much Larger measure Wean we pray Thee our affections from the Creature which can make no Suitable Return to our Love which cannot Satisfie the Longing of our Souls and win them unto Thee who by thy Mercies preventest our Love by thy Mercies dost nourish and improve it canst fully Gratifie the Good desires of our hearts and wil't amply Recompence and Reward them O Thou Joy of Angels and Soveraign Happynes of all thy Saints Oh that our Souls cold Love Thee without Limits as Thou art without Limits Lovely and Amiable Oh that we may Love Thee for thy Essential Goodness in Thy self as much as for thy Derived imparted Goodness unto us Let our thoughts let our desires and affections zealously Embrace Thee and may we be embraced with a peculiar love and favour by Thee may still new Degrees of thy Love widen and enlarge our Capacities of Receiving them and as they Enlarge do Thou flow in with an increase of Divine Communications Convince us O Lord that those Excellencies which are Borrowed which are Imperfect which are variously Dispers'd in the Creation are all concenter'd in Thee the Original in infinite Beauty and Perfection and shall we not Love Thee the Spring head of Blessedness more than the Derived Streams than the lesser Rivulets of felicity O perswade us that we are unkind to our selves if we Love not Thee the Author the Treasury of our Happyness Temporal Spiritual and Eternal Alass we find our hearts Cold Dead and Sluggish in thy Service Lord Quicken Lord enflame them Enflame them with thy Divine Love Quicken them in thy Righteousness They have gone Astray they have wander'd after many other Lovers after the pleasures profits and honours of this world which have miserably Deceived them O fix them upon Thee who wilt everlastingly Love them Everlastingly Contiâ—â— Lovely and never Disappoint them Make holy God our Love of Thee an Vniting an Assimilating Love that We may Love what Thou Lovest and hate what Thou hatest that we may do whatever will please Thee forbear whatever will offend Thee conforming our selves to thine Image in Holyness O that our Affections could Ever continue such towards Thee as they are at present O that we may demonstrate the Truth of our Love to Thee by our obeying with all Willingness Zeal and Chearfulness thy Divine precepts by obeying them Vniversally Sincerely and Constantly to our lives End Then only O Heavenly Father can we have Confidence towards Thee shall we be Assured we Love Thee aright when we Love Thee for thine Own self when we Love Thee Soveraignly and Supreamly when our Love is so Exalted as that we may be said to hate and Despise all other things in Comparison of Thee O give us thus Zealously to be affected towards Thee Grant that the Love of thy Self may Crucifie in us the Vndue Love of our selves the inordinate Love of the World or of any our Dearest Relations and that being Empty of our selves and of all Confidence in the Creature we may be wholely taken up with Admiration Love and Delight in Thine infinite Perfections and in the Astonishing Expressions of thy Goodness and Loving-kindness to the Lost Sons of Adam O may thy Love Conquer and Over-power our hearts Melt them into Gratitude and Obedience may it Disingage their Affections from every Narrow and particular Good and Setile them upon Thee the Vniversal One Causing us to Love Thee Above all things every created blessing as it bears the impressions of thy Wisdom Beauty and Power and all mankind for Thy sake and in Obedience to thy Commands Preserve 〈◊〉 us Good Lord such Devout flames of a Godly Affection and let us be our Beloved's and Thou our Beloved ours to all Eternity Amen Amen Meditation XI On Zeal in the Service of God HOW natural a Consequent is this of the Love of God Zeal to please him Zeal to Resemble him Zeal to promote his Honour and Glory Where if not here is Zeal Becoming Where else can it be so Suitably placed Nay our Divine Services how can they well be Acceptable without it For where there is Sincerity of Intention in doing our Duty without which no Duty can be pleasing to Heaven we can scarce conceive Fervency of Spirit to be wanting unless through weakness and indisposition of Body And for the Service of God the most Glorious and Excellent of Beings to be a cold and Languid Worship how Great an Absurdity how Great an Inconsistency is this Certainly the Service of the Temple the Sacrifice of the Altar requires the flame and Fire of the Altar to render it of a sweet-smelling Savour To perform Duty to God with formality and indifferency of Spirit is neither to consider the Nature of the Work we are about the Greatness and Excellency of the Divine Majesty nor yet what Earnestness and Zeal the Care of our own Salvation exacts from us The Love of God demands our whole heart Soul and Strength and consequently the keeping his Commandments the Genuine Evidence of our Love demands the utmost Exercise of our Powers and Faculties both bodily and Spiritual That is not a Service of God which is carelesly discharged but rather an Affront rather a Contempt of him 'T is a doing somewhat in Religion to Still and Quiet the uneasie Reproofs of our own Consciences but not doing any thing with a design of pleasing God out of Obedience and Love to his Commandments or from a desire of becoming Like unto him in Holiness which Regards alone can consecrate and render acceptable our Services Zeal where is it due if not in the Divine Worship Than which nothing is of greater Importance nothing of greater Worth nothing more for our Interest and Advantage Where the safety of our Immortal Souls our Heaven and Eternal Happiness are concern'd there certainly no warmth of Heart no Diligence of endeavour can be too much Ah did we but consider God's Zeal the sounding of his Bowels and tenderness of his Compassion toward us we could not sure want Zeal and Ardency of Affection towards him The holy Angels above who best understand the Value of God's Service who know best how Exalted a pitch of Love and Duty an infinitely Good and Gracious Divine Majesty merits at our hands what a Pattern do They set us of Industry Zeal and joyful Alacrity in Religious worship And how does their intense and flaming Affection in God's Service Shame and Reprove our doing the work of the Lord negligently Can we serve either a Greater Master or a Better One who Deserves better our Services or who is more willing and Able to Reward them plenteously Do we pray thy Will be done on Earth as 't is in Heaven with a like Universality Constancy Fervour and Chearfulness of holy Duty and yet do we contradict this our Petition by a partial formal and undelightful Obedience Have we that pious Reverence amidst our Devotions which is answerable to the Great and Glorious Presence of God with whom in
Righteous in all thy Works Just and True in all thy ways and stedfastly believing that in very Faithfulness thou hâ—st caused us to be troubled Nay even to Bless and Praise thy holy Name amidst the greatest 〈◊〉 that thou dost so far condescend to take Notice of us worthless Creatures as to punish us with thine own hand and chasten us with afflictions that we should not be condemned with the sinfuâ—â— World O how know we but we are more indebted to thee for thy Corrections than for thy more Apparent favours and Benefits and shall we then murmur and be impatient under them God forbid Convince us rather Good Lord that whom thou Lovest thou Chastenest and Correctest every Son whom thoâ— Receivest that if we are without Chastisements then are we bastards and not Sons Convince us that 't was through many Tribulations that the Glorious Company of the Apostles that the Noble Army of Martyrs made their Entranâ—â— into the Kingdom of Heaven that it was through such violences that they took it as it were by force Remind us that 't was through Sufferings that our blessed Saviour was made perfect that He himself went not up to Joy efore he first suffer'd Pain that He enter'd not into Glory before he was Crucified O make us in Conformity to him the Captain of our Salvation patiently to charge thorough all Adversities Losses and Disappointments till we arrive at the mark for the prize of our high calling in Christ Give us holy Father to lye Prostrate at thy feet whenever thou contendest with us let us Repent to the Amendment of our evil ways and not Repine at those smarting Sufferings which tend to Rebuke our foolish forsaking Thee the Author of our Blessedness let us be dumb with a silent Reverence whenever thy heavy hand of Chastisement is upon us O cause us then in all lowliness and Humility to submit to thyProvidence to make diligent Search after the Accursed thing for which thou art Displeas'd with us to Kiss thy Rod of Correction and Learn that Reforming Lesson which it dictates lest otherwise it Breaks us in pieces and there be none to Deliver us O Suppress in us all Repining thoughts and make us drink chearfully the cup of Affliction how bitter soever it is we shall have reason to Thank thee O Lord for it if it proves Medicinal to our Souls O make it such we entreat thee Let this be the use of Temporal Calamities their weaning our Affections from the Vanities below their Raising and Setling our desires on the infinitely more valuable things Above their rendering us Meek Humble Contented Resign'd that so our Faith Hope and Patience may be found in the Day of our Lord Laudable Glorious and Honourable and that being Afflicted for a season we may be endlesly comforted Amen Blessed Saviour Amen Meditation X. On Love to God 'T IS our Duty and 't is our Interest and Priviledge our Duty we being commanded to Love him with all our hearts souls and strengths and our Interest for what greater Love to our selves than to Love the fountain of all Loveliness than to Love him in whom are compriz'd all those Excellencies in infinite Degrees which Scatteringly and imperfectly reside in the Creatures and yet render them Amiable and Admired Nothing is more Reasonable also than to Love God a being so transcendently Good in himself so Gracious and Loving unto us for to Him we owe all the powers of our Bodies all the noble faculties of our Souls all that we Are all that we have comes Entirely from him we should be very ungrateful persons should we Love any thing so well as him much more should we Love any thing Above him for he hath not only created us doth not only preserve and provide for us Comforts as well as Necessaries but he hath also dearly Redeem'd us from everlasting Destruction not with corruptible things such as Silver and Gold but with no Less a Ransom than the precious Bloodshed of his Dear Son God Co-equal with the Father He hath likewise Sanctified us with the Regeneration of his blessed Spirit Thus hath God not only provided us all the Coveniences of this life but also all things appertaining to a Better has given us Spiritual Blessings as well as Corporal means of Grace and hopes of Glory So that He hath layd on us the Strongest obligations to Love him and if any thing else in the whole Creation is Lovely much more Eminently so is the Divine Majesty who is owner of all his Creatures Lovelyness and of Infinite more If Beauty is an object of Love behold God the most beautiful Being in whom dwells perfection of Comelyness If Riches are attractives of Esteem and Valuation behold the Deity the Treasury of all Wealth and of whatever is valuable If pleasure is a thing Lovely and desirable behold in God's presence Fullness of Joy and at his Right hand pleasures for Evermore Sure I must hate my self if I Love not God for therein consists my Wellfare and Happyness Shall I love other things and not Him from whom they Borrowed their Lovelyness Shall I Love the Stream and not the Fountain of blessedness What Joy do I deprive my self of if I Love not God If I hate not all other things in comparison of him He that Loveth Father or Mother sayes our Blessed Saviour more than me is not worthy of me and he that Loveth Son or Daughter the most Near and Dear things more than me is not worthy of me O who know the Enravishing Delights but those who have experienced them of Loving the Deity and being beloved by him of holding such Sweet Communion with the God of all Consolation It is a very Great Favour and Condescension that the Majesty of Heaven and Earth will Admit of our imperfect Love will Graciously Accept it for 't is imperfect though never so Sincere 't is finite Love though never so Seraphical What an inconceivable Honour is it to be vouchsafed the Loving our Creator 'T is certain we can have no better Object no one so Good the benefit of Loving God redounds wholly to our selves not at all to him However I will Love the Lord not so much for my own Ends as because he hath Commanded my Love as because he is a supereminently Amiable Being infinitely Deserving my Love as because 't is a Debt due from me a Dependant Creature to my Maker and the Author of all my Enjoyments I will Delight in Loving and Obeying him as long as I live and I by his Grace will Evidence the Truth of my Love by paying an Universal Respect unto all his Commandments Amen Amen The Prayer O Thou Supream Excellency whom to know is Life Eternal whom to Love is Heaven upon Earth Thou Being infinitely Lovely in thine own Nature Exceeding kind nad Loving unto us manifest thy self more and more unto us that we may Love Thee more and more and that Loving Thee with increase we may Enjoy Thee in a
art Holy Thou only art to be feared With Thee is power and Strength with thee therefore ought to be Dominion and fear O who is so much an object of our fear as God A mighty God and Terrible infinite in Justice Almighty in Power Awful in Omniscience and Omnipresence And who if we will nor fear him at present so as to avoid Sin will one day force us to fear him when it shall be too Late to avoid Punishment Now this fear of God to which we are obliged is not so much a fear of him upon the account of his Exact Justice and Almighty power as an Aweful Regard to him mixt with Love and a wariness of forfeiting his favour 'T is a fearing him for his very Goodness that is not only lest we loose our Share in it but 't is a letting his Essential Goodness in himself and his Communicated Goodness unto us out of a principle of Ingenuity and Gratitude be our Chief Motive and Obligation to a Religious Caution more than any regard had to the Divine Punishments and Severities 'T is a fear of Loosing God's Love more than of feeling the fore Effects of his Displeasure And hath this fear of the Lord possession of our Souls Do we fear him with a filial Reverential fear More lest we loose our Interest in his Love and fatherly Affection than for dread of incurring the severities of his Justice as our Judge and Punisher Does our Consideration of his manifold benefits conferr'd upon us write in our hearts such an ingenuous Law of Thankfulness as that we fear him more out of a sense of Gratitude for what we have Received of his Divine blessings than for sear of forfeiting those which are yet in Reversion Ah 't is this fear of Reverence this fear of Displeasing the Deity this Holy Caution and Waryness lest we err from his Commandments which is the true Godly-fear the most Acceptable in our Heavenly Fathers sight with a fear of vengeance to be executed upon them the very Devils fear and tremble but 't is only a Son of God and Heir of Salvation who fears God for his Goodness fear of Divine Justice and Almighty Power is but the Beginning of Godly Wisdom the first step in a profligate Sinners Conversion but 't is a fear of God made perfect by Love of him a fear to offend him and loose his friendship which crowns the work of Regeneration and shews our Advance in a state of Grace and Salvation O our God Thou art Terrible as well as Lovely but Thou art also Lovely in thy very Terrour for therefore stand we in Awe of thee lest we should forfeit thy good will and favour O how will Love as well as Abhorrence create a Dread it us a Dread of offending our Beloved How will Gods Mercy as well as his Justice cause us to fear him Oh that we may fear and Love him more and so much the more fear him by how much we increased and abound in Love of him And certainly 't is our wisest way on all accounts thus to fear God for thy that fear the Lord need fear nothing besides they having such an Almighty Protector and Deliverer their Guardian They need fear nothing but sin and such a fear as keeps them innocent from wilful offences keeps them also calm and at peace in their own bosoms preserves them the Favourites of Heaven and then they may defie all the Power and Policy of Hell The fear of any worldly thing will Lessen mens fear of God but their true fear of God will take from them all slavish fear of the World the Lord is on our side will they say what need we fear what man can do unto us The fierceness of man's anger against us God can turn both to His and our Praise in causing us patiently to bear it and the Residue of Wrath will be Restrain Men can do us no more harme than God wil permit but who can stop his Arâ— when he stretcheth it forth to take vengeance He can suddenly change our Adversaries evil minds toward us into thoughts of Love and Beneficence of Peace and Good will or at least I should have said at most for 't is the Greatest Blessing God can bestow upon us he can amply Reward our light afflictions which are but for a season with a far more exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory The fear of the Lord is our greatest Wealth and Riches as well as Safety and Protection they that fear the Lord both Corporal and Spiritual blessings are theirs pardon of sin healing of infirmities the Supplies of God's Grace whether things present or things to come all are Theirs and they are Christ's and Christ is God's God is the Portion the Lot of inheritance to all those that stand in Awe of him and sin not and in him being hidden all the Treasures of Goodness He being the never-failing fountain of Happyness those consequently who truely fear and have an Interest in Him can never lack If God is our Father where is our Son-like Honour of him If he is our Master where is our Obediential Fear Ah who knows the power of Gods Wrath who knows how Great an Object of Terrour he is like the poor Disconsolate and Despairing Sinner in whom the Arrows of the Almighty stick fast and his hand presseth him sore against whom God writeth bitter things and makes him to possess the iniquities of his Youth Alase to such a one God is fearful and Terrible indeed he believes God's Justice and Judgments and believing that is viewing them with a Sensible and more Lively prospect he fear and Trembles For thereafter as a Man Fears so is God's Displeasure in his account nay thereafter as a man Loves as well as Fears God proportionably Great is his Dread of loosing his favour proportionably Grievous is his Sorrow upon Having lost it Hence we find Holy David crying out with bitterest Complaints Thou didst hide thy face from me O Lord and I was sore troubled O turn thee unto me again and have mercy upon me cast me not away from thy presence neither shut up thy Loving-kindness in Everlasting Displeasure Such a Cutting Grief doth the loss of the Light of God's Countenance produce in those who sincerely Love him This Love indeed casteth out all Servile Despondent fear which hath Torment and generateth to Bondage but it Quickens and improves a filial fear such as restraineth from offending O may we fear God more lest we forfeit his Love than lest we incur the severe penalties of his Displeasure may we fear him with a Reverential Obedient fear as Sons that we may never fear him with a burthensome Dismaying fear as Slaves The Prayer O Thou the fear of Israel who only art to be feared with a Soveraign Supream fear so as to Extinguist in us that of all other things besides when in competition with our fear of Thee possess holy Father our Souls with a pious Awe of thy Divine
that of an Afflictive sense of having no Lot or Portion in the Love and Enjoyment of God an infinite Good Sin must needs be the greatest Evil the worst of any thing which is Enemy to either God or Man because 't is God's usual method to punish sin with sin when all his other Reclaiming Essays of Providence have through the obstinacy of the sinner proved ineffectual I will chuse their delusions says God and give them over to their Iniquities he that is unjust let him be unjust still and he that is filthy let him be filthy still As if to be a Sinner was misery sufficient and no vengeance for Impiety like that of being permitted a continuance therein The exceeding Great Malignity of Sin is in nothing more seen than in this that it cost God more to Redeem the World than at first to Create it cost him but the fiat of his Will but a Word 's speaking to make it out of Nothing but stood him at the invaluable Expence of his Son's Blood to Ransom it out of worse than Nothing a polluted sinful self-undone Condition At God's Creation of the World there was only want and absence of previous matter whereout to make it no repugnant inaptitude no contrariety in the subject whereby in the least to obstruct or retard the Divine Efficacy whereas in the Redemption of the lost World there was the deep rooted Corruption of our Nature inveteracy of Evil Custom and Habit depravity of Affection and perverseness of Man's Will to be conflicted with and overcome by God's Spirit by his holy Word and Sacraments before the Ransome purchased could be applyed and made Savingly Effectual So much more is there in Sin of inconquerableness and Difficulty of subjection than in the most difficult and miraculous material product of an Almighty power O let but our thoughts carry us to the places of our Saviours bitter Agonies and Sufferings and there let us behold him greatly Amazed and sore troubled Sweating great drops of blood bowing beneath the weight of his Fathers Displeasure crying out Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me and at last suffering on a painful and Ignominious Cross those extream torments both of body and mind which the sins of all Mankind had deserved which none but the Manhood in Conjunction with the Godhead could have undergone and which were abundantly Sufficient to Expiate the Guilt of the whole world and of multitudes of worlds were multitudes really existing Let us consider our Blessed Lord suffering all this though without Sin in himself only because he had taken it on him by Imputation and by becoming our Surety bore the iniquities of us all and then let us if we can continue to think so Lightly so harmlesly oâ— Sin as we do Here 's a sight our Redeemers Crucifixion which at once shews his inestimable Love to us and the mighty Malignity of Sin in that nothing Less than his precious Bloodshed that Seal of the New-Covenant could Aâ—one Divine Justice and do away the Guilt the Condemnation of our impieties The Prayer O Thou immaculate Purity Thou perfectly holy and Righteous Divine Being who hast manifested thy Love to holyness and thy Hatred against all impiety chiefly in sending thy Son into the World by his pure Example and by his holy Doctrine to destroy the sinful works of the Devil and to promote a Life of uprightness O that those Excellent Graces which shined so eminently in our Saviour may be formed within us thy servants the Hope of Glory that the life which we henceforth lead in the Flesh may be by the Faith of the Son of God Conform us we beseech thee to his Image in Holiness making us partakers of a Divine Nature Ah blessed Lord 't is not the Guilt 't is not the Condemnation of sin we so much desire to be deliver'd from as the foul stain and pollution as the Reigning power and prevalency thereof destroy then Vice within us as well with respect to the inward Love and Approbation as to the outward Act and Performance While we are in the World preserve us holy Father from the Corruptions of the World suffer not sin to have Dominion over us in any kind for we are not under the Law but under Grace O may thy Grace be sufficient for us Keep us holy Spirit by thy power thorough Faith unto Salvation Let not Sin Reign in our mortal Bodies that we should fulfil the lusts thereof but Grant that thy good Spirit thy holy Word and heavenly Graces may bear sway in us and abound Turn our Eyes from beholding sinful vanity and cause thou us to make much of thy Law O give us to behold more of the malignant Nature of Sin of the Turpitude Folly Baseness and Ingratitude thereof and then shall we more thoroughly Grieve Detest and Resolve on the abandoning of it Convince us gracious God that Sin 't is the greatest of Evils and then shall we betake our selves to Thee the greatest of Goods work in us that Holiness without which we not only Shall not but also Cannot see Thee the Lord by reason of a natural Incapacity in us for Seeing Thee O divine Object of blessedness imports Enjoying thee a seeing thee with Delight and Satisfaction and this we can never do unless we first become Like Thee in Purity in the holy Tempers and Dispositions of our Souls O lay in us that Foundation of future Happiness Grace the Hope and Qualification of inheriting Endless Glory Lord we are poor and blind and naked blind as to true saving Knowledge operative by Love poor and naked as to any inherent Acceptable Righteousness of our own O let us be cloath'd upon with the Robes of thy perfect imputed Righteousness we are Dead in sins and trespasses O do thou Quicken do Thou Raise us up to Newness of Life and Obedience Purge our Consciences from dead Works that we may henceforth serve more Acceptably thee the Everliving God Let our lives be a continual Endeavour of subduing in our selves the Love of Sin of becoming Enamoured with the Beauty of Holiness of becoming Like thee therein more Approved of by thee and every way such as Thou wouldst have us to be Cleanse us O God from all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit and cause us to endeavour after the perfecting of Holiness in thy fear And then Holiness the chief ingredient of Heavenly Happiness being our New-Nature being the fix'd Temper and Habit of our Regenerate Minds we shall be both Meet for Heaven and our Souls will Tend thither as to their proper place and most desireable state of Enjoyment Amen Amen Meditation V. On Watchfulness against Sin and Temptations THat this is a Duty our Saviour teaches us Watch and Pray says he that ye enter not into Temptation that ye come not within the reach or first Enticements thereof And St. Peter exhorts Be ye sober be vigilant because your Adversary the Devil goes about as a roaring Lion
Prayer we have to do Have we that importunity and Earnestness of Supplication that warmth and Zeal of Devout Address which is any way suitable to those pressing Indigencies we have to be supply'd To those burthensome miseries we have to be delivered from Or does not coldness and indifferency of affection wandering and distraction of thoughts Dulness and weariness of mind mix with and deprave our Divine Worship Ah how Little fervour of Spirit have we in serving the Lord how Little of the true Spirit of Prayer in our praying unto him Do not Gods Sabbaths his Religious Ordinances seem Tiresome unto us A very Toil and Burthen does not his Easie Yoak of precept sit Heavy on our Necks And 〈◊〉 Commandments appear Grievous by reason of our want of Approbation Love and Affection towardâ— them which would breed pleasure and Delight in their performance Ah 't is for that we are Ignoranâ— how God's Service is perfect freedom and hat a Slavery there is in serving diverse Lusts and Passions which makes us so Dead and Listless in his service when otherwise we should be all Spirit and Life whilst Employed in pious Exercises Ah had we more Love for God it would render us more Active more Warm and spirightly in his Worship it would put us upon doing our utmost to please him and we should not Endure coldness and flagging of affection in our religious Addresses But Lukewarmness of Devotion would appear to us â—igh as distasteful as perfect Deadness in Duty and we should never think that flat Lifeless Service Acceptable to God which we could not Approve of to our selves The Prayer BLessed and Glorious Lord God who infinitely Deservest our most warm and Zealous Services who makest thy Angels Spirits and those thy Ministers a flame of fire flames indeed of Devotion of Divine Love and Gratitude of Delight and fervour in holy Obedience O make us also all flame and Spirit in thy Worship that we may worship thee with Zeal and Ardour of Affection as well as with Sincerity and uprightness of heart Produce in us holy Father a Zealous importunity in prayer Suitable to 〈◊〉 wants we have to be Supplyed suitable to the Dangers and Evils we have to 〈◊〉 delivered from suitable to the worâ—â— the Necessity the Importance of thâ—â— Divine blessings Temporal Spiritual and Eternal which we stand in Neeâ— of and which are only to be derived froâ— thee the fountain of all Blessedness O cause us to Evidence our high Value and Esteem of thy Heavenly favours of the Gifts and Graces of thy Holy Spirit by our Zealous Concernment for the obtaining them by our coveting Earnestly those best Gifts and Seeking 〈◊〉 such things which are more Excellent Give us Give us Good Lord more Love to thee our God that we may have a greater Zeal for thy Honour and Glory that we may boldly Rebuke vice Earnestly promote Holyness be Grieved principally for sin because thy blessed Spirit is Grieved thereby may our hearts burn within us with pious Love Reverence and Delight when we Read and meditate on thy Sacred Word when we Pray when we return Thanksgivings or are any ways Employed in Religious Duties let our hearts be sad when our Affections are cold and languid in thy Service O Endue us with the burning Love with the flame and Zeal of holy Cherubims that we may Experience also their Transports of Delight their Extasies of Joy and Satisfaction in thy Worship make us we beseech thee thus Exceeding Jealous for Thee the Lord God of Hosts may the Zeal of thine House well nigh Consume us may we account it our very Meat and Drink to be doing thy Will and let nothing flat and lifeless mingle it self with our piety and Devotion Does Gracious God our Eternal Salvation depend upon our aright worshipping thee and do we worship thâ—â— with a faint and heartless Service Aâ—â— cure the Deadness and formality of thy Servants best Religious performances cure the indifferency and Earthlyness 〈◊〉 our Affections Make s rather tobe on the wing of Devotion to be always Zealously affected in a Good matter 〈◊〉 be fervent in Spirit Serving the Lordâ— that so we may Anticipate much of 〈◊〉 Heavenly State and Temper which shall be compleated hereafter that our lives at present may be full of inward peace and comfort our Deaths of Joy and Consolidation in believing and our Eternity full of Glory and Celestial Happyness Amen for the sake of our dying Redeemer Amen Meditation XII On Trust in God TRust and Relyance on God is our Duty and our Priviledge 't is our Duty as we were created frail impotent Necessitous Beings and for that reason Confiding Dependant ones as also God our Sustainer is a Self-sufficient and All sufficient Store of Happyness whose infinite Perfections render him an object of our Hope and Trust proportionable to our greatest Wants of Ability to Remove or Relieve our most extream acutest Distresses And what more Natural and Reasonable than that we should there place our Confidence and Relyance where we have our Support and Dependance But that we should there found our Trust where we cannot be Disappointed But that a poor helpless distress'd Creature should seek abroad for Succour and Relief And where should he Seek it so Suitably and Effectually as in God-Almighty the fountain oâ— all Strength the inexhaustible Magazine of Relief the protecting Sanctuary of the distress'd who fly unto him for Refuge A God as Willing and Ready as Sufficient and Powerful to Relieve us And that this flying to God for Help and Succour and reposing all his Trust and Confidence in the Deity is the Confiding person's Priviledge and Advantage as well as bounden-Duty is evident for what can give that Man inward Quiet and Tranquillity even in his best Condition who is subject every moment to the uncertainties and vicissitudes of Human Affairs to all the Dangers all the Hazards all the Actual Evils and Misfortunes of this mortal life but a Relying Assurance that nothing can befall him beside the wise Counsel gracious Will and Ordination of that God in whom he puts his Trust Whose power is of that extent as to furnish all our Needs and Satisfie all our desires as to secure to us his favours and blessings and to keep off from us or else Sanctifie our troubles and afflictions whose Omnipotence is directed by infinite Wisdome to Know that 's best for us his Wisdom exercised in Contriving and Ordering what 's best for us and both his Power and Wisdom vigorously moved in their operations by infinite Love and Goodness to Do what 's best for us An humble confidence in God makes us deâ—â—e the worst of the Creature 's Threatenings frees us from Carking troubles within our selves preserves a firm peaceful temper in the midst of Storms and Adversities giving us an unbroken Magnanimity of Spirit a true Dominion of Mind over all outward things and occurrences All our inordinate Care taken without Gods immediately Ordaining
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
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
Life Amen Amen The Prayer O Holy Jesu thou Lord of Life and Glory who by thy Death hast overcome Death and open'd unto us the Gate of Everlasting Life at the hour of Death and in the Day of Judgment Good Lord Deliver us Grant that the End of our life on Earth may be the Beginning to us of a blessed Eternity in Heaven that the Second Death the never-ceasing one may have no Dominion over us but that when we discontinue Living with men we may dwell with thee our God and Converse with all the blessed Society Above Grant Heavenly Father that when we come to lye on a Death-bed we may be able to look backward with Comfort and Consolation on a well spent Life and forward with a bright prospect of Glory and Immortality beyond the Grave that when we are nigh unto Death and our bodyly strength Languishing our faith and hope may Revive and become vigorous and we may then feel the joyous Approaches of that Salvation which we before had wrought out with fear and trembling We know O Lord that 't is appointed for all men once to Dye and that no one can rescue his life from the pit of Destruction and yet do we live as if we had made an Agreement with Hell and had an unforfeitable Lease of our lives O give us to Dye unto sin Now that we may sleep in Christ at our Departure and be Awaken'd be Rais'd to life again in the Restitution of all things Afford us some Refreshing beams of the Light of thy Reconciled Countenance when passing through the dark valley of the Shadow of Death grant that we may then fear no evil but may have the Testimony of a Good Conscience which may be a supporting Cordial to our weak and fainting Spirits Grant that we may not live in such an unprepar'd state of Soul as that we should be afraid to Dye and Appear before thy Judgment seat but cause us so to Demean our selves as that the Sting and Terrour of Death Sin may be taken away before Death it self lays hold on us that when it comes we may welcome it with Smiles and Gladness may lift up our heads with Joy at our hastening Dissolution as knowing that then the time of our Redemption draweth near Be Thou present with us at the hour of Death O blessed Jesu who sufferedst Death for us upon the Cross by the vertue of that thy precious Death Sweeten we beseech thee the bitterness of ours When our Eyes shall be Darkned in the Agonies of Death kindle in our hearts the Light of saving Faith when our Speech shall fail and leave us O do thou speak Inwardly unto us by the Comforts of thy Spirit and grant that we may speak mentaily unto Thee by Devoul Sighs and Groans which cannot be utter'd when we are nigh unto the End of our Days may we be nigh the end of our Hopes even the Salvation of out Souls O give us in our last Exiremities Joy in believing Hope in our Latter End humble Resignation of our Spirits into thy hands an holy Contempt of this Earth an Enflamed Love of Heaven Longing desires to be with Thee with our Saviour christ with Angels and Glorified Saints which is much better than being here Amen Amen for thy Mercies sake Meditation XVII On the Last Judgment MEthinks I view the Judge of the whole Earth Terrible and yet Gracious coming in the Clouds of Heaven with all his Glorious Retinue of holy Angels methinks I hear the Arowzing Call of the last Trumpet see the innumerable Dead take the Alarm Awake Move and Rise at its all-powerful Summons I behold methinks the Righteous Rising first with Smiles and Exultation in their Faces as knowing that their Redemption that the Reward of all their Pious Labours draweth near I behold also the ungodly Rising Last and yet even then most unwillingly shaking and trembling for fear of their approaching Tryal and Condemnation Heaven above Threatning them Hell beneath Gaping wide for their Reception I bâ—hold too the Court-Book of an Universal Registry open'd each Mans Indictment and Accusation publickly Read his own Conscience the while bearing Witness and either Accusing or Excusing him in that fearful Judgment I hear methinks the Decisive Sentence 〈◊〉 ronourced of either Eternal Happyness or Misery of either come ye Blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepar'd for you before the foundations of the World or else of Depart from me ye Accursed into Everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Oh the different Effects these different Sentences have on the Persons they are directed unto The Righteous receive their Sentence with Joy and Acclamations with transporting Thanks and Hallelujahs with an humble Admiration that the Recompence of their finite Defective Services should be a far more Exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory The ungodly Reprobates entertain their Doom with hideous Howlings and Lamentations with heart-piorcing Sorrows and Affrightments with fruitless desires to return again into their Graves or to be perfectly destroyed and Annihilated Come ye blessed O Delightsome sound O wellcome hearing wellcome especially from the moâ—â—â— of our Judge Come There is no need sure of a pressing Invitation to accept of so much Bliss and Happyness behold they Run they draw near upon the first Intimation of it they fly with haste into the possession of their Eternal Inheritance They now please themselves in the Remembrance of their former Godly Sorrows Mortifications and Self-denyals which through the Mercy 's of God and Merits of their Saviour have procured them such an exceeding Great Rejoycing All their former Tears dry up at the sight of their Glorious Redemption and they would not for a World but they had Denyed themselves in the Life past that now in the Resurrection of the Just they may be own'd and Approved of by their Advocate and Acquitter Depart ye Cursed blessed Lord whither should they depart Can they Goe any where where thou art not present who sillest all things tho' they descend into the Deep and remain in the uttermost parts of the Sea yet Thou art there though they make the Darkness of Hell their hiding-place yet thou art there also thine Omniscient Eye shall even there find them out and thine Almighty Arm shall punish them Depart from Me A Dâ—parture from thy Beatifick presence O God must needs render the Departed Accursed for Thou art all that 's Good the Loss therefore of Thee is an Universal Loss Thou art the Center and Rest of the Soul and therefore to be separated from Thee must be the most unquiet and miserable Condition imaginable A Departure from the Joyous Light of thy Countenance O blessed Jesu who only hast the words of Eternal Life can certainly be no other than Eternal Death One would have thought indeed that to be Deprived of Thy Sight might have been punishment enough without the Damneds Entrance in Hell-flames and tortures but that besides the mental Anguish for their
and may we at length be blest with the Enravishing Approbation of well-done Good and faithful Servants enter ye into your Master's Joy Amen Amen Meditation XVIII On Heaven HEaven A place where God's Honour dwells where his Honour and Glory dwell in the most Supereminent Degree Where is the blessed Jesus in all the pompous Resplendencies of his Exaltation Surrounded with infinite Honours of his perfect Obedience and most meritorious Sufferings Where the Reflected Rays of the Divine Majesty add New lustre to the brightest Cherubims and the innumerable Host of Heaven the Glorified Company of Saints and Angels drink plentifully of those Rivers of pleasure which are at God's Right hand for Evermore Pleasures Refin'd and Spiritual Sincere and unallay'd with any mixture of Sorrow pleasures fixt and Durable as God the Unchangeable Author of them so compleat as to Satisfie and yet so Recreatively Satisfying as not to become Dull and Cloying For in Heaven a Continual fresh Addition of Happyness flowing in upon the Soul both Gratifies its appetites and also Quickens and New-Excites them There the blessed Inhabitants beholding constantly the Beatifick Presence are changed thereby from Joy to Joy from Glory to Glory Receive incessant Communications of the Divine inherent Fulness and have their Desires hereby the more Enflamed their Capacities the more Enlarged to receive still further participations of God's inexhaustible bounty And thus they spend a Rapturous Eternity ever-Loving ever-Praising ever-Adoring and Delighting in God their Saviour And the more they Love and Praise and Delight in Him still they find more Cause more Reason more Desire and Longing of Soul to do so Here 't is the happy Residentiaries Understandings are wide open'd to all the amazing Lights and Discoveries of Truth to the Mysteries of Creation and Providence of Redemption and Sanctification to the now puzling Difficulties of Nature and of Grace of God's Prescience and Man's Free-will Here 't is the Wills also of the Glorified are render'd conformable unto are Swallowed up in and made one with God's Holy Will and Pleasure that their Affections become Seraphickly pure Spiritual and servent that both the Spirits of Just Men made perfect and their brethren Angels burn with Divine Love are enflamed with holy Ardours of Devout Gratitude and Thanksgiving to God the Author of their Beings and kind bestower and preserver of all their Enjoyments Heaven The bright Aboad of all bright and pure and clarified Souls Of all those who have had Heavenly Tempers and Dispositions implanted in them here who have Contemned the World Triumph'd over its depraving pomps and Vanities who have Crucified the flesh with the Corrupt Lusts and Affections thereof who have vanquish'd Hell overcome the Temptations of the Devil offer'd a Grateful violence to Heaven by the importunities of servent Effectual Prayer by the Severities of Repentance Mortification and Self-denyal There in the happy Regions Above they reap the fruit of their pious labours with a plentiful Interest and Encrease of Glory There all the Good all the truely Wise all the Just and Chaste and Charitable Souls of whom this World was not Worthy who were burning and shining Lights amidst a crooked and perverse Generation by their Singularly holy Examples shine as Scars of the first Magnitude in the Kingdom of Heaven they Love God with the Intensest most Dutiful Affection and they Love one another as themselves without any Envying or Repining at their Neighbours happyness who enjoy a Greater Degree thereof than they but each Beatified Spirit enjoying as much of God and Heaven as he is capable of Receiving is fully Satisfied with his own measure of blessedness and derives also pleasure and Contentment from the possessions of his brethren though more highly Glorifyed There in Heaven they Love there they Adore and there they Enjoy for an Endless Duration there their United Employ of Loving Praising and Worshipping God of Returning him Thanksgivings for all the Miracles of his Stupendious Love Unite them the more intimately unto God and Unite them also more closely in Affections to one another a Glorified Saint not repining at the more Advanced Glory of an Angel an Angel of an inferiour Order not Grudging at the Happyness of a Superiour nor any of those Morning Stars of the Creation Envying the Saints their most Illustrious Honour in having the Humanily Dignified with a Personal Union to the Godhead O Heaven The Glorious Receptacle of Heaven-born Souls of the Favourites and Sons of God when shall I come and Appear before him When shall I be made more exactly Like unto him seeing him as he Is When shall I be joyn'd to the Devout Adoring Quire of Angels O Celestial Temple how my Soul Longs to Enter Thee the Holy of Holies One Day in thy Courts is better than a Thousand elsewhere Gracious God deny me what Thou wilt of this Earth so thou givest me at last an inheritance in Heaven That will make ample Amends for all my wants here below That will fully Recompence all the Sufferings of this Mortal Life O my Soul is such a Glorious prize as that of thy high Calling in Christ set before thee and shall not this incite thee to press forward to that Mark To Run the Race of holy Obedience with patience chearfulness and a pious Contention Is such an Heaven such an Exceeding Great and Eternal weight of Glory the Object of thy Hopes and hast thou the Stupidity not to let it be the Object of thine Endeavours also Hast thou the heart to neglect so Great Salvation Shall it not encourage and stir thee up to give all Diligence to make thy Calling and Election Sure Oh how unworthy are they of Eternal Life who will not Exert their utmost power and industry to obtain it Blessed Lord Bring down much of an Heavenly Frame and Temper into our Souls which may Qualifie us for an Enjoyment of Heaven hereafter let there be Divine God-like habits of mind wrought and implanted in us at present that Awaking up at the Resurrection after thy Likeness we may he Satisfied therewith Amen Amen holy Saviour The Prayer O Soveraign Excellency and most Exalted Blessedness whose Delight some Presence makes Heaven and the hiding away of whose face in Displeasure is the chiefest Constituent of Hell O grant that having Such an Heaven such an Exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory the Object of our Faith and Hopes we may labour after an Heavenly frame and Disposition in our Souls which may Qualifie us for the celestical State hereafter Grant that we having Given unto us such Great and precious promises as those appertaining to this Life and a better may by the incitement of these become partakers of thy Divine Nature escaping the Corruptions which are in the World through lust O Holy Father give us a Lively View of Heaven by an Eye of Faith and so Raise up our minds thither that we may always have our Thoughts our Desires our Conversation there whence we look for the
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
thee in Contempt of thy Goodness Patience and forbearance in Contempt of thy Astonishing Love manifested in Christ Jesus in Defiance of the clearest Revelation of thy Will and Pleasure by him in Defiance of thy Great and precious Gospel Promises of all the Convictions of our own Consciences calls of thy blessed Spirit Sacred Word and Gracious Providences admonishing us to be Reconciled unto thee our God! And can'st thou O Lord wilt thou after all this Disobedience after all this presumptuous offending thee be yet Reconciled to such vile wretches and miserable sinners as we are Is there still Mercy with thee that thou may'st be fear'd Is there still Hope for us in a Crucified Saviour O blessed Saviour help and deliver us we most humbly beseech thee by the Merits of thy Death and Passion by the Justifying power of thy Resurrection and Ascension by the prevalency of thy Mediation and Intercession have Mercy upon us Thy Compassions are always free and ready towards Repentant Offenders Lord we Repent perfect our Repentance Lord we believe O help thou our unbelief we solemnly promise thee a more Reformed Obedience a more exalted Righteousness O strengthen us to keep this our promise to perform this our holy Resolution Deliver us O Heavenly Father not onely from the Guilt and Condemnation but also from the power and pollution of our sins Assist us to break off those Chains of evil Custom and Habit those fetters of Wordly Cares and Temptations those sensualizing Tyes of Corrupt Inclinations or inordinate Passions in which we have formerly been held Captive Create clean hearts O God and renew a-right Spirits within us for the time to come beget in us a true Faith a sincere Repentance an enflam'd holy Love towards thee that we may Delight our selves in thy Commandments that we may walk before thee in uprightness in an ingenuous fear of Displeasing thee in a joyous Carefulness of doing what is Acceptable in thy Sight Diligently seeking thee constantly Depending on thee chearfully Submitting to thy Will and Zealously practicing it in the Duties of our several Callings with Godly sincerity and constancy unto our Lives End O Lord keep our feet order our steps that they stray not out of the paths of thy Commandments out of the Paths of Truth Righteousness and Peace O Lord keep our mouths as with a bridle that we offend not at any time with our Tongues through profane Swearing through lying slandering immodest filthy Speech or false-witness-bearing endue us with the most enlarged and raised Christian Charity with Temperance and Sobriety with Purity and Chastity with Meekness and Humility that we may possess these our Earthly Vessels in Sanctification and Honour and being Meek and Lowly may find Rest unto our Souls Give us holy Father to Live more by Faith and Less by Sense to Overcome by Faith the World to live Above its Allurements or Determents to have our Conversation in an higher degree in Heaven to lay up to our selves Treasures there that where our Treasures are there may our Hearts be also Make us account it our very Meat and Drink to be doing thy Will Cause us to Evidence the Sincerity of our Love to thee our God by our keeping Universally thy Commandments open thou our Eyes that we may see the Delightsome Excellencies of thy Law the charming Beauty of Holiness and then none of thy Divine precepts shall appear Grievous unto us amidst all our Temptations whether of the World the Flesh or the Devil make thou us O blessed Lord more than Conquerors through Christ who strengthens us And after we have done all after we have Grown in Grace which we beseech thee cause us to do after we have been fill'd with the fruits of thy Spirit and endeavour'd our utmost the perfecting of holiness in thy Fear keep us humble keep us abased under a sense of the manifold Imperfections of our best and choicest Services Neither Pray we This to be added to the Evening Prayer where you see this * mark for our selves alone but for the whole Race of Mankind That thy ways O God may be known upon Earth thy Saving Health among all Nations Look down in Mercy upon thy holy Catholick Church Enlarge its Borders Unite more its Members Purifie their Faith where Corrupt and work a General Reformation in their Lives and Actions Bless Holy Father more especially these Nations whereunto we belong Pardon our Great and Crying Sins Avert from us thy Judgments Encrease and Continue to us thy Blessings make us an Holy and an Happy People and Settle us upon the sure Foundations of Truth Righteousness and Peace Rule O Lord in the Hearts of our Sovereign Rulers by thy Faith Fear and Love Protect their Sacred Persons Assist and Direct their Counsels Succeed their Arms and all their Righteous Undertakings Make their Government a Great and Publick Blessing to these Kingdoms and to the whole Protestant Interest and after a Long and Prosperous Reign over us Here Crown them with Glory and Immortality in the highest Heaven Influence in a Peculiar Manner our Spiritual Governours and Teachers Give them Wisdom and Prudence from Above Make them O God Faithful and Zealous make them also Successful in the Discharge of their Duties and Grant that by the purity of their Doctrine and Integrity of their Lives they may be as burning and shining Lights amidst a crooked and perverse Generation Visit with thy Salvation O thou Father of Mercies all the Sons and Daughters of Affliction Sanctifie their Troubles Support them with Faith and Patience under 'em and in thy due time send them an happy Deliverance out of all their Sufferings Forgive O God all our Enemies Persecutors and Slanderers and Turn their hearts Bless all our Friends and Relations be thou a God in Covenant with them and make them Partakers of all the Benefits and Priviledges of that thy Covenant Bless all of us here present bless us in Turning us from our Iniquities in the Sanctifying and Renewing our Depraved Nature Bless us with all Temporal but especially with Spiritual Blessings in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus Put us O God in frequent Mindfulness of our Latter End and Fit and Prepare us for it Help us to walk sincerely and uprightly in our whole Conversation that Living here in thy Fear we may Dye in thy Favour may Rest in thy Peace Rise by thy Power be Glorified by thy Bounty and Remain with thee for ever amidst Joys Celestial Enravishing Inexhaustible All which we beg through the Merits and Mediation of thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ who hath taught us when we pray to say Our Father which art in Heaven 〈◊〉 A Prayer for the Evening O OUR God thou Almighty Lord of Heaven and Earth Thou pure immaculate Spirit of Holyness humble us under a sense of our meanness as indigent Dependant Creatures of our exceeding Great Vileness and impurity as Sinners O with what pious fear and Reverence ought we to draw Nigh
be heal'd Wash his Soul clean O God in Christ's most Precious Blood Conform him more and more to the Holy Doctrine and Example of the Ever-blessed Jesus Sanctifie him with all the Saving Graces of thy Renewing Spirit Give him if it be thy Will some Delightful Foretastes and Anticipations of Celestial Blessedness Hope towards Thee an Enravisht Sense of thy Favour Joys in the Holy Ghost unspeakable and full of Approaching Glories However if this be too great a Vouchsafement make him at least Willing to be Dissolved Fit for Heaven Full of his Saviour Empty of himself and of all Trust in his own Defective Righteousness and whenever thou takest him out of this World take him we Beseech Thee unto thy self into Everlasting Felicity Amen Holy Jesu for thy Precious Death and Passions sake Amen A Prayer to be used on the Lord's Day in the Morning Preparatory to the Duties of the Day BLessed and Glorious Lord God Thou Lord and Instituter of the Sabbath who allowest us Six Days in Seven for our Temporal and Worldly Concerns and hast Set Apart the Seventh only for thine own more Especial Service O how wisely hast thou Provided for both our â—ouls and Bodies For how would our Outward Man want Food and Raiment were not Days of Labour afforded it wherein by honest Industry to procure those Necessaries and how would our Spirit Pine away and Languish as to all Gracious Endowments were not Seasons appropriated to thy Divine Worship O that therefore at present we may Rest from the works of Sin as well as from those of our particular Callings O that we may be in the Spirit on this thine own Day that we may worship thee thereon in Spirit and in Truth that we may keep it so Holy and Sanctified unto Thee as that it may be a Pledge and Earnest of an Eternal Sabbatisme with thee in Light and Glory This is the Day which the Lord hath made by his Justifying Resurrection O may we Rejoice and be Glad therein with an Holy Rejoycing This is the Day which was the Birth-Day of our Hopes and future Blessed Expectations O may it prove a Day of Growth and Improvement in Grace of holy Ardours and Devont Enravishments Grant Gracious Father that we may not find our own Pleasure nor Speak our own Words nor do our own Deeds on this thine Hallowed-Day but may both Call and Esteem it a Delight Holy of the Lord Honourable O that Heaven an a Heavenly Frame and Temper of Spirit may be Begun in us Here by means of our pious Intercourses with Heaven amidst the Duties of thy Day We are Going O Lord unto thy House of Prayer the Place where thine Honour dwells O pardon us that we are not Prepared according to the Preparation of thy Sanctuary that we have not yet put off our Carnal and Earthly Affections Considering that the place whereon we are to stand is Holy Ground O do Thou our God vouchsafe to Go along with us into thy Temple by the Holy Aids and Assistances of thy Spirit Cause us to Approach Thee there with Reverence and to worship before thee with a Zealous Affection when we Meditate let us do it with all Seriousness Heavenly-Mindedness and Edification when we Pray let it be with the utmost Attension Faith and holy Fervour when we Hear the Glad Tidings of thy Gospel may it be with all Diligent and hearty Attendance on thy Word and Doctrine when we Read thy Holy Scriptures may they make us wise unto Salvation may we Read them with Vnderstanding with an Affectionate Gust and Relish with a Reforming Change and inward Digestion of them into Spiritual Grace and Nourishment O may this Day be added to our Share in an Happy Eternity by our Religious Improvement of it mayst Thou our God come Down unto us herein by thy Divine Influences and may we be Taken up unto thee by Devout Praises and Adorations Accompany we beseech Thee O Lord with thine own more Especial Presence thine own more Especial Ordinances and holy Institutions Cause us by the Spiritual food of pious Duties to Increase in Grace and to be Nourished up to a perfect Manhood in Christ Jesus Being Rooted and Grounded in Divine Love and built up through Faith unto a Capacity of Eternal Salvation How Earthly O God would beour Affections How Carnal and Sensual our Souls were their Thoughts and Desires alwayes busied about the things of this World Blessed be thy Name therefore that thou hast Enjoyn'd us a Season wherein to call off our Thoughts and Affections from things Temporal wherein to unloosen our Spirits from Sense and Sensual Concernments and allowest us a Sweet Converse and Communication with Thee the Fountain of all Happyness O make us more to value this inestimable Priviledge make us at present to Improve it to the best Advantage Cause us to hold a pious Harmony of Praises and Hallelujahs with thy Blessed Saints and Angels now in Heaven 'T is the Employment will be our Continual Joy and Blissful Recreation in the Regions Above O give us therefore to Habituate our selves to it Now and thereby partake of Heavenly Satisfactions even on Earth Give a Blessing to thy word Preached and to the Prayers offer'd to thy Divine Majesty on this Day while Paul plants and Apollos â—aters do Thou O God Give the Sanctifying Increase That we may be able Experimentally to say we have Tasted and Seen â—ow Gracious the Lord is we have of a Truth found how 't is Good for us that â—e have waited upon thee in the midst of thine holy Ordinances And then by these means of Grace being Train'd up and Fitted for Everlasting Glory we shall at length be Translated thither where the Exercises of Holyness shall Cease being means of Begetting or Confirming us in Grace and shall only be our Delight and Joy and Heavenly Entertainment for an Eternal Duration Amen Blessed Lord Amen FINIS Books Printed for and Sold by Thomas Speed at the Three Crowns near the Royal Exchange in Cornhil 1693. THirty Six Sermons viz. 16 Ad Aulum 6 Ad Clerum 6 Ad Magistratum 8 Ad Populum With a large Preface by the Right Reverend Father in God Robert Sanderson late Lord Bishop of Lincoln The Eight Edition corrected and amended Whereunto is now added the Life of the Reverend and Learned Author Written by Isaac Walton Folio Conversation in Heaven Being Devotions consisting of Meditations and Prayers On several Considerable Subjects in Practical Divinity Written for the Raising the Decay'd Spirit of Piety By Lawrence Smith LL. D. Fellow of St. John's College in Oxford A Sermon at the Funeral of the Reverend Mr. Thomas Grey Late Vicar of Dedham in Essex Preach'd in the Parish-Church of Dedham Febr. the 2d 1691 2. With a short Account of his Life By
beat down Satan under our feet we are beset with Spiritual Enemies we have no might to help our selves against the Great Company of Temptations which dayly assault us our eyes are only upon thee from whom alone cometh our Health and Salvation Help Lord or we perish help or we are Ruin'd Eternally stretch forth thy Right hand to save us or we sink in the waves of vicious Allurements which so impetuously beat against us O be Thou pleased to speak those Tempests into a Calm do Thou either Restrain the unruly waters of strife sinful Assaults which aâ—â— ready to come in even unto our Souls or else Assist and bear us up that they may not overwhelm us Suffer us noâ— O Lord to be Tempted above that 〈◊〉 are Able but together with the Temptation make a way to escape that we may resolutely withstand it and having done all may stand O make us diligent in all our Duties watchful against all Temptations that they never become a snare to catch and entangle us but cause us to Resist manfully according to our Baptismal Engagement the World the Flesh and the Devil striving against sin against alâ— wicked Enticements Provocations and Opportunities leading thereunto And in all our pious conflicts makes us more than Conquerors through Christ which strengthens us O holy Father Thou Preserver of men the Prince of this world Satan cometh he cometh to search and to Try us O Grant he may find nothing in us to close with his Temptations keep us from sin keep us from every evil way of the Destroyer Deliver us from all our Ghostly Adversaries for we fly unto Thee to secure and hide us O pluck our feet out of the wicked Net which they have privily layd for our souls We fly unto thee O thou Refuge of all those who put their Trust in thee we fly unto thee to Repel and Quench all the fiery darts of the Devil let him not have any Advantage over us but give us strength in the day of battle and holy Contention Grant that thy Kingdom may daily Rise and the Kingdom of Satan dayly fall in our hearts Lord We wrestle not only with flesh and blood with the Corruptions of our own Nature but with Principalities and Powers with Spiritual wickednesses in high places O Give us therefore Power in thee our God let thy Spirit be sufficient for us let thy strength be manifested in our weakness and make us in the conclusion mightily to prevail Cause us to take unto our selves the whole Armour of God to watch and pray to fast and mourn and strive our utmost against sin and Temptation that having fought a good fight and finished our course and kept the faith henceforth may be laid up for us a Crown of Righteousness a Crown which fadeth not away Eternal in the Heavens Amen Amen Meditation VI. Against the Sin of Pride PRide How incongruous a thing to a poor Indigent Dependant Creature To a compound of Vileness and Corruption of Misery and Folly whose foundation being in the Dust ought to humble him thither from whence he was taken Pride was not made for Man says Solomon it Becomes better any other part of the Creation for they still Retain that beautiful Goodness at first impress'd upon them by their Divine Maker the Stormy wind and Tempest the Sea and raging Floods as boisterous and unruly as they be are yet Elements fulfilling God's Word The Moon observes her certain seasons and the Sun knoweth his going down All Nature keeps its Regular Course at first ordain'd it only Man Irregular Man has Deviated from his primitivâ— state of Order and Innocence anâ— thereby has Degraded himself belovâ— the very Beasts which perish so thaâ— 't is much more a matter of profounâ— humbling to Man that immortal Corruption was his Off-spring than thâ— Mother Earth Natural Corruption was the Parent-principle of his formation To be proud and yet to be a Beggar to live upon Alms what a Solâ—cism what an inconsistency is it And yet thus it is with us we aâ— Beggars of our dayly Bread froâ— God or at least should be such alâ— we possess all we Are was Originally from him we are his Pensiâ—ners and Alms-People And how in sufferable a thing then is Pride 〈◊〉 Man how indecorous What hast thoâ— says the Apostle St. Paul which thoâ— didst not Receive and yet boastest thâ—â— as if thou hadst not Received it Surely all boasting is excluded where whatever we have is of Grace and not 〈◊〉 Debt is ours in Trust only not in Propriety Ah 't was this sin of Pride which first brought sin into the world which first came into it and which will Last go out of it Ambition was as early as Nature and Adam was little sooner a Man than he Aspired to be as God knowing Good and Evil But alass 't was this his undue Aiming at so Great a height which was the occasion of his fall and he knows now Evil only by the Loss and Privation of Good Pride 'T was this turned the Apostate Angels out of Heaven which made even that infinitely Blissful place uneasie to them while proudly reaching at the incommunicable Prerogatives of the Deity that Aspiring sin changed their Angelick Nature into that of Devils And 't is this Vice of pride which is more or less an ingredient in all the wickedness committed by degenerate Mankind foâ— every wilful iniquity is a rejecting the Divine Authority and Soveraignty of God and a Vertual saying within our selves Who is Lord oveâ— us 'T is this sin of excessive Self-Loveâ— and too good an opinion of our own Endowments which includes in itâ— mixture of the greatest folly for 〈◊〉 implies misapprehension and Error Ignorance and Inconsideration Ignorance of those Imperfections and Deformities Sins and Seeds of Misery within us which were they discovered must needs humble and abase us An how troublesome a Guest 〈◊〉 Pride in a Man's bosome it create both uneasieness to himself and alâ— others about him while it makes him Envy Superiours take to Heart the slights of Equals and even to rage with passion at the Disrespect of Inferiours O 't is this vice of over-rating our selves keeps us Strangers at home makes us unjust Censurers abroad Causes us to think too highly of our own worth too meanly of that of others 't is this hinders our growing Wiser and Better our imagining we are wise and good enough already But alass did we see all we lack we should soon fall in our own Conceit and wish for much more Wisdom and Goodness than we have Pride nothing more looses a man Friends and Gains him Enemies nothing more renders him an object of universal Scorn and Contempt so that the proud person by Pride defeats his own Aims he challenges Honour as his due but by unduly challenging it he reaps Dis-respect and Derision But above all nothing more than Pride renders us the Scorn and Hatred of God the Lord beholdeth the lowly with an Eye
of Love and Approbation but the proud heâ— knoweth afar off Psalm 138. versâ— the 6th Nothing also more obstructs the holy Influences of the Divine Spirit upon our Hearts God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to thâ— humble 1 Pet. 5. 5. He has but two Habitations wherein he more especially delights to dwell Heaven and the Soul of him who is of a contriâ— and humble spirit Isa 57. 15. On the contrary nothing is more oppositâ— to the Nature of the Deity or to the Humiliation of his blessed Son Christ Jesus than Pride and Haughtiness And therefore our Saviour thougâ— the Brightness of his Father's Glory and the Express Image of his Person who thought it no Robbery to be equal with God yet took on hiâ— the form of a Servant came not to be minister'd unto but to Minister appeared in a mean and low condition that he might teach us Meekness and Lowliness of Heart the first Good disposition for the Receipt of his Self-denying Gospel and of all Evangelical Graces And indeed What have we poor silly Worms and no Men to be proud of What should hinder our Humility Alass how do Angels so much Rais'd above us in Excellency Angels who see our Vileness by reason of sinning how do they both pity and wonder at our Pride At our Folly of being exalted in our own Conceits above Measure They though they much transcend us in Knowledge in Beauty in Strength and all other Endowments both Natural and Moral yet are they Humble and Modest they cover their faces before God and cast down their Crowns at the feet of the Lamb Christ Jesus acknowledging him alone worthy to be prais'd The sense they have that their Angelick Excellencies however Great and Glorious are yet Finite and derived from their Creator their sense of hiâ— Divine Perfections infinitely suâ— mounting theirs keeps them meek anâ— lowly and the Abundance of theiâ— Celestial Revelations by this meaâ— no way puffs them up but render them the more Thankful the morâ— sensible of God's Goodness unto theâ— Let Them therefore be our Patterâ— of Humility nay rather let the eveâ— blessed Jesus be our Example herein who has directed us to learn of him for he was meek and lowly thougâ— the most High God! Ah 't is but comparing our selveâ— with the Deity and then 't will appear how there is no comparison between us what vile Creatures an miserable Sinners we are and whaâ— an infinitely Glorious Being and imâ—maculate Purity is God! and theâ— the sense of his Greatness and Glorâ— will lessen and humble us in cur owâ— Conceits Amen blessed Saviour Amen The Prayer O THOV King of Glory who dwellest in the Heaven of Heavens and yet condescendest to look down from the habitation of thy Holyness on us poor Vnworthy Mortals whose foundation is in the Dust and our Soujourning in houses of Clay we beseech thee take up thy Glorious Residence in our Hearts by banishing thence the sin of pride and Self-conceit by possessing us with high Reverential thoughts of thy Divine Majesty which may make us appear Mean and Low and Despicable in our own apprehensions O that we may appear such Now in thy Presence for that thou Resistest the Proud but givest Grace an Increase of Grace unto the Humble humble us therefore O Lord amidst these our Devotions that thou mayst exalt us in thy due season Mortifie in us at present all Haughtiness of Spirit for what more incongruous than Pride and a Lowly Begging Supplication What more incongruous than a Display of our wants 〈◊〉 Acknowledgment of our Vileness and Dependance an Imploring of Mercy and Relief all which import thâ— deepest Humility and yet a self-conâ—ceited Arrogant and Lofty temper 〈◊〉 Mind O grant it may no longer beaâ—â— Sway over us Grant that we may 〈◊〉 cloathed with Humility that we 〈◊〉 see the imperfections of our best Services Make us pure in Heart yet poor 〈◊〉 Spirit vile in our own Eyes that 〈◊〉 may be precious in thy sight Strike 〈◊〉 with a deep and lively sense of our wreâ—â— chedness by reason of sinning and maâ—â— us as Humble as we are Wicked What O Lord are all the Nationâ— of the Earth if compared with Thee 〈◊〉 Creator and Supream Governour of 〈◊〉 things What but as a drop of 〈◊〉 Bucket and as the small dust of 〈◊〉 ballance How may we then justly 〈◊〉 with shame when we consider our multiplyed hainous transgressions against so great and glorious a God! when we consider in what manner we lift up our hearts against Thee the Giver of every Good and Perfect Gift by arrogating to our selves the propriety of thy free beneficence O make us account our highest Attainments in Humane Knowledge as Dung and Dross for the Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord make us Ambitious of being found in him cloathed with his Spotless imputed Righteousness Suffer us not O our God to exalt our selves above measure by placing undue Confidence in any thing we do or in what-ever we Suffer for thy Names sake lest we fall not only from the Stedfastness of our holy profession but also into the Condemnation of the Devil sinning according to the Similitude of his transgression O let him not Rule in our hearts by the Disobedience of pride permit us not to Resemble him in so foul a Vice which will Deface thine Image within us but teach us to tread in the Steps of our blessed Saviour and to learn of him who was Meek and Lowly 〈◊〉 shall we find Rest unto our souls Grant Holy Father that in Lowlyness of mind we may think meanly of our selves in honour preferring each other that neglecting the praise of men or making it a subordinate motive in our practice of things vertuous we may have a principal Regard to the Testimony of a Good Conscience and may seek in the first place that praise which cometh of thee our God O let us be nothing in our own account that Thou mayest be all in all unto us Make us to imploy all industry and care in Approving our selves unto Thee that being Conformed unto our Redeemer in Humility who humbled himself unto Death even the Death of the Cross we may become thy workmanship O God ready prepar'd unto every Good work and may Abound therein without any vain ostentation Amen for thy Mercies sake Amen Meditation VII Against the Sin of Vnchastity UNchastity Ah how small is its Temptation when placed in Equal View with the deterring evil consequents thereof For who can be allured with Poverty and Beggery with Shame and Ignominy with Rottenness and Corruption which are the usual Attendants of impure Embraces Ah to burn in Lust is to Anticipate Hell-flames and to burn in uneasie Torments of Mind even in this life for the eager appetite of Lust is full of Anxiety and disquieting impatience till such time as 't is Gratified Hence the usual terms of expressing a violent Amour are Flames and Darts are Feavours and