them to make Shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience and makes use of all his Stratagems to make 'em turn Hereticks if not Apostates And that his Projects have been too successful will evidently appear if we consider the many Heresies which have been broacht in the Church concerning the Natures Person and Offices of our blessed Saviour Which I should be sorry to conjure up and therefore I hope my Reader will excuse me if I rather desire to have 'em buried in the darkest Shades of Oblivion CHAP. IV. Of the Vnion of the Divine and Humane Natures in the Person of Christ WE shall not be too curious in inquiring into the Manner of this Hypostatical Vnion Of the union of the two Natures For my design is rather to edifie the sober and conscientious then humour the captious or Sceptical Reader The perfect Knowledge of this Mystery is a Sacred Reserve for the contemplation of the holy Angels and Saints glorified and it would cease to be admirable if we could comprehend or express it But we Christians may conceive tho' not by the energy of Reason yet by the eye of Faith that the Messiah of the World is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Man-hood is taken into the God-head and by the singular virtue and operation of the Holy Ghost without the intervention of an Earthly Father the blessed Virgin became impregnated and did conceive And this was the most sutable way of accomplishing that so necessary Conjunction of the Divine and Humane Natures That he might be perfectly Sanctified as Man and that the Nature which he assum'd might be free from all stain and pollution Thus God and Man make one Person Yet So that the two Natures are preserv'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 entire without Confusion as the Councils and Fathers defin'd against Eutyches And the Person of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Si quis non confitetur carni secundum Subsistentiam unitum Dei Patris Verbum Anathemisit Cyril in Ep. Alex. Concil Anath without Division against Nestorius But they were united 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 truly and perfectly without Confusion of Persons without Commixture of Natures and yet they were united 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a Personal and real Vnion Thus the eternal Son of God took our Nature upon Him which being united to his Divine Nature hath now the same Subsistence which he hath so that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word assuming and the Nature assumed make but one Person God and Man one Christ I would not confound my Reader with Metaphysical and School Notions concerning the Hypostatical Vnion 't is like God himself better understood by its Properties and Effects than in its own Nature 'T is sufficient that all our Creeds and all Antiquity do confess it and unanimously concur in this great Article of our Faith Namely that altho' Christ has two Natures the Word and the Flesh yet do these two make but one Person one Son of God one Saviour of Men. We pass from the Manner of this Vnion to consider in the next Place 1 The Necessity of it 2 The Benefits which we Christians do receive by it And 3 We shall make some Practical Improvement of the Point in hand by way of Application And 1st 'T is by vertue of the Vnion of these two Natures that our Lord Jesus Christ has reconcil'd us to God and works all things for us in the great Business of our Redemption We have consider'd already what a deplorable Estate and Condition mankind was in by the Disobedience and Fall of our first Parents And no expedient could've been more sutable to unite those two distant and otherwise irreconcilable Extremes an offended God to offending Man than the Interposition of a Person consisting of both Natures which were so much at variance For 1 By vertue of that Agreement between the Father and the Son The Necessity of this Union 't is impli'd that the Saviour of the World should be God since no other expedient could mediate a Peace nor make a plenary satisfaction to God's Justice for us Besides our Transgressions being committed against an infinite God and attended with the most heinous aggravations of wickedness and villany the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or price paid for our Atonement must be sutably great otherwise God's Justice would be still unsatisfied But the Bloud of the whole Creation could not redeem one Soul from Death Wherefore he must be God that should undergo this Wrath and God that he might overcome and not sink under the Punishment More particularly if we consider the Price which was to be paid for the Purchase of our Redemption the many and great Obstacles which were to be remov'd the potent and numberless Enemies which were to be conquer'd and subdu'd as Sathan Death Hell c. the Justice of God as before which must be fully satisfied for Man's Delinquency and Disobedience the intolerable Burden of our Sins and the shatter'd Condition of our Nature which was to be rectified and restor'd to its primitive Innocence and Integrity If I say we consider all these Particulars impartially We must necessarily infer that 't was not meer Man that could atchieve our Reconciliation but 't is the immense Merit of the eternal Son of God that must conciliate the difference and reconcile sinful Man to an offended Justice Secondly Why Christ must be Man The Saviour of the World must be Man also to constitute him a Redeemer of Men. And this was absoutely necessary upon several Accounts 1 Because he must be subject to the Law and perform all the Conditions which the Law requir'd at our Hands in making up all our Defects by his Active and satisfying for all our Obliquities by his Passive and unsinning Obedience That as Man had deeply offended so he should highly please God and procure his Grace and Favour The Apostle is very express to this purpose As by the Disobedience saith he of one Man Rom. 5.19 many were made Sinners So by the Obedience of one many shall be made Righteous that is they shall be absolv'd from Guilt rescu'd from Punishment and be restor'd by degrees to the full enjoyment of their lost Innocence and happiness But the Deity being impassible and Christ our Surety having Covenanted to do this sor us 't was necessary therefore that he should assume Our Nature Heb. 2.9 10. that he might be made perfect thro' sufferings and tast Death for every Man 2 'T was requisite that the same Nature should conquer the Devil that was overcome by him and propitiate for our Pardon which had caus'd the Enmity between God and us Otherwise the Promise That the seed of the Woman should bruise the Serpent's head had been covenanted to no purpose Gen. 3.15 It was the Nature of Man in the first Adam that made the Breach and 't is the same Nature in the second Adam that must satisfie God's Justice and make our Atonement This was
him to Herod who was then Tetrarch of Galilee another Province in Judea This was very acceptable to the Jews for Herod being a fierce and bloudy Man they suppos'd that Innocency it self would be as little Security to him as 't was to his Harbinger John the Baptist Being conven'd before Herod who had desir'd of a long Time to see him he was question'd about many things and answer'd all their Interrogatories for he expected no Justice there with a profound Silence Then Herod and the Soldiers set him at naught clad him in a gorgeous Coat and when they had expos'd him to all the Obloquy and Contempt they could invent he was remanded to Pilate This egregious Polititian is now put to all his Shifts for he was fully convinc'd in his Conscience of our Saviour's Innocency and the Injustice of their Proceedings against him He was afraid of the Jews Displeasure and yet desires to save the Life of the Prisoner and therefore he must endeavour to find out an Expedient if possible to satisfie their Importunities and indemnifie himself from the Guilt of innocent Bloud Now having fully consider'd these things and to extricate himself out of this Mass of Contradictions he makes use of this politic tho' severe Project For he commanded him first to be stript naked Hierom. and then to be whipt saith my Author by six merciless and cruel Ruffians who beat him with at least three hundred Stripes till there was scarce any Skin left on his Body and having thus inhumanely scourg'd him they platted a phantastical Crown of Thorns and put it on his Head 't was a Crown to deride him and made of Thorns on purpose to torment him For the Bloud gusht out where the Pricks went in and now stream'd as fast down his Face in the Palace as it did down his back and shoulders at the Pillar But yet for all this neither the piteous Sight of this miserably distressed Object nor Pilat's Shifts nor Arguments nor Importunities could prevail with these desperately wicked and malicious Sons of Belial still die he must nor could any Engines of Cruelty satisfie their Revenge till they saw him breath out his last They would by no means remit the Punishment nor commute for his Life Crucifie him crucifie him was their constant Cry He is guilty of Blasphemy against God and Sedition against the King and therefore he that goes about to save his Life is no Friend to Cesar And to enforce their Plea beyond all Contradiction they would take the Guilt on themselves if the Sentence were unjust and they and their Posterity would answer it at the Peril of the Prisoner's Vengeance if he should really prove what he pretended to be and his Bloud be upon them and their Children Pilate was no longer able to resist the Dint of their Arguments and hereupon resolv'd that he would rather crucifie a thousand Christs than disoblige one Cesar Now we come to the Catastrophe of his dismal and Bloudy Crucifixion The eternal Son of God and Saviour of the World O horrendum nefas was for our sakes sentenc'd to die an accursed shameful and painful Death upon the Cross And that cruel inhumane Method which these vile Wretches proceeded in against that meek and innocent Person was this viz. In his way to Calvary they took off his purple Garment put on him in Scorn before and cloathed him with his own Then they loaded him with a heavy Tree and forc'd him to undergo the Burden till he could bear it no longer and when they perceiv'd that he was ready to faint and fall under it they commanded one Simon a Cyrenian a Gentile to assist him in the bearing of it till he came to Golgotha the Place appointed for his Execution Which must needs be a stinking and dreadful Place where the Skuls of dead Men and the putrified and rotten Limbs of Malefactors were dismal to the Eye and nauseous to the Smell Here it was that the Cross being a tranverse Piece of Wood was erected and the Son of God the saddest Spectacle that ever mortal Eye beheld nail'd unto it Thus I have given my Reader a Specimen of the Manner tho' we cannot comprehend the Measure of our Saviour's Sufferings in his Life and at his Death All which he patiently underwent for our sakes by a submissive Condescension to his Father's Will and the satisfying of his Justice for our manifold Transgressions and therefore as those Pains and Pressures must needs be terrible and afflictive to him so they should be a Monument of the greatest Sorrow and Compunction to us Especially in these two Respects 1st Because for our sakes he underwent a shameful and accursed Death Gal. 3.13 which was ordain'd for Slaves and Malefactors only and unworthy of any free Man tho the greatest Criminal And now the People who before were the greatest Admiters of his Person Doctrine Example and Miracles were scandaliz'd at his infamous Death so that tho' the most of them could not look on him but with Pity yet also with Scorn and Contempt This Shame then and Scandal of the Cross must needs add to the Bitterness of the Cup and the Loathsomness of the Affliction And yet for all this he considering the Glory of God the happiness of all Mankind which was so eminently concern'd in his Death and that future Crown of rejoycing which he should shortly enter upon He I say upon all these Considerations patiently submitted to the Torment and cheerfully underwent the Ignominy of that accursed Death for us that we might recover that Life Liberty Honour and Happiness which we had forfeited and lost by our enormous Sins and Transgressions But 2dly As he suffer'd a most cursed and shameful so a most bitter and painful Death For his Limbs being stretched out like Cloath upon the Tenters and his Hands and Feet the very Centers where all the Sinews met being pierced through with massy Nails must needs make the Tortures more exquisite and cruel Besides he did hang there three long Hours and because he could not die of Hunger in that time the Bloud must distill Drop by Drop 'till it was all drain'd out of his Body And to render his Death still more bitter and painful he not only suffer'd by all these Engins of Cruelty in his Body but by a worse and more afflictive Agony in his Soul For as those sensible Tortures which he felt in his Body were most pungent to him because 't was of all other Bodies the most tender being form'd only out of the Substance of his Mother without any commixture of the Male Nature So his Soul being proportionably delicate and his Spirit more apprehensive the Impressions of Pain and Sorrow must be so much the more severe and intolerable Again he was to grapple with and undergo the Fierceness of God's Wrath Psa 76.7 and 18.7 15. and the heavy Burden of our Sins which must needs press him down with almost insupportable Anguish No wonder
then that he swear great Lumps of Bloud Luk. 22.44 and well might he cry out in the great Bitterness of his Soul God having also withdrawn the Beams of his gracious Presence for a time Eli Eli c. Upon which Jeremiah prophetically complain'd that there was never any Sorrow either of Men or Martyrs like unto his Sorrow But because 't is impossible to recount the Number and express the Quality of those Torments which he suffer'd both in Body and Soul We will conclude this Point with that rapturous Petition inserted into the Litany of the Greek Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By thine unknown Sorrows and Tortures felt by thee but imperceptible to us have mercy upon us and save us O Lord our God Hitherto of the real Sacrifice which our faithful and most merciful High-priest offer'd up for our Sins and of the Means and Methods which he us'd both by his active and passive Obedience to perfect the great Work and Business of our Redemption We shall consider in the next Place the Benefits resulting from this great Propitiation and then deduce some Inferences from it by way of Application And 1 Christ our High-priest Benefits of this Propitiation by the infinite Merits of his Obedience and sufferings has purchas'd the Remission of our Sins the Sanctification of our Nature the Justification of our Persons and upon the tolerable and easie Conditions of Faith and Repentance we shall be restor'd to that Holiness and Freedom which we lost by the Fall and Defection of our first Parents But then we must be careful to perform the Conditions on our Part ere we can expect the Benefits of Christ's Mediatorship And if we seriously consider the sad Effects and mischievous Consequences of our original Apostacy we shall be more truly apprehensive of the Benefit and Necessity of a Redeemer and use all possible Endeavours to be Sharers in that Pardon and Peace which he has purchas'd for us as we 've seen at so dear a Price 2 By the infinite Merits of his Obedience and Sufferings he has raz'd out the Hand-writing and deliver'd us from the Curse and Condemnation of the Law We cannot be insensible of our manifold Transgressions both original and actual and that we have been guilty of the Breach of God's holy just and reasonable Commands in many thousand Instances both by Thought Word and Deed For all which 't is impossible that we should make our Atonement either by satisfying of Gods Justice for the Offences of our Lives past or by our perfect and unsinning Obedience to his Laws for the future And therefore 't would be but just with God to inflict the severest Punishments upon us and judge us according to those Laws which we have so wickedly and wilfully violated But our gracious God was pleas'd in great Mercy and Compassion to undone Sinners to send his own Son as we 've seen in the fulness of time Gal. 4. ◠to satisfie the Law for us and has thereby purchas'd Indemnity and Impunity for the Transgressors of it And we are hereby deliver'd not only from the burdensome Yoke of all the Mosaic Performances by nailing 'em to his Cross but he has so mitigated the Penalties and limited the Obligations of the moral Law that tho' we fail in our Duties and Obedience to it yet if we do not wilfully continue in a State of Impenitency but be truly sensible of and heartily sorrowful for the Offences of our Lives past if we exercise a true Faith in Christ our Redeemer and be watchful over our selves in the more pious and prudent Conduct of our Lives for the future Then I say upon our sincere Endeavours and hearty Compliance with these Conditions he will make up all our Defects and by his imputative Righteousness satisfie the Law for us For there 's now no Condemnation to those which are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit 3 By the efficacious Merits of Christ's Obedience and Sufferings we are deliver'd from the Sting and Terrours of Death Now Death is the Stipend and Wages of Sin which is due to every Man since the Fall of the first Adam and he that labours the whole day diligently and painfully in his Calling has not a more just Title to his Wages then the wilful and impenitent Sinner hath to temporal and eternal Death But the second Adam has conquer'd the Grave pull'd out the Sting of Death and given us a certain Title to a blissful Immortality So that tho' the Dissolution of our Bodies may be above all terrible Things most dreadful to Flesh and Bloud yet thro' the Merits of Christ's Death 't will be sanctified and made easie to us And the worst Office that Death can do to a sincere Believer is only to send his Body to the Grave a Place of Ease and Silence and his Soul to eternal Bliss Besides all its Harbingers and Concomitants as Afflictions Infirmities Diseases c. will not only prove tolerable and easie for a good man to bear but will turn to Advantage and become Matter of our greatest Triumph and Exaltation 4 Christ our High-priest has conquer'd the Devil and all his infernal Powers by the wonderful Efficacy of his Obedience and Sufferings This politic potent and malicious Enemy was such from the beginning and all the Sons and Daughters of Adam must expect the same Measures from him to the end of the World He knows that Christ the Seed of the Woman shall pronounce and execute that dreadful Sentence against him and therefore so many of his Friends and Relatives as come within his Clutches shall smart for it But the Son of God and High-priest of our Profession tho' he has not absolutely destroy'd yet very much limited his Power and Authority Those idolatrous Religions which he so much gloried in heretofore are since his Coming crept into some private Corners of the World His Oracles are silenc't and he seldom possesses the Bodies of Men or appears in their Shapes as formerly But seeing he is not yet bound up in those Chains of Darkness which shall eternally confine him he will lose no Opportunity in setting all his Engins and Instruments on Work to entrap and ensnare poor Sinners that he may make us if possible as unhappy and miserable as himself But this is our Comfort and Happiness that tho' the Devil may now and then tempt us to Sin yet our blessed Lord's so exceeding tender of our Welfare that he will cither countermine his Stratagems if we be good Christians or furnish us with a Sufficiency of Grace and Power to resist and repel them We have indeed some Instances in Sacred History of those who 've been yielded a Prey to him for a time yet for that very End and Purpose that their Victories over him might become more illustrious And their Examples are left us on Record as in the Case of holy Job c. that they might be
us How should these Considerations then affect our Souls with a deep Compunction and a hearty Contrition for our by-past Offences And how should we hate and aband on even the very Appearances of all Sin and Wickedness for the future More especially if we consider that If God did so signalize the severe Rensentments of his Wrath in the Punishment of his own most dearly beloved Son what then shall be the Doom of the impenitent and contumacious Offender What dreadful Impressions should this great Exemplar of God's Justice and Vengeance make upon our Lives How should we study and endeavour to mortifie our Flesh â— Pet. 4.1 2. and crucifie our Lusts which have been the immediate Causes of all those barbarous Cruelties and merciless Persecutions which he suffer'd How should we renounce all the superficial and extravagant Fooleries of this World according to the Example of Christ and his Followers Col. 3.3 5. Rom. 6.5 6. And indeed unless we thus crucifie the old Man and become conformable to Christ in trampling upon all the sinful Delights of this vain and transitory Life we have no real Title to the Blessings and Priviledges of this great Propitiation For if we Sin wilfully under the Gospel we crucifie the Son of God afresh Heb. 6.6 and react that dreadful Tragedy which we lately heard of This would be to despise and reject all his charitable and merciful Endeavours for our Peace and Welfare and if we continue in any one wilful Act of Sin and Disobedience unrepented of 't will render all his bitter Sufferings for our sakes not only vain and fruitless but destructive and pernicious Let us therefore flie from all Sin as the most deadly Contagion and when by a thro' Mortification of our Lusts and Appetites we have made our Peace with God we should dread the Danger Shame and Scandal of returning with the Dog to the Vomit or with the Sow that is washed 2 Pet. 2.22 to her wallowing in the Mire 4 We are strictly oblig'd by the Laws of Gratitude Interest and Duty to conform our Lives so far as we are able to the Doctrine and Pattern of Christ And our Respect and Reverence to the eternal Son of God our faithful High-priest should be attested with a sincere Obedience to all his holy Institutions He submitted to his Fathers Will in bearing the heavy Yoke Phil. 2.8 and drinking the bitter Cup for our Sakes How should we then study to imitate his holy and innocent Life alwayes looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith c. Heb. 12.2 For our pious Conformity hereto will not only recommend us to the Regard and Admiration of future Ages but will effectually dispose and qualifie us for all the blessed Priviledges and Advantages of his Grace and Glory In a word the Life and Death of Christ are an Inforcement and Recommendation of Patience Mat. 11. Math. 5.10 and Perseverance in well doing and suffering for his sake to the Glory of God and the Interest of Religion We should devote our selves therefore intirely to his Service and become most active Instruments in the promoting of his Glory and then 't will be impossible that we should fail of the Comfort and Benefit of our holy and vertuous Endeavours 5 And lastly Christ's infinite Love to us in all those Instances which I have mention'd should be a powerful Motive and Argument to perswade us to be kind and charitable to Others 1 Joh. 4.11 Did the eternal Son of God set such an infinite value on our Souls as to lay down his Life for them How then should we love those lively Images of his for whom he has paid so dear a Ransom and do always bear the Signature and visible Characters of his Grace and Favour Has he done and suffer'd so many things for us and cannot we prevail with our selves Rom. 15.1 Eph. 5.2 1 Joh. 3.16 to dispense with a petty Neglect bear some small Injuries from and Infirmities in our Brethren for his sake who has pardon'd us a Debt of more than ten thousand Talents Let all these things be duely consider'd and applyed that we may behold our Lord by the Eye of Faith standing upon the Cross not only as a resolute Sufferer but a glorious Conqueror to the infinite and unspeakable Joy and Comfort of our Souls in this and their infinite eternal Happiness in another World I have done with the first Part of our Saviour's Priestly Office namely the Satisfaction which he made and the Ransom which he has paid for the Purchase of our Redemption here on Earth which brings me to the 2d Branch of it viz. his meritorious Intercession for us in Heaven Christ our High-priest intercedes for us in Heaven Jesus Christ our most merciful Lord and Saviour is now entred into the Heavens where he is executing and administring his Melchisedekian Office for the Interest and Benefit of his Church and People here on Earth most especially in these two remarkable Instances 1 By interceding for us 2 In Blessing of us And 1st Christ our faithful High-priest For the supply of all our Wants Intercedes powerfully with the Father for the supply of all our temporal and spiritual Wants that we may live comfortaby here and be glorified with him eternally hereafter And to this End he is now presenting the Merits of his Bloud and Obedience to his Father's Acceptance representing all the Wounds Marks of his Sufferings and pleading 'em in full Satisfaction For the pardon of our Sins Heb. 12.24 1 Pet. 1.2 for all the Sins and Offences which his Votaries have committed The Bloud of Christ supplicates in Heaven for Mercy and Compassion for us And the sprinkling of it now is as necessary for the Sanctification of Believers as the shedding it upon the Cross was for the Salvation of them For altho' one Drop of it might be sufficient to save ten thousand Worlds yet it becomes efficacious only to those on whom 't is sprinkled This is that precious Bloud which speaks better things to us then that of Abel and it has such a rinsing and cleansing Property in it For sanctisying Grace as to purifie the Souls and Bodies of those who truly believe and apply it from all the Contagion Filthiness both of the Flesh and of the Spirit This only can render our Persons and Performances Sacrifices and Services acceptable to God So that when he beholds the Wounds and Sufferings of Christ he will think nothing too dear for us More particularly That our Hearts may be truly affected with a real Sense of the Comforts and Benefits of his meritorious and powerful Intercession 't will be of necessary and important Use to consider these following Instances of it For 1 He offers up his own Prayers to God the Father for us He offers up his own Prayers to the Father for us and stands like Aaron being truly sensible of our Wants
whole Nature and dispose me for the moderate use of all thy Creatures Inform my Judgement with the useful Knowledge of those Truths which are necessary to be believed and practic'd rectifie my Will and sanctifie my Affections that I may so love and fear trust and hope desire and delight in thee above all Things that all my Thoughts Words and Works may shew forth thy praise who hast call'd me from the dark Regions of Sin and Ignorance to the marvellous Light of thy pure and undefiled Religion Give me Grace to improve every Opportunity and Blessing thy good Providence has intrusted me with that when thy Messengers Death or Judgement shall put an end to all the tedious Cares and troublesome Concernments of this mortal Life I may be clothed upon with a glorious and blissful Immortality Bless thy holy Catholic Church but more especially the Churches of these Kingdoms Bless the King's Majesty the Royal Family the Clergy Nobility Gentry and Commonalty of this Realm Let all my Friends Relations and Benefactors particularly * As Father Mother Husband Wife Children c. the Family wherein I live c. receive the Benefit of my Prayers Bless them in their Bodies with the Comforts of Health and Peace Liberty and Safety and in their Souls with sound Judgements holy Affections and heavenly Dispositions that their Lives and Practices may be unblameable before thee in the sight of all men And now O Lord I beseech thee accept of the Tender of my most humble and hearty Thanks for those innumerable Blessings by which I live and am provided for Thou hast given me Food and Raiment Liberty and Friends †Here mention the temporal Blessings God's Bounty has bestow'd on thee and thine c. and by thy merciful Providence hast wonderfully preserved me yet alive amidst the innumerable Assaults of my bitter and malicious Enemies But chiefly O Lord I praise and magnifie thy holy Name with all my Soul and all my Strength for the miraculous Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ for the Revelation of thy Will the Satisfaction which he made and the Ransom which he paid not only for mine but the Sins of the whole World for the sanctification of my Nature by the Grace of his holy Spirit the admirable Comforts and Refreshments of his Body and Bloud the conquest over all his and mine Enemies for his powerful Intercession and the gracious acceptance of my Prayers and Person before God c. * Spiritual Mercies For which and all other temporal and spiritual Mercies my Soul shall magnifie the Lord and with the best Faculties I have I will bless and praise him for ever Finally O Lord I beseech thee preserve me in a perpetual Remembrance of those manifold and undeserved Favours thy Bounty has bestowed upon me and mine And as thou hast wonderfully preserv'd me hitherto and particularly from the dangers of the Night past so keep me this Day and for ever from all Sin and Mischief Let the Love of Christ be always in my heart and in my thoughts and as he is my hope so let him be for ever my rule and pattern to walk by That by by a sincere and faithful Discharge of the several Duties of my Calling and Religion both to God and Man I may enjoy a comfortable and prosperous well-Being in this Life and in the World to come Life everlasting To which the Lord of his infinite Mercies bring me and all his People thro' the Merits of Jesus Christ In whose Name and Words I continue to pray unto thee Our Father c. An Evening Prayer for a private Person OH eternal God! the Father of Men and Angels whose Glory is far above the Heavens and by whom the lower World is establisht in a Wonderful Order making the Day and Night to succeed each other Thou excellest the praises of all thy Creatures and hast no need of our Services neither can any thing be added to thy infinite Perfection yet in great Mercy thou hearest Prayer and thy Power and Goodness are abundantly manifested to the meanest of thy Servants who call upon thee in Faith and Sincerity In confidence whereof I most humbly implore the gracious Assistance of thy holy Spirit and be pleased to accept of such Prayer and Service as thy Bounty shall enable me to perform But the sense of my sinful Estate and Condition might justly make me afraid to speak of thy holy name since I have so wilfully and wickedly abused thy Goodness affronted thy Clemency resisted thy Power undervalued thy Wisdom trespassed upon thy Patience and stopt mine Ears against all the charitable tenders of Mercy and Salvation In somuch that thro' this senseless Stupidity and unreasonable Folly my heart is become proud and unmortified pievish and disobedient lustful and intemperate so wholly intangled in the snares of Sin Wickedness that I am utterly unable to resist or flie from 'em For I am daily prevailed with by my buitish Appetites and Passions to commit those Sins which thou hast forbidden * Here confess thy particular Sins committed as c. and to ommit those Duties which thou hast commanded †And the Duties omitted even contrary to the most convincing Attestations of rectified Reason and Religion For which beinous and innumerable Offences thou mightest justly long ere this have given me my portion in the horrours and sorrows of a sad miserable Eternity But thou delightest in Mercy and thy loving kindness has been abundantly manifested hitherto in sending thy Son and Spirit not to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance Come Lord Jesus and say unto my Soul I am thy Salvation and my Leprosie shall be healed Think upon thy Mercies holy Father consider thy Son's Bloud and Obedience and accept of my sincere Contrition and unfeigned Repentance for his Names sake Touch my frozen heart with the Finger of thy Omniporence dissolve it into those Tears which may so wash my polâ—ited Conscience that thy love may refresh me that thy presence may revive me and the Garments of heaviness will be turned into the white Robes of Praise and Exaltation Oh let me hear the joyful News of a merciful Pardon from thy gracious Lips that the Bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce Stretch forth thy hand O Lord to save a poor miserable and sinful Creature from the power of Sin and Satan and the pain and peril of hell torments Keep me unspotted from the World that my Thoughts and Affections may not be drawn away from thee by the deceitful Pleasures unmanly Desires and unworthy Designs of this vain and transitory Life Support me under the many Temptations and Pressures which thy good Providence may order and appoint for the tryal and improvement of my Graces or the punishment of my Sins Teach and enable me to be truly watchful in all my Ways and so keep the door of my lips that I may not offend in Thought Word or Deed either
all the Earth discovering such Truths and instituting such Laws and Precepts as were never known before For 1 Christ our Prophet has presented us in the Doctrine of the Gospel with a clearer and more distinct Notion and Character of God himself The Nature Attributes c. of God more clearly revealed then ever was known before as to his Nature Persons Vnity Attributes Properties c. and also concerning all his Works of Creation Providence Redemption Sanctification c. All which seriously consider'd describe him to be a God of infinite and immense Power Wisdom Truth Justice Mercy Goodness c. of which more fully hereafter and in a Word a Being which consists of all possible Holiness and Perfection 2 He has made a full discovery of those fundamental Truths which concern his Divine The fundamental Truths of the Gospel fully discover'd and Humane Natures as united in the Person of our blessed Redeemer Intimating hereby what he has done and suffer'd for us and the consequent Benefits which result from his meritorious Death and Intercession to all such as apply 'em as the Sanctification of their Persons the Pardon of their Sins and the hopeful Assurance of a blessed Resurrection to eternal Life for Christ's sake 3 Christ as Prophet has enacted such Laws for the Government of the Actions Rules for the religious conduct of our Lives adapted to our Capacities Words Thoughts Affections Inclinations Appetites and Passions both of the outward and inward Man as are highly rational and ingenuous plain and easie to be understood and practic'd and so universally Good and Beneficial in all Respects that as the like was never known before so 't is beyond the Capacity of Men and Angels to conceive any thing better or so perfective of the Nature Reason and Interest of Mankind For 't is plain in in all the Particulars that our blessed Lord has prescrib'd no other Conditions for the Attainment of eternal Happiness then what are most consentaneous both to our Rational Nature and present Interest in this World And would certainly have been best for us to 've done if they had not been commanded whereby He has evidently declar'd that he is so far pleas'd with our Services and Duties to him as they are advantagious and beneficial to our selves that we may take one Blessing in the Way to another Grace Peace and Contentment here in the Way to Glory hereafter 4 All the Duties of Christianity are of the same Stamp and Character with its Principles and Precepts The Duties tafie to be perform'd and every way so correspondent to the Rules of universal Rectitude that there 's no Person that 's truly regenerate can assign any Difficulty in Praying unto God or in Praising of him in Hearing Reading and Meditating on his Word in receiving the holy Sacraments in holy Conferences pious Ejaculations c. Yea even those more austere Duties of Religion as Repentance Mortification Self-denial Self-resignation taking up the Cross Patience in Afflictions c. which tho' they be most afflictive to Flesh and Bloud yet are so far from being troublesom and uneasie to the rational Powers of the Soul that doubtless if there be any Elixir or substantial Pleasure in this World it must result and flow from a serious devout and conscientious Performance of the Duties of Religion And therefore the Church of England upon well grounded Experience declares That the Service of God is the most absolute and perfect Freedom And this will more evidently appear if We consider 5 Those Motives and Arguments which the Christian Religion propounds And enforc't by powerful Motives Incouragements to incourage us in the doing of our Duties Which are neither few nor inconsiderable For if we be faithful herein we have an Assurance of the Pardon of all our sins past the Promise of the most plentiful Supplies of God's preventing restraining exciting assisting and sanctifying Grace to enable us to avoid all Sin resist all Temptations and to inspire us with such a holy Frame and Temper of Mind and Spirit as may dispose us to serve God sincerely and affectionately in all the Instances of Duty thro' the whole Course of our Lives To which considerable Advantages and Priviledges he has added ex abundanti the Promises of the Blessings of this Life Mat. 6.33 as Health Wealth a good Reputation Peace Prosperity c. But lest all these should not prove Motive sufficient to enforce the Practice of those most pleasant and profitable Duties of our Religion he has further assured us that upon the faithful discharge of those necessary and important Duties we shall livâ— for ever with him in whose Presence is fulness of joy Psal 16.11 and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore Now if all these powerful Incentives to Duty do not charm and allure us to be holy and vertuous devout and serious in our Religious Addresses it will be requisite to consider on the other hand Rom. 1.18 that the Wrath of God is reveal'd from Heaven against all Vngodliness c. And as the impious and prophane who contemn or neglect the Service of God and the Duties of Religion seldom escape punishment even in this Life so there 's a dismal Time approaching Psal 9.17 when the Wicked shall be turned into Hell and all the People shall forget God If then such Arguments as these do not perswade us to be holy and religious I know not what will If these Menaces do not force us to flie from the Wrath to come and sue for our Reconciliation I know not what can And 't is most just and reasonable that those who despise or neglect the Riches of God's Grace and Mercy propounded and promis'd in the One should feel eternally the Tragical Effects of his Justice and Vengeance denounc'd and threatn'd in the Other Thus the whole Tenor of that Religion which Christ our great Prophet has so clearly reveal'd to us and propagated in so considerable a part of the World is a lively Transcript and Pattern of God's eternal Wisdom and Goodness Wherein the Divine Pleasure in what concerns our happiress and dependance upon him in this and a future State is so plain and obvious to be known possible and easie to be perform'd and recommended to us by such powerful Motives and Encouragements that if we be not wanting to our selves in the faithful Performance of those incomparably pleasant Duties which the Gospel prescribes 't is impossible we should fail of the Blessings and Rewards of it And to convince us that neither the Terms of our Reconciliation are difficult The Duties of Religion are inforet and recommended nor the Duties of our Religion impossible to be perform'd Our blessed Saviour this great Prophet has left us his own and we 've the Examples of many thousands of his Saints and Servants on Record as Patterns to walk by who have confirm'd the Truth of this Excellent Doctrine and seal'd it
more perplexing than whole Legions of infernal Fiends without them Since then these bruitish Passions have such a mischievous Influence to turn Angels into Devils how can any Man hope to be happy so long as he suffers such Furies to rule and reign over him There 's no way therefore to be at Peace with God and Man and our own Consciences but by subduing our sensual Appetites and Passions and reducing 'em by Sobriety and Moderation under the Empire and Soveraignty of rectified Reason and Religion Otherwise if 't were possible that we should be in Heaven with such uneasie and troublesome Companions we should find nothing there to please us but be rather desirous to return into the lower World to react these sensual Pleasures which are most correspondant to our bruitish Tempers and Inclinations Thus Sobriety and Moderation are the Harbingers which by the Assistance of God's Grace do dispose and qualifie a Christian for all other Virtues and there must be a concurrence of 'em all to make as truly wise and truly good We shall now descend to Particulars Partieular Vertues relating more peculiarly to the Soul As And treat distinctly 1 Of the Vertues which do more immediatly respect the Soul And 2 Of those which are most peculiar to the Body Those of the former Rank are 1st 1 Heavenly-mindedness Heavenly-mindedness The Soul of Man has a direct and natural Tendency to the Place from whence it derives its Original And tho' our Bodies be polluted with sin and the Faculties of our Souls chain'd and fetter'd by the sensual Appetites and Passions here below yet they 'l now and then endeavour to disintangle themselves from those Confinements especially when prompted thereunto by the Motions of God's holy Spirit and the Assistances of Religion Our own Experience will inform us That the Things of this World which are usually esteem'd and valued by worldly minded men are not easily got difficult to keep and do often procure so much Malice Envy and Danger to those that possess them that the Worldling's life can be no other than a continued Series of Trouble and Discomposure But those who have no other Aims than the necessary Supplies of Nature and are not affected with the fruitless Vanity of being rich or honourable in this World but place their whole Desires and Delights in the exercise of Piety and Virtue and in Contemplation of the Riches of Gods Grace in Christ and that suture Happiness which we aspire to Those heavenly minded Christians I say who have arriv'd at this divine Frame and Temper of Mind do trample upon all the little Projects and Fooleries of this World enjoy a Heaven upon Earth and live little less than the Life of glorified Angels and Saints whilst by a Mind content with little they imitate their want of nothing Now this Heavenly Disposition is most sutable and correspondent to the Genius and Spirit of Christianity and the Doctrine and Example of our blessed Saviour Who commands us to pray not for Delicacies and Superfluities to pamper and please our wanton Curiosity and if they are not to be prai'd for they are not worth the having but for daily Bread and such Accomodations of Life as may keep our Bodies in Health that they may be fit for Action and more serviceable to the Soul When we 've rais'd our Faculties to this Pitch of Purity and Holiness 't will be no difficult Task to part with our Fathers Mothers Wives Children the dearest Friends and Relatives Houses Lands and whatever else may be esteemed valuable in this World if they should come in Competition with Christ and the interest of our precious and immortal Souls In a word this heavenly Frame and Temper of mind and Spirit will teach us to bear with Aequanimity all the cross Accidents which may happen to our Persons and Possessions For there 's nothing can fall amiss to that Person that is divinely dispos'd And if it should so happen that our Enemies break open the Cages of our Bodies which is the worst they can do they will make the more safe and expedite Passage for our Souls into those peaceable Regions of Bliss and Immortality Thus as the Soul is in but not of the Body so Heavenly minded Men may be in but not of the World But with passionate Groans and Cries yet always submitting to the Will and Wisdom of God they desire to be dissolv'd and to be with Christ Phil. 1.23 which is far better 2dly Humility The next Virtue which is of necessary use for the conduct of our Souls in the ways of Religion is Humility I have toucht that Branch of it already which relates immediatly to God I shall consider it here as it has more peculiar reference to our Selves Now this Virtue consists in having a lowly and modest Opinion of our Persons Acquisitions Merits and Endowments both of Body and Mind and being content that all others should have so to resolving all what we are and what we have into the Grace and Mercy of God in Christ This Humility will teach us to dwell at home and converse more familiarly with our Selves And indeed if we seriously reflect upon and consider all the Deficiencies Follies and Indiscretions in our best Performances the Ignorance and Errours of our Judgements the Perversness of our Wills the Defects of our Manners the Ommissions of our Duties both to God and Man which we are incessantly guilty of we shall have sufficient Grounds to correct and subdue the proud and insolent Conceits our haughty and ambitious Spirits and submit to the meanest Offices and Imployments Rom. 12.10 in Honour preferring one another To enforce the Practice of this excellent Vertue We have the concurrent Examples of our blessed Saviour and his Apostles which are written every where in the New Testament in such lively and legible Characters that I need not instance in Particulars We have the holy Angels also for our Patterns who tho they be advanc'd to the highest Pinacle of Honour and Happiness Heb. 1.14 yet are ministring Spirits to the Sons of Men for their Weal and Preservation To which may be added the admirable Examples of the Church of Christ in all Ages and what her Members have done and suffer'd for God's Glory in the Defence of and for the Establishment of the Christian Religion Now if we apply these things seriously to our Selves we shall appear like so many Lamps in the Sight of the Sun and those little remains of Wisdom and the fond Conceits which we are so apt to admire in our selves and undervalue in others would expire and vanish A modest Humility and Self denial would take Possession of our Minds and Spirits and the Effects of it would appear in our whole Entercourse with and deportment towards one another Again 't is reasonable to consider that whatever we are and whatever we have our Beings and Well-beings are the immediate Product and Pensions of God's Bounty
far more grievous and insupportable Whereas by a patient Submission to the Will and Wisdom of God under the manifold Pressures of this Life they will become far more tolerable and easie to be endured Especially to those who have a well grounded Assurance that their Sufferings in this World shall be infinitely rewarded with the Favour and Plenty of a heavenly Country Thus if we bear with Patience and Meekness those sundry Pressures and almost infinite Sufferings of this Life we shall not only reap the Comfort and Benefit our Selves both in this and a future State but by this Means Christianity would be restor'd to its ancient Purity and Splendour we should bring out excellent Religion into Repute and Credit as the first Christians did and perswade others to embrace it tho' to the utmost hazard of their Lives and Fortunes Hitherto of those excellent and admirable Virtues which are most peculiar to the Souls of Men with their Opposites We pass on 2dly Virtues relating to the Body To the other Branch of Duty which concerns our Bodies Now we are oblig'd by the Laws of Nature and Christianity to make use of all sutable and convenient Means to preserve our Bodies as well as our Souls in a state of health and safety till Providence be pleas'd to dismiss them into the other World And the best Expedient which God's holy and infallible Spirit directs us to for this End is the comprehensive Virtue and Duty of Sobriety Sobriety as it relates to the Body The Species of iâ— are Temperance Which in a more limited sense as it relates to the Body does consist in the moderate use of Meats Drink Sleep Apparel and Recreations both as to the Quantity and Quality of them and this is Temperance Or in the Moderation of the Lusts and Desires of the Flesh which is Chastity Chastity Or in the sober and moderate use of Riches and Honours and that is Contentedness Contentedness In practicing all these Virtues and avoiding the contrary Vices we act like men endued with Reason and Religion and are hereby distinguisht from bruit Beasts who know no other Measures than their sensual Appetites Of all these as they are of special and necessary use to conduct the Body in the ways of Religion that it may be a fit Mansion for the Soul distinctly and in Order And I begin 1st Temperance With Temperance in the moderate use of the Creatures in Eating Drinking c. And we are oblig'd to be temperate 1 In Eating In Eating 'T is beyond Dispute that our gracious God doth allow us the moderate Use of the Creature and we are confin'd to no other Measures either as to the Quantity or Quality of Meats than what may consist with the Health and Preservation of our Bodies But tho' we have no positive Law to restrain our Appetites to a certain Rule nor is it possible that it should be so because Men's Appetites are of different Proportions some require more and some are satisfied with less Yet our blessed Saviour has expresly forbidden all manner of Excess in Eating in these words Luk 21 3â— Take heed that your Hearts be not overcharg'd with surfeiting And he insinuates the Danger in that Instance of the rich Glutton Luke 16. so that every Man has sufficient cause to make Laws to himself to restrain and put Bounds to his Appetite Besides 't is highly observable that intemperate Eating and Sin were coetaneous and had the same Original And in the very infancy of the World Esau would quit the Interest of his Birth-right and make Shipwrack of his Honour too rather than offer Violence to his greedy Desire of Eating And the Sins which brought sudden Destruction upon the once flourishng Cities of Sodom and Gomorah were Idleness and fulness of Bread Intemperate Lust is always the miserable Companion of intemperate Eating and other Sins are indulg'd and thrive by this kind of Excess 'T is the Duty and Interest then of all Mankind to use moderate and wholsome Diet to live always temperately and soberly according to the Rules of sound Reason and Religion For they that do so sleep sweetly and quietly and are seldom troubled as the intemperate are with ill Humours or depriv'd of the Comforts and Benefits of Health by violent and raging Distempers Their Understandings are clear their Constitutions firm and unshaken their Bodies are active and fit for Business and this is the most certain Expedient through God's blessing to preserve Mentem sanam in Corpore sano a vivacious and brisk Soul in a sound Body Now if the great Advantages of this Branch of Temperance on the one hand and the infinite Mischiefs of the opposite Vice on the other were seriously weighed and consider'd they would not fail in perswading Men to be more sober and moderate in their Diet and avoid that excessive Gluttony and the Vanity of pampering their Appetites which is every where too obvious in the World 2dly In Drinking We should use the like Measures of Temperance and Moderation in Drinking for the Health and Preservation for the Sustenance and Refection of our Souls and Bodies both as to the Quantity and Quality of Liquors The very Heathens who had no other Light nor Laws to direct 'em then those of Nature were highly strict in the Practice of this Virtue of Temperance in Drinking and avoiding the Sin of Drunkenness Even the Cretians who were much addicted to Gluttony made a Law against Drunkenness and inforc'd it by inflicting the severest Penalties upon Offendors Tit. 1.12 Plato de Leg. Lib. 7. Sen Ep. 84. Senecae was of an Opinion that Intemperance in Drinking is a voluntary Madness and he that doth accustom himself to guzle from day to day till he be drunk is possest with an absolute Frenzy Fabricus and many of the most moderate Heathens were great Proficients in this Virtue and declaim'd against those who know no other Measure to bound their Excess by than their Appetites as Beasts and Monsters rather then Men endued with Reason and Judgement What a shame then must it be to Christians and a Scandal to our excellent Religion that any Man amongst us should drink more than he is able to bear But 't is the highest Aggravation of Wickedness and Villany to become the Devils Factors for Damnation as too many do in striving not only to debauch themselves but to overcome others We that are of the Day and directed by the Light of Evangelical Grace and Truth 1 Thes 4.8 1 Cor. 9.25 Rom. 13.12 13. are more especially oblig'd to be sober and temperate in all Things to walk honestly as in the Day not in Rioting and Drunkenness c. The Creatures are only to be used as necessary Supplies and convenient Accessions to our present abode for we should neither make Food our Business nor pleasures our Aim but rather study and indeavour to wean our Appetites and Affections from all Excess that
us for the Diversion and Reparation of our weary Thoughts as well as the Support and Comfort of our Bodies Religion is no Enemy to moderate Pleasures nor does it infringe the Priviledges of humane Nature in the Use of innocent Divertisementt But then we are oblig'd to observe such Measures in our Recreations as not to make our Sports our Business We should use them as we do Sawces to our Meat to set an edge upon our Faculties and revive our Spirits that we may be the more vigorous and active in all the Works and Duties both of our Callings and Religion Again Covetousness should be no Ingredient in our Pastimes And we must also see to 'em that they be not evil in themselves or if lawful that they become not otherwise by the undue Circumstances of Time and Place as on the Lord's Day on Days of Humiliation c. All Violence Passion Anger Fury Quarreling Cursing and Swearing must be utterly abandon'd in all our Sports and Divertisements For these Irregularities instead of refreshing will discompose us and become vexatious both to our selves and others Lastly our Recreations should be short so that they encroach not on our necessary Business or Religion in a fruitless Expence of that Time which might be imploy'd to better Purposes For indeed no prudent Man has so much Time lying upon his hands but he knows better how to imploy it then to spend it vainly about Trifles Thus all our Merriments should be bounded with the necessary Rules of Reason and Sobriety and if we keep our selves within these Bounds Religion does not only connive at our Mirth but commends and approves of it 2dly Chastity or Abstinence from bodily Pleasut csâ— This Virtue of Sobriety as it relates to the Body consists in the Moderation of the Lusts and Appetites of the Flesh which properly speaking is Chastity or Abstinence from bodily Pleasures The Laws of Nature and Christianity do expresly forbid all sorts of Vncleanness as Adultery Fornication Self-pollution and all the other kinds and degrees of Effeminacy and do put an absolute Restraint upon all the concurrent Motions Affections Desires lustful Appetites both of the Soul and Body For if any of these be indulg'd and complied with they will set on fire the whole Course of Nature and sud dainly plunge the whole Man into unavoidable and irreparable Mischiefs We should therefore rather flie from this Sin then dispute against it And to this End 't will be necessary to consider 1 That all sorts of Venery and Vnclenness The Dangers attending this Sin Hos 4.11 do not only suppress and stifle all the divine and spiritual Operations of the Soul but do effectually draw them away from God and his Worship This was notoriously remarkable in the Case of Solomon 1 Kings 11 12. who tho' otherwise a Prince of unparallel'd Wisdom and Prudence yet he tells us from his own miserable Experience that when inconsiderate Men have plung'd themselves into the Pit of Filthiness 't is very difficult for them to retreat For they are led saith he by the contrivances of their wanton Prostitutes as an Ox to the slaughter Prov. 7.22 23. or as a Thief to the Correction of the Stocks 'till a Dart strike through their Livers or as a Bird hasteth to the Snare and knoweth not that it is for his Life Pro. 23.27 And a Whore is a deep Ditch and a strange Woman is a narrow Pit All which imply the unavoidable dangers and Mischiefs which lustful Persons run upon who give way to and indulge their sensual and bruitish Appetites and Passions 2 The Sins of Vncleanness are usually attended with Poverty and an infirm Constitution Prov. 6.6 This has been too remarkable in the decay'd Bodies and shatter'd Estates of too many sad and miserable Instances especially of late years in this sinful Nation to the great scandal of our pure and undefiled Religion and has been no small Disparagement to the excellent Constitutions of our Government both in Church and State But tho' perhaps a vicious Libertine may which is very rare escape these temporal Punishments yet the just Vengeance of God will certainly overtake him in another World For 't is express from Scripture that God will judge Whoremongers and Adulterers and whosoever shall live and die under the Power and Prevalence of these sins unrepented of unsubdued shall never enter into the Kingdom of God 3 These Deeds of darkness cannot be hid from God's all-seeing Eye For whither can we go from his Spirit or whither shall we flie from his Presence Psa 139.7 He beheld David's Adultery as before tho' committed with the greatest Secrecy 1 Sam. 12.12 and our blessed Saviour knew the practice of the adulterous Woman of Samaria Joh. 4.18 It must needs then be a great Falacy and Cheat which Whoremongers and Adulterers put upon themselves whilst they endeavour to conceal those Works of Darkness from the Eye of the World For the infinitely wise God registers all these Offences in the black Book of his eternal Memoirs and will bring them all to a sad Account at the Day of Judgement unless they be sincerely repented of to the unspeakable Shame and Horrour of those that commit them Give no way then to your Lusts and hold no Parley with your sensual Appetites for if you do you are in great danger of being overcome Solomon tho' the wisest of Men did prostitute his Wit Learning Honour Experience and all to gratifie a lustful and wanton Appetite It stands us in hand therefore to be always upon our Guard and the best way to be so is to be watchful over our Thoughts to make a Covenant with our Eyes and to keep our Hearts with all diligence Matth. 23.26 Prov. 14.23 from whence all these Abominations flow and derive their Original For if we keep the Fountain incorrupt the Streams will be so too and if the Fear of God and the serious Apprehension of Death and Judgement dwell in our Hearts like a strong Porter they will keep the Door against and dislodge all vain and sensual Desires This was Joseph's Security against all the lustful Dalliances of his wanton and importunate Mistris And this will effectually guard all the Ports and Avenues of the Soul against the incursion of carnal Temptations so that if they should creep in by surprize or unawares such Apprehensions as these will not suffer 'em to fix there but either cast them out or kill ' em Again set a strict watch over all your Senses lest they be charm'd and allur'd by the delicate and soft Embraces of forbidden Objects Have no Communieation with lustful Persons of either Sex Alexander the great would not see the Wife of Darius lest by the Charms of her admirable Beauty he might be tempted and overcome And certainly he that dares not look on a beautiful Woman to please his eye cannot come within the danger of Wantonness and Folly And
which are prepar'd for the Devil and his Angels This charitable Frame and Temper which I 've thus recommended will dispose and qualifie us for Heaven wherein we shall enjoy the freest Intercourse with the holy Angels and the Souls of just men made perfect And upon these Terms we need not doubt to be receiv'd into their holy and innocent Communion where we shall be inconceivably happy and rejoyce with 'em for ever But as this Vniversal Love and Benificence will be every way so comfortable and advantagious both to our selves and others So on the contrary a froward rugged and uncharitable Disposition and those base Effects which spring and flow from it as Hatred and Revenge Pride and Insolence Injustice and Oppression Whispering and Backbiting Railing and Slandering Faction and Rebellion with all their other cursed Accomplices are not only inconsistent with that pacific and charitable Temper of Christianity but they are the very Bane of and Scandal to all civil and sacred Societies as well as a continual Disturbance to those that commit them And whosoever shall leave this world whilst he 's under the power and prevalence of these insolent mischievous and domineering Passions is fitted only for the Society of Devils and damned Spirits who having sinn'd with 'em by Compliance must expect to be punisht for ever by Sympathy And thus much of that Vniversal Love and Benificence which all Christians are oblig'd to practice one towards another We pass on 2dly To the Particular Duties incumbent upon us in all our Intercourse and Dealings with other Men. And they are such as concern either 1 the Persons or 2 the Possessions or 3 the Private and Public Peace and Happiness of all Christians And I begin 1st With that Love Mercy and Charity which respects the Persons of our Christian Brother-hood Which for Method's sake must be consider'd under a double Reference And 1 with respect to their Souls And 2 to their Bodies But 1 Mens Souls being of infinitely more value than their Bodies become the primary objects of our Care and 't is certainly the highest Instance of Christian Charity to rescue a Soul from Death and from the Peril and Punishment of Hell Torments Levit. 19.17 Therefore to this End we are oblig'd to discountenance Sin in all Persons we converse with since that 's the Cause of all the Maladies we suffer and we should use our stedfast Endeavour to reclaim and reform the Sinner by mild and serious Intreaties and if these will not do by severe yet seasonable Reproofs always aiming at the Conviction and Conversion not the Disgrace of the Offendor And herein we exert our Zeal for God's Glory our just hatred against Sin and our hearty Concernment for the Salvation of our fellow Christians Indeed all our Discourses should be season'd with something of Religion that they may minister Grace unto the Hearers St. Bernard complain'd in his Time and I am affraid 't is too applicable to ours Nihil de Scripturis Bern. nihil de salute Animarum agitur sed Nugae Risus verba proferuntur in ventum Christians now a days the more 's the pitty discourse little or nothing of Religion that they may edifie one another But of Toys and Trifles and so their Communication becomes either sinful or frothy and impertment whereas holy Conferences well tim'd would conduce much to the Credit and Interest of Religion And doubtless it would be of singular Advantage to communicate our Experiences to one another concerning the Power Mercies and Goodness of God to us in all the Straits and Exigencies which we 've met with in this Life prescribing also such Rules and Methods herein for their Support and Comfort as we have found most useful and beneficial to our Selves 1 Pet. 4.10 As every Man hath received the Gift so let him minister to another as it becomes a Steward of the manifold Grace of God Again that we may be happy Instruments in the promoting of God's Glory and our own Good by the practice of fervent Charity to the Souls of others Ur malus sermo inducit Peccarum sic malum silentium reliâ—quit in Peccato Aug. we must be careful to instruct the ignorant satisfie the doubtful strengthen the weak encourage and confirm the strong perswade sinners to Repentance comfort the comfortless and reprove the scandalous Offendor Studying hereby to make all men as happy as our selves by convincing them of the necessity of making their Peace with God through Christ and assuring them that there 's no Repentance to be expected beyond the Grave for the Concernments of the other World are fixt immoveable as the Tree falls so it lies and as Death leaves us so will Judgement find us that without a true Faith in God the Father Son and Holy Ghost with a sincere Endeavour to be and to do good and a hearty Repentance for all our sins past there can be no certain Hope of the comfortable Presence of God's Grace here nor any well grounded Expectancy of his Glory hereafter Heb. 10. â—7 but a fearful looking for of Judgement and endless Perdition Now if we desire to inforce these Methods and render 'em successful to others our Selves must be uniform so far as it may consist with the infirmities and indiscretions of humane Nature in the devout and serious practice of all the Duties of Religion We should study and strive to be pure and innocent in our whole Conversations and be extremely careful that we partake not of other mens sins either by conniving at consenting to complying with or vindicating of them in their vitious and ungodly Courses For unless we practice those Things our selves which we press on others â—ox praeterea â—ihil our most witty sayings closest Reasonings and all other Means which we can possibly use for the Conversion and Salvation of their Souls will have little or no Influence upon nor Authority to prevail with them And when we have thus conscientiously discharg'd our Duty and yet our most pious and charitable Endeavours prove insuccessful then we should mourn for their sins in secret pray earnestly and importunately for their Conversion and by a just complaint to their lawful Superiors we should see to the execution of Justice that they may suffer due and deserved Punishment for their Offences in this Life that their Souls and Bodies may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus Since then the faithful Discharge of this Duty is a Business of such Advantage Necessity and Importance both to our own and the Souls of other Men and since the Glory of God and the Interest of Religion are so highly concern'd in it Then what account shall wicked Men be able to give for the total Neglect if not absolute contempt of this Duty And what extreme Punishments shall those ungodly Miscreants endure who by their vile and abominable Examples are so far from saving a Soul from Death that they lead them headlong
in the handling of this Point that I may inform and affect my Reader with the saving Truths and important Duties contain'd in it In order whereunto I shall observe this Method And 1st Titles Synonimous to his Priestly Office Heb. 5.10 Heb. 2.17 Heb. 9.11 1 John 2.2 1 Tim. 2.6 Rev. 13.8 1 Cor. 5.7 Rom. 3.29 Eph .2.14 We shall consider the several Titles ascribd to our blessed Saviour in holy Scripture which are synonimous and correspondent to his Priest-hood wherein he is said to be the great High-Priest the merciful and faithful High-Priest the High-Priest of good things to come the High-Priest over the House of God our Advocate with the Father the Price of our Redemption the Lamb slain from the beginning of the World Christ our Passover and the Propitiation for our Sins All which Passages and Compellations do necessarily imply that Christ our High-Priest assum'd our Nature that he might perform absolute unsinning Obedience to the whole Will of God and thereby fulfill the Conditions of the first Covenant which we had wilfully violated in Adam and yet being faultless to undergo and that voluntarily a shameful and painful Death for us upon the Cross to make our Atonement Who having seal'd this new Covenant of our Redemption in his Blood is now ascended into the Heavens where he sits at the right hand of God Heb. 7.25 as we noted before pleading his own Merits and Interceding powerfully for our Reconciliation We pass on 2dly From his Titles to his Office And this great Mystery of our Saviour's Priesthood will I hope be fully stated and consider'd by treating plainly and distinctly of these two Particulars 1 Of the Satisfaction which he made for us on Earth 2 Of his powerful Intercession for us in Heaven The former of these is purchaâ—â— by his Merits the latter is applied by his Mediation He satisfied for our Sins upon the Altar of the Cross and so became a Priest and Sacrifice for us according to the Order of Aaron he applies that Satisfaction and intercedes for us at the right hand of God where he becomes a Priest for ever by the Laws of an unchangeable Priesthood according to the Order of Melchisedec Heb. â— 6 Both these do plainly refer to and directly point at our blessed Jesus the true Priest of the New Covenant Heb. 7.3 〈◊〉 10.1 tho the Order of Melchisedec is far more excellent and honourable than that of Aaron both in respect of the Person and Office But to return I begin First With the Satisfaction which he made for us on Earth Of Christ's Satisfaction on Earth In the handling whereof and for the better understanding of this necessary Point of Faith we shall do these two Things 1 We shall prove that God's Justice is fully Satisfied for Mans Sin and Disobedience and we thereby restor'd to God's Grace and Favour 2 We shall consider by what Methods this great Business was brought to pass For the 1 Christ breathed forth his Soul God's Justice fully satisfied and offer'd up his dearest Life in Satisfaction to God's Justice for the Sins and Transgressions of lost Mankind For all the Projects and Contrivances of Men and Angels were insufficient for this Purpose and all those imaginary Sacrifices of Bulls and Goats c. under the Law tho of God's immediate Institution and Appointment were of little Significancy Heb. 10. For being only Types and Adumbrations of that real Sacrifice of Christ they could not purge the Conscience from Sin much less were they able to satisfie God's Justicie or make our Atonement But the Merits of Christ's Death were every way commensurate to those Ends as will most evidently appear if we consider 1. The Dignity of the Person by whom the Atonement was wrought being no other then God's most dearly beloved Son Who as we have fully prov'd is God co-essential co-equal and co-eternal with the Father 2. This Truth will be fully made out from the Consideration of those grievous Punishments and Indignities which he suffer'd for us from his Cradle to his Cross his whole Life being an entire Series of Miseries and Persecutions Of which more particularly hereafter 3. That God's Justice is fully satisfied by the Propitiation of Christs Merits is most obvious from his own Acknowledgement and Approbation of 'em who has declar'd himself well pleas'd both with the Excellency of his Person and the Sufficiency of his Obedience and Sufferings Consult at your leisure these several Scripture Arguments which are very apposite to our Purpose Viz. Rom. 6.9 Heb. 9.12 25. Heb. 10.10 14. 1 Pet. 3.10 And to inforce the Belief of this necessary Point of Faith See John 1.29 Isa cap. 53. 1 Cor. 15.22 1 Tim. 2.6 and 1 Tim. 4.10 1 John 1.7 and 1 John 2.22 To which may be added the Energy of the Vnion of his Active and Passive Obedience All which being put together are a clear Demonstration of that full and undeniable Satisfaction which Jesus Christ the righteous has made to God's Justice for the Pardon of our Sins and for the Purchase of our Peace and Reconciliation This important Truth being so firmly grounded must obtain and challenge our Belief and practical Assent to it notwithstanding the Cavils of some and the unreasonable Objections of others which have been fram'd against it for if Christ has not made a plenary Satisfaction for the sins of all Mankind then 't would follow that the Priviledges of the Gospel are not extensive to all and if this Hypothesis should be granted then the Guilt of Adam's Sin is of a larger Extent then Christ's Merits which is such a blasphemous Conceit as can never enter into the Thoughts of a sober Christian Again it would be Injustice to damn the Wicked for their Unbelief if Christ have done and suffer'd nothing for them which would also be dangerous to affirm But to put the matter out of Dispute 't is evident from holy Scripture that Christ died even for those that perish Rom. 14. â—â— Heb. 6.4 5 6. 2 Petâ— 2. â—â— And St. Peter complains that there were Hereticks in his time who denied the Lord that bought them Therefore whosoever shall appropriate these Texts of Scripture to believing Christians only must be guilty of great Mistakes in perverting the genuine Sense and Meaning of em for the defence and mentainance of their own erroneous and heterodox Opinions Thus much may suffice for the Confirmation of this Point namely that our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has fully satisfied God's Justice for the Sins of all Men indefinitely without exception and has put all Mankind in an undoubted Capacity of being sav'd 2 We shall enquire by what Methods and after what Manner this Atonement and Propitiation was wrought By what Means this great Propitiation is wrought that we may the more seasonably apply it for the Comfort and Benefit of our Souls And this could not be accomplish'd as we have hinted before by
Guidance and Protection of so great a Lord who bears to us the Bowels of a Man and the tenderest Compassions of a Brother We 've inforc't all these Obligations to Holiness of Life and newness of Obedience by our Vows and Covenant in Baptism we repeat them frequently in the Lord's Supper and do oblige our selves still more and more by our renewed Choices and Promises in every Duty of Religion And we have in all these and many other Instances devoted our Selves our Souls and Bodies entirely to his Service How should we then in Conformity with the Design of this Treatise make it the Scope and Aim of all our Desires and Endeavours to be where Christ our great Prophet Priest and King is And since he is gone to Heaven to prepare a Place for us Ioh. 14 3â— let us make it the Endeavour and Business of our whole Lives Phil. 3 2â— according to the Rules laid down in this Book to dispose and qualifie our selves for that Place By which means we may not only live comfortably here and solace our selves with the Peace of a good Conscience in doing the Duties of our Christian Calling But after this painful Life ended we shall have the most perfect Consummation of Grace in the possession of the Rewards of eternal Glory and Bliss Which God of his infinite Mercy grant unto us for our blessed Saviour's sake To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be ascrib'd by us and all the World Blessing and Glory and Honour and Power and Thanksgiving for ever and ever Amen A Morning Prayer for Families O Most Glorious and Eternal Lord God the Father of Mercies and the God of all Consolations thou art greatly to be fear'd in the Assembly of the Saints and to be had in reverence of all that draw nigh unto thee We thy unworthy Servants desire with all Humility to acknowledge our immediate Dependance upon thee for by thy Power we were made by thy Wisdom we are govern'd by thy Goodness we are provided for under thy Dominion we live and we owe unto thee all that we have in this World or hope for in the next And yet alas we have made very unsutable returns unto thy Bounty For we have violated all thy just reasonable Commands not only by our mistakes and indiscretions by our sudden secret and unobserved Sins but we have set at naught and trampled upon thy sovereign Power and Authority by our open voluntary deliberate and actual Transgressions to the dishonour of thy glorious Name the scandal of our holy Profession and the great encrease of our shame and sorrow Besides such is the ignorance of our Minds the stubborness of our Wills and the unruliness of our Affections that we have been either wholly negligent about or careless and trifling in the performance of those incomparably pleasant Duties of our holy and excellent Religion Whereby much of our precious Time has been wickedly mis-spent either in sinful Recreations or Idleness and Vanity And to increase and aggravate our Guilt and Punishment we have sinned against many Judgements and Mercies Vows and Resolutions the Light of thy holy Spirit and the many checks and convictions of our own Consciences by all which we have made and judged our selves unworthy of eternal Life Wherefore holy Father we might justly expect the severest Resentments of thy Wrath and Vengeance in the most due and deserved Punishment of all our Sins But thou art a God of Mercy and with thee is plenteous Redemption thy Promises are full in Christ Jesus to truly humble and penitent Sinners We come with boldness therefore to the Throne of thy heavenly Grace most humbly begging the Aids of thy holy Spirit that with a deep Sorrow and hearty Contrition we may stedfastly bewail all the Sins and Offences of our past-lives Increase our sorrow and detestation of 'em still more and more Remove far from us all Security and Presumption Impenitence and unbelief and all the sad Remains of Apostacy and Disobedience and if it be thy gracious Pleasure deliver us from temporal Punishments however from eternal Death But since there 's no hope of Mercy and Forgiveness whilst we continue in the Ways of Sin and Irreligion which lead to Hell and Damnation let the sense of our Vileness prevail with us to forsake and abandon all our Sins so that we may never return to them again with any consent delight or approbation Forgive we pray thee whatever we have done spoke or thought amiss bury all our Iniquities in the bottomless Ocean of thy own Mercy and Forgetfulness and our Saviour's Bloud and for the sake of his infinite Merits deliver us from the Guilt and Pollution the Dominion and Punishment of all our Offences Lift up our Hearts we pray thee above all the little and empty yet alluring Trifles of this vain and transitory World Affect our Souls with a true and lively sense of our Duty and Dependance upon thee Restore and renew in us that Health and Comfort Joy and Peace Freedom and Strength Knowledge and Integrity by the Righteousness of the second Adam which we forfeited and lost by the Fall and Disobedience of our first Parents Improve and cherish still more and more those holy Resolutions of Growth and Perseverance in all Wisdom and Goodness that neither Life nor Death good Report nor bad Report may obstruct our Obedience nor separate us from thy Love Conduct us safely thro' all the Changes and Varieties of this troublesome Life in Peace and safety and dispose and qualifie us with such a holy and innocent Frame and Temper of Mind and Spirit that we may live with and enjoy thee for ever Send forth thy Light and thy Truth and enlighten we beseech thee all the dark Corners of the Earth with the bright Beams of thy glorious Gospel Bless more especially all Estates and Conditions of Men in the Communion of thy holy Catholic Church But we intreat thee more particularly for the increase of true Wisdom and Godliness in the Churches of these Kingdoms We confess O Lord thou mightest justly remove thy Candlestick from us and give it to a People more deserving than we but as thou hast been pleas'd to magnifie thy Mercy hitherto in the wonderful Defence of our Persons Religion and Government notwithstanding the malicious Designs and wicked Contrivances of those fierce fiery and politic Spirits who have ill will at our Sion So continue we beseech thee the present Establishment in Church and State with a Blessing upon both to us and our Posterity for ever Remember not against us our manifold Provocations neither suffer the Plagues of Atheism and Apostacy Heresie and Schism Sedition and Rebellion to shake the Foundation or interrupt the Public Peace and Tranquility of this excellent Government But unite us all to thy Self in the Bonds of true Faith and Hope and in brotherly Love and Charity one to another To this End we intreat thee for the Health and
all his Undertakings for the Advancement of the true Honour and Interest of the establisht Religion his Subjects Peace and his own Safety Give a plentiful Portion of thy Grace and Spirit to all the several Stewards and Dispensers of thy holy Mysteries whether they be Arch-Bishops Bishops or other subordinate Priests and Deacons but more particularly to him whom thou hast intrusted with the more immediate Care and Inspection over our Souls in this Parish Enable them to feed their Flocks with true Wisdom and Knowledge that after a plentiful Conversion of Sinners from the Errour of their Way they may shine like so many Stars in thy Kingdom and Glory for ever and ever And let the same holy Spirit we most humbly beseech thee sanctifie and direct all the King's Councellors Judges Magistrates and Ministers whatsoever that they may be all faithful and zealous in their several Stations and Callings for the Maintenance of thy true Religion the Encouragement and encrease of Piety and Justice and brotherly Love and Unity amonst us And now O Lord as we have pray'd unto thee for the supply of all temporal and spiritual Wants so we beseech thee to accept of the hearty Return of our most affectionate Praise and Thanksgiving for the abundance of thy Grace and Mercy vouchsafed to our Souls and Bodies We bless thee for our Creation Preservation and manifold Deliverances from Temptation Sin and Danger for all the comfortable Motions of thy holy Spirit and the blessed effects thereof in our Lives and Actions for our Health and Liberty Peace and Prosperity But above all let Heaven and Earth praise thee for thine infinite Love and Compassion to our miserable Nature in the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ and herein we praise thee more particularly for his Merits and Intercession his Doctrine and Example the benefit of Repentance and promise of Pardon for thine unwearied Patience and passionate Entreaties to save us from Sin and Ruin for all the blessed Opportunities of Grace and Mercy in this Life and the assured hope of a blessed Immortality in that which is to come Finally we beg the Assistance of thy good Providence which hath watcht over us and preserved us this Day to defend us this Night also Refresh our wearied Bodies with comfortable Rest and Sleep and keep our Souls and Bodies from the Violence and Malice of the Spirits of Darkness from all evil Accidents and illusive and filthy Dreams So that if thy good Providence bring us to the Enjoyment of another Day we may serve thee fathfully and sincerely both in the business of our Callings and Religion Take us not out of this World we pray thee till thou hast dispos'd and qualified us for the happy and eternal Enjoyment of a better and let thy merciful Kindness be our Support and Comfort in the whole remaining part of our Lives In confidence whereof we recommend our Selves Ours to thy gracious disposal in Christ Jesus in whose most holy Name and prevailing Words we beseech thee to hear us Our Father c. A Morning Prayer for a Private Person O Most merciful and gracious God the Fountain of all goodness and blessing of life and peace of plenty and pardon thou art greatly to be feared and had in reverence of all that draw unto thee Wherefore I humbly beg the assistance of thy Grace at this time to sanctifie and enliven my Devotions that I may pray with the Spirit and pray with the Vnderstanding also For I must confess O Lord to my great shame and sorrow that I am a most vile and sinful Creature less then the least of all thy Mercies and lyable to the severest of thy Judgements All the Powers and Faculties of my Soul and Members of my Body are polluted with the contagion and filthiness of Original Sin I am clothed with Iniquity as with a Garment and my Transgressions are gone over my head like a sore burden too heavy for me to bear I have sinned in every Circumstance in every Condition and Imployment of my whole Life not only in my youth and days of ignorance but in my more discerning and riper years Insomuch that there are few sins which I have not either actually committed or at least been inclined to to the great increase of my present Misery and future Condemnation * Here mention your partitular sins as Besides vile Creature that I am I have been so miserably intangled in the snares of Sin and Wickedness as to be hurried on either to the wilful neglect of the Duties of Religion †Here confess your particular Omissions of and Failings in Duty or those I perform are done with so much indifference and formality hypocrisie and distraction coldness and indevotion that even my Prayers and other religious Performances are not seldom turned into sin And to render all my Transgressions out of measure sinful the guilt of 'em has been hugely aggravated and encreast ‖ Here consider the circumstantial Aggravations as when how often where c. by the Commission of 'em from time to time against the clearest Convictions of thy Word and Spirit the Testimony and many checks of my own Conscience notwithstanding my many solemn Vows and Resolutions to the contrary Wherefore holy Father thou mightest justly enter into Judgment with me and if thou shouldest be extreme to mark what I 've done amiss I should not only be of all Men but of all Creatures the most miserable But with thee is mercy and forgivenness and because thy fatherly Compassions fail not therefore I am not consumed thou passest by the Transgressions of thy Servant and retainest not thine Anger for ever Let the abundant Merits of thy Son and my most merciful Redeemer make a full and satisfactory Atonement for the Sins and Offences of my whole Life and for his Righteousness sake deliver me I beseech thee from the Guilt and Stain and from the Power and Punishment of all my reigning Lusts which I have hitherto indulg'd and cling about me * Here mention the Sins to which you are most inclin'd and pray earnestly against them Enable me to subdue and overcome all those Follies Indiscretions the unreasonable Cares and unrelenting Affections that remisness and indisposednes in Duty †Here mention and pray against your several indispositions to Duty whereby I 've been so miserably led captive hitherto to the great dishonour of my holy Profession the Scandal of others and the extreme trouble and disquiet of my own sorrowful and afflicted Conscience Rescue me from those many alluring Temptations which are daily perplexing me in every Condition of life ‖ Here mention the Temptations which do oftnest aâ—â—ault you or give me a Sufficiency of spiritual Strength when they assault me to overcome them lest my Enemies prevail against me and lead me unawares into the Pit of Destruction and endless Perdition For this end I humbly beg the Aids of thy holy Spirit to purifie my
against the Laws of Piety Temperance or Charity Supply my outward wants with health safety and success in my honest Calling and lawful undertakings give me true Friends and other temporal Blessings so far as thou seest them needful and convenient for my Support and Comfort Guide me with thy Wisdom in the Way wherein I am to walk cloth me with thy Sons Righteousness and seal me with thy holy Spirit unto the Day of Redemption that I may not be cast out of thy gracious presence with Hypocrites and Vnbelievers And since thou hast been pleas'd to enrich my Soul with divine and excellent Faculties so enable me to imploy 'em entirely to thy Service that neither Death nor Judgement may overtake me unawares And seeing thy Mercy O Lord is over all thy Works I beseech thee to be gracious to all Mankind Bless the universal Church especially the Churches of these Kingdoms And herein I intreat thee for all temporal and spiritual Mercies for the guidance and safety of the King 's most excellent Majesty the royal Family and the whole Clergy of this Realm but particularly for the Guide and Pastor of our Souls in this Parish Bless all the Nobility Gentry and Commonality in their several Capacities and Callings Be favourable and gracious to all my Relations Friends and Benefactors and extend thy Mercy and Goodness to all even my most inveterate and malicious Enemies Be propitious to those who want the blessings and comforts which I enjoy strengthen the weak confirm the strong instruct the ignorant deliver the oppressed relieve the needy pity and support the Fatherless and Widow and bring us all by the Waters of Comfort in the Ways of Religion to thy Kingdom of rest Glory The holy Angels and Saints in heaven praise thee O Lord extol thy Power bless thy Goodness and are astonished at thy Wisdom the whole Earth is full of the Riches of thy Grace and Mercy But thou hast blest and oblig'd me more especially by all the endeared Expressions of love and bounty in my Creation Preservation and all the Mercies and Comforts of this Life but above all by the infinite Riches of thy Grace and Goodness in fending thy Son to purchase my Peace and Pardon at so dear a price as the expence of his own bloud And herein I thank thee with all my Soul for his miraculous Birth his most holy and innocent Life for his bitter Agony and Passion his Glorious Resurrection and Ascension and his sovereign Power and Authority over all the Creatures for the sprinkling of his Bloud and his Intercession with the Father for us and for the coming of the holy Ghost for all the blessed Opportunities of Grace and Salvation here and assured hope of eternal Glory hereafter And to all thy other Mercies and Blessings thou hast graciously added the Protection of me and mine in our Persons and Possessions this Day from all Casualties and ill Accidents from the power prevalence of our Enemies and from thine infinite Wrath and Vengeance which might have deservedly faln upon us In like manner I beseech thee preserve my Soul and Body from all the Malice and Violence of the Spirits of Darkness and suffer not any vain Thoughts or Dreams to disturb or ensnare me Bless sanctifie my Sleep that it may be temperate holy and safe and that I and all thine may be refreshed from time to time with wholesome and moderate Rest that both our Souls and Bodies may not only serve thee with a never failing Duty but that whether we wake or sleep live or die we may be thine in Christ Jesus Our Father c. FINIS