing shall divert us from seeing enjoying loving and praising thee for ever Grant O most merciful Saviour that as thy Blessed do without ceasing pray for thy Church below we may be ready devoutly to praise thee for them And help us Lord so to commemorate those excellent Graces and good works by which they adorn'd our holy profession as to be excited thereby and directed to practise the same Till we all meet before thy glorious Throne with one Heart and Consent
we may apply them to the earnest pursuit of our one necessary work the securing to our selves the Kingdom of Heaven Why should we spend all our daies about trifles and our labour for that which will not profit Earthly riches profit not in the day of wrath my Soul seek Heavenly Treasures Seek thou lasting and substantial Joys while others dote on and pursue those flitting shadows sensual Pleasures Seek thou the sacred Knowledge of thy God and Jesus the Christ whom he sent into the World whom to know is Life Eternal Miserable are they O Lord who study all things else and neglect this Sacred Science though their skill can number the Stars and trace out the wayes of the Planets Miserable are they who gather great possessions who heap up Gold and Silver but get no interest in thee Miserable are they who enjoy all that this World can afford to please but have no enjoyment of thee To know thee is to be truly wise and is the highest Learning To have thee my God and Portion is to be exceeding rich to contemplate and enjoy thee is a Heaven of Pleasure I determine to value no other Knowledge but that of Jesus the Christ and him crucified I account all things but loss and dung that I may win Christ and may have Communion with the Father and the Son through the Spirit PETITIONS WIth fervent desires O Lord and a panting Soul I am going to thy house O maintain I pray thee such desires after thy self and fulfil them while I am waiting where thou appointest Draw nigh to us who are drawing near to thee Make us sitly to perform our Duty Open thou our Lips and our Mouths shall shew forth thy praise Open thou our eyes O Blessed Lord that we may see the beauty of thy Commands how Wise and Sweet in themselves they are how Necessary and Beneficial to us While they improve our felicity here and fit us for that which will be hereafter Send forth thy beams of spreading light O thou that art the morning Star and lead us to thy Holy Hill. Send forth thy Truth O increated Wisdom and bring us to thy Blessed Tabernacle Guide thou our Lives O Gracious Lord in the waies of thy Precepts that by observing faithfully those excellent rules we may all every where be happy O Glorious Jesu in whom we live and without whom we dye mortifie in us by thy Spirit all sensual desires and quicken our Hearts with thy Holy Love that we may no longer have a high esteem for the Vanities of this world but may place our affections entirely on thee Show us thy glorious self O Jesu in thee we shall behold all we can wish Only so much we beg to conceive of thy Majesty as may move our Hearts to seek thee Only so much discovery we ask as may conform us to thy likeness If we may not know thee clearly now let us know at least so far as to make us long to know further If we cannot perfectly love thee in this Life let us love so much as that we may desire to love more So let us know and Love thee here O thou the Soveraign bliss of our Souls that we may hereafter know thee better and Love thee more for ever to our Eternal Bliss and thy Eternal Glory thereby Glory be to the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit As it was in the Beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen For Sunday Evening MEDITATION I. LEt them O Lord seek other delights who expect no felicity from thee Let them fill up their time with other employments and wast the remainder of this Holy day who think thy rewards not worth their labour As for me my Souls chief content shall be to meditate on the Glories prepar'd for thy Servants above So will I meditate on them as often as the daies of sacred leisure do return that my Heart shall be firmly set upon those Glories And all the few years that I live shall spend themselves to purchase that one Eternal Sabbath which thy Saints shall celebrate in Heaven A Day that is whose brightness knows no night nor ever fears the least eclipse Whose chearful brow no cloud o're-casts nor does any Storm ever molest the passage of its raies But it still shines on serene and clear and fills with splendor all the spacious Palace That ever-living day needs not the fading lustre of our Sun nor the borrow'd Silver of the Moon The Sun that is risen there is the Lamb and the light that shines is the Glory of God. O how Beauteous Truths are said of thee thou City of the King of Heaven Thy Walls are rais'd with precious stones and every Gate is one Rich Pearl Thy Mansions are built with choicest Jewels and the pavement of thy Streets is transparent Gold. Along in the midst of thee runs a Chrystal River perpetually flowing from the Throne of God. There all along those pleasant banks does most deliciously grow the Tree of Life A Tree which can heal all wounds with its balmy Leaves and make immortal all those who eat and taste its pleasant Fruit. Thus is the Holy City built thus is the New Jerusalem like a Bride in every part adorn'd O Blest and Glorious City how Free how Rich how Secure and Happy are thy glad Inhabitants Every Head in thee wears a Royal Crown and every Hand a Palm of Victory Every Eye overflows with joy and every Tongue with Psalms of Praise Behold O my Soul the Inheritance that we seek and where can we find more Riches to invite us Behold the felicities to which our exalted Saviour calls us Consider what Mansions he is gone to prepare Where can we meet with such pleasures to entertain us Can thy Sences present to thy Knowledge a place on Earth like this Surely they cannot Banish then my Soul all worldly vain desires Let none of them hereafter molest thy Peace Look not at the transitory things which are seen but at the Eternal which are not And so receive some glimpse of this Heaven to encourage and quicken thy Travel towards it MEDITATION II. BLest be thy Gracious Wisdom O Lord that so mercifully condescends to the mean and low capacities of our present mortal State. Under these veils thou hidest these glorious misteries which are too high and Spiritual for our Flesh and Blood to us it cannot yet appear what we shall be But after this manner hast thou revealed thy sublime rewards to allure and captivate us with things that of this world are most admired Scepters and Crowns thou know'st are apt to win the Hearts of us thy Children Children alas we are too truly in sacred Knowledge O that we were such in Love and Duty My Soul if these imperfect shadows of the future bliss do transport and please so many men should not the real substance sweetly delight thee What is a drop of Water to the boundless Ocean or a grain of dust to
justly fears the angry brow of his offended Prince so let my oft-forgiven Soul continually tremble to provoke the wrath of thy dread Majesty Thus temper O Lord my Love with reverence and allay my fear with hope that I may live to thy glory in a chearful Obedience Glory be to the Father c. Amen For Monday Evening MEDITATION I. TO know Thee O Lord is the highest Learning and to see thy face is the only true Happiness Consider now my Soul and thankfully remember what the great God is to us men Thou Lord art the great Beginning of our nature and the glorious end of all our actions Thou art the overflowing source from whence we spring and the Immense Ocean into which we tend Thou art the free bestower of all we possess and the faithful promiser of all we hope for Thou art the strong sustainer of our lives and our ready protection from all our enemies Thou art the merciful Scourger of our sins and the bounteous Rewarder of our Obedience Thou art the only wise God and the only safe Conductor of this lifes pilgrimage Thou art the ever blessed God and the Eternal Rest of our wearied Souls God is the Guide to find my way my strength to walk in it and my rest in the end of it He must draw me or I cannot run after him He must seek me or I can never find him and unless I find and enjoy him I can never be happy Such words our narrowness is constrain'd to use when we endeavour to speak the divine bounties when we would express how many wayes mankind are beholden to him that made them In a few words Lord here is much exprest what may fill our minds with a great many thoughts and afford matter for long Meditation But yet our words are and our highest thoughts must be far short of the goodness and mercy of thy thoughts towards us they are more than can be numbred by Men or Angels MEDITATION II. LEt us now consider my Soul and with great humility remember what we are to the great God We who alas are nothing in our selves what can we be to his Immensity Thou Lord who art all things in thine own rich self what canst thou receive from our poverty This only we are to Thee O Great Cretor the unthankful objects of all thy bounties This only we are to thee O dear Redeemer the unworthy cause of all thy sufferings Guilty we committed the Crime and thou with thine own Innocency undertook'st the Punishment We went astray from the path of life and thy mercy came down from Heaven to seek us to seek us in the wilderness where we had lost our selves and bring us home to the discipline of thy Love. Thou hast sent thy Spirit to gather the lost Sheep and what are we to Thee O holy and blessed Spirit but very stubborn and untractable creatures We are not sheep till thou hast changed our natures Man is born like the wild Asses colt Lord what are we that thou shouldst thus regard such poor vile and inconsiderable wretches What can our good will avail thy Bliss that with so many charms thou wooest us to love thee What can our enmity prejudice thy content that thou dost threaten so severely if we love thee not Is there O my God not felicity enough in the sweetness alone of loving thee Is there not certainly misery enough in living destitute of thy blissfull love Yes Yes Dear Lord so it is and that thou knewest and that is indeed the only cause which moved thy goodness to court our affections Thou knew'st we would else cast away our selves by doating on the follies of this deceitful world Thou knewest the danger of our wilfull nature and therefore strivest by greatest fears and hopes and by all the wisest arts of Love and Bounty to draw us to thy self and endow us with thy Kingdom But Oh unhappy we whose frowardness requir'd so strange proceeding to force upon us our own Salvation Yet happy we are in this that our wants have met so kind a hand that our God is good long-suffering and whose mercy endures for ever His goodness needs but our emptiness to engage him to fill us and nothing but our misery to move him to make us happy MEDITATION III. LOrd without Thee what 's all the world to us but a flying dream of busie vanities It promises indeed a Paradise of bliss but all it performs is an empty cloud Thine are the Joyes that shine fixt as the Stars and make the only solid Heaven Lord without Thee what are we to our selves but the wretched causes of our own ruin We 'till thou gavest us being were purely nothing more remov'd from happiness than the most miserable of thy Creatures Now thou hast made us we wholly depend on thee and perish immediately if thou forsake us Thou who without us art the same All-glorious Essence perfectly full of thy own eternal Felicity Without us thy royal Throne stands firm for ever and all the powers of Heaven obey thy pleasures O Lord how contrary is our imperfect nature in every circumstance to thy excellency and perfection Thou dwellest above in the Mansions of Glory and we below in houses of Clay Thou art from everlasting to everlasting we are but of yesterday and are every moment going downwards to our dissolution Thou art Immense and thy presence fills the Heavens but the greatest of us alas how little are we two yards of Air contain us while we liâ—e and a few spans of Earth suffice us at our death Thou art Almighty power all-sufficient fullness we are poverty and weakness When O when my God shall these vast distances meet together it is in thy power to make these extremities embrace each other we know that by thy amazing power they were once miraculously joyn'd in the sacred person of thy Eternal Son when the King of Heaven stoopt down to earth and grafted into his own Person the nature of man We hope they once again shall be happily united in the blissfull vision of thy glorious self when we shall be like thee by seeing thee as thou art when the children of Earth shall be exalted to Heaven and be satisfied with thy likeness But are there no means here below O thou infinitely high and glorious God! Is there no way for us now to approach towards thee to diminish at least this uncomfortable distance There is none but the way of holy Love Divine Love elevates our meanness Love will bring us near to the blessed God it will make us live in a happy union to him And none can attain this but by thy free gift unless Thou O dearest Lord do first Love us and with thy Love kindle the sacred fire in our breasts we shall never be so happy as to Love thee PETITIONS O Bounteous God! O abundant Goodness add to all thy other favours this of making me love and esteem thee above all things above my self and all
creatures besides Make me to see emptiness and vanity in all things else to account that all is vanity of vanities but only the Love of God and enjoyment of him Let me when I find this world ordain'd by thee to breed and widen only and not fill my capacity let me make this use of all thy Creatures here to raise and heighten my desires of thy infinite self in thy Eternity O God be thou to me my God and my All and make me nothing in mine own eyes Be thou my whole everlasting delight and let nothing else be any thing to me but thy self so draw my heart to thee so engross I beseech thee all my affections as to famish all the helpless Idols of my soul which in my state of darkness and enmity to thee I have so fondly ador'd Pity Oh pity gracious Lord according to thy infinite compassion my miserable distance from thee Thy hands have made me and fashioned me thou hast made me capable to enjoy thee thou hast given a capacity too large to receive satisfaction from any thing but thy self Oh regard with favour the work of thy hands say to my soul thou art my salvation and say it so Lord as to make me hear thy powerful word can open the deaf ear And through my ear Lord reach my heart quicken my stupid soul put a new life into me so make me gladly follow thee that by following I may find thee and having found may never lose thy sight again never turn away my eyes from thee never grow estranged again nor lose thy blissful acquaintance Never let any thing but thy Eternal self be the prevailing ruling Joy of my heart Grant these requests or I am undone Grant these requests for the love of thy only Son our Mediator and Advocate Amen Hymn 4. LOrd who shall dwell above with thee There on thy holy Hill Who shall those glorious prospects see That Heaven with gladness fill Those happy souls who prize that life Above the bravest here Whose greatest hope whose eagerest strife Is once to settle there They use this world but value that That they supreamly love They travel through this present state But place their home above Lord who are they that thus chuse thee But those thou first didst chuse To whom thou gav'st thy grace most free Thy grace not to refuse We of our selves can nothing do But all on thee depend Thine is the work and wages too Thine both the way and end O make us still our work attend And wee 'l not doubt our pay We will not fear a blessed end If thou but guide our way Glory to Thee O Bounteous Lord Who giv'st to all things breath Glory to thee Eternal Word Who sav'st us by thy death Glory O Blessed Spirit to Thee Who fill'st our hearts with love Glory to all the Mystick three Who reign one God above Amen For Tuesday Morning MEDITATION I. FRom thee O Lord we derive our being and from the same Goodness our Continuance to be if thou but withdrawest thy hand for one single moment we instantly return to our first nothing Thou art without Cause or Maker as thou art without beginning and hast thy dependance upon none else we have but a derived being only borrow'd worth we have nothing which we have not received nothing but our Sins is entirely our own which we have reason to be asham'd of Should we presume at any time O Lord to divide thy Grace and proudly challenge any share to our selves thy mighty Truth stands up against us and our own infirmities may plainly confute us Shouldst thou severely examine our Hearts and ask who works all their actions in them surely we must needs bow down our hâ—â—ds and from our low Dust humbly say Nothing are we O Lord but what thou hast made us nothing have we but what thou hast given us Not unto us then O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name be Glory When we have applied our utmost cares and us'd all the diligence that lies in our power what can we do but look up to thee and second all our endeavours with Prayers for thy Blessing And when we implore thy gracious Mercy what can we do but submit our hopes and expect the event from thy free goodness If thou denyest what we wish who can compell thy will or call in question thy Decrees Are we not all thy Creatures O Gracious God! and as helpless Children hanging at the Breast of thy Providence Are we not all as clay in thy hands to frame us into vessels of what use thou pleasest Behold we confess O Lord in thee we live in thee we move and have our being All our sufficiency proceeds from thee and all our success depends on thy favour Others may tell us the way that we should go but thou alone canst enable us to walk in it And they that tell us our way must be first taught it by thee And they must be moved by thee to act that Charity and so at last all is resolv'd into thee We know further O Lord and thou thy self hast taught us that unless thou defend the City the Guard watches it in vain We acknowledge and our own experience tells us that unless thou reach forth thy hand we are presently in danger of sinking Every moment of our day subsists by thee From all our Enemies thy Providence defends us and covers our Head in the day of danger Thou sendest in thy Grace to relieve our weakness and so disappointest the temptations that threaten to undo us O my Soul be thou ready to adore thy God that preserves thee Has he watcht over thee all this night for good has he renewed his mercies this morning does he bestow on thee all thy daies and the comforts they bring Then be asham'd to think much of spending one half hour in his service Hymn 5. COme let 's adore the Gracious hand That brought us to this light That gave his Angels strict Command To be our Guard this Night When we laid down our weary head And Sleep seal'd up our Eye They stood and watch't about our bed To let no harm come nigh Now we are up they still go on And guide us through the day They never leave their Charge alone Whate're besets our way And O my Soul how many snares Ly spread before our feet In all our joyes in all our cares Some danger still we meet Sometimes the Sin does us o'retake And on our weakness win Sometimes our selves our ruine make And we o'retake the sin O save us Lord from all those darts That seek our Souls to slay Save us from us and our false Hearts Lest we our selves betray Save us O Lord to thee we cry From whom all blessings Spring We on thy Grace alone rely Alone thy Glory sing Glory to thee Eternal Lord Thrice blessed three in one Thy Name at all times be ador'd Till time it self be done Amen MEDITATION II. THe Almighty Power
great many thousands find favour with God to be saved from an universal deluge In several populous Cities before this floud could well be forgotten there could not ten righteous persons be found for whose sake they might be spar'd from destruction Then the rayes of divine light were communicated but to a few particular persons Only Abraham found favour with God to have a numerous seed and that his seed should be heirs of a Covenant of Promise I will be thy God said the Almighty to him and the God of thy seed after thee Accordingly he that was the God of Abraham took also particular care of Isaac and Jacob and he gave his Statutes and Judgments to the Children of Israel but did not deal so with any other Nation But since thy coming O glorious Messiah light is come into the world and the way of Salvation has been made known to all men unclouded light has come wlth thee no more opprest with ceremonial veils which therefore has diffused it self into the dark corners of the Earth and spread it self to the ends of the World. The Day-spring from on high has visited our distant region and on us has the Sun of righteousness kindly arose The Christian Church thanks be to thy Love Dear Lord has included within its pale a great many Nations It has had thousands that with a strong and generous love have run swiftly after Thee in the way of thy counsels nay millions with a fair degree of hope have walked constantly towards thee in the way of thy Commands Whence O my God could this strange improvement come but from the infinite Merits of the Redeemers death Hence it was that when he had ended his holy Life he ascended to Heaven and gave gifts to men He gave largely of his Spirit to his chosen Apostles and sent them out to preach his Word and dispence his appointed Sacraments He gave them the gift of Tongues that they might Preach to all Nations and the gift of working Miracles to confirm their Doctrines By his Spirits cooperating with these and succeeding their endeavours they every where propagated the Faith and Love of Jesus Our kind Lord before he ascended into Heaven appointed the use of two sacred Rites in his Church to assist the Faith of those who did not see his Person that they might notwithstanding believe and in believing be blessed Lest mankind should be so ungrateful as to forget him he has left us memorials of his tender love By these he shews us his bloody Death and Passion and makes himself present to those that believe and love and these by the powerful working of his Holy Spirit have confirm'd many Disciples in their most holy Faith Many they have possest with a holy fervour and courage to do and suffer great things for the name of Jesus O blest Memorials of my Saviours love and faithful seals of all his promises whereby what he has done for us is represented and what he has purchas'd is applyed to us If I forget to sing of you let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth If I forget to meditate on you let my head forfeit its power to think MEDITATION III. WHere O thou boundless Ocean of Immense charity where will thy overslowing streams stay their course we and our ingratitude basely strive to oppose Thee but nothing can resist thy Almighty Goodness Thou didst come to thine own People and they received Thee not yet thou didst not forsake the kind design of thy coming When the Impiety of man was treacherously plotting to betray and murder Thee then didst thou mercifully consult about means to convey thy saving blessings to the world When they were resolving to bruise and kill thy sacred Body thou wast contriving how we might best reap advantage from thy Passion and Death Thy love we see was desirous to do more than dye for us having contrived moreover a way to live in us The Lord Jesus on the same night when he was betray'd took Bread and when he had given thanks he brake it and said Take Eat this is my Body which was broken for you this do in remembrance of me After the same manner also he took the Cup after Supper saying This Cup is the New Testament in my Blood which is shed for the remission of the sins of many Drink ye all of it and do this as oft as you Drink it in remembrance of me Thus has our wise Lord found an excellent way to make even our flesh assist the Spirit in us He has contrived by sensible things to make us move towards heavenly by those things which are wont to draw and fasten us to this earth When he distributed the Bread and Wine to his Disciples he gave them an interest in his abundant graces and merits And thus is he ready to bestow himself still upon those that believe and are desirous to partake of him He has commanded the celebration of this Holy Supper to be continu'd in the Christian Church to the end of the world And that not only to keep alive a thankful remembrance of his Death but also to confirm his gracious Promises to them that believe on him To the happy Soul then that with faith and thankfulness does thus commemorate the dying Love of our Saviour this Holy Supper is a Feast of fat things and of Wine on the lees well refined Jesus Christ himself will come and Sup with such and be willing to make his constant abode with them His Promise assures his Presence with them while they are here on Earth and that they shall when they go hence be taken up to be where he is O Praise the Lord ye Nations of the Earth all praise and admire his wisdom and love His Love that so industriously seeks our happiness and his Wisdom that finds such excellent means to accomplish it Praise him that is the sole fountain of spiritual Blessings and who alone has right to ordain the means of conveying them for that he has instituted a few means and those easie to be observed and made them the conveyances of all the riches of his Grace Give hearty thanks to the kind Redeemer for this Institution and express your thankfulness by coming to this his Supper Come to it to remember his propitiatory Death and to receive Jesus Christ who offers himself to you Come to partake of the important purchases of his Death and to devote your selves entirely to him who has so lov'd you Come all ye People of the wide world and let us adore the God that feeds us With himself our kind Saviour will feed us and with his Sacred Flesh his sacred Flesh is meat indeed and his Blood is drink indeed Our first Parents eat of the forbidden tree and incurr'd for themselves and their posterity an eternal Death We are invited to a Feast of spiritual Food which whosoever eateth shall live for ever With these dainties will divine love nourish us up to immortal
pleaded their excuse and when they kill'd him he earnestly pray'd for their Pardon O strange ingratitude of humane nature thus barbarously to crucifie the Worlds Redeemer O admirable Love of the worlds Redeemer thus patiently to dye for humane Nature Say now my Soul for whom thy dearest Lord endur'd all this and infinitely more Canst thou complain of thy little troubles when the King of Glory was thus afflicted Canst thou complain of a meanly furnisht house when the Son of God had not where to lay his head We wear the badge of a crucified Lord and shall we shrink back at every Cross we meet we believe in a God that was crown'd with Thorns and shall we abide to tread on nothing but Roses Before our eyes O Jesu we see thee humble and meek and shall thy Servants be proud and insolent We see thee travel up and down poor and unregarded and shall thy followers strive to be rich and esteemed Thy charitable labours were maliciously slander'd and shall not our faults have the patience to be reproved Thou didst not disdain to be call'd thô in scorn the Carpenters Son and cannot our lowness bear a little disparagement O how unlike are we to that blest Original who descended from Heaven to become our Pattern How do we go astray from that sacred path which the Holy Jesus trac'd with his own steps MEDITATION III. ALL this O Blessed Jesu thou taughtst thy Holy Prophets to prepare the World for the coming of a Humble Saviour all this and infinitely more thou didst verifie in thine own Person with the reproaches pains and inward sorrows thou didst endure So much as was able to make even patience it self break forth into this sad complaint O all you that pass by behold and see if there be any Sorrow like unto my Sorrow My God when I consider what thou hast suffer'd for us and what we have done against our selves I am amaz'd at the wonders of thy goodness and confounded at the vileness of our misery Our Sins were the cause of thy cruel death yet still we permit them to live in us We entertain the worst of thine Enemies and treacherously lodge them in our own bosoms Preferring a petty interest before thy Heaven and a transitory pleasure before Eternal Felicity Many we confess are the follies of our Life and our Consciences may very justly tremble at their own great Guilt Many are the times thou hast graciously pardon'd us and still we relapse and abuse thy clemency The Memory Lord of my transgressions shall be very bitter to me and the thought of my ingratitude shall extreamly afflict me Oh that my Head were Waters and mine Eyes a Fountain of Tears that Day and Night I might continually lament my own many Sins and my dear Saviours Sufferings But is there O my Jesu any stain so foul which thy precious blood cannot wash away Is there any heap of Sins so vast to exceed the number of infinite Mercies O no Thou canst forgive more than we can offend but thou wilt not forgive unless we fear to offend Unless we seek to Thee for Peace and reconcilement and humble our selves in thy Holy Presence I will therefore O Lord humbly prostrate my self before Thee and cast my self upon thy infinite Mercy I will look seriously into my own Breast and make diligent search for my bosom Sins I will confess and heartily lament my many failings and strive to correct and amend my self by Fasting and Prayer All we can offer thy offended Majesty to pacifie the Justice of thy wrath is only an humble Eye bath'd in Tears and a penitent Heart broken with godly sorrow Only a firm resolve to change our lives and even all this we must beg of Thee PETITIONS O Thou our Gracious and Indulgent Lord who freely pardonest all that truly Repent who givest Repentance to all that ask and invitest all to ask by promising to give O give me I pray an unseign'd Repentance for my past offences and then give the Remission that thou hast promised to Repentance Open O Lord my Lips freely to accuse my self for all the Crimes which my Examination may find in my Heart or Life Let the consideration of thy cruel Sufferings heighten my sorrow for Sin and confirm my detestation against it Make me in every action still think of Thee and call to mind what thou hast commanded me to do make me call to mind thy Holy and exemplary Life and think what thou thy self wouldst do O Blessed Jesu if thou wert here among us And when I have thus learnt my duty make me steadily do what thou hast taught me to know When I consider my waies make me turn my feet unto thy Testimonies Pity O dear Redeemer the infirmities of thy Servant and strengthen with thy Grace my often fainting Heart Preserve me hereafter by thy Almighty Power that no tentation may surprize or overcome me Arm me O Glorious Conquerour of Sin and Death against all the fears and terrours of this world Arm all my Powers with those celestial vertues Faith and Hope and invincible Charity That I may still go on and resolutely meet whatever stands in my way to Heaven If I must suffer as a Christian since I have deserv'd it from thee as a Sinner help me to bear it with such patience as becomes thy Servant Let me not by doing evil or omitting any required duty decline any suffering I may be exposed to for thy sake Since thy love made thee suffer so much for me and has prepar'd so excellent rewards to Crown my Sufferings hereafter Since Flesh and Blood cannot enter into thy Heavenly Kingdom make me to put them off here by frequent denying even their just contentments So shall I be disposed the better to endure with patience the inconveniences of my way thither I am O Lord I must confess unworthy of the least of thy mercies but these things I hope to obtain through the merits of thy Passion Glory be to c. For Friday Evening MEDITATION I. O Senseless we that so little consider what we do against our Saviour or what he suffer'd for us Lord how the World requites thy Love How ingrateful are we to thy Blessed Memory We negligently forget thy Sacred Passion or rather which is far worse our Sins renew thy Sufferings While we deprive others of their Right what do we else but divest Thee of thy cloaths While we delight in Strife and Schism what do we else but rend thy seamless Coat If we despise the least of thy faithful Servants are we not as so many Herods that scorn'd Thee If we for Fear proceed against our Conscience how are we better than Pilate that unjustly condemn'd Thee By forsaking thy will to follow our own do we not chuse a Murderer before thee By retaining a sharp and bitter malice do we not give Thee Vinegar and Gall to drink By shewing no Mercy to the poor and afflicted do we not pass by thy
Cross as strangers unconcern'd Thus we again Crucifie the Lord of Glory and put him afresh to an open shame Is this O wretched we the Duty we pay to the Sacred Memory of our Dear Redeemer Are these the Thanks our gratitude returns to that strange excess of our Saviours Love When we sate in darkness he took us by the hand and kindly led us into his own light We sought not him but he came from far to find us we look't not towards him but his Mercy call'd after us He call'd aloud in Words of melting tenderness Why will you perish O ye Children of Men Why will ye run after empty trifles as if there were no joyes above with me Return O you Dear bought Souls and I will receive you repent and though you had really crucified me I will forgive you Behold O Blessed Jesu to Thee we come on Thee O crucifi'd Love we fasten all our Confidence Never will we unclasp our hold till thy Grace has seal'd the pardon of our Sins Never will we part from this standard of Hope till our troubled Consciences be dismist in Peace There will we stand and sigh and weep and every one humbly say to thy Mercy Jesu my God I am a miserable Sinner O be thou my kind Advocate with the Father MEDITATION II. BElieve in Jesus O my Soul and thou maist be silent for he thy Lord will answer for thee rely on him and he will be thy security love him and thou art united to his satisfaction and merits Be innocent and he will defend Thee be humble and he will exalt Thee Repent and he will forgive thy Sins and purge away all thy foul impurities He will wash away the guilt of those Sins which thy wickedness has ever caused in others and of those also which thy weakness has at any time receiv'd from them The merciful Lord will purge thee from all thy secret faults and from those darling Sins that most abuse our Nature He will pardon what thou hast been and correct what thou art Will order by his good Providence what thou shalt be and in the end crown his own excellent Gifts Direct thy prayers to his tender Mercy and his Bounty will bestow more than thou askest Never let us fear the favour of our God if we can but esteem and earnestly desire it He that so freely gave us himself will he not with himself give us all things else Is not his painful Life and bitter Death sufficient pledge of his Mighty Love to us He has greater tenderness than any Mother and more faithful Love to our true Interest than any Friend O disparage not his great willingness to help by seeking aid of any other Mediatours Surely they have little Faith and far less hope who doubt the Mercies of so Gracious a God Mercies confirm'd by a thousand Miracles and Dearly seal'd with his own precious Blood That Innocent Blood which was shed for us to appease the wrath of his offended Father Is not his infinite love to us sufficient motive of our duty to him A Duty to which we are so many waies oblig'd and wherein our Eternity is so highly concern'd Now my Soul is the time of Acceptance now is the only day of Salvation Seek to Jesus to be washt in the pure Fountain of his Blood and apply thy self to do whatever he as thy Lord requires thee So shall the blessed Jesus be to thee Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption MEDITATION III. SHould'st thou O Lord have dealt with us in rigour we had long since been sentenced to Eternal Death Long since our guilty Souls had been snatcht away from this World and hurried down to everlasting Torments But thy gracious Mercy has yet repriev'd our lives and given us space to work out our Salvation Now is the time of Acceptance with thee Now is the Day of Salvation for us Now O my Soul let us mourn our former Offences and henceforth take care to bring forth fruits worthy of Repentance If we have hitherto persecuted the Lord of Glory and with our sins nail'd the Blessed Jesus on the Tree of Death Now let our whole endeavours attend the Service of our Saviour and loyally conspire to un-crucifie their Lord. Let us ascend the Mount of Calvary and often as we go salute his holy steps We kiss thy steps dear Lord when we love thy wayes and humble our selves and follow thee Let us there on our knees approach him on the Cross and reverently cover his naked Body We cover thee when our Charity cloaths thy Servants and hides the infirmities of thy little ones Let us there with tenderest care unfasten the nails and gently draw them out of his Hands and Feet We draw them out O Lord when we freely obey thy Will and loosen our Affections from cleaving to the World When thou hast thus my Soul rescu'd thy Lord nail thy self in his stead to the Cross Mortifie thy members which are upon the Earth and crucifie the Flesh with all its inordinrte Lusts PETITIONS O Father of Mercies and of our loving Saviour let the love of thee and of thy Son win our hearts entirely to thy self Win them from this vain Life and all the little goods of it to the sole pursuit and hopes of enjoying thee in thy Eternity Let the love of our crucified Redeemer soften our hearts and make them break for our past offences against thee For we have broken the Laws of our Maker we have provok'd the wrath of our Judge we have despised the goodness of our God. O deal not with us according to our fins nor give us the sad desert of our Iniquities We fly O Lord from the Bar of thy Justice to the mild and gracious Seat of thy Mercy Spare us O Lord who are the works of thine hands spare us whom thou hast redeem'd with the blood of Christ Pardon O Lord our sins of weakness and surprize pardon our sins of wilfulness and deliberation pardon our relapsing into the sins we have repented pardon our former living in sin without Repentance Make us so grieve for our sins as to hate them so hate as utterly to forsake them O may the good Spirit mortifie all our corrupt Affections that no principle may ever divert us from loving and serving thee Crucifie O Lord our Flesh with the fear of thee and let us have all our portion of sorrow in this World Crucifie us to the World and the World to us that being dead to it we may live to thee At least live thou in us O holy Jesu Possess thou us who hast bought us so dear as with thy Life's last drop of precious blood Dispose of all our motions according to thy righteous will help us to root out all our Vices with the constant practice of contrary Vertues that so we may bring forth fruits agreeable to a true Repentance And confirm O Lord we beseech thee our resolutions against sin and our courage to fight manfully
under the Banner of thee our Crucified Saviour that we may withstand the shock of all Temptations and conquer the Assaults of all our spiritual Enemies And make us watch as well as pray lest we enter into temptation that so we may be delivered from evil So guide and govern us dear Lord by thy great Wisdom and Love that nothing may be able to separate us from the love of thee our Glorious Redeemer who with the Father and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest ever one God world without end Amen Hymn 12. AND now my Soul canst thou forget That thy whole life is one long debt Of love to him who on a Tree Paid back the Flesh he took for thee Lo how the Streams of precious Blood Flow from five wounds into one Flood With these he washes all thy stains And buys thy ease with his own pains Thy Cross dear Lord does clearly now That doubt of former Ages show It was this wood should make the Throne Fit for a more than Solomon Large Throne of Love royally spread With purple of too rich a red Strange costly price thus to make good It s own esteem with its Kings blood Jesu best plant of Paradise To thee our hopes lift up our eyes O may aloft thy branches shoot And fill the Nations with thy fruit O may all reap from thy increase The just more strength the Sinner peace While our half-withered hearts and we Engraft our selves and grow on thee Live O for ever live and reign Blest Lamb whom thine own love has slain And may thy lost sheep live to be True lovers of thy Cross and thee All Glory to the sacred Three One undivided Deity As it has been in Ages gone May now and ever still be done Amen For Saturday Morning MEDITATION I. A Wake all ye Powers of my Soul and come pay your homage to the Prince of our Salvation cast your unworthy selves at his sacred feet and renew your vows of following his steps He triumpht over death in his own body and will enable us to conquer it in ours He chang'd the corrupted government of the world and establisht a new and holy Law that as we were Vassals to sin before we might now become the free subjects of Grace Let us live and dye in his blest Obedience and let no temptation ever separate us from him who if we resist will make us overcome and when we have overcome will crown us with peace Come let us adore our victorious Redeemer Thou hast O Lord triumpht over all thy enemies and ours but we alas are yet conversing in the midst of our enemies Prostrate before Thee we will confess our misery To how many dangers is our life expos'd with how many tentations are we round besieged tentations in meat tentations in drink tentations in conversing tentations in solitude tentations in business tentations in leisure tentations in riches tentations in poverty all our wayes are strew'd with snares and even our Sences conspire against us Whither O my God shall our poor Souls go encompast with a body so frail and a world so corrupt Whither but to thee the justifier of sinners and to thy grace the sustainer of the weak Thy Grace instructs us what we ought to do and breeds in us the will to endeavour what we know Thy Grace inables us to perform our resolves and when all is done thy Grace must give success We that of our selves can do nothing may through Christ strengthning us be able to do all things and gain the sentence of approbation that shall be pronounc'd upon his steadfast followers Well done good and faithfull Servants enter you into your Masters Joy. Hymn 13. LOrd we again lift up our eyes And leave our sluggish beds But why we wake or why we rise Comes seldom in our heads Is it to sweat and toyl for wealth Or sport our time away That thou preserv'st us still in health And giv'st us this new day No no unskilful Soul not so Be not deceiv'd with toyes Thy Lords commands more wisely go And aim at higher joyes They bid us wake to seek new grace And some fresh vertue gain They call us up to mend our pace 'Till we the prize attain That glorious Prize for which all run Who wisely spend their breath Who when this weary life is done Are sure of rest in death Not such a rest as here we prove Disturb'd with cares and fears But endless joy and peace and love Unmixt with grief and tears Glory to Thee O bounteous Lord Who giv'st to all things breath Glory to Thee Eternal Word Who sav'st us by thy Death Glory O blessed Spirit to Thee Who fill'st our Souls with Love Glory to all the mystick Three Who reign one God above Amen MEDITATION II. LOrd with what admirable Wisdom dost thou govern the world and order the several conditions of Men thy wise Providence orders some to be poor and appoints them their task of innocent work Thy Providence is pleased to make others rich and give them leisure for their better improvements Thou hast made both poor and rich to be some way needful to one another that all may live in love and unity and apply themselves to mutual assistance Happy are they O Lord who have so much employment that there remains no room for idle thoughts Happy are they who have so little business that they want not space to attend their Souls Happy yet more are they who in the midst of their work can think sometimes of the wages above whom nothing diverts from that chief concern of seeking to make their Election sure But while their backs are bow'd down with labour they freely can raise up their minds to Heaven And while they are ty'd to their Beds with sickness can yet move on towards their Eternal rest Often they rejoyce with themselves alone and silently say in their contented hearts Here we alas are narrowly confin'd and our time entertain'd with trivial affairs But hereafter we expect an unbounded enlargement and the same glorious office with the blessed Angels Here we are subject to a thousand miseries and the most prosperous life is vain and short but hereafter we expect an infinity of Joy and the solid Pleasures of Heaven for ever We too my Soul let us Pray to be guided in the middle Path and take care that we decline to no vicious extream to avoid the stormy sea of too much business and the dead water of a slothful life lest we be cast away by forgetting God or become corrupted by neglecting our selves Sometimes at least recollect thy thoughts how much soever thy condition distracts thee In all thy works remember thy last end when thou must bid a long farewel to all this World Remember that dreadful Day of the Universal Judgment when thou must give an account for every idle word Remember the Joyes prepar'd for the Innocent and the miseries that attend the wicked Remember how nearly it concerns thee to
thy goodness as to esteem thy commands the necessary rules of Soul-saving love to account that thou hast required nothing of us but what is necessary and highly conducing to the Salvation of our Souls Let me not be so dangerously foolish as in any thing to think my self wise in contradiction to the Precepts and Dictates of thy Word O may thy Holy Will dear Lord therein reveal'd be all my rule and thy Gracious Hand my constant guide Order thou my steps in thy Word let no iniquity have dominion over me Hold up my goings that my footsteps do not slide Quicken O Lord I pray the too frequent slackness of my obedience by the example of the Creatures about me who yield thee a constant and unrelucting obedience and by a firm belief and apprehension of those great and glorious rewards which thou hast prepared for such as serve Thee fashion my Spirit to a humble submission and conformity to thy will. Make me exactly observe what thou prescribest how bitter soever it may tast to Flesh and Blood Make me alwaies readily submit to every dispensation of thy Providence though for the present it may be grievous And Lord since thy wisdom knows our infirmities I pray thee lay upon me at no time more burden than I shall be able to bear let not my circumstances be attended with temptations either that are so violent or so lasting as to overcome me Since thy goodness delights in our relief assist me against the difficulties of Duty Lord help me so to do all the work thou givest for thou alone canst help me as that I may at last attain thy Eternal rewards through the Merits of Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen Hymn 20. BLessed O Lord be thy wise grace That governs all our day And to the night assigns its place To rest us in our way If works the labouring hand impair Or thoughts the studious mind Both are consider'd by thy care Both fit refreshment find Fit to relieve the present state Fit to prepare the next While we are taught to meditate This plain and useful Text. As every Night layes down our head And Morning opes our eyes So shall the dust be once our bed And so we hope to rise To rise and see that beauteous light Spring from those eyes of thine Not to be checkt by any night But clear for ever shine That thou maist hope my Soul to view That lasting blissful light Take heed thy present work thou do And use thy rest aright All glory to the Sacred Three One ever-living Lord As at the first still may he be Belov'd Obey'd Ador'd Amen For Wednesday Morning MEDITATION I. LET them neglect thy Praises O Lord who never consider thy Mercies Let them be silent to thee O gracious God whose Mouths are full of themselves But as for me who subsist by thy gifts and thankfully acknowledge the riches of thy goodness my heart shall continually Meditate on thee and my Lips shall delight to sing thy glory All my Life long will I Praise my God and lift up my hands to his holy Throne Blessed for ever be thy Name O Jesu and blessed be the sweetness of thy Wisdom whose infinite Charity has vouchsaf't our Earth such excellent Rules to guide it to Heaven Thou hast taught us that happy Skill of finding our lives by a generous losing them to follow thee Thou hast taught us to love our true selves best by wisely hating our mistaken selves Thou hast taught us to trample this world under our feet and use it as a step to climb up to the next From thee we learn those glorious Mysteries that exalt our Faith so high above Reason From thee we derive those Heroick Counsels that raise our Souls so far above nature from thee alone and from thy School of grace we learn all that we know and receive power for all that we do How long alas might we have wander'd here in the midst of Darkness and Error had not thy love and pity O merciful Lord brought down thy very self to become our light Never should we else have learnt to deny our selves and take up our Cross and follow thee Never should we have known that great secret of Peace to forgive our Enemies and do good to those who despitefully use us On the unsatisfying things of this low Earth should we blindly have set our whole Affections if thou hadst not told us of the Kingdom of Heaven and bid us lay up our treasures there We had alwayes chose the deceitful and pernicious wayes of sin if thou hadst not terrified us to fear thy wrath by declaring the miseries that attend them We should ever have neglected thy good Commands and lost the happiness of a religious life if thou hadst not invited us to obey thy Commands and proposed to us the felicities that will attend our doing so O what hast thou promised Gracious Lord to the meek and poor in Spirit O what hast thou promised to the Weepers here to those that hunger and thirst after Holiness How many Joyes has thy bounty prepar'd for the lovers of Mercy and makers of Peace How many Blessings for the pure of Heart and those who with Patience bear their Crosses Thus hast thou Lord kindly shown us our end and suggested the true way to attain it Thou hast given us such blessed directions as tend to make our Life here more sweet and to lead us hereafter to everlasting Felicity Hymn 21. MY God had I my breath from thee This Power to speak and sing And shall my Voice and shall my Song Praise any but their King My God had I my Soul from thee This Power to judge and chuse And shall my brain and shall my will Their best to thee refuse Hast thou reveal'd the wayes that lead To Happiness above And shall I let my wandering feet From thy blest Paths remove Alas not this alone or that Hast thou bestow'd on me But all I have and all I hope I have and hope from thee And more I have and more I hope Than I can speak or think Thy Blessings first refresh then fill Then overflow the brink But though my Voice and Fancy be Too low to reach thy Praise Yet both shall strain thy glorious Name High as they can to raise Glory to thee Immortal God One great Coequal Three As at the first beginning was May now and ever be Amen MEDITATION II. NEver will we cease to exalt thy Goodness O gracious Jesu since thou never ceasest to oblige us with new Blessings Thy generous Charity could not be thus satisfi'd to have only spoken to us the words of Life it was not enough for thy excessive Love that thy heavenly Sermons told us our duty but thou would'st moreover urge and provoke our Obedience by the sweet enforcement of thine own Example Thou didst forbid thy followers to affect Superfluities and accordingly thine own Provision was a few Barly Loves Thou didst command the rich to give
Alms with chearfulness so thou wentest about doing good and didst often relieve those that were not able to requite thee Thou hast commanded us not to fear them which can kill the Body and yielded up thine own to the death upon the Cross to do the will of him that sent thee thou wast obedient even unto death Thou hast commanded Subjection to Parents and practised it hast said Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and wrought a Miracle to pay a Tribute Thou injoynest us Mercy and Compassion and who ever exprest more than thy self Thou didst not only weep in Sympathy with the Affliction of thy Friends but also over the hard and stubborn Jerusalem that had killed thy Prophets and was ready to kill thee Thou enjoynest us to love our fiercest Enemies and thy dying breath pray'd for thy Crucifiers Thy perfect Soul did not need as our weak Natures do the outward Forms and Discipline of Religion yet thou didst conform to the observance of the common appointed Feasts and assist in the publick Duties at the Temple Thou didst watch and pray with so fervent a Zeal that thy Practice was perfectly equal to thy Precepts This Life and even Death it self our merciful Lord undertook to mark out for us the way to Heaven To beat it plain by his own sacred Steps and render our passage thither easie and secure Shall we not then O my Soul rejoycingly follow that path which we see our Saviour trod before us Which we see though spread all over with Thorns yet carried him directly to the Glories of Paradise Shall we not confidently rely on so gracious a Leader who promises if we faint to look back and relieve us MEDITATION III. MAY every Age sing Praises to our God and all Generations adore his Providence From the Beginning his Mercy has still laid means to raise us to those blessed Objects which are above our Nature At first he created Adam with all necessary knowledge and then taught the Patriarchs to inform their Families Afterwards he made use of the Angels to bring us his Commands and often inspir'd the Prophets to declare his Will. When he had done all this it was not enough to bring untoward Man to his true end What did he then to save the perishing World O strange Excess of divine Goodness He sent even his own beloved Son to dwell among us and teach us the way of Salvation the sacred Art of training up our Souls for Heaven and fitting them for the blissful Union with himself But O! thou King of glorious Sweetness whose flowing Tongue dropt Milk and Hony We were alas not happy to behold thy Person nor our Ears worthy to hear thy Voice Yet e're we were born thou hadst us in thy thoughts and didst provide a sufficient method to supply that defect selecting a number of choice Disciples and thorowly instructing them in thy heavenly Doctrine that they might keep alive the memory of thee and witness to all Nations thy stupendious works Thou didst verifie their Mission with the Power of Miracles and enflame their hearts with the fire of the Holy Spirit Over all the World they proclaim'd thy Law and undauntedly preach'd the Crucified Saviour and God. Deep in the Breasts of the Faithful did they write thy Gospel and seal it before their eyes with their own Blood. Their Successors deposited the same precious Treasure in the common Magazine of the Church The Church has been maintain'd by the mighty power of God so that the Gates of Hell have not prevail'd against her Thus is the Catholick Faith descended on us and thus shall continue to the end of the World. Blessed be thy power O Lord that has wrought such Miracles to confirm thy Truth and enclined our hearts to believe it How many Souls are miserably seduced by the Corruptions of the latter Ages and revolted to a mixture of Paganism with Christianity while we by thy good Providence are led in the right way to Happiness We are taught to direct our Homage where we cannot sin nor fail in doing it to one God by one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus the Man who also is God. How many Nations lie miserably involv'd in the darkness of Barbarism and Unbelief while we enjoy a clear noon-day and safely walk in the light of Truth O infinite Goodness who freely choosest to pour forth thy Blessings on us who are unworthy of the least Mercies As 't is from thee alone that we receive these favours to thee alone we will return our Praises PETITIONS O Christ the all-seeing Wisdom of the Eternal Father and Soveraign King of Men and Angels who from thy glorious Throne didst descend on our Earth familiarly to teach us the Oracles of Heaven O write thy sacred Instructions deep in the Table of our Hearts and suffer not at any time our Passions to break them Make us still study thee our heavenly Master and continually admire the excellent Beauty of thy Law. Let us be transform'd into an inward agreement to it by the renovation of our Minds that all our infirmities may be cured all our defects supply'd and our thoughts and words and actions conform'd to the dictates of right Reason Let thy excellent Example O Lord alwayes shine bright before our eyes and never be forgotten by us O put it often into our Hearts to reflect and say How would our Master have behaved himself in the Circumstances that we are in And what thou hast done we pray thee enable us to do Reach forth thy powerfull hand and strengthen us with thy Grace that nothing may divert us from following thee In the dangerous Labyrinth of this World and the whole course of our Pilgrimage here Lord let thy heavenly Dictates be our Map and thy holy Life our Guide And that we may be the more surely conducted to the Folds of Bliss do thou dear Lord send us Pastours after thine own Heart O illuminate all that thy Providence calls to the Sacred Office with true knowledge and understanding of thy Word possess them with a fervent Zeal to promote thy Glory and the Salvation of our Souls Give them great prudence that they may know how to manage our folly and perverseness so as notwithstanding them to do us good Make them O Lord good Examples to the Flock in Self-denial Meekness Contempt of the World in due subjection to Magistrates and Charity to all their Neighbours that they may save themselves and those that hear them And make us O Lord to encourage them by all means in their good Work to esteem them highly in love for their works sake to receive the Instructions and submit to the Reproofs which thou sendest by them Grant these things O Lord who art the great Shepherd of Shepherds and of our Souls for thine own honour Glory be to c. Amen For Wednesday Evening MEDITATION I. WEll we are now so much nearer our Grave and all the world is older
by a day than it was in the Morning of this So much more of this short life is spent and can never be recalled again My Soul there is so much less time left us to enjoy the good things of this life that we have or hope for and so much less wherein we shall be exposed to the evils that we feel or fear Time has set us nearer to the Grave from which no priviledge can exempt any of the Sons of Adam The rich are nearer the time when they must go hence and leave all their Wealth behind them The great Ones of the World are nearer to their dark lodging in the dust into which they must e're long be thrown The beauteous Face is nearer to be turn'd into noisom rottenness and the pamper'd Bodies to become the food of Worms This day has set all the living nearer to the Grave and tumbled a great many into it The longer we live the shorter does our Life become and in the end all our Vigour Strength and Beauty turns to a little lump of clay The Portion of the wicked is so much less and the time of their punishment is nearer approacht The Sufferings of the Patient are so much diminisht and their hopes of Delivery so much encreased They who have spent this day in sin and folly see all their thoughts now vanisht like a Dream They see all the pleasure of their guilty Actions is past and there is nothing remains but the just fears of a sad revenge The best consequence that can be of their course is the sadness of a bitter Repentance But such as have wisely bestow'd their time and made another new step towards Heaven they see their joyes come to meet them in their way and still grow bigger as they come till by a holy Death they join in one and dwell together for eternal Ages For our bounteous God has made our Souls immortal And when this house of Clay shall fall into the dust and this narrow Cottage be broken down they shall soar alost on their own free wings and enter into the beatifick Vision of God If they have train'd themselves up whilest they were here to a fitness for Heaven and its joys they shall instantly fly to those blessed Objects But if their terrene thoughts have flagg'd below and delighted most to hover near the base Earth If they have not lov'd above all things and sought most the Enjoyment of their God They must sit down in the shades of Sorrow and be confin'd in the Vale of Darkness and despair for ever MEDITATION II. WE are nearer indeed to the end of our Life but what are we nearer the end for which we Live What have we done my Soul this day that has given Glory to God and advanced us towards our future Blessedness Have we encreas'd our esteem of Heaven and settled its love more strongly in our hearts Have we avoided any known Temptation or faithfully resisted what we could not avoid Have we interrupted our customary faults and checkt the Vices we are most inclin'd to Have we embraced the Opportunities of doing good which the Mercy of Providence has offer'd to our hands Have we industriously contriv'd occasions to improve as we are able our selves and others Tell me my Soul how stand our great Accounts Are we prepar'd to meet our strict and righteous Judge Who without respect of persons judges all men and will dispose them accordingly to their eternal abodes Alas dread Lord what do we see when seriously we reflect upon our too careless lives Many hours and dayes we spend in nothing and many we abuse in that which is far worse than nothing We sacrifice our Youth to sport and folly and our manly years to Lust and Pride We spend our old Age in Craft and Avarice and think then of beginning to live when we apprehend we shall shortly die Thus we lead a negligent life and Death steals upon us unawares We are apt to bewail the shortness of our time when yet we do prodigally throw much of it away We lose the time of working out our Salvation in the busie pursuit of very Trifles and so we lose our neglected Souls for ever They must in eternal anguish lament our present careless Liberties and suffer unspeakable pains for our gratifying the passions and Appetites of our Flesh O my Soul consider the mighty work thou hast to do to fit thee for a happy departure out of this world Do that work diligently while it is called to day because the night constantly approaches wherein none can work Every one of these nights sets us nearer to our last and longest which if we have spent the day of life in diligence reserves for us eternal wages MEDITATION III. COme my Soul let us make our peace betimes with our God before the evening of our Life approach too near Let us endeavour to find favour with our Judge before we shall be brought to his awful Tribunal Confess the follies and sins thou findest in thy Life and charge them all entirely on thy self Confess them with a penitent and contrite heart for a broken and a contrite heart our gracious God will not despise Thy Repentance my Soul will come too late to meet with mercy if thou deferr it till this life is at an end Seek the favour of God in the Name of his beloved Son he is pleased that we should make mention of him For his sake he will readily bestow a pardon to them that humbly seek it for he desires not the death of a Sinner Moreover my Soul all the good that thou hast done to thy self or others thou must ascribe to his free Grace as the only principle of it Such humility will be very acceptable to him and dispose thee to receive larger Benefits from his bounty Say then to him if thou hast found any good in thy course Little O Lord thou knowest is the good we do and every grain of it derived from thee We could not have sav'd our selves from any dangerous temptation unless our God had powerfully sustain'd us We could not have carried on any pious purpose unless thy hand had blest our endeavours No to thy self O Lord take all the praise if thy Creatures have perform'd the least good work Take to thy self all the glory O Lord if they have not committed the worst of sins Thy hand alone directs us to do well and the same blest hand restrains us from ill 'T is not in us to esteem thy unseen Joyes nor to despise the charming Flatteries of this deceitful World 'T is not the work of corrupted Nature to mortifie our Senses and patiently bear the Crosses we meet Of our selves we are inclin'd to none of these but the Grace of God inables us for all Grace gives us strength to overcome our Passions to make the World and the Flesh subjects to us Grace gives us Faith to fortifie our reason and helps us to take Heaven by violence O how
adore Faith's Mystery Faith is my Skill Faith can believe As fast as Love new Laws shall give Faith is my Eye Faith Strength affords To keep pace with those Gracious Words And words more sure more sweet than they Love could not think Truth could not say O Dear Memorial of that Death Which still survives and gives us Breath Live ever Bread of Life and be My Food my Joy my All to me Come Glorious Lord my hopes increase And mix my portion with thy Peace Come and for ever dwell in me That I may only live to Thee Come hidden Life and that long Day For which I languish come away When this dry Soul those Eyes shall see And drink the unseal'd source of Thee When Glory 's Sun Faith's shade shall chase And for thy veil give me thy Face Then shall my Praise Eternal be To the Eternal Trinity Amen MEDITATION II. DOst thou my Soul design an approach to the Sacred Table of our Lord Take heed then that thou put on a Wedding Garment and come thither drest like a Friend of the Bridegroom Consider how chast these Eyes should be which go to behold the Symbols of his presence How clean that mouth should be which presumes to receive the Bread of Heaven How all celestial that Soul should be which aspires to an Union with our Heavenly Lord. Look look my Heart look well into thy self and strictly search every corner of thy breast Carefully empty thy self of all that which this sacred food will not agree with that thou maist safely come to the Marriage Supper and not eat and drink thine own Damnation Empty thy self of all self-admiring thoughts and take heed there be no secret love of Sin. Empty thy self of Worldly cares and let thy desires seek only thy Saviour Seek only now the Riches of his Grace seek only the pleasures of his Love. Let no turbulent passions now dwell in thee but only serious thoughts and devout affections This spiritual food affords no nourishment but what we receive by calm Meditation Come not with any malice against a Neighbour when thou seekest the favour of thy God. The God of love will not dwell with hatred nor shew Mercy but to those that are merciful Come hither with a Faith that works by love and then thou shalt be filled with the Celestial Manna But the uncharitable Faith as a dead thing is utterly uncapable of food or nourishment Draw nigh with a humble and broken Heart to partake of the broken Body of thy Lord. Get a distinct knowledge of this divine institution that thou maist be able to discern the Lords Body Know that Christ our Passover was crucified for us the innocent Lamb of God made a Sacrifice for our Sins We are invited to Feast upon this Sacrifice and therein to be united to it and have Interest in it Jesus Christ gives himself to us at this Ordinance and expects that we should give our selves to him Come with a mighty love to thy loving Saviour and a very great esteem of an interest in him If thou believe indeed he will be precious to thee And in such thoughts as these will thy Soul move towards him Thou art my only hope O Blessed Jesu and thy favour alone is all things to me In Thee I shall possess whatever I want and thy fulness exceeds even my utmost desires In Thee I shall find the Providence of a Father and the tender kindness of an indulgent Mother In Thee I shall enjoy the protection of a King and the rare fidelity of a constant Friend I shall need no other Advocate with the Father but Thee nor want any Instruction if thou wilt be my Teacher What can I wish for more if I may say O Jesu thou art my God and all things In that enough is said for them that love thee and know the value of those precious words O sweet and charming words My God and all things Sweet in excess to those that tast them Not so indeed to the corrupted Palates of the World who relish nothing but the food of sense Words that revive the fainting mind and fills it 's darkest thoughts with light and joy Thus furnisht my Soul thou may'st come to this Feast and shalt find the reception of a welcome guest Though some imperfections do remain in thee yet go that those imperfections may be healed He has kindly and earnestly invited us to his Supper who sees and has great compassion on our Miseries He bids us come my Soul and will surely receive us and with his bounteous fulness supply our defects Go then my Soul to that Sacred Table and take thy part of that delicious Banquet Go all inflam'd with love and with desire and quench thy Holy Thirst at that Spring of Bliss MEDITATION III. APProach my Soul with an amorous reverence to the Presence of so kind a Majesty O be transported with Joy and wonder to think that thou art going to receive thy God thy great and glorious God who only out of love thus gives himself the Pledge of thy sinal Salvation Welcome the glad day with Thankfulness and Praise on which thou maist be admitted to this excellent Feast And while the King sits at his Table it is meet thy Spikenard send forth the smell thereof that thou exercise those Graces he has given thee in devout Meditations He delights in the exercises of these and thou oughtest to delight in pleasing him Say then my Soul when the Solemnity begins and thou art bid to draw near and take the Holy Sacrament Alas how poor dull and empty am I O Lord how infinitely unworthy so divine a Sacrament In my best attire O Lord I am so ragged that I am even asham'd to see my self Well may I then with shame and blushing come into the Presence of holy Angels and much rather be abasht to appear before the purer Eyes of thy Infinite Glory What is Man O Lord that thou art thus mindful of him What am I the unworthiest of men that thou shouldst Invite me O this kindness is too much for Man to receive 't is infinitely more than the mean Creature can deserve but 't is a kindness suitable to a God to bestow whose goodness like himself is infinite It is in Obedience Great Lord to thy Command that I now present my self before thee and in a due acknowledgment of thy faithfulness I come to partake of thy Blessings When thou hearest my Soul the words of Consecration pronounced which separate the Bread and Wine from a common to a divine use say I believe O Eternal Son of God thou didst take our Nature into a Personal Union with thy self Thou didst take it in all its essential Parts but free from all our sinful Infirmities I believe thy Soul was made an offering for sin and that offering was accepted of the Father thy Sacrifice made a full Propitiation and therefore are we permitted to eat of it And seeing the Body and Blood of our
do thee faithful Service I own O Lord the Justice and Equity of being so obliged I account it my Interest to be intirely thine I am saved by being Devoted to thee and honour'd in admission to thy Service It is the greatest Preferment I can attain to serve him who is Lord of Heaven and Prince of the Kings of the Earth Thy Service O Lord is perfect Freedom and they have great Peace that love thy Law There are no riches comparable to thy rewards nor any Pleasures so sweet as thy Consolations I am asham'd O Lord and have great reason to be so for that I have liv'd no more suitable to such a Devoted State That I have presum'd to dispose of my self so much according to the devices and desires of of my own heart I have often wander'd from the safe and pleasant Path of thy Commandments and often stept into the dangerous uneasie wayes of sin I have greatly disparaged my self hereby in thy sight and in the sight of thy Holy Angels O it is fit that thou and they who have seen my sins should see my repentance that have seen me most basely breaking my Covenant with my God should see me heartily renewing again so just a Covenant I thank thy Love Dear Jesu for 't is by what thou hast done for us that our Repentance may be accepted I thank thee O gracious Saviour for Instituting thy Supper for the Renewal and Confirmation of our Baptismal Covenant that thou hast commanded us at that to reinforce our resolutions and that thou art ready to confirm them by thy Grace It is Lord the sincere desire of my Soul never to revolt from Thee any more I believe there is no greater happiness than to be a firm Confederate with the faithful Jesus By which I shall become a Temple to the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Light and Love the Spirit of Grace and Glory Now Lord that I have had a fresh sight of thy Love and have sate under thy Shadow with Delight thy blessed Name shall be deeply engraven in my heart I will allow no affection but the Love of Jesus and all my powers and all their motions shall be subject to that I will say to all the Vanities of the world Be gone I have no room in my heart for you whom I cannot love too little I will reserve it all for my Saviour whom I can never love too much I will say to those Temptations that would draw me into sin cease your base Solicitations for I cannot willingly grieve my loving Saviour If it be difficult to serve him I will steadily conflict with those difficulties If it will cost me the loss of all worldly Conveniencies I will gladly forsake all to adhere to him If it expose my Life I will let that goe rather than deny my loving Lord. Now that I have receiv'd the Blessed Jesus at his Supper and thou Lord art come to make thy abode with me I will study to give thee such kind Entertainment as may please thee and keep thee with me I will indeavour in my thoughts words and actions to set alwayes before thee what I think will be acceptable I will watch against every thing that is impure and would be offensive to thy holy sight I will often retire from the World to converse with thee Worldly cares and business shall not keep me from thy Company I have been praising thee O Lord in thy House and at thy Table but I have not praised thee enough And who can praise thee enough for what I there saw for what I there received Oh! how low are my Conceptions of thy Love how vastly below it are all my words I will try O Lord what my deeds can do in praising thee and every part of my Life shall endeavour thy honour Thus Lord I may and ought to resolve but my Practice depends entirely on thy Grace PETITIONS O Lord our kind and gracious Redeemer Thou art exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance and Remission of Sins I beseech thee O Lord as thou hast enabled me to repent and to confess the folly of my backsliding heart do thou graciously give me thy pardon Forgive me O Lord that I have been so false to former Vows and have so often contradicted my Covenants with thee O deal not with me as I deserve cast me not away from thy presence take not thy Holy Spirit from me I have been weakly striving against my sins and could not so far conquer them as I would And therefore Lord I came to thy Table to receive greater strength against them O let such a vertue come from thy Death at this Remembrance of it as may lay all my sins utterly dead and let the Influence of that power so remain as that they may never revive that I may never be hinder'd in my Duty by any sin easily besetting me that I may serve and please thee in all purity heavenly-mindedness integrity in Charity Humility and Contentedness in whatever condition it shall please thee to place me Enable me perfectly to overcome my Passions and keep them all subject to the Laws of thy Love. Let thy Love which is represented in this Sacrament so deeply affect me that I may delight to think and to speak of it and may endeavour as far as I can to imitate it Keep me mindful of my Vows make my Endeavours successful and my Obedience perfect and compleat in all things So possess me with the Love of thee my kind Redeemer as to make me ardently desirous of seeing thee face to face Refine me at length by that holy fire from all the dross of my Corruptions and to such a degree of holiness and purity that I may be fit to fly away from this World to the Habitation of thy Holiness and Glory Amen Hymn 24. DO I resolve an easie life With plenty stor'd and free from strife When my dear Lord thy days and nights Were past in poverty and fights Do I design a gentle Death Just singing out my aged Breath When my Love cruel tortures tore Thy dear Soul out all drown'd in gore Oh no our Christian Sacrifice Acting in a sweet disguise My Saviours Passion o're again Shall all such fond Conceits restrain This must keep lively in my mind How I ought still to be resign'd This humble pattern should destroy My sensual Grief and worldly Joy. Are Sufferings Ills No Goodness chose His and our way to Bliss through those Are Pleasures Goods No Wisdom scorn'd Their dalliance and has us forewarn'd This Lord this make my Song to be At least whene're I meet with thee Thee its glad ground so oft repeating As may prevent my Souls forgetting Jesu thus arm'd no terrours shall E're make my vertuous Courage fall No flatteries here my blest hopes drown Since thy sad Cross led to thy Crown O live for ever glorious Lord Live by all Heaven and Earth ador'd May both their joyful praises give They
the other World and soon returns again and brings us light And so dost thou dear Lord and more Thy very darkness is our light 'T is by thy death we are made to live and by thy wounds our sores are heal'd O my ador'd Redeemer who took'st upon thee all our miseries to impart to us thine own Felicities Can we remember thy Labours for us and not be convinc't of our Duty to thee Can our cold Hearts recount thy Sufferings and not be inflam'd with the Love that suffer'd Can we believe our Salvation cost thee so dear and live as if to be sav'd were not worth our pains Ingrateful we how do we slight the kindness of our God! how carelesly comply with his gracious designs For all his gifts he requires no other return than to hope still more and desire still greater Blessings For all his favours he seeks no other praise than our following his steps to arrive at his Glory PETITIONS O Glorious Jesu behold to thee we bow and humbly implore thy blessing in whom all fulness dwells Accomplish in us we pray those gracious purposes for which thou didst assume the humane Nature and suffer a painful and ignominious Death Teach us O Lord by thy Word and thy example the sole way to that Bliss for which we were created Give us an assur'd pardon of all our sins and the priviledge of becoming the Sons of God Possess us with the joyful hope of an eternal Life purchas'd for us by our Redeemer's Death O Almighty Redeemer destroy in us the works of the Devil Deliver us for none else can from the power of every sin Set us at liberty to run the wayes of thy Commandments thy Service is perfect freedom Give us the special Assistance of thy Grace that we may wean our Affections from all vain desires and clear our thoughts from all impertinent fancies that our lives may be intirely dedicated to thee and all the Faculties of our Souls to thy holy Service That our minds may continually study thy Knowledge and our Wills grow every day stronger in thy Love Our Memories may faithfully lay up thy Mercy and both Tongue and Heart be continually disposed and often employ'd to praise thee to praise thy incomparable Love which has done and suffer'd so much for lost Mankind O let the continual memory of thy bitter Passion and Death make us despise the Goods or Ills that we meet with here compar'd to the advancing our selves or others in the esteem of what we hope hereafter through the Sufferings and Merits of thee our Lord Jesus Christ Glory be to c. Amen For Friday Evening MEDITATION I. COme let us now call off our thoughts from ranging abroad where they but lose themselves Let us diligently examine the Accounts of our Time and summ up the profit we have made to day What have we gain'd by all we have seen or heard For nothing is so barren but it may yield some fruit had we the Art to cultivate it right and fitly apply it to our own advantage If we have spy'd some good Example which our gracious God has presented to instruct or quicken us did we immediately entertain the motion and resolve in our heart effectively to follow it If we have fallen among vicious Company which O! too often engages into folly did the danger encrease our care and the sin of others breed Vertue in us We have heard perhaps some melancholy news of sudden sicknesses or unexpected Deaths But did we fear to be surprized our selves and provide betimes for that day of Trial We meet with accidents enow to disparage this World but do we really feel it lose credit in our Hearts Does our esteem of the other grow strong and high and every one faithfully tell his own Soul 'T is not in this poor World thou must expect content It is not here you must hope to enjoy a perfect rest Order thy whole affairs with utmost skil and which is seldom seen let all thy designs succeed Still thou shalt find something to trouble thee and even thy pleasures will be tedious to thee Wheresoever thou goest still Crosses will follow thee because where-ever thou goest thou carriest thy self Who then my God is truely happy in this World or rather I should ask who comes the nearest to happiness He that with patience resolves to suffer whatever his endeavours are not able to avoid Happy yet more is he that delights to suffer and glories to be like his Crucify'd Saviour When thou art come to this my Soul that thy Crosses seem sweet for the love of Jesus think then thy self sublimely happy for surely thou hast found a Heaven upon Earth at least the best Heaven that this Earth can afford and take it as a pledge of a better to come MEDITATION II. MY Soul when thou art thus retir'd alone and fitly dispos'd for quiet thoughts never let the greatness of another molest thy Peace nor his prosperous condition make thee repine Say not in thy Heart had I that fair Estate or were I intrusted with so high a place I should know how to contrive things better and never commit such gross mistakes Tell me how dost thou manage thine own Employments and fit the little room thou holdest in the World If thou hast leisure art thou not idle and spendest thy precious time in unprofitable follies If thou art busie art thou not so too much and leavest no time to provide for thy Immortal Soul Do thy riches make thee more wise and generously assist the innocent poor Does thy poverty make thee humble and faithfully labour for thy little Family Dost thou in every state give thanks to Heaven and contentedly submit to its severest decrees Canst thou rejoicingly say to God O my ador'd Creatour I am glad my Lot is in thy Hands Thou art all Wisdom and seest my wants thou art all goodness and delightest to relieve me Under thy Providence I know I am safe whatever befalls me thou guidest to my advantage If thou wilt have me obscure and low thy blessed will not mine be done If thou wilt load my back with Crosses and imbitter my daies with Grief or Sickness still may thy Blessed Will O Lord be done still govern thy Creatures in thine own best way Place where-ever thou pleasest thy other favours but secure to my Soul a Portion in thy love Take what thou wilt of the things thou hast lent me but leave I beseech thee in my Heart the Possession of thy self Let others be preferr'd and me neglected let their affairs succeed and mine if thou pleasest miscarry Onely one thing I cannot chuse but desire and may my Gracious God vouchsafe to grant me that That thou cast me not away from thy presence for ever nor wipe my Name out of the book of Life But let my Eternal hopes remain and still grow quicker as they approach their end MEDITATION III. MY Thoughts run over the passages you have met to day or
rather forget such impertinent things What have we seen but distracting Vanities and what brought home but unprofitable Fancies How often have we felt our Minds disturb'd how often endanger'd by unhappy accidents Sometimes we frowardly throw our selves down and like sullen Children will not stand Sometimes the tempest throws us down and like weak Children we cannot stand Yet are we venturing still among the snares entic'd by the Appearance of some present delight We weary out our selves with running after flies which are hard to catch and trifles when they are caught This we pursue and follow that but nothing we meet can fill our Hearts till we have found out Thee O Gracious Lord our only full all-satisfying good Till we have found out Thee not by a dark belief but clearly as thou art in thine own bright self Remember O my Soul this truth of the World we live in which our own experience too evidently proves The Eye is not fill'd with seeing it's varieties nor the Ear with hearing all its harmony Remember also this Truth of the World we hope for which is made sure to our Faith by the Word of Christ The Eye has not seen such beauteous glories nor has the Ear ever heard such ravishing charms nor can the Heart it self conceive such incredible joyes as our God has provided for them that love him As our Blessed Jesus has purchas'd for his Servants and even for Thee my Soul if thou art one of them Then thou may'st in Peace lay down thy Head and rest secure in the protection of thy God Whose Mercy has so graciously singled thee out from among the race of guilty Mortals To give thee the Peace which passes all understanding and the hopes that are strongly establisht on himself PETITIONS O Infinitely mild and unexhaustible source of Mercy and Compassion have Mercy upon me poor miserable Sinner Have Mercy Lord and help me for I spend my daies in Vanity though I am continually hasting down to the Grave I do not improve as I might in Vertue by the occasions I meet with but they often make me guilty and improve in Vice. O Lord enter not into Judgment with thy poor Creature for in thy sight shall no man living be justified Lord make me judge my self lest I be condemn'd by Thee and frequently chastise my self lest I be punisht by thee Make me mortifie my senses with discreet austerities that I may reduce my Body into Subjection to my Mind and bring my Mind at length into a due Subjection to thee O Lord of thy great Mercy pardon my daily Sins and let thy Grace make even them occasions of improvement in Vertue Let thy Provident Mercy O God make every day a new Branch of Knowledge to me from whence the Evening may gather fresh variety of Fruits to nourish my Soul to an Eternal Life fruits that may strengthen me against those occasions by which I have been most frequently overcome that may render me steady in the wayes of Vertue Grant I beseech Thee that no experience of Good or Evil which this day has afforded may be lost upon me Make me more skilful by all to discern the true value and use of the present state in all its various postures wean me more from this world since thou hast made me for a better Make me more ready to offer up with our Saviour my whole Concerns and Being here to thy will and the sole advance of thy Glory that I may at length be Crown'd with bliss among the rest of thy resign'd and devoted Servants through Jesus Christ thy well-beloved Son. Amen Hymn 26. 'T is not for us and our proud Hearts O Mighty Lord to chuse our parts But act well what thou wisely giv'st 'T is not in our weak pow'r to make One step o' th' way we undertake Unless thou kindly us reliev'st What thou hast given thou canst take And when thou wilt new gifts canst make As all things flow from thee alone When thou didst give it it was thine When thou retook'st it 't was not mine 'T is fit thy will in all be done It might perhaps too pleasant prove Too much attractive of my love And so make less my love of thee Some things there are 〈◊〉 Scriptures say And reason proves that Heaven and they Can very seldom will agree Lord let me then sit calmly down And rest contented with my own That is with what thou here allow'st Keep thou my mind serene and free Often to think on Heaven and Thee And those great things thou there bestow'st There let me have my portion Lord There all my losses be restor'd And then no matter what falls here Is' t not enough that we shall sing And love for ever our blest King Whose glorious goodness brought us there Great God as thou art One may we With one another all agree All in thy thankful praise conspire May Men and Angels joyn and sing Eternal Hymns to Thee their King And make up one Adoring Quire. Amen For Saturday Morning MEDITATION I. IF we rejoyced for our selves in the Sufferings of our Lord let us now rejoyce for him that his Sufferings are ended Now that the Fowlers Net is broken and the meek and innocent Dove escap'd Now that the Cup of bitterness is past away and never possible to return again Never again O dearest Jesu shall those blest Eyes weep nor thy holy Soul be sorrowful unto Death Never shall thy precious Life be subject any more to the bloody Malice of ambitious Hypocrites Never shall thy Innocence any more be expos'd to the barbarous fury of an ingrateful multitude But thou shalt live and reign for ever and all created Nature shall perpetually adore thee O happy end of well endur'd Afflictions O blessed Fruits that spring from the Cross of Jesus Look up my Soul and see thy Crucified Lord sit gloriously enthron'd at the right hand of his Father Behold the ragged Purple now turn'd into a Robe of light and the scornful Reed into a royal Scepter The wreath of Thorns is grown into a sparkling Diadem and all his Scars polisht into brightness His Tears are all now chang'd into Joy and the Laughter of his Persecutors into sad Despair Herod long since perisht in miserable conntempt and Pilate still trembles with everlasting fears the impenitent Jews are scatter'd over the World to attest his Truth and their own obdurate blindness But himself is crown'd with eternal Triumphs and the Souls he redeems shall sing his Victories for ever Live glorious King of Men and Angels live happy Conquerour of Sin and Death Our Praises shall alwayes attend thy Sufferings and our Patience endeavour to bear our own Through fiercest dangers our Faith shall follow thee and nothing wrest from us our hope at last to see thee We will fear no more the sting of Death nor be frighted at the darkness of the Grave since thou hast chang'd our Grave into a Bed of rest and made Death it self but a
passage into Life We will love no more the Pleasures of Vanity nor set our hearts on unsatisfying riches since thou hast opened Paradise again and Purchas'd for us the Kingdom of Heaven Hymn 27. MY God to Thee our selves we owe And to thy Bounty all we have Behold to thee our Praises bow And humbly thy acceptance crave If we are happy in a Friend That very Friend 't is thou bestow'st His power his will to help our end Is just so much as thou allow'st If we enjoy a free Estate Our only Title is from thee Thou mad'st our lot to bear that rate Which else an empty blank would be If we have Health that well-tun'd ground That gives the Musick to the rest It is by thee our Air is sound Our Food secur'd our Physick blest If we have hope one day to view The Glories of thy blissful Face Each drop of that refreshing Dew Must fall from Heaven and thy free grace Thus then to thee our Praises bow And humbly thy acceptance crave Since 't is to thee our selves we owe And to thy bounty all we have Glory to Thee great God alone Three Persons in one Deity As it has been in Ages gone May now and still for ever be Amen MEDITATION II. BLessed be thy Name O holy Jesu and blessed be the mercy of thy Providence Who hast cast our lot in these times of Grace and design'd our birth in the dayes of light when we may clearly see our ready way and directly go on to our glorious end 'Till thou appearedst O thou only Light of the World our miserable Earth lay cover'd with darkness 'Till thou wentest away O thou Sovereign Lord of Life the Kingdom of Heaven was close shut up When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of Death thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers Thou didst communicate thy Joyes to all the World and display the bright glories of thy happy Kingdom to all that esteem'd so blest a sight and stood prepar'd to entertain thy coming As for the rest whose eyes are shut or turn'd away by their own malice thy Presence yields them no more Joy than light to those that will not see But the hearts that receive and love thee thou fillest with gladness and overflowest them with an ocean of heavenly delights Come ye happy believing Souls that are made partakers of the mercies of his Kingdom Come let us now raise up our thoughts and continually Meditate our future Beatitude Let us comfort our selves with the hope of rest and our Sufferings with the expectance of a glorious reward Now that the hand of our gracious Lord has unlockt the gates of everlasting Bliss Now that they stand wide open to admit such as diligently strive to enter in Such as have wisely made choice of Heaven for the only end and business of their life rejecting all the false allurements of this World to attend the pursuit of true felicity MEDITATION III. PRaise our Lord O you children of Men Praise him as the Anthor of all your hopes Praise our Lord O you blessed of Heaven Praise him as the Finisher of all your Joyes Sing O you reverend Patriarchs and holy Prophets Sing Hymns of Glory to the great Messias Sing and Rejoyce all you ancient Saints who have so long enjoy'd the happy repose of Abraham's bosom Bring forth your best and purest Incense and humbly offer it at the Throne of the Lamb The Lamb that was slain from the beginning of the World by the sprinkling of whose Blood you all were saved O still sing on the Praises of the King of Peace and bless for ever his victorious Mercy It was he dissolv'd the power of darkness and broke asunder the strong bars of Death He has conquer'd Death and him that had the power of it even the Devil that his faithful Followers might triumph over both How did your glad eyes sparkle with Joy to see the Ascension of your humbled Redeemer How were your Spirits transported with delight to behold the splendours of his glorious Exaltation to have his Presence among you his blissful Presence that can turn even the saddest night into a chearful day that can change a Dungeon into a house of Mirth and make every place a joyful Paradice O glorious Presence when shall our Souls be fill'd with strong and constant desires of enjoying Thee O sluggish Soul how canst thou contentedly hover about this Earth when the loving Jesus is Ascended above the Skies with longing hopes look up thither and say When dearest Jesu shall my desires be fill'd with the everlasting fruition of thy blessed self Henceforth for thee and for thy Sacred Love O thou great and only Comfort of our Souls shall all Afflictions be welcome to me as wholsome Physick to correct my Follies shall the Pleasures of the World be very cautiously used as dangerous Fruit that may fill me with Diseases Will I by thy example neither fear to Dye nor refuse the labours of this present Life But while I live I will obey thy Grace that when I dye I may enjoy thy Glory PETITIONS O Blessed Jesu our only hope our all-sufficient strength and the liberal Rewarder of all thy Servants As thou hast freely prepared for us ready wages so Lord let thy Grace inable us to work Let thy Grace excite to diligence in our work and make us steady and persevering in the way thou lovest Make us direct our whole Life to thee O Fullness of Bliss and undervalue all things compar'd with thy Love. O Seal up our Eyes to the Illusions of this World and open them upwards to thy solid Joyes there let them fix their pleased sight and look 'till we be transformed into thy glorious likeness That when our present earthly Tabernacle shall be dissolved and this House of Clay shall fall down into the dust we may ascend to thee and dwell above in that Building not made with hands eternal in the Heavens O Jesu thou didst expire on the Cross and descend into the Grave to destroy the life of Sin in us and the fears of Death Grant then I beseech thee that these may never revive in me to tempt or affright me from the wayes of Holiness Fix in me O Lord the firm belief of this very sure and important Truth That the greatest mischiefs which our Salvation can cost us here are but momentary and shall work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory Through thy abundant Merits O dear Redeemer Glory be to c. Amen For Saturday Evening MEDITATION I. TOO often are we troubled about many things when the truely necessary is only one Retire O my Soul into thine own bosom and search what thou aim'st at in all thy thoughts Examine where thou dost place thy chief Felicity and whither tend thy strongest desires Go to the Great and Prudent of the World and learn of them to choose thy Interests Do they not there encrease their Estates where they
Tribes of the Earth be blessed in him Hast thou not said thy self O glorious Jesu If I be lifted up I will draw all men after me Hast thou not given thy Disciples express Commission to go into all the World and preach the Gospel to every Creature When wilt thou again O infinite Charity choose out burning and shining Lights and send them forth over all the World and send them not alone lest they faint by the way or miscarry in the end If thou wilt go with them thy self and guide them by thy Grace and crown their Labours with thy powerful Blessing Oh then what mighty works would be done by them Then shall the humble Vallies be rais'd up and the stubborn Mountains be brought low So shall the crooked paths be made direct and the rough wayes smooth and plain So shall the Glory of God be every where reveal'd and all Flesh shall joyfully see it together the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the bright face of Jesus Christ Happy the times when this shall come to pass happy the eyes that shall see these times Come glorious days wherein that Sun shall shine which enlightens all at once both the Hemisphears PETITIONS REmember O God the Father God of everlasting Truth thy dear Engagements to the Son Remember O God the Son who art the Author and Finisher of our Faith thy gracious Promises to the World. Come holy Jesu in a plentiful effusion of thy Spirit upon us and make that glorious day of Gospel light which we greatly desire and thy Promises give us leave to expect Come and in the largest sence maintain thy Title and be effectively the Saviour of the universal World. Visit O Lord thine own House first and throughly redress what thou findest amiss Make our Lives holy as thou hast made our Faith and let all that name thy Name depart from Iniquity O thou who art the Author of Peace and lover of Concord who did'st so often repeat the Command that thy Disciples should love one another Inspire we beseech thee thy whole Church with a Spirit of Truth Unity and Concord Bring thou into the way of Truth all such as have erred and are deceived Convince us all that the wrath and fury of Man worketh not the Righteousness of God and hasten the time when there shall be no hurting nor destroying in all thy holy Mountain Kindle O Lord in the hearts of Kings and the great Ones of the World an heroick Spirit to advance thy Glory Inflame the hearts of Prelates and the Priests of thy Church with a generous Zeal for the Conversion of Souls Convince them all it is the End and Duty of their places to endeavour the improving of Mankind in vertue and Religion and direct them to the use of such just and gentle means as are suitable to the End and agreeable to thy Word Send forth thy saving light O Lord into the dark corners of the World and bring them from the power of Satan into the Kingdom of God. Remember thy great Love which thou hast shown and the Mercies which seem yet promised to the Jews Let every people bow their Knees to thy great Name Oh blessed Jesu and all Tongues confess thy Greatness Make all to receive thy Truth in the love of it and mix it with Faith that it may become an engrafted Word able to save their Souls These things we crave for the honour of our Advocate and onely Mediator Jesus the Christ Amen Hymn 30. JEsu whose Grace directs thy Priests To keep alive by solemn Feasts The memory of thy great Love O may we here so pass thy days That they at last our Souls may raise To that long Feast with thee above To that long day of sacred Rest Whereon our happy Souls shall feast On thy celestial Joyes and thee Our Bodies too thy Love shall raise Thy self to see and sing thy praise In a blest Immortality Jesu behold three Kings from far Led to thy Cradle by a Star Bring gifts to thee their greater King O guide us by thy Light that we May find thy lov'd Face and to thee Our selves may for thy Tribute bring O thou the pure and spotless Lamb Who to the Temple humbly came Appointed legal Rites to pay Make our proud Heart and stubborn Will Thine and thy Churche's Law fulfill Whate're relucting Natures say Jesu who on the fatal Wood Pourd'st forth thy life's last drop of Blood For us nail'd to a shamefull Cross O! may we bless thy Love and be Ready dear Lord to bear for thee All present grief or pain or loss Dear Lord who by thine own Love slain By thine own Powe'r took'st Life again And from the Sepulcher did'st rise O may thy Death our Spir'its revive And at our Death a new Life give A lasting Life that never dies Jesu who to thy Heaven again Returnd'st in Triumph there to reign Of Men and Angels mighty King O may our parting Souls take flight Up to that Land of Joy and Light And there with Angels ever sing All Glory to the Sacred Three One undivided Deity All honour blessing power and praise O may thy blessed Name shine bright Crown'd with those Beams of beauteous light It s own eternal glorious Rays Amen FOR THE FEASTS OF THE HOLY GHOST For the Morning MEDITATION I. LOrd we are forced to admire the sweet and natural conduct with which thy Providence governs the Children of men Leading them on from one degree to another 'till thou hast brought them up to their highest perfection Thou puttest them to learn in the School of Virtue and disposest their Capacities into several forms In the first Ages when the World was young thou gavest them for their guide the Book of Nature there thy divine Assistance helpt them to read some few plain Lessons of their Duty to thee They saw this admirable frame of Creatures and as far as these could argue they could conclude Sure there is a God the cause of all things certainly there is a Providence that disposes of all things He must be very powerful that made so vast a World and exceeding wise that contriv'd such excellent works He must be goodness it self that did all this for us and we ingrateful Wretches if we will do nothing for him Thus far some few could say and very few could do with those slender Assistances which they then enjoy'd Afterward thou gavest thy People a written Rule which train'd them up in a set form of Discipline which grew and spread into a publick Religion and which was uniformly profest by a whole Nation They had some weak conceit of the Kingdom of Heaven and some imperfect means to bring them thither But for those high supernatural Mysteries that so gloriously exalt the Christian Faith they all alas were blind or in the dark and dangerously exposed to the effects of their own Ignorance wanting those clear Instructious to know their end and those powerful Motives to love
Persons for the Duty of the Sacred Ministry By whose Ministry thou dost perfect the Saints and build up the Body of Christ to the end of the World. MEDITATION II. BLessed for ever be thy Name O Holy Spirit and blessed be the bounty of thy Goodness When the Eternal Father by creating the World had declar'd himself and his Almighty Power When the Uncreated Word by redeeming Mankind had reveal'd himself and his infinite Wisdom When now there remain'd but one seal more to be open'd of the Book of Divine Mysteries Behold a strange condescendence to our weak nature the Invisible Spirit Visibly appears He descends from Heaven in the shape of a Dove and gently alights upon the Prince of Peace Again he descends in the likeness of Fire and miraculously sits on the Heads of his Disciples Mingling thus together in one blest compound those chief ingredients of excellent vertue Mildness to allay the heat of Zeal and Zeal to quicken the indifferency of Mildness Innocence to adorn the light of Knowledge and Knowledge to direct the Simplicity of Innocence O Blest adorable Teacher Who can instruct like the Spirit of God He needs no years to finish his course but with a swift and efficacious touch consummates all things He entred the Soul of a young delighter in Musick and presently sanctified him into a composer of Psalms He took a poor Shepherd from following the Flock and immediately rais'd him to the degree of a Prophet He by one Lesson perfected the Disciples and polisht rude Fishermen into eloquent Preachers He toucht the Heart of a persecuting Pharisee and instantly chang'd him into a Glorious Apostle There is none O Lord can resist thy efficacious Grace but it accomplishes whatsoever thou intendest And the most Stubborn refusers thou makest to become a willing People in the day of thy Power All this thou hast done O Infinite Goodness and all the good that we doe is wrought by thee By thee is every condition sanctified to us in this mutable World and we are inabled through all to walk steadily towards our Eternal Rest By Thee our Souls are comforted on our beds of Sickness and thou alone fittest us for the Mansions of Glory If in the Church there be any Wisdom or Knowledge if any real Sanctity or decent Order if any Faith of the Mysteries of Religion if any Hope of Everlasting Salvation If any Love of God as our Sovereign bliss if any mutual Charity of one towards another If any Miracles have been wrought to convert unbelievers and to confirm the weak in Faith against the violence of Persecution All these things flow from thy free Grace O thou boundless Ocean of Eternal Mercies All flows from thee and all our little streams ought to return in tribute to thy Bounty Blessed be thy Name O Holy Spirit of God who dividest thy Gifts to every one as thou pleasest and workest all in all MEDITATION III. STill my Soul continue thy Meditations on this adorable Person and humbly present thy further acknowledgments and praises to him who is the Eternal Love of the Father and the Son and the Glorious Finisher of the Sacred Mystery To him the quickening Spirit of regenerate Souls in whom they live and move and have their Being To him the sovereign Balsom of our wounds and only comfort of all our Sorrows To him our refuge in this place of Banishment and faithful guide in this wandring Pilgrimage To him the Sacred pledge of our free adoption and ensuring Seal of our Eternal Salvation What do we say of Thee O Adorable Spirit of God! What do we say when we utter such words as these We say what we can in our low capacity but alas how short of thy unspeakable excellencies O that we had the tongues of Glorified Saints and of Angels O that we had thine own Miraculous Tongues Those which sate flaming on the Heads of the Apostles and made them speak thy wonders in every language Still all our praises would be poor and narrow still infinitely less than thy infinite perfections But if we cannot speak as our God deserves shall we therefore hold our Peace which God forbids Wo be to them O Lord who are silent of thee and spend the breath thou givest them on any but thy self When we have tried our best endeavours and taken a measure of our own defects when our own Hearts can conceive no more and our tongues have exprest their utmost we will then call upon all others to praise thee who have been beholden to thy infinite Bounty and say Praise the Eternal Spirit O all you Quires of rejoicing Angels for his early Grace confirm'd you in Glory Praise him ye Reverend Patriarchs whose wayes he govern'd and by particular Providence led you to felicity Praise him ye Ancient Prophets whose Souls he inspir'd to teach his chosen People the Mind of Heaven Praise him you glorious company of the Apostles whose Persons he empowered to be Embassadours of Peace between Heaven and Earth Praise him you the Noble Army of generous Martyrs whose Spirits he encouraged and gave you the Victory over the terrours of Death Praise him ye Blessed Confessours whose lives he sanctified and gave you Victory over the World and your selves Praise him ye Holy Virgins whose Souls he espoused and consecrated your chast Bodies into Temples for himself Praise him O thou the Blessed Virgin-Mother of our Lord by whom the Worlds Redeemer was conceiv'd in thy Womb Praise him all you the faithful departed this Life whose hope he sustains of a Glorious Resurrection of your Bodies Praise him all ye that make up the Holy Church throughout all the World bless him and magnifie him for ever Praise him in the Power and freedom of his Grace praise him for the Eternity and greatness of his Glory Praise him O my Soul for his Mercies to thee Praise him for his goodness to all the World. Praise him on the choicest Instrument that of the Heart Praise him in the fittest Place the publick assemby of his Saints PETITIONS O Kindle in my Heart holy Lord thy divine fire that I may offer to thee the hallow'd incense of Praise O thou who openest the mouths of the Dumb and makest the Tongues of Children eloquent inspire thy devoted Servant if not with expressions suitable to thy self at least with such as are profitable to me Such as may instruct me what I ought to do and such as may move me to do what I say Come holy Spirit who art the free dispenser of all Grace visit my poor Heart and replenish it with thy Sacred inspirations Refuse not O Lord to hear me now I call upon Thee and make me still hear Thee when thou callest upon me do thou by thy mighty operations in my Soul establish such an interest in me as may alwayes dispose me to so advantageous a duty Illuminate my understanding inflame my affections and sanctifie all the powers of my Soul and Body that I may know
to adore thee the kind Saviour of us all who with the Father and the Spirit art one God blessed for ever Glory be to c. Amen For the Evening MEDITATION I. ALL things do live to thee O Lord thou sole preserver of universal nature the blessed Saints rejoice in thy glory and our imperfect Souls are here sustain'd in hope We know that thou wilt bring us to the Grave which is the house appointed for all the living and from thence thou wilt raise us again to an universal Judgment and then dispose of us to our Eternal Portion O happy they whom our Lord shall honour on that day of his solemn triumph and rising from his seat of Judgment go gloriously before them and with these sweet and gracious words invite them to follow him Come you blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World. The reward of your labours I will give you I my self will be your reward you have firmly believ'd you have readily obey'd you have constantly suffer'd Come enter now into your Masters joy They that are careful my Soul to dye the death of the righteous will with them be thus caress'd at the day of judgement Now thou hast pass'd another day another step towards thy long home thou hast seen the Sun a few hours more and this day is gone and lost in its own night But hast thou lost it too and made no use of it while it shin'd then let the dew of thy penitent tears for shame lament its departure Thou art nearer thy death but no more prepar'd for it if thou hast made no advance towards perfection Examine thy self to know the truth and ask thy self these useful Questions Am I grown devout as the Saints of God were Am I chaste temperate and resign'd as they yet Do I despise now the World with a Zeal like theirs and value Heaven at the same high rate with them Would I give all I have just now to be there And part with Life it self just now to go thither Has the consideration of their blissful reward brought me to a full resolution to aim at the highest imitation of them At least have I learnt to humble my self and check the vanity of my proud conceits To mourn and blush at my own many Infirmities when I consider their excellent Lives and Vertues If thou canst not equal my Soul such glorious patterns yet let it be thy hearts desire to do it and what they really did do thou really wish to do MEDITATION II. LET us humble our selves we that are yet in this low state but not grow faint at the sight of others so far before us Rather let us quicken our sloth by considering their swift pace and encourage our fears with their happy success We who profess the Religion of all these Saints who liv'd and dy'd Members of the same Church with us We who partake of the same holy Sacraments and eat the same celestial Food who may partake of the same holy and powerful Spirit if we diligently seek and readily receive him Why should we fear but that one day we may shine above and rejoyce together with the glorified Saints Are we not all redeem'd by the same rich price and the same eternal Crowns propos'd to us all Are we not bred in the same Apostolick Faith and taught of God by his appointed Ministers The Lessons I see and Teacher is the same but the hand is dull and the Instrument out of tune They liv'd in a dangerous World like this and were ty'd to Bodies frail as ours But by a constant vigilance they overcame the World and subdu'd those Bodies to the service of their Minds They overcame with a joyful Heart and we thus congratulate the Triumph of their victories They overcame but not by their own strong hand and now they triumph but 't is by the bounty of their God. Chear then thy self my Soul and raise thy Head and open thy bosom to the hopes of Heaven Fear not our God has a blessing too for us if we have a love and obedience for him If we delight in the wayes of Piety and diligently attend the Offices of Devotion If we refrain from the liberties of the World and curb the loose suggestions of the Flesh If we can look on Gold and Honour and their flaming beams not dazle our Eyes if we perform with them the part of faithful Servants we shall surely with them have the portion of Children MEDITATION III. PRecious in thy sight O Lord is the death of thy Saints which finishes thy greatest Work the perfecting of Souls whom thou esteemest as the Jewels of Heaven and choicely gatherest into thine own Treasury Precious to themselves O Lord is the death of thy Saints which takes off the dusky cover that hides their brightness which shapes and polishes them to a beauteous lustre and sets them as Stars round about thy Throne Precious O Lord to us is the death of thy Saints from whence we are furnisht with such means of Vertue Some teach us courage to encounter dangers and not for fear make shipwrack of our Conscience Others by their Example instruct us to converse with meekness and patiently bear neglects and injuries From some we may learn how to use this world wisely and make it serve us in our way to the next From others we may learn how more generously to despise it and pass our dayes in Peace and Prayer By all with thy blessing we may learn this best of arts to live and dye like Saints and do this in the best of methods thy glorious Example O gracious Lord whose Love still looks about and searches every way to save us sinners who camest thy self bright Sun of Glory to enlighten our darkness and warm our frozen Hearts Who with thy fruitful Beams still kindlest others to burn as Tapers in thy Church's hand and by their near proportionate distance stand fit to shine into every corner of our lives We will ever bless thy Name for all these Mercies and take care to pass by not one with Ingratitude We will not consider in vain the Crown at the Race's end and sit down lazily in the shades of ease nor keep in vain the memory of thy Saints without endeavouring to imitate them which would be to the reproach of our unprofitable lives We will strain all our Powers and pursue to the mark for the glorious prize that is set before us Still with our utmost speed we will follow them whose travel ended in so sweet a rest PETITIONS O God of infinite adorable Goodness who after thy faithful Servants had spent their day of life in a course of steady and laborious Piety and Vertue did'st graciously close their Evening with a comfortable death and give them instead of this an eternal day of Glory O grant to us below we beseech thee so to imitate thy Saints in the wise bestowing our allotted time on our Earth that we may follow them in their happy passage out of this World and be admitted with them to thy everlasting Glories in the other When our Life's last day O Lord begins to fall and bids us hasten to prepare for night then send thy willing Angels to watch about us and suffer not the Enemy to disturb our passage Send them to receive in peace our departing Souls and to bear them safely to thy presence Then O thou dear Redeemer of the World and sovereign King of Life and Death thou who despisest not the Tears of the Penitent nor turnest away from the sighs of the Afflicted Thou who preservest all that rely on thee and fulfillest their desires that long to be with thee Do thou hear our cries and pardon our sins and graciously deliver us from all our fears Call us to thy self with thine own blest Voice Call us O dearest Jesu in thine own sweet words Say Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World. Then will our happy Souls immediately obey and go forth with gladness to meet their Lord and Love to live with him and behold his Glory and partake of his Happiness and sing his Praise These things O Lord we humbly expect from the merit of thy humble Death and the power of thy glorious Exaltation O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the World have mercy upon us have mercy upon us and grant us thy eternal peace Amen Hymn 40. TOO hasty night forbear our Praise And our yet young beginning Hope Set to encrease on these blest dayes So faint and dull requires more scope Night will not hear but sullen flies And summons all the World to sleep Commands us close our Books and Eyes What we have gain'd content to keep O happy Saints this broken rate Our slowness bids to ply its wings While your unwearied active state Does alwaies wake and alwaies sings Yet eve'n our state your School too was And those your now unweary'd Laies By such a change of sing and pause Here among us you learn'd to raise Here you thus often too took breath And yet have climb'd those hills of light O may your good success bequeath A Hope to reach that glorious height Though now our Notes be short and few Our rests too frequent are and long If we but keep in tune with you We shall at last sing your glad Song If with our utmost humble powers We here our daily Praye'rs attend These poor Devotions shall like yours There in a nightless fervour end Glory O Lord to thee alone Be here below as there above O may thy joyes Great Three in One Ever attract and Crown our Love. Amen FINIS ERRATA These few mistakes of the Press the Courteous Reader is desir'd to Pardon and Correct PAge 6. line 7. for talk read task p. 17. l. 20. f. beautified r. beatified p. 28. l. â—8 f. seel r. feel p. 72. r. Hymn 7. p. 96 f. Son r. Sun. p. 204. l. 6. f. potion r. portion p. 282. last l. r. thus acting p. 302. first l. of the Hymn r. ' T is not for us p. 319. l. 7. f. adventures r. adventurers p. 358. r. H. 31. p. 442 443. 445 446. at the top f. Even r. Morn p. 452. l. 17. f. fire r. flame
sit and grateful sense of thy Mercies that the people every where with one consent may confess and praise thee that one Generation may praise thy name to another and thankully talk of all thy wonderous Mercies O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the Children of men O make our senses subject to our reason and our reason intirely obedient to Thee Make us alwaies in using thy Creatures to take their service as admonition and obligation to mind our Duty to thy self Teach thou us that all things in this world ought to praise Thee by the Tongues and Hearts of men whom thou hast not only made capable to know their goodness but hast also given leave to enjoy their usefulness O make the whole Creation conspire to thine Honour and all that depend on Thee join together in thy Praise Mercifully carry on the whole Creation to its end Order thy Creatures about us to attain their end in serving us and so order us that we may attain ours in glorifying and enjoying Thee Glory be to the Father c. For Monday Evening MEDITATION I. MY God in every thing I see thy hand in every passage thy wise and gracious Providence Thou wisely governest the House thou hast built and preventest with thy Mercies all our wants Thou callest us up early in the morning and givest us light by the beams of the Sun that we may every one labour in his proper work and so fill up the little place appointed for us in this World Doing that service to Thee and that good to Mankind which thou our great Lord and Master dost require And thou providest also a rest for our weary Evening and favourest our sleep with a shady darkness to refresh our bodies in the Peace of Night and save the waste of our decaying Spirits Again thou awakest our drowsie eyes and biddest us return to our daily task Thus has thy Wisdom mixed our Life and beauteously interwoven it with rest and work whose mutual change sweeten each other and both prepare us for our greatest duty That of finishing here the work of our Salvation to rest hereafter in thy Holy place In like manner thy wise Providence O Lord has appointed that after a little time of toil and trouble death should call thy Saints away to a state of rest Thou dost not we thank thee oblige us to conflict with the difficulties and evils of this Life till the day of retribution comes Thou soon callest us to a place where the wicked cease from troubling and our subtle adversary the Devil from tempting us Where our own appetites and passions shall strive no more against our Reason and Conscience Where our Innocence shall be no longer assaulted or endanger'd by the threatnings or allurements of this World Our Souls are enlarged to a spacious liberty being let out from this prison of the Body and go to dwell in the region of Spirits While our Bodies quietly rest in their silent grave till they rise again to Immortal Glory And thou hast design'd O Lord that they shall awake again from the sleep of Death and rise even from the bed of the Grave And then indeed there comes a Morning which shall never be succeeded by an Evening a waking time for the body after which it shall sleep no more It rises indeed to work again but that work never tires it any more that work is sweeter than the rest it leaves There needs no interruption of that work to sweeten it which is eternally pleasant and delightful MEDITATION II. LOrd how does thy bounty give us all things else with a large and open hand Our Fields at once are cover'd with Corn and our Trees bow under the weight of their Fruit. At once thou fillest our Magazines with plenty and sendest us whole showers of other blessings Only our time thou distillest by drops and never givest us two moments at once But takest away one while thou lendest another to teach us to prize so precious a Jewel That we may learn to value every hour and not childishly spend them upon trifles Much less maliciously murther whole daies in pursuing a course of Sin and Shame It was thy Mercy too O Gracious God to disperse by parcels our portion of time That the succeeding day may learn to grow wise and correct its faults by experience of the past Else if our being were all at once as it shall be in the next the Eternal Life our Sins would have here no power to be repented and then alas how desperate were we We who are born in the way to Misery and unless we change can never be happy We who so often wilfully go astray and unless we return must perish for ever Thou hast appointed our time O Soveraign Lord beyond which we cannot pass When thou takest away our breath we die we return to the dust and our place here shall know us again no more for ever Thou commandest the grave to dispense with none but indifferently to seize us all alike That all alike may provide for the fatal hour of death and none may be undone with mistaken hopes Thou tellest us plainly we must dye but kindly concealest the time and place that every where we may stand upon our guard and every moment expect thy coming MEDITATION III. WHy do we so much bemoan our selves and complain for the necessity of dying Seems it so hard a fate to tread the path which all our Ancestors have gone before us Adam the first of men and Abraham the Friend of God David the man after Gods own Heart and the Blessed Mary Virgin-Mother of our Lord. All these have paid their debt to Nature and subscribed to the Law of universal Mortality Yea Jesus Christ himself the Eternal Son of God expir'd on the Cross and went to his Glory through the Gates of Death And shall our fond self-love so blindly flatter us as to make us wish an exemption from this common fate Should we not be glad that a troublesome Life will have an end and rejoice to get out of danger into safety from a stormy Sea to a quiet Harbour This Life is so encombred with evils that we have reason to be thankful it will not last alwayes and rather to wish than complain that it may not last long If we die in Old age Death should be very welcome to us after a long and tedious voyage If in our Youth we die it prevents a thousand calamites a thousand dangers of ruining our Souls What need we be possest with fear at thinking how many kinds of Death there are we are sure there is but one for us Dying is an act to be done but once and if it be once well done we are happy for ever Our dayes perhaps are too few to grow rich in or to satisfie the ambition of a haughty Spirit But to be taught the Love of God and the Meek and Humble Life of Jesus requires
not so much the number of years as the faithful endeavours and prayers of a pious Mind Would we bestow on the improvement of our Souls the time we vainly trifle away our day would be short enough and not seem tedious and yet would be long enough to finish our appointed task And what O Glorious Lord is our business here but to trim our Lamps and await thy coming To sow the Immortal seed of Hope and expect to receive the happy encrease It is no matter how late the fruit be gather'd if still it go on in growing better No matter how soon it fall from the Tree if it be not blown down before 't is ripe PETITIONS O Thou most just but secret Providence who governest all things by the Counsel of thine own Will whose powerful hand can wound and heal lead down to the Grave and bring back again Behold to thee we bow our heads and freely submit our dearest concerns Strike as thou pleasest our Health our Lives we cannot be safer than at thy dispose Onely these few requests we humbly make which O! may thy Clemency vouchsafe to hear Cut us not off in the midst of our folly nor suffer us to expire impenitent and with our sins unpardon'd But make us Lord first ready for thy self and then take us to thy self in thine own fit time Thou dost frequently O Lord put us in mind of our own and the World's last end by burying every day in the dark silent Grave of Night Sweeten we humbly beseech thee and render familiar to our expectation those terrible Periods of time by our constant due use of night and sleep Grant that our yielding so often and so easily at the Summons of our drowsie humours to suspend a while the operations of the whole man may teach our Souls to reflect themselves into a more reasonable willingness when ever thou callest to leave our Bodies in the Bed of dust and pass into the state of their own perfect and ever-waking Activity and Bliss Do thou Lord in whose indulgent hands are both our Time and our Eternity whose Providence gives every minute of our Life and governs the fatal period of our Death make us every Evening still provide to pass with comfort that important hour Make us still balance our accounts for Heaven and strive to encrease our Treasure with thee That if we rise no more to our acquaintance here we may joyfully waken among thy blessed Angels there to unite our Hymns with theirs and joyn all together in one full Quire. Amen Hymn 18. NOw O my Soul the day is gone Which in the morn was thine It 's emptied Glass no more shall run It 's Sun no longer shine 'T is true alas the day is gone O were it onely so Is it not lost as well as done Cast up thy Counts and know Art thou got so much nearer Heaven As nearer to the Grave Has thy Hearts grief a fitness given Sin 's pardon to receive From what base Vice hast thou refrain'd To break the course of sin Or what new Vertue hast thou gain'd To make thee rich within Their time is well bestow'd on those Who well their time bestow Whose main concern still forward goes Whose hopes still riper grow Who when the warning Clocks proclaim Another hour is past Have the wise art to set their aim And thoughts upon their last This sad Life's last and happiest hour Which brings them to their home Where they shall sing and bless the power That made them thither come O my dear Lord of Life and Death The ever-living King Since thou dost give to all their breath May all thy Glory sing Glory and Honour Power and Praise To the mysterious Three As at the first beginning was May now and ever be Amen For Tuesday Morning MEDITATION I. BE thou eternally adored O God of our Salvation and may thy Praises be sung by thy Servants for ever When our first Parents had disobey'd thy Precepts to the ruine of themselves and their whole Posterity thy wondrous mercy did immediately provide a remedy Thou didst provide and promise a powerfull Redeemer Thou didst commit the helping us to him that is able to save to the uttermost A Redeemer that could conquer Sin and Death and crush the Serpents head who drew us into misery A Redeemer that could fully repair the breaches our sin had made and render our condition better than before That could satisfie for our sins by his Death and merit the Beginning and Perfection of happiness for us in our present Holiness and future Glory He can enlighten our eyes with a clearer view of those excellent Truths that belong to our peace can support our feeble Nature with a stronger Grace to carry us on safely through all Encounters till we arrive at the Land of Rest and be received for ever into the glorious Kingdom O Blessed Jesu our Strength our Guide who knowest and dost pity our weak Capacities and in thy tender care hast so contrived the way to our happiness that nothing can undoe us but our own perverseness nothing but the wilful love of Sin and Death How easie hast thou made the way to Heaven how light is the burthen thou lay'st on thy followers It is but to believe in thee the God of Truth but to love thee our greatest Benefactor but to desire earnestly the seeing thee that thou requirest and doing thus we are sure to possess an Eternity of Joy. Eternal Praises be given to the admirable wisdom of God who knows how to bring good out of evil Eternal praises to that infinite Goodness which graciously condescended to do this Let all the admiring World join together in this and say O the depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Goodness of God! How unsearchable are his Attributes and his wayes how much past finding out Man guiltily threw away the happiness his God had given him God takes occasion thence to give him greater He not only restores us to our first degree but makes even our fall rebound us to a greater height This is the Love of God the Father to Mankind This is the Love of Jesus the Christ this is the love of the eternal Spirit of Love. Hymn 19. LET others take their course And sing what name they please Let Wealth or Beauty be their Theam Such empty Sounds as these For me I 'l ne'r admire A lump of burnisht Clay Howe're it shines it is but dust And shall to dust decay Sweet Jesus is the Name My Song shall still adore Sweet Jesus is the Charming word That does my life restore When I am dead in grief Or which is worse in Sin I call on Jesus and he hears And I to live begin Wherefore at this bright Name Behold thus low I bow And thus again yet is all this Much less than what I owe. Down then down both my knees Still lower to the ground While with mine Eyes and Voice lift up Aloud these lines