To Review all this after an Almsgiving cannot but raise great complacency within us and cause us to applaud our selves for having performed so Generous so Godlike and withall so pleasing and Delightsome an action Nothing will administer to us so much Joy and Consolation when Dying nothing so much strengthen us on a bed of Languishing and make our bed in all our Sickness as the Reflection how we have in our Life past through acts of Charity and Munificence made to our selves Friends of the Mammon of Unrighteousness laid up to our selves Treasures in Heaven a place of the best Security of the largest Interest and Improvement How we have been Eyes to the blind and Feet to the Lame through our supporting Alms-deeds how we have evidenced our Love to God by Love to our Neighbour loving him for God's sake and at his Injunction How we have like wise Merchants in a Foreign Country Transmitted our Goods and Effects before us into that our Native Region whither we intend and expect shortly to Return our selves Indeed I must Confess that Love to our very Enemies which Christianity enjoyns has at first little of this pleasure and Delight which accompanies doing Good to those who never Dis-obliged us nay that 't is an exceeding Irksom and Difficult Duty and that we are apt to cry out 't is an hard Commandment who can bear it But besides that Returning Good for Evil Blessings for Cursings Kindnesses for Injuries is the ready way to overcome our Adversary's Enmity and to convert it into a reciprocal Love and beneficence towards us whereas a Retaliation of dis-kindnesses serves only to multiply heighten and perpetuate Quarrels and oftentimes ends in the utter Ruine and destruction of both the contending Parties Besides this if we would be Children of our Heavently Father perfect as he is perfect we must be Merciful even as he is Merciful who is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil Who as to his common favours makes no Difference in their distribution but causeth his Sun to shine his Rain to descend on the Good and Bad on the Just and Unjust person Matth. 5. 45. And oh how well does it Become us by heaping Coals of Love on our Adversary's heads to endeavour to melt them down into Peace and Reconciliation How well does it Become us the offended not only to forgive but to be the first in suing for a mutual good Agreement with our offenders whenas God himself by his Ministers beseeches Sinners to be Reconciled unto him Whenas his holy Spirit strives with our obstinacy woes and importunes us by his Gospel-Profers and by his inward Solicitations to give over our Rebellion and accept of the terms of Divine Grace and Pardon Ah where is our Love to God if we have little or none to our Brother who bears his Image Where is our Love to the Deity if we obey not his Commandments And this is one of his Commandments that he who loves God should Love his brother also 1 John 4. 21. How dwelleth he in Christ and Christ in him in whom the Spirit of Christ a Spirit of Love and Charity dwelleth not How doth such a Person do what in him lyes to defeat the Prayer of our Saviour that we might be one as he and his Father are one we one in Unity of Affection as they are one in Unity of Divine Essence who hates his Brother or is at variance with him He is not a Christian who hath no true Faith in Christ and he hath no true Saving Faith whose Faith worketh not by Love both towards God and towards Man Hath Christ thought thy Brother worth his Dying for and dost Thou Ungrateful Wretch think him not worth thy Living for in all Offices of Love and Kindness towards him Dost thou consider that thou art no further a Christian than thou art Charitable and yet professest thou Christianity and continuest Uncharitable For Shame Man either Quit thy dissembled profession or else Realize it by acts of Mercy and beneficence O what a pattern was Jesus unto us of Love and Good-will of Real Substantial Acts of Kindness who went about doing Good made it his chief business and Employment healing all that were diseas'd both in Soul and body And who herein Recommended his Love most magnificently Displayed and Illustrated it in that while we were Enemies he Dyed for us and shall not this move us to Live unto him in Obedience to all his Commandments and particularly to That which he hath Dignified with a more peculiar Recommendation Calling it His by way of Eminency above the rest This is My Commandment says He That ye love one another as I have loved you that ye also Love one another John 15. 12. And oh how can we well do otherwise who have our Saviours so expresly plain so frequently inculcated so pressing and urgent Injunctions of this Duty who have his so Illustrious and Transcendent Example for it who have the so potent Aids and Assistances of his Spirit of Love unto the performance Ah can we deny any thing to the Lord who hath so Dearly bought and Redeemed us Had it been some Hard thing that so Great a Benefactor had enjoyn'd us would we not have done it How much more when he bids us Love and be kind to one another The most Easie the most Delightsom of all Duties would we but Try the Experiment Ah shall we not do it Shall not we Christians who have one Faith one Hope one Baptisme one God and Father of us all one Gracious Mediator and Redeemer have also one Heart and Good-will to each other Shall we who are Brethren Heirs of the same hopes of the same blessed promises fall out and Quarrel by the way in our journying to our Home and Father's House upon the account of things indifferent and meer Trifles if compar'd with the Substantials of Religion Shall we violate Charity that most weighty Vital part of Christianity for meer Circumstances and Externals of Divine Worship of no worth in themselves but only as made Assistant to Piety and Devotion What though we are not all of the same mind in matters un-essential to Religion as indeed how should we be unless of the same size of Understanding Does however our Difference of Judgment lay on us any fatal Necessity to Differ also in Love and Affection Though we are not all of one Mouth speaking the same things yet cannot we be all of one Heart We shall never be of one mind till in Heaven we behold things in one and the same Light or at least each of us in a Sufficient one but we both may and ought to be of one Good-will on Earth Ah that our Little Differences in opinion concerning Rites and Ceremonies should contribute more to our Divisions than our General Agreement in fundamental Doctrines which we all acknowledge able to make us wise unto Salvation does conduce to our Union and Coalition While our Minds Agree in Christ in the
Majesty that we may serve thee our Lord with fear and walk before thee with an humble Reverence Endue our hearts with a filial ingenuous fear mingled with Love and Obediential Respect make us to fear thee because of thy very Goodness lest we should forfeit thy Love and favour more than for dread of incurring thy heavy Vengeance and Displeasure Cause us to account thy Loving-kindness better than Life it self and then we shall dread the Loss thereof more than Death Permit us not O our God for fear of man to let fall our fear of Thee but give us to fear Thee Religiously and we need fear nothing else nay we need not fear thee Thy self Slavishly with a Guilty fear Put blessed Lord thy fear into our hearts that we may not at any time presumptuously Depart from thee but may with fear and Trembling work out our own Salvation Make thy fear upon our Souls to be a True Godly fear causing us to walk and behave our selves as alwayes under thy All-seeing Eye and inspection Trembling with a fear of holy Caution at thy presence Ever Obeying thee because we Love thee and ever Obedientially Loving thee because afraid of Loosing thy Love by offending thee Give us Gracious God that fear of the Lord which is clean Converting the soul and Commanding that we depart from all iniquity give us such a Dread of thy Divine Majesty as may make us Careful of pleasing thee fearful of offending thee as may make us inquisitive to search thy Will Diligent to performe it and persevering in the Exercises of a Religious Awe and Reverence unto our lives end and then that Constant habitual fear of thee our God which has perserved us from wilful sinning or put us upon Clearing the Guilt of it by Repentance will afford us upon a Death-bed Peace of Mind Consolation in believing and our fear of God will then be exchanged into Love and Confidence into Joy and Delight in him at that hour of Death and for Evermore Amen Blessed Saviour Amen Meditation XIV On Love and Charity to our Neighbour MUtual Love and Kindness is what the condition of our Nature dictates unto us for man being born a Sociable converseable Creature is for that very reason born an Amicable Loving one for to what End and purpose should mankind Associate and Live together Converse and hold Correspondence but to perform perform offices of Aid and Assistanc of kindness and beneficence to each-other the very Notion and common Acceptation of Humanity imports Courtesie and Good-will Loving-kindness and compassion We are born also calamitous infirm necessitous Beings and therefore mutually Dependant Creatures and Dependance on each other necessarily infers a reciprocal help and beneficience For what more Reasonable than that those who by Nature are liable to stand in Need of other◠help should Afford help to other◠when in want and Adversity 'T is the Prerogative of God alone to be Self-sufficient and Independant and therefore God who saw every thing which he had made and behold 't was very Good yet saw it not Good for man to be Alone but resolved on making an Help Meet for him that they might be mutually comforting and Assistant to each other Though in Paradise man was much nearer Self-sufficiency and further Removed from helplessness than at present So that both Nature Reason and the Ordination of God dictate that we ought to be mutual helps and common Blessings to those of our kind as being our selves in the body Subject to its wants and infirmities as well as other persons A further obligation to mutual Love and Beneficence arises from our being all very nearly Related as Kinsfolks and brethren as all cast in the same mould fashion'd according to the same General Likeness partakers of the same blood of the same common Humanity nay of one very Substance differenced only in some few Accidental Circumstances unessential to our Nature And ought not now this nearest Relation of Consanguinity to make us Loving and Beneficent to all Mankind without exception Ought not the Cement of one blood to unite us in one hearty Good will and Friendship Should not Similitude and Likeness beget Love Should not one common Nature produce in us one common Natural Affection Causing us to love our selves in loving another to do Good to our selves in doing Good to another he being a part and member of our very Substance flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone And no man says the Apostle St. Paul Eph. 5. 29. ever yet hated his own flesh but Loveth and Cherisheth it even as Christ the Church and as we in conformity ought to Love and cherish one another 'T is Natural even among Savage Beasts for those of the same kind to live at a Loving Agreement and not to prey upon each other and shall Mankind whose very frame has Tenderness interwoven in it be less Amicable and Loving than Brute-Creatures Reason and Scripture the Law of Equity and that of Moses the Prophets and Christ all urge acts of Kindness and Charity from this very Argument Whatever you would that men should do unto you even so do unto them Matth. 7. 12. You no doubt were your Circumstances such as to be in Want and Distress would that others should Relieve you have you therefore a ready will and Inclination to Relieve others whose Wants and Necessities Challenge your Relief And since you know not through the vicissitude of Humane Affairs and some sudden turn of Providence but that the Now miserable Condition of others may become your own some time hence let the hazard of your falling into want of Charity your seles excite your Love and Beneficence towards those who are actually labouring under Penury and Affliction Giving Relief to others is an easeing the troublesome Relentings 〈◊〉 our own hearts which must needs be touch'd and sorrowfully affected at the sight of a part of our own flesh of our common Nature being in Misery and Distress so that Love to others is the truest Love to our seles it relieving us of that Grief and mental Disquietude which a view of others wants and sufferings excited in us Nay the very Reflection on an act of Charity fills one with Joy and Delight Refreshes the Giver's mind as much as the Almsdeed did the Receier's body so that we the Benefactors are in some sort beholden even to the Relieved for their yielding us an occasion of so great pleasure and Contentment For to Recollect how we have been the Almoners of Divine Providence in distributing to the Necessitous how we have rescued a poor miserable man from Extremity of want have Triumph'd over his misery and misfortune and caus'd his refresh'd Bowels in the very act of Relieving him to bless us and his whole person to offer up Prayers and Good wishes on our behalfs and how moreover we have made God hereby our Friend and Debtor and have imitated and Gratified in doing Good the Supream Majesty of Heaven and Earth
may be as an Evening Sacrifice that this our Religious Address may prove the fervent effectual prayer of the Righteous which Availeth much Blow therefore holy Spirit of Grace upon the Garden of our hearts and the sweet-smelling Odours of our Faith and Hope of our Reverence Zeal and holy fervour in prayer shall instantly flow forth Grant O God that we may pray with understanding with a due Regard to thy Greatness and Majesty with a prepared Deliberate and Devout temper of Mind that our prayer may not become the Sacrifice of fools through our rash unadvisedness but that it may prove a Grateful and Acceptable Sacrifice unto Thee an instrument of holyness a Restraintive from sin a Defence against Temptation a procurer of every Corporal and Spiritual Good Gift Oh that we might be thus ever worshipping ever Adoring thee Oh that we might pray without ceasing as to the habitual pious frame and Devout Disposition of our hearts But alas O Lord how are our souls possest with a Spirit of Infirmity How are they bow'd down with Listlessness and formality in thy Service O raise them up by the fervours and elevations of Devotion Quicken them with thy Graces enflame them with thy Divine Love purifie and spiritualize their corrupt Earthly Affections Give us to be in earnest amidst these our Supplications Give us to ask blessings of thee so believingly so fervently and indesinently as to Receive them by Asking Oh that we may set a true value upon this most valuable priviledge of Prayer that our Souls may be filled as with marrow and fatness when our mouths thus praise thee with joyful lips Hast Thou O Lord promised to prepare the hearts of thy Servants to seek thee and that then thou wilt Graciously incline thine ear to hear and fulfil their Requests and shall not we on our parts contribute what we can to the preparation and set our selves to worship thee with an holy worship Oh suffer us not to let thee Go permit us not to give over entreating thee till thou hast Granted us our hearts desires fulfill'd the Requests of our Lips and bless'd us with Spiritual Blessings in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus O that thou wouldst be pleas'd at present to wing our Souls with holy Devotion to let down of thy heat and of thy Light into them to create in us upright hearts and most vehement desires after a fuller Communion with thee in Religious Ordinances As the Hart pantetâ—â— after the water-brooks so may our spirits in heav'nly Aspirations Long and pant after thee O God! Crying out Oh when shall we come and appear before God When shall we see and experience of his beauteous of his comfortable Goings forth in the Sanctuary as in former seasons Grant O munificent Jesus with whom the most urgent importunities are very Acceptable and Delightful grant that we may obtain all convenient Temporal Spiritual and Eternal blessings by the humble violence of fervent uncessant Supplication O thou God of all Consolation thou foundation of Blessedness who Delightest to 〈◊〉 the â—eek and Lowly desires of thy â—â—digent Dependant Creatures Enlarge our hearts in this thy Service Give us to taste of the sweets of Devotion let us experience the mighty efficacy of prayer O suffer us not to come down from this holy mount of exalted praise and Adoration till it has proved a mount of Transfiguration unto us till we are made thereby more Resemblant of thy Divine Nature in Purity and Holiness Oh may we take such a prospect of the promised Land of Rest and Happiness above from the towering Ascent of Prayer that we may Anticipate the Joys Celestial may contemn these Earthly vanities and disdain every meanner Satisfaction than what thou our God the things Spiritual and Eternal can yeild us Accept holy Father of this as a Tribute of Thanksgiving for all thine inestimable benefits from time to time conferr'd upon us Accept of this poor unworthy Retribution but however all that our Indigency and Poverty all that thy self-sufficiency and fullness will allow us to pay thee O may we Live and Dye thus pouring out our souls to thee in humble Supplication and Gratulatory praises And when we have pray'd and prais'd and adored thee our ut most our appointed measure here on Earth O Grant we may be taken up into Heaven and there be joyn'd to the Eternally praising worshipping and Adoring Quire of Glorisied Saints and Angels Amen for our Redeemer's sake Amen Amen A PRAYER FOR THE MORNING MOst Great most Glorious and Gracious Lord God Glorious in Majesty fearful in Power infinite in Holiness with what holy Awe and Reverence with what pious Humility and Prostration of Soul ought we vile Creatures we sinful Dust and Ashes to approach this thy more immediate Presence Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of man that thou so Regardest him as to watch over him with thy Good Providence as to visit him with thy faithfulness in the Night-season and with thy Loving-kindness every Morning O how indebted are we to thy Goodness and Forbearance that we are yet in the Land of the Living praising thee We pray thee make this thy Goodness and Long-suffering instrumental to the leading us out of a principle of Gratitude to a more compleat and advanced Repentance Blessed be thy Name for the Protection afforded us the Night past for thy Renewed Mercies of this Day O Grant that they may Excite us to a Renewing of our holy purposes and Resolutions of stricter and better Obedience for the future may thy Adding days to our Lives cause us to Add Diligence to our religious endeavours Give us Grace to spend our present continued season in such a Godly manner as if it were to be our Last as Ready prepared against its being such Let not we beseech Thee the increase of our years contribute to the increase of our Guilt and Number of our Sins but cause this further indulged space of Time to be so well-improved by us as that it may bring us the nearer to an happy Eternity But O our God how have we given thee occasion by our Abuse of former means of Grace and opportunities of Salvation to Deny us any further ones and to cut us off in the midst of our Transgressions How mayst thou resolve in thy wrath having been so Long Grieved so Long Resisted by our sinful obstinacy that thy holy Spirit shall not Allways strive with such Refractory Offenders The Number of our Impieties is Great the Heinousness of them much Greater we have forgotten thee too too often have sinn'd against thee Days without Number tho thou hast pardon'd hast Spared us days without number though thou hast given us our Being though thou hast plentifully provided for our well-being yet have we forgotten thee though thou hast given us thy Son to Redeem us though thou hast given us thy Holy-Ghost to Purifie Assist and Comfort us yet have we ungratefully Rebell'd against