against the Dissuasions of thy Grace the Checks of my Conscience and the fairest Warnings of my Danger Had I done it Ignorantly or unawares or under a Surprize it had been pittiable but O my Guilt my Guilt 't was knowingly wilfully basely and maliciously that I did this evil in thy sight whereby I have forfeited my Soul my Innocence and thy Love and have got nothing in exchange but the Pleasure of a Minute and a lasting Shame and Repentance O vile Wretch O desperate Fool that I am what have I done whither am I fallen I have grieved thy Spirit contemn'd thy Authority trampled on thy Goodness and wounded my own Conscience and by one base Act have thrown my self headlong from all those glorious Hopes whereunto thou hadst raised me And now O God what can I say in my own behalf my Sin being so great my Folly so utterly inexcusable O I am asham'd I am asham'd of my self I lament and abhor the Madness and Wickedness of my own Choice and O that it were in my power to recall it But woe is me it is past into Act and by that Act my Innocence is already stained my Soul forfeited and it is no more in my Power to undo what I have done than to recall the Hours of yesterday What then shall I do or whether shall I turn my self 'T is against thee O Lord against thee I have sinned and now I have none but thee to flee to I have nothing of my own to plead in my own behalf my Conscience condemns me and my Sin my Sin cries aloud against me so that unless thou wilt be pleased to listen to the interceding Blood of thy Son and to consult thine own Bowels and Compassions and from thence to fetch Arguments of Mercy I am undone for ever by my own Folly Wherefore for Jesus Christ his sake for thy own Goodness and Mercies sake have pity have pity upon me heal my Soul for I have sin'd against thee be merciful to my Sin for it is great Thou hast promised to receive returning Sinners to blot out their Iniquities and to heal their Backslidings I desire O Lord to return unto thee I hate and renounce my Sin and do here abhor my self for it in Dust and Ashes before thee Wherefore for thy Praise sake O try me this once more and do not presently cast me away from thy Presence nor take thy holy Spirit from me but restrain me by his Grace from all presumptuous Sins and suffer them not to have Dominion over me And quicken me O Lord for thy Names sake that for the future I may watch more carefully resist more vigorously and walk more circumspectly than I have hitherto done And that from henceforth I may be intirely devoted to thee and serve thee without Interruption do thou so confirm me by thy Grace in my holy Resolution as that I may choose rather to die than to offend thee any more And now O Lord though by my Rebellion against thee this Day I have rendered my self most unworthy of thy fatherly Care and Protection yet I beseech thee to watch over me this Night for good and give me a safe Repose in the Arms of thy Providence that I may have yet a farther Space to repent of mine Iniquity And grant I beseech thee that when I awake in the Morning I may be warn'd by the woful Remembrance of this Days Fall to take more Care of my Steps and to shun or refuse those Snares and Temptations that lie all around me All which I do most humbly and earnestly beg of thee even for Jesus Christ his sake in whose name and words I farther pray Our Father c. Directions for the Exercise of our private Religion in the state of our Progress and Improvement in the Christian Life with Forms of private Devotion fitted for this State When you enter into your Closet in the Morning indeavour to affect your self with Gratitude and Thankfulness to God for his Grace by representing to your self the Danger and Misery of that sinful State out of which you are recovered and the great Incapacity you were in to recover without his Assistance and then make this thankful Acknowledgment to him O Most gracious and most merciful Father thou art a liberal Benefactor to thy Creation a never-failing Friend to Mankind and a most tender Lover of Souls for whose everlasting Welfare thou hast been always consulting and hast left no method of Love unattempted to rescue them from Sin and Misery O blessed for ever blessed be thy great Name for the Experience I have had of this thy fatherly Goodness I am a monument of thy Goodness a living Instance and Wonder of thy Mercy for me hast thou quickned who was dead in Trespasses and Sins and who had long ago perish'd in mine Iniquities hadst thou not been infinitely patient and long suffering I had forfeited my Soul to thee and thou mightest justly have cut me off and given me my Portion with Hypocrites and considering how I provok'd thee to it by my daily Rebellions I cannot but admire thy Forbearance towards me But that thou shouldest not only forbear me but follow me with thy Kindness and never cease importuning me to return to my Duty and Happiness till thou hadst conquered me by thy Gracious Persuasions O incomparable Love O amazing Goodness never to be sufficiently admired and adored Wherefore praised for ever praised be thy Grace which hath redeemed my Life from eternal Death and my Soul from the neathermost Hell which hath rescued me from the Snare of the Devil and the pernicious Bondage of my Lusts and implanted in my Nature these heavenly Graces and Dispositions and hitherto improv'd and advanc'd them towards my eternal Happiness This O my God all this I owe to thy free and undeserved Goodness that I that was dead am now alive that I that was lost am found that I that was a slave to my Lusts am made free from Sin and translated into the glorious Liberty of the sons of God is purely the Effect of thy free Grace and to be intirely ascribed to thy all-powerful Goodness Go on O Lord go on I beseech thee and perfect thine own Work that so the Glory of it may be for ever redounding to thee and that as I have been hitherto a signal Instance of thy Goodness so I may be an happy Instrument of thy Praise to eternal Ages And grant I beseech thee that the sense of thy unspeakble Kindness towards me may so captivate my Soul and all my Faculties as that I may be most intirely thine as that my Reason and Will my Fear and Hope and Love and Desire may from henceforth be all resign'd up to thee and for ever devoted to the Honour and Worship of thy infinite Glories and Perfections and this I most humbly beg for Jesus Christ his sake to whom with thy self and thy eternal Spirit be rendred all Honour Glory and Power from this time forth
affecting Instances of his Love or upon the blessed State above and then go on with this following Prayer O Thou most excellent Being thou infinitely amiable and adorable Majesty thou Pattern of Beauty and Standard of Goodness who art glorious beyond all Praise and dost out-reach all Wonder and comprehend all perfection blessed be thy Name thou hast touch'd my soul with a lively sense of thy Glory I feel it shining through me and like an active Flame insinuating into my Heart it fires my Love cherishes my Hope wings my Devotion and diffuses a vital Warmth over all my Faculties it raises me up into a heavenly State and fills me with joy unspeakable and full of glory it captivates every thought into Obedience to thy Will and brings every Power of my soul into Subjection to thee Blessed be thy Name thou hast conquered me by thy Love and I resign my self to thee with a chearful Heart I am intirely thine I am thy Servant truly I am thy Servant and in this Title I glory more than in all the Honours of the World But though I am highly advanc'd and exalted by serving thee yet thou art so infinitely happy in the boundless perfections of thy own Nature that thou canst reap no other Advantage from it but only the pleasure of seeing thy poor Creature blessed and made happy by it What then shall I render unto thee O thou Joy of my Life thou Treasure of my Love thou supream Felicity of my Nature Alas I have nothing but my self to give thee nothing but this poor Heart that burns with Love to thee that pants and breaths after thee and desires above all things in the world to be eternally united to thee in perfect Love If I had ten thousand Hearts to love thee ten thousand Tongues to praise thee I would devote them all to thee as freely and chearfully as I do my self For whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee O God thou art my God and my Portion for ever In thee I am blest and in the Light of thy Countenance I rejoice more than in all the Joys and Pleasures of the World I am ravisht with thy Beauty I admire thy Love and from the bottom of my Soul adore thy Wisdom and Goodness My heart is ready O Lord my Heart is ready I will sing and give praise Awake up my Glory awake all the Powers of my Soul I my self will awake and celebrate thy praises Praised be the God of Glory praised be the God of Love praised be the Father of Mercies praised be the best Friend of Souls for thy Goodness reaches to the heavens thy Glory shines throughout the Creation and thy Mercy is spread over all thy works Who can comprehend thine infinite Beauties who can rehearse thy noble Acts who can shew forth all thy Praise I do confess my Thoughts are infinitely too short my Affections too narrow my Expressions too scanty to comprehend and sufficiently admire and celebrate thy Glory But O my God thou knowest that I love thee and blessed be thy Name I feel infinite reasons so to do O that I could love thee more that I could love thee but as much as Angels and glorified Spirits do who yet cannot love thee as much as thou deservest because thou deservest to be belov'd infinitely But my soul thirsts for thee and longs after thee O when shall I be admitted into thy blessed Presence there to see and admire and love and adore thee for ever when shall I shake off this clog of sinful Mortality that sinks and depresses me and flee to those happy Regions of perfect Love where I shall continually feed upon thee with inexpressible Delight and be filled with a strong and everlasting Sense of thy goodness O thou that art the beginner and finisher of every good work be pleased to assist my holy Endeavours to withdraw my Mind more and more from these sensible things that it may have a clearer sight of its heavenly Country from whence it came and whither it desires to return that so having my Eye always fixt on that blessed recompence of reward I may live above this World and in despight of all its Terrors and Allurements persevere to the end in a steady and even Course of Obedience And now O Lord since thou hast been graciously pleas'd to inspire my Mind with these delightful Thoughts of thee and to enlarge my Heart with such sweet Transports of Love to thee grant I beseech thee that they may not only please but better me that they may lift me up above all the Temptations of this World and revive my Strength and quicken my Endeavours and compose my distrustful Heart into a stedfast Dependence upon thee that so I may be fruitful in all good works and my heart may be establisht unblameable in holiness before thee unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Amen Amen After you have used one or more of the foregoing Prayers according as they suit with the present Temper of your Mind take a short view of your Defects and Imperfections and especially of those that cleave most to your Nature and briefly represent to your Mind the intrinsick Evil and Vileness of them and how they clog your Religion blemish your Nature and obstruct your Happiness and then conclude with the following Prayer for Growth in Grace O God who art the most excellent Nature the Perfection of all Beauty and the Fountain of all Graces who doest infallibly understand what is best to be chosen and invariably chuse by the best and purest Reason look down I beseech thee upon me thy poor defective Creature who am ashamed of my self to see how unlike thee I am how I am laden with Imperfections and how after all my religious Endeavours my Nature is still vitiated with unreasonable Lusts and Affections how much Vanity and Impertinence there yet remains in my Mind how much Perverseness in my Will how much spiritual and carnal Iniquity in my Affections and Appetites Lord I have been long a contending with this corrupt Nature and yet upon all Occasions I find my self too too prone to be Wo is me even my fairest Graces have their Spots and Blemishes my purest Dispositions their sinful Intermixtures and my best Works their Flaws and Imperfections O my God have pity upon me who here lie sighing at thy Feet under a miserable diseased Nature and as thou hast begun the blessed Cure in me so for Christ his sake I beseech thee to compleat it that being intirely recovered and raised up unto newness of Life I may in the perfect Health and Vigour of my Soul serve and glorifie thee for ever For which end I beseech thee confirm me more and more in the Belief of those immortal Pleasures beyond the Grave which thou hast treasur'd up for those that love and obey thee that by the strength of a lively Faith and vigorous Hope my Soul may be rais'd above this World and learn to despise and trample upon all its gilded Vanities whensoever they present themselves either to allure or to terrifie me from pursuing the heavenly Enjoyments Excite in me such a vehement Thirst after those Rivers of Pleasures above as may every day render me more cool and indifferent towards earthly things more contented and satisfied under all the Events and Issues of thy Providence and more active and vigorous in my heavenly Calling And I beseech thee to inspire me with such clear and lively Apprehensions of thy essential Beauties and Perfections and of thy bountiful Love and boundless Benevolence to all thy Creatures as may every day more and more raise and improve my Love to thee that this being the great Spring and Principle of all my Actions may continually excite me to a chearful Obedience to thy Will and a vigorous Imitation of thy Perfections O cause me to love thee for thy self and Religion for thee and the Instruments of Religion in order to thy Glory and my own Happiness that so founding my Content upon thee and the blessed Interests of a virtuous Life I may grow in Grace and be rich in good Works and go on with a satisfied and triumphant Spirit from Imperfection to Strength from Acts to Habits and from Habits to Confirmation in Grace and may be still more and more confirmed in all the heavenly Graces till they are finally consummated into everlasting Glory And when by thy Grace and Assistance I have perfectly conquered the corrupt Nature within and the Temptations without me and am arrived into the State of everlasting Triumph I will lay all my Victories at thy Feet and with Palms in my hand and Halelujahs on my lips celebrate thy praises to Eternity Hear me O my God in this and whatever else thou knowest to be needful for me even for Jesus Christ his sake in whose Name and Words I further pray Our Father c. FINIS Plat. Phaed. pag. 398. Ibid. Pag. 386. Paedag. l. 2. c. 1. pag. 141. Ibid. Pag. 139. * Dr. Stillingfleets Origines Dr. Patricks Translation of Grotius Sir Charles Wolsely * Here make a particular Confession of all those sinful Courses you have lived in together with all their aggravating Circumstances of Impudence Obstinacy and Ingratitude c. * When you renew your Vow in the Sacrament add * Here name the sinful Act you have committed * Here name the particular Infirmities that stick closest to your Nature
consists in Virtue and true Goodness it hence follows that all the Religion of the Means is insignificant to our Reconciliation with God if it doth not render us truly virtuous So that till this is effected there is so vast a Gulph between God and Us that neither We can go to Him nor He come to Vs and unless he alter his Nature by becoming impure as we are impure or we alter ours by becoming pure as He is pure there will be so immense a Distance between Him and Us as that it is impossible we should ever meet and agree So that what the Prophet saith of Sacrifice may be truly affirmed of all Religion of the Means Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or with ten thousands of Rivers of Oyl will He be reconciled upon our bare believing praying or receiving Sacraments c. No no He hath shewed thee O man what is good And what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God Mich. vi 7 8. II. THIS Religion of the Means is of no farther Use as to the perfecting our Natures than as it is instrumental to produce and promote in us those Heavenly Virtues which are implied in the Religion of the End For doubtless to be a Perfect Man is to live up to the Highest Principle of Humane Nature which is Reason and till we are once released from the slavery of Sense and Passion and all our Powers of Action are so subdued to this superiour Principle as to be wholly regulated by it and we chuse and refuse and love and hate and hope and fear and desire and delight according as right Reason directs we are in a maimed and imperfect Condition Now what else is Virtue but a Habit of Living according to the Laws of Reason or of demeaning our selves towards God our selves and all the World as best becomes Rational Beings placed in our Condition and Circumstances And till we are in some measure arrived to this our Nature is so far from being perfect that it is the most wretched and confused thing in the whole world A more undistinguished Chaos where Frigida cum Calidis Sense and Reason Brute and Man are shuffled together without any order like a confounded Heap of Ruines And therefore as for this Religion of the Means it will be altogether insignificant to the Perfection of our Natures unless by the Practice of it we do acquire a Habit of acting according to the Law of our Reason which Habit includes all Heavenly Virtue For constantly to know and do what is best and most reasonable is the very Crown and Perfection of every reasonable Nature and therefore so far as our Faith and Consideration our Sorrow for Sin and the other Instrumentals of Religion promote this Heavenly Habit in us so far are they perfective of our Nature and no farther III. THIS Religion of the Means is of no farther Use to Us as to the Entitling us to Heaven than as it is productive of those Heavenly Virtues which the Religion of the End implies For our Title to Heaven depending wholly upon Gods Promise must immediately result from our performance of those Conditions upon which he hath promised it which till we have done we can have no more Claim or Title to it than if he had never promised it at all But the sole Condition upon which he hath promised it is Universal Righteousness and Goodness for so without Holiness we are assured that no man shall see God and Mat. v. our Saviour intails all the Beatitudes of Heaven upon those Heavenly Virtues of Purity of Heart Benignity of Temper c. So also Rom. ii 7 the Promise of Eternal Life is limited to our Patient Continuance in well doing And that we may know before hand what to trust to our Saviour plainly tells us that not every one that cries Lord Lord that makes solemn Prayers and Addresses to me shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven And this is the will of God saith the Apostle even our Sanctification that is our being purged from all Impurities of Flesh and Spirit and inspired with all Heavenly Virtues And the Apostle expresly enumerates those Virtues upon which our Entrance into Eternal Life is promised 2 Pet. i. 5 6 7 8. Add to your Faith Virtue and to Virtue Knowledge and to Knowledge Temperance and to Temperance Patience and to Patience Godliness and to Godliness Brotherly Kindness and to Brotherly Kindness Charity For if these things be in you and abound saith he they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ that is That you shall receive the proper Fruit of that Knowledge which is Eternal Life for thus v. xi he goes on For so or upon this Condition an Entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. So that unless our Faith purifies our Hearts and works by Love unless our sorrow for Sin works in us Repentance or a Change of Mind unless our Prayers raise in us Divine and Heavenly Affections that is unless we so practise the Duties of the Religion of the Means as thereby to acquire the Virtues of the Religion of the End it will be all as insignificant to our Title to Heaven as the most indifferent Actions in the World IV. THIS Religion of the Means is of no farther Use to the disposing and qualifying us for Heaven than as it is an effectual means of the Religion of the End Which is a perfectly distinct Consideration from the former For it would be no advantage to us to have a Right to Heaven unless we were antecedently qualified and disposed for it Because Pleasure which is a Relative thing implies a Correspondence and Agreement between the Object and the Faculty that tasts and enjoys it But in the Temper of every wicked Mind there is a strong Antipathy to the Pleasures of Heaven which being all chast and pure and spiritual can never agree with the vitiated Palat of a base and degenerate Soul For what concord can there be between a spiteful and devilish Spirit and the Fountain of all Love and Goodness between a sensual and carnalized one that understands no other Pleasures but only those of the Flesh and those Pure and Virgin Spirits that neither eat nor drink but live for ever upon Wisdom and Holiness and Love and Contemplation Certainly till our Mind is contempered to the Heavenly State and we are of the same disposition with God and Angels and Saints there is no Pleasure in Heaven that can be agreeable to us For as for the main we shall be of the same Temper and Disposition when we come into the other World as we are when we leave this it being unimaginable how a Total Change should be wrought in us meerly
prosecuting it but when our Case is such as that we must either conquer or perish swim through or sink under the Difficulties we complain of the matter will admit of no further Debate but we must e'en resolve of the two Evils to choose that which is the least When the Ship hath sprung a Leak 't is a Madness for the Mariners to sit still and complain of the Pains and Labour of pumping for in the Extremity they are in there is no more to be said they must pump or perish and it is not to be debated where there is so vast an Inequality between the Objects of their Choice which of the two they were best to fix upon whether to take pains for the present to secure the Ship or to sit still and suffer themselves to be swallowed up in the Ocean And thus it is in the Case before us our Soul hath sprung a Leak and let into its Holds those Stygian Waters of sensual and Diabolical Lust which will sink us down to Hell if they be not pump'd out again and this is not to be done without a great deal of Labour and Difficulty But what then were we not better labour for a while then perish for ever do we talk of Labour when our Souls are at stake and our immortal Life is upon the Brink of an everlasting well or ill-being In other Cases we never think much to indure a present Inconvenience for the Prevention of a future Mischief we are content to fast when we perceive it 's necessary to obviat an approaching Feaver to be cupp'd and scarrified with all the Artifice of Pain to prevent or remove a dangerous Disease and in all other Cases are generally willing to prolong our Torment that we may be the longer a dying except where the Prescription is Virtue and the Death prescribed against is eternal though this be the most formidable Mischief of all as being the utmost Consummation of humane Misery and compared with which all the Labours and Difficulties of Religion have not the Proportion of a gentle Flea-biting to the acutest Torments of the Rack or Stone For I beseech you to consider will it not be easier for you to indure the short Agonies of a bitter Repentance than the horrid Despair of a damned Ghost for ever to thwart a foolish and unreasonable Lust than to lye roaring to Eternity upon the Rack of a guilty Conscience Is there any Proportion between your abstaining from the Pleasures of Sin that are but for a moment and your being excluded from Heaven and all Hope of Happiness for ever Alass if it be so difficult to you to contend with an evil Habit to struggle with a stiff and obstinate Inclination how difficult will it be to dwell with everlasting burnings and suffer the dire Effects of an unappeasable Vengeance to Eternity Wherefore since we are under an absolute Necessity of induring the one or th' other in the name of God let us act like Men and of the two evils choose that which is most tollerable IV. CONSIDER that though it be difficult yet there is nothing in it but what the Grace of God will render possible to us if we be not wanting to our selves I confess the Necessity of it would be no Argument to ingage us to undertake it were it not a possible Undertaking yea and readily acknowledge that it very far exceeds our poor Possibility singly and nakedly considered So that if we were left to struggle with the Difficulty of it in our own single Strength we might justly despair of Success and so tamely lye down and yield our selves foil'd and defeated But God be praised this is not our Case for though when we cast our eyes upon the many violent Inclinations to evil that are within us and upon the numberless Temptations to evil that are about us when we seriously reflect upon the Weakness of our Reason and the Strength of our Lust and the Number and Nearness and Prevalency of those Objects from without that are continually pressing upon and assaulting our good Resolutions though I say when we reflect upon all this we are ready to cry out as Elisha's Servant did when he beheld the City compassed with Horses and with Chariots Alas Master how shall we do how shall we be able to withstand all this mighty Army of Enemies yet if we turn our Eyes from our own Weakness and our Enemies Strength to those gracious Promises of Assistance which the Father of Mercies hath made to us we shall quickly be able to answer our selves as Elisha did him fear not O my Soul for they that are with us are more and more powerful than they that are against us For we have with us not only the outward Arguments of Religion which are of infinitely more Force than any outward Inducement to Vice whatsoever we have with us not only the holy Angels of God who are as willing and more able to direct and strengthen us than all the infernal Furies to insnare and captivate us but we have with us also the Almighty Spirit of God who by the Oeconomy of Heaven and the Promise of our Lord is obliged to minister to us in all our Necessities and to aid and assist us against all those Difficulties which would be otherwise too hard for us if we were left to our selves So that if we do but hold true to our own Interest and take care that we do not drive him away from us by siding wilfully with our Enemies against him we shall not no we cannot miscarry unless which is impossible some such Temptation should befal us as neither we nor he can resist and cope with For till by our wilful Sin we have forfeited our Title to the promise of his Assistance we are as sure of his Help in all things that are necessary as we can be of our own Endeavour and 't is not more in our power to do what we can by the Strength of our own Faculties than 't is to ingage him to inable us to do what we cannot with his Aid and Assistance For by faithfully indeavouring to persevere in wel-doing we intitle our selves to all the necessary Assistances of his Grace and so long as this Title continues we are Masters not only of our own Strength but of his too and can do not only whatsoever is within our own Power without him but also whatsoever is in his Power concurring with ours SO that though our Warfare be difficult it cannot be impossible unless we will have it so For to be sure there is nothing in it that can be too hard for Gods Grace co-operating with the Powers of our Nature and therefore there can be nothing in it too hard for us whilst 't is in our Power to secure our selves of that his gracious Co-operation WHEREFORE let us stand boggling no longer at the Difficulty of our Progress in Religion since God be praised there is nothing required of us beyond what we
while you rest in such an imperfect State of Goodness you dwell in the next Neighbourhood to a sinful State and so are in continual danger of returning thither again For how is it possible you should be safe while you stay upon the Brink of that miserable State out of which you are but just emerg'd and recover'd and have so many strong Inclinations within you concurring with the numberless Temptations without you to thrust you head-long back again into it So that if you would be secure it is not sufficient for you just to get out of your sinful State and stay there but you must still be removing farther and farther from it by proceeding on still to farther Degrees of Perfection For you must consider that there is vast Distance between a State of sincere and of confirmed Goodness and that all the while you are passing on from the one to the other you are more or less in Danger of relapsing For you have been sincerely good ever since your first Entrance into a firm and hearty Resolution of Amendment but alas since that how many times have you been in Danger of relapsing into your old sinful Courses again What strong Contentions have there been between your Flesh and your Spirit your bad Inclinations and your pious Resolutions and though the later hath been most commonly victorious yet how often hath it been yielding yea how often hath it been vanquisht Insomuch that if you had not by a quick Repentance revived it immediately it had been dead long since and you had been as much enslaved to your Lusts as ever And from these dangers you will never be wholly free till you have utterly extinguisht your vicious Inclinations and inwrought all the Vertues of Religion into your Natures and then you will be arrived to that confirmed State of Goodness from which it will be morally impossible for you to revolt If therefore you would secure your Perseverance to the End beware you do not limit your selves in the Way for though if you die but just sincerely good you shall certainly escape Hell yet in all probability you will not be long sincerely good unless you be something more that is unless you proceed in the Degrees of Vertue and do more and more suppress your evil and improve your good Dispositions and Inclinations For so long as there remains in you any Lust to evil you will be in Danger of being betray'd by it and the stronger that Lust is the more it threatens your destruction So that you can never be safe so long as you have an Enemy alive in your Breast and whilst you rest in any Attainment on this side the confirmed State of Vertue in which there is an utter Extinction of all evil Inclinations you are more or less in Danger proportionably as you are more or less distant from that happy Period VII TO our final Perseverance it is also necessary that we should frequently entertain our selves with the prospect of our Mortality and indeavour to compose our selves before-hand into a good Posture of dying For thus we are call'd upon in this our militant State to consider our later end Deut. xxxii 29 by the Examples of the best Men are invited to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom Psalm xc 12 and to wait till our change comes Job xiv 14 to which End we are put in mind that here we have no abiding City Heb. xiii 14 and that 't is appointed for all men once to die Heb. ix 27 and that our life is even as a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away James iv 14 and to this purpose the Apostle applies this Consideration 1 Cor. vii 29 30 31. Now this I say brethren that is of our Abode and Continuance here upon which he exhorts us to compose our selves to a great Indifferency as to the things of this World it remains that both they that have wives be as though they had none and they that weep as though they wept not and they that rejoice as though they rejoiced not and they that buy as though they possessed not and they that use this world as not abusing it for the fashion of this world passes away i. e. since your Time here is very short indeavour before-hand to loosen your selves from this World and to put your selves into a fit Posture of leaving it for 't is but a short Scene that will quickly be shifted and then there will an eternal State of things succeed AND indeed since to die well is the last Act and final Consummation of our Christian Warfare it must needs highly concern us to arm and prepare our selves for it before-hand lest we lose the blessed Prize by stumbling just at the Goal and after a long Voyage miscarry for ever within Sight of Harbour For in the hour of Death we throw our last Cast for an Eternity of Happiness or Misery and how much are we concerned to throw that well upon which so vast a Stake depends O! 't is a serious thing to die to pass this dark Entry of Eternity through which as we go right or wrong we are made or undone for ever For to carry us right through 't is not a few death-bed Sorrows or good Wishes a few extorted Promises or forc'd Resolutions or frightful Prayers or Lord have Mercies upon us will serve the turn O! no it is an expensive Passage which we shall never be able to defray unless we carry along with us a large Stock of spiritual Preparations We shall have need of a strong and active Faith of a Mind well furnished with wise Considerations of a deep a large and a tried Repentance an unrestrained Charity a confirmed Patience a profound Submission to the Will of God and a well-grounded Hope of a blessed Eternity For without all these together we shall be very ill-accoutred to die and run a dreadful Hazard of miscarrying for ever And these are such things as do not usually spring up like Mushromes in a Night or in the few disturbed Moments of a dying Time but do ask a much larger and serener Season to grow and ripen in So that if we mean to die well and so come off victoriously in this last Act of our spiritual Warfare we must now while we are well be frequently entertaining our Meditations in the Charnel-house and read Lectures to our selves upon the Skeletons and Deaths-heads there those Emblems and Representations of our approaching Mortality and from them take such lively Pictures of the King of Terrors as may render his grim Visage and fearful Addresses so familiar to us as that our Thoughts may be before-hand accustomed to the manner of his Approaches with what an Army of Diseases he is wont to lay Siege to the Fort of our Life how in Despight of all the Resistances of Nature he plants and quarters them in our Veins or our Arteries our Stomachs or our Bowels and from thence
Righteousness that now at last my foolish soul is persuaded to part with those sins which are its Plagues and Infelicities and to imbrace those blessed Duties by which thou hast designed to raise me to immortal Glory By these good Beginnings thou hast given me some Reason to hope for a happy Success upon my poor Endeavours Praised be thy Grace I am at present heartily willing to be thine and were I but sure to continue thus minded and disposed I would immediately make over my Heart and Will to thee by the most solemn Engagement But O Lord I am afraid of my self I dread my own Inconstancy and thou knowest I have too much Reason for it I have mocked thee too often already with my deceitful Promises and Engagements I have sin'd and then promised Amendment I have promised Amendment and then sin'd again as if all that I meant by my Promises were only to ask leave of thee to sin against thee anew Now after so many Falsifications I would not for all the World deal treacherously with thee any more wherefore before I solemnly resign and devote my self to thee by a new Purpose and Engagement I desire to make some farther Tryal of my own Stedfastness to see whether this present Inclination of my Will be the effect of Passion or a setled Judgment In the mean time therefore I do most humbly beseech thee to be present with me in all my ways and continually to influence my Mind with thy Grace and Spirit to strengthen my Faith to fix my Consideration to persuade my Will and feed and cherish these my holy Desires with good Thoughts and Inspirations that so I may remain stedfast and immoveable and no Temptation whatsoever may be able to alter the Temper of my mind or divert it from its good Inclination and that having had a sufficient Experience of the fixed Disposition of my Soul to obey thee I may devote my self to thee with a chearful Heart and an assured Hope of my own Sincerity and Constancy O Lord hear and help me for thy Mercies sake and for Jesus Christ his sake in whose most perfect Form of Prayer I farther pray Our Father c. If after a sufficient Tryal of your self you find you are constantly inclin'd to submit to God to part with every Sin comply with every Duty consider that now it is high time for you to devote your self to God and what abundant Reason you have for it and what a powerful Obligation you must lay upon your self by so doing and when you have seriously considered these things give up your self to God in this following Form of Prayer which for the greater Sanction and more awful Solemnity of your good Resolution you would do well to repeat at the next Sacrament O Most merciful Father so infinite is the Goodness of thy Nature that thou art always ready to pity and relieve the poor and needy and to extend thy timely Succours to us helpless Sinners whensoever we cry unto thee Of the truth whereof thou hast given me who am the vilest of Sinners a most sensible Proof and Experiment For not long ago I was so dead in Trespasses and Sins that hadst not thou took pity upon me and quickned me by thy Grace I had dyed for ever my Vnderstanding was so blind that I saw not my Danger my Conscience so sear'd that I felt not my Guilt my Will so inslaved to my Lusts that I could not indure to think of parting with them but now blessed be thy Grace which first excited my Endeavours and hath hitherto prospered them I do not only see the Danger my Sins have exposed me to and sensibly feel the Guilt of them but am freely willing to renounce them for ever and to part even with those darling Lusts that have heretofore been as dear to me as my right Eye And now O Lord I am come before thee and I hope with a truly Loyal and sincere Heart to offer up my Soul and Body to thee and vow an everlasting Obedience to thy blessed Will For Jesus sake refuse not this poor Oblation which though it be infinitely unworthy of thine Acceptance is the best thing I am able to present thee To thee O glorious Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost I do from henceforth eternally devote my self and all my Faculties And here at the Table of my blessed Saviour and upon these sacred Memorials of his Wounds and Blood I utterly abjure all known and wilful Sins and Rebellions and particularly all such as have been heretofore most dear to me faithfully promising by thy gracious Assistance from henceforth to observe thy Law without any Reserve or Exception This in the Sincerity of my Soul I do here vow to thy divine Majesty and however I may be hereafter tempted I will never wilfully depart from it or from any Part of it so help me O my God for Jesus Christ his sake in whose own words I farther pray Our Father c. Directions for the more profitable Exercise of our private Religion in the state of our actual Engagement in the Christian Life When you go into your Closet in the Morning consider seriously with your self the solemn Engagement you lye under what a crying guilt it would be to violate it what Madness and Folly to recede from it after you have taken so much pains to reduce your self to it what mighty Reasons you have to persist in it and what powerful Assistance is promised you if you be not wanting to your self and then offer up this following Prayer O Eternal God who art the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and dost through him bestow so many good and perfect Gifts upon thy Creatures I desire for ever to remember and adore thy Goodness towards me whom thou hast snatch'd as a Firebrand out of the Fire and at length reduced to a serious Purpose of Amendment after a long and obstinate Course of Disobedience in which if I had still persisted I must have perisht everlastingly O blessed be thy great Name that after so many years Rebellion against thee for which I have long ago deserved to be banish'd into utter Darkness I do yet behold the light of another Day and am allowed a farther Space to repent and execute my Purpose of Amendment And now O Lord as thou hast wrought my Will into a good Resolution in despite of all the corrupt Inclinations of my Nature leave not I beseech thee thy Workmanship unfinish'd but by the mighty Operation of thy Grace excite and inable me faithfully to perform what I have so seriously resolved It is a mighty Work that I have undertaken to cleanse a base polluted Nature and root up all its filthy Lusts and Affections and plant it with all the heavenly Dispositions and improve them into everlasting Happiness and thou knowest what strong Oppositions will be made against me and with what powerful Temptations I must struggle throughout the whole Course of my future
Mind hast strengthened my Resolution and rendred it so successful and victorious 'T is to thy Grace that I owe all the good I have done and 't is by thy Aid that I have escap'd all the evils I have been tempted to wherefore not unto me O Lord not unto my Strength or Endeavours but unto thy Name be all the Glory and Praise of this days Deliverance and Preservation O never let the Remembrance of this thy Goodness towards me depart from my Mind but let it kindle in me such a grateful Sense as may more and more incite me to love and obey thee and depend upon thee for the future And as thou hast been pleased to conduct me safely by thy Grace through all the Dangers and Temptations of the Day so do thou take me into thy Care and Protection this Night and grant that I may awake in the Morning with a Heart so inflamed with the Remembrance of thy Goodness and so incourag'd with this Days success and so indeared to the Practice of Vertue by the growing Delights and Pleasures of it as that I may persist in my religious Course with greater Courage and Alacrity and this I humbly beg for Jesus Christs sake in whose name and words I farther pray Our Father c. If upon Enquiry you find that you have been failing in your Duty or that you have done any evil Action through meer Heedlessness or Surprize indeavour to affect your self with a sorrowful Sense of your own Folly Weakness and Carelesness and then conclude with this Form of Humiliation O Most blessed Lord God who art infinitely glorious in thy own Righteousness and Holiness and doest for ever will and act according to thy own Nature which is the most perfect Law and Pattern of Goodness To thy spotless Nature no Evil can approach who art of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity with what Confidence then can such a polluted Creature as I am appear in thy Presence how can I lift up my guilty Eyes to thy Throne who to my past Rebellions which have been more in number than the hairs on my Head have this day added so many sinful Failings and Defects that shouldest thou be severe to mark what I do amiss were sufficient to kindle thy Displeasure against me 'T was but this Morning that I ingag'd my self to thee not only to abstain from all wilful and deliberate Sins but also to set a watch upon my Mouth and Actions that I might not offend thee unawares but to my Shame I must acknowledg I have been wofully careless and remiss having this Day suffered my self through my own Inadvertency to be surprized into such Actions as nothing can render pittiable or excusable in thy Sight but the miserable Frailty and Weakness of my Nature What shall I say unto thee O thou Judg of all the Earth I am guilty I am guilty and have nothing to plead for my self but the Blood of Jesus that all-sufficient Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World O Lord I do earnestly repent and am heartily sorry for these my Misdoings the Remembrance of them is grievous unto me the Burthen of them is intolerable have mercy upon me have mercy upon me most merciful Father and for Jesus Christ his sake forgive me all that is past and grant that the Sense of these my Miscarriages may render me more careful and vigilant for the future And let thy blessed Spirit be always present with my Mind to recollect my Distractions and awake my Considerations and warn me of my Dangers that I may no more be surprized by sudden Temptations nor hurried into evil Actions by unexpected Hopes or Fears but do thou so subdue my lower Appetites to my Will my Will to my Vnderstanding and my Vnderstanding to thy Spirit as that under his blessed Conduct I may for the future be prepared against all Temptations and furnish'd to every good work And now O Lord let not the Failings I have been guilty of this Day deprive me of thy gracious Protection this Night but grant that after a safe and comfortable Repose I may awake in the Morning with such a sorrowful Sense of them as may for the future oblige me to be more watchful and resolute against them All which I beg for Jesus Christ his sake with whose Prayer I conclude this my evening Sacrifice Our Father c. If upon Enquiry it appear that you have commited any wilful deliberate Sin indeavour to affect your self with Horror Shame and Compunction for it by representing to your Conscience the monstrous Foulness and Ingratitude the deep Malignity and desperate Madness of your own Action and then conclude with this Form of particular Repentance O Thou most dreadful Majesty of Heaven and Earth who hatest Iniquity and hast proclaimed from Heaven thy fierce Indignation against all Vnrighteousness and Vngodliness of men look down I beseech thee upon me a vile and guilty Wretch who stand here arraigned at thy Tribunal by my own Conscience and am so confounded with the sense of my Sin and of thy just Displeasure against me that I tremble to draw near unto thee and yet I dare not stay from thee I acknowledg my self unworthy infinitely unworthy to come before thee and am prompted by my own Horror and Shame to hide my self from thee but yet I know I must come or I must perish And therefore here O Lord I cast my self at thy Feet and if thou shalt think meet to tread upon me and to spurn me from thy Presence for ever I must own that thou art just and righteous in all thy Ways For thou hast been wonderfully good beyond what I could modestly have wisht or am able to express thou tookest pity upon me when I was all wounded and polluted and weltring in my Blood when I was sleeping securely upon the brink of Perdition and had scarce any Sense or Feeling of my Guilt and Misery in this woful plight didst thou visit my poor Soul and with thy preventing Grace awake me to a sense of my Danger and effectually warn me to flee from the wrath to come And now when thou hadst brought me to my self and to a through Resolution of Amendment and my Soul was in a fair way of Recovery like an ungrateful Wretch as I am I have flown in the Face of my Physitian I have abused his Goodness and baffled his Grace and wilfully and deliberately torn open my Wounds again And this I have done most treacherously as well as ungratefully not only against all the Obligations of thy Goodness but also against my own repeated Vows and Engagements For 't was but this Morning that I solemnly renewed to thee my Promise of Obedience and therein vow'd not to offend thee wilfully upon any Temptation whatsoever but O vile Traytor that I am both to thee and to my own Soul I have by most base basely falsified this my Engagement and this I did with the most unpardonable Circumstance even