with those that fast that I may eat with those that eat I mourne with those that mourne No hand more open to the Cause then mine and in their families none prayes longer and with louder zeale Thus when the opinion of a holy life hath cryed the goodnesse of my Conscience up my trade can lack no custome my wares can want no price my words can need no credit my actions can lack no praise If I am covetous it is interpreted providence if miserable it is counted temperance if melancholy it is construed godly sorrow if merry it is voted spirituall joy if I bee rich 't is thought the blessing of a godly life if poor supposed the fruit of conscionable dealing if I be well spoken of it is the merit of holy conversation if ill it is the malice of Malignants thus I sail with every winde and have my end in all conditions This Cloake in Summer keepes mee cool in winter warm and hides the nasty Bag of all my secret lusts Under this Cloake I walk in publik fairly with applause and in private sin-securely without offence and officiate wisely without discovery I compasse sea and land to make a Proselyte and no sooner made but hee makes me At a Fast I cry Geneva and at a Feast I cry Rome If I be poor I counterfeit abundance to save my credit if rich I dissemble poverty to save charges I most frequent Schismaticall Lectures which I find most profitable from whence learning to divulge and maintaine new doctrines they maintaine mee in suppers thrice a weeke I use the help of a lie sometimes as a Religious stratagem to uphold the Gospel and I colour oppression with Gods judgement executed upon the wicked Charity I hold an extraordinary duty therefore not ordinarily to be performed What I openly reprove abroad for my own profit that I secretly act at home for my owne pleasure His Woe BUt stay I see a handwriting in my heart damps my soul 't is charactered in these sad words Woe be to you hypocrites Mat. 23. 13. The triumphing of the wicked is short and the joy of the bypocrite is but for a moment Job 20. 5. Job 15. 34. The congregation of the hypocrites shall be desolate Psal. 11. 9. An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbor but through knowledge shall the just be delivered Luke 12. 1. Beware of the leaven of the Phariscâ—s which is hypocrisie Job 36. 13. The hypocrites in heart heape up wrath they die in their youth and their life is amongst the unclean His Proofes Salvian de Gubern Dei l. 4. The hypocrites love not those thing they professe and what they pretend in words they disclaime in practise their sin is the more damnable because ushered in with pretence of piety having the greater guilt because it obtaines a goodly repute Hieron. Ep. Endeavour rather to be then to beâ— thought holy for what profits iâ— thee to be thought to be what thâ—â— art not and that man doubles hiâ— guilt who is not so holy as the world thinks him and counterfeitâ— that holinesse which he hath not His Soliloquie HOw like a living Sepulcher did I appeare without beautified with gold and rich inventions within nothing but a loathed corruption so long as this fair Sepulcher was clos'd it past for a curious Monument of the Builders Art but being opened by these spirituall Keyes 't is nothing but a Receptaâ—le of offensive putrefaction In what a nasty dungeon hast thou my soule so long remain'd unstifled How wer 't thou wedded to thy owne corruptions that couldst endure thy unsavoury filthinesse The world hated me because I seemed good God hated mee because I onely seemed good I had no friend but my self and this friend was my bosome enemy O my soul is there water enough in Iordan to clense thee Hath Gilead Balme enough to heale thy superannuated sores I have sinned I am convinced I am convicted Gods mercy is above Dimensions when sinners have not sinned beyond repentance art thou my soule truly penitent for thy sin Thou hast free interest in his mercy fall then my soule before his Mercy seat and he will crown thy penitence with his pardon His Prayer O God! before the brightnes of whose All-discerning eye the secrets of my hearts appeare before whose cleare omniscience the very entralls of my soul lie open who art a God of righteousnesse and truth and lovest uprightnesse in the inward parts How can I chuse but feare to thrust into thy glorious presence or move my sinfull lips to call upon that Name which I so often have dishonoured and made a Cloake to hide the basenesse of my close transgressions Lord when I look into the progresse of my filthy life my guilty conscience calls mee to so strict account and reflects to mee so large an Inventory of my presumptuous sins that I commit a greater sinne in thinking them more infinite then thy mercy But Lord thy mercies have no date nor is thy goodnesse circumscribed The gates of thy compassion are alwayes open to a broken heart and promise entertainment to a contrite spirit the burthen of my sinnes is grievous and the remembrance of my hypocrisie is intolerable I have sinned against thy Majesty with a high hand but I repent mee from the bottome of an humble heart As thou hast therefore given mee sorrow for my sinnes so crowne that gift in the freenesse of remission Bee fully reconcil'd to me through the all-sufficient merits of thy Sonne my Saviour and seal in my afflicted heart the full assurance of thy gratious favour Be thou exalted O God above the heavens and let mee praise thee with a single heart cleanse thou my inward parts O God and purifie the closet of my polluted soul fix thou my heart O thou searcher of all secrets and keep my affections wholly to thee Remove from mee all by and base respects that I may serve thee with an upright spirit take not the word of trueth out of my mouth nor give me over to deceitfull lips Give mee an inward reverence of thy Majesty that I might openly confesse thee in the truth of my sincerity Be thou the only object and end of all my actions and let thy honour be my great reward Let not the hopes of filthy lucre or the praise of men incline mee to thee neither let the pleasures of the world nor the feares of any losse entice me from thee Keep from mee those judgements my hypocrisie hath deserved and strengthen my resolution to abhorre my former life Give mee strength O God to serve thee with a perfect heart in the newnesse of life that I may bee dellvered from the old man and the snares of death then shall I praise thee with my entire affections glorifie thy name for ever and eâ—r The Ignorant mans faltering YOu tell mee and you tell me that I must be a good man and serve God and doe his will and so I doe for ought I know
excuse as well as make the lie Had Caesar Scipio or Alexander been regulated by such strict Divinity their names had been as silent as their dust A lie is but a faire put off the sanctuary of a secret the riddle of a lover the stratagem of a Souldier the policy of a Statesman and a salve for many desperate sores His Flames BUt hark my soule there 's something rounds mine eare and calls my language to a recâ—ntation The Lord hath spoken it Liers shall have their part in the lake which burâ—eth with fire and brimstone Revel. 21. 8. Exod. 20. Thou shalt not raise a false report Levit. 19. 11. Ye shall not deal falsely neither lie one to another Prov. 12. 22. Lying lips are abomination to the Lord but they that deal truely are his delight Prov. 19. 5. He that speaketh lies shall not escape Ephes. 4. 5. Put away lying and every one speak truth with his neighbour for we are members one of another Revel. 21. 27. There shall in no wise enter into the new Ierusalem any thing that worketh abomination or that maketh a lie His Proofes S. Augustine Whosoever thinkes there is any kind of lie that is not a sin shamefully deceives himself mistaking a lying or cousening knave for a square or honest man Gregor. Eschew and avoid all falshood though sometimes certain kind of untruths are lesse sinfull as to tell a lie to save a mans life yet because the Scripture saith The lyer slayeth his own soul and God will destroy them that tell a lie therefore religious and honest men should alwayes avoid even the best sort of lies neither ought another mans life be secured by our falsehood or lying lest we destroy our owne soule in labouring to secure another mans life His Soliloquy WHat a child O my soule hath thy false bosome harbâ—rd And what reward can thy indulgence expect from such a father What blessing canst thou hope for from heaven that pleadest for the son of the devill and crucifyest the Son of God God is the Father of truth To secure thy estate thou deniest the truth by framing oâ— a lie To save thy brothers life thou opposest the truth in justifying a lie Now tell me O my soul art thou worthy the name of a Christian that denyest and opposest the nature of Christ Art thou worthy of Christ that preferrest thy estate or thy brothers life before him O my unrighteous soule canst thou hold thy brother worthy of death for giving thee the lie and thy selfe guiltlesse that makest a lie 〈◊〉 but in some cases truth destroyes thy life a lie preserves it My soule was God thy Creator then make not the devill thy preserver Wilt thou despair to trust him with thy life that gave it and make him thy Protector that seeks to destroy it Reforme thee and repent thee O my soul hold not thy life on such conditions but trust thee to the hands that made thee His Prayer O God that art the God of truth whose word is truth that hatest lying lips and abominatest the deceitfull tongue that banishest thy presence all such as love or make a ly and lovest truth and requirest uprightnesse in the inward parts I the most wretched of the sonnes of men and most unworthy to be called thy son make bold to cast my sinfullâ— eies to heaven Lord I have sinned against heaven and against truth and have turned thy grace into a lie I have renounced the wayes of righteousnesse and harbour'd much iniquity within me which hath turned thy wrath against me I have transgrest against the checks of my own conscience and have vaunted of my transgression which way soever I turne mine eye I see no object but shame and confusion Lord when I look upon my selfe I finde nothing there but fuell for thy wrath and matter for thine indignation and my condemnation And when I cast mine eyes to heaven I there behold an angry God and a severe revenger But Lord at thy right hand I see a Saviour and a sweet Redeemer I see thy wounded Son cloathd in my flesh and bearing mine infirmities and interceding for my numerous transgressions for which my soule doth magnifie thee O God and my spirit rejoyceth in him my Saviour Lord when thou lookest upon the vast score of my offences turne thine eyes upon the infinite merits of his satisfaction O when thy justice calls to mind my sinnes let not thy mercy forget his sufferings Wash mee O wash me in his blood and thou shalt see me cloathed in his righteousnesse Let him that is all in all to me be all in all for me make him to me sanctification justification and redemption Inspire my heart with the spirit of thy truth and preserve me from the deceitfulnesse of a double tongue Give me an inward confidence to relie upon thy fatherly providence that neither fear may deterre me nor any advantage may turne me from the wayes of thy truth Let not the specious goodnesse of the end encourage me to the unlawfulnesse of the meanes but let thy Word be the warrant to all my actions Guide my footsteps that I may walke uprightly and quicken my conscience that it may reprove my failings Cause me to feel the burthen of this my habituall sin that comming to thee by a true and serious repentance my sins may obtaine a full and a gratious forgivenesse Give me a heart to make a Covenant with my lips that both my heart and tongue being sanctified by thy Spirit may be both united in truth by thy mercy and magnifie thy name for ever and for ever The revengefull mans rage O What a Julip to my scorching soul is the delicious blood of my Offendâ—r and how it cooles the burning Fâ—ver of my boyling veynes It is the Quintessence of pleasures the height of satisfaction and the very marrow of all delight to bathe and paddle in the blood of such whose bold affronts have turn'd my wounded patâ—ence into fury How full of sweetnesse was his death who dying was reveng'd upon three thousand enemies How sweetly did the younger brothers blood allay the soul-consuming flame of the elder who took more pleasure in his last breath then heaven dâ—d in his first Sacrifice Yet had not heaven to demned his action nature hâ—d found an Advocate for his passion What sturdy spirit hath the power to rule his sufferâ—ng thoughts or curbe the headstrong â—uâ—y of his Irascible affections Or who but fooles that cannot taste anjnjury can moderate their high-bred spirits and stop their passion in her full carrier Let heavy Cynicks they whose leaden soules are taught by stupid reason to stand bent at every wrong that can digest an injury more easily then a complement that can protest against the Lawes of nature and cry all naturall affection downe let them be Andirons for the inâ—urious world to worke a Heat upon let them finde shoulders to receive the paineful stripes of peevish Mortalâ—s and to bear the wrongs
for this no day designed but At what time soever If my unseasonable heart should seek him now the work would bee too serious for so green a seeker My thoughts are yet unsetled my fancy yet too too gamesome my judgment yet unsound my Will unsanctified to seeke him with an unprepared heart is the high way not to find him or to find him with unsetled resolution is the next way to lose him and indeed it wants but little of profanenesse to bee unseasonably religious What is once to bee done is long to bee deliberated Let the boyling pleasures of the rebellious flesh evaporate a little and let me draine my boggy soul from those corrupted inbred humors of collapsed nature and when the tender blossomes of my youthfull vanity shall begin to fade my setled understanding will begin to knot my solid judgement will begin to ripen my rightly guided will be resolved both what to seek and when to find and how to prize till then my tender youth in her pursuit will bee disturb'd with every blast of honour diverted with every fâ—ash of pleasure misled by Counsell turned back with feare puzled with doubt interrupted by passion withdrawne with prosperity and discourag'd with adversity His Repulse TAke heed my soule when thou hast lost thy self in thy journey how wilt thou finde thy God at thy journeys end Whom thou hast lost by too long delay thou wilt hardly find with too late a diligence Take time while time shall serve that day may come wherein Thou shalt seek the Lord but shalt not finde him Hos. 5. 6. Esay 55. 6. Seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while ne is neare Heb. 12. 17. Hee found no place for repentance though he sought it with tears carefully Thou fool this night will I take thy soule from thee Revel. 2. 21. I gave her a space to repent but shee repented not Behold therefore I will cast her His Proofs Greg. lib. Mor. Seek God whilst thou canst not see him for when thou seest him thou canst not find him seek him by hope and thou shalt finde him by faith In the day of grace hee is invisible but neare in the day of judgement he is visible but far off Ber. Ser. 24. If we would not seâ—k God in vaine lâ—t us seek him in truth often and constantly let us not seeke another in stead of him nor any other thing with him nor for any other thing leave him His Soliloquie O My soul thou hast sought wealth and hast either not found it or cares with it thou hast sought for pleasure and hast found it but no comfort in it Thou soughtest honour and hast found it and perchance fallen with it Thou soughtest friendship and hast found it false society and hast found it vaine And yet thy God the fountaine of all wealth pleasure honour friendship and society thou hast slighted as a toy not worth the finding Be wise my soule and blush at thy own folly Set thy desires on the right objâ—ct Seek wisdom and thou shalt find knowledge and wealth and honour and length of days Seek heaven and earth shall seek thee and deferre not thy Inquest lest thou lose thy opportunity to day thou maist find him whom to morrow thou mayst seek with teares and misse Yesterday is too late to morrow is uncertain to day is onely thine I but my soule I feare my too long delay hath made this day too late fear not my soul he that has given thee his Grace to day will forget thy neglect of yesterday seek him therefore by true repentance and thou shalt finde him in thy Prayer His Prayer O God that like thy precious Word art hid to none but who are lost and yet art found by all that seek thee with an upright heart cast downe thy gracious eye upon a lost sheep of Israel strayed through the vanity of his unbridled youth and wandred in the wildernesse of his own invention Lord I have too much delighted in mine own ways and have put the evil day too far from me I have wallowed in the pleasures of this deceitfull world which perish in the using have neglected thee my God at whose right hand are pleasures for â—vermore I have drawn on iniquity as with cart-ropes and have committed evill with greedinesse I have quencht the motions of thy good spirit and have delayed to seek thee by true and unfained repentance In stead of seeking thee whom I have lost I have withdrawne my self from thy presence when thou hast sought me It were but justice therefore in thee to stop thine eares at my petitions or turn my Prayers as sin into my bosome But Lord thou art a gracious God and full of pity and unwearyed compassion and thy loving kindnes is from generation to generation Lord in not seeking thee I have utterly lost my self and if thou find me not I am lost for ever and if thou find me thou canst not but find me in my sins and then thou find'st me to my owne destruction How miserable O Lord is my condition How necessary is my confusion that have neglected to seek thee and therefore am afraid to bee found of thee But Lord if thou look upon the all-sufficient merits of thy Son thy justice will bee no loser in shewing mercy upon a sinner In his name therefore I present my self before thee in his merits I make my humble approach unto thee in his name I offer up my feeble Prayers for his merits grant me my petitions Call not to minde the rebellions of my flesh and remember not O God the vanities of my youth Inflame my heart with the love of thy presence and relish my meditations with the pleasure of thy sweetnesse Let not the consideration of thy justice overwhelm me in despaire nor the meditation of thy mercy perswade mee to presume Sanctifie my will by the wifdome of thy Spirit that I may desire thee as the chiefest good Quicken my desires with a fervent zeale that I may seeke my Creator in the dayes of my youth â—each mee to seeke thee according to thy will and then bee found according to thy promise that living in mee here by thy grace I may hereafter raign with thee in glory The Hypocrites prevarication THere is no such stuffe to make a cloake on as Religion nothing so fashionable nothing so profitable it is a Livery wherein a wise man may serve two Masters God and the world and make a gainefull service by either I serve both and in both my selfe in prevaricating with both Before man none serves his God with more severe devotion for which among the best of men I work my own ends and serve my self In private I serve the world not with so strict devotion but with more delight where fulfilling of her servants lusts I work my end and serve my self The house of Prayer who more frequents then I in all Christian duties who more forward then I I fast
I am sure I am as good as God has made mee and I can make my self no better so I cannot And as for serving God I am sure I go to Church as well as the best in the Parish though I bee not so fine and I make no question if I had better cloathes but I should doe God as much credit as another man though I say it And as for doing Gods will I befhrew mee I leave that to them that are booke-learn'd and can doe it more wisely I beleeve the Vicar of our Parish can doe it and has done it too as well as any within five miles of his head and what need I trouble my selfe to doe what is so well done already I hope hee being so good a Churchman and so great a Schollard and can speake Latine too would not leave that to so simple a man as I. It is enough for mee to know that God is a good man and that the ten Commandements are the best prayers in all the book unlesse it be the Creede And that I must love my neighbour as well as he loves mee and for all other Quilicoms they shall never trouble my braines an grace a God Let mee goe a sundayes and serve God obey the King God blesse him doe no man no wrong say the Lords Prayer every morning and evening follow my worke give a Noble to the poore at my death and then say Lord have mercy upon mee go away like a Lambe I make no question but I shall deserve heaven as well as hee that weares a gayer coate But yet I am not so ingrant neither nor have not gone so often to Church but I know Christ died for mee too as well as for any other man I 'de bee sorry else and that next to our Vicar I shall goe to heaven when a I am dead as soone as another nay more I know there bee two Sacraments bread and wine and but two though the Papists say there be six or seven and that I verily beleeve I shall be saved by those Sacraments and that I love God above all or else 't were pity of my life and that when I am dead and rotten as our Vicar told mee I shall rise again and be the same man I was But for that hee must excuse mee till I have better sartifaction for all his learning hee cannot make me such a fool unlesse he shew me a better reason for 't then yet he has done His Award BUt one thing hee told mee now I think on 't troubles me woundly namely that God is my Master all which I confesse and that I must do his will whether I know how to doe it or no or else it will goe ill with me I le read it he said out of Gods Bible and I shall remember the words so long as I have a day to live which are these Hee that knoweth not his masters will and doth things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes Luke 12. 48. 1 Cor. 14. 20. Brethren be not children in understanding howbeit in malice be ye children but in understanding be men His Proofs 1 Cor. 15. 34. Awake to righteousnesse and sin not for some have not the knowledge of God I speak it to your shame Ephes 4. 18. Walk not in the vanity of your minds having the understanding darkened being alienated from the life of God through the Ignorance which is in you because of the blindnesse of your hearts Levit. 5. 17. And if a soule sin and commit any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the Commandments of the Lord though be wisâ— it not yet is hee guilty and shall beare his iniquity 2 Thes. 1. 7 8. The Lord Jesus shall bee revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God Greg. Mag. Moral It is good to know much and to live well but if we cannot attain both it is better to desire piety then wisdome for knowledge makes no man happy nor doth blessednesse consist in intellectuals The onely brave thing is a religious life Just Mart. Resp. ad orthod. To sin against knowledge is so much the greater offence then an ignorant trespasse by how much the crime which is capable of no excuse is more hainous then the fault which admits a tolerable plea His Soliloquie HOw wel it had been for thee O my soule if I had bookelarnd Alas I cannot read and what I heare I cannot understand I cannot profit as I should and therefore cannot be as good as I would for which I am right sorry That I cannot serve as wel as my betters hath bin often a great griefe to mee and that I have beene so ignorant in good things hath been a great heart-breaking unto mee I can say no prayers for want of knowledge to read but Our Father and the Creed But the comfort is God knows my heart but I trust in God Our Father being made by Christ himselfe will be enough for mee that know not how to make a better I endeavour to doe all our Vicar bids me and when I receive the Communion I truly forgive all the world for a fortnight after or such a matter but then some old injury makes mee forget my selfe but I cannot help it an my life should lie on t O my ingrant soule what shall I doe to bee saved All that I can say is Lord have mercy upon me and all that I can doe is but to doe my good will and that I le doe with all my heart and say my prayers too as well as God will give me leave an grace a God His Prayer O God the Father of heaven have mercy upon me miserable sinner I am as I must needs confesse a sinfull man as my forefathers were before mee I have heard many Sermons and have had many good lessons from the mouths of painfull Ministers but through the dulnesse of my understanding and for want of learning I have not profited so much as else I should have done spare me therefore O God spare me whom thou hast redeemed with thy pretious blood and bee not angry for ever I must confesse the painfulnesse of my calling and the heavinesse of my own nature hath taken from mee the delight of hearing thy Word and the ignorance of learning which I was never brought up to hath kept me from reading it that insomuch in stead of growing better I feare I have grown worse and worse and have bin so far from doing thy will that I doe not understand what thy will is very well But thou O mercifull God that didst reveale thy self to poore Shepherds and Fishermen that had no more learning then I have mercy upon me for Jesus Christ his sake Thou that hast promised to instruct the simple and to lead the ignorant into thy way be good and mercifull to mee I beseech thee Thou that drawest the needy out of the dust and the poore