affliction Ro. 8.28 remembring that all things work together for good to them that love God When you suffer any bodily Pain Both this and the greatest of the pains my corruptible fiesh can possibly suffer are but as a Hea-biting to the least of the pains of the nether hell And these my sins have justly deserved but blessed Lord let me have my punishment in this life and spare O spare me in the life to come I am not master of my self except in patience I possess my Soul in spite of what flesh can do unto me A furious man cannot be justified Ecclus. 1.22 or escape punishment for the sway of his fury shall be his destruction A patient man will bear for a time 23 and afterwards joy shall spring up unto him He will hide his words for a time 24. and the lips of many shall declare his wisdom I know O Lord that thou dost not willingly afflict the Sons of men S. Paul had his thorn in the flesh 2 Cor. 12.77 but 't was to prevent the swelling of his heart with spiritual pride and vain-glory And I humbly beg O Lord that my present pain in body may through my patient sufferance conduce to the better health of my Soul And O that I were as feelingly sensible of the many sores and diseases of my Soul as I am now of my bodily pains I should then more affectionately and with greater devotion apply my self to the great Physician both of Soul and Body Being sensible of your want of Knowledge and Wisdom Who will set scourges over my thoughts Ecclus. 23.3 2 and the discipline of wisdom over my heart that they spare me not for mine ignorances and pass not by my sins Lest mine ignorances increase 3. and my sins abound to my destruction That it may please thee O Lord to forgive me all my negligences and ignorances and to endue me with the Grace of thy Holy Spirit to amend my life according to thy Word O God of my Fathers Wisd 9.1 4 and Lord of all mercy give me wisdom that fitteth by thy Throne and reject me not from among thy Children O send her out of thy holy Heavens 10. and from the Throne of thy Glory that being present she may labour with me that I may know what is pleasing unto thee Though I have the gift of Prophecie 1 Cor. 13.2 and understand all mysteries and have all knowledge and though I have all Faith so that I could remove mountains and have not Charity it profiteth me nothing Being dull and averse from holy Duties How long wilt thou forget me Psal 13.1 O Lord for ever how long wilt thon hide thy face from me How long shall I seek counsel in my Soul 2 and be so vexed in my heart how long shall mine enemies triumph over me Consider and hear me O Lord 3 my God lighten mine eyes that I sleep not in death Lest mine enemy say 4 I have prevailed against him for if I be cast down they that trouble me will rejoyce at it But my trust is in thy mercy 5 and my heart is joyful in thy Salvation I will sing of the Lord 6 because he hath dealt so lovingly with me yea I will praise the Name of the Lord the most high Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. Upon the sense of your Sins and the mispending of your Time When I call to mind the dayes of my vanity and the sins of my younger and wanton years when I commune with mine own heart and search out my spirits When I remember how little a portion of my Time hath been employed in the service of my God and how much hath been spent in the service of Sin and Satan and the fulfilling of mine own unruly Lusts When I consider how small or no treasure of good works I have laid up in Heaven and what a mass of sinful works I have treasured up against the day of wrath my spirit is wounded within me and my heart within me is desolate my flesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy Judgments Call to remembrance Psal 25.5 O Lord thy tender mercies and thy loving kindness which have been ever of old Oh remember not the sins and offences of my youth nor of my riper years 6. O deal not with me after my sins neither reward me after mine iniquities but according to thy mercy think thou upon me O Lord for thy goodness And as thou tellest my flittings Ps 56.8 so put my tears into thy bottle that as my sins so my sorrows for sin may be noted in thy Book Assist me to redeem that precious time which I have too much mis-spent in vanity and iniquity Oh spare me a little Ps 39.13 that I may recover my strength before I go hence and be no more seen Holy Resolves of future Holiness Unto thee O God Ps 56.12 will I pay my vows unto thee will I give thanks For thou hast delivered my Soul from death and my feet from falling 13. that I may walk before God in the light of the living that enlightned with divine Grace I may enjoy the light of life immortal before God for ever Teach me thy way Psal 86.11 O Lord and I will walk in thy Truth O knit my heart unto thee that I may fear thy Name I will thank thee 12 O Lord my God with all my heart and will praise thy Name for evermore For great is thy mercy toward me 13. and thou hast delivered my Soul from the nethermost hell adding day after day unto my life and space for repentance unto my days O God my heart is ready Ps 108.1 my heart is ready I will sing and give praise unto the Lord Rom. 2.4 for the riches of his goodness forbearance and long-suffering leading me to repentance And my heart is ready O God my heart is ready to do thy will and to keep thy Commandments only strengthen me with thy divine Grace to do what thou Commandest and then Command whatsoever pleaseth thee My heart is ready both to serve thee in all the duties of holy Religion and to serve my neighbour also in the duties of Innocence and Beneficence and to watch over myself against all irrational desires that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts I may now for the future Tit. 2.12 live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Looking for that blessed hope 13. and the glorious appearance of the great God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ Holy Breathings of the Soul after God As the Hart hunted and wearied panteth after the water brooks for refuge and refreshment Psal 42.1 so my Soul in her weary pilgrimage pursued by her ghostly enemies longeth after thee O God in whom the weary findeth rest and the persecuted succour and support My Soul
which from thy Wounds and Stripes and Bonds does flow Ps 25.14 Pluck my feet out of the net of every temptation to finfulness and error Ps 119.48 and let my hand be continually lift up unto thy Commandments to do them that I be not lyable to be bound by any of the spirits of vengeance in the fiery chains of the nether Hell where is weeping and wailing MEDITAT VI. Of the Laments of Hell THere shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth Mat. 25.30 They shall deservedly weep in Hell whose eyes upon earth have been full of Adultery 2 Pet. 2.14 lasciviousness and greediness of the creature whose eyes have been set upon their covetousness Pro. 30.13 and their eye-lids lifted up with scorn and contempt of others who have been guilty of any of these or of any other sinful pollutions and have not wept and bewailed the same with the tears of Repentance Wo unto you that laugh now in your sinful pleasures Luc. 6.25 for ye shall mourn and weep either here or hereafter And 't is sad and sottish to put off this necessity of weeping to the other world where the tears of sorrow and sad Repentance shall avail nothing And this is all the water that Hell affords Luc. 16.24 not a drop to cool the tongue tormented in those scorching flames only those driesly tears which the violence of her torments do extort which being salt and brinish and spent in vain shall the more increase the bitterness and augment the miseries of the condemned sinner O that now my head were waters Jer 9.1 and mine eyes a fountain of tears by weeping here to prevent the weeping in Hell hereafter now to bewail my sins that I sorrow not when 't is too late where weeping and wailing shall not asswage but augment my sorrows Lament O sinner and gnash thy teeth through a holy indignation to be so foolish and mad as for a little sinful pleasure or dirty delight to run the hazard of being obnoxious to never ending pains and sorrows Blessed are they that mourn Mat. 5.4 both for their own sins and for the sins of others through the fear of Hell and desire of Heaven for they shall be comforted their fears prevented their desires obtained A broken and a contrite heart Ps 51.17 O God thou wilt not despise A heart broken with godly sorrow for sin and venting it self in tears with Prayers Humiliations and Confessions mixt with Faith in the blood of my dear Redeemer Thus Lord thus I humbly beg to be delivered from thy wrath and from the deplorable wailings of a sad eternity Amen MEDITAT VII Of the perpetuity of Hell Torments THe Perpetuity of Hell torments is in the thought thereof a Torment unspeakable for in every instant of the Sufferings of the damned they suffer all the torments of those infinite thousands of years to come the continuance whereof is not measured by Time but by the bottomless abyss of eternity and the immutability of divine justice and what is time to eternity Behold as a drop of water is to the sea Eccl. 18.10 and a gravel stone in comparison of the sand so are a thousand years to the dayes of etcrnity In this life fear hath torment but torment hath no fear but hope rather of release and delivery but in Hell the damned both fear what they suffer and also suffer what they fear even the everlasting duration of their sufferings They that are cast into the Lake of fire and brimstone shall be tormented day and night for ever Rev. 20.10 and ever Are not they then without understanding that work wickedness Ps 14.4 who being endued with Reason and capable of counsel who knowing the shortness of this life and the uncertainty of the same and withal believing the everlasting duration of the life to come do nevertheless bend all their thoughts and endeavours upon what concerns this present remporary Being even to the great hazard of being obnoxious to the Pains and Inrments of a sad eternity such madness in the hearts of men can never be throughly bewail'd even with tears of blood Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come Mat. 3.7 That there is a wrath to come every Christian believes and 't is a fierce wrath and a terrible even indignation and wrath Rom. 2.8 9. tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil and hath not repented him of the evil and of the iniquity he hath done Of the coming of this wrath also frequent warning is given both by the works and by the word of God by the Ministers of his Church but who takes warning given who regards the power of this wrath very few regard it though the less it be regarded the more fierce it will be for even thereafter as a man feareth so is thy displeasure Ps 90.11 Fear thou the Lord Pro. 3.7 O my Soul fear the Lord and depart from evil Thou Ps 76.7 O Lord thou alone art to be feared and who may stand in thy sight when thou art angry The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life Pro. 14.27 to depart from the gates of death Fear not them that can kill the body Mat. 10.28 but are not able to kill the Soul but fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear Heb. 12.28 For our God is a consuming fire 29. The LXXXVI Psalm PARAPHRASED verse 1 BOw down thine ear to him who now bowes down his heart and bear me O Lord confessing for I am poor extremely wanting of the graces of thy Spirit which should make me rich towards God I have little or no treasures laid up in Hearen and therefore I am in misery lyable to the eternal miseries of Hell But verse 2 Preserve thou my soul from that dismal place of torments for I am heby separate and devoted to thy service though a poor unprofitable servant and upon this account I make bold to call thee my God whom I worship and serve and humbly beseech thee to save thy servant who putteth his trust in thee for the riches of grace and salvation wherein verse 3 Be merciful unto me O Lord who art rich in mercy for I will call dayly upon thee that it may please thee in great mercy to deliver me from that misery whereunto my poorness in grace but abounding sins make me obnoxious verse 4 Comfort the soul of thy servant that the sorrows of death overwhelm me not For unto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul being hereunto encouraged by thy grace and goodness verse 5 For thou Lord art good even the inexhaustible fountain of goodness and gracious propitiously inclined to hear the supplications of thy people and of great mercy against the greatness of iniquity unto all them that
put thy self on manfully to resist the Devil and all his works of temptation unto sin Thou needest not to be afraid of all his fiery darts for these cannot pierce but when enflamed by the fire of thine own concupiscence Covetousness and Pride or the Pomps and vanities of this wicked world with Luxury and Voluptuousness or the sinful lusts of the flesh these are the weapons wherewithal the enemy wars against the Soul By the stedfast belief of all the Articles of the holy Christian Faith and a constant obedience to God's holy will and Commandments they are renounced resisted beaten back and overcome This thou hast solemnly vowed in the open face of Christs Church whosoever thou be that art rightly called Christian and though thy Christendome was not thus right Orthodox and Legal yet this must be performed if thou wilt be or being continue within the Covenant of Grace to the eternal Salvation of thy Soul Raise up O Lord we pray thee thy power and come amongst us and with great might succour us that whereas through our sins and wickedness we are sore let and hindred in running the race that is set before us by thy bountiful grace and mercy we may be enabled to withstand the temptations of the Devil the world and the flesh and with pure hearts and minds to follow thee the only God through Jesus Christ our Lord MEDITATION Of the Cure of the Soul before that of the Body THere is a vast difference betwixt the Soul and Body in the dignity of their nature the Soul is of a heavenly descent and original but the body is of earthly mould and making the Soul is framed by the hands of the Almighty after his own Image but the Body is begotten of earthly parents after the likeness of sinful flesh the Soul is of the same nature with the Angels of Heaven but the Body is of kind and constitution with the beasts of the earth the Soul being the infusion of Heaven represents the beauties and perfections of the most high and holy God but the Body being the result of carnal copulation assimilates only the fading shadows of beauty in irrational beings Lastly whatever beauty strength motion or Life it self the Body enjoys is by the vertue vigor and actuation of the Soul which manifests its immortality and separate subsistence from the dying Body Very pertinent then is that question of S. Augustine to fond senseless man Laboras ut non moriatur homo meriturus non laboras nè peccet in aeternum victurus Why art thou so solicitous to preserve the body from death which must dye and dost not endeavour rather to preserve from sin thy Soul which will live for ever If but a finger of the Body ach 't is bemoaned and lapt and every petty sore is salv'd and carefully kept from the least touch that may annoy it and to cure the diseases of the Body no cost or pains is spar'd the most bitter drugs are swallowed lancing burning fasting any trouble or torture is willingly endur'd but the sores of sin are suffered to fester and the diseases of the Soul are slighted without any regard had to the devout use of those holy means which the great Physician of Souls hath prescribed for their recovery O remember and wisely consider that by how much thy Soul transcends thy Body in purity of nature and dignity of condition by so much thy spiritual diseases are more mischievous and destructive than any bodily distempers can be The ilness of the Body tends only to the disanimation of the corruptible flesh but the maladies of the Soul render her both loathsome in the eyes of God and all good men and also obnoxious to the Second death the unsupportable torments of the nether hell O that the blessed Spirit of God would vouchsafe to anoint the eyes of my mind with the eye-salve of celestial grace Rev. 3.18 that mine eyes may be opened to see mine own vileness and nakedness and to discover all the sad distempers of my Soul to see them in their stain guilt and pollution in the loathsome and destructive nature of them that seeing I may wash them with my tears lance them with the knife of holy Mortification rip them up by Confession and lay them open to the view of the great lover of Souls and pray Arise blessed Jesus Mal. 4.2 Arise thou Sun of righteousness upon my darkned diseased Soul with healing in thy wings whither shall I fly for spiritual health but to the God of the spirits of all flesh Num. 16.22 1 Sam. 2.6 Ps 147 3. who killeth and maketh alive who bringeth down to the gates of death and bringeth up again who healeth those that are broken in heart and giveth medicine to heal their sickness Whither shall I go for health and salvation but to the Saviour of the world who came to visit the sons of men when sick in sin and sick unto death the wages of sin who is both our Physician and our physick both our Doctor and healing medicine who after a wonderful manner has made a salve for the sores of sin of his own stripes and wounds and bloud Through Faith in this bloud intermixt with my penitent tears will I bathe my diseased Soul and ever pray by these stripes to be healed 1 Pet. 2.24 I said and I will ever say it whilst I have a day to live Ps 41.4 Lord be merciful unto me and heal my Soul for I have sinned against thee MEDITATION Upon the Tears of the devout Soul MY Tears have been my meat day and night Ps 84.6 this present life is to the truly devout Christian a valley of Tears whose broken heart is the Well from whence the Pools are filled with water the eyes with Tears wherewithal the religious soul is fed and fatned as is the body with meats and drinks These Soul-saving waters are of two sorts 1. Such as flow from the heart wounded with the love of Christ and enflamed with desires of a nearer and more immediate union and communion with the Triune God saying Ps 42.2 My Soul is a thirst for God even the living God when shall I come to appear before the presence of God when shall I be so happy as to see my God not as now in a glass darkly but face to face to the ravishing of my Soul with joy unspeakable and glorious Or 2. Such Tears as do flow from the heart pierced with godly sorrow for sin which separates and exiles the Soul from God whilst the Devil and his Angels insulting dayly say unto me Where is now thy God ver 3. Both these sorts of Tears S. Augustine humbly beg'd of God under the notion of the upper and lower springs Jos 15 19. both Tears of divine Love and Devotion to Heaven above and Tears of godly sorrow for sin upon earth below Blessed are they that thus sow in tears Ps 126.6 for they shall reap
in joy He that now goeth on his way of holy Religion 7. weeping and beareth good seed such tears of godly sorrow as bring forth fruits meet for Repentance shall doubtless come again with joy and bring his sheaves with him being treasured up in the granary of heaven Such devout penitents go from strength to strength adding to their Faith vertue 2 Pet. 1.5 6. and to vertue knowledge to knowledge temperance to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness Charity Thus they ascend as by steps and to the God of gods appear every one in Sion Blessed Lord who fashionest the hearts of all the sons of men and turnest them as the rivers of water vouchsafe by the celestial influences of thy holy spirit to turn the stream of my corrupt affections from all the pomps and vanities of this wicked world and from the sinful lusts of the flesh Strike the rock of my hard heart with the rod of thy fatherly correction that both the upper and the lower springs may issue thence and the graces of thy holy Spirit may there spring up to everlasting life Joh. 4.14 I am a great sinner I confess and O that my heart were so deeply wounded with the sense of my sins as to lament them with that godly sorrow for sin as worketh repentance unto salvation not to be repented of 2 Cor. 7.10 Ps 39.12 I am a sojourner upon earth as all my fathers were O pierce my soul with the dart of divine love to bewail the deadness of my affections towards thee to lament that I am so much a stranger to my native home of Heaven that my heart is not surely fixed there where true joys are to be found but grovels in the dust of worldly vanities to grieve that I walk in the midst of manifold temptations and my ghostly enemies do dayly prevail against me and dayly cast in my teeth my dayly backslidings from the love and service of my God But be thou merciful unto me O Lord Ps 41.10 Raise thou me up again and I shall reward them by my future conquests over all their temptations MEDITATION Of the dwelling of God in the hearts of his People WHosoever desires that the Lord would vouchsafe to come unto him must himself first prepare his heart to come unto God And this not by Faith alone but by divine love and obedience to his most holy Laws If any man love me he will keep my Sayings Joh. 14.23 and my father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him How and when the Lord comes and abides with us must be known by the influences and operations of his presence as the tree by its fruits or the cause by its effects 1. God is light and in him is no darkness at all 1 Joh. 5.7 and such are the blessed Souls in whom he abides 1 Thess 5.5 they are all children of the light and of the day not of night and of darkness Their understandings are enlightned to know God both in himself and in the ways of his service and of their own Salvation and this light of their Faith shines before men in all the good works of Soberness Righteousness and Godliness to the glory of God the father of lights 2. God is a consuming fire Heb. 12.29 and accordingly the Souls possessed by him are purged as with fire from all the sordid lusts of the flesh and of the world their affections are purified the rust of sloth and negligence in the ways of life is scowred off their hearts as with fire are inflamed with the sacred ardors of divine Love of a holy and discreet Zeal of a fervent Devotion in their Prayers unto God and praises of him and with earnest defires of a nearer and a more immediate Communion with his divine Majesty 3. God is the fountain of living waters and accordingly where he dwells Jer. 2.13 he does allay the heat of carnal concupiscence subdue the inordinate love of riches quench the fire of strife and contention of blind Zeal and Faction and of every exorbitant lust being in himself a full satisfaction to all the vast desires of the immortal Soul As water he satisfieth the desires of all who hunger and thirst after righteousness and by the influence of his divine grace makes the barren ground of the heart to be fruitful unto every good word and work 4. God is all purity and holiness goodness and mercy justice and truth and in a word the summary of all perfection and felicity and therefore all those happy Souls where he dwells are holy as he is holy pure as he is pure merciful as he is merciful just and good gracious and long-suffering and in a word perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect 'T is such divinely enspirited persons and only such can say with the heavenly inspired Psalmist I will love thee O Lord my strength the Lord is my stony rock and my defence my Saviour my God and my might in whom I will trust my buckler and the horn of my salvation and my refuge Psal 18.1 and Psal 27.1 The Lord is my light and my salvation whom then shall I fear The Lord is the strength of my life of whom then shall I be afraid and Psal 28.8 The Lord is my strength and my shield my heart hath trusted in him and I am helped therefore my heart danceth for joy and in my song will I praise him The Lord is my strength and he is the wholsom defence of his anointed O save thy people and give thy blessing to thine inheritance feed them and set them up for ever Our Father which art in c. THE END ERRATA PAge 3. Line 12. read shew thou me the way p. 5. after line 7. adde From this vain world my affections wein p. 10. l. 9. r. grant me p. 14. l. 15. for unto r. out off p. 24. after l. 8. adde O holy ghost into my mind send down thy heavenly light p. 27. l. ult dele And. p. 52. l. 2. for hearest r. teachest p. 63. l. 19. for Love r. Have p. 66. l. 5. r. should engage p. 93. l. 26. for love r. lone p. 131. l. ult r. made them p. 181. l. 18. dele Holy p. 188. l. 3. for them r. each of these p. 201. l. penult for the r. these p. 317. l. 24. for joy r. so p. 330. for perfection r. protection
I have acknowledged my wayes and thou heardest me O teach me thy Statutes After confession of sin and prayer for pardon new obedience is required 3. Make me to understand the way of thy Commandments and so shall I talk of thy wondrous works To talk of Religion without a right Understanding is but vain babling 4. My soul melteth away for very heaviness Comfort thou me according to thy Word Godly sorrow is the inlet to divine Consolation 5. Take from me the way of lying and cause thou me to make much of thy Law Errors in judgment must be corrected and abandoned that we may obey God sincerely and cordially 6. I have chosen the way of truth and thy judgments have I laid before me What the Word of God doth judge to be true or false is to be ever chose or refused 7. I have stuck unto thy testimonies O Lord confound me not Stedfastly to cleave unto what God hath testified to be the way of truth and holiness is a sure way to avoid confusion 8. I will run the way of thy Commandments when thou hast set my heart at liberty While the heart is enfettered with sensual or worldly lusts we can neith run nor walk in the ways of God's Commandments we ought Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. The Prayer O Raise up my Soul blesse Lord out of the dust and rubbish of earthly desires quicken my dulness in thy service comfort me in all my sadnesses dispel all those mists of Ignorance and Error which cloud my Understanding enlarge my heart from the bondage of Sin and Satan and out of the fetters of all Temptations unto evil and so strengthen me to run in the ways which thou hast Commanded that I may obtain what thou hast promised through Jesus Christ Our Father which art in c. CHAP. II. Of Meditations for the Third Hour of Prayer or Nine a Clock in the Morning THis is called The holy hour in the Decrees of the Church and generally the hour of publick Assemblies in the Worship of God and not without very great reason For 1. Matth. 27.20 'T was at this hour my blessed Redeemer underwent the bitter sentence of death whilest Barabbas a Thief a Rebel and a Murderer was acquitted And I vile wretch am as guilty as Barabbas in many respects and justly obnoxious to the dreadful sentence of condemnation to death eternal but by the infinite Merits and Mysteries of thy Condemnation Good Lord deliver me 2. Matth. 27.26 'T was at this hour of the day my blessed Redeemer exposed his tender breasts and delicate back and shoulders to be rased rent and torn with forked whips by cruel blood-thirsty souldiers until his innocent Body was all over gore blood And my sins deserve the scourges and mine offences the rod of the Almighties just indignation but blessed Lord I humbly beg that I may so wash my polluted soul with the penitent tears of holy compunction through Faith in the blood of my Saviour and so chastise and keep under that body of sin which is and too much reigneth in my Members Eccles 39.28 that being delivered from the guilt and tyranny of sin in this life I may escape those fiery whips and scourgings of the spirits of vengeance which are the portion of the disobedient and impenitent in the other life 3. Act. 2.15 'T was at this hour of the day the Holy Ghost descended upon the holy Apostles and Disciples of Christ and by his celestial influences replenished them with extraordinary Gifts and Graces for the propagation of his holy Gospel and the plantation of his Church through the World And Vouchsafe holy God vouchsafe unto me also thy unworthy servant the guidance of the same spirit by whose Illumination and Sanctification I may both perceive and know what things I ought to do and also may have Grace faithfully to perform the same through Jesus Christ And the Earth was without form and void Gen. 1.2 darkness was upon the face of the deep And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the Waters Such was thy condition O my Soul in thy state of Nature without form or comeliness the image of God wherein thy beauty consists was defac'd by original corruption void both of Grace and Truth an Abyss of darkness and in the shadow of death till the all-quickning Spirit of God moving upon the hallowed waters of Baptism caused the light to appear But still the dregs of thy natural corruption remain and the darkness of ignorance ever hovers upon the face of the Deep But where the Spirit of God is there is liberty both rightly to understand and acceptably to perform his Will COme Holy Ghost eternal God Proceeding from above Both from the Father and the Son The God of Peace and Love Visit my Mind and into me Thy heavenly Grace inspire That in all Truth and Godliness I may have the desire Kindle my heart with fervent love To serve God day and night Strength and stablish all my weakness So feeble and so frail That neither flesh the world nor devil Against me do prevail And grant O Lord that thou being My Leader and my Guide I may eschew the snares of sin And from thee never slide ALmighty God unto whom all hearts are open all desires known and from whom no secrets are hid cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy holy Spirit that we may perfectly love thee and worthily magnifie thy holy Name through Jesus Christ Glory be to God on high on earth peace This Hymn is prescribed to be used in the Morning by the Apostolical Constit l. 7. c. 47. and at the Third Hour of the Morning because then the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles and replenished them with glory exultation and joy Dur. Rat. l. 4. c. 13. good will towards men We praise Thee we bless Thee we worship Thee we glorifie Thee we give thanks to Thee for thy great Glory heavenly King God the Father Almighty O Lord the only begotten Son Jesus Christ O Lord God Lamb of God Son of the Father that takest away the sins of the world have mercy upon us Thou that takest away the sins of the world have mercy upon us Thou that takest away the sins of the world receive our prayers Thou that sittest at the right hand of God the Father have mercy upon us For Thou only art Holy Thou only art the Lord Thou only O Christ with the Holy Ghost art most High in the Glory of God the Father Amen PSALMS for the Third Hour Legem pone Psal 119. Part. 5. Horâ tertiâ Psalmus Legem pone dicitur quia tunc lex nova data est Apostolis Dur. Rat. l. 5. c. 6. Verses 1. TEach me O Lord the way of thy statutes and I shall keep it unto the end The Understanding must first be enlightned that the Affections of the Heart
soever with his bone full of marrow might yet dare to live unprepared for death presuming still upon further time and space for Repentance and amendment Lord make me ever mindful of my latter end that I may so live in thy fear as to dye in thy favour and a well grounded hope to live with thee for ever 'T is to little purpose to remember my death except I remember also the sins of my by-past life both the sins of my youth and of my riper age mine ignorances my negligences my manifold omissions of my duty towards God towards my neighbour towards my self and these to bewail with the tears of godly sorrow that my polluted Soul being washed I may through Faith in the blood of my Redeemer chearfully commend the same into his merciful hands and say Into thy hands I commend my Spirit for thou hast redeemed me O Lord thou God of Truth Every change in my frail constitution every little pain and ache in my corruptible flesh all distempers diseases are as so many memorials of my mortality but the older I grow the nearer still is the approach of my dissolution by the hand of death Heb. 8. ult for that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away The Prayers LOok graciously upon me O Lord I beseech thee in the time of my approaching dissolution and the more the outward man decayeth strengthen me so much the more continually by thy Grace and Holy Spirit in the inner man give me unfeigned repentance for all the errors of my life past and a stedfast Faith in thy Son Jesus that my sins may be done away by thy mercy and my pardon sealed in Heaven before I go hence and be no more seen II. IN the midst of life we be in death of whom may we seek for succour but of thee O Lord who for our sins art justy displeased Yet O Lord God most holy O Lord most mighty O holy and most merciful Saviour deliver us not into the bitter pains of eternal death Thou knowest Lord the secrets of our hearts shut not up thy merciful ears to our Prayers but spare us O Lord most holy O God most mighty O holy and most merciful Saviour thou most worthy Judge eternal suffer us not at our last hour for any pains of death to fall from thee III. IN my last hour O Lord I humbly beg thy protection from the busie suggestions and direful insultings of my grand enemies the Devil and his Angels Oh let not then my Faith fail or my Hope wither or my Charity wax cold with the waining flesh But when all my joynts shall tremble by the batteries of death mine eyes be darkned and my tongue falter then O then let my heart be enlarged towards my God waiting upon thee longing for thee and incessantly praying shew me thy mercy O Lord and grant me thy Salvation The XXXIX Psalm Verses 1. I Said I will take heed to my wayes that I offend not in my tongue The meditation of death makes every wise man careful of all his wayes and more especially to avoid the offences of the tongue 2. I will keep my mouth as 't were with a bridle while the ungodly is in my sight The tongue is an unruly evil and must be tam'd as a wild horse with a bridle when provok'd by captious contentious and quarrelsome persons 3. I held my tongue and spake nothing I kept silence yea even from good words but it was pain and grief unto me Reproaches are best answered with a discreet silence so was our Lord as a Lamb dumb before the Shearers 4. My heart was hot within and while I was thus musing the fire kindled d To abstain from good words is sometimes necessary for the avoiding of an evil construction but such silence is grievous to the pious Soul which burns with the fire of divine love and zeal to God's glory The zeal of thine house bath even eaten me and at the last I spake with my tongue Though it be often inconvenient to speak before wicked men yet 't is alway necessary to speak unto God by Prayer 5. Lord let me know mine end and the number of my daies that I may be certified how long I have to live 'T is a blessing we ought alway to pray for to be feelingly sensible of the shortness of our life 6. Behold thou hast made my dayes as 't were a span long and mine age is nothing in respect of thee and verily every man living is altogether vanity The life of man if compar'd with God's everlasting being is rather to be called a death than a life a vanity not a verity of being 7. For man walketh in a vain shadow he disquieteth himself in vain he heapeth up riches and cannot tell who shall gather them The hearts of men are darkned with the shadows of happiness whilst they vainly care for worldly wealth which is as transitory and uncertain as the life it self 8. And now Lord what is my hope truly my hope is even in thee 'T is not in riches nor in all the world affords but in God alone that all hope of true happiness is attainable 9. Deliver me from all mine offences and make me not a rebuke to the foolish Our sins deprive us of all true weh-grounded hopes in God and make us lyable to the scorn even of foolish men 10. I became dumb and opened not my mouth for it was thy doing We must with a patient silence suffer the reproaches of others because occasioned by our offences and because sent from God for our amendment 11. Take thy plague away from me I am even consumed by the means of thy heavy hand And confess withal that we deserve to be consumed by the just judgments of God 12. When thou with rebukes dost chasten man for sin thou makest his beauty to consume away as 't were a moth fretting a garment every man therefore is but vanity Whose lightest chastisements do easily deface the beauty and decay the strength of this corruptible body 13. Hear my prayer O Lord and with thine ears consider my calling hold not thy peace at my tears Therefore the devout Soul is poured forth in Prayers with tears of godly sorrow for her offences from whence all the miseries of this life do flow 14. For I am a stranger with thee and a sojourner as all my fathers were The earth is a strange land to the Immortal Soul whose native home is heaven where she was framed by the hands of the Almighty after his own Image 15. O spare me a little that I may recover my strength before I go hence and be no more seen Which Image being defaced by her sins she humbly begs with tears time and space by Repentance Faith and new obedience to recover her native strength and beauty before she leave her tabernacle of flesh Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. The Prayer SInce my
concupiscence Thy carnal lusts and thy worldly lusts being now followed and fulfilled are the fuel that feeds that dismal fire of the infernal lake and the Worm also that never dieth is bred of the same corruption even in the dunghil lusts of the heart actuated by the hot suggestions of Sathan And as the fire of concupiscence doth now more or less rage in thy heart so as to follow the sway thereof so shall the fire of hell be more or less raging hereafter if these lusts do not dye within thee before the death of nature seize thee Take then the advice of the wise Syracides Eccl. 7.17 Humble thy self greatly for the vengeance of the wicked is fire and worms And of S. Paul Col. 3.5 Mortifie therefore your members that are upon earth fornication uncleanness inordinate affection evil concupiscence and covetousness which is Idolatry For which things sake the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience Blessed Jesus by the merits and mysteries of thy Circumcision I humbly beg the true Circumcision of the spirit and by the virtue of thy Crucifixion strengthen me to crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts lest any of those exorbitant fires being not opportunely quenched involve me in those flames of hell which are unquenchable MEDITAT IV. Of the extent of Hell pains WHen I consider righteous Job on the dunghil Greg mor. the holy Baptist hungring in the wilderness S. James beheaded S. Peter crucified the Torments and deaths of innumerable Martyrs the manifold afflictions of the holy and elect people of God I cannot but consider and know assuredly that very great and many shall be the torments of the wicked in the world to come since God suffereth those whom he dearly loves to be so much afflicted in this life The Pains of Hell in the extent of them do herein differ from all present bodily pains that these are partial only in some particular parts joynts and members of the body whilst other parts are free from pain But in Hell the whole man in all the senses internal and external in all the parts of his body and powers of his soul yea the most spiritual faculties shall be tormented with Fire and Brimstone rage and despite grief and anguish misery and malediction The pains of Hell are a concourse of all kinds of pain and of all at the same time and of all of them for ever The Taste shall be punished with bitterness the Appetite with hunger and the Tongue with thirst the Sight with horror the Hearing with astonishment the Smell with stench the Heart with anguish the Imagination with fear the Reason with madness the Judgment with confusion and in the very Bowels fire unquenchable And this is most just that as the wicked have employed all the powers and parts both of Soul and Body as weapons of unrighteousness unto sin so should their punishment be in all their senses members faculties that as each hath transgrest by sinful pleasure and inordinate delight so each should have its peculiar afflicting torment 'T is undoubtedly true that all persons condemned to the flames of the nether hell are not equally tormented therein for though the fire of hell be one and the same yet it torments not all after the same manner nor in the same degree of torture but every man shall therein more or less feel the smart of its fury as by the nature quality and frequency of his sin he hath less or more deserved the same Gen. 18.25 for shall not the Judge of all the world do right The more high peremptory and presumptuous as also the less obstinate and impenitent sinner shall both suffer under the torment of the same fire but not in the same degree of pain and suffering But alas the lowest degree of suffering in that place of horror is punishment enough if seriously considered to affright the sinner from all the errors of his ways There be many who now think this or that to be severe commands Love your enemies Deny thy self Fast and Watch and Pray Take up thy Cross but surely 't will be much more hard and bitter to hear Tho. Ã Kemp. Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire O let not then the severest commands of the Gospel nor the difficulties and labors of Repentance startle and affright thee let not the breach or neglect thereof seem a light and a small thing unto thee but Remember that to endure the pains of Hell but one hour is more exceeding painful and afflicting than a thousand years of the most strict and severe austerities in Fasting and Sackcloth and Ashes Here blessed Lord here in this life let me be punished for my sins but spare O spare me in the life to come and from those intolerable pains of the nether Hell good Lord deliver me through Jesus Christ MEDITAT V. Of the Bonds and Chains of Hell RIghteous art thou O Lord Ps 119.137 and upright are thy Judgments 'T is a justice becoming the just Judge of the world that the licentious and prophane who in this life would not be bound up nor restrained from following and fulfilling their exorbitant lusts but have walked in the counsel of the ungodly and stood in the way of sinners that they who bound up their hands from doing the works of Gods Commandments and bound up their feet from walking in the paths of his most holy Laws that they whose sins are bound upon their Souls and not loosed by true Repentance through Faith in the Blood of Christ 't is just I say that such should incur this sad and dismal sentence Mat. 22.13 Bind him hand and foot To be bound to one place though in silken Cords or chains of Gold though 't were on a bed of Roses or the sweetest perfumes to be so tyed as not to be able to stir hand or foot is a very great punishment to the free active and stirring soul of man How much more then a sorer punishment is it to be bound in fiery chains eating through the flesh into the very bowels nay through all the most hidden and deepest recesses of the Soul and be forced to lye down in a bed of Flames and therein not to be able to stir either hand or foot not to move or change from side to side for the least ease or mitigation of torment He must have a heart of stone or rather of flint the hardest of stones who in remembrance of his sins is not greatly terrified and humbled in the very thought and apprehension of these fiery tormenting chains of Hell Blessed Jesus whose innocent tender hands were rudely seiz'd and bound with cords of injustice and violence vouchsafe to loose all the bonds and chains of my sins wherewith both my hands and feet affections and actions are infettered and infested and grant that the wounds they have made in my soul being washed with my tears may be healed by the soveraign balsome
may be inflamed with love and obedience 2. Give me Vnderstanding and I shall keep thy Law yea I will keep it with my whole heart The Understanding must first be enlightned that the Affections of the Heart may be inflamed with love and obedience 3. Make me to go in the paths of thy Commandments for therein is my delight And because all holy desires are not but by the influences of God's holy Spirit therefore it follows Incline my heart 4. Incline my heart unto thy Testimonies and not unto covetousness God is to be obeyed not for any earthly ends and therefore a sincere obedience is inconsistent with covetousness 5. O turn away mine eyes lest they behold vanity and quicken thou me in thy way The way of the world is vain and unsatisfying and Christ the Way the Truth and the Life 6. O stablish thy Word in thy servant that I may fear thee God's Word must not be slightly heard but deeply settled in the heart to beget therein the true fear of God 7. Take away the rebuke I am afraid of for thy judgments are good We would fear reproach for our sins did we seriously consider the righteousness of God's Judgments 8. Behold my delight is in thy Commandments O quicken me in thy righteousness The more active we be in all holy obedience the greater delight shall we find therein Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. The Prayer 'T Is the desire of my Soul O Lord to know and obey thy Commands as being the way of true delight and give me a right understanding thereof with a firm adhesion and obedience thereunto Mortifie the exorbitant lusts of mine eyes and of mine heart whose issue is shame and reproach Ecclus. 23.1 5. Leave me not to their counsels and let me not fall by them but turn away from me vain hopes and concupiscence and thou shalt hold him up who is desirous always to serve thee through Jesus Christ The Sixth Part. Verses 1. Let thy loving mercy come also unto me O Lord even thy Salvation according to thy Word In the Word of God mercy and salvation is promised to his people 2. So shall I make answer to my blasphemers for my trust is in thy Word The manifestation whereof shall stop the mouths of all evil speakers 3. O take not the word of thy Truth utterly out of my mouth for my hope is in thy judgments He that hopes for Mercy in the day of Judgment must now profess the truth in the day of Trial and Temptation 4. So shall I alway keep thy Law yea for ever and ever Charity which is the end or Love which is the fulfilling of the Law continues for ever 5. And I will walk at liberty for I seek thy Commandments The love of God diffused in the heart doth enlarge our steps in the wayes of obedience to his Laws 6. I will speak of thy Testimonies even before Kings and will not be ashamed And animate us undauntedly to profess the Truth before the greatest Powers upon earth 7. And my delight shall be in thy Commandments which I have loved These are inseparably urited the Love of God and the Love of whatever he Commands 8. My hands also will I lift up to thy Commandments which I have loved and my study shall be in thy Statutes The love of the heart sets the hands on work and both in holy Actions and divine Contemplations is the pious Soul delighted The Prayer GReat is thy mercy O Lord in promising and great is thy Righteousness in performing the promise of Salvation to all them that trust in Thee let this thy Mercy and Truth appear in my Salvation Set my heart at liberty from all extravagant lusts which tyrannize there and grant that thy Laws may be so much my delight that I fear not to profess the same even before Kings when called thereunto Let thy holy Will revealed be my dayly study and my hands lift up carefully to perform the same all the days of my life through Jesus Christ The Seventh Part. Verses 1. O think upon thy servant as concerning thy Word wherein thou hast caused me to put my trust A holy confidence in the promises of God is a good ground of Prayer to be made partakers thereof 2. The same is my comfort in my trouble for thy Word hath quickned me and of consolation in the greatest extremities 3. The proud have had me exceedingly in derision yet have I not shrinked from thy Law And of perseverance in spite of all the scoffs and contradictions of Sinners 4. For I remembred thy everlasting judgments O Lord and received comfort To remember the joyes of Eternity supports the pious soul in the greatest of temporal afflictions 5. I am horriby afraid for the ungodly that forsake thy Laws The impiety of others doth more terrifie a godly person than his own sufferings by their injustice 6. Thy Statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage The equity of the divine precepts is the most proper subject of melodious poely upon earth 7. I have thought upon thy Name O Lord in the night season and have kept thy Laws Night meditations do much conduce to the right ordering all the actions of the day 8. This I had because I kept thy Commandments Obedience is rewarded with Grace for Grace Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. The Prayer O Think upon thy servant in great mercy O Lord and let no external troubles no reproaches of the proud and scornful withdraw my heart from that love and obedience which I owe unto thee But let thy Grace so prevent me in all my doings that I fail not of thy following Grace to continue thy faithful servant and souldier to my lifes end through Jesus Christ The Eighth Part. Verses 1. Thou art my portion O Lord I have promised to keep thy Law The Covenant betwixt God and his people is reciprocal God promiseth to be their exceeding great reward and they promise to keep his Commandments 2. I made my humble petition in thy presence with my whole heart O be thou merciful unto me according to thy Word And that this Covenant may stand firm we must heartily implore both the assistance of divine Grace to keep our promises unto God and his mercy to perform his promises unto us 3. I called mine own ways to remembrance and turned my feet unto thy Testimonies The iniquity of our own ways must be frequently remembred that we may walk in the ways of God 4. I made haste and prolonged not the time to keep thy Statutes He that hath any care of his soul will not put off his conversion from the errors of his ways and the practice of new obedience 5. The Congregation of the proud have robbed me but I have not forgetten thy Law The heart of the faithful continues firm in holy affections even when through violence of
ruine delight the righteous not for the destruction of their persons but for the justice of God thereby testified 8. My flesh trembleth for fear of Thee and I am afraid of thy judgments The best of men do most fear the judgments of God as being most sensible of their sins Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. The Prayer GIve me a heart O Lord I beseech Thee detesting all sinfulness and error and inflamed with the love of holiness and truth to trust in thy mercies and stand in fear of thy judgments incline my will and affections to live the life of obedience to thy Word that I may not be disappointed of my hopes to live with thee for ever through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen The Sixteenth Part. Verses 1. I deal with the thing that is lawful and right O give me not over to mine oppressors He must deal righteously with all men who desires not to be oppressed by any 2. Make thou thy servant to delight in that which is good that the proud do me no wrong To delight in what is good is a sure preservative against all the assaults of the spirits of pride and wickedness 3. Mine eyes are wasted away with looking for thy health and for the word of thy righteousness We must wait diligently upon all the blessed means of that grace and Salvation God hath promised in his word how troublesome soever this may be to the flesh 4. O deal with thy servant according to thy loving mercy and teach me thy Statutes 'T will be sad if God deal not with the best of us after his loving mercies and not after our deserts 5. I am thy servant O grant me understanding that I may know thy Testimonies 'T is impossible to be the true servant of God without understanding aright the service he requires 6. It is time for Thee to lay to thine hand for they have destroyed thy law When he Laws of God are trampled under foot he will not long forbear his punishing judgments 7. For I love thy Commandments above gold and precious stone When wickedness most abounds the righteous do most value the Laws of God even above all earthly treasures 8. Therefore hold I straight all thy Commandments and all false ways I utterly abhor They that are most sincere in the service of God do most abhor what is false and contrary thereunto Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. The Prayer I Am thy devoted servant O Lord and that I may serve thee acceptably give me a right understanding of all the ways and parts of thy service and an upright heart in performing the same abhorring all falsehood both in opinion and conversation O deal not with me after my sins neither reward me after mine iniquities but according to thy loving mercy in Jesus Christ our Lord to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all honour glory c. Our Father which art in c. CHAP. IV. Of Meditations for the Ninth Hour of Prayer or Three a Clock IT is very seasonable at this Hour to pay thy Devotions to thy blessed Redeemer as the necessary effects of true Faith and Repentance since I. 'T was at this hour the Thief upon the Cross believing and repenting received the joyful promise from the mouth of the Lord Luk. 23.43 This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise And my life I confess has been no better than the life of this Thief even my whole life has been a trade of robbery robbing God of his honour and of that obedience which I owe to his holy Laws and robbing my self also of peace of Conscience here and of the hopes of Heaven hereafter Blessed Jesu who hadst mercy on the Thief even in the very hour of his death repenting have mercy upon me even upon me also who now though too too late repent me of my manifold misdoings Shut not up the gates of Paradise against me when I shall depart hence since having overcome the sharpness of death thou hast opened the kingdom of Heaven to all Believers II. 'T was at this hour the Son of God made man commended his spirit of man into the hands of God the Father Luk. 23.46 And into thy hands O Lord do I now commend my spirit my soul my body my all for thou hast redeemed me O Lord thou God of Truth And the very God of peace vouchsafe to sanctifie me wholly 1 Thess 5.23 And I pray God that my whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ Amen III. 'T was at this hour wherein my blessed Redeemer Mat. 27.46 50. after he had cryed with a loud voice gave up the Ghost and dyed for us miserable sinners 'T was for me and my sins my dearest Saviour both suffered and dyed he having no sins of his own to suffer or dy for but He was wounded for my transgressions Is 53.5 He was bruised for mine iniquities And now then remember holy Jesus in great mercy remember that hour wherein with a torn body and broken heart Thou didst shew forth the bowels of thy mercy in dying to deliver me both from spiritual and eternal death Pardon good Lord pardon all my sins the cause of all thy painful sufferings and grant that both I and all who love thy Cross and Passion in a devout thankful remembrance may by the vertue and power thereof crucifie the old man and utterly abolish the whole body of sin that being dead unto sin 1 Pet. 2.24 we may live unto righteousness and by thy stripes be healed IV. Upon the death of my Saviour S. Mat. 27.51 the Earth quaked the Rocks clave asunder the veil of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom And yet upon the meditation hereof my heart is not broken within me 't is harder than the stones of that Temple which was a figure of it harder than those Rocks that rent upon the expiration of my Lord more insensible and stupid than the Earth that quaked at the death of her Maker O Blessed Jesus let thy precious blood shed for me soften my stony heart into tears of Compassion to bewail thy Passion into tears of Compunction for my sins the cause of thy Sufferings and wholly melt my Soul into a throughout Devotion to the love and service of thy Sacred Majesty who hast so infinitely loved me as to dy for me V. At this hour the side of our Lord was pierced whence issued the two Sacraments of his Church the Water of Baptism and the Blood of the Eucharist And O that that precious blood and water which is the price of my Redemption may be the meritorious cause of my sanctification in this life and eternal Salvation in the life to come Amen PSALMS For the Ninth Hour Psal CXIX Part 17. Verses 1. THy Testimonies O Lord
every good Christian be devoutly used say then with thy most ardent desires to extol the glory of God PSALM CXLV verse 1 I Will magnifie thee O God my King and I will praise thy Name for ever and ever verse 2 Every day will I give thanks unto thee and praise thy Name for ever and ever verse 3 Great is the Lord and marvellous worthy to be praised there is no end of his greatness verse 4 One generation shall praise thy works unto another and declare thy power verse 5 As for me I will be talking of thy worship thy Glory thy Praise and wondrous works verse 6 So that men shall speak of the might of thy marvellous acts and I will tell of thy greatness verse 7 The memorial of thine abundant kindness shall be shewed and men shall sing of thy righteousness verse 8 The Lord is gracious and merciful long-suffering and of great goodness verse 9 The Lord is loving unto every man and his mercy is over all his works verse 10 All thy works praise thee O Lord and thy Saints give thanks unto thee verse 11 They shew the glory of thy Kingdom and talk of thy power verse 12 That thy power thy glory and the mightiness of thy Kingdom might be known unto men verse 13 Thy Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom and thy Dominion endureth throughout all ages verse 14 The Lord upholdeth all such as fall and lifteth up all those that are down verse 15 The eyes of all wait upon thee O Lord and thou givest them their meat in due season verse 16 Thou openest thine hand and fillest all things living with plenteousness verse 17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works verse 18 The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him yea all such as call upon him faithfully verse 19 He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him he also will hear their cry and will help them verse 20 The Lord preserveth all them that love him but scattereth abroad all the ungodly verse 21 My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord and let all flesh give thanks unto his holy Name for ever and ever Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. An Evening Hymn NOw that the sable mantle of the night O're-spreads the earth and vailes the chearful light O Lord who art of light and life the spring Of Grace and Glory the eternal King Vpon thy servant cause thy face to shine And save me for thy mercies sake divine Forgive me what I have offended in This day by thought or word or deed of sin For my sweet Saviours sake propitious be To him who now pours forth his soul to thee All Glory be to thine eternal merit Most blessed Father Son and Holy Spirit Amen CHAP. VI. Of Bed-time Meditations I. I Am Alpha and Omega Rev. 1.8 Is 44.6 the Beginning and the End the First and the Last saith the Lord from the Lord I have my Beginning and he is the end of my Being 'T is therefore meet and just and thy bounden duty as to begin so to end the day with the service of thy God to make the outgoings of the Morning and of the Evening to praise him who hath made the Night and the Day The day is thine Ps 79.17 and the night is thine Thou hast prepared the light and the Sun Thou hast set all the borders of the earth Thou hast made the Summer 18. and the Winter II. 'T was at this hour my dear Redeemer was in a bitter Agony Luk. 22.44 Luk. 23.53 c. and sweat great drops of Blood under the pressure of the sins of men and out of a sad apprehension of his ensuing sufferings for the same 'T was at this hour also our Lord was laid in the Grave and lamented by the women that followed him to his Death Now then let tears distill from thine eyes in the devout remembrance of that precious Blood which flowed from thy Saviours veins Thy miscarriages and offences this very day of omission and commission of ignorance and knowingly of negligence and wilfully of thought and desire word and deed if they be not washed away in this Blood of thy Lord they will involve thee in blackness of darkness for ever and in the horrid sleep of death from whence there is no awaking O then cast them out of thy heart by a plenary particular Confession of all thy this dayes enormities wash away the filth and pollution of them with the tears of godly sorrow which being intermixt with Faith in the Blood of Christ makes an healing salve for thy sin-sick Soul O blessed Jesu Saviour of the world save me and deliver me from all mine offences nail them to thy Cross bury them in thy Grave let them never rise up in judgment against me to my condemnation at the last great day And O that now upon the Religious contemplation of my Saviours burial I could bid adieu to this wicked world and to all the pomps and vanities thereof that being delivered from the iniquities of this sinful life I may escape the bitter wailing and weeping of the wicked in the life to come PSALMS For the Compline or Bed-time The IV. Psalm Paraphrased verse 1 O God the donor preserver and rewarder of my righteousness thou hast set me at liberty from the bondage of sin and of Satan when I was in trouble through the tyranny they exercised over me have mercy upon me and hearken unto my prayer that I be no more involved in that sad condition which it highly concerns all men to avoid verse 2 O ye sons of men of the old Adam how long will ye blaspheme mine honour advancing the creature above your Creator and have such pleasure in vanity take such delight in what is empty vain and satisfies not and seek after leasing pursuing the lying vanities of this wicked world verse 3 Know this for your instruction that the Lord hath chosen to himself the man that is godly hath selected from among the children of men certain vessels of honour devoted to his service and were I so happy as to be one of these elect people of God holy and separate from the vanities of the world I could not doubt but when I call upon the Lord he will hear me verse 4 Stand in awe and sin not or fear the Lord and depart from evil and that you may do so Commune with your own heart examine what thoughts what desires do harbour in every corner of your heart in your Chamber and be still in the silence of the night recollect the actions of the day silently and closely that ye may do it exactly and having cleansed your hearts verse 5 Offer unto God the sacrifice of righteousness vow unto him a new obedience to his holy Will and Commandments which is the rule of righteousness and if you perform this vow you may with some
sins is himself tempted by idleness Watch ye therefore Mat. 13.36 for you know not when the master of the house cometh at Even or at Mid-night or at the Cock-crowing or in the Morning Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping 37. Upon wandring wanton Eyes A Wicked eye is an evil thing Ecclus. 31.13 and what is created more wicked than an Eye and therefore it weepeth upon every occasion How dare I look up unto Heaven which is the throne of Gods Purity with those eyes that have been set upon vanity and iniquity A wise mans eyes are in his head Eccl. 2.14 but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth I have made a Covenant with mine eyes not to look upon a maid Job 31 1. For whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her Mat. 5.28 hath already committed adultery with her in his heart But mine eyes shall be ever looking unto the Lord Ps 25.15 for he shall pluck my feet out of the net my affections from being ensnared with unlawful objects When you are tempted to any Sin Meditat. I. Avoid Satan thou wicked and unclean spirit avoid Thou hast no part or lot in me I am solemnly devoted to the service of my God and my Jesus and thy sworn adversary I have solemnly abjured thee and all thy works and must not now yield to any of thine unclean suggestions Be merciful unto me Ps 57.1 O God be merciful unto me for my Soul trusteth in Thee and under the shadow of thy Wings shall be my refuge until this tyranny be overpast I will call unto the most high God 2. even to the God that shall perform the cause I have in hand He shall send from Heaven and save me 3. from the reproof of him that would eat me up God shall send forth his mercy and truth 4. my Soul is among Lyons the Devil and his Angels have too great a hank upon my Soul But my trust is in the tender mercy of my God therefore I shall not fall Meditat. II. When I am tempted to any evil I complain of the Devil but my self is the greatest Devil to my Soul whilst I do not deny my self the fulfilling of its irrational appetites All the forces wherewith the enemy fights against my Soul are within me 'T is from those warring members within they are both raised armed and maintained But whensoever I call upon God Ps 56.9 then shall mine enemies be put to flight this I know for God is on my side In Gods word will I rejoice 10. in the Lords word will I comfort me Yea in God have I put my trust 11. I will not fear what man or Devil can do unto me Meditat. III. Being Tempted Say 'T is the Lords cause I must now maintain 't is his quarrel I must fight for the grand enemy of God and Man would now rob God of his Honour and of that Obedience which is due to his most holy Laws and I being Tempted am thereby challenged to be the Lords Champion But I will not trust in my Bow Ps 44.7 't is not my Sword that shall save me But it is thou Lord 8. that savest us from our enemies and puttest them to confusion that hate us Arise Ps 74.23 O God maintain thine own cause remember how the foolish man blasphemeth thee dayly Forget not the voice of thine enemies 24. the presumption of them that hate thee encreaseth ever more and more Meditat. IV. Vpon Temptations The victory over the Devil and all his temptations were easily obtained could I but once get the mastery over those lusts which war against the Soul In which spiritual warfare the banner under which I must fight is the Cross of my Redeemer by the vertue whereof all my intestine foes may be vanquisht in the Crucifixion of them and the old man with all his mutinous troops of deceivable lusts be subdued and led captive in the Chains of holy Mortification O blessed Jesus the Captain of my Salvation strengthen and encourage me manfully to fight under thy banner against all my ghostly adversaries And let thy Grace so prevent and follow me that I may follow thee by the Cross to the Crown through the School of Grace to the Throne of Glory Amen Upon the Prevailing of any Temptation I will say unto the God of my strength Ps 42.11 why hast thou forgotten me and why go I thus heavily while the enemy oppresseth me My bones are smitten asunder as with a Sword 12 while mine enemies that trouble me cast me in the teeth Namely 13. while they say daily unto me where is now thy God Have mercy upon me O God Ps 41.10 have mercy upon me raise thou me up again and I shall reward them being more careful to resist the Devil and all his suggestions Forsake me not O Lord my God Ps 38. ult be not thou far from me Haste thee to help me O Lord God of my Salvation Having escaped a Temptation The snares of death compassed me round about Ps 18.3 and the overflowings of ungodliness made me afraid The pains of hell came about me 4. the snares of death overtook me If the Lord himself had not been on my side I may well now say Ps 124.1 if the Lord himself had not been on my side The waters of Temptation had drowned me 3. and the stream had gone over my Soul Yea the deep waters of the proud had gone even over my Soul 4. But praised be the Lord who hath not given me over for a prey unto their teeth My Soul is escaped even as a Bird out of the snare of the Fowler 5. the snare is broken and I am delivered Our help standeth in the Name of the Lord 6. who hath made heaven and earth To whom be all Glory Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. When you Hunger or Thirst I. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness Mat. 5.6 for they shall be satisfied They shall receive such a satisfaction as the most delicious of bodily meats and drinks cannot give He that drinketh of this water shall thirst again Joh. 4.13 but whoso shall drink of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst But the water that I shall give him 14. shall be in him a Well of living water springing up to everlasting life Lord evermore give me this water that I thirst not 'T is the Graces of thy holy Spirit I humbly beg which alone can satisfie the vast desires of my Soul II. Labour not for the meat that perisheth Joh. 6.27 but labour for that meat which endureth to everlasting life which the son of man shall give unto you for him hath God the Father sealed sent into the world to be the incorruptible Food of our immortal
his will and disorder of his affections having yielded himself to follow my temptations and to forsake the paths of thy Commandments But 't is not the Devil alone that shall thus accuse thee when arraigned at the bar of divine Judgment but as S. Chrysostom saith the heavens and the earth and the sea the Sun and the Moon and the Stars both nights and days and all the creatures thou hast abused shall bear witness against thee but above all Thine own Conscience shall be as a thousand witnesses for being then freed from this clog and damp of the corruptible flesh all thy imaginations and desires all thy words and works spoken and done in the body shall appear to thy conscience in their native genuine and proper colours without any ignorance or oblivion misperswasion or misprision which now blinds the minds of many thousands to their eternal ruine on that day O who shall then be able to answer thee one of a thousand thou most worthy Judg eternal if thou shouldst be extream to mark what is done amiss Job 9.2 Ps 130.3 and thy great mercy intervene not to mitigate the rigor of thy Justice But in thee have I put my trust Ps 38.15 Thou shalt answer for me O Lord my God I have no other Advocate to plead my cause but my righteous Judge himself from whom in my daily prayers I have required that they even mine enemies should not triumph over me when I stand to be judged before the Tribunal of Heaven Who will set scourges over my thoughts Eccl. 23.2 3. and the discipline of wisdom over my heart that they spare me not for mine ignorances and pass not by my sins Lest mine ignorances increase and my sins abound to my destruction And I fall before mine adversaries in the day of my tryal and mine enemies the spirits and powers of darkness rejoyce over me whose hope is far from thy mercy Meditat. II. My flesh trembleth for fear of thee Ps 119.120 and I am afraid of thy Judgments when I consider the severity of many of thy temporal judgments which are now intended to drive sinners to Repentance that thou mightest spare them hereafter I cannot but foresee the unconceivable rigor of thy eternal judgments which intend punishment only without any thought of future mercy to spare and to forgive as in this life And I vile sinner have great cause to fear as a strict examination which all must undergo so a severe sentence to pass upon me having not so conscientiously as I ought obeyed the sacred dictates of the saving grace of God teaching us Tit. 2.11 12 that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live foberly righteously and godly in this present world With what face then shall I look for the blessed hope or hope for blessedness upon the appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ I have a greater cause to fear than to hope to wave than to await his coming But how shall I avoid or whither shall I flee from the face of my Judge whither but from an offended God to a merciful Redeemer from the Throne of thy Justice to thy Mercy-seat To meet thee now with Repentance in my heart and the fruits thereof brought forth in the actions of my life and with such spiritual wings cemented with the blood of my Redeemer I may hope to flee from the wrath to come O God who art justly displeased for our sins Mat. 3.7 8. and pacified by our true and sincere Repentance spare O spare all those who confess their sins unto thee that they whose consciences by sin are accused by thy merciful pardon may be absolved through Christ our Lord. III. Before Judgment examine thy self Eccl. 18.20 and in the day of visitation thou shalt find mercy And I upon the examination of my self do find my heart foul and polluted and my life stain'd with manifold offences but that I may escape the judgment of God I judge my self to be a miserable sinner I judge my self to have incurr'd the Lords just indignation to have deserved the dismal sentence of condemnation to pass upon me For I have sinned and I have done wickedly and I have committed iniquity and have rebelied against the Lord by departing from his most holy Laws and judgments Many will be my accusers when I come to my great Tryal upon life or death eternal and many and great accusations have they to lay against me the Devil and his Angels whose suggestions unto evil I have too often followed many men and many women too who have been conscious of my sins and of whose sins I have been many ways guilty All the good creatures of God I have abused and his mercies in them all those evil deeds I have committed and the many good offices I have wittingly omitted all which stand upon Gods record in Heavens black book of remembrance and mine own Conscience shall bear witness to all these undeniable Evidences These are the Books that shall be opened against me and I have not what to answer for my self But my trust is in the tender mercies of the Lord therefore I shall not fall and be cast in my tryal Holy Jesus who wast condemned being innocent acquit me though greatly nocent through Faith in thy Blood Judge me Ps 35.24 O Lord according to thy righteousness not after mine for 't is little and good for little but 't is thy righteousness Holy Jesus both active and passive I must plead for my acquittance when judged by thee then O then let not mine enemies trimuph over me Let them not say in their hearts there there so would we have it neither let them say we have devoured him But in the hour of death and in the day of Judgment Good Lord deliver me MEDITATIONS upon the GENERAL JUDGMENT WHen the Son of man shall come in his Glory Mat. 25.31 and all his holy Angels with him then shall he sit upon the Throne of his Glory And before him all nations shall be gathered 23. This is called The day of the Lord 1 Thess 5.2 by way of Eminence as being of all daies the greatest 1. In respect of the great appearance upon this day even of all the men that ever liv'd or shall live upon the face of the earth and of all the Angels also both good and bad which are more numerous than men for there are as many of spiritual saith the Schoolman as there be of corporeal Beings T. Aq. p. 1. q. 50. Art 3. 2. A great day in respect of the multitudinous Trials even of all the works that ever have been done from the Creation to the dissolution of all things under the Sun And not our works only but 3. Of all our words even of every idle word an account must be given By thy words thou shalt be justified Mat 12.36 37. and by thy words thou shalt be condemned 4. Not our words and
destructive and their right hand is full of gifts even their righteous actions are for bribes and sinister ends transacted and such are all they who make a gain of godliness verse 11 But as for me though others pursue their worldly interests through injustice and bribery yet I will walk innocently that 's the desire and resolution of my Soul O deliver me through the precious blood of my Redeemer which was shed for my deliverance defend me from all my ghostly enemies that would destroy mine innocence and be merciful unto me let thy mercy both pardon my by-past transgressions and support me through all the perils of this mortal life verse 12 My foot standeth right fixed in my affections to cleave unto thee and I will praise the Lord in the congregations in the assemblies of the Lord's people in the house where his Honour dwelleth and so shall I hope to be hereafter admitted into the blissful company of Angels and Saints to Praise the Lord for ever saying Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. The XLIII Psalm PARAPHRASED verse 1 GIve sentence with me O God when I stand before thee to be judged according to my works done in the body whether good or evil O then defend my cause against the ungodly people Plead for me against all the accusations of men women devils in whose company or by whose temptations I have done any evil O deliver me from the deceitful and wicked man that I be not ranked amongst such upon the left hand of unrighteousness and infelicity verse 2 For thou art the God of my strength By whom I am enabled to resist all my ghostly enemies why hast thou put me from thee leaving me to mine own weak frail and sinful self And this is the reason why go I so heavily in the ways of thy service and of mine own salvation whilst the enemy oppresseth me being destitute of thy help the grand enemy of God and man overpowers me with his temptations and assaults But that I may manfully resist and overcome verse 3 O send out thy light and thy truth the light of thy Grace and the truth of thy righteousness which discerns the cause of the righteous from the ungodly that they may lead me out of all the errors of this sinful life that being separated from the allurements and society of the ungodly they may bring me to thy holy hill where thy Temple is scituate and to thy dwelling the place where thine honor dwelleth verse 4 And that I may go to the Altar of God both Sacramental and Mystical upon the Altar of my heart to offer up my whole self to be a living Sacrifice Holy acceptable unto God even the God of my joy and gladness who makes glad my heart by the consolations of his Holy Spirit when I approach his Altar and upon the Harp which is an instrument of a Triangular figure and represents the heart of man wherewithal I will give thanks unto thee O holy and ever blessed Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost one God over all blessed for ever and my God even the God of my joy and worship my glory and my Crown O then verse 5 Why art thou so heavy O my Soul There is no sorrow but for sin because this alone separateth the Soul from the God of all consolation and why art thou so disquieted within me 'T is thy unquiet passions and unruly lusts which disturb thy reason and withdraw thee thus disquieted from a sincere dependance upon thy God but return return unto thy rest O my Soul verse 6 O put thy trust in God all thy sorrows and distempers are from thy self thy health and joy is from the Lord and for this I will yet give him thanks who is to be praised in both the seasons of sadness and joy for in both He is the help of my countenance the lightsome gladness of my heart and my God both of my Being and Well-being even the God of all that I am and all that I have and all that I hope to be which is to enjoy the beatifical vision of his divine Majesty for ever to sing Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. THE Third general Meditation Upon the PAINS of HELL MAny are the opinions and disputes and too curious also the disquisitions touching the place and nature matter manner and duration of the pains of Hell But it would be more Christian prudence strictly to search and find out those crooked deceitful and polluted paths which lead to that dismal place of torments that we may decline and avoid them 'T is surely better by much not to feel by woful experience the miseries of the damned than exactly to know and accurately to discourse of them And may this be ever my study blessed Lord my continual care and fear and constant endeavour not in the least particular to sin against thee for thy wrath and indignation which resteth upon sinners is a fierce wrath and a terrible 't is not in the power of frail man to sustain the fury of it MEDITAT I. Of the pain of Loss THe first and 't is esteemed by many holy Fathers the greatest of Hell Torments is that which is call'd by Divines The pain of Loss whereunto the wicked of the world are sentenced in these several expressions Mat. 22.13 25.30 41. Luc. 13 27. Take him away Cast him out I know you not Depart from me ye cursed The Pains of Sense in hell are intolerable saith Chrys yet for a man to suffer a thousand Hells is less irksome S. Chrys Hom. 28. than to be banisht from Heaven to be driven from the presence of God to be exil'd out of the regions of Light and Joy to be rejected of the Lord and to hear from him I know you not Depart from me The Loss of Heaven must needs be the greatest of evils because 't is the Loss of the greatest and most perfect good and of all that is truly good To lose good things we do now enjoy in the world may be recompenced with advantage by the gain of heaven but to lose Heaven it self to forfeit the right and title we once had happily obtained to be inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven is a loss irreparable Nothing can compensate nothing can equal nothing to be compared to this Loss Id. Serm. 't is hell enough it self if there were no other In this life the most wise and holy understand not throughly the fulness of Heavenly joys and so cannot be sensible of the torment of their Loss but in the next life our eyes shall be opened and the veil upon our hearts removed and then shall the ungodly see to their unspeakable grief and anguish of spirit the vast difference betwixt the never fading pleasures of the right hand of God and the empty transitory pleasures of sin betwixt that fulness of joy in the presence of
God and the deplorable sorrow of its loss and absence I have called but ye have refused Pro. 1.24 Ezck. 33.11 saith the Lord called saying Turn ye turn ye unto me with all your heart Come unto me all ye that are weary But we vain men slight and neglect Mat. 11.28 Joh. 6.37 44 56. nay too many contemn such gracious invitations they are not affected or delighted with the presence of God or if they come to his house approach his presence there 't is not either with that internal Devotion and external Reverence 't is not with such pure hearts and clean hands as becomes the presence of so great and glorious so holy and pure a Majesty and is it not then most just and equal that all such irreligious irreverent and profane persons be banisht the blissful presence of God for ever But though this be the guise of the multitude to walk every one after the lusts of their own hearts and to follow their own imaginations in the contempt of the Lords admonitions and commands Ps 5.7 yet as for me whilst I have life and liberty I will come into thy house even upon the multitude of thy mercies and in thy fear will I worship towards thy holy Temple My heart hath talked of thee and of this gracious command of thine Ps 27 9. Seek ye my face Thy face Lord will I seek 10. O hide not thou thy face from me under the cloud of my sins and the thick cloud of my transgressions nor cast away thy servant in displeasure but vouchsafe that my approaches to thy divine Majesty may be so frequent and fervent and with such Humility Reverence and Devotion performed that my person and my services may in this life be accepted before thee that I hear not at the last day that dismal doom of the wicked Depart from me ye cursed MEDITAT II. Of the Darkness of Hell TO be banished the presence of God who is the Fountain of Light is to be involved in the terrors or Darkness and therefore after Take him away it follows Mat. 22.13 cast him into outer darkness And so is the place of Hell described ca. 25.30 A land of darkness and of the shadow of death a land of darkness as darkness it self and of the shadow of death Job 10.21 22. without any order and where light is as darkness And this must needs be so because Hell is farthest remote from Heaven the Region of Light being seated as 't is generally believed in the centre of the earth where neither Sun Moon nor Stars display the least ray or glimmering of their Light There is Fire indeed in Hell but such a Fire as burns without shining a Fire without light not unlike whereunto is the fire of blind Zeal Jam. 3.6 the tongue whereof setteth on fire the course of nature and is set on fire of Hell All the light which the sulphureous Fire of Hell affords serves only to discover the ghastly sight of infernal Fiends reviling scourging tormenting the damned without mercy without intermission and there perhaps may the wicked see some of their friends and acquaintance and of their companions in their sins involv'd with them in the same punishment which are sights so dreadful as shall augment their torments This dismal darkness of Hell is call'd The outward darkness respecting the inward darkness of humane Souls and those manifold deeds of darkness which issue from the one and run headlong to the other If then thou hast followed the lusts of thine own darkned heart and obeyed the suggestions of Satan the Prince of darkness if thou hast loved and acted the works of darkness of sinfulness and error more than the sacred acts and influences of Grace and Truth it is most just that thy portion be with blackness of darkness for ever Joh. 3.19 Vouchsafe blessed Lord of light and life vouchsafe to display the sacred beams of thy Celestial light into my darkned Soul dispel and dissipate thence all the black stain and guilt of sin contracted by my dayly backsliding from thee all those clouds of ignorance and error which darken my understanding all those noysome lusts of the world and of the flesh which incessantly infest and infect my Soul that I pass not from these inward to that outward darkness where is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth MEDITAT III. Of the Fire of Hell OF all the torments invented and practised by the malice of men or devils that by Fire is the most fierce and frightful How does it amaze the minds of men when they see it flaming in their houses and consuming their habitations and estates and yet the Fire of Hell is far more dreadful and tormenting as differing from our ordinary fire especially in three respects 1. Our fire feeds only upon gross and corporeal substances but Hell fire feeds upon spirits and damned souls and 't is therefore as much more fierce and piercing than our fire as a spirit is more quick and active than a gross heavy body Be not deceived O my Soul with any fond conceits of vain men that this fire is only metaphorical or phantastical or poetical because 't is prepared for the Devil and his Angels who are spirits and not lyable to visible flames But the word of God which cannot lye and many undeniable reasons by the learned deduced thence do confirm it to be a real yea a material fire Mat. 3.12 ca. 13.42 ca. 25.41 Mar. 9.43 47. Mat. 3 12 Isa 66. ult Isa 30. ult but more spiritual and refined and so more eating piercing and tormenting than the fire which burns upon our hearts 2. Our fire may be quenched nay 't will quench it self when its fuel is wasted but the fire of Hell is unquenchable because First The breath of the everlasting God like a stream of Brimstone doth enkindle it Secondly The fuel that feeds this fire shall never be consumed viz. Immaterial immortal Beings of whom being tormented in these flames 't is affirmed that they shall seek death Rev. 9.6 and shall not find it they shall desire to dye but death shall fly from them Miserable wretches whilst they had time and leisure to seek life they neglected it nay it is too common that when life in Christ is offered unto many in the blessed food of their Souls they slight and contemn it Vt cujus vita mortua fuit in culpa illic mors vivat in poena Greg. and therefore 't is most just as the Father observes that they whose life in this world was no other than a death in sin their death hereafter should be a life in punishment for sin everlastingly But as to the unquenchable fire of Hell Remember O my Soul that there is now a fire within thee the which if it be not quencht in this life will bring thee to fire unquenchable in the other world and this is the rank and fulsome fire of
call upon thee even to all that call upon thee faithfully depending upon thee alone for help and safety verse 6 Give ear Lord to my prayer not slightly hearing the sound of my words but ponder the voice of my humble desires the intense desires of my humbled soul I humbly desire to be considered verse 7 In the time of my trouble and that 's the whole time of my pilgrimage here upon earth I will call upon thee for protection and deliverance whereof I will never despair for thou hearest me if my prayer be pure and humble and therefore will I call upon thee as long as I live verse 8 Among the gods that be either falsly so called or be so called by participation of divine power as the Angels in Heaven and Kings of the earth there is none like unto thee O Lord either for power or wisdom there is none that can do as thou dost thy works do far exceed the power of any created beings to do the like and therefore in fulness of time verse 9 All Nations whom thou hast made shall no longer make gods unto themselves but shall come and worship thee O Lord the maker of all men and of all things and being admitted members of thy holy Catholick Church shall glorifie thy Name both with heart and voice and by the good works of their obedience to the Gospel of Christ verse 10 For thou art great which all thy works declare and dost wondrous things not to be apprehended but admired and 't is therefore in all the parts of the world confessed that thou art God alone all others being either falsly or feignedly called gods And that I may accordingly worship thee aright verse 11 Teach me thy way O Lord that I neither mistake the right way nor stumble and fall therein but stedfastly and constantly walk in thy truth and this way and this truth is my blessed Redeemer who by his doctrine and example doings and sufferings life and death is the way that leads to life eternal O knit my heart unto thee by the indissoluble bonds of a true Faith firm Hope fervent Charity that I may fear thy name so as that I neither dare to sin against thee nor too much presume upon thy favour and grace verse 12 I will thank thee O Lord my God as from whom both my whole self and all the little good that is mine does proceed with all my heart as being hereunto excited by the fear and love of thy Name and I will praise thy name for evermore And there is very great reason I should do so verse 13 For great is thy mercy toward me not only manifested in all the good things I do enjoy but in my deliverance from manifold evils and especially from the greatest of evils for thou hast delivered my soul from the nethermost hell in the broad way that leads thereunto I have a long time walked and 't is of thy great mercy that I have not long since been hurled headlong to that dismal place of torments And still I have great cause to complain verse 14 O God the proud are risen against me proud Lucifer and his infernal fiends and the congregation of naughty men have sought after my soul the wicked of the world conspire with the Devil and his Angels by their sinful suggestions to subvert the innocence of my soul to have her portion with them in the nethermost hell verse 15 But thou O Lord art full of compassion especially to all them who chuse rather to suffer than to do what is offensive to thy Majesty and mercy in pardoning the offences of the truly penitent long-suffering not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance plenteous in goodness abounding in thy blessings and truth both in performing thy promises of mercy to the penitent and in rendring to every man according to his works verse 16 O turn thee then unto me who by my sins have justly provoked thee to turn away thy face from me and have mercy upon me a miserable sinner and that I may no more offend thee give thy strength unto thy servant even ghostly strength and fortitude manfully to resist the Devil and all his numerous troops of sensual and worldly lusts in all whose assaults vouchsafe to help the son of thine handmaid that I may overcome all their temptations unto evil and carefully keep my vow and promise made when I was first admitted to be a Son of thy handmaid the Church verse 17 Shew some token upon me for good let some sign of thy favour towards me appear that they who hate me my ghostly enemies may see it and be ashamed when they shall behold all their conspiracies and assaults against my soul defeated by the assistance of thy divine grace because thou Lord hast holpen me and comforted me thy help to overcome when I am tempted unto sin is a great comfort to my soul for I have hereupon a good ground of hope that thou wilt deliver my soul from the nethermost hell and that being raised up from the gates of death I may shew all thy praises within the ports of the daughter of Sion saying Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. The LXXXVIII Psalm PARAPHRASED verse 1 O Lord God of my salvation my corporal and spiritual temporal and eternal Salvation is from thee and therefore I have cryed day and night at all times and seasons and in all conditions prosperous and adverse before thee as unto whom alone the inmost intimate desires of my soul are naked and open O let my prayer enter into thy presence be received and accepted by thee incline thine ear unto my calling so graciously hear as to grant my humble requests verse 2 My soul is full of trouble which being the consequent of sin is the forerunner of death and my life draweth nigh unto hell which openeth wide her mouth to swallow down such polluted Souls verse 3 I am counted as one of them that go down to the pit lookt upon as a dead man and a cast-away and I have been even as a man that hath no strength which is derived from the Lord of life to escape the snares and terrors of death verse 4 Free among the dead not likely to be freed from my troubles but by death which puts an end to all the miseries of this sinful life like unto them that are wounded by the fiery darts of the devil and lye in the grave of corrupt conversation which leads to the grave of death the wages of sin and whosoever thus lye there are out of remembrance both forgotten by the righteous and also are cut away from thy hand repulst from amongst those blessed sheep which shall be rankt on thy right hand in the day of Judgment verse 5 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit I confess I have so far incur'd thy wrathful displeasure as to be laid in the nethermost hell